365 Days of Books

Dragon Rider features a dragon, a cranky brownie, a homonculus, a rat, and a boy. Firedrake, a silver dragon, is searching for the Rim of Heaven. The Rim is thought to be a safe haven for dragons and Firedrake is in need of a haven because humans are encroaching on the valley where he and other dragons have been living. Sorrell, a mushroom munching brownie, accompanies him. As they look for clues they pick up a young boy. There is evil looking for them; the great "Golden One" is some sort of super dragon who does not fly and who hunts silver dragons.

Sorrell isn't secure with the other creatures who join the quest but even she can see the positive connections between their journey and different prophecies.

I read this book with several children and the book sparked discussions about dealing with fear and bullies and what makes a family.

This is a lighter story than Inkheart or Thief Lord.

The Wizard's Dilemma is based in the Wizard's Oath which says, in part, "In Life's name and for Life's sake, I say that I will use the Art for nothing but the service of that Life. I will guard growth and ease pain. I will fight to preserve what grows and lives well in its own way; and I will change no object or creature unless its growth and life, or that of the system of which it is part, are threatened...."

In Deep Wizardry Nita faced giving her own life to save other beings and help the world. Here Nita must decide to what lengths she will go to protect one life even at the cost of many. Nita's mother has a cancerous brain tumor and Nita will try any wizardry to try to heal her. As Nita works to learn new ways of working with core essence, she is tempted to place her mother's life above her wizardry. And if Nita has vowed to preserve life of all kinds what will happen when she faces the cancerous cells which have their own life purpose? Nita has been estranged from her wizard partner Kit and during this ordeal she isolates herself even further. She needs help but does not want to taint anyone other than herself.

The Grilling Season is one of a series of mystery books written about Goldy, a caterer in Colorado. In "The Grilling Season" Goldy finds the body of her ex-husband's girlfriend. Dr. Korman had been anabusive husband and the evidence seems to point to him as the cause of this high-powered HMO executive's death.

Goldy would love to see her ex-husband put away or to have him suffer but their teenaged son pleads with her to prove his innocence. Both he and his girlfriend have long lines of abused people in theri pasts, his personal and hers through work. Lots of people hate both of them; was there someone who hated both of them?

Diane Mott Davidson includes recipes in the book and some of them sound good though others do not appeal to me at all.

An aborted book reading. I tried to read this book, I really tried. I've read plenty of books about psychopaths and blood and gore doesn't really bother me too much so that was not the problem. I just could not wade through the interminable listings of all the designer clothes and goods. Paragraph after paragraph describing what each person in the room (or the bar) was wearing and then the corrections of names and designers wore me down. When I realized I was reading by scanning through the name dropping looking for something substantial, I put the book down. I can't face wading through that fluff looking for structure. Unless someone wants to tell me that the plot/story become more interesting>?

The Bone Wars by Kathryn LAsky is a fascinating look at the cutthroat competition for fossil discovery in the Western United States in the 1800's. Told as the story of two young men from very different backgrounds, the history of private collectors and scholarly funded expeditions is tied together with the timeline of the European press into the West and the dislocation of the native peoples. Custer figures into the story quite prominently.

The characters are personable and the plot moves quickly. The details of how dinosaur fossils were found, preserved, and removed are fascinating!

This book was a big hit with 4-7th grade boys. I had to buy another copy so that interested girls had a chance to read it.

Gigi and Lulu's Gigantic Fight is the drama of young school friends contained in a short story. Gigi and Lulu are best friends and do EVERYTHING together. They dress alike, they eat the same foods, and they elicit cheerful and exasperated adult comments about peas and pods. One day they fight over tumbled blocks and declare their friendship finished. When their teacher declares "Twin Day", Gigi and Lucy bring and wear their favorite things to school and are surprised to see their many differences. Since the general audience for hearing this book is unlikely to read this blog I feel safe giving away the ending. Gigi and Lulu learn that their many differences do not bar them from friendship, after all half the fun of freindship is the things we are exposed to that we would never have chosen. Instead of being peas, they can be themselves.

The illustration by Henry Cole are delightful. The characters are drawn as animals and their clothing was colourful and evocative of favorite clothes that Kindergartners love.

Heir Apparent is set in a future where some citizens are trying to limit the access that parents allow their children to video games. Giannine has a gift certificate for a gaming arcade and is determined to use it. She makes her way through a blockade of protestors who carry signs with sayings like "Magic = Satanism" and who yell Bible verses. Inside she engages in a game called "Heir Apparent" where the goal is to become crowned as king in two game "days". While Giannine is immersed in the virtual reality game, linked by brain and body to the hardware of the game, the protestors attack the arcade and damage the machinery.

Mr. Rasmussen sends a projection of himself into the game to warn Giannine that the machines are damaged and she cannot exit the system. He also lets her know that there is danger of an overload the longer she stays in the game and she MUST try to win...for her life.

Giannine makes mistakes and dies over and over again. When she starts seeing the characters as real people is it a symptom of the coming overload of the system or something else altogether.

Woven into the game, Giannine sees reflections of her relationship with her emotionally distant father.

I picked this book up at a Scholastic Book Fair and apparently a large portion of the Middle School was intrigued by the title and blurb on this book.

A lot of fun.

In Gregor the Overlander Gregor follows his baby sister down a grate in the basement laundromat of their building. Far beneath the streets of New York City is a world of giant rats, cockroaches, spiders, bats, and a group of humans who entered this hidden world centuries ago. Life in the underland is dangerous and diplomacy keeps many of the groups working together or at least living together. The rats do not work for peaceful living; they are looking for total world domination.

How do Gregor and his sister fit into this world? Can they find their way home again?

Suzanne Collins has done a great job in sketching and filling this underworld. The political background doesn't have huge holes and the characters are substantial and interact in ways that feel real.

I have recommended this book to two sets of brothers ages 9-14, a 12 year old girl (who tells me that half her class is reading it - the other half are reading the next book I'll blog), and teachers of a 4-6th grade classroom and a 7-8th grade classroom.

Survivors - True Stories of Children in the Holocaust contains eight stories of children who survived the Holocaust. Each story is different as each child experienced the war and Holocaust in in a unique way. Whether hiding in plain sight by pretending not to be Jewish or fighting in a ghetto or hiding in the attic crawl space of frightened but accomodating neighbours the suffering in the stories is harrowing and strong. The hope (and sometimes lack of hope) brings an appreciation of life and sadness for the family members who were killed.

This book is not too sad because all these children survived but it is a disturbing book filled with acts of cruelty and hate applied to innocent people.

An excellent book for older children or adults. If you are planning on visiting the Holocaust Museum with your children, this would be a good book to read with them to help them realize the extent to which children were affected by the holocaust. The Diary of Anne Frank does not lead one to understand that there were many children in the extermination camps or to understand the many ways that parents worked to keep their children free.

A Wizard Abroad is the fourth book in the So You Want To Be A Wizard series by Diane Duane. Nita's parents are worried about her relationship with Kit so they send her to visit her Aunt Annie in Ireland for a few weeks. Nita is careful to let them know that she will still be a wizard on call even while on vacation. Ireland turns out to be a mess of magic. Spells done there linger for centuries so that the common magic Nita is used to doing can have serious consequences.

Nita meets many wizards and gets an expanded understanding of how the management structure works internationally. Nita becomes a connector of sorts between people of different ranks, the Powers, and sifferent types of non-human beings. During the peace and fighting, Nita's interest is distracted from Kit but not in the way her parents had hoped.

Charlie Bone and the Invisible Boy is the third in the Charlie Bone series.

Charlie is making more friends at school and the "endowed" students are choosing between Good Guy Charlie and the evil Bloors and Yewbeams. A beautiful and strange girl has arrived at Bloor Academy; she has strong ties with the Yewbeam sisters. Does that make her evil?

In previous books Billy Raven has been lured into spying for old Mr. Bloor; can Charlie ever trust him?

Charlie is almost totally unsupervised by the adults in his life. The good adults who stay involved are at risk though they do take care of ligistics that children would not be able to handle, like driving someone to a safe place.

Charlie and his friends help to reunite a family but Charlie's family is still separated...and is his mother dating?

Frances and Ginger Park tell the story of their mother's escape from North Korea in My Freedom Trip.

Told through the voice of young Soo the journey from North to South Korea resonates with the fear and incomprehension of a child travelling with a stranger for mysterious reasons. Soo must trust her mother and father and Mr. Han and in the end there is a hole in her life.

Several publishers showed interest in "My Freedom Trip" but wanted the PArk sisters to change the ending to make it happier. I'm glad they didn't make that change. The story is what the story is and children do suffer losses. The way that life goes on and people can lead fulfilling lives that count is an important lesson.

In Santa's Stuck Santa stops for a cookie and a rest at a house on Christmas Eve. Then he loses control and stuffs himself so full of Christmas goodies that he gets stuck in the chimney on his way out. The reindeer and household pets work to free him and the combined efforts of them all plus a house mouse finally free Santa.

Logically this book doesn't make sense? Why does he eat it all at one house instead of a progressive snacking that builds up to the getting stuck? Of course, that would be a totally different book and if I want it that way then I should write my own story.

Henry Cole's illustrations are full of energy and personality. Even the stockings and the upholstered chair tell us about the house and the family that lives there.

Amusing and reads well out loud but it doesn't bring out the enthusiasm of a holiday favorite.

Charlie Bone and the Time Twister is second in the Charlie Bone series.

Charlie Bone is still at Bloor's Academy. In this book we learn more about his fellow endowed students and some of the faculty and staff at Bloor's. While Charlie's circle of friends and supporters is widening, the next mystery is very close to him. The Time Twister has brought a boy out of the past into Charlie's time; this isn't just any boy, this is Charlie's Great-Great-Uncle Henry who is only a boy of 11.

The Bloor's and Charlie's weird and mean Grandmother and Aunts want to catch Henry and their plans are not friendly. Charlie must figure out how to save Henry while strengthening the community of good and helpful endowed students. Not all the endowed students are on the side of good, some of them are openly following the evil Bloor patriarch. Can Charlie and his friends band together in order to do good? Can they send Henry back to his own time? Will Charlie figure out what happened to his father?

These books were a big hit with the 3-7th grade children who recommended them to me.

Midnight for Charlie Bone is the first in the Charlie Bone series. Charlie is a regular kid who lives with his mother, uncle, and two grandmothers. He has a best friend, Benjamin, who lives across the street and while it isn't an easy life it suits him. Then one day Charlie looks at a photo and he can hear the people in the picture speaking. Suddenly Charlie's paternal grandmother and her two sisters are very interested in Charlie. It seems that strange talents run in his family. His Grandmother and Great-Aunts insist that he leave his day school and attend the creepy Bloor Academy boarding school for geniuses. Strange talents are a sort of genius, I guess.

Charlie meets wonderful friends and abusive enemies at Bloor. He finds a great mystery of a missing girl and works with his old and new friends and his Uncle Paton to save the little girl and to make things right. A mystery about Charlie's dead father also pops up but is not solved in this book. I figured out who his father is, will you?

This book was fun and not very scary.

A Stolen Life is a fictional account of a girl who is spirited away from her home and position in Scotland and sold as a bond servand in the United States.

Jamesina is a fiesty teenager who has a vision of the death of her father and brothers. The death of her father and younger brother are confirmed which leads her to believe that her older brothers, soldiers in America, are also dead. These deaths make Jamesina the heir to the Mackenzie of Grudidh lands. Since her father fought against the King of England, having a young woman as heir is a dangerous position.

Jamesina goes into hiding as a male apprentice but her disguise gets her into unforseen trouble when she is kidnapped by men who will sell her as an indentured servant. Jamesina is soon revealed as a girl and separated from the boys who have also been spirited away. After a long journey to America, Jamesina and two young men are sold to a plantation owner in Virginia. Slowly they become part of the household and learn of the laws governing indentured servants and the legal recourse that could be available to them in the courts. Jamesina can read and write and so prepares letters to the judges of her area. She gets help from a slave who also writes a letter which reaches the proper authorities. Jamesina loses her letters in a scuffle and is resold to a newly released servant who is moving even farther away from the city and plantations.

Trials and tribulations abound. Things look bleak when Jamesina and her companion are captured by Cherokees. Will Jamesina end her days as a slave in a Cherokee village, go back to the life of an indentured servant, or somehow find her way back to her family?

In I Am The Ice Worm Allison Atwood has left her father's comfortable condo in California to visit her mother in Alaska. Allison hold hope in her heart that her mother will return with her to California and reunite with Allison's father so that they can be a whole happy family again. Allison is used to a life of ease, well provided by her father, and lots of care and support provided by her mother. Divorce has left her feeling very left out.

On the last leg of Allison's journey to the village in the Artic where her mother teaches, her plane crashes and the pilot is killed. What will happen now? Can this warm-blooded city girl survive. This is no Hatchet; an Inupiat hunter finds the wreckage and takes her home with him. Allison feels rescued but her journey to her mother has just begun. Through interactions with the Inupiat people and observation Allison learns about what people really need. She sees firsthand the changes, positive and negative, that the outside world has brought to this isolated group of people.

We've had two lovely chilly and underscheduled days to sit by the fire and read between games of Scrabble.

The Supernaturalists are not people who really love going without clothes (joke from the book) they are a group of people who can (for different reasons) see otherwise invisible aliens. Cosmo Hill is an orphan of some sort, he was abandoned, found, and given over to a home for non-sponsored children. At the Clarissa Frayne Home, the government makes some of their expense back by using the children as testers for dangerous products or some not so dangerous products with nasty side effects (like antiperspirants that itch and burn when applied to scraped skin).

After an accident and forced escape, Cosmo almost dies and suddenly he can see strange blue creatures sucking the life force out of him and his friend. A group of young people show up, blast the creatures, and save Cosmo. They reveal themselves as Supernaturalists who aim to save people from the strange aliens. They say that the aliens seem to be multiplying faster and faster. There is intrigue and misunderstanding with both a moral victory and the acknowledgement that the "evil" keeps on but moves to a less obvious place.

Great characters and interesting plot and much better in my opinion than the Artemis Fowl books.

Elspeth Huxley spent most of her childhood in Kenya and her earliest experiences are chronicled in her book The Flame Trees of Thika.

The Mottled Lizard picks up Elspeth's life after the War. Elspeth and her family return to Kenya and Thika. Elspeth's parents, Robin and Tilly, work endlessly and yet can't seem to get ahead. Unlike some of their fellow colonists, they fully enjoy the land and their experiences as they live them. Other people become bogged down in the hardships or else let go of all responsibility and party until their lives collapse.
Elspeth writes anonymous reviews of country life and polo matches for pocket money and raises a cheetah and other animals. She is very matter of fact about her hunting for food and the interior dialogue that she engages in after going on hunting safari. She relates much of the gossip that surrounded her with a laugh at herself for having missed most of the implications. I found her description of interations between the colonists, Kikuyu, Wakambi, Dorodo, and Masai very interesting. She is able to see differences in how each set of people understands the world affects their interactions. She also sets forth different views from people around her about civilization and what it really means...from those who feel that the colonists are losing their civilized ways to those who feel that real civilization comes from totally abandoning Western ways. Elspeth's descriptive language is exquisite.

I bought this copy at the thrift store for .60 but as I read the book fell apart. I'll probably buy another copy to keep next to Flame Trees of Thika.

I also recommend No Picnic on Mount Kenya. This is a cross between a travelogue and The Great Escape. Three Italians escape from a British POW camp in East Africa in order to climb Mount Kenya. Their plan is to escape, climb the mountain, and sneak back into camp. Neither the escape nor the climb is as easy as imagined but the strength of human spirit and the boredom and ennui of war camp are brightly displayed.

Darn! I can't believe I didn't check to see if this book was out in paperback before I bought two copies! Live and learn. A Strong Right Arm: The Story of Mamie "Peanut" Johnson is a biography written in the first voice by a 2nd person, Michelle Green. It's an unusual process but it works well in this book.

Mamie Johnson was one of three women who played in the Negro Leagues. The All American League (thinkA League of our own) wasn't interested in Negro women. Mamie was a tough pitcher who learned her curveball from Satchel Paige.

A great story but there was a missing section of Mamie's life between her playing in the PAL league in New Jersey and having finished high school and living back with her mother in DC. I understand that some things must be cut for space considerations but I would have liked to see that part of her life.

In The Car by Gary Paulsen, Terry is a 14 year old boy who has always fel like an invisible member of his family. When his parents leave each other, each assuming that the other would take Terry, he feels less lonely than he did when they were in the house. Terry puts together a car from a kit (full sized) and takes off across country to find an uncle he vaguely remembers.

Before Terry has travelled far he meets Waylon. Waylon brings Terry to Wayne and together the three of them travel along learning. Learning about people, learning about asking questions, learning about history, learning about themselves.

When the chance comes for Terry to leave Wayne and Waylon and to head on toward his uncle, he will learn where his interests and loyalties really lie.

The Day I Swapped My Dad For Two Goldfish written by Neil Gaiman and illustrated by Dave McKean tells the journey of a dad swapped around town by a string of children (he's not very exciting). As one of my children pointed out "That Dad wasn't very involved. He just let them swap him and didn't do or say anything!" True, there is much more interaction between children. Even the mother and a passing police officer have more to say than Dad.

I bought the edition that came with a cd of Neil Gaiman reading the story. His voice is lighter and younger than I expected. We listened to the cd in the car for THREE DAYS. Then I took it out of the car and limited us to reading the story ourselved for at least a week. The book and cd went to school (1st-3rd grade classroom) and were a big hit. I'm told that after a group reading the cd player and headphones were booked all afternoon.

I giggled when I saw Tears of the Giraffe labelled as "Mystery/Thriller" at the bookstore. The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series is the epitome of lowkey mystery with no thriller at all. In some parts of the world there is a heat that settles over the middle of the day. During that time of day you might lounge in the shade and watch the slow motion activities of those neighbours who insist on being out and about. This series feels like that sort of time and place. Every mystery plays out at a measured, respectful pace; there are no great surprises just foibles and failings of human beings exposed (or not) with a regard for the people involved. No lurid sex, no outstanding violence here.

It is a great series but very light; a 220 page book may take only an hour to read. At $11.95 for a paperback copy that is expensive reading. I got this particular book at the thrift store for .80 so if you are looking for a bargain keep your eyes open.

Miles' Song by Alice McGill

Miles is a house slave on the Tillery Plantation. He was caught looking at a book and sent off to the "Breaking Ground" so that his spirit and curiosity will be beaten and worked out of him. House slaves live a much better life than field slaves and Miles is used to proper speaking, clean clothes, good food, and better treatment than the overseers usually hand out. The breaking grounds are an education for Miles in how owners expect slaves to act. Elijah, another slave at the breaking ground, gives Miles a very different sort of education by teaching him to read and write and how to use cunning and appearances (looks and actions) to deceive.

When Miles is returned to his owners' land, he speaks like a field hand and asks to be sent out of the house into the fields with the other slaves. Elijah has led Miles to believe that being out in the fields will make it easier to escape to freedom. Miles loves his surrogate mother, Mama Cee, and cannot leave her behind but will Elijah understand? Are there slaves who will betray the freedom seekers?

Trickster's Queen is sequel to Trickster's Choice. Aliane, daughter of the spymaster of Tortall, runs away from home in search of adventure and in a fit of temper. Adventure finds her! She is taken by pirates and sold as a slave in the Copper Islands. In Choice Aly is sold to a leading family who is in disgrace. The Trickster God Kyprioth has plans for Aly; her spying skills and quick wits help the family survive and bring power to Kyprioth.

In Trickster's Queen, the family is back in the capitol city and the raka revolution is at hand. Sarai, the expected Queen to be, is anxious at the stress and does not seem solid in her leadership. Aly struggles to keep the chain of rebellion linked, to manage her "job" as maid, and her love life with crow turned man Nawat.

The cost of rebellion, even against a corrupt regime, is spelled out many ways. Innocent people will suffer and die and the rebellion must weigh the costs and benefits. Unfortunately the regime cares only about retaining power. Perhaps the rebels can make this work for them even as they despise the attitude.

Aly is also playing a risky game by keeping secret from the rebellion her ties to Tortall.

A nice series from the author of the Alanna series and the Circle of Magic series directed at older readers.

Strong smart female characters are a signature of Tamora Pierce.

The Ordinary Princess is Amethyst, seventh daughter of the king and queen of Phantasmorania. Seventh princesses are usually extremely gifted, beautiful, and sweet tempered. Amethyst starts out that way but, against her father's wishes, her mother and the leaders of the realm plan a grand christening with fairies invited. The Queen assures the King that all fairies have been invited and there will be no "Sleeping Beauty Incidents". Ah well, the best laid plans of Kings and Queens gang aft astray. On the great day traffic is horrible and this annoys the greatest fairy who is grumpy when she arrives and reads the list of normal and magical gifts given to the 7th princess. She gifts (or curses) the princess with being ordinary.

An ordinary life suits Amy and she makes the most of it until all her older sisters are married and gone and it becomes her turn to get married. Horrified at the plan to rent a dragon to trash the countryside and thus lure in a Prince to save the country and win her in marriage, Amy runs away.

Amy lives in the woods until her clothing starts to fall apart. She makes her way to a town and gets a job in the kitchen to earn enough for a new dress. Can there be a future outside of kitchen wench for Amy? Will she meet people who can be her friends? Someone to love? At least people expect a kitchen wench to be ordinary.

Little Little is a coming of age story muddled by the main characters' extra differences. Little Little is a dwarf about to celebrate her 18th birthday. Her parents have always tried to make her life as normal as possible but when her mother starts to limit her interactions to other "diminuitives"...well, there is nothing that makes you feel so weird as to be segregated with other outsiders. Within the dwarf community there are strata of looks, lumps, and money. Can Little Little find friends outside the approved group? Are looks more important than people think and how does one see beneath the facade of public persona? Little Lion is a charismatic preacher and Sidney Cinnamon dresses as a roach for a living; they both reach out to Little Little and she responds to both of them

Deep Wizardry and High Wizardry are sequels to Diane Duane's book

So You Want To Be A Wizard.

Nita and Kit find wizardry handbooks (the books are only visible/available to pre-wizards). They take the oath of wizardry and embark on adventures to help others and to heal the rift caused by the Lost One/Lone Power. In Deep Wizardry Nita and Kit are called to help the undersea community in a healing song to quiet the bound power. Too late they realize that the cost of this wizardry might be more than they thought...and there is no easy way out. During the ordeal Nita must tell her parents and sister about her powers and job. In High Wizardry, Nita's little sister receives a software version of the handbook and starts out on her journey without assistance or full understanding of what the risks and responsibilities are. Her journeywoman task is not clear to her but Nita and Kit rush to help her by direct assistance or by distracting the tricky evil.

I don't really like these books but I can't say why. Meanwhile, I have three more of the series in the pile. Maybe I can figure out what I don't like by the time I finish them.

The Sea of Trolls is as imaginative and stirring as Nancy Farmer's other books and her characters are engaging and variably motivated. The Sea of Trolls differs from some of her books by having less ethical/moral stress and more fun story (though the story is stressful at times since the protaganist is in danger and works through lots of problems).

Jack is apprentice to the village Bard when his village is pillaged by berserkers. Jack and his young sister are kidnapped and taken to Iceland; Jack as personal bard to Olaf One Brow and his sister as a gift to the half-troll Queen. Berserkers turn out to be real people with families and the Queen is much more dangerous than Jack had imagined. Lots or adventures in lands populated by wonderful and dangerous animals and plants.

This is a keeper.