PICTURE BOOK - If.... - Sarah Perry

Illustrated by the author

1995, J. Paul Getty Museum

HC $16.95

44 pages

Goodreads rating: 4.34

My rating: 4.5

Endpapers: Bright yellow with a trail of ants

Title Page: Simply the words, black on white, with one ant

My comments: Twenty "if" statements accompanied by 20 imaginative paintings - I can think of a dozen ways to use this in a classroom! Check 'em out:

          If cats could fly...

          If mice were hair...

          If worms had wheels...

          If frogs ate rainbows

          If dogs were mountains...

          If zebras had stars and stripes...

          If music could be held...

          If ugly were beautiful...

          If toes were teeth...

          If caterpillars were toothpaste...

          If whales lived in outer space...

          If leaves were fish...

          If clouds were spirits...

          If butterflies were clothes...

          If lightning made rhinos...

          If ants could count...

          If the moon were square...

          If kids had tails...

          If spiders could read braille...

          If hummingbirds told secrets...

          

Goodreads:  A diving board to creative wordplay, the fascinating picture book If...offers a surrealistic view of the natural world. The two-page spreads present artful watercolors paired with such strange possibilities as "If zebras had stars and stripes...," "If the moon were square...," and "If worms had wheels...." Although some of the ideas and pictures are whimsical to the point of being downright creepy ("If caterpillars were toothpaste, if spiders could read braille..."If toes were teeth..."), the hypotheticals will surely inspire flights of fancy for readers of all ages. What could be more appealing for a 5-year-old than imagining the silliest suppositions and seeing them come to life in realistic paintings?       

          Sculptor Sarah Perry creates a world to make us stop and think. One of her best illustrations depicts a large, hairy warthog with a sparkling crown and the text, "If ugly were beautiful...." With every if idea, the author encourages the kind of mental double take that comes naturally for children. (Ages 4 to 7, and adults, too) --Emilie Coulter

41. The Language Inside - Holly Thompson

2013, Delacorte Press

522 pgs. (but it's in verse, so it's a quick read)

YA CRF with a multicultural twist

Finished 6/26/2014

Goodreads Rating: 3.80

My Rating: 4/Very, very good

Amelia Given Library, Mt. Holly Springs

Setting: a contemporary Lowell, Massachusetts suburb

1^st sentence/s:
       third time it happens
       I'm crossing the bridge
       that slides through town
       on my way to a long-term care center
       to start volunteering

My comments:  This book certainly had many layers, and many, many themes.  One of those books that keeps you thinking.  Imagine having a stroke in your 30s that only allows you to move your eyeballs?  Imagine living in America, being an American, and having half of your thoughts and dreams in another country? And then on top of that, having your mom very ill, prognosis uncertain.  Tsunami devastation in Japan, the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, Japanese and Cambodian dance, volunteering in a rehabilitation center, living in a new culture and missing the old one as well as living with immobilizing migraines...well that's a lot for one book.  But it works.  Beautifully.
          The book was written in verse and included a lot of references to poetry, which was wonderful.  But some of the verses in the book did not flow well, for me, as I read them (of course, some did). Line breaks and page breaks seemed to come in weird places.  Was it the way it was edited or the way it was written?  No matter, the story was extremely well done.

Goodreads Summary:
          Emma Karas was raised in Japan; it's the country she calls home. But when her mother is diagnosed with breast cancer, Emma's family moves to a town outside Lowell, Massachusetts, to stay with Emma's grandmother while her mom undergoes treatment.
          Emma feels out of place in the United States.She begins to have migraines, and longs to be back in Japan. At her grandmother's urging, she volunteers in a long-term care center to help Zena, a patient with locked-in syndrome, write down her poems. There, Emma meets Samnang, another volunteer, who assists elderly Cambodian refugees. Weekly visits to the care center, Zena's poems, dance, and noodle soup bring Emma and Samnang closer, until Emma must make a painful choice: stay in Massachusetts, or return home early to Japan.

40. The Year of the Dog - Grace Lin

audio read by Nancy Wu (very well, too)

3 unabridged discs/ 3 hours

2006, Little Brown

160 pgs.

Middle Grade CRF

Finished 6/26/2014 (with Ella while riding around Cumberland County)

Goodreads Rating: 3.88

My Rating: 4 (Ella thought it was awesome, I liked it)

Bosler Library, Carlisle

Setting: Upstate New York

1^st sentence/s: 

My comments:  Ella (7) and I listened to this as we were driving around this week.  She loved it.  When I asked her why, she said she liked learning more about the Chinese culture and the way American and Chinese cultures combine during holidays.  It was a very sweet story.

Goodreads Summary:   It's the Chinese Year of the Dog, and as Pacy celebrates with her family, she finds out that this is the year she is supposed to "find herself." Universal themes of friendship, family, and finding one's passion in life make this novel appealing to readers of all backgrounds. This funny and profound book is a wonderful debut novel by a prolific picture book author and illustrator and has all the makings of a classic.

PICTURE BOOK - Dusk - Uri Shulevitz

Illustrated by the author 2013, Margaret Ferguson Books; Farrar Strauss Giroux

HC $17.99

32 pages

Goodreads rating: 3.34

My rating: 3 (I actually liked this better than most of his previous work)

Endpapers: rusty orange

Title Page: illustrated in an oval, title in colored-in font (a nice example/idea)

1^st line/s:
          Winter.
          Days are short.

          Nights are long.

          Boy with dog and grandfather with beard go for a walk.

My comments:  The illustrations are cool; the day going from sunshine to darkness is illustrated really nicely.  We meet a few odd but interesting people, each with his/her own destination.  The lights come on slowly - and the reader soon learns that it's not just WINTER, it's the holiday season.  Depictions of lights in several cultures are shown.  Words are sparse and unexpected - grammatically and syntactically (have I just invented a new word?)

Goodreads:  One December afternoon, boy with dog and grandfather with beard take a walk to watch the sun begin to set over the river. When the sun drops low in the sky, they start home. Buildings grow dimmer. People are rushing. As nature's lights go out, one by one, city's lights turn on, revealing brilliant Hanukkah, Kwanza, and Christmas displays in streets, homes, and stores. A stunning picture book that's sure to be a winter holiday classic by Caldecott Medalist Uri Shulevitz.

39. The Testing - Joelle Charbonneau

The Testing #1

audio read by Elizabeth Morton (she did great with Cia's part, but didn't like the way she read the male parts, especially Tomas)

10 unabridged discs/ 11.25 hrs.

2013 Houghton Mifflin/Recorded Books

336  pgs.

YA Dystopian Fiction

Finished 6/23/14 riding between Maine and PA

Goodreads Rating:  3.95

My Rating:  3/Liked it

TPPL

My comments:  Yes, I liked this book, even though it was a thinly disguised Hunger Games. Will be interesting to see where the second book in the series goes....

Goodreads Summary:  Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Isn’t that what they say? But how close is too close when they may be one in the same? 
     The Seven Stages War left much of the planet a charred wasteland. The future belongs to the next generation’s chosen few who must rebuild it. But to enter this elite group, candidates must first pass The Testing—their one chance at a college education and a rewarding career. 
     Cia Vale is honored to be chosen as a Testing candidate; eager to prove her worthiness as a University student and future leader of the United Commonwealth. But on the eve of her departure, her father’s advice hints at a darker side to her upcoming studies--trust no one. 
     But surely she can trust Tomas, her handsome childhood friend who offers an alliance? Tomas, who seems to care more about her with the passing of every grueling (and deadly) day of the Testing. To survive, Cia must choose: love without truth or life without trust.

38. Shock Wave - John Sandford

#5 Virgil Flowers

Audio read by Eric Conger

2011

388 pgs.
Adult murder mystery
Finished on the road to Maine 6/20/2014

Goodreads Rating: 4.14

My Rating:  5/Fantastic story

TPPL

Setting:  Rural Minnesota

Goodreads Summary:  The superstore chain PyeMart has its sights set on a Minnesota river town, but two very angry groups want to stop it: local merchants, fearing for their businesses, and environmentalists, predicting ecological disaster. The protests don't seem to be slowing the project, though, until someone decides to take matters into his own hands.
     The first bomb goes off on the top floor of PyeMart's headquarters. The second one explodes at the construction site itself. The blasts are meant to inflict maximum damage-and they do. Who's behind the bombs, and how far will they go? It's Virgil Flowers's job to find out . . . before more people get killed.

My comments:  It's official - I have such a crush on Virgil Flowers.  I need another fix, soon.....

37. Orphan Train - Christina Baker Kline

read on my iPhone/Kindle

2013, William Morrow Paperbacks

304 pgs.

YA/Adult CRF/HistFict

Finished 6/15/14

Goodreads Rating:  4.08

My Rating: 4.5/Super story

Setting: 2011 MDI, Maine and 1929 (+) Minnesota

1^st sentence/s:  "I believe in ghosts.  They're the ones who haunt us, the ones who have left us behind."

My comments:  4.5  I love books that flip back and forth in time, as this one does.  One orphan in 1929 Minnesota and another in 2011 Mount Desert Island, Maine.  (What a hoot reading about Somesville OneStop, Bar Harbor, MDI High School, and even the Island Explorer bus).  Which town is Spruce Harbor - Southwest Harbor I'm guessing.  I couldn't put this down - such trials and heartbreak each of these protagonists have endured.

Goodreads Summary:  The author of Bird in Hand and The Way Life Should Be delivers her most ambitious and powerful novel to date: a captivating story of two very different women who build an unexpected friendship: a 91-year-old woman with a hidden past as an orphan-train rider and the teenage girl whose own troubled adolescence leads her to seek answers to questions no one has ever thought to ask.

     Nearly eighteen, Molly Ayer knows she has one last chance. Just months from "aging out" of the child welfare system, and close to being kicked out of her foster home, a community service position helping an elderly woman clean out her home is the only thing keeping her out of juvie and worse.
     Vivian Daly has lived a quiet life on the coast of Maine. But in her attic, hidden in trunks, are vestiges of a turbulent past. As she helps Vivian sort through her possessions and memories, Molly discovers that she and Vivian aren't as different as they seem to be. A young Irish immigrant orphaned in New York City, Vivian was put on a train to the Midwest with hundreds of other children whose destinies would be determined by luck and chance.
     The closer Molly grows to Vivian, the more she discovers parallels to her own life. A Penobscot Indian, she, too, is an outsider being raised by strangers, and she, too, has unanswered questions about the past. As her emotional barriers begin to crumble, Molly discovers that she has the power to help Vivian find answers to mysteries that have haunted her for her entire life - answers that will ultimately free them both.
     Rich in detail and epic in scope, Orphan Train is a powerful novel of upheaval and resilience, of second chances, of unexpected friendship, and of the secrets we carry that keep us from finding out who we are

MOVIE - Ida

PG-13 (1:20 - though it seemed longer)

Limited release 5/2/2014

Viewed Sunday, 6/15/2014 in Harrisburg at the Midtown Theater

RT Critic:  93 Audience:  79

Cag:  2/It was okay

Directed by Pawel Pawlikowski

Music Box Films

in Polish, with English subtitles

My comments:  The story was a good one, but could have been told in about 45 minutes. It was depressing.  And dark...literally.  Black & white and dark.  And although it ended exactly as I knew it would, it really pissed me off...probably because of my own personal religious bent, especially about the Catholic church.  However, the thing that bothered me most were the long silences.  L...o....n....g silences.  Way too long......

RT Summary:  From acclaimed director Pawel Pawlikowski (Last Resort, My Summer of Love) comes IDA, a moving and intimate drama about a young novitiate nun in 1960s Poland who, on the verge of taking her vows, discovers a dark family secret dating from the terrible years of the Nazi occupation. 18-year old Anna (stunning newcomer Agata Trzebuchowska), a sheltered orphan raised in a convent, is preparing to become a nun when the Mother Superior insists she first visit her sole living relative. Naïve, innocent Anna soon finds herself in the presence of her aunt Wanda (Agata Kulesza), a worldly and cynical Communist Party insider, who shocks her with the declaration that her real name is Ida and her Jewish parents were murdered during the Nazi occupation. This revelation triggers a heart-wrenching journey into the countryside, to the family house and into the secrets of the repressed past, evoking the haunting legacy of the Holocaust and the realities of postwar Communism. In this beautifully directed film, Pawlikowski returns to his native Poland for the first time in his career to confront some of the more contentious issues in the history of his birthplace. Powerfully written and eloquently shot, IDA is a masterly evocation of a time, a dilemma, and a defining historical moment; IDA is also personal, intimate, and human. The weight of history is everywhere, but the scale falls within the scope of a young woman learning about the secrets of her own past. This intersection of the personal with momentous historic events makes for what is surely one of the most powerful and affecting films of the year.

36. Lost Light - Michael Connelly

#9 Harry Bosch
audio read by Len Cariou

Listened on my iPhone through Overdrive/TPPL download

9 discs/parts

2004

416 pgs.

Finished 6/11/14 in my cozy PA apartment

Adult murder mystery

Goodreads Rating: 4.09

My Rating: 4.5 Loved it

Acquired: TPPL Overdrive Audio

Setting: LA and Vegas

1^st sentence/s:  "There is no end of things in the heart.  Somebody once told me that."

My comments: Harry Bosch #9 did not disappoint.  This time he's no longer on the LAPD homicide squad, he's out on his own.  Although Virgil Flowers has overtaken Harry as my favorite protagonist, I'm still a total Harry Bosch fan.  I've got the next one on reserve!

Goodreads Review:  The vision has haunted him for four years--a young woman lying crumpled in death, her hand outstretched in silent supplication. Harry Bosch was taken off the Angella Benton murder case when the production assistant's death was linked with the violent theft of two million dollars from a movie set. Both files were never closed. Now retired from the L.A.P.D., Bosch is determined to find justice for Angella. Without a badge to open doors and strike fear into the guilty, he's on his own. And even in the face of an opponent more powerful and ruthless than any he's ever encountered, Bosch is not backing down.

MOVIE - The Railway Man

R (1:56)

Limited Release 4-11-14

Viewed at Carlisle Theater (reminds me so much of the Criterion, except it doesn't smell old and musty) Wed. 6-11-14

RT Critic: 66 Audience: 70

Cag: 4/Liked it a lot (I had to....It was Colin Firth....)

Directed by Jonathan Teplitzky

The Weinstein Company

Colin Firth, Nicole Kidman, Stellan Skarsgard, and a young man named Jeremy Irvine, who played the young Firth beautifully

My comments: I always love stories that are based on a true story, but always wonder how much is close to the truth and how much is fictionalized.  I really enjoy the way this one was told; overlapping present and past, reality and memory to piece everything together. I usually refuse to go to war movies, but this one (probably because of Firth) tempted me too much not to go.  What happened to the British prisoners, especially the protagonist, Eric Lomax, was more-than-horrible-and-horrifying, but it's good to get a good dose or reality once in awhile.  It's too bad that this is the reality, though....

I am NOT fond of Nicole Kidman at all.  This role didn't help me like her any more, although I guess she did an acceptable job.  I'm not even sure why I dislike her....just never liked any of the roles I've seen her do, I guess.....

Rotten Tomato Summary: Based on the remarkable bestselling autobiography, THE RAILWAY MAN tells the extraordinary and epic true story of Eric Lomax (Colin Firth), a British Army officer who is tormented as a prisoner of war at a Japanese labor camp during World War II. Decades later, Lomax and his beautiful love interest Patti (Nicole Kidman) discover that the Japanese interpreter responsible for much of his treatment is still alive and set out to confront him, and his haunting past, in this powerful and inspiring tale of heroism, humanity and the redeeming power of love.

PICTURE BOOK - Maple - Lori Nichols

Illustrated by the author

2014 Nancy Paulsen Books/Penguin

HC $16.99

32 pages

Goodreads rating: 4.25
My rating: 4/Delightful

Endpapers:  pale lime green with pale white drawings of leaves, trowels, watering cans, sprouts; rear end papers the same except light blue

Title Page: single page, facing white; top and bottom large maple leaves, title in cursive brown.

Illustrations: "Pencil on mylar, then digitally colored."  The girl's face is nicely expressive.

1^st line: Maple loved her name.  When she was still a whisper, her parents planted a tiny tree in her honor!"

My comments:  I was looking for new picture books at the library and grabbed this one for two reasons - I love books about tress, and because all the others appeared to be anthropomorphic...which aren't my favorites.  It was really cute, and quite joyous.  And - it's a wonderful book for a child that's about to have a new baby join the family.

Goodreads:  Lori Nichols’ enchanting debut features an irresistible, free-spirited, nature-loving little girl who greets the changing seasons and a new sibling with arms wide open.
          When Maple is tiny, her parents plant a maple tree in her honor. She and her tree grow up together, and even though a tree doesn’t always make an ideal playmate, it doesn’t mind when Maple is in the mood to be loud—which is often. Then Maple becomes a big sister, and finds that babies have their loud days, too. Fortunately, Maple and her beloved tree know just what the baby needs.

35. This is What Happy Looks Like - Jennifer E. Smith

2013 Little Brown & Co.

407 pgs.

YA CRF

Finished 6/7/2014

Goodreads Rating: 3.71

My Rating:  4/Really liked it a lot

TPPL

Setting: Contemporary small-town southern Maine coast

1^st sentence/s:  (email) "Hey, we're running pretty behind here.  Any chance you could walk Wilbur for me tonight?"

My comments:  This is a charming story of unlikely teenagers in a place very familiar to me -- smalltown coastal Maine. Although over 400 pages it was a fast read, all in one day - and you can't keep telling yourself how improbable it all is.  Just take it as it is, a sweet, feel-good, thoughtful kind of tale.

Goodreads Review:  If fate sent you an email, would you answer?
          When teenage movie star Graham Larkin accidentally sends small town girl Ellie O'Neill an email about his pet pig, the two seventeen-year-olds strike up a witty and unforgettable correspondence, discussing everything under the sun, except for their names or backgrounds. 
          Then Graham finds out that Ellie's Maine hometown is the perfect location for his latest film, and he decides to take their relationship from online to in-person. But can a star as famous as Graham really start a relationship with an ordinary girl like Ellie? And why does Ellie want to avoid the media's spotlight at all costs.

34. In the Blood - Steve Robinson

#1 Jefferson Tayte Genealogical Crime Mystery

read on my phone through Kindle each night on my trip east in June, 2014

2011

394 pgs.

Adult Murder Mystery

Contemporary Cornwall, England, with flashbacks to 1783 - 1803

Goodreads Rating: 3.82

My Rating: 2.5 Some of the time it was okay, some it wasn't, others it was good....never great, unfortunately (sorry Mr. Robinson...though I will probably try another because I love the concept)

1^st sentence/s: PROLOGUE:  "1803.  Helford Passage, south-west England.  Mawgan Hendry was dying.  If he'd seen it coming then he might have had some chance to prevent it." 

 CHAPTER ONE:  "Air horns screamed!  The air inside the car resonated, buzzing the dash, forcing Jefferson Tayte's eyes wide open."

My comments:  I liked the protagonist, Jefferson (JT) Tayte, a thirty-something, slightly overweight loner who hates to fly and is a genealogist - a really good genealogist, which is his work.  He is self-employed and tracks down hard-to-find ancestors for people. He gets himself into all sorts of crazy, unbelievable situations and then gets out of them somehow.  The plot was a little thin, the characters predictable, the outcome unsatisfying because there were no surprises.  But this was the first in this series, I'll happily try another.

Goodreads Review: Two hundred years ago a loyalist family fled to England to escape the American War of Independence and seemingly vanished into thin air. American genealogist Jefferson Tayte is hired to find out what happened, but it soon becomes apparent that a calculated killer is out to stop him.
          In the Blood combines a centuries-old mystery with a present-day thriller that brings two people from opposite sides of the Atlantic together to uncover a series of carefully hidden crimes. Tayte's research centres around the tragic life of a young Cornish girl, a writing box, and the discovery of a dark secret that he believes will lead him to the family he is looking for. Trouble is, someone else is looking for the same answers and will stop at nothing to find them.

33. And the Dark Sacred Night - Julia Glass

Audio read by

13 unabridged discs

2014, Pantheon

400 pgs.

Adult CRF

Finished on the road between NM and IL 6/4/2014

Goodreads Rating: 3.63

My Rating: 3/It was okay

TPPL

Setting: Contemporary Vermont, NH, and NJ

My comments:  I didn't love this book, I didn't dislike it, some parts were really good and other seemed unneeded and uninteresting.  The book is broken into five sections from four different points-of-view.  The second part flew by and was totally enjoyable - maybe because this is one character that I really LIKED, but the other four dragged.  Good reader -  I listened to it while driving between New Mexico and Illinois.  Long drive.

Goodreads Review:  Kit Noonan’s life is stalled: unemployed, twins to help support, a mortgage to pay—and a frustrated wife, who is certain that more than anything else, Kit needs to solve the mystery of his father’s identity. He begins with a visit to his former stepfather, Jasper, a take-no-prisoners Vermont outdoorsman. But it is another person who has kept the secret: Lucinda Burns, wife of a revered senior statesman and mother of Malachy (the journalist who died of AIDS in Glass’s first novel, Three Junes). She and her husband are the only ones who know the full story of an accident whose repercussions spread even further when Jasper introduces Lucinda to Kit. Immersing readers in a panorama that stretches from Vermont to the tip of Cape Cod, Glass weaves together the lives of Kit, Jasper, Lucinda and ultimately, Fenno McLeod, the beloved protagonist of Three Junes (now in his sixties). An unforgettable novel about the youthful choices that steer our destinies, the necessity of forgiveness, and the surprisingly mutable meaning of family.

32. The Program - Suzanne Young

The Program #1

audio book read by Joy Osmanski

2013 Simon & Schuster

405 pgs.

YA Dystopia/Fantasy

Finished 6/2/14

Goodreads Rating: 4.06

My Rating:  Inded up liking it a lot : 4

My comments:  A few mixed feelings about this one. It's made me think and think...that's what make a good book (most of the time). But some of it seemed really labored. I look forward to reading the sequel. And I looked forward each day to listening, the story kept me riveted. So more positives than negatives...

Goodreads Review:  In Sloane’s world, true feelings are forbidden, teen suicide is an epidemic, and the only solution is The Program.
      Sloane knows better than to cry in front of anyone. With suicide now an international epidemic, one outburst could land her in The Program, the only proven course of treatment. Sloane’s parents have already lost one child; Sloane knows they’ll do anything to keep her alive. She also knows that everyone who’s been through The Program returns as a blank slate. Because their depression is gone—but so are their memories.
      Under constant surveillance at home and at school, Sloane puts on a brave face and keeps her feelings buried as deep as she can. The only person Sloane can be herself with is James. He’s promised to keep them both safe and out of treatment, and Sloane knows their love is strong enough to withstand anything. But despite the promises they made to each other, it’s getting harder to hide the truth. They are both growing weaker. Depression is setting in. And The Program is coming for them

POETRY PICTURE BOOK - Poem-Mobiles: Crazy Car Poems by Patrick Lewis and Douglas Florian

Illustrated by Jeremy Holmes

2014, Schwartz & Wade Books

HC $17.99

32 pages

Goodreads rating: 4.14

My rating: 4.5

Endpapers: Dark brown tire treads on another deep brown

Illustrations: "rendered in pencil and watercolor, then digitally colored (I wish I knew what that means!)

Giant Bookmobile of Tomorrow

I am a very moving van.

Driver: he's the Gingerbread Man.

Fuel: imagination power.

Speed: a dozen aisles per hour.

Whether it be comic strips,

Poetry at your fingertips,

Picture books or trivia,

The Wizard of Oz, Olivia,

My bookmobile has just one goal:

To entertain on cruise control.

but kids get on at every block

And I forget to watch the clock.

So if my van is "overdue,"

It's okay if you are too.

    

        J. Patrick Lewis

Balloon Car

My dadddy drives a car that floats

an inch aabove the street --

a hundred colorful balloons

tied to a bucket seat.

And once he blows his xar up,

Daddy never wants to stop.

But boy, does he get made at me

When I call out -- "Hey POP!"

J. Patrick Lewis

My comments:  This book of crazy, wacky poems is just plain fun.  I plan to use it as a writing starter/prompt with my fourth graders....read them a poem without sharing the illustration, get them to sketch what they see in their minds eye from the words alone, then share the illustration.  I can see the writing continuing on from there...some of my clever kids will fly!

Goodreads: The U.S. Children's Poet Laureate and an award-winning children's poet join their prolific forces in this picture book of poems about cars. But they're not just any cars: there's the "Sloppy-Floppy-Nonstop-Jalopy" ("So unique there is no copy"); the Bathtub Limosine ("With hot water heating / And porcelain seating"); and the "High Heel Car." Each of the thirteen quirky, inventive poems will speak directly to the imaginations of children, as will Holmes's high-concept, detail-filled illustrations.