8/4/12

Kidlitcon 2012!

Kidlitcon, now in its sixth year, is a wonderful conference. The two times I've been able to go have both left me Happy--happy to have made new friends and seen old ones, happy to be encouraged and rejuvenated viz blogging, and happy to be part of a whole wonderful book world. I'm pretty certain I'm not alone in feeling this way.

Do not necessarily be put off by the "kid" part (you can be put off if you only read grown-up books, of course, but then why would you be reading my blog?). There are a lot of YA book bloggers who are part of the kidlitosphere.

This year it's happening September 28th and 29th in New York. Here's the schedule and cost:

For those who register before September 21st:
  • $35 Pre-Conference without dinner
  • $0 Saturday Conference
  • $55 Pre-Conference with dinner (special guest speaker: Grace Lin)
  • $50 Friday dinner (extra diner or only)

My own cunning plan is to bring my first edition of Where the Mountain Meets the Moon for Grace Lin to sign; it's increased value will then go a long way to covering my costs when my grandchildren sell it in fifty years!

But anyway, please do come--it is truly fun. And since it's run by book bloggers for book bloggers, Saturday will be a day of the best kind of children and YA book blogging discussions.

The call for session proposals is currently open as well.

8/3/12

Those small little killers, or, things in books that topple the edifice, or don't you wish you could make a quick call to the editor

I was just reading Shadow and Bone, by Leigh Bardugo, and I enjoyed it in a mild, no need to blog about it way. But all the time I was reading, I was remembering this review at By Singing Light, and in consequence was jarred every time I read "Alina Starkov," which should, if you are doing the Russian thing properly, be Alina Starkova.

And then I was browsing through the Guardian, and read Mal Peet's review of The Terrible Thing that Happened to Barnaby Brocket, by John Boyne, and found this: "Yet, when reading a book, do you not sometimes wish you had been its editor? Had you been, in this case, you might have redacted solecisms such as the presence of foxes in Zambia or a marble sign "pinned" to a wall."

(At which point I had to look up solecisms--here. I don't think it's quite the right word, but I don't know a better one. Also I vaguely feel that there might be some sort of fox equivalent in Zambia).

But in any event, I then was reading a new book, not yet released, in which there were porcupines in Bronze Age Greece. Eek! I said to myself. Aren't porcupines New World? Turns out there's an Old World kind (example from the San Diego Zoo at right), and I feel better now about the book. Which I can now name--Gods and Warriors, by Michelle Paver. And thank goodness for the internet, says I--twenty years ago, and my only recourse would have been calling my mother.

However, nothing will erase the jarring shock that happened in a book I read a while back in which an Antiquarian book collector didn't know what "foxed" meant. How can you really look on the book favorably after that? Yet it is a small mistake, not worth mentioning in one's review...even though it had a very real effect.

Have you ever had this small mistake blotting the otherwise clear pages of a book thing happen to you?

(Edited to add: I am not, as readers of my blog might well have noticed, bothered by spelling mistakes, in large part cause I don't see them. My husband has just pointed out that there were three in this post. Sigh.)

8/2/12

The Shark King, a Toon Book by R. Kikuo Johnson

The Shark King, a Toon Book by R. Kikuo Johnson (April, 2012, 40 pages), is an easy reader graphic novel that's multicultural, intellectually interesting, and emotionally engaging, which is just about the swellest combination of descriptive phrases I can imagine combining (and the pictures are nice too!).

It's the story of Kalei, a girl in long ago Hawaii, who all unwittingly marries the Shark King, a shape-shifting deity. On the night before their child is born, her husband returns to the sea, leaving her to raise the boy alone. But Nanaue is no ordinary child. His inherited enough of his father's shape shifting magic so as to appear monstrous at times (jaws snapping from his back!), and his appetite is insatiable. So much so that the fisher folk of the nearby village grow hungry....and when they realize Nanaue is to blame, they try to hunt him down.

But the father Nanaue longed to meet is waiting for him, and so all ends well. Except that poor Kalei is left alone, which I found sad (in as much as I automatically relate, quite naturally, to the mother. I would be very sad if my boys dove off into the sea and I never saw them again, and the handful of shells Kalei gets as a memento would not be much comfort. Young readers doubtless won't have this particular issue).

The story is simple enough so that the young reader can read it independently, and enjoy it as an adventure story, but complex enough, with it's themes of finding one's true self, parent/child relationships, and being different, that the young mind will be fed on a deeper level. As a bonus feature, there's a little guide at the end on how to read comics with kids.

I'd have loved another bonus feature giving more information about the original myth, but that's my only complaint.



disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher

8/1/12

13 Secrets, by Michelle Harrison

13 Secrets, by Michelle Harrison (Little, Brown, June 2012, middle grade/YA) , is the third book of a series, and therefore a tad hard to review--for those who haven't read the earlier books, one wants to convey a general idea of the series; for those who have, one wants to discuss how well the current book rounds thing off. I shall do my best to do both.

But first, from the town records of Whitehaven, in the Lake District, a List of Deaths taken from the Parish of Lamplugh from Janry ye 1, 1658 to Janye ye 1, 1663 (via The Gaurdian)

* Took cold sleeping at church: 11
* Frighted to death by Fairies: 4
* Died of a fright in a Exercise of ye traind bands: 1
* Mrs Lamplugh's cordial water: 2
* Bewitched: 7

I am starting off with this because the world in which Red, the central character of 13 Secrets, and her family and friends live is one in which causes 2 and 5 are alive and well. Red might want to live a peaceful life in the home of Tanya's grandmother, the trauma of her past behind her. But this peaceful, rural bit of England isn't actually peaceful--the fairies are, as it were, restless. Including one who wants revenge on Red very badly indeed.

And not only is Red in mortal danger herself, but the ragtag, gifted, crazy, and fey people with whom she worked in the past (a changling rescue group) still need her. Even more so when one by one, strange fates befall them, until of the original thirteen, only a few are left.

The suspense grows, and though the action takes place in our own world, the magic of the fairy realm is close at hand. The result is a story fraught with ominous tension, as Red and her allies, including Tanya and Fabian (who, after taking the lead in book one, are now secondary to Red's more complex character), struggle to defend the manor house and those sheltering within it from a fate much worse than Mrs Lamplugh's cordial water (sorry; couldn't resist that).

(The next paragraph has several run on descriptions of various genres. I apologize in advance.)

But seriously, for those who like scary fantasy suspense with lots of mystery and considerable death (though mostly it's just finding dead bodies), of a non-urban fantasy paranormal romance kind, suitable for younger readers (eleven on up), this series is what I'd recommend. When you start the first book, 13 Treasures, you think you're getting a girl with magical fairy friendships in a house with lots of wholesome secrets type story (which the cover also suggests). You aren't. In some parts, this series almost verges on horror (with bits more likely to stick disturbingly in the mind than standard middle grade fantasy violence, so be warned).

So some of us were a bit disappointed, and had to swallow hard to appreciate the series for what it is--something where magic can take forms that are dark, and dank, and sharp, and people do twisty things. Harrison writes with a keen eye for detail, and her descriptions are vivid; she pulls her magic off very well indeed.

But I do have one minor, but niggling, issue with the series. The titular 13 Treasures of book 1 are a metaphorical part of this third book, but never come into their own as a pointful part of the whole story. Everything could have happened without them, and that was disappointing. (Please let me know if I am totally wrong here--it happens).

Final self-centered conclusion: Not a series for me, in particular
Final altruistic conclusion: One I think would make an excellent choice for the reader of youthful horror who also is a fantasy fan, or the reader who doesn't like rainbow fairies, but who does like dark secrets.

Disclaimer: review copy received from the publisher

I haz kitten!

Sadly, though, I have no pictures that do little Pippin justice. I will try harder....He is such a good kitten, amiably putting up with the attentions of six children 12 and under:and the attentions of my sisters (that's my older sister):

with beautiful calm. He would make an excellent Therapy Kitten.

But will he mouse successfully? The incumbent cat, though a pleasant companion, is the worst mouser I have ever known in my life. Little Pip Pip isn't old enough to even walk without baby kitten toddling (he can still be held in one hand), so it's hard to tell how good his pouncing skills are. (Sorry for using a noun as a verb there. I hate it when people "medal" at the Olympics...)

7/31/12

Hawksbill Station, by Robert Silverberg, for Timeslipe Tuesday

My dear sisters and their children have left, and the house is still and empty...and I can't find the book I was meaning to write about today. I don't think one of them would have taken it...

But in any event, I had a back-up--Hawksbill Station, by Robert Silverberg (a novel, published in 1968, that superseded a 1967 short story; UK title The Anvil of Time). I've chosen the cover image that won the "least likely to make me want to read the book award." It was a wide open field.

But fortunatly I didn't have to read that particular edition; I read it in the anthology of three Robert Silverberg novels/novellas, compiled in Times Three (Subterranean, 2011). Much more appealling, although it wasn't the cover that lead me to reading it. I've been thinking that in order to be a truly knowledgeable person viz time travel books, I should read some of the sci fi stuff written back in the 1950s and 1960s for grown-ups. And here I am, with Hawksbill Station.

Silverberg imagined a revolution that had thrown down the Constitution of the US in the 1980s, with a counter-revolution springing up to oppose the new dictatorship. The government has come up with an ingenious solution to the problem of prisoner storage that allows them to pat themselves on the back for not executing people. Instead of being killed, prisoners are sent back in time. Far, far back to the pre-Cambrian era.

In this temporal prison, at a time when there is no other life on land beside the prisoners, a band of political dissidents (all male) tries to stay sane. Time travel only works one way, so there is no hope for any other future. The leader of the prisoners, a man named Barrett, tries to keep things functional, while around him the aging population falls apart.

And then a new arrival, a young man who doesn't fit the profile of political dissident, appears, and everything changes.

The story alternates between Barrett in exile, and Barrett's past as a revolutionary. The pre-Cambrian part is interesting social anthropology, interesting character studies, interesting concept, and, all in all, thought provoking. Silverberg's descriptions of Barret's struggle to survive and stay sane in this beautifully described, horribly alien environment appealed much more to me than the kind of unoriginal and somewhat sexist account of him as a young, and not that sympathetic, organizer of volunteers for the cause.

If it had all been in the pre-Cambrian period, I would have thought it great stuff (I think). But having to read words like this: "The Revolution tended to attract the sort of girl who couldn't wait to get her clothes off, so that she could prove that her breasts and thighs and buttocks made up for the deficiencies of her face" (page 123), I just couldn't feel that fond of the story as a whole. And I wasn't convinced that the story of Barrett in the "present" (which I found kind of boring--nothing much happens, if you don't count the naked girls) added anything to the character arc culminating in his final role as the leader of Hawksbill Station.

So the uneven balance between the two frames of reference didn't work for me, and the sexist bits repelled me, but I shall keep reading the sci fi classics anyway (two more to read in this particular book before it goes to its final bookshelf home, which is an incentive).

7/30/12

Horton Halfpott or The fiendish Mystery of Smugwick Manor or The Loosening of M'Lady Luggertuck's Corset

July is the cruelest month for blogging. One (ie me) has so many things keeping reading and writing at bay-- things like major home improvements, house guests, a garden running amok, and a new kitten (pictures to come), and then there's the fact that the pile of books to be read had to be dispersed, and so I have an uncomfortable feeling that my sense of Being on Top of my tbr pile is False.

But regardless, I soldier on, and so I offer today a few brief thoughts on a book I was very happy to get at Book Expo America, even though it came out last year, because I hadn't read it yet and wanted to.

Horton Halfpott or The Fiendish Mystery of Smugwick Manor or The Loosening of M'Lady Luggertuck's Corset, by Tom Angleberger (Amulet Books, 2011)

In an English manor where the servants are treated like scum by M'Lady Luggertuck and her knavish lump of a son, young Horton Halfpott toils in the scullery, scrubbing pots. But fortune will soon smile on young Horton, even though it might seem to Horton like more a grimace. When M'Lady Luggertuck loosens her corset for the first time in memory, the loosening spreads...and chaos strikes Smugwick Manor.

Who is the vile perpetrator of the mysterious thefts (including, most terribly of all, the theft of the precious Lump)? Who will win the affections of the rich heiress visiting an adjacent family? Will Horton win through despite the odds stacked against him?

It's fun and slapsticky and entertaining as all get out, with a very nicely judged balance between all the various shenanigans and the maintenance of Horton as a character one can truly care about. A good one for kids (or older readers) who value silliness, appreciate a humorously intrusive narrator, and enjoy an over the top mystery. I'm calling it fantasy, because even though it is one of those books in which nothing actually magical happens, there's not much in the book that really would happen in real life.

And there my power of critical thinking leaves me. And lo, I hear the voices of my children and their cousins, home from the lake...and these precious minutes of me getting home from work before them come to an end.

But it's a good book.

7/29/12

This Sunday's round-up of middle grade fantasy and science fiction from around the blogs (7/30/2012)

Here are the results of my internet grazing (picture of grazing sci fi sheep at right found at Light Reading).

Please let me know if I missed your mg sff post!

The Reviews


Alex and the Ironic Gentleman, by Adrienne Kress, at Once Upon a Bookshelf

The Amulet Series, by Kazu Kibuishi, at Fantasy Literature

Artemis Fowl and the Last Guardian, at The Book Zone

The Emporer of Nihon-Ja, by John Flanagan, at Karissa's Reading Review

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, by Catherynne M. Valente, at Great Imaginations

Heaven Eyes, by David Almond, at Books Beside My Bed

Hilda and the Midnight Giant, by Luke Pearson, at Jean Little Library

Magyk, by Angie Sage, at Adventures of a Book Wyrm

The Moon Coin, by Richard Due, at Sharon the Librarian

The Mysterious Howling, by Maryrose Wood, at Jen Robinson's Book Page

N.E.R.D.S., by Michael Buckley, at books4yourkids

On the Blue Comet, by Rosemary Wells, at Time Travel Times Two

Ordinary Magic, by Caitlen Rubino-Bradway, at Slatebreakers

The Second Spy, by Jacqueline West, at Cracking the Cover

Shadow Spell, by Caro King, at Charlotte's Library

Sidekicks, by Jack D. Ferraiolo, at books4yourkids

Small Medium at Large, by Joanne Levy, at Readatouille

The Son of Neptune, by Rick Riordan, at Fyrefly's Book Blog

The Unseen Guest, by Maryrose Wood, at Welcome to My Tweendom

What Came From the Stars, by Gary Schmidt, at My Brain On Books

Authors and Illustrators

Elizabeth Bellows (Alexander Drake's Extraordinary Pursuit) at A Thousand Wrongs

Jacqueline West (The Second Spy) at Cracking the Cover

More Good Stuff


Kidlitcon is my favorite of all conferences. It's a gathering of childrens and YA book bloggers, just us all sitting around and talking kids books. And this year it will be held in New York City, September 28-29, 2012. Do come! I haven't seen registration info yet, but the call for submisisons for panels is up, here at Fuse #8 (Betsy is organizing the conference this year).

Here are all the chapter illustrations from Harry Potter--it's interesting to see things getting darker! (via reddit)

7/25/12

Shadow Spell, by Caro King

When I read Seven Sorcerers, by Caro King, last year (my review), my only complaint was that the book ended. It had great world building, great characters, and was engrossing as all get out. Then it stopped. So I was very happy to plunge into Shadow Spell, its sequel (Aladdin, May 1, 2012, upper mg).

And I was not disappointed (which is a lovely thing). Everything I liked about the first book was here too.

I won't go into details about the plot, since that would be spoilery for the first book, and I don't think enough people have read that one for me to feel comfortable doing that! In a nutshell, it's about a girl (Nin) who goes to a magical land and defeats an evil enemy. This might not sound that Original, but it actually is twisty enough, and full of enough imaginative details, that King pulls it off. It also includes my favorite fictional gargoyle of all time.

Shadow Spell
is something of a mystery--Nin has to figure out a twist from the past in order to bring about the defeat of the bad guy. And the way the defeat takes place is very satisfying indeed. There's luck involved, and lots of perseverance needed, and then in the end it's not a Magical Showdown of good triumphant. Much more interesting than that.

There's some pretty gross violence, that might disturb younger readers (or their parents; I myself, being weak, could have done without one or two little descriptions of yuckiness). But to heck with the kids--I really truly recommend these two books to grown-ups who read middle grade fantasy for their own reading pleasure. I don't think Seven Sorcerers got anywhere near the buzz it deserved, and I think that is a shame.

These were first published in the UK--here's the Amazon UK link for the first book, so you can read all the glowing reviews and see that I'm not alone in loving these! And that's the UK cover for Shadow Spell on the right, which I think is prettier than the US version...and matches the cover of Seven Sorcerers, whose cover didn't get changed in the US.

7/24/12

The Sherwood Ring, by Elizabeth Marie Pope, for Timeslip Tuesday

The Sherwood Ring, by Elizabeth Marie Pope (1958), is one I wavered about ever putting in the "time slip" category, because "ghost story" fits it just as well. But the particular ghosts in this story aren't exactly haunting the old house in upstate New York, in apparitionly way. They are more like family members, dropping in from the past to visit with newcomers, with whom they converse like ordinary people, and, like good time travellers, they aren't their dead selves (ie, they appear as their younger selves). And since they are in fact family members, with strong attachments to the place, and some natural interest in their kinfolk, why not think of them as sliping forward in time? So I did.

The kinfolk in question is newly orphaned Peggy Grahame, come to live with her uncle Enos, whose a recluse obsessed with the family history. So territorial is he, intellectually, that he forbids Pat, a young British scholar (also interested in the doings of the Grahame family in years gone by) to ever darken his doors. Since Peggy and Pat had become friends on their journey to New York, and since there is absolutely no one else for Peggy to be friends with, this is a blow to her.

Fortunately, there are other someones--a cast of characters from the Revolutionary War era, who visit Peggy and tell her their stories.

Now, when I realized this is what was happening, I was very doubtful. The stories that Peggy is told are separate narratives, and at first I thought I was going to be presented with a pastiche of "stories from history," thinly tied to Peggy's own story (which I was very interested in--orphan, old house, romance, all that). I didn't want to be taken away from it.

But then, when I realized that the visitors were all actors in a very romantic, very exciting drama, and when one of them in particular started reminding me very much of the Scarlet Pimpernel, I was hooked by their interconnected story of torn loyalties, espionage, daring deeds, and other Revolutionary War reindeer games. In short, it turned out to be a great read--really fun historical fiction, with romance of that nice grin-making kind (as opposed to introspective-angsty type of romance, if you know what I mean?) in both past and present.

Note on age--I would have loved this when I was nine or so, and enjoyed it last month. So there you go. I am not surprised, though, that I didn't read it when I was young; it has had bad luck with covers (two others shown below), and American History didn't appeal to snooty little Anglophile me. My loss.

7/23/12

RIP Margaret Mahy

Another sad loss--Margaret Mahy is gone. I've only ever reviewed one of her books (Madigan's Fantasia), but I've read and enjoyed many others.

Gee. I hope this is the end of sad news for a long time.

7/22/12

This Sunday's round-up of middle grade fantasy and science fiction from around the blogs (7/23/2012)

Here's another week of what I found in my blogging of interest to fans of middle grade sci fi and fantasy! Please let me know if I missed your link. (After last year's dominance by the letter "B", I'm surprised that there are no B titles at all this week. "T" is making a big push this week...but I don't think it has staying power. Do try to review mg sff books beginning with B, E, I, J, N, Q, X, Y, and Z this coming week. It would make me happy to have a full alphabet of reviews).

The Reviews:

Above World, by Jenn Reese, at Teach Mentor Texts

Artemis Fowl and the Last Guardian, by Eoin Colfer, at Fantastic Reads

Castle in the Air, by Diana Wynne Jones, at Bunbury in the Stacks

Claws, by Mike and Rachel Grinit, at Ms. Yingling Reads

The Clockwork Girl, by Sean O’Reilly and Kevin Hanna, at Good Comics for Kids

The Coming of the Dragon, by Rebecca Barnhouse, at Sharon the Librarian

The Crowfield Curse, by Pat Walsh, at Bibliophile Support Group

The Doll People, by Ann Martin and Laura Godwin, at Julie DeGuia

The Drowned Vault (Ashtown Burials book 2) by N.D. Wilson, at Karissa's Reading Review

The False Prince, by Jennifer Nielsen, at Reads for Keeps and One Librarian's Book Reviews

Gods and Warriors, by Michelle Paver, at Becky's Book Reviews

Ghosts of the Titanic, by Julie Lawson, at Charlotte's Library

GRYMM, by Keith Austin, at The Book Zone

Heirs of Prophecy, by Michael Rothman, at The O.W.L.

The Kindling, by Braden Bell, at Emily's Reading Room

Liesl and Po, by Lauren Oliver, at how I see it

The Magic Meadow, by Alexander Key, at Library Chicken

The One and Only Ivan, by Katherine Applegate

Ordinary Magic, by Kaitlen Rubino-Bradway, at Marie Loves Books

The Peculiar, by Stefan Bachmann, at Intergalactic Academy

Radiance, by Alyson Noel, at The Book Cellar

The Second Spy (Books of Elsewhere 3) by Jacqueline West, at Book Nut

The Sixty-eight Rooms, by at time travel times two

A Tale of Time City, by Diana Wynne Jones, at Random Musings of a Bibliophile

The Templeton Twins Have an Idea, by Jeremy Holmes, at Ms. Yingling Reads

The Terrible Thing that Happened to Barnaby Brocket, by John Boyne, at The Book Zone

Time Snatchers, by Richard Unger, at Book Nut

Twighlight Robbery (Fly Trap in the US), by Frances Hardinge, at The Book Smugglers

Verdigris Deep (Well Wished in the US), by Frances Hardinge, at Read in a Single Sitting

The Wishing Spell, by Chris Colfer, at Wandering Librarins

The Wolves of Willougby Chase, by Joan Aiken, at The Enchanted Inkpot (maybe not a fantasy book, exactly, but the series does end up going in that direction...)

Authors and Interviews:


Jordan Hamessley London (mg and chapter book sci fi, fantasy, and horror editor at Grosset and Dunlap) on "Working with the Design Team", with specific reference to Adam-Troy Castro’s Gustav Gloom and the People Taker, at Pub(lishing) Crawl.

Lindsey Leavitt (Princess for Hire and its sequels) at Cracking the Cover

Joanne Levy (Small Medium at Large) at The Enchanted Inkpot

Michael Rothman (Heirs of Prophecy) at The O.W.L. and A Book and a Latte

Lorin Barber (The Secret Life of Copernicus H. Stringfellow) at A Thousand Wrongs

Other Good Stuff:


Just because I don't, you know, have enough to read, I've started at the beginning of the Discworld Series and plan to read straight through (I'd only read a couple (after that, I'll read Game of Thrones etc.). But enough about me. True fans of Discworld might want to go to the St. Barbe Museum & Art Gallery in Lymington, Hampshire, next month to see "Discworld and Beyond: a Retrospective Exhibition."

7/21/12

The Chairs are Where the People Go, by Misha Glouberman with Sheila Heti

These last two days where life inside my home (as opposed to Work, and The Great Outdoors), have mostly been all about the dining room floor and the sun room floor, and the sanding and varnishing thereof. And a four D puzzle of New York taking up most of the living room, the dining room being (obviously) out of commission. So though I am in the middle of two good books (Advent and The Atomic Weight of Secrets) and several less good books, I turned during my breaks to a slim new arrival, a collection of autobiographical shared thoughts-- The Chairs are Where the People Go, by Misha Glouberman with Sheila Heti.

Misha Glouberman was a lovely person to have brief reading chats with. How could I not enjoy his words when he makes his living, among other things, as a professional Charades instructor? (On re-reading, it strikes me that this sounds ironic, but it wasn't meant to be). I find that such a pleasing idea--not just that he had the gumption and enjoyment of life to want to teach charades, but that random people would sign up, and do their charades homework, and have a ball with it. He is an organizer of unconferences and of public participation in music events, someone who isn't afraid to start a group he would like to join, and a player of a game that involves people moving rocks in a way at once utterly pointless and yet deeply invested with meaningful social bonding (if the players take it seriously). I would like to play it. Maybe.

His thoughts on sundry topics, mostly involving urban life as lived by himself, deal mainly about ways in which people engage with each other--not in the Big Issue sort of way, but how people might socially construct lives for themselves that have interest and interpersonal engagement. It is just a series of short monologues in which he shares what he thinks about this and that. He isn't pushing a big agenda, he isn't telling anecdotes, he's basically just talking about things he has thought about. It's not polished beautiful prose essays ala E.B. White or A.A. Milne (whose essays I enjoy lots), but there were thoughts that spoke to me.

Like--it's really easy to get caught up in a battle mentality, consumed with defeating your enemy. And he couches his response to this not as a Moral Dictum (because he's not trying to convert the reader) but as a statement--"You're just being angry in ways that don't make things better for anybody." (page 80).

Also useful--"If you're running a project and you want to get people involved, ask them to set up chairs. People like to set up chairs, and it's easy work to delegate." (page 16).

But seriously, how could I not like a book that includes an essay on "How to Teach Charades"?

Basically, the book reassured me that it is possible that other people are not, as a general rule of thumb, utterly foreign, but are in fact capable of playing nicely (by which I mean, literally, "playing and doing and experiencing enjoyable things outside the impingement of mundane expectations," not "all getting along"). And that maybe if you ask people for help, they will actually be really happy to have the chance to be helpful.

In case you've read this far but still have no clue what sort of book this is, here's the Amazon blurb. It may or may not be helpful, but I do very much like the bit at the very end.

"Should neighborhoods change? Is wearing a suit a good way to quit smoking? Why do people think that if you do one thing, you’re against something else? Is monogamy a trick? Why isn’t making the city more fun for you and your friends a super-noble political goal? Why does a computer last only three years? How often should you see your parents? How should we behave at parties? Is marriage getting easier? What can spam tell us about the world? Misha Glouberman’s friend and collaborator, Sheila Heti, wanted her next book to be a compilation of everything Misha knew. Together, they made a list of subjects. As Misha talked, Sheila typed. He talked about games, relationships, cities, negotiation, improvisation, Casablanca, conferences, and making friends. His subjects ranged from the sublime to the ridiculous. But sometimes what had seemed trivial began to seem important—and what had seemed important began to seem less so.

The Chairs Are Where the People Go is refreshing, appealing, and kind of profound. It’s a self-help book for people who don’t feel they need help, and a how-to book that urges you to do things you don’t really need to do."


7/19/12

The books my 12 year old got for his birthday

When my boys have their birthdays, I like to make a small record of the books they got...my oldest is now 12, and though not a Reader in the text addicted sense, and sooooo frustratingly reluctant to read what I offer him, appreciates a good book. Or a less good book.

Such as The Darwin Awards volumes 3 and 4. Not National Book Award caliber, but he finds them entertaining as all get out. And he (I hope) is learning valuable lessons from them, like never steering your motorcycle with your feet.

He also got two graphic novels-- 400 BC: The Story of the Ten Thousand, by Lewis Helfand and Lalit Kumar Singh, and Marathon, by Boaz Yakin & Joe Infurnari-- both Greeks and Persian war stories, of which he is fond.

But is he reading these? No. He is playing Super Mario Brothers for the Wii. Thank you, Hank Green (why do my children enjoy watching Hank and Co. narrate their way through pointless video games?)

Relatedly, he also got a new tee shirt--"Keep Calm and DFTBA," which, since he is interested in both WW II civilian propaganda and the Green brothers, was very well received. ("Keep calm and carry on" being what the British People were told to do, and Don't forget to be awesome being what the Green Brothers would have told the British to do).


And finally, in the interests of Full Disclosure as a Blogger, I also wrapped up a review copy of Illusionology, courtesy of Candlewick. He was very pleased with it! (I did tell him it came from the publisher. I couldn't live a lie. Or at least, not that particular lie).

By way of appreciative plug--this series of books makes truly excellent gifts. They are the sort of lovely book qua book that embodies "giftiness," and are very interesting reading/looking/exploring to boot! Full review of this one to come.

Cinder, by Marissa Meyer

Cinder, by Marissa Meyer (Feiwel & Friends, January 2012) counts both for my multicultural sci fi/fantasy list, and my fairy tale retelling list, so even though it might well have reached review saturation point by now, here it is.

In a far future earth, there is peace between the small number of terrestrial goverements that share the globe. On the bad side, there's a horrible sickness sweeping the land, and the dictator of the Lunar people (the moon was colonized generations ago) has formulated evil schemes that will take her down to earth in a bid to extend her power in a terrible fashion.

That's the big picture.

The smaller picture is that of a teenaged girl, named Cinder, who lives with her de facto step mother (not nice) and two step-stepsisters (one nice, one not), and who is the wage earner of this family. She's a repairer of futuristic mechanical things, a crafter and tinkerer. She's also a cyborg, with a robotic leg and hand being the most obvious non-human components of her make up. Unfortunately for Cinder, cyborgs are despised out caste people in her society (the reasons why this is so never became clear to me, but regardless, there it is).

So when Cinder meets the Prince of the neo-China where she lives (he needs a special robot surreptitiously repaired), she doesn't want him to know what she truly is...and it turns out that she doesn't know who she truly is either (although it's easy for the reader to guess), and suddenly her life is in danger, the Lunar dictator has arrived and wants to marry the prince, and he (charmed by her, despite the fact that he never seems to see her at her best, and the fact that they never get to actually Talk much) wants her to go to a rather special ball with him.

This being the first book of the series, it ends with people still dying of the sickness, Cinder still in danger, and the Evil Plot still un-foiled. But I'll be happy to have more of the story to read! I especially loved the fact that Cinder is a girl who defies gender stereotypes--her personal fixation during the book is the repair of a very antique car....she'd never actually wear the sort of shoe shown on the cover. So in short, Cinder was Fun, in a really enjoyable reading sense--good for light vacationing, when one can keep turning the pages, absorbed in the story despite never quite believing all of it!

viz multicultural sci fi/fantasy--Cinder herself is not from this neo-China (she was a foundling in Europe), but the prince most certainly is, and that's the setting. This neo-China-ness is not made much of, but its an integral part of the world-making. It's also a pleasant change to read a sci-fi fairy tale retelling!

Note on age of reader--this is one of those books that can be read comfortably either at the upper end of middle grade (which is to say that there's no sex, and the relationship between Cinder and the prince isn't the be all and end all point) and on into YA.

7/18/12

John Jensen Feels Different, by Henrik Hovland

Every so often a picture book comes across my path that tickles my fancy so much that I have to share it. And if it can kind of count as fantasy or sci fi, so much the better.

John Jensen Feels Different, by Henrik Hovland (Eerdmans Books for Young Readers; December 16, 2011, translated from the Norwegian) is such a book.

John Jensen, as the title suggests, feel different. He feels different when he's alone, doing mundane things like flossing, and he feels different when he's out in public, or at work. He feels the other passengers on the bus are looking at him.

They aren't, actually. Despite the fact that he is the only crocodile* on a bus full of ordinary people, no one is paying attention to him.

Perhaps, he thinks, it is because he is the only bow tie wearer around. So he stops wearing bow ties. But still he feels different. (Very sad picture of John Jensen walking home in the rain, sans bow tie--not even the little child he passes is glancing at him, but still he feels different).

Then there's a bit that really tickled me--he looks at a picture of his very large family, all crocodiles--"Maybe I was adopted, John Jensen thinks. He doesn't seem to look like anyone else in his family."

So then he tries something drastic--he's noticed he's the only one around with a tail, so he ties it up so as to hide it under his clothes. Not a safe thing to do, and John Jensen ends up in the hospital (after a poignant picture showing him crying in the taxi)--where his doctor turns out to know just what to say to make him feel better about himself.

His doctor just happens to be an elephant (in a hospital of regular people).

Note that the title is not "John Jensen IS Different," though it's clear to the reader that he is. John Jensen never says "Ah! I am different because I am a crocodile." The elephant doctor never says anything about it either. Being an animal seems to be just a normal part of the diversity of this world--and this makes John Jensen's feelings of different-ness just beautifully relevant, and rather powerfully conveys the "people aren't actually busy thinking about you as much as you think they might be" message that some of us have to keep telling ourselves.

And John Jensen ends up wearing bow ties again.

Now, I personally found this a powerful and moving book, and appreciated the dry wit. However, my test subject (handy nine year old boy) said he hated books with crocodiles, didn't like the illustrations, and was not impressed by the story. I'd be real curious to see what littler kids make of it!

Here's the review that made me read the book, at Waking Brain Cells

*definitely a crocodile-you can see his teeth when his mouth is closed.

7/17/12

Ghosts of the Titanic, by Julie Lawson, for Timeslip Tuesday

Ghosts of the Titanic, by Julie Lawson (Holiday House, originally published in Canada in 2011; reprinted in the US, with some revisions, in February 2012, upper middle grade)

At daybreak on April 21, 1912, the crew of a cable ship began to pull up the bodies floating on the cold water where the Titanic sank—hundreds of bodies, floating all around them. In the horror of the days that followed, the youngest crew member, Angus Seaton, made a mistake. He pocketed a purse from a drowned young woman hauled up from the water, not meaning to keep it, but forgetting protocol in the horror of the moment. For some years, he kept the purse unopened, living peacefully enough by the seas edge near Halifax. But then he looked inside, and saw the photographs of the woman and her baby…and her ghost came looking for the lost child, incessantly asking the same questions…

"Where’s Michael?”
“What has become of my precious boy?”
“Does he weep for me in the green-black deep?”
“Does he walk on land, searching for me?"
“How will he know me?”

Angus has no answer, and when he at last dies, he has been maddened by desperate regret.

Years later, a boy named Kevin comes to live in Angus’ old house. He's the class clown, a disappointment to his soccer obsessed dad, just a kid still, though growing up…and fascinated by the Titanic. And Kevin begins to hear the same questions that tormented Angus… and the drowned woman herself appears to him...but of course he knows nothing of the mystery, and must put the pieces of the past together before he can have any chance of helping the maddening, incessant, desperate ghost that no one else can hear or see.

At last Kevin is lead by the ghost back in time, to the Titanic on the evening it sank. There he must find out the fate of the lost child…or follow Angus into madness. And though this time travel part of the book is a short part of what is essentially a ghost story, it is very well done! Of course the sinking Titanic gives lots of scope for horror and terror, but Lawson does an nice job integrating Kevin's more personal desperation--save the child so as to lay the ghost to rest!-- into the mix.

The book as a whole is one that, though I found it engrossing, fell just a teensy bit short of what I think it might have been (this is me being an adult reader, considering to what extent I'd recommend this one to other adult readers!). There's considerable repetition in the ghost element (the drowned woman asks the same questions over and over) and in some of the descriptions of the Titanic side of things (once several whole sentences are repeated in the description of the bodies floating on the water) and though this to some extent underlines the horror, and is part of the way in which the characters are driven to the brink of madness, it made me a little twitchy. But that could be a personal reaction based on mood, and some other reader could find the underlining makes the story even more powerful. I was also not quite convinced of the reconciliation between Kevin and his father, a sub-plot of the larger story that seemed a tad perfunctory.

These reservations aside, however, I did find it a Good Read (though not one I'd go out of my way to recommend to the aforementioned adult readers!). The point of view shifts between Kevin and Angus, effectively merging the past and the present, and like I said, it's a nice bit of time travel. I think this is a great one to offer the eleven or twelve year old boy who likes ghost stories. Of course, it's an obvious one to give to the boy fascinated by all the great Titanic non-fiction books for kids out there! Kevin is the sort of kid many boys might easily relate to, or recognize, and the ghost element is scary! I tried really hard to sell it to my own 11 year old, but he frustratingly rejected it. I will keep trying--I do think it has lots of kid appeal.

(there are no reviews on Amazon yet; I think I'll go over and give it four stars (which I think it pretty good, star wise, though I hate starring in general); it should hit the spot with the right reader...)

7/16/12

Castaway Blobs #3

This particular adventure of the Castaway Blobs! is rather appealing on this horribly hot evening....(feel free to click to enlarge).


StoryWorld: Quests and Adventures (create a story kit)


Back in 2010, Candlewick brought out the first US edition of StoryWorld --a boxed set of forty intricately illustrated cards, created by John and Caitlin Matthews to serve as inspiration for young story tellers. There are now six different sets of cards available here, the most recent of which is "Quests and Adventures." In this set, 28 rather lovely pictures of magical places and things (like "the Spell to Command Time" and "the Magic Seeds") are combined with characters both possible ("the Emperor") and fantastical ("the Giant.") The back of each card has a few story prompting questions on it, and the instruction book has suggestions for a variety of ways in which the cards can be used.

Candlewick offered me a set for review, and I was curious. My nine year old is a storyteller already, and I wondered if he would welcome illustrated cards into his repertoire of inspiration, or reject them as Alien. So they arrived safely, and then I made a bad error of judgement when offering them to him. It was fifteen minutes to bedtime, and a long time later, he and I were still downstairs in the living, telling stories....he took them to camp the next day, to share with his friends.

So yes, from an "inspiring child to tell stories" point of view, definitely a success! I can imagine these sets being really useful in the classroom, much better than the cards my own fourth grade teacher had ("Imagine you are a tennis ball"). They have tons of visual appeal, and really do make one want to tell stories! (Although maybe not at ten pm after a long day. At that point, my stories were going something like this: "The magic seeds exploded. Everyone died.")

My only reservation with this particular set is that it very centered in the European tradition. The Questing Knight looks like he could be from east of Europe, but that's the extent of the diversity. I'd love to see a similar set of cards with more imagery from stories around the world...I'd definitely buy it for my son (I'm tempted to get him another pack for Christmas--perhaps the Legends of the Sea set). I would also have liked female characters who weren't wearing skirts or dresses. Perhaps even shooting bows, or something (which reminds me yet again that I must take my boys to go see Brave!).

Here's another review at Back to Books, in which the cards were a great success with the blogger's autistic son. And another review, at My Favorite Books, has lots of pictures of the cards themselves.

(disclaimer: review set received from the publisher)

7/15/12

This Sunday's round-up of middle grade fantasy and science fiction from around the blogs (7/15/2012)

Welcome to another gathering of what I gathered in my blog reading this week that's of interest to us fans of middle grade sci fi/fantasy (or, I guess, of interest to people who masochistically like to pay attention to mg sff even though they hate it).

Please let me know if I missed your post!

The Reviews

Aliens on a Rampage, by Clete Barrett Smith, at The Book Smugglers

Bliss, by Kathryn Littlewood, at Marie Loves Books

Breadcrumbs, by Anne Ursu, at The Secret Adventures of Writer Girl

Chronal Engine, by Greg Leitich Smith, at Cracking the Cover

Cosmic, by Frank Cottrell Boyce, at books4yourkids

Dust Girl, by Sarah Zettel, at Wandering Librarians

The False Prince, by Jennifer Nielson, at Jen Robinson's Book Page

Fly By Night, by Frances Hardinge, at The Book Smugglers

Fright Forest (Elf Girl and Raven Boy), by Marcus Sedgwick, at My Favorite Books

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making, by Catherynne M. Valente, at Candace's Book Blog

Ghost Knight, by Cornelia Funke, at Hope is the Word and Mister K Reads

Girls' Games (Goddess Girls) by Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams, at The Write Path (giveaway)

The Giver, by Lois Lowry, at Babbleabout

Heirs of Prophecy, by Michael A. Rothman, at Geo Librarian

The Kindling, by Braden Bell, at Ms. Yingling Reads and J Lloyd Morgan's Blog

The Magician's Apprentice, by Kate Banks, at Wandering Librarians

The One and Only Ivan, by Katherine Applegate, at Becky's Book Reviews

Ordinary Magic, by Caitlen Rubino-Bradway, at Cracking the Cover

Raider's Ransom, by Emily Diamand, at Becky's Book Review

Renegade Magic, by Stephanie Burgis, at Beyond Books

Small Medium at Large, by Joanne Levy, at The Flyleaf Review

The Spindlers, by Lauren Oliver, at Wandering Librarians

Stickman Odyssey: an Epic Doodle, by Christopher Ford, at Book Nut

A Tale Dark and Grimm, by Adam Gidwitz, at The Book Cellar

The Terrible Thing that Happened to Barnaby Brocket, by John Boyne, at The Book Zone

The Thirteenth Princess, by Diane Zahler, at Kristen Evey

Tom's Midnight Garden, by Philippa Pearce, at books4yourkids

Treasure of Green Knowe, by L.M. Boston, at Library Chicken

Whatever After, by Sarah Mlynowski, at There's a Book

The Wishing Spell, by Chris Colfer, at BooksYALove and the NY Times

A sci fi two for one at Ms. Yingling Reads: Invasion of the Dog Nappers, by Patrick Jennings, and The Visitors (Clone Codes 3) by Patricia, Frederick and Pat McKissack

And a non-fiction one of interest--Reflection on the Magic of Writing, by Diana Wynne Jones, at Book Aunt

Authors and Interviews

Laura White Reyes (The Rock of Ivanore) at Literary Rambles (giveaway)

Nikki Loftin (The Sinister Sweetness of Splendid Academy) at A Thousand Wrongs (giveaway)

Deva Fagan (Circus Galacticus) at I Read to Relax (missed this last week)

Eoin Colfer (Artemis Fowl) at So Many Books, So Little Time

Other Good Stuff

About this time of year, I start thinking about the Cybils--I'll have more to say when the call for judges goes out later this summer! But in the meantime, you can print out this handy flyer of the 2011 finalists!

"H is for Hob", with Pat Walsh at Scribble City Central

A slew of Cinderella retellings at Read in a Single Sitting

At Squeetus, Shannon Hale is hosting a Summer Book Club staring Princess Academy

The Prometheus Award for best novel (given by the Literary Futurist Society) iis a tie between The Freedom Maze by Delia Sherman and Ready Player One, by Ernest Cline. This award honors "outstanding science fiction and fantasy that explores the possibilities of a free future, champions human rights (including personal and economic liberty), dramatizes the perennial conflict between individuals and coercive governments, or critiques the tragic consequences of abuse of power--especially by the State."

Merida becomes a doll (in both senses of the word) in the hands of Mattel...(and someday I really will go see Brave!)

I don't shop at Macy's myself, but if you do, remember that if you give $3 to RIF at the Macy’s register, and you get a coupon for $10 off your purchase of $50 or more.

And just because I think it's funny:
(found via Bookshelves of Doom)

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