Eat, Read, and Be Mommy

When my friend Andrea picked Natalie Lloyd’s Over the Moon for book club a month or three ago, she warned me it was dystopian; she also said that her household had loved it and I was going to enjoy it in spite of its dystopian-ness.

She was right.

And okay, mountain community, children working in the mines–this is dystopian with a historical feel. That’s not the only reason I enjoyed it, though. Mallie is a character that you can’t NOT like, and her resolve to help her family and protect her brother is relatable in a fundamental way. Add to that the beauty of bringing hope back to a hopeless community–plus flying horses–and you have an entirely winning combination. (The narrator on the audiobook is also lovely.) There are some definite plot stretches and questions, but those didn’t seem to matter; the book did too good of a job of bringing the feels. (Also, there’s a legend-like quality to the end, or maybe a waking-from-a-bad-dream vibe, that smooths over the slightly questionable bits.) I ended up thoroughly enjoying Over the Moon, and it’s now headed down to my oldest daughter’s shelf. You should read it and tell me what you think!

My niece and nephew and their baby came to visit us for the weekend, which was lovely because a)we got to see them! and b)we got to give the baby back when he cried. I have to say, I wasn’t missing that stage to begin with, and seeing them with him didn’t change that one bit. If that makes me a terrible person, well…so be it. I have kindergarten through junior high on my plate at the moment, and that’s exactly the stage of life I’m content to be in!

Speaking of junior high, my 13-year-old hasn’t felt well over the weekend, and it’s 2020, so she CAN’T go to school tomorrow; the question is, does she get a Covid test? Normally I wouldn’t rush to bring her in for what appears to be a virus, but if it’s Covid, you want to know. And if it is, well–quarantine. Blech. If she doesn’t feel better tomorrow I guess I take her in, which will push back my peach jam plans. (The winds we had last week picked my neighbors’ peaches for them for the most part, which is why I have plans.)

In the meantime, I’ve been putting off my review of Jeff Mack’s Clueless McGee for months. I finished it in March while we were in Idaho, and so I couldn’t review it right then; when I got home, there was all the distance learning craziness, and somehow it got pushed far enough onto the back burner that it’s just been hanging out there ever since. Today, however, is the day! I actually found the book both hilarious and poignant; PJ’s sheer cluelessness (there really isn’t another word for it) keeps you shaking your head and wincing as you laugh, but his letters to his dad tug at a parent’s heartstrings. I honestly wonder how its intended audience is going to perceive it–how does such a naive narrator read to kids who are likely to be naive about at least some of the same things? My now-8-year-old (he was 7 then) started to read it on that same trip to Idaho, but he got frustrated with the font (it’s meant to look a bit like a kid’s printing) and drifted away. He’s always overtired on those trips, though, so I’m going to have him give it another try. (I’ll report back on his reaction if he makes it through this time!) The illustrations are fun, which should help. Ultimately, I really liked it, but I’m completely unable to imagine it from a point of view other than a parent’s. I’d say, though, that middle elementary school boys should enjoy it.*

*Amazon seems to be telling me that the hardcover’s out of print; it looks like it’s probably available in ebook form, but I’m guessing it will also be available at most libraries.

I finished Cynthia Copeland’s graphic memoir Cub last night, and I am once again so very grateful to be OUT of junior high–although I have to say, Copeland’s ‘predators vs. prey’ analogy made me giggle a little. (Only a little, because there’s possibly more accuracy there than you want there to be.) For me it was a time when a little bit of confidence would have helped me a great deal, but that sort of confidence isn’t easy to develop at that age. Copeland does a fabulous job illustrating this, and her mentor is a junior high girl’s dream. How the young Copeland navigates 7th grade while ‘finding her voice’ is both a fun and an inspiring read, and I’m thinking my 6th grader will absolutely love it.

AND it’s a Granite School District Best Book title!

I’ve decided not to feel guilty for taking Labor Day off, by the way. Holidays are holidays!

Anyway…yesterday I finished listening to Cress, the third book in Marissa Meyer’s Lunar Chronicles. It was–long.

Don’t get me wrong–it was also good. I would have enjoyed it more if it weren’t dystopian sci-fi, two things that aren’t at all my thing, but that’s hardly the book’s fault. (It’s really more of a testament to Meyer’s story that I’m reading it at all.) Cress is Meyer’s Rapunzel character, having been imprisoned in a satellite orbiting earth for 7 years or so by an evil guardian who gained her guardianship by deceit. Over the course of an 18-plus hour audiobook, there are meetings, separations, reunions, and decisions, and by the end we are braced for the inevitable war with Queen Levana. The length wouldn’t have bothered me as a teenager (although sci-fi was still not so much my thing, and I don’t actually recall dystopian being much of a thing at all), and that’s good for my teenage self, because Winter (the fourth book) is 24 HOURS LONG.

That’s right, folks. An entire day. Good thing I listen at closer to double speed!

Anyway. Despite writing fairy tale re-tellings–which I love–in a combination of genres that I so DON’T love, Meyer has kept me interested and invested. If you’ve read them, what do you think?

Just a quick note tonight, because it’s later than I meant it to be; if any of you are fans of Dude Perfect, y’all should really watch their documentary. It was interesting and fun and surprised me by about making me cry. Now it’s off to the shower for me, folks–good night!

At the risk of sounding like Han Solo in “The Empire Strikes Back”, last night was NOT my fault. My computer went wonky, and when my hubby (who worked late last night) looked at it this morning, even he said Chrome had been weirdly messed up. It’s back and happy, however, and so it’s on to my review of Clean Getaway, which I finished listening to a few days ago.

Nic Stone’s first middle grade title is one of those books that was already on my radar when I saw it on my school district’s “Best Books” list for the year. Of all the titles on the 5th/6th grade list (because I have a 6th grader that was going to start asking), it was the one immediately available in audio, and so–here we are! And I really liked it, although it went in rather a different direction than I was expecting. Scoob is a thoroughly likable kid, and his inner reactions crack me up; G-ma is more of an all-over-the-map character, but there are reasons for that. I especially liked the way Stone portrays Scoob’s dad, forcing the reader (and Scoob) to acknowledge multiple sides of his character from almost the very beginning. As for where Scoob and G-ma’s road trip goes? That’s a loaded question. Just be prepared for a number of pivotal civil rights sites as WELL as more family history than Scoob ever knew existed–and then sit back and enjoy the ride.*

I will say that Stone–if anything–underdoes the poignancy at times; it’s possible that she’s restraining herself for the sake of middle graders, since her other titles are for older readers. That doesn’t mean, however, that it’s not a thoroughly good book.

I’m actually posting on both days of a 31st/1st month changeover, and I’m feeling pretty proud of myself for it! Of course, it’s partly because I hurried to finish Sea Sirens (A Trot & Cap’n Bill Adventure) last night, since it was the last day of the Goodreads Summer Reading Challenge for our library system and I needed one more fantasy title. (Once I’ve finished a graphic novel, I’d better review quickly or run for my life, by the way–my 11-year-old takes no prisoners in that department.) Still, go me, right?

Apparently Sea Sirens was inspired by L. Frank Baum’s The Sea Fairies and its sequel (which I hadn’t known existed and absolutely have not read). It’s the story of a surfing girl from Huntington Beach, her one-eyed cat, and her grandfather, who has the beginnings of dementia. How she finds the kingdom of the Sea Sirens and becomes involved with the Serpents makes for a fun under-the-sea adventure tale; the dialogue is very straightforward, but I loved the illustrations. It’s not as thought-provoking as a Jamieson or a Telgemeier, but Trot’s grandfather’s unpredictability does bring depth to the story. Fans of adventure and/or graphic novels should definitely take a look at this one.

Last night I finished reading Lois Lowry’s On the Horizon, and–wow.

I mean, wow.

So. To the best of my knowledge, Lois Lowry has never written a verse novel before, although technically this one is billed as “World War II Reflections” and listed as nonfiction, so I guess a verse memoir? Either way, this was incredible. I had no idea Lowry was born in Hawaii a few years before Pearl Harbor and then lived in Japan for two years shortly after the war ended, but her experiences enable her to speak of the wartime tragedies of both nations with a sensitivity and sorrow I found profoundly moving. More of my words aren’t going to do On the Horizon justice, however, so honestly–just read it. It’s SO short yet SO good, it’s just plain worth the time of everyone old enough to appreciate it.

Seriously, though. It’s taken me an embarrassingly long time to review Lu, the fourth (and final?) book in Reynolds’ “Track” series, but I’m pretty sure it was my favorite of them all. (I say pretty sure because I can’t SWEAR I loved it more than Ghost.) Lu’s baby-sister-to-be and his re-focusing of his relationship with his father make for a story with substance and heart, while the tales of his mother’s fruit business cracked me up; I loved every thread of Lu‘s plot.* If you have a middle grader, you should be reading this series.

It’s as simple as that.

*Okay, so I wouldn’t have chosen the ending–it still worked.

I just finished Johan Troianowski’s (that middle “i” is supposed to have two dots, by the way) The Runaway Princess, and YOWSERS. I suppose you could say that it’s rather like Alice in Wonderland, if Alice in Wonderland was a graphic novel and more of an actual children’s story (about a girl who truly ENJOYS adventures) with a happier vibe instead of a (now dated) political satire written by a likely pedophile. Or maybe Peter Pan, or The Nutcracker–or Pippi Longstocking. I guess if you mixed all of those up together you might get The Runaway Princess, with Robin as a completely likable heroine who gathers friends and followers as she goes. It’s occasionally interactive–like certain picture books in the last ten or fifteen years–and definitely episodic. Fans of graphic novels and quirky adventures should definitely give this one a try; I’ll try to remember to comment with my girlies’ opinions once they’ve read it!