MOVIE - The Back-Up Plan

Alex O'Laughlin is adorable, but other than that.....
Released last Friday, April 23,2010
PG-13 (1:38)
4-26-10 at El Con with Fran
RT: 22% cag: 40%
Director: Alan Poul
Jennifer Lopez, Alex O'Laughlin

Don't expect any surprises in this cute story that seems to go on...and on...and on.... It's very predictable, but it certainly has lots of laughs. J-Lo ("Zoe") and O'Laughlin ("Stan") meet moments after she is artificially inseminated. They fall for each other after a week or two of coincidental meetings, then become an instant couple. Some of the biggest laughs come when Zoe joins a single mom's group. Bizarre, quite ridiculous, not a whole lot of chemistry going on, but not awful. It was sad to see an ANCIENT Linda Lavin play Zoe's grandmother. It made me feel ancient, too - but she was super. Oh, and Stan was a cheese farmer, owning a goat farm, just outside the city. Mmmmhmmmmm.

This Tree Counts - Alison Formento

Illustrated by Sarah Snow
Albert Whitman & Co, 2010
$16.00
32 pages
Rating: 4
Endpapers: Repeated squares of four oak trees - one for each season

Only one (big beautiful) tree lived on the Oak Lane School grounds. So Mr. Tate's class decides to plant more trees.

We learn a lot about oak trees - what lives in them as well as all sorts of useful info for young readers. The illustrations are lovely, simple, completely covering most pages. I'm very drawn to the oak leaves. Their shape is so recognizable.

Lovely book. Go Earth Day! Go treeeeees! I love trees.

Over the Green Hills - Rachel Isadora

Greenwillow Books, 1992
32 pages
Rating: 3.5

Endpapers: Dark Brown

This story was written while apartheid was still in force in South Africa. The setting of this story is on the eastern coast of South Africa, and according to an author's note, in the Transkei, a South African government-assigned independent state.

Zolani and his mother spend the best part of the day walking to their grandmother's village, trading goods and being given gifts for Grandma Zindzi as well.l The mother carries a box, a pumpkin, and a live chicken on her head! Zolani brings his goat, who carries mussels and firewood.

This book gives a sense of living in this part of South Africa. I've got a feeling, however, that the area is a lot poorer than it appears.

Full-page illustrations are created in deep, rich watercolors. Very lovely, heartwarming and realistic.

The Sanyasin's First Day - Ned Shank

Illustrated by Catherine Stock
Marshall Cavendish, 1999
32 pages
Rating: 4
Ednpapers: Pumpkin

In my search for books about Africa I came across this book, and had no idea what a SANYASIN was. So I checked it out. Didn't take place in Africa, but it was a good story.

A sanyasin is a holy man in India. He gives away all he owns, counts on people to give him rice, and spends his day praying...and begging for rice, it appears.

The busy Indian marketplace is captured beautifully by Catherine Stock as we meet three others on their "first days" -- a female plumber, male policeman, and female farmer. Their stories cleverly intersect in a satisfying story. however, it's the story the pictures tell that most catch my attention.

Note: As of the book flap, in 1999 Ned Shank was married to author Crescent Dragonwagon. Interesting.

Africa in Children's Literature

Here's My IN PROCESS list for books on/about Africa that I've blogged about:

Picture Books:
Beard, Alex, The Jungle Grapevine - African animals play "telephone" in this cleverly worded tale.
Cummings, Pat, Ananse and the Lizard - West African/Ghana tale about the trickster spider.
Cunnane, Kelly - Chirchir Is Singing - A young contemporary Kenyan girl discovers that while she is too little to help her family with chores, her cheerful singing helps them all complete theirs in a happier way.
Daly, Niki - What's Cooking, Jamela? - Jamela raises a chicken that is to be the main part of Christmas dinner, but when it becomes a pet she goes to dire straits to make sure that “Christmas” does NOT become Christmas dinner.

Deedy, Carmen Agra, 14 Cows for America - A Masai tribe in Kenya bless and care for cows in memory of the 9/11 victims.
Doner, Kim, On a Road in Africa - Real life Oklahoma woman runs an animal orphanage in Kenya.
Graber, Janet, Muktar and the Camels - A Somalian refugee now living in an orphanage in Kenya misses his family and camels so much that he becomes the helper to a camel librarian.
Grifalconi, Ann, The Village That Vanished - Yao girl and her mother save their Malawi/Mozambique/Tanzania village from slave traders
Hassan, Marian A., Dhegdheer, A Scary Somali Folktale - Evil, cannibalistic Dhegdheer turns green lands to desert
Hoffman, Mary, The Color of Home - Young Somalian refugee misses the colors of his homeland
Isadora, Rachel, Over the Green Hills - In South Africa during the time of apartheid, Zolani and his mother walk all day to take supplies to Grandma Zolani
Javaherbin, Mina, Goal! - In contemporary South Africa, five friends playing with their first real soccer ball watch for bullies and fiigure out a way to thwart them from stealing the coveted ball.
Kurtz, Jane & Kurtz, Christopher, Water Hole Waiting - In Eastern Africa (Kenya/Ethiopia border) vervet monkeys watchfully wait their turn at a much-used water hole
McBrier, Page, Beatrice's Goat- A mother and her children in Uganda receive a Heifer Project goat
Milway, Katie Smith, One Hen: How One Small Loan Made a Big Difference - Women in Ghana receive community loans to begin small businesses
Moriarty, Kathleen, Wiil Waal - A Somali folk tale about a Sultan who meets his match by finding a wise woman when he's looking for a wise man.
Musgrove, Margaret, The Spider Weaver: A Legend of Kente Cloth - a Ghanan folktale about two weavers who found a spider's web so beautifully woven that they decided to recreate it.
Nelson, Kadir; Nelson Mandela - a biography of sorts, with beautiful illustrations.
Nivola, Claire A, Planting the Trees of Kenya - The true story of Wangari Maathai, who spendt 30 years planting seeds to reforest Kenya.
Onyefulu, Ifeoma, One Big Family: Sharing life in an African Village - Using photographs, Obioma describes the way age groups called Ogbos are a way-of-life in her eastern Nigerian village.
Roth, Susan L. & Cindy Trumbore, The Mangrove Tree; Planting Trees to Feed Families - Tells how scientish Dr. Gordon Sato discovered that Mangrove trees thrive near a salty sea and provide ample leaves for food for goats and sheep, which creates a chain reaction of helping people of all sorts.
Stock, Catherine, Gugu's House - Young Zimbabwe girls helps her grandmother decoratively paint her house until the much-needed rains come, and they begin again.
Whelan, Gloria, Yatandou - In Mali, the women of a village receive a machine that will help them grind millet to make grain instead of spending all day pounding it.
Williams, Karen Lynn, Galimoto - Young Malawi boy creates a toy fashioned from wire
Williams, Karen Lynn & Khadra Mohammed, My Name is Sangoel - Sudanese refugee wants people in American to correctly pronounce his name
Williams, Mary, Brothers in Hope - A story of the Lost Boys of Sudan, we follow a fictitious Garang from the time he loses his family at 8 until he reaches America at 21.
Winter, Jeanette, Elsina's Clouds - Besotho, South African girl paints her house with designs to help summon the rain
Winter, Jeanette, My Baby - In Mali, Nakunte paints a special bogolan cloth for her new baby as she thinks of all the creatures in her village.
Winter, Jeanette, Wangari's Trees of Peace - True story of a woman who reforested Kenya.

Middle Grade and YA Fiction:
Applegate, Katherine, Home of the Brave - Sudanese refugee comes to America, 256 pgs.
Ellis, Deborah, The Heaven Shop - Three siblings are separated after their coffin-maker father dies of AIDS and suffer at other's hands until they are able to reunite.
Mead, Alice, Year of No Rain - Three young boys hit the road - barefoot and starving - looking for refuge when their southern Sudan village is attacked and their families are killed. 130 pgs.
Park, Linda Sue - A Long Walk to Water - Based on the true story of Salva Dut, one of the "lost boys of Sudan," who spent years as a refugee in the southern Sudan before coming to America and deciding to help the southern Sudanese in any way he can.
St.John, Lauren - The White Giraffe - After her parents are killed in a house fire, Martine is sent to live with her previously unknown grandmother on a south African wildlife reserve, where she is befriended by a mythical white giraffe.
Smith, Alexander McCall, Akimbo and the Crocodile Man - A young boy accompanies a crocodile expert who is tagging newborn crocs and their mothers when disaster strikes and young Akimbo has to take charge.
Stolz, Joelle, The Shadows of Ghadames -19th Century Libyan women live on the roofs of their town following strict Islamic gender rules. 118 pgs.
Whelan, Gloria, Listening for Lions - Early 20th century Kenyan missionaries die, leaving their daughter to do everything she can to return to Kenya and rebuild their hospital, 194 pgs.
Yohalem, Eve, Escape Under the Forever Sky - The 13-year old Ethiopian ambassador's daughter is kidnapped and must make her way across dangerous terrain to escape. 220 pgs.

Countries:
Botswana: 
Smith, Alexander McCall, Akimbo and the Crocodile Man - A young boy accompanies a crocodile expert who is tagging newborn crocs and their mothers when disaster strikes and young Akimbo has to take charge.

Eritrea:
Roth, Susan L. & Cindy Trumbore, The Mangrove Tree; Planting Trees to Feed Families - Tells how scientish Dr. Gordon Sato discovered that Mangrove trees thrive near a salty sea and provide ample leaves for food for goats and sheep, which creates a chain reaction of helping people of all sorts.

Ethiopia:
Kurtz, Jane & Kurtz, Christopher, Water Hole Waiting - In eastern Africa (Ethiopa/Kenya border), vervet monkeys watchfully wait their turn at a much-used watering hole.
Yohalem, Eve, Escape Under the Forever Sky - the 13-year-old ambassador's daughter is kidnapped and must make her way across dangerous terrain to escape. 220 pgs.


Ghana:
Cummings, Pat, Ananse and the Lizard - West Africa/Ghana Tale about the trickster spider
Milway, Katie Smith, One Hen: How One Small Loan Made a Big Difference - Women receive community loans to begin small businesses
Musgrove, Margaret, The Spider Weaver: A Legend of Kente Cloth - Ghana folktale about two weavers that find a spider that spins gorgeous webs that they recreate in their own weaving.

Kenya:
Cunnane, Kelly, Chirchir Is Singing - A young contemporary Kenyan girl discovers that while she is too little to help her family with chores, her cheerful singing helps them all complete theirs in a happier way.
Deedy, Carmen Agra, 14 Cows for America - A Masai tribe bless and care for cows in memory of the 9/11 victims.
Doner, Kim, On a Road in Africa - Real life Oklahoma woman runs an animal orphanage near Nairobi.
Graber, Janet, Muktar and the Camels - A Somalian refugee living in an orphanage in Kenya misses his family and camels so much that he becomes a helper to a camel-riding librarian.
Kurtz, Jane & Kurtz, Christopher, Water Hole Waiting - see Ethiopia, above
Nivola, Claire A., Planting the Trees of Kenya - True story of Wangari maathai who spent 30 years seeding and planting trees in Kenya.
Whelan, Gloria, Listening for Lions -Early 20th century missionaries die, leaving their daughter to do everything she can to return to Kenya and rebuild their hospital, 194 pgs.
Winter, Jeanette, Wangari's Trees of Peace - True story of how a woman reforested Kenya.


Libya
Stolz, Joelle, The Shadows of Ghadames - 19th century women live on the roofs of their town, following strict Islamic gender rules. 118 pgs.

Malawi:
Williams, Karen Lynn, Galimoto - Young Malawi boy creates a toy fashioned from wire
Ellis, Deborah, The Heaven Shop (YA) - Three siblings are separated after their coffin-maker father dies of AIDS and suffer at other's hands until they are able to reunite.
Grifalconi, Ann, The Village That Vanished - Yao girl & her mother save their village from slave traders .

Mali:
Whelan, Gloria, Yatandou - The women in a poor village receive a machine that will save them endless hours pounding millet.
Winter, Jeanette, My Baby - Nakunte paints a special bogolan cloth for her new baby as thinks of all the creatures in her village.

Nigeria:
Onyefulu, Ifeoma, One Big Family: Sharing Life in an African Village - Using photographs, young Obioma describes how age groups called ogbos are the way-of-life in her eastern Nigerian village.

Somalia:
Hassan, Marian A., Dhegdheer, A Scary Somali Folktale - Evil, cannibalistic Dhegdheer turns lush green lands into desert
Hoffman, Mary, The Color of Home - Refugee misses the colors of his homeland, Somalia
Moriarty, Kathleen, Wiil Waal - A tale about a Sultan who meets his match when he finds a wise woman when looking for a wise man.

South Africa:
Daly, Niki, What's Cooking, Jamela? - Jamela raises a chicken that is to be the main part of Christmas dinner, but when it becomes a pet she goes to dire straits to make sure that “Christmas” does NOT become Christmas dinner.

Isadora, Rachel, Over the Green Hills - In South Africa during the time of apartheid, Zolani and his mother walk all day to take supplies to his Grandmother.
Javaherbin, Mina, Goal! - In contemporary South Africa, five friends playing with their first real soccer ball watch for bullies and figure out a way to stop them from stealing the coveted ball.
Nelson, Kadir; Nelson Mandela - a biography
St. John, Lauren, The White Giraffe - After her parents are killed in a house fire, Martine is sent to live with her previously unknown grandmother on a south African wildlife reserve, where she is befriended by a mythical white giraffe.
Winter, Jeanette, Elsina's Clouds - Besotho girl decoratively paints her house to help summon the rains

Sudan:
Applegate, Katherine, Home of the Brave - Sudanese refugee comes to America, 256 pgs.
Mead, Alice, Year of No Rain - Three young boys hit the road - barefoot and starving - heading for shelter and food when their southern Sudan village is attacked and their families are killed.
Park, Linda Sue - A Long Walk to Water - Based on the true story of Salva Dut, one of the "lost boys of Sudan," who spent years as a refugee in the southern Sudan before coming to America and deciding to help the southern Sudanese in any way he can.
Williams, Karen Lynn & Khadra Mohammed, My Name is Sangoel - Sudanese refugee wants people in America to correctly pronounce his name.
Williams, Mary - Brothers in Hope - A fictitious story based on true stories of the Lost Boys of Sudan, it follows Garang from age 8 when he loses his family to age 21 when he reaches America.


Uganda:
McBrier, Page, Beatrice's Goat - A mother and her children receive a Heifer Project goat

Zimbabwe:
Stock, Catherine, Gugu's House - A grandmother teaches her granddaughter how to sculpt mud animals and walls, then decoratively paint the house before the rains come and they begin again

Refugees in America:
Applegate, Katherine, Home of the Brave - Sudanese refugee comes to America, 256 pgs.
Hoffman, Mary, The Color of Home - Young refugee misses the colors of Somalia
Williams, Karen Lynn & Khadra Mohammed, My Name is Sangoel - Sudanese refugee wants people in America to correctly pronounce his name. Picture Book.

28. Home of the Brave - Katherine Applegate

Audio read by Dominic Hoffman (wonderfully)
Listening Library, 2007
3 unabridged cds
2 hrs 47 min.
256 pgs.
Excellent story, great descriptions that include many similes, believable point-of-view

Kek arrives in Minnesota, fresh from a refugee camp in Africa (Sudan is mentioned once, but otherwise "Africa" is the only reference) alone, with only a volunteer named Dave to guide him. He has learned a tiny bit of English in the refugee camp, but everyone talks too quickly and uses too many idioms for him to understand. He misses his family, the sunshine and heat, and his father's cows. His father and brother have been killed and his mother is missing. He goes to live with his aunt and older cousin, also fairly new to the U.S.

It's fascinating to hear the things people say and the way that Kek processess them. I listened to this in the car, and the reader did a superb job making it feel like you were in Kek's head. Imagine being in the fifth grade, totally displaced from your home and family....and even the language is different. I can't. No way. But this happens to thousands and thousands of regugees coming to our country all the time. This is a wonderful book that allows kids (and adulst!) to put themselves into those shoes.

Kek makes friends, has caring teachers, and is a survivor. After reading Katherine Paterson's book about refugess from Kosovo and the few picture books I've read recently about African refugees, it certainly makes me think about lending a hand in some way.

Even though some websites say this book is for 12+, I will certainly not hesitate to have my fourth graders read this. It talks about shooting and killing in a bit of an abstract way, and Kek's cousin has had his hand cut off. However, unless a fourth grader is ultra-protected and never watches any tv (including the news) and with the guidance of a teacher or parent, there's no reason I can think of to worry. And listening to this reader would be a great plus!

27. The Dream Stealer - Sid Fleischman

Illustrated by Peter Sis
Greenwillow, 2009
$16.99
For: Grades 2-4 with a wide vocabulary
90 pages
The first half was quite delightful, the second half didn't catch me quite as well.

Susana lives in Mexico and discovers that a big spotted, crazy-looking bird has stolen her dream before she could find out what happened. The Dream Stealer was only supposed to steal bad dreams, so she is a little perturbed at him. She figures out a clever way to catch him, and convinces him to take her to the place where he keeps all the dreams he's stolen. Once they get there some of the creatures from his stolen bad dreams escape, and Susana has to help put things right.

Sid Fleischman uses great language, interesting similes, and fantastic vocabulary to spin this fantasy/fairy tale. It's quite clever and would make a great read aloud. Play with the words thief/bandit/burglar before reading so that kids understand they are synonyms.

Galimoto - Karen Lynn Williams

Illustrated by Catherine Stock
Harper Collins, 1990
32 pages
Endpapers: Dusty rose

I know, I know....this book is 20 years old and usually it's newer books that are blogged. But I've been researching books that can be used in the study of Africa and this one is a primo selection. I remember reading it years ago when it first came out, in the old Northeast Harbor Library children's room - which I miss greatly. Oh well, that's another story. I'll stick with this one...

"Galimoto means 'car' in Chichewa, the national language of Malawi, Africa. it is also the name for a type of push toy made by children. Old wires -- or sticks, cornstalks, and pieces of yam -- are shaped into cars, trucks, bicycles, trains, and helicopters. All of these intricate toys are known as galimoto (GAL-lee-moe-toe)."

One day Kondi starts looking everywhere for wire so that he can build a galimoto. He starts in the shoebox in which he keeps his treasured possessions. From there he goes to places around his village where he thinks he might be able to obtain more. During this day we learn about his village and his people's way of life. The illustrations that Catherine Stock drew - she notes that she traveled there to capture everything correctly - really help to realize the setting.

When I share this with my fourth graders - and I will - we are going to create galimotos. This will be right up their alley!

Good story. Great illustrations.

Ananse and the Lizard - Pat Cummings

A West African Tale
Henry Holt & Co., 2002
$16.95
40 pages
Endpapers: Rust

Ananse is the trickster of West African folktales. Apparently Pat Cummings traveled to Ghana and Nigeria to find a tale to retell and illustrate. She came across this one after searching through many collections and listening to many tales. There are lots and lots and lots of tales about the devilish Ananse. In the evenings, people gather to exchange stories, and many stories of Ananse are told. This is one.

Ananse, in his travels, sees a poster that announces that the chief of a nearby village will marry off his daughter to anyone who can guess her name, which has never been spoken outside the palace walls. As Ananse hurries toward the village he meets Grasshopper, who invites him home. There he meets many of Grasshopper's friends including Lizard, who is just as much a trickster as Ananse! Ananse overhears the name as he's spying from the wall above the palace and is then tricked by Lizard into revealing the name. Ananse's a bit numb - he doesn't "get" it until it's too late and Lizard is married to the beautiful daughter.

The illustrations, edge of page to edge of page, are bright and wonderful. The text is in a bordered box somewhere on one of the two pages. Fun story, great illustrations, and a little bit of West African customs....fun!

Elsina's Clouds - Jeanette Winter

Frances Foster Bks, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2004
O-O-P, found in the library
32 pages
Endpapers: Four squares coming out of each other, filled with colorful African designs

This book is about the "Basotho women of southern Africa." My research shows that Basotho is a part of South Africa, perhaps in and around the area of modern-day Lesotho. I'll have to look into this a little more.

Jeanette Winter shares the custom of the Basotho women painting their houses as messages to their ancestors to bring the rain. A nameless young girl paints the addition to her family abode that will house her soon-to-be-arriving baby sibling. She goes to bed at night and dreams about the rain coming to moisten her mother's crops.

This is the third time I've read that it's the WOMEN who plan, plant, care for, and sow the crops in many parts of Africa.

As always, I love Jeanette Winter's bordered, colorful, simple-yet-detailed illustrations. The story in this book, however, was a little too simple. I wanted more....more information....more about the symbolism of the painting, more about the paints themselves. Oh well. Can't have it all every time.

This would make a good companion book to Gugu's House by Catherine Stock, which is also about an African woman who paintis her house with decorations and waits until the rain washes it away so she can begin again.

The Village That Vanished - Ann Grifalconi

Illustrated by Kadir Nelson
Dial Books for Young Readers, 2002
$16.99/paper $6.99
a tale told in the tradition of African storytelling
40 pages
Endpapers: Rust

Abikanile (ah-bee-ka-NEE-lah) and her mother Njemile (n-jeh-MEE-leh) courageously lead the people of their Yao village to safety from the slave traders. Slave traders would attack the surroundings of a village, kidnapping the men and boys working there. This would leave the village attended by women, children, and elders, with no one to protect it so they could swoop in and easily kidnap the rest. HOW ON EARTH COULD PEOPLE DO THIS TO EACH OTHER? Anywasy, this is the story of how the mother figured out how to make it look like there had never been a village, and the daughter figured out how to get across the raging river without a boat when none of them could swim.

A fine tale, an introduction or addition to the concept of the slave trade in Africa.

I did a little research about where the setting of this book might be. Yao or waYao is a major ethnic and linguistic group found at the southern end of Lake Malawi on the eastern coast of Africa. The territory covers parts of modern-day northern Mozambique, Malawi, and Tanzania. They speak a Bantu language. There are currently about two million Yao, most of whom are Islamic.

My Name is Sangoel - Karen Lynn Williams & Khadra Mohammed

Illustrated by Catherine Stock
Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, 2009
$17.00
32 pages
Tells of the pride of heritage and the heartbreak of leaving your homeland
Rating: 4
Endpapers: Rust

Sangoel leaves the refugee camp for American with the words of the village wiseman ringing in his ears - to be proud of his Dinka name, which has been passed down through many generations. However, that name is not pronounced as it is written and when he arrives in America no one pronounces it correctly. He comes up with a rebus-like way to pronounce it correctly (SUN-GOAL).

Sangoel seems lucky...he is only teased a little and his new home seems accepting and friendly. He already speaks English, since he is the one translating for his mother. The illustrations by Catherine Stock are wonderful - they seem to beautifully depict Africa as well as America.

Good book.

The Color of Home - Mary Hoffman

Illustrated by Karin Littlewood
Dial Books for Young Readers, 2002
$17.99
24 pages
Lovely book, sad of course
Endpapers: Blotches of color as if painted, orange on teh left-page and aqua on the right

Hassan has traveled with his family from his much-loved home in Somalia to the grayness of the U.S. This book tells his story, but in an unusual way...through the picture he paints during his first day in an American school.

This book definitiely puts us in the shoes of an immigrant forced from his country because of war.

Gugu's House - Catherine Stock

Clarion Books, 2001
$14.00 (probably more, now)
32 pages
For: kids, cool book
Endpapers: Black and white African designs covering the entire pages

Set in Zimbabwe, Catherine Stock tells the story of a real-life woman that she has known for many years, Mrs. Kosa. She changes the story, now told from the point-of-view of a granddaughter visiting her grandmother.

We first encounter beautifully-designed endpapaers, elegant black/gray and white designs. The two-page title shows a bus traveling through the Zimbabwe landscape, brown scrub with mountains on the horizon. The next two-page spread begins the story, of Kukamba folliwing Gugu home, suitcases on their heads. And then we see Gugu's home - a rambling house/compound decorated with brightly-painted mud and dung sculpted animals, walls painted black and blue and green with amazing African designs. We spend time with the two of them, learning how to create the paints, shape new animals, paint designs wherever they please. But at night when the men come home from their undernourished cattle and the women come home from thei wilting crops, spirits are low. Gugu tells stories to cheer everyone up.

And then the rains come. They pour down for days, finally nourishing the fields and animals. However, Gugu's home has become a muddy brown mess, all the colors and sculptures washed away. Gugu takes Kukamba out to see the wildflowers and growth that have appeared because of the rain. And they are able to begin again decorating Gugu's house in any way they desire.

This has messages for kids and messages for people like me. Live in your home the way you desire. Decorate for yourself, not for others. Create beauty around you that is YOUR kind of beautfy. Don't be afraid. Go for it. Although I wish I could build mud and dung walls around my property wherever I wanted! Don't think that'd be possible here....not to many dung piles handy.....

This is a great introduction to African designs. Time to discover more of Catherine Stock.....

26. Listening for Lions - Gloria Whelan

For: Middle Grades
Harper Collins, 2005
194 pages
A good story with a few minor complaints

Rachel Sheridan is a 13-year old white girl living in East Africa, near Mt. Kenya, in 1919. Her missionary parents have begun a hospital and church in Tumaini, among the Kikuyu and Masai tribes, somewhere outside of Nairobi.
Rachel's story is told in three parts. Both her parents die of the influenza, along with many indigenous people, and she is sent by a notoriously greedy British couple to England to impersonate their dead daughter. She reluctantly does this, but fears imprisonment if she doesn't comply. The second part is told when she is in England, pretending she is Valerie Pritchard, and becoming close with Valerie's rich grandfather, who is housebound and a bird-lover, like Rachel. Their third part is the one that includes too much passing of time. A fourth part should have been included, because Rachel goes from 13 or 14 to 23 and returns to Africa. The last 8-10 years should have been told in its own "part."

Well, anyways, Rachel returns to Africa to rebuild the hospital that her parents had begun. It really is a good story, with quite a bit of information about the customs and animals of British East Africa.

I loved Gloria Whelan's Homeless Bird - it's still one of my favorites. This story is a good one, too...I just wish the end had not been so rushed, or globbed together after such good story-telling in the first seven-eighths of the book!

25. The Night Stalker - James Swain

Audio read by Richard Mover (he did a great job...)
BBC Audiobooks America, 2008
8 discs, 9 hours
368 pages
Rating: 4.5

This is the second in a series, and I didn't realize this until after I'd read the book. No matter. Didn't need to read the first. This stood alone and was quite gripping and interesting. Jack Carpenter finds missing children. He used to be head of the Broward County, Florida Missing Person unit, but has parted ways with the police department and is on his own. Well, not completely, his sidekick is his dog, Buster, who has a prominent role in the story.

Abb Grimes is on death row for the serial killings of many young women. Now Abb's grandson, Samson, has been kidnapped because Abb is talking to the FBI. Jack is hired to find Samson. He has a keen nose for creepy bad guys, and the decisions he makes and the clues he follow are fascinating and believable.

Good story. Horrifying and aggravating, but reality. Jack Carpenter is a great character. Can't wait to read the sequel.

24. Revelations - Melissa De La Cruz

#3 in the Blue Bloods series
for: young adults
Disney/Hyperion, 2008
paper, $8.99
264 pgs.

Schuyler Van Alen has been forced to leave her home and live with the Force family. Mimi Force hates her and makes her life miserable. Mimi's "twin", Jack, is a hunk and always on Schuyler's mind. The Silver Bloods are still subtly present, and the Blue Bloods are starting to suspect each other. And what on earth is going on with Bliss's blackouts and weird sightings in the mirror?

If you haven't read or heard of these vampire-ish books, you'll have no idea what I'm talking about. This book is certainly a second installment, not to be read without reading the first. It goes by quickly, has quite a bit of eye-rolling (from the reader) going on, but has such a different "take" on vampires that it's interesting to hang on and see what direction de la Cruz plans to take this series. Yup, gotta admit it, I've reserved the next installment, The Van Alen Legacy, at the library.

MOVIE - Hot Tub Time Machine

So stupid, waste of time and money
Released 3-26-10 (Wide) 6-29-10 (DVD)
R (1:40)
4-2-10 in Laughlin, NV, with Brenda & Rachael
RT: 64% (you've got to be kidding!) cag: 38%
Director: Steve Pink
John Cusack

Synopsis can be found on Rotten Tomatoes. I'm not gonna waste my time.

23. Carpe Diem - Autumn Cornwell

Audio read by Lynde Houck
Random House, 2008
Book published 2007
7 unabridged cd's
9 hrs. 5 min.
368 pages
80% of the book is based on the author's own experiences!
Check out her website.

Vassar Spore is an overachiever (AP and AAP courses have her GPA soaring around 5.3) who is competing with another student for valedictorian of their class. So when the grandmother she has never met invites her to spend this summer between her junior and senior year in Malaysia, she is sure her parents will support her and say no. At first they do. But then Vassar thinks that Grandma Gerd somehow blackmailed her parents into allowing Vassar to go. Not only does she not want to go, she really, really wants to disover the "secret."

So she sets off to Singapore with ten suitcases and lots of lists and plans. But when she meets Grandma Gerd, her life is turned topsy-turvy. Grandma Gerd is NOT a planner. She looks for found art (what Vassar considers trash), and insists on calling her Frangipani, the middle name that she had given Vassar at her birth. She also "hires" an 18-year old Asian young man to shadow her to keep her out of trouble. And trouble is what Vassar is constantly getting into. For a supposedly smart girl she's pretty.....dumb....most of the time. Hilariously so.

I don't like all the voices that Lynda Houck used. She nailed Vassar. But Grandma Gerd sounded a little too cutesy, and one of her friends sounded like a boy. Oh well, you can't have it all, right?

A little bit of romance, lots of problems with bathrooms and relieving oneself, art and family and hiking....we get wonderful glimpses of Malaysia, Cambodia, and Laos, so seldom seen in an American YA novel. Very enjoyable. Cute. Funny. Fun. I'd sure love to meet this author...she must be a riot. Hope she writes more.

Lousy, Rotten, Stinkin' Grapes - Margie Palatini

Illustrated by Barry Moser
Simon & Schuster, 2009
$15.99
32 pgs.
Endpapers: Grape-purple
Attractive cover

This retellling of the famous Aesop Fable "Sour Grapes" stars the wily fox PLUS a bear, a beaver, a porcupine, and a possum. Fox plans and plans, but his attempts to reach the grapes high in a tree (are the vines using the branches to twine around?) are futile. He interrups each of the animals as they are about to share a much easier way to reach the grapes, because he feels he is much more wily and sly than them. Wrong....of course.

The illustrations are lovely: Barry Moser.....need I say more? The story is a little repetetive and drawn out for me, but I think young kids would, for the most part, enjoy the repetition. A nice addition to an Aesop collection....but not vital.

The Great Smelly, Slobbery, Small-Tooth Dog - Margaret Read Macdonald

Illustrated by Julie Paschkis
August House, 2007
$16.95
32 thick, glossy pages
for: Young kids, fairy tale comparison studies
Endpapers: 12 boxes on each page (24 total). The separations are rope. Each box contains a plant and its "meaning". For example: Hawthorne/hope, Mustard Seed/indifference, Hazel/reconciliation, Sweet Pea/departure. These illustrations are sprinkled around on the pages of the book, so after reading, you could have a see how each accompanies that part of the story. Hmm. Clever idea.

A rich man is saved by a great smelly, slobbery, small-tooth dog and promises to give the dog one of his treasures. It is the rich man's daughter the dog desires, and she dutifully accompanies him off to his home -- which ends up being a spectacular castle. The daughter and the dog become close friends. One day he finds her crying and discovers that she misses her father. Upon the daughter's reconciliation with her father, the dog discovers that she had "the look of love in her eyes" for him, and he tore off his wooly coat and became a handsome prince. Well, I've got to say that I didn't consider him particularly handsome....

..... but I do love the illustrations. They have such a folksly, Scandinavian/Russian look to them. Julie Pachkis is such a wonderful artist. Each illustration is encased with the same rope that makes the squares on the endpaper. What is left in the white space are the words and branches of plants from the endpapers.

The moral of the story: Don't ever forget to be kind. Kindness. Is. Huge. And in the poor princess's case, it changed her life when she didnt goof up.