By: David Elzey,
on 2/14/2008
The awards are up, a valentine for kidlit from the bloggers who love them. It's nice to see a number of books I actually read made it. You can read my take on the non-fiction picture book award winner, Lightship, as well as the middle grade fiction winner, A Crooked Kind of Perfect. The Awards are over here. You should see what this chucklehead has to say about the graphic novels. Sheesh!
By: David Elzey,
on 11/27/2007
Linda Urban Harcourt 2007 Zoe wants a piano. In her mind she considers herself a piano prodigy waiting to be discovered. She's just a baby grand away from Carnegie Hall. But when her easily-distracted dad is charged with procuring the instrument he returns home with a cheesy Perfectone D-60 organ, complete with electronic rhythm sections and lessons that feature television theme songs in its
By: Kate Hall,
on 11/4/2007
So once again I have missed the first book in a series and jumped right into the second. This was a very gritty, urban magic book. It reminded me of Shadowlight by Bradley and the Harry Dresden series by Butcher (although our heroine does not have nearly as many accidents as Dresden does in his books). This is the story of Harper Blaine (love the name!) who is a PI and had a near death experience that has essentially changed the way she looks at the world. Now she can move in the realm of ghosts and see magic around her otherwise know as traveling through the Grey. It is a fascinating premise and is very well described (so often the author has a clear view of things that does not translate well to the reader). So Harper is hired to find out who in a group of people is faking paranormal phenomena. They are part of a study being done at a college and the professor cannot believe that the results they are getting are real and so, hence, someone must be faking the data. Of course it is a real poltergeist that plays all sorts of havoc and whatnot on the town before things are resolved. Harper while trying to solve the crime is still trying to figure out how all this greywalker stuff works. The stories are more realistic because she does not know everything and did not have this near death experience only to be given knowledge of how it all works. So she is slowly learning and I think will grow as a character in a much more believeable fashion because of it. I definitely have to go back and read the first, but I will have to wait for the leaning tower of books to shrink a bit. I look forward to seeing more about Harper Blaine.
By: Kelly Fineman,
on 8/13/2007
On Saturday, the family and I went to Musikfest in Bethlehem, PA. While the kids ran wild and hubby looked for snacks, I took a side trip into the Moravian Book Shop: "the oldest book store in the world". (While I am not 100% positive that they can prove that claim, I will note that the store has been in business since 1745. So.) I went looking for a special little something; a book that isn't officially out until September, but which started creeping into independent book stores as early as last Tuesday. And there it was:
I got home after 11 p.m. last night, and then did the only logical thing. I stayed up far too late to read A Crooked Kind of Perfect by Linda Urban (
I LOVE IT!! (And for anyone who's read the book -- those exclamation points are entirely trustworthy. Really.)
Faithful readers will remember that this book is one that I most looked forward to in 2007. And those of you who wonder if I'm sincere in saying this book is good, even though it's by a friend, should take a gander at this post predicting it to be a Newbery contender next year. Yeah, I said it. And so have a number of other folks, by the way, including highly ranked agents and editors. Good thing they left an open space on the top of the cover. But I digress.
A Crooked Kind of Perfect tells the story of Zoe Elias, an almost-eleven-year old girl who desperately wants to play the piano. At Carnegie Hall. But really, she'd settle for actually playing the piano at first. Zoe spends most of her after-school time at home with her dad, a guy with anxiety issues that pretty much keep him from being around other people, except for Hugh, the UPS guy. Mr. Elias spends his time furthering his education with at-home study courses. Mrs. Elias is the controller for the state of Michigan, and spends most of her time (including weekends) at work.
When Zoe's dad brings home a boompa-chucka Perfectone D60 electric organ! with "two (2!) keyboards, ergonomically stacked to put high and low octaves in easy reach!" and "luxuriously realistic walnut veneer!", Zoe isn't exactly thrilled. And when Wheeler Diggs follows Zoe home one day and befriends her father, Zoe really doesn't know what to think. But she kinda likes playing music -- and she kinda likes having Wheeler around, too. And when she's invited to play at the annual Perform-O-Rama, Zoe has to make a choice: prodigy or practice?
Why I love this book:
1. It rings true. Not just because I was a young girl who desperately wanted to play the piano, and then did, although I'm sure that didn't hurt. Zoe's need for acceptance and friendship is really what drives the book, and that rings true.
2. It's funny. And it has heart. And for you writer-types out there, who hear editors rave about wanting to see books with heart (without naming titles, usually), this is the exact book they mean. This and
3. I have an inner 10-year old girl's crush on Wheeler Diggs, who never takes off his denim jacket even if it's really hot out, or really cold. In fact, my inner 10-year old girl's crush on Wheeler is pretty much as strong as my inner 16-year old girl's crush on Tom Tanner from Tips on Having a Gay (ex)Boyfriend, which is saying something. Because Tom Tanner hits levels on the crush-o-meter that approach "Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy levels." I'm just saying.
4. The quality of the writing is superior. Really, truly excellent (or as Wheeler might say "top drawer"). So excellent that it has forced me to have positive feelings about the song "Forever in Blue Jeans," and to get misty eyed when Neil comes on the radio. Now that's some powerful writing.
So -- even though I read this in a prior incarnation as a manuscript (and before final revisions, I should add, so there was stuff here (and stuff not here) that was new to me), and even though Linda is a friend, I'd have to say that I'd be recommending this book even if those things were not true. Because this book is that good. A Crooked Kind of Perfect is a perfect kind of book.
Hm. Okay, so as I understand it, the book causes quite a lot of head-scratching for you . . . and is utterly and entirely forgettable after you read it. I admit that Newbery won't find as much meat as they like in this one (watch, it'll get an Honor) but the way the review is written it sounds as if the complications keep you from enjoying what might otherwise be fluff. I was fond of the
Yeah, in my muddle I'm not exactly clear about my muddle. What happens is I read this book and went "Huh, pretty fluffy, but not objectionable, I'll let my youngest read it." Then a few days later someone says they've heard good about it, built up to the point where it felt like it could become a letdown.Hmm. I think about the story a bit and, yeah, okay, it had some flaws. Then others
Now this is an interesting query. I was on the Newbery committee last year, so as weird as this sounds, I don't think I can answer this entirely theoretical question. How odd, eh? The most I can do is talk about its chances this year, and though I said "Honor", don't believe a word out of my mouth. The trend with awards is always to go with the older material. Wednesday Wars is the horse I'm