"Tilt" by Ellen Hopkins

This is likely a very biased review as it is no secret whats-so-ever that I am totally in love with just about everything Ellen Hopkins writes.  But I'm going to review it anyway.

Tilit is the companion to Triangles.  It follows Mikayla (Holly's daughter) and her relationship (and sometimes lack-thereof) with Dylan and the complications brought on by an unplanned pregnancy, Shane (Marissa's son) and his relationship with Alex who is HIV-positive, and Harley (Andrea's daughter) and her desire to have a relationship with just about anyone that will have her. This book takes place during the same time as the events in Triangles.  Told from the perspective of the teens, we get to see why they do the things they do and how they react to their parents actions.  Though you don't need to read one to read the other, I do recommend the two novels one right after the other.  I didn't and my memory of the first book was a little fuzzy.  Something else that I liked about this book was that I could see it being perfect for a mother-daughter book discussion.  I like that we see the adult and the teen perspective and think it would be really interesting to discuss these books with someone (sadly I haven't caused a total Hopkins-craze in my community...yet...).  As always, the poetry in this novel is superb.  Something that caught my eye as I was reading was that each characters section always ended on the same side of the novel and was followed by a poem from the perspective of a (mostly) minor character.  The kind of planning it must have taken to always have the right number of papers per character astounds me.  Hopkins has got to be the most brilliant writer of my generation and I look forward to all of her future work.

Happy Reading! 
-Melly 

"The Mother-Daugher Book Club" by Heather Vogel Frederick

I am excited to say that I have now read the first book in The Mother-Daughter Book Club series!   I am also excited to say that I enjoyed it quite a bit.  The book starts off on a very different note than the following books.  Later in the series, Emma, Jess, Cassidy and Megan are best friends, but they didn’t start out that way.  In the first book, Megan is a member of the “fab four” the queen bees of the school who spend a good amount of their time mocking Emma’s hand-me-downs and Jess’ life growing up on a farm.  Megan is the new girl, having recently moved to Concord from California after the sudden death of her father.  Jess and Emma are the only girls out of the four that are already friends. 

Much to the dismay of the girls, their mothers decide to start a mother-daughter book club which will begin with Little Women.  The club is especially difficult for Jess as her mother is a soap opera actress living in New York City and doesn’t have the opportunity to participate in the club with her daughter.  The club leads to tension between the girls which is escalated when Megan’s friends steal Emma’s journal and reads a private poem aloud (in the presence of Emma’s crush, the subject of the poem).  Of course we know (assuming you’ve read my other review) that the girls resolve their problems and end up becoming friends, but it was interesting to see where the girls started and how their friendship grew.

This was a fun book to read and I recommend it and the rest of the series to young girls.  I also suggest that readers of this series read the book club’s books too (I am anxious to re-read Little Women now that I’ve been reminded of it’s wonderful story!).

Keep up with all of the Mother-Daughter Book Club’s reads!

The Mother-Daughter Book Club: Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

Much Ado About Anne: Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery

Dear Pen Pal: Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster

Pies and Prejudice: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Home for the Holidays (October 2011): A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

Happy Reading!

-Melly