GET YOUR SUGGESTIONS IN FOR JUNE!

What do you want to read for June?

Is anyone up for some nonfiction? I read v. little of the stuff, but would like exposure to more. Russell Freedman's Marian Anderson book, The Voice that Challenged a Nation, was well-received. And there's been lots of hoopla over The Race to Save the Lord God Bird because an ivory-billed woodpecker was just discovered in Arkansas; they've been thought extinct for sixty years.

On the fiction side, Carol Emshwiller's The Mount (first two chapters online and/or the Amazon link) was recently released as a YA book; it's supposed to be great stuff. I've read her Carmen Dog and give it multiple thumbs up.

Ideas?

+ Bound by Donna Jo Napoli

Get your poll on!

Vote vote vote! You can choose multiple answers if necessary!

Should we be Chasing Vermeer?
	A masterpiece, much like The Lady! I give it 12 out of 10!
	Delightful! I even bought my own set of pentominoes off eBay!
	I'd recommend it to people who would like it and then appreciate the coincidence when they did.
	Meh.
	Please! This book was, like, a total Monet! Gag me with a pentomino!
	So horribly incohesive, it made ME want to undergo shock therapy.
Free polls from Pollhost.com

Elizabeth is a Smartypants

I'm being totally lazy about writing about Chasing Vermeer, which I enjoyed thoroughly and which I also think is very flawed. I'm really here, though, to share this article. It's mostly for JLiz (whose email address I don't have) -- your addiction has been vindicated!

Claudia'd kick your ass!

It was obvious this book was penned by a teacher. It had Educational Bits. It had Puzzles and Games (with no connexion to the story - which reveals a desire to pander to reluctant readers: "It's not 'just' a book! It's FUN!"). It was Politically Correct: Petra and Calder were All-American kids of Mixed Ancestry. The book was trying to Be All It Could Be. Or, as Erica said, suffering from Personality Disorder.

But I still enjoyed it -- the characterization was excellent. I liked how Calder and Petra were weird and cerebral but not too much so. And they weren't twee. I liked how they were passionate about something other than video games or sports. I liked Petra's triangle hair. I have had triangle hair. It sucks.

The complete lack of logical explanation threw me. Lots of things "just happen" to Petra and Calder, through dreams and divination and superstition - random, convenient and completely inconsequential. How nice for them! I was left feeling like they didn't SOLVE anything; they followed wild guesses which were justified ("explained") by Balliet's including Charles Fort (of Fortean Times fame) and the gimmicky pentominoes. Because, you know, if you want something bad enough, it will happen!

Where's the LOGIC? The MEANING? I think Konigsburg's Claudia and Jamie could run circles around Petra and Calder. I'd like to see the four of them compete on Jeopardy! or something. Who can identify the real Raphael? Huh? Huh?

And what's with the Bette Davis referral on page 190? What 6th grader knows about her?

With all the hype, I expected more.

Utbay hatway appenedhay otay rogfay?

Do I have to talk in code to talk about this book?

Okay, so my main question is - because maybe it's simple and I just missed it and y'all can fill me in - What the hell happened to this Frog kid? Did we find out why he went to DC?

And can I point once again to The Crying of Lot 49 which seems, somehow, like an answer to this book's love affair with coincidences and unfounded intuitive decisions? Does anyone know what I'm talking about? You know, just like the French, they like totally would know what I'm talking about, y'know? Like? (I am the worst Puerto Rican/Catholic/Army brat ever, according to myself... hint hint.)

Is this thing on? Test... test...

Someone make me think about this book!

Quick-like! Before it leaves my head!

Misc Chasing Vermeer Sites

+ Scholastic's Chasing Vermeer site, with a pentominoes game and the solution to the puzzle in the illustrations.

+ Caillebotte's Rainy Day.

+ Vermeer's The Geographer.

+ The Lady Writing also by Vermeer.

++++ The Geographer and The Lady can also be found under the dust jacket on your books. Of course, I didn't find that out until I'd finished the book and looked the images up online.

Has anyone seen his work in person? I don't think I have.
Discussion opens Friday!

Another Golden Age?

Guardian Unlimited Books | News | The greatest stories ever told The Brits believe we are in another Golden Age in children's lit. I'm inclined to agree.

The major turning point in children's literature was the publication of Alice in Wonderland in November 1865. The crux was that Carroll made the child central to the story, rather than the adult. A rule was broken, a new law established, and a first golden age of children's literature was inaugurated, ending, critics generally agree, in the late 1920s with AA Milne's Winnie-the-Pooh.

I don't fully buy that - Alice in Wonderland being a law-breaker. Different and new, yes, but... Does anyone remember what the "first" children's lit book was?

Blue Balliett (Lyn would be proud)

There is practically no online information about the author of our April book. All I've been able to come up with is a short blurb intended for kids and that the book is on its way to becoming a movie.

Ms. Blue Balliett is a teacher turned author who wrote Chasing Vermeer for her students, wanting something further in the line of From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. I'm curious about how the two compare; Mixed-Up Files is a classic. Chasing Vermeer is her first book but she's working on others.

I also want to know about her first name - is it is a pseudonym?

If you are interested in reviews, (I avoid them for fear of spoilers) here are a few:
+ KidsReads.com
+ The Star Online
+ Amazon Editorial Reviews