New CM Review: That Stripy Cat

My new review of That Stripy Cat is up at CM Magazine, an online journal that reviews Canadian children's books and materials.

It's an appealing book - with energetic illustrations, an irresistible feline hero, interesting subject matter, and good read-aloud potential - but something about the way the text and illustrations are put together doesn't quite work for me. Find out more...

Peeps

Westerfeld, Scott. Peeps. New York: Penguin, 2005.

It's lovely to have librarian friends. I adore that on my lunch break I can ask my coworker what to read, and she'll dip into the teen stacks and come out carrying whatever it is "everyone" is talking about. In this case, everyone is talking about Peeps, the recent vampire novel by Scott Westerfeld, author of the also popular book So Yesterday.

I'm not usually one for vampire stories, at least I didn't think I was. But Peeps is an interesting take on vampire, explaining all the myths and stories with a scientific (though no less glamorously gory) slant. In Cal's world vampires are generally referred to as parasite-positives, or peeps for short. College freshamn Cal is one of the lucky ones, not a full-blown peep but a "carrier," one who hosts the parasite without descending into madness and violence. His work is to track down those in his line of infection, the women he infected before he knew what he carried and, ultimately, to find the elusive one who infected him during a one-night stand. But the parasite is changing, the work is becoming more dangerous, and something is stirring under the city itself.

The parasite is passed by body fluid transmission, and in the interests of self-preservation and proliferation, the parasite makes its carriers perpetually horny. As a committed member of Night Watch, an ancient underground New York society that tracks down and rehabilitates peeps before they wreak havoc on society, Cal knows that he cannot risk even a single kiss without turning the object of his affection into a monster of sorts. This conveniently maintains a brooding climate of sexual tension throughout the story, without allowing it to derail into plot-less vampire sex.

The book alternates between narrative chapters and short (2-3 page) explorations of the gory but fascinating stories of read-world parasites. These chapterers are interesting, but feel somewhat forced at times. It is certainly not a book for the weak of stomach, but for those who don't mind a little bit of gore with their lunch this is a fabulous and compelling read. It may just have turned me into a vampire story reader. The elusive "everyone" did not lead me astray: Peeps is a great book and Scott Westerfeld is an author to watch.