By: Vivian,
on 6/20/2008
Hello Everyone, A quick update to let you know I’m currently at Podcasters Across Borders (PAB 2008) being held in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. It is wonderful to catch up with such inspiring podcasters and friends including Andrea and Mark from Just One More Book, Cat and Bob from the Catfish Show, Sage Tyrtle of Qn [...]
By: Becky Laney,
on 2/29/2008
George, Jessica Day. 2007. Dragon Slippers.
It was my aunt who decided to give me to the dragon. Not that she was evil or didn't care for me. It's just that we were poor, and she was, as we said in those parts, dumber than two turnips in a rain barrel.
I loved all 321 pages of Jessica Day George's novel Dragon Slippers. Loved it. I loved everything about it. Everything. The characters. The setting. The action. It was just so good, so very very good. If you love fairy-tale type stories--think Robin McKinley, Shannon Hale, Mette Ivie Harrison, Gail Carson Levine etc--I think you will love Jessica Day George. Love her. Here is how the book jacket describes the novel,
Creel is quite a heroine. As an adult reader, I love her. I do. But I know I would have loved, loved, loved her as a child. This is the kind of book I wish had been around when I was growing up! Then again, I'm just as happy to continue the friendship now. It's not too late for me or for you. Discover the magical world Jessica Day George has created and meet Creel and her friends (and enemies) yourself!"Many stories tell of damsels in distress who are rescued from the clutches of fire-breathing dragons by knights in shining armor and swept off to live happily ever after. Unfortunately, this is not one of those stories. True, when Creel's aunt suggests sacrificing her to the local dragon, it is with the hope that a knight will marry Creel and that everyone (aunt and family included) will benefit handsomely. Yet it's Creel who talks her way out of the dragon's clutches. And it's Creel who walks for days on end to seek her fortune in the king's city with only a bit of embroidery thread and a strange pair of slippers in her possession. But even Creel could not have guessed the outcome of this tale. For in a country on the verge of war, Creel unknowingly possesses not just any pair of shoes, but a tool that could be used to save her kingdom....or destroy it."
By: Becky Laney,
on 2/26/2008
Frazier, Sundee T. 2007. Brendan Buckley's Universe And Everything In It.
It was the first Sunday of summer break, and I was in a hurry to finish my dusting chores fast so I could call Khalfani to ride bikes. I wasn't even thinking too hard about anything, like Dad says I do sometimes. Well, okay, maybe I was thinking a little bit hard. About Grampa Clem and how I'm going to miss fishing with him this summer. Which made me think about the funeral and how the man in the the black robe had said, "From dust we come and to dust we shall return." And then I started looking more closely at the gray particles I was picking up with my dust rag, and I thought, What is this stuff anyway? And where does it come from? And how come it keeps coming back no matter how many times I wipe it away? That's when the science part of me took over. (1)
That one paragraph hooked me. Brendan charmed me from the very beginning. Though that paragraph doesn't give you a full picture, the book shows him to be curious, eager to learn, sincere, and genuine. He's a thinker. But he's also a feeler. I love that I do. I love the way we see the world through his eyes. I am definitely wishing I'd read this one last year so I could have promoted it when it came time to choosing Librarians Choices. Because here's a secret--I SO would have voted for it.
The basics. A young boy, biracial, spends the summer wondering why his white grandfather refused to have contact with his mother after her marriage to his father. A summer wondering why even though they live so close--a quick bus ride away--he's never tried to meet his grandson. The two do meet. By chance. But that meeting tends to produce more questions than answers. Brendan and his family--his mother, his father, his grandmother--are so authentically presented, that it is a joy to read. (What do I mean by authentic you're wondering? They felt real. They felt human. They seemed to be so fleshed out, so genuine, that it didn't read like fiction.) A book full of questions kept in a young boy's journal. A book that searches the universe for a few answers. In case you didn't guess, I did love this one.
This is a boys' book, by the way, and I didn't love some of the details. The contest between two friends to see who could pee the most into their mountain dew bottle didn't thrill me. But then again, I'm not in the target audience range. I think this one works. And I am so happy to recommend it to others!!!
http://www.sundeefrazier.com/bb.php
198 pages
By: Becky Laney,
on 2/23/2008
Fleischman, Sid. 2008. The Entertainer and the Dybbuk.
The Entertainer and the Dybbuk by Sid Fleischman won the 2008 Sydney Taylor Book Award in the category of books for older readers. Fleischman won the Newbery in 1987 for The Whipping Boy. Set in the late 1940s, The Entertainer and the Dybbuk is the story of an American ventriloquist, the Great Freddie, who while on his tour of Europe becomes haunted or possessed by the spirit of a Jewish child slain in the Holocaust. This boy, Avrom Amos Poliakov, now a dybbuk or spirit, has unfinished business and he needs this former American soldier's help to be at peace. Now inhabited by this friendly, often sarcastic, mournful soul, his act has become better than ever. The dybbuk is winning the hearts of the crowds. The crowds of course don't realize that this isn't all an act put on by The Great Freddie. He's gone almost overnight from a mediocre-at-best performer to a real crowd-drawing attraction. But being possessed isn't all fun, the dybbuk means business. And he'll stop at nothing to accomplish his goals.
The book is very good, and I definitely recommend it.
First sentence: "In the gray, bombed-out city of Vienna, Austria, an American ventriloquist opened the closet door of his hotel. Still in his tuxedo and overcoat, The Great Freddie intended to put away the battered suitcase in which he carried his silent wooden dummy. But there on the floor sat a gaunt man with arms folded across his knees, waiting."
180 pages
By: Becky Laney,
on 2/3/2008
Fisher, Dorothy Canfield. 1917. Understood Betsy.
When this story begins, Elizabeth Ann, who is the heroine of it, was a little girl of nine, who lived with her Great-aunt Harriet in a medium-sized city in a medium-sized state in the middle of this country; and that's all you need to know about the place, for it's not the important thing in the story; and anyhow you know all about it because it was probably very much like the place you live in yourself.
Elizabeth Ann is an orphan raised by her great-aunt Harriet and her aunt Frances. The first chapter shows the reader just how life as she knew it was for Elizabeth Ann. To say she was coddled would be a bit of an understatement. To say that both aunts and niece were a bit psychologically unsound would be a bit closer to the truth. It's not that they're crazy crazy. It's just that they're anxious, jittery, nervous, worrisome, panicky, fidgety, chicken-little-y type people. They're sweet and docile enough, but they lack gumption and ingenuity and vitality.
Understood Betsy is the story of how Elizabeth Ann transforms into Betsy. It all starts when one of her caretakers gets diagnosed with an unnamed disease. (If they named it, I sure missed it. But I think the main point was to get the two aunts out of the picture.) Elizabeth Ann is sent to live with the other side of the family. Her aunt (Abigail) and uncle (Henry) and first cousin (Ann). They live in Vermont, I believe.
From the very beginning, Elizabeth Ann knew that she was entering the unknown. On her way to her new home--in the buggy--she has her first enlightened moment. "It is possible that what stirred inside her head at that moment was her brain, waking up. She was nine years old, and she was in the third-A grade at school, but that was the very first time she had ever had a whole thought of her very own." (21)
Her awakening, her transformation is entertaining enough and the descriptions of life and family are charming as well. I think some readers will love Betsy, understand Betsy; but I'd be silly if I didn't acknowledge the fact that some readers would find Understood Betsy to be boring or quaint. Anyway, long story short...I loved it. I thought it was great. If I had discovered this as a child--like my mother did and most likely my grandmother did--I'm sure I would have loved it. I'm sure I would have read it over and over again.
You can find the entire book--including illustrations--online.
By: Becky Laney,
on 1/23/2008
Alyssa of The Shady Glade is hosting a reading challenge. It runs from whenever you sign up (that would be January 23rd for me) until April 20th 2008.
I am copying the rules directly from her site. I hope she doesn't mind. If I don't copy the rules, I have a tendency to forget them and get all flustered later on. A flustered Becky is not a happy one.
You can overlap with other challenges. (Which is a VERY good thing.)
You must read at least one book that covers each of these 9 categories:
Hey Vivian. Nice to see you (in photo). Sounds interesting. You’re always two steps ahead.