Judging books by their covers

In two days, we will know which books won the Cybils Awards. I have a tender interest in this announcement, as I was panelist for science fiction/fantasy. I thought that it would be fun to go back and take a look at the books nominated, and to judge them by their covers.

Here are my three favorites:

I think this is a beautiful cover. I just had to buy the book the moment I saw it. I like that Charlotte looks like an ordinary person, and I love the gold thread binding her hands...






I find the swirling action and fine detail very appealing here. I think it adds to the appeal that (I guess) Balsa is depicted in a very gender neutral way--boys won't be put off.





A cover that inspires daydreaming. Lovely.








And now, two covers that I so so so did not like. That I, in fact, hated.

Can you tell that this book is a fast-paced adventure focusing primarily on the exciting story of a gypsy boy with magical powers who must get an imprisoned girl out of France during the Terror? Can you tell that it is one boys might really really like? No? Neither can I. This is such an unfair cover to stick on a really great book. Grrr.




I loved this book. I loved the main character, the titular Stranger to Command. But what is up with the guy on the cover? He looks seriously wet. His long hair does not work for me. His posture has no zest in it. I can't imagine this guy being an effective leader even after he has gotten to know command a bit better. And why do we have to see him twice? It doesn't add to his appeal. I hate that he got shoved into my head as a mental image of the main character, and I still haven't quite gotten over it.



On a happier note, here's my choice for most beautiful cover girl. Isn't she lovely?









Edited to add:

My esteemed co-panelist Laini suggests that The Unnameables, by Ellen Booraem, could be included in the unfortunate covers category. I am not sure I agree. Sure, it gives absolutly no idea of what the book is about, but yet, having read the book, to me it convayes some of the wild magic of the Goatman, the catalyst for change on the island where the book is set, and the metaphoric embodiement of creativity. Or whatever.

Non-Fiction Monday is here!

Non-fiction Monday is here today--please leave a link to your post in the comments, and I'll add them to the list!




If you are looking for a truly great book about Leonardo da Vinci for a five to nine year old, here is our favorite-- Leonardo da Vinci by A. & M. Provensen. The Provensen's have taken Da Vinci's marvelous creativity and, with considerable creativity on their own parts, made it into a pop-up book. So the reader can, along with Leonardo, hoist a model of the church of San Giovanni up into the air, practice various flying contraptions ("By very good luck Zola was not hurt. Leonardo and his apprentices gave up flying for the time being"), turn the pages of Da Vinci's notebook (with varied detailed facsimiles of his drawings), and read a sentence of his disguised writing-- Evom ton seod nus eht. Da Vinci wrote from right to left, backward. It is great fun, and a beautiful introduction not just to Da Vinci but to Renaissance Italy.

Here are the other folks participating in this edition of Non-Fiction Monday, with more links to be added as they arrive:

At Book Moot, Camile looks at The Lincolns.

Tricia at the Miss Rumphius Effect has a post looking at two sets of Double Plays--two books on the same topic. One set of books is on the wolves of Yellowstone, the other is on Wangari Mathaai.

At Just One More Book you can find a chat about Animals At the EDGE: Saving the World's Rarest Creatures, which is an exciting look at work of the Zoological Society of London’s EDGE of Existence Program an engaging introduction to the science of conservation.

At Picture Book of the Day, you can find Ella: A Baby Elephant's Story.

A Wrung Sponge is offering Red Scarf Girl, a "true memoir of a 12 year old girl coming of age during China's Cultural Revolution" which looks fascinating.

At the Jean Little Library The Periodic Table: Elements with Style, which I think is right up my 8 year old's alley...

At Lori Calabrese Writes! Honda: The Boy Who Dreamed of Cars

Here's Callista's review of 10 Things I Can Do to Help My World posted at The Well-Read Child, and along the same lines, Amanda's news that Penguin has put out a really nice Young Reader's edition of Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin's bestseller, Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Journey to Change the World...One Child at a Time.

Becky has a review of Duke Ellington His Life In Jazz.

Abbey has a little roundup of nonfiction titles she's read lately over at Abbey (the) Librarian

Tweet! Tweet! at Simply Science offers a fresh look at the United Tweets of America, with activities (and gosh how my five year old loves that book. Just saying "western meadowlark" to him cracks him up).

Tying in nicely with the tweets is this post at Chicken Spaghetti, where you can find "Wonders of America: Yellowstone."

If you have ever wondered how handwritting is being taught in schools these days, head over to Books Together, where Anamaria looks at Script and Scribble, a book for grown-ups.

And at Sweetness and Light, there's a look at Graphing in the Desert.

Wendie's Wanderings lead us to Baby Animals of the Grasslands.

The Road of the Dead

The Road Of The Dead by Kevin Brooks (2006), shortlisted for the 2007 Carnegie Medal.

I knew from the first sentance that this was going to be Dark.

"When the Dead Man got Rachel I was sitting in the back of a wrecked Mercedes wondering if the rain was going to stop."

Ruben has always been able to feel things other people can't. Even though he is in London, miles from his sister, he feels it when she is raped and murdered on a rainy night far away on Dartmoor. Three days after his family hears officially that she is dead, fourteen-year old Ruben and his older brother Cole set off to bring her body home. But the police won't release her until their investigation is closed, and Ruben and Cole decide to travel to the remote village where Rachel was last seen alive to find out exactly what happened.

Nasty things are going on in that village, and soon the boys are caught up in a deadly tangle of violence and greed as they follow the ancient road of the dead across Dartmoor. It becomes clear that Rachel's death was not the work of one sick individual, and Ruben begins to wonder just how far Cole is prepared to go to find out the truth. And what he himself might be willing to do, for Rachel, and for his brother.

"I looked down at the hallway again. The doors were still closed, but I could feel something happening now. The silence had changed. It was a silence about to be broken. Then one of the doors slowly creaked open--and I closed my eyes and pulled the trigger." (p 240)

In a series of nutshells: Suspenseful and creepy. Violent. Lots of action. A remote gothic village, with a handful of very nasty people (a rather un-nuanced "gallery of bad guys). A slight subplot involving a gypsy girl. A bit of thought provoking-ness about what it means to deliberately decide to commit violent acts.

The first half of the book--the journey from London to Dartmoor, the set-up of the mystery, Ruben's psychic powers, and the relationship between the two brothers--was engrossing. Things got a bit much for me when the book became pretty much non-stop danger and violence and guns going off, and so, in a gender stereotype way, this is one I'd more happily recommend to a "boy" than to a "girl." Unless, of course, she's a girl who likes murder/thrillers in which lots of people get hurt.

Here's another review, at Vulpes Libris, with lots of interesting stuff in the comments.

postscript: I read this thinking it would fit into my on-going fantasy/science fiction way of blogging, but Ruben's paranormal abilities are so overshadowed by the mystery and mayhem that I'm not even going to label it as anything other than YA....

For members of Team Zombie

If you are a zombie fan, head over here to Tor, where a "Name that Zombie" contest could win you books about, yes you guessed it, zombies....

Team Zombie members might also be gleeful to read that Betsy over at Fuse #8 perdicts Evil Unicorns will be the next Big Supernatural Type thing saturating the market....Or perhaps they won't be that happy--even bad publicity is better than no publicity, and an Evil Unicorn is way cooler than a Good Zombie.

Two new Toon Books

We were very happy that Stinky, a Toon Book, was named a Geisel Award Honor Book a few weeks ago. We are very fond of it in our house (it gave my older son the title for his own blog, Pickled Bananas).

Last week two new Toon Books-The Big No-No, and Luke on the Loose-came our way, and we read them with great enthusiasm and enjoyment. They are pretty darn excellent young reader books for the child just getting going on independent reading, coupling good stories with lavish graphic novel type spreads of pictures. They are also fun to read aloud.

Luke On The Loose, by Harry Bliss, is a wild and wacky pigeon chase through the streets of New York. In Central Park one day, young Luke's father strikes up a boring conversation with another adult. A flock of pigeons catches Luke's eye, and with a blood curdling YAAH! he sends them flying. Off he goes in pursuit-YAAH! YAAH! flap flap flap through Manhattan and into Brooklyn, leaving a trail of feathers and startled byststanders. His father and the police and the firefighters set off to the rescue...Fun!

Benny And Penny: The Big No-No, by Geoffry Hayes, has less mayhem, but a more character driven plot. Benny and Penny, two mice siblings, embark on a series of no-nos that leads to a mud war with the new neighbor child. When the misunderstanding is resolved, they become friends.

We like them both lots--perhaps Luke more so, just because of the wonderful insanity of it...

Congratulations to the winners of my giveaway, and thanks to everyone who stopped by

Thanks to a random number generator, I now know that the winners of my blog birthday giveaway are Sharonanne and Anamaria! Congratulations!

Thanks to everyone who stopped by to say happy birthday!

And if you want an arc of the new Ranger's Apprentice book, don't forget to enter that giveaway by Feb. 15 (link at right).

Moribito Vol. 1: Guardian of the Spirit, and a bit of a preview of Vol 2, coming soon!

One of the many fine books nominated for the Cybils in Science Fiction/fantasy, that we just didn't have room for on our short list, was Guardian Of The Spirit (Moribito vol. 1) by Nahoko Uehashi (translated by Cathy Hirano and illustrated by Yuko Shimizu). Aside from the gripping story, this is an utterly beautiful book qua book, what with all the decorative touches. So it was very pleasing to see it win the Batchelder Award last month.

Years ago, eight lives were lost so that a girl named Balsa could live. The girl grew up determined to pay back that debt, and so she honed her fighting skills and dedicated her life to saving others. Now she totally kicks ass--you could think of her as a medieval Japanese Katsa (of Graceling fame). So far things have gone as smoothly as they can for an itinerant woman warrior, but Balsa's life is about to get more complicated. For the boy she has just saved from drowning is the second prince, who has just become the morbito--the guardian of the water spirit on whom the prosperity of the land depends. And powerful people want him dead.

History is written by the victors, and in the official chronicles of this land the water spirit is an evil monster. What the histories don't say is that the true evil is the monster that seeks to kill the water spirit every time it is incarnated. So Balsa has her hands full as she leads the boy prince up into the wildlands at the edge of the realm, struggling to keep him alive (shades of Katsa again), and, in the process, beginning to question the violent course she has chartered for her own life.

Here are two other reviews, at Fuse #8 and The Ya Ya Yas.

I just learned today that the next book in the series (there are ten so far in Japan) is due out in a few months. So that is my Waiting on Wednesday book--Guardian Of The Darkness (Moribito vol 2). I hope it is as exciting, thought-provoking, and enjoyable as the first one!


Here's the description from Amazon:

"Balsa returns to her native Kanbal to clear the name of Jiguro, her dear mentor, who saved her life when she was six years old. But what should be a visit of truth and reconciliation becomes a fight for her life when she learns that Jiguro had been a member of King Rogsam's personal bodyguard. After Jiguro fled Kanbal with her, Rogsam sent the other bodyguards after them one by one--Jiguro's best friends, whom he had to kill to protect Balsa. Now, with the help of two Kanbalese children, Balsa must unwind the conspiracy surrounding Jiguro and the mystery of the Guardians of the Dark."

(editorial aside: I've labeled this one both middle grade and ya. Middle grade, because of the exciting plot and lack of Adult Content. YA, because of the complexity of the plot and the relatively mature heroine. I am not going to label it girl book or boy book, because it fits my criteria for both!)

Why I now want to read Fly Girl, and why I hope to get the chance to soon

Today over at Finding Wonderland I read a most thoughtful discussion with Sherri L. Smith, author of Fly Girl. By the time I had finished, I knew I wanted to read the book. Happily, the gods then pointed my mouse toward Reader Rabbit, who is giving a copy away...and I have now doubled my chances of winning!

A preamble about world building, leading to Viking Raiders for Non Fiction Monday

A few days ago, Jo Walton over at Tor wrote a post called "Real world reading for fantasy writers," making the point that the more you know about the time and place on which you are basing your imaginary world, the better your world will be. One of her suggestions was to look at children's books- "Children’s non-fiction almost always has illustrations, which can be very useful, and it’s usually easy to read and lets you know what it is that you want to know, so you can approach the adult books from a point of less ignorance. Also, children are assumed to be more interested in the practical details of life—I have no idea why."

My own eight year-old child is fascinated by world building--drawing maps of imaginary places, and pictures of the temples and castles and weapons therein (with a heavy emphasis on the weapons). I would love to see him start putting details of this kind into his stories as he becomes a more competent writer.

So today I have been wondering what specific children's non-fiction books to put in a list both for adult fantasy writers and for children just beginning to discover the joys of writing stories that have material foundations in the past. And I am thinking that this might be a nice thing to start exploring on non-fiction Mondays, gradually leading to a lovely Book List.

A book that came quickly to mind was Viking Raiders (Time Traveler), an Usborne book. The edition I have, by Anne Civardi and James Graham-Campbell, illustrated by Stephen Cartwright, was published way back in 1977. It was revised and reissued in 2003.

This is the sort of book that is just downright enjoyable. It starts with a hook for young readers--you are asked to put on a magic helmet and travel back in time. Next, you meet all the Viking characters you will encounter in Viking times--their lives provide a story arc for the non-fiction. Then things get really cool, with a bird's eye view of Earl Knut's Farm, in the year 890 A.D--lots of little things to see, lots of labels hither and thither, busy people (actually, come to think of it, a bit like Richard Scarry). Next a cutaway of the longhouse, the building of a Viking ship, launching a raid, trading, immigrating to Iceland, and more...all with wonderfully detailed illustrations.

At the end, as a pièce de résistance, there is a map of the Viking world showing lots of little Vikings and Viking ships going all over the place. As a coda, there is a two page, more text-heavy, spread on "The Story of the Vikings"--straight up fact for those who want to learn more.

We really like this book in our house. I shall read it to the boys again tonight, and maybe we can all draw Viking settlements and dragon-prowed warships and swords and shields afterwards....

Anyone else have any favorite non-fiction Viking books, good for world-building purposes?

Today's Non-Fiction Monday roundup is here at Picture Book of the Day.

Blog Birthday Giveaway

My blog is now 2 years old! Being an extrovert (see previous post) it would like to have an enormous party and invite everyone over...it will have to be happy with a book giveaway.

I started blogging after cruising around the various blogs looking for books I thought it would be fun to buy for my local public library. I'm the president of the Friends, and I reward myself for the long and dusty hours I put into the booksales by using a bit of the money to buy books I would like the library to have...Soon I decided that I wanted to be part of the blogging fun myself, so I started my own. Being too shy to leave many comments on other blogs, it took a while before anyone actually read what I wrote, which is perhaps a good thing, since I didn't know what I was doing (for instance, I didn't know that you had to click "resume editing" for the spelling mistakes to actually be fixed. Shudder).

It is gratifying these days that every month more people visit. It is even more gratifying that I have been able to pass on over 200 books to my library, courtesy of various publishers, to whom I am very grateful. I hope that people reading my reviews have gone on to enjoy the books; I know they've been enjoyed by many patrons.

To celebrate, here is a small book giveaway. There are three children's books, and one ya/adult book--if you want one or the other, please mention that in your comment, otherwise you'll be entered for both. Please leave your comment by 7:30am EST this Friday, the 6th of February. I'm sorry, but I can't afford to send the books overseas (will they ever bring back Surface Mail? I miss it so).

The children's books, courtesy of Little,Brown are:




South, by Patrick McDonnell. An utterly charming book in which Mooch the cat helps a lost little bird on his journey south.








Willow Buds #2: When Toady Met Ratty (No. 2), written and lavishly illustrated by Mary Jane Begin.








AMERICA: The Making of a Nation, by Charlie Samuels, an engrossing non-fiction book with lots and lots of pictures and flaps.





The young adult/grown up book is The Ghosts of Kerfol, by Deborah Noyes. This one is courtesy of Candlewick Press, who very generously sent out Cybils review copies (thanks!!!) I think this is the most beautiful piece of a girl on any cover of 2008.

Here's what I said about the book in an earlier post: This is a series of five stories, moving forward in time from Edith Wharton's classic ghost story, "Kerfol," which tells of a young Frenchwoman accused of murdering her jealous husband. His body was found at the bottom of the stairs, savaged by dogs. But there were no dogs alive at the manor house of Kerfol that day...Gothic horror combined with great writing makes this one a page turner. I am not at all sure why this is marketed as a Young Adult book, because I think it is a better fit for grown ups. Although certainly many teenagers, in particular those who like their books dark and Gothic, will enjoy it as well. Not a book to read on a cold, dark night, especially if you are staying by yourself in an old French mansion.

So. Thank you, everyone who has read and commented on my blog, and thank you, publishers who have sent me review copies!

Is your blog an extrovert?

I am an INFP, and proud of it (as Myers and Briggs said of me, "Metaphors come easily, but may be forced). But my blog, I just learned through a link at Librarilly Blond, is an ESFP.

I guess we are two different people, my blog and I. It leaps to answer the phone when it rings, and seeks out parties, where it stays late with increasing energy...

The Glass Maker's Daughter

The Glass Maker's Daughter, by V. Briceland (Flux, April 2009)

In a city much like medieval Venice stand seven great houses, each with its own enchanted craft, each bound to the magic of Cassaforte and its king. Sixteen year-old Risa is the daughter of one of the seven--the house where glass makers create windows that do not break, vases that keep flowers fresh, and glasses that do not shatter. Every night she has thrilled to the sound of her father blowing the great horn of her family, answering the note blown from the king's own horn in an ancient rite of fealty. And she has always known that she will follow in the family tradition, attending one of the two schools for her caste, and learning the magic of glass working for herself.

The gods who govern the schools, however, don't need her. Angry and ashamed, she no longer knows what her future holds. Her own unenchanted glass works, beautiful though they are, are unwanted.

But Risa has only a few days to brood before her parents, along with the heads of all the other great houses, disappear into the king's palace, and the enchantments that hold her city together begin to unravel. With the help of two young guards, brother and sister, Risa must keep her family's house from shattering (literally), and unravel the plot that threatens all who keep faith with the covenants of the past. Her journey through the canals and twisted streets of her city takes her far from the sheltered daughter of privilege she had been, and leads her to the heart of the old magic, woven into the king's own crown, that only she has the power to understand.

Those who like heroines who have to figure things out--with regard to the entanglements of plot, with regard to their own abilities, and with regard to human relationships (in this case, a very engaging guard), should like Risa very much. The plot itself might not be wildly original, but I loved the magic of the city, especially the integration of enchantment into everyday things- I do so enjoy books that describe craftsmen at work. Briceland is himself a glass artist, and his knowledge comes through clearly. I would have liked even more about the glass making, but you can't have everything....

The book suffers a bit from a slow start. There's rather more telling than showing, and there are a few awkward transitions. But about midway, the pace picks up and moves briskly toward an exciting ending.

(I received an ARC of this book from the publisher--it will be released in April).

This is really taking zombies too too far

Some of you may have seen this already, through the link at Bookshelves of Doom a few days ago, which I had noticed but not clicked through, since zombies aren't really my thing. Today, though, via the Guardian Book Blog (link below) I ended up face to face with this new book coming in April:



From the Chronicle Books Website:

"Pride and Prejudice and Zombies -- Pride and Prejudice and Zombies features the original text of Jane Austen's beloved novel with all-new scenes of bone-crunching zombie action. As our story opens, a mysterious plague has fallen upon the quiet English village of Meryton—and the dead are returning to life! Feisty heroine Elizabeth Bennet is determined to wipe out the zombie menace, but she's soon distracted by the arrival of the haughty and arrogant Mr. Darcy."

You can read more about it here at the Guardian Book Blog. As a proud member of Team Unicorn, I shudder.

Come to think of it, this could spawn a whole series. How about a Pride and Prejudice in which Whickham and Darcy are fairy kings? Or one in which Lydia and Whickham are vampires? I can't think of any character, however, who would make a good werewolf.

Promoting reading out loud by promoting our libraries

Jen has issued a call to arms over at her blog--she writes "What do you all say to the idea of some sort of international campaign to encourage reading aloud to kids? A campaign for literacy, if you will, but one focused specifically on the benefits of parents and teachers reading aloud to kids."

Many folks who commented mentioned the important role libraries can play in helping parents read aloud to their children. This ties in to something I've been brooding about for a while--how to raise awareness of our public libraries. Our children's librarian is on the board of our local head start, and was dismayed that about half the parents on the board with her (and these would be involved, caring parents) weren't aware that there was a library just a mile up the street and around the corner.

(Hmm. My children are demanding/asking sweetly that I read to them, and their father is out. In view of this post's topic, it would be a tad hypocritical not to agree, so I'll be back).

Back again the next morning.

So anyway. My question is--how do we make sure that more people in our communities know that our libraries exist, and that you can get books, dvds, cds, computer use for free? Not to mention the story times, book groups, and the arts, crafts, and nature programs?

One thing that I am going to be working on, in my role as president of the friends group, is to make sure that our community food bank has on hand a large assortment of children's books to give away along with the baked beans. And each book will come with a book mark, on which will be a map showing the location of my town's two libraries. I also want to make sure we have some sort of information at the local head start, and possibly more books to give away there. Our children's librarian is doing a great job of outreach at the local schools already.

Does anyone have any other ideas? I would really really love to see our library crowded with children, especially during these difficult times when budgets for small local libraries are not exactly secure.

The Humming of Numbers, plus Waiting on Wednesday--The Farwalker's Quest

When I saw The Humming of Numbers, by Joni Sensel (Henry Holt, 2008), on the list of books nominated for the Cybils in Sci Fi/Fantasy, I had the impression that it was going to be about large computers loudly crunching large amounts of data. I was wrong, wrong, wrong!

Instead, it is a magical story set in early Medieval Ireland.

It begins thus:

"Lana Nicarbith hummed of the number eleven. The sound caught Aidan's attention as he swept the path near the abbey's front gate. He stared, open-mouthed, while Lord Donagh dragged the girl through the entry, past Aidan's poised broom, and inside. Plenty of people filled Aidn's ears with the chiming of four or seven or nine, and many of his brothers in the order pured softly of six. Never in his seventeen years, though, had Aidan O'Kirin met anyone endowed with the energy of a number higher than ten."

Lana, with her radiant humming eleven, her bright blue eyes, and her questioning mind, is truly like no-one Aidan has ever met, and he doesn't know at all what to make of her. The disruption Lana's arrival brings to the calm life of Aidan's monastery is soon overshadowed by a more terrible turmoil. This is the time of the Viking raids on Ireland, and no monastery or village is safe from the death and enslavement they bring. By chance, Lana and Aidan are outside in the relative safety of the woods, when the raiders arrive and the bloodbath begins.

But Lana has her own gifts, gifts Aidan struggles to trust. They must work together to put the raiders to flight, using trickery and an old magic rooted deeply in the land...

Nice writing, nice historical background, nice characters, and nice romance! (With apologies to my fourth grade teacher, who claimed that using nice was the sign of a weak mind). But it is nice, although perhaps not earthshakingly so. I would have liked it to explore some aspects of plot and relationship in greater depth. Still, this is a book that I am keeping to savour again in the future (and happily, my public library already has a copy).

There's more information about the book, and links where you can find more about the historical setting, here at Jodi Sensel's site.

And for my first official "Waiting on Wednesday" post--Jodi Sensel has a new fantasy coming on February 17th, called The Farwalker's Quest. Here's the blurb from Amazon:

"Ariel has always been curious, but when she and her best friend Zeke stumble upon a mysterious old telling dart she feels an unexplained need to figure out what it means. Magically flying great distances and only revealing their messages to the intended recipient, telling darts haven’t been used for years, and no one knows how they work. So when two strangers show up looking for the dart, Ariel and Zeke realize that their discovery is not only interesting, but very dangerous. The telling dart and the strangers lead them on a journey more perilous and encompassing than either can imagine, and in the process both Zeke and Ariel find their true calling."

Science Fiction--hiding in the mainstream shelves

From today's Guardian Book Blog comes an interesting little article--"Science Fiction--the genre that dare[s] not speak its name." The author addresses the fact that "Mainstream authors and publishers seem happy to appropriate the tropes of science fiction but not the label itself." Here's the link. Shades of the ongoing vague rumbling about YA science fiction and fantasy, lurking unlabeled in that section...

The House of Arden for Timeslip Tuesday

Today's Timeslip Tuesday book is The House of Arden, by E. Nesbit (1908).

"Imprisoned in the Tower of London, accused of high treason, and having confessed to a too intimate knowledge of the Gunpowder Plot, Elfrida could not help feeling that it would be nice to be back in her own time..."

Time travel, as 12 year-old Elfrida and her 10 year-old brother Edred have found, is not always a walk in the park. Even if you have as a guide a magical, ancient mole who is the heraldic crest of your House. But as the heirs to a half ruined castle, that comes complete with a story of hidden treasure, lost long ago, how could they not take the magical chance the mole offers to travel back in the pasts of their Arden ancestors to search for it? Meeting highwaymen, smugglers, witches, kings, and queens is thrilling, but the true treasure is not exactly what they were searching for...

Re-reading this today, I was struck anew by Nesbit's uncanny ability, or so it seems to me, to capture the mindset of children, and to see things from a child's point of view. She wrote about Elfrida and Edred over 100 years ago, but they come vividly alive to a modern reader. I kept telling myself to pay attention to the language, to see if if sounded dated and archaic, and I kept forgetting to as I fell back into the story. My excuse is that it is a thrilling story, with almost non-stop action and adventure. Once or twice, Nesbit gets a bit preachy about Social Justice and the Inequities of her own time period, and she's not subtle about it, but these bits are easily skimmed by the fast reader who does not feel the need to have her own consciousness raised.

As is the case with many of Nesbit's books, it is the sister who is the central character, the sympathetic, thoughtful one, whose point of view is most often given. So although I'd hesitate to say that boys wouldn't enjoy it, I'd be most eager to put this book into the hands of a middle grade, fantasy loving girl. Fans of The Time Garden, by Edward Eager, who was a great admirer of Nesbit, will recognize that book as a homage to this.

The thought of a magical mole guiding children back to various time periods might seem a bit off-putting. Do not let it be. This isn't The Story of Amulet (my favorite Nesbit), but it's a very good read.

The House of Arden was recently (2006) republished in the New York Review Children's Collection- this is their cover. I had never before come across these reprints, and I am rather dismayed to find that there is much, lots of much, to want therein. For what it's worth, they got J.K. Rowling to write a blurb for House of Arden. Here is what she says: "I love E. Nesbit—I think she is great and I identify with the way that she writes. Her children are very real children and she was quite a ground breaker in her day."

As opposed to all those post facto ground breakers among us.

Hooray for The Graveyard Book, and the Fantasy Genre!

It has made me so happy that The Graveyard Book got the Newbery! It was one of the books I helped shortlist for the Cybils Awards, which was very easy to do, as it met most beautifully our two criteria of fine writing and lots of appeal for a young audience. It's a lovely book, and it is hard to imagine it being a very contentious choice. However, doubtless someone will find something at which to be offended (I am now running through the book in my mind, trying to take offense. Perhaps child welfare issues, or general issues with Dead People hanging around a graveyard. But nothing easy, as far as I can recall, like a dog's Private Parts). My only quibble is that a Silver Medal would have looked better on the cover than a Gold. Maybe they can add a few gold highlights to the cover of the paperback...

Two other books on our short list were also recognized--Savvy got a Newbery Honor, and Curse Dark as Gold won the Morris Award, for best YA debut.

There were many great books that we just didn't have room for on our lists, and it was rather nice to see a couple of these get some attention as well. Tender Morsels, by Margo Lanagan, won a Prinz Honor (her second), as did Nation, by Terry Pratchett, and Moribito, Guardian of the Spirit, by Nahoko Uehashi, won the Batchelder for best book first published in another country.

It's gratifying to see fantasy as a genre well represented in the awards. From a selfish point of view, the more recognition fantasy gets, the more likely the publishers are to keep bringing the books on out.

Pretty Monsters

The stories in Kelly Link's latest anthology, Pretty Monsters (Viking, 2008), are brilliantly written, with turns of phrase that delighted me. They have great, memorable characters. Many are examples of fabulous, intricate, world-building. Several were creepy. Several I loved. And the book itself is a thing of beauty, with each story introduced by a black and white illustration by Shaun Tan.

So why did I find reading this anthology a little vexing?

Because I fell really hard for the second story, "The Wizards of Perfil," and even though it was long for a story (50 pages), I wanted so badly for it to be 300 or so, and every other story that followed wasn't those missing 250 pages.

Although it helped that the one that came next, "Magic for Beginners," is an utter joy.

Catching Fire

Catching Fire, the sequel to The Hunger Games, is coming closer--here's a snippet in Publisher's Weekly with a picture of the cover. The part I liked best, thought, was the mention of a third book, coming in 2010...

Thoughts on Hearing Leonard Marcus

I just got home from hearing Leonard Marcus, author of Minders of Make-Believe: Idealists, Entrepreneurs, and the Shaping of American Children's Literature, and other books, give a talk on the history of children's book publishing in America. A theme of his talk was the tension throughout the twentieth century between books eagerly consumed by children, and produced to be sold in large and inexpensive quantities to them, and books that are held dear and promoted because of more lofty sentiments about quality literature. He concluded his talk with a brief discussion of Harry Potter, an outstanding exemplar of the former tradition.

Is it coincidence, I wonder, that the latest round of Newbery Award kerfuffle coincides with the dawn of the post Harry era?

An audience member asked whether English books were being brought here to the US in large quantities anymore. He thought not so much--that the traffic these days, especially in picture books, is in the other direction. I am now wondering about this myself. Any thoughts?

I asked my own rather brazen question, as a postscript to a more thoughtful comment--who did he think would win the Newbery this year? His favorite contender--Masterpiece
by Elise Broach.

Rose Casson has a blog!

I am rather fond of Hilary McKay's books about the Casson family, and so it made me happy just now to discover that Rose has her own blog, here.

Timeslip Tuesday--The Driftway, by Penelope Lively

The Driftway(1972) was English author Penelope Lively's third book. Her earlier books concerned the intersection of past and present, but this was her first "timeslip."

Paul and his little sister are on the run across the English Midlands. They are escaping from the police, who caught them in what looked like shoplifting, but Paul is also trying to escape from his father's new wife. They get a ride in the horse-drawn cart of Old Bill, which carries them along the old driftway, a road older than England. And as the cart makes its slow way into the foggy night, Paul's eyes open to the experiences of those who travelled the road before him--travellers from all the hundreds of years past. They tell him their stories--sad, angry, and despairing, stories of civil war, and chance encounters with strangers, highwaymen and poachers. As Paul travels the driftway, listening to other people whose lives he would find unimaginable in real life, he also travels into a better understanding of what he is really running from.

Ok. So it's a tad didactic. And the meetings with the people from the past are not integrated at all with what is happening in modern times--Paul simply experiences their stories. But at the heart of the Driftway is Lively's love for the land, and the stories it holds. This sense of past places and people makes it a book worth reading.

Paul looked out into the darkness. The silence concealed the landscape he knew: the neat, orderly landscape of hedgerows, shapely trees, hills lifted to meet sky and cloud, fields, streams, squat cottages, a landscape that seemed set and unchanging in all but the variety of season, the variety of colour and of light. But it was not. Beneath it lay all those other things: People working, fighting, dying....he imagined other eyes in other times looking at the same things, feeling the same feelings, thinking...No not thinking the same things. That would be the difference.

'You can't know how they thought,' he said. 'Not really.'

'I s'pose not, son. But we should try. We should do that.' (p 80, 1985 edition).

Lively went on to write other timeslips --The Ghost of Thomas Kempe (1974), The House in Norham Gardens (1976), and A Stitch in Time (1976)--which are rather more successful at gracefully meshing different times than is the case in The Driftway. Those who love old roads, however, will find much to like here.

Nonfiction Monday--The Search for Antarctic Dinosaurs

When I was a child, there weren't any dinosaurs from Antarctica (there were brontosauri back then too, but that's another story). It is, I think, important to try to keep up with your children while you still can. Although I have on occasion exposed depths of ignorance that dismayed my children ("Don't you know anything about g force, Mama?" Short answer-"No."*) I still know as much as they do about dinosaurs. Maybe.

I'm a heck of a lot more interested in dinosaurs than I am in physics. And so I was more than happy to read The Search for Antarctic Dinosaurs, by Sally M. Walker, illustrated by John Bindon (2008, 48 pp with many color illustrations, Lerner). Before the expedition told of in this book, no dinosaurs had ever been found in Antarctica. One day, rocks are discovered that look promising, and a paleontologist sets of with a handful of graduate students to see them for himself.

It is a cold and hazardous search, the author tells us. The protective layers of clothing that each member of the expedition must wear are detailed in a series of sequential illustrations, the rigorous training described, and the hazards (death by crevasse) lightly touched on. What the author does not say is that these paleontologists are nuts. They are also incredibly lucky, and hit pay dirt the first time out--a new species of dinosaur, which they named Cryolophosaurus, or "frozen crested lizard."

This is just one book of many in the "On My Own Science" series--early independent reading of non-fiction. As such, it is a tad stilted stylistically, and not so good for reading out loud (after all, it wasn't meant to be a read aloud book). So although my five year old was interested, I found myself adding commas to make it flow better... I also think that any early independent reader who would want to read this book would already know what a fossil is, and so it felt a bit patronizing to be told, again. The subject matter, though, is really really neat (these people are insane), and my five year old and I both enjoyed the Cryolophosaurus death scene.

He, of course, had already heard of Cryolophosaurs. Unlike me. The moment I read the name, he said, "Oh. Like Allosaurus." Yep, on the next page, that's what it said. Sigh.

Another title in the "On My Own Science" series--Shipwreck Search: Discovery of the H.L. Hunley-- is reviewed here, at Books for Kids Blog.

*They watch Mythbusters. I don't.

The Non-fiction Monday round-up for today is at Simply Science.

EBook Giveaway--The Ruins of Gorlath

Among the 124 science fiction/fantasy books I read for the Cybils this past fall was Book Four of the Ranger's Apprentice, The Battle for Skandia. This action-packed adventure was my introduction to this best-selling series, an Australian import for middle-grade readers.

Book Six, The Siege of Macindaw, is coming out this summer, and to celebrate, Penguin is promoting the series with an eBook giveaway of Book One, The Ruins of Gorlan.

Here's the synopsis:
"They have always scared him in the past-the Rangers, with their dark cloaks and shadowy ways. The villagers believe the Rangers practice magic that makes them invisible to ordinary people. And now 15-year-old Will, always small for his age, has been chosen as a Ranger's apprentice. What he doesn't yet realize is that the Rangers are the protectors of the kingdom. Highly trained in the skills of battle and surveillance, they fight the battles before the battles reach the people. And as Will is about to learn, there is a large battle brewing. The exiled Morgarath, Lord of the Mountains of Rain and Night, is gathering his forces for an attack on the kingdom. This time, he will not be denied. . . ."

You can read the book here until February 15, 2009! Free!

And just for kicks, here's the Australian cover, which I find a lot less scary...

I am looking forward to introducing my sons to these books when they are a bit older--this is a very boy-friendly series, full of action and adventure (although I think my middle-school self would have eaten up the series too). In fact, the books began as a series of short stories written by the author to encourage his son to read.

If you are looking forward to the next installment of Will's saga, please leave a comment by February 15 to win an ARC of The Siege of Macindaw!

And the winner is KT!

The Last Polar Bears, by Harry Horse

From the valiant ship the Unsinkable, headed for arctic regions, a grandfather writes to his grandchild.

"Dear Child,
I am writing to let you know that Roo and I are well. I'm sorry I was unable to say goodbye to you properly and I hope that you can understand why I had to go on this expedition. I am going to the North Pole to find the Last Polar Bears."

All his life, the grandfather writes, he has either been too old or too young to do what he wanted to do, so with his dog Roo he has set off to find the polar bears before they are gone. And so begins The Last Polar Bears, written and illustrated by Harry Horse (2003 in the UK, 2007 in the US).
"Mama, finish reading me my book," my five-year old asked, the moment he woke up yesterday. I didn't mind obliging, because this book is an utter gem, a wonderful story, an utterly perfect book to read out loud to a five year old (I like it too). Part this is due to the many, varied, and entertaining black and white illustrations, the sort that cry out for careful study with your co-reader. Part of it is the story, in equal parts wacky adventure and fable.

The letters continue, describing the voyage.

"This afternoon Roo asked the captain if she could have a go steering the ship. "Dogs are great steerers of ships," she told him. He let her have a little go, and for half an hour we went around in circles. Roo said that dogs always steer ships in this way."

At last Grandfather and Roo reach Walrus Bay, where they settle into a tiny cabin to prepare for their expedition to Great Bear Ridge, and are troubled by wolves running across the roof at night. They are Bad wolves, hanging around and drinking too much Old Sock. What with the wolves keeping them awake, and all there is to do, life is busy. Roo and Grandfather shop at the Last Store, where Roo buys a painting of a rabbit, they care for frozen sea gulls and a small penguin knocked unconscious by one of grandfather's errant golf balls, they visit with a snow sculptor, whose art is melting into the ocean, and they plan their great expedition, choosing to take the Gentle Slop route. Roo has no interest in bears, but has been promised fields of snow ice cream.

The thirty-second of October arrives, bringing strange-ness. The folk of Walrus Bay are all leaving. The wolves head north. And Grandfather, Roo, and the young penguin head out to find Great Bear Ridge.

It is a hard journey, and beset with difficulties of the sort common to many polar expeditions. Seven days after setting out, the storm that trapped the travellers in a small igloo has ended. They are out of food.

"Child, do not worry.
I know the polar bears will find us.
I feel more tired than I have ever felt in my life. I shall dream of the polar bears tonight.
Roo says she will dream about ice cream.
Tell your mother that I will be home soon."

But there is one more letter...

And this final letter makes me sniff, but my boy is happy. He is even more happy to read three trailers for other books about Grandfather and Roo. He says it is his favorite book ever, and how funny it was, and how much he loves Roo.

My mind is full of thoughts of beloved Grandfathers growing old, melting ice, and small dogs looking forward to ice cream that isn't there. Journeys from which there is no return- "I am just going outside, and may be some time."* And I am sad, because I know that in 2007 Harry Horse, his wife, and their own Roo, set off together on just such a journey.

"Read it again!" says my boy. Sniff.

But on a more cheerful note, there are indeed three more books about Roo and Grandfather--The Last Gold Diggers, The Last Cowboys, and The Last Castaways. I also feel more cheerful now that I have found that The Last Polar Bears was first published in 2003, long before the tragedy of 2007.

Final note: many reviewers at Amazon were unhappy about the penguins. If you cannot tolerate the thought of penguins in the Arctic, you might not like this book. You might also have trouble believing in Santa.

* note written by Lawrence Oates, just before walking out of his tent into an Antarctic blizzard, sacrificing himself on behalf of Scott's doomed expedition.

The Dust of 100 Dogs

The Dust of 100 Dogs, by A.S. King (Flux 2009, available now--two weeks early!)

Saffron is not your average American teenager. She's pretty, she's smart, her parents are needy, her brother's a jerk, but unlike her classmates, Saffron has just started life number 102. And only the first of these, when she lived as Emer Morrisey, a 17th-century Irish girl turned bloodthirsty pirate, was a human life. The rest were all dogs.

The book begins in the 1600s with a chain of death on a Jamaican beach--Emer's true love is killed by a Frenchman who wants to possess her, the Frenchman is killed by Emer, and Emer herself is killed by the Frenchman's first mate. But before he kills her, he curses her:

"You will see!” he yelled, jumping from the brush, “You will see how true
love lasts! You will see how real love spans time and distance we know nothing
of!”

He rushed forward then, and shook a small purse toward her. From it, came a
fine powder that covered Emer’s hair and face. She reached up and wiped her eyes
clear, confused.

“What are you at?” she asked, spitting dust from her lips.

He stood with his arms and face raised to the night sky. “I curse you with
the power of every Spirit who ever knew love! I curse you to one hundred lives
as the bitch you are and hope wild dogs tear your heart into the state you’ve
left mine!” He began chanting in a frightful foreign language."

And the treasure that was to be Emer's passport to a peaceful life was left buried there, while she began her long cycle of death and rebirth.

Now that she is human again, she has one goal--to shake off the neediness of her family and get down to Jamaica to find her treasure again. But the beach where the treasure is buried is being watched by Fred Livingstone, a warped man haunted by his own dark ghosts, and the past and present collide when Saffron begins to dig.

Within the book are three separate narratives. There is the story of Saffron's American childhood and quest to reclaim her treasure, told in the first person with bits of very bloodthirsty piraticalness coming through from time to time (an engaging YA type narrative). There is the story of Emer, a girl whose life was destroyed in Oliver Cromwell's invasion of Ireland, and who ends up, after a path of victimization, a bloodthirsty pirate (dark historical fiction-strong stuff, not for the faint of heart). And there is the third story, telling the truly unpleasant thoughts of Fred Livingston, middle-aged real-estate tycoon (neither YA nor historical fiction). Things are complicated by the interjection of vignettes from Emer's various dog lives.

In short, this is a challenging book--there is a lot happening, and it is not immediately clear how all the pieces fit together (although they do in the end). The moment I read the last page, I wished I had someone to discuss it with. I myself found the Saffron/Emer shared identity not as fully explored as I would have liked (the trauma of Emer's past seems to be deeply buried in Saffron's mind), and it's not clear what the experience of being one hundred dogs did for her. Each of the dog vignettes must be there for a reason, but reading the book the first time through, I was too caught up in the exciting plot to stop and think. So I think I shall go back and read Saffron's story arc and the dog bits again, now that I Know...

Here is the excellent Dust of 100 Dogs website, and here are some other blog reviews, at Jen Robinson's Bookpage and Bookshelves of Doom, and a trailer at The Compulsive Reader.

The Order of Odd-Fish, by James Kennedy

Not since Kafka's Metamorphosis has a giant cockroach been brought so majestically to the printed page. Yes, The Order of Odd-Fish, by James Kennedy (2008, Delacorte Press, 403 pages), has the most triumphantly realized giant cockroaches of any book I have ever read, which does not, incidentally, include Kafka's Metamorphosis. Although actually these sentient cockroaches are only about 3 1/2 feet tall, and are minor, though very entertaining, characters in the tumultuous sea of insanity that is this story. Yet through the wild and the whimsical journey there runs a coherent plot, to which I clung like a life-line.

During a party at Aunt Lily's ruby palace in the middle of the desert, a boy costumed as a hedgehog fires at an overweight Russian colonel, who isn't, really. This sort of thing has been par for the course of Jo's 13 years of life, ever since she was found with a note attached, warning "This is a dangerous baby" and was taken in by the famous film star Lily Larouche.

But in the days that follow the party, Jo's life becomes infinitely more surreal. The colonel and Aunt Lily (along with the colonel's cockroach companion, Sefino) whisk her off in a ramshackle plane, which is shot down into the ocean by the zeppelin of a wanna be Master of Evil, and is eaten by a large fish. This, in turn, takes the quartet to Eldritch City, where Jo meets the Order of Odd-Fish, and gradually learns just why she was labeled a dangerous baby. I am not even going to try to describe the city or the order, because it would take too much time and I wouldn't do them justice.

But all distractions of setting aside (such as the cleverest of all the gods, Aznaht, the Silver Kitten of Deceit), Jo does, in fact, face a very real threat in Eldritch City, and is, also in fact, a threat to its continued existence. And (this is where the plot falls into plot-like place), Jo and a handful of Eldritch teenagers must figure out how to thwart the demonic goddess who is lurking in the heart of the city, waiting to use Jo to return to power...

I was anxious lest the insanity, and there is a lot of it, prove such a distraction that the book became unreadable. It did not. Letting it all wash over me, I enjoyed the journey and the people, and read with quickening page turning-ness as the Climax approached, and all the disparate threads (I think--I might have missed a few) were gathered with a masterly hand as Jo confronted her Fate...

In short, this is a great book for a 13ish year old reader of fantasy, or anyone who wishes to read a book that offers an entertaining and satisfying escape from the quotidian world (battles on flying ostriches, anyone?)

The Order of Odd-Fish was a Cybils nominee (which was nice for me, because I enjoyed reading it very much, and might not have come across it otherwise, so thank you whoever nominated it, and thank you, Delacorte Press/Random House, for sending us copies!). Sadly, we could not shortlist all the books of which we were fond, so it was nice to see Odd-Fish honored by the Smithsonian as a 2008 Notable Book (although I don't, myself, quite understand why the Smithsonian takes a tender interest in children's fiction, but why not. They're smart people).

Here's another review, from my Cybils compatriot Laini Taylor (Hi Laini!)

Edited to add: for those interested in reading books featuring kids of color, Jo happens to be biracial, and a second central character is Chinese; here's a post in which the author discusses this.

anyone want to come to Providence????

Leonard Marcus is giving an illustrated talk based on his book Minders of Make-Believe
at the Rhode Island School of Design Museum (224 Benefit Street, Providence), starting at 7 p.m. next Wednesday, January 21. There will be a book signing afterwards (or after words--ha ha).

As far as I know, I am the only kidlit blogger in Rhode Island (it can't be true. There must be someone else????), but if there is anyone from, say, Attleboro MA who might want to come, maybe we could meet up.

No Timelip Tuesday, but some satisfaction...

Last night I found the timeslip book I was going to write about today, and tried to re-read, but failed. I was right in the middle of another book, an unputdownable one, that I just couldn't stop reading--The President's Daughter, by Ellen Emerson White. This is the first book of a four part series about a girl who's mother happens to be the first female president...I read the fourth book, Long May She Reign, first, then the third book Long Live the Queen, and now I've read the first book! It is fascinating, going back to the beginning of Meg's story, and seeing that she is the same character--younger and less bruised by fate, but still, so Meg! And now I have the second book to look forward too...

Here are some actual reviews of The President's Daughter-at the YA YA YAs, and the Bookshelves of Doom. What they said.

So that was a satisfying night of reading, even though I didn't read my timeslip book. I was gratified that my husband sat on the other comfy chair, reading a book I gave him for Christmas (The Deportees and Other Stories by Roddy Doyle), and even more pleased that my older boy sat on the sofa, peacefully reading the Spiderwick Chronicles to himself. I was not exactly gratified that my youngest son was playing Dark Dark Dark imaginary games with the legos--death, destruction, rampaging, etc--but at least he was not keeping the rest of us from our books. And then, to put the icing on my cake, my mother called to say that she had been up till 3 am the night before, reading the book I gave her for Christmas--The Hunger Games.

What with having to go to work, buy chicken food, buy people food, etc., I didn't have time to read the poor little timeslip story, and now I am here at the library, for an evening of book sorting and book sale planning. So there it is. Next Tuesday.

Urban Fantasy Land Readers' Choice Award

Here's another award information announcement to go with my last two posts. Urban Fantasy Land just announced that voting is open for the 2008 Urban Fantasy Awards.

Maybe, like me, you aren't quite sure what constitutes Urban Fantasy. My mental image--one of a dark city with bad creatures and people whacking away at each other--is not too far from the definition posted on the U.F. website's welcome page:

"Urban fantasy looks like our modern world, except for the creatures. You might walk into a department store and find vampires, werewolves, faeries, demons, zombies, ghosts and ghouls, where you would find other shoppers or clerks. Or you might be the only one who sees them. Sometimes the creatures are openly part of the world, and sometimes they are hidden. There’s not always a romantic story, but when there is, it doesn’t end happily. [Happily Ever Afters are considered Paranormal Romance.]"

Anyway. There is a YA category for the 2008 awards, so I was able to cast a vote based on informed opinion. Though I do wonder how the list of books for which readers could vote was picked. I would have liked to have seen Need, by Carrie Jones, on the list...