Children’s Fiction of 2007: The Broken Bike Boy and the Queen of 33rd Street by Sharon G. Flake

Nov6

One of my urchins wouldn’t finish this book because she disliked the main character so much. Here’s the scenario: Queen Marie Rosseau thinks she is a queen, with a real castle and a knight in shining armor, the whole bit. She thinks this because her daddy tells her she is a queen, and although her mother tries to bring her back to reality, Queen is not much interested in anything except her own queenliness.

“I used to be homeschooled until two years ago. But I go to regular school now. Mother thought I needed to be around other kids. She said she didn’t like how grown-up and stuck-up I was acting. Only I can’t help it if I’m cute and smarter than most kids my age.”

This paragraph is the only time homeschooling is mentioned in the book, but we all get the message, don’t we? Queen’s daddy’s indulgence and her sheltered homeschool experience have made her into a snot. And Queen is socially challenged, to say the least. She doesn’t know how to make friends, doesn’t keep the one friend she has, and generally alienates everyone around her. Her teacher doesn’t like her, really doesn’t like her, and Leroy, the broken bike boy, comes to her house for the food Queen’s mother makes and for the attention Queen’s father gives him, but he’d just as soon Queen would get lost. The feeling is mutual, and Queen tries to get rid of Leroy several times, then tries to prove he’s a liar, then tries to steal Leroy’s only friend.

I don’t know about this one. There are some kids who are hopelessly stuck on themselves, unable or unwilling to think about the feelings of others. But Queen seemed to be awfully intelligent to be so dim when it came to people-skills. She didn’t come across as autistic or socially handicapped so much as just selfish and unwilling to admit that other people don’t like being treated as slaves to the Queen.

Then, there’s the part of the book where Queen goes to visit a reclusive old man in his apartment without permission from her parents, without their even knowing about it. I just don’t think that’s a great idea to put into kids’ heads, even though it turns out just fine in the book. The old man, Cornelius, is a mentor who helps Queen to see the error of her ways.

In fact, The Broken Bike Boy and the Queen of 33rd Street is full of mentors and involved and loving adults. Queen’s parents are quite attentive, and Queen’s mother tries to coach Queen in the fine art of winning friends. Queen’s dad helps Leroy fix his bike and invites him to eat dinner with Queen’s family. Cornelius, although somewhat eccentric, teaches both children about their African heritage and gives them the attention they both crave, along with a bit of a reality check for Miss Queen when her behavior becomes insufferable.

I give it a B-.

Again others liked it better than I did. Maybe they didn’t have my knee-jerk reaction to homeschool stereotypes:

Elizabeth Bird of A Fuse #8 Production: “I had difficulty recognizing when I was supposed to be annoyed by my protagonist. Kudos to Ms. Flake then. It takes guts to make an unlikable hero. Guts and talent.”

The Broken Bike Boy and the Queen of 33rd Street was nominated for the Cybil Award for Middle School Fiction.

Children’s Fiction of 2007: The Rising Star of Rusty Nail by Lesley M.M. Blume

Nov5


Bad history:
Joseph McCarthy didn’t do any investigation of Russian expatriates living in New York City that I know of, and he certainly didn’t have the power to shut down a concert pianist’s career and send her into hiding in the backwoods of Minnesota. I’m tired of books that use Joseph McCarthy as a bogie man and arch-villain. He was an idiot, and the Senate eventually got tired of him and censured him. The Communism he feared was very real and dangerous. The nineteen fifties were characterized by anti-Communism, but I doubt very seriously that many people, much less an entire small town, were spending their gossip time finding Communists under the bed, so to speak. They would have been much more concerned about a “foreigner” who didn’t use her purported husband’s last name and may not have been married to him at all, living in the same house with him. Oh, and girls didn’t wear overalls to school in the sixties where I grew up; it was against the rules. You also didn’t call adults by their first names, especially not parents. Franny and Sandy commit both of these social errors, making them as characters feel slightly anachronistic while set among all the very period Communist hunters. Maybe Minnesota was more progressive when it came to clothing and parental respect and more reactionary when it came to politics than West Texas was.

Bad hermenuetics:

“The good book tells us many things,” the mayor reverend exclaimed, and opened his Bible. He read out loud: “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” called out old Hans Zimmerman. “I don’t understand a word you jest said.”
“This is what it means, Hans,” thundered Mayor Reverend Jerry, looking right at the Orilees. “It means that the only way to get to heaven is through good deeds. You can’t bribe God, the holy judge of us all. And those of us who think they can are in for a real rude surprise. . .”

I don’t think the author meant to make Mayor Reverend Jerry into a preacher who contradicts his own chosen text, but that’s obviously what happened. Old Hans Zimmerman wasn’t the only one who didn’t understand a word of the verses that the preacher was misinterpreting to make his point. I just don’t see how you get “good deeds get you to heaven” out of “not of works, lest any man should boast.”

Bad writing:

Within a few paragraphs the author tells me that Runty Knutson is the “class troublemaker;” Gretchen Beasley is the “class crybaby;” and Mr. Moody, the principal, “hated kids.” Show, don’t tell. Actually, we get examples of Rusty’s trouble-making, Gretchen’s crying, and Mr. Moody’s hatred for kids. So why do we need the labels?
The characters are unbelievable and cartoonish. Madame Malenkov, with her long black hair and Russian accent, reminds me of Natasha Fatale ( Rocky and Bullwinkle) Franny and her friend Sandy Anne are the Katzenjammer Kids or maybe the Little Rascals. Nancy “Prancy” Orilee, Franny’s and Sandy’s arch-enemy, is Nellie Oleson from Little House on the Prairie (the TV series, not the book). And it all reads like a bad TV sitcom with a suitably unbelievable ending.

The problem with writing a critical review of a book is that I feel as if I’m implying that I could have done a better job of writing the book myself. However, I know I couldn’t. I’m also fairly sure the author could have written a much better story. There are scenes that would have been worth the reading time, especially those in which Franny and Sandy spy on the suspected Commie spy and the scenes involving Franny and Madame Malenkov. As is, it’s a case of might-have-been-maybe-next-time.

In the “Don’t take my word for it” department here are some opposing views from other bloggers:

Miss Erin loved it, and in fact she nominated it for the Cybil Award for Middle School Fiction.

Annie at Crazy for Kids Books liked it, too: “It is well written and the author does a good job of moving the story forward while revealing the strengths and foibles of the town’s inhabitants. The conclusion is quite satisfying as justice and understanding prevail.”

And then there’s Becky:“I loved, loved, loved The Rising Star of Rusty Nail.”

Chris Shanley-Dillman at KidsReads is in agreement with the others: “Lesley M. M. Blume sweeps readers back to another time with her newest book — back to a time when a school principal chain-smokes in his office and everyone fears bombing attacks from the Russians.”

And it got a starred review in Booklist. It does look as if I’m in the minority.

Mike Huckabee Loves Music and Art

Nov5

I warned you that I’d be featuring Mike Huckabee for President posts on this blog on Mondays until further notice. Today I want to show you that Mike Huckabee is a Republican who cares about education, and especially music and art education. I think this passion for the arts, along with traditional Republican values of moral leadership and fiscal repsonsibility, puts Mr. Huckabee in a position to appeal to a broad cross-section of voters who care about values, money, and education and who believe in the federal government’s role in restraining government and greed while at the same time encouraging the creativity and hard work of citizens to make our nation not just rich in stuff but also in vision and imagination.

If you care about music, art, and literature, you should really be supporting Mike Huckabee for president.

Children’s Fiction of 2007: Middle School Is Worse Than Meat Loaf by Jennifer L. Holm

Nov5

Really different from last year’s Newbery Honor book by the same author, Penny From Heaven, Middle School Is Worse Than Meatloaf is subtitled A Year Told Through Stuff, but it’s really more like a year told through lists, letters, cards, ticket stubs, reminder notes, report cards, newspaper clippings, cartoons, poems, and compositions– and a few other memorabilia and assorted, well, yeah, stuff.

Ginny starts seventh grade with a list of ten things to do, including “win something, anything” and “get a dad” and “ignore horoscope whenever possible.” She also starts out with a good attitude: “There’s nothing like the first day of school with all those waxed floors and hopeful faces. You can’t help but think you’ll get a fresh start and be the girl everyone thinks is cool . . .” Unfortunately, horoscope or no, Ginny’s fortunes go downhill from that first bright, hopeful day of school to an all-time low of five C’s and a disciplinary referral. Ginny’s a resilient character, though, and she comes back by the end of the book with a summer list and some hope for improvement in her eighth grade year.

The thing that’s going to be noticed about this book, of course, is the lack of a regular text and the gimmick of telling the story in notes and junk. I say “gimmick” because, honestly, until about halfway through the book, it annoyed me to have to look all over the page, turn some pages sideways, check the small print, and think in order to understand the story. Then, it got to be like a puzzle. I think kids might get into the game more quickly than I did, but then again my conservative daughter took one look at the book and said, “That’s not a real book.” I haven’t been able to interest her in it at all. My usual not-so-sneaky method is to read the first couple of chapters out loud, but that wouldn’t work at all for this book, so I’ll have to resort to leaving it lying around in conspicuous places and picking it up and laughing ostentatiously.

I do think Brown Bear Daughter, age 12, would enjoy this story of another dancer who struggles through seventh grade writing up gruesome life science experiments, turning her hair pink, and trying to get her mom to buy her the perfect (expensive) sweater. Here’s the verdict from Karate Kid, age 10:

This book is going to be hard to write about. You see, this book is written like… well, I can’t really tell you what it’s written like. It is told from lots of things, like emails, letters, comics, and a lot more that I can’t remember. The, I guess you could say, main character, is named Ginny. She is in middle school and wants a sweater. Yes, a sweater. I can’t really tell you any more about this book, except that I thought it was interesting and I hope you will too.”

The scoop from other bloggers:

Miss Erin interviews Jennifer Holm.

Camille at Book Moot: “I will confess that I was reading the book while I was fixing its MARC record. I became hopelessly involved in the story though and when I saw the image of the program for Ginny’s ballet recital I gasped so loudly the library aide wondered what was wrong with me.”

Miss Yingling Reads: “I came away with the conclusion that this was really rather clever, and was something that reluctant readers might pick up.”

Elizabeth Bird of Fuse #8 Production: “Middle School is Worse Than Meatloaf” is a tale told via “stuff”. Notes, detention slips, photos, CDs, invitations, shopping lists, you name it. A perfect blending of chaotic piles and orderly prose, this book gets to the heart of the best and the worst (more often the worst) of this most awkward and necessary of ages.

MotherReader: “I loved this innovative approach to charting a year, and props go out to Elicia Castaldi for the pictures. My sixth grade daughter (not middle school here, but still) really enjoyed the book too.”

To This Great Stage of Fools: Born November 4th

Nov4

Augustus Montague Toplady, b. 1740. Toplady’s most famous hymn is Rock of Ages, Cleft For Me, but this one, A Debtor To Mercy Alone, is one we sing in my church:

A debtor to mercy alone, of covenant mercy I sing;
Nor fear, with Thy righteousness on, my person and off’ring to bring.
The terrors of law and of God with me can have nothing to do;
My Savior’s obedience and blood hide all my transgressions from view.

The work which His goodness began, the arm of His strength will complete;
His promise is Yea and Amen, and never was forfeited yet.
Things future, nor things that are now, nor all things below or above,
Can make Him His purpose forgo, or sever my soul from His love.

My name from the palms of His hands eternity will not erase;
Impressed on His heart it remains, in marks of indelible grace.
Yes, I to the end shall endure, as sure as the earnest is giv’n;
More happy, but not more secure, the glorified spirits in Heav’n.

Toplady was a great opponent of the Wesleys, especially John Wesley, and he wrote many pamphlets and sermons in opposition to what he termed John Wesley’s “pernicious doctrines,” namely Arminianism. As Toplady was dying at age thirty-eight, he heard of rumors to the effect that he was sorry for the things he had said of John Wesley and wanted to apologize and beg Wesley’s forgiveness. Toplady got up almost literally from his deathbed in order to dispell those rumors and reaffirm his belief in Calvinism and his opposition to the Arminianism of John Wesley.

“It having been industriously circulated by some malicious and unprincipled persons that during my present long and severe illness I expressed a strong desire of seeing Mr. John Wesley before I die, and revoking some particulars relative to him which occur in my writings,- Now I do publicly and most solemnly aver That I have not nor ever had any such intention or desire; and that I most sincerely hope my last hours will be much better employed than in communing with such a man. So certain and satisfied am I of the truth of all that I have ever written, that were I now sitting up in my dying bed with a pen and ink in my hand, and all the religious and controversial writings I ever published, especially those relating to Mr. John Wesley and the Arminian controversy, whether respecting fact or doctrine, could be at once displayed to my view, I should not strike out a single line relative to him or them.”

We sing the hymn above by Toplady and this one by Charles Wesley– both at my church. Are the three of them, John, Charles, and Augustus, in heaven amused at the proximity of their two hymns–which seem to my untutored brain to have much the same theme and theology?

Arise my soul, arise; shake off thy guilty fears;
The bleeding sacrifice in my behalf appears:
Before the throne my surety stands,
Before the throne my surety stands,
My name is written on His hands.

He ever lives above, for me to intercede;
His all redeeming love, His precious blood, to plead:
His blood atoned for all our race,
His blood atoned for all our race,
And sprinkles now the throne of grace.

Five bleeding wounds He bears; received on Calvary;
They pour effectual prayers; they strongly plead for me:
“Forgive him, O forgive,” they cry,
“Forgive him, O forgive,” they cry,
“Nor let that ransomed sinner die!”

The Father hears Him pray, His dear anointed One;
He cannot turn away, the presence of His Son;
His Spirit answers to the blood,
His Spirit answers to the blood,
And tells me I am born of God.

My God is reconciled; His pardoning voice I hear;
He owns me for His child; I can no longer fear:
With confidence I now draw nigh,
With confidence I now draw nigh,
And “Father, Abba, Father,” cry.

So today I’m thanking God for John Wesley, his brother Charles, and for Augustus Toplady, and I’m asking Him to have mercy on us all–Arminians, Calvinists, and Fence-Sitting Calvino-Arminians, like me.

The Winners Are . . .

Nov3

Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at PhotobucketYes, winners. I decided to give away two copies of my curriculum book, Picture Book Preschool. And the lucky winners are Shauna of Shauna Rumbling and Angela Williswho is apparently blog-less, but a winner nonetheless. I hope you’ll enjoy all the great reading suggestions, and those (90) of you who did not win are welcome to purchase a copy of Picture Book Preschool at CafePress. Thanks for playing everybody.

To read more about Picture Book Preschool, you can go here, or here, or here, or here.

Sadie Hawkins Day

Nov3

Anybody here old enough to remember the origin of this holiday?

Al Capp, cartoonist, wrote the comic strip Lil Abner and created the characters of Daisy Mae, Lil Abner, Pappy and Mammy Yoakum, Joe Btfsplk, Schmoo, and, of course, Sadie Hawkins.

From the official Al Capp website:

Sadie Hawkins Day, an American folk event, made its debut in Al Capp’s Li’l Abner strip November 15, 1937. Sadie Hawkins was “the homeliest gal in the hills” who grew tired of waiting for the fellows to come a courtin’. Her father, Hekzebiah Hawkins, a prominent resident of Dogpatch, was even more worried about Sadie living at home for the rest of his life, so he decreed the first annual Sadie Hawkins Day, a foot race in which the unmarried gals pursued the town’s bachelors, with matrimony the consequence. By the late 1930’s the event had swept the nation and had a life of its own. Life magazine reported over 200 colleges holding Sadie Hawkins Day events in 1939, only two years after its inception. . . . When Al Capp created the event, it was not his intention to have the event occur annually on a specific date because it inhibited his freewheeling plotting. However, due to its enormous popularity and the numerous fan letters Capp received, the event became an annual event in the strip during the month of November, lasting four decades.”

Sadie Hawkins Day is often celebrated on the first Saturday in November, but you can have your own Sadie Hawkins event anytime in November. You single ladies have any plans?

Terms from Mr. Capp’s famous comic strip were an integral part of my childhood, and I never even knew that most of them came from L’il Abner. How many of you are familiar with: Kickapoo Joy Juice, Lower Slobbovia, Fearless Fosdick, Jubilation T. Cornpone, “if I had my druthers”, and “double whammy”? All of those familiar-to-me characters and phrases and places came from the creative mind of Al Capp. I think my parents must have been weaned on L’il Abner and Co.

America’s Game: More Great Baseball Stories for Kids

Nov2

The Aurora County All-Stars is a pretty good book about kids and baseball, but there are others, some better. If you know a kid who loves books and baseball, or if you are one, here are some titles to check out:

Heat by Mike Lupica. Published in 2007, this book got a lot of attention, and it was a finalist for the 2006 Cybil Award for Middle Grade Fiction. Semicolon review here.

Skinnybones by Barbara Park. “I’ve played Little League baseball for six years now. But to tell you the truth, I’m not exactly what you’d call a real good athlete. Actually, I’m not even real okay. Basically, what I’m trying to say here is, I stink.” The smallest kid on the team aspires to basebll greatness.

Catcher With a Glass Arm by Matt Christopher. Others by this classic sports fiction writer: The Lucky Baseball Bat, The Kid Who Only Hit Homers, Return of the Home Run Kid, Comeback of the Home Run Kid, Stealing Home, Baseball Flyhawk, Baseball Pals, Baseball Turnaround, and more. From Matt Christopher’s website: “Matt Christopher is America’s bestselling sports writer for children, with more than 100 books and sales approaching six million copies.”

Hang, Tough, Paul Mather by Alfred Slote. “One thing Tom Kinsella could do that none of my other doctors could do was juggle. I found that out one day when he came into my room and spotted the three autographed baseballs.” Baseball and leukemia.

Honus and Me: A Baseball Card Adventure by Dan Gutman. Joe travels through time to meet baseball’s greats. The series includes Babe and Me, Shoeless Joe and Me, Abner and Me, and Sach and Me.

Bobby Baseball by Robert Kimmel Smith. “Baseball is a simple game, people. You catch, you throw, you hit, AND YOU THINK. I will not yell at anyone for making an error. Everyone makes errors. BUT I WILL NOT PUT UP WITH MENTAL MISTAKES!”

Summerland by Michael Chabon (YA) “A baseball game is nothing but a great slow contraption for getting you to pay attention to the cadence of a summer day.” Computer Guru Son is a big fan of Chabon, but I don’t think he’s read this one.

Children’s Fiction of 2007: The Aurora County All-Stars by Deborah Wiles

Nov2

Thirty-six (short) chapters with a cliff-hanger or a plot twist at the end of almost every one. Now that’s an accomplishment, even if it did give me a feeling of whiplash being jerked around that much. Just when I thought I knew which direction the narrative was going, just when I thought I knew what was going to happen next, just when I thought I had the characters’ decisions and motivations figured out, just when I thought something somewhere was resolved, it wasn’t and I didn’t. I don’t honestly know if this would captivate or annoy most children, but it made me keep reading until nearly the end, about chapter thirty-one, when I just wanted everything to be settled and decided. I did finish to make sure that it was settled, but I was ready to slap the author up the side of the head if she wrote another about-face and switch directions.

The story is about an annual baseball game, Walt Whitman’s poetry, an anniversary county history pageant, the death of old man Norwood Rhinehart Beauregard Boyd, and the friendship between House Jackson, pitcher, and Cleebo Wilson, catcher, for the Aurora County All-Stars. All of these things, especially the pageant and the baseball game which happen to be scheduled for the exact same day and time, become entwined and enmeshed and confused, and the only way anything is ever going to work out is for House to figure out Whitman’s words about “the symphony true” and how they apply to events in Aurora County, Mabel, Mississippi, in the summer of whatever year it is in this story.

I dunno. The story was fun and intriguing with its double back somersaults, but maybe it’s too twisty and double-crossing for kids. I think I’ll try it out on some of mine and see what happens. I’ll get back to you on how the experiment goes.

Oh, I did like the quotations at the beginning of chapters from Walt Whitman, who was apparently a baseball fan (who knew?), and from various and sundry famous baseball players. I’ll whet your appetite for the book with a few:

“People ask me what I do in winter when there’s no baseball. I’ll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring.” —Roger Hornsby, second baseman, St. Louis Cardinals.

“If you come to a fork in the road, take it.” —Yogi Berra, catcher, New York Yankees.

“After the clangor of organ majestic, or chorus, or perfect band,
Silent athwart my soul, moves the symphony true.” —Walt Whitman

“Anytime you have an oppportunity to make a difference in this world and you don’t, then you are wasting your time on earth.” —Roberto Clemente, right fielder, Pittsburgh Pirates.

The Aurora County All-Stars reminds-me-of last year’s Out of Patience by Brian Miehl (Semicolon review here): small town baseball team, historical secrets, possible treasure, single parent dad. The Aurora County All-Stars is nominated for the Cybil Award for Middle Grade Fiction.

Other bloggers chime in:

Elizabeth Bird at A Fuse #8 Production: “House has the same good-hearted reticence as Cooper, complete with strong short sentences and a kind of basic decency you look for in an old-fashioned hero. Since Wiles’ novels all seem to take place in a kind of no-time (an era when soap operas and small town baseball games exist within the same sphere) it makes sense that House’s actions and mannerisms should conjure up the hero of a time past.”

Bookshelves of Doom: “Baseball and Walt Whitman and friendship and family and history and yes, it made me cry. Not in a full-on sobbing-so-much-it-hurts way, but in a pleasant, I-love-baseball-stories and I-love-the-people-in-Aurora-County sort of way.”

Sarah Miller: “The pageant vs. ballgame plot moves along at a healthy clip, and the book is loaded with cliff hangers, from ghosts and garden hose duels to busted elbows with bases loaded.”

Franki at A Year of Reading: “This is a story of baseball, a story of a strong community, and a story of friends. Deborah Wiles ties the story together with quotes from Walt Whitman. She also uses quotes from famous baseball players to set the stage for each chapter. Her writing is brilliant.”

Kirsten at The Kingdom of Books: “Another great book by Deborah Wiles! The lazy days of a small town summer where baseball and 4th of July pageants take center field transport the reader to a nostalgic place in time when neighbors looked out for one another and life was enjoyed outdoors.”

Read, Read, Read: “I liked that the book could appeal to both girls and boys. I also liked that the characters had some genuine qualities that could pull you into the story. I did shed a tear or two during the story. I love stories set in small towns.”

Obviously they (mostly) liked it better than I did.