Every Bone Tells a Story by Jill Rubalcaba and Peter Robertshaw

I found this book while browsing the 2011 YALSA shortlist for their excellence in nonfiction award.  It's a book that will intrigue a very niche "market" among young adults fascinating by evolution, paleontology, archaeology and ancient man.  It's also one of those young adult nonfiction books that, as an adult, I enjoy reading because I don't always have the time to invest in the longer, more in-depth books on this type of subject written for adults.  Every Bone...  tells the story of four hominin discoveries that have stirred controversy in the scientific community (Turkana Boy, Lapedo Child,
Kenniwick Man and Iceman) from their discovery through the scientific examination of the evidence to the deductions drawn from the fossils.

This would be a good book to book talk as students debate the Creationism vs. Evolutionary Theory debates.

False Princess by Eilis O'Neal

Another Rhode Island Teen Book Award nominee, The False Princess  by Eilis O'Neal is genre cross between fantasy, mystery, and chick lit.   This was one of those books that I thought I had figured out by about page 50.  You know, the oh-so predictable books that follow a logical, but predictable path to a fairly ho-hum ending.  I was wrong.  About seventy pages into the book, the storyline takes a sharp left turn down a road that I wasn't really expecting, and I was delightfully surprised by the end!

The protagonist of the novel starts the story as Nalia, princess of Thorvaldor, privileged, scholarly and awkward.  Within pages of the beginning, Nalia is summoned to the throne room where the king and queen announce that she is not Nalia at all, but a decoy princess set up by the royals to protect the real princess from a prophecy about death.  Suddenly, Nalia is Sinda, niece of a clothe dyer, and is sent away with a few simple items to live a life entirely foreign to her up-bringing.

At this point, I thought this novel was going to be about self-discovery and would chronicle Sinda's path to acceptance of her new life.  As I mentioned, I was wrong. While this novel is about self-discovery, Sinda only finds her real self after unraveling a royal intrigue that dates back to before her birth.  Magic plays a part Sinda's story as well.  A fun read, and a little better than the average book that I would label as "chick lit." Suitable for grades 6 and up!

Food...my favorite topic

A few years ago, I read Animal,Vegetable, Mineral: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver, which chronicles a year that the author spent eating only foods that had been grown, raised, harvested, etc. within a 100 mile radius of her home.  The book has been credited with beginning what is known as the “local-avore” movement in the United States.  Kingsolver argues that food grown within that 100-mile radius is healthier for us and for the planet. 

Around the same time, the book The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan hit the New York Times bestseller list, and since food fascinates me, I meant to read it but never did.  I recently picked it up.  One of the great things about this book is that it was popular enough that the author adapted it for a younger, middle school, audience.  So, young readers have a choice: read the original or read the easier adaptation.  I’ll admit I was pressed for time when I requested the download from the library, and so I read the shorter one.  I can’t completely compare because I did not read the original, but the adaptation was quite interesting. 

Pollan traces four meals from field to plate, as best he can…The first meal is a fairly traditional American meal, then an industrial organic one, a more “pure” organic meal, and a meal hunted and gathered.  Pollan’s point is that we are so disconnected from our food that we have lost sight of what we are really eating.  Is that healthy for the planet or us?  

Matched by Ally Condie

I was planning to skip this 2012 Rhode Island Teen Book Award nominee, but then it won…Between that and the fact that Amazon offered it as one of their Kindle daily deals, I decided to give it a whirl, very much prepared to read yet another dystopian fiction book for teens.  Ho hum.   I was pleasantly surprised, very pleasantly surprised. 

Yes, this is dystopian fiction, but the story of Cassia discovering that the Society is not the perfect place that she thought it was makes a great story of self-discovery.  Besides, it includes some great snippets of poetry from Dylan Thomas, the greatest poet that Wales ever produced, like

 "My birthday began with the water -
Birds and the birds of the winged trees flying my name
  Above the farms and the white horses
         And I rose
     In rainy autumn
And walked abroad in a shower of all my days"

'Poem in October' from Dylan Thomas' Collected Poems  (London: Phoenix, 2003)

Any excuse to expose young adults to great poetry!  

I'd recommend this book to young adults from about 6th grade up.   The book is a lighter, less violent Hunger Games.  Looking forward to reading the next two books in the series.  

Witches!

Interested in a little New England history?  One of the more fascinating episodes of colonial Massachusetts was the infamous Salem Witch trials.  Rosa Schanzer capitalized on the interest in this fascinating subject in her new book Witches:  The Absolutely True Tale of Disaster in Salem.    This short, but interesting book chronicles the circumstances surrounding the young girls who began accusing local Salem citizens of witchcraft.  It’s a story of mass hysteria, revenge, and evil that we should all know.  It’s all too easy to point fingers and blame, but when we do, we need to realize that innocent people often get hurt.  

Primary sources on this topic are available at a number of places on the web, and visiting Salem is an easy day trip from southern Rhode Island.  I recommend this book for all students; you need to know your history!

PB Grandfather's Journey

Allen Say's Grandfather's Journey won the Caldecott Medal in 1994.  I love this book particularly because I identify with the grandfather who, by book's end, always feels homesick for somewhere.  When he is in the United States, he misses Japan.  When he is in Japan, he misses the United States.  I really get that.  After spending much of my adult life moving, I have found that sounds, smells and images can often make me "homesick" for somewhere else I have been.  When I'm in Rhode Island, I miss the mountains.  But, when I've lived in the mountains, I missed the ocean.  When I lived in England, I missed the United States, but watching the Olympic coverage makes me long for England.  Whispering pine trees and rainbows transport me to Germany, an extremely hot day makes me long for the cooling water of Barton Springs in Austin, and a perfectly ripe peach takes me to Georgia.  Yup, I "get" what grandfather is saying.  

I can see using this book as a way of beginning a discussion of immigration even though grandfather is not what we think of when we think of the typical immigrant to the United States.  In the first pages of the story, students would have to infer that grandfather is quite wealthy, and this is something that I would use as a topic of discussion.  He doesn't really come to the United States as the "tired, poor, huddled masses yearning to be free" that we think of when we think of immigration at the turn of the twentieth century. He comes as a tourist who settles.  How would that change his perception of America?  How many first generation American immigrants would produce a book that is such a lovely tribute to the beauty of a bygone American era?  No tenement buildings here.    

Tamar by Mal Peet

I've been reading a lot on my kindle this summer, and Amazon does a very nice job of feeding my reading addiction by sending me a daily email with a bargain priced book.  I quickly delete about 99% of these emails because they are mostly adult genre fiction that I don't often read (I make an exception for the occasional cozy mystery).  Still, every once in a while, Amazon throws me something I can't resist for $1.99, and Tamar was one of those titles.  I had never heard of Mal Peet's Carnegie Medal winning novel...not a surprise since Peet is a largely British writer.  Still, the plot teaser intrigued me, so I bought it.  I'm glad I did; Tamar is one of those rare novels that I think would appeal to a large cross-section of readers.

Broadcasting suitcase used by espionage agents 

Historical fiction lovers will enjoy the realistic portrayal of the difficulties of life in Nazi occupied Netherlands.  Mystery lovers will enjoy the parallel plot of young Tamar trying to understand her grandfather's suicide and the box that he left her.  Realistic fiction readers will key into the enormous psychological tension in the novel.  Those who prefer the espionage thriller will thrive on the sections about British espionage during WWII and the Dutch Resistance movement.  And, yes, there is a complicated romantic situation.  Something for everyone!

I will admit that I guessed at least part of the ending, but I still very much enjoyed the journey getting there.  I would recommend Tamar to mature 8th grade readers mostly because of the complicated plot and a few vulgarities.  I look forward to reading more from Mal Peet!

Take What You Can Carry--graphic novel

The graphic novel Take What You Can Carry by Kevin C. Pyle is another parallel plot story where the author brings together two stories that seem to be unrelated at the beginning.  The first story, told in silent sepia, begins right after the bombing of Pearl Harbor sets in motion the internment of Japanese-Americans.  This is always a poignant story, one that too few Americans are aware of.   I've written about some non-fiction curriculum links in another post on Weedflower, so I won't repeat that information.

Graphics from Macmillan Publishing website

The alternating text is set in suburban Chicago in 1978...the blue and white illustrations remind me of the '70's...not a monochromatic era, but one in which the colors seem to be bland when viewed in retrospect.  I guess I've been looking at too many photos from my childhood lately.  I realize that colors have faded in the last forty years, but I do remember those awful olive green and cream colored appliances very well!  So, the color resonates with me, but Kyle's part of the story does not.  I do like how the writer connects Kyle's story to Ken's.  I love how two people from very different cultures and generations come to some understanding of one another's position.  I particularly like one aspect of Kyle's character that comes into play in the story (I don't want to give too much away), but I don't really like Kyle.  I don't really see his motivation for acting like a jerk especially when he could have allied himself with a more sensible friend.

The story of the Japanese-Americans does not get much play in the curriculum.  Most teachers, and I think rightly so, will present the Holocaust literature instead.   However, I think that Take What You Can Carry might be able to introduce a generation to this piece of American history.  It could easily be added reading to a World War II literature unit or read in comparison/contrast to a Holocaust story.  Because it is so short (I was done in about 45 minutes, and I believe there was a catnap in there as well), it is not a book that will take a lot of reading time, but it will introduce the topic well.  One thing that I would say to potential readers, if you don't know much about the Japanese internment, it would be wise to read the historical notes on the last pages.  This information will provide the reader with the context to understand the "silent film."  I would recommend this book to students grade 7 or 8 and above.

PB David Wiesner

Caldecott Medal winner Flotsam by David Wiesner is a story told without words.  When a young boy finds an underwater camera washed up on the shore, the camera tells a fascinating story about curiosity and imagination.  Wiesner reminds me a bit of Peter Sis in that his pictures tell more than a thousand words.  I can think of all kinds of ways to use this book in the middle school classroom.  For example, teach a lesson on inferencing characterization by having the students assign traits to the boy and provide evidence for those traits.  Students could also predict the next story, since the story ends with a cycle about to begin again...

PB Neil Gaiman

Neil Gaiman always writes the strangest books...but I do tend to like them.  I'm not sure exactly what this one is about, except maybe imagination...What really struck me about this particular book (and maybe it was just because I am looking for word patterns) was the number of -ing words that Gaiman uses...sometimes participle phrases, sometimes, gerunds, sometimes, progressive tenses...just lots of -ings...My point obviously being that I think this book would be a great text to use with students to show them the uses of these participle phrases (particularly) in adding interest and variety to a text.

PB Peter Sis

Another favorite author of mine is Peter Sis.  I just love the way he illustrates his books with a combination of storyboards, concrete poetry, maps, diagrams, etc.  The illustrations are endlessly fascinating; I could spend forever looking at them.  A Small Tall Tale from the Far, Far North (1993) is an older Sis book, but still enjoyable.  The story is based on a Czech folk hero Jan Welzl who travelled through Siberia to the Bering Sea where he crosses to Alaska.  There, he encounters the Eskimos whose culture is in danger during the Alaskan Gold Rush.  My favorite part of this story is the embedded Alaskan folk tale whose moral is that danger is the way of life for all living things.

PB Jane Yolen

I have always loved everything by Jane Yolen, and whenever I see a book by her that I haven't read, I will definitely take the time to pick it up.  I always find something intriguing.  I read two this week:

Elsie's Bird by Yolen and David Small (2010) starts sadly when Elsie's mother passes away in 18th century Boston.  Elsie is a happy city girl, but as her father mourns her mother's death, he finds that he needs to leave the city to make a fresh start.  He decides to take Elsie to Nebraska.  Instead of the songs and noises of the city, she must get used to the quiet of the prairie.  It is only when she discovers the sounds of the quiet that she really begins to feel at home.  A sad story for very young readers but still worth reading.  This story might serve as a discussion starter about change or setting.

Yolen also examines change and setting in Where Have the Unicorns Gone?  The focus this time is on the environment and how man has impacted it through the ages, potentially marginalizing species that can't adapt.  The unicorn question is asked throughout the story, and each time, the unicorn seeks out some beautiful landscape that man hasn't yet impacted.  The illustrations are beautiful and majestic, fitting the unicorn theme well.  The language is mature as well...the average picture book does not tend to use "catacombed" or "cataphonetics," but Yolen wanted hard "c" words.  She didn't hesitate.

PB Mo Willems

Mo Willems has been a favorite since he first suggested that pigeons shouldn't drive buses.  (Who knew? ) He started publishing books for children when my daughter was 2, and she and I enjoyed many a giggle over the antics of that silly, silly pigeon!  The most recent book I have read by Willems is  Hooray for Amanda and her Alligator, six and a half stories about two surprising friends...and that's exactly what the story is about...two friends who are surprised by each other and their friendship on a regular basis.  Very cute...as usual!

PB Peanut Butter?

I spent a lot of time wondering if I should include picture books here, or if I should take notes on them some other way.  I really write in this blog space for me to keep track of what I read, so I can potentially use books in my teaching.  Since I'm currently looking for picture books that I could potentially use as I teach grammar, writing and literature, I'll record them here along with the books for middle schoolers to independently read. Of course, since I love a good picture book, I would never deny my students that pleasure, but they definitely DON'T count toward their books totals.

So, when you see an entry marked PB, it does not have anything to do with peanut butter; it stands for picture books!

Wonderstruck

Brian Selznick is a fantastic artist, and his newest graphic novel Wonderstruck doesn’t fail to please. I particularly loved how he took two very distinct stories and brought them together in a unique way. The action of the second half of the novel takes place in a museum reminiscent of The Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankenweiler, one of my favorite books growing up. As a matter of fact, Selznick mentions that book in his afterword and says that there are numerous references to The Mixed Up Files in his graphic novel…I wish I had had that little puzzle given to me at the beginning of the book; I would have looked for them! As it is, even in the summer, I don’t really have the time to re-read the book.  The other major theme in the novel has to do with how we treat the deaf, another interesting topic.

Fans of all ages who enjoyed Hugo Cabret will also enjoy Wonderstruck.

Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys

An often-ignored aspect of World War II history is the story of the Eastern European countries that got swallowed by the Soviet Union and remained behind the Iron Curtain until the 1990’s. If one only looks at the casualty count, Stalin’s brutality exceeds that of Hitler. When I’ve mentioned that fact to my students, someone inevitably asks why they have never heard of him. And, I have some guesses, but no real good answer. Perhaps because the Soviet Union was our ally during the War? Perhaps because there were many communist sympathizers in the United States? Perhaps because the USSR was such a formidable adversary that it took sixty years of a Cold War to overcome it? My best guess is that Hitler’s systematic and efficient attempt to wipe the Jewish population and culture off the face of Europe through gas chambers and crematoriums defies his humanity. Even the gulag, by all accounts a horrific system of labor camps intended to work its inmates to death, seems to pale in comparison to the philosophy behind Auschwitz.

The young adult novel Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys addresses this largely forgotten era. The beginning of World War II in Lithuania saw the protagonist Lina looking forward to studying the arts, but when the NKVD invades their home one night and throws her family onto a truck, she must learn to quickly adjust. As the family is taken to a labor camp deep inside of the Soviet Union, Lena discovers that she can hold onto hope through her art. She also learns to admire her mother who seems to have a knack for finding the humanity in the most hardened of souls.

The author’s note tells the reader that the author spent a great deal of time interviewing Lithuanians who had lived under Soviet rule, and her research certainly shows in her novel. While never failing to show that survival was possible, Lina’s story convinced me of the horror of the Stalinist reign.
A fascinating and realistic book for students grade 8 and above. Shades of Gray has been nominated for the 2013 RI Teen Book Award.

Maureen Johnson novels

Another two-fer...Just like I found Jennifer Donnelly’s Northern Light through Revolution, I picked The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson off of the 2013 RI Teen Book Award list because I loved Devilish a few years ago.  Two very similar books in that both deal with the occult to a certain extent…

…the story of Jack the Ripper  is one that still resonates with the public over 100 years after the serial murders occurred in London’s East End.  Perhaps people still care because they were unsolved or because reports on the murders are incomplete and contestable.  With such sustained interest and the current adolescent interest in the macabre, it is not surprising that Jack’s murders show up as a plot element in a current novel. 

            Rory Deveaux is a young native Louisianan who enrolls in an East End public (in America that would be private—it is true that America and England are divided by a common language) boarding school when her parents take a sabbatical.  Her arrival is heralded by the first in a series of unsolved murders that mimic the famous Jack the Ripper killings. 

            While trying to adjust to the foreign world of the English school, Rory finds herself embroiled in the mysterious case in a way that she never could have expected.

            I particularly enjoyed this book because it reminded me of my own days trying to adjust to the English world.  Just like Rory, I very quickly discovered that American English is very different from British English.  My favorite American faux-pas story was when my husband and I took the children to the seaside.  We had a map of a National Trust beach area, and one part was labeled “naturist.”  I think our brains read “naturalist,” and we assumed that it was an area set off for nesting birds or wildlife observation.  What it really meant was a swimsuit optional area.  We had quite an eyeful before we figured that one out! 

Everyone who has had to adjust to new circumstances will identify with this part of the book, and anyone who enjoys a mystery will like the rest of it.  

The appeal of Devilish was twofold.  First, it takes place in Providence, and I always enjoy reading books set in places I know well.  Second, whether intentional or not (and I suspect it was unintentional), I found this to be a very Catholic book…not necessarily because it takes place at a Catholic school, which it does, but because it has, as a major theme, the importance of self-sacrifice and love in the face of evil.  Johnson gives evil a very real, and alluring, face.  As I always tell my students, if evil were not attractive, we wouldn’t be so attracted to it.  When I think of this book, I always think of the Rolling Stones song “Sympathy for the Devil.”  If you remember the lyrics, “Please allow me to introduce myself /I'm a man of wealth and taste/I've been around for a long, long year/ Stole many a man’s soul and faith.”

Just what would an awkward high school student want that she would be willing to trade her soul for?  Read Devilish and find out. 
Both books recommended for students grade 7 and above.  

           

I just found this amusing...

I saw this sign out on Main St.  today.   I guess there is a big difference between a good book and a great book... How do you shelve them in the shop?  Do the good books go in the dark corner while the great books get window seats?  

Author--Jennifer Donnelly

         

Kate Chopin

            Mesh together

Theodore Dreiser’s   An American Tragedy,

Kate Chopin’s The Awakening, and any well-written YA title, and you get A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly.  Ok, ok, I know that tells most people nothing since besides American literature majors, very few people read Theodore Dreiser or Kate Chopin, certainly not young adults looking for their next good novel. 

How’s this instead—Mesh together the sensational upstate New York murder trial of Chester Gillette with the stark realities of life for American women before passage of the Nineteenth Amendment, and you will get A Northern Light….Better? 

I found Jennifer Donnelly when the Rhode Island Teen Book Award committee placed Revolution on its nomination list for 2012.  I loved it.  Donnelly gives young adults a view of the complexities of the French Revolution  juxtaposed over the heart-wrenching story of Andi Alpers who is tormented by grief over her brother’s tragic death and her parent’s subsequent divorce.  Part historical fiction, part romance, and part realistic fiction with just a dash of fantasy thrown into the mix, this novel grabbed me from cover to cover.  A complex novel with many time shifts and alternating plots, it is a novel for advanced young adult readers, and, you can probably tell from my raving, crosses over to the adult audience. 

Chester Gillette

A Northern Light will appeal to a similar audience.  Set in upstate New York in 1906, young Mattie Gokey must learn to cope with the loss of her mother to cancer and a very distant father.  The oldest girl, she is responsible for both her younger siblings and running a farm.  However, Mattie is not just any girl, she is a gifted writer whose schoolteacher encourages her to dream about college in New York City.  The discovery of a drowned girl’s body in the lake makes Mattie question how she wants to live her life and whether she can live up to the promises that she has made.  Donnelly does an excellent and believable job of integrating the true story of Grace Brown’s death into Mattie Gokey’s quest to find her way into the world of words that she longs for.  

I can't wait to read Donnelly's other novels!

Crank by Ellen Hopkins

Cautionary tales about drug use are as old as….well,  GoAsk Alice.  The 1970’s story tried to convince the reader that the diarist was a real girl who fell down the rabbit hole after being slipped LSD at a party.  I never was completely convinced that Alice was a real diary, but the sentiment behind the novel was real.  Drugs are dangerous, and teens should not mess with them.  All kinds of avenues can and should be used to open up the discussion about drugs with teens.  Books like Go Ask Alice can help parents and other concerned adults to do just that. 

But, how about an update?  LSD just isn’t the drug of choice anymore.  Enter Crank, and the subsequent series, by Ellen Hopkins.  Go Ask Alice meets methamphetamine.  I will admit I haven’t read the whole series, and I’m not sure I plan to, at least not now.  After all, it is summer and diving into the dark and seamy side of life can be too depressing for glorious summer days.  I must admit though, I learned as much from the pages of Crank about the dangers of meth as I did from browsing the pages of Faces of Meth or watching Frontline.  It scares me as parent, teacher, and citizen that the drugs de jour change so quickly that law enforcement can’t keep up.  It makes me wonder about the emptiness that both teens and adults are trying to fill by trying something they must know, on some level, will destroy their lives. 

Enter Kristina…no Bree….well, it depends on the mood that she is in.  When she is the normal, high-achieving high school student who lives to please her mother, she is Kristina.  When she snorts, smokes or flirts with boys, she is Bree.  With the drugs, Bree begins to take over her life, and the monster of meth, her drug of choice, controls Bree’s life.  The poetic style reminds me of so many students over the years who have used poetry as a release for sadness and distress.  My biggest complaint was the ending…there was just too much hope for this to be a realistic story.  However, from what I gather out of reviews of Glass and Fallout, that hope does prove to be a false one.  The monster seems to always win. 

Not a book for the impressionable young; it is gritty and realistic.  Too gritty for the young middle schooler.  I would recommend this one for students about eighth grade and above with healthy doses of parental discussion.