Emperor Qin's Terra Cotta Army, by Michael Capek

Emperor Qin's Terra Cotta Army, by Michael Capek (Lerner, 2008, 80pp).
The farmers who lived in the shadow of Emperor Qin's burial mound told stories of ghosts beneath the earth. In 1974, the ghosts were found--the terracotta army of the emperor, thousands of clay warriors and their weapons, entombed over two thousand years before. This book is detailed account of their discovery, and the years of painstaking excavation that yielded fabulous treasures. It is told in the present text, so that the reader has the sense of making discoveries, first with the farmers digging a new well, then with the archaeologists, who are faced with one of the most formidable archaeological challenges ever:

"It seems that a vast room lies beneath the whole field. Terracotta pottery and metallic weapons fill the chamber. Yuan and the other archaeologists are overwhelmed. No one has found anything of this sort in China before. for that matter, no one has found anything like this anyplace else in the world."

Emperor Qin's army is a fascinating topic, thoroughly explored here. I wish there had been more room to place the army more firmly in its cultural and historical context--there are some sidebars, that begin to do this, but the book never strays far from the present. Copious illustrations, a glossary, a list of websites, a bibliography, and more, enhance this book's research value. And it is an excellent exploration of just how tricky archaeology can be, and how much patience can be required--today, when the museum visitor sees the warriors standing in their orderly rows, it is hard to remember that they were found in many, many pieces!

This review is my contribution to Nonfiction Monday over at Picture Book of the Day. I received my copy from the publisher.

The Books of March

Here are the books I read last month, not counting things read out loud to children and re-reading (I read quite a few of Miss Read's Thrush Green books, for instance--I had a cold and needed to cosset myself; these are about as cosseting as one can get).


Wilderness Roddy Doyle (I was a tad dubious about this one--the other book by him I've read, Paddy Clark Ha Ha Ha, was rather traumatic (poor Sinbad). But either I'm a stronger person now, or this one was gentler (the later) Two boys and their mother go off for a wilderness holiday in Finland in winter; back home in Ireland, their older half sister awaits the visit of her own mother, who left her when she was a baby. Nothing terrible happens).

Firegirl, by Tony Abbott (too short--I would have appreciated more of Tom and Jessica's relationship, but I guess part of the point is that even small meetings can have big impacts. Or something.)

Leepike Ridge by N.D. Wilson (one I'm looking forward to putting in my boys' hands in a few years--a great adventure story), and also Wilson's 100 Cupboards (the cupboard concept is great, and I'm looking forward to the sequel).

Good Enough Paula Yoo (loved it; planning on review in it detail)

Surviving the Applewhites (This was a 2003 Newbery Honor book; deservedly so. But I think that when a book starts from the point of view of a girl and you start investing in your relationship with her it's not fair to move almost entirely to the point of view of someone else altogether. But a good book nonetheless, especially for people like me who have a weakness for fictional amateur theatrical productions).

Songs for a Teenage Nomad Kim Culbertson (I'll be reviewing this one in detail d.v.)

Eggs Jerry Spinelli (it was ok, but I think I missed some crucial egg metaphor here. For instance, I noticed no hatching. Possibly some cracking out of shells???).

It's Kind of a Funny Story Ned Vizinni (very good book--quite high in my list of fictional teens in mental institutions, although I will always bear a torch for I Never Promised You a Rose Garden)

Freak the Mighty W. Rodman Philbrick (I cried. What a good good book. I'm not rushing out to get the sequel, Max the Mighty, just yet, in case it's an anticlimax. I don't see how it can not be).

The Alton Gift Marion Zimmer Bradley and Deborah J. Ross (need I say more. I've given up on the Pern books, but some things from my youth still call to me. Hawkmistress was a great favorite when I was 14 or so. I think readers currently devouring Shannon Hale's books would love it).

Long Live the Queen and Friends for Life Ellen Emerson White (I doubt I'll re-read either of these. Especially the first--I'm rather wimpy when it comes to pages and pages of horrible suffering).

The Whillougbys Lois Lowry, 2008 (loved it lots, will be reviewing it)

The Mummy Market Nancy Brelis (found a copy in Rhode Island's library system after reading about it here, at the great blog Collecting Children's Books; enjoyable and I'll buy it if I find it, but my socks stayed on).

Time Out for Happiness by Frank B. Gilbreth Jr (I was very chuffed to find this in a box of book sale donations--I enjoyed Cheaper by the Dozen and Belles on Their Toes very much, and although this book is more a biography of the Gilbreth parents, it was nice to visit the family afresh).

Home from Far Jean Little (she's a good writer, this is a good story about the death of a sibling and the arrival of foster children, but not one of her best books. On the other hand, I was reading it with a bad cold on a bus at 6:30 in the morning, so it had a lot to contend with).

The Compound, by S. A. Bodeen (here's my review)

Eighteen new books, many of which I enjoyed lots and will re-read. Pretty good.

For National Poetry Month

I just saw that someone found me by doing the following google search "poem children are like falling snow." Doing the same google search, I found that no one had written this poem yet, so always being one to think of others, I have done so, and present it in honor (dubious) of National Poetry Month. It is, by the way, tongue in cheek.

Children are like falling snow.

A whisper on the wind brings
small sounds,
Small cold fingers on your face.

Then the next thing you know,
Everything is utterly covered up and walking is difficult.

You clean the children off the paths,
Sweep them from the back stairs,
Watch snow plows push them into place.
Still they keep coming

Three different endings! (pick one, or write your own!):

Until your heart melts.

"Go outside! Mama is trying to read!"

Snowflakes—beautiful, magical, yet deadly.

Reading books about School Girls

Here are the thoughts of Lucy Mangan, a columnist for the Guardian, on why she is not rushing to embrace the remake of the Famous Five. She feels that "the assumptions that underpin these remodelling quests deserve to be unpicked from time to time - the main one being that children want, or should be provided with, only entertainment that reflects their own reality."

As a grown up who really does not want to read any book that reflects my own reality (especially the messy house bit), and who can attribute most of her general knowledge to reading books about places and peoples far away in time and space, I say hear hear. I read to be taken somewhere else, which is one reason I enjoy English school stories so much--the stark contrast between regimented tidy life of that alien creature, the School Girl, and my own life, to which cannot apply the word "controlled," is great. In my favorite stories, the School Girl turns against the regimentation, and bravely makes her own path, allowing me to think, comfortingly, that I would do the same (rather than just get into constant trouble over my untidy sock drawer).

Lucy Mangan is also a fan of school stories, and uses them as one of her own examples, although she highlights a different aspect of their unreality--"Dimsie, the Marlows and the Chalet School heroines articulated the vanishing ideas of moral duty and the honour of the school, and although I never got to demonstrate either - not being able to play lacrosse, never mind with a fractured leg, and the shortage of clifftop rescue opportunities in the Lewisham borough - it was good to know they had once existed, and the knowledge afforded a valuable glimpse into the minds of grandparents and teachers whose thinking had been moulded by such strange notions."

I've read the three series above--all are beautifully escapist, but I would most recommend Antonia Forest's books about the Marlow family. The writing is incredibly sharp.

And then there's the wonderful case of Millie in Diana Wynne Jones' The Lives of Christopher Chant, who uses this same genre to escape from her childhood as a living goddess ...

Progress--blogging, bookcases, and stones

Blogging from work is not a preferred option, and blogging from home has been technically impossible, but now, progress. The home computer is updated, and this is its first test...

I also made a very satisfying progress viz books--I got a check last week for an article that came out in Dig Magazine last October (the first time I've ever been paid for writing :) --if anyone wants to learn more about my real life as an archaeologist, there it is). So I went out and bought a book case, which has given the beloved fantasy books considerably more elbow room. There are open spaces for Chalice (Robin Mckinley), Lavinia (Ursula Le Guin), and new books by Patricia McKillip, Diana Wynne Jones, and Megan Whalen Turner (hope on hope ever).

And I have also made progress (about 20 feet up a steep slope) with the stone of today. I'm building a wall, which entails rolling stones up from the deep woods behind our woods...

Non-fiction Monday -- Two for One gardening books

We started our first lot of seeds inside a few days ago, and have begun busily digging and clearing outside...perhaps this summer we will actually live our dream of canning and pickling (although I am so traumatized by the exploding tomatoes in Then There Were Five by Elizabeth Enright that it might never happen. Even though I have never met anyone in real life who has a. been hit in the eye by a boiling hot tomato b. been cut on the cheek by an exploding glass canning jar). But anyway. Every March I, and many others, have a tendency to read books about gardening to the children. And being one who improves each shining hour, I appreciate books that combine gardening with other useful skills (colors, counting, the alphabet--The Little Seed, by Eric Carle, is therefore disqualified). Here are a few examples, and even though my children have already learned how to count, etc., we still enjoy them:

Jerry Pallotta is a winner as far as alphabet books go, and he has two that are plant related-- The Flower Alphabet Book and The Victory Garden/Vegetable Alphabet (the former seems to be the hard cover, the later the paperback). The flower one is lovely, but the flowers are not in garden context, so it doesn't quite inspire enthusiasm for dirt. However, the vegetable one is an inspiration to all of us who hope for produce.

.
Planting a Rainbow, by Lois Ehlert (1988), is an equally great inspiration for those who hope to grow flowers with very young children (2-4 ish), taking lovely plants from the ground to the end result. Not only does it talk about different colors and types of plants, this book comes right out and boldly uses the words "corm" and "rhizome." And why not. Eating the Alphabet is also a lovely book, but the fruits and vegetables it features have, as the title suggests, stopped growing, so it's not about gardening.

Counting in the Crazy Garden, by Margarette Burnette, illustrated by Brooke Henson (2008, JenPrint), is a newcomer to the genre of plant and learn books (I just got a review copy from the publisher). Arnold Bear loves playing chef in his garden, coming up with delicacies from 1 serving of worm cobbler to 9 sand sandwiches. Not surprisingly, his little brother and his friend Maria have no interest in sharing. At last Maria shows Arnold how to plant a real garden, and good food is had by all. The illustrations are cheerful, but a bit too un-nuanced for my taste; the story encourages kids to enjoy gardens, which is great. I think, though, that the pretend food looks more fun than the garden produce. I myself loved playing kitchen with bits of plants, and have tried with little success to get my children to do likewise--a book that encourages kids to use their imaginations outside, even though that's not the intended point, is a good thing. This is the only book I can think of that combines counting and gardening (as opposed to random things outside, that seem to be counted a lot)--am I missing something? (another review is here, at the Well Read Child, and here's the Chipper Kids website).

Another gardening classic with a bonus didactic component is of course the story of the Little Red Hen (and this lesson is not one my children have fully absorbed--"who will help me clean this house?" I ask, with predictable results). Thinking about it, within the fictional framework is a darn good non-fiction account of the hard work involved in going from seed to bread.

But at the end of the day, it is always nice to simply read one of the best gardening stories for kids ever--"The Garden" from Frog and Toad Together, by Arnold Lobel:

"All the next day Toad sand songs to his seeds.
And all the next day Toad read poems to his seeds.
And all the next day Toad played music for his seeds....."

For more non-fiction, head over to today's roundup of Nonfiction Monday posts here at Picture Book of the Day.

Imanginary Menagerie, a Book of Curious Creatures

Imaginary Menagerie, A Book of Curious Creatures poems by Julie Larios, pictures by Julie Paschkis (Harcourt, 2008).

After I read this book, I went out and bought a powerball ticket. I wanted to be able to buy one of the paintings...as usual, I didn't win. And today, after enjoying this book in our home, we are handing it over to the library, where it should disappear quite quickly into other homes. "No Mama!" cried my 4 year old, "No! Don't take it away!" In short, the paintings of mythical creatures in this book are some of the loveliest I've ever seen. I can't do them justice (Lindisfarne Gospel meets Ukrainian egg decoration? With variations, such as North West coast art? see below), so go look at the book yourself. (Although all the three styles I mentioned do share the commonality of occupying empty space with color and pattern and loving detail, so perhaps I am not so far off).

The downside of having such gorgeous pictures is that the poems end up a bit overshadowed. Ten of the fourteen poems address the reader with direct questions, giving them a certain sameness of voice that I found a bit disappointing. Here's my favorite:

Dragon

The air around me
burns bright as the sun.
I tell wild rivers
which way to run.
I'm arrow tailed,
fish scaled,
a luck bringer.
When I fly,
it's a flame song the world sings.
But you can ride safely
between my wings.

A nice touch to this book is the glossary of imaginary creatures at the end, where those who aren't quite sure what hobgoblins are can find out.

You can read another poem, Thunderbird, here at Kelly Fineman's blog.

And Harcourt has created a classroom kit for National Poetry Month and Young People's Poetry Week (April 14-20) based on this book--here's the link.

The Poetry Friday roundup is being hosted today at the lovely blog of Wild Rose Reader.

Just for kicks, here (not as beautifully laid out as they were supposed to be, grr) are a closeup from the Lindisfarne gospel, some eggs, and a North West coast chest:

Famous Five: On the Case

I had read about the new tv series, featuring a middle-aged Famous Five. But now comes this, from BBC News-Entertainment:

"Enid Blyton's Famous Five are returning to TV screens in a new animated series - with an updated 21st Century look. Famous Five: On the Case features the children of the original ginger beer-loving adventurers - and their dog, Timmy.

But the Famous Five's offspring are now multicultural; their enemies include a DVD bootlegger and they sport modern gadgets like iPods and mobile phones.

The new series launches on 5 May on the Disney Channel."

The characters include "12-year-old Anglo-Indian Jo, short for Jyoti - a Hindu world meaning light - who, like her mother George, is a tomboy and the group's team leader" and Anne's daughter Allie "a 12-year-old Californian "shopaholic" who enjoys going out and getting "glammed up" but is packed off to the British countryside to live with her cousins."

It is hard for me to imagine either of these as likely progeny, but whatever. I won't be watching--for me a large part the charm of the original books is their dated improbability, which is, of course, not going to part of this new adventure (although it might well have a large measure of its own brand of improbability).

Chalice, by Robin Mckinley, coming in Sept.

Over at Robin Mckinley's blog she put up a blurb about her new book, Chalice, coming this September. It looks really really good--magic, beekeeping, romance... I am a sucker for these romancy type fantasies, and she does them so well (when she feels like it). I am even almost tempted to squee in a fan girl kind of way...

Mass Extinction, by Tricia Andryszewski

Mass Extinction: Examining the Current Crisis, by Tricia Andryszewski (2008, Lerner, 111 pp, Grades 6-12).

Mass Extinction begins on an ominous note, describing the lost dogwoods of the Appalachians, and the sad plight of the hemlocks. A bit of a respite is provided in an overview of past great extinction crises--the Big Five. I enjoyed this part; it's safely in the past. But then Andryszewski begins to address her main subject--the extent to which humans are precipitating Big Six. And it looks grim. Chapters on altered and fragmented habitats, purposeful killing, invasive species, climate change, and toxins paint a deeply disturbing picture. The narrative is accompanied by side bars that include historical pictures and writing as well as photographs of living animals, adding depth and context.

This is not a cheerful book. It is beautiful written-- I read parts of it out loud, which I think is one of the best ways of finding flaws in prose, and found none to speak of. The vocabulary is simple, yet effectively used to convey complex information in a non-didactic way. It's well illustrated, and informative as all get out. But despite all this, it is not a pleasant reading experience, and I stopped reading it out loud to my older boy by the third chapter--much too depressing. And there's no comforting conclusion, no "if you turn off the lights when you aren't using them all will be well."

However, because this book is so matter of fact about the harm that has been done to the earth's ecosystems, and the consequences to us, its warning might be much more persuasive than some of the more evangelical environmental books out there.

This isn't one for young readers. Leafing through it with my children, I had to close it quickly when we got to the picture of the seven legged frog. There are things they are still to young to know, but the older readers, for whom this book is intended, should read and learn...and hopefully help.

One sidebar quotes Henry David Thoreau writing on extinction: "I should not like to think that some demigod had come before me and picked out some of the best of the stars. I wish to know an entire heaven and an entire earth." I, likewise, do not want my children to grow up in a rhinoceros-less, or even, heaven forbid, a frogless world.

On a positive note, I read today that the black footed ferrets had a successful breeding year in 2007--397 babies, and very cute they are.

(Disclaimer: I got my copy from the publisher)

I'm the Biggest Thing in the Ocean!

The first wave of books from my recent expenditure of library booksale money arrived yesterday, and included a picture book I've wanted to read for ages-- I’m the Biggest Thing in the Ocean, by Kevin Sherry (Penguin/Dial, May 2007, 32pp).

It was just as good as I had hoped it would be. It is, in fact, the best picture book I’ve read since Scaredy Squirrel. The “biggest thing in the ocean” is a Giant Squid, who smugly says on the jacket flap, “I’m bigger than this book!” Encounters with other sea creatures bolster his conviction that he’s the biggest, until the much, much larger Humpback Whale appears—bye bye squiddy. This is a powerfully illustrated scene (in a bright and playful way), showing the squid’s tentacles dangling horrifically from the whale’s mouth. We were a bit taken aback. Was squiddy gone for good?

Spoiler

No! On the next page, there he was inside the whale, with all the other sea creatures, looking sad and bewildered, but then --- “I’m the biggest thing in the whale!”

And don’t neglect to look at the back of the book -- “I’m bigger than this bar code!” says Squid, gleefully.

In a nutshell, I might have to actually spend my own money on another copy of this book. My 4 year old does not want it to go to on to its new life at the library, and the fact that we are going to keep the complimentary bath clings with which it came does not mollify him. I don’t think that bath clings are really something that should circulate, somehow…

This is Kevin Sherry's first book, but since he signed a three deal book with Dial, there should, d.v., be more to come.

Here's another review, at Pixie Stix Kids Pix

Book Buying

I have just had the pleasure of spending money that wasn't mine, on books I wanted to read. The books in question mostly came to my attention from various blog posts, so in case you wonder if anyone buys the books after you review them, the answer is yes.

My spending money came from my most recent Friends of the Library book sale, which was, as usual, a shattering amount of work. My reward is shopping, with the blessing of our children's librarian (and some specific requests). So here's what I bought, with titles linked, when relevant, to the blog reviews that inspired me (although some of these titles have been floating around on random scraps of paper so long that I have no clue why I though the book was a good idea):

I`m the Biggest Thing in the Ocean Kevin Sherry, 2007
The Neddiad Daniel Pinkwater, 2007
If I Had a Dragon Amanda Ellery, illustrated by Tom Ellery, 2006
Out of the Egg, Moonsilver, The Silver Bracelet, and The Silver Thread Kathleen Duey and Omar Rayyan. I know for a fact that I read about this series on someone's blog, around January, judging from where the piece of paper was stratigraphically, but I can't find it.
Good Enough Paula Yoo, 2008.
The Willougbys Lois Lowry, 2008
Imaginary Menagerie Julie Larios and Julie Paschkis, 2008. And this should have a link to it to, because I read about it on someone's blog, darn it, but can't find anything via technorati, blog search, or jacket flap. Was the little snippet buried deep in a post over at Seven Impossible Things, saying just that the book was coming, all that it took?
Dumped by Popular Demand P.G. Kain, 2007 ok, so the link here isn't actually to the book I bought, but to its sequel. But it made me buy the book. If you want Jen's review of Dumped you can read it here.
Guess What I Found in Dragon Wood Timothy Knapman, 2008
When Fish Got Feet, Sharks Got Teeth, and Bugs Began to Swarm Hannah Bonner, 2007
D Is for Dragon Dance Ying Chang Compestine, illustrated by Yongsheng Xuan 2006. Yeah well, every other library in the state had it on display last month, so we're a bit behind on this one. But as my husband says, "Better late than too late."
Caddy Ever After, Hilary Mckay. I can't believe I hadn't gotten it for the library before now.
Grumpy Bird Jeremey Tankard, 2007. I've wanted this one for ages.
The Way We Work, David MacAuley, 2008. I saw MacAuley talking about the writing process for this book about 2 years ago, during which (if I remember correctly) he shadowed anatomy students dissecting corpses. He passed around a few of his sketchbooks, which we handled reverently...
The Compound, by S.A. Bodeen 2008. I just reviewed the ARC of this book, and I bet it will go off the shelves quite nicely.


and finally,
Vulture View, by April Pulley Sayre, 2007. Everyone needs Vultures.





But I'm not going to order Love and Other Uses for Duct Tape, by Carrie Jones, 2008. I'm going to head down to the book store right now to see if they have it...

The Compound by S.A. Bodeen

In my capacity as a member of the Nominating Committee for the Young Adult Cybils, I read with great enjoyment several books from the fairly new (2006) publisher Feiwel and Friends (The Poisen Apples, Carpe Diem, and Get Well Soon).* So when I was offered an advance reader copy of one of their new YA books, I jumped at it.

The book in question is The Compound, by S.A. Bodeen (coming this spring). The Compound could be described as Anne Frank meets The Shining, but I'll resist the temptation.

Here's how it starts:

"My world ended with a bang the minute we entered the Compound and that silver door closed behind us.

The sound was brutal.

Final.

An echoing, resounding boom that slashed my nine-year old heart in two. My fists beat on the door. I bawled. The screaming left me hoarse and my feet hurt."

Eli and his family are locked into the safty of the compound his billionare father had built to save them from nuclear war. His grandmother and his twin brother didn't make it, and were left outside to face Armeggedon. Now it is six years later, and life in the compound is disintegrating. The food is not going to last--parts of the father's plan appear to have been sabotaged, and other aspects of it are so twisted that they seem the work of a mad man. And indeed Eli's father is getting stranger and stranger, and Eli begins to wonder what exactly the Compound really is, and what might exist outside it.

We pick up the narrative after the family has been living in isolation for six years, so the Anne Frank aspect of it all--the interpersonal relationships tested by claustrophobic closeness--are not the focus of the plot, although clearly Eli's character has been shaped by these unnatural circumstances, and by his grief and guilt about his twin. We see events strictly through Eli's eyes, and he is not the most empathetic, aware narrator. He isn't particularly sympathetic, either--when a first person narrator has a low opinion of himself, it can be hard for the reader to think otherwise. Faced with the crisis developing in the compound, however, he gains maturity and becomes more likable.

The crisis, a spiraling insanity (the Shinning part, although there's no supernatural element), is grippingly portrayed. There are clues from the beginning that things are very twisted, to which Bodeen keeps adding. It's a real page-turning read, even though the answers to some big questions become obvious to the reader a bit before they become obvious to Eli.

I was slightly dissatisfied by how things were resolved--it's not quite clear how insane the father really is. But this is a book I'd be happy to recommend to the young teen who like thrillers. It struck me as a book I'd recommend this to readers who liked The Shadow Children, by Margaret Peterson Haddix--similar in its plot of children trapped in mysterious circumstances.

*I'm not alone in this--see this post from Trisha over at the Ya Ya Yas.

The Missing Piece, by Shel Silverstein

For the past few days I have been in the throes of setting up a library booksale. This is a job with both cons (it's a heck of a lot of work) and pros (I get to take home books). I was very happy yesterday to find that someone had donated a lovely copy of Shel Silverstein's book, The Missing Piece (1970, Scholastic 1995). I was even happier when my seven year old seized it and started reading out loud to us. For the first two thirds of the book, I was day dreaming about the glowing blog entry I would write about it. Then, betrayal. Total betrayal.

The story is as follows- a happy-face (in profile) shaped piece is looking for his missing triangle. He rolls through the world, slowly because of the missing piece, smelling flowers, meeting various insects, and then encountering various triangles, one of whom doesn't want his identity subsumed by a larger shape, and many who just don't fit. At last he finds a triangle who fits beautifully, and is willing to enter into a relationship, and both shapes are happy. But not for long.

With the new triangle in place, the shape now rolls quickly, too fast for nature appreciation. So what does the original shape do? Does he say, "Let's stop for a while, and rest, and I'll explore a bit but come back to you?" NO! He leaves the poor triangle, who looks sad and stunned, in the dust, and totally abandons it! What a jerk. The message of the story becomes this--if your partner in a relationship holds you back from doing the things you liked pre-relationship, dump your partner without apology. I'm just glad they hadn't had any kids.

New book coming this fall from Patricia McKillip

The Bell at Sealey Head, by Patricia McKillip, will be released this September from Ace. I had heard a while ago that she was coming out with a new book, to be called Knight Errant, which struck me as an awful title. So I am pleased!

If there should be, by any chance, any people who like books and libraries reading this who like fantasy but haven't tried much McKillip, I heartily recommend The Alphabet of Thorn (2004)--here's a review that does it justice. And it has the most gorgeous cover, by Kinuko Y. Craft, shown here without all those pesky words:



All of Craft's covers are lovely, but this is one of my favorites (although, looking at it critically as art isolated from the text and the bookness of the book, it somehow doesn't seem quite as appealing as I thought it would).

The February issue of the Edge of the Forest is up!

Highlights include:

An interview with Eric Rohmann, by Julie M. Prince
A hearty defense of YA Literature, by Little Willow
Graphic Novels: A Gateway to a New World, by Kelly Fineman
A profile of illustrator Sylvia Long, by Kris Bordessa
A fantastic new column called A Backward Glance, by writer Candice Ransom
P.J. Hoover is this month's Blogging Writer, interviewed by Christine Marciniak
Reviews in all categories—from Picture book to Young Adult.

Thanks Kelly, of Big A little a, for making this happen!

Books I read in February

Here are the books I read last month, not counting re-reads, non-fiction, or picture books. Although since I lost most of the scraps of paper I wrote them down on, I'm sure I've missed more than a few.

London Calling, Edward Bloor (2006)
Letters From Rapunzel, Sarah Lewis Holmes (2007)
Monsoon Summer, Mitali Perkins (2004)
First Boy, Gary Schmidt (2005)
Edward's Eyes, Patricia MacLachlan (2007)
Looking for JJ, Anne Cassidy (2007)
The Scarlet Stockings, Charlotte Kandel (2007)
Forever Rose, Hilary Mckay (2007)
Strangers to the Marsh, Monica Edwards (Republished in 2007 by Girls Gone By)
Memories of Summer, Ruth White (2000)
Just Like Everybody Else, Lillian Rosen (1981)
Jump the Cracks, Stacy DeKeyser (2008) (thanks Stacy! I hope to review it soon)

If my scraps of paper surface, I will add to this...

Father Fox's Pennyrhymes

For those who like a bit of dark humor, but gently done, and in small doses, leavened by much old-fashined fun, there is Father Fox's Pennyrhymes, by Clayde Watson, illustrated by Wendy Watson (1971). It's kind of a twisted mother goose enacted by dressed-up rural Vermont foxes, who give voice to many snarky, humoerous, and even sweet asides in the pictures (so I can't really do it justice).

Here's an example of one of the "darker" rhymes:

Little Martha piggy-wig
Run away and dance a jig!
If you weren't so fat and sweet
You wouldn't be so good to eat.

The picture shows little Martha, the only pig on the fox-covered playground, jumproping for dear life (literally).

Poking around on line, I see that I am not make a new and earthshaking discovery here. Oh well. It just got a huge blast of publicity back in January,here at Read Roger, and Sam Riddleburger looked at it in some detail last September here, and doubtless there are many others. But I am the first, as far as I know, to feature little Martha.

I shall eagerly look for Father Fox's Christmas Rhymes when it becomes seasonally appropriate to do so.

The Poetry Friday round up is at Kelly Fineman's place (Writing and Ruminating) today!

Things that stuck in my head

A few days ago, a. fortis at Finding Wonderland wrote a post called "Things I learned from kids' books," which lists specific bits of information she has acquired. I agree heartily that kid's books are an excellent source of general knowledge, and I would know much less about history in particular if I hadn't read so many books.

But then I started to muse about what more abstract, but still very specific, things have stuck in my head from reading children's books. Things that are more guidelines for living than facts, and not big guidelines, like respecting others, but little things.

For example, in Elizabeth Goudge's The Valley of Song (a lovely book, but be sure to read it when you are young, because it's better that way), various children meet their signs of the Zodiac. The Capricorn child must plunge into a dark abyss, and is afraid. But "No child of mine, born to the hardness of the cold nights and the lashings of the winter winds, was ever a coward." says Capricorn (page 140) And in goes the boy. I'm a Capricorn, so whenever I have to go to the dentist, or get up on a cold morning, or deal with even worse crises, this pops into my head, and quite often stiffens my spine...

And there's this bit, from Taran Wander, by Lloyd Alexander:

Taran has learned how to weave, after much laborious effort. But then:

"The pattern," he murmured, frowning. "It-I don't know, somehow it doesn't please me."

"Now then, Wanderer," replied Dwyvach, "no man put a sword to your throat; the choice of pattern was your own."

"That it was," Taran admitted. "but now I see it closely, I would rather have chosen another."

"Ah, ah," said Dwyvach, with her dry chuckle, "in that case you have but one of two things to do. Either finish a cloak you'll be ill-content to wear, or unravel it and start anew. For the loom weaves only the pattern set upon it."

Taran stared a long while at his handiwork. At last he took a deep breath, sighed, and shook his head. "So be it. I'll start anew."

This one comes into my head a lot. And often it has spurred me on to make changes, to start again, even though it is hard.

And finally, here's one that mercifully has faded somewhat. Thanks to Meg Murray in The Wind in the Door, and the test involving Mr. Jenkins, I used to lie awake at night trying to think loving thoughts about my middle school principle. It is possible that this made me a better person, more apt to see the good in everyone I meet....it is equally possible it simply inflated my high opinion of myself.

I am, however, very grateful that, pious child though I was, I never felt compelled to play Pollyanna's Glad Game.

Gateway Monthly, also TH White

For those of us interested in book news from across the pond (that is, the UK), there's an online monthly magazine--the Gateway Monthly-- that is chock full of information, reviews, contests, etc. The March issue has just been put up. I was especially pleased to see that The Sword in the Stone , by TH White, is being re-published with a jazzy new cover; I love that book and hope it finds new fans.

The Sword in the Stone tells of the boyhood of King Arthur, and the story continues in The Once and Future King. However, a version of The S. in the S. can be found at the beginning of The O. and F. K., but the two are very different, and the S in the S is much, much better and more child friendly.

The S. in the S. version was T.H. White's final choice. The Book of Merlin, published after these two and continuing Arthur's story, uses material that appears verbatim in the The O. and F. K. version (Arthur's journeys to the ants and the geese, which are so much more effective when they happen in his old age. They also make much more sense to adult readers than to children).

So, to summarize: read The Sword in the Stone when you are about 9 or 10, then The Once and Future King when you are about 14 or 15, skipping the part about Arthur's childhood, then read, when you are even older, The Book of Merlin.