When it comes to Cornelia Funke, I have no critical faculties.  I can’t lie; I love what she does.  I love her picture books, I love her middle-grade novels, and I love her young adult novels.  I marvel at how she writes in German and then really smart, clever people come along and translate her words, and then she reads the translations, which just boggles my mind.  I adore how she allows her novels to unfold, sometimes even somewhat slowly, which is the antithesis of so much of what I read in contemporary children’s fiction.  Cornelia will make you wait, but she will make the wait worthwhile.

Our dear Melissa very bravely stormed the crowds at BEA and snagged me a gorgeous hardcover ARC of RECKLESS, which is Cornelia’s first novel published by Little, Brown.  Although I was dying to read it, I chose to wait until a week arrived where I had ample time to not just read it, but to savor it.  Remember Charlie Bucket and the Wonka Bar he got for his birthday, and how he made it last for weeks?  Well, I’m not as patient as Charlie, but I swear I made myself dole out the last hundred pages of RECKLESS over several days, which took great self-control on my part.  Why did I love it so much?  What is RECKLESS all about?  Read on, but I may drop a spoiler or four along the way, so consider yourself warned.

The setting:  modern-day-ish Europe.  Doesn’t really matter where.  We meet Jacob, a young boy exploring his father’s study.  Everything is covered with dust; his father is long gone.  (’Gone’ is the operative word here, as his father is missing, not dead.)  Jacob examines a curious mirror in the study, and through the mirror, he discovers another world on the opposite side.  Funke fans may feel echoes here of the INKHEART books, where the world beyond ours seems all the more real, but just as the Inkworld was a dangerous place, the Mirrorworld holds its own temptations as well as nightmares.  We flash forward to years later; Jacob is now a very experienced treasure-hunter in the Mirrorworld (and has the scars to prove it), and his younger brother, Will, seeks to leave the real world to follow Jacob in the fairy-tale-esque land beyond the mirror.  Their time together takes a disastrous turn, however, when Will is attacked by a Goyl, a humanoid race made of stone.  The vicious blow starts a chain reaction in Will’s body; he is slowly turning to stone.  Jacob, who has always felt responsible for his younger brother, seeks to find a cure, but in the Mirrorworld, nothing comes easily, and everything has a price.

Jacob is immediately likable; he, like his last name suggests, is reckless, and has a bit of an Indiana Jones/Han Solo thing going on.  He’s smart, charming, worldly-wise, and yet he’s tormented by a childhood without a father, and runs away from conflict.  Will, on the other hand, stayed in the real world with their mother until her death, and he blames Jacob for leaving them for months at a time with barely a word.  Will also is in love with a young woman named Clara, who is swept along by the Reckless brothers into the Mirrorworld, and she displays a remarkable amount of courage on the journey.  What’s interesting is that Jacob and Will aren’t really even teenagers anymore; they’re actually young men, and I was really impressed with Cornelia’s choice to make her characters a little older than one usually finds in a young adult novel.  Their ages suited the dark, strange Mirrorworld, and gave me confidence as the novel went along that Jacob especially had the chops to handle the hurdles he faces.

I will say I’m not quite sure what age RECKLESS is for.  I believe it’s YA at its heart, but that said, I know well-read twelve-year-olds who would read it and love it, and I think I could easily give it to twenty-or-thirty-something friends too.  It’s grim at times, and did feature a minor villain with knives for hands that scared the crap out of me.  RECKLESS takes its fairy tale inspirations very seriously; there are indeed witches who eat children, there are spells that will turn you into a tree for hundreds of years, and the unicorns will gore you if you get too close.  Beyond that, there’s an entire political struggle (i.e. war) going on between the humans of the Mirrorworld and the Goyl, which culminates in a climactic battle scene for the throne, and even Jacob’s connection to a powerful Fairy may not be enough to save his brother.  Will’s situation, that of slowly turning into a Goyl, is painful to watch, as he slowly loses his memories of those he loves, as his heart is gradually turning to stone (jade, in his case).  I was entirely invested in Jacob’s journey, and Funke’s gift for writing supporting cast (particularly Fox, who really intrigued me with her motivations) really shone in RECKLESS.

Here’s my bottom line:  nobody writes like Cornelia Funke, as far as I’m concerned.  I love her voice because it doesn’t sound like anyone else.  She has a remarkable gift for description, and I love how she uses iconic imagery to give insight into her characters (the black moths for the Dark Fairy, the Bluejay for Meggie’s father, etc).  I love how she makes me fall head over heels with her stories every time, and even though I never know what she’s going to do, I trust her implicitly.  I have been assured by our Little, Brown rep that a sequel is indeed in the works, and for that I’m very grateful, because I’m not ready to let go of the Reckless brothers anytime soon.

Note from Melissa: I was hoping Sarah would review this, because I consider her a Cornelia Funke expert in addition to being a super fangirl. I didn’t love the INKHEART series, but I love her picture books and THE THIEF LORD and I really, really loved RECKLESS a lot. As an indie bookseller I am very concerned about the price point – it’s $19.99, and I can’t afford to discount it 33% like the online retailer who would like to put everyone out of business can. $19.99 is a lot to ask a parent to shell out for a novel their kid will likely read in one day (the kind of kid who will read this is the kind of kid who plows through books like a freight train, no matter their length or complexity). Kids’ books seem to be increasingly creeping toward this price, and I think it’s a big mistake. I also didn’t understand Little, Brown’s decision to make this ARC a limited edition bound hardcover. Every single shop was going to carry this book anyway, and it was already going to be a bestseller. It’s Cornelia Funke. I wish if they were going to spend this kind of money they’d spend it on debut authors who get overlooked.

Despite all of this, when I opened the box of ARCs from my Little, Brown sales rep, I was compelled to crack open JANE first. JANE – a modern retelling of JANE EYRE, one of my favorite books of all time. I have no idea where this compulsion came from. Perhaps I wanted to get what I thought might be a book that would tick me off out of the way? Perhaps I wanted to read through it, nodding to myself about how right I was that no one should ever mess around with anything I love? Whatever my motivation, I picked it up earlier today and read through it in a couple of hours.

And, surprisingly, I really, really liked it. A whole lot.

Lindner repackages Jane as Jane Moore, a 19 year old college student forced to drop out of Sarah Lawrence after the death of her emotionally distant parents. Jane’s only real job experience has been babysitting, so she applies for jobs through a nanny agency. She accepts a job as a nanny at Thornfield Park, the palatial home of rock star Nico Rathburn. Recasting Rochester as a rock star works surprisingly well, as it gives built-in charisma to the hero and provides a credible basis for Jane’s attraction to him. The story tracks the plot of JANE EYRE pretty closely from there, with Lindner managing to give her characters enough of their own stories and personalities to keep the book from feeling anything even close to a tired retread of a classic. There are times during the book where minor plot points seem a little contrived in order to stick to the basic original story, but nothing large enough to overshadow my overall enjoyment of the book. I have read JANE EYRE upwards of fifty times in my life, and I hope that two things will happen with JANE: other fans like me will enjoy it, and people who have never read the original will after they finish this.

This is Lindner’s debut novel, and rumor has it that her next will be a retelling of WUTHERING HEIGHTS. I’m fond of that story as well, but Lindner’s writing is good enough that I’m looking forward to the day when she’s fully telling her own tale. Until that time, I can wholeheartedly recommend JANE – with a warning for those who have kids or students who are reading up: Jane and Nico are adults and their relationship does take a sexual turn. It’s not particularly graphic, but it’s impossible to mistake it for anything else. There’s also a little profanity, but it’s not overused.

A not so side note: the cover picture in the Little, Brown catalog says “not final,” which I think is really, really good news. I hope the cover is changed completely. Right now it shows a girl in a short jacket and a long skirt standing in a misty field and the title is in tall pink letters. It’s boring, boring, boring. This is a retelling of JANE EYRE set at least partially in a rock and roll world, and the cover looks like…JANE EYRE. There is nothing about this cover that’s going to make someone want to pick it up. There’s nothing about this cover that says “Jane Eyre in love with a rock star.” This cover says “generic girl-centric fiction, possibly set on the prairie.” Little, Brown: please, please change this cover; this book deserves better.

It would be wrong to categorize FOOD, GIRLS, AND OTHER THINGS I CAN’T HAVE as simply a book on obesity.  While Andrew Zansky, the novel’s protagonist, does weigh in at 307 pounds, his weight is simply one facet of his struggle as a teenage misfit.  He isn’t the fattest kid in school; he’s the second fattest.  He isn’t friendless; he’s got Eytan, skinny as Andrew is big.  When Andrew meets new girl April, he’s instantly smitten, but he tells her he’s a jock, which is a complete lie.  In an effort to impress her, he tries to make a soccer goal during gym class, and he ends up putting a few kids in the emergency room…and he loses his gym shorts in the process.  Utterly embarassed, Andrew expects to sink to the very bottom of the social plane after this fiasco, but a chance encounter with O, the star quarterback of the football team, changes everything.  Instead of joining Model UN with Eytan, Andrew decides to try out for football (where April is coincidentally going out for cheerleader).  Andrew goes from being the fat kid to becoming the secret weapon of the team, and he suddenly finds himself invited to parties, and even getting private football lessons from O (in exchange for tutoring).  His crush on April only intensifies when he discovers that she too was once heavy, and she has further altered herself through tinted contacts and teeth whitening in an attempt to become pretty.

What I love about Andrew is that as a narrator, he’s emotionally available.  Yes, he’s a teenage boy who thinks about sex constantly and is distracted by breasts and makes “your mom” jokes and stuffs his face to cover up his sadness over his parents’ divorce.  Yet he is honest in presenting himself, and that vulnerability makes the reader root for him all the more, as he is surrounded by false faces and ulterior motives.  This isn’t a novel about Andrew going from a size 48 to a 32 and getting the girl and winning the big game.  It’s about a kid who realizes that there is a space between the person he is and the person he wants to be.  It’s about a boy truly becoming a man as he stands in the shadow of his cowardly father.  It’s about someone who tries something new, falls down a lot, reaches for things he can’t have (or shouldn’t have) and eventually discovers that perhaps the path that those around him choose to tread–the path that says do whatever it takes to be who others want you to be–is not the path for him.  I also appreciate the fact that his high school is populated by kids of various backgrounds–Latino, Korean, Jewish, African American, Chinese–and that ethnicity affects way these characters definte themselves.

Author Allen Zadoff makes his YA debut here; he wrote a memoir called HUNGRY about his own journey from obesity to a healthy weight.  Andrew, unlike Zadoff, does not emerge from the fat cocoon a skinny butterfly.  He’s still very big as the novel ends.  That, however, isn’t really the point.  What matters is that Andrew faces some of the demons in his life–from bullies to mini bagels–and he makes choices.  One of my favorite authors, Gary Schmidt, says that writing for young people is all about characters making decisions, and that is why this novel works so well.  Andrew wants things, and he is denied them, and yet he has the courage to try for them anyway.  That is the stuff of good fiction, particularly teen fiction, and that is why I heartily recommend this book.

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(Well, librarians and other teachers listen up too.)

Here’s that sweet little book that comes along once or twice a year and works its way into the hearts of its readers. That book that spreads itself out like the coziest of handknit blankets and wraps itself around you while you read it. That book that you open in front of a roomful of girls (or in front of your daughter, or granddaughter, or the little girl you babysit) and when you are done with the chapter you are reading, they beg you to read just a little more.

Sophie (11), Anna (9) and Trudie (7) live with their parents in an apartment on the Lower East Side in New York City. They live above the family business, Breittlemann’s Doll Repair. Bisque and china dolls are very expensive, so the girls don’t have any of their own, but they are allowed to play with the dolls that are waiting to be repaired by their papa. There are three dolls that have been waiting longer than most, unclaimed, and the girls have come to think of the dolls as “theirs.”

Anna is our narrator, and her story is tinged with the unique frustrations and tribulations of the middle child:

I listen to their footsteps as they go, but I don’t follow them right away. I want to be alone down here for a little bit. Sometimes it’s hard being a middle sister, and I just need to be by myself. Sophie is smart and pretty and good at so many things; Trudie (her real name is Gertrude, though we never call her that) is little and cute and cries to get her way. I’m just the one sort of stuffed in between–at nine I’m not old enough to do some things, like light the kitchen stove, but too old to do others, like snuggle in Mama and Papa’s bed on a cold morning.

Despite her feelings, though, and the family’s relative poverty, theirs is a happy life. It is a loving family, and the girls love what their parents do, so they are happy to chip in with shop chores. School is also a source of happiness, as is their friendly Jewish neighborhood.  And, of course, the time they are allotted to play with “their” special dolls is treasured. Anna often tells her private troubles to Bernadette Louise (the name she has given to “her” doll). The year passes, and is told in charming fashion.

On August 2nd, however, everything changes: Germany declares war on Russia. Although the war has not yet touched the United States, it begins to immediately affect Anna’s family: the parts that Papa uses to fix the dolls come from Germany. Because Germany has declared war on Russia, the US has stopped trading with them. No more doll parts. No doll parts, no work for the doll repair shop.

The family comes up with some creative ways to survive the war, and Anna and her sisters grow through the experience. “Their” special dolls play an important part in both their growth and the story, as McDonough brings us beautifully to a satisfying and hopeful ending.

The reader gets a very nice portrayal of the 1930’s Lower East Side and the experience of being Jewish at that time, in that neighborhood. It’s not as big a part of the story  as it is in ALL-OF-A-KIND FAMILY, but it’s done in a very matter of fact way that I always appreciate. There’s a lovely family relationship here, and the sibling rivalries, troubles and joys ring true. Most of all, we see Anna learn to be resourceful in some completely normal ways, which is refreshing. She’s not super gifted – she’s not a prodigy – but she’s clever and creative in a way that comes from love for her family and a true desire to contribute in a difficult time. She’s an excellent example for children without being obnoxious about it.

I think this book will have a long life.

(I also think it will sell better in paperback – this is one of those books that I wish had simultaneous hard and softcover print runs. Especially in this economy, it can be hard to get parents to spring for a $14.99 hardcover that’s 116 pages long.)

Here’s the bottom line:  THE DEMON KING rocks.

High fantasy is often driven by plot, but at the end of the day, if you don’t fall in love with the main protagonists, it’s game over.  There’s certainly plenty of plot to be had here, from scheming wizards to political chicanery, from street lord wars to ethnic blood feuds, and there’s a rich thousand year history that serves as a glittering backdrop for it all.  While the worldbuilding is lovely, what really seals the deal are her main characters.  Han, a former thief, is trying to reform his criminal ways and take care of his mother and sister.  While riding with his friend Dancer, a clan boy, they encounter a group of wizards setting fire to the grassland.  They engage in a bit of a scuffle, and Han takes an amulet from charmcaster Micah Bayar, who is a bit like the Draco to Han’s Harry.  The amulet turns out to be more than just a family heirloom, as it exhibits terrifying power, and Han knows he must keep it out of the Bayars’ hands.

As Han struggles to figure out what to do with the amulet, the princess heir of the Fells, Raisa, is in the midst of her own personal turmoil.  Her mother, the Queen, is becoming more and more distant, making strange decisions on her behalf, and she is torn between Micah Bayar’s forbidden affections (the princess cannot marry a wizard) and the attention of her handsome friend Amon, who is a member of her personal guard.  As she lived for several years among her father’s clan, she feels cloistered and trapped inside the palace walls, and makes a concerted effort to find out what’s happening in her queendom behind the facade.  Raisa hopes to be like her legendary ancestor, Hanalea, who saved the world by slaying the Demon King.  Her coming of age ceremony looms, however, and that means a potential political marriage, which is a loathsome idea for her.

The novel follows the stories of Han and Raisa, usually swapping every other chapter between their points of view, and somehow Ms. Chima manages to weave their tales together in such a way that five hundred pages simply fly by.  Both Han and Raisa are on a journey to become the adults they are meant to be, and both must find out, often at a price, whom they can trust.  Along the way, Han and Raisa are surrounded by a host of secondary characters, from clansman to princes, and although the supporting cast is quite large, they all fit seamlessly into the framework, making the world of the seven realms seem all the more believable.  Raisa and Han are both in relationships of some romantic degree at various points in the story, and while mature themes are alluded to, there is no explicit content.  (That said, I believe this belongs in the young adult category; make of that what you will.)  My only complaint is that I’m going to have to wait another year for the next installment of this trilogy!  I am thrilled to have a new Chima series to recommend to my customers, and very grateful that both she and Hyperion books have put forth such a strong offering to the high fantasy lovers of the world.

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Yet imagine a world with no charities at all.  This is a world where there are no free lunches, no good deed without recompense.  This is the kind of world where everything costs, and I mean everything.  It’s the sort of place where you can sell your own child to buy medicine for yourself, or even sell your own emotions for food and lodging.  This is the city of Agora, and it’s the setting for THE MIDNIGHT CHARTER, a compelling first novel.  Mark and Lily are two such inhabitants of Agora, and each of them have been sold.  When Mark wakes from an illness that nearly took his life, he discovers he is now owned by Dr. Theophilus.  The quiet doctor lives in a strange old house owned by his grandfather, Count Stelli, an astrologer.  Mark’s presence in the house is a secret, as Count Stelli would never allow a plague survivor under his roof, and when the secret spills, it is Lily, the girl Count Stelli owns, who comes to his rescue.  Lily wants to see the world, and when Stelli kicks out his grandson, she goes with the doctor, and Mark takes her place as Coun Stelli’s servant.

The stars play a role in THE MIDNIGHT CHARTER, as Mark is trained by Count Stelli to make astrological predictions.  He learns the constellations, studies the charts, and learns from his Master’s gruff, cruel ways.  On Agora Day, the celebration of the city’s founding, Mark is called upon to make a prognostication before the crowds, and on that very same day, Lily decides to put a very daring plan into action.  While Mark attempts to predict the future using rather unorthodox methods, Lily does something that she’s never done before.  She very deliberately and purposefully does something for the benefit of two others, and when they try to barter back the value of her kindness, she refuses.  Her rebellious act of kindness starts a ripple effect inside of her, and it becomes large enough that it spills out into the people around her, and a revolution of attitude begins to take root.  At the same time, Mark’s predictions miraculously come true, and thus begins his meteoric rise to fame and power in Agora.

Mark becomes the star rising up into the heavens, and Lily, the star falling low enough to see the hurt and need in her city.  Both stand poised to change Agora for good or for ill, and they are unaware they are being watched.  A secret society exists in Agora, one that owns a document with contents that can drive the reader to madness.  What is the Midnight Charter?  The answer may be more than Mark or Lily can bear to know.

THE MIDNIGHT CHARTER does what all good speculative fiction does:  it makes us examine our own world through the lens of another.  This is a powerful debut, and one complicated enough to make both young adult and adult readers fall under its spell.  There is a richness of place in Agora, and yet one that is quietly frightening (Miss Devine’s shop is enough to make me shudder!).  I have no idea where Mr. Whitley intends to take Mark and Lily once the book ends, but I do know I’m very interested to follow them into another book.  THE MIDNIGHT CHARTER will likely challenge you, but in keeping with Agora’s bartering system, it will give you a truly unique story in return.

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As I started reading NERDS, my current situation gave me a lot of immediate sympathy for Jackson Jones, who, on page 4, is having a conversation to one I had five months back with my orthodontist.  (However, Jackson is a bully, and popular, and athletic, so our similarities pretty much end at the braces).  The braces cause a huge ripple effect on his life, and overnight, he becomes a shadow of the kid he used to be.  Friends ignore him, and his enormous headgear is too big for sports helmets, so his athletic career comes to an abrupt halt.  He accidentally gets stuck in a locker and discovers that it’s a passageway into the headquarters for NERDS:  National Espionage, Rescue, and Defense Society.  NERDS is a government-run organization that uses kids (with supercharged “upgrades” that turn their weaknesses into strengths) as secret ops, mainly because kids are so at ease with the technology the job requires.  Also, the fact they’re kids makes them less likely suspects.  When the scanners come upon Jackson, they find his weakness is his teeth, and so his braces are upgraded, making them into offensive and defensive weapons.  When the currently employed NERDS from his school discover he’s found his way into their lair, they are incensed.  Jackson was, until quite recently, the bane of most of their lives, and forgiveness for his bullying ways is slow in coming.

NERDS is a fun middle-grade romp, with a great multicultural cast.  Boys and girls are equally adept using their extraordinary “upgraded” skills, and a girl leads the team (code name Pufferfish, who is allergic to lies and betrayal).  The art, by Ethen Beavers, is wonderfully Cartoon Network-esque, and the chapter breaks are fun takes on ID scanners:  fingerprint, optical scan, and one where the scanner demands cash.  Michael Buckley has already proved his ability to manage a large cast of characters in his Sisters Grimm novels, and that comes in handy here, as there are a lot of names to remember, and code names to boot.  The book does weigh in at over 300 pages, so that may deter less confident readers.  NERDS gives the geeks and underdogs of the world a chance to shine, and that’s something this current Braceface is glad to see.

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There are times I read books and I want to slap myself upside the head and say, “Why didn’t I think of that?”  There are also times I read books and I think to myself, “I would never have come up with that in a million years.”  INCARCERON is one of the latter.  The sheer originality of concept in this novel is breathtaking, and I’m going to have to be careful with this review so as not to spoil the beauty of it for you.

The story begins with Finn, who lives inside Incarceron.  Incareron is, without a doubt, the most perfect prison concieved; it has no passages in or out, and in its centuries-long history, only one man is rumored to have ever escaped.  Finn clings to the belief that somehow he did not begin his life inside Incarceron like everyone else there, and his intermittent fits of visions give him brief glimpses of another life.  It’s difficult to know what to believe, however, because Incarceron isn’t just a building.  Incaceron is alive, and it determines the fates of the creatures that live within it.  Are his visions real, or are they simply falsehoods, another way that Incarceron tortures him?

Claudia lives in splendor under the watchful, cruel eye of her father, the Warden of Incarceron.  Though she is intrigued by her father’s vocation, she has never seen Incarceron herself.  Quietly defiant of the rules of her house, Claudia spends much of her time with the sickly Jared, a Sapient (think scholar), and they have concocted a scheme to sneak into the Warden’s study in the hopes of understanding what it is exactly that he does.  While their heist works, and Claudia is able to steal a strange key from her father’s desk, the Warden is at work on his own plans, and he has made arrangements for his daughter’s marriage.

Their worlds meet when Finn steals a crystal key in Incarceron, which is an exact match of Claudia’s.  Through the keys, they can hear each other speak, and Claudia discovers through Finn that Incarceron is not the paradise her government told her it is.  She promises to help him escape, but her time is running out, as her impending marriage will essentially seal her within its own kind of prison.  A lovely addition to the main plot are the small boxed quotes that begin each chapter, which are excerpts from songs, poems, and secret documents regarding Incarceron.  My favorites were the legends about Sappique, who is the only prisoner said to have escaped.  INCARCERON is layered like a dark, twisted flower, and as the petals turn back and you come to the secrets at its center, you’ll likely do the same double take I did.  I literally had to go back and reread the sentences at the moment of revelation regarding Incareron itself, because I couldn’t believe what I was reading.  Like all good first novels in a trilogy, INCARCERON can only take us so far, and we now await the next part of the tale, but I am anxious to see where Ms. Fisher takes Finn and Claudia after the conclusion.  Highly recommended for young adult readers of both fantasy and sci-fi, and I believe fans of THE HUNGER GAMES would find much to love here.

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This book may have the best title of any on the fall list. It’s just darn catchy. Very memorable. I like the cover, too – I wish it were another bright color, because this book is really not a romance, but I’m honestly so grateful that it doesn’t have a girl’s face on it that I’m going to embrace the pink. (Actually, there aren’t as many teen girl novels printed with pink covers as you’d think there were. And of those with pink covers, there are very, very few – if any – that are this good.)

Not only does it have the best title on the fall list, but it’s hands down one of my favorite fall books.

Bea’s father, a professor, accepts a new position at Johns Hopkins. This means that her family is moving from Ithaca, New York to Baltimore just in time for Bea to begin her senior year at a small private school where everyone, no doubt, had met in utero. She is not really looking forward to this, but is reacting to it and to the sudden weirdness in her parents’ marriage with a fair amount of stoicism.

The book opens with a fantastically odd scene where her mother discovers a gerbil trying to chew its way through their patio furniture right before they move. Her mother seems overly eager for Bea to embrace the gerbil (who Bea names Goebbels) as a new member of the family, and is distraught when it is found dead just a few hours later. When Bea does not share her distress, her mother tells her You’re not a girl. You’re a robot! Bea isn’t bothered by this so much as she is bothered by the way her mother has been behaving. They’d moved lots of times, but this particular move seems to be the straw that’s broken her mother’s back.

When Bea arrives at school the next morning, the girl (Anne) two seats away in Assembly is happy to see her. Finally I have a buffer between me and Ghost Boy, Anne says. She explains that Ghost Boy is Jonah, who’s gone to school with her forever. In seventh grade someone started a rumor that he was dead, and when he showed up for school, the nickname sprang into use and never really went away. Jonah seems like a ghost of sorts to Bea – he speaks little, has no friends, sits alone at lunch.

And yet Bea is drawn to him in a way she can’t explain.

To the bafflement of Anne and the other girls she gets to know, Bea and Jonah embark on one of THOSE friendships. The ones that start all of a sudden, usually in an odd sort of way (perhaps laced with some sarcastic or wry opening comments), gather strength quickly, and often implode. Usually more than once. Bea and Jonah begin when he tips her off to a late night radio show; when she listens, she learns that he is a regular caller. The world of this radio show becomes the first thing to bind them together and a thread that weaves through the rest of the book. As they learn more about one another – Jonah had a mentally handicapped twin who was killed in a car accident along with their mother; Bea’s mother seems to be truly going off the deep end, becoming obsessed with chickens and falling over everything in sight -  they become closer. And then one night Jonah shares a secret with Bea – a secret that will bring them together and push them apart, cause them to both love and hate one another, and, ultimately, decide their future.

I love the quirky yet intimate tone of Standiford’s writing. She lets Bea let you in in some very interesting ways. One of my first occurs very early in the book. The night before school starts, Bea is suffering from insomnia, and deprived of the late night radio show she would listen to in Ithaca, begins instead to imagine herself dead. As a way to try to fall asleep. (This book just gets more awesome as it goes along. Who finds death soothing? Awesome Bea, that’s who.)

I used lots of different death scenarios. There was the classic funeral scene: lying in my open coffin, dead but more beautiful than I ever looked in life, like Snow White in her crystal bier. Everyone I knew would pass by to gaze at me and cry. They should have appreciated me while I was alive. The world as they knew it will never be the same.

The last mourner was always a boy, whatever boy I had a crush on at the time. He’d be a wreck, totally destroyed by my death. When he saw me in my coffin, he’d suddenly realize that he’d loved me all along. The other kids in school, the fools who had ignored me all year, were wrong, so very wrong. The injustice of it would overwhelm Crush Boy, who’d run into the street and throw himself in front of a truck.

It was all very satisfying.

And Jonah…Jonah is the kind of character who seems like he’s going to be a caricature before he even appears on the scene, thanks to how others view him. It is almost immediately obvious, however, that he is not. Standiford peels back Jonah’s layers like an onion, and (just to continue the metaphor) with each subsequent layer Jonah becomes more insubstantial – but also, to Bea, more transparent. Their relationship feels so much more real than a lot of friendships in novels do. For me it was at times a little too real.

I had a Jonah once. His name was Chris. Unfortunately he’s gone now – the world ultimately ended up being too much for him to bear. But the oddness and the fierceness and the insight and the wit that he brought into my life have stayed with me. Jonah reminded me of Chris, and for that I am especially grateful that I read this book. But anyone who’s ever had a Jonah knows that Jonahs can be hard to love and that Jonahs can hurt you deeply. Bea learns both of these things very quickly, but she also learns that the deepest friendships – the ones where you are so open that you allow yourself to be hurt – are the friendships that change you forever.

I want more, more, more from this author.

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A good writer, though, can write about something that you loathe, something that you’re bored to tears by, or even something that scares the pants right off of you, and you can’t stop reading.  Catherine Murdock is such a writer, and in the same way that the cancelled-too-soon show Sports Night did, she tells a story that has sports in it that’s ultimately not about sports.  It doesn’t matter that I can’t tell a point guard from….another type of person on the court.  It doesn’t matter that I’ve never milked a cow.  It definitely doesn’t matter that I never had two guys in high school vying for my affections.  What does matter is that D.J. Schwenk is a character that you care about, and you root for her in all ways:  for her broken-yet-healing family, for her friendships with popular and unpopular alike, for her future at university, and for her future with the right person.

FRONT AND CENTER is the conclusion to the D.J. trilogy, and Murdock does an excellent job at weaving the many threads of this story together.  There is something very warm and comforting about the Schwenk farm, and even when D.J. is at her lowest, it’s easy to see how she can draw strength from her family.  They’re not perfect people, but they forgive each other’s faults, and it’s wonderful to see how their Red Bend community rallies around them after the difficult events of OFF SEASON.  The old adage from writing classes in college is that good stories are about how a character changes, and D.J. truly does, becoming a little braver and a little more steady as the book goes on.  D.J. balances a lot of strong personalities in her life, from Beaner to Brian to Amber to Win, and she has to find ways to love all these people and yet not give away too much of herself in the process.  She is standing right on the line between teenager and grownup, and oh, that is a tough place to be.

Though the Schwenk family at large carries its share of scars,  Murdock brings the funny at the right places:  the Italian dinner with the “meatballi” scene is a scream, and the story of D.J.’s mom’s prom shoe disaster makes every pair of awful dress shoes I’ve worn seem slightly less awful. As the trilogy comes to an end, we know a little bit of what D.J.’s future plans are going to be, but more importantly, we know that in her struggle to be a better daughter, to be a truer friend, to become the woman she is meant to be, she’s headed in the right direction.

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