Hot Pink: The Life and Fashions of Elsa Schiaparelli

Elsa “Schiap” Schiaparelli was the fashion goddess of the 1930’s. Her styles and designs shocked the fashion world into the world we have today. Although she was born in Rome, Italy 1890, her eccentric style gathered the attention of the world, starting in Paris. This book describes Schiap’s childhood, how she first entered the fashion industry, and some of her most eye-catching, jaw-dropping designs such as The Lobster Dress. She was the first to introduce wedged-heels, which I personally appreciate since those are the only kind of heels I can walk in. She was the first to host fashion shows as a way of introducing her new collection lines. It seems like a topic of minimal importance; however, fashion is what diversifies cultures and expresses personality. I think it was interesting to read about Schiap and learn how many of the styles so common today were developed by her in a time where those styles seemed otherworldly. I would recommend this book to young adult readers, as this was an easy read. It includes some pictures of her works. The title is called Hot Pink because that was Schiap’s signature color.

Pros: interesting to learn some of the history behind the fashion of today’s world
Cons: There were not as many pictures included in this book as would be expected.

Schiaparelli Fall Fashion Show 2016: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQyDrE5CjEE

Some of Schiaparelli's original designs: http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/elsa/hd_elsa.htm

http://www.vogue.co.uk/gallery/elsa-schiaparelli-style-file

Monstress by Marjorie Liu

The Known World is on the brink of another war between the humans and the Arcanics, beings that are half human and have beast. Maika Halfwolf is willing to throw herself back into the chaos too soon after finally having a taste of freedom so she can talk to the woman who was last to see her mother alive. The same woman who caused her mother’s death. Maika doesn’t know how her mother died, but she does know that she was looking for something, something the Cumaea, humans of higher political status, will start a war just to find it. The Cumaea hungrily search for power, part of which is harnessed through their study and use of Lilium, a substance derived only from the decaying bones of an Arcanic. It has the power to heal wounds and enhance physical and mental abilities. However, more than war and thirst for power shadows over the Known World. Strange dreams and forces linger deep inside Maika, powerful and deadly. She struggles to keep it all contained and under control. The dark force inside her has a mind of it's own and wants nothing more than to break free of their bond.

Monstress is a dark, complex story with beautiful imagery and violent context. Maika is strong, brave, and stubborn; a character who takes time to admire due to her fearless and blunt personality. It was a little hard to understand the storyline at first, however every few chapters, a side character provides general background knowledge of the Known World, its history, and the races that dwell there. The story is intriguing with shocking twists in the storyline that kept me engaged and excited to read on.

Pros: Beautiful and incredibly detailed imagery; interesting storyline, complexity of the characters
Cons: Contains descriptive violent imagery, blood, and nudity; I would not recommend to anyone under 13; the storyline was confusing in the beginning.

Music Video Control by Halsey with scenes from Monstress: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZcWpGVTRMo

Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Cordova

All her life, Alex has wanted to live a normal life as any other normal teenage girl would. However, she struggles to find any normalcy having been born and raised in a family of brujas and brujos. Her older sister Lula, younger sister Rose, and her mother eagerly await the day for Alex’s bruja powers to awaken so she may finally have her Deathday. After an uncontrolled mishap at school, Alex dreadfully watches her family scramble to prepare for her Deathday. Deathday is when a young bruja or brujo channel the power of their family, alive and dead, and officially accept the powers gifted to them by the Gods. However, Alex doesn’t want to accept them. Her magic is stronger than most, and it terrifies her. She wants nothing more than to be a normal girl. On the night of her Deathday, after her canto goes horribly wrong and sends her family to another dimension, Alex must accept her fate and rely on her powers to keep herself alive and bring her family back home safely. But dark forces roam dominantly in this strange land and hungrily dries the land of the life that once flourished. With the aid of Nova, a mysterious and entrancing brujo her same age, Alex desperately travels through the depressed land to rescue her family from her terrible mistake.

Young adults would be able to relate to Alex and her struggle to shape her own life when her family seems to have decided her fate for her. Despite her magical lifestyle, Alex, like normal teenagers, struggle with self-identity, sexuality and discovering the person they want to be going into adulthood. She fears the future, but channels her love for her family to gather a brave will to dive into the unknown and learn from her mistakes. I would recommend Labyrinth Lost to pre-teens as it is easy for them to relate and enjoy the context level of the book.

Pros: solid storyline, easily enjoyable, good twists in the plot, intriguing references to Latin American culture
Cons: None

Video Book Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4saElwTvX28

Interesting note by the author about her experience with YAL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9i7PDgiITQ

Serpentine by Cindy Pon

Skybright has been a handmaid all her life to her mistress, Zhen Ni. While the two girls, of the same age, grew together like sisters, proper decorum is that Skybright is to serve Zhen Ni her entire life, never to wed or have children. Zhen Ni, on the other hand, is of a weathly family, and once she has experienced her first “monthly letting,” her mother will choose a husband for her and expect grandchildren, as is customary. However, Zhen Ni has no intention of following such a fate so easily. Meanwhile, Skybright discovers an entirely different and dangerous fate of her own. Instead of experiencing a normal monthly letting as other girls do, Skybright dscovers that she can transform into a serpent demon. Or rather, that she is half human and half serpent demon by birth. Although she has never known much about her past or her origin, nor has she ever dwelled on such unknown, she soon learns more about her mother and demon-kind through a ghostly figure named Stone, who claims to have known her mother. To make matters worse, a breach has appeared in the gateway between the human realm and the underworld, causing demons and undead creatures to wreak havoc on the living. The monks fight these otherworldly beings day and night, however one boy named Kai Sen, who studies and fights with the monks but is not a monk by oath, discovers her secret. Luckily, he gladly keeps her secret safe along with leading her to discover feelings she had never experienced towards another person before. However, after Lady Yuan, Zhen Ni’s mother, discovers Zhen Ni’s secret, Zhen Ni flees their manor alone and Skybright has no other instinct than to chase after her and keep her safe from the war happening between the monks and demons, all while trying to hide her own dangerous secret from her mistress.

I would highly recommend to teens and pre-teens, especially girls specifically. Skybright and Zhen Ni are weighed down by their pressuring future as young girls entering womanhood, and the roles that are expected of them. This story reflects on discovering self-identity, sexuality, first loves and heartbreaks. I really enjoyed reading this book, I finished it in two days and I am considering finishing the series.

Pros: storyline moves at a comfortably quick pace; descriptive context makes it easy to picture the characters and events; intriguing cliffhanger ending
Cons: quick read, it ended too soon

Background Interview with the author (34min): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kM-SR089-p8

Short Clip about the Xia Dynasty: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJdg6tfaAhw