Novel Review: Love and Other Foreign Words by Erin McCahan

Rating (Out of 5): ~3.5

Genre: YA Contemporary Romance

Publisher: Dial (Penguin)

Release Date: 2014

Spoilers?: Light.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Powells.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Can anyone be truly herself--or truly in love--in a language that's not her own?

Sixteen-year-old Josie lives her life in translation. She speaks High School, College, Friends, Boyfriends, Break-ups, and even the language of Beautiful Girls. But none of these is her native tongue -- the only people who speak that are her best friend Stu and her sister Kate. So when Kate gets engaged to an epically insufferable guy, how can Josie see it as anything but the mistake of a lifetime? Kate is determined to bend Josie to her will for the wedding; Josie is determined to break Kate and her fiancé up. As battles are waged over secrets and semantics, Josie is forced to examine her feelings for the boyfriend who says he loves her, the sister she loves but doesn't always like, and the best friend who hasn't said a word -- at least not in a language Josie understands.

The Cover:

I think this cover is very cute. The font and lettering is fun, and I think it represents the book pretty well. It's very much easy to carry around, too, and doesn't focus too much on the romance, but Kate's curiosity instead.

Review:

This book has one of the most accurate titles I've seen in a while. Josie is extremely smart for her age, is already in college, but she doesn't know what love is. One day, she decides that she needs to understand it. Her sister is engaged to a guy she absolutely refuses to accept, and she can't comprehend why her sister thinks she loves him. So starts her quest to understand love.

Josie goes through a bit of a journey in this book. She starts a relationship with a previous school-dance date, whom likes her a lot, and whom she tries to love back. Then there's her young college professor, who she's convinced she feels love at first sight with. And during all of this, she's fighting with her sister, and her best friend Stu is always there.

I really enjoyed Josie's voice. She's odd, possibly a little autistic, but generally on a different level than everyone else. She can only take so much socialization, she likes things a certain way, and she looks at every interaction with people in a different way. I feel like the real romance took a long time to actually show up, as Josie was so distracted for so long and Stu was just letting her do her thing until she was ready. I also found that really sweet, though, and thought that the ending was really good. The way things wrap up with not only Stu, but also with her sister and her sisters fiance, was really nice. And I really liked her family; they're all very close, and they're always around and doing things together. It was really sweet, but also a lot of fun. The banter was great.

This book was a little slow in its pace, but Josie needed to contemplate and process everything, and she needed to take her time getting to the end. I really enjoyed the characters, though, and it was a lot of fun to read.

Manga Review: With the Light: Raising an Autistic Child, Volume 1, by Keiko Tobe

Rating (Out of 5): ~3.5

Publisher: Yen Press

Release Date: 2007

Volumes: 8

Spoilers?: Some.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells. RightStuf.

Volume: 2.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Born during the sunrise - an auspicious beginning - the Azumas' newborn son is named Hikaru, which means "light". But during one play date, his mother notices that her son is slightly different from the other children. In the alternately heartwarming and bittersweet tale, a young mother tries to cope with both the overwhelming discovery of her child's autism and the trials of raising him while keeping her family together. This is a story that resonates not only for those whose families have been affected by autism, but also for all past, present, and future parents.

Review:

I’ve been interested in this book ever since I first heard about it. And I’m glad I finally picked it up.

Sachiko Azuma is at first perfectly happy. She’s happily married to a business man and just gave birth to her first baby boy. But then her husband starts working more and is never happy when home. And her perfect baby boy cries all the time and doesn’t like it when she holds him. He acts different than the other kids, but Sachiko doesn’t know how to handle it.

When it gets so bad she can’t handle it, she has to accept that her son is autistic, and then she has a fight with her husband.

It’s really tough at times, and seemed really realistic. Harshly realistic, really. Because at this point, few people knew what autism was, and most believed that it was caused by the mother not raising the child correctly. Hikaru, her son, is definitely hard to get to know; he doesn’t talk, he doesn’t understand social conventions, he doesn’t like being touched. But slowly, Sachiko learns how to handle him, how to teach him in a way he’ll understand, and she meets people who understand and help her.

Living with autism is hard, and it takes a while for Sachiko to get used to it, to really understand it. But I like that she grew confident in herself and how she dealt with Hikaru, even in public. I especially liked that she didn’t try to hide it, that she was honest with everyone around her when it became apparent that something was odd with Hikaru. And it was nice that her husband and family backed her up about it.

I wasn’t sure where her marriage was going to go in the beginning, because her husband was just a jerk. But after their fight, when he gets overworked, he has to face reality and decide that being with his family is more important. I was really happy when he started really caring for Sachiko again, and when he started paying attention to Hikaru. That was really nice to see.

I was really impressed with this book. The writing is a little immature, rushed at times, but that got better throughout the book. Mostly, the look at autism was so realistic, and I was impressed with how it was handled. And not only with the Azuma’s household and family life, but the side characters have really realistic personalities and troubles.

I was really happy with this book, and I’m glad I picked it up.

Novel Review: The Encyclopedia of Me by Karen Rivers

Rating (Out of 5): ~3

Genre: YA/MG Contemporary

Publisher: Arthur A. Levine Books (Scholastic)

Release Date: September, 2013

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells.

Teaser Tuesday.

Goodreads Synopsis:

A is for "Tink Aaron-Martin," "Aardvark," and "Amazing" in this wonderful alphabetical novel!

Tink Aaron-Martin has been grounded AGAIN after an adventure with her best friend Freddie Blue Anderson. To make the time pass, she decides to write an encyclopedia of her life from "Aa" (a kind of lava--okay, she cribbed that from the real encyclopedia) to "Zoo" (she's never been to one, but her brothers belong there).

As the alphabet unfolds, so does the story of Tink's summer: more adventures with Freddie Blue (and more experiences in being grounded); how her family was featured in a magazine about "Living with Autism," thanks to her older brother Seb--and what happened after Seb fell apart; her growing friendship, and maybe more, with Kai, a skateboarder who made her swoon (sort of). And her own sense that maybe she belongs not under "H" for "Hideous," or "I" for "Invisible," but "O" for "Okay."

Written entirely in Tink's hilarious encyclopedia entries, THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ME is both a witty trick and a reading treat for anyone who loves terrific middle-grade novels.

The Cover:

I find the cover of this book to be very adorable. I love how the girl is standing on a pile of books, with the title on them, up on her tiptoes to reach the boy. The colors are light and fun, working very well with the book. I think it's a very adorable, fitting book, even if the romance doesn't play too big a part on the book itself.

Quotes:

• "People are all different: People with autism are all different, and so are people without it. So, seriously, what is the big deal about that?” (ARC, pg. 25)
• "Kissing The act of pressing your mouth on someone else’s and squishing it around in a way that is a lot better than it sounds. I have nothing to say about kissing that I haven’t already told you. You are obsessed with kissing! It’s none of my business, but you might have a problem.” (Pg. 122)
• "Sarcasm is irony with a twist and a shove.” (Pg. 180)

Review:

When I picked this up, I thought it was going to be a short, cute young adult novel. Instead, it’s a middle grade novel, and that changed a lot of things.

I will say that I love the premise of the book. Telling a story by the alphabet, like in an encyclopedia, is a great idea. And the cover is adorable, so that helps. The set-up, and even some of the book, was rather cute. Very light hearted. And there was some development, which I liked. I really liked Tink’s family, and their progress.

But the characters were much more immature than I thought they would be. Although, if I was younger, I definitely would have liked that a lot more. But I’m over the whole, making new words, talking in text speak, having crushes on boys and liking the popular girls and then moving on from one thing to another in days. None of that really works for me anymore. I didn’t really relate to the character, either, probably because she isn’t quite like I was when I was that age. Although, I still think I would have liked it more had I read this while in middle school. Particularly the writing, which is immature, with all capped words and exclamation points and text speak and made up words. I just don’t care for that too much anymore.

I did find some of this book cute--I did like how Tink matured by the end, and I did like her family, and even some of her thoughts on things, especially the view on autism. It was a bit cute, and very fast. But overall it just isn’t really my type of book.

Novel Review: Counting by 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan

Rating (Out of 5): ~4-4.5

Genre: Middle Grade Contemporary

Publisher: Dial (Penguin)

Publish Date: August 29th, 2013

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells.

Goodreads Synopsis:

A B.E.A. BUZZ BOOK 2013. An Amazon Best Book of the Month. A Junior Library Guild Selection. A Kids Indie Next List #4 on Top Ten Autumn 2013


In the tradition of Out of My Mind, Wonder, and Mockingbird, this is an intensely moving middle grade novel about being an outsider, coping with loss, and discovering the true meaning of family.

Willow Chance is a twelve-year-old genius, obsessed with nature and diagnosing medical conditions, who finds it comforting to count by 7s. It has never been easy for her to connect with anyone other than her adoptive parents, but that hasn’t kept her from leading a quietly happy life . . . until now.

Suddenly Willow’s world is tragically changed when her parents both die in a car crash, leaving her alone in a baffling world. The triumph of this book is that it is not a tragedy. This extraordinarily odd, but extraordinarily endearing, girl manages to push through her grief. Her journey to find a fascinatingly diverse and fully believable surrogate family is a joy and a revelation to read.

Something Specific:

 Quotes (there are a lot):

• "I think it’s important to get pictures of things in your head. Even if they are wrong. And they pretty much always are.” (ARC, pg. 11)
• "But Dell had always had an issue with organization. He couldn’t throw things away because he had trouble figuring out what had value and what didn’t.” (Pg. 42) Ohmygod, so do I!
• ·         "I was not pretending to be anyone but myself, and they still accepted me into their troop.
  I felt human.
  That was the only way I could describe it.” (Pg. 77)
  ·         The library has regulars.
  A lot of them talk to themselves.
  But they do it quietly because quiet is enforced here.” (Pg. 174) I am one of those people, only I don’t actually frequent the library.
• "All reality, I decide, is a blender where hopes and dreams are mixed with fear and despair. Only in cartoons and fairy tales and greeting cards do endings have glitter.” (Pg. 17)
• "In the morning I decide that I’ve done a disservice to myself in terms of my physical achievement.
  This is another way of saying that since no one thinks being motionless for hours is any kind of sport, I’m very challenged, athletically speaking.” (Pg. 272) Haha, I just love how she says that, how true it is…
• "I don’t want to know how you did it. I want to believe that you’re magic.’” (Pg. 335) That's just so sweet. Aw...
•  "A second can feel like forever if what follows is heartbreak.” (Pg. 351)
•  "Does saying goodbye matter? Does it really end something?” (Pg. 354)

The Cover:

I really like this cover. It's simple, pretty, and very fitting for the book and the characters. It's also one that I would be very much not embarrassed by, were I carrying it in public, and that's nice.

Review:

"It said I was ‘highly gifted.’

Are people ‘lowly gifted’?

Or ‘medium gifted’?

Or just ‘gifted’? It’s possible that all labels are curses. Unless they are on cleaning products.

Because if my opinion it’s not really a great idea to see people as one thing.

Every person has lots of ingredients to make them into what is always a one-of-a-kind creation.

We are all imperfect genetic stews.” (Pg. 18)

I was really lucky to win this online, especially considering it was already on my list to get. I read Sloan’s previous book, I’ll Be There, and really enjoyed that one. This is a little out of my usual, given that it’s a middle grade and not romance, but it sounded really good and I like Sloan’s writing style. I’m also surprised that I read it so fast, but I’m glad I did. Because it was really good.

This is a really sweet story, starring Willow Chance, a very smart twelve year old who’s been unsuspectingly orphaned for the second time. She was first adopted by her loving parents, and then they were in a car crash while she was out with her school therapist, Dell Duke, and her new possible friends. The cops don’t know what to do with her, when her new friend Mai (and her brother, Quang-ha) have her stay with them and their mother for a bit, not wanting Willow to be sent away, but not really having a plan for the future, either.

First of all, I wasn’t expecting the group of people around Willow. Had no idea she was going to end up being taken in by this family she’d just met, or how things turned out with that family and her therapist, and several other characters we met along the way. Things turned out maybe a little too well, but I really liked it.

I loved the characters, and I love how Sloan writes. The timeline goes backward for a little bit near the beginning, catching you up to the first couple chapters, and I liked that. The narrative jumps around from person to person a lot (with skips between, not all at once or anything), and I really like getting inside the other characters heads, seeing what they think and what’s going on with them. The writing style was a bit like the movie Mary and Max, a movie that I absolutely love, and a bit similar to The Book Thief, although I’m a little hesitant to compare them, seeing as how this book is much more lighthearted and whimsical, and doesn’t skip to the characters’ future, just lets us see their past.

Willow is the main characters, and she’s a bit autistic, focusing intensely on plants and counting by 7s to calm herself down, and is so smart. She’s pretty much stopped going to school altogether, but has no problem reading textbooks, studying, and doing the homework of her friends'. And she’s always thinking little insightful thoughts that I loved. She grows quite a bit in this book, and I loved the development of it. The other characters are just as quirky, in very different ways, and I loved them as well. I loved everyone’s relationship to each other, as well, and how everyone grew closer to each other. 

This was a really, really good book. It’s lighthearted, whimsical, quirky, fun. It’s a light read, no matter its page number, has short chapters and short, insightful paragraphs and thoughts from the characters. I loved it. And Sloan has definitely been added to my to-watch list of authors.

 A review copy was provided by Cuddlebuggery's Little Blogger, Big Ambitions project and Alexa Y., of Alexa Loves Books. Thank you so, so much!