island

Summer of Salt

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summerofsaltby Katrina Leno
First sentence: “On the island of By-the-Sea you could always smell two things: salt and magic.”
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Content: Lots and lots and lots of swearing, including f-bombs (which seemed really out of place to me; I don’t know why) and some teenage drinking. It’s in the Teen section (grades 9+) of the bookstore.

Georgianna and Mary are twins that have grown up on the island By-the-Sea, daughters of the Fernweh line of women who have, well, magic. It usually manifests at birth, but sometimes takes longer. One of their great-grandmothers, Annabella, has turned into a bird, and comes back every summer to nest and attempt to hatch babies. Except this year.

This is the year that Georgianna and Mary turn 18, the summer before they are destined to leave the island. And everything seems to be going wrong. It won’t stop raining. Mary’s acting strange. And Annabella hasn’t shown up. And Georgianna’s magic won’t manifest itself.

This was an odd book — more magical realism than anything else — but I found myself enjoying it. I loved the matriarchal family, I loved the little island and it’s support of the weirdness that is the Fernweh women. I loved the magic, and now ordinary it was. And I just enjoyed the way Leno told the story.

It was all very charming.

Pablo and Birdy

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by Alison McGhee
First sentence: “‘Ready, Birdy?'”
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Content: It’s pretty simple text and there’s nothing objectionable. It’s in the middle grade (grades 3-5) section of the bookstore.

Pablo has a happy life on this island, in the town called Isla, living with Emmanuel selling trinkets to tourists, with his bird, Birdy, to keep him company. But he wonders about where he came from, since he and Birdy drifted to shore in a inflatable swimming pool 10 years ago. And it seems this year, the year in which interest in the mythological Seafaring Parrot has reached an all-time high, is the year in which Pablo can get answers.

I wanted to like this one. But it just felt kind of flat. It was easy enough to read, it just didn’t have that extra spark that I hope for in a story.

Reread: The Scorpio Races

by Maggie Stiefvater
First sentence: “It is the first day of November, and so, today, someone will die.”
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Content: It’s violent. But, if there’s a kid, say, 11 years old or so, who is interested in dark fairy-type tales, I’d give it to them. It’s in the Teen (grades 9+) section of the bookstore.

I picked this one up again after Maggie visited the store on her All the Crooked Saints tour, and I took pictures of fans for her, and listened to her chat them up. She said, over and over, that Scorpio Races was her favorite. And so, I decided that while I’d read it before, it had been a while, and I should revisit it.

And it was everything I thought about it and SO MUCH MORE. I don’t think, six years ago, that I was prepared for the awesomeness that is Maggie’s writing. Now, after Raven Cycle and Saints, I think I’m beginning to appreciate how wonderful a wordsmith she is. She captured a place — granted it doesn’t really exist — and a mythology so well, it could be real. And she made me FEEL so much that I cried during the last couple of chapters. Maybe this isn’t the best place to start with Maggie’s writing, but it’s definitely a truly breathtaking book.

She really is one of my favorite authors.

Audiobook: Beyond the Bright Sea

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by Lauren Wolk
Read by: Jorjeana Marie
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Content:  There are some instances of violence that could be intense for younger readers. It’s in the Middle Grade (grades 3-5) section of the bookstore.

Crow has lived her entire life on a small island in the Elizabeth Islands off the coast of Massachusetts. She lives with the man — Osh — who found her, washed ashore in a small boat,  as a new baby.  Her history hasn’t bothered her, but something about being 12 has got her wondering where she came from. Her questions lead to a chain of events that involves pirates, lepers on Penikese island, and finding her family.

I’ll be honest: I tried this one in print. It didn’t take. I just wasn’t compelled enough by the writing or the characters to keep going. So when I saw that it was audio, at first I was hesitant. But, I gave it a try, and maybe it was right place/right time, or maybe it was the fantastic narrator, but this time it stuck.

I loved hearing about Crow and Osh’s spartan life, getting the feel of life on the northern islands. I loved going with Crow as she discovered the history of her family, and felt for Osh as he struggled with his own feelings (maybe that was just the adult in me reacting).  I loved learning the history (of sorts) of the leper colony on Penikese, and to just get a sense of the place and time. Wolk is a good historical fiction writer, though I’m not sure her work is best suited for kids. (Well, maybe those precocious ones.) Even so, it’s a lovely book, and one I thoroughly enjoyed listening to.

 

Jacob Have I Loved

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jacobhaveilovedby Katherine Patterson
First sentence: “As soon as the snow melts, I will go to Rass and fetch my mother.”
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Content: It’s slow (it won the 1980 Newbery Award), and there’s not a lot of action. It’s perfect, though, for those 12 or 13-year-old kids who are trying to figure out themselves. And who like historical fiction.

A quick side note: it’s my 12th blogiversary today! I’ve fallen out of the habit of celebrating these, but I carved out this little corner of the internet 12 years ago today. Hard to believe, but there it is.

I wasn’t feeling much like reading new stuff the past couple of weeks, so I turned to a couple of rereads. One was The Blue Sword, which I’ve already given its own review. But the other, I only mentioned briefly, 12 years ago, so I thought it deserved its own post.

Sara Louise has spent her whole life on the small island Rass in the Chesapeake Bay. Her father works the water, crabbing in the summer, and harvesting oysters in the winter; her mother was a former schoolteacher and currently runs the house. Louise is mostly content, except… her younger twin, Caroline. It’s not that Caroline is mean or awful; in fact, it’s the opposite. Caroline is beautiful, Caroline is talented, Caroline is kind. Caroline is the joy of everyone on the island, and Lousie just can’t compete. She knows she should be supportive of her sister, proud of her sister. And she is. But she’s also jealous: she wants to be Noticed. But she’s not. She’s the backbone. The work horse. The awkward child.

There isn’t much of a plot; it’s Louise’s experiences growing up, and her (finally) figuring out what she wants out of life as an adult (which is nice). I spent this reread (it’s been a while) trying to figure out why this moved me as a pre-teen, why I have such a powerful attachment to it. I think it’s because everyone (well… me) can connect to being left out. To being looked over. To working and working and working and never feeling appreciated. To always being on the outside. And Patterson captured that feeling so very perfectly. She captures the awkwardness of the pre-teen years (I really don’t think anyone ever has things together the way Caroline does in the book; I’d love to see this story from Caroline’s point of view. It’d make her more human), the way they Want but don’t quite know how to articulate that want. The up and down feelings, the drama of just Living. It’s a perfect portrait of those years, and I think that’s what resonated.

Does it hold up as an adult? Yes, it does. It’s definitely historical fiction; it’s a picture of a small island in the 1940s, during World War II, and I found that interesting. I wanted to smack Grandma. Seriously, the woman had issues. I wished there was more about Louise’s mom; I would have loved to hear her story. I did enjoy it, even if I didn’t connect to it as deeply as I did when I was a pre-teen.

Definitely still worth reading, though.