Words in the Dust

Words in the Dust by Trent Reedy
(Arthur A. Levine, 2011)

Zulaikha is a young Afhan girl.  She lives in a small village with her father, her father's second wife,  a sister and three brothers.  Like other girls in her village, she does not attend school, rather she helps to care for her brothers and performs what ever chores she is assigned.  However, Zulaikha is not like other Afghan girls in two ways.  First, her mother, killed by the Taliban when she was a young girl, had begun to teach her to read and write before she was killed.  Second, Zulaikha was born with a cleft lip.  Being a girl in Afghanistan is hard enough, but being a girl with a cleft lip is even harder.  One day, a group of American soldiers sees her walking through her village, and they work to get her the surgery to repair her cleft lip. 

Reedy based this book on his experiences as a National Guardsman stationed in Afghanistan.  He paints a picture of what life is like for ordinary Afghans;  the struggles, the joys, the celebrations that most Americans don't know about.  Zulaikha's character rings true; she feels like a real person.  She has her good side and her bad side, and kids will appreciate that she's not held out as a paragon of virtue simply because she deals with a facial deformity.  Kids will also appreciate that the surgery, while life-changing for Zulaikha in terms of how she perceives herself, does not solve all of her problems.

I highly recommend Words in the Dust.  It was one of those books that I just couldn't put down, and I find that I can't stop thinking about it now that I've finished.

Born to Rock by Gordon Korman

Born to Rock by Gordon Korman
(Hyperion, 2006)

Leo Caraway's life seems to be spiraling out of control.  He's been kicked out of the Young Republicans, he lost his scholarship to Harvard, AND he's discovered the man he thought was his father isn't.  Turns out, Leo's biological father might be King Maggot,  the famous lead singer of the punk rock band Purge.  In an effort to get to know his son, King offers Leo the chance to join the Purge reunion tour as a roadie.  Along the way, Leo learns about life, love, and the meaning of family.

I love Gordon Korman's books, and this one is one of my favorites.  I first fell in love with it when I saw the cover - who could resist reading a book with a mohawked baby on the cover?  As I started to read the story, I fell in love with the characters, the conflict, and the way Korman gets to the heart of what it's like to be a teenager.

One of my favorite parts in this book is when King and Leo spend a good part of the very late night/very early morning searching for a lost poodle.  They eventually rescue a poodle from the animal control van only to find the missing one had found its way back to the hotel.  While this episode seems silly on the surface, it was the first time that Leo felt a real connection to this man who just might be his father.

I'm looking forward to sharing this book with my students.  I have a feeling many of them will love this book just as much as I did.

Cosmic by Frank Cottrell Boyce

Cosmic by Frank Cottrell Boyce
(Walden Pond Press, 2008)

Twelve-year-old Liam as a special gift (or curse, depending on how you look at it).  He looks like an adult.  He's tall for his age and hairy for his age, but he's definitely twelve!  People often do take Liam for a grown man, and when he makes typical kid mistakes, such as impersonating a new teacher at his new school, he is often told, "A big lad such as you ought to know better!"  Liam wonders how he ought to know better when he is just a kid.  Things get scary though, when Liam wins a contest to go to a brand new theme park in China.  Trouble is, he entered without his parents' knowledge.  He convinces his friend Florida to go with him, posing as his daughter, and they have a great time until things start to go terribly wrong.

There were points in this novel when I was really worried about the kids in this book.  As a parent, I read books differently now.  I get worried about the young people when they are in a bad situation and I can't see how the author of the book is going to get them out of it.  I know that this is one of the things that keeps kids reading books where kids are in danger with no chance of an adult bailing them out.

Boyce does a great job of getting the reader invested in Liam and his story.  The scrapes he gets himself into are funny (usually) and understandable (mostly) for a twelve year old boy.  Working with this age group, I know the pull of a great prank or a bit of mischief is more than most boys (and some girls) can bear, and Boyce gets that right here.  But he also shows Liam's softer side, the side that cares about what others think of him and worries about his parents.  It's refreshing to see that in a book for teens.

Definitely pick up Cosmic and let yourself go on an adventure with Liam and Florida.  You won't be disappointed.

Two for Thursday

Last weekend, I finished two books.  Things have been so crazy that I haven't had any time to post about either.  I decided that since I'm in a writing mood, I might as well post about both of them tonight!

First up:

Smile by Raina Telgemeier 
(Scholastic, 2010)

Summary from the back of the book:

Raina just wants to be a normal sixth grader.  But one night after Girl Scouts she trips and falls, severely injuring her two front teeth.  What follows is a long and frustrating journey with on-again, off-again braces, surgery, embarrassing headgear, and even a retainer with fake teeth attached (!).  And on top of all that, there's still more to deal with:  a major earthquake, boy confusion, and friends who turn out to be not so friendly.  Raina's story takes us from middle school to high school, where she discovers her artistic voice, finds out what true friendship really means, and where she can finally...smile.

I loved this graphic novel!  Telgemeier's story is one that many teens can identify with ... something that makes you feel different when all you really want is to blend in.  Many people might take an experience like Telgemeier's and dwell on the negative aspects of it, but she tells her story with humor and heart.  Granted, some of the frames made me cringe with the thought of the dental work being betrayed, but that just made the story feel realistic. 

I highly recommend!

Big Nate Strikes Again by Lincoln Pierce
(Harper, 2010)

Confession time.... before reading the blurb out Lincoln Pierce in the back of this book, I didn't know that Big Nate was a comic strip and I had no idea that Nate predated Wimpy Kid! 

In Big Nate Strikes Again, Nate and his nemesis, Gina, are paired up for a project on Ben Franklin.  Because of a happy accident, Nate ends up in the library and reads a few books about old Ben.  His notes take the form of a comic strip about Ben Franklin, which Gina, of course, dismisses as childish and stupid.  In the meantime, Nate is chosen captain of his fleeceball team, which, of course, includes Gina, and which, of course, she ends up naming.  Will Gina ruin Nate's fleeceball team?  Will Nate ruin Gina's perfect GPA?  You'll have to read to find out!

I had a lot of fun reading Big Nate, and I can see kids who devour Wimpy Kid loving Nate just as much.  Even though Nate is a bit of a troublemaker, his heart is in the right place (except for when it comes to Gina).  A thoroughly enjoyable read.

Plain Kate by Erin Bow

Plain Kate by Erin Bow 
(Arthur A. Levine, 2010)


Kate is a woodcarver's daughter who has a great talent as a carver herself.  After her father dies, she is forced to leave her home and goes to live in her father's stall in the marketplace.  The townspeople are suspicious of Kate and her talent, and whispers begin that she is a witch.  As tensions in the town grow, a stranger comes and says to her that in return for her shadow, he'll help her escape the town and offer her her heart's wish.  Kate learns, though, that this bargain is not as simple as it seems, and that what she might have traded away was her life.

Let me put this out there from the very first:  I love Plain Kate (both the character and the book)!  This is one of those books that I can't wait to share with my own daughter as well as the students in my class.  It's part adventure story, part magic story, and part friendship story, and it does them all well.

I was thoroughly charmed by Kate as a character, but I think my favorite character in this book is Kate's cat, Taggle.  Bow managed to capture that haughtiness that cats often exhibit, and since Taggle is a talking cat, he must sound as snooty as he acts.  But there's more to Taggle, and it's his loyalty and love for Kate that save the day more than once.  Taggle proves that bravery and loyalty are not reserved for dogs!

There is a dark side to this story - Linay's desire for revenge, the Roamers' distrust of Kate, the superstition of the townspeople - but it is not so dark as many of the dystopian YA books currently on the market.  However, the darkness is necessary to make the joy resound. 

Pick up Plain Kate.... you won't regret it!

The Marbury Lens by Andrew Smith

The Marbury Lens by Andrew Smith 
(Feiwel and Friends, 2010)


This book was almost too bizarre for me to summarize.  Because I've waited three days to blog after finishing it and STILL not being able to figure it out, I've decided to use the summary from the jacket flap:

Sixteen-year-old Jack gets drunk and is in the wrong place at the wrong time.  He is kidnapped.  He escapes, narrowly.  The only person he tells is his best friend, Conner.  When they arrive in London as planned for summer break, a stranger hands Jack a pair of glasses.  Through the lenses, he sees another world called Marbury.


There is war in Marbury.  It is a desolate and murderous place where Jack is responsible for the survival of two younger boys.  Conner is there, too, but he's trying to kill them.


Meanwhile, Jack is falling in love with an English girl, and he's afraid he's losing his mind.


Conner tells Jack it's going to be okay.


But it's not.

I decided to read this book after seeing buzz about it on Twitter and Facebook.  It sounded intriguing, something that I might be able to pass on to some of my more mature readers who are looking for a book that's exciting, new, and different.  Well, it's certainly all three of those things.  Unfortunately, it is also TOO mature for me to put into my seventh grade classroom.

I quickly got caught up in the story of Jack.  I can't say that I particularly liked Jack (or Conner for that matter) at the beginning of the book.  He struck me as a snobbish, selfish, unfeeling boy who was just looking for the next exciting thing to happen to him.  My feelings changed after his kidnapping and once he started getting transported to Marbury.  As Jack began to lose his grip on reality, I actually began to like him and worry about him more and more.  The world of Marbury is so violent, so different from the world I am comfortable in, and Smith keeps you wondering if Jack will make it, especially once Conner as Hunter is brought into the mix.

I've not read anything quite like The Marbury Lens. I was left with many questions that I wish Smith had answered, but not so many that I was unsatisfied with the ending.  Rather, I keep thinking about whether or not Smith will write a sequel, and if he does, can I handle going back to Marbury again?

I gave The Marbury Lens five stars, but be warned... this book is definitely R-rated for sexual scenes, language, and violence.