Snowed In

A couple of months ago I read Let It Snow, a book of three interconnected stories by John Green, Maureen Johnson and Lauren Myracle. Now that we have 8 inches of snow outside my doorstep it seems like a good time to post about it. The cover says it is three romances so I was expecting three romantic short stories with a snow theme to them but really it was much more than that. So why did I pick it up? To start with, I know not everyone likes short stories--I happen to love them. And then there were the three authors. I love everything John Green has published. And Maureen Johnson has never let me down either. I'd never read Lauren Myracle but my daughter really likes her. So all in all what did I have to lose? And then it turned out to be three stories that were linked together. How fun is that? I read the first one, Maureen Johnson's story about a girl on a train that gets stuck in the snow. Then I started on John Green's story about three friends driving out in the snow to meet a friend who is stranded in a restaurant full of cheerleaders--cheerleaders who had come from the stranded train. Then Lauren Myracle's sweet story about a well meaning but selfish girl who wants to get back together with her boyfriend--a guy who shows up on both the stranded train and at the restaurant too. All the stories were satisfying. If you can walk to your local bookstore or library in the snow, pick up a copy. Recommended for middle school and older.

Reminded me of:
An Abundance of Katherines by John Green but more PG
Fifteen or The Luckiest Girl by Beverly Cleary or any of her other sweet teenage romances

Make Lemonade, part three

This Full House is the third and last book about LaVaughn by Virginia Euwer Wolff. The first in the series, Make Lemonade, is a beautiful powerful book that I loved when I first read but I didn't know anyone to recommend it to. In that book, we first meet LaVaughn, a girl who knows what it is to be poor. At least, that's what she thinks, until she starts babysitting for Jolly's two kids. Jolly is a single teenage mom who used to live on the streets and is getting her life together. In This Full House, LaVaughn is still babysitting for Jolly but now LaVaughn's a high school senior and balancing not just school and babysitting but also an ambitious science enrichment program for low-income girls interested in the field of medicine. Told in poems, this is a book about growing up--not just getting older but learning to accept responsibility for your actions and do the right thing even when it's not the easy thing. Most of the young readers I know are probably still too young for this book, but I would recommend the entire series for 8th-12th grade. At 496 pages it looks a bit daunting but it's a quick read since there is a lot of white space on the page. If you haven't read Make Lemonade, start there. If you have, well, there's more to the story and it's waiting for you.

This Full House, Virginia Euwer Wolff, 978-0-06-172534-0, on sale 1/27/2009

This made me think of:
Reaching for Sun by Tracie Vaughn Zimmer, another book in verse, this one about a girl with physical disabilities
Mare's War by Tanita Davis, see post from 12/4/08--another story about poverty

Bullying--a post from Mary Lee

The book that I am considering for purchase is Letters to a Bullied Girl: Messages of healing and hope by Olivia Gardner with Emily and Sara Buder. New York: Harper, 2008 ISBN 978-0-06-154462-0 14.95

“Olivia Gardner, was singled out, physically and verbally bullied by her peers after she suffered an epileptic seizure in front of other students.” The introduction gives some background information, which details the extent of the harassment in every venue possible in this high tech world we live in. Emily and Sara Buder read about the incident and promoted a project, which encouraged adults and children to send messages of “healing, hope, inspiration and healing to Olivia. Letters were sent to a P.O. Box and the response was overwhelming. About 125 letters from parents of children who were bullied, adults who had been bullied and students who were dealing with the issue at the time of the project, March 2007 make up the rest of the books.

This would work for parents and students. In fact, my KCLS copy has been sitting on my desk and students have asked to borrow it. I think it is an R (recommended) because of the limited number of resources that connect specifically to middle school students. However, I wish there were more letters from students.

I like any feedback anyone can come up with on this book.

Mary Lee

I just finished Mare's War by Tanita Davis. Someone told me they'd heard good buzz about it and now I know why--because it's fabulous, that's why. Octavia and Talitha have to ride cross country with their grandmother, Mare, this summer to a family reunion in Alabama. The two teenage sisters don't want to spend that much quality time with each other, let alone their out of control grandma but they don't have a choice. Once they hit the road, the story starts to alternate between the road trip and Mare's experiences growing up, especially her experience in the African American battalion of the Women's Army Corps during WWII. The present day story is well told and full of colorful details. But it's Mare's story that will capture your heart. Small town Alabama was a tough place to be a black girl in the 1940s and you can see why Mare grabbed the chance to join the army and see the world. The period details are vivid and compelling. I cried when Mare recounts how proud she was for making it through the toughest training. Recommended for middle and high school.

Books it reminded me of:
Watsons Go to Birmingham, 1963, by Christopher Paul Curtis--another great road trip novel
Just Listen, by Sarah Dessen--another great book about sisters

So Many Books Read, So Few Blogged About

I'm making my new year's resolution a little early this year: I will blog more frequently. My track record isn't good but I'm not willing to give up yet.

The last book I read was Jerk, California by Jonathan Friesen. It's the story of a boy, Sam, with Tourette's syndrome who ends up taking a road trip to the city in the title. Only it turns out Sam's name is not really Sam but Jack--after his mother remarried, his stepfather decided that he didn't like the name Jack Keegan and so renamed the boy Sam Carrier. But at the beginning none of us, readers and Sam himself, know this. It's all revealed as Sam meets people who knew his father. The storytelling jumps around a bit--just like Jack's twitchy shoulders. That made it a little hard for me to get into the story but once I did the story wouldn't let me go. Self-awareness, acceptance, family, a little romance and a big dose of what it's like to live with Tourette's made this a book I won't forget for a long time. Highly recommended. For mature middle school and high school.

Books it made me think of:
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon (Jerk does for Tourette's what Curious did for Asperger's)
Deadline by Chris Crutcher, small town sports is the connection here