Love YA Month - Dear 16 year old Cathy Brett

The wonderful people over at Headline have decided to celebrate everything YA during the month of May. While Headline publish some fantastic YA novels themselves, they also want to promote the YA genre in general – showcasing how good it is!

On Facebook, you can check out the ‘Which Book Next?’ page, which gives some fantastic ideas of what YA book to pick up next, with recommendations from bloggers like myself.

https://www.facebook.com/WhichBookNext?ref=hl 

You can also find book suggestions on the ‘Which Book Next?’ Pinterest board.  

http://pinterest.com/whichbooknext/boards/

In order to celebrate Love YA month, I have a wonderful letter from author Cathy Brett to her 16 year old self. Cathy is the author of books such as Scarlett Dedd and Ember Fury and her newest book Everything is Fine is out now!

Dear 16 year-old Cathy,

(Before we get to the juicy stuff, I’d just like to say, SIT UP STRAIGHT or you’ll regret it! If you continue to slouch like that then one day, in 2013, after decades of hunching over drawing boards, computer screens and writing desks, you will get a trapped nerve in your neck which will make you feel like a very old lady and it’ll muck up your illustration and publishing deadlines for MONTHS. Get hooked on Yoga or Pilates or something, right NOW!)

Rant over. Time for the good stuff. Are you listening? OK.

Don’t worry about why ***** dumped you for someone else. He just did. It’s OK to cry a bit but then move on, because I promise you it wasn’t because you wouldn’t ‘put out’ or because she would. And even if it was, then he’s obviously more concerned about what his mates think than about upsetting you, so basically he’s a pig, you could do loads better and he doesn’t deserve you. There are much better boyfriends just around the corner.

Learn to embrace your shyness. It’s not a fatal disease and you don’t need to cure it. You are not a pathetic failure. The world needs quiet, thoughtful, creative, sensitive people and, really, who wants to be the centre of attention anyway? Girls who crave attention end up getting drunk and being photographed with their knickers showing! Or worse! (Just remember those embarrassing little incidents and store them away to write about later.)

Finally, it might seem like passing your exams is the most important thing in the known universe, but don’t stress it (easy to say, I know, but it’s true). Nobody will really care about what ‘O’ Levels you get. Honest. And don’t worry too much about what Mum and Dad think either. It’s your life. The REALLY important thing is to listen to advice (remembering that you don’t have to follow it) then trust your instinct and grab every opportunity that comes along. Work hard, be kind and respectful of others and you will find the right path eventually, even if it means making a few wrong turns on the way.

Oh, and next summer, don’t accept that lift home in *****’s mini. The drug squad will be prowling the area and you’ll spend the evening at the police station (even though you’re innocent) and Mum will have a total coronary. You have been warned.

Yours sincerely,

Middle-aged Cathy  

xxx

P.S. Don’t assume that bottle of factor 6 sunscreen is enough protection. Duh, look at your pale blue skin, Cathy! You need factor 20+, you nitwit! 

If you could write a letter to your 16 year old self, what would it say?? I know mine would tell me to live life to the fullest and experience everything possible as well as to take risks!! 

Film Review: Faster

About the film

Faster is an action film that was released in 2010. The film has a run time of 98 minutes and a rating of 15 due to language and violence.

Plot

A man firstly only known as Driver, is just getting out of prison after ten long years. On his release, he heads out to get himself a car and some cash, ready for what is about to come. Years ago, Driver and his brother were double crossed after robbing a bank, resulting in his brother’s death. Now a free man, Driver is hell bent on revenge and be begins to track down every single person who was involved in his brother’s murder. However, with a cop and a hit man on his back, there is the chance he may not get the revenge he seeks.

What I thought

Even though Dwayne Johnson was laughed at years ago for attempting to make to move from wrestling to films, he has had a pretty good career so far. Yes, there have been some terrible films like The Game Plan etc., and he does do better in action films. However, I do like near enough everything that Johnson is in. When browsing on Amazon recently I came across Faster and at only £3, I had to have it.

Faster has a fantastic beginning. With Driver, played by Johnson, just getting out of prison, you wonder what the hell he did. There were questions in my mind as to whether or not he would be the good or bad guy. It doesn’t take long for the action to get going though and I soon realised that this guy was definitely out to get revenge for something or other. Johnson is great in action films as I said before. He has that determination behind him, the body to pull off being a tough guy and he also looks really mean a lot of the time. While I don’t think this is the best role Johnson has ever been in, he was extremely convincing as Driver and pretty scary at the same time.

Starring opposite Johnson is Billy Bob Thornton who plays Detective Slade Humphries. Not too much is known about Humphries to begin with, apart from that he comes across as a loser cop, someone not doing too well in his career. For the whole film, I was sat thinking there has to be more to this guy than meets the eye and slowly, the film reveals information about his home life and why he is on this particular case. Billy Bob Thornton was ok but only that for me. He was a good character, especially as the complete opposite of Driver but I wanted more from him.

What I wasn’t expecting from this film was some serious eye candy. Oliver Jackson-Cohen plays the hit man known as Killer. As soon as he came on the screen, the words ‘yummy’ left my mouth. My fiancé thought it was quite funny. No one knows why Killer is after Driver, only that he has his name because he never misses and is fast as hell. Oliver Jackson-Cohen isn’t only nice to look at though. He has this whole Jake Gyllenhaal/ Ryan Gosling thing going on and is the suave and sophisticated kind of hit man… if there is such a thing. He was also mysterious which I liked about him.

The plot was pretty basic, if I’m honest, even though it tried to have more mystery than was really there. The basic plot is that Driver wants revenge for his brother’s death which leads him to driving all over the place killing everyone on his list. The ways in which he kills them aren’t even that exciting or different either. Somehow though, I thoroughly enjoyed this film. Everything happens pretty quickly, with Driver going from one target to the next. For a long time though, there is the mystery of what actually happened and why he wants the revenge so badly which I think is what keeps this film going. I really enjoyed how everything turned out, especially as all of the questions were answered well. There is plenty of character development but only for Driver but I didn’t mind that. I didn’t really care about the other characters anyway.

Faster is a good action film but you do need to pay attention while watching it. 

Blame My Brain: The Amazing Teenage Brain Revealed by Nicola Morgan

About the Book

Blame My Brain: The Amazing Teenage Brain Revealed is a non-fiction book by Nicola Morgan. It was first published in 2005 but has been repackaged and updated by Walker Books. Thanks to the publisher for providing me with a copy for review.

Synopsis

Contrary to popular (parental) opinion, teenagers are not the lazy, unpleasant louts they occasionally appear to be. During the teenage years the brain is undergoing its most radical and fundamental change since the age of two. Nicola Morgan's carefully researched, accessible and humorous examination of the ups and downs of the teenage brain has chapters dealing with powerful emotions, the need for more sleep, the urge to take risks, the difference between genders and the reasons behind addiction or depression. The revised edition of this classic book contains important new research, including information on mirror neurons and their effect on the teenage brain.

What I thought

I’m not usually one for reading non-fiction but this book sounded far too interesting to pass up. Having already been a teenager myself, and probably having my own misconceptions, I wanted to know the deal behind how teenagers think and act.

Nicola Morgan introduces different aspects of the brain with both a scientific and humorous approach. Although she definitely does not claim to be a scientist of any kind, Morgan explains how brains work in general and the different parts/ what bits do what. I can’t say that I have ever really known any of this information before and I really did find it very interesting to learn.

What I love about this book, is that it appeals to both adults and teenagers. Parents can get a bit of insight into how their children think while teenagers themselves can pick up some great advice as well as learning more about why they do certain things. Morgan introduces chapters in a fun and informative way, by giving a different situation or scenario which reveals a different trait of the teenage brain. Then, Morgan goes on to explain the reasons for certain actions and then at the end of each chapter, there are fun little quizzes which make the book a whole lot more fun.

Not only is the content fun but it is also extremely interesting. There are chapters which concentrate on subjects such as sleeping in really late to depression and risk taking. All chapters tackle something which can be seen as ‘typical’ teenage behaviour and things which can sometimes be blamed on hormones or just because someone is a teenager. I really enjoyed finding out more about why some teens sleep in late and why some are more likely to take big risks than others. This book really is a fantastic insight into the mind of a teenager and it made me think differently about teenage actions.

Even if you’re not usually into non-fiction, I think everyone can benefit from reading this book. I’m no longer a teenager nor do I have any myself but I found this book both entertaining and extremely informative. 

Guest Post: Nicola Morgan's Blame My Brain

I am absolutely delighted to have Nicola Morgan on the blog today. Nicola’s book on the teenage brain, Blame My Brain – The Amazing Teenage Brain Revealed, has been popular and praised ever since first publication in 2005. It’s been translated into several languages and reprinted many times. Now there’s a revised edition, updated with new research and with a new cover. Nicola is an award-winning teenage novelist as well as a non-fiction writer for all ages, and she’s also been commissioned to write CHILL – The Teenage Guide to Stress.

I thought I’d tell you how I came to write Blame My Brain, and how it changed my life.

Many years ago, I became interested in the brain when I was training to teach people with dyslexia. One aspect of that was looking at any differences there might be in the brains of those who find reading or writing difficult. That triggered a fascination in brains in general. Personally, I don’t know how anyone can not be interested in the brain!

So, from then on, I spent a lot of time reading about the brain and keeping up with new research, not through newspaper articles (because those are often inaccurate) but through the publications of the scientists doing the research. I subscribed to Scientific American Mind and just continued to learn and understand.

Meanwhile, I fulfilled my long-term ambition of becoming a novelist. In 2003, my main publisher, Walker Books, asked if I’d be interested in doing some non-fiction. “Sure,” I said. “What would you like me to write about?”

“What are you passionate about?” asked my editor. “We like our non-fiction to be written by writers passionate about the subject.”

Well, by chance I’d just read new research about the teenage brain – the seminal research by Jay Giedd at the National Institute of Mental Health (in the US). A link to one of his first interviews is here. This was really new; no one was talking about it in the public domain. I was fascinated.

I told my editor that I’d love to write about it. She was interested and asked for a synopsis of how I’d do it, and a few pages so she could see the voice I’d use. I found the voice easy – it’s just me, talking! And it was immediately commissioned.

Writing Blame My Brain has changed my life, giving me an unusual topic to write and speak about, a topic which people really want to know about. From the start, it had lovely reviews, including from the medical profession – one of the first reviews was in the BMJ! I am lucky that it remained unusual (possibly unique) in its approach of talking directly to teenagers, reassuring, explaining, inspiring, never patronizing, just sharing understanding. Because there aren’t many people who do this, (and no children’s writers, I think) I get invited all around the UK and even further (Prague, Brunei and Malaysia this year!) to talk about it. I think people recognize that I’m fascinated by adolescence, that I have a positive and sympathetic outlook about it, and that I utterly refuse to patronize the audience.

My message is simple. Adolescence is temporary, natural, necessary and has a very positive outcome: a fully independent adult, able to make decisions. It’s just that the journey towards that can be very tough – for teenagers and for their significant adults. Blame My Brain aims to help.

I’m thrilled that Blame My Brain now has a great new cover and an ebook version. And I’d like to thank all the parents, teachers, social workers and adolescent mental health professionals who have been so hugely supportive and used this book so widely. And teenagers for letting me into their minds!

There’s a fun Blame My Brain competition running on Nicola’s blog at the moment. Opportunities for schools and individuals of any age to win books, have their questions answered and learn about the fascinating thing that is the teenage brain!

Stop by the blog later on today for a review of Blame My Brain! 

Guest post: Richard Kurti on “How the practicalities of screenwriting influenced Monkey Wars…”

Earlier on today, I posted the review for the fabulous Monkey Wars by Richard Kurti (published by Walker). Richard has a background in screen writing for companies such as Warner Bros and Universal. As I also write film reviews and took a Media course a few years back, I am personally interested in the processes of film and television. Today, Richard talks about how he used his experiences in screen writing to write his novel. 

Screenplays are written within very tight parameters: one page equals one minute of screen time, and the contract sets out the exact length of the commissioned show.

So a one hour TV drama on a commercial network will be 48 pages long, allowing for commercial breaks and some cutting in the edit. 

You can’t even cheat by fiddling with the formatting of the document, as everything has to be written in a standard template:

(When I wrote for Warner Bros, there was a 20 page section of the contract that dealt exclusively with how the pages should be laid out!)

The problem is, the cost of putting TV drama on screen is about a million pounds an hour, and if it’s a movie add a few noughts… which means lots of control from management!

That’s why so much planning goes into screenplays…

There are ‘concept documents’ where the show is described in two paragraphs; then ‘outline stages’ where the whole story is told in a few pages, then ‘scene by scene beat sheets’ where every scene is described.  Each of these stages can go to many drafts.

Finally, once all these have been approved by the various layers of producers and execs, you’ll be allowed to go and write the script!

You often hear screenwriters complain about all these stages, but I found the discipline invaluable when it came to writing Monkey Wars.  As a first novel, I knew I’d have to write at least three drafts entirely on spec before it would be in good enough shape to send out, which meant getting up an hour earlier every day for three years.

The only way to pull this off without getting lost or forgetting which character had done what, was to plan every story beat in advance, then use this document as the bible. 

It took quite a few months to finish that document, but once done, it meant that I could really focus on the specific ‘story beat of the day’.  At any point, I could throw myself into the current page without having to worry about how it would all fit together, because I trusted the bible.

Planning isn’t the most exciting bit of writing, but I honestly think if I’d tried to write a long novel without having thrashed out the structure in advance, I would have become hopelessly and utterly lost. 

And once you’re lost, giving up becomes a very enticing prospect!

Thank you so much for a fascinating post Richard. Monkey Wars is available to buy now!

Monkey Wars by Richard Kurti

About the book

Monkey Wars is a young adult book by Richard Kurti. The book was published by Walker Books on 2^nd May and it is 400 pages long. Thanks to the publisher for providing me with an ARC for review.

Plot Synopsis

Rhesus monkeys have lived within the walls of the cemetery in Calcutta for a long time. They enjoy the shade of the trees and the warm water of the pools. Suddenly, out of nowhere though, the Langur monkey troop bombard the cemetery and attack. After a brual massacre, the Rhesus monkeys are forced out of their own home, left to wander the dangerous streets to find somewhere new to live.

In his new home, Langur monkey Mico knows something is not right. He questions how his troop came to live in the cemetery and what really happened on the day of the attack. His curiosity is seen as a good thing to one monkey high up in the military but Mico also knows it can cause him a whole lot of trouble. While attempting to figure out the truth and to gain peace, Mico realises that he may not even be on the right side.

What I thought

A book like Monkey Wars is not something I would pick up myself. It was only due to the enthusiasm of a publicist that I decided to give it a go.

Monkey Wars is told through the perspectives of Papina, a Rhesus monkey and Mico, a Langur monkey. The two monkeys cross paths throughout the book as Mico begins to question the morals of his own troops. I really enjoyed the interactions between Papina and Mico. The strange friendship that builds between them helps to show why the monkeys are at war and the reasons behind certain actions. While Papina puts a lot of blame on to the Langur monkeys, Mico attempts to tell her that not all monkeys are the same and he shouldn’t be treated like the rest of his troop.

The most interesting aspect of this book for me was the politics of monkey troops. Each kind of monkey is completely different to the next, acting in different ways and wanting different things. The Langur and Rhesus monkeys are as different as you could probably get. While the Rhesus monkeys are quite laid back and generally want a happy life, the Langur monkeys are brutal, aggressive and want to dominate. As soon as the Langur monkeys attack and take over the cemetery, it becomes clear that they want to rule everything and be at the top of the food chain. They want everything to go their own way and will not let others stand in their way.

A lot of time is spent following the Langur monkey troop in this book. Mico starts off as a young monkey with no responsibility but as he grows older, he becomes a part of the army like establishment. He begins to learn what it means to be a Langur monkey and what is expected of him and everyone else, even if he doesn’t agree with what he is told. Mico was a wonderful character because although he had his own ideas and thoughts, he was born into a troop that didn’t really allow that sort of thing. Mico has to rely on his intelligence and cunning to get what he wanted and to do what he believed was the right thing, which is something he learns from Deputy Tyrell, a monkey who uses the same things to get his own way.

The plot follows the Langur monkeys and their need to dominate everything around them. Monkey Wars is exactly about what the title would suggest but it is also much more. While the war between the Langur and Rhesus monkeys is right at the forefront of this book, Richard Kurti takes the time to give each monkey a personality, which makes them extremely human-like. He also gives a view of how humans view the monkeys and how the different troops have different places in the lives of humans. The mixture of monkey life and human life (although this part isn’t used too much) was very interesting and it was great to see views from both sides.

Overall, Monkey Wars is a fantastic read that I was not expecting to like quite as much. The plot is quite complex at times, interesting and extremely exciting.

The Fine Art of Truth or Dare by Melissa Jensen

About the book

The Fine Art of Truth or Dare is a young adult book by Melissa Jensen. It was published by Speak on 16^th February 2012 and the book is 380 pages long.

Plot Synopsis

At the elite Willing School, Ella is pretty much invisible but she doesn’t mind at all. Best friends Frankie and Sadie keep her more than occupied and she wouldn’t want to be friends with anyone else. She also has a love of art and the unappreciated 19th-century painter Edward Willing. Still though, Ella wants what most other girls at school do – Alex Bainbridge. While her friends think he is shallow and self-centred, Ella believes there is more to him than that.

Ella’s ability to nearly fail at French sees Alex become her tutor, something which she cannot believe is happening. During their sessions, Alex proves that he isn’t who everyone thinks he is. Ella has a shot at getting what she always wanted but is she ready to pay the price?

What I thought

The Fine Art of Truth or Dare is a book I have had on my wishlist for quite some time now (along with god knows how many others) and I recently had a time of purchasing at random.

Melissa Jensen tells the story of Ella, a teenager who is an outcast at school. She only has two friends, has a strange obsession with a dead painter and has large scarring on her body due to an accident as a child. I absolutely loved Ella’s friendships with Frankie and Sadie and how close the three of them were. The title of the book comes from the three of them playing Truth or Dare every time they go out to eat together, which is quite often. The game was a fun way of getting to know each of the characters more, especially as truth was used more than dare.

Ella as a character on her own was also great. She’s very quirky, has a large Italian family and her love for art is quite obvious. The whole thing with the dead Edward Willing was a little too strange for me for the most part of the book though. However, I do think that this was an inventive way for Ella to express herself. She talks to the dead painter out loud and has whole imaginary conversations with him. This allows Ella to work through her feelings and her experiences though and in a way I have never seen before. Ella has quite a lot going on in this book due to her family, friends, project on Edward Willing and her new tutoring sessions with a guy she is crushing on. Sometimes though, there was a little too much going on.

As Ella has liked Alex for quite some time, she is both terrified and happy at the prospect of him tutoring her. She doesn’t want people to know though because she’s afraid of what they might say about her. Ella’s scarring has a lot to do with her confidence levels and also how the other girls at school see and treat her. She doesn’t think she’s good enough to be spending time with Alex, even in a tutoring environment. The build-up between Ella and Alex was cute enough and it was nice to see the whole book not completely be about the romance. The more time they spend together, each character begins to see the other for who they really are, rather than who they thought they were. This book has a great moral lesson of not judging a book by its cover which was a nice addition to the rest of the plot.

While I did find this book a little strange in parts, I did like it. It isn’t my favourite contemporary read but it is cute and different.