Review of Pegasus, by Robin McKinley

Fantasy, Stand-outs, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

Pegasus

by Robin McKinley

G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 2010. 404 pages.
Starred Review
2010 Sonderbooks Stand-out: #4 Teen Fantasy Fiction

Robin McKinley is one of my favorite authors, so I was delighted when I heard she had another book coming out, and preordered it immediately. I was not a bit disappointed — well, except that this book is only Part One of a two-part story, and I will have to wait a year to get to read the conclusion. However, I will enjoy the excuse to read Part One several times before the second part comes out.

Robin McKinley is an amazingly skilled world-builder. She draws you in and makes it all seem real. Here is how Pegasus begins:

“Because she was a princess she had a pegasus.

“This had been a part of the treaty between the pegasi and the human invaders nearly a thousand years ago, shortly after humans had first struggled through the mountain passes beyond the wild lands and discovered a beautiful green country they knew immediately they wanted to live in.

“The beautiful green country was at that time badly overrun by ladons and wyverns, taralians and norindours, which ate almost everything (including each other) but liked pegasi best. The pegasi were a peaceful people and no match, despite their greater intelligence, for the single-minded ferocity of their enemies, and over the years their numbers had declined. But they were tied to these mountains and valleys by particular qualities in the soil and the grasses that grew in the soil, which allowed their wings to grow strong enough to bear them in the air. They had ignored the situation as without remedy for some generations, but the current pegasus king knew he was looking at a very bleak future for his people when the first human soldiers straggled, gasping, through the Dravalu Pass and collapsed on the greensward under the Singing Yew, which was old even then.”

The pegasi and the humans made a treaty, and the humans fought off the beasts that were preying on the pegasi. Now, generations later, the members of both species’ royal families are bound together, to keep the treaty strong. Humans are not able to communicate with pegasi, except with the help of magicians and pegasus shamans.

But then Sylvi bonds with Ebon, the fourth child of the pegasus king. And right from the start, they can hear each other’s thoughts.

One might think this was a good thing. But such a thing has never happened before, and the magicians are upset. When norindours and taralians begin making incursions into the country, they blame this “unnatural” bond.

In many ways, this is about a cross-cultural friendship. Sylvi learns more about the lives of the pegasi than any human has ever known. She and Ebon are inseparable — or so she thinks.

Robin McKinley weaves a spell in this book. It all seems real, and the things we learn about pegasus culture fit with the physical details we’re given about them. Their small hands are very weak, so their work is tremendously delicate, for example. When Sylvi gets to see art created by the pegasi, we appreciate that this is something entirely different from anything a human would ever make. We experience it with her.

Again, my only complaint is that the story is not finished. And this volume ends at a terrible place for Ebon and Sylvi. It’s hard to wait for the conclusion, but meanwhile, I’m so glad I’ve gotten to be transported to this magical world.

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Teens/pegasus.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 ordered from Amazon.com.

The Value of Librarians

Library Links 0

Twitter has informed me that today is International Save Libraries Day. Since that’s a topic I feel passionate about, I feel compelled to make some comments on the subject.

Last week, a marvellous article was posted by Philip Pullman in response to the threatened Library cuts in the UK. I love how he explained that the people balancing their budgets by cutting libraries don’t seem to realize that libraries are about a lot more than money.

I especially love these lines:
“The public library, again. Yes, I’m writing a book, Mr Mitchell, and yes, I hope it’ll make some money. But I’m not praising the public library service for money. I love the public library service for what it did for me as a child and as a student and as an adult. I love it because its presence in a town or a city reminds us that there are things above profit, things that profit knows nothing about, things that have the power to baffle the greedy ghost of market fundamentalism, things that stand for civic decency and public respect for imagination and knowledge and the value of simple delight….

“Leave the libraries alone. You don’t know the value of what you’re looking after. It is too precious to destroy.”

Of course, this article especially hits home because budgets for libraries in my own county, Fairfax County, Virginia, have been slashed the last two years. I lost my own job, and was put to work in the Office for Children for six months instead — until a Librarian position came open after someone retired.

The crazy part is that Fairfax County prides itself on its highly educated work force and outstanding schools. The libraries get less than one cent of each tax dollar, yet the schools ask for a larger share of the budget pie each year. And, yes, I value those schools. My own son attends the high school rated number one in the nation by U.S. News and World Report, and that is the main reason why I will NOT consider moving out of Fairfax County as long as he is in high school.

However, working in the libraries, I see that for so many, many county residents, the libraries are not fluff. They are not about optional things like “culture,” but a vital way to support their children’s or their own education. They are how people access government basics like tax forms and employment basics like job applications and living basics like English classes and materials for learning English and acquiring US citizenship.

Recently a study came out that found “a strong link between library use and a pupil’s reading achievement and enjoyment.” These results are not a surprise at all to librarians, but perhaps would be surprising to our Board of Supervisors members who think that libraries are not essential to the community.

I also love the way the Philip Pullman article dashes the idea that libraries can be run by volunteers. He says:

“Nor do I think we should respond to the fatuous idea that libraries can stay open if they’re staffed by volunteers. What patronising nonsense. Does he think the job of a librarian is so simple, so empty of content, that anyone can step up and do it for a thank-you and a cup of tea? Does he think that all a librarian does is to tidy the shelves? And who are these volunteers? Who are these people whose lives are so empty, whose time spreads out in front of them like the limitless steppes of central Asia, who have no families to look after, no jobs to do, no responsibilities of any sort, and yet are so wealthy that they can commit hours of their time every week to working for nothing? Who are these volunteers? Do you know anyone who could volunteer their time in this way? If there’s anyone who has the time and the energy to work for nothing in a good cause, they are probably already working for one of the voluntary sector day centres or running a local football team or helping out with the league of friends in a hospital. What’s going to make them stop doing that and start working in a library instead?”

I love that paragraph because it points out how foolish, but how common, it is to undervalue librarians. This was especially brought home to me when I was transferred out of my Librarian I position into another job at another county agency at the same paygrade, a Management Analyst I. Note that since that time, the Management Analyst position was upgraded one paygrade, so now they are not at the same level.

A Librarian I position requires a Master’s degree. I have two. The Management Analyst I position does not require a Master’s degree at all. My former Librarian position as Youth Services Manager supervised two people. The Management Analyst position did not supervise anyone at all. The Youth Services Manager position was responsible for organizing the schedule for all library programs at the branch. The Management Analyst position didn’t have nearly that level of responsibility. Working as a Librarian, I get to help people daily — finding information for them for a multitude of reasons, sharing good books, helping children love reading, helping people find the resources to complete an assignment or pass a test or get a better job, and so much more. Working as a Management Analyst, I got to help the organization jump through hoops and satisfy government bureaucracy in the USDA Food Program. Yet the two positions were paid the same, and now a Management Analyst is paid more.

I don’t think most people realize that a Librarian job requires a Master’s degree, and that it’s actually used. After reading Philip Pullman’s article, one of my librarian co-workers commented that many of the smartest people she knows are librarians. I’ve found that true myself. And that’s one thing I love about a Librarian job — It actually uses my intelligence, far more than teaching college math did. Sure, I had to be smart to get the college math teaching job, but once I had the job, it was only about sharing what I already knew, not about using my intelligence to find new information. It was actually a disadvantage that math came easily to me — It was harder for me to understand how my students could possibly not understand!

It’s generally accepted in America that school teachers are valuable and should be paid more. I claim that librarians, who help people educate themselves, who provide help to entire communities, not just certain age groups, are also valuable and should be paid more. Of course, the field is hugely dominated by women, so it’s no surprise that the pay is not the same as a job that requires an equivalent amount of training in, say, the computer field. And the truth is, I love the job so much, I would do it for far less, if I could still afford rent. But that doesn’t mean I should do it for less!

And to tell the truth, as soon as they took my job away, I went in and volunteered at my old library on weekends. But I only volunteered a few times, and I only worked a couple hours at a time. You could not run a library with volunteers like that, but it did point out that I love the job so much, I’d do it for free.

Another great article I read this week was on the blog LaRue’s Views, titled “The Best Is a Bargain.” In this article, he asks people how much they pay for internet access and cable TV. Then he asks them how much they pay for their local public library. He says:

“The answer, based on national data, is this: households pay an average of $2.68 per month for their public libraries. Guess what. We provide education, entertainment, and social connection, too, except it actually benefits the entire community.”

He continues:
“I don’t own a terribly pricey home. But my library bill comes to $60.43. Per year. That’s $5.03 per month. It’s almost twice the national average. On the other hand, we are the number one library in the country for our population size, too.

So for $5 a month I can check out all the books, music, and movies I can use. I can take toddlers to free storytimes. I can go to civic events. I can see art, practice foreign languages, use really high speed public computers (although I may have to wait awhile for one to free up). I can even download library books and music from home, 24/7.

Libraries make our communities smarter and more interesting.”

When I commented to the member of the Board of Supervisors from my district that they had a “carryover” that was EIGHT TIMES the amount they’d cut from libraries, he responded, among other things, that library funding is not mandated, like school funding. They lumped libraries together with parks in the budget breakdown because those are “optional” services that the county is not compelled by law to provide.

To that I want to respond like Philip Pullman: “Leave the libraries alone. You don’t know the value of what you’re looking after. It is too precious to destroy.”

In a couple weeks, I’m doing a little piece of library advocacy myself. Back in June, I posted a review of the book This Book Is Overdue! How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All, by Marilyn Johnson. It made me proud to be a librarian, because it pointed out how library work has changed with the times and how more than ever we help people navigate today’s world.

She recently came across my review and offered me ten copies of the book — to send to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. I have gotten several Library Friends groups to help me send them, so we are going to send them to the Board of Supervisors, trying to make these points in particular:

1. Libraries are essential.
2. Cutting libraries hurts the community.
3. If you truly have priorities of serving Education and Human Services in the county, there’s no more cost-effective way to support those values for more people than supporting libraries.

I’ll finish up my comments with a link to a post from Wil Wheaton. Here’s someone who understands that the value of libraries and librarians goes way beyond money.

“Libraries are constantly under attack from people who fear knowledge, politicians who think guns are more important than books, and people who want to ensure that multi-millionaires pocket even more money. As an author, father, and a reader, I beg you: please support your local libraries in any way you can, and if you enjoy reading, take a moment to thank a librarian.”

What Makes a Good Dystopian Novel?

Commentary, Science Fiction, Teen Fiction Review 0

Last night, I finished a dystopian novel that didn’t quite work for me as a dystopian novel. I can’t stress enough, though, that it was a good novel and kept me reading. However, that got me thinking: What makes a good dystopian novel?

My own idea of a good dystopian novel comes from something my then-teenage son said after reading Feed, by M. T. Anderson. Josh said that it was disturbing to read a dystopian novel during the time it was commenting on. He had to read 1984 for school, and it hadn’t hit him as hard as Feed, which talked about our consumer culture taken to the extreme.

Josh said, and I agree, that dystopian novels are written about the present, even when they are set in the future. Or at least I agree that this is true of the best dystopian novels.

Thinking about other dystopian novels I’ve read, I think there’s something of a continuum. Some are written with a dystopian setting because a dystopian setting makes an intriguing setting to place your characters in and see how they react. You can say things about human nature by putting your characters in an extreme setting.

For me, the best dystopian novels do say something about human nature in an extreme setting, but they also present a situation that mirrors present-day trends taken to the extreme. They present a warning about what could happen if things go on as they are right now.

Feed is a prime example of this kind of brilliant dystopian novel. In it, people have gotten a chip in their brain for constant internet access. The Feed knows what they like and what they want to buy and provides personalized shopping experiences. They don’t have to learn as much, because they can just look facts up on the Feed. But we quickly see in the book that this does not work out so perfectly.

The classic dystopian novel, 1984, is another example of a dystopian novel that commented on the time in which it was written. You can judge how well a book does this by how easily you can imagine our own society ending up like this. The propaganda and surveillance in 1984 is all too easy to imagine.

Part of the success of The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins, comes from how it plays on the current fascination with reality TV shows. It shows that maybe we aren’t so different from ancient Rome. It’s easy to believe that if there ever were fight-to-the-death games, that they would indeed become a national obsession and be fully televised. The part about why there were fight-to-the-death games was not quite as hard-hitting, but the whole media circus around the Hunger Games was all too believable.

Another recent dystopian novel, Candor, by Pam Bachorz, didn’t quite have me believing in the technology. Sure, I believed that subliminal messages could completely affect people’s behavior, just not that withdrawal could result in death. However, I did believe that parents would be happy about living in a city where subliminal messages would make their teens behave perfectly. That aspect (and the main premise of the book) was indeed hard-hitting. I have seen many many “Tiger Mom” type parents in Northern Virginia who would embrace that sort of technology without batting an eye. And the dystopian novel Candor, taking current trends to the extreme, is a perfect way of examining that sort of parenting.

I have not yet read Little Brother, by Cory Doctorow, but I believe it also speaks about current trends of giving up our privacy and shows where they can lead.

When I look at the dystopian novels that don’t succeed as well for me, they are still good stories. And the dystopian setting does add an intriguing twist. However, they don’t hit home, because I’m not at all worried about them coming to pass in my lifetime. They make good stories, but don’t disturb me. And my idea of a great dystopian novel is one that disturbs me, that makes me think about my life today.

Matched, by Ally Condie, presents a situation where the Society chooses what your life should be like and who you should marry. The intriguing premise is what happens when a mistake is made and Cassia sees the face of a second boy on her microcard, a boy who is an Aberration and is not supposed to be matched. It’s a good story about not letting your life be controlled by others. However, bottom line, I can’t really imagine that ever happening in America — we are too much individualists. I don’t think we ever would be willing to give that much faith to authorities. Now, it does make an intriguing story, but it doesn’t hit home like some dystopian novels. I’m simply not worried that our society will ever go there.

Among the Hidden, by Margaret Peterson Haddix, was like that for me, too. Although it makes an intriguing story — what would you do if you were the third child in your family in a society that only allows couples to have two children — I can’t quite imagine American society ever submitting to that kind of law. Now, Margaret Peterson Haddix puts in a past crisis so that food is scarce, which makes it more believable, but it’s not something I see as a natural result of today’s trends. So it does make a fascinating story, but I don’t think of it as a hard-hitting commentary about today’s society.

After, by Francine Prose, was closer on the continuum to a dystopian novel that talks about today. I could imagine people giving up their freedom in exchange for safety, but the book didn’t make clear why they were doing that, which made it a little less believable, a little harder to imagine it actually happening.

Uglies, by Scott Westerfeld, is toward the hard-hitting end of that continuum, too. We are obsessed with how people look, so it is possible to imagine everyone getting an operation when they turn sixteen to make them beautiful. They’ve abolished prejudice by making sure everyone looks beautiful. Now, the downside to that ends up being not so much about the operation as about its side-effects and the other things the society is doing to control the people. So it ends up not so much a commentary on our obsession with looks as an intriguing story about what Tally will do in extreme circumstances. The whole thing ends up feeling pretty far removed from our life today, though it is a gripping and exciting story, and it does make you think. But this is more toward the end of examining human nature in extreme circumstances than a warning about where society is going.

What do you think? Do you agree with me that a truly great dystopian novel comments on our society today, or is that just a nice bonus added on top? Is it more important as a device to examine human nature in an extreme setting, or just as a plot technique to increase suspense?

What dystopian novels have I left out? Where do they fall on the continuum of commenting-on-today as opposed to just-an-intriguing-setting? I’d love to hear some reactions in the comments.

Review of Forge, by Laurie Halse Anderson

Children's Fiction Review, Historical, Stand-outs, Starred Review 0

Forge

by Laurie Halse Anderson

Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2010. 292 pages.
Starred Review
2010 Sonderbooks Stand-out: #6 Children’s Fiction

Curzon is a slave who has just escaped as this book opens. But unfortunately he soon finds himself hiding in a ravine right in the middle of a Revolutionary War battle. Instead of staying nicely hidden, he intervenes when a redcoat is about to kill a young Patriot soldier. One thing leads to another, and he finds himself enlisting as a Patriot soldier, claiming to be free.

The army ends up wintering in Valley Forge. Curzon is in a company with the boy whose life he saved, and he gains friends and enemies among them. Readers get a fresh view of the deprivations the army suffered at Valley Forge, and will feel like now they really know what it was like.

However, things change for Curzon when his former master shows up.

I already knew that Laurie Halse Anderson is an outstanding author from having read Speak. So I wasn’t surprised at how well she crafted this book. It’s a gripping story and gives you fresh insight into the Revolutionary War.

The only drawback for me was that having recently read The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, I felt like I’d already read the definitive story of a black soldier during the Revolutionary War, and I wasn’t really ready to read about more suffering. Now, mind you, Forge is for a younger audience. The story is simpler (though still complex — it’s easy to be simpler than Octavian Nothing) and the book is wonderfully well-crafted. In a lot of ways I enjoyed Forge more. It’s definitely a different story, since Octavian fought on the British side. It was things like when people got sick, I found myself cringing and bracing myself for the kind of epidemics I read about in the other book. (They didn’t happen.)

Forge is a sequel to Chains, but I hadn’t read the first book and followed this one just fine. It did make me want to read Chains, though, and read more about Curzon and his friend Isabel.

I was thinking about my knowledge of History today and realized that I have a much more clear understanding of parts of history that I have read in novel form. And now my ideas about Valley Forge, combined with having visited the site, are much more memorable and vivid than they ever were before.

Compelling historical fiction from a masterful writer.

Buy from Amazon.com

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

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

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

Review of A Brief History of Montmaray

Adventure, Historical, Stand-outs, Starred Review, Teen Fiction Review 0

A Brief History of Montmaray

by Michelle Cooper

Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 2010. 296 pages.
Starred Review
2010 Sonderbooks Stand-out: #3 Other Teen Fiction

With a lonely castle on the front, I expected some kind of medieval romance, but that’s not what I got at all. Instead, I found a historical adventure, with suspense and mystery and danger, and some teens needing to be resourceful.

The book is the diary of Sophia Margaret Elizabeth Jane Clementine FitzOsborne, princess of Montmaray, begun on her sixteenth birthday, as World War II was brewing in Europe.

Montmaray is a fictional island in the Bay of Biscay, off the coasts of Spain, France, and the United Kingdom. Sophia’s Uncle John is king of the island nation — but he is, frankly, insane. Her older brother Toby, the heir to the throne, is going to school in England. She has an older cousin Veronica, and a ten-year-old sister Henry who wishes she were a boy. Their parents are dead, and they live in the castle with the housekeeper tending to their Uncle John.

There aren’t many villagers left on Montmaray, and they don’t have ships come by terribly often. They still try to keep up the trappings of royalty, but Sophia’s aunt wants her to come to England. If she did, who would watch things at Montmaray? But then when some Germans show up, Sophia wants to find out what they’re looking for. And if they don’t find it, what can the royal family do to defend themselves?

It’s very hard to explain this book. I’d heard it described as a romance, which doesn’t really fit, even though Sophia does talk about her crush on the housekeeper’s son. But there’s a lot more here than that. It’s a historical novel that feels real and draws you in. It gives us a delightfully unorthodox situation, quirky and fascinating characters, and a situation that seems all too real. What would you do if you were alone in the middle of the ocean with a kingdom everyone is leaving? When a war begins in Europe, would you be able to keep from taking sides? What if the larger countries don’t care which side you take?

One thing I can tell you about this book: It’s a good read! I highly recommend it.

Wonderful! Looking up the links to this book on Amazon, I just learned that a sequel is coming out in April 2011: The FitzOsbornes in Exile! Huzzah!

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Teens/montmaray.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 This Is Not the Story You Think It Is…

Biography, Current Issues, Musings, Nonfiction Review, Personal Growth, Relationships, Stand-outs, Starred Review, True Stories 0

This Is Not the Story You Think It Is…

A Season of Unlikely Happiness

by Laura Munson

Amy Einhorn Books (Penguin), New York, 2010. 343 pages.
Starred Review
2010 Sonderbooks Stand-out: #1 True Stories

I read this book months ago, but put off reviewing it because it was not a library book (and therefore wasn’t due back) and I hardly knew where to begin. However, now I’m trying to catch up and get reviews for all of my 2010 Sonderbooks Stand-outs posted — and this was easily the nonfiction book that most stood out in my mind this year.

A year or two before, I’d read an e-mail that had been circulating with an essay by Laura Munson, and I’d been touched and impressed. It told how her husband had informed her that he didn’t love her any more, and wanted out. But she didn’t buy it. And she chose not to suffer. They went through a summer where he sometimes came around and sometimes didn’t. And in the end, he came back to her and realized how much she and the family meant to him.

When I discovered she had expanded the story into a book, I ordered it from Amazon as soon as possible. I was not disappointed. All the wisdom of the original essay was there, with much more background. The book is powerful. I’m strongly recommending it to anyone whose husband is going through anything remotely like a midlife crisis. Or anyone who has heard those awful words, “I don’t think I ever really loved you.”

Laura Munson wrote this book as a journal during her crisis. It comforts me that she let out some of her frustration to the journal! However, I can see that she’s also talking herself into being rational. She has chosen not to suffer, and she’s helping herself stick with that choice by writing out her reasoning. Here’s a section from the first chapter:

“At this moment in my life, I am not sure where my husband is. He left last night to bring the trash to the dump after announcing that he’s not sure he loves me anymore, and hasn’t come home. He isn’t answering his cell phone. He isn’t responding to texts.

“But I don’t buy it. The part about him not loving me. As much as it’s devastating to hear, I believe there’s more to the story. I believe he’s in a state of personal crisis. I believe this is about him.

“I’m going to give you a challenge here. I’m going to give both you and me a challenge here. Let’s try in all this not to take sides. Because how does it feel to take sides? Do we get to be right? Self-righteous? I think there’s more suffering in self-righteousness than most of us are willing to fathom.

“I see it like this: we all have our seasons of personal woe. I’ve certainly had mine. I know how much he hates his job, how much he punishes himself for not making enough money and not knowing where to go next with his career; how stuck and desperate he feels, especially in our small mountain town where the high-paying jobs are NOT plentiful. I know that he’s suffering intensely. I know because I’ve been there. I feel his pain and I’ve told him so.

“But he’s not hearing my voice. His own is too thunderous. He has to come to the end of it by himself…. And I know it’s more helpful to practice empathy here. Not anger. Or fear. Even though his words were like sharp sleet.

“It’s like when teenagers scream ‘I hate you’ and slam the door in their parents’ face. Does that ‘I hate you’ have credibility? Or does the parent know instinctually that something upsetting happened at school? That it’s not about the parent at all? I’m not saying that my husband is acting like a teenager. (Or, God forbid, that I’m his parent!) I’m just saying that I think there’s more to the story.”

She writes on about all her personal struggles with this. It’s not coming easy for her, and if she pretended it had, this book would have lost its power. I like this part, later in that first chapter:

“Now, I know, dear reader, there’s a strong possibility that you’ve got your hackles up. You want to tell me I’m being a fool to put up with this unacceptable behavior. You want me to fight….

“But I’m opting for a different strategy, and I’m going to believe it will work in a way that fighting, persuading, and demanding never have. Because whether or not he comes back to me, I will be ultimately empowered by my commitment not to suffer. It’s a way of life. A way to life. And it’s about many and no religions. Plug it in wherever it meets your life. We all want to be free, don’t we?

“And yes — this strategy is new to me, too. I’m sure it’ll be shaky at times. But I’m going for it. And I’m going to write my way through it. Both for my process. And for yours. For anyone in any situation in which one is tempted to go into panic mode, or worse, victim mode, rather than taking responsibility for one’s own well-being.”

She goes on and takes us through the next several months, as well as giving us the background of their marriage and life, and her own recent crises. She has some setbacks. But mostly she handles some awful situations with incredible grace. I love the scene where they have a “talk.” Because she responds brilliantly. She keeps asking the question (which she has practiced with her therapist), “What can we do to give you the distance you need without damaging our family?”

When he answers that he can get his own place in town, she asks him, “What would that look like?” And she talks to him. By asking questions, she gets him to realize that he hasn’t thought this through. Her conversation is brilliant and wise — and I love how she puts in italics what she would have really liked to say! He insults her and accuses her, but they work out that he will look into a studio apartment over the garage and still stay with the family.

As I was reading this book, I started feeling sad that I hadn’t come across it when my husband’s crisis started. That I did not react so beautifully and calmly. But you know what? I was comforted somewhat when, despite her wise and loving reactions, her husband did awful things and blamed her.

She said something perfectly reasonable: “Our son looked out the window this morning and said, ‘Oh look. Dad’s truck is in the driveway.’ And I didn’t like that to be a surprise — for him or for me.” His response is not even close to reasonable. He swears at her, slams the door, and sleeps in another room. She says:

“Here’s what inspires me to fall to sleep finally: he heard those words. He reacted like a child. He knows it. I didn’t say or do anything wrong. He got triggered by the truth. He doesn’t want to be who he’s being. His anger is real and it’s scary, but it’s anger toward himself. It’s not my fault.

“And here’s what I am convinced of. In fact, I think it’s the key to a relationship. Any relationship.

“If you get out of someone’s way, they will fight and they will kick, but eventually, there’s nothing they can do but look at themselves and get real. Very, very real. Or totally self-combust in a life of lies. Or that dear opiate, denial.”

What encouraged me about this was that even when she was reacting so well, her husband acted just like other men in midlife crisis. A light dawned in my brain. It really is all about him.

Mind you, I am sure that Laura Munson saved herself excruciating hours upon hours of suffering. But I don’t think that it was necessarily her good reactions that saved her marriage. If her husband had another woman who was egging him on, who knows what might have happened. Here’s another insight about the treatment she was given:

“All abuse is just bait. To get you to the be one who freaks out. So the other person doesn’t have to deal. Doesn’t have to take responsibility. Oh look — she’s the one with the black eye. She’s the one crying in the corner. She’s the one leaving. What a bitch.”

Later on, in another incident where her husband yells at her, she says what she would like to say, and then reflects:

“But I stay silent and practice not taking the bait — not being resentful. Letting it wash over me. Because when I stay here I am powerful. Very, very powerful. Take note of this. Let him have the middle-aged tantrum. Just be sure to duck!”

It’s about him. It’s about him. This was so much easier to see in someone else’s story than in my own! And it helped to see that just because your husband yells at you does not necessarily mean that you deserve it. It also helped to see that even when treated badly, a wife can remember that this is a man she loves.

And they get through it. By the end of the summer, her husband was back in their home, spontaneously telling her that he loved her. I’m not sure if Laura Munson realizes that a midlife crisis only three months long is a minor miracle all by itself, and that it could have gone much, much worse. But I am sure that even if the situation had lasted years instead of months, she would have handled it with grace, and she would have continued to choose not to suffer.

In the beginning, Laura Munson tells about her Author’s Statement taped above her desk.

“It says: ‘I write to shine a light on an otherwise dim or even pitch-black corner, to provide relief for myself and others.’

“That’s what this book is all about. Maybe it will help people. Maybe even save marriages, and jobs, and children’s hearts from breaking. I wish I had this book on my bedside table right now. If only just to know that I am not alone.

“If my husband and I come out the other side, together, in love, still married, and unsuffering, then this summer will have been worth it. This book will be worth it.

“And even if we don’t, then I know I will be a better person for living this way.

“So stay with me. Like a gentle friend. Maybe we will both learn something that will change our lives. I’m willing to try. On our behalf.”

Take it from me: Laura Munson succeeds beautifully in her goals. She inspires you to keep going, whatever the outcome of your husband’s crisis. She reminds you that suffering simply isn’t worth it. You can love him, but you don’t have to take the bait.

Buy from Amazon.com

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

Review of Coronets and Steel, by Sherwood Smith

Adventure, Fantasy, Fiction Review, Romance, Stand-outs, Starred Review, Suspense 0

Coronets and Steel

by Sherwood Smith

DAW Books, 2010. 420 pages.
Starred Review
2010 Sonderbooks Stand-out: #1 Fiction

I love Sherwood Smith’s books, and this was my favorite novel for adults I read in 2010. It’s got a touch of fantasy, with grad student Aurelia seeing ghosts during her European adventure, but mostly it’s swashbuckling action, intrigue, and romance in modern-day Europe, in the style of Anthony Hope’s Prisoner of Zenda.

Aurelia is in Vienna trying to track down her grandparents’ families. Her mother was only two when she and Aurelia’s grandmother left Paris during the war, and her grandmother never talks about her life before Paris. Then she starts meeting people who act like they know her. A handsome young man, who looks like Mr. Darcy, sits next to her at the opera, and the next day runs into her again.

She thinks he’s quite charming, until he drugs her drink, abducts her, and sticks her on a train.

This book has mistaken identity, family secrets, hidden treasure, and royal plots to take over a small country. It’s tremendous fun, and I was delighted to read that Sherwood Smith has planned more books in this series.

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Fiction/coronets_and_steel.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 ordered from Amazon.com

Review of A Bedtime for Bear

Animal Characters, Bedtime stories, Picture Book Review, Readalouds, Stand-outs, Starred Review 0

A Bedtime for Bear

by Bonny Becker
illustrated by Kady MacDonald Denton

Candlewick Press, 2010. 48 pages.
Starred Review
2010 Sonderbooks Stand-out: #3 Picture Books

I fell in love with Bear and Mouse in Bonny Becker and Kady MacDonald Denton’s first book about them, A Visitor for Bear. The book worked beautifully for reading aloud to a group of school aged kids up to 3rd grade at a summer childcare center — and equally well at preschool storytime. It was a whole lot of fun to read, with fun repetition that built suspense as well as a chance for the reader to indulge in drama. And all along, I’ve loved the expressive pictures that tell the story and subtext so brilliantly.

After they make friends in A Visitor for Bear, Mouse shows Bear how nice a birthday can be when you celebrate with a friend in A Birthday for Bear, which is in Easy Reader format. This third installment goes back to the format and almost the formula of the first — resulting in fun repetition that builds suspense, as well as a chance for the reader to indulge in drama.

Now Bear and Mouse are taking their friendship to another level: Bear is having a sleepover. However, everything has to be just so for Bear’s bedtime. Most of all, it had to be quiet — very, very quiet.

I love the way Bear has learned about friendship, but is still the same persnickety Bear underneath. He tries so hard to be polite at the noise Mouse makes at the beginning! You can see clearly on his face how hard this is for him:

“Bristle, bristle, bristle. Bear heard a noise. It was Mouse, brushing his teeth.
“‘Ahem!’ Bear cleared his throat in a reminding sort of way.
“‘Most sorry,’ said Mouse.”

You can already guess what will happen, though what gets Mouse going was a surprise to me. I just love Bear’s big blow up, with the words printed huge across the page: “Will this torment never cease!” wailed Bear.

Honestly, it makes me want to run a Read-Aloud Bedtime Stories program just to get to read this book!

But that’s not the end. There’s a nice little twist when all is quiet and Mouse is asleep… but Bear hears something. Turns out it’s nice to have a friend when you hear scary noises at night.

I hope I’ve conveyed how much I love this book, but to truly appreciate its charm, you really need to get a copy and read it yourself — better yet, grab someone to read it aloud to, at bedtime. And like all great bedtime books, it ends with the characters fast asleep – and one of them is snoring.

Buy from Amazon.com

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

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

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

Review of The New Policeman, by Kate Thompson

Audiobooks, Children's Fiction Review, Fantasy, Stand-outs, Starred Review 0

The New Policeman

by Kate Thompson
Performed by Marcella Riordan

Recorded Books, 2007. 6 compact discs, 6.5 hours.
Starred Review
Sonderbooks Stand-out 2010: #1, Children’s Fiction

I’d heard about this book for a long time, probably since it was first published. So, like so many other books I’ve been meaning to read but have never quite gotten around to, I decided to listen to it on my way to work.

I was completely enchanted. This book is all the more delightful on audio, because it is set in Ireland and has much about Irish music. So the narrator’s Irish accent adds to the enjoyment, and I especially liked the Irish tunes played between each chapter. I only wish the library had the next two books in audio form. I found the book haunting me, and the Irish tunes made me feel transported to that world even as I drove through this mundane world to work.

The book is not what I expected. There’s a new policeman in the Irish small town, but the story isn’t so much about him. The story is more about J.J. Liddy, a 15-year-old in a family with a long heritage of being musicians.

Time is getting shorter and shorter. No one ever has enough. Because of that, people are expected not to waste time by playing music at all hours. J.J.’s mother says what she really wants for her birthday is more time, and J.J. decides to get it for her. He finds his way to the land of Tir na n’Og, the land of the ever-young, where time never passes and nothing ever changes, and the inhabitants are always ready to make music that lifts the heart like nothing from our world.

There are problems in Tir na n’Og, too. Time is actually passing. Extremely slowly, but it is passing. The sun is beginning to set. J.J. discovers there’s a time leak. Time from our world is leaking into Tir na n’Og. It’s bringing changes and eventual death to those people, and a horrid lack of time to our world. Can J.J. figure out how to stop the leak?

This book reminded me of the fabulous Momo, by Michael Ende. Both books have a magical explanation for the reason why the more you try to save time, the less you have. Both books have a child who can find out what’s going on and save the world. Both books are definitely worth taking the time to read!

I do highly recommend listening to the audio version of this book. The Irish accents and the Irish music interludes make the experience completely captivating.

Buy from Amazon.com

Find this review on Sonderbooks at: www.sonderbooks.com/Childrens_Fiction/new_policeman.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 audiobook from the Fairfax County Public Library.

Library Advocacy Through Books

Current Issues, General 0

I think this is an awesome story, and a wonderful thing to come out of writing Sonderbooks:

Last June, I read and reviewed Marilyn Johnson’s wonderful book, This Book Is Overdue! How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All. At the time, our county library system had just undergone $2,673,257 worth of budget cuts, losing 70 positions, most of them librarians. This was on top of 18% cuts the previous fiscal year, so any fluff was already gone.

My own job was one that was cut. The county transferred me to another county agency, to a position in the same paygrade. The new position had much less responsibility, was much less challenging, and did not require a Master’s degree (I have two, and a Librarian position requires one). Yet it was the same paygrade, or was then — that position has since been upgraded.

To add insult to injury, months later the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors met to decide what to do with a $24 million “carryover.” This was EIGHT TIMES the amount cut from the library system — so it showed that devastating the library system with drastic cuts in hours and staff had not actually been needed, did not actually make a difference in the big scheme of things. Another affront was the millions given to the schools after the budget process because they threatened to cut certain programs that helped low-income students. Surely the board could have “found” $2.67 million just as easily if they had realized the true importance of libraries to Education and to Human Services, which they claim are priorities.

As I said in my review, “In the campaign to convince the community and particularly the Board of Supervisors that public libraries are essential services, not luxuries, I became more and more proud to be a librarian.

“We were not successful, and I’m very sad to leave the job I love, and very sad for the community. The people who will be particularly hurt by the budget cuts are students who don’t have internet access, people out of work looking for jobs, people who need to learn English, homeless people who want somewhere to stay and learn during the day, young moms who want to get their children comfortable around books, and so many others.”

On New Year’s Day, I announced my 2010 Sonderbooks Stand-outs, and definitely chose This Book Is Overdue!. (It’s brilliant!) This week, I got the Sonderbooks Stand-out seal on the page of the book review.

Apparently the change put my review on Marilyn Johnson’s Google Alert, so today I got an e-mail from her thanking me for the enthusiastic review. (My pleasure — She should be thanked for writing such a great book!)

In my review, I said, “This book is indeed overdue! I wished so much that I could afford to send a copy to each member of the county Board of Supervisors! Marilyn Johnson looks at many different aspects of librarianship and explains why we need librarians more than ever in the information age, as well as in a recession.”

So here’s the awesome part: Marilynn Johnson told me that the book is just coming out in paperback, and she has some extra copies of the hardcover. She will send me copies of the book to send to the Board of Supervisors!

I’m jumping the gun a little by mentioning this now. I’m going to participate with the various Library Friends’ Groups to send the books, making it from the group, not simply from one individual. We will try to get as much publicity as possible when we are ready to send the books.

I do not expect the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors to restore Library funding any time soon. But I want to point out that the budget cuts already in place have hurt the community far more than they have helped. The Board claims that their priorities include Education and Human Services, yet libraries provide both of those things — and to EVERYONE in the community, not just those at certain age levels, and not just those who qualify.

I think many times well-off people assume that because libraries are a luxury to them, something they can do without, that’s how it is for everyone. They don’t think about the seniors trying to file their taxes on the internet for the first time because the government isn’t mailing forms. They don’t think about people learning English without a lot of money for classes and courses on CD. They don’t think about people who don’t have internet access and need to apply for jobs or do their homework on the library computers. They don’t think about families with young children who come to the library to give their children a good start and preparation for learning to read. They don’t think about how Summer Reading Programs keep children’s skills current during the summer. They don’t even think about people who can’t afford to buy the latest bestsellers and now have a longer wait before they can read a library copy.

Marilyn Johnson’s book points out so many of those things. I’m hoping that with enough publicity, once they have a book in hand, the Board members might even read it. And then they might, just maybe, realize that public libraries are one of the most cost-effective ways to provide for Education and Human Services in Fairfax County.

In a personal happy ending for me, I am now back working in a library, and I am so glad. I’m at a different branch, and now I’m seeing more people who are homeless using our services, as well as more people pursuing important research. (It’s a bigger and busier branch.) The library is tremendously busy, and if hours were restored, would simply be filled longer. As Eleanor Crumblehulme has said, “Cutting libraries in a recession is like cutting hospitals in a plague.” Support Education. Support Human Services. Restore Library Funding.

Note: This is my own personal blog, and I am writing this entirely on my own time. The opinions expressed are entirely my own. Any action we take is NOT an official act of my employer and does not imply any sponsorship by Fairfax County Public Library.