I GOT TO MEET ROBIN BRANDE AND SUZANNE COLLINS

Yes, yes I know all capital letters are one of the most annoying things ever but I'm really really really really excited to share with you pictures from my recent trip to the Texas Library Association Convention to make you rage inside with jealousy.  Seriously.  If you are prone to mania or violence you may want to take some deep breaths and tie yourself to a chair before you scroll down.

Behold!!!  Teen author and all around awesome honorary Library Ninja Robin Brande!  She's totally got her game face on while I look like a total smiley-faced dweeb.  Ninja Brande has donated two signed copies of her latest book Fat Cat to our Summer Reading Club so keep alert.  Both Ninja Amy and myself thought Fat Cat was one of the best books of 2009!  Fun Tidbit: did you know Robin Brande can actually kick your behind in a swirl of black belt insanity?!  It's true!

And finally, I got to meet the untouchable, wonderfully polite Suzanne Collins, author of the Hunger Games series.  She was very hard to meet so I felt very honored to be one of the few to meet her.  If you haven't read Hunger Games, you should so you can compete in Woodland West's Hunger Games Trivia Challenge this summer!  The date will be announced soon.  And don't forget Mockingjay, the final book in the trilogy comes out in August!!!

You know you're jealous!

The Ninja Listens to. . .Fat Cat by Robin Brande

Oh, how I love Robin Brande. Seriously, people. Robin Brande is such a breath of fresh air in teen fiction that when I read one of her books it's like I'm in the Swiss Alps breathing, you know, fresh air.

In Fat Cat, super-smart and super-overweight Cat, in an effort to conduct a science fair experiment that is sure to be more brilliant than her former-childhood-best-
friend-turned-arch-nemesis Matt McKinney, vows to live for 7 months (as closely as possible, anyway) the way Homo erectus did about, oh, roughly 2 million years ago. This means that Cat essentially becomes vegan, gives up her computer, her cell phone, driving her car, using a microwave, and even, dare I say it, wearing makeup.

At first, Cat's parents and her best friend Amanda aren't too sure this is a great idea, let alone a possibility. Cat is seriously overweight and totally reliant on candy bars and soda. But as Cat's experiment progresses, the support she receives from her family and best friend grows and Cat herself starts to become, well, hot. Before she knows it, her experiment takes on a new phase (one that involves some serious kissing), and she becomes more determined than ever to prove that she is smarter and better than that jerk Matt McKinney.

Let me just say that I have always been a meat eater. I love me some bacon and I prefer steaks cooked really rare. But this book, which I listened to on audio 2 1/2 weeks ago, actually inspired me to eat better. I have totally given up drinking soda (Oh, Dr. Pepper - I miss you!) and I haven't had a hamburger since finishing the book.

That being said, I don't think this book will inspire everyone to change their diet like I am. My point is that Robin Brande is such an amazing writer that I was totally sucked into the story. I was rooting for Cat the whole way. Best friend Amanda is the most awesome fictional best friend in the history of literature (okay, maybe I'm exaggerating. . .) and Amanda's boyfriend Jordan is equally amazing.

I did not find the vegetarian/vegan aspects of the book to be preachy at all. Cat never looks down on someone else for eating badly. How could she? She spent the last 4 or 5 years putting on weight and eating terribly. I love the way Cat develops a relationship with her little brother who, before her experiment, was always just kind of there in her life.

I would recommend this book to anyone interested in science or someone who likes stories about people who used to be best friends and what happened that made the friendship end (yeah, I'm a sucker for those types of stories). If you haven't read anything by Robin Brande, give her a chance! You won't be disappointed.


A few other titles you might enjoy if you like Fat Cat:

Schooled by Gordon Korman

Evolution, Me and Other Freaks of Nature by Robin Brande

Liar by Justine Larbalestier

The Ninja Reviews. . .Evolution, Me & Other Freaks of Nature by Robin Brande

I actually read this book months ago, but I love it so much that I talk about it enough to irritate my co-workers.

Mena did the right thing, but it got her kicked out of her church, it made her friends ditch her, and it has made her parents so angry that they barely even talk to her. Mena knows she was right in what she did, but the consequences of doing the right thing are almost too much to bear.

When Mena takes high school biology, she's not quite prepared for another opportunity to stand up against what she thinks is wrong. A group of students, along with their pastor, wants Ms. Shepherd (the biology teacher) to teach Intelligent Design during the lesson on Evolution, but Ms. Shepherd refuses on grounds of scientific principles. Mena isn't sure what to do because she's not sure what she should believe.

Author Brande takes an incredibly controversial subject and makes it easily readable. While those who do believe in Intelligent Design might feel a bit uncomfortable reading some of the things in the book, Brande does a good job of writing an ending that is fair for both sides.

Besides the controversy of the subject matter, there is also a little mystery (the reader doesn't find out for a long while exactly what it is that transpired to get Mena kicked out of church) and even a bit of romance. Readers should especially enjoy the characters of Ms. Shepherd (who always seems to know the right thing to say to those who challenge her), Casey (who is brilliantly funny), and Casey's sister, who can be a bit of a bully, but is genuinely good.

Recommended for teens 14+.