The Attitude Girl by Mila Bernadkin

The Attitude Girl by Mila Bernadkin 


Review by Melissa j


Teenagers live in a tough world. It becomes even more tough when things like cancer, suicide, and family drama enters that world. It's not wonder adolescents walk around with attitude problems.

The Attitude Girl models what could more than likely be a journal entry, for today's modern teen girl. Teens will enjoy the book, feeling validated in their world of chaos and confusing situations.


At times, dialogue becomes a bit confusing to track with and Ialso  lost track of who was who (alot of names are thrown around), but overall, this book epitomizes the teen world and thought process. Mila adds the inner monologue going on in Vicky's head while she dialogues verbally with her friends, neighbors, and family, showing the ambivalence that teens find as a part of their usual inner conflict.


This is a coming of age novel, and although Vicky does not arrive at full maturity by the end, we see a progression towards adulthood that each of us had to go through. From ego-centrism to sacrifice. From attitude-out-of-control, to attitude-properly-channeled. 

* Note: More conservative readers will not like this book, as it contains language that they may not approve of, as well as sexual situations and discussions. While for me, a woman who has worked extensively with teens, I found it only a realistic portrayal of the teen life, those who practice only conservative, Christian-based novels in their home, this book would not be for them.

Mel's Thoughts:

The Attitude Girl, by Mila Bernadkin, is a coming of age novel for teen girls.  From the very beginning of the book, I could tell that the main character, Vicky, definitely has an attitude.  Honestly, though, she had good reason to have an attitude, in my opinion.  With everything she had been through in her life, as well as issues and problems that were going on presently, this teen was going through some pretty hard times.  From being abandoned by her father as a child to now dealing with the fact that her mother had lost her job and might have cancer on top of it all, plus the fact that her grandparents who rejected her before now want her in their lives, she had real issues.  These are issues that a lot of our teens face today. 

Vicky had a tight group of friends, though, Jackie, Liza, Chloe, and Alex.  The book focused on this group of friendships quite a bit throughout the story.  I was a little concerned at some of the things they did throughout the story, but to me, it was more like the author was trying to tackle major issues that teens face today.  The girls had to deal with issues such as drinking, sex, mean girls (bullying), suicide, and just growing up, among other things.  I really appreciated the scenes centered around bullying myself, because I know that so many kids are affected by this today, myself included when I was younger.  So many kids are depressed and trying to hurt themselves because of bullies at school.  I thought that the author handled these issues in a realistic way. 

Yes, Vicky had an attitude, and it might have even caused rifts that had to be mended, but she was as real as a character could be.  Her emotions were raw and really caused the story to be more thought-provoking for me.  Written in first person, Vicky takes you through her thoughts and into her heart, and you're really able to delve into her character.  I did have a couple of qualms with the book.  If you are more conservative, this book might pose a problem, as one issue is that there's the use of swear words throughout the book, especially in the first part.  There are also scenes in the book that might not set well with more conservative readers, although without those scenes, the story might not be as real.  Does the story solve today's issues with teens?  No, but it does confront them head-on, albeit, in a less conservative way.

You can get The Attitude Girl for $16.95 from Five Star Publications.  The following is from the Media Kit for The Attitude Girl. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

In her debut novel, a first-place winner in the Arizona Authors Association Annual Literary Awards contest, Ludmila "Mila" Bernadkin draws on her experience as a teacher, mother and advanced graduate of the Institute of Children's Literature to identify with the tremulous world of confusing emotions and mixed messages of "maturity" today's teens live in as they feel their way through the process of becoming young adults.


Born and raised in Odessa, Ukraine, a beautiful resort city on the Black Sea, Bernadkin emigrated from the former Soviet Union and came to the United States in 1977. She graduated from the Brest Music College with a BA-equivalent degree in theory of music and music literature, and accepted a teaching position at a children's music school. After moving to the States, she became a Senior Programmer-Analyst, working at several of the largest financial institutions in New York City. However, medical reasons forced her early retirement, which turned out to be a blessing as she realized her life-long dream of becoming an award-winning published writer.


Bernadkin resides in Brooklyn, New York, with her daughter, a graduate student who is working on her Master's degree. Bernadkin loves to travel, listen to music and read.

(Disclosure: This book was provided, free of charge, by Mila Bernadkin/Five Star Publications, in association with MamaBuzz.)

* The Blue Umbrella: Review and Giveaway!!! *

Page rank	5

The Blue Umbrella: A Novel

*This book was given as a complimentary copy to Mama Buzz Reviewers by David C. Cook and Mike Mason, for blog tour and promotion purposes.

The Blue Umbrella: retails for $14.99

Ages 9-12

Enjoy a free excerpt of this book at Mike Mason's website.


The Blue Umbrella, by Mike Mason from David C. Cook on Vimeo.

Melissa J's Thoughts:

The Blue Umbrella made me feel restless in the first half. Disturbed almost. The kind of disturbed I had when I read the Lemony Snicket books (which by the way, was for research purposes, not for pleasure reading). It was as if the evil villains in the book had almost a sexually-overtoned sadistic issue going on.

For example, when Zac, the boy in the book, is given a beating with a cane, he is supposed to ask, "May I please have another one?" after each one. Later, one of the "aunties" canes her equal-peered sister and the sister too, must ask, "Please, may I have another one?" This to me, was almost like a sexual-bondage overtone and made me feel. . . weird.

It also made me think, "This is not a book for a 9 year old to read!"

That being said, in the second half of the book, as puzzle pieces began to fall into place, the book made more sense, as did the strange evil that the characters lived with and by the time I turned the last page, I decided it was a book that I liked. It is not, however, a book I would recommend to parents of 9 year olds. More along the 13-15 year old age bracket--maybe. And even then, as a conservative Christian parent, I would take the opportunity to discuss what, yes, even my teen was reading, should they read it.

For those who are used to the sexually overtoned evil of Lemony Snicket or the darkness of Harry Potter and have no issues with those books, then The Blue Umbrella will not be an issue--though perhaps it should be as I believe parents need to be sensitive to their child's reading material.

I look forward to future books, both as a reader, as well as a parent and an individual who works with teens. I am curious to see what Mike Mason will deliver in future writing to this age bracket.

Mel's Thoughts:

The Blue Umbrella is a story full of imagination and mystery.  It's full of characters that, at first, are hard to understand, but as you move through the story you begin to understand what is going on.  As I was reading last night, I was about halfway through the story, and the mystery began to click, and I figured out exactly what was going on. 

Zac is a young boy who has just lost his mother to a lightning strike.  He is taken by his Aunties to live in the small town of Five Corners, where colorful characters abound.  As Zac enters their world, he begins to notice that not everything is as it should be.  Auntie Pris and Auntie Esmerelda are very cruel to him, even beating him with their magical cane, which seems to have a sickening effect on Zac's health and soul.  He ends up befriending Butler and Sky Porter, the storekeeper across the street, along with the Reverend's children, and as he does, he begins to unravel the mystery behind Five Corners.  As he struggles to fight off the Aunties and their terrible Dada, the story gains suspense.

Personally, I struggled to get into this story.  It seemed like the same things just kept happening over and over throughout the first half of the book, and then finally, the real action began.  This story is meant for kids, probably older kids, but I'm not sure I would want Jacob reading it yet.  The magic in the story doesn't phase me; I'm fine with him reading stories that work his imagination, of course, depending on what kind of story it is.  I think it's more the pervasive evil of the Aunties and Dada that gets me....it might be necessary to describe Zac's beatings and the horrible way in which the Aunties die, but I just think it's a story better suited for when Jacob gets older, as in young adult.  I'm also not so sure it would keep his attention in the first half of the book.  It doesn't seem to show the story so much as tell it without a lot of dialogue in the beginning.  I do have to say, though, that once I got into the story, I wanted to keep reading to see exactly what happened in the end. 

The book is priced at $14.99 and is available on David C. Cook.   You can also read more about the book, read an excerpt from it, and see inside of it on Mike Mason Books. 

(Disclosure: We were provided with this free book by David C. Cook & Mike Mason, in association with MamaBuzz.)

We have a copy of this book to give away. Simply leave a comment - with your email - and you will be entered into our giveaway drawing. Giveaway ends on November 7th, with the winner announced on November 9th.

TOS Crew- Sarah Books: Sarah's Wish

Mel participated in this review with the TOS Homeschool Crew.

Sarah Books is a series created by a grandfather of nine children, all of who are homeschooled.  Jim Baumgardner created this series specifically for his grandchildren, so that they could learn about our history and what we've been through.  He wanted them to have books that were full of moral values and empty of any profanity or other behaviors.  Recently, Jacob was reading a book, which I will leave unnamed here, and he came in and
told me that it had a bad word.  Sure enough, I got to looking, and a children's book was using profanity.  I just about died.....here I was letting him read a simple children's story, and it had that in it.  So, I was really glad when this book showed up in our mailbox, especially after reading why Mr. Baumgardner wrote this series.

Sarah's Wish is the first book in the series.  There are two other books, Sarah's Promise and Sarah's Escape.  The book starts out with a note to readers, concerning a glossary of words used in the nineteenth century.  This glossary helps young and old alike understand some of the words that were used back then, so that we can better understand the story.  Words like Apothecary, High-falutin', Underground Railroad, etc. appear in this glossary. 

The story starts out in a very dramatic and even traumatic way.  When I first read the beginning chapter to Jacob, I was thinking maybe I should have previewed it, because right away Sarah's mother is killed in a buggy accident.  The stories are geared more toward older children or young adults.  Sarah is left an orphan, but she is lovingly taken in by a family, until in steps Granny.  The story is full of   characters, and you can just see and hear them as you're reading: Mary, Granny, Brother Franklin, Running Fox, Doctor Baum, Graybeard, Charlie, etc.  As the story weaves on, the reader comes to realize that Sarah and her mother were part of the Underground Railroad, helping slaves regain their freedom.  It is full of action and suspense, as Sarah truly longs to keep this work going, even in the absence of her mother.  This would be a great book to use when you are studying this subject in history; it's a book that could honestly be read again and again.  I plan on coming back to it when we reach that point in our studies.

You can read excerpts of each book on the Sarah Books website.  My book actually came autographed with a bookmark, and yours can too, if you order from the website.  It just adds that personal touch.  Sarah's Wish is only $9.99, no shipping and handling.  It also comes with a free audiobook download in the back of the book, which makes it great for young readers, since they can read and follow along at the same time; or you can even put that on a cd and have it for in the car, on the run.  If you'd like to receive Sarah's Web Newsletter, you can email sarahbooks@cox.net with "Send Newsletter" in the subject line.  Don't miss out on this adventurous series of books for your children.

To read more reviews, head on over to the TOS Crew Blog.

(Disclosure: I was provided with this free book by Sarah Books, in association with the TOS Homeschool Crew.)

* Books and Products for Sr Highers *

Guys are Waffles, Girls are Spaghetti

Sarah Books: Sarah's Wish

Word of Promise, Next Generation

Redefining Beautiful

Amazing Bible Timeline