I'm too tired to say anything terribly insightful. Sorry.

I feel inexplicably stupid going back and reading the award books for this year. I feel that if I were a better librarian, I would have read them before they were announced. At least the Printz noms (I did read Alaska way back last year when it first came out, and was halfway through Messenger, that's at least a small consolation.). I was planning to ignore the Newbery's altogether, when my Mom said that she liked Princess Academy so much that she actually went and read Hale's Goose Girl. Fine, I'll read it. grumble, grumble. I think I was being ornery. Ah, the trials and pressures of being the librarian daughter of a librarian. ;)

I enjoyed it very much. Hale created a very real fantasy that wasn't about being a Princess, as much as being a good person. Miri feels like a useless burden to her village and wants to prove herself worthy of the work everyone else does, however, her father forbids her to help in the dangerous quarry. Everything changes when there is a prophesy that the next queen will be found on Miri's remote mountain. This is Miri's opportunity to earn respect and help her family, but when she and all the village girls go off to the Princess Academy to learn, the headmistress is cruel and doesn't seem to want any of the girls to succeed. 10+.

Vapid Voyage

Here's the thing. We hold Romantic Comedies to a lower standard. We do. We all know how it will end, so as long as it lives up to its predictability and is fun getting there, few of us really care. There are, however, some Really Bad RomComs out there. I'd give examples, but the list would be far too long. I think that this book fell into my hands by the evil Amazon pathways. One of those "customers who bought this also bought this" types of things. It has good customer reviews and that persuaded me enough to put it on my hold list. Sigh. I've thought about the perfect adjective to describe this book for awhile and I've come to believe that that word is: VAPID. Vapid, vapid, vapid, though I don't know why I was expecting more. I've no doubt that it is popular with young girls, but there is so much that is better within this genre. Mom gets married on a cruise ship, stubborn list-consumed daughter gets a free vacation, but refuses to hook up with the boy of her dreams because he happens to be a family friend, and all she wants is a summer fling. Vapid. I was especially appalled at the phrase 'pal around,' even when said by an adult. The real problem is that with all the alcohol (in international waters 18 is the drinking limit), drunken behavior and the ultimate goal of sex for our heroine, it ages itself out of the reading level it should be at. +14.

Finally Something Good

I wouldn't have normally picked this book up, but one of the teens in my library (after enthusiastically accepting about 10 books from me) said I had to read it. Figuring this to be a good deal, I was more than happy to oblige. I started it one night, had to go to work the next day and really couldn't wait to come home and finish it. That really says a lot. I thought it was well written and not clear-cut. Very much in the vein of S.E. Hinton. 17 year-old Stetson is on the verge of getting kicked out of school. His living conditions bite, his dad is an alcoholic and all Stet wants to do is finish his car and graduate high school so he can get out of town. He's barely getting by when a sister he never even knew he had shows up. Lots of alcohol for adults and minors, bad choices and an abusive parent, +14.