Book review - Seven Riddles to Nowhere

Title: Seven Riddles to Nowhere
Author: A.J.Cattapan
Genre: realistic fiction
Similar books: The Hunt for the Missing Spy by Penny Warner
                     Leap of Faith by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
Rating:

A nice, gentle story

Summary(provided by publisher): For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Because of a tragic event that took place when he was five-years-old, seventh grader Kameron Boyd can't make himself speak to adults when he steps outside his home. Kam's mom hopes his new school will cure his talking issues, but just as he starts to feel comfortable, financial problems threaten the school’s existence.
Then a letter arrives with the opportunity to change everything. Kam learns that he and several others have been selected as potential heirs to a fortune. He just has to solve a series of seven riddles to find the treasure before the other students. If he succeeds, he’ll become heir to a fortune that could save his school.
The riddles send Kam on a scavenger hunt through the churches of Chicago. But solving them won’t be easy. With the school’s bully as one of the other potential heirs, Kam and his friends must decipher the hidden meanings in artwork and avoid the mysterious men following them in a quest to not only keep the school open, but keep Kam’s hopes for recovering his voice alive.

My Opinion: There are a lot of positives in this book. It has religious overtones without being forceful about it, telling the reader what to believe. The central core of characters is clearly, if not particularly deeply, defined. The plot is largely clear and logical. And I like the idea of seeing your town, even areas you know, through a new perspective. While some understanding of Catholicism is helpful to fully appreciate this novel it isn't absolutely necessary. Its a simple story without a great deal of depth but a solid read for young middle graders.

More Information: Seven Riddles to Nowhere releases August 31.
Advance Reader Copy provided by NetGalley.

Harry Potter charms

I was messing around with polymer clay and made these little charms. Not really sure what I'm going to do with them but I'm pretty pleased with how they turned out.
 

Picture books for everyone

The Black Book of Colors by Menena Cottin

This is a picture book unlike any other you'll experience. The pages are all black with a few lines of white text each. The illustrations are texture based instead of visual. It explores colors with the other senses, describing tastes, smells, and textures that one might associate with each color. Young kids will enjoy simply running their fingers over the braille text and textured illustrations. Use it with older kids to spark a discussion of perspectives and alternate ways of experiencing the world.

Book review - 100 Days

Title: 100 Days
Author: Nicole McInnes
Genre: realistic fiction
Similar books: Painless by S.A. Harazin
                     Anthem for Jackson Dawes by Celia Bryce
Rating:

Not as good as I'd hoped

Summary(provided by publisher): Agnes doesn't know it, but she only has one hundred days left to live. When she was just a baby, she was diagnosed with Progeria, a rare disease that causes her body to age at roughly ten times the normal rate. Now nearly sixteen years old, Agnes has already exceeded her life expectancy.
Moira has been Agnes’s best friend and protector since they were in elementary school. Due to her disorder, Agnes is still physically small, but Moira is big. Too big for her own liking. So big that people call her names. With her goth makeup and all-black clothes, Moira acts like she doesn’t care. But she does.
Boone was friends with both girls in the past, but that was a long time ago—before he did the thing that turned Agnes and Moira against him, before his dad died, before his mom got too sad to leave the house.
An unexpected event brings Agnes and Moira back together with Boone, but when romantic feelings start to develop, the trio’s friendship is put to the test.

My opinion: This is probably the first book I've ever heard of that had a character with progeria, so I had high hopes. I was disappointed. Agnes is too well adjusted. She talks about wanting to have a normal teen experience but she's very accepting of her limits. She never gets frustrated, never wishes for more. Her disease seems to be the entire definition of her character. Mostly she serves as a foil for Moira and Boone. Her presence forces them to face their personality flaws and fears. They grow as people - Agnes doesn't. She doesn't even get a satisfying ending, a final arc. She just ends. The characters skew a little young and the plot lacks the depth and emotional complexity I've come to expect from teen novels. With the simple plot and lack of character development I'd have an easier time accepting it if it were aimed at a middle grade audience rather than teens.

More Information: 100 Days releases August 23.
Advance Reader Copy provided by NetGalley.

A miniature TARDIS

Ages ago, I bought a little wooden box at a discount store. The sort of wooden box you give to small children to paint. At under a dollar, I figured I'd think of something to do with it. Then I stuck it in my craft supplies and essentially forgot about it.
I'm not sure what made me think of it this week but suddenly I knew how I wanted to use it. It makes a snazzy TARDIS. And with a couple of peg dolls for occupants, well...

Book review - The Wrong Side of Magic

Title: The Wrong Side of Magic
Author: Janette Rallison
Genre: fantasy
Similar books: Behind the Canvas by Alexander Vance
                     Lost in Lexicon by Pendred Noyce
Rating:

far exceeded expectations

Summary(provided by publisher): Eleven-year-old Hudson stopped believing in magic long ago. Until the day he is whisked away to the magical land of Logos—a land ruled by words, thoughts, and memories. A fairy might ferry you across the river for the price of one memory, or it's possible freshly baked homonyms will be on sale two for the price of one, and look out for snarky unicorns, as they are sure to judge the pure of heart. Upon arrival, Hudson is quickly saddled with a troll curse, and only his friend Charlotte can help rid him of the curse. But lo and behold she has an agenda of her own—find and rescue the missing Princess of Logos.

My opinion: I didn't think I would like this one very much. A regular kid being thrown into a magical world is nothing new. And a world based on words? I just couldn't see how it would work without focusing entirely on the gimmick to the detriment of plot and character development. It works surprisingly well, in part because it doesn't take itself too seriously. It is apparent from the moment when we first beet the stuck-up unicorns with British accents that this isn't your typical fantasy novel. It really explores our relationship with language in depth as well, not to mention admirable character traits and a person's ability to change. I wouldn't say that you could use it as part of a unit on grammar - the exploration is not that detailed. While the standard fantasy elements of the plot resolve in a rather predictable manner, it's charming and funny enough to keep the reader engaged.

More information: The Wrong Side of Magic releases August 23.
Advance Reader Copy provided by NetGalley.

Books on screen

The Giver

I could spend pages detailing the minutiae of how the book and the movie differ in this instance, all of the things that the movie messed up. Rather than nit-picking, though, I'd like to look at the bigger picture, how the message differs. And it all starts with the decision to make Jonas older.
At first, this seems like a relatively minor issue. Movies adjust details like this all the time. The developmental difference between 12 and 18 is significant, though. By making Jonas 12, Lowry accomplished a number of things. Firstly, it marked the community as "other". We're accustomed to facing a change in life, setting out on adult responsibilities, at 18. This is easy for us to understand and allows us to identify with Jonas in the movie. Seeing Jonas taking on such a level of responsibility at 12 is the first flag to the reader that something is wrong in this society. He is literally having to grow up too soon. Also, by making Jonas 12, his awakening to emotions and cultural memory is a clear parallel to puberty.
My other major issue is with the portrayal of the community. The book shows us a flawed but stable society. No, they don't have choice or colors or even real emotion, but they don't know any better and are entirely satisfied with their lives. They lack emotional pain or conflict. It's a peaceful place. Superficially, this is the case in the movie though we see a number of examples of discord, of governmental machinations. There is a sense of menace and foreboding in the community in the movie that simply isn't present in the book.
This all comes together to affect my final complaint: emotional impact. The book is very much about Jonas' inner journey, his slow awakening to all that is missing from their lives and his inability to stay once he knows the truth. It is his story so when he leaves, though there is danger of being discovered for a time, the final pages are still only about him. I'd go so far as to say that we only see Fiona and Asher in the early part of the novel to serve as a comparison to Jonas and the way he changes. The movie give Jonas a love interest with Fiona and interpersonal conflict with Asher. Obviously this is meant to make the plot more external and thus more cinematic but it does, then, weaken the original point of the novel. We see both Fiona and Asher choose loyalty to their friend over obedience, something they shouldn't be capable of per what we are told by the movie, as they get injections to suppress all emotions. Asher in particular should not be capable of that level of loyalty as he, unlike Fiona, has not skipped and injection. And it's not just these two. We see even Lily express a small rebellion in the final scenes. The final scenes of the book and the movie are vastly different, telling completely different stories.
If you haven't experienced either version of The Giver, you might be satisfied with the movie. If you, like me, enjoyed the book I wouldn't put it high on the list of adaptations to watch.