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Receiving an ARC of Lisa Mantchev‘s Eyes Like Stars was more of a gift than just a mere prize.

The writing is rich and textured, the world of the Theatre filled with memorable characters both new and known.

Beatrice Shakespeare Smith lives in the Theatre but she isn’t a Player like Ophelia, or even someone with a legitimate stage job like Mrs. Edith, the Wardrobe Mistress. Who Bertie is and what she can do is at the heart of the story with the story.

I spent my senior year in high school on the technical theatre team so many aspects of this young adult novel resonated with me. Ultimately, though, I love how the author uses language to fill my head with the wonders of the Theatre as seen through Bertie’s eyes.

When the Theatre Manager turned to exchange a long look with his colleague, the medallion took their every unspoken word and transformed them into rustling leaves. Within seconds, the office was a forest primeval, oak-aged secrets reaching their arms from floor to ceiling like a family tree.

The Stage Manager wove poison ivy words through the vision. “Don’t tell her.”

The above is from Chapter 8, but you can read Chapter 1 for free on the Théâtre Illuminata website.

I will warn you that Eyes Like Stars is Act I of the Théâtre Illuminata series, so while Bertie does achieve some resolution, there are still mysteries to be solved. Fortunately, Act II premiers in May 2010.

Title: Eyes Like Stars
Author: Lisa Mantchev
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends.
Pages: 356
Genre: YA, fantasy
ISBN-10: 0312380968
ISBN-13: 978-0312380960

Flipping though it, I find myself looking at poems; lines of copy that sometimes barely fill a page, and other times ebb and flow like the tide. I don’t read a lot of poetry, but this format draws me into Anke’s world. Still unsure if I want to read an entire novel written in verse, I randomly read 164:

his chair

I stare hard at Yaicha
during breakfast.

She’s good with makeup
really good
from being in plays and musicals.

I stare at the smudge
purpling black
on her jaw,
barely buried under makeup.

Okay.
She isn’t
good at it
just because of plays.

Something about those words, put together just that way, touched me. I wanted to remember them. I tucked the book under my arm and headed for the checkout line.

I found out Yaicha is Anke’s sister, who along with their brother Darren, took the physical and sexual abuse of their father. He left Anke alone, which saved her from bruises and birth control pills, but maked her feel unworthy of even his sick attention. She was as unimportant as furniture.

Joining the volleyball team changed Anke. From stumbling to striding, from weak to strong, from passive to assertive. Unable to get help from any family member, Anke finally took a stand, with violent and joyous results.

Bob Mayer says if you take the protagonist from the first chapter and put them in the climax of the novel, they would fail. Regardless of the plot, a character should grow into something more than what they were, someone who can face that climax and win over that foe.

Anke has that character arc, and it’s an amazing journey to share.

Title: Because I Am Furniture
Author: Thalia Chaltas
Publisher: Viking
Pages: 352
Genre: YA, real world
ISBN 978-0-670-06298-0