Teen/YA Review: And Then Everything Unraveled

I chose to read Jennifer Sturman’s YA novel, And Then Everything Unraveled, because it sounded like a great mix of realistic teen life, with a unique plot and a mystery to make things interesting.  I was right!  This compelling novel kept me turning the pages late into the night.

Sixteen-year old Delia is quite happy, living in computer-crazy Silicon Valley with her mother, T.K., hanging out with her two best friends, and sneaking in some surfing whenever she can.  Her quiet life falls apart one day, though, when the news is delivered that her mother disappeared while on a trip to Antarctica.  Delia’s reaction to the news is surprising:

They were probably expecting a more over-the-top response.  And I have to admit, for a split second I did feel like somebody had vacuumed out my insides.

But almost instantly, that feeling gave way to an almost bizarre sort of calm.  When I reached for the emotion that was usually right there, waiting to be tapped, I came up empty.

Because I just couldn’t believe my mother was dead.

I still can’t.  I mean, everyone else is using the past tense when they talk about her, but it’s all a huge mistake.  It has to be.  I don’t know what happened exactly, but T.K. will explain everything when she returns.

And I’m sure she will return.  This is a woman whose favorite appliance is a label maker – she’s way too organized to die by just disappearing like that, and she’s much too determined to let a little thing like being stranded in the Antarctic to do her in.

Especially when she’s the only parent I have left.

Despite Delia’s determination, her mother is presumed dead, and Delia is shipped off to live in New York City with two very different aunts who she’s never met before – one is a free-living bohemian who lives in a loft, and the other is an uptown snob.  So, while Delia’s trying to adjust to a radically different lifestyle, a snooty new private school, and relatives she didn’t know existed, she’s also continuing to search for her mother.  Oh, and just to make things more interesting, there’s a really cute guy at her new school who she’s not sure she can trust.

I really enjoyed this book and got caught up in its mystery.  The characters have depth, and the writing style is engaging, moving the story along quickly.  My only problem with the book, in fact, is that it’s one of those books that only tells half a story, and I want to hear the rest right now!  It ends with, “To Be Continued…” To be fair, there is some resolution to part of the story at the end of the novel.  I guess I’ll just have to get the sequel, And Then I Found Out the Truth, to find out the rest!

244 pages, Point (an imprint of Scholastic)

It's Monday 7/26! What Are You Reading?

Wow, what a week we've had!  House guests, broken air conditioner (with temperatures near 100), a major scare when Jamie got stung by a bee (he's allergic - no anaphylactic reaction this time but he did need prednisone), some ups and downs with my own health, and a trip to Connecticut.  Whew.  This weekend, we drove the kids to my mom's house and dropped them off for their annual week sailing with their grandparents. It's the highlight of the year for them!  And, now my husband and I have the quiet house all to ourselves for a week.  It's been a busy summer, so I'm looking forward to having some quiet time during the week to catch up on lots of things.

What we've been reading:

• I devoted my reading week to a bunch of kids' and teens' books.  I finished the middle-grade novel William S. and the Great Escape by Zilpha Keatley Snyder and posted a review of it.
• Next, I read And Then Everything Unraveled by Jennifer Sturman.  I really enjoyed this teen novel but it ended with a "To Be Continued..." so now I need to get my hands on its sequel, And Then I Found Out the Truth.
• I read another teen novel, The Reminder by Rune Michaels, an intriguing story of grief and loss, with some elements of science fiction woven in.  Review to come.
• Thanks for all the input on helping Craig, 12, to pick a book from his summer reading list!  I appreciated your opinions.  He decided to go with the majority vote (plus he's partial to mysteries), so we went to the bookstore and bought him a copy of The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin.  He brought it on the boat with him.
• Jamie, 15, couldn't bear to be in a bookstore without buying something, so while we were there, he splurged on two books for himself: City of Ashes by Casandra Clare, book 2 of the Mortal Instruments series that he started last week, and the latest book in James Patterson's Maximum Ride series, another favorite of his.  He took both of them on the boat this week, along with an old sci fi novel my husband lent him, The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven.  We watched the movie Star Trek last week, and it put him in the mood for classic science fiction.  The funny thing is that he probably won't have much time for reading this week, but he doesn't go anywhere without a good supply of books!
• My husband, Ken, picked up a library book, Chasing Darkness, by one of his favorite suspense authors, Robert Crais.

What are you and your family reading this week?

(What are you reading Mondays is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey).

Middle-Grade Review: William S. and the Great Escape

I’ve been hearing about middle-grade author Zilpha Keatley Snyder – winner of several Newberry Honor awards – for many years but had never had the chance to read any of her books.  My 15-year old son, Jamie, read her novel William S. and the Great Escape on our recent vacation and recommended it, so I gave it a try this week.  It’s a very well written and enjoyable novel.

The title character is 12-year old William who lives with his nine brothers and sisters in a ramshackle house in California during the Depression.  William is a good student who loves acting and Shakespeare, but he’s stuck in the Baggett family (his mother died years ago).  The older Baggetts, including his father, are all loud, lazy, and violent, and William has spent years planning to run away as soon as he is old enough:

Actually, he’d started thinking about running away almost seven years ago.  That was when he’d started going to school and began to learn, among other things, that not everybody behaved like Baggetts.  And not very long after that he began putting every penny he could get his hands on into what he thought of as his Getaway Fund.  Well, not quite every penny.  He did spend a dime, now and then, on a Saturday matinee at the Roxie Theater.  Watching how your favorite movie actors could make you believe they were all those different people was one thing he’d never been able to do without.

When William’s younger sister’s guinea pig, Sweetie Pie, gets flushed down the toilet by some of the older (and meaner) Baggetts, she insists they need to leave right away and bring the two littlest Baggetts with them.  That’s when their adventures begin.

It’s a sweet story, punctuated with mild suspense and humor, that will appeal to a wide range of middle-grade readers.  William and his two little sisters and brother will steal your heart.  You’ll be rooting for them to make their escape and find a better life!

214 pages, Atheneum Books (Simon & Schuster)

 

Help Craig Choose a Book!

Craig, my 12-year old son, has a reading assignment for school this summer, in preparation for 7th grade.  He has to read two books:  Sounder, which he just finished, plus one other of his own choosing from a list.  The problem is that of the 13 book on the list, I've only heard of one of them before.

So, we're asking for your help!  Craig generally enjoys fast-paced books with action, adventure, and/or humor.  Some of his favorites are The Hardy Boys, the Charlie Bone series, A Wrinkle in Time, and Bruce Coville's Unicorn Chronicles and Aliens series.  So, please let us know if you'd recommend any of the books on this list - thanks!

1. Banner in the Sky by James Ramsey Ullman (1955 Newberry Honor award - about a boy climbing the Matterhorn)
2. Brian's Song screenplay by William Blinn
3. Gifted Hands: the Ben Carson Story by Ben Carson (autobiography of inner city kid who becomes a top neurosurgeon)
4. Let the Circle Be Unbroken by Mildred D. Taylor (in 1935, a black man is tried for murder by an all-white jury)
5. The Lottery Rose by Irene Hunt (an abused boy slowly begins to heal at a home for boys)
6. Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse (1998 Newberry medal winner set in Depression-era Oklahoma dust bowl)
7. Scorpions by Walter Dean Myers (1988 Newberry winner about a boy who's pressured to join a gang)
8. Somewhere in the Darkness by Walter Dean Myers (convict father takes teen son on the run with him)
9. Thank You, Jackie Robinson by Barbara Cohen (interracial friendship between a boy and a man joined by a love of baseball)
10. Time of the Cay by Theodore Taylor (follow-up to The Cay, about a white boy stranded on a desert island and the black man who saves him)
11. Titanic Crossing by Barbara Williams (story of 13-year old boy on the Titanic - mixed reviews)
12. The View From Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg (1996 Newberry winner about a 6th grade academic bowl team)
13. The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin (a Newberry winner  - mystery about 16 people in a strange game having to do with a strange will)

Wow - lots of Newberry winners there!  Also, lots of historical novels and African-American characters - I'm guessing they'll be studying American history this year!  I also noticed lots of sad stories  - I saw the phrase "gut-wrenching" more than once as I looked these up.  Craig doesn't love sad books; he said the ending of Sounder was really tough!  At first glance, it looks like he might like The Westing Game.

So what do you think?  Which book would you choose?

It's Monday 7/19! What Are You Reading?

Summertime and the reading is easy...and a lot of fun!  We're settled back into a routine at home and mostly caught up after our long trip.

What we've been reading this week:

• Jamie, 15, finished his first Stephen King book, Firestarter.  He was impressed with King's writing and the intense suspense of the book, though a bit disappointed in the ending (I read it so long ago, I don't remember how it ends!)
• A good friend of ours, a 16-year old girl, has been telling us for years that her favorite series of all time is The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare, so last week, Jamie picked up a copy of the first book, City of Bones, with a Target gift card.  He finished it yesterday and said it was excellent - he's looking forward to reading the rest of the series.
• Craig, 12, finished Sounder by William H. Armstrong last night.  He liked it but said the ending was really sad.  He has one more book to read for school this summer, one of his choosing from a list of about ten choices.
• I finished The Sunday Philosopher's Club by Alexander McCall Smith but then didn't feel well enough to go to the book discussion at the library on Wednesday!
• As soon as I finished that book, I dove back into The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson.  Wow!  I finished it yesterday.  It was just as good as the first book, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - fast-paced, well-written, and so compelling I could hardly set it down!  As a bonus, I also got to see the Swedish movie of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo with a friend this weekend.  Another wow!  The movie was very well-done.  I can't wait to borrow the third book from my mom this weekend.
• I just started a middle-grade novel, William S. and the Great Escape by Ziplha Keatley Snyder. Jamie read it on vacation and said it was excellent.

I posted two new reviews last week:  What I Saw and How I Lied, an excellent YA novel that combines history, romance, and mystery into an engaging coming-of age story; it won the National Book Award for YA in 2008.  I also reviewed  Oracles of Delphi Keep, a suspenseful and exciting middle-grade audio book.

What are you and your family reading this week?

(What are you reading Mondays is hosted by Sheila of Book Journey).

Middle-Grade Review: Oracles of Delphi Keep

The audio book of Oracles of Delphi Keep by Victoria Laurie kept all four of us riveted during our recent 4,000-mile road trip.  This exciting and well-written fantasy adventure kept us in suspense and wanting to hear more.

Thirteen year-old Ian Wigby has lived at the orphanage at Delphi Keep his entire life.  Theodosia was found and dropped off there on a stormy night when she was only two years old.  Ian and Theo are as close as brother and sister and are very happy living in the castle-like Keep on the edge of the Cliffs of Dover.

Out exploring the caves in the cliffs one day, Ian and Theo discover a large cave with strange writing on the walls.  Deep in the cave, they find a mysterious silver box and barely manage to grab it before being chased out of there by some sort of snarling beast.  This is the start of an exciting and sometimes terrifying adventure that shakes up their quiet world.

Along with their schoolteachers, Ian and Theo set off to uncover the magical mysteries of the writing and the silver box.  Along the way, evil forces conspire to defeat them.  It’s a classic fantasy adventure with a unique story line that will continue with future books.

In addition to excellent writing and a great story, the audio version benefits from a talented reader, Susan Duerden.  She voiced one of the characters in the movie Flushed Away and played Claire’s mother on Lost (impressive credentials for our family!), and she does a great job with both male and female characters in this book.

We can’t wait for book 2, The Curse of Deadman’s Forest, which will be released on August 24, 2010!

Listen to a sample.

    

Teen/YA Review: What I Saw and How I Lied

I read What I Saw and How I Lied, a recent paperback release by Judy Blundell, while stuck for hours on a delayed flight.  It provided a welcome and worthy distraction!  This wonderful teen/YA novel won the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature in 2008.  It’s an intriguing mix of historical fiction, a touching coming-of-age story, mystery, and even a bit of romance.

In 1947 New York, Evie is fifteen and feeling in that peculiar limbo between childhood and adulthood.  Here, she and her friend Margie practice smoking with chocolate cigarettes:

Margie held her candy cigarette high in the air, even though ladies don’t smoke on the street.  We couldn’t imagine being wicked enough to smoke on the street, but it was something to shoot for, something that smacked of high heels and saying “damn” if you broke a nail.  In the meantime, we were careful not to step on any cracks in the sidewalk.  Step on a crack, break your mother’s back.  We’d been saying it since we were nine years old, and it was just like Holy Communion.  We believed in it absolutely, no matter how screwball it sounded.

The author does a great job of capturing the sense of innocence and excitement of both the age and the time period.  The war has ended, and husbands, fathers, and brothers are returning home.  Evie’s stepfather has come home to her and her mother, but he seems different in some hard-to-describe way.   Peter, a young, handsome man from his company, shows up, and Evie begins to fall in love.  When tragedy strikes, Evie’s world begins to unravel and she no longer knows what – or who – to believe…and neither does the reader.

This suspenseful mystery kept me turning the pages, as I came to care about Evie and lament the loss of her little-girl innocence.  It’s a wonderful novel for both teens and grown-ups.

281 pages, Scholastic

It's Monday 7/12! What Are You Reading?

Running a little late this morning!  There's just no routine during the summer (which is kind of nice).  I've been staying up too late and getting out of bed too late.  Plus, this morning, I got an emergency post-sleepover phone call from 12-year old Craig.  I picked him up at 8:30, he came home, ate breakfast, and went right to bed!

Reading has slowed down since vacation ended:

• Jamie, 15, is still reading Firestarter by Stephen King.  Since we got home, video and computer games have sucked him in and reduced his reading time!
• Craig, 12, who doesn't like to read much in the summer anyway, was getting nervous about his required summer reading for school, so he set aside his Hardy Boys book and has started reading Sounder by William H. Armstrong.  I never read this classic myself, so maybe I'll read it when he's done.
• I also set aside one book for another this week, something I don't generally like to do.  With my two main book groups on summer hiatus, I've been in book discussion withdrawal!  So, I decided to read my library's selection for their July discussion (this Wednesday) - The Sunday Philosopher's Club by Alexander McCall Smith.  It's not my usual type of book, but I'm enjoying it.  It's a mystery set in Scotland, with lots of philosophical musings. 
• My husband, Ken, finished his father's day gift, 61 Hours by Lee Child, one of his favorite thriller authors.  He just started Everywhere That Mary Went by Lisa Scottoline, which I read during vacation - lots of book trading goes on in our house!

I had fully intended to resume my normal routine of writing book reviews last week but was just snowed under with all the post-vacation catch-up - laundry, mail, bills, phone calls, doctor's appointments, etc.  I will post some new reviews this week - I promise!

What are you and your family reading this week?

(What are you reading Mondays is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey).

It's Monday 7/5! What Are You Reading?

Hope everyone had a good 4th of July yesterday!  We just returned from our 3-week, 4,000-mile road trip to Oklahoma and New Mexico Saturday night (that's why I've been mostly missing from the blogging world).  It was a wonderful vacation - we all really loved New Mexico.  You can check out photos at our trip blog - just scroll down to June 13, 2010, to read them in order.

We read a LOT of good books along the way!  I posted a Monday update a couple of weeks ago while I was at my father-in-law's and could borrow the neighbor's wifi, but here's the rest of the books we enjoyed on the trip:

• I gave each of the boys a surprise book partway through the trip.  Craig, 12, is reading one of his favorite Hardy Boys' mysteries, What Happened at Midnight.  Summer is time for reading old favorites!
• I gave Jamie, 15, the fourth and final book of the Book of Ember series by Jeanne DuPrau, The Diamond of Darkhold.  He read it immediately, then passed it along to me!  We both loved this middle-grade adventure series, and the last book was excellent.
• Jamie continued his vacation read-a-thon with a string of new releases.  He finished The Thirteenth Child (Frontier Magic, Book 1) by Patricia Wrede and said it was excellent - an engaging combination of history and fantasy.
• He read the brand-new undersea science fiction book, Dark Life by Kat Falls, and he absolutely loved it!  The plot and setting were right up his alley - a futuristic earth where the sea levels have risen, with people split between high-level "stack cities" and an undersea community on the ocean floor.
• He also loved William S. and the Great Escape by Zilpha Keatley Snyder, a middle-grade book that's been sitting in our to-read pile for a long time.  He thinks Craig will really like this one.
• Jamie is now reading his first-ever Stephen King book, Firestarter.  He is, of course, bowled over by King's amazing writing and gripping suspense.
• I finished Everywhere That Mary Went by Lisa Scottoline and enjoyed it more than I expected to!  I would definitely read more in that series of legal thrillers set in Philadelphia.  I also finished The Diamond of Darkhold, as I mentioned above.  I'm sorry the series is over, but it was a good ending! 
• I've just started The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson, which my mom lent me.  I enjoyed The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo for my book group this winter, and the second book is just as good so far.
• We're almost done with our read-aloud book, a middle-grade/teen adventure story about geocaching, Hide & Seek by Katy Grant.  It's due for release next month, and we have all loved it!  Craig was begging for "one more chapter" every night!
• In the car, we listened to Oracles of Delphi Keep by Victoria Laurie, a middle-grade fantasy/adventure novel.  This excellent audio, read by Susan Duerden who played Claire's mother on Lost, kept us all happily occupied for many hours in the car - it's a great book and very well-read.  We'll look for the next book in the series for our next road trip!
• We started but haven't yet finished another audio, First Light by Rebecca Stead, author of When You Reach Me.  It's another middle-grade novel, about a 13-year old boy spending some time in Greenland with his father, who is studying global warming, and a girl who lives in a secret world under the ice.  It's excellent so far.

Whew, I think that covers it!  Now I'm surrounded by piles of laundry and stacks of mail...back to real life.

What are you and your family reading?

(What are you reading Mondays is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey)

It's Monday 6/21! What Are You Reading?

Happy Official First Day of Summer and Longest Day of the Year!  Though it seems odd that today is the first day of summer, since it's been 100 degrees every day here in Oklahoma all week.  We've been on vacation, so I've been completely disconnected  from the blogging world.  My father-in-law's next-door neighbors are graciously letting us use their wireless internet while we're here, so I thought I'd pop in for my Monday update.

What an update!  Summer vacation is great reading time, especially for my 15-year old son, Jamie, and me.  Here's what we've been reading lately:

• I just finished Pendragon, Book Nine: Raven Rise by DJ MacHale, and I just have to say...WOW!  I have mentioned many times before  that this is one of our favorite middle-grade/teen series of all time, and it just gets better and better.  I read for hours yesterday as I neared the end of this latest installment.  We usually wait until the books come out in paperback, but I wanted to jump in the car and rush right out to the bookstore last night to buy the final book, Book Ten: The Soldiers of Halla.  It's just so good!!  Jamie was thrilled I finally read book 9 so we could talk aboutit.
• I just started Lisa Scottoline's Everywhere That Mary Went, a book that's been sitting on my shelf for over a year!  I've heard lots of great things about Scottoline's books, and it seemed like a good summer vacation choice.
• Jamie recently finished The Bourne Supremacy (book 2) by Robert Ludlum and LOVED it!  He only recently began reading some adult novels, and he loves the intricate plots.  My father-in-law has the DVD of The Bourne Ultimatum (based on book 3), so we watched that after Jamie finished his book.  Great movies, too.
• Jamie is now reading a brand-new middle-grade/teen fantasy novel (start of a new series, I think) called Thirteenth Child by Patricia Wrede.  He says it's great so far, with a unique plot that combines historical fiction with fantasy, set in the early American frontier.
• Craig, 12, has been coasting along since school ended and he no longer HAS to read.  He's been occasionally dipping into Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw by Jeff Kinney, though he's never really loved these books - he thinks the main character is kind of mean and doesn't treat his friend well (that's my boy!).  He just got a copy of Sounder by William H. Armstrong, which he has to read during the summer for school, but he hasn't started it yet.
• At bed time, we've been reading aloud from an advance copy of a new book, Hide & Seek by Katy Grant.  The cool thing about this book is that it's a mystery about geocaching, something that we enjoy doing ourselves (it's kind of like a treasure-hunting hike with a GPS).  It's good so far.
• My husband, Ken, has been reading Here There Be Dragons, the first book in the series, The Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica by James A. Owen.  This is a really cool fantasy series that's especially fun to read because it is chock-full of references to all kinds of kids' literature and has lots of action as well.  The Imaginarium Geographica is an atlas of of all the fictional places from myths, legends, books, and fables that a group of writers has been chosen to protect.  I read and enjoyed the first book, but Jamie's been telling me I need to read the rest of the series (4 so far, I think) - he says it just gets better and better!
• And, in the car, we've been listening to The Oracles of Delphi Keep by Victoria Laurie, a middle-grade fantasy novel that is excellent so far.  Can't wait to get back on the road tomorrow to hear more!

I guess that's it for now.  What are you and your family reading?

(What are you reading Monday is hosted by Sheila of Book Journey)

It's Monday 6/7! What Are You Reading?

Well, it's actually Tuesday now, but I still wanted to post my weekly update because we leave on vacation soon, so I won't be around the blogosphere for a while.

I missed Monday because my mother-in-law passed away on Thursday morning after a 30-year battle with Parkinson's disease.  We scrambled to get flights out to Oklahoma as soon as we could, but my youngest son and I still missed the funeral service.  Our later flight on Friday was delayed for four hours, then finally cancelled.  We spent the night in a hotel near the airport and got up at 4 am the next morning, but we still arrived a couple of hours too late.  We were horribly disappointed, but at least we arrived in time to see some of our family before they returned home and to spend several days with my father-in law and our nephew and his family.

So, it's been a long, rough week for us.  We did have lots and lots of reading time, though, on planes and in airports, waiting and waiting and waiting...

• Jamie, 15, finished The Game of Sunken Places by M.T. Anderson last week and enjoyed the middle-grade fantasy adventure very much.  He's looking forward to the sequel.  I think I'll take this one on vacation with me.
• Jamie wanted to bring our hardback edition of Stephen King's The Stand with him to Oklahoma.  Though I know he'll love it and I've been wanting him to read it, I talked him out of carrying the heaviest book in our house through all those airports!  Instead, I set him up with a nice lightweight paperback of Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Supremacy.  He recently enjoyed the movie version of The Bourne Identity, so I thought he'd like this.  It kept him well distracted during our long flight last night (we didn't get home until 2:30 am!)
• Craig has been working hard to read Charlie Bone and the Red Knight by Jenny Nimmo before school ends this week, so he can meet his Accelerated Reader goals.  He's really impressed me, reading more in one week than I've ever seen him read before.  He's only 40 pages away from the end of this 600-page book.  Of course, again, all those hours in planes and airports helped (though he slept all the way home last night - lucky!)
• I finished and absolutely loved D.J. MacHale's new Morpheus Road: The Light.  Scary, suspenseful, great characters, and lots of surprises!  I hoped to post a review last week, but now I may not have time before vacation - we'll see.
• I started How To Be Sick: A Buddhist-Inspired Guide for the Chronically Ill and Their Caregivers by Toni Bernhard, a good online friend of mine who has the same immune system disorder I have (Chronic Fatigue Syndrome).  I love her book so far and am finding it very inspirational, but I knew I needed some gripping fiction for the trip, so I had to set it aside temporarily.
• During our trip, I read What I Saw and How I Lied by Judy Blundell, a recent teen/YA release that won the National Book Award.  It was definitely award-worthy, a mix of a coming-of-age story, history (set after World War II), romance, suspense, and even a possible murder mystery.  It easily held my interest during those long waits and flights.
• On last night's flight, I started The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows.  It pulled me right in - I barely noticed when our plane returned to the gate to straighten out some sort of passenger mix-up (after an hour on the runway).  I'm about halfway through it now and am thoroughly entranced by the unique post-World War II story told through a series of letters.  Hmmm...I just noticed I read two books set in the same time period this week, but the first was set in the U.S., and this one is set in England.
• Finally, I've been slowly working my way through a middle-grade audio book, Keeper by Kathi Appelt, about a ten-year old girl who sets off in a small rowboat to find her missing mother, who she believes is a mermaid.  It's very good so far.

So, that was our very long week.  Thank goodness for good books to distract us from all of life's craziness.

What are you and your family reading?

(What are you reading Mondays is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey).

It's Monday 5/31! What Are You Reading?

Happy Memorial Day!!

It doesn't feel like a Monday, with the whole family here with me.  It feels more like a second Sunday.  I wasn't sure everyone would be posting their usual Monday stuff, but I checked this morning and my blog reader was full of it, so I decided to take a few minutes out of our family stuff today to post our reading update, too.

Thanks to everyone who posted updates from BEA - I really enjoyed living vicariously through you!  I love NYC and would love to go to BEA.  And meeting up with fellow book bloggers sounds like a lot of fun!

We've read some good books this week:

• Jamie, 15, is reading a new middle-grade book this week, The Game of Sunken Places by M.T. Anderson.  He says it's interesting and very unique, a story about two boys who play a weird board game that launches them into all sort of real life adventures (but Jamie says it's nothing like Jumanji).
• Craig is finishing The Wind in the Door today, Madeleine L'Engle's sequel to A Wrinkle in Time.  He's trying to choose his next book, but he's only got two weeks left of school and still needs 11 points for the Accelerated Reader program.  He really wants to read Charlie Bone and the Red Knight by Jenny Nimmo, but it's too new to be on his school's AR list, so he'll have to write a summary of it instead.  He and I will both be glad when summer vacation starts, and he can read whatever he wants (though then I'll have trouble getting him to read at all!).
• I managed to squeeze in Tinkers by Paul Harding with only a 2-day fine at the library!  This short novel just won the Pultizer, and I was hoping it would be a quick read, but it was a very dense book with lots of description and long, twisty sentences where I'd forget how the sentence had started by the time I got to the end.  I'm glad I stuck with it, though.
• This weekend, I've been reading Morpheus Road: The Light, the first novel in DJ MacHale's new trilogy.  That's been just the opposite of Tinkers - I've been blowing through the chapters like it's popcorn - stuffing big handfuls in!  Wow, it's an amazing book, with incredible suspense.  I've stayed up way too late every night reading it and hope to finish it today.  We're all huge fans of MacHale's Pendragon series, and this new one is just as good (though scarier!).
• My husband, Ken, has been reading grown-up books lately, rather than teen novels.  His favorite genre is suspense/thrillers, but last night I talked him into reading This Is Where I Leave You, a hilarious drama by Jonathan Tropper that I reviewed in January.

Last week was so hectic I didn't even fit in a review, but I plan to write one of Morpheus Road this week.

Enjoy the rest of the holiday weekend!

What are you and your family reading this week?

(What are you reading Monday is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey).

P.S. Trying to write a blog post with the whole family home, demanding my attention, was beyond challenging!!

It's Monday 5/24! What Are You Reading?

Just another Manic Monday...

We heard that song on the way to the bus stop this morning, and it's very appropriate today!  Craig almost missed his bus because he forgot to pack his band stuff, Jamie called and asked me to bring some papers to school that he left at home, and after school I need to take BOTH boys to get x-rays (one wrist, one ankle).  Whew, and it's not even 9 am yet.

Thank goodness for good books!

• Jamie, 15, read Morpheus Road, the hot new book by DJ MacHale, author of one of our favorite series, Pendragon.  He says the new trilogy is very different from Pendragon but just as compelling!  This is next on my list.
• Jamie started Charlie Bone and the Red Knight, Book 8 in The Children of the Red King series by Jenny Nimmo, the latest addition to an old favorite series.  This is one of Craig's favorite series, too.  It's too new to be on his list at school, but he wants to read it this summer.
• Craig, 12, is still reading The Wind in the Door, the sequel to A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle.  He's enjoying it, but the nice weather makes it tough for him to sit down and read!
• I finished Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann for my neighborhood book group.  Almost everyone liked this complex novel about intersecting lives in New York City, and it was great for discussion.
• Next, I read The Soloist by Steve Lopez for another book group (I've had three book groups in three weeks this month!).  Even though I had already seen the movie, I loved the book and read it very quickly.  Book or movie, it's a fascinating, moving true story of the friendship between an LA Times reporter and a homeless, schizophrenic man who is a talented musician.
• I have a huge stack of kids' and teen books I want to read, but instead I started Tinkers by Paul Harding.  It's due back at the library tomorrow (!), and now that it's won the Pulitzer, the wait list will be miles long, so I decided to try to squeeze it in.  I should have lots of reading time this afternoon at the x-ray place!

Last week, I posted  a review of two middle-grade audio books by Polly Horvath: My One Hundred Adventures and Northward to the Moon.  I enjoyed both very much.  I also posted a review of Sea Trails: Poems and 1977 Passage Notes by Pris Campbell on my grown-up book blog, Book By Book.  I'm not able to maintain Book By Book regularly right now, but if you're interested in what I think about the grown-up books I read, you can find me at Goodreads.

What are you and your family reading this week?

(What are you reading Mondays is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey).

Middle-Grade Review: My One Hundred Adventures and Northward to the Moon

Over the course of the past month, I listened to two audio books by Polly Horvath:  My One Hundred Adventures and its sequel, Northward to the Moon, and thoroughly enjoyed both.  These books are sweet, funny, and heartwarming stories about growing up.

In My One Hundred Adventures, twelve-year old Jane loves her family and her life on the beach in Massachusetts:

“Jane, Maya, Hershel, Max,” calls my mother.  She always calls my name first.  She is finished gathering [clams and mussels] and her baskets are heavy.  We run to help her bring things back to the house.  No one else lives year-round on the beach but us.  A poet with no money can still live very well, our mother reminds us, and I do not know why.  Who would think having to leave the ocean for most of the year is a better way to live?  How could we not live well, the five of us together?  I love our house.  I love the bedroom I share with my sister.  Our house has no upstairs like the houses of my friends.  It has one floor with a kitchen that is part of a larger room, and off of this large room with its big table and rocking chairs and its soft old couch and armchair and miles of booklined shelves are three bedrooms.  One for my mother, one for my brothers, one for my sister and me.  “I love this house,” I say to my mother often.  “You cannot love it as I do,” she says.  “No one can ever love it as I do.”

As much as she loves her life, Jane has grown a bit weary of the sameness of it.  At twelve, she feels she’s ready for some adventures, and she starts her summer hoping to find some – one hundred of them, if possible.  Jane gets what she hoped for – and more – in all sorts of unexpected events during her summer.

She takes a surprising ride in a stolen hot-air balloon, meets a supposed psychic, and possibly injures a baby with a Bible.  Meanwhile, she wonders whether every new man she meets might be her father or the father of one of her siblings (she’s not sure but thinks they may all have different fathers).  Jane is an innocent girl, ready to step out of the protective comfort of her family and experience life for herself.

In Northward to the Moon, the family leaves their beloved beach house to travel across the US and Canada, meeting far-off family and friends.  This book is filled with even more adventures for Jane, as she struggles with some hard lessons about growing up and learns what being part of a family is really all about.

Some reviewers thought these books would be better appreciated by adults rather than their intended audience of middle-grade readers, but I think kids of a certain age – especially girls – will relate to Jane’s yearnings for adventure and her desires to both grow up and still stay close to her family.  I think the books are best suited to kids between about 11 and 14.  The lower end of the stated age range of 9-12 seems a bit young to me – many aspects of the book might be a bit over the head of younger kids.

Horvath’s writing is lyrical with beautiful prose and little life lessons within that you want to write down and remember.  There’s a subtle yet pervasive sense of humor in Jane’s quirky adventures that makes you smile.

Readers who enjoyed Waiting for Normal by Leslie Connor or  The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron will also enjoy these books about Jane's adventures.

Listening Library

Download the audio book or listen to a sample at audible.com.

    

It's Monday 5/17! What Are You Reading?

It's Monday again - this time of year is so busy!  I've been feeling a little better the past few days and am trying to get caught up on everything that piled up over the past 6 months or so.  I was so proud on Friday when I finally got through the remaining 200 unread e-mails still sitting in my Inbox from spring break - woohoo!  It doesn't take much to make me happy.

We have another busy week coming up, with book group for me, soccer for the boys, a business trip for my husband, and my mom and her husband coming to visit for a couple of days.  But we still find time for some good books:

• Jamie, 15, finished Freefall by Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams, the third book in a wonderful middle-grade underground adventure series that started with Tunnels.  He keeps telling me that this book was amazing, and I need to make time for it (I still need to read book 2, Deeper first).  We're both excited about an upcoming movie version, but Jamie says he hopes they don't try to combine more than one book into the movie - he likes it better when the movies stick close to the books.  We both agree this could be a really cool movie if they get the special effects right.
• Jamie started The Demon's Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan, a new teen fantasy novel.  He says it's good so far - a little dark, definitely for teens and not younger kids.  He's already thinking about lending it to a friend of his who kind of gave up on pleasure reading for a while, but Jamie's been working on him - it's so much fun to share great books with friends!
• I usually alternate between grown-up books and kids/teens books, but I didn't have time this week to squeeze in any kids' books in between two book club reads!  I finished Love Walked In by Marisa de los Santos (I enjoyed it) for the library book discussion last week, and I'm now in the middle of Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann for my neighborhood book group - I still have over 200 pages to read before Wednesday!
• To my great delight, Craig, 12, finished A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle and said he loved it!  When I told him I have the rest of the series, he said, "It's part of a series?!"  He was even more excited to find out that the other books are on his AR list (Accelerated Reader - a program at school where they read books, then take quizzes about them online), so he has started A Wind in the Door.  He came downstairs last night to say, "Can I please stay up 15 more minutes?  This book is so good I can't put it down!"  Craig's not always excited about reading, so I'm loving this - he's not only reading without being made to, but he's hooked on my all-time favorite series.
• I finished two middle-grade audio books by Polly Horvath - My One Hundred Adventures and Northward to the Moon.  I enjoyed them very much and will post a review this week.

Last week,  I posted a review of Anything But Typical by Nora Raleigh Baskin, a middle-grade novel written from the perspective of an autistic boy.

What are you and your family reading this week?

(What are you reading Mondays is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.)

Middle-Grade Review: Anything But Typical

Anything But Typical by Nora Raleigh Baskin is anything but a typical middle-grade novel.  Its narrator, 12-year old Jason, is autistic, and he tells his story from his own unique point of view, providing both an interesting story as well as fascinating insights into what it’s like to be autistic in a world filled with “normal” people, as in this scene at school:

Neurotypicals like it when you look them in the eye.  It is supposed to mean you are listening, as if the reverse were true, which it is not: Just because you are not looking at someone does not mean you are not listening.  I can listen better when I am not distracted by a person’s face.

What are their eyes saying?

Is that a frown or a smile?

Why are they wrinkling their forehead or lifting their cheeks like that?  What does that mean?

How can you listen to all those words when you have to think about all that stuff?

But I know I will get in trouble if I don’t look at the lady’s eyes.  I can force myself.  I turn my head, but I will look at her sideways.

I know the right words to use.

Last year, Jane, my one-on-one, taught me to say, “I am okay just as I am.”

I am okay just as I am.

She told me I had to say something in this sort of situation.  She said that people expect certain things.  She said that people will misunderstand me if I don’t say anything.

This is one of the many, many things I need to run through in my mind, every time.

Jason is intelligent and caring but, as you can see in that scene, has a hard time interacting with people in the ways that they normally expect.  But there’s one place where Jason feels completely comfortable – online at his favorite website, Storyboard.  Jason loves to write stories and post them on Storyboard, and he’s quite good at it, too. 

Another Storyboard member, Phoenixbird, enjoys Jason’s stories and leaves comments on his latest one. Jason and Phoenixbird get to know each other online, where they each admire the other’s writing, and Jason thinks he may have his first-ever real friend.  An opportunity comes up for them to meet in person, but Jason is afraid that Phoenixbird (whose real name is Rebecca) won’t like him anymore when she sees that he is autistic.  The novel alternates between Jason’s real life and updates to the story he’s posting on Storyboard.

I was captivated by Jason’s unique perspective and the chance to view life from an autistic person’s point of view.  For instance, I always thought people with autism didn’t feel emotions normally, but it is clear from Jason’s story that he feels plenty; he just doesn’t know how to express those feelings. I really enjoyed this warm and insightful book that contains some interesting plot twists and surprises.

195 pages, Simon & Schuster

It's Monday 5/10! What Are You Reading?

Wow, last Monday I said it felt like August; this morning it feels like March!  Crazy spring weather.  I hope all you Moms out there had a good Mother's Day.  We drove to Connecticut to my mom's house for the weekend.  My sister and her family were there, too - our annual celebration for both Mother's Day and my mom's birthday (tomorrow).  It was great to see everyone and to play with my niece and nephew, but I'm pretty worn out this morning!

We had an enjoyable reading week:

• Jamie, 15, finished his nostalgic re-reading of all 14 Deltora Quest books on his shelf, an old favorite middle-grade fantasy series by Emily Rodda.
• Jamie started Freefall by Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams, the third book in a wonderful middle-grade underground adventure series.  Jamie, Ken (my husband) and I all read the first book, Tunnels, which was excellent, a unique plot with plenty of suspense.  I haven't gotten to Deeper yet, the second book, but Jamie's says it's even better, and he's enjoying book three now, too.  The series is being made into a movie which should be amazing!
• I finished Num8ers by Rachel Ward and could hardly put it down!  Check out my review of this exciting teen paranormal thriller that kept me up way past bedtime.
• Now I'm reading a grown-up novel, Love Walked In by Marisa de los Santos, written by a local Wilmington author, for my library's book discussion this week.  I'm enjoying it very much so far.
• Craig is reading A Wrinkle in Time for English class and still loving it!  I'm thrilled that he's enjoying my favorite book from childhood!
• In the car on the way to and from Connecticut, we listened to more of Erec Rex: The Search for Truth by Kara Kingsley.  This is the third book in a fantasy series we've been enjoying on audio since last summer's vacation - the boys really love this series.

What are you and your family reading this week?

(What are you reading Mondays is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey).

Teen/YA Review: Num8ers

I devoured Num8ers by Rachel Ward this weekend.  This new teen/YA paranormal thriller was one of those books that completely captivated me  – I carried it around with me all weekend, reading a page here and there whenever I had a spare moment.  I’m not a huge fan of the recent flood of paranormal teen romances involving vampires, werewolves, and angels, but I love this kind of paranormal book, where a character has some sort of unusual power or insight.  It reminded me somewhat of Wake and Fade, which I also loved.

Fifteen-year old Jem has had a rough life.  Her mother died of a drug overdose when she was six, and since then, she’s been shuttled from one foster home to the next.  She’s developed something of a tough-girl exterior along the way.  But Jem is different from other disadvantaged teens on the streets of London because she has a unique power: when she looks into someone’s eyes, she sees their date of death.

Everyone’s got one, but I think I’m the only one who sees them.  Well, I don’t exactly “see” them, like something hanging in the air; they kind of appear in my head.  I feel them, somewhere behind my eyes.  But they’re real.  I don’t care if you don’t believe me – suit yourself, I know they’re real.  And I know what they mean.  The light went on the day my mum went.

I’d always seen the numbers, for as long as I could remember.  I thought everyone did.  Walking down the street, if my eyes met someone else’s, there it would be, their number.  I used to tell my mum people’s numbers as she pushed me along in my buggy.  I thought she’d be pleased.  She’d think I was clever.  Yeah, right.

Jem is struggling with school, trying to get by and avoiding people’s eyes as much as possible, when Spider comes into her life.  She knows him vaguely from school and, as usual, doesn’t want to get to know him better, but he’s very persistent.  Soon they become friends, two outsiders who feel a connection to each other, although Jem is very disturbed to see that his number is coming up soon.

Playing hooky from school one day with Spider, Jem foresees a terrible tragedy in downtown London and runs away in fear.  That sets off a chain of events over which she and Spider have no control.  It’s them against the world, as time is running out.

I found this fast-paced thriller to be so compelling that I had trouble sleeping after staying up too late reading it!  It’s a unique concept that is carried out well, with lots of London street slang in the dialogue, well-drawn characters that you come to care about, loads of suspense, and even a touch of romance.

325 pages, Chicken House (Scholastic)

(Best for older teens and young adults as it contains profanity, violence, and sex).

 

It's Monday 5/3! What Are You Reading?

How can it possibly be May already?  (and do I say that at the start of every month?)  It hit 90 degrees here this weekend and feels like August already - yuck!  Good thing we had good books to read:

• I finished Anything But Typical by Nora Raleigh Baskin and really enjoyed the story written from the perspective of a 12-year old autistic boy.  Review to come this week.
• I also read a grown-up book, Sea Trails: Poems and 1977 Passage Notes by Pris Campbell, a slim volume of poems, prose, and pictures about the author's sailing trip down the east coast.  Pris has the same immune system disorder that I have, and I was really impressed with her new book.  I'll review it at Book By Book.
• The book that's been keeping me up at night this weekend is a new teen thriller, Num8ers by Rachel Ward.  I've been carrying this compelling and unique suspense novel everywhere with me this weekend!
• Jamie, 15, continues with his personal quest to re-read the entire set of Deltora Quest series by Emily Rodda, an old favorite of his.  There are 14 books in all in these middle-grade fantasy series, and I think he has only two left to go!
• Craig, 12, is enjoying A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle very much, but he's frustrated that he can only read a little at a time.  This is a book he's reading for his Literature Circle in English class, and he's not supposed to read ahead of his group.  I love to hear him complaining that he wants to read more!
• In between his assigned sections of A Wrinkle in Time, Craig is also reading The Wright 3 by Blue Balliett.  He loves mysteries but says it's a little slow to start.
• I finished the audio book Northward to the Moon by Polly Horvath, the sequel to My One Hundred Adventures.  I thoroughly enjoyed both of these sweet middle-grade audios and will review them here soon.

I posted a review of Kate DiCamillo's tender and beautiful novel, The Tiger Rising, this week.  Even though I'm on leave from my other book blog, Book By Book, I posted a review there this week of a funny new road trip novel, Roastbeef's Promise.

What are you and your family reading this week?

(What are you reading Mondays is hosted by Book Journey).

Middle-Grade Review: The Tiger Rising

As I mentioned last week in my review of The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, I love Kate DiCamillo’s writing; her prose is beautifully written and her characters wonderfully real.  The Tiger Rising, a slim novel we just finished reading aloud, is no exception.

The Tiger Rising opens with twelve-year old Rob waiting for his school bus and thinking about his recent discovery:

Finding the tiger had been luck, he knew that.  He had been out in the woods behind the Kentucky Star Motel, way out in the woods, not really looking for anything, just wandering, hoping that maybe he would get lost or get eaten by a bear and not have to go to school ever again.  That’s when he saw the old Beauchamp gas station building, all boarded up and tumbling down; next to it, there was a cage, and inside the cage, unbelievably, there was a tiger – a real-life, very large tiger pacing back and forth.  He was orange and gold and so bright, it was like staring at the sun itself, angry and trapped in a cage.

Rob’s secret buoys him as he boards the school bus and endures yet another morning of teasing and bullying.  But something else is different today.  A new girl, Sistine, gets on the bus.  She’s not like anyone Rob has ever seen or heard before, and he feels an immediate sense of connection with her:

Nobody wore pink lacy dresses to school.  Nobody.  Even Rob knew that.  He held his breath as he watched the girl walk down the aisle of the bus.  Here was somebody even stranger than he was.  He was sure.

Rob’s life is very difficult right now.  His mother recently died, and he and his father are both lost without her and unable to comfort each other.  They’re living in a run-down motel where Rob’s father works as a maintenance man, and Rob has a terrible case of what is probably eczema that makes him an outcast at school.  But now things are different for Rob; he’s not alone anymore.  Now he has a secret tiger in the woods and a new friend.

Like many of DiCamillo’s award-winning novels (this one was a National Book Award Finalist), The Tiger Rising tells its simple yet poignant story with lyrical style that pulls you in so you feel like its characters are your friends.  All four of us loved this novel and couldn’t wait to find out what happened next.  As in real life, everything does not turn out perfectly, but there is hope and encouragement in its satisfying conclusion.  I highly recommend this tender little novel, either for kids to read on their own or as a read-aloud.

121 pages, Candlewick Press

 Accelerated Reader:  Level 4.0, 3 points.