The Perilous Gard

by Elizabeth Pope
New York : Scholastic, Inc. 1993.

When her sister Alicia thoughtlessly sends a note to Queen Mary about how abominable the castle where Princess Elizabeth is kept, her sister Kate is exiled. She is sent to the remote Perilous Gard, where she soon finds out that the gruff but kind Sir Geoffrey and a young man named Christopher Heron have a secret. Some of the people of the castle seem afraid to tell her too much, and only reference Those in the Well with a bit of awe. Kate can't help but get involved, whatever Christopher Heron may tell her!

This was a Newbery Honor book in 1975, and it's too bad it's not better known because it's a really enjoyable book, and didn't feel dated at all. This was the sort of book that I hesitated to put down at the end of my breaks at work, and wanted to pick up whenever I had a free moment. The plot is generally compelling, as the tension builds and time is running out. Those of the Well had a deliciously creep other-worldliness to them. Kate's as strong a character as some heroines of modern fantasy. She and Christopher were fabulous characters, and I enjoyed their banter. I would unhesitatingly read it again.

A word on the cover: I've included the cover that was on the copy I read, but in my opinion it's awful. Clearly no one in the department that worked on it had read the book or Kate would not have that sort of desperate heroine look about her.

The Wednesday Wars

by Gary Schmidt
narrated by Joel Johnstone
New York : Scholastic Audiobooks, p2007.

Holling Hoodhood is the only Presbyterian in his class, which means that on Wednesday afternoons when half his classmates go to Hebrew school and the other half go to CCD, he's stuck in the classroom with his teacher, Mrs. Baker. At first, she gives him chores to do, but then she starts having him read Shakespeare.

I'm rather ashamed to say I've been putting this book off, despite the acclaim it's received and the recommendations I've received from others on LT. The truth is, I found Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy depressing, and was afraid I'd be in for the same sort of book. What I didn't realize at all was how incredibly funny The Wednesday Wars is. I listened to quite a bit of it on my commute to work, and narrator Joel Johnstone not only has a pitch-perfect reading sounding like a middle school boy, he also brings out the humor in every situation (I will never think of cream puffs in exactly the same way again...).

Though the book is set in 1967-68, and the Vietnam War and politics are mentioned, what is the center of the book is not these historical events, but Holling's growth as an individual. Holling struck me as a typical teenager in his developing empathy, on the one hand seeing how an interaction affected both an adult and his schoolmate and, not too long later, telling his teacher he didn't think she had any problems to speak of. Because of this, even in a first-person narration we get to know several other characters well as Holling comes to understand them better. The only character that seemed rather one-dimensional to me was his father who is, frankly, a jerk. I'm so glad I finally got around to reading this, and will definitely be moving the companion book Okay for Now on my TBR list.

Hoot

by Carl Hiaasen
narrated by Chad Lowe
[New York] : Listening Library, c2002.

Roy, the new kid at Coconut Grove, Florida, has unfortunately attracted the notice of the local bully, Dana Matherson. When Dana is strangling him on the school bus, Roy has a good look out the window and sees a boy, running barefoot. Intrigued, he makes it his goal to find out about the running boy. Meanwhile, Curly, the foreman at a Mother Paula's pancake construction site, has been having difficulty with starting construction due to some creative vandalism.

To really tell you the meat of the story, I'm afraid I'd have to give away about the first half of it, so I'm going to leave my summary at that. I will add merely that one of the themes is the environment, and Roy's struggle of whether he should get involved in protesting - and how. His parents tell him that, when his heart and his head are telling him two different things, he needs to do his best to reconcile it and decide what actions to take. Not overtly preachy, though how much you enjoy the book will definitely be affected by your own take on environmental matters.

The Hundred Penny Box

by Sharon Bell Mathis
illus. by Leo and Diane Dillon
New York : Puffin Books, 1986.

Michael's great-aunt Dew is one hundred years old, and has a box in which she keeps pennies - one for every year of her life. Michael's mother wants to get rid of it, but Michael realizes the importance of the memories that make Aunt Dew the special woman she is.

This is more of a short story than a picture book. It is 47 pages long, and heavier on text than illustration. The illustrations are sepia-toned and quite striking; I kept thinking this sort of story would have been perfect during my early elementary years, that transition between books with pictures on every page and chapter books with almost none at all. Though it is short, this is a well-told story with characters that you really sympathize with. Even Michael's mother, Ruth, though she wants to discard the box, has taken her husband's aunt in and wants what is best for her, even if she and Michael - and Aunt Dew herself - don't agree on what "best" is. A realistic portrayal of a close family and a woman growing older and less independent.

Heart of a Samurai

by Margi Preus
narrated by James Yaegashi
Prince Frederick, MD : Recorded Books, p2011, c2010.

Manjiro is just a humble fisherman from a small village in Japan. One day, a storm sends the vessel on which he works and his companions out to sea. They manage to wash up on an island, but in the 1840s, Japan is a closed country, and no one can come in - including Japanese fishermen who have washed up away from home. Will he ever return to his country?

I found this historical fiction about the first known Japanese person to come to the United States absolutely fascinating. You can't help but cheer for Manjiro as he learns to navigate a new way of life, a new language, and the prejudices of his new country. Though I listened to the book and enjoyed the narration, I highly recommend checking out the paper copy for the illustrations, some of which are copies of Manjiro's own drawings.

Penny from Heaven

by Jennifer L. Holm
narrated by Amber Sealey
New York : Random House/Listening Library, p2006.

Penny's real name is Barbara, but she's always been called Penny after the song lyric, "pennies from heaven." She lives with her mother and grandparents; her father is dead, but on his side of the family is a large, loving Italian American extended family complete with grandmother, aunts, uncles, and cousins. The summer she is eleven-going-on-twelve is in the 1950s, and Penny gets a chance to work at her uncle's butcher shop.

I found Penny to be a really likable heroine, and her story is charming. Amber Sealey is an excellent narrator, not only capturing Penny's voice, but also managing a bunch of Italian-accented English that still sounded like individual characters (though not having any Italian relatives, I couldn't tell you how accurate the accent was!). Penny's interactions with her various family members are realistic, and easily relatable. Though this is technically historical fiction, it's based at least partly on the author's own experience growing up, and the history is more of a fact of her life - such as her grandfather's experience in the war - rather than a lesson. A really enjoyable read that I highly recommend.

Pictures of Hollis Woods

by Patricia Reilly Giff
narrated by Hope Davis
New York : Random House Listening Library, p2003.

Hollis Woods is a foster child, and she's been billed as trouble. Ever since the past summer, she's run away from homes when she gets tired of being there. She's given a new chance, however, when she goes to live with an older woman named Josie, who connects with Hollis through their artistic ability. In between the chapters narrating "The Time with Josie," Hollis slowly explains what happened that caused her to start running.

Because of the similarity in plot - an independent heroine in search of a place to belong - I couldn't help but compare and contrast Hollis' story to The Great Gilly Hopkins. But after awhile, I stopped the mental comparison. Hollis has a different personality and different desires from Gilly. Even though she's "trouble" because of her running, Hollis shows kindness in her unwillingness to leave Josie alone when it becomes clear that the older woman has become more than normally forgetful. She does want a family, but she makes one where she is instead of trying to recreate the past. I really enjoyed this story, and I cheered for Hollis all the way.

On My Honor

by Marion Dane Bauer
narrated by Johnny Heller
Prince Frederick, MD : Recorded Books LLC, p1998.

Joel and Tony have been best friends since they were small. Joel has always been the obedient, cautious one; Tony is a charismatic daredevil. Tony's latest scheme is to bike out to the state park and climb the bluffs. Joel doesn't want to, but what boy wants his best friend calling him a coward?

It almost sounds like the set up to a heavy lesson story, doesn't it? Instead, through a third person narration closely tied to Joel's point of view, we see a realistic boy who wants to do the right thing, but also save face with his friend. While it isn't necessarily the type of story I'd choose to reread, I can see why it was a Newbery Honor book.

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate

by Jacqueline Kelly
narrated by Natalie Ross
Grand Haven, MI : Brilliance Audio, p2009.

Calpurnia Virginia Tate - generally called "Callie Vee" by her six brothers - discovers an interest in science, much to the consternation of her mother, who would like her only daughter to be a proper young lady. But at practically twelve in 1899, Calpurnia is finding, with encouragement from her naturalist grandfather, a whole wonderful world opening up to her.

I didn't expect to like this book as much as I did, fearing that Kelly wouldn't be able to help bashing Christians in a book talking about a girl learning about science and Darwin in Texas. She does a good job of treading lightly and treating issues more complexly than that, however. A quote from The Origin of Species opens each chapter, and Callie has an adventure trying to borrow the book from the library. But her grandfather, an admirer of Darwin, is also good friends with the local minister, and there are no lectures on believing one way or the other. Callie is a great character. I loved the realistic interactions between Callie and her brothers, or her mother, especially. Callie jumps into things with both feet, like a true eleven-year-old, wondering about the world around her, whether it be the natural world or her oldest brother's love life. Narrator Natalie Ross did an excellent job of capturing her voice, as well as making each of her brothers and other characters sound distinctive.

The Underneath

by Kathi Appelt
New York : Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2008.

Several stories strand together in this poetic tale. An abandoned, pregnant cat takes refuge with a lonely hound. A drunk called Gar Face - the owner of the hound - goes hunting daily and becomes obsessed with a huge alligator. A snake trapped in a jar under an old pine tree bides her time waiting for... what?

I started listening to this on audio, and while I liked the reader, I soon realized that the tone of the story was too contemplative for me to listen well and pay attention. Yet the story is meant to be read aloud. The sound of the words and phrases and sentences (and sentence fragments) beg for listening. It's the sort of book that a child might have to be begged to read, but a good reader could have them sitting spell-bound as the various story lines are revealed and eventually come together in a taut climax.

One Crazy Summer

by Rita Williams-Garcia
narrated by Sisi Aisha Johnson
Prince Frederick, Md. : Recorded Books, p2010.

One summer in the late sixties, Delphine and her sisters, Vonetta and Fern, fly to Oakland to visit their mother, Cecile, who left them when Fern was just a baby. The girls have grown up in Brooklyn with their grandmother and father raising them, and eleven-year-old Delphine had to grow up fast. Cecile doesn't seem to want them now, either, and sends them to a Black Panthers breakfast and summer school every day to get them out of the house so she can work on her poetry.

If you were following the Mock Newbery Awards before the official announcement of the ALA youth media awards, you've probably heard this title bandied about. A lot of people predicted it would win, so I was not surprised to see it on the Newbery Honor list this year. When I needed an audiobook for my commute and saw it available at work, I snatched it up. I wasn't really sure what to expect. At first I was a little disappointed by the lack of action in the story. The tight focus on Delphine, our first person narrator, and her family made this extremely character-centric. Though 1968-69 was a very intense time, the plot of this story is much more subdued and introspective. The number of historical details expertly laced into the story struck me only after I'd finished the book and started looking in to some of the events and people mentioned. We learn naturally, as Delphine mentions things like her uncle being away, or sorting newspapers. The family interactions, especially between Delphine and her sisters, ring true and were made all the richer by Sisi Aisha Johnson. While I'm not sure it's the type of story that many children would choose on their own (and I'm pretty sure I may not have picked it up without prompting), it would make an excellent read-aloud and discussion starter.

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon

by Grace Lin
narrated by Janet Song
New York : Random House/Listening Library, p2010.

Minli and her parents live in a poor village by Fruitless Mountain. Though her parents, Ma and Ba, work hard, they only make enough to have just enough rice for themselves. Minli's father tells her stories, but her mother doesn't think that the stories do anything but fill Minli's head with fanciful thinking. Then, Minli runs away to see if she can find the Old Man in the Moon - just like her father's stories say she can to change her fortune.

This story felt like one of those dolls that have a smaller one inside, on and on, until the very smallest is revealed at the center. In this tale, story after story after story is revealed in such a way that the reader slowly sees the connections. Despite Ma's feeling, this is truly a celebration of stories and their power. Minli's quest has a mythical feel to it, just like the stories Ba tells his family.

Savvy

by Ingrid Law
New York, N.Y., U.S.A. : Burlington, MA : Puffin ; Walden Media, 2010, c2008.

The Beaumont family is special. They each have a savvy - kind of like a knack for something, though in a big way, like Fish's ability to conjure up storms when water's nearby - that generally comes to them on their thirteenth birthday party. Mibs is about to turn thirteen, and she can't wait to find out what her savvy is. Then her father gets in a car accident, her mother and brother Rocket go to the hospital in Salina, and her birthday appears to be ruined. Running away from her unwanted birthday party at the church, Mibs ducks into a bus that has Salina written on it, figuring she'll make her way to the hospital to her father to help him with her new savvy. But a few extra passengers and a travel detour derail her plans.

In some ways, this story reminded me of tall tales. Everyone has a certain knack for something or a quirkiness to them, but in the Beaumont family, it's just one step beyond - yet not quite far enough to make the story a fantasy. Mibs is an engaging narrator, with every inventive adjective, alliteration and internal rhyme adding to the storytelling sound of the book. She was a fun heroine to cheer for as she came to know herself and, through her savvy, her family and new-found friends, Bobbi and Will. I'm just a teensy bit disappointed that the next book in the series, Scumble, is about her cousin.

The Egypt Game

by Zilpha Keatley Snyder
New York: Yearling Book, 2004 (c. 1967).

When April moves in with her grandmother, she meets Melanie and Marshall Ross. April and Melanie become fast friends, discovering a shared delight in reading and imaginative games, and both become fascinated with Ancient Egypt. In a neighbor's abandoned yard, they begin playing the Egypt Game, using their knowledge of Ancient Egypt and imagination to create altars and rituals in an elaborate game. But their play is threatened when a local child is murdered, and there's a possibility that the guilty person is someone they know.

I chose this as my read for Banned Books Week, curious to see what sorts of rituals and descriptions might make someone react so strongly as to challenge this book just in the past year. I'd expected a fantasy where the gods came to life, and ancient rituals were described in detail. I'm still somewhat baffled, because what I found was a book steeped in imaginative play that reminded me of the games I used to play with my friends, cousins, and neighbors. In fact, reading the book became more of an experience of walking down memory lane, remembering how we played games based on movies or TV shows that we would stop to discuss who was getting eaten by dinosaurs, or if which dinosaur we were calling on for super powers. The descriptions of the kids' imagination, discussions, and power plays for making game decisions, were quite realistic. I was also surprised that a book written in the 60s has aged extremely well. Though I laughed at some of the kids' expressions ("Sheesh!" reminded me of another friend from my childhood...), for the most part their story could have been one that happened in almost any small town neighborhood. Also, the main characters are white, African American, Asian American, and more, quite a varied cast for its time. I seriously wonder what book the challenger was reading, because it doesn't appear to be at all like the one I read.

And while it may be a little on the young side, as four of the characters are 12, it just barely squeaks in to count towards the YA Through the Decades challenge for my 1960s read.

The Thief

by Megan Whalen Turner
Eos, copyright 2006, 1997.

Gen, a thief in Sounis, brags that he can steal anything, a boast that lands him a bet to steal the king's seal. He does so, only to show it off in the wine shop to prove it, and is promptly clapped in chains and brought to the king's jail. The king's magus comes to Gen with a proposition: steal something for me, and I'll set you free; fail to steal it, and you die.

This is one of my all-time favorite books. When I first read it about three years ago, I remember stopping every so often to look at how many pages left thinking, "What is this author doing? There are so many pages left, what on earth can happen?" Of course, as I kept reading, I realized how brilliantly Megan Whalen Turner had been spinning her story, surprising me yet absolutely convincing me that she knew exactly what she was doing. Two rereads later, and the story has not lost its charm. Gen is a great character, and I love following his narrative and being in his head even when I remembered most of the story. The world-building of a whole pantheon, mythology, and politics of three countries, is just about perfect. This first book in the series, followed by Queen of Attolia and King of Attolia, is by far my favorite of the series, but I highly recommend them all.

Though I mentioned the series briefly when I wrapped up my summer reading 'way back in 2007, I never did review each of the books individually. Now that I'm rereading the series in preparation for A Conspiracy of Kings, I'll be posting reviews with the caveat that though I will try my best to avoid spoilers for each title: 1. each review will necessarily give spoilers for previous titles, so do yourself a favor and read the books before you read my reviews and 2. this will be my third read of the books, and it's really hard for me to bring myself back to the first read and avoid said spoilers.  It's sort of like those college professors who read the assigned reading about ten times and couldn't bring themselves back to the undergrad's position of having never read the books before - they just kind of expected you to see some themes and connections that were only obvious after rereads.  But I will try my hardest.