The Dreamer (Nicola)
The Dreamer by Pam Munoz Ryan. Illustrated by Peter Sis
Pages: 372
Ages: 9+
First Published: Apr. 1, 2010
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Rating: 4/5
First sentence:
On a continent of many songs, in a country shaped like the arm of a tall guitarrista, the rain drummed down on the town of Temuco.
Acquired: Received a review copy from Scholastic Canada.
Reason for Reading: I wouldn’t have read this if I hadn’t received a review copy but Ryan is the author of one of my son’s favourite books that he has had read to him multiple times, Riding Freedom, and I love Peter Sis’ artwork. Besides, I always enjoy a good biography, even children’s fictional biographies. The poetry angle did worry me though as I am not a fan of poetry in general (except for the silly, rhyming kind ala Shel Silverstien and specific epic poems).
This tells the story of Neftali Reyes’ childhood, better known by his pen name Pablo Neruda, a great 20th century poet and winner of the Nobel Prize, though I’ve never heard of him before. And quickly sums up his adulthood in the closing chapters. The last pages include a sampling of his poetry. He had a rough, some would call abusive childhood. A mother who died 2 months after his birth, he and his two siblings were raised by a domineering father who had no patience for daydreaming or idleness. He had worked himself up from poverty and expected his sons to have careers that he never had the opportunity for himself. The eldest son wanted to be a singer, and this was driven out of him brutally by the father who set him up as a businessman after sending him to college. His plans for Neftali were even loftier, expecting him to be a doctor. But Neftali fell short of his expectations in every aspect, being a thin, gangly, weak, sickly child who daydreamed, collected bits and pieces of detritus and loved to write. His father tried everything in his power to drive this creativity out of him, but with the encouragement of a newspaperman Uncle he was able to hold on to his ambition, deep down, until he escaped his father’s influence. He did change his name though to save his father from the embarrassment of publicly having a poet and government dissident for a son.
The story of Neftali’s life is very interesting and the book reads with a gentle poetic flow, in keeping with its subject matter. The book has been printed in green ink as that is how Pablo Neruda himself liked to write. The author Pam Ryan has inserted her own short poetry here and there and the illustrations are accompanied by poetic questions in the form of Neruda’s own “The Book of Questions”. This will all be a bonus to poetry lovers especially those familiar with Neruda himself. Not liking artsy poetry myself, it didn’t appeal to me but didn’t bother me much either.
Also the author has used magical realism to delve inside Neftali’s imaginative, daydreaming personality writing his fantasies as if they were indeed happening. For instance, there is a scene where he finds a rhinoceros beetle in the forest for the first time and is fascinated with it, as he watches it, it grows larger and larger until it kneels down its front legs and offers itself to Neftali who then climbs aboard and sets off for a ride through the forest. I am a big fan of magical realism but this didn’t work for me in this book as it just came across as a device the author was using to make the book even more artsy and poetic. There are several such episodes but they are not overwhelming. Overall, I really did enjoy the story of Neftali Reyes’ childhood and would read his memoirs or a non-fiction biography if I happened to cross paths with them but I was not overly impressed with the artsy-f*rtsy ingredients added to this book and would have much preferred a straight historical fiction. Critics, I’m sure will love the book for its artfulness though.
Mrs. Kaputnik’s Pool Hall and Matzo Ball Emporium (Nicola)
Mrs. Kaputnik’s Pool Hall and Matzo Ball Emporium by Rona Arato
Pages: 188 pages
Ages: 8+
First Published: Apr. 13, 2010
Publisher: Tundra Books
Rating: 3/5
First sentence:
Shoshi Kapustin clapped her hands over her ears to shut out the pitying voices.
Reason for Reading: The combination of the time period (1898) and a dragon intrigued me. I read this aloud to my 9yo.
The Kapustins have immigrated to the USA because Papa has been gone for five years and has not answered any of their letters. Escaping the Cossacks and worried they arrive on Ellis Island, find the family restaurant and are told Papa left one day and didn’t come back. The aunt and uncle running the place have turned it into a shambles. On their first night there, aunt and uncle steal their money leaving a note that they have taken it as payment for the restaurant, Mama can have it, they are going south. Mama must figure out a way to make a living off the restaurant but her matzo balls won’t cook properly; they are more like stones. The children are trying to find Papa. The gangster Nick the Stick is making them pay protection money and they are never quite sure if their new friend Mr. Thornswaddle, circus barker extraordinaire, can be trusted. Oh, yes, and by the way they also accidentally brought a baby dragon over with them who doesn’t make the situation any easier.
A fun, story with lots of silly situations going on that are unrealistic. The Russian Jew immigrants bring with them a folk tale sense of the tall tale and much that happens in the story is over the top, creating some laugh out loud moments and just plain silliness. But also, the author manages to set the characters in the real world of a turn of the century Jewish neighbourhood in New York and the reader sees the immigrant experience as well as life for a child in this era of New York. The names of the characters are a lot of fun too, such as Aloysius P. Thornswaddle and Dingle Hinglehoffer and the book works well as a read aloud allowing the teller to put on both Jewish and Irish accents during some of the most fun bits.
The one thing that disappointed me was the dragon; he had no charisma. While not being a main character, he was a constant throughout the plot and he did not have a personality of his own. He was very lightly sketched out but there was nothing to endear him to the reading audience. I think if he’d been given a personality his place would have felt more as one of the main characters and it would have given the story that extra bit of oomph that feels to be lacking.
Houdini Pie by Paul Michel
Houdini Pie by Paul Michel
Bennett & Hastings Publishin, 2010
Historical Fiction; 212 pages
Halley, named after Halley’s Comet was born right after his father Charles got caught in one of his fraudulent schemes. Once Hal was considered old enough he was expected to work for Charles in his less than honest business ventures including running a lucrative alcohol business during prohibition.
In 1934, as a young man Hal is a pitcher for and upstart baseball team and strikes just about everyone out. His Uncle Warren shows up after a long absence and asks Hal to join in him in a business venture that his Charles is also tied up with. Hal thinks it sounds preposterous but his mother Vera talks him into doing it with the promise of riches, gold actually.
A Hopi Indian and his daughter lead the search, with the story of their ancestors, who were Lizard people. They hid treasure in Los Angeles California way beneath a downtown street. Somehow the crackpot sounding scheme get approval from the mayor and they are allowed to dig.
This is a story about love, hope and loyalty for Hal. Though the constant reference to Houdini Pie and it’s symbolism got a little tiresome to me, the book flowed well with simple old fashioned story telling. Some of it was quite predictable but the book was enjoyable.
3/5
Thanks to Mary Myers of Bennet & Hastings Publishing for this book.
Fever Crumb (Nicola)
Fever Crumb by Philip Reeve
Fever Crumb, Book 1
Pages: 385 pages
Ages: 12+
First Published: 2009 UK (Apr. 1 2010 US)
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Rating: 3/5
First sentence:
That morning they were making paper boys.
Acquired: Received a review copy from Scholastic Canada.
Reason for Reading: The plot was intriguing and this is my type of book.
A foundling baby girl found by the Order of Engineers, a male society, is taken into the fold and raised to be one of them. The baby came with a note stating her name is Fever and since Dr. Crumb found her it was reasonable that he was the one who took the main caregiver role. 14 year-old Fever is now being sent off to assist an archaeologist, Kit Solent, in his home but when she arrives there she starts having memories of the place that are not her own. Kit seems to expect something from her and the memories become stronger. When riots hit the city, people come after her looking to kill her. She must escape but whose memories is she taking with her?
This is the first book I have read by Reeve and I wasn’t aware that this was the beginning of a prequel series to another series he has already written until I had started the book. That information does not hinder the reading of this book at all, though I’m sure others who have read the Mortal Engines series will probably have insider information that I am unaware of that may make the reading experience more enjoyable.
I did enjoy the story. It is unique. Set in a future earth, so very far in the future in fact that our current time now is known as the Ancients and bits and pieces of our technology are traded and collected even when they are rusted pieces of junk. But anything that actually still works is highly prized and valued. Otherwise this future world is more or less of a medieval nature in culture and custom. Fever is a completely likable main character and I took to her right away. She grows as a person throughout the book starting off timid from a sheltered almost monk-like childhood. As she enters the world outside her boundaries she slowly gains confidence and a voice, strength, determination and becomes more in control of herself while shedding her timidity.
My main problem with the book was that the plot line was slow. It started off well and interesting and then just seemed to lag for me. It took me a lot longer than it should have to read the book. I never totally lost interest but I often wanted it to hurry up and “get on with it!” When the pace picked up and the plot was advancing I was hooked but my interest did come and go. The ending was fast paced and went in an unexpected direction. It feels to me that book two will take Fever to meet many new characters and I’m certainly interested in where all the threads that have been left hanging will continue so I will be reading book 2. I’m just hoping the pace will be more consistent.
Whiter Than Snow (Nicola)
Whiter Than Snow by Sandra Dallas
Pages: 292
First Published: Apr. 30, 2010
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Rating: 4/5
First sentence:
No one knew what triggered the Swandyke avalanche that began at exactly 4:10 P.M. on April 20, 1920.
Acquired: Received a review copy from the author’s internet publicist.
Reason for Reading: I’ve always wanted to read a Sandra Dallas book and the plot of this one was particularly intriguing.
This is a beautiful story. It’s what I call a light read. I picked the book up one evening and when it was time to turn out the light saw I had read three-quarters of the book. The story is simple and quite straight-forward but Dallas has written it in such a manner that the reader becomes emotionally involved in the characters by the time the already mentioned tragedy unfolds. She brings to her characters redemption, love, forgiveness and perhaps a look into God’s mysterious way.
The story opens with an avalanche on top of a mountain in a tiny mining village and nine children coming home from school are caught in the slide. We are told four survived. Then each of the following chapters focuses on a child’s or siblings’ parents or in some cases parent. These historical vignettes can go as far back as the grandparents but most concentrate on the parent(s) and the one great or many small sins they have hidden in their lives. Each ends with the birth of the children or sometime in their early life. So we never really get to know the children, only through how they are thought of by others. Then comes a point when the story picks up with the avalanche and we watch the town come together to deal with the rescue and tragedy that is their fate.
The reader is in a position now to know how each family will react if it is their child(ren) that die and the reader is also vested in who could best handle the situation and perhaps who most needs redemption through the experience of death. Each person with a buried child has a reason to think they are being punished for their past sins and each also has reason to be forgiven. How it works out for the families in the end is very satisfying both for those who lost their children and those whose children lived. A beautiful story and a page-turner. I will certainly be adding Sandra Dallas to my list of authors to read.
Gone (Nicola)
Gone by Mo Hayder
Jack Caffery, book #5
Pages: 415 pages
First Published: Feb 4, 2010 (UK)
Publisher: Bantam Press
Rating: 3/5
First sentence:
Detective Inspector Jack Caffery of Bristol’s Major Crime Investigation Unit spent ten minutes in the centre of Frome looking at the crime scene.
Reason for Reading: Mo Hayder … new book … nothing more to say.
This is an all-nighter police procedural that has Jack Caffery on the case of a supposed carjacker who takes a car with a girl in the back seat. The girl is not found and the realization is made that he didn’t want the car but the girl. Then it happens again. Another car, another girl, this time much younger. With statistics showing that child abductors kill their victims sooner than later, the team is on a race against time. Flea comes to Caffery and tells him about two previous unsuccessful attempts that are identical and this helps the team start to put together a case. Separately, the book focuses of Flea, as an individual and how the events from the previous book “Skin” have affected her emotionally and on the job as she tries to put herself together but she also notices Jack’s complete change in manner towards her.
The story is clever. There are turns that move the plot in different directions but guessing the identity of the culprit wasn’t exactly hard, though Hayder does keep you with a tiny seed of doubt until the final reveal. A thoroughly enjoyable police procedural. But also very much tied to previous books, especially “Skin“, so should not be read out of order or at least not before “Skin”, since Skin’s whole shocker is outed in “Gone”.
Why do I give the book a rating of three if it’s a clever, enjoyable police procedural? Because when I read Mo Hayder I am expecting a whole lot more than enjoyable. I have read all her books and am a huge fan. Words I usually use to describe her books are gruesome, disturbing, weird, roller-coaster ride, heart-thumping, breath-holding, twists and turns, a shocker! This book had none of those elements, aside from a few turns (only turns, no twists) and I was disappointed. Her books The Treatment and The Devil of Nanking have made me hold Hayder above other thriller writers and this one felt more like one of the crowd. Don’t get me wrong, it’s good and kept me up into the wee hours but I wasn’t satisfied that I’d read a Mo Hayder. Not her best, by far. Another thing that got to me was what was with the happy-happy ending, Hayder’s books do not have happy endings. Perhaps this is a sign that the Jack Caffery series is over.
The Boy Who Climed Into the Moon (Nicola)
The Boy Who Climbed Into the Moon by David Almond. Illustrated by Polly Dunbar
Pages: 119 pages
Ages: 8+
First Published: Apr. 13, 2010
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Rating: 4/5
First sentence:
Some time ago, there was a rather lonely boy named Paul who lived in a city in the north of England.
Reason for Reading: I have actually never read David Almond before and the title of this book grabbed me and gave me my chance to finally read him.
A whimsical story full of the unbelievable where a lonely boy who lives in a basement apartment, is rather shy, and does not like school but then school does not like him either takes a day off learns about living life to the fullest through a set of quirky characters and fantastical events.
One must set reality aside for this story. The people and events that Paul meets up with are beyond belief. The book is a joy to read; told with such whimsy it is a very endearing story. Paul is encouraged to say what he’s always wanted to say and out he spurts that the moon is really just a whole in the sky. He manages to climb into the moon where he finds all sorts of people and things that have flown into it over the ages: hot air balloons, planes, helicopters and their pilots, people with wings who tried to fly and even a girl who was a human cannonball. With the encouragement of the denizens of the apartment building he makes friends, realizes everyone agrees that sausages are better than war, watches others plan a Great Expedition, and sees how the others live their lives, however obscure, to the best they can.
If you can’t leave reality outside the door this won’t be the book for you but if you can you will be in for a delightful story which is profusely illustrated with drawings as whimsical as the story. The characters are a motely crew from a man who switches to speaking in only vowels when he’s in a conversational mood, to a dog who believes that when he obtains the age of seven he will grow wings and the ability to speak, to a little girl who lives inside the moon because she ended up there one night whilst performing her job as Fortuna the Human Cannonball. I found as I read and looked at the pictures that I kept thinking the style of the story was so much like William Pene duBois, a classic children’s author/illustrator. I can also see this making a very good read aloud. The story is quirky, unconventional and humorous.
mockingbird (Nicola)
mockingbird (mok’ing-burd) by Kathryn Erskine
Pages: 235 pages
Ages: 9+
First Published: Apr. 15, 2010
Publisher: Philomel
Rating: 5/5
First sentence:
It looks like a one-winged bird crouching in the corner of our living room.
Reason for Reading: I have Asperger’s and when I saw a book that featured a female protagonist with Asperger’s I was elated and HAD to read the book.
I came away from this book very satisfied. As a female with Asperger’s I felt that Caitlin was portrayed realistically. There can be wide differences in how males and females present and I think the author managed to bring those out in Caitlin, though the intense plot does put Caitlin in a situation above and beyond normal everyday life.
A small town has been devastated. The local junior high was hit by two gun wielding students who managed to kill one teacher and two students before the police shot one perpetrator and apprehended the other. One of the students who was shot is Caitlin’s older brother, Devon. Their mother had died many years ago when Caitlin was a baby and Devon had really become her rock. He was a great big brother. He treated her well and knew how to deal with her as a person with Asperger’s almost naturally. He’d tell her not to do stuff ’cause it wasn’t cool or that people didn’t like it when she did this or that and why and his advice helped her. Now Caitlin’s world revolves around seeing a councilor daily at school, coping with her father’s sudden crying sessions and missing Devon in her own way. People want her to be more emotional and show more empathy (traits those with Asperger’s do not always appear to show) and Caitlin finally finds the word “CLOsure” and knows that is what both she and her father need.
The plot itself is well done. A small community coping with this horrible violence that has entered its once thought serene boundaries. The author shows the effect not only on the family of those murdered and the staff and students at the school, but staff at other schools, neighbours, and a boy who was the cousin of one of the killers. There is fear, disbelief, and togetherness but no anger as they bond to help the community as one, heal. Very-well done.
As to the Asperger’s, from the author’s note she does not outright say but it seems clear that either she or a loved one has an ‘aspie’ child and she is writing from experience. Caitlin is well presented as a female with Asperger’s. The typical picture the public has of someone with AS is a science, math, computer geek and this is not wrong. These are often very strong interests in males (which doesn’t mean some females will too) but typically females show their ‘geekiness’ in words and books. They are writers, bookworms, grammar police, etc. Caitlin here is an excellent student with great writing skills and a fascination with the dictionary, who keeps lists of words with the accentuated part in caps. Typical female AS behaviour. Caitlin has some meltdowns, fortunately the author doesn’t over do them, as has been done in other books I’ve read. Girls are less likely to have seriously noticeable meltdowns and hyperactivity making the typical age of diagnoses around 16 rather 8 as in boys. Caitlin’s two least favourite subjects at school are recess and PE. This really endeared her to me as those were my most hated subjects as well. There is this anxiety feeling you get in the pit of your stomach as an aspie and Caitlin associates this with recess so whenever she gets this feeling she will say she is feeling recessy or has the recess feeling. This beautifully describes an everyday symptom of Asperger’s.
The main aspect the author emphasizes here though is the AS person’s lack of ability to show emotion or empathy. I think Erskine does manage to show that while we do not show emotion it does not mean we do not feel emotion. Two very different points to keep in mind. Empathy is something that Caitlin herself struggles with and tries to understand and the whole book is a process for her in finding out how to show she has this to others and to understand herself, that she does. While many Asperger’s people may lack emotion or empathy, I think the majority of us agree that we lack the ability to SHOW it, rather than that we do not feel the emotions or know how to feel them. I would also like to add my own bit of advice: Never *force* an Asperger’s person to look you in the eye, it is akin to torture.
Anyway, I felt a lot of sympatico with Caitlin and the author in her ability to show a positive female character with Asperger’s. My only negative is that *I* personally do not agree with the the medical methods being used to treat Caitlin.
The Reckoning (Nicola)
The Reckoning by Kelly Armstrong
Darkest Powers, Book 3
Pages: 391 pages
Ages: 14+
First Published: Apr. 6, 2010
Genre: YA, paranormal, fantasy
Rating: 4.5/5
First sentence:
After four hours on the run, I was finally safe, tucked into bed and enjoying the deep dreamless sleep of the dead … until the dead decided they’d really rather have me awake.
Reason for Reading: Next and final book in the trilogy.
Summary: The four supernatural teens finally arrive at a safe house only it may not be as safe as it seems. In this concluding book of the trilogy they prepare for the final showdown with The Edison Group and try to rescue those who are still in their clutches.
Comments: One can’t give much information on what happens in this conclusion as it is all so dependent on the previous books with everything finally all coming together. What I can tell you is that it is a brilliant, satisfying conclusion! A fast-paced read with plenty of reveals and shockers throughout. While Ms. Armstrong has kept the high octane action fore and centre, she has also managed to fully develop Derek, Simon, Tori and Chloe’s characters and relationships. They have all changed so much from the characters we first met in “The Summoning”.
This is one of the best supernatural YA trilogies I’ve read in some years. The Reckoning is a worthy conclusion that fans will appreciate having had the wait. The ending is quite interesting. Leaving us with a complete, finite finish and yet also leaving a few dangling threads and foreshadowing the upcoming future of the characters. This leaves the reader satisfied that the story is over, yet also leaves room for one to hope we may yet see these characters again. Which brings us to Kelley’s next YA book due out next spring, “The Gathering”. A visit to the author’s website reveals it described as continuing the series while giving the current characters “a well-deserved break”. From this I could envision this series continuing on indefinitely as sets of trilogies which really makes me excited.
The Bride Collector (Ted Dekker)
The Bride Collector by Ted Dekker
Pages: 432
First Published: Apr. 13, 2010
Rating: 5/5
First sentence:
“Thank you, detective. We’ll take it from here.”
Reason for Reading: I loved my first Dekker book, The Boneman’s Daughters, and *had* to read this.
Summary: FBI special agent Brad Raines is called onto a case where women have been found posed and glued to the wall of abandoned barns, wearing a bridal veil and having the blood drained from them. The serial killer has been nicknamed The Bride Collector and things get personal when Raines finds a note taped to living room window of his high rise apartment. Raines’ investigation takes him to an upscale rural psychiatric hospital that only treats those with high intelligence. It is here he meets Paradise a young woman who barely escaped from her father’s murder of her family. Though a diagnosed schizophrenic Paradise has a talent that Brad is willing to enlist, when Paradise touches a dead body she sees the ghostly images of the deceased’s last sights and sounds.
Comments: This was a thrilling, incredibly fast page-turning read for me. I had each page poised for turning at just the right moment so there would be no interruption in the flow of my reading. I loved this book. Two things in particular really grabbed me: one being the serial killer aspect, the other being the psychiatric angle. I have a special fascination for books that take place in psychiatric wards, hospitals or asylums and this aspect of the book was very well done. The patients were carefully chosen to suit this upscale hospital and were treated to learn how to focus on and express their intellectual or artistic “talents” with a minimum of medications. Whether there is any veracity to this method, does not really interest me to dig any deeper. I am deeply interested in exploring the high functioning intelligence of persons with mental disorders and I really enjoyed the motley crew of characters Dekker presented with various extreme disorders and while giving each full respect.
Brad Raines is an intense, likable, fully developed main character who carries his own dark psychological pain. Often in stand-alone thriller/mysteries characterization is thrown out the window in favour of plot but Dekker manages both equally well. Brad has a complete back story and range of emotions. He is a character the reader can relate to and feel for from the beginning.
The plot is top-notch thriller entertainment. A gruesome serial killer, driven by religious delusions is pure evil. The third person narrative switches back and forth from the investigation to the killer, making the identity of the killer known to the reader from the beginning and putting the emphasis on the detecting and the motives. There are many twists and shocks along the way, including a main character becoming a victim to the serial killer. Differently from The Boneman’s Daughter, this book does contain quite a bit of Christian material. The killer is delusional and rants about his God given reason for the killings and at one point Brad uses this against the killer by theologically answering each of his statements. It becomes heady stuff, which I quite enjoyed but may not be to everyone’s tastes. Dekker certainly does have a taste for the macabre when it comes to serial killers as evidenced by The Bride Collector and his previous book. I really enjoy that he hasn’t fallen into the series trap yet and hope he brings us another standalone for his next thriller, which I anxiously await. In the meantime I have some of his more mainstream Christian Fiction to read.
Every Last One (Jill)
Every Last One
By Anna Quindlen
Completed March 24, 2010
In her latest book, Every Last One, Anna Quindlen takes her readers to a place where most of us hope to never be. It’s uncomfortable, sad, tragic – but when you’re done with this book, it offers you a chance to reflect on life’s blessings and the tenacity of the human spirit.
Mary Beth Latham was your average American woman – married, mother to three and owner of a landscaping business. Her children were the focal point of her life. The eldest, Ruby, was a recovering anorexic, and one of Mary Beth’s twin sons, Max, was dealing with depression, being in the shadow of his brother, Alex. So engrossed in what was happening, especially with Max, Mary Beth didn’t see the warning signs of a ticking time bomb – until the unthinkable happened. She was forced to deal with a heartbreak none of us would want to endure.
Facing down an unbelievable tragedy, Mary Beth forges on roads unimagined in her previous life. She somehow manages to put one foot in front of the other – but not without stopping, falling and going backwards. As a reader, you want to hug Mary Beth, tell her it’s okay to cry and propel her forward.
Quindlen is a master of holding up an unspeakable thing and making it visible from all angles, forcing her readers to look and acknowledge it. And then she adds fallible characters who are just like us. The whole reading experience is incredibly human.
Every Last One admittedly had a rough beginning with the introduction of many characters – kids, friends, neighbors, relatives– and it took several chapters for this book to hit its pace. Once it did, though, it envelopes the reader, holding you hostage until every last one of the pages leaves its fingerprint on you. That’s the mark of good fiction and a great writer. ( 
)