FINISHED:

Scott, Michael. (2007). The alchemyst: The secrets of the immortal Nicholas Flamel. New York: Delacorte/Random House.

[A pair of twins are staying with relatives in San Francisco while their parents are on an archeological dig. The boy works in a bookshop that is invaded by a guy trying to get a hold of an ancient book, which, surprise surprise contains a prophesy about a couple of twins who will play a part in some major event. Heard so many great things about this one... I didn't find it all that compelling myself - in fact, to me it played out like an Anne Rice novel for the younger set. Just the exotic and bizarre creatures and their abodes, the beings who are immortal and some of whom have lived since the beginning of time, etc. It's set here (San Francisco), but there's a part that takes place on the Golden Gate Bridge that is so long that it would appear that the bridge is MILES long. Not one of the best that I've read recently and I doubt that I'll look into the sequels that are to follow.]

STARTED:
Jinks, Catherine. (2008). Genius squad. Orlando, FL: Harcourt.

[Reviewing for ACL...]

*

FINISHED:

Cormier, Robert. (1974). The chocolate war. New York: Knopf/Random House.

[In looking for a link to something interesting about the book online, I came across a petition to have the book removed from a middle school reading list - this just BURNS MY BRITCHES. People who signed the petition actually wrote stuff like "this book is satanic" and "obviously these people do not believe in God". AAAARGH..]

STARTED:
Scott, Michael. (2007). The alchemyst: The secrets of the immortal Nicholas Flamel. New York: Delacorte/Random House.

[.]

*

FINISHED:

Lawrence, Iain. (2007). The castaways. New York: Delacorte/Random House.

[.]

STARTED:
Cormier, Robert. (1974). The chocolate war. New York: Knopf/Random House.

[Saw the movie a number of times back when I was a teenager, thought it was time to read the source material...]

*

Picture Book Tuesday: Caldecott Edition

STARTED & FINISHED:

Emberley, Barbara. (1967). Drummer Hoff. New York: Simon & Schuster.

[.]





Rathmann, Peggy. (1995). Officer Buckle and Gloria. New York: Penguin Putnam.

[.]






Wiesner, David. (2001). The three pigs. New York: Houghton Mifflin.

[.]


*

ABANDONED:
Petty, JT. (2006). Clemency Pogue: Fairy killer. New York: Simon & Schuster.

[COMPLETELY overwritten and trying WAY too hard to be witty. Ugh, ENOUGH with the overwrought metaphors and pseudo-cheeky dialogue. Life is way too short, and there is SO MUCH more to read out there...]

STARTED:
Lawrence, Iain. (2007). The castaways. New York: Delacorte/Random House.

[Distinguished or not? I will judge for myself for ACL.]

*

FINISHED:

Rodgers, Mary. (1974). A billion for Boris. New York: Harper & Row.

[.]


STARTED:
Petty, JT. (2006). Clemency Pogue: Fairy killer. New York: Simon & Schuster.

[How can you resist a title like that? Just a short one to fit in before I tackle one for ACL.]

*

FINISHED:

Rodgers, Mary. (1972). Freaky Friday. New York: HarperCollins.

[While I was pleased to see that there were lines of dialog in the movie that were lifted directly from the book, I was quite surprised at how different the two are. AND, I couldn't help but wonder what those young ones who were drawn to the book after seeing the most recent film adaptation and the paperback with Jamie Lee and Lindsay on the cover must have thought. If the '70s version was different, the '00s version was merely "inspired by". But, the dialog and humor in this book is infectious and inspiring to me as a (possible) future writer.]

STARTED:
Rodgers, Mary. (1974). A billion for Boris. New York: Harper & Row.

[Didn't have ANY idea until a few months back that Freaky Friday had a sequel...]

*

Picture Book Tuesday

STARTED & FINISHED:

Isadora, Rachel. (1979). Ben's trumpet. New York: Greenwillow/HarperCollins.

[I've looked at this one MANY times while shelving in the jPS section and I'm not AT ALL surprised that it was a Caldecott Honor Book. I LOVE what she's done here, making the jazz musings appear as jagged lines throughout. The black & white illustrations are amazingly detailed and just nail the feeling of listening to a great jazz ensemble. Plus, it's a sweet story of a boy who makes believe that he's playing a trumpet like his idol in the band, and, finally, his idol invites him to learn to play the actual instrument. LOVE this one and can hopefully fit it into a storytime somwhere.]





Stewart, Sarah. (1995). The library. New York: Farrar Straus Giroux.

[Beautifully constructed book about a woman who loves reading so much that the books begin to pile up until her house becomes a library. While it's a bit sad that this woman is the classic "crazy cat lady", the whole layout of the book, complete with David Small's wonderful illustrations - from the end papers as books packed on shelves and the pigeons flying onto the title page, to each page being framed and the little pen illustrations next to the words (oh, and seeing the woman's cat grow up with her...) - is perfectly thought out. I could do without the rhyming text, but the collaboration between Stewart and Small (which extends into a couple of other books) is a magical one. And, what self-respecting children's librarian can resist a tale about the love of reading?]





Brown, Margaret Wise. (2004). Where have you been? New York: HarperCollins.

[Another one that seems tailor-made for a storytime - although, the repetitive form text strays from the "where have you been?" form a few times... I picked this one up because it's got illustrations from my favorites, Leo & Diane Dillon. Their shading and color gradations are just masterful and will hopefully delight (rather than creep out) young ones. The lion wearing shades and playing the saxophone rules.]





Brown, Margaret Wise. (2001). Two little trains. New York: HarperCollins.

[Another one by Margaret Wise Brown with illustrations by Leo & Diane Dillon. While I found some of the text in this one to flow awkwardly, the illustrations fantastic. On the left-hand side of each spread is a depiction of an actual train rolling through the city and countryside while the right-hand side of the spread depicts a toy train in a home going through a comparable setting (i.e. going on a bridge over a river on the left side and riding along the top rim of a bathtub on the other). Again, the Dillions hit it WAY out of the park...]

*

FINISHED:

Hamilton, Virginia. (1968). The house of Dies Drear. New York: Simon&Schuster.

[.]





STARTED:
Rodgers, Mary. (1972). Freaky Friday. New York: HarperCollins.

[I've ALWAYS thought that the movie (w/ Jodi Foster and Barbara Harris, not the remake) was FANTASTIC - definitely one of my favorite kids movies of all time. Thought that it was about time that I read it... and then the sequel...]



*

FINISHED:

Caveney, Philip. (2007). Sebastian Darke: Prince of fools. New York: Delacorte/Random House.

[Will have a review for this one shortly...

Voila:

Sebastian Darke, a not-so-funny jester, travels with his buffalope, a wise-cracking, deadpan, shaggy beast, to the kingdom of Keladon to seek employment as a royal jester of the court. Along the way, with the help of newfound friend and miniature-statured Captain Cornelius, he finds himself saving the life of Kerin, Princess of Keladon, whose entourage has been attacked by warriors while on her way back home. It turns out that King Septimus of Keladon, Kerin’s uncle, had a hand in her parents death and would like Kerin to suffer the same fate, so, through a series of events, pins Kerin’s eventual disappearance on Sebastian. Caveney’s novel follows the path well-worn by many other authors, serving up a tale of medieval folk banding together against an evil dictator, with a few twists, turns, and moments of suspense that aren’t so surprising, and a scattering of odd, softly rendered, grey-scale illustrations which feel not so entirely necessary. However, there is quite a bit of dry humor here to delight those with a taste for the off-beat, and a good message here that Kerin learns about poverty and slavery when she finds herself put up for auction in a nearby village. In the end, though, likely to aid in the setup for sequels, Kerin rebuffs Sebastian’s advances because she is now a queen and must marry royalty. So, slavery and poverty among her citizens are things she will no longer tolerate, but classism is still ok – what kind of a message is that? Despite a proliferation of surprisingly graphic moments of violence and familiar narrative elements, fans of Lloyd Alexander and the like, looking for a bit of contemporary humor in their medieval adventure stories, will find plenty to enjoy here.]

STARTED:
Hamilton, Virginia. (1968). The house of Dies Drear. New York: Simon&Schuster.

[Haven't ever read anything by Virginia Hamilton and this one has always peaked my curiosity...]

*

Picture Book Tuesday

I'm going to try to start a weekly thing here: Picture Book Tuesdays. I kinda started this blog thinking that it would mostly be to highlight ALL of the picture books that I would tear through. Well, my focus seems to have shifted toward YA fiction and I'd like to make myself read a few picture books a week. Hence, this weekly "feature". Although, I must admit that I read the follow books and am writing this on Saturday the 9th of August. Not a Tuesday at all. But I'll get on the regular schedule this coming week. Now, on with the show...


STARTED & FINISHED:

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

[Shulevitz scores again in my book with this new one of his. It's the autobiographical story of how his family had to leave Poland in 1939 and ended up living in the Soviet Union dirt poor and living with another family in a small house. One day, despite the fact that the family is starving, Uri's father spends money on a wall-sized map of the world instead of bread. Initially, Uri and his mother are furious, but as time goes on, Uri finds the map fascinating and he begins to imagine himself in various other places which spurs his interest in drawing. Great simple text and his wonderful ink-outlined watercolor illustrations make this a contender for a Caldecott mention.]



van Ommen, Sylvia. (2002). Jellybeans. Brookfield, CT: Roaring Brook Press.

[A cat and a rabbit, friends, agree to meet in the park where they will share jellybeans and hot chocolate. Looking at a blue jellybean the color of the sky starts a discussion between the two about whether or not there is a heaven, and, if there is one, whether or not they will see each other there. Initially, I got a bit whigged out when they started talking about heaven thinking, "Oh, gee, here we go with the big Christian talk." But, it kind of skirts that and just becomes about these two friends, rendered in simple line drawings (including the cell phones which they seem to text each other on...), pondering existence and whether or not their solid friendship will go on and on.]



Zolotow, Charlotte. (1989). The quiet mother and the noisy little boy. New York: Harper & Row.

[Got this one for the Marc Simont illustrations and noticed that the author, Zolotow, wrote "Mr. Rabbit and the Lovely Present" (Harper & Row, 1962) which I loved. This one can pretty much be summed up by the title, there's a loud boy who is always causing a ruckus and a mom who enjoys some quiet. Of course, when he's away, the mom begins to miss the noise her son makes, and when the boy's SUPER rowdy cousin visits, she realizes that a bit of noise is ok, and the boy realizes a bit of quiet is sometimes a good thing. Sweet, and Simont's illustrations - watercolor-filled black pastel outlines - are fantastic. Could make a good read-aloud for a bit older audience.]



Lord, John Vernon. (1972). The giant jam sandwich. Boston, MA: Hougton Mifflin.

[Holy cow! I had COMPLETELY forgotten about this book from my childhood! I think that we even owned a copy. It strikes me that books like this just aren't made anymore - just a simple, crazy premise treated as though it were completely ordinary. Well, I'm sure that I'm exaggerating and just being overly nostalgic ("Back in my day..."), but this one is a classic gem about a town overrun with wasps who comes up with the inventive idea of making a giant jam sandwich to catch the wasps on. So, that's what they do, down to mixing a whole bunch of bread dough, baking a huge loaf of bread, and setting it all up in a farmer's field with a helicopter hovering overhead ready to drop the top piece of bread. While the illustrations are dated, the rich colors and minute details will hopefully still appeal to younger readers. This copy comes with a CD of the book which I'll likely "get" and see how it sounds.]

*

FINISHED:

Soto, Gary. (2008). Facts of life: Stories. Orlando, FL: Harcourt.

[Watch this space for my official ACL review...

Ta-da:

Mickey Cortez gets conned into helping someone steal a TV but leaves the scene and goes about the rest of his day. Lisa Torres, who lives in a trailer in the desert and a dreams of being a struggling artist in “the big city”, draws the beauty that she sees in her not-so-wonderful life. Ana Hernandez is disturbed when another Ana Hernandez enrolls in her school and gets more attention than she ever got. Rachel and her little brother get a punk rock babysitter who encourages bad behavior. Ryan Gonzalez gets a “D” in English and Spanish in school and then stumbles upon an ESL classroom where adults from around the world are learning English. These and other tales are told in Soto’s latest, a collection of 10 shorts about tweens learning life lessons and what it means to be an adult. Each story is a self-contained, open-ended slice of life vignette – plotless tales which just… end, and we are left to assume that life will go on for these young people after we leave them. Most young readers will see themselves in at least one of these characters and be able to relate to at least one of the situations, and, hopefully will not be turned off by the lack of resolution in the majority of the stories. Soto’s writing is solid and his characters speak authentically making this one a timeless gem. Included is a glossary of the Spanish words and phrases used throughout the stories, although, in most cases these can be deciphered in the text itself either by context or immediate translation by another character.]

STARTED:
Caveney, Philip. (2007). Sebastian Darke: Prince of fools. New York: Delacorte/Random House.

[Also reviewing for ACL.]

*

FINISHED:

Hooper, Mary. (2008). Newes from the dead. New York: Roaring Brook.

[Quite a compelling read, and a TRUE STORY. In 1650, Anne Green, a servant in a royal household, was convicted of infanticide and hung at the gallows. Her body was set aside for dissection by scholars, but that never got to happen because there were signs that SHE WAS STILL ALIVE. The book chapters alternate being narrated by Anne herself, and by a 3rd person, with the Anne chapters recounting the events that led up to her wrongful conviction (she was repeatedly "violated" by the grandson of the master of the house and her baby was stillborn - all of this she couldn't tell anyone because of her place and the esteem of her violator), and the alternate chapters being the account of her revival by the scholars. Did I mention that it's based on a TRUE STORY??? Interestingly, the "news report" from the time about the incident is included at the end.]

STARTED:
Soto, Gary. (2008). Facts of life: Stories. Orlando, FL: Harcourt.

[Reading to review for ACL.]

*