Weak Internet Is My New Excuse

Still here, but sparsely. I did try to do some reviewing, but my internet connection kept failing. I'm blaming the heavy rains, but I hope it steadies itself soon.

I managed to read just about everything I really really wanted to finish, jettisoning a few books when I discovered I already had read books set in the same state.  I got everything in on time, and even slipped my library holdings under my age for a few minutes -- the time between dropping of my books and walking over to the hold shelf ;-). So I only read nine books, returned three unopened, and declared victory.

Next week I hope to finish two books that the library will call home soon (Superhuman and Commodore Perry in the Land of the Shogun), finish one Cybils and start the next, and read some picture books with N. He's currently got a stash of books about Egypt and the pyramids, and I snuck in one about Germany as well, since he'll go on vacation there soon. I'll probably also pick up the next Reading My Library selection as well as at least one of the books I've been buying.

What were those nine books? I'll go sign in at Book Journey's round-up of what people have read, are reading, and will read. And since most of my reading this week was YA or younger, I'll also check in with Teach Mentor Texts, which specializes in books for the non-voting crowd.

• Rock Bottom, Erin Brockovitch & C.J. Lyons. West Virginia!
• The Rat-Catcher's Daughter, Laurence Housman. Elegant fairy tales.
• The Vision of Stephen, Lolah Burford. Respectful time-traveling kidlit.
• Wild Wild Death (Pepper Martin #8), Casey Daniels. New Mexico!
• Hot Water, Erin Brockovitch & C.J. Lyons. South Carolina!
• The Revenge of the Forty-Seven Samurai, Erik Haugaard. More quality historical kidlit.
• A Friendship For Today, Patricia C. McKissack. A Reading My Library selection.
• Rescuing the Children, Deborah Hodge. Fascinating nonfiction kidlit about the Kindertransport.
• Queen of Attolia, Megan Whelan Turner. Reread for my family book club.

What am I currently reading? Technically I have 24 books open, but really I'm only trying to read about six. I guess that doesn't make me sound much saner, does it?

• The Geometry of Sisters, Luanne Rice. (NOOK) Takes place in RHODE ISLAND. The family claims to love each other, but everyone is indescribably cruel.
• Super Human, Michael Carroll. I'm enjoying this Best of the Best pick enough that I picked up the sequel for X.
• Frost, Marianna Baer. (NOOK). Waiting for the library to give me this Cybils pick again.
• The Hum and the Shiver, Alex Bledsoe. I like the mystery about this Tennessee family.
• The Curse of the Wendigo, Richard Yancy. (audio) The grossness has reached new and awesome heights.
• The Righteous Mind, Jonathan Haidt. (NOOK) My brother recommended this to me.
• Words In the Dust, Trent Reedy. Cybils finalist. I've read two kidlit books about Afghanistan, and both involved girls with a cleft palate.
• Phoenix In Flight, Sherwood Smith & Dave Trowbridge. (NOOK).  I'm not reading this that quickly.
• Elfhome, Wen Spencer. (NOOK, reread) Knock 'em out, Oilcan!
• The Borrowers Afield, Mary Norton. Dipper. Intruder alert! 
• War With the News, Karel Capek. Dipper. Not really starting yet.
• The Catholic Church in the Modern World, E.E.Y. Hales. Europe has just separated church and state, often with disrespect to the True Church. 
• Stink: The Incredible Shrinking Kid, Megan McDonald. They garborated the class newt!
• Smart But Scattered, Peggy Dawson. Good stuff. "Organization" and "time management" are also weak areas for me and my kids.
• Kushiel's Dart, Jacqueline Carey. Paused.

The list of the books I started but didn't finish over the summer remains depressingly static:

• The Tunnel of Hugsy Goode, Eleanor Estes. Was getting dull.
• Ecstasia, Francesca Lia Block. I find her mythic stories harder going than her Weezie Bat books.
• Bob, Son of Battle, Alfred Ollivant. I'm not liking the dialect, and I think the guy I hate is supposed to be the hero. Oops.
• Tricksters, Margaret Mahy. I have no excuse for not finishing this yet.
• Tessie, Jesse Jackson. The author makes me giggle.
• Puddleby Adventures, Hugh Lofting. I had too many Dolittle books back-to-back.
• The Avion My Uncle Flew, Cyrus Fisher. I lost this while reading it, but now I know where it is.
• The Eye of the Warlock, P.W. Catanese. Mixed-up fairy tale.
• Redskin and Cowboy, G. A. Henty. Waiting for the boy to run away from home.

Challenges:

1. Cybils: 69/73. No change, but I'm partly through 2 of the final four.
2. Global Reading Challenge: 17/21. I got one waiting in my book bag.
3. Where Am I Reading?:  41/50.  One month, nine books. This is looking grim. I added South Carolina, West Virginia, and New Mexico. I'm currently reading books in Tennessee and Rhode Island. Still need Delaware, Idaho, Kansas, Nebraska, North Carolina, New Hampshire, and North Dakota.
4. Science Book Challenge: 3.1415/3.14159. Done, but I'd like more. I wonder if Righteous Minds will be science?
5. Reading My Library:  Chugging along.
6. Eclectic Challenge: 11/12. Still need a classic.
7. Best of the Best: 31/25. Almost done with Superhuman, and Wendigo is sliming along.
8. Summer Reading Goal: All over but the cleanup. My bare shelf is filled up again, but two boxes have disappeared from my living room.

Still Here!

My second week posting in a row!  I'm clearly (sortof) back.

I'm going to try to do a lot of reading this week, since I have seven books from the library that cannot be renewed, as well as four challenges that still need spots filled. Luckily there is a least a little overlap between those categories, so I only need to read ten books or in the next six days. We'll see next week how successful I am...

What have I read this week? I'll go sign in at Book Journey's round-up of what people have read, are reading, and will read. And since most of my reading this week was YA or younger, I'll also check in with Teach Mentor Texts, which specializes in books for the non-voting crowd.

• Page By Paige, Laura Lee Gulledge. Cybils graphic novel. 
• Written in Bone: Buried Lives of Jamestown and Colonial Maryland, Sally Walker. Did you notice the MARYLAND in the title?
• The Red Pyramid, Rick Riordan. Pre-reading for family book club.
• The Throne of Fire, Rick Riordan. Family book club book!
• Unspoken, Sarah Rees Brennan. Smart and funny YA fantasy.
• The Murder of Tutankhamen, Bob Brier. Gave added insight to the Tut exhibit at the museum.
• All Seeing Eye, Rob Thurman. Fun paranormal but not a romance.
• The Voyage of the Frog, Gary Paulsen. Hemingway for the elementary school crowd.
• Close Range, Annie Proulx. Wyoming!

What am I currently reading? I started four books yesterday after noticing that the library would call them home soon. I have three others that I'll attack if I do well with those four, and then there are the other books I was reading anyway:

• The Vision of Stephen, Lolah Burford. One of the books recommended in Noel Perrin's A Child's Delight, a book of book recommendations. Due at the library VERY SOON.
• Rock Bottom, Erin Brockovich & C. J. Lyons.  Takes place in WEST VIRGINIA, and due soon.
• The Rat-Catcher's Daughter, Laurence Housman. Another rec from Perrin, who thinks that the poet's brother is a bit neglected. Due at the library.
• Hot Water, Erin Brockovich & C. J. Lyons. Takes place in SOUTH CAROLINA, and due soon.
• The Geometry of Sisters, Luanne Rice. (NOOK) Takes place in RHODE ISLAND, but is apparently not a fluffy romance.
• Super Human, Michael Carroll. My son recommends this Best of the Best title. So far I agree that it is fun.
• Frost, Marianna Baer. (NOOK). Waiting for the library to give it to me again.
• The Hum and the Shiver, Alex Bledsoe. I'm liking this. I like the girl soldier.
• The Revenge of the Forty-Seven Samurai, Erik Haugaard.  Interesting setting in Japan around 1700.
• The Curse of the Wendigo, Richard Yancy. (audio) The grossness continues, although with some very strange female characters.
• Phoenix In Flight, Sherwood Smith & Dave Trowbridge. (NOOK).  I'm not reading this that quickly.
• Elfhome, Wen Spencer. (NOOK, reread) Knock 'em out, Oilcan!
• The Borrowers Afield, Mary Norton. Dipper. Intruder alert! 
• War With the News, Karel Capek. Dipper. Not really starting yet.
• The Catholic Church in the Modern World, E.E.Y. Hales. Dipper. 
• Stink: The Incredible Shrinking Kid, Megan McDonald. They garborated the class newt!
• Smart But Scattered, Peggy Dawson. Good stuff. The "planning" chapter hit home.
• Kushiel's Dart, Jacqueline Carey. Paused.

I'll keep the remaining list of the books started but unfinished over summer vacation here for my reference, as I do plan to finish them, hopefully before next summer:

• The Tunnel of Hugsy Goode, Eleanor Estes. Was getting dull.
• Ecstasia, Francesca Lia Block. I find her mythic stories harder going than her Weezie Bat books.
• Bob, Son of Battle, Alfred Ollivant. I'm not liking the dialect, and I think the guy I hate is supposed to be the hero. Oops.
• Tricksters, Margaret Mahy. I have no excuse for not finishing this yet.
• Tessie, Jesse Jackson. The author makes me giggle.
• Puddleby Adventures, Hugh Lofting. I had too many Dolittle books back-to-back.
• The Avion My Uncle Flew, Cyrus Fisher. I lost this while reading it, but now I know where it is.
• The Eye of the Warlock, P.W. Catanese. Mixed-up fairy tale.
• Redskin and Cowboy, G. A. Henty. Waiting for the boy to run away from home.

Challenges:

1. Cybils: 69/73. Final four; I'm about to start Words in the Dust. 
2. Global Reading Challenge: 17/21. About to start a South American book.
3. Where Am I Reading?:  38/50.  Got Wyoming and Maryland. Two months, twelve books left. I'm currently reading books in Tennessee, West Virginia, Rhode Island, and South Carolina. Still need Delaware, Idaho, Kansas, Nebraska, North Carolina, New Hampshire, New Mexico, and North Dakota.
4. Science Book Challenge: 3.1415/3.14159. Done, but I'd like more.
5. Reading My Library:  Chugging along.
6. Eclectic Challenge: 11/12. Still need a classic.
7. Best of the Best: 31/25. No change, but one has entered my reading bag.
8. Summer Reading Goal: All over but the cleanup. My bare shelf is filled up again, but two boxes have disappeared from my living room.

What About the Parents?

This kid may need parents.

The burning question for children's books (including YA) is what to do about the parents. Books are much more interesting if the protagonists run things, but for most kids, that's rather unrealistic. So adventure style books tend to have a large proportion of orphans, so that mom or dad aren't intervening to prevent the action from happening. The three middle grade books I read this week take drastically different approaches -- Pinky Pye is a cosy family story, where everything that happens is at a small scale that the parents approve and participate in. Magic Below Stairs has a true orphan, raised in an orphanage and without any connection to family. Finally, The Red Pyramid puts the kids in the driver's seat -- their father has been kidnapped so that he not only cannot prevent the jeopardy, his situation motivates them to dive further into it.

I admit to liking all three kinds of story, although usually they appeal to different moods.

Fast Responses:

Pinky Pye, Eleanore Estes.  I'm glad I'm finally getting through some of the leftover summer books, which had a disastrous final month (I kept starting a book a day, but was left with over twenty unfinished stories). I find Estes' voice cosy and warm, although I can see how it might read as coy or cloying if your inner voice runs that way. But for me, the summer with the Pye family and their pets was a gentle delight, especially when Rachel moves to the front.

Magic Below Stairs, Caroline Stevermer. I grabbed this book because I've enjoyed Stevermer's other works, which are mainly YA or even general fantasy.  This one is aimed at a younger crowd, but seems to be set in the same world as the YA letter books that introduced me to her. It's a solid engaging fantasy but without the depth of her older books. For fans, it gives a fun glimpse at Kate and Thomas from underneath. I gave it to X; if he likes it I'll hand on some of her other books.

The Red Pyramid, Rick Riordan. No fair thinking about this one until after book club meeting!

Picture Books

This Kid Likes Picture Books

I've been looking for picture books to tempt N into doing some reading with me, which actually is mostly an excuse to read picture books again. Picture books cry out to be read aloud, which for me is easier if I'm reading with someone else. P often indulges me, but N is actually in the right demographic. He also has very definitely interests, so I try to accommodate him.

This renewed interest in picture books makes me examine what I really look for in one. An excellent picture book relies on its illustrations as much as its text, so that the words alone don't convey the whole story. In my favorite books, the illustrations often run counter to the text, contradicting or undermining the words on the page. This requires a bit of sophistication on the audience's part; tiny toddlers might wrestle with this but in our house the boys loved this for as far back as I can remember.

Looking at the picture books of the week, this tension between words and pictures clearly runs in my favorite stories. The Klassen does it to perfection, and the Piggy Wiggy uses the illustrations as punchlines for the text. And on the opposite side, the Pharos book has pictures that reflect the words, illustrating a scene straight from the text but without adding surprises, and that's probably why it felt a bit flat to me.

This Is Not My Hat, J. Klassen.  Universally popular, from the early-reading nine year old through the sophisticated eighth grader, and including me and my sister. I read it today with N, and he adored the contrast between the text and the pictures, burying his head in excitement as the great fish arrowed down on the little guy. I think this would be an excellent way to introduce "point of view" discussions in elementary (or even junior high) writing classes.

Voyage to the Pharos, by Sarah Gauch, illus Roger Roth.  Egyptian, ancient wonder of world Alexandria lighthouse. Cosy, fresh pictures, slightly androgynous boy.  Not enough pyramids, really.

The Return of the Library Dragon, Carmen Agra Deedy. (no kids yet). Ah, my beloved genre of books about books! I think this is a sequel to a book I read ages ago, although this time the librarian confronts a paper-hating ebook revolutionary. The message is a bit muddled, but kids might not mind since the illustrations of the dragon erupting from the librarian's shadow and soul are entertaining enough.

Ten Little Mummies, Philip Yates. Enjoyed by N, the pyramid-loving nine year old, but not really ground breaking. A cute little counting book, not irritating but not outstanding.

Around the World, Piggy Wiggy, Christyan Fox. I checked this out for the pyramid page, but in general it's a refreshing and joyful pop-out book, with each page unfolding into a giant picture of a famous location, but done in an innovative way. So the rocket page unfolds only vertically, while the pyramid goes in all directions and reveals a surprise with the last crease. I also appreciated how the text is repeated on each section, so you don't lose the story as you unveil the picture. Well done. N wants to renew it, so it succeeds with the target as well.

Back in Spirit

Well, no one can notice, but I've actually started creating blog posts in drafts. So I'm almost back to my blog. I have a New Idea! I'll put short reactions to different kinds of books into the same essay, and that would give me a chance to be more reflective. So I could post on Picture Books, Kidlit, YA, Genre, Nonfiction, and Other stuff, and if I don't read any of those books in a week, I just skip. So far I've started some drafts, and if any of those escape to the wild I'll see how it works.

I seemed to have missed a week again, but here's my round up of what I've been reading for the past little while. Some of it is kids books, so I'll check in both with Book Journey's weekly round-up of what everyone has done and on Teach Mentor Texts. Nothing is reviewed yet, so again this is a very boring list, but I'm happy enough.

• The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party, Alexander McCall Smith 
• Angelmaker, Nick Harkaway
• Oracle's Moon, Thea Harrison
• Stink and the Great Guinea Pig Express, Megan McDonald
• Betrayer, C.J. Cherryh
• Her Royal Spyness, Rhys Bowen
• Hollywood Vampire, Keith Topping
• Pinky Pye, Eleanor Estes
• Magic Below Stairs, Carolyn Stevermer

Picture Books (it's great having an emerging reader as an excuse to get these):

• This Is Not My Hat, Jon Klassen. (2nd week in a row) Lovely.
• Pyramid, Dana Meachen Rau (it got N reading!)
• The Return of the Library Dragon, Carmen Agra Deedy.
• Around the World Piggy Wiggy, Christyan Fox

What am I currently reading? Fewer than thirty books!

• The Murder of Tutankamen, Bob Brier. I lost this and now I've found it again.
• The Red Pyramid, Rick Riordan. For my family book club of October -- I'm late.
• Super Human, Michael Carroll. My son recommends this Best of the Best title.
• Frost, Marianna Baer. (NOOK). Cybils choice, but it just expired -- I have it on hold again.
• The Hum and the Shiver, Alex Bledsoe. I got this at Foolscap, and I just noticed it's set in TENNESSEE.
• The Voyage of the Frog, Gary Paulsen. From my shelves.
• The Revenge of the Forty-Seven Samurai, Erik Haugaard. Again from my shelves.
• The Curse of the Wendigo, Richard Yancy. (audio) We've decided that the grossness makes this a perfect book for dieters. Ew.
• Written in Bone, Sally Walker. (NOOK) Excavations of colonial graves in MARYLAND.
• Phoenix In Flight, Sherwood Smith & Dave Trowbridge. (NOOK).  I'm not reading this that quickly.
• Elfhome, Wen Spencer. (NOOK, reread) Knock 'em out, Oilcan!
• Close Range, Annie Proulx. Dipping book. Wyoming does not seem full of happy people.
• The Borrowers Afield, Mary Norton. Another dipping book. The plot is about to start.
• War With the News, Karel Capek. Dipper. Does this count as a classic?
• The Catholic Church in the Modern World, E.E.Y. Hales. Dipper. Now to read about the heresy of Modernism.
• Stink: The Incredible Shrinking Kid, Megan McDonald. Dipper. 
• Smart But Scattered, Peggy Dawson. Good stuff. I'll get around to the "initiating tasks" chapter one of these days.
• Kushiel's Dart, Jacqueline Carey. Paused.

I've knocked off one of the leftover summer books; I'll keep the remaining list here for my reference:

• The Tunnel of Hugsy Goode, Eleanor Estes. Was getting dull.
• Ecstasia, Francesca Lia Block. I find her mythic stories harder going than her Weezie Bat books.
• Bob, Son of Battle, Alfred Ollivant. I'm not liking the dialect, and I think the guy I hate is supposed to be the hero. Oops.
• Tricksters, Margaret Mahy. I have no excuse for not finishing this yet.
• Tessie, Jesse Jackson. The author makes me giggle.
• Puddleby Adventures, Hugh Lofting. I had too many Dolittle books back-to-back.
• The Avion My Uncle Flew, Cyrus Fisher. I lost this while reading it, but now I know where it is.
• The Eye of the Warlock, P.W. Catanese. Mixed-up fairy tale.
• Redskin and Cowboy, G. A. Henty. Waiting for the boy to run away from home.

Challenges:

1. Cybils: 68/73. No change, although I have most of the books in hand.
2. Global Reading Challenge: 17/21. No change. I need 2 South America, one North America, and one Oceania.
3. Where Am I Reading?:  37/50.  Two months, thirteen books. I'm currently reading books set in Maryland, Tennessee and Wyoming, and need to read Delaware, Idaho, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico,  North Carolina, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and West Virginia. Luckily Book Club gave me some good recommendations.
4. Science Book Challenge: 3.1415/3.14159. Officially done, but I'd like to get a few more.
5. Reading My Library: Another shelf done.
6. Eclectic Challenge: 11/12. Need a classic.
7. Best of the Best: 31/25. No change, currently listening to one and reading one.
8. Summer Reading Goal: All over but the cleanup (see above)