Latte Rebellion by Sarah Jamila Stevenson 4/5 Stars



Delish cover art, LITERALLY, I want to inhale it!

 I chose this book from the YA Debute Author Challenge because I am raising racially mixed children, then as I was reading I realized that it was my story as well!
Without giving too much of my own story, I really identified with the narrator of the novel.  All of the expectaions, whether negative or positive, of your family, your classmate, your co-workers, teachers and society as a whole places on a person, or group of people based on their ethnicity or race.
The narrator really lets us share her anger, fear and angst of being a racially mixed teenager. She lets the reader know what she is thinking at all times, but holds back a lot from her friends and family for fear of hurting them or because she thinks she may sound dumb. 
The back story to the novel is how sometimes friendships grow apart, people grow in seperate directions.  While I was hurting from the main character, Asha, I was also happy that she was growing so much as person to realize when you have to move on.
Since I have this on my Kindle, I really hope to share someday with my own kids.  I'm not sure about people who got their copies in print, but the Kindle version had quite a few typos.  It's didn't take aways from the story in anyway, I'm just sayin...

Quick Summary:
A senior in high school of mixed ethnicities realizes, after an altercation with another student, that there aren't any clubs at her school that address the needs of the student population of mixed ethniciites and starts one. There is and Asian Club, a Black Club and a Chicano Club, none of which she and her two other friends feel they identify with.
At first it starts out as a way to make some extra cash, with a catchy phrase and some t-shirt sales, but as the message reaches more people she realizes that its a real issue.  That 60 years before she was born, her parents may not have been allowed to marry.
Some people don't like her group's message and this is where the conflict begins. Also, she feels that her parents wouldn't understand the devotion to the movement, much less if it's taking time away from her being the perfect straight A student.

So Shelly by Ty Roth



Beautiful Cover Art-Made me swoon.



As I was investigating the February list for the Debut Author Challenge, the cover for this title struck me first.  I loved the dark romance of it. I was then further intrigued by the author because he was a English high school teacher and college professor.  I figured that was why his main characters were named after romantic authors of the 16th century: Shelly, Keats and Byron...little did I know.

    The story was very scandalous and I couldn't believe that this was considered a YA title.  Really! It was a lil' on Jerry Springer side.  There was some bbisexuality, incest, molestation, terrorism, underage sex and prostitution.  And, yes, all three main characters were writers.

    It seems that lately all the books that I have been reading have not had a linear storyline.  They all go back in forth, or start in the present and then start go back, or just go back in forth throughout the book as in the case of So Shelly.

     The story is narrated by the Keats, whose life mirrors in many small details the life of John Keats, the romantic poet.  He is telling the story as it was mostly told to him. What he actually saw happen was minimal...so it wouldn't hold up in court.

    This is a modern version of the lives of the romantic poets.  It's their stories, modernized for for today, which seems to be a trend with YA authors.  There's texting, emailing, blogging and DVD's and no birth control. 

     Roth conveniently has his writers all attend the same HS.  Shelly dies and leaves instructions for the other two in case of her death.  When Shelly was alive, both Byron and Keats were friends of hers, but not friends with each other  In death, she made them work together and the reminiscing begins.

     I know I have complained about storytellers not being linear in the narrating, but I didn't mind it so much here.  I think Roth did very well.  I like that his narrator explained that he was gifted, because honestly, on of my pet peeves is when adult authors forget that they are telling the story from the point of view of a teen.

     I got a history lesson with a great story.  Bryon's fictionalized character lives up to his the real Lord, club foot and all.  I would recommend this dark and brooding story, there was a short period of about 5 pages where I lost interest, but it was a fast read because there was always something hot happening. 

    Read it!

New Challange

I've been following two reading bloggers for the past year and take a lot of their suggestions when they rave about books.  Especially YA books.  One happens to also be an educator in a Dual Language school, so I have a certain kinship to her.

So following in their footsteps, I'm joining their 2011 reading challenge. I already convinced one friend to join me, maybe others will as well, Hint
Hint!

My friend and I have chosen on Choker by Elizabeth Emma Woods