They Called Me Red

Kilbourne, Christina. 2008. They Called Me Red.

It's been about a week since I read They Called Me Red, and I'm still not quite sure what to make of it. It had my attention--I'm not saying it didn't. But it was so unique, so different--in a way--that I'm not quite sure how to sum it up without giving too much away. (I don't know if that will make sense to others or not.) They Called Me Red is the novel of a father and son divided. First divided because of the father's attentions to a woman--a wicked stepmother type--and then divided by death. Devon, our young hero, endures a lot within the pages of the novel. Much more than you're probably expecting. It's an ugly story in many ways. But it's not without glimmers of hope either.

Because of the subject matter--a child being sold into the sex industry (a male brothel) in another country, a foreign country--it won't be for everyone. Also because of the content, it's impossible to say that I "enjoyed" this one. But just because I didn't enjoy it, doesn't mean it was poorly written--far from it. It was an engaging story, but one that will take a certain kind of reader to appreciate.


© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone

Kuehnert, Stephanie. 2008. I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone.

Altars. Saviors. Rock'n'roll. I braved my fear of spiders, dust plumes as thick as L.A. smog, and the stench of dog piss that the last owner of the house had let permeate the basement to tirelessly search my father's record collection for my next holy grail.

I liked this one. It was well written. Stephanie Kuehnert has a way with words, and she can spin a good story. No doubt about it. For those that love music--particularly punk--and angst will find much to delight them in I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone. Emily, our heroine, is a girl rocker with a band. Emily's choices aren't always wise. Often they're just the opposite. And she has to learn things the hard way. But through it all, I found myself liking her...flaws and all.

Emily has abandonment issues and justly so. Her mother abandoned her and her dad when she was just a few months old. Her parents had notoriously left Carlisle, Wisconsin, in 1974. But after she left, he decides to return--much to the dismay and delight of some of the residents. Emily's best friend is the daughter of her mother's best friend. Regan and Emily are inseparable. (Regan's part of the band as well.)

We get Emily's story, but we also get snippets of her mother's story. Both share certain similarities. Emily's story is sad and bittersweet in a way. As Emily chooses time and time again not to respect herself and her body. Her choices when it come to what men she lets in...are often all too regrettable.

I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone is an ambitious novel covering a great span of years--some of her childhood, all of her teen years, and even a little beyond when she's an adult. The plot revolves around her growing up and growing wise. Of course before she can do that, she has to hit rock bottom. She has to make all the wrong choices before she can start making the right ones. But even when Emily is down on her luck and spiraling out of control, you can't help but like her and want her to find happiness.

© Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Suddenly Supernatural: School Spirit

Kimmel, Elizabeth Cody. 2008. Suddenly Supernatural: School Spirit.

"The undead are ruining my life. I blame my mother. My mother is a medium. And I don't mean the kind that fits in between small and large."

What's worse than being an uncool kid in middle school? How about being an uncool kid that sees dead people? Kat, soon after her last birthday (12? 13?), has just realized that she shares her mother's gift, her ability to see, to communicate, to help with spirits or ghosts. While Kat loves her mother dearly--most of the time--she has never wanted to share in her mother's line of work. Helping spirits communicate with the living? Not really on her to-do list. But she has little choice in the matter when the spirit that haunts the school library makes her presence known.

Suddenly Supernatural has plenty of supernatural, but it has plenty of your typical drama as well. School. Teachers. Cliques. Friends. Enemies. School dances. Jac, Kat's best friend, has problems of her own. A cello player, a talented genius sort, has lost her ability to play music. These two 'loner' types find great comfort in confiding in one another. Jac understands Kat's unique ability. And Kat understands Jac's personal struggle or turmoil. Both have gifts they don't feel comfortable with. Both feel a bit uneasy about who they are and what they want.

This is the first in a series.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

The Green Glass Sea

Klages, Ellen. The Green Glass Sea.

Set in Los Alamos, New Mexico, during World War II, THE GREEN GLASS SEA tells the story of two young girls--Dewey and Suze--whose parents work for the government on a top-secret project called Project Manhattan. Told that they are working on the gadget that will end the war, the children are confused by their new surroundings but soon become accustomed to its strangeness. Suze and Dewey are both outsiders. But it takes three-fourths of the novel for the two to become friends. In fact, Suze is one of the girls that torments Dewey and makes fun of her for wearing a leg brace. But Suze slowly becomes compassionate during the course of this novel. Dewey is a unique character. A tomboy. A wanna-be mechanic/inventor. She loves to build. She loves to take things apart. She loves math and science. The Green Glass Sea is an interesting novel. It has strengths, but it also has weaknesses. For example, Ellen Klages shifts between a wonderful style where the reader can see and feel and know what the characters are doing and a horrible style that is very didactic, very out-of-body, very removed, very distant, very awkward. What’s worse is that the first thirty-seven pages of the book are written in that style. But if you’re patient, it does get better.

The Green Glass Sea by Ellen Klages (Viking) is the winner of the 2007 Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction. The award is presented to a children's or young adult book published in English by a U.S. publisher and set in the Americas.

http://www.ellenklages.com/

Preview of Green Glass Sea, and the place the illustration comes from

The Book of Everything

Kuijer, Guus. 2006. The Book of Everything.

About the Author:
Guus Kuijer is one of Holland's most celebrated children's book authors, with published work spanning short story collections, novels for children and adults, stage plays and television scripts. In 2005, The Book of Everything won the Flemish Golden Owl Award and the Dutch Golden Pencil Award. Guus has been nominated for the prestigious Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, to be announced in March 2006.

John Nieuwenhuizen has translated six novels from the Dutch language, including Falling, The Baboon King (winner of the prestigious Mildred L. Batchelder Award for translation) and And What About Anna?. In 2005 John was shortlisted for the NSW Premier's Translation Prize. His translation of Ann Provoost's In the Shadow of the Ark is on the long-list for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award.

The Book of Everything is an interesting book. Relatively short. Very readable. Thomas is a young boy with a troubled life. He sees things others doesn't. You could say he has an active imagination. Some of his visions insert beauty where there is none. Other visions seem to fulfill his deepest and most secret wishes. His father is awful. He beats his wife. He is verbally abusive to his whole household. He is as tyrannical as they come. No wonder Thomas has to keep a journal of his wishes and 'visions' of sorts. In his 'Book of Everything' he creates his own world. And in this book he writes his greatest wish--besides the obvious that he wants God to bring down the plagues of Egypt on his father--he wants to be happy when he grows up. Throughout the course of the book, he meets a few people who encourage him and guide him on his journey to happiness. He's told that the key to being happy is to no longer be afraid. But how can he no longer be afraid when night after night he watches his father be a horrible person? Yelling, snapping at his family, hitting his mother.... It seems like an unending nightmare. Will he ever wake up? Will he ever be happy? Will his family ever have peace?

I can admire many aspects of THE BOOK OF EVERYTHING. I can see why some people really love this novel. But I must admit that I have some hesitations about it. You see there are two representations of God in this novel. The 'God' that this horribly abusive, strict, tyrannical, hateful man worships. The 'God' who feels it's okay to beat your wife and children and subject them to emotional and mental torment. The 'God' who says that men have the right to rule over women and women deserve to be treated as 'less than' because they are the 'weaker sex.' The second representation of God is one held by the boy, Thomas. He begins having 'visions' or 'conversations' with Jesus. But let me tell you now it's not the Jesus from Christianity. It's not the Jesus of the Bible. This Jesus is wasted. Perhaps thats the wrong word. He's a guy who knows nothing, sees nothing, does nothing. He isn't powerful. He isn't comforting. He borders on sympathetic--but only just barely. He isn't all-knowing. He isn't a Savior. He has this laidback "whatever" kind of philosophy where he just doesn't care or pay attention to the world. And as far as him being the son of God...well this 'Jesus' claims to be on bad terms with the father ever since that whole nailed to the cross thing. In fact this 'Jesus' claims that God the Father is missing, lost, hasn't been seen or heard from in quite a while...in fact 'Jesus' has almost come to the conclusion that God the Father is dead. I find offense...take offense at BOTH representations. I would be offended if only the first 'God' was represented in this novel. I would be offended if only the second 'God' was represented in this novel. It is one my pet peeves in literature when God, Christianity, religion is inaccurately, horribly rendered or portrayed. So often they get it wrong, and they get it wrong on purpose. These books mock what should be kept sacred. And for me any book that uses Jesus as a character and gives him dialogue that is purposefully mocking, sacrilegious, wrong, offensive...should come with a warning label. I know that some people won't be offended by this religious imagery. They'll enjoy it even. Maybe even laugh about it. But I know other people will be offended. And since you can't look at the cover or the flap or even the one sentence summary of the book and get an accurate view of what the novel is like...I just wanted to say that the THE BOOK OF EVERYTHING isn't a book for everyone.

Note: I don't really really believe in warning labels on literature. But I don't believe in false advertising either. And this book, in my opinion, gives off the impression that its friendly to faith. It says it's a book about God. It says it's about a boy's conversations with Jesus. What they don't tell you is that the God of the Bible will be horribly mocked and misrepresented. However, in the book's defense, it does occur to me just now that both the father and the son could be presented as having imaginary relationships with the gods of their own creation. So perhaps no one was trying to say that either one was THE god of Christianity. That would make some sense, and it would take the offensiveness down a notch or two. But some hesitation still remains.

Escape

Fleischman, Sid. 2006. Escape: The Story of The Great Houdini.

I remember reading Sid Fleischman’s autobiography five or six years ago, The Abracadabra Kid: A Writer’s Life, and learning how much of an impact magic had on his childhood. Magic was this author’s first passion, and it clearly shows in this biography of his childhood hero, Harry Houdini. It must have been an act of love writing such a biography--an enjoyable and accessible biography at that--for young readers. How can I describe it? It is well-written. It is enjoyable. It is well-organized. It is full of black and white photographs. It is well-researched. It features a selected bibliography and index. If only I could share the same interest as the writer. But magic has never been all that ‘magical’ to me. So I do recommend the book for readers of all ages if they show some interest in magic in general, or in the legend of Houdini himself, or if they just enjoy reading interesting biographies of famous people. It really is quite well done.

Krull, Kathleen. 2005. Houdini: World's Greatest Mystery Man and Escape King.

Written by Kathleen Krull (one of my favorite authors) and illustrated by Eric Velasquez (one of my favorite illustrators), HOUDINI is an enjoyable picture book biography. The deep, rich colors (black, red, and gold) add lushness and life to Krull’s text. The text presents a summary or overview of Houdini’s life and his most famous magic tricks. The author’s note brings Houdini’s life to a close and summarizes how Houdini’s life impacted the world. A bibliography is included.

My Penguin Osbert

Kimmel, Elizabeth Cody. 2004. My Penguin Osbert.

Every holiday picture book isn't a winner. After all, some of them are too gimmicky to be truly memorable. (Although they all have their place.) But several years ago, one came out that I really enjoyed. (Not that it could ever take the place of The Polar Express which is my all-time favorite holiday-related picture book.) MY PENGUIN OSBERT is the story of a young boy, Joe, and his imaginative, expressive quest to get the perfect Christmas gift from Santa. The book begins with Joe writing a letter to Santa. In previous years, he discovered that whenever he asked for something, he never quite got exactly what he wanted. This year he's determined will be different. He decides the problem was that he was being too vague or general with his request! What does he want? A penguin. A real, live penguin. So he enclosed measurements and pictures and even specified that he wanted a penguin named Osbert. This time Santa delivers EXACTLY what Joe asked for. But Joe may just discover that what he asked for was a little too much to handle. Will Joe finally discover that sometimes Santa knows best? MY PENGUIN OSBERT is a funny, enjoyable read for "kids" of all ages.

The Book of Bright Ideas

I tend to be slightly skeptical of any book that proclaims itself: A powerful, poignant novel of family, friendship, and a summer that will change lives forever. However, The Book of Bright Ideas by Sandra Kring, author of Carry Me Home, was described quite accurately.

Kring, Sandra. 2006. The Book of Bright Ideas.

Set in a small community in Wisconsin, Eveyln "Button" Peters and her family (mother, father, aunt, uncle) expect this summer--the summer of 1961--to be quiet and quite ordinary. All that changes when the Malones come quite noisily into town to stay. Winnalee and her older sister Freeda are a bit wilder and more vivacious than their new neighbors. But Button knows this: Winnalee is her new best friend and her drab life will never be the same again.

Winnalee's relationship with Button is close. The two become almost like sisters, sharing intimate, private secrets with one another. One such secret is a book--a blank book--Winnalee keeps in which she writes her bright ideas. The goal, if she can write down 100 bright ideas she knows she'll be wise and never make the same mistake twice. These bright ideas are often quite observant about human nature--universal and specific.

Here are a few of their bright ideas:

And although this isn't the official #1 in Winnalee's book, this is what would be Bright Idea #1 in Button's own book.
Bright Idea #1: If you take an ugly girl and you dress her up in a pretty pink dress, lacy anklets, and plunk a homemade bow on her head, you're not going to get a pretty girl. All you're going to get is an ugly girl in a pretty dress, lacy anklets, with a bow plunked on her head.

Bright Idea #86: If you're scared of dead people, then you're probably scared of live people too. But you don't got to be scared of either.

Bright Idea #89: If you ever don't know which direction to go in, or you start moving in the right direction but then get lost along the way, don't get rattled and start moving fast, this way and that. Instead, stand still and be quiet. Then you'll be showed which way to go.

Bright Idea #90: After you play beauty shop, your husband might say you look like a beauty queen, or he might just ask you where the Phillips screwdriver is. Either way, it doesn't matter, as long as your new hair makes you think nice things about yourself.

The Book of Bright Ideas is about how much of an impact a person can have on those around her/him. One person can change a life. It is a novel about discovering yourself. Finding your authentic self. Becoming the person you want to be. Growing in confidence and self-esteem. It's a novel about opening up and becoming vulnerable. And a novel about letting go of the past and saying hello to the future.

Although our heroine "Button" is nine, the novel is written for an older audience.

http://www.sandrakring.com/

Gordon Korman

Korman, Gordon. 2006. Born to Rock.

Born to Rock is an enjoyable novel narrated by Leo Caraway. Leo's life may not seem typical at the outset--he's president of the Young Republican's club, has a 4.0 GPA, and has already been accepted by Harvard on scholarship--but his life is about to get even more untypical. When Leo is falsely accused of cheating, his future looks bleak--at least if he's determined for that Ivy League education. But things get even weirder when he reads his friend's essay on her punk rock idol. Let me explain. As a child, he had no idea that his 'father' wasn't his biological father. When he discovers his birth certificate with a stranger's name on it--Marion X. McMurphy--he's confused. Fast forward ten years or so in the future when he reads in his friend's paper that King Maggot was born Marion X. McMurphy and you've got some idea of his reaction.

"I'd always assumed I'd learn about my father in the long run. But it would be from Mom. . .whoever thought that such pivotal, life-altering information would come from Melinda Rapaport's essay on punk rock?" (41)
"When I finished the essay, I wasn't done yet. Google came up with 175,000 hits on the keywords "King Maggot." I thought of the years I'd spent agonizing over the identity of my stealth sire. If I'd bothered to do a simple Internet search, I'd have learned the truth on day one" (44).

Armed with this knowledge, Leo embarks on a new adventure: to meet his famous dad. Luckily, a reunion tour is just beginning. Will Leo's dad believe his story? Will he welcome Leo with open arms? Will be become 'Prince Maggot'? Or is Leo's future as uncertain as ever?

http://gordonkorman.com/

Real Time

REAL TIME is a novel by Pnina Moed Kass set in Israel and told by multiple narrators varying in age, gender, religion, nationality, and ethnicity. These people are brought together by a Palestinian terrorist (one of the narrators) blowing up a bus on a highway into Jerusalem. If I had to pick three main narrators--I'd pick Thomas Wanninger who is 16, German, and traveling to Israel to volunteer at a kibbutz; Vera Brodsky who is 19, Russian Jew resettled in Israel and living/working at the kibbutz; and Sameh Laham, 16 Palestinian suspected terrorist. Of course, there are at least a dozen more voices that tell the story.

The novel is an honest look at terrorism, and the reality of living in a war zone. Tells all sides of the story--including the Palestinian view on why it is a GREAT thing to be a suicide bomber.

Anyway, I thought this novel is very UNIQUE. I haven't come across many novels set in the Middle East that discuss terrorism, threat of war....etc....

Sameh Laham--
Hard to think I scare anyone. I'm the dishwasher in the diner kitchen, the floor sweeper, the toilet bowl cleaner, I'm sixteen years old, and I live in a small village of Palestinian Arabs. It's not living in Zebedeid that makes me an illegal worker, it's my age. If I were over forty, with gray hair and a clean record, I would have a work permit and a magnetic card. I would swipe the card through the machine at the border, the machine would click, and I would be legal. You would see me, not see through me. Invisible, and I can earn only what my boss takes out of his back pocket. The cash he counts out is what I give my mother so we can all live: food for my two brothers and two sisters, my little brother's kidney pills, flour, oil for cooking, money for clothes. I don't need anything. My boss gives me old pants, someone's T-shirt, and whatever food is left over in the kitchen at the end of the day. All over the world sixteen is paradise, opportunity, girls, cars, everything. I watch television in Omar's house and see sixteen. Sixteen is the beach, your own room, a cell phone, surfing on waves that never end, different clothes for every day of the week, a refridgerator full of ice cream and chocolates, a mother who waits for you in a kitchen with a washing machine and a dishwasher, and a father who comes home from work. That is sixteen. Here sixteen is the magic age of death. No children, no responsibilities, no wife. A sixteen-year-old is a walking grave. Why give a job to someone about to die? Kids who explode themselves and kill Israelis have no future, so don't give them a future" (21-22).

Looking for Alaska...literally and figuratively...

I have two reviews for you today. One, Looking For Alaska, deals with a young man's coming-of-age struggle as he finds his place in the world. It is both humorous and philosophical in nature. The second, Alabama Moon, is another coming-of-age novel; however, Moon Blake is many years younger than Miles Halter and has an even longer journey he must take to make sense of his surroundings.

Green, John. 2005. LOOKING FOR ALASKA. New York: Dutton. ISBN 0525475060 [Suggested Grade Levels 9-12]

LOOKING FOR ALASKA is a coming-of-age novel starring Miles Halter and his eccentric cast of friends. Miles had always been different from his peers; for years he’d been searching for the “Great Perhaps” but he finally begins to understand the meaning of life when he ventures forth into the great unknown leaving his familiar home and school in Florida for his new life at a boarding school in Alabama. Miles, like all the characters in LOOKING FOR ALASKA, has his own eccentricities. Mile’s eccentric obsession—besides his love for philosophy—is his fascination with memorizing the last words of famous people. “It was an indulgence, learning last words. Other people had chocolate; I had dying declarations” (11). Miles, nicknamed, “Pudge,” is soon initiated into a close circle of friends including his roommate Chip Martin (the Colonel) and Alaska Young. It is his relationships with his friends—Alaska in particular—that will change his life forever.

LOOKING FOR ALASKA is well written. It is at times laugh-out-loud funny such as when Pudge and his friends are playing pranks on their peers or pondering the glory of the bufriedo, a deep-fried burrito, and at other times deeply touching such as when Pudge and Alaska are discussing the meaning of life and what it means to truly live.

John Green's Weblog
John Green's Bio

Key, Watt. 2006. ALABAMA MOON. New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux. ISBN 0374301840. [Suggested Grade Levels 6-9]

Moon Blake, a.k.a. “Alabama Moon,” is a ten year old boy who bears more weight on his shoulders than any child should ever have to endure. Raised in the forest by a father of questionable mental health, Moon knows more about nature and living off the land than almost anyone. But when his father dies due to complications from a broken leg--he refuses to have Moon seek help from the ‘outside’ world--Moon learns that what he knows about deers, snakes, rabbits, and squirrels won’t help him when it comes to surviving in human society. And human society seems to be a fate Moon can’t outrun as more people become aware of his existence. How can the state allow a ten-year-old-boy to run wild in the forest without proper care and schooling? But can a boy who has only been taught to mistrust and hate ever learn to trust and love other humans or is he destined to be a wondering loner like his father? His father’s dying words spoke to him of his dream that Moon would be able to make his way to Alaska and live free and strong with others ‘of his kind.’ As Moon struggles between awakening dreams of his own--friendship, love, and companionship with his peers-- and his father’s dying request, the boy becomes a strong and confident young man finally free to make his own decisions and merge his two realities.

Watt Key Official Site

Spotlight on Cynthia Kadohata

Cynthia Kadohata

Born: Chicago, 1956
Education: BA in journalism from the University of Southern California
Books: The Floating World, 1989 (adult); In The Heart of the Valley of Love, 1992 (adult); Kira-Kira, 2004 (young adult); Weedflower, 2006 (young adult), Cracker: The Best Dog in Vietnam, 2007 (young adult).

Honors for Kira-Kira:
Winner of the 2005 Newbery Medal
Selection of Junior Library Guild
ALA Notable Children's Books
Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature Award Winner
Blue Spruce YA Book Award Nominee (CO)
Booklinks Lasting Connections
Booklist Editors' Choice
Capitol Choices List (DC)
CCBC Choices (Cooperative Children's Book Council)
Charlotte Award Suggested Reading List (NY)
Dorothy Canfield Fisher Book Award Master List (VT)
Garden State Teen Book Award Nominee (NJ)
Kiriyama Prize Notable Book
KSRC Middle School Titles - Top Pick
Librarians' Choices 2004
Nene Award Master List (HI)
NYPL "Books for the Teen Age"
Pacific Northwest Young Reader's Choice Award Master List
Thumbs Up! Award Master List (MI)

Official website: http://www.kira-kira.us/

Interview with Cynthia Kadohata: Cynsations: Quirky, thoughtful, angsty, joyous musings on all things life and book from a writer who finds her heroes in the sunshine and in the shadows written by Cynthia Leitech Smith

Kira-Kira by Cynthia Kadohata

Told with humor and honesty, KIRA-KIRA is narrated by Katie Takeshima and tells the story of one Japanese-American family's experiences in the fifties and sixties. The novel shares the family's experiences with poverty, prejudice, illness, and death as Katie's older sister is diagnosed with a terminal illness and slowly deteriorates before her family's eyes. It is both painfully poignant and honest and at times laugh out loud funny. The strength of Kira-Kira is the growth of the narrator Katie who ages from four to twelve during the course of the novel. As Katie experiences life's harshness from prejudice to poverty to being the victim of school bullies and teasing, her narrative changes. Her relationship with her sister also changes over time. As a child, she absolutely idolized her sister. She literally believed every word her sister told her. As the sisters grow up, however, Katie learns that things can't stay the same. Suddenly, her sister becomes more interested in spending time with friends her own age and even more shocking to Katie boys. Her sister no longer has time to play games with her; her interests have changed. It is about this time in her life, that Lynn becomes sick and slowly weakens and dies. Her sister's death leaves a hole in her life and Katie is unsure of how to cope with all the changes and losses in her life. The novel is one of strength and hope despite its sadness.

Weedflower by Cynthia Kadohata

Cynthia Kadohata's first novel, Kira-Kira, was an impressive book. And Weedflower is equally impressive. This time the novel is set in the Southwest before and during World War II. Sumiko is a typically happy twelve-year old. While she feels awkward that she's the only Japanese-American in her class at school, she has not yet felt the harsh stings of discrimination...until a vicious birthday party. Soon after, I believe the same weekend, Pearl Harbor is bombed. Her normal life vanishes, no more school...no more social life...only fear and anxiety as they wait to see what will become of them all.

It is a very heart-felt story of one girl's experiences in a Japanese-American internment camp. Definitely recommend it to everyone!