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Results 1 - 14 of 14
1. Review: Kelsey Green, Reading Queen by Claudia Mills

Kelsey Green, Reading Queen. by Claudia Mills. June 4, 2013. Farrar, Straus, and Giroux. 128 pages. ISBN: 9780374374884

Kelsey Green is great at reading. Her best friends are good at math and running. In this first of three books exploring each of the girls' special talents, Kelsey's class learns that they will be entering a school-wide reading competition, with prizes for the best readers in each class as well as the best class of readers in the entire school. Kelsey desperately wants to beat her class's other star reader, Simon, but she always seem to be a book or two behind, even when she reads the skinniest books she can find on her reading level. To make matters worse, the fifth grade's star readers are carrying their class ever-closer to first place. The only thing Kelsey can do now is try to motivate the reluctant readers in her class to read more books, even if it means being a little bit bossy in the process.

Claudia Mills consistently writes wonderfully relevant school stories at both the chapter book level and the middle grade level. In this story for the early elementary audience, she demonstrates her keen understanding of how children compete with one another, and how acutely aware kids are of reading levels, both their own and those of their classmates. Most elementary school students I know are at least slightly obsessed with reading levels, so for me, this book has its finger firmly on the pulse of what is happening right now. Since kids like to see themselves in the books they read, especially when they are just learning, this feeling that the story is happening right now is really important. I also think Mills does a nice job of creating a flawed character. Kelsey might be the reading queen, but she has a lot to learn about compassion, patience, and good sportsmanship, including how not to be a sore loser.

Interestingly, it's not completely clear from the story itself whether Kelsey herself learns a lesson, but I think the reader definitely does. Through Kelsey's behavior as she tries to teach her classmate, Cody, to love reading, kids learn how to be understanding of the differences between themselves and their classmates, and how to use their strengths to help others, not to show them up in front of everyone in order to be the best.

This book and its companions have a place in every elementary school classroom, and they might be especially useful in those where heavy competition among students of differing abilities has become a problem. Read-alikes for this series include the Polk Street School Kids books and the Clementine series.

I borrowed Kelsey Green, Reading Queen from my local public library. 


For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat

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2. Review: Make Lemonade by Virginia Euwer Wolff

Make Lemonade. by Virginia Euwer Wolff. 1993. Henry Holt and Co. 200 pages. ISBN: 9780805080704

This distinctive novel in verse tells of two young women - LaVaughn and Jolly- whose lives intersect when fourteen-year-old LaVaughn answers seventeen-year-old Jolly's ad for a babysitter. LaVaughn needs to make as much money as she can so she will be able to get out of this neighborhood and go to college. Jolly needs a babysitter because though she is not yet eighteen, she has two little ones at home. What starts out as a mutually beneficial employment situation evolves slowly into much more, as LaVaughn helps Jolly to see herself in a new way and to seek the help she needs to make a life for herself and her children.

There is no other book in all of YA literature like this one. Each of the characters is fully three-dimensional. Jolly, in particular, comes to life as a person, rather than just a statistic, and the reader is able to really empathize with her and understand her worries and suspicions about welfare and going back to school. Though LaVaughn is an outside observer for much of what happens to Jolly, she, too, is remarkable, because she goes above and beyond a babysitter's call of duty. Even though her mother - herself a presence looming large on the edges of the story - suggests time and again that LaVaughn would be better off away from Jolly, LaVaughn feels such sympathy for her she can't let go until she knows she  will be okay.

Books like this often have the misfortune of being "issue" books. It's easy for an author to become preachy and start using his or her books to caution kids against the dangers of pre-marital sex and teen pregnancy. Though this book certainly didn't make me want Jolly's life, it also didn't read like a cautionary tale. This book isn't just about the path down which our mistakes can send us. It's also about the unlikely people who can make differences in each other's lives, through the most unusual of circumstances.

This book is amazingly well written. Not only is the language beautiful, but I think the poetry makes it easier to get lost in the world of the story. Poetry gets at the heart of LaVaughn's feelings for Jolly, and also captures the rhythm and flow of how  each of the characters sounds to LaVaughn. There is also a beautiful metaphor of a lemon tree that is mentioned many times throughout the story.  LaVaughn tries to help Jeremy plant a lemon tree, but no matter what they do, it just can't bloom until, finally, his mother gets her life together.

The story also doesn't draw any easy conclusions, making it a great one to discuss in high school English classes or in book discussion groups. Does LaVaughn take advantage of Jolly when she takes the babysitting job? Is it wrong for Jolly   to place such heavy burdens on  LaVaughn? Would the average teen have the strength and courage to help someone like Jolly? The author provides no answers, but the readers' love for the characters prompts them to consider the morality of the entire story, and to consider what the truth is for them.

Make Lemonade is one of the best young adult books I have ever read, and I recommend it very highly. I loved it so much, I am almost afraid to read the sequels - True Believer and This Full House - because I'm afraid they might not measure up. Still, I care so much about these characters now, I think I will have to take the risk just to find out what happens to them going forward. Make Lemonade contains mature content and will be best appreciated by readers who are prepared to grapple with difficult questions and who can maturely respond to discussions of sexual violence, poverty, and teen parenthood.

I borrowed Make Lemonade from my local public library. 

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat.

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3. Review: Relish: My Life in the Kitchen by Lucy Knisley (ARC)

Relish: My Life in the Kitchen. by Lucy Knisley. April 2, 2013. Macmillan. 192 pages. ISBN: 9781596436237

Lucy Knisley's mother is a chef, so naturally, Lucy grew up around food - first in New York City, then in the more rural Hudson Valley. The result of Lucy's childhood is not just a great recipe collection, but also a collection of wonderful food-related memories that shape Lucy into her adult self. In this memoir, Lucy recalls the times she and her mother stood in the kitchen and ate cherry tomatoes right from the bowl. She reflects on the disagreements she and her parents have had over junk food,  and waxes poetic about a croissant she has never been able to replicate. Each chapter is topped off with a detailed recipe, explained in words and pictures with a touch of humorous commentary.

I initially chose to read this book because I wanted to get back into reading graphic novels, and the cover art caught my eye on NetGalley. I had no idea that the author had actually lived in Rhinebeck, NY, not far from Poughkeepsie, where I attended college and only an hour or so from where I actually grew up. Though I did not recognize the specific places Lucy had visited, I still enjoyed feeling that personal connection to the book, which is part of what motivated me to read it.

While I enjoyed the concept of this book, I didn't connect with the episodes from Lucy's life as well as I would have liked to. I am not a cook, nor am I a particularly adventurous eater, so the details of all the food didn't necessarily excite me, and I was disappointed that I couldn't connect with Lucy and the other "characters" of her stories through another avenue. I got some glimpses into Lucy's family life - such as the fact that her father misses her mother's cooking and still occasionally eats meals with her - and into her longest friendship, with the friend who moved to Japan and helped her explore Japanese food - but I wanted to feel more invested in her life, and that never quite happened.

On the other hand, the artwork is everything the cover promises. I enjoyed the detailed lines in each panel, and though I skimmed much of the text of the recipes, I loved the way she included a visual component for each ingredient and each step in the cooking process. I'm not sure these would be the most practical recipes to follow in the kitchen, but I thought including them as part of the story was a unique and effective approach.

Relish is most likely to appeal to readers who love food as Lucy does. Teens who aspire to be chefs or bakers will find a kindred spirit in Lucy, and all readers will be inspired to reflect on the ways food has shaped their identities. Most of the content in the book is appropriate for middle grade readers, but I think the tone is more YA, and at least one chapter includes content mature enough that parents might not want their nine-year-olds to read it just yet. Recommend this book to teens who loved Raina Telgemier's Smile, and also consider it as a read-alike for Ayun Halliday's Peanut and The Crepe Makers' Bond by Julie Crabtree.

I received a digital ARC of Relish: My Life in the Kitchen from Macmillan via NetGalley.

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat

0 Comments on Review: Relish: My Life in the Kitchen by Lucy Knisley (ARC) as of 3/27/2013 8:55:00 AM
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4. Review: Homesick by Kate Klise

Homesick. by Kate Klise. 2012. Feiwel & Friends. 192 pages. ISBN: 9781250008428

It is 1983 in Dennis Acres, Missouri, and Beignet “Benny” Summer is 12 years old. His dad, Calvin, who hoards junk and goes on and on about a future worldwide computer network, keeps the house in a state of utter filth, which has driven Benny’s mom away. Various people - from Calvin’s best friend Myron to Benny’s own teacher - try to help Benny get things cleaned up, but the more help is offered, the more resistant Benny’s dad becomes. Then the worst happens - the U.S. Chamber of Commerce names Dennis Acres America’s Most Charming Small Town. Representatives of the government will be coming to town to install a computer in every household. Now everyone in town is looking to Calvin to clean up his act, and Benny feels torn between his love for his dad and his loyalty to his town.

The first book I ever read by Kate Klise was one of her collaborations with her sister, M. Sarah Klise, entitled Regarding the Fountain. While I loved that one, future books of theirs, such as 43 Old Cemetery Road: Dying to Meet You didn’t resonate with me as much. I do like their picture books, such as Why Do You Cry? and Shall I Knit You a Hat?, but until now, I had never read any of Kate Klise’s middle grade novels, because I wasn’t sure I would like her writing style on its own, without her sister’s illustrations. The fact is, I could not have been more wrong. Homesick is the strongest book I have read by this author to date.

I wouldn’t say that Klise’s writing is especially flowery, but her words are very evocative. Dennis Acres is similar to a lot of other small towns I have read about, but her descriptions give it a very specific look and feel. As I read, I could picture each house and each business. I could imagine Benny’s dad’s leaning tower of moldy pizza boxes, and the rats living in the root cellar. I could picture Myron sitting behind the microphone at his radio station, and Benny blushing as the kids on his school bus teased him for sharing his seat with a teacher. Best of all, during the tornado that occurs at the book’s climax, I felt like I was there as Benny’s whole world fell apart. There are so many beautiful images throughout the story that just stuck with me and will stay with me for a long time.

I suppose some readers might complain that the resolution to Benny’s home situation is resolved too easily by an act of God. Other staunch realists might argue that the story isn’t believable because the events are so unlikely and contrived. I think the quality of Klise’s writing cancels out these concerns, however. The plot is important, and the characters are important, but what makes this book unique is the way the story is told. The emotions of what happens in this book are so vivid that the events of the story seem significant and possible, even if they might never happen in real life. I also think it’s neat that this book, set in the 1980s, foreshadows the Internet, and gives young readers a taste of what life was like when their parents were kids.

I recommend Homesick to fans of The Higher Power of Lucky and Susan Patron’s other books about Hard Pan, as well as to fans of the 2013 Newbery Honor book, Three Times Lucky. I also think libraries and bookstores should display Homesick face-out whenever possible. It has a great cover that is sure to attract interested readers!

I borrowed Homesick from my local public library. 

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat.

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5. Old School Sunday: A Ring of Endless Light by Madeleine L'Engle (1980)

A Ring of Endless Light. by Madeleine L'Engle. 1980. Farrar, Straus, and Giroux. 324 pages. ISBN:  9780374362997

My feelings about the last three Madeleine L'Engle books that I have read have ranged from lukewarm disinterest to all-out hatred, so I was almost nervous to pick up another one. Thankfully, though, A Ring of Endless Light, published in 1980, made me fall in love with L'Engle's writing all over again. Vicky Austin is almost sixteen, and she is struggling to make sense of death. A family friend, Commander Rodney, has died trying to save a drowing teen, and Vicky's own grandfather is dying of leukemia. Vicky also spends time with Zachary Grey, the troubled young man she first met in The Moon By Night, Adam Eddington, who works with her brother John at a marine biology research station, and Leo Rodney, whose feelings for Vicky are far more romantic than hers for him. As her grandfather's condition deteriorates, Vicky comes to terms with the idea of death and works to sort out her feelings for each of the young men who desire her affections.

Because I have such an affinity for realistic fiction, it comes as no surprise that my favorites among the L'Engle books I've read have been the ones about Vicky Austin and her family. My love for this particular book, though, extends beyond just a genre preference. There is plenty of science fiction in A Ring of Endless Light, including references to farandola, discussions of Adam's role in Dr. O'Keefe's regeneration research, and the discovery that people can communicate with dolphins telepathically. The difference between this book and A Swiftly Tilting Planet or A Wind in the Door is that I connect better with Vicky's emotions than with Meg's or Charles Wallace's. Meg and Charles Wallace always feel like characters, whereas Vicky sometimes feels like a real person who has the experiences of a real teen.

There were moments in this book where I felt it was necessary to suspend my disbelief a little bit. It seemed unlikely to me that several people connected to one family would die or come so near to death in such a short time. I also thought the way Zachary Grey was brought into the story was maybe a bit too coincidental, and I wondered if it was necessary to create a connection between him and Commander Rodney's death. Even so, the way these events are described, and the way they work together to further the plot, is exceptional. Whereas in A Swiftly Tilting Planet, I felt that L'Engle made all the connections between the characters too obvious, A Ring of Endless Light is written with more subtlety, and even if the events of the story are unlikely, the overall narrative is more believable.

I am nearly finished reading L'Engle's Murry/O'Keefe and Austin books. Next up is A House Like a Lotus, and after that, only Many Waters, An Acceptable Time, and Troubling A Star are left.  I'm hoping these last few books will be as enjoyable as A Ring of Endless Light, or at least not as dismal as A Swiftly Tilting Planet.

I borrowed A Ring of Endless Light from my local public library. 

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat

1 Comments on Old School Sunday: A Ring of Endless Light by Madeleine L'Engle (1980), last added: 2/10/2013
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6. Old School Sunday: A Swiftly Tilting Planet by Madeleine L'Engle (1978)

A Swiftly Tilting Planet. by Madeleine L'Engle. 1978. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 288 pages. ISBN: 9780374373627

A Swiftly Tilting Planet is the third book in Madeleine L’Engle’s Time Quintet. Based on comments here and on Goodreads, I expected to like this book, but I can’t believe how disappointing it was.

It is Thanksgiving, and a pregnant Meg Murry is celebrating the holiday at her parents’ house with all of her brothers and her mother-in-law, Mrs. O’Keefe, while Calvin is away at a conference. The phone rings and Meg’s father receives the news that Mad Dog Branzillo is about to wage nuclear war on the world. Mrs O’Keefe, who is typically not very social, suddenly turns to Charles Wallace, recites an Irish rune, and informs him that he must be the one to save the world from nuclear destruction. Charles Wallace wanders out to the star-watching rock, and meets Gaudior, a flying unicorn who will help Charles Wallace travel through time and go “within” various members of Mad Dog Branzillo’s family. If he can find out where one of them went wrong, he should be able to keep Mad Dog Branzillo from blowing things up. In the meantime, so as not to be left completely out of the action, Meg lies in bed with a newly found dog and kythes with Charles Wallace.

There are so many problems with this book that I find it hard to even summarize it without making fun of it. Some of them are minor - such as the fact that the government would call Mr. Murry to tell him the world’s about to blow up, and he would react so calmly and matter-of-factly, and carry on with Thanksgiving dinner, or the fact that Meg, formerly our heroine, is such a passive part of the plot, lying in bed and watching from a distance. I probably could have ignored just these small issues, but there is a whole host of major flaws that make it impossible for me to enjoy the story on any level.

Time travel, for example, is suddenly the easiest thing in the world. Just jump into the wind and let it take you where it wants you to go! A Wrinkle in Time spent time building Meg’s world and explaining how tesseracts operate. To suddenly describe time travel like it’s no big deal cheapens its significance in the first book of the series. I will admit that I’m not naturally a fantasy or science fiction reader and that I don’t like being asked to suspend my disbelief, but this just seems like lazy writing.

Names are also an issue. Every character in Mad Dog Branzillo’s family line has a name that is a variation on someone else’s name from the past. This is obviously meant to highlight the connections between generations, which is interesting, but it takes Charles Wallace, a child genius, nearly the entire novel to figure out that these names are all connected, while I had it figured out very early on. It’s fine to throw in all these connections; it’s silly to assume that the reader won’t notice them, or that Meg and Charles Wallace would need a long time to decode them. The story should not hinge so heavily on a revelation that is right in front of us the whole time.

Even Mrs. O’Keefe’s rune poem started grating on my nerves. Phrases like “the snow with its whiteness” and “the rocks with their steepness” sound very childish, and I had a hard time buying into the idea that reciting these words could have any impact on anything. I understand L’Engle’s desire to connect the natural world to the events and people of the world, but there isn’t enough in the story to explain how steepness, whiteness, deepness, or starkness actually help Charles Wallace. This rune is apparently based on an Irish prayer called St. Patrick’s Breastplate, which makes me wonder why L’Engle didn’t just use the original instead of writing her own.

I am so glad to have this book behind me. Thank goodness this isn’t the first L’Engle book I ever picked up, and or it most assuredly would have been my last. A Wrinkle in Time is a wonderful book, but so far none of the others in the quintet have been able to live up to it. I’m very glad that the next book on my list is A Ring of Endless Light. After all this time being irritated by the Murry O-Keefes, I’ll be thankful to be back amongst the Austins.

I borrowed A Swiftly Tilting Planet from my local public library. 

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat

0 Comments on Old School Sunday: A Swiftly Tilting Planet by Madeleine L'Engle (1978) as of 1/21/2013 1:34:00 PM
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7. Old School Sunday: A Wind in the Door by Madeleine L'Engle

A Wind in the Door by Madeleine L'Engle. 1973. Square Fish. 240 pages. ISBN: 9780312368593

I have to be in a certain mood to read L’Engle’s books about Meg Murry, which is why it took me a while to get to the next one on my list, A Wind in the Door. The story opens with one of the most memorable lines in children’s literature: “There are dragons in the twins’ vegetable garden.” Charles Wallace is indeed seeing strange creatures in the garden, but that’s the least of his troubles. He’s also being bullied at school where the principal, Mr. Jenkins, fails daily to protect him, and he might be suffering from a disease of his mitochondria, which are endangered by something called farandolae. Meg is very worried about Charles Wallace, so when she is approached by a being named Blajeny, who calls himself a Teacher, and assigned to be partners with a cherubim (a singular being so large he is basically plural) named Proginoskes in the completion of three tests, she accepts the challenge and follows her new allies on a quest to save Charles Wallace and many others from being unnamed by the evil Echthroi.

I give Madeleine L’Engle a lot of credit for being able to keep all of these strange words, beings, and places straight in her mind, because even trying to summarize her books gets tricky quickly! I was iffy about this one at the start - it’s difficult for a realistic fiction reader like me to settle into worlds where large dragon-looking cherubim appear in gardens! Once I did get my bearings, though, I enjoyed reading of Meg’s high-stakes struggle against evil. The concept of naming someone or something in order to show one’s love for it really appealed to me, as did the separation of acts of love from feelings of love. The concept of kything as a means of silent communication is also interesting, and I like the way it adds this subtle layer of closeness to Meg’s relationship with Calvin.

At times, I felt that this book really came close to being too mushy and emotional, but for the most part it walked the line fairly well between too much and just enough. As in A Wrinkle in Time, it’s hard not to consider the religious themes and implications of the story, and I appreciate L’Engle’s willingness to continually take on those big issues. I’m also hugely impressed that she could do so much with a setting - Charles Wallace’s mitochondria - where everything is immersed in darkness and no one moves physically. Everything that happens in the characters’ minds is so interesting and dramatic, and much happens even when it seems like almost nothing is happening. I enjoyed it, too, when L’Engle starts writing in free verse toward the end of the book. I may be a bit more cynical now than I was as a teen, so my reaction was a little bit snide after a while, but I know my fifteen year old self would have related strongly to those sections.

I have read A Wind in the Door once before - in library school- and I remembered it as the best book of the Time Quintet. I didn’t have the same reaction this time, but I did like it, and I plan to continue on with my L’Engle reading list until it’s done. Next up is a story featuring Polly O’Keefe, Dragons in the Waters.

I borrowed A Wind in the Door from my local public library. 

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat.

1 Comments on Old School Sunday: A Wind in the Door by Madeleine L'Engle, last added: 12/16/2012
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8. Review: Justin Case: Shells, Smells, and the Horrible Flip-Flops of Doom by Rachel Vail

Justin Case: Shells, Smells, and the Horrible Flip-Flops of Doom. by Rachel Vail. May 8, 2012. Feiwel & Friends. 192 pages. ISBN: 9781250000811

With third grade behind him, Justin is convinced he can begin living a relaxed, worry-free life. After all, summer vacation is the time of Nothing to Worry About, which is tied with gummy worms as Justin’s favorite thing ever! The worries set in, however, when Justin decides to try Camp Goldenbrook, “where all the runny-aroundy kids go”, instead of science camp. Justin is absolutely sure he wants to go, but that doesn’t mean he won’t worry about walking in flip-flops, impressing his new friends, staying out of trouble with a teenage counselor who seems to be out to get him, and trying to pass a swim test.

Though I don’t think anything could ever compare to the original Justin Case, which was just wonderful, this book is a pretty decent follow-up. Justin’s slow evolution into a braver, stronger kid over the course of the book is very satisfying, and his voice remains the most appealing and well-developed aspect of the entire story. I didn’t laugh out loud as many times reading this sequel as I did during the first book, but there were lots of great jokes and observations that gave great insight into Justin’s way of thinking. One example I especially like is when Justin wonders, “How is Newcomb not volleyball?” I asked myself that question every day of elementary school. Another great line is “My favorite sport is just playing. The kind of playing where you make up some imaginary things like bad guys or evil planets or demonic zombies, and then everybody chases everybody else around. At Camp Goldenbrook, there are no demonic imaginaries and there is no playing. There are activities all day long.” Kudos to Rachel Vail for sneaking in this astute observation about the need for kids to just play and be kids without so much organization and scheduling!

Justin Case: Shells, Smells, and the Horrible Flip-Flops of Doom is a good read-alike for the Alvin Ho series, and a great, better-written alternative to the Diary of a Wimpy Kid books, albeit for a somewhat younger audience. The ending of the book seems like it could lead to another sequel - and I hope it does! I think it’s important for kids - especially those with quieter or more introverted personalities - to read about a character like Justin, and on top of that, the books are just so entertaining!

I borrowed Justin Case: Shells, Smells, and the Horrible Flip-Flops of Doom from my local public library. 

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat

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9. Review: Stuey Lewis Against All Odds: Stories from the Third Grade by Jane Schoenberg

Stuey Lewis Against All Odds: Stories from the Third Grade. by Jane Schoenberg. May 22, 2012. Macmillan. 144 pages. ISBN: 9780374399016 

Stuey Lewis Against All Odds: Stories from the Third Grade is the follow-up to 2011’s The One and Only Stuey Lewis: Stories from the Second Grade. The new book contains four stories, each about a different episode in Stuey’s third grade year. In "Give Me Space", Stuey and his class organize a virtual field trip to the space science center where his dad works. In "First-Time Fliers", Stuey and his brother Anthony fly to their father’s for Christmas. "Queen for a Day" is about Stuey and Anthony’s attempts to make their mother feel like a queen on mother’s day, and "Best in Show" focuses on the class pet show, for which Stuey does not have an animal to share.

The “against all odds” part of the title implies that this book will see Stuey overcoming a lot of adversity, but I don’t think that is a fair representation of what the stories actually talk about. While Stuey does sometimes have trouble with the challenges of having divorced parents, he is a pretty easygoing, upbeat character, and he never really describes his problems as overwhelming obstacles. “Against all Odds” has a nice ring to it, but I wish the book had a more engaging title, as the stories themselves do.
The writing itself is solid, and heavy on the dialogue, which is nice for kids who are intimidated or simply bored by long, descriptive paragraphs. There are quite a few characters introduced across the four stories, but each one’s personality comes through clearly in just a few spoken words. The best example of this is Lilly Stanley, whose annoying personality is illustrated using statements such as this one, where she corrects the classroom teacher, Ginger.

“You said Friday night when you meant to say Friday morning, Ginger,” Lilly interrupts. “But don’t worry, I get confused sometimes when I’m excited, too.”

It’s not just what she says, but how she says it that really fleshes out her character, even without any description written into the story.

Dialogue also keeps the plot moving forward and provides exposition and context in a straightforward, but not boring, way. I especially like the interactions between Stuey and his friend, Will, and between Stuey and his brother, Anthony.

Stuey is an authentic representation of the mind of an eight-year-old boy. He falls somewhere in the middle of the spectrum, about halfway between troublemaker characters like Calvin Coconut and Horrid Henry and worrywarts like Alvin Ho and Justin Case. Stuey Lewis Against All Odds will appeal to fans of the Stink Books, Marty McGuire, and Freckle Juice.

I borrowed Stuey Lewis Against All Odds: Stories from the Third Grade from my local public library.

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat.
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10. Review: Missing on Superstition Mountain by Elise Broach

Missing on Superstition Mountain. by Elise Broach. 2011. Henry Holt & Co. 272 pages. ISBN: 9780805090475 

Missing on Superstition Mountain is a fast-paced adventure novel by Elise Broach, who is the author of Masterpiece and Shakespeare’s Secret. Three brothers - Simon, Henry, and Jack Barker - move with their parents to Arizona. Their parents warn them to steer clear of Superstition Mountain, but since they are vague about why, the boys take it upon themselves to go exploring. What they find - a creepy atmosphere and three human skulls - sparks their interest and sends them, along with a neighbor girl named Delilah, on a hunt around their new town for clues that will lead them to the truth about the mountain’s dangerous secrets.

What I did not realize when I started this book is that it’s part of a trilogy. It’s important to know this ahead of time, because otherwise, the reader will most definitely be disappointed by the lack of resolution at the end of the story. Only one thread of the plot comes to its conclusion in this book, and that conclusion raises as many questions as it answers. The key to enjoying this book is to view it as the first installment of a larger story, rather than a self-contained novel.

That said, this book is very well-executed. Broach’s effortless writing leads the reader seamlessly from plot point to plot point, charting a course that readers will eagerly follow. She builds suspense very effectively and keeps her language simple and straightforward, so that readers graduating from basic chapter books to novels can easily appreciate and engage with the story. Each of the boys has an appealing personality, and their interactions with Delilah - both before they become friends and during the friendship - ring very true.

My favorite of all the kids was Henry, whose budding anthropologist mind provides two of my favorite lines. Twice in the story Henry’s curiosity about other families and their houses is piqued. On page 83, he muses:

Another kid’s family was like a whole other civilization, Henry often thought - different rules and habits, different snacks that were allowed or forbidden, different bedtimes and acceptable television shows.

And on page 194, he goes on to consider:

Other people’s houses were so interesting, Henry thought - like a giant version of the inside of someone’s backpack. There were so many different ways that their owners’ personalities could shine through - in furniture, knickknacks, how messy or neat a place was.

These two descriptions perfectly encapsulate the way kids view their friends’ families and homes, but they also get at the heart of the novel’s fascination with culture and history. Elise Broach herself holds two history degrees from Yale, and she does a wonderful job of sharing her expertise at a developmentally and educationally appropriate level for her readers.

I really enjoyed Missing on Superstition Mountain, and the ending definitely left me hungry for the next installment. Readers - both the reluctant and the enthusiastic - in grades 3 to 5 are likely to react the same way. The second book in this trilogy, Treasu

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11. Old School Sunday: Review: The Moon By Night by Madeleine L'Engle

The Moon By Night. by Madeleine L'Engle. 1963. Ariel Books. 218 pages. ISBN (for the 1981 edition): 9780440957768

The Moon By Night is the second book in Madeleine L’Engle’s Austin series, occurring roughly two years after the events of Meet the Austins. Vicky, who was then twelve, is now fourteen, and experiencing the typical doubts and growing pains associated with adolescence. In addition to her personal changes, she’s also forced to confront some serious family upheaval. Uncle Douglas has, as predicted by the family in Meet the Austins, married Aunt Elena, and Maggy, the orphaned girl who has been staying with the Austins will now move in with Elena and Douglas, who are her legal guardians. The rest of the Austins will move as well, from Thornhill, their childhood home, to New York City, where Mr. Austin has found work as a doctor. Before heading for the city, however, they take a road trip to Laguna Beach, California, where Douglas, Elena, and Maggy will make their new lives. On the way, the Austins visit well-known attractions like the Grand Canyon and Yellowstone, make the acquaintance of a snide and sickly young man named Zachary Gray who does his best to woo Vicky, and share in surprising adventures involving everything from bears to flash floods. Vicky also makes her own internal, spiritual journey, as she begins to come of age.

Back in the Fall, when I reviewed Back When You Were Easier to Love, I wrote, “The right book is the one that just fits. It clicks with [the] reader in a way that makes her feel as if the book was written specifically for her. “ I haven’t felt that way about a book in a while, but I definitely did have that feeling while reading The Moon By Night. I really identified with Vicky’s journey and felt that many of her internal and emotional experiences mirrored my own. In fact, while the road trip is of course an interesting storytelling vehicle, I think the emotional journey was the more compelling aspect of this book. I like, for example, the way Vicky characterizes her need for time away from her family:

It was about time for me to be alone for a while. On a camping trip you’re falling over each other twenty-four hours a day. Most of the time it’s fine, but every so often you need to get out. You have to go off by yourself or you just stop being you, and after all I was just beginning to be me. Sometimes, like that evening at Palo Duro with the scouts yelling back and forth as if they owned the place and nobody else had a right to be there, I felt that doing nothing but be with the family was making me muffiny, though we’re not a muffiny family. So that’s not really what I mean. I guess what I mean is, I felt they were sort of holding me back, keeping me from growing up and being myself. (p. 70)

The reference to “muffins” comes from the Anti-Muffins chapter in Meet The Austins, but is also briefly explained in this book - probably due to the fact that "The Anti-Muffins" was removed from the original text and replaced later on. I love L’Engle’s understanding that a teenager can love her family and still want to be apart from them, and I loved the philosophical nature of the idea that “you just stop being you” in the presence of others

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12. Old School Sunday: Review: A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

A Wrinkle In Time. by Madeleine L'Engle. 1962. Yearling. 211 pages. ISBN: 9780440498056

As I mentioned in last week’s Old School Sunday post, I’ve given myself the task of reading all of Madeleine L’Engle’s Murry-O’Keefe and Austin novels in their original publication order. I don’t promise to read all of them this quickly, but I read through the entirety of A Wrinkle In Time in one afternoon. This was my second time reading it, but it’s been 5 years or so since the first time, so much of it felt new again.

The story, as most children’s literature readers know, is of awkward, plain adolescent, Meg Murry, and her quest to find her father. With the help of strange beings known as Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, Mrs. Which, the Happy Medium, and Aunt Beast, and a popular boy from school named Calvin O’Keefe, Meg tessers through time to find him, face her own feelings of inadequacy, and bring him home.

This is the first science fiction novel I read, when I was forced to explore the genre in library school, and therefore it’s the first book that made me realize how interesting it can be to combine ordinary, everyday occurrences with the possibilities posed by scientific speculation. This book is especially significant for me, because it explores that science through a religious and spiritual lens. Madeleine L’Engle imagines a God-infused universe, in which everything has meaning, and everything communicates, but not always in terms humans can grasp. She also recognizes, above all, the power of family, the struggle to accept oneself, and the fact that sometimes, our weaknesses can become our strengths.

I think the reason the book is so popular, and cited so often as a childhood favorite, is that kids really relate to Meg’s feelings of plainness and insignificance, and that they see themselves in her actions and hope they, too, could rise to the occasion in the hour of need. It also has hints of adventure and romance that pull in readers of those genres as well.

Another thing I really liked, which I noticed mostly because I read Meet the Austins and A Wrinkle In Time back to back, is the number of similarities between these two books. Both focus on families where a father has gone away - Maggy’s is dead, Meg’s missing. Both involve a close brother-sister relationship. Meg’s affection for Charles Wallace very closely mirrors Vicky’s for Rob. I also noted that Meg’s mother is a scientist, while Vicky’s dad is a doctor, and that John Austin and Meg both fret quite a bit about fitting in at school and finding a way to feel good about their strangeness. The Tesseract, a website devoted to L’Engle’s life and work includes on its FAQ page the question, "What is Madeleine L'Engle's personal philosophy?" Part of the answer provided by site author reads, “What kinds of evil do her characters fight, and who fights them? How do her characters feel about family, God, friendship, love, and being themselves? These are all clues to the philosophy of Madeleine L'Engle.” I think the recurrence of the same themes in A Wrinkle In Time as in The Austins represents L’Engle grappling with these very questions, telling the same story from different angles in an effort to get at the truth.

Madeleine L’Engle was truly an original writer. I love her worldview, her writing style, and her religious curiosi

2 Comments on Old School Sunday: Review: A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle, last added: 5/7/2012
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13. Review: Breaking Stalin's Nose by Eugene Yelchin

Breaking Stalin's Nose by Eugene Yelchin. September 27, 2011. Henry Holt. 160 pages. ISBN: 9780805092165

Sasha Zaichik is ten years old, and ready to become a Young Pioneer. He is devoted to Stalin, and proud of his father, who works for the secret police. He blindly accepts the socialist teachings of his society, and sees nothing unusual in his communal living arrangements, or the harsh punishments doled out at school to punish the children of Stalin’s enemies. Sasha’s sense of security is greatly challenged, however, when his father is arrested on the eve of the Young Pioneers induction ceremony, and Sasha himself accidentally breaks a statue of Stalin in the school hallway. Slowly, the truth about Stalinist Russia begins revealing itself to Sasha, forcing him to make some serious decisions about who to trust.

This book is small and short, but very powerful. The most remarkable thing about it is the author’s ability to immerse the reader in the naive mindset of a child raised in a socialist society. It can be hard for kids to connect with history in a personal way because textbooks are written in such dry, analytical language. This book teaches kids everything they could want to understand about living under Stalin, but it does so by appealing to emotions and experiences, rather than listing a litany of facts without context. Yelchin really drives home the fear and unfairness of totalitarianism by showing the way kids in Sasha’s school are punished, even for the smallest accidental infraction, such as knocking over a statue. I was absolutely riveted by the entire story, and worried, as events progressed, for Sasha’s future.

I’m really thankful to the Newbery committee for recognizing this book this year because otherwise, I’m certain I would have missed it. There aren’t many historical fiction novels out there that expose kids to the darker side of humanity, and this one’s honesty is much appreciated. I also noticed that Yelchin used humor very carefully, but very effectively, to keep hope alive for the reader, even in very dark and disturbing moments.

Breaking Stalin’s Nose is very well done, and will appeal to kids right up through their teens. I don’t review historical fiction very often, but you can read my other reviews of this genre here.

I borrowed Breaking Stalin's Nose from my local public library. 

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat.

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14. Old School Sunday: Review: Meet the Austins by Madeleine L'Engle

Meet the Austins. by Madeleine L'Engle. 1960; 1997. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 224 pages. ISBN: 9780374349295

I have read several Madeleine L’Engle novels as an adult, but I’ve never made my way through the entirety of any of her series. I’ve decided that the best way to remedy this situation is to read the interconnected Murray-O’Keefe and Austin novels in the order in which they were published. This means, when I do finally finish this task, I will have read Meet the Austins, A Wrinkle In Time, The Moon By Night, The Arm of the Starfish, The Young Unicorns, A Wind in the Door, Dragons in the Waters, A Swiftly Tilting Planet, A Ring of Endless Light, A House Like a Lotus, Many Waters, An Acceptable Time, and Troubling a Star. After reading Meet the Austins, I’m really looking forward to the rest.

While I associate L’Engle with science fiction, this first novel about the Austins is completely realistic. The lives of the four Austin kids - John, Vicky, Suzy, and Rob - are upset when their uncle and his co-pilot are killed in a crash, and the co-pilot’s daughter, Maggy, comes to live with the Austins. Maggy is a brat when she arrives, and it takes the family a while to warm up to her. It is only when they must face the possibility that Maggy might return to her surviving blood relatives that they realize how much a member of the family she really has become.

The chapters in this book are definitely interrelated, but each one represents one particular episode out of the Austins’ lives. Each episode highlights the strength of the sibling relationships, the devotion of the Austin parents, but also the family’s idiosyncrasies and flaws that keep them from becoming saccharine portraits of perfection. One of my favorite episodes in the entire book is when all the Austins dress up as a well-to-do family in order to scare off their uncle’s unsuitable girlfriend. Even Mr. and Mrs. Austin are in on the joke, which really makes them seem real and alive to the reader. I also think Vicky’s relationship to Rob, and the entire family’s reaction when Rob goes briefly missing, are very touching elements to the story, and very well-described.

Above all, though, the chapter which gives the most insight into the Austin family’s role in the world is one that was left out of the first published edition of the book. It’s called The Anti-Muffins, and it tells of the Austins’ club, which is based entirely on the idea that it’s undesirable to be conformist. Muffins come out of the pan all the same, but the Austins strive against that, hoping for a world where it’s okay to be a little bit strange. Also in the club is a Hispanic boy named Pablo whose family is poor. His presence is said to be the reason the chapter was originally cut from the book. But thank goodness it was put back in. I skipped it on my first read-through to see what the story was like without it. It was still very good - the vocabulary is very rich, the style very enjoyable, etc. - but something about that Anti-Muffins chapter makes the book feel whole to me. I truly wish I had read this book as a child just for that chapter.

This book has quickly become one of my favorites, and it has me completely hooked on the Austin characters. I can tell already I’m going to enjoy this little reading exercise, and especially enjoy seeing where L’Engle takes these characters in the books I've yet to read.

2 Comments on Old School Sunday: Review: Meet the Austins by Madeleine L'Engle, last added: 4/29/2012
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