Ensler, Eve. I Am An Emotional Creature

Ensler, Eve I Am An Emotional Creature
Villard Books/Random 2010 148p 20.00
978-1-4000-6104-4 hs E-BN
Eve Ensler, author of The Vagina Monologues, gives voice to girls of all colors, creeds, and nationalities as they cope with various social and political issues. In this impassioned book, Eve Ensler, author of The Vagina Monologues, gives voice to girls of all colors, creeds, and nationalities as they cope with various social and political issues worldwide. Ensler writes fictional monologues, dialogues, poems and stories that give an account of what some girls go through in this day and age. The text in this book is inspired by girls around the globe who are dealing with issues such as: peer pressure, slavery, violence, and other real life problems. Some of the topics include a suburban girl dealing with popularity among her peers, a teenage Chinese factory worker who assembles Barbie doll heads all day, and an African young woman who goes out for a fun time with her friends one day and returns home two years later with her baby after being kidnapped as a sexual slave to a war lord. There are “Girl Facts” sprinkled throughout the chapters that enlighten the reader to statistics that are related to the forthcoming chapter. Ensler is an impassioned purveyor of information whose messages will empower readers and show the universal plight and strength of young women worldwide. This is a “can’t put down book” that should be in every high school library. Recommended for Tristate Books of Note. This is a “can’t put down book” that should be in every high school library. Recommended for Tristate Books of Note. Weinraub, Tina

Baratz-Logsted, Lauren. Crazy Beautiful.

Baratz-Logsted, Lauren. Crazy Beautiful.
Houghton Mifflin/Clarion/Graphia/Kingfisher 2009 191p 16.00
978-0-547-22307-0 ms/hs
A modern take on a Beauty and the Beast tale. Lucius is beastly, because of an accident which left him without hands. Aurora is beautiful and popular, but also broken after the death of her mother. This unlikely duo are inexplicably drawn to each other in this dark romance. A Beauty and the Beast for the 21st century. Two new students couldn’t be more different. Lucius has prosthetic hooks after a chemical accident. Aurora’s dealing with the death of her mother. She is instantly popular, while Lucius becomes a pariah. That the two will be drawn to each other is a foregone conclusion. A formula romance, yes, and at times the plot seems too conveniently and neatly tied up. Even the names (Lucius Wolfe and Aurora Belle) seem out of another century. The analogy that Lucius’ disability is “beastly” was at first a little offensive, and Aurora’s saintly librarian father a little two perfect, but soon the story transends its problems and becomes a tale of friendship, redemption and coming-of-age. The topics are timely, and and the pace of the story makes it very readable. Nominated for the 2010 YALSA Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers, this story should appeal to reluctant readers. Naismith, Pat