Lauren
Baratz-Logsted
ISBN: 978-0547223070
Houghton
Mifflin, 2009
Plot
Summary: Lucius
and Aurora are both new students at a new high school. Both moved to begin new
lives after tragedy. Aurora
because her mother finally lost her battle with cancer and her and her father’s
old home contained too many memories; Lucius because, in an explosion of his
own doing, he blew up his family’s house and blew off his hands. Aurora is a beauty who
catches his eye on the first day of school and smiles at him—unlike the other
jerks that jeer and make fun of him or are scared of his hook hands that he
deliberately chose instead of artificial ones. However, she is quickly snatched
away by the popular crowd. While everyone around him avoids him, Aurora actually seeks him
out and is nice to him. When he convinces his parents (who hold a tight rein on
him now) to let him take part in the school play of Grease by being the stage manager, he and Aurora get closer and
everyone around them finally begin to see he isn’t all that bad and has talents
that should be respected not feared. At the cast party, he can hardly believe
that Aurora
returns the feelings he has for her. However, the jealousy of fellow classmate,
Jessup, who thinks Aurora belongs to him, causes
a school scandal to erupt that threatens Aurora’s
father’s job as teacher and lays the blame on Lucius. With Aurora refusing to talk to him, can Lucius
put things right?
Critical
Evaluation:
This book is billed as a retelling of “Beauty and the Beast”. I’m not really
sure if that applies as the only parts of the tale that apply to this story is Aurora being the beauty
and Lucius, with his hook hands, being the beast. However, asides from some
possible false advertising, the story is a good, albeit short, one. Both
characters go through some tough emotions—Aurora with the death of her mother
and Lucius with the destruction of his family and his own self. I was very glad
to see an explanation of the hooks given in the book. I know some teens may
read the jacket blurb and think “how could anyone want hook hands?” but a
realistic, and moving, explanation is given in the narrative as to why Lucius
picked the way he did. The medical reasons for why one would choose hooks in
this day and age are also explored which makes the far-fetched idea of hook
hands more plausible and realistic. All in all, the book features likeable
characters in a safe and satisfying romantic tale.
Reader's
Annotation:
A modern day retelling of “Beauty and the Beast” in which the beast in question
is a boy who has hooks for hands.
Author
Information:
Baratz-Logsted grew up in Monroe,
Connecticut, where her father
owned a drugstore at which her mother was the pharmacist. She is a graduate of
the University of Connecticut at Storrs,
where she majored in psychology. She also has what she calls her “half-Masters”
in English from Western
Connecticut State
University. Upon
graduation, she began work at Klein’s of Westport,
a now defunct independent bookstore. There she bought and sold books for 11
years. Between 1994 and May 2002—when Red Dress Ink called with an offer to buy
her first novel, The Thin Pink Line—she
worked as a book reviewer, a freelance editor and writer, and a window washer.
Since then she has written a variety of novels for adults and young adults,
including Little Woman & Me, The
Twin’s Daughter and The Education of
Bet. She still lives in Danbury,
with her husband and daughter (Baratz-Logsted, n.d.).
Genre: Realistic, Romance
Curriculum
Ties: (Possible) modernization of fairy tale
Booktalking
Ideas: Read
a scene in which Lucius is ridiculed for his hands.
Reading
Level/Interest Age:
12+
Challenge
Issues: Minor
language and alcohol use
Challenge
Defense: If
this book were challenged, I would make sure the library has a Challenge
Defense File ready for such a situation. Inside the Challenge Defense File,
librarians and the public could find:
·
A
copy of the American Library Association’s Library
Bill of Rights. (Can be found and printed from ALA’s website at http://www.ala.org/advocacy/intfreedom/librarybill)
·
A
copy of the American Library Association’s Freedom to Read Statement (Can be
found and printed from ALA’s
website at http://www.ala.org/offices/oif/statementspols/ftrstatement/freedomreadstatement)
·
A
copy of the library’s own selection policy (my library, the La Vista Public
Library, has a policy but it is not online so I can’t link to it as an
example).
·
A
copy of the library’s citizen’s complaint/reconsideration form (my library, the
La Vista Public Library’s, form is called the City of La Vista Service Request form).
·
Copies
of reviews—both good and bad—from reputable library and publishing services to
justify why a book was selected for inclusion in the collection. These include
not only reviews from such journals as School
Library Journal, VOYA, Horn Book, Publishers Weekly, and Booklist, but also any mention of books
on YALSA lists and other copies of articles about any awards or nominations
such books may have received.
·
Include
a short rationale file for other coworkers so if the librarian in charge of
selecting materials is not available when a challenge occurs the other staff
members have some information to go by (the rational would include such
information as a short summary, what could be challenged, reviews, awards and
nominations, etc.)
·
Include
for staff members a copy of “Strategies and Tips for Dealing with Challenges to
Library Materials,” a document written by the American Library Association.
Make sure that staff reviews this document periodically so they are prepared
and know how to face such situations. (Can be found and printed from ALA’s website at http://www.ala.org/advocacy/banned/challengeslibrarymaterials/copingwithchallenges/strategiestips)
Reason
for Inclusion:
An interesting romance with a twist. Also interestingly depicts why someone in
today’s day and age would voluntarily choose to have hook hands.
References:
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