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There is no possible way to compare the three books reviewed this month in our Young Adult column. One is dark and ambiguous (Just
in Case), the other is sassy and fun (Brand X: The Boyfriend Account), and the third is historical fiction
with an edge (Victory). But they're all compelling reads, so on to the reviews:
Just in Case
by Meg Rosoff
Reviewed by Laura Atkins, Tockla's World of Children's Literature
Just in Case is Meg Rosoff’s follow-up novel to her celebrated debut, How I Live Now, which won the
Michael L. Printz Award in the United States and the Guardian Children's Fiction Award in the U.K. With such a distinctive
voice and unsettling honesty in the first book, it was hard to imagine where she would go in this next one. It doesn’t
disappoint. While set in contemporary Luton in England rather than in a future reality, the book offers edgy, unsettling
reflections on our place in the world.
Starting with a multivoice narrative that challenges the reader to identify who/what speaks, the book begins as teenager
David Case watches his baby brother come very close to jumping out of the window because he thinks he can fly. This
triggers David's sense of impending doom, that fate is out to get him. He decides to completely change his identity in an
attempt to throw fate off the track. So he changes his name to Justin. Justin Case.
In a trip to a second-hand store, he meets the dynamic and enigmatic Agnes Bee, a hip, uniquely-fashioned photographer who
sees in Justin a ‘doomed youth’. Thus begins their strange friendship, and Justin is helped towards a new and totally
different wardrobe, and his new identity.
As Justin bungles his way through a life he sees as filled with looming catastrophe, he befriends and moves in with a
quirky family of children—Peter, Dorothea, Anne—and their enormous pet rabbit, Alice. He also adopts an imaginary (or is
it?) pet greyhound called Boy, and has conversations with the often menacing voice of...fate...destiny...voices in his head?
His struggle with depression is drawn in spare language, offering a stark portrait of the depths of his despair as he
struggles to get out of bed or face the bleak reality of daily life.
At first I found it difficult to engage with the language, which is often arch and slightly distant. The characters can be
hard to connect with—especially Justin with his cynicism and anger. But as I read on I was caught by the rawness of
his struggles, and engaged by the mixture of reality and fantasy elements which are never fully resolved one way or the
other. Rosoff creates characters who stand-out with a minimum of description, and allows them to be ambiguous. When Agnes
exhibits her photos of Justin without telling him first, the reader is left to struggle with her actions and her
character—how much to judge, whether she has used him or not.
I appreciate Rosoff’s willingness to explore complex and often-dark themes. She pulls no punches. While Just in Case lacks some of
the overt descriptions of violence and horror present in How I Live Now (though there is one rather graphic plane crash
scene), there is a similar underlying anxiety in this book, paired with the creation of an oasis populated by a world of
young people. Adults are mostly absent or incompetent.
And in the end, while there is some hope for Justin, and hence for the reader, the book as a whole does not offer any easy
answers. An almost completely ambiguous final page removes any possibility of happily ever after—but challenges us all
to think about ourselves, our place in the world, and problematizes the idea of fate or destiny. A challenging book for the
adventurous reader.
Brand X: The Boyfriend Account
by Laurie Gwen Shapiro
Reviewed by Ilene S. Goldman, Book Buds
Brand X: The Boyfriend Account follows the predictable yet engaging chicklit formula.
Set in a New York City high school, this is a contemporary love story in a modern city complete with an
ill-chosen boyfriend, a misunderstanding mother, and some self-deprecating humor. The protagonist searches to discover her
true self, stumbles, and then, with panache and humor, finds her way. Where Brand X departs from chicklit is the sex; this
book has none, making it a fun, but not too racy, high school read. Moreover, Brand X also departs from some recently hyped
YA literature: These teens are not hooked to their cell phones and iPods. They’re not out shopping with Daddy’s credit
card. And they’re not choosing one another based on looks, family, and cliques. High school junior Jordie Popkin and her
friends are just teenagers figuring out who they are in a world that would like to make that decision for them.
When Jordie lands an internship at Out of the Box, a small ad agency, her science-minded mother and her internship advisor
are not exactly thrilled. Jordie’s mother wants her to follow her own and her sister’s footsteps to a scientific career.
She is disappointed that Jordie has not pursued the tough scientific research internship that Jordie’s sister Sari held.
But, the internship sponsor happens to be her principal’s brother; and Jordie’s father not-so-secretly roots for her. An
aspiring writer at an elite math and science high school, Jordie also feels the need to justify her internship to her
peers, especially to super-popular Vaughan Nussman.
Jordie’s three wacky mentors immediately initiate “the boyfriend account,” turning their marketing genius on Jordie,
re-branding her to attract her “target market,” Vaughan. The marketing plan works flawlessly, despite some hilarious
missteps.
Along the way, however, Jordie discovers that her prince is not exactly charming. Another boy, Zane Minton, waits quietly to
be noticed. True to the chicklit formula, Jordie surprises herself (if not the reader) by recognizing the better man. She
also blazes a path for humanities-inclined students at Manhattan Science. She garners a national writing award that earns
her the respect of her principal and peers. And, she even wins over her mother and advisor, convincing them of the
value of a non-science internship.
Told in first person, the book represents the personal journal Jordie kept of her internship experience, presented a few
years later as a cautionary tale to other teens. The 16 chapter titles add up to a basic marketing strategy that is
summarized at the end of the book. Each chapter begins with a small exposition of the marketing principle. In the end,
Jordie sums up: Neither her mentors nor Jordie saw Zane coming.
“That’s one of the weird things about marketing, that it is such an inexact science. Customer A is getting
your message, but you pick up customer B, too, and in the end that may be the one you want.”(227).
She also learns that “In the end—you must already know—it’s best to be the improved you that you are.” (228). A morality
tale? Perhaps, but is refreshing to see a YA novel about high school relationships that is sweet, simple and old-fashioned
despite its contemporary, urban setting.
It is not surprising that Laurie Gwen Shapiro made her name authoring two popular Harlequin Red Dress Ink books,
The Anglophile (2005) and The Matzo Ball Heiress (2004). In Brand X she expertly marries
chicklit with Young Adult literature, creating an amusing romp which shows Jordie blossoming and coming into her own.
Victory
by Susan Cooper
Reviewed by Michele Fry, Scholar's Blog
Susan Cooper's Victory is a mixture of historical and realistic fiction.
Sam Robbins is an eleven-year-old farm
boy in Kent whose uncle takes him to earn a living at the ropewalk in Chatham as the Royal Navy prepares for a renewed war
against France. He and his uncle are press-ganged into becoming sailors, and Sam becomes a powder monkey aboard
H. M. S. Victory, the ship on which Lord Nelson will die a hero's death at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.
Molly Jennings is a present-day English girl whose mother and stepfather have moved her from London to America, to start a
new life after her step-father Carl is moved to his American homeland through work. Molly is fighting a battle of her own
against homesickness and loneliness.
This extraordinary adventure tale tells the interwoven stories of Sam and Molly, who are linked by a mystery. At first Sam
is terrified and seasick aboard Victory, but gradually he is transformed into a sailor. In the rowdy, dangerous world of a
warship enduring the Napoleonic Wars, he faces cruelty and kindness, and survives a fearsome battle whose echoes reach
through the years to involve Molly as well. On a trip to Mystic Seaport, Molly, who is a great reader, finds an old copy of
Robert Southey's The Life of Nelson. When her stepbrother Russell's friend is teasing her and faking a Cockney
accent, Molly loses her cool and throws the book at Jack. This knocks loose the cover and she finds inside a handmade
envelope with two notes and a tattered piece of material. The material turns out to be a piece of Victory's flag that had
belonged to Sam Robbins. Sam had given it to his daughter before making his final sea voyage, from which he did not return.
Sam's grandson, Edward, had hidden the piece of flag inside the book after his mother gave it to him. The flag links Sam and
Molly together, although Molly doesn't learn exactly why until almost the end of the book. In the meantime they both
struggle through fear and excitement to the Battle of Trafalgar, which terrifyingly tests the courage of them both.
There's a beautiful bit in this book, which reminded me strongly of Cooper's other recent historical tale, King of
Shadows. Molly is in the bookshop at Mystic Seaport where the family has taken refuge from a sudden heavy rain shower.
She goes to speak to the shop owner, who is bent over paperwork: "He looks up from his papers, startled, and for a moment
does not see her. She has the feeling that inside his head he was a long, long way away, and is having trouble coming back.
Being a reader, Molly knows such feelings well [...]" (pp. 22-23)
This is an amazing tale—I love the way Cooper uses the piece of the flag that Molly finds. She doesn't travel through
time with it, she just catches echoes, some of them terrifyingly strong, of Sam's experiences, which then touch her own
life in powerful ways. The ending of the tale is emotionally powerful, yet deeply satisfying too. A book I can recommend.
Just in Case, by Meg Rosoff. Wendy Lamb Books, 2006. ISBN: 0-3857-4678-4.
Brand X: The Boyfriend Account, by Laurie Gwen Shapiro. Delacorte Books for Young Readers, 2006.
ISBN: 0-3857-3288-0.
Victory, by Susan Cooper. Margaret K. McElderry, 2006. ISBN: 1-4169-1477-3.
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