Truckers - read in 2004

Truckers by Terry Pratchett (Random House-Corgi)
This book was heralded as Terry Pratchett's first YA novel, but I'm going to label it here as MG--middle grade--because our concept of YA has changed a lot since I read it. Truckers is about tiny space aliens who live under the floorboard of a department store, sort of like a twist on The Borrowers and similar stories. I no longer have this book, it seems, but I can tell you that this wasn't the first Pratchett book I read, and that in comparison to his adult works, this one felt very vibrant and clear, and I enjoyed it a lot. I don't hear many people mention this one, so it might be a great gift for someone who enjoys Pratchett, or someone who likes humor.

The Life of Pi (2004 read)

Life of Pi by Yann Martel (Mariner Books)
Life of Pi is one of those books that's really, really difficult to describe without spoiling the whole thing. It's also one of those books that can be read across several genres and age groups. For me, it doesn't fit any single category.

Piscine Molitor Patel is castaway and has an otherworldy, fantastic experience. Or maybe he doesn't. The author gives us two stories, one that is almost, almost believable, and one that is far too believable. In the end, we're forced to attend to questions of how far our faith in a story will extend, on multiple levels. I had a hard time getting into the story, but once I did, I was plugging for the hero to make it. And admittedly, I was unsettled the whole way through. The story has a lot of deliberate ambiguous pairings. Which of two versions is correct? I'm not sure we are to know; instead, I think we're to question. In questioning, this book has stayed with me for a long time.

The Grim Grotto - Read in 2004

The Grim Grotto (A Series of Unfortunate Events #11) by Lemony Snicket (HarperCollins)

I suppose a little bit of background is necessary. Ages and ages ago, I picked up the first three of the A Series of Unfortunate Events books in a paperback set at a Scholastic book fair, and I think I got the fourth there in hardcover. I'd have to say this is a great way to jumpstart reading a series--I tend to get lost if I have to remember to go back for more unless it's really, really amazing. And if it's going to be amazing later, well, it's too late.

In 2004, I was up to number 11, though I was re-reading number four to my dad during car rides. Strangely enough, book four disappeared from my life, though a friend bought me a replacement copy (thanks, Amy!) despite her being forever annoyed at the legal misinformation in the first book.

What kept me coming back to these series: wordplay and allusion. There was always something to snicker at, some reference to look up. And, though strange to say, I found the very dangerousness of the books to be attractive; as a reader, I'm forced to overlay some hope.

I was surprised when I picked The Grim Grotto up and was a bit lost. I'd forgotten some of #10, and parts of #10 I sort of disliked, though I find the series fairly even on the whole. (It may just have been that I hate circuses.) I also read most of the series out of order. But at this point in the series, I was thinking about a couple of different themes.

First, the incompetence of adults. It's a fairy-tale construct, true, but there is no adult with true reason--even, at times, the villain, who cannot quite capture the children for good but threatens with real harm and, as far as we know, killed the kids' parents. This is coupled, however, with an uncommon problem for kids in wish fulfillment-y fairy tales: their movements are often limited in a very realistic way. As we start to realize that perhaps there is more going on in this story than we thought, that non-sequiturs from early on may be a bit of thread that's going to tie the whole thing up completely, the kids finally make a major pattern break at the end of this book and move themselves for a change. They're no longer helpless.

There's also a theme that's been running half hidden: grief and the stages of grief, though not in a way that makes a stomachache in your head or headache in your stomach or whatever kids tired of too many angsty YA novels are saying these days, and this book is all the better for it.

And the characters! I adore Sunny's mixed-up words. She's growing up so well, and Carmelita takes the cakesniffers in this one. Oh dear, does she. Tap-dancing fairy princess doctor ballerina or whatever. And one can't forget how the author beats upon all sort of historical and vocabulary things. I need a henchpersonal assistant.

But maybe I'm just amused that Sunny's Hobson's choice was bath or pink dress. That's my Hobson's choice a lot of the time too.

Moonlight and Vines - read in 2004

Moonlight and Vines by Charles de Lint (Macmillan - Orb)

Moonlight and Vines isn't so much a YA book as one that a young adult might read, knowing Charles de Lint's work aimed at younger readers. This collection of short stories set in Newford--an imagined town where magic hides behind the scenes, and sometimes, in front of them--is what made me a fan of Charles de Lint's writing in the first place. This rather dark collection is also very emotional; the themes are not aimed at a young adult reader, but as I said, a young adult reader might find this book. It's been a very long time since I read this, and so I can't really take a closer look from this temporal distance, but I still might pass the book along to a teen reader looking for good examples of short stories and use of emotion, and I'd recommend it for adult readers who would like to take a look back at the various roots of today's urban fantasy.

Another Handful: Middle Grade Books I Read, 2004

Should I note that middle grade and I aren't the perfect fit? It's a harder age for me to connect with; it's a less compelling collection of stories and life themes. I gravitate toward books written for people a bit older or younger, and sometimes, my lack of interest in middle grade books is just a struggle with a time I didn't particularly like being me. So, keep that in mind as you read these reviews, of course!

Midnight for Charlie Bone by Jenny Nimmo (Scholastic - Orchard)
I wanted to love this book, but it was really not for me. I got lost in the surreal story and the sense that it was just too close to Harry Potter for comfort, while being a less compelling read. If you're looking for books in the same vein, particularly for a fantasy read for a young reader who wants more like Harry, this might be a good choice.

The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke (Scholastic - The Chicken House)
I wanted to love this book too, but perhaps it is enough to say that I liked a lot of it, and it's one I've recommended, though it's not quite my favorite flavor. Something about the font in combination with the orphans-run-away story reminds me of The Boxcar Children, though this story is set in Venice. The story meanders a bit, but for a reader enamored with adventure and the idea of living on one's own (see also: Hatchet and From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler), that might not be a problem. There's a bit of magic at the end, but not so much it would spoil the story for a reader who isn't a fan of the fantastic. I've found that boys ages 9-11 particularly like this story, and it's a go-to gift idea for friends that age; there seems to be a divide where this book is a favorite of middle-grade readers (the target audience) and others by Cornelia Funke are favored by adults. And that is the power of books, for me--that there are stories enough to go around.

Trouble Don't Last by Shelley Pearsall (Random House - Yearling)
I picked this book up to have on hand in my classroom for a unit on spirituals, wanting to have some fiction to excerpt for our discussions of the music and its history, particularly the connection to hidden messages. Samuel finds himself accompanying a father figure in their flight from slavery, and while he believes trouble follows him, he's got to find a way to make it to freedom. I think this is a good choice, particularly for kids who haven't studied the time period, which often doesn't come up until late middle school or high school. The first-person narration, the harrowing escape, the muted (but still present) attitudes and language of the time all draw in readers, and could prompt further reading or thoughtful discussion.

Finding a Way In

By now, you've heard the statistics--as many as 1 in 166 children will be diagnosed with autism, a complicated spectrum of conditions for which no one has yet found a certain cause or cure. Difficulty with communication is one of the markers, and so it's interesting to see books written from the first-person viewpoint of characters with autism and/or Asperger's. Here are three that give a peek into the concerns and problems of young people on the autism spectrum.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon (Knopf - Vintage)

This was one of the first widely-read fiction books starring an autistic character, and it perhaps paved the way for more such characters. Christopher is having a very hard time fitting in with his family, and displays some behaviors that most people now associate strongly with autism, such as groaning, having a restricted relationship with food, and an aversion to touch. He's also bemused by math, aware of his self-imposed seclusions, and determined to solve the mystery of his neighbor's dead poodle. While Christopher claims to not have any gift for humor, the book is at turns amusing and heart-wrenching.

The London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd (Random House - Yearling)

And again, a mystery. If you sense a theme, the only real similarities here are that these are all boys on the autism spectrum who are determined to find answers despite their natural challenges in doing so.

Ted is a young man who is aware that he sees the world very differently from his peers and family; he must practice ways to respond to interaction. The world for him is black and white: metaphors make no sense, and if someone doesn't smile at you, it means they don't want to be friends. Ted's aunt and cousin come to visit and the family takes a trip to the London Eye. Cousin Salim gets on--but never gets off. As the family falls apart with worry, Ted spins theories to solve the mystery, but only in working with his sister (in ways that are uncomfortable for someone with autism) can he truly make breakthroughs, and in doing so, he touches the edges of emotions new and strange. Ted does discover what happened, but this isn't the only mystery--Salim is pretty wiley, and there is more than one twist.

Marcelo in the Real World by Fransisco X. Stork (Scholastic)
Marcelo is ready to spend the summer between his junior and senior year at Paterson, a special school that meets his needs and where he'll be working with the ponies used for hippotherapy. He's good at this--good at Paterson. But his dad, a lawyer, wants him to go to a regular high school for his senior year, so he makes him a deal: work at the firm for a summer. If Marcelo is successful at the firm--if he follows the rules of the real world--he can choose where to finish school.

Marcelo opts for the firm, where he meets Jasmine, the head of the mail room who both protects him and allows him to fail so he can learn; lawyers good and evil; and secretaries who would like to use him for one thing or another. Soon, he's grappling with the concepts of friendship and personal agency, whether a "friend" is really a friend (and learning to trust one's instincts), the intricacies of adult relationships, and his trust in his father, especially as it concerns a victim related to a case that the firm cannot lose.

Marcelo's story is very much a complicated one, threaded through with his religious interests, his difficulty understanding interpersonal relationships, and his discovery of his own power as a person. The evocative and thoughtful writing would not be out of place in an adult novel, though at heart, it's a young adult book because it asks what I think is the essential YA question: when will I use my power, and why?

A handful of books from summer 2004

Tithe by Holly Black (Simon & Schuster - McElderry)
I was first introduced to Holly Black because she was a guest speaker for an event I helped out with, and so of course I picked up her book Tithe. I thought that this book was trying too hard at the beginning, but then I realized that it was more the characters lived lives I hadn't--that sort of life where no one watches you too closely, even though you live with your relatives. When I first read it, I don't think I had seen anything quite like it, and it shook up my reading habits quite a bit. I'd also really liked her Spiderwick Chronicles, and one of the similar things here is the way that the rough side of fairy tales isn't polished into a sheen. Additionally, this is definitely the book that brought fairies into a modern form that shaped them as not always pretty, sparkly theme park mascots. I think today's urban fantasy owes a lot to fans of this book who went looking for more.

The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer (Simon & Schuster - Atheneum)
When I read books by Nancy Farmer, I don't go away thinking Oh, I wish I could write like that. I go away thinking I wish I could tell a story like that. This one, centered around a clone living in a future that's also the past, pokes at what we think is life and the will to live. It pokes at the way we don't always think for ourselves, don't question, and don't always realize what we're doing of our own accord and what is being imposed on us. All that sounds pretty heavy, but this is definitely a high-stakes adventure.

I was spoiled by some of the pre-story stuff. A character list gives away what, for me, was a huge plot point. Sure, I would have figured it out, but I like to figure things out! You might want to skip ahead and dive right into the story.

Lord of the Nutcracker Men by Iain Lawrence (Random House - Laurel Leaf)
Lord of the Nutcracker Men is set in WWI England, and told by a boy that's sent out of the city. He ends up with his aunt, a teacher. His mother works in a munitions factory and his father goes off to war, writing letters to his son and sending little carved soldiers. The boy believes, after a time, that the games he plays are having an outcome on the war--and why wouldn't he, when dead men visit him in the back garden?

Especially moving was how the author integrated the 1914 England-Germany Christmas truce in at the end. There are certainly some narrative flaws, places where things are dropped or not really explained for someone who doesn't already know about the time (like the fate of the boy's mother), but it was a good read overall.

Loser by Jerry Spinelli (HarperCollins)
...is such a swift read that I found myself on page 30 before I realized it is written in present tense, which does not jar here, though I'm more of a past tense sort of girl. The protagonist is a loser. He can't catch. He's clumsy. He's unaware that he's a loser--and yet, you feel sorry for the 'winners' long before the end of the book, because they miss out on the best parts of living. Make me a loser any day! Very much recommended for someone feeling out of sorts or out of place.