Teenage Spies: A (2016) Booklist

July 13, 2016 |

Books featuring teenage spies were always among my favorites when I was a teen myself. I loved the idea of someone my age delving into a profession (let’s call it that) that was restricted to adults as well as highly dangerous. It’s one of the best kinds of literary escapism that doesn’t require magic or dragons or a dashing hero (though there are certainly some great spy novels that do include those things). A spy was something I could actually become! Why yes, I did read Harriet the Spy as a child and then follow members of my family around the house taking notes in a tiny notebook.

2016 is shaping up to be a great year for teenage spies. Here’s a roundup of eleven titles being published this year, plus one for early 2017. I expect there will be more to add as pre-publication information and catalogs for the fall season start making their way to us. Which ones are you looking forward to?

Descriptions are via Worldcat unless indicated otherwise.

Zero Day by Jan Gangsei (January 12)

Eight years after being kidnapped Addie Webster, now sixteen, resurfaces under mysterious circumstances, significantly changed, and her childhood best friend, Darrow Fergusson, is asked by a national security advisor to spy on her to uncover whether she is a threat to her father’s Presidency or the nation.

Assassin’s Masque by Sarah Zettel (January 12)

In 1716 England, with the Jacobite uprising stalking ever closer to the throne, it’s imperative that seventeen-year-old Peggy discover whom she can really trust. Can she save herself and the royal family, or is she doomed as a pawn in this most deadly game?

Desert Dark by Sonja Stone (January 30)

At Desert Mountain Academy, sixteen-year-old Nadia Riley begins a punishing routine to become an undercover CIA agent, but when a double-agent is reported on campus, she is the top suspect.

Dawn of Spies by Andrew Lane (March 29)

Rescued from a deserted Caribbean island, 17-year-old Robinson Crusoe and his female friend, Friday, find themselves in late 1600s London, a bustling city that proves as treacherous for them to navigate as the remote island they just left behind. Thanks to their honed survival skills, Crusoe and Friday are recruited by a young writer named Daniel Defoe to work as agents for Segment W, a covert spy group that reports directly to the Crown. Crusoe, Friday, and Defoe must rescue the Countess of Lichfield from a kidnapping plot. They are shocked to discover that a mystical and mysterious organization known as the Circle of Thirteen is behind the kidnapping. – Goodreads

Crossing the Line by Meghan Rogers (April 12)

Jocelyn Steely was kidnapped as a child and trained as a North Korean spy, but the tables turn when she becomes a double agent for the very American spy organization she has been sent to destroy.

Love, Lies and Spies by Cindy Anstey (April 19)

In the early 1800s, when her father sends her to London for a season, eighteen-year-old Juliana Telford, who prefers researching ladybugs to marriage, meets handsome Spencer Northam, a spy posing as a young gentleman of leisure.

Exile for Dreamers by Kathleen Baldwin (May 24)

Tess Aubreyson is being haunted by prophetic dreams of death and grief. She discovers that her dreams can help Lord Ravencross, the man she loves, and her fellow students at Stranje House. Which is good, because the traitorous Lady Daneska and the Ghost have returned to England to help make way for Napoleon’s invasion, and the young ladies at Stranje House might be the only ones who can save England from a power-mad dictator.

City of Spies by Nina Berry (May 31)

Celebrating her escape from East Germany and the success of her new film, teen starlet Pagan Jones returns to Hollywood to reclaim her place among the rich and the famous. She’s thrilled to be back, but memories of her time in Berlin–and elusively handsome secret agent Devin Black–continue to haunt her daydreams. The whirlwind of parties and celebrities just isn’t enough to distract Pagan from the excitement of being a spy or dampen her curiosity about her late mother’s mysterious past. When Devin reappears with an opportunity for Pagan to get back into the spy game, she is eager to embrace the role once again–all she has to do is identify a potential Nazi war criminal.

Lies I Live By by Lauren Sabel (May 31)

Callie Sinclair is seventeen years old, lives in San Francisco, and works for a secret governmental agency as a psychic spy.

Julia Vanishes by Catherine Egan (June 7)

Julia has the unusual ability to be . . . unseen. Not invisible, exactly. Just beyond most people’s senses.
It’s a dangerous trait in a city that has banned all forms of magic and drowns witches in public Cleansings. But it’s a useful trait for a thief and a spy. And Julia has learned–crime pays.
Her latest job is paying very well indeed. Julia is posing as a housemaid in the grand house of Mrs. Och, where an odd assortment of characters live and work: A disgraced professor who sends her to fetch parcels containing bullets, spiders, and poison. An aristocratic houseguest who is locked in the basement each night. And a mysterious young woman who is clearly in hiding–though from what or whom?
Worse, Julia suspects that there’s a connection between these people and the killer leaving a trail of bodies across the frozen city. – Goodreads

The Darkest Hour by Caroline Tung Richmond (July 26)

In 1943 sixteen-year-old Lucie Blaise is the newest recruit of Covert Ops, a secret espionage and sabotage organization of girls, and her mission in German occupied France is to track down information about a weapon that could wipe out all of Western Europe–and then dismantle it before it can be used.

You Don’t Know My Name by Kristen Orlando (January 10, 2017)

Sixteen-year-old Reagan, raised to be an elite spy, is torn between honoring her family’s legacy and living a normal life with the boy she loves.

Conjoined Twins: A (Brief) Reading List for Teens

June 29, 2016 |

Two books about conjoined twins in two years isn’t a trend, but it does make me take notice. In 2015, Sarah Crossan’s One was published, and this year at TLA, I spotted Sonya Mukherjee’s Gemini. Both books are about teenage conjoined twin girls, and both are about the sisters contemplating surgery to separate them. I wondered how many other books for teens have been written about conjoined twins, so I went looking. Answer: not many. There are a few other novels from the past 10 years, but all nonfiction written for teens (I expanded my search to include tweens as well) that touch specifically on conjoined twins are over 10 years old and out of print. I even looked for books on twins in general, hoping I’d find something that addressed conjoined twins in a chapter or a few paragraphs, but I found nothing in print. It’s possible your library may still have some of the titles. It’s a shame there aren’t more recent and in print titles, though, since I expect both of these novels will lead teens to seek out factual information on the topic. There are a few adult nonfiction titles that may suffice, but it’s always much nicer to direct teen patrons to books written for their own age group.

If your teens want to read more about conjoined twins, here’s a brief list of books that feature them in some way or another. I can’t speak to the way each author treats the conjoined characters since I haven’t read any of them yet, though all have received good critical reviews and Kelly reviewed One positively. Synopses are from Worldcat unless indicated otherwise.

Fiction

One by Sarah Crossan (2015)

Despite problems at home, sixteen-year-old conjoined twins Tippi and Grace are loving going to school for the first time and making real friends when they learn that a cardiac problem will force them to have separation surgery, which they have never before considered.

BZRK by Michael Grant (2012)

Set in the near future, BZRK is the story of a war for control of the human mind. Charles and Benjamin Armstrong, conjoined twins and owners of the Armstrong Fancy Gifts Corporation, have a goal: to turn the world into their vision of utopia. No wars, no conflict, no hunger. And no free will. Opposing them is a guerrilla group of teens, code name BZRK, who are fighting to protect the right to be messed up, to be human. This is no ordinary war, though. Weapons are deployed on the nano-level. The battleground is the human brain. And there are no stalemates here: It’s victory… or madness.

Gemini by Sonya Mukherjee (July 26)

In a small town, as high school graduation approaches, two conjoined sisters must weigh the importance of their dreams as individuals against the risk inherent in the surgery that has the potential to separate them forever.

The Secret Twin by Denise Orenstein (2007)

Born a conjoined twin, thirteen-year-old Noah bears the secret guilt of being the only survivor, and now finds himself in the care of a stranger with a secret of her own.

Under Shifting Glass by Nicky Singer (2013)

Jess is grieving for her beloved aunt, and when she finds a mysterious flask hidden in a antique bureau that belonged to Aunt Edie on the same day that her conjoined twin brothers are born, she begins to believe that the flask is magic and that their survival depends on it.

Nonfiction

Eng and Chang: The Original Siamese Twins by David R. Collins (1994, out of print)

Born near Bangkok but ethnically Chinese, Siamese twins Eng and Chang acquired U.S. citizenship in 1839 and assumed the surname Bunker. They not only survived for 63 years attached by a five-inch long ligament, but also led versatile and fulfilling lives. Collins presents a lively portrait of these unique brothers who traveled throughout the world, met heads of state, settled down as farmers in North Carolina, married sisters, fathered a total of 21 children, and even worked for P.T. Barnum. – School Library Journal

Twin Tales: The Magic and Mystery of Multiple Births by Donna Jackson (2001, out of print)

Twins: they’re miracles of nature, sharing the most intimate of bonds. Scientists have captured them on sonograms hugging, kissing, and reaching out to each other in the womb. What makes twins so fascinating? Find out as you read about real-life twins such as: Kyrie Jackson, the preemie who saved her twin sister’s life soon after birth; Eng and Chang Bunker, the world’s most famous conjoined twins; and Eva and Miriam Mozes, twin sisters whose special bond saved their lives at Auschwitz. – Goodreads

Double Take: The Story of Twins by Daniel Jussim (2001, out of print)

An in-depth introduction to the lives of twins, multiples, and conjoined twins. Readers will learn why twinning takes place and meet five sets of twins. They will read amazing stories about twins who were separated at birth only to meet years later, stories about twins who marry twins, and profiles of families with bigger broods, including the famous McCaughey Septuplets and the Dionne Quintuplets. Readers also have the special opportunity to meet a set of conjoined twins, Brittany and Abigail Hensel, who, despite a rare and challenging condition, have developed into down-to-earth and very happy young ladies. – Goodreads

The Dead House by Dawn Kurtagich

June 22, 2016 |

After reading Amy Lukavics’ excellent Daughters Unto Devils (Kelly has a brief review here), I was craving more good horror reads. I liked the concept of Dawn Kurtagich’s The Dead House, which is told in a found footage style via journal entries, video transcripts, therapy recordings, and other notes. The dead house of the title is a teenage girl’s mind, so this is not a haunted house story – rather, it’s a mishmash of psychological horror with a nice sprinkling of demonology and a dash of gore (just a couple scenes). I can’t watch horror movies because I’m sensitive to blood on the screen as well as the “make you jump” trick so many filmmakers pull, but I can handle most YA horror novels. I wouldn’t recommend this one to the more squeamish readers, but it’s not the most disturbing horror novel I’ve ever read either.

It centers around two identical twin sisters living in a single body – at least that’s how they describe it. Carly is awake during the day and Kaitlyn lives during the night. Their therapist, Dr. Lansing, has diagnosed them with dissociative identity disorder, frequently called multiple personality disorder, and says that Carly is the true personality and Kaitlyn is the alter. Dr. Lansing believes the split happened when Carly’s parents died in a horrible car accident as a way for Carly to cope with the trauma. But Kaitlyn has always been there, even before the accident, and there’s much more going on with the two girls than Dr. Lansing could imagine.

The story begins in a psychiatric facility and then moves to a boarding school that doubles as a transitional home for mentally ill teens who are re-acclimating to normal life. One of the first things we learn is that a terrible fire destroyed this school over ten years ago, and the students all claimed a girl named Kaitlyn Johnson was responsible – though no Kaitlyn Johnson was ever enrolled, of course. The rest of the book is a flashback leading up to those events. Most of the story is told via Kaitlyn’s diary, and through it we get a very intense look at this troubled teenager. It’s never clear to the reader whether Kaitlyn is “real” or not, as she insists, and as the story progresses, Kaitlyn herself even begins to doubt. When Carly’s personality disappears and Kaitlyn is conscious 24 hours of the day, Kaitlyn’s mental health deteriorates even further and she searches in desperation for any way to bring back her sister. It’s at this point that The Dead House really begins to blur the lines between psychological horror and supernatural horror.

Because we get such a close look at Kaitlyn’s mind, both through her diary entries as well as analysis from her doctor and others who come into contact with her, her hallucinations (or are they real?) and paranoia (is it paranoia if it’s true?) come across as exceptionally creepy. Carly’s best friend, Naida, eventually learns about Kaitlyn and tries to help bring Carly back – she’s fully on board with the idea of Carly and Kaitlyn inhabiting the same body. Naida’s methods involve black magic and she believes Kaitlyn is inhabited by a demon…which may or may not be true. Everything is moving along nicely, with a delicious creepiness, as bit by bit Kurtagich enhances the horror. The first truly gruesome scene involves someone cutting off their own tongue with a knife after a misguided exorcism-type attempt, and it’s at that point that readers will realize they’ve left the intro to horror far behind. From then on, it’s a bloodbath, with Kaitlyn driven to violence by the demons (or her own mind?) and eventually realizing an awful truth about someone she loves. Everything comes to a head the day of the fire, culminating in a violent, out of control conclusion that brings the story full circle.

By the end of the book, the reader is unsure whether Kaitlyn/Carly’s illness was responsible for what happened, or whether something supernatural actually had a hand in it. The answer is probably a little bit of both; it’s meant to be ambiguous and isn’t unsatisfying left so.

Kurtagich’s debut novel is ambitious and succeeds on many levels: as a character study of a fascinating and troubled teenage girl; as a horror novel that may keep you up at night; as an interesting way to tell a complicated story. I thought the supernatural aspects were a little weak; the mythology behind it was somewhat muddled and I found Kaitlyn’s mind much more interesting. But for the most part, the elements all work together in harmony. The creativity on display is impressive. I listened to this on audio, and Charlotte Parry, who reads Kaitlyn’s parts, does such a good job of bringing Kaitlyn to life. She draws sympathy even as she terrifies. Highly recommended for horror fans.

Lesser-Known Retellings

June 15, 2016 |

Fairy tale and classic retellings are still going strong in YA, which you’ll never catch me complaining about. Amidst all of the Snow White and Cinderella retellings, though, are a small cadre of retellings of lesser-known (or at least lesser-retold) stories, some of which I’d never heard of (think Shannon Hale’s retelling of Maid Maleen in Book of a Thousand Days). I thought it would be interesting to showcase them in a booklist. I’ve limited this particular list to books coming out in 2016 only. What others have I missed?

The Wooden Prince by John Claude Bemis

Desperate to save her father, Princess Lazuli, the daughter of the ruler of a magical kingdom called Abaton, enlists the help of the automa Pinocchio and his master, wanted criminal and alchemist Geppetto, who are trying to discover why Pinocchio seems to be changing from a wooden servant into a living, human boy.

The Great Hunt by Wendy Higgins

When a savage beast attacks in Eurona, the king proclaims that whoever kills the creature will win the hand of his daughter, Princess Aerity, but things get complicated when Aerity grows fond of a specific, royals-eschewing hunter, Paxton Seabolt. [This is a retelling of The Singing Bone by the Brothers Grimm.]

Exit, Pursued By a Bear by E. K. Johnston

At cheerleading camp, Hermione is drugged and raped, but she is not sure whether it was one of her teammates or a boy on another team–and in the aftermath she has to deal with the rumors in her small Ontario town, the often awkward reaction of her classmates, the rejection of her boyfriend, the discovery that her best friend, Polly, is gay, and above all the need to remember what happened so that the guilty boy can be brought to justice. [This is a retelling of The Winter’s Tale by Shakespeare.]

A Fierce and Subtle Poison by Samantha Mabry

Spending the summer with his hotel-developer father in Puerto Rico, seventeen-year-old Lucas turns to a legendary cursed girl filled with poison when his girlfriend mysteriously disappears. [This is a retelling of Rappaccini’s Daughter by Nathaniel Hawthorne.]

Vassa in the Night by Sarah Porter (out 9/20)

In Vassa’s Brooklyn neighborhood, where she lives with her stepmother and bickering stepsisters, one might stumble onto magic, but stumbling out again could become an issue. Babs Yagg, the owner of the local convenience store, has a policy of beheading shoplifters—and sometimes innocent shoppers as well. So when Vassa’s stepsister sends her out for light bulbs in the middle of night, she knows it could easily become a suicide mission. But Vassa has a bit of luck hidden in her pocket, a gift from her dead mother. Erg is a tough-talking wooden doll with sticky fingers, a bottomless stomach, and a ferocious cunning. With Erg’s help, Vassa just might be able to break the witch’s curse and free her Brooklyn neighborhood. But Babs won’t be playing fair. [This is a retelling of the Russian folktale Vassilissa the Beautiful.]

As I Descended by Robin Talley (out 9/6)

Maria Lyon and Lily Boiten are their school’s ultimate power couple—even if no one knows it but them. Only one thing stands between them and their perfect future: campus superstar Delilah Dufrey. Golden child Delilah is a legend at the exclusive Acheron Academy, and the presumptive winner of the distinguished Cawdor Kingsley Prize. She runs the school, and if she chose, she could blow up Maria and Lily’s whole world with a pointed look, or a carefully placed word. But what Delilah doesn’t know is that Lily and Maria are willing to do anything—absolutely anything—to make their dreams come true. And the first step is unseating Delilah for the Kingsley Prize. The full scholarship, awarded to Maria, will lock in her attendance at Stanford―and four more years in a shared dorm room with Lily. Maria and Lily will stop at nothing to ensure their victory—including harnessing the dark power long rumored to be present on the former plantation that houses their school. But when feuds turn to fatalities, and madness begins to blur the distinction between what’s real and what is imagined, the girls must decide where they draw the line. [This is a retelling of Macbeth by Shakespeare.]

The Steep and Thorny Way by Cat Winters

A sixteen-year-old biracial girl in rural Oregon in the 1920s searches for the truth about her father’s death while avoiding trouble from the Ku Klux Klan in this YA historical novel inspired by Shakespeare’s Hamlet.

Backlist July & Read Along Fun

June 13, 2016 |

I can point to exactly the things that are keeping my books-read numbers down this year. I’ve found and been really engaged in some new hobbies, and I’ve really invested a lot of time and effort into writing for myself. I love these things, and as much as it’s a little sad not to be reading as much as I once did, I feel like I’m doing way better with choosing my books because I know I want to spend time with things I’ll enjoy and want to talk about.

During the first week of April, I had minor oral surgery, and I used the recovery time to read a lot. Since I didn’t want to leave the house, laying about and reading was nice. I picked up a couple of new and forthcoming titles, and I picked up Sandra Cisneros’ The House on Mango Street. I’d never read it before, which surprised me, given it was set in Chicago and the exact kind of book I’d have loved in school. Lucky for me, I got to fall in love with it now, as an adult, and after I finished it, I knew immediately I needed to clear at least one month this year to do nothing but read backlist titles I’ve always meant to read but hadn’t yet.

July — the long, lazy, hot month where there are few new releases and the cooler days of fall aren’t yet in sight — felt like the right month to do it.

I’m really excited to dedicate an entire month to reading backlist titles. The publishing industry defines that as a book published 6 months ago or longer. So, books published in 2015 or before are fair game. I plan to pick up a number of classic/backlist YA titles I haven’t yet read — I’ve got, for example, Hard Love and Black Girl in Paris that I picked up in a used bookstore earlier this year, and I know there are some backlist titles of favorite authors I need to still read. I’m also going to read some more Atwood, perhaps A Tale for the Time Being, and the copy of Americanah I’ve had sitting on my shelf for two years now. I’m going to pull a few classics by women out, too, to sort of discover things I have always meant to, but haven’t yet.

As I was thinking about this, I thought it would be really fun to ask others to take part in a backlist July, too. But I dislike formalities or structures for these kinds of things because at the end of the day, reading is about having fun, about learning for yourself, and about the impact a book has on you. Instead, I thought it might be fun to host a read/blog along in the same sort of style that I’ve done with others before (like for The Chocolate War and Jane-Emily).

I debated for a long time what backlist book would be a great choice. Since I am reading only women, of course it would be a female-identifying author, and I realized that choosing an easy-to-get paperback would be a smart bet for those who want to buy it or who want to track it down at a library.

So here’s the winner:

Norma Klein’s Domestic Arrangements. You can snag a copy of the Lizzie Skurnick reissue anywhere you want to online, and it’s quite likely you could track down a library copy. Klein is a classic YA author who I’ve never read, and the book’s description hit everything that interests me in YA lit:

Originally published in 1982, Domestic Arrangements is the story of a fourteen-year-old New York teen named Tatiana, an unintentional ingénue who becomes notorious for filming a nude scene for a major movie. Tatiana’s newfound fame—which includes interviews, magazine covers, and publicists—is set against the backdrop of an increasingly adult personal life, as her parents file for divorce, her sister becomes increasingly jealous of her sibling’s success, and she must choose between her teenage boyfriend and new, older loves. A stunning example of Norma Klein’s fearless take on the complexities of adolescence, Domestic Arrangements is an indelible portrait of a girl on the cusp of adulthood, learning to balance the challenges of life in the spotlight with love, family, and friendship. This edition features a brand new introduction by Norma’s long-time friend, renowned children’s author Judy Blume.

Norma Klein was best known for young adult works that dealt with family problems, childhood and adolescent sexuality, as well as social issues like racism, sexism, and contraception. Her first novel, Mom, the Wolf Man and Me (1972), was about the daughter of an unmarried, sexually active woman. Her subsequent works included Sunshine, It’s Okay If You Don’t Love Me, Breaking Up, and Family Secrets. Because of their subject matter, many of her books sparked considerable controversy, and a 1986 American Library Association survey found that nine of her novels had been removed from libraries. In an interview that same year with the New York Times, Klein said: “I’m not a rebel, trying to stir things up just to be provocative. I’m doing it because I feel like writing about real life.” She died in 1989 at the age of fifty.

For those who pick up the Skurnick reissue, there is an introduction by Judy Blume, too.

Taking part in the read/blog along is easy. Pick up the book, read it in July, and then write about whatever you want to relating to the book, if you want to. You can take photos, you can write a review, you can write on the topics in the book, anything goes. I don’t care where or how you do it, and STACKED is, as usual, open for those who want to write a guest post on the book or something relating to it. Just shoot an email to stacked.books //@ gmail.com.

If you do choose to write or create anything relating to the book in the month of July, shoot a link to whatever it is to that same email address, and at the end of July, I’ll put together a big round-up to share. It’s low-pressure, completely voluntary fun, so if you don’t want to do anything more than read the book, that is 100% OKAY. Be inspired however you choose and share it wherever you want. This is about reading a classic and seeing where YA was then and where it is now.

Because, believe it or not, YA has been around longer than just most of our life times.