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The Italian Renaissance brings to mind beautiful images, paintings and sculptures, glorious and expensive brocades, string quartets in the garden, a rich texture of life indeed. But it was also a time of great strife and cruelty the likes of which we could never imagine in this day and age. Sprinkled throughout with Italian words and phrases, PRIMAVERA dips the reader into the renaissance period.

Flora, the youngest daughter of the Pazzi, strives to find beauty and normalcy in a life that is anything but. Scorned by her own mother, she lives as little more than a servant while her older sister, Domenicia, is primped, plucked, painted by the famed Botticelli, and otherwise prepared for the wedding that will join the Pazzi to the Medici.

As Flora contemplates her mother’s plan for her future, life in a convent, a member of her father’s guard arrives with a missive from the Pope himself. The guard, Emilio, hangs around and becomes the friend and companion that Flora has never had. When Emilio and Nonna, the grandmother who’s raised and protected her, convince her to train with the guard, Flora finds strength that carries her through the difficult months to come.

PRIMAVERA is a captivating read. I found myself rooting for Flora and Emilio. Ms. Beaufrand painted her characters so realistically that I felt their pain, their fear, their guilt, and yes, even their joy. True to great historical fiction, the author did not flinch when she described some of the tragedies that befell her characters. Be warned that some of the scenes are quite graphic and not for the faint of heart. Yet I hesitate to limit this book to those only 9th grade and up. If you know nothing about this time period, yet enjoy historical fiction; you will love this well-written novel. If you are a fan of the renaissance you will revel in all of the historical details Ms. Beaufrand has so expertly shown.

This review is cross-posted here at Teens Read Too. * Release date: March 1, 2008.

The purpose of reading this book was tri-fold (if that's the correct use of the word.) (1)Author Jeff Kinney will be appearing at the Barnes and Noble in Walpole, and I want to go meet him (2)this is the chosen book, along with it's predecessor, for the February meeting of the 5th and 6th grade book discussion group at work (3)I enjoyed the first one so much. Rodrick Rules picks up a few months after the end of Diary of a Wimpy Kid. He is back at school and trying to put behind him an unpleasant episode with his brother, which you just know is going to surface at some point. Greg's sibling relations dominate this story: either he's trying to evade to run-ins with big brother Rodrick or avoid doing anything naughty in front of snitch-master little brother, Manny. For the most part, Greg fails on both parts. "Better-than-nothing" best friend Rowley is still around. He reminds me of Ralph from the Simpsons; an absolute idiot who has to work hard to stay out of his own way.

There was something a bit more mean-spirited about Rodrick Rules than "Diary," and I suppose we can blame Rodrick for that. He really is horrid! He's got his father doing his homework, he swindles his mother out of money for bogus drum lessons to Greg and Rowley, and he never seems to get the comeuppance that afflicts Greg whenever he does anything cruel or wrong (unless you count the science fair.) And I found the parents to be particularly obtuse in this volume. Where as the first diary reminded me of the slings and arrows of being in Middle School, this diary has filled me with dread at the thought of raising a middle schooler. Heaven forbid I should get it as wrong as Mr. and Mrs. Heffley do! Still, Mom manages to steal the show towards the end, which almost makes up for the Mystick and Magic stupidity, where her good intentions manage to undermine just about the only thing in the book that Greg does that keeps him out of trouble. All I'll say is that it involves a school talent show, public access cable, and some seriously bad dancing.

Having said all that, fans of the first book will eat this one right up (as evidence by the number of kids who have signe up for the book discussion group this time around.) I expect to run into a sizeable crowd of fans at B&N on Monday. And I'm even looking forward to the next installment, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw (according to the publisher's website, at least five volumes are planned.) Does Greg finally get one over on Rodrick? Does he shove the annoying Manny down the toilet? Does Mom finally buy a clue?! We'll see.

“Good fences make good neighbors.” That’s what Cass’s dad said when he found out a black family was moving in next door. Cass even helped him build the fence. But as the new neighbors moved in, Cass couldn’t help but be curious. Watching through a peephole in the fence, Cass’s blue eye found a brown eye staring back at her.

Cass asked Jemmie, “Do you like to run?”
Jemmie responded, “Run? Girl, I don’t run, I fly. Can’t nobody beat me.”

The race was on. They both snuck out of their homes the next morning to find out who was fastest, and instead found “Chocolate Milk”.

This is the story of their friendship. It’s also a story of crossing boundaries, change, and eventual acceptance. Theirs is a natural friendship, a friendship that’s tried by the bigotry of Cass’s dad, and the stubbornness of Jemmie’s mother. It takes the misfortunes of a tiny baby for the parents to begin tearing down their mental fences.

Adrian Fogelin does a beautiful job of portraying tenuous relationships that exist among people trying to understand cultures different from their own, The girls are sweet and fun; their dialogue is well-written, immersing the reader in the long, hot, dog days of summer in Tallahassee, Florida. CROSSING JORDAN leaves the reader with hope for future generations, that they will be inspired to appreciate each other, just as Cass and Jemmie were inspired to call themselves Chocolate Milk. This is the first book of Adrian Fogelin’s that I’ve read, and I’m sure I’ll be looking for more titles by her.

This review is cross-posted here at Teens Read Too.

Cyber hop on over to Teens Read Too and check out their February contest! Teens Read Too and Simon & Schuster are teaming up to give away 30 books from S&S's Simon Pulse Romantic Comedies line!

Dick King Smith is such an inspiration. He started his writing career later in life, after having already tried his hand at farming, teaching, and TV presenting (and doing them all well, I might add, although he claims in his biography, Chewing the Cud, that he was not a very good farmer.) He has written dozens of books, all of them effortlessly readable, giving the impression that anyone with a good story to tell can sit down and crank it out. His most recent offering (at least on this side of the pond) is Hairy Hezekiah, about a Bactrian camel who is lonely in his zoo environment and sets off to find friendship and adventure in the big world. His journey takes him to the Safari Park, Shortseat, located in the English countryside. I have a sneaking suspicion that Shortseat is modeled after Longleat Safari Park, in Wiltshire. The fact that Longleat is the ancestral home of the Marquess of Bath, and the aristocrat in this book is called The Earl of Basin supports my theory. I have visited Longleat--long time ago, now--so perhaps I've actually met Hairy Hezekiah himself. King-Smith uses a friendly, conversational voice for his story, and this tone is reinforced by Nick Bruel's humorous black and white illustrations. This is just right for early chapter readers and will get them primed for some of King-Smith's meatier books, such as Babe: The Gallant Pig and (my personal favorite) Martin's Mice.

Dead mothers are always a good plot device. There is nothing like the absence of a mother to create a suitable amount of angst, heartache, uncertainty, and self-doubt. Think of the Alice books by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, where the first couple of books in the series are driven by the fact that pre-teen Alice is growing up without a mother, surrounded by men in her family, and suffers the nagging fear that she is not approaching the formative years of her life with due female influence. And more recently we have had the mother-less Bee from Being Bee, and Jack from The Night Tourist. Now there is Evie Adler in K.L. Going's The Garden of Eve. Her mother is ten months dead from cancer, and Evie is left with her botanist father who has never appreciated--or even understood--magic the way her mother did. He is too much of a scientist to put much stock in fairy tales, or stories in general. When he takes on the job of trying to revive a dead apple orchard in Beaumont, New York, far from their Michigan home, Evie is resentful. They move into a house right next door to a cemetery--but the only cemetery Evie cares about is the one back in Michigan, where her mother is buried. Her father devotes his time to the orchard--but all Evie can think of is the magic garden she used to plan with her mother, a perfect garden with magnificent trees and noble beasts where the three of them would always be together. When Evie is given a seed supposedly from the Garden of Eden, Evie thinks she has her chance to find that perfect garden, and consequently find her mother, too.

There is a lot going on in this book, some of it allegorical and some of it just old fashioned mystery. There is the boy Alex, whom Evie meets hanging around in the cemetery. Is he really dead, as he claims to be? Is the orchard where Evie's father toils really cursed, or has it simply been abandoned? When Evie plants her seed and enters the magical garden--by way of eating an apple, of course!--is she in Eden or is it a trap? There is another Eve who grew up in Beaumont and disappeared many, many years ago. What happened to her? And will Evie find peace after the death of her mother?

Some of the pieces in the book are tied together a little bit too neatly, but for the most part this is an engaging and thoughtful book. Evie is disillusioned without being broken. The father is pragmatically devoted to his work but all open-hearted and open-minded business when Evie needs him most. The supporting characters range from saintly (the dead mother)to utterly convincing (Alex). Readers who like their books with magic and symbolism will enjoy this.

Here's an oldie but a goodie. I reread this for a 5th/6th Grade Book Discussion Group that I am hoping to get off the ground at work. I'll be curious to see what the kids make of it.

I read somewhere (and I'll have to find the citation before Tuesday night!) that The First Two Lives of Lukas-Kasha was a very personal book for Lloyd Alexander. This is not hard to believe. Storytelling plays a crucial part in the book, and Alexander was a master storyteller.

Lukas-Kasha is a layabout young man who is at his best when making mischief. One day, a traveling magician, Battisto the magnificent, rolls into the town where Lukas lives. He sets up shop and calls for a participant who is "bold enough to face every peril, to dare the unknown." Lukas steps up to the challenge and promptly gets his head ducked into a bucket of water. He is transported to another location, where he is dragged out of the sea and promptly declared King Kasha. And that's just the start of his problems. He finds himself caught in a power struggle with his Vizier, caught between two warring nations, and caught between the desire to live the lazy life of a pampered king (a role he is naturally suited for) and the growing realization that he has the wisdom and the quick wits to rule wisely. All while wondering when and if Battisto will ever pull his head out of the water, and take this new life away.

When I read this book as a middle schooler, I felt it was bittersweet. I remember talking with the friend who introduced me to it about that (and we talk about it still!) Reading it now, I have a much different interpretation (not to mention a new theory for just what exactly happens to Lukas-Kasha while his head is submerged in the bucket.) I have since read every book Lloyd Alexander has written, and can neatly place this volume within the cannon. I have the benefit of nearly 20 years between readings. As a pre-teen girl I was totally caught up in the interpersonal relationships between the characters and heartbroken when I saw them come to an end. I could see the point Alexander was making, but I didn't approve! This time around I "get" what Alexander was saying: life is a journey; there is no certainty but uncertainty; stories have the power to heal and protect us. I also noticed the non-stop action in this book, and thought that I really must recommend it to more boys! And I couldn't help thinking how much Nur-Jehan, the bold and spirited Beishangari slave girl (who of course is so much more than she seems--as are all of Alexander's heroines) sounds like a Klingon, with all her talk of honor and warrior codes. I love the way we (that's the royal "we" BTW) cross-pollinate Art with the references and experiences we pick up every day. There is a lot of that in this book, too, as the characters apply knowledge from one sphere of their experience onto another.

Alexander dedicated The First Two Lives of Lukas-Kasha to "all who can imagine it really happened, and for all who wish it could". I now count myself among both camps. They are equally satisfying.

The second of the Enola Holmes Mysteries picks up where the first one left off. Enola, on the run from big brothers Mycroft and Sherlock (he of Baker Street fame,) has set herself up in a sort of Remington Steele situation, fronting for a pretend Dr. Ragostin, a renowned Perditorian (finder of lost things or people.) She is a bit of a master of disguise, is our Enola, as well as a master of codes and cyphers. She is still sending messages to her missing mother through the personal pages of London's top newspapers. Every so often she gets a reply. At only 14, Enola has to lay low for a good number of years yet until she comes into her majority and is finally free of her brothers' plans to send her to boarding school and make a proper lady out of her. So imagine her chagrin when her first client is none other than Dr. John Watson. He has actually come in the hopes of finding her. But instead he sets her on the trail of a vanished girl who sounds not unlike Enola herself: caring, conscientious, and not to be corseted.

I enjoyed The Case of the Missing Marquess, the first Enola Holmes mystery, immensely, and am eagerly awaiting the third, due for publication early this year. Author Nancy Springer gets to show off what must have been extensive research in preparation for these books with copious amounts of information about codes and ciphering in Victorian England. Enola's own interest in the subject serves her investigations well. When she inspects the room of the missing Lady Cecily, she not only sees the obvious codes, such as the sealing wax at the Lady's desk in various colors for various purposes (red for business, grey for friendship, violet for condolences) which anyone would notice, but the code of a frustrated, intense young woman. She sees the listless pastels, the shackles of an aristocratic life, hanging on the walls and recognizes enough in them to know that Lady Cecily's passion and attention is not on all things debutante.

Not even 100 pages into the book, and Enola has already survived a garroting attempt and accidental detection by her brother's business associate. Enola is bold, clever, and believable, and does the name of "Holmes" proud.

This is a slim volume but well worth a look. It tells a familiar story--precocious pre-teen has to adjust to new girlfriend in the life of her widower father. But there is a style to Catherine Bateson's storytelling which really sets this one apart. While the reader instantly sympathises with Bee as she bemoans the fact that no one understands her situation (and most of the adults really are surprisingly unsympathetic to the upheaval this is causing in her life), the girlfriend herself, Jazzi, is a thoroughly likable character, and there is real hope that the two of them can work on their relationship. The process is aided by events presented up-front (Jazzi taking Bee in as a confidant) and behind the scenes (the correspondence between Bee and her guinea pigs, Fifi and Lulu.) I found myself in tears at points in the story, mainly because Bateson does such an excellent job of revealing the communication gap between adults and children; how the gap would be so easy to bridge if the adults just remembered that the children are not adults themselves, that they don't think like adults. A perfect example is when Bee walks into her father's bedroom unannounced and discovers that Jazzi is there in bed with him. While the adults yell at her to go away, knock first, etc, etc, all Bee can think is, "Well how was I supposed to know that she was sleeping over?" How or why indeed.

While reading this, I was reminded of what an easy ride I had with my own step-son. I've always realised that I got off lightly, and that the credit goes to him. And as I read the ebb and flow of tension in Bee and Jazzi's relationship, I thanked God again that it was so! Pieceing together a family, as opposed to creating one, is a tricky business. Being Bee is a lovely way for young readers to see that it can be done successfully.

This was an absolutely brilliant book! Now, having gotten that out of the way, I can continue in a more professional manner.

Jack Perdu is a high school freshman with an intense interest in and talent for the Classics--Latin in particular. He lives with his widower dad who is an archeology professor at Yale University, friendless but happy with his books. When he suffers a near fatal experience (while trying to translate a tricky passage involving Orpheus and Eurydice, no less) his father sends him to New York City for an evaluation by a doctor friend. While waiting for his return train home, Jack meets Euri, an unusual girl--but one with whom he feels an instant rapport--who shows him a secret world beneath the city. It turns out that the secret world is actually The Underworld, and Jack has managed to cross into that world even though it is forbidden to the living. Having to constantly keep one step ahead of Cerberus and his sadistic keeper, Jack has three days to find his mother, before becoming trapped in death forever. While a knowledge of Greek mythology helps, particularly any of the stories involving the Underworld, author Katherine Marsh does an excellent job of setting the scene so that the reader understands the correlations between her story and the original source. It's never quite clear until the end of the story as to whether or not Jack is even still alive, but the authenticity of his experience is never in doubt. Marsh's descriptions of New York from a ghost-eye point of view made me think of scenes from Wim Wender's Wings of Desire--visions of a world that the living cannot see but that is unbelievably near. Jack and Euri are wonderfully drawn-out characters, and this is a page turner of the highest order. As the story drew near its conclusion I found myself starting to worry as to whether or not it would end as I hoped. And how would it end?! Read it and find out! The Night Tourist is a lovely, lovely, book. I'm putting it in YA, but junior high and strong middle school readers would and could enjoy it, too.

This was originally intended to be a "What I am Reading" entry with a short list of rat faves, when I made the connection that 2008 is indeed the Year of the Rat. So how fitting that the first novel tucked away in the new year is Judy Cox's The Mystery of the Burmese Bandicoot. This is the first of, what will presumably be many, Tails of Frederick and Ishbu (yes, 'tails', not simply 'tales'.) Cox tells the story of two ratty brothers who escape (only as a matter of self-preservation) from their home in a fifth-grade classroom. In an absolutely fantastic sequence of events they find themselves traveling half-way around the world in search of the fabled Burmese Bandicoot, a jeweled figurine said to hold great powers and able to destroy mankind. The action is pretty much non-stop from start to finish with short chapters to keep the attention of reluctant readers. Cox's knowledge of rats is evident from the very start, and her detailed Author's Note reveals the extent of her research into all things ratty. Of course, as a school teacher herself, she has plenty of first-hand experience.

While Children's literature is sometimes unkind to rats (Brian Jacques' Redwall comes to mind,) there are plenty of titles which show rats to be the clever, sensitive animals that they are. Among them:

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh (O'Brien, Robert C)
Space Station Rat (Daley, Michael J)The sequel, Rat Trap, is due out in March.
Vasco Leader of His Tribe (Bondoux, Anne-Laure)
The Christmas Rat (Avi)
Ratspell (Mounter, Paddy)

This attractive animal fantasy should appeal to readers who like swashbuckling and hedgehogs in waistcoats. Penhaligan Brush is a fox, bored by his life as an apothecary in a sleepy Cornish village, who goes to visit his adoptive badger brother in the coastal town of Porthlaven. There he stumbles upon a dastardly plot by the loathsome wrecker Sir Derek (not a nice cat) to lure a ship full of treasure to its demise on the craggy shores of the port. Ouch!

The book, by S. Jones Rogan, is beautifully illustrated by Christian Slade (he of the Korgi fame.) Having visited Cornwall on many occasions, there is much about this book that appeals to me and makes me wish that I was still living in England. I anticipate recommending this title to boys and girls alike.

I have been so looking forward to this book; pretty much since I closed the cover of its predecessor, Larklight. As soon as this made its way through Tech Services I grabbed it. And, I'm pleased to say, I have not been disappointed! The Victorian intergalactic adventures of Art, his ever so proper sister Myrtle, their 2,000,000 year old mother, and the space pilot-cum-British-spy Jack Havistock continue as they do their duty for Queen and Country. 'Science Fiction' is one of those terms that has fallen out of favor, particularly among the biggest fans of the genre. The replacement term, 'speculative fiction' is a fantastic substitute in this case, because both Larklight and Starcross are speculating on an epic scale. With one simple premise--alchemists never could turn base materials into gold, but they did develop warp technology--and one far-reaching backdrop (Queen Victoria's British Empire,) author Philip Reeve has created a series of adventure stories with the sensibility of M.T. Anderson and the bustles of Anthony Trollope. Give us more, kind sir!

I actually got about half-way through this slim little volume and then abandoned it for the World Series (which the Red Sox won, BTW, have you heard?!) So I have started all over from the beginning, but to be honest, my impression has not changed the second time through. An air of gentle doom (if you can imagine that) hangs over the story, which is told in an episodic manner. Rather than a narrative, it reads like a string of scenes. I'm finding it frustrating, because I don't feel as if I am getting to know the characters; I'm just being told what the author, the Newbery Award winning Patricia MacLachlan, wants me to know. That's too bad, because I consider character development to be one of her strengths as a writer. And other than Edward's desire to learn how to through a knuckle ball, I don't get a feel for the developing story (which doesn't seem to be developing at all.) This book has been lauded and praised in all the review journals, so what do I know? Well, I know that so far I am not particularly enthused about Edwards Eyes, despite the many baseball and Sox references.

First time novelist Lisa Graff covers Andrew Clements territory with this story about a fourth grade dwarf. While George Washington Bishop's dwarfism has always been a reality, it has never been an issue. Until now. He is concerned that his soon to be baby sister or brother--dubbed Baby Godzilla in his mind--will one day outgrow him--literally. He is falling out with his best friend, Andy, and can't seem to find a way to end the fight. And the only person interested in being his friend is Jeanie the Meanie, and she has a strange way of showing affection (like signing him up against his will to play Abraham Lincoln--he tallest president ever--in the school play.)

Once I started this book I really couldn't put it down. Graff does a fantastic job of making Georgie a character the reader can sympathize with without pitying. The thing about Georgie is a great recommendation for middle grade readers, boys and girls, for we are all little in a big world.

2007 really is the year of the pirate--even failed ones, like Jack Plank. I picked this one up because it's short (I need a quick read before immersing myself in Red Sox postseason baseball,) and because I like Natalie Babbitt. Reading this book of tightly constructed vignettes, I'm reminded that Babbitt is an excellent picture book author as well as a novelist. I'd enjoy more structure in "Plank" but the tales are amusing.

I've been tagged by Liz B of the marvelous A Chair, A Fireplace and A Tea Cozy for the What Books Are You Reading meme.

Let's see, I've been super busy - too busy to write much but I have been reading. On the bus to work (eco-friendly me), at lunch, before bed and sometimes in the morning. I'm currently reading:

The Savage Detectives by Robert Bolano - So far, I've done four chapters and it's fabulous. I can't wait to finish it. The book was recently translated to the English and is about a cult of young poets who call themselves Visceral Realists, steal books, disdain Octavio Paz and Neruda and live in Mexico City. I'm dying to finish it but keep getting sidetracked by the other fascinating books on my nightstand.

Manga Shakespeare - Hamlet - Yeah, that's right Manga Shakespeare. There's one on Romeo too. From what I can see these are great. I just got them and barely flipped through but already am semi in love. The language is intact but edited for space and length, the artwork is wonderful and I love the whole idea of it. Get these into the schools as required reading!

Song of the Sparrow by Lisa Ann Sandler - Just finished this beautiful and tightly written account of the Lady of Shalott. It's one of the few Tennyson poems that I love and the story of Elaine is one sure to delight. That review will be up soon.

Lost City Radio by Daniel Alarcon - To be honest, I just cracked the spine of this one this morning. I'm drooling.

The King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner - OMG! Glorious. Just finished this two nights ago and I'm still thinking about it. Look for that review soon.

A Darkling Plain by Philip Reeve - Just started this one and it's my first in the Hungry City Chronicles but the third in the series. I already love it and want to go back and read the others. An alternative futuristic London, war, a mystery and what seems to be a love story between two wonderful characters. I HAVE to finish this one!

Escape from Special by Miss Lasko-Gross - another one who's review will soon be up on AmoxCalli. This is a completely wonderful and irreverant graphic novel with astounding depth to it's art work. Some people may be offended by some of the language but I thought it gave perfect flavor to it when read in context and it made me laugh. Come on people ya got to laugh when you read the word "cuntiness". Hey at least it's not scrotum. (Wow Gina, you got two smut words in that one)!

Life on the Farm - yet another wonderful graphic novel that will shortly be on AmoxCalli. It's great. Spare yet effective text coupled with profoundly real and interesting black and white drawings. Fabulous.

So that's what I'm reading, read or trying to read. I'm tagging Pop Goes the Library, La Bloga, Blog From the Windowsill, Sarah's Holds Shelf and Original Content.