Kid Power: Sammy Keyes and the Night of Skulls

There are 14 (soon to be 15) Sammy Keyes stories, and I still love them.  In Wendelin Van Draanen's Sammy Keyes and the Night of Skulls, Sammy's adventures stay vaguely in the realm of the possible, and her problems vary between family issues, friend strife, junior high social catastrophes, and the criminal element that fuels the mysteries.  Sammy has changed some in the past year; her friend Casey is now her boyfriend, her willingness to hit back against her nemesis Heather has moved from a fist in the jaw to fighting a rumor blaze with fire, and her grandmother suddenly realizes that Sammy is really growing up.

The mystery floats along in the background for most of the book, as the kids spend most of the time on Halloween and the following holidays -- All Saint's Day, Day of the Dead.  The ramification of Halloween night ripple out just as Casey and her friends learn the pleasures of a graveyard picnic and even pause for some teen aged ruminations on death.  OK, things sometims come out a little too pat, either in a good way (her new relationship with Borsch) or in a bad way (Casey's crazy mother), but it's done with enough humor and solid characterization in the fore front that I don't mind at all.

Cybils Easy Readers

I managed to get all four of the Cybils Easy Reader finalists at the same time, so I could force all the kids to look at them and directly compare to make their judgements.  I have one kid who is actually a beginning reader, so I could see which books encouraged him to read and keep reading, and then the fifth and seventh graders picked which books held their interest despite being aimed younger.

This is a popular category around here; both my sons see no reason to stop reading books just because they can read harder stuff now.  What were the options:

I Broke My Trunk! by Mo Willems.  Last years Cybils had converted all of us the Elephant and Piggie fans; in fact N had gone back and checked out every single one, so we had read this one already.  Its one of the few books N enjoys reading himself; he'll sound out the words.  It lends itself easily to shared reading -- all the text is dialogue so he picks one character (usually Piggie) to vocalize.  The older kids also enjoy them.

Aggie Gets Lost, Lori Ries. The illustrations distracted us a bit during this book; everyone found the trees a bit creepy.  The words themselves were simple, although the story had drama and tension.  N preferred to listen rather than actively read this book; his favorite bits were the post-skunk illustrations.

Dodsworth in Rome, Tim Egan. This was more popular among the older kids than with N, who was never quite sure how worried he should be about the duck. P found it enchanting and wants to get the rest now.  I liked the mixture of steady format (picture on top, paragraphs below) with some challenging words.

Frog and Friends, Eve Bunting.  Astonishingly, my main library system doesn't have this book -- I had to get it from the city. It's a pity, because the pictures and text charmed N; he liked the episodic chapters with the hippo reference linking the first and last stories.  He wanted to hear it a few times before attempting to read himself, but was lured into helping during the repeating bits ("absolutely perfect" or "UP UP UP").  I liked the introduction of interesting words but in a supportive environment.

And now... the prizes!  We had a very split panel this time.  P voted for the Dodsworth.  A and  X voted for I Broke My Trunk.  N and I settled on Frog and Friends.

And the Cybils committee says...: Mo Willems with I Broke My Trunk.

Girl Hero: Claudette Colvin Twice Towards Justice

Rosa Parks is the famous name associated with the Montgomery bus boycott and the breaking of segregation, but she wasn't the only hero.  Phillip Hoose's Claudette Colvin: Twice Towards Justice tells the story of Colvin's court cases, her life, and the blow to segregation in his oversized book for child audiances.  I approached figuring I probably knew all the facts and would appreciate the presentation and found that there was quite a lot I didn't know.

I had known that Rosa Parks wasn't the first to refuse to stand up; I hadn't realized that Colvin not only was the first to fight her arrest through the courts, but also went back and was one of the four names in the constitutional challenge that legally broke the back of segregation.  The bus company didn't fold in the face of the boycott -- the courts ordered them to cease segregation due to a court case that Colvin testified in to great effect. However, as an underaged single mother whose child was suspiciously "light," nobody really wanted to use her as the front of any publicity.

The epilogue was deeply moving -- pictures of Colvin speaking in front of students at Booker T Washington high school, the school which had expelled her the year after her first court case because she was pregnant.  It's a reminder that not only did she fight segregation twice in the courts, she also had to fight prejudice twice -- once as an African American, and once as a woman.

I'm posting this on a Monday so I can take part in Non-fiction Monday, hosted by The Children's War.

Leap Year Extends My Reading Time

I finished a good chunk of my currently reading pile, and put a bunch more books in my bag to start Real Soon Now. I knocked out some more Cybils books, chugged along on my Reading My Library quest, and even finished some books both from my shelves and from my TBR list.

This is the meme hosted by Sheila at Book Journey.  What I read, what I'm reading, and a peek at what I'll read next, where I check up on my reading patterns for the previous week. Also, at Teach Mentor Texts they do another roundup that focusses on children's books which I'm definitely a good fit for this week.

This week I finished nine books, five children books and four grown-up ones:

• The Porcupine Year, Louise Erdrich (Reading My Library)
• Anya's Ghost, Vera Brosgol (Cybils book)
• Nursery Rhyme Comics (Cybils book)
• Claudette Colvin: Twice Towards Justice, Phillip Hoose (from TBR list)
• Sammy Keyes and the Night of Skulls, Wendelin Van Draanen
• Christmas Angel, Jo Beverley
• Orbital Resonance, John Barnes (from TBR list)
• Beekeeper's Apprentice, Laurie King (reread, audio and text, for book club)
• Among Others, Jo Walton (reread)

I'm showing nine books on my currently reading list, which really means only three since I have no intention of spending much time on the other six. I'm almost normal!

• Dragon Castle.  Joseph Bruchac. Cybils finalist; my son recommends it.
• Making Our Democracy Work, Stephen Breyer.  Supreme Court Justice on the supreme court. Where they get their mandates from.
• Girl of Fire and Thorns, Rae Carson. NOOK.  Cybils YA finalist. Hey, the husband didn't die, she wandered off without him!
• Smart But Scattered, Peg Dawson & Richard Guare.  The finish-a-book slot reward slot.  My scattered son and I will take the tests as soon as we stop procrastinating.
• The Same Stuff as Stars, Katherine Paterson. Shopping with a spoiled brother isn't fun.
• The First Men In the Moon, H.G. Wells.  Scientist buddy abandoned.
• Traveling Mercies, Anne Lamott. Tough and glorious parenting moments.
• The End of Racism, Dinesh D'Souza.  Back to society again.
• Honored Enemy, Raymond Feist & William R Forstchen. Eating angry soup together.

What will I read next? I've got a shelf full of Cybils books waiting, a single library book left from the beginning of the year, and the (refreshed) reading my library pile.  March will be the time to really concentrate on books in my home, and also leave me in a comfortable place, library shelf-wise.  The TBR Dare is still on, despite horrible temptations while taking my son to cash in his book-store Superbowl winnings.  What's fun is that my Shelfari icon on the right will finally start changing!

Challenges:

1. Cybils: 33/80.  The library can't buy Ee's book, so I guess I will.
2. Global Reading Challenge: 7/21.  Seventh continent is easy.
3. What's In a Name?: 5/6. Still hoping for cute replacements for some categories.
4. Where Am I Reading?:  11/50. Helping out March task here.
5. TBR Double Dare.  10. Read a book from my shelf!
6. Science Book Challenge: 1.141/3.14159.  Cybils Picture books for the decimal points.
7. Reading My Library: Got the next batch.  I should keep a list of these, maybe.
8. Eclectic Challenge: 1/10.  Science fiction is done.

Kids in Space: Orbital Resonance

Jo Walton on tor.com recommended Orbital Resonance; in fact she recommended most of John Barnes's work, although she warned that much of it doesn't make for pleasant reading.  As I'm now digging up my TBR list I'm actually following through on many of her picks, and she's a good match for me.  This book fits in the genre slot as some of Heinlein juveniles and the response books to him, such as Alexei Panshin's Rite of Passage -- kids in space grow up and show us their society, especially the bits that haven't firmed up yet.

Orbital Resonance takes place in a world gone seriously wrong -- plagues and environmental destruction have left the remnants of humanity huddled on a few domed cities, while hastily built giant asteroid space ships orbit between Earth and Mars providing the only hope of enough resources to keep humanity alive.  The adults all grew up in the collapsing societies of Earth, but our narrator, Melpomene, grew up in the ship and finds all the news stories about dire conditions on Earth remote and boring.  She's more concerned with her school work, which involves lots of cooperative grading and consensus building, the social ramifications of the new kid's arrival, and her brother's performance in the prestigious ship-surface races.

I like the mix of story and world building - as Walton points out, it's hard to notice the grim truth of the society since Melpomene's acceptance and approval of it resounds through the narrative.  All the children have been raised to value service to the ship and each other; competition is valued as a way to improve performance but trying to rise by pushing down other people is abhorred.  The adults in fact deliberately set out to create children steeped in these values, but they don't really understand what a society formed by the kids would look like.  Orbital Resonance catches this society as it emerges, and gives readers a chance to judge the parents who set it up.

Eclectic Challenge

No, of course I don't have enough book challenges going on.  Besides, this one should happen automatically; it's not like I'm going to be sitting around on New Years Eve frantically reading books.  Couldn't happen!

I'm joining the Book'd Out's Eclectic Reader 2012 Challenge, where the goal is to read books from twelve different genres. All the ones listed are subjects I've enjoyed before, so this should just be a chance to make sure I'm having fun all over the library. Since this doesn't look that hard, I'm going to try to fill it out with books I haven't read yet, although if December rolls about and I've got some gaping holes I reserve the right to go back and see if any of my January reads qualify.

The categories are:

1. Literary Fiction: The Girl Giant, Kristen Den Hartog
2. Crime/Mystery Fiction: Perry Mason and the Case of the Horrified Heirs
3. Romantic Fiction: Christmas Angel
4. Historical Fiction: (A Star in the Storm, Joan Harlow)
5. Young Adult: Between Shades of Gray, Ruta Sepetys
6. Fantasy: Echoes of Betrayal, Elizabeth Moon.
7. Science Fiction: Orbital Resonance
8. Non Fiction: Unfamiliar Fishes, Sarah Vowell
9. Horror: The President's Vampire, Christopher Farnsworth
10. Thriller / Suspense: Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter
11. Classic: Tales From Silver Lands, First Men in the Moon
12. Your favorite (probably kidlit): Breadcrumbs

7/12

Silly Fun: Lover Unleashed

J.R. Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood books comprise ten or so linked paranormal romances about the super-macho, designer clothes wearing, eternal vampire dudes who are so awesome they rate extra letters in their names, mostly extra "h"'s.  Rhage. Qhuinn. Rehv. Hhubhert (OK, I made that one up.) The language is unrepentantly over-the-top, and no one is denied a happy ending.  Or lots of sex.  Sometimes the silliness doesn't cover the ridiculous relationships or situations and the books drag, but Lover Unleashed provided me with constant amusement, alternating between hilarious sentences and extreme situations that left me giggling out loud.

The plots in these stories are buried deep beneath the prose; I think some people fell in love, while in the background some other people realized their love might be possible, and some other people recommitted to each other. Oh, and some sinister people lurked about but they turned out decent at the end. But the important thing is that the brothers feel each other, that the woman gets to speak in archaic and goofy cliches, that people make enormous sacrifices while mentioning their designer cars, clothes, and drinks, but then find that their sacrifice wasn't necessary and is in fact returned while love shines down on all. There's some interesting bits around a spinal injury, and for a while it looked like someone would find true love in a wheelchair, but that got shelved quickly.

I did like that in Ward's quest to find a new couple, she had to bring up a formerly minor character.  Manny, the hero, was the minor crush of a heroine of a previous book, mostly there to let that hero show off his jealous side.  Now he's dragged back into the Brotherhood, hurt that the girl let him think she was dead, but of course he gets over that when he realizes that she is, in fact, dead.  Just a kindly, gentler dead that doesn't interfere with her love life or surgical practice. See what I mean about all sacrifices getting repaid? I think you can pick these books up anywhere, since all the characters tend to grimly review any important backstory whenever they stride on stage.