Librarians Help! – Book! Book! Book!

Library Links 0

It’s been a couple weeks since I did my last Librarians Help! feature. I chose the title because of my very favorite incident in the library this week.

A mother was walking into the library with her toddler son in tow. Now, from a toddler’s eye level, there’s not a whole lot going on at the entrance to the library. The shelves aren’t facing out, and mostly what he’d see are desks. But we do have two book displays just before you get to the information desk, and one of those I had just stocked with children’s nonfiction, trying to put the simplest books on the lowest level.

I didn’t notice the mother until she passed the children’s books display on her way to the nonfiction. I heard, “Book! Book! Book!” Mom had already passed them on her way to the nonfiction, but the son was holding back, pointing happily at the books on the display. I knew there was a family that used the library often and a little boy who already knew that books are objects of delight.

I don’t have a picture of that incident, but thought this was a good excuse to insert a picture of my Dad reading to my son, many years ago. What’s better than helping make books objects of delight?

In these last two weeks, I got to help people in lots of ways:

— Made English tutoring appointments
— Booked meeting rooms
— Helped a little boy visiting the Virginia Room with his Grandma find his home on a map
— Showed a man the website telling about the Sherwood collection so he could match the items in the display case up with his memories
— Put creative books about Math on display
— Helped people with e-books

And I helped people find lots and lots of books:

— Books on Liberal Arts Math
— Easy readers for a preschooler
— Fairy tales
— Science books for a 1st grader
— The Pioneer Woman Cooks
— Books about Kookaburras
— Books about Venice
— Brunetti’s Cookbook
— Tunnels
— Books about Chinese dragons
— Into the Wild
— The Anglo-Saxons
— Specific issues of Science Magazine
— Magic Tree House books
— Books about the history of oil usage
— Books and resources for a retiree wanting to become a government contractor
— Video and books about Vermeer
— A Little Princess
— Books on starting in real estate
— Books on Windows 7
— Books on basic math
— Books on fractions for a Kindergarten class

Here are a couple books on fractions I pointed out to that Kindergarten teacher that she didn’t already know about:

— The Doorbell Rang, by Pat Hutchins (not specifically about fractions, but a good tie-in)
— Piece = Part = Portion, by Scott Gifford

I really wish I had found Eating Fractions, by Bruce McMillan.

She did have a list of several books, we found several on the shelf, and I showed her those ones I knew about. Those kids are in for a treat!

One more thing I want to do with this Librarians Help! series is provide a link about other librarians helping.

This link provides statistics from Snapshot Virginia Day, when we counted the basic ways the Fairfax County Library helped people.

For example, more than 16,000 people visited our branches that day. Librarians answered more than 1,700 reference questions. We offered 13 programs or classes that day that were attended by 385 people. What’s more, that was a Saturday, when our hours aren’t as long as other days and our staffing is not as good.

Spread the word: Librarians Help!

Review of The Wizard of Dark Street, by Shawn Thomas Odyssey

Children's Fiction Review, Fantasy, Mystery 0

The Wizard of Dark Street

by Shawn Thomas Odyssey

Egmont USA, New York, 2011. 345 pages.

This is a fun and clever middle-grade fantasy. We’ve got that old fantasy stand-by — a girl with a gift of Natural Magic, the like of which hasn’t been seen in hundreds of years — but she doesn’t want to be her uncle the Wizard’s apprentice. She wants to be a detective.

So, her uncle needs to find a new apprentice. When they’ve got the apprentices assembled to try out, something awful happens to her uncle, and Oona has a case to solve.

One thing I love about this book is that it doesn’t try to tell how Oona first became a detective, but starts us just after some outrageous action has happened, implying that what we’re about to hear is even more dramatic. Here’s a paragraph on the third page:

“‘You’ve got to be more careful!’ That had been her uncle’s advice on the subject of her nearly getting her head chopped off. His words had been direct, and his tone uncharacteristically stern. ‘I will only agree to this detective business of yours if you promise not to go getting yourself into such terrible trouble. I mean it, Oona! Igregious Goodfellow was a scoundrel, a thief, and a homicidal maniac all rolled into one. You’re incredibly lucky that it was your hair that got caught in that horrible man’s guillotine. You should never have followed him to his secret hideout. The moment you discovered he was the Horton Family Jewelry Store thief, you should have left matters to the police.'”

The author keeps up the tone of the book throughout, and, yes, the things Oona encounters in the rest of the book are even more dramatic.

“Presently, she turned her gaze north, and before her lay all of Dark Street, the last of the thirteen Faerie roads, connecting the World of Man to the fabled Land of Faerie. A broad cobblestone avenue more than thirteen miles long, the street stretched out in a continuous line, a world unto itself, unbroken by cross streets or intersections. The buildings rose up from the edges of the sidewalks like crooked teeth crammed into a mouth too small to fit. They listed and leaned against one another for support, giving the impression that if one of the buildings should ever fall down, then all of the others would quickly follow, toppling one by one like dominoes.

“She considered the street for a moment, this ancient world between worlds, with its enormous Glass Gates at one end and the equally vast Iron Gates at the other. And yet of these two gateways, only the Iron Gates ever opened, and then only once a night, upon the stroke of midnight, when the massive doors would swing inward on hinges as big as houses, opening for a single minute upon the sprawling, ambitious city of New York. For the amount of time it took a second hand to travel once around the face of a clock, the Iron Gates remained open to any who should choose to venture across their enchanted threshold. Few ever did. Few ever even noticed.

“In a city such as New York, even at midnight, the people were too busy getting from one place to another to observe anything out of the ordinary. And those who did see the street suddenly appear out of nowhere might simply pretend that it was not there at all. They might turn their faces, and when they looked again, the street would be gone, and they would tell themselves that it had been a trick of the light. Nothing more. The children of New York would surely have been more apt to see the street than adults, but of course, at midnight most good little children were tucked safely away into their beds, dreaming of stranger places still.”

Shawn Thomas Odyssey keeps the story inventive, fast-paced, and clever. We’ve got detective novel elements like a locked room and a bumbling police chief and a super villain behind the scenes, but it’s set in this magical world and the fate of even the World of Men may be at stake.

I read this book on the airplane flying from New York to Seattle, and it was a nice light-hearted yarn for the flight. It has some amusing elements like a clock that tells bad Knock-Knock jokes. I was inordinately pleased with myself when I figured out the riddle Oona needed to solve in the process of looking for her uncle. A lot of things that seem scary at first, like witches and goblins, end up being quite humorous. And some things you might not be afraid of, like a faerie servant, end up rather scary. This has the puzzles of a detective story, with some Fantasy tropes twisted and thrown in.

I love that the book has the subtitle, An Oona Carte Mystery, because that implies there will be more. This will be a mystery series for kids I can get excited about!

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Fiction/wizard_of_dark_street.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 Reader Copy I got at ALA Annual Conference.

Review of Heir to Sevenwaters, by Juliet Marillier

Fantasy, Fiction Review, Starred Review 0

Heir to Sevenwaters

by Juliet Marillier

A Roc Book (Penguin), 2008. 398 pages.
Starred Review

The Sevenwaters books showed all the signs of being a trilogy. So reading a fourth book feels like a wonderful bonus. Again, we’re looking at another generation of the people of Sevenwaters, in ancient Ireland. Again, the story has echoes of myths and fairy tales.

This book features Clodagh, the daughter of Sean and Aisling. She must go into the realm of the Fair Folk first to save her brother, then for the sake of the man she loves. This book is romantic and mythic and an incredibly good adventure. The worst thing about these books is how hard it is to stop reading them.

“Finbar made a little sound. My whole body stiffened in alarm. His voice was different; wrong. It was not the cry of a healthy, hungry baby but a curious, painful rasp. No normal child made a sound like that. Finbar must be sick. He was choking, he couldn’t breathe . . . I sprang up and hastened to the basket, my heart racing. I looked down, an image of my baby brother still fresh in my mind — the delicate fingers, the soft eyelids, the peachy skin and rosebud mouth. My heart gave a single thump and was still. Now I was cold all over. Finbar was gone. All that lay in his little bed was a curious jumble of sticks and stones, leaves and moss.”

Once again, despite the title, this is the story of a young woman. A young woman who has dealings with the Fair Folk, who is strong beyond her years, and who will risk everything for those she loves.

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Fiction/heir_to_sevenwaters.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 book I purchased from Amazon.com.

The 48-Hour Book Challenge Is Coming!

48-Hour Book Challenge 0

Hooray! Mother Reader has announced this year’s 48-Hour Book Challenge! It will happen the weekend starting June 8. This time it’s not happening on my mother’s birthday weekend (the weekend before), nor is it happening on my birthday weekend (the weekend after). Now, it IS happening the weekend of my son’s prom, and I may need to be the chauffeur. But they will probably just have to listen to an audiobook on the way to prom!

Now, I noticed that I’m not quite as excited about the 48-Hour Book Challenge as I usually am. I think there are two reasons why:

1. I had a stroke almost a year ago. I was in the hospital for 10 days and then had lots and lots of days, over the course of the year, where I didn’t have the energy to do much besides read. Now thinking of spending a whole day or two reading doesn’t sound nearly as luxurious as it did a year ago. Instead, it makes me think of feeling bad!

Solution? Well, I’ll just have to change that association, won’t I? Better read for two solid days when I’m feeling good, right?

2. As a consequence of all that time to read, but low energy to do other things — like write reviews — I’m way, way behind on writing reviews, so really I should spend the time writing reviews rather than actually reading — and that would turn it into a chore instead of fun.

Solution? I am about to start a 3-day weekend with nothing scheduled. My son’s going to his Dad’s. Why not use this weekend to catch up on reviews? I will make the resolution that any books I have read but I haven’t finished reviewing by Monday, I will turn back in to the library *gasp* without reviewing! Then I will make a resolution from here on out to review books by the following Saturday after I read them. (This is writing the reviews, not necessarily posting them.) If I don’t review them by then, I will return them, un-reviewed. I will also plan to review every book I read during the 48-Hour Book Challenge.

I’ll let you know how this goes, come Monday! The key will be that I will need to write the reviews of my favorite books first, or I won’t have the heart to turn them back in. There are some good books sitting there waiting, so I really hope I can accomplish this! I can think of it as a dry run for the 48HBC.

Finally, one more thing about this year’s 48HBC. It’s also a read-a-thon, with donations going to Book People Unite, collecting money for Reading Is Fundamental. I’ll be sponsoring myself at $1.00 per hour. If you’d like to sponsor me, let me know in the comments or e-mail me at sondy at sonderbooks.com. I will definitely be posting how many hours I read.

So, the excitement is building, and I’m going to prepare by doing my pre-challenge on the holiday weekend. I had been planning to get out and walk in a garden during the weekend, but then I saw the temperature forecast. I think I will happily stay indoors, writing reviews! I will post how many I finish on the weekend. In fact, I’ll even fess up and admit that my piles here have 14 full-length books and 9 picture books. That’s doable, right? Right?

Review of Charles and Emma, by Deborah Heiligman

Award Winners, Biography, Children's Nonfiction Review, History, Nonfiction Review, Romance, Science, Starred Review, True Stories 0

Charles and Emma

The Darwins’ Leap of Faith

Henry Holt and Company, New York, 2009. 268 pages.
Starred Review
2010 Winner YALSA Excellence in Nonfiction Award
2009 National Book Award Finalist
2010 Printz Honor Book

Okay, when this book first came out, I wasn’t too interested. I grew up in a conservative Christian family, and didn’t exactly see Charles Darwin as a hero. Then the book kept winning awards, and got strong comments from the judges in School Library Journal’s Battle of the Books. I thought I really should read it. Then I met Deborah Heiligman at the 2010 ALA Annual Conference. When I found out why she wrote it, I knew I had to read it. I purchased a book and got her signature. However, it still took me until this year, when I was taking a class on the Printz Award, to finally get it read.

Deborah explains in the Acknowledgments at the back of the book how her husband got her interested in the story that would become this book:

“Jon’s been writing about science and evolution since we met. I had just graduated from college with a major in religious studies. We started talking immediately — about science and religion and writing and pretty much everything else — and we haven’t stopped since.

“One day, about seven years ago, Jon said to me, ‘You know, Charles Darwin’s wife was religious.’ I looked at him. He continued, ‘And they loved each other very much. She was afraid he would go to hell and they wouldn’t be together for eternity.'”

Evolution is supposed to be opposed to Christianity, right? So how is it possible that Charles Darwin’s wife was deeply religious — and yet the two were very much in love.

Deborah Heiligman tells the love story of Charles and Emma Darwin beautifully. It’s clearly a work of nonfiction — she relies heavily on letters and journals and notebooks written by the two of them — but it reads like a novel. Of course, in a story book, the marriage probably wouldn’t have worked. I found it especially interesting that Charles’ father advised him not to tell his new wife about his doubts about religion. But Charles couldn’t hide them from her. And she loved him anyway and even edited his books, including The Origin of Species.

This book tells the story of how Charles Darwin’s scientific theories developed, but it especially shows us the man who loved his wife and children very much. And whatever your views, you can’t help but fall for the man presented here, and the wife who provided exactly what he needed to be such a distinguished scientist.

This book is wonderfully presented. I like the quotations at the head of each chapter and the way Deborah Heiligman has arranged the facts in such an interesting manner. This book presents a compelling story that is all the more amazing because it’s true.

“You will be forming theories about me & if I am cross or out of temper you will only consider ‘What does that prove.’ Which will be a very grand & philosophical way of considering it. — Emma to Charles, January 23, 1839”

DeborahHeiligman.com
HenryHoltKids.com

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Nonfiction/charles_and_emma.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 my own book, purchased at ALA Annual Conference and signed by the author.

Conference Corner – 2012 Morris Seminar – Panel Discussion and More

Conference Corner 0

I’m awfully behind on posting notes from conferences. And there’s definitely added value if I share what I’ve learned. So – I’ve decided to attempt a weekly feature – Conference Corner – to share what I’ve learned at conferences. It will be awhile before I catch up, especially since I’m going to ALA Annual Conference next month, and I still haven’t finished talking about the Morris Seminar, ALA Midwinter Meeting, and PLA Biennial Conference.

One of the highlights of the Morris Seminar, a one-day seminar offered by ALSC to train people to be on book evaluation committees, was when we got into groups and practiced what we’d learned with books we’d read ahead of time. Here’s a picture of part of the group I was with. You can at least tell we were all having fun!

After lunch, we listened to a Panel Discussion featuring past committee chairs from some different ALSC Award committees: Martha Walker, from the Pura Belpre committee; Julie Roach, from the Geisel committee; Mary Burkey, from the Odyssey committee; Rita Auerbach, from the Caldecott committee; and Cyndi Richey, from the Newbery committee.

I took down some rather haphazard notes about the different committees. Below are some of the things they said.

Geisel: You’re evaluating text and pictures together. The illustrations need to work for someone just learning to read. One committee member adopted a classroom to try out the books.

Notable Committees: These are open committee meetings. Everyone’s equal when you walk through the door. You can learn about book evaluation by listening to these committees.

Audiobook evaluation: Assume the book is good. Now look at the narrator and the story. You’re evaluating production quality.

Here are some things to consider about the narrator of an audiobook:

Was the narrator authentic and genuine to time, character, etc?
Does meaning come through?
Is voice consistent?
Are accents correct?
“He said” “she said” should be dropped.
Don’t want a “fake voice.” You shouldn’t perceive that someone’s reading into a microphone.
Also think about the production quality. Don’t let a story you love blind you to the way it’s carried out.
Recommended book: Listening to Learn: Audiobooks Supporting Literacy, by Sharon Grover.

I took lots of notes about the Caldecott committee:

Rita Auerbach said she had less influence when she was the chair than when she was a regular committee member.

The function of the chair is to keep things going smoothly.

To be a good Caldecott committee member:

Participate in the discussion.
Read and respond on time.
Respect other members and couch concerns as questions.
Be willing to be cut off.
Don’t make up your mind in advance.
You can have an opinion, but at least be open to making your opinion change.

Picture books are difficult to discuss. Cultivate the vocabulary for talking about art.

Believe that artists, like authors, make decisions.

Think about the impact.

When discussing, don’t go through the book page by page. Use post-its to mark what you want to talk about.

Remember: There is room for interpretation.

“Most distinguished American picture book” does not necessarily have the most distinguished art.

How to prepare:
Read the books suggested in the manual, such as Picture This: How Pictures Work, by Molly Bang, and Show and Tell: Exploring the Fine Art of Children’s Book Illustration, by Dilys Evans

Your basic premise is that the illustrator has done everything deliberately. How does it impact the book?

What do you see? How does it make you feel?

You can consider text, design, and everything else that goes into the book.

Notes about the Newbery Committee:

Being on the committee builds mutual respect and trust between the members.

Look at the role models in your life and seek out opinions.

You will not remember what you read. Definitely take notes!

Best advice: Keep an open mind.

You’ll look at Suggestions and Nominations.

“Read while you eat. That’s called ‘reating.’”

This will be your most professionally satisfying experience because everyone’s read the same books.

To get prepared, attend a Notable Books discussion.

You can’t even have an appearance of a breach of confidentiality or conflict of interest.

Be on the lookout for other critical discussions. (This is why I’ve joined Capitol Choices.)

This is a literary award for literature for a child audience.

Recommended: Books by Lee Gutkind on creative nonfiction, From Cover to Cover, by K. T. Horning

It’s so important to listen! And listen without frowning.

Being in a committee will help you to use and hone your skills. You’ll use them for a lifetime.

Review of The Duckling Gets a Cookie!? by Mo Willems

Animal Characters, Good for the Very Young, Picture Book Review, Readalouds, Starred Review 0

The Duckling Gets a Cookie!?

by Mo Willems

Hyperion Books for Children, New York, 2012. 36 pages.
Starred Review

Oh, Mo Willems is a genius! I never get tired of his books. This, in case you were wondering, is another book featuring the Pigeon. It’s got a lot of the same elements that worked in previous books, including a throwing-a-fit page. Toddlers, kids, and their parents will easily relate to this book and understand the problem right from the title page.

In fact, as you open the book, when you look at the title, you see the pigeon saying, “I do not like the look of that.”

Then, on the beginning pages of the story, the duckling asks, very politely, for a cookie. And gets one! With nuts!

Then the pigeon discovers that the duckling got a cookie just by asking (politely). This is obviously not fair, since the pigeon asks for things all the time. I especially like the part where he recites some things he’s asked for, like a walrus. (He definitely does not mention the Puppy.) He begins to get worked up. He rails at the unfairness. He throws a fit. He cries. He rages. He pouts.

And the ending? You may be able to guess, but it is absolutely perfect.

While being written on the level a toddler can relate to, this book has so much to offer older readers, too. And toddlers themselves will find so much to talk about in these pages. Those who are already familiar with the Pigeon will have fun finding the references to each of the earlier books.

I have a strong feeling that if I am ever a grandmother, I am going to feel the need to own a copy of every single Pigeon book to keep in my house for reading to the grandchildren. Of course, in the meantime, I get to read to library members. Even if you don’t run out and buy this book for your own toddlers and preschoolers (and, come on, you really should!), be sure to at least do them the favor of checking it out from the library and enjoying these new antics with them.

pigeonpresents.com
hyperionbooksforchildren.com

Buy from Amazon.com

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

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Fiction/true_blue.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 Reader Copy I got at ALA Annual Conference.

Review of Bitterblue, by Kristin Cashore

Fantasy, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

Bitterblue

by Kristin Cashore

Dial Books, 2012. 563 pages.
Starred Review

The cover explains how this book fits in to Kristin Cashore’s other work: “Sequel to Graceling, Companion to Fire.” I reread Graceling before reading Bitterblue, and reread Fire immediately after. Both books were even better the second time around. Kristin Cashore writes books with richness and depth.

Bitterblue is different from the first two books. Bitterblue is now Queen of Monsea. She is not graced, like Katsa in Graceling, though there are many Gracelings around her, including Katsa and Po. She is not a Monster, like Fire, though Fire does come into this story.

This book is the story of Bitterblue coming of age and learning to be a good queen. She does some visiting her city incognito. She finds some writings both her mother and her father left behind. Mostly, she’s trying to help her kingdom come to terms with the horrors her father subjected it to. She’s figuring out how to carry on.

Meanwhile, there’s unrest in many of the other kingdoms. Katsa and Po are still active on the Council, trying to help victims of injustice.

Bitterblue is trying to rule well, but along the way, she needs to uncover many secrets. She also needs to come to terms with the horrors that her father carried out.

All of that sounds a little dry and dull summed up like that. It is anything but dry and dull. We still have Kristin Cashore’s rich language and vivid imagination as we read about an ordinary girl who has become queen. Can she become a good one? And what does that mean, in a world where the people are rising up against their rulers?

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Teens/bitterblue.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 Review Copy I got at ALA Midwinter Meeting and checked against a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.

Sonderling Sunday – Chapter Six, Flying Away

Der Orden der Seltsamen Sonderlinge, Sonderling Sunday 0

It’s time for Sonderling Sunday again – Where I indulge in my nerdy passion for the curiosities of language. I’ve got a different picture this week, from a package that arrived yesterday that had me jumping up and down in excitement:

No, I’m not changing the book I’m using as a bizarre German phrasebook. But, you see, when Shannon Hale, one of my very favorite authors, posted on her blog various international covers of one of my very favorite books, Book of a Thousand Days, I couldn’t resist e-mailing her and telling her about Sonderling Sunday and asking if she might have a copy of Das Buch der Tausend Tage to send me, to be my next book to go through after I finish Der Orden der Seltsamen Sonderlinge. While she was at it, she sent an Advance Review Copy of Palace of Stone, sequel to Princess Academy. I’m so excited!

Mind you, I don’t need more German books. I’ve already shown off my collection. Der Orden der Seltsamen Sonderlinge has started me off on something I’m totally enjoying, in my own quirky way. I’m looking forward to going through some books originally written in German, like Momo, by Michael Ende, or Cornelia Funke’s books. But Das Buch der Tausend Tage! I’m so excited!

Anyway, that’s a preview of things to come. Now I’m on Chapter Six in Der Orden der Seltsamen Sonderlinge, the German translation of The Order of Odd-fish, by James Kennedy. This begins on page 53 in the English version and Seite 70 in the German.

Now, I’m afraid I may have been daunting non-German speakers by beginning with a full paragraph. No, you do not have to speak German to enjoy this. I was going to start today with merely sentences or phrases. However, the first paragraph is simply too choice! What turns of phrase! What things I must learn how to say in German! I mean, come on: “duct tape,” “indignant,” and “sputtering”! So here is the first paragraph of Chapter Six:

Colonel Korsakov’s plane, the Indignant, resembled a flying box cobbled out of bits of a dozen other planes, lashed together with chains, frayed rope, and duct tape. It seemed ready to collapse at any moment, but somehow kept sputtering through the sky, coughing and wobbling, plowing through the thunder and rain.

Here that is, rendered in German:

Oberst Korsakovs Flugzeug, die Echauffierte, ähnelte einer fliegenden Kiste, die aus Einzelteilen von einem Dutzend anderer Flugzeuge zusammengestellt worden war, mit Ketten, Faserseil und Klebeband. Sie drohte jeden Augenblick auseinanderzufallen, flog jedoch wie durch ein Wunder weiter und kämpfte sich stotternd und schwankend durch Sturm und Regen.

Such goodies! We have:

“Indignant” = Echauffierte

“resembled” = ähnelte (Hmm. This reminds me of Ahnung, which means “Idea.” I learned Ahnung from reading Harry Potter books in German. They kept saying they had keine Ahnung, “no idea.”)

“box” = Kiste

“cobbled” = zusammengestellt (“together-asked”)

“chains” = Ketten

“frayed rope” = Faserseil (Google says that means “fiber cable”?!?)

“duct tape” = Klebeband (This just comes out as “adhesive tape.” Don’t they have a special word for duct tape?)

Ah! At 19 letters, a candidate for longest word of the day: “collapse” = auseinanderzufallen (“out of one another to fall”)

I like “somehow kept sputtering through the sky” translated as flog jedoch wie durch ein Wunder weiter (“flew however as through a wonder farther”)

und kämpfte sich stotternd und schwankend durch Sturm und Regen is the last phrase, which translates more literally as “and fought stuttering and fluctuating through storm and rain.”

Ah, lovely words just keep happening! I will refrain, however, from giving you the next complete paragraph, and settle for some choice words.

“mothbally” = Mottenkugeln (“moths scoops.” I know kugeln from ordering ice cream!)

“slapped” = geohrfeigt (“boxed on the ears”)

“domestic clutter” = Krimskrams (Google translates this as “odds and ends.” Great word!)

“dangled” = baumelte (This has the root for “tree,” baum in it.)

“crawlspace” = Kriechraums

“bomb bay” = Bombenschacht

Hmm. English says the colonel’s oboe hung in the bomb bay. German says Die Oboe des Obersts hung in its case in the bomb bay. Perhaps Germans are simply too appalled to think that an oboe might be hanging out of its case?

“blunderbuss” = Donnerbüchse (“Thunder rifle” I wonder if “blunderbuss” is a warped version of how this sounds.)

I like the way this sounds: “shoebox” = Schuhschachtel

“cufflinks” = Manschettenknöpfen (“Men’s cuffs buttons”)

“jawbone” = Kieferknochen (Fun to say!)

“untidy bag of bolts” = unordentlichen Blechkiste (“unorderly tin box”)

“laughingstock” = Gespött

“antennae” = Fühler (“feelers”)

“beady eyes” = Knopfaugen (“button eyes”)

“Fleet of Fury” = Furiose Flotte (Ah! Alliteration retained!)

“sleek” = schlanke

“dive” = Sturzflug (“fall-fly”)

“swatting” = scheuchte

“tumbled” = taumelte

“not much of an excuse” = zwar ein recht fadenscheiniger Vorwand (“indeed a right flimsy excuse”)

“crushed” = zermalmt

“streaming fire” = mit einem Feuerschweif (“with a fire-tail”)

“conqueror” = Bezwinger

“For the love of Lenin” = Bei Lenins Liebe (Oo, that one’s even better in German!)

“silly things” = alberne Dinge

Huh? “dandelions” = Gänseblümchen (“gooseflowers”)

“burping” = zirpte

Okay, this one just is NOT as good in German! “Babies! Beautiful, bouncing babies!” = Babys! Sü?e umherkrabbelnde Babys! (“Babies! Sweet crawling-around babies!”)

“fussy British musicians” = pedantischen britischen Musiker

“eaten” = verschlungen (“swallowed”)

That’s the end of Chapter Six. Next week, we’ll have Ken Kiang’s reaction to his apparent evil triumph.

Summing up:

Longest word: auseinanderzufallen

Most fun to say: Schuhschachtel

Best new word: Krimskrams

Best figure of speech: “as through a wonder”

Translation with most improvement: Bei Lenins Liebe

Translation with least improvement (indeed, the opposite of improvement): Babys! Sü?e umherkrabbelnde Babys!