Anything But Typical

Jason is a sixth-grader with autism. This means that he sometimes has trouble doing things that "neurotypicals" do naturally, such as reading people's facial expressions, handling crowds and loud noises, or coping with unstructured events. He is teased by his classmates and even by his own cousins for acting strangely, but they just don't understand the way that Jason's brain works. Jason takes some solace by writing his own stories and posting them online. It is here that he meets Phoenixbird, a girl who talks to him online about their writing. When Jason has the opportunity to attend a writing conference sponsored by the website where he posts his stories, he is excited to learn more about writing. But he is also very nervous when he learns that Phoenixbird will also be attending. How will react when she meets him in person? How will he react when he finally sees her? Will she react just as badly as his classmates when she learns of his autism? How will her reaction affect their friendship and even Jason's writing?

Jason will face all of these questions and more in the sunning story Anything But Typical by Norah Raleigh Baskin. This was a fairly quick read, but when I was finished I felt like I had been exposed to far more emotion than the books nearly 200 pages should be able to allow. The author has done an amazing job of getting inside the head of a child with autism, following his unique train of thought and making this condition accessible to those of us who know little or nothing about autism.

Anything But Typical is definitely my favorite book so far for 2009. It is a beautiful story about coping with family and friends and the desperate need that all middle-schoolers have to fit in.

Overall Grade: A+

Cute Kid Quotes

Here are a couple of really great/adorable/hilarious things that I heard come out of the mouths of children at the library this week:

"Excuse me, but do you have any books here?"

"I have to wait until I grow up, and then I can learn to write my name."



Meanwhile, our Summer Reading Program has officially begun! My library has been very busy getting kids registered, and in just a couple of days we'll get to see what all of these kids have been reading since school let out. If you haven't done so already, remember to go and visit your own local public library and ask about their summer programs for kids - and for grown-ups!

The Chosen One

Kyra is not yet fourteen years old, but she has already done a number of things that would not be tolerated in the religious society where she lives. She makes regular visits outside her compound's walls to visit the Mobile Library on Wheels and read the books that are forbidden by The Prophet. She has secret clandestine meetings with Joshua, the boy who she hopes to someday marry. But despite these transgressions, Kyra is very happy living with her father, his three wives, and her twenty brothers and sisters and does not normally question the religious traditions of The Chosen Ones. All of this changes, however, when The Prophet decrees that Kyra must marry her uncle Hyram - a man who is more than 60 years old and who already has six wives. Desperate not to be forced into this unwelcome match, Kyra must make a choice. She can choose to stay close to her family and enjoy the life she has always known...or she can take a chance and strike out on her own, choosing a life for herself instead of one dictated by The Prophet and his Apostles. Neither choice will be easy, and both bring with them great dangers. Will Kyra accept the life that has been handed to her by The Chosen Ones? Or will she strike out on her own and forge her own destiny?

This was an incredibly powerful book. Author Carol Lynch Williams has done an incredible job of creating a character from a polygamist society which most readers will have little familiarity with and making it very real to the reader. Kyra is a powerful character, and the way that she is torn between the life that readers will want her to find and the life she has always known is incredibly believable. It can be very difficult to balance the moral values of the reading audience with those of characters who have very different standards, and Williams managed to do it perfectly in a way that keeps us rooting for Kyra to succeed, but also shows us how a person who has never known anything else would really feel if forced to make the choice. Parts of this book were incredibly difficult to read because of the violence and injustice that Kyra and her community face, but readers will keep turning the pages of this riveting story and emerge with feelings that match Kyra's strange combination of extreme sorrow and empowerment.

Overall Grade: A

The Girliest Book in the Library

The other day, I had what was quite possibly the funniest legitimate reference/reader's advisory question ever. A boy who seemed to be about 11 or 12 years old asked me to give him the girliest book in the library. Apparently he needed the book for a bet. I decided that while I probably didn't really want to know more about the bet it was probably mostly harmless, so I found the girliest book I could think of: A Princess Primer. This is a large pink and purple book laden with jewels that teaches young girls everything they could possibly want to know about being a princess. How much girlier can you get?

The boy agreed that the book was, indeed, very girly. But it wasn't quite what he was looking for - he wanted something closer to his own reading level. I wasn't quite sure what to make of this at first. I bought myself some thinking time by explaining that often, when girls get a little older, they're not necessarily into really girly things like princesses and ponies and fairies anymore. Then I remembered some of the really girly series that we have - things like Rainbow Magic and Tinkerbell. I took him over to the paperback spinners and we talked about some of the series that are written with girls in mind. This boy seemed pretty happy with that, so I left him to browse through these books.

About 10 or 15 minutes later, the boy came back to the desk with a big smile on his face, eager to show me his final selection. But what did he pick? Nothing that I showed him, that's for sure! The book he found came from the YA shelves, which are conveniently located near the spinners where I left him. The title? Braless in Wonderland by Debbie Reed Fischer. I'm not sure if the boy read the synopsis (the story is apparently about a girl who goes to Miami to launch her modeling career) or if he was simply taken with the title. Regardless of the reasons for his selection, this boy was clearly very proud of himself for finding such as "girly" book.

Ah, the minds of 11-year-old boys never cease to amaze me...

Jolted: Newton Starker's Rules for Survival

The bad news: Except for his spiteful great-grandmother, Newton Starker is the last of his line because of a strange curse - everyone in Newton's family has been struck by lightning and killed.

The good news: Newton has plans to ensure that he does not meet the same fate. He enrolls in in the Jerry Potts Academy of Survival, a school where the curriculum is focused around learning to take care of oneself and survive under harsh circumstances. Newton is sure that this school will be able to teach him what he needs to know to stay alive.

Between constantly checking the weather reports, making sure his kilt (the school uniform) is buckled correctly, and trying to make new friends, Newton certainly has his hands full. But will he really be able to break his family's generations-long string of bad luck? Will survival training really help, or will he need a little help from another source instead? And what does a little pig named Joséphine have to do with any of it?

The premise of this book and some of the characters are a little wonky, but it's really a lot of fun. The chapters are only a few pages long at most, making this a real page-turner as you absorb this story is short, satisfying chunks. Intermingled in this story are also sections from the Jerry Potts Survival Handbook, e-mails from Headmaster Dumont, and Newton's own list of survival rules. While I do wish that the survival school itself would have been played up more and greater descriptions of the classes included in the story by author Arthur Slade, Newton's own growth and the way he learns to accept love and friendship remain a touching focus to the narrative. And sweet little Joséphine, Newton's pet pig, will find probably find a very soft place to nestle in your heart.

Overall Grade: B+

Black and White

I've been meaning to do a post like this for a few months now, ever since it was announced that this year's Caldecott Medal was given to illustrator Beth Krommes for her work on the book The House in the Night. Often when we think of picture books, we imagine books filled with vibrant colors that will attract kids' attention. But there are lots of great books done in black and white as well! Here are just a few:

The House in the Night, written by Susan Marie Swanson and illustrated by Beth Krommes, is a cumulative rhyme (think of songs like "The Farmer in the Dell" and "There's a Hole in the Bottom of the Sea" for other example of cumulative rhymes). As the story progresses, we follow a child through the house to her bedroom and watch her open a book and journey out into the night sky on the backs of the birds that emerge from it. This is a quiet, soothing bedtime story, and the black and white illustrations, which look like woodcuts, show the darkness of the night. However, some objects (the key, a lamp, the moon) glow with golden light, shining brightly against the blackness and creating a cozy space within this house.

Overall Grade: A

Another Caldecott Medal goes to author and illustrator Kevin Henkes for his book Kitten's First Full Moon. In this story, a kitten sees the full moon for the first time. Not understanding what it is, the kitten imagines that the moon is a giant bowl of milk and sets off to find it. The intrepid kitten unfortunately can never seem to catch up to the moon, and it is always out of reach. Will she ever find her bowl of milk? The illustrations in this story are done in gouache and colored pencil, which allows some absolutely brilliant shading that shows the dark of the night along with the light of the moon. Something about the big illustrations and the use of white space on the pages with words also makes this book feel very large, just like the world that Kitten finds herself exploring. This is a very sweet picture book that makes for a soothing read-aloud.

Overall Grade: A+

Chris Van Allsburg has done a lot of great picture books over the years, many of which are done in black and white. Among my favorites of his books is Zathura, the sequel to the award-winning book Jumanji. This this story, Walter is a young boy who is fed up with his younger brother Danny. But when the two of them find the game of Jumanji and a hidden second board, the two find themselves in a wild outer space adventure filled with such challenges as evil robots and lots of trouble with gravity. Will the two be able to finish the game? These black and white illustrations are highly textured when showing the inside of Walter and Danny's house, but the sky becomes an even, milky black when showing the vastness of outer space. Unlike the other books previously mentioned, the black and white illustrations are not necessarily soothing and the textured surfaces add excitement and interest to this adventure story.

Overall Grade: A

Wings

New author Aprilynne Pike will entrance teens with her brilliant debut novel Wings. Fifteen-year-old Laurel has started her first year in a new city and at a new school. Adjusting to these different surroundings is going surprisingly well, until Laurel wakes up one day with a giant flower growing on her back. The petals are beautiful, almost like wings, but Laurel is naturally concerned about this new development. She and her new friend David run a series of simple tests and conclude that Laurel may not be human, but rather a highly developed species of plant. A trip back to Laurel's old home brings her into contact with Tamani, who reveals that Laurel is actually a faerie who was sent on a mission as a young seedling to inherit the land from her adoptive parents so that the gateway to Avalon can remain under faerie protection. Laurel must do what she can to ensure that her parents do not sell their land to the creepy Mr. Barnes, all the while balancing her growing feelings for both David and Tamani.

This book just sucked me in. It's quite a page-turner, elegant and exciting at the same time. It will easily appeal to fans of Twilight since the two books have such a similar writing style and few like elements (the blending of our modern world with the fantastic, a heroine torn between two loves). The way that science was used to support the fact that Laurel is a faerie was very well thought out, and the scenes where Laurel and David worked together to figure out what was happening to her were some of my favorites from the book. The romantic tension was brilliant, and I loved the slowly budding romance between Laurel and David. And readers, if Laurel's draw to Tamani seems a little sudden and unwarranted, just keep reading - a reason will present itself in the end!

Overall Grade: A



I'm really hoping that there's a sequel in the works. The book was wrapped up in a satisfying way, but there's enough loose ends and romantic tension that this could easily turn into a short series. I haven't been able to dig up a reliable confirmation that Pike is working on a sequel, but I'll be sure to keep my eyes open for one.

EDIT: Not four hours after I posted this review, Aprilynne Pike herself found it and left her comments! Many thanks to her for confirming that yes, there are sequels in the works for us to look forward to. Feel free to see what she had to say by reading the comments to this entry. While you're there, follow the links back to her blog to see what she has to say about writing, her family, other books and authors, and being a best-selling author.

GoodReads Widget

Hello everyone!

If you look to the right on the sidebar of this blog, you may notice that I've added something new. This widget shows the 20 books that I have most recently read. While I don't document every single book that I read on this blog, I am very, very good about keeping my GoodReads account updated, so if you're curious to see what else I've been looking at feel free to take a look. You can click on the books in the widget and see the book's page on GoodReads and even read my reviews. I don't always go into a lot of detail with these reviews, but it's usually a sentence or two explaining what I loved or didn't love about a book.

But if you read so many books, Sandy, then how do you decide which ones to talk about on this blog? Well, the process for picking books to talk about in detail isn't particularly scientific. I try to update the blog with a new book once a week, and I always try to pick books that I've read recently so that I can talk about them while they are still fresh in my mind. I usually try to pick books that stand out in my mind for whatever reason, either because I loved (or hated) it or because I thought it was truly unique in some way. Sometimes I select a book simply because I think it will be relatively easy to write about. But whatever the reason,just remember that there's a whole world of children's and teen literature out there to explore - dive in and check it out!

The Magic Thief: Stolen

Conn is a boy who isn't entirely sure of his age and has for years made his living on the streets of Wellmet picking pockets and locks. One day, he attempts to pick the pocket of Nevery, a wizard who had been banished from the city for twenty years. When Conn's quick fingers come up with Nevery's locus magicalicus - the stone that a wizard uses to focus his magic - Nevery is surprised that Conn isn't instantly killed by the stone's power. Curious, Nevery does something he's never done before and takes Conn in as his apprentice. Now Conn must work with his often difficult master to learn everything a wizard needs to know and find a locus magicalicus of his own.

Meanwhile, the level of magic present in Wellmet is quickly dropping. It soon becomes clear that without magic the city will die. Nevery is placed in charge of the investigation that will hopefully uncover the cause of this problem, but Conn instinctually knows that Nevery's conclusions aren't quite right. But what is a lowly wizard's apprentice to do about it, especially when his master won't listen and most of the other people in the city think of him as simply a gutterboy?

This is a great fantasy read, and I'd quickly recommend it to the youngest readers of Harry Potter. Author Sarah Prineas uses a lot of vivid descriptions to pull the reader into the story and has created an exciting cast of characters ranges from Benet, the hired muscle who knits and bakes, to the dutches who banished Nevery and clearly does not like magic, to the apprentice of another wizard who clearly does not have the city's interests at heart. The book is thick- just over 400 pages - but the font is large and the story is so exciting and the characters so engaging that many readers will fly through the book.

Overall Grade: A

There's also a sequel that's just recently hit stores! The Magic Thief: Lost picks up where the story left off and follows Conn's adventures as Nevery's apprentice.

Sir Walter Ralegh and the Quest for El Dorado

Have I ever mentioned how much great non-fiction is out there for children and teens? Here's an example of a really engaging piece of work that I read recently:

Written by award-winning author Marc Aronson, Sir Walter Ralegh and the Quest for El Dorado documents the life of - you guessed it - Sir Walter Ralegh. Those of you who paid attention during your English classes might remember that Sir Walter Ralegh was a great poet. Those who prefered History might recall that he sponsored England's first attempt at a colony in America, which ultimately ended in disaster. In this book, Aronson goes beyond thes traditional looks at Ralegh's life and discusses how this incredible man fits into England's history. Begining with Ralegh's lowly birth and concluding with his execution, this book describes how Ralegh constantly strove to find favor with his beloved Queen Elizabeth and would take on various roles of a soldier, poet, sponsor, and explorer to please her.

When I look back at what I knew about Sir Walter Ralegh and the time period in which he lived before reading this book and what I understand afterward, I cannot believe how much of a difference a change in perspective can make. It was fascinating to really see events such as Elizabeth I's reign and English colonization actually taking place at the same time - the connection between the two events is sometimes lost as the first is discussed in European history, which the latter is a major part of American history curricula. To help the reader make these connections, an excellent timeline can be found at the end of the book which lays out events from Ralegh's life alongside major events in English history, literature and the sciences, and The New World. Plenty of maps and paintings also enhance the text.

Definitely recommended for middle and high-school readers.

Overall Grade: A