The Dancing Pancake

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by Eileen Spinelli
ages: 9+
First sentence: “I am on the front lawn making snow angels with Albert Poole.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there.

This is a sweet little novel in verse. Although it addresses some deep issues: parents separating, homelessness, friendship, it does so in a very unassuming way. It’s hardly angst-ridden, or even very sad; it’s very much the way you assume it will be from the cover and title: it’s a world where everything will work out, if you just give it time.

The winter Bindi is eleven, her father leaves. She doesn’t think much of it, until her mom and aunt and uncle start saying things like “he’s not coming back” and “we need time apart”. Then her mom sells the house and opens a restaurant, moving them into the apartment above. None of this meets with Bindi’s approval, and she spends the bulk of the story just learning to accept her new life without being a complete grump about it.

There really isn’t much else to say about this. It was nice. The illustrations, I felt, were almost superfluous, and distracting: I had a picture of Bindi in my mind and the illustrations kept distracting me from it. I’m not sure if there was a moral — perhaps just hang on through the tough times? — but it felt like the sort of book that wanted to have one. The characters were nice, but not really gripping. The situations were fun, but not really moving. And so, in the end, it was just kind of nice and sweet but not quite much else. (Kind of like pancakes, huh?)

North of Beautiful

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by Justina Chen Headley
ages: 14+
First sentence: “Not to brag or anything, but if you saw me from behind, you’d probably think I was perfect.”
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At first glance, Terra is your average 16 year old. But, you get close and the first thing most anyone notices is the port wine stain that covers most of one side of her face. Her parents have spent lots of money trying to remove the stain, all to no avail, and Terra spends her time trying to hide it: through her otherwise perfect body, through make up, through pushing herself to get through high school a year early, through her art (though she doesn’t share that). She lives a half-existence, mostly because of her controlling father (it’s flat out emotional abuse — of both her and her mother — and it’s the most hateful thing I’ve read in a long, long time); she’s never good enough, beautiful enough, to satisfy him.

That is, until Terra and her mother meet Jacob and his. It was a freak accident (literally), but it was one that will change the map of Terra and her mother’s life.

The first part was incredibly difficult, emotionally, to get through: I literally wanted to scream at Terra’s dad. Headley did such a fantastic job of portraying not only an abuser — he never hit anyone, but he was an abuser all the same — but the way the victims of the abuse would react. It was real, and it was literally very heavy to read; I can’t come up with any better way to describe it.

But the second half, when Terra and her mother get brave enough to go to China, is lighter. It feels lighter, like a weight has been lifted, and it’s amazing to watch the women bloom. Headley does a masterful job with characterization in this book, and it’s not just about Terra: both she and her mother make distinct, yet similar, journeys to find themselves. It’s a treatise on beauty, and the expectations of what beauty is. It’s an exploration of abuse, but it’s a hopeful one; perhaps healing can be done in the family. But, it’s also a real story: there are real consequences, real emotions, real characters.

And a really good book.

Carter’s Big Break

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by Brent Crawford
ages: 14+
First sentence: “On the last day of school, I’m happily strolling down the hall after Mr. Rumpford’s ridiculously hard algebra final.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!

I picked this one up, initially, because the inscription on the back made me laugh:

Warning: This book is intended for immature audiences. If you find teen guys annoying and/or disgusting, this may not be the book for you. There’s gotta be something about a cute wizard or moody vampire around here… Go find it!

I kept reading it because, like Carter Finally Gets It, this one is very guy. Very guy. And yet, it’s also very sweet. Crawford walks the line between immature and wise incredibly well, and manages to tell a good story with a lot of heart. I know: don’t tell the guys.

Carter’s made it through his freshman year, coming out in style: he’s passed his classes, starred in the musical, has a girlfriend. All he wants to do is hang with his “boys” at the pool this summer. And, of course, karma/fate/adults get in his way. Turns out that a local boy who’s made it big is filming a movie of his book in town, and he wants to cast locals as the lead. Carter tries out, and — because he’s just lucky — gets the lead opposite the famous starlet Hilary Idaho (side note: how lame a name is that? Totally obvious, but it works.). There goes the easy summer he’d planned.

At first, working on a movie and hanging out with Hilary is totally awesome, but things go sour pretty quick (because it is Carter after all). Carter’s girlfriend, Abby, breaks up with him. Hilary is a lot to manage, to say the least. The whole movie-making experience isn’t quite what it’s cracked up to be. And he decided, for better or worse (generally the latter), that he’s much to “good” for his family. Of course there will be a lot of mishaps along the way. Of course things will work out for the best in the end. And of course you will find yourself rooting for Carter whole heartedly. Because, even though he’s very guy, he’s what makes this book completely worth reading. (Even if you’re a mom of four girls and are terrified by the guyness of it all.) Crawford has created a character so honest, so real, and so unpretentious (and yes, there are stereotypes in there, and yes, I like most of the girls as well, especially his sister, Lynne) that you can’t help but enjoy the journey.

And that means I’m quite interested to see what happens to Carter next.

Sunday Salon/Weekly Geeks: Guess the Author

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This week’s Geek (it’s been a LONG time since I’ve participated!) is a fun one:

“Post pictures of authors that answer the questions listed below, but without saying who they were. Then Weekly Geek visitors should guess, by leaving a comment, who they think those authors are.”

I’m going to make it a little easy on you; all the authors are of books that are currently on my nightstand.


Have fun guessing; answers will go up on Friday!

Library Loot 2010-25

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I have come to a decision: I will not. check. out. books. in the month of August. I have a GINORMOUS backlog of ARCs and other books I want to read that I own, and I really, seriously, honestly, need to read them. I have a problem: library books always take precedence: I work best under deadlines, and the library conveniently provides one for me. But that means the other books, the ones without deadlines pile up, staring at me from their shelves, reminding me of the commitment I made to actually buy or request them. (Library books are much to alluring for their own good….)

So, I’m going to be a good girl, and call this one my last checkout (of middle grade/YA/adult fiction for me; I’ll still get stuff for the girls), except for Demon’s Covenant, which I’m waiting for. And I’m going to spend the next month reading the ones I already have. (I hope.)

Picture Books:
Angelina and the Royal Wedding , by Katharine Holabird/Illus. by Helen Craig
The Book That Eats People, by John Perry/Illus. by Mark Fearing
The Little Moon Princess, by YJ Lee
Marco Flamingo Under the Sea, by Shelia Jarkins
When Stella Was Very, Very Small, by Marie-Louise Gay
My Mother Is So Smart, by Tomie dePaola

Easy Readers:
Beans Baker Bounces Back, by Richard Torrey
Little Witch Goes to School , by Debora Hautzig/Illus. by Sylvie Wickstrom
The Curse of the Cobweb Queen: An Otto & Uncle Tooth Adventure , by Geoffrey Hayes
Amanda Pig, Schoolgirl, by Jean Van Leeuwen/Illus. Ann Schweninger

Middle Grade Fiction:
Alchemy and Meggy Swann, by Karen Cushman
The Dancing Pancake, by Eileen Spinelli
The Last Best Days of Summer, by Valerie Hobbs
Frankly, Frannie, by AJ Stern/Illus by Coreen Mulryon Marts

YA Fiction:
Blue Bloods (Blue Bloods, Book 1), by Melissa de la Cruz
The Cardturner, Louis Sachar

Adult Fiction
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, by Winifred Watson

Non-Fiction:
The New Birth Order Book: Why You Are the Way You Are, by Dr. Kevin Leman

The roundup is either at Adventures of an Intrepid Reader or The Captive Reader. Obligatory FTC note: the links are provided through my Amazon Associates account. If you click through and actually purchase one of these books, I’ll get a teeny, tiny payment. But, since no one ever does, and it’s SO much easier using the associates account to put up these links, I’m going to keep doing it.

A Step from Heaven

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by An Na
ages: 14+
First sentence: “Just to the edge, Young Ju.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!

Young Ju is just a small girl when her family leaves Korea for America. They are hoping for something better, a future besides fishing boats for their children. It’s not easy being in America: her father struggles for work, her mother is forbidden by her father to work, and Young Ju is walking a line between worlds: she’s neither fully American or Korean.

It’s a common story, one that I’m sure every immigrant family could tell: of the trials adjusting to a new country, of trying to hold on to the old one. Of wanting a better life for your children, and sacrificing everything you have for them. And An Na tells it well: it’s a spare book, told from Young Ju’s point of view, but it’s haunting and moving and hopeful, all put together. She shows the journey from first arriving and not knowing the language through to a Young becoming a successful high school graduate, with the world It’s an interesting look into a Korean family, though I won’t say it’s Korean culture; aside from the bits and snatches of language, I would be wary about calling it “typical”.

See, the domestic violence got to me: sure, I can understand the need for male dominance in Asian cultures, but it still grates on me. And the Apa, the father, in this story demonstrated this need, combined with and fueled from a sense of powerlessness, through abusing his wife and daughter (and to a lesser extent, his son). It was horrible, horrifying, and disturbing and disgusting.

And so, while this book was well written and important and interesting and good, I find myself not really liking it. Perhaps because it is just too raw.

The Elegance of the Hedgehog

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by Muriel Barbery
ages: adult
First sentence: “‘Marx has completely changed the way I view the world,’ declared the Pallieres boy this morning, although ordinarily he says nary a word to me.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!

This book has been making the rounds over the last year or so, and I’ve come to a conclusion: you will either really love it (if you are a certain sort of person and it is the right sort of time) or really hate it (if neither of these things are true). To be completely honest: it is an incredibly pretentious book, full of Philosophy and Art and the Meaning of Life. There are times when you want to roll your eyes at the platitudes and the “smarter-than-thou” attitude of the whole book. (A common complaint is that one is just not smart enough to read this book.)

But, it’s also endearing in its pretentiousness; there are little moments of true charm, humor, and maybe even inspiration. My only advice: give the book some time to work on you. It starts with some heady philosophy, but then it settles in.

There isn’t much to the story. Our two main characters, 54-year-old Renee and 12-year-old Paloma, are both very brilliant, but neither one seems to know quite where they belong. Renee is a self-educated peasant that’s a concierge in a posh Paris apartment building; she knows the tenants expect her to behave in a certain way, and she’s more than happy to oblige. Paloma is at odds with her family: they are stuck in a rut, and she’s decided that life’s not worth living if all it has to offer is how her parents (or even the rest of the tenants) live.

Then Kakuro Ozu moves into the building. He’s not like anyone else: he’s introspective, intelligent, observant, elegant, and more than willing to reach out to both Renee and Paloma because he senses in them, as Anne would say, a kindred spirit. Age and class don’t matter; a friend is someone who is worth spending time with.

The ending is a bit abrupt, and, admittedly, not as moving as I think Barbery wanted it to be. But, even with that, it was an interesting and enjoyable book to journey through.

The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place

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Book One: The Mysterious Howling
by Maryrose Wood
ages: 9+
First sentence: “I was not Miss Penelope Lumley’s first journey on a train, but it was the first one she had taken alone.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!

This one had me charmed at the first sentence. By the end of the first chapter, I was reading passages aloud, telling my girls that I should probably just buy this book. It’s a very, very charming book: funny, quaint, and with an interesting story.

That said, by the time I finished it, I wasn’t so sure about it. Yes, it’s the first in the series, but I felt there were too many questions raised and not enough answers given.

Penelope Lumley is a 15-year-old graduate of the Swanburne Academy for Poor Bright Females, and her first job is as a governess for three children at the estate of Lord and Lady Ashton. Once Penelope gets there, she realizes that this will not be any ordinary governessing job: the three children — whom Lord Ashton has christened Alexander, Beowulf, and Cassiopeia — were found in the woods and are more canine than human. This doesn’t really bother Penelope: she’s always had a soft spot for animals, and she figures — thanks to the nuggets of wisdom of Swanburne’s founder, Agatha Swanburne (like: “There is noEx alarm clock like embarrassment.”) — that she should just make the best of the situation.

The best part, incidentally, is the asides. I adored the asides, because they were just so funny. Like this one:

Extraordinarily busy places are often compared to beehives, and if you have ever seen the inside of a beehive, you already know why this is so.

(It is not necessary to actually set foot inside of a beehive to confirm this, by the way. They are too small and too full of bees for in-person tours to be truly convenient. But there are alternatives: One could peer inside using some sort of periscopelike magnifying device, for example. Or one could simply accept that beehives are busy and get on with it. This second option is called “suspending one’s disbelief” and it is by far the easiest row to hoe, now and at other times, too.)

The book is mostly Penelope’s experiences in reteaching the children, but there’s also an air of mystery surrounding it: how did the children end up in the forest? What is Lord Ashton’s “business” and club that he’s always spending time with? And what’s the deal with Old Timothy, the coachman? Why is he always lurking around?

The problem is that none of the questions are ever answered. As I said before, I know it’s the first in a series, but I found the lack of resolution highly annoying. (That, and the “to be continued” at the end of the book. Really? How trite.) It’s a quibble, and a bit of a major one for me, but it did serve it’s purpose: I need to read the next book and find out if there are any answers. Though, I do hope that Wood doesn’t drag it out: enough “to be continued”s and I lose interest.

Which would be too bad, because this book really is quite charming.

Turtle in Paradise

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by Jennifer L. Holm
ages: 9+
First sentence: “Everyone thinks children are sweet as Necco Wafers, but I’ve lived long enough to know the truth: kids are rotten.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!

Turtle lives with her mom in New Jersey and has (mostly) become accustomed to her role as “the housekeeper’s kid”. It doesn’t mean kids are nice, but her mom has a job, and since it’s the middle of the Depression, that’s a good thing. Then her mom starts working for a woman who makes Mr. Scrooge look cheery, and Turtle finds herself shipped off to Key West, Florida to live with her mother’s sister.

And all the boy cousins.

There’s Bean and Kermit and Buddy and their friends Pork Chop and Ira. They are incredibly amusing and adorable, these boys: at times fierce and downright mean, at other times completely sweet. They are the Diaper Gang: going around island, helping out mothers of babies, taking care of them in return for candy. They even have a super-secret formula for taking care of rashes on babies’ bungys.

The book is mostly about painting a picture of life in the Keys during late-summer. It’s all about mood and place and experience. There are a few adventures, as Turtle finds her way around the town, and discovers things about the island and her past and her family and belonging that she couldn’t have found out had she not visited. But the plot is almost incidental to the book. And it didn’t really matter. Turtle and the boys were entertaining enough; besides, it felt right for the lazy pace of life in the Keys. If there was a lot of action, rushing around from place to place, it wouldn’t have felt as gorgeously summery as the book did.

And I wouldn’t have traded all the action in the world for that.

Sunday Salon: Reading and Vacations

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We just got back from vacation about a week ago, and I’ve found myself musing over my reading habits.

While on vacation, I managed to read 5 1/2 books. Since we’ve been home, only 2. I think a lot depended on where we went: we went to my in-laws’ house, a place with much to do for the children (and a lot of cousins to run around with), and my girls are old enough that they really don’t need much supervision at all. (Though I think K watched the same 3 movies the whole time!) So, I was left with lots of time on my hands to read as much as I want.

It’s interesting, though: Hubby went on the same vacation to the same place and didn’t even get through one book. Perhaps it was because it was his family; he spent his time chatting with his brothers (and playing D&D), not sitting on the couch, reading.

All this makes me wonder, though: do you read more when you’re on vacation, or less? What kinds of books do you take? If it all “depends”, what does it depend on?

I’m interested to hear your thoughts.