Back to Scary School

Scary School has given me a lot of food for thought. As a reading mom, I was reminded once again that I'm not very good at judging how my kids will respond to some titles. My eight-year-old absolutely loved Scary School, even though I'd have given it a lukewarm review. After we finished reading it together, he gave it that great compliment: "Can we read it again?" Well, I said no. (I'll never win mother of the year!) So... he read it himself. But first, he insisted on taking the online quiz to access the hidden chapter. You're getting the idea, right? Scary School is not only capable of captivating kids with a story perhaps best described as slapstick comedy a la Scooby-Doo and the Vampires meets The Munsters, it also spurs them to read independently, above grade level. I should mention that the book's packed with characters, too - keeping track of all of them helps improve memory skills. (Did I mention I'm not up for mother of the year? Look, I wanted to read something else, ok?!)

As a writer and reviewer, I learned something about book marketing and took in one more lesson about perseverance. Read the guest blog entry from author Derek Kent - aka Derek the Ghost - to find out what it took to bring Scary School to life.

The bottom line: I highly recommend Scary School, particularly for boys. Got a middle grade reluctant reader? This would probably make an excellent choice for him - or her. 

Thoughts on "the curse" of self-published books

Kirkus Reviews has long offered self-published authors the chance to have their works reviewed by the very well-respected publication. A few even receive stars. Here's what you, dear reader, need to know: self-published authors pay a reasonable fee of several hundred dollars to get those reviews, and no, they can't buy a good one.

Kirkus clearly identifies those reviews as "Indie" works, and with a few clicks, curious readers can find out that the reviewed works weren't selected by Kirkus editorial personnel, they were submitted, with payment, in order to obtain those reviews.

Kirkus has a pretty demanding list of qualifications for its reviewers - for all of its reviewers, "even" the indie reviewers - and it aims to enlist critics who take seriously the works of the authors, regardless of how those works are published.

I happen to know a number of self-published authors. One even got a starred review from Kirkus (yay, Charlie!). I also review a fair number of self-published works - but not all - because, well, you know what the bumper sticker says, right? "So many books...so little time."

Look, it's about time we realized - we, meaning readers and writers - that there's room in the publishing world for many different business models. I've read some dogs published by THE GREAT, BIG PUBLISHING HOUSES and I've enjoyed some high quality works from self-published authors.

Regardless of how the book comes to print, the good ones have some things in common. Like cohesiveness. Evidence a deft editing job has been done. Few if any typos. The only illustrations they include add something to the book (other than just another page).

Why bring this up?

I recently responded to an author who was clearly upset by my review of her second book. Her comments included several personal insults as well as the opinion that I viewed her book as sub-par simply because it was self published. She deemed it "the curse of self-publishing." I heartily disagreed.

Authors can wait forever - literally - for a response from publishing houses. It's a terribly frustrating business and yet another example of how life just ain't fair. Oodles and oodles of books (at least) never make it to print. Oodles and oodles of good ones do - many because their authors quit waiting and published those books on their own.

Look, I can't take on the failings of the publishing industry and the shortcomings and misconceptions of self-publishing in a single blog post, or a hundred. Obviously, the industry has changed dramatically in recent years. So I'll sum it up thusly:

Readers, don't judge a book by its cover or publisher. 

Writers, don't publish your work until it's really, really ready. And when you publish too soon, or without the help of an editor, don't take it out on the reviewer. She's just doing her job.

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Want to recommend an excellent editing service? Got a self-published title that deserves some praise? What R U Reading? welcomes your comments and reader reviews. 

Call for Guest Bloggers

Help! Like most other readers, I can't find time to read all that I want to. Would you like to share some thoughts on something you've enjoyed lately? I'm looking for guest bloggers. It's this easy: tell us what you've read recently - old or new, any genre - what you liked about it, and why you'd recommend it. It's a fact: there are too many books, and too little time. Your recommendations can help others use their reading time wisely, and find books they might have otherwise overlooked.

Please contact me if you're the slightest bit interested.  I welcome your reviews, and your fellow readers will appreciate it, too.

If only I had more time to read...

If there were just a few more hours in each week, I'd read...

...The Why Files, from top to bottom. I think of it as the science-lover's weekly, for non-science majors.

The editors do a fabulous job of delivering in-depth content, with most of that content being connected to current events and headlines.

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What about you? What would you read if given an extra hour or two to do so?

Just gave up on The Big Short

The Big Short by Michael Lewis is an excellent book, and I heartily recommend it - if you can stomach it. It doesn't go down easy - and I'm not the only one who gave up on the book. Wall Street Journal blogger Peter Lattman took on admittedly more work by reading the thesis by a recent Harvard grad, cited in Lewis' acknowledgement, instead of reading the book itself. 

Before I quit reading, I was surprised to learn that Lewis, who also wrote Moneyball (film adaptation starring Brad Pitt now in theaters) and The Blind Side, spent a few years in his early career working on Wall Street. In this book, he exposes the smoke and mirrors and BS that passes for "complicated math" and reveals what most of us know, in our guts: most investment schemes are, first and foremost, schemes. Flat-out thievery in many cases.

Look, Lewis is an outstanding storyteller with superb research skills (translation: hard-working journalist) and I'll try to read just about anything he writes. Unfortunately, I just couldn't handle this particular tale. Probably because it's a true story, about a bunch of crooks who got rich and got away with it. And we're still paying the bills.

Sigh.
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Attention book clubbers bound and determined to figure out the financial mess: this is your book. 

On Libraries: Gotta check this out

Is anyone reading this Huffington Post series on libraries? I'm not a big Huff fan; but this is worth reading.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/libraries-in-crisis/

White Water invites us to wade in

Set in the segregation-era South, White Water is based on one particular memory author Michael Bandy just couldn't shake. The memory: not being allowed to drink from the white fountain.

As Bandy's (fictional) main character, also named Michael, puts it:

"I was just sure it must be pure and icy cold, like mountain water. Suddenly I just had to know what that white water tasted like."

And (spoiler alert) he finds out.

It's a children's picture book, so there's no space for a detailed history lesson and it's not the place to assign blame. It's a 32-page opportunity to open a window and begin a discussion with kids about racism. Or not.

I repeat, it's a picture book, so it's difficult for adults to gauge what the book's intended audience might read into it. And that's OK.

We should read it to them, ask them to feel what Michael feels - think about his thirst for that white water - and see if they can grasp the irony, as Michael did, when he realized that the same pipe fed both fountains. It's the same water.

Michael (the character) realizes the only difference between the water in those fountains was in his imagination.

"The signs over the fountains had put bad ideas in my head," Bandy writes.

Whatever our differences, the easy, politically correct way to handle them is to pretend we are blind. Color blind or unable to see the yamaka, turban, veil, dreadlocks, wheelchair, whatever makes the person (apparently) different from one's self. It's not completely wrong to pretend we don't notice labels or differences and instead choose to "see inside" the person. But it's only half right.

What if we go all the way? What if we see the labels, read the signs and then ask questions? Of each other?

How would that water taste?

That's a big question, and this is a book for little people. But we should ask. Maybe they'll lead us to the answer.

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I received a free review copy of White Water (copyright 2011) from Random House.