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

Tough Subjects for Kids

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

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

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.