Notes on a Near-Life Experience by Olivia Birdsall.

This is a thoughtful and thought-provoking look at the effect of divorce on a teen girl.  Mia’s father moves out of the house after years of fighting that they tried to hide from the children.  Before the divorce, the family had things that marked them as a great family:  home-made birthday cakes, packed school lunches ready and waiting, and Jeopardy in the evenings.  But when her father leaves, so do those hallmarks of her family.  As Mia’s family life falls apart, her romance with a long-time crush begins to heat up.  But can she make sense of all of these new feelings and experiences before she drowns in them? 

I loved the characterizations here.  The fact that the they were flawed and interesting made the book work.  Mia was complicated as were her siblings, her best friend and her parents.  The book is all about living in a complicated world where nothing is as simple as it once seemed.

Recommend this to preteen girls.  This is a perfect tween novel with romance, best friends and family angst.

The Dumpster Diver by Janet S. Wong, illustrated by David Roberts. 

I was charmed by this book when I opened it to the end pages and found a mishmash of different insects.  The dumpsters near the children’s buildings are filled with treasure, but it takes the Dumpster Diver to find it.  Suited with a yellow raincoat, snorkeling gear, heavy gloves and flippers, Steve is ready to enter the dumpsters.  It takes an entire diving team of children to support him, much to their delight.  And the treasure they find may be garbage to others, but is soon built into fantastic creations.  As Steve says, “Junk is good!”

This is not a sweet-scented, clean dumpster experience.  It is dangerous, dirty, icky and gross.  The fact that this all ends with cleaned up items that are made into useful furniture, toys and more is what makes the book so successful.  I love that it is not a sanitized version of junk collecting but instead embraces the icky along with the finds. 

Share this with an art class, kids who enjoy a good rummage around, or anyone who sees value in things that others toss out.  It will inspire children to see functionality and art in everyday objects. 

I was attacked a week ago Friday with an awful flu.  Fever of 101-102 for all the days in between.  I did try to go to work on Monday, but had to head home at lunchtime. 

I never get fevers.  My last fever was over 15 years ago in library school when my then fiance and now husband gave me chicken pox!  I never got many spots, but had to move back with my parents for a month and out of the dorms.

Well I am on the mend with books piled around me waiting to be read.  The worst part was that for most of the week I was too sick to even read. 

This next week is the children’s spring break, so I am on vacation.  I may post a little bit but will return to full posting strength on April 9th.

See you then!

How It Happened in Peach Hill by Marthe Jocelyn.

This is a fascinating portrayal of a teen girl during Prohibition who moves from town to town with her mother who pretends to be a medium in touch with the spirits.  When they arrive in Peach Hill, Annie plays the idiot, drooling and rolling one of her eyes so that she can serve as an information gatherer for her mother.  But Annie who is a bright person begins to chafe under her mother’s rule and dreams of breaking free from the cage she has been put in. 

Seventy pages from the end of the book, I still didn’t know how the author was going to end it.  How were all of the details going to be tied together and still be satisfying.  But Jocelyn does it very well, not projecting much of the ending ahead of time.  The setting is fascinating, though I would have liked to have the time period introduced immediately.  It was jarring to find clues about the 1920s when I thought I was reading a more modern story.  The small town and outsider point of view was well done, as were the characters of Annie and her mother.  I even enjoyed many of the lesser characters who were surprisingly unique just when you thought you had them figured out.

Unfortunately, the cover of the book does little to sell it.  This is a good read that will have to be hand sold to readers who will look at the cover and not see the palm reading and crystal ball.  It’s disappointing because there are such options with this subject matter.

Those teens who do pick it up will find a nice book that matches well with A Drowned Maiden’s Hair.  Though it is a teen novel where Annie is 15 and 16 in the book, it is a gentle enough story to use with older elementary children and tweens.   Recommend to tweens who enjoy realistic fiction.

A Good Day by Kevin Henkes.

Why even bother to review a Henkes book?  Don’t I know by now just to expect greatness?  Well, yes I do.  That is why I simply must read each one! 

With his latest book, Henkes continues to demonstrate his knowledge of children and what appeals to them.  His bold, colorful illustrations combined with exactly the right amount of text make this a fabulous read.  Add to that the exact right amount of tension and you have a real winner.  This book is designed not for the readers of his magnificent mouse books about Lily and Chester and Wemberly, but for younger children, even toddlers.  The illustrations will project wonderfully even to a crowd and beg to be shared.

I don’t think you will have trouble finding a storytime theme to fit this in.  The problem will be trying not to use it again and again and again.  I would also recommend this as a birth gift for a new baby.  It is a book that will entice infants with the colors but will grow with them to be a beloved tattered book.

ALA has announced that And Tango Makes Three is at the top of the most challenged books of 2006.  Wanna bet that The Higher Power of Lucky makes the 2007 list?

Here are the top ten most challenged books of last year:

We start with the sole picture book on the list, but one that carries on the tradition of any picture book for small children that even mentions homosexuality being on the list:

And Tango Makes Three by Justin Richardson.

Then we get into a group of books for teenage girls that *gasp* address sexuality!

The Gossip Girl series by Cecily Von Ziegesar.

The Alice series by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor.

The Earth, My Butt and Other Big, Round Things by Carolyn Mackler.

And of course the Toni Morrison books:

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison.

Beloved by Toni Morrison.

Then books for teens in general that are all cited for “offensive language” because goodness knows that without these books teens would have no idea that such language exists:

Athletic Shorts by Chris Crutcher.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky.

The Chocolate War by Robert Cormier.

And finally, for being unsuited to the age group, insensitive, violent AND containing occult/Satanism:

The Scary Stories series by Alvin Schwartz.

Makes me want to run out and read all of them all over again.  Kind of like a backwards recommended reads list.

Who Is Driving by Leo Timmers.

Carried by Timmers’ illustrations, this is a matching book where you match the vehicle to one of four possible drivers.  Then you turn the page for the answer as well as the noise that the vehicle makes.  It is a lot of fun.  The illustrations manage to feel modern and vintage at the same time, with bright colored uniforms and costumes that tell children who fits with the vehicle.   The text is spare but welcoming for small children who will delight in matching things again and again.  (Trust me, I know this from experience!) 

This book is better with a small group or one-on-one because of the details of the pictures that help in matching.  Share it with any child who enjoys vehicles, guaranteeing help when it comes to making the wide variety of engine noises.

American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang.

I don’t think I can add anything about how wonderful this book is.  It is an incredible creation by a gifted author and illustrator.  I only wish I had read it earlier in the year so that I could have rooted for it to win the Printz ahead of time! 

If you don’t usually like graphic novels, this is one that you should try.  Not because it won an award, but because it is accessible even to those who don’t read comics regularly.  It goes so far beyond comics with its commentary on stereotypes alone, not to mention the inclusion of the Monkey King.  It is simply amazing.

Buy this one for your libraries, share it with teens, but most of all, read it yourself.  If you are anything like me, you will start looking around for other great graphic novels to immerse yourself in.

CCBC Choices is always one of my favorite lists of the year.  Not only does it not pick a winner, but it offers such a range of multicultural, multiethnic, multi-everything books that no other list can quite compare.  I always find myself placing more books on hold at the library than with any other list, and each one is an amazing book. 

Now that I am no longer doing children’s programming, I have given up attending most of the continuing education about children’s services.  The one that I simply can’t give up is the presentation by the CCBC where they come and hand sell the books they have selected.  I hope to be there again this year.

Later drafts of the list will have annotations and recommended ages for all of the books, but this first glimpse is the most exciting! 

Here are some of my faves from the list:

Move! by Steve Jenkins and Robin Page.
An Island Grows by Lola Schaefer.
Summer Is Summer by Phillis Gershator.
Winter Is the Warmest Season by Lauren Stringer.
One Potato, Two Potato by Cynthia DeFelice.
The Little Red Hen by Jerry Pinkney.
The Magic Horse of Han Gan by Chen Jiang Hong.
Dizzy by Jonah Winter.
Meow Ruff by Joyce Sidman.
Superhero ABC by Bob McLeod.
Black? White! Day? Night! by Laura Vaccaro Seeger.
Bebe Goes Shopping by Susan Middleton Elya.
Boo and Baa Have Company by Lena Landstrom.

This is obviously going to go on forever!  I have read more titles on the list this year than ever before.  Usually I recognize only a handful and am lead to a myriad of great reads.  This year I seem to have read and enjoyed more than I missed.  I am amazed.

Anyway, it is a super list.  Filled with great reads for all ages.  Check it out!