Book review - Life Unaware

Title: Life Unaware
Author: Cole Gibsen
Genre: realistic fiction
Similar books: Gone Too Far by Natalie Richards
                    The Queen of Bright and Shiny Things by Ann Aguirre
Rating:

Nice, if a little unbelievable

Summary: Regan is used to being on top: cheerleader, student council candidate, one of the social elite. It all falls apart in an instant when someone prints out texts and messages where she insulted, gossiped, and flat out lied about many of her classmates and posted them all over school Now Regan is a pariah, avoided by even her best friend. With all the problems at school and pressure from her highly achieving mother, Regan is falling apart.

My opinion: I have mixed feeling about this book. On the one hand, it is trying to achieve some lofty goals. It's a teen romance that is also making a point about bullying, social pressure (including pressure from parents), and destigmatizing mental illness. On the other hand, the plot is highly idealized. We're meant to believe that a video made by a couple of students has the ability to change every single student in the school. I don't deny that if more kids spoke up, things might be different in schools. It's the global change from a single video that I object to. It's a nice idea but hard to believe. In the end, I figure this is a good choice for a "fun" read or maybe to introduce a discussion of forms of bullying and prevention.

More information: Life Unaware releases April 28.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley.

Making a puppet show on a short time frame

Next week I'll be helping my nephew (nearly 12 and crazy creative) perform a puppet show version of David and Goliath. We spent about 2 hours this weekend getting ready. This is what we came up with for puppets.

Goliath is made from a puppet that my nephew already owned. This particular puppet has replaceable features so he selected the angriest eyes. Add a viking helmet and beard that he had from Halloween a couple of years ago and a sort of bronze colored fabric for armor and Goliath becomes a pretty menacing figure.

We made David from scratch. He's a basic sock puppet with felt eyes, a card stock nose, and a cardboard circle in his mouth for stability. Fabric scraps and a little bit of extra sock form his clothing and arms. For David's hair we found some hair left over from a doll making project that had become quite matted. It wasn't any good for dolls anymore but looks pretty good on David's head.

Jesse is what is frequently referred to as a glove puppet. His body is a simple shape made from t-shirt. His head is a large plastic Easter egg covered in the toe of a sock. Like David, his eyes are made from felt and his nose from card stock. Some scraps of furry fleece serve as his beard and eye brows. 

There will also be two other puppets. We were able to borrow a glove puppet king to serve as King Saul. Additionally, we'll have a double sided stick puppet for the crowd: cheering on one side and frightened on the other.

Book review - The Murk

Title: The Murk
Author: Robert Lettrick
Genre: horror
Similar books: The Haunting of Gabriel Ashe by Dan Poblocki
                     Frenzy by Robert Lettrick
Rating:

creeptastically informative

Summary: Legend has it that a flower which can cure any disease grows somewhere deep in the Okefenokee Swamp. The last person to hunt for it vanished more than a century ago, the only survivor of the expedition a young guide who emerged from the swamp with tales of a terrifying evil. This flower is Piper's only chance to save her little sister and keep a promise she made years ago.

My opinion: The Murk begins with a reference to Lettrick's previous novel, Frenzy, but it's not particularly necessary to have read that book to understand and enjoy this one. For a horror novel, this book is surprisingly education. There are loads of botany facts and plenty of information about swamp habitats and the creature that live there deftly woven into the plot. While the writing can be a little over the top emotionally and occasionally somewhat graphic in its violence, I feel like those weak points are balanced out by the educational aspects.

More information: The Murk releases April 21st.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley.

Graphic Novel Spotlight: MAUS

NOTE: Usually I post these spotlights on Thursdays, but today is Holocaust Remembrance Day and this seemed like an appropriate way to mark the occasion.
 

MAUS by Art Spiegelman

MAUS was the very first graphic novel I ever read, discovered by chance when I was browsing books about the Holocaust at my high school library. I don't believe it would  be hyperbole to say that that chance discovery changed my life. 

This is the story of Art Spiegelman's father, a Holocuast survivor. Book 1 takes us  from Vladek's life in prewar Germany, through the Nazis' rise to power, to the moment when he arrives at Auschwitz. Book 2 navigates his time in the camps to the end of the war and his eventual emigrationn to the US. For me, MAUS was an entirely singular experience. I'd read a great deal about the Holocaust so none of the abuses Spiegelman describes were entirely surprising. What made it shocking was the visuals (which shy away from nothing) and the close emotional tie to the story. Its not a beautiful book or overly sentimental. Art spends as much time frustrated with his father as he does sympathizing. The drawings have a rough sort of quality, almost like woodcuts, but that harsh style suits the harshness of the story.  

Book review - Only Ever Yours

Title: Only Every Yours
Author: Louise O'Neill
Genre: dystopia
Similar books: Perfected by Kate Jarvik Birch
                     Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro 
Rating:

Whoa

Summary: Ever since climate change decimated the population girls have not been born naturally. Instead, they are created in a lab, bred for beauty and pleasure, and raised to perfectly please their men. Best friends Freida and Isabel have been dreaming their entire lives of the day when they will become companions. As their final year at school comes to a close, the pressure to be perfect mounts. only a select few girls will become companions. The rest are destined to be concubines or chastities. Will Freida and Isabel achieve their dream or will the pressure become too much.

My opinion: I've read a great deal of dystopian fiction and it all seems to follow a similar path: protagonist recognizes an unjust system, either joins or starts a revolution, and overthrows the government or escapes to freedom. This book certainly bucks that trend with the idea that sometimes there is no way out and an attempt to revolt brings down judgement on your head. This book certainly isn't perfect. I found most of the writing to be kind of annoying. Freida was all over the place emotionally and so needy, constantly seeking even the shallowest of validation. That ending, though, makes me look at the entire thing in a new light.

More information: Only Ever Yours releases May 12.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley.

I now have the most fun dishes

While browsing the internet for crafting inspiration I came across this tutorial for animal handled cups. If you've been reading my blog for very long you may remember the giraffe serving tray. These cups captured my imagination in a similar manner. In fact, when I went shopping for tumblers for this project, I found a 4 pack that is almost the exact same shade of green. Fortuitous.

The tutorial calls for super glue. I used E6000 instead, which I prefer as it doesn't cloud on plastic the way super glue can. E6000 takes much longer to set though, so if you decide to replicate this project you may want to stick with the super glue. Additionally, the cups in the tutorial are spray painted. I had intended to do the same but when I got the animals onto the cups I decided I liked how they looked in their original state. I might, sometime in the future, add some little embellishments but for now I like this look.

The zebra is my absolute favorite.

You might notice glue spots under the tails of most of the animals. I missed the tip in the tutorial about making sure the tails rest on the table to help counterbalance their excessive weight before you glue. As a result I ended up building what amounts to little stands out of hot glue to give the cup another point of contact with the table. They aren't particularly stable when empty but it doesn't take much water to have them sitting flat on the table again.

Don't you think they'll look awesome with my giraffe tray?

Book review - Denton Little's Deathdate

Title: Denton Little's Deathdate
Author: Lance Rubin
Genre: humor/sci-fi
Similar books: Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith
                     Noggin by John Corey Whaley
Rating:

hmmm

Summary: In Denton's world, everyone knows the day they will die. For Denton, that day is tomorrow. While his classmates prepare for their prom, Denton is having his funeral and experiencing as much of life as he can. As these last minute experiences bring a lot of complication to his final days, the sudden appearance of a strange rash on his body and government agents asking strange questions add to the drama. As secrets are revealed, Denton has only hours to learn the truth.

My opinion: I rather liked most of this book and its ideas about the way people might behave if they knew what day they would die (though I'm not really sure how that's supposed to work. I can see how a blood test could predict heart disease, cancer, even a pregnancy complication, but a communicable disease or accident?). I liked the quirky, if somewhat shallow, characters. A lot of the final scenes threw me, though. These events were mostly properly foreshadowed, I just thought it went in an odd direction. Some of it felt sort of haphazard and the ending is very abrupt.

More information: Denton Little's Deathdate releases April 14th.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley.