Warp Speed by Lisa Yee

Warp Speed by Lisa Yee
Marley is a member of his school AV club loves Star Trek and feels invisible. The only people who see Marley are his five AV friends and the bullies. Marley's calls his biggest tormentors the Gorn, three could be brothers. Their bullying gets as the school year goes on. To keep ahead of the Gorn, Marley accidentally discovers that he loves to run.

Marley is simply trying to survive the 7th grade. He's never portrayed as only a victim. He's also funny, fast, and loves old movies, to name a few things. From the beginning Marley's voice is strong and authentic.

This is the fourth novel Yee's has written that's set at Rancho Rosetta middle school. I've read three , including this one. 3 for 3 is the yes column. The Yee is simply skilled at creating realistic characters and situations.

A quick sidenote, when Marley has a conversation with one of his bullies, I couldn't help but think of The Bystander by James Preller. The final scene sealed the connection for me and these two stories about bullying. Warp Speed and Bystander would pair up nicely.

Read an excerpt

Standford Wong Flunks Big-Time - Lisa Yee

Standford Wong Flunks Big Time by Lisa Yee

Stanford's plans of going to basketball camp for the summer are ruined when he fails sixth grade English at Rancho Rosetta Middle school. Stanford must past English in summer school, or lose his spot on the basketball team.

Published in 2005, this is Yee's second novel. Its also the first companion to the author's debut novel Millicent Min, Girl Genius. (loved it) Standford is a secondary character that is getting tutored by Millicent. This time Standford is telling his story from that summer.

Standford has a lot of pressure to get good grades from his name to his overachieving older sister. This story was easy to get into and I loved losing myself in it.

Yee is very skilled at creating well developed characters and placing them in realistic situations. The story has great balance, we get to see all sides of Standford. The one that's great on the basketball court, the who only wants his dads approval, the one who is trying to figure out if a friend is really a friend, the one who loves is grandmother, the one who realizes English isn't too bad. There are a few more, all add up to a great and whole Standford Wong. ages 10up

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Yee's most recent release Warp Speed came out in March. It's also set at Rancho Rosetta Middle School.

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Book Changes & Lisa Yee Ends My Slump

I've made a few changes on my blog recently. I've placed my interviews on the sidebar, so people can actually find them. Still working on making reviews easier to access. I am considering putting up ads as well. Just not sure if a enough people will click on the ads to make it worth it

I also made the switch from shelfari to goodreads. A few weeks ago the shelfari books displayed on my blog, were not the books I was currently reading. I quickly ran a virus scan to be on the safe side. Nothing was found, figured it was just a glitch. So I fixed the shelf, a day later it was wrong again. So, I moved my library to goodreads and lost about 60 books in the transfer but still happy I did it.

I was in a serious book slump last week. I didn't follow all of my rules

1. If I like a book I won't mention what I am currently reading in passing online. After I would say how much I was enjoying a book, it would turn on me. It took me about four or five books to learn my lesson but I finally did. - This is the only one I followed.

2. When starting a new book, I will leave the house with two. I started doing this after being on the train or waiting in line one too many times with a bad book. I've learned that if I have no choice and a long wait, chances are the one book I have is going to be bad. But if I have two, both will be good.

3. Do not pick up books I have high expectations for when in a slump. This is the last time I break this rule. I've learned my lesson.



Thank you to Lisa Yee for ending my bad book run with Standford Wong Flunks Big Time It was so good

Edi recently reviewed Yee's newest release Warp Speed. After reading it I decided to pick up the copy of Stanford Wong, I had lying around. So thank you to Edi as well.

Bobby The Brave (Sometimes) Lisa Yee - Dan Santat

Bobby The Brave (Sometimes) by Lisa Yee, illus by Dan Santat

This is the second book in the Bobby Ellis- Chan series. Bobby's still in the fourth grade. In the first book, at a time when boys and girls shouldn't be friends, Bobby comes to terms with having a best friend who is a girl. Now Bobby and Holly's friendship is as strong as ever.

This time Bobby worries what is ex pro football father (aka the Freezer) thinks of him, when over hears him say "He's not like me" Annie, his older sister, is the football star. Bobby is into skateboarding. I love the time the author spends developing Ellis -Chan family. It adds so much to the story. We know Casey, the younger sister likes making up silly names, like wormy worm worm for her pet worm. Annie, the older sister is the star QB on her high school football time. Bobby mother goes to work and his father looks after the kids. (making uneatable food)

The fourth grade class is putting on Annie. Bobby is happy to play Sandy, the dog, so he won't have to learn any lines. Bobby loves dog but can't have one because of his asthma. Unfortunately, his costume is too close to the real thing. The new gym teacher assumes Bobby can play football when he finds out who is father his. Bobby must also contend with a scary cat with 27 toes, being picked last in gym class and Jillian Zarr.

Bobby's voice is perfect as is Yee's dialogue. As popular as skateboarding is there aren't many books with a main character that skateboards. Bobby is very good and loves the sport. Troy Eagle is his idol.

"Bobby was a good solid skate boarder. Not showy, but not a wimp either. He'd study the bigger kids and then start off slow, working his way up to the trick, whether it was as simple as a nosegrind or as hard as an aerial. Though he still had trouble grabbing his board while flying though the air, he was getting better. "

Dan Santat's illustrations are great. My favorite is of Bobby and Casey coming face to face with the neighborhood cat with 27 toes. The picture of Bobby's gym teacher breaking out the classic Freezer move in front of the entire class was a close second.

It very difficult to find books with male protagonist for ages 9 and up. This entertaining, well written and funny series helps fill that void. Book one Bobby vs the Girls (Accidentally) is out in paperback

an excerpt