I’ve decided after four books that I really love the Casson family. They’re totally bonkers, as the British would say, but I enjoy them anyway. Probably it’s the bonkers part that makes them fun. Anyway, I described the family and the first three books here.

Caddy Ever After, the latest installment in the Casson family saga, is only tangentially about Caddy, Cadmium Casson. Caddy is hardly mentioned until page 152, but all the things that happen to various family members in the first part of the book are leading up to the grand finale which does involve Caddy’s wedding. So I guess the book could be about Caddy, sort of. I’d suggest reading the first three books in this series, Saffy’s Angel, Indigo’s Star, and Permanent Rose, before you read Caddy Ever After because it took me that many books to suspend disbelief long enough to believe in the Cassons. Now I’m a believer.

The point of view in this book changes from Rose to Indigo to Saffy to Caddy and back to Rose, but Permanent Rose lives up to her name and supervises everything. She’s a permanent fixture in the Casson family books and as the series has continued, Rose has stepped up to center stage. She’s the one who makes things happen, good and bad, and she reminds me a bit of my fourth child, Organizer Daughter. Except Organizer Daughter would never be as uninhibited as Rose is because she (OD) has two uptight parents instead of just one.

Enough psychoanalysis, enjoy these books for the humor, and don’t try most of the stunts the Cassons get away with at home. Or maybe we should try a few Cassonities before things get too dull around here. (I just noticed that in the paperback edition of this book, Caddy’s half face is on the other side, the spine side, of the cover. How odd!)

I’m not sure if I can write a coherent sentence after reading this book. The narrator of the story, Titus, speaks in slangy, disjointed English, reminiscent of the dumbest of high school wasters. In fact, he is a high school halfwit, enslaved to the feed that is implanted in his brain and controlled by the Big Corporations who feed advertising into his thoughts all day and even in his dreams.

Titus meets Violet on a spring break trip to the moon. The two of them hook up, even though Violet is bit different. She’s been homeschooled, her parents didn’t have a feed, and she didn’t get hers until late —when she was seven years old. I thought this book was quite insightful, and my ten year old Karate Kid can testify, to his dismay, that I am now scared to let him play on the game cube because I’m afraid it’s taking over his brain.

I gave the book to Computer Guru Son (age 19), thinking he would like it. However, he said the narrator was annoying, and the premise of a feed into people’s brains reminded him of another book he had just read a few weeks before. So much for mother/son bonding over books.

The language in the book is not only slangy, but also rather rough. If f-word and s-word used indiscriminately and frequently will bother you, don’t read. However, if you want a look at a dystopia in which the media has become the message, literally, Feed is the book for you. It’s scary, and the ending is not happy.

I think the book would make a great movie, sort of like one of my favorites, The Truman Show, and that’s scary, too.

Setting: Northern Europe, c. 1000 BC

Themes: culture clash, idolatry, religion, romantic love

I remembered reading this book a long time ago when I was a kid of a girl, but I didn’t remember much about it. Reading it as an adult, I found it rather shocking. I can’t tell you exactly what I found shocking without spoiling the ending, but it wasn’t any of the usual trio: neither sex, language nor violence.

The Faraway Lurs tells the story of Heather, a girl of the Tree People, who falls in love with Wolf Stone, the son of the chieftain of the Sun People. Heather’s people live in the forest, use stone age tools, and worship at a tree that they call The Tree of Power. The Sun People worship the sun, make things of bronze, and have come to find the tree of power and cut it down to build a ship. After the introduction of this conflict, the rest of the book tells of how the Tree People defend their sacred tree and how Heather and Wolf Stone resolve their relationship in the face of the enmity between their tribes.

Unfortunately, if you read the introduction to the book you know that the idea for the story came from the preserved image of a girl called the Egtved Girl found buried near the village of Egtved in Denmark:

The Egtved Girl (c. 1390–1370 BC) was a Nordic Bronze Age girl whose well-preserved remains were found at Egtved ( 55°37′N, 9°18′E), Denmark in 1921. Aged 16–18 at death, she was slim, 160 cm tall (about 5ft 2in), had long blonde hair and well-trimmed nails. Her burial has been dated by dendrochronology to 1370 BC.

Heather is Mr. Behn’s imagined portrayal of the Egtved Girl. The Egtved Girl died young. So I kept thinking all the way through the story that it was going to be very sad because Heather was going to die. Sure enough. Think Romeo and Juliet, c.1370 BC in Denmark. It’s tragic. (I still haven’t told you what I found shocking about the ending.)

But I might suggest this book to Brown Bear Daughter. It could give her a very good picture of what life was like for some groups of people three thousand years ago.

This book is another in my ancient history historical fiction project.

Constrained by the historical record, Ms. Meyer could only make this book as “happy ending” comedic as the actual few facts that are known about Anne Hathaway Shakespeare warrant. We know that she was seven or eight years older than her husband, William, that the two of them spent much of their marriage apart with Will in London and Anne in Stratford, and that their only son Hamnet died young. We also know that William Shakespeare left his wife, Anne, the “second best bed” in his will; we don’t know why.

Then there are all the guesses. Shakespeare’s sonnets seem to indicate that he had a mistress or that he pretended to do so. He certainly spent a lot of his time in London. Did he do so in order to support his beloved wife and children or because he wanted to get away from them? Or both? Was the wedding of Anne Hathaway and William Shakespeare a shotgun wedding? There is strong evidence that Anne was already pregnant when the two were married.

Author Carolyn Meyer takes all the facts and all the speculation and creates an engaging tale about the courtship and marriage of William Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway. It’s a young adult story, not for shildren, since it assumes and and tells the story of the premarital relations between William and Anne. It’s a sort of sad little tale; Anne has great hopes of romance and love, living with such a poet as Mr. Shakespeare, but her hopes are not to be realized. The story is told from Anne’s point of view; Shakespeare’s thoughts and feelings and motivations remain somewhat mirky and unclear.

I liked some of Meyer’s other books better (Where the Broken Heart Still Beats: The Story of Cynthia Ann Parker, Mary, Bloody Mary), but this one was O.K. Note the headless couple picture on the cover of the book. Others have had similar complaints (can’t remember which blogger mentioned it first), but I must chime in and say that I’m tired of seeing pictures of headless or nearly headless people on book covers.

Here in Semicolonland, we’re quite comfortable talking with fictional characters. One daughter, who wouldn’t want me to even identify her by nickname, used to walk around the house talking to her fictional friends all the time. So, when author Mitali Perkins asked if I’d like to participate in her blog tour and interview fictional First Daughter Sameera Righton, I said, “Sure!”

First Daughter has a lot of information about blogs and blogging. How did you start blogging, and why do you do it?

I started when I lived in Brussels, setting up a small myplace.com blog and inviting 29 friends to tune in. During Dad’s campaign, I widened the circle and went public so I could stay in charge of my public image. But it’s more than that, Mrs. E. I’ve always loved to write and get other people commenting and chatting with each other. And as a kid growing up with two mongo-powerful parents, I figured out early that a pen (or a laptop) has way more power to change the world than a sword. That’s why I want to be a journalist or a screenwriter. Or both. And that’s why I blog.

I know you have your own blog now where you write whatever you want, but what if you decided to write about something controversial such as abortion rights or illegal immigration or the war in Iraq? Wouldn’t your Dad’s handlers want to have prior approval on topics like that?

Tough bunnies. I draw the lines when it comes to content, not them. I’m not scared to bring up the issues I care about, but I like to ask questions instead of giving answers. Don’t worry, Mrs. E., I get that how you ask a question about an issue can show people exactly where you stand. Usually, I know Dad’s position, so if we agree, I blog away. If I don’t know what he thinks, I find out. When we disagree, I hash it out with him in private (usually over dessert on Sunday evening), and after we’ve had a good intense discussion, I ask if it’s okay to share a sound byte or two from our conversation out in cyber-space. Dad’s such a champion of freedom of speech that he’d never stop me; he’s learned that letting me have my say on Sparrowblog shows off his passion for liberty. Bottom line: he trusts me, and I’d never trash him or shame him publicly, even when he drives me nuts. But hey, it is a good idea to put a disclaimer on the blog so that people know it’s my stuff and not Dad’s official position. Thanks for the idea.

Even now, when I’m writing about the real First Kid wannabes, Sparrowblog’s not an op-ed column; it’s about safety, respect, trust, and fun, and good old-fashioned courtesy, something my Gran and Poppa hammer into every member of the Campbell clan. I want red people and blue people and purple people to feel welcome on Sparrowblog.

How many famous people have you met, and who were the most interesting celebs? Whom would you like to meet?

Most of the movie stars I’d want to meet are dead — that’s the down side of being into classic films. I have to say it was freaky meeting Governor Schwarzenegger in California, because I couldn’t stop imagining him terminating me. I guess I like the old meaning of “stars” better — people who shine in the universe because of how they serve the planet, not because of how beautiful or powerful they are. When it comes to that kind of celeb, I’d love to meet Aung San Syuu Ji of Burma, who’s spent the last decade under house arrest taking a stand for democracy. My Mom met her years ago, and said she’s as lovely and graceful in real life as she seems in the media. Or >Given Kachepa and Grace Akallo, two former child slaves who have become on-fire abolitionists. Now those are shiny people. I’d also like to host a retreat for all the real First Kid wannabes where we could chat about how to take charge of your own image, handle the press, how to date in the public eye, and what to do when your parents are driving you crazy but you have to campaign with them anyway.

Do you feel a lot of pressure to always look and sound your best? How do you get opportunities to relax and be casual?

You bet I feel pressure, but that’s part of the game. The weird thing was figuring out that I look and sound my best when I’m not worrying about how I look or sound. The blog definitely helps me stay real. But I also head to my grandparents’ farm as often as I can (milking definitely gets your mind off yourself), and on Sundays, we go to church in the morning and chill at home without screens and plugs for the rest of the day. Despite my addiction to techno-toys, I have to admit that I wouldn’t survive without our Sundays. I also go dancing with my buddies, love, love, love movies, and of course, there’s nothing more peaceful than noshing on oatmeal scotchies and watching a House and Garden channel show with my cousin Ran.

If your dad weren’t running for president, whom would you like to see in the 2008 race? Which Democrat candidate? Which Republican?

I’m all for making this as interesting an election as possible to bring out a gazillion voters. Every four years, we get the chance to show the rest of the planet how awesome it is to be free. Take the extra-tight race a few years ago where Mr. Gore eventually lost to Mr. Bush and nobody tried to off anybody or start a civil war. How great is that? The more people who vote this time, the better the ad for democracy. That’s why I’d like to see an Obama-Clinton combo versus a Romney-Rice Republican ticket in November ‘08. A Christian convert Democrat taking on a Mormon Republican, and Dr. Rice debating Mrs. Clinton — now that would get people into the election, wouldn’t it?

When does your book come out? What do you like about the book Ms. Perkins wrote about you and the campaign? What would you change if you could?

First Daughter: Extreme American Makeover releases in June 2007, and the sequel, First Daughter: White House Rules, releases in January 2008. Here’s my beef — if she’d have put a bit more action into it, like have me or Ran get kidnapped or something (rescued eventually, of course), or maybe have me try and elope with Bobby, the Walden Media people or Disney just might have optioned the books for a movie. Now that would be sweet. One of the girls who played Parvati or Padma Patil in the Harry Potter movies could play me. Oh wait, they’re Brits. I’m sure there are great South Asian teen actors in the States, but they’re all unknown, so (sigh) Vanessa Hudgens would probably end up hitting the tanning salons and getting the job.

Thanks for a fun interview, Mrs. E. I’m so glad you and Brown Bear liked the book.

And thank you, Sameera and Mitali for an enjoyable read and something to look forward to in presidential election year 2008.

Sherry’s Semicolon review of First Daughter: Extreme American Makeover.

Brown Bear Daughter’s review of First Daughter: Extreme American Makeover.

Disturbing. Somewhat frightening. Feverish. Violent.

A tale of love and friendship?

Enna Burning is a sequel to Shannon Hale’s successful and enjoyable first novel The Goose Girl, but in this book things turn darker and more violent in Bayern. Tira, their neighboring country and traditional enemy, has attacked, and Bayern must defend its borders and its villages. Enna, Princess Isi’s friend and confidante, has been living quietly in her village in the forest, but now is the time for all good men, and even women, to come to the aid of Bayern. Enna finds that she has the ability to save Bayern, but she may destroy herself in the process.

The book, although it’s fantasy, has an anti-war message comparable to that of another book I read this weekend, Red Moon at Sharpsburg. Again, Hale seems to be saying through her story that although war may sometimes be necessary, it’s never glorious or untouched by moral ambiguity.

I enjoyed Enna Burning, but I liked The Goose Girl better. I’m looking forward to reading a third book in the series, published last year, River Secrets.

Shannon Hale’s website, Squeetus.