I am so angry about this book that it actually kept me up late the night I read (some of) it.

I do not know the national/international average age of readers of The Princess Diaries but I can tell you that in my old shop it was 11-12. I can’t speak for the second half of the series, but the first half (I think I read through book 5) are incredibly innocent, as was the Disney adaptation of the first book. The movie in particular brought young fans to these books – I know we had some 10 year olds reading the series as well, and we kept it shelved in our middle-grade section. By the time they get to high school, girls have moved on to true YA – this series definitely scales younger.

“Mia’s” novel, a historical romance set in post-Crusades England, contains several incredibly graphic sex scenes (as most recently published historicals do). I am aghast at the irresponsibility of not just publishing such a book with a cover trumpeting its connection to the PD, but also of cross-promoting it with the last book in the series (according to the back cover of the galley, bookstores can receive a floor display (dump) with copies both of Ransom My Heart and The Princess Diaries, Volume X: Forever Princess.)

So young girls will walk into a store with their parents to buy books (a chain store, because indies will know better),  see the display, and most likely buy both books, because one is “written by Mia.” And there you go – there’s an eleven year old with a book clearly written for an adult market. I am not exaggerating when I say these sex scenes are graphic. I am not one who thinks YA novels need to be squeaky clean; 15 and 16 year olds are ready for a lot more than 11 and 12 year olds. But this is just ridiculous.

This book is published by Avon, which is, yes, an adult imprint at Harper – but the cross-promotion and wording of the cover is going to put this into the hands of young girls where it should not be.  Meg Cabot has always been very careful about keeping her elementary and middle-grade novels age-appropriate while her teen novels are always kept separate – so what is going on here? Someone thought this was a good idea, and someone (or someones) was wrong. If “Mia” was going to write a book, then it needed to have the same level of age-appropriateness as the Princess Diaries. It decidedly does not, and I am appalled – which is exactly what I’m telling HarperCollins.

Charlotte does not like dogs, but somehow she has ended up caring for Beauregard, the massive Saint Bernard her father has brought home. Her father brings a lot of stuff home that he abandons – hobbies and the like – but Charlotte isn’t usually stuck taking care of those things when her father loses interest. But just like always, after a few weeks, her dad has lost all interest in the dog – he forgets to feed him, and never walks him, and never visits him. Begrudgingly Charlotte has begun to do all of these things.

But she doesn’t want to, so she plans to get rid of Beauregard. First she tries to give him to Grace, the new girl at school, but that doesn’t work. So then she takes him to the shelter and says that she found him. Score! They take him in. That works for awhile, until her dad calls the police to track the dog down and discovers that he’s at the shelter. Despite her dad’s disinterest, he goes and gets the dog anyway.

Charlotte hopes that this means her dad will take renewed interest in Beauregard, thereby freeing her up from her unwanted duties – but of course this doesn’t happen. Charlotte’s right back where she started, scheming to free up her time. However, as she continues to try to figure out how to get rid of the dog, something strange starts to happen to her. Could she actually become a dog person? And if she does, what is the best thing for Beauregard?

I love the family in this book – the dad that continually brings piles of crap into the house; the mom with postpartum depression who really needs the dad to help more instead of bringing more crap into the house; the funny toddler brother and the enterint-the-eyerolling-stage teenage sister; and Charlotte herself, sarcastic and pouty and loving and generous. There’s also a great subplot where Charlotte helps take care of an elderly shut-in for some extra money; this subplot really fleshes out Charlotte’s character and introduces us to her friends in more depth.

I’m not really a dog lover, but this book made me think I could be.

Publisher: Harper

Pub date: March 2009

(I keep not posting reviews because I think they always have to be longer than this. So instead of not posting them because they’re not long enough, I’m just going to post them when they’re short anyway.)

What does a family lose when a child is lost? What is stolen from a girl’s life when her sister is stolen? Cantor tackles these difficult questions in THE SEPTEMBER SISTERS. Abby’s mother has always called Abby and Becky the September Sisters because their birthdays are one day apart, and she acts as if they are best friends. However, this was not actually the case – Abby and Becky fight constantly and Abby carries a lot of resentment for what she feels is preferential treatment of Becky by her parents. When Becky disappears from her bedroom in the middle of the night, Abby feels guilty for not having a better relationship with her sister; even more resentful that despite her absence, Becky is the one getting all the attention; and sorrowful at the loss of her. A relationship with her neighbor’s grandson helps Abby to begin to heal even as her family falls apart around her.

No adult content. Pretty depressing. Very nicely written. I thought Cantor did a great job with Abby and her very complex all-over-the-map emotions.

11 year old Eleanor “Groovy” Robinson is obsessed with food and cooking and plans to go to culinary school as soon as she’s old enough. Her fairly ordered world is turned upside down when her father is taken off to jail and her mother wants to tell her story after story instead of explaining what has happened to their family.

Meanwhile, her best friend Frankie’s mother, who went on a fishing trip and never came back, has suddenly reappeared in his life. A former adversary of Groovy’s becomes a friend. A financial revelation rocks Groovy’s vision for her future. And while all this is going on, the swallows that make their annual migration to Groovy’s hometown of San Juan Capistrano are arriving early and no one can explain why. No one, in fact, can explain anything that Groovy doesn’t understand.

Groovy’s life is suddenly topsy-turvy and she must learn to rise and fall with it. How she does so is a story that I believe many will relate to and, in the end, love.

The mood in this book is exceptional; the characterization and voice true and original. Highly, highly recommended.

Publisher: HarperCollins

Pub Date: February 3, 2009