Awesome blog. Thanks for turning me on to it. Would love to get prints of some of those. Very fun.

No. You are not the last. Thanks for pointing me over to it. It's fantastic!

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I really enjoyed The Loser's Guide to Life and Love. . .very cute and clever.

Took the kids to Night at the Museum over the weekend and they had this trailer before the movie. After the trailer, both of my oldest (boys, aged 9 and 7) looked at me and said "That looks awesome! Can we see it"

We'll be reading the book this summer. Should be fun. :)

I loved the pancake falling on the school. LOL

Oh, that kind of makes me sad. I was also a child completely intrigued by the Land of Chewandswallow and it seems like this movie holds just a fraction of the joy that the book has. But, that being said, I'll still see it, just like Where the Wild Things Are out of idle curiosity.

I LOVED this book as a child...and now my 4 yr old daughter LOVES the book also! I am so glad I kept my copy so she could have it to enjoy!

I am SO with you on this book. I finally finished it just to have finished it, but I didn't see it as the jewel and rare gem that everyone else is raving about. I don't know. . . I guess it just didn't do it for me.

I feel like something is wrong with me because I didn't like The Twilight series or the Traveling Pants series. Good that we all can have our own thoughts and opinions so that we are not all the same.

The Great Gatsby! Everyone loves it, and I hated it.

The Tiger Rising was one that I wasn't as impressed by but has received lots of praise. I still have The Underneath on my shelf. I hope I like it!

Despite everyone I know having finished the whole Twilight series in a weekend, I have been stalled in the middle of the 3rd one for almost 2 months. Not that I haven't read other stuff, I just keep losing interest after a chapter and putting it to the side. Also, I hated Catcher in the Rye and used to fight about it with my roommate's English major friend.

I couldn't finish it either, but had the same reaction as you. You are not alone.

AMEN! I am just trying to finish it as well to have finished it. I feel bad when a book is like that for me, almost guilty as well because so many raved about it, and because I LOVE reading. Anyways, we'll see if I get through it.

Our DC Kid Lit Book Club was divided over The Underneath. We appreciated the writing, but thought that it was pretty dark for the age group it was targeting. Reminds me of my other dark book that a lot of people loved and others hated - Edward Tulane.

You described exactly how I feel about The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (The newest Newbery winner). I had it on my shelf to read and as soon as it won...I thought...I should read this book. Well, I am 104 pages into it and bored to tears. I honestly don't care about the characters or see the draw in the storyline. I guess I will have to finish it...because it won. I think the committee chose this book because of its popularity (recent criticism about choosing book that no one likes or reads).

Anyone else having trouble with this book?

I, too, have been unable to finish The Underneath. I was worried because so many people think it's great. Perhaps it's just not my kind of book.

I have read such mixed reviews on this one, I feel like I have to read it to find out. One children's book that I hated was Stone Fox (a dog book) because the end was unexpected and tragic. I almost threw the book at the wall. An adult book that everyone loved and I hated was Pillars of the Earth. Actually, I didn't finish it I thought it was so awful.

i loved the Underneath! but i totally understand when a book just isn't for you. Still, I had to defend it, because to me, it was wonderful :)

Dear Ms. Stephanie Ford:

I was reading with interest your posts... and I want to know if maybe you could read the children books I've wrote and give me a critic to improve?

PS please excuse me for my english but it isn't my first language. (Don't worry, the books aren't translated by me)

Warm Regards and thanks for all,

Julián
todoquizas@gmail.com

I finished The Underneath and loved it, but I see what you mean. It is dark.

I was initially put off by the cover. It seemed so cutesy. I think if the cover was a little darker to reflect what sort of story it is, that might help.

My .02, anyway!

I did not like Bridge to Terabithia, and my daughter (9 or 10 at the time) did not like it either. I thought it was depressing throughout, and I did not finish the book with any sense of hope. The imaginary world of Terabithia wasn't enough to lift the darkness for me.

BTW--I love this site! THANKS for running it.

Michelle

Stephanie,
Your blog is amazing. Every time you put up a new book I request it from the library. I would have never know about them otherwise. Thanks so much!!
My daughter's favorite has been Fanny. She said the dolls that Fanny can't have are just like the
Bratz dolls that I don't want her to have. We read it almost every day- so it's about time I buy my own copy.
She also loves Ducks don't wear socks.
I'm a fan of Charley Harper's ABC's. The art is beautiful. I think the pictures would be perfect for nursery art.

Thanks again for sharing all of these! (You might not remember me- but we were in the Univ. ward together for a little while.)

When I dislike a book that everyone seems to love I wonder if something is wrong with me, too. I gave up reading the Disreputable history of Frankie Landau-Bankes that so many enjoyed. Graceling is another many loved that I thought was okay, but not great. It's a good thing there are so many, many different books out there for different tastes. I really liked The Underneath, but I can't figure out who the audience is.

Runaway Bunny.... can't stand it. The way the mother stalks the child... I find it creepy not endearing. Also don't appreciate the illustrations.

I just posted about The Graveyard Book. I edited my post several times to make it sound more "warm fuzzy" because I didn't want people sending me hate mail.

It's not that I couldn't stand The Graveyard Book, I just don't get why it won any kind of award.

Yes, I totally want to hang out with him and his friends. It is a great video.

What a great review. This one's on my list now and I definitely won't start it right before bed!

Sounds like a good book to read. I'm generally not a big fan of books that use the f word a lot, but I get your point about it not having the same weight as it does here. Swearing is so cultural. I think I will give it a try.

OMG - I so agree - this book is amazing - curse whoever it was that wrote the review that first led me to it :) Now I can't get it out of my head! lol

This is this month's book scheduled for an online book club and I've just commenced reading it, I thoroughly enjoyed the review. However, I just wanted to state that I'm currently residing in Australia and the "F" word is as bad here as it is anywhere in the world. It is used by children, teens and adults here but no more than how much it is used in the US.

I have read the "Hunger Games" and it is fabulous!
Hello, my name is Kelly and I ran across your blog while researching some things for my own book club and fell in love with your incite and recommendations! Do you currently live in Utah? I'd love to talk to you sometime about you MA in Children’s Literature and your wonderful Children’s book club! What a great and refreshing idea! (I promise I'm not a weirdo!) You can visit me at my blog at www.dearthduo.blogspot.com but you will see pictures of me acting like a weirdo from New Years, don't judge me! I hope to hear from you,
Kelly

Oh, P.S. I saw on your blog that you looking for great spots to eat and shop etc. and I wondered if you have been to "Food For Thought" in Draper yet. I blogged about it here if you want to read: http://dearthduo.blogspot.com/2008_05_01_archive.html

It's my favorite lunch spot when me and my girlfriend need a day off together!

Hi, Stephanie. It was so fun to meet you last night. Your blog looks great and I look forward to reading all the great stuff you have here.

I've always been a fan of treasure hunts, riddles, puzzles, etc...so I've wanted to get into the 39 clues. But for some reason, I haven't taken the plunge yet.

I hope to this spring...I'd love to try and work through in-depth mysteries/puzzles with my kids. :)

I really like another book by Patrick McDonnell too. It's called "Art". Check it out.

I really enjoy reading your book reviews. Thank you!

I love the idea of an adult book club to discuss children's books! My name is Ellen Potter and I'm the author of the award-winning middle-grade children's book series OLIVIA KIDNEY, as well as PISH POSH, and the upcoming non-fiction SPILLING INK; A BOOK FOR KIDS WHO LOVE TO WRITE. My agent often alerts me when book clubs are featuring one of my books and I always offer to call in and answer, via-speaker phone, any questions the club members might have. It's so much fun for all involved that I decided to put out the offer to several established book clubs. Your club struck me as quite interesting (most of the clubs I deal with have kid members), and I'd like to extend the offer to your group. If you're interested, you can email me at ellenpotter8@gmail.com. If you'd like to take a peek at my website, it's http://ellenpotter.com
Regards!

I love "Art" by him. Too cute. You should check it out, and I'll definitely check out this book!

I'll have to check this one out. I like McDonnell's other books, but kind of like Robert Munsch's book, Love You Forever, his stuff seems like it would be more appreciated by adults than children. Do you feel this one is different?

I love "South"...
Z-Dad

i am totally going to read the diary of a wimpy kid with you guys this month. i really miss book club. I have joined a few others here and there since I lived in Columbus, but people never seem to pick books I want to read. It seems every book picked in your book club is one I want to read. Thanks for keeping this up and giving me ideas to get me reading.

Sounds like a very fun book club. I am really tempted to see if I can join.

I guess I hadn't been keeping up on movies lately. I knew Desperaux was a movie, but I didn't know about any of the others except Magic Kingdom (and that because I've been a fan of Brooks since I was a kid and still frequent his author site).

Lightning Thief and Inkheart have been sitting on my shelf since I bought them last year...and they've finally moved up my reading list and will hopefully be read this spring.

Hopefully I can get to some of these others before they turn into movies and taint my opinions. :)

Just finished reading Tale of Despereaux last week... it's amazing and I've decided to make it be the next book for my Literature Lounger's Book Club selection! And I've got Diary of a Wimpy Kid on my TBR list!

I need to jump in reading all these before the movie comes out. So many books being made into movies lately. What are your feelings about that? Good thing? Bad thing? I'm often torn about it.

What fun books! I have to tell you that I'm worried about the film version of "Coraline." I took my kids to see "Despereaux." They loved it, but the very scary trailer for "Coraline" ran before it, and my 8 year old daughter, who's pretty tough, covered her ears and eyes and put her head on her knees like an air raid whistle went off. Oddly, that kind of made me want to read the book.

I've had this book in my sights for a few months now, and you've given me some more things to consider.

A few years ago I listened to Alexie speak about his heritage and his work. He seems to consider himself evidence against the stereotype, but he also said the stereotype is there for a reason. He definitely looks on the current state of the culture, at least the Spokane Indian Reservation, with some disgust. He knows there are many factors that hold blame, but he seemed to have little sympathy for those who let themselves go.

Hi Stephanie,

I've got a "google alert" set up to let me know when information about my blog is posted somewhere. It makes it possible for me to join conversations at other blogs.

A few years ago, Wilma Mankiller (former Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation) visited our campus (University of Illinois) to give a lecture. She talked about taking visitors around the Cherokee Nation. They expected to see poverty and despair, and that's what they saw. She helped them to see community and care. Those sorts of things are not tangible, thus, not easily discernible. That's what people do not see when they read Alexie, or when they watch SMOKE SIGNALS. There's raw honesty in terms of alcohol and pain, but the strength of community and relationships is there, too. And, in DIARY, a lot of history, too.

I hope you read it again, looking at what it offers in a glass-half-full frame rather than a glass-half-empty. Look at the humor, especially.

I think that Sherman Alexie himself looks at the state of Spokane Indians in a glass-half-empty mindframe and that really shines through in this book. The poverty wasn't the disturbing part of this novel to me, it was the fact that out of the whole community, only Arnold clung to hope and the only way he could do that was to leave his community and culture behind.

As for the strength in community, there were glimmers of that when they mourned together and found humor at Arnold's grandmother's funeral together, but I don't think a strong community stands by as they know a boy is being physically abused by his alcoholic father, stands by as alcohol slowly kills everyone in the community, stands by as adult men beat Arnold up at a Pow Wow because they think it's funny. That spells out a pretty weak community to me.

Now, I still think this book has a lot of value and Arnold is very funny, I'd just like the parents and teachers of kids who are reading it to know more about it so they can talk to kids about the truths and the stereotypes. It would be great to see it paired with some of Oyate's materials dispelling the myths of the history of American Indians. I think that could spark a lot of great conversations about how Arnold's community got to that state of despair.

Thanks for an insightful review of this book. It's been recommended to me a few times but I haven't yet picked it up. I still plan on reading it sometime this year.

I think the conversation you've started in this blog post (and has continued in the comments above) will give me more to think about as I read it. I know I haven't read much about American Indians. I've read some books about Latino cultures, which is about as close as I've come. I think any book that deals with a minority culture in America has a struggle to decide the direction it wants to lean and the message it wants to portray.

I'm curious now as to whether I'll view the story/characters as optimistic/hopeful or cynical/bleak.

Hello Stephanie,
I apologize that this comment isn't related to your post, but I just wanted to say that I love reading your blog and that I am always interested in what you have to say. I am a recent college grad with a degree in Comparative Literature. I am looking for some advice about grad school because I also have a passion for children's literature and would like to pursue a masters in the field. Please email me at az54@cornell.edu if you have some time. Thank you so much and keep up the great work!

These sound really good. Thanks for your review. I'm also waiting anxiously to find out what happens with Percy Jackson.

Go ahead a gasp - I'm one of those new to Sammy Keyes, but I'm going to get to know her very soon. Isn't it great when important themes and ideas are presented with imagination and humor? Thanks for a great review.

Marcia Calhoun Forecki
Better Than Magic
www.eloquentbooks.com/BetterThanMagic.html

This series sounds awesome!

I LOVE SAMMY TOO! My co-workers know that I will be the first on the hold list when the new one comes out. I wish I had half the gumption and smarts that Sammy did at her age! She is a real girl hero! Mechelle

I love children's literature. Our mutual friend (Nikki) introduced me to your blog. Sammy Keyes and the Cold Hard Cash was not available at my library so I checked out Sammy Keyes and the Runaway Elf. Is that a good one to start with?

I would probably read them in order, starting with Sammy Keyes and the Hotel Thief then Skeleton Man and on down the line. Normally with series I like to have a break between each book, but I read several of these in a row because I was so attached to Sammy and curious about what she would get into next.

Enjoy!

So I am going to admit this...I still haven't picked up a Sammy Keyes book. Ahhh, I know, I have meant to forever. It was one of those hands-off books because the 6th grade teachers took dibs. Oh, the elementary school politics! Anyways, it is going on my list.

Also, the audio books are terrific! I still here the narrator's voice when I read them in print.

I reviewed Hunger Games on LibraryThing. Here's my review:
A concocted, formulaic, cheap, empty, mechanical attempt to tell a story of a fractured nation of the future. This is canned souless entertainment, neatly packaged thrills, bad TV all the way, abusive to the reader, empty characters, empty plot, empty dialogue, no stars. No redeeming value.

I picked this one up at the library a few days ago...this one and a few others, so I'll see if I get to it. Sounds interesting though.

While I wholeheartedly agree with the idea that this is a good book (It won the "book of the month"award on my blog). My blog is called thesundaybookreport.blogspot.com in case you didn't know. Anyway, while I agree with the contents, I was somewhat disappointed by the stereotypes located in this review. The idea that guys like gruesome battles and and will not pick up books with female protagonists is a stereotype that I don't like. I know many boys, and they are perfectly happy to pick up a book with a female main character as long as it isn't about fashion or too romantic. These studies just don't take into account that the majority of books with a female main characters are often like that. On the other hand, I loved the book itself, and the rest of the review was fantastic.
I can't wait for more recommendations!

Book Critic, I agree, they were gross generalizations, and I should have noted that in my review. Although research supports that its not the norm, I too know boys who are willing to pick up books with female protagonists, and it's a pet peeve of mine when teachers only choose classroom books with male protagonists simply because they think they can get girls to read them and they can't get boys to read book with female protagonists. Of course we all know many a girl who looks for a lot more than fashion and romance in a book. In a world where Gossip Girl books sell so well, I still thought it was important to note that romance and fashion take part in the story. Sadly, that might be all that tempt some to pick up the book (but not most, I am sure).

Nan - I appreciate your point of view, but I don't agree at all. Katniss is certainly not an empty character. That fact that she volunteered for the Hunger Games to save her sister shows her character. I wish you had been a bit more specific in your criticism. When you say that its soulless entertainment with no redeeming values, I can only assume that's because the basis of The Hunger Games is kids forced to kill other kids, but the book wasn't saying that was ok. It enraged Katniss and that rage and horror at what the government was forcing people to do is what I'm guessing fuels the next two books. I'm interested to see how it all plays out.

If you look at great literature, there are horrific things happening in soulless communities all around. Take To Kill a Mocking Bird for example, Tom Robinson should never have been found guilty and he shouldn't have died at the hands of police, yet those two terrible things take place in the novel. The novel itself is redeemed because of the outrage of Atticus Finch, it gives us hope that there will be others who feel the same way that he does and they will be in a position to do more about it. Just as in The Hunger Games, The "Games" are a soulless attrocity, Katniss doesn't have the means to avoid them, but she in no way condones them, in the end she gets away with breaking all the rules and upsets the officials by doing so. Now we have to hope that there are more like her who can push for change.

Thank you for clarifying - I agree with your comment, but I am very used to stereotypes like that, AND I don't like them.
On the other hand, with the "pet peeves" comment, many required reading books (Roll of thunder, hear my cry/Nightjohn) have female protagonists. Therefore, much class reading has female protagonists as well.

Loved this book. And...I totally groaned.

I've been looking forward to this book for a while but have yet to pick it up. My reading backlog is already overflowing. Still, all the good buzz this keeps getting may make me push it up the list sooner rather than later.

Thanks for another great review.

What sounds most depressing is that in a recovering society people would use their own children for entertainment rather than to love and cherish them through the hard times. Seems like they would protect and cherish them.

DW Golden
Fly with Fairies in a new young adult novel: Purple Butterflies

DW,
The Capitol uses The Hunger Games to remind the other districts that they have all the power and can make the districts do whatever they want, even give up their own children to send off to battle in The Hunger Games. Katniss's district doesn't want to send her and they are forced to watch the games, but view it with horror.

Granted even though they don't send their own children, it still is depressing that the Capitol finds entertainment in children forced into war with each other.

I wasn't paying enough attention to the awards to be surprised or disappointed by any of the results.

I do look forward to reading many of the winners as well as other nominees. While I may not always agree with awards or critics, it's always nice to find a good quality list to use for new recommendations. :)

Excited to read many of these books!

I had Mike Tunnell at BYU too. Have you heard of Mormon Artist Magazine? I think that's the name. He has an interview in there too.

I was asked to remove my reviews until they could tighten up the rules regarding blogging. Once that happened (committee members are now OFFICALLY allowed to blog) they said I could repost my reviews and I did. A committee member may present their own personal opinion. Just not that of the committee itself. And, as you can see with Mr. Tunnell, it has little bearing on the final result.

Thanks for clearing that up Betsy! It's actually pretty cool to know which books are committee members' favorites so hopefully we'll see more of that.

Always interesting and fun to hear the yearly results. I am reading The Underneath right now, so I need to finish it up and start some of the others as well!

I love The House in the Night-- it was my pick at the Mock Caldecott that I attended at the Provo Library. But as a group we picked We Are the Ship.
I will admit to being bothered by lots of F-words. And it bothers me that they are showing up in so many children's literature books these days. I loved The Graveyard Book and I really loved The Underneath. I have Savvy on reserve and am glad for your recommendation of it.
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