Moon Over Manifest

Moon Over Manifest Clare Vanderpool

Abilene's father has a new job and so he sends her to live with a preacher in Manifest. Abilene quickly learns that Shady isn't your average preacher and that Manifest holds secrets that may point to her father and why he sent her away. While working for Miss Sadie, a Hungarian fortune teller, Abilene starts to hear the story of Manifest 20 years ago.

It's two stories in one-- Abilene's story in 1936 as she makes friends and searches out the past, and Manifest's story in 1917.

This is going to sound weird, but... Abilene's story reminds me a bit of Pollyanna (and I mean that in the BEST way possible. Hot damn did I love that movie as a kid. Even more, I loved the Disney TV movie, Polly.) But it has that same sort of "abandonded child comes to town and heals it of past hurts" feel to it. I loved Abilene's friendship with Lettie and Ruthanne. I loved Shady and Miss Sadie and, most of all, Sister Redempta. I loved how, even though the Depression is there, this isn't a book about the Depression.

The 1917 story has a bit of "orphan saves town!" feel to it to, but it ends with the hurts that Abilene has to fix. I loved the way the town banded together, how they bonded over their immigrant status instead of letting culture and linguistics divide them. I loved the Temperance society and the bootleggers, and the running gag of Miss Velma T blowing up the chemistry lab mixing her elixirs. Also, WWI doesn't hurt. Although... there's one point where Ned is saying that he doesn't know what country he's from, and he could be French or German or even from Czechoslovakia. Except that in 1917, Czechoslovakia didn't exist yet-- it was part of the dismantling of Austria-Hungary after the war. I know that's being nitpicky, but errors like that pull me right out of a story. Because I see that and think "wait, what? no... that's not right" but then I spend the next 30 minutes researching that bit of information and not reading the story. It takes a very strong story to let me fall back in after something like that. This one did.

While I got into right away, it took me awhile before I stopped demanding that it prove itself to me. Prove to me why you're worthy of the Newbery! Prove to me you're more awesome than One Crazy Summer! PROVE IT! PROVE IT NOW! One Crazy Summer still gets my vote for Newbery, but I know why Moon Over Manifest was chosen. It made me laugh and broke my heart and left me with one lingering questions... did Abilene ever get the compass back from Miss Sadie? Did she want it back, in the end?

Book Provided by... my local library

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Crazy Lady

Crazy Lady! Jane Leslie Conly

Vernon is a big, clumsy kid who got held back a year, as if he didn't tower over everyone else already. He's growing up poor in Baltimore, the middle child of 5. After school, all his friends can come up with for entertainment is to make fun of Maxine and her son Ronald. Maxine's an alcoholic and Ronald is special needs. But after failing most of his classes and faced with being held back again, Vernon starts getting tutoring from Maxine's next door neighbor, Miss Annie. Miss Annie knows Vernon can't afford to pay her, so she makes him work it off by helping Maxine and Ronald. What happens next transforms Vernon, Ronald, and the entire neighborhood.

Here's what makes this book something special (it won a Newbery Honor in 1993)-- the plot description above could very easily describe a really saccharine, cheesy book. And this isn't that. While some things change, some things don't, and this book doesn't offer a fairy tale version of life. Not everything that Vernon discovers in what is, more or less, a coming of age tale, is because of his friendship with Maxine and Ronald, but it's all tied together during the same time period. And being able to see a different side to these people who thought he knew helps him to see a different side to his family, friends, and other neighbors. Also, a great addition to the list of "books about poor people that aren't historical fiction or about race."

Book Provided by... um... not sure. It was on my bookshelf, so I'm assuming my wallet?

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.

Trembling with Anticipation

Right now, at this very moment in time, Tales from the Hood is sitting on my front porch, waiting for someone to love it. I would love it. I would love it RIGHT NOW, but I'm not at home. Poo. I hate waiting.

But, doing tomorrow's homework is going to be darn hard tonight with that book looking at me!

Also the new James CD, Hey Ma is supposedly out in the US now. Except no one actually has it. Double poo.

Anyway, a review:

Elijah Of Buxton Christopher Paul Curtis

Elijah Freeman is the first free-born in the town of Buxton, in Canada, just over the river from Detroit. It's a refuge for escaped and freed US slaves.

There isn't much of a plot--highly episodic mostly about a little boy doing little boy things. The jacket flap says there is a plot. It says something along the lines of Elijah going to America after some steals his friends money that was going to be used to buy his family out of slavery. That does happen, but that's like, the last 80 pages of a 342 page book.

I think I might be the only person in America and beyond who isn't totally in love with this book.

I'm not a *huge* fan of episodic plot. Also, if there isn't an overreaching plot, it probably could have been half the length. Also, it was so episodic, it almost read like a collection of short stories. There's nothing wrong with this at all, just not my cup of tea.

I may be the only person in the world to say this, but Elijah vaguely reminds me of Junie B. He's kinda hyper and after reading for awhile, I had the same feeling I get after reading Junie B. of "Miss Jennie needs a nap and adult time." Reading Elijah talk to me was like trying to keep up with him in real life. *Whew*

It's written in dialect, which makes it a wee bit of a reading challenge. I think kids as young as 2nd or 3rd grade would like this, and the plot lends itself to a great read-aloud chapter-at-bedtime setup.

I would have looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooved this book when I was in 5th grade, and really, Curtis is writing for 5th graders, not me.

More Winners and the like

Now Reading: Un Lun Dun
Just Finished: The Invention of Hugo Cabret, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood, Special Topics in Calamity Physics, The Brothers Grimm: Two Lives, One Legacy, The Talented Clementine,Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return

The Green Glass Sea by Ellen Klages was this year's winner for the Scott O'Dell prize for historical fiction.

Dewey is a weird kid-- there's something wrong with her leg that makes her limp and she spends all of her time making gadgets and fiddling with stuff. Her dad is working on some top secret project that is going to help win the war and when her grandmother dies, she goes off to live with him.

Dewey didn't realize how top secret this project was. She didn't realize she was moving to a place that didn't officially exist... All she knew was everyone was living out in the desert working on the gadget. The gadget would win the war. The gadget would make everything better.

Suze has been living at Los Alamos for awhile when Dewey moves there-- Suze is a bit awkward and bossy and both of her parents are working on the project-- her mom's a real scientist, not just a typist or secretary like the other moms. When Dewey's dad has to go to Washington for awhile, Dewey moves in and the pair form an unlikely, but entirely realistic, friendship.

What's great about this book is the portrait of day-to-day life at Los Alamos-- you never think about kids living with their families, going to school, and being kids. You never think about the divisions between scientist kids and military kids. And you never think about Los Alamos just plain not existing... (well, at least I never thought about those things.)

This balances the line perfectly of being meticulously researched and historically wonderful, while not letting this detail overshadow the actual story. I liked how realistic the interactions between the kids were-- this unlikely friendship took a long time to develop and it never came across as hokey or simplisitic.

My favorite part of the book was how delicately it dealt with some very large issues that need to be tackled when dealing this topic-- it put them in there so you knew people were worrying about them, but Dewey hears about them and deals with them in a way that is very true to her age. In Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! (Adventures of a Curious Character) Feynman (a minor character in this book, much to my delight) talks about the horror of what they had done after the first test. The book captures this horror well with the adults and the confusion of the kids at what's going on.

Something happens about 3/4 of the way through the book that is a bit of a spoiler so I'm not going to talk about it too much, but it was just too much and I don't really think it was necessary (but it might be for the sequel that I am very much looking forward to!)

The other thing is... I'm assuming that if you're reading my blog, you know what the gadget was-- you know what was invented at Los Alamos during WWII to win the war. Dewey and Suze, and therefore the reader, never find out was the gadget was, and I'm not sure how much sense the ending of the book is going to make if you don't know. I also don't know if the intended audience is going to automatically know what the gadget was...

Still, an excellent book and a well-deserving win.

Once upon a time, a very long time ago, I promised I'd review this years Newberry winner, The Higher Power of Luckyby Susan Patron.

I wanted to wait down until all the fervor over SCROTUM faded away. And then it came back. And then it faded again.

Anyway... Lucky really surprised me. I hadn't heard anything about it before Newberry day and in reading the description-- it didn't sound kid-friendly. It sounded like it was going to be really nostalgic and an adult book written for kids.

It wasn't! I was so happy!

Lucky lives with her French guardian (he absent father's ex-wife) in the middle of the desert. She likes to eavesdrop on 12 step meetings to find out how people find their higher power-- higher power sounds like a handy thing to have, but Lucky's hoping to avoid hitting rock bottom in order to get it. Hitting rock bottom doesn't sound like much fun.

At the same time, Lucky's worried her guardian is going to go back to France-- she seems homesick and her passport was out the other day.

Deep down, this is a really sweet tale that will appeal to younger readers, but also has some really big issues for older readers to get into.

Most enjoyable was the large cast of wacky, but believable, characters. A good book and my favorite Newberry winner of the last few years.

Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Lawson was a Newberry Honor book that is being found in the YA section at all the libraries I've visited!

Hattie is an orphan who inherits a homesteading claim in Montana. In order to keep the claim, she has to cultivate a large portion of it (which involves clearing it first!) and fence off most of it. By hand. By herself. She knows nothing about farming. Or cooking. Or anything. She wants to keep the claim, but she'll be lucky if she even survives.

Her next door neighbors are helpful and nice and the first friends Hattie makes, but one of them is German, and it's smack in the middle of WWI. Montana is rife with anti-German sentiment, loyalty leagues and other things making things hard for Hattie's friends. How can she reconcile her soldier-friends killing Germans across the ocean with her German neighbor fencing her claim in the middle of the night?

Tragedy and hope about in another great example of what historical fiction should be in this book that's perfect for Tweens and those right on the kidlit/YA break.

My favorite part was the ending and how it was handled. The author's note at the end is great, as are the recipes!

The Pull of the Ocean by Jean-Claude Mourlevat won the Batchelder award for translated work this fall.

The Doutreleau children are all sets of twins, except for the Yann, the seventh and the last. Yann is small and mute, but notices everything and communicates with his older brothers silently. One night he wakes up to his parents fighting and lets his brothers know they have to leave, to escape. For days they walk, following Yann's inner compass to the ocean.

This is more than just a retelling of the Tom Thumb. This story is told in brief accounts of people who saw the children and interacted with them only briefly-- sometimes only seconds, never more than an hour or so. Interspersed are the accounts of the children, but never Yann.

This book is surprisingly powerful and moving without ever being overwrought, over-contrived, or melodramatic. I couldn't put it down and it haunts you long after you turn the final page-- I highly recommend!

Star-Studded Review-a-Rama

Currently Reading: The Brothers Grimm: Two Lives, One Legacy, Special Topics in Calamity Physics
Just Finished: Yang the Youngest and his Terrible Ear, From a Crooked Rib, Kitchen

Oh, I have a lot to talk about, I don't even know where to begin. It's like when you're writing a paper and you just become paralyzed with the enormity of the task before you and freeze up and never get started.

So... let's talk about some books, eh? I guess I'll focus on award winners and those with buzz. We'll see how far I get tonight!

First up on the block is the lovely A Drowned Maiden's Hair: A Melodrama by Laura Amy Schlitz

All Maud wants is to be adopted and to have a real family again. When the elderly Hawthorne sisters take her home, Maud is overjoyed. She has nice clothes, good food, and indoor plumbing. What Maud doesn’t have is any friends—she’s not allowed to go to school or see visitors. Maud is a secret, and when she finds out why, she has some very tough decisions to make about what’s important.

This was a very moving story about the compelling need for love and a home, versus doing what is right. At the same time, we get a good dose of spirituality and mediums and ghosts. It was wonderfully spooky without being scary.

I loved the way Maud's friendship developed with Muffet, the Hawthorne's deaf servant. I also liked the way that Maud really struggled with her decisions about what to do-- she didn't always want to do the right thing, and how Schlitz handles this conflict makes Maud so much more real and likeable.

It was getting a lot of well-deserved Newberry buzz and even though it didn't win and wasn't honored, you should still check it out.

Rules by Cynthia Lord.

This was a Newberry Honor, as well as the winner of the Schneider Family Book Award (for books about disabilities.)

Catherine is a twelve year old girl whose little brother, David, has autism. On one hand she is fiercely protective of him but on the other, she is mortified when he does embarrassing things that could potentially mess up her relationships. She doesn't give her friends nearly enough credit in understanding about David, but she's been burned in the past. To help David be less embarassing, Catherine writes him rules about day-to-day life. No toys in the fish tank. It's ok to yell on the playground, but not during dinner. Over time, a lot of these rules are obviously more for Catherine than for David.

Catherine's best friend is away is away for the summer and there's a new family moving in next door. Catherine has high hopes for her friendship with Kristi, but, like real life, not everything goes as she wished it would--and that's not necessarily a bad thing.

When Catherine accompanies David to therapy, she meets Jason, who is in a wheel chair and can't talk. Jason has a book of cards with pictures and words that he points to in order to communicate. Catherine starts drawing him more cards, including nebulous concepts like "murky" and "unfair". Catherine again tries to balance fitting in with her "normal" friends and classmates, and her friendship with Jason. Jason was a really interesting character that continued to surprise me, and I wish we saw even more of him.

One of my favorite parts of this book were when Catherine was trying to figure out what to draw for abstract ideas. My other favorite part was the struggle Catherine had in trying to be understanding of David, but feeling overshadowed by him in the family dynamic and needing her parents to sometimes focus exclusively on her. I think it was a very real, if not pretty, look at what it means to be in a family with someone who requires so much attention and energy.

I also liked how, when David couldn't put his thoughts and feelings into words, would quote extensively from the Frog and Toad books by Lobel. It was heartbreaking and hilarious.

My main quibble is with the ending-- it was overly tidy and neat while at the same time not really solving anything. It tarnished the rest of the wonderful book for me.

Penny from Heavenby Jennifer Holm

This was another Newberry Honor and my favorite of this year's Newberry crop. Penny is growing up in 1950s northern New Jersey and is torn between her mother and grandparents (whom she lives with) and her nearby Italian family of her deceased father. The two sides of the family don't talk to each other and even though Penny's mother would never tell her not to see her Italian family, it's obvious she doesn't like all the time she spends with them.

Summer is hard, even without the family drama. Penny's mom won't let her go swimming in fear she might catch Polio and then she starts dating the milkman!

Eventually, the truth about Penny's father's death comes out, as well as the horror of what Italian-Americans went through during WWII, which is something that doesn't get discussed much. I had no idea most of this stuff had happened.

The book is a bit nostalgic, but wonderfully written (and from the same person who does Babymouse! Such versatility!) and while showing excellence in children's literature, has definite kid-appeal. The author's note at the end was excellent, as well as Holm's own family album. I highly recommend.


And that's all for tonight, but I have a lot more to come...

Reviews!

Aren't you just sick of banned books? I know I am!

So, here are some of the titles I've read lately...

A History of the World in 6 GlassesTom Standage

This book was awesome. Tracing the role of beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea and Coca-Cola and their role in world history. Beer developed to make water safe to drink as we shifted fron hunting/gathering to grain cultivation, and maybe we even started farming in order to get more grain for more beer? The role of wine in Greek and Roman culture and refinement, spirits as Europeans came to new world, cultivated sugar and made rum as a by-product which was then sold for slaves to run the sugar plantations... and the role of the whiskey rebellion in building the new world. Coffee and coffeehouses came with the age of reason and tea came with Empire (the was a major factor in the Opium Wars which ended with the humiliation of China and England's possession of Hong Kong) and then finally, the rise of Coca-Cola and America as a super-power and globalization.

The epilogue then deals with how we have come full circle and the beverage affecting our current events is, once again, water.

Well written and engaging, I highly recommend this title.

Plastic Angel Nerissa Nields

OK, so I got this because I am a big fan the Nields, a band that Nerissa's in. Love. Nerissa and her sister, Katryna Nields actually recorded a soundtrackto this book and it's a damn fine CD. The book itself is nice. I read the entire thing during one very long bath. Randi and Gellie are best friends the summer before high school, Randi is almost popular and Gellie, a child star, is almost famous. Randi wants to start a band and Gellie's keen on the idea, but is having trouble deciding is music or modeling is more important and is torn between Randi and her pushy mother. Add in romance, parental troubles and the joy(?) of summer, and you have a cute tale.

Becoming Naomi LeonPam Munoz Ryan

Naomi Soledad Leon Outlaw lives in a trailer named Baby Beluga with her great-grandmother and her little brother, Owen (who is, as his specialists say, an FLK--Funny Looking Kid). Her mother left them there seven years ago, their father is somewhere in Mexico. Naomi is quiet, and has a notebook of lists. And then one day, their mother shows back up and wants to take Naomi to live with her and her boyfriend in Las Vegas, as a built in babysitter for her boyfriend's daughter. Naomi doesn't want to leave Gram or Owen or Lemon Tree and Gram doesn't want to lose her...

Beautifully written, this was a Belpre honor book this year AND was taken of the Wilsona selection list. I highly recommend.

WhittingtonAlan Armstrong

I didn't really like this one. I didn't see what warranted it being a Newberry Honor book this year. Whittington is a cat, who lives in a barn ruled by a duck called The Lady. The barn is full of reject animals that people know Bernie (the owner) will take in and take care of. His grandchildren, Abby and Ben love to play with the animals. As Ben struggles with dyslexia, the animals and Abby help him learn to read and Whittington tells them all the legend of Dick Whittington and his famous cat (of which Whittington is a descendant of). It's a nice story, but didn't particularily grab me in any special way.

Lincoln : A PhotobiographyRussell Freedman

This is one of the 100 Best Books for Children AND a previous Newberry. This is a fascinating look at Lincolns life, relying heavily on pictures and other visual evidence to tell the story. I learned so much about Lincoln! (I was suprised). I highly recommend AND I'm really excited to read Freedman's new one: Children of the Great Depression I've flipped through it several times and it's just beautiful.

The Phantom TollboothNorman Juster

This is one of the 100 Best and why oh why oh why oh why oh why did I not read this when I was a kid??? Was it because all my friends told me to read it and I had been taught to resist peer pressure so well that I didn't??? This is a delightful tale where you can go to an Island of Conclusions (by jumping) and get caught in the dolldrums when you're not paying attention. As they go to restore the princesses of Rhyme and Reason to the Kingdom of Wisdom, our intrepid heroes meet a host of characters in a whimsical tale that needs to be read, and cherished, by all. Seriously.

Also, can I just mention how much I want to read this