Kittenpie Reads KidLit

Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life
Scott Pilgrim vs The World
Scott Pilgrim & The Infinite Sadness
Scott Pilgrim Gets It Together
Scott Pilgrim vs The Universe
Scott Pilgrim's Finest Hour

by Bryan Lee O'Malley

This set of graphic novels set in Toronto follow Scott Pilgrim in his pursuit of becoming the boyfriend of Ramona Flowers and, as required, defeat her evil ex-boyfriends, all seven of them. Sounds strange? Well, yes, but it makes more sense when you realize that it is set up much like a video game, with each book as a level, and the defeat of each boyfriend an objective that earns Scott points toward his final goal. Better?

That framework also helps explain the crazy fight scene between Ramona and Knives Chau, who Scott first dates briefly, that is held, of all wonderful things, in the Toronto Reference Library. Seriously. It is a delight to Toronto readers that the city figures so prominently and recognizably, but it doesn't limit the readership, either. It's a bit nonsensical, a little rambling, and a whole lot of crazy, mixed-up fun with characters you mostly like, even in their douchey moments, and they do have them.

I like the drawing style, a fairly comic style that keeps the fight scenes jokey and the characters seeming fun even when they have their moments. Having read the series, I can see that Michael Cera might just be the most inspired choice to play Scott Pilgrim, as he was cast - it's sitting on my shelf waiting for a viewing now.

Labels: 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, Canadian, friendship, graphic novel, love story, music theme, slightly weird stuff, teen

by Randa Abdel-Fattah

Amal is a pretty average girl living in Australia, though she is pretty new at her snooty prep school, and it's a bit strange after being at a school that was rooted in the Muslim community for years. Despite wanting to blend in at McLean, she decides over the holidays to start wearing the hijab as a step farther into living her faith as a fuller part of her life. This is not met without resistance, let's just say...

Her parents, to begin with, are concerned about the opposition they fear she will encounter, and worry that it may hold her back because of how she will be perceived by others. Their worries aren't unfounded, and she does indeed encounter some nasty moments along the way. Her principal is not on board, to begin with, though her parents convince her to allow the addition to the school uniform.

Her own biggest worries come with her return to school and the dog-eat-dog social world of high school. For one thing, she is already a target of mean girl Tia and her friends. For another, she has a major crush on school cutie Adam. She has some rock-solid friends, but they do have some issues of their own that they are wrestling with, making Amal's struggles to fit in as an identifiably Muslim girl in a very white school only one of the issues that this book covers.

Amal is smart and sassy, and determined not to be defined or limited by people's perceptions. She sets out to inform the people who make clueless comments about the differences and similarities between Islam and other major religions, and to point out stereotypes and assumptions where they rear their ugly heads. She wins some people over this way - including Adam, who suddenly presents a new problem, when she realizes that what part of her wants, another part does not, for she is level-headed enough to remember that her religious beliefs about intimacy are more important to her than what her heart is telling her she wants with him.

In the end, the book sets out to expose and correct a lot of ignorant beliefs and assumptions, and does a fine job of it. The characters are likeable, and have the reader with them the whole way. And best of all, the author manages to make several good points, and make them strongly, without sacrificing any of the fun in this moving book about growing up Muslim in Australia to her message.

Labels: 2005, family, friendship, girly, good stuff, growing up, issues, set abroad, teen

Labels: 2005, action/adventure, historical fiction, lukewarm, suspense, teen

by Paul Kropp. Reviewed for Random House. See more info on this title here.



(a word on publisher reviews at kittenpie reads)



This book is subtitled Definitely not a book about baseball. Well, yes, most definitely not. I can see how that subtitle could be necessary, I suppose, given the title and the fact that the author is a man, and people could easily jump to the conclusion that this one is about sports, not about dating, as it actually is.



This book is also definitely fluffy, and a teen read, focussing entirely on Al's project to get himself a girl. The twist is that when he tries and gets shot down by one of the less popular but very smart girls in his class, she offers to hire out as a consultant and guide to the world of dating and what girls want. A dating coach.

They sign a contract, and the fun begins. He tries and practices and stumbles a good few times, and she points out where he went wrong, prepares him for the next steps, and basically grooms him to treat a girl properly. In the end, she discovers that he has made good headway based entirely on a lie, and quits, just in time for him to get dumped anyhow. She sets him up on one last blind date, though, giving the book a "twist ending" once she thinks he is fully prepared.

I say a "twist ending" in quotations because, well, it was predictable. As were the ways in which he messes up - you see them coming well down the road as he builds towards them. Still, it was an easy read on a topic of high interest to teens, and because of the main character being male and all, this could appeal to boys as much as girls already familiar with the dating genre. The thing I particularly liek about that is that the advice is, in fact, pretty solid, and Al's friend who tries to give him advice and pass himself off as a well-seasoned ladies' man is exposed as a total fraud, his opinions rendered as useless as they really are. So if boys would read this? They might actually improve their own chances by acting like the boy a girl really does want to date, and wouldn't that be a boon to both sexes?

Labels: 2005, Canadian, fluff, love story, Publisher Reviews, teen

by Simon Rose

This mini-thriller is slightly more complicated reading than an Easy-to-Read book, but not by a lot. Its short length (88pp.) keeps it in range for kids who are not dedicated readers, while also keeping it moving, in order to fit a little thriller into its pages. It's written well enough, given the little space left over once plot is being driven, but is nothing special.

Still, a kid who likes the way TV shows move forward will find this similar. It begins with the disappearnace of Patrick, Luke's friend. After a few months, he sees him by chance, and is drawn into a strange mystery involving cloning and evil scientists. Not much time is spent on details, but essentially, they wanted Patrick in order to use his body to house another mind. And now Luke and Patrick's sister are in danger, too... Where does the conspiracy end?

Simple and fast-paced, it's what we call a hi-lo. High interest, low reading skill necessary.

Labels: 2005, action/adventure, early chapters, middle grades, slightly weird stuff

by Jonathan Harlen.

Kooky in the way of cartoons like Spy Groove or Atomic Betty, zany in the style of Daniel Pinkwater, this is a great read for someone who likes fast-moving and silly. A lot of the (mostly boy) readers of series like Captain Underpants would probably like this as a next step up in the reading chain, because while it is somewhat wordier, it has the same kind of madcap feel about it, and inhabits a similalry appealing (to kids) world where only the kids make sense.

The story begins when Ziggy Plunkett's parents are consumed by some sort of giant jellyfish who has washed up on the beach where they were vacationing. And so does the rescue ranger who tries to pull them out. And then, as he and his newfound partner Shayla try to figure out what to do next, a submarine shows up and starts pulling the whole jiggling mess out to sea. So they follow, attempting a rescue, and find themselves at the bottom of the Marianas Trench before things are put right. Even the conclusion is bizarre, but pretty funny.

Labels: 2005, action/adventure, good stuff, humour, middle grades, slightly weird stuff

by Mitali Perkins.


Eighth-grader Sunita Sen has lived a pretty normal, pretty American-style life up until her grandparents arrived from India to live with her family for a year. Suddenly her mother took a year off from teaching college chemistry and traded her pantsuits for sarees, morphing into the ideal Indian daughter she thought her parents would want, and expected Sunita to follow suit.


Sunita is angry with her mother for changing everything about herself and their family, and embarrassed by how different they suddenly seem from the other, "American" families of her classmates. When her mother tells her not to bring home any boys, her budding romance with Michael is brought to a screaming halt, as she is too mortified to tell him the truth.


Eventually, her best friend Liz and her love for her grandfather bring things to a head, and she steps up, letting her classmates see her family as they are, telling Michael the truth and rekindling their friendship, and helps her grandparents and her mother start talking. This opening of communications allows her mother to relax, take some part-time teaching on again, and lets her see her family for the wonderful people they are. In the end, she even invites her classmates over to her house for a birthday party, something she never imagined doing just a week before.


I loved this book for the real feeling of it. What 12-year-old is not embarrassed about their family? And her confusion over her place, partly in Indian culture and partly Americanized, rings true. I also liked how the resolution came not as some reasoned lecture, not as some blinding epiphany, but in a moment of anger that made her let her guard down, and then everything came flooding out when she couldn't take the pressure any longer. Again, it hit the perfect note. I can see any middle grade or even teen reader of immigrant parents really understanding this and seeing their own dilemmas in it.

Labels: 2005, family, good stuff, issues, middle grades

by Sally Warner.

A book before Super Emma in the series. In this book, there is a rash of name-calling and hurt feelings in Emma's classroom, and she is the new kid, trying to make friends. Emma and her friend Annie Pat feel bad about their part in it, but don't know how to say so, as the whole thing seems to have taken on a life of its own. The teacher catches wind of what has been going on, and chews out the whole class, threatening to take away a treat she has planned for them. After a series of apologies, everyone feels better, and they enjoy playing with a parachute together, as one big group.

This book and Super Emma are simple enough, being early chapter books, but they take on some of the types of situations that arise in classroom dynamics, and the author really seems to get how it looks to a child, how difficult it is to know how to handle it when you're in the middle of it all. The voice is realistic, not one of those wacky girl books so popular right now, and I think these could be a nice read for a child having some trouble navigating the social jockeying of school. They don't offer up pat solutions, but not feeling alone can go a long way, and they might even try what works for Emma.

Labels: 2005, early chapters, enh, issues

by Meg Cabot.

This is one that is really in the adutl collection, but I include it here for teens for a couple of reasons. One, Meg is primarily a teen writer, and the voice here is similar to her teen books. They will relate. Two, the character is just in her early twenties, having been a teen pop sensation and now working in a residence hall at the thinly disguised New York U. Again, an age group and setting entirely relatable for older teens. Finally, did you know that the Young Adult section at the library is actually aimed up to 25? Yep.

But about the book... So Heather wells used to be a bubble gummy pop singer, until she decided she wanted to sing different material and also started to put on a bit of weight. Now she's working at a residence hall so she can go to classes some day, since her mother took off with her savings and she's got not much to live on. luckily, her ex's brother (and her current crush) Copper lets her live in an extra apartment at his house near the university, so it's working for now. At least, things are relatively smoothe until two deaths at the residence hall seem related, and she's the only one who doesn't believe they are accidents. But when her own life starts looking like it's in danger too, she gets Cooper and a police detective involved.

So it's a mystery. And it's chicklit. And what's with the title? Well, Heather is a little defensive about now being a size 12 which, as she keeps pointing out, is not fat, it's the size of the average American woman, god! It's fun and fluffy and now there's a sequel which I will get to at some point, too, if you enjoy this one. And if you tend to like Meg's other work, you will.

Labels: 2005, fluff, girly, good stuff, suspense, teen

by Peter Abrahams

This mystery had some immediate appeal to me, as an Alice lover, but also features a 13-year-old girl who is a Sherlock Holmes fan and starts to do a little sleuthing herself. She kind gets herself into a funny situation and does one weird and ill-advised thing after another to try to get out of it, diggin her way further in, in fact, while trying to stay on top of school, soccer, the lead in a play, and a possible blooming romance.

It's a fun ride, and has just the right note of suspense - a little menacing, but not too much so. Though it's a longer book, it moves along quickly, too, and I quite liked how it built to the finale. I even found myself guessing, which I don't do often, and it tells me this novel really reeled me in.

Labels: 2005, good stuff, middle grades, suspense

part I, Percy Jackson and the Olympians
by Rick Riordan

I loooved this book. I literally just brought it back this morning, then talked to a kid about it and handed it to him to read because I thought somebody had to read this, and he liked another action-y book I just read and enjoyed.

This one starts with the Harry Potter-ish hallmark of a boy having a few weird things happen and discovering he is not normal, but the direction it takes is a little different. Instead of being about witches and wizards, Percy's journey is into the realms of the Greek gods. Turns out he has a god for a father. And monsters are after him. And, well, if that weren't enough? He's become a pawn in a nasty brewing war between some of the most powerful Olympians, and he must go on a quest to put things right.

Along the way, he and two friends slay monsters, follow plot twists, clear Percy's name in the human world, get his mother back, and uncover the truth behind the evil plot.

It's quite the ride, with nonstop action and lots of modern updates on ancient monsters, providing some great moments to relish if you are famliar enough with your classics to see them coming.

Labels: 2005, action/adventure, loved it, middle grades

Caroline B. Cooney is a master of teen suspense, having authored such perennial favourites as Face on the Milk Carton and Whatever Happened to Janie? She takes a slightly different tack here, focusing her tale around a boy and a dread disease - a favourite topic of mine.

When Mitty starts researching his topic for science, he starts with an old medical textbook out of desperation, and trips across a sample of what turns out to be smallpox scabs. Suddenly, his research takes on a new urgency, he is on countdown to when symptoms and contagion might develop, and he makes some wrong moves when he starts to panic. When he receives emails from some strange people and some scarily official people (like the CDC and the FBI), he has some fast decisions to make. He finds himself in the wrong hands, waiting for the end of the disease's incubation period to see what might happen next...

I love the suspense of this, I like the character, and of course, I am a sucker for a good tale of infectious disease. This is good fun.

Labels: 2005, good stuff, suspense, teen

by Liza Conrad.

A fun story about a rock god's daughter going on tour with him for the summer, getting the writing gig of a lifetime for a rock magazine covering the tour (hello, Cameron Crowe!) , and discovering a lot about her family and herself. I loved this. This story has layers, too, though it seems totally fluffy.

She's got her Coming of Age thing going on, learning that her "rules" don't always apply, learning to view her parents differently, learning to help solve a decades-long rift in her father's band.

She proves herself a good writer capable of writing for a major publication, capable of getting a good story, not just the surface fluff. She proves herself to have a good head on her shoulders, not getting swept away by the glam and possibilities of the lifestyle available to the celebrity. She proves herself to her mother. The girl is everything you want in a good teen character.

And, just for full effect, a love story in which she again shows herself to have a good sense of self, but grows up, too.

Good stuff.

Labels: 2005, love story, loved it, music theme, teen

by Carl Hiaasen.

Following on the great success of his first kids lit outing, Hoot, adult author and newspaper columnist Carl Hiaasen brings forth another tale of environmental activism by kids and a few complicit adults. I don't think I've ever seen a kids book adapted into a movie so quickly as that last, and certainly, Hiaasen's writing lends itself easily to the cinema. In much the same way as with Eoin Colfer, you can see the action playing out as you read - which makes for great kid appeal and an easy read that pulls you along with it.

I think what I'm finding I like best about this book, though, is the same thing that I love about Andrew Clement's novels: the characters and their relationships. Like Clement, Hiaasen's adult are real people, fully fleshed out, and the kids come to understand them a bit. In so much of kidslit, adults are a little flat, sort of stock cardboard cutouts, with maybe one eccentric exception. Here, though, the parents come to life and the kids discover more about them during the story. The kids and parents have good relationships, trusting (even when kids are sneaking around doing things that would make their parents instantaneously grey) each other to do the right thing, even if it looks a little wonky at the outset. I like how often, they end up helping each other or supporting each other or maybe even working together towards something they think is a worthwhile endeavour. I like that this gives credit to both kids and adults.

The setting in this book that really steals the show, too - Hiaasen's deep love for his home state is palpable as he lovingly and richly describes it. It makes the Keys sound idyllic, the perfect place for a family, and it is part of what makes this book jump off the page and into the mind's eye.

Fantastic for middle-grade readers (maybe grade 4 or 5 to 7 or 8?) of either gender (both brother adn sister are fiesty and get to play a real role in the action, often working together). Even a reluctant reader could eaily get sucked into this one, which I think moves a little faster than his first.

Labels: 2005, action/adventure, loved it, middle grades