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The Homeschool Liberation League by Lucy Frank

Dec23

The first day of eighth grade I took the bus to school, walked through the door, turned around, and went home.

From that great beginning line to the kiss at the end, Lucy Frank’s “tribute to the range of learning possibilities available to kids today” is a delight and a keeper. It’s not pro- nor anti-homeschool or public school. It’s not predictable. The main character, Katya, wants to be liberated from the mind-numbing frustration that is Martin Van Buren Middle School. However, later on in the book, Katya’s new homeschooled boyfriend, Milo, is just as desperate to be liberated from the clutches of his controlling, career-conscious dad. And some of Katya’s public school friends can’t understand why she would want to leave school to stay home all day. Others can understand, but don’t want any such education for themselves. Another of Katya’s homeschooled friends enrolls in a private school that’s just right for her.

It’s not about one-size-fits-all. Which is exactly my educational philosophy, I think. This year I have one child enrolled in a special public high school that meets at the local junior college where the students take traditional high school classes along with dual credit college classes. Another child, Betsy Bee, begged me to enroll in her in a public school virtual academy that uses the K12 curriculum, so she’s learning at home, but enrolled in public school. My senior in high school is taking dual credit classes at the junior college and working and preparing to go away to college in the fall of 2010. Then, I have two children, Karate Kid and Z-Baby, who are at home, doing traditional homeschool, whatever that is.

It’s all about choices and trying to fit the educational opportunities to the student. And that’s what I like about Ms. Frank’s little book. She does manage to work some homeschool philosophy into the story (Milo’s dad is particularly articulate on the subject of listening to your children and finding your own educational style although he can’t seem to make that work with Milo), but it’s not preachy or one-sided. The Homeschool Liberation League also takes a few jabs at the problems and idiocies associated with institutional learning, but it’s just as quick to poke fun at pretentious homeschoolers and their “free school” private school counterparts.

And Ms. Frank tells a good story, one that kept me guessing as to what would happen to Katya and to Milo and to their crazy but lovable families. I recommend this one for ages 12 and up; there’s some tame romance stuff, but most of the story is about Katya and her educational adventures. I really enjoyed it.

Review Round-up:
Lazy Gal: “I’m usually not one to be pro-constructivist education (I’m firmly in the ‘you need a good solid background before you Follow Your Bliss’ camp) but this book captures what’s right about homeschooling.”

Jean Little Library: “Finally. Finally!! A story involving homeschoolers who are not members of a cult. Ex-members of a cult. Raised by ex-hippies. Raised by nouveau hippies. Complete social outcasts with no social skills whatsoever. And….it’s a GOOD story on top of that!”

I couldn’t find any other blog reviews. If you’ve read and reviewed this book, please leave me a note, and I’ll link.

If the Witness Lied by Caroline B. Cooney

Dec23

Why does the teaser on the back of this book give away key plot developments? Because this YA thriller is suspenseful and fun to read. It doesn’t need a quoted passage from the next-to-the-last chapter printed on the back cover and spoiling the surprises. Bad move on the part of whoever designed the cover.

So don’t read the back cover, but do read the book. Caroline Cooney specializes in Young Adult mystery/thrillers. Her books contain low to nonexistent blood, sex, and gore, lots of tension and excitement, intriguing family dynamics, and good, believable characters. If the Witness Lied has all of the above, and in addition there are some thought-provoking discussions of religion, God, and ethics that I thought were well integrated into the story and not didactic at all.

First lines: “The good thing about Friday is—it’s not Thursday. Jack Fountain lived through Thursday, and nothing bad happened: no cameras, no microphones.”

As the story unfolds we learn that Jack has good reason to fear microphones and cameras and the particular Thursday in question, the anniversary of his dad’s birthday. Jack has two sisters, and they, too, are media-shy and not sure what to do about their dad’s birthday. The remainder of If the Witness Lied tells why.

Blog reviews:
Sarah at The Reading Zone: “If the Witness Lied is a thriller through and through! I started the book on Friday afternoon and didn’t put it down until I finished it on Friday night. What a thrilling read! At times, I felt like I was reading a newspaper article because it felt so realistic. Certain touches, like the introduction of a sleazy reality show producer, make this book stand out.”

Reading Junky’s Reading Roost: “Could it be that the one witness of the horrible event may have lied? Could that witness actually be a murderer, and how can three teens and one toddler prove it?”

Liz at A Chair, a Fireplace, and a Tea Cozy: “While on the surface an attack on reality TV and those who see themselves as only existing via television, this is actually a heartbreaking look at grief and the destruction of a family.”

Christmas in New York, 1776

Dec19

“The holly-bits were tied with pine branches and set on the sills of the street-facing windows. Glass bowls of red berries were set on small tables in the drawing room, library, and the front parlor. Madam had two soldiers hang a ball of mistletoe in the front hall. This provided great merriment amongst the men and some blushing on the part of their wives.

I had never seen a house decorated with tree branches to celebrate the birth of the baby Jesus, but it did pretty up the place. The best was when Madam told us to hang dried rosemary throughout; that cut right through the lingering stench of boots and belching.

In keeping with tradition, I was to have Christmas Day free from work. I pondered hard on what I should do with so many hours for myself. Christmas at home had meant eating Momma’s bread pudding with maple syrup and nutmeg, and reading the Gospel of Matthew out loud while Ruth played on Momma’s lap. I was miles away from celebrating like that. I tried to bury the remembery, but it kept floating to the top of my mind like a cork in a stormy sea, and foolish tears spilled over.”
~Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson

I tried to read Laurie Halse Anderson’s much acclaimed novel about a slave girl’s life during the American Revolution several months ago, but I couldn’t get interested in it at the time. Now I’m reading it again, and it’s going much better this time. I keep being reminded of the Octavian Nothing books and of how slaves at the time of the Revolution couldn’t really get help from anyone. The American rebels, with all their talk of “liberty” and “all men are created equal,” really meant only white men deserve liberty and are created equal, and the British didn’t abolish the slave trade in the empire until 1807. They didn’t abolish slavery itself in the British Empire until the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833. Neither the Continental Army nor His Majesty’s British forces wanted to do anything about slavery, other than use escaped slaves from the the enemy’s households to fight against the other side.

As I said about Octavian Nothing, I believe Chains is more appropriate for older children and for young adult reading. I wouldn’t give it to anyone under the age of 12, at least, since it portrays slavery in all its horrors and brutality. However, for young people who want a compelling picture of what slavery was like in story form, Chains is a good choice and a bit easier to understand than Octavian Nothing.

Semicolon review of the two volumes of The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing by M.T. Anderson.

Bloggers on Chains:
The Reading Zone: “Isabel’s voice rings true to the times, without being overwhelming. The book reads like a story set in 1776 without being dry or difficult to understand. In historical fiction that is extremely important. If kids feel overwhelmed by dialogue, accents, or vernacular it is that much harder to get them to read and enjoy the book.”

Librarilly Blonde: “We see what Revolutionary War New York looked like through Isabel’s simple yet vivid descriptions of everyday life. Isabel herself is neither maudlin nor emotionally detached from both the good and the bad things that happen to her. She’s a heroine who doesn’t see herself as heroic; she only does what she believes is right.”

Book Nut: “Anderson doesn’t write down to the reader; the book is quite brutal at times. That’s not to say the book is harsh. Rather, interspersed with all the brutality are moments of absolute poignancy. The book just about ripped my heart in two at parts.”

The Book of Nonsense by David Michael Slater

Dec17

Mr. Slater’s book was one of the Cybils nominees last year, and I started reading it. But I couldn’t really get too interested, for some reason. And I never got far enough along in the book to pick up on the “Biblical themes” that this article in Publisher’s Weekly references.

It seems that in the sequel to The Book of Nonsense, The Book of Knowledge, published this year, the twin protagonists “follow clues to the original Garden of Eden and discover that the record of primordial events recorded in Genesis may not tell the whole story.” And this re-writing of Genesis has stirred up a sort of tempest in teapot, with some bloggers and journalists drawing attention to the (bad) theology presented in the books, at least according to Publisher’s Weekly, although no links are provided to any blog furor.

Sounds like a bunch of nonsense to me.

Presenting Lenore: “The Book of Nonsense pulsates with action, intrigue and magic, but also offers quieter scenes that give insight into the twins’ characters and motivations.”

Word for Teens: “The name of this book is The Book of Nonsense, and that’s exactly what it is: nonsense! There were so many point of view changes that I got whiplash trying to keep up! In addition, the first half of the book made about no sense until the last three chapters of the book. Towards the end, the book does start to get interesting, but this is definitely not one of my favorites.”

A Bookworm’s World: “This tale has all the necessary elements to capture and hold a child’s attention. A battle between good and evil, danger, mysteries and lots of questions to keep them guessing until the end. The only thing I took exception to was the reference to God in regards to a mysterious book detailing a language called the First Tongue.”

There you have it. Varying opinions, but the controversy aspect highlighted in the Publisher’s Weekly article seems overblown and may even be an attempt to stir up up some kind of brouhaha in order to increase sales.

Road to Tater Hill by Edith M. Hemingway

Dec13

Road to Tater Hill is the story of Annabel and the death of her baby sister Mary Kate. The story reminded me of Love, Aubrey, another Middle Grade Fiction Cybils nominee in which a mother grieves so deeply for her lost child that she neglects the child she has left alive. Also in both books the child who is neglected and also grieving finds a new friend to help her cope with her loss and her feeling of not being enough for her mother. In yet another similarity, Aubrey and Annabel both live with a grandmother who takes care of them while their mothers are recovering from their depression. (You can read Betsy-Bee’s and my take on Love, Aubrey here.)

Road to Tater Hill is also a story that extols the joy and comfort of a reading life. Annabel is a reader, and her new friend, Miss Eliza, also finds strength and consolation in books. In fact, just like in another of this year’s middle grade fiction books, When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead (Semicolon review here). the protagonist finds particular solace in reading one of my favorite books, Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time.

“I dragged out the reading of A Wrinkle in Time. Whenever I really liked a book, I couldn’t stop reading, but this time I didn’t want it to end. I read each page twice, sometimes three times, before turning it. I felt like I knew the characters, and I wanted to keep them as my friends. Once I finished the book, they would be gone.”

I enjoyed the way Annabel and her friend swapped books and reading recommendations. Miss Eliza introduces Annabel to my favorite poem, Annabel Lee by Edgar Allan Poe. Annabel shares her copy of A Wrinkle in Time with Miss Eliza. Reading friends are some of the best friends of all, aren’t they?

The Road to Tater Hill takes place in North Carolina in 1963. The novel is Ms. Hemingway’s first solo book. (She co-wrote a couple of other novels.) If the setting or the subject appeal to you, it’s worth a look. I like the photograph of an actual, whole girl on the cover of the book, by the way.

Giving Books: Cybils Middle Grade Fiction Nominees

Dec3

Mother Reader has a list of 105 Ways to Give a Book, and I think it’s a great list. All book-givers should check it out. I am shamelessly copying her idea, but I’d like to give you some ideas about some stuff you could pair with one of the Cybils books that I’ve read for this year’s judging.

1. Mother Reader herself had this one on her list: Pair Operation YES! with green army men. I just read Operation YES! by Sara Lewis Holmes, and I haven’t managed to review it yet. But it’s a great book about art and drama and soldiers and those who love them. Perfect for anyone who has a friend or loved one in the armed services.
More Cybils books featuring members of the armed forces and their families.

2. Give The Beast of Blackslope (Sherlock Files) by Tracy Barrett (Semicolon review here) with the 221B Baker Street Mystery Game. We have this game, and my kids have enjoyed playing it and trying to figure out the mysteries.

3. Dani Noir by Nova Ben Suma (Semicolon review here) would go great with a DVD of this movie or this one. Or any noir film that you love and want to share with a film fan.

4. Some of the Cybils nominated books just go with other books:
William S. and the Great Escape by Zilpha Keatley Snyder (Semicolon review here) plus The Complete Works of Shakespeare. (Only for a kid who already likes Shakespeare)
When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead (Semicolon review here) plus A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle.
Callie’s Rules by Naomi Zucker (Semicolon review here) plus Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte.
If the child you’re giving to already loves the second book in one of these pairs, he or she will probably like the first one, too, since the protagonist in each story really likes the second book in the pairing.

5. Return to Sender by Julia Alvarez (Semicolon review here) could be a hit with aspiring astronomers if it were given with an inexpensive telescope. (Last year’s Every Soul a Star by Wendy Mass would also go well with the telescope idea.)

6. Extra Credit by Andrew Clements plus a box of stationery, boy-themed or girl themed, or offer to help your gift recipient go online and find his or her own pen pal, just like the kids in the book.
ePals: the Internet’s largest global community of connected classrooms.
Student Letter Exchange.
Kids’ Space Connection.

7. Born to Fly by MIchael Ferrari (Semicolon review here) would be a perfect match with this InAir E-Z Build Model Kit of a P-40 Warhawk, the same WW II plane that’s featured in the book.

8. Give a baseball and maybe a bat with any of the following baseball stories:
Mudville by Kurtis Scaletta. Semicolon review here.
The Girl Who Threw Butterflies by Mick Cochrane. Semicolon review here.
All the Broken Pieces by Ann E. Burg. Semicolon review here.
The Brooklyn Nine by Alan Gratz.

9. Make the Double Decker Chocolate Bars recipe in the back of the book and give a dozen of them along with Hallie Durand’s Dessert First. Semicolon review here.

10. If you know a girl who loves funky socks, either or both of these books would go well with a gift of some special socks.
Confetti Girl by Diana Lopez. Semicolon review here.
Standing for Socks by Elissa Brent Weissman.

11. Give My Life in Pink and Greenby Lisa Greenwald (Semicolon review here) with a gift certificate for a makeover or a make-up session at a local boutique or department store. Or you could just buy some appropriate-for-the-age makeup for your favorite pre-teen to go with this story about growing up and taking responsibility.

12. Eleven Birthdays by Wendy Mass seems to me to be a remake of the movie Groundhog Day. Well, sort of a remake, similar premise. Anyway the movie and the book together would make a good gift for an eleven year old, maybe even one who’s celebrating a birthday at Christmas time. Brown Bear Daughter was born two days before Christmas, and it’s hard to figure out what to get her for her birthday and for Christmas at the same time.

So there you go: ten+ gift ideas from me and one from Mother Reader, and you can check out Mother Reader’s list for 104 more ideas. Give a book to every child on your Christmas list. Books are cool!

Amazon Affiliate. If you click on a book cover or a link here to go to Amazon and buy something, I receive a very small percentage of the purchase price.
One or more of these books is also nominated for a Cybil Award, but the views expressed here are strictly my own.

The Beast of Blackslope by Tracy Barrett

Nov30

The Beast of Blackslope is the second in The Sherlock Files series by Nashville author Tracy Barrett. (Interesting side note: Eldest Daughter knows Ms. Barrett since they both teach in the language department at Vanderbilt University.) Xena and Xander are American kids living in England with their parents, part-time detectives, and descendants of the famous Sherlock Holmes. Because they are Holmes’ great-great-great grandchildren, Xena and Xander have inherited his casebook with his cold case files, notes on cases that the great detective failed to solve. One of those unsolved cases, similar to The Hound of the Baskervilles, is the Case of the Beast of Blackslope, a beast that Sherlock Holmes himself was unable to locate or capture.

Now a hundred plus years later, the Beast has reappeared in the small village of Blackslope, and Xena and Xander are determined to solve the case this time. Is there really a Beast? If so, why has it returned to Blackslope? Why are the people in Blackslope so secretive about the Beast? What is everybody hiding? Does the Beast carry off humans who disappear never to be heard of again? Who will be next?

I would give The Beast of Blackslope to the younger end of the Middle Grade Fiction age spectrum: eight, nine, ten and eleven year olds who are reading well and are mystery fans. The book reminded me of Alfred Hitchcock’s Three Investigators series, a series I’ve not thought about in ages.

Amazon Affiliate. If you click on a book cover here to go to Amazon and buy something, I receive a very small percentage of the purchase price.
One or more of these books is also nominated for a Cybil Award, but the views expressed here are strictly my own.

Petronella Saves Nearly Everyone by Dene Low

Nov30

First we meet Petronella:

“I preferred to be called Petronella. Eunice is such an unfortunate name, and I cannot imagine what came over my dear but deceased parents when they gave it to me. Perhaps some sort of simultaneous apoplectic fit.”

Then we are introduced to her unfortunate uncle and guardian Augustus T. Percival:

Uncle Augustus frowned. . . . “It seems I have an enormous appetite for all things of the insect and arachnid varieties.” He caught a passing fly in one swift movement of his hand, popped it into his mouth, and chewed happily.

James Sinclair is the hero of the piece and Petronella’s love interest:

James’s eyes twinkled, and his mouth curved in a smile that had smitten me since I was five and he was nine. If only he were not Jane’s brother—brother of my bosom friend—he might consider me as more than a younger sister. But fate plays cruel games with hearts and show no remorse. If I were to have him notice me at all, it should have to be as a sister, and I should have to be content with that or nothing, and to have nothing of James would be the cruelest fate of all.

And Jane, James’s sister, is Petronella’s bosom friend:

“Jane walked up to me and slipped her arm through mine. How she managed to look exactly the same as she had before the calamity I shall never know. But then, Jane always appears to have stepped out of a band box.”

In the end, Petronella does save nearly all of the above and, in addition, rescues Mother England itself from a nefarious plot to do incalculable harm to the entire population.

As the perceptive reader will have already discerned, the novel is set in Victorian England. The style and humor of the book owe something to Oscar Wilde and P.G. Wodehouse and maybe Lemony Snicket(?). I can’t imagine that this book will enjoy the same level of popularity as wimpy kids and vampire lovers, but for a certain sort of child with a certain sort of humor (and a large vocabulary), Petronella might just fit the bill.

Amazon Affiliate. If you click on a book cover here to go to Amazon and buy something, I receive a very small percentage of the purchase price.
One or more of these books is also nominated for a Cybil Award, but the views expressed here are strictly my own.

Sunday Salon: Books Read in November, 2009

Nov29

After by Amy Efaw. (YA Cybils nominee) Semicolon review here.

Absolutely Maybe by Lisa Yee. (YA Cybils nominee) Very sad teenager from a dysfunctional family ends up in LA looking for her dad along with two friends who have issues of their own. They’re lucky they don’t all end up working the streets or in juvenile detention.

North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell. Semicolon review here.

Make Way for Sam Houston by Jean Fritz. Semicolon review here.

Cybils Nominees Read:
The Last Invisible Boy by Evan Kuhlman. Semicolon review here.

Gone From These Woods by Donna Bailey Seagraves. Semicolon review here.

Extra Credit by Andrew Clements. Clements’ latest school story is about a tomboyish girl who becomes pen pals with an Afghan boy and his sister.

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly. Semicolon review here.

Standing for Socks by Elissa Brent Weissman. Silly and implausible story about a girl who becomes famous for wearing mismatched socks. My girls do this all the time, and nobody notices.

Angel Cake by Cathy Cassidy. Boy crazy Polish immigrant, Anya, falls for bad boy Daniel . . . in Liverpool, England. This one was unbelievable, too, especially the ending.

Return to Sender by Julia Alvarez. Semicolon review here.

A Recipe 4 Robbery by Marybeth Kelsey. Semicolon review here.

Take the Mummy and Run: The Riot Brothers Are on a Roll by Mary Amato.

Lucky Breaks by Susan Patron.

Scat by Carl Hiaassen.

The Beast of Backslope by Tracy Barrett.

Operation Yes by Sara Lewis Holmes.

Black Angels by Linda Beatrice Brown. Semicolon review here.

Al Capone Shines My Shoes by Gennifer Choldenko. Semicolon review here.

Rescuing Seneca Crane by Susan Runholt. Semicolon review here.

Dani Noir by Nova Ben Suma. Semicolon review here.

Born to Fly by Michael Ferrari. Semicolon review here.

Newsgirl by Liza Ketchum. Semicolon review here.

William S. and the Great Escape by Zilpha Keatley Snyder. Semicolon review here.

Bull Rider by Suzanne Morgan Williams. Semicolon review here.

I’m mostly reading middle grade fiction this month and in December, trying to get all the nominees read before Christmas so that we the judging panel can decide on five finalists. Wish me luck because I still have a big stack of books to read, and I’d like to review them all, too.

Cybils Middle Grade Fiction Mini-Reviews by Eldest Daughter

Nov27

While Eldest Daughter was here for Thanksgiving she read a few of my Cybils nominees for Middle Grade Fiction. She wouldn’t give me a real review, but she did assign grades to the books she read. And she was as surprised as I was to see that Zilpha Keatley Snyder is still writing and publishing books. Eldest Daughter says that The Egypt Game is one of those “test books.”

You ask a new acquaintance, “Have you read The Egypt Game? Did you like it?” If the new acquaintance says “yes”, particularly to the second question, there is a basis for further communication. If he says “no” to the first question, buy him a copy.

The Last Newspaper Boy in America by Sue Corbett.
Grade: B

William S. and the Great Escape by Zilpha Keatley Snyder.
Grade: A+

Petronella Saves Nearly Everyone by Dene Low.
Grade: A

Amazon Affiliate. If you click on a book cover here to go to Amazon and buy something, I receive a very small percentage of the purchase price.
One or more of these books is also nominated for a Cybil Award, but the views expressed here are strictly my own.