Llama trio

The craft I have to share with you today isn't particularly complex. I drew some llamas on waste card-stock that came in a package  with my new (to me) markers. Mostly I wanted to try out the markers, a bag of assorted scrap-booking markers I found at Goodwill for a dollar. I figured I could use them as bookmarks.

Then I remembered that I mostly read e-books. And I have dozens of bookmarks already in a box on my bookshelf for when I do read print. So for now the llamas are just decorating my bookshelf.

 

Book review - The Distance to Home

Title: The Distance to Home
Author: Jenn Bishop
Genre: realistic fiction
Similar books: Dear Opl by Shelley Sackier
                     The Thing About Jellyfish by Ali Benjamin
Rating:

lovely and heartbreaking

Summary(provided by publisher): For fans of Lynda Mullaly Hunt and Rita Williams-Garcia, Jenn Bishop's heartwarming debut is a celebration of sisterhood and summertime, and of finding the courage to get back in the game.
Last summer, Quinnen was the star pitcher of her baseball team, the Panthers. They were headed for the championship, and her loudest supporter at every game was her best friend and older sister, Haley.
This summer, everything is different. Haley's death, at the end of last summer, has left Quinnen and her parents reeling. Without Haley in the stands, Quinnen doesn't want to play baseball. It seems like nothing can fill the Haley-sized hole in her world. The one glimmer of happiness comes from the Bandits, the local minor-league baseball team. For the first time, Quinnen and her family are hosting one of the players for the season. Without Haley, Quinnen's not sure it will be any fun, but soon she befriends a few players. With their help, can she make peace with the past and return to the pitcher's mound?

My opinion: If you're looking for a simple, warm-hearted sports story, this is not your book. Don't get me wrong: baseball plays a major role in the plot and the message is an affirming one. This is just more of an emotional wringer than most sports books. 
To my way of thinking, books about grief for the younger set must be carefully done to avoid becoming trite and minimizing the emotions of the target audience. This is one such careful portrayal. The best word I can think of for it is authentic. Quinnen's portrayal is very believable. She's confused by the changes in her older sister prior to her death, wants life to be as simple as it has always been.
While the major portion of the plot focuses on working through grief, baseball is a strong presence. Secondary messages include being a team player, focusing on the good of your team instead of yourself, and not judging others too quickly. 
What this all adds up to is a book that can be read and enjoyed both by fans of emotional journeys and of sports stories.

More information: The Distance to Home releases June 28.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley.

Picture books for everyone

Abiyoyo by Pete Seeger

If you've never experienced this book do yourself a favor: go out and find a copy right now. Abiyoyo was one of my favorite episodes of Reading Rainbow. Magical, musical, and just the right amount of scary for young readers. If you can, get this with the audio. While any one can read Abiyoyo, no one reads it like Pete Seeger.

Book review - The Haunting of Falcon House

Title: The Haunting of Falcon House
Author: Eugene Yelchin
Genre: historical fiction
Similar books: The Children of the King by Sonya Hartnett
                     The Swallow by Charis Cotter
Rating:

Nicely written but a tough sell

Summary(provided by publisher): A long undisturbed bedroom. A startling likeness. A mysterious friend.
When twelve-year-old Prince Lev Lvov goes to live with his aunt at Falcon House, he takes his rightful place as heir to the Lvov family estate. Prince Lev dreams of becoming a hero of Russia like his great ancestors. But he'll discover that dark secrets haunt this house. Prince Lev is the only one who can set them free-will he be the hero his family needs?

My opinion: It can be hard to sell kids on historical fiction, especially books like this one. Not only is the setting historical, it is foreign. Tsarist Russia can be difficult for adult readers to understand, much less middle graders. While the setting is well described, we don't get much in the way of explanation for the class system in Russia, the naming format, anything.  There are supernatural elements but they aren't spooky enough to make this a truly compelling read.

Advanced Reader Copy provided by publisher.

Birthday cards

A few weeks ago, I posted about a card I had made for my nephew. Today I bring you two more Martha original birthday cards, one for my dad and one for my other nephew.

The inside of this one reads "Please wait while he wraps your cake and lights the candles on your present"

Book review - Gifted

Title: Gifted
Author: H. A. Swain
Genre: dystopia
Similar books: MARTians by Blythe Woolston
                     Material Girls by Elaine Dimopoulos
Rating:

Great concept, decent execution

Summary(provided by publisher): In Orpheus Chanson's world, geniuses and prodigies are no longer born or honed through hard work. Instead, procedures to induce Acquired Savant Abilities (ASAs) are now purchased by the privileged. And Orpheus's father holds the copyright to the ASA procedure.
Zimri Robinson, a natural musical prodigy, is a "plebe"--a worker at the enormous warehouse that supplies an on-line marketplace that has supplanted all commerce. Her grueling schedule and her grandmother's illness can't keep her from making music--even if it is illegal.
Orpheus and Zimri are not supposed to meet. He is meant for greatness; she is not. But sometimes, rules are meant to be broken. Here is a thriller, love story, and social experiment that readers will find gripping--and terrifying.

My opinion: Firstly, this is a great variation on the standard dystopian setting. Other novels have a world where art and music are tightly controlled or outlawed outright. In Swain's novel it is privatized, own by corporations from the moment it is created. That's new and entirely believable. So I was completely on board with the concept. The execution, though, had some believability issues. I could accept Orpheus vanishing into plebe society. He had kept out of the public eye and everyone he knew only used him as part of some agenda. It was the characters themselves I struggled with. Orpheus is just a little too good, too enamored with hard work and "real" life. He doesn't really wish for the comforts of his old life or even struggle to adjust to plebe life. With the exception of Orpheus, all of the privileged characters are shallow, concerned only with their own position in society, and have no real care for others. While we are given explanations for their behavior, it can feel like a judgement of all people who come from a privileged background.

Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley.

Books on screen

Arthur and the Minimoys/Arthur and the Invisibles

This movie is actually based on two books: Arthur and the Minimoys and Arthur and the Forbidden City. Plot-wise, the movie follows the books relatively well. There are changes of course. It is inevitable in a movie for timelines to be shortened, locations to change, that sort of thing. Casting is sort of a mixed bag. Freddy Highmore was a great choice for Arthur, Mia Farrow as Granny not so much. My biggest issue with this movie is actually the pacing. While the books tend to drag a little, the movie races ahead, jumping from scene to scene without pause or reflection. Even the dialogue progresses too quickly. It doesn't reflect the natural flow of a conversation at all. I felt like the movie focused entirely too much on special effects and quips instead of the complex plot and world-building of the novels.