The Book Babes

YOUNG ADULT FICTION SPOTLIGHT

The Book Babes' July radio program celebrates young adult fiction, offering interviews with two celebrated authors of the genre. One lives in Portland, Oregon, and the other in Tampa Bay, Florida. Just like the Book Babes.

You can check the 1/2 hour program out Wednesday, July 15, at 11:30 a.m. by tuning into WMNF-FM 88.5 in Tampa or by listening logging on at wmnf.org as the program streams live on the Internet. 

 

Ellen interviews Virginia Euwer Wolff, whose celebrated Make Lemonade trilogy was completed this year with "This Full House." (Earlier books were "Make Lemonade" and the National Book Award winner "True Believer.") Each book features the continuing story of LaVaughn, a disadvantaged teen who is determined to succeed in school and go to college, and Jolly, a slightly older but definitely not wiser young woman who hires LaVaughn to babysit her two small children.

Margo talks to Tampa-based G. Neri, ALA Notable author of "Chess Rumble," about his latest teen-novel, "Surf Mules." It's the story of two California surfers who find themselves embroiled in a world of disorganized crime. Neri has long been a storyteller. In college, he made an animated film with jazz legend Chick Corea called "A Picasso on the Beach," which became a student Academy Award finalist and aired on HBO and Bravo for seven years. A filmmaker and digital media producer, he taught animation to inner city teens in Los Angeles and was one of the founding members of The Truth teen and anti-smoking campaign. His graphic novel "Yummy" is due out in the fall. Learn more about Neri, whose background is truly global (he alternately calls himself a CrefilicanAmerican or a Nafranishafripinocan) at www.gneri.com.

Continuing this month's Book Babes' radio program's theme is Ellen's book pick of the month. It's not a young adult novel but the young detective featured in the story is sure to attract young readers.

Ellen's July recommendation: "The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie," by Alan Bradley, a first novel from a Canadian journalist who introduces the delightful amateur chemist/ detective, 11-year-old Flavia de Luce.

Margo's July recommendation: "Love Is a Four-Letter Word: True STories of Breakups, Bad Relationsihps, and Broken Hearts," edited by Michael Taeckens, with an introduction by Neal Pollack, an anthology of sometimes dark, sometimes humorous and always wince-producing confessions by the likes of Junot Diaz, Maud Newton and Kate Christensen, including two cartoon/graphic essays by Lynda Barry and Emily Flake. A perfect antidote to too much sunny weather.

Missed the program? You can always find it archived at wmnf.org: Just click on archives, find Book Babes on the grid and click on the July 15 program. Enjoy!

SUMMER'S HIDDEN GEMS

No need for trash reading this summer! Pick some good books, like these five -- all winners in Ellen's book (the one that lists the titles that are worth your time).

1. “Brooklyn,” by Colm Toibin. This critically acclaimed Irish author deserves to find a wider audience with his latest novel, about a young Irish woman who emigrates to New York City to find a job in the 1950s. Toibin captures both how hard it is to start anew and how such experience permanently changes your way of looking at the world. The heroine of this book is true to life, neither beautiful nor ruthlessly ambitious but with too much ability to stay in a place that offered her no opportunity.  A perfect book club book!

 

2. “The Translator,” by Daoud Hari. The author escaped the genocide in Darfur but couldn’t stay away. He returned to work as a translator and guide in hopes of bringing international attention to the terrible crimes that are taking place there. This is as good a primer as you can get about how innocent people get caught up in the power struggles between groups fighting for the same land – in this case, Sudanese Arabs and African tribes. An eye-opening read for anyone high school on up!

 

3. “The Photographer: Into War-Torn Afghanistan with Doctors Without Borders,” by Emmanuel Guibert, Dider Lefevre and Frederic Lemercier. This graphic novel recording a French photographer’s trip through Afghanistan combines his black and white photos, comic strips and words. Together these elements are more than the sum of the parts, showing the primitive and brutal nature of Afghan society and the dedication of those intent on serving as healers there. A bestseller in France, it is newly available in English this year.  

 

4. “The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie,” by Alan Bradley. Fans of the British “cozies” – the kind of mysteries that emphasize unraveling the puzzle, not blood and gore – will love this story of an 11-year-old English girl who lives in a rundown mansion and is constantly tormented by her older sisters. The stakes suddenly get higher when she discovers the corpse in the cucumber patch. “Clue” buffs unite, and remember the name Flavia de Luce – with another book about her already on the way, she could become a household name in the mystery genre. Great beach read!

 

5. “Fragment,” by Warren Fahy. Alas, Michael Crichton is no longer with us. But this first novel by a writer from California promises life after “Jurassic Park.” Think Darwin on steroids, and you end up with a novel about scientists in the field who are grappling with natural selection in a new way. Their locale: a remote island in the South Pacific where life forms evolved on a whole different track. Fahy has cleverly wrapped evolutionary science in a package of suspense and even humor… As one of the characters says, “My God, this planet will be lucky enough to survive one intelligent species – but two? Are you all mad?”