REVIEW: Truce

Anyone awake yet?  If so, may I be among the first to say happy holiday!  I thought I'd celebrate the holiday with a serious (but moving) information book.

Murphy, J.  (2009).  Truce.  New York:  Scholastic Press.

0545130492

103 pages


Appetizer:  While considering the events that led up to and ended World War I, as well as the fall-out after, Murphy focuses in on December 24th and 25th, 1914, when soldiers on both sides of the war along the Western front, disobeyed their commanding officers and instead of fighting celebrated the holiday together.

Initially, Truce felt a little more textbook-y than I like my middle grade information books to feel.  While there are quite a few names and dates early on, Murphy is certain to accommodate the knowledge people had going into the war as well as the knowledge that only came long after the war had ended.

To help bring the text alive, Murphy includes a lot of first person accounts from the diaries and letters of soldiers, and a few are quoted more than once, but he doesn't follow any one for too long, which may have reduced the textbook feeling a little.  It was, however, difficult not to be emotionally stirred to chapters four and five of Truce, which share the events of late December 1914.  Murphy does an excellent job of showing how extraordinary the short-lived peace between some of the British and German soldiers was.  He also demonstrates how human all of the soldiers truly were despite propaganda and assumptions about who was right or wrong.  He describes the reluctance many soldiers showed to begin fighting again after the holiday had ended.

I like the number of photos the information book includes--mainly of soldiers in the trenches.  However, when I happened upon one of the several page spreads that didn't have any photos, it really made me pause, wondering if now would be a good time to take a break.  Chances are good, middle grade students won't want to read those pages either.

Personally, reading Truce was a very nice refresher for me.  Since I haven't extensively studied World War I since, like, the fifth grade.  Frankly, I was impressed by how much I remembered that I remembered anything about the war.


Dinner Conversation:

"On July 29, 1914, the world's peace was shattered as the artillery of Austria-Hungary began shelling the troops of the country to its south, Serbia.  What followed was like a row of dominoes falling over, as one European country after another rushed into war."

"None of these young men realized that their leaders had lied to get them to fight in a war that did not have to happen.  Nor could they know that on December 25, 1914, they would openly defy their commanding officers and meet on the battlefield in what can only be described as a Christmas miracle."

"Only those at the highest levels of government knew that the war could have been avoided."

"When these soldiers rushed to enlist, they brought with them nineteenth-century ideas of what warfare would be like.  Most men believed that battles were fought under gentlemanly (if unwritten) rules...Unfortunately, now they were using twentieth-century weapons with truly terrible destructive powers" (p. 22).

"In a few places, something remarkable took place.  Soldiers from both sides got out of their trenches and cautiously walked into No Man's Land.  Meeting in the middle, they would shake hands" (p. 61).


To Go with the Meal:

While this book (or several pages here and there) would be natural to incorporate into history lessons on the first World War, Truce could also be paired with Scott Westerfeld's Leviathan if a teacher used that book as a read aloud.

I am by no means recommending Truce as a feel good Christmas story.  Nonetheless, it would be an excellent book to incorporate at least a few chapters into a segment on World War I.  And if a teacher can negotiate it so students will be reading said chapters in mid-December, all the better.


Tasty Rating:  !!!

REVIEW: "I'm not Santa!"

Allen, J.  (2008).  "I'm not Santa!"  New York:  Hyperion Books for Children.

9781423113003


Appetizer:  On Christmas Eve, Baby Owl goes out sledding and Baby Hare mistakes the owl for Santa.  No matter what Baby Owl says, the Hare is still convinced the owl is Santa.

This is a good holiday read.  Author and illustrator Jonathan Allen does an excellent job of capturing a childlike voice for Baby Owl and Baby Hare.  This voice goes beyond just vocabulary choices, but also applies to the undying faith in Santa, the confusion over multiple Santas existing and the fact that young ones often feel like adults don't hear or believe what they say.  There were a few places where the language could been more sparse.  But since "I'm not Santa!" will most likely be read aloud by adults or older siblings, this isn't too much of a concern.

The illustrations are equally fun and childlike (although the picture book could have withstood having some more variations among the backgrounds and details of the illustrations).

I do have a question for you though, internets.  Or, more so, it's a question for Jonathan Allen and his editor.  Why did they decide to have "I'm not Santa" in quotes for the title of the picture book?  Not all of the story is in Baby Owl's voice, so I wouldn't see the need to have his voice in the title.  Is this some type of encouragement to have wee little children march around yelling "I'm not Santa!"  over and over again?  Would the title Baby Owl is not Santa! crush too many people's dreams of having a bird-shaped Santa?  I don't understand.

Internets, you must track down Jonathan Allen or someone at Hyperion to explain it to me.  Please.


Dinner Conversation:

"It was Christmas Eve, and Baby Owl had been out in the snowy woods, playing with his sled."

"I'm not Santa!" said Baby Owl.  "Don't be so silly!"

"But you are Santa!" insisted Baby Hare.  "You're wearing a red hat with fur on it.  Santa wears a hat like that."


To Go with the Meal:

A fun holiday read aloud, this picture book is particularly good to use on Christmas Eve since that's the night the book is set--and even ends with Owl listening to a book read aloud and then going to bed.

To encourage participation, a teacher could have students shout-out the repeated "I'm not Santa!" when it comes up on many pages.

This book could also help for when a young child becomes confused as to who they're seeing multiple Santas around town.  A teacher can discuss how sometimes people just look like Santa or or helping out.

There is also a teaching moment a teacher can take advantage of in "I'm not Santa!"  At one point the Baby Hare argues that the owl must be Santa because he is "big and fat like Santa."  While this is funny and cute in context, a teacher may want to remind students to choose words carefully and that words like "fat" can hurt.


Tasty Rating:  !!!

REVIEW: The Great Reindeer Rebellion

Trumbauer, L.  (2009).  The Great Reindeer Rebellion.  New York:  Sterling.

9781402744624

Appetizer:  When Santa's reindeer go on strike, he looks for replacement sleigh pullers.  But it seems reindeer may be the best animals for the job.

The Great Reindeer Rebellion follows the form of The Night Before Christmas to share the story.  It's illustrations are colorful and child-friendly, featuring a lot of animals with cute expressions.

When I first picked up The Great Reindeer Rebellion, I assumed by its size and the thickness of the pages that it was a pop-up book.  So, I was kinda disappointed when I discovered that it wasn't.  The pages are textured, with characters raised against the page.  So, young readers may want to trace the animals on each page.


Dinner Conversation:

"'Twas the week before Christmas,
and somewhere up North,
dear Santa was frantic-
he paced back and forth.

He had just heard some news
that he sure didn't like:
It seemed that the reindeer
were going on strike."


"So Santa decided,
"That's fine!  Be that way!
I'm sure I'll find others
who will pull my sleigh."


"Flamingos!" he summoned,
"It's your turn, let's go!"
And I must say your pink
looks divine in the snow."


To Go with the Meal:

The Click Clack Moo:  Cows that type of the Christmas season, The Great Reindeer Rebellion is a fun read aloud for a teacher to share with students.

For activities, a teacher could have students draw want-ads for new sleigh pullers.  Student could also vote for their favorite sleigh puller of the animals that answer the ads in the book.  A teacher could encourage young kids to call out and names the animals pictured on each page, before reading the text.

If a teacher wanted to get a lesson out of the book, a teacher could discuss treating friends (or group members) fairly and trying to talk-out problems.


Tasty Rating:  !!!

REVIEW:

A little over a week ago, author and national ambassador of young people's literature, Jon Scieszka shared the state of children's literature, more or less concluding that children's literature is kicking major bum-bum on most fronts--including in humor, graphic novels and the popularity of series like Twilight.  The article is worth checking out, especially since he makes a lot of excellent book recommendations.


But, in honor of Mister National Ambassador, I thought I'd review one of Scieszka's picturebooks that I hadn't read before:

Scieszka, J. & Smith, L.  (2007).  Cowboy & Octopus.  New York:  Viking.

9780670910588


Appetizer:  This my few but dear readers, is an EPIC 32-page, emotional, fun and angsty humorous look at an unlikely friendship between Cowboy and Octopus.

Scieszka and Smith are masters of the funny and weird.  I don't know how they do it.  Keep doing it.  Over and over again.  But through strange and unusual images and styles, repetitive language that touches on real childhood experiences, they manage to create one work of art after another.

Cowboy and Octopus is concerned with the nature of friendship, first focusing on how this odd pair became friends and how they helped, supported and even forgave one another.  While the book could easily be a read aloud for one sitting with kindergartners or first graders, the picture book can also be split up into short stories that would be perfect for kids to read individually with a teacher.  (There are some complicated words throughout the book, probably too many for wee little ones--"Octopus," "lettuce," "Halloween," etc.  AN ADULT IS NEEDED at least for the first few reads.)

Also, since I just mentioned the vocabulary, it's also worth noting that there are a few Spanish words (loco, adios, amigos).  This could either become a picturebook to use to help Spanish speakers feeling represented or as a teaching moment to help children learn a few Spanish words.  Either way, it makes me happy.


Dinner Conversation:

"Cowboy meets Octopus."

"Octopus says, "Some things work better with a friend.""

""You wanna be friends?" says Cowboy.
"Certainly," says Octopus.
So Cowboy and Octopus shake hands..."

""I cooked all my favorites just for you," says Cowboy.  "Beans and bacon, Bacon and Beans, and just plain beans...with a little bit of bacon."
"Oh my," says Octopus.
Octopus doesn't like beans.
He doesn't like bacon."


To Go with the Meal:

Aside from encouraging an enjoyment of reading, this picturebook also shows the importance of friendship and that it can develop between unlikely buddies (or even creatures!).  Plus, it gives a good idea of how to make a friend on the playground for wee little kids who are nervous about starting at preschool or kindergarten.

Speaking of friends, Scieszka and Smith have had quite the successful and extensive writing-illustrating partnership.  A teacher could just mention their partnership friendship to encourage students to read some of their other collaborations (The Stinky Cheese Man and Squids Will Be Squids being some of the most well known).  But a teacher could also share how Scieszka and Smith have both also worked on their own projects individually, how sometimes friendships work best when the friends can enjoy being alone as well as together.

In response to the story, students could create their own friendship stories using magazine cut outs to make the illustrations, following Smith's style.  They could also share all the knock-knock jokes they know, their own plans (or previous) Halloween costumes

While I firmly believe Cowboy and Octopus could appeal to both girls and boys, it would be a good book to try to encourage reluctant male readers to pick up books since cowboys and octopi could be of particular interest to them.


Tasty Rating:  !!!

REVIEW: The Book That Eats People

Perry, J.  (2009).  The Book That Eats People.  Berkeley, CA:  Tricycle Press.

1582462682


Appetizer:  This book eats people.  Within its pages readers can discover the name of the first reader the book chose to eat and how the book managed to escape the library it'd been confined in.  From there readers can follow the rest of the devastation this book has caused.  But readers should always be cautious when turning the pages.  They should make sure not to have the scent of their lunch on their finger tips.  They should never turn their back on this book.  Because this book eats people!  Ooooooh!

This books title reminded me of The Monster Book of Monsters from the Harry Potter series.  As with that series, this picturebook presents a book in a new light, as something dangerous and unstoppable.

I liked how detailed the book's illustrations were.  Signs of the book's travels were all over the book's end pages--its old check-out card from the book's time in the library or its intake photos from the Big City Prison.  I liked how well the peritextual details matched the content.  I tip my hat at you Mark Fearing, Mr. illustrator.

I think I'm going to have to learn a valuable lesson from this ravenous book.  I suppose hungry readers like Monica and I should beware!  We may encounter a book that will want to devour us back.  In this case though, I could take it.  Nom, nom, nom.  Mmmm, paper.

Bring it on books!


Dinner Conversation:

"CAUTION!
This is a book that eats people.
If you hear growling while you're reading it, stop reading, close the cover, and put something heavy on top of it."

"If you hear pages rustling, it's probably because the book smells something yummy."

"After this book ate Sammy Ruskin, his parents gave it to a library, where it sat trapped and mad, tightly shelved between The Complete Guide to the Saints and Sandwiches Through the Ages."


To Go with the Meal:

This a a good read to encourage students to develop a taste for enjoying books.  While it could be used as a read aloud, a teacher may want to leave the book out for students to page through at their own pace to get a closer look at the illustrations and end pages.

The Book That Eats People promotes the idea that books can have a bite and dangerous dimension to them.  After sharing this picture book, a teacher could share information about banned books and some of the controversies literature has caused over the centuries.

To go a creative route, after reading the book, a teacher could have students pretend to be investigative reporters and they could stage reports on the crimes the book committed.  Students could interview one another as pretend witnesses to the book's crimes.  If a teacher had the time, her or she could also have the students stage a pretend trial for the book, exploring issues of right and wrong, justice and the U.S. legal system.


Tasty Rating:  !!!

REVIEW: Last Night

Yum, H.  (2008).  Last Night.  New York:  Farrar Straus Giroux.

0374343586


Appetizer:  In this wordless picturebook, after dinner, a young girl goes to sleep.  Her teddy bear transforms into a real bear who leads her on an adventure through the woods.

The illustrations are highly stylized, done with linocut.  I felt the illustrations were almost too stylized since the details cab be hard to make out on some of the pages.  Take this page for example.

What exactly is going on here?  Are there just multiple moons in the sky, throwing off the angle of the various animals' shadows?  Are they rolling in the grass?  Has some crazy alien struck them down?  Are the girl and animals being tickled by some invisible monsters?  I can't quite tell.

But the gapped weathered look certainly does make this book stand out.  And since it may take the reader's mind a moment to make out the figures on each page, it encourages that reader to spend even more time observing the shapes and figures of the animals depicted.

I liked the sense of magic Last Night incorporates with a beloved inanimate doll turning into a real gentle bear.  It can encourage young readers to see the everyday objects around them in a new light.  That or if a child doesn't have access to this book, a reader's cousin could just inform her that bear's come to life in the night to take revenge for throwing them across the bedroom.  I haven't forgotten that you told me that story, Cousin Melissa!  That stuffed bear never came for me, but I still might come for you!!!!!


To Go with the Meal:

As with other wordless books, a teacher should encourage an emerging reader to narrate what they're seeing on each page, to make connections from page to page about what is happening.

In response to the book, a teacher could also encourage a student to recount their daydreams of adventures young kids would like to have with their imaginary friends.

To bring this book in for a lesson with older students, a teacher could have second-language learners summarize the story in the language the student is learning.  Since there is no actual text, a student is free to make their own vocabulary choices.


Tasty Rating:  !!!

REVIEW: Rhyming Dust Bunnies

Thomas, J.  (2009).  Rhyming Dust Bunnies.  New York:  Atheneum Books for Young Readers.

141697976x


Appetizer:  Dust Bunnies named Ed, Ned, Ted and...erm, Bob rhyme.  All the time.  As the dust bunnies try to think of words that rhyme, Bob often has trouble getting the right answer.  But then, he may be answering a different question, of sorts.

Crud.  I wish the dust bunnies on my floor rhymed all the time.  That or walked their own ways into my vacuum or trash.  OR both!  Is that so much to ask?  Talking, rhyming, walking dust bunnies.

Wait.

For a dust bunny to walk, talk and rhyme...they'd...they'd have to be highly evolved.  In fact, I think a rhyming dust bunny would have to be smarter that me.  *glances around my place*  They'd also out number me.  They could defeat me easily....

Few but dear readers of the internetz, I'm now afraid of my dust bunnies.  Eeeeek.

But seriously, imaginary internetz friends, I am entertained.  On a nerdy level.  Rhyming Dust Bunnies can be viewed as an instance of a prophetic individual battling the silencing force of...oh, everyone else.  (Where else have you encountered that in literature?  Politics?)  But, what's awesome about Rhyming Dust Bunnies is that this plot is achieved with so few pages and words.  And with lots of rhyming.

I do like rhyming.


Dinner Conversation:

"Hey!  What rhymes with car?"

"Far, jar, tar, look!"

"No, Bob..."Look!" does not rhyme with car!"


To Go with the Meal:

I like this book guys.  It has a lot of potential uses.  This can be a good way to introduce new readers to the weird word, "rhyme."  I say word because chances are good the wee-little children will already love to play with sounds and rhyme all on their own with very little encouragement on the part of the teacher.  Chances are good a teacher also won't have to push too much to get students to yell out words that rhyme with the vocabulary in the story.

The book could also be used to discuss what dust bunnies are, how they form and how a young child, mastering the art of grasping, can even help adults to get rid of the dust.

Since must of this picture book takes on the form of question and answer, a teacher can use this to encourage young children to speak up and answer questions in the classroom (even after they get questions wrong!)


Tasty Rating:  !!!!

Literary Feast Invite

Shel: Hello, few but dear readers!

Monica: This is your cue, guys. Dear Readers: "Hello Shel and Monica!"

It's been awhile since we've had a literary feast and it would seem we've grown famished over these past several weeks. So, we thought we'd take a big bite of Cherie Priest's young adult steampunk novel, Boneshaker.

Here's the official description from the back of the book:

"In the early days of the Civil War, rumors of gold in the frozen Klondike brought hordes of newcomers to the Pacific Northwest. Anxious to compete, Russian prospectors commissioned inventor Leviticus Blue to create a great machine that could mine through Alaska's ice. Thus was Dr. Blue's Incredible Bone-Shaking Drill Engine born.


But on it's first test run the Boneshaker went terribly awry, destroying several blocks of downtown Seattle and unearthing a subterranean vein of blight gas that turned anyone who breathed it into the living dead.


Now it is sixteen years later, and a wall has been built to enclose the devastated and toxic city. Just beyond it lives Blue's widow, Briar Wilkes. Life is hard with a ruined reputation and a teenage boy to support, but she and Ezekiel are managing. Until Ezekiel undertakes a secret crusade to rewrite history.


His quest will take him under the wall and into a city teeming with ravenous undead, air pirates, criminal overlords, and heavily armed refugees. And only Briar can bring him out alive."

Sounds intriguing. I do love tales of air pirates and ravenous undead. Even better if they're in the same book.

I personally am a huge fan of people who give long names to machines, explaining exactly what they do. "Dr. Blue's Incredible Bone-Shaking Drill Engine"? Loves it. Wants one of my own. I'll keep it in the kitchen, next to my "Really Awesome Whirring Coffee Making Electric Thing."

The fun discussion will commence a week from today, so get out and find a copy of Boneshaker 'cause we'll be talking about the first 68 pages next Saturday!

After all, nothing helps to ring in the new year like blight gas!

REVIEW: Down Down Down

Jenkins, S.  (2009).  Down Down Down:  A journey to the bottom of the sea.  Boston:  Houghton Mifflin Books for Children.

9780618966363

Appetizer:  Down Down Down shares information on a number of sea creatures that live in the deep down down downs.  To share information about the animals, the picturebook begins at the surface and dives down into the western Pacific Ocean from there, into the dark, darker and darkest deep.

This is one of those books I wish had been around when I was a kid.  Paging through this book and staring at all of the paper-cut illustrations would have taken me at least an hour.  And after I would have finished reading, I would have felt even more fascinated with oceans than I already was. I probably also would have refused to swim in an ocean, lake, swimming pool or bathtub for at least a month for fear one of the beasties had somehow found their way into the Michigan water-works.  Unlikely?  Yes.  But to my eighty-year-old brain, a likely eventuality.  Now, as an adult I'll only avoid my bathtub and sinks for a few hours.  Tops.

On an unrelated note, I am now afraid of comb jelly, oarfish and vampire squid.  Not because they pose any immediate threat to me.  But because I can be.  So there.  What beasties are you afraid of?

I liked the bright (and eventually darkly colored) illustrations, which were made of cut and torn paper.  As I read Down Down Down, I was strongly reminded of Never Stare at a Monkey, which is also an information book about many different types of animals.  It was about then that I figured out they were by the same author, Steve Jenkins.  Although, Down Down Down does include more text throughout than Never Stare at a Monkey  and is intended for a slightly older audience.  (Although both books include thorough appendices about all of the animals described)

As I was going through the book, however, I did wish that Jenkins had included notes about the size of all the animals included (some of this information was mentioned in the appendix).  At first, seeing some of the creatures side-by-side in the dark zone and lower zones made me assume that the cut-paper images were true to scale (I don't know why, a shark is featured on one of the first pages.  It was clearly, not shown to scale).  And size has a direct influence on how much some of these beasties will freak me out, so I wanted that information right away.


Exercises to Go with the Meal:

This is a good book to put in a student's hand when they have to write a report on an interesting topic or on something related to the ocean.  An elementary student could pick an animal to research further.  Students could also make food webs based on the information in this picturebook.

This book could also provoke a lesson on systems of measurement (both distance and temperature), since each page tracks the narrative's descent down down down all 35,838 feet (10,923 meters) to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.


Dinner Conversation:

"We have explored only a small fraction of the oceans.  In fact, more humans have walked on the moon than have visited the deepest spot in the sea."

"Here, just above the surface of the western Pacific Ocean, the air is warm.  Below us gentle swells move across the water.  It's calm now, but during a storm powerful winds can churn the surface into mountainous waves."

"At a depth of just 33 feet (10 meters), the sunlight is already beginning to fade.  The pressure is increasing."

"From here on down, there is not enough light for plants to survive--only animals live below this depth."

"Because the ocean is so large and so many animals live here, bioluminescence is the most common form of animal communication on earth."


Tasty Rating:  !!!

REVIEW: The Raging Quiet

Jordan, S. (1999) The Raging Quiet. New York: Simon & Schuster.

0689870043

368 pages.

Appetizer: Sixteen-year-old Marnie, married to a man twice her age in order to save her family, is left abruptly widowed and abandoned in the remote fishing village of Torcurra. She befriends the local madman and discovers that, far from being insane, Raven is simply deaf. All too soon, though, her intolerant neighbors notice the positive changes in Raven... and accuse Marnie of being a witch.

I've been wanting to review this book for ages, guys, because it's one of my absolute favorites of *all time*. (Shh. Don't tell Redwall.) I'm a sucker for historical romances in the first place, but when you throw in a brilliant and stubborn protagonist like Marnie, an attractive and mysterious "madman," and pages upon pages of delicious descriptions of windswept cliffs and pounding surf... well, I'm hooked! Plus, listen to this first line: "The afternoon Marnie came to Torcurra, the villagers were whipping the devils out of a mad boy." How can you not immediately want to read it!?

Marnie develops a type of sign language to communicate with Raven, after she discovers that he doesn't understand her when she speaks. It's fascinating to watch this language evolve. They start off clunky and stilted -- Me, you, drink -- and end up so complex you forget they're signing. (Do you want me to get you warm water, and you can wash? Your face is black, your hair is like an old woman's, from the dirt.) As their language evolves, so too does their relationship. Marnie, always courageous, manages to rise above the fear her marriage (and the neighbors) have instilled in her. Raven is transformed, from a scared and beaten boy who quite probably wouldn't have lived to twenty, to a confident and loving man. Of course, there's some drama before the two of them can get to that point.

Just like any great book, there are some risky topics, so be prepared. Marnie is legally married to Isake, but for all intents and purposes what happens between them is rape. (I don't care how nice he might seem, and how many descriptions of his "laughing eyes" we get to read. No means no, sir.) There's also torture, vivid nightmares, and a good old fashioned Witch Trial filled with all the chaos and pain that one would expect. And let's not forget the inherent creepiness of Marnie being married to someone who reflects, lustfully, that she's "Younger than [his] last daughter." Yick.

Rise above the difficult parts of the book, though, and read The Raging Quiet. I cannot recommend it strongly enough. Jordan writes as though she is watching the events unfold in front of her -- and describes things so well that you'll think you're trapped in Torcurra too, amidst the peat fires and suspicious neighbors and branding irons. If Shel had given me more than five exclamation points to use as a rating system, believe me, I'd use every possible one.

Dinner Conversation:

"Fool, fool, Marnie Isherwood!" she said as she sat by the fire and rubbed furiously at her wet hair with a cloth. "Fool, to get him all inspired, and then to stop! He'll always be a step ahead, wanting another word, while you shilly-shall about and drive him half made with impatience! You'll drive yourself mad as well, trying to keep up with him! You'll always come up against that great silence of his, and all the trying in the world won't make a road across it. You're a fool to think you could, Marnie. A flaming fool." (P. 82)

"I want to talk to you!" she shouted. They both were shaking, their faces and hands blue with the cold.
Go away! he signed. You are like the whip on my back.
He ran on, and she stared after him, anguished.
Above the sea huge clouds were banking up, and the sun vanished and a violent wind was lashing the waves to white. (P. 177)

"Why are you so stubborn, father?"
"Me, stubborn?" cried Father Brannan, nearly choking on his pudding. "Listen to who's talking! The most mulish, argumentative, contrary woman I ever met! And you call me stubborn!"
"Call me any more names, father, and I'll take away your pudding."
"In that case, I'll eat my words, along with my plum pie. I do apologize. I was speaking from the depths of mortification and shock." (P. 234)

Tasty Rating: !!!!!

If you thought this was delicious, try:

Jackaroo by Cynthia Voigt
Another classic historical novel with lots of romance and adventure thrown into the mix, it's a book that will stick with you long after you finish the last page.

REVIEW: The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things

Mackler, C.  (2003).  The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things.  Cambridge, MA:  Candlewick Press.

0763620912

244 pages.


Appetizer:  The aptly named 15-year-old Virginia Shreves doesn't feel like she belongs to her family.  They are all thin, successful brunettes and Gin is a "chubby" blonde who can't seem to figure out the French language.  She develops a Fat Girl Code of Conduct to guide her through getting attention from another sophomore named Froggy (and no, Froggy is not a nickname.  That's his actual name).  As Gin struggles to try to make her mother proud of her, she begins to realize that maybe she should have different goals, when her dad receives a bad news phone call about her brother.

Okay, I've been meaning to read this book for several years now.  As I mentioned at one point, I really loved Vegan Virgin Valentine when I read it, and so I've been meaning to explore more of Mackler's writing for some time.  Deciding to go through some of the ALA award winner and honor books over the next month in preparation for the announcement of the new winners, seemed like an excellent reason to pick up The Earth, My Butt and Other Big Round Things, a Printz winner.

(By the way, the award announcements will be broadcast through the internetz on January 18th from...here.  I plan to tune in--and then immediately order as many of the winners as I can afford from Amazon!  I'm just hoping this year I will have actually read some of the books! *crosses fingers and hopes all this work for the blog pays off*)

I have to say, The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things wasn't quite what I had expected.  I knew it would involve a teenage girl dealing with her body image, but I'd also expected the story to be on the light, humorous, romantic comedy side of things, mainly because that's what Vegan Virgin Valentine was like.  And don't get me wrong, there's a lot of humor, lightness and a bit of romance here, but there's a lot of serious stuff going on too.

The most humorous part for me was within the first few pages when Gin is having an awkward, unromantic and very realistic make-out session with Froggy, who's trying to inch his way to second base for the first time.

What surprised me was that The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things is essentially the quintessential young adult novel.  It includes mortification a la peers, teenage rebellion, hypocritical adults, questioning of long-held beliefs, a bit of sexual experimentation and on and on.

It also includes some of the standards for the YA problem novel--date rape, eating disorders and a reassuring teacher figure as well as multiple solutions to the issues (with sometimes vaguely teachy observations from characters).  I liked the way Mackler addressed these issues.  In terms of the characters with weight loss or eating order issues, Mackler presents solutions without body issues taking over or becoming a dramatic cautionary tale (you know the kind of tale I mean, with someone tragically hospitalized, dying because of their bad decisions).

*Spoiler for mid-way through the book* I also found the way Mackler describes date rape as a topic particularly interesting.  Virginia's older brother, who she's always admired is accused of date rape at his college.  While Byron is depressed by being suspended from Columbia  I liked that Mackler shared this issue from the point of view of a date-rapist's sister.  So, often stories about issues like this are shared solely from the victim's perspective.  It was refreshing (as much as books that explore rape can make you want to take a deep breath of cool air) to read about this type of trauma from a new perspective, to see the turmoil that a family member of the rapist can go through, and to see how it impacts her perception of and relationship with her brother.  *End book spoiler*

Also, Mackler has a new book, Tangled, coming out on December 29th.  I may have to check that out down the road....

(Although, as one of my many sidenotes, dear readers,--if you've stuck with me this long, I'm guessing you'll stay with me a little longer--I have to say I'm a little disappointed by the title of Tangled.  In the past, Mackler's given us, The Earth, My Butt and Other Big Round Things, Vegan Virgin Valentine, Guyaholic, Love and Other Four-Letter Words...Tangled seems to fall a little short, as her titles go.


Dinner Conversation:

"Froggy Welsh the Fourth is trying to get up my shirt.
This is the third Monday that he's come over to my apartment after school.  Each week we go a little further, and today, on September twenty-third at 3:17 P.M., he's begun inching his fingers across my stomach and toward my bra" (p. 1).

"It's not like Froggy Welsh the Fourth is a huge catch.  First of all, there's his name.  Not a nickname for Frank or Frederick or even Frog.  I'm still shocked that his great-great-grandparents named a son Froggy.  But what astounds me to no end is that three subsequent generations decided to follow suit" (p. 2).

"And I know that my beautiful, slim, brown-haired family wonders how they wound up with a daughter who has dishwater blond hair, pale blue eyes, a roundish face, and a larger-than-average body.
OK, fat.
Not fat fat.  More like chubby fat.
Enough so I'm picked last in gym if the activity has anything to do with running, climbing ropes, or propelling oneself over a horse.  Enough so I've heard people refer to me as plump, as if being likened to a vine-ripe tomato is some kind of compliment.  Enough so family friends, upon comparing me to my skinny siblings, raise their eyebrows as high as McDonald's golden arches.
That's the most frustrating thing.  I can't even blame it on genetics" (p. 16).

"Doesn't his sister go to Brewster?" Brinna asks.
"Yeah," says Briar.  "Virginia."
"Virginia who?" asks Brie.
Ouch.  I know Brie and I reside in different universes, but still.  We've been going to Brewster since sixth grade.  And we're in three classes together, for god's sake.
"Virginia Shreves," says Briar, cracking up.  "That chubby girl."
"No way!" Brie shrieks.  "I never knew they were related."
"Of course they are, " says Briar.  "It's not like Shreves is a common last name."
I bite down on the flesh inside my cheeks.  That chubby girl. 
After a moment Brie says, "All I can say is, if I were that fat, I'd kill myself" (pp. 25-26).


To Go with the Meal:

This is an excellent book to use to trigger discussions.  Virginia's relationship with her mother (a supposed genius when it comes to understanding the minds of adolescents) is more than a bit strained.  A mother and daughter could choose to read The Earth, My Butt and Other big Round Things to help open up honest communication in their own relationship.

It can be used in literature circles to discuss standards of beauty, body image, nutrition and exercise, date rape, teenage drinking, the way people often try to hide aspects of themselves or make things seem better than they actually are etc.

The book also makes a lot of references to many other books, so a teacher could use this as a gateway to those other authors and books, including Anais Nin, Lord Buryon, Virginia Woolf, The Scarlet Letter, One Hundred Years of Solitude, It's Perfectly Normal, among others.


Tasty Rating:  !!!!

REVIEW: Tyrannosaurus Drip

Donaldson, J.  (2007).  Tyrannosaurus Drip.  New York:  Feiwel and Friends.

0312377479

Appetizer:  A duckbill dinosaur egg is stolen from its nest and falls into the nest of two mean Tyrannosauruses--who have always hungered for the taste of a duckbill dinosaur.  Not the smartest dinosaurs ever, the tyrannosauruses don't realize the strange looking dinosaur hatching could be another type of dino.  As the Duckbill dinosaur begins to grow, he is nicknamed Tyrannosaurus Drip by his adopted family and teased for all of his differences.  Once Tyrannosaurus finds his rightful place

My friends, I was greatly entertained by this book.  Greatly entertained!  I thought the rhyming worked well and there was a lot of humor.  I found that the illustrations matched the text in humor and also included a lot of curves and swirly patterns.

I wasn't a particularly big fan of the ending though.  While the Tyrannosauruses are painted as being pretty much vile, I tended to just view them as...how shall I say...having different ideals than those of the Duckbill dinosaurs of the world.  So, when *slight spoiler* the Tyrannosauruses have a unhappy end in the story, I didn't really feel it was deserved.  The tyrannosauruses were just doing what was in their nature.


Dinner Conversation:

"In a prehistoric river in a prehistoric swamp,
Lived a herd of duckbill dinosaurs who liked to stand and chomp."

"But the two Tyrannosauruses, so grisly, mean and grim,
Couldn't catch the duckbill dinosaurs because the couldn't swim.
And they muttered, "Down with water!" and they muttered, "Down with wet!"
And they muttered, "What a shame that bridges aren't invented yet."

"The duckbill egg went rolling, and at last it came to rest
In--of all unlikely places--the Tyrannosaurus nest."


To Go with the Meal:

This story will naturally appeal to any child who doesn't feel like they belong to their family.  Where the tyrannosauruses eat meat, the new duckbill baby prefers plants and likes the thought of not having to hunt.  The brother and sister tyrannosauruses naturally turn to calling the "ugly ducking" Tyrannosaurus Drip.  So, the book could also address problems of name calling either among siblings or in a classroom.

I like the theme of finding a place where Tyrannosaurus Drip can belong.  This would be great to reinforce with young students who often feel excluded at some time or another.

A teacher could also draw out the parallel's this story has to Andersen's The Ugly Duckling and could have students make comparisons are create their own "outsider animal" story.


Tasty Rating:  !!!

REVIEW: Food Hates You, Too

Weinstock, R.  (2009).  Food Hates You, Too and Other Poems.  New York:  Hyperion Books.

9781423113911

Appetizer:  Robert Weinstock includes 19 poems about troublesome foods in this collection.  The carnival food turns and twists in attendees' stomachs, potential meals eat one another and, it turns out, food hates you too.

Since many of the poems have fun or humorously dark twists (as with the poem "Toast"), I was strongly reminded of some of the poems by Shel Silverstein.  There is also some intertextuality, with references to fairy tales and a page illustrated in the fashion of Goodnight Moon:

As you can see, the illustrations are fun and colorful.  I particularly liked the front end pages which featured a piece of broccoli stating, "This Bites!"  (Although, some adults may take offense to the thought that some kids might take up that phrase)

The last poem, "Food for Thought" also seems designed to win over teachers and librarians, since it encourages the reader to think of reading as food for the mind.


Dinner Conversation:

"Ferris-wheeling is appealing
when your stomach isn't feeling
corndog-whirling, taffy-twirling,
cotton-candy-heaving, hurling,"

"If everyone hates different food,
Then couldn't it be true
That creamed chipped beef dislikes Gertrude,
And liver gags on Lou?"

"I ate your father.  Yes, it's true.
That's what we praying mantis do."


To Go with the Meal:

Students could write their own food poems (and create illustrations to go with them) to write back at the book.  Students could focus on writing about their least favorite foods, a topic most children have no problem discussing.

Since the title poem, "Food Hates You, Too" incorporates people's names, as in "deli Meats balk at Brigittes," students can follow this example and can construct a class poem (about food or another subject) that incorporates all of the names of the class members.  Also, based off of the poem "Monday," students could write poems exploring what they eat each day of the week (which could then lead into a teaching moment on nutrition).

This is also a good book to share with young children who seem to hate any and every possible food.  Food Hates You, Too shows many traditionally hated foods in a fun light and has the general encouraging message of giving all foods a chance.


Tasty Rating:  !!!

REVIEW: Things Not Seen

Clements, A. (2002) Things Not Seen New York: Philomel.

0-439-53106-3

251 pages

Appetizer: Bobby wakes up one cold Tuesday morning to discover that he has turned invisible during the night. How will he regain visibility? How will he survive in a world that can't see him? How will he get the girl!?

I know, friends, this is an older book -- but think of it as An Oldie But A Goodie. Plus, it was written by Andrew Clement, who became my best friend the moment he wrote Frindle and convinced me that I too have a chance to wiggle my way into the dictionary, if I just think up a neat enough word. Still working on that.

Things Not Seen is pure fun from the first page to the last. Clements has written a main character so realistic that the plot falls in line behind him, and each increasingly implausible page seems... possible. Bobby navigates through his surroundings untouched by anyone ("Me and John Wayne, we're men of action.") but able to see those around him for who they really are. This serves him in good stead when he meets the smart, cute, well-read and tech-savvy Alicia. She's coincidentally blind, which helps smooth over the initial awkwardness that always crops up when one member of a party is see-through. Bobby struggles with parents who don't understand him (and who really wish that Child Protective Services wasn't accusing them of hurting their "missing" son), with girl problems (Alicia's parents are understandably upset with their blind daughter dating an invisible boy) and with frostbite. What? It's February, and Bobby spends an alarming amount of time in the nude. It's hard to sneak when you're nothing but a floating set of clothes, after all.

I love this book. It's well-written and interesting, barrels along to a satisfying conclusion, and Clements throws in enough technobabble that you find yourself nodding along to theories of how accelerated solar fields and magnetic particles cause people to vanish. In between the adventure and the romance, too, you have the drama of poor Bobby cycling through stages of anger and denial as he begins to accept the fact that he may never be Seen again.

Plus, let's be honest. We've all felt invisible at one time or another -- even you, super popular high school cheerleader. It's gratifying, then, to see someone work their way through the perils of invisibility before fighting their way back to the world. (Oops -- spoiler?!)

Dinner Conversation:

Dad watches as I float forkfuls of rubbery eggs up to my mouth. So does Mom. And I'm watching, too. It's a good show: Bobby and His Disappearing Breakfast, now appearing on the Big Screen of Life in the Kitchen of the Weird. (p. 5)

She's having trouble breathing. Then the first words. "So... you're, you're really--"
"Yeah," I say. "Invisible."
Then she finishes her sentence. "--naked?" (p. 90)

I know my mom swears once in a while. Like if she burns her hand on a pan, or if her computer freezes when she's trying to print something. But when that social worker and the cops leave the house, Mom cuts loose. The A word? She shouts it. The B word? Mom shakes her fist and hisses that one. She stomps around the first floor of the house, legs stiff, face red, and she works her way through the entire alphabet of swear words, including some stuff I've never heard anyone say before. (p. 130)

And I'm alone in my room. Alone. Mom and Dad are down there, spoons clinking on their bowls, ladling out soup for their uninvited dinner guest, their fellow conspirator. And I'm alone. (p. 221)

Tasty Rating: !!!!

If you thought this was delicious, try:
Things Hoped For by Andrew Clement
In this sort-of-sequel, Bobby hangs out in the background while new character Gwen takes center stage. You'll like Gwen, I promise. With her, the word "awesome" comes to mind.

REVIEW: Brightly Woven

Bracken, A.  (2010).  Brightly Woven.  New York:  Egmont.

9781606840382

354 pages


Appetizer:  The king is dead and many don't want to see his young queen rule the country in his place.  While the affairs of royalty seem far removed from 16-year-old Sydelle Mirabil's family on the west side of the country, she becomes entangled in the questionable future of the kingdom when a wizard named North makes Syd accompany him in a cross-country journey to find out what really happened to the king.  As they travel, Syd begins to learn of her own power through her weaving and begins to suspect that North may be keeping secrets from her.

Brightly Woven kinda reminded me of The Hunger Games.  Not because of the content (of course both do include strong female protagonists AND interesting love interests...but that's not the direction I was going with this ramble...so stay with me here).  But as I read, I was sucked in to the book because of Sydelle's strength, humor and relatability as a character.  The same thing happened to me with Katniss.  I liked the way she interacted with and held her own with North.

Part of what made Syd particularly interesting as a female character is the fact that a lot of her power and freedom comes through her weaving, a traditionally female job.  A reader could very easily become interested in learning more about weaving based on Syd's story.

I liked the banter between Syd and the wizard North.  I also liked the pace of the book.  The plot went some places that I didn't expect it to which was a good surprise.  (Although, a few times that a new minor character was introduced and I would miss a the specifics of the introduction, so I'd have to go back a few pages and skim for the details of how they were again.  While some out there might argue that I merely wasn't paying attention, I think the fact that it happened a few times may hint at it being a part of the writing and therefore worth a mention here.  Anyone?  Anyone else in the internetz hace that problem?  Hello?)

On an only slightly related note, Egmont is a new baby of a publishing house.  This is the first of their books that I've gotten my hands on.  So far, I have to say Egmont is off to a good start.  Not that they care much about what I have to say.  But I'm content to shout toward the empty spaces of the internet.  It's just like when I ramble to myself. That happens a lot.

Alas, Brightly Woven will not be available until March 2010.  But, it is one I recommend looking out far.  In the meantime, you can follow Alexandra Bracken on Twitter.  she often tweets about the publishing world, Egmont and Harry Potter.


Dinner Conversation:

"The day the rains finally came was like any other, with blistering air coating the canyon in a heavy stillness.  By late afternoon, the only thing more suffocating that the air was the dust kicked up by our feet.  We were as quiet as the dead, moving from rock to crevice, always watching the paths for a sign of movement" (p. 1).

"I watched him out of the corner of my eye, studying him as I would a book or drawing.  How could I not?  He was the only wizard I'd ever seen--in all likelihood, the only wizard I ever would see.  It seemed so strange to have him look so ordinary.  After all the stories I'd read about their adventures and magic, I never expected them to look like any man or woman" (p. 16).

"I offered Mr. North a reward for breaking the drought," my father explained, "and he's chosen you.  Do you understand?"
I was the one crying now, and I couldn't tell my anger from my fear" (p. 24).

"Do you know what this wench just accused me of being?"
"A filthy pig," North said good-naturedly.  "But there's only one filthy pig allowed in her life, and the position's been filled" (p. 44).

"Are...you saying I have [a] magical ability?" I asked carefully.
"Magic is inherited through families," he said.  "You may have had a wizard in your family, but it was a long time ago.  What power you have in you is weak and useless."
"No useless," I said, giving him a hard look.  "Not entirely" (p. 60).

"Outside, Owain did mot of the talking.  He told me how he and North had met--an almost brawl when they had both been out of their minds with drunkenness--and went into even greater detail about the beautiful, fair-haired Vesta.  It took me several minutes to work out that Vesta was a horse, and Owain was possibly in love with her" (p. 78).


To Go with the Meal:

This is an excellent YA fantasy recommendation.  I love that Syd is such a strong protagonist--one of those relatable and inspiring female-types that feminists like me can wander around, ranting about being a good character to encourage girls to look up to.

Although probably not my first choice for a whole class to read, this would be a good book to give to a student who may be nervous about going off to college.  Throughout the story, Syd is very concerned with leaving behind the only home she has ever known.  While she looks forward to escaping her small drought-ridden village, on her journey she often feels homesick and sees the features of her parents in the faces of the people she meets.  Syd also learns that some of the cities she'd dreamed of seeing were in fact not as impressive as she imagined.

Also, later in the text the way the conflict between two countries is described and the fact that some of the conflict originates in differences of religion, a teacher could try to draw out articles of that part of Brightly Woven as an allegory for real-world conflicts.


Tasty Rating:  !!!!


P.S.  I received an advanced reader copy of Brightly Woven through onearctours.blogspot.com.  Another blogger sent the book to me and I have since sent it off to yet another blogger on the book tour.