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Happy Birthday to Me by Brian Rowe
Release date: April 13, 2011
Publisher: CreateSpace
Pages: 322
Age Group: Young Adult
Source: Author (Brian Rowe)
Overall: 3/5 Stars

Seventeen-year-old Cameron Martin has a huge problem: he’s aging a whole year of his life with each passing day. High school is hard enough; imagine rapidly aging from seventeen to seventy in a matter of weeks, with no logical explanation, and with prom, graduation, and the state championship basketball game on the horizon. That’s what happens to Cameron, a mischievous pretty boy who has never had to face a day looking anything but perfect. It starts with a slowing metabolism, followed by gray hair, wrinkles, and heart palpitations. Within days his girlfriend dumps him, his plastic surgeon father forces him to get a facelift, and his terrifying high school librarian seduces him to have sex with her. All he wants to do is go back to normal, but no one, not even the best doctors, can diagnose his condition. When he finds love with a young woman who may or may not be an all-powerful witch, he realizes that the only hope for his survival might be with the one person who instigated his condition in the first place... (Summary from Amazon)

When I received a review request from Brian Rowe, I was actually genuinely excited to read this book. It seemed like a really good premise, and the cover is pretty cool. However, my reading relationship with this book was a bit rocky. It started off being just your typical easy YA read. It centered around the main character Cameron, a pretty - boy on the basketball team who had it all. I knew from the first few pages that I wasn't going to be a huge fan of Cameron or his girlfriend. They both seemed a little shallow, and had a tendency to blow things out of proportion. That's my main complaint with the book. In the whole first half of the book Cameron is being a bit of a drama queen, and embodied everything I'd dislike in a real life guy. However, this is not necessarily a bad thing, since the whole book is about Cameron learning to appreciate what he has. And in the last half of the book Cameron does go through that journey and appreciate the good things in his life. By the end of the book, thank the lord, Cameron seems to have improved a lot and realize how shallow and pointless the life he led before was, and he even has brief moments of romance with the mysterious pizza waitress! Overall, the plot is great, the writing and characters ok, and the book has its brief "Aw" moments. While at times the book seems a bit unrealistic ( are there really people like Charisma out there? And who falls in love in a matter of days?), it makes for a good, light read, especially in the second half. In the end, Happy Birthday to Me is sort of like a teen Disney movie. (Think Lemonade Mouth.) It can be really great and exciting, but it's nothing like real life.

Wr

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Tween Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted at GreenBeanTeenQueen to highlight great reads for tweens! Join the fun and add your link below!



Rating: 3/5 Stars

Genre: Historical/bit of fantasy

Release Date: 10/1/2010

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About the Book: Frederick is an apprentice in a clockwork shop who is secretly working on his own clockwork man in the hopes of making journeyman.

Hannah is a maid working at a hotel trying to raise money for her family and sick father. When she hears of the possibility of a treasure, Hannah decides to seek her fortune.

Giuseppe was kidnapped from his home in Italy and works as a street musician. He dreams of returning home and when he finds a green violin, he wonders if it holds to key to his passage.

The stories weave together and the three learn that they must work together to help each other solve their problems.

GreenBeanTeenQueen Says: The Clockwork Three was a book I picked up at ALA last year and even heard the author read from, but nothing about it really sparked my interest. Then I had to read it because of committee reading, so I picked it up.

I liked the book to start and I really enjoyed all three characters. They were engaging and interesting. I did listen to part of it on CD and I was a bit annoyed by the narrator's voice for Frederick-he made him sound "nerdy" which was somewhat distracting. But I think that only came through on audio since I didn't get that when I read portions of the book.

I really liked how the author ended up weaving all three storylines together, although it did take awhile for it to happen, so readers might need some patience to get there. I also felt the ending sort of fizzled out. The explanation of Hannah's treasure, the clockwork man Frederick has been working on, and Giuseppe's green violin all seemed to contrived and coincidental. This annoyed me since I thought once the book got going, it was really interesting and I was eager to see how everything turned out. Instead it just sort of quietly ends and in some ways it felt like the author was trying to wrap things up too quickly (which is odd for a book that's 400 pages long!) I would have liked less build up and a more fleshed out ending.

I do think The Clockwork Three would be a great book for tweens who are "reading up" and looking for something a bit heavier to read. I also think it might hold interest for young readers starting to become interested in steampunk. While this isn't necessarily steampunk, the storyline with automatons and the clockwork man might be of interest to steampunk readers.

Book Parings: The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick, Larklight by Phillip Reeve, and maybe even Magic Under Glass by Jaclyn Dolamore for readers who enjoy automatons.

Full Disclosure: Reviewed from audibook CD I checked out from my local library

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Rating: 3/5 Stars

Genre: Historical/Fantasy

Release Date: 9/28/2010

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About the Book:

Emily Snow's parents have disappeared and for the past two years she has been in charge of her younger brother and making sure they survive. One morning, Emily encounters a conversation between strange beings and realizes she can see a entire hidden world in London, full of faeries. A war is raging between faeries. As Emily's brother is kidnapped, Emily must do everything she can to save him. But what side is good? What side will not destroy humankind? Emily must find the key to save her brother and help save London before faeries take over.

GreenBeanTeenQueen

Says: This is quite the twisty mystery/fantasy for middle grade readers. The book starts out much like your usual fantasy novel, but soon the story starts to take many twists and turns. Who is good? Who can Emily trust? And which path is the correct one? The entire book is like one giant riddle which is sure to keep readers engaged.

I will admit that I grew a bit tired of the "can I trust this person/what side is right" as it kept going. Just when you think you have it figured out, it changes, so it keeps readers on their toes, that's for sure! I also wish that many of the supporting characters had been fleshed out a bit more. As Emily's brother was kidnapped, I knew I was supposed to care, but I didn't really know much about him, other than he was Emily's brother, to be upset that he was missing. I do really love the piskie Corrigan and he was my favorite character. Scenes with him always provided a good laugh and he was one of the few characters we get to really know. There were so many great characters that we were introduced to, but we only see them for a small portion of the book. I hope that since this is the start to a series, we see more of them as the series progresses.

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Rating: 3/5 Stars

Genre: Contemporary

Release Date: 6/9/2009

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About the Book: Eleven-year-old Aubrey is barely surviving. Her younger sister and her father were killed in a car accident and her mother has left Aubrey-and hasn't come back. When Gram discovers that Aubrey is by herself, she brings Aubrey with her to Vermont. Aubrey writes letters to help deal with everything that is going on around her. Aubrey slowly makes friends and talks to the school counselor, but healing is a long process.

GreenBeanTeenQueen Says: I read Love, Aubrey because it's on our state book award list for 4th-6th grade. I think this is a book that is going to split readers-either they will like it or not.

I remember when this book first came out and there was Newbery buzz surrounding it. It reads a bit like a typical Newbery-character is dealing with a tough/serious/sad issue, has a family problem, is cut off at first but learns to heal and overcome said issue-add in a strong main character, a few heartfelt moments, and friends that help the character (and a cute animal character is always a plus!)

So I was a bit mixed on if I liked this one or not. The typical award formula was a bit too much for me. It's a very good book and very well written. The author tackles tough issues, especially for a tween novel, and handles them delicately. She's also never message heavy which I think readers will appreciate. Aubrey is a bit of a difficult narrator because her grief is so heavy and that takes a toll on the reader, which I think is part of why I didn't enjoy this book as much as I could have. I listened to the book on audio, and this especially made listening to the book very hard. The narrator gives Aubrey a scratchy, sad voice, which makes listening to the book a bit depressing. I also wonder if readers will get tired of Aubrey and not stick with the book-it look me awhile to like her.

I love the character of Bridget and she is an incredible friend for Aubrey. She was my favorite character in the book and I wish the world had more people like Bridget who are caring and understanding-no matter what. She's a great character for young readers to meet but at the same time I wonder how realistic Bridget is.

Readers who stick with the

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I turn you over once again to KimberlyBuggie, who is saving my life, one review at a time. If you want the blurb, click on the cover image above.


Kimberly's review: Growing up, I was a big fan of Louis Sachar. The Boy Who Lost His Face, There's A Boy In The Girl's Bathroom and all the stories from Wayside School.
Years later, (many, but I won't say how many), I'm happy to find that Mr. Sachar has still kept his sense of humor, good writing and sharp observations.

I'm not going to lie. The Cardturner does have A LOT of information about the game of bridge, which some may find boring. I don't know how to play bridge, nor do I have any interest in learning. And for all that information, it really is just a vehicle used to move the story. Sachar does a fun trick where he'll show you a whale, you'll have to read it to find out why, and what follows is a particularly long scene about bridge. At the end, he'll summarize it for you. (Thank you for realizing that I do not necessarily want to learn how to play bridge.)

But the story is about a boy and his search for his own identity. About his Uncle, a loner and a mysterious figure who may have more in common with him than he thought.

The story is filled with wonderful characters. (Toni, Gloria, and of course Lester) And while it's not a page turner, a thriller, a stay up late all night--it is a charming story about finding some friends, interests and yourself, in unexpected places.

---

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Rating: 3/5 Stars

Genre: Historical/Fantasy

Release Date: 3/1/11

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M.J. Putney's Facebook Page

About the Book: Lady Victoria Mansfield Tory lives in a time where magic is viewed as a terrible disgrace amongst the upper classes. When Tory discovers she has magical powers, she must do everything she can to hide them. But when a tragic accident occurs that causes Tory to reveal her secret, she is shamed and sent to Lackland Abbey, a school to cure young mages.
At Lackland, Tory discovers that not everyone views magic as a curse. The more she learns about magic, the more she is intrigued. With war approaching in England, Tory feels as though her magic can be useful. But using and strengthening her powers means risking her future.

GreenBeanTeenQueen Says: This book was interesting. There were things I liked and things I didn't like, which made reading it a bit annoying because I kept going back and forth on how I felt about it.

I liked that the summary on the back really only covers the first few chapters, but at the same time this bugged me a bit. We're thrown right into the story without much world building or character development and in just a few chapters Tory has discovered her magic powers, revealed them and is being shipped off to school. What I did like about this is that it leaves a lot for the readers to discover without knowing too much of the story. Because of this I sort of hesitate to talk about further plot points because I don't want to ruin the surprises.

Since the cover kind of hints at this, I will mention that I was very pleased that there was a time travel element to the story. I'm a sucker for time travel and I always enjoy a good time travel story. The book was a bit of a slow start for me, but once Tory got to Lackland and things started to pick up, I started to like it more. I really started to like it more when the time travel is thrown in. At first I wasn't sure how the author would tie everything together, but she worked it all out and it made me like the book more.

The biggest thing that had me frustrated about this book was that I felt it was lacking a lot in character development. Hopefully this changes as the series goes on. I never really knew Tory and found her a bit hard to relate to. We don't get a lot of background story for her and she just felt sort of flat. I would have liked all the characters to be fleshed out more-I never really felt like we got to really know any of them. I also got a bit frustrated about how accepting everyone was of everything. It was very convenient and everyone trusted everyone. Even if someone got upset or made a mistake, they were quick to apologize. Also, when Tory does travel through time, the family she meets are all very quick to accept her story and accept mag

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Desires of the Dead (The Body Finder, Book 1) by Kimberly Derting
Publication date: 15 February, 2011 from Harper Teen
ISBN 10/13: 0061779849 / 9780061779848
Category: Young Adult Fantasy
Format: Hardcover
Keywords: Contemporary, fantasy, paranormal, synesthesia, death

Guest Review by KimberlyBuggie

Find the synopsis at goodreads.com.

How I found out about this book: I read and loved The Body Finder (Book 1) last year. When I spotted the ARC at ALA Midwinter I let out a squee! My friend and fellow YA fanatic KimberlyBuggie agreed to do a guest post.

Guest review: I'm always hesistant when it comes to sequels. There's usually a lot to live up to compared to the first book. The author has to keep everything moving, while re-establishing the characters, bringing in a new storyline and, fingers crossed, not doing the expected. Lucky for us, Kimberly Derting does not disappoint. Desires of the Dead is a very solid sequel. Derting does a great job capturing the tone and suspense of the first novel without sticking to a formula.

I sat down on Sunday to read only a couple of chapters, 'cause I had errands to run, rooms to clean, etc.

Well, yeah. That didn't work out. Like The Body Finder, I found myself with this urge to keep reading, keep going, to find out what the mystery was and oh no! I won't stop until it's done! 'cause really, what's one more chapter?

All right, one more. Just another one. Yep.

Hours later, I left the couch, really really behind schedule but not feeling guilty about it at all.

As Jay and Violet's romance continues to grow, the lines blur between their old best friend relationship and the new romantic one. It was refreshing to see Jay and Violet's relationship develop in this book. It had a realistic forward momentum, and an endearing quality.

New characters are introduced and while they propel this story forward, it seems that the author is just laying the groundwork. I have no doubt Sara and Rafe will play even larger roles in the next books. Especially Rafe, who keeps his own secrets.

Can't wait for the next one!

Comments? What do you think? Is this something you would read? If you've already read it, put in your two cents... (no spoilers, please!)

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Rating: I can't decide-somewhere between a 2.75 and a 3/5 Stars

Genre: Science Fiction/Fantasy

Release Date: 1/3/2011

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Traveling to Teens Website

About the Book: One hundred years in the future, trees are dying. People are getting sick and Kelsa's father has recently passed away from a mysterious cancer that doctors and scientists can't explain. Then Kelsa meets a strange boy, Raven, who claims he knows what's going on and he needs her help. Raven says he's a mythological creature and magic is needed to stop the ecological disaster that is the world is facing. In Kelsa's high security world, magic isn't something anyone talks about. Raven might be crazy-or he might be telling the truth-and it's up to Kelsa to decide if she can really save the world.

GreenBeanTeenQueen Says: Honestly, I'm not really sure what to think of this book. It's got a mix of a lot of things-there's some science fiction and dystopia, magic and fantasy, and adventure. It's a hard book to fit into one genre. I think it would be a good read, especially for middle school readers, who aren't sure if they really like any of those genres and want a lighter taste of each.

I liked that while the book deals with an impending ecological disaster, it never gets preachy about saving the Earth (which I think can get really annoying). Instead, it's just part of the story and while Raven might mention that humans could have taken better care of the Earth, Kelsa mostly finds his commentary annoying and wants him to stop talking about what they should have done and focus on what they can do now.

The story jumps into Kelsa meeting Raven and starting off on her journey fairly quickly. I think I just felt there wasn't enough character development. I never got to know Kelsa or Raven. I also never got if they were starting to be friends or if it was turning into a bit of romance-the relationship between them needed a bit more development. There were also points of the story that felt a bit disjointed and I wish had been worked out a bit more-they seemed to solve things a bit too easily.I wanted more explanation of Raven's world, his magic, and the fellow shape shifters-that was the part I found the most interesting. And the end was a bit abrupt and left some things hanging-I guess there's a sequel on the way.

I do think this would be a good book for readers who like science fiction and fantasy a bit on the lighter side or readers who enjoy books with ecological themes.

Book Pairings: For some reason this book reminded me in many ways of Brightly Woven by Alexandra Bracken (not really sure why) but I think they would pair together well.

Full disclosure: Reviewed from ARC sent by author for blog tour

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The Wet Nurse's Tale
by Erica Eisdorfer


August 6th 2009 by Putnam Adult
Hardcover
0399155767 (isbn13: 9780399155765)
Historical Fiction

3 of 5 stars

Susan Rose is a lower-class maid in Victorian England. When she becomes pregnant by the lord's son, she escapes to London where she finds work as a wet nurse, as her mother had done before her. She moves from job to job, as she's needed, all the while commenting to the reader in dry tones about the scandals of the higher classes. When tragedy strikes, Susan has to decide if she can continue the life she's chosen, or if she must return and do her duty by her family.

Erica Eisdorfer is a fellow Duke grad, yet she works for the trade bookstore on the campus of UNC-Chapel Hill. Just as Eisdorfer's loyalties are a little mixed up (ahem, Blue Devils vs. Tar Heels), so Wet Nurse's Tale, her first novel, is a mixture of well done and poorly done. In fact, the well done is so well done - warm, accessible, witty writing -  it accentuates the poorly done piece all the more.

Susan is a lower class, illiterate character. She has to hire someone to write letters for her. And yet, the tone of this first person protagonist is that of an educated gentlewoman of poor means - a slightly randy Jane Eyre, if you will. To have Susan address us as "Dear Reader" - suggesting she is herself writing the book, and therefore not illiterate - completely throws us out of the comfortable rhythm of Eisdorfer's otherwise spot-on writing.

For any mom's group who's had the breast v. bottle debate, this is fun with an open perspective that won't invalidate either side; you'll want to buy it so you can underline the bits you like. For any mom who has breastfed, this is a humorous journey into nursing during another era. And for everyone else, it's a bouncy, well-researched piece of historical fiction that's neither sentimental nor hard-nosed. Check it out from the library, especially if you're a fan of Jane Eyre.

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Spiced: A Pastry Chef's True Stories of Trials by Fire, After-Hours Exploits, andWhat Really Goes on in the Kitchen
by Dalia Jurgensen

April 16th 2009 by Putnam Adult
Hardcover, 288 pages
0399155619 (isbn13: 9780399155611)

  rating: 3 of 5 stars

"Order, fire!" screamed Steven from the window that separated the small, open kitchen from the dining room.

Dalia Jurgensen left an office job and jumped head first into the New York restaurant scene.  Fourteen years later, she wrote Spiced, a memoir of her time in the kitchens of some of the most famed restaurants in the city.  You'll read about her first mentor, Mika; her struggles with a male-dominated industry; problems with chef uniforms and her decision to pursue pastry rather than savory cooking.

I love Food Network, especially those Vegas competitions where high-strung people have to make wicked amazing cakes. So I thought I would like Spiced. In fact, I liked it better than I expected to, but I wasn't dazzled.  The difficulty with memoirs, of course, is how to have an assertive presence without seeming to grandstand or be stuck-up.  Jurgensen didn't figure out this lesson.  Her insights seem pretentious, her priorities seem unbalanced.  One sentence indicates she contacted the union about sexual harassment; only a few pages are given to her time with Martha Stewart.  Yet there are several pages about feelings of resentment when she realizes her boss has been sleeping around with the staff, and not with Jurgensen exclusively.

Mostly, however, Jurgensen really does try - and sometimes succeeds - in being an observer, merely recounting events to which she was witness.  My sense is she's a gutsy, talented woman who's just not as gifted an author.

A definite gift for someone who's going to become the pastry chef at Nobu.  Possible purchase if you're a foodie with an extensive collection of similar books.  Everyone else, I'd recommend that you do read this quick, breezy book - but check it out from the library to do so.

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The Book That Changed My Life: 71 Remarkable Writers Celebrate the Books That Matter Most to Them
by Roxanne J. Coady

October 19th 2006 by Gotham
Hardcover, 224 pages
1592402100 (isbn13: 9781592402106)

rating: 3 of 5 stars



"It's funny that reading and valuing words is now what anchors my life."

Roxanne J. Coady is the owner of R.J. Julia Booksellers in Madison, Connecticut.  Together with editor Joy Johannessen, she put together a collection of essays from authors who have all, at one time or another, done readings of their works at her store.  Each brief essay tells of one (or sometimes two) books which "changed the life" of the author.

I had hoped there'd be an amount of freshness, of surprise, in the essays.  Instead, I found the sorts of references you'd expect.  Alice Hoffman wrote about Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger); Anita Diamant about A Room of One's Own (Virginia Woolf); Graeme Base wrote about The Lord of the Rings (J.R.R. Tolkien).  There are a few novelties, that sent me to Goodreads to look up a title, like Tomie dePaola's essay about Kristin Lavransdatter (Sigrid Undset).  Also, you can find out the meaningful books in the lives of Joe Lieberman and John McCain.

Overall, this is a nice little gift book for a librarian or bookseller; not a gift for someone who's not a truly avid reader. Also, proceeds go to the foundation started by Coady, Read to Grow.

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The Plague
by Joanne Dahme

May 4th 2009 by Running Press Kids
Hardcover, 272 pages
0762433442 (isbn13: 9780762433445)

rating: 3 of 5 stars

"When I was George’s age, I had an unsettling dream about Princess Joan, and this was at a time when the princess was a stranger to me, known only through a flashing glimpse from a faraway vantage point.”

Nell and her younger brother George are escorting their parents’ bodies to the burial pit for plague victims when the King happens upon them.  He mistakes Nell for his own daughter, Princess Joan.  Without other future prospects, and determined to care for George, Nell agrees to become a companion to the princess, and, two years later, to escort Joan to Spain for her marriage to its prince.  The traveling party is unprepared, however, for the misfortunes they encounter when they land on the continent.  To save her little brother, Nell makes a dangerous agreement with the Black Prince, Edward Platagenet – an agreement which may put the entire country of England in jeopardy.

I found this to be a sweet little story.  It put me in mind of Karen Cushman’s The Midwife’s Apprentice or Catherine Called Birdy, though, frankly, The Plague lacks Cushman’s depth and finesse.  The Plague is supposed to be aimed at teens, but it seems more appropriate in a late-elementary or mid-grade marketing scheme.  The characters, while promising, don’t develop beyond a sort of idealized dualism (good vs. evil).  The plot is simple, but engrossing enough, and the vocabulary doesn’t quite reach SAT levels.

Having said that, it’s almost as though the lack of character development is intentional, because they show such potential.  Nell’s motivation is simple: she wants to protect her younger brother.  George, Nell’s brother, is slightly superstitious and actually has healing abilities (which he doesn’t discover until after his parents are dead.)  Together they’re protective and affectionate, which resonates with me because of the relationship I have with my own younger brothers.

A good summer read for just-graduated 5th or 6th graders.  A possible gift for a 5th, 6th, or 7th grader studying medieval Europe.  A super-fast, fun read for older fans of plague-fiction and people who hate rats.

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Bad Mother: A Chronicle of Maternal Crimes, Minor Calamities, and Occasional Moments of Grace
by Ayelet Waldman

May 5th 2009 by Broadway
Hardcover, 224 pages
0385527934 (isbn13: 9780385527934)

  rating: 3 of 5 stars

 “The morning after my wedding, my husband, Michael, and I, were lying on a vast expense of white linen in the bridal suite of Berkeley’s oldest hotel; engaging in a romantic tradition of newlyweds the world over: counting our loot.”

(I didn’t realize until halfway through this book that the above-named Michael is Michael Chabon.  Don’t tell Moonie.  Waldman also went to law school with some guy named Barack Obama.)

Given the humorous quote on the front of the ARC I received, I expected Bad Mother to be equally humorous, possibly irreverent, and even somewhat flippant.  That’s not, however, how it begins.  Ayelet Waldman comes out swinging every ounce of intellectual muscle she’s got; she’s a formidable contender.  Bad Mother starts out less as a book of humor than as a feminist critique, almost scholarly and certainly political, of current expectations of women who are mothers.  With humor thrown in.  (A similar tactic is used by Jessica Valenti to soften the serious message in  Full Frontal Feminism.)

Waldman sets up her book with a chapter about “bad mothers,”  mothers like the the woman Waldman reprimanded on the bus who was yanking her daughter’s hair as she braided it.  Why do we obsess over “bad mothers”?  (Besides the fact that “worrying about egregious freak-show moms like Wendy Cook and Britney Spears distracts us from the fact that, for example, President George W. Bush cheerfully vetoed a law that would have provided health insurance to four million uninsured children.) By defining for us the kind of mothers we’re not, they make it easier for us to stomach what we are.

Waldman informally polled her friends to find definitions of Good Mothers and Good Fathers.  A definition of a Good Mother always involved self-abnegation: “she is able to figure out how to carve out time for herself without detriment to her children’s feelings of self-worth.”  The same people “had no trouble defining what it meant to be a Good Father.  A Good Father is characterized quite simply by his presence.”

She ends the first chapter with a question.  “Can’t we just try to give ourselves and each other a break?”  My good postmodern deconstructionist self cheered.  My brain and my heart were engaged.  I settled in for more discussion, re-thinking, and questions to spur us toward a new paradigm of expectations for motherhood.

After such an auspicious beginning, Bad Mother rolls into territory that is more memoir/social commentary, territory that is humorous, irreverent, and, at times, flippant.  Waldman spends the remaining seventeen chapters self-consciously bragging about what a fabulous partner and father Chabon is, enumerating what she perceives as her failures as a mother, and offering the mechanisms she used to cope with the fact of these "failures."

The underlying message from Waldman is: “Here are the terrible things I’ve done – just be glad you haven’t done anything this bad.”  After the conclusion to that first chapter, I’d hoped that Waldman would be proposing a different way of thinking; an entirely different way of analyzing motherhood. 

Granted, Waldman’s commentaries and anecdotes are both poignant and hilarious.  (“A Good Mother doesn’t resent looking up from her novel to examine a child’s drawing.”)  She's a hell of a writer.  From opinions about breast feeding and Attachment Parenting and sending snacks to preschool, to her own stories about terminating a pregnancy and about revelations concerning her own mother’s parenting style, Waldman's rich writing moves along smoothly, like a bottle pouring a nice merlot.  It’s certainly a book worth reading.

I wouldn’t buy this book for your own mother, but it would make a great gift between (or among) girlfriends, or for someone who considers Michael Chabon her secret boyfriend.  And, unless you live in Berkeley (as Waldman does, and reminds her reader…frequently) or Boulder, it would surely spark heated discussion in a book or moms’ club. And even if you’re not in love with Michael Chabon, I dare you to admit that there’s not some part of you that wants to be as wise and funny and erudite as Waldman when you grow up.

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Author: Carl Hiaasen
Rating:
Reading Level:

Pages: 304
Publisher: Knopf (Random House)
Edition: Hardcover, 2009

This is definitely a fun book and many of my young readers already told me that they enjoyed reading the third offering from Hiaasen. Everything does hang together nicely and the punishment of the evil doers satisfying. Hiaasen did not shy away from super contemporary things: facebook, CNN/Anderson Cooper, and of course, the father who is injured in Iraq. This makes the volume a "timely" book for current readers and only time will tell if in a decade or two, young readers still will appreciate the story, despite the references to matters that can easily date the book.

Scat, however, does not offer much more than either Hoot, or Flush -- much of the same thing to young readers who like mysteries, who like to read stories about older kids (High School students as protagonists) but who do not necessarily wish to decipher complex sentence structures or figures of speech and who still enjoy jokes on fairly basic/bodily function levels.


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Author: Tamora Pierce
Rating:
Reading Level: 6th grade and up

Publisher: Random House
Edition: Galley, 2009



I really liked the first one and have been waiting for the second installment for a long long time. The second book still works. My initial quibble of not believing Beka able to write all of the stuff down in her journal still stands -- even with the explanation of ciphers and reports and how events are chopped down into several installments. Still seems a bit far-fetched. However, I guess if one believes in ghost-carrying pigeons and a young woman talking to street dust winds, one has to somewhat allow her to be able to write dialogs and descriptions in such minute details when recording her own exploits.

That's another thing: the pacing is a bit draggy at moments because it seems a bit too much of JUST Beka -- just her thoughts, just her experiences, and just her achievements. All the secondary characters (POUNCE, for example, who is absent for most of the story) take a real Secondary position here. Achoo the hound, although very important to the plot, is not satisfying as a strong supporting character because she is too much of a hound, no human traits at all. I love her, but she cannot replace Pounce whose wry humor adds so much to the flavor of the story.

Dale, as a secondary character at the beginning of the story, never got his chance to even remain in that position. By mid-book, he's already just a bit of thoughts in Beka's mind. This shows Beka's dedication to her work and how incredibly sensible she is, but I feel slightly let down by Dale's demotion. He definitely could have played a larger part in the story (either helping or hindering Beka's tasks) because he was positioned to do so from the get go (but peters out...)

Having Hanse explain all the rhymes and reasons seems a bit of an easy and very basic mystery device (for that is what this series is... Law and Order meets Tortall Fantasy.) I was hoping for huge surprises and unexpected villains and deeper plots.

Oh, I sound too critical, I do believe. Going to end by saying that I definitely enjoyed following Beka through the streets, watching her eat sea food, seeing her fight various villains -- above ground and underground. It's great to be back in the land of such cool magic. Am I now again eagerly waiting for the next book? You betcha!






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Author: Kevin Henkes
Rating:
Reading Level: 4th, 5th, 6th

Pages: 179
Publisher: Greenwillow
Edition: Hardcover, 2008

Henkes is such a craftsman. I can appreciate all the skills and thoughts and wonderful passages that he puts into this and many other titles: all of them high quality works! But my realization today is that I don't particularly love the Impressionistic artworks. I have seen and "understood" the "Water Lilies" of Manet, for example -- hey, I even visited and was thrilled by Monet's garden at Giverny. And I understand how impressive the techniques are to combine Just Right those small patches of colors to capture light and mood and impressions. But, when you stand back and take a look at a painting of a bridge or a pond of water lilies -- they are a bridge and a pond of water lilies: it does not excite me. Bird Lake Moon is sparkling at many points, mysterious as well, and a young coming-of-age story done poetically. Many "patches" of beautiful language and revelation are combined just right to capture this significant summer in two little boys' lives. But, this is not a story that took me to another plane. I am never a lover of representations of objects in art. Maybe because I want someone to surprise me, to make me laugh or to awe me, or to perplex me (can perplex be used this way?): so, give me Cubism, Surrealism, or even Post-modernism, and I am thrilled -- finally, I understand myself and how I can categorize a bunch of books as impressionistic and explain why I am not entirely taken by them!


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Richard L. Revesz is co-author, with Michael A. Livermore, of Retaking Rationality: How Cost-Benefit Analysis Can Better Protect the Environment and Our Health, which makes clear that by embracing and reforming cost-benefit analysis, and by joining reason and compassion, progressive groups can help enact strong environmental and public health regulation. Revesz is the Dean of New York University School of Law. In the article below Revesz responds to an article in the N.Y. Times Magazine.

In the N.Y. Times Magazine, Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner discuss three seemingly unrelated stories about a deaf woman in Los Angeles, a first-century Jewish sandal maker, and the red-cockaded woodpecker. The commonality in these stores, the essay argues, is that they were all the unintended victims of well-meaning regulation – the Americans with Disabilities Act, an ancient Jewish law forgiving debts every seventh year, and the Endangered Species Act, respectively. (more…)

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Author: De Negro, Janice
Rating:
Reading Level: 4th - 6th grade

Pages: 64
Publisher: Marshal Cavendish
Edition: Hardcover

I really enjoyed the tone of these narratives but found the seven mostly familiar (or with familiar motifs) tales in this slim volume not scary or eerie enough. There exists always a promising build-up but the readers are left short of truly gruesome, horrific, or surprising endings. The cover design is quite effective, with raised blood-red title print, but the interior illustrations are uneven and less than accomplished in many cases. The very good cover art is done by Vincent Natale, but the illustration copyright is attributed to Marshall Cavendish, the publisher -- and the quality of the illustrations definitely feel like work-for-hire jobs.

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These two links that I’ve seen in the past two days seem to be saying very interesting and similar things.

1. Peter Brantley the head of the Digital Library Federation wonders how access to networked information resouces is affecting what we do in reasearch libraries in his post If Libraries had Shareholders. Lively commenting.
2. Over at the Freakonomics blog Stephen Dubner asks If Public Libraries Didn’t Exist, Could You Start One Today? where he talks about the enormous influence of publishers in today’s book world and wondering if they’d even let you start up an institution where you’d share the things they are trying to sell.

economics, freakonomics, peterbrantley

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