Here's a book that middle school kids will really enjoy, particularly boys. I really enjoyed reading it, and I'm looking forward to the sequels. The book indicates that there will be four books in the series, but I did an Internet search on the author, and it looks as though there will be seven or eight. At this point, I can only say that that's good news.
Booktalk:
As his fifteenth birthday approaches, Will has just one dream: he wants to be chosen as a Battleschool apprentice on Choosing Day. Choosing Day is when the Duke's wards learn their fates. Will they be chosen to apprentice in a craft or guild, or will they be sent to work on a farm as a common laborer? More than anything, Will wants to join the Battleschool and become a knight someday. Will knows little of his family, not even his own last name. The only scraps of knowledge he has are that his mother died in childbirth and that his father died heroically in battle against the evil Lord Morgarath. That must mean his father was a great knight, and Will wants to follow in his footsteps. But knights are big and brawny, and Will is small and scrawny. He knows in his heart that he doesn't have the build to be a knight, but he knows that he is strong and fast, and maybe that will count for something. But it doesn't.
Will can barely swallow his disappointment when his rival, Horace, is chosen for Battleschool and he himself is refused. Even worse, none of the other guild or craft masters will take him on. Only the Ranger speaks up when the Duke asks if any of them will take a second apprentice, and that is only to give the Duke a note. It seems that Will is doomed to a life as a farm laborer. As crushed as he is, Will also can't help wondering about that note the Ranger gave to the Duke. Clearly, it was something about him. Or was it? Will has to know. Years of sneaking about the castle to play tricks and steal pies from the cook have taught Will how to sneak in and around the castle without being spotted by the guards. It's an easy thing for him to scale the wall of the castle and into the Duke's office. It's even easier to sneak over to the desk to find the mysterious piece of paper. He reaches out to grab it...and a hand reaches out to grab his. Terrified, Will looks up and into the eyes of Halt, the Ranger. Where had he come from?
It's a trap, and Will has fallen right into it. But it is also a test, and Will's refusal to lie about what he was doing means he passes that test. Will is to become the Ranger's apprentice. The training is hard, and Halt is not an easy teacher. It isn't Battleschool, but Will soon learns that rangers play just as important a role in keeping the kingdom safe as the knights do, and maybe even more. Rangers are the eyes and ears of the kingdom, gathering intelligence and reporting to the dukes and king. When Lord Morgarath, who fifteen years ago killed the previous king and was only barely defeated, gathers a new army of alien creatures and begins to menace the kingdom again, it's the rangers who know first, and it's Halt, his old apprentice Gilan, and Will who are on the front lines in the battle against him.
Edited to add a link to a very interesting interview with John Flanagan and a link to his web site. Lucky Australians! They're up to Book 6 there, and the seventh book in the series is due out soon. I'm writing this on August 10, 2007, and Book 3, The Icebound Land, has only just been published here in the U.S. Oh, well. Something to look forward to!
Friday, April 20, 2007
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
CLA booktalks
If you are here because you are looking for the booktalks I gave at the Connecticut Library Association conference, welcome! Thank you for being interested enough to stop by.
If you look through the rest of this blog, you will see that some of the books I presented were discussed here previously. Those posts are a mixture of booktalk material and review/commentary. I am tagging the actual booktalks CLA booktalk so that you can find them easily.
You are welcome to use my booktalks, but I would appreciate an attribution. And please, feel free to comment. That's why it's a blog, not a web page!
If you look through the rest of this blog, you will see that some of the books I presented were discussed here previously. Those posts are a mixture of booktalk material and review/commentary. I am tagging the actual booktalks CLA booktalk so that you can find them easily.
You are welcome to use my booktalks, but I would appreciate an attribution. And please, feel free to comment. That's why it's a blog, not a web page!
VM=Very Malignant? (Code Orange booktalk)
Code Orange by Caroline Cooney
3Q 4P J/S
Mitty prides himself on doing as little as he can in school. It’s not that he can’t do the work. It’s just that he doesn’t see the point. So when his advanced biology teacher assigns a term paper on an infectious disease, Mitty has no intention of doing any research for it. He figures he’ll grab a few facts off the Internet, paste them into a document, and he’ll be done. He actually forgets all about the assignment until the week before it’s due. That’s when he gets a punch right in the solar plexus: if he doesn’t get a passing grade on this paper, they’re going to kick him out of the class. Mitty could care less about advanced biology, but he cares a LOT that it’s his only class with Olivia. So he figures he’d better knuckle down and get some work done on the paper. And he means to. Really, he does. But it’s the weekend, so he deserves a day or two of rest, doesn’t he? By the time Mitty decides to get to work, it’s late on Sunday. He’s staying at his family’s place in the boondocks of Connecticut, and he realizes he hasn’t brought a thing with him for research. The library is closed and there isn’t a bookstore for miles around. And he needs books, since his bio teacher is waaay out of touch with the real world and won’t let them use the Internet. Mitty remembers that his mother just brought home a load of old books from an auction where they were selling off stuff from some old doctor’s house. Luckily for Mitty, the doctor had a couple of books on infectious diseases. As he starts to page through one of them, he finds a sealed envelope marked “VM – 1902” tucked between two of the pages. Inside it are a couple of scab-type things. The books are so dusty, Mitty starts to sneeze. One of the scabs crumbles in his fingers, disintegrating into dust.
It isn’t until a day or two later that Mitty realizes what he held in his hands: VM=variola major, otherwise known as smallpox, one of the most infectious diseases ever known to mankind. Millions died in agony from it. When Mitty sneezed, the scab that crumbled almost certainly got into his lungs. What if it contained active virus? What if he’s a walking time bomb, passing smallpox on to everyone he knows, including his parents and Olivia? Should he tell someone? But what if he’s not infected? He’ll look like a fool. What if he is infected and someone else finds out? What if that someone wants to infect thousands of people?
3Q 4P J/S
Mitty prides himself on doing as little as he can in school. It’s not that he can’t do the work. It’s just that he doesn’t see the point. So when his advanced biology teacher assigns a term paper on an infectious disease, Mitty has no intention of doing any research for it. He figures he’ll grab a few facts off the Internet, paste them into a document, and he’ll be done. He actually forgets all about the assignment until the week before it’s due. That’s when he gets a punch right in the solar plexus: if he doesn’t get a passing grade on this paper, they’re going to kick him out of the class. Mitty could care less about advanced biology, but he cares a LOT that it’s his only class with Olivia. So he figures he’d better knuckle down and get some work done on the paper. And he means to. Really, he does. But it’s the weekend, so he deserves a day or two of rest, doesn’t he? By the time Mitty decides to get to work, it’s late on Sunday. He’s staying at his family’s place in the boondocks of Connecticut, and he realizes he hasn’t brought a thing with him for research. The library is closed and there isn’t a bookstore for miles around. And he needs books, since his bio teacher is waaay out of touch with the real world and won’t let them use the Internet. Mitty remembers that his mother just brought home a load of old books from an auction where they were selling off stuff from some old doctor’s house. Luckily for Mitty, the doctor had a couple of books on infectious diseases. As he starts to page through one of them, he finds a sealed envelope marked “VM – 1902” tucked between two of the pages. Inside it are a couple of scab-type things. The books are so dusty, Mitty starts to sneeze. One of the scabs crumbles in his fingers, disintegrating into dust.
It isn’t until a day or two later that Mitty realizes what he held in his hands: VM=variola major, otherwise known as smallpox, one of the most infectious diseases ever known to mankind. Millions died in agony from it. When Mitty sneezed, the scab that crumbled almost certainly got into his lungs. What if it contained active virus? What if he’s a walking time bomb, passing smallpox on to everyone he knows, including his parents and Olivia? Should he tell someone? But what if he’s not infected? He’ll look like a fool. What if he is infected and someone else finds out? What if that someone wants to infect thousands of people?
Here There Be Pirates (Red Sea booktalk)
Red Sea by Diane Tullson
4Q 3P J/S (Grades 7-10-ish)
It thrills me to stand on the deck of the ship, look out at the ocean, and see no land in any direction. But there’s a big difference between being on the deck of a huge cruise ship captained by an experienced crew and being out in the middle of the ocean in a small sailboat with nobody but yourself to pilot the ship.
The last thing in the world Libby wanted to do was leave her boyfriend and her best friend behind to sail around the world with her mother and stepfather. Unfortunately, she wasn’t give a choice. Now she's stuck for months on a sailboat with the two people in the world she most wants to get away from. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if it were just Libby and her mom. But no way is she okay with sailing around the world with Duncan. And so she does what teenagers are really good at. She makes her parents pay. She’s as uncooperative as she can possibly be. She insinuates that Duncan can’t keep his hands to himself. She goes ashore alone, knowing it makes her mother crazy. She does whatever she can to make them sorry that they ever brought her along. But it’s not just being on this trip that’s making her miserable. At every port, she emails her boyfriend, Ty. At every port, she eagerly waits for word from him. It never comes.
After three weeks in Djibouti waiting for the right weather to begin their Red Sea passage, Emma, the leader of their traveling group, decides to leave early the next morning. For safety’s sake, the flotilla must stay together. There are pirates in the Red Sea, men who will take anything and everything a ship has, men who won’t hesitate to shoot anyone who gets in their way. Everyone must be ready to leave on Emma’s signal. But Libby isn’t ready to leave. Not when there’s one more chance to check her email, one more chance to make her parents pay. She sneaks ashore early in the morning. By the time she gets back, the rest of the group has gone. There’s no choice now but to sail alone and hope for the best. Her parents are grim, but Libby doesn’t care. That’ll teach them.
It’s dangerous for a sailboat to be in the middle of the ocean completely out of sight of land. Pirates aside, your tiny boat can’t get out of a freighter’s way fast enough to avoid being crushed. Someone always has to be on watch, especially when, like tonight, a bad storm adds to the danger. Duncan wants Libby on watch with her mother. Libby can take being with her mother just so long, though, so she abandons watch and her mother and goes to bed. She’s woken by a loud noise and a change in the boat’s motion. Something is wrong. She tears up the stairs, Duncan just behind her. They reach the deck just in time to see her mother fire a flare directly at what is unmistakably a pirate’s boat. A gunman in the boat aims a gun their way. Tiny bursts of flame erupt from the barrel. The mainsail rips, a cockpit cushion explodes, a thermos disintegrates. Libby can barely think with the panic and the noise, but one thought does go through her mind: “Oh, good. They’re going to miss her.” They don’t. Her mother spins, her arms splayed. A gob of red goo shoots from her leg and she crashes to the ground. Duncan runs towards her. A bullet catches him in the shoulder, and then the top of his head flies off. When Libby opens her eyes again, he’s gone, thrown overboard by the force of the impact.
The pirates take everything they can: almost every bit of food, every scrap of electronics, including their GPS equipment, their batteries, and the go-bag that contains their emergency supplies. What they can’t take, they break. When they finally go, they leave behind a ship with a fouled propeller that can’t use its engines, no way to contact anyone for help, no medical supplies, a badly wounded woman, and one fourteen-year-old girl. For Libby, being alone in the middle of the ocean isn’t at all thrilling. It’s terrifying.
4Q 3P J/S (Grades 7-10-ish)
It thrills me to stand on the deck of the ship, look out at the ocean, and see no land in any direction. But there’s a big difference between being on the deck of a huge cruise ship captained by an experienced crew and being out in the middle of the ocean in a small sailboat with nobody but yourself to pilot the ship.
The last thing in the world Libby wanted to do was leave her boyfriend and her best friend behind to sail around the world with her mother and stepfather. Unfortunately, she wasn’t give a choice. Now she's stuck for months on a sailboat with the two people in the world she most wants to get away from. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if it were just Libby and her mom. But no way is she okay with sailing around the world with Duncan. And so she does what teenagers are really good at. She makes her parents pay. She’s as uncooperative as she can possibly be. She insinuates that Duncan can’t keep his hands to himself. She goes ashore alone, knowing it makes her mother crazy. She does whatever she can to make them sorry that they ever brought her along. But it’s not just being on this trip that’s making her miserable. At every port, she emails her boyfriend, Ty. At every port, she eagerly waits for word from him. It never comes.
After three weeks in Djibouti waiting for the right weather to begin their Red Sea passage, Emma, the leader of their traveling group, decides to leave early the next morning. For safety’s sake, the flotilla must stay together. There are pirates in the Red Sea, men who will take anything and everything a ship has, men who won’t hesitate to shoot anyone who gets in their way. Everyone must be ready to leave on Emma’s signal. But Libby isn’t ready to leave. Not when there’s one more chance to check her email, one more chance to make her parents pay. She sneaks ashore early in the morning. By the time she gets back, the rest of the group has gone. There’s no choice now but to sail alone and hope for the best. Her parents are grim, but Libby doesn’t care. That’ll teach them.
It’s dangerous for a sailboat to be in the middle of the ocean completely out of sight of land. Pirates aside, your tiny boat can’t get out of a freighter’s way fast enough to avoid being crushed. Someone always has to be on watch, especially when, like tonight, a bad storm adds to the danger. Duncan wants Libby on watch with her mother. Libby can take being with her mother just so long, though, so she abandons watch and her mother and goes to bed. She’s woken by a loud noise and a change in the boat’s motion. Something is wrong. She tears up the stairs, Duncan just behind her. They reach the deck just in time to see her mother fire a flare directly at what is unmistakably a pirate’s boat. A gunman in the boat aims a gun their way. Tiny bursts of flame erupt from the barrel. The mainsail rips, a cockpit cushion explodes, a thermos disintegrates. Libby can barely think with the panic and the noise, but one thought does go through her mind: “Oh, good. They’re going to miss her.” They don’t. Her mother spins, her arms splayed. A gob of red goo shoots from her leg and she crashes to the ground. Duncan runs towards her. A bullet catches him in the shoulder, and then the top of his head flies off. When Libby opens her eyes again, he’s gone, thrown overboard by the force of the impact.
The pirates take everything they can: almost every bit of food, every scrap of electronics, including their GPS equipment, their batteries, and the go-bag that contains their emergency supplies. What they can’t take, they break. When they finally go, they leave behind a ship with a fouled propeller that can’t use its engines, no way to contact anyone for help, no medical supplies, a badly wounded woman, and one fourteen-year-old girl. For Libby, being alone in the middle of the ocean isn’t at all thrilling. It’s terrifying.
I'd Give My Right Hand... (King of Attolia booktalk)
The King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner
5Q 4P J/S
The King of Attolia is Eugenedes, the former Thief of Eddis. He was once the best thief in the land. But Gen isn’t much of a thief now. The only thing he's stolen recently is the Queen of Attolia's heart. The Queen of Attolia. His wife. The woman who had his right hand cut off. This man, this outsider, is the new and hated King of Attolia.
Costis is proud of being a soldier in Attolia. He's a good soldier, too. Good enough to be promoted to a squadron leader in the Queen's Guard much faster than usual. He is also proud of being Attolian, and fiercely loyal and protective of the queen. It pains him to see her married to a "goat-footed, throne-stealing interloper". This king is a joke! He doesn't look like a king, doesn't walk like a king, doesn't stand like a king...he sits on the throne like he's a printer's apprentice in a wine shop, for heaven's sake! He can’t stand it. In a moment of madness, Costis cocks his fist and throws a punch that lands the king on his back. The king! He punched the king! This is treason! He will surely hang for this.
But he doesn't. To his great shock, instead of insisting on that ultimate penalty, the King makes a deal with the Queen and the Captain of her Guard, Telius. Costis becomes the king's lackey. He has to be the king's sparring partner (and the one-armed king is a terrible sword fighter) and follow him around all day doing nothing. It's a terrible comedown for a squadron leader, and the rest of the guard look at him with both pity and scorn. But a strange thing starts happening. Costis hates the king. But it troubles him to see the way his attendants treat him. They put sand in his food and snakes in his bed. They refuse to dress him properly, so his clothes are mismatched and never quite clean. They even maneuver to sic the hunting dogs on him. This isn't right. He is, after all, the King. It's not until these nasty tricks turn into an attempt to assassinate the king that Costis begins to realize that Gen's stealing days aren't quite over. Little by little, he's stealing Costis's heart and his loyalty. But Costis has one more shock coming to him. He’s learned a lot about Gen, but the one thing he hasn’t learned yet is that he always has something up his sleeve. Never, ever underestimate a thief.
Turner’s writing is so good that she makes Gen’s transformation into an ineffectual king seem quite believable. It’s only when you start thinking about what you absolutely know to be true about Gen that you being to wonder just what’s really going on here. The development of the relationship between Costis and Gen and the slowly revealed depth of the relationship between Gen and his queen are well handled, and when the final pieces of the puzzle are dropped into place and we see what’s really been going on, it is deeply satisfying. You do not need to have read the other two books in this series to be caught up by this one, but if you haven't, you've been missing out!
Edited on 9/29/2007 to add: Shannon Hale interviewed Megan Whalen Turner. It's going to be a three-part interview. (Parts two and three aren't up at the time I'm posting this, but I'm sure you'll find them easily once they are.) I can't wait to find out if Shannon asks the all-important "When is the fourth Gen book coming out?" and what Megan's answer is!
5Q 4P J/S
The King of Attolia is Eugenedes, the former Thief of Eddis. He was once the best thief in the land. But Gen isn’t much of a thief now. The only thing he's stolen recently is the Queen of Attolia's heart. The Queen of Attolia. His wife. The woman who had his right hand cut off. This man, this outsider, is the new and hated King of Attolia.
Costis is proud of being a soldier in Attolia. He's a good soldier, too. Good enough to be promoted to a squadron leader in the Queen's Guard much faster than usual. He is also proud of being Attolian, and fiercely loyal and protective of the queen. It pains him to see her married to a "goat-footed, throne-stealing interloper". This king is a joke! He doesn't look like a king, doesn't walk like a king, doesn't stand like a king...he sits on the throne like he's a printer's apprentice in a wine shop, for heaven's sake! He can’t stand it. In a moment of madness, Costis cocks his fist and throws a punch that lands the king on his back. The king! He punched the king! This is treason! He will surely hang for this.
But he doesn't. To his great shock, instead of insisting on that ultimate penalty, the King makes a deal with the Queen and the Captain of her Guard, Telius. Costis becomes the king's lackey. He has to be the king's sparring partner (and the one-armed king is a terrible sword fighter) and follow him around all day doing nothing. It's a terrible comedown for a squadron leader, and the rest of the guard look at him with both pity and scorn. But a strange thing starts happening. Costis hates the king. But it troubles him to see the way his attendants treat him. They put sand in his food and snakes in his bed. They refuse to dress him properly, so his clothes are mismatched and never quite clean. They even maneuver to sic the hunting dogs on him. This isn't right. He is, after all, the King. It's not until these nasty tricks turn into an attempt to assassinate the king that Costis begins to realize that Gen's stealing days aren't quite over. Little by little, he's stealing Costis's heart and his loyalty. But Costis has one more shock coming to him. He’s learned a lot about Gen, but the one thing he hasn’t learned yet is that he always has something up his sleeve. Never, ever underestimate a thief.
Turner’s writing is so good that she makes Gen’s transformation into an ineffectual king seem quite believable. It’s only when you start thinking about what you absolutely know to be true about Gen that you being to wonder just what’s really going on here. The development of the relationship between Costis and Gen and the slowly revealed depth of the relationship between Gen and his queen are well handled, and when the final pieces of the puzzle are dropped into place and we see what’s really been going on, it is deeply satisfying. You do not need to have read the other two books in this series to be caught up by this one, but if you haven't, you've been missing out!
Edited on 9/29/2007 to add: Shannon Hale interviewed Megan Whalen Turner. It's going to be a three-part interview. (Parts two and three aren't up at the time I'm posting this, but I'm sure you'll find them easily once they are.) I can't wait to find out if Shannon asks the all-important "When is the fourth Gen book coming out?" and what Megan's answer is!
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Love, Motorcycles, and Casserole: Honey, Baby, Sweetheart (booktalk)
Honey, Baby, Sweetheart by Deb Caletti
4Q 5P J/S/Adult
As soon as Ruby McQueen sees Travis Becker, she knows that she’s in trouble. She’s always been known as the quiet girl, the good student, the good girl. She knows who Travis is. She knows his reputation as a rich bad boy. But she can’t help herself. When she sees his shiny motorcycle parked on the grass of the mansion he calls home, she knows she shouldn’t walk up the driveway to sneak a peek at it. She’s horribly embarrassed when Travis catches her in the act. Staring back at him, she gets that Something About to Happen feeling. Right away, she knows he’s bad, and that it doesn’t matter. When he invites her to ride with him on his motorcycle, she does. And she becomes a different girl. She’s terrified, but at the same time, she likes the feeling. And she likes the girl she is with Travis. This Ruby isn’t afraid, or at least, she doesn’t let Travis see her fear. He thinks she’s cool, and she’s never been cool before. For the first time in years, Ruby feels strong and confident. But as much as Ruby loves Travis, she has to admit that he’s bad news. He almost kills them by refusing to get off the train tracks when a train is coming. He rides his motorcycle at 100 mph, with her clinging to his back. This guy has a dangerous streak a mile wide. Is that enough reason to break it off? No. As scary as it is, it’s also thrilling. But then one night, Travis takes her to “a family friend’s” house. Nobody is home, but Travis has the key. “I’m feeding the cats,” he tells Ruby. But he doesn’t turn on any lights, and suddenly, Ruby knows. Travis is a thief, and he’s involved her in his illegal activities. That’s too much. She has to break it off now. And she tries, she really does. But how can she walk away when the attraction is so strong? She knows it’s a bad idea, but they’re a couple again. Then Travis involves her in something that hurts people who love and trusted her. She knows she needs to break it off for real this time. But how can she walk away from someone she loves so much? It’s just too hard.
As it turns out, Ruby’s mother has the same problem. Ruby’s parents have been divorced for years, but every time Ruby’s father comes back to town for a visit, her mother loses her head and heart all over again, hoping they’ll get back together. Every time, her father leaves and her mother is depressed for weeks. This has to stop.
Ruby and her mother aren’t the only ones in romantic difficulty. Ruby’s mother is a librarian who runs a book club for senior citizens. She calls them the Casserole Queens (there’s also a Casserole King in the group). Ruby’s mother convinces (well, to be accurate, forces) Ruby to join her in the book club, thinking it will take both their minds off their miserable love lives. It works much better than either would have ever guessed. As the club members start to read their latest book choice, they slowly realize that it’s about a member of their own group. Lillian has recently had a stroke and is living in an old age home that she hates. The book’s author tells of how he was separated from the love of his life after WWII and how he has never forgotten her. He’s waited and hoped for over fifty years to see her again, but he doesn’t know where she is. Now that the Casserole Queens know the story, how can they let Lillian die without being reunited with her long-lost love? They can’t! And so they break her out of the home and go off in search of one true love. Who would ever have guessed that a road trip with a bunch of senior citizens is the perfect cure for a bad case of loving the wrong guy?
4Q 5P J/S/Adult
As soon as Ruby McQueen sees Travis Becker, she knows that she’s in trouble. She’s always been known as the quiet girl, the good student, the good girl. She knows who Travis is. She knows his reputation as a rich bad boy. But she can’t help herself. When she sees his shiny motorcycle parked on the grass of the mansion he calls home, she knows she shouldn’t walk up the driveway to sneak a peek at it. She’s horribly embarrassed when Travis catches her in the act. Staring back at him, she gets that Something About to Happen feeling. Right away, she knows he’s bad, and that it doesn’t matter. When he invites her to ride with him on his motorcycle, she does. And she becomes a different girl. She’s terrified, but at the same time, she likes the feeling. And she likes the girl she is with Travis. This Ruby isn’t afraid, or at least, she doesn’t let Travis see her fear. He thinks she’s cool, and she’s never been cool before. For the first time in years, Ruby feels strong and confident. But as much as Ruby loves Travis, she has to admit that he’s bad news. He almost kills them by refusing to get off the train tracks when a train is coming. He rides his motorcycle at 100 mph, with her clinging to his back. This guy has a dangerous streak a mile wide. Is that enough reason to break it off? No. As scary as it is, it’s also thrilling. But then one night, Travis takes her to “a family friend’s” house. Nobody is home, but Travis has the key. “I’m feeding the cats,” he tells Ruby. But he doesn’t turn on any lights, and suddenly, Ruby knows. Travis is a thief, and he’s involved her in his illegal activities. That’s too much. She has to break it off now. And she tries, she really does. But how can she walk away when the attraction is so strong? She knows it’s a bad idea, but they’re a couple again. Then Travis involves her in something that hurts people who love and trusted her. She knows she needs to break it off for real this time. But how can she walk away from someone she loves so much? It’s just too hard.
As it turns out, Ruby’s mother has the same problem. Ruby’s parents have been divorced for years, but every time Ruby’s father comes back to town for a visit, her mother loses her head and heart all over again, hoping they’ll get back together. Every time, her father leaves and her mother is depressed for weeks. This has to stop.
Ruby and her mother aren’t the only ones in romantic difficulty. Ruby’s mother is a librarian who runs a book club for senior citizens. She calls them the Casserole Queens (there’s also a Casserole King in the group). Ruby’s mother convinces (well, to be accurate, forces) Ruby to join her in the book club, thinking it will take both their minds off their miserable love lives. It works much better than either would have ever guessed. As the club members start to read their latest book choice, they slowly realize that it’s about a member of their own group. Lillian has recently had a stroke and is living in an old age home that she hates. The book’s author tells of how he was separated from the love of his life after WWII and how he has never forgotten her. He’s waited and hoped for over fifty years to see her again, but he doesn’t know where she is. Now that the Casserole Queens know the story, how can they let Lillian die without being reunited with her long-lost love? They can’t! And so they break her out of the home and go off in search of one true love. Who would ever have guessed that a road trip with a bunch of senior citizens is the perfect cure for a bad case of loving the wrong guy?
Words Are Teeth: What Happened to Cass McBride (booktalk)
What Happened to Cass McBride by Gail Giles
5Q 5P S (But I'm sure junior high school students will read and like it, too.)
"Sticks and stones may break your bones, but words can never hurt you." Well, that’s bull. Words are powerful things. As a character in the book says, "Words are teeth." Sometimes they hurt even more than a physical blow. Most of us have said something unkind about someone and thought they'd never find out. Sometimes we've said whatever it was just to be funny. Sometimes we've said it just to be nasty. Sometimes we know we're being unkind and we don't care. Sometimes we say something thoughtlessly, not really thinking about what we're saying at all. Does it matter what we say, if they're never going to know we said it? But what if they do find out? And what if we say these things directly to the person, knowing, even hoping, it will hurt them? What happens then?
When David Kirby asks Cass McBride out on a date, she can't imagine what in the world he was thinking. David is a loser with a capital L. No, David is a LOSER - full caps required. David isn't a wanna-be. He's a never-gonna-be. Why would this total nonentity think he was on her radar, let alone in her dating sphere? Cass is running for Homecoming Queen and needs every vote she can get, so she doesn't give him the withering turndown he deserves. She smiles winningly and tells him that she's kind of tied up right now. But then she sits down at her desk and writes a scathing note about it to her best friend, Emily, who will be sitting in the same desk in the next period. She doesn't realize that David must have been watching her all through class. She doesn't realize he must have seen her write the note and put it under her chair. When she does realize it, it's too late: at the end of class, instead of leaving, David heads for her desk and reads the note before she can stop him.
That night, David takes a rope and hangs himself from a tree in front of his house.
The day after his funeral, when Cass wakes up, she's not in her warm, comfortable bed. She's buried who knows how far underground in a narrow wooden crate with a walkie-talkie strapped to her hand. Kyle Kirby, David's brother, intends to make Cass pay for her thoughtless, nasty words.
(Teens who like Torey Hayden, A Child Called It, Chris Crutcher, Nancy Werlin's Rules of Survival, Elaine Alphin's Counterfeit Son and similar titles will probably like this one. Gail Giles's fans will also want to check out her web site.)
5Q 5P S (But I'm sure junior high school students will read and like it, too.)
"Sticks and stones may break your bones, but words can never hurt you." Well, that’s bull. Words are powerful things. As a character in the book says, "Words are teeth." Sometimes they hurt even more than a physical blow. Most of us have said something unkind about someone and thought they'd never find out. Sometimes we've said whatever it was just to be funny. Sometimes we've said it just to be nasty. Sometimes we know we're being unkind and we don't care. Sometimes we say something thoughtlessly, not really thinking about what we're saying at all. Does it matter what we say, if they're never going to know we said it? But what if they do find out? And what if we say these things directly to the person, knowing, even hoping, it will hurt them? What happens then?
When David Kirby asks Cass McBride out on a date, she can't imagine what in the world he was thinking. David is a loser with a capital L. No, David is a LOSER - full caps required. David isn't a wanna-be. He's a never-gonna-be. Why would this total nonentity think he was on her radar, let alone in her dating sphere? Cass is running for Homecoming Queen and needs every vote she can get, so she doesn't give him the withering turndown he deserves. She smiles winningly and tells him that she's kind of tied up right now. But then she sits down at her desk and writes a scathing note about it to her best friend, Emily, who will be sitting in the same desk in the next period. She doesn't realize that David must have been watching her all through class. She doesn't realize he must have seen her write the note and put it under her chair. When she does realize it, it's too late: at the end of class, instead of leaving, David heads for her desk and reads the note before she can stop him.
That night, David takes a rope and hangs himself from a tree in front of his house.
The day after his funeral, when Cass wakes up, she's not in her warm, comfortable bed. She's buried who knows how far underground in a narrow wooden crate with a walkie-talkie strapped to her hand. Kyle Kirby, David's brother, intends to make Cass pay for her thoughtless, nasty words.
(Teens who like Torey Hayden, A Child Called It, Chris Crutcher, Nancy Werlin's Rules of Survival, Elaine Alphin's Counterfeit Son and similar titles will probably like this one. Gail Giles's fans will also want to check out her web site.)
Life As We Knew It (booktalk)
Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer
4Q 4P J/S
What made this book even creepier for me is that scientists right now are trying to figure out how to deal with an asteroid that may hit the Earth in 2038. I suspect that after you read this book, you’ll never be able to look at a full moon again without shivering just a little bit.
Miranda’s journal begins like any typical teenage girl’s. She writes about her grades, friends, fights with her mother, her new step-sibling-to-be, and her crush on a local Olympic-caliber skater. And she writes about the fuss all her teachers are making about the asteroid that’s supposed to hit the moon. They’re all excited because it’s supposed to be big enough to see with the naked eye, but not so big that anyone is particularly worried. They should have been. The asteroid is not only bigger than expected, it hits with much more force with expected. It knocks the moon out of orbit, much closer to Earth.
Is that really significant? You bet it is. It’s catastrophic. The first noticeable effect of the collision is the tsunamis that hit both coasts, causing massive flooding. Tidal waves twenty feet and higher hit as far inland as New York City. The Statue of Liberty is washed out to sea. Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard, the barrier islands off the Carolinas, Rhode Island, Hawaii, Alaska…all gone. Similar devastation is happening all over the world. Nobody knows how bad it’s going to get, but Miranda's mother suspects it's going to get a whole lot worse before it gets better, if it gets better. The family and an elderly neighbor head to the stores and fill cart after cart with canned and boxed foods, cat food, kitty litter, toilet paper, and anything and everything they think they could possibly use. They have no way of knowing how long the situation will last or how bad it will get, so everything has to be rationed, including their water and heating oil.
How bad does it get? Communication networks break down. It's next to impossible to make or receive phone calls. Mail is disrupted. Electricity is available only an hour or two a day. Soon, it's on for only minutes a day, and then not at all. With no electricity, no mail, no phone, no television, and no internet, there's no way to get any news at all. They are completely isolated. And the environmental devastation continues. After the tidal waves come the earthquakes. Then volcanoes begin to erupt, even ones that were dormant or far underground. So much ash is thrown into the air that the sun is completely blocked. The first hard frost comes in August. By September, it's not unusual for the temperature during the day to reach a high of 23 degrees. By October, it's below zero. There’s no heat and very little food. To make a bad situation worse, people are getting sick, and there are few doctors and even less medicine.
In her journal, Miranda wonders how they can possibly survive. The situation is desperate. If only one person in her family can survive, who should it be? It’s time to choose. She longs for life as she knew it, but she has to deal with life as it is, for as long as she possibly can. How long will that be?
4Q 4P J/S
What made this book even creepier for me is that scientists right now are trying to figure out how to deal with an asteroid that may hit the Earth in 2038. I suspect that after you read this book, you’ll never be able to look at a full moon again without shivering just a little bit.
Miranda’s journal begins like any typical teenage girl’s. She writes about her grades, friends, fights with her mother, her new step-sibling-to-be, and her crush on a local Olympic-caliber skater. And she writes about the fuss all her teachers are making about the asteroid that’s supposed to hit the moon. They’re all excited because it’s supposed to be big enough to see with the naked eye, but not so big that anyone is particularly worried. They should have been. The asteroid is not only bigger than expected, it hits with much more force with expected. It knocks the moon out of orbit, much closer to Earth.
Is that really significant? You bet it is. It’s catastrophic. The first noticeable effect of the collision is the tsunamis that hit both coasts, causing massive flooding. Tidal waves twenty feet and higher hit as far inland as New York City. The Statue of Liberty is washed out to sea. Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard, the barrier islands off the Carolinas, Rhode Island, Hawaii, Alaska…all gone. Similar devastation is happening all over the world. Nobody knows how bad it’s going to get, but Miranda's mother suspects it's going to get a whole lot worse before it gets better, if it gets better. The family and an elderly neighbor head to the stores and fill cart after cart with canned and boxed foods, cat food, kitty litter, toilet paper, and anything and everything they think they could possibly use. They have no way of knowing how long the situation will last or how bad it will get, so everything has to be rationed, including their water and heating oil.
How bad does it get? Communication networks break down. It's next to impossible to make or receive phone calls. Mail is disrupted. Electricity is available only an hour or two a day. Soon, it's on for only minutes a day, and then not at all. With no electricity, no mail, no phone, no television, and no internet, there's no way to get any news at all. They are completely isolated. And the environmental devastation continues. After the tidal waves come the earthquakes. Then volcanoes begin to erupt, even ones that were dormant or far underground. So much ash is thrown into the air that the sun is completely blocked. The first hard frost comes in August. By September, it's not unusual for the temperature during the day to reach a high of 23 degrees. By October, it's below zero. There’s no heat and very little food. To make a bad situation worse, people are getting sick, and there are few doctors and even less medicine.
In her journal, Miranda wonders how they can possibly survive. The situation is desperate. If only one person in her family can survive, who should it be? It’s time to choose. She longs for life as she knew it, but she has to deal with life as it is, for as long as she possibly can. How long will that be?
I Am the Messenger (booktalk)
I Am the Messenger by Markus Zusak
5Q 4P (if you don't like the ending, 3Q 3P) S/Adult
Give this book to people who think YA books have no sense of humor. Give it to people who think YA books have no depth. Don't give it to people who have a problem with teens reading books that contain swearing and sex, but it will be their loss. I often introduce it by saying that the ending makes some readers howl and call Zusak a cheat, while others embrace it. To my way of thinking, that’s just another great hook: Will you love it or hate it?
If you asked Ed Kennedy to describe himself, he’d tell you that he’s an underage cab driver, pathetic at cards, hopelessly in love with his best friend Audrey, and devoted to the Doorman, his old and incredibly smelly dog. He’d tell you he doesn’t have a lot of prospects or possibility, that his life is just work and hanging out with Audrey, Marvin, and Richie, who are all as much at loose ends as he is. But that’s before he becomes a hero.
Ed doesn’t mean to become a hero. It’s just that it’s all so stupid. He and the gang are stuck in the middle of a bank robbery perpetrated by one of Australia’s most useless criminals ever. The guy’s pathetic. It’s taking him an age just to rob the bank, and Marvin doesn’t have that kind of time to waste. He starts to grouse about being parked in a 15-minute parking zone. If this farce goes on much longer, he’s going to get another ticket he can’t pay. The bank robber yells, “I said shut up back there!” “Hurry up then!” Marv roars back. The bank robber has had it. “You want to die, don’t you?” “Well, actually,” Marv explains, “I just want you to pay the parking fine for my car. You’re holding me up here.” “Damn right I am!” Says the gunman, pointing his gun at Marv. Just then, he sees his getaway car drive off. “No!” he screams, running out of the bank, dropping his gun along the way. Then the fateful moment arrives. Without thinking, Ed runs after him, picking up the gun. The guy’s in Marv’s car. Of course, it won’t start. Ed points the gun at him. The guy freezes. End of robbery. Beginning of fame.
When the envelope arrives in the mail, Ed doesn’t know what to make of it. Inside he finds a playing card, the Ace of Diamonds. Three addresses are written on it: 45 Edgar St: midnight; 13 Harrison Ave: 6 p.m.; 6 Macedon St: 5:30 a.m. It is, without a doubt, the strangest thing that’s ever happened to him. Who sent it? And why? His friends all deny having anything to do with it. It’s Audrey who suggests that maybe it all ties in with the robbery and what he did then, that something’s going to happen at each of those addresses, and he has to react to it. Okay…
One address belongs to a lonely old lady who just needs a friend. He can be that. One belongs to a girl who runs barefoot every morning. She needs confidence. He can give her that. One belongs to a drunk who rapes his wife every night while their daughter hides on the porch. The women need help. Can a loser like Ed give them that?
The aces keep arriving, each one forcing Ed to get more involved than he’d like to be. There’s a message he has to deliver at each address. He just has to figure out what it is. And is there a message in all this for him?
5Q 4P (if you don't like the ending, 3Q 3P) S/Adult
Give this book to people who think YA books have no sense of humor. Give it to people who think YA books have no depth. Don't give it to people who have a problem with teens reading books that contain swearing and sex, but it will be their loss. I often introduce it by saying that the ending makes some readers howl and call Zusak a cheat, while others embrace it. To my way of thinking, that’s just another great hook: Will you love it or hate it?
If you asked Ed Kennedy to describe himself, he’d tell you that he’s an underage cab driver, pathetic at cards, hopelessly in love with his best friend Audrey, and devoted to the Doorman, his old and incredibly smelly dog. He’d tell you he doesn’t have a lot of prospects or possibility, that his life is just work and hanging out with Audrey, Marvin, and Richie, who are all as much at loose ends as he is. But that’s before he becomes a hero.
Ed doesn’t mean to become a hero. It’s just that it’s all so stupid. He and the gang are stuck in the middle of a bank robbery perpetrated by one of Australia’s most useless criminals ever. The guy’s pathetic. It’s taking him an age just to rob the bank, and Marvin doesn’t have that kind of time to waste. He starts to grouse about being parked in a 15-minute parking zone. If this farce goes on much longer, he’s going to get another ticket he can’t pay. The bank robber yells, “I said shut up back there!” “Hurry up then!” Marv roars back. The bank robber has had it. “You want to die, don’t you?” “Well, actually,” Marv explains, “I just want you to pay the parking fine for my car. You’re holding me up here.” “Damn right I am!” Says the gunman, pointing his gun at Marv. Just then, he sees his getaway car drive off. “No!” he screams, running out of the bank, dropping his gun along the way. Then the fateful moment arrives. Without thinking, Ed runs after him, picking up the gun. The guy’s in Marv’s car. Of course, it won’t start. Ed points the gun at him. The guy freezes. End of robbery. Beginning of fame.
When the envelope arrives in the mail, Ed doesn’t know what to make of it. Inside he finds a playing card, the Ace of Diamonds. Three addresses are written on it: 45 Edgar St: midnight; 13 Harrison Ave: 6 p.m.; 6 Macedon St: 5:30 a.m. It is, without a doubt, the strangest thing that’s ever happened to him. Who sent it? And why? His friends all deny having anything to do with it. It’s Audrey who suggests that maybe it all ties in with the robbery and what he did then, that something’s going to happen at each of those addresses, and he has to react to it. Okay…
One address belongs to a lonely old lady who just needs a friend. He can be that. One belongs to a girl who runs barefoot every morning. She needs confidence. He can give her that. One belongs to a drunk who rapes his wife every night while their daughter hides on the porch. The women need help. Can a loser like Ed give them that?
The aces keep arriving, each one forcing Ed to get more involved than he’d like to be. There’s a message he has to deliver at each address. He just has to figure out what it is. And is there a message in all this for him?
Finding the Joy: Becoming Chloe (booktalk)
Becoming Chloe by Catherine Ryan Hyde
4Q 3P S
Jordy just wants to sleep, but between the throbbing in his head and the grunts of the couple having sex outside, it’s not happening. Who’d want to have sex lying on filthy cold concrete? Then again, he’s only been in the city a few days, and already he’s seen worse. Still... he peeks out the window. There are three more pairs of feet circling the couple on the ground. This isn’t sex. It’s rape. He doesn’t want to call attention to himself, but he can’t ignore the situation. Deepening his voice, he yells, “I called the police!” Will they run or will they come after him? A police siren shrieks nearby. They scatter. The girl calmly picks herself up, looks for her missing shoe, and climbs through the open window into the cellar, her jeans dragging on one leg behind her. All she says is “hi.” “Are you ok?” Jordy asks. “Oh. Me? Yeah. Sure. Sure. I’m fine.” Jordy doesn’t get it. She’s just been raped, but she doesn’t seem to care. Is she loaded? Is she not smart enough to know what just happened? Jordy, meet Chloe. Chloe, meet Jordy.
Jordy can’t figure Chloe out. On the one hand, she’s childlike and seems incapable of understanding even the most basic things. But when the gash on his forehead and the bite in his hand become infected and he’s too sick to move, Chloe somehow has the smarts to get him antibiotics and a doctor who will help him. Jordy wonders how she can be so slow, yet so smart. The doctor can only guess: “Maybe she doesn’t want to understand things she doesn’t think she can change anyhow.” Jordy asks, “So, could she get better? If someone made her feel safe and took care of her?” The doctor replies, “A better question would be, Does she have anybody in her life who cares enough to do all that for her?” Jordy has enough on his plate right now, just trying to survive on his own. And he’s gay, so it’s not like there’s any attraction. But yes. He doesn’t know why, but he cares. He does whatever it takes, including hustling, to care for Chloe and keep them together.
For a while, things are okay. For a while, they’re even pretty good. Maybe that’s the problem. When things are really bad, Chloe coped by understanding as little as possible. But now she’s beginning to feel safe and cared for, and that isn’t working for her anymore. She’s seeing more, understanding too much. Jordy realizes she’s thinking that maybe she no longer wants to live in a world like this. She doesn’t believe it’s a nice place. Jordy tells her he’s not sure if it’s a nice place, but he knows for a fact that it’s beautiful. She doesn’t believe him. He realizes that nobody has ever shown her what a beautiful world it is. She doesn’t even recognize beauty. He makes her promise: if he can convince her that the world is a beautiful place, she’ll promise to stay in it.
This is ultimately a book about hope. It’s about finding the joy and the beauty in life. Not just in the big, obvious things, like climbing to the top of a mountain or seeing the Grand Canyon, but in the little things, like a flying bird, flowers by the side of the road, someone offering a bike or a cold drink of water. Jordy realizes it isn’t just Chloe who needs to understand that. He needs to, too: I look around, breathe, close my eyes... Then I look around at the view again. And I realize that for all the joy we've seen so far, I've allowed it all to remain outside of me. It's always been over there. Look, over there. Some joy just went by. A little more just flew by. And when I realize that, I let it into me. And I become the joy. Just for a split second, I think I do.
Whenever I think about this book, it makes me remember to look for the beauty and find the joy.
4Q 3P S
Jordy just wants to sleep, but between the throbbing in his head and the grunts of the couple having sex outside, it’s not happening. Who’d want to have sex lying on filthy cold concrete? Then again, he’s only been in the city a few days, and already he’s seen worse. Still... he peeks out the window. There are three more pairs of feet circling the couple on the ground. This isn’t sex. It’s rape. He doesn’t want to call attention to himself, but he can’t ignore the situation. Deepening his voice, he yells, “I called the police!” Will they run or will they come after him? A police siren shrieks nearby. They scatter. The girl calmly picks herself up, looks for her missing shoe, and climbs through the open window into the cellar, her jeans dragging on one leg behind her. All she says is “hi.” “Are you ok?” Jordy asks. “Oh. Me? Yeah. Sure. Sure. I’m fine.” Jordy doesn’t get it. She’s just been raped, but she doesn’t seem to care. Is she loaded? Is she not smart enough to know what just happened? Jordy, meet Chloe. Chloe, meet Jordy.
Jordy can’t figure Chloe out. On the one hand, she’s childlike and seems incapable of understanding even the most basic things. But when the gash on his forehead and the bite in his hand become infected and he’s too sick to move, Chloe somehow has the smarts to get him antibiotics and a doctor who will help him. Jordy wonders how she can be so slow, yet so smart. The doctor can only guess: “Maybe she doesn’t want to understand things she doesn’t think she can change anyhow.” Jordy asks, “So, could she get better? If someone made her feel safe and took care of her?” The doctor replies, “A better question would be, Does she have anybody in her life who cares enough to do all that for her?” Jordy has enough on his plate right now, just trying to survive on his own. And he’s gay, so it’s not like there’s any attraction. But yes. He doesn’t know why, but he cares. He does whatever it takes, including hustling, to care for Chloe and keep them together.
For a while, things are okay. For a while, they’re even pretty good. Maybe that’s the problem. When things are really bad, Chloe coped by understanding as little as possible. But now she’s beginning to feel safe and cared for, and that isn’t working for her anymore. She’s seeing more, understanding too much. Jordy realizes she’s thinking that maybe she no longer wants to live in a world like this. She doesn’t believe it’s a nice place. Jordy tells her he’s not sure if it’s a nice place, but he knows for a fact that it’s beautiful. She doesn’t believe him. He realizes that nobody has ever shown her what a beautiful world it is. She doesn’t even recognize beauty. He makes her promise: if he can convince her that the world is a beautiful place, she’ll promise to stay in it.
This is ultimately a book about hope. It’s about finding the joy and the beauty in life. Not just in the big, obvious things, like climbing to the top of a mountain or seeing the Grand Canyon, but in the little things, like a flying bird, flowers by the side of the road, someone offering a bike or a cold drink of water. Jordy realizes it isn’t just Chloe who needs to understand that. He needs to, too: I look around, breathe, close my eyes... Then I look around at the view again. And I realize that for all the joy we've seen so far, I've allowed it all to remain outside of me. It's always been over there. Look, over there. Some joy just went by. A little more just flew by. And when I realize that, I let it into me. And I become the joy. Just for a split second, I think I do.
Whenever I think about this book, it makes me remember to look for the beauty and find the joy.
Here There Be Pirates: Red Sea by Diane Tullson (booktalk)
RED SEA by Diane Tullson
4Q 3P M/J
It thrills me to stand on the deck of the ship, look out at the ocean, and see no land in any direction. But there’s a big difference between being on the deck of a huge cruise ship captained by an experienced crew and being out in the middle of the ocean in a small sailboat with nobody but yourself to pilot the ship.
The last thing in the world Libby wanted to do was leave her boyfriend and her best friend behind to sail around the world with her mother and stepfather. Unfortunately, she wasn’t give a choice, so here she is, stuck for months on a sailboat with the two people in the world she most wants to get away from. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if it were just Libby and her mom. But no way is she okay with sailing around the world with Duncan. And so she does what teenagers are really good at. She makes her parents pay. She’s as uncooperative as she can possibly be. She insinuates that Duncan can’t keep his hands to himself. She goes ashore alone, knowing it makes her mother crazy. She does whatever she can to make them sorry that they ever brought her along. But it’s not just being on this trip that’s making her miserable. At every port, she emails her boyfriend, Ty. At every port, she eagerly waits for word from him. It never comes.
After three weeks in Djibouti waiting for the right weather to begin their Red Sea passage, Emma, the leader of their traveling group, decides to leave early the next morning. For safety’s sake, the flotilla must stay together. There are pirates in the Red Sea, men who will take anything and everything a ship has, men who won’t hesitate to shoot anyone who gets in their way. Everyone must be ready to leave on Emma’s signal. But Libby isn’t ready to leave. Not when there’s one more chance to check her email, one more chance to make her parents pay. She sneaks ashore early in the morning. By the time she gets back, the rest of the group has gone. There’s no choice now but to sail alone and hope for the best. Her parents are grim, but Libby doesn’t care. That’ll teach them.
It’s dangerous for a sailboat to be in the middle of the ocean completely out of sight of land. Pirates aside, your tiny boat can’t get out of a freighter’s way fast enough to avoid being crushed. Someone always has to be on watch. Tonight, Duncan wants Libby on watch with her mother. Libby can take being with her mother just so long. She abandons watch and her mother and goes to bed. She’s woken by a loud noise and a change in the boat’s motion. Something is wrong. She tears up the stairs, Duncan just behind her. They reach the deck just in time to see her mother fire a flare directly at what is unmistakably a pirate’s boat. A gunman in the boat aims a gun their way. Tiny bursts of flame erupt from the barrel. The mainsail rips, a cockpit cushion explodes, a thermos disintegrates. Libby can barely think with the panic and the noise, but one thought does go through her mind: “Oh, good. They’re going to miss her.” They don’t. Her mother spins, her arms splayed. A gob of red goo shoots from her leg and she crashes to the ground. Duncan runs towards her. A bullet catches him in the shoulder, and then the top of his head flies off. When Libby opens her eyes again, he’s gone, thrown overboard by the force of the impact.
The pirates take everything they can: almost every bit of food, every scrap of electronics, including their GPS equipment, their batteries, and the go-bag that contains their emergency supplies. What they can’t take, they break. When they finally go, they leave behind a ship with a fouled propellor that can’t use its engines, no way to contact anyone for help, no medical supplies, a badly wounded woman, and one fourteen-year-old girl. For Libby, being alone in the middle of the ocean isn’t at all thrilling. It’s terrifying.
4Q 3P M/J
It thrills me to stand on the deck of the ship, look out at the ocean, and see no land in any direction. But there’s a big difference between being on the deck of a huge cruise ship captained by an experienced crew and being out in the middle of the ocean in a small sailboat with nobody but yourself to pilot the ship.
The last thing in the world Libby wanted to do was leave her boyfriend and her best friend behind to sail around the world with her mother and stepfather. Unfortunately, she wasn’t give a choice, so here she is, stuck for months on a sailboat with the two people in the world she most wants to get away from. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if it were just Libby and her mom. But no way is she okay with sailing around the world with Duncan. And so she does what teenagers are really good at. She makes her parents pay. She’s as uncooperative as she can possibly be. She insinuates that Duncan can’t keep his hands to himself. She goes ashore alone, knowing it makes her mother crazy. She does whatever she can to make them sorry that they ever brought her along. But it’s not just being on this trip that’s making her miserable. At every port, she emails her boyfriend, Ty. At every port, she eagerly waits for word from him. It never comes.
After three weeks in Djibouti waiting for the right weather to begin their Red Sea passage, Emma, the leader of their traveling group, decides to leave early the next morning. For safety’s sake, the flotilla must stay together. There are pirates in the Red Sea, men who will take anything and everything a ship has, men who won’t hesitate to shoot anyone who gets in their way. Everyone must be ready to leave on Emma’s signal. But Libby isn’t ready to leave. Not when there’s one more chance to check her email, one more chance to make her parents pay. She sneaks ashore early in the morning. By the time she gets back, the rest of the group has gone. There’s no choice now but to sail alone and hope for the best. Her parents are grim, but Libby doesn’t care. That’ll teach them.
It’s dangerous for a sailboat to be in the middle of the ocean completely out of sight of land. Pirates aside, your tiny boat can’t get out of a freighter’s way fast enough to avoid being crushed. Someone always has to be on watch. Tonight, Duncan wants Libby on watch with her mother. Libby can take being with her mother just so long. She abandons watch and her mother and goes to bed. She’s woken by a loud noise and a change in the boat’s motion. Something is wrong. She tears up the stairs, Duncan just behind her. They reach the deck just in time to see her mother fire a flare directly at what is unmistakably a pirate’s boat. A gunman in the boat aims a gun their way. Tiny bursts of flame erupt from the barrel. The mainsail rips, a cockpit cushion explodes, a thermos disintegrates. Libby can barely think with the panic and the noise, but one thought does go through her mind: “Oh, good. They’re going to miss her.” They don’t. Her mother spins, her arms splayed. A gob of red goo shoots from her leg and she crashes to the ground. Duncan runs towards her. A bullet catches him in the shoulder, and then the top of his head flies off. When Libby opens her eyes again, he’s gone, thrown overboard by the force of the impact.
The pirates take everything they can: almost every bit of food, every scrap of electronics, including their GPS equipment, their batteries, and the go-bag that contains their emergency supplies. What they can’t take, they break. When they finally go, they leave behind a ship with a fouled propellor that can’t use its engines, no way to contact anyone for help, no medical supplies, a badly wounded woman, and one fourteen-year-old girl. For Libby, being alone in the middle of the ocean isn’t at all thrilling. It’s terrifying.
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Who's My Truest Love of All?
Keturah and Lord Death by Martine Leavitt
4Q 3?P J/S
National Book Awards Honor Book in 2006
Sometimes the best stories are the ones you tell about yourself. Keturah is quite the storyteller, and has she ever got a story to tell.
"I was sixteen years old the day I was lost in the forest, sixteen the day I met my death."
Keturah is picking peas in the garden when she spies the famed great hart eating lettuce in that very same garden. Hunters from all around, especially Lord Temsland, have been trying to capture the hart for years, and he has always eluded them. Keturah can barely tear her eyes away from him, so when he leaves the garden and reenters the forest, she follows. She doesn't mean to follow him far, but before she knows it, she is deep in the heart of the forest and completely lost. Despite all her efforts, she can not find her way home. Three days go by, and soon she realizes she is too cold, too hungry, and too lost to survive. She prepares herself for death, regretting all the dreams she will never see come true: no little cottage, no wee little baby, no one true love. At dusk, death does come to her. He comes in the form of a man. Keturah knows him instantly.
Keturah is not a bold girl, but still, she challenges Death. She tells him that he has come for her before she is ready. There is something she still wants to do. Many people die before they are ready, and they all have something they still want to do, Death replies. Still...he offers her a chance to live. She simply needs to choose who will die in her place. But Keturah will not give him a name. She will die herself rather than allow another to be taken in her stead. Death tells her her courage is for nothing, for her entire village is fated to be devastated by a plague. Keturah pleads with him to let her save her village. But no, Death says, it is not in your power. What is it you want to live for? All she has ever wanted, Keturah replies, is her own little cottage to clean, her own wee baby to hold, and most of all, one true love to be her husband. Death is still unmoved. That is not too much to ask for, but it is not to be. Keturah feels herself slowly slipping away. Desperately, she tries to think of some way to save herself. Into her mind come the memories of people who have been close to death but somehow miraculously survived.
"Sir, you are not easy to entreat."
"I am not entreated at all."
"But I hear you are sometimes cheated...Good Sir Death, I would tell you a story - a story of love, a love that could not be conquered even by you."
And Keturah begins to spin Death a tale, as only Keturah can spin a tale. The tale involves a beautiful young village girl, her true love, and Death. As she weaves the tale, Death is intrigued in spite of himself. But Keturah refuses to finish the tale. "The end of the tale I cannot tell...Will not tell - until tomorrow. Let me live, sir, and I will tell you the ending tomorrow."
Death must know the ending to the tale. He agrees to let her live for one more day. But then..."I have decided that when I take you tomorrow, I will indeed make you my bride."
"No, sir..I will not marry you. I will live and breathe and dance and tell my children stories. I will marry for love."
And there's the crux of it. It is the first time Keturah and Death speak, but it is not the last. Like Sherezade, Keturah uses her stories to convince Death to give her more time to live, until finally he tells her that she has three days to find her one true love, or she will be his bride.
When Keturah emerges from the forest, there is great rejoicing -- at first. But soon, there are rumblings. The villagers, who have always loved Keturah for her sweet nature and wonderful stories, are now suspicious of the girl who disappeared into the forest for three days and returned alive. The fairies must have bewitched her. Keturah's warnings of plague are heeded by Lord Temson's son, John, but the villagers are reluctant to follow his orders, since Keturah is the messenger. Time is growing short, both for Keturah and for her village.
If she can only find her one true love in time, all will be well. Who could it be? The tailor? The choirmaster? The man who would marry the best pastry maker in the village? Is he rich or is he poor? Does he even exist at all? She doesn't know, and even the enchanted eyeball in her pocket can not see the man. But sometimes the things you can not see are the things that have been right in front of you all along.
This is the book for you if you enjoy fairy tales and quiet romances. Leavitt has created a fantasy that takes its place alongside the best of the classic fairy tales. It is not a book for those who like rousing adventure and a fast-moving tale. It is a quiet book that depends on characters to create its magic. Read it curled up with a hot cup of tea, a warm afghan, and a picture of your own one true love nearby.
4Q 3?P J/S
National Book Awards Honor Book in 2006
Sometimes the best stories are the ones you tell about yourself. Keturah is quite the storyteller, and has she ever got a story to tell.
"I was sixteen years old the day I was lost in the forest, sixteen the day I met my death."
Keturah is picking peas in the garden when she spies the famed great hart eating lettuce in that very same garden. Hunters from all around, especially Lord Temsland, have been trying to capture the hart for years, and he has always eluded them. Keturah can barely tear her eyes away from him, so when he leaves the garden and reenters the forest, she follows. She doesn't mean to follow him far, but before she knows it, she is deep in the heart of the forest and completely lost. Despite all her efforts, she can not find her way home. Three days go by, and soon she realizes she is too cold, too hungry, and too lost to survive. She prepares herself for death, regretting all the dreams she will never see come true: no little cottage, no wee little baby, no one true love. At dusk, death does come to her. He comes in the form of a man. Keturah knows him instantly.
Keturah is not a bold girl, but still, she challenges Death. She tells him that he has come for her before she is ready. There is something she still wants to do. Many people die before they are ready, and they all have something they still want to do, Death replies. Still...he offers her a chance to live. She simply needs to choose who will die in her place. But Keturah will not give him a name. She will die herself rather than allow another to be taken in her stead. Death tells her her courage is for nothing, for her entire village is fated to be devastated by a plague. Keturah pleads with him to let her save her village. But no, Death says, it is not in your power. What is it you want to live for? All she has ever wanted, Keturah replies, is her own little cottage to clean, her own wee baby to hold, and most of all, one true love to be her husband. Death is still unmoved. That is not too much to ask for, but it is not to be. Keturah feels herself slowly slipping away. Desperately, she tries to think of some way to save herself. Into her mind come the memories of people who have been close to death but somehow miraculously survived.
"Sir, you are not easy to entreat."
"I am not entreated at all."
"But I hear you are sometimes cheated...Good Sir Death, I would tell you a story - a story of love, a love that could not be conquered even by you."
And Keturah begins to spin Death a tale, as only Keturah can spin a tale. The tale involves a beautiful young village girl, her true love, and Death. As she weaves the tale, Death is intrigued in spite of himself. But Keturah refuses to finish the tale. "The end of the tale I cannot tell...Will not tell - until tomorrow. Let me live, sir, and I will tell you the ending tomorrow."
Death must know the ending to the tale. He agrees to let her live for one more day. But then..."I have decided that when I take you tomorrow, I will indeed make you my bride."
"No, sir..I will not marry you. I will live and breathe and dance and tell my children stories. I will marry for love."
And there's the crux of it. It is the first time Keturah and Death speak, but it is not the last. Like Sherezade, Keturah uses her stories to convince Death to give her more time to live, until finally he tells her that she has three days to find her one true love, or she will be his bride.
When Keturah emerges from the forest, there is great rejoicing -- at first. But soon, there are rumblings. The villagers, who have always loved Keturah for her sweet nature and wonderful stories, are now suspicious of the girl who disappeared into the forest for three days and returned alive. The fairies must have bewitched her. Keturah's warnings of plague are heeded by Lord Temson's son, John, but the villagers are reluctant to follow his orders, since Keturah is the messenger. Time is growing short, both for Keturah and for her village.
If she can only find her one true love in time, all will be well. Who could it be? The tailor? The choirmaster? The man who would marry the best pastry maker in the village? Is he rich or is he poor? Does he even exist at all? She doesn't know, and even the enchanted eyeball in her pocket can not see the man. But sometimes the things you can not see are the things that have been right in front of you all along.
This is the book for you if you enjoy fairy tales and quiet romances. Leavitt has created a fantasy that takes its place alongside the best of the classic fairy tales. It is not a book for those who like rousing adventure and a fast-moving tale. It is a quiet book that depends on characters to create its magic. Read it curled up with a hot cup of tea, a warm afghan, and a picture of your own one true love nearby.
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