SLJ BoB is Here!

Events, General 0

It’s that time of year! School Library Journal’s Battle of the Books is starting up! (I keep hearing this rumbling that other tournaments happen in March, but I’ve never heard about anything so exciting.)

What is SLJ’s Battle of the Books? The stellar Battle Commanders and Commentator choose 16 of the best children’s books of the previous year and arrange them in tournament brackets. The judges are distinguished children’s and young adult authors. Their tales of their travails while judging are my favorite part of the battle (unlike Roger Sutton). The judges usually manage to make an entertaining and brilliant commentary, playing off themes or styles from the books they judged.

And until tomorrow, you can still vote in the Undead Poll for one book, if slighted by the judges, to come back from the dead for the Big Kahuna Round at the end.

But enough about the details! Let’s talk about the books!

This year, by the time the books were announced, I’d read 15 of the 16 books, a new record. (No, I take that back. I was halfway through Bomb.) I still haven’t read Endangered, but it’s next on my TBR pile, so I might (maybe?) finish it before its match on March 14.

What’s more, not only have I read 15 of the books, I’ve reviewed all 15. Now, I only review books I like, and in previous years, let’s just say that I did not review all of the Battle books. Okay, a few of the reviews are not glowing. But I still liked them enough to review them. What’s more, out of the fifteen I’ve read, nine made my 2012 Sonderbooks Stand-outs. Two of the remaining six (Bomb and Three Times Lucky) I didn’t read until 2013, but they are highly likely to be 2013 Sonderbooks Stand-outs. So it’s pretty clear I like their choices this year.

Here are the first round match-ups with my pick listed first:

Match One, judged by Kenneth Oppel:
Wonder vs Bomb
This one’s a toughie. Bomb is probably the more excellently crafted book. But, doggone it, hasn’t it gotten enough awards? The Sibert, the YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction, Newbery Honor, oh my! Shouldn’t Wonder at least win a round in Battle of the Books?

Mind you, whichever book wins Match One, I want to win the first round only, because look what’s in the second match:

Match Two, judged by Margarita Engle:
Code Name Verity vs. Titanic: Voices from the Disaster
Sorry, Titanic. I liked you enough to name you #3 Sonderbooks Stand-out in Children’s Nonfiction. But Code Name Verity was my favorite book read in 2012, and that hasn’t changed. Yes, this was also my pick in the Undead Poll, but I don’t really want it to win that way. I want every judge to acknowledge its brilliance. However, I realize not all judges are so perspicacious. We shall see how they do in acknowledging greatness.

Match Three, judged by Kathi Appelt
Three Times Lucky vs. Endangered
Yes, I realize this isn’t fair, since Endangered is the one book I haven’t read yet. But I have a soft spot for Three Times Lucky, and I find myself hoping I don’t like Endangered as much. (Though it would be fun to see Endangered go up against The One and Only Ivan in a later round. If only for the cartoon SLJ’s artist would draw.)

Match Four, judged by Deb Caletti
The Fault in Our Stars vs. Temple Grandin
Again, I’m sorry, Temple Grandin. It’s not that I don’t like nonfiction. But I did think The Fault in Our Stars was wonderful. And this is another case where I’d like to see a stellar book get a bit more recognition. I notice The Fault in Our Stars was #9 in Teen Fiction on my Sonderbooks Stand-outs, but Temple Grandin was #8 in Children’s Nonfiction. So I have to admit that #9 in Teen Fiction is higher in my affections than #8 in Children’s Nonfiction. So sue me.

Speaking of Stars:

Match Five, judged by Adam Gidwitz
Starry River of the Sky vs. Jepp, Who Defied the Stars
My affection for Starry River of the Sky is mingled with admiration for what a sweet person Grace Lin is, since I got to hear her speak at KidLitCon last year. But I also not only read Starry River of the Sky, I also listened to it, and that made me appreciate its structure and craft even more than the first reading. Jepp? Well, I did review it, and I only review books I like…. But I want Starry River of the Sky to come out of this match shining.

Match Six, judged by Franny Billingsley
Liar & Spy vs. Splendors & Glooms
I don’t think my ranking here will surprise anyone. Liar & Spy was a 2012 Sonderbooks Stand-out, but Splendors & Glooms was not. Now, Splendors & Glooms is much more similar to Franny Billingsley’s books, all atmospheric and creepy and magical, than Liar & Spy is. But my first year when I tried to predict Battle of the Books choices by thinking judges would pick books similar to their own, I got them all wrong. My current theory is that judges are quicker to see flaws in books like their own, or are perhaps extra admiring of someone who pulls off a book they could never write. So I hope Franny Billingsley will agree with me.

Match Seven, judged by Marie Lu
Seraphina vs Moonbird
Okay, I admit, this time it looks like I’m simply choosing fiction over nonfiction. Because Moonbird was a 2012 Sonderbooks Stand-out, but Seraphina wasn’t. And Moonbird was #9 in its category, and Seraphina was in a much tougher category, fantasy for teens. I’d always have a hard time rooting against a good fantasy novel for teens.

Match Eight, judged by Catherine Gilbert Murdock
The One and Only Ivan vs. No Crystal Stair
Sorry, but no contest here. Count me an Ivan fan. Again, my ranking in Sonderbooks Stand-outs is telling: The One and Only Ivan was #2 in Children’s Fiction, but No Crystal Stair, while reviewed, was not a Stand-out.

On reflection, I’m pretty lucky with the first round — few of my favorites are pitted against one another. But I’m setting up to be much more upset if any of my favorites lose!

Now, I’ll make new predictions for Round Two, but just a run-down on how it would go if I got to judge all the matches:

Code Name Verity would win every match in which it appears.

The Fault in Our Stars would win the second round before succumbing to Code Name Verity‘s brilliance. Though I must admit, I’d cheer for Mo if Three Times Lucky pulled off a win.

In the bottom half of the tournament, I’m almost counting on one of my favorites not advancing, so I won’t have to choose between Starry River of the Sky and Liar & Spy, though I’d probably go with Starry River of the Sky. But I would want Ivan to win all its matches until it faces Code Name Verity.

For the book coming back from the dead, I’m hoping it won’t be necessary for Code Name Verity to be resurrected, making it a match-up with Code Name Verity, The Fault in Our Stars, and The One and Only Ivan, with, you know it, Code Name Verity coming out on top. (It’s gotten enough Honor! Time to WIN!)

But believe me, I don’t expect the judges will see it my way. They never do!

How about you? What are your picks? (Links to blog posts are good, too!)

Embracing Goodreads

General 1

So, I don’t know exactly when I joined Goodreads. But I hadn’t done much with it at all. It seemed like enough to try to keep up with my website.

But then I read Travis Jonker of 100 Scope Notes‘ article on Goodreads. Thinking of Goodreads as a “neat and tidy online counterpart” to my physical bookshelves won me over. I’m going on Goodreads again.

Here’s the deal: All my adult life, I’ve fought a losing battle to have all my books on shelves instead of packed away in boxes. I achieved this goal when I lived in Germany, but that last house we lived in had a wall covered with a built-in bookcase. When I moved back to America, I thought I could remedy it by buying just two or three more bookcases… but then I started going to ALA conferences and getting advance reader copies.

Now I’m moving in a month (buying my first home! Yay!), and moving is when one must face what a book hoarder one is. I currently have books piled all over my bedroom. I told myself this was a perk of being single — no one else will mind the piles, right? (My son did say he was afraid he’d come home some time to find me barricaded in my room, unable to get out.) But before I can even pack up the books in the shelves, I will need to deal with the piles of books in front of them.

So — I ordered ten plastic “book boxes.” I decided I will bow to the inevitable and store some of my books in boxes, but I prefer plastic, dust-free containers, and see-through so it’s easy to tell what’s in them. Who knows, maybe I can get all my books in the bookcases plus book boxes.

But — and here’s where I’m getting to Goodreads — my plan was to catalog the book boxes on my computer. I was going to make a data base and fill it in with title information, so I could do a simple search if I wanted to find a book, and I’d know right away what box it was in.

Then I read Travis’s article. If I used Goodreads, I would not have to build a data base. And I will only have to put in the ISBN. And it will show me a picture of the cover, plus what other people think of the book. I can have a shelf for each box….

That’s looking like such a good option, I thought of another idea. I also have a spreadsheet of books I want to check out. Yes, I constantly have far more books checked out than I can possibly read. When I give in and admit I’m not going to get around to those books any time soon, I make myself feel better by putting them on a list of books to check out later. Mind you, this is a pretend list. The chances are slim that I will ever check the books out later — but I honestly want to.

My spreadsheet has several sheets for different categories of books, plus for authors new to me and authors I already like. But if I start putting those books on a Goodreads shelf instead, then there’s a better chance I’ll remember why I wanted to read it, with a picture of the cover and links to reviews. What’s more, I was delighted to realize when I was turning in books today, I can simply scan the ISBN barcode with the handy-dandy barcode scanner at my computer at work and get the book into my account.

Now, the one thing I’ve meant to do for ages but never did before is link my own reviews to my Goodreads account. Once upon a time I thought I’d go back and do past reviews, but now I can admit that will never happen. However, starting now, I can try, so I did put a link to the review I posted tonight into my account.

So, if any of my readers are on goodreads, I’d be happy to follow you there. Here’s a link to my profile. Little by little, I hope to post more there, and at least, as Travis said, have some virtual bookshelves that are neat and organized.

Mock Newbery Results

Award Winners, General 0

Today at the City of Fairfax Regional Library, we had our first annual Mock Newbery voting. The idea is to figure out which children’s book published in 2012 we think was most distinguished.

The winner is:

Three Times Lucky, by Sheila Turnage

Participants commented on the distinctive voice, and that it showed character growth, besides having a plot that included a murder mystery with twists and turns. I didn’t read Three Times Lucky in 2012, so it didn’t make my 2012 Sonderbooks Stand-outs, but it may well make my list for 2013.

We chose two Honor Books:

The One and Only Ivan, by Katherine Applegate

Summer of the Gypsy Moths, by Sara Pennypacker

We’re all waiting eagerly to see which books will win the official Newbery Medal on January 28!

Review of The Actor and the Housewife, by Shannon Hale

Chick Lit, Contemporary, Fiction Review, General, Literary, Stand-outs, Starred Review 0

The Actor and the Housewife

by Shannon Hale

Bloomsbury, New York, 2009. 339 pages.
Starred Review
2012 Sonderbooks Stand-out: #6 Non-fantasy Fiction

This is the one book by Shannon Hale that I don’t own, and that I didn’t read as soon as it came out. Why? Well, I knew it’s about a Mormon housewife who becomes good friends with a heart throb actor. I’ve always believed that men and women can be friends without hurting their marriages. But when this came out, I had just been burned. My own marriage had imploded. My husband claimed he was friends with a young female co-worker, and it turned out that was just a cover for something else, and our marriage didn’t survive.

But this book is not a treatise on marriage and friendship. If you want that, I highly recommend NOT “Just Friends,” by Shirley Glass. (A nice rule of thumb: Where are the windows and the walls? If the walls are around the marriage and the windows around the friendship, good. You should be able to talk with your spouse about the friendship, rather than the other way around.) This book is a story. It’s a story of a good friendship, but most of all, it’s a story about a great marriage.

Now, it’s not easy on the marriage for Becky Jack to be great friends with a handsome actor. She wrestles with what’s right. Her husband wrestles with what’s right. She even talks with her bishop about it. But let me say it again: This is a great story! These people seem real and alive and this is about a funny, poignant, and difficult situation and how it affects two families and the people around them.

As a matter of fact, I hadn’t decided which book I was going to read next when I checked it out. I brought several candidates upstairs, and thought I’d just read a few pages to decide if I wanted to read this next. . . and ended up finishing the book at 5:30 am the following morning. This was NOT what I had planned. It wasn’t remotely a good idea. But wow! What a good story!

Becky and Felix Callahan meet, by a fluke, when she is in Hollywood, looking over a contract for a screenplay she’s sold to his producer. She is hugely pregnant and not at her best. Then they end up being at the same hotel. They share a ride, have dinner. One thing leads to another, and they become friends.

The book is about a long and wonderful friendship. It covers a span of many years, with high points, hilarious moments, awkward times, and big setbacks. In the long run, the book is even more about Becky’s marriage. Becky thinks a lot about how she can be friends with this Hollywood star, yet still be fully and completely in love with her husband. It works.

Here’s a bit where Becky has just met Felix and ends up sharing a ride with him to the hotel:

Becky sneaked a glance at Felix before returning her gaze to the window. That whole exchange had felt as unaccountably familiar as Felix’s presence. She had an ah-ha moment as she thought, Augie Beuter! That’s who Felix reminded her of — well, actually, the two men looked and acted about as much alike as Margaret Thatcher and Cher. But the way she and Felix had followed each other’s lead, the way their conversation flowed together, tuned for an audience, that’s how she and Augie used to be. He’d been her assistant editor on the high school paper and partner in debate club. Their five-year best friendship ended when they both married other people. Augie Beuter — she hadn’t seen him since her wedding, and she still missed him.

I don’t have room to insert one of the many scenes of their back-and-forth banter. You can tell they are indeed friends. Their two worlds are completely different, but their story is truly a delight.

squeetus.com
bloomsburyusa.com

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Fiction/actor_and_the_housewife.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.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I write the posts for my website and blogs entirely on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.

Please use the comments if you’ve read the book and want to discuss spoilers!

Cybils, Stand-outs, and My Reading Year

Cybils, General, Stand-outs 0

2012 was an exciting reading year for me.

It started off in January when I got to attend the Invitational William Morris Seminar in Dallas at the ALA Midwinter Meeting.

At the seminar, we learned from experienced members of ALSC’s book evaluation committees. They trained us how to look at books from an award committee’s perspective.

Of course, that experience made me want nothing more than to be part of a book evaluation committee. In March, I decided to join Capitol Choices, a DC-area group of children’s book lovers who choose a hundred outstanding children’s books each year. They meet monthly, and I learned so much from being part of this group — and was made aware of so many outstanding books published this year.

But the culmination of all this was getting to be on the Cybils Panel for Middle Grade Science Fiction and Fantasy. I can’t begin to express how much I enjoyed this. Yes, it did take all my free time for the past three months. Yes, it was worth it. And today all the shortlists are announced!

Our list was hammered out with a whole lot of give and take. This is not the list I would have chosen on my own, but I think that makes it all the stronger, and gives it more broad appeal.

Glancing at the other shortlists, the thing that tickled me most was that the Easy Readers panel chose both Penny and Her Song and Penny and Her Doll. Yes!

And I encourage librarians and parents to use the Cybils shortlists as lists. In our panel, we strove for a certain amount of variety. In the first place, many different types of books are represented. But then each list gives you a nice variety of the best books published last year in that particular category. And the winners? Those will be announced on Valentine’s Day.

But what list would I have chosen myself? I’m glad you asked!

Because on January 1st, I also announce my 2012 Sonderbooks Stand-outs!

You’ll see there’s a lot of overlap between the Cybils shortlist and my own Children’s Fiction: Science Fiction and Fantasy list and also my Teen Fiction list. (Titles that appeal to tweens are hard to place. If they have teen protagonists, I tend to put them in Teen Fiction, but some of those were placed in our Middle Grade group.) Of course this should come as no surprise.

But my Sonderbooks Stand-outs are carefully chosen with no criteria at all. I don’t consider literary merit or artistic value or child appeal. I simply remember back over the year and tell about which ones brought me the most enjoyment. These are my favorites, the books I loved most out of all the books I read this year. All this practice on award committees was fun, but I do find it refreshing to list the books I enjoyed without having to defend my choices. I loved these, okay?

My son asked what my very favorite book of the year was, and I have to go with Code Name Verity, my Teen Fiction #1 book.

You may think these are an awful lot of stand-outs. To put it in perspective, let me give you my stats for the year, as far as I was able to count them. These are the books I read in 2012:

Adult Fiction: 19 (A lot less this year, since I was reading so many new children’s and teen books)
Teen Fiction: 38
Children’s Fiction: 78 (Yes, this was all about the Cybils. Capitol Choices, too, though.)
Adult Nonfiction: 48
Children’s Nonfiction: 37
Picture Books: 45 (At least that’s the number I thought worth noting.)
Rereads (All genres): 15

Grand Total: 280 books. Not bad….

And my plans for next year? Last year, I presented my crazy elaborate reading plans, and then joining Capitol Choices rather threw them off. But I am not daunted! I love the system I worked out, which keeps me reading a variety of books. Here is my slightly modified plan for 2013:

First, I will alternate between books for Capitol Choices and other books.

When I’m reading the non-Capitol Choices book, I’ll go through these six types of books in order:
1. Reread a book
2. A book I own
3. A new library book
4. An award winner (like something from a Cybils shortlist)
5. A prepublication Advance Reader Copy
6. An older library book

Mind you, this doesn’t count nonfiction or picture books.

Of course, if I get on a Cybils committee again, I’ll just read Cybils books from October through December. (Whee!)

What can I say? I’m a list-maker and I love organizing my reading this way. I’ve already finished my first book in 2013, a Capitol Choices nominee, Jepp, Who Defied the Stars, by Katherine Marsh, and next I plan to reread The Girl of Fire and Thorns, by Rae Carson, in order to get ready to read the sequel…. Onward!

The Cybils! The Cybils! The Cybils!

Award Challenge, Cybils, General 0

Woo-hoo! I’m so excited! This year I get to be a panelist in choosing the Cybils Finalists for Middle Grade Science Fiction and Fantasy!

Anybody remember my Crazy Reading Plan for 2012? Yeah, this will completely and totally mess it up. But then, participating in Capitol Choices (a DC-area group that chooses 100 top children’s books of the year) had already done that. I am planning to have FUN madly reading middle grade fantasy and science fiction for the rest of the year!

Just for fun, I’ll list my stats from before the Cybils reading, January 1 to September 17, 2012. It’s been fun to keep track this year, anyway.

Books I reread: 8
My books read: 8
New Library Books: 11
Award Winners: 7
PrePub ARCs: 8
Older Library Books: 8
Books Read for Capitol Choices (some picture books included): 27
Exceptions: 10 (reasons like meeting the author & the Heavy Medal shortlist)
Nonfiction: 24
Books of Short Stories: 1
Short Chapter Books: 9
Children’s Nonfiction (not included above): 12
Picture Books worth noting: 19
Audiobooks: 12

Total: 164

The only bad thing about this list? There are soooooo many more I’d like to read! But anyway, being a Cybils Panelist will force me to focus. I’m planning to read some books before the Capitol Choices meeting this Friday, and then dive into Middle Grade SF&F!

Read on!

Catching Up!

General 0

Woo-hoo! I just finished writing reviews of all the books I’ve read and meant to review! Woo-hoo!

This is a momentous week, because yesterday was one year since the day when I had my stroke. I’m pretty certain I’ve been pretty seriously behind on writing reviews since that day. Because when you’re spending a lot of time in the hospital or in bed, you do have time to read, but you don’t have so much time to review what you’ve read.

Today also marks the day when I’ve worked two consecutive pay periods without taking ANY time off — neither sick leave nor annual leave. (And even better, the last time off I took was for annual leave, not sick leave.) Back last January, I promised myself that when I managed to go two pay periods without taking leave, I would then need to seriously look for a way to get back to working in Youth Services — and tomorrow I have an interview!

In fact, I’ve applied for not one but two Youth Services Manager positions. One is at my current branch, and one is in the neighboring county. I will be very happy if I am offered either one of them, and that they are coming right when I feel I’m truly recovered from the stroke and right when I promised myself I’d look for a Youth Services position is such a lovely touch.

Of course, I can’t really say I’m caught up on reviews — because now I have 73 drafts ready to post!

But I’ve written them!

You may well ask, why don’t I just schedule them to post every day for the next 73 days? Well, I’ve kind of written myself into a corner. Yes, I post all my reviews on this blog, but I also post all the reviews on the main Sonderbooks site, by type of review. So when I post a review on the blog, I also post it on the main site, and I like to do that together. But now that I’m caught up on actually writing them, I can shoot for posting one or two reviews every evening. And I can make a goal of, on my day off, making sure I’ve written reviews of all the books I finished the past week, in hopes I’ll never get so frightfully behind again.

I’m also having some fun choosing which reviews to post. I’m trying to keep variety. And I decided to pull from the end and from the beginning. So I’ll look at the reviews I wrote the longest time ago and post one of those, and then I’ll post a review I’ve written recently (preferably a recently published book). So the poor books in the middle are languishing, but I’ll have to hold some kind of big celebration when I finally really catch up. It almost makes me want to slow down my reading!

Mind you, in addition I’m now running six blog series: Top 100 Writers and Illustrators, Sonderling Sunday, Conference Corner, Librarians Help, Sondy’s Selections, and Prime Factorization Fun. So I’m getting where I like to alternate reviews with one of these series.

So much blogging, so little time. But for tonight, I’ve caught up on writing reviews! Huzzah!

Another Blog Series! Top 100 Authors, Illustrators, and Picture Book Authors, Oh My!

General, Top 100 Writers and Illustrators 0

Yes, I’m going to start another blog series.

I know, I know, you are right to be skeptical. Let’s see, besides 54 reviews I want to post, the blog series I currently have going are:

Sonderling Sunday
Conference Corner
Sondy’s Selections
Librarians Help

And, yes, I intended for most of those to be weekly series….

So now I want to start a series that will have 300 entries! Will it ever end? Will it even get off the ground?

Here’s the deal. When Betsy Bird of School Library Journal’s Fuse #8 blog decided to run another Top 100 Chapter Books and Top 100 Picture Books Poll, she put out a call for volunteers to help tally the results. Since I love spreadsheets and counting things and detail work, I quickly sent a “Pick Me! Pick Me!” e-mail. Now, mind you, I wasn’t content to only total the results of the top 100 books. It struck me as unfair that certain authors like Dr. Seuss with a wide body of work and no clear favorite would suffer in the standings. So I also tallied up the top chapter books authors, picture book authors, and picture book illustrators.

Betsy has graciously told me I can post this data on my own blog. I was thinking I’d just blast the info out there this weekend.

But then I got to thinking. Perhaps it’s because I’m feeling dead tired, still jetlagged from my trip to California less than a week ago. The thought of posting 300 names is simply daunting.

And, after all… why should I post all of them at once? Between you and me, the ONLY thing I didn’t like about Betsy’s posts was I couldn’t keep up. I was at ALA Annual Conference and on vacation when the big dramatic reveal of the highest numbers happened. I still haven’t read all the posts. (Though I assure you, I will.)

Personally, I’m not in a hurry to post about them. It would actually be quite fun to focus on one name at a time. I can link to all of Betsy’s posts about books by each person, link to my own reviews of any books by each person, throw in some of my own anecdotes, and end up with a very very long-running blog series out of it. Since it may be years before I get to the end, I will also start at the top with the Number One names, and then just go as long as I feel like it.

So — keep watching and I will post about the #1 Chapter Book Author very soon!

Review of Gold, by Chris Cleave

Contemporary, Fiction Review, General, Literary, Starred Review 0

Gold

by Chris Cleave

Simon & Schuster, New York, July 2012. 326 pages.
Starred Review

Gold is perfect reading for before, during, and after the Olympic games. It’s a story of a long-time rivalry between Zoe and Kate, the two best women’s cyclists in the world, good friends both on the United Kingdom team. They were first scheduled to compete against each other in the 2004 games, then in 2008, but something happened each time so only one got the Gold. Now the 2012 games are approaching, and both are at the top of their form.

We learn their story as we follow the build-up to the Olympics. Their rivalry isn’t only on the track, and each have their own motivations, their own insecurities, their own inner demons. There’s also a little girl in their lives who has leukemia. They thought it was in remission, and little Sophie doesn’t want anyone to know when she’s feeling bad. But that’s not always a good idea.

I laughed that Sophie is absorbed with Star Wars and uses Star Wars to fight her leukemia, because in Little Bee Chris Cleave had a child who lived in his Batman costume. Super heroes and story do have a way of helping those who are powerless feel much more powerful.

Here’s Sophie thinking about her family:

She leaned her back against the wall and closed her eyes. That half a minute of talking with Ruby had wiped her out. It was good, though. Mum had seen it. Dad had seen it. That counted for an hour when they wouldn’t worry. After that she knew she would start to see the lines creeping back into their faces, and hear the sharp edge coming back into their voices, and notice the little sideways glances they shot at her while they pretended they weren’t looking. They would start to have arguments with each other, about stupid things like training hours and long-grain rice, and they wouldn’t even know why they were doing it. She would know, though. It meant that they were scared for her all over again, and she would have to do one of the things that made them forget it for another hour.

If you were in the car, you could kick the back of the seat. That made them annoyed, which was the opposite of scared. If you were in the house, you had more choices. You could answer back or be lippy, which made you seem less ill. You could do a drawing. You could hurry up the stairs and make a lot of noise so they noticed you doing it, even if you had to lie down on your bed afterwards for ten minutes. You could make it look like you’d eaten all your toast, even if you had to post it down your T-shirt and flush it in the toilet later. You could play boys’ games like Star Wars that had fighting and spaceships and made you look tough, even if you weren’t tough enough to ride a bike.

This book didn’t feel as momentous and weighty as Little Bee, but that’s a good thing. I’m not sure I could have handled that big an emotional punch. It was still a powerful book, and I definitely found myself thinking about it long after reading it. Gold explores motivation, competition, friendship, the search for excellence, and what makes a family. It definitely put me in the mood for the Olympic Games this year.

chriscleave.com
simonandschuster.com

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Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Fiction/gold.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 an Advance Reading Copy I got at ALA Midwinter Meeting.

Top 100 Chapter Books Poll – Again!

Children's Fiction Review, Classics, General, Sondy's Selections, Top Ten Tuesday 0

As I said last night, Betsy Bird, who writes School Library Journal’s Fuse #8 blog, is doing another Top 100 Chapter Books Poll. You have two more days to get in your votes! Anyone who loves books, do this soon! You’ll be so glad you did!

I had a terrible time limiting my list of Chapter Books to only ten. In fact, the only way I could do it at all was to take out some of my absolute favorites because part of what I love about them is the romance. Come to think of it, ALL of these choices, I read at one time or another to one or both of my boys (or my husband did). So I can safely say that all of these books are definitely children’s books. Though I can also firmly say that there are adults who will love them, too. And I’m afraid I only read half of them as a child myself.

I definitely still keep wavering with the final choices. In fact, let’s see if I make any last-minute changes as I post this list!

The Books I Believe are the Top Ten Chapter Books of All Time:

1. Anne of Green Gables, by L. M. Montgomery

I mentioned last night that I would have loved to include Emily of New Moon. But this is right. Anne is classic. Anne is the heroine who started it all. I first read this book in 10th grade, and I found it a breath of fresh air after all the adult books I’d been reading. Then, as I was in high school and college, they slowly came out with more and more of L. M. Montgomery’s books. I also own all the volumes of her journals and everything I could get my hands on of hers. My absolute favorite is The Blue Castle, but it’s actually a book for adults. Anyway, Anne Shirley is a character who comes alive.

2. Momo, by Michael Ende

I know this one won’t make the list, but I can’t let it go unrecognized. This was the first book I ordered from Book-of-the-Month Club, and it was so good, I blame it for all the other books I ended up ordering. When I moved to Germany, my first purchase was a copy of this book in the original language (German). Momo is a little girl with a gift for listening. So when gray men come and steal people’s time by convincing them to save it, Momo is the only one who can see them, because she really listens to them. This book is mythic in scope.

3. Winnie-the-Pooh, by A. A. Milne

I tell the whole story of how much I love this book in my review. Let’s just say that I remember my mother reading it to me. Then I remember reading it to my little brothers and sisters. Then, in college, I learned that one of the most fun things to do was read with a group of friends, where different people read the different voices. And finally, I got to read it to my sons, or together with my sons. Oh, and I’ve read it in German!

One of the funny things is that it reads on different levels. I remember as a child just taking the things said as perfectly reasonable and matter-of-fact that now I think are hilarious. This book is a work of genius.

I also have to mention that I brainwashed both my sons into loving these characters so that the very first characters they pretended to be were ones from Winnie-the-Pooh. In fact, my son learned early to write his own name — “P-O-O-H.” (When he called me in the night with the call, “Pi–iglet!”, I thought he’d gone too far.)

Now, to be honest, The House at Pooh Corner is a little better, since it includes Tigger. However, last time I voted for The World of Pooh in order to include both and my vote was totally wasted. I’m sure everyone who reads the list will be thinking of ALL the Pooh stories.

4. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, by C. S. Lewis

I remember at my vast old age in 7th grade sadly concluding that I was too old for the Narnia books now. (I had already read them many times.) Then I took them up again in college and found new riches. I know I will never “outgrow” them again. Of course, it does help that I’m a Christian, and love the insights about God found in Lewis’s writings. But the magic of the stories works fully, even without that. (And I appreciate that part much more as an adult than I did as a kid.)

As I said in my review, no kid who reads this book will ever look at a closet door the same way again.

5. The Hobbit, by J. R. R. Tolkien

I remember reading this book on the way to school and having to stop right when Bilbo was in the tunnel leading to the dragon’s lair. That was excruciating!

6. The Thief, by Megan Whalen Turner

When we were reading to both our kids together, my older son said we had to read this book next. I was skeptical, but by the time I finished, I was a complete fan. And it grows on me with each rereading — because I notice more clever things each time. The second book, The Queen of Attolia would be near the top of my YA list.

7. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, by J. K. Rowling

Oh, our family got hours and hours and hours of enjoyment out of these books. We read all of the first five out loud as a family, with no reading ahead. (Or as little reading ahead as we could stand.) We read books #3 and #4 on family vacations, and ended up putting off a visit to Neuschwanstein Castle because we just had to finish Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

8. A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L’Engle

This book isn’t perfect, but how it endures. I didn’t read this until I was in college. When I did, I was so grateful to the person who told me about it.

9. Pippi Longstocking, by Astrid Lindgren

This book has such childlike exuberance. Pippi is someone we’d talk about as if we knew her. (“And she sleeps with her feet on the pillow!”) This is a child-sized tall tale.

10. Half Magic, by Edward Eager

My favorite of his is Seven Day Magic, but Half Magic is more well-known, the first one I read, and a classic concept.

Oh, so do I really have to leave out so many? I wanted to include Little Britches, by Ralph Moody, Dealing with Dragons, by Patricia C. Wrede, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum, and Black Beauty, by Anna Sewall. I hope other people include them! And the ones I decided were YA, but that I love, love, love are The Blue Sword, by Robin McKinley, The Goose Girl, by Shannon Hale, and The Witch of Blackbird Pond, by Elizabeth George Speare.

I am helping Betsy compile the results, but I am sure if I changed some answers, I’d get found out, and she would withdraw the privilege. So I will be good. Sigh.

The results will be better the more people send in their lists! So get moving on that! And I do really enjoy your comments. What would be on your list?