New Book Alert: Shove by Sarah Ciacia; Suspenseful Emotional YA Novel About The Traumatic After Effects of The Accidental Death of a Child

New Book Alert: Shove by Sarah Ciacia; Suspenseful Emotional YA Novel About The Traumatic After Effects of The Accidental Death of a Child

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews



Spoilers: When someone dies after an illness, it's sad but at least it's expected. Plans can be made, possessions can be transferred, and there is a serene sense that at least the person is no longer sick or in pain. When a person dies unexpectedly, it throws everything off kilter and when the deceased is a young person, or worse a child, the after effects are worse.


That's the situation faced by the characters in Sarah Ciacia's novel, Shove. A young boy is suddenly killed by a teenage assailant for no reason except for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The horror of the randomness in the boy's death is emotional as many people are affected by his death and the circumstances surrounding it.


At first the only thing on the mind of of Whaly, the narrator, is whether Jude, one of the most popular boys at school likes her. So when she is invited to a party at popular girl, Cora's house,Whaly wants to get a chance to be alone with Jude to find out. She also brings her new friend, Lenore, a socially awkward new kid, to the party so she can make new friends and be part of the group.


The usual teen party hijinks of hooking up, making friends, and underage drinking comes to an abrupt screeching halt, when Kirby, Jude's tag along kid brother, is attacked outside the house where the party is held. Worse, he is attacked by Harlan, a friend of Lenore's older brother, Dustin. Harlan had been making inappropriate comments towards Whaly and lately has been getting more aggressive in his demeanor. At the party, he gets drunk, violent, and poor Kirby ends up being the innocent bystander that gets the worst end. This unexpected violent act which results in Kirby's death changes the book from a happy go lucky unassuming YA novel of teen romance into a tragedy on how people deal with the accidental death of a child.


Many of the characters react differently to Kirby's death and it says a lot about who they are as individuals. Jude is looking for someone to blame and is angry at everyone, including Whaly whom he blames for being the catalyst for Harlan's rage. He closes himself off emotionally from his friends as his family struggles with losing a son and brother.

Harlan becomes even more violent as if in denial over Kirby's death. He claims that he never meant to hurt the boy, and he's probably right. But, he continues to behave like a simmering volcano waiting to explode. Suspense builds when trying to figure out who will be the next recipient of Harlan's unpredictable rage.

Whaly's friend, Cora, proves what a faithless friend she really is. A self-involved popular girl, she doesn't mind playing up the tears in front of a media audience about how the tragedy occurred at her house. However, in private, she can't resist bad mouthing Lenore and Whaly. Lenore, meanwhile, sheds her social awkwardness and shows an underlying strength and resilience, emerging as a true friend to Lenore.


Whaly also has to deal with her emotions flying all over the place. She is grief stricken and guilty over Kirby's death and can't get him out of her mind. She feels separated from her friends when both Jude and Cora reject her in different ways.

She is also suffering from PTSD because of Harlan's aggressiveness. She is fearful and suspicious of everyone. This is particularly felt within her home when Dustin does some construction work around her house. Whaly constantly questions Dustin's motives. Is he in touch with Harlan? Is he coming onto Whaly's divorced mother and does her mother return those feelings? Whaly's behavior is that of most teenagers, constantly worried and angst ridden.


Things take a violent turn in the climax, which shifts friendships and romances. Some characters mature and change while others do not. By the time Shove ends, the characters still mourn but they also accept the changes that have come.

New Book Alert: Lost Boy by Rawiri James; Suspenseful and Dramatic YA Novel Marred by Unnecessary Supernatural Subplot

New Book Alert: Lost Boy by Rawiri James; Suspenseful and Dramatic YA Novel Marred by Unnecessary Supernatural Subplot


By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews


Spoilers: Sometimes a book works when you combine several genres. You are reading about cowboys then all of a sudden, oops, a dragon appears! A couple goes out on a date, then suddenly he sprouts fangs and that chick lit romance you are reading suddenly heads towards Dark Fantasy Land.

Then there are times when crossing genres doesn't work so well when one half of the genre so overwhelms the course of the book, that the other genre becomes intrusive and almost unnecessary.

The latter situation is the issue with Lost Boy by Rawiri James. This book is an attempt to combine a coming of age YA and suspense novel with a science fiction/fantasy along the lines of X-Men. That isn't a bad premise in and of itself. The central idea is intriguing and the various aspects could work together. But in this case, they don't.


Mike DeVelli Jr.’s life seems to spiral out of control lately. His mother has died and both he and his father are having trouble coping with the loss. Mike Sr. retreats into alcohol while Mike Jr. becomes obsessed with constantly working out and eating very little. Mike Jr. alienates both his best friend, Joey, and his girlfriend, Nicole, to find solace through clubbing with school bad girl, Priyanka. Things go from bad to really bad when Priyanka goes missing and Mike is considered a suspect.


All of that would work as a coherent plot, but James also adds that Mike finds a newspaper article from another country that implies that he may be adopted. He also shares memories that he never had before and suddenly discovers that he has the ability to control and manipulate water.


Lost Boy has enough great things going for it that is a shame to take it apart but take it apart we must. The Coming of Age and suspense angles work so well that when the book veers towards the sci-fi and superhero, those aspects become jarring and take the Reader out of the rest of the book.


This book is filled with many different subjects: parental death, alcoholism, drug addiction, eating disorders (with a male character no less), interracial dating, pedophilia, child molestation, false accusations against a teacher, and child abduction. Anyone of these could just as easily remained the main focus of the book. Even Mike Jr. discovering that he was adopted could lead to an interesting subplot about what it's like to be a displaced orphaned child from an impoverished war-torn country.


However, the science fiction aspects get introduced in the middle of the book almost too late for it to be any importance to the rest of the story. Then, it takes the lion's share of the climax so what begins as a realistic kidnapping becomes a mano-y-mano match between a superhero and supervillain.


If maybe the superhero plot had been introduced earlier or became instrumental to the rest of the book (perhaps Mike's mother could have been killed by a former adversary instead of heart failure), the book may have succeeded. But there is just too much going on with too many plots that don't work together.


Lost Boy ends with the promise of a sequel. Here's hoping that there will be a better handle of combining the real and the unreal.

Classics Corner: Holes by Louis Sachar; Three Stories Blend To Make One Superb YA Classic

Classics Corner: Holes by Louis Sachar; Three Stories Blend To Make One Superb YA Classic




By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews


Spoilers: I always said that Louis Sachar's Newbery Medal Winning novel, Holes is deep for a YA novel. Heck, it is deeper than most adult novels. Teachers wisely have used this book to teach their students about paying attention to detail and multiple narratives.

Holes doesn't tell one interesting story. Instead, Sachar tells three and wraps them all in one ambitious, cleverly written superb classic.

Story #1 is that of Stanley Yelnats IV and his adventures at Camp Green Lake. Stanley's family has been under a curse for five generations. This curse often puts Stanley in the wrong place at the wrong time such as when he is caught with a baseball player's pair of athletic shoes that was donated to a children's home. Stanley is arrested and sent to an all-boys detention camp, Camp Green Lake.
The camp is in the middle of the desert and the nasty Warden and her cohorts demand that the boys dig one hole a day. They claim that they are trying to “build character” but it doesn't take long for Stanley to realize they are looking for something but what?

Story #2 is about Stanley's “no good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great grandfather,” Elya Yelnats and the origin of the Yelnats family curse. Elya was a young Latvian man who fell in love with a girl. To win her over, Elya's friend, Madame Zeroni suggests that he should take a pig up the mountain and tend to it so it will grow stronger. When he is done with that, he should then take Madame Zeroni up the mountain so she can grow stronger. However, if he fails, he and his family will be cursed always and for eternity.
Unfortunately, Elya rejects the flaky girl when she can't decide between her two suitors.
So, Elya flees to America forgetting about Madame Zeroni and his promise to carry her up the mountain. He realizes the consequences when his family becomes hit with bad luck, particularly his son, Stanley Yelnats I who has a chest of valuables stolen during a stagecoach robbery.

Story # 3, my favorite, is of Western outlaw, Kissin’ Kate Barlow. Kate is a schoolteacher in the once-thriving town of Green Lake. She becomes romantically involved with Sam, an African-American onion farmer. When they are caught kissing, Kate's schoolhouse is burned down and Sam is lynched and shot to death.
Out of revenge, Kate goes after the members of the lynch mob by shooting them then leaving a kiss as her trademark. Kate begins a 20 year career of robbing trains, banks stagecoaches (including a stage that had as a passenger, one Stanley Yelnats I), and killing people who get in her way. Rumors are eventually spread that she buried the loot that she stole out in the desert and anyone who searches for it will have to go digging. And what a coincidence, that in modern times there is a delinquent camp for boys that can do just that.

As you can tell, Holes is not an easy story to tell and that's what makes it a great book. In my previous entry for A Wrinkle in Time, I praised YA books that recognize their Reader's intelligence. They can tell an engaging and inventive story that draws in young Readers while using bigger concepts and effective storytelling that doesn't talk down to them. Holes has all of that and more.

Off-handed conversations become important later on. Some things happen to Stanley in the present which are answered in one of the flashbacks stories. Characters are introduced in the present whose relatives had great significance in the past.
Sachar chose not to write his book in a chronological linear manner. Instead, he combined the three stories using excerpts from each into the chapters sorting them by plot and thematic element. The questions asked by characters in the present are answered by characters in the past and struggles caused by character's actions in the past are resolved by character's actions in the present. Confused yet?

Holes is not just a book with a deep narration. It also has a lot of humor, depth, and a lot of warmth. Much of the humor lies in Sachar’s writing. He first describes Camp Green Lake as “There is no lake at Camp Green Lake.”
He describes Kate Barlow as a beautiful school teacher loved by her students and many of the men in town. The men came to her adult education classes hoping to get a date with her, but Sachar tells us “all they got was the education.”

The humor isn't just limited to the narration. Names add to the funny elements to the story. Stanley Yelnats’ first and last names are the same forward and backwards (His great-great grandmother thought that was clever and it stuck with subsequent generations.)
All of the campers and staff have nicknames. The campers call each other names like Zig Zag, X Ray, Armpit, Magnet, Squint, Twitch, and Zero after some physical characteristic or personality trait. To receive a nickname means that you are accepted as one of the gang, as Stanley (later Caveman) discovers.
The staff are called The Warden (her title to show she's in charge), Mr. Sir (The Warden’s sadistic second in command) and Dr. Pendanski AKA Mom (the boy's counselor who affects a kind demeanor but is really condescending and patronizing to the boys, particularly Zero).

Besides the clever narration and word play, Holes discusses real world issues like homelessness, child abandonment, juvenile delinquency, and most notably racism. Kate and Sam are an interracial couple in the late 1800’s. Their encounters as Sam fixes Kate’s school roof, window, door, and eventually her broken heart are beautiful making them among the best literary romantic couples of all time.

Sachar, however, doesn't shy away from the ramifications from a racist town that may not have minded Sam when he sold them onions but raises Holy Hell when he and a white school teacher fall in love. After Sam is killed, Kate transforms from a sweet schoolteacher to an angry outlaw and Green Lake changes from a lush green garden spot to an arid decayed desert. These changes reveal the hateful nature that was buried under the residents of Green Lake bringing that hatred out in the open.

Stanley's family also has much to answer for. While Elya's crime of forgetting about Madame Zeroni wasn't as great as Sam’s murder, he reveals his egocentricism and ungratefulness by not even thinking of her until it is too late. Elya's actions still led to many generations of bad luck, poverty, and tragedy for his family. The only way the curse can be resolved is through Stanley.

Stanley unwittingly becomes the catalyst for great change during his time in Camp Green Lake most importantly in his friendship with Zero.
Zero is a small camper who doesn't say much and is frequently bullied. Stanley and Zero strike up a friendship when Stanley teaches Zero to read and Zero helps his new friend dig his holes. They defend each other after they are bullied.
When Zero runs away from camp, Stanley orchestrates a daring escape attempt to find him earning them the support of the formerly apathetic campers. When Stanley and Zero are reunited, things happen that tie all three stories together and allows Elya's curse to be broken and Kate to finally receive some peace. What was broken by hatred and selfishness is made whole because of friendship and self-sacrifice.

Holes is one of the most ambitious YA novels with its multiple perspectives, time hopping narrative, and combination of humor, social issues, and warmth. Louis Sachar won the Newbery Medal for his efforts and rightfully deserved it.

Classics Corner: Matilda by Roald Dahl; The Gold Standard of Dahl's Illustrious Career

Classics Corner: Matilda by Roald Dahl; The Gold Standard of Dahl's Illustrious Career




By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews




Spoilers: There are many who believe that the definitive Road Dahl book is Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (even more so if they grew up with the 1971 film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory starring Gene Wilder). Don't get me wrong, Charlie is a wonderful book. Who can forget the luscious candy room where everything is edible, the great glass elevator which takes you into every room in the factory, the spooky tunnel, Violet Beauregard turning into a blueberry, and Charlie Bucket winning the factory in the end?

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a great book, but the true gold standard, the best of Dahl's work, is his tale of a well-read genius telekinetic little girl who decides that she has had enough of bullying adults. Roald Dahl's best book is Matilda.

Matilda is the second child of Harry and Zinnia Wormwood, a crooked used car salesman and his Bingo playing wife respectively. While her repulsive parents and dim older brother sit in front of the TV all day, Matilda learns to read at three. When her parents and brother go off to their daily activities, Matilda walks by herself to the public library. The kindly librarian, Mrs. Phelps encourages her to read longer adult books so that by the time she is five, Matilda's reading list includes Great Expectations, Jane Eyre, Tess of the D’Urbervilles, The Grapes of Wrath, Animal Farm and others.

While most parents would be impressed, the Wormwoods are not. They constantly belittle and abuse Matilda. That's nothing compares to what Matilda receives at school. The headmistress, Miss Trunchbull, is a terrifying beast of a woman. She insults and abuses the students. Trunchbull is the nightmare of every school kid.

However there is a light in this education nightmare. Matilda's teacher, Miss Jennifer Honey, is a kind soul who bonds with Matilda when she learns the girl can solve difficult math problems in her head and can read books above her level.

Matilda also discovers that she has telekinetic powers and can move things with her mind. Her new friendship with Miss Honey and her discovery of her powers inspire the young girl to take matters into her own hands and fight the adults who oppress her.

Matilda is a great example of Dahl's extraordinarily gifted writing. He always had a talent for drawing in Readers with intrusive comments. Matilda begins in such a way. The opening features a narrator getting irritated with parents fawning over their children. If the Narrator were a teacher, they would describe the kid slightly differently.

“If I were a teacher I would cook up some real scorchers for the children of doting parents,” the Narrator tells us. 'Your son Maximilian is a total washout….I hope you have a family business you can push him into when he leaves school because he sure as heck won't get a job anywhere else.’ Or if I were feeling lyrical that day, I might write, 'It is a curious truth that grasshoppers have hearing organs in the side of the abdomen. Your daughter, Vanessa, judging by what she's learned in this term has no hearing organs at all’....... I think I might enjoy writing end-of-term reports for the stinkers in my class.”

However, the Intrusive Narrator knows real talent when they see it and the Reader can feel the anger that a gifted child like Matilda is born to such an awful family. The book describes the Wormwoods as shallow, superficial, simple minded people. Matilda, by contrast, is more intelligent and self-aware. When Matilda reads books, she finds adventure and friendship, things she doesn't have. The narration says, “The books transported her into new worlds and introduced her to amazing people who lived exciting lives. She went on olden-day sailing ships with Joseph Conrad. She went to Africa with Ernest Hemingway and to India with Rudyard Kipling. She traveled all over the world while sitting in her little room in an English village.”

Dahl’s writing sees the world the way that kids see it, especially where adults are concerned. Dahl's adults are either good or bad. There is no in between. This is especially true of the adults in Matilda.

As previously stated, The Wormwoods sans Matilda are lazy couch potatoes who can't understand why Matilda would want to read when she has a TV in front of her. They constantly neglect and belittle their daughter. However, Matilda fights back by using her brain. She plays pranks on her unassuming parents like gluing her father's hat to his head or borrowing a neighbor’s parrot to make them think the house is haunted. The pranks are her only defense in a family that doesn't understand or love her.

Dahl also presents an even worse adult in the Trunchbull. She is the type of sadist who would pull a girl's pigtails and send her over a fence or force feed a large chocolate cake to a boy during an assembly for fun. She has several means of torture such as the Chokey, a closet with a door of sharp spikes and broken glass at her disposal. Miss Trunchbull's secret is that she is so reprehensible that no adult believes their kids when they tell them how bad she is and the ones that do are often afraid of her. It falls to the children to fight against her and they act like veterans in a long war that can't be won.
The antidote for Trunchbull and the Wormwoods is Miss Honey, the good adult. Miss Honey is a sweet kind fragile woman who the Narrator tells us has the unique talent of making children love her. She recognizes Matilda's intelligence and knows that she is capable of great things.

However, Miss Honey’s past is not a happy one. She had been abused as a child and still is in fear of her abuser. In an all too frightening and real moment, Dahl shows how childhood trauma can manifest itself in adulthood. Miss Honey is still so emotionally scarred that she can't cut herself off from her abuser. All she can do is provide a light and guidance for her students and become a catalyst to inspire Matilda's heroism.

Matilda's telekinesis comes about in a strangely natural way. It is an emotional reaction to all the stress that her family and Trunchbull put her under. It is also because of the boredom of learning lessons that are too easy for her. Her revenge against Trunchbull is sort of a light-hearted version of Carrie White’s.
Instead of Carrie using her telekinesis to enact revenge and cause chaos against all that she feels wronged her, Matilda is more selective. Matilda only uses them against Trunchbull and that is after she bullies another student.

Matilda knows her villains and she knows the cause of her abuse: Trunchbull and her parents. She is active in Trunchbull's removal, not just for herself but for Miss Honey and the other students.
Outside forces remove her parents from her life, but Matilda is once again instrumental in offering the right suggestion over where she will live afterwards and giving herself the happy home that she deserves.

While all of Dahl's books present wonderful imaginative situations with just the right touch of darkness so things don't get too saccharine, Matilda is his best. It is the crown jewel in Dahl's literary treasures.

New Book Alert: Sapphire and Planet Zero by Christina Blake; Amazing Hero’s Journey Voyages To Unique Planet

New Book Alert: Sapphire and Planet Zero by Christina Blake; Amazing Hero’s Journey Voyages To Unique Planet




By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews


Spoilers: Sapphire and Planet Zero could be best described as MYTHS IN SPACE!!!!

It is about a young woman who goes on a Hero's Journey by discovering her destiny through a magical creature, is received a task, given many trials, and faces a great enemy to ascend into a different higher role. This journey is more of a science fiction based one as the young protagonist visits another planet.

Sapphire is a typical teen with a typical teen life with friends, school, and ultra talented parents who don't spend much time with her. Unfortunately, some things are happening which makes her life….not so typical. A bottle of perfume from her grandmother's shop appears to cast a spell on her. People are mysteriously dying with no probable cause, including one of her classmates, and her newfound black cat, Toby begins talking.

Well it turns out that Toby is from Planet Zero and says that the planet has been conquered by Thaddeus, a powerful wizard. Oh yes and Planet Zero is inhabited by a species called the squila who each have a twin on Earth and Thaddeus has been killing squilla on Zero. So when the squila dies so does the twin. Oh and did I mention that Sapphire is half-squila on her mother's side and that she is the one destined to bring down Thaddeus?

So Sapphire has no choice but to gather Toby and her friend, Luke and take a trip to Zero to take on Thaddeus. They have to free the Good Ones, squilan leaders, from Thaddeus. Fortunately, they left clues for any attempted rescue and that's what Sapphire, Toby, and Luke must do follow those clues to find the Good Ones.

Sapphire and Planet Zero is in the grand tradition of the works of Madeleine L'Engle and Ursula K. LeGuin, a blend of fantasy and science fiction. Author, Christina Blake handles both aspects very well.

Planet Zero is a very evocative fanciful setting and the squila are a fascinating new species. They are human in appearance but are more attractive. There are also some other strange properties that make them stand out such as crystals running through their veins and violet eyes. (So did Elizabeth Taylor have squilan ancestry?) They also stop aging at 19 and appear forever youthful. When Sapphire's grandmother arrived on Earth however, she hid her squilan appearance and took an aging potion so her body could appear like that of an Earth woman. She also put a spell on her daughter, Sapphire's mother, to make her the most beautiful woman on the planet cancelling her anti-aging abilities as well.

The most interesting aspects about squilan life is that they are born with some unique power or ability. Sapphire's grandmother has magic powers and even calls herself a witch. While on Planet Zero, they encounter Nathan, a friendly young man with telepathy and telekinesis (“anything with tele-,”he says.) Who helps them. Unfortunately, Thaddeus's corrupt influence causes the squilans to use their powers against each other such as the moment when Sapphire and Co. witness a club brawl consisting of people fighting with powers that produce tornadoes, water, and flight. (Sort of like what would happen if the X-Men got really drunk during a night out.)

A fantasy or science fiction novel is only as good as its protagonist and Blake gives us a good one. One nice aspect is that Sapphire is clearly described as a person of color. It is refreshing to get some diversity in fantasy and science fiction, particularly in the former which unfortunately is still lagging behind other genres in that respect.

While the narrative uses the “Chosen One” motif, Blake doesn't go overboard in making Sapphire too perfect or too much like a Mary Sue. When she first hears about her half-squila ancestry, she is naturally horrified and angry at her grandmother for hiding it all these years. She can be stubborn and argumentative, often bickering and challenging Toby's advice especially when it doesn't make sense to her. She goes on this adventure like a normal teen would, stubborn and sullen but willing to learn.
Sapphire has just as many virtues as flaws. She and her friends are very smart and use their intelligence to solve the clues. She also expresses tremendous strength in character in her fights with Thaddeus. Another chapter that shows her strength is in her encounters with the Milo, a team of siblings who use their various powers to test Sapphire and her friends so they can be ready to face Thaddeus. Though the tests are physically and mentally challenging, Sapphire is able to use those lessons to her advantage in her final battle against Thaddeus and his Troop.


In some ways, Sapphire can be contrasted with Rey in the new Star Wars movies. However, where the Star Wars movies fails is in making Rey too superhuman. There is no meaningful transition in which she discovers the Force and uses it in small ways making rookie mistakes before she masters it. In The Force Awakens, she already uses the Jedi Mind Trick before even really knowing what the Force is. By The Last Jedi, she is using it in ways no one had done previously like making rocks stop in mid-air and contacting Kylo Ren telepathically.

By contrast, Sapphire is only learning about her connections to Zero. While she uses new-found powers in an extraordinary way by the end, it is a logical process. Her first time on Zero is filled with embarrassing faux pas and even her encounters with the Milo take a toll on her. Her mastery of her squilan heritage is clearly earned as we saw it evolve from her beginnings as a brash uncertain confused girl to a strong confident leader by the finish. Sapphire's journey also leaves us ready for another adventure with her (which a sequel is advertised at the end of the book. It hopefully should be another great read.)

Sapphire and Planet Zero has the interplanetary travel of science fiction but doesn't get too technical. It has the magic of fantasy but doesn't get too fanciful. Instead it creates a 21st century Hero Journey which is the perfect marriage of both genres.

Classics Corner: A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle; Classic Newbery Winner Science Fiction Fantasy About Conformity and Individuality

Classics Corner: A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle; Classic Newbery Winner Science Fiction Fantasy About Conformity and Individuality




By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews


Spoilers: The best YA books are the ones that realize that their Readers are young, but intelligent. They don't talk down to them. They aren't afraid to discuss topics like death, desertion, separation, even higher concepts about faith and individuality. They do all that and still provide their Readers with an engaging read that captivates their imagination.

Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time is that type of book.

A great book has to have a great protagonist. Meg Murray is a great protagonist. She is not a model of perfection. She is insecure, impatient, unsure of herself, and often confused about the world around her. She is smart but doesn't do well in school because she follows the “shortcuts” her genius father encouraged her to take in Math. She deeply loves her family and even communicates with her selectively mute brilliant brother, Charles Wallace but is concerned about the whereabouts of her father who has been missing since Charles was a baby. It's not easy being Meg but that's what makes her so understandable.


One night (“a dark and stormy night,” yes, L'Engle bravely used that as her opening line.), Meg and her family encounter a strange visitor, Mrs. Whatsit who tells them that there is such a thing as “a tesseract.” A tesseract is a wrinkle in time, similar to a wormhole, in which someone can travel vast distances very quickly. It also happens to be what Meg's parents were studying and maybe where her father disappeared into.

Before too long Meg, Charles Wallace, their new friend Calvin O'Keefe, Mrs. Whatsit, and her companions Mrs. Who and Mrs. Which travel through the tesseract to another dimension.

A Wrinkle in Time is filled with imaginative situations and characters. The three Mrses. are a fascinating trio, and certainly the most memorable characters of the bunch. Mrs. Whatsit appears as a cloaked character and of the enigmatic three is the most human in behavior and appearance. Mrs. Who constantly speaks in quotations particularly from literature and philosophers because she can't use human terms for what she means. Mrs. Which is a being composed of light whose speeches are written in a stilted manner like “Qqquiettt chillldd.”

The three Mrs. are the kinds of characters that are so intriguing that they steal every moment they are in. Fortunately, they don't get too overdone. L'Engle knew when to use them such as tessering the children, giving them explanations, and bestowing them gifts. She also knew when they should back off. After all, such powerful seemingly omnipotent beings could make the quest too easy or make Meg nothing but a mere observer in her story. But Meg isn't. She, Calvin, and Charles Wallace are the real heroes of the story. It is their journey to go on, their lesson to learn, and L'Engle (and the Mrses.) let them, especially Meg, learn it.


As with many quests, each step on their journey is designed to teach the children something and not always are the lessons happy ones. When they encounter a dark cloud like spirit hovering over called The Black Thing, the kids learns that there is evil and darkness around or rather beings that do horrible things for selfish and cruel reasons and that there are people that want to stop that evil. (Their father is an example of a hero wanting to stop The Black Thing.)

When they encounter such characters as the Happy Medium and Aunt Beast, they learn not to take everything at face value. They also learn about appreciation and unconditional love, things that they will need in their final test on Camazotz, a very strange sinister planet.

To retrieve Meg and Charles Wallace's father, the children visit Camazotz, where the houses all look alike, residents move in the same exact formation at the same exact time, and everything is rigidly controlled by rules, regulations, and paperwork. Seeing that A Wrinkle in Time was first published in 1962, this was probably L'Engle's commentary about 1950’s-’60’s suburbia and conformity. If so it was a dire situation that she saw.

The people of Camazotz do the bidding of IT, a creature who runs the world with precision and sameness. He believes that individuality must be removed and that everyone must be alike. (“Like and equal are not the same thing,” Meg declares.)

What Meg realizes as she encounters IT is that she needs to use her compassion, love, acceptance and even her flaws like impatience, anger, awkwardness-all the things that make her an individual to fight IT and save her brother, friends, and father.
A Wrinkle in Time is a Newbery Medal Winner and deservedly so. It is an engaging fantasy adventure with brilliant characters and a lesson that Readers of all ages need to learn.

New Author Alert: A Good Girl by Janice Magerman; Debut YA Novel Is A Brilliantly Characterized Look At High School Cliques, Teen Suicide, and Pregnancy By Julie Sara Porter

Weekly Reader: A Good Girl by Janice Magerman; Debut YA Novel Is A Brilliantly Characterized Look At High School Cliques, Teen Suicide, and Pregnancy

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews




Spoilers: YA Novels are difficult sometimes for adults to read the way the teen years were difficult to experience. It's hard to recall those times of raging hormones, romances that changed every other day, and the constant questioning of their roles and how to live up to them.

Janice Magerman's debut novel, A Good Girl captures those feelings of teenage insecurity and emotions by writing brilliant characters that deal with the pressures of high school cliques, suicide, and developing hormones.




Aaron, a bullied teen is driven to suicide after being pushed around one too many times by the wealthy school clique, The Elite. Aaron is a member of The Losers, a clique made up of poorer outcast students. Shortly after Aaron's suicide, his chief tormentor, Wade dies in a car accident. The two deaths send many of their friends reeling particularly Charlotte, a girl who was an Elite and Wade's friend but was growing tired of the Elite’s bullying.




Charlotte is the best character in the book because she is able to transcend the role dictated to her by her peer group. Even though socially she hung around with Wade and knew him as her boyfriend's best friend, she was not blind to his bullying ways and grieves more for Aaron. This realization affects the passages between her and Aaron's friend, Justin as she goes from offering casual sympathies to becoming a friend.




Justin and Charlotte befriend each other as he takes her around “Loserville,” the poor side of town. Justin is a very sweet character who helps Charlotte through her grief over Aaron and Wade's deaths, and is able to talk one on one with Charlotte as friends instead of members of opposing peer groups. The two share dreams, childhood memories, and the Reader prepares for a romance between the two.




Unfortunately, in the books only weak spot, Charlotte gets involved in a romance with Dillon, the requisite bad boy. Dillon is a potential juvenile delinquent who at first behaves obnoxious and misogynistic towards Charlotte. He is prejudiced against Charlotte because of her Elite status because he too has been a victim of their bullying. While he becomes a more likable character later on, the romance between Charlotte and Dillon seems more forced than anything else. It could have been just as effective for Dillon to accept Charlotte as a friend and who is happy with the relationship between his buddy, Justin and Justin's new girlfriend. Unfortunately, once Charlotte and Dillon starts to develop feelings for each other, Justin gets pushed aside and a more interesting and likeable character becomes Friend Zoned in favor of the classic Rich Good Girl/Poor Bad Boy pairing.




Some revelations get revealed in the book that changes the book's course and Charlotte's behavior. Some of the revelations appear abrupt and out of the blue but are subtly foreshadowed and lead to stronger character developments.They also allow Charlotte to challenge the hypocrisy of the Elites as people who display a wealthy successful facade while inside the homes are not successful or particularly happy.




A Good Girl is one of those novels that takes us inside the roles that teens play in cliques and shows how teens limit themselves when they join a clique. But when they confront those cliques and stereotypes, they can instead grow into better people.

Banned Books Special: 13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher; A Moving Heartbreaking YA Novel About Suicide And Those Left Behind

Banned Books Special: 13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher; A Moving Heartbreaking YA Novel About Suicide And Those Left Behind


By Julie Sara Porter


Bookworm Reviews





Spoilers: Bullying and Suicide are important topics these days especially with teenagers. People often believe that suicide is ultimately no one's fault. (Not even the deceased because they were often depressed and had mental illnesses that controlled their way of thinking) However, there is a growing awareness that slut-shaming, body-shaming, public embarrassment, cyber bullying, and physical and psychological bullying can be key factors in contributing to a person's depression or low self- esteem. The consequences of those actions can damage a person's already fragile psyche and result in that person's suicide.





Jay Asher’s YA novel 13 Reasons Why (which has become a series on Netflix) is a grim and heartbreaking look how a young girl's suicide affects those around her particularly those she blames for her final actions.





In the beginning, the Reader learns that Hannah Baker is dead. Her friend, Clay Jenson mourns her loss as he receives a strange package of seven cassette tapes and a note advising whoever receives them to listen to them then pass them along to someone else on the list. Borrowing his dad's old stereo, Clay listens to Hannah's voice as she sadly and with buried fury tells about those who hurt her or did little to help her, those that she blames for her suicide.





Each account shows in great detail the events that surrounded Hannah making her realize how few people she had to turn to. She documented various moments when other kids at school spread rumors about her. One boy gave her her first kiss but told everyone he went farther with her. Hannah's reputation was then marred as a slut. Another boy put her name on a list with the moniker “Best Ass” which inspired another boy to pinch and grope her.


These two accusations gave Hannah a false reputation that she couldn't shake of being a wanton party girl. They resulted in escalated mistreatment such as when a girl in school spread rumors about Hannah's so-called sexual adventures and sex toys. (When in reality the girl tried to help Hannah avoid a Peeping Tom by pretending to perform for him with Hannah) More serious and tragic consequences resulted when a boy raped a friend of Hannah then Hannah herself.





Hannah also laid blame on the seemingly nice people who failed to help her when she needed them the most. A teacher and guidance counselor appears on Hannah's list when she recorded their conversation and told him all that happened particularly her rape. Hannah was so far gone in despair thinking everyone was against her that she took badly his advice “to just move on.” Actually he advised several suggestions including reporting what happened to her to the police, but in Hannah's mind, she doubted everyone. His suggestions only confirmed her belief that no one cared how she felt.





Clay listens to the tapes anxiously wondering why he was on the list. While Hannah appeared to absolve Clay of any guilt saying he was a good friend, in the most heartbreaking moment he realized that it wasn't anything he did but what he didn't do: He didn't listen to Hannah when she needed help, didn't ask her what was wrong or realized that anything was wrong. His crime was not doing enough to help her.


While this realization fills Clay with shame and guilt, he uses those feelings to help another depressed girl, Skye. This shows that Clay learned from his inaction with Hannah and helps another troubled girl so she doesn't follow Hannah's lead.





13 Reasons Why shows that our actions and words have grave consequences and despite what our mothers told us names can break our bones, or spirits. Hopefully though in the final moments between Clay and Skye, The Reader learns that words and actions can also lead to healing broken spirits as well.

Classics Corner: The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster; A Fantastic Magical Journey With Deep Meaning

Classics Corner: The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster; A Fantastic Magical Journey With Deep Meaning

By Julie Sara Porter,

Bookworm Reviews

The Phantom Tollbooth is a classic Juvenile novel in the tradition of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland or The Chronicles of Narnia. On the surface, it’s an imaginative story about a boy who goes to a fantasy world, meets unusual creatures, goes on a quest to save the world, and is declared a hero. What makes The Phantom Tollbooth a classic along the lines of Alice is the depth that the journey takes. The Phantom Tollbooth is a magical journey that is really an allegory about the importance of learning.

The protagonist, Milo, is a young boy who the narrator tells us “doesn't know what to do with himself not just sometimes but always.” He can't get excited about anything. His toys and books bore him. He finds his school lessons unimportant. He isn't satisfied when he goes places. He is one unhappy young boy and would be miserable for the rest of his life if he didn't find a mysterious tollbooth that appears in his room with instructions on how to use it.

Milo drives his small electric car through the tollbooth and finds himself on the road to Dictionopolis, a fantasy kingdom with residents that live for words and letters. Dictionopolis’ ruler King Azaz is in constant conflict with his brother, The Mathemagician, the ruler of the neighboring kingdom of Digitopolis, whose residents live for numbers. Milo learns that Azaz and the Mathemagician will continue to war with each other until someone goes to the Castle of Air and rescues the Princesses of Sweet Rhyme and Pure Reason who bring balance to the world. Naturally Milo is the lucky volunteer for the quest.

As seen by the summary alone, the Phantom Tollbooth is a buffet of symbolism and verbal byplay. Only a truly gifted writer could create characters named Rhyme and Reason (as in the old saying “There is no rhyme or reason.”) with a straight face. Naturally the two kingdom's rulership of words and numbers illustrate the basics of learning. (Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic.)

The book is filled with clever plays on words such as a place called Conclusions (which naturally can only be reached by Jumping to it.) When Milo says that he got in a bad situation because “he wasn't thinking.”

Another character tells him the only way out is to start thinking which pulls Milo out of his trouble.

The visits to Dictionopolis and Digitopolis are rich in passages which take word and number concepts literally. Milo goes to a word market where Dictionopolis residents actually eat their words and each letter has a different taste. (C is crunchy and chocolate, while I is very cold, and so on.) The Spelling Bee is an adorable insect that spells words. The Whether Man is a character who wonders whether there will be weather.

Meanwhile, at Digitopolis there is a figure called the Dodecahedron with ten faces and a different emotion for each face. A boy is the .58 of his average family of mother, father, and 2.58 children and looks like it. (He has only half a body.). There are roads to Infinity in which unwary travelers keep going without stopping.

The clever characters and situations aren't just found in the two kingdoms. They are sprinkled throughout the book. Milo is aided on his journey by Tock, a stern but lovable watchdog that has a timepiece on his back and the Humbug, a pompous braggart who occasionally is able to talk himself and his friends out of a bad situation.

 Milo and his friends also meet a conductor who conducts colors each morning and night (his sunsets and his sunrises are particularly gorgeous) and the Sound Keeper, who collects every beautiful sound in the world. With each character and situation, Milo learns to appreciate the beauty of words, color, sounds, and numbers finding happiness that he took for granted in the real world.

Of course no fantasy would be complete without its antagonists and these are found within the minds of the character. (and no doubt the Reader.) Early in the book, Milo encounters the Doldrums, lethargic creatures that have busy days of lazing about, dawdling and dreaming,and putting off until tomorrow. The Doldrums echo Milo’s earlier depression and are warnings for what he could have become if he hadn't taken the journey through the Tollbooth.

On their way to rescue Rhyme and Reason, Milo, Tock, and the Humbug have to journey through the aptly named Forest of Ignorance and encounter several demons that like the Doldrums symbolize  psychological traps people fall into. There's the Terrible Trivium who makes Milo and his friends do mindless unnecessary tasks to distract them from their journey. The Demon of Insincerity claims to be a large terrifying creature but is really a small coward. A giant would rather conform to the thoughts and appearance of others so he could blend in rather than be his own individual.
 It is easy to see how the characters and the Readers can fall into the traps in the Forest of Ignorance. Because the demons are ones that we fall into every day, it becomes more meaningful to read about Milo and his friends get out of them and rescue Rhyme and Reason.

While this book was written for children, adults would certainly enjoy it for the clever word play, the references to words and numbers, the allegorical characters but also for the journey which shows the best way out of dull complacency or complete ignorance is learning and appreciating what we learn.

Forgotten Favorites: Little Little by M.E. Kerr; A Sweet YA Love Story About Two Outsiders

Forgotten Favorites: Little Little by M.E. Kerr; A Sweet YA Love Story About Two Outsiders
By Julie Sara Porter,
Bookworm Reviews

This is another book that has been a long-time favorite of mine, since I was in middle school. Little Little is a Young Adult novel that gives us a teen romance between two characters who are just as sharp, witty, and non-conformist now as they were 37 years ago in 1981 when the book was first published.

Little Little La Belle, a three foot, three inch tall high school senior is soon to turn eighteen and is contemplating her future. She lives in a  picture postcard upstate New York town with a  wealthy family of average sized parents and a younger sister. She is tired of her mother trying to fix her up with various little people who are "perfectly formed" or "p.f." and tired of her father not wanting to let her grow up at all. She plans a secret engagement with Knox "Little Lion" Lionel, a TV evangelist and fellow little person with a large following and an even larger ego. Things begin to go awry when she meets and forms a friendship and maybe more with Sydney Cinnamon, another little person who is to be her party's entertainment.

Sydney has some issues of his own. At three feet, four inches, Sydney has been starring as "The Roach," a TV mascot for a pest control company and has been hired to entertain at Little Little's upcoming birthday party. An orphan and high school dropout, he begins to fall for Little Little himself and vice versa. The two begin a romance based on their different outlooks and the difficulties that they experience of being short stature.

The book is very dated in some parts. Little Lion's career as a TV evangelist seems to be based upon real preachers from the '80s such as Jimmy Swaggart and Jim Bakker so the character seems a bit dated now. (However many of his conservative fundamentalist views still retain some of their prominence as does the discovery when his character is not all that he pretends to be). Little Little and Sydney go on one of their dates to a grindhouse movie theater which shows such B movie horror films as The Incredible Two-Headed Transplant and Curse of the Werewolf. However, M.E. Kerr has given the reader two strong characters through their humorous narration and their fresh outlooks on life.

In alternating first person chapters, Little Little and Sydney both give their views of the world with deft and witty narration that makes them memorable characters. In describing her younger sister Cowboy's various interests, Little Little observes: "It's hard to tell which one of us is most strange, me or Cowboy, though a dwarf will always look stranger anywhere."

Sydney also presents some clever insights, particularly about his fame as The Roach: "I decided to be something that people don't like instinctively and make them like it....If I'd been a vegetable, I'd have been a slimy piece of okra. If I'd been mail, I'd have been a circular addressed to 'Occupant.'"

Besides the narration, Sydney and Little Little become individuals describing their different experiences as little people. Little Little grew up with a normal sized family and has always been considered a town outsider; Sydney grew up in an orphans' home with other children with physical deformities; Little Little's first experience with other little people was when her grandfather took her to a meeting of The American Diminutives (TADS), a fictional organization that she and her family later join, mostly with the purpose of setting Little Little up with the male members. Sydney's first experience with other little people was when he went with the other orphans' home children to a theme park and saw various little people dressed as gnomes, foreshadowing his future working as an advertising mascot. Little Little is constantly described by the mother as "little, but p.f." but is tired of being treated as small doll by everyone around her especially her parents; Sydney often feels self-conscious about his hunched back, his overlong front tooth, and his short legs, but covers up his physical insecurities with one-liners and intelligence gleaned from reading various books about other people with physical abnormalities. In the differences in the two leads, M.E. Kerr shows that experiences can be different and even people in similar situations can be raised with completely different outlooks in life.

Above all, the book is about being an individual in a world that encourages conformity or as Sydney and Little Little describe, being oneself rather than being"Sara Lee" which means "Similar And Regular And Like Everyone Else." There are various moments that celebrate the characters' individuality such as Sydney and his friends' mock-Oscar award ceremony call "The Monsters" which awards are presented such as "Least Likely To Get Adopted" or "Most Likely To Scare Small Children." Little Little also proves her non-conformist nature in her arguments with her family including her blustering but well-meaning minister grandfather. When he tells her to "be a bush, if she cannot be a tree," she counters with "the idea of being a bush wasn't all that appealing and not for me, anyway, even if I was the best bush." Through Little Little and Sydney, Kerr seems to speak to every kid or adult who has ever been considered different by their peers and encourages them to embrace it and be themselves or as Sydney says "When I found out  I was a ball in a world of blocks, I decided that even if they didn't roll, I do. I decided to roll away, be whatever  I wanted to be."