February 2010 Jacket Flap-a-Thon

I don't usually have reading goals for myself; I tend to let the books come and go as they are wont to do. But for some reason, this year, I'm feeling like I'm "behind". I'm not sure that it's affecting my enjoyment of reading, per se, but there's a part of me that feels concerned that my numbers aren't "up" around where I "want" them to be.

Silly, I know. And I have no idea why I feel this way, either. Do you ever get feeling like that? What do you do?

It was another slowish month... but here are the three best blurbs:

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon (Little, Brown and Co): "In the valley of Fruitless mountain, a young girl named Minli spends her days workign hard in the fields and her nights listening to her father spin fantastic tales about the Jade Dragon and the Old Man of the Moon. Minli's mother, tired of their poor life, chides him for filling her head with nonsense. But Minli believes these enchanting stories and embarkes on an extraordinary journey to find the Old Man of the Moon to ask him how she can change their fortune. She encounters an assorted cast of characters and magical creatures along the way, including a dragon who accompanies her on her quest. Grace Lin, author of the beloved Year of the Dog and Year of the Rat, returns with a wondrous story of happiness, family, and friendship. A fantasy crossed with Chinese folklore, Where the Mountain Meets the Moon is a timeless adventure story reminiscent of The Wizard of Oz. With her beautiful full-color illustrations featured throughout, Grace has created a charming, engaging book for young readers.

Outlaw: the Legend of Robin Hood (Candlewick): "How did Robin of Loxley become Robin Hood? Why did he choose to fight injustice instead of robbing for his own gain? Expressive and gritty, this graphic novel whisks readers back to Crusades-era England, where the Sheriff of Nottingham rules with an iron fist, and in the haunted heart of Sherwood Forest, a defiant rogue — with the help of his men and the lovely Maid Marian — disguises himself to become an outlaw. Lively language and illustrations follow the legendary hero as he champions the poor and provokes a high-stakes vendetta in a gripping adventure sure to draw a new generation of readers."


The Lost Conspiracy (Harper): "On an island of sandy beaches, dense jungles, and slumbering volcanoes, colonists seek to apply archaic laws to a new land, bounty-hunters stalk the living for the ashes of their funerary pyres, and a smiling tribe is despised by all as traitorous murders. It is here, in the midst of ancient tensions and new calamity, that two sisters are caught in a deadly web of deceits. Arilou is proclaimed a beautiful prophetess—one of the island’s precious oracles: a Lost. Hathin, her junior, is her nearly invisible attendant. But neither Arilou nor Hathin is exactly what she seems, and they live a lie that is carefully constructed, and jealously guarded. When the sisters are unknowingly drawn into a sinister, island-wide conspiracy, quiet, unobtrusive Hathin must journey beyond all she has ever known of her world—and of herself—in a desperate attempt to save them both. As the stakes mount and falsehoods unravel, she discovers the only thing more dangerous than the secret she hides is the truth she must uncover."

Other books read this month:
Dream Life
The Undaunted (DNF)
A Wind in the Door
Frankie Pickle and the Closet of Doom
Charles and Emma: The Darwins' Leap of Faith

The Catcher in the Rye

Saved by the Music
Storm Glass
Going Bovine
Peace, Locomotion
Lady Macbeth's Daughter

Running Total: 26
Adult fiction: 4
YA: 9
MG: 7
Non-fiction: 3
Graphic Novel: 3
Didn't Finish: 1

Catcher in the Rye Read-a-long

Here's your chance to leave a link to your review/thoughts, start spoiler discussions (if you haven't read the book, you may not want to read the comments), rant or rave about the book, and bascially say whatever you'd like (about the book, please).

Thanks for reading along!

Lady Macbeth's Daughter

by Lisa Klein
ages: 12+
First sentence: "The nameless baby lay on the cold ground, wrapped in a woolen cloth."
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Review copy sent to me by the publisher.

The one thought that kept running through my mind while reading this was: Lisa Klein is to Shakespeare as Marion Zimmer Bradley is to King Arthur. This book is not as complex or involved as Mists of Avalon, but it has the same proto-feminist/mystical feel. That, and Klein takes the Shakespeare play (Macbeth, if you didn't already figure it out), and weaves a story through it that takes the original in new and fascinating directions.

Albia has grown up without a knowledge of her father. She believes her mother is one of three strange sisters, ones that can fortell the future, or so others believe. She's happy in her life: taking the sheep out to pasture, playing in Wychelm Wood. Then, one day, Macbeth comes to the Wyrd sisters, seeking news of his future. It is then that Albia becomes entangled in Macbeth's fate, both because she is his daughter, and because she is gifted with the Sight. As she fights against her fate, and eventually works to change it, she learns to harness her power -- both her physical power as well as the Sight -- and become the woman she and Scotland need her to be.

It sounds mystical, and in many ways it is. But, like Mists of Avalon, it's not so much a hocus-pocus kind of magic as it is that natural, earth-and-sky driven, Druidic magic. Albia fights the gift at first, as she fights her own heritage. Then again, the Macbeth Klein has created is worth fighting against. He's more than ambitious, he's power-hungry and ruthless. He's so superstitious that he'd kill his own daughter when she was an infant -- that's how Albia ended up with the Wyrd sisters in the first place -- because she wasn't the son the oracle had prophesied. He holds no remorse; he's full of lust and darkness, and deserved to die. Lady Macbeth is only slightly better; she gives herself over to Macbeth because she knows no other way, and the motivations Klein gives her for encouraging Macbeth in his road to destruction evolve out of her feeling cornered in her life. In fact, Klein gives us an interesting dichotomy with her women characters: Lady Macbeth is what one would think is very traditional, very husband-bound; while Albia, on the other hand, is very modern and feminist, choosing her own path without being bound by men's expectations.

I think this book could also bring up the question of fanfiction: is what Klein is doing a form of fan fiction? Possibly. (Then again, it could also be a form of historical fiction.) Klein takes the original Shakespeare play and works it in its own direction. True, if you are familiar with the play, you will recognize it wandering in and out of chapters. But, on the other hand, Albia is her own character almost wholly separate from the original play. And while she interacts with characters from the play, their story is not wholly hers.

Which makes this something more.

Peace, Locomotion

by Jacqueline Woodson
ages: 9+
First sentence: "Dear Lili, As you know, in a few days I'm going to be twelve."
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Review copy sent to me by the publisher for the Cybils.

This book was about second chances for me. I read one Jacqueline Woodson book a long time ago (at least 10 years) and I had a bad experience with it. I don't know why it's taken me so long to pick another one up, because I know she's quite respected.

Whatever it was, I'm duly chastised: this was a lovely little book, beautiful in its simplicity, it's a book full of characters and themes that I will be thinking about for a long time.

It's a sequel, but it works quite well on its own. The book is a series of letters from Lonnie -- aka Locomotion -- to his younger sister Lili. They've been put in different foster homes after a fire killed their parents. The loss is still there, at least for Locomotion, and he's made it his "job" to help Lili not forget his parents. But, that's not all in his life. He likes his foster mother and one of his foster brothers. His other foster brother, whom he's never met, is away in the Army, fighting. It's a nondescript war -- it could be either Vietnam or Iraq; one of the things that really stood out was how timeless this book was -- but the fact that this boy, someone who didn't like fighting at all when he was younger, was away doing things struck Locomotion as really unfair. And, after talking, he decides to pray for peace. But then, he realizes that peace isn't just something big, something grand: it's in the little things as well.

It's a book full of simple things, everyday things -- like crocuses and good home cooked meals and solving a math problem -- but in those things happiness, peace is found. Woodson is a powerful writer, evoking images with the barest of words. She captures Locomotion's voice perfectly, but she does more than that: Even though we rarely "heard" them, I feel like I knew the other characters in the book, from his sister Lili through to his older foster brothers Rodney and Jenkins. It's a perfect example of showing: there was very little descriptions, and yet I had a perfect picture of everyone.

Masterful.

Library Loot 2010-08

Survived Hubby being gone, though I didn't read much. I did enjoy the Vicar of Dibley, though. Funny stuff, and Richard Armitage really is nice to look at. :-)

I missed story time this week because I had a preschool parent-teacher conference for K. I'd say it was a waste of my time, but K's teachers crack. me. up. I think it was the most entertaining 15 minutes of my day today. I did manage to snag a few things before heading off.

This week's loot:

Picture Books:
Ten Naughty Little Monkeys, by Suzanne Williams/Illus. by Suzanne Watts
Lizette's Green Sock, by Catharina Valckx
Cool Cat, by Nonny Hogrogian
The Scarecrow's Dance, by Jane Yolen/Illus. by Bagram Ibatoulline
Princess K.I.M. and the Lie That Grew, by Maryann Cocca-Leffler
A Mighty Fine Time Machine, by Suzanne Bloom
Panda Kindergarten, by Joanne Ryder/Photos by Dr. Katherine Feng

Non-Fiction books:
Tales of the Shimmering Sky: Ten Global Folktales , retold by Susan Milord

Middle Grade Fiction:
The Witch's Guide to Cooking with Children, by Keith McGowan
The Case of the Case of Mistaken Identity, by Mac Barnett
The Secret Science Alliance and the Copycat Crook, by Eleanor Davis

YA books:
Libyrinth, by Pearl North
According to Kit, by Eugenie Doyle

Adult Fiction:
The English American: A Novel, by Alison Larkin

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

Going Bovine

by Libba Bray
ages: 15+
First sentence: "The best day of my life happened when I was five and almost died at Disney World."
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!

I think this is one of those books that if you don't read it at exactly the right time -- whenever that is for you -- it will mostly likely fall flat. But, if you catch it right, like I did this week, then it will soar. Touching at spots, wild, weird, and very hilarious, it will make you want to shout from the rooftops that this is the best. book. ever.

For those of you that don't know, the plot is simply this: our hero, Cameron, is a loser and a stoner and basically aimlessly trying not to connect with any other human being. His parents are disconnected, his twin sister hates him. He goes along like this until suddenly -- though it takes him a while to realize it -- he gets Creutzfeldt-Jakob variant BSE, or in other words: mad cow disease. That's when the weird stuff begins to happen. Angels, fire demons, the Wizard of Reckoning: throughout the rest of the book, Bray throws all sorts of wild, weird and wonderful things at us, asking us to question what is real.

Cameron is sent on a quest -- and I admit that if I hadn't had seen The Lightning Thief recently, I might have missed this -- one that is both epic and legendary. It's playing right into the whole Greek mythos: young man sent on a quest for x (in this case, to save the world and heal himself), and on those adventures, he is tried, tested and eventually found worthy. I like to think Bray knew this going in -- though I think she was aiming more for Norse mythology than Greek; by the way, Balder, the kick-butt yard gnome was, hands down, my favorite character -- and used it to her advantage. It sounds like a silly plot, but Bray's writing -- foul though it is -- keeps you turning pages. What's going to happen next? It's so over the top, so off the wall, it makes you want to know: what's the next thing Bray's going to throw at Cameron?

And she keeps you guessing, wondering, all the way up through the very end: was it real? Did it happen? What the heck was that?

Wild.

It's Back! Gearing up for the Battle of the Kids' Books

I know I'm late passing this on, but...

Can't wait, can't wait!

More information over at Fuse #8... Pop over to watch Betsy's hilarious video, but I'll save you the scrolling (because it's so hard...), and give you the list of books and judges.

The books up for contention are:

CHARLES AND EMMA
CLAUDETTE COLVIN
THE EVOLUTION OF CALPURNIA TATE
FIRE
THE FROG SCIENTIST
THE LAST OLYMPIAN
LIPS TOUCH
THE LOST CONSPIRACY
MARCELO IN THE REAL WORLD
MARCHING FOR FREEDOM
PEACE, LOCOMOTION
A SEASON OF GIFTS
THE STORM IN THE BARN
SWEETHEARTS OF RHYTHM
TALES FROM OUTER SUBURBIA
WHEN YOU REACH ME

And the list of the judges:

M. T. Anderson
Christopher Paul Curtis
Nancy Farmer
Candace Fleming
Helen Frost
Shannon Hale
Angela Johnson
Cynthia Kadohata
Julius Lester
Jim Murphy
Walter Dean Myers
Katherine Paterson
Gary Schmidt
Anita Silvey
Megan Whalen Turner

The final round will be judged by none other than the ambassador of Children's Lit, Katherine Paterson.

The fun begins March 1. You can follow @SLJsBoB to keep on top of things, too.

Sunday Salon: Fanfiction

This will have to be a quickie... I've been meaning to get to the computer to write a bookish musing post, but the laptop's down again (we just -- finally -- caved and bought a new one), and M's been hogging the desktop, whenever she can, for the last week.

Doing what, you ask?

Reading Harry Potter fanfiction.

I don't remember how she got started on it; perhaps Hubby set her on to a site, or perhaps she discovered it on her own, but the girl's addicted. So much so that her "regular" reading has gone down (I think she's finished a book or two, maybe, in the past week, but that's down from her usual amount of four or five), and it's caused some tension with her younger sisters who also want their share of computer time.

And, I have to admit: I don't like it. Not because she's on the computer. No: I don't like it because I have a bias against fanfiction.

Hubby -- who writes fanfic -- and M have gone the rounds with me as to why I don't, and all I can come up with is that it's not "real" writing. I feel like it's a bunch of first or second drafts out there, and that it's much like brain candy (which I do admit, many books are): there's no inherent *worth* in creating stories from someone else's imagined universe.

So... my question for you today is this: what do you think about fanfiction? If you do read/write it, why? What do you get from it? Or, if you don't, why not? What turns you off about it?

I know I'm biased. But I promise to try and keep an open mind.

Book-to-Movie Friday: The Lightning Thief

So, I took M and C to see Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief this past Monday.

We had a grand time.

I went in excited, yet apprehensive: Chris Columbus pretty much hacked the first two Harry Potter books to death and I really wanted the Percy Jackson movie to hold together as a movie, not just be nice scenes from the book. At the same time, I wanted it to be faithful to the book, avoiding the terrible massacre that Ella Enchanted was.

And you know what? I think it succeeded in doing that. M sat next to me and critiqued everything that was different (her biggest complaint: the way the cabins were at Camp Half Blood) than the book. It was fairly significant: they cut and added characters (Persephone was not in the book), combined characters (most notably, they made Annabeth into more of a warrior than she was in the book. Battle strategy, yes. Kicking butt, however, is best left to the children of Ares.), changed scenes and mixed and matched. The adults were there mostly for show, as well: Pierce Brosnon and Chiron mostly just strutted around, and I didn't get much from Sean Bean or Kevin McKidd as Zeus and Posidon, respectively.

That said, however, they did much right. I liked the look of the movie (Camp Half Blood aside), and the feel. I think the movie got the adventuresome, questing feel of the book down. (Though, I have to admit, it's been forever since I've read it.) Grover was brilliant: Brandon T. Jackson caught the protective, yet hesitant vibe that Grover always gave off. He had the best lines of the movie, stealing the show pretty much every scene he was in. (Even though Logan Lerman is a cutie.) Visually, there was much done right: I loved the vision of the Underworld (a shout out to Steve Coogan as Hades: he rocked.), as well as the Lotus Casino. There were some nice musical cues, as well.

Verdict: it's not like the book, but it's not a horrid massacre of it, either. What it is, in the end, is lots of fun.

The Lost Conspiracy

by Frances Hardinge
ages: 11+
First sentence: "It was a burnished, cloudless day with a tug-of-war wind, a fine day for flying."
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!

This book is much like that proverbial boulder: it takes a while to get going, but once it gets started, it rolls down the hill until it crashes to a stop, leaving you breathless.

It's the story of an island where there's tension between the colonists and the native peoples, the Lace. There are people -- Lost, they call them -- who can spend time outside of their bodies. The island needs them -- it's how they communicate over vast differences -- but doesn't exactly trust them. And when all of them, except for one Lace Lost, Arilou, suddenly die, an investigation starts. And sends Arilou and her sister, the unobtrusive Hathin, on the run for their lives.

It sounds pedantic, and for the first 200 pages or so, it is. Hardinge is a gifted writer, one of the least clunky similie and metaphor writers that I've ever read. They roll of the page effortlessly, drawing the reader in, rather then putting them off. But even her gifted writing couldn't keep the first part from dragging a bit. Which is sad, because many people (like M) will give up before the book really gets exciting. Because, right around the 1/3 mark, it does. Hardinge starts weaving in folk tales and traditions, giving life and personality to volcanoes, and turns the book into a bit of an adventure story and mystery. There are twists and turns, help from unexpected sources, and a bad guy who is scary because he's so reasonable and so wrong at the same time.

And all of that adds together to make this book a true pleasure to read.

Library Loot 2010-07

Not too many books this week for a couple of reasons. 1) Hubby's out of town, and I generally spend my nights catching up on bad romantic comedies that he won't sit through, which means less time for reading. (Though I have The Vicar of Dibley: A Wholly Happy Ending coming from Netflix, which excites me to no end. Richard Armitage... sigh...) And 2) I'm seriously trying to catch up with the pile that I already have on my bedside table. Not to mention the ones piled up on my shelves. And it always seems that the library books get read first...

This week's loot:

Picture Books:
There Was an Old Lady, created by Jeremy Holmes
Odd Owls & Stout Pigs: A Book of Nonsense, by Arnold Lobel/color by Adrianne Lobel
Zarafa: The Giraffe Who Walked to the King, by Judith St. George/Illus. by Britt Spencer
Martha Says It With Flowers, Susan Meddaugh
Surprise Soup, Mary Rodman/Illus. by G. Brian Karas
The Enemy, by Davide Cali/Illus by Serge Bloch
My Little Polar Bear, by Claudia Rueda
Mystery Vine: A Pumpkin Surprise, by Cathryn Falwell

Non-Fiction books:
How to Get Rich in the California Gold Rush: An Adventurer's Guide to the Fabulous Riches Discovered in 1848, by Tod Olson/Scott Allred/Marc Aronson
Funny Business: Conversations with Writers of Comedy, compiled and edited by Leonard S. Marcus

Middle Grade Fiction:
This Family Is Driving Me Crazy: Ten Stories About Surviving Your Family, edited by M. jerry Weiss and Helen S. Weiss

YA books:
Shine, Coconut Moon, by Neesha Meminger
Don't Judge a Girl by Her Cover , by Ally Carter
The Truth About Forever, by Sarah Dessen

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

Saved by the Music

by Selene Castrovilla
ages: 14+
First sentence: "The taxi's spinning wheels spit pebbles and dirt as it left me behind at the marina's gate."
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Review copy sent to me by a publicist.

The question is not what is in this book, but what isn't.

We start with Parental Abandonment: 15-year-old Willow is off to spend the summer with her somewhat crazy aunt, helping her turn a dilapidated barge into a floating concert hall, because her mother -- who isn't the cream of the crop herself (add Bad Mother to the list) -- basically kicked her out to spend time with a new boyfriend.

Add to that Eating Disorders -- Willow thinks she's "fat", and won't eat anything but carrots. Seriously.

Then comes lech Craig into the picture, and with Willow's low self-esteem (due to the above problems), she's willing to do just about anything with Craig... which leads to Sexual Assault, Beating, and near-Rape.

Thankfully she's got a kindred spirit in Axel, the 18-year-old on the boat next to the barge. He manages to find a way to talk to Willow -- even though he was quite plastered on vodka during their first "real" meeting -- and begin to reach her. He also manages to interrupt the rape-in-progress, and helps Willow begin to heal from that. Turns out, though, that he's got a pretty crappy history himself: Rape (by a much older woman), Sexual Abuse, Parental Neglect (from father)... which leads him to cutting and suicide attempts.

Isn't this book a bundle of joy?

There is a hopeful ending, which kinda sorta makes up for all the crap, but upon closing the book, I found myself incredibly cranky and peevish. Perhaps it's just me, but the balance was off: too much crap and not enough hopeful resolution. The ending also felt a bit off -- most of the book takes place over the course of a few weeks, and the last two chapters cover more than a year. That may have added to the awkwardness I felt near the end.

That said, it was a very engrossing book: I managed to read it in one sitting (mostly; I kept having to put the book down when it got too depressing!). It's just a little too much doom and gloom for my taste though.

The Catcher in the Rye

by J. D. Salinger
ages: 16+
First sentence: "If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth."
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!

I've gotten the impression that you can't be on the fence about this book, that you either love it or hate it.

Well... I'm mostly ambivalent.

I didn't hate the book. Sure Holden was annoying -- so gratingly annoying -- but I mostly felt pity for him. He was so pretentious and judgemental, and yet I could see that underneath all of that he was confused, lost and hopelessly depressed. The poor kid needs a good shrink and some meds. But barring that, he was mostly just a punk teenager trying to be more grown up than he actually was. Nothing to hate, nothing to despise, much to pity.

The book itself was all right. I'm not a huge fan of stream-of-consciousness books; I like things to clip along without spending much time in a character's head. But, this book wouldn't have worked any other way. Or, if it was told in another fashion, I don't think it would have had the same impact. The reader could be more dispassionate about Holden and his troubles (for all my ambivalence, I wasn't dispassionate; I did have emotional reactions to it all), and more dismissive. This way, with Holden being the narrator -- though I have to admit that I wondered whether or not he was reliable; he did admit to being a liar, after all. Did any of this *actually* happen, or was it all in his head? -- the reader was forced to confront Holden and his missteps, insecurities and judgements, and react to them, for good or ill. It's a challenging book in that it throws life -- a depressed, miserable life -- in the readers' faces, without flinching, without embarrassment, and makes the reader deal with it. Which is something that I can respect.

One other thing: I think I understand better what John Green was getting at in Looking for Alaska. If only for that, I am glad I read this one.

Sunday Salon: And the Winners Are....

It's February 14th. Which, for most people, means it's Valentine's Day. Thankfully, since I have an aversion to that holiday (yes, I've been married for 16 1/2 years. Yes, I still greatly dislike Valentine's Day. I think I've decided it was because I didn't get a huge heart balloon when I was 4, but that's beside the point), there's the Cybils' winners announcement to keep me occupied.

So, the winners are... come back and tell me what you think!

And don't forget: the Catcher in the Rye Read-a-long starts today! You can leave your link to your reviews there, along with any spoiler-ish discussions, comments, thoughts, or whatever floats your boat. I'll leave that post up until the end of the month, for those who are interested. I'm curious to see what you all think!

Oh, and I can't forget: I'm an Olympic junkie. If I had TV reception, I'd be really bad, but as it is, I'm perusing the Internet looking for live streams that NBC haven't blocked. I may break down and get a TV (I'm trying really hard to not do that, though) that has reception... Otherwise, I'll feel like I'm missing out on something... especially half-pipe, short track speed skating and figure skating...

Are you an Olympic junkie like me? If you are, what's your favorite event?

Charles and Emma

The Darwins' Leap of Faith
by Deborah Heligman
ages: 12+
First sentence: "In the summer of 1838, in his rented rooms on Great Marlborough Street, London, Charles Darwin drew a line down the middle of a piece of scrap paper."
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!

I've read a couple of books on Darwin and his theory -- not enough to consider myself in any way an expert (or even incredibly interested) -- but this one took an approach that intrigued me. It's not so much about Darwin, his history and his theory, as it is about Darwin and his relationship with his wife, Emma, and their constant tension between her belief in religion and his belief in science.

It's a fascinating story -- the ebb and flow of their relationship, anchored in their love and respect for each other, as well as respect for their philosophical differences. It's fascinating because it humanizes Darwin (he's too often demonized!), as well as puts his evolutionary theory in context with his life and the times. The book isn't preachy: both religion and science are given fair time, and its possible, I think, to see how the two could compliment each other, as Charles and Emma did. Most of all, though, I think it champions free-thinking, accepting differing opinions as just that: differing opinions. I think, too often, that we forget that people can still be likable, even if we disagree with them strongly. And this is a story of two people who disagreed and yet loved each other.

On top of that, the book is really very well written. It's aimed toward a younger crowd, and so was a bit simpler and choppier in areas than I would have liked. But, if it gets young people interested in Darwin, and gives them a reasonable base for the study of evolution and science, then it's done its job. And, the fact that it's an interesting story is just an added bonus.

Storm Glass

by Maria V. Snyder
ages: 14+
First sentence; "The hot air pressed against my face as I entered the glass factory."
Support your local bookstore: buy it there!

Four years after Opal helped Yelena capture the Warpers in Fire Study, she's still dealing with the aftermath. She's a student at the Keep, learning to be a magician, except she's more of a one-trick wonder. Sure, that one trick -- blowing magic into her glass sculptures in order to test for a person's magic ability, and enabling magicians to communicate with each other -- is pretty useful. But she keeps her distance from the others students, assuming they don't want much to do with her.

Things change for her when she is called out to fix the problem with the Stormdancers on the coast: their glass orbs are breaking and killing some of the dancers. Opal, with all of her trust and confidence issues, is able to handle the problem, but that also opens up a Pandora's box of problems, some of which are positive, but many just pick at the wounds Opal's been trying to heal.

It's not as good a book as the Study Series, but it's not a bad book either. Opal has the potential, with all her (understandable) hesitation to be completely annoying, but Snyder pulls off the delicate balance between insecure and grating. The fact that Opal's dealt with a lot, physically and psychologically, helps with that balance. As does her love interests. The romance isn't as swooning as Valek and Yelena's (can I mention that I missed Valek? I. missed. Valek. Kade's a decent romantic hero, and while I didn't trust Ulrick as far as I could throw him, I could understand the appeal. But neither is Valek. Swoon.), but it has potential. The thing that carries this book, however, is the world that Snyder has created. It's a complex and intriguing place and Snyder builds upon the foundation she laid in the Study books. I would probably go as far as to say that if you haven't read the Study series, this one might not make much sense. Snyder does go into some back history, but newbies might get lost.

That said, it was a fun book, fluffy and light: perfect for a cold winter's day.

Graphic Novel Adventures

Frankie Pickle and the Closet of Doom
by Eric Wight
ages: 8+
First sentence:"I've been called a lot of names: treasure seeker, relic hunter, grave robber."
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!

Frankie Pickle (aka Franklin Lorenzo Piccolini) is just your average adventurer. Rescuing cities from destruction by your evil robots. Battling lava monsters. Avoiding cleaning up his room. Nothing atypical here.

That is, until is mother decides that he should just not pick up his room. Who cares, after all? And thus begins a week in which Frankie gets his way... and discovers just how dangerous that can be.

This is a fun little graphic novel. It's more graphic novel than middle grade book, though it does flip between the two styles. All of Frankie's adventures -- from Indiana Jones-style through to superheroes saving the day -- are in comic book style, which really adds to the excitement. Sometimes, it's better to draw than to describe, and this is one of those times. On top of that, it has a cute little message (hey, kids: clean rooms aren't that bad!) at the end.

Loads of fun.


Outlaw: the Legend of Robin Hood
by Tony Lee/Sam Hart/Artur Fujita
ages: 11+
First sentence: "A moment, if you please!"
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!

I've come to realize that I have the same love of Robin Hood mythologies that I do for King Arthur. Either it's because they're medieval British guys or because they're fabulously interesting myths that are open to some fascinating interpretations. I'm not quite sure.

At any rate, I was more than eager to pick up this graphic novel adaptation of the legend to see what Lee, Hart and Fujita have to add to the lore. And, for the most part, I thought it was okay. All the traditional elements were there: Robin was a former noble, home from the crusades, and turns outlaw to protest and protect his people from the evil that is the Sheriff of Nottingham. In this version, the sheriff is a bit of a lackey, and it's Guy of Gisburn who's the real heavy and bad guy. Friar Tuck, Will Scarlet and Maid Marian are all there playing individual roles. Little John has an expanded part in this, being the original outlaw and Robin essentially joins them.

Other than the first few pages, which show a sort-of Batmanesque origin story for Robin Hood, there wasn't anything interesting done with the lore. It was the Robin Hood story, straight up no chasers. Which is all fine and good, but not exactly what I was hoping for. That, and the drawings bugged me. There was too much in shadow, and it was hard to tell who exactly was whom. By the time I had everyone straight, the story was nearly over. It was adventuresome, and there were moments of the sauciness that I love in my Robin Hood, but mostly it was melodramatic.

Not exactly what I was hoping for.

Library Loot 2010-06

It's a smallish pile of loot this week. I thought I had more holds coming in, and both M and I are in the mood for fluffy romances, but I didn't see any that caught my eye. What I really need to do is hit the bookstore and actually *buy* My Most Excellent Year and Scarlett Fever. But, shhh, don't tell Hubby I said that.

This week's loot:

Picture Books:
When You Meet a Bear on Broadway , by Amy Hest/Illus by Elivia Savadier
Dog and Bear: Three to Get Ready, by Laura Vaccaro Seeger
Strega Nona's Harvest, by Tomie dePaola
There Was An Old Monster!, by Rebecca, Adrian, and Ed Emberley
Hallelujah Handel, by Douglas Cowling/Illus. by Jason Walker
Edgar, Allan, and Poe and the Tell-Tale Beets, by Natalie Rombella/Illus. by Francois Tuyer
The Hidden Bestiary of Marvelous, Mysterious, and (Maybe Even) Magical Creatures, by Judy Young/Illus. by Laura Francesca Filippucci

Non-Fiction books:
Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl, by Anne Frank (for the Holocaust unit M's language arts class is doing)

YA books:
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, by E. Lockhart (M was in the mood for it again. Another book I should buy...)

Adult Fiction:
Sea Glass (Glass, Book 2), by Maria V. Snyder


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

Geeky Author Love

It's been FOREVER since I've participated in a Weekly Geeks. And I have no good excuse why, either. This week's geek is to share some author fun facts...

1. Choose a writer you like.
2. Using resources such as Wikipedia, the author’s website, whatever you can find, make a list of interesting facts about the author.
3. Post your fun facts list in your blog, maybe with a photo of the writer, a collage of his or her books, whatever you want.
4. Come sign the Mr Linky below with the url to your fun facts post.
5. As you run into (or deliberately seek out) other Weekly Geeks’ lists, add links to your post for authors you like or authors you think your readers are interested in.

Because I don't review picture books and easy readers, I don't often get the chance to express my Mo Devotion. (I usually leave the whole swoon-over-Mo thing to Pam and Dawn.) But, given this chance to gush over one of my -- nay, our house's -- favorite authors, I couldn't pass it up.

We adore Mo.

A well meaning librarian in Jonesboro, Arkansas set us on to him right after Knuffle Bunny won the Caldecott Honor award. Her words: "Have you seen this book? It should have won!" We checked it out, and we were hooked.

And we've been hooked on all his stuff since. Leonardo, Edwina, Pigeon, Elephant and Piggie: you name it. I think, out of all our picture books that we own, he's the one we have the most books of. And we read the most. We just can't get enough Mo.

Not familiar with him (hopefully, that's only because you don't have a smallish kid in your house)? Well, he's a brilliant (Emmy-award-winning for Sesame Street) writer, a charming artist, a funny guy, and a fabulous picture-book author. I swear to you that you'll love his books (even if you don't have a smallish kid around the house). Or, if you feel weird sitting in Borders reading an Elephant and Piggie book by yourself (something I've done recently), pick up his adult collection.

But how can you not love these? (Yes, that's me reading them with my two youngest girls!)




You can read more about Mo's happenings at his blog. If you do pop by there, be sure to check out my favorite feature (and the reason I want to have dinner at his house!): dining room walls.
He's one of my favorite twitter peeps, writing as @The_Pigeon, with hilarious (and witty) observations.

Gratuitous Mo video:


Oh, and if you're not afraid of your inner child, check out the Best. Game. Ever.

10 Questions for Lauren Mechling

Sometimes, you meet an author -- whether by email or in person -- who is just so incredibly cool that you know that hanging out with them would be incredibly fun. Lauren Mechling is one of those authors. I want to go to New York City and just hang out with her for a day. I suppose it helps that I liked her two books, Dream Girl and Dream Life, too. At any rate, I was tickled that she agreed to answer my 10 questions.

MF: So, I'm curious: what was the initial inspiration for Claire and the Dream books?
LM:The inspiration came when I went with a very dear friend to visit her grandmother. She's a former socialite who now lives in a hotel with a lot of other former socialites, and she has an opinion on every little thing. Her granddaughter is the apple of her eye and I was so amused watching the two of them relate to each other I wanted to play around with this relationship. I also wanted to write a series that was action-packed and funny. Not enough of those these days, in my humble opinion.

MF:I've only been to NYC once and didn't explore much, so I couldn't help but wondering: how much of Claire's physical world is real and how much is made up?
LM: It's entirely real! The only made-up part is how quickly she can get around.

MF: Seriously? You ought to give Claire Voyante tours. I'd sign up for one! Fashion plays a big part in Claire's life, from Kiki's vintage clothing (love that!) to current trends... is that something you came up solely for the character or the book, or is fashion something you personally are interested in? (I'm not sure that's the best way to phrase this question, but hopefully you get what I'm trying to say....)
LM: I DO get what you're trying to say. And yes, guilty as charged: I'm a sucker for clothes. I especially like the way Claire and the other girls use clothes--not to dress up for boys or to show the world how cool they are because they have 56 pairs of Juicy sweatpants. They use clothes as a way to stand out and be unique and, in Claire's case, to connect to her family history. By wearing her grandmother's old frocks, she's closer to her grandmother. And speaking of her grandmother, one of the things Kiki teaches Claire is it's worth it to make the effort, even when the same old T-shirt-and-yoga-pants combo seems tempting. I think it affects your mood and the mood of those around you. Walking out of the house in a vintage dress and fun pair of flats is a small way of saying, "Hello, world! I care!"

MF: I totally loved Ian in this book: I actually felt bad that he and Claire are just friends. (I suppose I just have a soft spot for the geeky guys.) Do you have a favorite character or scene?
LM: Oh, that's so funny that you heart Ian. I have to say, I'm a little in love with Louis Ibbits, the latchkey kid who's Claire's old best friend and whose wit is even drier than Claire's. Plus I love his tortoiseshell glasses.

MF: If you had a magic dream-inhancing necklace, what would you want to see?
LM: I'd want to see all the good and bad things the people I know are up to. I just wouldn't want to hear them talking about me. That would be too much to bear.

MF: What are the differences between co-writing a book, and solo-writing? Pros/cons?
LM: Writing a book on your own is harder and the ultimate feeling of accomplishment is bigger. That said, I LOVE co-writing. Laura [my 10th Grade Social Climber series co-writer] and I are actually in the middle of a collaboration and it's so fun. I love having a personal trainer to praise you when you hit a good note and to breathe down your neck and make you write every morning.

MF: You've written for newspapers, magazines and novels... do you have a favorite format to write in?
LM: Oh, it's all really fun and it all fits together. Writing a book is a MAJOR undertaking. And writing an article, be it for a newspaper or a magazine, is so fast and short in comparison. Sometimes you need the instant gratification. and sometimes you want to be playful and expansive or you just don't want to have to worry about being "accurate." I can honestly say that doing each makes me appreciate all the upsides of the other format.

MF: Who or what inspires you to write?
LM: Me. I get very unhappy when I don't write.

MF: Are there five books you think everyone should read?
LM: How about five authors I adore: Barbara Pym, Laurie Colwin, Dorothy Parker, Kate Atkinson and Sarah Waters. I realize these are not YA authors, so I'll toss in: Norma Klein.

MF: I'm remiss: I've only heard of Dorothy Parker. Something to rectify in the future. If you don't mind telling us, what's up next for you? (More Claire?)
LM: Well, I'm working on that above mentioned project with Laura. And yes, I'd really like to write a third Claire book. Se's really come into her own -- she's so much wiser and less insecure than she was in her first book. I'm dying to know how she's holding up!

Sunday Salon: Odds and Ends

Some bookish and non-bookish musings this Sunday morning.

My email program's spell check, for some reason, has decided that I speak French. It's actually quite frustrating that I can't figure out how to convince it that I don't actually speak French. And now Firefox is acting up. (So far I've misspelled: spell, some, reason, that, speak, quite, and now.... go figure.a)

In case you haven't heard, Flashlight Worthy Book Recommendations has come up with a list of The Best Young Adult Books of 2009, as inpsired by Kelly at YAnnabe's Unsung YA list. Full disclosure: somehow I was asked to participate on this list, and I did send a book in. It's still a quite brilliant list, though. And stick around to check out the site a bit.

Quite a few people have signed up for our Catcher in the Rye read along which starts next Sunday. Here's a list of the people who'll be participating so far:

Amanda at The Zen Leaf
Heather at Tales of a Capricious Reader
Jackie at Farmlane Books
Rob at Books are Like Candy Corn
Nan's Corner of the Web
Rmlrhonda
Beth at Thinking of Thinking
Kim at Page After Page
Suko at Suko's Notebook
Bree at The Things We Read
Jill at Fizzy Thoughts
Corinne at The Book Nest

You know you want to join in!

Want to know what C, M and I are all excited for this Friday? The Lightning Thief opens! Squee! Here's a bit of a teaser...

Oh, and while you're waiting, why not find out your demigod power? (Me, I'm the child of Grover. Kind of odd, but I think I like it.)

What's on your mind today?

A Wind in the Door

by Madeline L'Engle
ages: 9+
First sentence: "There are dragons in the twins' vegetable garden."
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!

I always remembered this one, from when I read it as a kid, as my "favorite". Though, if you had asked me, I don't think I could have pinpointed why. So, I was quite curious to reread the book: maybe I would love it as much as I remembered loving it. And maybe I could finally pinpoint the elusive why.

So. Charles Wallace is having problems. He's not adapting to school particularly well, which shouldn't be surprising considering the precocious child that he is. On top of that, something more fundamental is wrong: he's sick, down in his very cells. Meg, Calvin and Mr. Jenkins (the school principal) together with the cheribum Proginoskes have to work together to battle the evil that's invading the world and save Charles.

Honestly? I liked the book well enough, but I couldn't pinpoint why it was my favorite. It was less overtly religious than Wrinkle in Time was, but there were still overtones of the Ultimate Battle. There was a lot about Hate and war and instant gratification versus Doing Ones' Duty. Maybe that was it: the fact that Duty wins out over Fun and Frivolity. Perhaps I just wanted justification for my innate personality quirks?

I was disappointed in Meg; while she was still the heroine and she still did the most work, she just wasn't as engaging a character as I felt she was in Wrinkle. That, and I just didn't get much out of the plot: it seemed to be spinning in circles. Perhaps it was me, but I felt it just had too much narration and not enough action.

Then again, I may just be nitpicking. My 11-year-old self adored this book. And I might just be content to let it stay that way.

The Undaunted

by Gerald N. Lund
ages: adult
First sentence: "David Dickinson's eyes were wide open."
Review copy sent to me by someone at By Common Consent because I volunteered for this torture.

Five ways to ruin a historical novel:

5. Write in dialect: "It be joost fur me, Dah?" If I have to read it aloud to understand it, it's not worth my time.

4. Too much historical detail, not enough plot. "These full-sized coal carts were four feet wide and eight feet long and could hold the contents of six of the small coal tubs. That was about four tons of coal each. The carts had wheels and axles formed from a single piece of steel. This meant the two wheels did not turn independently, nor did they have an independent braking system. This was where the spraggers come in. If a car got rolling too fast down a grade, it would jump the tracks and smash into the wall." I really don't care that much about mining practices in England in the mid-19th century anyway. I swear about 500 pages of this book could have been axed. (Granted, I only made it through the first 50, but I'm just sayin'.)

3. Too much narrative exposition, not enough action. "David still hesitated. He liked Albert Beames, or Bertie, as most of the trappers called him. He was a bit odd looking, with freckles hidden beneath the layers of coal dust, and teeth that were prominent enough that some of the older boys called him Beaver Beames. Bertie was a year older than David and about a stone heaver* [yep, that was footnoted] He was totally devoid of ambition and was baffled by David's continual talk of becoming a hurrier." Three words for you: Show. Don't tell.

2. Having a Message. Okay: I get it. They were Brave and Noble and Faithful. It'd be nice if they were interesting characters, too.

And the number one way to kill a historical novel:

1. Footnotes and endnotes. Puh-lease. It's fiction, not a textbook. If I really cared what Yorkshire Pudding or Turkish Delight was I'd Google it.

I knew there was a reason I never read LDS fiction.

Library Loot 2010-05

Finally, back to normal. We went, we got all sorts of books, picked up holds (addressed the problem of a lost book -- oops!), went to storytime, and I even got my prize for finishing the local reading challenge (a very nice mug full of all sorts of goodies). Happy day!

This week's loot:

Picture Books:
The Frogs and Toads All Sang, by Arnold Loebel/Color by Adrianne Lobel
Lousy Rotten Stinkin' Grapes, by Margie Palatini/Illus. by Barry Moser
My Forever Dress, by Harriet Ziefert/Illus by Liz Murphy
Sugar Would Not Eat It, by Emily Jenkins and Giselle Potter

Middle Grade books:
The Barefoot Book of Earth Tales , by Dawn Casey and Anne Wilson
Frankie Pickle and the Closet of Doom, by Eric Wright

YA books:
Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging: Confessions of Georgia Nicolson, by Louise Rennison
The Demon's Lexicon, by Sarah Rees Brennan
Outlaw: The Legend of Robin Hood, by Tony Lee, Sam Hart, Artur Fujita
The China Garden, by Liz Berry



Adult Fiction:
The Catcher in the Rye, by J. D. Salinger


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

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon

by Grace Lin
ages: 10+
First sentence: "Far away from here, following the Jade River, there was once a black mountain that cut into the sky like a jagged piece of rough metal."
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!

Sometimes, what you really need in life is good traditional fairy tale. No bells and whistles, nothing super-fantabulous-exciting. Just a quiet, original fairy tale with all the traditional elements: a good-hearted (but not flawless) heroine, an adventure, a budding friendship, a lesson learned. Stick it in China, and you've got something magical.

Minli and her family live in the valley of the Fruitless Mountain, working hard every day to scrape by. Her mother is disgruntled, especially when Minli's father spends the evenings telling her stories about the Jade Dragon and the Old Man of the Moon. Then one day, Minli discovers that the stories may not be impossible after all, and sets out to ask the Old Man of the Moon how her family can make their fortune. Along the way, she will have adventures, make friends (with a dragon, among others), and learn a few things about herself.

The charm in this book is really in its simplicity. On the one hand, there's nothing grandiose and it's very traditional to the point of being predictable. But on the other hand, there were no wasted words, and the plot clipped along at a very quick pace. I realized at one point that this book would make an excellent read aloud: the words just cried out to be spoken aloud. That, and I think the pacing of the book works better as a story told rather than read. Not that I didn't enjoy reading it -- it wasn't edge-of-the-seat gripping, but it was charming, and I did want to know what happened next. But, to read it aloud to my girls, to give it that added suspension of seeing what will happen next, tomorrow night? I think that would have added a lot to the book.

As it was, though, it's a story well worth reading.

Dream Life

by Lauren Mechling
ages: 12+
First sentence: "You could say I was running behind schedule, though that would be putting an optimistic spin on it."
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Review copy sent to me by the publisher.

Things are looking up for our girl, Claire. She managed to save her friend Becca's family -- the Shuttleworths of Soul Sauce fame -- from the doom and gloom in the last adventure through her snazzy black-and-white dreams. She managed to snag a super cool college boyfriend, Andy (though they're keeping it hush-hush for now). All while managing to take down the snitty bad girls at Hudson High. (End previous book plot summary.)

So, what could get in her way?

Well, lots, actually. Claire's up and down with her boyfriend. Becca has taken to hanging out with her old prep-school friends, and doesn't have as much time for Claire anymore. She hasn't even had any decent dreams of late. Everything seems to be falling apart. But then, Claire is initiated into this super-secret New York club, the Blue Moons, and suddenly everything picks up again. A mystery to solve! Black and white dreams! Socialites! Protests! Murder mystery parties!

Dream Life was much like Dream Girl, but better. Perhaps it was because I knew what to expect out of it -- lots of fluff, a bit of action, great clothes and happening hot-spots -- but, while I enjoyed the first, found this one to be a lot more fun. I especially loved the minor characters: Hallie, a goth foodie that's also inducted into the Blue Moons (why couldn't she have more to do?); Ian, Claire's geeky comic book side-kick from Hudson (felt like he totally had a thing for Claire... why couldn't she get the geeky guy rather than the uber-cool college one?); and Louis, Claire's friend from her former high school, who has a thing for Becca. The three of them made book fun for me. But, beyond that, it's a book with a winning combination of fashion, mystery and fun.

Can't lose with that.