Shelly's Book Blog

I found Marcelo in the Real World, by Francisco X. Stork, to be an especially engaging and well-written story. Marcelo, a 17-year-old young man with Asperger's, is forced to spend the summer working at his father's law firm. He has been attending a private school for kids with disabilities for most of his life and has been very happy there, but his father thinks he is "better" than that and pushes Marcelo out of his comfortable, sheltered life into the messy, confusing, and very ugly "real world" so that he can learn to be more independent. Marcelo is assigned to work for Jasmine, a young woman who at first is very unhappy to have the boss's son thrust upon her rather than the assistant she had chosen herself. Then, just when Jasmine and Marcelo have learned to like one another and enjoy working together, Marcelo's father reassigns him to work for Wendell, who is a spoiled, self-centered, and manipulative creep. As the story progresses, Marcelo is faced with some terrible choices and learns some ugly truths about his father and how he has made his money. At times I was really afraid for Marcelo, thinking that he would not be able to cope, but watching him deal with the difficult situations he is placed in was inspiring. I think the world would be a much better place if there were many more people like Marcelo in it. In this story he loses some of his innocence and has to grow up, but his soul remains pure. I loved this book.

I finally decided to read Scat, by Carl Hiaasen, and I enjoyed it. It was actually very similar to Hoot and Flush, with the kids fighting to save wildlife against a big, carless, and evil corporation. This time they are trying to save a panther cub by reuniting it with its mother -- no easy task with the bumbling Drake McBride, spoiled rich guy and president of the Red Diamond Energy Corporation, shooting off his rifle and scaring the mother away. McBride hatches a scheme to steal oil from one land parcel (which he does not own) and pipe it to another (which he does own) in order to make lots of money. As in the previous two books, the kids save the day and McBride goes to jail.

The Runaway Princess, by Kate Coombs, reminded me of Jean Ferris's Once Upon a Marigold and Twice Upon a Marigold -- light, easy-going, and lots of fun to read. The runaway princess is Meg, a feisty young heroine (yes, another one -- yeah!) whose father, the king, locks in a tower for the length of a contest. The winner of this contest will get half the kingdom and her hand in marriage, but he has to slay a dragon and rid the kingdom of a witch and a group of bandits first. Kate decides that she will win the contest herself. With the help of her friends, she breaks out of the tower, finds and befriends both the dragon and the witch, but is pursued by the evil prince Vantor, who will stop at nothing to win the contest. This is a funny, lighthearted story filled with adventure and fun, and I enjoyed it very much.

The Diamond of Drury Lane, by Julia Golding, is the first of (so far) four books about Catherine (Cat) Royal, an orphan who lives in England in the late 1700's. She was taken in by a theater owner, Mr Sheridan, and has lived at the theater for many years. Cat is a smart, resourceful, and very appealing heroine, and I very much enjoyed reading about her adventures helping her friends and outsmarting her enemies. The mystery of the diamond of the title has a clever and surprising conclusion. I look forward to reading the other three books!

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate, by Jacqueline Kelly, takes place in Texas in 1899. Eleven-year-old Calpurnia, who goes by Callie Vee, would much prefer to spend her time with her naturalist grandfather, collecting specimens, investigating the natural world, and learning about science. Her mother wants her to grow up to be a proper lady, though, so she often has to practice the piano or learn domestic skills such as knitting and cooking. Callie's attempts to avoid these odious tasks are the source of much humor in the story. Callie Vee is a funny, smart, and spunky young heroine, and I quickly grew to care very much about her and her family. I will recommend this book often to both boys and girls.

Strawberry Girl, by Lois Lenski, has been on my bookshelf for years, but I had never read it. Since it won the Newbery Medal in 1946, I decided to give it a try. I found the story mildly interesting. Birdie Boyer, the main character, lives in a small back-woods type of community in Florida in the early 20th century. Her family is new to the area. Much of the plot involves conflict between the Boyer family and their neighbors, the Slaters, who have lived there a long time. The Slaters own cattle and allow them to roam free; the Boyers are farmers and need to protect their crops. The Slaters do not feed their cows, relying instead on the cows' ability to find their own food. Predictably, the cows end up taking a fancy to the Boyers' crops, and Mr. Boyer fences in his property, cutting off the cows' access to their main water source.

In the book's foreword, Lensky explains that Strawberry Girl is part of a series of books she has written about little-known regions of the U.S., and that she has written the characters' conversation in their dialect. Readers see, for example:

"Did your Pa git paid for the steer?" asked Birdie.
"Not yet. He done tole Ma and Gus and Joe and me what he's gonna git for it and he tole us what we might could buy." (p. 59)

I didn't find the dialect difficult or distracting, and I agree with Lenski that it helped me to better understand the world these characters inhabit. Still, I think some people might see it as condescending, just as people object to dialect in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. I think both Lenski and Twain saw their use of dialect as descriptive, though, rather than judgmental.

Lenski writes that her purpose was to promote understanding and acceptance of these local habits and differences. She also says that she used real stories from the region but had to soften them so they would still be appropriate for a young audience. The conflicts that arose between the Boyers' and Slaters' real-life counterparts may very well have resulted in much violence and heartache. Strawberry Girl succeeds in presenting the stress and anxiety the conflict causes both adults and children, as well as the unfortunate, even tragic, consequences of trying to settle the argument with violence. I think this is the novel's greatest strength.

Despite the unrealistic ending, where Mr. Slater reforms from a drunken, angry trouble-maker into a good Christian man, I liked the story overall. I probably will not recommend this book to young readers often, but I appreciate the historical perspective in the book, as well as the positve example of the creative problem-solving abilities of Mrs. Boyer and Mrs. Slater.

Time Quake, by Linda Buckley-Archer, is the last book in the Time Travelers trilogy. While reading what others have said about this book on goodreads.com, I noticed that many of them thought the ending was not very satisfying. I agree that the ending felt rushed and a little too convenient. However, overall I thought this book was exciting and fun to read. The idea in this story was that time travel was creating alternate time splinters, or alternate versions of history, to exist at the same time. The stress from this was resulting in "time quakes," which were kind of like storms where various time realities intermingled. It's kind of confusing, because how can anyone really make sense of the consequences of going back in time and changing history? I really like reading stories with a time travel element, though, and this one does not disappoint.

The Twilight Prisoner, by Katherine Marsh, is the sequel to The Night Tourist. In this story, Jack revisits the underworld, this time bringing a girl from his school, Cora, with him. They meet Euri, who is the ghost Jack befriended in The Night Tourist , but soon discover that getting back to the living world is not going to be easy, because the ghosts have increased their security. Their one lead is to find a ghost engineer named Viele, who may know of a way back that is not on any maps of the area. Jack, Euri, and Cora discover that Viele's haunt has been classified, however, so they must figure out how to find him. This story touched on some pretty serious themes -- death, self-acceptance, suicide, and unrequited love. However, I found the story engaging and even funny at times. This sequel nicely compliments the original story, and I enjoyed it. The ending brought closure to many story threads, but I would not be surprised by a third book, as Jack's future is still full of possibilities.

The Witch of Blackbird Pond, by Elizabeth George Speare, won the Newbery Medal in 1959. The story is set in Connecticut in 1687. When her grandfather and guardian dies, 16-yer-old Kit sails from her home in Barbados to New England to live with her aunt and her family in a Puritan community. Kit was brought up in a very different environment, one where she was free to read a variety of good books, swim in the warm ocean, and enjoy the services of slaves. In her new home, she finds that she must help her new family with difficult, menial work, leaving little time for leisure. She meets a woman who lives on the outskirts of the settlement with whom she finds a kindred spirit. This woman, however, is shunned by the rest of the community and suspected of being a witch. Her association with "the witch of Blackbird Pond" soon lands Kit in deep trouble.
There is a touch of the romance novel here, with quite a bit of time spent on figuring out which young lady will marry which eligible bachelor, so it might be one girls will enjoy more than boys. There is also much period detail, such as talk of the "water trial" in which suspected witches are put in water to see if they float or sink (witches float, while the innocent sink like a stone). I enjoyed reading this book very much.

The Prince of Underwhere, by Bruce Hale (of Chet Gecko fame), is the first half novel, half graphic novel I have seen. Twins Zeke and Stephanie, along with their neighbor Hector and Hector's cat, venture to the world of Underwhere, a place where people wear their underwear on the outside of their clothes. Potty humor abounds, including plenty of bad puns (starting with the title). Whenever the kids are in the real world, the book is written like a traditional novel, but the parts that take place in Underwhere are in graphic novel form. I read this book in one sitting and did laugh a few times, but it was not really my cup of tea. This is not to say that I object to this kind of silly humor -- I'm a huge Captain Underpants fan. It's just that this series has not yet shown the kind of originality of Dav Pilky's series. I think I'll read the other two in the series and decided how much I like the world of Underwhere then.

Things Hoped For, by Andrew Clements, is a sequel to Things Not Seen, which I read a few years back and really liked. In Things Not Seen, Robert wakes up one morning and realizes that he is totally invisible. Clements explores the fantasy of invisibility thoroughly, really delving into detail in answering the question most people have asked at some time in their lives: what would it really be like to be invisible?

Things Hoped For focuses on a new character, Gwen, who plays the violin and is living in New York City with her grandfather while she prepares for auditions to Juilliard and the Manhattan School of Music. She meets Robert (of Things Not Seen) in a coffee shop one day and they realize that they met each other at the Tanglewood music festival the previous summer. Eventually, Gwen and Robert share important secrets with each other: she that her grandfather has disappeared, and he that he was once invisible. I enjoyed the adventure these two characters shared, and my only complaint is that the book was rather short (167 pages). The story continues, though, with Robert's girlfriend's story in the next book, Things That Are.

In Alvin Ho: Allergic to Girls, School, and Other Scary Things, by Lenore Look, Alvin tells readers about his life at home and at school. He is starting second grade this year, and his brother, Calvin, is starting fourth. He also has a younger sister named Anibelly. Alvin writes about many familiar topics, such as climbing trees, playing games outside with other kids, dealing with school bullies, taking piano lessons, and getting the chicken pox. Alvin is a little different from other kids, though, because his fear affects him so much at school that he cannot speak. He tries to cope by carrying with him at all times his PDK (personal disaster kit), but his inability to speak often creates difficulties. It's a good thing he has his good friend, a girl nick-named Flea, to help him out of the tough spots.
I enjoyed this story and will recomemend it to younger kids (about grades 2-4) who like light, funny stories. Alvin has a second book out this year: Alvin Ho: Allergic to Camping, Hiking, and Other Natural Disasters.

The Case of the Missing Marquess, by Nancy Springer, is the first in the Enola Holmes mystery series. Enola is the much younger sister of the famous Sherlock Holmes, but it turns out they hardly know each other, because for the last ten of her fourteen years she has been living in the country with her mother, while he has been in London. Enola is a wonderfully smart, energetic, and irreverent heroine whom many young girls will like and admire. Also, the writing is top-notch: well paced and laced with wonderfully descriptive language.
I was intrigued with the story from the first chapter, and the ending satisfies by providing just enough suspense and excitement. I really like to read about strong, smart female characters who refuse to be outdone by their male counterparts. All the more fun, then to read about Enola in 1800's England, where her disregard for the strict gener/social rules of the time shocks and dismays her oh-so-proper older brothers. I will recommend this to middle schoolers who like a good mystery, but especially to young women who enjoy a story where "girl power" rules.

Brandon Sanderson gently spoofs the Harry Potter books with his very funny fantasy, Alcatraz versus the Evil Librarians. This book tells the story of an orphan named Alcatraz Smedry who discovers that he has a special "talent" for breaking things. Really -- his family and the others who know about the lies evil librarians have been telling for so long consider Alcatraz's habit of breaking things to be a special talent. His grandfather has a "talent" for arriving late. In fact, all the Smedry family members are revered as powerful oculators and are leaders in the effort to fight against the evil librarians' dastardly control of the world's information. What is an oculator, you ask? Evil librarians? Don't worry, all is explained, but readers will need to learn quite a bit of new vocabulary in order to follow the plot.

The story is fast-moving and exciting, but Alcatraz, who is the story teller, often interrupts the narrative with thoughts about the writing or reading process, or comments about himself. Most of these interruptions are pretty funny, but I did get annoyed with a few of them. Overall, though, I really enjoyed this book, and my 12-year-old son read it very quickly, too, which tells me he must have really liked it. I look forward to reading more of this series.

I had difficulty getting started with The Underneath, by Kathi Appelt, perhaps because I knew it was going to be a sad book, filled with pain and heartache.
It is that, but it is also quite suspenseful toward the end, and really a very good story. The main characters are three cats (a mother and her two babies) and a dog named Ranger. The four animals become a family when the cats come to live under a house in the woods that is owned by the dog's owner, Gar Face, who is a truly evil man and mistreats Ranger. Another story involves magical characters who lived in the same woods about one thousand years before, giving the reader a sense of the forest's rich history and power. The writing is poetic and beautiful -- very different from other books I have read. I would probably not recommend this books to every child because the story unfolds slowly and the reader must be very patient -- just like the 1000-year-old snake who bides her time for that many years while buried in a jar under a giant tree. For those readers willing to stay with it, though, this book pays off well in the end.

Anything But Typical, by Nora Raleigh Baskin, caught my eye as I was perusing the new books shelf at the library because I saw the word neurotypicals on the back cover. It reads, "Neurotypicals like it when you look them in the eye. Just because you are not looking at someone does not mean you are not listening." Jason Blake is a 12-year-old boy who wants to be a writer. As he tells us about his own life, we get a good sense of what it is like to live on the autism spectrum. Jason realizes that his behavior often causes people to think he is strange. The thing is, he always has as good reason for behaving the way he does; it's just that other people are not always able to see or understand those reasons.

In the story, Jason's mother takes him to Dallas, Texas to attend a Storyboard convention. Storyboard is an online social networking site for aspiring writers, and Jason has been a member of the site for about three years. He is terrified that he will have to meet one of his online friends in person there, and that she will not like him anymore once she sees him.

I really loved this book. The author seems to really understand how autism can affect a person's world view. It's great to see a well-written, engaging story about a talented, caring boy who is not only learning to cope with his difference but is also teaching others about the value of his unique way of seeing the world.

I ran across The Beasties, by William Sleator, when I was helping a patron at the library to find books about ecology. In this story, loggers' clearcutting a forest has the unintended effect of harming a strange human-like animal family knows as "the beasties," who live underground. The beasties are missing body parts -- an eye here, a nose there, and they have taken to abducting loggers and those who work with them in order to get replacement parts. It's rather grisly and more of a horror story than I expected. The writing is simple and, to my ear anyway, uninspired. I read one of Darren Shan's Cirque du Freak books a long time ago, and I was reminded of that story while reading The Beasties. Horror fans will probably love this book, but it simply was not the type of book I enjoy. I do appreciate the pro-enviromental message of the story, however. The idea that cutting down trees is akin to mutilating the members of a secret family of "beasties" may be far-fetched, but the visceral images this story invokes are still powerful.

The Declaration, by Gemma Malley, describes a dystopian civilization where most people take "longevity" drugs that allow them to live forever. In this sci-fi society of the year 2140, only people who "opt out" of taking the drugs are allowed to have children. Any child born to someone taking the drugs is deemed illegal and is sent to live at an orphanage-type institution called a surplus house. Surplus children are taught that they are totally worthless and that their very existence is a sin. Their best hope is to learn to be a "valuable asset" and work as a servant to a "legal." The main character, Anna Covey, lives in a surplus house headed by a bitter, cruel woman named Mrs. Pincent. In the beginning, Anna prides herself on following the rules and wants very much to become a valuable asset. However, things change when Peter arrives. Anna begins to see that she deserves better, and she and Peter plan to escape. From then on the story becomes very exciting. This is one I read aloud to my boys, and we are looking forward to starting the sequel, The Resistance.

Ellen Potter's Olivia Kidney is a fantasy filled with odd but wonderful characters. Reading this book, I was reminded of the Series of Unfortunate Events books, because Olivia meets many strange characters. It is also quite scary at times. For example, she faces the evil pirate Master Clive, a man known to enjoy torturing and murdering people. " 'If your daddy is lying, my sweet, I will slice off all your fingers and toes and feed them to the gulls,'" he tells one little girl in the story. Despite the cartoonish illustrations on the cover, then, this story is probably not meant for really young kids.
Olivia's dad works as a superintendent in a big apartment building, but he is not very good at his job and has been fired many times. This means, of course, that Olivia and her dad have moved often. Although being the new kid has become routine for her, it has not become any easier with practice, and Olivia is lonely. Over the course of this story, however, she discovers that she has an unusual talent that helps to alleviate some of her misery. This book is the first in a series, so I will looke forward to reading more about Olivia and her weirdly wonderful world.

I have found another gem: William Boniface's series, The Extraordinary Adventures of Ordinary Boy. I have finished Book 1: The Hero Revealed, and have also read parts of Books 2 and 3 in this series with my boys, and we have thoroughly enjoyed every minute. This is a fantasy/adventure series about a world in which everyone has some kind of superpower.
The hero of the tale is the only one who has no superpower, and thus his name, Ordinary Boy. His friends include Halogen Boy, who can glow brightly when he drinks enough apple juice; Plasma Girl, who can transform herself into goo; Stench, who is remarkably strong but must tolerate the unfortunate side effect of emitting a horrible smell when he uses his powers or gets too excited; and Melonhead, whose head is shaped like ... well, a melon, and who spits seeds whenever he talks. I really like that the author uses a rich and varied vocabulary, but kids will probably just like that the stories are very clever and extremely funny. I cannot praise these books enough -- put them up there with Harry Potter and Series of Unfortunate Events. They're that good!

I enjoyed The Neddiad: How Neddie Took the Train, Went to Hollywood, and Saved Civilization, by Daniel Pinkwater, but it's a pretty strange book. The main character is a boy named Neddie Wentworthstein, whose father made a fortune selling shoelaces during WWII. A rather mysterious shaman named Melvin (only one of his names) gives Neddie a sacred stone turtle, which is supposed to help Neddie save the world. Before he has to be a hero, though, Neddie travels by train from Chicago to Los Angeles with his family, makes new friends, and lives a pretty normal life, except for making friends with a ghost and seeing a live mammoth at the circus where his friend's father works. Pinkwater slips in quite a bit of historical information about Los Angeles in the 1940s, and about turtles and tortoises. I think quirky is a good word to describe this book. I don't think it will be everyone's cup of tea, but for those who look for stories that are warm and funny but also a little bit strange, this is a perfect choice.

Emmy and the Home for Troubled Girls, by Lynne Jonell, continues the story begun in Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat. The evil nanny, Miss Barmy, was transformed into a rat at the end of the last story, but she is not about to let that stop her from taking what she believes is rightfully hers. This sequel is every bit as delightful as its predecessor!

Emily and the Incredible Shrinking Rat, by Lynne Jonell is a light, humorous fantasy for middle graders about 10-year-old Emmy Addison, who is very rich and lives in a house that looks like a castle. The problem is that she cannot seem to make any friends at her new school. People just don't seem to even see her, and if they do they don't remember her. She soon discovers that the class pet, a rat named Raston, can speak, but only she can understand him. She also finds out that speaking English is not the only thing that makes him extraordinary.
Emmy does manage to make friends with Joe, a boy in her class, and the two kids team up with Raston and a few other friendly rodents to rid Emmy of her evil nanny, Miss Barmy. I love the names in this story, such as Mr. Herbifore, Emmy's teacher, and Mrs. Brecksniff, the housekeeper. I enjoyed the story as well, and look forward to reading Emmy and the Home for Troubled Girls next.

My boys red Where the Red Fern Grows, by Wilson Rawls, for their high school English class this semester, so I decided to read it, too. The book is about ten-year-old Billy, who lives in the Ozark mountains with his family. He works very hard for two years to raise enough money to buy two hounds. Once they are trained, he enters them in a hunting contest. The story is filled with adventure and excitement but also with sadness. I was reminded of Rascal, by Sterling North, because it is about a boy who enjoys woodland adventures with his pets. Unlike North's memoir, however, Rawl's story includes a heavy healping of religious didacticism. Rawls uses Billy and Billy's parents as vehicles for these moral lessons, which I found rather distracting and unnecessary. I also felt that the book would have been better if Rawls had somehow lost the last two chapters before he sent the manuscript to his publisher. The end of the hunting contest seemed to me a satisfying ending to the story, and I felt that the tragedy of the last two chapters was just too over-the-top. Still, I would recommend the book. It is an exciting adventure and I admired Billy's determination and independent spirit.

Since I liked Unwind, Hunger Games, and Little Brother so much, I was intrigued when Booklist created a list of Dystopian Fiction for Youth. Neptune's Children, by Bonnie Dobkin, is not on this list but it could be. The story: a terrorist group plans and carries out an act of biological terrorism which kills all the adults on earth, leaving only those younger than about 14 alive. The children who were enjoying a day at Isles of Wonder, a fabulous theme park, get organized and manage to create a decent life for themselves. However, trouble soon surfaces when the main character, Josh, begins to suspect that the leaders of this new society can no longer be trusted. The premise seems simple enough, but Dobkin digs a little deeper to explore how these children deal with the inevitable conflicts that arise in a society with no authority figures. I've put this on my list to recommend to YA reluctant readers.

The Last Olympian is the final book in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. My boys and I have enjoyed this series tremendously, and this last action-packed installment did not disappoint. In fact, reading it left me a little breathless, because there is so little down time. It's one battle after another in an all-out war between the titan Kronos, god of time, and the Olymians. Riordan provides closure to the many storylines of the series, as well. I think it's time for a Percy Jackson party at the library!

Odo, the talking raven in Avi's The Book Without Words: a Fable of Medieval Magic, often preaches to the other characters in the book by quoting proverbs such as "Live long enough, and all become orphans." These pithy sayings give the characters in the book -- and Avi's readers -- something to think about which usually serves to expand their vision of their situation and see it from a new perspective. The main character is Sybil, whom the alchemist Thorston took in off the streets. Sybil is at first just grateful to have a roof over her head and something to eat, but when Thorston dies, she and Odo find that they must discover Thorston's secrets if they are to escape the ire of the town's reeve (or Sheriff), Bashcroft, who has his own favorite saying: "The law is hard, but it is the law."

The book's epigraph, "A life unlived is like a book without words," provides the principal theme, and Avi's gothic setting and fast-moving, fantastical plot develop this idea. Readers must ponder issues such as the value and even the definition of life, loyalty, and friendship. I think this would make a great read-aloud.

A few months ago I read Shannon Hale's Book of a Thousand Days, so when I saw another of her books, Princess Academy, I decided to try it. Princess Academy was a Newbery Honor book in 2006, and I definitely agree with the committee's choice here. The smart and spunky heroine, Miri, feels left out because she is not allowed to work, as most of her village does, in the quarry mining a special stone called linder. Then her life, and the lives of many of the other girls in her village, changes drastically when she is sent to a special academy for potential princesses. Although she goes reluctantly, she soon discovers the joy of learning and even starts to hope that she will become a princess. The interplay among all the girls attending the academy explores themes of friendship, ambition, jealousy, love, and family. The story moves along nicely, while still delving deep enough into the characters' lives to make readers care about what happens to them. I enjoyed this imaginative fairy tale very much.

Lock and Key, by Sarah Dessen, was very similar to her other novels. The main character is high school senior Ruby, whose mother abandons her. Ruby tries living by herself, working her mother's delivery job and taking care of herself. This works for a while, but she is eventually found out and sent to live with her estranged sister, Cora. This is awkward at first not only for Ruby, but also for Cora and her husband, Jaime. However, Jaime and Cora turn out to be loving, caring people, and Ruby soon learns to trust and love them both. I just wish that every troubled teen's problems could be solved as neatly as Ruby's!

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer was one of those classics I had never read, so when our library received a Big Read grant for this novel, I decided to finally see for myself why it is so beloved. As I read, I laughed out loud many times. Mark Twain is such a skilled writer and humorist, I guess I was bound to enjoy this book. It was kind of strange to read in the book about adventures I had known about seemingly all my life, such as Tom's island (think Disneyland) and the scene where Tom is supposed to whitewash the fence but manages not only to get other kids to do it but to have them pay him for the "privledge".

One cannot help but become a bit nostalgic for "the good old days" when reading a classic like Tom Sawyer. I put that phrase in quotation marks for good reason, though. There was a lot of bad to the "good old days" in which this book was written. Slavery, of course, rears its ugly head even in this book of innocoent childhood adventure. I noticed that the characters seemed to be much more superstitious, too (which I think Twain was gently satirizing). Still, the focus is on Tom and Huck Finn and their rascally ways and I thoroughly enjoyed Twain's witty prose.

In The Remarkable & Very True Story of Lucy and Snowcap, by H. M. Bouwman, Lucy is a native islander and Snowcap is English, and at first they don't like each other very much. However, circumstances force them to work together to rid their magical island home of an evil that threatens them both. The story is set in 1787 on fictional islands northeast of America, but it is also based on history because the English who live on the islands arrived as shipwrecked convicts who were being transported to America to be indentured servants. The cover flap copy compares the story to The Princess Bride, and it is true that the two stories have much in common -- adventure, murder plots, etc. However, I would not have made the same comparison because Lucy and Snowcap lacks the whimsical, tongue-in-cheek humor of The Princess Bride. Lucy and Snowcap is more mystical and serious in tone. For example, the idea of men turning into stone, and the power of the "gypsy-um," or lifestone, seems to come more from a Lord of the Rings-type of mythology. In Lucy and Snowcap there is even a character known as the Gray Lady whose wisdom (and name, of course) are reminiscent of Gandalf.

I enjoyed Lucy and Snowcap in part because the two heroines are complex, imperfect young women who did the best they could in the difficult circumstances in which they found themselves. The plot moves along swiftly, yet the author makes sure that readers have a chance to get to know the characters and care about what happens to them, even if they are not all very likeable. This book is a comfortable blend of historical fiction and fantasy and I recommend it highly.

Surviving the Applewhites, by Stephanie Tolan, was a Newbery Honor book in 2003, and I've been thinking about reading it for some time. I'm glad I finally did. The whole Applewhite clan (with the exception of E.D., who is named for Edith Wharton) is eccentric, including their pet dog and parrot. Their home, which was once a farm and later a motel, is called Wit's End, and the family's children are homeschooled there at The Creative Academy. Enter bad boy Jake Semple, who has been kicked out of just about every school in North Carolina. He comes to live with the family and attend their school.

From the beginning it is clear that Jake is not really a bad kid, but the road to self-discovery that Jake travels during this story is filled with humor, and I enjoyed spending time with Jake and the Applewhites.

Chains, by Laurie Halse Anderson, is one that I've been wanting to read for some time because I enjoyed Fever 1793 so much. I was not disappointed. The novel is about a slave girl named Isabel who lives in New York during the Revolutionary War. Anderson is a YA author, but both Chains and Fever 1793 are certainly appropriate for upper-grade elementary school students, as well, especially 5th graders studying American history. In Chains, using her considerable storytelling skill, Anderson weaves fictional characters into a fascinating account of the many battles fought in and around New York in the year 1776. Readers hear about the horrible living conditions in which rebel prisoners were kept by their British guards, and about the appalling realities of slave life during that time. Isabel's intelligence, courage, and goodness make her a sympathetic character for whom readers will both weep and cheer. This is historical fiction at its best.

The Compound is S. A. Bodeen's first novel and it's a doosie. I read this in one sitting, and although I think the plot is rather far-fetched, I was willing to overlook this because I simply had to find out how the story would play out. Eli loses his twin brother, Eddy, at the beginning of the novel. Their billionaire father has built an amazing underground compound as a means of surviving in case of a nuclear war, and Eddy does not make it there in time when their father's worst fear is, in fact, realized. For six years Eli, his mother and father, and his two sisters live in the underground compound, believing they must stay there for at least 15 years before it will be safe to go above. Things get more interesting, though, when Eli discovers that his father has not been totally honest with his family. This is a great book to recommend to reluctant tween and teen readers. Others that I think relunctant tweens and teens might like include:

The Summer of the Swans is another Newbery Medal winner (1971). I read this book quickly, partly because it is not long, but also because I was anxious to find out what happens to Charlie. The two main characters are Sara and Charlie, who are brother and sister. Charlie is mentally disabled, and Sara has for many years been extremely protective of him, fending off bullies at school and generally looking after his special needs. Then one day Charlie gets up in the middle of the night and goes out looking for some swans that he and Sara had seen on a nearby lake the day before. Unfortunately, he becomes lost, and a frantic search for him begins the next morning. The is a beautifully written and touching story about love and loss, and valuing what is really important in life.

I had not read L. Frank Baum's The Wizard of Oz since I was about 13, and I was surprised by how different the book is from the movie (which I have seen more times than I can remember). For example, in the book the shoes Dorothy gets from the Wicked Witch of the East are silver, not ruby colored. Dorothy and the gang meet the good witch of the North, who is an old lady, at the beginning of the book, but they also travel near the end of the book to see Glinda the Good, who is the good witch of the South. Also, the winged monkeys only obey the Wicked Witch of the West because she possesses a charmed cap, and she can only call on them to obey her three times before her power over them is at an end. The monkeys actually help both Dorothy and Glinda, as well as the Wicked Witch of the West, before the story ends.

Before I finished reading this book, I read an opinion piece in which the author says that The Wizard of Oz is far inferior to C. S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia novels. Perhaps I was swayed by this article, but I found myself rather disappointed by The Wizard of Oz. The writing was rather simple and almost sing-song at times, such as when the Scarecrow, Tin Man, Lion, and Dorothy all recite, in turn, what they are seeking (and might not get) from the wizard (they do this more than once). At the end, Glinda turns to each character in turn, and in order, and asks where they need to go after Dorothy goes home. Perhaps this predictability gives kids a sense of order and security, but I found it tedious.

The dangers the group faces when they are traveling all seem to be resolved so easily that they are not even that interesting, really. All in all, I believe I would have been happier with a darker, scarier land of Oz. Still, I think that more people should read the book (or books, if they decide they like this world). The movie is "wonderful," but the book is a whole different experience. I think it is just meant for children younger than I had thought.

The serious subject matter of Dreamland, by Sarah Dessen, caught me off guard because I remembered her other books being pretty easy-going fare. In Dreamland, Caitlin's sister, who was supposed to have attended Yale, unexpectedly abandons her college plans and runs away from her family to go live with her boyfriend and work as an assistant on a daytime reality show. Caitlin and her parents are devastated, and Caitlin ends up in an abusive relationship with a young man who has himself been abused by his father. I've always found it very difficult to understand how women can stay in relationships where their boyfriends/husbands physically or emotionally abuse them, and the story Dessen tells here seems incredible. However, I know that Caitlin's story is all too real, so this was a disturbing book to read.

The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak, broke my heart. It took me a long time to finish this book because it is so terribly sad and sometimes I just couldn't face it. This is a book about the Holocaust, narrated by "Death," and told from the perspective of a young German girl named Liesel. Readers first meet her as she is on a train with her mother and brother. The two children are to go live with a foster family because their mother cannot afford to take care of them, but her brother dies on the train. Liesel goes to live with Rosa and Hans Hubermann. She becomes especially close to Hans, her Papa, who teaches her to read. During World War II, Liesel steals a book that survived a Nazi book burning, and when she is finally able to read it she hungers for more. She ends up becoming "the book thief," stealing books from the library of the mayor's wife.

I found that I often forgot that "Death" was narrating the story instead of an omniscient narrator. When "Death" jumped in with some personal comment about what he did or saw, it was a little jarring, and I had to remind myself of who the "my" or "I" referred to. Nevertheless, having "Death" be the narrator enriches the story by emphasizing death's pervasive presence during that time and at that place. This book was a Printz Honor Book for 2007. I can't honestly say that I enjoyed it, but I certainly admire it and feel it was worth reading.

Marked, by P. C. Cast and Kristin Cast, is the first book in the House of Night series. The fifth in the series, Hunted, was just released this month. I found this first book was a pretty good read, and I do think I'll read the second book, Betrayed, when I can get my hands on it. I have my doubts about how this series will stand up to the inevitable Twilight comparisons, though. The story is set in Oklahoma and the heroine, Zoey, is part Cherokee on her mother's side (although she learns about her Native American heritage from her maternal grandmother, rather than her mother). So far I'm thinking Harry Potter meets Twilight and not much else. Nevertheless, I have to admit I enjoyed Marked, and I think I should reserve judgmnent on the series as a whole until I've read at least one more book.

Double Helix, by Nancy Werlin, reminded me of The Adoration of Jenna Fox, because both novels explore the ethical dilemmas that accompany new technologies such as cloning and genetic manipulation. The main characters of both novels face questions about their identity and struggle to answer the questions that arise when they learn of their parents' past actions. Double Helix is the second book I've read by Nancy Werlin (Impossible was the first), and she is quickly becoming one of my favorite YA authors. I found both books compelling--the "I can't do anything else until I've finished this book" kind of read that I'm always looking for. I will definitely read more of this author's work.

Jellicoe Road, by Melina Marchetta, is the Printz Award winner for 2009. I found this novel confusing for at least the first half. I believe the author deliberately created this confusion, though, and I found that sticking with the story really paid off. The difficulty I had was with keeping the characters' names and relationships clear in my mind so that I could follow the story. There are two story lines, one from the novel's past and the second is the novel's present. The reader is able to tell which is which because the story from the past is always in italic type. However, the main character and narrator, Taylor Markham, is very confused about her past, and the author forces the reader to share that confusion with her. Like a blurry image that fades slowly into focus, though, the past and present gradually coalesce into a coherent whole as Taylor discovers important events and relationships that have shaped her into the young woman she is. This is a novel about identity, love, and loyalty, and these themes emerge within the context of an inventive and challenging narrative structure. I liked this book a lot and I can see why the Printz committee chose it as this year's winner.

Becoming Billie Holiday, by Carole Boston Weatherford, is a short biographical book about the famous singer written entirely in verse. The author used the names of some of Holliday's songs as chapter titles. This book is not long (I read it in one sitting), but it really packs a punch. The poems tell of the singer's rough childhood and the racial discrimination she fought as a performer, and the beautiful illustrations add to the haunting, viceral effect of this woman's exceptional story.

I'm still working my way through the Newbery Medal winners, and this time I read Caddie Woodlawn, by Carol Ryrie Brink. This was written in 1935, but for the most part I did not find the languge to be too dated. The one exception I noticed was that the characters (even the sympathetic ones) refer to the Native Americans as "savages." Brink based Caddie Woodlawn on the stories her grandmother told her about her childhood as a pioneer living in Wisconsin during the mid-19th century. 11-year-old Caddie is one of seven children in her family. She is a tomboy and loves to go adventuring with her two brothers, Tom (who is older) and Warren (who is younger). Her father accepts her for who she is and encourages her mother to let her "run wild" so that she will grow up to be healthy and confident. The society in which Caddie lives nevertheless expects girls and women to be ladylike, and in the end it seems as though Caddie will eventually have to conform. In the meantime, however, she has great fun, and I enjoyed reading about all of her adventures and learning more about pioneer life. This is a good one to recommend to girls in middle school.

I finished two more Newbery Medal winners: Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan (1986) and Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George (1973). Sarah, Plain and Tall is very short, really more of a short story, but beautifully written. It is about a family living on the prairie in the 19th century who have lost their wife/mother. Jacob (the father) puts an ad in the paper for a mail-order bride, and Sarah answers the ad. She comes to live with the family for one month to see how things go. Anna and Caleb, the children, like her right away and are afraid that she will miss her home in Maine too much and leave them. We discover during the narrtative that Sarah is not only "plain and tall" but also quite cabable. She gives everyone a hair cut, helps Jacob fix the roof, and drives a wagon on her own. This is a quiet story with not much conflict, but I liked seeing a strong female character and positive, warm family relationships.

Julie of the Wolves is about an Eskimo girl with two names: Miyax, her Eskimo name, and Julie, her American name. It seems appropriate that the author gives her main character two names because Miyax/Julie also has two identities that are at odds with each other throughout the story. Miyax is only thirteen but she is married to a boy named Daniel. Unhappy with her situation, Miyax runs away with the intention of going to San Francisco to live with a friend. However, Miyax becomes lost and must survive in the Alaskan wilderness on her own. George provides detailed descriptions of Eskimo survival techniques which I found very interesting. I admire people who have the know-how to live in such an inhospitable climate. Julie makes friends with a pack of wolves, and they help each other to survive. Miyax must make a choice between her two worlds at the end, and I was surprised by her decision. I liked this book, but it is not as exciting as other survival/adventure stories such as Hatchet. It is more about the culture clash in which Miyax/Julie is caught, and there are not as many edge-of-your-seat moments.

Phineas L. MacGuire . . . Erupts!, by Frances O'Roark Dowell, is the first in a series of books about 4th-grader Phineas, known as Mac. In this story, Mac and the new boy in class pair up for the 4th grade science fair and create an awesome erupting volcano. Mac considers himself a pretty astute scientist, and I understand that in the next book (Phineas L. MacGuire . . . Gets Slimed!) Mac turns his attention from chemical reactions to mold. This is a very short book (I think I read it in about 30 minutes), but it is very funny and I enjoyed it. At the back of the book readers will find instructions for doing some very simple science experiments. This seems like a great series for fans of Captain Underpants and Franny K. Stein.

Edith Nesbit (1858-1924) wrote this collection of eight short stories about dragons. I found myself really paying attention to each word as I read, and I realized that these stories would make great read-alouds. The stories just exude imagination, humor, and life. Also, Nesbit's British vocabulary and sensibilities added considerably to my enjoyment. I think my favorite was Chapter 2: "Uncle James, or the Purple Stranger." In this story, foods that we have to bake or cook, such as buns and cakes, grow on trees, while things that we grow, such as fruits and vegetables, must be prepared in the kitchen. Also, animals are all the wrong size so that children can take rides on guinea pigs and keep elephants for pets. Lots of fun!

Rascal is Sterling North's memoir about one year during his childhood spent with his pet raccoon named Rascal. In 1918 11-year-old North lived with his father in Wisconsin, his mother having died several years earlier. North loved animals, and his father allowed him to keep many as pets, including not only a Saint Bernard named Wowser but also an assortment of wild animals such as skunks, a crow, and of course, Rascal the raccoon. Rascal and young Sterling share many adventures, exploring the lakes and streams close to their home, fishing, going to the country fair, and camping together in the wilderness. North's narration is gently humorous, witty, and elegant. I was sad when this book ended. I think both boys and girls, fiction and non-fiction lovers alike, will enjoy reading this wise and beautiful story.