Beastly by Alex Flinn

author’s website: Alex Flinn
release date: October 2, 2007
appeals to: Young Adult
genre: Fairy Tale Retelling
length: 336 pages
publisher: HarperTeen
overall rating: 4 Stars
body image & self perception issue: disfigurement

*the back cover*
A beast. Not quite wolf or bear, gorilla or dog but a horrible new creature who walks upright – a creature with fangs and claws and hair springing from every pore. I am a monster.
You think I’m talking fairy tales? No way. The place is New York City. The time is now. It’s no deformity, no disease. And I’ll stay this way forever – ruined – unless I can break the spell.
Yes, the spell, the one the witch in my English class cast on me. Why did she turn me into a beast who hides by day and prowls by night? I’ll tell you. I’ll tell you how I used to be Kyle Kingsbury, the guy you wished you were, with money, perfect looks, and the perfect life. And then, I’ll tell you how I became perfectly . . . beastly.

*my review*
Beastly is an interesting look at the story of Beauty and the Beast, but with a few twists: the story is set in modern New York City, and the story is told by the beast. Kyle has just about everything a ninth grade boy could want: he’s the best looking boy in his grade, his dad is famous, they have plenty of money, and he is extremely popular. Unfortunately, he knows all of these things and is also extremely conceited and acts like he is better than everyone else. Then, an unfortunate run in with a witch transforms him into a beast, with one simple “out” clause: he must fall in love with someone who loves him in return within two years.

What was interesting to me was that Kyle doesn’t even think about finding a girl. Instead, he tries to find any method possible of reversing the change. He truly believes that looks are so important that no one would possibly love him in this new form. As time passes, Kyle experiences a roller coaster of emotions, and gradually, you begin to see a change in him. He moves through emotions almost like a person would move through the stages of grief. At first he is in total denial, then he’s angry, and then he gives up completely. It is when he has given up that I thought the most growth occurred. When Kyle began to explore aspects of himself, the most growth occurs.

Since this is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, we know that a “Beauty” must be coming, but the situation that brought the girl to Kyle surprised me (even though it is quite true to the fairy tale). I tried to imagine being in her shoes, and it would have been a terrifying experience! Because this is a retelling, the story was slightly predictable, but it is handled in a way that makes it very enjoyable.

While this is a fantasy story, there are elements of the story that could apply to real teenagers as well. It is easy to understand how important looks are, especially in high school. Kyle believes that looks are the most important thing, until he loses them and has to use his personality to make an impression. Throughout the book, internet chat room conversations that are interspersed between the chapters. They are from the “Unexpected Changes” chat group and they provide a fun look into other fairy tales as the creatures vent and give each other advice. What is really interesting is that all of the characters have issues that also apply to real life. “SilentMaid” likes a boy and wants to change so she can be with him, “Grizzlyguy” is torn because he likes two girls, and of course “BeastNYC” is trying to find his true love despite the animal-like appearance. The conversations are funny, but they have underlying messages too.

Overall, this is a clever way to retell Beauty and the Beast in a way that can definitely apply to modern readers.

*short and snappy*
writing: clever – it really captures the attitude and emotion that Kyle is feeling throughout the story
plot: not a ton of action, and slightly predictable, but all of the internal change makes it captivating
characters: complex – there is a lot of development and change in Kyle from the beginning of the story to the end
miscellaneous: An excerpt of the book and a video feature about the upcoming movie are available here

The Dark Divine Trailer

There are two awesome contests going on right now in relation to Bree Despain's The Dark Divine!
Enna Isilee over at Squeaky Books is having a contest giving away the book. You can head over to Ennalee's blog (here) to find out how to win.
To celebrate the new trailer, Bree Despain is also having an awesome contest over on her website. Enjoy!

Out of the Fire by Deborah Froese

author: Deborah Froese
publication date: 2001
appeals to: Young Adult
genre: Contemporary
length: 282 pages
publisher: Sumach Press
overall rating: 4.5 Stars
body image & self perception issue: disfigurement from burns

*the back cover*
Life finally seems good to sixteen-year-old Dayle. No longer a self-conscious bookworm, she’s captured the attention of Keith, the perfect dream boyfriend. Her worries are the same as those of most teens her age. She wants to stay friends with her longtime best friend Amy while pursuing the excitement of her relationship with Keith. At the same time, she has to fend off the embarrassing overtures of another friend Stu, and tend to her schoolwork and the usual demands of family.

But suddenly Dayle’s world turns inside out when a moment of carelessness causes tragedy. She is badly burned, and one of her friends is gravely injured. Stage by stage and day by day, Dayle endures, drawing strength from her family and friends and sustained by the memory of a strong and loving grandmother. Out of the Fire follows Dayle’s despair and triumph as she learns painfully that her own resources go much deeper than appearances.

*my review*
Let me begin by saying that this book was quite different from what I expected. From the description on the back, I thought I’d be reading about how a bookworm met and started dating her dream boy, had troubles with her best friend, and at some point she would become badly burned and have to recover. Instead, the story kind of jumps in with Dayle already dating Keith (the dream guy) and beginning to recognize troubles with her best friend Amy.

Dayle almost seems a bit self-centered at the beginning of the story. She is choosing Keith, who does seem nice enough, over her best friend – which is never a good idea. As I kept reading, I didn’t really like Keith. There wasn’t something obviously wrong with him – he treated Dayle pretty well actually – he just kind of rubbed me the wrong way. Especially after you meet Stu, who obviously has a crush on Dayle. Stu seems genuine and like he really knows Dayle even though she isn’t interested in him.

As the book moves on, you know that there has to be some kind of fire or event coming, because of the title and the description on the back of the book, but it happens all of a sudden and so fast that it’s over before you can even grasp what has happened! All of a sudden, Dayle is in the hospital, in intensive care, trying to stay alive. It is hard to say that I liked this part of the story, because reading about such a tragedy isn’t a positive experience, but the attention to detail was amazing. Froese describes Dayle’s thoughts and dreams in the midst of all of her pain and treatment. I really appreciated that she wrote about medical details like the Rule of One Hundred (p. 100 coincidentally). Basically the Rule of One Hundred is a rule of thumb type prediction for survival. You “take the percentage of the patient’s body with second and third degree burns and add that number to their age. If the total is less than one hundred, their potential for survival is good. If the total is one hundred or more, the patient is less likely to recover.” (p. 100). Adding in things that nurses and doctors would talk about really created a more effective setting for the story.

After the burn, Dayle still has a lot of healing to do, both physically and emotionally. A lot of her emotional healing is inspired by Gram. Even though she is dead, Gram has an incredible presence in this story. She is actively present in memories and dream sequences, which show how important Gram is and was to Dayle.

By the end of the story, I felt like so much had happened, that I couldn’t believe the book was only 282 pages long. There is an immense amount of emotion, change, and plot in this novel that definitely make it worth reading.

*short and snappy*
writing: detailed – it is obvious that Froese did a lot of research while she wrote the book, but she put it into the story in a way that makes sense
plot: there are fast points and slow points, but they combine to make a breathtaking story
characters: deep – as Dayle begins to heal, you really seem the depth that was created in the characters
judging by the cover: the cover really captures the heart of the plot
miscellaneous: While I was researching to find information for this post, I found a picture of the “Rule of 9s” on the Saint Barnabas Burn Center’s website. It shows what parts of your body make up what percent and is used to determine the total percentage of the body that has been burned. There is also information about burn degrees and treatment at their website.
I also found several articles talking about the fact that research and work in this field has actually increased survival rates, so the Rule of 100 isn’t as “accurate” as before.

In My Mailbox (#10)

In My Mailbox is a weekly meme that talks about books that have been bought, swapped, received for review, or borrowed from the library. It is hosted by Kristy at The Story Siren.

I have been working on reading through my TBR pile this week, so I didn’t get too many new books. HOWEVER, my birthday was this week, so I decided to use a Barnes and Noble gift card from one of my students to order myself some birthday gifts. I ordered them on the 23rd thinking that they would be here for my birthday (on the 29th) but they didn’t get here until Friday.

They Were:
Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater (review) - This book actually spurred my entry into the book blogging world, but I never bought it, so I decided to get it before all of the hard covers became unavailable. It was my first review, so I’m sorry if it’s terrible!
Jumping to Confusions by Liz Rettig (This cover is actually MUCH cooler than it looks here. The blue in the background is metallic and shiny!) - I’ll be posting a review for this book on the 22nd for BI&SP Month, and Liz Rettig will be here for a guest post on the 23rd!
Lenka (self titled CD) - I know this isn’t a book, but I was excited about it. I have loved her song, “The Show” for a while, and I think the whole cd is good, too – which is great, because sometimes when you buy a cd for one song, it doesn’t work out well.

Other Stuff:
I’ve been working on a lot of reviews for Body Image and Self Perception Month, and if you haven’t heard about this month, you should check it out! The main info is available at Once Upon a Bookcase and my initial post (explaining how I’ll be participating) is here.

This week, I actually made a header for this blog. I got the image from shabby blogs, which has a ton of free blog stuff. If if you like it, you can see their other things there.

I've also been working on a project for grad school (a Masters in Reading). If you teach, or are just interested, my other blog "the bookish advantage" has information about what I've been doing for class.

That sums up my week. Stop back for Body Image and Self Perception Month posts throughout July!

I hope you got some great things too!

Book Blogger Hop #1

The Book Blogger Hop was started (and is hosted) by Crazy for Books.

The Hop now has a twist each week, and since this is my first hop, this week’s twist is especially well suited!
This week’s twist/question: Tell us your NAME and WHY YOU STARTED BLOGGING

Hi, I’m Molly and I started ‘a dazzling distraction’ as a place to record my thoughts about the books I’ve been reading. I often find that after I read a book, I’m not done thinking about it, but since none of my friends read YA books, I didn’t have a place to share my thoughts. Then, in November of last year, I came across my first book blog online (the story siren) and I was hooked! I read blogs for about a month before actually considering one of my own, but now I love it!

I usually read/review YA books, and this month, I’m participating in Body Image and Self Perception month (hosted by Jo at Once Upon a Bookcase).

Thanks for stopping by - Leave me a link to your site, and stop back in for more BI&SP posts all month!

Shark Girl by Kelly Bingham

author’s website: Kelly Bingham
release date: April 10, 2007
appeals to: Young Adult
genre: contemporary
length: 288 pages (paperback)
publisher: Candlewick Press
overall rating: 5 stars
body image & self perception issue: loss of arm

*the back cover*
On a sunny day at the beach with her mom and brother, fifteen-year-old Jane Arrowood went for a swim. And then everything – absolutely everything – changed. Now she’s counting the days until she returns to school with her fake arm and kids will whisper, “That’s her. That’s Shark Girl,” when she passes. But right now there are only questions. Why did this happen? Why her? What about her art? What about her life?

*my review*
This book carries you along on the incredible journey Jane takes in her path to recovering from a shark attack. Through a combination of free verse poems, newspaper articles, letters to Jane, and conversations, Kelly Bingham brings us Jane’s first year after the shark attack. Jane’s account is all told through the free verse poems, some current and some memories, and through this account, you feel Jane’s frustration, anger, sadness, and eventually determination. The change in emotion is very apparent throughout this story, and at first I thought that the division of the book into three parts would mimic Jane’s changing attitude, but it isn’t quite that exact.
While Jane does show a lot of growth throughout the story, there are times when she seems to contradict herself, which adds to her realistic quality. In the hospital, Jane meets Justin, a younger boy (Jane guesses 8, 9, or 10, but it never says) who has lost a leg and is also recovering. Justin seems to be exactly what Jane needs. He doesn’t want to talk about their injuries, but just wants to be friends. It is incredible how supportive Jane is of Justin, and how much she admires that he is accomplishing new tasks, which she is still unable to accept her own look.
Another important man in Jane’s story is her brother, Michael. The relationship Jane and Michael have is very interesting. He obviously cares about Jane, but as he pushes her to do and try new things, she gets more and more frustrated. He seems to want her to improve her attitude and just get over the accident, but can’t seem to grasp how difficult it is for Jane to do that.
I don’t usually like books that are told in verse, but I thoroughly enjoyed reading this story. The segmented feel that comes from the varied format seems to augment the telling of Jane’s story. It captures her sharp and cutting attitude at the beginning, but then begins to unfold the layers of her personality as she begins to heal, both physically and emotionally, from what is a genuinely tragic event. While this book doesn’t have the happiest beginning, it is an amazing story about determination, emotions, and ultimately, self acceptance.

*short and snappy*
writing: creative – the combination of poetry, news reports, and conversations is an interesting way to approach this story and I think the somewhat segmented feel helps in the telling.
plot: sometimes, it’s hard to tell that time in the story has passed and other times, it is obviously flying by – I imagine that Jane feels similarly in her recovery though, so it works
characters: Jane is very complete, since the story is told from her point of view. There isn’t a ton of development in other characters, but enough to make them realistic
memorable line: Can you imagine getting your arm bitten off by a shark?
As though getting your arm bitten off by a lion would be easier to live with. (p. 231)
judging by the cover: I like the cover. The contrast between the rough water on the left and the calm water on the right captures the feel of Jane’s recovery

Summer Giveaway Winner

My first contest ended last night at midnight, and I have a winner!

Katrina (entry #3) was the winnder selected by Random.org. I've emailed you the information you'll need to use your gift card.

Thank you to all who entered and to CSNstores.com for providing the gift card for this contest!