Wings

Wings

Aprilynne Pike; HarperTeen 2009

Summary:    Laurel was mesmerized, staring at the pale things with wide eyes. They were terrifyingly beautiful—too beautiful for words.

Laurel turned to the mirror again, her eyes on the hovering petals that floated beside her head. They looked almost like wings.

In this extraordinary tale of magic and intrigue, romance and danger, everything you thought you knew about faeries will be changed forever.

My Review: This is a very different take on faeries. I’ve always imagine faeries with wings, glitter, and being rather small, but the faeries in this book are highly evolved plants. Just a tad bit different right?

Laurel at the age fifteen goes through a great deal of change. She was mostly homeschooled throughout her life and then her adoptive parents decide that she needs to attend public school. She is vegan and goes on a sprite-only diet. She is beautiful, with willowy looks and has a thing for the woods and sunlight.   She discovers how truly different she is from her classmates when she discovers a growth on her back the blooms into wing-like petals.


I find this take on faeries to be fascinating. Even though at first I thought it was super weird that she was part flower. But then more I read the more I got into the idea of it.


What I liked the most about this book is that Laurel is a great noteworthy character. She handles the changes she goes through very weel. She loves her adopted parents and her new friend David. She is careful with her emotions and doesn’t blame anyone for her issues. Laurel discovers who her true parentage is and recognizes danger for her family. All around she just kicks trash!


I love fantasy and I recommend it to those who like a bit of fantasy in their reading.




Watch Out for: Violence, brief language, passionate kisses, trolls, fairies, guns, and the use of morphine. 

Bird

Bird

By Angela Johnson; Dial Books 2004

Summary:

Bird, a thirteen-year-old girl with a mission, has run away in pursuit of her stepfather. She's sure she'll be able to convince him to return home—to fill the hole he left in their family. And while she hides near his sister's farmhouse, she becomes entwined in the lives of three people who also have holes to fill: Ethan, whose heart troubles have kept him too sheltered from kids his own age; Jay, whose brother has died unexpectedly; and Mrs. Pritchard, whose house has been too empty since her husband was moved to a nursing home. 

Through the unique voices of the three kids, an eloquent, affecting story unfolds—the story of how one individual's warmth and kindness can heal so many hurts. Bird will leave you thoroughly uplifted.

My Review: Bird is a heartwarming story of family and friends. Bird is set on finding her father Cecil and bringing him back home. She misses her bedroom, her friends, and her mother, but most of all she misses the feeling of family. This part made me sympathetic to Bird, because all of us all have this sense of belonging and being apart of something.  I would label this book as a pre-teen book because it’s boarder line from Children’s Literature to Young Adult.  It's a short read, but so fulfilling at the same time!

Watch Out for:  Runaway’s, death, medical conditions, and feelings of loss.