Faith, Hope and Ivy June

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by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
ages: 10-13
First sentence: “They’ll probably be polite — crisp as a soda cracker on the outside, hard as day-old biscuits underneath.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!

Ivy June lives in the backwoods of Kentucky and goes to a fairly small public school. Catherine lives in a big house in Lexington and attends a private, all-girls school. The two girls are part of an exchange program: Ivy June will spend two weeks with Catherine in her house and attending her school, and then Catherine will do the same, and live two weeks in Ivy June’s house.

It’s an interesting city mouse-country mouse premise, as Ivy June and Catherine both deal with their expectations about the other, and realizing not only what’s deficient about each of their lifestyles, but what’s good about them, too. Told from Ivy June’s point of view, the book chronicles the weeks through both narrative and journal entries.

I was okay with it — though I cringed at the stereotypes: country folk are simple but hardworking and have a tough time expressing emotions; city folk are shallow, picky and have a tendency to overly praise their children — until the ending. Then it got overly maudlin for my tastes — enormous tragedies, grand life lessons learned. And, after I finished, I realized that the whole book was a bit on the preachy side. Yeah, yeah, don’t judge and do your best.

Not the best book I’ve spent a day on. Which, interestingly enough, I found really depressed me.

Library Loot #34

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I lost my self control. Really. Look at my list of books — what was I thinking?! I tell myself that I “need” to read them all, but I’ve got several chuncksters up for this month… sigh.

There really needs to be more reading hours in a day.

For A/K:
Around the World! (Dora the Explorer Ready-to-Read)
Follow the Line Around the World, by Laura Ljungkvist
Chicken Soup, by Jean Van Leeuwen/Illus. by David Gavril**
Harry Hungry!, by Steven Salerno
The I LOVE YOU Book, by Todd Parr
The Pigeon Wants a Puppy, by Mo Willems**
Posey Prefers Pink, by Harriet Ziefert/Illus. by Yukiko Kido**

For C:
Strawberry Hill, by Mary Ann Hoberman
Harry Houdini for Kids: His Life and Adventures with 21 Magic Tricks and Illusions (For Kids series), by Laurie Carlson

For M/me (yeah, right. Like I’m going to get to these. Really want to, though):
The Princess and the Bear, by Mette Ivie Harrison*
Wherever Nina Lies, by Lynn Weingarten
ttyl, Lauren Myracle*

For me:
The Conch Bearer (Brotherhood of the Conch), by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
The Mirror of Fire and Dreaming: Book II of the Brotherhood of the Conch, by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
Tess of the D’Urbervilles (Dover Thrift Editions), by Thomas Hardy
A Civil Contract, by Georgette Heyer
The Moonstone (Dover Thrift Editions), by Wilkie Collins

The roundup is either at Reading Adventures or A Striped Armchair.

*Ones that M eventually read.
**Picture books we really liked.

10 Questions for Suzanne Selfors

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I discovered Suzanne Selfors last year, when I received a review copy for Saving Juliet from Walker Books. I loved the premise, and thought that Selfors had a nice blend of magical realism, romance and adventure that captured my fancy.

Her latest YA book, Coffeehouse Angel, takes magical realism in a different direction, giving us guardian angels and a more subtle romance than in her previous book. It still captured my fancy, though. Enough to ask her if she’d be willing to do an interview for my little blog.

I was happy that she agreed to be a part of my 10 questions series, especially since my computer crashed and I lost the answers she had sent. She was kind enough to answer the questions twice for me. Thanks, Suzanne!

MF: Can you tell us a bit about the inspiration for Coffeehouse Angel?

SS: I was inspired by the place where I do a lot of my writing — a coffeehouse in the town of Poulsbo. Poulsbo is a little Scandinavian-themed town that’s adorable. I’ve put pictures of it on my website. Katrina and her grandmother would fit right in.
I was also inspired by a conversation I had with a friend who was really worried about her daughter’s summer schedule. This girl had every minute scheduled, from swim team, to sailing lessons, to Spanish lessons. The mother was stressed that it wouldn’t be good enough to get her daughter into a good college. I felt sick just listening to her. And that is a big theme in this book, this stress teens are under to succeed.
MF: Do you have a favorite character or scene from the book?
SS: Well, I love the scene when Ratcatcher, the cat, catches something, but I don’t want to give it away.
MF: What would you wish for if you had a magical coffee bean?
SS: My true wish would be for my kids to have long, healthy, happy lives. My fantasy wish would be to grow wings.
MF: Is there anything from your life — either past or current — that ended up being a part of this book?
SS: Certainly. I was very much like Katrina, in that I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. I was a total late bloomer! And, like Katrina, I went to dances at the Sons of Norway hall. I also had a best guy friend in high school, but he wasn’t anything like Vincent. And all the old guys that hang out at the coffeehouse are based on all the old guys in my family. They were Norwegian fishermen, too.
MF: You write both YA novels as well as Middle Grade ones… is there a difference in the way you approach writing for the different age groups?
SS: A big difference! The middle grade novels are all about an adventure. I don’t have to worry about romance. Which, in my humble opinion, is the most difficult thing to write. In the teen novels, there’s always an element of romance. It usually isn’t the central focus in my story, but it’s always there.

MF: How did the decision to write both MG and YA come about? (Or did it just happen…)
SS: It just happened. I was under contract to write my 2nd middle grade and I had this idea I couldn’t get out of my head. So I wrote Saving Juliet and my agent sold it!
MF: Your stories always seem to have a slight element of the magical, whether it be mermaids, time travel or magic coffee beans (sorry, I haven’t read Fortune’s Magic Farm, yet…) — is there any reason for this?
SS: I love stories about magic. I’ve always been drawn to fairy tales and fantasy. While I don’t write high fantasy, I always fall into the fantasy category. But I don’t sit down and say, Oh I’m going to write another story about magic. It just always seems to creep into my books.

MF: Who, or what inspires your writing?
SS: My kids. I write for them. And they read everything I write.
MF: Do you have five books you think everyone should read?
SS: I’m sorry, I don’t do well with questions like these. I can’t possibly limit my choices to five. I think everyone should simply read. Read whatever, whenever, as long as you read.
MF: If you don’t mind telling us, what are you working on next?
SS: My 3rd middle grade comes out in May 2010, Smells Like Dog. It was very fun to write and I’m quite proud of it. And I’m currently working on the first draft of my next teen book.

Visit Suzanne and learn more about her books on her web page.

August Jacket-Flap-a-Thon

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It’s the end of August. It’s been hot, and the girls have been cranky this month, and I didn’t read all that I wanted to. Still, I managed to get a fair amount done. One must be grateful for the little things, right?

The Handmaid’s Tale (Anchor):“In the world of the near future, who will control women’s bodies? Offred is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead. She may leave the home of the Commander and his wife once a day to walk to food markets whose signs are now pictures instead of words because women are no longer allowed to read. She must lie on her back once a month and pray that the Commander makes her pregnant, because in an age of declining births, Offred and the other Handmaids are only valued if their ovaries are viable. Offred can remember the days before, when she lived and made love with her husband Luke; when she played with and protected her daughter; when she had a job, money of her own, and access to knowledge. But all of that is gone now…. Funny, unexpected, horrifying, and altogether convincing, The Handmaid’s Tale is at once scathing satire, dire warning, and tour de force.”

Except for the “funny” part, this is a dead-on description, capturing the tone and the basic plot of the book.

Shug (Simon & Schuster): “Shug is clever and brave and true (on the inside, anyway). And she’s about to become your new best friend. Annemarie Wilcox, or Shug as her family calls her, is beginning to think there’s nothing worse than being twelve. She’s too tall, too freckled, and way too flat-chested. Shug is sure that there’s not one good or amazing thing about her. And now she has to start junior high, where the friends she counts most dear aren’t acting so dear anymore — especially Mark, the boy she’s known her whole life through. Life is growing up all around her, and all Shug wants is for things to be like they used to be. How is a person supposed to prepare for what happens tomorrow when there’s just no figuring out today?”

This blurb just makes me want to go “awww”. Kind of like the book.

The Forest of Hands and Teeth (Delacorte Press): “In Mary’s world there are simple truths. The Sisterhood always knows best. The Guardians will protect and serve. The Unconsecrated will never relent. And you must always mind the fence that surrounds the village; the fence that protects the village from the Forest of Hands and Teeth. But, slowly, Mary’s truths are failing her. She’s learning things she never wanted to know about the Sisterhood and its secrets, and the Guardians and their power, and about the Unconsecrated and their relentlessness. When the fence is breached and her world is thrown into chaos, she must choose between her village and her future – between the one she loves and the one who loves her. And she must face the truth about the Forest of Hands and Teeth. Could there be life outside a world surrounded in so much death?”

I like this one because it’s gripping enough to make you want to open the book, and yet doesn’t give away a think about the book. Excellent.

When You Reach Me (Wendy Lamb Books): “Four mysterious letters change Miranda’s world forever. By sixth grade, Miranda and her best friend, Sal, know how to navigate their New York City neighborhood. They know where it’s safe to go, like the local grocery store, and they know whom to avoid, like the crazy guy on the corner. But things start to unravel. Sal gets punched by a new kid for what seems like no reason, and he shuts Miranda out of his life. The apartment key that Miranda’s mom keeps hidden for emergencies is stolen. And then Miranda finds a mysterious note scrawled on a tiny slip of paper: I am coming to save your friend’s life, and my own. I must ask two favors. First, you must write me a letter. The notes keep coming, and Miranda slowly realizes that whoever is leaving them knows all about her, including things that have not even happened yet. Each message brings her closer to believing that only she can prevent a tragic death. Until the final note makes her think she’s too late.”

I put this here because I’m not sold on it. Technically, this is true about the book, but… it’s also not true. Then again, this one is a particularly hard book to sum up, mostly because in giving anything away, you diminish the reading experience. Kudos to Wendy Lamb Books for giving it a good shot…

Other books read this month:
11 Birthdays
Book of Unholy Mischief
My Antonia
The Adventures of Charley Darwin
Troubadour (DNF)
Dreamdark: Silksinger
Little House in the Big Woods
Darkwood
Eighth Grade Bites
The Prince
Evolution of Calpurnia Tate
Intuitive Eating: A Revolutionary Approach that Works
Ariel’s Journey (DNF)
Secret Keeper
Let It Snow
Someone Like You
The Secret Story of Sonia Rodriguez
Forest Born

Forest Born

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by Shannon Hale
ages: 12+
First sentence (ARC): “Ma had six sons.”
Review copy sent to me by the publisher.
Release date: September 15
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!

Rin is the youngest of seven children, the only daughter in her Forest family. She’s her Ma’s shadow, a tree-climber, a great aunt, and Razo’s (of River Secrets fame) best friend. She can listen to trees, sinking into their consciousness and enjoying the cool, green peace that emerges from them. Then, one day, she’s taken with a local forest boy, Wilem, and convinces him to stay with her and kiss her. Yet, her convincing is something more than simple persuasion: it’s power, it’s a rush for her. And afterward, the trees reject her.

So, she packs up and heads to the city with Dasha and Razo, to become a lady-in-waiting for Queen Isi (of Goose Girl fame). Things seem to be going well, until word comes from the border that a town was burned. Geric goes to see what the problem is and ends up injured. So it’s up to Isi, Enna (of Enna Burning fame), Dasha and Rin — who tags along at first with what she’s dubbed the Fire Sisters, but is eventually included in their plans — to figure out who or what is behind this latest spurt of violence, and come up with a way to stop it.

This book is an excellent culmination of all the other Bayern books, and not just because everyone from the previous books are in them and playing fairly major roles. No, it was something more, something deeper than that: it felt like it was the culmination of ideas and themes that Hale has been exploring throughout the Bayern books: of family, of self-control, of self-interest versus the greater good, and so on.

One of the best things about this book is that all of Hale’s heroines have a chance to shine. Each one, including — eventually — Rin, are powerful on their own they have a quiet strength about them. They’re feminine, caring, supportive, and yet, when the need arises, fierce and powerful. Yet, put them all together and they are truly forces to be reckoned with. The best parts of the book are when Isi, Enna, and Dasha work together, and then when they realize what Rin has to offer them, they include Rin in their ring of power, where Rin is least comfortable, yet most needed.

It’s possibly Hale’s quietest Bayern book since Goose Girl. I’m going off of memory here, since I didn’t go out an re-read the other three before picking this one up (good news: it works well as a stand alone). But, this book is a very introspective, quiet, nature-filled book, something which I remember being a strength about Goose Girl. There is no real kick-butt action, there is no super-awesome heroines (or heroes), there’s not even any real romance. Yet, all of Hale’s hallmarks are there to draw the reader in: from world-building, to descriptive language, to her humor, and (most of all) her ability to tell a whopping good story. Which means, while there’s nothing flashy, it’s a good, solid story that will entertain and engage readers.

And, really: isn’t that what we all love about Hale’s books?

The Secret Story of Sonia Rodriguez

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by Alan Lawrence Sitomer
ages: 14+
First sentence: “I was born in the United States of America.”
Review copy sent to me by a publicist (I think).
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!

This is one angry book.

Then again, Sonia has much to be angry about. The daughter of illegal immigrants from Mexico, all she wants to do is make good her father’s efforts to not only get her the opportunities in America, but who works three jobs to pay for them.

However, the rest of the family doesn’t see it that way. They see Sonia as the oldest daughter, someone who is supposed to cook, clean, supervise, care for and help around the house. As Sonia would say, es mi cultura and es familia. Her mother, pregnant with twins, spends the day watching telenovelas, relying on Sonia for help at every possible (and usually inconvenient) moment. Her uncle is a drunk and a gambler (and a lech), her older brother a school dropout who smokes pot.

She’s up against a lot.

This is not the story of her slow descent into Hispanic stereotypes. In fact, it’s a intelligent, articulate treatise on the state (plight?) of immigrants in America — not only the conflict between cultures, but expectations as well. It’s also Sonia’s personal war with her family and her culture and her dreams for being and doing better.

It’s not an easy read: the anger Sonia has for everything is palpable. It’s uncomfortable to read about the way Sonia’s treated; it’s difficult to make it through the negativity and stereotypes. But stick with it and you’ll be rewarded: not only does the book get better, but Sonia learns to appreciate the good in her Mexican heritage, and things do work out in the end for her (and her family).

It helps to have a passing knowledge of Spanish: the book is littered with Spanish words and phrases, some of which are just left to the reader to catch the gist of, which sometimes disrupted the narrative flow. In addition, it’s an unflinching book: nothing is sugar-coated or glossed over. However, it’s because of that honesty, that rawness, though, that this book, ultimately, is worth reading.

Ariel’s Journey

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by Doug Kane and Christy Wood
ages: 9-13
First sentence: “My jeans are trashed!”
Review copy sent to me by the publisher (or a publicist? I can’t check since I lost all my emails…)

This is a horse book.

This is a horse book that M kind of liked.

This is a horse book that really knows its audience.

This is a horse book that I couldn’t make it past the first three chapters after which M said it got interesting.

This is a horse book that I felt the authors got stuck in the old show-not-tell mire.

This is a horse book that I could care less about.

This is a horse book, though, that if you have a pre-teen girl who LOVES horses, it would be a good fit for her.

I won’t begrudge you for liking horse books. It’s just the rare horse book that I can tolerate.

This is not that horse book.

Library Loot #33

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Remembered the big bag.
Got lots of books for everyone.
There were no Dora books in.
And I even managed not to have too many on hold.

Happy day!

For A/K:
Rita and Whatsit At the Beach, by Jean-Philippe Arrou-Vicnod/Illus. by Olivier Tallec
Shopping with Dad, by Matt Harvey and Miriam Latimer**
Martha Doesn’t Say Sorry, by Samantha Berger/Illus. by Bruce Whatley**
Pumpkin Baby, by Jane Yolen/Illus. by Susan Mitchell
The Cow That Was the Best Moo-ther, by Andy Cutbill/Illus. by Russell Ayto**
Charlie and Lola: We Are Extremely Very Good Recyclers (Charlie & Lola), by Lauren Child**

For C:
My New Best Friend, by Julie Bowe
The Beautiful Stories of Life: Six Greeks Myths, Retold, by Cynthia Rylant/Illus. by Carson Ellis
Nana Cracks the Case!, by Kathleen Lane/Concept by Cabell Harris/Illus. by Sarah Horne
Pete’s Disappearing Act, by Jenny Tripp/Illus. by John Manders

For M:
Hattie Big Sky, by Kirby Larson (I want to read this one, too)
A Long Way From Chicago, by Richard Peck
Airhead, by Meg Cabot*
The Exchange, by Graham Joyce

For me:
The Beef Princess of Practical County, by Michelle Houts
From Cover to Cover: Evaluating and Reviewing Children’s Books, by Kathleen T. Horning
A Finder’s Magic, by Philippa Pearce/Illus. by Helen Craig
Shadowland: Book III of the Brotherhood of the Conch, by Chitra Lekha Banerjee Divakaruni (Yeah, I didn’t realize that this was a third in a series… rectified that by putting the first two on hold for next week!)

The roundup is either at Reading Adventures or A Striped Armchair.

*Ones that M eventually read.
**Picture books we really liked.

Someone Like You

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by Sarah Dessen
ages: 13+
First sentence: “Scarlett Thomas has been my best friend for as long as I can remember.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!

I had a hard time with this one.

It’s not because the story was awful, or the characters were unsympathetic, or the writing banal… no: this time, I can honestly say it was me. (Warning: moralistic rant ahead…)

See, the book is about a girl — Halley — whose best friend, Scarlett, finds out she’s pregnant with her boyfriend’s kid (it only took once!). She turns to Halley for support, just as Halley begins to pull away from her uber-controlling mom (if I’m EVER that bad, will someone please shoot me?) and falls into a serious relationship of her own. I think the book was supposed to be about friendship, about a girl trying to find her own way and her own strength (as opposed to just listening to her mom all the time), and while I can respect that, I had issues.

On the one hand: at least Scarlett didn’t get an abortion, although that’s what her mom really wanted her to do. I can accept that. On the other hand: she kept the baby. When I was 16, my best friend got pregnant, and decided to keep the baby. While I was not nearly as sympathetic as Halley was (shoot: I wasn’t sympathetic at all… devastated was more like it….), I did see how keeping the baby ruined my friend’s life. No, that’s not the way it has to be, but… it’s a hell of a lot harder to make it through high school when you have a kid at 16. And it bothered me that that was the choice Scarlett wanted to make. All that said, Scarlett being pregnant had an interesting effect on Halley’s decision on whether or not to have sex with her boyfriend.

On the one hand: I can understand Halley’s mother’s desire to help steer her daughter down a safe path. Isn’t that what all parents want for their kids: for them to make right choices and lead successful lives? On the other hand: There’s a difference between guiding and controlling, and this mom was controlling. It made me — as an adult — uncomfortable, and I wasn’t surprised that Halley took to sneaking around and withdrawing from her mom. I’m also not convinced that, by the end of the story her mom’s really changed. Changing, perhaps… and maybe that’s all Dessen really wanted to portray.

Moralistic rant over. I’m not saying it’s a bad book, just one that I had a bad reaction to. Maybe you’ll like it better…

RIPing It Up

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It’s time for Carl’s RIP Challenge!

I had a grand time with this last year, and have actually been looking forward to it. Does this mean that it’s fall, already?

Since both of the book I’ve chosen are HUGE, I’m only doing Peril the Second…

My books:

1. The Stand, by Stephen King (I’m supposed to read it by the end of October, anyway)
2. The Historian, Elizabeth Kostova

Edited to add: we’re reading The Moonstone, by Wilkie Collins for my F2F bookgroup in October… perhaps I’ll even come up with a 4th book…
Great Stories and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe
Ninth Grade Slays, by Heather Brewer

Wish me luck!