Book Reviews

I just read two YA novels that I'd like to discuss. The first was The Princess and the Snowbird by Mette Harrison. Technically this is a sequel to her earlier novels The Princess and the Bear & The Princess and the Hound, but you don't have to have read them to understand and enjoy this fairy-tale-like novel. Liva and Jens, two very different young people, find each other in the deep forest, and share an instant bond. Liva has met very few people before now, as she was raised in a cave by her magical parents, who have taken the forms of a bear and a hound. Jens has no magic, and is almost an outcast in his own village. Together, they set out to restore magic to their world, and avenge a terrible wrong. The story is short and swift, but packs some real emotional punch. If you enjoy fairy tales, magic and a touch of sweet romance with a lot of action and adventure, you'll love this story.

Girl, Stolen by April Henry, is a very different story. Cheyenne is sleeping in her stepmother's car outside a pharmacy, when Griffin, a teen from a bad background, steals the car. Cheyenne's problem is that she's blind; Griffin's is that he dares not let her go for fear that he'll be caught in her stolen vehicle. So he kidnaps her, almost by accident. This leads to a very dangerous, almost explosive series of events involving them both. Griffin discovers things about his father and mother, while Cheyenne discovers how far she can push herself, even without vision. Will they each survive? Read this adventure story to find out...

It is interesting to see what these stories have in common, though they seem quite different. Both involve young women in unusual situations, with loving parents who have done their best to protect them, and young men with troubled family relationships, who are not sure what to do with themselves or how to avoid trouble. In both situations, the young people find themselves in challenging, dangerous situations, and come to rely on each other in some fashion. In each, they must learn to take risks, compromise and put their faith in fragile relationships. And in both cases, the teens grow and accomplish more than they believed they could dare. Have you read either of these stories? Do they remind you of other books you've read?