Young Reader Challenge

Becky is running a Young Readers Challenge for 12 books in the E and J sections of the library, or books for 0-8 year olds (and people who liked being those ages). My youngest is 8, although I have a younger nibling next door who will maintain my fig leaf for a few more years.

I'm going to list the eligible books, but only count the ones I really love. I've been keeping track of eligible books since I saw this challenge:

• Wanting Mor, Rukhsana Khan. This was a great book, but more for my eleven year old than my eight year old. It's shelved as J, but not J enough to really feel right for this challenge.
• Merry Christmas, Ollie!, Oliver Dunsier. Not really my cup of tea, but my kids got into my spirited delivery.
• Yoon and the Christmas Mitten, Helen Recorvits.
• Annabelle Swift, Kindergartner, Amy Schwartz
• Come Along, Daisy, Jane Simmons
• Where Have All the Flowers Gone? Dear America book by Ellen Emerson White. A bit too old for this challenge, although shelved as J.
• Vile Village, Lemony Snicket. Again, a bit old for 8.
• Two Under Par, Keven Henkes. A little old, a little dull.
• Scepter of the Ancients, Derek Landy. Again , old.
• The Gingerbread Boy, Paul Galdone. Cute.
• Rabbit's Birthday Kite, Maryann MacDonald. Not nearly as trite as the title implies.
• Spinning Through the Universe, Helen Frost. Old.
• Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat, Lynne Jonell. More a 10 year old book.
• Black Angels, Linda Beatrice Brown. Fourth and Fifth grade.
• Spinning Through the Universe, Helen Frost. Fifth Grade.
• Dragon Spear, Jessica Day George.
• Olivia Kidney, Ellen Potter. Hmm, I think I will try this on my eight year old. If he likes it, I'll move it down. I enjoyed it a lot.
• Wolves in the Walls, Neil Gaimon. Very spooky.
• The Three Bears, Paul Galdone. Nice pictures that make Goldilocks look bratty.
• Owl at Home, Arnold Lobel. Small sweet stories about an Owl who, in the words of my eight year old, is not the sharpest tool in the shed.
• The Goat Lady, Jane Bregoli. Nonfiction book about a neighborhood character.
• Zinnia and Dot, Lisa Campbell Ernst. Two grumpy chickens learn to share an egg.
• The Small Adventures of Popeye and Elvis, Barbara O'Connor. Two boys investigate a creek.
• You Bad Dog, Leslie Baker. A small dog gets a big dog in trouble, but they stay friends.
• The Good Little Bad Little Pig, Margaret Wise Brown. Echos of Emmet's Pig for me.
• Thunder at Gettysburg, Patricia Lee Guach. Kid's eye view of the impact of the battle on the village -- rather intense. Right at the top of the age range here.

1. Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, Grace Lin. Great book, I shall force my eight year old to read it. Update: He did, he loved it, he bought it with his Xmas money.
2. Who Wants to be a Poodle I Don't, Lauren Child. I get a kick out of Lauren Child's humor, illustrations, and games with text. She's also the author of the Lola and Charlie books.
3. Lawn Boy, by Gary Paulsen. I think my 8 year old would love this.
4. Gus and Grandpa, Claudia Mills
5. Shredderman: Secret Identity, Wendelin Van Draanen. Lots of fun. The eight year old should read it.
6. The Thief, Megan Whalen Turner. We all loved this as a read-aloud.
7. When Sophie Gets Angry-- Really, Really Angry, Molly Bang. My eight year old and I liked how the colors reenforced the emotions.
8. Who is Stealing the 12 Days of Christmas? Martha Freeman. Simple and sweet.
9. Mrs. Marlowe's Mice, by Frank Asch and Devin Asch. Great pictures that live up to the text.
10. Mr. Putter and Tabby Spin the Yarn, Cynthia Rylant. P and I enjoyed this one as much as we liked the others (which is a lot)
11. Martha Doesn't Say Sorry!, Samantha Berger. P and I laughed at Martha's skills and expressions, and were almost sorry when she Learned Her Lesson.
12. Lost! A Story in String, Paul Fleischman. When the power goes out, a modern girl worries that her head will explode without screens. Gramma tells a story and illustrates it with string games; the appendix shows how to recreate each string design.

Which makes TWELVE! So I'm off to sign in at the challenge post. But I hope to keep listing more books, although I admit I've forgotten to list the books from my Reading-the Library Challenge here. Oops.

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon: The Value of Story

I've seen raves for Grace Lin's Where the Mountain Meets the Moon all over the internet and the local libraries, but I've resisted it. I thought her contemporary books were okay; nice little stories with amusing but slightly annoying protagonists. Maybe I've just been slightly down on my own amusing but slightly annoying third graders. So I was pleasantly surprised by how much I really liked the new book, and I'm wishing I had read it earlier because I'd really like P to read it before I turn it in.

There's nothing ground-breaking in the tale; a girl sets off to make her fortune, leaving her impoverished family bereft without her. She makes friends, including a land-locked dragon, a disguised king, and an orphaned buffalo boy. But the book is interlaced with stories; almost every chapter has a story, told by any of the characters, many of them about the Man in the mountain where the girl's quest leads. Yes, she learns some Valuable Lessons, but the biggest lesson of all is the importance and beauty of stories.

I showed some of the book to my third grader, and he thought the format very attractive -- short chapters, many of them broken up by the interior stories. This is a book that calls out to be read, to be read aloud, to be share-read within families. This book is perfect for my Young Reader Challenge. A.

Wanting Mor: Hard Times in Afghanistan

Rukhsana Khan's Wanting Mor's front jacket promised a journey of unremitting misery. It's not enough that the narrator, Jameela, loses her extended family to an American bombing raid, or that her mother dies of illness, or that her dad is a boozing loser. She also has a cleft lip. So it was with considerable trepidation that I opened the first page of this book, expecting an educational lesson in how bad life can get.

Khan's touch is much more deft than that though. Yes, Jameela's life is unimaginably hard compared to the cushy lives of my kids, but she doesn't see herself as a victim. Her voice is authentic and hopeful, striving to follow her ideals and her mother's code but not always succeeding. Her commitment to Islam rings true, as do her attempts to honor her father even when it's painfully obvious that he doesn't deserve it. I really enjoyed this book, and I'll look around to see if Khan has other books available. The dangers and heartbreak of war show clearly, but so does Jameela's individuality and strength of spirit. A-.

Challenges: Well, I feel quite accomplished. This book starts off the 100 Books Challenge, the A-Z Challenge, Support Your Library Challenge, Take Another Chance Challenge (#5), and the Young Reader Challenge. I'll come back and edit those as links when I get the challenge posts up.