FINISHED:

Anderson, M.T. (2008). The astonishing life of Octavian Nothing: Traitor to the nation: Volume II: The kingdom on the waves. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick.

[.]

STARTED:
Orwell, George. (1949). Nineteen eighty-four. New York: Plume/Penguin.

[Shockingly, I've never read this one before. Taking a short break from the YA novels...]

*

FINISHED:

Pearce, Philippa. (1958). Tom's midnight garden. New York: HarperCollins.

[By today's standards, I think that this one feels dated. That's not to say that it isn't good, I enjoyed it, but it felt a bit slow and not super exciting. Tom has to move into his aunt and uncle's flat for a time while his brother gets over having the measles. One night while in bed, Tom hears the hall grandfather clock chime 13 times. He gets up and opens the back door to find an immense garden there and a girl named Hattie who seems to be the only one who can see or hear him. Over the course of a few weeks - Tom even tries to come up with reasons that he needs to stay with his aunt and uncle - Tom visits the garden every night. Interesting things going on here like Hattie and Tom both think the other is a ghost, Hattie gets older over the course of the visits and begins to move on from her relationship with Tom and meet other young people. It's an interesting examination of time-travel that could inspire many conversations - in one particularly thought-inspiring moment, Tom tells Hattie to put her ice skates under a floorboard in her bedroom (now his) in her time so that when he goes up to the room in his time he will have ice skates that he can then bring with him the next time he visits her. SO, they end up ice skating together wearing the exact same skates...]

STILL READING...:
Anderson, M.T. (2008). The astonishing life of Octavian Nothing: Traitor to the nation: Volume II: The kingdom on the waves. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick.

[Picked it back up. It's a beast, but I've got to finish it before Sunday, and it's SO worth the time.]

*

FINISHED:

Horvath, Polly. (2008). My one hundred adventures. New York: Schwartz & Wade/Random House.

[I REALLY enjoyed this one. Kinda random - it's really a series of, well, adventures I suppose over the course of twelve-year old Jane's summer. She and her mother and siblings live in a beach house - the mother being a somewhat noted poet - and 3 different, strange men show up over the course of the novel with the assumption that one or more of them is the father of one or more of the children. Jane throws bibles out of a hijacked hot air balloon, ends up having to babysit a bunch of wild children - one of whom Jane believes she dropped a bible on - comes across some colorful characters around town (including a "seer"), and believes that her not praying for one of the elder women in town may have caused the woman to become ill. Like I said, kind of random, but there are some interesting ideas going on here and I believe it has appeal - especially to those who enjoyed the Penderwick books and the like.]

STARTED:
Pearce, Philippa. (1958). Tom's midnight garden. New York: HarperCollins.

[Brian was trying to think of the name of this one, remembering the storyline as one of his childhood favorites, and finally found it. I thought I'd read it too, seeing as it seems to be regarded as a classic.]

*

FINISHED:

Appelt, Kathi. (2008). The underneath. New York: Atheneum/Simon & Schuster.

[So... it wasn't HORRIBLE, but I won't vote for it to be on the 2008 Distinguished Books list. I just found it to be needlessly repetitive and kind of pretentious. There where MANY times where there was an endless string of animal or tree names/types that made me think, "Great, you did your research... but you didn't have to put ALL OF IT in the book." In essence, this is the story of a dog, 3 cats, a horrible man, a 1000 year old snake (we are reminded AGAIN and AGAIN and AGAIN that she's been around for 1000 years...) trapped in a jar, the snake's daughter, the daughter's hawk husband, and their little girl, told moving back in forth in time and among their intertwining stories. It all didn't really come together for me, and I found the brutality REALLY off-putting. Really, thinking back, not a whole lot even happened. It just went on and and on and took forever to get to... well, not much.]

STARTED:
Horvath, Polly. (2008). My one hundred adventures. New York: Schwartz & Wade/Random House.

[Again, heard some great things about this one and thought that I would weigh in myself.]

*

FINISHED:

Clements, Andrew. (2006). Room one: A mystery or two. New York: Aladdin Paperbacks/Simon & Schuster.

[.]

STARTED:
Appelt, Kathi. (2008). The underneath. New York: Atheneum/Simon & Schuster.

[There's been a bit of Newbery buzz here, and people seem to either LOVE this one, or really HATE it. I'm reading it to see where I fall...]

*

FINISHED:

Lockhart, E. (2008). The disreputable history of Frankie Landau-Banks. New York: Hyperion.

[.]

STARTED:
Clements, Andrew. (2006). Room one: A mystery or two. New York: Aladdin Paperbacks/Simon & Schuster.

[.]

*

Picture Book Tuesday

STARTED & FINISHED:

Collington, Peter. (2000). Clever cat. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

[Cat is tired of being neglected and treated poorly by his owners so he gets a set of keys and a credit card and begins to take care of himself, eventually realizing that it might just be better to be a regular cat after all. Fantastic illustrations, a HORRIBLE family of abusive creeps, and laughs caused by seeing a cat walking on his hind legs carrying a set of keys.]




Shulevitz, Uri. (2008). How I learned geography. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux.

[LOVE this man. This one is an autobiographical tale about living in poverty. One day, instead of bringing home food from the town center, Uri's father brings home a wall-sized map which takes Uri's mind on a trip around the world - fueling his drawing and imagination.]




Gorbachev, Valeri. (2008). Turtle's penguin day. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

[LOVE this man, too. In this one, Turtle is read a bedtime story about penguins which causes him to dream about them and inspire him to dress and act like a penguin the next day at school. Sweet and fun with Gorbachev's characteristic warm and expressive illustrations.]

*

FINISHED:

Konigsburg, E.L. (1974). The dragon in the ghetto caper. New York: Aladdin/Simon & Schuster.

[.]

STARTED:
Lockhart, E. (2008). The disreputable history of Frankie Landau-Banks. New York: Hyperion.

[Reading to see if I would deem it worthy of being labeled distinguished. Plus, I've seen it on some "Best of 2008" lists and am curious.]

*

STARTED:
Konigsburg, E.L. (1974). The dragon in the ghetto caper. New York: Aladdin/Simon & Schuster.

[I didn't even know this book existed until a few weeks ago because, GASP, SFPL doesn't own a single copy! I'm also still reading Octavian Nothing: Volume II but that one's a beast, so I'm just taking a couple of days to bust through another one by one of my favorite authors.]

*

FINISHED:

Scieszka, John. (2008). Knucklehead. New York: Viking/Penguin.

[I did, indeed, find this autobiography worthy of being on the ACL Distinguished Books List. So darn funny - I saw it as "David Sedaris... for kids". Most of it is about growing up in a household with a bunch of brothers and the mayhem and hilarity that ensued. Though it was a much different time when Mr. Scieszka was a child, I should hope that kids these days will still find it somewhat relevant as well as hilarious. And, what boy with brothers can't relate to the crossing of streams/sword fighting chapter?]




Martin, C.K. Kelly. (2008). I know it's over. New York: Random House.

[Here's my official review for ACL - I was truly impressed with it:

Nick is your typical Canadian teenager: position on his high school’s hockey team, crappy retail job at the mall, recently divorced parents, lots of friends, and beginning to seriously navigate the rough waters of love and sex. After having only dated for a few months, and having been on a break after things got a little too serious, Nick’s girlfriend Sasha tells him on his driveway on a snowy Christmas Eve that she’s pregnant . Lost and feeling helpless and alone, Nick sleepwalks through his job, skips some school, and attends a New Years’ Eve party where he proceeds to get drunk and high in the hopes of forgetting, at least for the night, the frustrating and confusing situation in which he has found himself. Sasha’s revelation comes within the first few pages of the novel, and the rest of the novel is told in flashback, covering the events leading up to the telling, and then eventually catching up to the moment and carrying on from there. While dealing with his own issues, Nick, in a genuine and well-drawn side plot, helps his longtime best friend Nathan “come out” to him and Nathan’s homophobic single father. Martin’s impressive debut novel touchingly and accurately portrays teen life while also being an incredibly insightful and thorough examination of a teenage boy dealing with a pregnant girlfriend who “needs time alone to cool things off”, while just hoping to do the right thing, if he can only figure out what that may be.]

STARTED:
Anderson, M.T. (2008). The astonishing life of Octavian Nothing: Traitor to the nation: Volume II: The kingdom on the waves. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick.

[Thought the first volume was pretty much a masterpiece, so I'm on to the second part. Also, it's up for Distinguished at ACL...]

*

STARTED & FINISHED:

Juster, Norton. (1963). The dot and the line: a romance in lower mathematics. New York: Random House.

[Was so flabbergasted after seeing the BRILLIANT animated short of this title, I HAD to read the source material. This man is a genius with words.]

STARTED:
Scieszka, John. (2008). Knucklehead. New York: Viking/Penguin.

[Reading to see if I deem it worthy for the ACL Distinguished Books List.]

*