Fantasy Pick Dilemmas

The Alchemyst: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel by Michael Scott.

At first glance this seems an easy pick for a fantasy slot - a Dumbledore like character, Nicolas Flamel,  is recognizable to Potter fans as a minor yet memorable name from that series' first book, lots of action and adventure, plenty of Riordan like references and information on both Egyptian and Greek mythology in addition to the magic/alchemy angle of Stroud's Bartimaeus series, and even a dose of Yggdrasil, bringing to mind Farmer's Sea of Trolls.

And yet. Where Stroud, Rowling, Riordan, and Farmer choose a focus and stick with it, this plot struck me as all over the place. Trying to account for every mythology simultaneously will do that, I suppose.

Is this where Riordan got The Red Pyramid? Twins with archaeologist parents who get caught up in ancient magic and are The Answer to some old prophecy - sound familiar? It did not feel as overwhelming and convoluted as The Red Pyramid, or as focussed for that matter, but the similarities are striking.

On the fence.



Bartimaeus: The Ring of Solomon by Jonathan Stroud.

Only a hundred or so pages in, so a bit early to write, and yet, having read the previous three in this series I am confident that what I have read so far is indicative of the book as a whole. So glad Stroud has returned to such an intelligent and lovable character. The writing is entertaining on so many levels and shows a great deal of respect for YA readers with sophisticated vocabulary, references, and humor.

My only wish is that Stroud would take a page (or five) from Westerfield's Leviathan and provide an author's note with information on what is real and what is not, as his, like Westerfield's, research is clearly well done and offers readers a great lesson in history as well as a fine fantasy read.

If this were out in paper it would be a clear choice.

A Field Trip into Headline Reading

Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chua.

Okay, so I read (a lot of) the rants and even watched video of a mixed reception at a reading in a Washington, D.C. book store. Saw and read the Time magazine article. Made my kids read it (the article, not the book).  When a friend brought a copy to school and offered me first dibs (perks of being a librarian) I couldn't resist.

Moral: don't believe everything you read.

Chua's book was well written (one would hope so from a Yale law professor) and fun to read. Not so much lecture as confession, which was a surprise given the way it's been reviewed. My reaction was not shame at being a permissive, selfish, western parent but rather concern and pity for Chua who struck me as pathological. Pathologically what is a good question that I cannot answer. Insecure? Competitive? Maybe.

Her paranoia about everything from food to dogs (forget about the elephant in the room - the poor kids - for a sec) was almost heartbreaking. My favorite part was when she gets a dog and is so proud of whatever chic pedigree it has until visiting friends casually (?) drop that its breed is not rated highly on intelligence. She cannot wait for them to leave so that she can google the poor animal and check its stats.

Honey, see a shrink! I wish people would stop attacking her and start offering her hugs.

Summer Reading ....?

The hunt for the summer reading list continues. Recent candidates:



Night of the Howling Dogs by Graham Salisbury.

Based on a true story, the account of a boy scout troop camping on a remote Hawaiian beach when a powerful earthquake followed by a tsunami occurs. The run up to the main event is a bit slow, but the character development is important and makes for some nice reveals.



Shark Girl by Kelly Bingham.

A verse novel detailing an attack by a shark that leaves a lovely young high school student without one arm. The novel is mainly about survival - not the attack so much as moving forward when your whole life has been turned upside down. Well done.




How to Steal a Car by Pete Hautman.

Could not resist the cover or title. A teen girl discovers her talent for car theft and uses it to vent feelings about friends, boys, and family. The strange relationship the protagonist has with her best friends - a boy and a girl - is great fun. A few unnecessary references make this unlikely for summer reading, unfortunately.



Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King.

Wow. A fabulous story. Great characters. This should be on high school reading lists. Vera is so strong and her experience is likely close to many. Her family's tradition of ignoring the abusive relationship next door, and other painful realities, has a predictable if tragic effect on her life decisions. The hypocrisy of adults is explored skillfully. The complicated love she has for her best friend is probably the best written love story I've seen in awhile.



Matched by Ally Condie.

Yes! We have a winner! A great dystopian novel that is intense, well written, and clean enough to pass the parent test - yet beloved by my readers already. Phew! Clear choice. The evolution from unquestioned devotion to the society to rebellion is nuanced and believable. Suspense is well done. Comparisons to 1984 and The Giver are warranted. And a second installment due in November.

Reality TV Meets YA Fiction

I hate reality TV. I'm still in mourning over the writers' strike that brought the onslaught of shows devoted to creating a never ending parade of fame seeking people displaying all manner of, uh, eccentric qualities before us night after night after night. Bring back the writers!

Okay, so, as my students know, there is one reality show I can't flip past without becoming glued in the same way you can't turn away from a car wreck: Buried Alive. Extreme hoarding. The worst episodes feature minor children living in these homes, often explaining the ripple effect on their lives. And so when I read the review of this book I had to have it. Having finally wrested it from the student population, I got to read it this week.



Dirty Little Secrets by C.J. Omololu.

Told from the perspective of sixteen year old Lucy, whose mom is an extreme hoarder, Omololu paints a vivid and believable picture of what it's like to navigate adolescence while living in self imposed squalor. Her terror of a first best friend finding out (having been dubbed "garbage girl" after the last friend accidentally discovered the truth) and her inability to lead anything close to a normal life is laid out here with pitch perfect clarity, no whining involved. Lucy's intelligent, thoughtful reflections on her present dilemma and past experiences make clear why children in her circumstances would keep the secret. Her dilemma is horrible enough to keep you turning the pages to find out what might happen next while entertaining all the pitfalls and possibilities of each option.

BOB Reading Challenge

Come up with ten new books for 7th graders to read in a battle of the books taking into account reading levels, gender preferences in genres, quality of writing, length, availability in paper ....

Recently considered -



Ruby in the Smoke by Philip Pullman

Read as a potential replacement for Montmorency: Thief, Liar, Gentleman?, Ruby in the Smoke is also a mystery that takes place in Victorian London. I love Pullman, but his intent was clearly to write a Victorian novel and I'm afraid his success means it isn't the best choice for us. I don't think the style would appeal to many of my students.



Cosmic by Frank Cottrell Boyce

Fabulous. I've been wanting to read this one for awhile. An unusually tall seventh grader (with facial hair!) is often mistaken for being older than his twelve years and admonished for the kind of mistakes one expects of a twelve year old boy. When someone assumes his female friend is his daughter, the benefits of people's assumptions dawn on him and he and his friend Florida embark on a series of adventures. The somewhat unbelievable plot takes them to an experimental space program where he is selected to be the "dad" accompanying five children into space. His attempts to impersonate a dad and father his friend (by reading a self help book on talking to one's teen) lead to a deeper understanding of dadness. The story is written by an englishman and takes place in London. I wonder whether the britishisms would be too much?

And just for fun ...



A Darkling Plain by Philip Reeve

The last in the Hungry City Chronicles. Thick, thank god, and wonderful.



Shine, Coconut Moon by Neesha Meminger

The experiences of an Indian - American teenager in the immediate aftermath of 9/11. Sometimes too preachy, but an interesting reflection on being brown in America, particularly when we were in a panic post 9/11. Being brought up by a single mom who has rejected her family and their traditions, the story is about a girl who desperately wants the big, messy, ethnic experience of her best friend who is thoroughly Irish - American. Her journey to discover her family and its roots teaches a lot about being Sikh.

Recently Read

Sapphique by Catherine Fisher.

Sequel to Incarceron. Not as thrilling as the first. The ending was twisted to make it as happy as possible, and there was a niggling sense that if I remembered every detail of both books I would find she had done things that were inconsistent. Still, a good read with some great characters and plenty of food for thought about what we value and why.







Infernal Devices by Philip Reeve.


Next after Predator's Gold, I could not put it down. Better written than it's predecessors, though perhaps not as good a story as the last. An impressive ending that has me scrambling to get hold of A Darkling Plain, last in the Hungry City Chronicles. Municipal Darwinism rolls on as Hester and Tom take an idyllic break in the now static city of Anchorage. But when their daughter leaves in search of adventure, they follow and catch up with the world.

Moon Over Manifest by Clare Vanderpool.


Newbery award winner. The book takes place during the Great Depression and is parts A Long Way from Chicago, Nowhere to Call Home, and The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate,  though not as good as Peck or Kelly. Although it was a pleasurable read, I could not get the title of the article, "Has the Newbery Lost Its Way?" out of my head as I read it. I can't see this appealing to many kids.





Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce.


I trudged through about half of this before abandoning it. It never drew me in or engaged me at all. The characters seemed stilted and unreal, the setting similar. And the plot? Yawn. So disappointing after that great cover.

Municipal Darwinism and the Usual Kind

Mortal Engines (The Hungry City Chronicles) by Philip Reeve.

The first in what is now a five part series, I read Fever Crumb (the newly released prequel) this summer, thereby unintentionally getting the order right. My expectations were high, given the complexity and style of Fever Crumb.  Although a rollicking good adventure featuring a boy who lives on London - the traction city that was once the United Kingdom - and a girl (of course) who is bent on avenging the death of her mother by hunting down the highly respected municipal darwinist - the book was somewhat disappointing when compared with its prequel. Nevertheless, the epic battle between the municipal darwinists and the anti-traction league make for both the kind of reading that is being wrapped up in an action adventure as well as that which comes from reading something that is trying to suggest other, deeper thoughts to you. Which side are you on? Why? Does that square with how you view your world in the 21st century? The last one is key, as this whole series is posited as the inevitable future of our technology driven world. Fever Crumb takes place around the 31st century, this first book takes place in the 35th century when the extreme weirdness of Fever Crumb is now quaint, poorly remembered history.

The progression of Reeve as a writer is apparent in this series. If I had to recommend just one, it would be the prequel, though admittedly only to those advanced enough to make all of the connections independently that the series would have made for them explicitly. For those who love Westerfield's Leviathan, it's a great series.




How Angel Peterson Got His Name by Gary Paulsen.

I came across this while shelf reading (insert great gnashing of teeth here) and pulled it because I remembered the title being tossed around in a class recently  and also because my 7th graders are doing a non-fiction reading project. A slim volume (always a plus as far as my students are concerned) I started reading it and could not put it down. Although taking place in Paulsen's childhood, circa 1955, when, as he points out from time to time, there was no television or internet or safety apparel, the central theme of the book - 13 year old boys do really dumb, dangerous stuff - is timeless. Hilarious. He does not bore with too much detail, appreciates that his audience merely needs him to set scenes, not babble on endlessly about his childhood. A must read for the boys who do these things - great ideas! - as well as anyone who comes into regular contact with the creature that is the 13 year old boy - why do they do these things?