IF WE WERE DOGS by Sophie Blackall and LIBRARY GIRL by Polly Horvath

We had mixed feelings about both of our September books, but did agree on some positive aspects of each one. We started with our picture book, If We Were Dogs by Sophie Blackall. We mostly agreed that although there were basically good feelings about the illustrations, the text was mostly pretty flat and not the greatest example of great picture book writing. It probably IS a great read-aloud for preschoolers though, as determined by the 3- and 5-year old granddaughters of one of our readers who (according to their grandma!) absolutely loved it, and wanted it read again. SO...perhaps that is the final evaluation, since that's the target audience for this type of book.

 

The discussion of our novel, Library Girl by Polly Horvath also didn't get raves from any of us. Almost everyone was put off by the premise that a newborn baby was left on a shelf in a library, and four single female children's librarians decided to take care of her, setting up a small room in their back office area, with a hot plate and a fridge, where she could 'live', with them, and taking turns on spending consecutive nights sleeping on the couch that was there. OK...One has to really suspend disbelief to even deal with the things that happen in this novel, as the little girl, Essie, lives on for eleven years (!!) in this situation, and is home-schooled with complete access to the entire library (which may not be such a bad thing!!). Essie experiences a series of strange events as she ventures out into the (nearby) world and finally discovers a twin brother and gets a wonderful new home where everyone involved can be a family. We felt the conclusion where nothing is really resolved but everyone lives happily ever after was less than satisfying. Most of the incidents that happen in this story, although they might seem real to some 9-12-year-old readers, felt totally lacking of credibility in the real world. 

 

The discussions of both of our books really spoke to the issue of the reactions of children and young readers to books compared with those of a group of quite literate, grownup women who have had many years of a variety of experiences, some of whom also write children books.

THE SPIDER LADY by Penny Parker Klosterman and WHITE LIES: HOW THE SOUTH LOST THE CIVIL WAR, THEN REWROTE THE HISTORY by Ann Bausum

For an all-nonfiction meeting we started our discussion with our picture book, The Spider Lady by Penny Parker Klosterman -- a true account of Nan Songer, a young girl whose lifetime obsession with spiders and the extraction of silk from their webs led to her becoming a World War II heroine who supplied the silk from black widow spiders' webs to be used as crosshairs in guns, bombers, periscopes and other U.S. military tools. Although we all agreed that this was a great story about Nan's perseverance and learning from experimentation via her own "scientific method," sadly the physical presentation of this picture book for older readers left a lot to be desired. Here are the things we found problematical: the very light-colored text was difficult to read; the almost monotone palette of the illustrations -- which was pleasant at first -- became tedious as it continued on and most of the pictures just showed Nan working with spiders; the little blocks (sidebars) of additional information were distracting as well as being difficult to read due to lack of contrast between their text and background; the book was too long with writing that didn't really have a 'voice'; the Back Matter which did present an Author's Note and Bibliography could have presented more detailed information as well as scientific pictures of the different types of spiders shown randomly throughout the book. SO...though spider-loving middle-schoolers or science teachers would probably be intrigued with this book as a springboard to further research on spiders and/or Nan Songer, as a general read-aloud it would not really work well, due to the myriad problems delineated above.

We had a great discussion about our (much) longer YA nonfiction book, White Lies: How the South Lost the Civil War, Then Rewrote the History by Ann Bausum. We all agreed that although a very long read, this book presented many new facts about the Civil War and its causes and aftermath, and it was great that it was published during this time when some U.S. History is a victim of efforts to 'cover up' the so-called unpleasant parts. We liked that it focused on the stories of individual participants in the various scenarios that the author described. We appreciated the Introduction where the author explained why she wrote this book, but some readers were put off by the tone of anger shown by the writer, a white woman who grew up in the south, learning the 'Lost Cause' myths about the Civil War, etc. that were prevalent throughout her schooling who didn't realize the truth until much later -- after a great deal of extensive research -- which we also appreciated. We would have liked it even better if she had included more sources of personal recollections of people who were involved. Once again we were unhappy with many facets of the format: the very small text; the black print on grey paper and very small white print on black paper inserted in the middle of each chapter was hard to read, not to mention very distracting, and the extra inclusions of details of specific Civil War monuments throughout equally so. The Source Notes and extensive Bibliography in the back matter were excellent, but once again -- difficult to read due to even smaller type size; the inserted groups of pictures throughout had no specific connections with the actual text that we were reading at that point. Some readers also wondered whether YA readers of today would even pick up this book to read, but we felt it was a good resource that could be introduced by teachers and that it might be a stimulus for further student research. We thought it was "...an important book that maybe won't change anything," but we were glad that it had been written. 

 A note on format: It appears that more and more nonfiction books for young readers are being published to supposedly cater to their 'decreased attention spans.’ Many books now seem to try to emulate websites, with a lot of 'stuff' stuck in, in different fonts or print sizes, sidebars, etc. Whether this is a good thing or not remains to be seen, but as adult sophisticated readers, we have usually found it very distracting. 

I KNOW HOW TO DRAW AN OWL by Hilary Horder Hippely, and THE TEACHER OF NOMAD LAND by Daniel Nayari

We started by discussing our picture book, I Know How to Draw an Owl by Hilary Horder Hippely and illustrated by Matt James. Several of us loved everything about this short story told by a homeless little girl, Belle, who had seen an owl one night while standing outside of her mom's car where they had been sleeping, and she felt that the owl was welcoming them to its forest. In school, her teacher shared Belle's drawing with the class as an excellent example, but Belle couldn't talk about why she drew it that way. We loved the subtly poetic language, and the emotion that was evoked by the art, much of which was shown on large wordless double-page spreads, often preceding the next action --an illustrator's challenge well met. We liked how Belle's 'flashback' was presented in a way that worked, which doesn't usually happen in picture books. A couple of readers weren't as thrilled with the book, and didn't love some of the rhyming, but we all agreed that it presented a very realistic depiction for youngsters showing them what it's like to be homeless. We all loved the ending, where Belle welcomes a seemingly sad new boy to her class, after seeing him get out of a car with a large black trunk strapped to the top. It was only then that she decided to tell her story.

 

Our novel, The Teacher of Nomad Land by Daniel Nayeri made for a very lively discussion, since there were so many different points and issues to discuss in this saga of Babak and Sana whose father, a teacher had just died, leaving them orphaned in 1941 during World War II. They determined to join a group of nomads who made annual seasonal treks from one part of Iran to another and had established a well-organized plan for setting up camp and surviving with what the land gave them. Some readers felt the first three chapters were too slow, while others felt that they set up some of the reasons why the two siblings made the decisions they did. We all liked the descriptions of the land, of nomad life, the relationship between Babak and his younger -- but very alert and precocious -- little sister, some of whose ideas and decisions saved their lives. We all liked the themes of the story: the importance of language, learning, and communication between people who are different, the relationship between the two siblings, the reverence for what their father had taught them, and finally, the author's notes at the back which further explained Iran's role during World War II. 

 

 

There were too many details in this story to recount here: the process of teaching a language; a 'bad guy' character; Ben, a Jewish boy fleeing a Nazi spy; the Nomad's leader. Through some harrowing adventures, some of which seemed beyond belief, the two made it to a uplifting, safe ending. Some readers questioned various parts of the book: the sister was 'too smart for her age'; the description of Ben seemed stereotypic; many of the plot points never could have possibly happened in real life; there were too many coincidences. But others felt that young readers in the target age group (grades 3-7) would be mesmerized by the suspense of a story where the children were the stars and their ingenuity and knowledge helped them to solve problems as they arose. 

PAPER SON by Julie Leung and PIE IN THE SKY by Remy Lai

We had a great meeting with lotsa great 'pot luck' dishes, a terrific discussion, and just fun being together. We began with our picture book, Paper Son by Julie Leung; illustrated by Chris Sasaki. We all felt that this story of Tyrus Wong, a Chinese-American who immigrated to the U.S. as a 'paper son', and went on to become a noted painter in multiple media who created all of the scenery for the 1942 world-famed Bambi film and as an older man a noted maker of Chinese-style 'flying' kites . We all agreed that this was an important story to know, and some were surprised to know of Wong's history with the Walt Disney film. But we had mixed feelings as to the book itself. A couple of readers liked the beginning pages that depicted young Tai Yow's entry at Angel Island and early days as a Chinese immigrant who had to lie about his identity in order to be admitted to the U.S., and whose name was Americanized to "Tyrus" by his teachers in his Sacramento school. We liked how it depicted his early talents in art, and how he used many Chinese art techniques in his work, even as a young boy. But many of us felt that as the story of the events of his life continued it became more 'adulty' with less emotion, and that a better-written story would have been more interesting to young readers. We all liked the illustrations, and were surprised to learn that they had been done digitally by Sasaki. But we did note the emotional feelings they evoked, as well as the very subtle portrayals of the prejudice Wong experienced from the moment he arrived and as he continued to function in the American environment of his time. We wished there had been more about Los Angeles during that time, which is where Wong had settled, as well as more about his family, who were only shown in one photo in the Back Matter of the book. We wanted to know more, and were sorry that the Author's Note basically repeated the story in the book, and provided no more details for readers. We felt that this book would have many uses at different grade levels -- as an introduction to the life of an important Chinese-American artist, and for art teachers or for class discussions related to immigration and the feelings of new immigrants in our country.

We also had mixed feelings about our novel, Pie in the Sky by Remy Lai. Although it had been billed as a 'humorous' book, many of us did not feel there was much humor...except maybe in Lai's 2-color cartoon-like depictions of many scenes in the story between 12-year-old Jingwen and his 9-year-old brother Yanghao, who had been taken by their mother from an unnamed country to Australia after their father, a bakeshop owner, had died in an auto accident. We wished we knew where they came from and why they chose to move to Australia. We liked the fact that the story dealt with the issues of relocation, not knowing English, not really having friends, sibling rivalry, lying to his mom, etc., but -- we felt that this had been done so many times before, and this book added nothing new, and could have been shorter. The crux of the story (and what made it so long) was that the brothers tried to bake the 12 different cakes that Jingwen felt  could honor his father, but we never really knew why. (...and we wished there had been recipes!) Some of those situations were implausible, and details here would make this recap too long also. We felt that by the time we got to the end of the book (which a few readers couldn't even finish) we were tired of the baking scenarios, and the 'climax' of WHY Jingwen wanted to do that was finally revealed. We did, however, agree that young readers would probably like this book, many of whose pages resembled a graphic novel, and that the humor in the illustrations might keep them reading. It wasn't a bad book; just not a thrilling one.

TREE. TABLE. BOOK. by Lois Lowry and CLEVER CROW by Chris Butterworth

We had a great meeting on Sept.18. We discussed our novel, Tree. Table. Book. by Lois Lowry first. We all agreed that Lois Lowry, who has published more than 40 books for young readers, still 'has it' and knows how to create a good story and keep readers engaged. However, a few readers were bored by the beginning and felt that this book started too slowly, and they were not really interested in knowing so many of the details of middle-schooler Sophia's life in small town-New Hampshire. Others of us thought Sophia's voice was perfect, and knowing all these details about her enhanced our understanding of her relationship with her 88-year-old neighbor Sophie who liked many of the same things she did, and shared an offbeat sense of humor...even as she was entering the early stages of dementia. But we all agreed that Sophie's stories, as she was being put through various memory tests by her information-gathering young friend, were the most engaging part of the book, and that she was actually the star of the story. We also appreciated the depth of Sophie's memories as she told of her early life during what was obviously the beginning of the Holocaust -- prompted by three words: Tree. Table. Book. We also liked the depiction of the relationship between young Sophia and her best friend Ralphie, and the way they dealt with another little boy, Oliver, who was brilliant, quite eccentric, and appeared to be on the Autism syndrome -- although it was never necessary to mention that by name. We loved that the kids were very sensitive to him and to his needs, and were protective without trying to change him. The only thing we all felt could have been left out was a whole section about an abandoned house that Sophia imagined they could smuggle Sophie into when her son wanted to move her to an assisted living facility. We talked about several more of the details from this story, but to add them here would make this Recap almost as long as the book. We agreed that the ending was plausible, and probably the best outcome for all. Some readers wondered about the target age group for this book, since they felt that kids that age wouldn't know anything about the Holocaust or Autism. But others of us thought that didn't really matter, since it was the understanding,  humanity, sensitivity, and love between these two almost identically-named females -- one young, one old -- that were the strength of this engaging story.

Our discussion of our picture book, Clever Crow by Chris Butterworth was significantly shorter! We all liked the mostly-shades-of-grey-and-black illustrations by Olivia Lomenech Gill, which -- though very accurate --were not actually photographic. But many of us felt that they would have been even better with more color. Our main problem was with the text, which didn't flow in any meaningful way, and merely contained random facts presented in a dully-written manner. We couldn't really figure out why various parts of the text were presented in differently sized fonts -- from 'normal' for the 10"x10" large page size to larger to huge. However, we did feel that this book could be useful in a school setting for any primary class studies of different types of birds. We especially liked the end papers: the front ones showed pictures and relative sizes of various crows' family eggs; the rear ones showed very accurate depictions of the various birds in the crow family. Many of us had not been aware of most of them! And the short 'lesson' for using an Index shown at the very end of the book could also be very helpful in a classroom.

ONCE UPON A BOOK by Grace Lin and Kate Messner and THE TENTH MISTAKE OF HANK HOOPERMAN by Gennifer Choldenko

We were all glad that we had two winners for May! We began with our picture book, Once Upon a Book by Grace Lin & Kate Messner. We loved the illustrations and the story of a little girl, Alice (!!) who is bored on a rainy day and is beckoned by a white rabbit to join him inside the pages of a book, where she is invited to 'turn the page and come in' by a variety of animals (and some clouds) who share their humid, rainy, hot, wet, airy, stormy habitats with her. Each page turn leads to another experience in another place, ending up in the sky, close to the moon, but when she has had enough, Alice is invited to a place of coziness and warmth -- home! -- and a loving family and a bowl of dumplings is there waiting for her. We loved how the white rabbit was shown on ever page, as well as the other details in the very brightly-colored gouache paintings.  A couple of readers thought the text wasn't so interesting, but others felt that young readers/listeners would enjoy the repetition and would soon 'join in' as the story progressed. We also felt there were many details in the illustrations that lent themselves to further discussion. This book was seemingly an homage to Alice in Wonderland and Where the Wild Things Are, and we were sure that young readers would enjoy it.

Many of us felt that our novel, The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman by Gennifer Choldenko, had a very slow start, and looking at the cover illustration we feared it might lead to the (now very common) trope of the travails of middle school. But! -- NO! We were all ultimately captured by this very compelling story of 11-year-old Hank and his 3-year-old sister, 'Boo', whose mother has left and after a week still hasn't returned. The kids are hungry and scared, and the remainder of the story centers around Hank's resourcefulness as he tries to find a way for both of them to be safe, and ultimately to have a good normal life. We thought all of the characters were well-drawn, and we loved the realistic voice that put us inside of Hank's head as his devotion to his little sister and his resilience led him to trust other adults throughout the twists and turns of the plot. A couple of the readers felt that some of he middle part of the story meandered, and perhaps could have been shortened. We thought young readers would stay engaged in this heart-warming, life-affirming story, and that it needed to be on every library shelf, because of its realistic treatment of a situation in which, sadly, many youngsters find themselves today.