Tortall Series: The Immortals Quartet

Author: Tamora Pierce

Books in Quartet: Wild Magic, Wolf-Speaker, Emperor Mage, Realms of the Gods

Tortall Series: The Immortals quartet is the second quartet in a larger series of books called the Tortall Series. Each quartet is related in that they take place in the same land and the charcters often know each other or are inter-related, however, each quartet is about a different person. The first Quartet is Song of the Lioness, which I have reviewed also on this blog, then the Immortals. After that is Protector of the Small, about a girl named Kel, and then you have Trickster's Queen,  and Trickster's Choice.The Beka Cooper trilogy technically is set years and years before Song of the Lioness, but from what I've heard, it stands on its own without much need of reading the others, so you can go for those at whatever point. Just a bit of information in case you wanted to make sure you're reading them all in the right order.


Pages: Book 1 - 362
Book 2 -368
Book 3 -358
Book 4 - 338

Rating: .PG (There's some violence and war, but nothing terribly graphic. The love part only comes in the very last book, and all they do is kiss, so it's clean in that sense too.)

Summary: Book One -Thirteen-year-old Daine has always had a knack with animals, but it's not until she's forced to leave home that she realizes it's more than a knack -- it's magic. With this wild magic, not only can Daine speak to animals, but also she can make them obey her. Daine takes a job handling horses for the Queen's Riders, where she meets the master mage Numair and becomes his student.
Under Numair's guidance, Daine explores the scope of her magic. But she begins to sense other beings too: immortals. These bloodthirsty monsters have been imprisoned in the Divine Realms for the past four hundred years, but now someone has broken the barrier. It's up to Daine and her friends to defend their world from an immortal attack.

Book Two - When Daine is summoned by the wolf pack that saved her life a year earlier, she knows she has to go. She and Numair travel to Dunlath Valley to answer the call. But when they arrive, Daine realizes with a shock that it's not just the animals whose lives are threatened; people are in danger too. Dunlath's rulers have discovered black opals in their valley and are dead set on mining the magic these stones embody. Daine learns that Dunlath's lord and lady plan to use this power to overthrow King Jonathan -- even if it means irreversibly damaging the land and killing their workers.
On a mission to save both her animal friends and her human ones, Daine has to master her wild magic in order to fight for the kingdom and triumph over the would-be usurpers.

Book Three - Sent to Carthak as part of the Tortallan peace delegation, Daine finds herself in the middle of a sticky political situation. She doesn't like the Carthaki practice of keeping slaves, but it's not her place to say anything -- she's just there to heal the emperor's birds. It's extremely frustrating! What's more, her power has grown in a mysterious way.
As the peace talks stall, Daine puzzles over Carthak's two-faced Emperor Ozorne. How can he be so caring with his birds and so cruel to his people? Daine is sure he's planning something. Daine must fight the powerful Emperor Mage, knowing that the safety and peace of the realm depend on stopping Ozorne's power-hungry schemes.


Book Four - During a dire battle against the fearsome Skinners, Daine and her mage teacher Numair are swept into the Divine Realms. Though happy to be alive, they are not where they want to be. They are desperately needed back home, where their old enemy, Ozorne, and his army of strange creatures are waging war against Tortall.

Trapped in the mystical realms Daine discovers her mysterious parentage. And as these secrets of her past are revealed so is the treacherous way back to Tortall. So they embark on an extraordinary journey home, where the fate of all Tortall rests with Daine and her wild magic.

My Thoughts: I like the Alanna books and the Protector of the Small books better than the Immortals, but that didn't stop me from being engrossed in these. It was again hard to stop reading them, because they move at a very fast pace. Daine's magic is different from most people's. Some people in the fictional land have magic called the Gift, but it is easier to control, and most people with the gift can do simple things like light fires with it. Daine's magic is specific to animals. She can heal, but only animals, not people, and she can speak to animals and control them basically. Outside of the animal realm, Daine's powers do basically nothing. Her wild magic is so strong, that at one point, she got so absorbed in connecting with a pack of wolves that she forgot she was human for a time.

By the end of the first book, Daine has figured out how to talk to the animals around her and call to them with just her mind, from great distances. She is no longer in danger of forgetting she is human. In the second book, Daine learns how to basically inhabit other animals for brief amounts of time. She goes into meditation and for a set time, she can see, taste, and feel everything that animal does. By the end of the book, she is learning how to shapeshift and actually become other animals for a while, although this is quite difficult. Each book has a different disaster that Daine helps divert because of her ability to talk and work through her animal friends. She also can talk to Immortals, and there are some good ones. Griffins, dragons, basilisks, and others are all friendly and kind Immortals. But there are plenty of bad ones too. Every disaster that almost befalls Tortall is part of a giant scheme by Ozorne, and that doesn't reach a climax until the last book.

The last book is by far the most violent and magical and crazy. New creatures are surfacing all the time, and things are really developing. I started to get overwhelmed with all the magical stuff and the crazy stories with their gods and whatnot. The gods have a huge role to play in the last book, and it gets a little far-fetched. Overall, the Immortals series is not my favorite of the Tortall books, but they are still good.

Winter's Child: A Retelling of "The Snow Queen"

Author: Cameron Dokey
Pages:173
Rating: G

Summary:
Free-spirited Grace and serious Kai are the best of friends. They grew up together listening to magical tales spun by Kai's grandmother and sharing in each other's secrets. But when they turn sixteen and Kai declares his love for Grace, everything changes. Grace yearns for freedom and slowly begins to push Kai -- and their friendship -- away.
Dejected Kai dreams of a dazzling Snow Queen, who entices him to leave home and wander to faraway lands. When Grace discovers Kai is gone, she learns how much she has lost and sets out on a mystical journey to find Kai...and discover herself.

My Thoughts: This book is based off of the Hans Christian Anderson story called "The Snow Queen" which is actually A LOT different. I found a summary of the original story here and I have to say I definitely like the premise of the book better than the original story. In the book, the Snow Queen is actually a good character. Because of something that happened to her when she was a baby, she is burdened with the quest to go throughout the world and heal hearts of fear and sorrow, until she finds someone who can heal her own heart. I really liked how all the elements fit together, and for once, it didn't feel like a story full of set-up and very little climax. It was really good, and the ending was really unexpected. Recommended for anyone.

The Storyteller's Daughter: A Retelling of "The Arabian Nights"

Author: Cameron Dokey
Pages: 281
Rating: G

Summary: In a faraway kingdom, a king has been betrayed. Deeply hurt and bitterly angry, he vows never to be deceived again. Unfortunately, the king's plan to protect himself will endanger all of the realm's young women, unless one of them will volunteer to marry the king -- and surrender her life.
To everyone's relief and horror, one young woman steps forward. The daughter of a legendary storyteller, Shahrazad believes it is her destiny to accept this risk and sacrifice herself.
On the night of her wedding to the king, Shahrazad begins to weave a tale. Fascinated, the king lets her live night after night. Just when Shahrazad dares to believe that she has found a way to keep her life -- and an unexpected love -- a treacherous plot will disrupt her plan. Now she can only hope that love is strong enough to save her.

My Thoughts: This is so far one of my favorites in this series of retold fairy tales. I love the fact that it's several stories within a story, since all the stories Shahrazad tells are also in the book. For once the climax is in exactly the right place, because it's building all along through the stories Shahrazad tells Shahrayar (the king) every night. And every night as the stories are told, love is forming between the two. It's such a good story, full of all the good fairy-tale elements, like seeing the good where no one else can see it, being kind to those who don't seem like they deserve it, and earning favor from genies and others who grant wishes. I highly recommend this one. I loved it. =)

Sunlight and Shadow: A Retelling of "The Magic Flute"

Author: Cameron Dokey
Pages: 184
Rating: G

Summary: In a time when the world was young and many things were quite commonplace that are now entirely forgotten, Sarastro, Mage of the Day, wed Pamina, the Queen of the Night. And in this way was the world complete, for light was joined to dark. For all time would they be joined together. Only the ending of the world could tear them apart. In other words, in the days in which my parents married, there was no such thing as divorce....
Thus begins the tale of Mina, a girl-child born on the longest night of the darkest month of the year. When her father looked at her, all he saw was what he feared: By birth, by name, by nature, she belonged to the Dark. So when Mina turned sixteen, her father took her away from shadow and brought her into sunlight.
In retaliation, her mother lured a handsome prince into a deadly agreement: If he frees Mina, he can claim her as his bride.
Now Mina and her prince must endure deadly trials -- of love and fate and family -- before they can truly live happily ever after....

My Thoughts: I loved this story. I have never actually seen "The Magic Flute" originally an opera written by Mozart in German, but it's one I've always wanted to see, and after reading this book, I've now reserved it from the library. If you are interested in reading the synopsis of the opera, I found it here. I think the book has probably a nicer story, in that Pamina and Sarastro were originally married and that Mina was their child. There are two other characters in the book that the summary does not mention. Gayna is the daughter of Sarastro's forrester. Sarastro has raised her in his house since she was small and her parents died. Lapin is a boy who has known Mina her entire life; he lives in the household of the Queen of the Night. In his family's possession are a set of bells said to summon your heart's true love if you play the true music of your heart on it. Mostly, Lapin has just managed to summon birds of every shape and form. Tern is the handsome prince that Lapin summons, and he is the one in possession of the Magic Flute. He carved it out of an old majestic tree in his home country.

 Most of the book is set-up, and the actual climax doesn't happen till close to the end but because it almost reads like an old "Beginning of the World" story, it doesn't seem as cheesy. Like all the other books in the Once Upon A Time series, it's a quick, easy read. However, since it's a story that's probably unfamiliar to most of us, it keeps you intrigued the entire time. I was never quite sure who was going to end up with who, or what is eventually going to happen. I also like the fact that various chapters or even sections within chapters are voiced by different characters. Sarastro and Pamina never get to tell any part of the story, but Lapin, Mina, Tern, Gayna, and Statos do. It can sometimes be a bit confusing who is telling the story though because the chapter headings don't tell you. Usually it can be figured out in the first few sentences. I recommend this one. It definitely has an old legend feel to it. Loved it. =)

The Bean Trees

Author: Barbara Kingsolver
Rating: PG-13 - there's a few sexual references/sex related humor, but I would consider it extremely mild, and definitely not memorable.
Pages: 261

Summary:Clear-eyed and spirited, Taylor Greer grew up poor in rural Kentucky with the goals of avoiding pregnancy and getting away. But when she heads west with high hopes and a barely functional car, she meets the human condition head-on. By the time Taylor arrives in Tucson, Arizona, she has acquired a completely unexpected child, a three-year-old American Indian girl named Turtle, and must somehow come to terms with both motherhood and the necessity for putting down roots. Hers is a story about love and friendship, abandonment and belonging, and the discovery of surprising resources in apparently empty places.

My Thoughts: I absolutely love this book. I read it for the first time in middle school, again in high school, and again now. One of the big perks to this book is that it's not centered on love, heartbreak, or random teenage drama. It's a real story of a person trying to get by in life. Taylor has a personality that is rather unforgettable, and all the people she meets in the story are pretty similar.

Basically, Taylor (who changed her name to Taylor from Marietta) is tired of Kentucky and decides to get out. She opts to drive her car as far as it will take her, but gives up that idea when her car breaks down in boring, flat Oklahoma. While in Oklahoma getting her car fixed, Taylor aquires a child. An Indian woman simply leaves the girl on Taylor's passenger seat. With nowhere to go really, Taylor takes the kid with her. She names her Turtle because she has a vice-like grip that reminds Taylor of mud-turtles. Eventually, Taylor ends up in Tucson, Arizona, where she finds housing with a woman named Lou-Ann, who recently had a baby, and whose husband just left her.

There are two directions the story goes from here. First, Taylor decides she wants Turtle to belong to her legally, but with no documentation, this proves rather difficult. Most of the second half of the story encompasses Taylor's struggle to adopt Turtle. Underneath all that is a story about illegal immigration. Taylor has a friend in Tucson who is in the business of helping illegal immigrants get into the country and find places where they will be safe. Mostly, these people fled their country in the south because they would have been killed otherwise. It's kind of the second story line going on. Now that I've read a few of Kingsolver's books, I'm beginning to think that the theme of her books always has something to do with a controversial issue involving the United States and our involvement with foreigners. But regardless of the commentary on immigration, I LOVE the book, and I think it's a fantastic story.

The Talent Code: Greatness Isn't Born. It's Grown. Here's How.

Author: Daniel Coyle
Rating: PG (there's a few minor swear words)
Pages: 221

Summary:What is the secret of talent? How do we unlock it? In this groundbreaking work, journalist and New York Times bestselling author Daniel Coyle provides parents, teachers, coaches, businesspeople—and everyone else—with tools they can use to maximize potential in themselves and others.

Whether you’re coaching soccer or teaching a child to play the piano, writing a novel or trying to improve your golf swing, this revolutionary book shows you how to grow talent by tapping into a newly discovered brain mechanism.

Drawing on cutting-edge neurology and firsthand research gathered on journeys to nine of the world’s talent hotbeds—from the baseball fields of the Caribbean to a classical-music academy in upstate New York—Coyle identifies the three key elements that will allow you to develop your gifts and optimize your performance in sports, art, music, math, or just about anything.

My Thoughts: This is probably one of the most fascinating books I've ever read in my entire life. I was hooked, the entire time. The best part is, it's not written in boring scientist language. The author is a talented story-teller, and it's definitely written in layman's terms. You do not have to be a genius to wrap your mind around the concepts in this book.

Also, it could apply to EVERYTHING. Basically, the main focus of the book is that talent in anything (outgoing nature, music, math, athletics, etc) is something that you can grow in yourself if you want it enough and if you practice well and a lot. The book points out that many people we think are geniuses or naturals at something (Mozart, Jessica Simpson, etc) actually spent hundreds of thousands of hours painstakingly practicing the skills that got them their fame. Mozart, "by his sixth birthday, had studied 3,500 hours of music with his instructor-father."

I really don't know how to talk about this book, because it seriously must be read. I enjoyed reading it to learn about education helps as well. Encouraging effort, rather than innate "smartness" helps kids to grow and learn at much faster rates, and the book also helps you to understand that failures are opportunities to keep practicing and get better. The more you fail, the more you practice it to get it right, which helps your brain to cement the correct way into your instincts. Failures and difficulties help us learn more and learn better. The more time we spend practicing what is on the edge of our comfort zone, the better we will get at whatever it is. I HIGHLY recommend this book. SO INTERESTING!!!!

Tortall Series: Song of the Lioness Quartet

Author: Tamora Pierce

Books in Quartet: Alanna: The First Adventure, In the Hand of the Goddess, The Woman Who Rides Like a Man, Lioness Rampant

Tortall Series: Song of the Lioness is the first quartet in a larger series of books called the Tortall Series. Each quartet is related in that they take place in the same land and the charcters often know each other or are inter-related, however, each quartet is about a different person. After Song of the Lioness, the next quartet is called The Immortals Series, and it's about a girl named Daine. After that is Protector of the Small, about a girl named Kel, and then you have Trickster's Queen,  and Trickster's Choice, which are about Alanna's daughter. The Beka Cooper trilogy technically is set years and years before Alanna, but from what I've heard, it stands on its own without much need of reading the others, so you can go for those at whatever point. Just a bit of information in case you wanted to make sure you're reading them all in the right order.


Pages: Book 1 - 274
Book 2 - 264
Book 3 -284
Book 4 -384

Rating: PG, however Alanna does have sex in books 2,3,and 4, but it's not graphic AT ALL. It's extremely vague. Basically, there's a point where in one sentence she wonders what it would be like to have sex, and then it says a few chapters later that she continues to work hard on her lessons by day, and "at night, --------- taught her about loving." (I left out the name so as not to give it away). And then in book three it's clear that she is sleeping with a certain person, but nothing explicitly says that they're having sex, other than one time where she says she feels best when they make love. Same with book 4. She calls him her lover, and it says they share a bedroll. But there is no description whatsoever. The books are not romances. I did not feel uncomfortable with it at all, but it's up to you.

Summary: Book One - Call it fate, call it intuition, or just call it common sense, but somehow young Alanna knows she isn't meant to become some proper lady cloistered in a convent. Instead, she wants to be a great warrior maiden--a female knight. But in the land of Tortall, women aren't allowed to train as warriors. So Alanna finds a way to switch places with her twin, Thom, and take his place as a knight in training at the palace of King Roald. Disguising herself as a boy, Alanna begins her training as a page in the royal court. Soon, she is garnering the admiration of all around her, including the crown prince, with her strong work ethic and her thirst for knowledge. But all the while, she is haunted by the recurring vision of a black stone city that emanates evil... somehow she knows it is her fate to purge that place of its wickedness. But how will she find it? And can she fulfill her destiny while keeping her gender a secret?

Book Two -
Still disguised as a boy, Alanna becomes a squire to none other than the prince of the realm. Prince Jonathan is not only Alanna's liege lord, he is also her best friend -- and one of the few who knows the secret of her true identity. But when a mysterious sorceror threatens the prince's life, it will take all of Alanna's skill, strength, and magical power to protect him -- even at the risk of revealing who she really is...
Filled with swords and sorcery, adventure and intrigue, good and evil, Alanna's second adventure continues the saga of a girl who dares to follow her dreams -- and the magical destiny that awaits her.

Book Three - Newly knighted, Alanna of Trebond seeks adventure in the vast desert of Tortall. Captured by fierce desert dwellers, she is forced to prove herself in a duel to the death -- either she will be killed or she will be inducted into the tribe. Although she triumphs, dire challenges lie ahead. As her mythic fate would have it, Alanna soon becomes the tribe's first female shaman -- despite the desert dwellers' grave fear of the foreign woman warrior. Alanna must fight to change the ancient tribal customs of the desert tribes -- for their sake and for the sake of all Tortall.

Book Four - Having achieved her dream of becoming the first female knight errant, Alanna of Trebond is not sure what to do next. Perhaps being a knight errant is not all that Alanna needs....But Alanna must push her uncertainty aside when a new challenge arises. She must recover the Dominion Jewel, a legendary gem with enormous power for good -- but only in the right hands. And she must work quickly. Tortall is in great danger, and Alanna's archenemy, Duke Roger, is back -- and more powerful than ever. In this final book of the Song of the Lioness quartet, Alanna discovers that she indeed has a future worthy of her mythic past -- both as a warrior and as a woman.

My Thoughts: I read these books for the first time when I was in middle school, and I have to say they are just as addicting now that I'm an adult. The books are rather small, so the 200 pages goes by really quickly. It probably took me about 4 hours to read each book. Since the books are about a girl proving herself in a man's world, you can definitely say that there is a feministic agenda about them, but it's not to the point where it's annoying or anything. To me, the message that is really evident is that you can be anything you want to be, and you shouldn't let anyone hold you back. You shouldn't let your gender or any other aspect of who you are keep you from following your dreams and achieving them. They're fun girl power books. It's nice to read about a girl who kicks butt and is just so awesome.

The books also move really quickly. You definitely never get bored, and it doesn't feel like you've run a marathon after you're done with them. In fact, the books are short enough, that you're basically dying to read the next one because the first one was just over too soon!

For all you sci-fi/fantasy freaks out there, the books are also filled with magic. Some people in the books have it, some do not, but if they do it is called "The Gift" and it's just something inside of them. They do have to learn to use it and control it, and control how much they use, because if they use too much at once, they can die. If they drain themselves of magic, they can't stay alive. Alanna doesn't just learn how to fight with swords and bows and arrows, she also learns how to use her magic.

 The people in Tortall have a variety of Gods, similar to Ancient Greece.The people kind of pick and choose which God is their personal favorite or whatever, but there are two main ones, a male and a female: Mithros, and the Great Mother Goddess. Alanna specifically  is a favorite of the Goddess, and her path in life is helped along by this Goddess. For me, it's all just fictional and good, and there are still some good messages in there, like when Alanna finds out that she is going to have to deal with her monthly period. She is extremely unhappy about this, and wants to change it, but the healer woman tells her that it's none of her business changing who the Gods wanted her to be. Here's the quote. "Your place in life you can always change, whether you have the Gift or not. But you cannot change what the gods have made you. The sooner you accept that, the happier you will be."

I love these books. They are great fun, they have some good messages, and they are pretty clean. You just have to get past the fact that Alanna has pre-marital sex, but for me it wasn't that hard to do, because it was not even the tiniest bit graphic, and it's certainly not the main focus of the story. It's just something that happens, but it's a background thing. It's not really a love story. Alanna does need to learn to be a woman and love, and that is why the sex is thrown in there, but it's really vague.

Book 3 is probably the least action packed, since it's kind of an in-between book. It's just the bridge between exciting things happening. But don't skip it. You need the background of the 3rd book to help you understand what is happening in the 4th one. I still read more than half the 3rd book in less than 2 hours. And then the 4th one has a nice satisfying ending, AND a long battle scene with lots of action. So it's very exciting. I highly recommend this series!

Zig Zag

Author: Ellen Wittlinger

Pages: 264

Rating: PG-13, but just barely. There's a little language, but not much, and at the beginning it's clear that Robin does have sex with her boyfriend, but there are no graphic sex scenes. They just have a conversation about what their parents would think if they knew. But since the book is not really about Robin's relationship with Chris, I don't really think you should let that fact keep you from reading the book.

Summary:Robin can't believe it when her boyfriend, Chris, tells her that his parents have enrolled him in a summer program in Rome. It's their last summer together before he goes away to college, and now they won't even have that time together. It feels like the worst thing that's ever happened to her.

Since Chris is leaving, Robin agrees to join her aunt and cousins on a cross-country road trip, in spite of her reservations -- she and her younger cousins have never really gotten along, and since their father's death they've become even more problematic than before.

Soon the four of them are zigzagging through the West on an eye-opening journey. They explore parts of the country Robin never dreamed existed -- and she discovers inner resources she never imagined she had.

My Thoughts: This book was one of my high school favorites, and I still liked it. It brought back a lot of nostalgia at the beginning when Robin feels like it's the end of the world that her boyfriend is leaving and that she is nothing without him. I totally remember feeling that way when my high school boyfriend went off to college and left me behind.

Robin is really funny, and her cousins, Iris and Marshall, have lots of problems. They're such real characters though. They are trying to deal with a huge tragedy, and they each choose different ways to deal with it. Marshall draws violent pictures, and Iris is just snotty all the time and she's hovering on the verge of bulimia. Robin is thrown in the mix to somehow get them all through the summer, and she ends up acting like the family's therapist. Robin ends up handling the whole mess extremely well. She's such a strong character, even though she has very little faith in herself. She learns a lot along the way, and she grows up a lot too.

It's not your average dopey teenage love story or anything. These kids have real issues, and the trip helps them to heal and come closer together. That's part of why I like this book. It has a lot of lessons written into an easy to read story about a family on a road trip across the USA.

Down the Mysterly River

Author: Bill Willingham
Pages: 328
Rating: G - there's a little bit of violence, but nothing too gory or difficult to read.

Summary: Max “the Wolf” is a top notch Boy Scout, an expert at orienteering and a master of being prepared. So it is a little odd that he suddenly finds himself, with no recollection of his immediate past, lost in an unfamiliar wood. Even odder still, he encounters a badger named Banderbrock, a black bear named Walden, and McTavish the Monster (who might also be an old barn cat)—all of whom talk—and who are as clueless as Max.

Before long, Max and his friends are on the run from a relentless group of hunters and their deadly hounds. Armed with powerful blue swords and known as the Blue Cutters, these hunters capture and change the very essence of their prey. For what purpose, Max can’t guess. But unless he can solve the mystery of the strange forested world he’s landed in, Max may find himself and his friends changed beyond recognition, lost in a lost world… 

My Thoughts: This book quickly jumped into my favorites list, and this is why: It's a really excellent fantasy/adventure story that isn't 750 pages long and doesn't rope you into reading three or four more books because it's part of a series. The book stands completely on its own, isn't extremely long, and has a very satisfying ending. I couldn't believe that a book like this really existed. Most books in this genre are a million pages long and part of a series, which can be annoying if you don't really feel like investing all that time into 3 more books.

I found that the book moved along at a really nice pace. I could hardly put it down, and it reawakened my love of fantasy/adventure books. Max and the other characters are very likable, very real, and the book is easy to read. It's entertaining for an adult, but I'm sure a 10 year old would love it just as much. The book reminded me just a little bit of Inkheart, but I can't say why without giving away the ending. Max eventually figures out what this world is all about any why he is there, but I was completely in the dark. The answer was definitely a surprise to me, and it was creative. It's not a story you've read before. Once you know the end, you have to almost go back and read certain parts again because it will mean something different in light of this new information. I highly recommend this book for ALL ages.

In Zanesville

Author: Jo Ann Beard

Pages: 287

Rating: PG mostly, but there is a smidge of language. Not a lot though. 

Summary: The beguiling fourteen-year-old narrator of IN ZANESVILLE is a late bloomer. She is used to flying under the radar-a sidekick, a third wheel, a marching band dropout, a disastrous babysitter, the kind of girl whose Eureka moment is the discovery that "fudge" can't be said with an English accent.

Luckily, she has a best friend, a similarly undiscovered girl with whom she shares the everyday adventures of a 1970s American girlhood, incidents through which a world is revealed, and character is forged.

In time, their friendship is tested-- by their families' claims on them, by a clique of popular girls who stumble upon them as if they were found objects, and by the first, startling, subversive intimations of womanhood.

With dry wit and piercing observation, Jo Ann Beard shows us that in the seemingly quiet streets of America's innumerable Zanesvilles is a world of wonders, and that within the souls of the awkward and the overlooked often burns something radiant and unforgettable.

My Thoughts: This isn't really a novel I'll probably remember forever, but I will admit that it was interesting and the writing was excellent. Beard is one of those authors that can describe things so well that you're left thinking, "yes, it is like that" even if you never would have thought to describe it that way before. If you're really into coming of age novels, this is just another one of those. The thing for me is that nothing really happens in this book. There are some problems with her best friend because suddenly the popular girls want to hang out with one of them but not the other, but that's really all. They briefly experiment with boys, just kind of to see what it feels like. Mostly, it's just a series of the kind of events girls have to deal with growing up, and it's kind of funny watching this make her way through it. The way she expresses her trepidation of having to wear a bra someday cracked me up. "It's like being on your way to the Alps and knowing that when you get there you'll have to wear lederhosen."

One interesting fact about the book...they never tell you the name of the main character, although I was more than halfway through the book before I realized this. The closest I got was that she has the same name as one of the girls in Little Women, but she's not Amy. "Little Amy March grew up while no one was looking, wandered away from wherever it was they lived, and became an artist, while the one named after me had to stay and be in a worse book later." This wasn't enough of a clue for me, so if anyone else knows Little Women better than I do, let me know what this girl's name is because I was extremely curious by the end.

I will say I found the ending disappointing, but I was never disappointed while actually reading the book. I did enjoy it. The author does a wonderful job capturing the essence of a young teenager trying to figure out what it means to grow up, while still being afraid to leave childhood behind.