Two Books

Two books, one review. I read them back-to-back and was surprised at both their symmetry and similarities. Both have 14 year-old male protagonists who have talents they haven't begun to explore. Both boys begin their summers by travelling away from the city to pastoral climes. Both books succeed at discovering very real voices in the first person narratives of these young men, and the subtle humor in their observations of the world. Both are bildungsroman, my favorite $1 word, describing a coming of age novel. Both have a unique concept that ties the story together in a strong, literary way. And both are written by award-winning writers whose work I had read before. "Okay for Now" comes from Gary D. Schmidt, who has a stack of notable awards for "Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy" and "The Wednesday Wars." Kathryn Erskine had won the National Book Award with "Mockingbird" last year before she penned "The Absolute Value of Mike."

"The Absolute Value of Mike" uses Mathematical concepts to tell the tale of Mike, a boy with a distant father (possibly with Aspergers) who has to spend the summer with a kooky bunch of friends and relatives in rural Pennsylvania as a town comes together to do the impossible. The Mathematical phrases, and their descriptions, plot Mike's progress as he moves from parallel relationships to intersecting ones. Told with a light, gentle touch, this book is a fast read that makes for a good middle school text. Students who liked "Surviving the Applewhites" and "Operation Yes" will find similarities in the upbeat journey of improbable events. There is even a little of the weirdness you find in "Going Bovine" although this story is pretty much on the wholesome side. At the very least, it will have you looking at homeless people an entirely different way.

"Okay for Now" is much more complex, and more appropriate for high school. Denser with even more layers, the theme here is the work of James Audubon, and the art lessons Doug receives, which show him that balance, tension and depth are life lessons as well as art concepts. The book was hard for me to get into, not because it was bad, but because the cover set me up with different expectations. As a librarian, I should know better than to judge a book by its cover. I thought it was a contemporary humor novel and found a historical book with as much pathos as quiet grins. It took me a couple chapters to adjust. Once I did, however, I could hardly put the book down. Set in 1968, this story picks up the character of Doug from "The Wednesday Wars" and makes him the protagonist (Holling Hoodhood, the lead character in "The Wednesday Wars" makes a brief appearance near the beginning of the book). Doug's family makes a sudden move to upstate NY and, like a fish out of water, the young man tries to navigate a completely different world than the Long Island home he is accustomed to. There is a slow, lyrical quality to the work of Gary Schmidt, but I liked this far more than "Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy." While that historical novel had a compelling tale and was written as if it were a series of artistic frescoes, the characters weren't overly compelling. Here, they jump off the page. I felt as if Doug was sitting next to me telling me his story rather than just reading it. Also, unlike "Lizzie Bright" a tale that was moving towards darkness, this is a journey of a teenager moving into the light. Upbeat despite some overwhelmingly sad layers, it shows how even then, it took a village to raise a child and that the human spirit can succeed where human beings fail. The characters here are not simple. Bad guys surprise you at times, with the one exception I took being a change in a major character near the end. Despite the book's theme of redemption, I felt that the reform of this particular character was too sudden and it felt unrealistic. The rest of the book, however, felt more like autobiography than fiction. Looking at Mr. Schmidt's biography, it is clear that he may have drawn on his own life experiences, which made this book, IMHO, the best that he has written.

Bravo to Mike and Doug, two guys who made sitting down to read a deeply cool experience. Enjoy.

"The Lightning Thief" by Rick Riordan

A young boy in an unhappy home discovers he has “powers.” A series of adventures brings him to a school with others like him, where he befriends an awkward boy and a smart, talented girl. Together, they battle dark forces. No, I'm not talking about “Harry Potter.” While the plotlines are strikingly similar, this book didn't come off as derivative as it sounds. It was a great read with a contemporary feel and I can easily see the popularity. Much like J.K. Rowling, Rick Riordan grounds the mystical elements in very real pre-teens. Humor weaves throughout as Percy, our lead character, maintains his “um, yeah, right” attitude amidst growing improbabilities. The Greek myths are wonderfully integrated, enough to make the most school-resistant kid run flying to Wikipedia to learn more about the Gods. Action is plentiful from chapter to chapter, making the book a page-turner, but it has purpose and direction and character development isn't left behind as the tale progresses. I did find some of it predictable, but that's because I might (?) have a stronger understanding of the context than some of the younger readers (thank you, Hercules & Xena TV shows), but it was enjoyable. I look forward to reading the rest of the series. Yeah, I'm behind the eight-ball. I read slowly and didn't want to take books from this popular series out of the hands of students. My only problem now is how long it's going to take me to get to Riordan's hot new series, “The Kane Chronicles.”

"The Help" by Kathryn Stockett

Finally! An absolutely wonderful book, followed by an equally delightful film. “The Help” by Kathryn Stockett is a well-crafted, page-turning novel. Set in the critical year of 1963 this book tells the story of maids in the deep south and a young white woman who has a lot of growing up to do. Told in three perspectives, chapters flow between the first-person narratives of Aibileen, Minny and Skeeter as they engage in a highly dangerous activity of the time – truth-telling. I grew up in the south in the 60s. While we didn't have maids, the atmosphere of the book resonated with me, much like “The Secret Life of Bees,” a book with a similar historical theme. Like they did in that book, the characters here leap off the pages as people who are complex, engaging and real. The film is marketed as a comedy, and the book does have humor, but it defies a strict description. It is comedy, and tragedy, and history, but at its root, it is the story of people. The human look at our not-too-distant past is a critical element that made the film work as well. Lest we forget, many adult African Americans in this nation had parents who worked as domestics. The impact of that on their lives is still a powerful element the world-view of many. Of the book, I have no complaints. It meanders at times into the trivia of day-to-day living, but this doesn't detract from the story, it simply colors in the lines, making this tale one that feels like nonfiction rather than fiction. At 450 pages, it was a remarkably fast read that I tore through. The film, to the degree possible, stays faithful to the book although many elements are necessarily tightened and abbreviated. There are changes, most of which heighten dramatic tension or clarify moments. My only complaint with the film was the billing – Emma Stone, playing Skeeter, gets top billing. I strongly feel that the top billing should have been Viola Davis, who plays Aibileen. Both the book and the film begin and end with Aibileen's story. While all three women go through a psychological journey of sorts during the book, it is Aibileen, IMHO, who is the “most” transformed. Her voice is the most poignant of the tale and Viola Davis portrayed her with the true dignity and quiet majesty of the character – is it Hollywood racism that prevents her from getting the credit she should? Come award time, we will see. In the meantime, read the book, see the movie and gain a better understanding.

"Young Fredle" by Cynthia Voigt

It's not me, it's you. That's what you say, right? I'm just not in a "great place" right now, so the fact that I haven't enjoyed the books I've read lately is about me, yes? Cynthia Voigt's newest offering made it onto at least two "highly recommended" lists. Booklist liked it, SLJ liked it ... for me, it was the third "ehh" book I've read in the past month or so. Part of the problem is the target audience. The reviewers peg it anywhere from 3rd to 7th grade. At 227 pages with vocabulary words like "foraging" it feels like middle school. The plot, however, is strictly elementary. Young Fredle is, as you would have guessed, a mouse. He makes mistakes, is thrown into unexpected circumstances, has an adventure, and then, out of pluck and determination, makes it home. The character of Fredle is engaging -- the story is boiler-plate. I've heard this before! We all have. There truly wasn't one twist I didn't see coming by the end of the first chapter. There is also a didactic tone. In the midst of a narrative tale, Ms. Voigt feels compelled to put in "facts" about mice. The reader can't just take Fredle's behavior on spec, we must be told that mice "do this or do that." She makes a great deal about the fact that mice don't see color. And then young Fredle notices the green grass, yellow flowers and blue sky. It is an irritating inconsistency. It also harkens back to those young adult "message" books of the 1970s. Fredle learns many wise life lessons along his way, which Cynthia Voigt pounds us over the head with ("THIS IS THE POINT -- GET IT?"). The book is a companion to "Angus & Sadie," a tale of two dogs who live on the same property and appear as sympathetic characters here. I can see this as an excellent read-aloud for a parent of, say, a fourth grader? I'm not counting on it moving much in my school, though. The illustrations are adorable and add to the adorable quality of the entire book. I guess I just wasn't feeling very adorable when I read it. Maybe I've just been away from elementary fiction too long. But this one felt tired to me. Frankly, if you are going for animal tales, try "Tale of Despereaux", "The Rats of Nimh" or one of Brian Jacques' "Redwall" stories. ~~Oh well~~ Maybe next time.

"Jellicoe Road" by Melina Marchetta

Somehow, I missed reading this Printz winner from a few years back. I think it was so popular when it came out that I wasn't able to get a copy to read initially, then I just forgot. Well-written, yes. Layered and unique, yes. Did I like it? No. I think maybe this was just one of those "bad timing" things. Life is busy, I'm a little stressed, and reading this book in small chunks did not work. It is a complex tale -- two stories interweaving, with little context in the beginning for either. One of the tales is deliberately out of order, the other makes sense after a while but the Australian foreignness is yet another hurdle to overcome. I'm not dissing the Aussies. We adore Markus Zusak. And Margo Lanagan, despite the occasional bleak darkness, is pretty engaging. This novel, however, felt distant. Taking place (I gather) at the edge of the outback, there is a constant use of vocabulary and phrasing I had to read twice to fully understand. Add the inter-woven plots that seem to start in the middle and I was literally at chapter 14 before I began to see the arc of the book. Which was frustrating. What should have been a story of love/loss and mystery turned into a tale that was not a page-turner for me. I found the lead character, Taylor, to be nearly as irritating as Bella from "Twilight" and the so-called mystery fairly guessable once I could place the characters and events. The efforts by the author to hide facts were so successful I missed one of the "big reveals" even when it happened. She seemed more concerned with the essence of things than the things themselves. It's possible it is "just Australian." From the first pages, I could sense the cultural elements of Dreamtime and Walkabout having a lot of influence. Not being from that culture, however, I was never sure what was real or what was dreamed (the Australians, of course, would say that Dreamtime is real, just another reality). Could someone who has read the book tell me who the little boy hanging from the tree is? Four hundred pages later and I still don't know. Despite all the different threads, the story also felt contrived. At one point, a disaster-like event seems to occur for no other reason than to move characters to a key clue in the story. I guess, as a reader, I resent having events thrown in at random just to advance the tale the author wants to tell. I've always felt the best authors let the story go where it goes, instead of warping everything around the point they want to make. There is a strong group of readers who adore this book, so I can't say it's bad. It's just not for me.

"Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen

It's been a strange year. Books I didn't think I would like, I loved, and books I thought I would love, I sort-of liked. Guess which one this was? "Water for Elephants" is a New York Times Bestseller, so hugely popular it was turned into a Hollywood film (coming to a location near you!) It has a lot going for it. The tale is unique and fresh, told extremely well and the world explored is one completely foreign to most of us. I especially enjoyed the back and forth between "then" and "now." Ms. Gruen has an arch, sarcastic sense of humor that made me giggle in several inappropriate places. She seems to have a knack at writing characters she should know nothing about. I kept checking her biography in the back of the book to figure out how a young woman like her could write such a decidedly male-perspective tale, not to mention get into the head of an aging member of a senior citizen's home. In many ways, I thought this was a great novel. And yet. Set in depression-era 1930s, the detail of the story was completely on-point. So much so, that it felt a little like a 1920s era melodrama. The lead character, Jacob, his nurse, Rosemary and his sullen roommate, Walter, all seemed fairly fleshed out. So does the elephant, Rosie. But the object of his affection, Marlena, seemed to be a cardboard cutout. The same applied to her vicious husband, who was only one step away from twirling a mustache. For me, there were too many moments where I felt she was crying "I can't pay the rent" and he shouted back "You must pay the rent!" For this reason, one of the central plot points, the epic love story, just fell flat. It's like my complaint with bad productions of "Othello." You have to buy into the love story for everything else to work. The trappings of the book were fascinating, but the weakness of this element made the whole thing less engaging for me. The story is also brutal (but probably accurate) in the treatment of animals (including those of the human variety). Let's face it, I'm a wuss. Go into detail about some furry thing getting beat, and I just can't take it. The overall tone is incredibly dark, and, near the end, tremendously sad. The actual ending is kind of sweet, but in a "Schindler's List" way -- coming out of the dark to an okay moment. It's a good book, and easy to see why it has received the accolades it has. But not really my cup of tea.

"Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss

This should not have been a book I liked. Very long, at 722 pages, with painful detail and slow pacing, one might say it is Dickensonian in its scope. I don't like Dickens (the horror! A librarian dislikes Dickens!) but I did like this book. A lot. Recommended to me by a colleague, this felt like a very comfortable return to the kind of fantasy novels I read in my youth. With minimal "magic" there are many sections that could be mistaken for a story set in the middle ages. The tale begins in a tavern; with the familiar hallmarks of working folk, wooden tables, dark corners and a bartender who knows more than you might think. From there, the story meanders along, giving the reader stories within stories to weave a rich tale of heroes. The essence of heroism is one of the central themes here -- what makes a hero heroic, how mythology muddies the nature of a story and how legend changes truth. Some are comparing this book to Tolkien, and while I can see the surface parallels, in many ways this is an anti-Tolkienesque novel. Tolkien is about the journey (a metaphor for his own spiritual journey). Rothfuss is about the individual. The character of Kvothe spends the book describing his journey, but the things that happen along the way are less important than the person being forged out of these events. Rothfuss (or Kvothe) is also clearly not a fan of organized religion, making out the religious leaders to be clueless or corrupt and the faith of these simple folk as silly and pointless. A better comparison would be to the work of Ursula K. LeGuin, who is quoted on both the frontispiece and back of the book. LeGuin was a favorite author of mine for many years, and this writer seems to echo her dark sense of the world and the ongoing battle of our inner demons that was present in her Farthest Shore trilogy. Although nearly nothing happens for the first 50 pages or so (the so-called "First Day" for which the book is subtitled doesn't begin until page 59) I was intrigued and definitely felt the pull of turning the next page, charging on to the next chapter, to see what would happen. It's a credit to Rothfuss, whose writing is so rich, engaging, layered and beautiful that you just feel that you are sitting there in the tavern listening to a tale well-told. The story is downright palpable. Maybe it's the Irish in me, but I truly felt "drawn" to this book. The challenge, however, is that my life doesn't accommodate long books very well these days, and this is the first of a trilogy. Don't know what I will do about that, but I'm dying to read the next book in this Kingkiller Chronicle, entitled "The Wise Man's Fear."

"Heat Wave" by Richard Castle

I liked this book. A lot. Which is a bit of a surprise. Here's the deal: ABC has a top-ten TV show called "Castle." In the show, a popular mystery writer named Richard Castle shadows an NYPD detective for inspiration on his new set of books, focusing on a tough but sexy police officer named Nikki Heat. As part of the hype/tie-in/whatever for the show, ABC has been releasing actual books supposedly written by "Richard Castle." Needless to say, my expectations were low. I greatly enjoy the TV show, but this smelled way too much of marketing with little focus on literary merit, so I held off until ... the book climbed up the New York Times bestseller list. And then people started telling me how good it was. So, I gave it a spin. What a pleasant little gift. The book is well-paced, weaves a decent mystery with "just enough" hard-boiled detective stuff to make it engaging without being cheesy, and sticks enough to the style of the TV show to fulfill the interests of the occasionally rabid fans. A slim book, it took longer to read than I expected. There is depth here, both in the writing and in filling out that which we know about the characters in the show. Like the TV show, there is a satisfying combination of action, suspense, crime-solving, humor, and yes, sex. I'll never know how my familiarity with the TV show impacted on my appreciation of the book, but there was definitely a plus in knowing the characters involved. Not a book for your typical teen, the characters are adults who both act and speak like adults would in this kind of setting. To those of us in the know, the biggest question lies in the identity of the actual author. The bio and picture in the back of the book portray Nathan Fillion, the actor (INCREDIBLY HOT SEXY AWESOME NATHAN WE LOVE YOU) who plays Richard Castle. The dedication, acknowledgments and back-flap bio (mentioned in an episode of the show) are written as if they come from the hand of this fictitious author, full of tongue-in-cheek (winner of the Nom DePlume Society's Tom Straw Award). When pressed, the TV show producers admit that the author of the books "has appeared" on at least one episode of the show. Of course, they take pleasure in having name authors appear on the show as poker buddies of the lead character, so the choices are plentiful. Even money hangs on James Patterson (quoted on the front of the book) and Stephen J. Cannell (quoted on the back of the book). Having read the book, I'm venturing that the real author is Stephen J. Cannell. I've read a number of Patterson books of late and don't see him having the "meat" that is present in these pages. On the other hand, he is a consummate imitator of style, so who knows? I'd like to think the work is Cannell's. I've never read his books, but am a fan of his many TV shows. Stephen J. Cannell, for the uninitiated, was the producer king of TV for many years in the 70s, 80s & 90s. He got his start writing for Adam-12 and ended up creating and producing everything from Rockford Files to A-Team to Silk Stalkings to Renegade and 21 Jump Street. Yes, because of him, we have Johnny Depp. Cannell, who sadly passed away of melanoma last fall, was known as a prolific, fast writer. He was able to churn out consistent, strong scripts with lightening speed and never took himself too seriously. In interviews, he was often quoted as saying that the goal is entertainment, not Shakespeare. He never failed to entertain. A terrific accomplishment for a guy with dyslexia who struggled in school but was determined to be a writer. They have noted his passing on the show with reverence and respect. I could only hope that the publication of this series (two more titles forthcoming) is a final bow to the master. In any case, as if this review weren't long enough already, read the book. And watch the show. Fourteen million or so people have determined it is worth their time -- see if it is worth yours!

“Where the Streets Had a Name” by Randa Abdel-Fattah

The big plus for this middle-school fiction novel is that it covers a subject virtually untouched in YA lit … Palestinian teens. To my knowledge, the only other book that covers this topic is Naomi Shihab Nye’s “Habibi.” Being more contemporary (the story is set in 2004) we get a very detailed look at the challenges of living in a troubled part of the world. The story is that of Hayaat, a thirteen year-old girl living in Bethlehem. In an attempt to ease the unhappiness of her sick grandmother, Hayaat tries to make the six mile journey from Bethlehem to Jerusalem with a daredevil best friend. The obstacles that lay in the path of these two young children are significant, and at times, insurmountable. While I knew of the Israeli occupation, I had little sense of the day-to-day struggles of those who live there. The book was a marvelous insight into a tremendously sad situation. The characters are real and much like Hosseini’s “Kite Runner” I was struck by how very normal teens can be, even in extraordinary circumstances. The story is also fairly upbeat and wholesome, given the darker undertones, and this leads to my chief complaint – an inconsistency in the writing. The characters are supposed to be 13, but often come off as younger. Timelines are frequently skewed, with two weeks turning into a month and an accident that supposedly happened when Hayaat was “small” apparently happened after she was nine (if the sequence of events holds true). These are the kinds of things an editor should have caught, and a big slap on the hands to Scholastic for not cleaning them up before publication. That being said, the descriptions in the story are detailed and occasionally rich, without there being much literary poetry brought to the book. If not for the realistic, contemporary setting, one could easily mistake this for any teen lit “take a journey” novel. It is the kind of book that could end up being used as a class novel. It has many of the elements that make it a good choice: appeal to both boys and girls, the aforementioned “journey” (both physical and psychological), and connection to the Geography curriculum in terms of world conflict and displaced peoples. I do think any young person reading the book would need teacher assistance for context. I am a news-hound, but it still had me running for an atlas and Wikipedia. Arabic phrases are sprinkled throughout and are defined in a detailed glossary. While this is helps, clever ways of making meaning clear in text tends to be more popular. That way, readers don’t have to stop the flow of the story to look things up. I enjoyed the book and felt it flowed well. Hopefully, this story will give students the kind of insight it gave me.

"Witch and Wizard" and "The Gift" by James Patterson

Sometimes, the books recommended to me by students are awesome. Sometimes they are just "okay." The interesting thing about books is that they may, or may not, strike the reader depending on the individual threads each person brings to each book they read. That being said, this is the second James Patterson series I have tried on student recommendation, and the second one I have said "ehh" to. In the new Witch and Wizard series, I have the same issues as I did with the Maximum Ride books. It's not that they are bad. They are fun, action-packed, fast-moving and capture the teenage mindset very well. But both series, IMHO, are somewhat shallow and highly derivative. Did I say derivative? I meant to say "blatant rip-offs." Okay, I know all great authors steal -- Shakespeare did it -- and Patterson makes no apologies for it. In fact, he almost makes fun of the fact that this new series is like some bizarre combination of "Oliver Twist," "1984," "Fahrenheit 451" and a host of other classics ... if they were written in a kind of facile, disinterested way. He employs the same dystopic, alternative future that many YA authors are writing about these days, but his protagonists blithely skim along from one torturous situation to another with little engagement other than "we want to find our parents!" and "hot guy/gal, but I'm busy fighting for my life right now." Despite the trials and tribulations of the characters, I was never able to connect emotionally with anyone in the books -- a huge weakness if you want readers to cheer on our heroes. With strong resonance to the Hunger Games books, these two titles are to Hunger Games as Vampire Diaries are to Anne Rice. Similar content simply doesn't create similar quality. It's almost as if Patterson is making fun of the genre. He includes all the prerequisites of YA Fantasy: missing or dead parents, teens who have powers they didn't know they had, an older mentor who is seemingly inscrutable and a map. But the map is drawn carelessly, just a big box, and doesn't add anything to the story (maps are usually there to elaborate that these tales are often both physical and psychological journeys). The inscrutable mentor pops in and out just long enough to provide fortune-cookie wisdom and the yearning for parents amidst apocalyptic destruction just gets tiresome. Lastly, the powers the kids have seem to be on-again, off-again with little rhyme or reason. Rule number one in such books is that you can create any rule you want, but once you create it, you must be consistent about holding to it. As I said, I didn't hate these books, but I didn't love them. I guess I read too much. I just know the sources he took his story from are better than the work he created by using them. I can see them being popular as beach reads or for kids who just like the action without any need for a substantive story, but in the end they felt too much like a never-ending MMORPG (massive multi-player online role-playing game). Time to find the magic answer, kill the bad guy forever and ever and end this thing.

"The Dreamer" by Pam Munoz Ryan and Peter Sis

In a word, "wow." Some of this year's notable titles left me a little "ehh," not this one. "The Dreamer" was the Pura Belpre winner and is, IMHO, the top pick of the honorees. "The Dreamer" is the lyrical story of Neftali Reyes, a young boy growing up in Chile in the early 20th century. Neftali is small and thin, a lover of words with a rich imagination, and a child who craves love from a harsh and demanding father. The text off-shoots from time to time, much like Neftali's mind, with detailed artwork by Peter Sis bringing these flights of fancy to bold and detailed beauty. The soft green text is large and spaced across the pages in wide paragraphs, allowing the reader's eyes to fly across the words like they are birds in flight. It doesn't take too long for the experienced reader to realize this is the story of Pablo Neruda. A fictionalized tale taken from real events of his childhood, Ms. Ryan has done an outstanding job of giving us an insight into the mind of a man who helped change our world-view. I recently had a discussion with the TAB book group about books that can be appreciated on many levels, by different ages of readers. This is one such book. Appealing to young children (Neftali is seven when the book begins) but with enough layers and richness to appeal to adults, this story should be considered one of the "modern classics." Enjoy.

"The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" by Stieg Larsson

Well, well. Well, well, well. This one is a little odd. First, I *never* see a movie before reading the book and second, there are people who want to ban this book. Long story short: My mom called me up this summer very anxious to see the film and I told her I hadn’t read the book yet, nor did I have the time to. But, she’s my mom, so I went to see the movie. Given that it is, on one level, a mystery, I really didn’t see the point of reading the book after seeing the film. Then, TPTB said we should ban this book and then I had to read it! Not easy to put away a 465 page tome while taking a graduate-level class while working full-time. But, given determination and a three-day week (gift of the GODS), I was able to pull it off. So first, the review.

The book is very good. Very very good. What I don’t know, and will never know, is the degree to which the movie influenced my take on it. That being said, the movie struck me as film noir. I expected the novel to border on pulp fiction. I could not have been more wrong. The book, entitled “Men Who Hate Women” in Swedish, is part of a complex, dense series that covers everything from corporate exploitation to government conspiracy to Nazis to the abuse of women in that nation. Most notably, the first book in the series has something the film does not – humor. The series was a form of Stieg Larsson’s personal diaries, so to speak. The tale reads much like his own life and is far less dark than the film. It is no wonder that every person reading the Millenium series has a different take. One reader describes the first book as a detective/crime novel, another sees it as a cry against right-wing extremism, yet another person sees it as a love story. Unlike the movie, which I felt was a crucible for the character of Lisbeth, the book to was a layered exploration of humans and the varied threads that we weave. The book is not filled with literary allusion, but it has tremendous depth, and Larsson virtually channels Dickens in his high degree of detailed description. And yet, I found myself powering through the chapters. Was it because I knew what was coming or because Larsson was able to provide a teasing through-line even during the driest of conversations? The book has such disparate storylines that the author himself makes fun of the style, remarking that his investigative journalist character Blomkvist (the alter-ego of Larsson) wrote a book which shouldn’t have hung together, but did. This story shouldn’t hold together, but it does. Another possible theme could be extracted here ... “everything is connected.” So, from a personal perspective, it was a good read. My two complaints are minor. One, the publisher used a rag-edge binding which makes page-turning difficult. Two, while one expects significant changes from the book to the film, I took exception with one change, which portrayed a minor event with Lisbeth’s laptop in a completely different way and made it far more violent in the film than in the book. There was simply no need to do this other than to hype the darkness of the film up another notch.

Now, on to the banning issue. The complaint is that the book has “one of the most brutal rape scenes” ever published. How surprised was I to find that the sexual assaults in the book are actually milder than those in the film? Okay, I know I’m visual, but the first assault in the book comes after some 170 pages, lasts less than a page, and is less specific than your average romance novel. It is blunt. And it is distressing. But it’s not exactly the strongest stuff I’ve read. The second assault is slightly more graphic, as the assault itself goes further. But again, the event is covered in about a page of text and doesn’t include the lengthy screams that made the film version so difficult to watch. Interestingly enough, it is the “retribution” section that gets very, um, specific. I’m not sure which of these attacks was objectionable to TPTB, but I would say they are very in character for an adult book that uses strong language from the beginning, blithely covers the exploits of Mikel Blomkvist (a man who likes his women) and begins section headings with statistics on female assaults in Sweden. Do I keep the book? Yes. The huge popularity of the book causes people to pick it up, but I know of four people so far (two adults and two teens) who began the book and didn’t get through the first 100 pages. It would take a dedicated reader to get to the pages where the violence is portrayed (and let’s be honest, it is a concern about violence, not sex). I have previously justified similar titles (no, I’m not saying what they are) for the same reason – their very length and mature content turns off most casual readers. Readers looking for something salacious will have to wade through many many chapters filled with detail on the Swedish economy and its business interests before getting to anything with prurient value. The book is well-written, it is well-reviewed, it does come from a known and respected publisher and it does "encourage reading." At the point last fall when the concern was voiced, every copy in the system was checked out. Does it merit a warning sticker? No. I’ve done that before and it only leads to more people wanting to check something out that may not be appropriate. We will do what we always do, and explain that we have reading materials for our entire population, which means that not every book is right for every person. This book may not speak to the bulk of our population, but it spoke to me. The power of a young woman standing up despite brutal abuse is a tale that should be told, must be told. The spirit of Lisbeth Salander is one which will make some readers cheer. The fact that the character was based on a real victim only makes the tale more poignant. Brava, Lisbeth. And Brava to those who read that which they are told not to.

"Dave at Night" by Gail Carson Levine

Gail Carson Levine departs from her girl-centered fun fantasy novels here to write a guy-centered fun historical fiction novel. As a librarian, I've had a terrible time "selling" this book because the attempt to describe it "a boy in an orphanage spends his nights enjoying the Harlem Renaissance" tend to fall flat with pre-teens. I did like the book a lot. Ms. Levine strikes a great balance in description by painting a picture that you can see, but not providing "too much" detail (as my students say). The action is fast-paced and engaging and I was able to read the entire book in a relatively short sitting despite its length. The characters are diverse and engaging, particularly that of "Grandfather" Gideon. Unexpected twists, like a slightly insane art teacher who none-the-less inspires, are replete throughout the book. This is clearly a novel aimed at upper elementary, lower middle school students. The language is straight-forward and clean, the characters have life and color but depth is only hinted at. The minor stretches of reality can be forgiven as this isn't a story of a time period as much as it is about a child with a survivor's soul and the events around him. I'm glad our students are reading it in class (it is so much more upbeat and wholesome than the dark tomes we tend to foist on them) and hope the joys of this unique moment in time can be relished by them.

"Welcome to the Ark" by Stephanie Tolan

I was prepared to dislike this book. I chose to read it after a colleague expressed concern that her elementary-aged daughter was asked to read it in class. It was, she felt, far too dark for a fifth grade child. I really wasn't up for yet another apocalyptic, dystopic, violent book. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the plot is *not* another apocalyptic novel. Although violence paints the background of the story, the book mostly focuses on the journeys of self-discovery by four gifted children who are committed to an upscale mental health facility when their unique differences cannot be tolerated by mainstream society. Think more "Escape to Witch Mountain" than "Hunger Games." I found the characters of Miranda, Doug, Taryn and Elijah to be interesting and fun. For the first two-thirds of the book, I liked the various twists and turns and found the mix of prose with poetry and "memos" to be a nice way of moving the tale forward. The book's weakness, in my humble opinion, is not its violence but the degree to which the story is dated. Written in the mid-1990s, Ms. Tolen drew on the explosion of computer technology and the growth of militia groups under the Clinton presidency to predict a "near future" (1999) where the U.S. is besieged by internal and border violence and people are just learning how to connect to one another on the " 'nets." The passage of time has not been kind to this book. In the age of Twitter and Facebook, the awkward electronic interactions depicted are nearly laughable. The unimaginable that has occurred since the printing of this book -- Oklahoma City, Columbine and 9/11, showed our ultimate ability as a society to rise above violence and find our humanity in the face of darkness rather than be consumed by it. Beyond our growth in technology and our powerful history in the last 12 years or so, the book still feels mired in the past. Harking back to a 1970s morality tale, the last third of the book relies on hokey discussions of extra-sensory perception and a hippie-esque wholesomeness ("Goodness overcomes all") that was too much to stomach. In the end, it made for an "okay" read on a snow-day, but not something I would recommend as a class read. I don't feel the violence was over-the-top, but I do feel the writing style and vocabulary were more suited to middle school than elementary. It was a notable book and the first half was good, so it is likely to stick around for a while, but IMHO it has gone past its expiration date. Perhaps it could be used in a Creative Writing class. Given what we know now -- how should the book end?

"Operation Yes" by Sara Lewis Holmes

Much like "Pay It Forward," this book has a tremendously inspirational tone. The story of young people whose parents are serving active duty, and the young teacher who wakes them up from the everyday life of school, brings many smiles and easy page-turning for the reader. Credit is given to Ms. Holmes for creating real characters, child and adult, that are admirable, flawed and quintessentially human. The tale begins with "Bo" -- a squirrelly sixth grader who gets in trouble for basically being a typical sixth grade boy. His new teacher, Ms. Loupe, not only sees his strengths but shows him how to use them to succeed. Enter Gari, Bo's cousin, who comes to live with Bo's family when her mother is posted to Iraq. The stories of these two kids interweave with those in their class and the adults around them. What could be a jangled mess of storylines and perspectives flows nicely. The lessons of the book hold disparate elements together in a clear picture. The choice to make the protagonists sixth grade is also well thought-out. Sixth grade is a magical tipping point -- they are still little kids but have a burgeoning understanding of the greater world slipping in. Bo and Gari are just beginning to understand the serious underpinnings of the military world around them, but they focus on what they can do to improve things ... and are remarkably successful. The book was a delight to read. It voiced messages I like: "Say Yes and..." to life and "Everyone has their battles." I look forward to meeting the author this Spring.

"Code Orange" by Caroline Cooney

I liked Caroline Cooney's earlier works, then felt she "sold out" a tad with "Emergency Room," "Flight 116 is Down," etc. "Goddess of Yesterday" was a welcome return to the Cooney I enjoy. "Code Orange" falls somewhere between the two extremes. Realistic and engaging characters draw you in (much more than the icky cover). Ms. Cooney either knows a lot of teens or she remembers her youth very well. She is also somewhat unapologetic in creating her characters, making Mitty Blake, the lead character in this novel, a genuinely disengaged rich kid who you may have to take a while to warm up to. Mitty's internal monologue of the pointlessness of school is accurate to a fault, not to mention a little humorous. The New York city setting is also a good fit with details evoking strong memories of time I have spent there. Where the novel went off the rails for me, a bit, was an improbable and convoluted plot involving a biology paper, memories of 9/11 and smallpox scabs. While the disease aspect does bring a certain page-turning aspect to the story, the overall level of drama eventually rises, as it must, to a somewhat silly level. It's not that it was screamingly bad, just a poor mix of the actual fear felt during the terrorists attacks mixed with quickly aging scientific and technical data in the book. I was left feeling angst over the dredged-up memories of actual history combined with the knowledge that this novel, written in 2005, lacked the perspective I now have on the events mentioned. This will not be a problem for the students being asked to read it -- they will not remember 9/11, the Anthrax attacks or the general mood of the country in those years. For me, it will never go away. Not sure I'm ready for the fictionalized version, particularly when the voices ring so much like the kids I know. Hopefully, Ms. Cooney will continue writing character-driven books, and not return to these "crisis of the times" novels.

"Moon Over Manifest" by Clare Vanderpool

First-time author Clare Vanderpool has won the lottery. Watching this book rocket to the top 10 of Amazon's sales in the 24 hours after the Newbery was announced was, as always, fun. After a brief dalliance with "cool" when they awarded the annual award to Neil Gaiman's "Graveyard Book" two years ago and the somewhat trippy "When You Reach Me" by Rebecca Stead last year, this year's award committee returned to the Newbery safe-zone ... an historical novel with strong literary underpinnings that was on no one's radar. Keeping with the trend of focusing on the 1910s (is this a 100 year thing?), "Moon Over Manifest" tells a story in two times -- 1936 and 1917/18. When I was growing up, historical fiction was often set in the American Revolution, the Civil War or the Great Depression. This recent attention on America at the time of WWI and the Spanish Influenza is interesting for no other reason than I don't know much about it. Most notably, I enjoyed the 1914 novel "Hattie Big Sky" by Kirby Larson. This book has many similar themes -- the struggle the nation had with the influx of immigrants at the turn of the last century, the building of community in the burgeoning towns of the plains states, the loss of the (very) young men who served the nation in the war -- but it is told from a younger perspective and is much more dense, combining the perspective of the Depression-era present with this colorful decade as a girl searches for her father's presence in a town "with a past." Abilene, our main character, is the kind of plucky 12 year-old that one thinks of in these kinds of books. She is engaging and well-drawn, as are all the characters (although I would skip the unnecessary character list at the beginning). A weighty tome at more than 350 pages, it was an engaging read that I read in one (albeit long) sitting. Mostly realistic and not dark, with a solid mystery or two and just a dash of humor, the story had a nice flow given its time-jumps. Like "Hattie Big Sky," the additional historical information provided at the end of the book is interesting and the titles listed as reference sources are good picks. The only real challenge of this title is the problem with many of the Newbery picks. Other than librarians and English teachers, who will read it? The protagonist is too young to be of interest to older readers and the text too high for many younger ones. I can see it being of interest to those library types who love to read pretty much every Newbery (check out this blog, a friend of a friend: http://lauramitolife.blogspot.com/) but I don't see it as being widely popular, historical fiction being on the wane in general among our wired teens. But then, the Newbery committee, much like the Oscar committee, prides itself on saying their selections aren't about popularity, they are about "quality." I wonder why those two things have to be mutually exclusive. In any case, the book is good, and worth the read, even if it isn't "your kind of thing."

"Will Grayson, Will Grayson" by John Green and David Levithan

Finally! A book I not only loved, but was laugh-out-loud funny. To be fair, I knew I would like it. John Green and David Levithan are not only favorite authors, they are exceptionally cool. When I learned that they wrote a book together, I knew that it would have to be gold. My only sorrow is that it didn't win any of the Printz Honors this year -- it should have won the Medal (IMHO). It did win a Stonewall Honor, a nod to the heavily gay themes (dude, it's David Levithan, what did you expect?). What is notable, for me, is that the gay themes aren't all about *being* gay, rather the entire book is really about teenage love, gay and straight, and how the rushed/over-the-top/confused romantic efforts of the young often go awry. Despite the title (oh yes, it is a tale of two Will Graysons), it is Tiny Cooper who stole my heart. A wild combination of an ex-boyfriend and most of the theatre guys I've known, Tiny is an absolute joy. "Will Grayson, Will Grayson" is an extremely mature book, one with two male protagonists who use the kind of language you are likely to hear on any secondary school campus, but not the kind usually heard in the classrooms. I think that is part of Green and Levithan's gifts as writers -- their characters are rippingly real. Neither one of these guys has forgotten what it was like to be 17. Clearly, their work resonates. The book has been extremely popular here and I understand why. Teens like books that are real, books that are funny, and books that speak to ~them~. This is clearly one of those books. Bravo. Enjoy.

“The Heart is Not a Size” by Beth Kephart

Award-winning adult author Beth Kephart is getting attention for turning her talents to YA fiction. Her latest book, “The Heart is Not a Size” has considerable buzz going into awards season. I can understand the appeal from the award committees. The book is one of those rich literary novels that give English teachers a deep thrill. It’s also one of those YA novels that seem to be labeled YA because of teen protagonists, rather than literary style. For me, the problem is that the literary trappings disguise a meandering plot. It’s a story beautifully told, but not a particularly compelling tale. And it should be. There are strong characters: Georgia and Riley are best friends at one of those moments in life, the end of Junior year, when the pressures of the next step in life seem overwhelming. They decide to spend two weeks in Mexico on a social service project. Georgia wants to find purpose in an overly stable life, Riley wants to escape the confines of her loveless home. The girls are well-off, suitably self-absorbed yet curious, straining at their self-definitions like most teens. The writer tries to focus on Georgia’s internal explorations, but ends up veering along a multitude of storylines. In the end, the teen angst, the prerequisite anorexic, the hints at a blossoming romance, all fall flat. In her acknowledgments, Ms. Kephart states that the book began “as a series of impressions glimpsed,” and that is how it comes off. The impressions one is left with are not unlike the photo essays Kephart made of her actual journey to Juarez. Despite the stabbing attempts at story, the end result is nothing but snapshots, colors, and incredibly rich descriptions. Phrases like “the parabola of sun” were too high-falutin’ for me, and didn’t help connect me to characters I found to be just a tad two-dimensional. This book being a very faint echo of Mackler’s “The Earth, My Butt and Other Big Round Things” and Anderson’s “Catalyst,” I have no doubt that a specific teen reader might find characters to connect to, but to me, they sounded far too much like the life of a teenager remembered rather than created. Georgia sounds like the person I would describe myself as being with 20 years of hindsight. I’m not sure she sounds like one of the teens I interact with who lives “in the moment.” Nonetheless, this book is likely to show up on some recommended lists in the coming month. Read only if it is your cup of tea.

“Ship Breaker” by Paulo Bacigalupi

(Color me surprised. Just as I was finalizing this review, “Ship Breaker” won the Printz Award. Have to say, this will be my least favorite Printz thus far. Please keep in mind that I didn’t think it was a bad book, just not ~~my~~ thing. Much like “No Country for Old Men” I can acknowledge the brilliance without particularly liking it.)

This 2010 National Book Award nominee was, perhaps, not the best choice to read right after concluding the Suzanne Collins series. Filled with dense text worthy of an SAT exam, it is yet another post-apocalyptic, dystopian story of violence and brutalized kids. That being said, the lead character of Nailer is both engaging and encouraging as a born survivor in the bleakest of worlds (although he does seem to spend a good deal of the tale recovering from injuries). I can see boys, in particular, being attracted to this strong male protagonist. Rich vocabulary and a detailed world make for a rather European novel. Given the author’s name and the foreign feel, I was sure this book was a translation. I was quite surprised to discover the author lives in Colorado. The dark tone is apparently typical of the works of Mr. Bacigalupi, who has won both Nebula and Hugo awards for his adult titles. This is the first book he has written for young adults, although the complexity of the novel makes me think the only reason it is labeled “young adult” is because of the age of the main character. It is a worthy read if you don’t mind another gut-wrencher like “Mockingjay.” Enjoy ! ? ! ?