The rgz Street Team is a group of teens who bring YA reviews to our blog, led by Postergirl Miss Erin. Find out more.*slight spoiler alert if you haven't read the book*
Love is blind.
Everyone, at one point on their life, has heard this phrase. Our love can make us overlook faults and even make us overlook times when our love makes others suffer. In The Adoration of Jenna Fox, Jenna’s parents keep Jenna
alive even though she is well past the point where she can be treated. Jenna’s parents use their money to basically build a body for Jenna and “upload” her brain into it. When Jenna finally wakes up, she doesn’t know who she is or who her parents are. Jenna was destined to die because of her extensive injuries but her parents could not let her go and they gave her a new body and a new life. They covered their actions with lies, and as with most lies, the truth could not be hidden forever. The truth about who and what Jenna was came out. To know the truth and try to make peace with it is much harder than it sounds.
The Adoration of Jenna Fox also covers the hot topic of technology and ethics. Just because we have the technology to do something does not make it ethical, and what feels good is not always ethical. As humans, we need to learn to draw boundaries between technology and our humanity. --Alex
PS-Postergirl Miss Erin recently reviewed another of Mary's books, A Room on Lorelei Street. Check out her review here.
The sweet TV and Book Addict has awarded us an "I love your blog" award! Thank you, thank you!
Where does the you of you reside in your body? This is a question I return to often and it came to mind reading The Adoration of Jenna Fox. When you think, "Me," do you point to your heart? Or do you think of yourself dwelling up in your brain? Other cultures might point to their gut. What about you?
Maybe this is a question about your soul, if you believe you have one. Do you?
René Kirkpatrick has been a bookseller and book buyer, specializing in children's and teen literature, for many years. She has a degree in elementary education and reads widely across all genres. She is currently a buyer at Third Place Books.We're honored to have her here as part of the rgz SALON, a feature where four of the top kidlit experts clue us in to the best YA novels they've read recently. Here's René!
Bog Child, by Siobhan Dowd, is one of my favorite books this year. It is the story of a young man trying to decide what is right in a world filled with instability. Fergus and his uncle are
digging for peat when they find a child's body curled up deep in the bog. As the excavation of the iron age body begins, and the story of the girl makes itself known to him in a series of dreams, Fergus finds himself dealing with a life filled with problems: It is Ireland in the 1980's, in the middle of the “troubles,” his older brother is on a hunger strike and likely dying in jail and his parents are arguing about whether he has the right to kill himself for something he believes in. His uncle may be involved in something dangerous to himself and to everyone around him, and Fergus himself is up to his chin in what could be a conspiracy to kill innocent people. Not only that, but he is fast forming a dangerous friendship with a boy who guards the border between the Catholics and the Protestants.
You need: 
Two fantasies and two contemporary novels were being born. And a few good photos. This is my favorite!
Of course dinner out is a highlight, the chance to share how the writing day went. Just in time for happy hour!
"I was actually able to offer a lot of input before the art department got going on the cover of Amor and Summer Secrets, the first book in my young adult series. After I signed with Kensington, I went up to Manhattan to have lunch with my editor, Kate Duffy, and she was nice enough to bring along the art director who'd be designing my cover. This gave me the opportunity to describe how I envisioned the cover directly to the source and after the meeting, we all went to Barnes & Noble to look at some examples on the YA shelves.
"The Adios cover showcases the wedding that occurs at the end of the book where Mariana and Lilly are bridesmaids. The biggest change that was made as a result of the cover is that the bridesmaid dress pictured is Tiffany blue, whereas the dress in the book was originally silver. I could have left the color scheme as silver, but ultimately I decided to change to it to robin's egg blue so it would be consistent with the cover. I think as a reader, it bugs me when things like that don't match.
"The biggest change they made to the original covers was Mariana's hair color. The models on both the Amor and Summer Secrets cover and its sequel Amigas and School Scandals do not have naturally red hair. But the art director changed the hue to auburn to better match the book. This was a very important change for me, because Mariana is depicted as not physically resembling the stereotypical Latina , and her hair color is a major component of that."
National Grammar Day, created by the ineffable and brilliant grammarian Martha Brockenbrough of The Society for The Promotion of Good Grammar (SPOGG) and author of Things that Make Us [Sic], is celebrating its second year!
I love this response from Mary that she dropped in the rgz MySpace group forum. Here it is for everyone to enjoy. Has medicine saved your life?
