Many A Quaint And Curious Volume

The History of Love by Nicole Krauss

2013-07-21T04:34:00.001-07:00

Main Characters:
Leo Gursky, an old man, living in NYC. He taps on the radiator each morning to let his upstairs neighbor know he is alive. Was once in love with a girl in Poland named Alma. He wrote a book, The History of Love, about their love before he barely escapes the Holocaust.

Alma Singer, a lonely teenager who was named after a character in a book by her father, who has recently dies. Her story is a coming-of-age one.

Bird: Alma's brother

Zvi Litvinoff, the published author of The History of Love

Plot:
Multiple, sometimes unreliable, narrators. Non-linear story.

Writing: Well-written, lyrical with well-defined characters. Sometimes too hard handed and some plot points could be inferred too soon.

Themes: Loss, Identity, Loneliness

Bottom Line Thoughts: Liked it more looking back than during. Love the idea that a book can hold such a forceful potency in so many lives. At times had to force myself to pick it back up as the beauty and plan were a bit better than the execution.

Last Night At Twisted River by John Irving - Book Review

2010-04-03T12:48:00.000-07:00

John Irving has been, a long as I can remember, one of my two favorite living authors. With the death of his fellow Iowa Writer's Workshop buddy Kurt Vonnegut in 2007, he became my favorite living author. That is why this review is going to be so difficult to write.

Don’t get me wrong. I liked Last Night in Twisted River ! I really liked the larger-than-life characters Irving so perfectly crafts; I loved the nonlinear time-line, a brilliant effect when you begin a section and have to readjust to where you think you are, only to realize that you’ve landed elsewhere. Very Vonnegut, like his mentor. And I always forgive Irving’s lengthy, semi-coloned sentences; I am a bad girl there too. I adore Irving’s inimitable writing. He is a true master of the pen, able to take the most implausible premise and give it legs.

The story, as Irving's always are at their heart, is simple. A young boy accidentally kills his father's lover; they flee. The story follows the boy and father through fifty years on the run. During those fifty years, trademark Irving scenarios of the seemingly mundane are made fantastical and characters involving bears, a rugged Libertarian woodsmen, a nude parachutist, and an activist who uses her vagina to make a statement form the life of the young boy and mark the father.

It would be better to blame this review on outside factors. Maybe as I have grown older, I have become impatient or maybe, as Irving has grown in stature, his editors have dropped their pens. Either way, I would have not made it to the end had it not been for the audio version. That is such a shame because I really liked the story, liked the Irving brilliance in characters, the amazement of watching Irving crafting the obscene and random into the beautiful and essential.

Also disheartening, and allowed because of his well-warranted status, was his didactic political sermonizing. Many, most, Irving novels have an anti-war or political undertone. It was always a statement in itself that Irving’s characters lived outside of the war/politic zone that made the statement so powerful. The metafiction vein (and I really like metafiction) could have worked. Irving could have thrown in little nuances about his writing life, but this too became didactic and over-reaching.

If you love Irving, and you can slog through the overgrowth of excess words and political sermon, you can still find a great story in Last Night in Twisted River. The man is surely too loyal to find a new editor, but need one he certainly does.

Recommendation: Newbies begin with Garp or Owen or Dr. Larch & Homer. They are all amazingly crafted, tight, poignant stories of the same style and spirit, without the overindulgence.

Genre: Modern Literature / Fiction. Pages: 576.
Advisory: Read from an advanced copy via Library Thing Early Reviewers
Publisher: Random House. Date: October 2009.
ISBN-13: 978-1400063840
Buy Last Night in Twisted River HERE

John Irving was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame and won an Oscar for his screenplay of his novel, The Cider House Rules. He spends his time in both Canada and Vermont, writing and wrestling (or setting free) bears. You can read more about him and his works on his website

Where the God of Love Hangs Out by Amy Bloom - Book Review

2010-03-03T17:55:00.000-08:00

Amy Bloom is a great writer and also a psychotherapist. You will see plenty of reviews speculating that her training in the latter has given her a magic pen. This is a fallacy. A great writer has a gift; there are many who can make clear the foibles of human nature as Ms. Bloom so keenly does. They do not need a psychology degree. Bloom is a talented writer who just happens to also be a psychotherapist.

Where the God of Love Hangs Out follows a line of Amy Bloom successes, being, once again, wonderfully well-written and filled with humans grappling with life (messy, messy life). In this collection of twelve short stories, some connected – some not, the theme is not only discernible from the title, but also from the characters that "love," though they love poorly.

Bloom’s ability to create well-formed characters speaking honest dialogue is only matched by her ability to leave the true power in the unstated. This being said, Where the God of Love Hangs Out's plots tend to meander into nothingness, as our lives sometimes do, but this leaves some climaxes that never quite happen, or happen too soon.

Short stories can oftentimes be great companions at the doctor’s office or the beach or on the train, but these deserve a bit more thought. In fact, the characters are so compelling they deserve a bit more writing from Ms. Bloom. Each story could almost be continued in novel form. Though not as enjoyable for this reviewer as Away, those looking for deep character-driven observations on the essences of the human condition will not be disappointed in Where the God of Love Hangs Out.
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Genre: Short Story Fiction. Pages: 224.
This book was received as part of the Library Thing Early Reviewers program.
Publisher: Random House. Date: January 2010.
ISBN-13: 978-1400063574
BUY Where the God of Love Hangs Out HERE

Amy Bloom is the writer & producer for Lifetime Television's "State of Mind," a TV program that examines the lives of psychiatrists. She lives in Connecticut and teaches creative writing at Yale. You can learn more about her on her website.

The Lacemaker's of Glenmara by Heather Barbieri - Book Review

2009-08-22T15:14:00.000-07:00

I have two reasons for reading The Lace Makers of Glenmara, a chick lit novel that I would probably never choose. One, I long to visit Ireland. No ancestors, no stories, it is just one of my bucket list destinations. Two, I am addicted to all things crafty. Wait, I don’t actually complete any crafts, I just read tons of blogs about them and wish everyday that my Delicious bookmarked crafty folder was not mocking me. Chick lit has to be pretty meaty to hold my attention so it was a surprise that I managed to finish The Lace Makers of Glenmara in two evenings.

The premise is simple: jilted girl runs from past, ends up in smalltown Ireland, meets cute boy, makes new friends and heals. The things that make The Lace Makers of Glenmara unique are the setting (old Gaelic village) and the mixing of old-world with new. The author manages to sneak in a few lofty themes, like domestic abuse, dealing with difficult teens and even death, but for the most part the story unfolds in a predictable manner. The characters are somewhat flat and the romance could definitely use some development.

That said, readers looking for a quiet woman’s tale with more attention to setting than detail, could do worse than The Lace Makers of Glenmara.

Genre: Realistic Fiction / Chick Lit. Pages: 288.
Advisory: read from an advanced copy
Publisher: Harper. Date: June 2009.
ISBN-13: 978-0061721557
Buy The Lace Makers of Glenmara Here

Heather Barbieri is half-Irish and a descendant of a lady-in-waiting to Queen Victoria. Though her Irish roots landed in Pennsylvania, Ms. Barbieri lives in Seattle, Washington with her husband and three children. Her first book was titled Snow in July. She is currently working on her third novel. You can read more about her on her website or on her Harper author page.

Under This Unbroken Sky by Shandi Mitchell - Book Review

2009-08-22T07:23:00.000-07:00

Perhaps Shandi Mitchell best sums up the premise of her debut novel, Under This Unbroken Sky. In an interview she says it’s about, “two families consumed by the land that they yearned to possess.” Consumed is an understatement.

In 1938, Ukrainian immigrant Teodor Mykolayenko returns to the wife and five children he left behind when he was sent to prison. His sister has housed the family, though she has her own struggles with a nasty-piece-of-work husband and two children of her own. Teodor has survived far worse trials than managing the harsh Canadian prairie,
he’s a former Stalin labor camp survivor, but it will be a mixture of that harsh landscape, misunderstandings and injustices that will break him.

Told through multiple viewpoints and intermixed with fine literary touches, like sections marked by the changing seasons of the land and a recipe for borsch equating happiness with food abundance, Under This Unbroken Sky builds with a constant tension that keeps readers waiting for the gut punch, knowing it’s coming. The novel is epic in scale. It covers the range of human emotions as disputes, brutality and hardships are tempered with love, kindness and abundances. The plot will leave readers both flattened and uplifted. The characters, especially through the use of their own viewpoint, are well formed. And Ms. Mitchell rightly notes in her interview that, “the landscape... is a living, breathing character. It’s the silent witness in the novel.”

Still, Mitchell’s interview won’t tell you that Under This Unbroken Sky is a captivating, atmospheric, un-put-down-able novel that will leave you thinking about it long after the last page.

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Genre: Historical Fiction. Pages 352.
Thank You: Barnes & Noble First Look advanced copy
Publisher: Harper Collins. Date: September 2009.
ISBN:978-0061774027

Buy Under This Unbroken Sky Here

Reader's Guide from the Harper Collins Book Site

Photographs from The Canadian National Archives. Ms. Mitchell used these for inspiration:

Video Interview with Shandi Mitchell:

Shandi Mitchell is a screenwriter and filmmaker living in Nova Scotia. She has a dog and a husband. You can read more from Ms. Mitchell on her Harper Collins author page or on her website.

Undiscovered Gyrl by Allison Burnett -young adult book review from Reading Rumpus

2009-08-16T08:20:00.000-07:00

It’s so much better when you have low expectations for a novel. I didn’t really think I’d like the premise of Undiscovered Gyrl, thought it would be forced metafiction. The worst. But Undiscovered Gyrl hooked me quickly and didn’t let me go. Like a train wreck, or better yet - an accident waiting to happen, I stared, unblinking, until the last page.

Katie is 17 and (as the book jacket says) a modern-day Lolita. One minute she’s a young woman on the cusp of adulthood, struggling with growing up, boyfriends, sex and normal teen worries. The next minute she’s a seductress, cold and unapologetic in the recounting of her quests. Through her blog, we watch. We sign on each day to read her next post. We watch her unravel, sense a terrible climax coming. A train wreck. A car crash. Then, one day, she’s gone............ Continue reading the review, along with resources for teaching, on Reading Rumpus.

Evermore: The Immortals by Alyson Noel - Young adult book review from Reading Rumpus

2009-08-15T09:51:00.000-07:00

Evermore: The Immortals, begins with seventeen-year-old Ever having just lost her entire family in a horrible car accident. Now she can see people’s auras and psychically know their life story at the slightest of touch. She used to be a popular, blonde, cheerleader type, now she’s the withdrawn sulky hooded figure trying to make her way in a new school. Then, of course, she meets the boy. Damen Auguste, immortal............. Continue reading the review, along with teaching resources, on Reading Rumpus.

© 2007-2009

Cleopatra's Daughter by Michelle Moran - Book Review

2009-08-10T16:55:00.000-07:00

There are three ways of examining Cleopatra's Daughter. One might view the story as an overlooked appendage to the famous story of Marc Antony & Cleopatra. One might also marvel at the novel’s historically significant timeframe. Or finally, one can view Cleopatra's Daughter as an engrossing story of political intrigue and romance. Choose any direction; you will not be disappointed.

Cleopatra's Daughter opens as Octavian of Rome has conquered Egypt. Marc Antony and Cleopatra have committed suicide, leaving three orphaned children. Octavian decides it wise to keep the children alive for future bartering, especially in view of their being the remaining heirs to the throne of Alexander the Great. As the three children set sail for Rome, readers join the perilous journey that will follow the first-person narrator, daughter Selene, to adulthood.

Cleopatra's Daughter is one of those first rate historical fiction novels where the strong setting is merely a footnote to the story of the people. While the reader is busy falling in love with the characters, she forgets all the rich culture and historical fact, only later to contemplate the significance and wonders of an epoch in both Egyptian and Roman history.

Because it is a coming-of-age tale, Cleopatra's Daughter works for both adult and young adult readers. While Cleopatra's Daughter definitely has the chops to hold an adult readers attention, especially those of us who love historical fiction, it is the strong voice of Cleopatra's only daughter, Selene, that makes Cleopatra's Daughter an excellent choice for teens searching for a tale rich in both history and romance. The Latin and Greek wording is kept to a minimum and the author provides support with both an opening cast of characters and a glossary of terms and author’s note at the tale’s end.

Teachers in high school might well recommended this tale to students interested in the historical context of the novel or those seeking more than the supernatural love stories of late.

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Genre: Historical Fiction. Pages 448.
Thank you to Pump Up Your Book Promotion for the advanced copy
Publisher: Crown. Date: September 2009.
ISBN:978-0307409126
Buy Cleopatra's Daughter HERE

There are couple really great contests going on over on the author's website. You can enter by simply clicking here.

You can also read an excerpt HERE.

Michelle Moran's love of travel and archeology inspired her to write historical fiction. She lives in California with her husband. You can read more about her on her website.

13 reasons to use Thirteen Reasons Why - Young adult book review from Reading Rumpus

2009-08-07T10:34:00.001-07:00

There are 13 reasons to use Thirteen Reasons Why, 13 supporting resources links, 13 discussion starters, 13 story extending activities, 13 other books about teens struggles and 13 facts about the author on Reading Rumpus.

© 2007-2009

The Well and the Mine by Gin Phillips - Book Review

2009-08-05T16:34:00.000-07:00

The Well and the Mine is the story of an Alabama depression-era family told in five alternating voices. Father Albert is a hard working miner and his wife Leta is a practical mother who puts the interest of her children above all else. The story begins as youngest daughter, Tess, observes someone throwing a baby into the family well. Teen daughter Virgie soon joins Tess is trying to find out who that woman might be, while the youngest child, Jack, goes about the business of being a young boy.

Though The Well and the Mine opens with a mystery that appears to launch the plot, it’s actually the strong sense of time and place that motivates the story. The mine is a dangerous place, people are starving, racial tensions are high and women are just beginning to see a future different than their mama’s. This is a time when playing outside all day was the norm, when neighbors helped neighbors, before our throw-away culture and the sort of town – with all its hardships - that puts a nostalgic yearning in our souls.

All this praise being laid, I must warn that The Well and the Mine is a slow tale. It’s like a piece of hard candy, never really having a tootsie-pop center, yet leaving you at the end with a lingering taste. Publisher's Weekly may have noticed a “wisp of suspense,” but it’s a small wisp. I grew tired several times and had to put the book down. I didn’t quite get Tess's odd attachment to the well nor feel the dramatic pull the beginning of the story led one to anticipate.

For readers who enjoy slow southern tales of atmospheric family life or readers who enjoy stories in multiple voices, The Well and the Mine is a well-written addition to the genre. After all, it did win the 2008 Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Award.

Here's the link to a discussion guide at Penguin.

Buy The Well and the Mine Here

Thanks to Library Thing for my copy.

Author Gin Phillips is a freelance writer who lives in Birmingham, Alabama. The Well and the Mine is her first novel, but she's also working on a young adult fantasy and a mystery set in rural New Mexico. I couldn't find an author page, but there's a wiki with more info here.

© 2009

Aint Nothing But a Man by Scott Reynolds Nelson - Children's book review from Reading Rumpus

2009-08-05T01:42:00.000-07:00

Ask a kid what he wants to be when he grows up. What will you hear? Race car driver? Ballerina? Doctor? Astronaut? Historian… Huh?

In Ain't Nothing but a Man: My Quest to Find the Real John Henry, Scott Reynolds Nelson has done for historians what Indiana Jones did for archeologists. While the book appears to explain whether a real John Henry, the steel driving man of folk legend, actually existed, it slyly tells a first person story of Scott Reynolds Nelson, historian.

Reynolds’ personal quest starts as a small kernel of wonder while researching the men who built the railroads. He looks up from his computer screen and a clue pops out at him. From there, Reynolds is off to find out if there was a real John Henry.......... Continue reading the review, along with teaching resources, on Reading Rumpus.

© 2009

Sweeping Up Glass by Carolyn Wall - Book Review

2009-07-15T07:11:00.000-07:00

If the measure of a good story is the desire to turn each next page, then Sweeping Up Glass is a good story. Told in the first person by Olivia Harker, an authentic and relatable voice, and set in Southern Kentucky, in a time when segregation was a fact and civil rights had yet to be spoken of, Sweeping Up Glass is a genre straddling southern, historical, mystery that considers the wounds of hatred, the intricacies of family, and the complexity of pride, loss and redemption.

Olivia’s story begins in the present as someone has injured a wolf on her rural property. As she and her grandson Will’m contemplate the wolf’s care, the story quickly turns to past tense as Olivia recounts her life growing up with her kindhearted pap and her institutionalized mother. Olivia’s strong will propels the story through first love, unwed motherhood and depression era farm life.

The best part of Sweeping Up Glass is undeniably the voice of Olivia Harker, youthful and strong, proud and misguided. The excellently drawn setting of depression era Aurora, Kentucky adds depth to Olivia’s tale, with a mixture of sweeping rural grandeur and a provincial way of life.

Though associated to several great southern writers in early reviews, two small bumps keep Sweeping Up Glass from landing securely in the Faulkner or Flannery O’Connor arena. The present-past-present switching proves a bit ungainly, and though only briefly slowing the momentum of the telling, it keeps the story from having a fully realized tautness. Further, the ending builds to a mountainous crescendo and then flies by too quickly with a few characters in need of a fuller resolution, a few bows too neatly tied.

So small are these bumps as Sweeping Up Glass does most of what makes a southern mystery so endearing: keeps the pages moving at breakneck speed that mystery lovers need, includes a whiz-bang with a twist ending and paints a time when a small community was the whole of the world.

Recommended for lovers of the southern tale or those seeking a rural-defined mystery.

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Sweeping Up Glass will be released on August 4, 2009.

Preorder Sweeping Up Glass Here

Author's website HERE.

To read an excerpt or download a reader's guide visit the Random House
Sweeping Up Glass site HERE

Thank you to Library Thing for my advanced copy.

© 2009

Of Bees and Mist by Erick Setiawan - Book Review

2009-07-14T13:15:00.000-07:00

Assigning a genre to Of Bees and Mist is difficult. Part fable, part magical realism set in an imaginary world, Of Bees and Mist believes in fortune tellers, ghosts and mysterious occurrences while simply telling the chronicle of a family. And though basically a tale of family and marriage, Of Bees and Mist resides pleasingly close to the realm of the fantastical.

Merida grows up in a house devoid of love. Her father is distant and often cruel. His evening wanderings stir the pot of anger within Merida’s mother. Merida knows the anger originates in a fleeting memory of screams and flashing light, but no one will tell her the secrets her parents keep. A cold and angry mist surrounds Merida’s home and she soon finds warmth in the arms of the dashing, young Daniel.

But Meridia’s marriage begins with a rocky start as she quickly learns that things in Daniel’s home are little better. Meridia’s mother-in-law, Eva, rules her family with iron will and Meridia will soon have to choose between Daniel and his dysfunctional family.

While Of Bees and Mist seems a simple family saga, debut author Erick Setiawan dazzles the page with so much more. Borrowing elements of various cultures and set in a fictional land, Of Bees and Mist is filled to the brim with ambiance and imagery. There’s always something brewing just below the surface, compelling the reader forward, and hinting at a hidden purpose, a moral waiting to be mined.

Of Bees and Mist does contain a few missteps that, though not completely distracting from the telling, must be noted. Several characters are never fully developed or dropped from the tale too easily. While the story is ultimately Meridia’s, these characters were fleshed out enough to deserve a bit more closure. And though noting the tongue-lashing that might follow: the novel also thinly veils some stereotypes. There’s a wicked, money-driven gypsy named Ahab and the women seem to use spell-like behaviors to manipulate the weak men. This could be explained by the fact that Of Bees and Mist is ultimately the story of three very strong-willed women.

Certainly though, these few qualms shouldn’t distract from this debut author’s first-rate effort. Of Bees and Mist is overflowing with storybook metaphors and magic. It will delight readers who enjoy magical realism and/or modern fables. Be sure to check out the well-designed cover after finishing the tale. You’ll find all sorts of symbolic elements there. Highly recommended by this lover of speculative fiction.

Preorder Of Bees and Mist Here. It will be released on August 4, 2009.

Check out the Book's Website Here

Watch author Erick Setiawan discuss the book on Simon & Schuster HERE

Thank you to Barnes & Noble for my advanced copy.

© 2007-2009

Max Quigley, Technically Not a Bully by James Roy - Children's book review from Reading Rumpus

2009-07-13T06:09:00.000-07:00

Max Quigley, Technically Not a Bully is following a trend in children’s literature. Much like Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Dork Diaries: Tales from a Not-So-Fabulous Life (previously reviewed here), Max Quigley, Technically Not a Bully follows the hand-scribbled diary format. Not that this is a bad thing. This trendy format is especially enticing to reluctant readers and preadolescenct males, two groups in need of reading incentives. Add the convincing voice of Max Quigley to the format and you’ve got an enticing look at bullying from the bully’s point of view.

Max is an unreliable, sarcastic narrator. He thinks that just because he doesn’t physically hit anyone, he’s not really a bully. Max’s idea of a good time is picking on Triffin Nordstrom, or Nerdstrom as Max’s renamed him. But Max’s teasing goes too far causing Triffin’s mother and Max’s parents to form an alliance. Their concocted plan is twofold: educate Triffin in social skills while Max gets help with his slumping math scores. And even though Triffin may be a loner, he’s none-too-thrilled to hang with Max. This comes as a great shock to the ever-popular Max.......Continue reading the review, along with teaching resources, on Reading Rumpus.

© 2009

Road To Revolution! The Cartoon Chronicles of America by Stan Mack and Susan Champlin - Children's book review from Reading Rumpus

2009-07-12T11:03:00.000-07:00

The Road to Revolution! is the first in series of graphic novels, titled The Cartoon Chronicles of America, featuring fictional characters interacting within the specifics of American history.

Nick is a street-smart orphan-boy. Penny’s the indefatigable daughter of a Boston tavern owner. The British are everywhere, exerting their power over the colonists. Very quickly Nick and Penny are thrown into the heat of the action building up to the start of the Revolutionary War. The Old North Church lanterns, the midnight ride, the Battle at Bunker Hill as well as numerous American revolutionaries stumble through the fast-paced story.......Continue reading the review, along with teaching resources, on Reading Rumpus.

© 2009

The Blue Notebook by James A. Levine - Book Review

2009-07-11T15:09:00.000-07:00

I read The Blue Notebook in one evening. And I didn’t like it. I wanted to look away. But like any rubbernecking scene, my eyes focused on The Blue Notebook and never turned, never stopped staring at the disaster unfolding across the page.

Oh, The Blue Notebook was compelling, had a well-voiced narrator and moved swiftly. The writer did a fine job with his pen and even donated his U.S royalties to The International Center For Missing and Exploited Children, but even this fact created a wearing sadness.

The Blue Notebook is told in flashback through the first person voice of Batuk, a fifteen-year-old prostitute living in Mumbai. Batuk’s day consists of living in a nest, making sweet cakes with the various men who pay for her services and writing in a blue notebook she has managed to hide from her pimp. Batuk learned to write while hospitalized as a young girl. This was before the party her family threw for her, the one right before they sold her, before the highest bidder violently stole her nine-year-old virginity. Though based on a real prostitute the author encountered while traveling in Mumbai, The Blue Notebook is fiction.

Still, it exists. The very thought that Mumbai’s sex slave trade is real gives depth to the matter-of-fact voice of Batuk. Mumbai is a metropolis, India’s financial powerhouse, a city with vast resources and educational opportunities. How does this savage slavery still exist? How can a young girl be completely thrown away like a piece of meat?

And though I read it on vacation - when breezy summer reads are expected, Batuk’s story is so devastatingly heartbreaking, it would be a crime to look away.

*Recommended for increased awareness and readers interested in modern tragedy. Not for the weak stomached.

*Buy The Blue Notebook Here

* Thanks to Library Thing for my advanced reading copy.

© 2009

Goblins by Royce Buckingham - Children's book review from Reading Rumpus

2009-06-26T07:16:00.000-07:00

What makes a good book for teen boys? How do you get a reluctant reader invested in a story? Which factors will entice the most challenging reading student to pick up a book?

With Goblins!: An UnderEarth Adventure, author Royce Buckingham has answered some of these dilemmas.

He begins with an action-filled opener – a goblin has escaped the UnderEarth. He features identifiable protagonists - twelve-year-old Sam on the brink of juvenile delinquency and seventeen-year-old PJ, stuck in a nowhere small-town while he visits his policeman father. These two form an unlikely, but appreciable, dynamic duo as they follow the Guardians of UnderEarth on a battle to keep the goblins from finding the tunnel that leads to our world....... Continue reading the review, along with teaching resources, on Reading Rumpus.

© 2009

Confetti Girl by Diana Lopez - Children's book review from Reading Rumpus

2009-06-25T06:23:00.000-07:00

Apolonia (Lina) Flores lives in Corpus Christi, Texas with her father. She has a best friend and a would-be boyfriend. She enjoys science, playing volleyball on her middle school team and collecting socks. She’s also Mexican–American, has recently suffered the loss of her mother and grown frustrated with her widowed father who has literally, and metaphorically, buried himself in books.

Navigating the wearisome waters of change alongside Lima is her best friend Vanessa, whose recently divorced mother has developed her own coping mechanism – making confetti filled eggs called cascarones. Lima’s boyfriend isn’t immune to difficulty either. He must deal with a speech impediment and the taunting that accompanies it. Confetti Girl features characters who are all dealing with life’s struggles.

But hidden within the individual problems of the characters lies a positive message. A story filled with as much heartache as Confetti Girl might easily venture into the melancholy. It never does....... Continue reading the review, along with teaching resources, on Reading Rumpus.

© 2009

The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly - Book Review

2009-06-24T06:51:00.000-07:00

The Book of Lost Things jumps out at you. The cover art is beautiful and the premise enticing. Heaps of praise have been handed to it. And the website? Well, it's a shimmering site to behold. Yet, is that enough? Can a fancy website and a ton of praise bear out the book’s worth?

Protagonist David is a twelve-year-old boy who has recently lost his mother. If this weren’t enough, his father has remarried and the woman is pregnant. David’s father has moved them all to his new wife’s countryside home where it's safer from the German WWII bombings in London. In this respect, The Book of Lost Things begins as a fairly standard tale.

But David’s new attic bedroom has a shadow that continues to both taunt and entice. The books that have long afforded David an escape no longer captivate him. A Crooked Man seems to be beckoning, and soon David has entered a world of danger and horrors.

It is David’s entry into the world of the Crooked Man that turns The Book of Lost Things from standard to unique. Fused with both Grimm-like fairy stories and Oz-like wonders, where David must rely on his own wits to bridge the gap between child and adulthood, The Book of Lost Things begins to shimmer much like its elegantly designed cover and website.

The Book of Lost Things seems an all-out bildungsroman: David must make the arduous journey to adulthood while maneuvering through a land of sometimes-conflicting characters. His progress on the other side of the journey is marked by maturation and personal growth. And while the characters David meets seem to be pulled straight from a Grimm’s tale, they are also timelier. They are a twisted version of a Grimm tale, a more psychologically charged foil. The dual settings, WWII and the fantasy world David enters, are both dark and evil-filled places. David’s quest will be a difficult one (as are all journeys out childhood’s door) and his respect and understanding of the bookish will be his saving grace.

David’s love of books and his escape into them, both real and analogous, is the underlying theme in The Book of Lost Things. In many ways, the entire story is an ode to books. Author Connolly's own love of tales must be considerable as his familiarity is brimming. In fact, the only real flaw in the writing is the inclusion of so many references that they become somewhat distracting, causing loss of momentum as the reader pauses to reflect on the origins.

The Book of Lost Things begins with a great opening line, "Once upon a time -- for that is how all stories should begin -- there was a boy who lost his mother," but it ends with an unnecessary epilogue. Readers do not need the know the everyday nuances in adult David’s life. It detracts sorely from the magic the rest of the tale holds and muddies the poignancy of David’s quest and triumph.

Read The Book of Lost Things, because it’s a really good tale, but skip the last chapter. The luminous praise, website and cover reflect the magic that lies within its pages.

© 2009

Dork Diaries: Tales from a Not-So-Fabulous Life by Rachel Renee Russell - Children's book review from Reading Rumpus

2009-06-20T05:49:00.000-07:00

I don’t want to compare Dork Diaries: Tales from a Not-So-Fabulous Life to Diary of a Wimpy Kid. All the reviews are doing that. It’s not really fair because the only things the two books have in common are the cartoon diary format, middle school setting and engaging voice of an authentic protagonist. I always feel like comparing books is a cop-out and besides, Dork Diaries stands on its own merit.

Nikki Maxwell is an eighth grade diarist who likes art. Some days Nikki writes an excited ode to being a teen and on others a dramatic account of being a big dork. She's recently moved to a new school where fitting in just doesn't seem to be in her cards. Her diary entries are filled with mean girls, party invitations she'll never get and cute boys.

Nikki Maxwell is an every-girl and her voice is one that many middle school girls will love. They’ll understand Nikki and they’re going to love her manga/anime inspired artwork. Her self-deprecation (dork!) and middle-school worries (fitting in, parties, friends & a cute boy!) mirror their own....... Continue reading the review, along with teaching resources, on Reading Rumpus.

© 2009

Saints In Limbo by River Jordan - Book Review

2009-06-18T07:00:00.000-07:00

Saints in Limbo is the sort of novel where simply telling the premise shortchanges the story. The protagonist is an old small-town widower. The supporting cast includes a lackluster mailman, an everyday bar maid, a teen runaway and a spinster teacher. Not the sort of folks one expects to enthrall a reader. Yet, Saints in Limbo is filled with action, romance, supernatural horror and magic. Categorizing it proves near impossible. Singing its praises seems to simplify its depth.

Velma True, a recent widower, anchors her world with thread. She's afraid to wander very far from her home since her husband’s death notice arrived, nearly claiming her soul right out front at the mailbox. Since then, she uses threads anchored to her porch to get the mail or water her yard. But while the shifting sand of Vera True’s life is merely an illusion, the man who appears on Velma’s porch is not. The supernatural fellow comes bearing a birthday present for Velma, a rock with powers that will almost claim Velma’s life - which is something she’s not so certain she values any longer.

Saints in Limbo reveals Velma’s ephiphany not only through reflective, psychological back-story, but also by finding the magic still left in Velma’s everyday life. It's tempting to call Saints in Limbo magical realism, but it swerves too far from the real for that, especially once the supernatural creatures show up. There's a reluctance to assign the romance genre because the romance that evolves within the story is middling. But Velma's romance with her husband, told in flashback supernatural sequence, is bona fide. If a genre must be applied to Saints in Limbo, then sothern Gothic possibly comes closest to fit.

As Velma jumps between past and present, the supporting characters stories begin to emerge. Author River Jordan is a southern character writer, which can serve to slow the pace that the action-inducing magical rock beats forth, but it’s that building of character that grounds the story in realism and invests the reader. And even though the heart-string tugging surprise can be seen coming a mile away, it’s still poignant when the reader likes the recipients.

At story’s end, River Jordan leaves us with a message of hopefulness. Velma learns that there is both a place for remembering the past and a hope for the future, one where new chances abound. Mystical, life affirmative and affecting, Saints in Limbo is recommended for readers who enjoy magical realism, southern Gothic and character-driven stories.

Thanks to Random House's WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for my copy of Saints in Limbo

© 2009

The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams - Children's book review from Reading Rumpus

2009-06-17T06:12:00.000-07:00

Who am I to define normal? In The Chosen One, protagonist Kyra grows up in the love of a large family. Her siblings are many and close in age. Her parents are not divorced and fighting over custody or child support. She has a humble, but comfortable, home. She has a much more stable and loving environment than many students who will read The Chosen One.

Is it wrong that Kyra has so many siblings? Is it wrong that she has three mothers? Is it wrong that her parents want to protect her from the ever-growing openly sexual and violent world? Does the ‘wrong’ start when she is chosen to marry her sixty-year-old uncle? Can there be any ‘right’ in a place where woman are made especially by God to be a man’s obeying playthings? Where, exactly, does the wrong start? I cannot stop the lingering questions much as I couldn’t stop reading The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams....... Continue reading the review, along with teaching resources, on Reading Rumpus.

© 2007-2009

The Dragons of Ordinary Farm by Tad Williams & Deborah Beale - Children's book review from Reading Rumpus

2009-05-21T17:14:00.000-07:00

There’s been more than a fair amount of dragon tales for children so when I picked up The Dragons of Ordinary Farm, I wasn’t expecting much. More dragons, more dragon riders, more cute kids….. But The Dragons of Ordinary Farm has a unique premise that sets it apart from the rest. It might have been titled The Creatures of Ordinary Farm.

Tyler & Lucinda are none too thrilled to be shipped off to their long lost uncle’s farm for the summer while their mother’s off concentrating on her dating life. But Ordinary Farm is no ordinary farm and the siblings soon realize their summer will be more than just baling hay and milking cows. It seems there be dragons, and lots of other fantastical creatures, crossing over into our world from a secret portal located on Ordinary Farm....... Continue reading the review, along with teaching resources, on Reading Rumpus.

© 2009

Horrid Henry by Francesca Simon with illustrations by Tony Ross - Children's book review from Reading Rumpus

2009-05-11T04:54:00.000-07:00

Horrid Henry is HUGE. He’s all over Europe with a television series, a play and famous people like Miranda Richardson loving him up. But here, we Yanks have missed out on his mania. No so anymore! Horrid Henry has jumped the pond and if you have or teach children in the young independent reader age group, you’re going to want to check Henry out.

Make no mistake, Henry is Horrible and author Francesca Simon makes no apologies for him. It’s that unapologetic horribleness that allows the reader to escape into a world of naughty without really being naughty themselves (my favorite sort of escape!)....... Continue reading the review, along with teaching resources, on Reading Rumpus.

© 2009

Chantel's Quest by Oliver Neubert - Children's book review from Reading Rumpus

2009-04-30T21:18:00.000-07:00

Chantel's Quest: The Golden Sword has all the right pieces in place for a frolicking fantasy ride. The story begins as Chantel awakens on her twelfth birthday quickly to be told that she is the Princess of Freedom. It seems Chantel must vanquish an evil spirit bent on destruction. She will have to unearth four ancient relics, the first being a golden sword. She’ll have lots of help along the way as readers uncover a new fantastical world...... Continue reading the review on Reading Rumpus.

© 2009