PIE

Author: Sarah Weeks

Publisher: Scholastic Press

Publication Year: 2011

Most of the readers will be: 4th-7th grade girls.

Reader's Advisory: Another charming historical fiction novel that has been a Georgia Book Award Nominee is The Luck of the Buttons by Anne Ylvisaker.

Summary:
Alice's Aunt Polly put Ipswitch on the map with her award-winning pies. Now Polly has passed away and she left her secret-pie crust recipe to her cat, Lardo. And she left Lardo to Alice. As Alice tries to deal with the loss of her beloved Aunt and tries to convince her parents not to get rid of Lardo, she realizes that someone is trying to steal the recipe. But, even Alice doesn't know where it is. After all, how do you leave a recipe to a cat?
And for all the readers out there who are also bakers, a different pie recipe precedes each chapter.

My favorite passage:

The next stop was the parsonage, where they found Reverend Flowers in his kitchen with a dish towel tied around his waist.
"Good gravy, what happened to you?" Charlie exclaimed when he saw the Reverend's red fingertips. "Did you cut yourself or something?"
"Cherries," said the Reverend, wiggling his stained fingers to demonstrate that they were all still working. "I had no idea how much work it was going to be to pit them."
"Aunt Polly taught me a little trick about pitting cherries," said Alice. "Use a paper clip. You just unfold it, stick it in, and pull the pit right out."
"How ingenious!" cried Reverend Flowers. "I can hardly wait to try it."
"Do you mind if I offer you another piece of advice?" Alice asked politely. "You might not remember this, but Aunt Polly won the Blueberry for her cherry pie last year. As far as I know, they've never given the prize to the same kind of pie two years in a row."
Reverend Flowers smiled and put his hand on Alice's shoulder.
"I've heard that there are some folks in town who've set their sights on winning the Blueberry this year, now that Polly's not here to do it, but I'm not one of them. Your aunt was a remarkable person and I miss her dearly. I got to thinking about her today and for some reason it made me want to make a cherry pie."
Alice felt better somehow knowing that the reason Reverend Flowers was baking a pie was because he missed Aunt Polly. (pg 148-149)

What I really think:
I have a hard time getting into historical fiction sometimes and I think many of my students do, also. This book is light and fun and although the historical setting adds flavor to the story it doesn't overpower it, or require that you know too much about the time period to appreciate what is going on.
Death and grieving are a part of the story, but not the main focus. It is mostly a mystery about both what Aunt Polly has actually done with the secret recipe and whether or not someone is trying to steal the recipe (and who that person might be). The friendship between Alice and Charlie is warm and real, with both ups and downs. The issues that Alice's mother continues to have with Polly illustrate how sibling rivalry is not limited to children. These issues are resolved in a sweet and satisfying way. A lovely novel and a serious contender for a read-aloud during library class next school year.

The Garden of Eve

This is a review of the audio book.

Author: K. L. Going

Reader: Allyson Ryan

Producer: Random House

Production Year: 2007

Lexile: Unavailable

Most of the listeners will be: Late elementary age girls.

Listener's Advisory: For another audio book on death and strange places, listen to Jodi Lynn Anderson's May Bird and the Ever After (reviewed on March 25, 2008).

Summary: After Evie's mom dies, she and her dad move to a dead apple orchard in Beaumont, New York. While her father tries to bring the trees back to life, Evie plays with Alex, a young boy about her age who died of cancer a week before she moved to town. Evie does and doesn't believe that Alex is a ghost, but they become friends anyway. On her birthday, Evie gets a strange present from Maggie, the sister of the old man who previously owned their house and orchard. It is a seed. Evie comes to believe that this seed is from the Garden of Eden, and has the power to take her to another place. On a cold Beaumont afternoon, she and Alex find out exactly what the seed can do.

My favorite passage:
When Evie first meets Alex she thinks to herself that when her mom was alive she could have believed in ghosts (she could have believed in a lot of things), but now, she just can't. (Disc 1)

What I really think:
This is a great book for a child dealing with loss. Evie wants so badly to be with her mother that it takes almost getting stuck in the magical garden forever to make her realize all the wonderful things she still has in her life, including her father. Adam struggles with the loss of his brother. He would rather be the ghost of Alex, than be Adam and live without Alex.

Not all of Alyson Ryan's voices are super distinct. But her voice for Alex/Adam is amazing. He really sounds like a bratty little New York boy.

The Linden Tree

Author: Ellie Mathews

Publisher: Milkweed Editions

Publication Year: 2007

Lexile: 1040L (This book is not in the Lexile Book Database. I used the Lexile Analyzer to get this value.)

Most of the readers will be: Middle school girls.

Reader's Advisory: This book would be great to read before going back a little further in American history with the Laura Ingalls Wilder Little House books.

Summary:
Katy Sue's mother has just died of meningitis and is buried under the old linden tree up on the hill. Katy Sue, her sister Ingrid, her brother Ben, and their Papa do their best to carry on "now Edna's gone." They live on a farm in Iowa in 1948 and life is hard. Katy Sue cares for the chickens. Ben raises the pigs. Papa works in the field. And Ingrid does the house work. It isn't long before they realize they need help, and Papa asks Mama's sister Aunt Katherine to move in with them. Aunt Katherine makes life both easier and harder. She helps Ingrid in the kitchen, but she can be very critical of Katy Sue. As the year passes the family works together to keep the farm going, and keep each other going whenever they miss Mama.

My favorite passage:

"There's something I didn't tell my mama. When she was sick, I mean." Mrs. Breton leaned forward. I bunched my fingers into the splotches in my skirt. "Mama said I was her special treasure and I didn't answer." I twisted my fingers in my skirt as if to make the wet spots disappear. "I should have. But I didn't know what to say." I had nowhere to look but into my own lap. "I mean - I didn't think - I didn't think she would really - that she'd really die." My hands stopped moving. "I thought I had time to say it, you know, later."
"And now there is no later, is there? That's the heartbreak." Mrs. Breton touched my wrist and said in a voice that made me think of the warmest, deepest, clearest pool imaginable, "You wanted to say how much you loved her, didn't you?"
I snapped my eyes to Mrs. Breton's. "How did you know?"
"But hadn't you ever told her that?"
"Oh, yes ma'am. Lots of times. All the time. Every day. She was the best mama anyone ever had."
"Then you didn't have to tell her again. She already knew. You have nothing to worry about. Nothing at all. There's more to loving someone than what you say to them, you know."
"Yes, ma'am," I said. "But still, I wish I'd said it."
"I'll tell you what. Why don't you find something around your farm to draw some pictures of. Then you can put her in the pictures. Just the way you want to see her. You have milk cows out at your place, don't you?"
"Some days it seems we're raising nothing but crows out in the field."
"Then draw me some crows."
"I don't like crows."
"Well, okay."
I couldn't have said why, but that made me laugh on top of my crying, thinking of crows at a time like that and because people sort of teased Mrs. Breton about how serious she could be about drawing pictures all the time, and there we were talking about crows. (pg 31-32)

What I really think:
Mathews skillfully takes us through the grieving process. Katy Sue doesn't want to celebrate her birthday without her mother. She doesn't want to celebrate Christmas. She is afraid of people being nice to her because it makes her cry, but when she cries with her teacher, it helps her. On top of all these emotions, Katy Sue doesn't know what to do with Aunt Katherine. Her aunt hurts her feelings by correcting her grammar, but then Katy Sue learns that it was this same aunt who held her through the colic when she was a baby. Everything the family goes through is difficult, but they do get through it. This book could be helpful to a young person dealing with loss, or even to someone getting a step parent. Aunt Katherine has to be a mother figure without trying to take their mother's place. This is also a good read just for learning more about early America.

Maddigan's Fantasia

Author: Margaret Mahy

Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books

Publication Year: 2007

Lexile: 880L (This book is not in the Lexile Book Database. I used the Lexile Analyzer to get this value.)

Most of the readers will be: Late elementary to early middle school girls.

Reader's Advisory: For another epic in which the hero travels to many strange places try Robin Lister's retelling of The Odyssey.

Summary: Garland Maddigan is a performer in a traveling circus. She lives in a time called the Remaking. The world is mending itself after the Destruction and the Chaos. Strange things are happening in the Fantasia. First Garland's father, Ferdy, the Ringmaster, is killed by Road Rats. Then three children join up with the Fantasia: Timon, Eden, and their baby sister Jewel. As they all try to decide what to do next, Garland's mother Maddie announces that the Fantasia has been given a mission by the great city of Solis. Solis needs a solar converter that has been created by the brilliant minds in the city of Newton. The Fantasia wants to do their part in remaking the world, but Timon and Eden assure Garland that getting the solar converter to Solis is more important than she could have imagined. They have traveled to her time from the future, and in that future, Solis is run by an evil creature called the Nennog. Only getting the converter to Solis by the summer solstice can keep the Nennog from coming into power.

My favorite passage:

"Hey!" cried Boomer, softly at first. "Hey! Wake up!" Something about their sleep was intimidating, and he dared not speak very loudly. Then, with relief, he saw movement. Timon! Timon was sitting up...sitting up and blinking...rubbing his hands down over his face...standing up...staring around...then moving across the room toward Eden.
"Timon!" Boomer exclaimed, grateful that he was no longer alone.
But Timon did not turn. It seemed he had not heard him. Boomer slipped around Garland's feet and ran toward Timon, planning to grab his arm and show him (triumphantly) the stolen key. But Timon walked past one of the lamps, and the lamplight, though soft and dim, briefly lit up his face. Boomer stopped abruptly, for Timon's expression frightened him. They eyes, open but narrowed, flickered with a greenish light. Timon's mouth had thinned into a rigid line, and its corners were not so much turned down as dragged down, as if by some strange muscular spasm. There in the shadows of that cold, straw-filled room, Timon had become and evil alien, reaching out to his brother's throat as if he might strangle him.
"Don't," said Boomer, reaching out too...reaching out, though he was terrified again, to drag at those taut, crooked fingers. Timon half turned, swinging out his right arm as he did so, striking Boomer's side just below his waist. It was as if he had been hit with a plank of wood. Boomer toppled sideways as Timon struck again, but this time he thumped not Boomer but Boomer's drum, which sounded a single beat...a curious signal...an announcement of some kind. At the sound of that single beat, the dreadful, set expression on Timon's face seemed to melt away. (pg 220-221)

What I really think:
This could have been a really great book if there were no time traveling.

I like Garland's character development. She isn't so bratty that the reader doesn't like her, but bratty enough that we feel uncomfortable with her when she realizes how she has been acting.

I also like that each town has their own unique problems. Hopefully we can learn from their mistakes. Gramth has a dark secret: children are being stolen away and forced to work in underground mines. The people of Greentown live in a mind-weed induced fantasy, and are being eaten by the servants handing out the mind-weed! Newton's children have organized and the adults don't reign them in because they are so grateful to have children at all.

But this time travel business... I admit that my main problem is that I have my own ideas about how time travel works and when it is written differently, I don't believe in it and find it frustrating. Perhaps this is simply a personal problem. But I struggled through time travel books when I was twelve for the same reason, so maybe some other young readers feel the same way I do.

May Bird and the Ever After

This is a review of the audio book.

Author: Jodi Lynn Anderson

Reader: Bernadette Dunne

Producer: Random House

Production Year: 2005

Lexile: 810L

Most of the listeners will be: Late elementary to middle school boys and girls.

Listeners Advisory: For another well read book with a female protagonist, listen to Cornelia Funke's Inkheart.

Summary:
May Bird lives in Briery Swamp, West Virginia with her mother and cat, Somber Kitty. She doesn't quite fit in with the kids at school and prefers wandering the woods to spending time with other children. After May and Somber Kitty find a letter to May buried in the ruins of the old post office, strange things start to happen. A map in the letter guides May to a lake hidden behind a wall of brambles. One night May falls in the lake and wakes up in the Ever After. It is where people go when they die, but May isn't dead! She has been rescued by her house ghost, Pumpkin. May finds herself in great danger because most ghosts and specters in the Ever After are deathly afraid of "live ones" and are under strict instructions from the ruler, Bo Cleevil, to call the Bogey on any "live one" they see. May has to make a difficult decision. Should she try to get home to Briery Swamp, or travel North to find the lady who wrote the letter requesting her help? In this first book (of the trilogy) May makes it as far as the city of Ether to ask the Book of the Dead what she should do. And although May doesn't know it for most of the book, her loyal cat, Somber Kitty, is never too far off her trail.

My favorite passage:
Shortly after May arrives in the Ever After she sees the word "help" graffitied on a wall. She wonders to herself how she can help anyone when she needs so much help herself. (Disc 2)

What I really think:
Bernadette Dunne brings the characters to life with her wonderful voices and is definitely in touch with her inner child. This story is truly beautiful. We feel for May as she struggles to gain the self confidence to help both herself and others. Somber Kitty is a real hero and a perfect example of unconditional love. This is a book for all the misfits out there and everyone who has ever said "I can't."

Hauntings And Other Tales of Danger, Love, And Sometimes Loss

Author: Betsy Hearne

Publisher: Greenwillow Books

Publication Year: 2007

Lexile: 1300L (This book is not in the Lexile Book Database. I used the Lexile Analyzer to get this value.)

Most of the readers will be: Middle and High Schoolers who like folk tales or scary stories. Boys and girls.

Readers Advisory: For those interested in more stories from Ireland, try Nory Ryan's Song, an historical fiction novel by Patricia Reilly Giff.

Summary:
This is a book of short stories divided into three sections. The stories in the first section take place in the past and are mostly set in Ireland. The stories in the second section take place in the present and are set mostly in the United States. The stories in the third section are set in heaven and hell and are timeless. Not all of the stories are about hauntings but those that aren't fall into one of the other categories indicated in the title: danger, love, and/or loss.

My favorite passage:

By this time I was back at the table not listening to Mom and Dad and Julie plan the future, but thinking about the baby-sitter. And I got this creepy feeling, like who was she and why did she volunteer at the last minute? Anybody could say they were a baby-sitter and walk off with my little sister. She'd follow them in a minute if it meant having an adventure like her beloved hobbits. And anybody who had hold of my little sister wouldn't have to worry about my identifying anybody at any time ever. Mom told me to stop squirming, but I couldn't. I practically dragged them out of the restaurant, and they were laughing, trying to keep up with me back to the hotel. When we unlocked the hotel room door, everything was dark except for the TV flickering. The sitter was there, waiting with her coat on to go home, and Megan was a little heap asleep in the bed. I kind of slumped onto my cot, feeling like a fool, but also feeling like the world would never be safe again. (pg 88-89)

What I really think:
The title (Hauntings) and cover of this book make it seem like a "scary story" book. This is what I was expecting when I picked it up. As a scary story book it is a disappointment. Kids who actually want shivers should read Alvin Schwartz's Scary Stories series.
The Irish stories would work better told aloud. They have more plot than characterization. This is very typical of the oral tradition but if the stories are to be moved into the realm of writing, they need to be fleshed out. Or they could be presented as stories the reader can learn to tell, complete with instructions. These are also the least scary stories in the book.
The American section is my favorite. These stories really deal with issues, like death, and have characters we can sympathize with. These are the scariest stories, and it isn't because of the supernatural, it is because of things like terrorist bombings.
The stories from Heaven and Hell are charming. They leave you with something to think about.

Rules of the Universe by Austin W. Hale

Author: Robin Vaupel

Publisher: Holiday House

Publication Year: 2007

Lexile: 850L (This book is not in the Lexile Book Database. I used the Lexile Analyzer to get this value.)

Most of the readers will be: Boys in late elementary to middle school who like science fiction (and science fact!).

Reader's Advisory: For a science fiction book with a female protagonist try Madeline L'Engle's An Acceptable Time.

Summary:
Austin is a 13 year old boy who likes looking at microorganisms under his microscope. He has learned everything he knows about science from his grandfather Walter. Now Walter is coming to stay with Austin's family because he is dying of cancer. Austin is excited to see his grandfather, but having trouble coping with the fact that he is dying.
Walter brings Austin an exciting gift - a miniature star. This star starts making Austin's wishes come true! Even wishes he doesn't know he has.
The star transforms his two clownfish into lungfish, his lizard into a pterosaur, and his old dog into a puppy. But that is only the beginning of the "enhancements" Austin either purposely or accidentally performs using Spark (the star).
Austin gets into trouble when he starts enhancing humans. He causes both his friend Rey, and his angsty 14 year old sister, Garland, to regress to younger versions of themselves. After several close calls at Camp Quantum (a two week summer science camp), Austin is forced to be more careful when wielding his star power.
His greatest and last enhancement is supposed to be saving the life of his grandfather and he wants to get it just right.

My favorite passage:

"What's happened to you, child?" Walter asked, and reached out to a tendril of hair that protruded from her temple like an orange antenna.
Austin flinched. To comment, even offhandedly, about Garland's appearance was beyond insulting; it was to confess your own ignorance about art, culture, and creativity.
Garland sighed and gave her eyes a half roll. "Okay, so nothing has happened to me. It's called Tainted Sunset."
Walter was straining to see past the heavy eyeliner and mascara to find the granddaughter he remembered. He wasn't the only one who'd lost sight of her; Austin knew there had once been another Garland, before the transformation of her eighth-grade year, when she had disappeared under a shroud of black clothes, but the shadow of this present sister had eclipsed the memory of her.
"My hair color, Granddad, do you like it?"
"No," he said, "I don't. You look like something from a Parisian back alley."
She tossed her head back, smiling slightly, and Austin thought there was a terrible glory about Garland as the sun lit up her hair and glinted off her facial jewelry.
"That is so amazing you said that, Granddad, because I'm going to Paris someday."
"For college?"
"No!" she said disdainfully. "For something real. I'm going there to live and write poetry."(pg 11-12)

What I really think:
I like the way this book deals with death and dying. Austin can get almost anything he wants with his wish giving star, but he can't force a life upon his grandfather that his grandfather doesn't want. Vaupel also illustrates in many ways the hard lesson: be careful what you wish for. She skillfully delivers these points in the unusual context of a boy who has more unicellular friends than multicellular ones and reflects on the occurrences in his life using lab notes. I am a little disappointed that Garland isn't restored to her 14 year old self at the end. Older sisters should be accepted for who they are during all the difficult phases of their adolescence.