First Sunday Daughter Reviews: October 2014

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It’s been busy-ness around here this month. C has been at rehearsals for  the school musical (Grease. Which is a terrible musical, but she’s had a great experience) and hasn’t really had any extra time for pleasure reading. She did, however, read this for her English class:

She really liked it, and it has engendered some discussion in her class. Which is a good thing.

A signed up for Battle of the Books again this year, and picked this as her first book to read:

She’s really enjoying the story, even though it’s not fantasy. (I’m glad for that.) She’s also looking forward to Blood of Olympus on Tuesday. I think everything else is going to stop when that comes out.

K has been struggling to find a book she enjoys. Then I threw this at her:

and she ate it up. Went through the first two before coming to a halt because it was checked out. She loves the combination of graphic novel and chapter book, and the stories are a lot of fun too.

So, that’s what my kids are reading. How about yours?

I Kill the Mockingbird

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by Paul Acampora
First sentence: “My mother’s wheelchair does not fit through the bathroom door, and I don’t know what to do about it.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content: There’s nothing objectionable, but it feels a bit old for the section it’s in (middle grade, grades 3-5) but it’s not really quite old enough for the YA section (grades 6-8). It’s kind of one of those in-between books.

It’s the summer before high school, and Michael, Lucy, and Elena have a summer reading list they’re assigned. None of them really wants to do it, partially because they’re the sort of precocious readers who read Dickens in 8th grade, and partially because, well, no one like summer reading.

One of the novels on the list is To Kill a Mockingbird, and Lucy comes up with a brilliant (or so they think) idea to get people reading and talking about this classic: what if we made the novel scarce. Not steal it from libraries or bookstore, but just reshelve it so no one can find it. (As a bookseller: *grumble*) And then start a web campaign — iKILLtheMOCKINGBIRD.com — to feed it.

What they’re surprised at (and I don’t know why they would be), is how well it works. It goes viral (thanks to Wil Wheaton) and To Kill a Mockingbird starts disappearing from shelves all over the country.

It’s not just all about their viral marketing scheme (which I doubt would work. It’s plausible, if improbable), though. Lucy’s mother is in remission from her bout with cancer, which stresses Lucy out. And she and Michael might be going from friends to more-than-friends, which is awkward for both of them.

On the one hand, this was a sweet little book. There were some funny bits — the scene near the beginning where Lucy and Elena are doing a Nativity shoot for Lucy’s mom had me laughing — and some sweet bits. I liked that it was religious without being preachy (which will go over well in my heavily Catholic town). My problem is that I really didn’t feel it had a specific audience. It’s a bit old for my 5th grader, who won’t understand the whole viral bit or even the discussion about the novel. But it feels a bit… young… for an 8th grader, who would understand those things.

Even with that qualm, it was a good, quick read.

September 2014 Wrap-Up

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First things first! The Cybils nominations open at MIDINIGHT, pacific time. (Which is about 2 a.m. here. Is it bad that I’m hoping for a bout of insomnia?) Anyone is welcome to nominate their favorite book in our categories…. in fact the more nominations, the better! (I’m not a Round 1 judge this year, so I can say that.) You have your list ready?? I do! (And back-ups for my back-ups, in case my favorite books are already nominated.) Not sure what to nominate? Check out the category descriptions. I’m sure you’ve read one book that was published this past year that you’d like to nominate.

As for my reading this month, my favorite, hands down (which is eligible for nomination, by the way), no questions:

The Whispering Skull

SO good. Soooo good.

And the rest (all the kids stuff is eligible to nominate. I’m being nice and sharing.)….

Middle Grade:

The Night Gardner
Rhyme Schemer

YA:

Afterworlds
Belzhar
Chasing Before

Graphic Novel

Amulet: Escape with Lucien
Mr. Pants: It’s Go Time!
Shadow Hero
This One Summer

Non-Fiction

The Boys in the Boat (audiobook)
Gulp

What did you like this month?

The Night Gardener

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by Jonathan Auxier
First sentence: “The calendar said early March, but the smell in the air said late October.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content: It’s a very slow, very atmospheric book. Probably not good for those struggling, though I think it would make an amazing read-aloud. It’s in the middle-grade section (grades 3-5) in the bookstore.

It’s the late 1800s, and Molly and Kip are siblings are in England looking for work because of the potato famine in Ireland. They’re desperate, so they’ll take anything, even a job at the Windsor house… a place which many people say are haunted. Molly — who is a storyteller at heart — and Kip don’t really have much of a choice, so they accept the job and head to the house, not knowing the fate that awaits them.

The family — father Bertrand, mother Constance, and two children, Alistair and Penny — is a strange one. Guarded, pale, and most of all, adamant that Molly and Kip stay away from the green door.

And then there’s the tree: the gnarled, old, dead, black tree that takes up a good portion of the yard.

Of course, things don’t go well for Molly and Kip: they soon notice that every night a tall, shadow man comes to water and take care of the tree. And to dig holes. And no, none of this is a happy thing. It comes down on Molly and Kip to figure out a way to not only get out of there, but to stop the evil from perpetrating.

The jacket flap compared this one to Washington Irving and Edgar Allen Poe, and I don’t think it was that. (Maybe Irving; I haven’t read him in a long time.) What it was, however, was a ripping good yarn. Auxier utilized storytelling in the writing of this, and it showed. I could imagine someone standing in front of an audience, spinning this tale out, having everyone on the edge of their seat: will they make it? It’s a long tale, sure, one for multiple nights, but one that will have the listeners engrossed.

But as a reader? It was good, sure, but not great. I liked it, yes, but didn’t love it. I was gratified that Molly (and Kip) ended up being heroes of their own story; there was a time I was worried adults would step in and solve the problem, but Auxier is smarter than that. It was a good read, but I think it’d be a better one if read aloud.

Rhyme Schemer

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by K. A. Holt
First sentence: “First day of school.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Review copy snagged off the ARC shelves at work.
Release date: October 14, 2014
Content: Aside from the bullying (which made me uncomfortable), there’s nothing difficult about this book. It’ll be in the middle grade (grades 3-5) section of the bookstore.

Kevin is the youngest of five brothers who are all a lot older than he is. He likes some of his brothers; others, not so much. His parents — both doctors — are gone a lot. So, somehow, he’s become that guy at school who laughs when people fall down. He’s the kind that gets in trouble for tripping a Loser. And he does, often.

But he has a softer side: one that writes free-verse poems (which is the format for this book). He keeps them in a notebook, that he takes with him. He also rips pages out of library books, creating poems by circling words, and sticks them up around the school.

Then his world comes down around him. The kid he usually bullies finds his notebook, and uses it against him, slowly making Kevin into the kid being bullied.

It’s a quiet little book, but one that packs a punch. I appreciated seeing Kevin from both sides: the bully-er and the bullied. It was interesting to see his transition, and to realize that all people are just that: people. And with the backstory — his parents really aren’t the greatest — it was easy to see where the bullying came from.

But what I loved (LOVED!) was the way the librarian (!) saw past everything Kevin was doing and made him feel like a person. Yay for librarians!

Compelling and engrossing and all those other good adjectives.

Belzhar

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by Meg Wolitzer
First sentence: “I was sent here because of a boy.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Release date: September 30, 2014
Review copy downloaded from Edelweiss
Content: There’s some talk of teen drinking and pot smoking, and some swearing (including a few f-bombs; I didn’t count). But, because of the nature of the book — it’s just has a very “adult” feel to it, it will be in the Teen section (grades 9+) of the bookstore. I don’t think, however, it’s beyond the reach of an interested 7th- or 8th grader, though.

Jam — short for Jamaica — is falling to pieces. Her boyfriend, Reese, died, and so she has no real reason for living. After trying everything — pleading, therapy — her parents decide to send her away to a special boarding school for those with issues called The Wooden Barn. Jam is expecting to behave much the same way at this school as she has before: detached, uninvolved, not caring. But then she’s signed up for Special Topics in English and everything changes.

Special Topics is a teacher-selected class of only five students. They only study one author, and this semester it’s Sylvia Plath. They’re required to come to class, to discuss the works, and to write in their journals. But what Jam and the other students don’t realize is this: their lives are about to change.

At first, I loved this book. I like the idea of studying one author in depth, and even though I don’t know much about Sylvia Plath (I really ought to read her stuff), I was enjoying Wolitzer’s writing about it. I didn’t even mind the slight magical aspect of it: whenever the students write in their journals, they enter an alternate reality, a place where the worst thing hasn’t happened. I thought it was a little weird, particularly since I was expecting a realistic fiction book, but it worked for me.

However, the book fell apart for me at the end. Especially with the twist. (I’m not going to tell you what that is.) I do think, though, that it’ll hit the spot with it’s intended audience; I think a lot of my reluctance to go along with it is just age and experience showing.

And the writing is gorgeous. Wolitzer really does know how to turn a phrase. And much like Katherine Howe, I found myself thinking that I really ought to read some of Wolitzer’s adult stuff.

Not bad, in the end.

Audiobook: The Boys in the Boat

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by Daniel James Brown
Read by: Edward Herrmann
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content: It’s a book about the 1930s, rowing, and Nazism. It’s appropriate for anyone who’s interested in reading about those things, and can handle a long-ish book. It’s in the History section of the bookstore.

In the 1930s, 8-man rowing was one of the most popular sports (who knew). And the west coast — the University of California and University of Washington — was the hot-spot of the sport. And in the years leading up to the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, the Washtington team became the best of the world.

This is the story of how the Washington boys became the Olympic gold medalists.

I think this is one of those books that I really needed to listen to rather than read. While I think it would have been interesting, listening to it made it riveting. I enjoyed the stories of Joe Ranz — who ended up in the number 7 seat in the Olympic boat — and the other boys, and how they came to be at Washington. I enjoyed the conflict that coach Al Ulbrickson had with the California coach. I didn’t enjoy the rehashing of 1930s Berlin, but I think that’s because I listened to In the Garden of the Beasts and this is basically re-hashing much of that territory. For someone who is unfamiliar with Hitler’s rise, it’s pertinent information.

But what I  really loved was the bits about how the sculls were made, about the effort it took to row a race. And the races themselves? They had me glued to my seat, hooked on every word.

It was a remarkable event, a remarkable story. And I’m so glad I know about it, now.

10 Books The Have Stayed With Me

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This is kind of a cop-out this month (hey, it’s my birthday month; I’m allowed). I was tagged by Mother Reader and The Book Nest to come up with a list of books that have changed my life in some way. It took me a while to get started on this list, and to narrow it down, but once I got going, they came pretty easily.

So, in roughly chronological order:

1.The Little House on the Prairie, by Laura Ingalls Wilder — the first book I remember really loving.

2. A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeline L’Engle — gave hope to a geeky, awkward girl

3. The Mists of Avalon, by Marion Zimmer Bradley — it was a toss-up between this and Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale. Both helped me embrace feminism (or realize that I was already one).

4. Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen — despised as a 14-year-old, I “got it” when I was 23, finally recognizing the genius of Austen. The A&E production helped.

5. Nine Parts of Desire, by Geraldine Brooks — my first introduction to the Muslim world. It touched and intrigued me and helped me find the similarities between Islam and my own religion, helping me realize that these people are human, too, way before 9/11 happened.

6. Beauty, by Robin McKinley — the first YA book I read as an adult. And it changed not only my reading, but (because of that) the whole direction of my life.

7. The Sorcerer’s Stone, by J. K. Rowling — this is here because if I hadn’t read it, then Russell and Megan wouldn’t have read it, and then we wouldn’t have become a family of Potterheads.

8. The Omnivore’s Dilemma, by Michael Pollan — I’m using this book, but it was really an article (that became a chapter) that changed the way I thought about food. And inspired me to make homemade bread every week.

9. Austenland, by Shannon Hale — my first ARC as a blogger. (And a good book, as well.)

10. Thirteen Reasons Why, by Jay Asher – the first time I was moved enough by a book to write the author. A powerful story.

What would be on your list?

Afterworlds

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by Scott Westerfeld
First sentence: “The most important email that Darcy Patel ever wrote was three paragraphs long.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Release date: September 23, 2014
Content: There’s some grizzly murders, terrorists, and a lot of swearing. Plus the huge length and the amount of patience it’s going to take to get through this one, and I’m not sure it’s for the faint of heart. It’s in the teen (grades 9+) section of the bookstore.

I picked this up because it’s the New Scott Westerfeld. I haven’t read everything he’s written, but I have loved (more or less) everything I read by him. (Also: I’ve met him, at KidlitCon in Seattle. He was pretty chill.) Even so, I didn’t know what to expect. And this was nothing like I’ve ever read before.

It’s really two books in one. Half of it is a ghost/terrorist/murder story. Lizzie, a high school senior, is traveling back to California after visiting her father, and some terrorists attack her airplane. She survives by playing dead, and soon discovers that she can see ghosts. But it’s more than that: she is a psychopomp, a valkyrie, a person who helps the dead find peace. And she’s in love with the underworld’s lord, Yamaraj.

The second half of the story is about Darcy, a recently graduated girl, who “wrote” the Lizzie half of the book during NANOWRIMO her senior year, and got it snapped up by a major publisher for 6 figures. Suddenly, her life is turned upside down, and she decides that college is not an option. Instead, she moves to New York and is thrust head first into the world of YA publishing. It’s a fictional account because Darcy is a fictional person, but very it much felt like an inside peek into the life of a writer.

I liked each of the stories individually; Westerfeld knows how to plot, and how to hold a reader’s interest. The Lizzie story was sufficiently chilling (while also being a bit swoony) and had some clever and interesting takes on the afterworld. And the Darcy story was well-done as well; Westerfeld caught the uncertainty of a first-time published author as well as the excitement and naivete of someone just out of high school facing the Big Wide World.

But, what I enjoyed most, and what kept me reading, was the connection between the two parts. I loved seeing Darcy angst over her book, and how different parts of her life fit into the book. I loved reading about how parts of the story were changed and adapted. And I loved all the different teasers about the end, and how it could have been different. I’m not a writer but I loved seeing how the author and the story are tied up together and the effort it takes to write a story.

I don’t know how well this is going to go over with non-Westerfeld fans; I do hope it goes over well. There’s a couple of good stories here. And I’d be more than happy to read more of Darcy and Lizzie’s story.

On Being the Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything

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It’s been a rough year for me. Not life-altering serious illnesses or anything like that, but a lot of change and a lot of adjusting. And a lot of facing the fact that I’m no longer *gulp* young. What is it George Burns always said? “You can’t help growing older, but you don’t have to get old?” (Or something like that.) Most days, I’m okay, but there are sometimes when I just get in a funk about the direction of my life.

Two things have helped. The first are three fantastic songs:

All of them help remind me that I am just fine the way I am, and to not listen to the inner (and outer) voices that would make me think otherwise.

The second is a decision to go back to school and get my MLS. I’m terrified of this — my insecruities ask: who will want to hire a 46 year old librarian? — but I am pretty sure it will help me in the long run to be doing something I should have been doing all along. I’m just applying to schools now, so I don’t plan on any drastic changes just yet. But I am also excited.

So, here’s to a much better year!