The Party: The Secret World of China's Communist Rulers

The Party: The Secret World of China's Communist Rulers Richard McGregor

China's often a contradiction-- a booming market economy but a communist government. The West used to say that we needed to do business with China because for we'd be selling democracy with every hamburger, but it hasn't worked out that way.

In this book McGregor lays out a fascinating account of how the Party controls government and the economy (including how much control they have over many large Chinese firms that look like they're not held by the state.) As someone with a long-term interest and knowledge of China, McGregor's book didn't hold many surprises, but it did confirm many things I've long suspected and laid out exactly how they work.

I think it's best put in the quotation from a professor in Beijing that starts the first chapter. "The Party is like God. He is everywhere. You just can't see him."

The most interesting chapter for me was the one covering the Sanlu milk scandal. This was a story I remember following in the news as it unfolded. At first it was a little weird as McGregor mentions Sanlu and then seemingly changes topics and talks about something else for 5 pages and then ties it to Sanlu and then seemingly changes topics and talks about something else for 5 pages and then ties it back to Sanlu and then seemingly changes topics (you get the point.)

But, in the end, you get a thorough background that shows the general corporate culture and tensions between Party and economy so a scandal and cover-up like this was almost inevitable. A interesting thing that was an "oh, duh" moment for me was that one of the reasons for the cover-up was timing. Sanlu first because aware it had a huge problem in May, 2008 but the government wanted to have such a good image for the Olympics in August, they put extreme pressure not only on newspapers to not report negative news, but also on companies to not *have* any negative news.

McGregor also uses several recent high-profile corruption cases to show how the Party works-- how it places people in power and can remove them just as quickly-- and what happens to non-members who run afoul of it.

In the West, it's hard to wrap our heads around how the Party is the government and the oversight and the army and the police and the fourth estate and even big business. Although I found the writing to be a bit clunky in the beginning,* McGregor clearly untangles the Party's web to explain it to the outside observer.



*The example that still sticks in my head is when he described China as a panopticon and then spent half a page explaining what the panopticon meant. If you don't think your readers will get the reference, don't use the reference!

Book Provided by... my local library

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Poetry Friday

This is a weird year with no reading resolutions to set for next year. Somewhere around the summer solstice there will be a Rothschid-child arriving and I know enough about parenthood to realize that next year is a year to make few plans and just roll with the punches. Or dirty diapers.

I'm at that fun stage where you can't tell if I'm pregnant or had too many cookies. Secretly, I think I've had too many cookies, but I'm saying it's the baby.

But here's a poem about Christmas and babies.

Each Night a Child is Born

For so the children come
and so they have been coming.
Always in the same way they came—
Born of the seed of man and woman.

No angels herald their beginnings.
No prophets predict their future courses.
No wise men see a star to show where to find
The babe that will save humankind.
Yet each night a child is born is a holy night.

Fathers and mothers—
Sitting beside their children’s cribs—
Feel the glory in the sight of a new life beginning.
They ask “Where and how will this new life end?
Or will it ever end?”
Each night a child is born is a holy night—
A time for singing—
A time for wondering—
A time for worshipping.

--Sophia Lyon Fahs

Round up is over at A Year of Reading!

Now for more cookies. (They're good for the baby, I hear.)

Fat Vampire

Fat Vampire: A Never Coming of Age Story Adam Rex

I really wanted to like this. I liked the premise-- fat geek boy gets turned into a vampire against his will, doesn't have awesome super powers, and will be overweight and 15 for all eternity. To top it off, a basic cable show that is about to be canceled (despite the fact it has a huge cult following) is tracking Doug in an effort to boost ratings.

There was a lot of great homage to geek culture and being a theater kid that I enjoyed.

But... right when it was about to take off, Doug starts getting some human blood (instead of the cows he had been drinking from) and turns into a giant jerk and the book takes this weird turn that... ugh. I was enjoying it fairly well-- Doug was annoying but overall pretty sympathetic and then, BAM! it was like when Jacob turned into a werewolf and became just as bad as Edward. As I told Dan, it wasn't bad enough to just stop reading, but it wasn't good enough to hold my interest for more than 20 pages at a time. And it was supposed to be funny, and trying to be funny, but wasn't that funny.

The parts focusing on Vampire Hunters, the cable show hunting Doug, were the only parts I tended to find humorous.

There were also a lot of threads that never turned into anything, but took up a lot of pages. Sejal is the Indian exchange student that Doug has a crush on. Sejal also has "The Google" which is a disease that is somehow different than severe internet addiction, but how, I never fully understood. But when she tells people she has "The Google" they visibly recoil. This is supposed to be related to some character development in how she learns to live in the real world, except that's never developed very well and everything would have worked a lot better if she were just plain addicted to the internet.

One thing that really annoyed the hell out of my as a reader was Doug's never-ending use of the word "gay" as a pejorative. While I'm sure this is entirely realistic language for teen boys with self-esteem issues that they cover with insults and bravado, page after page of reading it just really turned me off. Doug gets a second of slight redemption when he sticks up for a vampire who Doug thinks is being targeted for being gay but... it doesn't really go anywhere. Also, based on some of Doug's comments about fictional gay characters, I couldn't decide if Doug trying to save the gay vampire from a perceived hate crime was an attempt to show that Doug in a positive light, or if it was just meta. And all the new vampires are turned into vampires by a guy (not the same guy, but a guy) but they all say it was a young, hottt girl. Because they don't want their undeath to be too gay. Part of me understands the issues surrounding teens and sexual identity and comfort in that, but that whole thread... didn't add much. There's also a subtle moment when a friend of a friend (and probably the friend's date) storms off after a long tirade of Doug calling everything gay, but no one ever really puts two-and-two together. Doug sure as hell doesn't. And while I do appreciate realistic dialogue, page after page after page after page got tiresome and annoying. Much the way I'm sure some readers feel about over-use of the f-word. I'm not going to say the book shouldn't have done it, because I think it's realistic that Doug uses language in that way. I do, however, wish that we lived in a society where it wouldn't be realistic. Also, surely at least one of the theater kids that Doug and Jay have started hanging out with, even though the theater kids were too cool for them, would have called him out on it? One points out that one member of the group might be a lesbian but no one ever calls Doug on his shit. It was just so overdone and there was the subtle moment where Doug's homophobic comments makes someone uncomfortable enough to leave, that I thought it was going to some redemptive moment, because otherwise, what was the point? I keep wondering if this, like "The Google," was trying to make a point and go somewhere that just ended up fizzling.

In the end, I was rooting for the vampire hunters to get something right and deal with Doug in order to put everyone out of their misery.

The book held a lot of promise, and has been getting great reviews, but didn't work for me in several ways, on several levels.

Book Provided by... my local library

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Finnikin of the Rock

Finnikin of the Rock Malina Marchetta

So... I loved Jellicoe Road and this was getting a lot of great buzz, but I wasn't going to read it. I'm kinda picky about my fantasy. I'm all over fairy tales. And fantasy that takes place in our world. But made up worlds and ancient prophecies usually aren't my thing. And if it has any sort of talking animal (dragons get a pass) then forget about it. Not that Finnikin of the Rock has talking animals, but if we're getting into my issues on fantasy... BUT this keeps showing up on people's best of the year lists so I thought I'd give it a chance.

Ten years ago, there were the 5 days of the Unspeakable. The royal family was murdered. The people people of Lumatere turned on their Forest Dweller neighbors, who worship a different goddess. They burned them out of their homes and burned their leader at the stake. Before they killed her, Seranonna cursed Lumatere. The ground cracked and swallowed people. People ran for the gates. Many were trapped. A malevolent mist surrounded the country, no one could get in or out. No one's had any news of Lumatere since then. People who left before Seranonna was killed and those who got out before the gate shut for good now live in exile camps, at the mercy of other kingdoms, ravaged by fever and often despised.

Finnikin is the son of the head of the Lumaterean guard. His father's been imprisoned since the Unspeakable. He's spent the last decade traveling throughout the kingdoms with Sir Topher, the former king's first man. He records the history and of the exiled Lumatereans and tries to advocate for them with their host governments. Then, a messenger comes whispering the name of the prince who might have survived, of Finnikin's best friend. Finnikin and Sir Topher travel to the ends of the land to a convent where they don't find the prince, but instead a novice who drives Finnikin insane, but just might lead them all home.

So, when I finished it, my first thought was "eh. I see why everyone loves it, but it's not for me." But over the next few days, I kept returning to favorite scenes and parts and I think I managed to reread the entire book multiple times so... I obviously liked it a lot more than I initially thought!

Something I noticed (and loved) in the first reading and just picked up more and more of in later readings was how relevant it is to current events. Yes, it's a fantasy, but it's a story of an exiled people.

"Then I will demand that you speak Lumateran when we are alone," Evanjalin said, interuppting his thoughts.

"Will you?" he mocked. "Any why is that?"

"Because without our language, we have lost ourselves. Who are we without our words?"

"Scum of the earth," he said bitterly. "In some kingdoms, they have removed all traces of Lumatere from the exiles. We are in their land now and will speak their tongue or none at all. Our punishment of the pathetic course of our lives."

"So men cease to speak," she said softly.

Men who in Lumatere had voices loud and passionate, who provided for their families and were respected in their villages. Now they sat in silence and relied on their children to translate for them as if they were helpless babes. Finnikin wondered what it did to a man who once stood proud. How could he pass on his stories without a language?

"And how Lumaterans loved to speak..." page 65

Overall it's beautifully done. And there is so much in here about a lost people searching for a home, racked by guilt over what happened during the Unspeakable that clearly resonates today in our world, but hope and love and heartbreak all so wonderfully done. It grew on me to where it's now one of my favorites, too.

Book Provided by... my local library

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Poetry Friday: Snow

Just a little snow, not too much. Just enough to make area schools shut early and open late, which isn't that much in a town that isn't quite sure what to do when the white stuff starts falling.

And I stood in the deserted library yesterday, looking out the window, past the parking lot and into the wooded lot beyond, looking like a Christmas card. Not only was I selfishly hoarding the best view, but also the warm spot near the heating vent.

And now, a poem.

Snow Day by Billy Collins

Today we woke up to a revolution of snow,
its white flag waving over everything,
the landscape vanished,
not a single mouse to punctuate the blankness,
and beyond these windows

the government buildings smothered,
schools and libraries buried, the post office lost
under the noiseless drift,
the paths of trains softly blocked,
the world fallen under this falling.

Read the rest here.


Roundup is over at The Poem Farm. Be sure to stop by and see the drifts of poems we're sharing today!

Year of the Historical: Moving Pictures

Moving Pictures Kathryn and Stuart Immonen

I picked this up after reading Unshelved's Book Club strip on it.

Two stories-- one of how Ila stayed in Paris during occupation to look after the art at the Louvre, to help value it, to help ship it out to be hidden from the Nazis. How she watches her senior collegues escape with the art and she stays, even after the Nazis have taken control of the museum.

The second story is Ila being interrogated by her Nazi boss, theoretically about the missing art, but about other things as well that the reader can only guess at until we get to the various points in the first story.

The art is very angular, with a good use of solid black fill to create a wonderful sense of oppression and foreboding.

At the same time, it's a subtle book, with a lot left unsaid, a lot to be read between the lines (both the lines of dialogue and the lines of their faces).

It's amazing what a hard time I have with subtle books these days. I often finish one and go "huh?" and have to reread it. There's so much written, especially for kids and teens (the bulk of my reading) that's not subtle. Most things are laid out pretty clearly for the reader. It's a good reminder for me to come across a book that I don't initially understand. It reminds me to slow down and to think as I read. Sometimes, being caught up in the story isn't enough.

This story, though, is worth the effort to stop and think and to read between the lines.

Book Provided by... my local library

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Out of My Mind

Out of My Mind Sharon M. Draper

While One Crazy Summer is still my Newbery favorite, this came really, really, really close to knocking it off it's 1st place pedestal. Also, Mockingbird was my favorite for the Schneider and not anymore.

BUT! How awesome is it that we have multiple strong contenders for the Schneider family award that are also very strong contenders for the Newbery?

Anyway, Melody has severe cerebral palsy. She's confined to a wheel chair. She can't dress herself or feed herself or go to the bathroom without help. At the age of 11, she's never spoken a single word.

Melody also has a photographic memory. She's been diagnosed as severely retarded because she's actually extremely gifted. When she was diagnosed, it was one of those tests that gifted kids also fail because they overthink it. Which of these is not like the other? Tomato, cherry, red balloon, banana? Balloons aren't food, so that's the "answer" but... bananas aren't red and round. Melody knows what the answer is "supposed" to be, but the doctor's a jerk so she won't play his game.

The students at school won't look at her. Her special ed teachers fail her over and over again. And she's trapped and has no way to let people know that she's trapped.

It's beautifully written and heartbreaking. I liked how Draper told a realistic story instead of an overly heart-warming one. I thought it was going the mushy heart-warming route (and I was cheering for it) and then BAM! Draper changes it and... wow.

I also loved Melody's occasional anger, how she gets jealous of her baby sister who can do all the things she'll never be able to do. I loved her loneliness and how she longed for a real friend to share secrets with at recess. But the girls who eventually talk to her still distance themselves from her in public. And Melody notices this and knows what it means. Melody's such a great character and Draper shows us all her depth and it's such a good book.

Gush gush gush gush gush gush gush gush gush.

Book Provided by... my local library

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Goddess Girls

Goddess Girls Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams

A lot of my comments on this series hold for each book, so I thought I'd review them together instead of separately so you don't have to read the same thoughts over and over again.

The basic premise is that many of the Greek gods and goddesses attend Mount Olympus Academy, where they learn the things they need to know to become gods and goddesses. There are a few regular humans as well (Pandora) and non-immortal characters (Medusa, centaurs). Everyone's a student except Zeus, because he's the loud, good-natured, and slightly bumbling principal. If you know your Greek mythology, there's a lot of it represented here, but it's rather watered down to make the books more age appropriate* (I'll get into specifics in a bit).

Overall it's a light and fun series. While I'm not sure on the need to refer to everyone as godboys or goddessgirls (it gets a little annoying) there's something about this series that I really enjoy. Also, as a fast adult reader, they're the perfect length to read (and finish!) in the bath.

Athena the Brain

In the first book, Athena gets a letter from Zeus claiming he's her father and that she needs to transfer to Mount Olympus Academy immediately. Through her newcomer eyes, we get a good sense of the social structures and how the Academy functions. She immediately makes an enemy, but Medusa hates everyone so... eh. She also quickly becomes best friends with Persephone, Aphrodite, and Artemis.

Athena's mother is a fly, who still lives in Zeus's brain. They are still rather in love and talk to Athena a lot, giving her the family she always wished for. (See what I mean about watered down?)

This book also features the Trojan War, which is a class project in Hero-ology.

Persephone the Phony

As we learned in the first book, Persephone's mother, Demeter, is very over-protective-- Persephone's the only Academy student who has to live at home! Here we also learn how much Persephone hides of herself-- Demeter's always told her to "go along to get along" so she always agrees with her friends' thoughts and plans, even when deep down, she disagrees.

Then she meets Hades. He's considered a bad boy because he's from the Underworld. No one will really talk to him. Her mother and friends warn her to stay away but she's finally met someone she can just be herself with.

Once again, a little watered down. There's no kidnapping (there is some running away) and no marriage-- Persephone and Hades just want to be friends and while they bond over a pomegranate seed spitting contest, it was all above ground so Persephone's not trapped in the underworld at all. There's also a happy ending and of course Hades isn't a bad boy at all, he's just shy and from the wrong part of town.

What I really liked about this one is that it's a characterization of Persephone I haven't seen before. She's so afraid to voice her own opinion and lets herself be run over by her friends and mother. It was a really interesting take on her character.

Aphrodite the Beauty

Aphrodite has decided that what Athena needs is a makeover. She goes along with the plan and suddenly all the boys are ignoring Aphrodite in favor of Athena! Aphrodite thought she'd enjoy a break from the attention and never thought she'd begrudge Athena anything but... she's jealous. Especially because Ares seems to have forgotten Aphrodite exists. And... even though he's a big jerk, readers of the previous books will realize that Aphrodite has a HUGE crush on him.

Only one boy is still taken with Aphrodite over the new and improved Athena-- the extremely talented but unpopular Hephaestus. So Hephaestus is obviously the good choice and Ares totally sucks, and Aphrodite KNOWS this and knows she shouldn't be so shallow, but... in the end, she doesn't choose anyone, because there's not a lot of romance in these books. There are minor crushes and occasionally characters will dance together at school dances!!! But... watered down for age accessibility.

In a lot of books based on Greek myth, Aphrodite is often portrayed as a shallow mean girl. The immortal equivalent of the evil head cheerleader. OR a complete and total ditz with hearts doodled all over. I do like books that give her a little more depth and explore her facets a little more. In this series, Aphrodite does doodle a lot of hearts and is shallow, but it's something she recognizes and struggles with. She also tries really hard to be a good friend.

All in all, I'm really looking forward to Artemis the Brave, which comes out today and will hopefully hit my library very very soon (it's on order. I already have my hold placed.)

*Reading level puts it at a strong 3rd grade level, but there aren't content worries. I'd put the upper age limit at 5th/6th grade. Reading level might be a little low, but I think it would still appeal, content-wise.


All Books Provided by... my local library

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Giveaway Reminder-- LAST CHANCE!!!

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Cloaked in Red

Cloaked in Red Vivian Vande Velde

From the introduction (after several hilarious pages deconstructing "Little Red Riding Hood"

Okay, think about this. What makes a good story?

1. Memorable characters

We've got a mother, Little Red Riding Hod, a wolf, a grandmother, and a woodcutter. It's hard to call characters memorable when the only one who has a name is, in fact, named after apparel that nobdoy wears anymore.

2. Vivid setting

The woods. Okay, are we talking Amazon rain forest here or a couple of trees in someone's backyard? It's sloppy storytelling if we aren't given enough information to picture where our memorable characters are.

3. Exciting plot

Try submitting a story to your creative writing teacher in which the main character bumbles cluelessly throughout the story, then gets rescued by another character who was never mentioned before. Go ahead and keep your fingers crossed for a passing grade.

4. Important themes--something about the subject to captivate our imaginations and connect with those who read the story.

It's hard to determine the theme of "Little Red Riding Hood." Don't go into the woods? Don't talk to animals who are capable of talking back? If you're going to make fun of your grandmother's appearance, make sure it truly is your grandmother and not a wolf who likes to dress in old-ladies' clothes?

However you look at it, "Little Red Riding Hood" is a strange and disturbing story that should probably not be shared with children.

That is why I've gone ahead and written eight new versions of it.

And eight wonderful new versions is what Vande Velde gives us. We have sinister wood cutters and bumbly blind ones. We have girls in the wood who are unsure of themselves and those who know exactly what they are doing. We have wolves of hunger, friendly wolves, werewolves, and wolves made of rags. We have cloaks that are smarter than their owners, cloaks that are altogether the wrong shade of red, and even one that is actually green.

Vande Velde takes us through several versions of the story, all of which make a lot more sense than the original. It's often funny and at times a bit scary. Each story focuses on a different aspect of the story-- Red's family, the woodcutter, grandmother, the wolf, the cloak... all with excellent results.

I love Vande Velde's take on the issues with the original and her ideas on how to fix the story. I enjoyed every version and this is a must-read for fairy tale fans.

Book Provided by... my local library

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House of Dead Maids

The House of Dead Maids Clare B. Dunkle

The dead hold no terrors for me. I have watched by the beds of those who have passed on, comforted by their sorrowless repose. But this little maid was a ghastly thing, all the more horrible because she stood before me. It wasn't the palid hue of her grimy face that shocked me, or her little gray hands and feet. It was the holes where her eyes should have been, great round sockets of shadow.

The dead girl opened her lips as if she meant to speak. Her mouth was another black pit like the black pits of her eyes. She was nothing but a hollowed-out skin plumped up with shadow. I had the horrible idea that if I were to scratch her, she would split open, and the darkness within her would come pouring out. p. 24

This is a prequel to Wuthering Heights-- the story of where Heathcliff was before.

But, you really don't need to know anything about Wuthering Heights to love this book. I don't even like Wuthering Heights, but I love this book.

The story does little to explain why Heathcliff is the way he is-- he is already that way before this tale begins. But, we have a manor that is not passed down through generations. Seldom House requires a family that is related by death instead of birth. Tabitha is brought from the orphanage to be the maid for the new master. Once there, she is haunted by the ghosts of the maids that have gone before, cold figures with no eyes that slip into her bed at night.

After meeting the new young master, more ghosts appear and haunt them. Tabitha knows something is very not right with the house and the village, but doesn't know how to fix it or what to do.

It's spooky and tense and terrifying in all the right ways. The entire story is filled with an atmosphere for foreboding and doom, and its length (146 pages) give it a sparseness that heightens the mystery and mood.

If it were a movie, it'd be the kind where you throw your hands over your eyes because you can't bear to watch, but you're still peeking through your fingers, because you can't look away.

Totally awesome.

Book Provided by... my local library

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Giveaway Reminder

Scholastic is sponsoring a huge holiday gift giveaway for one lucky winner.

Here's their required text:

Give the gift of reading to your child this holiday season! Scholastic books make the perfect stocking stuffer for any child on your list.

We have a HUGE prize pack filled with the most popular children’s books in the marketplace to offer one lucky reader! Titles include CAPTAIN SKY BLUE, IT’S CHRISTMAS DAVID, OOK and GLUK as well as TONY BALONEY, ODIOUS OGRE and I SPY CHRISTMAS A CHRISTMAS TREE!

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The Princess Trap

The Princess Trap Kirsten Boie trans. David Henry Wilson

I loved loved loved The Princess Plot and almost fell over in glee when I saw that there was a sequel! Because there didn't have to be one. There just is one.

After saving Scandia from a coup, Jenna and her mother are back in the royal family, but Jenna's not adjusting to life in the public eye very well. From being raised in a very over-protected sheltered home to having every move monitored by the paparazzi... ugh. To top it off, the girls are her exclusive boarding school are mean mean mean and particularly pick on the physical characteristics that show that Jenna's father was of Northern descent.

But when she runs away, she ends up running straight into the arms of old enemies who are once again plotting to rule Scandia.

Lots of intrigue and the reader is lucky enough to get every side to this story. The focus shifts quickly between all the different players. I loved how the ruling classes were engineering everything because they didn't want to give up any of their wealth and prestige to the North Scandians.

I also love that when the focus shifts so that we get every side, I mean every side-- we get to see what the adults are doing, too. I KNOW! Adults as valid characters in a children's* book! WHO WHUDDA THUNK?! Although, I could have done with some more Ylva. I needed to see some more of her to fully buy the ending.

This book-- both the story and the way it's told-- is more complex than things we usually see for tweens but I think that's awesome because I know tweens can handle it. I just love that Boie gives them the chance and that Chicken House gave it a chance to have it translated and brought over. I hope to see more of Boie's work in English (because I can't read German and am probably never going to learn how.)

I'm kinda pissed at the SLJ review of the original that says the plot is "often confusing." Just because not everything's spoon-fed to us it's confusing? The only problem with getting every side is that in the first book, the reader often knew what was going on waaaaaaaaaay before the characters did. While that's true in this book as well, there's enough action to in between when the characters are trying to figure out the evil plot that it's actually kinda helpful that the reader already knows what's up and I really didn't mind it at all (and that's something I usually mind!)

*This seems to be one of those books that some libraries have in J, some in YA. We have it in J, but we have a pretty high J/YA break. I think it's good for 5-8th grade-- perfect tween level.

Book Provided by... my local library

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

Giveaway Reminder!

Scholastic is sponsoring a huge holiday gift giveaway for one lucky winner.

Here's their required text:

Give the gift of reading to your child this holiday season! Scholastic books make the perfect stocking stuffer for any child on your list.

We have a HUGE prize pack filled with the most popular children’s books in the marketplace to offer one lucky reader! Titles include CAPTAIN SKY BLUE, IT’S CHRISTMAS DAVID, OOK and GLUK as well as TONY BALONEY, ODIOUS OGRE and I SPY CHRISTMAS A CHRISTMAS TREE!

Click here to enter.

It ends on December 6th, so enter now!

Nonfiction Monday: Hunt! Can You Survive the Stone Age?

Hunt!: Can You Survive the Stone Age? Julia Bruce illus. Peter Dennis

For today's Nonfiction Monday, I thought I'd tie it in with this morning's review of The Adventures of Ook and Gluk, Kung-Fu Cavemen from the Future.

This book offers a good, basic introduction to the Stone Age and was a Cybil's nominee last year.(Yes! I know how far behind I am in sharing my reviews!)

Page spreads concentrate on things such as cave painting, mammoth hunting, cooking, or tool making. After a general introduction to the topic, there are several illustration of various sizes with other small bits of information in the captions and side paragraphs.

Overall, it's a quick and interesting look at daily life during various seasons of the stone age. Something the book doesn't get into is where this clan of people live (besides "the tundra") and any cultural differences between various stone age peoples and if clans had interaction with each other. While this was a good introduction, I could have used a little... more.

There's a very good time line in the back and the further reading list includes books and websites that are also geared for kids.


Today's nonfiction roundup is over at Playing By the Book  be sure to check it out!

Book Provided by... the publisher, for Cybils 2009 consideration

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

Giveaway Update!

Just in case you already read it and won't see that I updated the post, I just wanted to let you know that my BIG GIVEAWAY, sponsored by the good people at Scholastic, ends next Monday, December 6th, so be sure to enter now!

BIG GIVEAWAY!

Did you all have a lovely holiday?

Mine was great and now I'm back from my blogging vacation with a BIG FANTASTIC GIVEAWAY! (as promised)

But first, a review...

The Adventures of Ook and Gluk, Kung-Fu Cavemen from the Future Dav Pilkey

So, the conceit here is that, like The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby, this is another comic book written by George and Harold, the stars of Captain Underpants.

Ook and Gluk are two cave kids in 500,001 BC who like to annoy their evil chief. After defeating the chief, the big trouble begins because the chief finds that one of his descendants has built a time portal from 2222 AD and is using it to steal the prehistoric world of all the natural resources that no longer exist in the future.

Ook and Gluk and their baby dinosaur, Lily, go to the future to defeat them and end up learning the ways of kung-fu.

Lots of great lessons from martial arts here--

The mind is stronger than the flesh. It can defeat any opponent, no matter how strong.

The best fighters do not show their anger. The wisest warrior wins without a battle.

AND! Lots of flip-o-rama action-- 9 different flip-o-ramas.

Now, as this was "written" by George and Harold the spelling and grammar are awful (not helped by the fact that half the characters speak caveman). I don't mind this in concept. If we fight for realism in our books, I think we need to fight for it at all ages-- younger kids don't spell perfectly and don't speak perfectly. I have no problem with books aimed at younger kids mirroring this reality. Especially because I think most kids get it-- the know it's wrong, but at the same time it's reassuring that not everyone is a perfect speller.

But, as an adult reader, the spelling is a little annoying and sometimes I had to think about a word before realizing what it was supposed to be (reading out loud helps with this.)

You can see an inside peek here!

More than anything though, as fun as this book was, and as much as the kids I know like it, the kids have only one question, and it's a question I share-- WHEN DO WE GET NEW CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS?!

NOW THE BIG GIVEAWAY!

Scholastic is sponsoring a huge holiday gift giveaway for one lucky winner.

Here's their required text:

Give the gift of reading to your child this holiday season! Scholastic books make the perfect stocking stuffer for any child on your list.

We have a HUGE prize pack filled with the most popular children’s books in the marketplace to offer one lucky reader! Titles include CAPTAIN SKY BLUE, IT’S CHRISTMAS DAVID, OOK and GLUK as well as TONY BALONEY, ODIOUS OGRE and I SPY CHRISTMAS A CHRISTMAS TREE!

Fill out the form below for your chance to win!

ETA: I forgot to say in my initial post that entries must be received by December 6th. That's a week from today!



Book Provided by... the publicist, for review consideration. The giveaway is organized by the publicist and sponsored by the publisher.

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

Blog Break

Hi All!

This is just a quick post to say that I am horribly behind on my reading and reviewing, and have people coming into town, then I'm going out of town, then Thanksgiving...

So in order to make my life a little more sane, I'm going to be taking a short blog break until after Thanksgiving. I hope all my US-based friends have a good holiday and stuff themselves silly.

For all my non-US based friends... find some other excuse to have a good time and stuff yourself silly, ok?

And when I come back, I'm going to have a HUGE giveaway to start the holiday season off right!

See you then!

Alice in Charge

Alice in Charge Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

It's Alice's senior year and she seems to think that now she's almost an adult, and off to college next year, she can no longer ask for help with anything, because "doing it yourself" is part of being grownup. So, there were a lot fewer conversations where her dad and Lester only talk as a way to impart VALUABLE INFORMATION ABOUT LIFE STUFF to the reader. So that was nice, but Alice's attitude bothered me and just led to a lot of "I'm so stressed out and can't handle this" self-invented drama.

Along with this, Alice befriends a Sudanese refugee and teaches him our American ways, battles a hate group at school, battles a sketchy teacher, and is (rather condescendingly/patronizingly) nice to a student who seems to be on the autism spectrum, but it isn't specified.

The ending, as usual is a little pat, and Naylor's explanation as to why people join hate groups is over-simple to the point of being insipid* but Alice is so gosh-darn EARNEST and reminds me a lot of me at that age that I really like her, even though Naylor has no eye for little details.

For instance:

Pam wants to go to school in New York, it has to be New York, the implication being New York CITY. She lists all these schools she's thinking about, and they're all in the city, except then she mentions Cornell. Which is in New York STATE, not City. (And according to Google maps, is the same distance, time-wise, from the city as Silver Spring is.)

It seems really, really weird that Kay's parents would have had an arranged marriage. Arranged marriages aren't that common in modern China and are most likely to take place in rural areas among classes that would be unable or very unlikely to have the money and skills necessary to immigrate to the US. So, unless Kay's parents are 100 years old, this is just... no.

Molly has a boyfriend who's "Indian. Pakistani, anyway." Because they're TOTALLY THE SAME THING. And I bet he's totally ok with his girlfriend thinking they are.

Why are 2,714 people graduating with Les? And why are they all WALKING? Speaking as someone who has gotten a Master's degree from Maryland in the past few years, grad students are invited to the big ceremony, but no one walks and most don't go. Each school has its own graduation ceremony where they walk. And I highly doubt that 2,714 people are earning a Masters in Philosophy at a December graduation. Naylor does get points for pointing out the totally true ridiculousness that graduation is 2 days before Christmas. (I walked on the 22nd. FOR REALZ.)

What is with Alice enjoying cheesy school presentations by outside groups on various dangers facing teens? Does Naylor really think most kids think these are actually funny and cool?

So, yeah, I've often blogged about my love/hate relationship with this series. Why can I love a character, but hate the books so much? Alice deserves better than poorly-researched after-school specials she gets thrown into.


*SPOILER ALERT! It's because his father is emotionally abusive! And says he's too wussy to be a Marine. So that's why he's a Neo Nazi.

Book Provided by... my local library

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

Mammoth Academy

The Mammoth Academy Neal Layton

In this rather delightfully silly book Oscar (the woolly mammoth) and his friend Fox (a fox) are off to school. School has new friends and important lessons (and an unfortunate flu epidemic) but, more mysteriously-- missing oranges and MYSTERIOUS TRACKS.

Oscar and Fox are on the case, because oranges are necessary for helping their friends get better from the flu.

But, could these mysterious tracks belong to the elusive and extremely dangerous human?

A great book for readers who have graduated from Early Readers. It's full of pictures and silly fun and prehistoric creatures and stinky feet-- it's sure to be a big hit.

Book Provided by...

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

Clementine Friend of the Week

Clementine, Friend of the Week Sarah Pennypacker

It's Clementine's turn to be Friend of the Week. Not only is she in charge of the milk money, being line leader, and feeding the fish, but at the end of the week, all of her classmates will write a booklet about her.

Clementine wants to make sure that her classmates have good things to say about her in her booklet, so tries to find nice things she can do for them-- free tattoos at lunch, promising they can use all of her dad's crazy holiday decorations for their bikes at the big bike rally...

But then she and Margaret get into a HUGE FIGHT.

And, even worse, Moisturizer goes missing. Clementine completely forgets about Friend of the Week as she tries to find her kitten, only to remember after she thinks she let everyone down.

Clementine's voice and way of looking at the world continue to positively delight me. And her illustration work in this series continues to be my favorite Marla Frazee work. (I like her best in black and white.)

Clementine always makes me smile and even though she cried a lot in this book (as would you, if youre kitten went misisng!)  she still made me laugh.

Another great addition to a super-strong, super-awesome series.

Book Provided by... my local library

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

My Life as a Book

My Life as a Book Janet Tashjian

Derek is looking forward to this summer, even though he knows he's not going to have some huge adventure like they do in book and movies. But his summer takes a turn for the worse when his parents make him go to learning camp to help him with his reading. But, when he's not dodging his summer reading assignments, Derek likes exploring and playing with the animals at his mom's vet project. While in the attic, he finds an old newspaper that his mother doesn't want to talk about, which might just give him his grand adventure after all.

One thing Derek does to help with his reading is to draw cartoons of the words he doesn't recognize, and this margins of this book are filled with cartoons of some of the harder words, all drawn by Tashjian's 15-year-old son, Jake who regularly draws cartoons of his vocabulary words.

Overall, this is a fun story (I mean, there's a MONKEY. How can you not love a summer story that involves a MONKEY) but I could have done without the dead-babysitter-newspaper-article subplot. It quickly eclipses the rest of the plot and turns the book into a "I had a grand adventure that nicely wrapped up just in time for school" summer story, which Derek was very explicit in the beginning his summer wouldn't be. And yeah, cool, he got what he want. But most kids feel that way at the beginning of the summer and most of them don't get a grand adventure and there was enough going on in an otherwise funny book that this rather tragic storyline didn't necessarily gel in that well.

Book Provided by... my local library

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

Body of Christopher Creed staying in schools!

I haven't read The Body of Christopher Creed by Carol Plum-Ucci so I can't really comment on content and how good it is. (But it is a Printz Honor, so that counts for something.)

It's being used in the Appleton (Wisconsin) Public School District as required reading in 9th grade. After reading it, the students talk about gossip and bullying and the consequences.

It's been challenged.

The reconsideration committee (which is always convened, but hasn't had to meet since 1984!) says to keep it. The superintendent has the final say and we'll see what he says, but I'm hoping he keeps it.

And not just because censorship is bad and un-American.

But because I used to be a 9th grader in Appleton public schools. I was in honors English and the way my hazy memory works, we read several short stories and poems, and we had to read a novel of our choice every quarter and write a really long book report on it. We spent a lot of time on grammar and the subtleties of language, connotation and denotation, and word choice. It drove me batty at the time but is actually one of the more useful things I learned in school.

We only read 1 novel-length book as a class the entire year. We only read this book because all 9th graders were required to read it, followed by a mandatory unit on suicide and why we shouldn't do it.

The book was the super-relevant and relate-able Romeo and Juliet. Now I'm a nerd and was in honors English so I didn't mind. (I had also already read it a few times.) It's a good classic that's easy to introduce at that age and if you're college-prep honors track, I think a grounding the classics is good. Many of the girls found it one of the more enjoyable "school books" we had to read. I was just happy because we were reading something and not deconstructing the differences between glitter, flash, and sparkle. Or having pop quizzes where we had to write down ALL the prepositions in 3 minutes. Even then, we spent most of the unit analyzing meter. What I remember most is realizing that Romeo and Juliet are both really, really annoying characters who make horrible life decisions.

BUT. It wasn't really relevant. None of us connected to it on a personal level. We all saw it as an easy way to work in a mandatory unit on suicide with a book that we should all read. We saw it as a nice-try-but-kinda-stupid gimmick.

And I bet today's 9th graders feel that The Body of Christopher Creed being tied to units on bullying is also gimmicky. But I also bet it's a book they connect to much more deeply and because of that, no matter how gimmicky, the tie-in lesson will have more impact and stay with them much longer.

And, with current issues we have with bullying and suicide and the current "It Gets Better" campaign* those are lessons we need to be keeping in schools in every form that we can.


*And to all my younger readers-- IT DOES GET BETTER. Mama always said that maybe if we stopped telling students that high school would be the best years of their lives, we'd cut the teen suicide rate drastically. I agree. My high school experience was pretty good, actually, all things considering, and those years are still some of the worst in my life.


Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

Hex Hall

Hex Hall Rachel Hawkins

First off, shout-out to Green Bean Teen Queen for writing the review that made me finally pick up this book. I had read several reviews and where it seemed nice, nothing made me think "I must pick this up now!" until I read

If Harry Potter married Samantha from Bewitched and had a chick lit baby, with a smidge of A Great and Terrible Beauty, and a dash of Nancy Drew’smystery solving, you would get Hex Hall.

I mean, how could I not pick it up after that (totally accurate by the way) description?

Sophie Mercer is a witch that's been raised by her mortal mother. When a love spell goes wrong, she's sent to Hecate Hall-- aka reform school for witches, fairies, and shapeshifters. Sophie quickly realizes she's out of her depth because she doesn't know anything about the Prodigium and their ways.

Or the fact that the father she's never met is the Head of the Council, aka the guy who sentenced them all to Hex Hall.

But when the Mean Girls are also the only dark witches on campus (besides Sophie) and Sophie's only real friend is an outcast vampire with an unnatural like for hot pink, and her main crush is head Mean Girl's boyfriend? Oiy.

Things go from bad to worse when dark witches start turning up dead with all of their blood drained and all the suspicion is on Jenna (the vampire). Sophie knows Jenna didn't do it, but can't figure out how to prove it...

Overall, it's a fun mystery with a few really cool twists. I love how Sophie covers her fear and vulnerability with sarcasm. I also like how she deals with the situation she finds herself thrown into-- she doesn't totally fall apart, but she also doesn't slide right into it. She strikes the right balance to make her believable without being weak.

I had a very hard time putting this one down and am rather impatiently counting down the days until March, when Demonglass comes out!

Book Provided by... my local library

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

Nonfiction Monday: Project Seahorse

Project Seahorse Pamela S. Turner, photographs by Scott Tuascon

Once again, the Scientists in the Field series hits it out of the park.

Project Seahorse is a program that helps set up Marine Protected Areas off the coast of the Philippines. Seahorses are in trouble because there is a great demand for them-- dried seahorses are an important ingredient in traditional Chinese medicine and are also used for curios and knick-knacks. Live seahorses are very popular to use in aquariums, even though they are extremely hard to keep alive in captivity.

In addition to learning a lot about seahorses and coral reefs, Turner also shows why Project Seahorse is so successful as an organization.

The reason Project Seahorse works is because they work very closely with the communities who depend on the reefs for their livelihoods. By working closely with all of the players, they create very important buy-in, so everyone's on board with the project. One thing Project Seahorse works for isn't a complete ban on the seahorse trade, but a more sustainable one. Not only do they work with the fisherman, but also aquariums and Chinese medicine practitioners.

They also take a very interdisciplinary approach their conservation efforts. In addition to observing reef recovery by diving and counting and observing, the scientists also interview the fisherman to see if/how their catches are improving and work closely with them, not just for data, but so that they continue to support the project.

They hope that not only with the reef recover (and it's very much starting to) in the protected areas, but as it recovers, it spills out of the protected boundaries, bringing recovery to the unprotected areas as well (and the fisherman hope so, too.)

Also, the pictures are just FANTASTIC. Seahorses are weird little creatures and there are lots of cool pictures of them, but also of the other fish and life along the reef. Stunning. (My favorite was in the very back, of the weedy seadragon.)

As always, there is also a list for further reading, watching, and researching, as well as tips kids can do right now to help.

Another great book to show why this series is so awesome.

Round up is over at Write About Now. Be sure to check it out!

Book Provided by... my local library

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

Poetry Friday: All the Broken Pieces

All The Broken Pieces Ann E. Burg

My fingers stumble
through the scales
and through
"The Gypsy Camp."

They crowd the keys,
landing in two spots
at the same time.
They slip, clank, and clash
into sounds
that aren't music.

Watch, Jeff says calmly
when my fingers freeze
in frustration.

Jeff's fingers are
bigger than mine,
but they know how
to touch each key,
one at a time.
They unlock each sound
separately.

Jeff doesn't make mistakes.

His fingers brush
across the piano keys
like branches
of the tamarind
swaying in the wind.
How can such big hands
make such quiet music?

Matt is the son of a Vietnamese mother and the American soldier who left and didn't come back. He was airlifted out of Saigon without his mother or brother and adopted by an American family.

In his experiences on his baseball team, where a teammate blames Matt for a brother's death, and in working with a Veterans group, Matt comes to face the life he lived before and now only lives in his nightmares.

I've often talked about how I feel many verse novels could be written in short paragraphs and that's true here, but the sparsity of the text because of the verse format helps show Matt's isolation and confusion.

Round up is over at A Wrung Sponge!

Book Provided by... my local library

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.