Stick Man - Julia Donaldson

Illustrated by Axel Scheffler
Arthur A. Levine Books/Scholatic, 2009 US, 2008 London
$16.99
32 pages
Endpapers:Red with white line drawing of the stick family in many activities

I really liked this book, but I can't really tell you why. It's sort of stupid, actually. But it has great illustrations, rhyme and rhythm, and shows someone that faces hard times come out on top.....and in this case, with the help of Santa! There is a lot of clever writing, rhyming, and HUMOR. So I guess I CAN tell you why!

Stick Man lives in the family tree
With his Stick Lady Love and their stick children three.
One day he wakes early and goes for a jog.
Stick Man, oh Stick Man, beware of the dog!

SPOILER ALERT: After all sorts of trials and tribulations, Stick Man does return to his family.

Unwelcome Hiatus

I have a lot of catching up to do. My house was broken into and I've finally replaced my computer. I'm MAAAAAD. However, I've been helped by a host of wonderful Tucsonans - from the two police officers who took photos, fingerprints, and even DNA samples from the blood left on the broken window glass, to the great guys from Titan Restoration who installed my new window, leaving it looking twice as good as it did before the break-in, to the people at Best Buy who helped me replace my computer with a cheapo that works great and gave me all the information I needed about the new iPods, so that I could replace that as well. And I discovered the shocking information that two out of three people I've talked to have also had break-ins before. I only wish that someone had seen someone running down the street with a pink polka-dot pillowcase slung over his/her back!
So now I can get back to work!

Fancy Nancy: Splendiferous Christmas – Jane O’Connor

Illustrator: Robin Preiss Glasser
Harper, 2009
32 pages
Adorable
Endpapers: Bright green

How can you not love Fancy Nancy Clancy? Impossible! Or at least, that's what I thought...until I asked my daughter if my granddaughter had any Fancy Nancy books. Yup, she does. And she won't let her mother read them to her. Doesn't like them. Hmmmmm......

Well, anyways.....in this one, follow her and her family as they prepare for Christmas – from decorating the outside of the house and yard, to finding the perfect tree, to making cookies, wrapping gifts, singing carols, and creating a new family heirloom.

I just love the way that Jane O’Connor introduces – and explains – cool words. In this story we have aroma, compromise, heirloom and delectable. Also caroling, pleading, devastated, and compromise.

Sparkly cover. Cheerful, ”fancy”… and busy … illustrations with lots of detail to explore. Very cool font.

www.fancynancybooks.com

MOVIE - New Moon (Twilight Saga)

Decent entertainment, glad it wasn't any longer...
Released Nov. 20, 2009
PG-13 (2:01)
12-1-09 at El Con with Amy and Alyssa
RT: 29% cag: 60%
Director: Chris Weitz

Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner

Pretty much followed the book. Nothing particularly new or exciting - the trailer and previews showed the high points. It was fun, but nothing special. I'm still so disturbed by Bella's submission and dependence on Edward. Sure, he's a cutie. And Taylor Lautner did a great job as Jacob. Oh well, it's fiction, right?

I was THRILLED to see Graham Greene playing Harry, the dad's Native American friend (the one who has a heart attack and dies). He's a great actor, and I haven't seen him enough in recent years.

Georgia Rises - Kathryn Lasky

A Day in the Life of Georgia O'Keeffe
Illustrated by Ora Eitan
Melanie Kroupa Books, FSG, 2009
$16.95
Rating: 3.5
32 pages
Endpapers: 11 squares of illustrations of Georgia O'Keeffe in various daily activities - mainly outdoors.

This book is, indeed, about a ficticious day in the life of Georgia O'Keeffe when she was in her 70"s, living alone at her home in the New Mexican desert. She lived simply, waiting for the light to change, enjoying the joy of natural color and flowers and the shine of light on the bones she picked up in the desert.

Kathryn Lasky researched this (she calls it historical fiction) by reading many of O'Keeffe's letters and visiting Abiqui, O'Keeffe's home in the New Mexican desert. Her writing is eloquent and tells the story of O'Keeffe's life, her activities, her thinking, quite perfectly. I can so see it.

I wasn't enamored of the illustrations, although the cover was eye-catching and they do grow on me more and more as I look at them. The cream colored pages give the book a soft desert-y glow, but either the font type or color made it very difficult for me to read. And the page of gray font in the lavender sky seems almost invisible. Granted, I'm blind as a bat - but I'm reading this sitting in a sharply-lit library.....

This is a very nice addition to my collection of Georgia O'Keeffee picture books.

An interesting author's note and list of resources is included.

MOVIE - Capitalism, A Love Story

Really interesting, but choppy
Released Oct. 2, 2009
NR (2:07)
Nov. 28, 2009 at Century Gateway with Fran
RT: 75% cag: Pretty much the same, I guess
Director: Michael Moore

The top 1 percent of this country has the wealth of the lowest 95 percent. Unimaginable. Unbelievable. This time, Michael Moore goes after the the banks, the CEO's that run the government, insurance policies that are taken out by companies on their employees (with the company as the beneficiary), the low pay of airline pilots, worker-owned companies.....big business...big business...capitalism....

It's all interesting, but I'm not quite sure how some of it fits together. It's not at all seamless. And I, as a watcher, and left thinking....OKAY, if that's so, what can I DO???? There's no insight into that.

The Listeners - Gloria Whelan

Illustrated by Mike Benny
Tales of Young Americans Series
Sleeping Bear Press, 2009
$17.95
40 pages
For: Kids old enough to understand slavery
Rating: 4.5
Endpapers: White (a tiny drawback...)

I begin with Gloria Whelan's "Author's Note," found at the beginning of the book: "The lives of slaves depended on circumstances beyond their control. They had nothing to say about whom they would work for or where they would live. They never knew when they might be separated from their children or their spouses. Hoping to learn their fate, they sent small children to hide near the windows of their masters' homes to listen.

Authors are listeners, too, that's how they find their stories. They listen. Sometimes they hear stories from people who have lived them. Sometimes they hear words spoken long ago and set down in books. It's what writers do; they listen, and like Bobby, Sue, and Ella May they pass the stories along."

This information for kids is twofold - it talks to the reader about slavery AND about being a writer.

This book looks at slavery from a slightly different angle, it looks at the hard work that even very young children do, and it looks at how some of the massive groups of slaves were able to find out any information about what was going on in the country and in the world of their plantation. It is a thought-provoking tale about three young kids who listen outside the window of their "owner's" to glean any kind of news that might be relevant to them.

Dark, glorious illustrations going all the way to the edge of the page richly accentuate this gracefully told story. Outstanding.

Homegrown House - Janet S. Wong

Illustrated by E. B. Lewis
Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2009
$16.99
for Kids
Rating: 3
Endpapers: Alternating squares that look like old-fashioned wallpaper, perhaps.

E. B. Lewis' watercolors are sumptious, as always. He does amazing things with shadows! He captures people perfectly - there's even one page that has its perspective from high up - not quite birds-eye view, but almost (the girls and her grandmother are looking down at the floor).

This is a story of the relationship between a girl and her grandmother. It's also the story of a girl wanting to stay in one house for more than a short amount of time, as her grandmother has. Some of the story is lovely - it's written in freeform verse and flows in a gentle way. The reason I can't give it a higher rating is because I think, although the essence of the story comes through clearly, there are some places that I can't tell whether it's talking about her grandmother's house, her new house, or her hopeful, future new home. It's probably me and the frame of mind I'm in right now, but I've gone back twice and I think it's now clear - it would probably be more clear for a kid withouth the extra-aged brain cells.

MOVIE - The Blind Side

A based-on-real -life, up-from-the bottom, feel-good movie
Released 11-20-09
PG-13 (2:06)
Thanksgiving, Nov. 26, 2009 at PP with Fran and Christine
RT: 73% cag: 90%
Director: John Lee Hancock
Sandra Bullock, Tim McGraw

Sandra Bullock and Tim McGraw portray real-life Memphis, Tennessee residents Leigh Annd and Sean Tuohy, who "adopted" a homeless black teen and helped him become the successful NFL football player that he is today. Mike Oher was smart, almost-silent, polite, huge, unschooled -- and homeless. He somehow got a chance to go to school in a private Christian school on the "other side" of town, and Leigh Anne Tuohyfigured out his dire straights and brought him home. One night turned into becoming his legal guardian. The two Tuohy children figure hugely into the story. And it's a wonderful, heart-warming story. Really well done. Really thoughtful. Even the football games are interesting. That Leigh Anne is one ball-of-fire! Sandra Bullock is great - so is Tim McGraw (who knew?) -- the whole cast really works (the young son, SJ, is GREAT). Lots of laughs, a few tears shed - a great Thanksgiving movie.

During the credits, there are videos and photographs of the REAL Mike Oher, the REAL Tuohys, NFL videos - good stuff. A perfect way to end the movie.

MOVIE - Julie and Julia

Wonderful movie - almost perfect!
Released Aug. 7, 2009
PG-13 (I'm not sure why....) (2:03)
Nov. 25, 2009 at Crossroads with Fran
RT: 74% cag 96%
Director: Nora Ephron
Meryl Streep, Amy Adams, Stnely Tucci, Chris Messina

Nora Ephron took two memoirs and wove them together. Beautifully. Then Meryl Streep BECAME Julia Child. What a performance! ! ! ! ! Superb doesn't cover it. She was incredible. Believable. Lovely. Special.

Amy Adams' Julie Powell, unhappy to have moved to a tiny apartment above a pizza shop inQueens and with her cubicle-telephone job taking calls concerning the World Trade Center, takes on a personal challenge. She loves to cook. She adores Julia Child, so decides to make every single recipe in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. In one year. 365 days. And....to blog about it all.

The movie weaves Julie's story - with its many ups and downs AND her super-supportive husband with Julia's story - with its ups and downs and HER super-supportive husband (go Stanley Tucci!) beautifully, beautifully. Two hours and three minutes (with five or six previews beforehand) is a long time to sit, but I could have doubled that. Just plain fun.

76. Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side - Beth Fantaskey

for: Young Adults
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009
HC $17.00
354 pgs.
Rating: 5

I loved this book - for many reason. It's many-layered. It starts out light and humorous then works itself slowly to a darker, heavier feel. It's really quite clever, as vampire stories go. Heads (many of them, actually) above the Marked series... I know there are lots and lots and even more lots of vampire teen books out there now, but this one is clever, well-written, and super enjoyable.

Jessica knows that she was adopted as a newborn from her Romanian parents. That's all she knows about her past - and all she really wants to know. She was raised on a farm in central Pennsylvania by "granola" parents, adored as an only child, nutured and loved. She is an ordinary, studious, fun-loving, honest American teenager. That is, until one day, on the first day of her much-anticipated senior year, Lucius Vladescu appears - and her past and future appear to become totally unbelievable. For both she and Lucius are vampires, promised to each other at the time of their births, to stop a huge vampire feud. Not only is she a vampire - but a vampire PRINCESS! Lucius becomes a foreign exchange student at Jessica (Antanasia is her real name-as much as she wants to deny it)'s high school - and the roller coaster ride starts there...a roller coaster rides with some interesting twists and turns. The storyline switches once in awhile from Jessica's first person point-of-view to letters that Lucius writes to his ancient vampire Uncle Vasile. These letters show an intelligence and humor in the young vampire that aren't to be missed - a great addition to the storyline. I read it in almost one long sitting - just couldn't put it down!

This is Beth Fantaskey's first book. I hope there are many more to follow.

The Circus Ship - Chris VanDusen

Candlewick, 2009
$16.99
40 pages
Rating: 5
Endpapers: 2-color yellow, wide vertical stripes - very subtle.

This is the picture book my grandkids are getting for Christmas. With clever rhyming, snazzzy words, bright, fun illustrations, and rhythm shouting from every page, any kid would enjoy this. That it takes place on an island off the coast of Maine (home sweet home for much of my family) is an extra special touch. This island is SO Frenchboro or Islesford or Great Cranberry - and has its roots in a true tale from 1836!

A circus ship, loaded with animals, hits a ledge while heading south to Boston. Fifteen animals escape and swim to a nearby island. A sparsely, yet cozily inhabited, island. When the exceedingly mean circus owner comes to reclaim the animals, they are nowhere to be found. At least, not by him - but a bit of pouring over the two-page sperack and careful young eyes will find them all!

Wonderful in every way.

Check out Chris VanDusen's website.

75. Need - Carrie Jones

for: YA
Bloomsbury, 2009
$16.99
306 pgs.
Rating: Hmmmm....3.5?? 4??

Within the first few pages Zara, the protagonist, arrives in Bangor and hits Rte 1A for the coast of Maine. Well. If I had a buck for each time I'd done this..... Every bit of the setting of this story is known to me. All the places that Zara's EMT grandmother is called to - Rte. 9, Acadia National Park. This Bedford, Maine has to be Ellsworth. I can see the high school, have walked the halls (and taken summer workshops) there many times. The library - I love the Ellsworth Library - is one of my favorite places. Betty, Zara's grandmother has to live in Lamoine or Trenton, or one of the long, twisting roads that attach the outside world to Ellsworth. And there's a blizzard in October. Major nor'easter. A little early for my liking - but we're talking Maine here. Those long, cold, gray winter days arriving in October are part of the reason I now live in Tucson!

So.....I loved loved loved the setting of the book. The heroine/protagonist Zara is a gutsy, interesting young lady. Liked her a lot. Some of the other characters were harder to get to know. I wanted more about them before startling images and information were given. Oh well. I must admit I couldn't put the book down. No vampires in this one! However, there are pixies (they sound a lot sweeter and nicer than they actually are) and plenty of "were's." Gold glitter. A lot left to the imagination. Not enough details! Specifics - what does "turning" look like? I needed deeper insight into everything that went on.

I feel like I've already given enough spoilers for the story. I don't want to give away the few secrets that you wait for. It's good. It's fun. Maybe the next in the series, out in January (I think) will give me more of that. I will be standing in line for the first Tucson copy....

So, yes, the book is about to have a sequel! To go to the "series" website click here.

74. The Day of the Pelican - Katherine Paterson

for: Middle and Upper grades
Clarion (H/M), 2009
$16.00
146 pages
Rating: Incredibly mixed: I loved learning more about the plight of Albanians in Kosovo, there's so little we really know and understand. Some of the storytelling was terrific, but there were places where I know that kids will just put the book aside. And some of the storytelling was just that - a narrator telling a story. I was profoundly moved by the plight of this family. I do love Katherine Paterson's writing. This didn't seem like her extraordinary writing though. It was more....ordinary. I feel guilty and mean saying this about a powerful author. But it's the feeling I'm left with....

Meli's family goes through unbelievable cruelties in the three years between living a comfortable life in their home in Kosovo, then taking very few belongings and fleeing to a remote mountain KLA hideaway, then to live in a tiny farmhouse with uncle, aunt, elderly granny, cousin and her three kids (14 of them in all, I think), to trudge for days without food or water to be thrust into a freight car, dumped on the Macedonia border and put into a refugee camp....to traveling to Vermont to a new life. Horrible injustices. So much hate. And killing. Cruelty. Subhumanity. And this is going on in many places in the world RIGHT NOW! The story ends shortly after 9/11, which is another huge blow to this non-practicing Muslim family.

When we look around and see immigrants, we must realize how much they've left behind to be here. Huge pieces of themselves left behind. Family and friends that will never been seen again. I'm almost speechless with sadness. What can I do to help?

Here's another review, from Twenty by Jenny. It includes an interview with Katherine Paterson and her editor about the writing of the book. Quite interesting.

MOVIE - The Invention of Lying

Many good chuckles in this one....
Released 10-2-09
PG-13 (1:39)
11-19-09 at Crossroads (me, myself, & I)
RT: 56% cag 65%
Director: Ricky Gervais (also the protagonist, and writer, I think...)
Jennifer Garner, Rob Lowe, a few fun big name additions with tiny parts

A fantasy alter-world where everyone tells the truth and there's not one moment of disbelief. "You're ugly and fat." "Never in a million years, pal." Nothing is kept to one's self - you tell it like it is and if you hear something negative (which is constant), you have to eat it up and take it. A very depressing world, full of unhappy people. But for some unknow reason, at the moment when our protagonist, Mark, is at his absolute lowest, he lies. He is believed. Totally and completely. And the story takes off from there.

Yeah, it's a love story. It's a story about "the man in the sky" who has never been heard of before. Mark invents him to answer some questions. It's fun and funny most of the time. There is, of course, some eye-rolling that will inevitably take place in this sort of story, but there are some big chuckles. Politically-incorrect chuckles, to be sure. It was an enjoyable movie that doesn't leave you up, or down, or anywhere really. Just....entertainment, I guess.

I knew immediately that the sweeping setting was somewhere in Massachusetts. I was thinking perhaps one of the mill-type towns in western Mass. I watched the credits 'til the end (as I always do....I know....boring, boring.....) and it was filmed in Lowell, Mass. Not quite western Mass, but almost. Isn't it funny how sometimes you know something for sure?