Block, Francesca Lia. (2000). The Rose and the Beast: Fairy Tales Retold. New York: Joanna Colter Books. ISBN: 0064407454. 229 pages.

Summary and Evaluation: "Snow," "Tiny," "Glass," "Charm," "Wolf," "Rose," "Bones," "Beast," and "Ice." These are the nine stories Block tells in this collection. All are revisions of fairy tales, and they are primarily located in Los Angeles, California. These heroines aren't the passive dreamers of Perrault and the Brother's Grimm. Nor are they the powerful heroines of Robin McKinley or Gail Carson Levine or Terry Pratchett.

These are not stories for children, it is clear they are intended for young adults. Block's retold fairy tales are closer to the gritty, confessional nature of Anne Sexton's poetry collection Transformations. Block's characters are mix of drug addicts, dreamers, fighters, artists, and ingénues and range in age from teenage years to their twenties.

As a sucker for fairy tales, and their revisions, I ate this book up, and found myself satisfied. I was pleased to see "Rose," "Tiny," and "Ice" which are based on less familiar tales. There is enough in each story so that the reader recognizes its origins and enough new about them to bring a fresh perspective. "Snow" and "Glass" explore other options of love that could be found in "Snow White" and "Cinderella." Sometimes the stories remain too ethereal, leaving the stories confusing at the end. Sometimes the stories are overwrought in their poetics. Others, however, resonate with explorations on love and female empowerment. Many times, the skillful writing propels you forward into a magical world and you happily remain there, breathless, until the story is over.

Perhaps the most intriguing story to me was "Bones" with its modern-day "Bluebeard" completely aware of his murderous tendencies, self-proclaiming his name to be Blue. This story becomes a contemporary cautionary tale, in a way that is more effective than the original story. In addition its awareness of its revision of a fairy tale creates an exciting twist to the story. "I will rewrite the story of Bluebeard. The girl's brothers don't come to save her on horses," the narrator writes as she begins the story's conclusion. I love how it is suddenly meta.

While I enjoyed all of the stories, the book's presentation was a bit curious. I wondered a bit about the order as one of the weakest characters is found in the final story. More curious, though is the layout. The book's page margins are huge, and the text looks like the size of a cracker on each page. While the book was over 200 pages, in a different format, I don't think it would have been over 100. At times, this was problematic.

Booktalk: I could begin by asking for a show of hands of what fairy tales they remember or which was their favorite. Using this as a point of entry, I could retell one of these listed stories to the group, but tell it according to Block's version. I could then explain how Block takes the familiar stories and revises them.

Whitney, Kim Ablon. (2004). See You Down the Road. New York: Knopf. ISBN: 0375824677. 185 pages.

Summary and Evaluation: Kim Ablon Whitney's first novel takes place in a family of Travelers, a clan of people who move like gypsies throughout the United States running and con-jobs to make their money. Though they may make their money in questionable ways, they have a cultural rules and expectations they are all bound to. Main character Bridget, 16, is arranged to be married to her brother's best friend, Patrick. Following tradition, Patrick happily helps Bridget's father with swindles. Her mother takes care of the finances, but her father makes all the decisions.

Bridget isn't sure she fits in with this normal Traveler lifestyle however. She likes school and reading, and wants to make her own decisions. She questions her family's way of life. Is it okay to make a living cheating other people? Does she want to be married? Is it fair that Traveler boys can mess around and Traveler girls have to stay "pure" until marriage? What would it be like if she lived in one place? Where is her life headed?

Whitney's created a collection of teenage characters that bring universal angst about individualism and freedom into an atypical situation. There are a few missteps, but for the most part it is an enjoyable read. The pace is quick and the plot remains exciting throughout. The novel ends a bit too quickly or too neatly, but it does remain consistent with the characters. In addition, it introduces the reader to a culture that was certainly foreign to me before reading this book.

Booktalk: This could be a good book to introduce by giving the group a secret fact about Travelers: Do you know some parents raise their children to be conartists? They are called "Travelers," and this story takes place with teenagers coming of age in this world.
You could also start this book by introducing a few of the Traveler terms like "kad" and "country." And explaining that with this group of people, they have their own language, and we get a peek of it in the book.

Green, Bette, (1973). Summer of My German Soldier. New York: Dial Press. ISBN: possibly 0803728697. 230 pages.

Summary and Evaluation: This novel flirts on the edge of YA literature. There is no sex (nor any subtext of it). The parents of the main character are central characters. And the main character, Patty, is a twelve year old. This is not the normal age for a YA heroine, nor the normal circumstances. But Patty is a smart and imaginative girl whose wit and curiosity don't fit well with her parents' ideals of daughters nor with growing up in the south during World War II. Add to this the simple love story between Patty, who is Jewish, and a Nazi prisoner of war, and a sophisticated narrative and what you have is a exciting and intriguing read.

What Patty craves is love from her parents. As it turns out, this is an impossible yearning, because her parents barely have love for themselves. What Patty gets is love from the black housekeeper, Ruth, and the escaped Nazi, Anton. Patty's isolation and attempts for love are moving as are the conversations she has with Anton. Though there is only a brief kiss when Anton departs, their honesty and care for each other demonstrate a mature type of relationship.

Greene's central characters bring issues of prejudice and violence to the forefront. Are all Nazi's Jew-haters or are they just staying quiet and passive in order to survive? Is violence perpetrated on your family more acceptable than violence toward a people because it is done behind closed doors? What makes someone "a person of value?" It is these ethical questions that complicate the book and make it one that an older reader could really enjoy.

Though there is rarely any rough language, the book does use racial slurs. As these words are foreign and offensive in 2006, hopefully an older reader could discern their purpose and usefulness within the context of the story.

It seems this book could slip through the cracks of many readers. I believe I owned this book as a teenager, but I am pretty sure I never read it. At 12, I might have been too young to fully understand the story, but at 14 I may have been put off by the young age of the main character and the fact there was no real action between Anton and Patty. It seems that those who find this book could be very fortunate.

Booktalk: This might be a good book to introduce as a diary or letter format. You could make up your own letter from Patty to the escaped Anton. This could allude to the issues within her family as well as the relationship Anton and Patty have. It could also introduce readers to the first person narration of the story.

Lynch, Chris (2001). Freewill. NY: HarperCollins. ISBN: 0060281766. 148 pages.

Summary and Evaluation: Will is troubled. Orphaned by his parents and left to live with his father's parents. He sleepwalks through life, not even aware of the furniture and sculpture he makes in his woodshop class. He can't seem to stay in school and has no real friends. Matters get worse when teens start dying in his town, and he finds himself responsible, since at every location one of his strange carved monuments appears.

This book has two running themes. The first is water, because drowning seems to be the suicide of choice in this town and can be both a life giving and life taking force. The second is Christianity. The three sections are called Faith, Hope, and Charity, and Will is a carpenter of sorts with a bit of a cult following.

Told entirely in second person "You smile, but you don't half mean it" (p. 52). Lynch has difficulty sustaining an actual narrative within this voice. I was constantly curious and engaged, though I often had no idea what was ever happening.

Like Laurie Halse Anderson's novel Speak (another Printz Honor Book), it seems as though Lynch is attempting to take the reader down the spiral of depression that can occur after a major trauma, but he is only mildly successful. Using the second person never allows Will an independence of voice.

Lynch, unlike Anderson, never fully reveals the details that lead up to the tragedy nor the descriptions of the main character. Why did Will ever want to be a pilot anyway, or think he could be? Where was he when his parent's died? Is he schizophrenic, psychotic, just clinically depressed, or just really shy and moody? Too much remains a mystery.

In addition this direct address narrator never really becomes known: is it Will's internal voice? His therapist? Is it God? Is it the Devil? And without Will actually responding to the barrage of questions constantly thrown at him from this voice, it is difficult to know what conclusions to arrive at.

Booktalk: With this book, you could bring in a prop of a beautiful piece of turned wood or carved doll, and use the prop to introduce the character's skill at woodworking, and tout the piece as a mystery.

Daly, Maureen (1942). Seventeenth Summer. NY: Simon Pulse. ISBN:0671619314. 291 pages.

Summary and Evaluation: Angie's spent her high school years at a private girl's school. In the summer before college, she meets local basketball star, Jack, and engages in her first romance. She's rather prim and proper, and her behavior could be seen by some readers as boring and passive. I credited it to era and upbringing. If you look past the fact she will barely touch Jack's hand for the half the novel, and freaks out when he clicks his ice cream spoon with his teeth, what you become witness to is an internal dialog about growing up. Throughout the novel, she struggles with what she feels and how to express it. There are some great moments in the book where she discusses the sudden transformation from child to adult: one moment she is happily catching pollywogs, and the next her thoughts are consumed by boys, and mortality, and her future.

This transitional dichotomy is made all the more clear and believable with the addition of her older and younger sisters. And the secondary storyline of her sister Lorraine is especially engaging.

Written when she herself was still a teenager, Daly's novel has beautiful descriptive moments, and I must admit that knowing her age at the time of authorship only makes me like the novel more. I could never have written about my own teenage years with such clarity and perspective and am still not sure I could. Damn.

Booktalk: I might introduce this book with reading a section from p. 203 - 205, "Growing up crowds your mind with new thoughts and new feelings so that you forget how you used to think and feel."