The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey

Do you like bloody, visceral gore? Do you like your horror with a touch of effluvia, offal, disembowelment, and the (semi-frequent) decapitation?

Neither do I. I am neither a fan of the horror genre nor a fan of the gothic, Victorian-era novel.

But Rick Yancey’s The Monstrumologist has changed my mind.

It is 1888 and Will Henry is an apprentice to the enigmatic and irascible Dr. Pellinore Warthrop. Doctor of what, you ask? Well, Will Henry has been instructed to tell you that the doctor is a doctor of philosophy. In truth, however, he is a doctor of something darker, something much more terrifying. He is a Monstrumologist—one who focuses his life and learning on the study of creatures not generally accepted by science. Monsters.

It is 1888 and when twelve-year old Will Henry has finally become accustomed (or as accustomed as one can be) to his guardian’s grotesque profession, there appears a new threat that will plunge Will Henry and the Doctor into a maelstrom of danger, carnage, and fear. It is a threat with thousands and thousands of shark-like teeth. A threat with no head. A threat with claws that can puncture the hardest bones in a human body. A threat with the name of Anthropopagi: Human eaters.

Will Henry and Doctor Warthrop must confront the enemy (the true enemy) and the ghosts of history before they can stop the impending bloodbath that will befall their town. They must venture into the lair of the ultimate predators. Predators that only eat humans. They must survive--or die a most horrific death.

Rick Yancey has written a book that will enthrall young and old alike. The Monstrumologist is thrilling and horrific, exploring the moments and ways in which humanity crosses over into monstrosity. And amidst all the gore, the fear and the monstrosities, The Monstrumologist is also ultimately about the relationships between fathers and sons—and the sins that we inherit from our families.

If you think you won’t like it: give it a try. This is an excellent book with an excellent story. The violence and gore is not gratuitous, and you might learn some new vocabulary words (I certainly did). It goes without saying that fans of horror and gore will love this book, but all readers will definitely be hooked by this fast-paced gothic novel.

And there's even a sequel in the works!
(Just this: If you are easily spooked, do not read it before bedtime.)

Rick Yancey's Website

Yancey, Rick. The Monstrumologist. New York: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing, 2010.

In the Path of Falling Objects by Andrew Smith

Brothers Jonah and Simon head out across the desert to find their father who is about to be released from prison in Arizona. Their mother has been gone for days, weeks even, perhaps, and their older brother is fighting in the jungles of Vietnam. It is 1970.

Enter Mitch and Lilly, a mysterious pair from Texas, who pick the two hitchhikers up in a stylish and out-of-place convertible. Jonah is immediately drawn to the beautiful and flirtatious Lilly but feels wary of the unpredictable Mitch. Simon, on the other hand, is quick to please Mitch, enjoying his rakish intensity.

As Jonah struggles to put family first, he finds himself pitted against a man more dangerous than he could have ever imagined. The two boys soon find themselves hostage to a psychotic murderer and they risk their lives to save Lilly and each other.

And then, of course, there is the gun.

Andrew Smith’s In the Path of Falling Objects is an intense and nerve-wracking novel that intersperses Jonah’s account of his and Simon’s journey with letters from their older brother in Vietnam. The book begins with a shocking murder and the feeling of being trapped only increases the deeper you wade into this book. The tension is almost too much—I wish Andrew Smith had allowed for some space in the novel to breathe a sigh of relief and relax—but it all builds to a heart-stopping climax that will leave readers on the edge of their seats.

Be warned: there is much violence and death in this novel; Mitch is one of the most incredibly disturbing characters I have come across in YA fiction. Readers who like gritty, intense novels will want to give this a try. Everyone else should read this knowing it just might give you nightmares.

Smith, Andrew. In the Path of Falling Objects. New York: Feiwel & Friends, 2009. Print.

Trouble by Gary D. Schmidt

Henry Smith’s family has been living in the picturesque town of Blythbury-by-the-Sea, Massachusetts since 1678. His father has always told him: “If you build your house far enough away from Trouble, then Trouble will never find you.” It is a motto that seems to have served the Smith family well, until the night a pickup truck runs down Henry’s older brother, Franklin, and puts him into a coma.

The driver of the pickup truck—a schoolmate of Franklin’s—is a young Cambodian refugee, and the tragedy quickly ignites racial tensions that have been slowly brewing beneath the pretty veneer of Blythbury-by-the-Sea. Amidst the fury of the town, the volatile relations between Blythbury-by-the-Sea and nearby Merton (known as Little Cambodia), as well as his family’s private grief, Henry sets out to find answers at the only place he thinks can yield him something—anything: Mt. Katahdin. The mountain he and Franklin had planned to climb before the accident.

With his best friend and his newly adopted dog, Black Dog, Henry sets off for Katahdin and runs immediately into the only person willing to give hitchhikers with a dog a ride: Chay Chouan, the driver in the pickup truck that fateful night. As they make their way to Katahdin together, Henry begins to realize that perhaps his father was wrong, that perhaps the more you run from Trouble, the closer Trouble exists, that perhaps his brother might not have been the perfect American Hero that Henry had thought him to be.

Gary D. Schmidt has written a lyrical novel dealing with grief, family, and the unpleasant truths that might lie within the people we love and admire. In Trouble, readers see how racism still runs rampant in the hearts of men and women. While I commend Gary D. Schmidt for tackling this subject, I could not find myself completely enjoying the book. It was slow in places and oddly paced. I found Henry’s (and his best friend’s) characters believable, but for the rest of the cast (including Henry’s family and Chay Chouan) I was disappointed. The secondary characters felt as if they had stepped straight out of a character template and into the novel. That said, Gary D. Schmidt is an accomplished writer with a beautiful sense of language.

I would recommend this book to patient readers and readers interested in books with rich description. Readers who are looking for multicultural perspectives will also be interested in this book. As much as I would like to recommend Trouble heartily, I can only give a lukewarm nod of approval for Trouble.

Schmidt, Gary D.. Trouble. 1 ed. New York: Clarion Books, 2008. Print.

Hate List by Jennifer Brown

Imagine your boyfriend brought a gun to school. Imagined he killed six people and wounded many others. Imagine he hunted them down from a list of people you helped create. Imagine he shot you. Imagine he shot and killed himself in front of you.

That’s what happened to Valerie Leftman during the end of her junior year in high school. Now, after a whole summer of recovery and isolation, Valerie returns to her high school where she must face her guilt and the school’s anger. Although uninvolved with her boyfriend’s gun rampage, Valerie, the rest of her school, and her family can’t help wondering about her role in the tragedy. Before she can bury the ghosts of her memory and the ghosts of the victims, Valerie must finish mourning the boyfriend she loved dearly, must come to terms with her involvement in the massacre, and must begin to see what’s really there.

Hate List is Jennifer Brown’s debut novel and what an extraordinary debut it is. Valerie’s first person narrative is convincing and her emotional turmoil heart-wrenching (I stayed up all night crying as I read the end of the novel). Brown’s treatment of Valerie’s boyfriend is also remarkable—giving us a complex view of him as more than just an enraged, suicidal shooter.

I cannot recommend Hate List highly enough. Although the middle section drags a little, the novel is really astonishingly touching and moving. Valerie’s voice will remain with you for a long time. Readers of realistic fiction will particularly love Hate List, but all readers will find something to like in it. I will be looking out for more of Jennifer Brown’s works in the future.

Brown, Jennifer. Hate List. Oxford Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 2009.

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You Are Here by Jennifer E. Smith

Emma Healy has never really felt like she fit in with the rest of her quirky but brilliant family of academics and professors. All her life, she’s never felt quite whole, as if something was out of place in her life. Perhaps, she sometimes thought, it was because she was out of place. It’s hard to think otherwise when your parents throw birthday parties for you at poetry readings in New York City, or the invited guests are world-renowned professors of archeology, sociology, and anthropology (all of whom are your parents’ close friends).

One day, Emma comes across a birth certificate and a death certificate, both of which changes the way she sees herself, her family, and their shared familial history. Spurred by her discovery, she decides to go on a road trip to North Carolina—the place where she might find the grave of her recently discovered twin brother. Together with her neighbor Peter Finnegan—an unlikely car thief and civil war aficionado—and a three legged dog, Emma learns that there is a lot more to a journey than a destination, that there is a lot more to a family than meets the eye, and also, that the people who love you will always there for you.

As much Peter’s story as it is Emma’s, You Are Here is a well-written tale of two teenagers searching for answers to illuminate the unknown in their lives. Despite being well-developed characters, I occasionally felt that Emma and Peter’s lines were strangely adult, making them seem somewhat like talking mannequins. I also found the slow romance between the two teens unfortunately inauthentic, but Jennifer E. Smith manages to make it work towards the end of the novel, pushing towards a moving finish.

You Are Here is an accomplished book about family, grief, and love, and there is lots to like in the book. Yet despite its eloquence, I’m not sure it is quite authentic enough to find a place in my heart. I cannot bring myself to heartily recommend the book. Readers who enjoy slower-paced novels might be better able to connect with the story, but I could not find myself completely engaged.

Smith, Jennifer. You Are Here. New York: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing, 2009.

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