Review of Gone Crazy in Alabama, by Rita Williams-Garcia

Children's Fiction Review, Historical, Starred Review 2

gone_crazy_in_alabama_largeGone Crazy in Alabama

by Rita Williams-Garcia

Amistad (HarperCollins), 2015. 293 pages.
Starred Review

This is Rita Williams-Garcia’s third book about the Gaither sisters, growing up in 1960s America. The first book, One Crazy Summer, had them in Oakland, with their mother who left them when they were small. The second book, P. S. Be Eleven, saw them back home in Brooklyn, as their father was falling in love with a new woman. This book has them visiting their grandmother Big Ma in Alabama, where she lives in the home of Ma Charles, their great-grandmother, across the creek from their great-great aunt Miss Trotter.

I loved the first book, but wasn’t as enamored with the second. I think I love this book best of all, and have been completely won over again by these sisters.

Gone Crazy in Alabama is a family story, a sisters story. As Delphine and her two younger sisters squabble, so does Ma Charles squabble with her half-sister. The two haven’t spoken to each other in years, but they exchange barbs through the words of a willing Vonetta.

The girls learn about their messy heritage, getting a different slant as their great grandmother and great-great-aunt each tell it. They’ve got a handsome cousin living across the creek, a cousin who tends cows and dreams of being a pilot and has lived through his own horrible tragedy.

I still love the way Rita Williams-Garcia portrays the sisters. Delphine, the responsible one, is always trying to look out for her younger sisters, but the ways she does that are not often welcome. Each girl has her own distinctly lovable personality, though there’s plenty of realistic rivalry between the sisters.

And lots of laughter — this novel is infused with humor throughout, mainly by the crazy and realistic quirks of human nature.

When a great crisis occurs at the end of the book, it pulls everyone in Delphine’s big crazy family together.

I love the overall theme of walking through the storm.

Such a wonderful book! You can get away with reading this book without reading its predecessors, but a history with Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern will make it all the better.

ritawg.com
harpercollinschildrens.com

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

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs 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.

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Review of The Unmapped Sea, by Maryrose Wood

Children's Fiction Review, Fantasy, Historical 0

unmapped_sea_largeThe Unmapped Sea

The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place, Book 5

by Maryrose Wood

illustrated by Eliza Wheeler

Balzer + Bray (HarperCollins), 2015. 404 pages.

Aaugh! The story is still not finished! Yes, I love spending time with the Incorrigibles and their dauntless governess Penelope Lumley, but when will the story end?

The plot has progressed, so you really should read these books in order. We now know the exact words of the curse on the Ashton family – but we don’t know how to break it. Penelope’s fate has taken a dramatic turn, and the Incorrigibles are in danger.

Meanwhile, we’ve got the usual silliness. Lady Ashton is expecting a baby, and when a doctor suggests a holiday by the sea, they go to Brighton in the middle of winter. Lady Ashton is sure that her Frederick actually intends to take her to Italy, which starts a long and silly charade by the staff. Penelope gets in educational moments throughout, and they meet a family of badly-behaved Russians also vacationing in Brighton.

I decided that I should have patiently waited until my library purchased the audio version of this book. I listened to most of the books, and I’m much more patient with audio. The narrator reading the books in a perfectly serious way milks the silliness and makes it much more fun. As it was, though by now I hear the narrator’s voice in my head, I got a little impatient with the pace when I was simply reading it myself. So any future books, I will try to restrain my eagerness (not sure I can – I really am interested in Penelope’s fate!) and wait for the audio version.

maryrosewood.com
harpercollinschildrens.com

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

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs 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.

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Review of All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr

Fiction Review, Historical, Starred Review 0

all_the_light_we_cannot_see_largeAll the Light We Cannot See

by Anthony Doerr
read by Zach Appelman

Simon & Schuster Audio, 2014. 13 compact discs.
Starred Review
2015 Alex Award Winner
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize

All the Light We Cannot See is a rich, gently moving novel about some extraordinary people in wartime.

The book begins at the end of World War II, with the bombardment of Saint-Malo. The author spotlights two people caught in the siege, and later a third who is looking for something there. The scenes in the spotlight move slowly, inexorably through the book – coming just often enough to keep us fascinated.

In between, we get the history of these people through the war years. Marie-Laure is blind. She lived in Paris with her Papa, and went with him to his work at the Museum of Natural History. He carved a complete model of their neighborhood in Paris which Marie-Laure could navigate with her fingers, and then he taught her to navigate the actual streets.

When Paris falls to the Nazis, they flee to Saint-Malo, where Marie-Laure’s crazy great-uncle Etienne lives. Her Papa is carrying something for the museum. Is it a fake, or is it the Sea of Flames, an amazing diamond with a curse on it? The curse promises eternal life to its keeper – at the cost of disasters happening to all the ones they love. Is this why disasters are striking their family?

Another main character is a young orphan named Werner. He is fascinated with radios and soon gets the attention of the authorities with his ability to repair radio equipment. This attention gets him enrolled in the Hitler Youth and then in the army before his time.

Uncle Etienne has a radio transmitter, and Werner ends up in a unit looking for illegal transmitters.

Meanwhile, an expert on gems is looking for the Sea of Flames. He is patient, and follows one lead after another, during all the war years.

This audiobook was a wonderful choice. The narrator captured the tone of the book perfectly. The detailed descriptions had me mesmerized. I felt like I knew what it was like to be a blind girl in World War II France and a brilliant orphan drawn into the Hitler Youth.

The story is mostly wonderful and transcends wartime – but it did have some horrible moments, because this was wartime. I didn’t find the ending satisfying. Perhaps I read too many young adult books – I wanted things tied up a little more neatly than they were and hated at least one part of the ending.

I also wasn’t entirely sure what happened with one aspect. I wondered if I’d missed something because of listening rather than reading. But when a character speculates about what might have happened, I figured the reader was supposed to speculate, too. I’m not sure I like it that way.

So I’m not sure I completely liked where the journey took me – but I definitely enjoyed the journey. Marie-Laure and her Papa and Uncle Etienne and Werner and his sister Jutta are characters who will live on in my heart.

simonandschuster.com

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

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs 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.

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Review of Blizzard, by John Rocco

Historical, Picture Book Review 0

blizzard_largeBlizzard

by John Rocco

Disney Hyperion, Los Angeles, 2014. 40 pages.

I’m reading this book just a few days too late for our snow season, but I do think that kids will enjoy this book at any time.

The best part about the story in Blizzard, by a Caldecott Honoree, is that the story it tells is true.

When John Rocco was ten years old, his town in Rhode Island had a record-breaking blizzard, where it snowed for two days and forty inches of snow fell. The snow plows didn’t make it to their street until the end of the week – so the family was running out of food and milk for hot cocoa.

On day five, I realized it was up to me to take action. I was the only one who had memorized the survival guide. [He’s reading a book called Arctic Survival.]

I was the only one who knew what equipment was required. [He’s tying tennis rackets to the bottoms of his boots.]

I was the only one light enough to walk on top of the snow.

After he sets out, a fold-out map shows his route. I love the natural 10-year-old detours: to help build a snowman, to climb a lookout tree, to make a snow angel, to explore an igloo, and to join a snowball fight.

He successfully gets groceries for his own family and for the neighbors – and has quite a tale to tell.

Now in the first place, this book makes our recent snowfall seem not so bad at all. In the second place, it can’t help but communicate the playful side of a big snow. And a kid gets to be the hero, and it ends with the snow plows making it through.

A cozy story for a winter day or a nice cooling story for a hot summer day, but especially a playful adventure story with a kid in the starring role.

DisneyBooks.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 Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs 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.

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Review of Black Dove, White Raven, by Elizabeth Wein

Historical, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

black_dove_white_raven_largeBlack Dove, White Raven

by Elizabeth Wein

Hyperion, Los Angeles, 2015. 357 pages.
Starred Review

Wow. Once again Elizabeth Wein illuminates a historical situation I knew nothing about. In some ways, this combines themes from her two different series. We’re back in Aksum of Ethiopia – but this is not ancient Aksum. Instead, Aksum is combined with female pilots of World War II – okay, just before World War II, when Italy invaded Ethiopia. (Did you know about that? I sure didn’t.)

At the start of the book, Black Dove and White Raven are the airshow names for the mothers of Emilia Menotti and Teodros Dupré. Black Dove is Teo’s mother, Delia Dupré; and White Raven is Em’s Momma, Rhoda Menotti. They travel around doing airshows together in 1930s America, doing aerobatics and wing-walking. They met in France after World War I. They dream of moving to Ethiopia, where Teo’s father was from, where people won’t be shocked by a black woman and a white woman living and working together.

But then there’s an accident, and Delia is killed. However, the family still makes it to Ethiopia, and Teo and Em work on becoming the new Black Dove and White Raven.

Teo and Em grow up in Ethiopia, and Momma teaches them to fly – just in time to come of age when Italy invades Ethiopia in 1936.

This book is filled with historical details I knew nothing about, but mostly it’s the compelling story of two children with strong family ties, living in another culture, learning to find their place in the world and deal with all manner of people – and coming of age in wartime — wartime that involved mustard gas against spearmen, and the need to protect ancient treasures, including the Ark of the Covenant.

As always, Elizabeth Wein’s writing is powerful and evocative. I’ll admit that this is slower, atmospheric reading most of the way through, but these are distinctive characters you will remember long afterward.

elizabethwein.com
hyperionteens.com

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

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs 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.

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Review of Gilead, by Marilynne Robinson

Audiobooks, Christian, Fiction Review, Historical 0

gilead_largeGilead

by Marilynne Robinson

read by Tim Jerome

BBC Audiobooks America, 2004. 7 CDs.

My co-worker Lynne Imre recommended these books, and I’ve long been meaning to read Housekeeping, so I grabbed an audiobook, which is my way of reading books I’ve long been meaning to read.

This reminded me of the Marilynne Robinson nonfiction I’ve read, When I Was a Child, I Read Books. The fictional story is narrated by an old preacher in 1956, writing a letter to his young son. The preacher, John Ames, has a heart problem, and doesn’t think he will live to see his son reach adulthood.

The book is gentle and philosophical, and has some Scriptural insights thrown in throughout, since, after all, a preacher is narrating.

Reverend Ames tells about his father and grandfather, both preachers before him. His grandfather was an abolitionist and a character.

In many ways, the book is a meditation on fathers and sons, and blessings handed down from one generation to the next. Besides John Ames’ own family, his dear friend and fellow preacher has a wayward son who was named after John Ames. Young Jack comes back to town and he and the preacher embark on a journey of understanding, forgiveness and blessing.

This is a slow moving novel, but a rich one. I didn’t always hurry to put in the next CD when one ran out, and it’s not the kind of book that it’s hard to stop the car and shut off the sound when you arrive at your destination. But sometimes that’s the best kind of audiobook — something to mull over on your commute, which will stick in your thoughts.

The reader has a deep, rich, friendly, thoughtful voice. He made it easy to imagine an old preacher speaking these words.

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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 audiobook from Fairfax County Public Library.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs 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.

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Review of A Fine Dessert, by Emily Jenkins and Sophie Blackall

Historical, Picture Book Review, Starred Review 0

fine_dessert_largeA Fine Dessert

Four Centuries,
Four Families,
One Delicious Treat

by Emily Jenkins
illustrated by Sophie Blackall

Schwartz & Wade Books, New York, 2015. 40 pages.
Starred Review

This book has a quiet cover that doesn’t reach out and grab you, but if you open it up and start reading, it’s wonderful on so many levels.

The subtitle tells you what’s going on. This book looks at families from 1710, 1810, 1910, and 2010 – all preparing and enjoying the same dessert, Blackberry Fool. All the kids who help get to lick the bowl at the end.

The dessert is the same in each century. But how it is prepared is quite different. How do they get the blackberries? Pick or purchase? And where do they get the cream?

Whipping the cream changes completely each hundred years – first, a bundle of twigs, taking fifteen minutes, next a wire whisk, taking ten minutes, then cast-iron rotary beaters, taking five minutes, and finally an electric mixer, taking two minutes.

How they chill the dessert changes each century as well, as does the food they eat for supper before the fine dessert is served.

Another contrast is that it isn’t until 2010 that a man and his son do the food preparation. In 1810, a slave girl and her mother do the work. But the daughter still gets to lick the bowl.

And at the end of each section, we’ve got the refrain: “What a fine dessert!”

This book is gently written, with wonderful detailed pictures. It is as irresistible as the fine dessert! The recipe for Blackberry Fool is at the end of the book.

Yes, I purchased blackberries and whipping cream when I went to the store this week, and last night I treated myself to Blackberry Fool! And yes, my hands turned purple when I pushed the fruit through the sieve. It would have been fun to do with a kid — but this way I get to lick the bowl myself. Indeed, it is a fine dessert. (In fact, after posting this review, I’m going to have to have a little more.)

emilyjenkins.com
sophieblackall.com
randomhousekids.com

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

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs 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.

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Review of Shades of Milk and Honey, by Mary Robinette Kowal

Fantasy, Fiction Review, Historical, Romance 0

shades_of_milk_and_honey_largeShades of Milk and Honey

by Mary Robinette Kowal

A Tom Doherty Associates Book (Tor), New York, 2010. 320 pages.
2010 Nebula Nominee for Best Novel
RT Book Reviews Reviewers’ Choice Award for Best Fantasy Novel 2010

Thank you to my sister Melanie for giving me this book for Christmas.

The book is essentially Jane Austen – with magic. Now, it didn’t enchant me as much as the other Jane Austen with magic series which began with Sorcery and Cecelia. I think the reason was that the sibling rivalry was a bit intense for my taste. The younger, more beautiful sister, Melody, is intensely jealous of her older sister Jane’s accomplishments. (I missed the love between Elizabeth and Jane in Pride and Prejudice.) Those accomplishments include ability with Glamour – magical enhancement of art and music.

The story is fun, in many ways mirroring Pride and Prejudice. I rightly looked for romance to develop with the most distasteful man Jane was initially introduced to. But things do stay interesting. I didn’t particularly like the jealousy subplot, as Melody also has some men to choose from. Does she really need to like the same ones as her sister? Meeting and getting to know the various eligible men and their sisters takes up most of the book. It was also not a surprise that one of the men turns out to be a cad.

Here’s a taste from the first chapter:

When all was settled, Jane seated herself at the pianoforte and pulled a fold of glamour close about her. She played a simple rondo, catching the notes in the loose fold; when she reached the point where the song repeated, she stopped playing and tied the glamour off. Captured by the glamour, the music continued to play, wrapping around to the beginning of the song with only a tiny pause at the end of the fold. With care, she clipped the small silence at the end of the music and tied it more firmly to the beginning, so the piece repeated seamlessly. Then she stretched the fold of glamour to gossamer thinness until the rondo sounded as if it played in the far distance.

The door to the drawing room opened. Melody leapt to her feet with a naked expression of welcome on her face. Jane rose slowly, trying to attain a more seemly display. She placed her hand on the pianoforte as the room spun about her with the lingering effects of working glamour.

But only their father entered the room. “Hullo, my dears.” The plum brocade of his waistcoat strained across his ample middle. He looked around the drawing room in evident pleasure. “Are we expecting company?”

Melody said, “Mr. Dunkirk said he would honour us with a visit this afternoon.”

“Did he?” Her father looked befuddled. “But I saw him not fifteen minutes ago passing through our fields with the FitzCamerons. They looked for all the world as if they were going hunting. Are you certain you did not mistake his meaning?”

Melody’s face soured. “His meaning was clear. But perhaps he preferred to spend the afternoon in the company of a lady than a farmer’s daughter.”

Jane winced as Melody flew from the room.

If you’re in the mood for a fun old-fashioned romance with a nice dose of magic, this book is a fun read.

tor-forge.com

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Source: This review is based on my own copy, a gift from my sister Melanie.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs 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.

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Review of A New York Christmas, by Anne Perry

Christmas, Fiction Review, Historical, Mystery 0

new_york_christmas_largeA New York Christmas

by Anne Perry

Ballantine Books, New York, 2014. 164 pages.

I’ve gotten hooked on Anne Perry’s Christmas mysteries. They offer a wide variety of situations, and I like some better than others. But all take place at Christmastime, and all offer a quick cozy holiday read – with murder. But justice is always done and they all have an overall message of peace and hope.

My hold on this year’s novella came in just in time for Christmas, though I was already in the middle of another eagerly awaited novel, so I got A New York Christmas read a few days after Christmas.

I particularly like it when Anne Perry uses characters from her other books in the Christmas novels. I don’t know why, since I haven’t read many of her other books (some day), but it gives a sense of a window into a larger world.

A New York Christmas is told from the perspective of Jemima Pitt, twenty-three-year-old daughter of Thomas and Charlotte Pitt. The book opens with her on an ocean liner crossing the Atlantic.

It was December 1904, and she was crossing the Atlantic to New York, where she would stay for at least a month. Mr. Edward Cardew had invited her to travel as a companion to his daughter, Delphinia, who was to marry Brent Albright, the son of Rothwell Albright, Mr. Cardew’s international business partner. It would be the society wedding of the year.

Not long after arriving, a murder happens, and Jemima is the primary suspect. The wealthy family she’s been staying with seems extra eager to place the blame on her. Can she use what she’s learned from her father to find out who is the actual killer? And where can she find help in New York City? And why did Miss Cardew’s mother abandon her child so many years ago? If Jemima can find out about the murdered woman, she thinks she might be able to figure out who did kill her.

It’s after Christmas now, but this story makes cozy reading at any time. This is now Anne Perry’s twelfth Christmas mystery, and it’s never too late to start a holiday tradition.

anneperry.net
ballantinebooks.com

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

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs 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!

Review of Abracadabra Tut, by Page McBrier

Children's Fiction Review, Fantasy, Historical 0

abracadabra_tut_largeAbracadabra Tut

by Page McBrier

Palm Canyon Press, 2014. 234 pages.

Abracadabra Tut is a fun time-travel story, taking two kids back to Ancient Egypt where they get to meet King Tut.

Fletcher is a magician in middle school with a birthday party business and dreams of greater things. He goes to an estate sale for a famous professional magician and sees many things he would love to have – but his attention is especially caught by an actual mummy’s coffin.

He talks with a woman at the auction about the mummy’s coffin. She seems impressed with his knowledge of ancient Egyptian magic, which he’s read a book about. But he’s not prepared when a mysterious benefactor – named Isis – purchases the mummy’s coffin by bidding online and gives it to Fletcher.

When the head of the Spirit Committee at school, Arielle Torres, hears that Fletcher got an actual mummy’s coffin, she asks him to do a magic show during the break at the end-of-the-school-year dance in two weeks. And she wants to be his assistant.

But she can’t be bothered to practice, and when the show takes place, everything that can go wrong does go wrong – until they both get into the coffin, and it transports them to Egypt during the time of King Tut.

In Egypt, Fletcher uses a little stage magic to impress the crowd and keep from getting killed. But then King Tut decides that Fletcher’s magic gives him luck and protects him, and Fletcher’s worried. Because he knows King Tut died when he was not much older than the king Fletcher has just met. What will happen when his luck runs out? And if someone in the court is trying to kill the king, will they kill Fletcher? And how can Fletcher and Arielle find the coffin and get back home while they’re still alive?

This book is mostly light-hearted fun, but it does throw in some facts and history about ancient Egypt. There’s adventure and humor and two kids trying to do something good when they may be out of their depth.

pagemcbrier.com
PalmCanyonPress.com

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Source: This review is based on a book sent to me by the publisher.

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs 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!