Between the Lines - Jodi Picoult

Between the Lines is one of the newest Young Adult books to be written by an adult author. A trend I think we will continue to see as books like The Hunger Games and The Fault of Our Stars (both highly recommended) become popular not only among teens.

I have read a lot of Jodi Picoult, and while I stopped because her books are formulaic and I now can see the end coming quite quickly, I enjoy how well researched they are and my favorites are always about the cultures or issues I'm most interested in. So when I saw that her daughter had pitched her an idea for a young adult novel she wrote, I was intrigued.

The basic ideas is that characters in a fairy tale are actually alive and somewhat actors themselves. When the book is closed, the actors can do whatever they want and all Oliver (the prince and hero of the story) wants to do is escape. When he finally gets a reader, Delilah to notice he is alive they attempt plan after plan to get him out of the book. I thought this idea would be great because it could not resort to the courtroom that Picoult's books always do. Which is true, it didn't, but I'm left with mixed feelings at the end.

The book itself is a bit slow moving. The conversations between Delilah and Oliver get old as the attempts continue to fail. I do enjoy the fact that Delilah is in high school and when Oliver in all his fairy tale glory, proposes she says no. Delilah,  while wanting a boyfriend and a companion like so many of us has a great moment of independence when she states that she wants her life, with Oliver in it, but not for him to be her entire life. However, that said - it seems extreme the measures she continues to go to release him from the book.

*Major Spoilers ahead*

In the end -  Oliver switches places with the author's son who looks just like him (she drew him as he hoped he'd look). The son has never come to terms with losing his father and is unhappy, however the switch feels abrupt and I'm not quite satisfied with this "happy ending".  Edgar, the son, is now trapped in the book and while he says he'll be happy as he's rewritten the story to include elements of his favorite video game, I'm extremely sad for him. I would rather had Edgar stay out of the story and Delilah begin to help him heal. Just my personal preference I guess.

I enjoyed most of the story - the illustrations are great, but I don't think I'll be recommending this one much when there are so many others out there that I enjoyed more.

Also note: Palace of Stone, Shannon's Hale's sequel to The Princess Academy came out in August. I devoured it. While perhaps not quite as good as the first, the sequel does not disappoint. Pick it up, along with The Princess Academy, if you haven't read that one yet.

Blizzard of Glass: The Halifax Explosion of 1917 - Sally M. Walke

I read this book because in the ignorance that has become my life after school I had never heard of the Halifax Explosion. I don't actually enjoy reading many informational books, but I figured a good children's book was the way to go to get just enough information. Plus, in my quest to be a Children's Librarian I really need to know more informational books.

This one was fine, I have it three stars on Goodreads overall, but in terms of informational books, I'd probably give it four. The book does a good job of weaving together stories about people from the time - enough to keep my interest throughout the book. I did lose focus when it described the events leading up the explosion in great detail, though I have no doubt others will love the specifics.

I'll certainly recommend this to people who enjoy reading informational books, but it didn't make me want to start reading them all the time.

Book of a Thousand Days - Shannon Hale

This book is Young Adult, not Children's, but I figured I can do what I want with this and at the moment I want to write about how much I love Shannon Hale's books. I have read all of the Books of Bayern, Princess Academy as well as both Austenland novels (what can I say? They're a guilty pleasure).

So I picked up Book of a Thousand Days knowing with almost certainty that I would love it, which I did. The book itself follows Dashti as she pledges service as a lady's maid to Saren. Both girls get locked in a tower when Saren refuses to marry the man her father has chosen for her.

Saren might be an annoying character, but through the eyes of Dashti you feel the same compassion that Dashti does. Throughout the book, Saren orders Dashti several times to pretend to be her. In the last instance, I was afraid that this book would turn into something we see too often in cases of deception, but I should have known better. Hale creates a face paced novel that weaves together an interesting ideas on faith and social classes that leaves the reading thinking throughout the book, with of course, the satisfying happy ending I have come to expect from her.

I highly recommend picking up this title or any of her others.

The Fairy-Tale Detectives: Sisters Grimm Book 1

I picked up the The Fairy-Tale Detectives because I don't read many mysteries and felt I should try to expand my knowledge of the genre a bit. I thought this would be a great one for me in particular because I love retellings - especially fairy tale retellings.

And the book was fine - certain twists were particularly cute (insinuating that Prince Charming has at one time been married to all the princesses was my personal favorite). But I wasn't wow'd. Particularly because I was expecting a mystery book and it felt more like an adventure book after their grandmother gets kidnapped.

All in all it was fine and I may recommend to some children, but I won't be handing to to a lot.

Temple Grandin: How the Girl Who Loved Cows and Embraced Autism Changed the World

Ok, second entry - book numero dos and one I thoroughly enjoyed.

Temple Grandin is a name that I've heard my aunt speak of many times. My aunt is a special education teacher and works with children of all kinds of abilities. Temple Grandin is an inspiration to many of her children - so when I saw that she had a children's biography coming out, I knew I had to read it.

And it didn't disappoint. The book begins with her life as a child and each chapter covers a different part of her life or her work. However, in between each chapter are several pages describing the difficulties and blessings that those with Autism face. These pages provide great examples that allow children to truly understand how those with Autism feel and why they may behave in different ways. I also learned several facts from this book.

On top of all the great information you'll get about Autism, without being overloaded, you'll also read an incredible story. For those of you who are not familiar with Temple Grandin, she has revolutionized animal standards across America and in several parts of the world. Most of her work has focused on cows, with her keen insight into how they are feeling. However, she has also worked to create better living environments for other animals as well, such as chickens.

On top of all this, the book has been packaged in a way that will appeal to children and young adults. The pages all colorful, the font is large and pictures and sketches help children understand Temple's work. This format, will certainly appeal to children - many of whom are less than thrilled to be picking up a non-fiction book.

All in all - a fantastic book that I highly recommend.

When You Reach Me - Rebecca Stead

This is the first book that I wanted to write about in a while which really decided I would take my friend's advise and create this blog, so bear with me for the first post. 


First off, I had such high hopes for this book. Not only did it win the Newbery, but also the Massachusetts Children's Book Award and was recommended to me by several of the kids at the library. On top of all this, I had read First Light, also by Stead and thoroughly enjoyed it. But, I was let down. 


I knew that the plot revolved around a young girl, Miranda, getting notes from the future, something else that had intrigued me. However, the book is extremely slow moving. You get through almost a third of the book before Miranda even receives the first note. And the time travel story could have been better expanded. Miranda hardly seems worried about the notes and what they could mean in the beginning. She doesn't question the very nature of time travel or why someone would be sending her these notes. Miranda hardly worries that one notes says "I'm coming to save your friends life". 


In fact, I think as a whole, it would have been far more interesting to see the book from Marcus' point of view. While I realize this would take away part of the mystery it would have added a lot to the story. I would have loved to know how in the alternate version of reality (the version in which he does not travel back in time) he is haunted by his actions of the punch which ultimately leads to the chase and the bus accident. What type of journey does Marcus go through? Does he ever try to stop himself from punching Sal in the first place or does he simply accept his fate? 


The Wrinkle in Time references were a lot of fun as I love that book, but once again two parts bothered me. First, the tedious conversations about how time travel worked and why they could not have arrived five minutes before they left if they did not first see themselves in the garden before they left. I suspect these conversations were created for children to have a better understanding of time travel, but once again I feel this could have been better executed through Marcus attempting to change different things etc. 


Secondly, at the time the novel takes place, two of the sequels to A Wrinkle in Time had been published and I would have at least liked a reference as to why Miranda did not find those books worth reading. This would not normally matter, but with the fact that Stead mentioned several times that Miranda would read no other book and that the teachers' attempted to get her to read other books it seems an oversight not to at least mention the two sequels. 


Once again, let me stress that I know I could do no better in writing a time travel novel and I would easily read something by Stead again since I enjoyed First Light. Also, that I have had many children tell me they liked it, these are just my rantings.


So I do not anticipate most entries being nearly so long, but simply needed to get that off my chest. Hopefully I am not alone in some of my feelings about this book. Bear with me as well - I'm sure the entries will get better.

Welcome!

This is a whim - created a friend's suggestion. While I do read constantly and am obtaining a masters in Library Science, I do not pretend to know anything about what I'm writing. They are simply my thoughts and reactions to books. I do not mean to say any book does not have value or is not worthy of being  read by the right person.

This will be slowly growing and as such in the meantime, I suggest you check out my goodreads to see how I rated the books.