I Can’t Wait To Read: The Broken Lands by Kate Milford

If the words nineteenth century New York City, Crossroads, Good Versus Evil, Orphans, and Construction of the Brooklyn Bridge excite you, then hello and welcome! You are my soul sister! If not, then you are probably not as excited as I am to read The Broken Lands by Kate Milford.

I loved the companion novel, The Boneshaker, particularly the main character, Natalie. But even without Natalie, I have faith in Milford’s ability to weave a complex and deeply moving story resonating with fantastical historic nostalgia.

Also, the summary mentions Coney Island, which, judging by how Milford handled the Nostrum Fair in The Boneshaker, can only mean good things.

One Tough Lady: Natalie from The Boneshaker

Celebrating female characters, fictional and non-, that inspire us to be brave, be strong, and generally be the best selves we can because they are so awesome.

Who is she?

            Natalie Minks, heroine of The Boneshaker by Kate Milford.

Literary Inspiration: Every Day by David Levithan

"If you stare at the center of the universe, there is a coldness there. A blankness. Ultimately, the universe doesn't care about us. Time doesn't care about us.

That's why we have to care about each other."

- David Levithan, Every Day (2012. Alfred A. Knopf: New York. page 320) 

The TCABSC goes to: Ell and Saturday from The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland...

The Tiny Cooper Award for Best Supporting Character (TCABSC, pronounced Tuh-Cab-Skuh) was created to honor those special guys and gals who, while not the main focus of the book, are still extraordinary. The

Tiny Coopers (Will Grayson, Will Grayson), Anitas (West Side Story), and Robins (Batman) of the fictional world may not always get the girl (or guy), but sometimes they fulfill their role of supporting or obstructing the lead character in such a phenomenal way that it deserves special notice. This attention now comes in the form of an imaginary award made up by me. Hey, they’re not the main characters, so they have to take what they can get.

This Tiny Cooper Award for Best Supporting Character goes to: Ladies and gentleman, this is unprecedented! For the first time in YA Department history, IT’S A TIE! Two of the supporting characters from The Girl WhoCircumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente are so awesome that they are sharing the award! A-through-L (nickname Ell) and Saturday, come on down and claim your prize!

BAMF Girls Club

What happens when all your favorite awesome kick-ass lady characters (and Bella) move into a house together, Bad Girl's Club style? Hermione is generally upbeat and dorky, Lisbeth freaks everyone out with her hacking and lack of social skills, Katniss moves into a tree,  Buffy talks a lot about "Mr. Pointy," Michonne brandishes her sword and worries about walkers, and Bella moons around over Edward.




Check out episodes 2 and 3 at http://www.comediva.com/.

White Cat by Holly Black

At the start of Holly Black’s White Cat, 17-year-old Cassel is anxious to let us know that he is not a good guy. He comes from a family of curse workers and has grown up learning how to con everyone he encounters. And, most chillingly, he killed the one girl he ever loved.

He can’t remember much about it. His brothers won’t talk to him about it, and his mother, who is in prison for working a wealthy man, tells him to do what his brothers say. For some time that has meant attending a boarding school and trying to stay out of trouble, which, since Cassel is the only member of his family without worker abilities, isn’t difficult. But when Cassel wakes up at the top of a school building’s tower with no idea how he got there, his safe life begins to crumble. As he tries to solve the mystery of his sleepwalking, dreams of a white cat intersect with his memories of Lila, the girl he killed, the mobsters that his brothers work for, and a knot of family secrets and lies.

American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang

Early in American Born Chinese, a graphic novel by Gene Luen Yang, a teacher introduces young Jin Wang to his new third-grade class: “I’d like us all to give a warm Mayflower Elementary welcome to your new friend and classmate Jing Jang!” She then proclaims that Jin came “all the way from China.” Wrong again. Jin’s parents are from China; Jin was born in San Francisco. This is just a taste of the casual and often deliberate racism that Jin will face at his new school. Yang’s bright and cheerful artwork contrasts nicely with the complex effect that this treatment has on Jin’s own sense of himself and, in turn, on his own treatment of the people he cares about.