Review of When You Reach Me, by Rebecca Stead

Award Winners, Children's Fiction Review, Contemporary, Stand-outs, Starred Review 0

when_you_reach_meWhen You Reach Me

by Rebecca Stead

Wendy Lamb Books (Random House), 2009. 199 pages.
Starred Review
Sonderbooks Stand-out 2010: #1 Children’s Fantasy and Science Fiction

When You Reach Me is hard to categorize. Technically, you might call it Historical, since it is set in 1978 and 1979. But the focus is not the time period or issues of the time period, so I don’t think it really fits that category. There’s a touch of science fiction, a touch of mystery, and a touch of adventure. Mostly, I feel like this is a school story, a story of a sixth-grade girl who loses her best friend and must learn how to cope — while strange events are going on around her.

Also interesting, the day before I picked up this book, I read a chapter from Reading Like a Writer, by Francine Prose, on point of view. She talks about the rarity of good fiction written in the second person.

Francine Prose says,
“The truth is that marvelous fiction has been written in the second person, though in these cases, the ‘you’ is less likely to be the reader in general than someone in particular, an individual to whom the story (often metaphorically or imaginatively) is being addressed.”

In When You Reach Me, part of the puzzle is to whom exactly Miranda is telling her story. Who is the “you”?

She’s telling the story to someone, someone who has sent her mysterious letters that seem to be able to foretell the future. How did the letter writer know, for example, that Miranda’s Mom would appear on The 20,000 Pyramid on April 27?

They live in an apartment in New York City, and Miranda must walk past some alarming characters on her way home, but she has her friend Sal to walk with. Until the day that Sal got punched. That’s the day that Miranda thinks it all started.

I admit I can’t help but fall for a character who carries around Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time everywhere she goes. Miranda faces a lot in this book. Trouble with friends. Scary situations. A stressed-out mother. Things going missing.

Miranda comes through. She figures out how to be a better friend, navigates some tricky situations, and ultimately solves the mystery of the letters.

I like Miranda’s way of dealing with someone she’s afraid of:

“I have my own trick. If I’m afraid of someone on the street, I’ll turn to him (it’s always a boy) and say, ‘Excuse me, do you happen to know what time it is?’ This is my way of saying to the person, ‘I see you as a friend, and there is no need to hurt me or take my stuff. Also, I don’t even have a watch and I am probably not worth mugging.’

“So far, it’s worked like gangbusters, as Richard would say. And I’ve discovered that most people I’m afraid of are actually very friendly.”

This story is surprisingly simple for something with a complicated idea behind it. It will leave your mind spinning in a small, pleasant way, and your heart warmed.

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

Review of Bubble Trouble, by Margaret Mahy and Polly Dunbar

Delightfully Silly, Picture Book Review, Readalouds, Stand-outs 0

bubble_troubleBubble Trouble

by Margaret Mahy

illustrated by Polly Dunbar

Clarion Books, New York, 2009. 37 pages.
Sonderbooks Stand-out 2010: #5 Picture Books

Here’s a silly story that’s simply good fun to read. It’s a mild tongue twister with a nice rhythm that makes a lovely read-aloud. In fact, the day after I first read it, I used the book as an opener for a baby program. I half-expected the babies to lose interest, since the words were mostly over their heads. However, the whole room — parents and babies — seemed to enjoy the book. The sounds of the words were enough for the babies, and the parents seemed to enjoy it, too. I’m going to use it again this week in a storytime for preschoolers.

The story is simple. Mabel blows a bubble, and her baby brother gets trapped inside and floats away. Various people with melodious names and activities see the bubble and follow, to the dramatic conclusion.

This book should not be read silently!

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Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Picture_Books/bubble_trouble.html

Review of A Stranger to Command, by Sherwood Smith

Adventure, Fantasy, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

stranger_to_commandA Stranger to Command

by Sherwood Smith

YA Angst (Norilana Books), 2008. 476 pages.
Starred Review

Recently, when I was feeling sick and without much energy, I decided to indulge myself by rereading Crown Duel, by Sherwood Smith. I didn’t realize it would blow the entire afternoon, since I wouldn’t be able to stop until I finished. In this case, knowing what is going to happen makes the story even more compelling as we watch the main character figuring things out and notice the hints the author placed along the way.

A Stranger to Command is the prequel to Crown Duel, but even though it describes events that take place before those in Crown Duel, you should NOT read the prequel until you have read Crown Duel. In the prequel, we learn how the love interest got so awesome. But since half the fun of Crown Duel is figuring out who the love interest is, if you have not read Crown Duel, please STOP reading this review and go place it on hold at your library or order it from Amazon!

I’m not sure if I would have liked A Stranger to Command so much if I hadn’t already loved Crown Duel, but as it was, it gives intriguing insights into court life under wicked king Galdran, and shows us how Vidanric learned to be so awesome. (I’ll call him that because that name doesn’t show up until much later in Crown Duel, so it’s not as bad a spoiler if someone disobeys me and reads this review without reading the first book.)

It turns out that Vidanric’s parents sent him to the academy at Marloven Hess to get him out of the way of the evil Galdran — the same school that Inda went to in the book Inda, though it sounds like that was hundreds of years earlier. The king of Marloven Hess is Senrid, so the next book I will be reading is Sherwood Smith’s Senrid, to find out more about him. She definitely needs to write a book about what takes place after Vidanric is king, since in this book he establishes a friendship with King Senric.

In fact, this book is where Vidanric absorbs the idea of being a king some day. He learns how to fight, he learns about strategy, and he learns to command. He also learns about love, and we can see how his painful first experience would make him particularly drawn to Meliara’s charms.

I’ve long thought that in all of her books, Sherwood Smith seems to have an excellent and almost overwhelming grasp of the politics of kingdoms. I don’t know too much about it myself, but she completely convinces me that the way she describes the politics is entirely realistic. In Crown Duel, Vidanric shows Meliara that she hadn’t considered the practicalities of her revolution, but in A Stranger to Command, we see how he himself first begins to consider political realities of ruling.

My one quibble with the book is that Vidanric leaves Marloven Hess very abruptly, as they are being attacked — and we never learn how that is resolved or how his friends fare. (She definitely needs to write another book!) In fact, I decided I had to read Crown Duel yet again to see if she had put in any information about their fate. Little did I realize that only a week after my last rereading it, the book would still captivate me enough to lose another entire afternoon because I couldn’t bring myself to stop! Of course, I suspect I may just be a sucker for books where a sinister tall handsome stranger carries off the heroine on a horse and it takes her the whole book to realize how awesome he is and that she loves him and he loves her back. Robin McKinley’s The Blue Sword can also be described that way, and it’s another of my absolute favorite books.

Even though A Stranger to Command did not have the romance of Crown Duel, it pulled me back into that world, intrigued me, and let me enjoy the process of a future leader learning to command.

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

Review of Project Sweet Life, by Brent Hartinger

Contemporary, Humorous, Stand-outs, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

project_sweet_lifeProject Sweet Life

by Brent Hartinger

HarperTeen (HarperCollins), 2009. 282 pages.
Starred Review
Sonderbooks Stand-out 2010: #2 Other Teen Fiction

I first heard about Project Sweet Life after a girl patron at Herndon Fortnightly Library won the monthly prize drawing in Kay Cassidy’s Great Scavenger Hunt Contest. For registering the winner’s entries, the library won a choice of five books, and as soon as I read the description of this book, I not only chose it for the library, I also bought a copy to give to my son for his fifteenth birthday, which is in the middle of the summer. It seemed completely appropriate.

Dave and his two friends Victor and Curtis believe that the summer you are fifteen should be the year when a summer job is optional. “You can get one if you really want one, but it isn’t required. And I really, really didn’t want one.”

He explains his philosophy:

“I certainly understand that some people, even some fifteen-year-olds, need to work. They’re saving for college, or they have to help pay bills around the house. For them, a summer job at fifteen isn’t optional. But my dad makes a good living as a land surveyor. He wears silk ties! And my mom is stay-at-home. We aren’t poor.

“The adults won’t tell you this, but I absolutely knew it in my bones to be true: Once you take that first summer job, once you start working, you’re then expected to keep working. For the rest of your life! Once you start, you can’t stop, ever — not until you retire or you die.

“Sure, I knew I’d have to take a job next summer. But now, I had two uninterrupted months of absolute freedom ahead of me — two summer months of living life completely on my own terms. I knew they were probably my last two months of freedom for the next fifty years.”

Unfortunately, Dave’s dad has been discussing the situation with his own friends, the fathers of Victor and Curtis. On the first night of summer vacation, all three dads inform their sons that there will be no more allowance, and they need to get a summer job.

When the three friends meet that night after dinner, they discuss the situation and the incredible unfairness of it all. That’s when, together, they come up with the scheme for Project Sweet Life: Instead of slaving away at a minimum wage job all summer, they will fake the job, find a quicker way to make the same amount of money, and then loaf off all summer.

Brent Hartinger does a wonderful job showing us their schemes, which actually work — and then inevitably have bad luck snatch all the money out of their grasp. It adds up to a hilarious coming-of-age friends-forever adventure that is tremendous fun to read.

I got a piece of writing advice long ago that I have seen work many times: Never let your characters solve their problems by coincidence, or no one will believe it. Instead, have your characters get into trouble because of coincidence, and everyone will think how true to life that is.

In the case of this book, it seemed slightly unlikely that their schemes would work out so well, but then when bad luck snatched the profits from their grasp, it suddenly seemed true to life and also very funny. I think the unlikelihood of their success in the first place made their downfall that much funnier, though we definitely felt sorry for them. As the summer wears on and their bank balance gets lower, their plans get more and more desperate.

For the record, my now fifteen-year-old son did not have a job this summer. But I’m not worried that this book will give him the wrong idea. Although the book does not hold up the boys’ behavior as a good example, and does show that their choice ended up in more work than a job would have, it also has some great things to say about friendship and doing what’s right.

This book had me laughing out loud as I read it, and even as I’m writing the review, I can’t stop smiling. Most of all, it’s simply tremendous fun.

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

Review of Throne of Jade, by Naomi Novik

Alternate History, Audiobooks, Fantasy, Fiction Review, Starred Review 0

throne_of_jadeThrone of Jade

by Naomi Novik

Read by Simon Vance

Books on Tape, 2007. 10 CDs, 11 hours, 44 minutes.
Starred Review

Throne of Jade is the second book about Temeraire, the dragon who fought with England against Napoleon’s forces in this delightful alternate history. In the earlier book, His Majesty’s Dragon, navy Captain Will Laurence captured a dragon’s egg from a French ship, and became that dragon’s companion in the Aerial Corps.

After the events of the first book, the world learns that Temeraire’s egg was meant for Napoleon, for he is of a lineage that the Chinese only allow in the company of emperors or an emperor’s family. At the outset of Throne of Jade, a Chinese envoy has come, indignant that Temeraire is treated as the pet of a common sea captain, intending to persuade England to send Temeraire back to China.

Negotiations are difficult, and England desperately wants trade to China kept free. Temeraire will not leave Laurence, and Laurence is willing to face hanging rather than trick him into leaving. So Temeraire and Laurence face a long sea voyage to China, encountering dangers and intrigue along the way. When they arrive in China, they see a country where dragons live almost as equals with humans, studying and learning as much as fighting. Will Temeraire be won over and decide to stay?

These books are intriguing as they reveal “facts” about the lives of dragons, which seem so realistic, you quickly forget that they didn’t actually have dragons in those days. The characters are compelling, and you find yourself indignant with Laurence at the slight to his honour of even suggesting that he would lie to Temeraire. As before, the book reminded me of a Patrick O’Brien book, only with dragons — which I somehow find much more exciting.

My plan was to listen to a different audiobook before I go on to the next book in Naomi Novik’s series. (There are five.) However, I find I can’t stand the wait! When I learned that our library had a copy of the next audiobook, Black Powder War on the shelves, I immediately checked it out and will start listening the next time I enter my car. I first chose to listen to this book because I couldn’t quite get around to reading it, but now I can’t bring myself to “read” it any other way. I have grown fond of the characters as portrayed by the voice of Simon Vance, and don’t want to miss out on that variety by reading it to myself and hearing only the voices my own mind can conjure up.

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

Review of Grandfather’s Dance, by Patricia MacLachlan

Beginning Chapter Books, Children's Fiction Review, Historical, Starred Review 0

grandfathers_danceGrandfather’s Dance

by Patricia MacLachlan

Joanna Cotler Books (HarperCollins), 2006. 84 pages.
Starred Review

I love Patricia MacLachlan’s gentle stories of the Witting family. With simple language, easy for a child first starting chapter books to read, she conveys worlds of emotion and describes the complex bonds of a family.

Anna, who was once the child narrator telling the story of Sarah, Plain and Tall, is now grown up and getting married. Her young half-sister Cassie tells the story of the family coming together to celebrate.

Her little brother Jack is full of toddler quirks and funny expressions and has a special relationship with Grandfather, who is feeling old these days. Cassie wonders about weddings and watches the family come together, with the Aunts arriving from Maine. Papa buys a car, which delights them.

Hmm. When I describe the simple events that happen, it doesn’t begin to convey the worlds of emotion that Patricia MacLachlan pours into them.

This is another beautiful installment in a delightful series of historical chapter books. If you haven’t read them yet, begin with Sarah, Plain and Tall, and go on to Skylark, Caleb’s Story, and More Perfect Than the Moon. If you have read any of the earlier books, you won’t need me to persuade you to pick up this newest installment. Although they are simple enough for children beginning to read chapter books on their own, they are profound enough for adults.

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

Review of Left to Tell, by Immaculee Ilibagiza

Biography, Forgiveness, Nonfiction Review, Stand-outs, Starred Review, True Stories 0

left_to_tellLeft to Tell

Discovering God Amidst the Rwandan Holocaust

by Immaculee Ilibagiza
with Steve Erwin

Hay House, Carlsbad, California, 2006. 215 pages.
Starred Review
Sonderbooks Stand-out 2010: #1 Nonfiction: True Stories

Left to Tell is an incredible book and tells an amazing story. Immaculee Ilibagiza survived the Rwandan holocaust by hiding in a tiny bathroom with seven other women. What’s more, they had to be absolutely quiet, and were often able to hear killers describing what they had done in exterminating “cockroaches,” even someone describing with glee how her own brother had died horribly.

You would think that a book that even mentions such horrors would be tremendously depressing. Instead, reading this book uplifted and inspired me.

You see, Immaculee, with God’s help, has been able to forgive the people who killed her family and devastated her country. The fiery trial has made her truly beautiful, and even her book radiates this beautiful, loving, and forgiving spirit.

I do appreciate that she never pretends the forgiveness came easily. She describes when they first went into hiding, how there seemed to be a constant negative voice saying they’d be found, they’d be killed. Later on, after she thought she was done forgiving, all the waves of anger and hatred came back when she saw her destroyed family home and her brother’s mutilated remains.

But Immaculee learned the power of prayer in combating those feelings and those voices of discouragement and hatred. Since she couldn’t speak to the other women, Immaculee spent most of the three months in the bathroom praying. Is it any wonder she grew to feel close to God?

And there were miracles of protection and comfort. A time when killers were specifically looking for her, on the other side of the door, she was given a vision of protection and saw a glowing cross standing in front of that door. And the killers never found her.

I’ve read many books on forgiveness since my husband left me. But books about the theories of forgiveness, although helpful, can’t begin to hold the power of this book showing practical forgiveness in action. The horrors perpetuated against Immaculee’s family and nation were astronomically beyond any wrongs I have ever suffered. After reading this book, those wrongs seem utterly inconsequential. If Immaculee can, by God’s power, forgive such horrors, and by doing so become a radiantly beautiful person, then surely I can forgive such tiny wrongs as have been done against me. And I do believe that such forgiveness will make me a tiny bit more beautiful.

The message I got from this book is how forgiveness is always worth it, no matter how difficult. I am so glad I read this radiant and inspiring story.

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Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Nonfiction/left_to_tell.html

Review of Read It, Don’t Eat It, by Ian Schoenherr

Animal Characters, Picture Book Review 0

read_it_dont_eat_itRead It, Don’t Eat It!

by Ian Schoenherr

Greenwillow Books (HarperCollins), 2009. 32 pages.

Ah, at last! With this simple book, I’ve found a delightful and fun way to talk with preschool kids on library tours how to treat books in the library. This book will be perfect! It gives the message in a quick and entertaining way.

The message is simple: Treat books nicely. For example:

“Don’t overdue it,
just renew it.
(Really, now, there’s nothing to it.)
Leave no trace
(or at least erase).
Don’t censor, delete, or deface.
It’s not a platter, or a stool.
Be careful with it at the pool.”

Of course, with the words alone, it wouldn’t be such a gem. The pictures make the book, with fuzzy round big-eyed animals doing outrageous things to library books, and one bear in particular trying to help them stop.

Kids seeing the book will definitely want to side with the nice bear and, like him, take to heart the message at the end:

“Share with a friend, a sister, a brother.
Now go out and get another.”

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Review of The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing Traitor to the Nation, Volume 2: The Kingdom on the Waves, by M. T. Anderson

Audiobooks, Historical, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

kingdom_on_the_wavesThe Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing
Traitor to the Nation
Volume II
The Kingdom on the Waves

by M. T. Anderson
Read by Peter Francis James

Books on Tape, 2008. 11 CDs, 13 hours, 25 minutes.
Starred Review

The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing is a two-volume work. You shouldn’t read the first volume without reading the second, and you definitely shouldn’t read the second volume without reading the first.

The first volume was set just before the start of the American Revolution. Octavian is a slave in Boston who is brought up in an experiment to see if someone of the Negro race can benefit from a scholarly education.

Octavian does benefit, and his scholarly voice is heard throughout the books.

In The Kingdom on the Waves, Octavian goes to fight for the British, since they have offered freedom to all slaves who fight on their side. This gripping tale has him in battles, facing the Yankee enemy, but also small pox and the danger of being captured and put back into slavery.

Octavian makes new friends in the company of freed slaves, and tells their stories, too. The story of how his old friend Bono escaped and got his exquisite revenge had me laughing out loud. I wanted to share the story with someone, it was so excellent — but it had been set up with the entire earlier volume, so I had to be content with chuckling over it myself.

This book is definitely NOT cheery reading. At one point, I had to look at the print copy and check the last page to make sure Octavian and his friends don’t all die at the end or go back into slavery. Come on, I knew they were on the losing side of the war, and it seemed like every terrible event that could happen was hitting them along the way. I had to know the ending was happy, or I just couldn’t handle it!

All the same, this book is a masterpiece. M. T. Anderson opened my eyes to a part of our country’s history as I never imagined it. He clearly did exhaustive research to make the writing authentic, and with Octavian’s cultured, well-educated voice, wrenches your emotions to care about these people and helps you understand what things must have been like.

The characters are distinct and are portrayed with appropriate voices by Peter Francis James, making the audiobook easy to follow even when the story is on such an epic scale. I admit I’m not sure I would have gotten through the book in print form, as I’ve gotten too much in the habit of quickly reading lighter fare. Almost anything I read is lighter than this, but I felt like I was learning much about history as I listened, and I definitely wanted to know what would happen to the characters. And the beauty of a longer commute is that I don’t begrudge a longer book when I’m listening in the car anyway.

A magnificent and eye-opening conclusion to a compelling story.

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

Review of The Lincolns, by Candace Fleming

Biography, Children's Nonfiction Review, History, Stand-outs, Starred Review 0

lincolnsThe Lincolns

A Scrapbook Look at Abraham and Mary

by Candace Fleming

Schwartz & Wade Books (Random House), New York, 2008. 181 pages.
Starred Review
Sonderbooks Stand-out 2010: #2 Children’s Nonfiction

Candace Fleming’s scrapbook biographies are truly amazing. I reviewed her similar book Ben Franklin’s Almanac back in 2004. This newer book, The Lincolns is equally complete and enlightening.

Instead of just telling us about Abraham and Mary Lincoln, Candace Fleming has brought together photographs, letters, news articles, and things written about them by their contemporaries. It does take time and attention to get through this book, but it is never boring, and you will feel like you have special insight into the great man and his volatile but much-loved wife by the time you are done.

Clearly Candace Fleming put in tremendous amounts of time and research to produce this exceptional book. She has produced a wonderful resource, not merely for children doing reports, but for anyone wanting to know more about the Lincolns and the Civil War.

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Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Nonfiction/lincolns.html