READ LAST WEEK: Star in the Forest by Laura Resau, 2012
Nominated for the
Young Hoosier Book Award this year,
Star in the Forest is a quick read for the middle graders with a topic becoming increasingly relevant: deportation following minor traffic violations or petty crimes.
Zitlally's life gets thrown off course when her father, Papa, is deported to Mexico after being pulled over by police for speeding. Now, Zitlally's family must rent part of their trailer out to two strangers to help pay the bills. Her mother grows increasingly distant as she worries over her husband while Zitlally and her sisters sleep together in confusion to make room for the new renters.
Zitlally escapes to the junkyard behind her trailer where she befriends a dog she names Star. Star seems mysteriously connected to Papa, and when he goes missing one day, Zitlally and her friend Crystal know that finding him will determine whether or not Papa will make it home.
This short book broaches a controversial topic and makes the scary scenario relatable for readers whether or not they've had personal experience with deportation. I highly recommend.
JUST FINISHED LISTENING TO:
The Great Unexpected by Sharon Creech, 2013
I spend a lot of time in the car. My morning commute is about 15 to 20 minutes, and my husband commute is 4 hours as he is working on his degree in a different state. I usually spend a lot of time listening to NPR which leaves me with good conversation points and a handle on current events, but 4 hours alone in the car through stretches of cell phone dead zone in flat Indiana and Michigan leads to repeated programming. Ain't much fun listening to the same radio shows twice.
So I've been digging inroads into the world of the audiobook, a land I only explored on short visits before.
The Great Unexpected is Sharon Creech's new middle grade fiction story about Naomi and her best friend Lizzie, two orphaned girls growing up in the teeny tiny town of Blackbird Tree. Mysteries begin to unfold from page one when a boy named Finn falls out of a tree and lands at the girls' feet. We simoultaneously hear the story of an older lady across the ocean in Ireland and soon discover how these distant stories are connected.
Sharon Creech has many a solid middle grade fiction chapter books. She is likely best known for Walk Two Moons, a well deserved Newbery Award winner. And there are many similarities between that book and The Great Unexpected: loss of parents, living with elders, discovering connections, personal journeys to discover the truth. I will say Walk Two Moons is, by far, my preferred story as the connections are more clear and the resolution more complete than Creech's new work. However, fans of the author will be satisfied with The Great Unexpected.
CURRENTLY LISTENING TO:
Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos, 2011
Jack Gantos of
Joey Pigza,
Jack Henry, and
Rotten Ralph fame won the Newbery for
Dead End in Norvelt in 2012. Cheers!
*Side note: Remember
Rotten Ralph, that terrifyingly red and poorly behaved cat? That character may be from where my cat apprehensions stem.
But back to the award-winning novel, this is the semi-autobiographical story of young Jack's summer in his small, dying town of Norvelt, named for Elea
NOR Roose
VELT as Norvelt is a New Deal town. Narrator Jack who suffers from uncontrollable nose bleeds is grounded for the summer after he accidentally fires his father's Japanese rifle at a drive in movie screen AND mows down his mother's rows of corn. He's only allowed out of his room to help Miss Volker write obituaries for the town paper. But Miss Volker ends up getting Jack in more trouble than he could find on his own.
So far, so good. Listening to Gantos read the story is also rewarding. You can feel his passion and humor. If you have the book in your hands to give to a kid, you may want to encourage them to read it with an adult. There's a lot of history in the book that they may miss without having a grownup there to help navigate.
This little nifty site has a
quick video interview of Jack Gantos.
STARTING TO READ:
Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver, 2012
Aaah. Kingsolver. Surely you've seen this tome out on bookstore displays all over the place. This lady is known as a literary force so fans everywhere were chomping at the bit for this new release.
Truth be told, the only fiction of her's I've read is
The Poisonwood Bible, maybe her most famous work, years ago. But I was a fan from the start. And I really enjoyed
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, her true account of a year living off the land in rural Virginia.
So I've checked out
Flight Behavior from the library and have read the first 10 pages, and I can feel that beautiful heavy reminiscent of Poisonwood Bible. Also, Kingsolver has a way with using the female protagonist and uncovering all of the complexities of the individual showing that nothing is black and white. And I love that.
LOOKING FORWARD TO READING:
Bunker Hill: A City, A Siege, A Revolution by Nathaniel Philbrick, 2013
Wouldn't you know the
author can explain the premise of his book much more effectively than I can? Visit the link for the book trailer and watch a short interview of Mr. Philbrick.
I haven't purchased or borrowed this book so all I can say is I read
In the Heart of the Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick and LOVED it.
Mayflower was pretty good, too. So I have high hopes for this Revolutinary War chronicle.
And having a soft spot in my heart for Boston, I think it will be interesting reading about the city's old geography and topography seeing as the Back Bay neighborhood sits on man made land and looks vastly different than it did circa 1776.
Also, why do I know much more about the Civil War than the Revolutionary War? I need to work on this history deficit.
*Thank you for the images BarnesandNoble.com!
