PAWS to Read

My favorite program returns!  The Peoria Humane Society came back to the library for another PAWS to Read program.  Once again, adorable little kids read to adorable little (and massive!) dogs.

Karma by Cathy Ostlere

Book Jacket

It is 1984, and fifteen-year-old Maya is on her way to India with her father.  She carries with her the ashes of her mother, who recently committed suicide, and arrives in Delhi on the eve of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's assassination and one of the bloodiest riots in the country's history.

Maya is separated from her father and must rely upon the help of a young man she's just met--they mysterious, kindhearted Sandeep--if she is to stay alive and make it home.  But as her love for Sandeep begins to blossom, Maya will have to face the truth about her painful adolescence...if she's ever to imagine her future.

Review

Maya experiences the worst thing a teenaged girl could imagine, AND the worst thing a daughter could imagine.  And that is before the book begins, and tragedy piles on top of tragedy.  Seriously, this girl!  She is born to a Sikh father and a Hindu mother, and she is raised in India.  She speaks three languages, but no matter where she goes--Canada or India--she doesn't fit in.

After the horrific riots in New Delhi, I am amazed that Maya finds the strength to keep living.  She endures and sees more than anyone ever should.  I have the utmost respect for her.  Sandeep is also wonderful.  At first childish and lusty, he grows by seeing Maya's pain.  He realizes there are greater things to live for, people to fight for, and his own mysterious past to discover and forgive.

I loved this book even though it tore my heart to shreds.  It isn't an easy book to read.  But its message of perseverance, forgiveness, and love--along with all the messy consequences when we fail--is worth the pain.

Four out of five marigold petals.

Release Date: March 2011
Reading Level: Grade 8+
Where In Dunlap Public Library's Collection: YPL OST

The Bible Jesus Read by Philip Yancey

Book Jacket

Philip Yancey has a way of confronting our most cherished but misguided notions about faith.  In The Bible Jesus Read, he challenges the perception that the New Testament is all that matters and the Old Testament isn't worth taking the time to read and understand.

Yancey admits that, like many Christians, he usually avoided the Old Testament.  After all, why bother with writings that can be so baffling, boring, even offensive to the modern mind?

But a surprising discovery awaited Yancey when he began to explore how the Old Testament related to his life today.  Those seemingly irrelevant Hebrew Scriptures took on a startling immediacy, portraying a passionate relationship between God and people against a backdrop of human experience.  Like nothing else, the Old Testament depicts the cries, the complaints, the deep, insistent questionings of the heart, the stuff of life we all must contend with.

With his candid, signature style, Yancey interacts with the Old Testament from the perspective of his own deeply personal journey.  From Moses, the amazing prince of Egypt, to the psalmists' turbulent emotions and the prophets' oddball rantings, Yancey paints a picture of Israel's God--and ours--that fills in the blanks of a solely New Testament vision of the Almighty.

Review

I've become more partial to the Old Testament in recent years, but Yancey has made me fall head over heels in love.  The rawness of the ancient Hebrews crying out to God for answers, and the rawness of God crying out to his people to love Him and return to Him....those are emotions I can relate to.  There are no easy answers in the OT.  Stories are confusing and sometimes awful.  People rant and rave against God, then rejoice and praise Him in the next breath.  It seems nonsensical, and maybe it is.  But isn't life just the same?

My attitude toward God can drastically alter in the space of one sentence or one event or one discovery.  Sometimes I wonder if He really exists.  Sometimes I want to shout from the rooftops how good He is to me.  Sometimes I can't bother to care one way or the other.  All of that is also in the OT.

I particularly liked Yancey's close-up look at both Job and Ecclesiastes.  And I especially loved the last chapter that bridges the yearnings and questions of the OT with the answers found in the person of Jesus in the NT.  Why does suffering exist?  God never answers this.  Instead, He sent His son Jesus to live on earth, suffer for us and suffer with us, to show that God cares.  And really, I would rather know that God cares about me while I suffer than to know why suffering exists at all.

God is deeply interested in relationship.  I used to think this was a primarily NT idea.  Not at all!  God's presence and desire for intimacy with His people screams throughout the pages of the Bible.  I'm so grateful that Yancey made me aware.

Five out of five searching questions.

Release Date: August 1999
Reading Level: Grade 8+
Where In Dunlap Public Library's Collection: Not currently in Dunlap's library.

LEGO Construction Club

Dinosaurs!  This was probably the most exciting theme yet.  Kids built actual dinosaurs, dinosaur holding cells, and trucks designed to capture and transport dinosaurs.  Pictures below the cut!

Bluestem Award Nominees: COMPLETED

My goal to read all the Illinois Award Nominated books is now 1/2 over!  With....barely any time left.  I very much doubt I will get all the Caudill and Lincoln books read.  But I will try!

The Bluestem category is fairly odd.  3rd-5th graders can be wildly immature or surprisingly deep.  The books nominated for the Bluestem award are similarly all over the place.  I tended to favor the more mature books, although some of the younger-slanted books impressed me as well.

These are the books that I gave a five out of five rating:

14 Cows for America by Carmen Agra Deedy
Adventures in Cartooning by James Sturm
All Stations!  Distress!  April 15, 1912: The Day the Titanic Sank by Don Brown
Extra Credit by Andrew Clements
Rules by Cynthia Lord
Secret Science Alliance and the Copycat Crook by Eleanor Davis
Swindle by Gordon Korman

These were all really great books, but I will be giving my vote to Rules by Cynthia Lord for telling an honest story about the uncomfortable truths of navigating friendships and families.

The Sisters Grimm: The Fairy-Tale Detectives by Michael Buckley

Book Jacket

The Sisters Grimm, Daphne and Sabrina, have been in foster homes ever since their parents' mysterious disappearance.  Now, they're living in Ferryport Landing with Granny Relda Grimm, who they thought died long ago! 

Strange things are happening at Granny's house, and some of the town's residents seem oddly familiar.  Then Granny tells the sisters they are ancestors of the famous Brothers Grimm and they must now take on the family's responsibility--they are the new fairy-tale detectives!  Their first case:  a giant is destroying the town and it might just have something to do with a boy named Jack and a certain famous beanstalk.

Review

Full disclosure:  I tried to read this book over a year ago, but never finished it because it didn't grip my attention.  Then it was nominated for the Bluestem award, and I felt obligated to give it another chance.

I didn't dislike it as much as I first thought, but...I still wasn't won over.  Normally I am a huge fan of fairy tales, but this rendition fell flat.  I like my fairy tales full of whimsy and other-worldly charm.  The Fairy-Tale Detectives felt too immersed in real life without much of the whimsy I adore. (The movie Enchanted is my go-to example of how to do this right.)

Also, what exactly is Buckley's definition of a fairy tale?  Giants, Prince Charming, and the Three Little Pigs all fit my definition, but Ichabod Crane and Arthur?  I was confused when I saw them appear on page...aren't they more fictional characters (or fictional accounts of possible real people) rather than fairy tales?

I didn't think much of the book.  Puck was about the only redeeming character, and once again, what?  Fairy tale??  At least he was funny.

Two out of five jail breaks.

Release Date: August 2005
Reading Level: Grade 4+
Where In Dunlap Public Library's Collection: BLUESTEM

The Apothecary by Maile Meloy

Book Jacket

It's 1952 and the Scott family has moved unexpectedly from Los Angeles to London.  Janie Scott feels uncertain in her strange new school until she meets Benjamin Burrows, the local apothecary's curiously defiant son, who dreams of becoming a spy.

Benjamin's father promises Janie a cure for homesickness, and it seems to work.  But Mr. Burrows is no ordinary apothecary, and he holds dangerous secrets.  When he disappears, Benjamin and Janie find themselves entrusted with his sacred book, the Pharmacopoeia.  And Russian spies are intent on getting their hands on it.

Discovering transformative elixirs they never imagined could exist, Janie and Benjamin embark on a dangerous quest to save the apothecary and prevent an impending nuclear disaster.

From award-winning author Maile Meloy comes a novel that sparkles with life and magic.  Breathtakingly illustrated by Ian Schoenherr, this is a story that will delight kids and return not-so-young readers to a world in which the extraordinary is possible.

Review

This book was so enjoyable.  I love stories in which Americans move to awesome foreign countries (in this case, England), because I get to live vicariously through them.  I love stories that introduce me to new time periods.  The Apothecary is set seven years after WWII ended, and I was shocked to see how huge an impact the war had on England after all that time. And I absolutely adore books with individually distinct but all awesome characters discovering a wonderful fantastical world in the midst of raging adventure and daring exploits.

Turns out apothecaries are basically wizards.  With the right combination of materials, kids turn into birds, become invisible, or create a truth serum.  Meloy somehow managed to make this seem unbelievable, and then completely customary.  I like when magical/fantastical skills are equated with power--this person has extra power, so what are they going to do with it?  Like most great books, The Apothecary is full of people who have power and want to control the nations as well as our heroes who have power and want to use it for peace.

Janie is a wonderful main character, and I especially loved her parents.  Benjamin is adorable, and I really loved their slow-paced romance.  But I've got to admit, my favorite characters were no-nonsense Jin Lo and trickster Pip.  They stole every page they were on.

This book has it all: adventure, romance, history, life-or-death stakes.  It's fantastic.

Five out of five melted gold earrings.

Release Date: October 2011
Reading Level: Grade 5+
Where In Dunlap Public Library's Collection: YPL MEL