It's Monday! What are You Reading? 12/8/14

Thank you to Sheila, Jen and Kellee for inspiring and hosting the #IMWAYR meme.

I'm behind on my blogging, so here's what I've been reading of late:


The Perfect Place

Sparkers

The Map to Everywhere

Saving Lucas Biggs

Nightmares!

Boys in Blur

Seven Stories Up

Like Water on Stone

Hunt for the Bamboo Rat

Winter Bees

A Sudden Light

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 10/6/14

Thank you to Sheila, Jen and Kellee for inspiring and hosting the #IMWAYR meme.


Finally, a middle grade fantasy with cats!  Given the title and topic of The Forbidden Library, I thought it might be one of those books that appeals more to librarians than anyone else. As it turns out, though, it is a rich fantasy with a sympathetic protagonist and some interesting (and shady) secondary characters.  Set in a Victorian-era-esque time, Alice overhears her father being threatened by a menacing fairy shortly before his death. She is sent to live with an “uncle” who has a creepy, magical library. Before long, she is entering books (à la Inkheart) and trying to figure out who is friend and who is foe.  One of the more endearing characters in this rich book is Ashes, a talking cat (or, as he likes to remind Alice, half cat).  Like so many other characters in this story, Ashes is not clearly good or clearly evil - his identity keeps shifting, keeping readers guessing about his intentions.  The Forbidden Library appears to be the first in a planned series and I look forward to the next one!



Tony Abbott has published ninety nine books.  Yes,  ninety nine!  He has it down.  His latest series, The Copernicus Legacy starts with The Forbidden Stone.  In it, four preteens and one dad head to Europe to attend the unexpected funeral of Uncle Henry, an astronomy professor who has, as it turns out, been murdered.  One of the kids has a star chart given to him years before by Uncle Henry; quickly the group realizes that the chart holds the key to a tremendous, deadly mystery.  Together, they try to solve it.   For whatever reason, I had a hard time feeling invested in this quest.  The characters all worked well, but their mission itself never quite became cohesive to me.  This may be because The Forbidden Stone is only the first of a planned twelve book series and it is just getting off the ground.



The most astonishing thing about Just Jake is that it was written by a 7th grader (Jake himself).  Jake is living at the pinnacle of "awesomeness" when his family must abruptly move from Florida to Maryland, where he is decidedly less cool.  He slowly makes inroads with his new peers, constantly assessing the best way to become cool once again.  The format of this book is very friendly, with cartoons, sketches and photographs embedded throughout.  For readers who enjoyed The Diary of a Wimpy Kid series and are ready for a slightly older narrator, this will be a hit!







Finally, I was thrilled to receive an advance readers copy of Anita Diamant's The Boston Girl from NetGalley.   I've read a few of Anita Diamant's books and my memory of them is that they are a bit tome-like.  The Boston Girl was much lighter, easier, in a sense, to read.  It takes place in Boston in the early 20th century and it is really the coming of age story of three sisters who are daughters of immigrants.  The narrator, Addie, is the youngest daughter and she yearns to escape the confines of her parents' rigid upbringing and the constrictions placed on women in the early 1900s.  Through her eyes, we see the way a woman, a family, a city and the world change over the course of close to one hundred years.



Now that the (Red Sox) baseball season is over, I'm happily becoming even more of a book geek.  Happy reading to all!

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 9/1/14

 Thank you to Sheila, Jen and Kellee for inspiring and hosting the #IMWAYR meme.

Well, I have been a blogging slacker over the summer, but I have been reading just about everything I can get my hands on.  The thought of trying to review everything I've read is entirely too daunting, so I decided to jump back into blogging by just highlighting some of my favorite summer reads:

Picture Book:

One of my greatest warm weather pleasures is sitting out on my screened porch with a stack of new picture books.  My favorite of this summer is also going to be a first day read aloud in my library: Flight School by Lita Judge.  Penguin wants to fly, so he heads to flight school.  Although he has "the soul of an eagle," he was not, of course, built to fly.  With a great deal of perseverance and tons of help from his friends, Penguin is able to experience the joy of flight, but most importantly, he discovers that dreams can come true in ways that we don't always imagine.

Middle Grade Chapter Books:

Two middle grade chapter books stand out for me this summer.  The Witch's Boy by Kelly Barnhill is a rich, dark, complex and classic-feeling fantasy.  Three different threads intertwine to tell the story of nine stone giants and the magic they hold.  When Ned unexpectedly becomes the caretaker of the last remaining magic on earth, he also becomes the target of a group of bandits. The daughter of the bandit leader befriends him and together they strive to do the right thing with the magic (which is difficult because the magic has desires of its own). This is beautifully written and I'm curious to see what kids think of it, as I loved it, but wonder if it might appeal more to adults than children.  






My other favorite middle grade chapter book of the summer was something of a surprise to me.  I expected The Time of the Fireflies by Kimberely Griffiths Little to be a bit fluffy (given the title and cover), but found instead a page-turning, spooky, intriguing time travel mystery.  Larissa is recovering from a horrific accident when she receives a phone call on an antique phone, telling her to trust the fireflies, as a matter of life and death.  The fireflies guide her across a broken down bridge, back in time.  Throw in a creepy doll and you’ve got a winner!





Middle Grade Nonfiction:

Hands down, my favorite middle grade nonfiction book this summer was Chernobyl's Wild Kingdom: Life in the Dead Zone by Rebecca L. Johnson (geez, she just keeps cranking out amazing material!).  I have been fascinated by Chernobyl since I lived in Eastern Europe in the mid 1990s, and this book provides an extraordinary look at the “Dead Zone” from the perspective of scientists who are studying wildlife there.  There are two pretty radically different perspectives on the impact the nuclear disaster has had on the area and Johnson presents both of them without choosing sides.  She also makes a compelling argument as to why Chernobyl is still relevant today and includes superb photos and source notes.  This is a winner on all fronts!




Adult fiction:

I am still thinking about the puzzle that is The Rise and Fall of Great Powers by Tom Rachman.  Tooly Zylderberg is living quietly in the Welsh countryside, just barely keeping her eccentric little bookstore afloat.  She spends much of her time reading, but her mysterious and inexplicable past comes blazing to the forefront when she receives a phone call from New York telling her that her father is dying.  The trouble is, she doesn't really know who her father is.  Told in a series of flashbacks in the 1980s and late 1990s, it turns out that Tooly was stolen as a child, and raised by a bizarre cohort of adults who had many secrets of their own.  I was slowly sucked into Tooly's past, completely absorbed by the strange adult caretakers in her life (especially Humphrey, the mysterious Russian who is grumpy with everyone but Tooly).  I won't give it away, but the end of the book delighted me in a way that is rare and memorable.  I loved this thick, meandering book!



Back to school... back to book talks!  Happy reading to all.  

It's Monday! What You Are You Reading? 4/14/14

I am excited to be a part of the conversation at #IMWAYR! Thank you to Sheila, Jen and Kellee
for inspiring and hosting this meme.

I read two very different middle grade books this past week, both of which were memorable in their own ways:

Skies Like These (by Tess Hilmo, author of With a Name Like Love) is both spare and descriptive, which is a relatively rare combination in a middle grade chapter book.  It tells the story of Jade, who is initially disappointed to have to leave her home in Philly and spend her summer with her aunt in Wyoming.  Quickly, though, she finds a friend in Roy, a boy who emulates Butch Cassidy (and believes he is a descendent of Butch). Together they scheme ways to re-open Roy’s father’s hardware store, which was forced to close when a big box store came to town.  Although Jade is uncomfortable with some of Roy’s wild west ideas (e.g robbing a bank) they forge an unlikely alliance.  There’s a lot to like here - great characters and setting, a solid but realistically imperfect resolution and brevity on Hilmo’s part that will make this accessible to an array of readers.



I would describe Nightingale's Nest by Nikki Lofton as "magical realism," although it is an adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen's "The Nightingale," so it reads a bit like a fairy tale as well.  Although the story is heartbreaking, the writing is lyrical, befitting the title.  Little John is helping his dad with some landscaping and tree work at a wealthy business owner's home when he meets Gayle, a girl whose songs seem to have the power to heal.  Gayle's mysterious past, combined with her other worldly voice, make Little John feel protective of her and they forge a close and sweet friendship.  The darkness in Little John's home life is hard - his mother is grieving and unbalanced, his father drinks away their meager savings and it is easy to see why Little John makes the difficult choices that he does, even though his decisions put his friendship with Gayle into peril.  Magical realism is sometimes a hard sell for me - I either want magic or reality and I tend to find it jarring when the two are entwined.  In this case it worked for me, though, because Gayle herself is such a magical creature and seems to defy the regular rules of logic.  There's already some Newbery buzz about this title, with good reason,  I think!



Finally, I indulged in a hefty adult book about one of my favorite places in the world - Romania.  Patrick McGuinness' The Last Hundred Days is an absurdist sort of story about a British professor who moves to Bucharest shortly before the fall of communism in 1989.  McGuinness himself lived in Romania at that time, and his descriptions of the era are stark and seemingly pinpoint perfect.  The characters - from the British professor who is obviously entirely out of his league, to his Romanian lover who may or may not be a double agent, to the securitate agents who are everywhere and nowhere - are often ironically and always vividly drawn.  I landed in Romania in 1995, not long after the fall of communism and so often I wondered what it was like for my friends there behind the iron curtain.  This book gave me a glimpse.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 4/7/14Re

I am excited to be a part of the conversation at #IMWAYR! Thank you to Sheila, Jen and Kellee
for inspiring and hosting this meme.

Well, the 2013 Maine Student Book Award winner has been announced and I am so thrilled that the kids of Maine chose RJ Palacio's Wonder.  It is an incredibly powerful story and my students have all loved it… just as much as I do!

 I've been on a little fantasy bender of late, by accident, really and in so doing I realized how much I've grown as a reader in the past few years.  Fantasy used to be a genre that I tolerated, but it has grown to be one that I love.  I credit my students for that transformation, as they have always shown me the way when it comes to the magical world of fantasy.

Rec. for grades 5-8

And speaking of growing as a reader, I haven't quite become a fan of scary stories, but Jonathan Auxier's The Night Gardener is an exception.  I had the huge privilege of seeing Auxier speak at the AASL conference in October and I was smitten - he is funny, thoughtful, and passionate about literature.  I was almost a little nervous to read his book, for fear that the book wouldn't live up to the man, but I couldn't put The Night Gardener down.  It is creepy, atmospheric and heartbreaking, at times.  I can't wait to hand it to kids who beg me for scary stories, because while it certainly fits that bill, it also touches on so many themes: greed, family, vulnerability, and bravery, to mention just a few.  Don't miss this one when it comes out in May!

Rec. for grades 5-8

Tania Unsworth's One Safe Place reminded me a bit of Kate Messner's Wake Up Missing, as they are both about children thinking they are going somewhere special and wonderful, only to find that they are a part of a horrific scientific experiment.  One Safe Place is a dystopian tale that is both chilling and fast paced. When Devin’s grandfather dies, Devin must bury him and leave the farm that they have been living on together. He walks to the city, hoping to find food, work, or help. Instead he is whisked off to a children’s home, with promises of plentiful food and care. All is not as it seems, though, and Devin and his new friends work to uncover a sinister plot that endangers their lives.  Unsworth paints a vivid picture of the contrast between the farm, the city, and the horror that is the Home.








I loved the adult books I read this week too!

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 3/24/14

I am excited to be a part of the conversation at #IMWAYR! Thank you to Sheila, Jen and Kellee
for inspiring and hosting this meme.

I've been taking a little blogging hiatus, but I've been busy reading and reviewing.  Last weekend the Maine Student Book Award committee met and finalized the MSBA list.  It is exceptionally difficult (way more so than I realized) to create a balanced list that will appeal to a wide variety of readers.  I love many of the titles on this year's list and I'm looking forward to sharing and discussing them with my students.

Now, it's on to books with a 2014 copyright!  I've been treating myself to a few adult books, but also trying to get a jump on next year's MSBA possibilities.   So, this is what I've been reading:

For grades 7+

Threatened, Elliot Schrefer’s follow up to Endangered, does not disappoint.  Set in Gabon, Luc is indentured to Prof.,  a mysterious man who says he wants to be Africa’s own “janegoodall.”  Together they venture deep into the jungle to observe and study chimps.  Luc’s painful loneliness after losing his family, his bravery and fear and his growing friendship with Prof. are all beautifully rendered.  The setting is extraordinary and feels like a character all of its own and the chimps are fascinating.  I loved this book.

For grades 3-6

Wanderville, by Wendy McClude tells the story of three kids who, through differing tragic circumstances, end up on the orphan train headed to Kansas. Terrified by the stories they hear about what will happen to them when they are “adopted” they jump off the train and find themselves adopted by Alexander, a boy who has created his own little utopia in the woods. This is an easy reading Boxcar-esque first in a series that I think middle grade readers will enjoy.

For grades 5-8

Piers Torday's The Last Wild is a dystopian fantasy about a boy named Kester who can’t speak to humans, but who can communicate silently with the few animals that are left in the world after “the red eye” killed off most of them.  He teams with a group of animals, including a beautiful and fierce stag, a mischievous wolf cub, a cockroach called “General” and a flock of pigeons to try to save the world from both disease and evil humans.   I loved the characters, both animal and human, in this imaginative tale.

My adult reading was pretty heavy hitting this past week - both Susan Minot's Thirty Girls and Alex Myers' Revolutionary are memorable for their contrasting darkness and light.

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 1/13/14

I am excited to be a part of the conversation at #IMWAYR! Thank you to Sheila, Jen and Kellee
for inspiring and hosting this meme.

Well, it's crunch time for those of us on the Maine Student Book Award committee (and for me as a Cybils judge)!  It's exciting and nerve-racking at the same time to be responsible for other readers in this way.  I take my role on the committee and as a judge super-seriously and the experience of being on a book-selecting committee has given me a whole new level of appreciation for how difficult it is to choose "best" books because reading is so personal.  Alas.  For every book a reader and for every reader a book, right?

Here's what I read last week:

Falcon in the Glass
Read my review












Through the Skylight
Read my review










The Year of Shadows
Read my review











Runt
Read my review












Locomotive
Read my review











Broken Harbor
Read my review

It's Monday! What Are You Reading? 12/30/13

I am excited to be a part of the conversation at #IMWAYR! Thank you to Sheila, Jen and Kellee for inspiring and hosting this meme.


It's been a lovely week of reading...



The Dolphins of Shark Bay
Read my review








The Great Trouble: A Mystery of London, the Blue Death and a Boy Called Eel
Read my review











Binny for Short
Read my review












Fairy Tale Comics
Read my review

A Song for Bijou
Read my review 










We Are Water
Read my review