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Adolescence Obsolescent?

Nov19

Newt Gingrich: Let’s End Adolescence.

More from Anne at PalmPundit.

Matthew Lee Anderson on the Controversial Case Against Adolescence.

Joseph Rendini at The Culture Project blog: Demographics vs. Culture, Slicing Horizontally, not Vertically.

Should Kids Be Able to Graduate After 10th Grade? Our local school district is already doing this in practice if not in name with many students taking a full load of dual credit classes at the local junior college. I think they’re following the lead of homeschooled students who began doing dual credit as a supplement to or substitute for the last two years of high school about six to ten years ago around here. Now it’s the norm among homeschoolers, and becoming the expected thing for academically advanced public schoolers, in my Major Suburban neck of the woods.

This topic of the artificiality and superfluity of the concept of adolescence fascinates me. I read The Case Against Adolescence, and although I had issues with the author’s emphasis on competency testing as gateway to legal rights and responsibilities, I agreed with his basic premise that young people should be able to take on adult rights and responsibilities as soon as they are able to do so rather than being artificially restricted by number of years they’ve been alive. In other words, why can’t fifteen and sixteen year olds get married? They did so for centuries before we invented adolescence and the teenager. Why shouldn’t thirteen, fourteen and fifteen year olds own property, earn wages for honest labor, and drive if they are able to do these things safely and are not being coerced to do them?

Homeschooled twins Alex and Brett Harris wrote a book, published last year, called Do Hard Things. It was a call to other young people to grow up and follow the Biblical mandate found in I TImothy 4:12:

Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.

Let’s treat our young people as if they were functioning, intelligent adults insofar as legally possible and see what happens. I think we might be pleasantly surprised.

Children’s Fiction of 2008: The London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd

Nov17

“Since opening in March 2000 The London Eye has become an iconic landmark and a symbol of modern Britain. The London Eye is the UK’s most popular paid for visitor attraction, visited by over 3.5 million people a year.

A breathtaking feat of design and engineering, passengers in the London Eye’s capsules can see up to 40 kilometres in all directions.

The London Eye is the vision of David Marks and Julia Barfield, a husband and wife architect team. The wheel design was used as a metaphor for the end of the 20th century, and time turning into the new millennium.” From The London Eye official website

When Ted’s cousin Salim disappears while riding in a sealed pod on the London Eye, Ted, whose “brain runs on a different operating system from other people’s,” has eight, or rather nine, theories about what might have happened to his cousin:

1. Salim hid in the pod and went around three or more times, getting out when we’d given up looking.
2. Ted’s watch went wrong. Salim got out of his pod when we weren’t there to meet him.
3. Salim got out of his pod but we missed him somehow by accident and he didn’t see us either.
4. Salim either deliberately avoided us or was suffering from amnesia.
5. Salim spontaneously combusted.
6. Salim emerged from the pod in disguise.
7. Salim went into a time-warp.
8. Salim emerged from the pod hiding beneath somebody else’s clothes.
9. Salim never got on the Eye in the first place.

The trouble is that not one of the theories works; Salim seems to have vanished into thin air, a thing that Salim’s mother Aunt Gloria says is impossible. As the police work to find Salim and the press is called in to publicize the disappearance and everyone works to comfort and reassure Aunt Glo, Ted puts his special brain to work to discover the truth. In the process, Ted doubles his number of friends from three to six and learns to work with his older sister, Kat-astrophe, who provides the energy to match Ted’s brains. And Ted also tells his first three lies of a lifetime. But will it all be enough to find Salim and save his life?

Although the word “autistic” is never used in the book, Ted is obviously a high-functioning, but autistic, child. He is obsessed with weather. He talks incessantly about rain, snow, storms, barometric pressure, fronts, and global warming. He converses and understands conversation in very literal terms, and he has trouble interpreting visual cues, facial expressions, and body language. Sometimes his hand flaps uncontrollably.

The book, told in first person from Ted’s point of view, reminds me of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night, for kids, with a child-size mystery thrown in. Because Salim does disappear, and his parents and relatives imagine the worst, it’s possibly too intense for the younger elementary age group, but it’s just right for mature fourth graders on up. The British slang gets a bit thick at times, but it’s fun to wade though and figure out what the heck these Brits are talking about when they discuss moshers and queues and serviettes. And trying to get into Ted’s brain and think as he does is fascinating.

I have an attraction to books about differently wired brains anyway; if you do, too, you might want to check out the following reviews:

The Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon.
the curious incident of the dog in the night-time by Mark Haddon.
Rules by Cynthia Lord.
Twilight Chldren by Torey Hayden.

If you or your child has an interest in this subject treated from a fictional point of view, I recommend The London Eye Mystery. Good story, intriguing thought process, kind of like seeing London from the Eye.

Children’s Fiction of 2008: Odd and Quirky

Nov14

My One Hundred Adventures by Polly Horvath.

From Alice to Zen and Everyone in Between by Elizabeth Atkinson.

In fiction and in life, odd and quirky either works or it doesn’t. In From Alice to Zen and Everyone in Between, it works even though I had to push through a little discomfort with the seemingly stereotypical characters at first. In Polly Horvath’s My One Hundred Adventures, the quirkiness falls flat, and I was left wondering whether the author meant for the characters to be believable or not.

From Alice to Zen is a tale mostly about Alice, an only child who just moved with her parents from Boston to Major Suburbia. The cliches start coming fast and furious from the beginning of the book: a suburban cul-de-sac filled with snooty suburbanites, an old tree that almost got cut down by the builders of Hemlock Estates, role-reversal in which the boy that Alice meets loves fashion magazines and decorating ideas while Alice herself prefers soccer and go-carts, the popular clique at school, a crazy grandma. But somehow just when I thought “Oh, this is a how to be popular and why it’s not worth it book” or “Yeah, this is a misfit somehow learns to fit in” book or this is a “boys and girls break out of stereotypical roles” book or even “this is a be true to yourself” book, the story would transcend all of those formulas while incorporating them at the same time.

Back up a step. Alice goes looking for a friend in her new suburban neighborhood, and she happens to meet Zen, Zenithal Stevie Wonder Malinowski. If Zen is anything, he’s strange, quirky, weird, odd. He’s overweight. He loves lemonade and fashion and teen magazines. He’s allergic to the sun. He crimps his hair. He wants to give Alice a makeover so that she’ll be ready to enter middle school. His ambition is to open a total body salon in California. He’d be weird even in California.

Zen made me a little uncomfortable at first. There’s an obvious role reversal thing going on in the book, and sometimes it’s a little over the top. It’s hard to believe that any intelligent twelve year old wouldn’t realize that acting the way Zen acts is a recipe for social ostracism. And it’s hard to believe that Zen wouldn’t at least try to mitigate his behavior to fit in at school. Still, in the book he doesn’t, and by the end of the story he’s able to demonstrate for the entire school his “one true voice.”

Zen’s “church” Seacoast Spiritual Center (hosted by Elder Brightstar) also made me a little uneasy. It’s obvious from the description in the book that Zen goes to a New Age, leftover hippie, spiritually anything goes gathering for social misfits and crystal gazers. It’s not my idea of real spiritual sustenance. But the people at Seacoast are a loving and accepting community who take Zen as he is and help him to develop his own gifts, not a bad pattern for the true church of Jesus Christ to emulate. It really is possible to accept people with all their eccentricities while maintaining a set of core beliefs that are non-negotiable.

Jane, the protagonist and narrator of My One Hundred Adventures, also has a weird church and a weird family. Jane herself is boringly conventional, but she and her mom live a bohemian life in a beach house along with Jane’s three younger siblings. And over the course of the summer a succession of men come along, one of whom may or may not be Jane’s dad. Jane also becomes enslaved to a Bible-toting healer/preacher/fortune teller and to the wife of a violent alcoholic who needs a babysitter for her unruly kids. Jane’s “adventures” (not nearly 100, which bothered me) consist of being blackmailed into babysitting and being coerced into dropping Bibles on unsuspecting victims. The writing is good, but the story is just too odd to be believable or enjoyable.

So, in the final analysis I’m saying yes to the quirky unconventional characters, but no to a plot that’s too quirky or creaky to sustain my interest.

Other reviews of these books:

Diane Chen at Practically Paradise on From Alice to Zen: I love the realistic questioning and searching for one’s self that occurs in this book. Alice doesn’t need excessive drama to realize she can make choices and be herself in middle school. She finds a way to accept herself, make her own choices of friends, and help others gain acceptance.

Tanya at Children’s Books on My One Hundred Adventures: “I was overwhelmed with admiration for Polly Horvath’s skill at writing a virtual minefield of spirit crushing adults for her main character to navigate, coming out scathed, but whole and, in Jane’s case, with a budding sense of compassion, acceptance and appreciation for the world around her.”

Children’s Fiction of 2008: Alvin Ho by Lenore Look

Nov14

You should know that Alvin Ho is afraid of a lot of things: elevators, tunnels, bridges, airplanes, thunder, substitute teachers, kimchi, wasabi, the dark, heights, scary movies, scary dreams, shots, and school, to name just a few. However, he loves explosions, his dog Lucy, Plastic Man, Wonder Woman, the Green Lantern, Aquaman, King V, and all the superheroes in the world. In fact, before he started school, Alvin Ho was a superhero; he was Firecracker Man! But now he can be Firecracker Man only on weekends and holidays because he’s about to start second grade. And going back to school is a problem because of the other thing you should know about Alvin: he never says a single word at school. He can’t. “Maybe if you didn’t use up all your words at home, you’d have some to use at school,” says Alvin’s older brother Calvin.

But Alvin doesn’t think so. He thinks he needs an emergency plan for making friends, one that doesn’t involve talking at school. And he also needs his PDK: Personal Disaster Kit.

The kit and the character, Alvin Ho, are both wacky, weird, and wonderful. Alvin’s adventures are things that could happen to any seven year old with so-so performance anxiety disorder:

He gets stuck hanging in a tree upside down like a duck hanging in a Chinatown window.
He ends up being desk buddies with Flea, a girl, even though he’s allergic to girls.
He finds the perfect way to avoid school, at least for a while.
He loses some of the pieces to his dad’s favorite toy.
He’s bewitched by his piano teacher.
He curses his therapist in Shakespearean English.
And he joins Pinky’s gang, which leads to another whole set of problems and adventures.

I love Alvin. I want Alvin and Clementine to grow up and marry each other. I want to meet their children and see them pay for their raising. I want to be some combination of Alvin’s and Clementine’s parents who seem to be the wisest, most patient and loving parents in the universe. Or as Alvin says, “My dad is not only a gentleman, but he is da man, which is a lot like being da dad, which means he can handle quite a lot.” I do wish I were da mom, or something like that.

I think every second grader in the United States should get a copy of either Clementine’s Letters (or the first Clementine book) or Alvin Ho: Allergic to Girls, School and Other Scary Things for Christmas. Do your part for the nearest and dearest second grader you know.

More fans of Alvin Ho aka Firecracker Man:

At Mary Voors’ ACPL Mock Newbery blog, Lisa said: “I am thrilled to see that this is the first in a new series. Alvin Ho Allergic to Camping, Hiking and Other Natural Disasters is set for a June release, according to Amazon. With honest emotions, tons of humor and great illustrations this one is sure to have kid appeal.”

Abby the Librarian: “I loved Lenore Look’s Ruby Lu books and I enjoyed this one as well. I was chuckling the whole way through and I love the illustrations done by LeUyen Pham.”

Jen at Talk About It More: “While Alvin doesn’t have a particularly savory child’s view of either piano teachers or psychotherapists, we are still enjoying the book enormously around here. It is truly laugh-out-loud funny, has liberal, fabulous illustrations, and gives us a chance to talk about things that do (and don’t) give us pause in our own lives.”

Children’s Fiction of 2008: The Life and Crimes of Bernetta Wallflower by Lisa Graff

Nov13

Melissa at Book Nut says this book, while good, made her anxious. It is a little scary, not in a roller coaster sort of way or a thriller sort of way, but rather in the what-will-the-author-do-with-this-plot-set-up-and-how-will-it-all-end way. And will my peeps, the characters I’ve grown to love over the course of the book, be OK?

Bernetta Wallflower (named after her deceased Uncle Bernie) is the daughter of a magician, a stage magician, that is, not a fantasy one. She’s also the victim of a frame-up: her best friend Ashley has framed her for a crime she didn’t commit and caused her to be grounded for life (or maybe just for the summer) and to lose her scholarship to Mt. Olive School, the only place she’s ever been to school. A year’s tuition at Mt. Olive is about $9000, and Bernetta wants to get that tuition money somehow even though she’s only twelve years old, can’t get a job, and (see above) grounded for the summer.

Enter Gabe, a movie-loving, chocolate-eyed, persistently friendly, bundle of ideas who helps Bernetta come up with a plan for obtaining the money. Unfortunately, the plan isn’t exactly honest or lawful, a fact which could be discerned by mature readers from the title and plot of one of Gabe’s favorite movies, The Sting. (I like The Sting, too, but I’m not tempted to emulate the characters. Honest.) However, if everyone thinks Bernetta is dishonest anyway, why shouldn’t she become what they think she is? The Life and Crimes of Bernetta Wallflower is the story of how one girl transforms herself into a different person, like magic, over the course of a summer —and how she ends up up not much liking the person she’s become.

I’ll have to agree with Melissa that the book had me worried, or maybe anxious. Bernetta, a likeable person, keeps getting into deeper and deeper trouble, and I wondered how the author was going to pull her out. And I wondered if Gabe was really Bernetta’s friend, or if he had ulterior motives for his help and advice. And I wondered whether Bernetta was ever going to tell the truth —and what would happen when she did. The ending is satisfactory in all respects, and Bernetta does survive. It’s a cautionary tale. but the medicine goes down easily, wrapped in a story that is suspenseful and fun and somewhat nerve-racking, in a good way.

I’m recommending this one for eleven or twelve year olds on up, both those who lack discernment and those who have the honesty thing down. The book would be good for parents or teachers to read along with the children and then have a good discussion about honesty and peer pressure and responding to false accusations and distinguishing pretend from dishonest and choosing friends.

Bernetta’s other fans and detractors (Ok, just fans):

Melissa at Book Nut: “In spite of my anxiousness, I really liked this book. It was very funny — never talking down, always smart — and the while the plot is way over-the-top (I mean really, is this even plausible? Really?), I was happy to go along for the ride. Bernetta is a charming character.”

MotherReader: “The Life and Crimes of Bernetta Wallflower would be great for a book club because there is so much left open for discussion in the character and the plot.”

Miss Erin: “Oh boy was this book fun! The writing is tight and the fast-paced plotting forces you to keep turning the pages. It’s chock-full of humor; I was laughing about every other page.”

Children’s Fiction of 2008: Jimmy’s Stars by Mary Ann Rodman

Nov12

This book was another historical fiction title that started out, at least, like a history lesson with lots and lots of cultural references to the World War II era: clothes, popular songs and movies, 1940’s slang, rationing, sports, food. Finally, about three-fourths of the way through the book delivered a gut punch, and things started happening and I began to get interested.

Children’s fiction books set during World War II on the home front, USA, abound:
Don’t Talk To Me About the War by David Adler. Semicolon review here.
Weedflower by Cynthia Kadohata. Semicolon review here.
Blue by Joyce Moyer Hostetter. Semicolon review here.
Keep Smiling Through by Ann Rinaldi.
My Secret War: The World War II Diary of Madeline Beck, Long Island, New York, 1941 by Mary Pope Osborne.
Early Sunday Morning: The Pearl Harbor Diary of Amber Billows, Hawaii, 1941 by Barry Denenberg.
Don’t You Know There’s a War On? by Avi.
Homefront by Doris Gwaltney.
Lily’s Crossing by Patricia Reilly Giff.
WIllow Run by Patricia Reilly GIff.
On the Wings of Heroes by Richard Peck.
Autumn Street by Lois Lowry.
Stepping on the Cracks by Mary Downing Hahn.
Taking Wing by Nancy Graff.
Aloha Means Come Back: The Story of a World War II Girl by Thomas and Dorothy Hoobler.
Journey to Topaz by Yochiko Uchida.
Love You, Soldier by Amy Hest.
Pearl Harbor Is Burning! by Kathleen Kudlinski.

Jimmy’s Stars is a worthy addition to this list, the story of Ellie McKelvey whose adored older brother Jimmie is drafted and sent to Europe as a medic in 1944. Ms. Rodman evokes the time period well and tells the story of a girl who is sad and proud and angry all at the same time as she misses her big brother and wishes for him to come home.

Other reviews of Jimmy’s Stars:

Melissa at Book Nut: “The thing that carries this book from the beginning, is Ellie. She’s so real, so believable, so heart-breakingly hopeful that she literally leaps off the page and into your heart. You want her life to be okay, everything to go on as normal, and yet nothing can because of the war.”

Maw Books: “What made Jimmy’s Stars so great for me was the raw emotions that Ellie had. She really stepped right out of the pages of the book for me. I was also swept away into a different time and place as Mary Ann Rodman’s attention to historical accuracy and detail was superb.”

Looking Glass Review: “Packed with intimate details about life in America during World War II, this book will leave readers with a meaningful picture of what it was like to live through those very hard years.”

Enrichment activities for Jimmy’s Stars.

Children’s Fiction of 2008: The Hope Chest by Karen Schwabach

Nov12

Heavy on the historical, light on the fiction. I think kids will spot the Educational Purpose in this story of the Women’s Suffrage movement a mile away, and if they’re interested in being educated and in the history of how women got the vote, they’ll enjoy the book. If not, then not.

I’m in the first camp. I like history. I like my history encased in fiction, even if it’s fiction with an overt message. The Hope Chest is fiction with a purpose. I learned a lot about the fight for ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, the one giving women the right to vote. For instance the last state to ratify the amendment was Tennessee, and that’s where much of the action of this book takes place. Suffs (suffragettes in favor of giving women the vote) and Antis (traditional women and men who are against ratification of the nineteenth amendment) fight it out inside and outside the Tennessee legislature as the members of that body consider ratification. The political battle includes liberal amounts of bribery, illegal liquor, dining and dancing, and skulduggery.

The story that frames and weaves in and out of this political history is one of an eleven year old girl, Violet Mayhew, who runs away from hoe because her parents are treating her unfairly. She goes to New York to find her sister, Chloe, a women’s rights activist and nurse-in-training, meets another runaway, Myrtle, and they both end up in Nashville as the ratification battle shifts into high gear. Myrtle is a black orphan girl who doesn’t want to become a servant just as Violet doesn’t want to became a lady, and Myrtle’s race adds to the complications the girls face in the segregated South of the 1920’s. Author Schwabach uses all these characters, as well as an anti-war activist and labor union member, to represent the controversies and injustices of the time period. The Suffs are patronized and treated shamefully by the Antis and their allies. Legislators take bribes to change their votes and run away to avoid having to vote on suffrage. Mr. Martin, the labor unionist, is arrested by a couple of Palmer agents. And Myrtle is denied access to train cars, restaurants, hotels and almost every other convenience and accommodation.

Ms. Schwabach packs a lot of history into one book: Jim Crow laws, the 1918 influenza epidemic, World War I and the anti-war movement, the advent of Henry Ford’s automobile, the Palmer raids, Prohibition, hobos riding the rails, Woodrow Wilson, the League of Nations, the labor movement, socialism in the U.S., and of course, women’s suffrage. It’s a lot to put into one story, and as I said, it gets somewhat didactic at times. The book contained lots of feminist propaganda, which I mostly agreed with, but not everyone will. Even if you don’t agree with the entire feminist movement, what’s a little edification and instruction among friends and history buffs?

Read and learn.

Picture Book Preschool for Christmas

Nov11

Now would be a great time to order a copy of my preschool/kindergarten curriculum: Picture Book Preschool. The book would make a great Christmas gift for your favorite mom of preschoolers, especially if you packaged it with copies of two or three of the books suggested in the curriculum.

Each week of Picture Book Preschool is built around a theme, and includes a suggested character trait to work on, a Bible verse, and seven picture books to read to your children. Here is an example of the first week, built around the theme of the new year and the changing seasons:

Week 1 (Dec/Jan) THE NEW YEAR/SEASONS
Character Trait: Patience
Bible Verse: It was you who set all the boundaries of the earth; you made both summer and winter. Psalm 74:17

Thomas, Joan Gale. If Jesus Came to My House. Lothrop Lee, 1985.
Zolotow, Charlotte. Over and Over. Harper, 1957
McPhail, David. Farm Boy’s Year. Atheneum, 1992.
Zolotow, Charlotte. Summer Is . . . Harper, 1985.
Lionni, Leo. Mouse Days. Pantheon, 1980.
Gibbons, Gail. Surrounded by Sea. Little Brown, 1991.
Tudor, Tasha. First Delights. Platt and Munk, 1988.

Picture Book Preschool is a preschool/kindergarten curriculum which consists of a list of picture books to read aloud for each week of the year and a character trait, a memory verse, and activities, all tied to the theme for the week. You can purchase a downloadable version (pdf file) of Picture Book Preschool by Sherry Early at Biblioguides.

Children’s Fiction of 2008: Series and Sequels Succeed in Succession

Nov10

This year’s list of nominees for the Cybils Middle Grade Fiction Award is packed with sequels and books that form part of a series. A few I’ve already read and reviewed: The Year of the Rat by Grace Lin, Moxy Maxwell Does Not Love Writing Thank-you Notes by Peggy Gifford, First Daughter: White Rules by Mitali Perkins, The Calder Game by Blue Balliett, and Clementine’s Letter by Sara Pennypacker.

Two books, each one supposed to be the last in a quite satisfying and beloved series, I just finished reading: Jessie’s Mountain by Kerry Madden and Forever Rose by Hilary McKay. Both books fulfilled the promise of earlier volumes in the series and delivered a gratifying ending to the story while still leaving me wanting just a little more.

Jessie’s Mountain features Livy Two, the fourth of ten children in the poverty-stricken Weems family, making a serious error in judgement and paying the consequences. The first two books in this Smoky Mountain series, Gentle’s Holler and Louisiana’s Song, each starred one of Livy’s sisters, but Livy Two was the narrator. In this third book, Livy Two comes into her own, takes center stage, and gets into a lot of trouble. In my review of Gentle’s Holler and Louisiana’s Song, I said, “Each child does have his/her own personality. The family isn’t perfect, but they are a big, loving family. The difficulties of raising such a family in poverty with a devoted, but financially irresponsible, father and a worried and always pregnant mother are not minimized.” That’s what I like about these books, and especially this last one. Life in a big family is messy. Sometimes people don’t get along, don’t speak to each other, keep secrets they shouldn’t keep, annoy one another. Each family member has his faults, sometimes major faults. Our family is like that, and the Weems family is, too. And yet, there’s a happy ending, not one that assures me that every one of the Weems kids is going to be fat, rich, and happy forever, but a reassuring conclusion nevertheless. If you read all three books, you sort of fall in love with the Weems family, and it’s good to see them in the end settled in, working hard, and pulling together.

And then there are the Cassons in Hilary McKay’s series of books of whom I wrote: “I feel a bit responsible after three books to see that they all come out all right.” I read and reviewed the first three books in the Casson family series last July, and then I picked up the fourth book, Caddy Ever After, and reviewed it. The setting for the latest in theCasson family series, Forever Rose, is completely different from that of Ms. Madden’s Smoky Mountain family series, a village in the north of England as opposed to Maggie Valley, North Carolina. But the families and the plots of the two novels share some similarities. Rose in this final installment does something unwise and dangerous (don’t want to spoil either story) similar to what Livy Two does in Jessie’s Mountain. However, Rose’s mistake somehow leads to resolution and reconciliation. Go figure. Maybe the difference is that the Casson family is so dysfunctional that it functions in a crazy, backwards way. And there’s always lots of love to go around. The Cassons also survive and thrive in the end despite a book full of chapter titles such as “The Trouble with Molly” and “Anything for a Bit of Peace” and the climactic “Oh Bloody Bloody Hell!”

In addition to those series sequels, there are some others on the Cybils list that I’m looking forward to reading:
The Island of Mad Scientists by Howard Whitehouse. See Melissa’s Book Nut review.
Porcupine Year by Louise Erdrich.
Just Grace Walks the Dog by Charise Mericle Harper.
Julia Gillian and the Art of Knowing BY Allison McGhee
The Diamond of Drury Lane: A Cat Royal Adventure by Julia Golding.
Daisy Dawson is on Her Way by Steve Voake.
The Case of the Bizarre Bouquets: An Enola Holmes Mystery by Nancy Springer.
Brand New School, Brave New Ruby by Derrick Barnes.
Andrea Carter and the San Francisco Smugglers by Susan Marlow.
10 Lucky Things That Have Happened to Me Since I Nearly Got Hit by Lightning by Mary Hershey.
Step Fourth Mallory! by Laurie Friedman.
Thirteen by Lauren Myracle
Piper Reed: The Great Gypsy by Kimberly Willis Holt.
Zibby Payne and the Red Carpet Revolt by Allison Bell.
Aloha Crossing by Pamela Bauer Mueller.
Ellie McDoodle: New Kid in School by Ruth Barshaw.
These are the sequels for which I haven’t read the first book(s) in the series. The ones I have already been introduced to are:

My New Best Friend by Julie Bowe. Sequel to last year’s My Last Best Friend.
The Penderwicks on Gardam Street by Jeanne Birdsall. Sequel to The Penderwicks.
And last but certainly not least: The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey by Trenton Stewart, sequel to last year’s The Mysterious Benedict Society.

My only problem with all these sequels and series, especially the ones I’ve already grown to love and enjoy, is that it’s hard to evaluate them objectively and alone, each volume on its own merits. I find myself thinking that of course everybody, including me, is going to love The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey. I haven’t even read it, but it’s already imbued with my warm appreciation for the first book in the series.

Of course, if it’s a dud, it’ll be that much more of a disappointment. So I guess the expectations and pre-judgments can work both ways.

Cybils Middle Grade Fiction nominees: 129
Nominees that are part of a series: 26 by my count.

That’s 19%. Publishers must like sequels and series. I guess it gives the book a head-start in the marketing department. Did I miss any?

Monday’s List: 100+ Homemade Christmas Gifts for the Craft-Impaired

Nov10

I am not a crafty person. My parents used to make craft-y stuff when I was a kid, and they tried to include me in the family fun. But it always came to the point where someone else had to either re-do or finish my craft project to make it look halfway decent. SO, although I want to have a simpler, more homey Christmas (also less expensive), I can’t really do craft projects that take any level of artistic ability or coordination. (You should have seen my strand on the macrame plant hanger that my family made together.) The following ideas are for the rest of us, those of us whose scrapbooks look like a five year old got into the glue and pictures and whose prowess with needle and thread is nonexistent.

There are already more than 100 ideas here because many of the links contain more than one idea. However, the last thirty slots are for you. If you post about an easy, doable homemade gift idea at your blog, leave a comment with a link, and if I think I could even make a stab at completing your project or suggestion, I’ll add it to the list.
Christmastree_1281
1. The Headmistress at the Common Room says you can make your own dry erase boards.
2. Change the tradition and give to others.
3. Make your own body care products.
4. Give some pumpkin pie play dough.
5. Make a felt board.
6. Frame a favorite illustration.
7. Ian’s Seven Inexpensive Christmas Gifts.
8. Ian’s 10 Simple and Inexpensive Christmas Gift Ideas.
9. Make a friend a Wordle.
10. Cards from calendars.
11. Paper toys to print and make. More paper toys.
12. Another Headmistress find: make a terrarium.
13. 10 handmade Christmas gifts.
14. Begin a genealogy notebook.
15. Cookbook with your favorite recipes.
16. Clothespin people.
17. Spend time instead of money.
18. Make your own calendar.
19. Sponsor a Compassion child.
20. Decorative canned cookies.
22. Cookies, cookies, cookies!
23. Ribbon bulletin board.
24. Decorated notebooks.
25. Homemade Christmas spice bundles.
26. Print a paper iPod cover.
27. Print a poster, any size.
28. Free business card maker.
29. Lots more printables.
30. Canned cakes baked with love.
31. Easy ribbon headband.
32. Cookie of the month club.
33. Playing card notebooks.
34. Sock puppets.
35. Stationery Box Video Tutorial.
36. Assemble a play detective kit.
37. Mason jar soap dispenser.
38. Give someone a button jar or a button picture.
39. Baked recycled crayons.
40. Give a book with a handmade ribbon bookmark.
41. Recipe scrapbook.
42. Vintage button kitchen curtains.
43. Spice boxes.
44. Photo sticker labels.
45. Remember Ramona’s tin can stilts?
46. Give lessons in something that you know and your gift recipient wants to learn: guitar lessons, Spanish lessons, knitting lessons, cooking lessons, whatever you know.
47. Fill an old trunk or suitcase with fun clothing, hats and gaudy jewelry for your children to play dress-up.
48. Heat and eat dinners.
49. Friday night at the movies bowl.
50. Family Alphabet book.
51. Best Hot Cocoa Mix.
52. Make a muffin mix.
53. Encourage-mints: a jar of encouraging quotes.
54. Read a favorite book onto CD.
55. London in a Box —or some other place in a box sent to someone who’s homesick for or fascinated by the place where you live or a place you’ve been able to visit. For Texas, I’d send some chili mix or salsa, a bag of pecans, a few post cards, maybe iced tea mix, a key ring or something else from the Texas Store.
56. Blue goo and homemade finger paint.
57. Make a field-bag from recycled clothing.
58. Tutorial for making a felt flowered pomander. I might be able to do this one although it’s stretching the limits of my crafting abilities. Anything that requires a tutorial with multiple steps —and cutting and glue—would be a stretch for me.
59. Lots of Gifts in a Jar from Organized Christmas.
60. Adult Journal Jar. I am going to make one of these for someone I know who may or may not read here. So I can’t tell you who it is, but it’s definitely going to happen.
61. Ivy’s Coloring Page Search Engine. Make a coloring book for someone you love.
62. Pony bead coasters.
63. Child’s sewing box.
64. Whole Foods: Gifts from the Kitchen with printable gift tags and recipes.
65. Printable bookmarks.
66. Book purse. Actually, I’m sure this one is way beyond my abilities, but I surely would like to have one. Hint, hint.
67. Origami mini-books. Maybe for stockings?
68. Paper patchwork notebook covers.
69. Give Poetry for Christmas by Violet Nesdoly.
70. Homemade With Love has lots of easy ideas including a hand-decorated platter, a no-sew fleece poncho, stationery, and a cup of tulip bulbs.
71. CD envelopes for those homemade mix CD’s.
72. Homemade books for gifts.
73. Making blank books from old book covers.
74. Homemade gifts for dads, sons, and sons-in-law.
75. Cardboard frisbee.
76. Altered Books. Books made into works of art! If you’re an artist or even a wannabe artist, this art form looks like something you could enjoy doing for your family or friends.
77. Melissa Wiley’s Snuggleblanket. This one is borderline, requires some sewing, but I figure some of you can handle it, even if I can’t.
78. Several good ideas for free or nearly free gifts at the blog Mom Laughs.
79. Pencil and drawing pad holder. Another one that requires a bit of sewing ability. I only wish I could sew at times like this –when I see something cute that I could make if only I had the skilz. But I don’t, and I won’t, and so if you do, make me one.
80. Homemade stickers. Looks a little messy. but fun.
81. Miss Rumphius Seed Packets. Based on the book by Barbara Cooney, what a great idea! You could give a copy of the book along with the seed packets. And for a bonus, here are some more literature based crafts.
82. An oobleck to go with Bartholomew and the Oobleck by Dr. Seuss.
83. Bead and Button teacup.
84. Paper Bag Scrapbook.
85. Decoupage Puzzle Blocks.
86. Build a lovely wooden bench out of old chairs.
87. Pear Jam.
88. Recycled sweater dress
89. Wall-mounted magnetic spice rack.
90. Candygram. This idea is for a birthday gift, but it could be customized for any holiday gift.
91.Make your own dry erase boards—in a lovely frame.
92. A set of lovely display/storage containers.
93. Framed paper silhouettes.

C’mon, don’t be shy. Leave a comment with your favorite homemade Christmas gift idea for the craftily handicapped to give, and I’ll add it to the list. Our motto is:

People who can’t do macrame need to give Christmas gifts, too!