Short, scary stories

I finally broke down and read In the Land of the Lawn Weenies, which certainly does Louise Rennison proud in an attempt to force librarians to say embarassing things. I have added it, as well as Invasion of the Road Weenies, to my list to purchase, because the stories all embrace the warped, icky, 12-year-old boy sense of "Ewwww". I will recommend it to students who don't like to read anything that isn't gross, as well as to teachers who would like something to read aloud. Very clever, and for readers who won't read anything, these are good starters. From here, maybe I can move them into R.L. Stine, and Paul Zindel's monster books.

Other sucessful creepy stories that circulate well in my library are:
Horowitz, Anthony. Horowitz Horror, More Horowitz Horror.

Schwartz, Alvin. Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, and Scary Stories 3

San Souci, Robert. Dare to Be Scared, Double Dare to Be Scared (and some Short and Shivery that I intend to look into!)

Rich Wallace

After reading One Good Punch and recommending the Winning Season series countless times, I thought I had better read one of these short, sports oriented books. I was not disappointed. I read Takedown, which is late in the series but about wrestling, which has become a popular request.

Donald is not a pleasant character. He works hard, but is a poor sport. His family life is somewhat difficult, but he still has supportive, if struggling parents. This book mainly detailed his wrestling training and meets, which is exactly what the boys want. It didn't mess around with too many emotions or problems-- just went right for the action, which is great. I thought that the book was much too short. I wanted to know more about Donald and his wrestling career. However, this length was perfect for the audience, who are often struggling readers who like the feeling of accomplishment they get when they finish a book. I am looking forward to reading the rest, and highly recommend the entire series for elementary and middle school libraries.

I could not find a web site for Mr. Wallace, but here is the Winning Season series as I know it:

The Roar of the Crowd (Winning Season #1) (2004)
Technical Foul (Winning Season #2) (2004)
Fast Company (Winning Season # 3) (2005)
Double Fake (Winning Season # 4) (2005)
Emergency Quarterback (#5)(2005)
Southpaw (Wining Season # 6) (2006)
Dunk Under Pressure (Winning Season # 7) (2006)
Takedown (Winning Season # 8) (2006)
Curveball (#9) (2007)
Second-String Center (Winning Season # 10) (2007)

Giles' Right Behind You

This is not a book for middle school collections, but I could not put it down. It would be extremely thought provoking for high school collections.

Kip burns a child to death when he is 9. While not exactly an accident, Kip is not a hardened, habitual killer. Years of juvenile detention and therapy take his childhood away from him and leave him ill-prepared for life after that. He manages to succeed quite well in high school in a different state, but manages to sabotage his own efforts when he becomes happy. Moving yet again, he meets a girl who also has made mistakes, and learns to deal with what he has done.

I had to finish this even though it was clear early on that the content and language of this book was too strong for my age group. Still, it was masterfully done and riveting. Ms. Giles has made some very wise remarks concerning reading level of books versus interest level, and clearly writes for older children, so I hope her feelings will not be hurt when I don't buy this one.

On the other hand, a book I should have loved, Barrows' The Magic Half, about a girl who is transported back in time to 1935, did not appeal to me at all. I think perhaps it is too young.

A nonfiction title!

Believe it or not, I really enjoy nonfiction, but it's a very hard sell to my students. I really enjoyed Jim Murphy's The Great Fire(1995) about the Chicago fire in 1871. I kept quoting odd bits of information to my family. This is an especially successful book because it combines facts about the fire with first person descriptions from several different people. The illustrations and photographs are well-placed, and the maps showing the spread of the fire are very helpful. I have several students in mind for this title-- there is a great interest in disasters, and when I tell them that 100,000 people were homeless, maybe they will be intrigued.

Mary Stolz' Coco Grimes will be read because it is short, but for a sports book has very few descriptions of baseball, which is what students seem to want. I did like the story of a boy interviewing a man who played on the Negro Leagues.

It's a Woman's World, a collection of poetry, was very interesting. Covered poems from many different places and times. It seemed sad to me, but I don't think it would seem so to students. Poetry is another hard sell, although when classes do units on it, my shelves get cleaned off.

Would like to say that I read The Carnivorous Carnival, but I only got about a chapter in!

A Reading Challenge

If you want a serious challenge, take a look at this web site:
http://theshadyglade.blogspot.com/2008/01/young-adult-literature-challenge.html

I had to print out the rules so that I could consult them at home. I won't be doing the extra challenge, because of the nine titles listed, I have read five in the last five years and can't get two from the public library. I did check out The Only Alien on the Planet by Kristen Randle, because I loved her Breaking Rank!

I'm thinking that the 25 books won't be a problem, but I'm stumped on what "Classic" (published before 1920) book to read.

Poetry, Drama or Humor-- It's a Woman's World: A Century of Women's Voices in Poety (1/27)
Sports, Mystery Supernatural--Stolz. Coco Grimes. (1/27)
Fantasy or Science Fiction--Stroud. The Last Siege. (2/4)-- Not fantasy!!
Historical--Sutcliffe. Flame-Colored Taffetta. (1/28)
Nonfiction--Murphy. The Great Fire. (1/27)
Classic-- Stevenson. Kidnapped. (1887!)
Graphic Novel-- Vampire Kisses: Blood Relations, Schreiber.
Audiobook--Snicket. The Ersatz Elevator. (Audiobooks are so slow. I will no doubt cheat.)

Can you tell I'm working on "s" authors on my way through the stacks?

Thanks to Alyssa at Shady Glade for a jump start I needed to my weekend!

Haddix's Uprising

I always love stories of turn-of-the-(last)century immigrants, and this coverage of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory strike and fire was ably done. We follow the lives of three girls: Bella, whose family sends her to America to earn money; Yetta, who with her sister has come from Russian to escape the persecution and poverty; and Jane, whose wealthy father does not want her to become involved in Suffrage or the rights of workers.

This book was rich in details of every day life at the time, and did have some twists. It is interesting that Jane leaves home, is taken in by Bella and Yetta, and becomes a governess to the factory boss's children, but it seems unlikely. The rest of the story goes along nicely, although the beginning and ending, which center around one of Jane's charges 15 years or so after the fire, are more confusing than they needed to be.

It surprises me that people still don't know about this historical era, so it is good to have another book about it. Mary Jane Auch also has Ashes of Roses, which I liked.

Read D'Lacey's Icefire, which is not about squirrels. The dragons come into play much more, but there are polar bears. Also, we are given a setting in Massachusetts, which I still don't believe, and which distracted me. I will wait a while to read the third book, and maybe by then I will be over my confusion, and then I might like the book better.

D'Lacey's The Fire Within

The Fire Within, Icefire, and Fire Star have all been very popular in my library. Given the covers, and the length, I assumed they were hard-core dragon fantasies, so I was slightly confused to find a realistically based fantasy about a college student who boards with a family that makes clay dragons that are really alive. For most of the book, the dragons are hinted at, and most of the narrative involves squirrels, and the student's attempts to write a story for the young girl of the household. I am curious now to read the other two and see if more dragons are involved. LOTS of squirrels are, and usually books about squirrels don't circulate well.

I was also confused by the interpolation of clearly American references into a clearly British book. If any change had been made, it should have been to explain what conkers are. It's hard to explain, but I would just like to say "They're BUCKEYES!"

http://www.worldconkerchampionships.com/html/body_about_conkers.html

Any book that uses "erm" instead of "um", that has people eating beans on toast, and involves more than one cup of tea being served, is a British book.

Also read William Sleator's Into the Dream, which is a quickly moving story about two students who have the same repeating dream and try to find out why this is. Would appeal to students who like Twilight Zone type stories. From 1979.

Shannon Hale's Book of a Thousand Days was an okay retelling of a Grimm story moved to Mongolia, and I appreciated that she would give part of her profits from the book to Heifer International, but I can't move her Princess Academy. I don't have a strong group of female fantasy/medieval fans, I guess, so will pass.

Also won't buy the pink and fluffy "Choose your own adventure" book. The only readers I have for those are 6th grade boys. I always feel compelled to read every possible combination, so they drive me slightly mad.

Hurray for Michael Cadnum!!!

My students especially enjoy this author's Book of the Lion series, as well as his two mythologically oriented books, Starfall:Phaeton and the Chariot of the Sun and Nightsong: The Legend of Orpheus and Eurydice. I am going to have some VERY happy students today when they found out that we won a copy of The King's Arrow from the author himself!We've had a lot of discussions in the library about the historical person we would most like to meet, so thanks to Mr. Cadnum not only for the book, but for getting my students thinking about intriguing figures from history.

Mr. Cadnum also has a very nice web site that you should check out. This link, of course, features me, as well as one of my students (Kaitlin), who is enjoying her fame!

http://www.michaelcadnum.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10&Itemid=31

Wilson's The Lottie Project

Given this cover, and not the Nick Sharrat one, I thought the book would be about time travel. It wasn't, but since it was still Jacqueline Wilson, I wasn't too disappointed.

Wilson's books that make it to the U.S. (she's a top selling British YA author) tend to be light problem novels, and this one was. The twist: While Lottie is dealing with her single mother's lack of a job, she is also working on a school project about servant girls during the Victorian era. Her mother gets several jobs cleaning houses and looking after a little boy, and these experiments are reflected in the story she writes about the Victorian girl.

Wilson's Candyfloss and The Illustrated Mum have gone over well here, as has her "Girls" series. When looking for Wilson titles to buy, be aware that a lot of her books are aimed at the 8-12 age range, but are given older looking covers in the U.S.

Also of note: Jessica Blank's book, Almost Home, is NOT for middle schools. Although it starts out with delicate wording of sensitive issues, it uses the f-word more times than I could count, and quickly descends in hair-curling descriptions of life on the street.

Paley's Huge

When I say that this book is sort of a novelization of "The Biggest Loser" for teenagers, that sounds like a criticism, but it really isn't. I enjoyed the book very much, and any books about eating disorders/weight issues are gobbled up (sorry!) by my students, especially as we are nearing February, which is tradionally Problem Novel Month in my library. This by demand, not by my request!

Wil is forced to go to "fat camp" by her parents, who run a fitness center empire and are embarassed by her weight. April saves up all year to go, to try to escape the eating habits that she and her mother have fallen into. As roommated, they don't work well together because they are at cross purposes-- Wil has decided to gain weight to irritate her parents. While good exercise and eating habits are hinted at, this is far more about the relationship that the girls have with each other, the students at the camp, and their pasts. There are some nasty characters, especially a boy who kisses both girls and then makes fun of them. They exact a rather nasty revenge, but all of the situations are portrayed as complicated and real.

Is this Great Literature? No. It was however, valuable, interesting, and fun. And, along with The Black Sheep, it will be fun to have in the library in 15 years, when reality television is (hopefully!) not around anymore.

Lurlene McDaniel

This author has the sad romance down to a fine science. There are so many devoted fans at my school that I picked up a bunch of paperbacks to replace lost copies this weekend, and I should be processing them right now so they can be checked out today.

I read Angel of Mercy over the weekend. Again, not the thing to read when it's cold and January out, since it is the story of a girl who goes on a mission to Africa to help the impoverished. There is a little romance, an abundance of Christian sentiment, and much sadness. Again, the fans will be glad, but this is just not the sort of book that appeals to me personally.

Sheth's Koyal Dark, Mango Sweet

How do I not already have a copy of this? After reading this author's The Keeping Corner, I checked this one out... again, apparently. This is one I have to have because it shows such a different MODERN lifestyle. Since Sheth's Blue Jasmine (about an Indian girl who moves to the States) is so popular, I think the students will enjoy this story of Jeeta, a high school age girl with two older sisters. The family's main concern is getting all of the daughters married, and the parents work hard at arranging suitable matches. I predict that a lot of the readers will come to me and ask if this is actually still true!

Jeeta's family is solidly middle class-- the father works for a jewelry store, the weddings they give are fairly elaborate, and the children are getting an education, but all seven of them live in a one bedroom apartment in Mumbai. The father sleeps in the living room, and there are five mattresses for the other six. This is the sort of thing that students often don't understand, and I think it is valuable for them to see how others live .

Drat. Those are all the books by this author. I hope she is writing more!
http://kashmirasheth.typepad.com/

Pfeffer's Life As We Knew It

In middle school, I loved post apocalyptic tales like Z for Zachariah, so this one would have pleased me inordinately, as did my 8th grade daughter. I'm not usually one for books in journal form (e.g. Angus, Thongs), but as my daughter put it, it makes more sense this way. We get to hear all of her emotions. We both especially liked "Life sucks. Wish I had fudge." There were a few more quotable lines, but my younger daughter stole the book from me, so I don't have it.

Some say the world will end in fire, some say in ice-- and here we get a little of both because an asteroid has pushed the moon out of orbit. Communications and utilities go down, food is in short supply, and people, in general, go nuts. Still, life has to go on, and I appreciated that we were shown a realistic family who does the best they can. Stock up on canned goods and kitty litter (I appreciated that they kept their pet-- wouldn't many of us try?), move everyone into the room with the wood-burning stove, and hunker down. I can see why this has been popular. Well-written, intriguing twists, fresh and fun voice in the face of obstacles.

However, on a personal level, it was not a good thing to read over a long weekend while I had the heat set at 58 degrees. I felt like I should stock up on peanut butter, as if the ten jars I got on sale wouldn't be enough. As a mother, reading post-apocalyptic novels, especially one this detailed, does not make me happy. 8th grader did admit that she now understands why I make her bike everywhere, as well as why I keep a well-stocked pantry.

Wonder if having this book will increase readership in The Beauty Queen from 1974? If you want more information on Ms. Pfeffer, check out her blog at:

http://susanbethpfeffer.blogspot.com/

More Sleator, and Stevenson

If your library doesn't already have an older (1988) copy of The Duplicate, you may be forced to read a paperback with this really, really bad cover. Still a thought provoking story-- we all think it would be nice to have another one of ourselves to get all of our work done, but who's to say that WE would get to do the fun stuff and the duplicate would be folding socks in the basement?

This is the situation that David finds himself in when he finds a Spee-Dee-Dupe on the beach and makes a copy of himself so that he can go spend time with his girlfriend rather than with his grandmother. Not only does that plan not work out, but the duplicate starts becoming rather sinister, and there's some nice action/adventure/suspence to round out an interesting story.

James Stevenson's The Bones in the Cliff (1995) is out of print, but if there is one around, dust it off. It is a short and simple mystery about a young boy living on an island who is fearful for his father's life. Who is the man with the cigar who might get off the ferry, and what are his plans? While both Pete and his friend Rootie have some problems, they manage to spend a fun summer exploring the island, and when the man with the cigar finally does arrive, there is some action and suspense. This hasn't gone out much, but I know of a lot of students who should enjoy this!

Giants of Science, Marie Curie

I love biographies. In the 4th grade, I would bring home two Childhood of Famous Americans books every night and read them. Elizabeth Blackwell: Girl Doctor was one of my favorites.

Krull's Marie Curie was much, much better, and written in an amusing, engaging style that is sure to entice readers. The first sentence is "She risked her life for science." Okay! Tell me more! This is no sanitized version for children. Curie is given credit for her vast scientific acchievements, but her personality also comes through strongly. Given the odds she faced as a woman working around the turn of the last century, some depression is to be expected. The science is well-explained and understandable. The Curies both probably knew that radiation was bad for them, but they were too involved in their work to consider it a problem. This is not a long book, but quite fascinating. I will definitely look for the others in the series, including Sigmund Freud, Isaac Newton, and Leonardo da Vinci.

The only this I would add would be some actual pictures. The drawings are okay, but students are very visual, and like to see what the person really looked like.

Encyclopedia Brown Cracks the Case

Donald J. Sobol's Encyclopedia Brown books were my second great love (after Carolyn Haywood), so I was tickled to see that at the age of about 83, he had another one out! I have fond memories of sitting with my mother and reading a case, then talking about what we thought the solution was.

These are most appropriate for elementary age students, but one of my very reluctant 8th grade readers devoured all the titles I had. If students are having trouble with mysteries and have to read one for class, these books are a good way to ease them in.

As always, I solved some of the chapter long mysteries, but not others. (Didn't know that ducks needed gravity to swallow, not to spoil it for you!) I miss the original drawings, but am glad to add this title to my collection.

The Mysterious Edge of the Heroic World

E.L. Konigsburg can be very, very good. One need look no further than From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. This title had an art mystery in it as well, but I just couldn't get into it. At least I didn't hate it, as one of teachers, a big Konigsburg fan, did.

Amedeo moves to Florida with his mother, who is a big time phone executive. He befriends a boy whose mother is an estate liquidator, who happend to be liquidating Amedeo's neighbor's possessions. I did sort of enjoy that part-- the neighbor was an opera singer who has all sorts of interesting autographed books and whatnot. There was also a sketch, found in the library, that looked intriguing, so Amedeo, along with his godfather(the director of an arts center) works on solving the mystery, which ends a little too neatly for my taste. The depiction of the art world at the time of Nazi Germany is intriguing, and heartrending, as many of these stories are, but everything came together too coincidentally.

Students who liked the Blue Balliet mysteries may find this interesting, but I don't think I will buy it. Moves too slowly and does get confusing, due to shifts in point of view.

Sheth's Keeping Corner

For fans of Whelan's Homeless Bird, this book about a young Indian widow circa 1918 is even better. Sheth, who did the wonderful Blue Jasmine about her own experience coming from India to the United States to live, tells us the tale of an aunt who was widowed at a young age and refused to stick to the very strigent code of conduct prescribed for widows. Since she is so young, she needs to listen to her parents a bit: she "keeps corner", staying in the house for a year, but continues her studies and looks for ways to escape from the restrictive life style. Luckily, an older brother argues her case, and the social upheaval at the time also works in her favor. Ghandi is effecting social change, and this is explained in the context of the story.

The descriptions of every day life are very interesting, and the story moves along at a good pace. Students who don't like historical fiction are drawn into Homeless Bird by the struggles of the heroine, and they will be even more intrigued by this story.

I read Koyal Dark, Mango Sweet and didn't buy it. I can't remember why. I like this author so much that I will have to revisit the book!

Ranger's Apprentice, The Ruins of Gorlan

Admittedly, I was reluctant to read yet another medieval quest fantasy, especially one in which the first few pages talked about Wargals, but it ended up being a good read. Fans of Tolkien certainly eat this one up, as will any fans of Lloyd Alexander's Chronicles of Prydain.

Will is not large enough to go into battle school, but because of his stealth and intelligence, he is apprenticed to a Ranger, who works as intelligence for the kingdom. Complications ensue, adventures are had, and Will proves that being strong isn't always the best way to win fights.

There are seven of these books available in Australia, although the fourth has yet to be published in the U.S. A must have for fantasy fans in the middle grades.

Assorted "s" authors

William Sleator's Dangerous Wishes was a worthy sequel to his Spirit House. Dom, the younger brother from the first book, is now 15, and the family travels to Thailand to stay while the mother does research. Dom wants to find the amulet that his sister lost so that the spirits stop causing grief for his family. He is aided by Lek, a street merchant. While the ending is improbably, the views of Thailand, especially Lek's village, are interesting, and there is nonstop action. Really enjoyed this.

I had trouble getting into Sleator's Strange Attractors. Time travel is usually something I enjoy, but this book was somewhat confusing, with the bifurcation of time. Sort of like Molly Moon's Incredible Time Travel Adventure. You bifurcate time, you need to think very hard about when and where you are in the book!

In an effort to pay attention to graphic novels, I picked up Sfar and Guibert's The Professor's Daughter. Daughter of professor in love with the mummy Imhotep IV-- should be good. Instead, it was a bit confusing and just odd. My daughter didn't like it either.

Over the past month or so I've been working on Skurzynski and Ferguson's National Park Mysteries. We only have six of them here, but they are well-done, straightforward mysteries that I enjoyed. There are a lot of survival elements in them, and the few pictures in the middle of the books showing the parks are quite fun. Only problem-- book one is falling apart!

Find out more about the authors and books at:
http://gloriabooks.com/national.html