Evolution of a Great YA

Yeah, I said I was done with YA for a while...but Evolution, Me & Other Freaks of Nature is the kind of book that changes minds.

It's absolutely one of the best YAs I've read in years; right up there with Rules, but longer, with a much more involved plot.

The premise of the story is interesting enough: After the youth group of a very conservative (read: over-the-top) church torments a boy to the point he attempts suicide, one remorseful teen (Mena Reece) writes letter of apology to the boy, which naturally becomes the basis of his parents' lawsuit against the church. The book follows Mena through a year of hell as a high school freshmen ostracized by her church, tormented by said youth group (and former friends) while she deals with more mundane high school stuff - including a wildly interesting biology teacher, having a crush on her lab partner, and questioning everything her parents ever taught her.

But what's really cool about Evolution... is that Brande doesn't explain how things unfold - she just lets them unfold. The author is so stingy with backstory, in fact, basic info about the lawsuit isn't revealed until halfway through the book. For the first 100 pages, all we get to go on is this, from the book's second paragraph:

When you're single-handedly responsible for getting your church, your pastor, and every one of your former friends and their parents sued for millions of dollars, you expect to make some enemies. Fine.

For an author to withhold further details/explanation not only shows serious restraint, it's also brilliant. Brilliant because Brande packs those first 100 pages with enough action/progress/subplots to keep us reading, even if Mena wasn't in the middle of a civil lawsuit.

Evolution has so many positive features, I'm struggling to list them all, let alone in an organized fashion.

It reminded me how exciting high school was. Seriously. Remember how a really great teacher could present a really big concept (like democracy, or evolution) and really blow your mind?

Brande's book was realistic, but realistic with a dash of humor and imagination. For example, the motto at New Advantage High School is, "Let brilliance find you." I laughed out loud. Then I sighed even louder when she described second period: yoga. Ahhhh. I might be willing to go back to high school if I could get credit for yoga class! That's brilliant.

Of course, I haven't yet stated the obvious: Evolution takes on a great philosophical/scientific/religious debate with a realistic, energetic tone that never, ever sounds contrived.

Bravo, Robin Brande. Please, keep writing.
-- -- -- --
(Unlike Brande, I can't resist a little backstory. Evolution... is Brande's first novel, and according to her website, "she is or has been ...[a] lawyer, yoga instructor, entrepreneur, community college instructor, Wilderness First Responder, insurance agent, outdoor adventurer, Girl Scout leader, and Sunday school teacher." Obviously, I'm a total slacker, so I'll stop here.)

Dear Diary: Why is this a NYT Bestseller?

I don't get the appeal of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. Having just finished the second title in Jeff Kinney's string of runaway bestsellers, I think the books sales may be driven by adults who don't read themselves. I'm talking about misinformed shoppers, who say at the bookstore or kiosk at the airport, "Oh, this is a bestseller and it's got pictures! My Johnny/Suzie would love that." Add one bad decision to another and pretty soon you've got a multi-book contract.

Sigh.

I don't mean to dog Mr. Kinney; obviously, some kids really do like his books. What I question is - why? where's the substance? the biting wit? the laugh-out-loud slapstick?

I see no real hook here, folks.

Main character Greg is likable enough, but he's not lovable. Older brother Rodrick is a pesky older sibling, but not even bad enough to waste a real diary page on, as far as I can tell. The illustrations/cartoons are good, but not great.

I usually like books for the Middle Grade/YA audience because, frankly, they're not just kids' stuff. They're real stories with pretty significant plots, storylines, and emotion. (They just happen to be a little shorter, a little more to the point, and in my opinion, lacking too-heavy description.)

Harry Potter, for example. Artemis Fowl, for another. The Twilight series. Reaching back a few years, remember Nancy Drew? Real stories. The Diary of a Wimpy Kid series isn't as involved as a good comic book.

I know the New York Times probably won't reconsider its ranking based on my opinion, but I hope you will. Unless you've got a dedicated reluctant reader on your hands who won't read anything but this series, don't buy 'em. And for heaven's sake, when you do buy a book for your kid, open it and read a few pages first.

Grumblings aside, if your kid seems to love these literary candies, check out the Family Education reading guide, and interview with the series' author, here.

Listen Up!

Sound Reporting: The NPR guide to audio journalism and production is primarily a textbook, however, I think it also deserves a spot on many readers' 'for pleasure' lists.

As intelligible as anything heard on NPR, Sound Reporting (paperback, $20) is a meaty 334 pages, plus a nice glossary and index. (You know I love a good index!)

Jonathan Kern is listed as the author, however, he's quick to share credit with the "hundreds" of NPR reporters and editors who contributed to the book.

Why read it?

Obviously, reporters/writers/journalists of all kinds and wannabes should dive in and start dog-earring the book immediately. As I said, I sure hope it's required reading in many journalism schools.

I sincerely hope it's also assigned reading in high school English classes - particularly those focused on writing. The book does as good a job as any I've read in teaching us how to WRITE WELL and listen/read (to news and other supposedly factual information) critically.

Not surprisingly, the intro was packed with info, mostly about NPR. I was surprised to find out that NPR listeners, numbering about 22 million (each week) are a very diverse bunch! According to "independent surveys,"

the audience self-identifies as 32 percent liberal, 23 percent moderate, and 29 percent conservative. ... And 28 percent of NPR news listeners agree with this statement: Just as the Bible says, the world literally was created in six days.

So far that's the only statement that had me gasping for air.

The biggest takeaway from the book - I think; I have to admit I haven't finished it yet! - is that good journalism must respect its audience. And I guess that would be the most succinct answer I could give to the question, why do you listen to NPR?

NPR stations, for the most part, don't tease their listeners by withholding the lead; they don't try to entertain or surprise so much as they try to impart information in an interesting way. No more, no less. No gimmicks.

And sadly, they have no serious competition.

For example, I simply cannot imagine any Fox News reporter - or even the uber-popular Anderson Cooper, for that matter - allowing the SUBJECT TO BE THE SUBJECT of this exchange, from an All Things Considered interview shortly after Hurricane Katrina:

Belinda Bruce: I really can't explain it, except just say maybe it was for the best.

Michele Norris (host): For the best.

Bruce: Yes, because I'm more happier when I can stay homeless.

Norris: Help me understand that. You're sitting at a shelter. Your house is most likely underwater. And you're happier here than you were back home.

Bruce: Because there was so much going on in my neighborhood. Even though I was comfortable in my house - in my house- blocks up where the kids went to school, it was horrible. They always had shootouts. They just didn't respect the kids. They were selling drugs. The good thing is I'm away from that with my kids. And maybe they'll get into a better school, a better neighborhood.

Kern included this exchange as an example of writing the way people speak. But it tells us a lot more than how to write for radio, doesn't it?

OK. Here's my completely unbiased review: buy it! This book is excellent! And please, buy it from NPR, where you'll be asked if you want a portion of your purchase to support your local NPR station(s).

Thanks for listening.

Their Problems are Real

Moustafa Bayoumi has written a WYSIWYG.*

How Does It Feel To Be A Problem? Being Young and Arab in America, efficiently describes some of the problems faced by seven teens and young adults living in New York in the aftermath of the 9/11/01 terrorist attacks on US soil.

All US citizens, gainfully employed, good students, and in most cases both, Rasha, Sami, Yasmin, Akram, Lina, Omar, and Rami are presented as being 'normal' Arab-American citizens. And for all I know, they are. In my admittedly white-bread world, I'm very unaware of what life is like behind a dark complexion and the Quaran. That's exactly why I wanted to read it.

I stumbled at first. The writing is a bit clunky here, the grammar out of sync there. I wanted the prose to sing! Succinctly! Alas, Bayoumi isn't Barbara Kingsolver. (Sigh. No one is.) But the writing really didn't get in the way of the story - er, stories.

How Does It Feel... is seven truly separate stories; although the characters share some common ground, it's surprisingly little. Bayoumi's choice of subjects and his ability to paint a very rich and deep, living, breathing portrait of each in a relatively few pages (less than 40 pages each) is the basis for the book's success.

These are far more than snapshots or shotgun introductions, denser than slice of life vignettes, and at the same time, the sections left me both satisfied that I "knew" the subject and still I wanted to know each one better.

I felt that each one is owed a sincere apology from someone - something - in our country. ("The Government" is the easy whipping boy; it's also a perfectly absurd target.) I'm also pretty darned sure none of Bayoumi's subjects will bear significant scars or remain "down" because of the pressures and prejudices applied to these Arab Americans.

From Rasha, the high school student who was jailed along with her family in May 2002, to Sami, who was traveling with a busload of other young Marines when he heard about the attacks on the World Trade Center, the folks we meet in How Does It Feel To Be A Problem are strong, smart, serious, young people I'm extremely proud to call Americans.

Perhaps only this author, who was born in Switzerland, raised in Canada, and currently lives in New York, could have enough detachment and the necessary understanding to write this book this way.

To Bayoumi's great credit, the book is not a condemnation of the United States, its government, or any of its white bread citizens. (Whew.) Nor is it a look through rose-colored glasses. It is what it is: "a wholly revealing portrait of a community that lives next door and yet a world away."

Bayoumi writes in the book's forward that he "developed a great deal of optimism through its writing." Reading it, I believe my emotions were equal parts fascination (I am more ignorant than I thought!) exasperation (THIS is America?!) depression (that's terrible!) and wonder (human beings are truly amazing).

So while the book left me with no overriding emotion, it certainly left me changed. I believe my mind has been pried open a bit...and I hope it will remain that way.

I'm certain, at least, that I can forgive the occasional clunky sentence.


= = = = = = = = = = = = = =HIGHLY RECOMMENDED= = = = = = =

Find out more on Facebook.

Buy the book from Amazon ($14.97 as of this post).


*My all-time favorite acronym: What You See Is What You Get.

Hoberman's Seven Silly Eaters Still Magic

I've been reading The Seven Silly Eaters by Mary Ann Hoberman for nearly a decade.

The picture book written in Hoberman's pitch-perfect verse tells the story of the Peters family with not one, not a handful, but seven (!) very picky eaters.

Mrs. Peters goes from the epitome of patience to nearly-undone in the course of the story; in the end, the whole family finds an accidental but delightful solution: they eat cake!

(Trust me, Hoberman does a much better job with the story than I do.)

My son, nearing the five-year mark, requested it again last night; then my just-turned 13yo daughter curled up on the couch to hear it for the upteenth time!

What? The same children who had spent most of the previous four hours trying to confound, maim, or kill each other? Yes. The same kids who nearly caused their not-so-patient mommy to crack up? The same.

Hoberman's magic worked again; providing yet another very happy ending to our evening.

Neat trick!

Need I say it? If you're looking for a gift for almost any young reader/listener, I recommend this one.

A Mango-Shaped Space & More Sustenance

Wendy Mass's first novel, A Mango-Shaped Space, scored on many counts.

First of all, it got published, by Little Brown & Co. It boasts cover blurbs from Judy Blume, Paula Danzinger, and Meg Cabot. AND it earned a Schneider Family Book Award, for "honoring artistic expression of the disability experience." That's a heck of a debut!

Grading based on the YAs I've read in the past two years, I give it a B+. The story was solid, but not stellar; the writing the same. Character development is where Mass shines.

She creates a near-tangible relationship between main character Mia and her dearly-departed grandpa, for one thing, and then proceeds to build a brilliant connection between Mia, her pet cat (Mango), and Mia's entire family.

Initially I though Mass's development of Mia's parents was a little clunky. She included a lot of just plain description up front, while I prefer to learn about characters through their actions and interactions with other characters.

Later in the book, though, I realized the descriptions helped give the reader a base of believability which is necessary when mom and dad play a larger, and important, role in the story. Had Mass not laid the groundwork earlier, those actions would have seemed like convenient but rather out-of-nowhere responses.

I can't say much more without giving away the nut of the story, and I don't want to do that; it's worth a read.

The book highlights a very rare condition - not fatal, not really even harmful - called synesthesia. Folks with synesthesia see colors (literally) associated with numbers, letters, words, foods, or any or all of those things. Of course, the first book-form treatment of a condition like that is likely to garner the attention of agents and publishers, as well as get you short-listed for some specialized book awards, so Mass deserves kudos for getting to the synesthesia space first.

I would have preferred a lot more medical info about the condition, but I keep in mind it's a YA. Which brings me to...

More Sustenance!
I've decided to shelve YAs for a few months. After so many, they're starting to seem like candy to me. And I love candy, but, you know, meatloaf is good too. It takes longer to eat and to digest, though, so postings may come a bit slower in the future.

Next up: How Does It Feel to Be a Problem? by Moustafa Bayoumi.

The Answer is ...Too Much!

I'm reading too many things, and I'm enjoying them all. You know what that means: library fines are mounting. I'm in the middle of, almost in the middle of, or almost finished reading A Mango-Shaped Space (yes! another YA), How Does It Feel To Be A Problem?, and Girls Will be Girls.

I'm just beginning Sound Reporting and this month's National Geographic...

Brain Fade

I gave up on The New Feminine Brain. The good Dr. Schultz disappointed me by making a substantial chunk of the work - ostensibly a non-fiction self-help book - a running commentary on her own life.

I like the format of nonfiction books that take off with a personal narrative, something that provides a glimpse into the author's first-hand experience with a situation. From the beginning, I thought Dr. Schultz was just going to unusual lengths to prove her understanding of various brain functions.

Unfortunately, her first-hand accounts continued, from her experiences in medical school (which seemed to pop up in every chapter) to her M&M "addiction," to name-dropping, like the three-paragraph explanation of helping Naomi Judd pen her autobiography, with the explanation rather heavily peppered with her own quotes.

I selected the book because I assumed the subtitle, "Developing Your Intuitive Genius," referred to my/the reader's intuition, not the author's. (I guess I'm no genius.)

The book's cover promises readers will "discover your unique brain type and how to use it" and find out "how to use your intuition to improve your physical, emotional, and relationship health." Instead, it actually details the author's discovery of her unique brain type and a variety of her physical, emotion, and relationship problems.

I know how much work it takes to get a book to market; because of that, I really hate to "trash" a book. So, I offer this recommendation: Because the author has ADHD and has spent a lifetime examining brain function (a good bit of it her own) it may be a helpful book for adults with ADHD or parents of older children with ADHD. There. That's the best I can say for it.

What I'd really like to know is, how did this book happen? Schultz has a PhD and an MD following her name; she's no dummy. The publisher - The Free Press - is a division of Simon and Schuster, which presumably employees bright editors. It really ticks me off when the book between the covers isn't at all what's touted on the covers and in press releases. And it can't help sales much, can it?

Sigh.

Girly Brains?

I'm splitting my precious reading time between two books right now - Girls will be Girls (Deak) and The New Feminine Brain by Mona Lisa Schultz. Like wine and cheese (which often accompanies my reading, and probably does little for my retention) they make a nice pairing.

One of Deak's primary pieces of advice (or anti-advice?) for parents of girls is:

"Probably the worst thing we can do as adults, to handicap girls, is to encourage them in any way to want or need things in total order or control. They're already inclined that way. The best thing we can do is to help them learn to grow in a climate where chaos--internal or external--is always in the three-day forecast."

Amen.

Now if I could just learn to deal with that forecast...

Give Kids a Sporting Chance

An article in some magazine (Health, maybe) really spoke to me this weekend. The article was about kids and sports, and as a new-on-the-coaching-side-of-the-field parent, it hit me right between the eyes with this little tidbit:

Most parents are surprised by their own emotions when they watch their kid(s) play sports.

No kidding.

So after gobbling up a bunch of idiots-guide books about coaching soccer earlier this year, I've added a few books to my read-and-recommend list. They are:

It's Just a Game! (You say it to your kid; why don't you follow this classic advice?)

Whose Game Is It, Anyway?: A Guide to Helping Your Child Get the Most from Sports, Organized by Age and Stage, by Richard D. Ginsburg

101 Ways to Be a Terrific Sports Parent, by Joel Fish


Over the years, I've also recommended Parenting Young Athletes the Ripken Way by, of course, Cal Ripken. It's a quick read, and it's not all about baseball. While the message is a simple one, Ripken repeated it enough, and with enough conviction, that it really sunk into my thick head: the game is for the kids, let them play.

I've tried to let this be my mantra. I've tried.

And I offer the list above for other parents who want to try. Trust me. In a few years, you'll be glad that there aren't a lot of home movies featuring your screaming face, hollering as if there was a Superbowl ring (and mega-bucks endorsements) hanging on the outcome of a JV game.

Your kids might appreciate it, too.
- - - - - - - - -

If you're tired of screaming (ahem - coaching) your kid but he (or she) really wants to get better at soccer, consider Epic Soccer Training by 3-time Adidas All-American Matt Smith. The program is designed for players at every level (hoping to make varsity as a freshman, maybe?) and offers money-back guarantee if you don't like it or don't get results.

Hoo, Boy - Girls!

Thanks to recommendation of a dear friend, I'm holding a copy of the book I've needed for some time now: Girls will be Girls by JoAnn Deak.

Published in 2002, it offers a broad-based, in-depth understanding girls' development in social context and from a parent's perspective.

I'm not at all prepared to review it other than to say, it's much more positive and helpful than Queen Bees and Wannabees and Reviving Ophelia. More later. I've got to read!

Immediately at Home

Dana Reinhardt's How to Build a House offers a great example of "sense of place," that mystical mix of sensual clues that gives a book an almost tangible setting. Unfortunately, the story isn't as good as the setting, or the set-up.

Of course, it's a YA. (Sometimes I actually read books for grownups. Honest.)

The story picks up in the middle of the action, when main character Harper, age 17, is embarking on a summer's work project in Tennessee. She leaves behind (runs away from, really) a family in a mess - dad, who lost wife #1 (Harper's mom) to tragic accident, is in the midst of a divorce from Harper's much-loved stepmom. Torn apart are Harper and her step-sister, Tess, and her younger brother, Cole.

(When I read the phrase "part time brother" my throat tightened up. To her credit, Reinhardt doesn't reach for many trite but heart-tugging phrases like that.)

In Tennessee, Harper finds Teddy and his seemingly perfect family. The book follows a rather familiar storyline from there: Harper and Teddy fall in love. (The teenage version, anyway.) Harper realizes she's really, really mad at her dad. (His cheating led to the end of the marriage, which blasted apart Harper's family.) She spends most of the summer missing and hating her sister, Tess, who, in a surprisingly low-key turn of events, arrives at the Tennessee motel where Harper and the other home-builders are staying for the summer. The house gets finished, the summer ends, Teddy and Harper go their separate ways, and the sisters hit the road back to CA.

It would be a run-of-the-mill YA except for two things. One is Reinhardt's carefully-chosen language. About every third page or so there's a turn of phrase I had to read two or three times. They're almost cheesy, but pleasing too. Like:

"The only thing left was the sound of glass not breaking."

"Diana has a pot of chili on the stove with a smell so big it crosses state lines."

Well, I told you they were cheesy.

The second thing that puts it out of the run-of-the-mill zone (I HOPE) is that the characters - all high school kids, mostly 17-year-olds - have sex, like, as often as they brush their teeth.

Do I sound appalled? Prudish? Well...do all high school kids have sex? Gosh, I didn't. Yes, it was a hundred years ago. OK, OK, I'll try to get over it. But it's hard - especially since there wasn't a single reference to condoms, pills, or any form of birth control or disease prevention. That bothers me even more than the super-sexed high school kids. (See? I'm not a prude, just appalled.)

Anyway, I would pick up another book by Reinhardt, probably A Brief Chapter in My Impossible Life. I just hope nobody gets pregnant.

Reading Somebody Else's Mail

Or grocery list, maybe. Found Magazine is a funky website featuring short but surprisingly addictive reading material - most are items found in recycling bins or the trash.

Love letters and the odd poem, phone numbers and scrawled propositions on cocktail napkins, and loads of little ditties on sticky notes, that's what's found on the pages of Found Magazine. Only online, of course. (Man, sometimes I really miss getting engrossed in an actual page.)

So She's a Journalism Major

The Huffington Post reports that VP candidate Sarah Palin got a journalism degree from the University of Idaho...after attending six colleges in five years. Huh. She must be one quick study.

Whether or not she advocates banning books is a subject the McCain consultant wouldn't touch on the Diane Rehm show on Friday - I wasn't surprised - and frankly, I don't want to know what she's reading. Palin, that is. I'm pretty sure Rehm would shame us all.

A Sweet Hippo and the Nose that Didn't Smell So Good

Based on title alone, I thought that Tony Payne's picture book Hipponotumus would be funnier than it was. Ah, but picture books are not written for 40-something moms so much as for 4-year-olds. And mine loved it.

So I'll admit I'm not a picture book expert, and frankly, I'm not reading many books from the grown-up shelves lately either. Maybe I'm going soft, maybe I'm just making bad picks.

The last book I didn't finish was What the Nose Knows, about the science of smell. Yes, I know it sounds geeky, but I like to think I'm as geeky as the next guy/girl; the subject fascinates me and the book was very well researched. It just didn't tell a story.

Folks, non-fiction does NOT have to be dry. I actually enjoyed a rather long historical nonfiction work about the history of the color red. It sounds drier than burnt toast, but the author told a great story throughout the book. Alas, the nose didn't know enough about creative nonfiction to pull off a similar feat.

Oughta Be A Rule

Cynthia Lord's first novel, Rules, is one of the best YAs I've ever read, and I suspect that will remain true for many years.

It's on the summer reading list for local 7th graders, and my daughter, who read the book at my urging last year, not only selected it, she actually re-read it to fulfill her summer report requirement.

In other words, it's good.

The book offers a glimpse at family life when one of the family - in this case, the main character's younger brother - is autistic. While Catherine has always seen her brother David as a bit of a burden, she copes by making up rules for him in hopes that will make everyone's life easier. (No toys in the fish tank. If the bathroom door is closed, knock!).

When Catherine forges a friendship with Jason, a wheelchair-bound boy who cannot speak, she discovers that autism is a relatively minor challenge compared to those others face. She manages quite admirably.

I won't give away any more details; it's a fairly short book and one truly worth reading.

Noting my daughter's interest in the book prompted a local librarian to recommend another novel approach to autism. The Curious Incident of the Dog that Barks in the Night focuses on an autistic boy who investigates and solves a crime. This one is aimed at adults, I think...anyone read it?

Stumbling Over Smart Guys and Trendsetters

Charles Murray's Opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal, For Most People, College is a Waste of Time, is worth a read. Somebody, get this guy on a committee to reform education...and quick.

And I stumbled on this blog entry today - yeah, it's almost eight months old - and thought, yep, he's right: the iPhone and iTouch could replace a lot of retail sales people. (Sorry, guys.)

Then I thought, wait a minute. The technology I use isn't working quite so well. I subscribe to a couple of "trendspotting" newsletters, one RSS feed, and have three different Google Alert settings, yet I literally stumbled across these articles.

Sigh. See, this is why I like to keep track of my favorite reading material. Nobody else is really doing it for me...

Are We Having a Ball?

Not exactly.

Ever since my neighbor talked me into co-coaching our kids' Micro soccer team (thanks, Allison) I've been perusing the shelves at my local library, begging other coaches, and scanning the internet for soccer books for kids and new coaches. I've found quite a few, and some are good - but so far, none are "great."

And I need a great deal of help!

A "Micro" soccer team consists of four- and five-year-olds; in most cases, they are co-ed teams. After flipping through a LOT of books (see below) it seems the key is to get them to play and have fun. Running laps, standing in line for drills, even passing is too much to ask at this age - and way too dull.

The first book I found was an e-book, Fundamental Soccer for Clueless Parents, and it really is for very-bare-beginners. Which was ok by me!

There are some great web resources, including:
http://www.kidsfirstsoccer.com
http://www.usyouthsoccer.org

Anyone have any others to recommend? I'm all ears. And our first practice is Friday...

Update: the season went great, and we're still having fun - the vast majority of kid on that team are still playing, eight years later. And have moved on to more qualified coaches ;)


Got a soccer player at home willing to work to get better? Here's a training program I came across recently that is designed for soccer players who are willing to work to "level up" and improve their skills and reach their goals (like making varsity!). Guaranteed results; 8 week money-back offer. See you on the pitch!

I'm Rich!*

My friends Matt and Gina Hutter are featured in the July (print) issue of Money Magazine because they... wait for it... wait for it... use cash.

Greenbacks.

Bills.

US dollars.

Remember?

If the answer is no, please, please read the article. A few times. We'll wait.
= - = - =
Doesn't that make sense?

To Matt's money-saving tips I can add but one: before you buy a book, check it out at the library first. :)


*Sure, you can file this under "misleading titles." But I am rich in friends!

Just for Kix

Ah, 'tis true: I do read cereal boxes.

Did you know Kix cereal is a very healthy choice?

A 1-1/4 cup serving has less sodium and fat and more potassium than a serving (1 cup) of Cheerios, and the same amount of fiber (3 grams) and calories (110). Huh.

They're both fortified, so they're pretty equally plumped up with the usual vitamins. And I have to admit Kix has more sugar (3 grams vs Cheerios' 1 gram) and Cheerios has 3 grams of protein to the 2 grams in Kix.

And now I really need to go to the library, and pull something besides a cereal box off the shelf!

Boo! Book Pages Shrinking

Looks like my local paper, the venerable Cleveland Plain Dealer, has recently sliced a significant chunk off its book review pages.

Boo!

We can only hope it's a temporary change.

Yes, yes, I know what's going on in the newspaper business. It's crazy. No one really knows how to plump up profits.

But it seems sort of - disingenuous? counterproductive? well, ironic, at least - to reduce the reading space devoted to the most devoted readers.

Sigh.

You read, right? Let the paper's management know you miss those column-inches. And you want 'em back. I sure do!

It's Time for Another Artemis Book

The Time Paradox is the sixth book in Eoin Colfer’s series about young and ruthless criminal genius Artemis Fowl. Now Artemis is not quite so young - he spent the last three years in Limbo, so he’s effectively 14 although he should be 17 (remember, this is a fantasy) and he’s not quite so ruthless, either. Regular readers know the conniving kid has been mellowing since the first book was published in 2001; his journey toward a kinder, gentler antihero continues in this book. Fans also will be glad to know that Fowl’s haughty brilliance remains intact.

He’ll need it.

Artemis’s mother, Angeline, is dying - and Artemis may or may not be responsible for causing the killer infection. Making the antidote requires brain fluid from a silky sifaka lemur; unfortunately, Artemis killed the very last one a few years earlier.

The average boy would waste a lot of time feeling guilty, but not Arty. He realizes there’s nothing to do except go back in time and save the lemur. Of course, to do so he’ll have to outwit his (younger) self.

The kid has been in tight spots before, but never with his mother’s life hanging in the balance. And never with such human frailty or humility.

Of course “The Time Paradox” isn’t just about time travel, saving the world, a lemur, and mom, and righting old wrongs. That’s a code Fowl fans can understand: it means Artemis is up against more than a few formidable foes, and in this case, he also has to deal with his own failures.

Like previous books in the series, the climax of The Time Paradox is packed with so many near-death experiences and reversals of fortune that the final 50 pages are a bit too jarring; those pages give credence to some of Colfer’s literary detractors.

And I say ignore them. The final product is a high adventure, full of humor – sometimes wry, sometimes slapstick.

Colfer has said he will take a few years off from the Artemis series, and for that reason, series followers may be disappointed that some long-kept secrets remain secrets, including the narrator’s identity and his (or her?) reason for telling Artemis’s story. The author also stops short of allowing Artemis a real romance, although Arty does get kissed in book six...by a fairy, of course. But I've spilled way too much already.

If the Artemis series doesn't continue, will there really be legions of disappointed fans? Only temporarily. Many, I suspect, will pick up other titles by Colfer to fill the void, and they'll be glad. Like Douglas Adams (Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, So Long And Thanks For All The Fish, etc.) Colfer can tell a great yarn, and string along his readers, through the most fantastic of fantasy worlds.

Of course he glosses over a few details as he goes. Hey, if he really took the time to explain time travel, would you believe it? ;)

Don't Start Smoking, but....

You might want to check out this article in Discover Magazine, A Nicotine Pill Could Help Dementia Patients. I think it's scary and awesome, the lengths to which we'll go to develop a pill... studies have suggested rats can concentrate better after they've been injected with nicotine. But of course, many of nicotine's other side effects are bad.

Naysayers are suggesting we could all avoid dementia by eating whole foods and generally having a better diet. Which is a great idea. Next time I'm at the library, remind me to visit the cooking section. I don't think hot dogs fall under the "whole foods" category.

Recommendation Nation

An article in Technology Review's May/June issue offered more than run-of-the-mill insight into how willing people are to consider (machine code) recommendations while surfing the net. Modeling the very principles of the article, there are two ways to find the piece...

Click here to be subjected to a brief ad before reading the (whole) article, or

Click here to read the whole thing, if you're registered, or register (it's free) to read it.

(Yes, I'm STILL behind on my reading. Must be all those darned recommendations!)

Almost missed another boat

I just hoisted myself on this one; the steamship of a runaway series Artemis Fowl nearly cruised by without me on board. And what a ride!

I took the plunge (dangerous mix of metaphors, I know) just last week and am a full convert already. Not that I'm taking sides against the incredible Mr. Potter, mind. But Potter is so...incredible. And Artemis, dear 12-year-old Arty (who apparently really doesn't age, at least in his latest adventure) is more believable. He sort of lives in the "real" world. You know, with real gnomes and fairies and centaurs and trolls and...and, well, you do have to employ that old suspension of disbelief long enough to swallow that he's a 12-year-old who happens to be smarter than all the grownups combined. Um. Well. Ah.

I'll just write myself out of this corner now. 'Bye!

My reading doesn't stack up

In case you ever wondered a world-renown physicist reads for fun, good news: those pesky reporters at Discover Magazine asked one. Guess what? It ain't romance novels.

John Grisham Gains 20 Pounds

The quaint beach cottage where we spend about a week each year is stocked with a lot of reading material, much of which is a little too quaint to tempt me. But when I finished a YA recommended by my 12-year-old on vaca day #2, I figured I couldn't be picky. I picked up The Broker by John Grisham, and I'm glad I did. It was pretty good!

Not as good as The Firm, The Pelican Brief, or A Time To Kill, mind you - but the plot was well-paced and interesting, and I loved the setting. Most of the action takes place in Italy and Washington D.C., with stops in Germany and Switzerland.

In the book's acknowledgment, Grisham acknowledges that his "research" in Italy caused him to gain 20 pounds. I'm not surprised. More than a handful of meals are described in great detail...great, mouthwatering detail.

I won't spoil a read by revealing much about the plot; it's enough to say the book is about international espionage, and it restored my faith in the author. After reading the awful Skipping Christmas (good idea, terrible execution) I'd decided I was done with Grisham.

Grisham answered readers' questions in the January issue of Time magazine. His official website is here.

And, I must confess, I left the book aboard our return flight, on purpose. I wrote that it was a "freecycle" book and that I hoped someone who needs something to read will take it. There's only so much space on our bookshelves...and in our luggage.

Got Summer Reading?

This morning, my favorite radio station devoted more than 30 minutes to the question, "what are you reading this summer?" You can see (and hear) the answers here.

Guests and callers spoke about several genres, including memoir, but didn't mention one of my favorites, Stephen King's On Writing, which is at least as much memoir as it is writing advice. I loved the book, even though I'm not a fan of his scarier stuff.

Old Stuff & Mysteries
I'm reading the (almost) current issue of National Geographic now, enjoying a (typically) lengthy article about Stonehenge. It references several recent digs near the enigmatic structures, but oddly, it doesn't doesn't mention (nor does NGS's own website include links to) the magazine's recent articles about those digs. Did you know that one in 2006 investigated the site that probably housed the builders of the famous monument?! Gee, that sounds kinda' relevant to me.

I wonder what folks are learning in library science these days...will we ever have a system of reference for information on the web as cut-and-dried (and comprehensive) as the dear old Dewey decimal/card catalog system in old-fashioned libraries?

Will our kids learn how to cite at least three credible sources and create footnotes for their research papers? Am I just getting old and crabby?

Maybe, maybe, and probably.

So what are you reading this summer?

Slim Book for Wide Audience

OK, now that my review of The Willoughbys has published in The Cleveland Plain Dealer, I'll dish: Lois Lowry's latest book is good. Really good.

Of course, it's not meant to be. It's meant to poke fun at everything that's just a tad too cut-and-dried about those old-fashioned classic tales. And for the most part, the book's characters are bad, bad people.

Mr. and Mrs. Willoughby, you see, don't like children. Especially their own. By the end of the first chapter, they've hatched a plan to get rid of the children (Frankly, it's not that good of a plan: packing up for an extended vacation and engaging a real estate agent to sell the house with the kids in it doesn't sound exactly foolproof to me. And that's part of the fun; it's a spoof, after all.)

For their part, the kids - 12-year-old Timothy, 10-year-old twins Barnaby A and Barnaby B, and poor little one-syllable Jane - aren't much better than their folks. In fact, before the 'rents have packed a suitcase, the little rug rats have decided they'd like to be orphans. And they have a plan, too...

From page one, The Willoughbys is a send-up of every "classic" convention you can probably remember - it's got your basic baby-left-on-the-doorstep, the gruff, grimy, very rich benefactor, and an extremely resourceful nanny.

Kids will enjoy the story, sure, but adults will catch many a joke that will escape the kids. More than a few young readers, I suspect, will miss the elaborate tongue-in-cheek near references to Baby Ruth (the candy bar) and many of the slyly borrowed conventions (from Mary Poppins, James and the Giant Peach, and other weighty but not-so-often-assigned reading).

Even so, the book will be a hit with middle school readers, and just about any fan of Lemony Snicket. I just hope some of their parents pick it up, too. The glossary alone is worth a read. Giggles are free, but unfortunately not nearly plentiful enough. This book packs a bunch of 'em. Enjoy.

Why I love MG and YA books

I've just finished reviewing Lowis Lowry' latest book, a parody of classic children's literature. To prepare for the review, I checked out Number the Stars, Find a Stranger Say Goodbye, and *ahem* the Cliff Notes for The Giver. The Giver is just too intense, folks. Not that her other books are lightweights.

Actually, a few are. I also read Stay! Keeper's Story, a bit of light fiction narrated by a dog, and perused the Anastasia series, which is very popular with younger readers.

But in really considering The Giver and a few of Lowry's other heavy-hitting titles, I got to thinking...the vast majority of "acclaimed" titles for the Young Adult market are really, really heavy. Friends, mothers, sisters die. The Holocaust disrupts lives. The Book Thief is narrated by Death, for heaven's sake.

And I think I know why.

Do you remember being a teenager? It probably wasn't a take-it-or-leave-it time in your life. Everything about being an adolescent seems intense. The right (or wrong) girlfriend/boyfriend could talk you into sneaking a cigarette, cheating on a test, running away, stealing a car, having sex, killing yourself, or a combination of those things.

YA literature has to speak to those intense readers. And - I'm not making this up, research has proven the point - teens' attention spans get shorter, thanks to all the chemical changes in their bodies and especially their brains. So YA authors can't waste words. Every sentence must be worth reading. Nothing is mundane.

Well written books for the age group (YA/MG is a bit of blurred demographic these days) include all the important stuff, but no more...character descriptions move the story forward, the setting matters to the plot, there are no throw-away scenes.

I guess that's one of my top two reasons for reading YA and MG lit.

The other reason is I hope - hope, hope, hope - that reading YA and MG books will help me understand and appreciate those tumultuous teenage years...especially as my own kids approach those years, at an alarming pace.

Sigh.

Maybe I Misread the Review

A recent review by The Cleveland Plain Dealer's book editor, Karen Long, convinced me that Elizabeth Strout had a way with words. Maybe even something like my current favorite fiction diva, Barbara K. Although I wasn't interested in the plot of the reviewed book (Olive Kitterage - a collection of short stories), I went looking for another title by Strout, and found Amy and Isabelle. And I returned it to the library before I finished it!

That's pretty unusual for me. I'm still trying to get over the guilt. It wasn't a TOTAL disappointment. The characters were three-dimensional; the setting was well-drawn; the plot appealed to me. The problem was the pace - it crawled! Sigh. I'll work on patience...later.

Historical Fiction Worth Reading?

In my formative years, I could count on one hand the number of "historical fiction" titles I deemed worth reading. Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House series (totaling eleven? or twelve? books) and The Witch of Blackbird Pond made the list because they didn't seem like history lessons; they simply told great stories.

As I've typed before, I have enjoyed every page of Team of Rivals but *sigh* I'm still turning its pages.

Browsing the stacks in the library's teen section recently, I picked up The Girls They Left Behind and was hooked on the first page. The historical fiction in a diary format introduced me to the main character, code name Natalie (because "My real name is not fit to print"), who gave me a glimpse of what it was like to be a 17-year-old girl in Toronto in 1943.

What was it like? Well, teenagers are teenagers: Beryl/Natalie has crushes (and kisses!), fusses with her hair, is quite delighted to leave school for a high-paying job, and loves/hates her eight-year-old brother. But as a teenager on the home front in WWII, she also hates watching (just watching) most of her male friends go off to war; at the same time, she's embarrassed to be seen with Carl, who is of age but unable to enlist because he's deaf in one ear. She also hides to trade ration coupons (it's illegal!), hates the blackouts, and struggles with the emotions letters from the front - and worse, telegrams - bring.

Author Bernice Thurman Hunter died (in 2002) before she completed the book; her daughter, Heather Anne Hunter, finished the job. And well. From now on, any kid who tells me they don't like historical fiction will get one more recommendation...

Saturday

Ian McEwan's 2005 novel, Saturday, follows a British neurosurgeon on a typical Saturday that in fact becomes extraordinary. I finished it last Saturday :)

I hate to admit this was the first of McEwan's books I've read, but it was. While I enjoyed it, I'm not going to rush out to pick up another title by the acclaimed author (whose Atonement was adapted to screen and is in theaters now).

Saturday is full of multi-layered characters, so richly drawn you feel you know them better than most people you know in your real life - and yet the description doesn't bog down the book.

Where I fault McEwan is plot - there wasn't much, frankly. (Yeah, I realize it's a book about a 24-hour period; how much did I expect, right?) It involves a plane crash, a traffic accident, a homecoming of sorts with his two grown children and cantankerous and eccentric father-in-law, and a nasty run in with a couple of thugs. I won't give away the ending, because to do so would spoil the reading...and it really is worth reading.

While I love the author's ruminations on how our minds work - tangled up in this book with the way the brain operates, and how it can be operated on - in a few instances, there's too much looking inward (and too little action) for my taste.

That said, McEwan can write. And he writes "up" to his readers - a compliment, I think, and a welcome change from the many MG/YA books I've devoured in the past year. By the time I reached page 36, the author had discussed neurosurgery (the removal of a pilocytic astrocytoma, among other cases), (the comet) Hale-Bopp, the psychology/philosophy of commercial plane travel, politics, and Schrodinger's cat.

It's heady stuff. Had he given me a bit more of a story, and I'd be hooked for good, lamenting the fact that McEwan has "only" given us 11 novels to date...

Oh, the Piles!

After my son used the wicker magazine rack as a step-stool a few too many times, I sighed and decided it had to go. (The rack, not the boy.)

Which means I had to face up to the fact that about two dozen magazines had been collecting dust inside the rack. Among the National Geographics and various science mags, some Design News and NASA Tech Briefs were tossed in for good measure. I'm almost caught up...sigh...almost. I love reading those mags, I really do. But I love reading a lot of stuff. A lot.

Like books by Barbara Kingsolver. I have to admit the one I just finished, The Prodigal Summer, has been my least favorite of the Kingsolvers I've read so for. Animal Dreams and Pigs in Heaven were so much more...um, immediate? raw? I'm not sure what descriptor I'm searching for... even The Bean Trees, which was published before Prodigal Summer and the much-acclaimed Poisonwood Bible, was more gripping.

That said, I can't quit the darned book, of course. BK has quite a way with words - and even more talent with characters.

Maybe someday she'll write about a lady who keeps magazines piled up in her living room, as surrogate stepping stools...

Boyproof? But is it plot proof?

I really enjoyed Cecil Castellucci's Boyproof, but I have to admit it wasn't the story (primarily about the internal conflict of a 16-year-old who "struggles" through her senior year in high school) but it was author Cecil Castellucci's skillfully-created characters that kept me from putting the book down halfway through.

Also, just as important (and in my experience, even more rare) Castellucci created just enough characters to populate and tell the story, with no "extras" added because the author needed them to make a point or introduce an idea/conflict.

I had Boyproof on my to-read list for two reasons

1. I wanted to compare the author's style in a novel vs. her first graphic novel, The Plain Janes
, and
2. Castellucci's writing has been used as an example of how to say a lot about a character in just a few words.

The story takes place in a pretty well-heeled Hollywood (CA) suburb, where the kids can choose to protest genetically-engineered food or try out to be an extra in an upcoming movie or TV show. It's a little bit trite, but then again, isn't that the definition of teen angst? Perhaps. (However you feel about that, the fact is the book resonates with a lot of teens.)

Victoria is "boyproof," according to her actress-mother, because she eschews all feminine clothing/makeup/hairstyles and instead prefers to dress like (the made-up-for-this-book) sci/fi movie character, Egg. What's more, Victoria insists friends call her "Egg."

Max Carter moves in and breaks Egg's shell (ha, ha) because he's as smart as she is, giving her some competition for the Valedictorian race, and because he's cute, too - making her think maybe "boyproof" isn't what she really wants to be.

As a mom, I'd be OK with my tween reading the book because it treats the confusion that comes about during adolescence seriously, but not too seriously. Also, the romantic interludes are just kisses (with some musings about groping) - there are no sex scenes.

I'd be interested to hear from readers on both sides of sci/fi fandom as to how the sci/fi elements worked in this book. While it certainly helps to have an understanding of sci/fi techniques (in books and on film), Boyproof is firmly rooted in reality - that is, a safe, suburban Hollywood, teenage version of reality.

(((a longer version of this review appears on the Epinions website, here)))

Where credit is due

It just occurred to me that you may have read reviews somewhere else that sound a lot like the reviews posted here. Ahem. It's time for me to admit that sometimes I borrow whole paragraphs from reviews that I post at Epinions.com.

So yeah, some of this stuff has been published before... and I wrote it all. (In spite of some really ugly exceptions that make the news from time to time, plagiarism is something journalists don't take lightly, folks.)

One of the reasons I started blogging here, and posting reviews there (Epinions) was to create a sort of catalog of the books (and articles, and other stuff) that I read. So, while I'm still sorting out my place in cyberspace, I am not "borrowing" the opinions, words, or reviews of any other writers.

Better Than Most Political Bios

Write It When I'm Gone: Remarkable Off-the-Record Conversations with Gerald R. Ford is not chock-full of remarkable remarks by the 38th president of the United States, but it is a fitting tribute to the man, who I believe was one of the country's truly great statesmen.

Unfortunately, the writing was sloppier than I'd expected from Thomas DeFrank, a Newsweek and Daily News reporter. With the author's considerable experience and credentials, I was stunned to find redundancies and out-of-sequence segments in almost every chapter, pluse a few just plain grammatical gaffes. Why it was allowed to surf through copyediting at publisher (Putnam) may be because they wanted to hurry to market, but still... the oversights were disappointing. (On page 12 readers can marvel at the gem, "Usually, we never knew which.")

Grumblings aside, the book is worth reading for those who like a little - but not too much - political perspective.

I knew how the story would end, of course - Ford died in 2007 - but I found myself surprisingly sad as I read the final chapters. Grumblings aside, I believe this redeems DeFrank's writing. I'm pretty sure (that is, I sure hope!) DeFrank could've written a better quality book, overall, I'm glad he wrote this one.

Certainly, what readers take away regarding Mr. Ford is subject to individual interpretation. Personally, I gained a greater appreciation for the man who seems to have lived every day, and served many decades, according to an (unfortunately) uncommon set of principals - and I think that's worth slogging through a few sloppy paragraphs.

Read that Rx

I've been sick lately and of course, I read the (rather lengthy) material that came with my prescriptions. I had to call the pharmacy, anyway, because while it was clear I was to take a series of six pills, then five, then four (you get the idea) each day until there were no more, it was not clear if I was to take the lot at once, or spaced throughout the day.

I got my answer but the experience made me, even in a weakened state, rise up on my soapbox. (Yes, there are several soapboxes. In this case, it was the be-careful-what-you-write soapbox.)

Speaking about prescriptions, I was really taken by an AP article that ran in my local paper today: Thou shalt see a doctor. Reportedly, last month the Rev. Keith Troy made every man in church stand up and agree to go to the doctor in the next three months. Rev. Troy had had a rough week, having seen four of his parishioners die. And he knows many more will follow soon if they don't start taking care of themselves. According to CDC statistics, Black and Hispanic men are the least likely to see a doctor regularly, and not because their health is especially good.

Rev. Troy had the good judgment to make the men in his congregation not only stand up publicly - he also had them write down their name and phone number so the church could follow up with them, and help get them to an appointment if necessary.

Amen to that - and praise be the power of words.

Here's to your (and their) health!