Reading Rumpus: September 2010

Cybils 2010: Middle Grade Fiction Panel

There's some old saying that goes something like...."If you want something done, give it to the busiest person." Last year, as I sat contemplating an empty nest, toyed with moving to a new city, dreamed of cool career moves I could make (notice the verbs: sat, toyed, dreamed), I applied to be a Cybils judge. Nary a word (cricket noise for effect).

This year, I'm jumping through hoops for 1400+ middle schoolers, guiding 90 faculty members through a school-wide literacy initiative that involves grants and field trips and volunteers, assisting a reading team with a new curriculum... let alone the time I spend assessing, placing, monitoring and cajoling struggling readers (2010 verbs? jumping, guiding, assisting, cajoling). This year, the Cybils want me :-) Of course.

And I'm thrilled! But, I'm also saying a little prayer that some of the titles I have the grand honor of perusing will have already passed my eyes. Cause man, these eyes are a drooping!

Thanks to Kerry Miller of Shelf Elf for serving as the Middle Grade Fiction Panel Organizer.

I'm excited to be a Middle Grade Fiction Panelist with:
Ashley Bair and Alysa Stewart of Everread
Jennifer Donovan of Five Minutes For Books
Sherry Early of Semicolon
Melissa Fox of Book Nut
Kyle Kimmal of The Boy Reader
Sandra Stiles of The Musings of a Book Addict

When we get done sorting out the gems, the next round will go to these Judges:
Amy Baskin of Euphoria
Eric Berlin of Eric Berlin
Jill Foltz of The O.W.L.
Karen Wang of Kidsmodo
along with Middle Grade Fiction Panel Organizer Kerry Miller

If you'd like to know more about the Cybils, jump on over HERE.
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Kyle's Island by Sally Derby - book review

Kyle’s family is going through big changes. His grandmother has recently died and his father has left the family, but Kyle can still look forward to spending the summer fishing at his family’s summer cottage. Then, his mother explains that she’s going to have to sell the cottage. Kyle spends the summer letting go of his anger, coming-of-age and learning that things and people change.

Kyle's Island is filled with descriptive language and would make a decent read for teaching descriptive writing or examining mood or tone in writing style. It's an atmospheric story where the setting plays a large part.

However, the pace of Kyle's Island will be difficult for many young readers. It is mostly a character study of Kyle's coming-of-age. While Kyle is written in an authentically frustrated and tween-aged voice, the lack of any real plot development will additionally limit its readership. However, there's a nice boy, fishing, and growing up story in there for readers who enjoy coming-of-age stories.

-------------------- Resources --------------------
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Age: 5th - 8th grade interest level
Pages: 192
Themes: Family, Divorce, Interpersonal Relationships, Overcoming Anger
Publisher: Charlesbridge
Date: February 2010
ISB- 978-1580893169
Buy Kyle's Island HERE
Scroll down to the bottom left on the publisher's page to find a discussion & activity guide HERE.

Sally Derby wanted to "be" lots of things so she's a writer and gets to pretend to be all of them. You can read more on her website.

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The Secret To Lying by Todd Mitchell - book review

The Secret to Lying has an interesting premise about a young man with poor self esteem (usually reserved for the girls of YA Lit.) and his attempts at reinventing himself when he gets into a boarding school for intellectually gifted math and science students. Unfortunately, his attempts at reinventing himself become dangerous as his self-esteem sinks lower when his allegorical dreams begin to bleed into reality.

There are some great lessons about learning to be who you are and the teen voices are authentic. This said, The Secret to Lying at times seemed disjointed and predictable. The attempts at genre bending through the protagonist’s dreams ended up polluting the message, causing more of a distraction than the enhancement, I believe, they were intended to create.

However, I am probably selling The Secret to Lying short as there's certainly a market for the topic of reinventing oneself. The writer is strong enough and the idea is sound. I can’t help but wonder if a young adult might like The Secret to Lying much better than this middle-aged woman. But, I read a lot of young adult stuff and this one left me a bit unaffected.

-------------------- Resources --------------------
Genre: Realistic Fiction with bits of Fantasy thrown in through dreams
Age: Young Adult
Pages: 336
Themes: Self-Esteem, Ethics, Self-Mutilation, Friendships
Thank You to Library Thing for my copy!
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Date: June 2010
ISBN-13: 978-0763640842
BUY The Secret to Lying HERE

Todd Mitchell was born on Elvis's birthday. He's had a bunch of interesting jobs: digging ditches, feeding wolves, teaching high school English, teaching poetry to children, slinging coffee, and four miserable days of cleaning the fryer at KFC. You can read more about him on his website.

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Serendipity Saturday!

I haven't done a Serendipity post in AGES, so today is the day!

There's a fantastic list of Caldecott Medal Winners over on Squidoo titled: The Best Children's Picture Books Are the Caldecott Medal Winners (found via Elizabeth O. Dulemba)

Yet another reason I MUST get an iPad (once it gets a front facing camera and USB port!):

(found via readergirlz)

Happy 3rd Anniversary to Kid Lit blogger Lee Wind who writes about Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Teen books and issues. His site has established a fantastic resource for all!

Best new site I've found: Literacy Toolbox.

Just as I was compiling my thoughts on the Hunger Games trilogy for what was sure to be an amazing post on Reading Rumpus, Adele, from Persnickety Snark, writes about Epilogues in a very thought-provoking post!

The Cybils panels are starting to form. I've always been amazed at the similar titles chosen between all the different kid lit. awards. It seems a good book is a good book is a good book ......
Example? Take a peek at Betsy Bird's thoughts on her School Library Journal picks for Caldecott & Newbery 2011 (and be sure to check the comments for more). I bet we'll be seeing some overlapping titles!

Tasha, over at Kids Lit, has a beautiful picturing of VOYA's 2009 Nonfiction picks.If I were choosing one to read, and I could only pick one - torture! - I'd have to pick : Oh My Gods!: A Look-it-Up Guide to the Gods of Mythology. I just can't get enough mythology stuff!

Brimful Curiosities has a giveaway of the soon-to-be-a-movie title: The Capture: Guardians of Ga'hoole (Book 1) along with the first in author Kathryn Lasky's wolves series Lone Wolf: Wolves of the Beyond (Book 1). Hurry! It ends October 4th!

Seems Neil Gaiman is making a guest appearance on PBS's Arthur. GeekDad has a lot to say about it here and here. Boy! I like GeekDad's blog!

Since I always want to save the best for last....
Lane Smith's picture book It's a Book has me spinning so many ideas for my middle schoolers, I'm off to the bookstore! Never underestimate the value of a great picture book. They are awesome teaching tools for all ages. This one is destined to become a classic. Here's a peek:

Guys Read: Funny Business - Now that's funny; I don't care who you are

I have long been a follower of the Guys Read website, a literacy initiative to light a literacy fire by matching boys to the right books and by providing positive male reader examples. It was started by guy author extraordinaire: Mr. Jon Scieszka. Author of .............. well, I was going to list a few favorites, but there's just too many to name!

I've been excited to get my hands on a copy of the new book Guys Read: Funny Business. Alas, I can't say that I've seen it, but if the book trailer is any indication, we're in for a treat!

Here's how Amazon describes the book: "Ten stories guaranteed to delight, amuse, and possibly make you spit your milk in your friend's face, from the following esteemed writers:

Mac Barnett

Eoin Colfer

Christopher Paul Curtis

Kate DiCamillo

Jon Scieszka

Paul Feig

Jack Gantos

Jeff Kinney

David Lubar

Adam Rex

David Yoo"

It is dismaying to see that there are no Florida chapters of Guys Read! I may have to add that to my plans ........

For more info. on Mr. Scieszka, begin at his website and make sure to stop by Guys Read.
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Last Night I Sang To The Monster by Benjamin Alire Sáenz - book review

Last Night I Sang to the Monster opens with eighteen-year-old Zach Gonzalez in a mental health facility uncertain as to how he landed there. Alcohol and trauma have left him there and we heal along with him as he comes to realize the monsters in his path. Though Zach is reluctant to examine the facts that left him broken, ultimately, the story is one of healing and love. Zach will face the monster.

Zach is a wonderful addition to YA male protagonists. He’s not worried about the football team, or the hot girl or how nerdy he is. Zach has real problems, ones he has chosen to forget. At first he shut them out with alcohol, now he’s agonizingly being forced to face his past. The characters that wander through Zach’s recovery are as captivating as Zach. From them he finds beauty and strength in order to move forward and begin his adult life.

Last Night I Sang to the Monster's writing is hypnotic, filled with emotional depth and intensity. Author Benjamin Alire Sáenz has a beautiful style. I’m guessing he’s studied and written some poetry. It must be said that the short sentence burst might be off-putting to some. However, this effort goes along with my belief that this is a book best read in small bursts itself, with time for discussion and reflection. The plot is motivated by our desire to figure out how Zach landed in his situation (which isn’t revealed until the very end and is more heart-wrenching than we’ve even predicted). But perhaps the book’s greatest strength is its lack of didactics. The matter-of fact way that Sáenz portrays teen life makes this book superbly accessible to teens.

Last Night I Sang to the Monster is a story of monsters, both real and imaginary and a young man who tried to fight them, at first with alcohol and then later, through a recovery program. Last Night I Sang to the Monster is not an easy read because it hits the big themes of God and love, but it is a worthwhile addition to young adult literature.

FYI: All the glowing praise aside, I feel that I must warn: Last Night I Sang to the Monster is filled with “F” bombs. The argument can be made that it adds to the realism of Zach’s character, but it’s there, just so you know.

-------------------- Resources --------------------
Genre: Realistic Fiction
Age: High School Students
Pages: 304
Themes: Family, Love, Abuse, Alcholism
Awards: Last Night I Sang to the Monster was nominated for a 2010 PEN Award.
Thank You to Author Benjamin Alire Sáenz for my signed copy!
Advisory: Strong Language & Themes
Publisher: Cinco Puntos Press. Date: September 2009. ISBN-10: 1933693584

BUY Last Night I Sang to the Monster HERE

Here's the author reading the first few pages:

An interesting interview with the author can be found in Minero Magazine.

Benjamin Alire Sáenz was raised on a farm in New Mexico. In 1981 he was ordained a Catholic priest, but eventually left the priesthood. He later completed a PhD at Stanford Uniersity. He has taught at the University of Texas at El Paso for twenty years. You can read more about him on his website.

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