Fearsome Creatures of the Lumberwoods

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fearsomecreaturesby Hal Johnson, illustrated by Tom Mead
First sentence: “While he lived, Paul Bunyan served as the master of the Michigan lumberwoods; since his death, its only master has been the hodag.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content: It’s purportedly scary, but it’s really not. Some of the illustrations might be disturbing for younger readers, however. It’s in the middle grade (grades 3-5) section of the bookstore.

There’s not really a plot to summarize in this one; it’s a collection of tall tales about mythical/made-up beasts designed to scare you. It’s not really that scary, at least for an adult. The tales are simple and sometimes spooky (I could see reading these aloud, after dark, by firelight). But what I really loved was the presentation of the book. It’s gorgeously illustrated with black-and-white line drawings of the creatures, with some bonus glow-in-the-dark pages. I spent a good while just looking at the illustrations.  Additionally, the some parts of the text were set apart in a different font, just adding to the overall look.

It is an impressive package, even if the stories didn’t affect me the way they were supposed to.

(Just for the record: because this is a Cybils nominee, I’ve been asked to make sure y’all know this is my opinion only, and not that of the panel.)

Audio book: Big Magic

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Creative Living Beyond Fear
by Elizabeth Gilbert
Read by the author.
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content: There are a few f-bombs (around fourish, if I remember right) and other mild swearing. It’s in the Creative Non-Fiction section of the bookstore.

Big Magic is what Elizabeth Gilbert calls the act of creation. Sure, she’s a writer, someone who makes their living off of creativity, and so this book — much like The Art of Asking by Amanda Palmer — is nominally written toward those who want to live an artistic life. But, as Gilbert argues in the book, who wouldn’t want to do that?

It’s not a new message: find time to be creative. Make space in your life to be creative. Be open to creative inspiration and connection You will be a happier person for it. And you can just add Gilbert’s voice to that message. She has no patience for people who say they Can’t (that’s a very limiting word) do that. And she has no patience for people who want to Suffer for their Art. She believes — and I buy into this — that happy people are the most creative, and conversely, creative people are happiest.

(As a side note: I used to be more creative, both cross-stitching as well as decorating the house and other projects. They’ve all fallen by the wayside. I suppose that’s one of the reasons I like doing story time every Saturday: it allows me to have a creative outlet.)

It’s an interesting look at art and is incredibly practical about how it can be a part of your life. And while I enjoyed listening to Gilbert read her work, I think this is one I want to buy, to have on hand to read and to share with the children. For while I don’t think it’s an absolute Recipe for Happiness, it’s a good reminder that I enjoy being creative and that I can, in fact, make time for that sort of thing in my life.

Prayers for Sale

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by Sandra Dallas
First sentence: “The old woman peered past the red geraniums in her deep front window at the figure lingering in the moon-white snow at the gate.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content: There’s some harsh violence against women in the beginning, but other than that, it’s mostly just more mature themes. It’d be in the adult fiction section of the bookstore.

This is one of those moments when I am grateful for my book group, because they introduce me to books I wouldn’t otherwise pick up. I had previously read Sandra Dallas and thought she was okay, but I wasn’t prepared for the storm of emotions that this one brought on.

It’s the early 1900s and Hennie Comfort is a long time resident of Upper Swan, a gold mining camp in the mountains of Colorado. She’s 86 and she’s loved her long life up in the mountains. So much so that she doesn’t want to go down and live with her daughter. She’s determined to get the most out of these last few months she has. And then she meets Nit. The wife of a new worker on the drudge boat, Nit is suffering from lots of things: being new, obviously, but also from the stillborn death of her first baby. Hennie reaches out to her as a mother-figure and a friend, and they form a bond. It’s through that bond that we learn about Hennie’s past (and a bit of Nit’s as well) and her life.

It’s a glorious novel, one that celebrates all aspects of women-hood. It made me long for a connection like Hennie and Nit had (they bonded over quilting; it also made me wish I was into that). Hennie’s stories were so rich, her life so full, and yet she probably didn’t feel that way in the midst of it all. I loved that it was straight-forward, that Hennie was open and loving and accepting, and yet wasn’t entirely perfect either. She had her struggles and her faults and her doubts. It gave me hope that maybe I can pull off a decent life in the end.

A full, rich work of historical fiction.

The Scorpion Rules

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 scorpionrulesby Erin Bow
First sentence: “Once Upon a Time, at the End of the World.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content: There are exactly two f-bombs, some mild swearing, and one illusion to sex. It’s in the Teen (grades 9+) section of the bookstore, but I’d give it to a 7th grader, if they had no objections to the content.

At this point in my life, I’m very much been-there, done-that when it comes to dystopian/post-apocalyptic books. I feel like I’ve read/seen them all, and there’s really nothing new to explore there.  So, my first thought was that this was just going to be more of the same-old, same-old, and I passed on the ARC. Then it came in, and on the back were quotes from authors I respect, so I thought (somewhat begrudgingly), that I would give this one a try.

(I know, I know: I’m not “supposed” to start these with “I’m not a fan of x”. But bear with me.)

It didn’t take me too long to realize that I was utterly wrong. First of all, the premise is something I haven’t encountered in a long while: humans have destroyed the world through climate change and war, and somewhere along the way, invented artificial intelligence. One of the AIs decided that enough was enough, and took over — by blowing up a number of huge cities — ruling the world. And the way Talis, the AI, decided to keep the peace? By keeping the children of the world’s rulers hostage. If they enter into war, their children would be killed.

Brilliant, no?

Greta is the Crown Princess of the PanPolar Confederacy, a major North American power formed out of what we know as Canada. She’s also a hostage of Talis, living in the prairies of Saskatchewan at the Precepture with her compatriots, fellow hostages. Then one day, war breaks out, one of her friends dies, and a new boy, Elian, shows up. He’s the grandson of the leader of a new alliance, and he’s not at all willing to take his role as a Dutiful and Humble hostage. He fights every step of the way. And somehow, this awakens Greta (and the rest, including her best friend La Da-Xia) to the horrible reality that is her life.

There is so much more to it than that, but I don’t want to give it all away. I adored the combination of high-tech (there are flying battleships and smart pads and cameras and, of course, the AI) and low-tech (the children at the Precepture are basically farmers, thinking about raising goats and bees and harvesting vegetables. There’s a monastery-like feel, as well: they call the AI in charge “Father”. But I also loved the diversity: Bow rightly depicted people from all over the world — African, Asian, Native American, Hispanic — but it felt natural and organic rather than some sort of forced diversity.

But what I really loved was the fluidity of the romance. There’s a love triangle of sorts, but not your typical one; Greta is bisexual and there’s no angst or heartache about this. She’s in love with both a male and a female, and it’s just the way she is. And even Talis, when he shows up, was more gender fluid in his depiction (as benefiting and AI, no?). It was all very different, and very, very refreshing.

It’s the start of a series, and I’ll definitely be picking up the next one to see where Bow takes Greta’s story.

Milo Speck, Accidental Agent

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by Linda Urban
First sentence: “Milo had read about magic before.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Review copy pilfered off the ARC shelves at my place of employment.
Content: There’s nothing objectionable, and the writing level is good for grades 3 and up. It’s in the middle grade section (grades 3-5) of the bookstore.

Milo’s mom disappeared years ago, and his father works really hard for the Tuckerman Agency. Which means that Milo is left mostly alone with “Grandmother” (a live-in provided by the agency). Milo’s lonely, but he does his best to fly under the radar. That is, until the day that he ends up sucked in to Ogregon through his dryer.

(Yes, you did read that right.)

Once there, Milo is unprepared for the adventures: being captured by ogres, the Evil Plots by the Evil Overlord, rescue attempts, and just general mayhem.  Plus trying to figure out where his father is. It’s a lot for a kid to handle.

It was a fun little book. Nothing too great, nothing too horrible. I did have a problem with Tuck; she was pretty annoying and she never really got better throughout the book. And it was all a bit silly, but I’m not the target audience. Perhaps this is one of those that kids will like — especially those who like monsters and adventure — but for me it was just meh.

Which is too bad. I had high hopes for this one.

(Just for the record: because this is a Cybils nominee, I’ve been asked to make sure y’all know this is my opinion only, and not that of the panel.)

The Porcupine of Truth

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by Bill Konigsburg
First sentence: “The Billings Zoo has no animals.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content: There’s a lot of swearing, including multiple f-bombs. It’s in the Teen (grades 9+) section of the bookstore.

Carson Smith has drawn the short stick for the summer: he’s stuck in Billings, Montana with his mom. They’ve moved back to take care of his dying, alcoholic father whom Carson hasn’t seen in 14 years. It’s not exactly the Ideal Summer at all.

Then Carson, completely by chance, meets Aisha and strikes up a friendship. No romance here: Aisha’s a lesbian who has been kicked out of the house by her super religious dad. She’s having a winner of a summer too, so she moves in with Carson and his parents. Everything is shaping out to be a complete Win until Carson and Aisha start nosing through boxes in the basement and uncover some clues to Carson’s grandfather’s disappearance back in the early 1980s. One thing leads to another and soon Carson and Aisha are on a road trip to find Carson’s grandfather.

This was a hard book for me to read, as a religious person. Mostly because Carson and Aisha are incredibly hostile — for good reason, I think — toward organized religion. I can understand why: too often people hide behind Religion, using it to justify their prejudices and to promote hate. But not everyone does, and I was made uncomfortable by the broad strokes: all people who are “religious” are bigots.

Thankfully, there is growth with these characters, and I appreciated that. I appreciated that, overall, Konigsberg treated everything thoughtfully and carefeull. Which meant that no one was truly black and white and that both Carson and Aisha learned things along the way.

There’s a lot to think about in this book, and I do think it’s a story, with all its broken people and hurtful relationships, that needs to be told. I just wish religion and religious people came off better.

A quick aside: Konigsberg stopped by the store as part of his Porcupines for Trevor tour. While it wasn’t super well-attended, we got a small crowd and we sat in a circle talking about religion and the LGBTQ community. It was a very interesting (and civil) discussion, one that I was glad we had.

Also: we took a selfie. He was very kind, and very, very tired.

KidlitCon 2015 in Pictures

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Getting to KidlitCon this year took a bit more effort on my part. It just wasn’t a good weekend to be gone, and plans kept falling through, and things kept piling up. So when I finally made it to the airport, I was pretty frazzled. 
Thankfully, flights are about 6 hours with layovers and everything. I took myself out to lunch in Minneapolis (didn’t take a picture of that), and by the time I got to Balitmore, I was ready for some fun. I stayed with a Sequestered Nook friend, and she graciously offered to drive me into D.C. to go to Politics & Prose. How could I say no to that?

It’s a delightful bookstore.

We had to stop by the D.C. temple and snap a couple of pictures. I do miss seeing this all the time.

Friday, I took it easy, ate breakfast with my friends, then she drove me into Baltimore. She dropped me off at the wrong hotel (my fault), but the upside is that I got a nice walk to the right hotel. It was good to stretch my legs a bit. (Plus exercise!) I didn’t really take many pictures Friday (though I think I’m in some that are floating around) because I didn’t do much. Talked to some friends, got a few books signed, checked into my hotel room.  The view was less than stellar.
Friday night we had a birthday party for the Cybils, which is the blogger award I’m involved with. There was bowling, but mostly I just sat at a table and talked and laughed with My People. It was so nice to do that. 

Saturday morning, the sessions were fantastic. Lots of food for thought on diversity and intersectionality and representation. But my favorite panel was the graphic novel one. It was so much fun.

 Maggie Thrash is my new favorite person.

And I got two of Kristen’s graphic novels signed by the author and illustrator. They were impressed at how well loved they were.

I took lots of “notes” on Twitter as I was listening (as did lots of other people). Check out #kidlitcon if you’re interested.

Saturday afternoon, I was feeling cooped up again, so I went for another walk, this time down to the harbor.

Someone was getting married…

I did make it out to dinner with a group of people, which was a delight as always. That, and they talked me into being in charge next year. So there’s that as well.

My book pile from the weekend. I did read through some of it…

There was a Cybils board meeting (we’re a non-profit now, yay!) and I had enough time after to get back to my room to watch the live feed of the Dr. Horrible Sing-Along Blog Reunion Panel at New York Comic Con.  I love the internet.

Sunday morning, a group of us went on a walking tour of Baltimore. (I walked a lot this weekend. Huh.) I loved the convergence of old and new in the town. And it was delightful spending a morning with these ladies walking and talking and seeing the city.

We looked at each other and said: Anyone else see a snitch?

 I needed a donut fix. Of course.

We were on our way back by bus, when it stopped by the harbor. I decided, on a whim, to get out. Because water. I wandered around for a bit.

And then decided, on a whim, to take a water taxi. Best decision of the weekend.

I took myself out for lunch before my Nook friend picked me up again.

One of the places I didn’t get to on the walk was the Enoch Pratt Library, so we stopped in there. It’s gorgeous.

Oh, I got to ride in this a few times over the weekend. I was incredibly happy.

And my Nookish friends. There was a party and a lot of people asked how I knew everyone and were quite surprised when I said that I’d met them on the internet. Sometimes, the internet is a pretty great place.

Then I came home and went back to regular life. It was good to get away, and I am glad, in the end, that I did!

The Hired Girl

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by Laura Amy Schlitz
First sentence: “Today Miss Chandler gave me this beautiful book.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content:  There’s some harsh illusions to domestic violence in the beginning and some illusions to sex near the end, but nothing actual. It’s in the YA (grades 6-8) of the bookstore.

Joan is a 14-year-old Pennsylvania farm girl in the early 1900s who longs to be Educated and See the World. However, ever since her mother died, she has been increasingly chained to the farm by her boorish and harsh father. He forces her to withdraw from the local school, but the last straw was when he burned her books. So, she packs up in the middle of the night, and heads to Baltimore to Make Her Fortune.

Her fortune turns out to be Solomon Rosenbach, who finds her distraught in the park with nowhere to go. He brings her home and his mother hires Joan — who is pretending to be 18 and is going by Janet — to be the hired girl. From there, Joan becomes a part of the Rosenbach family’s lives, sometimes with positive results and other times not so much.

It sounds pretty mundane, but in Schlitz’s hands, this time period comes alive. Not only does she capture the cusp of the women’s movement: the idea that women can be educated and can be live without husbands and fathers, she captures a girl who is out discovering not only the world, but herself. Additionally, Joan’s voice is so captivating that it makes the book a delight to read.

But what I liked best — being religious myself — is the way Schlitz addressed religion. The Rosenbach’s are Jewish, and while not Orthodox, they do practice their religion. And Joan is a Catholic. Or at least, she’d like to be because her mother was. Schlitz explores prejudice and Antisemitism, explores how to practice your own religion while respecting that of other people around you. All of which is not only relevant, but interesting.

I do have to admit that I kind of lost interest near the end, when there is some Drama involving another Rosenbach son. But, Schlitz even handled that well, and the last chapter gave the book a good ending.

Overall, a good book.

The Story of Diva and Flea

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by Mo Willems, illustrated by Tony DiTerlizzi
First sentence: “This is Diva’s story.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Review copy picked up at Children’s Institute.
Content: It’s perfect for the beginning chapter crowd, though there are some difficult words. It’s with the other beginning chapter books at the bookstore.

I have a confession: I didn’t want to read this. I adore Willems as a picture book writer, and I was afraid that he wouldn’t be able to pull a longer story off. So, I put off reading this until the day came when I thought to myself, “I need some Mo Willems in my life today” and so I picked it up.

I shouldn’t have worried.

The one thing I adore about Willems is that he knows how to write both to adults and children at the same time. His stories — no matter if they’re Knuffle Bunny or Elephant & Piggie — embrace humor and characters and themes that both adults and kids can relate to. And while he is simple, he never ever talks down to his readers. And he brought all of that to the table with this one. It’s an endearing story of a friendship between an adventuresome cat and a shy dog. It’s a story about reaching outside your comfort zone and the wonders that you will see when you do. It’s a story about Paris.

But, most of all, it’s a story with a lot of heart and with some gorgeous illustrations DiTerlizzi. And it’s practically perfect in every way.

Audiobook: Steve Jobs

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by Walter Isaacson
Read by Dylan Baker
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content: Steve Jobs had a foul mouth. You are forewarned. Also, it’s a bit on the business-y side. It’s in the biography section at the bookstore.

I don’t know why, really, I picked this up. I’m not a computer person, or even an Apple fan (though I do own an iPhone). I needed something short to listen to while I drove around delivering things one day, and this kind of jumped out at me.

It’s a basic biography of Steve Jobs, the founder and eventual CEO of Apple computers and CEO of Pixar. Isaacson, a reporter, was picked by Jobs before his death in 2011 to write this book, and given access to all sorts of information that Jobs, who was someone who valued complete control, usually didn’t divulge.

I did learn a lot of things about Jobs, computers, the 1970s, business and the intersection between all of them. First and foremost: Jobs wasn’t a nice person. Which got me to wondering: are all people at a high level of business — either CEOs or just high up in the business — generally work-obsessed jerks? If so, what does that say about us as a country, that in order to be “successful” and proclaimed “innovative” and “a genius” we have to treat other people like crap?

The other thing I learned about Jobs was that he was just an Idea Man. He worked, sure, but it was managing and thinking outside the box and demanding things of others, but he never really created anything himself. I don’t know if I had any respect for him to lose, but knowing that he just thought up the ideas rather than actually implementing them changed my perception of him.

Did I like the book? Not really. It was kind of long and a little boring. Part of that may have been the narrator, who wasn’t the most engaging. But part of that was Isaacson’s writing: it was meandering and a bit pandering. Not something (or someone) I would want to read again.