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Book Review: Little Boy Blu by Cara Brookins

Little Boy Blu by Cara Brookins

The Wild Rose Press, Inc., 2014

ISBN: 978-1628306903

Available: Paperback, Kindle

 

Novels set in Appalachia will always hold a certain mystique: there’s a certain air about the location found only in a few places in America. In Little Boy Blu, readers will find themselves immersed in a dense atmosphere comprised of heavy forests, mountains, moonshine stills, and a culture that entices, amazes, and often frightens those outside of this geographic microcosm. This is what makes Cara Brookins’ tale so tantalizing.

Brookins is the author of the very successful Timeshifters series, and has now penned what just might become a staple in the genre. Based on true stories of the “blue” people of Kentucky, Little Boy Blu centers around a family living far away from the mainstream, deep within the woods, where time and civilization often fail to penetrate. Blu Tracey was born with an anomaly—he’s the only one in his family who does not sport the blue-tinged skin. This characteristic gives them a disturbing bond and also places a target on their souls.

Blu’s mother sold out her family for a reality show, but her pseudo-fame didn’t quite pan out the way she had planned. Her own story is chronicled alongside Blu’s during a journey where he discovers that someone is trying to kill him. But is the killer from the world outside their own, or from someplace much closer?

 Many threads weave together into a story as profound as the mountain song that echoes through the hills and flows down the rivers and streams which bisect Blu’s world. Little Boy Blu is Southern Gothic crossbred with a tight thriller. It sings with Brookins’ stylish writing, smoother than the ‘shine found in those hills, but just as potent. Her characters are the backbone of the story,   and will entice just before punching the reader in the heart with twists and turns that work on so many levels. Tough to categorize but very easy to love, I recommend giving this fine novel a shot. Recommended for age 15 and up.

Contains: N/A

Reviewed by David Simms

Posted on August 22, 2015 by , Reply

Help a Reader Out: Victoria and Harris, Trapped In A Nightmare School

Guys, I found this! I have to admit it was totally by accident. I was browsing while my daughter looked through potential candidates for checkout at our public library, and this practically jumped out at me– it was right at my eye level (I’m short). The book is:

 

 The Cavendish School for Boys and Girls  by Claire Legrand

I was right on all the details, except that Victoria’s friend is named Lawrence, not Harris. And this is an even creepier book than I remembered it being. It’s over-the-top gothic and has a weird fiction feel to it as well. Edward Gorey would probably love it. If you have a tween who is into fantastic, creepy gothic stories, All Hallows’ Read is coming up soon.

 

This one’s for me. I am going bananas! I read this book just a few weeks ago and I can’t remember the name. A middle school girl, Victoria, who always does everything perfectly, is friends with Harris, who is awkward and embarrassing and plays the piano beautifully. One day Harris disappears from school and when she visits his parents they tell her he is visiting his grandmother, but something is clearly wrong. Kids keep disappearing from the school and even teachers seem frightened.

A boarding school has opened up on her street and when she goes to see if Harris is there, she is invited in by the proprietress who seems to think they’re alike. Eventually Victoria is trapped in the school and discovers Harris is there. It is a nightmarish, almost living building, and the job of the school is to mold everyone into behaving beautifully and identically. The cover was white with that kind of gothic look to the illustration and text that you see in a lot of children’s books now. I cannot remember the name of the book. The title was Miss or Mrs. ——- School for ——– or something similar. It’s a relatively new book. Can anyone place it?

 

Posted on August 21, 2015 by , Reply

Book Review: Some Girls Are by Courtney Summers

Some Girls Are by Courtney Summers

St. Martin’s Griffin, 2010

ISBN-13: 978-0312573805

Available: Paperback, Audible, Audio CD, Kindle edition

Anyone feeling nostalgic for the glory days of high school will drop that nostalgia right in the trash bin within pages of beginning Some Girls Are. Our protagonist, Regina, is the best friend of the high school Mean Queen, Anna, and as the only sober person at a party she decides to do her duty as the designated driver and take Anna, who has passed out, home, over the vehement objections of Anna’s boyfriend, Donnie. who then attempts to rape Regina. Regina flees the party, ending up at her “friend” Kara’s. Kara convinces Regina to stay quiet, but uses the information to convince Anna that Regina slept with Donnie. Anna’s revenge is to knock Regina from the top of the high school pecking order to the very bottom. Anna orders her friends and hangers-on to persecute Regina, and Kara makes it her personal mission to destroy Regina in every way, even establishing an online social media page dedicated to hating her. While some of the attacks are over-the-top, and it’s rather alarming that not a single adult picks up on what’s going on, Summers still managed to make me a witness to the events and emotions that carry the story.

You would think the attacks on her would make Regina a sympathetic character, but she’s not. As Anna’s right hand she’s been there and done this to other kids at Anna’s bidding, including Liz, who attempted suicide, and Michael, now labeled “most likely to become a school shooter”. And it’s clear that Regina knew exactly what she was doing, if not its complete impact: she felt guilty, but she wasn’t a blind participant. She knows herself well enough that she doesn’t expect others to like or forgive her, and fights back viciously against her former friends whenever she has the opportunity. The way the teens in this book treat each other is often brutal and callous, and there is plenty of schadenfreude, selfishness, cowardice, and anger to go around. But there’s also a tiny ray of hope as Regina and Michael begin to build a tentative connection. The entire thing has the feel of The Chocolate War, if Jerry Renault had fought back, or found even a momentary kindness.

Regina has a strong voice and even though she is not a particularly sympathetic character, I grew to respect her and hope for her continued positive development. It’s not necessary to like her to be appalled by her treatment. I felt that Summers did a good job of presenting the multiple faces and feelings of important characters like Michael, Kara, and Liz, although I would have liked to know a little more about Regina’s previous relationship with Liz. While Anna and her other friends were pretty flat, the characters Summers did choose to develop were definitely three-dimensional.

Some Girls Are was recently challenged in South Carolina, and I can see why a parent would be uncomfortable with this book. Sexual assault, bullying, drug use, and suicide are difficult to read about or talk about, and no parent wants to believe this could be happening in their own child’s school. This is a gripping and horrifying read, especially because the monsters are human rather than supernatural, and it rings true. If this is the kind of thing kids today are facing in high school, a book like Some Girls Are, at least for mature readers, definitely has a place.  Recommended for ages 15 and up.

Contains: bullying, sexual assault, underage drinking, drug use, attempted suicide, language.

Reviewed by Kirsten Kowalewski

Posted on August 3, 2015 by , Reply
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