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Part-time librarian, part-time musician, full-time fan of children's and young adult literature. Here you will find reviews of children's books, YA literature, and perhaps an adult novel or two. Also included will be the successes and failures of my storytimes and school-age book groups. Happy reading!

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Book Review: Midwinterblood by Marcus Sedgwick

Every year when the book awards come out, I get pretty excited. I guess they are kind of like my oscars. I don't read nearly all of them or anything, but I usually find a few gems that I might otherwise never have heard of or read. This year, I was really intrigued by the Printz winner, Midwinterblood by Marcus Sedgwick. (Also, I was intrigued by the Caldecott winner Locomotive by Brian Floca. It is a GORGEOUS book and my love for it is probably influenced by the 14 hour train ride I took back in January, but anywho.) I just finished Midwinterblood last night and though it is a small book and a quick read because of the mysterious plot, by the end, I was just left frustrated. 

Don't get me wrong, the language of the book is beautifully sparse (reminiscent of Cormac McCarthy), creating an unsettling atmosphere lingering over the one setting in the book, a small island where it is rumored no children are born and people live a very long time. The book summary promises vikings and vampires, so after reading that, I was sold and checked it out. Midwinterblood is told in 7 parts, each their own short story and each a step further back in time. I definitely give Sedgwick props for an unusual structure, even if by the end things unraveled a bit and became a big pile of confusing threads. 

Perhaps I missed the point, but I was under the impression the book was a tale of the power of love. The problem was there was so much time spent on the intricate plot that very little time was spent on character development. While this may have been the author's point (I can't say why or I might give too much away), it's very hard to care about what happens to the characters in the end. So, when I put the book down after the epilogue, I just felt hugely disappointed and deflated. For a book that had me holding my breath the whole time, feeling both supremely creeped out and intrigued, the last pages just came off as weak to me. 

Also, excuse me while I "fangirl" here (which I have yet to read! Rats!), but I really don't understand why this book beat Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell in the Printz category, other than it felt more "literary." I'm also kind of confused as to why Midwinterblood is in the YA section at all. It is a bit heavy-handed with its themes, though, and I don't think most adults would put up with that. I just don't see how Midwinterblood could possibly speak to teens or teens could relate like they could to Eleanor and Park. Maybe I'll just let the Amazon reviews serve as proof. There are 25 reviews of Midwinterblood. There are 970 of Eleanor and Park. It's a book that's gotten people talking, whether it be over controversy or over the way those characters just break your heart. A year later, I am still just as in love with that book as I was when I finished it. 

I'm not saying Midwinterblood was a bad book, and I don't feel like I wasted my time, as I did really enjoy about 80% of the book. I just didn't get this one and I certainly don't understand it as the Printz winner. But, that's the beauty of every reader his or her book and every book his or her reader... On to the next one! 

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This playlist is based on Beckman’s Cordova class syllabus, which is included in the extra content app for Night Film by Marisha Pessl. Good books make for great playlists. Love some interactive novels.

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Book Review: Night Film by Marisha Pessl

Marisha Pessl’s Night Film manages to be thrilling, suspenseful, creepy, horrifying... and, yet, hopeful and comical as well. Pessl employs a brilliant use of italics (dialogue and humor hit so much harder), bizarrely beautiful descriptions of everyday people and things, and a cast of fascinating characters. Night Film’s chapters are interspersed with magazine excerpts, notes from files and reports, and posts from backdoor Internet forums that give the story an authority and realness than exposition could not have done.

I picked up Night Film somewhat randomly. My fiance bought a used copy of Pessl’s first novel, Special Topics in Calamity Physics, and has tried to get me to read it for years (now I most definitely will). A library patron emphatically praised her second novel, Night Film, when she returned it; I hadn’t seen a person so into a book in awhile, so I thought it must be worth a shot and checked it out.

The first quarter of the book is so dark, I almost put it down. The narrator, Scott McGrath, is an investigative reporter who becomes obsessed with the mysterious death of a beautiful 24-year-old woman, Ashley Cordova. Though her death appears to be a suicide, McGrath is convinced there is something more sinister and complicated behind the circumstances. Ashley was the daughter of Stanislas Cordova, a reclusive filmmaker whose cult films are so terrifying they were only available as bootleg copies at underground screenings. 

McGrath has an insatiable hunger for the truth and is desperate to expose Cordova, positive there is true darkness behind is fictional horror films. McGrath’s career was previously ruined and his marriage ended when he sought to uncover Cordova’s secrets. With Ashley Cordova’s death, McGrath becomes obsessed with his shot at redemption and a chance to destroy Cordova once and for all.

I can’t even remember the last time I have fallen so hard and fast into the world of a book. It is so thoroughly imagined, I felt as though I were under a spell, trapped in this dreamy world, exploring its depths and heights, lightness and shadows, just as the characters take their investigation to the edge, and live life like they mean it. Sometimes the story made me queasy, sometimes it made me laugh out loud, sometimes it made me sleep with the lights on, and sometimes it made the backdrop of my own world appear a little more vivid. The interweaving web of the plot had me wanting to simultaneously speed-read and savor the story’s pages.

One of the most interesting things about the book is that there is extra content in the form of short film scenes and possibly some other documents that would reveal more about the book’s mysteries. Readers can access the content through an app using their smartphone or tablet device. I am hesitant to view these, as I’m worried it might be a cheesy add-on and will cheapen the power of the story. However, I feel infected by the book. Now I have my own hunger and curiosity to devour more of, know more about, the world in Night Film. Good luck, I say, to the rest of the books I read in 2014. Much like Eleanor and Park was to me at the beginning of 2013, topping this one with one of the rest of my year's readings will be hard. 

EDIT: I take it back! I take it all back! I am playing with the app for Night Film now and it's pretty much, by far, the coolest app I have come across for a book. (Okay, so before this app,  the only book app I had messed with was for the sort-of-graphic novel, Chopsticks.) Audio, documents, it's all so awesome (and slightly cheesy, but fun cheesy)! I might have been totally wrong about film clips. But it's way a cool app and definitely enhances the book, not takes away from it. 

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Winter Clothing Storytime

A week ago, I got to help out in the children's department and do my first storytime in a year! It was a gray and very cold morning (it actually snowed quite a bit that night), so there were not a ton of little ones present, but some still came out, bundled up! 

At least the weather was appropriate for my theme of Winter Clothing. I did an introduction while wearing my mittens, hat, and scarf. We then sang

"Shake Your Sillies Out"

and

"If You're Happy and You Know It"

  Here are the books I shared:

A Hat for Minerva Louise

by Janet Morgan Stoeke

This story is short, but funny and has lots of good opportunities to ask questions.

Little Owl's Orange Scarf

by Feeney Tatyana

AHHH!, owls and scarves, two of my favoritest things in the whole world! This story went over fairly well even though there's not much to the plot. It's got great illustrations and the ending is pretty adorable.

Froggy Gets Dressed

by Jonathan London

The best part of the all the books was the kids getting so excited for the big joke in

Froggy Gets Dressed

(it involves underwear, always a hit), even though they all already knew what it was. Such a cute story!  We sang:

On a Chilly Winter Morning

(to the tune of Mulberry Bush)

We're getting ready to go out in the cold, out in the cold, out in the cold. We're getting ready to go out in the cold, on a chilly winter morning.

This is the way we put on our coat... (do motions)

This is the way we put on our gloves...

This is the way we put on our hat...

This is the way we put on our scarf...

This is the way we put on our boots...

(repeat first verse)

Winter Hokey Pokey

You put your right mitten in

You take your right mitten out

You put your right mitten in 

And you shake it all about

You do the Winter Pokey and you turn yourself around

That's what it's all about!

Repeat with

left mitten, right boot, left boot, long scarf, warm cap, snowsuit

(I only did boot, scarf, and snowsuit which I used for "whole self" so they could get some of their wiggles out). 

Mister Sun

(with a Mister Snow verse)

I played guitar and passed out shakers for the kids. I sang the regular first verse of Mister Sun and then sang my own verse which was pretty similar, but with a few small changes:

Oh Mister Snow, Snow, Mister Sparkly Snow, please drift down on me. Oh Mister Snow, Snow, Mister Sparkly Snow, covering up the trees.

These little children are asking you, to please drift down so we can play with you. Oh Mister Snow, Snow, Mister Sparkly Snow, please drift down on me.

We also did one flannel story called

Kitten's Mitten

. You can get really involved with the flannel pieces, but our library's story just had a big orange cat and her mittens. The kids really liked this one. Here is the story:

My poor little kitten has lost her mitten

And started to cry, boo-hoo

So I helped my kitten to look for her mitten,

Her beautiful mitten was blue.

I found a mitten, just right for a kitten

Under my mother's bed,

But, alas, this mitten was not the right mitten

For it was colored red.

I found a mitten, just right for a kitten

Under my father's pillow

But, alas, this mitten was not the right mitten

For it was colored yellow.

I found a mitten, just right for a kitten

On the hand of my brother's toy clown

But, alas, this mitten was not the right mitten

For it was colored brown.

I found a mitten, just right for a kitten

Under the laundry so clean

But, alas, this mitten was not the right mitten

For it was colored green.

I found a mitten, just right for a kitten

Inside a grocery sack

But, alas, this mitten was not the right mitten

For it was colored black.

I found a mitten, just right for a kitten

Under the kitchen sink

But, alas, this mitten was not the right mitten

For it was colored pink.

I found a mitten, just right for a kitten

Inside my favorite shoe

And this time the mitten was just the right mitten

For it was colored blue.

All in all, the storytime went very well. It had been awhile since I had done one, but it just came back to me naturally, a bit like hopping back on a bike after a few years. The kids seemed to enjoy themselves and the parents were good listeners and participants, too. I am filling in for one more storytime next week, hooray! Going with a love & friendship theme, since it's the week of Valentine's Day. I will be sure to update with books, songs, and the success levels of each.

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Review: Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo

I'm about to express what I'm pretty sure is going to be an unpopular opinion. So, just take a breath, Grisha fans, before reading. Here goes: Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo, the second book in the Grisha trilogy, was.... boring. Too black and white. Literally, darkness vs. light. It wasn't compelling. It was BLAH. What happened? I have two theories. The first, is that Bardugo fell into that awful second book slump and this bridge between the first and final in the trilogy is just something readers have to trudge through. That's okay. Trudge, I did. It could've been worse. The thing was well-written, each chapter tied up neatly with a bow (too neatly?), every piece of dialogue clever (too clever?), every simile or metaphor fantastic in its imagery (too much? Sort of.). But, the plot! Or... I should say... But, wait, WHERE IS THE PLOT? Alina, the sun summoner, is PLANNING the ENTIRE BOOK how she is going fight the evil that is The Darkling who is the main focus in the first book and is now present only during her are-these-or-aren't-these?-hallucinations in Siege and Storm. C'mon, he's the best part. We need more Darkling! 

Maybe I should rewind.

Ahem.

Here's a summary of the first book, Shadow and Bone: Alina Starkov, our protagonist, is a mousey orphan who never fit in with anyone but her best friend, Mal. She lives in the territory of Ravka, which has long been at war with the other lands surrounding it. What’s worse, it has been landlocked by “The Unsea” known as the Shadow Fold, a huge swath of darkness populated by human-feeding monsters known as Volcra. It is when Alina is crossing the Shadow Fold that she saves her friend Mal from a Volcra attack by using a powerful ability formerly completely unknown to her. This ability allows her to become part of the Grisha world. She goes to study at the Little Palace and learns to use her power, the act of summoning light. Enter the Darkling, an intriguing sort of creepy, he is basically head of all Grisha. He believes Alina can end the darkness of the Fold and save all of Ravka. But things are not what they seem and as this is revealed the book goes all action-packed adventure on its reader. It's quite a fun ride and I had high expectations for the second installment. 

  In Siege and Storm (which I read back to back with Shadow and Bone, don't know if that makes things better or worse), there is adventure and new characters, the best of whom is an amusing privateer who goes by the name of Sturmhond. The first part of the book takes place on a ship... and boy does it feel like it takes them forever to get off that ship. Why are boats in stories so boring? All that drifting and all those small spaces, I suppose. Not much to explore but endless sea and sky and teeny tiny cabins.

At least there is a romance to keep things interesting... but oh, wait, that is stalled, too, by all the planning Alina is doing to try to take down evil?! Sigh. 

I feel this review is more of a rant, but I DID finish the book, so that means something is at least a little worth reading in it, even if it's just to get to the final book, which I hope will be better than this one. 

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Review: The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

All aboard the alien invasion train, choo choo! Yes, I got on the alien train (this is a trend now, right?) and read the newest, hottest YA book to hit the shelves for early summer: Rick Yancey’s The 5th Wave. I must admit, I was pretty skeptical when I heard it being called the next Hunger Games, but I’ve got to say, it really didn’t disappoint. Aliens, romance, and brave protagonists with good senses of humor make this a great survival story.

The 5th Wave is told from a few different viewpoints, but the main protagonist is Cassie. Cassie is on her own and believes she could very well be one of the last humans on earth. She has dealt with the loss of her family, though the possible survival of her brother keeps her going. She often questions her ability to ever trust again, should she come into contact with another person. That is a big theme in The 5th Wave. The story examines what it means to be human and what it means to hope and trust, despite so much fear and loss. So, in a way, this book is more of a survival story than science fiction.

Those being the big themes, I guess I could complain that there really wasn’t enough about the aliens themselves, but the truth is there was so much else going on with the characters that I didn't mind so much. What do we know? We know the aliens' plan was to kill off humanity in waves (examples: The first wave was basically EMP, then there was a plague-like wave, etc.). We think we know that they want to wipe humans out to take the planet for themselves. And we know that the aliens look just like us because they have somehow inhabited human bodies for goodness knows how long.

My second problem with the book is that the romance in the novel kind of comes out of nowhere and, to me, this was even more unbelievable than the whole “aliens have come to destroy the Earth” thing. But what do I know? Maybe things speed up and intensify when you think you are about to be taken out by aliens. Don’t want to get too spoiler-y, but what happened to those trust issues, Cassie?

However, I am going to forgive all of that because the action-packed plot (which picks up when we are introduced to our other narrator known as Zombie, a teenage soldier in training), the wit, and the strong bonds formed between characters (romantic or otherwise) really keep this novel going strong from start to finish. The plot has twists and turns and when storylines finally overlap it really takes off. I couldn’t put it down and when I got to the end and my iPad told me I had 30 more pages to go (which turned out to be a preview of another book by the same author) I howled “NOOOOOOOO,” no doubt startling my roommates and possibly neighbors. I can’t wait to see where this series goes. Bring on the 6th wave! Or don’t, because that would mean the aliens are winning… just give us more!

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Review: Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell

This book is so good, it took me about three months to let it sink in before I could finish the review. I simply didn’t know how to put my feelings about this book into words. But I sure will attempt, because Rainbow Rowell’s Eleanor and Park needs to be read! And reviewed! And read by more people!

Quick(ish) plot summary:

It is 1986. The new girl in school, a chubby redhead who wears bizarre outfits (she ties fabric scraps in her hair and around her wrists and wears men’s thrifted clothing) sits next to the half-Korean punk kid on the only empty seat on the school bus. This seating pattern continues and the two sit in awkward silence for the majority of the bus rides until Eleanor begins to read Park’s comics over his shoulder. He takes notice and begins loaning her comics, but their exchanges are silent. Then, gradually they begin to talk about comics (X-Men and the Watchmen, primarily) and music. Side note: There is so much good music mentioned in this book. Google it, children of today! There may be no shy punk kid on your school bus to make you mixtapes, but fortunately we have super cool authors pushing The Smiths and Joy Division on teens of today in the pages of YA romance novels. Ahem, end side note. Their relationship gradually grows into full-blown conversation and hand holding, but Eleanor still struggles to share personal things about herself. It is apparent to the readers from the beginning that Eleanor has a difficult home life. She has four younger siblings, an alcoholic stepfather, and a distant mother. So the plot is basically Eleanor and Park growing closer, and Eleanor struggling to open up. It sounds almost too simple. I was worried the romance would take off and be too much for me, but it sat just on the edge of too much, which made the book an addictive page-turner.

Even with that said, Eleanor and Park made me feel so many feelings I almost couldn’t handle it. The romantic parts made me remember that weak in the knees feeling that always accompanied high school crushes. It is impressive how intense Rowell made the hand holding scenes. Eleanor and Park spend a lot of time holding hands. And it was so sweet, but not unbearable. It was not unbearable because you just wanted these characters to have all the hand holding moments they possibly could, because right from the very beginning you know, as a reader, first loves do not last. Add to that rule some poverty and poor parenting and the book just got a whole lot sadder. However, there is hope found in Park’s parents who are some of the most realistically written parents I have read in a long time. They are written as real, live people! Not just empty characters who provide housing for the protagonist. They have their flaws, of course, but they love Park. Whereas so many parents in young adult novels are abusive, absent, or dead, Park’s parents are just the opposite. Of course, there is some tension between them because helloOOO adolescence, but they are still a strong family. Just the kind of family Eleanor needs. I’ve pretty much summed the whole novel up by now, but you have to read it to experience all the feelings yourself. If you can handle it!

Though I haven’t been reviewing much lately (as I’ve had this problem of picking up a bunch of new books, getting halfway through them and having to return them to the library on time), Eleanor and Park definitely stands out as my favorite of 2013 thus far. 

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Review: The Madness Underneath by Maureen Johnson

Okay, so I’m getting ready to review the second book in the Shades of London series by Maureen Johnson. This review may be confusing for those of you who haven’t read the first book. This second book may be able to pass for a standalone, but I wouldn’t recommend it that way. The first book, The Name of the Star, takes about two seconds to read, and this book takes about as long, but the seconds seem longer. If you don’t want spoilers on the first book, don’t click read more!

The Madness Underneath takes place after Rory Deveaux is nearly murdered by a ghost. She is nearly murdered by a ghost because, basically, she has become part of the British Ghostbusters. She has become part of the British Ghostbusters because she nearly died choking on a piece of meat in the school cafeteria and gained the sight, or the ability to see ghosts and can help them solve a string of murders committed by a Jack the Ripper copycat. That is the very short summary of The Name of the Star. Things are a bit more complicated than that, especially now that Rory seems to have become a Terminus herself, meaning she can destroy ghosts simply by touching them. She does not know exactly why this has happened to her and after being stabbed by a ghost is stuck in Bristol at her parents’, recovering and pondering her future (this part of the book drags a little). Her recovery is nearly driving her crazy and at her therapist’s suspiciously quick recommendation she is soon returned to Wexford, the boarding school where all the trouble started in the first place.

Things are not going so well at Wexford. She is behind in all her classes and she misses her Ghost Police friends. She realizes she doesn’t like her boyfriend, Jerome, all that much and she just wants to feel normal! Her friend, Charlotte, recommends a therapist to her named Jane Quaint. This therapist sounds too good to be true from the start. She doesn’t take payment and she will take clients without appointments almost anytime in her personal home. But Rory feels helped by her. This is when things start to pick up. Around the same time, a couple of seemingly connected murders occur near one another (one is actually described in the prologue, but takes the book awhile to revisit). Rory gets to join up with Stephen, Callum, and Boo, her old secret ghost police friends. The story takes a few twists, turns, kisses, and cults to finally get the pace picking up, but it ends in a way that promises something good in the next book.

This book may have taken awhile to take off, but it IS the middle of the series, so that can happen, I won’t get too upset! Johnson’s quirky lines kept me giggling and turning pages, especially in describing setting or characters and occasionally in Rory’s inability to stop talking (the narrator has a slight wordbarf problem, often resulting in completely unrelated, but amusing, stories. The story may have been about thirty pages shorter if she knew how to keep quiet).  I would’ve liked more ghosts in the story and more Stephen, Callum, and Boo but the few engaging twists at the end make me believe we’ll get that in the third volume.  Overall, worth reading for the laughs, but I’m crossing my fingers for more ghosts and less Chatty Rory in the next one!

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Review: Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo, and Me

Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo, and Me by Ellen Forney is a graphic memoir about the artist's journey over several years to find balance after a bipolar diagnosis. Once diagnosed just before her thirtieth birthday, her greatest fear is that being medicated will drain her of her creativity and she'll no longer be able to do the work she loves. This memoir is somewhat of a sandwich: The beginning and end bread slices are addressing the question "Are creativity and bipolar disorder linked?" and "Will medication mess all that up?" and the meat of the story is Forney's struggle to find balance on many different medications over the course of several years of ups and downs.

Though not familiar with Forney's previous works, I've always been fascinated by psychology (if I were better at statistics, maybe I would've done that instead of English Literature in college, but anywho). I found this memoir to be brave in its complete and total honesty, fascinating as it blended the personal and scientific, and just plain fun to flip through. I love Forney's bold black and white style. The art has an electric edge at times, definitely assisting the reader in understanding what it feels like to go through a manic episode. Of course, for the pages and pages of frantic scribbles accompanying the images that are sometimes bizarre or frightening, other times illustrating a sense of joy and euphoria, and still other times blending the two to an uncomfortable extent (I tried reading this book out in the open of a Barnes & Noble cafe and found myself blushing), there are also plenty of pages that make good use of white space, painting a sparse portrait of depression that comes across as hopeless and exhausting. 

This graphic memoir could be an important tool in educating those on mental illness and battling stigma. It has the potential to do these things all while maintaining a sense of humor. Forney stresses the importance of monitoring oneself, finding support in the community (take a yoga class, for example), being open with your psychiatrist or therapist, and, of course, taking medications as prescribed. She really breaks it down to an almost self-help level. I would recommend this book to those who like graphic memoirs (I plan to pick up way more graphic memoirs now, could easily see this being a genre on which I get hooked), or who have a loved one living with bipolar disorder, or are curious about creativity and art and/or mental illness - Forney includes a lot of research and cites some intriguing sources for further reading. 

As for the link between bipolar disorder and creativity, there is one page in the book towards the end where Forney asks "Is bipolar disorder a curse, a source of misery and pain? A dangerous, often life-threatening disease? Or an inextricable, even essential part of many creative personalities? A source of inspiration and profound artistic work?" (p. 225) she answers simply, "I suppose it's both." The existence of Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo, and Me is proof that an artist does not have to be "crazy" to produce great work, because this story is for sure good art, whether or not it was influenced by mania or meds!

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Review: Eve and Adam by Michael Grant and Katherine Applegate

Well, hey there, Animorphs team, Michael Grant and Katherine Applegate AKA K.A. Applegate. What's up? Good to know you are still writing books together and using that sweet, sweet, 90s-looking Animorphs font. The latest book by the pair, Eve and Adam, is an action-packed ride full of biting humor and weird science and just the right dose of romance. Evening "E.V." Spiker is hit by a car on page one of this story. That may very well have been the last page of her story, too, if she were not the daughter of the powerful Terra "Terror" Spiker. Terra is head of Spiker biopharmaceuticals, a company responsible for curing many genetic diseases and apparently having the ability to rush Evening into a speedy recovery. Once Terra insists Eve is transferred from the hospital to her private quarters at Spiker to heal, things go from boring for Eve to overwhelmingly interesting pretty quick-like.

Terra Spiker's young assistant, Solo, begins checking on Eve regularly and the two become friends despite Terra and Solo's mutual dislike of one another. Solo insists on calling Evening "Eve," even though no one else calls her by that name. Eve also gets visits from her best friend, Aislin, who is known as a "drunken loser" (among other things) to Terra. As a way to pass the time (thus avoiding more visits with Aislin and Solo), Eve's mother suggests she work on a simulation project working with human genetics to design whatever ideal human Eve has in mind.  Eve dives right in to the project, though this doesn't stop her from seeing Solo or Aislin. She names her project Adam and gives him the perfect eyes, perfect face, perfect muscles, perfect everything. He will be perfect for Eve. She couldn't ask for better. Too bad it's only a simulation... right? And how is Eve's leg managing to heal so quickly? Hm... the questions start pouring in...

I devoured this book. Especially as the twists began to happen. The story is told from alternating viewpoints between Eve and Solo which keeps the voice fresh (you can easily tell the two apart) and lets readers see more of the Spiker company while getting in-depth looks at different characters. The plot is very fast-paced and the humor is edgy, but shouldn't push younger readers out of their comfort zones. Eve and Adam is just plain fun, though some of the themes could get very dark, very quickly, or very nerdy, very quickly (not that there is anything wrong with that, but, personally, I like my science fluffy). It impressed me that the author team could keep it so fun. The concept was strong to start with, even if the story ultimately went in several different directions. But that is what always happens in a thrilling story, right?  I'd definitely recommend this book to reluctant readers, sci-fi and/or action fans, and, yes, I suppose romance fans, too. Note to Animorphs fans: Unfortunately, there is no animation flip-book in the bottom corner of the pages. Sadface.

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Review: The Fifty Year Sword by Mark Z. Danielewski

I don't think I need to say this, but this is an adult fiction review, ya'll! Not children, not YA, and definitely not recommended for either. Ahem. That being said, The Fifty Year Sword by Mark Z. Danielewski is a beautifully made and beautifully written book (for adults!), a horrifying story (so many goosebumps!) and, above all else, completely refreshing in a prose poem form. The prose poem may be my favorite style of poetry. YES, I have a favorite style because poetry is awesome, and WHY more people do not like poetry I will never know. But that is a discussion for another post. 

The story is printed in an experimental style, the print twisting, turning, and falling over, under, and between stitched illustrations. For those familiar with Danielewski's other works, this "experimental style" is really not all that crazy for him. In fact, I found this to be his most readable piece of literature. I got through The House of Leaves not once, but twice (yeah, I loved it), but tried and tried with Only Revolutions and I don't think I even made it thirty pages. On either side of the story (you had to flip it upside down to get the full tale, but anyway).  The Fifty Year Sword is short and sweet. Well, not TOO sweet since it involves a storyteller with a black heart entering a party in East Texas and "entertaining" five orphans with a violent tale coming from a dark place of revenge and malice. The re-telling of the story is told in alternating voices of the five orphans. Different colored quotation marks tell who is speaking, but the story weaves together so well that that part is really not too important. In addition to the five orphans and the mysterious storyteller, there is Chintana, a seamstress who feels responsible for the orphans because their social worker seems to have mentally checked out during the storytime. However, Chintana finds herself so enthralled by the story, she cannot bring herself to stop the man as he tells the story of a sword maker who makes weapons that can kill a person, a country, even an idea. He happens to bring a prop with him for this story. Those of us familiar with doing storytimes would think, oh, okay, puppets or a flannel board, right? Nope. It's a long black box with five latches that sits in front of him while he tells his story. As the night grows longer the box kind of becomes like Chekhov's gun... of course, I'm not going to spoil the ending for you. Goosebumps. That is all I have to say. And not the R.L. Stine kind. The sleep with the light on kind.  Did I love this book? I DID. I loved this book. Will everyone love this book? Absolutely not. But even if you have a hard time navigating prose poetry and experimental formats, just flipping through the book is worth taking some time to do. The language and imagery are gorgeous, though, even without the illustrations. Oh, also, if you are crazy about correct spelling and grammar, you might want to look elsewhere. As told by the orphans in East Texan dialect, there are many interesting invented spellings for words. Also, super fun fact: this story was originally performed as a shadow play. Um, COOL.  If you like being creeped out and simultaneously having your breath taken away by all kinds of beauty, pick up The Fifty Year Sword. If you survive it and like it, pick up The House of Leaves. If you get through Only Revolutions, let me know HOW. I wish I could. If you are a hardcore Mark Z. Danielewski fan and are complaining that The Fifty Year Sword isn't "enough" (whatever that means), just stop already. You don't need a million billion pages of size 8 to make a strong point. Yes, this story is more accessible, but so? That just means more people will discover that Mark Z. Danielewski is an amazing writer. The Fifty Year Sword is one of the neatest ghost stories I've ever read. It pretty much screams Halloween, with its autumnal color scheme and October 2012 release date, but I think a good scare is appropriate year round. And, hey, National Poetry month is coming up in April, so get yourself a head start and pick up The Fifty Year Sword. 

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Review: The Last Dragonslayer by Jasper Fforde

Here's another book that has been on my to-read pile for quite some time: The Last Dragonslayer by Jasper Fforde. I have not read any of his popular adult books, but the Thursday Next series came highly recommended to me by my former coworker. I figured his YA debut would be a good place to start. I got The Last Dragonslayer from the library once, and never cracked it open. I got it from the library twice, and I got through the first five or ten pages, but had a difficult time adjusting to the (rather silly, but very fun) tone. I got it from the library three times, and, ah, there's the charm! Finished it. Finally. I have to say, it was not half-bad. 

The Last Dragonslayer is the story of Jennifer Strange, a fifteen "I'll be sixteen in two weeks"-year-old foundling who works for Kazam Mystical Arts Management, which is basically an employment agency for magicians. Jennifer has temporarily taken over for their boss, The Great Zambini, who disappeared a couple of years ago. And like the Great Zambini, magic is disappearing, too. The world is finding cheaper and more convenient ways to deal with their problems (i.e. drain cleaner instead of hiring a team of wizards to unclog your drains) and the magicians find themselves hard-pressed to make a living. To make matters worse, the pre-cogs predict the death of a dragon by a dragonslayer, which may or may not affect the amount of magic in the air, reducing it to nothing.  Fforde may tell the tale in a silly tone (the humor of this book, which is definitely very British, saved it from a lot of its other flaws), but the problems of the Kingdom of Hereford in the Ununited Kingdoms are not really all that different from the world we live in, United Kingdom or otherwise. The conflicts will make you stop and think between the occasional snorts of laughter this book is bound to produce. Jennifer is a very smart (almost conveniently smart, at times) and capable protagonist who stands up and fights for what she believes in, even when there are millions against her (including the media, a building full of wizards, and even royalty). The book touches on the greedy and power-hungry, like the massive corporation known as Consolidated Useful Stuff (which immediately reminded me of Wal-Mart and the like), members of the media, and even everyday individuals trying to benefit from the death of the dragon. The most important benefit being the ability to claim land. Dragons live in Dragonlands, protected areas of a LOT of land, but once they die, any human can claim their land with just stakes and some string. First to come, first to claim, so things get pretty ugly, as you can imagine.  There were plenty of twists and plenty of fascinating characters to hold my attention in this book, but my one complaint would be that the middle just didn't do it for me. I was sucked in by the humor in the beginning, and sucked in by the heart in the end, but for some reason the middle fell flat to me. Perhaps it was because the amount of world-building seemed to detract away from the story and, not being a hardcore fantasy reader, I did not have the patience for it. I would also say this book is most appropriate for those on the younger end of YA. I think those looking to move up from Harry Potter would really enjoy this one. Which is fine, but it's no Harry Potter.  Also, I'm mad that I got myself into ANOTHER series. STOP IT, YA AUTHORS, I BEG YOU. I would like to be able to read as much variety as I can and I have this thing about seeing things through to the end. But the more series keep piling on, the harder it gets... it's impossible to read them all. So did this one make the "to be continued" series list? If I'm feeling I need a magic fix and a laugh, then yes, but there will probably be others I'll go to first for that (I'm looking at you, Libba Bray). Overall, an enjoyable read and if you're a dragon person or a fan of British humor, a must. 

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Review: The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

I'm always a little behind the times as far as reviews go because it takes me awhile to pick up the newest book when I get behind on the newest book before that one... but anyway, I finally got through The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater. This book made me feel a lot of things... and at first it made me feel incredibly bored. I was uninspired to read, but determined to get through it, so I actually did very little reading over the holidays because this one took me forever to get into. It wasn't until page 160-something that I was finally convinced to stick with it. The characters seemed all extremely unlikable at first, but not in a complicated way that makes you interested in them anyway, more in a K-Stew way. Just "Blah" with a capital B. They felt one-dimensional and I still have a little beef with there being so MANY characters, but I'm going to hope they have bigger roles in the other books (jeez, how did I get myself into ANOTHER series?!).

Basically, the story is focused on Blue, a psychic's daughter who lives in a house full of psychic women in Henrietta, Virginia, but she herself is not clairvoyant. The other main character is Richard "Dick" Campbell Gansey, III AKA Gansey, a magic-hungry rich boy on a quest. He also happens to attend the fancy pants "I'm bound for an Ivy League" school, Aglionby Academy. Ever since Blue can remember, she has been told if she kisses her true love, he will die. She has steered clear of boys for that reason and kept mostly to herself in her single mother's house full of psychic friends. (Side note, I never did quite understand why Blue didn't seem to have ANY friends of her own, at all, it was almost as if there simply wasn't room for Stiefvater to squeeze one more character into the mix, but this seemed very unbelievable given Blue's age and quirkiness. One would think she would want to be independent from the other women and have friends of her own.)

Blue attends a psychic outing on St. Mark's Eve to a churchyard where psychics can see the dead or soon-to-die. Though Blue has no psychic powers of her own, she mysteriously helps make others' abilities stronger just by being near them. When Blue sees Gansey's spirit in a churchyard and is told she would only have the ability to see a spirit if he were her true love or she kills him, Blue becomes intrigued by Gansey, even after discovering he is a rich Aglionby boy aka a Raven Boy (a type she despises). Blue and Gansey eventually meet and team up on his quest to find the ley line, a source of great energy that will help him on his quest to find a long-dead King who, if woken, will grant him one favor. The plot builds, things get more tense and dangerous as relationships get complicated between Blue and the Aglionby boys and villains and potential villains come forth. There are a few twists and subplots, and lots on the line (including the ley line, it turns out, harhar).

So, that's The Raven Boys in a nutshell (or in my typical rambling way) without giving TOO much away. I liked Stiefvater's use of imagery and dialogue, I felt lots of cinematic drama while reading this book. I also really enjoyed the evolution of the four Raven boys as their relationships grew. In addition to Gansey, there are his three best friends who are part of his journey. There's Adam (the quiet follow-Gansey-anywhere one), Ronan (the bad boy), and Noah (the SUPER quiet, mysterious one). Also, I loved that the romantic element did not take over the story and I really found myself rooting for the characters to overcome their own personal struggles rather than rooting for any one romance. What I didn't like about the book was the overwhelming amount of EVERYTHING. There were too many characters, and I still don't fully understand the "quest" Gansey is on, though I'm intrigued. I hope Stiefvater chooses to flesh out what has been laid out in this book in the three to come. If she piles more on top of what we already have, it'd be a little crazy. But I'm willing to go along for the ride! The Raven Boys is a smart fantasy balanced with contemporary real-life issues. My favorite combo. Recommended for those who like a little supernatural to go with their typical teen turmoil. 

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Best of 2012!

Here are my Top 5 YA books of 2012.  To be fair, I spent a great deal of 2012 time reading 1Q84, published in Oct. 2011. My list could be stronger had I gotten around to some of the more quote unquote notable books, but I think I still managed to squeeze in some good ones!  It has also been pointed out to me that “top 5 or 10 or whatever” lists are so personal, it doesn’t matter how many awards they won or how literary they are, etc., these things will always be subjective depending on your interests and experiences, so you can’t really take a personal favorites list too seriously. And I completely agree with this.  Anywho, here it is, My Top 5 YA Books that I Happened to Really Enjoy and Hope Other People Will, Too:

1.     The Diviners by Libba Bray: Well, if my review didn’t make it known... I LOVE THIS BOOK. It’s been at least a few weeks now since I finished it and I still think about it constantly. Its goodness has not faded in my mind at all.

2.     The Fault in Our Stars by John Green: Teens with cancer fall in love. Period. The end. Do I really have to say anything about this book? It’s everywhere now, so I’m sure if you are reading this book blog you have heard of it and have hopefully read it! If not, get off your computer and go get a copy. It’s amazing. It’s heartbreaking and it’s funny (will make you laugh and cry and switch between the two like a crazy person... my roommates were probably concerned for me the week I stayed in my room and read this book) and it’s all of the things John Green is good at and MORE! He writes from a female perspective, which is totally refreshing and believable.

3.     The Disenchantments by Nina LaCour: To me, this novel had a very John Green feel if John Green wrote about a girl band. I tried to read Nina LaCour’s other novel, but the subject matter (suicide) was too serious for me at the moment, but this novel is much brighter than that. Do not be fooled by the cover, please! It has some girl in a rainbow t-shirt with maybe a lollipop? Or at least sunglasses. Something about it reminded me of Lolita. But anyway, it makes the novel look like a lot of fluff, but there are some poignant moments. It’s also one of those few books that take place AFTER high school graduation.  Basically, girl band goes on tour with their dude best friend (who is the narrator). Dude best friend is in love with one of the girls who is complicated. Band is not even very good.  Adventures are had.

4.     Long Lankin by Lindsey Barraclough:  Maybe it was just because I read it during Halloween season, but it was super spooky and I thoroughly enjoyed it!  If you’re interested, you can find my review in an early post. 

5.     Every Day by David Levithan:  Yeah, yeah, my review on this one in a previous post was not all that positive, but the concept is still so strong and it WAS very engaging, even if it made me angry, I had to include this one in my top 5.

And, for my next list…this is TOTALLY off-topic for this blog, but not to me really, because I think books and music go together well, I used to read while listening to whatever music I thought fit the mood of the book. So here are my top 10 albums of 2012, and, yes, I think teens would enjoy these, too! Unless I’m now so old and out of touch now I just have no idea. So, having said that… that makes my list relevant to this blog, right? SURE!  These are in no particular order, because depending on my mood, the weather, what I ate for breakfast, etc., my level of enjoyment of these records can change.

Screaming Females – Ugly

The Babies – Our House on the Hill

Jens Lekman – I Know What Love Isn’t

The Mountain Goats – Transcendental Youth

Lightning Love – Blonde Album

Purity Ring – Shrines

Now, Now – Threads

M. Ward – A Wasteland Companion

Balmorhea - Stranger

Midtown Dickens – Home (Gotta show some love for NC artists!)

A lot of strong female musicians on there!  I have wanted to give time to Sharon Van Etten, Cat Power, and some other big lady names on the best of lists for 2012, but I just honestly haven’t had the time to sit down and listen to the records like they deserve. Maybe over Christmas break! Also, over Christmas break I’m going to read The Raven Boys and The Miseducation of Cameron Post, so I have a feeling my top 5 book list might turn into a top 7. 

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December Storytime: Happy Holidays!

My preschool storytime is tomorrow (or today, I guess.. yikes, late night Diet Coke is a bad idea). This will be my last storytime for a little while because I've accepted a job in a new library system. I will miss my job and the people I work with like crazy, but I'm looking forward to working at my new job and learning more things and having more experiences! Hopefully I can still use some creativity and maybe even help out with programming eventually. Anyway. I got the big "holiday" theme this year... last year it was only "Santa" which made things pretty easy. Santa I can do. Santa is just a few things. Jolly. Bearded. Etc. Holidays though? That gets a little trickier what with the bigger ideas. But I'm sticking pretty close to the Santa thing, with an emphasis on sharing/caring/giving/warmth/joy/etc. I might mention Hanukkah and Kwanzaa, but our little community is pretty into Christmas, so I'll keep my focus on that. 

The Plan:

Book One:  I’ve Seen Santa by David Bedford, illustrated by Tim Warnes

A story about the cutest family of bears. The little bear wants to stay up to see Santa but the papa bear and mama bear try to make him go to bed, but of course this doesn't work. Little bear worries Santa won't fit down the chimney, so papa bear has to go through to show him he can fit. Then little bear catches the father bear eating Santa's blueberry pies. It keeps going like this until they all decide to stay up and see Santa. Then they all fall asleep and Santa's the one who sees them. Very cute, good length for a first book.

Book Two: Merry Christmas, Big Hungry Bear by Don and Audrey Wood

I love the little Mouse. This one is especially good because it’s about bravery and giving!  The illustrations are pretty great. I love the mouse's big pile of presents and I love the journey he takes to the scary cave to give a present to the bear! 

Book Three: Jingle Jingle by Nicola Smee

If there’s one thing I’ve learned in storytime it is that kids love barnyard animals. And my kids are a rather young bunch this year, so this story should be great for them. I plan to bring in my jingle bells and read it with this one! Cat, dog, pig, and duck go on a sleigh ride pulled by Mr. Horse through the snow. It's a lot like Clip Clop, but with snow. 

Song: We Wish You a Merry Christmas

“Let’s All Do a Little Clapping” (Tune: We Wish You a Merry Christmas) Let’s all do a little clapping Let’s all do a little clapping Let’s all do a little clapping And spread Christmas cheer. (Jumping, bending, twirling)

(I got this from another blog, but I can't remember the source, so sorry to the person I am not crediting!)

Song: Jingle Bells with guitar and shaker… Well.. we all know this one.

Video: Max’s Christmas by Rosemary Wells

Craft: Paper Plate Christmas Tree

SO EASY. just google paper plate christmas tree and you'll find lots of ideas. I adapted some to be preschooler and budget friendly.

It's really just one paper plate cut into three small sections, colored green, and then I glued sequins on, a brown paper square for a trunk and a yellow paper star on top! The star was hard to get right, but it's not so bad! And, bam, shiny tree! 

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On Creativity

Just to be clear, I am only 20 pages into this book, so this is no review. However, I am so inspired, I'm already going to blog about it! I don't know as much about the author as I could, but I first read Austin Kleon's book of blackout poetry, Newspaper Blackout, a few years ago and thought it was totally magical. Then, I did a blackout poetry activity similar to what he does in his book during an open mic poetry night I hosted during my student practicum at a public library. It was incredibly successful (way more successful than the open mic part...). Now, I have discovered his new book on creativity! 

And it is oh so good! Here is my favorite quote, thus far:

"Always be reading. Go to the library. There's magic in being surrounded by books. Get lost in the stacks. Read bibliographies. It's not the book you start with, it's the book that book leads you to. Collect books, even if you don't plan on reading them right away. Filmmaker John Waters has said, 'Nothing is more important than an unread library.' Don't worry about doing research. Just search."

Oh, I'm so glad I can now feel justified in all the unread books I own! (I swear I'll get around to them one day.)  

Okay, off to finish this tiny but amazing book.

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Review: The Diviners by Libba Bray

Before I get started, I’d like to point out that Barnes and Noble has this book shelved with their YA Paranormal Romance. That category is SO WRONG. I’m not sure this work can be categorized, but I would not start anywhere near romance. Okay. Now that that’s out of the way, I’ll get started with the actual review.

The Diviners by Libba Bray took me forever to finish. Not because I struggled to get into it, but because I didn’t want the story to end. The story, set in Manhattan during the Roaring Twenties (two of my favorite things), includes a large cast of characters involved in solving a string of occult-based murders. The main protagonist is Evie, a 17-year-old full of spunk, wit, and trouble making tendencies from Ohio (where she left because of said tendencies). She has a special ability to “read” objects with her mind by just touching them. She loves attention so she often performs this trick at a party, using a small item owned by a person to get a glimpse of secrets held in that item (party tricks = trouble). Once things are not going so well for her in Ohio, she goes to NYC to stay with her uncle, Will, who is the curator for the Museum of American Folklore, Superstition, and the Occult AKA The Museum of the Creepy Crawlies. Other notable characters are Will’s aid, Jericho, Evie’s friends Mabel (whose parents are socialists) and Theta (a dancer for the Ziegfeld review), a pickpocket named Sam, and a poet named Memphis. There are even more characters, but I don’t want to make it sound too overwhelming because the truth is Bray manages to give each character a quality role full of depth and complexities.  

Also impressive is the historical accuracy of the novel. Yes, the “bad guy” is a supernatural being trying to bring about the apocalypse by committing dark ritual murders, but beyond all of that is a story based in the reality of religious fanaticism. The fascinating cultural and social glimpses Bray gives us into the world of the 1920s are just enough to really give readers a sense of the time without getting bogged down and reading like a history lesson and less like fast-paced fiction. As readers, we see the world of prohibition through the speakeasies, and feel for Memphis as he deals with prejudices of the 1920s, and even get a quick look into the media of the time with the frenzied journalists from the papers. Ah, remember when newspapers were a thing? These details really helped flesh out the story and make the supernatural element ultimately more terrifying because these evils are ones us normal ol’ humans are all too familiar with.

I typically do not like series and was disappointed at first to hear that this first book was part of a trilogy. However, after reading the almost-600 page novel I would not wish it to be any shorter and I can’t wait for the rest of the series to come out. It might be cliché to say the book really read like a movie in my mind, but it’s rare that a book can accomplish that and also be appealing to me lyrically as well. It is an action-packed ride, with gorgeous imagery and bone-chilling scenes throughout. I feel attached to every single one of the characters. I’m trying hard to think of any sort of criticism and the only thing I can come up with is MORE. MORE ABOUT EVERYTHING.  Well, okay, maybe there’s one tiny critique I can think of about the ending. The last scene ended a little abruptly and felt a little forced and perhaps even had a hint of cheesiness, but I feel like if I’m going along with the movie in my mind, then that would totally be the way it would have ended had it actually been one of those old black and white movies I’m seeing in my brain. Also, the author’s notes were great. Not only were there lots of shout outs to librarians and coffee shop employees, but it really made me realize how well thought-out this novel was. I always appreciate an author who does their homework. I'll go ahead and say it: The Diviners goes down as the best book I’ve read in 2012. I'm fairly confident nothing I can finish before 2013 will be as good. Now go get yourself a copy!