Book Review: The Explosionist

The Explosionist by Jenny Davidson. (Grades 7+)

I don't know if I can do this book justice with a summary, but I'll try. :) Also, the last half of this post may contain some spoilers, so be warned!

It's 1938 in an alternate history in which Napoleon won the battle of Waterloo and Europe is now united and on the brink of war with Scotland and the other countries in the Hanseatic League. Fifteen-year-old Sophie is just trying to make it through. She has a fairly mortifying crush on her chemistry professor and hopes to go to university if she passes her exams. She lives with her great-aunt Tabitha who often holds seances and it's through one of these seances that she meets Mrs. Tansy, a medium who delivers a chilling warning to Sophie. When Mrs. Tansy is murdered, Sophie is determined to find out who killed her. As she uncovers more information, Sophie suddenly finds herself swept up in a terrifying political plot and she might be the only thing that stands between her country and a war to end all wars.

Okay, I loved this book. Sophie pretty much had me at hello. I loved her from the first chapter. And every time I felt a little bogged down with trying to puzzle out this alternative world, some new little factoid or invention would pop up and suck me right back into the story. Seriously, I found this alternative world fascinating.

There's been a little debate on the sci-fi verses fantasy thing. I'm talking about this review at Tor and Colleen's counter. When I was reading Colleen's post, I disagreed with her about some things. I mean, talking to dead people is fantasy. Call me a non-believer. Fine. But communing with the spirits is not science fiction. It's fantasy. But once I finished the book and thought about it a bit, I started to come around. I mean... in this world technology exists that did not exist in our 1938. So... why not a way to harness the energy of the spirit? I still think it's fantasy when you're talking about our world, but in this alternate historical world... I can suspend my disbelief and buy it.

And also (perhaps more to the point), I don't happen to care if it's sci-fi or if it's fantasy. I don't feel the need to put this book into a neat little genre box. It was a great story. 'Nuf said.

(And oh, this next part is going to contain some spoilers, so please read at your own risk.)

The bigger problem I had with it (and "problem" is a relative term because overall I just really loved the book) was the subplot of the IRYLNS and how it fit into the book as a whole. I loved the creepy IRYLNS bits, but I kept looking for more of a connection between the IRYLNS bits and the political intrigue/murder investigation that was going on. It felt a little bit like two separate books and it would have been great if they had come together more.

But the more I think about it, the less problem I have with it. I only hope that we'll get more info about IRYLNS in the sequel. I loved the question of how far these young ladies were willing to go to serve their country - would they sacrifice their lives? Would they sacrifice their friends' lives? I love that the feminist great-aunt Tabitha is such a staunch supporter, when it seems quite obvious (to modern eyes at least) that it's so blatantly sexist. I loved that Sophie had her mind so made up about IRYLNS, but she keeps getting new information that flips her opinion back and forth.

So. Yeah. Um.. go read it. I'll leave you with a few last words to convince you. They are totally Colleen's words because I think she summed it up perfectly: "This is sweeping historic fiction about a girl who uncovers horrifying truths on both a personal and political level and must save both herself and her country."

The Explosionist is a finalist in the Cybils' YA Fantasy/Sci-Fi category. You can find more reviews at Charlotte's Library, Bookslut, Bookworm 4 Life, and Teen Book Review.

Such a librarian-ish dream

I guess all the Newbery buzz is getting to me... Last night I dreamed that I walked in to work only to find out that Nic Bishop Frogs had won the Newbery medal...

*shakes head at self*

(I mean, not that Nic Bishop Frogs isn't a great book, but I think we can all agree that it's more suited to a Sibert than a Newbery.)

Day in the Life of a Children's Librarian

8:30a - Arrive at work, put lunch away, & greet coworkers

8:40a - Hang a map of Korea on the wall in our department. Every January our library explores a different country and this year we're exploring Korea. (Last year we explored Poland.)

8:45a - Check email, record some preschool loan statistics

9:00a - Grab a cart from downstairs and work on weeding the teen section

11:00a-12:00p - On desk. Between questions I read picture books in preparation for our upcoming planning session for spring storytimes.

12:00p - Lunch time!

1:00-3:00p - On desk. Between questions I read more picture books and pull some books for preschool loans (winter and arctic animals). Here is a sampling of questions:

Who is the author of this series?
Will you help me with the early literacy game computer?
Do you have this title?

3:00p - Off desk, I schedule a date for a local preschool to visit the library and finish my preschool loan bags.

4:00p - On desk again.

Can you help me print?
Where are biographies?
Do you have this title?
How many books are in this series?
Where is this call number?
Would you pull some books about this topic for preschoolers for me?

5:00p - Time to go home!

Sydney Taylor Book Award Blog Tour!

Please join us in celebrating the authors and illustrators who received Sydney Taylor Book Awards and Honors this year by tuning in for the Sydney Taylor Book Award Blog Tour!

From the Sydney Taylor Book Award Blog (updated to add additional stops, thanks Heidi!):

The Sydney Taylor Book Award will be celebrating and showcasing its 2009 gold and silver medalists with a Blog Tour! Here is the preliminary schedule:

Sunday, January 18, 2009
Karen Hesse, author of Brooklyn Bridge
Sydney Taylor Book Award winner in the Older Readers Category
at Jewish Books for Children

Monday, January 19, 2009
Richard Michelson
Author of As Good As Anybody, Sydney Taylor Book Award winner in the Younger Readers Category
and
Author of A is for Abraham, Sydney Taylor Honor Book in the Younger Readers Category
at The Well-Read Child

Monday, January 19, 2009
Ron Mazellan, illustrator of A is for Abraham
Sydney Taylor Honor Book in the Younger Readers Category
at Tales from the Rushmore Kid

Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Jane Yolen, author of Naming Liberty
Sydney Taylor Honor Book in the Younger Readers Category
at The Boston Bibliophile

Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Valerie Zenatti, author of A Bottle in the Gaza Sea
Sydney Taylor Book Award winner in the Teen Readers Category
at Lori Calabrese Writes

Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Anna Levine
Author of Freefall, Sydney Taylor Honor Book in the Teen Readers Category
and
Author of Jodie's Hanukkah Dig, Notable Book in the Younger Readers Category
at Abby (the) Librarian [Yep, that's correct! Right here!! - AtL]

Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Jim Burke, illustrator of Naming Liberty
Sydney Taylor Honor Book in the Younger Readers Category
at The Page Flipper

Thursday, January 22, 2009
Jacqueline Jules, author of Sarah Laughs
Sydney Taylor Honor Book in the Younger Readers Category
at Chicken Spaghetti

Thursday, January 22, 2009
Natascia Ugliano, illustrator of Sarah Laughs
Sydney Taylor Honor Book in the Younger Readers Category
at Write for a Reader

Friday, January 23, 2009
Deborah Bodin Cohen, author of Engineer Ari and the Rosh Hashanah Ride
Sydney Taylor Honor Book in the Younger Readers Category
at Becky's Book Reviews

Friday, January 23, 2009
Shahar Kober, illustrator of Engineer Ari and the Rosh Hashanah Ride
Sydney Taylor Honor Book in the Younger Readers Category
at Into the Wardrobe

Book Review: North of Beautiful

North of Beautiful by Justina Chen Headley. (Grades 8+)

At first glance, high school senior Terra might seem to have the perfect life. She's tall and blonde, has a studly boyfriend, excels in school and is graduating early, has a part-time job at a local art gallery. But underneath the makeup and the fake smile, Terra's life is much different. She's always defined herself by the port-wine stain on her cheek and by her father's verbally abusive criticisms. Her two older brothers left as soon as they were able and Terra watches her mother's weight balloon as her father berates her more and more. She's intent on leaving her small town for a college across the country and then a successful career that will allow her to travel and escape her father's critical eye.

But when Terra serendipitously meets Jacob, an Asian-American goth boy with a penchant for good coffee, the compass guiding her life plan begins to slowly tilt. She will finally learn what it's like to be loved for who she is and maybe she'll begin to find her own way.

Justina Chen Headley pulled me into Terra's world with great characters and lots of interesting details. Terra felt very real to me - I got angry when her father berated her and I felt unspeakable sadness when Terra's timid, plump mother apologized for her own existence yet again. Terra and her mom take a great journey together - all the way to China to visit Terra's brother. The descriptions of Shanghai and Beijing (as well as Terra's small town in northern Washington state) made me feel like I was traveling with them every step of the way.

I love all the details that make the story so rich, too. Jacob is really into geocaching (kind of like treasure hunting with a GPS) and he shares his passion with Terra. Jacob's mom Norah is a coffee buyer and travels all over the world searching for great coffee beans. Terra's an artist, collecting materials from everywhere to add to her collages. All these great details really flesh out the story and make it just as rich as Norah's perfect cup of coffee.

Terra undergoes changes throughout the course of the novel. She's not perfect and she makes mistakes. I loved the slowly blossoming romance between Terra and Jacob and I loved the slowly blossoming friendship between Terra's mom and Jacob's mom. I thought the ending was just right - everything gets wrapped up, but not too quickly or too neatly.

I'd recommend North of Beautiful to fans of Sarah Dessen and Carolyn Mackler. It's a great story about the meaning of beauty and one girl learning to forge her own path. And even though it's a book about maps and directions and GPS systems, it's definitely a book you can get lost in. ;)

Check out Justina Chen Headley's website and my review of Girl Overboard (which was a 2008 Cybils nominee). Read more reviews of North of Beautiful at Teen Book Review, Oops...Wrong Cookie, Mitali's Fire Escape, Simply Books, and Shelf Elf.

North of Beautiful is out on February 1.

Delurking Week Extended!

An official decree from MotherReader:

It seems that National Delurking Week caught everyone off guard, and that’s a shame because it’s a great chance to meet some of your less comment-prone readers. So I’m extending it to this week. Yeah, who’s going to stop me? The Delurking Police? I think not.

So, with my pretty little graphic borrowed from Asymptotia (from Delurking Week 2007), I'm extending National Delurking Week also. :)

I got many nice comments last week and it really means a lot to me that y'all said hello. :) So, in case you didn't get a chance last week, I hereby invite you to continue the delurkation and leave me a comment. I enjoy hearing about your favorite books or you could also let me know where you're from or how you found this blog. Or what you love most about ME. (Kidding, kidding... kind of...)

Seriously, a blog's not that much fun if no one but the author reads it. So thank you, thank you for tuning in. And I promise that now that my part of the 2008 Cybils is over I will post something other than book reviews once in a while... ;)

Bluestem Award

It was brought to my attention this morning at an NSLS meeting that the Illinois School Library Media Association is creating a new state book award. The Bluestem Award is named for the state prairie grass of Illinois and it will be a kids' choice award for kids in grades 3rd-5th.

According to the ISLMA website:

In the spring of 2008, the ISLMA board approved establishing a committee to explore the possibility of a new book award that would fit between the Monarch and Rebecca Caudill Awards. Interested library media specialists met in June, and an outline of the proposed new award was presented to the board in August. In September, a survey about the new award was conducted, and 92% of respondents favored the creation of a new award. The ISLMA board approved the new award at their October meeting.

The award is designed for students in grades 3-5 who are ready for longer titles than found on the Monarch list, but not quite ready for the sophistication of some of the Rebecca Caudill titles. Named in honor of Big Bluestem which is the state prairie grass, the award may include both timeless classics and current titles, as well as books that have appeared on Monarch and Rebecca Caudill lists.

It looks like the first Bluestem Award will be given out in 2011 and registration forms for the voting will be available in May 2010. It doesn't appear to affect the established Rebecca Caudill or Monarch awards and it looks like schools may choose to participate in more than one of the awards programs if they so desire.

I'll be interested to see what makes the first nomination list (coming in 2010?), especially since it doesn't require that books be published within the last five years like the Caudills and Monarchs.

Book Review: Body Drama

Body Drama: Real Girls, Real Bodies, Real Issues, Real Answers by Nancy Amanda Redd.

When Body Drama made the Cybils MG/YA Non-Fiction shortlist, I raced to pick it up and was totally wowed. I opened it tonight, intending to flip through a few pages, but I didn't put it down until I had paged through most of the book. I wish I had had it in high school or college.

Nancy Amanda Redd has written a book about girls' bodies that presents the facts in a straightforward, conversational way. Tons of photos of real girls (not models) accompany the text. Do your breasts look strange? Is it normal to have stretch marks? Are you wondering how to curtail unwanted body hair? This book has all the answers and, better still, Ms. Redd doesn't give you preachy advice and stodgy, dry information. Reading this book, I felt like I was sitting down with a trusted friend. Ms. Redd even includes some of her own confessions: a botched wax job, going to a therapist, having people comment on her weight, and more.

Besides all the great information and the message that different body types are normal, the photos are invaluable. Be warned: the girls in this book bare it all. Maybe not every parent would be comfortable with that, but personally I think it's a great way to show girls that there are so, so many different body types that are all perfectly normal. Just because your breast or your behind doesn't look like a model's in a magazine, that doesn't mean you're ugly or weird or anything but beautiful. And sometimes things aren't perfectly normal. Body Drama is great about pointing out which differences are normal and which differences merit a call to your doctor.

I think Vivian said it best: "Don't let your teens get the wrong information from their friends... let them get empowered with real information and love the body they're in."

In my opinion, this book should be required reading for all young women (and because it can be kind of taboo to talk about this stuff, even older women might learn something!).

Check out Nancy Amanda Redd's website for information about the author and extras that go with the book.

And Happy Non-Fiction Monday! Anastasia's got the roundup over at Picture Book of the Day.

National Delurking Week!

This just in from MotherReader: It is National Delurking Week!

All you lurkers (and I know you're out there), I encourage you to reveal yourself - drop me a comment and say hello. I promise I am a very nice person. :)

And if you can't think of anything to say, I'll steal the idea from Pam and invite you to share your favorite book of 2008 or your favorite book or author from when you were a kid or your kid or student's favorite book. The possibilities are endless!

Also, this is another opportunity to say thanks for reading my blog. :D

(Coincidentally, it is also my 2-year anniversary of being a children's librarian! So you could also say "Happy anniversary" if you can't think of anything else to say.)

ETA: Thanks for all the kind comments, everyone! I'm really enjoying hearing from y'all and hearing what your favorite books have been!

Book Review: Masterpiece

Masterpiece by Elise Broach. (Grades 4-7.)

I'm afraid I can't sum it up any better than the jacket flap, so here ya go:

"Marvin lives with his family under the kitchen sink in the Pompadays' apartment. He is very much a beetle. James lives with his mother, stepfather, and baby brother in New York City. He is very much an eleven-year-old boy. After James gets a pen-and-ink set for his birthday, Marvin surprises him by creating an elaborate miniature drawing. James gets all the credit for the picture, and before these unlikely friends know it, they're caught up in an art heist at the Metropolitan Museum of Art..."

I was lucky enough to win a signed copy of this book from A Patchwork of Books, so thanks to Amanda for holding the contest and to Elise Broach and Henry Holt for providing the copies!

I loved the characters in this book. I especially loved Marvin the beetle and his beetle family. Although, I have to admit, if I found generations of beetles living in my kitchen I doubt I would give them long enough to draw me a little picture before I squashed them. The beetles in Masterpiece have a precarious relationship with the Pompadays. The book starts with the beetles going on a mission to retrieve Mrs. Pompaday's contact lens which she lost down the drain. From that point on, I was hooked.

The beetles live on crumbs scavenged from the Pompadays' kitchen and they take care not to be seen, lest the apartment be fumigated. They do their best to help out and Marvin's uncle has a talent for electrical work. Whenever the microwave or the toaster breaks, he shimmies inside to reconnect wires and get things back in working order. I found the whole beetle world to be fascinating.

I also loved the friendship between Marvin and James. Although Marvin can't talk to James, he does find ways to communicate. James's parents aren't exactly supportive and he doesn't seem to have many friends. Marvin fills a need for James as surely as the other beetles do what they can for the other Pompadays.

So, I loved the characters, but I found the plot a bit lacking. The mystery felt a little rushed and it was all over too quickly at the end. I kept waiting for a final showdown, but it never happened. That said, I think the art-themed mystery will appeal to fans of Chasing Vermeer and the quirky insect characters will appeal to fans of Roald Dahl. An author's note provides some information about Albrecht Duerer, the artist whose work boy and bug replicate.

All in all, I liked Broach's Shakespeare's Secret a little better, but this is still a solid read and will charm kids with its loveable (and unloveable) characters. Check out Elise Broach's website, check out this interview with her, and read more reviews at Book Nut and A Patchwork of Books (among many others).