Tantalize

Tantalize by Cynthia Leitich Smith
ISBN:  9780763640590
Cambridge:  Candlewick Press, 2007
Plot - Quincie's parents died when she was 14, leaving her under the care of her father's brother, Davidson, and set to inherit the family business, an Italian restaurant called Sanguine's, when she turned 21.  When we meet her she's 17, has been madly in love with her best friend, Kieren, a hybrid werewolf, since grade school, but is tiring of his refusal to sink his teeth into a romantic relationnship with her.  Sanguine's long-time chef and stand-in grandfather to Quincie, Vaggio, is brutally murdered when the story opens, and within three months Quincie, her uncle, and a new chef  must reopen Sanguine's with a new theme chosen by Davidson--elegant, realistic Vampire.  Quince is distracted from this work only slightly by school, various friends and adults who turn out to be various wereanimals, but mightily by the mystery of Vaggio's murder.  Will she be next on the hit list?  Should she abandon her unrequited love for Kieren?  The new young chef's charm and heartfelt dedication to her family's restaurant gives Quincie hope that she really is growing up and that the business will surviive.  How could Kieren be so against all that?
Critical Evaluation - Tantalize unfolds as smoothly and seductively as a vampire draws you in.  Smith manages to portray her protagonist through first-person narrative both realistically and fully, without ever forcing the reader to hear Quincie tell us about herself.  Quincie, her uncle Davidson, Henry Johnson, the new chef, even the occasional wereanimals, are drawn carefully and just round enough to be sympathetic without being distracting.  Smith builds suspense and suspicion early--nothing that's revealed is a huge surprise--so the pleasure isn't saved for those few ending moments when we find out The Truth, but is instead in anticipating Quincie's finally catching on to what's happening.  Perhaps the best part of the writing itself is Smith's sense of humor coming through in Quincie's observations.  Finishing a chat with Quincie, we watch Miz Morales, mother of Quincie's sort-of boyfriend and a werewolf herself, stand up, "reaching to scratch behind her ear" (45).  Subtle and not-so-subtle word plays, foreshadowing, and delicious descriptions of vampiric seduction make the book a wonderful adventure in bloodlust and cuisine to die for.
Reader's annotation - There's nothing funny about being an orphan, finding a family friend mangled to death, longing for real love from a werewolf who keeps only kissing you on the forehead, and in the midst of all that, having to re-open a family restaurant with a slacker uncle obsessed with his skanky new girlfriend, is there?  Or is there?
Information about the author - According to her website (http://www.cynthialeitichsmith.com), Cynthia Leitich Smith writes for children, young adults and adults, though her favorite audiences are children and young adults.  She writes short stories and novels; among those for children are Jingle Dancer (2000), Rain is not my Indian name (2001), Indian shoes (2002), and Santa knows (2006) that she co-wrote with her husband, Greg Leitich Smith.  Tantalize (2007) is the first in a three-part fantasy series that includes Eternal (2009), yet-to-be released Blessed (release date, 2013), all published by Candlewick Press.
Leitich Smith carries degrees in news/editorial and public relations from the University of Kansas (Lawrence), and a law degree from the University of Michigan.  She has held a wide variety of positions, from law clerk to waitress to news reporter, and currently lives in Austin, TX, where Tantalize is set.
Genre - Gothic fantasy
Curriculum Ties - Possibly creative writing due to the very high quality writing combined with humor in a popular genre
Booktalk ideas

1. Focus on the cuisine/menus; ask kids what they would include at a vampire restaurant.
2. Ask kids to come up with as many vampire restaurant names they can think of.  Collect and present some of the best vampire/werewolf/eating plays on words from the book.
3. Ask kids if they were a wereanimal, what would they like to be.  Read the section about Travis's turning into the werearmadillo.

Reading level - 14 and up
Challenge issues - Sexual references, including graphic blood-sucking language.
Challenge defense ideas:

• Librarian has read the book and approved it based on reviews, quality of writing and storytelling, and age appropriateness assigned by independent, professional reviewer.
• Refer to Pacific Ridge School Library's Collection Development Policy (in print, at librarian's desk).
• Explain the ways in which the librarian accompanies and guides younger students looking for books, and knows students well as individuals.

Why I included this book  - It's funny, smart, and totally entertaining.  The protagonist narrator is just smart enough and just clueless enough to let us see ourselves in her as we accompany her down the darkening road to her destiny.