Ten Cents a Dance by Christine Fletcher

Fletcher, Christine. Ten Cents a Dance. New York, New York: Bloomsbury USA, 2008.

356 pages 978-1-59990-164-0 $16.95

Genre:  Historical Fiction, coming of age

Awards: 

Top Ten Best Book for Young Adults 
American Library Association Blue Ribbon 
Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books Jefferson Cup Honor Book 
Virginia Library Association Finalist 
2008 Cybils Award for Young Adult Fiction 

 In Chicago 1941, there is not much opportunity for a young Polish-American girl responsible for her infirmed mother and younger sister. Life seems limited to packing pigs feet with brine until she -like her mother- becomes too broken to work when fatefully Ruby meets her first love. Paulie. The handsome neighborhood bad boy, tells her about the dance halls where men willingly pay to dance with you. Ruby grabs this opportunity only to quickly sink into this new world of taxi dancers. Her resulting struggle to escape from it is a memorable and read-worthy journey.

 Perhaps the biggest failing of this book is that it is very easy to forget just how incredibly amazing and likeable Ruby Jacinski's character is. She doesn’t whine or garner sympathy even when her life is at its lowest ebb. She continually does her best despite the consequences and while her choices make for a good story her motivations are sincere. This book is certainly recommended for its historical perspective of the US during the cusp of war - especially in regards to Jazz and prevalent attitudes and concerns of the time - and subsequential linguist jargon but mostly for its strong characterization and unique coming-of-age plot. 

Read excerpts and more from the author's website.

The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton

Hinton, S. E. The Outsiders. New York, New York: Puffin Books, 1967.

180 pages ISBN 0-51488-00599-5 $5.99

Genre: classic, coming of age, class struggle

Awards: 

New York Herald Tribune Best Teenage Books List, 1967 

Chicago Tribune Book World Spring Book Festival Honor Book, 1967 

Media and Methods Maxi Award, 1975 

ALA Best Young Adult Books, 1975 

Massachusetts Children’s Book Award, 1979

Ranked #38 on the American Library Association’s 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990-1999

Ponyboy Curtis is on his way home from the movies when he is jumped by the “Socs” (short for “Socials”). The reason for this attack is simply because Ponyboy is a “greaser” growing up in Tulsa, Oklahoma during the 1960s. Being a “greaser” in Ponyboy’s world means having your own code of ethics, being socio-economically trapped, and having an extended family. Ponyboy’s family include his older orphaned brothers and their friends which throughout the book guide and care for their youngest member in their own various ways. The pace of the book continues to move including an accidental killing, an escape/runaway, a fire, and a brawl while still quickly pulling the protagonist through innocence into an adult world he must define and understand on his own.

Historically, this title has been a proven classroom favorite and has earned various awards. The first-person narrative is moving and believable, the plot fast-paced, the issues complex and varied, and as a bonus the language is considerably clean. The Outsiders is an easy recommendation for great characters, coming-of-age, and class conflict collection.

Check out this site to see what happened to the real life Curtis house: Outsider book & movie website

A lot of students have also watched the movie that it can be still be pretty easily found. 

"The guy who played Soda was so cute and I really liked how you can kinda relate to all the characters to your friends in some ways. It's a neat book and movie." -Alondra, 13

Honey Hunt, Vol. 1 by Miki Aihara

Aihara, Miki. Honey Hunt Vol 1. San Francisco, Viz Media, LLC, 2009

978-1421523477 $9.99 192 pages OT

Genres: manga, romance, shojo, slice of life

Summary:     

    Yura Onuzaka is the only child of famous parents and has spent most of her life being invisible.  That was until her parents finally decided to get a divorce and the media decended on the house. While Yura's family had been in shambles for a while our quiet little mouse suffers one heartbreak too many when she comes home early one day.  She then looks to enter her mother's world of acting for redemption.  This series features lots of high drama and romance while Yura tries her best to become a star.

Pros – Fans of Hot Gimmick will recognize the love trapezoid that quickly develops between the main character and her handsome bishies.  The artwork is typical Aihara with clean and polished art. ?? relationship with Q-ta is ripe for heartbreak from the beginning.  It is a little like watching a wreck in progress. You know it’s going to happen but you can’t help but watch either.

Cons – Skip Beat!  does a more believable  revenge via stardom story but this is more the teen version despite it's somewhat lewd name as it focuses more on the Yura's feelings and struggles.  Personally, I found Yura somewhat hard to like as she keeps making some frankly bad decisions.  We can handle stupid and we can handle selfish (for the right reasons) in the shojo universe but the two rarely work together to make a likable character.    As I continued reading the series, I found Yura bouncing from one co-dependent relationship to another.  I hope the story develops further soon because as of Vol. 6, I can't really recommend but there is still time to turn the story around and traditionally Miki Aihara doesn't disappoint.  I'd recommend her other titles: Hot Gimmick & Tokyo Boys & Girls.

     Also there are many fan"scanslations sites with Miki Aihara's other works that haven't made it over here yet.  The sites will often even often have discussion threads of even the licensed works.  Remember, if you like these works please support the mangaka and buy them when they become available in the States.

My Heavenly Hockey Club

Morianga, Ai. My Heavenly Hockey Club, Vol 1. New York, NY: Del Rey, 2007.

ISBN 978-03499042 $9.99 196 pages 

Rated: Older teen

Genres: Manga/graphic novel, comedy, school life, romance, sports, shoujo

Summary:

Hana Suzuki wants nothing more than to sleep.  It’s her passion, hobby, and the reason why she studied so hard to get into a prestigious Merinkan… because it is only 3 minutes away from her bed.  It was on such a walk that she was involved in an accident causing damage to the car driving the elite and handsome hockey club president, Izumi Oda.  She is quickly conned into joining the hockey club as payment for damages and lured into become the team's goalie by her second love: eating. This is where Hana's life begins to get more exciting much to her chagrin.  

Pros:  The art work is clean and interesting.  This book also has a lot of humor and the mangaka is not afraid of making its heroine look less glamorous to get a laugh either.  She is certainly not your typical heroine as one can see here on page 81.

Themes of friendship and school spirit reign as well as the wealthy but clueless club president takes his club to various adventures.

Cons: The story is very similar to Ouran High Host Club.  They even have the gorgeous twins and it’s hard not to compare the two.  Readers are free to speculate who ends up with who but for the first couple of volumes there is more comedy hijinks than romanitic development between our heroine Hana and her handsome teammates.  In all there is much more going for this series than against it.

Click here to purchase or read customer reviews.

Natsume's Book of Friends by Yuki Midorikawa

Natsume’s Book of Friends Vol.1 by Yuki Midorikawa (2005)

Published by Hakusensha and reprinted/translated by Viz Media

Suggested age group: Middle School and above

Genre: Manga/Graphic Novel, Fantasy, Slice of Life

Summary:

            Orphaned and shuffled from relative to relative, high school student Takashi Natsume can see and communicate with yokai or Japanese spirit-monsters.  Understandably, he has always had issues fitting in but things change when he comes to live where his grandmother, Reiko, grew up.  Along with her abilities, Takashi discovered he also inherited her “Book of Friends.”  The book controls the yokai through kotodoma* and rather than keep the names, Takashi decides to return them to their owners even though doing so exhausts him and increases his yokai woes.  The series explores the various personalities of the yokai and people in Takashi’s life and how he slowly starts to find his own way to fit in.

* Kotodoma is a Japanese concept that words have power or a soul and in this case by knowing the names of the spirits, Reiko was able to control their souls.  

            For the starting manga reader, aside from learning how to read “backwards” there are many Japanese concepts and terms like the yukata or the lucky/beckoning cat (explained in the endnotes and Afterword) that can be both overwhelming and intriguing.  Seasoned manga readers might tend to overlook this series due to similar themed and more popular titles like xxxHolic, Bleach, and Shaman King to name a few.  However, Natsume’s Book of Friends is unique and while not being an obvious choice it is a quiet, heartfelt one. Midorikawa doesn’t manipulate but rather guides the reader’s emotional journey as demonstrated in the swallow spirit’s arc. This tale starts with a baby swallow that had fallen out of its nest and when returned by a kind human, the parent bird rejected the entire nest. She and all her siblings die and the swallow turns into a vengeful spirit transparent enough that a young boy would leave treats by the bush to feed what to the him probably seemed nothing more than a stray dog. The panel featuring this incident has glowing eyes peering deep within the shrubs at a sausage piece. The healthier and still grateful swallow spirit wants to see the kind boy that moved away and thank him with the help of Natsume.  The tone of the series and artwork is both gentle and mature. The artwork is wispy with thin lines and delicate details. Through Midorikawa’s kind and often-humorous handling of the yokai, you are able to experience and appreciate why Natsume helps the yokai that give him so much trouble.  Natsume’s inner thoughts at the end of chapter 2 also reflect this: “My days are filled with chaos.  I’m not that fond of yokai but maybe we all share the desire to understand the ones we love.” I would highly recommend this book and the rest of the series to those readers that want a little more than to just be entertained.  

link to Amazon (reviews and purchase info)