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Desert Elephants by Helen Cowcher

Feb6

“In Mali, West Africa, the last remaining desert elephants follow the longest migration route of any elephant in the world. THeir largest circular route is 300 miles long across harsh land just south of Sahara desert. When the dry season begins, they start their journey for water. Their lives depend on it.”

This 2011 nonfiction picture book tells the story of the desert elephants of the Sahel. These elephants live in a area called the Gourma in central Mali. The tribes that live in this same area are the Dogon, Fulani, and Tuareg peoples. The book tells how the elephants migrate to find water during the dry season and during the rainy season, and it also tells about the tribal peoples’ efforts to live in harmony with the elephants and to not disturb them.

The illustrations are lovely, showing the beauty of the elephants and of the people that live near them. the vibrant colors in the people’s clothing and environment will help to dispel the image of desert Africa as a land of sand-colored tents and fabrics and not much more. In an author’s note at the end of the book, Ms. Cowcher says, “These dramatic textiles are another way of communicating. Designs can include popular goods like fans, phones, stoves, or water pumps or more traditional symbols like hands, fingers, or eyes.”

The book also shows the importance of radio communication in the parts of the world where many of the people are illiterate and are spread out over miles of territory. “The radio tells people about how to protect the land they share with the elephants, gives them advice on health and education, and broadcasts programs about women’s issues. . . Radios also play soap operas and music.”

Curriculum and unit study uses for Desert Elephants: deserts, elephants, mammals, Africa, North Africa, West Africa, the Sahel, the Sahara, Tuareg, Dogon, Fulani, Black History Month, environments, conservation, water.

Nonfiction Monday, a round-up of reviews of children’s nonfiction books is hosted to day at Capstone Connect.

The Romeo and Juliet Code by Phoebe Stone

Jan17

I like reading books that are re-imagined versions of Shakespeare’s plots, and that’s why I checked out The Romeo and Juliet Code. But it’s not that sort of book at all.

Instead, The Romeo and Juliet Code plays into another interest of mine: World War II and spies. Felicity Bathburn Budwig is a very, very British eleven year old girl who ends up in Maine at her estranged grandmother’s house by the sea. The year is 1941, and London, Felicity’s former home, is in the midst of The Blitz. When Felicity’s parents, Danny and Winnie, leave her to live with Danny’s American family–Uncle Gideon, Aunt Miami, and The Gram—Felicity is sure that Danny and Winnie will soon come back to get her and take her home, to England, where she belongs.

Felicity has a stuffed bear named Wink who reminded me of Paddington for some reason. And her American family is odd enough to people the pages of a fantasy novel rather than the straight historical fiction that this story purports to be. Then, there’s also someone named Captain Derek who may or may not live in a secret room upstairs. And there are secret letters, and a code, and an island and a lighthouse, and Aunt Miami who’s obsessed with Romeo and Juliet. All put together it’s the sort of story an imaginative girl could concoct in perilous times, and the point of view feels right. Strange, but right.

The problem would be finding the right readers, those who would enjoy a spy story that’s not very fast-paced or danger-filled, or a quirky family story that turns out to be quite realistic, or a historical fiction novel that has a lot of precious-ness mixed in with the history. If any of that admixture sounds like your cuppa, you might want to check out this Brit-comes-to-America-and-finds-a-home story of a girl nicknamed Flissy. Just know that Romeo and Juliet play a rather small part in the whole gallimaufry.

12 Best Children’s and Young Adult Novels I’ve Read in 2011

Jan3

Some of these were actually published in 2011; some were older but good-er.

The Rise and Fall of Mount Majestic by Jennifer Trafton. Semicolon review here.

How to Save a Life by Sara Zarr. Not reviewed yet.

The Berlin Boxing Club by Robert Sharenow. Semicolon review here.

Lord of the Nutcracker Men by Iain Laurence. Semicolon review here.

For Freedom: The Story of a French Spy by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley. Semicolon review here.

Divergent by Veronica Roth. Semicolon review at Breakpoint Youth Reads.

Daughter of Xanadu by Dori Jones Yang. Semicolon review here.

Trash by Andy Mulligan.

Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi. Semicolon review here.

With a Name Like Love by Tess Hilmo. Semicolon review here.

Invisible Inkling by Emily Jenkins.

Fallen Grace by Mary Hooper. Semicolon review here.

For more great children’s and YA literature of 2011, check out the 2011 Cybils Finalists.

Preview of 2011 Book Lists #6

Dec30

SATURDAY December 31st, will be a special edition of the Saturday Review of Books especially for booklists. You can link to a list of your favorite books read in 2011, a list of all the books you read in 2011, a list of the books you plan to read in 2012, or any other end of the year or beginning of the year list of books. Whatever your list, it’s time for book lists. So come back on Saturday, New Year’s Eve, to link to yours, if I missed it and it’s not already here.

However, I’ve spent the past couple of weeks gathering up all the lists I could find and linking to them here. I’ll be posting each day this week leading up to Saturday a selection of end-of-the-year lists with my own comments. I’m also trying my hand at (unsolicited) book advisory by suggesting some possibilities for 2012 reading for each blogger whose list I link. If I didn’t get your list linked ahead of time and if you leave your list in the linky on Saturday, I’ll try to advise you, too, in a separate post.

So Many Books: 2011 Reading in Review. Stefanie reads so many books that I’m not sure what to recommend for her. She read Bleak House in 2011 and enjoyed it, so I’ll say that my favorite Dickens novel is David Copperfield. I can see some of its flaws and still it’s a wonderful novel. I haven’t read it yet, but I wonder what Stefanie would think about P.D. James’s new take-off on Jane Austen, Death Comes to Pemberly?

The Reader Bee: Best Books of 2011. Wow, lots of vampires and zombies and YA romance here. Maybe Sara Zarr’s How To Save a Life? Or Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi?

Live, Learn, Love: Great Books Read in 2011. First of all, I suggest that Annette re-read that last book on her list, and I think I’ll join her. The Bible can always be profitably re-read. As for other book suggestions, I’m wondering if she’s read The Gammage Cup by Carolyn Kendall. It’s an older fantasy title that I’ve been wanting to recommend to someone, and since Annette has been enjoying children’s literature as well as adult books, I’ll give the endorsement to her. As for adult fiction, I think Annette would enjoy reading The Robe by Lloyd C. Douglas (Biblical/historical fiction), Christy by Catherine Marshall, or The Passion of Mary-Margaret by Lisa Samson.

U Krakovianki: Highlights from 2010 (Books, of course) For Karen in Poland, something old and something new. Has she read Mila 18 by Leon Uris? It’s the fictionalized history of the Warsaw ghetto during World War II. As for new, perhaps she would like one of the books on this list of dystopian fiction, since she’s “a glutton for a good dystopia.” I particularly recommend Divergent by Veronica Roth and The Declaration by Gemma Malley.

Let’s Eat Grandpa: 2011 End of the Year Book Survey. Some of her picks are books I love (The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis), and others are books I want to read (Doc by Mary Doria Russell). I’d suggest for Cori: C.S. Lewis’s science fiction trilogy, beginning with Out of the Silent Planet, Boys Without Names by Kashmira Sheth, Words in the Dust by Trent Reedy, and For the Win by Cory Doctorow.

Secrets and Sharing Soda Books of the Year. Katie likes House (The TV show) and children’s books and picture books and Young Adult books, and she and I worked together on the Easy Reader/Short Chapter Books Cybils panel. So we have lots of stuff in common. She read one of my favorite books this past, The Saturdays by Elizabeth Enright, and she says she plans to read the rest of the books in the series. She also likes The Penderwicks, so I’m trying to think of a couple of books in that general vein. I think she’d like With a Name Like Love by Tess Hilmo, and All-of-a-Kind Family by Sydney Taylor, and oh, go ahead and read The Hobbit. You’ll be glad you did.

Supratentorial: My Best Books of 2011. For Alice, a pediatrician and mother of three, I suggest The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer and The Story of Beautiful Girl by Rachel Simon.

Magistra Mater: My 2011 Reading List. I want to read everything Carol has read, certainly everything that’s at the top of her “genre lists”. And I will venture to suggest for Carol The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro and The Three Musketeers by Alexander Dumas. Both are favorites of mine that I pulled from this list, but she may have already gotten around to reading them.

OK, that’s it for now folks. If I didn’t get your list linked in my six posts on reading lists, then leave a link in the Saturday Review linky. I’ll try to recommend some books for each person who links in the Saturday Review. It sounds like a lovely way to spend the first week or so of 2012.

Preview of 2011 Book Lists #5

Dec29

SATURDAY December 31st, will be a special edition of the Saturday Review of Books especially for booklists. You can link to a list of your favorite books read in 2011, a list of all the books you read in 2011, a list of the books you plan to read in 2012, or any other end of the year or beginning of the year list of books. Whatever your list, it’s time for book lists. So come back on Saturday, New Year’s Eve, to link to yours, if I missed it and it’s not already here.

However, I’ve spent the past couple of weeks gathering up all the lists I could find and linking to them here. I’ll be posting each day this week leading up to Saturday a selection of end-of-the-year lists with my own comments. I’m also trying my hand at (unsolicited) book advisory by suggesting some possibilities for 2012 reading for each blogger whose list I link. If I didn’t get your list linked ahead of time and if you leave your list in the linky on Saturday, I’ll try to advise you, too, in a separate post.

Sheila at Book Journey: The Good, the Bad and the Ugh. Since Sheila enjoyed listening to Catch Me if You Can by Frank Abagnale, I’m suggesting the older book The Great Imposter by Robert Crichton (a book that was also turned into a movie, starring Tony Curtis). She might also like one of the books from this list about the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, particularly Katherine Weber’s Triangle.

Hope Is the Word: Books I read in 2011: juvenile & YA fiction (plus top picks) Best Adult Fiction and Nonfiction of 2011. Amy would like The London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd and The Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon, both about people on the autism spectrum, one for children and the other for adults. And I wonder if she and her girls might enjoy reading aloud one of the Betsy books by Carolyn Haywood; B is for Betsy is the first one I believe. The books are hopelessly old-fashioned, very 1950’s, and therefore quite lovely.

Dolce Belleza: End of the Year Book Survey. Belleza is already planning to read Winds of War by Wouk for the Historical Fiction Challenge; she’ll want to follow that one with the sequel, War and Remembrance. She also has several books lined up for her own Venice in February reading challenge, but I’d like to suggest another by one of my favorite authors: The Venetian Affair by Helen MacInnes. As for children’s literature set in Japan, has Belleza read Katharine Paterson’s early novels, The Sign of the Chrysanthemum, Of Nightingales That Weep, and The Master Puppeteer? I read them quite a while ago, but I remember thinking they were quite well-written, just as her later Newbery award-winning novels were.

The Literary Stew: End of the Year Book Survey. Another kindred spirit, as must be anyone who is a fan of Dorothy Sayers’ mysteries featuring Harriet Vane and Lord Peter Wimsey. I recommend C.J. Sansom’s stand-alone novel about the Spanish Civil War, Winter in Madrid. Also, Mrs. B should check out P.D. James—the detective novels, of course– but I’m thinking of her futuristic novel, Children of Men, which reminded me of Never Let Me Go (or maybe Ishiguro’s novel reminded me of the one by James).

Mental Multivitamin: Ten Memorable Books from 2011. It is with fear and trembling that I recommend any books to Melissa at Mental Multivitamin. She reads James Joyce and Joyce Carol Oates, and likes both, whereas I can’t . . quite . . . get it. Nevertheless, we do share some affinities: Both of us listed Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson as one of our favorites reads of 2011. Alan Jacobs is a favorite voice of mine from the academic world, although I haven’t read the book Melissa includes in her favorites yet. We both enjoy many genres and media: children’s literature, young adult, literary fiction, movies, TV, at, poetry. And, of course, there’s the Bardolatry that we share. So, without further ado, I suggest that Madame MM-V might like The Hawk and the Dove by Penelope Wilcock (and its sequels), Men to Match My Mountains by Irving Stone, and Exposure by Mal Peet.

Oversight of Souls:Best Reads of 2011. Best Reads With my Kids in 2011. I repeat myself, but to paraphrase the poet, “I contain multitudes.” Mr. Van Neste should read Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand and Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy by Eric Metaxis.

My Friend Amy: 2011–The Year in Books. I see on Amy’s blog that she was looking forward to reading Amy Inspired by Bethany Pierce, but I don’t see that she ever reviewed it. If she hasn’t read that one yet, it’s an excellent piece of “Christian fiction” that I think Amy would appreciate. I also suggest that Amy seek out and read any of the following books with the theme of community that she hasn’t already read: The Hardest Thing To Do by Penelope Wilcock, In This House of Brede by Rumer Godden, A Severed Wasp by Madeleine L’Engle, No Graven Image by Elizabeth Elliot.

Book Hooked Blog: Best Adult Fiction of 2011. Julie likes a lot of different kinds of books, so I’m suggesting that she try the Chaos Walking series by Patrick Ness or some of the others in my dystopian fiction post of a few weeks ago and perhaps Unplanned by Abby Johnson.

Challies: My Top Books of 2011. Tim Challies is a Canadian pastor with a hugely popular Christian blog. He reads mostly nonfiction. I suggest that he check out Surprised by Oxford by Carolyn Weber and/or The Shooting Salvationist (aka Apparent Danger) by David Stokes.

Cindy at Ordo Amoris: 2011 Top 10 Fiction Reads. 2011 Top Ten Nonfiction Reads. Cindy says, “A year without (C.S.) Lewis is not a good year.” Yes. She plans to re-read Till We Have Faces, a plan I support, but has she read The Narnia Code by Michael Ward? (Don’t worry, good book, not all Davinci Code-ish, probably named by the publishers.) Also for Cindy, I suggest some older, now neglected novels, if she hasn’t read them: The Little World of Don Camillo by Giovanni Guareschi, The Singer by Calvin Miller, and Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset.

Dani at A Work in Progress: Favorite Reads of 2011 & Other Miscellanea. House of Mirth by Edith Wharton is on Dani’s American Authors TBR list; I think she’d really enjoy that novel. I also see that she has a Helen Macinnes book, Decision at Delphi, “on the nightstand”–I love Helen MacInnes’s novels, and I highly recommend all of them.

Kimbofo at Reading Matters: My Favorite Novels of 2011. Kimbofo says she’s a sucker for an Irish novel, but I find no mention of Stephen Lawhead on her blog. Patrick by Lawhead is not his very best (Byzantium is my favorite), but it is his most Irish of novels. Kimbofo is also hosting an Australian Literature Month in January 2012, and although she says she already has a stack of Australian books to read, I can recommend On the Beach by Nevill Shute, A Town Like Alice by Nevill Shute, and Stolen by Lucy Christopher.

Preview of 2011 Book Lists #4

Dec29

SATURDAY December 31st, will be a special edition of the Saturday Review of Books especially for booklists. You can link to a list of your favorite books read in 2011, a list of all the books you read in 2011, a list of the books you plan to read in 2012, or any other end of the year or beginning of the year list of books. Whatever your list, it’s time for book lists. So come back on Saturday, New Year’s Eve, to link to yours, if I missed it and it’s not already here.

However, I’ve spent the past couple of weeks gathering up all the lists I could find and linking to them here. I’ll be posting each day this week leading up to Saturday a selection of end-of-the-year lists with my own comments. I’m also trying my hand at (unsolicited) book advisory by suggesting some possibilities for 2012 reading for each blogger whose list I link. If I didn’t get your list linked ahead of time and if you leave your list in the linky on Saturday, I’ll try to advise you, too, in a separate post.

Melissa at Mental Multivitamin left a link to a list by Trevor at a blog called The Mookse and the Gripes: My Twelve Favorite Reads of 2011. I must admit that, despite the fact that we share an affinity for making lists of twelve rather than five or ten, Trevor is beyond me. I’ve heard of a couple of the authors on his list and of none of the books. He writes, “If this list has a consistent theme it could be quasi-fictional biographies on eccentric personalities.” I am consulting my European correspondent and expert on all things literary and strange. In the meantime, I’ll venture to suggest that Trevor try out Wendell Berry or perhaps Philip Caputo.

Noel DeVries: Reading Resolutions: Realized! 2011. Reading Resolutions 2012. Noel is more of a kindred spirit, of the race that knows Joseph. (Not that I’m dissing Mr. Trevor of the Mookse; it takes all kinds of readers to make a world.) I see that she’s been reading Edith Schaeffer; I agree that What Is a Family? is good, but my favorite book by Mrs. Schaeffer is The Hidden Art of Homemaking. And it doesn’t look as if Miss Noel has read The Rise and Fall of Mount Majestic by Jennifer Trafton yet. She should.

Chicken Spaghetti: Norman’s Best Books of 2011. Susan of Chicken Spaghetti, who usually focuses on children’s literature, has asked her husband Norman to share his favorite reads of 2011. Mr. Chicken Spaghetti might like The Berlin Boxing Club by Robert Sharenow; it’s classified as YA, but suitable for adults, I think. Atonement by Ian McEwen, if he’s not read it already (probably has), would seem to fit Mr. CS’s reading tastes, too.

Good Books and Good Wine: Top Ten Books of 2011. April has a page called Project Fill in the Gaps with a list of books she wants to read, so I choose to recommend from that list: Katherine by Anya Seton and Hood by Stephen Lawhead because both of those books are great reads and they seem to fit in with what she enjoyed this past year.

A Literary Odyssey: 2011 End of the Year Book survey. Allie has a very long and fascinating list, written in response to this meme at Perpetual Page Turner. Allie is already planning to read Vanity Fair by Thackeray, a book that I love like I love Dickens’ novels, which is a lot. And she’s going to be reading Anna Karenina, which I was going to suggest in light of her Tolstoy discovery this past year. My favorite classic that’s on her TBR list: Les Miserables by Victor Hugo. I predict that Allie will devour it whenever she gets to it.
A Literary Odyssey: Favorites of 2011.

The Blue Bookcase: Christina’s Favorite Books of 2011. Christina enjoyed Geraldine Brooks’ novel Caleb’s Crossing in 2011, and I’m recommending that she read Year of Wonders by the same author. I also wonder if she might like a modern classic, The Chosen by Chaim Potok, if she hasn’t already read it. It gives a wonderful picture of growing up in an Orthodox Jewish culture.

Tina’s Book Reviews: Faves of 2011, The Books. I think Tina would like Chains and Forge, both by Laurie Halse Anderson. I would also recommend to Tina, Connie Willis’s Doomsday Book, based on her love for Waterfall by Lisa Bergren.

Estella’s Revenge: Andi’s 2011 Favoritest Books Throwdown. Andi has The Professor and the Housekeeper by Yoko Ogawa on her list of “The Lustworthy Stacks.” I gave a copy of that book to Engineer Husband for Christmas because I think he will love all the philosophical mathematical subtexts. Ooooh, read it next, Andi. Also, I think Andi would fall for Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh.

Bibliosue: My Favorites of 2011. Suzanne liked Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese, so I wonder if she might enjoy another novel set in Africa, Acts of Faith by Philip Caputo. She’s also participating in the Southern Literature Challenge for which I highly recommend: Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg, Cold Sassy Tree by Olive Ann Burns, and All the King’s Men by Robert Penn Warren.

Books in the Burbs: My Best Reads of 2011. Oh, wow, Lisa lives somewhere near me, and she reads neat books, and she has a book club! OK, I fear that I begin to repeat myself, but City of Tranquil Light by Bo Caldwell was one of the the best fiction books I read this past year. I commend it to Lisa. And for nonfiction, how about Little Princes by Connor Grennan?

Evolving Economics: Best books I read in 2011. This list is again not exactly in my area of expertise, but I’m going to take a stab and suggest two books for Jason, the evolutionary economist: People of the Lie by M. Scott Peck and Fewer: How the New Demography of Depopulation Will Shape Our Future by Ben J. Wattenburg. He might find them of interest if only as a counter opinion to be refuted or engaged.

Carrie at Reading to Know: Top 10 Favorite Books of 2011. For Carrie, I’m going to suggest Between Heaven and Hell by Peter Kreeft because I know she’s a C.S. Lewis fan. It’s an imaginary dialog between John F. Kennedy, Aldous Huxley, and Lewis, three famous men with very differing philosophies of life who died on the same day. I also think Carrie would like My Hands Came Away Red by Lisa McKay, a book I very much appreciated when I read it in 2010.

Preview of 2011 Book Lists #3

Dec28

SATURDAY December 31st, will be a special edition of the Saturday Review of Books especially for booklists. You can link to a list of your favorite books read in 2011, a list of all the books you read in 2011, a list of the books you plan to read in 2012, or any other end of the year or beginning of the year list of books. Whatever your list, it’s time for book lists. So come back on Saturday, New Year’s Eve, to link to yours, if I missed it and it’s not already here.

However, I’ve spent the past couple of weeks gathering up all the lists I could find and linking to them here. I’ll be posting each day this week leading up to Saturday a selection of end-of-the-year lists with my own comments. I’m also trying my hand at (unsolicited) book advisory by suggesting some possibilities for 2012 reading for each blogger whose list I link. If I didn’t get your list linked ahead of time and if you leave your list in the linky on Saturday, I’ll try to advise you, too, in a separate post.

Brandon at The Thin Veil: My Favorite 15 Books of 2011. This list is also very Catholic-centered. For Catholic writers, I’m wondering if Mr. Vogt has read any of G.K. Chesterton’s fiction, particularly The Man Who Was Thursday and the Father Brown detective stories. I also strongly believe that all engineers should read poetry, and you can’t get better than John Donne and George Herbert.

Ripple Effects: All the Year’s Best. Arti includes movies and books on her list of the year’s best, both lists of selections are quite literary and contemplative. I think Arti would like more Madeleine L’Engle, including my two favorite fiction books by Ms. L’Engle, A Severed Wasp and The Love Letters and also the memoirs, A Circle of Quiet, The Summer of the Great-Grandmother and The Irrational Season.

Happy Catholic: My 2012 Reading Challenge Lists. I don’t know if it’s fair for me to try to add anything to what is already an ambitious set of reading lists for Julie for 2012, but that’s never stopped me before. So hey, Julie, have you read any Peter Kreeft? Brandon (see above) reminded me that I still need to finish Christianity for Modern Pagans: Pascal’s Pensees by Kreeft, and I wouldn’t mind reading some of his other books. For “happy Catholicism”, he’s a must-read.

Book Chase: Best of 2011. Blogger Sam Sattler reads and reviews a lot of books, and at least a couple of his besties need to go on my TBR list (Doc by Mary Doria Russell and Grant’s Final Victory by Charles Bracelen). For Sam, my picks are River of Doubt by Candice Millard and Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. (Yes, Unbroken is my favorite read of 2011, and I’m recommending it to more than one person.)

Linus’s Blanket: Best of 2011. Nicole reads supernatural fiction, historical fiction, nonfiction and contemporary fiction, and she lists favorites from 2011 in each category. I wonder if Nicole might enjoy Connie Willis’s To Say Nothing of the Dog or perhaps the YA verse novel A Girl Named Mister by Nikki Grimes?

The Fourth Musketeer: Raindrops on Roses, My Top 10 Favorite Books from 2011. Margo needs to read Mitali Perkins’ Bamboo People and/or the one I just finished from 2011, With a Name Like Love by Tess Hilmo—and then tell me what she thinks of them!

Devourer of Books: 2011–Best Books. Judging from the number of her favorites that I added to my TBR list, Devourer and I must have similar tastes in books. So, I’m fairly confident that she would like The Queen’s Daughter by Susan Coventry or maybe Daughter of Xanadu by Dori Jones Yang.

CarrieK at Books and Movies likes to make multiple list, as do I: Favorite historical fiction of 2011
Favorite contemporary fiction of 2011.
Favorite Mysteries of 2011.
Favorite Nonfiction of 2011.
Favorite Speculative Fiction of 2011.
Favorite YA Reads of 2011.
Carrie needs to read City of Tranquil Light by Bo Caldwell, and she needs to read Jayber Crow by Wendell Berry next in her pursuit of all things Berry-ish. Jayber Crow is my favorite Wendell Berry novel.

A Fuse #8 Production: 100 Magnificent Children’s Books of 2011. Elizabeth Bird, children’s librarian extraordinaire, makes a lovely list, but of course I see some notable omissions. Ms. Bird needs to read and make room for on her list The Rise and Fall of Mount Majestic by Jennifer Trafton, and where’s Mo Willems and his three Elephant and Piggie easy readers that were published this year?
Fuse #8: The Ten Middle Grade novels I’m Looking Forward to in 2012. Betsy Bird knows about everything kidlit before I do, so I can’t really suggest anything new to her. And she’s working on a book about the history of kidlit, I think, so I can’t really suggest anything old either. She really needs to check the Jennifer Trafton book, though.

The Ink Slinger: Books Reviewed in 2011. I already recommended that Mr. Ink Slinger, who regularly beats me in Words With Friends, read The Chosen by Chaim Potok, Killer Angels by Michael Shaara, and The Silver Sword by Ian Serrailer.

Preview of 2011 Book Lists #2

Dec27

SATURDAY December 31st, will be a special edition of the Saturday Review of Books especially for booklists. You can link to a list of your favorite books read in 2011, a list of all the books you read in 2011, a list of the books you plan to read in 2012, or any other end of the year or beginning of the year list of books. Whatever your list, it’s time for book lists. So come back on Saturday, New Year’s Eve, to link to yours, if I missed it and it’s not already here.

However, I’ve spent the past couple of weeks gathering up all the lists I could find and linking to them here. I’ll be posting each day this week leading up to Saturday a selection of end-of-the-year lists with my own comments. I’m also trying my hand at (unsolicited) book advisory by suggesting some possibilities for 2012 reading for each blogger whose list I link. If I didn’t get your list linked ahead of time and if you leave your list in the linky on Saturday, I’ll try to advise you, too, in a separate post.

Eric the Read: Top 10 Nonfiction Best Books of 2011. Eric’s tastes seem to run toward economics and history. My favorite book in the area of economics is an oldie, but still applicable in today’s economy: The Tragedy of American Compassion by Marvin Olasky. For something more recent, I also think he might like Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Prophet, Martyr, Spy by Eric Metaxis.

Lonestar Librarian at Speed of Light: Favorite Books, 2011. This one was hard because Ms. Lonestar Librarian seems to have read about as many books as I have. But in a quick search of her blog, I don’t see any reference to my favorite book of 2011, Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. Perhaps she would enjoy that one.

Farm Lane books: My Favorite Books of 2011. The books on this list are all books published in 2011. She plans to make lists of the most important books published in 2011 and of her favorite books released in previous years. Jackie reads and blogs from Surrey, England. Based on this list and on my poking around her blog a little, I think Jackie would like Lionel Shriver’s So Much for That (even though it’s a polemic on the American health care system) or perhaps the Pulitzer prize-winning novel, The Bridge of San Luis Rey by Thornton Wilder.

A Common Reader: 2011 Round-up including Best Books. Tom Cunliffe, of East Sussex, England, lists several books that I’ve never heard of, mostly European in setting or authorship or both. I think he might like Anna’s Book by Barbara Vine (maybe called Asta’s Book in the UK), a discovery of mine this year or perhaps something by Spanish author Arturo Perez-Reverte. The Fencing Master or Captain Alatriste?

John Self at Asylum: Twelve from the Shelves: My Books of 2011. I’m not sure I’m literary or intellectual enough to advise Mr. Self, but I’ll make a stab at it anyway. I was going to suggest Gilead by Marilynne Robinson, but I see that he’s already read it. So perhaps Home by the same author? Or for short and quirky and death-filled, The End of the Alphabet by C.S. Richardson could be a good bet for Mr. Self’s reading list.

Quieted Waters: My 10 Favorite Books of 2011. This young law student blogger read and recommended the same Eric Metaxis biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer that I chose as a favorite this year, so I’m recommending back to him that he read Bonhoeffer’s The Cost of Discipleship, if he hasn’t already done so. He also mentions a recent or impending marriage, for which I prescribe a dose of The Peacemaker by Ken Sande, not that it’s a marriage manual. It is, however, one of the best relationship books I’ve read lately.

Read. Breathe. Relax. Best Books of 2011. I’m wondering if this fantasy/sci-fi/romance reader has read all the books on this list. In particular, I recommend Unwind by Neal Shusterman, Epitaph Road by David Pateneaude, and The Declaration by Gemma Malley. Divergent by Veronica Roth was one of my favorites this year, too.

Reading is my cup of tea: Top 5 Best authors and Best books of 2011. For fifteen year old Molly, the Brit who blogs and drinks tea, I advise the same list as the one I had for Read. Breathe. Relax. above, since Delirium and Matched are already in her towering TBR stack. Divergent lovers of the world unite!

Thoughts of a Sojourner: Top books reviewed in 2011. Athol Dickson’s River Rising and My Hands Came Away Red by Lisa Mckay are the two thrillers with Christian themes that I would put at the top of Sojourner’s reading list.

Word Sharpeners: Favorite Books I’ve Read in 2011. For Tamera at Word Sharpeners, I propose Once Was Lost by Sara Zarr and The Cure by Athol Dickson.

Sommer Reading: My Favorite Books of 2011. Suggestions for Shelley: How to Save a Life by Sara Zarr (YA), The Rise and Fall of Mount Majestic by Jennifer Trafton (MGF), and The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister (Adult fiction).

The Anchoress: Those Year-End Book Lists. THe Anchoress’s list is very, very Catholic, and so I’ll suggest some Catholic or at least Christian books: Saint Training by Elizabeth Fixmer, because I think Ms. Scalia would appreciate this children’s book about a girl who wants to become a saint, and how about Praying for Strangers by River Jordan, because I think The Anchoress would identify with this true story of a woman who decides to pray for one stranger each day.

Here’s a bonus book list that I contributed to at Breakpoint’s Youth Reads: Books to Buy Your Kids for Christmas. The list is good for after Christmas, too.

With a Name Like Love by Tess Hilmo

Dec25

Somewhere along the way, however, the good reverend decided a small town meant a poor town, and a poor town meant humble people. Ollie’s daddy was born to preach to those people. His daddy had been a traveling preacher, as was his daddy before him, all the way back to the time of Moses. The Good Lord ushered him into that long line of preachers, and then his parents gave him the name Everlasting Love.
It was everything he was.

A children’s novel with a father/preacher character who is not cruel, not confused, not pathetic, and not looney is a rare jewel. I can think of one, off-hand, Kate DiCamillo’s Because of Winn-Dixie. Now there’s a second.

And thirteen year old Olivene Love (Ollie), eldest daughter of Reverend Everlasting Love, is a PK who has no problem with being the daughter of a preacher; she just wishes he would settle down and preach in one place. The Love family spends three days holding a revival in one small town before moving on the next one: “[p]reaching, mostly—some singing and an occasional healing if the need arises.” Ollie is ready to stay in one place for a while, make friends, experience indoor plumbing and life in a house rather than a travel trailer.

I loved the characters in this book for middle grade readers. Ollie’s daddy gives her good advice:

“Be careful when you listen to people called they, Olivene. They often tell lies.”

“Some people are broken. They don’t know anything other than hatred. It’s like their heart gets going in the wrong direction early on in life, and they can never quite manage to bring it back around to love. It’s a sad thing and we should have compassion for them. Think of the joy they are missing in life.”

Ollie herself is a good girl, typical oldest child. Reverend Love says to her, “You are an example for your sisters in word and deed. I am blessed to call you mine.” Yet, Ollie isn’t perfect, not too goody-goody; she still gets impatient with her younger sisters, tired of living on the road, and sometimes a little too bossy for her own good. She reminds me of my eldest, whom I am also blessed to call mine.

Ollie’s mama, Susanna Love, is “like living poetry” as she welcomes the people who come to the revival meeting. Her sister, Martha, is the pessimist who’s always counting in her head to see who gets the most privileges or treats, but Martha is also the one who gets things done. Gwen, the third sister, is the spitting image of her father, and she wants to become a preacher just like him. Camille, sister number four, is “simple in mind”, but she almost has the dictionary memorized and has “an air of grace and dignity.” Ellen, the baby of the family, is friendly, a tagalong, and eager to please. Together, the Love family has a character and winsomeness all their own, rivaling other great families of literature such as the the Marches, the Melendys, the Moffats, the Penderwicks, or All-of-a-Kind Family. Actually, they remind me a little bit of the Weems family in Kerry Madden’s series Gentle’s Holler, Louisiana’s Song, and Jessie’s Mountain, maybe because of the time period (1950’s) and because of the way that each of the girls in the family has her own personality and way of coping with life in a preacher’s family.

With a Name Like Love is a good family story with a good plot (I didn’t mention the plot, but there’s a murder to be solved, friendships to resolve, and family decisions to be made) and excellent, heart-grabbing characters. Highly recommended.

What are your favorite families in children’s literature?

Saraswati’s Way by Monika Schroder

Dec21

Twelve year old Akash sees patterns of numbers in his head. The village math teacher can only take him so far in math, bu he puts an idea in Akash’s mind of winning a scholarship to a school in the city. So Akash prays to Saraswati, the goddess of knowledge and wisdom, to make a way for him to hire a tutor to teach the math he needs to know to pass the scholarship examination.

The last book I read, Words in the Dust, was set in Afghanistan and was very Muslim, and now this book, set in India, is very Hindu. Akash prays to Saraswati, goes to the temple, performs Hindu funeral rites for his father (Bapu) in hopes that his Bapu’s soul will be freed to go . . . somewhere good. If this honest and vivid depiction of Hindu religion makes you uncomfortable, as I must admit it did me to some extent, then maybe that’s a good thing. I tend to forget that there are people who live and die in the grips of what I would consider an enslaving and false religious tradition.

Akash becomes a child of the streets, living in the railway station in Delhi. He works and works to find a way to attend a school where he can learn more, especially more math. He makes some good decisions (saving his money and not sniffing glue) and some nearly disastrous ones (dealing drugs to make money). And in the end, the reader is left with only the hope that Akash might, just possibly, be able to go to school and get off the streets.

Author Monika Schroder says in her Author’s Note:

A boy like Akash has only a slim chance of fulfilling his dream in contemporary India. Yet I wanted to write a hopeful book about a child who, with determination, courage, and some luck, achieves his goal against all odds.

If you like this book about a street child in India and you’re interested in similar or related stories, I recommend:

Boys Without Names by Kashmira Sheth. Brief Semicolon review here.
Monsoon Summer by Mitali Perkins. Semicolon review here.
Homeless Bird by Gloria Whelan.
What Then, Raman? by Shirley Arora.
The movie, Slumdog Millionaire.