Magic for Liars

Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey is the story of Ivy Gamble being hired to solve a death at a high school for magic students - the same high school in which her sister teaches.

Ivy and her twin sister kinda went their separate ways when Tabitha started doing magic. You are either born with magic or you are not. Now Tabitha is a teacher at a prestigious magic school and Ivy is a hard-drinking private detective.

Ivy will have to investigate in a setting she does not understand. Her knowledge of magic is better than most, in that she knows it exists. But that is where her knowledge stops. She will have to decide who to trust to teach her as she interviews teachers and students to discover what happened to the woman who was divided in two in the library.

Gailey is a creative storyteller. Their books never go quite where you expect. If you need a book Sarah Gailey is always a great author to pick up.

Gailey, Sarah. (2019). Magic for Lairs. New York: Tor. 

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks

The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart is the story the beginning of one young woman's fight to change the world.

Frankie, named after her father, attends the prestigious boarding school Alabaster, in Massachusetts. Her freshman year she was fairly invisible. Her sister was a senior and showed her around, but Frankie didn't make too many friends of her own.

Now, the beginning of her sophomore year, she is more noticeable. She has blossomed. She catches the eye of Matthew, the senior she has had a crush on since beginning Alabaster.

Matthew is a member of a secret society - the Loyal Order of the Basset Hound - that has been a boys club on campus since the 1950s. But it is a secret society and only for boys.

Frankie will find a way to become the head of the Bassets - wreaking havoc all over the school. But when the Order gets caught - who will be punished?

This novel is filled with humor, fun with vocabulary, great pranks, and the coming of age of the heroine. I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys YA fiction.

Lockhart, E. (2008). The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks. New York: Hyperion.

The Chocolate War

The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier.

It is not often you read a book where two of the main characters grow in such a way that they were better off at the beginning of the book. But that is my take on what happens in The Chocolate War.

Trinity High School is not really run by the monks who teach there, though they do have control over the students. Trinity is run by a group of student - juniors and seniors - know as The Vigil. The Vigil assigns students to tasks and pranks during the school year. No one would dare refuse the order to do something, no matter how crazy.

One student, Goubert, is told to remove all of the screws from the furniture in one classroom. Another, Renault, is told to refuse to sell chocolate for ten days. Once the ten days are over, he is supposed to sell his quota of chocolate like all other students. But he refuses to sell chocolate after the ten days. Now The Vigil must do something or others will begin to refuse their influence.

What started out as one student standing up for himself, with only a single friend to support him, turned into a war. Renault is attacked, taunted, and made an outcast. Goubert is so disgusted by the actions at his school that he quits football and any other voluntary activity. Renault ends up in an ambulance.

The interesting thing about this book is that the bullies don't seem to receive any punishment for their actions. Two students are broken and will never be the same, but nothing is done about it. If Cormier's intent is to make readers think about how this is wrong, then he has succeeded with this reader. The book left an unfinished, disappointed feeling in me. Any book where the revenge on someone it to tease him and call him queer is not my idea of progressing social ideas.

Cormier, Robert. (1974). The Chocolate War. New York: Random House.

Looking for Alaska

Looking for Alaska by John Green.

I am not sure what to say about this book. It has a great message, but I felt I had to suffer through most of the book to get that message. If it hadn't been assigned for class I don't think I would have finished it. Of course, different readers will see other things in the story.

Miles, a geek who has never really had any friends, begins attending a private school where he finds friends. His roommate, Colonel, and their neighbor, Alaska, are the other main characters. All of the kids who live at the school are not rich, but the feel that comes across is spoiled, maladjusted teens who have too much time on their hand (for drinking and smoking) and not enough supervision.

The book is divided into to parts - before and after. Before is spent with Miles learning to fit into his new surrounding. After is Miles and Colonel trying to figure out why the dividing line - the event that causes the before and after - occurred. An answer they will never find to their satisfaction.

I guess I just think that the book didn't need so many vices for all of the kids. Though I certainly did not grow up without breaking rules, my childhood was not so desperate in everyday action - even when it was in thought.

Well, it did win the Printz Award, so maybe it is worth reading and deciding for yourself.

Green, John. (2005). Looking for Alaska. New York: Dutton Books.