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Yesterday I had the unnerving pleasure of filming a tv show! It was so fun, but I admit to being extremely anxious. It was for a local cable show called OFF THE PAGE. It's an author interview show sponsored by the Mamie Doud Eisenhower Public Library and the show will air on KCCB Channel 8 Broomfield sometime in July. It'll also run on other cable networks throughout Colorado. The lovely hostess, Stacy McKenzie, is a business reference librarian and she hosts these interviews once a month. This month's focus was on young adult literature. Of all the wonderful YA authors in CO, I was thrilled that she contacted ME for an interview. I was actually the second vic, er, guest. The first interviewee was Amy Hadley, an amazing manga artist. She's written the Fool's Gold series for Tokyo Pop and also the upcoming Madam Xanadu for D.C. Comics. Her artwork was stunning and Amy herself was adorable, smart, quirky and humorous. I really enjoyed meeting her and will be reading her books from now on. I also hope to have her guest at my own library sometime. After watching her interview I became even more nervous because I didn't want to look bad after she did so well! Once I got miced up we were off and running. My palms were sweating! And it feels very unnatural to look straight at one person when there's so many other things going on around you. Fortunately, twenty minutes or so later, we were all done and Stacy told me I was "smooth!" Whew! I took that as a high compliment. Stacy asked me some great questions about Breaking Up Is Hard To Do and Sleepless. She also asked me how my job as a librarian and writer influence each other, how I might face criticism that my books have mature content that may be too old for some teens and what was coming next for me. She was a great interviewer and hopefully I did the questions justice. Confession: what I said is rather a blur. LOL. I'm supposed to get a DVD of the interview and I think they're going to help me get the interview on Youtube. If that happens you can be sure I'll post a link. Pics, behind the cut, provided by my wonderful hubby.   </div>

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Kira-Kira by Cynthia Kadohata
2005 Newbery Medal Book

Genre: Young Adult Fiction
Reading level: Ages 10-14
Paperback: 272 pages
Publisher: Aladdin (December 26, 2006)

Kira-Kira is my second book finished for the Young Adult Challenge hosted at Thoughts of Joy. Before I get into the review, I just want to say how much I’m enjoying getting back into Young Adult literature after quite a long hiatus. Aside from the Harry Potter series, I went many many years without reading YA literature, and I’m so glad this blog has inspired me to start reading this genre again. Now, on with the review.

Kira-Kira is the story of the Japanese-American Takeshima family, told from the point of view of Katie, the youngest daughter. We learn in the opening passage of the story that Kira-Kira means “glittering” in Japanese, and that it was Katie’s first word, taught to her by her older sister Lynn. It’s obvious from the beginning that Katie adores Lynn.

Born in Iowa to Japanese immigrants, Katie and Lynn have a nice childhood, but everything changes when the family’s oriental food store goes out of business, and they move to Georgia to become factory workers in a poultry processing plant. It’s here that Katie realizes for the first time that she is different. Shunned by the white Georgians, the Japanese community in Georgia is tight knit, but life is very difficult. Katie and Lynn’s parents work extremely long hours under harsh conditions. Katie and Lynn rarely see their father, and when they do, he’s exhausted. Their mother is forced to wear “pads” because bathroom breaks are not allowed in the factory. When their baby brother, Sammy, is born, the girls and a next door neighbor pretty much raise him. Just when things can’t get worse, Lynn becomes very ill, and the family’s bonds are tested.

This heart wrenching story is one that I will soon not forget. Cynthia Kadohata expertly gets into the mind of a girl Katie’s age who has to deal with some very adult situations but does not quite understand them. An example of this is when Lynn is very ill, and despite appearing very strong and brave in front of Lynn, Katie needs a moment alone and breaks down:

“I cried and cried. For a while as I cried I hated my parents, as if it were their fault Lynn was sick. Then I cried because I loved my parents so much. Then I didn’t feel like crying anymore. I just felt barren, my eyes felt dry. They sky was still gray. Everything was gray, the sky and the store and even my hand when I held it out in front of myself. I wondered in anyone else in history had ever been as sad as I was at that moment” (p. 199).

We also see racism, prejudice, and the unfair treatment of the factory workers through Katie’s eyes. While some have criticized this book and being slow and uninteresting for young adults, it would have been right up my alley when I was younger. Certainly, it’s not for every kid and may appeal more to girls than boys, but it’s a story that I think will impact many. It was completely deserving of its 2005 Newbery Medal win.

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I was so pleased to find this article in the arts and living section of today's Washington Post. The "unconventionally" of the Newbery and Caldecott winners are getting some mad press and bringing lots of attention to children's literature. This is the kind of buzz we need to get more people to pick up books and read.

I also hope it inspires authors out there who may be thinking about trying something different, and it seems apparent that people are looking for different things. On Sunday, I listed this week's NY Times Bestselling picture books and noticed that only three were traditional picture books while the remaining seven were either pop-up or interactive books.

So....
Parents: The choices are virtually endless. Ask a librarian or bookseller for help, and you're sure to find something your child will enjoy.

Authors: Dare to be different...you might just win a snazzy sticker for the front of your book.

Now, I'm off to the bookstore. Happy reading!

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Reading level: Ages 9-12
Hardcover: 144 pages
Publisher: Atheneum/Richard Jackson Books (November 7, 2006)

With this year’s Newbery winner being announced on Monday, I figured I’d better get around to reading last year’s winner and also complete the first book in the Young Adult Challenge hosted at Thoughts of Joy.

The Higher Power of Lucky is set in Hard Pan, California, a destitute town where nearly everyone receives “Government Surplus commodities.” Even though the town may be lacking in money, it’s not lacking in interesting and eclectic people. First you have Short Sammy, a recovering alcoholic whose house is made of a water tank. Then there’s quiet Lincoln, Lucky’s friend who is fascinated with tying knots. His mother a librarian wants him to be president, and his father, a much older man spends his day driving around in a dune buggy looking for historic pieces of barbed wire he can sell on EBay. And then there’s Lucky Trimble a 10 year old girl whose mother was electrocuted by down power lines when she was eight. Her father, whom Lucky doesn’t even know wasn’t about to become a father when her mother died, so he somehow managed to get his first wife, Brigitte, to come all the way from France to be Lucky’s guardian. Lucky is consumed with the fear that Brigitte will go back to France and leave her. The book centers around this as we get a glimpse into Lucky’s everyday life and the people of Hard Pan.

When I first read this book, I thought, “THIS won the Newbery Medal?” I thought it was a good story, but I didn’t think it one of THE BEST young adult books I’d ever read and certainly not as good as Hattie Big Sky, which was named a Newbery Honor Book last year.

But as I kept thinking about the story and the characters, it grew on me. Patron does an exceptional job with characterization in the book. Lucky is extremely smart and creative. She loves to make up stories about the “Olden Days” where her companions, HMS Beagle (her real-life dog who is “not a ship or a beagle”) and Chesterfield, a mule, have all kinds of adventures. For a child of ten, she has had to deal with things that no adult would want to go through—the death of her mother and the abandonment of her father. These experiences give her a sense of maturity that many 10-year-olds don’t have, but Patron reminds us over and over again that she is a child. She carries around a “survival backpack” wherever she goes. Its contents include a survival blanket, half a tube of toothpaste, a bottle of Gatorade, tins for collecting her bug specimens, and much more. She puts mineral oil on her eyebrows so they’ll glisten (Brigitte won’t let her wear real makeup), and she has a bit of a crush on Lincoln. She eavesdrops on AA meetings and other “anonymous meetings,” and it’s apparent that she doesn’t understand what they’re really all about as she tries to search for her own “Higher Power.” These types of things made me chuckle and then I’d come across a passage like this that would tug at my heart: “Sometimes Lucky wanted to change everything, all the bad things that had happened, and sometimes she wanted everything to stay the same forever,” (p. 8).

Patron gives us a glimpse into what it feels like to live in constant fear that you’re going to be abandoned and not know where you’re going end up—the fear that is all too real for most foster children. Even little Miles, who lives with his grandmother, doesn’t know where his mother is and carries around a worn copy of “Are You My Mother?” I couldn’t help feeling empathy for him as Lucky refused to read it to him—again.

Even with all of the heart wrenching moments, Patron does a fine job of balancing them with humor and an engaging storyline. The book is not too heavy or depressing and has an uplifting ending.

I was surprised (well not really) to hear all of the hubbub about Patron’s use of the word “scrotum” on the very first page of the book—she’s retelling Short Sammy’s story of his lowest point with his alcoholism where his dog gets bit on the scrotum by a snake. There is nothing sexual or perverse, and in fact, Lucky is not even sure what a scrotum is—another example that she is just a child. My two cents—children have heard much far worse, and it is the proper name of a sexual organ. Patron could have used a number of alternative terms. It is not and should not be a focal point of the book, and the fact that it has been banned is completely ridiculous. But don’t get me started on what I think about censorship…even I am making this is the focal point of my review.

The Higher Power of Lucky is a good book with lovable characters, great and believable dialogue, and both poignant and funny moments. I personally would have picked Hattie Big Sky to win the top honor, but I’m not on the committee, so what can I do?

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