Feathers....

...by Woodson is over at Tweendom!

Trouble Begins

This is another title that I read expressly for use in our East Meets West book night. I really enjoyed this take on the immigrant experience.

Du and his grandmother have been waiting for 8 years to join the rest of their family in California. They all left Vietnam at the same time, but grandmother and Du had TB, and were left behind.

When father finally gets the money together to bring Du and grandmother over, the rest of their family is pretty much Americanized. Du's brothers and sisters are embarassed by his constant trouble making and odd behaviour. His parents are always at work, and only seem to notice him when he gets in trouble at school. And school. That awful place is where Du feels most alone. He knows he is not stupid, but his lack of English is making everyone else talk to him like he is an idiot.

This is a fascinating story in that the reader is truly in Du's headspace. Eventhough we assume his thoughts are in Vietnamese, we are reading them in English. The reader recognized the very real struggles that Du is facing. This misunderstandings, and miscommunications. Without being preachy, this book makes readers stop and think about their own assumptions.

A thoughtful read.

Gilda Joyce Psychic Investigator

Eighth-grader Gilda lives in Michigan with her mom and brother Stephen. It is the end of the school year and everyone in her class is talking about the trips they are going on and camps they are going to over the summer. Gilda is not paying attention. Instead she is reading her favourite book : The Master Psychic's Handbook, by Balthazar Frobenius. When her teacher asks Gilda what she is going to do for the summer she blurts out that she is going to California to write a novel. This is not exactly the truth. But if Gilda is anything, she is relentless. And before you know it, Gilda gets herself invited to San Fran to stay with her mother's distant cousin Lester and his daughter Juliet.

The Splinter household is very different from Gilda's home. The huge museum-like house is devoid of anything personal, and Lester and Juliet keep to separate wings. The tower in the back is all boarded up. Gilda soon learns this is because Juliet's Aunt Melanie had committed suicide from the tower 10 years earlier.

Gilda is bound and determined to solve the mystery of the boarded up tower, and figure out why Lester refuses to talk about anything. With the help of Balthazar Frobenius, some disguises, and her cousin Juliet Gilda uses her talents as a psychic investigator to do more than just solve mysteries!

This book is appealing on so many levels, yet truly hard to describe. Gilda's character seems so young, but the topics of suicide and depression are sophisticated and give the story more of a YA feel. I really liked Gilda and admired her spunk, and Juliet is intriguing in her teen angst. Some plot points of the ghost story within are scary, then the reader finds herself laughing on the next page.

I think that Jennifer Allison has done an amazing job writing an entertaining and intriguing story. I would recommend this to readers from 7th - 9th grade.

How It Happend In Peach Hill

15-year-old Annie and her Mama have always moved around. Ever since Mama got thrown into jail in Carling, staying one step ahead has been a priority.

Mama is clairvoyant...or says she is, at least. Peach Hill is Mama and Annie's eighth town. They set up shop, but this time they have a new angle. Annie is pretending to be an idiot. She has perfected a crossed eye and slack jaw. Afterall, people will say anything in front of an idiot. This way, Annie can easily collect the information that her Mama needs for business. Information like the fact that Delia deGroot's Mama up and ran away with the fish man. Or that Mr. Poole's wife was sharp elbowed and sharp tongued.

Annie, however, hadn't counted getting feelings for local boy Sammy Sloane. There was no boy alive who would fall for a drooling idiot! So Annie hatches her own plan and has Mama unwittingly "heal" her in front of some other people. Annie has never defied her mother before, and honestly, she likes the feel of it.

Annie gets to discover Peach Hill and its residents out from Mama's watchful eye. Is Mr. Poole all that he seems? Is his interest in Mama genuine? Will Sammy Sloane notice Annie now that she's "normal"? And who is that bedraggled girl without shoes running around town?

As Annie learns to see using her own eyes, she will face some hard truths. About her Mama and their lifestyle, and about truth itself.

Marthe Jocelyn has written a solid character driven story that is filled with historical detail. While the cover looks young, the story itself deals with themes of first love, abuse, and finding one's path. Fans of Creech will approve.

The Secret Order of the Gumm Street Girls

Have I raved enough in the past about the women that I work with? Two super cool librarians who have lots of publishing contacts and are willing to share them! They recently went to a breakfast and came back with a book bag full of kid/tween lit for me! So Yay! And thanks to Jen and Karyn!

So, The Secret Order of the Gumm Street Girls is aWizard of Oz based fantasy for the tween set.

Poor Ivy. A Jinx has followed her since she broke a mirror almost seven years ago. No matter where she and her mother move, bad luck follows. In fact, getting to Gumm Street is the first good thing that has happened in a long time. Ivy and her mom have inherited Aunt V's old house.

Gumm Street happens to be the very street where Pru, Cat, and Franny live. You would think that 3 girls of the same age who live on the same street would be friends. Well, they used to be. Not any more. After all Pru is all stuck up with her nose perpetually in a book, Cat is a great big show off and queen of the cartwheels, and Franny has so many big ideas that she cannot possibly follow through with any of them!

When Ivy moves to the block, a piano is mysteriously delivered and the elusive Mr. Staccato - piano teacher extraordinaire - shows up to offer some lessons. Ivy's first lesson shows her that there is something else to Mr. Staccato besides piano! His dogs seem to talk, and he has a museum room filled with movie memorabilia from way before her time. The prize of which seems to be ruby slippers.

An adventure soon begins with the girls having to get together and work together to defeat the crazy Aunt Cha-Cha and her creepy nieces Bling-Bling and Coco. The girls travel to Spoz, then Spudz and each of them works to find their "unique talent" that Mr. Staccato has told them they possess.

I am not sure how to really describe the plot. Elise Primavera has written lots of plot! I think that kids who have read The Wizard of Oz series will get more out of this book than kids who have not read it. There is a large amount of magical realism, and necessary suspension of belief is required to get through. I did, however, really enjoy the book. I think that it is written on a couple of levels where older readers will get the wry writing style and younger readers will get an adventure story.

I had fun!

Pish Posh

This book has got the cutest cover I have seen in a long time!

Clara Frankofile is everything that you would think a pre-teen, Manhattanite snob would be. Daughter of famous restauranteur Pierre and socialite Lila, Clara spends every evening dining alone at the back of Pish Posh and spends her time deciding who has become a Nobody. Pish Posh simply wouldn't be the elegant place it is if they let anyone in!

The times when Clara is not in the restaurant, she is spending time in her own apartment...her parents live in the apartment below her. It's more convenient that way. Clara has everything she could wish for there...a roller coaster room, a Brooklyn neighbourhood room, bumper car room. Her favourite room, however, houses a massive tree from Yungaburra Australia.

After banishing Dr. Piff from Pish Posh, Clara ends up in her tree room. She has just opened the ceiling hatch and is sitting in the branches when she notices a ruckus on the street below. Everyone seems to be pointing to her rooftop. Upon squinting down, Clara notices a girl about her age looking for an escape. Against her better judgement, Clara helps the girl up into the tree and closes the hatch.

Enter Annabelle. Plain, assertive and a thief, Annabelle is not like the people with whom Clara tends to associate, let alone someone who she would befriend. But life has a funny way of taking twists and turns and sometimes you end up in places you would never imagine.

Pish Posh is part adventure, part fantasy, and part friendship fiction. There are many levels to the story, and each, I am happy to say, is delightful as well as thoughtful. It is a NYC-centric story, but I think that the tween set will love it no matter where they live!

Much Ado About Grubstake

Imagine my surprise when just as I finished Once Upon a Marigold, Jen receives a lovely box from a publisher containing Jean Ferris' Much Ado About Grubstake. Happiness, indeed!

It is 1888 in tiny Grubstake Colorado. Grubstake was once a vibrant mining town, and now only the stragglers are left. 16 year old Arley runs the town boarding house on her own ever since her daddy blew himself up in their mine, Never Mine. Arley escapes her dreary life by reading her Penny Dreadfuls that she picks up once a month from the train delivery. In the Dreadfuls, life is so exciting. Arley wishes her life could be exciting too!

You know what's coming...."Be careful what you wish for..."

Soon wealthy Charles Randall rolls into town on the monthly train wanting to buy up all of the mines to make Grubstake into a resort. Arley and friends Everdene, Bridget and Wing are suspicious. Who would want to go to a resort where it rains all the time?

Randall's associate Morgan takes a room in Arley's house. He has no last name, is always dressed in black, and has a scar running the length of his cheek. Just like a villain in a Penny Dreadful! Can Arley's snooping lead to some answers?

A fun romp of a story, filled with quirky characters and action, Much Ado About Grubstake is perfect for younger YAs and sophisticated tweens.

Once Upon A Marigold

I have been looking at this book on the shelf in my library forever. It has that wonky font that I love for the title, and the title itself was intriguing. I know that Jen has been booktalking it to the 5th graders forever. I don't know why I hadn't read it sooner.

Ed is a simple troll minding his own business looking for cast off things in the forest when he happens upon Christian. This little boy in the velvet suit is hiding in a bush with the firm idea that he is running away. He is six and does not like the rules of home. After all, it is hard for a six year old to stay quiet and clean all the time.

It is getting dark, so Ed takes the boy back to his cave for the night. What was to be one night turned into many, many nights.

Christian is now a teenager. He loves to help Ed find his treasures in the woods, and he spends his time looking through his telescope at the unhappy princess across the river. Feeling bold one day, Chris sends the princess a message by p-mail (pigeon). To his surprise and delight, Princess Marigold answers him. Back and forth the messages fly, and a friendship is formed.

Can a regular boy who lives with a troll in a cave truly be the best friend of a princess?

Ferris has written a wonderfully wonky fractured fairytale. There is love, there is comedy, there is action and it is all set in an imaginary time and place that could be past or present. I LOVED this book and will be recommending it to my 4th graders who are fans of Ibbotson!

Gender Blender

So, Blake Nelson is one of my favs. He came to do a reading at our high school and he was a great combination of funny, daring and sweet. I have loved many of his books in the past and was very excited to pick up Gender Blender. Cute title, yes?

Tom and Emma were best friends forever. Then as 5th and 6th grade came along, everything changed. Emma is activitied out by her mom and is constantly on the run from piano to gymnastics and back home for school work. Tom has become a bit of a slob, and is definitely not interested in school anymore.

A freak accident on the trampoline after school results in a Freaky Friday style body switch. Emma is wearing Tom's body and vice versa. How will they survive as each other?

Nelson has slyly slipped quite the social commentary into Gender Blender. Tom sees the psychological nastiness girls need to survive, as well as the pressure on them from both sides of the fence regarding relations with boys. Emma notices that nothing is expected of her in school, and that boys have to hold their feelings in and seem to beat each other up as some twisted form of camaraderie.

While terms like "boner" and "perv" along with periods may make some readers uncomfortable, Nelson offers a frank commentary on what it's like to be a middle schooler today.

I can testify to this as I sit in the library in my invisible adultness and hear the conversations of 7th and 8th grade boys every morning! Personally I can think of nothing more horrifying than having to switch bodies with the opposite sex at age 12. While I didn't love this book, I do think it contains some gems that kids will want to think about!

I, Coriander

This is a title that I picked up last year at BookExpo, and have been meaning to read for quite some time. Youngish looking cover, but not so young inside!

Coriander loves her life. Her room is painted with beautiful fairy stories, her mother is lovely, and her father is a wealthy merchant who is teaching her to read and write. One day a beautiful pair of silver shoes arrives at her home with the letter "C" etched onto the sole. Surely they are for her! Coriander is bewildered when her mother puts them away stating that they are not meant for her. Coriander feels her heart pulling her to those shoes, and she actually hears the shoes calling to her! She overcomes her greatest fear to get to them. She actually puts her hand in the mouth of the stuffed alligator that her father keeps in his study to get to the key to his bureau. Coriander knew the shoes were for her...they are a perfect fit! She quickly tries to take them off before her parents can see, and to her dismay they are stuck to her feet.

Eventually Coriander is able to remove the shoes, but the spell they cast flies far. Before she knows it, her mother is dead, her father is enveloped in grief, and her world is soon to be changed forever. Cromwell is now ruling England, and her father ( a known royalist) is convinced to marry a Puritan in order to keep his land. Maud Leggs is everything that Coriander's beautiful mother wasn't. She is fat, homely, has blackend teeth and finds the devil in every corner. She soon convinces Coriander's father to let a preacher (the Crooked Man) move in. While Coriander's father is away on business, the Crooked Man introduces "Ann" (Coriander is a vain name) to the "hand of wrath" for every "infraction".

This book had me staying up to the wee hours of the morning to learn of Coriander's fate. Coriander is a strong character, and her friends are equally as interesting. Parallel worlds, fairies, espionage and adventure all make I, Coriander a compelling, fast paced fantastical read for the 6th grade and up set!