Gray, Eva. Tomorrow Girls: Behind the Gates (Book One). Scholastic, 2011. 211 pages. ISBN 13: 978-0-545-31701-6. This book is for grades 4 and up, or ages 9 and up, depending on reading level. This is also an excellent high-low selection for middle schoolers (3 1/2 stars out of 4).

During the Harry Potter craze, I feared a literary world that was forgetting the scientific and futuristic elements of science fiction. I felt better after reading M.T. Anderson’s Feed and Rodman Philbrick’s The Last Book in the Universe, but with the release of Behind the Gates, the first installment of the four-book series Tomorrow Girls by Eva Gray, it is clear that science fiction is alive and well. The immense cross-over popularity of the Hunger Games trilogy has created such an interest in the dystopia/scary future subgenre that it has finally filtered down to the 9-year-old crowd. Ms. Gray, who on the verso of my advance copy appears to be sci-fi author Suzanne Weyn, author of the solid, 2010 “scary future” sci-fi novel Empty, has written Hunger Games-lite, a suspenseful buddy tale about a group of kids who grow up quickly as they face challenges they think are larger than themselves. But instead of highlighting the political machinations that make Suzanne Collins’ work so engaging, Ms. Gray/Weyn simplifies the story and the setting, creating a much more accessible work that can appeal to not only a broader and younger audience, but also one that may be intimidated by a major novel’s length and appearance.

It is the near future and the world is a mess. Much of the South and Gulf Coast have been destroyed by hurricanes due, it can be assumed, to climate change. Fresh water is rare and meat is practically extinct. The United States is at war with a group called The Alliance that is in the process of invading Canada. Louisa and her BFF Maddie are two of the fortunate young people in this difficult new America. Since both of Maddie’s parents are fighting in the war, Maddie has moved in with Louisa and she is pretending to be her twin sister. Louisa enjoys the privilege of having two parents who, as doctors, still have lucrative jobs and can afford to send their children away to a “safe” boarding school, away from all threats. The Country Manor School appears to be that solution, assuring parents and children alike that their safety is paramount. When their cell phones, electronics, computers and even jewelry are taken, the children are assured it is “for their safety.” But Louisa cannot part with her locket, and its pictures of her parents and grandparents: “I reluctantly reach back to unclasp the locket’s chain. My hand trembles slightly. I can’t stand to part with this. It would be like giving away my parents—and my grandparents!” (36). This and other seemingly unreasonable demands and restrictions, like not being allowed to communicate with the adjoining boys’ school or anyone outside of the school, even their families, creates suspicion, especially in one of the girls’ new companions, Evelyn, who sees conspiracy everywhere. The three girls are thrown together with Rosie, a jock and alpha-type who at first seems caustic, but who grows on Louisa. The four girls are given survival skills classes and told they will be the leaders of something called the New Society. Maddie sees this New Society as an elitist group to which she would not even belong if she was not Louisa’s faux sister, but Louisa likes the idea: “It gives me a feeling of having a serious purpose. I’d never felt like that in school before” (71). However, it is clear that there is more to Country Manor School, and the mysterious, stern headmistress Mrs. Brewster, than meets the eye, and the four girls may be in more trouble than they have ever known in their mostly sheltered lives.

Years of experience working at B. Dalton and Waldenbooks taught me that genres are not truly popular and entrenched until they come out in pulp form. I could not be certain that vampires were entrenched when everyone asked for Twilight; I knew they were when Scholastic released their Vampire Plagues and Poison Apple series. Science fiction is clearly hot—it has filtered down to permeate every level. Pulp is not necessarily a bad thing: this work is no Harlequin romance, but its weaknesses due to an overemphasis on plot and simplistic character development are not fatal flaws, they are what makes the material more accessible. This is not a classic or masterpiece, but it is a very readable version of the latest craze in YA fiction for an important market segment, tweeners and pre-tweeners. I recommend Tomorrow Girls: Behind the Gates by Eva Gray/Suzanne Weyn even though it is derivative and reasonably predictable because those qualities are appropriate to its targeted level.

Collins, Suzanne. Mockingjay: The Final Book of The Hunger Games. Scholastic, 2010 (4 stars out 4!)

Sometimes an artist achieves recognition by being in the right place at the right time, usually due to superior skill and ingenuity. But we know it takes more than just skill to create excellence; for every Beatles, there are thousands of other talented bands never heard by anyone outside of their respective Liverpools. Musicians like The Beatles, Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson articulated the narrative of their respective generations; artists like Andy Warhol and Robert Rauschenberg reinvigorated the way we see everyday objects; and writers such as Laurie Halse Anderson and Kevin Brooks have redefined the boundaries of young adult literature. All of the artists listed above produced major works at the “right time,” a moment in history peculiarly suited to their craft. Upon the publication of Mockingjay, the impressive end to the Hunger Games trilogy, Suzanne Collins has struck gold in 1848 California, writing the perfect book for this generation recognized for its wars, recessions, paranoia, xenophobia, intolerance, and dying decadence.

Katniss Everdeen just cannot catch a break. After being miraculously rescued from her latest foray into the Hunger Games arena only to find out her rescue was a carefully orchestrated plan by rebel leaders to begin a coup d’etat, she has been asked to be the face of the revolution, a role with which she is very uncomfortable. But Peeta, her public (and perhaps private as well) boyfriend has been captured by the Capitol, and Katniss is at the mercy of the leaders of the mysterious District 13, her new but untrustworthy compatriots. Katniss agrees to be the Mockingjay, the orchestrated and embellished voice and face of the revolution, but only so she can save Peeta and stay in the fight to kill President Snow. When former Head Gameskeeper Plutarch Heavensbee describes rebel President Coin’s plan to establish a republic just like our Roman ancestors (names and historical circumstances are freely borrowed from the best and worst of our Roman ancestry for this series), Katniss expresses skepticism: “Frankly, our ancestors don’t seem much to brag about. I mean, look at the state they left us in, with the wars and the broken planet. Clearly, they didn’t care about what would happen to the people who came after them” (84). Katniss knows she is a pawn in a bigger game, one she does not fully comprehend. However, in order to save herself, her loved ones, and her world, she must face challenges and decisions even more deadly and wrenching than her experiences in the ring during the Hunger Games.

I have never been more concerned about spoiling the plot than I was when writing the previous paragraph. I did not even read the feature article in the August 2010 School Library Journal until today (mid-September 2010) for fear of ruining even a small part of the story. I savored every delicious morsel of this novel, with its end-of-chapter cliffhangers and moral dilemmas around every terrifying corner. Suzanne Collins has written the morality play for her generation, the novel that, for today’s youth, defines the best and worst that humanity offers. Katniss bears the guilt and shame for the sins of her species nobly, alternating between unbridled fury directed at her puppetmasters and crippling remorse over the lives lost due to her actions and inactions. When brutalities like Michael Vick’s dogfights, Ultimate Fighting bouts, and the Jerry Springer Show clog the airwaves, how far off are the Hunger Games? Are we not entertained? Mockingjay confirms and solidifies Suzanne Collins’ place as one of the most influential writers of her time. Lionsgate purchased the film rights to The Hunger Games in 2009, so not only am I looking forward to Ms. Collins’ next book, I am also eager to see news about the film. I hope Ms. Collins is prepared to be very successful over the next few years.

Myers, Walter Dean. The Cruisers. Scholastic, 2010 (3 1/2 stars out of 4).

My students love the Bluford High series as much as they enjoy A Child Called It by Dave Pelzer; the aforementioned selections are always the most requested at the beginning of the year by my middle schoolers. Although I admire his ability to survive deplorable circumstances, I cannot say that I enjoy Mr. Pelzer’s bizarre and disturbing tale; however, I love the Bluford books and I am always looking for comparable series. I originally bought Orca Currents and Soundings and reviewed several selections in this column a year or two ago. My students like the Orca books, but I seldom see in their eyes the excitement generated by the Bluford High (and occasionally Sharon Draper’s Hazelwood High) series. Therefore, I am thrilled that local legend Walter Dean Myers has decided to write The Cruisers, the first in a series of short, very readable novels about a group of smart slackers at a Harlem magnet school. I am gratified to see prominent authors step up and fill this important void in YA literature; it’s about time.

Most of the students attending Harlem’s DaVinci Academy for the Gifted and Talented compete and jockey for academic standing. However, Zander Scott and his friends LaShonda, Bobbi, and Kambui form the core the Cruisers, a group of unabashed underachievers who always seem on the verge of both success and failure simultaneously. The group prints and distributes an alternative newspaper that presents uncensored op-ed material without the harsh filter of the stereotypically mean and vindictive Assistant Principal Culpepper. The Cruisers’ patience, wisdom, and raison d’etre are challenged most strenuously when DaVinci Academy holds a mock Civil War and the Cruisers are charged with the monumental task of keeping the peace between the North and South. Mr. Culpepper is almost happy to see the group get such an improbable task: “‘She [Principal Maxwell] sees it as a final opportunity to prove you belong here. I see it as enough rope. If you get my drift’” (3). The project begins innocuously enough, but after bully Alvin McCraney forms the Sons of the Conspiracy and starts acting and speaking like a slaveowner (with the tacit approval of Mr. Culpepper), the Cruisers learn a powerful lesson from history: that slaveowners hid behind issues of property and free speech instead of openly addressing the immorality of slavery. By failing to include a moral element, Alvin and the Sons of the Confederacy could win the battle but lose their souls, almost like a drug addict selfishly satisfies the moment but does not want to be identified with his actions: “Maybe race was more like drugs than people thought. When they could use race it was good, but nobody wanted to own it when they got caught using it” (64). The Cruisers will have to learn history’s lessons well to successfully combat DaVinci’s widening racial divide without starting a huge fight and threatening their ability to attend the academy.

Young adult literature needs more 120-page, high-low books with urban backdrops, and Mr. Myers has the experience and skill to create effective stories regardless of length. The Cruisers is short but effective, and a series is promised and eagerly anticipated; the first few pages of the next installment appear at the end of this work. I enjoyed the chapter breaks, during which warring newspaper articles, journal entries, and poems cleverly highlight or illuminate the characters’ struggles and conflicts. The language feels real, and social networking is frequently employed for positive change, negative gossip, and both; it doesn’t get any more real than that. Each of the four main characters has an engaging backstory, and I believe my students will follow them with the same fervor they apply to authors like Paul Langan, Anne Schraaf, and Sharon Draper. Kudos to New Jersey native Walter Dean Myers for The Cruisers. Townsend Press, as supportive and generous as it is, had better watch its back.

Wiles, Deborah. Countdown. Scholastic Press. 377 pages, plus author’s notes and background. ISBN 13: 978-0-545-10605-4 (2 stars out of 4)

Although I do not watch much television (who has time?), I am aware of and familiar with most popular shows just by listening to the radio and perusing a general smattering of popular monthly magazines. One show, AMC’s trendy Mad Men, has even created nostalgia for a long-gone and little-glamorized period, the early 1960s, the era of such happy times as the Cuban Missile Crisis, JFK’s assassination, and Freedom Ride murders. All of a sudden, it’s cool for men to wear suits and hats, smoke, and womanize again (as if it were ever cool to begin with), and women get to “enjoy” that second class status they so poorly deserved and worked so hard to eliminate over the last 50 years. Using primary sources such as song lyrics, biographies, and symbols/pictures from the era, Deborah Wiles has hopped on the early 1960s bandwagon with her latest effort, Countdown. Although her author notes indicate that she started this work as a picture book in 1996, the current early 1960s craze has certainly contributed to its release now. Frankly, as an adult idea, this type of book has promise, but as a book for upper elementary and middle schoolers, I fear it lacks relevance for today’s youth.
Franny Chapman lives in fear and insecurity most of the time. 1962 is a transitional year, and Franny seems to have trouble with change. Her best friend Margie appears to be friends now with Gale, daughter of the local (and off-limits) divorcee. Franny’s sister Jo Ellen, who frequently receives mysterious letters from someone named Ebenezer, is away at college and disappears for days at a time. Worst of all, Franny’s Uncle Otts, still scarred from the horrors of World War I, insists on building a fallout shelter right in the middle of their suburban Maryland yard. Suffering tremendous embarrassment, fear of reprisal, and concern for his health, Franny tries but fails to get Uncle Otts to stop: “There’s a crater forming in the front yard. Uncle Otts wipes his face with a handkerchief, loads up the wheelbarrow with chunks from our front yard, begins to roll the wheelbarrow toward the bushes, and then . . . the wheelbarrow topples onto its side. Uncle Otts staggers backward several steps, drops his shovel, and topples like a domino” (95). It is October 1962, and Franny’s world, along with everyone else’s, is being turned upside down and inside out because of the Cuban Missile Crisis; additionally, Franny’s dad is an Air Force major whose job brings world events right into the Chapmans’ living room. Franny must find a way to regain her best friend (or make a new one), save Uncle Otts from himself, discover Jo Ellen’s secrets, and avoid the Russians’ plan to conquer the world, all while finishing fifth grade without alienating her classmates and teachers. Whether deserved or not, Franny definitely feels the weight of her problems and the world’s issues firmly on her shoulders.
Countdown by Deborah Wiles is a cool idea, but not for the targeted age group. Middlers of this generation do not know about the Cuban Missile Crisis, and they generally do not learn that material in my district until 8th grade. The novel contains YA biographies that look like they are fresh from our SRA readers of the 1960s, but they do not stop in 1962, so the impact of their inclusion is diminished; it would have made more sense to make the biographies appear as if they appeared in Franny’s Social Studies or Language Arts textbook. Now, they simply appear out of context. My students (and sometimes, even their parents) have no context for the grace of Jackie O, the protest of Pete Seeger, or the commitment of the SNCC and the Freedom Riders, so their stories may be lost to today’s students. Also, coincidentally, there is no mention of what the political Right was up to in the early 1960s; where is Goldwater beside Kennedy? The pictures and song lyrics are provocative, but only to people who understand their context. I admire the creation of a new genre, and this “non-fiction novel” is an admirable effort, but I fear its subtleties will be lost on its target demographic. Choosing Jo Ellen the college student as the protagonist might have drawn in a more mature and knowledgeable audience that could better appreciate the book’s message. I am concerned that students will think Countdown by Deborah Wiles is too much like a history textbook and that, like Bert the Turtle, they will duck and cover when they check it out on the shelves.

Carman, Patrick. Trackers: Book One. Scholastic Press, 2010. 224 pages. ISBN 13: 978-0-545-16500-6. (3 1/2 stars out of 4)
The paper, binding, and ink that sheltered me under their protective and expansive umbrella while growing up are disappearing in a blur of e-readers, anime, and video, probably never to be seen again except during the inevitable nostalgia movement in about twenty years. After missing out on The 39 Clues series and Skeleton Creek, two of Scholastic’s recent attempts at cross-media books incorporating video and internet use, I decided it was time for me to see what the fuss is about. Frankly, I never expected to like Trackers by Patrick Carman, and now, after reading it, I am embarrassed for my pre-judgment—I liked it quite a bit, and I can understand why my students will like it as well. I spent hours (without ever intending to, I assure you—it was that absorbing) trying to defeat the three glyph game levels to unlock videos at www.trackersinterface.com, as well as explaining to colleagues and students walking by, who were wondering why I was playing a video game, “It’s a literature website and this is related to a book—I swear!” I finally had to finish the puzzles at home. Although the videos and game are not essential to understanding the material, they definitely enhance what is otherwise a pretty standard Spy Kids-ish suspense thriller. I would rather have my students watch video in this context than numb their minds with too much anime.
Adam Henderson is a computer genius, but he is more than that. Ever since he was five, he has been working at his dad’s Seattle computer repair store, Henderson’s Chip Shop; for Adam’s ninth birthday, Mr. Henderson gave his son a surprise that would define the rest of his youth, a technology workroom of his own called The Vault: “‘Consider it your laboratory,’ he said, nodding toward the door. ‘Anything that gets left behind [at the repair shop], you can have.’ The vault was small and stuffy, like a closet, but it was mine. I turned around and hugged my dad as if he’d just given me a dirt bike, twelve thousand candy bars, and another dirt bike” (7). Adam uses his talents to build supercomputers and high-tech surveillance equipment he plans to sell someday to the highest bidder, but he needs field operatives he can trust to test his hardware. When he hooks up with friends Finn, Emily, and Lewis, his tracking team is complete. The trackers are not interested in harming anyone or anything, they just like each other and share both mutual interests and complementary skills. Adam also invents a symbolic language using symbols called glyphs that play an important role in the action. At first, the team simply conducts tests of new cameras and other technology, but after discovering that others know about glyphs and may have sent him a secret message, Adam stumbles upon a mystery so dangerous that it threatens the actual fabric of the internet: a back door program may exist that can hack anything on the internet, or even shut the net down completely. Team members must decide if they are willing to risk their lives to combat this threat, but they may already be in too deeply to turn back.
Although the novel ends like a book with a sequel, very much like Haddix’s Found, I enjoyed the total experience of Trackers by Patrick Carman. The website, www.trackersinterface.com, contains cool games related to the glyphs, and as the reader delves deeper into the action, more and more videos become unlocked so readers can both see some of the action and place faces and traits with characters. This can be especially important not only for special needs classes who appreciate multiple information delivery formats, but also for all boys who just like to manipulate stuff, look at stuff, and move around while they read. The videos are reasonably well-acted, on a par with the old after-school specials but updated for the times. The book is narrated from some type of official holding facility, and only Adam’s safety is assured throughout the novel, so there are many questions left to ask and many mysteries left to uncover. No one, including the reader, knows who to trust, so Patrick Carman has succeeded with Trackers. Add it to your high-low list and your list of good books for boys, although everyone can enjoy it.

Gold, Maya. Cinderella Cleaners: Change of a Dress. Scholastic, 2010. 209 pages.

Cinderella Cleaners: Prep Cool. Scholastic, 2010. 155 pages (3 1/2 stars out of 4). These books are appropriate for grades 4 to 7, or ages 9 to 13, depending on reading level.

I don’t know about you, but I am surprised that reality television has lasted this long. I must sound like my great-grandparents in 1955 claiming that “damn noise” called rock and roll wouldn’t last the decade. The reality genre has spawned its own cottage industry of B-grade stars and personalities, feeding other shows like Dancing with the Stars, so it feeds on itself like the paradoxical snake that eats its own tail. The most disturbing contradiction about reality shows is that the whole point we watch them is to experience the plight of Everyperson, but the subjects of the shows become famous because of their exploits, thereby nullifying their Everyperson status. What I like most about the two books that begin the Cinderella Cleaners series by Maya Gold is that main character Diana Donato does not become famous when she is brushed with fame; she does not taunt when she has the opportunity to flaunt. She remains an Everyperson whatever happens, and when she makes mistakes, she understands why and rectifies them for the right reasons. The bottom line is that I like Diana, and I think readers will too.

The first book in the Cinderella Cleaners series, Change of a Dress, sets up the series. Eighth-grader Diana Donato and her best friend Jess Munson attend New Jersey’s Weehawkin Middle School. Diana is furious because she has to miss the school play when her stepmother Fay insists she get a job, but fortunately, her father owns a dry cleaners and she can work for him. The store has a cast of colorful minor characters who occasionally pop in and out of the story; I can imagine future books featuring one or more of them in more prominent roles. Diana’s two favorite things are Broadway and acting, and when she is going through a jacket at the cleaners and finds amazing tickets and cast party passes to the hottest show on Broadway, Angel, featuring new hottie Adam Kessler (imagine a cross between Nick Jonas and Robert Pattinson), she desperately wants to go, even if it means “borrowing” a customer’s dress under repair. Diana must decide how to get to New York without her parents’ knowledge, get fitted for the dress, and hope against hope that the owners of the dress and tickets do not show up to ruin her dream night.

In the shorter second Cinderella Cleaners novel, Prep Cool, friend Will (and maybe—just maybe—a secret crush for Diana) gets his first musical gig at an exclusive local prep school party. He invites Diana and Jess to the party even though everyone there thinks they own the place (and probably do), and our middle-class heroines are out of their league. Jess meets a guy and immediately falls for him, and she entrusts Diana with her bag and her prized cell phone. Trouble ensues when one of the local female fashionista bullies sees Jess with the boy she wants. Revenge knows no lows to the villainous Brooke, and although Jess risks some embarrassment, Diana may be dealing with the end of her relationship with her BFF because of her mistake.

I like the Cinderella Cleaners novels for a few reasons. The action is not outrageous, it is just outside of the realm of the ordinary, in that netherworld between the very possible and the utterly fantastic. I like the main characters, and although many of the minor characters are little more than stereotypes, they may be developed in future books. Ms. Gold uses simple but effective visual images like the Empire State Building at night or the hectic, fly-by culture of the cleaners to spruce up the action, and it is an effective method to increase the reader’s connection to the North Jersey and New York City characters and settings. Also, Diana realizes throughout the two novels that although her life has troubles; i.e. her stepmom isn’t perfect, she must navigate the beginning of interest in relationships, mean girls at school occasionally taunt, her boss at the cleaners can be a challenge, etc., she is better off in her middle-class life than in many other seemingly glamorous lives. Diana accepts and embraces who she is and does not dream of being someone else more pretty, or more wealthy, or more famous like this week’s morally deficient Jon & Kate. Diana is comfortable in her own skin, although she continually has to prove it like every middler. I believe Maya Gold has tapped into a winning formula with the Cinderella Cleaners series; after all, not everyone wants to be a vampire or a werewolf, right? Like the Candy Apple books, this series will be great for reading over a break or at the beach this summer.