We began with our picture book, The Paper Kingdom by Helena Ku Rhee, illustrated by Pascal Campion. We all loved the light and glow of the illustrations as they depicted a little boy's reactions as his parents -- nighttime building custodians -- took him to work with them to a big skyscraper when their babysitter had to cancel. We liked the way his parents made up a story of a "paper kingdom" -- complete with dragons -- to explain the work they were doing, and to give him a chance to use his imagination though he might be in an uncomfortable circumstance. We liked the strength of the family being shown together, at home in their tiny studio apartment and at work, and the fact that they tried to portray their work as being "fun" for his benefit. We were a bit disappointed in the text, and felt it was a bit flat, plus we couldn't really see what advantage the so-called "dragons" added. We also felt the ending was a bit abrupt, and killed the flow of the story. We felt that this book filled a need for books about economic diversity, and that many young folks hearing this story could relate if their parents had similar work situations.
We all loved our novel, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz. We loved the points of view of Ari and Dante in this character-driven story, with Ari as the narrator, but with Dante's ideas/feelings becoming evident via his conversations with Ari and his letters when he moved to Chicago. We felt it perfectly depicted the lives of boys of this age, with all of their angst, questioning, exploration, emotions, impulsivity, language, and humor. They were both so real, as were all of the complete and well-developed supporting characters and their personalities and actions. We loved that both Ari's and Dante's parents were sensitive, educated, concerned, well-meaning people -- even though they dealt with their sons in completely different ways, and both boys felt supported and loved -- a situation sometimes missing in many YA novels. We felt that the writing was superb: the poetry of it; the pacing; the flow; the thought-provoking ends of chapters. We felt that though it depicted young Mexican-Americans, this novel had a universal theme of teen-aged boys longing for someone who understands them while trying to figure out their own identities, be they ethnic, familial, sexual, intellectual, or ability-related. We felt it was a wonderful story of friendship and love, and we unanimously gave it a three(!!) thumbs-up.
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