SLJ’s Battle of the Kids’ Books: Quarter/Semifinal Wrap Up

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Life: An Exploded Diagram vs. Wonderstruck: I have to admit that I really wanted Wonderstruck to win, just so we could have a battle of the artists. But it was not to be so. As judge Chris Lynch points out: “But despite the wonder undeniably struck by Brian Selznick, I have to go with Mal Peet on the strength of yer bleddy brilliant writing.” So, in the end writing wins out over art (though Lynch was, somewhat humorously, asked to “hate” Selznick by his artist wife…). I’ve been able to call half of the quarterfinal rounds, but I’m not so sure about the semis here: Which will win, a gorgeously drawn memoir or a brilliantly written novel? Too close to call.

Between Shades of Gray vs. Chime: First off: Maggie Stiefvater did NOT do what I expected her to do. Even though she wrote, “Ultimately, these two books both have their own sort of power. Chime’s is a personal sort: showing just how much damage we can do to ourselves. And Between Shades of Gray is about collective power: how filling yourself up with personal identity can be armor against everything but death, which is only the most obvious of enemies.” She went with Between Shades of Gray. I said earlier that I’m wondering whether or not that one can take it all. Now I’m not wondering: I’m pretty dang convinced. Even if it is Jonathan Stroud judging.

Drawing from Memory vs. Life: An Exploded Diagram: First off: judge Ron Koertge’s decision is brilliantly written. Seriously. That said, he went with Life, in the end. I know Liz didn’t like the book, but other than that (and the judges’ decisions, one round after another), I didn’t know much about this one. So, since I haven’t read either of the finalists, I’m declaring the final tomorrow too close to call for me. Unless, of course, it’s the winner of the undead poll.

Which is: Okay for Now. Which complicates things. It’s up against two books that have been blowing the judges away throughout the competition, ones that have been described as powerful and amazing. And yet, I think Okay for Now is just that: powerful and amazing. It’s been sorely under recognized this past year, for all its perfection.

Stroud could go any which way but loose in this (if there had been a fantasy, I’d be more sure on my feet), so I’m not even going to attempt to call it. I’m just going to say tune in tomorrow for the final decision. It’s bound to be pretty darn interesting.

2012: March Wrap Up

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I’ve got an interesting “problem” over here right now: I’m about three weeks ahead in my posting… which is good and bad. Good, because I don’t really feel any pressure to read fast, or finish lots of books, but bad because reviews will pop up on my blog, and I actually don’t remember what I said about them! (Whoops.) Do you try to get ahead in your blogging? (I didn’t used to be this way; I used to read a book, then blog about it. I really, honestly, have no idea how I got so far ahead.)

This month’s reading:

My favorite:

A Monster Calls

Most gratuitous review:

Highland Fling

Audiobooks:

Kitchen Counter Cooking School

The Spellman Files

The Middle Grade:

Amelia Lost

The Mighty Miss Malone

 

Legend
The Grand Plan to Fix Everything

 

Notes from an Accidental Band Geek

The lone graphic novel for the year:

Anya’s Ghost

And the rest:

Factory Girls

Goliath

Putting Makeup on the Fat Boy

Discovery of Witches

What did you like this month?

Factory Girls

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From Village to City in a Changing China
by Leslie T. Chang
ages: adult
First sentence: “When you met a girl from another factory, you quickly took her measure.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!

 After living in China for a decade, Wall Street Journal reporter Leslie T. Change (who is Chinese; her father emigrated to Taiwan in 1948, when the revolution happened, and then from there came to the United States) decided that the whole idea of women (mostly) migrating from the villages in the country to work in factories in the cities was one worth pursuing. And writing a book about.

I’m so glad she did.

It’s a fascinating, rambling book, weaving in and out of time (I never really got a sense of how many years she spent hanging out with and shadowing the women she chose to focus on), including her family’s history as well as the current socio-economic state of China. She tries to generalize the lives of the women in the factories, and to a great extent it works because she focuses in on several women telling their individual stories, and how their lives have changed — for the worse and for the better — because of their choice to migrate and work at a factory. It made the book more personable, focusing on the few, and less just dry history, making the book more interesting and easier to read.

(As I side note, I’ve always wondered what the Chinese think about making all the chintzy holiday stuff we buy here in the U.S.)

On top of all that, it’s accessible book, and a quick read (even at 400 pages). Good for all those interested in the plight of women around the world.

Legend

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by Marie Lu
ages: 11+
First sentence: “My mother thinks I’m dead.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!

It’s sometime in the future and what was the United States has dissolved into two warring countries: the Colonies, and the Republic, where our story takes place.

Day is the Republic’s most wanted criminal. Not the most dangerous: he specializes in terrorizing the Republic’s military, and has a bit of a Robin Hood schtick going on: he robs the bank and passes the money out to the people in his districts, the poorest of the poor. He became this way because at age 10, he failed the Republic’s Trials: tests given to determine what your future will be.

June, on the other hand, is the Republic’s best and brightest: she got a perfect score on her trial, she’s graduated college at age 15, and is now — at the death of her brother by Day — is appointed to one of the Republic’s military guards. Her goal: find day, hunt him out, and get justice (and revenge) for her brother’s death.

So, yeah: it’s Romeo and Juliet (of course they fall in love! You were expecting something different?) in a dystopian world. Told in alternating chapters (in which the font colors drove me to distraction), we get the story of June and Day and the Repulic’s mounting atrocities. Even though the characterizations weren’t the strongest — I never really connected with either Day or June, or even the “baddies” — the world building and the ideas behind the book were enough to keep me turning pages. There’s a bit of a mystery, as we delve deeper into the world and the story. The whole idea of the country at war with each other — though we are never given reasons for this — and the fact that the Republic is essentially a militaristic state — which brings up questions of obedience and trust and freedom — are both quite intriguing.

I felt like it was a grand set up, that there’s more to come in later books. (Which, considering the way these things go these days, it will be.) However, it does work as a stand-alone story; there is a natural arc and an ending, though there are questions — to ask would be to spoil — left unanswered.

I can only hope the next book provides more clues.

A note: I’m calling this middle grade, though it’s the upper ranges of it. While it’s violent at times, and there are complexities, it’s really much more innocent than other dystopian novels. More along the Percy Jackson lines than Hunger Games.

SLJ’s Battle of the Kids’ Books: Quarterfinal Roundup

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As the finals are next Monday, I figured I’d round these up during the week, when I’m not running reviews….

Chime vs. Daughter of Smoke and Bone: One the one hand, NOOO! I seriously hoped E. Lockhart would pick Daughter for the win. On the other hand, I completely agree: “It is an awesome book, and I hugely recommend it to everyone, even though it ends with some of the mysteries unsolved because a sequel is forthcoming. Still, I am tipping the battle in favor of Chime by Franny Billingsley, largely because of my probably idiosyncratic inability to fall in love with that foxy, murderous angel.” Both are excellent novels; it’s a pity to see one go by the wayside. It goes up against Between Shades of Gray later this week; it’ll be interesting to see which one wins.

Drawing from Memory vs. Inside Out and Back Again: Again, I find I’m not surprised with judge Jewell Parker Rhodes decision to go with Drawing. I haven’t read it, and while I liked Inside Out, I wasn’t a huge fan. Besides, how can you compete with a book that’s “a full-fledged imaginative assault”? We’ll see tomorrow which book (I’m hoping for Wonderstruck, because that would be an interesting match) it’ll go up against.

Things are definitely getting exciting…

A Monster Calls

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Inspired by an idea from Siobhan Dowd
by Patrick Ness
ages: 12+
First sentence: “The monster showed up just after midnight.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!

Every once in a while a perfect book comes along. One that engages you both in its story and the telling of it, and is so heart-rendering (and honestly so) that you find yourself aching because of it.

A Monster Calls is such a book.

I don’t want to get too much into the plot, partially because it’s a lot more complex than my measly summaries can do justice to, and partially the beauty of this book is in the discovering. Know this, though: it’s no kids’ book. I’m sure there are children out there who will be mature enough to get what’s going on with Conor and the monster, and the sensibilities behind it all. But I also think that the more life experience you have, the more powerful this book is going to be.

For, like the monster, the sensibilities behind the simple story, are impossible old. Things like: stories not not just for entertainment, but to learn Things. Truths. And: not everything is simple, and can be wrapped up in a neat little bow. And: Monsters are the Other, which does not always make them Bad. And: sometimes, the person who needs healing is ourselves.

Know this, too, going in: you will cry. (If you don’t, you’re heartless.) And it will be honest, and well-deserved, because the writing, in its simplicity, is powerful.

I wouldn’t hand this to kids, unless they are going through some traumatic (sorry, a bit of a spoiler there, but not much) situation. Then, I think this book would be a powerful tool for healing.

Because that’s what good stories do.

SLJ’s Battle of the Kids’ Books: Weekly Roundup #2

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Drawing from Memory vs. The Grand Plan to Fix Everything: First, I think judge Barbara O’Connor really liked Grand Plan more than I did. She found such wonderful, lovely things to say about it. (Though we both had the same movie-reaction to the book. Interesting.) But, in the end, (even though she had more to say about Grand Plan), Drawing from Memory takes the win, “For the teamwork of art and words and for the total experience of this book.” I called it (mostly because I didn’t think Grand Plan was strong enough to win), though I do need to read Drawing from Memory now.

Heart and Soul vs. Inside Out and Back Again: I have to admit that while I liked Inside Out, I didn’t love it. I didn’t get what judge Sarah Weeks got out of it: “When I closed the book, I did so reluctantly. I felt that I had tasted ripe papaya, and glutinous rice—as well as the salty tears of the endearing main character, Ha. I loved every minute of reading this book.” But I did guess that Inside Out would be the winner, so I’m not disappointed with Weeks’s decision here.

Life: An Exploded Diagram vs. A Monster Calls: I just finished A Monster Calls last weekend (review forthcoming… sometime…) and was floored by the book. So when Lauren Myracle says, ” I pick Life: An Exploded Diagram, because of its clean and absolute ability to pierce my heart and tear my brain to pieces, in the best of all possible ways.” And that it pulled her in: “I did not predict that Life would suck me in as hard and fast and with such slurpy ferocity as it did, especially not on the tail of Monster.” How could I be upset that Monster (my prediction, by the way) loses in a face of comments like that? I can’t. Another one for the hold list at the library.

Okay for Now vs. Wonderstruck: Oh, my heart breaks. Really. I adored Okay for Now, and really thought it stood a chance against Wonderstruck. But, obviously, I missed something in that book, because it beat out Okay for Now to move on. Jeff Kinney’s a nice guy, but he just broke my heart. *sigh* Now the question is: will the two art books  meet up?

Round 2, Match 1 Amelia Lost vs. Between Shades of Gray: After reading last week’s first round decision about Between Shades of Gray, I started to wonder if this was the sort of novel that could win it all… after reading this second round decision, in which it handily beat Amelia Lost — judge Marc Aronson writes, “As books, they are equally well-crafted and worth reading. But Ruta’s novel does for the destruction of Lithuania what, say, Paula Fox and Tom Feelings did for the Middle Passage—gave our readers access to a haunting, tragic, and crucially important part of our common past.” — I am seriously considering getting behind this little book as an ultimate winner. Then again, it has to get by Maggie Stiefvater, and will be up against one of two great YA fantasies. That will be interesting. At any rate, it’s screaming “READ ME!”

I can’t wait to see who else makes it to the semifinals!

Goliath

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by Scott Westerfeld
ages: 12+
First sentence: “‘Siberia,’ Alek said.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Others in the series: Levithan, Behemoth

When we last left our fair heroes, Deryn and Alek, they had helped the revolution against the Ottoman Empire succeed, and prevented them from entering the Great War. Now the crew of the Leviathan is headed for Siberia, to pick up some unusual cargo — inventor Nikola Tesla, who claims that his invention, Goliath, can bring the Great War to an end, once and for all.

Of course, there’s still the problem of Deryn being a girl and Alek thinking she’s a boy, and plus she’s in love with him and he’s a prince and she’s a commoner. So, of course, there will be stickiness when he finds out.

Like the previous two books, Goliath is many things all at once: action-packed, filled with battle scenes and daring escapes and cool contraptions; gorgeous, with Keith Thompson’s art elegantly complimenting Westerfeld’s words. I have to admit flipping through the book to look at the pictures, just so I can see them before reading the words so I can figure out what the heck is going on. It’s a bit of a love story this time around as well, and even though Westerfeld doesn’t have the swoon-worthy prose of, say, Maureen Johnson, he does fairly well keeping a balance between Deryn and Alek’s friendship and their budding love. (Though I have to admit here that one of my favorite characters was Alek’s perspicacious loris, Bovril. He was awesome.)

It has a wider scope than the previous two books, as the Leviathan basically circumscribes the world, going from Siberia to Japan to California through Mexico to New York. It’s almost as if Westerfeld felt like he couldn’t leave any part of his new steampunk world untouched. It kind of felt forced, though I do get the historical implications; he was, after all, just following the path that the actual World War I took.

Even with that criticism, it was wonderful to follow Deryn — who is really one of those awesome, cool, capable heroines you just have to cheer for! — and Alek’s — who has really grown on me over the trilogy — story come to a good end.

And you can’t ask for more than that.

A Day Late (But Not a Dollar Short): It’s Once Upon a Time VI

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I know, I know, I swore off challenges. But it’s CARL’S ONCE UPON A TIME CHALLENGE, and I can’t miss that.

And, as per my favorite thing, I am doing Quest the second, which consists of one book in each of the four categories.

1. Fantasy (in which I will read lots): I’m going to try to read Huntress, by Malinda Lo (but I will also most definitely read Hex Hall, by Rachel Hawkins as well).
Grave Mercy, Robin LaFevers
The Floating Islands, by Rachel Neumeier
Huntress, by Malinda Lo
Hex Hall, by Rachel Hawkins
Castle in the Air, by Diana Wynne Jones
Demonglass, by Rachel Hawkins
Spell Bound, by Rachel Hawkins
Girl of Fire and Thorns, by Rae Carson
Dealing with Dragons, by Patricia Wreade
Searching for Dragons, by Patricia Wreade

2. Mythology: Ilium by Dan Simmons. This has been on my TBR for years. Seriously.
The Lost Code, by Kevin Emerson
The Serpent’s Shadow, by Rick Riordan

3. Folklore: Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. I don’t know if it is, but I’m not sure I care.

4. Fairy Tales: Cinder, by Marissa Meyer. Because everyone says I should. And/Or Fables: book one, by Bill Willingham, because it sounds cool.

Woo hoo! I love spring.

Notes From an Accidental Band Geek

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by Erin Dionne
ages: 10+
First sentence: “Dad, seriously.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!

Elsie is a (french) horn player. First and foremost, before absolutely everything else. She is driven to play, and even though she’s only 13 years old, she’s ambitious. As a freshman in high school, she is determined to get into an elite music program, Shining Birches, which is something usually reserved for upper classmen. The only hitch is that she needs an extra music group, and because of her father’s gig in Austria (life is tough), she missed out in applying for the Boston Youth Symphony. Which means she’s stuck with (horror of all horrors) marching band.

I picked this up for C for Christmas because she’s basically fallen into band. She never wanted to be in band, but the way our middle school is, band is really one of the better options. That, and the teacher is fantastic. Much like Elsie, C went into band with a bad attitude, and is actually having a surprisingly good time.

Elsie, however, was an incredibly tough character to enjoy. She’s self-centered, snobbish, and competitive. She couldn’t understand why people asked for her opinion and then got offended when she gave it to them. And while she was competitive with her classmates, the person she was always at odds with was her father, who was also a french horn player.

On the one hand, all these things that grated on me came honestly to the character, and she really did go through a growth arc over the course of the book. Yes, it did get all wrapped up in a nice little bow, but not in the way you would expect given the beginning of the novel, which was nice. And, thankfully, there were interesting side characters that helped soften Elsie’s abrasiveness.

Even though Elsie was one tough pill to swallow, it was a fun little book. Dionne really got the value of marching band (not to mention its inherent coolness), and anyone who’s ever marched will find themselves nodding in agreement.

And that makes an already good book that much better. (Granted: I marched, so I may be a bit biased, here.)