Fact Makes Great Fiction: Number the Stars

Lois Lowry's 1990 Newbery Award winner Number the Stars is a short fictional account of Denmark's Nazi occupation and resistance.

I was an adult when the book was published, so I'll shake off my guilt as I admit I've only recently gotten around to reading this.

If you haven't read it, or haven't read it in years, you should. Never mind your age. 'Nuff said.

Certainly enough reviews are out there; another isn't needed. So I'll get on my historical soapbox, instead, and say: respect the history, writers.

Fact Check This

Number the Stars is the best kind of fiction, laden with facts.  In the brief afterword, Lowry described enough about the documents she used to get the message across: this happened. And we can prove it.

In a variety of writing projects, I've had my frustrations with fact-checking (hint: everything isn't online, and lots that is online is wrong). But since this is a reader's blog, I'll leave it at this: historical facts make for some mighty fine fiction.

Speaking of Online Resources

In case you missed that link up above, go back and click. It's not intended to sell books; it points at the excellent McGraw Hill guide to Number the Stars, included by the Holocaust Education Resource Council among its many fine reference materials.

Several Shades Better

You want to be like everybody else? Carry 50 Shades of Grey to the pool this summer. If you want to read a really good book - albeit one that might qualify for a chick-lit label - heft Diana Gabaldon's Outlander wherever you go. The author's storytelling skills guarantee a great deal of escape, and an equally well-written bit of smut only adds to the adventure.

Apparently, Outlander was a bit of escape for the author, who began writing it while she was a university professor. Degrees in zoology, marine biology, and ecology notwithstanding, Gabaldon managed to weave a tale that takes us on a time-travel jaunt from post-WWII England to the Scottish Highlands, circa 1743. Aye, and it's a bonny journey!

I highly recommend this book and won't spoil your enjoyment by going into plot details. In a nutshell, if you like adventure, romance, and botany, this is going to be one of your favorite books. If you'd like a well-crafted description of what a very strong female lead finds under an even stronger Scotsman's kilt, well, what are you waiting for? Go get Outlander. And read it quickly, without remorse -- there's a series of seven books waiting for you, with an eighth expected early in 2013. 

And you know all those silly typos and redundancies in Shades of Grey? You won't find 'em here. Enjoy!
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Better than #ShadesofGrey

Summer Reading Assignments - all done?

Whoooooooosh. There went summer. 'Fess up. Have you (or your kids) finished summer reading assignments yet? My HS sophomore is still wading through To Kill a Mockingbird. I can't fault her for a slow start; I only just read it myself. So, at least I can offer encouragement...

What about in your house? Has everyone read what they were supposed to? Including you?

If I Built a Car Revs Imagination with Rhyme

 Need a gift for a boy (or girl) who loves cars and other things that go? I'd recommend this for ages 3-8. It's a nice title for elementary classrooms, too, for use during poetry lessons. 

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Every parent knows some of the best conversations with kids happen when you're only making eye contact in the rear-view mirror. (Talk about distracted driving!)

That's the setting for Chris Van Dusen's colorful If I Built a Car. 


The imaginative young passenger-slash-designer in If I... envisions a swimming pool on wheels that flies, cooks for its occupants, and comes complete with a robot (named Robert) who drives for sleepy humans. That's just about everything I'd like to see in my next vehicle...as a jaded adult, of course, it's hard not to envision all the recall notices owners would surely receive. Sigh. Well, let's just hope the next generation of imaginative engineers are real QC-oriented. 

The rhyme works on every page, which is no surprise as the book earned the 2006 E. B. White Read Aloud Award. Van Dusen isn't quite in Mary Ann Hoberman's league when it comes to children's rhyme (but who is, really?) though  I think Car holds up quiet well next to just about all of Jack Prelutsky's stuff. Van Dusen's illustrations are excellent, whimsical yet full of movement. (Making Van Dusen a good choice to illustrate Kate DiCamillo's Mercy Watson series.) 


I'll finish with a tip for the frugal: This is a Scholastic book, meaning you can pick it up at many school book fairs (where a fair portion of the $ goes directly to the school and is usually used to buy more books) or through the class order forms that come home in the kids' backpacks. What's better than a great book at a great price? 



Got a good book-for-a-gift idea to share? Lemme know!

Highly Versatile Henke

Kevin Henkes' MG Olive's Ocean, a Newbery Honor Book, follows 12-year-old Martha after she learns that one of her classmates - the titular Olive, who died in a bicycle accident - thought Martha was the nicest girl in 6th grade.

The news stuns Martha, because Olive was that girl in 6th grade whom the whole class ignored. Martha gulps down the revelation and digests it over the course of the summer, taking it along on her family's vacation like an invisible friend.

The slice-of-adolescent-life story aimed at 4th-6th grade readers (girls) is a very well written, age-appropriate, somewhat philosophical novel about mortality. Frankly, I think it could use a few more plot points and more conflict, both external and internal. But I'm not a MG expert, and it's hard to find fault with Henkes' work or track record. (They can't all be as good as Lilly!)

Henkes has said (in his website bio) "I like the variety of trying new ways to fill the pages between two covers." And in spite of my silly quibbles, I think he did a fine job filling the pages of Olive's Ocean.