Day: January 4, 2010

Katherine Paterson – 2nd National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature

| Tasha

Wow, I did not see that coming!  I am very pleasantly surprised.  What a lovely choice!

Katherine Paterson has written some of my favorite children’s books.  Note to self: must include at least one in my list for Fuse #8’s Top 100 Children’s Fiction. 

I adore two of her books in particular.  One from the 1980s, Jacob Have I Loved has so much going for it.  Rivalry, drama, tension, complex family relationships and beautiful writing that can carry such a strong story with ease.

The other is Paterson’s latest, The Day of the Pelican, which speaks to the plight of modern refugees.  It is a thin volume with such an important story.  You can see my review here.

Congratulations to Ms. Paterson may she reign with the same heroism and strength we see in her novels. 

The Everything Machine

| Tasha

The Everything Machine by Matt Novak

On planet Quirk, they have an Everything Machine that does all of the work.  The machine cooks, cleans, gardens, paints, and even colors in the children’s coloring books and scratches people’s backs.  But one day, the machine stopped working.  There was no noise from its gears and whirring.  The people tried to fix it, but nothing worked.  Then they found a label that told them to call a repairman from Planet Bing Bong.  He immediately arrived and took the machine apart.  But now what were they to do!  They tried to help themselves but it was very hard to suddenly have to care for yourself.  Eventually it got easier and then it became fun to cook, garden, and color.  After months and months, the machine was finally fixed.  The problem was then that the people liked doing things themselves, so what could they do with the Everything Machine?

A brilliant statement on modern life and technology, this book is filled with humor both in its text and illustrations which keeps it from becoming heavy handed.  Novak’s illustrations feature cartoon-like aliens which are very human except for their single antenna topped with a red ball.  Novak excels at framed illustrations that show the people struggling to do things for themselves.  Nearly wordless, that two-page spread is pure vaudeville humor that every child will love. 

Highly recommended, this book has Everything and humor too.  Appropriate for ages 4-7.

Reviewed from library copy.

The Maze Runner

| Tasha

The Maze Runner by James Dashner

The only thing Thomas remembers when he wakes up on the lift is his name.  When the doors open, he is in the Glade where he is greeted by many other teen boys who also don’t remember anything beyond their names and the Glade.  The Glade is a community based on order and structure. Every morning the doors open to the maze, every evening they close.  Though some boys have been there for years, they have never solved the maze and found an exit.  There are monsters in the maze, creations of flesh and metal that roam the maze and attack any boy they find there.  Thomas finds himself wanting to be a Runner, one of the boys who tries to solve the enormous maze, even though commonsense tells him not to do it.  The day after Thomas arrives, everything changes when an unconscious girl arrives on the lift, and deep inside Thomas recognizes her though he can’t remember anything else.  Could she be the key to the maze?  Could he?

Grippingly written, this book grabs the reader from the moment the lift doors open and never lets go.  Dashner has created a wonderfully conceived compact world that really works well.  The reader knows no more than Thomas, making it a book with constant questions and tensions.  One of the only issues I had with the book was Thomas himself.  I would have enjoyed a more regular protagonist rather than a boy who is braver, stronger, and more clever than any of the others.  The book has great pacing which is headlong and wild, fitting the subject perfectly.  And though Thomas may be a bit to super, his character has a strong inner voice that works well.  The setting is written with such clarity that readers will feel they know the space well by the end of the novel. 

Highly recommended, the next book in the series will be eagerly awaited by those who read it.  Recommended for fans of The Hunger Games series, this book is appropriate for ages 13-16.

Reviewed from library copy.

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Bravo, Jon Scieszka

| Tasha

First, let’s all be pronouncing his name correctly, which I hadn’t been for years and years until I listened to this. 

Jon brings such a manic glee and joy to children’s literature.  As a children’s librarian many years ago, I loved putting his books into the hands of skeptical older children and seeing their faces light up when they read the first pages.  There was an instant kinship, a connection, a silliness.  His books are infectious in the very best way.   Ideally shared with others, they spread viral laughter everywhere.

Better than handing the books to children was to get the opportunity to read them aloud to third through fifth graders.  Those grades where pulling a picture book out of your bad draws groans and an assumption that you don’t understand them.  A misapprehension that disappears as it is replaced with delight.

They are part of my never-fail pile, my go-to books that speak to everyone and light up the room.

So Bravo Jon Scieszka.  Bravo!