Magnets

At our fall craft fair, we had several requests for magnets. So, in getting ready for the spring fair it only seemed natural to include some magnets. We only had a few weeks to get ready so here are the designs I came up with. In future I might expand this to a larger variety.

 

Book review - The Girl in the Well is Me

Title: The Girl in the Well is Me
Author: Karen Rivers
Genre: realistic fiction
Similar books: How to Fly with Broken Wings by Jane Elson
                     Into the Forest by Louis Nowra
Rating:

interesting, but gives me pause

Summary(provided by publisher): Newcomer Kammie Summers has fallen into a well during a (fake) initiation into a club whose members have no intention of letting her join. Now Kammie's trapped in the dark, growing increasingly claustrophobic, and waiting to be rescued—or possibly not.
As hours pass, the reality of Kammie's predicament mixes with her memories of the highlights and lowlights of her life so far, including the reasons her family moved to this new town in the first place. And as she begins to run out of oxygen, Kammie starts to imagine she has company, including a French-speaking coyote and goats that just might be zombies.

My opinion: This is not the first book I've read with a surrealist, disjointed narration. Those other books, though, are written with a teen audience in mind. This book is clearly meant for a younger middle grade audience, an age where you're only just starting to analyze books, interpret symbolism, explore more complex cause and effect. Half of the plot of this book borders on hallucination, al a 128 Hours but with a kid. That's a seriously hard sell. The intent is good, with Kammie examining what led her to this place and what choices she could make differently in the future. In execution it is ambitious but impractical.

Advance Reader Copy provided by  NetGalley.

Picture books for everyone

Never Insult a Killer Zucchini by Elana Azose and Brandon Amancio

This book reads like a hybrid of an alphabet book and a graphic novel. Each entry is well supported by a humorous illustration. It could just be viewed as an odd alphabet novelty were it not for the glossary. The final pages briefly explain the real science behind each project that the protagonist and his zucchini encounter at the science fair. Older kids and parents will get a chuckle out of this book and younger kids will be entertained by the illustrations. A great choice for a family of science geeks.

Book review - Holding Court

Title: Holding Court
Author: K.C. Held
Genre: mystery
Similar books: Sight by Juliet Madison
                     17 & Gone by Nova Ren Suma
Rating:

Good, not great

Summary (provided by publisher): Sixteen-year-old Jules Verity knows exactly what's in store at her new job at castle-turned-dinner-theater Tudor Times. Some extra cash, wearing a fancy-pants dress, and plenty of time to secretly drool over the ever-so-tasty-and completely unavailable-Grayson Chandler. Except that it's not quite what she imagined.
For one, the costume Jules has to wear is awful. Then there's the dead body she finds that just kind of...well, disappears. Oh, and there's the small issue of Jules and her episodes of what her best friend calls "Psychic Tourette's Syndrome"-spontaneous and uncontrollable outbursts of seemingly absurd prophecies.
The only bright side? This whole dead body thing seems to have gotten Grayson's attention. Except that the more Jules investigates, the more she discovers that Grayson's interest might not be as courtly as she thought. In fact, it's starting to look suspicious...

My opinion: There are two elements to this book I really enjoy: Jules' job and her psychic manifestations. That twist on the medieval times/historical reenactment job is pretty entertaining. Clever. And I love the psychic blurt thing. Like a Greek seer, unable to control her gift. I'm a fan of double edged abilities in books like this. Now the book does suffer from some believably issues and is not particularly complex. Still, the mystery is solid if not mind blowing. An entertaining read, just not something that would hold up to multiple reads.

Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley

Book review - The Serpent King

Title: The Serpent King
Author: Jeff Zentner
Genre: realistic fiction
Similar books: The Queen of Bright and Shiny Things by Ann Aguirre
                     Some Kind of Normal by Juliana Stone
Rating:

good luck keeping your emotions in check

Summary (provided by publisher): Dill has had to wrestle with vipers his whole life—at home, as the only son of a Pentecostal minister who urges him to handle poisonous rattlesnakes, and at school, where he faces down bullies who target him for his father's extreme faith and very public fall from grace.
He and his fellow outcast friends must try to make it through their senior year of high school without letting the small-town culture destroy their creative spirits and sense of self. Graduation will lead to new beginnings for Lydia, whose edgy fashion blog is her ticket out of their rural Tennessee town. And Travis is content where he is thanks to his obsession with an epic book series and the fangirl turning his reality into real-life fantasy.
Their diverging paths could mean the end of their friendship. But not before Dill confronts his dark legacy to attempt to find a way into the light of a future worth living.

My opinion: Fantastic. A vivid depiction of teens on the verge of a major life change. These kids are your quintessential outsiders, too odd to fit in with their peers in small-town America. I was prepared to be annoyed with this book. Intentional outsiders can get a little too much play in novels. They tend to be overly strong and defiant. While Lydia fits this description, Travis is more oblivious and Dil is incredibly damaged. Their personality traits become more intense as the novel progresses, almost as if they are desperately trying to hold on to themselves with the prospect of major life change looming. The writing itself is elegant, artistic. Zentner consistently chooses the best possible words, an archaic and artistic vocabulary. Now, this writing style can border on self-importance and arrogance, but the sentences are so well put together that I'm inclined to forgive a handful of unnecessary SAT words. And be prepared. The last quarter of this book nearly had me in tears. Like, full-on sobbing. This is a book from which it can be difficult to disentangle yourself.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley

Books on screen

The Smurfs and the Magic Flute

The original Smurfs books, and especially this first story, are surprisingly different from the cartoon of the 80's. In fact, the Smurfs are secondary characters in this story which focuses on Johan and Peewit (renamed John and William in the British dub of the film). For the most part, the film follows the plot of the book fairly closely. A few scenes are combined or altered to improve the flow of the movie and a couple of songs are added (probably to pad the movie length a little). These songs serve little purpose in terms of the plot and one of them (about the Smurfs' personalities) was so irritating I could barely stand to listen to it. The humor and story-telling style are more reflective of the comics than of the cartoon. Strictly speaking, this movie is strong representation of the original book. As a movie, it's not exactly the most entertaining though. If you're a real Smurf fan, give this one a watch. Everyone else could probably skip it.

Book review - Tru and Nelle

Title: Tru & Nelle
Author: G. Neri
Genre: historical fiction
Similar books: Young Houdini by Simon Nicholson
                     My Near Death Adventures(99% True) by Alison DeCamp
Rating:

charming, but audience specific

Summary (provided by publisher): Long before they became famous writers, Truman Capote (In Cold Blood) and Harper Lee (To Kill a Mockingbird) were childhood friends in Monroeville, Alabama. This fictionalized account of their time together opens at the beginning of the Great Depression, when Tru is seven and Nelle is six. They love playing pirates, but they like playing Sherlock and Watson-style detectives the most. It's their pursuit of a case of drugstore theft that lands the daring duo in real trouble. Humor and heartache intermingle in this lively look at two budding writers in the 1930s South. 

My opinion: For a reader familiar with Capote and Lee, the events of this book are expected but too charming to become tiresome. I was entertained at every turn. The problem is, this book skews young. Content-wise, it's middle grade. The major characters, though, are early elementary. And 5-7th graders aren't likely to be familiar with either author. That's going to make this book a really tough sell, especially as there isn't enough depth to the secondary characters to up the appeal. Frankly, I expect the largest audience for this book to be adults looking for a quick read.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley.