"Heat Wave" by Richard Castle

I liked this book. A lot. Which is a bit of a surprise. Here's the deal: ABC has a top-ten TV show called "Castle." In the show, a popular mystery writer named Richard Castle shadows an NYPD detective for inspiration on his new set of books, focusing on a tough but sexy police officer named Nikki Heat. As part of the hype/tie-in/whatever for the show, ABC has been releasing actual books supposedly written by "Richard Castle." Needless to say, my expectations were low. I greatly enjoy the TV show, but this smelled way too much of marketing with little focus on literary merit, so I held off until ... the book climbed up the New York Times bestseller list. And then people started telling me how good it was. So, I gave it a spin. What a pleasant little gift. The book is well-paced, weaves a decent mystery with "just enough" hard-boiled detective stuff to make it engaging without being cheesy, and sticks enough to the style of the TV show to fulfill the interests of the occasionally rabid fans. A slim book, it took longer to read than I expected. There is depth here, both in the writing and in filling out that which we know about the characters in the show. Like the TV show, there is a satisfying combination of action, suspense, crime-solving, humor, and yes, sex. I'll never know how my familiarity with the TV show impacted on my appreciation of the book, but there was definitely a plus in knowing the characters involved. Not a book for your typical teen, the characters are adults who both act and speak like adults would in this kind of setting. To those of us in the know, the biggest question lies in the identity of the actual author. The bio and picture in the back of the book portray Nathan Fillion, the actor (INCREDIBLY HOT SEXY AWESOME NATHAN WE LOVE YOU) who plays Richard Castle. The dedication, acknowledgments and back-flap bio (mentioned in an episode of the show) are written as if they come from the hand of this fictitious author, full of tongue-in-cheek (winner of the Nom DePlume Society's Tom Straw Award). When pressed, the TV show producers admit that the author of the books "has appeared" on at least one episode of the show. Of course, they take pleasure in having name authors appear on the show as poker buddies of the lead character, so the choices are plentiful. Even money hangs on James Patterson (quoted on the front of the book) and Stephen J. Cannell (quoted on the back of the book). Having read the book, I'm venturing that the real author is Stephen J. Cannell. I've read a number of Patterson books of late and don't see him having the "meat" that is present in these pages. On the other hand, he is a consummate imitator of style, so who knows? I'd like to think the work is Cannell's. I've never read his books, but am a fan of his many TV shows. Stephen J. Cannell, for the uninitiated, was the producer king of TV for many years in the 70s, 80s & 90s. He got his start writing for Adam-12 and ended up creating and producing everything from Rockford Files to A-Team to Silk Stalkings to Renegade and 21 Jump Street. Yes, because of him, we have Johnny Depp. Cannell, who sadly passed away of melanoma last fall, was known as a prolific, fast writer. He was able to churn out consistent, strong scripts with lightening speed and never took himself too seriously. In interviews, he was often quoted as saying that the goal is entertainment, not Shakespeare. He never failed to entertain. A terrific accomplishment for a guy with dyslexia who struggled in school but was determined to be a writer. They have noted his passing on the show with reverence and respect. I could only hope that the publication of this series (two more titles forthcoming) is a final bow to the master. In any case, as if this review weren't long enough already, read the book. And watch the show. Fourteen million or so people have determined it is worth their time -- see if it is worth yours!

“Where the Streets Had a Name” by Randa Abdel-Fattah

The big plus for this middle-school fiction novel is that it covers a subject virtually untouched in YA lit … Palestinian teens. To my knowledge, the only other book that covers this topic is Naomi Shihab Nye’s “Habibi.” Being more contemporary (the story is set in 2004) we get a very detailed look at the challenges of living in a troubled part of the world. The story is that of Hayaat, a thirteen year-old girl living in Bethlehem. In an attempt to ease the unhappiness of her sick grandmother, Hayaat tries to make the six mile journey from Bethlehem to Jerusalem with a daredevil best friend. The obstacles that lay in the path of these two young children are significant, and at times, insurmountable. While I knew of the Israeli occupation, I had little sense of the day-to-day struggles of those who live there. The book was a marvelous insight into a tremendously sad situation. The characters are real and much like Hosseini’s “Kite Runner” I was struck by how very normal teens can be, even in extraordinary circumstances. The story is also fairly upbeat and wholesome, given the darker undertones, and this leads to my chief complaint – an inconsistency in the writing. The characters are supposed to be 13, but often come off as younger. Timelines are frequently skewed, with two weeks turning into a month and an accident that supposedly happened when Hayaat was “small” apparently happened after she was nine (if the sequence of events holds true). These are the kinds of things an editor should have caught, and a big slap on the hands to Scholastic for not cleaning them up before publication. That being said, the descriptions in the story are detailed and occasionally rich, without there being much literary poetry brought to the book. If not for the realistic, contemporary setting, one could easily mistake this for any teen lit “take a journey” novel. It is the kind of book that could end up being used as a class novel. It has many of the elements that make it a good choice: appeal to both boys and girls, the aforementioned “journey” (both physical and psychological), and connection to the Geography curriculum in terms of world conflict and displaced peoples. I do think any young person reading the book would need teacher assistance for context. I am a news-hound, but it still had me running for an atlas and Wikipedia. Arabic phrases are sprinkled throughout and are defined in a detailed glossary. While this is helps, clever ways of making meaning clear in text tends to be more popular. That way, readers don’t have to stop the flow of the story to look things up. I enjoyed the book and felt it flowed well. Hopefully, this story will give students the kind of insight it gave me.