Paranormal, Part 185

White, Amy Brecount. Forget-Her-Nots.
Laurel is struggling with the death of her mother, and since her father is very busy with his job, enrolls in the Avondale boarding school her cousin attends. Before her first presentation in class (about the language of flowers), she receives a small bouquet, kindles an even bigger interest in flowers. Soon, she finds that by creating bouquets for herself and her friends, she can makes things happen-- people become more romantically interested in each other, get better grades on tests, and Laurel herself feels stronger and more confident around certain plants. It turns out not to be merely coincidence-- Ms. Suarez, a teacher who knew Laurel's mother, tells her that she comes from a long line of Flowerspeakers, who can understand the language of flowers and use their powers. Laurel needs a lot of training, and finally connects with her grandmother, who is deeply grieving the death of Laurel's mother, to try to learn more about her heritage.

This was a fun twist on magic, had plenty of romance, and was generally fun. I think a sequel might be in the offing. My only complaint was that the story seemed a little unorganized in the middle, but I'll definitely buy this.

Bullen, Alexandra. Wish.
Olivia is also grieving. After her twin sister Violet dies, her mother uproots the family from the east coast in order to move to California, where she has an offer with a legal firm and Olivia's father can renovate their house. Olivia tries to fit in at her new school, but has trouble functioning because she misses her sister so much. When she takes a dress of Violet's in to be repaired at a shop called Mariposa of the Missions, she gets some unexpected help, in the form of a dress that grants her wish-- to have Violet back. No one else can see Violet, but she helps Olivia adjust to school and ultimately learn to live her life without her sister. When Olivia finally lets go of Violet, her life improves and her family begins to heal.

This also had some disorganized moments in the middle, and some tortured romance, which I found tiring, but is very realistic and girls will enjoy. While the cover is shiny, Mother Reader will be glad to know that none of it comes off! (If I read picture books, I am sure I would have a Tinkerbell Policy similar to Mother Reader's-- too funny!)

Kehret, Peg. Runaway Twin.
Even though Sunny has finally ended up in a foster home where she is comfortable with her situation, she still wants to locate her twin sister, Starr, from whom she was separated at age three. After finding a bag containing $800 in the woods (and very conscientiously trying to find the owner), Sunny takes off on a cross country trip from Nebraska to Washington state to find her sister. On the way, she finds an abandoned dog who follows her, survives a tornado, and manages to make it to the house where her grandmother and sister lived, talk to neighbors, and find her sister. This doesn't turn out quite the way Sunny plans, but she is able to put her life back together and be happy with her situation.

This really was pure fantasy-- I can't imagine bus stations selling tickets to preteen girls, hotel owners renting rooms, or rescue workers from the Red Cross letting this girl wander about by herself. Still, it was fun in the way that The Boxcar Children is fun, and the less-than-perfect ending is a welcome twist, especially after the improbability of the rest of the book.

Amato, Mary. Invisible Lines.
Trevor has lots of plans. He wants to play soccer, hang out with the popular kids, and do lots of drawing. He also wants to succeed in school when he is mistakenly placed in an advanced science class. The problem? His single mother is struggling with several jobs just in order to pay the rent, and so can't afford to get him a notebook for science, much less pay $1,000 for him to join a travel soccer team. He is doing fairly well at balancing everything going on, including babysitting his younger brother and sister, until someone starts to make it look as though he is stealing and vandalizing.

This was an interesting depiction of a boy in difficult circumstances trying to compensate all by himself, but there were some very slow moments. I did not need to read as much about fungus as was brought up in reference to the science class. With some more judicious editing (this weighs in at 320 pages), this would have been a good book for reluctant readers interested in soccer, but I'm not entirely sure about it as it stands.

Also looked at Richard Platt's London: From Roman Capital to Olympic City, which was well-done and very interesting, but I have no curricular need at all to order this. Picky Reader read Lisi Harrison's Alphas and said that it was just like The Clique except not quite as mean. The popularity of this series has died down, so I think I'll pass. Teen Boy read John Barnes' Tales of the Madman Underground and was vaguely amused, but said it really wasn't middle school appropriate, had a 1970s setting he could have done without, and was just too long (532 pages). Perhaps for high school, but I'll pass.

One of my students wanted to know if I speed read; not exactly. It's just that I've read a lot for many, many years, so I have well-developed reading muscles!

High School Books?

Picked up Ephron's The Girl with the Mermaid Hair at the Book Look. From the publisher's description("Sukie Jamieson is obsessed with her own beauty and perfection, until her mother gives her an exquisite full-length mirror that has been passed down through their family and shows both outer beauty and the ugliness within."), I thought it would be a paranomalish fantasy. It wasn't. It was good, but I kept waiting for something supernatural to happen. It doesn't. Instead, this is a problem novel. Not only does Sukie need to come to terms with her own obsession with her looks, her lack of friends, her plummeting grades and her mother's plastic surgery, her father is having an affair and her family is on the verge of collapse. It is appropriate for middle school, but the inward focus will be more appealing to older students.

I was SO excited to get Perl's Vintage Veronica from the public library. A story about a girl working at a vintage consignment shop, meeting new friends and breaking out of her shell. Fun! Only it wasn't. Veronica was unhappy and somewhat unpleasant, but she was a peach compared to the two coworkers she meets. When they decide to start throwing around foul language on page 50, I stopped reading. While it's not appropriate for middle school, this would be fine in high school, and I expect that Veronica's life does become more fun. I'm afraid that sleep trumped reading more of this book. Cool cover and premise, and Perl's web site is very pretty as well.

The Strange Case of the Origami Yoda

It was weird. First, I saw a review of Tom Angleberger's The Strange Case of the Origami Yoda, and then when I was looking for Read poster generators, I came across his blog. THEN at the book look, there was an ARC of the book. Obviously, Origami Yoda was telling me "Read you must"!

Dwight's that kid that's not quite...right. His hair's uncombed, he has stains on his shirt, and he doesn't always make a lot of sense, but when he crafts the aforementioned Yoda and uses it to give out cryptic advice, people wonder if maybe there is more to Dwight after all. Or maybe to the Yoda.

Tommy isn't sure, so he compiles a selection of anecdotes about Yoda's exploits, which is then edited by Harvey. The pages have a Wimpy Kid feel to them because of the different typefaces and drawings, but the story is so much more amusing. Set mostly in school, Yoda gives advice to students in a variety of settings: Should I ask a girl to dance? What word will appear on the spelling bee? How should I repair my reputation as a Cheeto Hog? (Intrigued? Good! Now read the book!) The children have to interpret the sibylline advice, with often comical results.

I loved this one, and I haven't even seen any Star Wars movies. Well, except the one with the teddy bears on flying mopeds. The nervous, budding romances were true to life, the writing was very clever (I measure this by how much of the book I feel compelled to read aloud to my children-- this was close to Sonnenblick levels), and while the book looked goofy enough to attract Captain Underpants fans, it had some deeper messages, too. Plus an orgami Yoda. Good stuff. Teen Boy liked, but I could tell it was slightly young for him.

I haven't bought any "pink" books for a long time, so I was glad to read Lisa Schroeder's It's Raining Cupcakes. It was similar to My Life in Pink and Green and The Teashop Girls in that it dealt with a family run business having some difficulties; in this book, a new cupcake shop that is facing competition from a brownie chain store. Isabel, whose nervous and unhappy mother is starting the store, longs to travel beyond the confines of her small Oregon town. She reads travel books and keeps notes to herself in a passport protector. She is supportive of her mother, who has trouble dealing with the vagaries of life in general; has predictable problems with her best friend; gets to know her new neighbors. She also enters a baking contest in order to win a trip to New York City. This is what I was expecting from several other cupcake-covered books that have come out recently-- something sweet and fun to eat...er, read. My girls will love this. (Thanks to Ronni for info about the contest Ms. Schoeder is having at her blog:
http://lisa-schroeder.blogspot.com/2010/03/its-raining-cupcakes-contest-for.html)

Two of my best patrons are 6th grade twin girls, so when I saw Take Two, written by twins Julia DeVillers and Jennifer Roy, I had to pick it up. Unfortunately it is the second in the series, and there were just enough references to the first book that I wished I had read Trading Faces first. Payton and Emma look alike but are very different; Payton cares more about what she wears and has some trouble in school, whereas Emma is just the opposite. The two have to do community service as the result of a prank pulled in the first book. Payton gets stuck helping with the school play, and Emma has to tutor one of her guidance conselour's twin boys. Typical middle school attitudes, friendships and situations occur. As I said, reading the first book would have helped, but I am definitely ordering that one.

Also, after my whining post yesterday, I appreciated this exchange on page 129.

"I didn't know you were BFF with the librarians."
"Of course I am," Emma replied. "Library media specialists are a backbone of the school as well as a fount of knowledge."

Thank you, Ms. DeVillers and Ms. Roy, for the support!

Gee, I can try to work harder.

Didn't read anything because I had meetings until 8:30 p.m. I went to a "book look" (for which I paid $35) and got a huge bag of books for my library that I need to read. Reviews will follow.

I thought about Froma Harrop's op ed piece on Central Falls High School in Rhode Island. While I agree that the teachers should take concessions to save jobs, and would certainly take them myself, Harrop fails to understand the reality of most teachers' days. She said:

"[Superintendent Gallo]... wanted them to add 25 minutes to their 6.5-hour workday, provide one hour a week of tutoring and eat lunch with students once a week for the same pay.

It's true that these poor kids, many speaking only Spanish, pose more challenges to educators than children from privileged backgrounds. But the least they expect is that their teachers, making an average $72,000 to $78,000 a year, put in a full day on the job."

Really? Put in a full day? 16 hours isn't enough for Harrop? Granted, this was unusual. Usually, I only put in a ten hour day at the school. I'll throw in the three hours I spend at home reading for free. I've never expected overtime, and certainly, I don't HAVE to be this insane.

Teachers don't want more money, Ms. Harrop. Just a little respect. That is, after all, free.

I'm going to go catalog and process the books I'm donating to the school now. It's 5:48 a.m.

Sequels, etc.

A student gave me the third book in Pseudonymous Bosch's series, This book is not good for you, which follows The name of this book is secret and If you're reading this, it's too late. She had loved the series and thought we should have it in the library. It was painful for me to read, because it had that overly precious, talking to the readers, Lemony Snicket feel to it that I despise. But the student has a good point. She loved it. I will buy the series hoping to use it as methdone to wean some of my Snicket addicts. Here is the description from the publisher because I can't describe it without being mean: "Cass's mom is kidnapped by the evil dessert chef, Senor Hugo, who requests the legendary tuning fork as ransom, leading Cass and Max-Ernest to try finding the magical instrument in time."

There's a lot going on in Everlost, where places that have died exist as a home for children who haven't yet passed "to the light". It's peopled by confused children, as well as "monsters"-- Mary, who claims to want to keep children safe but who is trying to keep them from the light; Nick, the "chocolate ogre" whom Mary vilifies but who works tirelessly to help children; Allie the Outcast, a skinjacker (someone who can ride in human bodies and interact in the real world) who finds objects from the real world and trades for them; her companion, the former monster McGill, who is made as human as possible by her presence; and Zack/Zin who can rip things out of the real world and learns to put them back as well. Whew. A lot going on, but all intriguing. There is another book coming out at an indeterminate date, and I will want to read it because I would like to see how Allie deals with her circumstances.

Paul Volponi's Black and White is a riveting tale of prejudice, and I was hoping for the same in Homestretch. From the publisher: "Five months after losing his mother, Gas runs away from an abusive father and gets a job working at an Arkansas race track, surrounded by the illegal Mexican immigrants that he and his father blame for her death." What was more prevalent in this tale was anger toward everyone. From what I read, the language wasn't too bad, but it was unrelentingly bitter. I have a more limited readership for problem novels among my boys, and I don't think this is quite what they want.

The same is true of Parry's Heart of a Shepherd. While the idea of a boy on a ranch struggling with his father's deployment sounds good in theory, boys will soon return this with the complaint that "nothing happens". (Teen Boy didn't finish Poster Boy because of this.) It starts off with a long description of vintage chess set and a chess game, and while it does have a few exciting moments, devolves more toward the introspective navel gazing. A very well-written, lyrical sort of book, but as Semicolon put it, the pace is "slow and deliberate". Just not having students request "slow and deliberate" books.

Yes, the Follett web site gives the dimensions of Richard Platt's Roman Diary: The Journal of Iliona of Mytilini, who was captured and sold as a slave in Rome, AD 107, but it somehow doesn't mean anything until you have the 10"x13" book in your hands. It's enormous. The story of a girl sold into slavery in Rome is okay, but this looks far too much like a picture book for my students to check out. I can't even get the very good Sutcliffe Black Ships before Troy into their hands without a fight, and it's smaller and less cartoon like. I was also irrationally bothered by the fact that dates used Roman numerals ("Day XVI of Maius") but not the actual Roman dating system with the Calends, Nones and Ides. That would have been instructive. Maybe for elementary schools who cover Rome, but in Ohio it's in the 7th grade curriculum.

My treat for the evening was Elizabeth Kendall's Autobiography of a Wardrobe, wherein "B.'s" wardrobe describes how it and Elizabeth evolved. Starting in the 1950s with girly pinafore dresses, this book was somewhat amusing, but not as good as Ilene Beckerman's Love, Loss and What I Wore, which I bought immediately after reading. That book managed to cover the pathos of one woman's life through descriptions of her wardrobe, and while this one tried, something about it didn't succeed quite as much for me. It's definitely a book for adults, and fun if you are interested in clothing history.

Author Alerts

Thanks to Jennifer at Jean Little Library for telling me about Author Alerts. You can sign up to get either e mails or RSS feed on what ten authors are doing. I signed up for Erin Hunter, Tim Green, Mike Lupica and some more because it seems like I am always missing a book from them. Here's the fun part, though, from the Author Alerts site:

"We are trying to get the word out about our site. Simply blog, tweet, post something on facebook or tell your real life friends about us, then let us know by e-mailing us at authoralerts@hotmail.com and we will increase your alert limit to 100!"

Can I use updates on 100 authors? Unfortunately, yes!

Is it right to buy it because I like it?

Must admit to spending my entire day savoring Linda Newbery's Flightsend. Sigh. Charlie's mother has broken up with her long time boyfriend, Sean, after suffering a late miscarriage, quit her teaching job, and moved to a small village to try to set up a greenhouse and get her life back together. Charlie misses Sean and grieves over the lost sibling, but gets a job at a local artists' colony and is working on passing her exams. Nothing earthshaking happens, but the book was so wonderfully British and I adored it. Problem: worst cover I have seen lately, and I don't really have any students that would be crazy for it.

Beth Bauman's Rosie and Skate was also very atmospheric-- this time, an east coast resort town during the off season. Rosie and Skate's mother died when they were small, and their alcholic father is in jail for shoplifting repeatedly. The girls are living with a cousin, and Skate stays with her boyfriend's mother from time to time, since he is off at college. Again, nothing much happens, and I enjoyed the slowly unfolding story of the girls' coping. This one I had hoped to hand to Picky Reader, since she loves problem novels, but there was just enough unclothedness with boyfriend that I decided to pass.

My issue with sex in books is that a huge portion of my circulation is hand sold, and I am not really comfortable handing a student a book that, like Dede Crane's Poster Boy, starts with a detailed discussion of particular portions of anatomy as well as scantily clad hot tubbing. This was a shame in this book, because the story of a boy dealing with his younger sister's terminal cancer by researching and trying to eliminate all the carcinogens from his environment was really interesting and moving. I gave this one to 8th grade son, but it's different handing a book to one's own personal child.

Yes, I read books to my dog sometimes. Tammy Gagne's Poodles, in the Capstone Edge Books series, was well-illustrated and fairly informative, but even if I had money to spend on books about particular breeds, this was a bit young, even though it says grades 5-8. This would be great for an elementary school. This did result in my dog (Sylvie, after the main character in Roderick Townley's The Great Good Thing) getting a spring haircut!

Michael Jackson/ Selection Resources.

Last April, my 1985 biography of Michael Jackson fell apart, and it didn't seem worth it to buy a new one. My selection policy on biographies is that I don't purchase one until the person is deceased, since the 80's biographies of Madonna and Michael J. Fox were also less than useful. Michael Jackson, The King of Pop, by Mary Pratt (from Abdo Publishing) was a very well-constructed volume. Family life, professional life, influences, difficulties and many other topics are covered in enough detail to make things interesting, but not overwhelming (for instance, the book mentions Jackson's trouble for touching a young boy inappropriately but doesn't dwell on this.) Pictures are abundant, sidebars add useful lists and information, and the reading level seems fine for middle school. This is from a "Lives Cut Short" series that also includes John Lennon, Heath Ledger, and Tupac Shakur. If only George Harrison could get a middle grade biography this good.

Question of the Day: What resources do you use to select books for your library? I feel that I am always missing something even though I read blogs, consult SLJ reviews, look at the Barnes and Noble best sellers for teens, read the Follett First Look catalog and do curriculum searches online, and talk to a lot of teachers, librarians and students for recommendations. I am also on some publishers' mailing lists. Yesterday the library was being used for pictures, so I scanned through 24 pages in our public library catalog of juvenile and young adult fiction from 2009 (AND checked out 150 books and had research classes wedged in with the computers, so I don't feel too bad). Am I missing something major?

Mare's War by Tanita Davis

Tanita S. Davis' Mare's War is not about the fighting in World War II, but was a terrific book about a little known facet of that time-- not only the Women's Army Corps, but the participation of African American women in it. Told in chapters that alternate between a cross country road trip with Tali and Octavia and their grandmother, Mare, this story unfolds in an intriguing manner. I wasn't so sure about the road trip part at first, but the juxtaposition between the attitudes of the modern granddaughters and the deprivation of the grandmother make this story more accessible to students today. Mare's experiences as a young girl in Alabama and her career in the WAC are well researched and compelling. It is great to see some history of WWII that covers stories that are not often told. This was very deserving of both a Coretta Scott King honor and inclusion on Best Books for Young Adults 2010.

I did not feel the same way about Courtney Summer's Cracked Up to Be, which won the Cybils Award for Best Young Adult fiction. I wanted to read it, but there was only one copy, in paperback, in the entire state of Ohio. This is what happens when a book starts out in a vulgar manner and then continues that way. I was grateful for the f-bomb on page 1. It's not appropriate for middle school, so I stopped reading. It would be nice if "best" YA books could be appropriate for middle school.

I read Erin Hunter's Fire and Ice in the same way I made it through The Silmarillion; I looked at every word on every page, but got little meaning out of them. Fireheart, the former kittypet turned warrior, is with his new clan as they try to find new territory where they can have food but also not fight with other clans. There's also a secret about ...another cat who didn't die but ran off after a fight. The reason I had such trouble with this was that just about every page had at least six different cat names on it, and I just could not keep them all straight because they were so similar. Students love these.

Goofed off and spent several days indulging in Gail Collins' When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present. It was such a dense and informative book about history I lived through but didn't understand that I was enthralled. Young girls today don't know about this history (unless they have a mother like me who is constantly barraging them with quotes from books such as these), and I would love to see Collins' come out with a 100 page distillation of this for young readers. Karen Blumenthal's 2005 Let Me Play: The Story of Title IX, the Law that Changed the Future of Girls in America covers some of this story, but not enough of it.

Interview with Mark Fink!

I have been so impressed with Mark Fink's books that I'm very pleased to post an interview with him. Please note: He was not coached in his remarks about Language Arts teachers!

First, a little about Mark.

I wrote and produced for television, doing shows for every major network.I worked on shows like Archie Bunker’s Place, Full House,

Saved By The Bell, and created and produced the NBC teen comedy, Hang Time.

When I transitioned into writing YA novels, I read within the genre and was impressed by the wide range of subjects. Some of the more popular and recognized books dealt frankly with subjects like sexual awakening,drug abuse, coming out, eating disorders, molestation and even teen murderers.

For my first book I really wanted to focus on the “average” teen, whatever that was. My feeling was, while those subjects were provocative and often made for compelling reading, most kids whowere say, fifteen, had not yet had sex, were not abused (thankfully), were not coming out, were not suffering from bulimia , and while certainly exposed to drugs and alcohol, were not heading to rehab.

I wanted to speak to the majority of teens out there who were entering those years where life itself is a daily challenge filled with the search foridentity and exactly where one fits in this crazy world. Andy Crenshaw, the protagonist in The Summer I Got a Life, is one of those kids. His lot in life, his problems, dilemmas, dreams, yearning and spirit are hopefully relatable with just about every teen out there.

It’s Andy’s singular voice, his humorous take on life and his down-to-earth honesty that drives the story and makes you want to root for him.

Interview:

What kind of reader were you as a boy? What were some books you liked?

I must confess that I really wasn’t much of a reader as a boy. I was a pretty good student and would do the requisite book reports, but, unfortunately, I didn’t read a whole lot on my own. I spent a lot of time outside on my bike or playing sports. I remember reading some Hardy Boys stuff and a few sports books, fiction and non-fiction, but not too much else. At that time, Young Adult lit didn’t exist as a genre.

What elements in books do you think appeal to boys? How do you try to work those into books?

It’s funny, but when I started out to write the book, I didn’t really come at it thinking, “Now, how do I appeal to boys?” I mostly wanted to create a realistic relatable male character, one who readers—boys and girls—could look at and see in that character, a lot of themselves. I know the prevailing wisdom is that boys prefer more “action” or gore and harder subjects, while girls lean more toward “softer” stories with romance. I think that boys and girls want pretty much the same thing in a story: likable, believable characters they can root for, and a story that speaks to elements in their lives.

One of the things that gave me pause about writing a YA novel was looking at the shelves and seeing 60-75 per cent of the books were about girls and written by females. I think teen boys have been underserved in this genre, with the exception of sports books and sci fi. But boys have romantic notions too, and just like girls, are trying to figure out that never-ending dance between the sexes. The Summer I Got a Life addresses this universal issue in, I hope, a fresh way with a character—Laura—who is also underrepresented in YA literature.

In my other novel, Stepping Up, I deal with a much more boy-centric theme, that of how sports and how good you are at sports affects one’s self esteem and popularity. I think it’s still true today that boys growing up in middle and high school have to contend with that dynamic. Being a “jock” may not be the be-all and end-all it once was, but it still carries a lot of cache within the social hierarchy.

You have two sons; what did you learn about boys and reading from them? Do you think their childhood differed vastly from your own?

I remember reading to my boys a lot when they were young, as there were many great children’s books to choose from. They, like all kids, liked to be entertained by a good story with identifiable characters, especially funny stories. I’ve pretty much written comedy my whole career and it was natural and comfortable for me to tell stories through humor in my books.

Unfortunately, as my sons grew older and dealt with the demands of high school, they read less and less outside of their required reading.Today, neither one reads books, which is sad, but hopefully will change someday.

And the BEST PART of this interview:

If I may, I’d like to share a pet theory about reading and readers, one that I’ve broached with a couple of English teachers. I think a lot of kids are actually being turned off to reading, sometimes for life. Because of all the required reading they must do in school, much of it totally irrelevant to their lives, reading has become a chore, a requirement, something they have to do to pass a test or a course. The pure enjoyment of reading for pleasure has been hijacked from these kids. I honestly believe, that at a certain age and grade somewhere in middle school, students should be encouraged to read what they want for a period of time. Just be asked to read for reading’s sake, to let their eyes wander over a page and hopefully discover whole new worlds and experiences that is the gift of books. Instead of turning children off to reading, we might be able to hook them on the pleasure and joy of reading. Then they may be able to tackle Shakespeare or Chaucer. I read where this is actually being done in a middle school somewhere with positive results.

My sons have certainly grown up in a whole different world from mine. The alternatives to and distractions from reading are vast and are growing exponentially. When I was their age we had television as our attention magnet, but it was nothing like TV today and certainly nothing like the internet and all of its applications.

Several months of the year I work as a writing coach to high school seniors, helping them write their college application essays. This has been a real education for me, seeing what teens are feeling and thinking as they are about to go to college. I have found that even some of the better students have a hard time structuring an essay and writing a good, clean sentence. There is no question that emails, texting, tweeting and all the other short hand methods of communicating have played a role in diminished writing skills. It will be interesting to follow this up with a new generation as technology continues to explode.

What kind of book are you working on now?

I’m thinking about a couple of ideas right now, not sure yet what I’m going to write next. It’s a big decision for me because, when you write a novel, you are stuck living with it for quite a while, considering the time it takes to write, then re-write and (if you’re lucky) re-write a bunch more to satisfy editors and publishers. So, for me anyway, it must be a story I really want to spend a lot of time with. I will probably try to stretch myself somewhat and write something a little edgier and more dangerous.

From Ms. Yingling: If you haven't added these two books to your collection already, make sure you take a look at them. I am really looking forward to seeing what Mr. Fink will write next! Visit him at

http://www.booksbymark.com/index.html

Hanging Hill by Chris Grabenstein

Chris Grabenstein's The Crossroads has been a brisk circulator in my library, so I was happy to get The Hanging Hill. Since Zack's house was heavily damaged in a fire (drat those pesky ghosts!), he and his stepmother are spending the summer working on a production of a play of one of her books, Curiosity Cat, at the Hanging Hill Playhouse. Reginald Grimes is directing, but he's an odd fellow-- raised in an orphanage where his arm was damaged, bitter, and all too eager to believe that he is an evil overlord. How can he rule the world? Unfortunately, Zack and his new actor friends are about to find out. There's a reason the cranky custodian has kept children out of the theatre for years, and it has to do with the many ghosts that Zack can see as well as even darker forces.

This was such fun! Zack is a great character who has a weary resignation to his ghost seeing abilities. His step-mother is caring but not overly obstrusive. Grimes and his compatriots were a little over the top, but fun for all that. The writing is really clever-- I quoted the chapter from the dog's point of view (something that would normally drive me nuts) to my children , because I swear it's exactly what our dog thinks. ("He didn't mind cats. They were fine-- just, you know, different. Slept a lot. Tossed their own toys. Played with tin foil. Didn't know how to sit or stay. Pooped in a box." Page 198.)

Mr. Grabenstein also gets massive points for his Latin. While there are a few errors, the use of the subjunctive was impressive enough that I won't cast any aspersions on his character for his failure to use the vocative. Very, very good mystery/horror book.

Don Wulffson's Soldier X is such a popular book that I had to take a look at his The Golden Rat (2007). Set in 12th century China, is concerns Baoliu, who is wrongly accused of killing his stepmother. Even though his father's believes he is quilty, he pays a price to have another man die in Baoliu's place, and then cuts off all connections with his son. Baoliu is left to make his own way and try to solve the murder as well as try to make reparations to the family of the man who died in his stead. This book has lots of action and adventure as well as many details of every day life in ancient China.

MarkTeague's name sounded so familiar, and it turns out that before he wrote The Doom Machine, he illustrated all of the Jane Yolen books like How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight? This is very different; sort of War of the Worlds meets Can of Worms. I've opined before that science fiction in the modern day tends toward the dystopian, so it's interesting that Teague decided to set this in 1953-- and have it be the story of an alien invasion. I had a little trouble with it because of the quirky set of characters, as well as the aliens with bizarre names, but this was fast-paced and fun. The illustrations are not overly cartoon-like, which is helpful, and the shiny cover will attract readers.

We have an autism spectrum unit at my middle school, so I am always looking for books like Baskin's Anything But Typical that might help other students understand the difficulties these students face. While Blaze Ginsberg's Episodes: My Life as I See It is an interesting work (it's set up in sections much like the online resource, The Internet Movie Database, and his experiences or sets of experiences are described like movies), it's a bit dense for middle school students. Some of the print is very tiny. I will recommend this to our teachers, but will continue my search for other books on this topic for students.

Short takes on lots of books!

Barnes, Jennifer Lynn. Fate. In this sequel to Tattoo, Bailey (having saved the world from the evil Alecca and taken her place as a Fate) spends her nights in the mystical world of Nexus and has trouble balancing everything, especially when the wall between these two worlds starts to thin and she worries that forces of evil will once again threaten the mortal world... and perhaps high school graduation. A lot more amusing than many of the paranormal books out there. Barnes does great stuff-- also liked her Perfect Cover and Killer Spirit.

Berk, Josh. The Dark Days of Hamburger Halpin. Will has been mainstreamed despite his severe hearing impairment, but he struggles through classes reading lips, failing to wear his hearing aid, and not wallowing in any "poor me" sentiments. Well, about his hearing, anyway. He reluctantly makes a friend with Devon, and when a football player is killed during a class trip to a coal mine, the two work together to solve the mystery. I was surprised at how interesting Will's voice was. The cover on this is a crime, because it really is an older book. Excellent.

Garcia, Cristina. I Wanna Be Your Shoebox. This story of a girl who is struggling with her grandfather's imminent death and the cancellation of the school orchestra program, as well as with her mother's remarriage and her father's inability to be much of an adult is fairly standard and enjoyable, but gets extra points for having, I'm guessing, the only half Cuban/quarter Japanese/quarter Jewish character in YA literature. Yumi Ruiz-Hirsch. Have to love that, even if the title song is overplayed.

Holmes, Sarah. Operation Yes. Miss Loupe is one of those crazy, tattooed, theater-teaching educators that apparently a lot of people wish they were. In her first job on an army base, she attempts to reach a variety of children through her unorthodox teaching methods, but it takes a tragedy to really bring the students together to form "a plan so big, so daring, so life-changing"... and I wondered why this one didn't sell at the book fair even though it had army men on the cover. Teachers will be more interested in this one than students are.

Lee, Ingrid. Dog Lost. Incredibly sad book about a dog recommended by student. Mackenzie lives with his drunken and abusive father after his mother's death. When his father wins a dog in a card game, Mackenzie is thrilled and spends hours with the dog, even though the neighbors are concerned about the threat of pit bulls. Things get worse when the dog growls at the father and gets dropped off far from home. Mackenzie is devastated and looks for the dog, who is eventually involved in several heroic acts that improve the image of pit bulls in the community.

LeFlore, Lyah B. The World is Mine. I was hoping for a somewhat flashier sort of Bluford High book with this one. Inner city boys are trying to become players in the music business. Blue's parents want him to go to law school, but he would rather be a music promoter for rap stars. I had trouble getting into this one, with the negative talk and the rap scene, and there were a couple of gratuitous f-bombs, but students will no doubt adore it. The cliffhanger ending indicates there may be a sequel. From Simon Pulse, available in prebind.

McKissack, Patricia, Frederick and John. The Clone Codes. Finally, a science fiction book that has conflict but isn't necessarily completely dystopian. In 2170, Leanna's life is going well until her mother is taken away because she is a founder of the Liberty Bell Movement that maintains that clones are human beings and not property. The clones, sold by the Topas corporation, are engineered to be bald and differently colored for each job they do, so it is easy for people to discount their humanity... until Leanna finds out that she, too, is a clone and must fight for her own safety. Really, really good and much needed.

Scott, Elizabeth. Something, Maybe. Hannah's mother, Candy Madison, makes her living doing on line chats with men... in her underwear. Candy's father is a Hugh Hefner-like characters who has an ever changing stable of young lovelies hanging around. On top of that, Hannah has her own issues to deal with in school and with the boys she finds attractive. Perhaps because of the detail given to the parents' lives, this is more of a high school book, much like this author's Perfect You and Bloom.

Spring, Debbie. The Righteous Smuggler. Hendrik, whose father is a poor fisherman, is disturber when the Nazi's take over Holland. Many of his friends and members of his community are ill-treated, and he doesn't understand why this has to be. His father has always told him that he must help others who need it, so when opportunities arise to do so, and when the death of his father makes it all the more important, Hendrik rises to the occasion and saves many Jewish families. This is part of Second Story Press's Holocaust Remembrance Series For Young Readers.

Williams, Laura E. Slant. Lauren was adopted as an infant from Korea, and is comfortable with her family and friends... until the boy she likes, Sean, slips and calls her "slant". When she finds out that her adoptive mother, who passed away when she was small, had nose reduction surgery as a teen, she enlists the help of her grandmother to visit a doctor about plastic surgery on her eyelids to make her look less Oriental. Her father is furious, and family secrets are revealed that make Lauren understand that happiness cannot be guaranteed by one's appearance.

Williams-Garcia, Rita. One Crazy Summer. Delphine, Vonetta and Fern have been raised in New York City by their father and grandmother, while their mother has been living in California following her dream to be an artist. Against their mother's wishes, the three are sent to spend the summer with her, and find out that she is involved with the Black Panther movement. When they attend the Panther's summer camp for children, they learn about the issues their mother is fighting against, and start to have an understanding of her motivations. Some historical notes would have helped this, but it was a more engrossing story that the cartoonish (although very 1968) cover promised.

Richardson, Gillian. Kaboom! Explosions of All Kinds. Nonfiction. The cover and title of this book will ensure that students will pick it up, but the text is much denser than the cover would indicate. A very scholarly and complete discussion of every sort of explosion there is, from popcorn to volcanoes to farts, this would be especially helpful to science teachers or to better readers who really want to know the ins and outs of explosions. Some of the text is hard to read because of the colors or sizes, but it is still a good treatment of the subject.

Kimmel, Elizabeth Cody. Boy on the Lion Throne. (2008) This short and well-illustrated biography of the 14th Dalai Lama was absolutely riveting and shed a lot of light on the problems with Tibet as well as the way that successors to the Dalai Lama and other Buddhist leaders are chosen. The layout of the book itself is also very beautifully done. I picked this one up because it seemed like such a surprising offering from Kimmel (of Lily B. on the Brink of Cool fame). While this concentrates on the childhood of His Holiness, it does bring readers up to date with the latest on Tibet and the state of Buddhism there. Really surprised this wasn't a Newbery honor book.

And no, I didn't do anything else this weekend and you really do not want to see the state of my house!

Mark Fink and other NEW BOOKS!

I was so impressed with Mark Fink's The Summer I Got a Life that I ordered his first book, Stepping Up without having read it and was absolutely delighted with it. Ernie and his best friend Mike go to summer camp every year, and this year, Mike chooses basketball camp. Ernie's okay with that until one of the other campers, Rick Craig, gives him a hard time about his game and about his stuttering, saddling him with the nickname "Choke". Mike excels in basketball and gets along with the other boys well, while Ernie struggles. I loved this paragraph (page 51): Life is not fair if an idiot like Craig can be so popular. I wonder what it's like to be the guy everyone respects and wants to hang with. Just once, I'd like to be that guy." Ernie gets his chance after Mike and Rick make some bad decisions and Ernie saves them from a fire. Ernie rockets to popularity, but as with every element in this book, this rise is believable, and Ernie's reaction to it seems true-to-life. Once again, Mr. Fink nails the teen-age voice, describes the angst Ernie feels at a variety of situations with pitch-perfect detail, AND adds basketball plays to the mix. Exactly what I want. Watch for an interview with Mark Fink next week!

It's hard to go wrong with Mary Downing Hahn, and her latest, Closed for the Season, was excellent. I am a huge fan of storybook forest type amusement parks, but there are so few left, so it makes perfect sense that the Magic Forest has fallen into disrepair and is the site of a mystery for Logan, who moves to town, and his friend Arthur, who is very interested in the death of the former owner of Logan's house. Some say that Mrs. Donaldson died when she fell down the chairs, but Arthur believes she was murdered and somehow involved in the embezzlement that led to the financial demise of Magic Forest. When the boys poke around the attic, they find a letter that Mrs. Donaldson left for her daughter, and start to investigate. There are lots of suspenseful moments in this one, and the story is as darkly atmospheric as the cover. 

 For some reason, I find books about India very interesting, and I am able to hand sell these to students, although they are not apt to pick them up independently. Kashmira's Sheth's Boys Without Names tells the story of Gopal, whose family loses their farm and goes to live in Mumbai with an uncle. Nothing goes smoothly-- Gopal's father disappears, the family is short of money, and then he gets kidnapped and works as a slave in a small workshop that makes picture frames. The other boys come from a variety of impoverished backgrounds, and each has a story. Like D'Adamo's Iqbal, I think this is a story that students in the U.S. need to read, so that they realize hoe good they have it. Sheth has not only done her research but does a wonderful job of portraying the ambitions and emotions of her characters.

While Walter Dean Myer's Lockdown will be hugely popular with my students who are oddly interested in drugs and juvenile delinquents, this book was not as riveting as I had hoped. Reese is in a detention facility because he stole prescription pads and sold them to a drug dealer, but he is intelligent and has behaved himself, so he is sent to work at a nursing home as part of a rehabilitation program. He cleans and helps patients, especially Mr. Hooft, a Dutch man who spent time in a children's detention camp during World War II. At first, Mr. Hooft distrusts Reese, but warms to him. Reese tries to keep himself out of trouble so that he can go home and help his younger sister go to college, but keeps making mistakes. I did appreciate the fact that none of the dialogue is in excessive street slang or dialect, but there are at least two instances of the f-bomb that are not really warranted. Myers is a very prolific writer, but it doesn't feel like his heart was in this one.