Last saturday was a very exciting day as it was the finale of the 2nd annual NYC Teen Author Book Festival. The NYC Teen Author Book Festival (lets call it NYCTABF) is a week long event where some of the best YA authors gather throughout the five boroughs and do talks, meetings, and signings all of which are open to the public. The NYCTABF is open to the public and the event that always gets the biggest crowd is the mass book signing at Books of Wonder ( http://www.booksofwonder.com/ ) where over 60 authors get to celebrate with cupcakes, sign books and meet the fans. I hope this tradition will last until I have teens who will want to celebrate. Last year I had the privilege to meet with Scott Westerfeld, author of the Uglies trilogy and Leviathan (picture above at right); Ned Vizzini, author of Be More Chill and It's Kind of a Funny Story (It's Kind of a Funny story is a book I highly recommend and don't judge it by the back cover summary; it's inaccurate); David Levithan, co-author of Nick and Norah's Infinate Playlist and author of Boy Meets Boy and Love is the Higher Law. Robin Wasserman, author of the Skinned trilogy, Hacking Harvard, Chasing Yesterday, and less popular Seven Deadly Sins series also regularly makes an appearence although I've yet to meet with her.
I just found out that the mass book signing was occuring about a week before the event through a tweet sent by Scott Westerfeld ( @ScottWesterfeld ). I was reading through the list of authors and discovered I had two books from authors who were going to be there. I immediately started reading in preperation for this event.
Below is a pic of Libba Bray and I. It's a little blurry and I look horrible, then again, my mom took it :-P
Title: Going Bovine
Author: Libba Bray
Genre: Dark Comedy, Adventure
Summary: 16-year old Cameron is a misfit diagnosed with Mad Cow Disease. When a punk-rock angel named Dulcie tells him there may be a cure he goes on a road trip with along with a video-game obsessed dwarf named Gonzo and yard gnome who just so happens to be Balder, a Norse god.
Review: When I saw this book in Barnes and Noble when it first came out in October, I was instantly drawn to it. The cover art is great and when I looked at the summary that was even greater. I got it for Christmas and it was on my very long list of books to read. Like I said earlier when I heard Libba would be at the signing, I just had to start reading it. Going into this book I didn't expect it to be as non-realistic as it was. I did know however, that it was going to be pretty sarcastic, loony, and a pretty good read. Going Bovine recently won the 2010 Michael L. Printz Award which is, along with the Caldecott and Newberry honors, like the Oscars of children and young adult literature. Now on to the actual review. Let me start off by saying that, even though at 480 pages, Going Bovine is a pretty quick read. The story is straight-foward and at an easy reading level. Don't let this fool you! There is reference to marijuana use, loss of virginity, and many F-bombs are dropped. However, I feel this is realistic as part of a troubled teen's life and does not take away from the reading experience. Some things I liked about Going Bovine were the sense of high school realism you get at the beginning of the story, the sarcastic humor, and the changes you see as Cameron goes on his adventure through a surreal yet not-so-surreal America. I also liked the messages and morals of the true meaning of life that we all know deep, down inside. My final thoughts: A pretty funny and real yet imaginary read that will leave readers with a bittersweet taste in their mouth.
Grade: A/A-
SECOND REVIEW:
Title: Love is the Higher Law
Author: David Levithan
Genre: Realistic Fiction, Historical Fiction, LGBT
Summary: Three New York City teens named Claire, Jasper, and Peter express their reactions to the terrorist attacks of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 and it's impact on their lives.
Review: Like Going Bovine, Love is the Higher Law instantly caught my eye with its dark cover picture of the downtown NYC skyline highlighting the Ground Zero memorial lights. I was also excited to see that David Levithan was the author. I didn't expect David to write on such a serious topic based on reading Nick and Norah's Infinate Playlist which is more on the comedic side of the literature spectrum.
As soon as I read the first page I instantly felt a strong sense of realism. This remained true throughout the book and I even felt that parts of the book could be semi-autobiographical. Another thing about the book is that it's not easy to read. There aren't graphic descriptions of the actual attack but there are very detailed descriptions of what is happening in the streets below right after. Most parts were difficult to read mainly because it was almost like I was experiencing the aftermath for the first time, being only in kindergarten when they happend in reality. Two scenes that got me really emotional was one where Claire is out in Battery Park in the middle of the night helping a woman light candles in the rain. The other was one where Claire and Jasper are walking around Ground Zero in the middle of the night having a conversation. The second one didn't really have any super-emotional feeling to it but I think it was the part in the book where everything really hit me.
Overall, Love is the Higher Law is a thought provoking book for kids my age who aren't really old enough to remember everything that happend. It also gives adult's at the time three new points of views from teenagers with different backgrounds and boroughs. Love is the Higher Law gives an extreme sense of realism that is tuly touching to New Yorkers. I was sure to let Levithan know how much this book means to me when I met with him last Sunday.
Grade: A+
