Et tu?

What excellent taste we have in this month's book. Click on the link for a teaser -- not spoilers, but if you aren't already interested in the book, maybe this will help. If you don't want any hints, just look at the picture and read the bottom panel.

I finished it last week and it was a positive experience (that's all I'll say for now).

Peter Continued?

There's an article in the NYT about the Peter Pan sequel; the book comes out October 5th. Any thoughts? Does anyone plan on reading it?

I've seen the Dave Barry prequel books, but haven't read them. I'm pretty snobby about follow-ups that are NOT written by the original author.

Crossover

If you read Bookslut, you probably already saw this article about YA crossover books, but I thought I'd link to it anyways.

Do adults feel embarrassed looking at books in the children's section? I always figured they could pretend to look at something for a daughter/son or niece, etc. I never felt bad about it.

For next month -

There were four votes for next month's book and, by the slightest of majorities, Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist is September's title.

Random House set up an impressive website with excerpts and downloads and links to both authors' websites.

I hope people are still reading Wrecked. Please add your comments to the discussion entry below or begin a new one. And add a couple titles to the Wish List if you have ideas. I'm going to try and find some paperbacks, which should be easier to track down.

Wrecked

NOTE: We are locked in a tie for next month's book! Please vote if you have not yet done so!

The only other E.R. Frank book I've read is America -- has anyone else read her other stuff? That was a harsh story. Wrecked struck me (ooh, bad pun) as incredibly sad. I cried a lot.

This blurb leans towards the Reader's Response form of criticism, with lots of personal info thrown in, just an FYI.

Anna's relationship with her parents is fragile. She has little to no meaningful interaction with her mother and her dad has anger/control/fear issues. The brother-sister relationship between Anna and Jack has had its ups and downs, as you do when you get older and just don't pick on each other all the time, instead seeing the other as a person. Frank shows these with lots of flashbacks; I thought they were done well and did not seem forced.

This was a hard book for me to read. I liked it, I liked Anna, I liked Ellen. The hospital scenes with Ellen freaked me out. Her collapsed lung and breathing tubes were too much like my mom's; even the name was the same.

And her father's anger -- his need to control; his insistence that his children recognize that they are wrong and he is right; his obsession that things be done his way, even when it is ridiculous, such as picking up leaves by hand. I know what it is like to be on the receiving end of that. Those parts of the book were disturbing to me and very real, even though my dad isn't quite like that anymore.

The family situation becomes unbearable when Anna has the accident. That's the tipping point, that throws it all out into the open and Anna starts to crumble.

Therapy was not a quick fix. Frank knows what she is doing with that; if you read the flap copy, it explains Frank is a clinical social worker and psychotherapist who focuses on trauma.

I don't know if this book resonated with me because of my mom's recent death and the similarities between my dad and Anna's. The final page did not satisfy me -- yes, we know there is still progress to be made, but it didn't fit. Seemed tacked on. I wanted the dad to leave.

The silence of the stopped scream -- poetic and terrifying.

Moving right along...

It is time!

I have a hunch where the poll results are going to fall...I really wish this book was better; it got great reviews in The Horn Book; that's why I recommended it.

Nothing New

I finished Burning City the other day but haven't gathered my thoughts about it yet. Is Erica the only other person who has finished it?

Nonetheless, I did want to post that Locus had a whole young adult fiction issue in May. I'll have to buy it once I have a Texas address; it looks pretty good.

Also, I love Roger Sutton's comment about The Giving Tree in a recent blog entry.

Hooray for Miss Libby!

One of Simmon's Own has a book on the presses RIGHT NOW!

Take a looky-look! I don't remember who took Publishing in the fall of '03, but Alisa Libby was a demure presence among the rather whiney new recruits. She's been working away on Blood Confessions, and when I last saw her on the T, she had the first color-cover galleys.

Just a lil cheerleading for one of our Simmons alumn! Who's next, ladies?

WHOOPS

Okay. Blogger and Blogpoll, usually happy bedfellows, are fighting right now.

I lost all the comments from that last poll when I tried to set up a new poll. Here's what we are gonna do:

Vote by comment. Makes it public, but also keeps the site from eating itself. Hopefully this will not be a problem for long.

WHICH BOOK FOR JULY?
Burning City by Ariel and Joaquin Dorfman

A Room on Lorelei Street by Mary E. Pearson

Wrecked by E. R. Frank

Sorry -- I couldn't make it work otherwise. I'll rescue the previous comments and add them.

Grind those gears, Shawn!

I don't know what I want to say about this book, but no one else is initiating discussion (and it's been a while since I have), so I'll just start rambling.

Wow. That's my impression of this book. I felt it extremely strongly within the first ten pages, twenty pages, thirty pages—and even at the end, I'm still thinking "wow" (although a little less strongly). This entire premise is fascinating to me. I loved Shawn—his voice, his personality, his honesty, his earnestness—and I loved being in his mind (especially since no one else ever is or could be).

It's so wonderful to think about Shawn being a secret genius, being so with it inside, being so aware and alert, but it's also so sad, to think that no one will know, no one will know him, no one can hear what he wants to say.

The debate of the book—is Shawn's life worth living—is so conflicting and confusing for me to wrap my head around. I love that Shawn likes his life, that he's happy, that he wants to live and doesn't want to die. But I also agree with the dad that Shawn is trapped inside his own body. Because I believe that when you die, it's not the end of you (wait, this isn't going to turn into a religious hedgehogs v. nonreligious hedgehogs argument, is it? KIDDING), part of me really does think that Shawn would be better off dying and being able to be free, fly and soar like he does during his seizures, all the time. He could communicate and have people know him, and he could really be the Shawn that we saw through his narrative. [Obviously we have different versions, if any, of an afterlife, and I'm just imagining mine.] Am I a horrible person for thinking that? Mind you, it's not that I think Shawn's father should kill him. I just can't help but wonder if Shawn would be better off in another world, in another time. He think he's happy now, but I think he could be happier. It's a moot point, since he isn't in another world or another time and he's living life here, but it's still really difficult for me to process, his quality of life and his happiness.

I don't think Shawn's father does or will go through with it. I think he's torn and conflicted, but I don't think he will ever resolve that enough to actually go through with it. It's like Trueman says in the author's note: "I can't say 'yes' to any of these questions. But I can't say 'no' either." And I don't think Shawn's father would go through with it if he can only answer "I don't know." I'm still trying to decide what I think of Shawn's father, though. I know he loves Shawn. But an absent father doesn't gain a whole lot in my mind, even with that.

Before I make any kind of excuses for what I've already written—controversy, controversy, controversy!—I'll stop. Thoughts?

Helloa!

Well, there were only three votes but that's a majority when that's all there is.

June's book is Stuck in Neutral by Terry Trueman. It has been out for several years in paperback and won a Prinz honor so it should be easy to find or cheap to buy. Except in Alabama, of course.

I hope people's lives slow down a bit so they can read!

Cause I`m the miggida miggida miggida Mac Daddy

Oh, wait, that's the wrong Criss Cross.

Re: The Newbery Award Winning Book --

Good stuff!

I liked the sketches, photos and other visuals that were sprinkled in the story—not enough to be considered an illustrated novel, but they added another dimension. And you know those kids, always doodling on stuff.

I forgot about the wishing-on-a-star scene at the beginning until near the end. I liked the circular structure and found the ending to be satisfying, albeit unlikely. With all the narrative voices I thought some could have been more developed but the characters were well drawn. Some too perky at times.

Must read Perkins's other non-picturebook book, All Alone in the Universe.

Jump! Jump!
uh huh, uh huh

June Bug

Sorry I've been behind on everything -- it seems we've all taken a bit of a hiatus, but hopefully we can get back to our regularly scheduled discussion. Before I post anything about Criss Cross I want to get the ball rolling on our next book. Each of these is available in paperback.



Thank you to those who contribute to the Wish List! Please keep adding more!

Better late...

Sandpiper, short take on

I found this to be a quick read, mainly because Wittlinger (again) does a great job with the voice of her characters. Sandpiper is the third of her books I've read and they are all compulsively READABLE and cover important issues without being heavy-handed or didactic. They are real.

Oral sex is addressed without vulgarity, open and honestly, though I was a little surprised to have that in my face BOOM! so soon on page two. Piper is aware of her sexual power -- and how it changes her relationship with her dad, his inability to deal. I've never read that in a book before.

Piper's poems were believably from a teenager's pen and relevant. Not syrupy. I liked the nods to other poets.

The only thing that irked me were Derek's corny lines. The note he left: "It's your turn now, Sandy. See you soon!" He talks like a Soc from The Outsiders.

The dawnzer is a lamp. It gives lee light.

NPR did an interview with Beverly Cleary, who grew up in Portland, Oregon and based many of her books there. Yay Portland!

FYI: The children's library in Portland's Central Library (one of my favorite buildings) is dedicated to Cleary and there's a sculpture garden in Grant Park with Ramona, Henry Huggins and Ribsy.

What's your favorite Beverly Cleary book?

I've always loved Socks (because it's about a cat and I liked how they cleaned Socks up after his fight and forgot about their dumb baby for a while) (you see, I've NEVER been a baby person) but my favorite Ramona was always Ramona Quimby, Age 8 when she got a whole egg broken on her head. I still have all my old Dell Yearling paperbacks, $2.50 a pop.

May Announcement

Votes are in!

The May book is Criss Cross by Lynne Rae Perkins.

BTW, I finished Looking for Alaska last night and added a comment on that post if you want to comment. If you are a commenting sort of person.

Tally up the votes!

Looking for a movie?

According to IMDB.com, Looking for Alaska is going to be a movie. I still haven't read it, but when I do, I fully intend to join the message boards and argue about whom should play Miles.

Did I use "whom" correctly there?

Also, courtesy Bookslut.com, here's an article about sex in YA books. I sell lots of these books at work -- those young Southern Belles gotta get their info somewhere...

That time again

POLL OVER!

Among May's possible books is the 2005 Newbery Medal winner, Criss Cross.

Discussion for Sandpiper begins April 15th.

Not So Much Looking For; Kind Of Obsessing About Alaska

I read Looking for Alaska in pretty much one sitting a couple of nights ago, and had an interesting fluctuating reading experience.

1) I started out unimpressed with the writing, the characters, and the situation. I was bothered on page 1 by the phrasing of the sentence, "To say that I had low expectations would be to underestimate the matter dramatically," which I thought would be more accurately and stylishly rendered as, "To say that I had low expectations would be to dramatically overstate the case." And I immediately felt that the book was going to be a John Hughes-esque "problems of privileged white kid" book, which usually I don't mind too much but this time I could sense what felt like the narrator's pretension immediately, due to his obligatory Eccentric Trait* (memorizing last words). As an Eccentric Trait, I actually liked this one quite a lot, for dramatic purposes -- but I didn't buy that Miles had had this obsession for years and never thought about why.

2) I read on and felt mild interest in Alaska, the Colonel, and the cast of peripherals -- they seemed slightly annoyingly intellectual, mostly because they're seventeen and everything is dramatic and important and full of epiphany, but that's pretty realistic. I liked them ok. But then I finally noticed the countdown section headings, realized Alaska was going to die, realized that she was going to die WAY before the book ended, and instantly flashed forward to all of the scenes in which her (short, passionate, but ultimately ordinary) life would inevitably be infused with weight and import by her untimely and tragic death. I hate it when characters' lives are given import by their deaths. I am past the age when dying young seems romantic and incredibly significant. I am much more interested in what young people do and how they live when they're alive than how their peers react afterwards. And I could see at least 80 pages of reacting ahead of me.

3) I read on further, and at some point, perhaps 30 pages or so after Alaska's death, when I was fully resigned to reading the rest of the book and had gotten over being annoyed with its structure, something shifted and Miles and the Colonel and Takumi and Lara and even the Eagle started to grow on me. I think it's because they acknowledged that how they felt and what they thought about Alaska's death was not so much about her as about themselves, which was pretty honest and true and made me forgive them somewhat for being obsessed with analysing it (and everything).

Sorry, this is not really a discussy post. So I will end with an Interesting Question which occured to me while I was reading this. It is multiple-choice, which means everyone has a chance to be right! :-)

When you read YA fiction, is it:

a) A contemplative, nostalgic experience -- it makes you remember your adolescence and reflect on it.
b) A consuming, nostalgic experience -- it makes you plunge back into your adolescence and feel all those heady emotions over again.
c) A detached, universalizing experience -- "Boy, kids are dumb, and amusing," you think. "I was dumb and amusing then too, because being a teenager is always like that."
d) Other (please explain): ____________________________________________________________

I am sometimes a) but mostly c), I think. I have a hard time fully engaging with YA fiction these days because I'm far enough away from adolescence to see it as absurd, and not far enough away to really miss it. You?

* I didn't buy the Colonel's Eccentric Trait (memorizing countries, capitals, populations). It seemed forced and made-up.

Recommendations: YA books that are really long

I have an 11-year-old friend who is consuming books like teenage boys consume pizza. She's looking for book recommendations, and her mom is hoping they'll be long enough to keep her busy for longer than a day. She loves just about anything she reads. Some favorites: The Tale of Desperaux, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Wicked, and she just finished The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. I'm pretty sure she's already read the Redwall series, and she went through all the Harry Potters in about a month. Any ideas to keep her busy?

The Final Reckoning

Be sure to vote for the April book -- scroll down a couple entries. That poll will close in a day or two.

I had to share.

It's one of his favorite books. He mostly likes to say what he thinks is the title, then open it up and flip through the pages a lot. He also likes to go back to the cover many times. I think it's because he's developing a thesis about the art.

Planning ahead

Poll over!

Sendak's Opera ready to go -

Sendak reads from Brundibar (NYTimes).

Did anyone read it? I'd love to see the opera.

Early Bird

Hmmm.

I really enjoyed Will Weaver's writing, and I found Paul to be a very fully realized character whose journey is compelling. Yet this book sits uneasily with me, and I know it's because a thread of faith runs through it that I don't share. Is it possible that I cannot read a book suffused with religious belief without becoming uncomfortable? Is it because it's a contemporary book that I otherwise identify with in many ways? I am saddened by my difficulty with this book, and I think it comes from external sources. I feel uncomfortable with the direction religious conservatism is taking this country at the moment, and that's filtering through to my experience with "Full Service," which I don't think would have made me so uneasy if I'd read it several years ago. It's the same feeling I get when I see the American flag on bumperstickers -- it's a symbol that's become corrupted and that I can't perceive on its own terms anymore, at least not without some difficulty.

More soon. Would love to hear from religious book club members.

Edited to add: Honestly, I liked this book so much, especially because at first it seemed like it wasn't going anywhere, and I adored how specific and detailed Paul's observations of people and cars and things were, even when (in the case of mechanics and car parts) I couldn't visualize what he was saying. I was very impressed with how restrained and yet rich the writing was. And yet, at the end, I found myself just -- I don't know, hoping he would come to a different conclusion. I don't know why. I think it says much more about me than about the book, which is very intelligent and interesting. Stupid Reader Response experience.

For the few

As far as I know, only three people read Black Hole. I debated not doing a poll, but I want to see how it comes out.

Interview with Charles Burns

Bookslut posted this link. Thoughts? I'm still looking forward to hearing from our newest members. :-)

That was quick

The March book is Looking for Alaska!

NOTE: Be sure to get the copy by John Green, not the book of the same title by Peter Jenkins. You want the book about Alaska the person, not Alaska the great wiiiiide wiiiiild whiiiiiiite way.

ADDENDUM: I just realized this book is set in Birmingham, AL; I'll let you all know if Green's representation of setting is accurate -- ie. sweltering and gross.

I court not the votes of the fickle mob. - Horace

Okay, some explanation is in order.

First of all, Eunice's bribe did not come into my possession by the agreed time. As a result, Criss Cross is not on the list.

Really, though, I thought about it and with all the Newbery hubbubble, figured it would be somewhat difficult to get our hands on copies of the book. Library hold lists are long and even if you wanted to purchase a copy, bookstores are likely to be out of stock (if they carried it at all) and backorders will be in effect. So, I did the drawing as I normally do, no shenanigans, and Criss Cross did not pop up; it will remain on the wish list. Reardless, the books we are voting between look wonderful and I'm having a hard time deciding which to vote for.

Non-Amazon Reviews:
+ An Innocent Soldier at Arthur Levine and The Horn Book.
+ Looking for Alaska at Teenreads.com and at Reading Rants.
+ The Wish List at Bookmunch.

News from Bloomers

Bloomers called me out of the wild blue to ask me to see a play with her, since David skived off last minute. She wanted to prod me on my way to a new job, and we got a chance to talk a little about the ALA committee. She is very excited about Criss Cross. And she has a pair of those ear bag warmer things. I know that's a random detail, but can you see her? Ear bags! She managed the earrings and the ear bags with surprisingly deft fingers.

Two important things to share:

1. She expressed, once again, how much she loved having us Simmons grads in her classes, what a good group we were, etc. She sends her love.

2. She's a Grandma!! At last! Wee Jacob came early, and healthy despite the earliness.

The Winners

Here, find listed all the winners and honor books for the 2006 ALSC Awards. Lynne Rae Perkins (Criss Cross) and Chris Raschka (The Hello, Goodbye Window, written by Norton Juster) got the early Monday morning phone calls this year. Both these books were on Bloomers's list; I wonder if she wanted them to win?

Actually, the Horn Book ALA Awards site has nicer formatting and it explains each medal with a blurb.

Please feel free to add whatever looks interesting to the Wish List. I will set up a poll for March's book later this week.

A new award debuted this year, the Theodor Seuss Geisel Medal. It recognizes the best beginning reader books.

Winner:
Henry and Mudge and the Great Grandpas written by Cynthia Rylant and illustrated by Sucie Stevenson (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers)

Black Hole -- Interpretation, Fun Fun Fun!

Ok. What do y'all think this book is all about? What is this disease supposed to mean, and why is the title "Black Hole?"

-- Susan suggested an AIDS metaphor. I think that's a totally valid and important reading and I hope she says more about it.

-- I think this book works like Buffy (apologies for making a tv-reference, but it really makes sense to me) in that it takes quintessential adolescent experiences that usually only take place on the inside, playing out in a complex but invisible emotional landscape, and turns them into something physical. Feel like your boyfriend turned into an evil monster after you slept with him? Guess what, he really did! Feel like your overbearing mother pressures you to succeed because she longs for her lost youth, and that she'd switch bodies with you in an instant? Guess what, she really would! Because she's a witch! Anyway, I think Black Hole does the same sort of thing. Feel like you have a horrible skin-eating disease that makes everyone ostracize you? Guess what, you do! Feel like you're a monster? You are. Now what are you gonna do?

-- Other ideas?

A Hole That Is Black

Ahhh, Black Hole. A black hole, indeed. I found this book disturbing, fascinating, intriguing, and freaky, all at the same time. I couldn’t put it down, but almost in a car-accident-and-I’m-rubbernecking kind of way. This is going to be a diarrhea post. I’m just going to say everything that’s on my mind about the book. Feel free to start your own post if you want to steer the discussion in one particular direction, especially one that I’ve not considered.

• The characters seemed pretty consistent. I felt for Keith and his earnestness.
• I wanted more of a story that followed the beginning, middle, and end rules. Is the ending of Keith’s story (cuddling with Eliza in the motel, exchanging “I love you”s, and then he says “I’m gone”) and Chris’s story (floating in the water, alone on the beach) copouts for Burns? Do the endings mean anything? Do the readers deserve more? Do we deserve to know more about what happens to these two, what decisions they make regarding their future? They are both in limbo, in an unstable state, when we leave them. That might be purposeful (their whole lives are unstable), but I was curious to know more, to know how they survived and how they lived.
• The story jumped around a little too much. I think we could have seen some of the flashback scenes as they were really happening, instead of as they were remembered in a character’s mind. I think I could definitely tell that this was pieced together over a time period instead of written from beginning to end, as most novels. Also, looking back, I’m a little confused about the order of events. In the second “chapter,” Keith finds a female skin in the woods. In the third chapter, Chris appears to be living in the woods already and sheds her skin. But those events seem totally out of order (in the next chapter or two, Chris goes skinny dipping and doesn’t even realize she’s showing symptoms of the bug). Is this just a result of the piecing-together, or did I miss the significance?
• Even though it’s a graphic novel, it still needed to be proofread. There were misspellings (Rob’s last name is spelled two different ways), misplaced commas, missing commas, incorrect possessives (“it’s” instead of “its”), etc., that I found a little distracting.
• The whole book was extremely sexual, with all the vaginal imagery and the actual sex scenes. Even the slit in the frog’s body at the very beginning was extremely sexual. I’m sure the significance of the imagery is that “the bug” was passed through sexual contact, but is there more significance than that? Just that everything comes back to sex, to intimacy, to the human body? There was some phallic imagery, too, if I recall, but certainly not as much as the vaginal stuff (the cut on Chris’s foot that keeps coming back).
• Did Keith know what he was doing when he slept with Eliza? Did he realize that her tail was a symptom of the bug, or did he just think she was “different”? Was he so desperate for love/affection/belonging/getting laid that he willingly “caught” the bug?
• When Eliza was telling Keith how she came to live with those guys in the house and then have her artwork trashed (which she did herself), she was saying how she couldn’t bear to live with her stepdad for another year. So we hear about the different options she tried, including sleeping in the woods with friends. And then one frame shows her come across a guy strung up on a tree, dead (leading to her decision of not living in the woods). What was the significance of that? I had thought all the weirdness of the skeletal figures was that one guy (Rick – and they were probably harmless?) and all the murders were Dave. So did that murdered guy in the tree mean anything? Also, at the beginning of the book, the people around the campfire are talking about how that one girl Lana disappeared and how Roy found that arm. But that was before Dave was obsessed with Chris, so were there really other murders going on in the woods? If there was more than just what Dave did, I felt like I didn’t know enough about it and I was cheated a little bit.
• I found the AIDS metaphor pretty real and current today, with the alienation, the thought that it could never happen to you (the way Keith’s friends are making fun of the yearbook they find), the need to escape but yet not really being able to... Did it simplify the disease at all?
• Was the love between Chris and Rob real? Was the love between Keith and Eliza real? Were they all just desperate to find someone who would accept them, someone who would love them, someone who was also sick, someone who wouldn’t judge them, someone with whom they could escape?

I know that’s a lot to muddle through, but this book is a lot to digest. So I’m just throwing it all out there. Anyone care to pick up a topic and discuss?

Go Bloomers, go!

Here's the booktalk list. She must have listed them in the order she presented them, which must have been nice for her audience. Of course, one can only wonder what her segues could have been, because this list doesn't seem to have a useful order.
Enjoy, dears.

Transformations in Style and Content: Selected Children’s Books of Distinction in 2005

Banyai, Istvan. The Other Side. Chronicle.

Juster, Norton. The Hello, Goodbye Window. Illustrated by Chris Raschka. Hyperion.

Myers, Christopher. Lies and Other Tall Tales. Collected by Zora Neale Hurston. HarperCollins.

Grey, Mini. Traction Man is Here! Knopf.

Meddaugh, Susan. The Witch’s Walking Stick. Houghton.

Philobolus. The Human Alphabet. Photos by John Kane. Roaring Brook.

Woodson, Jacqueline. Show Way. Illustrated by Hudson Talbott. Putnam.

Lester, Julius. The Old African. Illustrated by Jerry Pinkney. Dial.

Lester, Julius. Days of Tears. Hyperion.

Nelson, Marilyn. A Wreath for Emmett Till. Houghton.

Barbour, Karen. Mr. Williams. Holt.

Sidman, Joyce. Song of the Water Boatman and Other Pond Poems. Illustrated by Beckie Prange. Houghton.

Rosen, Michael. Michael Rosen’s Sad Book. Illustrated by Quentin Blake. Candlewick.

Poole, Josephine. Anne Frank. Illustrated by Angela Barrett. Knopf.

Muth, Jon. Zen Shorts. Scholastic.

Say, Allen. The Kamishibai Man. Houghton.

Young, Ed. Beyong the Great Mountais: A Visual Poem about China. Chronicle.

Shulevitz, Uri. The Travels of Benjamin Tudela. Farrar.

Bartoletti, Susan. Hitler Youth. Scholastic.

Erdich, Louise. The Game of Silence. HarperCollins.

Lanagan, Margo. Black Juice. HarperCollins.

Zevin, Gabrielle. Elsewhere. Farrar.

Gerstein, Mordecai. The Old Country. Roaring Brook.

Birdsall, Jeanne. The Penderwicks. Knopf.

McKay, Hilary. Permanent Rose. McElderry.

Yancey, Rick. The Extraordinary Adventures of Alfred Kropp. Bloomsbury.

Perkins, Lynn Rae. CrissCross. Greenwillow.

Lynch, Chris. Inexcusable. Atheneum.

Partridge, Elizabeth. John Lennon: All I Want is the Truth. Viking.

Marsalis, Wynton. Jazz ABZ. Illustrations by Paul Rodgers. Candlewick.

Sabuda, Robert, and Matthew Reinhart. Encyclopedia Prehistorica: Dinosaurs. Candlewick.

Seeger, Laura Vaccaro. Walter Was Worried. Roaring Brook.

Jenkins, Emily. That New Animal. Illustrated by Pierre Pratt. Farrar.

Best, Cari. Are You Going to Be Good? Illustrated by G. Brian Karas. Farrar.

Bee, William. Whatever. Candlewick.

Agee, John. Terrific. Hyperion.

Girmay, Aracelis. changing, changing. George Braziller.

Votes are In

...or at least six of them are, and that's a great turnout!

February's book is Full Service by Will Weaver, one of The Horn Book's Best Books of 2005.

Embarrasingly, the only other book on the list I've even looked at is Prehistoric Actual Size by Steve Jenkins, though I plan to read Hilary McKay's third Casson family book Permanent Rose and The Minister's Daughter by Julie Hearn. I may add one of those to the Wish List...

My copy of Black Hole arrived yesterday (along with the ReadyMade book, hooray hooray) and that is one solid chunk of a tome! Not as thick as Blankets but quite substantial. Can't wait to start.

Aack!

It IS January (!) so we need to get a February book chosen ASAP! There are eleven books on the wish list. The three that were randomly pulled (see here):



To offset the Amazon bent, here are some other blurbs about the books from Teenreads.com:

+ Full Service
+ Going, Going
+ Zazoo

I'm looking forward to the new year and chatting books up with our two new members! (Can you introduce yourselves?)

Any thoughts on the best book we read this year? I have to say Outcasts of 19 Schuyler Place and So B. It top my list.

Voting time - Autobiography of My Dead Brother

(Lingo taken from Slang of the Fifties.)

Boyz in da hood

Alright, y'all are slow. I finished this book a week ago, and I was waiting for someone else to speak up, but I'm just going to bite the bullet.

I was surprised to like this book. I can't say I enjoyed it because it was painful to read about these boys. But that made it a good read. I was able to connect to Jesse (not so much Rise or Mason) and even his parents a little bit. I realized at the end that CJ and Rise are like Jesse's conscience, pulling him in either direction. And I liked that the whole time I knew which was the right thing to do, and I kept rooting for him and pleading for him not to go where Rise invited him. I like that I was able to connect with the characters, despite my complete removal from their situations.

I have a question: What was the purpose of the girl? (Was it Tania?) Character development? Attraction to the Rise course of action?

Should be a comment but it deserves its own post...

For more Goodnight Moon hilarity, click here.

I tried to use bugmenot to bypass NYTimes registration (no, I was not already registered, and yes, get off my back), but that page "wasn't found." So I registered anyway, and it was quick and painless (and free!). Worth the read.

Meet Lisa

I invited Lisa (FlyGirl) to join the rumpus because of something I learned about her almost three years ago. On our way to look at the apartment where we now reside, she asked, "What would you be if you weren't a scientist?" Interestingly, I already had an answer: librarian. (But I couldn't decide what kind of librarian, so here I am in grad school.) Amazingly, Lisa said, "Me too!" and started talking about her love for books, especially childrens' books, and her lifelong goal of reading all the Newbery books, and the Excel spreadsheet she uses to keep track of them, and so forth.

I also invited her because we live in the same house and it would be easy to share the books.

January --

The votes are in and counted and the January book is Black Hole by Charles Burns -- the compilation. Make sure you get the book and not just one of the issues.

If you are using a library (and several of the systems Hedgehogs use own copies) get yourself on the hold list soon! Or track down a new/used copy through Bookfinder, Froogle or Amazon. Or, if you are lucky enough to live in a place with half decent bookstores, go buy one at your local independent!

Discussion begins January 15th and hopefully we will have some new voices!

Feelin' Newsy --

Here's a new blog: AS IF - Authors Support Intellectual Freedom. There's the Geography Club article and some other things I've seen elsewhere, but I like the idea. Check the member list on the sidebar. Very impressive!

You'll need to spend some time there after visiting Citizens for Literary Standards in Schools out of Kansas. Yeah, because I always longed to teach How Green Was My Valley instead of dirty books like Fallen Angels. We don't want them reading ANYTHING interesting. Show me a kid who can make it through Moby Dick and I'll eat my hat. They also list Bartelby [sic] the Scrivener.

It strikes me as odd that Middlemarch is on their Best of the Best List (AKA: A whole lotta old, boring books) (okay, not ALL of them). It's on my to be read shelf -- and has been for YEARS; that is a brick of a book; I can't imagine assigning it -- but I watched a BBC version and I remember a lot of lustful glances artfully displayed.

From Wikipedia.org:

Virginia Woolf described Middlemarch as, "one of the few English novels written for grown up people"

So there, Citizens for Literary Standards in Schools! Virginia knows what she's talking about!

Sleep Right!

I don't know how many of you heard about how HarperCollins erased Clement Hurd's cigarette from the wraps of Goodnight Moon, but here's a washingtonpost.com article with a rewritten text, for every child's protection. (click title)

Place your bets -

STEP ONE: THE PLAYING FIELD

---> Books #1-8 as taken from the Wishlist.

STEP TWO: THE POT

---> Stir thoroughly.

STEP THREE: THE WINNERS

I thought it would be a good idea to pull three instead of four to ensure that the winning book does so by more than one vote; it all depends on how many people voice their opinions. We'll see how it goes and change it if we need to, okay?

Polling stations are open as of NOW and will remain so until the end of Saturday, December 3rd.

Vote now! Vote once! Click on the title to find out more about the books.

Clarification

Now that the Hedgehog wish list is going strong, how are we going to use our powers for good?

In other words, how can we choose the January book? (January?! We've been around for a year now!) Pick a random sampling from the list -- maybe, four books? -- and vote on those? Take the two highest voted books and have those for the next two months?

That's what came to my mind. If you have another idea or agree with this one, please insert your assent/dissent here.

Have a delightful Thanksgiving!

Ladies! It's that time again!

Le Club de Geographie

Okay, I'll start.

I found this book enjoyable. Somewhat. To a point. Kinda.

I found the premise pretty interesting. A gay guy who thinks he's all alone. A group of pretty likeable gay/bisexual high schoolers who want a support group. The dynamics of high school (and you couldn't pay me to go back there).

But the book was just trying too hard for me. I don't mind that Russel is telling us the story—although truthfully I find that a little tired—but there were things that just seemed to be forced. "That's the principal, in case you don't remember." etc etc. He was too cutesy, too geeky but hip-geek, too cheeky with the reader, too I-don't-know-but-it-started-to-bug.

Things happened a little too quickly, without me as the reader seeing enough of the build-up or background. Russel's relationship with Kevin—I had no idea if they had met just that one night at the stinky picnic gazebo or every single night for weeks. I knew that Russel really liked Kevin, but I wasn't sure what was between them and how intimate—emotionally, physically—they had gotten. I wasn't too sure about Kevin in general. What was he really like? He seemed too stereotypical in the two faces he had—sweet when he was alone, a jerk when he was with "the guys." Also, when Russel admits to Brian Bund that he really is gay, I thought Russel was a little too comfortable with that. I didn't get the feeling that he was ready to be out, even if only to one person who was a social outcast.

I was also bothered how the book went to so much trouble to "foreshadow" the bad things that were going to happen. We were hit on the head with it, with the "and I didn't know how bad it would get" kind of idea. It's like we were set up for the fall, and then it happened in small annoying increments (the first time it was the article in the school newspaper, which didn't seem that bad). But the drama in the narrative was too much for me. And if that was because it was Russel saying it, then it's a little too stereotypical (gay drama queen) for me.

I liked that Hartinger picked geography for the club, given what he said about that on his website (the landscape of social groups in high school, all the different "lands"). But I did get a little sick of how everything fit so neatly. All the talk about the "Borderlands of Respectability" and the "Land of the Popular" and so on. I get it. Don't spell it out for me too much.

I picked up volume three of Michael Cart's Rush Hour (called Faces), and Hartinger has a story in there (I think it might be an excerpt, not a short story). I wasn't able to finish it, but it seemed very different from this narrative voice. Wasn't trying as hard. Has anyone read that or anything else by Hartinger?

So I have to say I wasn't overly impressed. Yeah, it's a good idea, and we need more literature out there addressing gay teens, but I just didn't think it was terribly well written. A fine effort, especially for a first novel, but I wasn't bowled over.

Thoughts?

Igor, go fetch --

Brent Hartinger has quite a website!

The little photos to the left of the column ("inside" the lobes) are hilarious, plus read the bottom of the Where I'm Going lobe.

He's also got a LiveJournal.

Bookslut covers his books (including Geography Club and the sequel The Order of the Poison Oak) here.

*** Just to share my pain, my sad local library "system" has three copies of The Order of the Poison Oak. This sounds good, but someone please explain why they have NO copies of Geography Club and my book had to come from a university library three and a half hours away!

Coupla Questions

1. It is November. The year is almost over. We've done the book club thing for almost a year now. Do you want to keep it going? I do, but I understand if people want to drop out. I think what we are doing already, with people participating when they can, works fine. But do please speak up.

If yes, then:

1.a. Should we invite more members or are you fine with the people we have?

1.b. Do you want to have a theme for each/some month(s) (award books, sex, books from other countries, drugs, etc.) or keep it random and free-flowing?

1.c. Do you want to pick all the books out for the YEAR at once or vote monthly/bimonthy?

2. Furthermore, if your answer to question one (1) is, "YES, DAMMIT!" then would you be open to a project? No grades, no percentages (and you will get a sticker and/or gold star for participating) and you get a head start.

THE PROJECT:
Sometime (or multiple times) during the months of November and December get ye into a bookstore, library or some other printed word source (online, etc.) and BROWSE the Teen/Young Adult/Children's section. Jot down (doesn't that sound fun -- jotting?) 3-5 titles (including authors) that make you go, "Hmmm. That looks mighty fascinating!" (NOTE: Don't say this aloud unless you want the bookstore employees talking about you.)

Don't worry about other people having read it before*** or the Literary Quality of the book; just find something you'd like to read! (Bonus points for books that are in paperback and therefore more easily picked up.)

In early January, if ye be willing to be reading, we'll have a hoo-ha and figure out what to do with the suggestions (dependent on 1.b. and 1.c..)

Sound good?

***Okay, I don't completely mean that. Don't pick something like Charlotte's Web or Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. In fact, avoid Classics. Try to stick to something more recent and, dare I add, Cutting Edge.

Feedback?

Cast your opinon here --

Pretty...

Ok, I thought Project Gutenberg was cool, and I even did some volunteer proofreading for them ages ago -- but dude, The Open Library kicks Project Gutenberg's ass! If I were ever going to read books electronically (which I still don't think I will), this would be how I'd want to do it.

P.S. It'll tell you that only IE.6 and Firefox are supported, but my Safari1.3 seemed to work fine.

P.S. Swiped from Boing Boing.

RS

Roger Sutton over at the Horn Book has a (great) blog! It is called Read Roger.

So B. It

I suggested it; I'll start it.

First of all, I liked Heidi. She's smart without knowing it, and sensitive and logical, but almost friendless. It's an appealing innocence and purity mixed with an unusual self-confidence. Heidi is admirable.

I also enjoyed the writing. Words were chosen carefully. There was foreshadowing and imagery. Everything I read had a purpose; there was no filler. I especially liked how Heidi would hear soof wherever she went.

Probably the least noticeable but most pleasant thing about the book is that none of the characters annoyed me. This happens more than it should. It seems like the popular thing to do lately in both books and TV is to create quirky characters. Most of the time, the quirky is fun and interesting, but sometimes it's taken too far. Too much quirky becomes cliche.

It was simple, entertaining, and meaningful. I really enjoyed it. I think it's the best book we've read so far.

Next Focus --

Here are hyperlinked titles to check out:

+ Autobiography of My Dead Brother
+ Geography Club
+ Looking for Alaska
+ Popular Music from Vittula
+ Walter Canis Inflatus : Walter the Farting Dog, Latin-Language Edition

Please vote for two! Vote now! November is almost here!

Might as well, to be official -

YAWP!

Meera, if you like, you can comment on A Great and Terrible Beauty on Libba Bray's LiveJournal. She's got quite a following.

I was going to put up a poll but I think I know what the ratings would be...

The main point of this post was to solicit suggestions for November. How about something that is about a male main character?

Discussion for So B. It begins the 15th! Sarah Weeks, the author, has a website.

A Great and Terrible Beauty

It seems no one else has read the book yet so I'll jump in with some commentary.

I seem to say this about everything we read but -- generally I liked the book, but there were also some glaring FIRST NOVEL!!! errors in my eyes, enough so that I may not care to read the sequel, Rebel Angels.

Gemma's sense of humor is hilarious. But that is also part of my problem with the story -- Gemma's personality and sense of humor is modern. I'm all for "girls who do things," as Robin McKinley says, but this sounded like a bunch of high school girls from down the street dressed up in Victorian clothing, mouthing 21st century ideals. This isn't a bad thing in itself, and I can usually overlook it in books, but it distracted me, brought me out of the narrative. That is BAD.

Bray did an excellent job capturing the power struggles of the girls within their friendships, and their especial cruelty, as in the escapade with Pippa's new gloves and who gets to wear them. Later on, despite herself, Gemma is glad when Felicity chooses to stay instead of walking to Pippa. We want friends, we want to be chosen.

THE REALM.
First, that's a dumb name. I'm sorry; it's just stupid sounding. Better to call it Virtual Reality World! Motto: Why would you ever leave? The girls get addicted to it. Power corrupts... And the whole transference of power that allows them to bring it out of the REALM is never explained. It is instantaneous, too easily achieved and used recklessly. It was not earned. This is cheating and stinks of juvenile wish-fulfillment and a cop-out on the behalf of the author.

I don't know if it's because A Great and Terrible Beauty is a first novel (though the author has written plays and short stories) (those are different creatures) or just a miss on the editor's judgement, but the obvious leadup to Gemma's noticing the missing photo (pg 326 in my TPB) was HORRIBLE. Don't spell things out! Don't TELL the reader; show them! Gemma goes on and on about noticing smudgy bits on the walls: "Funny how I never noticed that before," "So much I haven't noticed," "But it's a night for seeing things for the first time." Awkward, creaky and OBVIOUS. Get it over with and notice the missing photo already!

There is a lack of orginality in some of the plot twists. Mary Dowd is Gemma's mum?! No way! The cool teacher is dismissed?! Bastards!

My final criticism is on the poor blocking of the scenes with the monster/Circe?/mother? at the end. I don't understand what happened or how they escaped. Overall, it was obviously set up for a sequel (series?). I don't know. Maybe it's just overkill of the "We are girls with magic powers and we kick ass and look cute at the same time! Yay!" and there seems to be so much of that out there right now.

Eunice, didn't you do a paper in YA about secrets? I kept thinking back to that all through this book -- how secrets are powerful.

PS - The girls' meeting in a cave SO reminded me of Dead Poets Society.

SE Hinton Interview on the NYTimes

"An Outsider, out of the Shadows"

Did you know S.E. stands for Susan Eloise? Such a Soc name.

The Outsiders movie is being re-released, in a new director's cut that is supposed to be truer to the book. (and if you haven't read the book or evor seen the movie, there is a MAJOR spoiler in the above article, so beware!)

Stay gold, guys, stay gold.

Cooler Than We

I had lunch with Cathie today and I asked her what Dawn (Emerman) was doing, and she told me about her fabulous and shiny blog, which I promptly searched for when I got home. Look! It's here and she rocks, and I thought you all should know. And be inspired to update here more regularly (except for Sarah, who is the update-Queen and doesn't need inspiring).

Hooray for Dawn and her crusade for healthy depictions of sex and female sexuality in YA books! And hooray for her first novel being finished -- see what I mean about inspiration?

yay

Mr. Hiaasen is about to set his second kid-friendly book loose upon the masses.

I'm not intending to read it - don't need more tales of environmentally-minded children in Florida trying to thwart a wrong (casino boat operator dumping sewage into the ocean) being done. Foibles. Nutty-but-lovable characters. Etc.

But don't let me stop you.

Another book I'm not planning to read (this is a cheering post!) is the new Pigeon book. Really -- isn't it an established GIVEN he likes things that go, such as busses?

I understand people are clamoring for more pigeon books, but I think the originality was spent in the first and any follow-ups are going to be disappointing.

And let ye opinions be made known!

I really enjoyed reading Bound. Embarrassingly, the Cinderella light bulb didn't go on for me until maybe halfway through the book. Maybe even two-thirds of the way through. I doubt that was the case for the rest of you -- even the Evil Stepmother didn't clue me in.

Before you comment on my blindness, please know I thought the story would focus on foot-binding, and kept waiting for the part when Xing Xing's feet would be tied up. Ah, Sarah, there are more ways of being bound.

Did Xing Xing seem younger than 14 to you?

I loved the poetic bits and found the lyrical style evocative of Xing Xing's world.

But what happened at the end? Mr Suave Prince sweeps Xing Xing off her feet? What? It seemed forced and unconvincing, like all of a sudden she was a different person. Did Napoli end it that way just to keep the Cinderella tale complete?

Put your word here - Please vote for TWO (2) books -- the other will be for October

LAST CALL - VOTE THURSDAY!

September Hedgehog Rumpus Book Club Book Ideas?
One suggestion: A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray; it is her first book. She combines a bit of fantasy (just a bit, Susan!) with a Victorian-era setting and some Gothic touches. And I love boarding school stories.

Also, The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen. She's gained a lot of popularity in the past few years and I'm curious to see if she's any good.

What else?

I have the Trina one -

Unfortunate Children's Books.

Thanks, Dana!

FLB

Nerve.com posted an interview with Francesca Lia Block.

She kinda looks like Anjelica Huston on heroin.

Calling Sus

Is this true? And can you get a picture for us???

A brush with Bloomers!

NEWS ITEM NUMERO ONE-O:

Meera is married!!! What a gorgeous day filled with gorgeosity. And such.


NEWS ITEM NUMERO DUE:

Kristin's Old! Happy B'day K-Diggety!


NEWS ITEM NUMBER TRES:

Sarah and I visited with everyone's favorite Bloomers today! For all of you NOT joining the Sinstitute/Imposium (um, I guess that's everyone except me), you may still be excited to know the following tidbits:

1. There will be hand-printed napkins. (We got a preview - the Artist's Proof, if you will.)

2. Brendan Fraser will not be appearing. You find this information confusing, if not unnecessary and unrelated? Oh, WE got the story. That's right. Uh huh.

But he's not coming.

3. Tobin Anderson IS coming! Sweet mother of Handel! I'll have to put the moves on him! (Yaaawn... stretch... and now I'm touching you.)


Bloomers herself is in fine form, despite finding out that she got her last paycheck EVOR in June and isn't getting a cent for all the incredible work she puts into the Sinstitute. Of course, they couldn't keep her away with Bloomers Repellent, if anyone were stupid enough to make such a product.

Let's play a game.*

Name the book this quote comes from. Hint: It's Sarah's favorite.

"Ask her if she still keeps all her kings in the back row."

*This is just a lame excuse for a post. I really have nothing literary to say, but the title of the previous post (with the poll) comes in and out unless there's a post after it, so that's what this is.

It's that time of the month again.

Break?

I know many (all, really) of the members of this exalted club are busy right now with all sorts of activities, from marrying to travelling to moving. Upheaval abounds! Participation on the site has also slowed down -- I'm wondering if you'd like to skip July and resume Rumpusing in August, with Bound?

Dissent in the ranks

We seem to be in general agreement with each other about meh-ing Fortune's Bones, but the critics of the book world think otherwise:

2005-Coretta Scott King Honor
2005-Books for the Teen Age — New York Public Library
2005-Notable Children’s Books — American Library Association
2005-Capitol Choices: Noteworthy Books for Children
2005-The Lion and the Unicorn Award for Excellence in North American Poetry
2004-Editor’s Choice — Kirkus Reviews
2005-YA Top Forty 2004 titles — Pennsylvania School Librarians Association
2005-YA Top Forty Nonfiction 2004 titles — Pennsylvania School Librarians Association

Why is this book so acclaimed? Does it merit this recognition? Most of these are not outright awards, instead listing Fortune's Bones as a recommended title. Hm.

Gay-themed library exhibit prompts ban

ALA | Gay Pride Events Banned in Hillsborough County. This happened after people complained (separate article) about a Gay & Lesbian Pride Month book display.

Gah.

Also, there's a mother in Arkansas who Demand[ed] Removal of 70 Titles in the school's library collections.

I need to start finding articles dcoumenting success in THWARTING such acts.

Along Access lines -

On Intellectual Freedom from the journal School Libraries in Canada.

Excellent article.

Disney princesses make me barf

You have to watch an ad to access it, but this Salon.com article, "A Nation of Little Princesses," includes input from Maria Tatar and features the kind of girls I actively persecute and campaign against.

Ideas for August?

Some suggestions at the 2005 Boston Globe–Horn Book Awards.

What else? I know this is early.

Venturing Forth

I still want to read Fortune's Bones again, aloud, but here are some off-the-top-of-my-brain thoughts.

The illustrations & images particularly brought this book together for me. The book is physically beautiful with pleasing design: cover, music sheet endpapers, poem on right - illustration on left, the concept of the poems as a requiem in vocal parts. That was all good.

The poems themselves didn't blow me away. Fortune's story is fascinating (I think I enjoyed the non-fiction, left page bits more than the poems themselves), and as I said above, I like the idea of the requiem, but most of the poems seemed overly simple, even awkward in parts.

I call a hey, Luigi, come-a quick:

What's with that? It makes me think of some bushy-browed pizza man dressed like one of the Super Mario Bros. exclaiming over Fortune's skeleton. Mamma mia!

The parts I read from Nelson's Carver: A Life in Poems at Simmons, struck me as being more sophisticated. It seems that a lot of thought and care went into Fortune's Bones (Author's Note, research involved, notes, requiem structure, the museum itself) but I was left wanting in the poetry department.

See Fortune's Story at the Mattatuck Museum, if you haven't already.

Susan, this one's for you!

An interview with Jon Ican'tspellhisnameforthelifeofme.

Do we have a book discussion starting tomorrow? Yes! Have I read the book? NO! Did I, in fact, suggest the book? YES!

Get out the vote!

Make Way

It's going to take me days to sort out all my photographs from Pride, but here is one that I couldn't resist posting so that I could share it with the rest of the Hedgehogs.

Since we are reading Marilyn Nelson -

Today's NYT includes an article on Emmett Till, the focus of another of Nelson's books - A Wreath for Emmett Till. Has anyone read it? I remember Ms. Nelson reading excerpts at the Symposium.

After 50 Years, Emmett Till's Body Is Exhumed.

Bye Bye Buffalo Tree

Remember Buffalo Tree from Cathie's Criticism class? It just caused a little
furor.

I liked it a lot, as I recall. But it's pretty harsh. Almost Clockwork-Orange like, in fact. I guess I can see how some people would object to it being taught as a classroom text, and I don't see anything wrong with it being available to kids in class libraries, so those who want to read it can find it. I guess I'd prefer the decision not to teach it to be left up to the teacher, though -- not the school board.

I'm Back From the Dead

Oh, I was so close to loving this book. I really liked it. A lot. I liked Margaret Rose Kane. I liked her uncles. I liked the towers, particularly because I didn't like them very much at first (too abstract, too eccentric, both Erica-criticisms). I even liked the plan to save them and I was thrilled when Peter Vanderwaal decided they were "outsider art." I totally bought that they could be saved that way, and I also bought the idea of a big company buying them. I did not feel betrayed by this book, as I often do when books try to be too clever. And E.L. Konigsburg has more narrative talent in her little finger than most of the writers we've read so far, so the fact that the prose is smooth and pretty without being (mostly) unobtrusive isn't surprising.

So I really only have three complaints:

1) I feel like all of the cool, weird adults in her books are the same person (possibly her). And I don't really buy the way they talk, so I could perhaps believe in one of them, but not several in the same title. Peter and Loretta sounded way too similar to me -- probably why they got married, I suppose.

2) Speaking of marriage -- were there any clues that M.K.R.'s parents were ending theirs? I hate that kind of emotional surprise, but maybe I missed the foreshadowing (read this book in one sitting).

3) Way. Too. Much. Information at the end. This really isn't a long enough book to justify going into excruciating detail in an epilogue about every character and what they ended up doing, and I definitely don't want to hear my narrator become an adult when she was already interesting enough as a kid. Should have quit while she was ahead.

But! We are doing better at choosing books! I hope this trend continues. ;-)

19 Schuyler Place

Short version: the best book we've read so far!

First-rate characterization.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

[edited to add longer version]

You know, I fell in love with Margaret Rose. I think I'm inclined to admire-adore down-to-earth intellectuals, the sort of people with odd bits of trivia in their heads. These are the sort of people I like best in real life. This is the kind of person I want to be.

***NOTE: I would have thrown a BIG fit over the bedwetting issue, getting all excited (enraged) and yelling and (maybe) even (okay, probably) throwing things. I would have shown the inept counselor my dry pajamas and screamed the cabin down.

*****ANOTHER NOTE: Yes, I know this book wasn't all about me. I'm just reflecting, pensively.

The uncles are lovingly crafted.

Pg. 112: I spit on digital clocks/watches, too, Morris.

Love the wordplay: areasonable, anobedient, etc.

Verdict: Well-told, moving, concise, intriguing on many levels. I really enjoyed it! Didn't realize until end that the cover is the painting on Margaret's ceiling, with one corner left undone. Are those the shadows of the towers criss-crossing the rose?

Voting Booth Closed

You may vote for more than one. We'll take the top two or so and make those our June and July books - unless someone says NAY!

+ + + + Looks like Fortune's Bones for June and Bound for July. Alrighty?

June

I just have to say that I saw Fortune's Bones in a bookstore a couple of weeks ago, and it looks stunning. Otherwise, I vote strongly for nonfiction. Anything by Russell Freedman (although I've already read the Marian Anderson book, so maybe this), or Jim Murphy (who I'd be willing to reread, even, but I don't know about Kristin -- An American Plague is wonderful, as is Blizzard. And finally, don't tell Susan but I never made it through this, which could be fascinating.

That's me. To make up for my woeful silence on this month's book. (My verdict: Cool.)

Feedback

Well, here's my 2 cents:

Bound: looks v. interesting; fairy tale w/o the fairy, seems to remind me of Jane Yolen's Briar Rose with the combo of fairy tale and real life.

The Mount: futuristic sci-fi suggestion for the month of June.

The Race to Save the Lord God Bird: biological non-fiction, for some reason this doesn't really pique my interest (perhaps b/c I've been using the Rumpus as an escape from science, thesis, etc.)

The Voice that Challenged a Nation: tidbit of trivia--James DePreist (Director of the Oregon Symphony among others) is Marian Anderson's nephew.

Our choices have somewhat centered around activism...wellm Hoot and Outcasts anyway. Perhaps the non-fictionophiles would like a break from all these imaginary stories.

By the by

Some CSCL news (not that we EVOR call the Center for the Study of Children's Literature CSCL):

This Wednesday there's a retirement party for The Illustrious Susan P. Bloom at Simmons. Meera and I plan to go, and I promise to do my part to report back on the type of cheese served as well as whether the napkins are store-bought or hand-printed. As this is a party in honor of Susan, those unfamiliar with the small world of Simmons will perhaps assume that Bloomers will relax, revel in the glory of a career well-managed.

I'm counting on the excited-dog action, myself.

Your friendly guide to the Sinstitute/Imposium

I don't know how to put a link into a comment, so I'm making a new post.

So lookee lookee lookee.

There are a few nonfiction things to look at, as well as Marilyn Nelson's poetry masterpiece. We don't necessarily have to choose a recent book of any of these authors, either. Just thought we could draw on the guest speakers as inspiration.

Any thoughts?

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