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.