I'm a slayer, ask me how.

How can I resist a young adult book with that title, that cover, and blurbs by Jon Stewart AND Judd Apatow? 

Oliver Watson is the titular Evil Genius.  He runs an evil corporation from his secret lair located below his parent's suburban home.  When dwelling in his lair and plotting his world takeover, he is attending class at his local public middle school.  In class and at home, Oliver pretends to be a below average student, skating by with passing grades and falling all over himself in the hallways.  No one would suspect that he is the fourth richest person in the world. 

From infanthood, Oliver has had nothing but disdain for his father.  So when his dad talks about how one of the biggest milestones in his young life was to be elected student-body president, Oliver decides he will be class president - not because he wants his father's acceptance (because he denies that vehemently throughout the book) but to show his father that anything he did, his buffoonish son can do too, diminishing the value of the accomplishment.

If you like the snarky humor of "The Daily Show" (which the author works on) then you'll probably enjoy this book.  Oliver mocks his fellow students, tortures teachers, and generally abuses anyone who works for him.  While some of the jokes might go over a kid's head (will 7th graders know who Machiavelli was?), I think they will get a kick out of it.  It might be good for reluctant boy readers who enjoy the antics of Stewie on "The Family Guy" since the book is full of satire and fart jokes. 

A quick read that will make you giggle, even if the ending is a bit cheesy.  3.5 stars.

Bachorz, P. Candor
Egmont, 2009. 249 pages.
$16.95 ISBN 978-1-60684-012-2

Respectful space in every place.
Academics are the key to success.
Never keep secrets from your parents.

These phrases sound like something the average teen would hear on a regular basis as adults try to influence their behavior.  While children may not immediately obey these words, they do listen.  But what if they had no choice but to listen?  What if these messages were not coming from their parents' mouths, but instead being delivered subliminally, every second of every day? 

In the town of Candor, that is exactly what life is like.  Well-to-do families move in, hoping that the messages will help mold their children into something "better".  It only takes a matter of days before the child starts to spout these phrases.  Once cherished items, like skateboards, art supplies, and M&Ms, are thrown in the garbage by their owners.  The town is quiet, safe, and seemingly perfect since all of its citizens must obey the Messages.

Oscar Banks is the son of Candor's creator.  As the Messages will tell you, he is a superior person.  He does well in school, participates in extracurricular activities, and even has a perfect girlfriend, Mandi.  But no one knows the real Oscar.  He was in Candor from the start, and he's managed to figure out how the Messages work.  He can't avoid them completely, but he has created a set of special messages just for himself, to help him remember who he really is.  He also creates messages for kids that are willing and able to pay his high fee to get out. He has managed to build his own little world inside right under his father's nose, and no one knows about it but him. 

Then one night, Oscar meets a mysterious girl.  She's clearly new in town, still wearing her dark clothes and a collection of earrings.  She's also snuck in a can of orange spray paint.  He is amazed by the spirit this girl possesses and is drawn to her.  He slips her a music CD, filled with special Messages to keep her from changing into a brainwashed Candor teen.  He doesn't tell her that, of course.  Who would believe that they were being controlled by subliminal Messages?  Plus, he hasn't quite figured out what he wants to do with her - should he smuggle her out of Candor and out of his life?  Or should he keep her in the town so they can be friends...or more? 

Pam Bachorz's Candor is a society that feels eerily plausible.  Oscar Banks narrates the story in a natural voice, explaining to the reader how the Messages and the town work as a whole.  Oscar starts out somewhat self-centered (as anyone in his situation might be, since he is the only teen not repeating the Messages) but as the story goes on, he begins to realize a bit more about himself, Candor, and the what the world outside must be like.  He starts to see how much of a personality can really be suppressed by the Messages, and how far his father will go to keep the town safe and sterile.

Candor would be a fitting book suggestion for a fan of Scott Westerfeld's Uglies series - the bubbly Pretties and the Candor teens have a lot in common.  But even if they are not familiar with that series, readers will enjoy this well-written, fast-paced (and other hyphenated words) story.

Jill is just like every other high school senior: she's stressing over her social life and counting down the days until prom.  If only she had more time to woo Tommy and convince him to ask her out.  Her friend Ramie tells her that she needs to just act like herself but that is impossible.  Because for one week out of each month, Jill is not herself: she's Jack.  Luckily, when she changes back into Jill a week later, she does a quick bit of meditation and completely wipes her "Jack-time" from her memory, so she doesn't have to remember all those nasty boy thoughts.

Jack, on the other hand, remembers everything.  All of Jill's triumphs and failures.  And he's sick of watching from the inside.  He wants to get out of the house.  He's a 16 year old boy with needs! 

That is the basic set-up of Cycler.  And while the first half of the book is amusing enough, it starts to get old halfway through when you realize that Jill is not going to learn her lesson.  Jack, on the other hand, is a sarcastic bastard, but at least he's fun to hang out with. 

I was also bothered by the weird bit about Tommy.  Jill spends a large amount of time trying to get his attention, only to discover that he's bisexual.  This big reveal is more confusing than anything, and I think it is when I really stopped caring about Jill's opinions.  I guess the whole idea was to have her worry that Jack's "manliness" was showing in her female side.

The "climax" of the story, if you could call it that, is a real let down with absolutely nothing being resolved.  I felt cheated by the end. 

Good idea, poor execution.  Here's hoping someone rips it off and gives us a more thought provoking story about what it means to be a teenage girl/boy in today's world.

This book was a solid read.  If you lived through 9/11, many of the incidents described will be eerily familiar.  Those that were too young to really remember the impact of that day will get a good feel for how it felt to be coming into young adulthood at that time. 

Marcus and his friends are out playing a LARP-style game in San Francisco when terrorists attack and blow up the Bay Bridge.  While trying to get back home, they are all picked up by the Department of Homeland Security and taken away.  Eventually they are released back into a city they hardly recognize; a city reacting to the attack.  The adults seem to be going right along with all the government monitoring, but Marcus and his friends can feel what little rights they had as teenagers slipping away.  They decide to take action and take back their city.

Doctorow mixes classic Orwellian plot with a modern teen's lifestyle.  The characters are believable and likable.  It does run a little long, and you feel like Marcus is going in circles in the middle of the book, but it all ends well.  This title would be a great discussion book for teens.

Hey, I didn't know it won the Printz award!  Cool.

Repossessed is a young adult novel about a demon that takes over a teenage boys body in his(?) quest to find out what human life is all about.  After spending eternity guarding tortured souls in Hell, he wants to see what it is all about.  He wants to understand how bad sins really are and what it feels like to...well feel. 

Actually, it sounds sorta lame when I write it out.  It is actually quite a clever little book. Kiriel (the demon/spirit thing) snags the body of Shaun right before he steps off the curb and gets hit by a bus - so technically Shaun would be dead anyway, he had no more life to live.  Kiriel takes the life that Shaun has been taking for granted and attempts to just have experiences.  But he soon finds out that to truly experience being human, he has to make connections and the more connections he makes the more he wants to experience...


I did enjoy this book, though at times I wondered if teens reading it would feel as though the author was being too preachy about certain situations.  Other parts are just flat out hilarious when Kiriel first gets Shaun's body and starts to do all the things he's seen Shaun do that look like fun (yeah, you get to guess what Shaun, a teenage BOY does for fun...).  Jenkins does a good job of avoiding any religious controversy, avoiding terms like "God" and "Satan".  And the idea of the Hell that Kiriel comes from is just different enough to make you think.  The book leaves you wanting more, but I think Jenkins ended it at just the right spot.

I'd give it a 3.5. outta 5.  Original and funny.

This Young Adult fiction novel is on the Great Books for Children and Teens 2007 reading list.  I'm not sure I would have picked it up if it hadn't been assigned to me to read, but I am happy I did!

'Boot Camp' has absolutely nothing to do with the Army.  This story is far more sinister.  The book opens with Garrett, a 15-year old boy, being "transported" to Lake Harmony.  He's not sure what is going on, but it is soon revealed that his parents have sent him to this camp to "cure" him of his problems.

I don't want to give too much away, but I will tell you this book is not for the weak of heart.  Author Todd Strasser cites his sources in the back of the book, explaining that the conditions and abuse Garrett endures at Lake Harmony are not just from his imagination; there are camps like this all over the United States.  Children are sent away from their homes and force to comply with "rules" meant to turn them into the child their parents want. 


Despite its dark story, this is a page turner.  The chapters are just short enough that you convince yourself that you could read just one more.  And then that chapter ends in a bit of a cliff hanger and you have to keep going!  A disturbing page turner!