"Beneath a Meth Moon" by Jacqueline Woodson

An excellent addition to books like "Go Ask Alice" and "Smack," "Beneath a Meth Moon" is Jacqueline Woodson's ode to young people fighting addiction.  The main character, Laurel, is a scant 15 years old but has suffered tremendous loss in her young life.  Seemingly naive, or perhaps undereducated, her descent into Meth addiction is swift and devastating.  Told in a lyric style that borders on the poetic, Laurel attempts to write an elegy to honor and then let go of her past.  The story flows like water, with water and waves being major themes in this tale.  Snapshots emerge with each of the short chapters, told in a nonlinear style, and fill in a picture of a normal life that is upended by Mother Nature.  Although it is never confirmed that this is a tale of Hurricane Katrina it could be.  The novel shows ripples created by such a storm (there's that water metaphor again) and how they can echo across people's lives for years to come.  There are also numerous echoes of faith.  While not heavy-handed, Laurel comes from one of those rural sections of our nation where life is slower and God is found in all things.  Laurel's grandmother echoes this in her musings.  Laurel's sing-song speaking style, written with exquisite specificity by Ms. Woodson, adds to the rhythm of the telling.  Even spoken words are italicized here, rather than put in quotes, perhaps to make sure this is smooth reading or to add an ethereal quality to the whole thing.  In any case, it is yet another brilliant book by the hugely talented Jacqueline Woodson and reaffirms her status as a lifetime achievement writer, an honor bestowed on her by the American Library Association.  Ms. Woodson may be one of the youngest recipients of this prize but her extensive body of work shows that it is talent, not years, that makes a writer truly worthy.

"Sita's Ramayana" by Samhita Arni and Moyna Chitrakar

"Sita's Ramayana" is a graphic novel retelling of one of the more famous folktales of India, focusing on the tragic love story between Sita and Rama.  Full of twists, turns, monsters and magic, it makes the works of Homer seem downright simplistic.  For those unfamiliar with Indian myth, be prepared for anamistic plants and animals, more battles than you can throw a stick at, and very large, complicated familial connections (it's kind of like a bunch of Irish Catholics at Easter ...)  In any case, the authors provide a set of genealogies at the beginning and some information on Indian story-telling traditions at the end of the book.

The tale is told as succinctly as possible (which pretty much means:  love, death, escape, capture, hope, hopelessness, battle, battle, battle, etc, betrayal, estrangement, and more death).  Images (which came first, according to the notes) are painted in primitive style, with bold colors, disproportionate figures and expressions which don't change much, but are rotated in such a way as to make them more vertical or prone depending on their circumstances.  The text almost seems to be an intrusion into this, as the images flow like Indian music -- on a single, unending path (see the term "Raaga" for an explanation) but the words are fairly staccato.

It's not that I disliked this book, but it takes effort on the part of the reader to engage.  This book is truly "Indian" -- with Indian creators and publishers.  It is one of many new books I have purchased to appeal to the burgeoning Indian population here in the states, but in many ways it feels foreign to those of us unaccustomed to this kind of literature.  In other words, if you know nothing about Indian culture, don't start here.  If, however, you know your Bhangra from your Bollywood, you might enjoy dipping your toe into this full-fledged homage to the female perspective on the Sita/Rama legend.

"Ranger's Apprentice, Book One: The Ruins of Gorlan" by John Flanagan

I finally had the time to dip into this very popular series and it was a satisfying entry.  "Ranger's Apprentice" is pretty standard fantasy fare without heavy-duty magic.  Think more along the lines of Lloyd Alexander and less Madeleine L'Engle.  There is the young boy without a sense of where his life is going; an older, if not mysterious, mentor; a growing sense of purpose and a good number of fights along the way to the big uber-battle.  The attraction of boys to this series is easy to see.  With lots of action, a few valuable life-lessons, and only the slightest hint of "girls" this is one has enough blood, yet enough intelligence, to appeal to a broad range of male readers.  John Flanagan is one of the growing number of Australian authors gracing bookshelves these days.  For the most part, he writes well.  The story has the nuts and bolts found in all fantasy novels but is original in the details.  The characters are fully drawn and the lead character, "Will" is both appealing and accessible.  Mr. Flanagan keeps the action moving but puts in enough specifics to get a substantial feel for the world that he creates.  Perhaps my favorite element in his writing is the relative depth to both characters and plot-lines.  Nothing is simple or clean.  Things progress as they should (and, at a couple points, exactly as I expected them to) but there are edges to each event and the reader can easily see any element of the tale fleshed out to include stories upon stories (which is why, I'm guessing, that this series is now up to 12 books??)  The only two hiccups for me were relatively minor.  First, there was no map!  Which was mostly just curious, since all fantasy novels of this type seem to include them.  Keep in mind that there is always an external journey in these things, which is typically reflective of the main character's bildungsroman (don't you love fancy words?)  Anyway, it wasn't a big deal, just a bit surprising, as I had to imagine all the "travels" into mountains and far-off lands.  Since books are about using one's imagination it shouldn't be a reach to picture it all in your head.  More off-putting was the author's habit of changing point of view from paragraph to paragraph (sometimes sentence to sentence) which slowed me down a bit in reading speed, as I had to double-back more than once to keep track of who was thinking what.  The overall story, however, was short and engaging enough for me to get through in under a week, so the narrative voice(s) were not a major issue.  In a word, this was a very "solid" first book.  Glad to have it in the collection and feel more comfortable than ever recommending it to a wide base of readers.

"Swords" by Ben Boos

The full title of this book is "Swords -- an Artist's Devotion."  Mr. Boos makes a point (actually, twice ... at the beginning *and* the end of the book) that he is not an expert on the topic, just an artist and a devotee.  You should take him at his word.  The images are stunning and rich, reproduced in deep colors on silky, thick paper.  The work is so good that one could mistake some images for photographs.  For any fan of swords (as I am), the close-up details are interesting and greatly appreciated.  For all of the "pretty" nature of this book, however, the text is deeply lacking.  Despite his protestations that he is "not an expert" Mr. Boos clearly did his research (there is a good bibliography in the back) yet writes in a haphazard, weak style.  The annotations range from information-specific (Scottish swords have a "braid" inside them that creates a ripple effect down the center of the sword) to hopelessly vague (there are 10 kinds of Viking hilts ... drawn but not described or named) to randomly subjective (in a discussion on female warriors he states "These brave and noble women are written into the sagas and histories, and they prove beyond doubt that the sword in the hand of a war maiden is as fearsome as the sword in the hand of any man.")  He also includes information I would consider incorrect ... that medieval peasants had access to a plethora of large knives ... not likely for serfs -- or that wild boars would willingly impale themselves because of "bloodlust."  More likely, this large wild animal running fast towards a target couldn't turn around in time (they aren't particularly known for their mobility.  Think "bull" with shorter legs.)  In any case, it's a nice "coffee table" book -- gorgeous to skim through.  I wouldn't recommend it for research, however -- as the author emphasizes, time and time again.

"Set to Sea" by Drew Weing

The back of this graphic novel describes it as a “ballad told in visual rhyme.”  While correct, it could also be described as haiku – with short, specifically chosen images and spare words conveying tremendous meaning.  The tale itself is symbolism and metaphor.  A would-be poet struggles to write flowery verse about life on the sea – from a tavern.  Failing, miserable and drunk, he is shanghaied into service with a rough and ready crew.  As the years pass, he experiences the life he struggled to write about, seeing a wealth of realities he never imagined.  This gives birth to a satisfying and appropriate conclusion – one might even call it ironic.  Drawings that remind you of the “Popeye” cartoons are nonetheless detailed and specific, hiding gentle humor throughout (for instance, the tavern where the story begins is “The Angry Kitten”).  The artistic style, combined with the black and white line drawings, make it easy for the reader to harken back to the time period, very roughly set in the period of tall sailing ships.  A brief read, I was able to get through the book in less than 10 minutes.  Like Shaun Tan’s book, “The Arrival,” however, it is one of those stories you should slow down for.  This is poetry, and it is important not to rush through it but to take each image and word for their full meaning.  A neat little book, it is easy to see why it has “buzz” going into awards season.