The School Story

At the beach, Andrew Clements' The School Story (illustrated by Brian Selznick) was next in the pile. Set in the Upper Eastside of Manhattan, the story features the determination of Natalie Nelson, 12-year-old novelist, and her best friend Zoe Riesman, Natalie's literary agent. With the somewhat reluctant help of their advisory, Ms. Clayton, the girls create a nom de plume for Natalie, set up an office for Zoe and sell the story to Natalie's mom's publishing house. While the author asks the reader to take some large leaps of faith, kids will undoubtedly cheer along with Natalie and Zoe as they achieve their very grown-up goal.

Everything on a Waffle

A week at the beach gave me lots of time in the sunshine to read, read, read.
On the way there, we listened to Polly Horwath's "Everything on a Waffle," read by Kathleen Mcinerney. Cute story, but both my daughters objected to the constant repetition of the theme (believing in something because it feels right, but may not be rational). Set in the western Canadian coastal town of Coal Harbor, Primrose Squarp's parents were lost in a terrible storm and she's the only one who believes that they are still alive. As she is passed from babysitter to bachelor uncle, she finds comfort at The Girl on the Red Swing restaurant with owner Kate Bowzer, where everything (including lasagne) is served on a waffle. The book is a Newbery award-winner and a good example of a book that is loved by parents and librarians but not necessarily by it's intended audience.

Lucas

RECOMMENDED FOR AGES 14 AND ABOVE. Kevin Brooks has done it again. He weaves a story and characters that I can't stop thinking about for days after I've read the book. Lucas is the story of a mysterious boy who appears on Caitlin's small island home. Caitlin is struggling at home with her alcoholic father still mourning the death of his wife, Caitlin's mother; and her beloved brother, just returned from college and not a bit like he was when he left. Caitlin's best friend and brother are hanging out with the roughest, meanest kids on the island. Jamie, the ringleader, catches Caitlin alone and Lucas stops him from raping her. The story gets darker from here and though it has a redemptive ending, I am still haunted by Brooks' ability to leave me feeling as though I have lost a friend. Highly recommended, for 13 and older.

Sisterhood!!

I read the books, (Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Second Summer of the Sisterhood, Girls in Pants: The Third Summer of the Sisterhood) then watched the movie -- twice. Once each with my daughters (13 and 10). We all loved the movie and the soundtrack. Brasheres said in a craft talk I went to recently that she didn't have anything to do with writing the screenplay. Kudos to the producers and screenwriters for being true to the spirit of the book and the characters. Kudos to the actors for their fine work.

As for the books, Brasheres sustains her formula (pants sent from girl to girl, story follows) very well in all three books. Her characters continue to be complex, interesting people. Great chick-lit for summer reading -- for 10 and up, and I mean grown-ups too!

Runny Babbit!

Shel Silverstein (may he rest in peace) had one more good book in him, which has recently been published posthumously. Runny Babbit was twenty years in the making, and the effort shows. Packed with his trademark black and white pen and ink drawings, the fun of the work is his tranposing the first letters of nouns in the brief poems, so "sloppy pig" becomes "poppy slig" and "messy room" becomes "ressy moom." It is especially great to read aloud.

Beowulf

I'm reading Beowulf with my 10-year-old daughter, the Seamus Heaney edition. What a great adventure story. This edition has the Old English on one side of the double-page spread and Heaney's translation/interpretation on the opposite page. We've been reading aloud the Old English and trying to recognize words from the Heaney text. Try it -- it's more fun than it sounds. Beowulf would be a good read if you are new to "classic" literature or have to read something "good for you" and aren't very excited. Plus it's short!

First posting!

I'm new to blogging. I want to try this new way of communicating, and use this as a journal about the books I'm reading, what I'm thinking about kids and reading. All (school) year I've watched students in our library posting to xanga.com and other blog sites, and watched them reading each other's postings. I'm interested in the benefits and disadvantages of communicating without talking -- besides the obvious ability to circumvent the "no talking in the library" rule :-)
As for books, I've just finished reading Kevin Brooks' Kissing the Rain. He's known for hard-edged, dreary settings and characters and I was curious about this style which is so popular with teens. The book is very powerful. It's about Moo, who is fat and constantly gets taunted, teased by fellow high schoolers -- he calls it "rain." Moo witnesses a murder and then gets caught between a detective who wants to do the wrong thing for the right reason and a very bad crook who wants to do the right thing for the wrong reason. Moo holds the lives of several people in his hands. Don't read this book if you want a happy ending, but do read it for a story that challenges the reader to think about "right" and "wrong" in a whole new way. I couldn't put it down, and went right out to buy more of Brooks' books: Lucas and Martyn Pig.