Seven Quick Takes Friday

I thought I’d write my Seven Quick Takes on seven of Cybils nominees that I read, but didn’t get around to reviewing:
1) Aloha Crossing by Pamela Bauer Mueller. This one is a sequel to Hello, Goodbye, I Love You: The Story of Aloha, A Guide Dog for the Blind by the same author. I didn’t much care for the further adventures of Aloha the guide dog and his owner Kimberly, but others really did.

2) Up and Down the Scratchy Mountains by Laurel Snyder. Lucy the milkmaid and Wynston the prince are best friends even if their favorite thing to do is argue with each other. But now Wynston’s father King Desmond says he must find a princess to marry, and Lucy longs to know what exactly happened to her mother who disappeared many years ago when Lucy was only a baby. So lonely with out her best friend, Lucy decides to go on an adventure all by herself up the Scratchy Mountains. I’m reading this one out loud to Z-baby.
Miss Erin interviews Laurel Snyder about this book.

3) Breathing Soccer by Debbie Spring. Too agenda driven for me, but if your child or friend deals with the issue of playing sports while coping with asthma, you might want to check out this story of Lisa, who rises above her physical challenges to play soccer in spite of the nay-sayers and fear-mongers in her life.

4) Lizard Love by Wendy Townsend. Grace really, really likes reptiles: snakes, iguanas, lizards, etc. When she happens into the store Fang & Claw and meets Wlater who likes reptiles as much as she does, she feels as if she’s found a home away from home in spite of her difficulties fitting in anywhere else. I liked this book even though I’m not a reptile fan. Discussions of reptilian sex and puberty and body image, although tastefully done, limit the audience for this book to adolescent girls and older.

5) Meeting Miss 405 by Lois Peterson. Dad says that while Tansy’s mom is away from home Tansy has to stay after school with boring old Miss Stella from Apartment 405—even though Tansy thinks she’s old enough to take care of herself and doesn’t need a babysitter. It’s not easy, but Tansy learns some things from Miss Stella, including how to become “super-concentrated” and what to do about missing her mother so much. The themes here are families dealing with mental illness and tolerance for others. Kim on Meeting Miss 405.

6) Anna Smudge: Professional Shrink by MAC. Comic-bookish storyline without the pictures. The book starts out with Anna in jail and then goes back in time to tell how she got there. It’s Anna and her friends against Mr. Who, the criminal mastermind, but who exactly is Mr. Who? And can a girl whose only talent is a gift for counseling really save New York CIty from Mr. Who’s dastardly machinations? I thought it was sort of silly, but Kim loved it and Melissa liked it, too. And Karate Kid who is the expert on what eleven year old boys will read liked it, too.

7) The Big Splash by Jack Ferraiolo. Either this one or The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey was Karate Kid’s favorite of all the Cybils nominees he read; he can’t decide. Adults will find The Big Splash rather, well, juvenile, with potty humor, and really cruel kids. It’s a hard-boiled noir detective novel for junior high kids. If you like Dashiell Hammett or Raymond Chandler and can still channel your middle school self, or if you’re still in middle school, you might want to check it out. But even for fifty year old moms, it has its moments. The relationship between protagonist Matt and his single mom is beautiful and spot-on. See Presenting Lenore for a full review and and interview with the author.