I thought this was a good story. Nicely told in first person. The narrator’s voice is very believeable. I don’t know if the reason why he is on the metaphorical “hot corner” is that believable (an AIDS test). But it’s good. It raised the issue, which is important. It’s a quick read and great for more reluctant readers. I think it deserves to be on the YALSA’s best books for Y.A.s 2008 nominations list.

Fairest, by Gail Carson Levine is one of my new favorites. It takes place in the world of Ella Enchanted (also by Levine and another fantastic book). It is about a girl named Aza who was brought up by a family of inkeepers. She is a self-described oaf. And others, unfortunately, think of her the same way. After years of hearing others make fun of her looks she thinks herself ugly, too. She would like nothing more than to be beautiful. However, she does have a gift. She has a tremendously beautiful voice and in her kingdom this is very important. Singing is a vital part of the culture. She also can Illuse. That is, she can throw her voice and make it “come out of” different objects, and even make it sound like other people. This little gift gets her an invitation to the Royal Wedding where she meets the Queen and becomes her lady-in-waiting. As the Lady-in-waiting Aza discovers the Queen’s magic mirror that can make her look beautiful. She discovers the Queen’s secret beauty potion and drinks some. She then becomes “fairest in the land” which leads to disasterous results.

While she is living in the castle the young prince falls in love with her. But he falls in love with the “ugly” Aza. Not the beautiful Aza. This helps Aza realize that she is beautiful without a potion, and she begins to be more accepting of herself.

I loved this book. Absolutely loved it. It was one of those books that I couldn’t put down. I loved the message. And I think it’s a message that many young girls need to get these days, so you can bet I will be recommending this one to lots of kids. It was also very funny. Just an all around fun story.

Usually when I read in bed it puts me to sleep. Not this book. I had to finish it. I just had to.

And then it gave me nightmares.

The book is Life as We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer. It is the diary of a young woman, Miranda, who is at the end of her Sophmore year in high school. Miranda’s life is very normal. She has fights with her mom. She likes to ice skate. etc. She writes about all of these things in her diary. She also writes about the meteor that is about to hit the moon. Everyone is talking about it everywhere. And some people are worried about it but many people take it with a grain of salt, like it’s something there to entertain them. On the night of the meteor everyone in her neighborhood is outside, waiting for the impact; as if it were a fireworks display. Then it actually happens. It appears in the sky and then hits the moon. And then she hears screaming as the moon becomes bigger and bigger until it fills up most of the sky. The meteor moved the moon closer to the earth.

This causes all kinds of worldwide disasters. The first of which are tsunamis that decimate the coastlines and wipe out all coastal cities and the people in them. The electricity goes out and then stays out for undetermined periods of time. Then the volcanoes start erupting. Like the mega one at Yellowstone National Park. This is the begining of a long, hard story of survival.

As I said, this book scared the hell out of me. But it was goood. Boy was it good. A must-read.