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Friday, March 28, 2014

What's coming up?

I spent some time this week sorting out my review calendar. Currently, I've got reviews scheduled through the end of June. I'm excited to have that much to read! (My husband is excited that most of that is in ARCs or galleys!) 

So, I thought I'd give a preview of what's down the line for Mean Old Library Teacher.

April 1

April 3

April 4



What do you think??

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this ebook galley from Enter Text Here through the netGalley publisher/reader connection program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Thursday, March 27, 2014

BOOK REVIEW: Little Women & Me, by Lauren Baratz-Logsted

lwam1  Emily is sick and tired of being a middle sister. So when she gets an assignment to describe what she'd change about a classic novel, Emily pounces on Little Women. After all, if she can't change things in her own family, maybe she can bring a little justice to the March sisters. (Kill off Beth? Have cute Laurie wind up with Amy instead of Jo? What was Louisa May Alcott thinking?!) But when Emily gets mysteriously transported into the world of the book, she discovers that righting fictional wrongs won't be easy. And after being immersed in a time and place so different from her own, it may be Emily-not the four March sisters-who undergoes the most surprising change of all. 



After all the dark dystopia and other things I've read, it was SOOOOO nice to grab something that is definitely lighter fare to read.

First...you'll either love or hate both the premise and the story. There really is no middle ground. If you've never read the original Little Women, a lot of things won't make much sense to you. Die-hard fans may find it hard to reconcile the altering of the story with Alcott's original. But it's worth the read, regardless.

After being assigned an essay in which she has to explain what she would change about a favorite book, Emily is transported into the world of the March sisters in Little Women. (This was the only bit that bothered me---it's just "whoosh" and she's there....really?) It's a fun idea for a story. And since she's here now, why not "fix" those things she didn't like in the original story? 

Emily is a rather typical self-absorbed modern teenage girl. Plopping her into the middle of a Civil War era story line isn't going to change that. It's subtle, but you do see that she changes as  she learns more about the sisters and the others. And she changes for the better.

I could get up in arms over the changes in the story (changes that change the arc and would've ruined the original for me), but this book isn't about the March sisters. It's about Emily, learning a little something about herself and her place in the world.

What do you think??


Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author. I was not required to write a positive review (it just so happens that I did!). The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Friday, March 21, 2014


Miss last night's #yalove Twitter chat about Fantasy?

Check out the Storify in the wiki archives










Thursday, March 20, 2014

The Giver - Official Trailer - The Weinstein Company


What do you think??


Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this ebook galley from Enter Text Here through the netGalley publisher/reader connection program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

#yalove chat TONIGHT

TONIGHT: 7:00-7:30 PM CT. We're talking Fantasy titles tonight. Don't miss it!


Thursday, March 13, 2014

REVIEW: Fractured Innocence, by Julia Crane

Kaitlyn and Erik are sent on a mission to track down Vance Dasvoik, a ruthless monster. His latest thrill—abducting and selling young women.Vance's current victim: Aaliyah, a seventeen-year-old who never imagined walking her brother home from school one evening would change her life forever.The mission quickly turns personal for Kaitlyn when she finds Aaliyah beaten, her mind and soul fractured from abuse of the worst kind. Kaitlyn knows firsthand what it's like to be haunted by the past and resolves to bring justice to the elusive Dasvoik.

**This is book 2 in the IFICS series. The first book, Freak of Nature was reviewed on January 9, 2014.

Again, cover art that's actually relevant. It's a pretty miraculous thing, sometimes.

Crane delivers, again. I LOVED Freak of Nature (Who wouldn't?) and Fractured Innocence is a sequel that stands up well. Readers need to understand, though, that this story is very different from Freak.


Kaitlyn is on her first mission, and it's a tough one. Gone is the search for self-awareness story line, the struggle to balance cyborg and human. Understand, the struggles are still there, but that's not the story anymore.

It's pretty gritty. Pretty darn gritty. Aaliyah is abducted by a human sex-trafficking ring. That fact is not glossed over. You know what's happening to her even if it isn't described in specific detail. In other words, you can paint a picture in your mind very easily of the sex scenes and even more easily of the torture scenes (Dasvoik--the ringleader--is sadistic, to say the least). Nothing in those scenes is sugar-coated. Crane has done an amazing job portraying the fear and seriousness of this in the world today. She's made a connection for YAs.

I think the best part of this story is the way Kaitlyn and Aaliyah wind up relating. Don't want to give it away, but their relationship couldn't have been written any other way. I'm looking forward to more in this series, to see how this friendship plays out.

I was hooked in this story from the get go, and not simply because I enjoyed the first book so much. The romance between Kaitlyn and Lucas is still there, just played down some, as it's not central to the story. All of the characters deepen and develop (except Quess, who has a minute role in this book). It's really some masterful characterization. 

My only "cons"--- First, I can't hand this to my 9th and 10th graders. I've got some "young" 11th graders I can't hand this to. Second, the first 70% of the book (according to my e-reader) was build up--which is great. But the last of the story, from the climax to the end just went too quickly, and wrapped up a little too neatly, even knowing that there's more to come. It moved so quickly I re-read it this morning to make sure I hadn't missed something.

What do you think??


Disclosure of Material Connection: I purchased this book for my personal collection. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Thursday, March 6, 2014

REVIEW: This House is Haunted, by John Boyne

Set in Norfolk in 1867, Eliza Caine responds to an ad for a governess position at Gaudlin Hall. When she arrives at the hall, shaken by an unsettling disturbance that occurred during her travels, she is greeted by the two children now in her care, Isabella and Eustace. There is no adult present to represent her mysterious employer, and the children offer no explanation. Later that night in her room, another terrifying experience further reinforces the sense that something is very wrong.
 From the moment Eliza rises the following morning, her every step seems dogged by a malign presence that lives within Gaudlin’s walls. Eliza realizes that if she and the children are to survive its violent attentions, she must first uncover the hall’s long-buried secrets and confront the demons of its past.


Touted as being a Dickensian ghost story. And I'll admit it had a certain Tell-Tale Heart feel to it. The setting, the creepy children, and the village's secrecy about what's really going on at Gaudlin Hall definitely put you in the mind of a Dickens story. 

I like the characters. I feel like I got to know those who had stand-out personalities. All except Isabella, that is, but I feel like not getting to know her made her character more realistic.

There were several anachronistic things...the language and interactions between characters wasn't in keeping with the Dickens time period. It's kind of predictable, but I still found myself immersed in it enough to keep going. Not the greatest Gothic supernatural novel, but worth the read if you like the very specific genre.

What do you think??


Disclosure of Material Connection: I purchased this book for my own collection. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

REVIEW: Skin and Bones, by Sherry Shahan

Sixteen-year-old Jack, nicknamed "Bones," won't eat. His roommate in the eating disorder ward has the opposite problem and proudly goes by the nickname "Lard." They become friends despite Bones's initial reluctance. When Bones meets Alice, a dangerously thin dancer who loves to break the rules, he lets his guard down even more. Soon Bones is so obsessed with Alice that he's willing to risk everything–even his recovery.

There just aren't that many YA novels about eating disorders with male characters.

And this one isn't "about" eating disorders. Yes, it takes place in a hospital ward that is a residential treatment program for eating disorders. Yes, Bones has anorexia. Yes, his roommate has the opposite problem (overeating to the detriment of his precarious diabetes state). And yes, everyone else on the ward has one or another disorder. But this story really doesn't focus on it. Not to say that the eating disorders were just a vehicle for getting to the rest of the YA story...it's just the focus to me seemed to be that teenage issues don't stop just because you have an eating disorder.

And that's okay.Bones is a teenage boy, with all the usual teenage boy issues and thoughts. He just also has anorexia. He wants a girlfriend who gets him, and he finds a possible love interest in Alice, who is more obsessed with perfection than he is.

Here's what I liked...


  • I liked that that there was a wide spectrum of eating disorders portrayed. Any unhealthy relationship with food (or the lack of it) is an eating disorder.
  • I liked that, in what to me seems very realistic, Bones didn't come to the ward with any desire to "get better." He had to grow into the mindset that he had a problem.
  • I liked that Shahan explained how Bones and Alice both started down the roads they did. I would've liked more about why Lard and the others were there.
  • I liked the interactions in the family therapy scenes. Again, seemed very realistic to me.

My only real "problem" with the book is that it felt disjointed at times. Here and there I felt like there were scenes missing. Clearly, the characters were supposed to get from point A to point C, but B was skipped. Sometimes the shortest distance between 2 points IS a straight line, but it's not always the best way to travel, you know?

What do you think??

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this ebook galley from Albert Whitman & Company (Albert Whitman Teen) through the netGalley publisher/reader connection program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

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