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When Katy Ratner discovers she’ll be spending two weeks of her summer with her father, The Rat, instead of in Peru with her mother, she’s not happy about it. But she figures she can deal.
Shortly after arriving at the airport she changes her mind. Upon arrival at the Rat’s apartment she knows she can’t do this. Mess, everywhere. Her room, she can tell he tried with her room. Except it’s still not her. She pleads with her mother via text messages, but apparently her seriousness has such an edge to it that it comes across as a joke. She doesn’t know how to point out the mistake.
Then comes an even bigger kick in the face. Her two weeks are actually going to be the whole summer. Her mother’s on to something in Peru. Something huge. And she wants to stay. Katy wants to be there, be part of the team she’s always been included in. But she doesn’t say that either.
And so it is. She’s stuck in California, looking and feeling out of place, trying to understand this world of people for whom music is everything. For her, music is mostly just noise. Or a good background. If it’s the right music. Which makes staying with her drummer father a real dilemma. And being baby-sat by the bribed daughter of the Rat’s band-mate, Sam Suck, more of a dilemma. Even Garth Skater, pretty enough to be a girl without his helmet on, gets it. He promises to make her a mix CD, by way of introduction to the scene.
True to his word, he delivers the CD while Lake is visiting. Katy isn’t interested until Lake points out that it’s actually a good mix. Then it starts to seem worth it.
Slowly, Katy starts to feel less Beige…or at least that Beige isn’t a bad thing to be. She starts to understand her dad. And his girlfriend, Trixie, proves to be a good friend. Even Lake isn’t all hardness, like she seems. And even music starts to make its own kind of sense.
As summer draws to a close, leaving Beige with one more huge obstacle and disappointment to get through, she knows she can do it. It really will be OK. She has a place in this world, and she doesn’t have to take it quietly. Maybe she is her father’s daughter; and that’s not a bad thing to be.
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March 15th, 2007
8:37 am
Book Review, Staff Favorites
california, death/loss, faeries, fantasy, francesca lia block, friendship, high school, motion pictures, realistic, ya fiction
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This is the book that started my obsession with Francesca Lia Block. After I read it, on a friend’s recommendation, I went out and bought all the rest of her books out at the time.
Violet wants to make movies. She views all of her life through eyes trained to this purpose. And while she’s had episodes that would add to a script, she finds her life mostly lacking in the requisite conflict and love interest categories. She also has no one to work with.
And then she spots Claire. Blonde, unknowingly pretty, surrounded by jerks. Violet comes to her rescue, and they become immediate friends. A new sensation for both of them. Violet is generally misunderstood, disliked and feared. Claire has never fit in.
While she doesn’t see life the way Violet does, she’s eager to try to help with the movie. And so the adventures begin. A trip to a transvestite bar, an underground concert, where Violet makes off with the lead singer, who spurns her, though she manages to turn it to her advantage.
She takes a job as a receptionist with an agent, who agrees in turn to help her with her script. Instead, he gives her a new story, and in the end, her movie becomes something much different than her original intent.
Claire, cut out of much of Violet’s life and time, is feeling lost. She has her poetry class–originally a joint venture with Claire, and her poetry teacher, but it isn’t the same. She’s worried about her friend, but doesn’t know what to do.
When her teacher also abandons her, and for another student, Claire is overcome. Violet, having had enough of her lot, is also at a tipping point. But there make-up goes awry when Claire spies Violet with Peter. An event innocent enough, but how would she know that from the shadows?
Her night takes many dangerous turns, and ends with another daring rescue by Violet. But the damage is still too great.
In the end, friendship triumphs, and a new and brighter life awaits the pair.
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Popular music and the music “industry” changed dramatically in the 1960’s. The Beatles opened the door, and a host of singer/songwriters rushed through after them. This book focuses on the California music scene and the incredible talent that lived together for a time in Laurel Canyon: David Crosby, Graham Nash, Joni Mitchell, Cass Elliot, John Mayall, Frank Zappa, to name a few.
Performers became wealthy beyond their wildest imaginings as they wrested control of their music from record and production companies, and drug use laid waste to many fortunes. The music was beautiful. It led me to seek out the remastered recordings of Crosby, Stills & Nash, the Beatles and the Byrds.
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Marina’s relationship with her brother Lex has always been different than that of normal siblings. Therefore, it’s not a shock to anyone when she takes his apparent suicide so hard. But there’s more to the story than anyone knows. At least, so she thinks.
As Marina delves deeper into the mystery, struggling to understand what happened to her brother, hidden truths come to light. But none so large as those learned when she takes off to visit her father.
This is a story of love: how it can raise you up and pull you down, heal you and break you.
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Kelsey is less than pleased when her mother informs her they’ll be moving to California prior to her eighth grade year. On top of this, she’ll be enrolled in Susan B. Anthony—a high profile, exclusive private school for girls. Which, as Kelsey will soon inform you, is not at all what it’s cracked up to be. Despite it’s pleasant PR promises, Kelsey’s only friend that first year comes from outside the school. And if not for shared family events, she and Amy might never have hit it off either.
When her parents start pushing for a Private High School as well, Kelsey knows she has to take action. Making a compelling argument, she gets them to agree to consider EBH, the Public High School, as long as she will at least tour Scholastic—the most prestigious of the private schools. In the end, with the promise to enroll in extracurricular activities, Kelsey wins the argument, and life seems to be looking up. Until she’s informed she’ll be spending her summer babysitting her little brother at the Skate Park.
The idea enthralls neither of the siblings, who strike a deal. Josh will skate, Kelsey will sit off in the park reading, and they will only communicate when necessary. Things run along smoothly until the day Kelsey decides to take a go at the skating bowl herself. Not having skated in some time, she quickly proceeds to take a face plant. Not only that, when the famous C.J. Logan comes to lend her a hand, she elbows him in the jaw. But none of it seems to matter. He becomes her brother’s personal mentor, and she becomes his girl.
And so goes Freshman year. Watching skate practice in the afternoons, going to competitions on the weekends. Her family loves C.J., and his family, but wants to know what’s happened to the activities she was excited about. Realizing she may lose her right to public school, Kelsey signs up for yearbook, where almost nothing is expected of her.
When the end of the school year hits, after betraying Amy when she was in need, losing half of her special day with C.J. to skating yet again, and realizing she’s not much more to him than a Fan with benefits, Kelsey calls it quits. C.J. took it hard. Worried about him, Kelsey logged on to his blog on summer day to see if he was alright, only to discover herself being bashed. When she attempts to defend herself, she only makes it worse, as he responds with even more lies.
Sophomore year looms, and Kelsey feels only dread. Amy assures her that it will have blown over by then. That other people have their own drama, and won’t be obsessing over hers. Still, now forced with dealing with the big questions of who she is and where she’s going with her life, Kelsey approaches the year with mild trepidation.
This is actually a really enjoyable book to read, for all that it centers around so many unhappy topics. The narration is so blunt and straightforward, it’s hard not to laugh. Because looking back, even Kelsey knows she should have known better. And at some time, haven’t we all?
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A quick read, packed with laughs, Storky tells the story of a gaingly, couch-potato nerd who wants little more than to leave his nickname behind.
A freshman in High School, Mike Pomerantz can’t quite seem to get a handle on life. His sister seems to have split personalities, he’s not sure how to relate to girls, he can’t see past his love for his friend Gina, and he thinks his sour relationship with his father is his fault.
When he starts to accompany his mother now and again to the local Seniors’ home, and plays games of Scrabble with an old man named Duke, he feels like he’s hit a new low. But after a fight, he comes to realize he’s grown to like his time with Duke, and that it’s about a lot more than Scrabble.
When his mother starts dating his dentist, he can only hope the relationship with “Dr. Vermin” won’t last, yet the more time he spends with Berm, the more he gets to like it. He even joins his bowling league.
Though he keeps trying with his father, he can’t seem to please him. Nor can he make him understand he’d like to see him alone, without his babe of the month. When good old dad refuses to teach him to drive after promising to do so, Mike starts to see the light.
And such is the life of a high school Freshman—full of trials and some more trials. But Mike prevails, and comes out much better for it on the other side.
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