Review: Love, Aubrey - Suzanne LaFleur

Love, Aubrey by Suzanne LaFleur Ages 9+ 244 pages Wendy Lamb Books, June 2009

(spoilers)

Aubrey wakes to a world that has changed overnight -- again.  Her mother has run off, following the accidental death of Aubrey's father and little sister, leaving her alone in the house.  It's a haunting beginning to a story about healing and trust following a devastating experience.

Speaking as one who's recovered from major trauma, Suzanne LaFleur has hit the emotional and physical sensations right on the head.  Aubrey has persistent stomach pain and nausea when she remembers her family.  The way she deals with food is directly related to her inner peace, until at last she is able to accept the feeling of "food... heavy in my stomach" (p. 205) just as she is able to accept love from others, both Grandma and her friend Bridget.

The story steps carefully through Aubrey's healing and shows from the inside out how she begins to trust again.  Even greater than her pain is her need for a parent who loves her, and a family that belongs together.  It is remarkable how she manages to find both by the end of the book, but in different places and with different people.  There were several points at which the story could have been resolved, but LaFleur followed through and tied up all the loose ends, which made for an even more satisfying ending.

In other reviews, readers have named it as a teen novel, but I think it is very middle grade, even though the issues are heavy.  The things she is going through as an 11 year old girl will resonate with older readers, but there is nothing inappropriate about it for younger readers.  I can think of several fourth graders I'd recommend it to.  

Love, Aubrey is a first novel that does not read like a first novel.  I felt like I was reading a Patricia Reilly Giff -- familiar and expertly crafted, solidly paced, with characters that read like real people snipped right out of their lives and pasted onto the page.  Certain scenes, such as that in which Aubrey and her grandmother go roller skating, include every perfect detail to recreate the experience for the reader.  I am definitely looking forward to more from LaFleur.

Favorite quote: "Meatloaf is better left over."

Shortlisted for the Waterstone Children's Book Prize,

Ratings

• Awesomeness: 7 - a very fine story!
  
• Wordsmithing: 7 - read like a straightforward realistic fiction novel, with food metaphors that packed a punch
  
• Personages: 7 - I cheered for Aubrey and felt the realism in every flashback she had with her family
  
• Mesmerizitude: 7 - I was surprised by its length when I was done -- it didn't feel like 250 pages

Other Reviews

• at Persnickety Snark
• at Vulpes Libres
• at Becky's Book Reviews
• at The Well-Read Child
• at Semicolon
• at Book Nut
• at Jen Robinson's Book Page
• at Garden of Books (For Teens)
• at Readingjunky's Reading Roost
• at Peaceful Reader

2010 Challenge: Blogroll Roulette

This is the second of twelve mini-challenges as part of the very clever Take Another Chance challenge over at Find Your Next Book Here:

Challenge Description: Find a blogroll at either your book blog or a book blog you like that has at least 15 book blogs on it. Go to Random.org and, using the True Random Number Generator, enter the number 1 for the min. and 15 for the max. and then hit generate. Then find the blog that is that number on the blogroll you selected. (For example, if you get 10 at Random.org, then count down the list of blogs until you get to the tenth one). Go to that blog and pick a book to read from the books that they have reviewed on their blog. Read it and write a post about it. Be sure to link to the blog post you picked the book from!

I don't have a blogroll on my blog, so I chose the POC Reading Challenge blogroll, hoping that it would lead me to a book about POC to read.  My random number generator gave me 12; blog #12 in the list was Brown Girl Speaks -- yes!  I love that blog.  I searched recent posts for a middle grade book, since that's my focus, or failing that, a YA book.  I found If You Come Softly by Woodson, which I already have on my YA Challenge pile.  Score!  

I'm scheduled to read this one in August, so I'll write my review then.

iPad - the birth of the picture ebook?

I am so excited about the launch of the iPad.  http://www.apple.com/ipad/

Of course, I'm a total Mac geek and a faithful iPhone user.  I'm happy with my iPhone for just about everything... except I just can't see the possibility of graphic picture books on such a tiny screen.  And now...

I watched the whole 2 hour Keynote presentation on the Apple web site.  Everything it can do is pretty -- but I really sat up and took notice when it came to iBooks, their eBook platform.  Using the 2-page view, you can see both pages of a book.  

9" screen, 1.5 lbs.  This is really going to make picture eBooks possible.  I think this is going to be a core strength of this device -- once the price comes down a bit, that is.

Booking Through Thursday: Twisty

Here's the question for this week's Booking Through Thursday:

1. Do YOU like books with complicated plots and unexpected endings?

2. What book with a surprise ending is your favorite? Or your least favorite?

I love unexpected endings, but not complicated plots.  I can deal with a bunch of characters if there is good dialogue.  I can't handle a ton of description if there are lots of characters, though, because I "see" the characters through their actions, like a movie.  

I am very fond of Holes for the surprise ending.  =)

Sorry for the short post.  I have to be up at 5:30 for the second day in a row to drive a friend to the airport.

2010 Challenge: Take Another Chance

This is a very cool challenge: the Take Another Chance Challenge from Find Your Next Book Here.  The description is very complicated, so I would suggest going to the web site and reading about it there.  I'll be posting a separate post for each mini-challenge.

Challenge 1: Read Your Doppelganger

Review: Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice - Philip Hoose

Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice by Philip Hoose Ages 10 and up 133 pages Melanie Kroupa Books, January 2009

This is my first Nonfiction Monday post in a long while, and my first time participating in the actual event.  You can find today's roundup at Playing By The Book.

Many young readers easily sort themselves into two categories: those who prefer fiction and those who prefer nonfiction.  I can really only say I've met a handful who bridge these categories without any effort.  If I'm trying to get a fiction reader to try some nonfiction, or vice versa, I often go the biography route.  Even non-narrative biographies can be compelling reading.

As a young reader, I definitely fit into the former category, though I did love me some joke books and folklore ephemera.  Even now, I have a hard time picking up a nonfiction picture book when I could choose a fiction one.  Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice sat on my shelf for mmmrrph weeks before I finally looked at my calendar, sighed, and scheduled it for review this week.

Can I just say?  Compelling doesn't begin to cut it. Really.  As in, I'm putting all Hoose's books on my to-read pile NOW.

For those of you who, like me, have been lured away from the nonfiction side of the library by your When You Reach Mes and Homer P. Figgs, this book is an account of a little-known hero of the civil rights struggle.  Claudette Colvin was a teenager who was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama, for not relinquishing her seat on the bus -- eight months before Rosa Parks.  Colvin played a pivotal role in the little-known case of Browder v. Gayle, in which she and four other African-Americans successfully sued the city of Montgomery, claiming bus segregation laws were unconstitutional.

Colvin has largely been quiet about her role in the civil rights movement until recently; although she does appear in books, there are no other sources for young readers which quote her directly or provide this level of detail into her involvement.  Young people who read about the history of civil rights for African-Americans may never have known that a teenager could, and did, do so much for the movement.  Reading this book may very well provide a huge breakthrough for students who may be interested in participating on a personal level in social justice.

Hoose has compiled a winning collection of artifacts, quotes and historical data and interspersed it seamlessly with Colvin's own account of her experiences in the Montgomery bus boycott and court proceedings.  I wish student textbooks were written this way.  I mean, really, can't we just toss our dead white guy books in favor of a collection of award-winning, compelling nonfiction like this??

My only struggle here is knowing to whom I can recommend this book.  I think many of my fifth graders could and would enjoy it, with some guidance through some of the bits on teen pregnancy, but I doubt they'll pick it up without a lot of prodding.  All my teachers, of course, but who has time to read nonfiction?  I showed it to my principal today with a 20 cent review and she said, "Hmmm, looks kind of long."  Yeah.  True.  But really, those 133 pages (yes, I even read the notes at the end) just flew by.  I'm hoping my booktalks and reading aloud bits will lure in those students for whom nonfiction is an unexplored territory.  Maybe I'll even make some converts.  After all, you got me, Philip Hoose.

A Newbery Honor book, a finalist for the YALSA Award for Nonfiction for Young Adults, a Sibert Honor book and winner of the National Book Award.

Ratings

• Awesomeness: 9 - solid journalism, compelling original material and thoughtful analysis
  
• Wordsmithing: 8 - reads smoothly, especially for a nonfiction title
  
• Mesmerizitude: 8 - some important a-has about the civil rights movement as a whole and the bus boycott, Parks and MLK in particular
  
• Illustrations: 8 - my favorite photo is Rosa Parks on page 42
  
• Factfulness: 10 - and how often does one find a truly NEW addition to civil rights historical literature?
  

Other Reviews

• at A Chair, A Fireplace and A Tea Cozy
• at Reading Rants
• at Becky's Book Reviews
• at nomadreader
• at Rasco from RIF
• Leave a comment if I forgot your review!

Booking Through Thursday: Favorite Unknown

This post is part of the Booking Through Thursday meme.

Who’s your favorite author that other people are NOT reading? The one you want to evangelize for, the one you would run popularity campaigns for? The author that, so far as you’re concerned, everyone should be reading–but that nobody seems to have heard of. You know, not JK Rowling, not Jane Austen, not Hemingway–everybody’s heard of them. The author that you think should be that famous and can’t understand why they’re not…

Picture book author: Robert Munsch.   I have the joy of introducing students to Robert Munsch every year.  Because he's Canadian, kids often don't see his books in bookstores in the States. The only Munsch title they are likely to be familiar with is Love You Forever, which is, needless to say, not funny.  He's the one who hooks even the most reluctant listener into gales of laughter.


Chapter book author: William Sleator.  Kids are always asking for scary books.  They eat up the Goosebumps and Michigan/American Chillers and Alvin Schwartz folktale series.  As they get older, I point to this author and whisper, "He's scarier than anything you've ever read."  Interstellar Pig?  Nightmare-inducing.  The Boxes?  Brrrr.   House of Stairs?  Creepy beyond belief.

Teen author: Julian Thompson.  I was obsessed with The Grounding of Group 6 as a teen.  I didn't read any of Thompson's other books until I was in my 20s, but when I did I was pleased to read they were as quirky and strangely compelling as my original obsession.

What authors do you love that no one's heard of?

2010 Challenge: Clover, Bee and Reverie - A Poetry Challenge

I'm planning a poetry unit for my 5th graders, so I'm all set for this one. You should just see my TBR pile.  Right now I'm focused on other books, so I probably won't get started until February.

I'm participating at the Sonnet level, which is 14 books of poetry, two badges and at least one expert badge.  I'm reading many books of narrative poetry, so that will be at least one focus.  Others might include epic poetry or visual poetry (though I don't see that one on the list).

Here's my to-read list of narrative poetry.  Most are middle grade, with a few teen choices sprinkled in there.  I tried to choose half with boy protagonists and half with girl protagonists.

3/15 - started to add reviews.

1. All the Broken Pieces by Ann E. Burg - done!
2. Fearless Fernie by Gary Soto - done!
3. Shakespeare Bats Cleanup by Ron Koertge - done!
4. Carver: A Life in Poems by Marilyn Nelson - started but stalled, will finish ASAP
5. Here in Harlem by Walter Dean Myers
6. Bird by Zetta Elliott - done!
7. Worlds Afire by Paul B. Janeczko - done!
8. Crossing Stones by Helen Frost - done!
9. Zorgamazoo by Robert Weston - done!
10. Summerhouse Time by Eileen Spinelli - done!
11. Where I Live by Eileen Spinelli - done!
12. Grow by Juanita Havill
13. Spinning Through the Universe by Helen Frost - done!
14. T4 by Ann Clare LeZotte

Other backup choices include: Almost Forever by Maria Testa, The Voyage of the Arctic Tern by Hugh Montgomery, Reaching for Sun by Tracie Vaughn Zimmer, Ringside 1925 by Jen Bryant, Seeing Emily by Joyce Lee Wong, Kaleidoscope Eyes by Jen Bryant, Stop Pretending by Sonya Sones and Shark Girl by Kelly Bingham.  I've read several already (Where the Steps Are by Andrea Cheng, The Way A Door Closes and Keeping the Night Watch by Hope Anita Smith), so I can't count those.  

Since I want to use these in my poetry unit in March & April, I will need to do the majority of my reading before then.  Luckily, these are quick reads.  I'll schedule them for the next few weeks.

ALA Awards 2010 actual winners

Here are my notes from this morning.  Forgive any errors or omissions.  Some obvious winners and some surprises!  My comments in red.

Alex Award - long list, I didn't write it down =P

Schneider Family Book Award
Picture Book: Django by Bonnie Christensen
Middle Grade: Anything But Typical by Nora Raleigh Baskin  This was one of my favorites this year, and I'm happy it won something.  
Teen: Marcelo in the Real World by Francisco X. Stork  Again, so happy to see Marcelo get some love, but surprised it didn't show up again below.

Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement (African-American author)
Walter Dean Myers  Yay!  My third graders will be so excited - I'm reading them Love That Dog.  =)

Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe Award for New Talent
The Rock and the River by Kekla Magoon

Coretta Scott King - Illustrator
Medal: My People by Langston Hughes
Honor: The Negro Speaks of Rivers by Langston Hughes

Coretta Scott King - Author  In light of recent discussion about the wealth of books about African-Americans during slavery and the dearth of anything else, this is very exciting.  Mare's War in particular was very impressive!
Medal: Bad News for Outlaws by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson
Honor: Mare's War by Tanita S. Davis

Margaret A Edwards Award
Jim Murphy

William C. Morris Award for First Time Author (YA)
Medal: Flash Burnout - L.K. Madigan  I don't read YA, but did this one come out of nowhere?  
Finalists:
Ash  This one is on my TBR pile. =)
Beautiful Creatures
The Everafter
hold still

YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction for YAs  Zero surprises here.  
Medal: Charles and Emma by Deborah Heiligman
Finalists:
Almost Astronauts
Claudette Colvin
The Great and Only Barnum
Written in Bone

Printz Award - YA Fiction  What the...?  I am completely surprised by this set of choices, but again, I don't read a lot of YA. I will be very curious to read others' responses.
Medal: Going Bovine by Libba Bray
Finalists:
Charles and Emma
Monstrumologists
Punkzilla
Tales from the Madman Underground: An Historical Romance, 1973

Odyssey Audiobook
Louise, the Adventures of a Chicken by Kate DiCamillo  Such a neat book, glad to see it get some attention.
Honors:
We Are the Ship
Peace, Locomotion
?? one other I missed, sorry

Pura Belpre
Illustration Medal: Book Fiesta! Celebrate Children's Day/Book Day by Pat Mora
Honors:
Diego: Bigger Than Life
My Abuelita
Gracias Thanks
Literature Award: Return to Sender by Julia Alvarez
Honors:
Diego: Bigger Than Life
Federico Garcio Lorca

Mary HIll Arbuthnot Honor Lecture Award
Lois Lowry

Mildred L. Batchelder
Medal: A Faraway Island - Annika Thor (Swedish)  This one sounds good!
Honors:
Big Wolf and Little Wolf
Eidi
Moribito II: Guardian of the Darkness  Was this a graphic novel?  If so, nice cross-format breakout here!

Sibert (Nonfiction)
Medal: Almost Astronauts by Tanya Lee Stone
Honor:
Day-Glo Brothers  I can't wait to read this!  My library doesn't have any copies.  =P  I think I'll just have to  buy one for myself.
Moonshot
Claudette Colvin

Carnegie (Children's Video)
Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!  Great to see.  =)

Geisel (Early Reader) Wow, NO Elephant & Piggie!  And no Cowgirl and Cocoa.  
Medal: Benny and Penny in the Big No-No! by Geoffrey Hayes  Liked this one.  
Honor:
I Spy Fly Guy  Yes!
Little Mouse Gets Ready
Mouse and Mole: Fine Feathered Friends
Pearl and Wagner: One Funny Day

Caldecott (Illustrations)  No surprises here.  I'm disappointed there were no funny books though.
Medal: Lion and the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney
Honor:
All the World
Red Sings from Treetops

Newbery (Literature)  OMG!  An all middle-grade year!!  I'm so thrilled.  =)  
Winner: When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead
Honors:  
Claudette Colvin
Evolution of Calpurnia Tate  Guess I'd better read it now!
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon  Really loved this one.
Mostly True Adventures of Homer P. Figg  Yay!!  I loved this book and I'm surprised to see it here.  

2010 GLBT Mini-Challenge: Why This Challenge?

I'm participating in the GLBT 2010 Challenge this year.  The first mini-challenge is to write a post about why this challenge is important to you.

This challenge is important to me because all librarians everywhere need to be familiar with literature about all oppressed minorities.  (It is not too lofty a goal.)

This challenge is important to me because my husband is a surrogate father to two beautiful girls whose mothers are lesbians.  I want to stay current about what books to recommend to them as they grow up.

This challenge is important to me because I'm a bisexual woman in a marriage to a straight man, and it's easy to marginalize this part of my identity.  By intentionally reading books about GLBT characters, I'm renewing and strengthening my connection to the GLBT community.

ALA Awards 2010 predictions

Here I am, anticipating waking up early on a day off to sit in front of my computer and watch the live telecast.  I sure hope I can get on this year.  I had technical difficulties in previous years.

I've been paying close attention on the Heavy Medal blog and enjoying other bloggers' predictions about who will win.  I haven't done nearly as much reading as others have done, but I have some ballpark predictions for the awards coming up.  Here's what I think will  happen, based on my own reading and others' offerings on blogs and lists:

Newbery
Medal - Where the Mountain Meets the Moon
Honor - When You Reach Me
Honor - Anything But Typical
Honor - The Dunderheads

Caldecott
Medal - Lion and the Mouse
Honor - All the World
Honor - Moonshot
Honor - The Curious Garden

Printz
Medal - Marcello (or possibly these will be switched)
Honor - Liar
Honor - Wintergirls
Honor - Charles & Emma

Geisel
Winner - Cowgirl Kate & Cocoa: Horse in the House
Honor - Pigs Make Me Sneeze
Honor - Can You Make a Scary Face? or Rhyming Dust Bunnies (I can't pick)

I don't know enough about the Coretta Scott King or Pura Belpre medals to be able to choose possible winners... clearly I need to remedy this for next year.

I will be so curious to see what actually happens.

Review: The Mitten - Jim Aylesworth

The Mitten retold by Jim Aylesworth, illustrated by Barbara McClintock Ages 4-8 32 pages Scholastic Press, October 2009

In Michigan, winter goes on for quite a long time, and so there is a great demand by teachers for winter-themed tales.  Our school does not do much with holidays, so secular stories like this one are doubly requested.  I can already tell this new retelling of a classic Ukranian folktale will find a comfortable place in the early elementary curriculum.

Illustrated by Barbara McClintock (Our Abe Lincoln), in lines recalling the style of Maurice Sendak, Aylesworth tells the story of a boy gone out to play in the snow, proudly wearing mittens, hat and scarf knitted by his grandmother.  The mitten is lost in the snow.  In turn, a squirrel, a rabbit, a fox, a bear and a mouse squirm in to get warm.

The only other version of The Mitten I've read is the Jan Brett one, although we have another (Tresselt?) in the library.  I'm going to have to check that one out, because the ending of this one is quite different.  I didn't think it was as cute.  In the Brett retelling, the animals are ejected from the mitten by the mouse's sneeze, and the child finds the mitten all stretched out.  There's a hilarious, wordless picture of her holding the two mittens, one small, one enormous, with a befuddled look on her face.  Aylesworth chose to have the mitten explode into little bits (admittedly an excellent illustration, with freaked-out animals flying everywhere) and the boy's grandmother knits him another one; this is cozy, but not as strong a conclusion.

Otherwise, though, this is a masterful retelling of a very enjoyable tale.  Aylesworth's repetitive, rhythmic cadences just beg to be read aloud.  I immediately began writing the reader's theater script in my head.

Ivy chose this one from my big pile of Caldecott hopefuls.  She predicted the fox would eat the rabbit and squirrel, but was pleased by the actual outcome.

Ratings

• Awesomeness: 7 - Aylesworth + McClintock = a dynamite package
  
• Wordsmithing: 7 - fine repetitive retelling
  
• Personages: 5 - flat fairy tale characters
  
• Mesmerizitude: 6 - excellent re-readability
  
• Illustrations: 7 - nice contrast of colorful cartoon animals on white backgrounds
  

Other Reviews

• on KidsLit
  
• on A Patchwork of Books
  
• on 4IQRead
  
• on Kiss the Book

Review: Green Grass and White Milk - Aliki

Green Grass and White Milk by Aliki Ages 4-8 32 pages Harper Collins, 1974

My school is planning to buy a cow to support Heifer International during this year's March is Reading Month (MIRM), so I checked out all the books on cows and milk we had in our public library. You'll see several of these reviews come up over the next few weeks.

Aliki is a classic favorite picture book writer. This easy reader style nonfiction offering is simple, but offers some fascinating tidbits of information:

"Good summer grass and good winter hay are healthful food for a cow. The better a cow eats, the better milk she will give."

At the time this book was written, it may be that many cows were still fed on grass and hay. Now it is almost impossible to find a dairy that feeds that way. Most cows are fed grain (bad) and soy (worse) and leftover bits of I-don't-want-to-talk-about-it.

Later readers will encounter a diagram of the cow's 4 stomachs and an explanation of why cows chew their cud -- this is how grass is broken down into nutritious food for the cow. There is also a detailed dairy diagram with pipes & tubes demonstrating the pasteurization process. I can imagine my students who are fond of machines and technology will be riveted to this page. This explanation is given for pasteurization:

"It is quickly heated to a temperature of 161 degrees F (71 degrees C) for 15 seconds. That is not boiling."

Um, no. Most kids now drink "ultra-pasteurized" milk, which is heated to 284 degrees F (140 degrees C). This has the advantage of making the milk last much longer before spoiling, but also turns it into something completely different than it was before it was cooked. Beneficial, even crucial, vitamins, enzymes and nutrients are lost. Many people who are allergic to milk products are not allergic to raw (non-pasteurized) milk.

Raw milk is scary to many people because we grew up in a "sterile is better" culture. Of course, the folks who get the Heifer International cow won't be sterilizing their milk, will they? They'll drink it raw -- just like the way babies get their milk from mamas all over the world. In the United States, raw milk is illegal in most states.

The book then explains how to make butter and yogurt, which of course is fascinating. Incidentally, don't try to make yogurt with ultra-pasteurized milk, because it won't work.

I was even more bemused when I found out that this book was revised, re-illustrated and even renamed by Aliki in 1992. I guess a book about milk that included the word "grass" in the title was just too confusing for kids now.  I will track down the other title and see what the revisions look like.

Excuse me while I pour my illegal raw milk on my cereal.

Ratings

• Awesomeness: 6 - an important topic made simple for young children
  
• Wordsmithing: 5 - although it's hard to make complex subjects easy to understand!
• Mesmerizitude: 6 - I love the bits about pasteurization and homogenization, and the process of how to make butter and yogurt will be great projects
  
• Illustrations: 4 - I can see why she chose to reillustrate - these are somewhat washed out and from earlier in her career
  
• Factfulness: 6 - clear and full of good information

Review: The Unfinished Angel - Sharon Creech

The Unfinished Angel by Sharon Creech Ages 9-12 164 pages Joanna Cotlen Books, September 2009 978-0061430954

To me, Sharon Creech fits in that select group of authors one would recommend to older elementary students using the words, "This is an author you do not want to miss."  In fact, I did that very thing twice last week, in my annual pre-Newbery Power Point presentation to my two fifth grade classes.  So I don't mind saying I have high expectations for any book with Sharon Creech's name on it.

The Unfinished Angel is different from any other Creech book I've seen yet.  It has her same short chapters, same thoughtful, humorous inner monologue.  But the main character in this book is a mystery, and I had no more answers at the end of the story than I had at the beginning.  The angel has no name; it has no gender.  It simply thinks it's an angel.

What works about this story is the angel's bewilderment and frustration at dealing with "peoples."  It's easy to hear the angel complaining (in my head, in an Italian accent).  It doesn't quite have human vocabulary down, which leads to amusing wordplay and clever, invented words like "adulterinos" and "fidgetated."  It's like Junie B. Jones with four syllable words.  It is touching to note how, even in moments of great confusion, the angel cares for its humans with a sweet, grumbly sort of love.

What I think works against the story is the wandering plot and frequent deviations from the main story.  I found myself re-reading several passages, uncertain about where things were going, and still confused by the end.  I feel a little dense.

Final verdict?  I'm not sure I will recommend this to my students.  This is not as weak an offering as Castle Corona (which I thought blundered and doddered to an uninspired conclusion), but I'm not convinced kids will find their way through the slow story and strange words to appreciate the clever writing.  In the meantime, I'll continue to suggest The Wanderer, Bloomability and Walk Two Moons to anyone who will listen.

Ratings
Awesomeness: 4 - clever and touching, but slow and confusing
Wordsmithing: 6 - funny speech patterns
Personages: 4 - I just didn't care enough for Zola or the angel, but the kids were cute
Mesmerizitude: 5 - the story lagged a bit at times, but the good writing helped keep it going

Other Reviews
• at The Reading Tub
• at Becky's Book Reviews
• at Charlotte's Library

This was posted at Saturday Reviews on January 16, 2010.

2010 Challenge: Original TBR

Here's a challenge I can really sink my teeth into.  My TBR pile is ridiculously big, but I have hundreds more books on my shelf I have never read (Librarything says only 97, but who's counting?).  I can't say this will ever change, but this may help me whittle away at some of the books I've been waiting years to read. In keeping with the nature of this blog, I will only read children's or YA books.

Here's my list of 12:

1. Dove and Sword by Nancy Garden
   
2. Incident at Hawk's Hill by Allan Eckert
   
3. Last Days by Scott Westerfeld
   
4. Morning Girl by Michael Dorris
   
5. The Prince in Waiting by John Christopher
   
6. Riding Freedom by Pam Muños Ryan
   
7. A Ring of Endless Light by Madeline L'Engle (also on my list for the YA Through the Decades challenge, but applicable here because I've owned it for years without reading it)
   
8. Seaward by Susan Cooper
   
9. The Toothpaste Millionaire by Jean Merrill
   
10. Magic or Madness by Jean Larbaliester
    
11. A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. LeGuin
    
12. Ironman by Chris Crutcher

I will schedule these to be read throughout the year and check back in as I progress.

2010 Challenge: Read Your Doppelganger

This is the first of twelve mini-challenges as part of the very clever Take Another Chance challenge over at Find Your Next Book Here:

Challenge Description: Find an author who has either the same initials, the same first name, the same last name, or the exact same name as you. Read a book by this author and write a post about it. (If you try to keep your identity anonymous on your blog, you don't have to reveal what part of the author's name is the same as your name.)


I figured this would not be easy, as both my first and last name are fairly uncommon.  I started by looking up books written by authors with my last name.  Hmmm... I'm not particularly interested in literary criticism of Slaughterhouse Five, nor am I having trouble sleeping.  Then I tried my first name, which is an unusual spelling of Maggie (no e).  I found some books about quilting, St. Augustine, FL and Bible studies.  There were a few fiction titles, but nothing captured my interest.  Maggi-Meg Reed did the audiobook narration for lots of great titles, but I guess that's not quite good enough. Maggi Charles wrote several paperback romances, but even I'm not sure I could struggle through one.  


Finally, as I was poking around Amazon, I found an actual YA title with an author named Maggi.  I bought a copy for $4 through Amazon and will be curious to see if it's any good (the sole review on Goodreads, at least, is positive).  


Update!  I received the book:

Kerry,  A Teenage Mother
written by Maggi Aitkens, photographs by Rob Levine
Lerner Publications Company, 1994
48 pages, b&w photographs








This true story (one must assume it is true, but it doesn't say anywhere in the book if it is or not) relates a case study of a single teen parent named Kerry and her toddler Vanessa.  


There's not much to appeal to the average reader about this book.  The photos are quite nice, but black and white is, unfortunately, the kiss of death for books for young readers.  It's only 16 years old, but the style feels more like early 1980s.  While Vanessa is sleeping, for example, the book describes Kerry as having nothing to do but "jigsaw puzzles and the game of Life, which sounds radically different from today's world of texting and online multiplayer games.   


Kerry seems very real and honest, but also a good example for many teen moms.  She's smart, motivated and spends time with her daughter.  The last page is Kerry telling teen parents not to give up their dreams just because they are parents. Primarily, it's a warning against teen pregnancy, but it does present some hope for kids who might be facing being parents themselves.

2010 Challenge: Read'n'Review

Okay, take a deep breath... this challenge is going to be a big one for me.  From Reader Challenges:

• Review each book you read between January 1st and December 31st of the current year.

• PLEASE keep your reviews clean & respectful ~ these books we read are the hard work of an author, and we don’t need to be mean. Even if you didn’t like the book, please try to find something you can say that would be encouraging to the author.

• Reviews can be as short, or long, as you wish
• You MAY overlap with other challenges
• eBooks and Audiobooks ARE allowed
• If there will be spoilers in your review, please note this in the subject line of your post so that those who don’t want to read them can skip that review. Thank you.

I am a dismal failure thus far at writing regular reviews.  However, I acknowledge that doesn't mean I will always be a dismal failure.  Hence, this challenge. 

Wish me luck!

Bloggiesta: Day 3 Final Wrap-Up

Well, as much as I might not like to admit it, the weekend is over, and so is my first Bloggiesta!  I had so much fun reading others' posts about how to improve their blogs, and learned a lot just by observing the layout of others' blogs too.

Today I had a little more time than yesterday to do some work:
• I'm still getting caught up on reading posts from the feed, which was so fun.
• I implemented some of the ideas I collected on blog layout, including changing the layout/color scheme, adding a Currently Reading and Listening box, adding a Goodreads widget, adding a Followers widget, etc.
• I wrote some posts.
• I added a footer, per the mini-challenge.
• I added my challenges to my Challenges sidebar.

All in all, I spent over 10 hours this weekend on my blog, which is more than I've ever spent on it in the past.  I left 24 comments (not counting comments on challenges), mostly on Friday and Saturday and participated in five mini-challenges, two from last time and three from this time.

Things I didn't do this weekend:
• Review any books.  =(  I'm still reading the book I started the weekend reading.  Even the picture books my kids chose to read with me were repeats.  *sigh*  For a book review blog, I haven't done any actual book reviews in a while!

Still to do, on a rainy day:
• Put my to-read pile into Goodreads and figure out how to link directly to public library & Paperbackswap (book links function)
• Update my Google Reader list from the RSS feed list in Mail.  The formatting is so much more pleasant.

And, on a regular basis, here are some additional goals:
• Write more reviews, darn it!
• Participate in Booking Through Thursday, Saturday Reviews and In My Mailbox frequently (I won't say weekly, because I know that will be the kiss of death).
• Keep up with TBR pile and challenges reading.

This has been a great experience.  Thanks to everyone who made it possible!  I would have loved a Newbies post for those of us participating in the Bloggiesta who are new to the blogosphere, but I really learned a lot just by paying attention.  Next year I'll try to make more focused time to participate, but all things considered, I'm proud of myself and really enjoyed every bit.

In My Mailbox: Classics of teen literature

This is my first In My Mailbox post! It's a very nice one, too, because I treated myself to a big order at Powell's. I was out of Paperback Swap credits, and, well, it was a holiday thing. =) I can't feel too bad when the median price for a book was $4.00!

Here's what was in the box, in approximate order of copyright (left to right):

1. The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings (1938) (not pictured)
   
2. Daly, Maureen. Seventeenth Summer.
   
3. I Capture the Castle - Dody Smith
   
4. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
   
5. Catcher in the Rye - Salinger
   
6. Fifteen - Cleary
   
7. A Separate Peace - Knowles
   
8. Farmer in the Sky - Heinlein
   
9. Hinton, S.E.  The Outsiders.  Dell, 1967.
   
10. Lipsyte, Robert.  The Contender.  Harper, 1967.
    
11. Zindel, Paul. The Pigman. Bantam, 1968.
    
12. My Darling My Hamburger - Zindel
    
13. Mr Mrs Bo Jo Jones - Head
    
14. Lisa Bright and Dark - Neufeld
    
15. Camilla - L'Engle
    
16. Blume, Judy. Forever.
    
17. Cormier, Robert. The Chocolate War. Dell, 1974.
    
18. Kerr, M.E. Dinky Hocker Shoots Smack. Harper & Row, 1972.
    
19. Mohr, Nicholasa. El Bronx Remembered.
    
20. Killing Mr Griffin - Duncan
    
21. Are You In the House Alone - Peck
    
22. Cat Ate My Gymsuit - Danziger
    
23. Block, Francesca Lia.  Weetzie Bat. Harper, 1989.
    
24. Cisneros, Sandra. The House on Mango Street.
    
25. Hamilton, Virginia. Sweet Whispers, Brother Rush.
    
26. Fallen Angels - Walter Dean Myers
    
27. Izzy Willy-Nilly - Voigt
    
28. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson (1999)

    
29. 
The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline B. Cooney (1990)
    
30. 
Blood And Chocolate by Annette Curtis Klause (1997)
    
31. 
If You Come Softly by Jacqueline Woodson (1998)
    
32. Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes by Chris Crutcher (1994)
    
33. Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli (2000)
    
34. 
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Ann Brashares (2001)

    
35. 
The First Part Last by Angela Johnson (2003)
    
36. 
Sammy and Juliana in Hollywood by Benjamin Alire Saenz (2004)

    
37. I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak (2005)

    
38. Looking for Alaska by John Green (2005)

    

I've read a few of these already, but most I've just not gotten around to reading. Even the ones I've read I could stand to read again (Blood and Chocolate, Speak, The Outsiders). Some books I'll be reading for this challenge are not on this list because I already own them.

I'm really looking forward to these books!  I started The Yearling yesterday.

Bloggiesta Mini-Challenge: Footers

This was a very simple mini-challenge, but I can imagine it might be important!  I just added a simple page footer and feed footer.

Bloggiesta: Day 2 check-in

Ugh ugh ugh! I didn't make it on the computer AT ALL today. Every time I opened up the computer, Ivy was right on top of me, begging me to do something with her. Brunch, our neighbor's kids' birthday party, an unplanned nap (hubby, not me) in the middle of the day, laundry, gaming and tiki cocktail hour at another neighbor's... well, that was a full day right there.

I'm revising my goals to 5 reviews this weekend instead of 10. We are going to see Avatar tomorrow afternoon, then having dinner with friends, so I'll only have blog time in the AM and evening. Still, I'm pleased for what I've done so far. I did spend a chunk of today reviewing my recent order from Powell's, but I'll make a separate post about that.

Hope others are having a fantastic Bloggiesta and getting tons done!

Bloggiesta Mini-Challenge: Goals for 2010

I've really enjoyed reading others' goals for the upcoming year! Y'all are way too motivated for me. I can barely manage to brush my teeth every day. But, of course, I'm here to TRY, right? So here goes:

GOALS FOR 2010

1. Participate in, and successfully complete, 5 or more challenges. Organize challenges in such a way that they're easy to remember and follow.

2. Write at least one review each week and post it to Saturday Reviews. Schedule time to read and write review each week, then DO IT. Do more reviews with Ivy.

3. Read more with my kids. I read a lot with them over the summer, but during the school year it gets hectic. I can manage one book a day with each of them, either in the morning or the evening.

4. Keep library TBR pile under 100 books -- mostly to be kind to my library!

5. Read blogs and comment regularly. This is something I do sporadically, but really enjoy and would like to make more time to do.

I think that's enough for this year.

Bloggiesta: Day 1 check-in

Well, I haven't had much time today to participate in the Bloggiesta, but I knew it was going to be a tough one. Friday is my other day with no planning time, plus meetings after work, stop at the library, get pizza for Pizza-and-Movie-Night, watch said movie with kids, fall asleep on couch (oops! that part wasn't planned...). You get the idea.

But here I am, and I'm psyched! I've been reading through the RSS feed and loving everyone's contests, challenges and reviews.

DAY ONE

• Tonight has been Comment-O-Rama for me -- I did at least 20 comments. Technically I did most of my comments on Day One (before midnight) but many of them drifted over into Day Two... I'm still counting them as part of Day One, though, because I did them before I went to bed. =)

• As I was reading new blogs and commenting, I took notes on things I would like to add to my blog. Here's what I have so far:

Blog Layout & Widget Ideas

- followers (all two of them, yay!) =)

- link to Goodreads and Librarything

- blogroll on side (scrolling box?) showing most recent post - how d'you do that??

- challenges w/wordmeters - http://www.languageisavirus.com/nanowrimo/word-meter.html

- books read in one year

- TwitterCounter

- To Read list on BookBox (sharebookbox.com)

- categories vs. tags, figure this out

- currently reading/listening to (although this could get quite looooong)

O my gosh, what a nifty tool: the Book Blog Search Engine! Hosted by Fyrefly's Book Blog, this promises to provide a quick way to find others' reviews of books I'm posting. I look forward to playing with this.

Off to bed. My goal tomorrow is to focus on reviews, finish reading blogposts from Bloggiesta participants, leave more comments and do the rest of the mini-challenges.

Bloggiesta: Contests

I've been hoping to find some list or (duh) blog with book blog challenges, neatly organized for my untidy little brain. What to my wondering eyes did appear? Novelchallenges! How handy. And my Lord, I will never do anything but join challenges if I'm not careful.

Here are some delectable morsels you might win, offered by bloggers involved in the Bloggiesta!

• Win a copy of The Secret Year at The Book Cellar

More to come!

Bloggiesta: Day 0 check-in

I just realized it is actually Thursday, not Friday, meaning I am a day early for the Bloggiesta. heh. Okay, so this is actually day 0.

But... blogging right along! After a short break in which I dismantled the Yule tree (and doesn't a fake tree look bizarre when taken apart into small pieces?), I'm back for a check-in before bed.

Goal #1 has been largely reached. I've sorted through the list of blogs I read regularly, weeded those I have been deleting without reading, and added a few more from others' blogrolls. I suspect I will be adding more as the weekend progresses.

Comment Challenge is coming up tomorrow. Woohoo! My goal is to visit as many blogs as I can find and leave thoughtful comments. I'm going to start with the 100 folks signed up for the 2010 Bloggiesta.

Back in June, the Bloggiesta mini-challenge was to write an elevator pitch for our blog. Here's mine: "At Mama Librarian, I read and review books with my three (now almost four!) year old daughter, comment on tidbits from the kidlitosphere, and discuss all things related to children's literature." Thanks to Deborah at Books, Movies and Chinese Food for hosting this one.

Another mini-challenge was to set up some Google Alerts relating to our blog. I did what many others suggested, which was to set an alert for any mention of my blog's name or my email address. Thanks to Emily's Reading Room for hosting here!

I'm pumped! I'm ready! (I hope for a snow day!)

Olé! Bloggiesta!

It has begun! I'm technically still at work, but I'm just waiting for my online course to begin. I can get off to a good start.

GOALS:

1. Clean up RSS feeds. Not directly related to my blog, but definitely important to my blogging ability. Thus far I've had blogs delivered to my inbox. I like this because they come right to my attention, but I just don't have time during the day to pay attention to blog posts the way I would like to. So, sadly, I turned off the inbox feature and will plan some time each day to read the blogs. I want to reconcile the blogs in my inbox with the ones on my neglected feed list on Google, or establish a feed reader I like. Any suggestions (for this Mac user)?

2. Spiff up my blog. I don't like the looks of things around here. I want it to look tighter and neater and get rid of any extraneous junk around the edges. Looks like I'll be delving into the Blogger man files. (are they even CALLED man files anymore??)

3. Write at least 10 reviews this weekend. I want to review some of the books I've read recently and took notes for, and I want to get rid of some of the picture book piles in my family room.

4. Write at least 20 comment posts to other Bloggiesta participants. I wish I could promise to write a comment to everyone! Maybe... who knows how late I can stay up. =)

If you stop by, please write a hello and some encouragement. I have a busy weekend, including a Yule tree to take down and two adorable toddlers to play with, not to mention a husband to cuddle and six quadrillion books beckoning me to read... read... read...

Yay, Storm in the Barn!

Matt Phelan's spare, creepy graphic novel about the Dust Bowl era has won the 2010 Scott O'Dell award for Historical Fiction!

I was disappointed when others on the Cybils graphic novel committee downplayed this book's impact. It reminded me of The Underneath in the way it put a folktale spin on a realistic place and time. It is really worth a read.

Oh, and the book trailer makes it look even creepier than it actually is. Excellent.

2010 Challenge: Finish That Series

I'm going to like this challenge: Finish That Series. From the web site:

This is an opportunity for you to finish all of those series that have been sitting on your book shelf looking at you. I don't know about you but I have quite a few. With this challenge you count series completed, not books read. I have a series with 20 books in it, although I'm not sure I'll include this one, it doesn't matter how many books are in the series or if you've read most of them and only have one or two left to read. The object of this challenge is to finish the series.

I'll be participating at the Curious level, in which I will finish 2 series I've been wanting to read. One is the Ivy and Bean series by Annie Barrows. I'll consider this one done if I read all the books so far published by the end of the year. This is short and light and I'm already mostways through it. The other is Inkspell/heart/death by Cornelia Funke. I've been waiting to read it until I had a reason, since it's thick and daunting and it's always checked out. Well, now I have a reason!

Perhaps next year I'll do more, but I'm more interested in new books than old, so this is already a deviation from my usual focus.

Bloggiesta, here I come!

Me being a newbie blogger and all, I didn't know about the Bloggiesta until just today, but it sounds like a perfect opportunity for me to catch up on my Mock Caldecott reading/reviewing. Maybe I'll even figure out some of these doodads on Blogger.

What are YOUR favorite chapter books?

Okay, I don't call them chapter books, but my kids sure do. I bet you can name your top ten.

The Top 100 Children’s Fictional Chapter Books Poll!

Vote for your top ten middle grade books of all time (not just this year or last year) by January 31, 2010. This will NOT include YA books or early readers. You should list these books in your order of preference. That means, your #1 chapter book would be the one you feel is the most important or the best, so Betsy will give it 10 points. Your #2 choice will receive only 9 points. Etc, etc.

I'm not at all sure if my favorite book of all time, Watership Down, counts as a middle grade novel. As it is, I'll list it as:

0. Watership Down - Richard Adams -- I read this four times before I was twelve. The adventure series to end all adventure series. I spent much of my fourth and fifth grade years pretending to be a rabbit.

1. Little White Horse - Elizabeth Goudge -- I discovered this one as an adult and was blown away by Goudge's flowery description and absolutely lovable characters. I recently re-read it to see if it would hold up (after 10 years as a librarian) and it sure did.

2. The Dark is Rising - Susan Cooper -- It's hard not to take this series as a whole, but if I had to only read one of them again, it would be this one. I found this one when I was fifteen in a tiny rural library in northern Michigan and recognized it from Julia Ecklar's filk song of the same name. I fell into immediate love and consumed all five in one week. Since then I've read them many times and find new things to love every time.

3. A Little Princess - Francis Hodgson Burnett -- My favorite by far of her books, and the classic I re-read most frequently (even more than Little Women). Sara's attic just came to life in my mind each time I opened the book.

4. The Phantom Tollbooth - Norton Juster -- I think this book inspired my love of puns and wordplay, not to mention math and word games. It brought to earth large concepts like Boredom and Truth.

5. Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill - Maud Hart Lovelace -- Discovered as a child, rediscovered as a teen and still loved as an adult, all the Betsy-Tacy books are worth reading, but this was my favorite. My sister and I played a lot of Betsy-Tacy when we were growing up.

6. Danny the Champion of the World - Roald Dahl -- Even though all of Roald Dahl's books have a special spot on my bookshelves, this is my favorite. It evoked the clearest, simplest feeling of love by a child for a parent that any book has ever done.

7. The Diamond in the Window - Jane Langton -- What a great mix of mystical adventures, houses with hidden places and sibling rivalry (and a nod to some famous American literary figures). I had no idea it was part of a series until I became a librarian!

8. A Wind in the Door - Madeline L'Engle -- I liked this one even more than the first book. I think it was the powerfully imagined character of Proginoskes.

9. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - J.K. Rowling -- My favorite of the seven. Harry had to make an appearance on my list.

10. The Four-Story Mistake - Elizabeth Enright -- This is another book I can't believe I didn't read until I was an adult. I saw it on so many favorites lists, I had to pick them up. Again, it stands alone as a series, so I had a hard time choosing which one was the best, but I have a warm spot in my heart for houses with secret places inside.

I could add so many more...

Holes

Trumpet of the Swan

Frindle

etc, etc.

What are YOUR choices?

Review of 2009 and looking ahead

2009:

It was my first year blogging. I read blogs more regularly as the year went on. I just started to dip my toe into the water of writing my own reviews. I received my first review copy (which I have not yet reviewed, shame on me). My to-read shelf expanded to astronomical proportions (over 250 books at one point, ugh!). I read way more books than I reviewed. I found out about some of those day-of-the-week themed events, like Nonfiction Monday. I semi-participated in one 24 hour blogathon and I am definitely doing that again. Ivy and I did some collaborative reviews, which was so fun. I can't wait to get her writing her own as she improves her ability to type and write. My most exciting aspect of 2009 was participating in the Cybils graphic novel review panel.

2010:

I don't yet have a good sense of my goals here, but I'm having fun and that is fine. I'm trying not to make it about writing regularly or punishing myself for not keeping up with my to-read pile. But, I do want to do more blogging to go along with my reading. I am signing up for some challenges to give a bit of structure to my year. I'm going to do more themed reviews. You'll definitely see more of Ivy; maybe my littler kid will get in on the action as well.

Thanks for reading!

2010 Challenges: GLBT Challenge

Here's challenge #2 for 2010, and it's only January 1!

GLBT Reading: GLBT Challenge 2010

My goal is to read picture books and middle grade books, which will be shorter but will keep me aimed at my target audience. I can easily get off track when I see a beautiful stack of teen/ya novels on my to-read shelf...

Here are the books I have read so far.  I'm trying to hunt down some more picture books before moving on to middle grade, and I have a few I haven't yet read.  

1. And Tango Makes Three - Peter Parnell & Justin Richardson
2. In Our Mothers' House - Patricia Polacco
3. King & King - Linda De Haan and Stern Nijland
4. Everywhere Babies - Susan Meyers
5. Mini Mia and her Darling Uncle - Pija Lindenbaum
6. Oliver Button is a Sissy - Tomie de Paola
7. William's Doll - Charlotte Zolotow

Cybils finalists are in!

Of all the Best Of lists, this one is my favorite. You'll see me in the Graphic Novels section. We had so much fun reading this eclectic mix of books, all of which were good and many of which we never would have heard of if we hadn't been on this panel. A fantastic experience all round.

http://dadtalk.typepad.com/cybils/2010/01/2009-finalists-the-best-of-the-best.html

Thanks to all my fellow panelists!