Poetry Friday

Graduation

Today is Mom's graduation
from Tidewater Community College
with her associates in business
and landscape design.
She's the first ever
in our family
to get a degree.

Gran dropped out
in eighth grade to help on the farm
when her brothers got called up
for the war.
When they never came back
Gran gave up her dream
of being a stewardess---
and traveling all over the world.

But someday
I'll buy us a flight to France
and we'll sit under the Eiffel Tower
sharing a croissant.

From the prose novel

Reaching for Sun Tracie Vaughn Zimmer

Everything is changing for Josie. McMansions have reduced her family farm to an elaborate garden with a small house and is increasingly out of place in their neighborhood.

Her mom has gone back to school to get her degree business and landscape design.

Plus, she's decided she's done with occupational therapy for her cerebral palsy. It makes her look weird and talk funny, going to the therapy that will never fix it just further alienates her from her classmates.

And then, a new boy moves into the neighborhood, a new boy that just might be a friend.

Josie's story is one of trying to find your place in the world. The story is less about her disability and more about growing up. Zimmer's free verse follows Josie through the year, with most of the focus on Summer, when a lot of big changes take place.

I also appreciated the light drawing of a an iris on the side of the page, which grew and bloomed with the seasons. I'm noticing more and more of these subtle things in books, not in the writing, but in the design. Is this becoming more common, or as I read more graphic novels and picture books, am I just paying more attention to things besides the actual text?

Winner of the Schneider Family Book Award.

Semicolon has the roundup!

Help Me.

Last night was one of those nights when I'm super happy to be living in a real neighborhood. I went to take the trash out and it took me an hour, because my neighbor on the left side was talking to her neighbors on her left side, and then I joined the conversation.

We talked about everything neighbors talk about-- the wacky transformer that cuts power to half our houses (not that half the people on the block don't have power, but everyone on the block only has power in half their house. I am not making this up.) our gardens, the weather, commutes, people who keep parking in our driveways, and who's moved out and who's moved in.

The neighbors 2 doors down have kids who are finishing up their school year. Their oldest daughter just finished 6th grade (it's a 6-7-8 middle school) and is heartbroken because they've been told they won't be getting Reading is Fundamental next year due to budget issues. 5 times during the school year, the children in my neighborhood got to pick out free books to keep. This is a 12 year old girl who loves to read right at the age when we start to lose our heavy readers to other things. She will no longer be getting her free books to help feed her habit.

This broke my heart, but was a timely story in that weird way that life seems to work.

Next weekend, I'm participating in Dewey's 24-Hour-Read-a-Thon, which benefits Reading is Fundamental. I am asking for your sponsorship.

After listening to this young woman's sadness at no longer having RIF in her school, it just strengthened my convictions in how important this is. So, THANK YOU to those who have already signed up to help.

This is an organization that should be expanding the number of children they serve, not having to cut schools out of their efforts.

Hello, Ginger Beef? I'd like to make an order for delivery please...

First things first-- did you hear these guys on Morning Edition yesterday? Yes, I am that dorky that I get music recs from NPR. SHUT UP. I want that CD. Well, it's cheaper if I buy it in MP3 form... anyway...

ALSO! Reasons it is hard to be at work today:
1. It is sunny and nice out. Not too hot. We may even turn off the AC and open the windows tonight!
2. Fables Vol. 10: The Good Prince is on my doorstep. RIGHT NOW. Too bad my doorstep is a federal district and 1 state away.

And now, a story.

Setting: A dorm room in Nanjing, December 2000

Lauren, an American college student has just gotten a package of Christmas presents from her parents. Several American and Chinese students have just finished decorating the mini-Christmas tree that was included. Lauren is now opening her presents. She opens up a Chinese take out box full of colored fortune cookies from a Van Gogh exhibit at the Philadelphia Art Museum.

Xiao Mao: Oooo! These are really tasty! Wait! There's paper in here! What is this?
Jennie: Oh. It's a quotation from Van Gogh. Usually they're kinda brown and they have a fortune or a quotation from Confucius.
Xiao Mao: Why on earth are your desserts quoting Confucius?!
Jennie: Well, you get them for dessert at Chinese restaurants.
Xiao Mao: THESE AREN'T CHINESE!!!
Jennie: They were invented in Chinatown. That box [the goldfish takeaway box] is what you get Chinese or other Asian food in.
Xiao Mao: Really?! What does Italian food come in?
Jennie: Um... a styrofoam container like you get from Aiye's [what we called the restaurant next door]

What's really cool is, at the time, that conversation took place in Chinese, which I couldn't do now.

Anyway, that's all windup to my review of the most wonderful

The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: Adventures in the World of Chinese Food Jennifer 8. Lee

Before you read this book, make sure you have the phone number of your local Chinese delivery place handy. TRUST ME.

In this book, Lee explores 3 major things: the history of fortune cookies (actually, they're Japanese and internment had a big role in making them a Chinese restaurant favorite), the phenomenon that is Chinese-American food (as opposed to authentic Chinese food), and how Chinese-American food shapes the Chinese immigrant experience and vice versa.

Very readable and fascinating, Lee's journey starts with what happened when an unexpectedly large amount of people got 5 out of 6 numbers right on the Powerball lottery. Turns out they were playing fortune cookie numbers.

Lee traces Chinese restaurants around the world, sometimes following the cookies, sometimes the workers, sometimes the food. She has essays on the evolution of Chop Suey and General Tso's chicken (both very American dishes, while Kung Pao chicken is "authentic" Chinese.) She talks about the advent of delivery and the quest to find the greatest Chinese restaurant in the WORLD. She delves into crimes committed on Chinese deliverymen in New York, and how most Chinese restaurants in the states are staffed from an agency under the Manhattan Bridge. Plus, a great examination on why Jewish people love Chinese food and the story of the Great Kosher Duck Scandal in 1989.

Random things I learned:

There are 2 Chinese restaurants for every McDonald's in the US
Almost all fortunes are written by just 2 guys
Cheap Chinese restaurants in South America are called chifa (chee-fah) which is derived from the Chinese words chi fan (chir fan) which means "to eat food"
Almost all of those little soy sauce packets are made by 1 company and don't have soy in them.

The writing is engaging and accessible, but well-researched. I highly recommend it, but just plan on having Chinese for dinner.

Written for adults, but teens will like it too. As long as you feed them.

Fairy Tales revisited

The 12th Bookworms Carnival is online! The theme is fairy tales...

Originally, I was going to submit 2 posts, the one I did submit, and this one that you're reading now. So, here are some more fairy tales, all of which are from the Once Upon a Time series.

Water Song Suzanne Weyn

Emma is British aristocracy, trapped at her mother's Belgium estate in the middle of WWI.

Jack is an American, fighting with the British. When he becomes a chlorine gas victim, all he can think of is that water will stop the burning, which is how he ended up in the bottom of Emma's well.

Taken prisoner by the Germans, some quick thinking by Emma will save them, but only for so long.

I was wondering how they were going to redo the Frog Prince. There isn't a lot of magic in this book, with the exception of Jack, who can commune through dreams with his dead mother, who was a medicine woman in the Louisiana swamps. What she taught him, and what she teaches him save not only Jack and Emma, but their friends as well.

Overall, it was really well done. I liked how it was more realistic/historical fiction than fantasy, but was still very much a fairy tale. Also, you don't see enough Frog Prince retellings.

Before Midnight Cameron Dokey

Once upon a time, there was a couple who were very much in love. But, when the woman died during childbirth, the new father spurned his infant, leaving her in the care of servants, while he tried to forget.

Then, one day sixteen days later, a woman and two daughters arrive at the large stone house, the new bride of the long-absent lord of the manor. Pawns in court intrigue, they never realize the servant girl is actually their step-daughter/sister. Victims to a feuding king and queen, they feel banished and are too wrapped up feeling sorry for themselves to actually be nice...

What I really like about this is how the evil stepmother and sisters had believable motivations for the cruelty, and how there was a thaw in relations. They are much more rounded characters than you usually see with Cinderella stories.

Golden

This Rapunzel starts the same as the others-- a pregnant woman craves the next-door neighbor's Rapunzel. Her husband steals if for her, invoking the wrath of the sorceress (or witch) who owns the burgled garden.

But, in this version, there is one difference. The sorceress says she will take the child if there is no room in her mother's heart. There isn't, for the baby is bald. She will never grow hair.

But bald Rapunzel and the sorceress live a happy life in a cottage, far from the fearful village--they fear the magic and Rapunzel's deformity. But then the fear becomes too great and they must flee...

And you're asking, what about the girl in the tower with all the hair? And yes, it's there, but I can't say anything more or it will give too much away.

I liked how the sorceress wasn't evil, but Dokey likes to talk about the "face of love" as it appeared in both of her books I reviewed today. It was good, but not my favorite of this batch. (My favorite, I think, being Water Song.)

Oooo! I wanna play!

Saw this on Becky's Book Reviews and thought I'd play, too. It's a photo-meme!



1. It wasn't enough for Sheila to be taller., 2. Popcorn´s house, 3. Fox River, 4. teatime, 5. Colin Firth revisited, 6. "Just call me Bubbles darling, everyone does!", 7. The prayers, 8. creme brulee cocktail, 9. Ci sei dentro, 10. What's Left Of The Night, 11. Come on, 12. swallowtail shawl variation

a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into flickr search.

b. Using only the first page, pick an image.

c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker.

1. What is your first name?

2. What is your favorite food?

3. What high school did you go to?

4. What is your favorite color?

5. Who is your celebrity crush/hero?

6. Favorite drink?

7. Dream vacation?

8. Favorite dessert?

9. What you want to be when you grow up?

10. What do you love most in life?

11. One word to describe you.

12. Your flickr name.

Everyone should do this, so if you haven't, you're tagged! ha!

Saturday Afternoons...

I have been spending a lot of time these past few days thinking about Iowa. Molly and Kelly say it better than I could, though.

I also have a post over on Geek Buffet about how kids are using the internet to further their reading experience...

And now to your regularly scheduled programming...

Dan got back from his business trip yesterday.

Me: Hey! So, I ended up winning the 48 Hour Challenge for most hours read!
Him: How many hours did you end up doing?
Me: Um... 42
Him: Yeah... some people have lives.

And just to prove that I really, really don't have a life, I've already read 3.5 books since then...

So let's review one of them, shall we? Ok.

Alice in Blunderland Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

This is one of the Alice prequels.

Alice is in 4th grade and things aren't going so well. Lester tells her that they're really escaped Russian royalty and that her real name is Alicia Katerina de Balencia Blunderbuss Makinoli. When she tells her friends at school this, she finds out that "blunderbuss" means someone who messes everything up.

Alice thinks that sums her up perfectly. Whether she's accidentally messing up Lester's chances with the ladies or having a very loud stomach at a slumber party, she can't do anything right. She's pretty sure that Lester would trade her for almost anything.

Then she and Lester mess up so badly, they have to get a horrible housekeeper!

4th grade has to be the worst year yet!

I love Alice and I'm really looking forward to growing up with her. Naylor remembers the agonizing details of the age and renders them with humor, but well enough that we all can cringe along with Alice.

The Alice series has been around since I was in elementary school and there's a reason they're still heavily in print! I really recommend them for kids and for adults, especially fans of Clementine or Ramona who are looking to move up to harder (and edgier)* books.

Not that I'd really call the early Alice books edgy, especially the prequels. But this one does feature Alice learning about babies and wondering about babies growing inside you. Not sex so much, but babies. The first book in the proper series The Agony of Alice deals with periods and stuff. Presumably they'll deal with even bigger issues as Alice goes through junior high and high school. I'll keep you updated as I read them!
adfa

Why I Blog

Did you read the post on Chasing Ray yesterday about building credibility? Very interesting stuff that's worth taking a look at.

Which brings back the question of why do you blog. I'll be straight up honest here. I would like to be a book reviewer and I plan to apply for some reviewing jobs when I graduate in December so I look fully accredited. (This will coincide nicely with my 3rd anniversary in children's services. And the 4th anniversary of this blog.)

This blog reviews books, yes, but not in the same way it would for something more serious. You can tell there's usually a difference in what I write for The Edge of the Forest and what I write here. Why?

Well, I started this blog after being a part of the knitting blog community, which is one big conversation. I was looking at the adaptation of Persuasion to Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason and then how that changed again with the movie. My big complaint being that the movie stripped out all of the book's parallels to the original Austen. I never actually blogged about this, but that was what inspired me. My first blog posts were on my irritation on bad transliteration.

Over the years, it's changed a bit. I decided I wanted to blog every book I read. I found the kidlit community, so now the discussion I was looking for is really happening. People actually read this thing now.

Yes, I harbor secret fantasies of having a bajillion people a day read this thing and somehow make it my sole job. But, I also harbor fantasies of someone spotting me in a coffee shop and asking me to star in a romantic comedy opposite Colin Firth. A girl can dream, right?

I like the fact that this medium means I can write an in-depth review of something. I also like that it gives me the chance to state my opinions on how much I want to smack certain characters (Like JP in Princess on the Brink.) I like that I can just gush about a book. I like that I can be as formal or as informal as my mood strikes me.

Readers know that there aren't a lot of negative reviews on here. Honestly, when it comes to books, I'm pretty easy to please. My positive reviews might not say much, but I like to think my negative reviews do. I don't know.

So, then it comes down to the ARCs. Do I like ARCs? Yes. I like it when people want to send me their book to review. Dude. I like books. The vast, vast, vast majority of the books on this site are books that someone recommended or looked interesting when I ran across them in the library or bookstore. I *always* say where a book came from if it wasn't something I picked up on my own volition.

I don't blog for the ARCs. I blog for me. I blog for the fun of it. I blog so at the end of the year, I remember what I read and what I thought about it. I blog for the community-- I love non-fiction Monday and Poetry Friday and things like the 48 Hour Challenge.

So, yes. That's why I blog. Do I have credibility? I hope so. I strive to be very transparent and up-front about things. I'm not one of the top blogs, I know. I'm cool with that. But hopefully I'm a fun blog to read.

I'll get back to reviewing things soon, I promise.

48 Hour Wrap Up + 24 Hour info

Alright, I'm insane and didn't sleep all weekend. And when I woke up on Monday at 12:00 (I didn't have to work until 1, and I had gone to bed at 9 on Sunday) I still felt like I had been run over by a MACK truck. Apparently flying to Iowa and back last weekend, a few days of Code Red air days and no sleep = sinus and ear infection. So I didn't go to work yesterday which is very, very poor form. BAD JENNIE. Also, there is definitely a point of diminishing returns. I probably could have read the same amount if I had slept because the lack of sleep was messing with my reading speed and comprehension.

But it was fun.

Anyway, today I'm adding pictures and things to my 48 hour posts, I'm also going to be posting some things on my spoiler blog because I have a lot of opinions on where Princess Diaries left off.

ALSO! The 24 Hour Read-a-thon is coming up in 2 weeks.

This one is a little different--

1. Everyone reads for the same 24 hours (1:59 11:59 Saturday afternoon to 1:59 11:59* Sunday afternoon if you're on the East Coast like me.)
2. You can read anything you want.
3. Instead of fame and glory, this one's for charity (Reading is Fundamental.)

SO! I'm asking for sponsors to help me for this. There are a few ways to sponsor me.

You can just donate a lump sum. Or, you can donate based on how I do.

I will personally be donating $.03 for every book, hour and page I read. Based on this past weekend, I'm expecting that to be around $60-$70.

I've already received some sponsors, so including my own donation, I will be raising $.08 for every page I read, $.06 for every book, and $.06 for every hour.

If you would like to help me raise money for this worthy cause, please email me at kidsilkhaze (at) yahoo (dot) com.

**Edited to correct times. I can't read a time zone map.

Anyway, some further thoughts on books. I think I forgot to mention that Pure Dead... talks about poop. A lot. Mainly dragon poop. And baby poop. And how Yetis like to eat poop. This can either be a turn off or a selling point, depending on your audience.

Also, it was obviously written by a mother. There is a lot in here for adults poking fun at childhood foibles that kids won't get. But, for kids, there's poop. Lots and lots of poop. And talking crocodiles.

Also, the character of Ffup was interesting. I'm still not keen on how her personality totally changed when she found out she was a girl. I also think her as a teenage mother was odd, because she was very much a teenager and not ready for a child, even if she was 600 years old.

All in all, it was just very, very British. British children's books are always much more adult than American children's books are.

UPDATE:

Also, I wanted to add how much I love Mia's dorkiness. She talks in Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings similes. And she rights Battlestar Galactica fanfic. And is an expert on Lifetime movies, much like my friend Sarah.

Hour 48

Hours read/blogging: 42 Hours

Number of books read: 19.25 books

Number of pages read: 4364

Well, at hour 48 I'm a little more than 1/4 of the way through Alice in Blunderland by Phylis Reynolds Naylor.

I'm also incredibly sleepy. In the past 48 hours, I got 5 consecutive hours of sleep. I got another 30 minutes taken in random instances of dozing off (about 5-10 minutes each) plus there was another 30 minutes of random cooking, laundry, and trying to put the duvet cover back on the duvet.

Anyway, I'm off for a nap. Tomorrow I'll do a rap-up post, going a little further in depth on some of the books I read, adding pictures and links, and spoiler pages for when I need to rant and rave about endings...

Sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep

47 Hours, 30 minutes

Hours read/blogging: 41 Hours, 30 minutes

Number of books read: 19

Number of pages read: 4299

WARNING: I am reviewing series books. While this review contains no spoilers for this book, it probably contains spoilers for previous volumes in this series. It’s the nature of the beast.

Princess Mia Meg Cabot

Well, Michael and Mia are officially splits-ville. Mia spends so much time wallowing in bed in the aftermath that Lars has to literally pick her up, chuck her into the limo and drag her off to therapy. There she's told to do at least one scary thing a day. Like go shopping with Lana Weinberger.

And everyone thinks JP and Mia are a couple, because of some photos that appeared in the New York Post. Lilly's no where near talking to her.

Also, Mia has to give a speech about Genovia to this highly exclusive women's society, Domina Rei (like Opus Dei, but non-religious and for women.)

The following thoughts were so forceful that I had to type them while reading the book:

JP needs to go away. He needs to go away NOW. Or Mia needs to wise up to see what he's doing and PUNCH HIM IN THE FACE!!! He is scum! Trying to put the moves on her and drive Mia and Lilly apart. I mean, I have my issues with Lilly, but who the hell does this guy think he is?! And why doesn't Mia or Tina see it? Oh wait. Tina does see it. Someone needs to hit Mia upside the head with a frying pan and knock some sense into her.

Ok. Now that I've finished the book, and this is the last in the series so far, I definitely have some thoughts for the spoiler page. Look for them tomorrow.

Update: Here are my thoughts on the ending.

45 Hours, 10 Minutes

Hours read/blogging: 39 hours, 10 minutes

Number of books read: 18

Number of pages read: 4025

WARNING: I am reviewing series books. While this review contains no spoilers for this book, it probably contains spoilers for previous volumes in this series. It’s the nature of the beast.

Princess on the Brink Meg Cabot

Michael has invented a robot that will do heart surgery without having to crack open someone's chest. Only he had to go to JAPAN for OVER A YEAR to get it up and running. He needs to prove to the world and to Mia's family that he's worthy of a princess. It's his quest, but Mia's not handling it well... especially when he tells her that he's sick of cold showers so not being around her all the time without doing IT might make his life a little easier.

So maybe it's time to give him her Precious Gift (just the fact she calls it that shows she's so not ready yet) and then he'll change his mind and stay in New York.

I hate J.P.-- I'll add thoughts on this later if still necessary after reading the next book...

update: See my thoughts after my review of Princess Mia.

42 hours and a half (I think--my math is getting fuzy)

Hours read/blogging: 36 and a half (Again, with the fuzzy math)

Number of books read: 17

Number of pages read: 3787

WARNING: I am reviewing series books. While this review contains no spoilers for this book, it probably contains spoilers for previous volumes in this series. It’s the nature of the beast.

Valentine Princess Meg Cabot

So this is a short one AND a flash back to Mia and Michael's first Valentine's Day. Mia's all excited because she has a Valentine, except Michael doesn't believe in the Hallmark Corporate holiday... alas.

A confusing flap copy error-- it says that Boris would declare his love for Tina, which would have made this make no sense. But, in the book, he declares it for Lilly, who is the girl he was dating at the time.

And we finally get the lyrics to "Tall Drink of Water"

42 hours-ish

Hours read/blogging: a little under 36

Number of books read: 16

Number of pages read: 3701

WARNING: I am reviewing series books. While this review contains no spoilers for this book, it probably contains spoilers for previous volumes in this series. It’s the nature of the beast.

Sweet Sixteen Princess Meg Cabot

Another short one-off type vignette-y type book. This time it's Mia's birthday. After last year, she doesn't want a party, just a nice night out with Michael. Only Grandmere has something planned. Something big. Something that will appear on a special episode of MTV's My Sweet ROYAL Sixteen. And Lilly isn't taking Mia's side. Yes Lilly and Grandmere-- they're the Snape/Malfoy of the Muggle world. Only without the capes.

I love Mia's voice.

I love Meg Cabot.

I actually really like these little short installments of Mia's diary...

41 Hours

Hours read/blogging: 35 hours

Number of books read: 15

Number of pages read: 3619

WARNING: I am reviewing series books. While this review contains no spoilers for this book, it probably contains spoilers for previous volumes in this series. It’s the nature of the beast.

Party Princess Meg Cabot

This one took me forever to read-- the lack of sleep started getting to me until I made another pot of coffee. Anyway!

Mia's student government is out of money 3 months before the end of the school year--which means they can't rent the graduation hall. Whoops. So, in order to raise the money without having to sell candles, schemes are put into motion. Lilly has a lit mag that she's calling Fat Louie's Pink Butthole, of all things. And Grandmere has written a musical about Genovian history and forcing Mia to play the lead.

And Michael's throwing a party. So he invited Mia (duh, girlfriend) but Mia's not a party girl and doesn't want to go. Whinge whinge whinge.

Ok-- WTF is with Mia moaning on about this party? SUCK IT UP. Michael would for you. Dude. It's 1 party on 1 night. I could understand if she were freaking out about what to wear or even the how to act aspect, but no, she just straight up doesn't want to go and is moaning about that.

Also, you can't Netscape something. Netscape is a browser, not a search engine, so you can't force it into being a verb, like we've made Google a verb. Because Google is a search engine, so you can look things up with it. You can access Google via Netscape, but you can't check Netscape for something. Ergh.

BUT! I love that Hermione and Ron are on Mia's list of couples you'd hate to see break up. Especially because this came out in 2006, before they were ever officially together. Even though we all knew it was coming. Even if Ron does have the emotional range of a teaspoon!

Ok-- 7 hours left...

38 Hours

Hours read/blogging: 32 hours

Number of books read: 14

Number of pages read: 3313

WARNING: I am reviewing series books. While this review contains no spoilers for this book, it probably contains spoilers for previous volumes in this series. It’s the nature of the beast.

A Princess Diaries Book Meg Cabot

It's Christmas in Genovia! Only Lilly, Michael, and half of Europe's royalty are going to be there. Because when activist Lilly has to put up with royals and court protocol, what's the worst that can happen? 2 words: Strip Bowling. Also, a nice nod to O. Henry.

I really liked this. It's nice to see Mia having to be all royal and Lilly actually seeing what being Princess is all about--not as much as the usual teen angst. I mean, Mia is Mia, but she's angsty about different things than normal teens in this short vignette, so it's a bit refreshing.

37 Hours

Hours read/blogging: 31 hours

Number of books read: 13

Number of pages read: 3228

WARNING: I am reviewing series books. While this review contains no spoilers for this book, it probably contains spoilers for previous volumes in this series. It’s the nature of the beast.

Princess in Training Meg Cabot

According to Lana Weinberger, all college boys want is to DO IT. Mia knows she's not ready for that. So not ready, she can't even talk to Michael about it. Plus, Lilly nominated her for student council president and is running her campaign with the help of Grandmere. Grandmere? Well, she might just be trying to deflect attention from the fact that Mia might have committed a small act of eco-terrorism over the summer that might get Genovia kicked out the EU...

Why is Mia always taking relationship advice from Grandmere and now Lana?! Seriously? WHY?! Tina's romance-novel based judgment is much better than theirs!

The ending was... not what I wanted, but realistic. Hopefully, when on Monday, I'll read this post and remind myself I want to post further thoughts on the ending over at the spoiler page. If they're not totally cleared up or negated by the next few books which I'm off to read!

And... those thoughts are here.

34 Hours, 20 Minutes

Hours read/blogging: 28 hours, 25 minutes

Number of books read: 12

Number of pages read: 2934

WARNING: I am reviewing series books. While this review contains no spoilers for this book, it probably contains spoilers for previous volumes in this series. It’s the nature of the beast.

Well, I'm not going to beat Midwestern Lodestar in books or page count (I must learn her secrets!) but maybe in hours? Let's not talk about how much coffee I've had to drink already... plus I've seen 2 sunrises this weekend... Anyway...

Princess in Pink Meg Cabot

All Mia wants is to go to prom with Michael, so why hasn't he asked her? Because he thinks prom is lame and doesn't want to go!!! Then, at her birthday dinner, a busboy trips over Rommel and gets fired for dumping soup over Grandmere. Lilly takes up the cause of the unjust firing, but then ends up choosing Jangbu (the busboy) over Boris (boyfriend of 8 months) for a rousing round of 7 Minutes in Heaven. And things go from bad to worse as the the busboys go on strike and most of New York's service unions join them... meaning it doesn't matter what Michael thinks about prom, as it's been canceled and everyone blames Mia.

Still funny! And this volume is still filled with the same self-constructed drama that wouldn't be an issue if Mia weren't so... 15. But there are some bigger things Mia has to deal with that don't have an easy out that her neuroses won't let her see.

Also, it's nice to see that sticking a spatula down your best friend's throat during a frosting-related fight is a recurring event in Cabot's books. (Also happened in the opening chapter of Allie Finkle. In this case, it's Mia remembering a fight she had with Lilly when they were kids.) Also Lilly... I don't know how I feel about her... she has a lot of negatives, and I'm not sure we've seen enough of her positives to balance those out yet...

31 hours, 50 minutes

Hours read/blogging: 26 hours, 35 minutes

Number of books read: 11

Number of pages read: 2659

WARNING: I am reviewing series books. While this review contains no spoilers for this book, it probably contains spoilers for previous volumes in this series. It’s the nature of the beast.

Project Princess Meg Cabot

A short little vignette of a book about Mia's G/T plus a few students' trip to West Virginia for to build houses for a Habitat for Humanity-esque organization. Plus, Mia gets 5 whole days without her parents, Grandmere, or Michael's parents to always be around. Now, if only she weren't so sleepy and smelly...

Cute and short. I can see where this would be a nice volume to hold fans over while waiting for the next full-length installment.

31 hours, 20 minutes

Hours read/blogging: 26 hours, 5 minutes

Number of books read: 10

Number of pages read: 2609

WARNING: I am reviewing series books. While this review contains no spoilers for this book, it probably contains spoilers for previous volumes in this series. It’s the nature of the beast.

Princess in Waiting Meg Cabot

I don't think I've mentioned this yet-- all these books start with a quotation from The Little Princess. It's awesome.

So... Mia's off to Genovia for Christmas, where she creates a minor political scandal when she starts saying that what they really need is parking meters. Also, she's trying to navigate her new relationship with Michael. Grandmere doesn't think he's the most suitable of consort, but if
Mia insists, she should at least play hard to get a la Jane Eyre. Now, there's one love affair I never understood. Had I not already known what was eventually going to happen, I would have been rather confused when they fell in love...

There's a lot of Mia-constructed does he love me or not drama. But you know it's a good book (or at least an engaging Character voice) when you don't mind reading 259 pages of whinging on about "does he love me like a friend or is he in love with me."

Also, I love the fact that Mia wears Queen Amidala underpants.

29 hours, 40 minutes

Hours read/blogging: 24 hours, 25 minutes

Number of books read: 9

Number of pages read: 2358

WARNING: I am reviewing series books. While this review contains no spoilers for this book, it probably contains spoilers for previous volumes in this series. It’s the nature of the beast.

Princess in Love Meg Cabot

Somehow Mia has ended up actually dating Kenny. And all of her friends have a boyfriend... and Mia has Kenny. Too bad she doesn't like like him. Nope, she still lurves Michael, who may have a girlfriend. Because that's bad enough, finals are approaching and when she goes to Genovia for Christmas, she has to address her subjects-to-be. Grandmere is insisting she wears a dress by a Genovian designer-- her distant cousin Sebastiano. (Who may be trying to kill her, as he's next in line for the throne if she's not in the picture. Only what he does might actually be worse.)

Ah... love. Hilarious still. I love Mia's voice.

26 Hours, 40 minutes

Hours read/blogging: 21 hours, 25 minutes

Number of books read: 8

Number of pages read: 2098

WARNING: I am reviewing series books. While this review contains no spoilers for this book, it probably contains spoilers for previous volumes in this series. It’s the nature of the beast.

Princess in the Spotlight Meg Cabot

So, Mia's now totally in love with Michael and completely oblivious that he's in love with her too. Her mom's pregnant and getting married to Mr. G. And Grandmere wants to plan the wedding. And Mia's getting notes from a secret admirer that couldn't be Michael... could it?

More hilarity ensues. I CAN NOT believe I haven't read this sooner. No wonder Lauren stared at me all agog when I said I hadn't a few months ago. Why haven't you people told me sooner?!!!!

Off to read more!

24 Hours, 30 minutes

Hours read/blogging: 19 hours, 15 minutes

Number of books read: 7

Number of pages read: 1841

The Princess Diaries Meg Cabot

Basic gist is that Mia finds out that her father (who lives in the small principality of Genovia) is actually a prince. He can't have any more kids, so Mia is the only heir, so she has to learn how to be a princess from her icky grandma. Plus she's totally dorky and failing Algebra, despite the fact that her mom his dating her math teacher.

Angsty hilarity ensures.

So, I've seen most of the movie and this is pretty different. For one, Mia's dad is still alive. For two, her grandmother is no Julie Andrews, let me tell you. She's a chain-smoking side-caring drinking unsympathetic Dowager Princess. Damn Judy could have done that so well.

Meg Cabot is hilarious.

As part of her princess lessons, Mia has to write an essay on the 10 women she admires most. Woman number 8 is:

The Lady Cop I Once Saw give a truck driver a ticket for honking at a woman who was crossing the street (her skirt was kinda of short). The lady cop told the truck driver it was a no-honking zone, and then when he argued about it, she wrote him another ticket for arguing with an officer of the law.

On one hand, this is a pretty blatant abuse of power by the cops. On the other hand, I totally hope that this is based on something that Meg Cabot actually witnessed.

Anyway, I'm off to read more.

22 hours, 15 minutes

Hours read/blogging: 17 hours

Number of books read: 6

Number of pages read: 1538

WARNING: I am reviewing series books. While this review contains no spoilers for this book, it probably contains spoilers for previous volumes in this series. It’s the nature of the beast.

Pure Dead Frozen Debi Glori

And it all comes to a head as Baci gives birth, S'tan gives up on Isagoth, and Don Lucifer is determined to finish off his half-brother once and for all. Which means all forces of good and evil are converging on StergaSchloss at the same time. In a blizzard. Plus, there are literally wolves at the door. And in the kitchen.

With the exception of the first 50ish pages, the entire book read like one big climax, which was a bit draining, really. I did, however, enjoy the comic relief of Isagoth trying to deal with the stolen human baby. Also, why did Ffup's gestation take SO MUCH LONGER in these last 2 books than her 1st one did in book 3 (was it 3?)

Time for a new series!

Hour 18

Hours read/blogging: 12 hours, 45 minutes

Number of books read: 5

Number of pages read: 1,227

WARNING: I am reviewing series books. While this review contains no spoilers for this book, it probably contains spoilers for previous volumes in this series. It’s the nature of the beast.

Pure Dead Batty Debi Glori

Well, the body count of the last few books has tipped off the big wigs down in Glasgow, so they've come and arrested Luciano as a serial murderer. Mrs. McLachlan is still missing, but mysterious clues keep turning up to give the family hope. (She's trapped in a place-out-of-time with Isagoth, slowly forgetting what she left behind.) Meanwhile, Damp is learning how to fly. Also, S'Tan has gotten unbelievably fat and little good, as the removal of the Chromostone from Earth means he can no longer use to it amp his power, so he's losing his evil touch and turning to food for comfort.

Well, it's going to be a showdown between Luciano and Lucifer, when all is said and done. These books are steadily less and less funny, and, as the universe is well-established, it loses it's zany factor, but I've formed an attachment to the characters and am looking forward to seeing what happens next!

11 Hours, 4 minutes

Hours read/blogging: 10 hours, 34 minutes

Number of books read: 4

Number of pages read: 934

WARNING: I am reviewing series books. While this review contains no spoilers for this book, it probably contains spoilers for previous volumes in this series. It’s the nature of the beast.

Pure Dead Trouble Debi Glori

S'Tan, head of Hades is not happy that the Chronostone is still missing. So when Isogoth, the head of Headean defense can trace it to StregaSchloss...

Everyone returns home from holiday to find Latch passed out on the floor, due to too much sulphur. And when the library has been gutted by fire and no one knows where the Alpha the Centaur is, Mrs. McLachen knows it's only a matter of time before she'll have to do serious battle to protect the Strega-Borgias.

No where near as funny as the earlier ones, as this is getting dark and more sequential.

Also, I don't think I've mentioned it yet, but I'm rather enjoying the illustrations, especially in this book-- it's fun to figure out what they're illustrations of as you read each chapter...

7 hours, 45 minutes

Hours read/blogging: 7 hours, 30 minutes (I dozed off for a minute there)

Number of books read: 3

Number of pages read: 655

WARNING: I am reviewing series books. While this review contains no spoilers for this book, it probably contains spoilers for previous volumes in this series. It’s the nature of the beast.

Pure Dead Brilliant Debi Glori

This one's a bit darker as we flash back and forth in time, with the Strega-Borgia ancestors making a deal with the devil that promises the soul of every first born son. As Titus is about to turn 13, his time is coming. Meanwhile, Baci has invited all of her witch classmates to stay for the week, including a demon in disguise who has come to collect what Titus owes. And, it seems that Damp is more powerful than anyone imagined. And Ffup is a horrible mother.

Darker and more complicated, but still good.

4 hours and 30 minutes

Hours read/blogging: 4 hours, 30 minutes

Number of books read: 2

Number of pages read: 393

WARNING: I am reviewing series books. While this review contains no spoilers for this book, it probably contains spoilers for previous volumes in this series. It’s the nature of the beast.

Pure Dead Wicked Debi Glori

StregaSchloss's roof is falling down. The whole family must relocate the a hotel in town while the roofers 'fix' the problem. Little does the Strega-Borgia family realize, they've hired con-men who are actually destroying the castle in an attempt to get the family to sell-out. Also, there are 500 pink, naked clones that are about 4 inches tall. And an army of old skool Highland warriors, who are also quite wee.

And it turns out that Ffup the dragon is actually a girl.

The mini-market demonstrated that the rogue apostrophe was alive and well in Auchenlocktermuchty, with banners offering FREE-RANGE TURKEY'S, FINE WINE'S and, oddly, FRESH ASPARAGU'S. (54-55)

My one problem is in Ffup discovering she's a she, because her entire character changes to a giggly girly stereotype.

2 hours and 5 Minutes

Hours read/blogging: 2 hours, 5 minutes

Number of books read: 1

Number of pages read: 182

Pure Dead Magic Debi Glori

High in the Scottish Highlands sits an Austrian castle with an Italian family. There's a boy obsessed with computer games, a girl, and a baby. Dad's just left and Mum's a wreck, so she hires a very no-nonsense nanny who makes good French Fries.

Of course, Dad's been kidnapped by his gangster half-brother and mum's back off to witch school and the nanny just happens to be a witch too.

And Pandora, the girl, accidentally shrunk Damp, the baby. And Titus, the boy, accidentally sent her off as part of an email attachment. Luckily, there's a spider who knows a thing or two about webs. Maybe then can all save Dad if a gung-weilding giant bunny doesn't kill them first.

Pretty silly, in a magic + high tech thriller + crazy sort of way. I'll be recommending this series quite often!

Off to read some more!

The 48 Hours Starts Now

According to my watch, it is now 7:20.

I went to the grocery store to get food that can be eaten straight from the fridge.

I opened all the windows and turned on all the ceiling fans.

I changed out of my work clothes.

I have all the books in the following series: Gossip Girl, Princess Diaries, Alice McKinley, Once Upon a Time, and Pure Dead... which all got at least 4 votes in my sidebar poll. I decided not to use the Disney Faeries, because, upon closer inspection, most of them did not appear to be at a 5th grade level.

I have them in stacks, in order, so I can just grab the next book.

I left an away message on AIM and updated my Facebook status, so...

As of 7:20pm, East Coast Time, the 48 hours has begun.

Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick

China! Science! Biography!

First, an announcement. Things Mean a Lot is hosting the next Bookworm's Carnival. The theme is fairy tales, so you know I'm all over that. Submission deadline is June 13. Info is here.

This weekend is the 48 Hour Challenge, so I'll be blogging up an over-caffeinated storm. I'm going for the gold.

Also, I get to turn my air-conditioning on this weekend. We try to go as long as possible, but given we're currently in a "heat advisory" and tomorrow's heat index is supposed to be 110? Well, that's why we HAVE a/c, right? Right.

Now, a story. Then a review.

One of the cool things about going to a small liberal arts college with no grad students is the academic stuff they let you get away with. Seriously. End of junior year, my friend Ellie and I decided we wanted to take a class together in the fall. But, she was a physics major and I was history and Chinese... so we designed an independent study that combined all 3 of these things. Yes, our 2 credit class was on Ancient Chinese Astronomy. We even conned a professor into advising us on this!

In the end, it kinda sucked. I had way too much on my plate that semester, and we had an issue with sources. When we put together our bibliography as part of the class proposal, it was long and extensive. But, when class started, we realized we really only had 1 source: Joseph Needham's Science and Civilisation in China. Everything else was just a rehash of Needham's works. Some had better photographs, but usually it was just a simplification or further proof that Needham was right. It all came down to Needham. And given that our library had a complete set of Needham? That's what we read. (Also the Needham? Takes up multiple shelves. It's pretty intense.)

You can understand why I jumped all over

The Man Who Loved China: The Fantastic Story of the Eccentric Scientist Who Unlocked the Mysteries of the Middle Kingdom Simon Winchester

Joseph Needham was a brilliant bio-chemist, a socialist, a Morris Dancer, and he definitely liked the ladies. After falling hopelessly in love with Lu Gwei-djen (who was not a wife, but as theirs was an open marriage, it didn't cause nearly the drama you would expect) he also became a devote Sinophile.

During WWII, he went to Chongqing (where the capital had retreated) as British diplomat--his job was to get Chinese universities the equipment they needed to continue to function. While there, he started his research into how China was the first to discover such things as printing, gun powder, the compass, and paper. That China was the first is common knowledge NOW, but only because of Needham.

A fascinating story, plus it's by Winchester. I've always meant to read his books, but this is the first I actually did. It's completely accessible and engaging. Winchester can certainly tell a story. What I most admire is his ability to make the finer points of history and culture easy to understand without losing any of the accuracy. I often see in mainstream history or children's nonfiction a simplification to the point of no longer being entirely accurate. This is not the case with Winchester's works.

I highly recommend it, and will be giving a copy to Ellie when she visits next weekend.

Catching up on the ol' Reviewing...

We're now delving back deeply in the reading log, to find all of those unblogged books.

For those who are interested, I keep a small unlined spiral notebook in my bag. If you open it one way, it's my "have read list" with a large heading for every month. Open it the other way, and it's my "to read list" so I can easily jot down interesting titles when I see or hear about them. I have a separate book where I write my impressions of a book during and after reading. These cryptic notes often provide great hilarity later on when I try to figure out what the heck I meant. On the actual reading log, I just place a little check mark next to the title...

I am now attempting to blog books much closer to the date in which I read them. In fact, I have already reviewed all the books I read in May of 2008. Pretty impressive, no?

But, let's delve back into those archives to find today's 5 reviews shall we? These books have nothing in common. I'm starting with my oldest unblogged book and working my way forward...

Also, I decided to start putting age ranges on my reviews. These are just who (a) the book is aimed at or (b) who I think it will most appeal to.

Silk Umbrellas Carolyn Marsden

Noi is an 11-year-old girl living in rural Thailand. There, she learns to paint silk umbrellas with her grandmother, Kun Ya. The family faces money problems and her older sister, Ting, is sent to work in a factory. Noi is horrified at the working conditions in the factory and fears that it's only a matter of time before she has to go there as well.

This is a really sweet story and rather short. I longed for more of the day-to-day details-- the struggles that made Ting's work in the factory so necessary and also just Thai village life.

age range: 4th-6th ish

An Ocean Apart, a World Away Lesley Namioka

Set in that tumultuous time of the Chinese Republic (1911-1949, although this takes place in the inter-war years.) Yanyan belongs to a modern family and wants to grow up to be a doctor. Her boyfriend, however, is a revolutionary who wants to restore the Qing dynasty. After their love sours, Yanyan finds a way to get to Cornell where she struggles with racism and fitting into a new culture.

I really wanted to like this book, but overall I struggled with it. Yanyan's voice was completely unconvincing. There was way too much explanatory text for a novel told in the first person-- it jarred and took away from the characterization of Yanyan, to the point where I no longer cared much about her story. Also, I have a hard time believing that such a modern girl, raised in a modern household, had no idea what the May 4th movement was!

age range--YA, appropriate for younger YAs

>

Clay David Almond

Davie and Stephen are alter boys in England who are starting to question God. Enter Stephen, the freaky (and deeply religious) new kid who lives with his mad relative and create clay figures that come to life. Stephen wants to create a clay man, a Golem, and set him on the local bully.

This was a Best Book for YA but... it didn't grab me.

The main question is if Stephen Rose is a devil or a saint. But, I don't really care enough to think about it. I couldn't decide if the book was subtle or just straight-up boring. I didn't have a lot of patience for Davie's dithering about the questions raised. Also, there's a weird shift in tense when they start building the clay man that I can't figure out.

This book took me forever to read. I'd set it back down and wasn't compelled to pick it back up, except that I felt it deserved a full read because everyone else apparently loved it.

Me, eh.

age range: YA

Shug by Jenny Han

I really liked this one. This tells of the summer between 6th and 7th grades, when suddenly boys and popularity start to matter, that time when everything starts to change. Shug (Annemarie) is trying to negotiate her life when she realizes she like likes her best guy friend and her best girlfriend is suddenly much more popular than she is. At the same time, her dad is never home, her mother is a snobby alcoholic, and her sister is always out.

Han perfectly captures the sheer pain and agony of being 12 and not being sure if growing up is really the right direction that one should be taking.

I think everyone has read this already, but if you haven't, go!

Age range: 5th-8th grade

Thumb on a Diamond Ken Roberts

The tiny fishing town of New Auckland, in British Columbia, has 42 buildings. The kids in town want to see the big city, but have no way of getting there. They then realize they have enough to form a baseball team and can get school funding to play in the provincial tournament down in Vancouver. Who cares if none of them have actually played baseball--that's what the internet is for! And well.. who cares if there's not enough flat space to actually put together a diamond? The whole point is to go down, get eliminated in the first round, and explore the city.

Full of heart and realism, a nice story. I especially loved their reaction to escalators, which none of the kids had seen before.

An excellent bet for 3rd-5th graders.

5 books a day keeps the librarian away! (or makes us love you)

So I was hanging out on iTunes last night when I see something interesting-- a new artist called Charlotte Sometimes. iTunes was so happy to know that she named herself after a Cure song. I wonder if either iTunes, or Ms. Sometimes, knows that the Cure song they feel so "in" knowing about is actually about a classic children's book? Probably not.

Anyway, 3 more reviews to round out the day. These books really don't have anything in common except that I read them recently.

Allie Finkle's Rules For Girls: Moving Day Meg Cabot

Can you believe that this is the only Meg Cabot I've read? I know! Luckily, I have The Princess Diaries lined up for the this weekend's challenge. (It's been neck-in-neck in the poll with Gossip Girl for first place. Right now they're tied. Also, the Alice McKinley books are a strong second. All are on tap for this weekend, baring last minute voting shockers.)

Anyway, I'm a late convert to the House of Meg. Ah well. This book, the first she's done for middle grade readers and the start of a new series, is a great introduction, methinks.

Allie has a list of rules to help her run her life:
You Can't Let Your Family Move Into a Haunted House
Don't Put Your Cat in a Suitcase
Don't Get a Pet that Poops in your Hand
Don't Stick a Spatula Down your Best Friend's Throat
and more.

And Allie needs these rules as her family is moving across town and her best friend is, well, kinda lame. Allie's not happy about either of these prospects. Especially because the new house is big and scary and her new school will not be as new and shiny as the one she currently attends. She can try all she wants, but her parents aren't buying her excuses as to why they should stay exactly where they are.

Allie is hysterical and believable and Cabot perfectly captures the trails and tribulations of 4th grade friendships, except that many of her observations about friendship are true even when 4th grade is a successfully repressed memory.

AND! We get the next in the series, New Girl in August!

full disclosure: This is an ARC provided at ALA midwinter to my dear friend Ann who scoured the exhibition floor for me and snatched up ARCs she thought I would like. Because I have KICK ASS friends.

Sunita's Secret Narinder Dhami

Ok, this book isn't published in the US, but it's available for cheap with free shipping and super-fast delivery from The Book Depository, which is where you should be getting all of your British books. I love these people. They are awesome. (Seriously, when I bought the British version of Clarice Bean, Don't Look Now because I couldn't wait until it came out in the US? Not only did I have it months before anyone else, but it ended up costing me, at the most, the same amount as if I had purchased the US edition. SERIOUSLY.)

Anyway... Sunita's father used to be an accountant and he embezzled a ton of money. Before he was caught, Sunita lived the high life. But now he's on the run from the law and Sunita, her twin siblings, and their mum are living in a small house, hiding from the neighbors...

Sunita wanted to keep her past a secret, but Celina, the most popular girl in her grade makes sure that can't happen. Everyone thinks she's a thief, just like her dad. To cheer herself up, she starts doing secret good deeds for others, and the idea spreads like wildfire... but then, Celina takes all the credit!

Set at Coppergate School, the Dhillon sisters make an appearance, but the action is post-Superstar Babes.

What I most like are Sunita's new friends, especially Zara, who decides that since they're both social outcasts they should be friends, purely as a business arrangement to make the school day a little easier... Also, I think Sunita's conflicted feelings about her father are spot-on, as is the family's desire to hide from the world, and how they eventually come out of their shell, little by little.

Fans of Dhami will definitely want to make the effort to track this one down--it's well worth it.

Project Paris: The Fashion-Forward Adventures of Imogene Lisa Barham

So, this is the second book in a series that starts with A Girl Like Moi and continues with Accidentally Fabulous, which comes out in August.

In this installment, Imogene and Evie are off to Paris for the summer. Evie is interning at a design house and Imogene is covering couture week for the fashion forecasting house she works for. And then... the models go on strike. Imogene is being called back to New York unless she can come up with something really big. When the girls find an abandoned collection of dresses, they decide to show them. Only... whose the designer? And when their web of lies catches up to them, what will they do?

Overall, I give it a resounding "meh". I could never believe Imogene as a character. She switches between 12 and 35. She was never believable at 18 unless she was talking about the boy she left behind, but even then I didn't understand what the fuss was about (maybe if I had read the first in the series?) I never connected with her, and frequent readers know I connect with almost every person to grace a page.

Also, I didn't understand her fashion choices. Barham obviously wanted Imogene to be chic and for her clothing not to date the book. But... that means it wasn't fashion forward and for super-classic high fashion? She ended up dressing much older than she was.

The whole thing devolves into madcap slapstick and it would make an entertaining movie for some it-girl du jour, but the action doesn't show up well on the page.

I will say that I was impressed by the production value--full color illustrations throughout the book! I actually quite liked the illustrations. They were light and frothy and what the book wanted to be, but ultimately wasn't.

Elizabeth Scott

I feel like I've made a new friend. I read two Elizabeth Scott books in a row last weekend and just wanted to keep reading more. She has a brand new one out,Stealing Heaven that I'm hoping to get my hands on soon. It's too new for me to ILL it, but maybe one of the libraries I'll frequent will get it soon, or I'll wait about another month and should be able to get it...

But, here's what I did read:

Bloom Elizabeth Scott

Lauren's everything you're supposed to want to be. She has the perfect boyfriend--cute, popular, and super sweet. She has a great best friend, and she's almost one of the popular crowd...

But... (and there's always a but). There's nothing for her at home but an empty house. She doesn't really have anything in common with her best friend and while her boyfriend is generally seen as perfect, he's kinda boring and not really the guy for her. The only thing she's really excited about is jazz band, but that's dorky so she hides it. She doesn't tell her boyfriend, best friend, or father when she's given a major solo in the concert. She doesn't even tell them she has a concert.

But how can she break out of what everyone expects she is in order to be who she actually is? It might take Evan, the son of her father's ex-girlfriend moving back to town to show her what she has inside her.

I love how there is no perfect characters in this book. Everyone has their issues of varying levels and all are believable. There's a fair amount of teen angst, but it was like listening to my own inner monologue during my high school years. It's not over the top, but rather perfectly bitter sweet. I was back in high school all over again, standing at my locker, looking at people who could easily have been Scott's characters.

The next book I read was:

Perfect You Elizabeth Scott

Kate's life is pretty much over. Her best friend lost a ton of weight over the summer and is now super popular and is completely ignoring her. Kate's dad quit a good job to sell infomercial vitamins at the mall, forcing Kate to work with her. Finances are so bad, her grandmother (whom nobody likes) moves in to help out. And then, to top it all off, Will, hook-up king and all around jerk won't leave her alone.

But Anna wants to be Kate's friend in private. Will might be a jerk but why is he such a good kisser? It just throws Kate for a further loop. Kate's life is not-so-slowing spiraling into severe crapitude, and there's not one thing she can do about it.

I loved Kate's voice, especially in talking back to Will. I love how she always just dished it out. At times she seemed unsympathetic to her parents and completely bratty about her family's situation but... she's 16. It was a completely believable action. She wasn't always likable, but she was always real.

Lucky for us, Scott has another book coming out this fall, and then another one next spring. I can't wait.

Full disclosure: Perfect You was provided by the author.

The Mysterious Benedict Society: Parts 1 and 2

And, to round out my 5-a-day reviews, here's 2 more:

The Mysterious Benedict Society Trenton Lee Stewart

When Reynie's tutor sees an ad in the newspaper asking "are you a gifted child looking for special opportunities?" she signs him right up. What "it" turns out to be is a series of very odd tests. Slowly, the other children are weeded out until it's just Reynie, a boy named Sticky, and two girls--Kate and Constance. They all have different talents and abilities, and until they find each other, they are all very much alone. Together, they are the Mysterious Benedict Society.

Their mission is to infiltrate the Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened. TI is from this elite school that subliminal messages are being out over TV signals, tricking the populace into thinking there is a great crisis and change needs to occur. It's up to the kids to figure out what the point of the messages is and how to stop it.

Stewart's wacky characters, nefarious villains, and twisting plot all make for a sure fire hit. The art work is also superb. This is one that older readers are going to stay up all night reading with their flashlight under the covers.

The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey Trenton Lee Stewart

It's been a year, and the kids are reunited for an exciting adventure planned by Mr. Benedict...

But, when he's been kidnapped, following the clues around the world is less a fun adventure, and more a race to save his life. Mr. Curtain is once again behind the evil plot, and his henchman are even more horrible than before.

If you liked the first, you'll like this, easy-peasey. The characters have evolved, but Reynie is so compassionate and good at reading his friends, several confrontations that could erupt don't. On one hand, I wanted them to, on the other hand, it would have distracted from all the action.

This also has the perfect necessary quality for a sequel-- even though it's been a few months, after a few pages, I was fully immersed in this world and it was like greeting an old friend. (A good book then, to read on a weekend that was full of greeting old friends!)

These are great big thick books that readers will love. Constance Contraire, the rude, rhyming, 3-year-old remains my favorite.

Fairy Tales! and a calendar of events

It's June! Glorious, busy June!

I am back from Iowa--it was beautiful and sunny and I ran into Kelly at the coffee shop and am happy, sleepy, and sunburned. It's fun to see that the people I went to college with are fundamentally the same. We're happier and better dressed, and can now afford MUCH better beer, but fundamentally we're the same. And it's awesome.

We have some fun events coming up here in blog-land. Events YOU can all play along with at home.

First off, Weekly Geeks has declared this week's geekery to be "catch up on reviews week" which I think is something we all need to do, right? So this week (until Friday) I'm aiming for 5 reviews a day. (Even though I am way more than 25 books behind-- I currently have 39 unblogged books, but given I have issues blogging 5 books a week, I'll aim for 5 a day. It's like vegetables. 5 a day!).

This weekend is MotherReader's 48 Hour Book Challenge. Go sign up for your chance to turn X-treme Reading into an X-treme sport. Also, take a vote in my sidebar for which books you'd like me to read!

AND! At the end of the month (June 28-29) is the 24 Hour Read-a-thon to benefit Reading is Fundamental. More information on the event and to sign up is here. And information on how to sponsor my reading extravaganza is here.

Anyway, let's get started on that 5-a-day business, ok?

Ever Gail Carson Levine

As far as I'm aware, this is an original tale. Olus is the Akkan God of the winds (part of a pantheon that reminds one of Greek or Roman mythology. At 17, he's the youngest of the Gods by a few hundred years and is lonely. He longs for a mortal friend, but fails in his attempts to make friends.

Kezi lives in the land of the Admat, and omnipotent, invisible God more similar to the religions of Abraham...

In his longing for friends, Olus has become a shepard and rents land from Kezi's father and falls hopelessly in love. However, Kezi is doomed to die. Not in the way that all mortals will die eventually, but she has been promised as a sacrifice to Admat and will die in 30 days.

Olus knows of ways one can become immortal, but Kezi would have to realize that there are other Gods than Admat, and she must become a herione and Olus must become her champion. Only then can they possibly save Kezi's life.

Told in short chapters of alternating viewpoints, this is a bit of a departure from such Levine classics as Ella Enchanted and Fairest but Levine knows how to tell a story. The language is more sparse than I'm used to and it lacks her usual humor, but Levine can paint a scene with a minimum number of words . I liked the illustrations used above the chapter numbers-- the numbering system looks like an ancient form of writing and it was fun to realize what was going on there. I think Levine fans will still love this. I also think it will really appeal to fans of Julius Lester's Cupid: A Tale of Love and Desire.

Book of a Thousand Days Shannon Hale

Once again Hale turns to the Brothers Grimm for inspiration, this time, not Rapunzel as the tower suggests, but Maid Maleen.

Set in a land inspired by Ancient Mongolia, Dashti is mucker, a nomad, looked down on by the city dwellers. But she is also an orphan and must find work to survive and becomes the maid to Lady Saren, only to find that Saren is about to be locked up in a tower for seven years after refusing the match her father has made.

Dashti goes to the tower where it is dark and foreboding. Although they have been left enough food to last seven years, that's only if they can keep it from the rats. Lady Saren is spoiled and given to tantrums. She is also completely helpless. Lord Kasar, the dreaded fiance appears frequently to taunt the captives. But Khan Tegus, Lady Saren's true love also visits and brings small comforts in the form of a branch that smells of the outdoors and a cat to help with the rats.

Shannon Hale is still on the top of her game. She can paint a culture and a people with just a few sentences. This book is also illustrated, which is nice. I'm reading it in ARC form, so I think some illustrations are missing but the ones that are included are nice. Most are made to look like the illustrations Dashti herself has drawn in her diary, but there is high artistic quality.

There is much to the book besides the days in the tower, although there isn't much to the Grimm tale, and that's where Hale's magic lies-- when she takes the tale way beyond its original borders, while still staying true to the source material.

full disclosure: I got the ARC from the publisher last summer at ALA, but I would have read it anyway, I mean, it's SHANNON HALE!

The Swan Maiden Heather Tomlinson

Doucette has always been jealous of her older sisters. Beautiful and haughty, they're able to work magic, while she is plain and stuck at home learning how to be a chastelaine. Embroidery and running a household is nothing on her sisters who can fly.

But then she finds the swan skin her mother has hidden from her, the swan skin her mother would give Doucette's future husband in order to keep her from running.

But, the true story comes when Doucette falls in love with a shepherd boy. In order to gain the right to marry her, he must perform 3 impossible tasks. But that might not be enough to keep them together...

Doucette is a character that's easy to identify with, but more so. Not only are her sisters perfect and beautiful, which is bad enough, but dude! They can fly! And Doucette is always falling down and tearing her clothing and always left behind.

And then when she gets what she thinks she wants, it doesn't necessarily help.

A wonderful addition to the genre that should be read by everyone who likes Shannon Hale or Juliet Marillier, but will also appeal to those who aren't already converts to the new breed to fairy tale retellings or original tales that maintain that old timeless quality.