Review: If a Tree Falls at Lunch Period

If a Tree Falls at Lunch Period, Harcourt Children's Books in Sep. 2007
Author: Gennifer Choldenko

A few weeks ago, I reviewed Ms. Choldenko's book, No Passengers Beyond This Point (my review). I had requested the book, but the author included another book along with that, If a Tree Falls at Lunch Period. She explained that this latter book might fit well with my goal of promoting diversity, multiculturalism and acceptance.

I planned to hold off and wait, but this is a uniquely compelling book. I have to admit, it took me a little longer to get into the story, which is told in alternating chapters by two 7th graders.

Kirsten is white and struggles with her weight, her parents who fight almost constantly, her little sister who needs her support but drives her crazy, and the other girls at the exclusive Mountain School who vacillate between friendship and cruelty.

Walk is black and is starting at Mountain School for the first time due to a scholarship, after attending a rough public school where he had good friends but few opportunities. His mother, Sylvia, is a single mother trying to cope and help Walk avoid the dangers she sees everywhere.

Kirsten and Walk don't have much in common besides being in 7th grade at Mountain School and being two of the best students in the class. Even that is starting to slip away for Kirsten when they are thrown together and Kirsten discovers a secret that shakes them both to the core.

This book has an intensely personal feel which will draw kids in. Both main characters are struggling to find a place and identity with school, friends and parents who alternate between helping them and hurting them. Adolescent hormones swirl around as an undercurrent, but the strongest currents are those of finding one's place. I appreciated greatly that the parents were fully developed and complex.

Review: Amy Hodgepodge - All Mixed Up!

Amy Hodgepodge - All Mixed Up!, Grosset & Dunlap, May 2008
Authors: Kim Wayans, Kevin Knotts
Illustrator: Soo Jeong

Amy Hodges is starting 4th grade, and is very nervous. She has always been homeschooled, but has asked her parents if she can go to a real school. After her first day, she is not sure whether she made a good decision. Some people aren't very nice, and Amy isn't sure whether she really fits in. When the mean girls say she looks weird, she worries that she won't ever fit in because she is a mix of Korean, Japanese, white and black.

Cupcake Giveaway Update

Oh my gosh! My nephew from Thailand, Henry, was here doing college visits, and I completely forgot to do the drawing. I am so sorry. Somebody throw in a drum roll, please.



The signed paperback copy of It's Raining Cupcakes by Lisa Schroeder goes to...

  Vivien!

Thank you to everybody for entering and for your patience with my absentmindedness. In the future, do not hesitate to nudge me if I appear to have fallen asleep.

2nd Crusader's Challenge - Norman Needs a Nudge

For our second Crusader's Challenge, Rachael has posed the following task:

Write a flash fiction story (in any format) in 100 words or less, excluding the title. Begin the story with the words, "The goldfish bowl teetered" These four words will be included in the word count.

Here is my entry, and it is a children's story of a fantasy nature, so I guess it is in my genre:

Sunday Sharing - A Wish and a Prayer

From now until June, I am teaching my preschool Sunday School class again, so I thought I'd do an occasional post called Sunday Sharing. In each post, I'll share a book with you that I plan to share with my class. After class, I'll update the post to talk about how the kids reacted to the book, sharing their reactions with you.

A Wish and a Prayer, published by 4RV Publishing in June 2010
Author: Beth Bence Reinke
Illustrator: Ginger Nielson

Some of you may remember that back in January, my very first review was of another book by Beth Bence Reinke, In My Bath, an absolute delight of a book. In A Wish and a Prayer, Beth Bence Reinke has again teamed up with Ginger Nielson, who provides lovely illustrations for this story of a young boy, Jason, whose pet parakeet, Sonny, escapes through an open window.

Review: It's Raining Cupcakes (signed copy to give away)

It's Raining Cupcakes, published by Aladdin/Scholastic March 2010
Author: Lisa Schroeder

Isabel is twelve and lives in the small town of Willow, Oregon. In fact, she's never been anywhere but Oregon, though she longs to travel the world like her Aunt Christy, who is a flight attendant and sends Isabel postcards from all over. Meanwhile, her parents are more interested in turning an old laundromat into a cupcake store, which sounds pretty cool, but not as good as traveling.

When Isabel hears about a baking contest for kids where the finalists get to go to New York City, she sets her mind to creating the perfect recipe. Then her best friend, Sophie, who is practically perfect, also decides to enter the contest. Even worse, her mother thinks Isabel should enter a cupcake recipe because it would be good publicity for the shop, but Isabel isn't sure that's a good idea.

Though the pink, confectionery cover makes it appear as nothing more than a light, fluffy read, the book covers some interesting territory as Isabel's mother struggles with her own confidence and anxieties. Though it is somewhat unusual for a middle grade book to deal with both Isabel and her mother's search for the strength to follow their dreams, the messages are not heavy handed. As you might hope, things end happily, if not fully resolved. Isabel learns valuable lessons about her mother, her practically-perfect friend, and her own ability to think about other people's dreams as well as her own.

I would recommend this book for middle grade and young tween girls. Isabel and Sophie are great fun, and I wouldn't mind reading more about them in another book.

Four stars out of five.

I have a paperback copy of It's Raining Cupcakes, kindly signed and sent to me by the author. If you would like it, leave a comment and make sure you are following this blog. I'll choose a winner on Friday, so don't delay.

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Marvelous Middle Grade Monday: No Passengers Beyond This Point

It's Marvelous Middle Grade Monday again, my sixth week of this great idea started by Shannon Whitney Messenger. This week, I am pleased to talk about a book that I think may become a classic, No Passengers Beyond This Point by Geniifer Choldenko.

When I was quite young, probably second or third grade, I read The Phantom Tollbooth for the first time. Frankly, I was a bit creeped out, but the story was captivating, and I wound up reading it several more times during my childhood. Mind-twisting and scary, humorous but disturbing, the book spoke to me in some odd way.

That's the kind of book No Passengers Beyond This Point is. Crazy and scary and captivating, it is like a cross between The Phantom Tollbooth and Neil Gaiman's Coraline (the book, as I've never seen the movie).