Review of North of Beautiful, by Justina Chen Headley

Contemporary, Romance, Teen Fiction Review 0

North of Beautiful

by Justina Chen Headley

Little, Brown and Company, New York, 2009. 373 pages.

I read this book on the flight home from KidLitCon 2011, having just heard the author speak as part of an insightful and thought-provoking panel on diversity, and having gotten the book signed. In the panel, Justina Chen said that she didn’t want to get categorized as a writer who wrote only Chinese characters, so she purposely made this character blonde and classically beautiful — with one exception. Here’s how the book begins:

“Not to brag or anything, but if you saw me from behind, you’d probably think I was perfect. I’m tall, but not too tall, with a ballerina’s long legs and longish neck. My hair is naturally platinum blond, the kind that curls when I want it to and cascades behind my back in one sleek line when I don’t. While my face couldn’t launch a thousand ships, it has the power to make any stranger whip around for a second look. Trust me, this mixture of curiosity and revulsion is nothing Helen of Troy would ever have encountered.

“Please don’t get me wrong; I’ve got all the requisite parts — and in all the right numbers, too: one nose, two eyes, and twenty-four teeth that add up to not a bad smile. But who notices pearly whites when a red-stained birthmark stretches across the broad plain of my right cheek? That’s exactly why I never went anywhere without my usual geologic strata of moisturizer, sunblock, medical concealer, foundation, and powder.”

Terra Rose Cooper is named after mapping terms and has a fascination for maps, like her father, the famous cartographer. She’s got a good-looking boyfriend who’s on the wrestling team, but she’s not sure he even really sees her or cares about her more than for sleeping with her. An interfering visiting professor puts a brochure in her hands about a new technique that could eliminate her birthmark. Should she try it?

Her Dad has said he won’t spend another penny on her face. She’d already tried so many things that didn’t work. She never even gets a chance to talk with her boyfriend about it. She does it during Christmas Break, so no one will see her while she’s healing.

But then, driving back from the first procedure with her mother (without telling her father), her car slides on black ice and she has an accident. She almost hits a boy about her age, dressed all in black. That boy, Jacob, has a scar on his own face. He was born in China with a cleft palate and was adopted by his mother Norah (who owns the car she hit) and brought to America.

Meanwhile, Terra’s applying for early entrance to college. She wants to escape from her family, and her emotionally abusive father, as her older brothers have done. One of them moved to China, and he sends tickets to Terra and her mother, telling them to come visit. Terra doesn’t think her mother would ever be brave enough.

One thing leads to another. After Norah and Jacob drive Terra and her mother home, Norah and Terra’s mother hit it off. So Terra sees more of Jacob. Then Norah talks them into traveling to China together, where Terra’s going to see much more of Jacob. But what about her boyfriend?

This book is full of mapping metaphors and symbolism — almost too many. Terra is an artist, who works with collages and employs many map fragments and symbols. She’s working on a “Beauty Map” about what the world thinks is beautiful. Jacob teaches her to geocache, which of course involves more navigational terms. Her Dad is presented as a famous cartographer whose career was ruined when he supported a map alleged to be by a Chinese navigator who discovered America before Columbus. That map was later proved to be a fraud, and that destroyed her father’s career and is why he moved to a town in the middle of nowhere.

That didn’t ring quite true for me. I wasn’t sure what kind of job a cartographer would even find in an isolated town. And how could something like that mess up his career? But then I was really brought up short by this paragraph:

“Dad’s work was purely high-tech, coding the software for global positioning systems, first for the military back in the eighties and then spinning off to do consulting work for software mapping companies.”

That didn’t ring true for me at all, because my Dad was instrumental in developing software for global positioning systems way before the eighties. And he is no cartographer; he’s an engineer. I’m sure that cartographers use GPS now that it’s been developed, but when my Dad first worked with satellite navigation, they were mostly used on ships, not by mapmakers. I could be wrong, but I’m pretty sure cartographers didn’t have much to do with developing the software for global positioning systems.

But that’s a piddly detail that I wouldn’t expect anyone else to notice. The author’s story did give us an explanation for why Terra’s Dad was so bitter and resentful and abusive, and especially angry at China. She was pretty vague about what the father actually did, so it felt just a little bit of a clunky way of pulling the map metaphor into the plot.

However, I have to say that the metaphor worked well. After all, Terra was thinking about her life’s path and what constitutes True Beauty.

And by the time I finished, I was impressed by how it was all woven together. It’s tricky to write a good story of someone dealing with emotional abuse, and this one pulled it off well. It’s not only Terra who’s learning to respect herself and stand up for herself; we also see her Mom coming into her own, especially on the China trip with Norah. It happens gradually, in realistic little steps. And it doesn’t end with a neat tie-up. We see that progress has been made, and things could go either way. I thought that whole aspect was masterfully done.

So this is an intriguing read, with lots to think about: true beauty, dealing with subtle emotional abuse, even sibling relationships. And the story is intriguing as well, with nicely done romance.

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on my own book, purchased at KidLitCon and signed by the author.

Review of The One and Only Ivan, by Katherine Applegate

Animal Characters, Children's Fiction Review, Contemporary, Starred Review 0

The One and Only Ivan

by Katherine Applegate

Harper, 2012. 305 pages.
Starred Review

This book is already my early Newbery pick. This might change during the year, but the book itself is exquisitely crafted and told simply. You believe a real gorilla is telling the story, and you see his growth.

Ivan is a gorilla. “It’s not as easy as it looks.”

Ivan lives “in a human habitat called the Exit 8 Big Top Mall and Video Arcade. We are conveniently located off I-95, with shows at two, four, and seven, 365 days a year.” That’s what the owner says when he answers the phone.

Also in the mall circus are an aging elephant, some sun bears, chickens, rabbits, dogs, and some parrots. The other animals do tricks for the people who come in to watch them.

Ivan is resigned to his lot. The janitor’s daughter, Julia, has brought him crayons. He draws pictures of things in his domain. The people don’t recognize them, but they are willing to buy pictures made by a gorilla. He is an artist at heart.

But things change to make Ivan no longer so resigned. A baby elephant comes to their little circus. She is very young, very curious, very talkative, and misses her family. We see Ivan change now that he has someone to protect.

But how can a gorilla in a cage protect anyone?

This book will appeal to a very wide age range. I’m often prejudiced against prose poems, but in this one, it seems natural, since you don’t expect complicated sentences from a gorilla. I am also prejudiced against present tense, but again, it seems like a natural way for a gorilla to tell us about his lot. After all, his life has hardly ever changed, and he’s telling us about it as it happens. As a prose poem, there is plenty of blank space on the pages and the story reads quickly, so the language won’t be an obstacle for less advanced readers. But the story covers issues that people of any age will care about.

The craft in this book is exquisite. We see Ivan grow, slowly and realistically, as he is confronted with situations that make him care, in spite of himself.

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from the Fairfax County Public Library.

Review of The Fault in Our Stars, by John Green

Contemporary, Romance, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

The Fault in Our Stars

by John Green

Dutton Books, 2012. 318 pages.
Starred Review

I was already a fan of John Green and his books, but he has surpassed himself with this one. I think it’s funny that two books that I hope figure high in next year’s awards feature heroes August (in Wonder, a Newbery contender) and Augustus (in this book, which I would love to see win the Printz).

This is a book about teens who are dealing with cancer, but it’s not a “cancer book.” This is how Hazel, the narrator of this book, defines a “cancer book”, as she describes her favorite book, which is about a girl dealing with cancer:

“Like, in cancer books, the cancer person starts a charity that raises money to fight cancer, right? And this commitment to charity reminds the cancer person of the essential goodness of humanity and makes him/her feel loved and encouraged because s/he will leave a cancer-curing legacy. But in AIA, Anna decides that being a person with cancer who starts a charity is a bit narcissistic, so she starts a charity called The Anna Foundation for People with Cancer Who Want to Cure Cholera.”

Hazel meets Augustus at a cancer support group meeting that her mom makes her go to. But they hit it off well enough that she loans him the book and they start a relationship. John Green is good at portraying the clever banter of two nerds falling in love.

Now, Hazel’s favorite book does not end well. She wants nothing more than to find out from the author what happens after the book ends. And Augustus wants to make that happen. Meanwhile, their friend Isaac, who has eye cancer, is about to lose his vision, and his girlfriend breaks up with him right before that happens.

But there’s a whole lot more that happens, and I don’t want to say any more than that. I’ve heard objections that these teens use words that are too big even for adult readers — but those objectors clearly were not nerdy teens themselves. I know some nerdy teens, and dare I say I was one myself, and I remember the delight when you actually found someone who gets you, who lets you spout off your existential angst and crazy philosophizing. This book captures all that.

Now, these are teens dealing with life-threatening illness. Normal adolescence has a good share of drama. You’re figuring out life and love and your emotions and what’s important. Adolescence with a life-threatening illness thrown in has even more at stake. So these are some teens for whom philosophizing is completely appropriate.

I’ll say no more, except that I love the way John Green headed off anyone tracking him down and asking what happens after the book ends. He included an Author’s Note right at the front:

“This is not so much an author’s note as an author’s reminder of what was printed in small type a few pages ago: This book is a work of fiction. I made it up.

“Neither novels nor their readers benefit from attempts to divine whether any facts hide inside a story. Such efforts attack the very idea that made-up stories can matter, which is sort of the foundational assumption of our species.

“I appreciate your cooperation in this matter.”

This book is brilliant. I only hope there are enough nerds on the Printz committee for it to get the recognition it deserves. Meanwhile, read it!

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a book I purchased at ALA Midwinter Meeting and had signed by the author to my son Tim.

Review of True Blue, by Jane Smiley

Children's Fiction Review, Contemporary 0

True Blue

by Jane Smiley

Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 2011. 297 pages.

I read this book when finishing up my vacation in Oregon, because staying with my Auntie Sue made me hanker for a horse book. Auntie Sue had horses when I was small, and I also loved horse books then.

I enjoyed True Blue, but I’m wishing that I’d read the earlier two books about the Lovitt family first. There’s a nice horsey atmosphere which I was looking for, but the resolution of the drama in this book was rather unsatisfying to me. I think the book would have affected me more if I were already caring about the Lovitt family and invested in whether or not Abby’s brother Danny reconciles with their father.

In this book, Abby gets a new horse named True Blue. His owner died in a traffic accident, and no one at the stable knew anything about her. Abby works with True Blue. He seems unusually nervous. Then Abby starts seeing ghosts. Is Blue’s former owner haunting her?

Meanwhile, Abby breaks her wrist and can’t ride. So she starts helping train students, including her best friend. And her brother Danny comes around to help on the farm — which adds lots of tension.

As I said, I enjoyed this book, but think I would have enjoyed it more if I’d read the others first. It’s a quiet book, but a nice story. I do think I’ll go back and read The Georges and the Jewels and A Good Horse, because sometimes it’s nice to read a good horse story.

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on an Advance Reader Copy I got at ALA Annual Conference.

Review of Heist Society, by Ally Carter

Contemporary, Teen Fiction Review 0

Heist Society

by Ally Carter

Disney Hyperion Books, New York, 2010. 287 pages.

When I was a kid, I avidly watched It Takes a Thief. This book reminded me of that show, but this time it’s a group of teenagers pulling off a nearly impossible heist. I also love that a teenage girl is the star.

And they manage to deal with the readers’ sense of ethics: They have to do this theft to save Kat’s father. And it’s really stealing back, not stealing.

As the book begins, Kat has tried to leave “the life,” the family business of stealing. She has conned her way into the Colgan School, and plans to put thievery behind her.

But then her handsome and rich friend Hale frames her for a prank against the headmaster, and Kat gets kicked out. Hale informs her that he needs her help. Her father is in danger, because he’s been framed for stealing five Old Masters from a very evil man. That man wants his paintings back.

The catch is that Kat’s father did not actually steal them. (He was doing another job at the time.) So Kat has two weeks to assemble a crew, find the paintings, and steal them back.

This book is simply good fun. The way the group of teens pull off the heist is brilliant, clever, and plausible. (The author invented a fictional museum, so it’s not like she’s giving directions for a heist like this.) I do love the solution at the end, and there’s plenty of danger along the way. I’m also kind of happy I took so long to read the original book, because now I can right away get hold of the next book, Uncommon Criminals, to find out what Kat’s up to next.

www.allycarter.com
www.hyperionteens.com

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from the Fairfax County Public Library.

Review of Wonder, by R. J. Palacio

Children's Fiction Review, Contemporary, Starred Review 0

Wonder

by R. J. Palacio

Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 2012. 315 pages.
Starred Review.

August Pullman has never been to school before. Not because he has a disability, but because he’s always been recovering from one surgery or another to attempt to fix his face. It was always easier to homeschool him. So now he’s starting fifth grade at Beecher Prep Middle School, and he doesn’t quite know what to expect.

Auggie doesn’t actually tell us how he looks. He says that however you imagine it, he looks worse. He knows the looks people give him. He’s used to the averted eyes and people trying not to stare, but going to school makes it all new.

“Being at school was awful in the beginning. Every new class I had was like a new chance for kids to ‘not stare’ at me. They would sneak peeks at me from behind their notebooks or when they thought I wasn’t looking. They would take the longest way around me to avoid bumping into me in any way, like I had some germ they could catch, like my face was contagious.

“In the hallways, which were always crowded, my face would always surprise some unsuspecting kid who maybe hadn’t heard about me. The kid would make the sound you make when you hold your breath before going underwater, a little ‘uh!’ sound. This happened maybe four or five times a day for the first few weeks: on the stairs, in front of the lockers, in the library, Five hundred kids in a school: eventually every one of them was going to see my face at some time. And I knew after the first couple of days that word had gotten around about me, because every once in a while I’d catch a kid elbowing his friend as they passed me, or talking behind their hands as I walked by them. I can only imagine what they were saying about me. Actually, I prefer not to even try to imagine it.”

The book gets yet more interesting about 80 pages in, when the author starts giving us sections from other people’s perspectives. Auggie’s sister. Various friends and acquaintances. We see some of the same events through new eyes, but we also see new events unfold around Auggie.

When the book starts, Auggie seems very realistically overprotected. He’s always been homeschooled, and with his birth defects, his parents, especially his Mom, have always been protective of him. He still displays his love of all things Star Wars, and he cries easily. The growing up process is not easy, but we see Auggie make some strides.

This book covers the whole school year, with lots of interactions and events that happen because of Auggie. There’s plenty of Middle School humor; these feel like genuine fifth-graders, and there’s lots to make kids laugh. But the book also strikes deep, making the reader think: How much do I judge by appearances?

I think this book is going to be a contender for next year’s Newbery Medal.

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Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Fiction/wonder.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from the Fairfax County Public Library.

Review of The Grand Plan to Fix Everything, by Uma Krishnaswami

Children's Fiction Review, Contemporary, Starred Review 0

The Grand Plan to Fix Everything

by Uma Krishnaswami
illustrated by Abigail Halpin

Atheneum Books for Young Readers, New York, 2011. 266 pages.
Starred Review

This is a completely fun book about a girl whose parents pick up and move to India for two years, leaving their home in Maryland behind — and Dini’s best friend, Maddie.

Dini hopes maybe, just maybe, it can work out for the best if she can meet the Bollywood film star, Dolly Singh.

“Dini is a Dolly fan. She has been forever, from the time she discovered that Dolly’s first movie, in which she was just a kid, came out the day — the very day! — that Dini was born. You can’t be more closely connected than that.”

Now, I should say that I am horribly prejudiced against books written in present tense. I’m not sure why, but it really bugs me. However, I read this one anyway, since it’s a contestant in School Library Journal’s Battle of the Kids’ Books. And I have to admit that it grew on me so much that most of the time I didn’t even notice the tense. Also going for it were Abigail Halpin’s illustrations. She illustrated Penny Dreadful, by Laurel Snyder, and I love the feel her illustrations give a book — telling you correctly that this is a nice, light-hearted, solid story with lots of fun.

This book did have lots of coincidences, but it felt right. The whole book is a tribute to Bollywood films, and I have a feeling (I don’t actually know) that the coincidences may have made the book more like a Bollywood film, where everything works out happily in the end. There’s even a dance number!

This is a great solid and entertaining middle grade story. I enjoyed reading it, and hope I can find some library members to recommend it to, because I think there are lots of kids who would enjoy it.

KIDS.SimonandSchuster.com

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a book I got for free on the last day of ALA Midwinter Meeting.

Review of Clementine and the Family Meeting, by Sara Pennypacker

Beginning Chapter Books, Children's Fiction Review, Contemporary, Stand-outs, Starred Review 0

Clementine and the Family Meeting

by Sara Pennypacker
pictures by Marla Frazee

Disney Hyperion Books, New York, 2011. 162 pages.
Starred Review
2011 Sonderbooks Stand-out: Children’s Fiction #7

Hooray! Another book about Clementine! This is now the fifth book about the irrepressible third grader, her family and her friends and the concerns of her life. Clementine’s life is not boring for a second, but all the events seem completely true to a third-grader’s perspective.

The book begins, as the others, with Marla Frazee’s wonderful pictures. We see Clementine, bundled up on the bus, looking droopy and worried. Here’s how the book begins:

“The very first thing Margaret said when she sat down next to me on the bus Monday morning was that I looked terrible. ‘You have droopy eyebags and a pasty complexion. Absolutely no glow. What’s the matter?’

“‘I’m having a nervous breakdown,’ I told her. ‘Our FAMILY MEETING! sign is up, and I have to wait until tonight to find out if I’m in trouble.’

“‘Of course you’re in trouble,’ Margaret said. ‘Probably something really big. Bright pink blush and a sparkly eye shadow is what I recommend.'”

Meanwhile, Clementine has to get through the day. Here’s a part I liked very much:

“I opened my backpack and pulled out my IMPORTANT PAPERS folder and found a good surprise: the science fair project report Waylon and I had written was still in there! I’m supposed to keep it until the end of the project, and every day that it’s still in my backpack feels like a miracle.

“As I started reading over the report, I calmed down. This is because lately I really like science class.

“I didn’t always. In the beginning, science class was a big disappointment, let me tell you.

“On the first day of third grade, Mrs. Resnick, the science teacher, had started talking about what a great year it was going to be.

“I looked around the science room.

“No monkeys with funnel hats and electrodes. No alien pods leaking green slime. No human heads sitting on platters under glass jars talking to each other, like I’d seen in a movie once, and don’t bother telling my parents about it because I was grounded for a week already and so was Uncle Frank, who brought me to the movie.

“No smoking test tubes, no sizzling magnetic rays, no rocket launch controls. Just some posters on the walls and a bunch of tall tables with sinks, as if all you would do in a room like this was wash your hands. Margaret had told me she liked science class, and now I knew why: Margaret says ‘Let’s go wash our hands’ the way other people say ‘Let’s go to a party and eat cake!’

“‘Does anyone have any questions?’ Mrs. Resnick had asked that first day.

“I sure did. I wanted to ask, ‘You call this a science room?’ But instead, I just said, ‘Excuse me, I think there’s been a mistake,’ in my most polite voice.

“‘A mistake?’ Mrs. Resnick asked.

“‘Right,’ I said. ‘I’m in the wrong science room.’

“‘The wrong science room?’ she repeated.

“I nodded. ‘I want the one with the invisibility chamber and mind-control buttons and mutant brains spattered on the ceiling. The one with experiments.’

“‘I want that one, too,’ Waylon said. I gave him a big smile.”

Most of the developments in this book happen because of the results of the Family Meeting, so I’ll try to refrain from repeating more good bits.

As always, reading about Clementine simply makes me smile. This week I had the pleasure of recommending the Clementine series to a third grade girl, and I hope she’s made another friend.

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from the Fairfax County Public Library.

Review of Page by Paige, by Laura Lee Gulledge

Contemporary, Graphic Novel, Stand-outs, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

Page by Paige

by Laura Lee Gulledge

Amulet Books, New York, 2011.
Starred Review
2011 Cybils Finalist
2011 Sonderbooks Stand-out: #3 Other Teen Fiction

I’m not usually a big graphic novel fan, but I loved this one enough to list it as my #3 Sonderbooks Stand-out in Other Teen Fiction.

Page by Paige tells that old story of a high school girl in a new town — in this case, New York City — but Paige Turner (Her parents are both writers.) is an artist. This book is Paige’s sketchbook, and she draws about her experiences.

Paige’s art is what makes the book outstanding. She draws expressionistic abstract images that beautifully express how it feels to be an outsider in a new place, or feeling at odds with your parents, or afraid to show anyone your sketchbook.

I also really love the part where Paige falls for someone. Now this is first love how I remember it — feeling thrilled when your knees touch under the table, for example. It’s innocent and beautiful and joyous.

Paige and her friends also conduct some performance art as “Agents of Whimsy.” This reminded me of the story in The Plain Janes. In Page by Paige, there are no negative repercussions, though; it just adds to Paige’s experience of art.

Another thing I love about this book is that it fully uses the graphic novel form. I’m not a big graphic novel fan, but this book could not be written any other way, and the drawings add so much to the experience of the book. Laura Lee Gulledge so perfectly captures feelings with her expressionist drawings.

This is a happy book, and an uplifting one, but it’s definitely not fluff.

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Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Teens/page_by_paige.html

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from the Fairfax County Public Library.

Review of A Ball for Daisy, by Chris Raschka

Animal Characters, Award Winners, Contemporary, Good for the Very Young, Picture Book Review, Stand-outs, Starred Review 0

A Ball for Daisy

by Chris Raschka

Schwartz and Wade Books, New York, 2011. 32 pages.
Starred Review
2012 Caldecott Medal Winner
2011 Sonderbooks Stand-out: Picture Books #7

Here’s a truly wonderful wordless picture book. Chris Raschka portrays the heights and depths of emotion with simple painted lines and colors.

A Ball for Daisy features a little dog named Daisy. You can clearly see that Daisy loves her red ball. She plays with it, wags her tail when she catches it, and cuddles up next to it for a nap.

But when Daisy and her owner take it to the park, another dog begins to play, and he pops Daisy’s ball. Daisy’s sadness when this happens is unmistakeable.

Fortunately, there’s a happy ending as the other dog and its owner make things right the next day.

The pictures in this book are exuberant and varied, making the simple story great fun to read. The pages where Daisy’s trying to figure out what happened to her ball include shaking the limp casing, howling, and just being sad. The pages where Daisy is playing or sleeping reflect Daisy’s joyful and unworried existence. There’s a nice circular feeling as the end echoes the beginning, with Daisy cozying up to her new ball. All’s right in the world.

What child doesn’t know what it feels like to lose something? The story is universal, and can be “read” by the very young, yet will still fascinate older people with the beauty of the artwork.

I’m pleased with the Caldecott committee’s decision this year, as I have a feeling children will be enjoying this book for years to come.

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Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.

Source: This review is based on a library book from the Fairfax County Public Library.