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Touching Snow, by M. Sindy Felin
This is one tough book. I mean that in a good way, because although it's heavy and unrelenting, it's also well written. From the get-go, you know Karina is going to kill her stepfather, and the suspense of that pulls you forward. The voice is also something to be reckoned with -- I don't think I've ever read anything from a Haitian immigrant's point of view. I'm not at all surprised Touching Snow was nominated for the National Book Award. This is right up their alley. Oh, and it was edited by my editor - so there!
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Three Little Words: A Memoir, by Ashley Rhodes-Courter
If you can read this book and not seriously think about how to improve the foster care system, there just might be something wrong with you. I'm going to be honest here: for me, the story itself was much more affecting than the writing. Although Ashley doesn't sugarcoat anything and always makes sure to tell how she felt at important moments, I didn't always feel what she was feeling; I found myself craving more "show" and less "tell." That said, the circumstances of Ashley's life will still leave your jaw agape. For me -- a kid who grew up watching Annie, in which adoption is the ultimate into-the-sunset goal -- Ashley's honesty about the difficulty of adapting to an adoptive family was particularly refreshing and startling. Keep your eye on this girl, because she's going to make a difference. Check out Ashley on Youtube -- she's one dynamic speaker. (Available in January)
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A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens
I admit it: this edition is abridged. I'm usually pretty snotty about abridgements, but this is a glaring exception. I have vast stretches of the story memorized, thanks to this recording. The abridgement is a good one -- Dickens' longer descriptive passages have been carefully nipped and tucked, as have his meandering asides, leaving the essential meat of the story virtually untouched. Even trimmed up like this, the recording is still nearly two hours long, but the story never drags. In Patrick Stewart's mouth, Dickens' language never feels clunky or overwrought. The narration is lively and varied, as are the characters' voices. Jim Dale -- of Harry Potter audio fame -- reads an unabridged edition of A Christmas Carol, but it falls surprisngly short in comparison to Patrick Stewart's performance. As gifted as he is with voices, Jim Dale just doesn't have Stewart's knack for bringing Dickens' long passages of description to life. And given Dickens' propensity for long-winded description, that is a very important quality indeed. (Aside: As much as I love Patrick Stewart's audio performance of A Christmas Carol, I emphatically do NOT recommend the film version he stars in. *shudder* Click here to hear about my favorite print and film versions of this story.)
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The Willoughbys, by Lois Lowry
That Lois Lowry sure does know how to keep her readers on their toes. Never the same book twice, I tell you! So, The Willoughbys. Granted, I was in exactly the right mood to snigger along with some delightfully despicable characters, but gosh this was fun -- sort of an antidote to the modern epidemic of over-protective parents and painfully precious tots. Consider this line, which appears right at the tip-top of the jacket copy: "Shouldn't we be orphans?" one of the Willoughby children suggests one day. Heh! Lowry's plot and characters constantly poke fun at the syrupy old fashioned stories that have wormed their way into our collective consciousness (actually, "poke" may not be a strong enough word -- "pinch" is a better fit, I think) and the result hits the spot like a cold, crisp dill pickle. If you're not well-versed in staples like Mary Poppins, Pollyanna, and The Secret Garden, I suppose this book could come off as one long inside joke. Too bad for you if such is the case, though Lowry kindly includes a bibliography to help you along. This ain't no Giver, but it is a wonderfully snarky romp with the unmistakable flavor of Roald Dahl and a dash of Lemony Snicket. Outlandish? Yep. Likely to be too much for some hyper-sensitive parents? You betcha. Precisely why I loved it. In fact, I'm so taken with The Willoughbys that I don't even have anything snide to say about the fact that Lowry herself provided the illustrations. Generally, I think it's a bad idea for novelists to draw their own pictures, but Lois went and pulled it off. Brava! (Available in March)
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Helen's Eyes: A Photobiography of Annie Sullivan, by Marfe Ferguson Delano
I don't know what's caused the mini-flood of Annie Sullivan & Helen Keller books lately, but I sure am enjoying it! This may well be the best Annie Sullivan children's biography on the market. The design is impeccable, with big, crisp photos, often overlaid with quotations or layered with maps and other relevant backgrounds. Braille on the title page and photographs of Helen's own hands modeling the manual alphabet on the cover boards were especially nice touches. Unfortunately for me, only one of the photos was new to my eyes. But I suppose trying to find a fresh Sullivan/Keller photo for me at this point is a little bit like giving Julia Child a new recipe, so I can't really fault the book on that score. The text is strong, straightforward, and accurate, though I personally prefer a bit more emotional zing in a biography. Hence, the four-star rating. What can I say -- I'm a tough audience. That said, I found myself constantly nodding in agreement at the familiar details of Annie's life, and even picked up a few new tidbits along the way. In all fairness, Helen's Eyes is probably worthy of a five-star rating in the world at large. (Available in February)
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Born on a Blue Day: Inside the Extraordinary Mind of an Autistic Savant, by Daniel Tammet
An amazing book on so many levels. You can't help but be fascinated by Daniel Tammet's mind and how it works: his abilities with numbers and languages, his sensory experiences of words and numerals, his vast memory. (The man memorized Pi to over 22,500 digits - tell me you're not impressed!) Even more, he has a remarkable ability, uncommon in autistic spectrum disorders, to articulate his experiences and emotions. For a man who writes in a straightforward and matter-of-fact style, he's also oddly endearing. Last of all, his skill at coping with social situations despite his discomfort is almost unbelievable. (Check out this YouTube clip from Daniel Tammet's appearance with David Letterman to see what I mean.) Move over, Rainman!
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The Goose Girl, by Shannon Hale
Honestly, I don't know whether to admire Shannon Hale or hate her. She writes so well it occasionally makes me sick with jealousy. In spite of that, I wouldn't want to miss a single thing she does. Book of a Thousand Days is still my favorite, but because of The Goose Girl, I'll be adding Enna Burning and River Secrets to my TBR list without further ado. (Don't even get me started on the fact that I missed the chance to meet Shannon Hale at the shop a year or two ago - I'm still kicking myself....)
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The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, by Barbara Robinson
LOVE this book. If you haven't read it, go correct the situation immediately. Two things I noticed during this reading: 1. Chapter books had quite a bit more edge to them in the 1970's than they do nowadays. The Herdmans get away with a whole lot more (cigar smoking, arson, low-level profanity) than most of today's publishers are willing to stomach. All part of the story's charm, if you ask me. 2. Despite being told in the first person, the narrator herself is very much a spectator and secondary character. I'm not sure why or how this works, but it does. Huh.
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Silent Night: The Story of the World War I Christmas Truce, by Stanley Weintraub
Oh drat... I wanted very much to like this book but I gave up after 40 pages. Despite referencing a number of first hand accounts, Weintraub doesn't spend enough time with any of the men involved to allow his readers to connect personally or emotionally with what ought to be a moving story. Instead, the narration had the disjointed overall feel of a series of related anecdotes. Adding to the difficulty, the author's phrasing also struck me as disjointed and awkward - so much so that I initially suspected I was suffering from a nasty case of Holiday ADD. Weintraub further assumes an unreasonable amount of background knowledge, which left me geographically befuddled as he skipped back and forth along the Western front, as well as irritated by the not-so-occasional sprinkling of untranslated (yeah, untranslated!) French and German words and phrases. Finally, Weintraub also switches abruptly between first hand recollections and excerpts from fictional accounts of the Christmas truce. Although Weintraub does differentiate between fiction and non-fiction, the lack of organization makes the transitions consistently jarring. Such the disappointment!
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Pricess Ben, by Catherine Gilbert Murdock
I took FOR-EV-ER to read this book. All sorts of stuff (Christmas) kept getting (New Year's) in my way. Luckily, it held up amidst all the yuletide distractions. At first I was a little worried Princess Ben might turn out to be just another feisty princess story. All the ingredients are there: unconventional princess, arrogant prince, mean queen, locked tower, fire-breathing dragon, girl-disguised-in-boy's-clothing, magical prophecies - you know the drill. Fortunately this story kept me on my toes. Catherine Gilbert Murdock manages to take all the familiar fairy tale elements and turn them on their head. Oh, and the voice! Ben has sardonically appealing wit, done in a style that sounds like it was written with a quill pen on parchment. She even sent me to the dictionary a time or two. Finally, might I just add for the record that I LOVE it when an author does something completely different than what she's done before, and does it well? (Available in May)
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The Thing About Georgie, by Lisa Graff
The thing about Georgie is that he's a dwarf, which turns out to be both the most and least important thing about him. See, this isn't a book about dwarfism. It's about a kid with dwarfism. A fine distinction? Not really. Dwarfism isn't Georgie's problem. He's got a full plate of regular kid problems (like a new baby, a best friend triangle, and a social studies project with the meanest girl in class) without obsessing over how tall he isn't. Of course being a dwarf makes Georgie's story unique and impacts his daily life, but that's not exactly the point. That said, my favorite parts were actually the asides when the narrator took a minute to point out things Georgie can and can't do - like bending your right arm over the top of your head to touch your left ear. Simple little things that drive the point home without getting in the way of a fun, fast, and smart read. The other thing about this book is that no one can resist using the phrase "The thing about...." when they review it. ;)
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