Tag: books

The First Book Review Wednesday

Normal
0
0
1
525
2994
24
5
3676
11.1282

0

0
0

It has been one of those days. One of those unproductive Wednesdays when I just can’t seem to get over the hump. Lucky for me, today is also suppose to be my first day of book review. In the future, I will try to get these written in advance so I can post them in the early morning on Wednesdays, but that is another goal. The first is just to write and post one Middle Grade and one Picture Book review.

 

Many reviewers focus on books that are new and shiny, some might even have release days in the near future. Those are the books that everyone crowds around, bringing casseroles for the new author, asking if they can booksit to give the new author some time for a nap. I will certainly try to get my hands on some of those books. (Look for my upcoming Circus Ship review.) Then there are other books that have sat on bookshelves, growing past their crawling and walking stages until they are no longer cute and dimpled from shipping. I’ll be looking at these books too, hopefully adding some personal insight or observation. I tend to skip over longer blog posts so you can bet that I’ll keep these short and sweet. Any suggestions? Leave a comment. (Click on the book cover to link to Indiebound. Support your independent book stores!)


 

Law, Ingrid. Savvy. New York  ;Boston  Mass.: Dial Books for Young Readers;Walden Media, 2008.

 

            Mibs is turning thirteen, and in the Beaumont family, that means that her savvy is about to be revealed. Mibs’ family tree is filled with characters who create storms, sparkle with electricity, or jump back in time when they sneeze. When Mibs’ father is injured in a car accident, her mother and older brother travel to the hospital leaving Mibs and her two other brothers at home. Mibs will not sit around and wait. She embarks on a journey to the hospital, sure that her savvy will save her father.

 

            Mibs’ voice is so genuine in this middle grade novel that, at times, I felt she was telling the story right into my head. Descriptions such as “a small-fry hobbledehoy boy,” or “harum-scarum hurly-burly of a rising storm,” or “My insides went wishy-washy” makes Mibs an endearing and three-dimensional character even though her adventures border on the unbelievable.

 

            Readers will be eager to ride along with her on the pink bible bus to see if she gets what she wants. Most interesting to writers will be how her desires evolve and change throughout the story. Law leaves us with an ending that might not fulfill the original promise in the way the reader expects, but provides hope all the same. My son was especially drawn to the adventures that stem from the family’s super hero-like abilities. The more nuanced story is about finding what you do well, that special something that makes you uniquely you, whether you are a member of the Beaumont family or not. Newberry Honor Book, 2009

 

 

Hutchins, H and Herbert,G. Mattland. Toronto: Annick Press, 2008.

 

            In this interesting picture book, from Canada, the text is sparse. The illustrations by Dusan Petricic, are wonderful, and in my opinion, carry the book. The subject is the timeless story of moving to a new neighborhood and finding friends. Interestingly, the reader only sees the main character through shadow and reflection. This technique lets the reader identify with the main character who feels overlooked and invisible.

            The illustrations change from dull and muddy, to green, to lush and rainbow bright as children build an imaginary city from “scattered building scraps” and recycled materials. As the story continues, the illustrator uses white space to create room for text just as the children in the neighborhood make room for their new friend. The children build and rebuild the imaginary city while they build real friendships. Best for children 3-6, Mattland is an excellent read aloud choice for pre-school and kindergarten educators who want to address acceptance and welcoming attitudes in their new classroom communities. Just give plenty of time for the illustrations to sit before you turn the page.

 

Shop Indie Bookstores

Banned Books

I hope you’ll read this intelligent and eloquent posting by Laurie Halse-Anderson. I second her call for thoughtful and civil discourse on the matter.
My heart goes out to the authors who have to deal with book banning: Laurie, certainly, but also my friends Jo Knowles and Sarah Brannen. All of them have written (and illustrated) amazing books that have found and changed the lives of their target audiences. A huge thank you to the librarians and teachers who keep connecting children with meaningful literature.
Tomorrow: book reviews.

Spotty Blogging Citation

You may have noticed that my blog posts are few and far between. So much so, that perhaps I am probably writing this only for myself as any audience I may have garnered in the past has probably disappeared. 

There are a couple of reasons that I’ve been posting less:

  1. I am neck-deep in my MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adult program with Vermont College of Fine Arts. The packets require a great deal of me in terms of time and emotion and reading and writing.
  2. I am illustrating a lovely picture book manuscript for an organization called the Telling Room in Portland. The manuscript was written by two high school authors and tells the story of a Sudanese child who moves into a neighborhood filled with silent, disconnected residents. He and his new friend create community through gardening. The book will be released in May of 2010.
  3. I am journaling for myself more in a paper and pen way. Most of my entries there are about my insecurities and my process as I go through the MFA program. Some of that will come up here too so don’t feel that you are missing out on anything.
  4. I’m also journaling for my main character in his own composition book. This helps me get to the voice and emotional core of my character in a messy, down and dirty way.
  5. I’m using all the in-the-cracks time to read books for children and young adults and yes old adults as well.

So I have the following thought:

Since tonight is the beginning of Rosh Hashanah (The Jewish New Year) and I need to make a resolution, and also to make this blog relevant to the wider world, I will review some of the wonderful books that I’ve been reading. I know, this is not a new or unique idea and there are plenty of other blogs out there for this but I’m going to give it a try. I will attempt to post reviews each Wednesday and will review at least one Middle Grade book, and one Picture Book. These could be fiction or nonfiction, audio or traditional. I’m not going to venture into the YA realm here, there are so many other wonderful blogs out there for that.

So what will you get here that you won’t get anywhere else? Me. I bring my experience as a writer but also as a parent of two boys, a teacher, a student of writing and an illustrator. I’m hoping that the reviews will help parents find books that their children will love. As my son’s teacher said last night, "If your child doesn’t like reading they just haven’t found the right book for them." If you have titles that you’d like me to review, leave a note in the comments. If you’d like a fresh start to your year, you can also leave your New Year’s Resolution in the comments. Happy Reading! See you on Wednesday.

On the road again…

 Yesterday I packed the car with clothes, books, my lap top, and a fan and hit the road headed for my first Vermont College residency. After a long day of driving I met up with  last night and he told me about his most recent contest to give away a copy of BUG BOY the winner of which was chosen by a horse race. Check out the race and Eric here. 

Today I move on to the second leg of my journey tooling through Vermont on my way to Montpelier. It is a sunshiny day here in North with comfortable temps and I’m eager to see what this chapter of my life brings. Wish me luck!

Reading Time

The past month I’ve spent reading and preparing for my first Vermont College Residency. Some of the reading is required, some suggested, and some is my own desire to read the books of faculty members so I know them better as I am placed with a faculty advisor for my first semester. I’ve also been reading and enjoying the worksheets (manuscripts) of my workshop group. I’m very excited to meet everyone and can’t wait to hear the conversation of fellow students or the guidance of our instructors.

Tender Morsels, Margo Lanagan
Impossible, Nancy Werlin
The Postcards, Tony Abbott
Runt, Marion Dane Bauer
The Underneath, Kathi Appelt

…and because the movie Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince comes out in theatres this month, I read it aloud to I. who has finished books 2-5 on his own. 

There are a few more that I am trying to finish up this week:
Red Butterfly, Deborah Noyes
Criss Cross, Lynn Rae Perkins
Brendan Buckley’s Universe and Everything In It, Sundee Frazier
Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain, Maryanne Wolf (non-fiction on how we read and how our brains change as humans have learned to read)

Recent Reads

Recently, much of my time alone has been spent working on my freelance writing or reading. Here is a short list with brief notes and thoughts.
Papertowns: This brandy new young adult release from Co-King of Nerdfighteria, John Green debuted on the New York Times Bestsellers list. (With a little help from his brother, Co-King Hank Green and a whole lot of help from the nerdfighters.) Q, the main character, while journeying to find his missing next door neighbor, Margo, also goes on an existential journey to find himself. What do we project to the world? Who are we under our projections? Do we really know the people we call our friends? What are we capable of? How are we connected? Q, tackles all of these questions as he explores a clue that Margo left behind. "Leaves of Grass" by Walt Whitman. John delivers a smart mystery (both the clues and the structure) and his grasp of modern young adult technology and dialogue is spot on. 

Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life, Wendy Mass: Jeremy Fink also has an existential journey to find out the meaning of life and his place in the world. Jeremy’s father sends him a locked box on his 13th birthday that holds the meaning of life. The problem? Jeremy’s dad died five years ago and the keys are missing. Jeremy and his best friend go on a path that intersects with interesting people and forces them to look at the importance (or irrelevance) of things. This book is best when Mass introduces us (and Jeremy) to interesting characters but I had a hard time believing the structure of the mystery. Without spoiling, it seemed that too many adults were involved in helping Jeremy make the discoveries that were necessary.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society: There are few Holocaust/World War II books that I would characterize as light but this is one of them. Let me explain that by light I don’t mean slight or funny but hopeful and accessible. This book is told at the end of the war in letters from a London writer, Juliet Ashton, to her publisher and the inhabitants of Guernsey Island. Their trials and tribulations are made light by Juliet’s positive spirit and the amazing island community into which she is adopted. Readers be warned: there are tears involved. The book was written by Marianne Shaffer who died earlier this year and the task to complete the book was take on by Anne Barrows. A huge thank you to kellyrfineman for reviewing this book and bringing it to my attention. Perhaps she’ll post the link to her review in the comments. There is a video interview with the one of the author’s here.

Audio Books:

Rowan Hood, Nancy Springer: An English adventure is made even more believable with the narration of Emily Gray. Rowan is the daughter of Robin Hood. That is what she’s always been told by her magical mother. But is she? In this swashbuckling coming of age tale, Rowan (Rosemary) reconnects with the spirits of the Earth, the Alpha, and taps her inner strength to become a true outlaw. 

The Subtle Knife, Philip Pullman: Perhaps I am the only one to come so late to the His Dark Materials series but I am truly enjoying it. As any good second in a trilogy, (for movies think Empire Strikes Back or Dead Man’s Chest (Pirates of the Carribean)) The Subtle Knife takes us deeper into the characters and defines the hero’s journey more clearly. It also leaves us with an ending that is less than satisfying but leads us deftly into the third book (The Amber Spyglass) and into the inevitable battle. Pullman introduces worlds upon worlds that all have their own set of rules and characters. This full cast recording was fabulous. The voices help you keep the worlds distinct and also make the listener’s imagining more vivd. 

What are your reading?

Guys Read

My husband has three sisters. One has no children, and the other two have three children. Add that to our two and you have some serious "cousining" when they are all together. Eight children under the age of nine and seven of them are boys. On my last visit to one of these homes, my brother in law and I got to talking about books for boys. I thought I’d list some resources for fathers and their boys and hope that the rest of the LJ community will chime in with other ideas. 

The first stop on our Guys Read tour is Guys Read. (funny that) Jon Scieszka, rhymes with Fresca, is the catalyst for the site and funds it with help from the New York Foundation for the Arts.  He is also the newly appointed National Ambassador of Young People’s Literature. The position is a collaboration between the Library of Congress and the Children’s Book Council. Use this site with your kids to input your favorite books, and authors to create a list of recommended books for your child.

I’ve found that my boys had a sort of "ah-ha" moment when the stars aligned and the time, book and mood was right and then they took off. Until then, read to them, read with them (page for page, or paragraph for paragraph.) A great resource for this is the We Both Read series. 

Boys tend to be infokids. They love to learn about new subjects and learn more about what they already know. I’m sure many of us have seen our child check the same dinosaur, baseball, volcano book from the library a million times. We roll our eyes and wonder why they don’t want something new. Fugedaboudit! Let them take out that book and pack yet another dry bologna and American cheese sandwich and just watch them smile. To learn about interesting nonfiction for kids check out I.N.K.

Penguin group also has an early version of the Guys Read reading list here. 
A mom and pop site is here.
An internet "hotlist" with links on the subject and reading lists here.
Another blog "Books and Boys" with great links here.
A Random House book list is here.

If you have a teenage boy, make sure they bookmark Guys Lit Wire. This blog generally posts on Mondays and Fridays from a stable of contributors including our own kellyrfineman . Here you’ll find  YA reviews, discussions, news and books, books, books. 

(Necessary disclaimer: As always, please check out any internet site to make sure you think it is appropriate for your child.)

Remember that there are a lot of ways to enjoy books and reading. The sports page of the newspaper? Sure. Comic books? Absolutely. Humor or subjects that you might not enjoy yourself? Even better because they feel independent. Audiobooks? Yes, yes, let them enjoy these stories however they can access them. Trips to the library? All the time! Meeting authors? Whenever you can. Online book extensions and author websites? Please do. All of these experiences will bring your boys enjoyment when they read, and that’s the goal. 

Five on Friday

 1. Hooray for LJ. I have rich text on Safari. Thank you.
2. I find that I like to work in sweeping waves. All novel. All newsletter. All conference. Unfortunately that doesn’t take dates, deadlines, and billable hours into consideration. I’m learning to manage my time better.
3. For me, a big part of writing is reading about writing. I just got the 2009 CWIM and found some great inspiration. Nancy Lamb’s, The Writer’s Guide to Crafting Stories for Children is one of my recent favorites. 
4. With all of this writing, illustration (art in general) has disappeared from the schedule. I’ve been plotting, composing in my head and I’m eager to find a time to follow through. Still, I’ve decided to generally focus on writing and leave the illustration to someone else. This is only giving me passing waves of sadness. Perhaps I’m too overwhelmed to miss it. 
5. Exercise has also disappeared from my schedule.  I tried to go walking with my hubby in the mornings but late nights watching the convention ended that practice. Maybe we’ll start up again this weekend. 

(I know I said five but I didn’t talk any politics at all yet)
6. What a historic line-up of candidates. It makes for a very exciting election but do not be caught up by any candidate’s historical first. I choose to back Obama because of his focus on the future of this country. I believe he is a candidate who will work to find common ground, will nominate supreme court justices who protect our civil liberties, and will focus on the complex issue of economy/education/and environment. I believe he is honest, and intelligent and I urge you to join me in supporting the Obama/Biden ticket. If you have specific questions about policy and feel you haven’t heard enough, go to http://www.barackobama.com/issues/ and find out more. Be educated, be active. Vote.