Book review: "Navigating Early" by Clare Vanderpool

Title: Navigating Early
Author: Clare Vanderpool
Publisher: Delacorte Press, 2013

After his mother dies suddenly, Jack Baker is sent to a boy's boarding school in Maine, far from his home in Kansas, his distant father who has just returned from the warfront, and all of his memories of life before. He doesn't feel at home at Morton Hill Academy and tries to fit in with mixed results until he meets Early Auden, "that strangest of boys." It becomes clear that Early's brain works differently than most people's, and this eventually leads both boys on an adventure in the Maine wilderness, up the Appalachian trail in search of something. Whether it's the end of the story of the number pi, the great Appalachian black bear, or something a little less attainable, Jack and Early go and seek it out.

I enjoyed this 2014 Printz Honor title much more than I thought I would. It is a grand adventure, with pretty real danger, a fully human cast of characters (with perhaps the exception of the bear and dear old Bucky the frog), and grief in many forms. I think every character deals with some sort of grief, and each processes it in a different way.

I'm not sure I completely liked the parallel of Early's story of Pi, who is a character with his own tale, and Early and Jack's story. There was just a bit too much suspension of disbelief that these two stories so closely mirrored each other, mostly with the Ancient One part. It just felt off to me. But it's a small quibble, because in the end everything comes together beautifully, with some nice twists and turns in the journey, much like the Appalachian Trail itself.

Take a look at this book if you like a tale within a tale, reading about the Maine wilderness, mystery, quests, or a good old-fashioned adventure story.

Disclaimer: I received a free galley of this book from the publisher... a year ago. Sorry it took so long!

Review of "Relish: My Life in the Kitchen" by Lucy Knisley up on The Broke & the Bookish

I'm making progress on my 2014 Hub Challenge! I just finished Printz Honor book Navigating Early by Clare Vanderpool, which I liked much more than I expected I would, and I reviewed Alex Award-winner Relish: My Life in the Kitchen by Lucy Knisley on The Broke and the Bookish today. Check it out! 

Book review: "Midwinterblood" by Marcus Sedgwick, winner of the 2014 Printz Medal

Title: Midwinterblood
Author: Marcus Sedgwick
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press, 2013

Seven tales are told, all set on an island called Blessed, spanning through the years. Though they are separate, together they tell one story, of pure and intense love that is heedless of time.

The seven tales begin with one set in the future, on a remote island the day a stranger arrives. It quickly becomes clear that something isn't right, and we are left feeling rattled and uncertain by the end of this first part.

Each subsequent tale takes place farther back in the past, telling the story of families, lovers, children, and violence. At first there are only the most tenuous of connections, but eventually we begin to see pieces falling into place.

This is a weird little book. I can definitely see why the Printz committee wanted to award this with the high honor, as it is full of rich symbolism, imagery, beautiful language, and layers upon layers of meaning and details a reader can unpack to see the whole, complex picture. I went back many times to check on little clues in previous stories to make sure I was making the connections I thought I was meant to make, and the smallest details are worked into the whole, with particular symbols showing up over and over. It's not a very long book, being under 300 pages, and I was able to finish it in a day, but it is very dense and could probably do with a reread to find things missed the first time around.

Yet at the end, I am kind of baffled as to how this came to be published for the young adult market. Not many of the characters are teens, and in fact most are adults. Even though there is nothing particularly racy or "adult" about the content, this book seems to be for not only mature readers, but sophisticated and discerning readers. I'm sure there are some teens who would love and appreciate this kind of literature, but I'm not sure what rationale the publisher had when it decided to place it under a young adult imprint.

Honestly, at the end I was left feeling very unsatisfied. However, it did leave me thinking for a long time, trying to piece together more clues and details long after I had finished. I wouldn't say I liked it, not really, but I can certainly appreciate it. This would be a great recommendation for people who liked the book Cloud Atlas, I think.

Disclaimer: I obtained this book through my local library.

Top Ten World's Where I'd Never Want to Live

 

This week's Top Ten Tuesday is one I was a part of at The Broke and the Bookish, you can check it out here! But I only had the first five of these on my list over there, so yay new content. Check out our post over there to see the full list, and to link your own!

 1. The world in Rick Yancey's The 5th Wave. I don't know about you all, but the ENTIRE time I was reading this book I felt so grateful I didn't have to be in this vision of Earth. Never have I been so grateful that hostile alien lifeforms weren't targeting our planet.

2. The world in Susan Beth Pfeffer's Life As We Knew It. I felt an incredible desire to stock up on canned foods after reading this book.

3. Much as I love these books, the world in Derek Landy's Skulduggery Pleasant series. Because honestly, I would be one of the pitiful mortals without magic who would probably get stuck in the middle of a vampire slaughter, wizard battle, or Faceless Ones attack. And I would have absolutely no idea what was going on.

4. The world in Ernest Cline's Ready Player One. I would hate to live in a world where the only happy places were online, everyone interacted online for the most part, and 1980s pop culture knowledge was your ticket to popularity. Also the environment is pretty much dead.

5. The world in Daniel H. Wilson's Robopocalypse. Because I would most likely die a painful, robot-induced death, and if not I would constantly be fearing for my life and would probably have lots of dead family and friends.

 

6. The world in Carrie Ryan's The Forest of Hands and Teeth. The zombie apocalypse has already happened, and everyone who has survived lives in fenced-off compounds for their own safety. Unless the fence is breached, in which case GOOD LUCK. Zombies will want to eat you, and some of them are fast.

 

7. The world in Alan Moore's Watchmen. To be fair I've only seen the movie and I know it's pretty different, but still. This alternate history sounds terrifying and I don't want any part of it.

8. The world in M.T. Anderson's Feed. This is another futuristic look at the world, after technology has become such a large part of our lives that people have something called the Feed implanted into their brains and consumption is everyone's main concern. Which is too bad for the dying planet, and everyone's health. Think sores that get so big and gross they are hard to ignore, thus they become sort of a fashion accessory. NO THANKS.

 

9. Adam Farmer's world in Robert Cormier's I Am the Cheese. So technically this is not a dystopian world, but our own world through the eyes of a boy named Adam Farmer. I don't want to give away too much in case you haven't read it, but if you have you know what I'm talking about. Basically the thought of being in Adam's place makes me want to curl into the fetal position yelling PLEASE GOD NO.

 

10. The world in Patrick Ness's The Knife of Never Letting Go. I know I wouldn't even be there, because, no women. BUT if I were one of the guys in the settlement of Prentisstown on New World, I would break. No quiet ever, always hearing the Noise of everyone else's (dirty, perverted, violent, mournful) thoughts, not to mention the twitterings of any animals nearby. And oh yeah, everything else there sucks too. Being on New World would be the worst.

What are your top ten picks?

YOUTH MEDIA AWARDS 2014 ANNOUNCED!!!

Baaaahhhhhh I'm SO EXCITED!!! The Youth Media Awards were just announced this morning and I can't wait to dig in to the winners!

I'm super, super excited because I have most of the Printz AND Newbery honor books in my library's collection, PLUS I got the Printz winner too!

Here are the big winners. See the complete list here.

Michael L. Printz Award (excellent in literature written for young adults)
Winner: Midwinterblood by Marcus Sedgwick
Honors: Kingdom of Little Wounds by Susann Cokal, Maggot Moon by Sally Gardner, Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell, and Navigating Early by Clare Vanderpool

John Newbery Medal (most outstanding contribution to children's literature)
Winner: Flora & Ulysses by Kate DiCamillo
Honors: Doll Bones by Holly Black, The Year of Billy Miller by Kevin Henkes, One Came Back by Amy Timberlake, Paperboy by Vince Vawter

Randolph Caldecott Medal (most distinguished American picture book for children)
Winner: Locomotive by Brian Floca
Honors: Journey by Aaron Becker, Flora and the Flamingo by Molly Idle, Mr. Wuffles! by David Wiesner

William C. Morris Award (debut book written by a first-time author writing for teens)
Winner: Charm & Strange by Stephanie Kuehn
Finalists: Sex & Violence by Carrie Mesrobian, Dr. Bird's Advice for Sad Poets by Evan Roskos, Belle Epoque by Elizabeth Ross, In the Shadow of Blackbirds by Cat Winters

So this year I am going to make a concentrated effort to read as many of the Printz and Morris titles as I can. I will also attempt to read books that end up on the rest of the YALSA lists, which will be announced in the coming week or so, I think. I will also do my very very best to review them here! I promise I am going to try to post more often, and this is a perfect opportunity.

Were you surprised by any of the winners? How many have you read?

Best of 2013

I know I've been pretty bad with keeping up this blog (what else is new), but I wanted to stop by to let all of you who continue to subscribe/read this know that I'm still here. I have kind of slipped with my reading a bit, but thank God for audiobooks.

I'd like to try to review a few books in the coming days and weeks, so stay tuned for those. In the meantime, here are my top picks from this year.

I realized right after I wrote this entire post that this is this coming Tuesday's Top Ten Tuesday topic, so I'll link to it then as well. Sorry I'm ahead of the game on this one!



1. The Kiki Strike series by Kirsten Miller. I was lucky enough to be chosen as a blogger to review The Darkness Dwellers, the third in the series, and the publisher was kind enough to send me the first two so I could read them all and catch up. I was a bit cowed by the amount of pages I had to read before the release date, but I needn't have worried; I flew through these. I hope there will be a fourth at some point.

2. See You at Harry's by Jo Knowles. I'm ashamed to say this is my first book I've read by Knowles, who I've met and is the sweetest person ever. This one got a rare 5-star review from me on GoodReads. It was that good. I listened to the audio, which was kindly sent to me by Candlewick Press, and which I immediately added to my library's audio collection. Heartbreaking but lovely, Kate Rudd's performance is spectacular and I'm so glad she won an Odyssey Award last year for The Fault in Our Stars (which I haven't listened to). This one is a winner.

3. Being Henry David by Cal Armistead. After requesting this through NetGalley, I was surprised and then felt stupid when I realized I had actually worked with the author at B&N years ago, and knew her daughter from the store as well. This was especially fun for me to read because of this, and because a good portion of the novel takes place in Concord, Massachusetts, which is the next town over from where I work. Cal was kind enough to make a visit to my library for a talk and signing. Thanks, Cal!

4.  Where'd You Go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple. I read this because it won an Alex Award, and boy am I glad I did. What a fun book! It's written in documents, emails, and first-person narration from Bernadette's teen daughter, Bea. I recommend this one to a lot of people. You should read it!

 

5. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz. This got another 5-star review from me. Just a wonderful, quiet story that made me feel good. It deserved every single award it received.

6. The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom by Christopher Healy. This book is probably the funniest book I've read all year. Love the fairy tale spoofs and the humor of this. The sequel was just as good. I can't wait for the third installment!

 

 

7. The Skulduggery Pleasant series by Derek Landy. Am I ever glad I decided to  listen to these audiobooks. Great humor and action, and great world-building with great characters. These are probably some of the best audiobooks I've had the pleasure of listening to. I'm currently listening to #3, and I hope I'll be able to find the rest of the series on audio somewhere (they were originally published in the U.K. and aren't as widely available in the states).

 

8. The Whale Rider by Witi Ihimaera. A beautiful little gem of a novel. This is a great crossover book too; it has both teen and adult appeal.

9. Carter Finally Gets It by Brent Crawford. I'm not sure this would have been so fantastic if I hadn't listened to Nick Podehl's narration, but I absolutely loved this. Extremely funny and entirely entertaining.

 

10. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. The only reason this is on the list is Wil Wheaton. His narration really made this for me. I tried to read it when it came out, but I just couldn't get past the sheer amount of '80s-ness and the absolute cynicism of the narrator. I was able to get through all of the exposition (there was a lot) with Wheaton telling me the story. And when it got going, boy did it get going.

I know the year isn't quite over, but I doubt the few books I'll be able to get in before January 1st will top these. I'll let you  know if I'm wrong, though.

Which books were your favorites from this year?

Book review: "Will in Scarlet" by Matthew Cody

Title: Will in Scarlet
Author: Matthew Cody
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2013

Will Shackley has grown up in a life of privilege, the son of a lord and sole heir to his father's household and keep. He spends his free time causing mischief, but must grow up quickly when he is forced to flee the only life he knows for one of uncertainty, danger, and revenge. Luckily, he is captured by a band of outlaws known as the Merry Men, who hope to gain a ransom for the young lad on such a fine horse.

Will, who renames himself Will Scarlet after a childhood nickname, manages to extend his life long enough to convince Much (a girl disguised as a boy), John Little the giant, and Rob, the band's drunk, to join him on a raid of his former home with the promise of a treasure. Of course, things don't go according to neither Will's nor the Merry Men's plan, and life gets even more interesting.

You really have to go into this book not expecting a straight-up Robin Hood retelling. This is much more of an origin story, before Robin was heroic and confident, before Will Scarlet was part of the Merry Men, before the Sheriff of Nottingham was the low and dastardly man we know. It really gives us a different way of looking at the characters, and as an adventure story it's very good, though a bit slow in the beginning. If some of the part about Will in his childhood home (also a castle) were trimmed a bit, I think it would be easier to get into. Yet once the action started I flew through it. 

I'm hoping there will be a follow up, since I'd like to hear more about these characters and their history. Plus, we haven't gotten to Friar Tuck just yet, and Maid Marian only has a not-even-really-passing mention. I would recommend this to anyone who likes a good medieval adventure tale with swords and trickery and good-hearted thieves. Knowing the Robin Hood tale is a plus, but if you're a huge fan just keep an open mind and stick with it because it won't be what you expect.

Disclosure: I received this e-galley from Edelweiss as a librarian reviewer. NetGalley rejected my request, boo.