Hush (2007)

Donna Jo Napoli writes stories based on fairy tales and this book is based on a story from an Icelandic saga about a girl named Melkorka who was bought by an Icelandic man named Hoskuld and takes her back to his home. In our book, Melkorka is an Irish princess who was kidnapped when trying to escape her town before the Vikings invaded. She is advised by another slave to pretend to be mute so that her pride and arrogance wouldn't end up getting her beaten or worse.

In the night someone rolls agains me as we lie sleeping. I open my eyes to see Maeve's eyes shining at me in the moonlight. "He's convinced you are an aist - a stork," she whispers. "A stork who has the power to chage form into a woman. He thinks you may be a charodeitsa - an enchantress, but unlike our Irish piseogai, he fears you could be evil. It's only how clean and pretty you are that keeps him from quaking."

Melkorka was sold by the Russian kidnappers to an Icelandic sailor named Hoskuld. She continues to learn about these hard, rough, people from the north and about herself in the process. Her intelligence serves her well by quickly picking up languages and knowledge about healing from another slave.

Life in these northern places was cold, dark, and cruel. By following Melkorka on her voyage we learn about these early civilizations. She was a remarkable girl who wisely used her wits to stay alive. I recommend this book to historical fiction fans.

My rating for this book: ++++

This Full House (2009)

I've been waiting for quite a while for the third book in the Make Lemonade trilogy by Virginia Euwer Wolff and I was not disappointed. When I put a mylar cover on the dust cover I discovered a surprise about the art which is not apparent in the face-on view you see here. When the cover is completely open it is apparent that both girls are pregnant!
Anyway, LaVaughn is still attending school, pushed and supported by her single mother, and babysitting Jolly's two darling children, Jilly and Jeremy. Jolly is a very young single mother trying to make a good life for her children by getting her GED.
LaVaughn is now a senior in high school and the goal of attending college is so close she can almost taste it. She is accepted into a program called WIMS.

"Every girl here is from a poor school
and this doctor walks in
as if we're the best roomful of students ever.
She puts the binder on the lecture stand
and smiles at every one of us,
a startling smile,
I can feel it like a beam
when it comes to me and moves along.
'WIMS.
Women in Medical Science.
These four words can connect you
with the rest of your lives, girls.' Her voice.
Like a deep bell, promise, expectation.
She looks across the whole room and back again.
'Note that this is not a large group.
Fourty-five, to be exact.
You are preparing to give your lives to medicine.
And what is medicine,
what do we devote ourselves to here?
Preservation of life,
restitution of health. That is our mission.'
The lump in my throat comes and goes.
I think it is because
I might fail this thing."

So speaks Dr. Moore, a dedicated neurosurgeon who has organized a medical school primer for high school girls to entice them and give them a boost into the field of medicine. LaVaughn is riveted to every word but something starts to creep into her mind, something about the doctor that reminds her of someone, mannerisms that she has seen before. Could she be Jolly's mother? To add to her many fields of focus, one of her best friends is pregnant.
Wolff has given us another novel in verse about her protaganist who has her goal in reach and still has time for her friends and mother. I have no doubt that LaVaughn will continue through college and achieve a position in the medical field. I would love to be at her graduation.
My rating for this book: +++++

Juno (DVD, 2008)

Ellen Page plays a teenager who gets pregnant and decides to give it up for adoption. She finds a couple (played by Justin Bateman and Jennifer Garner) who want to be parents to her baby (she much more than her husband). We follow Juno from when she first learns she's pregnant, makes the tough decision about keeping the child, and procedes through her pregnancy. Juno's character is very bright, very sarcastic, and she becomes truly concerned about the future of her child.
With all of the "drama" of high school, this movie shows how pregnancy takes the reality of life to a whole new level and launches Juno into adulthood just that much sooner. Her pregnancy is not glamorized and the decisions she has to make are not trivialized. With all of her wisecracking, she takes care of herself, continues to attend school, and takes the steps necessary to ensure a good place for her child.
I loved this movie but I have grown very tired of the song they sang at the end.
My rating for this movie: ++++

Echo & Weetzie Bat

Francesca Lia Block really likes to write about the Los Angeles scene. These two books are full of references of places, events, and life styles that are typical of L.A. I found it interesting that the main character in both of these books went to New York and made the Metropolitan Museum their favorite place there. I wonder if it is the same in her other books. Echo and Weetzie are both trying to discover who they are. In the end they both find someone. Echo ends up with a guy and Weetzie ends up with a housefull of characters one might call a family. I ended up wondering how these stories would continue since they end rather abruptly. Weetzie Bat continues for four more books but Echo doesn't.
These are short and very fast reads. I recommend this author if you are looking for a quick piece of candy in between more challenging stories.
My rating for these books: ++