Blue Wolf Reviews

Tag: teen

  • The Belly of a Wolf

    The Belly of a Wolf

    To a teenager losing your best friend on your 15th birthday is calamitous but when this lost is the result of a suicide, it is more than disastrous, it is life changing. Cast as the main characters in the ‘Little Red Riding Hood’ kindergarten play, Red and Wolf have been best friends ever since; their life was entwined, that is until without warning Wolf took her own life.

    Based on a true story, award winning author Julianne Negri’s in her book “The Belly of a Wolf” has created a narrative in verse, which sensitively explores the feeling and life of the remaining friend in the aftermath of this devastating suicide.   

    Six months after Wolf’s death, Red returns to a school, which isn’t quite the same as the one she had left; her favourite teacher is no longer there. Finding it difficult to adjust to school and life without Wolf, Red retreats to the music room where she isolates herself from her classmates.

    It is here that she meets a patient and persistent Music Girl, who is keen to befriend a resistant Red.  Meanwhile Red continually reminisces about Wolf and their escapades together, which allows her to keep her friend alive in her mind but it also delays her ability to move on.

    I highly recommend this beautifully written novel, in which the author uses vivid imagery to allow the reader to embrace the characters of Red and Wolf and to share their joys and disappointments. It also perceptively explores Red’s feelings of sadness and guilt, as she questions herself about what she could have done and what she missed; an ideal classroom text for exploring the impact of juvenile suicide.

  • The Year Without a Summer

    The Year Without a Summer

    Environmental issues, immigrations, teenage angst and courage have all come together in this inspiring and timely work from Arlene Mark, The Year Without A Summer, which while written for the teen market is an excellent read for a wide range of ages.

    Jaime Fulton is ecstatic. Snow in the middle of summer due to a volcanic eruption on the other side of the world. As a very keen snowboarder it is almost a dream come true; no summer!

    Claire Montalvo has recently survived a hurricane in her home country of Puerto Ricco and is learning to settle to a new life. In Science class their teacher uses the volcanic eruption of Mt Tambora in 1815, which killed in excess of 50,000 people and bought a year without a summer to the world, as an investigate project, which sees both Claire and Jamie at complete opposite perspectives.

    Claire is a top level student whereas Jamie is struggling to maintain his grades. The disruption to class caused by these two arguing the merits is bought to a head when the teacher advises them to either debate the issue or loose the grades.

    Both teens are struggling with issues in the family which is adding extra stress; Claire’s father has returned to Puerto Ricco to search of missing relatives, while Jamie’s brother has returned home after serving in Afghanistan injured and mentally scared, which just adds another level to what is beginning to move on past the conflicting ideas and become a friendship.

    Both Claire and Jamie begin to understand that what has happened in the past and more recently, has a wider effect on the environment and realise that the way forward is to recruit their school mates, use the resources available and begin to empower their community by taking a stand on Climate Change.

    The Year Without A Summer is a well-crafted, well balanced story, combining with real skill the many issues facing the young people of today, the delicate balance of teen friendship and how, by sharing what is going on in their own lives, somehow the burden is lighter.

    A very timely book aimed at the market that can, and will, and should, be able to make serious changes to the world in which they live on an environmental basis.

  • The Carbon-Neutral Adventures of the Indefatigable EnviroTeens

    The Carbon-Neutral Adventures of the Indefatigable EnviroTeens

    The Carbon Neutral Adventures of the Indefatigable EnviroTeens by First Dog on the Moon is a Very Important Book (VIB) and one YOU should go out and buy immediately, especially if you are a teen or tween as the contents are more than super important for you to read and understand.

    Why? Because it is all about Climate Change, environmental abuse and how the world is in such an environmental mess something needs to be done and it seems grown-ups don’t seem to be able to do anything about this terrible situation.

    Therefore, a group of friends Binky aka the Monotreme, Worried Norman, once bitten by a radioactive croissant and now Pastry Person and Letitia, an occasionally bossy science wombat and genius inventor, are about to get pretty angry and take on the Single-use Plastic Brendan, who it seems had formed a dastardly plan to destroy all the worlds turtles, by luring them to the plastic island made out of plastic garbage and then turn them into bling and things.

    Oh yes, there is also a chicken , Nurse Barnevelder – chicken of all trades who uses her specialities to help the EnviroTeens  as they battle climate change and single use plastics.

    Now seriously, this is indeed a VIB as it focuses on two very real issues that of Climate Change and the devastation caused to sea creatures in the oceans of the world, as well as to the human population, by single use plastics of any sort. Young people world-wide are taking up the challenge to address this issue of Global Warming, seriously concerned for their future and that of the Planet.

    You, unlike your forebears, are aware of what the Climate Scientists are saying and have been saying for almost more than fifty years, staging protests, talking about the reality of the world in which you live and will inherit and demanding that the governments of the world take notice and begin to address Climate Change now!

    First Dog on the Moon, the first, and only, and immensely popular, one and only marsupial Walkley award winning cartoonist, which is a pretty big deal, had become so overwhelmed with the fight against environmental destruction, and the apparent lack of support from the politicians, has created a graphic novel to help spread the word with a portion of the publishers’ profits donated to School Strike 4 Climate Australia.

    So, move over Craig Reucassel, because the EnviroTeens are here to help you spread the word about plastic, the environment and how to help “Save the world”.

    What can you do? Go out. Buy the book. It’s a graphic novel so it great for everyone. Actually, give one to all of your friends for Christmas as well. Talk to your parents, become active in your school.  And as the EnviroTeens, three teenagers and one chicken, set out to save the whole world, find out how you can help in your home and at your school.

    Fun, funky, hilarious and some seriously good cartoon work combine to help start or increase the word about the world in which we all live now and what the future holds, should the issue of Climate Change not be addressed in the very near future.

  • Only Mostly Devastated

    Only Mostly Devastated

    Only Mostly Devastated from Sophie Gonzales is an absolutely fun read which so very well portrays the agonies of growing up, coming out and fitting in. A modern take of the much-loved Grease, Only Mostly Devastated is a definite must read for teens and their parents.

    The story line is one familiar to all; summer love, the best kind, especially when you are a teen testing the waters of love and discovering the depths of love, angst and passion that somehow seems to fit perfectly within the framework of long, hot, endless days of summer.

    Ollie and Will have a summer ‘fling’ while he and his family are at the Lake in North Carolina, helping out Aunt Linda as she has Cancer and could use a little help with her young children over the summer break. Which is all beyond wonderful, until Ollie has to return home and Will refuses to answer any of Ollie’s texts. Rejection, devastation hit hard.

    But worse is to follow as his parents have decided to move permanently to North Carolina because Aunt Linda seems to be getting worse. Ollie’s life as he used to know it is crumbling with the sheer enormity of changing schools, making new friends and having to drop being the bassist in his band.

    Written with a quirky, funny and very wry look at growing up, Only Mostly Devastated deals with so many issues in a manner that is both serious and yet light-hearted, especially when Ollie discovers Will, the very love of his life, is not the laid back gay guy of summer love at all, but a larger than life, basketball playing, class clown at his new high school!

    Add a group of girls also trying to find their place in the world of emotions, challenges and friendship, a family in crisis, as well as learning to fit in and you have an immensely enjoyable, very refreshing take on the very real issues faced in the world of growing up.

    Only Mostly Devastated is a terrific read which will, like the iconic Grease, become a favourite, with a gentle message built in, and is a story line which will return full of fond memories, time and time again.

  • Love, Sex, and No Regrets for Today’s Teens

    Love, Sex, and No Regrets for Today’s Teens

    The foreword in this book has been written by Steve Biddulph, one of the most highly regarded experts on the raising of children. He is enthusiastic in his praise of the contents and says, “The problem we have in the world today is not that there is too much sex in our faces everywhere but that it’s not really sex at all, it’s just – I don’t know – lost people getting more lost . Sad and empty people humping and pumping….” What Elizabeth Clark has done here is to clinically set out how to show girls (and boys) how to enjoy the whole experience of meeting the opposite sex, getting to know them, then deciding what your boundaries will be, and when is the right time to step over them.

     The first consideration for girls is to become confident young ladies who have strong opinions about their bodies and their worth. They need to have thought about being a happy and healthy member of their family, and to learn to laugh. Prior to meeting someone, being confident and well adjusted, will help the person to make decisions more easily when it comes to relationships. Because teenage years are associated with lack of confidence and uncertainty, now is the perfect time to plan how your first sexual experience can be pre- planned so there is no lack of direction in the heat of the moment!

     The author considers this planning to be similar to a baseball game, so that before the person gets to first base, all the thinking and prioritizing has happened. The following chapters refer to   developing relationships teens will have, and how to manage them effectively and happily. To be able to express your feelings easily, and discuss with a partner what you want to do, is a great step.

     Most teenagers today have seen porn on their computers. “This is a problem because porn sexuality is nothing like good sexuality.” Porn promotes the ideas that anyone will do as a sex partner, and that sex will be instantaneous when you meet someone. There is no emotional connection, no eye contact and no loving words. So many young men have had this education as their only guide, as have young girls who then accept and expect nothing more, if they have not been taught the joy and expectations of a loving and mutual association.

     There is an amazingly powerful message in this book for all teens and one that needs reading and discussing with families and friends.

  • Girl v’s Boy Band – The Right Track

    Girl v’s Boy Band – The Right Track

    When Lark’s Mum signs up what she considers to be  the next big pop success , the boy band Abby Road, Lark is horrified to find out that not only is she expected to be the cheer squad at the airport, the boys in the band are staying at her place. She is not happy, not happy at all.

    Although she totally understands how hard it is for her Mum to make a success of her record label, she is still finding it hard to fit in to her new school and it is only her friend Mimi that makes the difference.

    She finds that by playing her music, writing her songs about being homesick for her previous life in Nashville, she is able to relax and feel good about the changes in her life. Mimi is a mad keen, talented filmmaker and wants to record everything Lark writes and sings so she can practice her skills. Trouble is that Lark is so shy, painfully so, that she has forbidden Mimi to put any of the footage up on U-tube.

    But when the three boys, Max, Ollie and Aiden erupt into her life suddenly everything changes. Not only is she the not only teen in the house, she somehow seems to have gained three, large, noisy, good looking, musically talented brothers.  Life as she once knew it was no longer!

    So after a concert to end all concerts at school, Lark discovers Mimi has somehow slipped up and failed to retrieve a clip from U-tube and more people than her Mum have seen it. She has to make a decision, to take it down or leave it ……………

    Harmony Jones has taken all the issues that young teens face in their everyday life and woven them into a warm, funny, quirky tale about change, growing up, overcoming your fears and simply learning to fit in.

    Based about music, school, loneliness and friendship, as well as learning to stand up for yourself, this is the first book in a series aimed directly at the Tween market, but also makes a great read for any Teen who enjoys a great story.

    Look out for the next book to discover which decision Lark made and just what comes next!

     

  • Wolfblood: Call of the Wild

    Wolfblood: Call of the Wild

    Following on from Pull of the Moon, Maddie and Rhydian’s secret is out, which has placed Shannon and Tom in the same danger as them and has caused some serious issues of trust amongst the friends.

    Rhydian’s mother Ceri has not given up on enticing him back into the wild and this is beginning to become a real problem, as Rhydian has been adopted into Maddie’s pack, Maddie’s family and does not want to go back to a life he left long ago.

    As the wild pack, ruled by Ceri, has come to town and are not about to leave until they get what they came for, suddenly there are far more incidents happening , like a delivery of meat missing from the butchers shop, and other things, which is beginning to make it a lot harder for Maddie and Rhydian’s family to keep their secret hidden as their senses are always on full alert.

    To add to their problems, Rhydian has met Jana, a member of the wild pack, who has been ousted by her father. As he had met her on his one visit back to the wild pack, she comes to him in order to try and learn to behave like a human, but things begin to get complicated when it would appear that she, Jana, is to become the leader of the wild pack, something she is none too happy about.

    Meanwhile there is more than just trouble heading their way when it is discovered by chance that there are wolf hunters in the area and they have somehow become aware that there is a pack around.

    But there is also a scientist who has carried out testing on some bones found in the area who returns determined to prove some of the people are Wolfblood’s  which simply cannot be allowed to happen.

    Who can they trust and how much information these people have about Maddie’s family and friends is unknown and so after much serious discussion they decide to take drastic measures in order to be able to remain in their home.

    Once again Robert Rigby has produced a fantastic story filled with adventure that will appeal to a wide range of young readers and keep then intrigued until the final word of this second story in the series.

  • Wolfblood: Pull of the Moon

    Wolfblood: Pull of the Moon

    Maddie Smith has a secret that is so secret that if it gets out it will change her life forever.  Her family are a family of Wolfbloods which, as she is still young and has not changed over yet, causes her some considerable trouble.

    The issue is that every full moon her family change into wolves and she has, in order to keep them safe, lock them all in the cellar until the danger has passed. It is a guardianship that is somewhat different!

    As she is a Wolfblood, although does not have the same characteristics yet, other than heightened senses, she can still sense if another Wolfblood is in the area, which could endanger her entire family.  It would appear that there is another one somewhere in the school she attends.  But who is it.

    Rhydian is a new kid at school and lives with his foster family; He also has a secret that must be kept. He just happens to be in the same class and Maddie soon realises he is the one she can sense. They form a friendship based on the fact that their secret is theirs and theirs alone.

    They have to carry on like normal kids, hang out with their friends just like normal teenagers, all the while dodging the many trigger points that may if allowed, encourage them to follow their Wolfblood instincts.

    To further complicate matters, Rhydian’s birth mother, Ceri, a wild Wolfblood, decides to make herself known to him, causing even more problems, as she is trying to entice him into the wild in order to be wild and free, to run with the pack, showing him through a different dimension what life could be like, if only he would join her and the pack.

    Problems start when their friends Tom and Shannon decide to start investigating just why farm animals have been mysteriously disappearing in the area over the past few months. Shannon is a photographer who is sure she has seen what appear to be wolves in the area and is determined to find out what is going on and by doing so, discovers Maddie and Rhydian’s secret.

    What happens next is something none of them ever expected, which plunges not just Tom and Shannon into mortal danger but also Maddie, her family and Rhydian.

    As this is the first book in the series which has gone on to become a television series on the BBC, Robert Rigby does an excellent job of setting the scene for what is to come next.

     

     

  • What a Way to Go

    What a Way to Go

    In 1988 Harper Richardson is twelve years old. Her Mum and Dad are divorced and she lives with her Mum. This is her story about how it feels to go back home with Dad every week and how regular friends change. Harper has to cope with being an only child with a working Mum, and puberty. This is her story and feelings about what goes on in her life.

     The story begins with Harper really wanting her Mum and Dad to get back together again but once she realises that is not going to happen, she plots to help her Mum find a new man.

     Harper and her Mum want to stay in the little house they have found as having moved house several times, Harper is desperate to stay put for a while. The problem is because Harper’s Mum is single, she isn’t allowed to have a mortgage and Harper’s Dad, while not unsympathetic, is as short of cash as the rest of the family, so no extra help there. Dad has joined a group called “The Lone Rangers”, which Harper describes as, “the kids are chucked together to have fun, while the adults get bitter about their exes.”

     In a very sincere twelve year old way, Harper describes situations which are quite humorous, but she sees as normal behaviour. Her Dad bulk buys food, with a low shelf life and is still eating baked beans a year after the use by date. “It’s because of the war”, Harper confides to her friend.

     There are so many challenges in this young girl’s life that it is amazing that she keeps so positive. Maybe it’s the scheming and plotting she does. For example, she places an ad in the lonely hearts column, for a man to meet her Mum. She and her friend intercept the man and explain that they want to check him out first if that’s OK?

     Being nearly thirteen is hard enough for a girl, but then puberty hits and her emotions are all over the place. Her Mum helps, but as they’ve taken in a boarder who is a friend of Harper’s Mum, things get busy. Then Kit, the boarder, discovers he has advanced lung cancer and declares he wants a home death. He brings home his coffin, so he can adjust to the idea.

     There is a great deal of humour, pathos and sadness in this story, but it reflects the way people cope under extreme pressure, and mostly they do it very well. As for Harper, things take a positive turn and her Mum marries at the last moment, bringing with it a positive change to their fortunes.

     This is a clever and authentic tale of one girl’s battle to understand the world of adults and their behaviour quickly, so that she may be able to make a difference.

  • Night Owls

    Night Owls

    Beatrix is a budding artist who misses the train and has to take the ‘all-nighter’ known as the ‘owl bus’ home, finally accepting that as she was on a curfew and should not have been out, she was in trouble, no matter what the excuse! The fact that she was trying desperately to get into a museum-sponsored scholarship contest is not going to wash with her Mum!

    She meets jack on board the ‘owl bus’, a hot boy about her age. Jack is interesting as he is dressed all in black, a bit like a burglar. As she talks with him she realises Jack comes across in her imagination as a ‘vegetarian Buddhist jewel thief’! Go figure!

    He is nothing like she imagines him to be but an infamous graffiti artist, well known for his outrageous designs; single words done in gold lettering.

    As the summer moves along, she and Jack meet occasionally but she finds the summer is not turning out as she wants it to. Her pathway into the scholarship she so desperately wants seems to be blocked. She needs to get an acceptance to the hospitals “Willed Body’ program so she can draw the anatomical components of the human body; in her mind it’s a bit like following in da Vinci’s footsteps as she is sure this is her pathway to success.

    She talks with jack about the programme and the fact that it seems almost impossible to get accepted. Suddenly she get told that she has been accepted but is a little bit sceptical about this as she believes that he may have had something to do with this as it all seems a bit too co-incidental!

    Beatrix and Jack begin to see a bit more of each other and it becomes clear to Beatrix anyway, that there is another side to Jack, another issue or maybe a secret, but what could that be.

    Secrets hidden will surface but what effect will this have on the young couple and their families. What effect will this have on whether Beatrix manages to win the all-important scholarship?

    Set in San Francisco this is a contemporary tale of young love and how it can surmount the odds to heal the pain and resolve issues of the past.

    A great read for both teens and young adults.