Review: Sunny Side Up

Book: Sunny Side Up
Authors: Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm
Rating: 3.5 Stars

Basic plot: During the summer of 1976, Sunny goes to stay with her grandfather who lives in  a Retirement Community in Florida. It’s hard to be a place where everybody’s old. But that isn’t the only hard thing for Sunny. It’s even harder to work through the reason she’s in Florida in the first place.

WHAT’S COOL

1. I liked the superhero thread that was woven throughout the story. (Although, I don’t know why Sunny doesn’t like Wonder Woman!!)

2. It took me a few times to figure out how the flashbacks were working, but once I did, I really liked how that worked. Little by little, we are let in on Sunny’s big secret.

3. I love the “Girls” who hang out with the grandfather. How they are so full of life and vigor. And good advice… like taking the uneaten roll for later. (This is something we totally would in my family!)

WHAT’S NOT COOL

1. While I thought the graphic novel worked well, I could really see this as a full-scale novel. Is there anything lost when it’s condensed into the graphic novel format? I did find a few things a tiny bit confusing. But maybe that’s because I don’t read a lot of graphic novels. I’m more of a words person.

FINAL THOUGHTS

My rating is 3.5 Stars (out of 5) – I really liked the story. I would love to see words flesh the story out (i.e. turning the story into a full novel). But overall, I felt the story was touching. I felt for Sunny and her family.

Review: The Tin Snail

Book: The Tin Snail
Author: Cameron McAllister
Rating: 4 Stars

Basic plot: It’s 1938. A French boy wants to save his father’s job and to do that, he needs to help his father design a “people’s car”. But just when they’re on to something, the Nazis invade France. Now it’s time to hide their work before it falls into the wrong hands.

WHAT’S COOL…

1) I really liked the main characters. No, wait. I really liked ALL the whole cast of characters in the book. They were quirky without being too quirky. Angelo with all his gumption and inspiration. Camille. Bertrand. The mayor who is the enemy, turned ally.

2) I loved the historical setting. France. World War Two. This is really a book about the French Resistance… in a really weird way. And it’s a book about a very unique type of automobile. (I’ve seen those old Citroen cars in Europe. And, yes, I thought they were ugly. But ugly, in a cute way.)

3) Bertrand’s philosophy: “Some things aren’t meant to be… The rest aren’t meant to be, yet.” In fact, Bertrand’s optimism and enthusiasm is particularly appealing… especially how he deals with Angelo and the father and the pitfalls surrounding the creation of a brand-new car.

4) I loved the three acts: the Inspiration, the building of the car, and finally the attempts to thwart the Nazis from stealing the hard work. The final act has enough intrigue and chases to grab anybody’s attention.

WHAT’S NOT COOL…

1) I wish they would have put more illustrations about the various prototypes. There’s an illustrator, and each prototype is described in the book. But oddly enough, there really are no illustrations to help the reader “see” the car as it is developed.

FINAL THOUGHTS

My rating is 4! Stars (out of 5) – Yes, I really liked this book. It has a historical bent, but I didn’t really see the whole French Resistance thing coming, at least not right away. This book is fresh and fun with a great cast of characters… And that makes for an enjoyable read.

Review: Sputnik’s Guide to Life on Earth

Book: Sputnik’s Guide to Life on Earth
Author: Frank Cottrell Boyce
Rating: 3.5 Stars:

Basic plot: Prez is in foster care (or Children’s Temporary) when he meets an alien/dog named Sputnik (he’s really an alien, but everybody thinks he’s a dog). Sputnik’s goal is to save earth from annihilation. All Prez wants to do is go home and live with his Grandad.

WHAT’S COOL…

1) The List and how it works into the chapter titles and the plot.

2) I really liked Prez. He’s quiet and doesn’t talk much, but this didn’t feel gimmicky to me. We really get to know him through his first-person narration. And of course, through his conversations with Sputnik in his head. I really liked how this backfires on him a few times.

3) The plot connects realism with complete fantasy very well. There are some crazy, memorable moments, including the light sabre and Hadrian’s Wall (not at any way connected, by the way, but I won’t spoil it here).

4) The relationship of the Grandad and Prez. And how Prez starts to figure out what’s real and what’s not with regards to the map and the sea chest, etc.

5) Laika. The space history buff in me got quite excited when Laika comes into the story. (The journal is quite clever.)

WHAT’S NOT COOL…

1) For some reason, I wasn’t crazy about Sputnik, the alien/dog. In fact, I would never want to meet Sputnik. Ever. I felt I should like him, but I don’t. And I feel kind of bad that I don’t.

2) This isn’t a page-turner. Is that bad thing? Maybe not.

FINAL THOUGHTS

My rating is 3.5 Stars (out of 5) – Liked quite a bit, but didn’t super love it. The best parts are Prez and the Grandad. I would definitely spend an afternoon with them, as long as they promised Sputnik wasn’t going to show up!

Writing to Jane Austen

If you could write to your favourite author, who would you write?

For me, probably one of the first people on the list would be Jane Austen. Except, I can’t write her. Because she’s dead. 200 years dead. Yes, today is the 200th anniversary of Jane Austen’s death in 1817.

That’s when I realized that all my favourite authors are… DEAD.

Okay, that’s not completely true. I like plenty of modern-day authors. I seek out their books. I get excited when I see a new book with their name on it.

But that’s not what I mean. The authors that I’d really, really admire are all dead. Jane Austen. Dead. L.M. Montgomery. Dead. E. Nesbit. Dead. Charlotte Bronte. Dead. Laura Ingalls Wilder. Dead. C.S. Lewis. Dead. Arthur Ransome. Dead.

Okay, so what IF they were still alive? What would I want to tell them? These are the writers of the books that I love. They are the books I pick up again and again. I grew up with many of the books. Like C.S. Lewis, Laura Ingalls Wilder, or L.M. Montgomery. But not all of them fit into that category.

Take E. Nesbit. I discovered her books at University. Yes, they’re kids’ books. But they are magical. Same goes for Arthur Ransome. (Although, magical in a completely different way.)

So, what would I write? I guess I would want to thank them for creating stories that mean something. For creating characters that really live.

So…

Thank-you, Jane Austen, for Emma and Pride and Prejudice and Persuasion and Sense and Sensibility!

Thank-you, L.M. Mongomery for that feisty red-head, Anne!

Thanks, E. Nesbit, for those treasure-seeking Bastables and the Five Children and It.

To Charlotte Bronte, I love your Jane Eyre. Thank-you!

C.S. Lewis, you created a world I absolutely adore. I’m still looking for the wardrobe that leads into Narnia. Seriously, I’d like to go. (But in a time of peace, maybe.)

Thank-you Arthur Ransome for those adventures on the lake with the Swallows and Amazons!

And many thanks to Laura Ingalls Wilder for explaining every detail of pioneer living! Every. Detail. I lapped it up!

So, if you could write to your favourite author… who would it be and what would you say?

Old-Fashioned Reads

I keep a list of everything I read. In fact, if I really like a book, I put a star next to it. Sometimes a happy face. And sometimes a sad/mad face.

Recently, I was searching for a book I know I had read, but I forgot the exact title. So, I went to my list. And I noticed a bunch of the books that had stars next to them. Now, some of those books were not the old. Quite recent releases, actually.

But a number of them were not. In fact they were older than me. Something many would called “old-fashioned”.

And apparently, I like “old-fashioned” books!

So here is a list of my favourite old-fashioned books… These books, despite having been written years ago, still seem relevant today. At least in my humble opinion. (Yes, they may still have a few things that show their age, but overall they have not lost their storytelling magic).

Now, I’m not going to include anything by Jane Austen or Louisa May Alcott or L.M. Montgomery or Laura Ingalls Wilder… to name a few. Although they could be on this list. They aren’t, probably because they are on my other list of “Favourite Books of All-Time”.

No, the books on my “old-fashioned” list are those that seem to go under the radar… books that many people probably have never heard of. In fact, I had never heard of them! (Until I read them, of course.) They were books that I read, not knowing that they would become favourites of mine.

So… here’s the list. In no particular order:

1) Daddy Long Legs, by Jean Webster (1912)
2) Mrs. Mike, by Benedict and Nancy Freedman (1947)
3) My Family and Other Animals, by Gerald Durrell (1956)
4) No Graven Image, by Elisabeth Eliot (1966)
5) I Capture the Castle, by Dodie Smith (1948)

Review: Going Where It’s Dark

Book: Going Where It’s Dark
Author: Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Rating: 3 Stars

Basic plot: When Buck’s friend David moves away, he also loses his “caving” buddy. Now he starts to explore “caves” on his own. While he knows the danger, he keeps this a secret from his family. But that’s not the only secret.

WHAT’S COOL…

1) Buck’s a likeable kid. I felt Naylor captures quite well how he deals with his stutter and the bullies, etc.

2) I like Uncle Mel and how he fits into the story. He’s sympathetic to Buck and definitely a good role model. His absences due to his trucking job also allow for Buck to be able to keep some of his “secrets” from him.

3) The military approach by Jacob Wall to Buck’s stuttering problem… I found this fascinating. And to make it even more cool is that this approach seems to be based on how Naylor’s husband himself helped with people who stuttered. (This reaction is possibly due to the teacher coming out in me.)

4) I like how the theft at the sawmill is linked to… well, I won’t spoil it for you.

WHAT’S NOT COOL…

1) I was not convinced that Katie was Buck’s twin. They don’t seem to be twins. Period. She seems more like an older sister. I can’t really put my finger on it.

2) The cave parts. I think I might be a tiny bit claustrophobic, because any book that deals with people climbing through holes under ground makes me want to skim. And yes, I did skim the underground parts. This is not really a fault of this particular book, but just my personal reaction to small caves and being trapped underground.

3) The ending seemed a little abrupt to me. It felt like there should be another chapter. I’m not sure why, because Naylor has pretty much tied up all the plot strands. It just seemed like there should be more.

FINAL THOUGHTS

My rating is 3 Stars (out of 5) – While not my favourite of Naylor’s books, I did enjoy the stuttering plot-line. Again, this is probably a personal preference on my end.

When Books Disappear

You know what makes me really sad?

When books go missing from the library.

Now, I’m not talking about books that have been lost or books that are overdue. I’m talking about books that used to be at the library, but are no longer there… Because they have been deemed “no longer relevant”.

I’m talking about classic children’s books.

Elizabeth Enright is one such victim. I grew up with her classic The Saturdays. But does my library carry this book anymore? Nope. Why not? Well, it’s old. It’s set in the past (in the 1940s if memory serves). But so are a lot of other books written today. In fact, I’d say it’s more realistic because a modern author tends to put modern spin on a time period they did not live through.

Another victim… Maud Hart Lovelace. Now, I did not grow up with the Betsy-Tacy books, so nobody can accuse me of nostalgia here. (I did grow up with B is for Betsy books, but that’s by a different author.) I discovered Maud Hart Lovelace’s Betsy-Tacy books in my 20s. And I loved them. They are set in the early 1900s and are marvelously written.

Fortunately, I own a few of them in paperback. About a year and a half ago, I read Betsy-Tacy Go Downtown to my nieces (aged 8 & 9 at the time). We loved it. The horseless carriage. The theatre production. The secret revealed at the end.

Now, here’s the sad part. I went to my library and asked: “Could you please get these books? They have brand-new released versions for sale! It’s not like they’re out of print.  These are wonderful reads and kids deserve to read them! I want my nieces to read them!”

Maybe I picked the wrong librarian. She was probably in her 20s. Her response to me was: “Have you tried inter-library loan?”

For kids?! Really? I wanted my nieces to be able to get these books out for themselves. How realistic is it for them to jump through all the hoops in order to use inter-library loan!

Here’s the thing. I didn’t just come to the librarian with my request that the library buy the  Betsy-Tacy books. There were quite a few other titles on the list (other books I wanted to read but noticed that my library still had not ordered). These other books  were written more recently. Actually, within the past 2-5 years. Like Sammy Keyes and the Kiss Goodbye (by Wendelin Van Draanen), and Spy Camp (by Stuart Gibbs). And there were at least three more books on my request list (but I can’t remember the exact titles any more).

And you know what? They ordered every single one of those books. But, they did not order a single Betsy-Tacy book.

Now, I like Van Draanen. I like Gibbs. I like modern authors.

But what about Maud Hart Lovelace? What about Elizabeth Enright? What about the other authors that have disappeared into the library’s discard pile? Now, I don’t think every book ever written should be made untouchable. Remember B is for Betsy (the other Betsy books by Carolyn Haywood)? My library does have that one. I picked it up recently. Unfortunately, B is for Betsy has not aged well. I would not classify that book as classic. As an adult, I couldn’t even finish it. Not even for nostalgia’s sake. (Please recall that I have fond memories of reading this book as a child.)

No, the books by Maud Hart Lovelace and Elizabeth Enright are in a different category entirely. They belong with the Jane Austen books. And L.M. Montgomery books. And the C.S. Lewis books. And the Beatrix Potter books.

It made me sad to realize that these librarians couldn’t recognize a book worth keeping.

And when they disappear, I think we miss out on some wonderful literature.

P.S. So far, my library still has many of the books by E. Nesbit (like The Treasure Seekers) and Edgar Eager (like Half Magic). I fear these books might end up like the Betsy-Tacy books. I try to make it a point to take these books out every now and then. Just to show those librarians that people do want to keep the classics alive.

A Beginning After the End

“People have forgotten how to tell a story. Stories don’t have a middle or an end any more. They usually have a beginning that never stops beginning.” – Steven Spielberg

I recently came across this quote and thought, do I agree with this? Is it true? Is it not? Is it partly true?

The more I think about it, the more I do think that it’s true. The end of a good story is never really the end of the story, is it? Even “And they lived happily ever after” implies that something does happen after the book is closed for the final time.

The same goes for the Epilogue. It will summarize what happens next, but still it doesn’t actually finish the story. Unless, maybe if the main character dies.

But even if the main character dies, the rest of the story world continues. Other characters still live on.

Just as in real life.

And the stories that touch us the most have to have some part of real life in them. That’s why I think we’re drawn to such stories. Now this is not true for every story or book. I’ve read my fair share of books where the characters and plots are, at best, just “okay”. Others could be better described as dull and lifeless (and perhaps even trying too hard, but not succeeding). These stories, we’re probably glad to see the end of.

But for good books… For the stories that stick with us… These are the stories where the end of the book is really just another beginning.

It’s a beginning that comes after The End.

 

Review: Stolen Magic

Book: Stolen Magic
Author: Gail Carson Levine
Rating: 2.5 Stars

Basic plot: Elodie, her masteress the dragon, and Count Count Jonty Um are all on their way to Elodie’s home island of Lahnt. Suddenly, they discover that the Replica, a statue that magically keeps the volcano from erupting, has been stolen. Now it’s up to them to deduce, induce, and use common sense find the thief.

WHAT’S COOL…

1) This is the second book in “A Tale of Two Castles” series. I really liked the first book, so it was nice to join Elodie and the Dragon again. And Count Jonty Um as well.

2) I liked the introduction of Master Robbie and the friendship between him and Elodie.

3) The Dragon is a delightful character.

WHAT’S NOT COOL…

1) The first book is based (very lightly) on the Puss in Boots fairy tale (which was a delight to discover while reading it). This book doesn’t seem to be based on anything. To my mind, this makes the story a little bit weak. I think Levine is usually strongest in weaving those classic tales into her own stories… which is why “Ella Enchanted”, “Fairest”, and “A Tale of Two Castles” are top-notch reads. This one seems to be missing that little magic. (Maybe it was stolen?? Ouch!)

2) The three characters are split up for most of the story. I love the interplay between the three main characters, which obviously can’t happen if they are all in different locations.

3) I wanted to know who stole the Replica, but when I did find out the truth, I didn’t really feel relieved or satisfied. In fact, I really hate to say it, but I found I didn’t really care that much.

FINAL THOUGHTS

My rating is 2.5 Stars (out of 5) – This book was okay. It was SO close to getting 3 Stars, but the more I thought about it, I realized that it’s just not Levine’s best writing. It’s not exactly a bad book either, it’s just… okay. It was nice to revisit the same characters from “A Tale of Two Castles”.

Review: Spy Ski School

Book: Spy Ski School
Author: Stuart Gibbs
Rating: 3 Stars

Basic plot: Ben and his fellow spies-in-training are activated for their first mission. They go to ski country to try to figure out the nefarious plot of crime boss, Leo Shang, by cozying up to his daughter, Jessica.

WHAT’S COOL…

1) The cast of characters from this fourth installment of the Spy School books is top-notch… Everyone from Ben and Erica to Zoe and the rest of the gang. Cyrus and Alexander, too!

2) The setting for this book is a fun addition to the series. I especially love the random umlauts in the names of the “fake” Austrian names at the ski resort. Since when does the word ünd have an umlaut?? 🙂

3) I love the fact that “perfect” Erica is (**SPOILER: not very good at skiing! Even though she’s confident that she’ll be able to pick it just as easily as she’s mastered other sports, she turns out to be, GASP!… an average skier. END SPOILER)  I like that Erica is really good at what she does (she’s the best spy at the school), but it’s nice to have this little touch to humanize her!

4) The cover art continues to be excellent for this series. How can you not love this cover art?

5) Anytime you can use the word “nefarious” (and it’s appropriate) gets a bonus point!

WHAT’S NOT COOL…

1) I’m not crazy about how Alexander Hale is portrayed in these last couple of books… Yes, he is obnoxiously James Bond-like, but that little quirk makes him likeable. However, as the series grows, so do the contempt of both Alexander’s daughter and father… to the point of despising him. I wish Gibbs had made him a little less incompetent. Sure, he can exaggerate about his spy skills, but does he have to be a complete idiot??? I LIKE Alexander Hale, quirks and all!! I like Erica Hale (and yes, she has her own quirks) and I like Cyrus Hale (although, in this book I did find him at times unlikable due to a mean streak I don’t remember from the other books).

2) I’m also not crazy about the character of Mike. Mike is Ben’s best friend, which should mean I should like him, right? But the thing is, I don’t. And I really don’t know why. I just don’t like him. Every time he comes into the plot, I feel like he’s intruding on the story. (**SPOILER: And I’m not really looking forward to his recruitment—hinted at in the book—to Spy School. Sorry, but I guess I just don’t really like Mike! END SPOILER)

3) (**SPOILER: Why is Murray in this book? Totally and completely not necessary. Shang’s a “good” bad guy. He doesn’t need Murray to help him with his nefarious plotting. END SPOILER)

4) The title of the book is a weird alliteration that, frankly, is hard to say.

FINAL THOUGHTS

My rating is 3 Stars (out of 5) – A fun read! I like the development of the characters in this series (with the exception of those listed above). I look forward to the next Spy School book! 🙂