The Moon and More - Sarah Dessen

My fave YA author, Sarah Dessen has a new novel coming out, The Moon and More, and I was lucky enough to get a copy at ALA.  As with Hattie Ever After, I waited and waited to read this one, wanting to have it waiting for me instead of having it be finished.

I've found something interesting with Sarah Dessen's novels.  I love her work - strong characters, a little romance, set at the beach usually, good conflict, everything I want in a novel.  And yet, for some reason it takes me a little while to let her books sink in before I really love them. I like this one a lot, don't get me wrong, but I do not love it like I love the Truth About Forever or Just Listen my two very, very favorites of hers.  I do not even love it like I love What Happened to Goodbye or Along for the Ride. And yet, I remember feeling the very same way when I first read those books.

For some reason, her books have to percolate around a little for me.  I might even have to read them for a second time.  In part, I'm sure it's that once I start, I am full steam ahead.  In part, though, I think it's that there's so much to think about, so many layers, so much happening underneath the surface, that I can't process it all at once, and so I let it sit, and I think about it vaguely, or sometimes something happens to make me think about it wholeheartedly, and then suddenly, one day, I'm just like, that was a terrific book.  It's interesting.

This story has cameos by many Sarah Dessen characters, but is focused on a new character, Emaline, who's about to go off to college, Emaline's longtime boyfriend, Luke, and a perhaps new love interest, college hipster, Theo.  Emaline's (unhappily) working for the family business and her father, with whom she's had minimal contact with over the years, has just moved to town with her ten year old half brother. Over the last year, her father had gotten her all keyed up to apply for top tier colleges that he said he'd help pay for, only to suddenly change his mind and say he couldn't help her with anything and basically start ignoring her yet again.  What the what?  Turns out her father's in the process of divorcing his second wife. Ugh.  If that weren't enough, things aren't great between her and Luke, and the very high maintenance clients in one of the rentals want her to run interference between them and a local artist.  It's a little overwhelming, but if Emaline can hang on and get through it, she just might make it to the moon and more.

On sale June 4th.

Updated May 2nd HERE'S a new video just posted about Sarah and her new book :-)

Hattie Ever After

Have you ever read a book that just really stuck with you?  Of course I have, but it's not so often the YA book that do that for me.  Kirby Larson's Newbery Honor book, Hattie Big Sky was one of those books for me.  Hattie just wormed her way into my soul from her Montana homestead and took up residence.  I rooted for her and loved her and cried with her when things got difficult.  I didn't expect, however, to ever see her again once I'd finished Hattie Big Sky.  So perhaps you can imagine my excitement when I heard at the ALA conference that Hattie was back, and then they even gave me an advanced reader's copy.  Can I just tell you that I left it sitting on my shelf for more than a month because I didn't want to read it?

And here's why I didn't want to read it.   On the one hand, I was afraid it wouldn't hold up to the original.  Writing a sequel is a tough thing to do, at least in my estimation.  Well, actually, I should say, writing a good sequel.   I was a little worried I wouldn't love Hattie as much in book two.  That Hattie might have changed in ways I wasn't prepared for.  On the other hand, I knew it was going to be so good that I didn't want it to be over too soon.  I wanted to have that experience still waiting for me.  It's kind of a weird thing I have with authors I love.  I know once I start reading that in just a few hours the experience will be finished, and then I'll be waiting again.  I don't want it to go too quickly, so I give myself time to just look at the cover and imagine what might be.

What might be in Hattie Ever After is pure brilliance.  I think I might have actually liked it more than I liked Hattie Big Sky.  The writing in both books is beautiful. But I think that Hattie as a little bit older character has even more appeal for me than she did as a younger woman.  She wasn't a little girl in the first book, but she's more mature in this one, even though she's still quite young by today's standards.  She's looking to discover herself (even at the cost, perhaps, of the relationship with her boyfriend). She's looking to start a career as a reporter, one that's really interesting, and one that requires courage and determination for a young woman at the time.  Seems like a perfect set-up for a girl like Hattie, don't you think?

Kirby Larson does an amazing job of creating a character I can see so very clearly in a town (San Francisco) I can see so very clearly, too. It's as exciting for the reader to live vicariously in San Francisco as it was for Hattie, I think. So many exciting things are happening at that time, and Hattie gets a chance to experience them. In turn, I did, too.

Books like Hattie Big Sky and Hattie Ever After are the reason I love historical fiction and I highly recommend them. Anyone else out there vote for a third book in the series???

Playing catch-up - story of my life!

I read several books during our spring break trip to Hawaii which I haven't gotten to blogging about, but I'm determined to whip out some serious posting today.



First up I read the Printz winner, In Darkness by Nick Lake which was available through Multnomah County Library as an e-book.  Good choice for the title, b/c it was seriously DARK.  It's set in Haiti, and I like that there is now a YA book set there, because I can't think of another one.  Someone chime in if you know of one.  The book takes place in the slums of Haiti just after the big earthquake and is super intense, depressing and creepy. The main character, Shorty, is a gang member, and he's been mixed up in some seriously bad stuff. In the novel, he's trapped in the rubble, sure he's going to die, and telling his life story mixed in with visions of the Haitian liberation from the early 1800s.  I didn't love this book. It was a little too intense, violent and weird.  And it's definitely not the kind of book I usually read on vacation! But by the last third of the book, I really did care about Shorty and was engaged in the story.  If it hadn't won the Printz, I probably wouldn't have stuck with it, and I think that will be the reaction of all but the most sophisticated teen readers, but I'm glad I did.

Real Mermaids Don't Need High Heels by Helene Boudreau. I didn't realize this was the second book in the series when I read it, but I didn't feel like I was missing any information, so it clearly worked well as a stand alone. For some reason, I just love mermaid books. I'm not sure why, but they're just fun. And while I did enjoy this book overall, I thought it was a little too mermaid-y, a little too obvious or overdone.   Jade is half mermaid and half human, and not everyone knows she's a mermaid, so she has to deal with some interesting problems. Luckily, her boyfriend is also half mer. In fact, there are quite a lot of mer-people in the town, perhaps there were too many?? anyway, things are going crazy in the mer-world in the lake in Jade's town, and she and her friends have to do their best to try and get things figured out. I read an advanced reader's copy of this book.

Things I Can't Forget by Miranda Kenneally. I thought this was a great storyline, about a girl, Kate, who'd helped a friend who wanted to get an abortion even though she firmly believed abortion was wrong.  Kate couldn't quite forgive herself for helping her friend or her friend for aborting the baby, and she was miserable.  Kate hopes that spending the summer as a church camp counselor might send her the sign she's been seeking, that she's forgiven.  There's a romance in the story, and some typical petty girl stuff, and normally I'd be all in favor of this type of story.  I thought, however, that the Christian aspect of this book was way too over the top for many readers. I don't have a problem with authors bringing in religion or religious ideas. I know they're important to many people and they're issues young people struggle with.  Heck, adults struggle with them.  Unfortunately, I thought this book was too heavy handed and I think it will turn many readers off. I read an advanced reader's copy of this book.

Going Vintage by Lindsey Leavitt. I just love Lindsey Leavitt, and this book reminded me why.  It's terrific.  Fun and funny, but with serious issues woven in as well.  Mallory's boyfriend Jeremy has been cheating with her via an online girlfriend.  When Mallory finds out, her reaction is a little overboard, but it leads to a great story.  Mallory swears off all technology - no Internet, no Facebook, no cell phone. Can you imagine? I mean screen free week is one thing, but this is something else altogether. And that's not all.  She's also found an old list her grandmother made in the 1960's of things to do, and she wants to do everything on it.  She wants to, for example, sew a prom dress.  Does she know how to sew?  No.  She wants to start a pep club at school.  Does she know what a pep club even is, really?  No.  All of these things lead to some very funny results, and they all have some unexpected consequences.  I think you'll find yourself charmed by Mallory in her vintage period if you can get your hands on a copy of this recently published novel. I read an advanced reader's copy of this book.

Double Crossed  by Ally Carter was a super short fun read that combined her two worlds of the Heist society novels and the Gallagher girls novels (one of my all time fave series).  It's actually available for the Kindle (or on the Kindle app if you have an iPad or iPhone) for FREE here. It's only about fifty pages, but it's a great introduction to both series if you've never read them, and I thought she did a great job mixing the two worlds.  There are excerpts from both series with the download, too.

Garment of Shadows by Laurie R. King is the most recent installment of the Mary Russell series, written about sherlock Holmes and his wife Mary Russell.  I quite love this series, and although I was a little disappointed in the last one, I decided to give this one a try.  SO glad I came back to it because it was great.  In this story, Mary Russell has a case of amnesia, to the point of not knowing who she is, let alone who Holmes is. When the story begins, doesn't even know where she is or why her head hurts so badly.  Piece by piece, bruise by bruise, the story unfolds and readers discover with her, what happened when she disappeared with the little boy who doesn't speak.  Fabulous series which I highly recommend to lovers of the Sherlock Holmes stories.

So that was my spring break.  Have you read any great books on vacation lately?

The Language of Flowers/ and Unbroken - Grown up book club books

The Language of Flowers was a book I thought I would love!  I adore flowers, and to learn they had their own language?  What's not to love?  I'll tell you what.  The main character.  Couldn't stand her.  She drove me nuts.  She made terrible choices over and over and over again.  I should have had more sympathy for her, given her background, but I couldn't find it.  I felt kind of bad about it, too.  Still do, actually.  Which is kind of a little weird, isn't it?  I mean, she's not real.

This book, though, led to some awesome discussion in our book club.  Hardly anyone liked that main character, but she gave us lots to talk about and explore.  She made us stop and examine how our society deals with children in foster care, for instance, which most of us never even give a moment's thought to.  She made us think about guilt and how that affect people. We discussed post partum depression and post natal care.  So many rich ideas came out, that while I went into book club feeling like I didn't really like this book, I came out thinking differently.  I didn't like the character, but the book was worth reading.

And the language of flowers itself?  Super cool. Recommended for book groups.

Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption is also an adult book club book which I am sure will lend itself to all kinds of great discussion.  The book chronicles the life of Olympic track runner Louis Zamperini, focusing mostly on the period from when his airplane was shot out of the sky by the Japanese through his capture and imprisonment as a POW. I thought the writing in this book was excellent, and the story was also excellent.  The events are intense and suspenseful, gripping the reader's attention.

There was too much violence for me, though.  I think that some examples of the barbarity and inhumanity inflicted on the prisoners would have been enough to get the point across, but that Hillenbrand put too many examples in the story, and it became wearisome.  I'm not sure if that's more a poor commentary on me - like I want to bury my head in the sand and pretend those horrible things didn't happen - or if she really did put too many details in, but that's how I felt. I did listen to this book on audio which did not allow me to skim sections, which I probably would have done had I had the actual text.

History buffs and those who like biographies and/or war stories will be intrigued by this powerful story.

Got Poison?

On March 12th Poison, by the delightful author and librarian, Bridget Zinn, was released and and I hope you have gotten your copy of this fun novel.

I only got to meet Bridget once before she passed away, but she was what I call a sparkly personality, and that sparkle comes through in this delightful novel.  This is a book that's got beautifully crafted language as well as an exciting plot!

Here's the info from the publisher about the story:

Sixteen-year-old Kyra, a highly-skilled potions master, is the only one who knows her kingdom is on the verge of destruction—which means she’s the only one who can save it. Faced with no other choice, Kyra decides to do what she does best: poison the kingdom’s future ruler, who also happens to be her former best friend. But, for the first time ever, her poisoned dart…misses. Now a fugitive instead of a hero, Kyra is caught in a game of hide-and-seek with the king’s army and her potioner ex-boyfriend, Hal. At least she’s not alone. She’s armed with her vital potions, a too-cute pig, and Fred, the charming adventurer she can’t stop thinking about. Kyra is determined to get herself a second chance (at murder), but will she be able to find and defeat the princess before Hal and the army find her? Kyra is not your typical murderer, and she’s certainly no damsel-in-distress—she's the lovable and quick-witted hero of this romantic novel that has all the right ingredients to make teen girls swoon.

There are potions and dastardly deeds in this story, obviously, but there's also a girl crossing a river with a pig on her head! There's fun afoot intermingled with all the possibility for destruction, and just a tiny bit of romance, which we all know I am all in favor of. 

If you'd like to know more about Bridget and her writing, you can check out her blog HERE.

I wish Bridget had gotten to see her novel published, but I'm sure she's looking down and celebrating with a cupcake, as she should be!

Finished the last Caldecott Honors!

Finally I finished the last Caldecott Honors last week.  Both were fantabulous, and both were completely different.

One Cool Friend by Toni Buzzeo and David Small is a funny book about proper and polite Elliot.  Well, polite, at any rate, but not always so proper perhaps.  Elliot wants a penguin, and his dad, assuming he wants a stuffed animal, gives him $20 to buy one.  Elliot has something completely different in mind, and perhaps you can guess what it was.  There's a fabulous twist at the end, but I don't think many young readers will get it.  Great story written by a librarian!! Huzzah!

Sleep Like a Tiger by Mary Logue and Pamela Zagarenski isa lush and beautiful story that's quiet and lovely where One Cool Friend is loud and brash.  The illustrations are simply astonishing in this work.  Like many kiddos, the young girl in this tory does not want to go to sleep.  Her parents have her complete her regular nighttime routine and describe the nighttime routines of various animals while she does it. By the end, of course, she's curled up sound asleep, like a tiger.  Beautifully told and magically illustrated.  A definite must for all homes with young children.

Happy World Book Day!!

Hey, hey, it's World Book Day today!  

Not that I need a special day to celebrate books, but it's fun.

HERE are some fun games to play.

(I played soccer, but I was horrible! I got only 25 points!)

HERE is a fabulous video trailer for the book The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

How will you celebrate??

Finished several books this last few weeks

I finished several books this last few weeks, and I also apparently spent WAY too much time in my car the last few also, since 4 of the books were on audio.  That does not make for a very nice carbon footprint. Yikes!

I wanted to talk about these in order of how much I liked them, but the problem is, there's one favorite, one I really didn't like too much, and all the others are basically tied at really excellent books.

And now, after 45 minutes of writing about these books, Blogger wigged out, and all is lost.  Argh. Save, save, save, people.  How many times do I have to tell you???

OK, well,  I do not have 45 more minutes to re-do these entries, so let's go with the one sentence reviews.  If you want more info, let me know. Dang it!


Mr. Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore, Robin Sloan - LOVED this book about the intersection of the past and future and the intersection of people and technology.  LOVED. this book was an Alex Award winner for adult/teen crossover.

Death Cloud, Andrew Lane - Really liked how Andrew Lane brought in some of the grown up Holmes to this MG novel of the young Sherlock Holmes.  So much action.  No way could any regular human have made it through all that!

Notorious Nineteen, Janet Evanovich - Well, I am sad to say, I think this is my last Stephanie Plum because I'm kind of over her.  There's not any real character growth, and if I'm going to stick with a character, I need that.

The Birth House, Ami McKay - This book was OK.  I read a bunch of it a while ago and just returned to finish it this week for my adult book club.  Obviously it was not that compelling, since I didn't bother to finish it earlier. Not bad, just not great.  Other friends have loved it.

Between Shades of Gray, Ruta Sepetys - An Oregon Battle of the Books grades 6-8 FABULOUS story of Stalin's overthrow of the Baltics, particularly Lithuania.  So much interesting history I didn't know, and really well done characters.  Holocaust genre readers will definitely want to read this one. Get out your box of tissues.

Will Grayson, Will Grayson, David Levithan and John Green - Also required tissues, although in several parts I was laughing out loud. Written in alternating chapters, which I like and hate at the same time, these two master storytellers weave the lives of two HS boys, one gay and one straight, and both named Will Grayson, together beautifully.

Battle of the Kids' Books

Ooooh, I love this time of year.  We're coming into March Madness!!!!!!  And I'm not talking basketball here, peeps.  The SLJ Battle of the Kids' Books is coming up, and the anticipation is starting to build.  It begins on March 12th, and here's the list of this year's contenders:

Bomb by Steve Sheinken (Macmillan)

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein (Hyperion)

Endangered by Eliot Schrefer (Scholastic)

Fault in Our Stars, The by John Green (Penguin)

Jepp, Who Defied the Stars by Katherine Marsh (Hyperion)

Liar & Spy by Rebecca Stead (Random House)

Moonbird by Philip Hoose (Macmillan)

No Crystal Stair by Vauda Micheaux Nelson (Lerner)

One and Only Ivan, The by Katherine Applegate (Harper Collins)

Seraphina by Rachel Hartman (Random House)

Splendors and Glooms by Laura Amy Schlitz (Candlewick)

Starry River of the Sky by Grace Lin (Little Brown)

Temple Grandin by Sy Montgomery (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

Three Times Lucky by Sheila Turnage (Penguin)

Titanic by Deborah Hopkinson (Scholastic)

Wonder by R. J. Palacio (Random House)

It's gonna be a tough year, folks!  Several that I loved are on the list.  Now I NEED to finish Bomb right away and Titanic.  I'm enjoying it much more this second time around.  Glad my arm was twisted to try it again.

If you wanna play along at home, download the bracket HERE.

I read some of the award winners this weekend

 My nephew Willie let me read three of this year's medalists to him last night, and it was so much more fun to share them with a little person than to just read them to myself.  I haven't gotten to do that nearly enough lately, what with overseeing sixteen schools instead of having one of my own, so it was a real treat for me. And these books were a treat for both of us.  What fabulous work was rewarded this year. Just top notch.  Of course!

 



I, Too am America by Langston Hughes and Bryan Collier won the Coretta Scott King illustrator award. The text in this book is only that of Langston Hughes's poem, "I Too, am America," so it is quite sparse, but  the illustrations that Bryan Collier created to go with it are simply splendid.  They are mixed media, oil paintings and cut paper, and somewhat muted in color, but they have lots going on in every page.  The book uses Hughes's poem as a backdrop for a focus on the history of African Americans as Pullman porters.  Many of the illustrations show the porters cleaning things in the train cars and then dispersing what they've collected along they're route, spreading words and music to African Americans all across the country.  There is a note from that artists at the end of the book explaining his thoughts and illustrations, but young readers will enjoy the book whether they know the full backstory or not.

(The Coretta Scott King Book Awards are given annually to outstanding African American authors and illustrators of books for children and young adults that demonstrate an appreciation of African American culture and universal human values.)



Creepy Carrots by Aaron Reynolds and Peter Brown was a Caldecott Honor and a very fun and funny bunny story about Jasper Rabbit who picks and eats carrots every day, sometimes several times a day, from Crackenhopper's Field (which, in itself, is just fun to say).  However, one day he's sure the carrots are stalking him, and he becomes very, very afraid. He asks his mother and his father about it, but they can't find any carrots after him.  Everyone basically tells him it's his imagination.  But Jasper's sure it's not.  Is it?  Will this story end with a bowl of carrot soup or a bowl of rabbit stew?  Both? Neither?  check this book out immediately to enjoy Peter Brown's very creepy (actually only a tiny bit creepy) black and white charcoal drawings highlighted by many things that are orange.  Some of which are even carrots. Fun, fun, fun.

(The Caldecott Medal was named in honor of nineteenth-century English illustrator Randolph Caldecott. It is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children.)


Martín de Porres, The Rose in the Desert - Gary D. Schmidt and David Díaz - Pura Belpré Illustrator winner. This is a picture book biography of Martín de Porres, the first black Catholic saint in the Americas.  Martin was born illegitimately in Lima, Peru to a former slave and a nobleman.  Later his father took him back to Ecuador to be educated.  The book talks about his young life and then his adult life as a healer and priest.  I learned all kinds of things about Martín de Porres that I didn't know, and I really liked the bright illustrations.  There was a lot of detail in the illustrations that we could talk about while we read. This is an good foray into biography for younger readers, although I think that due to some complexities in the storyline, it is probably one best read together with an adult.

(The Pura Belpré award is presented annually to a Latino/Latina writer and illustrator whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children and youth.) 

ALA Youth Media Awards

 

Yesterday I got to attend the youth media awards announcements for the American Library Association.  These awards are always announced at the American Library Association's midwinter conference, and this was my first chance to attend.  All weekend I'd been attending book buzz presentations about the new books coming out in 2013, and getting oodles of advanced reader's copies to  see for myself, but on Monday morning it was all about the best of the best in 2012.

The room opened at 7:30 for the 8:00 AM announcements and when we arrived just shortly after 7:30 we were already relegated to the back half of the room. A room that was abuzz with librarians waiting expectantly.  People were hugging old friends and there were smiles and anticipation on every face in the room.  Very few people who know who wins the awards ahead of time.  Most of the committees only make their final decisions over the weekend (although they work on the committee reading and making their cases for and against this book or the other all through the year), and the level of secrecy is incredibly high.  I think that's cool because it really ramps up the excitement for the actual announcements.

The ceremony itself goes fast -it lasts only an hour.  Different emcees do the announcements of honorees and winners.  My favorite emcee was the president of YALSA, a dynamo of a man, Jack Martin took the stage.  He was SO excited, using the term love-bomb to get the crowd roaring and just generally ramping up the ballyhoo, as he called it.  And the crowd was definitely excited, with lots of screaming and shrieking when favorites were announced.  It was so much fun to be part of that event.  Here's a fantastic picture from the YMA Facebook page that captures the whole thing in one instant.  My friend Paige, who's a librarian at Grant High School in Portland, OR, is in the black shirt.  She said of the photo, "As usual, the YMAs had me all agog."

If you missed the announcements yesterday, you can catch up on all the winners and honorees HERE.

I, of course, did not pick the winners, but I am pleased to say that my pick for Caldecott winner (Green) and my pick for Printz winner (Code Name Verity) were both honoree titles and that's better than usual.  Also, just before I left for the awards I had started the Caldecott winner, (The One and Only Ivan), so I think that should count for something! And now, I've got to run - have a ton of reading to do!

Liar and Spy, Rebecca Stead

Earlier in the year there was a lot of buzz about this book as a possible Newbery or even Printz contender.  The author, Rebecca Stead won the Newbery for When You Reach Me a few years ago.  I didn't love that book as much as some other Newbery winners, and I hoped I'd love this book more.

I did enjoy this book, which I listened to on audio, but I don't see it as an award winner.  Which means, of course, it's likely to get some awards next week...We'll see. Actually, I can see this book getting (deservedly) a Schneider Family award or honor. I cannot see it getting the Newbery and definitely not the Printz.  (Famous last words??)

This is the story of Georges and Safer, two boys who have secrets they're trying to cope with.  As an adult reader, predicting their secrets was not very difficult.  I am curious as to whether this would be the same for younger readers. I think younger readers without a lot of life experience would definitely understand there are secrets, but what those secrets are would be more difficult to discern.

Georges has just moved to a new apartment and he meets a boy named Safer there who has a spy club. What kid wouldn't want to join a spy club, right?  I know I would have.  Makes my heart start pounding just to think of doing spy things, but it's an exciting kind of stress.  For Georges, though, it's often just a stressful kind of stress, and he only participates because he thinks Safer is in danger.

Georges also has to deal with bullying at school, a very timely topic.  As is typical with many kids, he doesn't want to trouble his parents about the issues going on at school, so things start to escalate there.  Both the bullying issues at school and Safer and Georges' relationship examine what it means to be friends and the importance of truth telling.

Perhaps my trouble with choosing award books is that I look at them with the lens of a young reader and what I think will be interesting to them. I always want the award books to be books with strong kid appeal.  I think this book's kid appeal is definitely stronger than When You Reach Me, but I just don't see it as having that last bit of oomph.  We'll see if the committee agrees.  Betsy Bird agrees with me, so that's something at least.

Death in the Floating City, Tasha Alexander

I saw this book recommended on a mystery list somewhere, and since I really like Venice and mysteries (and particularly series mysteries), I decided to give this one a try.  The story is actually the seventh in the series, and I think I might have been better off to start with number one just to get the background and then have skipped to this one, but it wasn't 100% necessary.  I just think I'd have preferred it.

Lady Emily and her husband Colin are private investigators, and in this story they've been called on to help Emma, a childhood friend of Emily's.  Friend, however, is a bit of a loose term.  Perhaps acquaintance would be more appropriate. Friend implies some sort of congenial relationship, and these two have never had that.  Nor  do they in this story, but Emma has no one else to turn to.  Emma's husband has been accused of killing his father, and he's disappeared, which does not help his case much.  Emily and her husband come to Venice to try and discover the truth

I read this mystery over the last few weeks and I have't been feeling well, and the pacing of the story was perfect for that.  Some mysteries are super intense and sort of wear a person out while reading them, but this one just moved steadily along.  Perhaps the setting in the 19th century and a woman as one of the main detectives affected that, I'm not sure.  In any case, the story is interesting, but what I really loved were the descriptions of Venice.  I've been to Venice before, and like nearly very visitor to that magnificent city, I was enchanted.  Reading a story set there let me be an armchair traveler while I read, and that was super fun.

If you like historical fiction, mysteries, and Venice, this is a sure winner.

some winter break books

I read three books over break and listened to a fourth.

The three I read were Wish You Were Eyre by Oregon author Heather Vogel Frederick, The Queen of Katwe, a nonfiction title by Tim Crothers, and Keeping the Castle, by Patrice Kindl. the audiobook I read is an adult psychological thriller by Gillian Flynn called Gone Girl.

 Wish You Were Eyre is the final book in the Mother-Daughter Book Club series which I have loved. I read the first of these books with the first mother-daughter book club I had a WOMS!  I've followed the girls in the series over the years, and as characters in a series often do, they sort of became my friends.   I love how the book club always reads one of the classics and how the author weaves bits from the classic stories into the girls' stories.  I like how these books have a little something for everyone.  One girl is really into fashion, another is really into sports, one's family has lots of money, other girls don't, some girls like reading, some don't.  And I really appreciate that the girls don't always get along perfectly either, because real girls - real people - don't. I'm sad that this is the end of the series, but it's been a fun journey!

The nonfiction book I read, The Queen of Katwe, is actually subtitled, A Story of Life, Chess, and One Extraordinary Girl's Dream of Becoming A Grandmaster. It's a fascinating story, although I would not say it's the most well-written piece of nonfiction I've read.  I felt it was a little jumpy.  The story is of a project in Uganda to teach children to play chess - a project which actually started as an experiment because they weren't even sure it would work. 

Phiona, the extraordinary girl, lives in the slums of  Kampala, Uganda.  Here, a group called Sports Outreach started a soccer program.  but many kids weren't playing soccer, so one of the guys thought, hey, maybe I can teach them to play chess.  It was challenging, but he kept at it, and little by little, the children began to play.  Phiona was not one of the original players, but she followed her brother to the center one day and began to learn.  The leader saw her potential and entered her in a competition.  At age ten, she became the Ugandan junior chess champion and then the junior champion for all of Africa.

Since then, she has played in the World Chess Olympiad in Siberia and also just this past fall in turkey.  She is recognized as one of the world's best young chess players!!!  You can read more about Phiona and see some videos of her here.  It's a pretty amazing story.

Keeping the Castle by Patrice Kindl is an Austenesque novel, meaning it's a book written in a similar style to a Jane Austen novel.  Meaning I will of course read it because I love all things Jane Austen.  Except I would not have loved living in Jane Austen's time, because like Althea, it might have meant I would have to look for a husband for money instead of love. 

Althea is a seventeen year-old young woman whose father has died and who has a younger brother who will inherit the house, if they can keep it from falling down or sliding down the hill...Their house, called Crooked Castle by most because of its crazy, hodge-podge design, is in a major state of disrepair, but they've no money to fix it up.  Hence the reason Althea needs a husband with money!  Well, actually, Althea has two wealthy stepsisters, but they're unwilling to give any of their money to repair the house - except in the case of mice and dripping ceilings, of course.  But Althea wouldn't know anything about that...
The story is funny and I love Althea's no-nonsense approach to Mr. Fredericks.  It was fairly predictable from my perspective, although I don't know if it would be in a younger reader's eyes, and in any case, it didn't really make a difference to me.  If you want to interest readers in Jane Austen but they're not quite ready for her, this is a perfect introduction.

The last book, Gone Girl, was my January book club book, and as it is really not appropriate for younger readers, I will just do a very short review here and say that for the first 2/3-3/4 I was in, and then it was all too much. I can see why the reviews are all over the board. Wished I'd developed more sympathy for either of the main characters.

What did you read over winter break?

Spirit Seeker John Coltrane's Musical Journey, Gary Golio, ill.Rudy Gutierrez

Guess where I saw this book?  Yep, on another Caldecott list, and this one is up there in my estimation.  Meaning?  Yep, you guessed it again, it probably has no chance.

But it is awesome and you should definitely read it if you are
*interested in music, especially jazz
*looking for a picture book biography with a little meat
*interested in spirituality
*interested in stories of recover from drug an alcohol addiction
*interested in black history

I really knew nothing about John Coltrane before I read this book, and now I could tell you many, many interesting facts about his challenging and oh, so gifted life.  John Coltrane grew up surrounded by music but faced some devastating family losses at a fairly young age. He struggled for most of the rest of his all too short life to overcome the addictions to drugs and alcohol.  Ultimately, he found that spirituality and music provided the solace he needed to survive, and he sought to share those gifts with the world. Sadly, he died at just 40 years old from cancer, likely as a result of the drug and alcohol abuse.

The story itself is very, very interesting.  It's well told and is much longer than many picture book biographies.  Each page has one or two paragraphs of information. There is additional information in the author's note as well. But what brings this book to the top for me is how the art in this story adds another dimension to the storytelling. At times it's bright, others, dark, but always powerful and engaging. There's lots going on in every illustration. Sometimes I found myself so sidetracked by the art that I had to go back and re-read the text because I hadn't really absorbed it.  The pictures convey mood beautifully as well as plot.  Another reviewer (clearly one way smarter than I), described it this way, "Wisely, Golio lets the pictures carry the melody while his text supplies the backbeat." Booklist (November 1, 2012 (Vol. 109, No. 5))

This book is gorgeous as well as being informative and is suitable for older elementary school as well as middle schoolers looking to get information about this jazz giant. Watch for it on the podium in January!

Just found THIS link to an interview with Gary Golio talking about the book!

Crow, Barbara Wright - a Newbery contender?

This historical fiction set in 1898 in Wilmington, NC, was a fascinating read and taught me a whole lot about a horrible historical event I'd never even heard of: The Wilmington Massacre.  This book is on Newbery contender lists and ballots all over the country. I, however, am thinking it's more likely to win a Scott O'Dell historical fiction award and/or a Coretta Scott King.  It's definitely award worthy, but I'm not so sure, as I have seen other reviewers mention, that this book meets this guideline for the Newbery:

b.Committee members must consider excellence of presentation for a child audience.


The story is told in the 1st person by 11 year old Moses Thomas, an African American boy born to a black father and a mixed race mother who can pass for white.  Moses' grandmother, Boo Nanny, plays a large part in the story as well. Aside from the clear "white people against black people" issues, there are many race issues in this story that would not be clear to child audiences who were not reading this without guidance from an adult, particularly child audiences in the younger age range.  Even the title Crow, which refers t Jim Crow laws that were not yet in place, is likely to be a reference lost on many child readers. Again, I am no judge of the judging, as it were - my choice never wins - but it seems to me that this book will be held back from the Newbery for this reason IF the judges seriously take that into account.  There have been other winners that I felt didn't meet this criteria either, though, so we'll just have to wait and see.

However, like I said, it should win a Scott O'Dell award for historical fiction. It's an excellent presentation of an event that should be told. The storyline of the coup staged by white residents to overthrow their town government is exciting and suspenseful, at times even terrifying.  The characters are well developed, particularly Moses, his father, and Boo Nanny, but even some of the minor characters who have few appearances in the story are skillfully created to shine. 

I keep catching myself thinking how imposible this situation seems, and then realize once again that it's based on a true story and that while there are now laws in place to prevent coups, and while the majority of people of every color do live in harmony in our country, it's not entirely the case, and that's why books like this are so important.  We need to have some radical stories highlighted t illustrate what racism can lead to and why we need to fight it at every opportunity.  This story definitely highlights bullying in addition to racism.

I'll be looking for at least one shiny sticker on this book come January.  Have you read it?  What do you think?

More possible Caldecotts???

More books this wek with Caldecott hype behind them.   First up was Chloe by Peter McCarty - This is a very cute book with simple drawings and a sweet story of family togetherness and the fun you can have when everyone plays together.  My favorite illustration is a circle of all the kids with Chloe in the middle (Chloe has ten older siblings and ten younger.  Chloe is in the middle.).  My other favorite is the page where, "...everyone came to the table for  peas, carrots, lettuce, broccoli, asparagus, noodles, and sweet potatoes, all their favorite foods."  For some reason I just loved the inclusion of asparagus and noodles.  The other thing I really love about this book is that the kids do not love TV.  They'd prefer to play in the box the TV came in. I wish more people recognized this!

Next I read A Home for Bird by Philip C. Stead - Vernon the Toad finds a bird - it's clear from the drawing it's not real, but that's not clear to Vernon.  Vernon takes the bird everywhere, but the bird never talks.  Vernon is worried.  He wants to find a home for bird so he's happy.  He tries al kinds of different places and finally floats away with bird in a "hot air balloon" (see book cover). There, miraculously, he finds a perfect home for bird. I liked this book, its cute and funny, and I know kids will enjoy it, but again, it's not beating my other choices for the Caldecott.

The third book in this grouping was Jazz Age Josephine, story Jonah Winter, Marjorie Priceman, illustrator. This picture book is a biography of Josephine Baker.  I'ts a bit of a melancholy story, really, of an African American singer and dancer who wasn't happy with the work she could find in the US, in part because she was forced to do blackface. African Americans definitely did not enjoy equal opportunities at that time. Josephine finally gave up and fled to Paris where she was an instant success during the height of the Jazz age.  Still, she longed for home, but she never moved back I did love the illustrations in this book and how color, and lack of, convey the mood beautifully.  My favorite pages are a bright two-page spread of the Eiffel Tower when she arrives in Paris that require reader to turn the book. The book ends with an author's note with more historical info about Josephine that I found helpful because I wanted more information.  I'm not convinced the text in this book is "distinguished" enough for the book to win the Caldecott medal, however, but I do think it will win something.  Caldecott Honor maybe?  Or surely a Coretta Scott King medal of some sort.  Your thoughts?

Caldecott winners??

Recently I read three more books that have some Caldecott buzz around them.  Honestly, as I've said before, I just really don't get the Caldecott. Or any of the awards, honestly.  What ARE they looking for?  Who knows.  All I know is what I like.  Of these three, I liked Step Gently Out the best because it was kind of different, which most likely means it won't win anything at all.  I liked Extra Yarn next which some people say won't win because the girl holds her knitting needles wrong.  But as a beginning knitter, can I just say, people, cut her some slack.  She's a magic knitter - there oughta be some options.  And I liked and then it's spring (no capitals on the book cover, so no capitals here) fine, but it didn't wow me, so it will probably win the whole darn thing.

Step Gently Out is a poem by Helen Frost accompanied by photographs by Rick Leider.  Two things I love, and two things not often put together, and so, from what I can tell, two things that will sink it's ship.  Or, maybe, two things that will give it the leg up to win. The photos are all macros (close-up) of things you find outdoors - ants, bees, caterpillars, grasshoppers crawling on sticks, grass, flowers, etc.  The photos are vivid and tack sharp but soft at the same time.  Just perfection.  I wonder how many shots the photographer had to take to get these.  As a photographer I especially appreciate how challenging this must have been with teeny, tiny moving animals.  And the accompanying text is also so lovely.  If our kids aren't getting enough time outdoors, at least they can explore through this beautiful book.  I hope it gets something.  There should be a photography book award for kidlit.

Extra Yarn by Mac Barnett and illustrated by Jon Klassen (I Want my Hat Back)is about Annabelle and her box of magic yarn of every color.  Or is it the box that's magic?  Hmmm.  Point to ponder.  In any case, the yarn never runs out, and Annabelle knits sweaters for everyone (and everything - even pickup trucks!)  She won't give up her yarn even for the million dollars offered to her by the greedy archduke!  The yarn is very important because it brings color to everyone's life in an otherwise very black (soot) and white (snow) existence.  The storyline is simple and sweet, focused on kindness and giving. The illustrations are soft and gentle and I enjoyed them very much, but they didn't WOW me like the illustrations in Green or the photos in Step Gently Out.  Also, for some reason, I didn't love the pattern in the sweaters which is nitpicky and stupid, but also true (for me).  One thing I know kids will love about the illustrations is this book if they're fans of Jon Klassen is that there are some cameos in this book from his other works. That's pretty cool.

and then it's spring was written by Julie Fogliano and illustrated by Erin Stead who won the Caldecott medal in 2011 for A Sick Day for Amos McGee. since she's already won a Caldecott, I feel a little less bad about saying I don't think this one will win.  It's not that it's not good or that I don't like it, either.  It's just that I don't think it's as good as some of the others.  We've already established, however, that I know nothing about this whole process, so maybe it's better than all of the others.  Much of this book is illustrated in brown because it begins in winter when a boy and his dog decide they've had enough of winter and it's time to get on with the growing of things.  To that end, they plant some grass seeds and wait for them to grow.  And wait. and wait, and wait.    I'm not the most patient person, so I could relate to their frustration with the waiting.  I wonder if it even affected my reading...In any case, on the waiting pages there's just a splash of color - a raincoat, an umbrella, a little red house. Of course spring does come, and with it more brightness, color, and the joy of watching the earth come to life.  Like I said, I don't think it's going to win a medal.  But if it does, I won't be disappointed because this is a good book, a good story, and it has lovely illustrations.

Grown-up books

Recently I've read a few grown up books.  One was for pure fun, one was for book club, and one was, well, not for fun exactly because it sounds weird to read a book about murder for fun, doesn't it?  same with recreation or relaxation...so, well, I read it because I like to be a little bit scared when I read sometimes and I like a good mystery.

Size 12 and Ready to Rock, Meg Cabot  This is the Heather Wells mystery I read just for the fun of it.  this is the most recent in the Heather Wells series and it's just a light, fun mystery/romance series by the ever delightful Meg Cabot.  I've read al the other books in this series and I really enjoy them.  Wherever Heather Wells goes, it seems murder follows - usually onto the college campus where she works.  If I were the higher ups, I think I'd be considering firing her, but what would be the fun in that?
Recommended for fans of Janet Evanovich.

Loving Frank by Nancy Horan was my book club book last month.  Loved and hated this one.  The story was fascinating, but everyone in our group was so frustrated with the choices that the main character made. And I think we were even more frustrated than we might have been if it was pure fiction because we knew it was based on a true story and that the main character, Mamah  Borthwick Cheney,  left her husband and her children for another man, Frank Lloyd Wright.  It's hard to know how much of this story was actually what happened because it is historical fiction, though. As I said, though, the story was fascinating.  If you like historical fiction, I'd highly recommend this one.

The Ice Princess, Camilla Läckberg is for people who like to be scared, although it's not nearly as scary as, say, a Chelsea Cain book.  Good mystery with plenty of red herrings that you're pretty sure are red herrings but then again, maybe they're not. I was surprised by the ending, but not especially sure that this direction was the best choice the author could have made.  It was interesting.  If you like mysteries, this is a good one.  I want to read some more of hers and compare them. I listened to this on audio.

Daughter of Smoke and Bone, Laini Taylor

I waited forever to read this book - not sure why - but I'm actually really glad I did because the sequel jut came out, and I'd have been dying if I had to wait around for a year or more for it after reading this one.  Holy camoly was this story good.

It was a little weird, too, I'll say that for it. It's a fantasy, after all.  And I think that's maybe why I shied away a bit.  I'm not a big fantasy fan, as you know, so some of the language and the strange names were hard for me to adjust to.  Honestly, for the first few chapters I as feeling a little lost and I didn't love it.  I liked it, but I wasn't 100% in.  But once I got used to the language, I really, really liked it.  110% in by the end!

I love the way Laini Taylor wove and layered so many levels of the plot together.  It was fascinating to try and figure out how A was related to B was related to C and so on.  And it was VERY complicated.  I'm amazed someone could sit down and come up with all this.  I have no idea how she did it.  I love how the title fits with the story.  I love her word choice.  I love her strong female protagonist.  I love her descriptions.  Did she get to go to Morocco to research this?  I wanna know.

So lucky for me that the next book in the series is out now.  It's called Days of Blood and Starlight, and I am so looking forward to it, although I am worried about Karou and what she'll find!  Here's the cover -  just as gorgeous as the first one was. It was #4 on the New York Times bestseller list last week.  Hurrah for Oregon authors!