Stacked Shelves

I read a lot of books this year. Mostly because I challenged myself on Good Reads to read 100 books this year and I wanted to meet the challenge (I did and am still reading--catching up on adult mysteries and some YA titles). A month or so ago, I was tasked with doing a presentation at a Children's Services Division workshop on 2012 releases, so I read even more. I'm reprinting the handout from that presentation here, with just a few edits and a book I've read since then. Cheating? Perhaps. Or maybe it's just a great way to cover lots of books. Fake Mustache by Tom Angleberger Lenny’s evil-genius best friend Casper (and his fake mustache) attempt to take over the world, and only Lenny and rodeo star Jodie O’Day can stop him. Recommend It? Yes. To any kid who enjoys the absurd, a crazy chase, and a good laugh. 8 and up . The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate Partially based on a true stor

I wish everyone who read and enjoyed The Help (by Kathryn Stockett) would pick up a copy of The Lions of Little Rock by Kristin Levine. That's how much attention I'd like this book to get. Levine's story takes place in 1958--a year after the events of the Little Rock Nine at Little Rock Central High School. In this book, the main characters are younger but integration is still the theme. At the start of the novel, white Marlee is 13, as is her new friend, Lizzie. Lizzie is attending Marlee's school because she is light-skinned enough to pass for white. She's soon found out, though, and when she must go back to her own school, Marlee is devastated. Marlee is exceptionally shy and hardly ever talks outside of her home, but with Lizzie she found a friend she trusted. Like The Help, The Lions of Little Rock examines how fear and racism intertwine. In The Help , many of the black women were afraid to tell their stories because they didn't want to lose their job

I don't want this blog and its infrequent postings to be negative. I want to celebrate the good books in children's literature and formulate some thoughts about why they are good. But I read Homesick by Kate Klise, an author whose books I usually like, and I'm bothered by it. So much so that I'm not sure if I can or would recommend it to kids. But maybe I read it with too much of an adult's eye or too much of a present-day eye. I'm not sure. This partial description from the book jacket sums up the book's conflict fairly well: [Benny's] mom leaves home after a fight about a mysterious splinter that is supposedly part of an important relic. Benny's dad has always liked clutter, but now, he begins hoarding everything from pizza boxes to old motorcycle parts. Have you watched any of those so-called reality shows about hoarders? Benny's dad would be a candidate for one. He saves everything. And pretty soon, their house and yard are populated b

Oh, Gary Schmidt, I am torn about your new book. You tried to do something with What Came From the Stars and it doesn’t work. That’s not to say that there were parts of this book that were beautifully written and definitely what I would expect for you (I loved Okay for Now ). But, boy, did you need an editor. There’s far too much going on in this book. First, that parallel story running in this book? You know, the battles on the distant planet. The world creation. The crazy words. To paraphrase Senator Lloyd Bentsen, Gary Schmidt, you are no J.R.R. Tolkien. I’ve read Tolkien, and you are not Tolkien Actually, the whole distant-planet story is a little too reminiscent of the tale Tolkien tells in The Silmarillion . In Tolkien’s world, the Valar (you call them Valorim) create a world for elves and men (you call them Ethelim and O’Mondin), but there’s this bad guy called Melkor (you use the name Mondus). Melkor destroys lots of things and causes the Valar to move out of Midd

Jessica Khoury’s Origin , which has gotten good reviews from journals like Kirkus , is a great gateway book. And by this I mean that it can lead librarians and teens, or teachers and teens, to a host of other books and start great discussions. I mean no disrespect to Ms. Khoury when I say that I was reminded of several other books while reading Origin . This is not to say the story is not, excuse the word, original. In some ways, it is. But it also has a little of Flowers for Algernon (by Daniel Keyes) and The House of the Scorpion (by Nancy Farmer) in it. There’s even a Romeo and Juliet- like scene near the end, and there’s a sequence of native Amazonians dancing that reminded me of Peter Pan visiting Tiger Lily’s camp (I’m sorry to say). Origin tells the story of Pia, an immortal girl. She was created through years of genetic research and lives deep in the Amazon forest, where scientists working for the Corpus conglomerate have kept her hidden (and imprisoned). Pia longs for t

Remember the old J.K. Rowling web site? The one me and hundreds (thousands?) of teens and kids (other adults?) used to pore over as we waited for the next book to come out? It opened with a picture of her desktop, and you could click on gum wrappers, paperclips, her date book and then cool things would happen. It was neat. Eighth Grade Is Making Me Sick , a new book by Jennifer Holm and illustrated by Elicia Castaldi, reminds me a lot of that site (which no longer exists, by the way). Each two-page spread is a snapshot of what’s going on in Ginny Davis’s life. The story is told entirely through photos, notes, Ginny’s poetry assignments, comic strips, and other odds and ends. It’s an interesting format and a very quick read. At first I had wished there was more to Ginny’s story--she’s a likable character—but then I realized that the form fit the function. Tweens will appreciate every last detail of Ginny’s life as they pore over each page. The story has a good arc, there's

Early in my reading of A Confusion of Princes by Garth Nix, I said, oh, this is a poor man's version of Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game --less violent, less anguishing, far simpler. And now that I've finished it, I'm going to stick to that assessment. Somewhat. That's not to say it isn't a good story or that it is a retelling of Ender's Game . It is a good story, for what it is. And it really isn't Ender's Game . For, alas, it lacks passion and dramatic conflict. Prince Khemri is one of the chosen leaders for the empire and he has been raised in isolation under special circumstances: His body and his mind have been enhanced. He is, truly, faster, smarter, and stronger than other humans. Of course, there are thousands of other "princes" just like him, especially selected to rule the empire. Once Khemri is old enough, he's put into training with other princes (and here's where the book is similar to Ender's Game ). But som