Cygnet

Ace books has just released two of Patricia McKillip's ya fantasy novels in one volume, titled CYGNET. I love both these books--The Sorceress and the Cygnet (1991) and The Cygnet and the Firebird (1993), and I am very very happy that they have been re-released because maybe that means there will be a third book coming! I am sure that many others who know how it ends agree with me that there has to be more to the story...

Patricia McKillip is a writer of beautifully crafted words. She is a story teller who does not write for her readers, but for the sake of the story, if that makes any sense. And because the story has such a life of its own, sometimes the reader gets a tad confused (ie, a lot of her books have confused the heck out of me, although not as much as Diana Wynne Jones' Fire and Hemlock). But the rich, dense, imaginings she offers are worth the confusion. I especially love The Cygnet and the Firebird, which I think is much the stronger of the two books, possibly because I was less confused. This one should perhaps be read first if the reader is Doubtful about the whole thing. It has some of the most beautiful descriptions of dragons I know of, and my favorite two pages of romance in a fantasy book (so much nicer to read than all the torid romance in the recently read fourth book of the travelling pants (see below)).

children's non-fiction -- not just for kids

I have learned a ton from reading non-fiction to my boys (including how much I don't know about electricity and chemistry. And isn't it amazing how many new species of dinosaurs have been discovered since I was young back in the 70s? My favorites are an Australian sauropod named Elliot, and the cloying-ly sweet Bambiraptor). But anyway. Today I discovered that adults all over the world have secretly been using quality children's non fiction, with disguised covers, to keep up with the young folks: http://dswindell.members.beeb.net/aFame.htm (still haven't found out how to do nifty links yet).

Life As We Knew It

A shipment of books I ordered for the library came last night (based mainly on mentions and recommendation from various blogs), which was fortuitous, as I needed something to read. I picked Life As We Knew It, by Susan Beth Pfeffer, in which an asteroid knocks the moon closer to earth, wrecking havoc---floods, volcanoes (with their cold-inducing dust clouds), sickness, and a gradual diminution of the trappings of modern civilization. This book, in form of a teenage girl's diary, records the first 9 months of post-asteroid life for Miranda and her family as their world collapses.

This is the sort of book that provides much fodder for daydreaming. Musing about catastrophe is something I have done a lot of, and as I was reading this book I began to feel a bit, not exactly competitive, but full of ideas for survival that they hadn't thought of. True, they had food issues, but why didn't they fish? trap squirrels? Go the library and check out copies of My Side of the Mountain, by Jean Craighead George, and put the ideas in that to work? Read historical fiction for accounts of how people coped without washing machines and managed to live in freezing places before central heat (such as the bit in The Year of Jubilo by Ruth Sawyer where the family seals their house in Maine in preparation for winter)? Read Mrs. Beeton for household management tips in the pre-electric days? Of course, they were a bit upset, so not thinking clearly. And perhaps, unlike me, the family in the book hadn't spent much time worrying about post-apocalyptic survival, so they weren't prepared. Also, I think they could have tried harder to enjoy life stuck with each other in a winter bound house. Again, historical fiction is full of bright ideas in this regard. But all this aside, I'm glad I bought the book. I like books that make me think...and perhaps this year we will can tomatoes and make pickles. Just in case.

New books coming!

Robin McKinley has a new book coming out this September! Hooray! The only thing dampening my enthusiasm is that it is not a Damar book, but still, I'm happy to take what I can get. There is a nice description of it at her website http://www.robinmckinley.com/ (someday I will find out how to do those cunning little links that everyone else seems to have mastered...)

On a related note, Shannon Hale has just posted the tentative title of the fourth book in her Bayern series (Goose Girl et al.); here's the link to that: http://oinks.squeetus.com/2007/03/mild_spoiling.html

It is always a relief to know that more books are coming down the pipeline. Since I began reading the kidlit blogs, and buying the books recommended therein for my local library, I have felt a little safer, but the fear of not having anything to read is always in the background of my mind (even though I am a voracious re-reader as well).

Rules, by Cynthia Lord

Yesterday morning I read Rules, by Cynthia Lord, in one sitting. I was expecting it to be good, since it won a Newbery Honor, but it surprised me that I never looked up once. Of course, I had selfishly plugged the dear children into the television (Walking with Dinosaurs = education = a slightly diminished sense of guilt), so there were no distractions, which always enhances the reading experience.

Rules is about 12 year old Catherine, who has an eight year old brother, David, who is autistic. One lonely summer, she meets a boy her own age(ish), Jason, who uses a wheelchair, and communicates by pointing to words.

What I liked about this book, while I was reading, it was that it grabbed me and pulled me in without ever jarring me back to reality with sloppy writing. What I liked about this book thinking about afterwards was its theme of communication. Catherine makes words (with pictures, drawn on individual cards) ostensibly as gifts to Jason; she is at first shy about talking to him/acknowledging his existence as a person, but the gift of words melts the ice. Her autistic brother David communicates by reciting the Rules she has written for him, and by borrowing the words of Frog and Toad. How will he ever learn to speak for himself, their mother asks, if you encourage him to borrow words?

Catherine herself is trying to find her own words to communicate to her parents, and to herself, her own frustrations and emotions--many of the words she writes for Jason are words she is suppressing inside herself, many of the rules she writes for her brother are rules that have acquired an inflated importance for her in her quest to make life work as it should. She has not quite found her own voice either-- just about the only times she speaks kindly to her brother, she uses Frog's words, not her own; and in her developing friendship with Jason, she sometimes uses his words cards to talk to him. So it was a relief when, toward the end of the book, she picked up the phone, called her father and said what she needed to say, in her own words.

One last thing that struck me as interesting-- because of course a reader communicates with people in a book by reading words, Jason's communication with written words within a written text puts him on a much more equal footing communication-wise with the other characters than he would have in real life. I could hear his voice just as well as the voices of other people in the book. It irked me just now, reading reviews of this book over at Amazon where I went to get the picture, that the School Library Journal says that Jason "uses a book of pictures to communicate." Just because he can't talk doesn't mean he can't read.

Earlier the same day I finished Forever in Blue, the fourth traveling pants book. I guess I have grown too old and cynical to be interested in rather mundane teen romance. And, in contrast to Rules, there were annoyances of sloppy writing, like this one: if Lena is so broke coming up with $8 is a big deal, where does she get the money to hop down from Providence to NY at a moments notice (at least $34 if you buy your bus ticket in advance)???

Earthshake -- Poems from the Ground Up

We've been reading a lot of poetry in my house recently. There aren't enough parents around to read to each child individually in the evenings after we get home from work and school, what with having to feed them (and us) and provide them with a reasonably clean habitat. Poetry seems to be working well--more challenging for both (3 and 6 year old) than picture books, and holding the attention of 3 year old more firmly than chapter books. And when the poetry also lends itself to Teaching Moments, so much the better. Yesterday's find was Earthshake -- Poems from the Ground Up by Lisa Westberg Peters, illustrated by Cathie Fetstead (Greenwillow 2003). It was greatly enjoyed.

Being older and more cynical than my boys, which is the way it should be (?), I found the poems somewhat uneven, although all are interesting and lend themselves to Educational Discussions about geology, which is always a good thing. Here is my favorite poem:

The Yellowstone Whale

Deep beneath
the bubbling pools
lives a big whale.

When it breaths,
we snap pictures
of its spout.

When it flicks its tail,
the ground shakes
beneath our feet.

Stay down deep
whale.
Stay down.

I liked this image very much.

Books I wish would be translated -- Dikkie Dik

For 25 years, Dikkie Dik (the orange cat under the hat) has been a feature of Sesame Street in Holland, and Jan Boeke, his creator, has published many lovely books about him. My three year old loves the handful of Dikkie Dik books that we are fortunate enough to have, and demands/asks sweetly and politely to have them read to him often. Trouble is, they're in Dutch, which we don't know. Dutch is a tricksy language--it looks so friendly to English readers, but them, bam, communication breaks down. And three year olds being what they often are, there are tense moments when the "translation" deviates from what he remembers from last time. But these are such charming, funny books that they are worth reading even in linguistically massacred form. Would that they were translated, but the Sesame Street tie-in apparently means that there are insurmountable copyright issues. In the meantime, if anyone wants Dikkie Dik "kleurplaten", visit this website: http://www.pszdikkiedik.nl/kleurplaten/kleurplaten.htm

Hooray for Independent Bookstores and other people's money

I just spent $350 of Friends of the Library money at an independent bookstore--they were having a pre-inventory sale. The pleasure of walking along the shelves and saying--"I'll have that one, and that one, and that one...." And how nice that it wasn't at a large chain bookstore. I followed this up by trading in some of the better books donated to our book sale at an adjacent used bookstore, for ten more books. It makes the sometimes miserable effort of running library booksales worth it. My dream for the library, though, is solar panels. Only $9,000 more to go before the library can stop spending money on electricity that could be used for books...

Traction Man is Here!

As my boys and I were preparing to leave the library on Saturday, our dear librarian picked up Traction Man is Here!, by Mini Grey (2005), and put it on top of our stack. I am glad she did; I wouldn't have touched it with a barge pole myself--picture books about militaristic action figures are not my cup of tea (being one of those parents determined to shield their sensitive Young from guns etc--oh the shock and horror when I realized there was gun violence in The Cat and the Hat Comes Back).

My husband and I have now read Traction Man is Here to our boys 8 times (4 in a row, then at intervals), and we still find it funny ourselves. It is brilliant. The first half of the book is straightforward imaginative play--Traction Man arrives in a box, equipped for various rescue environments, and, thanks to the wonderful imagination of the boy he now belongs to, he goes forth and rescues.

It is very well done. My favorite adventure was the descent into the deep waters of the Bath to search for the Mysterious Toes. But the brilliant part kicks in when Traction Man gets his own present from Granny. And what a present it is!

Recommended for those who like Toy Story II, Scaredy Squirrel, and Ten Minutes till Bedtime.

Learning to read

My six year old is not an independent reader. He reads a few pages, grudgingly, and wants to quit. Has he been told too often he is smart, which this New York Times article suggests might be the culprit: http://nymag.com/news/features/27840/index.html Or is there a factor the NYT doesn't mention--perhaps I, having fixed on the idea that he is smart, expect him to just read for crying out loud.

Last night I read him Discover Magazine's top 100 science stories of the year; he read to me One Fish Two Fish.

Oyate -- books by and about Native Peoples for children

Following a trail of links, I came to the site of Oyate, and left with a long list of books to look for. When I do book buying for my library, I tend to do it on the cheap, and buy what is there; I leave it to our children's librarian to do Collections Development. But next time I see here, I will show her this website, for the quite selfish reason of wanting my children to have good books available to them.

Reading and reading and reading

Inspired by the book challenge discussed in my previous post, I approached the Reading Sofa last night with Determination. In my hands were a. a Level 1 book about Scamper the Squirrel b. a junior high level book about asteroids c. Behold the Bold Umbrellaphant d. Moominland Midwinter. Scamper was for my 6 year old to read to me. He is having trouble becoming an independent reader; I think I read to him too much when he was younger, instead of weaning him, as it were--I made little effort to encourage him to read by himself, because I was so busy catering to his intellectual interests. So now we are wallowing in a sea of Scamper type books. There is little at "Level 1" that interests the Egyptologist/paleontologist/geologist, but he refuses to try anything harder. It was with great relief on both our parts that we abandoned Scamper and read the asteroid book.

All was going as planned--both boys were interested in the asteroids, until one blew up the earth in chapter 2 and my 3 year old decided he wanted no part of it.

We next turned to Behold the Bold Umbrellaphant, by Jack Prelutskey.The premise is quite amusing--I especially liked the Ballpoint Penguins and the Clocktopus, but I found the poetry a tad clunky. Sometimes the author seemed to be stretching too far for his rhymes. My 3 year old was vexed that the clocks in the picture of the Clocktopus didn't all tell the same time, directly contradicting the text. But all in all, we enjoyed it. Not as much as we did Omnibeasts, by Douglas Florian. Who could forget the crashing conclusion to his poem about the monarch butterfly (even though it, too, stretches a bit for the rhyme):

He is a Monarch, he is a Duke.

Swallows that swallow him

frequently puke.

Much hilarity ensues, and with the addition of a few well chosen words from the reader, they actually learn something...

Moominland Midwinter progresses, albeit slowly.

Reading out loud

I have two boys, 6 and 3--just enough age difference so that reading out loud to both of them at the same time often ends up with neither being quite happy. My older boy and I are currently reading The Battle for Castle Cockatrice (original English title The Talking Parcel; it was republished over here a few years ago) by Gerald Durrell (of My Family and Other Animals fame). It's a book I loved as a child when I read it to myself--brave children, including a strong girl character, saving a mythological world from domination by Cockatrices. Lots of humor, lots of action, and lots of description. I am finding myself editing the later, because I am afraid of loosing momentum, and I have mixed feelings about this. Not all books with lots of description seem to require this--The Trumpet of the Swan, for instance, I felt no urge to abridge. But with some books, I feel I'm loosing my reader when I read long descriptions...

Jennifer at http://jennifersnapshot.blogspot.com/ (I am still new at this and cannot get links to work neatly yet--sorry) has set up the Read to Me 2007 Challenge, urging us reading out loud (ROL) to our children types to set goals for our ROL in the coming few weeks. My general goals are at least three books a day for my little one/one or two chapters a day for my older one. But for the ROL challenge, we're asked to be more specific. So I'm going to up the ante for my three year old, and in the next two weeks I'll read him D'Aulaire's book of Greek Mythology. I loved it at that age, his brother loved it, so now it's his turn (most excellent illustrations). I will also read him his first chapter book--Moominland MidWinter, by Tove Janson (who could resist Moomintroll?). It is time for him to have more to chew on.

My goals for my older boy are trickier, because I want him to read out loud to me...He is resisting because the books he can read are not books he wants to read. He wants to study ancient history, geology, paleontology, etc. So, here are my goals for him: 50 books read by him to me, 20 non-fiction books read by me to him... we shall see.

In case anyone out there has never met the moomins--they are a family of very charming trolls who live in Finland. In Moominland Midwinter, the boy of the family, Moomintroll, wakes up in the middle of winter, while all his family are still hibernating. He finds himself in a world of dark and cold and strange lonely creatures...I like to start with this moomin book, even though it is not technically the first (which is Comet in Moominland), because it has fewer characters competing for the reader's attention, and you really get to know and love Moomintroll.

I Am Not Esther

If I were running a teen book discussion group, one of my picks would be I am not Esther (2002--but new to our library) by Fleur Beale.

Kirby is left by her mother with relatives who belong to a fundamentalist Christian cult, where living by the Rules is everything. To them she is Esther; her old life no longer exists. Kirby's horror at being thrust into this community, and her revulsion at the rules that govern life within it, are balanced by her love for individuals within her new family. There are many things that could be discussed: the author presents the Community of Faith from Kirby's point of view-she finds it repellent. Is this fair? Would you rebel more or less than Kirby? Should Kirby have tried more actively to enlighten others about the world outside The Rules? In a society that values tolerance, how much should we tolerate such a community? Is it believable that she feels in danger of becoming Esther?

In many ways, this book reminded me of a time slip story--stranger in a strange time, adapting to/fighting differences. And this genre is one of the best to inspire daydreams in the reader, of the "what would I do in these circumstances" variety. So all in all, a thought-provoking and enjoyable (albeit in a disturbing way) read.

I had one small reservation. Perhaps because the book is so focused on the situation that Kirby/Esther finds herself in, Kirby never quite became a person to me; she is Modern Girl vs the Cult. However, I will definitely be on the lookout for Fleur Beale's latest release- A Respectable Girl, when it finally gets released over here.

The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs

The Seven Wonders of Sassafas Springs

Our "new books" shelf in the children's room is quite often a tad behind the times viz. the latest releases. The books are new to us, but not the world. I just checked out "The Seven Wonders of Sassafras Springs," by Betty G. Birney, illustrated by Matt Phelan (Simon & Schuster, 2008, 224 pages Ages 8 and up).

It took a big effort to check it out, because I was so unimpressed by the mustard brown cover with its minimalist picture. Why did they do this to this book? It is about Wonders of the World, both ancient and Sassafrasian, so there was lots of artistic inspiration waiting to happen!

It is the early 20th century. Eben MacAllister, a 10 year-ish old boy, wants desperately to see the world beyond Sassafras Springs, Missouri. His father remembers how Eben's mother had wanted badly to visit her family in Silver Peak, Colorado, but had never had the chance before her death a few years ago. So he makes a bargain with Eben: "You find yourself Seven Wonders right here in Sassafras Springs and I'll buy you a ticket to go see Molly and Eli and that mountain!" Eben has seven days for seven wonders. He finds them, and he, and the reader, are left with an appreciation for a place and people (and book--again, why mustard brown??? is it supposed to evoke the pyramids?) that looked mundane.

Each Wonder that Eben finds comes with its own story, told by its owner. Often I find it jarring to have intrusive narrators telling stories, but it works in this book. This book is an epic quest, and the patterning of the stories is reminiscent of mythological and epic tales (labors of Hercules etc). The structure of the book, its unpretentious, flowing prose, and its gently detailed black and white drawings, make it very well suited, I think, for reading out loud. I shall be doing so.

The Seven Wonders of Sassafrass Springs has just been released in paperback. The cover is marginally better, but still does not do this lovely book justice. Eben is supposed to be on a Quest--he has energy, purpose, enthusiasm. The boy in the painting looks kind of bored.

More from Meg Cabot--girl - world domination???

I never wear pink, but I am an avid reader (but not yet a re-reader) of the Princess Diaries, and rush out and spend FOL money (not my own) on each new book. And I've quite enjoyed her other girl type books (especially All American Girl).

So I was pleased-ish to see the following press release from Scholastic:

"Meg Cabot, who took the publishing world by storm with her phenomenally successful Princess Diaries books, heads off in a dazzling new direction with the launch of three brand-new series. As part of its "Meg Cabot Girl-World Domination" campaign, Scholastic will publish Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls, a smart, funny series for readers ages 8-12 launching in spring 2008. In addition to the Allie Finkle books, two new trilogies for teens, Airhead and Abandon, will be published in 2008 and 2009. Airhead is daring, highly entertaining and a new direction for Meg Cabot, and Abandon is a dramatic modern retelling of the myth of Persephone."

I feel a tad nervous about the last one...daring indeed. And female though I am, I do not actually want to live in a girl-world. Some of my best friends, as it were, in books are boys....

Douglas Florian and Ted Hughes

The animal poems of Douglas Florian are funny on purpose--many are written with a punchline in mind. For example, The Walrus (p. 63 of Omnibeasts, 2004):

The pounding spatter
Of salty sea
Makes the Walrus
Walrusty.

And one says Ha ha and moves on (which isn't to say I don't like his work--see below).

A similar package of poems accompanied by drawings is The Mermaid's Purse, by Ted Hughes, illustrated by Flora McDonnelll (Knopf Young Readers, 2000). Hughes' poems, however, are much richer in metaphor, and are much more likely to sink deep into the mind and stew poetically there. I myself am a big fan of metaphors, and get a kick out of throwing them, as it were, at my own children. I'd quote one of the poems, but don't have the book with me...

I haven't seen the anthology of Hughes poems "Collected Poems for Children," which came out in 2005. I am curious to see which the editors found most Child Appropriate, and if this matches the choices my children would make.

Scaredy Squirrel is getting a friend!

"Scaredy Squirrel Makes a Friend" (sequel to the truly excellent Scaredy Squirrel by Melanie Watt) is coming out on Feb. 15...I'm so glad, because even though Scaredy Squirrel's life had improved by the end of the first book, it was still a sad and lonely one. And will the first aid kit be saved?

Omnibeasts are beautiful

My six-year old and I just read Omnibeasts-- by Douglas Florian. It's his collection of his favorite animal poems and paintings, published in 2004 but new to our library. It is a beautiful book, and laugh out loud funny, and educational too. It worked very well for my son-the poems were short enough to hold his attention, and he laughed at all the punchlines; the drawings were detailed enough to engage his attention without being overwhelming.

We will be looking for more Florian books!

Harry Potter #7 release day!

JK Rowling has announced that the new Harry Potter book will be released on July 21...I hope she is giving herself enough time to edit it, but judging by some of the earlier books, probably not.