The Giver

 Lowry, L. (2002). Laurel-Leaf Books. (Original work published 1993). 192 pages. ISBN 0440237688

Primary genre: fantasy

Other elements: politics, coming of age, family, friendship, survival

Intended reader age: 8 and up

Synopsis:

Jonas is just weeks away from his Ceremony of Twelve where he will be given his Assignment and move into the world of adulthood. While all his friends eagerly speculate on their possible placements, Jonas worries because he has no idea of what he would enjoy doing for the rest of his life. The day of the Ceremony Jonas is selected for an Assignment of the highest honor: Receiver of Memories. Jonas will work with the Giver and be the one person in the Community to hold the all the memories. But as Jonas is set on his path, and introduced to all that the world really holds, he begins to question everything he has ever known.

Review:

I read this at the beginning of the month, and even took the time to type up this review, but somewhere along the way from the Word document to here... I forgot to actually post this review? Glad I caught it!

This is a book that I absolutely enjoy reading. It is the type of book for me that every time I read it I find something I forgot or something new to think about. Reading it this time around I saw where some of the young adult books I have read recently were inspired. I am still not certain if Lowry classified the other books she wrote as part of a Giver ‘series’ or if the classification was set by someone else. The only other one I have read so far is the ‘second’ Gathering Blue. This is not a continuation of Jonas’s story, but it is set in a world very similar to that of The Giver. My understanding is that the other two books, The Messenger and Son, follow similar story arcs as well. 

The one part that has always stuck with me is the community’s focus on ‘speaking accurately.’ They train people out of their tendency to over-exaggerate because it is a form of ‘lying.’ I tend to take their stance when I am with people, it is not as extreme as the Community is, but I will have those moments of, “Really? You’re starving?” Just to poke fun at people, of course.

The hardest part for me to read was the release of the twin. This is THE pivotal scene in the book and Lowry did a fantastic job of relaying the horror that Jonas experienced. I was also shocked by the actions the community would take to ‘correct’ people’s behavior. They had sticks that would give a spark when they were lashed on the offender’s hands or legs. The shock for me was not so much that they employed this tactic, but that I began when children were as young as, I believe, 2 and that they would also use it on their elderly.

Festival of Books recap

This is not a book review. I just wanted to share about the amazing weekend I had last weekend (4/20-4/21). It was the LA Time Festival of Books held at USC and this year I was lucky enough to get to go both days. I went with friends from my book club and Lily, Brittany, and me were the only ones to go both days. Even though there seemed to be fewer authors that I knew, there was still a great amount to do and see and listen to.

Saturday I was able to listen to these panels:

Poetry Matters: Public Sorrow and Private Grief featuring Mary Jon Bang, Henri Cole, and Dana Gioia

Young Adult Fiction: With Great Power... featuring Cornelia Funke, Mark Frost, and Gennifer Albin

Lemony Snicket & Jon Klassen, The Dark

And Sunday these panels:

Middle Grade Fiction: The Beauty in the Everyday featuring Katherine Applegate, Kathryn Fitmaurice, Gary Schmidt, and Linda Urban

Middle Grade Fiction: Ordinary Kids, Extraordinary Adventures featuring Blue Balliett, Pseudonymous Bosh, and Stuart Gibbs

Not Just Writing Good: Writing Well featuring Constance Hale, Carolyn See, and Ben Yogoda

I was super excited to listen to some of the authors I have read for this blog assignment. I was able to listen to the panels of: Cornelia Funke (The Thief Lord), Katherine Applegate (The One and Only Ivan), Gary Schmidt (The Wednesday Wars), and Lemony Snicket ("Who Could That Be at This Hour?"). I found it very interesting that most of the panel discussions turned to processes of writing. Of course, many people attending are fans and/or aspiring writers themselves. And although I am not an aspiring writer some of what they had to say did relate to the writing I do for school so I enjoyed that. This was especially true for the Not Writing Good panel. The authors were focused on nonacademic writing but some of what they had to say was stuff I have read in research writing texts. It was a fantastic experience even though I did not get to see every one I wanted to. Maybe next year it will be all about the panels and I will not worry about the signatures.

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making

Valente, C. M. (2011). The girl who circumnavigated Fairyland in a ship of her own making. (Juan, A. illus.). Square Fish. 288 pages. ISBN 9781250010193

Primary genre: fantasy

Other elements: adventure, mystery, friendship, family, coming of age

Intended reader age: 10 and up

Synopsis:

September is quite bored an unhappy with her life in Omaha so when the Green Wind comes along and offers her the opportunity to have an adventure in Fairyland, she jumps at the chance without the slightest bit of hesitation. But, Fairyland is not all that September hoped or expected. The land has been taken over by the Marquess and it has fallen September to find a way to remove her. While traveling though Fairyland September makes friends with a Wyverary named Ell and a Marid named Saturday. But, removing the Marquess does not go smoothly and September finds herself in the position of performing an errand for the Marquess or losing her friends.

Review:

I liked that I was able to see where Valente pulled much of her inspiration from. There were so many elements in this story that had me thinking of classic children’s literature: Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz, Peter Pan, the Narnia series, etc. But, the way the author included these elements did not leave me with the feeling that she was just rewriting those stories. Her ideas and concepts were very original. The amount of world building she did was just fantastic; I always appreciate an author who puts thought into the rules of their world. The nonsensical nature did not overpower the story; it made it more fun and unpredictable.

The inclusions of the narrator moments were a nice addition. There were times where the narrator would ‘step in’ and give the readers background information or tell of another aspect that was occurring in the world. At times these did remind me of the narrator from The Series of Unfortunate Events. But, this could have been just because I do not encounter this tactic too often in the stories I read.

There are two things that I greatly enjoyed about this story: the ending and the language. The ending was fantastic because of how it made me re-think some of those classic tales I greatly enjoy. It’s not something I can really go into here, because I do not want to ruin the story. Spoilers. But, it was definitely one of those moments where I had to stop and think about how sad it really must be. Too often when we hit that point in a story it is the ending so authors tie everything up in a nice little, happy bow. The language though, my goodness, Valente surely knows how to put together a sentence: “Those were all big words, to be sure, but as has been said, September read often, and liked it best when words did not pretend to be simple, but put on their full armor and rode out with the colors flying” (p. 51). There is now a second book, The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There, which continues the story of September and her adventures in Fairyland.

Just one of the gorgeous illustrations from the story.  

The Invention of Hugo Cabret

Selznick, B. (2007). The invention of Hugo Cabret. Scholastic Press. 533 pages. ISBN 9780439813785

Primary genre: historical fiction

Other elements: mystery, loss, friendship, loss

Intended reader age: 8 and up

Synopsis:

On the day that Hugo Cabret’s father brings him to the museum he shows Hugo a lost object he came across, a mechanical man. His father tells him that if they can fix this man he will draw a picture. But when Hugo’s father perishes in a tragic fire, Hugo’s uncle, a drunk who lives in the Paris train station maintaining the clocks, takes him in. His uncle trains him to become his apprentice and when Hugo’s uncle goes missing, Hugo continues keeping the clocks. Hugo is determined to fix the mechanical man because he is sure this machine will have a message from his father. But, when the toy maker Hugo has been stealing parts from catches him Hugo’s secrets are put at risk. As Hugo begins to work off his debt to the toy maker he learns that this man has secrets of his own and that Hugo’s mechanical man is the key to those solving those secrets.

Review:

I was able to snatch up the advanced reader copy when I was working at Borders; I had read about the formatting and was super excited to read the story. Unfortunately, the AR did not have the final illustrations! So, I had to wait for the official release to finish reading the story.

I loved how Selznick used the illustrations to tell parts of the story. Instead of illustrating scenes described in the story the pictures play just as important role as the text does. Then there was the way that he worked with the illustrations. Creating the feeling of panning in and out to focus your eye on different parts of the scene. 

For me, this is the type of story that gets better the more you read it. It’s not that I wasn’t captivated the first time I read it; it’s just that you don’t realize how many little hints there were through the story leading up to that big final review.

One of my favorite stories about this is book is something a former co-worker told me. She sends books to her grandchildren, we used to work at Borders so this was fairly easy then, and after she read this one she sent it to one of her grandchildren. When said grandchild received the book they promptly asked their mother if my co-worker remembered how old they were. They felt that the number of pages was above and beyond their abilities. This was an issue I remember encountering when recommending this book to customers. After explaining, and showing, that well over half of the pages were actually illustrations more people were willing to tackle the book.

Selznick has written another story that follows the same formatting, Wonderstruck, which I absolutely recommended if readers enjoy The Invention of Hugo Cabret I also really liked the movie adaptation. It is not too often that they are able to transition children’s books to movies in such a great manner so I always appreciate it when they are able to.

Book Promotion: Navigating Early

This is my third book promotion. For this one, I used the Go!Animate video creator site. It was interesting to make a video on this site; you create the number of scenes, how the characters move, and can even add props. I tried to keep the scenes as relevant to the book as possible, but the options were a bit limited at times. Enjoy!

  Navigating Early by Clare Vanderpool by askiwillanswer on GoAnimate

Animated Presentations - Powered by GoAnimate.

Smile

Telgemeier, R. (2010). Smile. Scholastic. 224 pages. ISBN 9780545132060

Primary genre: realistic fiction

Other elements: family, friendship, coming of age, humor

Intended reader age: 8 and up

Synopsis:

Raina was already dreading the braces to fix her overbite but after tripping, falling, and knocking out her front teeth after a Girl Scouts meeting, Raina suddenly has a lot more to worry about. She spends the next few years undergoing multiple dental surgeries and strategies including: root canal surgery, a retainer with fake teeth attached, braces, and headgear. On top of these dental adventures Raina faces the every day challenges of friendship, crushes, family dynamics, and puberty.

Review:

I did not really think about the time frame of this book until the author mentioned going to see The Little Mermaid in movie theaters. Although I did have a slight moment when Raina was asking her mother if she could get pierced ears for her 12^th birthday (she also mentioned Mickey Mouse Club here). I thought it was strange that a mother in what I thought was this day and age had that mentality, but it was explained in a way that I accepted it (the mother got an infection when she pierced her own ears when she was younger). But, the technology and media references are not what drive this story. So even though there are those decade defining mentions at times, they do not detract from the story.

This is a story based on the author’s real life experiences, the teeth knockout mishap apparently really happened to her. I don’t know how to exactly describe what I experience, empathize is the best term I can come up with. But, when that poor kid knocked out her front teeth, man did I feel for her. I got my braces later in life, so I was right there with her when it came to those overly self-conscious and aware feelings. Although I did not loose teeth the way she did, I did have to have two of my teeth removed before everything could be straightened properly, so my experience did go beyond the normal time frame as well.

Although the story is all told in a graphic novel way I don’t feel that this was necessarily created with younger tweens in mind. The pictures and minimal text to open the material to those younger readers, but the story is still about the problems that tweens and young teens face. The main problem that Raina faces at school deals with her growing sense of self and the conflicts that creates between her and her friends. These are not issues that many elementary school kids face. The author did write a second novel, following the same structure of graphic novel format, although this one is about a new character and is set in middle school again.