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Princess Posey and the Tiny Treasure. by Stephanie Greene. February 21, 2013. Putnam Juvenile. 96 pages. ISBN: 9780399257117

There is a rule in Miss Lee’s classroom that students are not allowed to play with their treasures from home during class time. Toys are only permitted at recess, and the rest of the time, they need to stay in desks and backpacks. Posey knows this rule, and she wants to follow it, but when Grandpa buys her a tiny pink pig named Poinky, she just can’t keep him to herself. When Miss Lee sees Posey with Poinky, she takes him away and locks him up inside her desk, without even given Posey a warning like she is supposed to! It’s a good thing Posey’s tutu can help her turn into Princess Posey, so she will have the strength to ask for Poinky back.

Amazingly, this is already the fifth book about Princess Posey. Though the series has been around for a while now, the stories continue to feel fresh and true to life in the first grade. Stephanie Greene continually does a wonderful job of tackling those issues that, to first graders, feel like life and death situations. I can definitely remember having teachers in elementary school who would take things away from students when they became distractions, and reading Posey’s reaction when it happens to her took me right back to the feeling of powerlessness I had when a fellow classmate lost a prized possession to the teacher’s desk. I also remembered how scary it was to approach the teacher with a question, or with my side of the story when I hadn’t been treated fairly, and I was impressed that Posey handled the situation so well!

Learning to navigate the world on one’s own is part of life for every child who attends school outside of the home, and Stephanie Greene gives kids a great road map and a great role model to help them figure things out. This book reminds kids that there are consquences when rules are broken, but also that adults can be fair when mistakes are made and kids calmly explain their positions. I really loved this book, and I continue to believe that this is one of the best and most realistic early chapter book series out there.

Keep an eye out for yet another Princess Posey book, Princess Posey and the New First Grader, which came out on June 27th.

I borrowed from Princess Posey and the Tiny Treasure my local public library. 

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat.

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Where I Live. by Eileen Spinelli. 2007. Dial. 112 pages. ISBN: 9780803731226

Diana loves where she lives. A family of birds has a nest over the back door, and her best friend, Rose, lives close enough that they can wave to each other from their windows. When Diana's dad loses his job, and the family decides to move in with Diana's grandpa, Diana just can't imagine what it will be like to live somewhere else. It is only after she says goodbye to her old house and old friends that she realizes that change brings happy things along with the sad.

This short chapter book in verse covers very familiar ground. There are countless children's books about moving, and many of them repeat the same events and emotions over and over again. This story is different, though, because it's not just about the moving process. About half of the book actually occurs before the move, so the reader gets a sense of Diana's life in her old house. Because the reader is invested in her old life, he or she is able to sympathize that much more with Diana when she learns she is moving. This means that Diana's feelings about where she lives - not the move - become the central focus of the story. The book becomes less of a "moving" book and more of a presentation of how our lives are affected by where we live.

The unique language of Spinelli's verse is another notable feature of this book. I picked out several lines and phrases that struck me as particularly evocative and interesting. One such phrase was "purpy flopple," which is the nickname Rose has given to the floppy purple hat she allows Diana to keep as a going away present. This is such a small, silly phrase, yet it's one of the most memorable in the book. I also thought Spinelli did a lovely job writing the moment at which Diana and her family drive away from their old house and Diana watches as Rose gets further and further away.

I watch her from the back window
until she is a tiny speck -
the hardest goodbye of all.
There is also a wonderful description of Diana's little sister, Twink, that sums up her personality perfectly.

Twink's tub water
turn blue...
dark...
dreamy...
like a lake
after midnight.
Twink is always
making stuff like this happen.
Accidentally.

I love these specific moments of insight into the characters. I also enjoyed the friendship between Diana and Rose, where they share each other's diaries and manage to get along despite their major differences of opinion about subjects like astronomy. I also like that, when Diana does make a friend at her new house who likes things that Rose does not like, she does not feel guilty or assume that she is replacing her best friend. This is yet another plot point that separates this book from others on the same subject.

Where I Live is similar to Julie Sternberg's Like Pickle Juice on a Cookie, and its tone also reminds me of Lulu and the Duck in the Park and Lulu and the Dog from the Sea. Though it is written in verse, I think it will appeal mainly to girls in grades 2 to 4, especially those with little sisters and fun best friends of their own.

I borrowed Where I Live from my local public library. 

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat.

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Love is in the Air by Jonathan Fenske. December 27, 2012. Penguin Young Readers. 32 pages. ISBN: 9780448461601

Love is in the Air by Jonathan Fenske is a new (December 2012) Level 2 easy reader published by Penguin Young Readers. It is designated for the “progressing reader” and its Guided Reading Level is H. After a party, Balloon is left all alone, tied to a table. Just as he starts to droop, along comes Kite, a new friend who invites Balloon to fly with her. Balloon manages to break free, but then he flies higher than Kite. Once they are side by side, they have lots of fun... until the wind dies down and Balloon runs into a bird with a sharp beak. Is this friendship doomed to deflate?

In this, his very first book, Fenske has done everything exactly right. He creates lovable characters out of everyday objects, and gives them personality and significance in just a few simple words and images. Each word of the text is important, and none is extraneous; his writing is aptly economical and perfectly suited to the reading abilities of his audience. There are also some great artistic moments that set the writing apart. Alliterative phrases like “rose on the breeze,” “cool clouds” and “down drifted Kite” give the text a pleasing poetic sound. Onomatopoeia enhances but does not take over the text, appearing only in speech bubbles to express sounds such as “Doink!” and “Plop!” This approach works so well, because readers get both the rich vocabulary of the story and the fun of those silly sound words.

The use of panels and speech bubbles give the book great visual appeal, and they work well with the cartoonish facial expressions of the two main characters. Fenske also makes great use of white space, giving the characters lots of room to move around. The result is that the illustrations feel almost animated. Visual hints that the story is set in the sky are minimal, but that sense of movement makes it impossible to forget that we’re meant to be floating on the breeze.

The relationship between the two characters is also perfect for the easy reader audience. Romances aren’t great for early elementary school kids, but gentle friendship stories still appeal to them. Kids will be intrigued by the idea of a balloon and a kite becoming friends, and they will be excited by the problems they have in being together, and ultimately comforted by the story’s sweet and happy ending. This sweetness also makes it a perfect easy reader for preschoolers who start reading early.

Love is in the Air is definitely one of my new favorite books, and I can’t wait to see more of Fenske’s fresh style. Watch for his second book, Guppy Up, out this month!

I received a review copy of Love is in the Air from the author.

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat.

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Turtle and Snake and the Christmas Tree. by Kate Spohn. 2000. Penguin. 32 pages. ISBN: 9780670888672 

Turtle and Snake and the Christmas Tree is a Level 1 title in the Viking Easy-to-Read series. The book jacket recommends this reading level for ages 4 to 7, or Preschool to Grade 1 - kids “getting started” with reading.

The story focuses on next door neighbors, Turtle and Snake, who go out on a snowy day to find a Christmas tree. At the tree farm, they become very particular about the types of trees they like. All the trees they find are too tall, too skinny, too wide, or too short. Only when they come back home, disappointed, do they realize the truly perfect Christmas tree is right in their backyard all along.

The text in this reader is very basic, making it perfect for those brand-new readers with just a few sight words under their belts. Sentences are kept short and simple, and certain words are repeated for emphasis. There is a definite pattern to the segment of the story where the two friends point out what they like and dislike about certain trees, where the same structure is repeated four times. The author also makes effective use of lists in the latter half of the book, presenting information in a consistent, predictable way.

The full-color illustrations fill the pages from top to bottom, which gives the book strong visual appeal, even if the animals themselves look sort of unusual. Turtle and Snake aren’t very expressive in their facial expressions, which is too bad, but the color scheme and Henkes-esque mice make up for that and draw the reader into the book anyway. For an adult who is familiar with all types of writing, the story might seem simplistic, and the ending cheesy and predictable, but for those new readers still learning about story structure, reading this book will be a perfect first experience with independent reading.

Share Turtle and Snake and the Christmas Tree with kids who have read the Biscuit books and are ready for a tiny bit more of a challenge. When the holidays are over, also check out the rest of the Turtle and Snake series, including Turtle and Snake Go Camping and Turtle and Snake at Work.

I borrowed Turtle and Snake and the Christmas Tree from my local public library. 

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat. 

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Wilma Tenderfoot #3: The Case of the Fatal Phantom. by Emma Kennedy. June 28, 2012 (US). Dial. 272 pages. ISBN:  9780803735422 
Wilma Tenderfoot is an apprentice to the great detective, Theodore P. Goodman. She knows little of her past, since she was abandoned at the Lowside Institute for Woeful Children as a baby, but she hopes to use the skills she learns from Dr. Goodman to help uncover the mystery of her own life. In the meantime, she serves as a faithful assistant to Dr. Goodman as he solves various cases around the island of Cooper. In this third book in the series, Wilma and her dog Pickle uncover a mummified body on the property of the Blackheart Mansion. The mummy is holding a key which is supposed to unlock a hidden treasure, but the treasure is guarded by a Fatal Phantom. To make matters worse, Wilma’s enemy, Barbu D’Anvers and several members of the Blackheart family all have different motives for finding the treasure themselves. Who will get there first, and how can Wilma find the evidence she needs to prove the Phantom really does exist?

This is a clever book reminiscent of A Series of Unfortunate Events, but with more characters and British English and fewer vocabulary lessons. Wilma is a plucky, determined heroine who is appealing even when she makes huge errors, and though she is basically the only child character in the book, she holds her own and keeps readers connected to all that is happening. The plot is well thought out, with a couple of twists I never saw coming, and I especially liked the moments when the story drifted into Pickle’s point of view. The ending lines of each chapter, where the narrator offers bits of commentary, are some of my favorite quotations from the book. I normally don’t like books that break the fourth wall in that way, but there is something really enjoyable about reading things like, “Abject terror? Are things about to turn positively PETRIFYING? Let’s hope not, eh?”

I have to confess that for the most part, reading this book was a struggle for me. I can’t find a thing wrong with it - it’s a well-written mystery, with lots of suspense and a couple of real surprises. I think it’s just not my type of book. There are plenty of kids who will dive right into the setting and fall in love with Wilma, but I was overwhelmed by the number of characters and put off by the cutesy word play and silly humor in some sections. I also wished desperately for Wilma to interact more with other kids - it’s hard to relate to a children’s book where most of the characters are adults.

As the book jacket suggests, this book is sure to be a hit with Lemony Snicket’s fans. I think it might also please readers who enjoy Enola Holmes, Gilda Joyce, Nancy Drew, and Ruby Redfort. The Case of the Fatal Phantom is the third book in the series. The first two titles are The Case of the Frozen Hearts and The Case of the Putrid Poison.

I borrowed The Case of the Fatal Phantom from my local public library. 

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One for the Murphys. by Lynda Mullally Hunt. May 10, 2012. Penguin. 224 pages. ISBN: 978039925615

One for the Murphys is a heartwarming story about a positive foster care experience. A victim of child abuse, Carley is removed from the custody of her mother and stepfather while her mother gets treatment for injuries and makes decisions about her marriage. She is placed with a first time foster care family, the Murphys, who have three boys. Though Carley finds it difficult, at first, to accept the kindness of her foster parents and their kids, she slowly begins to warm to each one, and becomes an integral part of their lives, forming bonds that help her understand what a true family is meant to be.

I’ve heard so many positive things about this book on Goodreads and around the Kidlitosphere, but I don’t think it quite lived up to the hype. While the story is emotionally compelling and the characters well realized, a few contrived instances gave me the feeling that I was reading the transcript of a Lifetime Original Movie. It’s great to use a children’s story as a vehicle for exploring issues that potential readers face in their everyday lives, but the storyline itself brings nothing new to the table. I predicted how things would turn out from the beginning, and was neither surprised nor particularly excited when my predictions came true. Carley’s transformation from the sullen, distrustful abuse victim to the accepting, loving child who wants to call Mrs. Murphy “mom” is touching, but doesn’t ring true. The pacing of the story is off so that the changes in Carley seem rushed, sudden, and forced. I could feel myself being manipulated by the story, and almost conned into crying when the inevitable ending arrives, and I hate that feeling.

It seems that adults really like this book, and I think that makes sense. Mrs. Murphy is an adult who makes a difference in the life of a troubled child, and I think most adults - especially those who work with kids (or have kids) - like to think they can accomplish the same thing. From a kid’s point of view, though, Carley is not that interesting outside of being a foster kid, as this is her defining characteristic throughout the entire story. Kids who live in foster families or who have ever been in foster care might relate to Carley if their experiences were positive, but I can also see the possibility of a child becoming discouraged because Carley’s foster family seems unrealistically perfect.

One of the reviews I read, written by Jen Bigheart, includes a sentence that really stuck with me, “I know there are many Mrs. Murphy's [sic] out there, foster parent or not, and this book is a gift for all of them.” This sentence sums up my problem with the story - the book is focused more on the adult than the child, and the story is more about the Murphys than Carley herself, who should be the central focus. Children’s books should be written for children, and in my opinion, this one will not please the middle grade audience half as well as it will please their parents, guardians, teachers, caregivers, and librarians. It’s a grown-up favorite, but I’m not sure kids will connect with it in the same way.

I borrowed One for the Murphys from my local public library. 

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Sammy Carducci's Guide to Women. by Ronald Kidd. 1991. Penguin. 112 pages. ISBN: 9780140364811

Sammy Carducci’s Guide to Women is a comic novel about the trials and tribulations of dating in the sixth grade. Sammy is the shortest boy in his class, but he makes up for his small size by having a big personality filled with cocky self-confidence. He’s been watching his older brother, and now believes he has all the knowledge necessary to impress the women in his class. The only problem is, the one girl he’s really interested in, Becky Davidson, is the most physically mature girl in the entire school, and he has a lot of competition for her affections.

This book is written by Ronald Kidd, who, nowadays, publishes chapter books like Chasing George Washington and Teddy Roosevelt and the Treasure of Ursa Major, as well as novels like The Year of the Bomb, and On Beale Street. Sammy Carducci was published in the middle of his career so far, back in 1991.

Reading the story felt a lot like watching a 90s sitcom like Saved By the Bell or Boy Meets World, where kids are the main focus and adults play a secondary role. A lot of the “jokes” of this story - Sammy’s height, Becky’s maturity, Becky’s parents’ reactions to Sammy, Sammy’s disagreements with his friend Gus - are common tropes found in a lot of movies, shows, and books from the same time period. Sammy isn’t quite a stereotype, but he does represent a certain type of recognizable character, whose personality is familiar to me based on how much time I spent indulging in 90s pop culture as a kid.

Kidd’s writing reminds me a lot of authors like Gordon Korman, Louis Sachar, and Rachel Vail, who use this same sense of humor to tell stories about early adolescence. Like books by Korman, Sachar, and Vail, Kidd’s story about Sammy Carducci could really appeal to boys or girls, thanks to Sammy’s engaging voice and the high stakes he sets up for himself by wanting to date Becky.

Though Sammy Carducci’s Guide to Women is out of print, a play based on the story can still be purchased from Dramatic Publishing.  I can imagine a play with so many colorful characters would be a lot of fun to perform, and it would be really interesting to see what kind of contemporary spin could be put on the story to bring it up to date.

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Herbie Jones. by Suzy Kline. 1985. Puffin Books. 96 pages. ISBN: 978069811939

 Third grader Herbie Jones has a lot on his plate in this 1985 school story. He’s sick of being in the lowest reading group, to the point that he has actually started studying his spelling words. He’s also been invited to a girl’s birthday party, to which he brings a most unfortunately inappropriate gift, and a short while later, he’s forced to go into the girls’ bathroom to face an apparent ghost. On top of that, he has to visit the Reading Supervisor and talk his way out of trouble when he’s caught sneaking off for lunch on a class trip.

In a lot of ways, Herbie is a lot like contemporary chapter book heroes - especially Alvin Ho. He has the same worries and anxieties shared by many third graders past and present, and his voice is very authentically eight years old. I’m not sure reading groups are divided up quite the same way now as they were in the 1980s and 1990s, but I definitely remember being aware at all times of who was in which group when I was in elementary school, so that part rang very true for me. I also loved Suzy Kline’s depiction of boy/girl interaction, and the slow emergence of co-ed friendships that starts to occur around this age. I could see some of the same behaviors and characteristics in Herbie and his classmates that I see in the characters from the Horrible Harry books.

Probably my favorite thing about the story is all the references to Charlotte’s Web. I know third grade is when I first read that book, and I think that is still the grade where most kids read it. The fact that Herbie and his friends read and discuss the book makes them that much more realistic, and also provides great positive reinforcement for kids who might not otherwise see the relevance of an assigned book. It’s also great how Herbie actually analyzes the text in order to help the girls in the lowest reading group realize the good qualities of spiders. It’s a great early example of close reading, and is likely to encourage kids who have not yet read Charlotte’s Web to pick up a copy.

It’s hard to pinpoint the specific things that make this book feel dated to me, but it definitely read like an older book. The illustrations probably helped me to draw that conclusion, since the kids have very 80’s clothes and hair. I also doubt kids are asked to clap erasers in their classrooms these days, and names like Lance, Margie and even Herbie sound like the names of much older people than third graders. I think it would also be difficult to find a 95-cent cheeseburger. They’re not even on the dollar menu at McDonald’s nowadays! Still, though, Herbie Jones and its sequels (Herbie Jones and the Class Gift, Herbie Jones and the Hamburger Head, and What’s the Matter with Herbie Jones?) are all still in print, and I think their fresh 21st century covers will appeal much more to kids than the original covers. All in all, this first book in the series - which was also Suzy Kline’s first book, period - is a gentle read filled with all the concerns and questions faced by a third grader, and it will appeal in particular to readers (and parents) who aren’t into a lot of technology talk and toilet humor.

I borrowed Herbie Jones from my

0 Comments on Old School Sunday: Review: Herbie Jones by Suzy Kline as of 4/22/2012 10:58:00 AM

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In Summer Light. by Zibby O'Neal. 1985. Viking Children's Books. 160 pages. ISBN: 9780670807840

This 1985 coming of age novel is the story of Kate, the daughter of a famous artist, who returns home from boarding school with mononucleosis and must, against her wishes, spend the summer with her family. Most disgusting to her about her stay at home is her father’s attitude toward everyone around him, as though they live to serve his whims. Kate has been subject to this treatment herself, as her father once painted a picture of her, and then dismissed her presence in it, stating that it didn’t matter whom or what was in the picture, because it was the painting style, not the subject, that was important. Kate’s resentment over this and other slights has caused her to stop painting altogether, and it’s also making it difficult to write her paper on the Tempest, since Prospero reminds her so much of her father. The only bright spot in the summer is Ian, the graduate student staying with the family while he researches Kate’s father. Kate admires Ian, and respects his opinion, and before the summer is over, she falls in love with him and with painting all over again.

This novel is rather serious in tone, and highly introspective. O’Neal uses beautiful, direct, language to paint very specific pictures in the reader’s mind of each of the characters, Kate’s home, and especially her father’s artwork and attitude surrounding it. Because the narration is in third person, there is sometimes a feeling of distance or disconnection from Kate, but the reader never stops being invested in the story at any point. Kate’s anger toward her father, and her desire to make her own decisions and to have an identity separate from her dad’s create such interesting moments of inner conflict that the reader can’t help but keep reading, if only to enjoy the emotional rollercoaster. Kate’s feelings for Ian also contribute to those ups and downs by adding a layer of tension to the story, and providing the middle ground between Kate’s hurt feelings and her father’s continual cold shoulder.

I read a brief “report” on this book in Shelf Discovery: The Teen Classics We Never Stopped Reading, which is what inspired me to read it, but I had no idea I would love it so much. The story is predictable in many ways and follows a certain formula I think many coming-of-age stories adhere to, but every word is so carefully chosen, and there are many gorgeous passages that I actually read aloud to myself so I could enjoy the language that much more. Though it’s cataloged as juvenile fiction in my library system, the only comparisons I could really make in terms of subject matter were to YA titles like That Summer, Up a Road Slowly, and A Separate Peace. I think it would appeal to readers who like those, and I also think it would work well in a classroom setting. There is so much to analyze and so much to learn in just O’Neal’s writing alone.

What a disappointment that a book like this is out of print! I can’t name very many contemporary realistic fiction coming-of-age novels, so maybe it’s a genre that has fallen by the wayside in children’s literature in recent years, but this book is so well-written, and really not very dated at all, so it’s hard to believe there wouldn’t still be a market for it. If you can get your hands on a copy, give it to strong readers in grades 5 to 8 who like

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My Brother, Ant. by Betsy Byars, illustrated by Marc Simont. 1996. Penguin. 32 pages. ISBN: 9780140383454

My Brother, Ant is a Level 3 Easy Reader originally published in 1996 and recently repackaged as part of the Penguin Young Readers series. The volumes in this series - which include some of the Cam Jansen books, retellings of classics such as Black Beauty, and other well-known books for beginning readers - are labeled not just with traditional levels designated by the publisher, but also with their corresponding Guided Reading letters. This is immensely helpful to public librarians who don’t work with Guided Reading on a regular basis, but who field lots of questions from confused and interested parents. I’m not crazy about the idea of designating books based on reading level, since obsessing over the levels can sometimes take the joy right out of reading, but from a professional standpoint, it’s nice to have access to information that can help me understand what the various Guided Reading levels mean. My Brother, Ant is designated as a Level J, putting it on the same level with Henry and Mudge, Little Bear, and Aunt Eater - essentially a second grade reading level.

The story itself is by Betsy Byars and focuses on the relationship between two brothers. The unnamed older brother narrates the story, relating for the reader the surprising and sometimes annoying things his little brother Anthony does. In the three chapters of this book, Ant fears a monster beneath his bed, uses the narrator’s homework as drawing paper, and asks his brother to read him a story, but refuses to accept the narrator’s creative embellishments on classic fairy tales. The brothers have a sweet and supportive relationship, which is portrayed very positively, even during moments when they drive each other crazy.

Since this is a “transitional reader” it includes a lot of dialogue, which makes room for subtle character development that might not otherwise make it into such a short and simple story. I also noticed a distinct lack of contractions, which makes the writing seem stilted in some places, but also keeps new readers focused on the plot and vocabulary of the story without tripping them up with yet another new function of language. I really like the fact that the events of the story also involve reading and writing as everyday parts of life. These themes subtly suggest to the reader that reading is fun, as well as important.

The illustrations by Mark Simont provide just the right amount of detail and context for the brothers’ interactions. Their faces, especially, help to set the mood for each scene and contribute to the overall love and appreciation the reader feels between them. I also love the way Simont illustrates the various things Ant imagines, from the monster living beneath his bed, to the three little figs mentioned in his brother’s silly Three Pigs retelling.

This is a good, solid easy reader, which will please parents and kids alike. I recommend checking out this and other Penguin Young Readers books for high-quality stories for the newest readers.

I borrowed My Brother, Ant from my local public library. 

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This short middle grade paperback follows Nora Jean Sampson as she counts down through her much-dreaded fourth grade year. As the year progresses, she obsesses about how skinny she is, deals with torment from obnoxious class clown, Jimmy Lee, discovers Nancy Drew, and participates in a reading contest.

The book introduces many story threads, but rarely resolves them. Basically, it reads as a catalog of things Nora Jean does in fourth grade, without tying them together very strongly. There are some hints at Jimmy Lee's family situation, which might be an explanation for his bad behavior, but this idea is never brought to fruition. Neither does Nora Jean's obsession with her appearance lead to any sort of conclusion. Nora Jean is much the same at the end of her story as in the beginning, and her countdown serves no purpose, as she just starts another one when the summer begins.

The illustrations were probably the most entertaining part of the story for me, and that's completely because of their amazing 80's fashions. Big tee shirts, straight-leg jeans, velcro sneakers, a Dolly Parton Halloween costume, complete with beach ball breasts -it's hard to believe there was a time where we would have taken these things seriously, or just glanced at them as though they were nothing out of the ordinary. There is also one girl in the story who is drawn to resemble Soleil Moon Frye as Punky Brewster. She's on the left:
I have no idea if this resemblance was at all intentional, but it amused me. The one on the right looks oddly familiar, too, but I can't pinpoint why. 

Another bonus of the particular copy of the book which I purchased from my local used bookstore is that it's signed!

It says: Here's hoping you laugh out loud! Mona Kerby

This was not a favorite old-school read for me, but because it was short, I made it to the end anyway. It is (not surprisingly) out of print now, but both the author and illustrator have other titles that would definitely be familiar to contemporary readers. Illustrator Melodye Rosales did the illustrations for the American Girl books about Addy, and Mona Kerby is the author of the 2008 picture book, Owney, the Mail-Pouch Pooch.

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At thirteen, math prodigy Aphrodite Wigglesmith has already completed her college education at Harvard. Now Harvard has sent her to teach remedial math at a public middle school to try and prove her theory that anyone can be good at math, given the proper type of instruction. Mindy Loft, whose best talent is baton twirling, is a student in Professor Wigglesmith's math class, but she doubts she will be able to learn anything from the dowdy and nerdy Aphrodite. Over time, though, the girls realize they have more in common than meets the eye. Aphrodite teaches Mindy and her classmates how to solve math problems, and in turn, Mindy helps Aphrodite decode the world of middle school fashion and dating.

This book is definitely not a serious one, and it requires some suspension of disbelief. The entire story is predicated on an impossibility - that a middle schooler would teach middle school - and readers who get hung up on that fact will have a harder time enjoying the story. Those who can get past that, however, will enjoy this unique tale of an unlikely friendship and two interesting young teens. This book deals with the same issues as many tween novels - fights between friends, feeling put down by cruel classmates, being unfairly dismissed by clueless adults - but it does so with a new twist. The tone of the story is also really distinctive. The text almost pokes fun at itself, and many familiar aspects of middle school are exaggerated for the sake of humor. 

The Clueless Girl's Guide to Being a Genius will appeal to both girls and boys who have enjoyed The Secret Life of Ms. Finkleman by Ben H. Winters, Schooled by Gordon Korman, The Fourth Stall by Chris Rylander, and The Strange Case of Origami Yoda by Tom Angleberger.

For more about this book, visit Goodreads and Worldcat.

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 There are two authors whose books I regularly buy. One of them is Sarah Dessen, whose books I've been collecting since the publication of Someone Like You in 1998, and the other is John Green. My rule for these authors is that, even if the subject matter of one of  their books is something I wouldn't ordinarily read, I must buy and read that title anyway. And that is how I, the girl who announced to her seventh-grade English teacher that she would never read a book in which someone was sick, dying, or dead, came to own and finish reading The Fault In Our Stars.

TFIOS, as the Nerdfighter community has affectionately nicknamed this book, is a love story between cancer survivors Hazel and Augustus. Hazel's cancer is being managed by a drug that has bought her some more time than doctors initially expected, while Augustus has lost his leg to osteosarcoma. The two meet in a support group, and are drawn together by their fascination with a novel by fictitious author Peter Van Houten, which has at its protagonist a young girl dying of cancer, and the abrupt ending of which invites many questions that Hazel and Gus both want answered. The book very realistically portrays the daily challenges and triumphs of kids living with cancer and manages to humanize a very difficult experience in a way that is very warm and relatable, but not cheesy or patronizing.

It's very hard for me to think critically about books that make me cry. I generally don't enjoy being sad, so sometimes that can be a strike against a book. But I'm also always impressed by the way an author can move me to tears, which sometimes makes me unduly biased in the book's favor. In this case, I don't feel as though I particularly enjoyed TFIOS. I was stuck for several days at the halfway point, afraid to read any further, and then I finally finished the book out of a sense of obligation, rather than out of a desire to know how it ends. I knew that, whatever the outcome, I'd wind up in tears, and found myself dreading that experience.

That said, though, I can make a few comments. One is that this book deviates quite a bit from John Green's other books, both in style and substance, and in the fact that his narrator is a girl for the first time. I still heard his distinct tone and voice throughout the text, but also occasionally got buried in what I found to be somewhat pretentious language. I kept thinking of how everyone used to criticize the characters on Dawson's Creek for speaking so eloquently all the time. I  buy that intelligent teenagers have the vocabulary to understand these passages, but I don't think teens truly speak as they do in this book.

What I will say, though, is that this book never becomes maudlin, even at its saddest moments, and the writing never falls into that weepy Lurlene McDaniel style I despise. The characters are fully developed, both as cancer patients, and as people, and their lives, personalities, fears, and quirks jumped right off the page. Particularly lovely is the arc of Hazel's story, and the wonderful portrayal of her family, and her relationship to her parents. A lot happens beneath the surface of this book, and there is lots to analyze and critique, for readers who can put themselves through the emotion of a second reading.

All in all, this

1 Comments on Review: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, last added: 1/24/2012

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Annie said, on 1/24/2012 9:04:00 AM

Great review, and I think your mention of the pretentious language is a good one. Although I tend to like unnaturally intelligent/witty characters (I love Juniper, Gentian, and Rosemary by Pamela Dean), I think this could be a road block for some readers.

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In this holiday installment from the popular Horrible Harry series, narrator Doug is worried about his best friend, Harry. Their classmates in room 3B are excited for the various Winter holidays they celebrate, including Kwanzaa, Three Kings Day, and Korean New Year, but Harry just isn’t himself. He hasn’t done a single horrible thing to anyone, and he’s alarmingly quiet during class. He’s not even interested in Zuzu, the new student from Lebanon. When the class learns that Harry’s great-grandfather is in a nursing home, however, they plan a special visit, and by the time Secret Santa rolls around, Harry is up to his old tricks once more.

What I like most about this chapter book is that it’s one of the few holiday titles that is truly appropriate to share in a public school or public library setting. Many children’s holiday books focus on just one of the major December holidays – Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and New Year’s Day – thus always leaving out those who don’t participate in that particular celebration. This book, which already includes a cast of refreshingly diverse characters, takes a much more inclusive approach, allowing the characters’ previously established cultural identities to dictate which holidays will be discussed. As it turns out, Christmas (which is, admittedly, still basically presented as the “default” celebration), takes a back seat, allowing the reader to explore celebrations such as Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, Three Kings Day, and Korean New Year. Each holiday gets its own chapter, and within those chapters, there are short lessons, breaking down for the reader the basics of how a given holiday is observed. These sections do sometimes interrupt the story, taking the reader out of the action and into a more didactic, textbook-like writing style, but they provide accurate and age-appropriate explanations for the ways different cultures celebrate their Winter holidays.

Fans of the series, especially, will also find themselves drawn into Doug’s concerns for Harry. Though Doug has proven time and again that Harry isn’t always so horrible, readers of the series know of Harry’s antics and will empathize greatly with Doug’s desire to see that interesting, if disgusting behavior return. The suspense about why Harry is in such a daze doesn’t last long enough in my opinion, and I wished for more interaction and plot development surrounding his strange new behavior, but the author’s decision to focus on the great-grandfather’s new home in the nursing home also worked well, especially when it comes to considering ways to reach out during the holiday giving season.

Horrible Harry and the Holidaze will resonate best with die-hard Horrible Harry fans. I think it also has a place in classrooms where kids celebrate a variety of holidays and teachers want to make sure not to give preference to just one.

I borrowed Horrible Harry and the Holidaze from my local public library.