Rules- Cynthia Lord

I usually try to read the Newbery winner as well as the Honor books, but sometimes it takes awhile before I get to them all. Rules , Newbery honor book, was recommended to me by the Junior Autism teacher at my school, and I can understand why. It strikes me as a very honest book; one that shows the difficulties of having a younger autistic brother from the perspective of a twelve-year old. Since David’s needs are greater than Catherine’s, she sometimes feels that she is shunted aside in favour of her brother. She finds herself torn at times, between her need to be able to live her own “normal” life and the one in which David needs to be always considered first. When she meets Ryan, a young man in a wheel chair, who uses a book of words to communicate, she is drawn into a friendship with him. But this presents another conundrum, as her new neighbour, Kristi, with whom she wants to be friends, suggests she invite Ryan to the school dance. Conflicted about her relationnship with Ryan, and her need for acceptance, she eventually is able to make some difficult but courageous decisions. I like Catherine and you can’t help but like David, and you come to have a better understanding of the changes an autistic child can make in a family. It reminds me of Beverly Brenna’s Wild Orchid, shortlisted for the Snow Willow award in 2006 and a very astute look at an older girl with Asperger’s Syndrome. I highly recommend these for all libraries, although Wild Orchid might be most appropriate for your Young Adult section.

Schooled- Gordon Korman

Schooled was just announced as the winner of the Snow Willow award, part of the Saskatchewan Young Readers’ Awards. No real surprise here; this has been popular with students from grade 5 and up. Here is my review of the book.

Well-known author of the Bruno and Boots series, the Island, Dive and Everest trilogies, Korman has written a funny and yet heart-warming novel about a young man, Capricorn, who has been raised in a commune and is suddenly thrust into the real world. When Capricorn’s hippie granmother breaks her hip, Capricorn has to attend school for the first time in his life. The kids who run Claverage Middle School always choose the biggest geek to be the school president, and then proceed to make his life sheer torture. Hugh Winkleman has the job sewn up until Cap arrives on the scene in his home-made sandals, hemp clothes and his habit of performing tai chi on the front lawn. Who could be a better president than that? Capricorn is duly elected and then is subjected to all the worst forms of cruelty and bullying. Where most students would break, Cap seems to be unfazed by them until one act goes a little too far. Prepare for some good laughs, some sad moments and the surprising ending.

Deer Sylvia- Alan Cumyn

Honest, it’s how Owen spells dear! And that isn’t his only misspelling in a series of letters he writes to his dear Sylvia. Although I did not read Secret Life of Owen Skye and After Sylvia, I am imagining they are quite as delightful as this book was. A novel that is aimed at around a grade 3/4 level is nice to find. This has just the right amount of humour, true-to-life situations and a very appealing writing style making it accessible to lots of children in that age group. Owen’s Sylvia has left and has left him with a stack of stamped envelopes so he can write her letters. And write he does but never has enough courage to send them. First, he can’t decide on how to sign them- is Love, Owen, a bit too forward? Then he recognizes his problem with spelling and worries she might think less of him. Then they get wet and on and on and on! Although he obviously still sees Sylvia from time to time, he still doesn’t have the confidence he needs to mail all these letters. The ending is rather delightful. In his last letter, he says, ” So I am wrapping this box in lots of plastic and tinfoil and more plastic and I even have a metal box that Sadie found for me. I am going back to the old house. And I will bury the box by the apple tree in a spot I can’t forget because I looked at that tree all my life so far from up and down. And I will not dig them up again until we have our first child. Wherever we are in Elgin or anywhere else I will go back to the apple tree and find them for you.” Who could resist the romance of that letter? Hopefully, not Sylvia. It was fun to read something light and easy and worth recommending to my younger students. The cover is rather cute as well and drew me to the book. What more can you ask?

The Other Side of Truth- Beverley Naidoo

My first encounter with Beverley Naidoo was Chain of Fire which I read many years ago. I was mesmerized; partly because of the fierce quality of her writing; partly because my husband grew up in Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) and also in Jo’burg. We have close friends who regularly go back to South Africa and tell us what it is still really like over there. The Other Side of Truth is a story from Nigeria about an episode in this country’s violent history. Twelve-year old Sadie and her brother Femi are the children of a journalist who believes in wriring the truth; even if unpopular and dangerous. Unfortunately, as he is targeted by the corrupt military governmnet, their mother is shot and killed. Faced with the brutal acknowledgemnet that his work has endangered his family, their father smuggles them out of Nigeria. In London, they are to meet up with their uncle, who has mysteriously disappeard, and abandoned by the woman who travelled with them, they end up entering the system for refugee children. terrified to speak the truth, Sade gives out false names and Femi withdraws deep within himself. Naidoo does an excellent job of portaying the emotions and anxieties of the children and through Sade’s flashbacks, allowing us to participate in the horror that they have come out of. Although this story took place in the early 1990’s, as we continue to be bombarded by stories of life in various countires of Africa, we feel that it could still be a story happening today. recently, there have been a fair number of novels written which give us a and our students a greater global awareness. I will be reviewing more of these in the upcoming weeks.

Victory- Susan Cooper

Finally, I figured out how to insert a picture again- thanks, Jennifer. I think it’s so much nicer to have a visual for the book you’re reading about.

Victory is another outstanding novel by Susan Cooper, well-known author of The Dark is Rising sequence. True to form, there is always a fantastical twist to her stories and this is no exception. The story follows the lives of two eleven-year old children, but that is where the similarity ends. Sam Robbins is an 1800’s farm boy who has been pressed to serve in the navy, along with his uncle. Treated like a slave with little hope of escape, Sam gradually discovers in himself a love for the sea and becomes part of the great Battle of Trafalgar, where Lord Nelson meets his demise. The story is first person and past tense. We are also a part of Molly’s world, two hundred years later. This is told in present tense and third person narrative. This will enable readers to transition between the parallel plot lines most readily. Although there seems to be no likely connection between these two characters, Cooper gradually brings their lives closer together through Molly’s unusual interest in HMS Victory and an old book, The Life of Nelson, discovered in a quaint bookstore! I wonder just how much that bookstore owner really knew! The connection she feels becomes even stronger when she finds a piece of the flag left in a secret hiding place in the book. Molly is facing her own trials; her life having been uprooted from her home in England to America. Sam, of course, is focused on survival. Cooper seamlessly weaves the stories together and effortlessly leads you to the meshing of stories. This novel combines the genres of fantasy with a solid foundation in historical fiction- one of my favourite blends! This would suit adventure loving boys, history lovers and girls who are struggling with their own life’s circumstances. An excellent and highly recommended read! I am quite tempted to go back and read The Dark is Rising series all over again!

Tree Girl- Ben Mikaelsen

I first became a Mikaelsen fan after reading Touching Spirit Bear which has been a hit with teachers and students alike. The next book I read was Red Midnight, another amazing read about an unbelievable escape from Guatemala in a sea kayak, which the author manages to make quite believable. My most recent read was Tree Girl, and once again, Mikaelsen has taken a piece of history and brought it to life. Fifteen year old Gabriella’s life in Guatamala is filled with the ordinary happenings of village life, with the highlight being the celebration of her birthday. One of her great joys has been her ability to climb the tall trees of the forest, earning her nickname. She has had the unprecedented privilege of going to school, and one day her teacher and other students are ruthlessly slaughtered. Running home to her village, she is shocked by a scene of horror and destruction. rescuing only a younger brother and sister, she runs for their very lives, She is not able to keep her little brother alive and continues to attempt to find safe haven for her and her little sister. Entering what appears to be a safe village, she climbs into the safety of the highest branches and from that vantage point, witnesses another horrendous slaughter. Having lost her sister, she vows to never again climb a tree, and with great hardship, works her way to a refugee camp. There she must begin to decide how she will be able to find a future for herself, never giving up hope that she may be re-united with her little sister. Gabriella is a young woman with tremendous courage in the face of unimaginable horror. That this stort has its basis in historical fact, is once again an appalling reminder of what so many people in te world endure. This is an excellent novel for young people to examine another culture and become more aware of the world we live in.

The Saver- Edeet Ravel

It always amazes me how people can read the same book and come up with opposite impressions. When I picked up this novel, The Saver, about Fern, a teenager who has just lost her mother and has to learn how to fend for herself, I found her to be a believable, ambitious and a little bit eccentric, character. I enjoyed following her in her determination to find work and her way of sharing or venting her daily exploits by writing to an imaginary friend on another planet. Even though you are patently aware that she does not actually believe in this friend, it becomes an outlet for her that she might not have otherwise had. In telling Xanoth about her daily travails, I believe she is better able to deal with the loss of her mother. Sometimes I think that I too easily, suspend my disbelief and am swept up into story. For indeed, I found this book was a page-turner, and I cheered Fern on as she coped with her new life’s situation. Even though some of it may have been a bit of a stretch, I believe young people may well be encouraged as they read of this young woman’s courage and determination. So hats off to you, Fern- for the inspiration you may become!

Marty Chan

As a teacher-librarian in an elementary school, we use Literature Circles as one of our reading and discussion strategies. We have just begun this using mystery novels with a grade 5 classroom. One of the novels we are using is The Mystery of the Mad Science Teacher by Mart Chan. There are five boys in the group and to say they are engaged, would be an understatement. I sat in on their discussion on Friday and it was a joy to watch them chuckle together as they read interesting passages and wondered what would happen next as the end of Chapter three left them hanging and they knew they couldn’t read ahead. In this group is a young man who has had resource room help through the years and generally is placed with a group that has similar needs. We really wanted to make the groups heterogeneous and based on interest and it was a privilege to see this young man as he joined in the discussion with his peers. They are a fine group as they included him as they would anyone else and I believe we will see our young man’s self-esteem blossom. We specifically requested the parents to read with their son at home and the resource room teacher is also helping with his roles during her time with them.

Marty Chan is also the author of The Case of the Graffiti Ghouls, winner of the Diamond Willow Award for 2007 for Saskatchewan Young Readers’ Award and The Mystery of the Frozen Brains. Each of these has the same main characters which lends to their enjoyment. We also had the opportunity to have Marty as an author visit to my school last year and he was an enormous hit. His humour is understated, droll but he has an absolute twinkle in his eye at all times. The children loved him and I would recommend him highly.

Here are the novels we are using for this unit this time!

The Time Travelers- Linda Buckley-Archer

The Time Travelers is the first of a series called The Gideon Trilogy. The cover suggests that it is for “kids who love Harry Potter.” Although it certainly falls into the fantasy category, there is not really a lot to compare. Nonetheless, this is once again a well-written, interesting fantasy. Pete and Kate, recent acquaintances, are propelled back in time to England of 1763 through an antigravity machine that Kate’s father has been working on. There they are befriended and cared for by Gideon, sometime cutpurse turned honest. Even more terrifying than being swept back into a world which is barely recognizable, is the fact that the notorious Tar Man has their gravity machine and wants to make a deal with them for it. As Pete and Kate travel across England with Gideon and some other very interesting characters, they meet up with adventures you might expect in an England of lawless times. I believe this author has done her research well; the language. the clothing, the characterization has a ring of authenticity. It becomes more intriguing as Pete and Kate discover they can “fade” back to their own world where they appear ghost-like in outlandish costume. Although Kate’s father begins to recognize what has happened, he and his colleagues deem it wise not to release what they believe is happening, much to the annoyance of the inspector in charge of the case.

Again, this is a novel that I found most engaging and would likely appeal to readers from about grade 5 and up. High school fantasy readers might also find themselves engrossed in this tale. Indeed, once again, I will be interested in continuing this series for my own reading pleasure.

Some adult reads!

I do find a bit of time here and there to read some grown-up books and although it is not my intent to review them in any depth, these are ones I would recommend and enjoyed.

A Thousand Splendid Suns- Khaleo Hosseini- No surprises here in terms of excellence. Afgahanistan from the viewpoint of two women. Tremendous- couldn’t put it down.

Peony in Love- Lisa See -Although the title sounds a little trite, and is indeed a love story, this book is alo a marvellous exploration of the Chinese belief in the after-world. A fun and quite intriguing read.

Second Glance- Jodi Piccoult – I became a fan of this author after reading My Sister’s Keeper, a heart-stopping novel about hard choices. Second Glance was quite different in that it explores love lost and regained by bringing in a supernatural, ghostly element. Quite enjoyable and a nice contrast to Peony in Love. On the other hand, I haven’t loved everything by this author. Mercy had me crying for mercy through the unending love scenes and drawn-out court case. I couldn’t seem to feel much empathy for the characters, and above all, I like strong characterization in a novel.

Just finished eat, pray, love by Elizabeth Gilbert. Autobiographical in nature, this is the story of one woman’s journey to make some sense of her life. The title says it all as those are the steps she takes. eating her way through Italy, praying and learning to meditate in India and falling deeply in love in Bali. It is a book that can challenge as I realize how little time we sometimes put into our search for God.