What Happened to Ivy by Kathy Stinson
Summary: Growing up with a younger sister dealing with cerebral palsy, David is used to being independent and coming second in his parents’ attentions. In love with the girl across the street, David’s attraction only grows when Heather shows she is comfortable being around Ivy and his parents. But a trip to the family cottage changes everything when David’s dad takes Ivy for a swim and she has a seizure and dies. When questions are raised about whether Ivy’s death was accidental or intentional and David’s father comes out with a startling confession, David examines his sister’s life and ponders whether her death was a crime or an act of mercy.
Number of Pages: 146
Age Range: 13-15
Review: A subtle, quick read about a brother’s love for his disabled sister, What Happened to Ivy by Kathy Stinson examines the effect of euthanasia on the lives of a modern family. Stinson creates characters easy to empathize with as her story provides insight into David’s parents, worn out from caring for their high needs daughter with seemingly little reward.
What bothered me though was Hannah. I understood her being drawn to David’s father because she was lacking a father-figure in her own life, but she seemed to become attached to him in the blink of an eye. This attachment influenced other events in the book, which I found difficult to believe because I was skeptical of it in the first place.
It is David that captured my attention though as he tries his best to sort through what happened to Ivy. Knowing he isn’t exactly blameless because he also had times when he was frustrated by his sister’s medical situation and all of the attention it took, David still demonstrates that underneath all of his conflicted feelings about his sister there was love, and a belief that her life was worth something.
Stinson’s book challenges her readers to think for themselves, as it does not provide any easy answers. Instead, David is left at the end of the novel still pondering if his dad did the right thing or not and readers will be left doing the same.
Memorable Quotes:
“If there is one thing I hate more than having Ivy make a fuss in public, it’s having people act like a brain-damaged kid with cerebral palsy is less than human somehow.” – David from What Happened to Ivy by Kathy Stinson, page 16
“I should have brought Ivy here. She would have liked how the sunlight dances in patches where it’s filtered through the tall trees. She was always noticing stuff like that. And giggling. Like she did in the bath. Even if you didn’t know what she was giggling about, when Ivy giggled, it made you want to giggle, too.
That was enough to make her life worthwhile, wasn’t it? Worthwhile for her?” – David from What Happened to Ivy by Kathy Stinson, page 125
“What he’s doing out there is pretty feeble. But he is trying to do something. I have to give him that. He’s out there alone and making the best he can of the messes he’s made.” – David from What Happened to Ivy by Kathy Stinson, page 143
What Happened to Ivy by Kathy Stinson is published by Second Story Press, (2012).
Ordinary Miracles by Diana Aspin
Summary: A collection of short stories located in fictional town of Sky Falls, Ordinary Miracles begins with the story of a home boy named Art who is sent to Canada to work on a farm from an orphanage in England. A mysterious encounter as a child gives him hope for the future, and the collection tells his story and the stories of teens dealing with issues of identity, family, self-esteem, grief and the tragedy of life. The last story brings everything full circle for Art, and gives his granddaughter Amy some closure on a sudden loss in her life.
Number of Pages: 167
Age Range: 15-18
Review: Diana Aspin connects the stories in her collection by featuring characters from the same town in each of them. It ends up being a lot of characters and at times I had a bit of trouble remembering who was who, but I enjoyed how each story built on the one before. In this way Aspin provides her reader with a colourful view of life in Sky Falls, the triumphs and the hardships, with characters that are easy to care about.
As always, I find myself a bit inept at reviewing a collection of short stories in only a day, so I’d like to point out a couple that I loved the most.
The first is “Moose.” Aspin follows Shoulders, a local Native teen who has just finished high school. His future shines brightly before him and he is about to tell his friend he loves her with a special gift he made her to tie the two of them together. The story also follows the path of a young bull moose who has made it through the winter and will be getting ready to sound his call and mate soon. The paths of Shoulders and the moose cross tragically on Shoulders’ way to meet his high school friends to celebrate the end of school, and neither survives. Aspin’s writing is hauntingly beautiful, capturing the agony of such a random accident, and the fallout for both Shoulders’ family and friends as well as the moose. It was a truly unique tale, and now one of my favourite short stories ever.
My second favourite is “Ordinary Miracles,” the title story of the book. Paige is celebrating her sixteenth birthday and hoping her mom’s two week sober streak will last long enough for her to make Paige a cake to celebrate. Encouraged by her older siblings to move in with them, Paige sticks steadfastly to her mother’s side, even when it means heartbreak for Paige again and again. On this night though Paige comes home with a group of friends for her party, and their reaction to what they find in the house strikes Paige to the core. She realises what happens is an ordinary miracle, and that perhaps she has been more cared for all along than she thinks. Powerful.
Aspin’s writing is new to me, but as I look back over my reading I am remembering the vivid moments she captured through her skillful writing. The physicality of a moose, the feel of an unborn baby kicking in its mother’s belly, the innocence and wisdom of a child who wears angel wings everywhere she goes – the stories are a treasure trove of these ordinary miracle snapshots. This is truly a collection to be savoured.
Memorable Quotes:
“It was the closeness of her, the way the she called him ‘Arthur,’ not ‘Art,’ and the warmth of her fingers in his hair that set him off crying – like he wasn’t just nobody’s child, not just another Home Boy, but a real child who mattered.” – Art from “Home Boy” in Ordinary Miracles by Diana Aspin, page 13
“‘Sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never hurt me,; Art chanted, as he loaded hay or rounded up the cows. Words did hurt, though. They hurt just like a belt buckle. The hurt from them dawdled about in your head until you began to agree with them: you were stupid, you did talk funny, you were soft.” – Art from “Home Boy” in Ordinary Miracles by Diana Aspin, page 14
“Reluctantly, Ashley lays down the book, open at her page, and joins Reena. Reena finds the spot and places Ashley’s dainty hand over it. She lays her large one over Ashley’s. It’s not so much. that they can identify an arm or a leg or a bum. It’s more like a flicker – minnows weaving under the surface of a lake, the thrumming of a dragonfly’s wings, a sweet yet mysterious promise of things to come.” – Reena and Ashley feeling Leia’s unborn baby move from “Roadkill” in Ordinary Miracles by Diana Aspin, page 84
“Shoulders will be spared his parents’ stricken faces as an unconscionable world of nevers blossoms in their minds: Shoulders will never go to college. Shoulders will never play professional football. Shoulders will never marry. Shoulders’ community will mourn him; letters of deeply felt condolence will sail through his parents’ mail slot by the dozen. A bench with their only son’s name – engraved on a rectangle of brass – will appear in the park by the public dock next to the old millstone. A football trophy will be awarded each year in his honor. Shoulders’ heartbroken mother, Alice, will crawl into her bed and refuse to come out of hiding, her pearl necklace will be gone, as will her weekly perms. She will join the likes of Mad Margaret and Paige Rankin’s mom. People will say, ‘Not quite right,’ and ‘Sad case,’ about her, but they will look out for Alice Miller all the same.” – from “Moose” in Ordinary Miracles by Diana Aspin, pages 112-113
“And what of the young bull moose with his auspicious stumps of antlers, his cloven hooves, his broad, flat, tearing teeth?
Eventually, his lifeless body will be dragged to the side of the road, where he’ll be picked out by the shocked headlights of local traffic and ogled at by motorists on their way to cottages. Only one human, a young man passing through on his way to Minden, will stop, roll down his window, close his eyes, and mourn the appalling loss. The moose’s slender legs, which carried him swift and silent through forests of trembling aspen, white birch, maple, and red osier dogwood; the tear-shaped footprints laid down by his scent-glanded hooves; the possibility of swimming in crystal-clear lakes – all are gone. The moose’s carcass will be scavenged by eagles, ravens, a fox, a marten, a fisher, and a bear.
And, like Shoulders and his football, this mighty creature of the dense northern forests and quaking bogs will never again do what he does best. Which is to stand on a morning in late September, a proud and kingly two meters tall, his massive rack of antlers – green with plant juices, red with blood oozing from the bone’s pores – glowing an eerie orange in the dawn’s frosty light. Shattering the silence with his great gerrumph of a mating call.” – from “Moose” in Ordinary Miracles by Diana Aspin, page 113
“David and Chrissie told Paige endlessly about the organization for families of alcoholics to which they belonged. They’d learned about the ‘three Cs’: you didn’t cause it, you can’t Control it, and you can’t Cure it. They had learned not to make it easy for the addict by lying for her, or making up excuses. Or denying there was a problem.
Like Paige was doing right now.” – Discussion between David, Chrissie and Paige from Ordinary Miracles in Ordinary Miracles by Diana Aspin, page 137
“Paige gets to thinking about miracles: divine intervention. Although she knows this is not a true miracle, this bosom friend felling between her and Krista, among all of them, really – not a miracle as in one loaf feeding five thousand, or getting pregnant without a guy – it is something edging in that direction. It has the same surprise that a true miracle would have, the same breathless feel to it, the same sense that you are experiencing something out of the ordinary. Like the mud on the wall of the convenience store, you can see into it whatever you want, call it whatever you like. So Paige will do that – she will call it a miracle, an everyday, ordinary miracle.” – Paige from Ordinary Miracles in Ordinary Miracles by Diana Aspin, page 139
Ordinary Miracles by Diana Aspin is published by Red Deer Press, (2003).
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The Darkest Corner of the World by Urve Tamberg
Summary: Living in Estonia during World War II, Madli witnesses her independent homeland being taken over by the Soviet army. As the army tries to convince Estonian citizens to become comrades, Madli’s father is arrested for writing about the truth of the occupation. When Madli and her brothers go to stay with their grandparents for a summer vacation, they find themselves in the middle of the war, caught between the Soviets on one side and the Nazis on the other. Faced with impossible decisions when it comes to trying to survive and protect those she loves, Madli ponders the importance of integrity versus freedom. In the end, it all adds up to a choice between the two great evils of the world.
Number of Pages: 251
Age Range: 15-17
Review: In a powerful book about Estonia’s untold stories of World War II, Urve Tamberg provides insight into the philosophical questions of war as one girl navigates her way through choices no one should have to make. Madli is a fifteen year old facing grown up decisions of hanging on to one’s integrity in the face of death. At times her decisions are impulsive, but mostly they are well considered actions Madli makes in search of the greater good in a horrible situation.
When it comes to fiction about a historical event I’m familiar with, I know how things are going to end. In this case I was on pins and needles, knowing the Nazis were not the heroes they appeared to be, and feeling incredible sadness when the people of Estonia realised they were caught between two evils.
I love Tamberg’s book because she explores the complexity of war with thoughtfulness, providing her reader with real characters who respond in many different ways to the situation they find themselves in. The story itself unfolds with well-paced action and smooth, detailed, exceptional writing that I couldn’t put down. And, of course, the romance aspect helped with not being able to put it down as well.
Tamberg ends her acknowledgements with a quote from Guy Vanderhaeghe: “History tells us what people do; historical fiction helps us imagine how they felt.” The Darkest Corner of the World did both for me, telling me about things I never imagined happening, and helping me find empathy for the people who experienced it. I’d recommend this book for teen and adult readers, because it informs and challenges readers to consider what they would choose.
Memorable Quotes:
“Messy Hair leaned closer. ‘You’re lucky to be so memorable.’
Madli held her tongue and her breath. Being memorable to the Soviet army was the last thing she wanted. Being unremarkable, being anonymous, being able to hide in plain sight – that would keep you alive. If you were memorable, they could find you. Arrest you. Kill you.” – Madli from The Darkest Corner of the World by Urve Tamberg, page 7
“Though she wouldn’t admit it, she half agreed with Kalju. If they hid from the Soviets, they’d be giving in to their game. If they didn’t, they could be arrested, deported, or executed. For the truth. Fine choices. ‘We could be right-minded people with high morals and get killed. Why take a chance?'” – Madli from The Darkest Corner of the World by Urve Tamberg, page 44
“‘Why would the Soviets do this?’ Madli rested her head on her mother’s knee. ‘They’ve taken old people and children and families. Why are these people being punished?’
‘Hundreds, maybe thousands,’ Mama said, her face pale. She twisted the hem of her dress.
‘How could they be a threat to society or a danger to anyone?’ Madli asked. ‘Who could they hurt?’
‘The Soviets want to eliminate the culture, not only arrest government officials and other bureaucrats.’ Mama’s eyes were deep wells of sorrow. ‘They want to remove any trace of Estonia. Who is the future of a country? Its children. If there are no children, there is no future.’ A sigh escaped. ‘Who holds the memory of the culture? The mothers and grandmothers. If they are gone, so are the memories.’
Icicles dripped down Madli’s spine.” – Conversation between Madli and her mother from The Darkest Corner of the World by Urve Tamberg, pages 52-53
“Despite the loud conversation and presence of her family, Madli felt totally alone in a world where she had no control, simply luck.” – Madli from The Darkest Corner of the World by Urve Tamberg, page 58
“Papa and Mama had always taught her to think things through, make good decisions, be responsible. They’d never mentioned luck. The kind of luck that has nothing to do with fairness or responsibility. Bad luck breaks down the door and drags an innocent man to Siberia. Good luck makes a man go to the outhouse as the soldiers travel down a narrow gravel road.” – Madli from The Darkest Corner of the World by Urve Tamberg, pages 186-187
“No one would imagine she could do such a thing.
Choices.
Like vanilla or chocolate.
Like freedom or integrity.
Freedom or the disappointment of her father. The guilt of perpetuating an ideology supporting the extermination of Jews and the creation of a master Aryan race.
Freedom or the integrity of one’s convictions.
‘Oma silm on kuningas.’
Trust what you see yourself.” – Madli from The Darkest Corner of the World by Urve Tamberg, pages 214-215
The Darkest Corner of the World by Urve Tamberg is published by Dancing Cat Books, (2012).
Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes
Summary: On the island of Mytica, the three kingdoms of Limeros, Paelsia and Auranos have co-existed somewhat peacefully for centuries in cultures steeped with myths of powerful goddesses and mysterious watchers. When the Auranos’ princess is involved in a Paelsian wine deal gone horribly wrong, it becomes an international incident that fuels old grudges between the kingdoms. Taking advantage of the growing unrest to achieve darker ambitions of blood lust and power, the Limeros’ king offers to partner with Paelsia in a war against Auranos. As the three kingdoms clash, four teens on the cusp of adulthood must decide their own fates.
Number of Pages: 412
Age Range: 13-15
Review: An instant classic for recreational readers and lovers of the fantasy genre, Falling Kingdoms is a richly woven tapestry of fictional reality and folklore. Written by Morgan Rhodes (aka paranormal author Michelle Rowen), this complicated tale of parent/child and sibling relationships, issues of grief, greed, love and history, as well the ability to determine one’s own future is relatable despite some fantastical elements.
With a hefty cast featuring two male and two female protagonists, the character list found at the beginning of the book is both useful and necessary. Although books containing many characters can end up one-dimensional, Rhodes achieves complexity and believability. From the first sentence, “She’d never killed before tonight,” interest and attention is held captive as the reader is thrown into the action. The first in a series, Falling Kingdoms is a successful balance between intrigue and reader satisfaction, showcasing kingdom leaders of tomorrow and the weight of their decisions.
*This review first appeared in the Canadian Children’s Book News magazine in the Spring 2013 edition.
Memorable Quotes:
“‘I don’t understand.’ Jonas’s voice broke. Felicia clutched his arm, her wails of panic and grief deafening. ‘It happened so fast. Why? Why did this happen?’
His father stood helplessly nearby, his face grief-stricken but stoic. ‘It’s fate, son.’
‘Fate?’ Jonas spat out, rage blazing bright inside him. ‘This is not fate! This was not meant to be. This – this was done at the hands of a Auranian royal who considers us dirt beneath his feet.'” – Conversation between Jonas and his father from Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes, page 26
“Cleo didn’t like ‘hopefullys.’ She liked certainties. She liked knowing that tomorrow would be pleasant and sunny and filled with fun activities. She like knowing that her family and friends were healthy and happy. Anything else was unacceptable.
Emilia would be fine because she had to be fine. If Cleo wanted something badly enough, it would happen. Why wouldn’t it? It always had before. Resolutely, she pushed her engagement to Aron out of her head.” – Cleo from Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes, page 123
“Emilia’s expression held deep distress. ‘I – I never should have told you any of this. My story got away from me. I only meant to say that if you really don’t want to marry Aron, tell Father. Make him understand that you’ll die if you do. And if you fall in love with someone else, you need to spend as much time with him as possible because you never know when he might be taken from you. Follow your heart wherever it leads. Appreciate life, Cleo. It’s a gift that can be stolen at any time. No matter what happens to me now with this illness, I don’t regret a moment I spent with Simon.'” – Emilia from Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes, page 131
“‘I never said she was evil. Nor was she good. Even in the darkest and most cruel person, there is still a kernel of good. And within the most perfect champion, there is also darkness. The question is, will one give in to the dark or the light? It’s something we decide with every choice we make, every day that we exist. What might not be evil to you could be evil to someone else. Knowing this makes us powerful even without magic.'” – Eirene from Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes, page 215
“She laughed, but there was no humor to the sound. ‘Perhaps it’s for the best. If I’m to die a mortal, why shouldn’t the same fate be given to all, no matter how long they’ve lived or how important they think they are? All things must eventually come to an end.'” – Eirene from Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes, page 392
Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes is published by Razorbill, (2012).
Homeland by Cory Doctorow
Summary: In the sequel to Little Brother, Marcus is mysteriously approached by Masha at an event called The Burning Man with a USB stick containing the key to unlocking secrets from the US government with strict instructions to release the documents if something happens to her. When he sees Masha being kidnapped and can’t stop it, Marcus takes some time to realise he must follow through on his promise. Uncovering over 800,000 files detailing horrendous abuses of power, Marcus teams up with some old friends to go through them and figure out how to leak them to the public. Living in San Francisco in an environment ripe for change, Marcus learns to stand up for what he believes is right and take steps to hold people accountable when needed.
Number of Pages: 396
Age Range: 15-17
Review: Reading a Cory Doctorow book is like reading a textbook. This may sound like an insult, but I mean it in the best possible way. Each book I read of his (I’ve read three now) leaves me infinitely more informed than when I started and inspires me to be more conscientious about my role in society. His books are educational and a call to arms for teen citizens to take personal responsibility in their communities and become a force for change, supplying them with the ideas and tools needed to do so.
From Homeland, I learned about the dangers of unauthorized surveillance, the need to be more paranoid when it comes to my electronics, and the best way to make coffee. I googled the punchline of the Spanish joke Doctorow mentions, and I agree it was pretty funny. I loved the appearance of Wil Wheaton(!) in the story, because like Marcus, he was also one of the first people I followed on Twitter.
But what I love most of all is that Doctorow always expands my knowledge with his well researched writing and continues to remind me of just how much I don’t know about how the world works. I enjoyed his follow-up to Little Brother, and find after reading it I am left with a profound feeling of gratitude toward my parents for paying all of my university tuition. Homeland is a book I would recommend to mid to older teen readers. At times it was a bit of a challenging read as I was figuring out technical terms, but I loved it nonetheless.
Memorable Quotes:
“As I helped the librarian roll up the scroll – she agreed that the Twain piece was really funny – and put it away. I ‘d said, unthinkingly, ‘It’s such a shame that they’re going to burn all these.’
She’d smiled sadly and said, ‘Well, sure, but that’s the point, isn’t it? Ninety percent of the works in copyright are orphan works no one knows who owns the rights to them, and no one can figure out how to put them back into print. Meanwhile, the copies of them that we do know about are disintegrating or getting lost. So there’s a library out there, the biggest library ever, ninety percent of the stuff anyone’s ever created, and it’s burning, in slow motion. Libraries burn.’ She shrugged. ‘That’s what they do. But maybe someday we’ll figure out how to make so many copies of humanity’s creative works that we’ll save most of them from the fire.'” – Conversation between Marcus and the librarian at The Burning Man from Homeland by Cory Doctorow, pages 26-27
“This all more or less worked, most of the time, and it meant that within a few minutes of copying any files onto my laptop, they would be encrypted, copied to my desktop drive, and copied again to Noisebridge’s array. That server was synched up with a massive storage farm run by and for hackspaces, located in an old nuclear fallout shelter somewhere in England (seriously!). So yeah, do your worst, steal my laptop, burn down my house, nuke San Francisco, and I’ll still have a backup.” – Marcus from Homeland by Cory Doctorow, page 79
“Either way, I wasn’t going to use my IP address to download that file. My parents got their internet through AT&T, a scumbag phone company with a track record of handing over their customers’ data to the cops without court orders. Grabbing sensitive files off the net through them was like calling up the director of the DHS and saying, ‘Hey, are you missing any sensitive data? Because I’m small, defenseless, and unarmed, and I got ’em. Want my address?'” – Marcus from Homeland by Cory Doctorow, page 81
“But lately, computer manufactors have been figuring out how to design chips to run VMs more efficiently, so the gap between a VM and the real computer it runs on keeps shrinking. This means that it’s easier than ever to try out new operating system and new programs. If there’s something you’re really paranoid about, you can just run a free VM program, install a free OS on it, and run anything you want in that little sandbox. Nothing that happens in that VM can affect your real computer – not unless you give it privileges to see your real hard drive and real files. The VM is like a head in a jar, and you can tell it anything you want about what’s going on in the world and it’ll have to believe you.” – Marcus from Homeland by Cory Doctorow, page 107 *VM means virtual machine and OS stands for operating system
“‘It’s pretty weak to dismiss it as a hoax until you’ve seen it yourself, don’t you think?’ I said. ‘I mean, why would you take some random Internet idiot’s word for it instead of checking it out with your own two eyes? Don’t you have a brain? Don’t you know how to think.'” – Marcus from Homeland by Cory Doctorow, page 233
“I’d heard that theory a few times and it just didn’t hang together – it seemed like the kind of thing you’d only believe in if you were looking for an excuse to distrust the government. I didn’t need any excuse to distrust the government. I didn’t need to speculate about the unlikely possibility that they’d blown up the Bay Bridge to find a reason to believe that there were people in power who were just waiting for the chance to set up a police state. I distrusted the government because when the Bay Bridge blew, the city of San Francisco became a police state in the space of hours. Either that meant that some evil genius attacked the Bay Bridge in order to send in all his authoritarian thug henchmen, or it meant that there were people out there who were just waiting for any disaster, standing by with a whole well-developed plan for unleashing their goons on people who’ve just lived through some kind of terrible emergency.” – Marcus from Homeland by Cory Doctorow, pages 288-289
“‘You need to get past this romantic idea of justice and realize that some stuff just is.’
‘I hate that,’ I said. ‘It’s like there’s no human beings in the chain of responsibility, just things-that-happen. It’s the ultimate cop-out. The system did it. The company did it. The government did it. What about the person who pulls the trigger?’
‘Yeah,’ she said. ‘Well, that’s a nice fairy tale.'” – Conversation between Masha and Marcus from Homeland by Cory Doctorow, pages 369-370
“But somehow, that little voice I knew to be my own, the little voice that told me all the time about the ways I’d screwed up, the way I’d let other people do the driving, the way I let life push me around – that little voice shut up the instant I did something. And not just something: the exact thing I knew to be right. Because if the system was broken, if Carrie Johnstone wasn’t going to ever pay consequences for her actions, it wasn’t because ‘the system’ failed to get her. It was because people like me chose not to act when we could. The system was people, and I was part of it, part of its problems, and I was going to be part of the solution from now on.” – Marcus from Homeland by Cory Doctorow, page 376
“Be the trouble you want to see in the world, above nationalism, above so-called patriotism, above and beyond dear and make it count for the betterment of the planet. Legal and illegal are not the same as right and wrong – do what is right and never give up the fight.” – from the Afterword by Jacob Appelbaum featured in Homeland by Cory Doctorow, page 384
Homeland by Cory Doctorow is published by Tor Teen, (2013).
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Amy Mathers has been passionate about reading from a very young age, and hopes others will share her enthusiasm for funding a teen book award. Read more Follow Amy
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