October Jacket Flap-a-Thon

Happy Halloween! I was hoping to have a Halloween picture for you of the awesome costume I thought up for myself, but, in actuality because I've started working again, I didn't get around to putting together a Halloween costume for myself.

I know it's a lousy consolation prize, but here are this month's best jacket flaps instead...

Darth Paper Strikes Back (Amulet Books): "It is a dark time at Ralph McQuarrie Middle School. After suffering several Origami Yoda–related humiliations, Harvey manages to get Dwight suspended from school for being a “troublemaker.” Origami Yoda pleads with Tommy and Kellen to save Dwight by making a new case file—one that will show how Dwight’s presence benefits McQuarrie. With the help of their friends, Tommy and Kellen record cases such as “Origami Yoda and the Pre-eaten Wiener,” “Origami Yoda and the Exploding Pizza Bagels,” and “Origami Yoda and Wonderland: The Musical.” But Harvey and his Darth Paper puppet have a secret plan that could make Dwight’s suspension permanent . . . With his proven knack for humorously exploring the intrigues, fads, and dramas of middle school, Tom Angleberger has crafted a worthy sequel to his breakout bestseller."

Hands down, the best thing about this one is the Star Wars references. Plus, it tells you the whole plot without giving too much of the detail away.


I'll Be There (Little, Brown Books): "Sam Border wishes he could escape. Raised by an unstable father, he's spent his life moving from place to place. But he could never abandon his little brother, Riddle. Riddle Border doesn't talk much. Instead, he draws pictures of the insides of things and waits for the day when the outsides of things will make sense. He worships his older brother. But how can they leave when there's nowhere to go? Then everything changes. Because Sam meets Emily. Emily Bell believes in destiny. She sings for her church choir, though she doesn't have a particularly good voice. Nothing, she feels, is mere coincidence. And she's singing at the moment she first sees Sam. Everyone whose path you cross in life has the power to change you--sometimes in small ways, and sometimes in ways greater than you could have ever known. Beautifully written and emotionally profound, Holly Goldberg Sloan's debut novel deftly explores the idea of human connection."

This one sounds pretentious, but in all actuality is dead on. And they did a great job of summing up a very difficult book to sum up.

The Name of the Star (Putnam Juvenile):"The day Louisiana teenager Rory Deveaux arrives in London marks a memorable occasion. For Rory, it's the start of a new life at a London boarding school. But for many, this will be remembered as the day a series of brutal murders broke out across the city, gruesome crimes mimicking the horrific Jack the Ripper events of more than a century ago. Soon "Rippermania" takes hold of modern-day London, and the police are left with few leads and no witnesses. Except one. Rory spotted the man police believe to be the prime suspect. But she is the only one who saw him. Even her roommate, who was walking with her at the time, didn't notice the mysterious man. So why can only Rory see him? And more urgently, why has Rory become his next target? In this edge-of-your-seat thriller, full of suspense, humor, and romance, Rory will learn the truth about the secret ghost police of London and discover her own shocking abilities."

This one is intriguing. What are the secret ghost police of London? What's the deal with the Ripper killer? It makes me curious enough to want to read it. Too bad the cover is so, well, ugh.

Other books read this month:
Angel in My Pocket
Lola and the Boy Next Door
The Eternal Smile: Three Stories
Cures for Heartbreak
Kendra
13 Gifts
Zazoo
Wonderstruck
Beauty Queens
Second Fiddle
Latasha and the Little Red Tornado
The Latte Rebellion
Terrier
Bloodhound
Mastiff

Sunday Salon: My First Book Talk

So, I got a job three weeks ago. When K started kindergarten, I figured that while I love volunteering at the library, I'd also love to have something where I got paid. I'd rather not work too many hours a week, and I wanted something somewhere where I could be surrounded by things I enjoyed. That said, I beefed up a resume (I haven't worked for money for 12 years!), and sent them out to a few places. One of which was our local independent bookstore, Watermark Books. I honestly didn't think I'd hear back from them; it seems like no one ever leaves Watermark, and they don't hire very often. And yet, I did. Which shocked me to no end.

The short version of all this was that the manager, Sarah Bagby, was impressed with my blogging and my bookish knowledge, and wanted me on her staff. (I almost fell over, I was so shell-shocked). And after working things out on her hand, hired me, part-time. She's amazingly willing to work around my schedule, fitting me in for about 15 to 20 hours a week. And they've started throwing me things.

The latest of which was a book talk for about 7 preschool teachers. Which completely stressed me out, because I've. Never. Done. One. Before.

Thankfully, I have the wonderful kidlit community, and I turned to them for suggestions. I took the wonderful ideas given me by Jen (Jen Robinson's Books), Abby(Abby the Librarian), Pam (MotherReader), Betsy (Fuse #8) and others, checked out about 50 books from the library and the store, and sat down to read with A and K. Actually, that was the best part about this whole experience. In the past two years, my delightful daughters have decided that they'd rather have chapter books read to them than sit down with several picture books. And so, I just haven't had the opportunity to peruse what's out there anymore. And, to be honest, while I love reading chapter books aloud to them, there is something to be said about snuggling up with your children and reading a good picture books.

I couldn't select all the ones we read; not even all the ones we really liked. But I did narrow it down to our favorites that we were actually currently carrying in the store.

The actual talk part of it went well, I think. I talked too fast, probably -- I tend to do that when I'm nervous -- and I felt more comfortable talking about the middle grade and YA books I had selected (they wanted a few older books as well) than the picture books. But, I read a few, showed a lot of pictures, laughed with them, and basically had a good time. I was exhausted and shell-shocked afterward, but I did it. (And they all bought books afterward, too!)

So, what did I pitch to the teachers (they work with ages 2 1/2 to 6)?




The Lion and the Mouse
A Sick Day for Amos McGee
Dinosaur vs. the Library
You Will Be My Friend!
Happy Pig Day!
Everything I Need to Know Before I'm Five
Little White Rabbit
RRRalph
Where's My T-R-U-C-K?
13 Words
Blackout
Me....Jane
Pride and Prejudice
Fly Guy Meets Fly Girl
Bink & Gollie
Ladder to the Moon
Grandpa Green

Out of these, the ones they liked the best were RRRalph, Where's My T-R-U-C-K?, and the Pride and Prejudice board book. Hands down, though, everyone's favorite (from my kids to Hubby to the teachers) was this one:


I Want My Hat Back

It was so hilarious that A and K insisted I read it over and over. And, thankfully, it stands up to that.

As for the older books, I talked up:
Because of Mr. Terupt
Guys Read: Funny Business
11 Birthdays
A Tale Dark and Grimm
Heist Society
Leviathan
The Name of the Star
Daughter of Smoke and Bone
Trash

Out of these, they bought A Tale Dark and Grimm, Guys Read: Thriller (I had told them about that one, but I didn't pitch it because I haven't read it), Leviathan and Heist Society (this one was for one of the teacher's book group -- "We're actually a drinking group that reads" -- for their December book. I think they'll like it.)

All in all, a good experience, I think. I don't know if I'm eager to do it again, though now that I've done it once, the next time shouldn't be so bad. Right?

The Name of the Star

by Maureen Johnson
ages: 13+
First sentence: "The eyes of London were watching Claire Jenkins."
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!

I can sum this up in one sentence: the goodness of Maureen Johnson with ghosts. Awesome creepy ghosts that kill people.

Rory Deveaux has decided, thanks to her parents being university professors and getting a year abroad in England, to spend her senior year at Wexford in London. It's a boarding school, not exactly posh, but nothing to sneeze at either. The only damper on the whole England school experience is that there's a copycat Jack the Ripper killer on the loose.

Everything is going fine, there's even a bit of a love interest with the prefect Jerome, but then a murder happens on campus. And Rory is the only witness the police have got.

There are so many little ways in which I love Maureen's writing: the fact that she can make you laugh ("action butts") and then turn around and scare the pants off you, for one. Granted, I'm easily scared, so you might want take that with a grain of salt. However, for her first foray into paranormal fiction (another aside: "If there are ghosts, does that mean there are... vampires? And werewolves?" "Don't be stupid."), she grasps the fine art of tension amazingly well. It helps that while it's a gory book, it's not a graphic one. (Thankfully.)

But it's also the little descriptions that make her books so enjoyable. Like:

Jerome started violently slicing apart his fried eggs. It was fascinating to watch him eat. He chowed down with the speed and force of a well-organized military campaign. He didn't so much have breakfast as defeat it.

Seriously. How can you not love someone who can come up with a paragraph like that?

While I thoroughly enjoyed this one, I did feel the last little bit was a little abrupt, and I wish Rory had played more of a part in it. Granted, the part she did play was completely true to her character, so I'm just quibbling. That said, the last chapter was brilliant: and it sets up some intriguing things for the next book.

Which means: I can't wait to see what happens next.

Mastiff

by Tamora Pierce
ages: 14+
First sentence: "The burying ground has no trees in it, no shade for us Lower City Dogs."
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Review copy provided by my place of employment.

After four years in the Lord Provost's Royal Guard -- otherwise known as the Dogs -- working in the slums of the capital city, Beka Cooper thinks she has seen it all. Then Lord Gershom rouses her in the middle of the night, assigning her with her scent hound, Achoo, and her partner, Tunstall, to the most secret and dire of cases: finding the kidnapped four-year-old crown prince, and bring his kidnappers to justice. They are on a Hunt, with the assistance of Tunstall's noble lover, the knight Lady Sabine and the Provost's mage, Master Farmer. The burning question: will they find the prince before he's killed to serve whatever end the kidnappers had in mind?

Unlike the previous two books in the series, Mastiff takes off with the action right from the start. It's fast-paced, action-filled full of twists and turns, rather than being a straight-up mystery to solve. There's political intrigue, as well: the King has recently passed a law taxing mages on their work, something which makes neither the mages nor the nobles are happy. Because of that, as well, Mastiff is magic-filled: the battles, and there are many, are intense not only for the sword-fighting, but for the magic, which often gets vicious and cruel.

Amid all the darnkess, though, there is humor and even romance: Beka truly has come into her own by the end of the trilogy: she knows what she wants in a man, and isn't afraid to find love even among the dire circumstances of a Hunt. Add to that Pierce's eloquent storytelling, and it makes for a book that is difficult to put down.

Bloodhound

by Tamora Pierce
ages: 14+
First sentence: "I should have known that tonight's watch would kiss the mule's bum when Sergeant Ahuda stopped me after baton training."
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Review copy provided by my place of employment.

Beka Cooper's first five months of being an active Dog haven't gone very well: she's gone through four partners, each one worse than the one before. She tries to do her work and keep her mouth shut, but she's becoming increasingly frustrated. It all comes to a head when her latest partner, a lazy-butt Dog, dumps her because she makes him "nervous" and on the way to report in at the kennel, finds out that scent-hound Achoo's current handler has been beating the dog.

It only gets better when she and her former trainers, Goodwin and Tunstall get caught in a riot, and Tunstall gets injured. However, there are brighter days ahead: Beka's paired with Goodwin, and because of a counterfeiting scheme that's trickling into the city, they are sent on their first Hunt, to a city up the river. Their job is to figure out where the counterfeit coins are coming from, and stop them. Little do they know the depth of the scheme, or the danger it will put them in.

Like Terrier, this book is a combination of fantasy and mystery, with a good dash of romance. Pierce maintains a good balance between all three, keeping Beka and her journey front and center of the book. I actually liked this one better than Terrier, even though it had the same problems with a very long, very slow start. However, I did find the mystery more intriguing, and the love interest, Dale, fascinating. I did feel Pierce copped out with the ending, though: I figured out who was behind the counterfeiting, but Beka got the answers only through the use of her ability to talk to ghosts. (That said, if you've got the ability, you should use it. Right?) And while the final chase was exciting, the climax was a bit, well, anti-climatic.

That said, it was a fun enough novel.

Terrier

Beka Cooper, book 1
by Tamora Pierce
ages: 14+
First sentence: "In all those lessons for which I was made to memorize chants and prayers I never used, couldn't our temple priestesses have taught one -- just one! -- lesson on what to do with a boy who is too smart for his own good?"
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Review copy provided by my place of employment.

Beka Cooper grew up in the slums of Tortall's capital city. She was a street Rat until the Lord Provost saw her and her family, rescuing them from life in the slums or worse. Now, at 16, she's repaying a little of her family's debt by becoming a member of the Provost's guard.

She's still in training, a Puppy to the Dogs, and even if she's doing the rounds with two of the best Dogs in the pack, she's supposed to keep her head down and learn. Except Beka's no ordinary Puppy: she sees ghosts of the recent dead on the back of pigeons and she talks to "dust spinners", columns of dust that catch the conversations they "hear". It's by using these resources that she learns two things: someone is hiring men to dig for fire stones, very valuable and very magical stones, and then killing them off; and someone called the Shadow Snake is kidnapping and holding small children for ransom, and then killing them if the ransom is not paid.

So, she and her two Dogs take on the cases, combing through the streets of the Lower City, trying to solve these mysteries before more people end up dead.

It's an interesting breed, this book: one part crime thriller/murder mystery, one part magical fantasy. You wouldn't think it would work, but because of Beka's strong voice, it does. She really is her own person, someone who is quick on her feet, observant, and determined not only to succeed on her own terms, but wanting to make the place she grew up in better for everyone.
Admittedly, the animal references -- from calling the cops "Dogs", to the criminals "Rats" -- and the language Pierce created (coves = men and mots = women took me forever to figure out) slowed me down at first, and made the book difficult to really get into. But, after I got used to the language and the terminology, Beka's personality really came through and the plot was enough to carry the book through the sluggish parts.

The Latte Rebellion

by Sarah Jamila Stevenson
ages: 14+
First sentence: "The jeering male voice came from somewhere behind me, waking me up from a heatstroke-induced doze."
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Full disclosure: I bought the review copy, but I've met Sarah at a couple of past KidLitCons.

It started as just an innocent way for Asha and her best friend Carey to raise some money for a dream trip after they graduate high school. It was just supposed to be some cool t-shirts, with a cool coffee design with illusions to being mixed-race. But, then, the whole idea takes off: clubs are formed not only in their high school (well, the club is not actually allowed at their high school), but at colleges and high schools across the country. They make their money selling t-shirts, but it also turns out that what they started has turned into a group of people making a lot of noise.

And that noise scares those in "control", which means trouble for Asha and her friends.

Flipping between the past -- how the Rebellion came to be -- and the present -- Asha's suspension hearing -- the book looks at how something so innocent can get wildly out of control. But, it's also more than that: Asha, Carey, and many of their friends are mixed-race, something which is becoming increasingly more common in that. Stevenson spends a lot of time talking about how they don't feel they fit in: if they're neither fully one race or one culture -- Asha is half Indian, quarter Mexican and quarter Irish -- then what are they? This book is a good jumping point for discussion about race and what it really means.

Additionally, it's an interesting story. The conflict between Asha, her parents, and eventually Carey is one that's completely understandable: they want Asha to "succeed" which means, to them, getting into a top university. While Ahsa is a good student, she discovers through the rebellion that she wants to have more to her life than just schoolwork. It helps make her a sympathetic character, even if she's sneaking around her parents' back about her involvement in the rebellion.

It's a good first novel.

Sunday Salon: Out of Control

For me, anyway.

This is the current state of my physical TBR pile:

I don't usually let it pile up this high (It's taller than my lamp!) except when I'm a round 1 judge for the Cybils. I'm a round 2 judge this year... maybe I'm experiencing a bit of withdrawal, and feel a need to have a huge TBR pile surrounding me this time of year?

All this makes me curious: how high is your TBR pile?

Latasha and the Little Red Tornado

by Michael Sotto
ages: 8-10
First sentence: "Momma told me that there is a time in a puppy's life -- right around its second birthday -- when it just starts to get it."
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Release date: November 15, 2011
Review copy provided by the author.

Although she is just eight years old, Latasha can handle quite a bit. Her mother has finally finished her schooling and has gotten a job as a nurse, and Latasha can get herself to and from school. (And doesn't need the "baby"sitter that her mother insists upon her having!) She can handle making friends. She can handle the reading challenge at school. She just doesn't know if she can really handle her puppy, Ella, who is a complete handful.

Over the course of the book, Latasha realizes that while she can handle a lot of things by herself, sometimes it's better to have the help of friends. Which includes her energetic, but loveable, puppy.

This book skews younger than I normally read, but it works great on the level of a early-chapter-book reader. Latasha is a spunky girl, and the novel has a great voice; Latasha's personality just shone through. In addition, while it's a story simply told, it never felt like Scotto was talking down to his readers, which is a common difficulty in books like these. The relationship between Latasha and her mother and her sitters are complex, and while issues such as cheating or boy-girl friendships come up, they're dealt with in ways an 8-year-old can relate to.

In short: hand it to an 8-year-old who loves dogs, and you'll probably have a very happy reader.

I'll Be There

by Holly Goldberg Sloan
ages: 13+
First sentence: "The days of the week meant nothing to him."
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!

This book is one wild ride.

When I told Hubby that, he asked: "Is it a good book?"

Yes. Yes, it is.

Sloan gives you characters -- specifically brothers Sam and Riddle -- whom you care about, whose lives you are more than fully invested in, and then runs them through the paces. But, even that doesn't fully convey the ups and downs of the book. Not to mention the hope and heartbreak, the anger and love, that this book will make you feel.

It's an unusual book, not just for the absolute pummeling the characters take at the hand of the author, but also for the storytelling style. It's told almost completely in narrative: there's hardly any dialogue, although the viewpoint shifts so we can see into the minds of many of the characters we meet over the course of the book. The story is about all the little ways in which humans connect: from the brothers who are dealing with an unstable and abusive father, to the lives of the family they interact with, and the impact we all have on each other, for good or ill.

Even though the story is a hopeful one, it's almost secondary to the way the book is told. The prose is simple, almost poetic, and delivers its punch in small ways: a mention that the brothers have never had homemade lasagna; the heartbreak of a broken guitar; the spray-tan debacle of a pompous, spoiled teenage boy; the weeping of a mother. Nothing is overly dramatic, and yet it all works together to a stunning, moving conclusion.

A wild ride, indeed.

Beauty Queens

by Libba Bray
ages: 15+
First sentence: "This book begins with a plane crash."
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!

I have come to the conclusion that Libba Bray is brilliant, but completely insane. (Or maybe brilliantly insane?)

Ever wonder what you'd get if you mixed Lord of the Flies with the Miss America pageant, tossed in some James Bond, and slathered with a huge helping of satire on pop culture? Me, either. But, thankfully, blessedly, Libba Bray did, and Beauty Queens is the result.

The top 20 girls for the Miss Teen Dream pageant were all on a plane, headed toward the pageant finals when the plane crashes. On a deserted island. Killing everyone, except a handful of girls. What are they -- girls who are beauty queens, presumably without any practical resources -- to do?

Well... survive.

From here, the plot goes all twisty and turney: the girls make their own camp on the beach, and manage to not only get along (mostly), but thrive on their own merits as they wait to be rescued. However, things are not as pretty as they seem: there's weird stuff lurking in them thar jungle, and those who go into it don't always come out. And if they do, they're not quite sane. There's also pirates (!), stupid trust fund guys, completely wacked out dictators, and vengeful past beauty queens. This book has it all.

On the surface, the book is terribly shallow and stereotypical. Bray has lumped every single cultural reference and stereotype she could think of in this book: there is a lesbian, transgender, bisexual, stupid Southerner, aggressive Texan, Indian-American, black contestant. (Sure, why not one of each?) There's a grand poking at everyone naming their kids Caitlin. Honestly: none of the characters are likeable (Miss Texas, I wanted to throttle! And Miss Mississippi just lived up to the low expectations I have of that state.), and the plot was fairly simplistic, which almost made it hard to get through (however, the hilarious footnotes made up for that).

But, when you read it as a satire, the book works brilliantly. In one of the more brilliant moves, there are commercial breaks in the book, in which Bray lampoons every single kind of beauty product, movie, and item that corporations try to sell to women. In the end, the book is not about the characters, or plot development, it's about girl power: rising above the stereotypes and the product placement, and not only finding one's true self, but acting on that, embracing the differences we have as women. (And no one is better than the other.)

In fact, I think this would be a blast to deconstruct in a book group or English class; there's so much meat under the shallow surface, that the discussion could be quite fascinating.

And I'm sure she wrote it that way on purpose.

Audiobook: Second Fiddle

by Rosanne Parry
Read by Bri Knickerbocker
ages: 10+
First sentence: "If we had known it would eventually involve the KGB, the French National Police, and the Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, we would have left that body in the river and called the Polizei like any normal German citizen; but we were Americans and addicted to solving other people's problems, so naturally, we got involved."
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Review copy provided by the author.

It's 1990 (oh, man, I AM getting old if 1990 can be counted as "historical fiction"...), and Jody, Giselle and Vivian are Americans living in Berlin, Germany. The wall has just fallen months before, but the 13-year-olds have more important things to think about: like preparing for a string trio competition in Paris and the fact that the military base is being dismantled (is that right? I'm lousy at military speak), which means that these best friends may never see each other again. They've planned for Paris to be one last adventure, but they have no idea how big that adventure will be.

Because right before they go, they witness the attempted murder of a Soviet soldier, whom they drag out of the river and take upon themselves to save. Of course everything gets complicated in ways that include a lot of lying on the girls' part. But, it also is a grand adventure, one that, as we were listening, M and I wished we'd had.

Much like Parry's Heart of a Shepherd, this book is subtle and quiet, even with all the running around. Although there are spies and military personnel and soldiers, the Paris that these girls experience is a quiet one, with artists and immigrant populations; with music and art and quirky bookshop owners. And to Parry's credit, even though the book is set in the 1990s (making things much more complicated without cell phones and computers being so available), the book feels timeless: what girl doesn't want to have an adventure with her friends? What girl doesn't worry about the future? She also did a wonderful job portraying a country in transition; even though the girls were Americans and didn't interact with Germans very much, you could get the sense that Berlin, at least, was hit hard by the wall coming down and they were struggling with that.

As for the narration: at first the reader's voice bothered me. I felt like they were aiming too young, and the way she read grated on my nerves. I also wish she did voices, until she actually had a voice for the rescued Soviet soldier. Then I was glad she didn't. But I became involved in the actual story and the annoyances with the reader went away. If I had this one in paper copy, I wouldn't have been able to put it down.

Another good book by a talented writer.

13 Gifts

by Wendy Mass
ages: 10+
First sentence: "Like all big mistakes, mine started with a goat."
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!

First of all: this is the third in a series that includes, 11 Birthdays and Finally, and if you haven't read those two, you could possibly still read this one and enjoy it (I did, even though it's been ages since I read the other two, and we all know how my memory is), you will get more out of the story if you read those two first. Besides, they're good books, and you won't be sorry you did.

Tara Brennan is one of those invisible people. She doesn't really stand out, she doesn't do much to be involved. It's partly because of her mother's job, they're constantly moving, but it's also by choice: Tara doesn't want to be involved. Which means she's as surprised as anyone to find herself stealing a (stuffed) goat from the principals office. After hours. She gets caught, of course, and as punishment is sent to Willow Falls to live with some relatives she barely knows. If that isn't bad enough, she ends up working for Angelina D'Angelo, oldest person in town and resident mysterious busybody, collecting an odd assortment of things. Before her 13th birthday.

The best thing about this book is how it weaves the three books together. Tara has her own story, of course, but Amanda and Leo (from 11 Birthdays) and Rory (Finally) become not only involved but a crucial part of the plot. Additionally, there's neighbor David and cousin Emily (not to mention the resident crazy-Aussie-guy, Ray) to add dimension to the story, since unlike the other kids, they have no idea what's really going on.

It's a nice balance of the magical -- the second-hand shop that Angelina runs appears and disappears as needed -- and the ordinary -- Tara grows and develops and learns to be involved and have friends on her own merit, without magical assistance. Which makes it perfect for kids like C, who don't particularly like fantasy, but don't mind a touch of the magical.

It's possibly my favorite of the three books, as well: even with the lying that Tara does to get her in the mess, it has a sweet and tender heart to it.

Wonderstruck

by Brian Selznick
ages: 9+
First sentence: "Something hit Ben Wilson and he opened his eyes."
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!

Brian Selznick has a lot to live up to with The Invention of Hugo Cabret. It was so unique, so astounding, so novel, that it literally took everyone's breath away. Going into Wonderstruck, one can only hope for the same breathtaking beauty and novel storytelling that Selznick gave us in Hugo Cabret.

And on one hand, he delivered. The story is completely different: is the tale of two children, Ben and Rose, who live 50 years apart, one told in words and the other in pictures. Both are deaf, and have to deal with the impact of that in their lives. Their stories are separate, but their lives and actions impact on each other in surprising ways. Like Hugo Cabret, the less said about the story the better: it's one that is best experienced fresh for the first time. The art is, as expected, gorgeous, and flows seamlessly into the text, even though the stories are separate.

Yet, in the end, I wasn't left with the same sense of having experienced something fantastic that I was after finishing Hugo Cabret. It's possibly because this style of novel writing has been done before (alas, one can only be new once), and it just didn't have the same surprising factor. I knew what to expect from this book -- lovely art, good storytelling -- and while it filled my expectations, it never surpassed them. Though, I wonder if it could also be because this story, unlike Hugo Cabret, doesn't necessarily have to be told in this fashion. It could be a story in pictures, or a story in words, but it's not necessarily bound to this medium. And perhaps because of that, it fell short of true grandeur.

I know I'm nitpicking; it's a good book, even if it didn't quite live up to my (possibly too high) expectations.

Zazoo

by Richard Mosher
ages: 12+
First sentence: "The boy on the bike came and went."
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!

Zazoo is a 13-year-old girl who lives in a small village in France. There's nothing really remarkable about that, except that Zazoo is Vietnamese; her Grand-Pierre (not her grandfather) took her from her country at the end of the war, when she was three. She doesn't remember her birth home, and Grand-Pierre doesn't talk about it. She's been basically happy in France, but in this turbulent winter her life is about to turn upside down.

It's a quiet novel, poetically written, with spare language that evokes a strong sense of place. It jumps through time, giving us not only a portrait of Zazoo's upbringing, but of the story behind the village and Grand-Pierre's legendary stubbornness. For that reason, it becomes a bit of a war book; Grand-Pierre has a history in World War II, perhaps of good, perhaps not. The book reserves judgement: Zazoo is, in many ways just collecting facts, piecing an old puzzle together. It's delightfully complex and revels in shades of gray; Grand-Pierre is neither a villain nor a hero, but rather a human.

There is a bit of a love story, and honestly that's the only thing that really bothered me about the book. Not the story per se: Zazoo and the boy on the bike, Marcus, develop a friendship over sending postcards back and forth, which evolves into a love. What bothered me was the age of the characters: Zazoo is only 13, and while she's labeled as precocious in the novel, that's still a bit young to be taking up with a 16-year-old, even in 1980-something. I think, for that aspect of the novel to fully work for me, Zazoo should have been a bit older, even if it meant losing some of the innocence in the other aspects of the novel.

Even with that complaint, it was a surprisingly sweet story.

Darth Paper Strikes Back

by Tom Angleberger
ages: 9+
First sentence: "It is a dark time at McQuarrie Middle School..."
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!

I adored The Strange Case of Origami Yoda (which went on to win last year's Middle Grade Cybils Award) and so I was more than excited to see that there was a sequel picking up where the story left off.

It's the beginning of seventh grade and Dwight's nemesis, Harvy, has brought the dark side to the middle school in the form of Darth Paper. His mission is to convince the believers that Origami Yoda is not real, that while maybe his advice is good, it's just Dwight being weird. His methods get extreme, and Dwight has ended up suspended and may be expelled. It's up to his friends Tommy and Kellan to collect "case studies" to prove that Dwight and Origami Yoda are doing good.

In many ways, this book is more of the same: instances in which Origami Yoda helps kids by giving them weird, but ultimately good, advice. And while the stories were amusing and interesting, it didn't really feel like this book helped the overall story progress much. Everyone was still basically the same: from Dwight and Harvey down to the smaller, minor characters, so I didn't feel like we were really learning anything new. That said, the book ends with a nice little twist, that almost made up for the "the publisher pushed me into writing a sequel" feeling I had throughout most of the book.

Then again, he's writing for the middle grade crowd, and they love sequels. It just didn't quite hold water for me.

Angel in My Pocket

by Ilene Cooper
ages: 10+
First sentence: "There was a pile of money on Bette Miller's kitchen table."
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!

Bette Miller is dealing with her mother's sudden death. (Yes, at the outset this is another one of those mother-is-dead books.) However, once Bette finds an angel coin in a charity jar, her life takes a turn. A neighbor moves in downstairs to help keep an eye on Bette, and gradually Bette finds that while life without her mother is sad, it's still liveable.

But the story doesn't end there: the coin gets passed to others: Joe Garcia, whose mother is often sick and who is struggling to find a place at the prestigious art school he (and Bette and the other characters) attends; and twins Andy and Vivi who have been growing apart in the year since Vivi's asthma became really crippling both get a turn with the angel coin. And their lives are invariably changed, though in small and subtle ways, for the better.

I was kind of lukewarm on the book; on the one hand, I thought it handled the whole overused dead parent thing well. It wasn't heavy handed, and the fact that the book branched out to deal with other kids and their problems helped as well. In fact, my favorite thing about the book was the way it transitioned between one kid and the next seamlessly. No jerky stops and starts, no ending of sections, announcing "here comes the next problem". It was seamless and effortless.

But it was also kind of predictable. I knew, and perhaps this is the way the author wanted it, that having the angel coin would somehow 1) bring an angel into the life of the person who has the coin and 2) help them get over their problems. There weren't any surprises in the process, and the book fell flat because of that. It would have helped if one could connect to the characters (and maybe some will), but they came off as one-dimensional and flat. It was also a little on the message-y side for my taste: be yourself, find joy in your life, and don't sweat the small stuff. It's not a bad message, but I would have liked it to be more about the characters and less about What They Learned.

But I'm nitpicking. It's a sweet little story, one that I think kids will like.

Cybils: What I Think Should Be Nominated and Isn't

Since I've used up my nominations in these categories, could you do it for me?

Middle Grade Fiction
Second Fiddle, by Rosanne Parry
What Momma Left Me, by Renee Watson
Angel in My Pocket, by Irene Cooper

YA Fiction
Mindblind, by Jennifer Roy

YA Science Fiction/Fantasy
Sweetly, by Jackson Pearce

And if anyone has anything they want nominated in Graphic Novels, Easy Reader/Chapter Books, or Book Apps, let me know: I haven't nominated anything in those categories yet, and I'll be happy to do it for you.

Kendra

by Coe Booth
ages: 15+
First sentence: "There's nothing really different about today."
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!

Fourteen-year-old Kendra wants two things: for her Nana to get off her back about every. little. thing. And for her mother, Renee, to finish school, get a job and let Kendra live with her.

Unfortunately, neither of these things are going to happen. See, Renee was just 14 when she had Kendra, and ever since has been running from any sort of mother-daughter relationship with her. Nana is old, tired, and wants to have a live of her own. Not to mention save her grandbaby from the same fate as her daughter.

I'm sure there's more to this gritty story, but honestly? I didn't get to it. I wanted to. I wanted to like this one, I wanted to see what this story of an inner-city black girl would be. But I bailed after the boy Kendra likes pressures her into having anal sex (is there a better term for that?). I can take many things, but the idea of an older boy taking advantage of a younger girl because she wants to be liked and accepted is too much for me. It wasn't that it was graphic (it wasn't). It's just the idea.

I didn't give Kendra's story much of a chance, I admit. Because the writing was intense, and I could tell that Booth knew her stuff. It's just not me. I'm sure there will be less particular people out there, ones who will connect with this book. It's just not for me.

Lola and the Boy Next Door

by Stephanie Perkins
ages: 14+
First sentence: "I have three simple wishes."
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Review copy provided by an ARC sent me from the amazing A Jane of All Reads

I need to say, first off: I completely and totally regret what I wore to my senior prom. It was white, it was totally late-80s, and it was completely forgettable. What I should have done was be daring (like Lola, who wants to attend her mid-winter formal as Marie Antoinette) and completely memorable.

So, one of my favorite things about this book was all the costume changes that Lola went through. I never knew what she was going to wear, and somehow, that made the book that much more enjoyable for me.

The plot is pretty simple: Lola and Cricket used to be neighbors. Then they were more than neighbors. And then he moved away because his family is pretty invested in following his sister Calliope's dream of being an Olympic figure skater. But before that happened, he hurt Lola, so she's spent the last two years trying to forget that Cricket ever existed. It's worked so well, that she's happily in love with Max, who's a punk rocker and (gasp) five years older than she is (she's barely 17). Then, one day, Cricket (and his family) move back in. Lola figured she was over him, but she didn't count on him not being over her.

Second thing I adored about this book: Cricket. Seriously. He's nice. No: he's wonderful. Swoon-worthy, geeky, genius, awkward, and much, much too good for Lola. It was an interesting twist having the guy be the "good" one, the one that Lola has to aspire to "deserving". (I find it's often the guys who are the cads, but in many ways Lola is in this book.) At first she pushes Cricket away, but eventually realizes that she still has *feelings* for the boy next door.

I found, in this book, that it was the little things that made it enjoyable. Anna and St. Clair are back, and even though they only play a small role, they light up the pages they're on. Lola's two dads are also a delight: it's nice to have a gay couple shown as stable and loving without making a big deal about it. (Additionally: they're great characters in their own right.) That said, I still have issues with True Love (always have, always will) and this one is all about finding and recognizing True Love, but it wasn't enough to get in the way of me thoroughly enjoying this book.

Perhaps it comes down to the awesome Marie Antoinette dress after all.

Cures for Heartbreak

by Margo Rabb
ages: 15+
First sentence: "The funeral director's name was Manny Musico."
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!

Mia's world has imploded. Her mother went in to the doctor about a stomach ache, and twelve days later died. It's not something she could plan for: one day her mother was there, the glue holding their family together in spite of constant fighting with Mia's dad; the next day, they're planning a funeral. How are they -- Mia, especially, since she doesn't quite know how to relate to her older sister, Alex, or their father -- going to manage their life?

And, yet, as the book unfolds over a year, they do manage. Sure, Mia goes into a bit of a tailspin at school, barely passing her freshman year. Alex goes off to college, and then Mia's left alone with her father. But, partially just because things work out as time passes, Mia gets better. Or at least, she learns to live her life again, without her mother.

Startlingly honest, this book walks the line between all-encompassing grief and the realization that as time goes on, wounds heal. The title really does say it all: Mia's heart is broken by the death of her mother, and while it'll never fully, completely heal, she is able to find a way to move on beyond that grief. That this is a semi-autobiographical story helps; Rabb taps into the emotions of loss, pain, and grief without being sappy or overly sentimental about it all.

In all the many books on death, this one stands out because of that honesty, because of the humor laced throughout the book, and because Rabb shows how one can move on without forgetting.

10 Things About The Austin Teen Book Fest

1. I say to myself "Texas isn't that far", and it isn't. Well, DALLAS isn't. Austin, on the other hand, is 9 hours of nothing away. Even so, it was worth the 18 hours in the car for the 36 hours seeing friends and authors.

2. Even though Scott Westerfeld's keynote speech was pretty much the same as at KidLitCon, it was still worth hearing again. ("And there was outrage on the internet!") He's a funny, interesting person who gives a grand presentations and worth hearing speak as many times as possible.


3. Steampunk costumes are REALLY cool. Want.


4. Though Maureen Johnson doesn't speak very much, when she does, it's hilarious. She's also a bit of a rabble-rouser. Not that we minded at all.


5. She sold her book to us by saying, "If I was going to write about ghosts, I want them to do something AWESOME. Like kill people." (At which point, M turns to me and says, "I want to read her book now.")

(Okay, that's a really bad picture of both M and Maureen. Sorry; it's the only one I took...)

6. I didn't know who Jonathan Mayberry was. Now I do. (And interestingly enough, his book won the YA Science Fiction/Fantasy Cybils award last year.)

7. I kind of felt bad for all the local authors who were surrounded by more "famous" ones. They didn't have any lines during the author signing, while Scott Westerfeld's was halfway across the building. Also, it would have been nice to have more time to be personable with the authors. I know I'm spoiled by KidLitCon, but I wanted to meet David Levithan and Jackson Pearce (I had to be satisfied with snapping a picture from afar) but there wasn't time to stand in their lines as well. I would have loved it if the authors could have milled more, and been able to chat with the masses.


8. Speaking of logistics: it could have been better. They had three different panels all going on at the same time in one large, echo-y room, which made it hard to hear what the authors were saying. At one point, Maureen said, "My head is going to explode from all the noise." I agree.

9. Nerdfighters are everywhere! I kind of knew this, but it was brought home at the book fest. I saw a young woman walking around with a hijab and a Pizza John shirt; the girl I stood behind in line for Stephanie Perkins had a DFTBA shirt (her sister has a "This Machine Pwns Noobs" one). I mentioned her shirt, and we had an instant connection: we chatted the time away about nerdfightaria, John and Hank, books, vlogs and the coolness of being there with all the other geeky people. I loved it.



10. The best part of going to this festival was seeing friends -- like Amanda of Ramblings and her husband, Jason; and Varian Johnson (can I count him as a friend if he remembered me and gave me a hug? I think so... even if I forgot to get a picture with him.) -- and meeting the authors. I wish there was more time to do the latter, but I did actually hold a conversation with Maureen (in which I thanked her for her twitter feed, and probably made a fool of myself) and Stephanie Perkins. That made it all worth while, I think.


Will I go again? I don't know. But at the very least, I can say I've done the whole book festival thing now. And had a good time doing it.

The Eternal Smile: Three Stories

by Gene Luen Yang and Derek Kirk Kim
ages: 13+
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!

It seems a little strange to say that something called "The Eternal Smile" made me feel melancholy, but it did.

The book is three short stories, beautifully drawn, all muse upon the themes of belonging and purpose. They weren't sad, exactly, and you can't say they didn't have happy endings, because they did. But they were bittersweet, edged with longing. Enough to make me melancholy.

I'm not quite sure which author wrote which story (or if they both wrote all three), since they drawing style for each one was so drastically different. That said, the art fit the stories perfectly. The first one, at first glance, seems to be a fantasy hero story: the downtrodden guy fights incredible odds (or in this case, revenge upon the king's death by killing the frog king), only to find out that things aren't exactly as they seem. The art is dark and brooding; it's easy to sense that the end won't be pretty.

The second story features animals: a greedy frog, who all he wants to do is get enough cash so he can put it in a barrel, dive in and never hit bottom; his toady (I think literally); and his two granddaughters. They come up with a scheme, based on this smile that the toady sees, and develop a religion based on it. Of course there's more to it; it turns out that the story is nothing more than a children's show. It's a delightful poke at mega-churches, reality TV, and people who don't have the backbone to say what they really think in the face of powerful people. And the art is bright and cheery, which perfectly juxtaposes the deeper, darker story.

The last story is the most heartbreaking, I think. It's about a mousey woman, working in a cubicle for some large corporation. She wants a raise, and (of course) her boss deflects her and then laughs behind her back. Then she answers one of those "dear lovely, can you send $1,000,000 to help my family in Nigeria" emails. From there, they begin corresponding, and she imagines a whole story surrounding this mysterious African prince. Of course, things don't work out, by any stretch of the imagination. The art is in shades of gray, the characters cartoonish, childish, which drives the somber point home more.

The one thing these stories do have, even with their melancholy, is that they make you think. About how things don't always go as we planned. And that even so-called losers have dreams and aspirations. And how there is always hope, even in the face of hopelessness.

Which left me smiling, in the end.

The Good, the Bad, and the Barbie

by Tanya Lee Stone
ages: 11+
First sentence: "When I was six, I wanted a Barbie more than I can remember ever wanting anything in my life."
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!

First a confession: my mom wouldn't let me have Barbies, and even though I played with them at friends' houses, I never really wanted one (or at least I don't have a lingering memory of that). Then I went to college, and became my own brand of feminist, and swore my girls would never have Barbies.

Then M turned three. And she desperately wanted one. After several rounds of fighting and discussion and saying no, we gave in on her birthday, and gave her one. Which was much loved. Then, Barbie multiplied. For, it seems, that one cannot have just one Barbie. They multiplied until I was sick of them and they stopped playing with them, so I tossed the whole lot when we moved to Kansas 5 years ago. Since then, they've multiplied again (it seems that you can't give a young girl a birthday present that isn't a Barbie), and while they don't get played with often, I have made my peace with them and keep them around for the times when they are needed.

It seems my story isn't unique.

I enjoyed this book for the history of Barbie, and Mattel, and how they came to be. There was a part of me that wished for more detail (the fact that Barbie's inspiration was a German sex toy was glossed over here), but the book was geared toward the younger crowd. However, Stone did to an admirable job balancing the two sides of Barbie: those who love her and those who loathe her. I think I understand better now her appeal, not just to girls, but to women as they grow older. And while I still think there's downsides to Barbie and her appearance, I admit that they're more societal and less the fault of the toy. It was interesting, and well-written, full of lots of vintage (and otherwise) pictures.

Recommended.

CYBILS Nominations are OPEN!

Well, they opened early this morning, so I'm running a little late. But... if you didn't get there at the stroke of midnight (which is insane, unless you're a night owl), keep in mind these rules before heading over to do your nominations (do keep in mind that ANYONE can nominate their favorite -- or second or third favorite. You don't have to blog about kids books to be a part of this!):

Books (eBook criteria follow):

To be eligible for a Cybils award, a print book must be:

1. published in the US or Canada only. This avoids outrageous shipping costs and double jeopardy when a UK title is nominated a second time after it comes out in the US;
2. published between one contest and the next. For this year, that means from Oct. 16, 2010 to Oct. 15, 2011;
3. widely available for public sale. Titles available only from book clubs or publisher websites are not eligible, for example, as we cannot obtain copies easily.
4. aimed at the youth market up to age 18. Books marketed to adult readers that may also appeal to teens are not eligible.

eBooks

Note: This applies only to "born digital" ebooks that have no dead-tree counterpart.

To be eligible for a Cybils award, a born digital ebook must be:

1. published in both the Kindle and ePub format. It can be published in additional formats (such as PDF), but cannot skip those two;
2. marketed primarily to Young Adult Fiction and Science Fiction & Fantasy for teen readers. No other genre is accepting born digital titles this year. We'll revisit the idea if all goes well;
3. put out by a publisher in good standing with the American Booksellers Association (ABA), Children's Book Council (CBC), Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA), or Small Publishers Association of North America (SPAN) or their regional affiliates OR;
4. (alternate to #3) put out by a publisher who produces more than one title a year.

Book Apps

To be eligible for a Cybils award, a book app must be:

1. aimed primarily at kids or teens;
2. geared mainly toward storytelling and/or literacy and not just gaming;
3. be readable on an iPad or computer.

And (since you've made it this far...) I did want to give a mention to the panel that's near and dear to my heart: Middle Grade Fiction! It's a grand panel this year (with more than one man on it! Wow!), and you'll notice that I'm shaking things up this year (much to the disappointment of my girls, who have loved the piles and piles of books that came in the mail) by being on the Round 2 panel. I'm excited for that, though: I've never been involved in the final decision, and I can't wait to see what the experience will be like.

Round 1

Colby Sharp
Sharp Read

Jennifer Donovan
5 Minutes for Books

Karen Yingling
Ms. Yingling Reads

Cheryl Vanati
Reading Rumpus

Grier Jewell
Fizzwhizzing Flushbunker

Michael Gettel-Gilmartin
Middle Grade Mafioso

Beth Gallego
Points West

Round 2

Kerry Millar
Shelf Elf

Melissa Fox
Book Nut

Jessalyn Pinsonault
Garish & Tweed

Karen Wang
Kidsmomo

Amanda Snow
A Patchwork of Books

And off we go! I love this time of year.