I love reading - books, magazines, newsletters, press releases, you name it, I read almost everything (except recipes). I guess I'm an optimist, as I typically check out more books than I can read and order more magazines and newspapers than I can digest. So, I'm trying like the dickens to read all my old periodicals before the new year and new reading resolutions take hold. That's right, I'm a bag lady.
I tote magazines, books, newspaper clippings, and other stuff in a canvas bag anywhere I think I might have a chance to read. This week, the dentist's office.
There I really got into a Newsweek article (from OCTOBER! How embarrassing!) about how killing germs may be killing us, and another about campaign reform. I also enjoyed one from the Columbus Dispatch about a restoration of an old airplane recently underway in Urbana.
Maybe you're catching up, too? Let me know...
Meanwhile, no books for me until I'm done with about five pounds of magazines including Scientific American, National Geographic, Design News, Discover... and a New Year's resolution to read them rather than pile them up. (Who knows? Someday I may be looking for a new use for my magazine racks!)
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Graphic Novels - Good & Bad
I just read The Plain Janes and loved it! But I finished it in 40 minutes! I hate it when that happens.
Which is the good and bad in this revelation, folks. I learned that a good writer (Cecil Castelluci) and a good illustrator (Jim Rugg) can turn out a very good story, even if it looks like a comic book. (Admission: this bookworm never liked comic books. A character flaw, I've been told.) It's just over too quickly!
I've just begun Castelluci's other 2005 release, Boy Proof, and so far, I'm less enamored. I'm only on page 25 and already I've tallied at least a dozen bad words, including several F-words. Realistic dialog, maybe. But still... not a plus in my book. More later. I also already know I'll forgive Castellucci - the story is off to a pretty good start.
Which is the good and bad in this revelation, folks. I learned that a good writer (Cecil Castelluci) and a good illustrator (Jim Rugg) can turn out a very good story, even if it looks like a comic book. (Admission: this bookworm never liked comic books. A character flaw, I've been told.) It's just over too quickly!
I've just begun Castelluci's other 2005 release, Boy Proof, and so far, I'm less enamored. I'm only on page 25 and already I've tallied at least a dozen bad words, including several F-words. Realistic dialog, maybe. But still... not a plus in my book. More later. I also already know I'll forgive Castellucci - the story is off to a pretty good start.
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Rules of the Road Driven by Characters
Rules of the Road by Joan Bauer features well-developed characters driving a fairly predictable story about growing up. The story isn't developed enough for me to consider it a coming-of-age story, exactly, but I think it's worth recommending to the 12-15 or 16 y.o. set.
Bauer's language keeps the story moving, and the pace of things ramps up very nicely when it should - during action-sequences and other tense moments.
Not wanting to offer a major spoiler, here's the story in a nutshell: Sixteen-year-old Jenna Boller, in a self-diagnosed "slump," feels like her job (selling shoes at Gladstone's) is the only area of her life where she succeeds. When her alcoholic father returns to annoy her, and the about-to-retire Mrs. Gladstone asks Jenna to drive her to Texas for the annual shareholders' meeting, fate hands Jenna the keys to her future. From Chicago to Texas, Jenna learns she can handle the road, a few demons from her own past, and the challenge of the future. A new hairstyle in the process helps.
I don't mean to trivialize the book (or the power or the right hairstyle) but folks, this is a book for girls.
As an aspiring fiction writer, I'm keeping the book on my shelf because I think Bauer provides a good example of getting the pacing right. I'm also hoping my daughter will pick it up off the shelf. While the plot line seemed rather obvious to me and there are too many cliches for my liking, the fact is, that's OK in YA fiction. We grownups who read kid lit have to remember that when it seems obvious or cliched to us it may not be to our kids, who haven't read quite as much or for as long as we have.
Related links:
This Fun Trivia quiz about Rules of the Road was created for kids, but I enjoyed it (and you might too) as a way to test my tired old brain. (I did OK. How 'bout you?) And homeschoolers or teachers may appreciate this http://www.joanbauer.com/rulesguide/index.htm teaching guide, designed for 8th-9th graders.
Bauer's language keeps the story moving, and the pace of things ramps up very nicely when it should - during action-sequences and other tense moments.
Not wanting to offer a major spoiler, here's the story in a nutshell: Sixteen-year-old Jenna Boller, in a self-diagnosed "slump," feels like her job (selling shoes at Gladstone's) is the only area of her life where she succeeds. When her alcoholic father returns to annoy her, and the about-to-retire Mrs. Gladstone asks Jenna to drive her to Texas for the annual shareholders' meeting, fate hands Jenna the keys to her future. From Chicago to Texas, Jenna learns she can handle the road, a few demons from her own past, and the challenge of the future. A new hairstyle in the process helps.
I don't mean to trivialize the book (or the power or the right hairstyle) but folks, this is a book for girls.
As an aspiring fiction writer, I'm keeping the book on my shelf because I think Bauer provides a good example of getting the pacing right. I'm also hoping my daughter will pick it up off the shelf. While the plot line seemed rather obvious to me and there are too many cliches for my liking, the fact is, that's OK in YA fiction. We grownups who read kid lit have to remember that when it seems obvious or cliched to us it may not be to our kids, who haven't read quite as much or for as long as we have.
Related links:
This Fun Trivia quiz about Rules of the Road was created for kids, but I enjoyed it (and you might too) as a way to test my tired old brain. (I did OK. How 'bout you?) And homeschoolers or teachers may appreciate this http://www.joanbauer.com/rulesguide/index.htm teaching guide, designed for 8th-9th graders.
Saturday, December 8, 2007
More Teen Lit, and a Revelation
Under the Watsons' Porch came highly recommended (by my 12-year-old) so I was anxious to read it, hoping to get a read on - well, a lot of things. Why she liked it, for one.
The Random House title written by Susan Shreve brought back some memories, pushing me somewhat reluctantly to recall how uneasy and unpleasant one can feel just being 12. In fact, what I remember most about being 12 was how badly I wanted to be 13.
The Watsons' story is a rather simple one: good girl meets mildly bad boy, and they get into some mild trouble together. The good and bad thing about the book, IMHO, is that it's too mild. Bad boy Tommy Bowers isn't nearly as bad as his neighborhood reputation. Shoplifting a couple of bags of lollipops and sneaking into an R-rated movie after purchasing a ticket for a PG-rated film is about the extent of his crimes. Good girl Ellie Tremont lies to cover a few of her and Tommy's escapades, but otherwise, she's good through and through. I found the supporting cast rather one-dimensional, too.
One-dimensional characters in "too mild" stories don't make great fiction, folks, but if ten-to-thirteen year olds like it, this mama is happy. Why? There's an abundance of books (including a few on our "to-read" shelf) dealing with suicide, mutilation, rape, drugs, and, and, and - and I'm referring only to the teen-lit books on our shelf!
My daughter said she liked Watsons' because it was a "romance," and frankly, folks, if the story fills her romantic interests at this point I say, "yippee!"
Still, in defense of (good) teen lit, I must say I'm still not a fan of Watsons'. There are lots of titles that are just as mild in their treatment of sex, drugs, and other stuff we don't want our 10-to-13-year-olds to read about, but that have better characters, and greater impact. For that reason, Under the Watsons' Porch won't earn a spot on my shelf. Unless you're hard up for reading matter, I suggest you skip it.
On the other hand, there's Rules of the Road... which I've only just begun, and therefore won't attempt to review. Let's just say I'm already making room on my shelf already so I can keep it around. It was recommended to me by the very fine writer Marsha McGregor. By page two, I had a revelation: when a writer recommends a book, it's probably a really good one. (Thanks, Marsha.) More on Rules of the Road later.
The Random House title written by Susan Shreve brought back some memories, pushing me somewhat reluctantly to recall how uneasy and unpleasant one can feel just being 12. In fact, what I remember most about being 12 was how badly I wanted to be 13.
The Watsons' story is a rather simple one: good girl meets mildly bad boy, and they get into some mild trouble together. The good and bad thing about the book, IMHO, is that it's too mild. Bad boy Tommy Bowers isn't nearly as bad as his neighborhood reputation. Shoplifting a couple of bags of lollipops and sneaking into an R-rated movie after purchasing a ticket for a PG-rated film is about the extent of his crimes. Good girl Ellie Tremont lies to cover a few of her and Tommy's escapades, but otherwise, she's good through and through. I found the supporting cast rather one-dimensional, too.
One-dimensional characters in "too mild" stories don't make great fiction, folks, but if ten-to-thirteen year olds like it, this mama is happy. Why? There's an abundance of books (including a few on our "to-read" shelf) dealing with suicide, mutilation, rape, drugs, and, and, and - and I'm referring only to the teen-lit books on our shelf!
My daughter said she liked Watsons' because it was a "romance," and frankly, folks, if the story fills her romantic interests at this point I say, "yippee!"
Still, in defense of (good) teen lit, I must say I'm still not a fan of Watsons'. There are lots of titles that are just as mild in their treatment of sex, drugs, and other stuff we don't want our 10-to-13-year-olds to read about, but that have better characters, and greater impact. For that reason, Under the Watsons' Porch won't earn a spot on my shelf. Unless you're hard up for reading matter, I suggest you skip it.
On the other hand, there's Rules of the Road... which I've only just begun, and therefore won't attempt to review. Let's just say I'm already making room on my shelf already so I can keep it around. It was recommended to me by the very fine writer Marsha McGregor. By page two, I had a revelation: when a writer recommends a book, it's probably a really good one. (Thanks, Marsha.) More on Rules of the Road later.
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