Multi-Cultural Challenge Recap

Challenge:  Multi-Cultural Challenge
Host:  Truly Bookish & One Page at a Time
2012 Level:  12 books - FAILED!
Thoughts:  I think I would have finished if this was for all books, not just YA.  I really did enjoy trying to try multi-cultrual reads.1. Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey
2. Night Sky by Jolene Perry
3. Sykosa by Justin Ordonez
4. Sufis at Culver by Richard Gwyn Davies
5. Cuttlefish by David Greer
6. A Lloyd Alexander Collection by Lloyd Alexander
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A Lloyd Alexander Collection

Title: A Lloyd Alexander Collection
Author: Lloyd Alexander

Publisher: Dutton
ISBN: 0-525-46777-7
Why Read?: For Fun
Challenges: YA Mythology, Multi-Cultural

Thoughts: This collection contains three works: The Arkadians, The Remarkable Journey of Prince Jen, and The Iron Ring.  All of them have the feel of almost a folktale, making them very suitable for MG readers, even.  The Remarkable Journey of Prince Jen was probably my favorite of the three, but they are all worth a look.

Rating: 3 stars

Sykosa

Sykosa Part I: Junior Year
by Justin Ordonez
published by TDS
2012
ISBN978-0-9854243-1-2
Why Read?: Review
Challenges: Debut Author, YA Saves, Multi-Cultural

Sykosa Part I: Junior Year is one hell of a ride.  Justin Ordonez’s writing style is unlike anything I have ever encountered, and boy, does it pack a punch. 

It’s been a year since the even that forever changed Sykosa, bringing about a blackness whenever she thought about it.  One thing helps her cope with it, though, and that is Tom, the boy who saved her.  They meet regularly behind the Chapel, but no one knows they are a couple – he hasn’t even asked her to Prom – aside from Niko, Sykosa’s best friend.  Niko, though, is the one behind Sykosa’s problems.  Niko didn’t mean to cause any problems, but on her quest to constantly reinvent herself, while trying to put her mother’s shady past behind her, she sometimes takes things too far.  Their sophomore year, it was trying to take down the leader of the Bitches, the cool girls who rule the school.  Niko, now the leader of the Queens, a rival group, did succeed, but the cost ended up causing Sykosa’s fragile emotional state.

Somehow, Ordonez captures the sexually confused emotions of a teenage girl as if he were one himself.  Never have I read an adolescent female protagonist as true as Sykosa.  However, if I read Sykosa while in high school, I would have been utterly shocked at the language and situations that appear here in print, which leads me to categorize Sykosa as New Adult rather than Young Adult.

Aside from an amazingly realistic protagonist, Ordonez’s writing style also elevates Sykosa.  Knowing that there is something dark in Sykosa’s past makes the reader want to keep reading in the hopes of finding out what the juicy gossip is.  Ordonez carefully, skillfully doles out just enough information to drag the reader in deeper, chapter by chapter, until the tension is unbearable. The only downside to Ordonez’s writing the random head-hopping that happens infrequently but still noticeably.

Compulsively readable, raw and gritty, Sykosa Part I: Junior Year is a story that cannot be forgotten.  If this is Justin Ordonez’s debut, I cannot wait to see what he produces next.  Part II cannot come fast enough!  

Rating: 4/5

Night Sky

Night Sky

by Jolene Perry

published by Tribute

2012

ISBN 978-0-9837418-6-2

Why Read?: Review

Challenges:  YA Contemporary, Sophomore, Standalone, YA Saves, Multi-Cultural, 100 Books in a Year

Night Sky is so far my favorite YA contemporary of 2012.  Jolene Perry's smooth writing style pulled me in immediately and did not let me go until the last page.  

Jameson world has just come crashing down - or so he thinks.  Sarah, his best friend and the girl he has a crush on, used him as a date to their dance just so she could hook up with the guy she has a crush on.  Devastated, Jameson finds himself driving around his hometown of Las Vegas where he picks up Sky, a college freshman who is living with her grandparents just down the street from him. With just one night swim, Jameson finds that he has fallen hard, and Sky's demand for honesty brings their relationship to a whole new level that anything he ever had with Sarah.  But when he learns that Sky is keeping some of her own secrets, Jameson learns that the one whom he must be the most honest with my just as well be himself.

Perry's writing is just as honest as Jameson tries to be with Sky.  She delivers a realistic story that many high-schoolers - especially seniors on the verge of adulthood - can relate to.  Nothing in the plot or character development feels forced, and Jameson is truly the type of guy that every girl wants but tends not to notice.  Telling the story from his point of view adds an additional level of realism than I think would have come across if Perry chose Sky as the main character.

With a very believable storyline and characters, Night Sky is a must read.  Jolene Perry is definitely a YA contemporary author to watch.  

Rating: 5/5

Multi-Cultural Challenge

Challenge:  Multi-Cultural Challenge
Host:  Truly Bookish & One Page at a Time
2011 Level: n/a
2012 Level:  12 books

1. Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey
2. Night Sky by Jolene Perry
3. Sykosa by Justin Ordonez
4. Sufis at Culver by Richard Gwyn Davies
5. Cuttlefish by David Greer
6. A Lloyd Alexander Collection by Lloyd Alexander
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