Reading Refuge

Evil Government Conspiracies, Take Two

2009-08-17T07:50:00.000-07:00

So when Suzanne Collins sequel to The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, comes out on September 1st you will undoubtedly be standing in line to get your copy. As you should. You're probably wondering, "Is it as good?" and, of course, it is, almost. In The Hunger Games almost every step of the story reveals yet another surprise and, while Katniss and crew continue to develop as characters and the government is revealed as even more despicable than you could have believed in Catching Fire, once you've been amazed by the original story it's hard to be that amazed ever again. CF is more about the bigger picture, the world outside of Katniss, where THG is more about Katniss's internal struggles and changes. I don't want to talk too much about the story itself because the biggest part of the fun is seeing where Collins takes it. And she takes it in some surprising directions.

Good for 10 and up. Give it to all your adult friends too.

Catching Fire, by Suzanne Collins, 978-0-439-02349-8

Comic Love

2009-08-13T08:21:00.000-07:00

This is not about funny love affairs but instead love of the art form known as comics. I love them. I read the comics page in the paper every day. Why start your day with just the bad news? So when I found out about graphic novels, of course I was interested. And there are a lot of serious graphic novels that are wonderful. But what I really love are the goofy ones.

Just this week I discovered Jarrett J. Krosoczka's Lunch Lady, specifically Lunch Lady and the League of Librarians. Apparently this is the second in the series. Rest assured that I will be searching out all the rest of them. I didn't even notice there were others on the shelf. How could I look any further than a League of Librarians? Evil Librarians, at that. The idea was too delicious to pass up. Not that I have anything against librarians. I wanted to BE my elementary school librarian when I grew up. But librarians are always beatified in books for young readers and so how fun is it to have that turned on its head?

The Lunch Lady, her assistant, Betty, and a gang of three kids called The Breakfast Bunch solve mysteries around the school, foil evil plots, thwart criminals and use really cool gadgets made from things you'd find in a lunchroom. I really liked the spork communicator, for example. In this installment, they foil a plot by librarians to take over the world, starting by destroying a new video game system. Do I think the world would be a better place without video games? Possibly. But that's not really the point. Clearly we can't let librarians run amok.

Highly recommended for elementary school. Even middle school. Both my kids couldn't wait to get their hands on it.

Lunch Lady and the League of Librarians, by Jarrett J. Krosoczka, 978-0-375-84684-7

Science Fairs

2009-08-03T07:56:00.000-07:00

Was Robin Brande a science geek (or maybe nerd is the right word?) when she was in school? Both her books have a strong science focus and science fairs come into play in both. Not that I have anything against geeks or nerds of any persuasion. After all, I blog about children's books that I read.

In Fat Cat, Cat is working on a science fair project for a very special science class. It is a class that focuses on creating interesting work for the fair, always engenders the winner of the fair and is a great thing to have on your college application. But instead of choosing a topic that interests the student herself, at the start of the year everyone is given a picture at random. That picture is to inspire a choice of topic for the fair project. Cat gets a picture of early humans and, at first, is totally uninspired. Then it hits her. This can be a vehicle for revenge against the boy who was once her best friend but has been her nemesis for many years. She will emulate the hominid life style--altering her diet and eschewing modern conveniences like cars--she will BE the science experiment. And she will end the year stronger, healthier, extremely fit (possibly thin for once in her life) and, most important of all, the winner of the science fair due to her unusual field of study.

Of course, nothing works exactly as planned but along the way Cat learns a lot about nutrition and exercise, a lot about the life of early humans, and a lot about human relationships in the here and now.

Highly recommended.

Fat Cat by Robin Brande, 9780375844492.

Football for the Non Sport Enthusiast

2009-07-09T17:11:00.000-07:00

A while ago I read Chris Crutcher's book Deadline, a fabulous book about a dying boy who decides to go out for football. After all, what does he have to lose? I am not and never have been a football fan but when Gordon Korman's Pop came my way, I decided to give it a chance. After all, I liked Deadline so what did I have to lose? And once again the football was an important part of the story but not the whole story by a long shot. Marcus is new to town and really really wants to play football. But the team has been really successful and they don't want a new player. Hanging out in the park, Marcus meets an unusual man who is happy to throw the ball around with Marcus. In fact, he is happy to tackle Marcus the hardest he's ever been tackled, throw the ball almost harder than Marcus can catch and catch just about anything Marcus can throw. Soon Marcus has discovered that his new football playing friend is a former NFL player and the father of one of the guys who really doesn't want Marcus on the high school team. Full of surprising depths about dealing with long term illness, being true to your friends and taking the consequences of your actions. Recommended for upper elementary and middle school.

Pop, by Gordon Korman, 978-0-06-174230-9, coming out 8/25/2009

Old Friends

2009-06-02T14:30:00.000-07:00

Browsing at Powell's, I looked as I always do for short stories by Joan Aiken. A small, forlorn hope still lives that I will find one of the two collections I checked out from our public library over and over again as a child. One was Not What You Expected and the other was The Faithless Lollybird (who could resist that title?) Even though I have looked repeatedly and never ever found a copy of anything remotely resembling those two books, I still look every time I am there. And this time--success! Of a sort. It's not either of those two but a new compilation of her stories from all across her career. I opened up Shadows & Moonshine and what story was in there? A Harp of Fishbones, that's what. One of the few stories I remembered very clearly. There are only five stories from my (as I like to think of them) books and two of the stories I especially remember are not there but those five are enough to make me very happy. And all the other stories have the same fairy tale quality I remember where almost anything could happen. Strange. Wonderful. Satisfying. Go on out there and read some short stories. Visit your library if you can't find any in a store.

Shadows & Moonshine, by Joan Aiken, 978-1-56792-346-9

Punk Fairies

2009-05-11T07:40:00.000-07:00

Actually the fairies in Eyes Like Stars are not the same punk fairies as those in The Good Fairies of New York but reading that first will definitely get you in the right mood. Bertie lives in a theater with the fairies from Midsummer's Night Dream as friends. The stage manager, wardrobe mistress, props master and other important theater figures live there too as well as all the actors who only come out when a notice is left for them on the call board. As you can see, Eyes Like Stars takes place in a world much like the ones in plays--it looks familiar but it's not quite reality. Bertie is an orphan and although the theater is home it is a home where she doesn't really have a role. After causing one disaster too many, Bertie is told to prove that she is useful to the theater or she will have to leave forever. She decides to direct a new version of Hamlet proving herself useful as a director. But it is really as a playwright that she is able to solve the mystery of where she came from and save the theater from falling apart. For middle school, advanced readers in elementary school and anyone who likes Shakespeare.

Eyes Like Stars by Lisa Mantchev, 978-0-312-38096-0, July 2009.

Made me think of:
The Good Fairies of New York by Martin Millar (fairies)
The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick (watching a story unfold before you)

This just in--cake wrecking contest!!! Lisa Mantchev is holding a contest and you can win fabulous prizes. See here for details: http://www.theatre-illuminata.com/contest2.html

UnExpected

2009-05-05T07:36:00.000-07:00

Paisley Hanover Acts Out came as a surprise. It was, in Paisley speak, UnExpected. The book comes packaged in a cute box with a hot pink and orange cover with a cartoony picture on front. Inside is the book and then a little notebook that I thought was blank but was really a copy of Paisley's notebook. Judging by the cover, it was going to be a cute, fun story about middle school with little cartoony drawings. It was a fun story. But it was more than that. First off, Paisley is a high school sophomore. Secondly, there were not cute little illustrations throughout the book (totally fine by me). And lastly, Paisley is struggling to be who she really is, not just who she thinks the world wants her to be. But now that she's invested a lot of herself in becoming popular suddenly deciding to make a shift is not so easy. This could have been just one of many stories about a girl deciding to think for herself but stands out from the herd because of Paisley's completely believable snarky voice--occasionally anguished, usually funny, always heartfelt.

Paisley Hanover Acts Out by Cameron Tuttle, 978-978-0-8037-3586-5

Stand Up for Something

2009-04-20T08:09:00.000-07:00

Mena, the main character in Evolution, Me & Other Freaks of Nature by Robin Brande, is starting high school. Instead of anticipation, she is feeling dread. After a letter she writes leads to everyone she has ever known and cared about, including her church, being sued, she is left without friends or a church. Even her parents aren't very cordial to her. Things start to look up when she gets to her biology class where her assigned lab partner is someone she's never met before--a chance to start fresh. Plus the teacher makes biology fun and compelling. But when the members of her former church youth group decide to take a stand against the teaching of evolution, Mena has to decide whether or not to take sides publicly.

I really liked this young adult book and would recommend it for middle and high school. It would be a great discussion book about standing up for what you believe in, thinking for yourself and telling the truth no matter what the cost.

Evolution, Me & Other Freaks of Nature, by Robin Brande, 978-0-440-24030-3

Made me think of:
What Would Emma Do? by Eileen Cook

Special Kids

2009-04-14T07:18:00.000-07:00

Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco X. Stork is about a boy with Asperger's Syndrome. An extremely high functioning boy with autism who goes to work at his father's law office over the summer. Marcelo had hoped to work with the ponies at his private school for kids with special needs but his father wants him to face the "real world" before his last year of high school so it's off to the mail room for Marcelo. Forced to leave the sheltered world of school and home, Marcelo finds himself confronted with more than just navigating the public transportation system and learning how the copy machine works. Instead he finds himself embroiled in moral dilemmas and personal relationships.

Marcelo is an extremely compelling character and his story is an unusual one in the world of teen literature. He may not be able to comfortably look people in the eye but his special interest in theology has given him a way to analyze situations that would be unusual for any teen but one that seems especially remarkable for a person who is unused to interacting with people. Recommended for mature middle school, high school and adults who work with children.

Made me think of:
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time--another story about a boy on the autism spectrum

Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco X. Stork, 978-0-545-05474-4

Mental Abuse, but Funny

2009-04-04T09:18:00.000-07:00

Liam is Mr. Popularity. To his father, that is an insult. Because why be popular when you could be smart and successful? So even though Liam is good looking, friendly, a snappy dresser and a big help with his mother's retail business, he thinks of himself as a screwup. Hence the book's title: King of the Screwups by K. L. Going. After screwing up one too many times for his father, Liam is about to be shipped off to live with his repressive grandparents in Arizona. But then fate in the form of his cross-dressing, glam band rocker, radio dj uncle comes to the rescue. At first Liam doesn't feel very rescued. His uncle lives in an unkempt trailer in a small town. He doesn't like vegetables--a problem since Liam's a vegetarian. And he's not thrilled to have his nephew foisted on him. Even though this is a story about Liam gaining self-respect and understanding, it never feels formulaic. Liam has a unique voice and all the supporting characters are well drawn and interesting. As the reader, you know why Liam is Mr. Popularity and you never stop hoping he'll figure it out too.

King of the Screwups, a novel by K. L. Going, 978-0-15-206258-3

Riding Along

2009-03-24T09:09:00.000-07:00

Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen is the story of Auden's summer after high school graduation. Auden has always been a very focused student and she comes to spend some time with her father and his new wife and baby at the beach with college text books in tow, planning to do a lot of prep work for the coming year. Slowly Auden finds herself being tugged into town life in this small beach community and starts on a quest to live all the experiences she missed in a childhood devoted to scholarship. At first she is just along for the ride but soon she is planning her own new route into adulthood. A Sarah Dessen book that I would recommend to adults as well as teens.

Couldn't Put It Down

2009-03-09T14:16:00.000-07:00

Blade: Playing Dead by Tim Bowler, that is. Blade is a street kid with a history that is slowly but not completely revealed as the story moves along. Some time in his past, he did something that has caused him to lay low and not call attention to himself. But now his past is catching up to him. As he narrates his tale, you are drawn to him even when he refuses to paint himself in a flattering light. And even if he were completely unappealing the nonstop action would propel you through the story. I don't think I've ever finished a book feeling quite so breathless. Or with quite so many questions. I hear there will be a sequel. That is a very good thing.
Blade: Playing Dead, by Tim Bowler, 978-0-399-52186-3, coming May 2009

Reminded me of:
Alex Rider books by Anthony Horowitz somewhat but I can't think of another book off the top of my head with the same gritty, urban feel to it.

Sister Love

2009-03-02T14:16:00.000-08:00

Lauren Myracle's Peace, Love & Baby Ducks is all about sisters, specifically sisters Carly and Anna. Almost all of their interactions are dependent on Carly being the big sister and Anna the younger. But then Carly comes back from a summer work study project to discover that not only is Anna about to start high school, but she's developed in a way that Carly never has. And suddenly she's getting attention at school because of Anna, instead of the other way around. As they redefine their relationship, both girls do some growing up and learn to see from the other's perspective. But this is really Carly's story. It's Carly whose friendships grow and develop during the story and Carly who has the aha! moments about her relationship with her parents. Although there is a little romance and a lot about friendship, this is ultimately a story about family. Recommended for middle and high school.
Peace, Love & Baby Ducks, by Lauren Myacle, 978-0-525-47743-3, available May 2009
Made me think of:
Mare's War by Tanita Davis (another sister story)
Let It Snow by Lauren Myracle, John Green and Maureen Johnson (this one is more about the romances but friendship and family are important too)
books by Sarah Dessen

Fairy Tales

2009-02-20T16:22:00.000-08:00

Who doesn't like fairy tales? I can't think of anyone who does so it's no wonder there are lots of updated fairy tales out there. But it's fun to read a totally new fairy tale too. And that's what Patricia Wrede's Thirteenth Child is. As any reader of fairy tales can tell you, the seventh son of a seventh son is born to be a powerful magician. But did you know that the thirteenth child is supposed to be bad luck, a bringer of misery, someone to be avoided? At least that's the case in the world Eff and Lan are born into--Eff, the unlucky thirteenth, and Lan, her twin, the seventh son of a seventh son. But in Wrede's western style fairy tale, there is more than one kind of magic. When Eff's family moves out to the edge of the frontier, she meets a few people who challenge her ideas about the working of magic and mainstream magical traditions. She also learns to believe in herself and saves a whole community while she's at it. It looks like the beginning of a new series called Frontier Magic. I can't wait for more!
Thirteenth Child by Patricia C. Wrede, 978-0-545-03342-8, on sale in April 2009

Made me think of:
Rapunzel's Revenge by Shannon Hale--a graphic novel that also features the melding of fairy tales and cowboy westerns
Dealing with Dragons by Patricia Wrede--another girl trying to make a place for herself outside the conventions of fairy tale world

Moral Dilemmas Come in All Sizes

2009-02-02T19:23:00.000-08:00

Emma lives in a small town. Everyone knows not only who she is but it seems like they even know what she ate for dinner last night. She hopes a track scholarship will get her out of there by way of Northwestern University but in the meantime she has to navigate the stormy waters of her evangelical high school. Things weren't too bad until she made the mistake of kissing her best friend's boyfriend. True, she and Colin have been friends since they were both two giving Emma longer friendship rights with Colin than with Joann. But kissing Colin, even by accident, totally breaks the best friend code.

Then things get complicated. Colin and Emma witness a popular girl from school getting sick from drinks and drugs. They can't tell anyone because it would make Joann unhappy to know that Colin and Emma were out together, even if it was innocent, and because Emma could be kicked off the track team for being anywhere near where people were drinking. So they don't tell anyone. And that's where the complications really start. Girls start to faint at school and somehow the town becomes convinced that terrorists are poisoning them. Fingers are pointed at everyone who seems a little different or unconventional. Should Emma come clean with what she knows?

Recommended for middle and high school.

Made me think of:
North of Beauty by Justina Chen Headley--another story about a girl runner among other things
Converting Kate by Beckie Weinheimer--another story about a girl struggling with religious choices

What Would Emma Do? by Eileen Cook 9781416974321

Memories

2009-01-19T09:12:00.000-08:00

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

2009-01-13T08:08:00.000-08:00

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

2009-01-12T07:43:00.000-08:00

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!

2009-01-08T09:54:00.000-08:00

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

2009-01-06T12:55:00.000-08:00

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

Snowed In

2008-12-19T09:34:00.000-08:00

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

2008-12-11T12:35:00.000-08:00

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

2008-12-10T17:05:00.000-08:00

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

2008-12-04T17:48:00.000-08:00

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

2008-12-02T14:01:00.000-08:00

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

Tough Subjects for Kids

2008-11-19T13:09:00.000-08:00

I just read Laurie Halse Anderson's Chains, a story about a slave during the Revolutionary War. Isabel has it tough, really tough. Her owner dies and Isabel is thinking about the freedom she has been promised. But the lawyer with the will has fled due to the war and, not surprisingly, no one will take Isabel's word for it. Before you can say Thomas Paine she' and her sister have been sold to a greedy loyalist and his bad tempered wife. Details about the war are seamlessly woven into Isabel's story, as are horrific facts about living as a slave. The story ends on a hopeful note. And that's where the title of today's blog comes in. It's a story for kids to read (I think the target is middle school but upper elementary kids would be interested and could read it) and so it shouldn't be too dark and grim, should it? On the other hand, it's a story about slavery and, facing facts, most actual slave narratives do not end on a hopeful note. Such a fine line--where to shelter and where to trust our child readers to know for themselves how much they are ready to process.

Other books this made me think of:
Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes--I think it would be very interesting to compare Chains to what I think of as an old-school Revolutionary War story
Calico Bush by Rachel Field--another old-school historical novel about a French girl who is an indentured servant

A Good Quest

2008-11-17T12:59:00.000-08:00

The quest is classic theme, especially in fantasy novels. My favorite of Lloyd Alexander's Prydain Chronicles has always been Taran Wanderer, a quest story if every there was one. So I was pretty sure I would like The Farwalker's Quest by Joni Sensel even before I started. And like it I did. Ariel and her friend, Zeke, are both about to start their apprenticeships and the journey to adulthood when another kind of journey takes over their lives. Ariel is kidnapped by a couple of bad 'uns because they think she may be the next "farwalker", a trade that has fallen by the wayside after the collapse of technology and the increasing isolation of villages. Zeke follows behind to rescue her. Both are caught up in things they could not have imagined in their small fishing village as they travel through woods and mountains, to a monastery and towns large and small. A wonderful read for 4-8th grade. Coming out in February of 2009.

For readers who liked:
Taran Wanderer (see above) by Lloyd Alexander
Book of a Thousand Days (another strong girl character), by Shannon Hale

Absolutely Compulsively Readable

2008-11-06T11:44:00.000-08:00

Absolutely Maybe, by Lisa Yee, I mean. I couldn't put it down and a week later I still have the characters voices running through my head. Maybe whose name is short for Maybelline (I know, it's awful but her mother is a former beauty queen who runs a charm school--wouldn't you choose Maybe instead of Maybelline too?) needs to get away from home, from her mother's negative comments, from her soon to be step-father's wandering hands. So when one of her two best friends gets ready to leave Florida to go to film school, Maybe comes along for the ride. Oh, and she brings her other best friend, Ted along too. Ted, Hollywood and Maybe make it to LA but that's when things get complicated. Hollywood starts calling himself Daniel now that he's at USC. Ted starts working for an aging, reclusive movie star. And Maybe can't find her real father although she's sure he must be somewhere in LA.

I loved Ted's non-stop chatter, his is voice is the one I still hear. I loved Maybe's growing self-confidence once she steps out of her mother's shadow. And I loved that it would have been so easy to turn this into a romance between Maybe and Hollywood but they remain friends. Unexpected, like a lot of this book. Oh, and I loved the food descriptions--I dare you to read this and not want to run out to the taco truck for a fresh taco or two.

For people who liked Jordan Sonneblick's Notes From a Midnight Driver; Sarah Dessen's The Truth About Forever; Liz Gallagher's The Opposite of Invisible; Paul Acampora's Defining Dulcie.

Deep Thoughts

2008-10-22T07:52:00.000-07:00

I recently read Terry Pratchett's new book, Nation. I am a Pratchett fan and would read anything he wrote, including copy on the back of a cereal box. But this, this was something more than his usual parodies. Something great even.

It seems to have been inspired by the terrible tsunami of a couple of years ago, Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs and Steel, Pratchett's take on Victorian England and trying coming to terms with the meaning of life and death. The Nation is a group of islanders. Mau is off island going through the rite of passage to become an adult when a tsunami tears through the chain of islands they live in. By the time he returns from his time alone, there is no one there to finish the rite of passage ceremony and he is caught--no longer a boy but not yet a man. Then a strange English girl steps out of the jungle and it turns out he is not alone but definitely without his people.

I loved that Mau is not your typical hero--what he's good at is asking questions and acting practically. Not a man of action, charm and wit, he's thoughtful and raging against the dark. Daphne has Tiffany Aching-like qualities and yet she's her own person. She and Mau are both willing to question the way the world is and are unwilling to take the answer, "because this is how it's always been."

Really a fabulous book. But maybe not for children. At least not a book you could entirely grasp as a child, although it would still be likable and would hold up under rereading as the child matured. The themes are big--the meaning of life, the senselessness of death, the importance of philosophical curiosity and the unequal distribution of the world's wealth are all featured. Great for high school and middle school. Definitely great for adults.

Books it made me think of:
Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond
other Terry Pratchett books, especially Wee Free Men

Roar and other dystopian fantasies

2008-10-21T07:50:00.001-07:00

City of Ember by Jeanne Duprau, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, The Tomorrow Code by Brian Falkner. There are a lot of books showing a bleak future for our world out there for kids these days. Roar by Emma Clayton is another such book. Roar is set in a world where all animals have gone berserk, attacking humans without provocation which creates the need for all of humanity to live in big walled cities crowded together in poorly constructed apartments beset with mold and little hope for the future. Mika's twin has gone missing and is presumed dead by everyone but him. As there stories unfold in parallel, we come to see who is controlling their fates and hope they will be reunited. The story is intense, fast-paced and suspenseful. Mika and Ellie are smart and likable--heroes you can really get behind. It would be a great companion book to any of those listed above or perhaps Lois Lowry's The Giver.

Catching Up

2008-10-20T12:46:00.000-07:00

I have read a lot of books lately and not posted on any of them. Here's an attempt to get a big more caught up. Hopefully more later.

Peace, Locomotion by Jacqueline Woodson
This is a sequel to the book Locomotion which I haven't read although I will search it out now that I've read this one. Told in letters by Lonnie Collins Motion, or Locomotion, to his little sister this is a story about living in a loving foster care home (how refreshing!). In the few months covered in the book, Locomotion writes about friendship, missing his dead parents, missing his sister, wanting to be a poet and how his teacher's perception of this affects his school work, and quite movingly about the foster family's oldest brother returning from the Iraq war after being injured. A beautiful cry for peace in our world.

Books it made me think of:
Love That Dog and Hate That Cat by Sharon Creech
Make Lemonade by Virginia Euwer Wolff (although Peace Locomotion is for a younger audience)
Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis

Dragons for the rest of us

2008-10-09T09:52:00.000-07:00

Eon Dragoneye Reborn, by Alison Goodman is a dragon book but not only a dragon book. Set in a fantasy world based on traditional Chinese society and mythology, it is a story of intrigue, sword fighting, court politics, and mostly pretending to be something you're not. Eon is a dragoneye apprentice hoping to be chosen by the Rat Dragon to protect the empire. Eon is his master's last chance to have an apprentice chosen, a cripple who causes people to make the sign warding off evil wherever he goes, and disrespected in his household, his training classes and by the world at large. But more than that, Eon is really 16 year old Eona masquerading as a boy.

Coming out in December, Eon is a book you won't want to put down. And then you'll wish 2010 would hurry up and get here because that's when the second book in the duology will appear. Here's her website: http://alisongoodman.com.au/

Books that you might also like if you like Eon:

Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit, by Nahoko Uehashi (fantasy inspired by Japanese history and culture about a female warrior)
The Masqueraders, by Georgette Heyer (period romance about a brother and sister who each masquerade as the other)

Why blog? Why now?

2008-10-07T10:09:00.000-07:00

I love to read. I love to recommend books to people. But now that I'm not working in a bookstore, I need an outlet. So here it is. At least, I think it will be. An outlet, that is.

What's the plan? Only to blog about books I like. Mostly to blog about children's books. And, hopefully, to start some conversations about them. So feel free to play along. Tell me your thoughts, dreams and ambitions. Or just tell me about what you like to read. And what you like about it.

Ready, set, read!