By Jan Pease
Why do we name our children the names we give them? We name our children names we like, or family
names, or names that don’t make unfortunate nicknames. 
How do
writers name characters? Elle Cosimano
has written two books about a character with a memorable name, Nearly; she
explains the name on her website, ellecosimano.com. “Nearly Gone” and “Nearly Found” tell about the life of a teen who tries to
stay “under the radar,” because there are so many things in her life that would
make her a target for bullies. Nearly
has an unusual name, her mom works as a stripper, her dad has vanished,
and they live in a trailer park in
Washington D.C. There is a touch of the
paranormal in the books, because Nearly has a gift for “tasting” the emotions
of a person she touches. These thrillers
begin slowly and build in suspense.
Reviews were lukewarm for “Nearly Found,” but readers at amazon.com
gave it five stars and the second book is loved by readers who were fans of the
first book. Two recent books
look at eating disorders from an unusual perspective, that of young men who
are struggling with their weight. “Food,
Girls, and Other Things I Can’t Have,” by Allen Zadoff, has been around for a while,
but I missed it when it was published in 2011. This is the story of a boy who weighs just
over 300 pounds and obviously doesn’t fit in.
His journey to self-awareness and self-acceptance may seem a bit too
easy, since our hero will probably have a life-long struggle with weight
issues. But I think this is an
important look at an issue that just isn’t discussed. There is some locker room language in this
one, especially since our hero joins the football team.
Locker room language abounds in “Biggie,” by Derek
Sullivan. The hero is really not very
likeable, and the other characters are not terribly sympathetic, but somehow
it works. But this is another look at
the difficulties faced by a very overweight teenaged boy. This time the sport that helps him come to
terms is baseball.
  Victoria Schwab has written two books that feel like the
beginning of a series. They are “The Archived” and “The Unbound,” and our
copies have arrived. In these novels,
copies of people’s lives are kept in an archive, like books. They are maintained by librarians, but now
and then the histories become restless and try to escape. The librarians then must dispatch Keepers to
hunt and capture the crazed histories.
I’m so glad my job involves real books and not ghosties. "The Unbound" is the second book, and sounds
like a page-turner. |
“Nimona,” by Noelle Stephenson, is a new graphic novel
based on Stephenson’s web comic. The
comic is no longer available online, because now the entire story is available
in book form. Nimona is a shape shifter
who constantly causes trouble. The character descriptions at gingerhaze.com/Nimona
are hilarious and make me want to check out the book.
Finally, Rick Atkinson has adapted his book, “The Guns at
Last Light,” for younger readers in “The Battle of the Bulge.” Some
reviewers thought the book would be too difficult for its audience of 8-12 year
olds, but I know that we have some incredible readers who tackle books if they
are interested in the subject, and many young people are fascinated by the
history of warfare. “The Battle of the
Bulge” might help adults make sense of Hitler’s final attempt to break the
Allied Forces. Great books are waiting
for you at your public library.
