The Happiest Are Sometimes the Most Miserable...

Happyface by Stephen Edmond is an amazing book. The story is added to and punctuated by drawings and sketches of Happyface, the protagonist, and his thoughts and experiences. The book is set up to be his journal.

Happyface can't escape his past. His brother is dead, his relationship with his former-best friend and love is torn to shreds, and his parents are separated. He moves to a new town with his mother. He realizes he has an opportunity to put his past behind him and be the person he choses. And Happyface is born. He makes new friends and even a new love interest named Gretchen. Things are going great until Gretchen's ex-boyfriend Trevor reappears. Afraid of their romance rekindling, Happyface's facade begins to slip. The situation gets worse when Chloe shows up, a dark figure in his past. Happyface struggles to keep the life he wants, without denying the one he had. Edmond unravels extreme loss in a teen's life through Happyface's story. Through the facade of joy, Happyface attempts to rebuild his life the way he'd like to be. To conquer your fears, you have to face them. While you can't run away from your past, it doesn't have to destroy you either....9/10

Almost Perfect, But Pretty Damn Close

Almost Perfect by Brian Katcher. Within the pages of this book lies a story profound, controversial, and downright confusing. Katcher paints a brilliant picture of two teens and the struggles of trying to be normal in an abormal world. When Logan (a small-town track runner and average high school kid) meets Sage (the tall, pretty newcomer in town) their worlds are flipped upside down. Logan falls for Sage and her strange ways. Sage wants to be with Logan, but can't for reasons she won't explain. After a hapless kiss in the night, Sage reveals her secret to Logan: she's really a boy. So begins the emotional roller-coaster of Sage and Logan, a teen romance gone terribly askew. Logan likes Sage, but can't accept his growing attraction to her because of her "condition". From friends to lovers to enemies and back again, the suspense in the story never stops. Katcher approaches transgender transformation in a unique and stylish way. Sage Hendricks is both a believable angst-ridden teen like every other girl in high school, and a boy deeply struggling to be the girl she knows she can be in a world that doesn't accept her. Logan's feelings of contradicting love and abhorrence towards Sage is remarkable and shows the good and acceptance that someone can feel when they truly look past skin deep. A remarkably tense, gripping, and eye-opening ride, one you'll never want to put down. 10/10

*Note: The blue words are the 50 word review.

Kristin Cashore

Today was definitely one of the coolest and most exciting days the club has had. Thanks to the Boulder Bookstore, we were able to host a visit from Kristin Cashore.

The event was even more exciting because today was also the release day for her newest book, Fire. She read from her book and talked a bit about her writing process, which was definitely interesting to hear. She was very personable and easy to talk with; it definitely seemed like the students enjoyed being able to meet and talk with her. After talking with her and enjoying some delicious treats thanks to our culinary arts program students, she took the time to sign our copies of both Graceling and Fire, which are high on our reading lists now! This was a great way to start October... can't wait to see what the rest of the year brings!

New books... thanks, Boulder Bookstore!

Last night a few of us attended the bookclub event at the Boulder Bookstore last night after dinner together at Chipotle. We had a pretty good time; it was cool to hear what other clubs were reading and how they ran things. It was a little disappointing to not see other teens there, but we still had a great time. Best of all, we all left with two new books, courtesy of the bookstore. (Woohoo!!). In my goodie bag was a copy of Margaret Coel's Killing Raven, and at the end of the night, we were all able to choose books that had been set out on a table, and I chose The Emotional Lives of Animals by Marc Bekoff. It's been a long time since I've read a mystery novel, so having the opportunity to read Coel will be fun, and the Bekoff book is something I'm definitely interested in, and I'm planning to read it shortly before or after I read my copy of Animals Matter, so that will be a nice pairing of concepts, particularly since Bekoff wrote both of them.

Our next bookclub meeting is (tentatively) scheduled for Wednesday, December 3rd. If that changes, I'll post it up, but that is the day for us to give further thoughts and reflections on The Graveyard Book and we'll be talking about our choice(s) for our next book.

I've noticed that quite a lot of Gaiman's work focuses on the theme of the outsider trying to fit in, or at least get by, in a society they don't necessarily understand, and The Graveyard Book is no exception. I would like to make that a part of the discussion, which we can start here, of course.