Purses, quivers, and the issue that wouldn't go away

Carol Lay takes on the scrotum issue (in cartoon format) over at Salon.

(The cartoon doesn't make much sense to me. Let me know if you get it!)

Review: grief girl

While the power was out, I read a couple of YA titles that left me thinking Wow! This is really different. Erin Vincent's grief girl is one of them.

grief girl is a memoir that reads like a YA problem novel. The narrator/author is fourteen years old when the unthinkable happens. Her beloved mother dies in a car crash and her father is severely injured. A month later, Erin's father dies from a blood clot to the heart.

Erin is the middle child, and much of her struggle after her parents' death results from her powerlessness. Older sister Tracy turns eighteen just days after their mother dies. She has already left school (grief girl is set in Australia) and begun a training program in cosmetology. Tracy has a steady boyfriend--a solid guy named Chris--and she assumes full responsibility for Erin and their much younger brother, Trent. As is only natural, she tries to shield Erin and Trent from responsibility, but is also angry that everything fell to her.

What I most appreciated about grief girl is its honesty. Vincent asks brutal questions, even if they don't have an answer and, in fact, reflect badly on her. Before her parents' death, Erin imagines the following scene while rehearsing a play with her theater group:

• "I'll be sitting in this same chair a week from today and Mum and Dad will be gone. Tragedy will strike. Life will be ruined, changed forever. But the show must go on. I'll have to struggle on without them. I'll be up onstage rehearsing through the pain and everyone will think I'm noble and brave. Most people, if their parents died, would never be able to perform...but not me. I'm amazing and strong. It will be the best performance of my life. Everyone will say, 'Look at her! Isn't she incredible? A true star.'" (30-31)

Erin is not always likable as she narrates her story. While in school she becomes absorbed in her grief and it defines her. She wears her father's shirt for months on end. She fights with her sister and dreams of success only she can bring to her family. But, she's honest and straightforward, and grief girl resonates long after you've read the last page.

Save Witches and Wiki

Witches and wiki has stalled. It went down in the ice storm for five whole days and now poor Moctor is left in an attic hearing an approaching creak. What will happen to him? Will he be caught?

Ask me for the password and write away!

Readergirlz

I know that I'm absolutely the last person to post about the awesomeness that is Readergirlz. I have a really good reason, though. I'm writing a feature on the site, the authors and their mission for the March The Edge of Forest.

I will say now that what I most especially like about Readergirlz is the link the divas make between reading and community enhancement. By reading, girlz can make a difference not only in their own lives, but in their community. Likewise, the divas reach out to girlz who may not have the opportunity to meet an author and hear about the writing process. Very cool.

On a related note, I had to join MySpace to follow Readergirlz. Please help, you younger, hipper members of the kidslitosphere. I have no idea what to do! I already have one friend named Tom. Who is he? Where did he come from? Is he the generic friend? As you can see, any assistance is welcome.

Finally, a big tip o' the hat to Little Willow of Bildungsroman. She designed the Readergirlz site! She's a real Renaissance woman.
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Update! I figured out that Tom is the MySpace guy. Man, I have a lot to learn.

Weekend Reviews (II)

The reviews keep coming this weekend. Here's what's online:

Dexter Bexley and the Big Blue Beastie is the Times' Children's Book of the Week. (Reviewed by Nicolette Jones.)

Amanda Craig reviews two new teen thrillers for the Times: The Starlight Conspiracy, by Steve Voake, and The Spellgrinder's Apprentice, by N.M. Browne. Craig has this to say about The Starlight Conspiracy: "it's been a while since anything as much fun as Steve Voake's The Starlight Conspiracy came along. "

Welcome to The Bed & Biscuit, by Joan Carris, is the Washington Post Book of the Week.

S.F. Said reviews Darkside, by Tom Becker, for the Guardian.

Kate Murphy reviews Stephen Cole's teen thriller The Aztec Code for the Scotsman (in the Crime roundup).

Mary Harris Russell reviews six new children's books for the Chicago Tribune. They include:

• The Invention of Hugo Cabret, by Brian Selznick
• Feathers, by Jacqueline Woodson
• The Tinderbox, by Hans Christian Andersen, retold by Stephen Mitchell, illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline
• Clancy the Courageous Cow, by Lachie Hume
• Lightship, by Brian Floca
• Tough Boy Sonatas, by Curtis L. Crisler, illustrated by Floyd Cooper

Weekend Reviews (I)

Happy weekend to one and all. I still have power, so it's a great Saturday to roundup the reviews.

Nigel Richardson (snarkily) reviews "teen thrillers" for the Telegraph. Titles considered include:

• Desert Crossing, by Elise Broach
• Dirty Work, by Julia Bell
• Life As We Knew It, by Susan Pfeffer
• Cathy's Book, by Sean Stewart and Jordan Weisman

Susan Perren reviews many a new book for the Globe and Mail, including:

• Dog, by Matthew Van Fleet, photography by Brian Stanton
• Grumpy Bird, by Jeremy Tankard
• Stolen Voices: Young People's War Diaries, edited by Zlata Filipovic and Melanie Challenger
• If I Die Before I Wake: The Flu Epidemic Diary of Fiona Macgregor, by Jean Little
• A Rebel's Daughter: The 1837 Rebellion Diary of Arabella Stevenson, by Janet Lunn
• The Higher Power of Lucky, by Susan Patron

Not a review, but I rather liked this little interview of Daniel Handler/Lemony Snicket by Jim Slotek in the Toronto Sun. In it, Handler admits to disliking some of the books his son likes. He says:

• "'But what my son appreciates most is the presence of a train...I just wish I was as sure as he is about what automatically makes a good book.'"

Handler also discusses his writing plans in the interview for you Snicket fans.

Happy Birthday, The Cat in the Hat!

A hearty big 5-0 to The Cat in the Hat. At the moment, my six-year-old and I are reading through this very book. Thank you, dear Cat, for teaching children to read in an entertaining manner for the past five decades.

To celebrate, click here and send the Cat a postcard. Random House is donating a book to First Reads for each postcard received. Send, send, send. So far 813, 911 cards have been sent.

Poetry Friday Review

You Poetry Friday participants know that my favorite book of poetry from the past year is Ted Hughes' Collected Poems for Children. It was published in the U.K. and I had to beg my friend Michele to send it to me.

Well, I've got great news for poetry fans in the U.S. Collected Poems for Children will be out on March 30! Published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, this volume includes Raymond Briggs' (Father Christmas, The Snowman) inspired, realistic ink drawings. This book is perfection and a must for any fan of children's poetry.

Ted Hughes' Collected Poems for Children contains over 250 poems. This new volume begins with the collections written for younger children (The Mermaid's Purse, The Cat and the Cuckoo) and each collection becomes more sophisticated, ending with Season Songs. While you can enjoy Poems for Children with kids as young as three, just make sure you watch your child pack for college or this book may walk out the door with her.

Today's Poetry Friday entry consists of two poems. One, "Pebbles," is from The Mermaid's Purse, a collection written for the very young. The other, "Spring Nature Notes," is from Season Songs, a collection written for older children.

Pebbles

Where blown spray falls
We are the stones.

Of lands that burst
From sleep and bowed
Like animals
To slake their thirst
Where waters flowed
We are the bones.

And now the first part of "Spring Nature Notes" (a six-part poem) from Season Songs.

Spring Nature Notes

I

The sun lies mild and still on the yard stones.

The clue is a solitary daffodil--the first.

And the whole air struggling in soft excitements
Like a woman hurrying into her silks.
Birds everywhere zipping and unzipping
Changing their minds, in soft excitements,
Warming their wings and trying their voices.

The trees still spindle bare.

Beyond them, from the warmed blue hills
An exhilaration swirls upward, like a huge fish.

As under a waterfall, in the bustling pool.

Over the whole land
Spring thunders down in brilliant silence.

Buried in snow and cold, this poem speaks to me. I know and wait for that moment when you first feel spring "thundering down in brilliant silence."
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I'm up for the Poetry Friday roundup, so leave me your comments!

Here's what I've noticed so far:

Elaine has a super-fab review of Twist: Yoga Poems and interview with the author and illustrator over at Blue Rose Girls. (Elaine does Poetry Fridays right! This is quite the post.)

A Fuse #8 Production is in with two posts: a review of Over in the Jungle: A Rainforest Rhyme and a Susan Ramsey poem. (Hmmm...seems as if Fuse's mom is just as cool as Fuse is!)

Mo Willems graces us with his presence and a "poem" of his own. Thanks, Mo! You've made our day.

Tricia is thinking spring with Thomas Nashe over at The Miss Rumphius Effect.

Wendy reviews Good Sports, by Jack Prelutsky, at Blog from the Windowsill.

Michele celebrates Christopher Marlowe and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's birthdays over at Scholar's Blog.

Eisha shows what Poetry Friday is all about with an entry dedicated to her new favorite poet, Alan Dugan, at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast. (Eisha learned of Dugan from Nancy at Journey Woman.)

And Nancy is here with awesome readings of Edgar Allen Poe's The Raven. Be sure to take a listen.

Adrienne brings us some Macbeth over at What Adrienne Thinks About That.

The Old Coot is back with some "Whisky in a Jar" (The Smothers Brothers). It's been a long week--maybe whisky is in order?

Kelly Fineman contributes an excellent poem this week: "Vitæ Summa Brevis," by Ernest Dowson.

Cloudscome celebrates the arrival of spring with bird poems at A Wrung Sponge. (I can't believe Spring has sprung somewhere. Count me jealous!)

Susan talks poetry, The Poetry Foundation, and the Big Gift over at Chicken Spaghetti.

Liz Scanlon shares some group poetry written by 3rd-5th graders during a Young Writer's Worshop. Awesome!

New blogger Charlotte shares Lisa Westberg Peters' "The Yellowstone Whale" (from Earthshake--Poems from the Ground Up) at Charlotte's Library.

HipWriterMama contributes Robert Service's "The Battle of the Bulge." (Drat those Girl Scount cookies!)

Mitali Perkins shares 15-year-old Mel's poem "Mel?" at Mitali's Fire Escape. Mel won the Fire Escape 2006 poetry contest and I can see why. It's a beautiful piece of work. Mel, those "blini s ikroi" are much better than pizza anyday.

Christine M. celebrates The Cat in the Hat at The Simple and the Ordinary.

Liz B. contributes "I am of Ireland" (original and Yeats use of) at A Chair, a Fireplace and a Tea Cozy.

MotherReader is also celebrating the good dr.'s birthday with lines from The Cat in the Hat Comes Back and an original "Ode to Seuss." [It's excellent! I love these lines: And then all the titles/Popped right out at me/With a surreal neon glimmer./(Note: Avoid LSD.)]

Gregory K. tells us to celebrate Poetry Friday by pulling a Dr. Seuss title from the shelf and giving it a read.

Little Willow contributes Lewis Carroll's Jabberwocky with video (!) over at Bildungsroman.

More Lewis Carroll: Miss Erin is in with "The Mad Gardener's Song."

Franki reviews and recommends Jane Yolen's Here's a Little Poem: A Very First Book of Poetry at A Year of Reading.

This just in! Jone celebrates a year of blogging and two new poetry books in her collection over at Check it Out. Happy Blogiversary, Jone!

A Life in Books Meme

Tricia over at The Miss Rumphius Effect has created a new book meme. It's a hard one too! Here are the questions:

1. What are your 5 most important books?
2. What is an important book you admit you haven't read?
3. What classic (or childhood favorite) was a little disappointing on rereading?
4. What book do you (or did you) care most about sharing with your kids?
5. Name an acclaimed book, either classic or contemporary, that you just don't like.

Okay, here goes....

My 5 most important books:

• War and Peace. The entire world--good and bad--is contained in this one.
• Pale Fire. If you've ever studied literature and, especially, literary theory, Pale Fire is a hilarious must.
• Behind the Scenes at the Museum, by Kate Atkinson. This is a recent one, but I think it's a perfect example of the comic novel.
• His Dark Materials, by Philip Pullman. Again, I'm counting His Dark Materials as one book. In my opinion, the best children's fiction ever written.
• Enduring Love, by Ian McEwan. A small gem of a novel. Like the Atkinson, I think this one is an example of form.

Important Book I've Never Read:

• Dante's Inferno. It's been on the to-do list for, oh, twenty five years or so, but I never seem to get to it.

What classic (or childhood favorite) was a little disappointing on rereading?

• This one's hard. I'll have to go with Little House on the Prairie.

What book do you (or did you) care most about sharing with your kids?

• Winnie the Pooh. It's too difficult to read on your own when it's most appreciated. But it's such a beautiful, funny book--one no child should miss.

Name an acclaimed book, either classic or contemporary, that you just don't like.

• This is an easy one! Notes from the Underground, by Dostoevsky. Oh, how I detest this book. Truly. I've damaged it in anger and frustration more than once in my life.

Consider yourselves tagged!!

YA Book Roundup

Whitney Matheson, who writes USAToday's entertainment blog PopCandy, recommends four new YA titles today for USAToday. They include:

• The Day My Mother Left, by James Prosek ("Unexpected details and insight into a young, mixed-up mind make the book a pleasing, emotional read for all ages.")
• Split Screen: Attack of the Soul-Sucking Brain Zombies/Bride of the Soul-Sucking Brain Zombies, by Brent Hartinger ("At the heart of Zombies is the teen friends' respect and caring for each other, which, these days, is downright refreshing.")
• Harmless, by Dana Reinhardt ("Reinhardt's breezy, conversational writing style will appeal to fans of Mean Girls and Degrassi, though the inevitable, hard-hitting lesson in its final chapters may overshadow the rest of the story.") Here's my recent review of Harmless.
• Now You See Her, by Jacquelyn Mitchard ("Now You See Her is chick lit for the teen set that rewards the reader with a twist.")