12 Children’s and YA Books of 2012 That I’m Looking Forward to Reading

Jan2

Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi. More dystopian fiction, but it sounds really good. “Exiled from her home, the enclosed city of Reverie, Aria knows her chances of surviving in the outer wasteland—known as The Death Shop—are slim. A hunter for his tribe in a merciless landscape, Perry views Aria as sheltered and fragile—everything he would expect from a Dweller. But he needs Aria’s help too; she alone holds the key to his redemption.” January 3, 2012.

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. “Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel’s story is about to be completely rewritten.” John Green can write, no doubt about that, and sometimes I really, really like his fiction, in spite of (because of?) its “irreverence.” January 10, 2012.

Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver. Sequel to Delirium. February 28, 2012.

Out of Sight, Out of Time, Gallagher Girls series by Ally Carter. I like me some Gallagher Girls, and so do my daughters. March 13, 2012.

The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict, A Mysterious Benedict Society prequel by Trenton Lee Stewart. “Before there was a Mysterious Benedict Society, there was simply a boy named Nicholas Benedict. Meet the boy who started it all….” This one could be a disaster, or it could be very, very good. April 10, 2012.

Summer of the Gypsy Moths by Sara Pennypacker. From this Harper Collins publisher preview at Fuse #8. April 24, 2012.

The Drowned Cities by Paolo Bacigalupi. A companion novel to Bacigalupi’s Ship Breaker. “Paolo Bacigalupi brilliantly captures a dark future America that has devolved into unending civil wars, driven by demagogues who recruit children to become soulless killing machines.” May 1, 2012.

Insurgent by Veronica Roth, the sequel to Divergent. May 1, 2012.

The Last Princess by Galaxy Craze. Also found at Fuse #8’s Little Brown publisher preview post. “The year is 2090. England is a barren land. Food is rationed. Oil has decimated the oceans. The people are restless. A ruthless revolutionary enacts a plan to destroy the royal family, and in a moment, the king is dead. His heiress, Princess Mary, and her brother, Jamie, have been abducted, and no one knows their fate. Princess Eliza Windsor barely escapes, and finds herself scared and lost in London’s dangerous streets.” May 8, 2012.

The Missing: Torn by Margaret Peterson Haddix. “Still reeling from their experiences in Roanoke in 1600, Jonah and Katherine arrive in 1611 only moments before a mutiny on Henry Hudson’s ship in the icy waters of James Bay. But things are messed up: They’ve lost the real John Hudson, and they find what seems to be the fabled Northwest Passage—even though they are pretty sure that route doesn’t actually exist. Will this new version of history replace everything they’ve ever known?” I actually haven’t read the third book in this series, called Sabotaged, yet. But I will. Torn comes out in June, 2012.

Lost Girls by Ann Kelley. Found at Fuse #8’s Little Brown publisher preview post. “What once seemed like a vacation in paradise has become a battle against the elements. Peppered with short, frantic entries from Bonnie’s journal, Lost Girls is a page-turning, heart-pounding adventure story about a group of teen girls fighting for their lives.” July 10, 2012.

Perfect Escape by Jennifer Brown. Road trip book, yes! Also found at Fuse #8’s Little Brown publisher preview post. “Kendra has always felt overshadowed by her older brother, Grayson, whose OCD forces him to live a life of carefully coordinated routines. The only way Kendra can stand out next to Grayson is to be perfect, and she has perfection down to an art — until a cheating scandal threatens her flawless reputation. Behind the wheel of her car, with Grayson asleep beside her, Kendra decides to drive away from it all — with enough distance, maybe she’ll be able to figure everything out. But eventually, Kendra must stop running and come to terms with herself, her brother, and her past.” July 10, 2012.

Sunday Salon: Books Read in December 2011

Jan1

Middle Grade and Young Adult Fiction:
Saraswati’s Way by Monika Schroder. Semicolon review here.
Words in the Dust by Trent Reedy. Semicolon review here.
With a Name Like Love by Tess Hilmo. Semicolon review here.
A Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park. Semicolon review here.
Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King. This YA novel got a lot of publicity, maybe an award or two last year, but it wasn’t one of my favorites. In fact, I found it strange and somewhat tedious.
For Freedom: The Story of a French Spy by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley. Semicolon review here.
Alvin Ho: Allergic to Dead Bodies, Funerals, and Other Fatal Circumstances by Lenore Look. I didn’t think this one was as good as some of the other Alvin Ho adventures, but Alvin is still my hero—even if he is afraid of everything.
The Grand Plan to Fix Everything by Uma Krishnaswami. Bollywood. Lots of suspension of disbelief. Did you know that Mumbai and Bombay are the same city, just different names? I am ashamed to say that that bit of geographical knowledge escaped my notices until I read this kind of silly, kind of fun little novel about Dini, her best friend Maddie, and their obsession with Dolly Singh, the filmi star in Bollywood. (Yes, filmi is the word. I don’t know why.) Reviewed by Melissa at Book Nut.

Adult Fiction:
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. My review at Chuck Colson’s Breakpoint.
When She Woke by Hilary Jordan. My review at Breakpoint.

Nonfiction:
The Egg and I by Betty Macdonald. Semicolon review here.
I Loved a Girl by Walter Trobisch. I picked up this book at the church library because I remembered reading it long, long ago when I was a teenager (back in the dark ages) and finding it helpful in the area of boy/girl relationships, dating, and s*x, which are some things we’re dealing with here in Semicolonland. This time through it was helpful, as I remembered, but the ending was abrupt. And it didn’t exactly speak to the particular issue we’re confronting.
My Father’s Secret War by Lucinda Franks. Review forthcoming soon. “I liked it, but . . .”

And that’s it for 2011. I’m reading Winston’s War: Churchill 1940-1945 by Max Hastings now, and it’s not a fast read. It may take me a while to finish, but I am learning a lot about England during the Second World War.

With a Name Like Love by Tess Hilmo

Dec25

Somewhere along the way, however, the good reverend decided a small town meant a poor town, and a poor town meant humble people. Ollie’s daddy was born to preach to those people. His daddy had been a traveling preacher, as was his daddy before him, all the way back to the time of Moses. The Good Lord ushered him into that long line of preachers, and then his parents gave him the name Everlasting Love.
It was everything he was.

A children’s novel with a father/preacher character who is not cruel, not confused, not pathetic, and not looney is a rare jewel. I can think of one, off-hand, Kate DiCamillo’s Because of Winn-Dixie. Now there’s a second.

And thirteen year old Olivene Love (Ollie), eldest daughter of Reverend Everlasting Love, is a PK who has no problem with being the daughter of a preacher; she just wishes he would settle down and preach in one place. The Love family spends three days holding a revival in one small town before moving on the next one: “[p]reaching, mostly—some singing and an occasional healing if the need arises.” Ollie is ready to stay in one place for a while, make friends, experience indoor plumbing and life in a house rather than a travel trailer.

I loved the characters in this book for middle grade readers. Ollie’s daddy gives her good advice:

“Be careful when you listen to people called they, Olivene. They often tell lies.”

“Some people are broken. They don’t know anything other than hatred. It’s like their heart gets going in the wrong direction early on in life, and they can never quite manage to bring it back around to love. It’s a sad thing and we should have compassion for them. Think of the joy they are missing in life.”

Ollie herself is a good girl, typical oldest child. Reverend Love says to her, “You are an example for your sisters in word and deed. I am blessed to call you mine.” Yet, Ollie isn’t perfect, not too goody-goody; she still gets impatient with her younger sisters, tired of living on the road, and sometimes a little too bossy for her own good. She reminds me of my eldest, whom I am also blessed to call mine.

Ollie’s mama, Susanna Love, is “like living poetry” as she welcomes the people who come to the revival meeting. Her sister, Martha, is the pessimist who’s always counting in her head to see who gets the most privileges or treats, but Martha is also the one who gets things done. Gwen, the third sister, is the spitting image of her father, and she wants to become a preacher just like him. Camille, sister number four, is “simple in mind”, but she almost has the dictionary memorized and has “an air of grace and dignity.” Ellen, the baby of the family, is friendly, a tagalong, and eager to please. Together, the Love family has a character and winsomeness all their own, rivaling other great families of literature such as the the Marches, the Melendys, the Moffats, the Penderwicks, or All-of-a-Kind Family. Actually, they remind me a little bit of the Weems family in Kerry Madden’s series Gentle’s Holler, Louisiana’s Song, and Jessie’s Mountain, maybe because of the time period (1950’s) and because of the way that each of the girls in the family has her own personality and way of coping with life in a preacher’s family.

With a Name Like Love is a good family story with a good plot (I didn’t mention the plot, but there’s a murder to be solved, friendships to resolve, and family decisions to be made) and excellent, heart-grabbing characters. Highly recommended.

What are your favorite families in children’s literature?

Since I’m Planning to Read about Africa

Dec25

I found this article, How To Write About Africa by Binyavanga Wainaina, at the website of a magazine called Granta. A few of Mr. Wainaina’s many rules for writing about Africa:

1. Always use the word “Africa” or “Darkness” or “Safari” in your title.
2. Make sure you show how Africans have music and rhythm deep in their souls, and eat things no other humans eat.
3. African characters should be colourful, exotic, larger than life–but empty inside.
4. Remember, any work you submit in which people look filthy and miserable will be referred to as the “real Africa”, and you want that on your dust jacket.
5. Never, ever say anything negative about an elephant or a gorilla. Elephants may attack people’s property, destroy their crops, and even kill them. Always take the side of the elephant.
6. Always end your book with Nelson Mandela saying something about rainbows or renaissances.

Read the article, especially if you’re planning a book about Africa. Binyavanga Wainaina is a Kenyan author and journalist who follows his own rules exactly I’m sure. He wrote How To Write About Africa in 2003 (but it’s new to me). One Day I Will Write About This Place: A Memoir by Binyavnaga Wainana was published in 2011.

Christmas: The Grace Project

Dec24

“His secret purpose framed from the very beginning [is] to bring us to our full glory. (I Corinthians 2:7 NEB) He means to rename us—to return us to our true names, our truest selves. He means to heal our soul holes. From the very beginning, that Eden beginning, that has always been and always is, to this day, His secret purpose—our return to our full glory. Appalling—that He would! Us, unworthy. And yet since we took a bite out of the fruit and tore into our own souls, that drain hole where joy seeps away, God’s had this wild secretive plan. He means to fill us with glory again. With glory and grace.” From 1000 Gifts by Ann Voskamp

He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—- children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:11-14

For Freedom: The Story of a French Spy by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

Dec23

“This book is written as fiction but tells a true story.”

Suzanne David Hall was thirteen years old in 1940 when the Germans invaded France, and she later became a spy for the French resistance. While training to become an opera singer, she relayed messages that helped bring about the Allied invasion of Normandy. The 2003 novel For Freedom: The Story of a French Spy by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley is based on interviews with Hall.

The novel is quite exciting, and the tension builds as Suzanne is called on to deliver her messages more and more frequently and as the spy network in which she works becomes smaller and smaller when the Germans capture the spies one by one. Suzanne is a brave girl, and she continues her work even though she knows the Nazis will torture or even kill her if she is found out. The prose in the story is simple and straightforward, and the pacing is mostly good, although the novel does start out a little slowly. The book is halfway through before Suzanne’s spy adventures start.

For Freedom is a good introduction to so many World War II topics: Dunkirk, Vichy France, the French Resistance, German occupation of France, daily life under German occupation, the Allied invasion of Normandy. But it’s not just a nice “salad” accompaniment to the main course of the history of World War II. The story carried me along and made me feel how difficult it must have been to be involved in the Resistance, never knowing from one day to the next whether this day would be the last before you were captured by the Germans.

Isn’t that what courage is? Courage: to keep doing right, to persevere in the face of uncertainty and even valid reasonable fear. If I were doing something that I knew would lead to disaster, if I were certain that I would be caught and killed and unable to complete my mission, it would be foolish and useless to persist. But if it’s only very likely that I might be arrested and if what I was doing was likely to help many people if I could continue, then bravery would be required. Suzanne was a brave young woman, “a hero of France.”

Saraswati’s Way by Monika Schroder

Dec21

Twelve year old Akash sees patterns of numbers in his head. The village math teacher can only take him so far in math, bu he puts an idea in Akash’s mind of winning a scholarship to a school in the city. So Akash prays to Saraswati, the goddess of knowledge and wisdom, to make a way for him to hire a tutor to teach the math he needs to know to pass the scholarship examination.

The last book I read, Words in the Dust, was set in Afghanistan and was very Muslim, and now this book, set in India, is very Hindu. Akash prays to Saraswati, goes to the temple, performs Hindu funeral rites for his father (Bapu) in hopes that his Bapu’s soul will be freed to go . . . somewhere good. If this honest and vivid depiction of Hindu religion makes you uncomfortable, as I must admit it did me to some extent, then maybe that’s a good thing. I tend to forget that there are people who live and die in the grips of what I would consider an enslaving and false religious tradition.

Akash becomes a child of the streets, living in the railway station in Delhi. He works and works to find a way to attend a school where he can learn more, especially more math. He makes some good decisions (saving his money and not sniffing glue) and some nearly disastrous ones (dealing drugs to make money). And in the end, the reader is left with only the hope that Akash might, just possibly, be able to go to school and get off the streets.

Author Monika Schroder says in her Author’s Note:

A boy like Akash has only a slim chance of fulfilling his dream in contemporary India. Yet I wanted to write a hopeful book about a child who, with determination, courage, and some luck, achieves his goal against all odds.

If you like this book about a street child in India and you’re interested in similar or related stories, I recommend:

Boys Without Names by Kashmira Sheth. Brief Semicolon review here.
Monsoon Summer by Mitali Perkins. Semicolon review here.
Homeless Bird by Gloria Whelan.
What Then, Raman? by Shirley Arora.
The movie, Slumdog Millionaire.

Words in the Dust by Trent Reedy

Dec20

I found the story behind this book almost as intriguing as the book itself. In an author’s note at the end of the book, Mr. Reedy says he wrote the novel by accident. He planned to write children’s books set in small town Iowa, but he was sent to Afghanistan in 2004 as a part of an Army National Guard unit. At first, he hated his job providing security for reconstruction teams that were rebuilding Afghanistan’s infrastructure after decades of war and repression. He felt as if he were being cheated of his chance to repay the Al Qaeda terrorists for their actions on 9/11. Then, he began to meet and get to know average Afghan people, including a girl named Zulaikha who was afflicted with a cleft lip. American army surgeons were able to perform corrective surgery on Zulaikha’s lip and palate. And Mr. Reedy had a story that that he was anxious to tell.

“I have never been a girl and I am not an Afghan. Many would say that stories about Afghan girls should best be told by Afghan girls. I agree completely. I would love nothing more than to read the story of the girl who we helped in her own words. However, the terrible reality is that by some estimates, 87 percent of Afghan women are illiterate. . . Though progress is being made in Afghan education, too many Afghan girls are unable to get their stories out. In spite of this, or maybe even because of it, I believe it is very important for more Afghan stories to be told, as a greater understanding may foster peace.”

So, Words in the Dust is the fictional story of Zulaikha, a Muslim girl living in northern Afghanistan, based on the story of the real Zulaikha and on the stories of other people Mr. Reedy met during his time in Afghanistan. I thought the story was fascinating, true to life as far as I am able to judge, and somewhat horrifying. Some really, really bad things happen in Zulaikha’s life in in her family. So this book is not for young readers or tender minds. Mr. Reedy describes the bad stuff in a respectful, almost understated, way, but it’s still bad stuff.

So I would classify this book as Young Adult fiction, emphasis on the adult. Zulaikha is an engaging heroine, and again quite representative of what I would think Afghan girlhood is really like. The culture is very Muslim, very male-dominated, and the book ends with Zulaikha’s hopes for the future along with the word, Inshallah, “God willing”. Words in the Dust would be a good introduction to life in a traditional Muslim culture in a country that has been torn by war and nearly destroyed by Taliban terrorism and persecution of females.

I appreciated the story and the look into another way of life and the possibilities and problems that are present in Afghanistan even now.

Semicolon’s Twelve Best Adult Novels Read in 2011

Dec20

Gifts of War by Mackenzie Ford. I didn’t review this book right after I read it, and so now it’s hard to go back and write about it in detail. However, it has gotten stuck in my mind. Here’s a review at Shelf Love, and another at Pudgy Penguin Perusals.

The Belfry by May Sinclair. Reviewed at A library is a hospital for the mind. I didn’t get around to reviewing this novel, first published in 1916 and available free in a Kindle edition, but I did enjoy it.

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson. Semicolon review here.

Anna’s Book by Barbara Vine. Semicolon review here.

The Hardest Thing To Do by Penelope Wilock. Semicolon review here.

Amy Inspired by Bethany Pierce.

City of Tranquil Light by Bo Caldwell. Semicolon review here

Bel Canto by Ann Patchett. Semicolon review here.

The Story of Beautiful Girl by Rachel Simon. Semicolon review here.

Blackout by Connie Willis. Semicolon review and recommendation here.

All Clear by Connie Willis.

The Unbearable Lightness of Scones by Alexander McCall Smith. Semicolon review here.

The first two novels on my list would be excellent choices for the War Through the Generations challenge this year which focuses on the World War I years. My favorites for the year were Connie Willis’s two parter Blackout and All Clear, set during World War II.

Book Reviews at Breakpoint

Dec20

I have two book reviews up at BreakPoint, Chuck Colson’s Christian worldview ministry website:

False Gospel: A Review of Hilary Jordan’s When She Woke.

The Problem With The Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson.

You can read the reviews there, but the bottom line is that I found significant issues with both books.

Gina Dalfonzo also has a more positive review of Alice Ozma’s The Reading Promise, a book I read but never finished reviewing for this blog. My nascent thoughts on The Reading Promise:

The book isn’t so much about reading and books as it is a tribute to a single father who found a way to connect with his daughter and give her a childhood full of treasured memories. The Reading Promise, or the Streak, as Alice and her called it, is just the framework for those memories and a discipline that brings the dedication of Alice’s dad, Jim Brozina, into focus for Alice and for her readers as she recalls her childhood and adolescence.

“When Alice was in fourth grade, she and her father–a beloved elementary school librarian–made a promise to read aloud together for 100 consecutive nights.” When they reached that goal, they didn’t want to stop, and so they began what was affectionately called The Streak, a reading promise and regimen that lasted until Alice went away to college about eight years later.

The book has an introduction by Jim Brozina with advice about how to start your own reading streak:

“If you want to start your own reading streak, you should begin by taking your child to your local public library, where the two of you can look through the stacks for books that would fit your reading desires. When either of you find something, show it to the other. Let your child overrule your choices if he or she chooses, but be hesitant about rejecting those your child is excited about. . . When you have accumulated as many books as will serve your purposes for now, check them out and take them home. Your child will be hopping with excitement as he or she anticipates the many good nights of reading ahead.”

Each of the chapters of the book itself is an essay covering various aspects of the reading experience and of the father/daughter relationship. Miss Ozma, a self-confessed “nerdy kid”, writes about reading together after father and daughter have had an argument, helping her father go on his first post-divorce date, buying a prom dress with your dad, living really frugally on a librarian’s income, and dealing with the death of a Franklin the Fish —all illuminated and accompanied by literature.