offline---

I've been wondering if it is time to put this book group to bed--this is the third year! That's pretty good!

By no means is this meant as a criticism; I know everyone has priorities and obligations and Life, etc. The weak efforts I've made at maintaining the site just don't seem worthwhile.

Would anyone mind, terribly?

someone stole the story

I did read this month's book. It's just that my response was so ... lacking that I put off posting and put off posting and here we are, 23 September and I am posting.

You know, I am just not a Tim Wynne-Jones fan (not to be confused in ANY way with Diana Wynne Jones--no hypen; Ms. Jones is a Brit and Mr. Wynne-Jones is Canadian) (you can totally tell by his photo). This is my third Wynne-Jones book and I'm yet again feeling it lacked lustre.

He gets some interesting characters who have Issues, but they don't do much except Think Thoughts. Mm. Yes.

I couldn't figure what kind of story A Thief in the House of Memory was. Psychological coming-of-age? Murder mystery? Spooky ghost story? No idea, even now.

Argh!

Mo Willems Fan Mail

. . . a la "Don't let the pigeon . . .

Madeleine L'Engle

She was 88.

BOOK THIEF, THE

Any commentary on The Book Thief? I read it last summer; we'll see what I can remember.

I didn't love it--really, I thought it was too long and tended to ramble. It was depressing and dark and cold. All that remains with me visually are a few flashes of the basement and the drawings the artist did.

I remember it was a difficult read, as in I had to force myself to finish it.

. . . that's all I can dredge up! Other thoughts? I know we are all pretty busy right now.

Thick as. . .

And that will be A Thief in the House of Memory for September.

I don't think I'll use that poll again; it messes up the formattting.

New Thing

Hey all--

Blogger has a new feature that integrates polls into the blog. I thought we could give it a shot, although I'm already not liking it as much because it does not support linkage.

Just a try.

Red Hair’s Not as Uncommon as You Think

"A countdown of 20 things that show up repeatedly in young adult fiction."

From the blog of Joëlle Anthony.

your input here!

Hey all--

As some of you may know, I am returning to the classroom RIGHT NOW. Sadly, I got rid of many of my classroom library books and am now down to these 85 books. I had over 300 at one point.

Any suggestions?

I'm building this for 6th, 7th & 8th grade; what were YOUR favorite books then?

When I was 11-13, I read a lot of Zilpha Keatley Snyder, Diana Wynne Jones and Robin McKinley. How about you?

Thief!

August's book is The Book Thief. I've read it and encourage you all to get started; it is not short.

Yay for all the participation last month!

Absolutely, Positively Not a bad book

Hmm. Absolutely, Positively Not was amusing, very tongue-in-cheek and I read it in one sitting.

The story was predictable (clichéd at times) but also funny. Comical may be a better word. The characters were likeable and I am so glad it wasn't all about the teacher leading Steven along the Path of Knowledge. I'm glad Mr. Bowman fell off his pedestal and that Steven had to come to terms with his teacher's imperfection. I did have some issues with Rachel. She was just about too earthy Type A for me; her actions were extreme and unrealistic at times.

Favorite part: after Rachel cheers Steven for finally telling coming out and starts getting all squidgy on him, (pg. 126) she continues:

"Which guy in our class do you think is the sexiest?"

"I have no idea."

Actually, it was Victor Sanchez.

Steven's answer is so quick, so definite; he's obviously put some thought into the subject. That still makes me laugh! I think it is the "actually" that makes the line. Hysterical.

I did not like how the story ends just before the complicated part begins. Or not so much where it ended as much as where Steven was. The central point of the book: Steven wants all the "answers" -- the ones that any person wants for instant relationship/life success. He thinks that if he just looks hard enough or talks to the right person and asks the right questions, he'll be enlightened. I don't think Steven figured out that that's a pipe dream, which left me without a feeling of closure. I think Steven still expects Mike to have the magic words to "fix" him (or he's expecting red-hot romance).

Then again, there's a lot to be said just for finding someone in the same boat.

Other opinions?

July's Author

David LaRochelle has a web site that includes this groovy photo from his teaching years.

Discussion for Absolutely, Positively Not begins Sunday.

Simmons News

The latest Simmons magazine explains that Cathie is heading the 2009 Laura Ingalls Wilder Award Committee! Barbara Elleman is also on the crew.

If you don't remember, the honor is a sort of lifetime achievement award. Past winners:

2007: James Marshall
2005: Laurence Yep
2003: Eric Carle
2001: Milton Meltzer
1998: Russell Freedman
1995: Virginia Hamilton
1992: Marcia Brown
1989: Elizabeth George Speare
1986: Jean Fritz
1983: Maurice Sendak
1980: Theodor S. Geisel (Dr. Seuss)
1975: Beverly Cleary
1970: E. B. White
1965: Ruth Sawyer
1960: Clara Ingram Judson
1954: Laura Ingalls Wilder

Poll Over

July will be Absolutely Positively Not by David LaRochelle and August is The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.

electricity

Zap by Paul Fleischman--

It sounds tacky, but this book was fun fun and I can honestly describe it as a ROMP. Fleischman's foreward left me dubious--cribbing seven plays into one? Sounds confusing. But he successfully took a mess of typical genres apart and slapped them back together. The cross-play travel reminded me of Jasper Fforde's Thursday Next books, if anyone else has read them.

I think my favorite part was when the actors broke character and/or allowed a layer of their personal reality to influence the scene. The fishbowl scene was hysterical.

This was a short book, so I don't have a lot to say besides I really enjoyed reading it and Fleischman continues to amaze me with his myriad storytelling abilities. So many genres, so many methods.

Photoshopped Children's Book Covers

These seem to pop up every now and then, but they are often amusing.

I like the version of Caps for Sale on page six.

No--The Tiger who Came to Tea is better. (page seven)

i had to fight to stay with this book

Was the ending obvious to anyone else? Argh.

This month's book's author

Clicky on the title to be whisked away to Garret Freymann-Weyr's homepage. She gets my vote for Most Easily Misspelled YA Author.

Discussion begins the 15th! Do you have your copy of Stay with Me?

Blown Moon

I was really excited about reading Blow Out the Moon. It's a boarding school book, part of a small genre, and it's the best kind: foreigner boarder! (I used to be really keen on these--the English girl at an Australian boarding school (and vice versa), English evacuees sent to the US because of WWII and then returning, etc. Classic fish out of water setup.)

Ach; disappointment! Was Koponen going for a story or a biographical account of her life? The book straddles an uncomfortable position between "this is what really happened" and fiction, settling for neither, leaving the reader (me, anyways) confused. Pick one or the other, please. Sometimes there was too much exposition, not enough character development. Other times, Koponen describes herself as a child--especially her thinking processes--in an apt, realistic manner.

Either way, clean up the cutesy writing and CUT BACK ON EXCLAMATION POINTS. We also know (how we know, how you repeat it over and over) that you really, really, really, REALLY like Henry. We don't know why (or really care), but we know you do.

It's a screaming "First Novel."

Gene Yang Interview @ Cybils

Gene: I think of American Born Chinese as fiction with autobiography sprinkled in. Parts of the Jin storyline are lifted directly from my junior high experiences. Much of the dialog of the Timmy character, for instance, came from a group of kids that used to torment me and my Asian-American friends. The three strands started off as ideas for three separate stories. Somewhere along the way, I decided to try to bring them together, almost as an intellectual exercise. They're thematically connected, but I wanted connect them in a more concrete way.

His next book comes out in the spring of next year!

Brotherhood 2.0: March 19th: Urban Exploration

Tobin's on the Brotherhood!

(And he has a scarf on, per usual.)

Food, Glorious Food!

Any other Simmons alums get something in the mail?

I'm tentatively planning to attend the Institute but am confused about the cost. Is there a separate cost for the Symposium vs. just the Institute? If there is, I can't find it.

FYI, the April book is Blow Out the Moon by Libby Koponen. Reserve your library copy now or buy it in paperback.

More FYI, I'm tweaking the page and will probably upgrade the template later this week. I sorted through the links on the right column and now they ALL work and lead to interesting sites with lots of reading suggestions.

I hate self-referential books

[If you haven't read The Book of Lost Things yet, don't read this--SPOILERS ABOUND!]

I do, it's true. I almost lost my love for Stephen King's Dark Tower books when he appeared as himself in the last parts of the epic. Last week, I had to put Richard Powers's Galatea 2.2 down (instead of throwing it across the room; it was a library book) after discovering "R.P." was Mr. Powers himself. It's like the author wants to be patted on the head: now aren't YOU clever!

Granted, John Connolly is not David, the revealed author of The Book of Lost Things, but the text screams CLEVER CLEVER!!! at me. Also, DERISIVE! and CHILDISH! (Don't confuse that with childLIKE, a perfectly fine thing to have in a young-person's book.)

Alas, I am left puzzled. I still can't decide if I liked it or not. I didn't hate it, but it didn't ring any bells for me either. Technically, the book is published for adults (it won nominations for being a YA crossover) but it reads more like the sort of story an adult thinks hearkens back to oh-so innocent childhood. The stripped down narrative is merely a collection of snapshots from fractured fairy tales, most with pre-Victorian morbidness added back in--and then some. The portions of darkdark blood and guts did not mesh with the ridiculous bits, like the whole seven dwarfs scenario.

It frustrated me to no end how little the inhabitants of Fairyland/Dreamland/The Afterlife/whatever knew about their country. The first rule of fantasy is there must be rules--some logic, please! But a whole population of individuals who have no local or historical knowledge? Instead of rich characters, they become a whole lotta cutouts, reliant on what little of their personalities Connolly chose to include and what we know about them from general knowledge--Roland, for example. Here's a knight*** who cannot remember the order of kings and queens. And don't get me started on the dumb townspeople.

So David killed Rumpelstiltskin? Anansi? Coyote? Kokopelli? Loki? The Devil? Is all Heaven safe now--or was that Hell? Is the afterlife the stuff books are made of? Where is everyone else who died? Ack!

Why does the woman in the tower want David? Was she calling the whole time? Is she modelled after a fairyland character and I'm totally missing it?

Did anyone else know the answer to the troll's riddle? Hello! Labyrinth!

There's the whole copout with the plane crash, (COME ON--WHAT ARE THE ODDS???) meaning one could legitimately finish the book thinking David was just a nutty, dreamy man with an imagination and troubled childhood. (The plane crash also led me to believe David was in a Donnie Darko situation, dead and just ambling around the empty spaces in his mind--something he asks Roland on page 208.) On a whole, the book was too neat and tidy. David never has to work hard at anything; it all comes to him rather easily. All natural, no real effort or sacrifice. The Woodsman has Great Timing at the end, of course.

Maybe I've read too many fairy tales and fantasy stories to enjoy this rehash?

The end left a sour taste in my mouth. Not a bad book, but it had the potential to be better.


***Incidentally, Roland is the main character of Stephen King's Dark Tower books, as in R. Browning's "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came." But he's a different sort of knight, one with pistols slung around his hips and grit in his teeth.

Head North

The shortlist for the YA Canadian Book Award is up. I'm going to check library availability for some of their past award winners and add them to the WishList. One of my first classes at Simmons was on Canadian Children's Lit--JLiz and me! They've got some excellent authors up there.

Oooh; I'll look into Aussie ones, too.

Mr. Wicked

Here's a nice long article about our friend and hero Gregory Maguire -- I can't believe I still haven't managed to see that damned musical!

(This link should work without the need to sign-in for about a week.)

I'm not sure how I feel about his insisting that "Wicked" is an adult book, but I still love him to death.

Exercise your rights:

POLL OVER!

April's book is Blow Out the Moon by Libby Koponen!

Misc.

I will be posting a poll for the April book tomorrow--AND letting our new members know how they can add books to the Hedgehog Suggestion list.

Discussion for March's book, The Book of Lost Things, will begin the 15th!

The Cool Crowd

You know, I'd be such a better writer if I could meet up with fabulous YA authors at cafes in NY and write. Er, "write."

Ooo, bask in the Mac Love.

That reminds me of getting together with friends to "study" in college.

At least I have the right computer to become a famous YA author, right?

Virtual Contact

John Green responded to my comment!!

Comment by Sarah
2007-02-23 17:37:22
Just cheering the Diana Wynne Jones book on the dresser. I want to be her when I grow up…even though I’m 29. There’s still time.
Love the book tour, Hank. (Any book recs from you two are very welcome and going right to my List.) Will we get the chance to see the rest of John’s book storage system?

Comment by John Green
2007-02-23 20:19:53
Sarah, you should see it shortly…

Hooray! I'm adding John Green to the list of author's I've met. I wonder if he knows Tobin Anderson? They seem like they'd get along swimmingly.

What do you mean you still aren't watching the Brotherhood 2.0 vlogs? --->They reformatted the main page, so it is THE one to read.

Optional but Interesting

I've been following the Brotherhood 2.0 vlogs pretty rabidly (I think John Green's personal site has a better format and the same info; the posts on the main page are out of order for the last few days). Every year, John's brother Hank posits a survey to friends and family. John answered it in two vlogs and Hank posted his responses just the other day.

What with new people joining up and in the interest of deciding the state of the self and sharing it, I'm posting Hank's list of questions here. You are welcome to answer none, some or all of them.

I've posted the questions in the comments section; COPY-PASTE the list into your own comment box to answer.

A. B. C. Rolling Ball & etc.

We are welcoming some new additions to the Rumpus, courtesy of Susie--welcome Beth and mundane4life! Please introduce yourselves! (I have met them both multiple times and can vouch for them, too. They are quirky enough to fit in, methinks.)

Regarding American Born Chinese, the discussion is open. I know Susie has a copy because I was with her when she bought it, so I'll post my very short initial blurb here and await further commentary!

One word review: wonderful.

The story was painful, amusing and thought-provoking, but you can NOT talk about this book without referring to the art, which I really liked—clean lines, excellent drafting.

V. nice how the storylines come together.

More when I don't have flying headache.

***Be sure to reserve a copy of March's book at your library: The Book of Lost Things.

The Dark is Rising is a movie!

Hmmm.

I refuse to see the Bridge to Terebithia movie and Charlotte's Web. This one might have a chance...

More on casting here.

Roger's a Drawing!

Mr. Sutton has finally hit the big time.

Let the voting commence....again!

VOTE AGAIN FOR NEXT MONTH'S CHOICE!



Maybe I should start putting these in the sidebar. I'll upgrade to the New Blogger soon.

Fevvyary

Okay, I cheated this time and put up winning books from the recent awards & honors up. OF MY CHOOSING. Sorry to get all non-democratic on you all, but Susan suggested it, and I do all that she suggests.

- - - - - - - [Jeopardy music] - - - - - - -

Um, we may have a problem getting these, as many are on backorder at Amazon and I can guess what that means at libraries and bookstores.

I'm looking at the Horn Book's Recently Announced Awards page. Suggestions?

We could choose a book from the less-publicized awards...I think the Newbery Award and Honor books will be v. hard to get.

Potentials:
+ Surrender by Sonya Hartnett (Meera, did you read this one already?) -PRINTZ HONOR
+ American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang (I just read this tonight, as it came in on hold at the library, and would love to discuss) -PRINTZ WINNER
+ Copper Sun by Shannon Draper -CORETTA SCOTT KING WINNER
+ The Last Dragon by Silvana de Mari -BATCHELDER (TRANSLATION) HONOR

Do tell!

Green vs. Green

With varied levels of success, we read John Green's Looking for Alaska last year, and I read (and loved) his most recent An Abundance of Katherines as well. He and his brother, Hank, have committed themselves to Brotherhood 2.0 a video blog (short, like two minutes each) exchange for 2007. It's very amusing. I've spent much of this morning catching up on their January correspondence.

John's "NannyNannyRichKid" song is awesome.

Hank has a Narnia map on his basement wall.

(Okay, I have one, too, but it's in a box and I had it for when I was teaching.)
Anyway, it's great; they really do look like the brothers from The Proclaimers.

And, wholly unrelated to YA or books period, Making Fiends is also funny and a welcome distraction to a cold cold day.

Caldecott, Newbery, Printz, Sibert, etc., Awards announced

Our next several books have to be from this list, right? I want to read them all!

Kalpana's Dream

Oh dear.

I did NOT like this book! Was it supposed to be serious? Silly? Both? I spent much of the time asking myself what the hell was going on.

More when I have my notes in front of me--just wanted to get the topic open.

2007 Summer Symposium?

Anyone know anything about the Symposium this year? I did a quick search but could not find anything.

I haven't picked my copy of Kalpana's Dream yet; my copy is on hold but we're having ice issues and I don't want to brave the highways. People here don't know how to drive in icy conditions and I'm not risking their inexperience!

January Book

Kalpana's Dream it is!

MPH!

I heard him on Studio 360 tonight talking about The Wizard of Oz!

Not sure which clip he was in. Hmm.

Dammit; they are in RealPlayer only.

A new year, a new book.

Our list of contributors has shrunk; I hope three options is enough to get a majority.

New Year!

How about making a resolution (or, as I like to say, READOLUTION!) to read at least six of the Hedgehog books this year??? Hmmm? You can do that!

I'm putting up a poll tomorrow sometime. Be sure to vote!