by Jacqueline Woodson
It’s nice to have a chance to know more about Lonnie (Locomotion) and the next chapter in his life. It is a moving account and one can’t help but admire every single person (well, maybe not Ms Cooper) in the story for their tenacity and compassion.
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by Laini Taylor
Gorgeous book — in every aspect. The cover is gorgeously attractive, the interior artwork is exquisite, and the writing is simply delicious. The three stories are rich in imagery, imagination, and deep emotion, and I want to collect so many sentences to make found poetry with the text. Totally taken by this book. So far, the young people that I gave the book to have enjoyed it tremendously as well.
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by Maggie Stiefvater
I could not believe that any book would have made me “miss” the heat of the Twilight Saga (and temporarily forgotten how poorly the sentences and paragraphs were constructed in those books.) There is so much telling of the love between Grace and Sam in Shiver that it felt clinical and left me quite detached and cold, fitting the title perfectly. There are moments of sparkling writing and imagery but I felt dissatisfied somehow.
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by Ying Chang Compestine
The publisher did not oversell this title when they decided on “A Collection of Deliciously Frightening Tales” as the subtitle of Compestine’s newest offering. Eight nightmare inducing stories are great for reading alone and sharing at any haunting hour.
It is truly rare to read stories set in modern day China for children and I appreciate the authenticity in Compestine’s writing, backed up by researches and her own life experience. It must be noted, however, that since these are stories mainly about greedy and corrupt people, the pieced-together large picture shows a fairly unsavory angle of China, old or new. I wouldn’t go as far as saying that Compestine has an agenda, but I would say that matter like organ harvesting, cooking and eating endangered animals, and government corruption and bribery are serious topics that, might make a Chinese reader feel uncomfortable or even ashamed: especially when the author includes notes after each “course.” On the other hand, these are human rights and animal rights issues that the Chinese and the Chinese Government should address. In this way, this book serves as a political treaty, exposing atrocities for the world (and young readers) to examine. I will recommend this to many of my students and their teachers who are always on the lookout for something really scary to read!
The recipes are authentic and wonderful — but I can’t bring myself to try or make these dishes after reading the stories and remembering how they are tied to the stories.
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My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I wanted to put it on the shelf of “Historical Fiction” and then realized that, hmm… it is really a book of more or less current events in the world that the young readers are still living. 9/11 happened when the current 5th graders were 2 or 3. So, the “historical” part is recent, so recent that I wonder how we can best discuss the story with young readers.
Paterson did a fabulous job turning such complex political and national picture into something easy to understand and identify with for its intended audience: 10-12-year-olds. I admire the main character Meli’s tenacity and her struggle to remain a decent human being and yet acknowledging the existence of hatred in her heart. Her brother is another amazingly realized character — although seemingly not a main character, this is really HIS story. Even the title refers to the day that brought all the changes upon him. The more I think about it, the more I marvel at the hardship he had to endure and survive and at the final positive change within.
This is an important book of our time and I wish many children will read it with their adults.
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by Robert Venditti
I had high hopes and maybe it was my fault hoping for a really gripping read accompanied by high-level artwork. It turned out to be something of a dud. There is definitely the seed of a great story but it never quite blossomed and the hastily presented resolution is dissatisfying to say the least. The crude artwork is without raw energy often associated with such style and the Surries, perfect and sleek and are such an improvement of “vanilla” humans, do not to be so. I believe the stale look of the panels is largely due to a fairly-uniformed Photoshopping process. Too bad.
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This book reminds of a third grade project that my daughter did: to write a short story that accompanies one picture from Chris Van Allsburg’s The Mysteries of Harris Burdick. In fact, on Van Allsburg’s site, there is an entire section dedicated to stories from “readers” of the book inspired by the images in the book.
Outer Suburbia has that same absurdity, the same eeriness and outlandish qualities that constantly surprise and delight the reader, even when we feel slightly uncomfortable with what we read and see. It is at times unsettling and other times deeply moving.
I am not sure that this is a book just for children or teens. It seems to me that it is very much a book made to just express the artist’s imagination and to satisfy his own storytelling needs — which, ultimately, benefits the readers who would appreciate this kind of short vignettes. My favorite stories/images are: Eric, No Other Country, Alert But Not Alarmed, Make Your Own Pet, and strangely my top choice: The Nameless Holiday.
The entire book design is so amazing as well. I remember the sense of thrill and awe when I first discovered the Griffin and Sabine trilogy by Nick Bantock. This one comes close.
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Nancy Farmer’s last book of The Sea of Trolls trilogy is to be published in late October. It is a truly satisfying read. And Kristin Cashore’s thrilling romantic fantasy, Fire, will be out in early October. Great treats for fantasy fans.
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by Nancy Farmer
The pacing isn’t fast, but it is just right. The actions aren’t created to merely thrill the readers, but they are thrilling and serve as bench marks of the characters’ growth — everything moves their understanding of the world along. I so appreciate Farmer’s ability to create highly imaginative and imaginable (for a not very visual reader) landscapes. It is wonderful to encounter fresh new details of your staple fantasy elements, such as the power of the bell Fair Lamenting and how it is truly magical due to the artistic achievement of the maker of the clapper and how Mermaids crave good combs because barnacles find their hair the best place to grow and without combs, they will be weighed down by the barnacles on their heads and can never swim.
So much sympathy is given to all the characters, including the villains – lots of gray and never strictly black and white. And the last page made me happy, too — what a nice way to end a popular trilogy.
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Heavy Medal : the Mock Newbery blog at SLJ, is back in business. This year it will be hosted by Nina Lindsay and Jonathan Hunt. I say HOORAY for the two of them. It will be a fabulous run!
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Hollywood obviously finds children’s books a great treasure trove for movie ideas/basis of movie scripts. Let’s hope these ones are decent to great:
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs – 9.19.2009
Fantastic Mr. Fox – 11.25.2009
Where the Wild Things Are – 10.16.2009
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Today I started the process of moving content from my old site at fairrosa.info to the wordpress blog site. I like this template but will tweak the style sheet a bit. So expect changes.
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by H.G. Wells
This is the first time I actually read this classic science fiction. As a forerunner of this genre, it does not feel stale or naive. It does not attempt to dazzle the reader with gadgets or worldbuilding, but simply tells a solid and thoughtful tale. And it is such a short and quick read, too.
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by Kate Thompson
The story definitely gripped me from the get go, and the voice of Bobby is raw and oh-so-real. I only wish that it had not been so “realistic,” that the creature of the night (which turns out to be Bobby in a sense when he realized how dark his life has been) – the Little Woman/Badger – features more prominently and the slightly creepy, surreal mood is maintained throughout the book. The long stretches Bobby’s work habits and his finding his way into PJ Dooley’s life are essential to the character development but it definitely slows down the momentum and almost feels like too much light and too light in a dark and heavy story.
Eventually, this is a realistic fiction, a coming-of-age story, a hopeful tale (with its feel-good epilogue,) and an intimate look at a troubled teen’s life. It shows a boy who battles with his inner demon, like a boxing match — He’s Down, the Demon’s Down, oh, no, He’s Down again.. he gets up… and the Demon strikes back… … … and yet.. we never got that really satisfying FINAL *POW* PUNCH. It is so real-life that it does not have enough dramatic force toward the end.
I might have been happy to NOT have that Epilogue — to keep myself guessing and thinking hard about his potential future(s).
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by Truman Capote
Finally got a chance to read this. Excellent beyond belief. No wonder it is such a famous book. Capote is not only a great sentence crafter, he is also so skilled in putting together the whole picture bit by bit with just the right amount of tension as each chapter progresses and as each section of the book falls into place. There is the “cold blood” chilling-ness permeating the book, of course, but there is also so much that is entirely human about each person’s tale. We wonder about these murderers and what went wrong in their lives and in their brains and in their hearts. I feel both a deep sorrow and a real emotional detachment – two highly opposite sensations and yet they co-exist the entire time as I read the book. I’d credit the author for giving a most unusual reading experience.
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by Barry Lyga
So much of the book works for me — the painfully honest and self-deprecating tone of Fanboy who tells his own “adventure,” the unexpected plot surprises, and tension, the pacing, moving briskly and breathlessly from one chapter to the next, and the discussion of excellent graphic novels throughout the tale. And yet, some thing is not quite gelling at the end. I’m not as bothered by the non-conclusive ending as by the “revelation” that all adults are just like the bullies in the school: you just have to bully and fool them back and your life will be peachy. Hmm… is that what this amazingly big adventure all about? Very much puzzled.
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When the Whistle Blows by Fran Slayton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Judging by the somewhat muted and sleepy cover, I thought I was going to read a “pensive, quiet” coming-of-age, historical fiction. It turned out that the story is NOT all that quiet: every episode falls on an All Hallow’s Eve from early-40s to late-40s. You get the thrill of the secret Society’s weird, slightly off and scary way to honor a recently deceased member; you get the Halloween prank gone awry; you get the blood-pumping, almost heart-stopping football game actions; and you get the death and danger working on the steam-engined trains. But then, you also get so much HEART between the main character and his father. It is an entirely “male” book, glaringly so — you hardly see a female character and they hardly have even a speaking turn. It’s all… very, macho, but oddly also very tender. And so much humor and humorous wisdom. I am not ashamed to say that I cried hard at the end of the tale… mourning the passing of a man and of an era so lovingly and convincingly portrayed by the author.
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Author: Gennifer Choldenko
Publisher: Dial
Edition: Hardcover, 2009 (galley)
I am completely delighted by this book. I really enjoyed the first one and this one holds up, well and strong, and I think it works even better. Maybe because I thought, “What can she come up with that can top the first book?” before starting to read this one.. and Choldenko absolutely pulled it off. There is humor and tension all throughout the book, not to mention some hard-to-sort-out moral dilemmas. Over the years, my students have loved the first book — from really strong readers to really reluctant ones – and both girls and boys do, too. I can see this one achieves the same effects: not a book that gets everyone super-excited, but one that gets talked up by young peers and gets passed around without making too big a wave. Its “beloved-ness” will last quite a while, I believe.
I also really appreciate the author’s notes. This will make for a good historical-fiction writing assignment starter book. (I can see a whole class reading the book, discussing the facts and fiction aspects of the story, and doing some sort of historical research and writing a short story. <– with my librarian's hat on, of course.)
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Author: Koushun TakamiPages: 624
Publisher: VIZ
Edition:2003, Paperback
Finally. Read and finished this one. Ever since I heard about it (and watched the movie on youtube ;p) I had the book set aside to read but so many other things came along the way… it was WORTH my own wait and I wish that I had read it earlier in the school year so I could have recommended it to more readers.
It’s an interesting way to tell a story — there is an over arching plot, a simple one, an explosive one, a thoughtful one, but there are basically a series of character sketches as well. You meet some of the minor characters along the path, you know something about them, and they you see them being killed (mostly brutally, with graphic details — not for the faint of heart!) It’s an examination of human nature – the good, the bad, and the in between; the kind, the evil, and the confused. I actually shed tears at 4 different points — some for characters I learned to love; some for “throw-away” characters whose stories happen to touch my heart.
It seems to be a long book, but it’s such a fast and easy read. The alternative history aspect and the social criticism aspect are slightly didactic, but still work well with the narrative flow. Lots of action and “fun” — if one can define reading about 15-year-olds forced into killing each other as a fun experience.
My last words of wisdom? DO NOT WATCH THE MOVIE before reading the book; after reading the book, you will be disappointed by the movie. So, if you plan on reading the book, basically, just let the notion of watching the movie go!
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Author: Lewis Trondheim; illus. by Fabrice ParmePages: 62
Publisher: Frist Second
Edition:Paperback, 2009
Most excellent and fun short skit-like tales. This volume contains six stories. King Ethelbert is extremely spoiled and self-centered and yet one simply can’t help but adoring him (probably because more often than not, he gets his just-desserts: a spanking, or being blown out of the palace window!) A French import.
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