Seeing Cinderella

Remember what it was like to be in middle school?  All ankles, knees, elbows and nose, hoping no one will notice whatever it is that you think is wrong with you that day,  figuring out what your "thing" is, trying to balance multiple classes and teacher expectations, avoiding the bullies, and wanting to be safe at home, while simultaneously not wanting to be under your parents' thumbs?  Good times.

This little gem captures all of those feelings perfectly.  Seeing Cinderella chronicles the first half of Callie's sixth grade year.  The day before school starts. her mom takes her to the optometrist for a check up because she is having headaches.  Callie is determined not to wear glasses and has memorized the vision screening chart in a vain attempt to trick the doctor.

He's not fooled and the reader should pick up on the fact that he is no ordinary optometrist when he gives her an eye exam that includes a bizarre version of the Rorschach test and asks questions about making friends, sounding more like a psychologist than an optometrist.  As she prepares to leave, he tells her that the frames she has selected are backordered and gives her an incredibly ugly pair of glasses to use in the meantime, advising her to use them wisely.

Callie soon discovers that when she is wearing the glasses, she can see what people are thinking (in text form) as well as their wishes and past experiences (in video form).  This gift proves helpful as she figures out who her real friends are, which boy likes her and is worth liking back, and what is going on with her separated parents.  

I expected that the glasses would be used in mischievous ways far more often than they would be used as a tool for introspection, but author Jenny Lundquist doesn't want the message to be lost. Callie's voice is clear and true throughout the story as she learns some tough lessons and finds a way to be herself, happily.

The chapter subtitles are clever, the characters are true-to-life, and Lundquist demonstrates an understanding of a middle schooler's innermost struggles and a delightful ability to articulate them.  Once you've read Seeing Cinderella, be sure to explore her other novels.

Sleeping Ugly

This book makes me laugh!  Jane Yolen is a gifted storyteller and is perhaps best-known for the touching Owl Moon, so it surprised me to read such a witty, even sarcastic, fracture of Sleeping Beauty.

Sleeping Ugly begins by introducing us to Princess Miserella - a spoiled, snotty, completely beautiful princess.  She gets lost while out on a walk and, finding an old woman napping under a tree, rudely wakens her and demands to be guided home.  It doesn't quite work out as she planned and they end up at Plain Jane's ramshackle cottage deep in the woods.

Miserella refuses to rein in her boorish behavior and the old woman, who is a fairy in disguise, tires of listening to her and, in a fit of frustration, casts a sleeping spell on her, which affects all three women since her ferocity breaks the wand.

They slumber through hundreds of year until Prince JoJo "who was the youngest son of a youngest son and so had no gold or jewels or property to speak of..." enters the cottage and decides to practice his kiss on the old woman first, then Jane, and in a moment of clarity, decides against kissing the gorgeous Miserella because "JoJo knew that kind of princess.  He had three cousins just like her;  Pretty on the outside.  Ugly within."

He and Jane marry, have children and add a granny flat to the cottage for their friend the old woman/fairy.  They never wake up Miserella who often serves as a coat rack for their guests.

Humorous, clever, completely fractured fairy tale.

The Heist Society

The Heist Society is another series for tweens and teens by Ally Carter.  I found this series to be more engaging for an adult than the Gallagher Girls series, or maybe I just prefer theft to spying ;)

The story lines are fast-paced, with plenty of twist, turns and tight squeezes.  Kat's continual struggle between wanting to "go straight" and wanting to be loyal to her family is interesting, a con-within-the-con is the rule rather than the exception, and isn't it always fun to watch a smart, strong young female who can do anything she sets her mind to, flounder through boy-girl interactions?  As long as that female isn't your very ownself, right?

Here's a brief synopsis of each book:

In the first book, The Heist Society, we meet Katarina Bishop, our strong, smart protagonist.  Kat comes from a long line of art thieves.  To get out of the family business, she enrolls in an exclusive boarding school, but when she gets kicked out, she goes back to her old ways in order to recover (read: steal from the world's most secure museum) some paintings stolen during World War II, return them to the families of the original owners, and save her father.

The second book, Uncommon Criminals, focuses on Kat being asked to steal Cleopatra's Emerald and return it to it's rightful owner.  Unfortunately, the emerald is cursed and none of the crew's usual strategies are working.  Lots of globetrotting, suspenseful fun.

Perfect Scoundrels, the third installment in the series, turns our attention to Hale and the company he inherits from his grandmother.  When it looks like the will was altered as part of an elaborate plan to steal the company fortune, Kat and crew have their hands full fighting not only for the company, but for Hale.  This book gives us glimpses into Hale's family and life that have only been hinted at in the previous two books. If you've read the first two books, you definitely want to get to know Hale, as evidenced by the collective squeal let out by the crowd at the author event I attended when Carter merely mentioned his name.

Carter creates teen art thieves worth rooting for, while injecting some lessons in art, geography and history.  If you enjoy Carter's work, there is a crossover novella: Double Crossed;  A Spies and Thieves Story that is unofficially called HS 2.5 and GG 5.5.  I told you, Carter loves her fans!  Click the link to get it free for your Kindle now!

Ally Carter has a knack for writing characters and stories that tweens and teens can't get enough of - keep your eye on her.  Her newest book, All Fall Down, was released today along with a short prequel  to that book - click on the link to get the Kindle version FREE.

Gallagher Girls

A few years ago, my daughter Kim invited me to attend an author visit at the Provo Library.  Wanting to spend time with her, I agreed, though I had never heard of the author or her books.

If you get a chance to attend an Ally Carter event, do it - she is engaging, fun, and clearly appreciates her readers.  The signing I attended was well-organized and relaxed, but every author has to be tired after speaking for an hour or so and then sitting for at least as long to sign books and meet fans.  She was incredibly gracious, happy to answer questions, and her young fans felt her love for the GG world she created.

When we entered the ballroom, there were rows of young women wearing sunglasses.  It was evening and we were indoors, so I was curious.  My daughter then explained the premise of the Gallagher Girls.

The Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women seems like any other all-girls boarding school to the unsuspecting public, but the young women attending the academy are receiving a curriculum guaranteed to produce some of the world's best spies.

Cammie Morgan and her friends, like Harry Potter and his cohort, constantly find that real-life mysteries are interfering with their educational goals. Each girl already has a code name, many of them have a spy pedigree as well. And then there's Zach - a handsome young man from the Blackthorne Institute for Troubled Young Men.

The six books in the series follow Cammie, Bex, Liz, and Macey as they destroy the villainous Circle of Cavan, piece by piece.

Ally Carter has created a world that young adventure seekers will enjoy entering for a while.  As an adult, the story became predictable after a while and I began skimming rather than absorbing.  But young readers will undoubtedly enjoy every moment of the action.  The girls are gutsy, smart, and just rebellious enough to keep them in constant danger.  The romances take a firm backseat to the spying, which should be refreshing to parents.

Carter's website is worth visiting.  It's reader-friendly and includes deleted "scenes" that GG devotees will devour.  She has a long list of answers to FAQs, previews to her new series, and many other features that clearly demonstrate her gratitude to her fans as well as her understanding of how easy it is to become obsessed with characters, a story, and an author.

If you know a tween or early teen whose love of reading is lagging - try these books.  Have her read them all - in order!

Four Puppies

Doesn't that golden spine take you back?

Since my move, I haven't been able to unpack my classroom library, so there are 30 or so boxes of books stacked in my bedroom and the guest room.  I root around in them when I need one for a lesson at school or want to write a post for this blog.  What should be a five minute job usually ends up being a 30, 45, or 60 minute job as I get lost in remembering not only the characters and plots of the stories, but when I first read each one and how I felt about it.

When I came across this gem, it took me WAY back to my own childhood.  I loved this story almost as much as I loved sitting with my dad while he read to me.

Four adorable puppies learn about the seasons from the "friendly red squirrel in the hickory tree." As each season arrives, the puppies cry and lament all of the seasonal elements they had been enjoying - racing across the grass and chasing butterflies in the summer, scuffing in the fallen leaves in the autumn, sliding down snow banks in the winter - until the squirrel points out all of the wonderful qualities of the incoming season.  I think that reading this book gave me my first understanding of the cyclical nature of the seasons - "It's like a wheel turning round and round."

One of my favorite things about the squirrel's soliloquy at the beginning of each season is his use of the phrase silly-billies.  "'You silly-billies - there's nothing to cry about,' said the friendly red squirrel in the hickory tree."  My parents and grandparents used the term silly-billy often when I was a child and it makes me smile whenever I hear it.

Author Anne Heathers uses repetition to create a feeling of familiarity with the reader, allowing a young reader to gain confidence in his/her ability to predict, but she puts just enough of a twist on it each season so as not to become tedious.  She hits the highlights of each season through the eyes of puppies growing into dogs, emphasizing their own growth in comparison to the porch steps and what is being served for dinner.

The illustrations, by Liliam Obligado, an author in her own right, are absolutely charming.  Everything is friendly and bright and life-like.  She also illustrates one of my son Michael's childhood favorites, The Golden Egg Book.

The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish

The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish is a funny story about a boy who decides he absolutely must have his friend's goldfish.  Not finding anything in his bedroom that they can agree to swap, they settle on his dad, who is so absorbed in his newspaper that he doesn't notice anything that happens during the entire story.

Once Mom gets home, the boy and his sister are sent to get his dad back.  At his friend's house, he returns the goldfish and learns that his dad was swapped for an electric guitar, he takes the guitar back to it's original owner and finds that his dad was swapped again.  Author Neil Gaiman takes us on a journey all over town as the children search for their dad.

The zany story is not the highlight of this book, however. What sets it apart from the rest of the pack are the layered illustrations by Dave McKean.  Photographs, newspaper, drawing and painting are layered to create a unique accompaniment to the text. They are rather dark, but manage to convey the charm of childhood.  The last page is slightly more menacing and leaves us hanging with a will-he-or-won't-he situation.  Look for interesting touches throughout the book, such as eyes drawn as goldfish, a queen wearing a ship as a hat, stamps, letters and photographs.

The version I have also includes an afterword by Neil Gaiman, in which he explains how this book came to be.

A Bad Case of Stripes

David Shannon is a children's lit rock star!  I got to hear him speak a few years ago at the BYU Symposium on Books for Young Readers.  He was entertaining and shared his how-I-became-an-author story, told us to look for his little Scotty hidden in his books, and revealed some illustrations from his soon-to-be-published (at the time) book, It's Christmas, David!

A Bad Case of Stripes (this link goes to an online reading of the book by Sean Astin) is a fun, colorful lesson in being yourself and resisting peer pressure.

Camilla loves lima beans, but refuses to eat them because she wants to fit in and all of her friends hate lima beans.  She wakes up on the first day of school and her entire body is covered in stripes.  The doctor can't figure it out, so off to school she goes.  Naturally, the other kids ridicule her and call her names.  Throughout the whole miserable day, her body art changes whenever someone makes a demand - polka dots, checkerboard, stars and stripes.

The situation grows worse and none of the medical experts hovering over her can diagnose the problem.  Reporters wait outside her home, hoping to catch a glimpse of the girl who is now covered with roots, berries, crystals, feathers, and a long, furry tail, all leftovers of other people's suggestions.

Finally, a friendly old lady knocks on the front door and solves the problem. Camilla decides that no matter what other people think, she's going to eat as many lima beans as she wants, whenever she wants.

The lesson might be lost on younger readers, but older readers should be able to infer quite easily that not being true to yourself results in misery.

Miss Malarkey Doesn't Live in Room 10

I laugh every time I read this story - probably for a couple of reasons: 1) having taught Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade, I know that there are children who really do think their teachers live at school. I love the look of surprise on their little faces when they see me at the store or library or walking down Main Street.  2) the pictures of the teachers after hours are hilarious - it would have been fun to have that experience with my friends at Sierra.

The young narrator walks us through Miss Malarkey's life after school.  The best part for me is the illustrations of all the teachers eating in the cafeteria, playing in the gym, lined up to get drinks at the drinking fountain in their jammies and having pillow fights in their very messy bunkhouse.

And then...Miss Malarkey moves into his apartment building.  He cannot believe that she has to take out her own garbage, I mean, doesn't the janitor do that for her?!?  He is shocked to see her having a party when it isn't even someone in the class's birthday.  Worst of all, none of his classmates believe him when he tries to convince them that Miss Malarkey doesn't live in Room 10.  

Oh well, there's always next year in second grade - Mrs. Boba definitely lives in Room 12.

Delightful story, vivid illustrations by Kevin O'Malley that convey what it's like to have a young, beautiful teacher, be in awe of school and teachers, and what it's like when the realization hits that the world is larger than your own little life.

Miss Malarkey Doesn't Live in Room 10 by Judy Finchler has several sequels: Miss Malarkey Won't be in Today, Miss Malarkey Leaves No Reader Behind, Testing Miss Malarkey, Miss Malarkey's Field Trip and Congratulations, Miss Malarkey!

Seattle Aquarium - Guess What I Bought in the Gift Shop?

I got to visit the Seattle Aquarium today with some friends from the ville.  If you are ever in Seattle, be sure to make this one of your destinations.  Very kid-friendly and, if you are interested in marine life, fascinating for adults as well.  Don't forget to eat lunch in the cafe and have some Ivar's clam chowder.

Our last stop during our visit was the gift shop.  My go-to purchase in overpriced touristy gift shops is a magnet to add to my growing collection.  But today as I was looking through the children's book section, I found several 50% off books and you know I had to get a couple!

The first title that attracted my attention was Santa is Coming to Washington.  It must be a thing now, because there are quite a few "Santa is Coming to" books on Amazon, so you might be able to find your home state or even city on the list.

This is definitely a niche book, banking on the excitement people feel over seeing places they call their own in print.  I admit, I felt a little thrill at seeing Bainbridge Island mentioned on one of the pages and my friends found their new hometown as well.  

Not a solid story, though, and with that being the case, I would have liked to have seen Santa enjoy more of Washington's famous places.  If you're going to target a specific audience, at least immerse them in all of the glory of their particular world. The Space Needle is shown and St. James Cathedral is mentioned along with the Pacific Science Center, Mount Rainier, and David Rogers Park.  A dozen cities are mentioned in passing as well.

The illustrations are quite good and I would have loved to have seen more of the sites the author mentioned come to life on the pages of this book and Pike Place Market is a notable omission.

The next book that grabbed my attention was the Fish with the Deep Sea Smile by Margaret Wise Brown.

This is a charming story of a father and his two children who go on a fishing trip to find the fish with the deep sea smile.  The illustrations by Henry Fisher are bright, fun and lively.  He perfectly captures the tone of Wise's rhythm and rhyme.

The story is exactly what we expect from Brown - delightful.  She is known for repetition, rhyme, rhythm, writing for children rather than to children, and throwing in a challenging word now and then to keep children wondering.  

This story is perfect for little readers who love the predictability of a familiar refrain with a new twist added on each page.

Playing Sardines

Playing Sardines by Beverly Major was published in 1989, so it might be difficult to find, but would be well worth the trouble.

One of my pet peeves about children's literature today is that far too much of it has been dumbed down.  While I understand that there need to be options for children who are just learning to read, I believe children's books can meet that need without sacrificing the quality of the writing.

Told through the eyes of a young girl, this is the story of a warm summer night in a firefly-lit neighborhood.  Children gather on the lawns and in the street to play together while parents sit on the porches and relax.  As it grows later, the younger children are bathed and put to bed and the older children begin a game of Sardines.

If you've never played Sardines, you're missing out.  One person hides and everyone looks for them.  Sounds like Hide and Seek, you say?  Yes, it does, but with one important difference:  the game is not over when the hider is found.  The game does not end until everyone has found the hider.  As each seeker finds the hider, they quietly hide with him/her.  The last person to join the group becomes the hider.  This is particularly fun on the dunes at Dillon Beach, but that's a story for another time.

Beverly Major could have told this story as simply as I explained the rules for Sardines.  Instead. she created a vision for her readers using descriptive language, rich vocabulary and a variety of sentence structures.  The illustrations by Andrew Glass are muted and warm, giving the reader the feeling of a warm summer night when everything seems magical and when you look back on it later, it all seems like a dream.

Who Would Win?

The Who Would Win? series by Jerry Pallotta and Ray Bolster was a huge hit with my students, particularly the boys.  I will confess right now that I put off reading them because I thought they would cater to kids' fascination with fighting and winning.  I finally decided I had to read at least one to see if I could figure out why kids like them so much.

My apologies to Mr. Pallotta - I should have known that anything written by you would be filled with interesting facts, definitions, and thought-provoking questions.

Instead of a book focused on an imaginary battle between two animals, readers are presented with both basic and little-known facts about the two animals in compare/contrast style to prompt the reader to think about how the characteristics listed would benefit or work against that animal in a battle. Each page also has multiple text boxes containing facts, questions, and definitions.

The final few pages lay out a possible battle scenario and each book ends with a "Who Has the Advantage? Checklist  and the following author's note; "This is one way the fight might have ended.  How would you write the ending?"

The series currently contains 12 books.  You can't go wrong if your child is interested in animals or nonfiction in general.  Be sure to check out other books by Jerry Pallotta.  He knows how deliver content in interesting ways that keep kids coming back for more.

Every Cowgirl Needs Dancing Boots

This sweet story by Rebecca Janni  shows girls the importance of persistence, being true to yourself and having a friend.  Nellie Sue is a cowgirl, right down to her brand-new pink cowgirl boots.  She has a bike she calls Beauty and a faithful dog, Ginger.  But she is lonely.  When a new family with 3 daughters moves in next door, Mama encourages Nellie Sue to befriend them, so when the Glitter Girls tell her that ballerinas don't ride in ballet shoes, she decides to host a barn dance (ballerinas dance, right?) and invites the whole neighborhood.  But the Glitter Girls tell her ballerinas don't belong in barns.

Still, Nellie Sue works like a champ to get everything ready for her big barn dance and when it looks like no one is coming, Dad, decked out like a cowboy, insists on being her dance partner.  As they spin around, they see the rest of the neighborhood coming to join them..  Everyone has a foot-stomping good time and the youngest Glitter Girl decides she's rather be a cowgirl.

The illustrations by Lynne Avril are colorful with pink as the anchor color, emphasizing Nellie Sue's cowGIRLness and the fact that whether you're a cowgirl or a ballerina, a girl is a girl is a girl.

If you've got a little girl, spend some together with Nellie Sue and Every Cowgirl Needs Dancing Boots.