If one needs proof that Internet is impacting everything, consider Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney.  Subtitled “a novel in cartoons”, this book began its life on-line in 2004 as a series of diary/blog style entries on Funbrain.com.  According to Kinney’s website, “The print version of the books have improved stories, better drawings, and new surprises for those who have already read the online version.”

Did you notice it said “books”?  Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2:  Rodrick Rules was published in early 2008, with Diary of a Wimpy Kid 3: The Last Straw scheduled for publication in fall of 2008.  Children’s librarians can appreciate the inclusion of the series number in the title, but this will make it challenging for library catalogers.  (Only catalogers will know why… the rest of you, feel happy you’ll never know…)

With such a unique beginning and the huge commercial promotion of the book through the Scholastic Book Fairs I’m not ashamed to admit that I approached reading this title with skepticism.  I knew that my students already loved the book, but I did not expect to agree.  However, after reading it I understood why the kids enjoy the title;  not only was it a fast read, but it truly connects with the problems of the middle school world.  The plots are a definite cut above Captain Underpants; the humor is a bit more refined.  Obviously this book will appeal to reluctant readers, but the fact that it nails middle school extends its appeal. 

Wimpy Kid is unique!  The blend of text and cartoons make this more than a highly illustrated title and less than a graphic novel.  Take 15-20 minutes, read it,  and see why this one is worth recommending to students.  (Although you probably won’t need to… they are selling it to one another!)

I have enjoyed several of Donna Jo Napoli’s previous titles:  Crazy Jack, Stones in Water, and King of Mulberry Street.  I looked forward to reading North not only on her reputation as an author, but because the subject matter was unique. 

North is about a very insecure and overprotected boy (Alvin) running away to follow in the footsteps of his hero, the Arctic explorer Matthew Hensen.  Unfortunatly this novel couldn’t decide if it was a non-fiction work about Matthew Hensen, an instruction on authentic research, or a treatise on life in the Arctic today.  The information about Hensen is rather clumsily woven into the narrative.  The plot device of an unhappy runaway is contrived and unbelievable.  The tiny bit of the narrative that does shine is the time Alvin spends with Idlouk Tana learning to survive in the far North.  Since the reader doesn’t reach that until pg 266 it is too-little-too-late. 

Any reader that sticks with the book is going to be disappointed when the tease that Idlouk is a descendant of Matthew Hensen is proven wrong.  Alvin is disappointed and the reader feels betrayed.  A disappointing title from Napoli!

British author Michelle Paver has a winning fantasy series in Chronicles of Ancient Darkness .  The series begins with Wolf Brother followed by Spirit Walker, Soul Eater and the recently released The Outcast. 

The first book, Wolf Brother, is on this year’s Rebecca Caudill list.  (The Rebecca Caudill Young Readers’ Book Award is for Illinois students in grades 4-8.)   As a member of the RCYRBA steering committee and as a K-8 librarian who promotes the award heavily in my three schools, I predict that Wolf Brother, a fast paced and likeable survival story, is going to be a very popular title among this year’s 20 nominees. 

The action in Wolf Brother starts immediately as the main character, Torak, and his father encounter a demon possessed bear.  Torak is quickly (and unwillingly) thrust into a preordained quest to defeat this bear as it begins threatening all the clans.  Torak rescues a wolf pup who becomes his friend and, perhaps, spirit guide.  Bits of the narrative are from Wolf’s perspective as Wolf tries to understand Torak whom he calls Tall Tailless.  Indeed it is Wolf’s views of the world along with the prehistoric tribal setting that makes this series very fresh and unique.  With a fairly uncomplicated plot and characters, this is fantasy light for young readers. 

Paver is smart!  The setting and situations feel like North American Natives in ancient Norway to me… but it is purely from Paver’s imagination.  This series, as pure fantasy, is not subject to criticism by any people or culture group.  Again, smart author!

Because I read so much YA fiction in my profession, it is rare that I read adult novels.  It is also rare, because of my terribly sequential brain, that I will read more than one book at a time; I always read a book and finish before moving on to the next.  But friends convinced me, since I recently completed a graduate degree, that I should reward myself by diverging and reading the adult novel, The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde.  I did enjoy it (although it made me feel like I need to return for a degree in English Literature) and I happily began the second in that series.  However, a couple of nights ago at bedtime, too lazy to retrieve my Fford book from the living room, I broke my “one-book-at-a-time” rule and started reading Paver’s Soul Eater (more conviently located in my bedside to-read stack).  What is it about YA fiction that makes it impossible to put down?  And why don’t adult novels share it? 

Spirit Walker was just as action packed as Wolf Brother.  Torak reminds me of the young Luke Skywalker; both have determination, strength of character, and unexplained (and unexplored) powers along with a destiny that is slowly being revealed through the series.  Fforde is fforgotten as I now must ffinish The Chronicles of Ancient Darkness!  Thursday Next may or may not be next in the to-read stack…

I adore the author Caroline B. Cooney because my students adore the author Caroline B. Cooney.  I adore the author Caroline B. Cooney because I have heard her speak in person and she is terrific and entertaining.  I adore the author Caroline B. Cooney because she prolifically writes FOR YOUNG READERS and she appeals to those ever challenging reluctant readers!  But sometimes she is right on, as she was with her novel The Terrorist, and sometimes she misses the mark.  Unfortunately Code Orange is a miss! 

Random House calls it “an edge of your seat thriller”.  It would be if it didn’t bog down with poorly disguised lessons in Information Literacy, research, and Internet safety along with more than you ever wanted to know about smallpox.  This novel was so close…  but still a miss.

Readers will identify with Mitty Blake as he exhibits the all too familiar ‘why bother’ characteristics of many of today’s teens toward schoolwork.  Providing contrast is his love interest, the overachieving Olivia.  (Thank goodness for the Olivias who keep educators hopeful!)  Bioterrorism was one of the great themes in the book, but again, the book bogged down because the disease information presented did not blend seamlessly with the narrative.

Skip this one and read The Terrorist or Flight #116 is Down.  They remain among my favorites by Cooney.  Of course, there is also The Ransom of Mercy Carter, the “Time” series, and the ever popular The Face on the Milk Carton.  Did I mention I adore the author Caroline B. Cooney?  I just didn’t adore Code Orange.  Feel free to disagree…

Once upon a time I studied learning channels… as an educator it is important to understand the varied ways humans learn.  But I also learned a lot about myself and my own learning styles and preferences.  One thing I know is that I am very sequential.  As a reader this means that I cannot stand to read a series of books out of order.  But “blast”, as a character from The Castaways might say, this novel is the third in a trilogy called The Curse of the Jolly Stone.  I was too far into the book when I discovered it to discontinue reading!   However, I will recommend to you that you first read The Convicts (#1) and The Cannibals (#2) as I wish I had done.

Tom Tin and four other boys are adrift at sea when they encounter what they first believe to be the ghost ship “The Flying Dutchman”.   The book has far too many loose ends to stand alone:  why are they adrift?, how was Midgely blinded? why were these boys being sent to Australia as criminals, and what is the Jolly Stone anyway?  Some narratives will back up and explain these things to the reader, but Lawrence refers back to the previous novels frequently and without augmentation.

But I continued reading anyway!  I read because it was a rollicking good adventure full of suspense and action.  I read because it was full of interesting characters with depth and soul.  (Some of the souls were pure evil!)  And now I must go back and read the first two!

The book is very British, but that lends charm, and will not inhibit an American reader.  Young readers grades 6 and up with be happily entertained and satisfyingly disgusted with the minor elements of horror in the book. 

Of Iain Lawrence’s other works I’ve only read The Wreckers which was the first of The High Seas Trilogy.  It also was high adventure and included delicious bits of horror.  (I recall something about a rat nibbling on a living human foot!)  For more of Iain Lawrence’s work see his website.  Hmmm.  I never finished reading that trilogy…  The stack grows higher!

Students ask for scary books all year long… It isn’t just a Halloween fad.  And I find it difficult to find well written scary books.  I admit, scary is not appealing to me so I have a hard time selecting.  In my opinion (and in my community) Stephen King is not appropriate for K-8, and once they’ve read Alvin Schwartz what do I give them?  And I question:  what is scary?  Horror?  Mystery? Supernatural?  Just what do they want anyway and what is appropriate in a school library for younger readers?

Recently I have discovered scary stories by Joseph Bruchac that are satisfying both me and my students.  Skeleton Man, Return of Skeleton Man, Bearwalker, Whisper in the Dark, and The Dark Pond.  In each Bruchac weaves a modern scary story around a Native American monster story.  They are deliciously creepy, wonderful fast reads.

At the Illinois Reading Conference (March 16, 2007) Bruchac in his prime role as storyteller, shared some Abenaki and Mohawk scary stories.  He shared that in the Native tradition ,scary stories are told for guidance.  “There is a difference between being properly fearful and afraid.”  Life is dangerous and stories can contain great strength.  A child (or any listener) “May need to be shaken to be awakened.”  Bruchac cautioned, “Do not be afraid to have children discover the realities of danger.  There is nothing more dangerous than information that is incomplete.”  According to Bruchac, we need to intelligently inform children of consequences and stories speak to consequences.

Bruchac’s books are not overtly moralistic, yet they exude wisdom and sage advice.  Elizabeth Bush from U of I’s The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books said it best when she reviewed Skeleton Man:

“Bruchac interjects elements increasingly rare in unsentimentalized children’s books—parents who talk with rather than to their child, a child who accepts her parents’ guidance, family faith in the wisdom imparted within their culture (in this case, Mohawk)—and ably demonstrates that sane characters are no impediment to a roaring good horror story.”  (October 2006, Vol. 60, No. 2)

Scary stories with a purpose;  I can defend that!  Bruchac’s books are GOOD and SCARY!  Just don’t read them when you are home alone at night…

Fortuitous timing that I finished this particular novel to coincide with July 4th!  It has been in my ‘to read’ pile for some time.  It truly was a coincidence that I picked it up now. 

Give Me Liberty  by L.M. Elliott is obviously well researched, incorporating many quotations and working key historical figures accurately into the narrative.  This novel is a challenging read as a result, but the story of the fictional character Nathaniel Dunn is compelling.  Nathaniel as an indentured servant faces any number of moral dilemmas throughout the book.  All are resolved in a realistic fashion making this a book worth recommending to more advanced readers. 

The book is divided into ten parts indicating the time period of the subsequent chapters (ranging from May 1774-December 1775) .  Each part begins with the lyrics to an appropriate song from the period.  Personally, I lost interest in those, but they are easily skipped!  They felt a bit like research that the author couldn’t bear to exclude, but they are appropriate since music is woven into the fabric of the narrative.

Liberty itself is actually the main theme of the book and not just the events leading up to the American Revolution.  The concepts of liberty are introduced through the words of the founding fathers (Jefferson, Henry, etc.), explained through the voice of Nathaniel’s bookish master “Basil Wilkinson, schoolmaster and music teacher, sometime clerk” as he describes himself, and contemplated throughout by Nathaniel.  The sad truth that the liberty of the American Revolution was not yet for all is explored through the character of Moses, Nathaniel’s African slave friend. 

Nathaniel’s story ends with the Battle of Great Bridge which in her note the author calls “a brief but pivotal battle” outside Norfolk, VA.  This isn’t a novel which neatly ties up all the lose ends.  Instead it leaves us with a main character who has developed and matured, open to the possibilities before him.

As I finished reading I wondered about the words that stirred men’s souls in that time period.  Were those words actually what sparked and drove the eventual revolution?  How many truly fought for the cause of liberty?  And what are our thoughts on liberty today?  As individuals we are quick to assert our “rights” and claim “freedom”, but do we truly value the concept of liberty?  And when is the last time we thought about “right” instead of “rights”?  Like Nathaniel’s story, however, there are no easy answers.  But where liberty exists there are always possibilities!

Be sure to check out the author’s resources on Give Me LIBERTY.

Happy Independence Day to all!