The Ignorant Abusive Religious Zealot Homeschoolers: Mary Mae and the Gospel Truth by Sandra Dutton. The “Christian” mother in the story threatens to homeschool Mary Mae if Mary doesn’t forget about fossils and quit asking so many questions about the Bible. Then Mama slaps Mary Mae for being sassy. That was the last straw for me. Homeschooling is not a threat or a penalty, folks.

The Negligent Irresponsible Homeschoolers: I, Emma Freke by Elizabeth Atkinson. Semicolon review here. Donatella decides that Emma isn’t fitting at school, and she needs help in the bead shop. So mom gives her an old math book and puts Emma behind the counter to mind the shop. Not my favorite image of homeschooling and not fair.

The Overprotective Smothering Homeschoolers: How To Survive Middle School by Donna Gephart.
A secondary character in the book is David’s new friend, Sophie, whose mom has serious smother mother issues. Sophie has been homeschooled before the beginning of the story, and now she’s “escaped.” Her mother just needs to find something to occupy her time other than Sophie’s life and education.

The Happy Nomad Homeschoolers: Travels With Gannon and Wyatt by Patti Wheeler and Keith Hemstreet.

“A home, most of us think, is where we have our stuff–our bed and clothes and books and games–but I don’t really agree. My home is wherever I happen to go to bed that night, be it a hotel in Hong Kong or a sailboat off the coast of Fiji.
My brother and I have been home schooled most of our lives. Lucky for us, my mother is an amazing teacher. So is my dad, for that matter.”

The Simple Life Homeschoolers: Nuts by Kacy Cook.

“I wasn’t always homeschooled. When I was in first grade, we lived in a big city and I went to a big school. But Mom and Dad wanted to ‘simplify’ our lives, so we moved to this small town, Meadowlake, Ohio. Mom began working from home and learned about homeschooling. I haven’t gone to regular school since. My brothers have never been.
There is a lot I like about being homeschooled–especially that we get to travel and I can spend more time playing the piano, reading, or poking around on the computer–but at that moment I loved being homeschooled. There wouldn’t be any way to raise a baby squirrel if I went to regular school all day.”

Of course, I prefer the impression that the last title on the list gives of homeschooling. The adventure scenario isn’t too bad either, although most of us don’t get to go to Africa on safari.

I must say that the other three are stereotypes that I really don’t see too often, if at all. I’ve never met a homeschool mom as ignorant as Mary Mae’s mother in Mary Mae and the Gospel Truth. I don’t know any homeschooled families who use their kids as free child laborers and throw them outdated textbooks as a pretense of educating them the way Emma Freke’s mother does. And if some of the homeschool parents I know are a little over-protective by my standards, so are many of the moms and dads who have their children in public and private schools. I’m sort of a free-range kids advocate myself with a lot of spiritual (Christian) training thrown into the mix.

Have you noticed homeschooling becoming more mainstream in children’s and YA fiction? If so, is it being depicted faithfully or stereotypically? I did notice that the only Christian (so-called) homeschooler in this bunch was Mary Mae’s mom, and of course she’s the one who slaps her daughter for being sassy. Whereas most of the homeschoolers I know are approaching education from a Christian perspective, no slapping involved, and only a healthy minority are non-religious.

Several of the Cybils Middle Grade Fiction nominees deal with kids who get themselves into a heap of trouble by lying.

In I, Nicky Flynn, Finally Get a Life (and a Dog), the title character finds himself enmeshed in a web of lies when he tries to investigate the history of his new dog, Reggie. Some old guys at the park assume that Nicky is the grandson of Reggie’s previous owner, a blind man named Alf, and Nicky goes along so that he can find out more about Alf and why Reggie, a former guide dog, was retired and sent to the pound. Then, Nicky starts telling more and more lies to sustain his investigation until eventually the lies get out of hand, Reggie gets hurt, and Nicky becomes a fugitive from his mom, maybe even from the law.

Ratfink by Marcia Thornton Jones is about Logan, who’s starting fifth grade determined to stay out of trouble. However, trouble seems to follow him, especially when the new girl in school becomes his arch-enemy, and Logan’s best friend, Malik, decides Logan can’t be trusted, and Logan’s grandfather starts doing embarrassing stuff. The solution for Grandfather’s memory problems in the book is a little unbelievable, but it does mesh well with Logan’s “memory problem” of telling exaggerated stories when he should stick to the truth and nothing but the truth. Logan learns to save the stories for written fiction.

The girls also have their issues with making up stories and lies to impress others.

The Reinvention of Moxie Roosevelt has Moxie reinventing herself when she goes away to boarding school and realizes that she can be anyone she wants in this new place where nobody know her. Will she be the Mysterious Earth Goddess (MEG), the Hale and Hearty Sports Enthusiast (HHSE), or the Detached, Unique, Coolly Knowing Individual (DUCKI)? And can she possibly remember which persona she tried out on which new friend without her trusty notebook? I liked the fact that Moxie was just trying out different attitudes when things got totally out of hand. I can see that sort of thing happening to an imaginative thirteen year old. And I liked the idea that when it came time for confessions, Moxie kept some friends and lost others because that’s the way it really works. Lies have consequences, but sometimes you get forgiveness, too.

In My Fake Boyfriend Is Better Than Yours by Kristina Springer, Tori thinks her old, but now wealthy, friend, Sierra, is making up the boyfriend she says she acquired in Florida while on vacation at the beach. So Tori invents her own fake boyfriend, and the competition becomes fast, furious and time-consuming. Cute and sweet and twisty-turny. You’ll keep reading to figure out who’s telling the truth, who’s going to confess, and whose boyfriend really is a fake.

Nutsby Kacy Cook features 11 year old Nell, a homeschooler, who lies to her mentor, Libby, over the internet about her age and other details of her life so that she can take care of two baby squirrels she finds in her yard instead of taking them to a licensed wildlife rehabilitator. It turns out to be a really bad idea, with some devastating consequences for at least one of the squirrels.

In Happy Birthday, Sophie Hartley by Stephanie Greene, almost ten year old Sophie tells everyone at school that she’s getting a baby gorilla for her birthday. Even though Sophie knows deep down that her parents never really promised her a real baby gorilla, she almost convinces herself that her birthday wish will come true. Thereby demonstrating one danger of lying: you might even fool yourself.

I would recommend all of the above, but my favorite was Moxie Roosevelt. Have any of these books or others made you think about lies, exaggerations, and the consequences thereof? I think it would be great book club theme to read several of these books with a group of kids and discuss how easily untruths can spin out of control and cause a world of hurt.

The shortlists for the 2010 Cybils will be announced on New Year’s Day. And that’s no lie.

When Molly Was a Harvey Girl by Frances M. Wood. Semicolon review here. Thirteen year old Molly pretend to be eighteen so that she and her old sister Colleen can get jobs together as Harvey girls at the famous restaurant chain in Raton, New Mexico. I liked the vivid portrayal of what it was like to work in the Harvey House restaurant and of the characters in a 1880’s town on the frontier of civilization.

Wishing for Tomorrow: The Sequel to A Little Princess by Hilary McKay. Semicolon review here. Whatever happened to Sara Crewe and all her friends at Miss Minchin’s Select Seminary for Young Ladies? Find out in this lovely story by the author of the Casson family books.

Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer L. Holm. Semicolon review here. Eleven year old Turtle joins the Diaper Gang when she goes to live with her extended family in Key West, Florida.

The Fences Between Us by Kirby Larson. Semicolon review here. I couldn’t resist this Dear America story about the daughter of a Baptist pastor who ministers to Japanese Americans during World War II.

Clementine, Friend of the Week by Sara Pennypacker. Semicolon review here. The best Clementine book so far. Fine.

Belly Up! by Stuart Gibbs. Semicolon review here. A cantankerous hippo who is the main attraction at FunJungle dies mysteriously, and Teddy is convinced that Henry the Hippo is the victim of cold-blooded murder. But can he prove it? And will Summer McCracken, the rich daughter of FunJungle’s owner, J.J. McCracken, be a help or a hindrance in the investigation?

Betti on the High Wire by Lisa Railsback. Semicolon review here. Babo lives in an abandoned circus with other abandoned children in a country torn by war and civil unrest. Then, Babo is adopted by Melons (Americans), and she becomes Betti, and the confusion begins. An excellent story about adoption and family and culture shock.

Crunch by Leslie Connor. Semicolon review here.A fuel shortage strands the Marriss parents up north while the kids take care of the Marriss Bike Barn. And bicycles become a hot commodity.

The Reinvention of Moxie Roosevelt by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel. When Moxie goes away to boarding school, she realizes that she can reinvent herself as anyone she wants to be. But can she remember who she’s decided to become?

Wildfire Run by Dee Garretson. Son the president of the United States, Luke and his friends, Callie and Theo, must escape a forest fire and security systems to save their lives when they are accidentally stranded at Camp David.

Boys Without Names by Kashmira Sheth. Eager to find work after his hungry family arrives in Mumbai, 11-year-old Gopal ends up locked in a one-room “factory” making beaded frames with five other boys so beaten down they don’t even talk to one another. The boys have no names because their boss manipulates them to distrust one another in the interest of keeping them in slavery. Heart-rending, but never preachy, and ultimately hopeful.

The Death (and Further Adventures) of Silas Winterbottom: The Body Thief by Stephen M. Giles. Melodrama at its best, in the tradition of Lemony Snicket. Three young people from quite dysfunctional families gather at the home of their evil and dying uncle, Silas Winterbottom, to find out who his heir will be. Will it be Adele, whose mother has threatened to send her to a horrible school if she doesn’t bring home the bacon? Or will Isabella, the beautiful con artist and thief, be able to fool Uncle Silas into choosing her? Or will Silas choose Milo, who’s only there for revenge? Daring, dastardly, and devious.

And that’s my sort of short list. The short list for the Cybils Middle Grade Fiction category will be announced on January 1, 2011. All I can say is that some of the books on my list may be on the official short list, and others will not. There’s some seriously good fiction out there, folks.

Some of the Cybils Middle Grade Fiction books I read were just . . . well, oddballs. In a good way, mostly.

Sir Seth Thistlethwaite and the Soothsayer’s Shoes by Richard Thake. O.K. First read that title out loud. It’s absolutely the best book title I’ve read this year. In the book, Sir Seth and his friend Sir Ollie, “fearless and famous ten year old knights”, go out in the morning to “seek out injustice and uphold fair play and rescue fair maidens from fire-breathing dragons, and, if time allowed, slay all those miserable, invisible things hiding under your bed.” Lots of wordplay, punning, and rhyming make this title somewhat reminiscent of Norton Juster’s The Phantom Tollbooth. I was also reminded of The Princess Bride and strangely enough, maybe because of the illustrations (?), of Adventures in Odyssey. Sir Seth and Sir Ollie and their faithful steed, Shasta, who’s really a dog, go on a quest to find the soothsayer’s truth-telling shoes that have been stolen from Sir Shawn Shrood the Soothsayer of Thatchwych by poxy Prince Quincy of Poxley Castle in High Dudgeon. Yeah, if you like that description, you’ll enjoy lots more tongue twisters and creative anachronisms in this short, but sweet imaginary adventure story.

Finn Reed, Flu Fighter: How I Survived a Worldwide Pandemic, the School Bully, and the Craziest Game of Dodge Ball Ever by Eric Stevens is a another kind of oddity. Finn Reeder finds himself keeping a journal for his sixth grade English class for five weeks in the midst of a worldwide flu pandemic. When, one by one, everyone in his school, everyone at home, all of his friends, even his worst enemy, all fall victim to H1N1 flu, Finn Reeder ends up plying solo dodge ball in an empty gym with a crazy coach looking on from afar. Can Finn survive and avoid the craziness and the flu virus that have overtaken his teachers, family and schoolmates? And who is the silent substitute wearing a gas mask to school?

Secrets of a Lab Rat: Mom, There’s a Dinosaur in Beeson’s Lake by Trudi Truett has fourth grade inventor Scab McNally finding a prehistoric swamp creature in Beeson’s Lake. But the only way his mom will let him go back to the lake so that he can prove the existence of the dinosaur is for Scab to pass the Salmon level swim class. Unfortunately, Scab’s afraid of swimming, especially diving. Fortunately, he knows how to fake it or avoid it. Unfortunately, he plays a prank and gets himself grounded. Fortunately, Scab has an escape hatch through his bedroom window. Unfortunately . . .

Spike and Ali Enson by Malaika Rose Stanley. Spike, who is adopted, discovers that Ali, his new baby brother is actually an alien, not human at all. Is it just a case of sibling rivalry?Or is it true, and will anyone believe Spike before it’s too late? Velly British, with all the talk of “mates” and “nappies” and shepherd’s pie. Also, very strange, since Ali really is a space alien, maybe, I think.

Buddy Zooka in the French Quarter and Beyond by Tracey Tangerine. I tried, but couldn’t get into this one. However, it might appeal to some of the more zany readers in the audience. So here’s the publisher’s blurb: “Buddy Zooka brings the French Quarter to life like no one since Ignatius Reilly. Buddy is a happy-go-lucky musician in the French Quarter until one day he goes fishing and catches an alligator, Mardi Gater, who quickly decides to take up residence in Buddy’s hat. Thrown off his usual carefree routine, Buddy loses his smile and starts to contemplate his world. Buddy’s journey turns spiritual as faith healers show him how man has been degrading his environment and how the secret to our salvation resides within each one of us.”

Departure Time by Truus Marti. Translated from the Dutch and it, too, lost me from the beginning. The hotel from hell? A talking rat and a fox host? Amnesia and a traveling musician father? I’m just not putting all this stuff together. But Charlotte loved it. And Betsy at Fuse #8 thought it was “a singular, memorable book.” So either I gave up too soon, or I’m not as strange as They are.

Anyway, if you’re up for odd, bizarre, eccentric, or freaky, one of the above might tickle your fancy. Tell them I sent you.

The shortlists for the 2010 Cybils will be announced on New Year’s Day.

Oh, and what’s the strangest book you read this year?