Memories

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford is all about memories. Mostly Henry Lee's memories of coming of age during WWII in Seattle's International District. But also the packed up belongs of Japanese families who left to be interned. These turn up in the basement of the Panama Hotel in 1986--memories lost and not recalled until the day they start to renovate. Some of those belongings are still there and you can go have tea and look down at them through plexiglas sections in the floor. ( http://www.panamahotelseattle.com/)

The story is told in alternating times--the 1940's and 1986. In 1986, Henry is a lonely widower but the discovery of what was left behind in 1942 renews his interest in the world around him. In the 1940's, Henry is the lone Chinese face at exclusive Rainier Elementary and all his white classmates persist in thinking that he is Japanese and the enemy. Even his father's insistence that Henry wear a button saying "I am Chinese" does nothing to dissuade the school's bully to pick on Henry. When Keiko Okabe comes to Rainier as well, at first he wants nothing to do with her--she is the enemy after all. But then they come to be friends and eventually, first sweethearts.

Beautiful, heartbreaking and ultimately hopeful.

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, by Jamie Ford, 978-0-345-50533-0, on sale in February. Recommended for high school and adults.

Reminded me of
Nisei Daughter by Monica Sone--a Japanese American woman recalls growing up in Seattle and leaving to be interned

A Book Through the Ages

Geraldine Brooks' The People of the Book is the story of a modern book conservator and the people who made and used a particular book through many ages. But truly it is the story of a particular book, a haggadah made in the middle ages and discovered in Sarajevo in 1986. It's story includes a Moorish slave in fifteenth century Spain who painted the pictures, a Jewish partisan in world war II Serbia, the museum curator in modern Sarajevo who saved it from burning and the Australian who comes to Sarajevo to inspect the book and help maintain it. The people live on in my mind weeks after I've finished the book. I think it would be of interest to high school students as well as adults.
It reminded me of:
The Birth of Venus, by Sarah Dunant
The Book Thief, by Marcus Zusak

Eager Magic

Today we will be talking about magic. Books about magic. Especially books about a group of ordinary children discovering magic. Remember Edward Eager? Half Magic, The Well-Wishers, The Time Garden? Old fashioned even when I read them as a kid, but they are still charming today. And then there's Any Which Wall by Laurel Snyder coming out in May this year. It's an homage to Eager in every possible way and made me eager (har) to do some re-reading. But Any Which Wall has plenty of charm of its own. Four kids--two from one family and two from another are on their own over the summer while parents are at work. Susan, the oldest is in middle school, and too cool to play any more, she only hangs out. Emma, the youngest, has just learned to ride her bike and is really trying to keep up with the big kids. Roy and Henry are in the middle--one more serious and the other more accident prone. And then they find the wall. At first they don't know how it works but they soon discover that it's magic and that's when their adventures begin. As they travel through space and time, they learn some lessons about themselves and in the end they have to say good bye to magic. And even if it's not the most thought provoking book I've read lately, it was a lot of fun and one I could recommend to any 2nd to 6th grader capable of reading it. Every book doesn't have to be War and Peace.
Made me think of:
All of Edward Eager's books
The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall
Any Which Wall by Laurel Snyder, 978-0-375-95560-3, on sale May 26, 2009

Wagons Ho!

Actually, Alvin Ho Allergic to Camping, Hiking and Other Natural Disasters by Lenore Look with pictures by LeUyen Pham is what I want to talk about. Alvin Ho, perpetual worrier, verbally precocious and member of the all around wonderful Ho family, is back. And this time his dad is going to take him camping. Now Alvin has a whole new slew of things to worry about: bears, getting lost, rain, spider bites, and how to explain all the emergency gear Alvin and his brother buy online using the emergency credit card. Pham's lively illustrations are a true enhancement to the story, not just an extra. Alvin, his friends, and family are fully realized characters. And the jokes are funny. What's not to love? Coming in June. 978-0-375-85705-8
Made me think of:
Junie B. Jones series, by Barbara Park
Marvin Redpost series, by Louis Sachar
Yang the Youngest and his Terrible Ear, by Lensey Namioka

This is Your Brain Reading

Proust and the Squid doesn't sound like it's going to be about reading and brain research but Maryanne Wolf's book is just that. It is a fascinating look at the history of reading--the development of written language, I should say; how we learn to read; what happens when the brain can't learn to read and what can be done about it. Does this sound dry? It isn't. I read it in only a couple of days and it's very rare for me to read nonfiction that fast. Did you know that Socrates thought that written language was a mistake? That it would interfere with our ability to truly understand a subject and make us all lazy learners. Did you know that when you first read a word your brain instantly thinks of all the meanings of that word before it picks the one that makes sense in context? And that preschoolers who are exposed systematically to rhyme and rhythm find it easier to learn to read? This is a book for anyone passionate about reading, how our brains work and the teaching of reading.
It made me think of:
Steven Pinkner's work