Wandering Librarians

Monday, February 18, 2013

In Darkness by Nick Lake

A boy lived in the Site in Haiti, a place of extreme poverty and violence. Injured in a gun fight, he is in a hospital when the earthquake happens, trapping him beneath the building. He remembers all that has happened to land him in this darkness, and his memories are interspersed with the memories of Toussaint l'Ouverture, the revolutionary leader who helped to free Haiti.

In Darkness just won the Printz award, so I had high expectations. And it was a good book. It was brutal and honest and thought provoking. It told the story of modern Haiti, as well as telling the history of Haiti. Despite this, it was just a good book, not an awesome, amazing book, at least for me. It took me a while to get through it, because it just wasn't a book the grabbed me and held me riveted. It was easy to put down.

You know what was really interesting? I only realized that the main character's actual name is never given when I went to write this review and realized I didn't know what to call him. He's called a variety of things throughout the book, but none of them are his actual name. In the book blurb, he is referred to as "Shorty," which he is often called by the member of his gang, so I guess I will call him that too for lack of anything better.

Never Fall Down by Patricia McCormick

Arn is young when the Khmer Rouge comes to power in Cambodia. Along with his family and all the residents of his city, he is forced out to the countryside, separated from everyone he knows, and sent to work in the rice fields. All around him Arn watches as people begin to starve. When the children are asked if anyone knows how to play an instrument, Arn says he can, even though he's never played anything before. Perhaps this will be they way that he can survive.

I'd never read any fiction about Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge, and now within a year I've read two excellent ones. Much like In the Shadow of the Banyan by Vaddey Ratner, Never Fall Down is a novel that is based on a true story. Patricia McCormick worked closely with Arn Chorn-Pond to tell his story. But just as Ratner felt, Chorn-Pond thought there were too many holes in his childhood memories to write a memoir.

Arn is not well off when the story begins, he and his brother beg for food on the street, but they used to be rich. Arn has to make sure that no one ever finds this out, because rich people, academics, royals, government soldiers, all were systematically killed by the Khmer Rouge.

Waiting on Wednesday: Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

"Waiting On Wednesday" is a weekly event hosted by Breaking the Spine to spotlight an upcoming release that we're excited about. This week I'm waiting on Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell..

"Bono met his wife in high school," Park says.
"So did Jerry Lee Lewis," Eleanor answers.
"I’m not kidding," he says.
"You should be," she says, "we’re sixteen."
"What about Romeo and Juliet?"
"Shallow, confused, then dead."
''I love you," Park says.
"Wherefore art thou," Eleanor answers.
"I’m not kidding," he says.
"You should be."

Set over the course of one school year in 1986, ELEANOR AND PARK is the story of two star-crossed misfits – smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try. When Eleanor meets Park, you’ll remember your own first love – and just how hard it pulled you under.

Eleanor & Park comes out February 28, 2013.

Saturday, February 9, 2013

News

Have you heard? Beyonce hired a personal librarian. It's only a matter of time now before we control everything... From Yahoo!

Hank and John Green use their powers for good. From SLJ.

It's the 7th anniversary of The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins. Yay! From PW.

Jon Stewart uses Dr. Seuss to explain why we won't see the president with a gun. From The Huffington Post.

Beth Revis tells us what makes a good teen novel. From Writing Teen Novels.

Teaching transmedia with comics. From SLJ.

Well, I guess we can thank Twilight for one thing: it's made people see teen girls have serious market power. From The NY Daily News.

10 of the most bizarre fairy tale adaptations. From Flavorwire.

The Secret Garden is going to be a movie again! And it's being written by the writer of Beast of the Southern Wild. Remember the late 80s version? I was so into that movie. Even though they decided that Dicken died in WWI. That sucked. From Deadline New York.

Mary Ingalls didn't have scarlet fever at all! From NPR.

Google Maps Hunger Games spoilers. Looks very cool. From BuzzFeed.

Casting begins for the movie version of The Book Thief. From The Hollywood Reporter.

The 7 weirdest sex stories of the ancient world. From PW.

Thursday, February 7, 2013

The Wicked and the Just by J. Anderson Coats

Cecily grew up at Edgeley Hall in England, but when her uncle comes back from the Crusades, her father decides, rather than acting as his brother's steward, he will move to Caernarvon in English occupied Wales where he can own his own land and house. Cecily is less than happy about moving to barbaric Wales. Gwenhwyfar's life was destroyed by the coming of the English. Her people are starving around her, and she is forced to work in a house and on land she once owned.

This was heavy. Seriously heavy. This is a middle grade book, but I want to be clear that the violence and assault that happens is detailed. Not in a sensationalized way, but certainly graphic.

This was another period of history I knew very little about. In the later 1200s, Wales pretty much became a colony of England, under King Edward. Stone cities were built that English colonists could live in, effective protected from the Welsh people by guarded stone walls. Of course, there were rebellions, and the one The Wicked and Just details was the first one, which happened in 1294 and was led by Madog ap Llywelyn.

Waiting on Wednesday: The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

"Waiting On Wednesday" is a weekly event hosted by Breaking the Spine to spotlight an upcoming release that we're excited about. This week I'm waiting on The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman.

THE OCEAN AT THE END OF THE LANE is a fable that reshapes modern fantasy: moving, terrifying and elegiac - as pure as a dream, as delicate as a butterfly's wing, as dangerous as a knife in the dark, from storytelling genius Neil Gaiman.

It began for our narrator forty years ago when the family lodger stole their car and committed suicide in it, stirring up ancient powers best left undisturbed. Dark creatures from beyond the world are on the loose, and it will take everything our narrator has just to stay alive: there is primal horror here, and menace unleashed - within his family and from the forces that have gathered to destroy it.

His only defense is three women, on a farm at the end of the lane. The youngest of them claims that her duckpond is an ocean. The oldest can remember the Big Bang. (Summary from GoodReads)

Why wouldn't I read this? It's NEIL GAIMAN! Let's not joke around, I've liked everything that he's ever written. The man does not disappoint. And the cover is pretty.

The Ocean at the End of the Lane comes out June 18th.