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Monday, July 11, 2011

Mystery Review Monday: The Extraordinary Secrets of April, May, & June


"Three sisters share a magical, unshakeable bond in this witty high concept novel from the critically acclaimed author of Audrey, Wait! Around the time of their parents’ divorce, sisters April, May, and June recover special powers from childhood—powers that come in handy navigating the hell that is high school. Powers that help them cope with the hardest year of their lives. But could they have a greater purpose?
April, the oldest and a bit of a worrier, can see the future. Middle child May can literally disappear. And baby June reads minds —everyone'’s but her own. When April gets a vision of disaster, the girls come together to save the day and reconcile their strained family. They realize that no matter what happens, powers or no powers, they'’ll always have each other.
Because there’s one thing stronger than magic: sisterhood."
-Good Reads



Stats:
  • Publisher: Razorbill
  • Release date: Aug. 3, 2010
  • Page count: 281
  • Unique elements: Dialogue, perspective. Each chapter is told from the perspective of a different sister.  And the romance stories woven into the plot definitely enhance the story! Also, an important quote is pulled out of each chapter and put just below the chapter number in bold, so the reader has a preview of what's to come.
  • Would appeal to: Fans of superpower books, like Michael Grant's Gone series, or Patrick Carman's Thirteen Days to Midnight, anyone with sisters
Favorite quotes:

"You have no idea how crazy I am, I should be wearing yellow caution tape, I'm that bonkers."

"Some people leave, yeah, and it sucks. But some people don't leave, and they never will. And sometimes people are there, but you just can't see them. But they're still there."

"I wished I stayed at the movies, where I could have at least had some popcorn with my drama."

"If there's one thing I've learned from being a fourteen-year-old girl, it's that entire social structures can be dismantled and rebuilt in less than thirty seconds. It's kind of like playing Jenga every single day, only with people's lives instead of wooden pegs."  

The cover alone was enough to attract me to this book, but what struck me most about Robin Benway's second novel (her first was the phenomenally funny Audrey, Wait!) was her use of dialogue to build character description. As I write lately, I often go back to how fun the back and forth fighting is between three sisters because it's believable as coming from the teens of today.These days, it's hard to sell a story without a unique plot. Superpowers is a big thing right now,

Because there are three girls in this book, the reader can relate to traits of at least one and probably knows people who fit the other descriptions. There's April, responsible, studious, and organized; May, sarcastic, a loner, and occasional drinker; and June, the fashion-concious, wanna-be popular cutie. Together, their relationships paint such a realistic view of sisterhood (even though I only have two brothers, I've seen sisters interact! Oh, and I have five aunts on my dad's side.)


This brings me to the question, what superpower would you most like to have and why?


1 comment:

Brandi said...

Oooh. I'll have to check that out. Superpower? Um...I've always wanted to be able to sing. It would have to be a superpower to improve my skills.