Besides singing, Ruby's main talent is trivia. "When it comes to little facts, strange facts, and funny facts about any- and everything, there's a good chance I know it." So, she's very excited when she hears the school is having an animal trivia contest, with the winner winning zoo passes for his or her entire grade. And it will be televised! The only problem is that it's only for the 4th-8th graders! Ruby has no way worming her into the contest, but things get bad when she finds out that two of her brothers are also representing their grades in the contest. She knows she could beat every kid in the school, except for maybe the Booker Boys.
It also has a great section of animal trivia questions (and answers) in the back.
Book Provided by... my local library
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Ruby's starting 3rd grade at a brand-new school. She's got enough personality and a brand-new book bag that looks like a guitar, so this normally wouldn't be a problem but...
Ruby has three older brothers, and they rule that school. How will she live up to the expectations they've set and how will she break out their shadow. She's up to the challenge, but every time she goes to make a name for herself, one of her brothers (unintentionally) shows her up.
Ruby's a precocious girl in a field of precocious girls written for the same reading level. I'll be honest, she's no Clementine or Keena Ford. But, she is someone that the kids really, really like and she's someone I would have loved when I was in 3rd grade. I would have wanted Ruby for a friend, and wanted to keep reading about her. So this is one of those books where I'm not saying "Read it now!" but I am saying "Shove this in the hands of an 8 year old now!"
Also, the series gets better as it goes on.
Book Provided by... my local library
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In the summer of 1900, Walter Reed (he of Walter Reed Army hospital, and a major street near my house) went to Cuba. There he met with a team of doctors to figure out what caused Yellow Fever. The disease had been ravaging areas every summer, killing thousands of people and sickening even more. While in Cuba, they had to disprove or prove the popular theories at the time. One theory that everyone thought was crazy was that it was spread by mosquitoes. Through many experiments, illnesses, and even a death, the doctors find some of their answers.
One of the most interesting aspects (to me) is that Reed refused to use human test subjects without their consent (a novel idea at the time!) Everyone had to sign a consent form and that the made in English and, for recent Spanish immigrants to Cuba, in Spanish.
Jurmain walks us through the ravages of yellow fever and the steps and experiments the doctors went through to prove that it is, indeed, spread by mosquito. This book is more about the search for a cause, rather than the disease itself. I liked the way Jurmain handled inconsistencies in the historical record, presenting all the versions out there and explaining which one she thought was correct and why, if she had an opinion. Excellent lay-out, really informative citation notes (with a lot of extra information, which is my favorite kind) an appendix with information on the human-test subject volunteers, glossary, and index.
In 1793, Philadelphia had a massive outbreak of Yellow Fever. Although record keeping wasn't great at the time, it's estimated that 5,000 people died between August and November of the disease. In this heavily-awarded* book, Murphy outlines the outbreak of the disease and the toll it had on the town.
We see how the disease spread, the controversy among physicians in how to treat it, and what the local, state, and federal government did to help and hinder the crisis.
I was most struck by the constitutional crisis it caused. The federal government was located in Philadelphia at the time, and George Washington and many other administration officials fled the town to avoid the illness. However, at the time, it was thought of as unconstitutional for Washington to convene Congress outside of Philadelphia, plus many of his papers with important information were still in town, making the federal government essentially shut down for several weeks.
The last chapter talks about other Yellow Fever outbreaks, as well as how the cause was found. Here, where the content overlaps with The Secret of the Yellow Death, the two books disagree, especially with Walter Reed's feelings on the mosquito theory and how Lazear contracted the disease. I am more inclined to agree with Jurmain's telling of the facts because she used mostly primary sources while, for this chapter** Murphy used secondary ones. Also, Jurmain's research focus was on this, while for Murphy it is essentially an epilogue to his main story.
I think the two books work very well together, especially if you add in Laurie Halse Anderson's wonderful historical fiction novel about the 1793 Philadelphia outbreak, Fever 1793.
*Newbery Honor, National Book Award Finalist, and Siebert Winner **Murphy, of course, used mostly primary sources for most of this book, just not for this bit.
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Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.
Around the blogosphere lately, I've seen several posts about Ruby and the Booker Boys, how it wasn't selling well enough, and urging people to spread the word and spend some $$$ to keep the series going. I liked the sentiment well enough, but I hadn't ever read the series, so I was staying quiet until I could change that little fact.
Which was harder to do than I originally suspected. I pulled them off the library shelf, and had them sitting next to me on the reference desk, so I could check them out when I got off desk... but girls kept coming up and being all "Miss Jennie? Can I look at those?"
Which right away is one of the best endorsements I can give-- it took me a while to read these because the intended market kept taking them away from me so THEY could read them. I then looked up the circ stats and these books are WAY more popular than I thought. This is what I call a quiet hit. The books get checked out all the time, but the kids never ask me for them, which, let's be honest, is how I tend gauge popularity.
I finally was able to check out the first two books. Before I got a chance to read them, I found myself at a bookstore (I do try to avoid those on a regular basis, they're so bad for my budget!) So I wandered over to the children's section, where I was only able to find one copy of the third book, Slumber Party Payback.
Look for the reviews later, but after having read the first three, I ordered the fourth, Ruby Flips For Attention, and I am behind the campaign to get people to buy this series so it'll stay in print and more will come!
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In 1930s England, Miss Flora Poste is orphaned and without means, so she moves in with her rural cousins. They are crazy and backwards, just as Flora figured they must be, but with a firm hand and some common sense, she sets everything to rights.
This is a loving spoof of a British agrarian novels (think Hardy). And while I didn't find it as hysterical as those who love it do, I did find it amusing. The characters in and of themselves are fairly funny, but my favorite part was the cows, who are always losing body parts, much to the chagrin of their keeper.
Definitely not a book for everyone, as it does go a bit over the top in parts, and does assume a knowledge of the books it's sending up, but I found it rather enjoyable.
Book Provided by... my wallet
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Although I will fail mightily at the 1% challenge, I am trying hard to cram in as many books at the end here as possible. Luckily, they tend to double count with other challenges.
The very first book to introduce Bond, James Bond, to the world. A communist agent has been doing bad things with Russia's money and needs to get it back. He's going to risk it all on high stakes baccarat. London is sending the coolest agent they have to Royale-les-Eaux to win all of Le Chiffre's money. Broke, Le Chiffre will be no use to the communists, who will send SMERSH, their assassin league, after him.
Eh. It started off exciting enough with a random bomb blast before the big card game, but Fleming loses a lot of plot momentum and tension with long explanations about how high-stakes games work, and how to play baccarat and the strategy involved.
If your big central plot is a card game, you need to be able to maintain tension (Eileen Chang's Lust, Caution is about a double agent waiting for her mark/lover at a coffee shop and is the tensest thing I've ever read) and Fleming just doesn't do it.
Also, the very, very end was sooooooo anti-climactic.
Given the time period, Bond's character, and the Britishness of it, I was expecting the subtle racist stereotyping and was expecting a Mad Men level of sexism (which is pretty high) but Bond makes Don Draper look like Gloria Steinem. Seriously.
I did enjoy reading it, but I was really disappointed by the ending. This is one case where I think the movie will probably be better, because the tension and action will probably be handled better (I haven't seen it yet, but now I want to!)
Book Provided by... my local library
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It's Poetry Friday AND my dad's birthday, so I'm reposting a poem I wrote and shared a few years ago:
A Phone Call with my Father
I called to thank them for my birthday present. I fill him in on life here, The latest micro-dramas, The antics of the dog.
He tells me of life there and how My mother is working too hard (as usual). We worry.
He tells me of mill closings and Changes in the football roster.
He also fills me in on the latest family gossip Telling tales of my sister, Once again proving she's a BADASS. And even though she's younger When I grow up, I want to be Her.
Three things before you go. Two are standard father/daughter things. The third-- You hadn't read Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee? Erm, no.
And then before we hang up, Before he tells me he loves me, Before he sends his regards to Dan (and the dog), He wishes me good luck, Knowing full well the world we live in, The obstacles I face, But still fully believing That his little girl can do Anything.
Ellie's older brother Jimmy is one of the last men she knows to get drafted into the war. Ellie's used to giving up things "for the duration"-- meat, her roller skates, sugar... but this is something she's not willing to give to the war effort. Not her brother.
What an absolutely fantastic look at the home-front during WWII. Ellie and her friends compare whose brothers are the biggest heroes. They reenact famous battles for fun. But they quickly learn that war is more than what they see on the newsreels. They dread the gold stars that appear in people's windows, the Western Union man who stops in front of a house to deliver the horrible news. They see the soldiers who are missing body parts, and even the ones that look physically fine but are irreparably damaged in other ways.
I feel like we've built WWII up in our collective consciousness to the point where it wasn't a war anymore. It was back when men were men and we all pitched in to do our part and it was a war worth fighting that no one questioned. But people died, and people were injured. People did question. It was a war. And sometimes it's worth remembering that hands-down THE BEST movie made about re-entry and PTSD was made in 1946.
All in all, a wonderful book, although I really wanted an author's note at the end to help put it in context.
Book Provided by... my local library
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The basic plot is that Jason is autistic. He's in 6th grade and this is his first year without a one-on-one aide. He struggles with fitting in, with remembering all the rules he's been taught about social interaction. He likes writing stories and makes a friend in an online community friend where he posts his stories. It then becomes apparent that this friend is a girl. This is a really good thing for Jason, until they both plan to be at the website's conference, and Jason knows that she will see him, and learn the truth about him, and no longer like him.
Of course, it's so much more than that. It's told from Jason's point of view, but not the way he would like to tell it, because:
"But more than people like talking in their own language, people like to hear things in a way they are most comfortable. The way they are used to. The way they can most easily related to, as if that makes it more real. So I will try to tell this story in that way.
And I will tell this story in first person. I not he. Me not him. Mine not his. In a neurotypical way. I will try-- To tell my story in their language, in your language."
It's about Jason not fitting in. Sometimes he cares, sometimes he doesn't, depending. It makes life hard, not being neurotypical. What struck me most was his mother, who just couldn't let anything go. She wants to fix him, to make him better, to make him normal. His father accepts him for who he is, but his mother can't reconcile the child she wanted with the child she has. This is a major source of tension and the part of the story that spoke to me the most. But, I'm also an adult and I wonder if it will speak to child readers in the same way. But that's the mark of a good book, right? When you find new meaning in various plot lines depending on where you are in life at the moment? Also, what a perfect ending!
A side tangent about book covers. The cover pictured above is the paperback. This cover is the hardcover. Quite a difference! The swirls on the cover are also used in the chapter headings in both versions. I think the paperback cover has more kid-appeal, which is useful for getting it into the hands of readers, but I like the hardcover version, especially as it unifies the design concept. What are your thoughts?
Book Provided by... my local library
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So, I initially read this because my friend Molly told me I ABSOLUTELY had to. She's usually not wrong about such things.
The premise of Mr. Fizer's Special Topics in Research Science is that on the first day of school, you draw a picture from a stack. You have an hour to design a science fair project related to that picture. Your project remains top secret until the end-of-the-year science fair. Mr. Fizer's students tend to win, and a college recommendation from him can open doors at universities that Cat wouldn't otherwise be able to consider.
And then Cat draws a picture of Homo Erectus. At the end of the hour, she figures out her project. She will live a life as close as possible to that of Homo Erectus. No cars, no technology (with exceptions for homework and emergencies). She's carved out an exemption for shampoo, but not one for make-up. She wants to prove how our diet and lifestyle is hurting the human body, and she's doing it by peeling back the years. In the mean time, she also just might loose the weight that has ruined her life.
I kept expecting this one to get preachy about the benefits of vegetarianism and the evils artificial sweetner. And... it never really did, which I appreciated, because I can get pretty defensive about my frozen pizza.
I also liked how Cat's self-esteem issues didn't magically go away with the weight. There were deeper issues there that needed to be explored and were.
And of course, there was a romance storyline. Even at the beginning of the story, before Cat designs her project, her friends try to set her up with different guys, because she's awesome. As she loses more and more weight, more and more guys notice. But of course, there's just one guy. The guy who broke her heart. The guy she totally hates, and totally misses. A guy who's hot and smart and perfect for Cat, if only he hadn't been such a complete jerkface.
Loved the romance. Loved the book. As I said, Molly's usually right about such things.
Book Provided by... my local library
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I wasn't expecting to like this one. I wasn't a huge fan of A Great and Terrible Beauty, which is the other Bray I've read. Some people I know loved Going Bovine, and some didn't. Most of the criticisms were things where I thought "ok, that's also stuff that bugs me in a book." So, I figured this one wasn't for me. And then it won the Printz, so I felt obligated to read it.
And! Yay! I was pleasantly surprised. I enjoyed it!
For those who don't know, Cam is an apathetic teen who gets mad cow disease. He embarks on a road trip with his friend Gonzo and a yard gnome who's really a Norse God. Along the way he's helped by a punk rock angel. Cam is not the most likable of characters, but that doesn't mean he's not believable as a character. He's selfish before he finds out he's dying, and when he gets sick, he doesn't see it as an experience to turn his life around. Instead, he gets pissed off. Which, while not likable and not what we tend to see in books, is frankly, the same thing I would do.
I didn't like Cam in the beginning, but I loved his voice, so I didn't mind that I didn't like him. I really liked Cam by the end.
I most loved the happiness cult and what the snow globe company does to protect people. (Yeah, that's vague, but I don't want to spoil it.)
This draws a lot of inspiration from Don Quixote, which I haven't read (but I have read a few plot summaries, and seen the Animaniacs version). Bray's not shy about the Don Quixote connections (Cam's reading it for school) and c'mon! The angel is named Dulcie!
My one complaint is that much of the tension comes from wondering if Cam's adventures real or a hallucination brought on by his brain's disintegration. The truth is too obvious too early. I wanted her to stretch that out further. While I knew what was what, I didn't want my feelings to be confirmed that early...
The other was the end, which I'll talk about here, because MAJOR SPOILAGE.
But overall? A really great book that's really enjoyable on the surface, but underneath lurks an homage to great literature and lots of other little things that make it secretly amazing.
Book Provided by... my local library
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A great introduction to Anglo-Saxon England follows into the story of lead up to, the Battle of Hastings, and what happened next.
Overall a great introduction to life at the time and the story of the battle and conquest, with a great chapter about the very long-reaching effects and why we should still be interested in this one battle that happened almost 1000 years ago.
But, what I loved most of all was the back matter. There's a great section on how historians do research, with primary and secondary sources, and a good discussion of the problems of primary sources about the Battle of Hastings and how historians deal with that. There's a translation of a few panels of the Bayeux Tapestry, a glossary of Anglo-Saxon words and their modern English equivalents and the same with Anglo-French. We have a time line, a glossary, and a directory of who is who. Also, source notes, index, bibliography, and further reading. Even better, the bibliography and further reading lists are fully annotated and primary and secondary sources are listed separately.
A great look at a famous battle and why it matters, but overall a fantastic example of what nonfiction for kids can look like-- something for everyone to strive towards.
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Ash was shortlisted for a Morris Award this year and got a lot of discussion in the blogosphere.
It has many of the markings of Cinderella stories we have seen before. A cruel stepmother and stepsisters who force Ash to be a servant, a prince looking to get married, a few balls so he can find his bride, and fairies who help her get there.
But, in this telling, Ash doesn't want to go the ball to see the prince, instead, she's befriended the King's huntresses, Kaisa. She goes because Kaisa asked her to. She goes for Kaisa.
And in this telling, there is no fairy godmother who gives wishes willingly. There are faeries, the traditional British ones, who have a different morality than we do, the ones who trap people in faerie rings, the ones where you can't eat or drink food if you ever want to leave. Not many believe in faeries any more, but Ash's mother held to the old ways and Ash does, too. Sidhean will grant Ash's wishes, but there is a price to be paid, a price that may be too much.
I love stories that dig into the traditional, British lore of the dark side of faeries. I love that this story inserts these faeries into a tale that usually has the nicer, Disney-esque version. This is a darker and deeper tale, with more stories and dimensions than you usually see, even in other novel-length versions.
The other thing I really appreciated was Ash's sense of loss and the portrayal of her extreme grief over the loss of both of her parents. Unlike other Cinderellas, Ash isn't all goodness and light. She's angry, she fights back, she runs away. She's a much more complicated and fully realized character.
Overall, it's fantastic.
Book Provided by... my local library
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MONSTER THROWDOWN: A discussion of vampires, werewolves and Louisa May Alcott
moderated by Pulitzer Prize winner John Matteson
on May 6th at Symphony Space
Lynn Messina, coauthor of Little Vampire Women (HarperTeen), and Porter Grand, coauthor of Little Women and Werewolves (Random House), sit down with John Matteson, author of Eden’s Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father (W.W. Norton), which won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Biography on May 6 at 7:00 p.m. at the Leonard Nimoy Thalia Theater at Symphony Space (2537 Broadway at 95th Street).
The evening will be introduced by Ron Hogan, of Beatrice.com, the well-known literary blog, which is presenting the event. The discussion will explore their mash-ups of Alcott’s classic, Little Women. Both authors will address the challenges they faced reworking the text. Alcott’s own work, published under various pseudonyms, included many sensational elements such as spies, murderers, drug addicts and mummies, and Matteson will explore whether inserting vampires and werewolves into the beloved story would be truly anathema to the author.
In writing Little Vampire Women, Messina insists that she was just following Alcott’s lead. Messina says, “I found the inspiration for the book in chapter eleven, when malaprop-prone Amy calls her Aunt March ‘a regular samphire.’ ‘She means vampire,’ corrects Jo. I was absolutely stunned to see the word vampire in Little Women. I knew vampires weren’t a modern creation, but it still surprised me to realize that they were mainstream enough in the 1860s that Louisa May would drop it into a book.”
Grand, on Little Women and Werewolves says, “Bronson Alcott, Louisa May’s father, was a staunch vegetarian who forbade his family to eat meat and preached ‘without a flesh diet, there would be no blood-shedding war.’ The family obliged Bronson in this, as in all things, but once Louisa May’s writing put her in a position of financial comfort, she ate a great deal of meat. It is quite fitting then, that carnivorous werewolves have been added to the very novel which had put her in the situation to eat all the meat she craved.” John Matteson says, "With a teenage daughter in the house, I have been alternately intrigued and scandalized by the vampires-in-literature craze. But Louisa May Alcott herself loved writing thrilling tales, and I think it's nice for people to know that Alcott fans can enjoy something more lurid and exciting than the proper folding of pocket handkerchiefs."
The event will be held at Peter Norton Symphony Space’s Leonard Nimoy Thalia Theater on May 6 at 7:00 p.m. Symphony Space is located at 2537 Broadway (at 95th Street). Tickets are $10 and available through SymphonySpace.org.
Lynn Messina is the author of four novels, including the best-selling Fashionistas, which has been translated into 15 languages and is in development as a feature film. She attended Washington University in St. Louis, where she studied English Literature. She lives in New York City.
Porter Grand, a Cleveland native, holds an AS in liberal arts, a Bachelors degree and a Doctoral in Theology. She has worked, among other jobs, as a waitress, bartender, carnival barker, go-go dancer, shampoo girl, welfare caseworker and Reference Librarian, and now writes daily in her Huntsburg, Ohio, farmhouse.
John Matteson is a Professor of English at John Jay College of Criminal Justice of The City University of New York. He is author of Eden's Outcasts: The Story of Louisa May Alcott and Her Father(W.W. Norton), which won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Biography. He is currently at work on a biography of Margaret Fuller, also to be published by Norton.
It's been a bit of a surreal week in my world, first off, thank you to the anonymous commenter who told me that Meg Cabot linked here in on Twitter on Tuesday. She also called me Twirltacular.
MEG CABOT THINKS I AM TWIRLTACULAR. Life doesn't get much more awesome than that!
*My shirt no longer seems to be available in T-shirt form. It's the Queen of the World graphic on one of the tote bags, but on a pink t-shirt. I was wearing it a few years ago and one of the girls at work say "Miss Jennie, what's that on your shirt?"
"It's Babymouse!"
She looked confused.
"You guys don't know Babymouse?"
She shook her head no. I took her and her friend over to the graphic novel section and handed out a few copies. Other kids saw I was handing out books and joined the crowd until they were all gone. About ten minutes later, one of the boys, who was very into being macho, stomped over to the desk. "Miss Jennie! I want that pink book that everyone else is reading!"
Babymouse hasn't stayed on the shelf since.
Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.
Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.
I missed the snow drops this year, but the daffodils are coming up. The ones next door bloomed yesterday. It's warm enough the my plan today was to spend all day reading in my hammock, until I remembered that no leaves = no shade = blinding glare off a white page = impossible to read. Leaves are starting to appear on my butterfly bush and the grass is turning greener, which puts me in the mood to listen to my favorite musical, based on one of my favorite books, The Secret Garden.
Winter's on the wing, Here's a fine spring morn' Comin' clear through the night, Come the day I say. Winter's taken flight Sweepin' dark cold air Out to sea, Spring is born, Comes the day say I,
And you'll be here to see it. Stand and breathe it all the day. Stoop, and feel it. Stop and hear it. Spring, I say.
And now the sun is climbin' high, Rising fast on fire, Glaring down through the gloom, Gone the gray, I say. The sun it spells the doom Of the winter's reign, Ice and chill must retire Comes the May say I,
And you'll be here to see it. Stand and breathe it all the day. Stoop, and feel it. Stop and hear it. Spring, I say.
I say, be gone, ye howling gales, Be off, ye frosty morns! All ye solid streams begin to thaw. Melt, ye waterfalls, Part ye frozen winter walls. See, see now it's starting.
And now the mist is liftin' high, Leavin' bright blue air Rollin' clean 'cross the moor Comes the day I say. The storm'll soon be by Leaving clear blue sky, Soon the sun will shine, Comes the day, say I.
And you'll be here to see it. Stand and breathe it all the day. Stoop and feel it. Stop and hear it. Spring, I say.
And a refrain from another, Wick, that I've been singing all week:
Come a mild day, come a warm rain, Come a snowdrop, a-comin' up! Come a lily, come a lilac! Come to call, calling all the rest to come! Calling all the rest to come! Calling all the world to come!
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Trivia Queen, 3rd Grade Supreme Derrick Barnes
