The Dangerous Art of Blending In by Angelo Surmelis

The Dangerous Art of Blending In by Angelo Surmelis - 325 pages

Evan is fighting to survive.  He just wants to get through the days before he can escape his family, his town, and his life.  But it's getting more difficult to keep everything apart.  His mother is getting increasingly bitter and violent towards him.  His friends are putting pressure on him to be more open.  And worst of all, his feelings for his best friend Henry are getting harder to ignore.

This is not a happy book.  The abuse from his mother permeates the entire book.  Even with the somewhat "happy ending" with him getting together with Henry is tempered with what he lost.  The afterword was very interesting as the author reveals that he wrote the book to help himself deal with the abuse experience growing up.  It also gives several hotlines and web addresses for those facing abuse.

The Simple Gift by Steven Herrick

The Simple Gift by Steven Herrick - 188 pages

Billy packs his bag with a set of clothes and his father's alcohol and takes off.  He's leaving his abusive dad and deadend town.  He's going to head west to find a better place.  What he finds is the town of Bendarat where he lives in an old freight train car, reads at the public library all day, and goes to McDonalds to eat the leftovers on the tables at night.  He also finds Old Bill, an old drunk homeless man he decides to take care of, and Caitlin, the girl working at McDonalds that he falls in love with.
This was a great book.  I really enjoyed it.  As with most good verse novels, the poems are short, filled with emotion, and tells the story simply.  I definitely want to read more of his books.

The End: 50 Apocalyptic Visions from Pop Culture That You Should Know by Laura Barcella

The End: 50 Apocalyptic Visions from Pop Culture That You Should Know . . . Before It's Too Late by Laura Barcella - 157 pages

I picked up this book thinking about the Mayan prophecy that the world will end in 2012.  I was thinking it would talk about various theories on how the world was going to end.  Instead it is a look at 50 different books, movies, plays, artwork, and songs that discuss either an apocalypse or the end of the world.  I discovered several movies and books that I'm interested in reading / watching.  The only issue I had was that some of the entries seemed a little dated like maybe they were written several years before some of the others.

The Death Catchers by Jennifer Anne Kogler

The Death Catchers by Jennifer Anne Kogler - 344 pages

Lizzy's life changes drastically the morning of her 14th Halloween.  That morning while reading the newspaper the words rearrange to become the obituary for her best friend.  It is at that time she learns she is a "Death Catcher", one who is given notice of a person's death in the hopes it can be changed.  Not only must she save the lives of those important to her, she also discovers that she is to be the Keeper of King Arthur's last descendant who will one day save the world.
This was a really interesting book.  It is written as a letter for an extra credit assignment for her English class.  It includes many facets of writing (i.e. symbolism, point of view, scene, etc.).  It uses those facets to introduce the important points of the story.  It was also a different take on the King Arthur story with the inclusion several minor characters in the legend.  Overall, I really enjoyed this book and will start recommending it to teens.