The Journey of Little Charlie by Christopher Paul Curtis

The Journey of Little Charlie
Christopher Paul Curtis
Scholastic Press
Release Date: Jan. 30, 2018
order it from the Tattered Cover here

My favorite book of all time is The Book Thief by Markus Zusak because it was the first book I'd ever read that gave the German perspective of the Nazis during WWII .  It opened my eyes and I connected very quickly with the idea that not everyone who lived in Germany (in fact a very small number of Germans) actually sympathized with the ideals of the Third Reich.

I know, it's a weird way to start a book review by talking about how much I loved another book...but stick with me.  Christopher Paul Curtis has done the same thing with The Journey of Little Charlie.  Told from the point of view of the not-so-little Little Charlie Bobo, this is the story of slave catchers in the 1850s who would travel north to try and recover escaped slaves.  The story opens with the sudden death of Little Charlie's father and the discovery that his father apparently owed money to a man named Cap'n Buck.  Cap'n Buck says that the only way Charlie can pay off his father's debt is by helping him recover "stolen property".  Little Charlie has never left his home of Possom Moan, South Carolina and though he's tall and looks like a full grown man, he's only 13. Along the way Little Charlie discovers the true character of Cap'n Buck and though he doubts he should be helping the Cap'n at all, he sees no other way proceed.
This would be a great book to use when teaching character evolution - the changes in Little Charlie are both obvious and inferred, which is perfect for upper elementary literary analysis.
I also learned to love the way the book was written.  Curtis writes it the way that Little Charlie would say it (much like the Aibileen Clark chapters from The Help). I struggled at first because I was reading it from a teacher's point of view and I wasn't sure how well students would be able to read it and understand what he was saying.  However, by the middle of the book, I was used to it and loved Little Charlie's voice, and I think students will too.  It would make a great read aloud if the reader was willing to get completely into it.
I would highly recommend this book to teachers and students and plan to give it to a student who loved Elijah of Buxton on Monday and see what she thinks of it.

Once again, thank you to Kristen Gilligan of the Tattered Cover for providing me with awesome ARCs to read and review.

Impartial Witness by Charles Todd

An Impartial Witness
Charles Todd
Narrated by Rosalyn Landor
Audiobooks America 2010

As a librarian, my list of "must reads" is always longer than Crystal Gale's hair, so it's rare for me to just grab a book at the library.  However, two weeks ago I had to make an emergency trip to Denver, and none of my requested audio books were in yet, so I decided to pick one off the shelf.  Two things happened: one, I perused books on the shelf and chose a book based on cover art and the short summaries you find either on the back or on the inside of the dust jacket.  I'll explore this topic in more depth later.  Two, I found a great book by an author I'd never heard of that I really enjoyed.
The book I chose was An Impartial Witness by Charles Todd.  It's a Bess Crawford mystery, and now that I've finished it, I know that there are actually multiple books in the series, and An Impartial Witness is the second of the series, and the newest of the series will be out next week.  The Bess Crawford mysteries are historical mysteries, set in England during World War I. Bess is a very strong female - she's a field nurse for the military and she was an "army brat" of sorts, growing up in India where her father was a high-ranking officer (I can't ever keep military ranks straight, and since I listened to the audio book, there's no way I'm going to figure out his rank, sorry) in the British military. In all of the mysteries, Bess doesn't go looking for trouble, but she definitely doesn't know how to leave trouble alone once it finds her - a fact that is eluded to often in An Impartial Witness.
The book starts out with Bess treating a severely burned pilot who keeps a picture of his wife near him at all times.  After transporting the man to a hospital in England, Bess takes a train to London for a few days leave before she must return to the front.  As she's walking through the train station, she sees the woman from the photograph - the pilot's wife - but this woman is utterly despondent as she bids farewell to a different soldier.  A few weeks later, Bess finds out that the woman was brutally murdered later on that same day.  When Bess volunteers to help Scotland Yard with the investigation, she's caught up in the mystery and nearly gets herself killed a few times.
I loved that the book had a historical element to it that added to the "intrigue", however on the same note, I'm not too sure of the historical accuracy of the book.  For example, the book takes place in 1917, and Bess has her own motorcar that she drives around like it's no big deal.  That seems odd to me - but I wasn't alive in 1917, so maybe women were driving quite a bit back then.  Also, I love that Todd has created a very strong female character who doesn't back down just because she's a female, but I was surprised at the fact that no one objected to her nosing around all the time.  In the end, the flaws didn't outweigh the enjoyment I had listening to the book - Rosalyn Landor did a great job with voices and keeping the pace quick enough so that it wasn't boring.
I'd recommend this book to anyone who enjoys historical fiction, mysteries and strong female characters, but I wouldn't recommend it to readers who are particular about details.  There's nothing terribly risque in the novel, so it could be HS appropriate, but the historical references and vocabulary would make it difficult for a reluctant reader or MS reader to follow.

Revolution

Revolution

Jennifer Donnelly

If you’re a history buff or a music buff, this is absolutely the book for you.  Andi Alpers is a senior in high school who is holding her life together by a very thin thread.  Her younger brother was tragically killed two years earlier and her family has since fallen apart.  The only things that keep her going are caring for her mom, popping antidepressants and her music.  Andi is a guitar aficionado.  When her father finds out that she might not graduate from high school, he takes her to Paris for the three week Christmas vacation in an effort to get her to focus on her school work.  In Paris, a family friend gives her a very old guitar and she finds a diary inside a secret compartment within the guitar case.  The diary belonged to a girl named Alexandrine who was intimately involved with the French Revolution and the royal family.  Andi becomes as obsessed with the diary and the story surrounding it.

I’ll be the first to admit I don’t like history.  It was never my favorite class, and analyzing why these people were mean to those people has never been my thing.  So when someone recommended that I read Revolution – a book basically about the French Revolution – I was skeptical.  That and the music from Les Misérables kept running through my head.  But the premise intrigued me, so I decided to give it a try.  And I, like Andi, was completely swept up in the story and could not put the book down.  The struggles Andi experiences in the book – her bitterness towards her father, her self-hatred for what happened to her brother, her desire to save her mother but lose herself – paired with the struggles Alexandrine faced are so real and poinient, the reader can’t help but get caught up in their lives.  And Donnelly has some awesome lines:  “What is it that mends broken people?  Jesus?  Chocolate?  New shoes? (p 137), “Because after all the shattered hopes, after all the blood and death, we woke as if from a nightmare only to find that the ugly still are not beautiful and the dull still do not sparkle.  That this one sings better than that one.  And he got the position I wanted…And no writ, no bill, no law, nor declaration will ever change it” (p 286-287).  Lines like these cause the reader to really think about the situations that Andi and Alexandrine found themselves in.  I also loved that Donnelly provided a bibliography at the end, so if I were so inclined, I could continue my research on the French Revolution.  And Donnelly did such an amazing job with this book, I just might have to.

Avi - Children's Author

Avi - An Author worth reading

This is not your typical posting for me, but because I had to do an author study for grad school, I thought I'd share with all of you what I'd learned.

Avi?  Is an awesome author.  For multiple reasons.

1) He has one name.  Like Madonna.  And Prince.  Instant cool.

2) He writes children's books/YA novels about good stuff - morals and doing what is right.

3) He is not limited to one genre.  He's written historical ficiton, children's books, thrillers, you name it.

4) One Newberry Medal and two Newberry Honors top his list of awards.  I'd print the whole list, but it's long.

5) And lastly, in a time where our teenagers and young people are swept up in vampire thrillers and the like, Avi's novels are interesting to kids (and adults) on a level that is familiar.  His characters go through things that everyone goes through, and he doesn't have to set his novels in fantastic, unrealistic situations (not that I think fantasy is bad, I like fantasy.  It's just nice to read something like Nothing but the Truth that strikes a chord with everyday students and teaches them about communication and honesty without supernatural forces).

The books that I loved the most are:

Nothing but the Truth (1991).  The story of how different perspectives on a single event can be completely misunderstood if communication isn't clear.  This book hit a little close to home for me as a teacher, but it also gave particular insight to those kids I can't ever get through to, as well as the reasoning behind some of the parental reactions I've recieved over the years.

The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle (1990).  A thirteen-year-old girl must cross the Atlantic on a ship teetering on the brink of mutany.  A great story about doing the right thing and being the best person you can be, despite odds and social mandates.  Loved this book.

The End of the Beginning (2004).  A great story of adventure (on a very small scale) and friendship.  This book would be an excellent bedtime story to read to kids.  It's about a snail named Avon who is tired of reading about adventures and decides to set out on one, with his new-found best friend, Edward, giving him advice and company, what could possibly go wrong?  Full of funny word plays and life lessons.

The Piano Tuner - Daniel Mason

The Piano Tuner
Daniel Mason

Once again, my book club has chosen a book that many of us will not finish and fewer of us will enjoy.  I know that I'm in the camp that finished the book, but the jury is still out as to whether I'll be on team "I enjoyed it" or not.  Admittedly, the book has an amazing premise:  A middle aged English piano tuner is summoned to Burma during the 1880's to tune a piano for an eccentric army commander.

I will say that his adventure is quite adventurous.  I did enjoy the descriptions of his travel.  It was interesting to watch as Edgar Drake tried his hardest to step out of his shy little world and experience the wonders of the Orient.  And when I consider the book from a literary stand point, I really appreciated his character.  Maybe the thing holding me back from jumping into camp "AwesomeBook" is the fact that I've read so much teen lit lately that my brain has rewired itself to only enjoy page turners that either include vampires, death matches or fairies.

And if I'm honest, in the end, Edgar really did step out of his little world and go all out for what he loved and believed in.  As for the ending?  I will say that it left me wanting more.  However, I think Edgar's entire existence left me wanting more, and that might be part of the conflict in this novel.  Edgar's passion sends him off on amazing adventures.  Is it better to follow your passion, or be safe and secure in life?