"Witch and Wizard" and "The Gift" by James Patterson

Sometimes, the books recommended to me by students are awesome. Sometimes they are just "okay." The interesting thing about books is that they may, or may not, strike the reader depending on the individual threads each person brings to each book they read. That being said, this is the second James Patterson series I have tried on student recommendation, and the second one I have said "ehh" to. In the new Witch and Wizard series, I have the same issues as I did with the Maximum Ride books. It's not that they are bad. They are fun, action-packed, fast-moving and capture the teenage mindset very well. But both series, IMHO, are somewhat shallow and highly derivative. Did I say derivative? I meant to say "blatant rip-offs." Okay, I know all great authors steal -- Shakespeare did it -- and Patterson makes no apologies for it. In fact, he almost makes fun of the fact that this new series is like some bizarre combination of "Oliver Twist," "1984," "Fahrenheit 451" and a host of other classics ... if they were written in a kind of facile, disinterested way. He employs the same dystopic, alternative future that many YA authors are writing about these days, but his protagonists blithely skim along from one torturous situation to another with little engagement other than "we want to find our parents!" and "hot guy/gal, but I'm busy fighting for my life right now." Despite the trials and tribulations of the characters, I was never able to connect emotionally with anyone in the books -- a huge weakness if you want readers to cheer on our heroes. With strong resonance to the Hunger Games books, these two titles are to Hunger Games as Vampire Diaries are to Anne Rice. Similar content simply doesn't create similar quality. It's almost as if Patterson is making fun of the genre. He includes all the prerequisites of YA Fantasy: missing or dead parents, teens who have powers they didn't know they had, an older mentor who is seemingly inscrutable and a map. But the map is drawn carelessly, just a big box, and doesn't add anything to the story (maps are usually there to elaborate that these tales are often both physical and psychological journeys). The inscrutable mentor pops in and out just long enough to provide fortune-cookie wisdom and the yearning for parents amidst apocalyptic destruction just gets tiresome. Lastly, the powers the kids have seem to be on-again, off-again with little rhyme or reason. Rule number one in such books is that you can create any rule you want, but once you create it, you must be consistent about holding to it. As I said, I didn't hate these books, but I didn't love them. I guess I read too much. I just know the sources he took his story from are better than the work he created by using them. I can see them being popular as beach reads or for kids who just like the action without any need for a substantive story, but in the end they felt too much like a never-ending MMORPG (massive multi-player online role-playing game). Time to find the magic answer, kill the bad guy forever and ever and end this thing.

"The Dreamer" by Pam Munoz Ryan and Peter Sis

In a word, "wow." Some of this year's notable titles left me a little "ehh," not this one. "The Dreamer" was the Pura Belpre winner and is, IMHO, the top pick of the honorees. "The Dreamer" is the lyrical story of Neftali Reyes, a young boy growing up in Chile in the early 20th century. Neftali is small and thin, a lover of words with a rich imagination, and a child who craves love from a harsh and demanding father. The text off-shoots from time to time, much like Neftali's mind, with detailed artwork by Peter Sis bringing these flights of fancy to bold and detailed beauty. The soft green text is large and spaced across the pages in wide paragraphs, allowing the reader's eyes to fly across the words like they are birds in flight. It doesn't take too long for the experienced reader to realize this is the story of Pablo Neruda. A fictionalized tale taken from real events of his childhood, Ms. Ryan has done an outstanding job of giving us an insight into the mind of a man who helped change our world-view. I recently had a discussion with the TAB book group about books that can be appreciated on many levels, by different ages of readers. This is one such book. Appealing to young children (Neftali is seven when the book begins) but with enough layers and richness to appeal to adults, this story should be considered one of the "modern classics." Enjoy.