The Candymakers by Wendy Mass

The Candymakers by Wendy Mass
"Four children have been chosen to compete in a national competition to find the tastiest confection in the country. Who will invent a candy more delicious than the Oozing Crunchorama or the Neon Lightning Chew?

Logan, the Candymaker's son, who can detect the color of chocolate by touch alone?

Miles, the boy who is allergic to merry-go-rounds and the color pink?

Daisy, the cheerful girl who can lift a fifty-pound lump of taffy like it's a feather?

Or Philip, the suit-and-tie wearing boy who's always scribbling in a secret notebook?"- summary from Amazon

I don't know how she does it, but Wendy Mass just hits it out of the park with every book I read by her. The way she writes her characters make them compelling, realistic, and hard to leave behind when the book is over. Even though the book is 450 pages (it's a surprisingly quick read), I still felt sad when I got to the last page and had to leave these wonderful characters behind.

What's fun about this book is that it's told in 5 parts- the first four give each character to give their own account of the two days spent at the candy factory and then the fifth goes back to Logan for the night before and day of the contest. It was interesting to read what each character was thinking during a particular scene but it also didn't get repetitive as the same scenes weren't focused on in each part. Not only that, but I really enjoyed the callbacks to previous sections and having to piece the puzzle together as the story went on. What was also cool was the various prior connections between the four kids that come out as the novel goes on.

The humor in this book was fantastic. I was laughing out loud many times during the course of the book. It was wonderful. Also, candy will have to be present while reading this novel because the kids take a tour of a candy factory and of course have to make their own candy as well, and Mass doesn't spare on the descriptions. It was sad for me because I was poor at the time of reading it so I couldn't go out and buy some candy to munch on. It was amazing too to read all the fun candy names and descriptions she came up with for the factory to have, as well as the contest entries too.

I think boys will enjoy this book because who doesn't love to hear about candy and how it's made? Even though there is a female narrator, it's only for about 90 pages and has a fun twist to it that I think boys will really like to hear about.

Overall, this is a wonderful middle-grade novel with a fun and fast storyline but with some great depth to it. A must-read!

Ex Machina Vol. 1: The First 100 Days by Brian K. Vaughn and Tony Harris

For some reason that I simply cannot explain, I resisted the comic Ex Machina for a long, long time. This defies reason for me on a number of levels: it's written by one of my favorite writers (Brian K. Vaughn, the man who is at least in part responsible for the single best season of Lost - the season 5 time-traveling arc, for those who care), and it's meticulously illustrated by another favorite, Tony Harris. So why did I, only now, start reading this series? Beats me, but I'm glad I finally climbed aboard. Better late than never.

For those who, like me, haven't joined in for the fun of Ex Machina, the only place to start is with the first collected volume, subtitled The First 100 Days. It chronicles, albeit often artfully out of sequence, the first post-inaugural days of New York Mayor Mitchell Hundred and his political rise to power. Certainly this is novel material for a comic book, but there's a twist. Hundred used to be a super hero in a world where superheroes don't exist. He strangely called himself "The Great Machine" and flew around New York with an oddball aviator-meets-Rocketeer outfit, saving citizens in distress with his strangely-acquired power over all machines. Something happened on the day of 9/11, however, (I haven't gotten to the specifics of what, exactly, yet, so I'm as in the dark as anyone else) that caused Hundred to both reveal his identity and retire The Great Machine forever.

Still not convinced? How about if I tell you that writer Vaughn uses this premise to dig into all sorts of political minutia and arcana from New York history? Or that the series, unlike conventional comics, spends as much time entangled in the political realities of life in New York (protests over a controversial art exhibit, for example) as it does in the throes of superheroics? In short, it's as mature a superhero comic as has been seen in years, and every aspect of its writing and art screams the love of its creators. Like the best comics, Ex Machina works on multiple levels. Those looking for action and adventure will find it in sufficient supply, but those looking for depth of plot and characterization and a wealth of clever dialogue, will find those as well. Like the Greek device that inspired its name, Ex Machina is truly making something divine to help us rise above the mundane.

The Light, By D.J. MacHale

At the opening of D.J. MacHale’s The Light, Sixteen year-old Marshall Sever is preparing for a great summer. He plans to hang with his best friend, Cooper Foley, just as they have done every summer since they were little kids. But there are problems with his plan. For one, Cooper is tired of doing the stuff that Marshall gets into, like building model rockets, playing video games and drawing comics. For another, Cooper is in a little trouble with the law for trying to scalp some counterfeit tickets. Cooper’s parents decide to take Cooper to their summer lake house, to keep him out of trouble both with the law and keep him from the kids who provided him with the contraband.

Conan redux: a young man's fancy turns to sword and sorcery

I'm going down a trail recently blazed on this very blog by Will Ludwigsen back in July, but I'm coming at it from a different angle. I want to talk about Conan as the product of, as they say, a young man's fancy.

Robert E. Howard, who created Conan (and Kull, and Solomon Kane) also created what we now call the sword and sorcery genre. He died tragically at age 30. That means that the canonical Conan (say that three times fast) was the product of a young man from Texas who never travelled, never married and knew little of the world beyond his own back yard. And yet he was able to synthesize the history he read, the violence he saw around him in Texas boom towns, and what his own imagination created into something that hadn't before existed.

Brooklyn Knight -- C.J. Henderson

When curator Piers Knight swings by the Brooklyn Museum to check on an artifact after a busy day escorting his beautiful new summer intern on her very first trip around New York City, he stumbles right into the middle of a robbery.

Which, normally, he'd have been able to thwart easily, as he's basically a modern-day Indiana Jones, a super-genius AND a secret magic user.

But it turns out that the mastermind behind the robbery isn't adverse to using magic, either. Or, for that matter, murder. And, shortly thereafter, Professor Knight realizes that the robbery was only the first attempt by a mysterious shadowy entity... TO DESTROY THE WORLD.

More on books for boys - this time with bras on the cover

Following up on my post last week about what a "boy book" is, I wanted to throw out there a bit more on covers. A new YA title, THE SECOND BASE CLUB, recently came to my attention and I really had to give it a double take. Here's the publisher's description:

Elroy's got one thing on his mind: girls. In an effort to get to second base, he offers to tutor the hot new girl in math, forms a band with his two best friend (okay, so he gets a face full of tomato for his efforts) and joins the wrestling team.

Hes a little vague on the whole bases thing, but the jocks have a club dedicated to getting there with every girl they can. And now that hes a jock (sort of), maybe Elroy will find out for himself what it means to be a member of the Second Base Club.

So clearly a book aimed at teenage boys but I have to wonder - will a boy pick up a book with a bra swinging on the cover?

The Bobby Ellis-Chan series by Lisa Yee

In Bobby vs. Girls (Accidentally) by Lisa Yee, Bobby Ellis-Chan really wants a dog, but he's severely allergic to them, and his asthma attacks can sometimes lead to quiet time with a nebulizer mask. His best friend Holly wins a goldfish at the town fair and gives it to Bobby, who gave her the dollar needed to play the game. (Holly already has a pet, a lizard named Lulu, and she doesn't want her to get jealous.) Bobby promptly names his new friend Rover and takes great care of him, but he is initially disappointed in the fish's inability to do tricks or play with him like a dog could.

Bobby comes from an extremely awesome family. I was so happy to see a modern family that was truly happy and functional. That doesn't mean that the family members don't have their quirks - just wait 'til you meet little Casey! - but rather that they all do truly get along, and they love and protect each other. Bobby's father, an ex-football player known as The Freezer, is now a member of the PTA and a stay-at-home dad. He tries to cook, but his odd concoctions aren't always appetizing. Bobby's mom works full-time. His older sister, Annie, is the quarterback of her high school football team. His little sister, Casey, is an imaginative and energetic tiny girl who loves Princess Becky's Planet, a TV show about a sparkly little princess who helps people. Princess Becky is aided by Da-Da-Doo, a pint-sized dragon who blew rainbow bubbles instead of fire. Casey wears her Princess Becky dress and crown all of the time, carries around a wand she calls Wandee, and asks a lot of questions. A lot of questions. She also dispenses advice:

"And if you get scared, shut your eyes and sing," Casey suggested. "Then Da-Da-Doo the dragon will come rescue you."

Happy, hyper, and curious, Casey is hands-down my favorite supporting character in this series, because she's a lot like I was at that age.

At one point, Bobby writes an equation in his notebook that details his ethnic makeup:

1/2 Chinese
+ 1/8 English
+ 1/8 French
+ 1/8 German
+ 1/8 Not Sure
--------------
100% Bobby

Bobby's friends and classmates also have cool backgrounds, nicknames, and hobbies. There's Chess, who is of Indian descent. His real name is Sanjay Kapur. Then there's St. James, the class clown. He and Holly walk to school together, but always split up at a certain spot known as the Parting Place, where boys go one way to their group of friends and girls go another way. Now bratty Jillian has become Holly's friend, which bugs Bobby. Though he tries to let the girls have their space, when a class election threatens his friendship with Holly, Bobby has to figure out what on Earth happened and how he can smooth things over.

Finally, a book I can pair with the phenomenal Sixth Grade Secrets by Louis Sachar! Aimed at ages eight and up, Bobby vs. Girls (Accidentally) skews just a little bit younger than the audience for Sixth Grade Secrets, but it too casts light on the philosophy held by many elementary and middle school students: Boys and girls can't be friends . . . or can they? At that age, gender wars happen on the playground and in the classroom all the time. Faster than you can say "cooties," two kids who were thick as thieves in kindergarten may feel uncomfortable a few years later if their classmates taunt them with the "K-I-S-S-I-N-G" song. As anyone who reads my blog or enters my bookstore knows, I often discuss the absurdity of gender bias - and I praise books that say boys and girls can be friends, and that anything boys can do, girls can do, and vice-versa.

In the second book, Bobby the Brave (Sometimes), Bobby continues trying to make his dad happy. He does not tell The Freezer that the food he makes are yucky. He buys the cookies his dad made for the school bake sale instead of the delicious treats and temptations made by other parents. He doesn't mind it when people talk about how amazing and athletic his father and older sister are, because he's proud of their accomplishments, but he doesn't want to follow in their footsteps. He'd rather be drawing than playing football. When a P.E. teacher wants The Freezer to come to their school, things get complicated.

Bobby's favorite hobby is drawing. The books feature black and white illustrations by Dan Santat which will most likely be copied on notebooks by readers who are also aspiring artists. It's always clear who is who in the pictures, and I love the fact that the characters come in all different shades, shapes, and sizes.

As she did with her interconnected middle grade books, Millicent Min, Girl Genius, Stanford Wong Flunks Big-Time, & So Totally Emily Ebers, Lisa Yee teaches readers about responsibility, honesty, and loyalty in a subtle and realistic way. Bobby becomes very responsible while taking care of Rover. He is never disrespectful of his elders, and he's the type who would rather bite his tongue than hurt someone's feelings. He learns, though, that it's okay to speak up when something isn't right or someone upsets him.

I hope that Yee continues writing Bobby books. They are a treasure for boys and girls alike, and a must-have for elementary and middle school classrooms and libraries.

Hobgoblin by John Coyne

Back to the vaults for an old book that deserves being read - this month it's Hobgoblin by John Coyne! This wicked little thriller has everything you could want: games, mayhem, Irish monsters... you like Irish monsters, right?

Nothing by Janne Teller

When Pierre Anthon realized that nothing matters, he announced his revelation to his classmates and left the room. His classmates, all thirteen- or fourteen-years-old, believe he is wrong. They decide to collect things with meaning to prove to Pierre Anthon that things matter and there is meaning to life. But what started as a collection of favorite toys and mementos soon escalates into something darker, as the classmates begin to force one another into giving up more than material possessions.

Agnes is one of the students. She participates in the collection of meaningful things and watches as things start to go wrong. She tries, early on, to convince her classmates they’re going too far. But their quest has taken on a momentum of its own and Agnes is compelled to remain a part of it. The students are all in it together. As a group, they decided not to tell adults about Pierre Anthon, and as a group, they refuse to let any of their number back out.

Banned Books Week 2010: Read These Books!

Banned Books Week started yesterday, September 25, and runs through October 2. If you're not familiar with Banned Books Week, you can read a short run-down here on the ALA website. But you may already be wondering, why should I care? Because, even in this day and age, books are still being banned. This is not some quaint, old-timey issue. Sherman Alexie's The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian: great book, right? Just got banned earlier this month in Stockton, MO. In this case, what that means is it's not just gone from school curriculum but removed from the school library, period. Laurie Halse Anderson's Printz-Award-winning book Speak was challenged this month, too.

Not just contemporary works but many books considered to be literary classics are still challenged or even outright banned in various parts of our country. Whether you agree with the people challenging the books or not, the truth remains that this is a form of censorship. Celebrating Banned Books Week and reading a banned book (or three, or five) is an easy way to support intellectual freedom—your own and that of others. The vast collective brain here at Guys Lit Wire has gotten together to suggest a few personal favorites for your perusal, all books which have been challenged or banned at one time or another. Read on for the first installment, and then tune in at the end of the week for Part II.