Title: Impossible Music
Author: Sean Williams
Genre: realistic fiction
Similar books: Curveball by Jordan Sonnenblick
Brave Enough by Kati Gardner
Rating:
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| interesting ideas |
Summary (provided by publisher): Music is Simon’s life—which is why he is devastated when a stroke destroys his hearing. He resists attempts to help him adjust to his new state, refusing to be counseled, refusing to learn sign-language, refusing to have anything to do with Deaf culture. Refusing, that is, until he meets G, a tough-as-nails girl dealing with her own newly-experienced deafness.
In an emotionally engaging tale crackling with originality, Simon's quest to create an entirely new form of music forces him into a deeper understanding of his relationship to the hearing world, of himself, and of the girl he meets along the way.
My opinion: This is an idea we encounter occasionally in fiction: how we define ourselves when our central focus is taken from us. Usually these books focus on finding a new dream. Williams' book looks instead at approaching the dream from new angles. It asks us to consider the philosophical aspects of music and art. The plot itself is equal parts defining music and Simon coming to terms with his new reality. It's the difference between coping with and accepting his deafness. Or, as the text says, becoming deaf and accepting your life as a Deaf person. This is a character driven, literary novel. It suffers from some development issues, largely centering on G, but is still interesting to mull over.
More information: Impossible Music releases July 2.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley.
Title: Forever Neverland
Author: Susan Adrian
Genre: Fantasy
Similar books: Secrets of the Book by Erin Fry
Mighty Jack by Ben Hatke
Rating:
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| a solid re-imagining |
Summary (provided by publisher): Clover and Fergus are the great-great-grandchildren of Wendy Darling (yes, that Wendy). And now Peter Pan wants to take them to Neverland for the adventure of their lives! But Clover is a little nervous--she's supposed to look after her brother. Fergus is autistic, and not everyone makes him feel welcome. What will happen to him in this magical world?
Fergus isn't nervous at all. To him, Neverland seems like a dream come true! He's tired of Clover's constant mothering and wants some independence, like Peter and the Lost Boys have. He wonders, Why can't the real world be more like Neverland?
Neverland is fun and free, but it's also dangerous and even scary at times. Unfamiliar creatures lurk in the shadows, and strange sounds come from the waters. And then the mermaids start to go missing. . . .
In an imaginative and thoughtful continuation of the story of Peter Pan, Susan Adrian explores Neverland with a fresh perspective and indelible warmth, offering a new adventure based on a beloved classic!
My opinion: You might not expect Neverland and Greek/Roman mythology to mesh well, but Adrian pulls it off. This is largely because she establishes early on that Neverland reshapes itself based on the current occupants and visitors. It only makes sense, then, that an adventure for mythology obsessed Fergus would have a mythological bent. Not only are the plot elements well integrated, Fergus and Clover are well developed characters. They go through significant changes, forced to address the flaws in their characters that are addressed in the early chapters.
I do have a single, major complaint. In the early chapters we meet the children's grandfather, a gruff man who has no patience and no understanding of Fergus. This early conflict is never resolved. It's never even addressed again. Clover and Fergus have interactions with their mother and grandmother but the grandfather is notably absent in the novel's resolution.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley
Some of my old family friends have been medical missionaries in Haiti for several years now. They come back to the state occasionally to give updates on the hospital and training program. On one of their last trips they brought some crafts made by local women. Among the items was this little wooden fish that immediately struck my fancy.
I've been wanting to make something with it ever since. I finally found some hemp cord and beads and designed a macrame hanger. Its simple but looks great in my room. The green and brown beads go nicely with my green striped shag carpet (yeah, decor in my house is super dated).
Title: Cursed
Author: Karol Ruth Silverstein
Genre: realistic fiction
Similar books: Sincerely, Harriet by Sarah Winifred Searle
Wired Man and Other Freaks of Nature by Sashi Kaufman
Rating:
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| painfully honest |
Summary (provided by publisher): As if her parents' divorce and sister's departure for college weren't bad enough, fourteen-year-old Ricky Bloom has just been diagnosed with a life-changing chronic illness. Her days consist of cursing everyone out, skipping school--which has become a nightmare--daydreaming about her crush, Julio, and trying to keep her parents from realizing just how bad things are. But she can't keep her ruse up forever.
Ricky's afraid, angry, alone, and one suspension away from repeating ninth grade when she realizes: she can't be held back. She'll do whatever it takes to move forward--even if it means changing the person she's become. Lured out of her funk by a quirky classmate, Oliver, who's been there too, Ricky's porcupine exterior begins to shed some spines. Maybe asking for help isn't the worst thing in the world. Maybe accepting circumstances doesn't mean giving up.
My opinion: Books about chronic illness tend to focus on finding positivity. We see sick kids as eternally sunshiny, plucky, inspirations. Ricky is the exact opposite. She suffers constant pain. She's cranky, angry at the world, and desperate to be "normal". If she can't feel normal she just wants to hide from her reality. Even once she begins to accept her new normal, she stays prickly. This isn't a flaw she needs to correct but rather an inherent part of her personality. It's nice to see a protagonist who isn't everyone's best friend. Even more than that, this book has an important message about medical care. Ricky learns about her condition, reads up on potential treatments. She's an informed patient and learns to advocate for her own care. While there were some less realistic elements, the messages are strong enough to make up for flaws.
More information: Cursed releases June 25.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley.
I Really Love You by Tatsuya Miyanishi
Miyanishi's T-rex books are unlike most other dinosaur picture books. On the one hand, they're more realistic. Dinosaurs eat, or at least attempt to eat, smaller creatures. This is not seen as a moral issue but rather a part of nature. Carnivores must eat or die. Of course, these dinosaurs have complex thought and emotion. They can be reasoned with. And the emotions they experience are complicated and changeable. We see sacrificial love expressed non-verbally, through actions and protective instincts. This is the message for younger reader - the many kinds of love. For the older reader we explore forms of communication and the things that tie us together.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley
The Artist Who Loved Cats by Susan Bernardo
I'm pretty sure I've seen images of some of these posters before, but it's not often presented to young readers. They're quite charming. And we don't usually see advertisements presented as art to children. That alone makes this an intriguing read for youngsters. It just might encourage them to look at ads from a new perspective. This would be a fun book to use in an art class, to put unexpected objects or animals into existing images.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley
Title: Briar and Rose and Jack
Author: Katherine Coville
Genre: fantasy
Similar books: Snow & Rose by Emily Winfield Martin
The Secrets of the Pied Piper by Matthew Cody
Rating:
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| a truly inventive story |
Summary (provided by publisher): Lady Briar is scorned for her appearance. Princess Rose is adored for her looks. Unbeknownst to them, one or both may bear a curse that only true love can break. But the girls have little time for curses anyway—along with their friend Jack, they are busy plotting the downfall of the evil giant who plagues their kingdom. But how can children succeed when the adults are afraid to even try? And what if the curse manifests? Whose love could be true enough to save the day?
My opinion: It's always interesting to see how an author will re-imagine a familiar story. The more common the tale, the more inventive she has to be to make her book stand out. So Coville sets the bar high here, taking on both Sleeping Beauty and Jack And The Beanstalk. She manages it well, starting out with Sleeping Beauty as not one but two girls. And by combining the two stories, she closes long standing plot holes in both that might trouble a modern audience. All told, Coville's version of the stories makes a lot more sense. The ending is perhaps overly tidy but that's a minor flaw.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley
I've been enjoying exploring drawing techniques with note cards. Here are a few cards I took to my last craft fair.
The Race to Space by Clive Gifford
With the anniversary of the moon landing this year, there is no shortage of new space program books for young readers. This particular effort is more than worth the time it takes to read. We start with the Cold War and it's influence on what would become the Space Race. We are presented with each achievement and failure, in chronological order, by both the American and Russian space missions. The reader can then see how each attempt by one team influenced future efforts by the other team. There is not much detail about each mission, of course. This is only a brief overview, but its still a compelling read and a great starting point for young readers with an interest in science and/or history. I can't wait to put this one in the hands of a couple of young readers I know.
I'm not usually one who wears leopard print, but it's hard to turn down dress shoes when they cost a dollar.
The solution? Paint them. A little multi-surface acrylic paint does wonders. I added little pterosaurs for personality.
Tamamo the Fox Maiden and other Asian Stories by Kel McDonald et al
We get explorations of European folk tales far more often than we do of eastern cultures. Probably because the religions and culture differ so much from what is familiar to an American audience. Demons, gods, and yokai, as presented in these stories are far different from the beings as we know them. There's less good and evil , more complexity and negative traits. Bad behavior rather than bad characters. These stories represent a wide variety of characters and styles, so there's something for everyone.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley
Title: Wild and Crooked
Author: Lean Thomas
Genre: realistic fiction
Similar books: Nick and June Were Here by Shalanda Stanley
More Than Good Enough by Crissa-Jean Chappell
 |
| As good as I'd hoped |
Summary (provided by publisher): In Samsboro, Kentucky, Kalyn Spence's name is inseparable from the brutal murder her father committed when he was a teenager. Forced to return to town, Kalyn must attend school under a pseudonym . . . or face the lingering anger of Samsboro's citizens, who refuse to forget the crime.
Gus Peake has never had the luxury of redefining himself. A Samsboro native, he's either known as the "disabled kid" because of his cerebral palsy, or as the kid whose dad was murdered. Gus just wants to be known as himself.
When Gus meets Kalyn, her frankness is refreshing, and they form a deep friendship. Until their families' pasts emerge. And when the accepted version of the truth is questioned, Kalyn and Gus are caught in the center of a national uproar. Can they break free from a legacy of inherited lies and chart their own paths forward?
My opinion: There's a lot going on in this book. We have the obvious exploration of the roles we play in life - roles we find for ourselves and those others place upon us. Thomas has three different approaches in her characters. Kalyn despises the role thrust upon her and is determined to be her own person regardless of expectations. Gus is frustrated by his societal role but can't see a way out of it. His friend has fully embraced his role to the point that he's loathe to depart from it's guidelines. He see this role as a way to guide his behavior. Each character either finds ways his roles don't fit or failings in what society has laid out for them At the same time, they also come to realize the ways they have put others into boxes that perhaps don't fit them as neatly as originally supposed. Now the idea that people are more than one thing is certainly not new. And the central plot has some logical failings, some elements that are thin. But the characters are compelling and their interplay charming.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley.
I made enough historical women peg dolls to take to my craft fair over the weekend. I included a fact card with each peg. As a result I had long conversation with one customer about the role of Eleanor Roosevelt in the development of American politics. Totally worth it.
