Museum Mile and Andromeda Klein

PART I: THE GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM/MUSEUM MILE

Don't you just love Museum Mile?

Always a beautiful springtime evening in New York City.

5th Avenue is closed from 84th to 104th street.

10 Museums are of free admission and include internationally renowned museums such as The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and The Neue Gallery.

There is live music, chalk drawings, and free activities all along the mile.

The main museum I wanted to visit was the Guggenheim.  However, I did not know what I would be getting myself into.  I knew that the main exhibit featured in the rotunda was called "haunted" but I thought it would be works that had to do with people who were haunted by something. For example, the pictures n the pamphlet featured an original Andy Warhol and a Princess Diana portrait.  However, I was very wrong.  Little did I realize that the Rotunda would have quite gruesome and disturbing images. Example #1: collages of photographs which each had an eerie/creepy theme. Example #2: An x-ray shot of the oral sodomization of a DOG! Example 3: There were some photographs of naked children. Nothing sexual, but the lighting of the exhibit and photos around made them seem a little out of place. Example 4: The top rotunda level featured about 5 or 6 different angles of one continuous shot of an old man sitting in the chair.  Nothing happened to him but they put the explanation of the film at the end of the exhibit. I did not like this because I thought something bad or disturbing was going to happen to the old man.

If you are interested in this "modern art" you still have the chance to see "Haunted" until the beginning of September.

On the other hand, the annex levels of the Guggenheim featured amazing original peices from the likes of Claude Monet and Pablo Picasso. Another special exhibit on one of the annex levels was artwork created by NYC elementry school children. I recommend these exhibits, but you should wait until the Haunted exhibit is gone so the general admission of $18 is worth it.
Other museums on the mile I recommend include The Museum of the City of New York and the Cooper–Hewitt, National Design Museum which is affiliated with the Smithsonain.

PART II: BOOK REVIEW: ANDROMEDA KLEIN
Title: Andromeda Klein
Author: Frank Portman
Genre: Dark Comedy
Summary: Andromeda Klein focuses on high school occultist, Andromeda, who simultaneously tries to save her beloved local library from modernization and solve the various mysteries surrounding: her missing much-older boyfriend; the strange signs seemingly being sent to her from her recently deceased best friend Daisy; and her ever more prophetic tarot readings. (From Wikipedia)
Review: Andromeda Klein is the second novel by Frank Portman (the first being King Dork, an excellent read, I might add.) and has a similar style of writing and themes.  I've noticed Portman tends to write about teenage misfits and let's face it, we've all been there.  He also tends to write in stereotypic high school figure. Ex: a geek, the hot popular girl, etc, etc. Even though in the grand scheme of things Portman's writing has sunken to a lower level since King Dork.  Maybe I feel this way because King Dork had a male lead and Andromeda just wasn't there for me.  In fact, Portman made me feel like I was there for Andromeda.  At least Tom from King Dork was loveable whereas, Andromeda was just weird and not developed enough.  Sure, Portman included daily rituals and specific things about Andi's life but they just kind of felt like minor details that were just there. But, I did like that Andromeda Klein was a quick and easy read that was, for the most part, entertaining.
Grade: B-

Double Review ft. Going Bovine and Love is the Higher Law! Plus An Encounter With TWO Great Authors at the NYC TEEN BOOK FESTIVAL FINALE!

Can I get a moo, moo!?

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

FIRST REVIEW:
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+