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Ever go back to one of your childhood favorites and discover it's a cringe-worthy piece of work? That's why I've been chicken to reread Wait Till Helen Comes ever since I went to work at Halfway Down the Stairs and got religion regarding quality children's lit. I SHOULD NOT HAVE WORRIED. It's not one of those exquisite, highbrow pieces of writing, but Wait Till Helen Comes is about as solid and reliable an example of storytelling as you'll ever want to see. Out of 160 ratings on the Evil Online Chain Store, a full 140 are five-stars. After 23 years, this book's still selling strong enough to produce a sales ranking that's a good 6,000 places over my momentary personal best. And here I thought WTHC was some sort of under-the-radar gem. Heh. As a kid, I loved that there was no Scooby-Doo style unmasking at the end - Helen was real, and she was not somebody you ought to take lightly. I also loved that Heather was a first-class brat, and the vicarious indignation over the stunts she pulled is as much a part of my memory of reading this book as the plot itself. Also, Molly was into unicorns and rainbows AND Edgar Allan Poe - an unbeatable combo in the eyes of 10-year-old Sarah Miller. (As for the audio recording? Well...I liked it better than Read Roger, but he's not entirely off base, either.)
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The Love Curse of the Rumbaughs
As my friend Tim likes to say, "Nucking futs." But how could I be surprised, seeing as the Library of Congress lists the subjects as: 1. Mothers
And if you're thinking that it can't possibly be what you're thinking - oh yes it can. Makes #5 pretty much redundant, wouldn't you say? Nevertheless, I wasn't nearly as horror-struck as one might expect. The characters didn't engage me enough to suspend my disbelief, rendering the whole thing outlandish and distant instead of creepy-crawly.
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Tales of the Madman Underground
Meet Karl Shoemaker. His dad's dead, his mom's a lush, and his house is a litterbox. If he wants a shot at normal, Karl's figured his only chance is dodging his usual ticket for group therapy sessions at school - the Madman Underground. Trouble is, that means dodging his best friend at the same time. Also, there's this new girl who so clearly does not fit into Operation Be Normal, yet what self-respecting misfit can resist an unattractive, sharp-witted girl-genius? 532 pages, gang. I read 'em all, and liked it. These kids are all effed up - and that's kinda the point - but somehow the plot doesn't get hung up on all the terrible horrible awful no good very bad things they have to deal with at home. Voice, character, and relationships drive this bugger home. For the right kind of kid, it's going to strike a dead-on bull's eye.
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The Castle in the Attic
Loved this as a kid - it's probably one of my top three from back when. Now, though, I've read enough stories structured around the fairy tale/fantasy/quest format that this old friend doesn't have the same freshness. Another glitch - for some reason, full cast performances rarely appeal to me as much as solo readers. Dunno why.
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Maybe it seems counter-intuitive to write a solo biography of Anne Sullivan Macy - who would have heard of her if not for Helen Keller, right? Even for someone who's as nutzoid for Annie as I am, it's odd at first to read a biography in which Helen Keller gets so obviously sidelined. However, much as I value Joseph Lash's dual biography, Helen and Teacher, and as much as the two women's lives were intertwined, reading Nielsen's solo examination of Annie reveals just how much of a distraction keeping up with Helen Keller creates for those of us interested the intricacies of Annie Sullivan. Without the focus constantly swinging toward the details of Helen's existence, vital elements like Annie's disabilities and mercurial personality virtually become characters in their own right. In fact, Nielsen shows that Annie's wavering eyesight, chronic pain, recurring illnesses, and lifelong bouts of melancholy were more debilitating than Helen's blindness and deafness -- though no one who spent 40-odd years standing next to a deaf-blind icon would dare draw attention to that fact. Not even saucy Annie Sullivan. While many biographers tend to frame the hardships in Annie's early life as a rags-to-riches buildup to her successes as Helen Keller's famous teacher, Nielsen details the lingering effects of Annie's childhood traumas on her adult relationships and behavior. The truth of the matter is that Annie Sullivan was damaged goods, and even the salve of Helen's decades-long friendship never fully closed those wounds. No matter how much Helen loved and venerated her, Anne Sullivan Macy was not an easy woman to live with. Fortunately for the rest of us, all the extremes that made her such a trial and a delight make for a fascinating read under Nielsen's steady gaze.
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The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate
Took my sweet old time warming up to this one. Longabout page 160 the plot started picking up momentum, and I finally caught on to what everyone's been buzzing about. I'm not sure how she does it, but Jacqueline Kelly somehow manages not to overplay the girl-who-doesn't-like-embroidery archetype, even though that's pretty much exactly what Calpurnia is. Maybe because we get to watch Calpurnia discover the alternatives to hearth and home, following along as her ambition and interest in science develop - right alongside the beguiling relationship that develops between Calpurnia and her grandfather.
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Cover blurb:
Man, oh, man, is this a fun read - I'll bet it's fun even if you haven't recently discussed veganism and writing over a sushi lunch with Robin Brande herself. The characters are sharp and witty and they like science. (Ok, there's one snappy poetry chick, but she's not one of those dreamy, brooding types I'm getting so tired of.) The chapters are blessedly short. Also, Robin is clever enough to never, never divulge Cat's numbers. Not her before weight, not her after weight, not her total pounds lost, not even her BMI. Fat, like beauty, remains in the eye of the beholder. There's only one thing that sucks about this book: it's not available until October.
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Remember a couple weeks ago when I claimed full cast audio performances don't do much for me? I take it back. Most of it, anyway. The catch: I need a book with first-person narration. Otherwise the narrator's voice jars me every time it butts in for a "he said" or a "she said." When narrator and main character are one and the same, it feels more like storytelling and less like a recital. Also, it helps that this is one of the butt-kickingest books, ever. Ever. Giving it a narrator and music to match... *swoon*
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The Animated Man: A Life of Walt Disney
While this seems to be a more precise, concise biography of Walt Disney than the last one I read, it wasn't half as engaging to me. (Which is to say, I didn't catch such a rampant case of Disney-fever that I'm indulging in film marathons and vacation fantasies this time around.) Barrier's wealth of knowledge in the field of animation lends authority to his assessment of Disney's work, but a number of the nuances Barrier pointed out didn't resonate or register with me. Watching the same piece of animation, I just didn't see what he was seeing, in some cases because my eye isn't as developed as his, while in others I simply disagreed with his view. Overall, Barrier's focus zeroed in on Disney's film-making far more than his personality, and I would have preferred a more even balance. By the end of the book, something about the tone had also put me off. While a critical look at an icon like Disney can often come off as refreshing and informative, Barrier's scrutiny struck me as pessimistic, for lack of a better label. He never descends into disrespect or snark, yet his constant attention to the flaws in Disney's films - particularly regarding the live-action ventures - had worn me out by the time I finished.
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Absolutely the funnest chapter book I've read since Clementine. I should be flogged for overlooking young Master Ho for so long. Back in Newbery season I could not for the life of me understand why such a cartoony-looking book was turning up on so many shortlists. Now all I have to say about that is DUH. This could have easily turned into A Book About Being An Anxious Chinese Kid, And Also Having a Friend With Disabilities. But all the stuff that could have drawn attention to itself in a bad way is handled so matter-of-factly instead that it takes a backseat to the playground dilemmas, chicken pox conspiracies, and show-and-tell disasters. Also, the illustrations totally remind me of Pacha's kids from The Emperor's New Groove.
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Little Audrey
How hard must it be to write a delicate novel about a hard-scrabble life? Especially when that life belongs to your own family -- a family trapped in a coal-mining camp complete with a company store and a daddy who drinks the wages. Penny candy, scarlet fever, cigarettes, Shirley Temple; attention to detail helps make this one of those very real novels that manages to be straightforward and introspective all at once. It's a bit too heavy to qualify as entertainment, but certainly is absorbing.
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Wait Till Helen Comes
