Review: Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith

I gave in and put my name on the waiting list at the library for this one.  I'd just been hearing so much about it, and it really does sound like my type of story from the synopsis.  I was pretty excited when it finally came in for me to check out two days before I went to have my surgery.  So I went and got it, and it was one I took to read while recovering at my dad and stepmom's house.  It wasn't a "quick" read, in that there was a lot to read.  I couldn't zoom through it, skipping things to get the story.  But it was hard to put down, in that I needed to know what was going to happen, and the suspense just built and built.  I will have to say, without giving anything away, that the ending was not exactly what I was expecting.  I'm not saying that in a bad way.  I had just assumed from the way the story was going, that something different was going to happen.  Honestly, I do really like the way the story ended.  Here's my summary of the story:

The main character is Austin Szerba.  And he is a Polish boy.  We know that because he gives us the history of his family starting really in detail with those who came to America.  His best friend is Robby Brees, and his girlfriend is Shann Collins.  Austin is a confused teen.  And like most other boys his age, very horny.  He loves his girlfriend, and is always thinking about sex with her.  But his best friend Robby is gay.  And he is not sure about if he might be interested in Robby as well.  He loves his best friend, and accepts him for who he is, and knows that Robby has feelings for him like he has for Shann.  He even fantasizes about both of them, or should I say, all three of them together.  Now, Austin and Robby go to a private Lutheran school (shout out for that, as I went to a Lutheran school from 1st-8th grade).  And they do get picked on.  That is kind of where the whole story begins.  Some bullies take Austin and Robby's skateboards and shoes and throw them up on the roof of an old almost empty shopping center.  When they go back to recover their belongings later in the evening, they end up going into the store beneath, which just happens to be owned by Shann Collin's stepdad.  They decide to go into his office, because no one ever does. And there they find lots of crazy things.  Hands inside of jars.  A two headed baby boy inside a jar.  Parts of giant bugs inside of jars.  And also glowing globes.  Unfortunately at that same moment, the bullies are back, they want to steal from the liquor store connected to this same store.  They go into the office and take some of the glowing globes.  As they are leaving, they drop one of them.  And the glowing stuff spreads there on the ground.  And that is that.  The beginning of the end of the world.  Soon Austin and Robby and Shann find a silo, a silo that gives away information about what is soon to be the cause of all the world's problems.  They learn about the Unstoppable Soldier, basically a giant praying mantis.  And do you know what these bugs like to do?  Two things, as we are told over and over, eat and have sex. 

So, yes, this is a crazy science fiction story about giant bugs and secret corporations who create things for the military that go wrong, and are covered up until an accident sets them loose again.  But, it is also a coming of age story.  We get the inside scoop on how Austin is dealing with his friend and his girlfriend, and experimenting, and what he can also almost only think about one thing, sex.  I loved how this even touched on an often challenged/banned book, The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier.  I'm going to guess that this book is going to be challenged by many people who actually pick it up and read it as well.  I really liked how honest all of it was though.  How uncertain he felt, but also intrigued about his best friend, even though he knew he was definitely interested in his girlfriend too.  How he realized that what he was doing was going to hurt both of them.  And that what he was doing was selfish.  I loved all the history that he kept adding to the story. Although at first I was a bit worried it would be too redundant.

This made for a very interesting, funny, heartbreaking, intense, edge of your seat read.  I will recommend it, with caution of course at school, but to all book lovers, and to fellow teachers and librarians looking for new, original stories for teens. 

Proxy (Proxy #1) by Alex London

First thanks to Penguin Young Readers and Netgalley for allowing me to read an e-galley of this book.  This is a dystopian type of thriller, one for boys, with the main characters being boys.  However, and though I have no problem with it, something that might be an issue for some people is that the main character, Sydney, he is gay.  It's not really any way that could be considered "in your face", in fact it fits into the story perfectly, and really isn't much different than any other teen romance story.  Actually there really isn't anything other than a kiss or two, and those aren't even really in what you'd call really romantic settings actually, like you'd think of a romantic scene in a movie or book, not so much.  But beyond that, let's talk about the story.
As I mentioned, the main character is Sydney, or Syd as he prefers to be called.  Syd is an orphan who was brought into the city and given a chance to go to school by becoming a Proxy for one of the rich kids, or as they call them, Patrons.  What that means is that his debt will be worked off by taking the slack, the punishment for anything his Patron, who is named Knox, does wrong.  Instead of Knox getting spanked, or punished in any way really, Syd gets the punishment, Knox does have to watch though.  One main type of punishment in this world is being given shocks, I'm guessing it is basically like a cattle prod or taser type of weapon.  And Knox is basically always in trouble it seems.  At first before Syd understood why he was being punished when he hadn't done anything, he had cried.  But soon when he learned just why it was happening, that he was having to pay off his debt of living basically, he vowed not to let them see him cry.  And unlike Syd's friend Egan, Syd does nothing else to add to his debt.  Once he reaches a certain age, I think it was 17 or 18, he will be free of his debt, and have no more to do with this.  But unfortunately, his Patron has done something that will change this.  Knox gets drunk or drugged up and steals his father's car to impress a girl, Marie, and he has an accident.  When he wakes up, he finds that Marie has died, and he has to watch his Proxy, Syd, get a horrible punishment.  More of the shocks at one time than ever.  And not only that, Syd must now go to a prison/reform center, to fulfill Knox's sentence for killing the girl.  And this will go WAY past the time he was supposed to be free.  So Syd decides he must escape.  And when he is able to get away, he finds his friend Egan.  Egan has a friend who can help Syd get a fake ID so that he can hopefully get out of the city and save  his own life.  Turns out this friend is a Patron, and guess who it is, Knox.  So as he figures out who Knox is, because while Knox has had to watch him be punished, Syd has never seen Knox, he determines that he must kidnap Knox and use him as his hostage to get away.  Along their attempt to get Syd to safety they will learn that there is more to Syd's background than he knew, and that it is something very important in why Knox's day is so eager to find and catch him.  Knox will learn more about himself, enough to maybe grow up a little.  Egan will come back to help them with their getaway.  And the end it kind of about redemption in a way.
While I believe that they can still go on with the story, I think that it also ended in a way that it doesn't have to go on, and that is kind of nice.  The ending reminded me of the Star Trek Movie where Spock and Kirk talk about how the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or vice-versa.  I also was really ready for Egan to betray Syd at the end from the way Syd had described Egan's need to get as much tech, or "lux" things as they described them in the book.  But I was pleasantly surprised that although Egan made some bad choices, he truly seemed to be the friend Syd thought he was until the end.  Definitely a fun story, with some great ideas about how to save a system of debt like this society in the story is made up of.

Beauty Queens by Libba Bray

To start off, I have to admit that I'd heard not so good things about Going Bovine from librarians in my school district. Of course I follow authors on Twitter who say good things about it. So conflicting reviews, and the fact that so far the books haven't sounded like something I really wanted to read after a quick scan of book jackets, had kept me from reading any of Libba Bray's books until now. What finally got me to pick up this book, Beauty Queens, and read it, was a review in Entertainment Weekly magazine. They described it as hilarious. So, I checked it out from my bookstore and set in to form my own opinion.

First I was glad that by checking it out I didn't have to carry around the book with the cover. Sorry, would have felt really weird carrying about a book with a picture of a girl in a bikini and machine gun on the cover, especially since I think it was just her body, the head was cut off. It took me a while to get into the book. I could tell right away it was going to make fun of beauty pageants, and to start off it seemed pretty much like what you'd expect. But as I read further in, it got to be way different, and more complex in what the jokes and themes were. We got to know most of the beauty pageant contestants pretty well, and they all had something to hide you could say. Now, I will say that a lot of the themes were pretty mature. And so I would not recommend this to a middle school student, unless they were a really advanced reader. I know that at that age I was reading VC Andrews books, but I was one of those advanced readers, and my parents would probably have taken them away if they'd known what they were about. But high school would be okay. Themes include homosexuality, promiscuity, sex changes, etc. Not that I have a problem with any of them, just know that if I was in a school library, especially at middle school level, there could be issues.

There were some of the funniest lines I've read in a book in a long time. First was this little section (Warning, mature theme here):

p. 148: Nicole is saying: "But only after she accidentally has sex with him."

"Hold up. How do you accidentally have sex with somebody?" Adina scoffed. "Is she all, 'Oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't see your penis there'?"

Freaking hilarious! I laughed out loud when I was reading that. Unfortunately I forgot to mark with post it notes the other spots that made me laugh that hard, so I can't share those with you. But suffice it to say that Entertainment Weekly was correct, this is one funny book.

Only one thing I disliked, the book went back and forth between calling them by their names and their states, like Taylor is Miss Texas. But sometimes I couldn't remember who they were by their states, it was easier when I saw their names. So I just wish that would have been a bit more clear. I can't end on a negative note though, I have to again say this was a really funny book.