Smile by Raina Telgemeier

Book Jacket

Raina just wants to be a normal sixth grader.  But one night after Girl Scouts she trips and falls, severely injuring her two front teeth.  What follows is a long and frustrating journey with on-again, off-again braces, surgery, embarrassing headgear, and even a retainer with fake teeth attached(!).  And on top of all that, there's still more to deal with: a major earthquake, boy confusion, and friends who turn out to be not so friendly.  Raina's story takes us from middle school to high school, where she discovers her artistic voice, finds out what true friendship really means, and where she can finally...smile.

Review

Ah, adolescence.  I have no desire to ever think of you in any way other than hilarious graphic novels.  Suddenly the awkward physical appearances and awkward social situations are less horrific and more hysterical!  I so admire Telgemeier for recounting her autobiography in such an entertaining format.

I know this was not supposed to be educational, necessarily, but I was really impressed with the level of dental care available!  I had to go through braces, but Raina takes teeth arrangement to a whole new level.  She knocks out her two front teeth, then gets braces to slowly move the rest of her top teeth toward the center.  She has to correct a crossbite and an overbite.  And after so much rearrangement, she has to have gum surgery to repair the damage.  GAG.  I can't even imagine going through so much pain for over four years!  Raina is a superhero.

I also like the subtle way Telgemeier portrayed friendship.  The friends that Raina grew up with were catty, and more willing to put someone down than build them up.  Luckily, Raina become confident enough to call them out on their insulting behavior, and soon makes friends with far more awesome people. 

Five out of five orthodontists.

Release Date: February 2010
Reading Level: Grade 4+
Where In Dunlap Public Library's Collection: GRAPHIC TEL

PlayAround Shakespeare

Bradley University was gracious enough to offer us the talent of five of their theater students.  They performed a humorous one-hour sprint through five of Shakespeare's most famous plays.  There were tears, there was laughter, there was a good time had by all. 

More pictures below the cut.

Angry Birds Live

I have discovered maybe the best program ever!  Angry Birds Live.  Five teens showed up to make their own yarn angry birds (hint: they fly much better when stuffed with coins), then team up to create and/or demolish obstacles of cardboard, cups, and of course, green pigs.

Peak by Roland Smith

Book Jacket

This is it, I told myself.  Fifteen more handholds and I've topped it.

I reached up for the next seam and encountered a little snag.  Well, a big snag really...

My right ear and cheek were frozen to the wall.

To reach the top you must have resolve, muscles, skill, and...

A FACE!

Mine was anchored to that wall like a bolt, and a portion of it stayed there when I gathered enough resolve to tear it loose.  Now I was mad, which was exactly what I needed to finish the climb.

Cursing with every vertical lunge, I stopped about four feet below the edge, tempted to tag this monster with the blood running down my neck.  But instead I took the mountain stencil out of my pack (cheating, I know, but you have to have two hands to do it freehand), slapped it on the wall, and filled it with blue spray paint.

This is when the helicopter came up behind me and nearly blew me off the wall.

"You are under arrest!" an amplified voice shouted above the deafening rotors.

Review

I never knew I was interested in mountain climbing, but apparently I am!  Or rather, Smith has made me so.  His story of Peak, a 14-year-old who climbs skyscrapers for fun (is this real!?  is it even possible!?), is arrested and has to move to Nepal to live with the world-famous mountain climber father he barely knows.  He then proceeds to befriend a Tibetan teen, psychologically grapple with a Chinese policeman, and learn to climb Mt. Everest!

It was fascinating.  I had no idea the preparation involved.  You can't just climb the mountain straight up--you climb to a camp, then hike back down.  You rest low for several days, letting your red blood cells get more oxygenated (I think?), before hiking back up.  The whole process takes weeks!  That is some serious devotion.

On top of that commitment, there's the constant deaths of people attempting to summit the mountain.  The scene where Peak nears the top was chilling, as he stops counting corpses after the fifth one.  It is too high up there for helicopters to fly and retreive bodies, so anyone who dies about 26,000 feet will stay there forever.

I learned a lot.  I honestly didn't know what to expect from the ending.  And the family relationships were very compelling--Peak and his father work through some issues without ever devolving into sentimental silliness.  Also, Zopa is one of the coolest people I've ever read about.  I might attempt to climb Mt. Everest just to experience life with the close-mouthed monk/expert mountain climber.

Four out of five oxygen tanks.

Release Date:  May 2007
Reading Level: Grade 6+
Where In Dunlap Public Library's Collection: CAUDILL

Bone: Crown of Horns by Jeff Smith

 

Book Jacket

It's a full-fledged war as Briar, the rat creatures, and the Pawan army storm the city of Atheia where the Bones, Thorn, and Gran'ma Ben are up in arms to defend the royal city.  When Thorn hears a voice urging her to seek the Crown of Horns, Thorn and Fone Bone embark on another dangerous journey as they race to find the one thing that may save them all.

Review

Several people told me they were disappointed with the end of the Bone series, and....I don't know why?  Maybe I had sererely lowered expectations, but I really liked it!  We got to see all our favorite, or not so favorite, characters one more time.  The battles felt realistically scary--I worried for most of our main character's safety at one time or another.  I thought some people were goners, but they survived, and I thought some people survived, but they did not.

All the big bads get what's coming to them, in ways that were sometimes surprising.  The dragons come back in a big way, and Kingdok is a sad chariacture of his former evilness (and he knows it).  Briar remains super creepy, and that whole scene had me on pins and needles.

The story ends quite nicely, explaining what everyone will go on to do.  I won't reveal who survived or where people end up, but I have to spoil one:  Bartleby!  He lives!  Just...you know, if anyone else was concerned about the most adorable rat creature in the world.  He's okay, and still awesome.

This series takes graphic novels up a notch.  The characters are all fully-developed, with conflicting motivations and worldviews.  The drawings bring the story to life just as much as the dialogue.  In just nine short installments, Jeff Smith creates a wonderful world with an established mythology and epic confrontation. 

I loved it.

Five out of five quiches.

Release Date:  January 2009
Reading Level: Grade 6+
Where In Dunlap Public Library's Collection: GRAPHIC SMI

LEGO Club

Only three boys showed up for LEGO Club today, but they are some of the most creative and talented kids I've had the pleasure of watching play with LEGOs.  I had decided the theme could be Star Wars, and one boy made the biggest, most epic spaceship in the galaxy.  The other two had apparently talked before, and they wanted to make an obstacle course a la Wipeout.  They spent a long time integrating polar bears, water cannons, and green glame into the most impossible course I've ever seen.  After they showed me how it worked, they put several LEGO men through it, sending them flying and gleefully narrating the events as John Anderson, John Henson, and Jill Wagner.

Pictures below the cut!

Swindle by Gordon Korman

Book Jacket

Griffin Bing is on his way to a million dollars...until a mean collector named S. Wendell Palamino (a.k.a. Swindle) tricks him out of a rare Babe Ruth baseball card.  Now Griffin must put together a team of friends (and one or two enemies) to get it back.

There are many things standing in their way--a menacing guard dog, a high-tech security system, a very secret hiding place, and the fact that none of them can drive.  But Griffin is a Man With a Plan, and even if some things go way beyond his control, he's not going to let his fortune go without a fight.

Review

Wow.  I never expected to read an adventurous thieving caper that manages to teach that stealing is never okay without lessening the extremely entertaining story based on stealing.  Is that a mouthful?  Basically, Swindle is Ocean's Eleven with morals.  The kids want to steal something, and justify to themselves why it's not wrong.  I was worried throughout, because, well, no, stealing is still wrong.  But by the end Korman had covered all his moral bases without once being unfunny or on a high horse.

Griffin and Ben are a great pair of friends.  I liked how they were always there for each other, no matter how crazy the situation got.  The other kids that helped out with the big break-in were well developed and pretty awesome.  Logan the wannabe actor was my particular favorite.

The story moves quickly, and it builds into this ever more chaotic adventure that became really hilarious by the time everything started falling apart.  Korman surprised me several times along the way, and I learned both how to break into a house and how stealing is wrong.  Managing to pull off both those lessons means I give Swindle a

Five out of five rare trading cards.

Release Date:  March 2008
Reading Level: Grade 3+
Where In Dunlap Public Library's Collection: BLUESTEM