Creech’s Novels in Verse

I am a huge fan of Sharon Creech’s Love That Dog, which The School Library Journal called a “tiny treasure.” And I have been anxiously awaiting a copy of the sequel Hate That Cat, about which SLJ claims, “For fans of the original book, Hate That Cat is going to simply provide more of what they want. And for those who've never read Love That Dog it will still resonate as a great book of sounds, inflections, images, and just plain n' simple fun words.”

While waiting, I decided to revisit another of Creech’s novels in verse – Heartbeat. (SLJ said it “is vintage Creech, and its richness lies in its sheer simplicity.”)

But it seemed to me that all of the poetic simplicity of Heartbeat was all leading to the final poem, the final lines, all leading to:

a small shiny brown seed
tear shaped
elegant
both old and new
silent
and
full
of
secrets

Alas, this little seed was not enough. I didn’t feel compelled by Annie and Max in the same way I was compelled by Jack. The whole book, though lovely, seemed like a conceit for that final image – and it simply wasn’t filling enough.

Wolves

I checked this one out from the library for Valentin, my 6 year old, who thought the book was terribly funny when we read it together. Did he miss the dark edge? I'm not sure, but I know that when I handed it to 9 year old Paolo, who will still read a picture book if I suggest it to him or if the cover depicts a superhero, he got the joke. I watched as he read through the book once, then twice, and then after lifting off the dust jacket so he could see the cover below, read it a third time. As he was reading Mercedes (11) announced that she had read it too and thought it was clever, as did Aitana (12).

I think the appeal of the book is not just that Emily Gravett is dark and funny and brilliant, but that Wolves, like Weisner's Three Pigs or The Red Book, plays with the conventions of books themselves. My favorite image features a two page photo of the mangled red book cover and a scap of text from the book, with just that one word ... rabbits.

A Sherman Alexie Conundrum

I’m torn! When I first picked up a hard copy of Alexie’s new novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, I knew it would be excellent. I’m already an Alexie fan (I teach The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven as part of a Native American literature unit) and was thrilled that he had produced a work for teens.

The novel is visually intriguing. Junior, the narrator, is a cartoonist, so the book is peppered with Ellen Forney’s clever drawings (you can check out her site at

http://www.ellenforney.com/index.html but it is worth flipping through the novel itself to see what she has done. The images seem to me to be a strange mix of Crumb and The Preppy Handbook.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have a chance to read the book before I had to return it to the library. Wanting to read it since it has been winning awards left and right (including the Boston Globe – Horn Book for fiction), I picked up the Recorded Book version, seeing it as the next best option.

I didn’t realize that Alexie himself performed the recording. It is wonderful. At first, I wondered if I could stand his sing-song voice (Alexie writes that all Indians talk “weird” as though they are always reciting bad poetry) through all five disks, but I was hooked midway through the first chapter. His reading is clear and poignant and powerful.
So here’s the problem – do you read it or listen to it? I think the only option is to do both.

** Note, this title definitely falls under the category of teen fiction! Topics from masturbation to drunk driving are covered in an honest and earnest manner that is compelling and powerful – but be aware that the content is mature.

The Young Wizards Series

I just finished Diane Duane's Wizard Alone, the sixth book in her series. This is a fascinating fantasy series. Like Madeline L'Engle's work, Duane sees the intricacies of science as the best source of magic. Duane's young wizards, Nita and Kit, talk in scientfic terms about the wizardry they do. Also, like L'Engle, the works are informed by a Christian (Catholic?) world view which, while not discussed in such terms, informs the entire work.

This specific story, though, has caused me to think and rethink... In this novel, Duane's characters meet an autistic boy, Darrel, who is himself a wizard. Nita and Kit travel into the dangerous landscapes of Darrel's mind. The book is informed about autism and Darrel actually derives some of his strength from the nature of his autism (which he is able to turn against the Lone One, the embodiment of evil in Duane's world).

Here's the crux of the matter (and a SPOILER as well!)

In the conclusion of the novel, Darrel is cured of his autism.

I'm not sure how to respond to this choice. While the novel handles the issues of autism with great respect, does the fantastical ending where Darrel decides to leave his autism behind him, does this negate that sense of respect. I'm not sure...

Ranger's Apprentice Book One: The Ruins of Gorlan

Flanagan, John. The Ranger's Apprentice Book One: The Ruins of Gorlan. New York: Philomel, 2005. 249.





My daughter Mercedes picked up this book off of the Rebecca Caudill cart at our public library. I was surprised she chose this one, though she is a fantasy lover, because the cover illustration strikes me as a typical "boy" book. The cover of the US (Philomel) edition features a hooded character whose eyes are in shadow. The cover is dark and eerie looking, and while the story does have its dark moments, it isn't horrific. In fact, the book follows the tried and true formulas of the "child hero in training" stories, from Alexander's Prydain books to Tamora Pierce's Alanna stories. There's no "new" ground being covered here, but the writing is solid and the characters likeable.

I like the image found on the Austrailian website better - though it still says "boy book"...

*** Note: Since reading the first book of the series, I listened to the next three books as narrated by John Keating. I think I enjoyed the recorded book better than the print version. Though the "girl" voices were silly (often a problem for male voice actors) Holt's voice was wonderful!