98. The Bookshop of Yesterdays by Amy Meyerson

Listened on Audible
2018, Park Row
368 pgs.
Adult mystery
Finished 12/8/18
Goodreads rating:  3.63 - 1119 ratings
My rating: 4
Setting: contemporary LA, CA

First line/s:  "The last time I saw my uncle, he bought me a dog."

My comments:  Although I had a pretty good idea of where this was all leading, it was fun following the path of crumbs.  Good story.

Goodreads synopsis:  A woman inherits a beloved bookstore and sets forth on a journey of self-discovery in this poignant debut about family, forgiveness and a love of reading.
          Miranda Brooks grew up in the stacks of her eccentric Uncle Billy's bookstore, solving the inventive scavenger hunts he created just for her. But on Miranda's twelfth birthday, Billy has a mysterious falling-out with her mother and suddenly disappears from Miranda's life. She doesn't hear from him again until sixteen years later when she receives unexpected news: Billy has died and left her Prospero Books, which is teetering on bankruptcy--and one final scavenger hunt.
          When Miranda returns home to Los Angeles and to Prospero Books--now as its owner--she finds clues that Billy has hidden for her inside novels on the store's shelves, in locked drawers of his apartment upstairs, in the name of the store itself. Miranda becomes determined to save Prospero Books and to solve Billy's last scavenger hunt. She soon finds herself drawn into a journey where she meets people from Billy's past, people whose stories reveal a history that Miranda's mother has kept hidden--and the terrible secret that tore her family apart.
          Bighearted and trenchantly observant, The Bookshop of Yesterdaysis a lyrical story of family, love and the healing power of community. It's a love letter to reading and bookstores, and a testament to how our histories shape who we become.

66. Far From the Tree by Robin Benway

listened on Audible
2017
374 pgs.
Genre/Level
Finished July 20, 2018
Goodreads rating:  4.33 - 11,799 ratings
My rating:  5
Setting: Contemporary America

First line/s::  "Grace hadn't really thought too much about homecoming."

My comments:  Writing a book is magical, writing a truly good book is mystical.  I have such admiration for an author that can weave together a story like this one.  Getting to know and understand the three protagonists is a slow process and makes the story all the more delicious.  This book is also a reminder that there are more good people than bad in the world and that you don't have to be born into a family to be surrounded by love.

Goodreads synopsis:  A contemporary novel about three adopted siblings who find each other at just the right moment.
          Being the middle child has its ups and downs.
          But for Grace, an only child who was adopted at birth, discovering that she is a middle child is a different ride altogether. After putting her own baby up for adoption, she goes looking for her biological family, including—
          Maya, her loudmouthed younger bio sister, who has a lot to say about their newfound family ties. Having grown up the snarky brunette in a house full of chipper redheads, she’s quick to search for traces of herself among these not-quite-strangers. And when her adopted family’s long-buried problems begin to explode to the surface, Maya can’t help but wonder where exactly it is that she belongs.
          And Joaquin, their stoic older bio brother, who has no interest in bonding over their shared biological mother. After seventeen years in the foster care system, he’s learned that there are no heroes, and secrets and fears are best kept close to the vest, where they can’t hurt anyone but him.

37. Zenn Diagram by Wendy Brant

read on my iPhone
2017 Kids Can Press
328 pgs.
YA CRF w/a touch of fantasy....and a little sex....
Finished Monday, 7/3/17
Goodreads rating:  3.73 - 1033 ratings
My rating: 3.5
Setting: Contemporary ...ummm....Wisconsin?  Midwest, I'm pretty sure
Very cool cover.

First line/s:  "I hold Josh's TI-84 in my left hand, press a few buttons just for show and wait for the vision to come."

My comments:  3.5 Every now and then you MUST read something light and fun and eye-rolling.  That was Zenn Diagram for me.  Yes, there were some (very) irritating things about Eva, but most of the story was fresh and cute and ... innocent.  I'm getting caught up on my YA reading, yippee!

Goodreads synopsis  The more I touch someone, the more I can see and understand, and the more I think I can help. But that’s my mistake. I can’t help. You can’t fix people like you can solve a math problem.
          Math genius. Freak of nature. Loner.     Eva Walker has literally one friend—if you don’t count her quadruplet three-year-old-siblings—and it’s not even because she’s a math nerd. No, Eva is a loner out of necessity, because everyone and everything around her is an emotional minefield. All she has to do is touch someone, or their shirt, or their cell phone, and she can read all their secrets, their insecurities, their fears.
          Sure, Eva’s “gift” comes in handy when she’s tutoring math and she can learn where people are struggling just by touching their calculators. For the most part, though, it’s safer to keep her hands to herself. Until she meets six-foot-three, cute-without-trying Zenn Bennett, who makes that nearly impossible.
          Zenn’s jacket gives Eva such a dark and violent vision that you’d think not touching him would be easy. But sometimes you have to take a risk…

MOVIE - Lion

PG-13 (2:00)

Limited release 11/25/16

Viewed Thursday, 1/12/16 at Midtown Cinema, Harrisburg
IMBd: 7/8/10

RT Critic: 87   Audience:  93
Critic's Consensus:  Lion's undeniably uplifting story and talented cast make it a moving journey that transcends the typical cliches of its genre.

Cag:  5 Loved it

Directed by Garth Davis

Adapted from the book A Long Way Home by Saroo Brierly (the protagonist of the movie)

Dev Patel, Rooney Mara, Nicole Kidman

My comments: This was a wonderful, moving movie.  The first half, about the life of 5-year old Saroo, his mum, brother, and sister, eventually shows how he came to get lost over a thousand miles away from home, in Calcutta, India.  The second half shows Saroo as a 25 year-old adult, his life after adoption in Australia, and the journey he takes to find his family.  Afraid that the parents who adopted him would be hurt, he does not share his intense feelings with them as they get stronger and stronger.  Inner turmoil messes up his relationship with a lovely girl until he decides to face everything and discover where he came from.  Both actors who portrayed Saroo were magnificent, the young Sunny Pawar is TERRIFIC, as is the super Dev Patel.  The settings of India and Tasmania were also gorgeous and brilliant. A tear jerker for sure.
     NOTE:  I recently watched an interview of Dev Patel explaining how he prepared for this role.  What an eloquent, intelligent, gentle young man!

RT/ IMDb Summary:  Five-year-old Saroo gets lost on a train which takes him thousands of Kilometers across India, away from home and family. Saroo must learn to survive alone in Kolkata, before ultimately being adopted by an Australian couple. Twenty-five years later, armed with only a handful of memories, his unwavering determination, and a revolutionary technology known as Google Earth, he sets out to find his lost family and finally return to his first home.

11. The Life List - Lori Nelson Spielman

read on my iPhone
2013, Bantam
368 pgs.
Chick Lit/ CRF
Finished 2/20/16
Goodreads rating: 4.09
My rating: 4 (lots of 4s lately, it seems.....)
Setting: Contemporary Chicago

First line/s: "Voices from the dining room echo up the walnut staircase, indistinct, buzzing, intrusive.  With trembling hands I lock the door behind me.My world goes silent."

My comments:  Definitely chick lit, of which I'm not the biggest fan, but every chick needs to read one every so often.  I found this sitting in my Nook app, not sure where it came from or how long it had been there, so with nothing better to do, dug right in.  Entertaining, predictable, aggravating, interesting, and fun.  I learned a bit about the geography of the city of Chicago, which was a nice bonus.

Goodreads synopsis:  In this utterly charming debut — one woman sets out to complete her old list of childhood goals, and finds that her lifelong dreams lead her down a path she never expects.
1. Go to Paris
2. Perform live, on a super big stage
3. Have a baby, maybe two
4. Fall in love 
          Brett Bohlinger has forgotten all about the list of life goals she’d written as a naïve teenager. In fact, at thirty-four, Brett seems to have it all—a plum job at her family’s multimillion-dollar company and a spacious loft with her irresistibly handsome boyfriend. But when her beloved mother, Elizabeth, dies, Brett’s world is turned upside down. Rather than simply naming her daughter the new CEO of Bohlinger Cosmetics, Elizabeth’s will comes with one big stipulation: Brett must fulfill the list of childhood dreams she made so long ago. 
          Grief-stricken, Brett can barely make sense of her mother’s decision. Some of her old hopes seem impossible. How can she possibly have a relationship with a father who died seven years ago? Other dreams (Be an awesome teacher!) would require her to reinvent her entire future. For each goal attempted, her mother has left behind a bittersweet letter, offering words of wisdom, warmth, and—just when Brett needs it—tough love. 
          As Brett struggles to complete her abandoned life list, one thing becomes clear: Sometimes life’s sweetest gifts can be found in the most unexpected places.

21. Digging to America - Anne Tyler

Audio read by

Audio discs/hours

2006

277 pgs.

Adult CRF

Finished 3/13/2015

Goodreads rating: 3.51

My rating:   4 - Enjoyed it very much, made me think

PBS

Contemporary rural Baltimore, MD

My comments:  Oftentimes when I take a break from my "usual" murder mystery or YA, I miss them and wonder why I strayed.  This book, however, didn't do that.  I was taken with the story right from the beginning.  Character-driven, this is the story of two families, both American, though the roots of one are Iranian. They are linked by the adoption of two baby girls from Korea, meeting at the Baltimore Airport when both were brought to the US.  This is the story of personalities; how we understand - or don't understand - each other for the simplest of reasons.  Different personalities that are not understood. Misunderstanding. Friendship. Throughout the story the "voice" comes from different characters, but it is the character of Maryam that sings out the loudest to me.  She is no more interesting than any of the others but because she is so different in personality than me but has so many similar feelings, I really related to her and enjoyed looking at the world through her focus.

Goodreads book summary:  In what is perhaps her richest and most deeply searching novel, Anne Tyler gives us a story about what it is to be an American, and about Maryam Yazdan, who after thirty-five years in this country must finally come to terms with her "outsiderness." 
Two families, who would otherwise never have come together, meet by chance at the Baltimore airport--the Donaldsons, a very American couple, and the Yazdans, Maryam's fully assimilated son and his attractive Iranian American wife. Each couple is awaiting the arrival of an adopted infant daughter from Korea. After the babies from distant Asia are delivered, Bitsy Donaldson impulsively invites the Yazdans to celebrate with an "arrival party," an event that is repeated every year as the two families become more deeply intertwined. 
Even independent-minded Maryam is drawn in. But only up to a point. When she finds herself being courted by one of the Donaldson clan, a good-hearted man of her vintage, recently widowed and still recovering from his wife's death, suddenly all the values she cherishes--her traditions, her privacy, her otherness--are threatened. Somehow this big American takes up so much space that the orderly boundaries of her life feel invaded. 
A luminous novel brimming with subtle, funny, and tender observations that cast a penetrating light on the American way as seen from two perspectives, those who are born here and those who are still struggling to fit in.

66. The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry - Gabrielle Zevin

2014, Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill
HC $24.95

260 pgs.

Adult CRF

Finished 10/20/2014

Goodreads rating: 4.01

My rating:    (5) Awesome 

TPPL

Setting: Contemporary Alice Island (a fictional island off Hyannis, Cape Cod, Massachusetts)

1st sentence/s:  "On the ferry from Hyannis to Alice Island, Amelia Loman paints her nails yellow and, while waiting for them to dry, skims her predecessor's notes.  'Island Books, approximately $350,000.00 per annum in sales, the better portion of that in the summer months to folks on holiday,' Harvey Rhodes reports.  'Six hundred square feet of selling space.  No full-time employees other than owner.  Very small children's section.  Fledgling onn-line presence.  Poor community outreach.  Inventory emphasizes the literary, which is good for us, but Fikry's tastes are very specific, and without Nic, he can't be counted on to hand-sell.  Luckily for him, Island's the only game in town.'

My comments:  I loved this book.  I loved the way it was written. I loved all its references to books and short stories. I liked the format.   And I adored the characters. I appreciated all the "hints" in A.J.'s notes of what was to come, how you slowly realized what was going to ultimately happen.  The plot unfolded perfectly. It's been a long, long time since I've stayed up so late into the night to finish a book.  My favorite character?  The chief of police, Lambiase.  Biggest problem?  How to pronounce "Lambiase" and "Fikry." Super story.  I've listed the short stories that begin each chapter below.

Goodreads book summary:  On the faded Island Books sign hanging over the porch of the Victorian cottage is the motto "No Man Is an Island; Every Book Is a World." A. J. Fikry, the irascible owner, is about to discover just what that truly means.
          A. J. Fikry's life is not at all what he expected it to be. His wife has died, his bookstore is experiencing the worst sales in its history, and now his prized possession, a rare collection of Poe poems, has been stolen. Slowly but surely, he is isolating himself from all the people of Alice Island-from Lambiase, the well-intentioned police officer who's always felt kindly toward Fikry; from Ismay, his sister-in-law who is hell-bent on saving him from his dreary self; from Amelia, the lovely and idealistic (if eccentric) Knightley Press sales rep who keeps on taking the ferry over to Alice Island, refusing to be deterred by A.J.'s bad attitude. Even the books in his store have stopped holding pleasure for him. These days, A.J. can only see them as a sign of a world that is changing too rapidly.
          And then a mysterious package appears at the bookstore. It's a small package, but large in weight. It's that unexpected arrival that gives A. J. Fikry the opportunity to make his life over, the ability to see everything anew. It doesn't take long for the locals to notice the change overcoming A.J.; or for that determined sales rep, Amelia, to see her curmudgeonly client in a new light; or for the wisdom of all those books to become again the lifeblood of A.J.'s world; or for everything to twist again into a version of his life that he didn't see coming. As surprising as it is moving, The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry is an unforgettable tale of transformation and second chances, an irresistible affirmation of why we read, and why we love.

 Short stories mentioned:
Dahl -  "Lamb to the Slaughter" (1953)
Fitzgerald - "The Diamond as Big as the Ritz (1922)
Harte -  "The Luck of Roaring Camp" (1868)
Bausch - "What Feels Like the World" (1985)
O'Connor - "A Good Man is Hard to Find" (1953)
Twain - "The Celebrated Frog of Calaveras County" (1865)
Shaw - "The Girls in Their Summer Dresses" (1939)
Paley - "A Conversation with My Father" (1972)
Salinger - "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" (1948)
Poe - "The Tell-Tale Heart" (1843)
Bender - "Ironhead" (2005)
Carver - "What We Talk about When We Talk about Love" (1980)
Dahl - "The Bookseller" (1986)

60. Half a World Away - Cynthia Kadohata

2014 Atheneum Books for Young Readers

228 pgs.

Middle Grade CRF

Finished 9/20/2014 (read in one sitting)

Goodreads rating: 3.74

My rating:   2.5 - it was okay

TPPL

Setting: Contemporary Chicago suburb for half the book, and Kyzylorda, Kazakhstan.

1st sentence/s:  "Jaden sat on the floor, holding on to a half loaf of unsliced bread.  He switched his lamp on and off, the bedroom lighting up and darkening over and over.  Electricity had always relaxed him.  For sure it was the most amazing thing about America."

My comments:  2 stars means it was okay - and yes, this book was okay. But I'm not sure how many KIDS would enjoy it.  Being inside Jaden's head was good, very good, for me as an ADULT and I ached for this kid and all his messed-up feelings. I liked the way that he slowly came to realize what love is. I ached also for these parents who tried and tried and tried to figure Jaden out, to understand him and love him past all his faults. Numerous psychiatrists later...will he be tempted to set fire to something major?  But there's another huge issue in the book - the issue of foreign adoption.  If what happened to this family adopting a second child in Kazakhstan is anything like really happens in our world, it makes my hand stand on end.  So maybe I should rate it more than two stars, because for me, as an adult, it was powerful.  But for a child?  I'm not so sure....

Goodreads book summary:  A kid who considers himself an epic fail discovers the transformative power of love when he deals with adoption in this novel from Cynthia Kadohata, winner of the Newbery Medal and the National Book Award.
          Eleven-year-old Jaden is adopted, and he knows he’s an “epic fail.’ That’s why his family is traveling to Kazakhstan to adopt a new baby—to replace him, he’s sure. And he gets it. He is incapable of stopping his stealing, hoarding, lighting fires, aggressive running, and obsession with electricity. He knows his parents love him, but he feels...nothing.
          But when they get to Kazakhstan, it turns out the infant they’ve travelled for has already been adopted, and literally within minutes are faced with having to choose from six other babies. While his parents agonize, Jaden is more interested in the toddlers. One, a little guy named Dimash, spies Jaden and barrels over to him every time he sees him. Jaden finds himself increasingly intrigued by and worried about Dimash. Already three years old and barely able to speak, Dimash will soon age out of the orphanage, and then his life will be as hopeless as Jaden feels now. For the first time in his life, Jaden actually feels something that isn’t pure blinding fury, and there’s no way to control it, or its power.
          From camels rooting through garbage like raccoons, to eagles being trained like hunting dogs, to streets that are more pothole than pavement, Half a World Away is Cynthia Kadohata’s latest spark of a novel.

49. A Brief Chapter in My Impossible Life - Dana Reinhardt

Listened to in the car back & forth from the first days of school
Audio read by Mandy Siegfried - and she was great
5 unabridged cds (5:30)
2006 Listening Library/ Wendy Lamb Books
240 pgs.
YA CRF (there's a bit of s-e-x)
Finished 8/8/2014
Goodreads rating: 3.76
My rating:    (4.5) I really loved it
TPPL
contemporary suburban Boston

My comments:  I found this to be a wonderful story. I loved it. The protagonist, Simone, seems genuine and real; a "typical" (whatever that is) American teenager. Her doubts, her questions about life, her constant questioning about her own feelings, her jumping to conclusions about the way boys feel about her....Reinhardt seems spot on. I love the information that was included about Judaism - which would probably be boring for an already-Jew, but would be fascinating for any non-Jew interested in learning about other cultures. My only (tiny) problem with the story is that Simone's parents allow her, a 16-year old, to drive into the city of Boston all by herself from the suburbs. I, as a past-resident of the Boston suburbs - and a parent - know this would be something that most parents I've ever encountered would never allow. Ever. And driving all the way to the Cape.....alone??? Ah, well.....Super story nonetheless.

Goodreads book summary:  Simone’s starting her junior year in high school. Her mom’s a lawyer for the ACLU, her dad’s a political cartoonist, so she’s grown up standing outside the organic food coop asking people to sign petitions for worthy causes. She’s got a terrific younger brother and amazing friends. And she’s got a secret crush on a really smart and funny guy–who spends all of his time with another girl.
          Then her birth mother contacts her. Simone’s always known she was adopted, but she never wanted to know anything about it. She’s happy with her family just as it is, thank you. 
          She learns who her birth mother was–a 16-year-old girl named Rivka. Who is Rivka? Why has she contacted Simone? Why now? The answers lead Simone to deeper feelings of anguish and love than she has ever known, and to question everything she once took for granted about faith, life, the afterlife, and what it means to be a daughter.

14. Between, Georgia - Joshilyn Jackson

(Note:  I don't really like this cover....)
Audio read by the author - PERFECTLY!!

8 unabridged cds/ 9 hours

2006 Hachette Audio

294 pgs.

Adult Contemporary Realistic Fiction (Chick Lit, I guess....)
Finished 3/2/2014

Goodreads Rating: 3.85 (7,619 ratings)

My Rating:  Absolutely delightful (5)

PBS

Setting: Contemporary Between, Georgia (halfway between Atlanta and Athens, GA)

1^st sentence/s:  "The war began thirty years, nine months, and seven days ago when I was deaf and blind, floating silent and serene inside Hazel Crabtree."

My comments:  Joshilyn Jackson - the author - read this book so beautifully that I wanted it to go on and on.  Love stories/chick lit aren't usually my thing, but this was so much more.  I loved the writing, I enjoyed the story, I was fascinated by a mother being deaf AND blind, I was intrigued by the personalities of the three very different sisters, and I didn't mind taking a peek into a tiny Georgia community. "The south" is one part of the country that I do not relate to, or know very much about.  I read Gods in Alabama - also by Jackson - a couple of years ago and remember very much enjoying it. Think I'll try another, especially if she's reading it herself.

Goodreads Review:  Nonny Frett understands the meanings of "rock" and "hard place" better than any woman ever born. She's got two mothers, "one Deaf-blind and the other four baby steps from flat crazy." She's got two men: her husband, who's easing out the back door; and her best friend, who's laying siege to her heart in her front yard. She has a job that holds her in the city, and she's addicted to a little girl who's stuck deep in the country. And she has two families; the Fretts, who stole her and raised her right, and the Crabtrees, who lost her and can't forget that they've been done wrong.

MOVIE - Philomena

PG-13 (1:34)

Limited release 11/22/2013

Viewed 12/10/2013 at El Con with Sheila (Happy Birthday, Laura!)

RT Critic:  92  Audience:  91

Cag: 4.5 Liked it a whole lot 

Directed by Stephen Frears

The Weinstein Company

Steve Coogan (who also wrote and produced), Judi Dench

My comments:   (Spoilers abound, including a bit of ranting.....)  This was a wonderful movie.  Acting - yup, wonderful.  Story - bittersweet, with a little more bitter than sweet.  Leftover emotions - adding fuel to the fire to my deep dislike of the Catholic church. This was the retelling of a true story - with actual pictures of those real people just before the credits. Imagine being a young girl....say fifteen or sixteen.  Getting pregnant after one (pretty wonderful) night with a handsome young man.  Abandoned by your family, thus having not a soul in the world but a few other young mothers in your confined, ultra-religious environment (with lots of nasty nuns and a handful of nicer ones)...and an hour a day with your child.  Add to that being ostracized, demeaned, and put into slave labor for four years. And then, when your child is three, having him adopted without a goodbye, with absolutely no information about where he went or what happened to him.  Not your choice.  You would have NEVER given him away......  

       So much spite, so much hate and un-Christian acts from the nuns at this establishment.  Burning of all the records so that mothers and children could never reunite.  Lying.  Withholding information.  It was one thing for this to happen in the early 1950's, totally another for it to happen in 2003.  Grrrr....

     Dench and Coogan were oh-so believable together.  This relationship, if anything like the real one between Lee and Sixsmith, was pretty special.

  

Rotten Tomatoes:  Based on the 2009 investigative book by BBC correspondent Martin Sixsmith, The Lost Child of Philomena Lee, PHILOMENA focuses on the efforts of Philomena Lee (Dench), mother to a boy conceived out of wedlock - something her Irish-Catholic community didn't have the highest opinion of - and given away for adoption in the United States. In following church doctrine, she was forced to sign a contract that wouldn't allow for any sort of inquiry into the son's whereabouts. After starting a family years later in England and, for the most part, moving on with her life, Lee meets Sixsmith (Coogan), a BBC reporter with whom she decides to discover her long-lost son.

Pablo's Tree - Pat Mora

Illustrated by Cecily Lang
$17.95 HC
1994, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
32 pages
Endpapers:  red
Illustrations:  Cut paper
Goodreads rating:  3.68
I liked it - nice story.

When his daughter adopts a tiny baby boy, his grandfather/abuelito plants a tree.  Every year he decorates it, as a surprise, in a different, colorful way.  Pablo and his namesake spend the day after his birthday playing under the tree.  They reminisce about the different years and we see how much the tree has grown.

48. Where Do You Stay? - Andrea Cheng

Boyds Mill Press, 2011
HC $17.95
for: Middle Grades
133 pgs.
Rating:  4

First line/s:  "Mr. Willie pulls every last weed in the driveway cracks, then sweeps the concrete clean.  Aunt Geneva comes out to pay him, but Mr. Willie doesn't want any money.  'A sandwich would be nice,' he says."

Setting:  Contemporary Cincinnati, Ohio

One-Sentence Summary:  After 11-year-old Jerome goes to live with his aunt and cousins after his mother dies of cancer, he has to learn to live without his precious piano.

Mr. Willie also played the piano, though he now is a squatter in the falling-down carriage house of the falling-down (and empty) big house across the street.  His fifteen-year-old cousin Damon is mouthing off to his mother, disappearing, and possibly getting into trouble.  His nine-year old Cousin Monte is afraid of everything.  And his Aunt Geneva is determined to adopt him, as she feels was his mother's wish.  The turning point in the story comes when a couple purchase the crumbling house across the street, not to tear it down, as everyone had thought, but to create a school. 

Isn't this one of the homeliest/unappealing book covers you've ever seen?  It certainly doesnt' say "pick me up!"I wasn't sure how to rate this book, 'cause I'm not sure how kids would like it.  Throughout the book, Jerome is comparing everything that happens to him to his mother's last days and death.  However, it's not particularly depressing, and it's a great way to worm yourself into Jerome's mind.  And the storyline is engaging and proceeds in a believable manner.  I discovered that I rather liked the whole package as I mulled it over after reading.

35. Dogtag Summer - Elizabeth Partridge

Bloomsbury, 2011
215 pgs. plus 11-page q & a appendix
$16.99
For: middle grades
Genre:  historical fiction
Rating:  4.5

Setting:  Northern California coastline between Ukiah and Santa Rosa,: 1980, with flashbacks to 1975 Vietnam.

One-Sentence Summary:  Tracy, an adopted Vietnam War baby with an "unknown" American father, spends the summer before entering junior high remembering the events leading up to her emigration to northern California.

This story begins on the first day of summer vacation for two best friends, Tracy and Stargazer.  Tracy is the adopted, half-Vietnamese orphan of a Vietnam vet and his wife.  Stargazer is the son of a pair of hippie parents who were very anti-war, who happily live off the land in a tiny cramped trailer with their two kids (with another on the way).  So we get two very clear points-of-view about the Vietnam War.

Tracy was adopted as a 6-year-old, five years before.  She has suppressed memories of her life in Vietnam.  When she and Stargazer find an ammo box in her dad's workshop and break into it, her memories, her feelings, her life itself, gets tilted and questioned.
    
The beginning of each new chapter is a page or so continuing the newfound memories of her life in Vietnam.  Two point-s-of-view about the Vietnam War, painful memories of those who were forced to fight, and some really beautiful writing, all work together to create a lovely, much-needed, well-researched story.

(Note:  The one weakness for me is that there was no mention of Tracy's English language development in the five years since arriving in America.  That would have been so interesting - she is a fluent English speaker in the story, and I wondered greatly about that.)

I literally grabbed this book off the shelf at the library when I saw that Elizabeth Partridge had written a piece of fiction.  I'm familiar with her nonfiction, which is award-winning.  I also have a fond memory of her and her close friend, Anna Grossnickle Hines, who befriended me at a CLNE conference in Cambridge, England, when I was lonely and homesick.  I spent the evening in Elizabeth's dorm room, chatting and discussing kid's books.  This was just before her first book, the one on Dorothea Lange, was published, and she told me the background surrounding it.  These two close friends greatly impressed me, meeting each year at CNLE no matter where the conference took place.  Since then they have BOTH become celebrated writers.  Two gracious, lovely women.

70. As Simple as It Seems - Sarah Weeks

Laura Geringer Books, Harper Collins, 2010
HC $15.99
181 pages
for: Middle grades
Rating: 4

The summer between 5th and 6th grades becomes one unlike any other, a summer of missing her best friend, and the first summer full of free time that she must learn to live with something that she feels makes her an entirely different person. Months earlier, Verbena has discovered a secret that she's trying to wrap her head around. She, of course, has a difficult time figuring everything out (she's only eleven after all). Then a boy a few years younger than her moves into the abandoned house next door for the summer. This gives Verbie an opportunity to become someone else for awhile.

"Pooch" and Verbena spend time resurrecting and repairing an old wooden rowboat on the lake that's through the woods behind their houses. This allows them to get to know each other a bit, learning each others strengths, weaknesses, and idiosyncracies. But because of this, unexpected danger comes very close to striking.

Told in the first person, Sarah Weeks does a pretty decent job of allowing us into Verbena's head. The last paragrah tells of the year to follow and how everything came together for her. I don't think that last paragraph was really needed. Weeks had more or less said that Verbie was moving in the right directions, that things would be okay, and the race through her 6th grade year didn't seems to end this otherwise smart book very well.

I like Verbena wearing her nightgown for two days, inside and out. I like that she's naturally curious. I like how much she loves her parents. I like the habit she has of pushing her glassses up and down her nose...and I like that she wears glasses. I like her relationship with her three-legged dog, Jack.

Sarah Weeks' website is here.
Her blog is here. It's only updated once in awhile, but worth a peek.