Musings on the Classics

Spring Break is over, so it's back to work!

Reading Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath had me questioning again why such books are in my library. Really? The Last of the Mohicans? Vanity Fair? 99% of the time, the motivation for a student picking up these titles is the fact that they are 50 Accelerated Reader points or more, and while I recently had a student make it through Stevenson's Kidnapped, he did not enjoy it. I can see these books being worthwhile in a high school library, but then again, might they be the reason that high schoolers stop reading quite as much?

Really thought I would love The Grapes of Wrath, because I enjoy historical fiction, and the Depression is especially interesting to me, but the entire third chapter was about a turtle. This is an inordinately descriptive book, and very little happens. Okay, unfair. Stuff happens very slowly. Is this a great work of fiction for adults, indicative of a particular time in American history. Yes. Should middle school readers pick it up? Doubtful. I'll keep this one, but Vanity Fair (which an English teacher and I couldn't manage to read aloud while car pooling) and Last of the Mohicans (with its two page long paragraphs) are going away.

Vampirates by Justin Somper

This was one of those nice surprises. Had to read it-- vampire books are huge in middle school, and how did the world go for so long without putting vampires and pirates together? It's just fun to say!

When their lighthouse keeper father passes away, Grace and Connor don't like the plans being made for their care, so they take a boat and set out to sea. When a storm hits, Connor is rescued by pirates, and Grace by the vampire ship that their father had sung about in a sea shanty. This stretched my credulity a bit, especially when Grace finds out that she is going to be a "donor" for her ship (you work out the details!), but I was greatly interested in how the siblings would manage to reunite. I was concerned that this title would seem too young for the fans of Darren Shan's Cirque du Freak, but I was wrong. There is enough action, adventure and mystery to keep students engrossed and begging for the next installment. Great covers help, although it would have been nice to have the main title in little bigger letters! This appeals to fantasy fans and vampire fiction lovers alike. My students do not want to have to wait for next year to read Blood Captain.

Mr. Somper has a very nice web site at http://www.vampirates.co.uk/ if you would like to learn more.

The London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd

Ah, torn. So torn. London, which I love, balanced out by quirky/dysfunctional, which I don't. Ted's cousin Salim and his aunt come to visit before they are to move to New York. They plan to go up in the London Eye, but the line is long. When someone offers Salim a ticket, he gladly goes ahead... but doesn't come down when the ride is over. Where has he gone? Ted, who has Asperger's Syndrome, uses his "differently wired" mind to figure out the mystery by looking logically at a number of clues. While it is clear through Ted's descriptions of events and people that he does interact with the world in a different way, it is not overly quirky. Considering the number of students we have had with Asperger's, I think this is a welcome addition to yound adult fiction.

I always need mysteries, and any British fiction does well in my library. I was very saddened to find that Siobhan (pronounced shuh-VAWN) Dowd passed away in August of 2007.

http://www.siobhandowd.co.uk/

Weeding!!!!

I just pulled about 200 fiction books off the shelf. I've read every last one of them and they are not great. No one has checked them out in years. Rule of thumb: if the book hasn't been off the shelf since before the 8th graders were born, chances are good it will never be checked out. These books are taking up space. They are books that get in the way of students getting literature that they will like. I don't want to hand them to anyone; when a student picks one up, I feel that they should be dissuaded from checking the book out. Why were these books here? I couldn't give a good answer, so now the books aren't.

What motivated me? Jenny Kimura. 1964. Great book. I love Cavanna, and this is a particularly interesting title, because it is about a Japanese American high school student who is being discriminated against because of the anti-Japanese sentiment prevalent after WWII.

This book had not been off the shelf since 1978. I was in middle school then!

I checked it out to a student. I loved it, so she was willing to read it. I've been able to move Bennet's Junior Miss, too, and it's from 1937!

Do books have expiration dates? No. Are there some books that need to move along. Yes. I feel horrible and relieved all at the same time. The so-so titles from "s" on have been given a reprieve until I can actually read them.

Budge Wilson's Before Green Gables (et. al.)

I didn't want to start this book, because I didn't want it to end. Anne of Green Gables must be my all-time favorite YA book, even though it is not something I want to reread at this point in my life.

Before seems meant to be read after all of the original titles, which makes sense, since it was commissioned to mark the centenary of the first Anne. Having a writer from Nova Scotia work on it was a good move-- the local flavor and nuances are clearly evident throughout.

The premise is this: how did Anne, who suffered through a horrific childhood in foster homes and an orphanage, become the imaginative and spunky child that she was. This is certainly made clear, and the short answer to this question is that she met kind and caring people who encouraged her interests, even if she spent very little time with them. This was very touching to read as an educator. We can only hope that it is true.

In style, presentation and theme, this is a worthy addition to the Anne canon. I sighed deeply when I turned the last page. I know the rest of the story. This was the final bit left untold. Brava.

I am tempted to hand this book to my students who like the novels about child abuse. While Anne is not exactly abused, she is certainly neglected, and the stories of her taking care of three sets of twins under the age of 4, dealing with an alcholic foster father, and walking two miles to get eggs would appeal to these students. Would they then go on to read the series? Hard to tell.

Other reading: Jenny Downham's Before I Die, which was on the ALA Best Books 2008 list, was an equisitely sad story of a girls final battle with cancer. I wept through the last few chapters, which I don't normally do. However, this is not for middle school students. Tessa has made a list of everything that she would like to do before she dies, and it consists largely of having sex, doing drugs, shoplifting, and a number of other behaviors that are not appropriate.

Another book more suited for older teens, more because of its style, is Haldeman's The Accidental Time Machine. Again, very good, but centered more around a mystery than my fantasy fans generally want.

One I did like-- the second Muchamore CHERUB book-- The Dealer. Very dense and chock full of action and fun adventure. The CHERUBs infiltrate a drug cartel that uses children to make deliveries. My favorite bit: '"Really sensible, James," She shouted. "Two kids in a stolen car carrying drugs and guns. I tell you what: Why don't we attract lots of attention by slaughtering the spped limit?"' Sure to keep the fans of spy fiction reading.

Sweeney's Headlock

This was a fun and intriguing book about a boy who decides to train to become a World Wrestling Entertainment sort of wrestler. Kyle is being raised by his elderly grandmother, so has some issues at home, but most of the book centers around the athletic and dramatic training needed for this type of sport. This is NOT a book for middle schoolers, and it still leaves me short on books about traditional wrestling, but it was very fun. The relationship with his older girlfriend, as well as some language, would put this more as a high school book, but I'm sure it would appeal to a lot of readers.

Napoli's Hush didn't work for me. Most of her work I adore (Sirena, Spinners, Zel, The Great God Pan, Stones in Water, The King of Mulberry Street, Bound, Daughter of Venice), but sometimes it just doesn't click. I'll still look forward to her next work.

Elizabeth George Speare

For a writer from the 1950s, Speare has some staying power. Four of her books are still on the shelves and circulating. Write historical fiction; win awards. That's the moral of the day. Reported earlier on The Witch of Blackbird Pond. The Sign of the Beaver was also good-- boy is separated from his family in 18th century Maine and survives when he is taken in by a Native American father and son. He learns their ways and comes to appreciate them. The Bronze Bow, about an unhappy Jewish boy who hates Romans until he meets Jesus didn't do much for me, although I usually like books with Romans. Calico Captive was a little different from the other Indian Captive books, because a little way in the girls who were abducted along with some family members are sold and spend most of the book with French families in Montreal. Not what I expected. Good, solid, historical fiction. Dust it off and keep it moving. http://www.houghtonmifflinbooks.com/catalog/authordetail.cfm?authorID=4099 

 Reading a variety of things right now. Was disappointed in Bradley's Hot Lunch. This author's first book really, REALLY (as in I bought three copies and none of them are ever in) good, and this has whiny characters and was a bit repetitive. The second Muchamore book is keeping me reading a bit at a time-- and looking forward to reading it, which is not always the case in a lengthy series. Also purchased (for myself!) a copy of Before Green Gables and am savoring it slowly.

The Finnish Line

The Students Across The Seven Seas series is such a good one that even after my Chick Lit overdose I was able to pick up Linda Gerber's newest installment-- The Finnish Line. Some of these titles verge on the whiny, but this one was great throughout. Maureen Clark goes to Finland to train in ski jumping, as well as to get away from the shadow of her famous father. She's a little disappointed that the daughter of her host family doesn't like her, but she enjoys school, training, Finnish culture, and the attention of several boys. There's a great afterward about women's ski jumping in the Olympics-- there isn't any, even though women have been jumping competitively for 80 years! The difference in cultures is well-portrayed and very enjoyable. Gerber also wrote Now and Zen, another installment that was enjoyable. I hope that she goes to lots of different countries to write more of these! More on this author at:

http://www.lindagerber.com

A Curse As Dark As Gold

Charlotte Miller's life is hard and is about to get worse. Her father has passed away, leaving only her and her younger sister to maintain the running of the local mill, which employs most of their small town. The mill has been plagued by problems for years-- machinery breaks, repairs don't hold, and the families who run it experience hardship and death. A long-lost uncle moves in to "help" the girls, but he thinks they should sell the mill and marry well. It doesn't seem like a bad idea-- loans come due, competitors try to buy them out and then ruin them, catastrophic failures occur in the machinery, and the mill is the target of malicious vandals many times. Each time matters look impossible, an itinerant work by the name of Jack Spinner happens by to save them. He spins gold thread for them to sell, repairs cloth that is damaged and saves the mill from utter ruin-- but at what price?

Elizabeth C. Bunche's retelling of the Rumplestiltskin tale works on many levels. The writing is descriptive and highly readable, the plot moves quickly from one disaster to another, and the motivations of the characters make sense. This tale has been reworked several times, from Vande Velde's The Rumplestiltskin Problem to Napoli's Spinners, but this version gives some new insight into Rumplestiltskin's motivations and a great back story to all of the characters.

Hot, Sour, Salty, Sweet ( and others)

I was a little leery of a book that takes place all in one somewhat ill-fated afternoon, but this turned out to be a very humorous story of a multicultural family event.

Ana Shen's father is Chinese-American, and her mother is African-American. For her 8th grade graduation, both sets of grandparents show up, and circumstances find them all in the kitchen working to put together a meal. The personalities and cultural differences are explored in an amusing and yet thought-provoking way. I will look for more from this author.

http://www.sherrilsmith.com/

Feel ambivalent about Norma Fox Mazer's The Missing Girl, because it is a creepy story about a child molester who targets a family of girls and abducts one of them. Good, but uncomforable. I suppose that is the point.

I was sure I would not like Leslie Connor's Waiting For Normal, given its quirky trailer park setting, but I ended up liking it a good deal. This will appeal greatly to fans of Cassidy's Scarlett or Wilson's The Illustrated Mum, since Addie's mother cannot function well enough to take proper care of her. Addie tries her best to raise herself, and is lucky enough to find some help along the way.

Fahrenheit 451

Overdosed on mediocre teen chick lit this weekend, so had to cleanse my palette with some decent literature.

I read this book as a high school freshman, and it has been the most influential book I have ever read. To this day, I can't leave the t.v. on for noise. The idea of rooms full of screens, no books, and people completely out of touch with their own lives affected me deeply. Reading it again, I was struck by Montag's deep unhappiness with his life. How many people turn to books (at a much lower price) when they are sad?

The writing in this book is so beautiful, but it is short and moves quickly, so the detailed descriptions are just right. Every avid reader should pick this up at one point or another, and decide what book to memorize. (The Phantom Tollbooth.)

Please note: This is not my favorite book, although it comes close. It is too pretentious a choice to be my favorite. There is a presidential hopeful who claims Moby Dick as a favorite book. I can't vote for this person. Either that title is a lie, or the person doesn't read very much and is misguided. Sounds impressive, though.

Sean Ashby and the ALA Best Books Lists

Sean Ashby, fabulous illustrator and nascent author (his drawing, at left, from http://sean-ashby.blogspot.com/) asked in a comment if I had read all the ALA Best Books for 2008.

Er, no. My excuse of the day will be that Young Adult books skew slightly old for middle school, as well as boring. No, no. That's rude. Not a good fit. That's the phrase. Here's the list:

http://www.ala.org/ala/yalsa/booklistsawards/bestbooksya/bestbooksyoung.cfm

Of the top ten, I've read Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian (too old), Skulduggery Pleasant (Could not buy it after this sentence: Page 168: "The gap was gaping. It was a gaping gap."), and The Invention of Hugo Cabret, which I have warmed to a bit. Very clever. Did request The Arrival, Tamar, and Before I Die from the library from the top ten, as well as others from the list of 63 so I can read them. Thanks for keeping me on my toes, Sean!

I also read and liked Revolution Is Not a Dinner Party, Miss Spitfire: Reaching Helen Keller, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Notes from the Midnight Driver, The New Policeman, One Good Punch, Unwind, Peak , My Mother the Cheerleader,and Memoirs of A Teenage Amnesicac .

Books that were not a good fit for my library were:Thirteen Reasons Why, Firestorm, Boy Toy, The Wednesday Wars, Freak Show, and Story of a Girl.

The Klipfish Code

Mary Casanova's novel of World War II breaks new ground-- I knew nothing about Norway's occupation during this time. Told from the point of view of a young girl sent to live at her grandfather's home in a remote location while her parents are fighting with the Resistance, it is full of little-known facts, the privations of wartime, and a good deal of action and suspense. The details were fabulous-- Norwegians were strongly against the Nazis, and rebelled in small ways, such as wearing paper clips on their pockets to show that Norwegians would stick together, combs in their pockets, or red hats. The Nazis would then have to issue edicts against these things, which would sound silly.

The Norwegian teachers, in particular, were strong in their beliefs. Every teacher in the country refused to teach the Nazi doctrine, and ten percent of the teachers were sent to concentration camps because of this. (Power in numbers-- what if US teachers all refused to teach to tests for No Child Left Behind?) There were punishments for every infraction, which is why when Marit finds an injured Resistance fighter and takes him home to try to save him, things are very tense.

At first, I thought that I wouldn't have a readership for this, since it falls under the category of a quirky part of history, but it was very interesting and informative. This author's Moose Tracks is wildly popular, so I will buy this one.

http://www.marycasanova.com/

Also read Halpin's How Ya Like Me Now, which was interesting but a bit old for middle school. (Boy is sent to live with aunt in inner city after mother must enter rehab. Attends school where he is a minority, but learns to fit in and repairs his life.) Also Caroline Goode's Cupidity, part of the Simon Pulse order that came in. My girls will like this fluffy tale of a girl who invokes the ancient Greek gods to help her get a boyfriend-- and they come to her rescue in the form of Cupid in the guise of a hot teenage girl. A surprising amount of mythology, which goes over wonderfully in my school.

Midnight Library

This Scholastic series consists of books that contain three stories each and have listed as an author "Damian Graves". I just wish the spine labels reflected this, instead of the various real authors. They should be shelved together because once students reads one, they will be back for more!

Pleasingly creepy, these titles should satisfy students who have moved on from Goosebumps but who don't want to read something as long as the regular R.L. Stine books. I've read reviews of these that are scarier than the books themselves, though-- I'm not a fan of horror fiction, and I didn't find them that frightening. Most of the stories have nice twists to them, and have enough suspense and ick-factor to make them highly readable. I only bought four titles, but will purchase the others next year. The big surprise: my son sat down and zipped through one, and this is not at all the sort of thing that he normally reads. The titles are as follows; there really is no order.
Blood and sand, The Cat Lady, Deadly Catch, End Game, I Can See You, Liar, Shut Your Mouth, Voices

Has some disappointments last night. Could not wade through Snyder's Gib Rides Home or And Condors Danced (they've been in my pile to read literally since September), so they are on their ways to better homes. Keaney's The Hollow People started out to be a promising, dystopian fantasy, but just didn't go anywhere. Enjoyed Ostow's 30 Guys in 30 Days because of the college setting, but there was some alcohol drinking and a very, very fleeting mention of other inappropriate activities. Elizabeth Speare's The Bronze Bow slid right through my brain, so I will have to look at it again later, since I enjoyed her The Witch of Blackbird Pond.

Arthurian Legend

Nancy Springer's I Am Mordred and I Am Morgan Le Fay have been popular for years with my fans of darker literature. Since I loved her Enola Holmes and Rowan Hood series, I figured I would not be disappointed, and I was right. It is always interesting to hear a well-known story told from another point of view.

A similar title, if you can find one languishing on the shelf, is Rosemary Sutcliffe's The Road to Camlann(1982), but Mordred is not portrayed as sympathetically. Her The Sword and the Circle is a more standard version.

There has been a lot of interest in Arthurian legend this year. Probably the most popular series has been Gerald Morris' The Squire's Tale (8 books), which has a Monty Pythonesque flavor to it.

Crossley-Holland's At the Crossing Places has additional layer of fantasy, involving time travel between two historical periods that is appealing.

McCaffrey's Black Horses Before the King has a lot of adventure and war.

To follow Merline, Barron's The Lost Years of Merlin series and Yolen's Hobby, Passager, and Merlin are good.

Seems like there should be more of these titles. Maybe I read them at other libraries.

Best overall-- Yolen's Sword of the Rightful King. No longer remember details, but the ending surprised me and I loved it.

A Novel Idea

Aimee Friedman's Simon Pulse paperback, available in prebind, is a serviceable story about a girl who, in need of an activity for her college applications, starts a book discussion group. A variety of quirky people gather, various crushes are had, and there is a nice story line involving a reclusive teenage author that they try to lure to a reading. The list of books that are considered was interesting, and the characters were interestingly drawn. I especially liked the gorgeous, well-dressed girl who turned out to have been geeky previously. Not seen that one done. Norah gets slightly annoying with her obsession with clothes and her apparent cluelessness about college applications, but in general, this is a pleasing high school romance story that will make readers of Chick Lit very happy.

After Tupac and D Foster

Jacqueline Woodson usually writes insightful, introspective novels, and this one is no exception. It is a historical novel, set in the 1990s. The rapper Tupac Shakur is used as a cultural reference point, which was hard for me to get at first, until I thought about how John Lennon's life and death affected the people in my high school. Set against this background, three friends try to seek their identity. D is a foster child, and is trying very hard to get ahead. The other two girls have loving, supportive families, although there are problems as well. One brother, who is gay, is in jail for being in the wrong place in the wrong time. Another brother is trying to get into college. This is a short book, rather lyrical in quality (there is some dialect, but it didn't make me crazy, which is saying a lot!), and the introspection works. It does in very few books. I don't know how many students will still know who the titular singer is, but I do think it will be a popular book, especially for fans of this author's If You Come Softly, which the girls love.

http://www.jacquelinewoodson.com/

Shooting the Moon

Frances O'Roark Dowell is the author of the very fine The Secret Language of Girls. For her newest, she follows the experiences of Jamie, whose father is very important in the army and whose brother has just been sent as a medic to Vietnam. Jamie and her brother have always admired the military, and Jamie is a bit jealous that her brother gets to go fight for the country. She volunteers at the hospital, and when her brother starts sending film home from the war, she enlists the help of a returned soldier to help her develop them. She starts to see that the war is not as glamorous or as morally clear as she had thought. There are many fine and touching moments, and a sharp sense of what the atmosphere would have been like on a military base emerges strongly. I liked this, but I don't know that I have a readership for it, and if I do there are many, many books about the homefront, even though the books the students ask for are more about the war itself.

Secret Santa

Sabrina James' decidedly Chick Lit book is a whopping 345 pages, which makes it perfect for my girls who read two books every night! Once I got past the idea that a school would assign students a "secret Santa" project(even with a monetary limit this seemed unlikely, since we have a "generic holiday bush" and Santa is rather holiday-specific) and the coincidence that all of the pairs seemed to be boy-girl, it was okay. There were so many crushes and triangles that I almost wanted to keep a spread sheet to follow who liked whom, but I figured (correctly) that it would all work out in the end. The nice people found each other, the nasty people got their comeuppance, and the holiday dance was a fun culmination of all of the romantic speculation. The cover was the best thing, and this title will circulate very well.

The Boy Who Dared

Susan Bartoletti Campbell follows the story of children in Germany during World War II in the nonfiction book, Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow (2005). In her new book, she fleshes out the story of Helmuth Huebner. Much like Friedrich, it starts out with remembrance of happier times while Huebner is in jail awaiting his execution, but quickly becomes very interesting. Unhappy with the political climate in Germany, Huebner must decide if he should do what his mother wants and be safe, even if it means being mean to the Jewish people, or do what he feels is right, even if it costs him personally. Unable to understand the reasons for Hitler's persecution (partly due to his religious background), he decides to spread the news he receives from illegal BBC radio broadcasts by writing pamphlets. He is caught and tried, and even though he is just 16, he is executed.

The research on this is wonderful, and the follow up in the back about Huebner's friends is very touching. The fact that this is based on a real character will make the Holocaust even more immediate to students who are studying it. This is a marvelous addition to fiction about this troubled period in world history and is told from a perspective we don't often see-- someone in the resistance.

On a personal level, I found this very interesting because I had two friends, both gone now, who were about Huebner's age and lived in Germany. They told me many stories of how they disliked the Hitler Youth and tried to sabotage them in small ways.

First Kisses series

First Kisses is a very nice HarperCollins series that doesn't need to be read in order. They are lightly romantic and humorous, and the girls will adore them. About high school students, but appropriate for middle school.

#1 Hawthorne, Rachel. Trust Me. Fun camp story about a girl who spends her counselor-in-training time paired with her "arch nemesis: a boy. Complications ensue.

#2 Davis, Stephanie. The Boyfriend Trick. Musician convinces people that she has two boyfriends, but they are both imaginery. Complications ensue.

#3 Collins, Jenny. Puppy Love. Girl spends summer running doggy day care and pining after new boy in town who is dating her arch nemesis. I liked this one the best. It reminded me of the Tobey Heydon books. Very pleasing and well-paced. This is the only book I can find by this author, but I will look for more!

#4 Jordan, Sabrina. It Had To Be You. Agony Aunt moves to a web based format. Shades of Dear Lovey Hart, I am Desperate (Conford), but this theme always works. And my Lovey Hart looks really sad after 33 years!

Will look forward to:
#5 Davis, Stephie. Playing the Field. Published December 2008
#6 Chandler, Elizabeth. The Real Thing.Published December 2008

Notes: Purpose of this blog; some books

Started out thinking this would be for my students, but since I review a lot of books I don't purchase, I have rethought why I do this, and it is so that other librarians can have a heads up on what new books to take a look at, and what older books may be languishing on their shelves.

I buy about 600 books a year. About 100 are nonfiction, another 100 replacements, so that only leaves about 400. Some of these come from thrift stores, and if I am paying 25 cents, I'm not nearly as picky. Still, I read far more than I can buy. If I can't be enthusiastic about handing it to a student, it will sit on the shelves unless it is something very popular. I do buy things if there are a lot of requests, hence the new R.L. Stine books.

Four books I picked up at the library this weekend didn't thrill me. Perfectly fine stuff (obviously, I checked them out), but just not a good fit. These include:

Wright, Bil. When the Black Girl Sings. Started off with a naked, uncomfortable locker room scene and continued with other uncomfortable scenes not entirely related to the theme of an African American girl adopted by white parents, who discovers gospel. Maybe for high school.

Colfer, Eoin. Airman. Loved The Wish List and The Supernaturalists, and certainly the Artemis Fowl series circulates well, but I couldn't warm to this. It's historical fiction that may have some fantasy, but I couldn't quite tell. It starts off with a lengthy tale of the protagonist's birth.

Luper, Eric. The Big Slick. Looked to be a good book about gambling, but turned out to be too old.

Marks, Graham. Omega Place. An interesting premise-- underground group of teens destroying CCTV cameras all over London because the government is using them for evil. Starts off with a shocker and flashes back. Enough action and adventure-- a little language. I may think about this one again, but something just didn't click.

Graphic Novel Versions

I'm old. This is proven by the fact that every time I see a graphic novel/Japanese anime version of anything I think "Oh, look! It's (fill in the novel) as performed by the cast of Speed Racer!

Read the TokyoPop version of EllenSchreiber's Vampire Kisses, which is titled Blood Relatives. A lot of thought went into the art for this adaptation, and there is a bit at the back of the book about the process that is interesting. The story is the same, but reluctant readers will like the graphic novel version and perhaps be intrigued enough to try the other.

This is the main reason that I have also bought the graphic novel version of Stormbreaker and Artemis Fowl. They are good bridge books and do seem to interest students in reading the full text version.

The other proof that I am old-- do not get the whole vampire romance thing. Or goth culture. As I've said before, if students really want to be nonconformist, they'd find some tacky polyester clothing from the 70s. There are whole stores devoted to goth. It's just a different flavor of conformity.

A Year in Europe

Warning: Recently received sizable order of Simon Pulse books to appease the throngs of girls who want to read pink books. At great personal cost, I am reading my way through. There were also a lot of horror books, for which I don't care. I'll alternate.

Rachel Hawthorne's A Year in Europe, which is a compilation of three separate novels, was a great read for a snowy winter night. Three friends from Texas head off for a year abroad, one each to London, Paris and Rome. They each experience another culture, personal growth, and, of course, romance. The romance's all have a slight twist to them, and all the books were fun. A little light on specific cultural and location details at times, but engaging. Great literature? No. But this will keep the girls reading, and since each story is told from the point of view of both the girl and the boy involved, could conceivably be pitched to boys who enjoyed Flavor of the Week or 24 Girls in 7 Days. Maybe.

Bluford High

I'd heard good things about the Bluford High series (Various authors), but they were hard to find in prebinds, and my orders kept being canceled. Finally, PermaBound delivered, and I've been working my way through. These are best read in order, which is listed below. These have been very good, and I can see why reluctant readers like them. Most of the characters are African American, and the setting is an inner city school for better-than-average students. The books address a variety of family, school, and societal problems in a realistic and, thankfully, non-offensive way. While there is irregular grammar, there isn't cursing. Lessons are learned, but not in a preachy manner. I was greatly reminded of Beany Malone, of all things. I'll probably have to buy another set!

(1) Lost and Found (7) Until We Meet Again (13) Search for Safety
(2) A Matter of Trust (8) Blood is Thicker
(3) Secrets in the Shadows (9) Brothers in Arms
(4) Someone to Love Me (10) Summer of Secrets
(5) The Bully (11) The Fallen
(6) Payback (12) Shattered


A brief description and more information on the series is available at:
http://www.embracingthechild.org/bluford.html

Stefan Petrucha's Time Tripper Quartet

I love time travel books, but the older I get, the more they make my head hurt. This was true of Yestermorrow, Inrage, Blindsighted, and Futureimperfect, all of which were wonderfully complex, if hard to describe. (Like Lawrence's Crack in the Line, which is about different levels of reality. When I tell students that, they want to know what happens. Well... in which dimension?)

Since Harry's father died, he has trouble holding on to reality. There are voices, premonitions, and odd behavior. He's been institutionalized and medicated, and still, he doesn't feel right. When he starts seeing snail-like trails of people's lives on the ground, and finds he can go into them and experience the lives... things become really complicated. Then there are the Quirks and Glitches, who mercifully just say "unk", but who cause everyone to go a bit mad in the second book.

Dang. I had these all worked out in my head after I finished them, but the plots have slipped away. What I really liked, however, was the dark, teenage tone, the swiftly moving plots, the quirky characters, and the mind-bending aspects of time travel. These were a great portrayal of a darker side of that thought, which is what I have come to expect from Razorbill. Petrucha, who has done a lot of Nancy Drew and novelizations, has done a great job with these-- so why only in paperback? I have about five heavy-duty fantasy/sci fi fans who will inhale these. Good stuff.

Only one complaint. It's about a Latin phrase, and I want to check with the expert first. Authors, don't use Latin unless you are really, really sure!

Lee's Necessary Roughness

Chan Kim's family moves from California, where they have a grocery store and a comfortable life in a Korean community, to a small town in Minnesota, where it is tough to fit in. Chan decides to play football, and does fairly well, although his father would prefer he spend his time studying.

There is just enough football in this book to interest fans, but it doesn't come into the book for a while. The main focus of this book is the family dynamics and the change in culture with which Chan and his sister have to cope. That's probably why I liked it so much. The writing was tight but descriptive, and the story didn't drag at all. There was a surprise toward the end that really knocked me for a loop, not in a particularly good way, but it didn't take away from the fact that this was a nice sports book that I will be glad to give to my students.

This title is from 1998, so there's not the best cover art. The new cover art on books is so good that yesterday I waved The Chaos Code in front of a student and said "You want this book!" He stared at it for a moment and said "You're right-- I do!"

Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians

Alcatraz Smedry has a talent for breaking things, a skill that gets him in trouble on his birthday, when he sets fire to the kitchen of his foster home while trying to cook noodles. He can't worry about this for long, because he receives a bag of sand for a gift, and then a man claiming to be his grandfather shows up to recruit him to help get the sand back from evil librarians that are trying to take over the world.

There is a lot of clever writing, action, adventure and fun in this book. Who wouldn't like talking dinosaurs who carry themselves like Brits? This will be a big hit with the children, despite the warning of the book itself that librarians will not stock it because it portrays them badly.

I wanted to like this one a lot more than I did, and certainly, there were some laugh aloud moments. But I was disappointed. Having just slogged through Lemony Snicket, I found a lot of the same sort of irritating-to-adults humor. (Aren't I clever in writing this? Isn't this funny even though it's very horrible?) Also, there were a lot of things that weren't explained in the frenetic rush, although since the 300 plus page book encompasses mainly the action of one afternoon, there should have been time to tell us why the librarians are evil. There's no real reason.

And come on. Horn rimmed glasses, hair in a bun, and severe clothing? This would be funny if this applied to any librarian any 13 year old had ever seen. This stereotype hasn't been true for the past 40 years. Couldn't the librarians at least have been clever and evil? I'll buy this, but I had expected more.

Kidnapped! and Prom Crashers

Kidnapped, by Robert Louis Stevenson, is one of those great books that is unco hampered by archaic language. If I stopped cold in the middle of a sentence thinking "Unco? Unco?", I can only imagine what middle schoolers would think. There are some abridged versions that I may look into, because the story is a good one. David, an orphan, is kidnapped by his rather weird uncle, but gets away and fights in the struggle of the Scottish Highlanders against English rule in 1751. There are some slow parts, and a lot of Scottish dialect. I think I prefer Treasure Island.



Erin Downing's Prom Crashers is not great literature, but was very fun and should appeal tremendously to girls entering high school. I liked that it was not a story that maintained that prom was the end all, be all. Not all of the students were interested in prom, but they went to other proms looking for a boy one girl had met, and ended up having fun. It was interesting that one of the male characters was gay, but it was just part of the story. Very nicely done. I love the covers on this series.

Thirteen Reasons Why

Jay Asher's book has gotten a lot of buzz, and for good reason. It is a mesmerizing look at the reasons a teenage girl has committed suicide, told in a chilling series of tapes that she has left for the people she deems responsible. The boy who is listening to them was less culpable than the others, who heaped abuse on the girl in a variety of ways, from rumor mongering to a nongraphic but disturbing sexual encounters. For that reason, it is NOT a middle school book, although there may be some 8th graders who want to read it.

This is a hard book to describe, because I don't want to ruin the delicately balanced plot. Each page is just wrenching, especially since the boy was very fond of the girl but never got to know her. I would think most high school collections would want this.

It was hard to read because the tape was interspersed with the thoughts of the boy, so there was a ping pong effect. Also, I wish there had been more in the book about suicide prevention. There are lots of bad choices, but that they ended in suicide (while realistic), was a poor reflection on our society.

I'm going home now-- it's a snow day that wasn't called until I'd been at work half an hour!

Robert Muchamore (and much more)

Posted about Muchamore's Divine Madness on October 08, 2007, and just now got the first in the series, The Recruit, and only now because I ordered it through Perma-Bound. Was not disappointed. So much happened in this book that it is rather like three separate novels-- James escapes an unfortunate home life because of the even more unfortunate death of his mother, ends up in foster care where he gets in trouble, gets recruited by the elite, child-oriented CHERUB division of MI5, goes through the horrific boot camp, and gets sent on a mission to a commune to help defeat ecoterrorists. Wow. Never a dull moment. Depending on how this goes over, I see purchasing another copy of the entire series, because I think the interest, especially from the very difficult to please 8th grade boys, will be huge. The nice thing is that the series does not need to be read in order. A must have for fans of Anthony Horowitz who are panting for the sequel to Snakehead.

Also in the shipment was Lisa Barnham's A Girl Like Moi, which is on oddly shiny, heavy quality paper, with adorable illustrations scattered throughout the pages. A rather airy, vapid tale of a fashion obsessed girl trying to keep up with the richer girls in her school, it had really no substance but a high amusement factor. It will circulate well, but may also date very quickly.

Jospeh Bruchac can be counted on to do well-researched, fairly interesting books on Native American topics, and he does not disappoint with his 2004 The Winter People. Set during the French and Indian war, it follows a teenage boy who must rescue his family after they have been captured by the British. Had to order this one for my student who has decided to read only Native American literature this year, since it will also be a good title to go along with the curriculum. Enough action and adventure to tempt students who do not want to read history!

Could not get into Cornwell's Carpe Diem because I found the main character so obnoxious. Yeah, yeah, you're brilliant and your family is supportive but dysfunctional. Probably a very nice book, but just hit me wrong. Same must be said of Provost's The Book of Time, which floundered somewhere in chapter two for all four readers in my house, even though we are obsessed with time travel right now because of Voyagers! I think it might be because it was translated from the French. This can make books harder to connect with, I think. Exception to the rule: Cornelia Funke.

Avi's Iron Thunder

This is probably the Avi title that I have liked the most. Some of th author's older titles have not aged well (A Place Called Ugly and Emily Upham's Revenge have been gathering dust), but for sheer volume, perserverance and general good quality, this author cannot be beat. Iron Thunder: The Battle Between the Monitor and the Merrimac is a must have for students who have a great interest in the Civil War.

Told from the point of view of Tom, a young boy whose family is struggling after the death of his father, this book weaves in particulars about the manufacture of the Northern armored ship, the Monitor, with details about life at the time. Tom's mother takes in washing, his sister is coughing up blood, and while earning 75 cents a week helping to build the Monitor, earning gold dollar coins for giving information to a Southern Copperhead spy is even more tempting. Still, Tom knows this isn't right, informs on the spies, and ends up sailing on the Monitor and being involved with the battles. There is a lot of good historical information, and the period pictures are wonderful. The book is also well-styled, with illustrations reminiscent of Civil War era news drawings and a pleasing typeface.

To find out more about this author and see his other titles, go to:
http://www.avi-writer.com/

Too old, too young, too ???

This is the second time I have looked at Dominque Paul's The Possibility of Fireflies. I had forgotten the sprinkling of obscenities, the pot smoking, and the datedness of the 1987 setting, which are all reasons that I won't buy it. Might be good at a high school, although it does read more like a memoir that would appeal to people my age. Those aspersions cast, I finished reading it and was impressed by the lyrical quality of the prose. It was one of those sad books, with a dysfunctional mother and sister, an absent father, friends drifting away, and a young girl trying to not only keep herself adrift but move forward with her own life. I will look for other titles by this author, even though this wasn't a good fit for my library.

Ross Collins' Medusa Jones looks like fun but is much too young for my library. I am irrationally irritated by younger books, so can't say much. The pictures in this are fun, and the premise is good (young Ancient Greek Gorgon bullied at school because of her hair eventually makes good and saves the day), but I was disappointed that I won't be able to have another Classics books for my students because this is best suited to the under ten crowd.

Another Classics book that had some promise was Katherine Marsh's The Night Tourist, but it somehow did not hit the right note. Jack Perdu, still mourning his mother, finds a mysterious map to a New York that most mortals don't see-- the underground where the dead still roam until they can make their peace and move on. Mortals are forbidden, but with the help of a young (but dead) girl, he tracks down his mother and finds out the secrets of her life and death. The portrayal of New York City was interesting, and the Latin was flawless, but the depiction of the mythology was a bit strained. If I had read this as a straight fantasy instead of wanting more Greek and Roman mythology books, I might have been okay, so I am going to have my son read this. I must say that I started off on the wrong foot when Jack, a "ninth grade Classics prodigy" is helping a professor translate Ovid's Metamorphoses. Talk about fantasy. I was a Latin teacher in my previous life, and even if Jack's father taught him Latin, this seems a REAL stretch to me. Then I started to worry that Jack would major in Latin and never get a job. I'm still thinking about this title.

Alex Flinn's Diva

It took a long time to locate a copy of this sequel to Breathing Underwater, which chronicles Nick's abusive relationship with Caitlin. Diva was completely different. While Nick is mentioned, the book is much more concerned about Caitlin's singing career and her acceptance into a school for the performing arts, where she fits in for the first time. She is still dealing with the aftermath of the relationship with Nick, as well as weight related issues (she was at one time very heavy but is keeping the weight off), but this book is more like Rallison's Fame, Glory and Other Things on My To Do List or Romano's Grace;s Turn than it is like a problem novel.

I like Flinn's writing. I think I'll buy it.

The Crusades

If you have a copy of Thea Beckman's 1975 Crusade in Jeans, dust it off and give it to one of your Surcliff-loving history buffs. My daughter is reading it right now and loves it. Basic story: A young boy who volunteers to travel through time to the Middle Ages arrives during the Children's Crusade and is caught in its momentum. I learned a lot, and the time travel is only at the beginning.

Catherine Jinks' Pagan's Crusade, the first of a four book series, is also rich in period details and has a spin on it-- the main character is a Muslim boy raised in a Christian orphanage and who becomes the squire to a crusader. The series covers his whole life.

Michael Cadnum's The Book of the Lion (three book series)follows Edmund as he serves as squire to a knight on his way to join Richard the Lionheart.

Jane Elizabeth Goodman's Winter Hare and Peregrine are very dense but also informative. Best read in this order, the first follows Will, who is training to be a knight, and the second follows Lady Edith, who travels to the Holy Land.

Science Fiction for Girls

I know, I know-- good books should be good books for all, but the reality is that most girls want different books than boys, and vice versa. Science fiction is something that many girls wrinkle their noses at. The best picks for them are:

Schanback, Mindy. Princess from Another Planet. Gracie's mother has always maintained that she is a princess from another planet. The family treats her as if she has a mental illness until Gracie starts to suspect that her mother is telling the truth.

Logue, Mary. Dancing with an Alien. What if you fell in love, only to find out that the boy is from another planet? It might seem like a good idea to go back with him... until you find out the reason he came to earth is to find females to repopulate his planet. Does he love you enough to save you from being a breeding machine?

Gilmore, Kate. The Exchange Student. Having an exchange student living with your family is hard enough, but imagine if the student were a tall, color-shifting alien who takes an inordinate interest in the animals that your family raises. What is his purpose for being on earth?

Butts, Nancy.The Door in the Lake. Okay, this is more for boys, but it is short, and it has my very favorite 30 second recommendation-- Joey is kidnapped by space aliens and returns several years later smaller than his younger brother, and his brains are leaking out of his nose! What happened, and will life ever return to normal?

Every book needs some small hook like the leaking brains!

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

I read this years ago when I spent the summer reading authors named Smith. This is a problem novel extraordinaire, so it should be appealing to students in middle school, but it is a challenging read, best suited to strong readers with an interest in history.It was published in 1943. The prose is dense and lyrical, and the premise very sad.

Francie's family struggles to get by in Brooklyn in the early 20th century, mainly because the father is an attractive but frequently drunk ne'er do well who finds it hard to hold a job. Francie's mother cleans for people, and Francie and her brother collect rags and bottles, because the pennies they earn might buy dinner that night. The family tries to do better and is rebuffed at every turn. I remember being so relieved at the end of the book that things turned out okay.

My 8th grader was given a copy for Christmas by her godmother, and she's been reading it a bit at a time because both of us loved it. That is a huge selling point for any book.

If there are any librarians out there who have not picked up a copy of this, you must immediately go and read Chapter 2. If the following passage doesn't break your heart and make you more aware of how you treat every child, you are dead inside. Dead!

"Each week Francie made the same request and eack week the librarian asked the same question. A name on a card meant nothing to her and since she never looked up into a child's face, she never did get to know the little girl who took a book out every day and two on Saturday. A smile would have meant a lot to Francie and a friendly comment would have made her so happy. She loved the library and was anxious to worship the lady in charge. But the librarian had other things on her mind. She hated children anyhow."

A rare video review

During 1981-82, there was a television show on Sunday evenings that dealt with time travel-- Voyagers! After a steady diet of Tom's Midnight Garden, Charlotte Sometimes and other time travel books, I was very excited. It starred the late Jon-Eric Hexum and a young Meeno Peluce as Voyagers who traveled to different points in history to "fix" things that went wrong. Never mind that the premise was a little weak. It was great fun, and we got to see everything from Washington crossing the Delaware (he was faced into the wind to avoid seasickness) to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle guessing that the two must have been at the botanical gardens, because they had soil from all over the world on their shoes.

Hadn't thought of this in years, but saw the DVD in the library and immediately brought it home. My children all loved it. My 9 year old has a huge crush on Meeno Peluce, who is, according to imdb.com, now a history teacher. How cool is that? Highly recommend this whole four disk set to take the chill off these cold winter days!

Richard's The Chaos Code

"He was sitting in his study when the monster came. It tapped on the glass of the French windows to be let in. Like he had a choice. It would smash its way through, or blow under the door if it needed to.

Well, okay! Tell me more! This is what students mean when they say they want a book that sucks them right in.

This book quickly becomes more complicated. Matt is sent to live with his father while his mother is on a job, and his father is not at home. Not only that, but Matt gets attacked! After retrieving a coded message his father left him, he heads off to stay with an aunt, where things get really involved. Matt not only has to rescue his father, he has to stop evil geniuses who are harnessing the power of the earth to create unstoppable golems that will be used to take over the world!

Definitely will buy this one, since this author's The Death Collector has been popular. There is lots of action and suspense, plus a really cool cover. My only disappointment is that it is not a book for reluctant readers, as I was hoping. It is a complicated mystery with lots of clues, history, and surprising things involved. Stormbreaker fans who were able to handle Silverfin will like this one, but struggling readers may have problems with the length.

Brendan Buckley's Universe and Everything In It

Sundee Frazier has done a wonderful job of creating a dynamic ten-year-old character who loves rocks, scientific studies and Tae Kwon Do, misses his grandfather who recently passed away, has a supportive mother and father and a best friend to hang out with, and just happens to be biracial. This is not secondary to the story, since a chance encounter with his estranged grandfather drives most of the plot, but Brendan has many other facets to who he is, and being biracial is just one of them.

Brendan's mother, a nurse practioner, and his father, a police officer, encourage his interests and allow his a bit more freedom to roam abuot town unescorted than I give my own soon-to-be ten year old. At the mall with his grandmother, he meets the president of the local rock club, who turns out to be his mother's father. The whole family is reluctant to talk about what happened, but Brendan establishes contact and gets to know his grandfather. This is done realistically, and Brendan's struggle to justify the actions of the man who teaches him to drive a truck and plays chess weekly with an African American friend, but who also cut off contact with Brendan's mother, is delicately portrayed.

This is an important book, and I will definitely be purchasing it. I have an increasing amount of students who are biracial, and students need books who show students like themselves. (See the May 11, 2007 posting for more on this topic.) While the Janet McDonald books have been popular, they are still primarily about inner city children, and many black and biracial children live in the suburbs. I hope to see a lot more from Ms. Frazier. She has a nice web site at:

http://www.sundeefrazier.com/

Reading for a snow day

Blame it on the fact that I have spent all my money for the year, and have a book order for August that would take my entire budget. I've been working my way slowly through this and will not be purchasing:
Hemphill, Helen. Runaround. Aside from the disturbing, cranky Lolita-esque cover, it's a quirky Southern story set in the 60's, which is something students don't ask for. Also disturbing was Sassy's quest to get neighbor boy to like her. It seemed precocious for an 11 year old.

Kraft's Miracle Wimp is probably one I will look at again, because I love the title and the fact that the main character has that nickname because his last name is Mayo, but it was told in short anecdotes and was sadder than I had hoped.

Bauer's No Castles Here is quite an interesting blend of fantasy and inner city problem novel, but again, I don't have the readership for it.

Finished the death march through Lemony Snicket, and had I been enjoying it, I would now be disappointed. None of the mysteries are really cleared up. Who are all these characters and why were they making the Baudelaire's lives miserable. And being stuck on an island? There is just something I am not getting. If I still want to know what the V.F.D. is, the books must be compelling in some way, and we will give them points for using big vocabulary words.

Got through a few...

Managed to read The Carnivorous Carnival, The Slippery Slope, and The Grim Grotto. I find that I get very distracted by them now, since I am trying to figure out why they annoy me so much (aside from the villians picking up the new annoying habit of laughing "ha ha hair trigger"-- what?) and why the children like them. Maybe it is as simple as the children liking them because adults don't?

Also looked at Judith Casely's The Kissing Diary, which was okay if I had needed a book about a girl struggling through her parents' divorce, combined with the general trauma of being 13, but I think the title will confuse girls and make them think it is pink and fluffy instead of depressing. Will hold off on purchase.

Avoiding Lemony Snicket

I'm thinking that this weekend I will do a marathon and just finish them all up. That way, I'll be all set for my death march through R.L. Stine this summer.

Rachel Vail's Wonder is an Ellen Conford-esque school story, told with gentle humor, but showing many of the terrible social interactions that usually occur at this age. Everyone feels inept and unloved, allegiances change daily, and actual schoolwork is the least of one's problems. The best part of the portrayal of Jessica losing her long-time best friend. She not only loses her; the friend starts picking on her and ostracizing her. There is enough humor in this book to make it a fun read, and enough serious stuff for it to be used as bibliotherapy!

For wrestlers-- There's a Girl in My Hammerlock is a little heavy on the whole issue of girls wrestling, but has a ton of details about wrestling, training, and the whole culture to make it a worthwhile read. My daughter, who was a team statisticians, thought it was very funny. I wish that Mr. Spinelli would write a straight wrestling book-- it would be very popular, and he has the details down that the wrestlers want to read.

Hernderson's Bunker 10 looked very promising but dragged a bit. There was also some street dialect that was hard to take. I think I will pass, despite the intriguing description (Something is wrong at the top secret Pinewood Militar installation, and the teenage geniuses who study and work there are about to discover the horrible truth as they lead a small military force trying to retrieve data and escape before t he compound self-destructs.)and the shiny cover.

Zindel's The Pigman

The Pigman was published in 1968, and I think it is important for students to know this, along with the fact that it was considered groundbreaking and almost shocking for its realistic portrayal of troubled teens. "Fresh" language, situations, and themes of slightly dysfunctional families, and "bad" teens who smoke, drink and use questionable language(quaintly portrayed with %$@&#) were all a change from the young adult literature of the time, which tended to be more idealistic. The whole story-- after placing a prank call and getting a false donation from a man whose wife has died, two students befriend him and hang around with him until he becomes ill and they betray his trust-- was something different. (It was a trend; The Outsiders was published in 1967.)

Today, teens read shocking literature all the time. It's not just cigarettes and wine, it's heroin. (Beauty Queen) Different voices emerge, sometimes in difficult to follow styles like Klass' You Don't Know Me or Going'sSt. Iggy. After 40 years, The Pigman has some very dated references that should be explained going in-- what is this lock on the phone? Phones have dials that turn around? And why didn't the children just show up on caller i.d.? They got real people when placing prank calls? Not answering machines?

My daughter, who had to read this for class, made the observation that Mr. Pignati inviting the teens into his house and letting them hang out while drinking wine was creepy in the way that the lyrics in a Rankin-Bass Christmas special are now creepy: "If you sit on my lap today/ A kiss a toy is the price you'll pay." Where were the parents? How lucky were the teens that they weren't abused in some way? And what was Mr. Pignati thinking? It almost seemed fitting that they held a party at his house. They were sorry, they made amends; the ending was unfortunate, but it was so contrived that it lost a lot of power for me. Could see it coming a mile away.

Schools everywhere have huge class sets of these. We just purchased a number at my school. It's an interesting piece of period literature, but unless it is explained very carefully, I think its effectiveness is lost on today's children. The copy I read had notes from Zindel in the back that helped a little. I'll have to read the sequels tonight.

Bottom line: This is something that students have to read, not something that they would choose to read.

What actual students read

This information comes via a commenter who liked Unwind; in fact, it was chosen by students to be their Mock Printz award winner.

http://www.wakegov.com/libraries/readersservices/clubs/mockprintzwinners.htm

The books on this list tend to be a little older, so there are many I haven't bought for my library because of content and language. Still, I did reserve a couple of these that I hadn't read yet, since students gave them an award, not adults.

But really, The Book Thief? My problem, I guess, is that I never got much past the age of 13 in my reading likes. Luckily, this serves me fairly well. (In answer to the comment from Ms. F-B, I think I was disappointed because it wasn't a WWII story for which my students ask. What they invariably want is more fighting than anything else. I know many people loved this, but it just didn't do it for me!)

Smith's Bobby Baseball

This title (1989 was sitting on the shelves for years and checked out just once, which is really too bad. It has a low reading level and a cartoony front cover, but I have several students who will like it for the technical baseball details. There are even rosters and scores! The story of Bobby, who lives for baseball and wants to play on a team someday, but who is having problems moving up to the next league because his father is the coach. A lot of sports books like to go light on the play-by-plays and heavy on the problems, but this is lots of descriptions of playing and thinking about baseball. Will get this one checked out today.

Josepha Sherman's Gleaming Bright (1994) will be a harder sell. A rather traditional, medieval fantasy about a girl whose father and kingdom are in peril. Only she can save the day, by retrieving a magic box that was stolen by a wizard. I'm not a fantasy fan, but do love fantasies that are innovative and have a twist to them. This was fine, but lacked that spark.

Rachel Vail and Rachel Hawthorne

My wonderful student also loaned my Hawthorne's The Boyfriend League, which was also fun. Girl's family hosts college baseball player who is in a summer league (Does this happen? Do I care if it does or not?), she hopes he will introduce her to other players, she likes him. Lots of fun details, such as her beauty pageant winning sister, her best friend who also plays baseball, and lots of innocent kissing and snuggling. An idealistic view of high school, which is why I loved it, in the same way that I love Beverly Cleary and Rosamund du Jardin.

Vail's Ever After (1995) was not nearly as fun or as interesting as You, Maybe or If We Kiss, and the cover art is not that attractive (I'm not getting the image posting buttons on blogspot this week. Hmmm.)More of the journal entry, I want to remember how horrible middle school was sort of writing. Hard to tell how I feel about this, but think my dislike is triggered by the fact that I am old. Did I want to read about people's ordinary problems? Can't remember. i do need to push this one more to her fans.

Yoo's Girls for Breakfast is another story. I think I am sending it to the high school. I didn't read it before I bought it, and it is rather coarse, and not really good enough (like Son of the Mob or Slot Machine) to make up for this.

Finally, Tony Johnstone's Bone by Bone by Bone was intriguing and disturbing. She apologizes at the very beginning for the language and the tone, saying that it reflects the time about which she is writing, and the prejudices that her father had. Students should read this, certainly, but I don't think that my students have the background to fully understand what is going on. This would be an excellent accompaniment to To Kill a Mockingbird (which is good, but really, nothing else has been written about civil rights in the last 40 years?). David's father is so nasty, and his relationship with his black best friend would take some explaining for even our 8th graders to fully grasp.

Hawthorne's Thrill Ride

A student brought me this one, since she and I share similar tastes. I always love when students hand me books-- thanks, Sarah! This is definitely a pink book, and since there are never enough to keep my avid readers in books, I am adding several other titles by this author to my list to purchase as well.

Megan wants to escape for the summer because her sister is planning a wedding. She will miss her boyfriend, Nick, but the idea of living and working at an amusement park sounds even more appealing than staying with him. Of course, there are cute boys at the amusement park, and lots of fun to be had. A really nice story, perfectly appropriate (a little kissing, but that's it), but full of independence and fun. Looking forward to reading The Boyfriend League and Island Girls (and Boys).

Read more about this author at
http://www.rachelhawthorne.net/

Stroud's The Last Siege

I really thought this hard-to-find novel by the author of The Bartimaeus Trilogy would be fantasy. I thought, reasonably enough, that it was fantasy. There's the fuzzy castle on the cover, and the cataloging information states "A chance encounter on the snowy slopes of a castle moat throws together three lonely teenagers, Emily, Simon, and the highly imaginative but enigmatic Marcus, who is the catalyst for all that follows."

What follows is that the children get kicked out of the castle ruins by the caretaker and decide to spend the night there. This involves fibbing to parents about where they are, and lots of chases about the place, some involving suspected ghosts. This is more of a survival tale, so I will try it out on those fans. That, and any child who might like to spend some time hanging out in castle ruins, pretending to be ancient kings defending their stronghold. I would have loved it.

Unhappy reading

Last week was full of books that don't even merit mention, since they were either wildly inappropriate for middle school or just plain bad. If there is a book that does not appear on this web site and anyone out there has any questions about it, I'll be glad to answer if I've read the title. I've also been involved in a death march through Lemony Snicket.

N.D. Wilson's 100 Cupboards sounded really promising. Henry moves in with aunt and uncle (pseudo-orphan, always good) and finds a room with the titular cupboards, through which he hears and sees various different places. Sounds cool, but I just couldn't get interested. It did seem like something my son would like (He liked The Mysterious Benedict Society and Pond Scum, whereas I did not), but even he couldn't get into it.