Celebrate this week, July 18th

My first "Celebrate this week"...

Today I am celebrating this, which may not seem like much to others but it means a lot to me.

I am caught up on all my back reviews.

I have written a review for every single book I've read this summer so far.

Woot. Woot.

A little rant

I know.

No one cares about my blog.

Not really.

If I stopped blogging a few of my friends might wonder why. My family would not get my weekly updates but they would call instead, so it really wouldn't matter to them.

I started my blog to communicate with my students about the books I was reading, books I thought they would like. I linked the blog to the library home page and I do get a few hits from it. But not many. It is hard to figure out to market a book blog to busy students.

Next I told myself I was really blogging for myself so it didn't really matter if many people read it. Ultimately I was lying to myself. It does matter. I want people to read it and to give me feedback about what they think. I hope I have something to say that someone wants to read.

Now for the rant...

I not only write reviews for YA books I am reading but I also participate in blogging community posts like Top Ten Tuesday, Book Beginnings on Friday, Friday 56, and Sunday Salon. When I add my name to those link-ups I linger and visit other sites there. Whenever I visit a page I leave a comment, letting that blogger know I was there and took a look around their site. Everyone does not extend that courtesy back to me, even other bloggers.

For example, last Friday I posted in Books Beginnings and Friday 56. Then I visited 35 other blogs and made comments everywhere I stopped. 35. I counted. By the end of the day, four people had made a comment back on my blog post. 4. Those are NOT good odds.

See what I mean?

What is a gal to do?

I know.  Whine. Whine.

I notice lots of bloggers doing things to improve their followers like offering give-a-ways. I tried that a few times but only experienced an uptick in my numbers during the days prior to the event and then a return back to status quo. Sigh.

Any advice or help would be appreciated. What are your thoughts about this rant?

The Last Leaves Falling by Sarah Benwell

Sora Abel is only 17 years old yet he is dying from ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease) which is usually an old-person-disease. He lives with his mom in modern Japan. Since being asked not to return to school, he has been very isolated. He doesn't even want to go outside since he will see pity in the eyes of people he encounters. So he reads and he spends time on the Internet. One day he happens upon a teen chat room and makes two virtual friends, Mai and Kaito. They eventually meet in person and their friendship helps Sora immensely. A samurai poetry book his therapist loaned him also helps. In it he finds solace. The length of life is not important. It is what one does with his life that is important. Sora decides he wants to die with dignity and on his own terms.

I cannot mourn, for I have lived
a life
of mountain air and cherry blossoms, steel,
and honor.
(Tadamichi, 1874)

Even before starting this book I knew that Sora would die, there are no magical cures for people with ALS. What I wasn't expecting was a book about friendship, Japanese culture, and the beauty of nature. My favorite bits, beside the poetry, were the cultural references. Sora and his friends eat squid ink ice cream. He and his grandparents select a cat to protect the house from a bakeneko, a shape-shifting-monster-cat. And, of course, the references to samurai culture. Sora's death is with dignity, full of love and friendship. It is very touching.

The Last Leaves Falling is a smart selection for library collections, especially those wanting to beef up their books about other cultures.

Here is my attempt at a haiku to describe the book:

The Last Leaves Falling
very touching book includes
Samurai poems.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars.

30 books Summer Reading Challenge

20 / 30 books. 66.66% done!

A few literary moments with To Kill a Mockingbird

We sat in the darkened theater, popcorn in hand. Never mind we were in the front row. We made it. The movie was just beginning. I couldn't believe my luck. I was going to see the film "To Kill a Mockingbird" starring Gregory Peck for the very first time and I was going to see it on the big screen at that. It was roll-back Wednesday at the local indie theater in Tacoma, The Grand Cinema, and fortunately for us, I purchased our tickets on-line earlier in the day because by the time we got there it was sold out..

On the way to the theater we had been listening to the end of To Kill a Mockingbird in the car together. The audiobook version we have is read by Roses Pritchard. She has such a lovely Southern accent and reads Scout's lines especially well. I think we've listened to the book at least three times before but it was important to listen to again this week since Go Set a Watchman was set to come out on July 14th. We wanted to be prepared. I was the only one who heard the full book this time however, since we listened in fits and starts. First my daughters and I played it on our trip to Portland last weekend. Then my husband, younger daughter, and I listened to a bit more on our adventure day trip to the Nisqually Wildlife Refuge on Monday. I fit in a few more chapters on Tuesday before the three of us finished up on Wednesday.

Atticus Finch at work in the courtroom as viewed from my front row seat at the theater this past Wednesday.

As the movie was rolling along my daughter and I kept repeating lines from the book that the movie altered or omitted. I'm sure it was irritating to those around us but, hey, we were in the front row we deserved some compensation! About half way through, the movie just stopped working. Everyone stood up and stretched, went for more popcorn, and complained to the management, just as though we we were watching it in 1962. We all remembered going to the movies when something like this happened in yesteryear.  Too funny. Once it was rolling again. I looked over at my family, pinched myself, and said, "remember this moment, Anne, when you are having such a literary moment with most of your family."

It was one of those moments...brought together by good literature. Sigh.

30 books Summer Reading Challenge

19 / 30 books. 63% done!

Book Blogger Hop, July 17th

Question: Do you listen to audiobooks?

Answer: Do I ever! I always have an audiobook in my car to listen to while I commute to work.

I just finished listening to To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee read by Roses Pritchard (my family and I listened to it together.)

Yesterday I started listening to X: a Novel by Ilyasah Shabazz read (partially) by the author and by Dion Graham.

Shoved onto the back burner by the other two books is The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh read by Arianna Delawari. I've only just started it and will commence listening as soon as I am done with X.

Here are a few of my favorites if you want to get started:

• The Egg and the Spoon by Gregorie Maguire
• The Whistling Season by Ivan Doig
• The Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman
• The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
• The Raven Cycle series by Maggie Stiefvater
• The Daughter of Smoke and Bones series by Laini Taylor
• The Inheritance Cycle (Eragon) series by Christopher Paolini
• In a Sun Burned Country by Bill Bryson
• Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt
• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, read by Dick Hill

Friday Quotes ---GO SET A WATCHMAN

Book Beginnings on Friday is hosted by Rose City Reader. 
The Friday 56 is hosted at Freda's Voice. 
 
Check out the links for the rules and for the posts of the participants each week. Participants don't select their favorite, coolest, or most intellectual books, they just use the one they are currently reading. This is the book I'm reading right now: 

Book: Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee

Book Beginnings: 

Since Atlanta, she had looked out the dining-car window with a delight almost physical.

Friday 56: 

"Jem," she said, "if there's gonna be this man we'll need somebody else. Want me to run get Bennett?"

Comments: I just got my copy of the much anticipated second book by Harper Lee, Go Set a Watchman. I've only read a few pages so far and I've done it with much trepidation since rumors are already swirling around that I am not going to like this Atticus Finch. However, I love the opening line. It feels like classic Harper Lee. And the Friday 56 quote I selected for two reasons. First because it is a flashback to her childhood with Dill and Jem, when they would make up scenes to enact. Secondly, my last name is Bennett.  I like the idea they have a friend with that name, even if he is off the scene really.

Two graphic novels worthy of praise

I've been checking the starred reviews for YA books this year. These two graphic novels have received lots of starred reviews and are worthy of the high praise they have received.

March, Book Two by John Lewis, illustrated by Nate Powell

This is the second book of a trilogy about the life of an American hero, John Lewis and his work for civil rights. After the success of the sit-in movements, John and others were more committed than ever to continue their non-violent campaign for civil rights through actions such as the Freedom Riders. At the age of 23 he became known as one of the "Big 6" in the civil rights movement for his work with SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.) He helped lead the March on Washington in 1963 for jobs and freedom where he delivered an impassioned speech alongside Martin Luther King, Jr.

I read March, Book One last year. It illustrated John Lewis's early years and his initial work with SNCC. Now in this volume, March, Book Two we learn how quickly he rose to power in that organization and how fearless he was in supporting efforts to gain rights for minorities. Nate Powell's illustration are excellent and bring the story forward in a readily accessible format. Students today have no idea the kinds of sacrifices these brave men and women made for freedom, voting, and rights for African-Americans. John Lewis's story told here in a wonderfully rendered graphic biography can help them appreciate the magnitude of his (and other individual's) efforts and sacrifices. I learned a ton. I was alive during the Civil Rights Movement and my parents were very interested and involved in what was going on yet I still learned a lot form this small but mighty graphic biography. I recommend it for all secondary school libraries.

Rating: 4 of 5 stars

Roller Girl by Victoria Jamieson

Twelve-year-old Astrid has always done everything with her best friend Nicole. When she signs up for Roller Derby camp she assumes Nicole will sign up, too. Instead Nicole signs up for dance camp with another girl. Astrid is left on her own to navigate the intricacies of friendship and of roller derby.

This coming-of-age graphic novel is cute, cute, cute. Astrid is a strong-willed yet insecure girl who is trying to make her way through life without understanding all the rules. She wants to be a roller girl like Rainbow Bite even though she doesn't know how to skate. She wants to have friends but she doesn't really know how to be a friend in return. She lies to her mother and feels miserable and guilty. She eventually learns her lessons the hard way (is there any other way?) and the summer isn't a total disaster.

Victoria Jamieson is not only a fantastic illustrator she also enjoys a "not-so-secret identity as Winnie-the-Pow, skater with the Rose City Rollers" in Portland, Oregon. The book is considered a junior book in my public library and I would agree it will be attractive to middle grade readers. I suspect high school students wouldn't relate to issues of twelve-year-old girls even though they themselves recently passed through that stage of life.

Rating: 5 of 5 stars.

30 books Summer Reading Challenge

18 / 30 books. 60% done!

Atticus Finch...thoughts on his quotes in To Kill a Mockingbird

Today my copy of GO SET A WATCHMAN should arrive. It was supposed to be here yesterday but didn't arrive. Oh well, I haven't finished rereading TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD yet so this gives me a little more time to finish that task.

I understand that Atticus isn't the same person in book two as he was in book one. Sigh. Why can't good guys remain good guys even in literature?  I've been thinking what a wonderful father Atticus was. In fact, as my daughters and I were listening to the audiobook of TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD coming home from Portland on Sunday I commented that I wished I could have been as good a parent as Atticus. They both sagely nodded their heads knowing there was no adequate come-back to that comment.

So that I can remember all the greatness of Atticus Finch (after I learn about how he isn't that great) I decided to highlight my favorite Atticus quotes from TKAM.

“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view … until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.”

I think most parents say something like this to their children. "Walk a mile in their moccasins before you judge them." But I'd never really thought of is as something a young person could do to gain insight for the elderly before Atticus brought it to mind.

“The one thing that doesn’t abide by majority rule is a person’s conscience.”

Kids need to listen to their consciences. They need to be reminded over and over that they have a better self that can guide them if they only listen. Often the crowd will want them to go along a path they know they shouldn't. Simple and concise advice here.

“Before I can live with other folks I’ve got to live with myself.”

No matter where you go, there you are. We can't run away from ourselves and we have to live with ourselves. When Atticus reminds the jury that they all know what is best, he is also reminding us.

“I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do.”

In the classroom we are asked to remind students what they learned before we dismiss them. It is sound advice for our children, too. Tell them what you want them to learn from situations.

“You just hold your head high and keep those fists down. No matter what anybody says to you, don’t you let ‘em get your goat. Try fighting with your head for a change, Scout.” 

Scout wants to fight out all her problems, Atticus asks her to use her head. Simple. Direct. Common sense.

"Don't pay any attention to her, just hold your head high and be a gentleman."

We need to teach our children manners and help them practice them consistently even when the other person is being unreasonable.

"Scout," said Atticus, "when summer comes you'll have to keep your head about far worse things...it's not fair for you and Jem, I know that, but sometimes we have to make the best of things, and the way we conduct ourselves when the chips are down---well, all I can say is, when you and Jem are grown, maybe you'll look back on this with some compassion and some feeling that I didn't let you down."

I need to live my life in such a way that my children remember me for the good things, not the bad.

 "If this thing's hushed up it will be a simple denial to Jem of the way I've tried to raise him. Sometimes I think I'm a total failure as a parent, but I'm all they've got. Before Jem looks at anyone else he looks at me, and I've tried to live so I can look squarely back at him...if I connived at something like this, frankly I couldn't meet his eye, and the day I can't do that I'll know I've lost him." 

Yes, parents need to shield their children from things that are too dangerous and upsetting for them. But they also need to trust that children can handle things and be helped to understand situations, especially life-changing situations. I once talked to a friend who had lost her husband. She didn't want to tell her children that he was dead so she said he was sleeping in heaven (or something like that.) Is it any wonder that the children never wanted their mother to go to sleep? We have to trust our children and help them understand and cope.

Check out the wondrous words of Atticus Finch over at ReaderBuzz.

Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon

I received a big box of ARC books from the librarian at PLU a few months back. Imagine my surprise when I found Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon inside. This book had already lit up the blogosphere and it is not scheduled for publication until September. I brought it home hoping to get to it as soon as the end of the school year craziness subsided. In the meantime my daughter found it and read it first. She then commenced bugging me to read it because she wanted to talk about it with someone.

Madeline Whittier has lived her life in sequestered away from the world due to a severe immunodeficiency disease that has rendered her allergic to almost everything. She goes to school on-line and only has contact with her physician mom and her full-time nurse. The house is practically hermetically sealed. Madeline can't leave and she is resigned to her plight in life, that is until Olly and his family move in next door. Olly, who loves practicing parkour, spends a lot of time outside climbing around on things. They communicate via instant messaging. Suddenly the life she has lived for eighteen years seems stifling. How can she go on living this way when she wants to get out so badly, out to meet Olly in person?

I predict that this book will be very popular with my teen readers. It is a sweet romance with likable characters. The book is relatively short which is attractive to many of my students because anything over 250 pages they consider long. Many of the chapters are short with e-mails and instant messages taking up less than a page. Many illustrations dance across the pages. Maddy uses the illustrations to describe her world views. My favorite short chapters are Maddy's spoiler alert book reviews. Example, "LORD OF THE FLIES: Spoiler alert---Boys are savages." If only I could think of such short, pithy book reviews when I am called to do book talks for classes. Ha!

I like the book a lot and will recommend it to my student readers. In fact, I am considering giving it a coveted spot on my Nifty-Fifty shelf for increased exposure. Yet, I still have some reservations about the book.  In my opinion the book is a bit too light, too simple. Dramas are solved too easily. Conflict arises and is resolved too quickly. Serious issues aren't even named. Monsters are fought and won without much of a fight. But I quibble here. Kids are going to like it and will read it. That is good enough for me. Let me recommend it to you to. It is scheduled for publication September 1st. Get in line!

Reviewed from the ARC acquired freely from a second party.

Rating: 4 of 5 stars.

30 books Summer Reading Challenge

16 / 30 books. 53% done!

I am Princess X is a fun and rewarding mystery set in Seattle.

When I travel I tell people I am from Seattle. I'm not actually from Seattle but I'm just close enough to claim it if someone doesn't know the geography of Washington State. So when a book is set in Seattle I do back handsprings and claim it as if it is set in my little city. I am Princess X is set in Seattle and the city plays a prominent role in the story line with frequent references to street names and Seattle neighborhood names. It also includes quirky parts of Seattle many people haven't heard of like the Fremont Troll and the Seattle Underground.

The story begins with two young girl friends who create a cartoon heroine, Princess X, to amuse themselves. They spend a lot of time plotting out scenes together which May writes and Libby illustrates. It is their thing and they have a lot of fun doing it together. Then tragedy strikes when Libby and her mother drive off an area bridge and both of them drown. Libby is dead and with her Princess X dies, too. May is bereft. Not long afterwards she and her mother move across the country when her parents divorce and May only visits Seattle infrequently to see her dad. As she is knocking around Seattle by herself one day several years later, she notices Princess X stickers everywhere. How can that be? Only she and Libby knew about Princess X. Can Libby still be alive after all these years?

So begins the delightful new mystery I Am Princess X by Cherie Priest. It is full of good guys and bad, and people we are sure if they are good or bad until the end. There are chase scenes and death threats with I Am Princess X comics interspersed between chapters. The comics give May clues along the way to help her discover the truth and to solve the mystery.  Maybe she will even find Libby, if she is alive.

There are probably less than 30 pages of comics throughout the book but they help advance the story.
Photo from thisisteen.tumblr.com

The book is fun, fun, fun. I've been reading so many serious books this summer about mental illness, diseases, and death. It was just plain fun to read a well-plotted, tension-filled mystery, which has a happy ending.

This is author Cherie Priest's first YA novel. She has written several other books, Boneshaker, an adult steam-punk series starter. Cherie used to live in Seattle so it makes sense that she would set her novel here. She "done good."

Enough said. Read it for yourself. Enjoy!

Rating: 5 out of 5

30 books Summer Reading Challenge

15 / 30 books. 50% done!