365 Days of Books

La Linea by Ann Jaramillo tells a story of what it might be like to illegally cross the southern border into the United States. Ann Jaramillo uses her experiences with immigrant students to flesh out the thoughts and emotions of her characters. These characters are so real that they could be the children in your class or the man next door.

This is not an easy story just as the trip into the US is not easy. There are encounters with robbers mention of and fear of rape.

Another great book! The Bone Collector's Son by Paul Yee is set in Vancouver during the early 1900's. Bing is a chinese boy living in Vancouver with his father, a bone collector, and many male relatives. Bing's father used to be successful but now gambles and loses. He wants Bing to help him dig up the skeleton's of chinese men and send them home to China for proper treatment. Bing's father says he doesn't believe in ghosts but Bing starts to see things that can only be the work of spirits. Bing tries to find a place for himself in a city struggling with the impact of immigration and racism.

Nicely written, not too scary, a fine glimpse at turn of the century life but with magic added in.

I really enjoyed Song Quest. I would not recommend this to "the child who keeps asking for the next Harry Potter" as the blurb on the cover suggests because Harry Potter is Harry Potter and this will not satisfy. I liked this book better than Dia Calhoun's series though are set in universes that seem familiar. In Song Quest the Singers can alter feelings and memories using songs. Singers are limited to those trained and suitable and training starts very early so that many are weeded out as they reach puberty. Rialle is more sensitive than most Singers and she can hear the voices of other species on the planet; this makes her suitable to be an ambassador. Though she is very young she is soon sent on an adventurous mission to find and heal the problem that is affecting so many species.

There is lots of magic and many subtle lessons on the ability for people to change, appearances being misleading, and the place of each species in the world cycle.

Noodles by Sarah Weeks and David Carter I recently bought a second copy of this book. I've been looking for an affordable copy since 1997 - that's when we were gifted with a copy of this lovely book. This is a popup book for kids that love food or for children of parents who want them to love food and words. Each double page has a pasta and a movement. Ollie and Mollie Farfalle were my favorites but my daughter particularly liked Gertie Gemelli.

Lots of fun to look at and read aloud!

Summerland by Michael Chabon blends the magic and wonder of baseball with tall tales and fairy tales. In Summerland the branches of realities are melded together and the process and glory of baseball help keep the worlds together but trickster coyote is trying to separate the universes and bring an end to the mythical worlds. Good people, strange people, and not quite good and not quite people join in the battle that asks us to care for each other and feel the rythym of the game.

That sounds rich and deep but it is a surprising light story and in some ways unsatisfying in its predictability.

Blankets by Craig Thompson

This is a graphic novel about the struggle of life. In this case the struggle between brothers, between child and parents, outcast and society, self and self, and intellectual and spiritual curiosity in a restrictive religious community. The main character tries to sort out his place in the world, his beliefs, his feelings all while trying on the definitions of his parents, school, girlfriend, etc. until he finds him own way. Sure, we all do this in our lives (right?) but Craig Thompson does it within a graphic novel in a beautifully articulated manner.

Vows: The Story of a Priest, a Nun, and Their Son by Peter Manseau was very interesting. I know people who grew up in the Roman Catholic Church following Vatican II and I've heard their stories of the shock and delight of guitar masses, priests and nuns who seemed human and caring about real life, and priests and nuns who thought they would soon marry. Peter Manseau's parents were right in the middle of this time living as people whyo had dedicated their lives to the church. They re-evaluated the meaning of their vows in light of the new ways of studying the Bible and theology and were married. We now know that at the same time the Roman Catholic church in the Us was also hiding sexual abuse by priests and shaming their victims into silence. From the present Peter Manseau re-evaluates how both the sexual abuse scandal and Vatican II affted his parents and made his life possible and complicated.

Very interesting!