Scholastic has enlisted 13 children’s books authors to help with the Summer Reading Challenge program.
The participants include R.L. Stine, Maggie Stiefvater and Jackson Pierce, Gordon Korman, Michael Northtrop, Varian Johnson, Jude Watson, Blue Balliet, Patrik Henry Bass, Roland Smith, Tui T. Sutherland, Lauren Tarshis, and Wendy Wan-Long Shang. These writers will create original short stories; kids will be able to access these “rewards” by tracking the minutes they spend reading.
According to the press release, “each of the authors has written a unique short story using the same opening sentence which is, ‘I glanced over my shoulder to make sure that no one had followed me into the shadowy library, then took a deep breath and opened the glowing book…'” The organizers behind this venture hope to break the record of 304,749,681 minutes (spent reading) that was set last summer.
ARGH! I had leader blather and it got eaten. :( I have no idea what it said, so it obviously was not important...
Calder Game Blue Balliet
In this follow up to
Chasing Vermeer and
Wright 3 the kids are focusing on Alexander Calder, who is who Calder just happens to be named after.
Calder and his dad also go off to England while his dad's at a conference. There, they stay in this quaint little English village where there's something a little sinister going on. An anonymous American has donated an Alexander Calder statue to the town. They don't like change. They don't like outsiders.
One day, the statue goes missing. As does Calder.
Calder's dad realizes he doesn't really know in-depth what his son was up to these days, so he has Petra and Tommy fly out to help look...
I was pretty disappointed. I loved the earlier books but... Really, the whole closed off English village thing? It was very
Hot Fuzz, but without being a spoof of itself.
Also, the townspeople didn't like the Chicago kids because they were American. But not one mentioned that Calder is part Asian Indian, Petra is partially Middle Eastern and Tommy is half Hispanic. Had the townspeople been shunning of outsiders, the fact that they were non-white outsiders (especially, I think, Calder's Asian Indian heritage) would have come up. In a really nasty way. But, it didn't.
This book was really scary and I liked that, but the explanation and the end were... weak. When I read the end I was like, wait... we spent all the time and energy and tension to work up to... that? Really?
It contains all of the awesome elements of the previous books, but doesn't pull the mystery off with the same skill as the others.
Homefront Doris Gwaltney
Sara recommended this one to me yonks ago. Yesterday I read it in one sitting.
Margaret Ann lives on a farm with her family in Virginia. Due to the fighting in Europe, her estranged aunt, Mary Lee and daughter Courtney are coming to live with them. Courtney is beautiful and smart and everyone loves her. But she's also stuck up and smug. At least to Margaret Ann. Of course Bobby Holland likes Courtney better. Of course Courtney now gets to sit next to Daddy at dinner.
But then, things get worse after the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor. Her sister Elizabeth drops out of college to marry Tommy Gray before he enlists. Margaret Ann's older brother enlists. All the young men in her life are off to war.
I loved this book. I love how the chapters are named after where Margaret Ann is sleeping. In the beginning, she shares a room with her grandmother and is really excited to move into Elizabeth's room when she goes off to college. Then, less than a month in her own room, Aunt Mary Lee and Courtney move in, so she's back with grandma. When Johnny enlists, he lets Margaret Ann have his room, which makes her feel like he enlisted just so she could have her own room.
Margaret Ann doesn't cut Courtney a lot of slack and blames her for a lot of things that aren't her fault. At the same time, Courtney isn't completely innocent and I completely recognize Margaret Ann's feelings that everyone thinks Courtney is perfect. Both characters were flawed, but in that way that makes them really real. Also, I liked how realistic the inevitable thawing in their relationship was. A great recommendation. Thanks Sara!
It's official. The sled and Santa and ho-ho-ho commercials have begun. The tinsel and lights are strung on my neighbors' homes. Early Bird People are shopping at 4 AM for...what-evvvvah. (I swear I didn't always talk with a Long Island accent.)
And I'm out. November 23rd and I'm ready to go into hermit mode. See you, Mega-Mall, in January. Wake me up when it's over.
I know what you're thinking. Who me, the Grinch? No. (Green does nothing for me, unless it's something I can peel out of my wallet.) ;> I love the holidays. Just not the feeling of being left out. Chanukah doesn't exactly get the masses' adrenaline rush going. A menorah, a dreidel, a chocolate coin? Why compete? (Just Say No to Chanukah Gelt, er Guilt!)
If it's The Day after Thanksgiving, it might as well be Christmas. Not my holiday but who am I to turn down any excuse to celebrate the sweeter side of life?
It's so Ellen Degeneres of me, but there's only true way to kick off the holiday season: Dance with me, partner! (Need a refresher course? Here's what you need to know:)
If that's too technical for you, sit down and take lessons from the Goddess of the Dance Floor, Master Elaine Benes. You go girl!
So...go on. You know you want to. Dance like no one is watching. Even if we really are. {}
This is the only time of year I miss having a real job. I miss those spectacular office parties.
We're short on illicit affairs, shot glasses, and DJs here at Maison de WriterRoss.
Then again, a Party of One has its perks. (Er...er...No lines for the ladies' room?)
-Pamela (once sent home in a cab for safekeeping by my Very Important Boss after a Putnam/Berkley holiday party; it's not my fault I thought I was a better dancer than the body double for Jennifer Beals in FLASHDANCE)
She's a maniac, maniac on the floor...
(and no where else, thank you very much) :}
Mama, don't let your babies grow up to be writers. It's so... impractical...
... but I wouldn't have it any other way.
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Yay! I'm so glad you liked it. I don't read much historical fiction, but this one was filled with outstanding characters that I adored.
And yes, the naming of the chapters by where she was sleeping at the time really added to the reader's sense of how displaced Margaret Ann felt. A good story, solid history, and it made me laugh so many times. I really empathized with both M.A. and the too-perfect Courtney.