Street Angel

by Jim Rugg and Brian Maruca

~The urban drama/teen comedy/tragedy/action-adventure/sci-fi/political satire/slice-of-life comic with its tongue firmly planted in its cheek.~

The story of 13 year-old Jesse. She's skinny, hungry, dirty and homeless. She's also a master of kung-fu and general ass-kickery, regularly saving her city (and the world) from confused conquistadors, Irish astronauts, a pimped-out Aztec god and satanic demons. Oh yeah... and ninjas. Lots of ninjas. The art is lovely with well-crafted action and detailed urban backdrops. Rugg and Maruca know how to make the most of detail and layout to create comedic timing. Alternately hilarious and darkly poignant, this graphic novel is one of the funniest and most original I've read this year.

Ruby Tuesday

by Jennifer Anne Kogler

~Written by a 23-year-old Princeton graduate as her thesis project, this madcap murder mystery is a rare breakthrough novel that's as hilarious as it is perceptive, and its street-smart depiction of gamblers and groupies and a most unusual family are unforgettable.~

Amen. To whomever wrote this, I thank you and my headache thanks you. I'd really like to give this novel its due while it is still fresh in my mind but, alas, I am not feeling well. Instead I will share a few brief excerpts and encourage others to give it a chance.

"To me, Darlene was like the Santa Ana wind. She blew in about twice a year, made my face contort into strange expressions of discomfort, and then disappeared. In her wake she left the debris she had dressed up in wrapping paper. Worse than a completely absent mother, she came around just often enough that I couldn't forget her."

"Greyhound buses are pipelines used to disperse the criminally insane around the country. There is more senseless muttering per capita on Greyhounds than any other form of transportation. The greater the distance the buses travel, the more likely the people on them are carrying around secrets no mentally sound man or woman could live with."

"There is little worse in this world than a shabbily dressed person at a funeral. It takes someone greatly skilled in the art of bad taste to make black look vulgar."

The cover and title put me off at first. My first reaction was that it would be a pre-teen cutesy book. It is not. In fact, I'll be interested to see how teens respond to it. Ruby Tuesday with its wry humor, insight and intelligence is a step above most YA books I've read lately. Kogler is quite a word-smith. I look forward to more from her.

God and I Broke Up

by Katerina Mazetti


~Sixteen-year-old Linnea is a tall, awkward, miserable outsider until she meets Pia, who is equally tall but much more self-confident. Suddenly, Linnea's life is so much better and she and Pia spend hours talking about everything from God to politics to parents to boys. And then just as suddenly, Pia is gone; a suicide. This first-person narrative looks back on the 120 days of their friendship with irony, humor, and intense sadness. While teens will relate to Linnea's introspective ramblings, the unattractive cover and slightly awkward translation serve to distance readers from a story that could have been emotionally engaging. ~ -SLJ

I have to agree with SLJ. At first I was impressed with the style and choice of words. In fact, I didn't know it was a translation until Mari pointed the fact out to me. Later in the book, unfortunately, the translation becomes clunky and distracts from Linnea's voice. Still, this is a book written with intelligence and maturity. Mazetti does not talk down to her readers. She does not simplify or neatly explain the complex and baffling nature of suicide. While Booklist states that the ending may be frustrating due to the fact that the reason for Pia's suicide is never clearly revealed, it does concede that some very subtle hints are given throughout the story. I don't find this to be a flaw but, instead, a strength. The story is about Linnea's experience. It is not a mystery thriller. It is the story of a person left in the wake of the suicide of a loved one. Unanswered questions, guilt and anger.

The heckling classmates sometimes felt a bit over the top. And the biology teacher seemed to come straight out of Pink Floyd's "The Wall". I was sure that at any moment he would begin screaming, "If you don't eat your meat, you can't have any pudding!" However, there a plenty of times when Mazetti really shines. For example, Chapter 11, The Santa Mask, a funny and painfully poignant description of a growing girl's relationship with her estranged father. Or when describing unrequited love in Chapter 6, A Bike Rack for My Beloved:

"I'm still in love with Markus, of course. He says a few words to me sometimes and turns on that light but, of course, he has no warmer feelings for me than he would for, say, a bike rack. You know, they're good to have around, but you can't tell one from the other..."

Ultimately, God and I Broke Up is a fine little novel that would have been great had it been better translated and would have been popular had it sported a more attractive cover.

It comes in threes

When I worked as a cashier at Kroger in high school I was always fascinated by the people who would come to the checkout with a few odd items. For example a man once brought up a package of 6 "C" batteries, a pair of panty hose and a squeeze bottle of honey. I spent the rest of the shift imagining what the man would be doing that evening with his batteries, hose and honey.

Working the reference desk at the library I sometimes have similar occurances. When a patron asks for a strange assortment of books, my imagination runs wild. Or, sometimes, it's a Herculean effort to keep myself from laughing until they've gone away. Such was the case recently when a young woman approached me with three specific holds requests. I imagined her shopping list to look something like this:

Things to Get at the Library

- The Necromonicon
- The Satanic Bible
- Nick Carter's New CD

Brilliant.