Eat, Read, and Be Mommy

It’s been several years since I read Kimberly Brubaker Bradley’s The War That Saved My Life; it was a Newbery Honor book in 2016, and I was apparently keeping up with Newberys better then than I am now.  (Life happens.)  I flipped through it last year, however, when my oldest needed a novel about WWII, and I was wowed by it all over again.  I must have been in a critical state of mind when I reviewed it, because its writing style struck me as perfect for it this time around, and I was quite excited to read its sequel, The War I Finally Won.

I wasn’t disappointed.

Pardon me for the overused, modern adverb, but The War I Finally Won grows from its predecessor in an incredibly organic way.  (There’s just no way NOT to sound pretentious there.  Sorry!)  Ada’s continuing story makes perfect sense, as do her changing struggles and the varied hardships that life in wartime Britain brings.  Deaths, war work, illness, and new concepts and ideas assail her from all sides, but as a hard-won sense of self begins to emerge for her, Ada triumphs in ways that brought tears to my eyes.  If you haven’t read the beginning of Ada’s story, do it now–and then read her sequel as well.  Both books are incredibly worth it.

As in, drove in from Idaho (via Clearfield, where we ate and got a bit of energy out) at a quarter to 8.  It’s now 9:30, and I’ve unloaded what was left of the clean dishes in the dishwasher, loaded it up and started it, managed 20 minutes on the elliptical, and tucked in various children.  Not bad, right?

Really, I wasn’t going to post tonight, but we listened to Elana K. Arnold’s A Boy Called Bat on the way home today, and I decided it deserved a brief review before I returned the eaudiobook and then forgot about it as Halloween approaches at lightning speed.  It really was a nice little book about an autistic boy, his veterinarian mother, and his frequently frustrated sister, as they react to the entrance into their lives of a newborn skunk kit that needs the kind of care every newborn needs (read:  nigh constant).  Bat loves the skunk and hatches a plot to convince his mother to let him keep it; while that doesn’t pan out quite the way he hopes it will, it helps trigger a series of encounters that culminates in a social first for him–a good one.  I didn’t realize until I sat down to review it that it’s the start of a series, but as that knowledge cannot now be un-known, I imagine Arnold’s subsequent Bat books will be making an appearance on our library shelves…

In the meantime–long weekends tend to be short on sleep for everyone.  Goodnight!

I can still think of at least 3 books that I’ve finished but not reviewed; on the other hand, I’m planning on a family-oriented weekend and since it starts tomorrow (no school for end-of-term on Friday), I’ve got to get more sleep tonight than I’ve BEEN getting.  To that end–goodnight, folks.  I’ll do some extra reviews starting Monday, when our long weekend is over!

On one of our last trips to Idaho–perhaps the most recent one?–the kids and I listened to Andrew Clements’ The Landry News; the day I got back from my RI trip, I started listening to Gordon Korman’s The Unteachables.  Two different trips, two different authors, two different books, aimed at two different age groups.  And yet…

The Plot(s?):  Originally fantastic teacher is burned out and more or less ignoring his students until a spunky girl from a broken home–new to the school–ends up in his class and, while uniting the students, breaks through his barriers of burnout and provides a catalyst for his rebirth as a teacher.  Unfortunately, the principal wants the teacher gone (because hey, said teacher has been painfully apathetic for years) and, just as the rebirth process reaches its triumphant culmination, it also makes it possible for the principal to go after the teacher’s job.  Students and community rally–but can Mr. Teacher be saved?

Yes, that’s the plot of both books.  Clements’ offering was published almost 20 years ago for elementary schoolers, while Korman’s title was new this year for middle school students.  The spunky girl in Landry News has been angry in the past and channels that anger productively, while the Unteachables‘ girl is more of a ‘along for the ride and then can’t resist getting involved’ type.  In the earlier novel, the teacher’s burnout comes gradually; in the later, he’s hit by scandal and changes dramatically in the course of a single school year.  One story involves more than one personal grudge as well as a personal relationship rooted in nostalgia, while the other features a clash between concrete and creative thinking.  Ultimately however–same plot.

Here’s the thing.  The Landry News is the more realistic story; its characters are wholly believable, and the plot’s more gradual slope gave it a more organic feel.  The Unteachables is far more dramatic and far less likely; it actually felt a bit rushed to me, as if Korman was feeling the pressure to follow Restart with something equally as acclaimed and went for the easy emotional manipulation that a misfit-students-and-their-teacher story provides.  (Of course, I am easily emotionally manipulated by teacher stories, and so he still more or less succeeded.)  At the end of the day, however, both approaches worked, even if Korman’s was more of a stretch, and I enjoyed both books.  If one approach sounds more your style, go with that one; otherwise, both books are worth your time.

Just don’t read them both in the same two week period.

It happens whenever I listen to an audiobook narrated with a southern accent (at least, with a good one!), and there’s not a blessed thing I can do about it.  And thinking in a drawl for 12-24 hours, while certainly odd for a Utah resident, feels sort of traitorous when you were born and raised in one of the northern states.  On the other hand, the narrator for Sheila Turnage’s Mo & Dale mysteries is so incredibly good that the entire listening experience is delightful; sadly, The Law of Finders Keepers is billed as the last in Turnage’s quartet.

I’m feeling pretty mournful about that.

On the other hand, I did quite enjoy listening to it, and I’m doubly glad because I wasn’t quite sure about the beginning; it was feeling part more-of-the-same with the characters and part a-little-over-the-top with the pirate treasure angle.  As the plot progressed, however, the dynamic among the main (and supporting) characters shifted a bit as the Desperadoes move further into adolescence, and Turnage’s success in weaving that into the mystery made the book for me.  (I’m not saying that some of the treasure hunting adventures didn’t stretch believability a bit, but–eh.  Middle grade mysteries are bound to do some of that kind of stretching.)  There is definitely a mother theme in Finders Keepers, and unlike Little Fires Everywhere–which I listened to fairly recently–Turnage’s book identifies successfully what a good mother should be.  This was a satisfying ending to an excellent series, folks.  Don’t miss Mo and Dale’s search for Blackbeard’s treasure and Upstream Mother!

I finished listening to The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Riddle of Ages tonight, which means I’m done with the series–unless Trenton Lee Stewart decides to add to it ten more years down the road.  Who knows?  For now, however, I can pass Riddle of Ages along to my oldest and turn my attention to other things.  As for how I liked it, well–I think, tonight, you get a list review.  Because my food storage/guest room is beautifully cleaned up, 3.5 quarts of tomatoes have been blanched, peeled, cut, and frozen, and children have been taxied to all of their various activities for the day…and I’m poopered.

1.   I did enjoy this more than the prequel, but it feels a little unfair to compare the two.  In many ways, they’re different sorts of books entirely, whereas the four main Benedict books are the same sort.  Also, does a prequel count as part of a quintet, or is it a quartet with a prequel on the side?
2.   The different-because-the-kids-have-aged dynamic of the group was interesting.  Not badly done, either.
3.   To be honest, I wasn’t excited about Mr. Curtain and the Ten Men being the villains again.  That said, it wasn’t actually as annoying as I feared, due mostly to the different setup of the plot.
4.   I’m terribly glad that Stewart recognized the need to approach the Society’s conflict with McCracken differently this time.  He’s done all that can possibly be done (depending on my mood, I might say AND MORE!) with the Milligan-and/or-Kate-vs.-McCracken in an epic battle idea, and I was actually dreading having to go through it again.
5.   I liked the growth of the characters.  And the ending.

There you go, folks.  A must for series fans, although the series really must be read in order.  And for not-yet-fans who like the close-knit-kid-group-saving-the-world idea, the Benedict books are definitely for you!

When I received my ARE of Katherine Center’s Things You Save in a Fire, I was entering into the end-of-the-school-year busyness that every parent of elementary schoolers can sympathize with.  (The awards ceremonies!  The programs!  The recitals!  The EVERYTHING!)  By the time I made it out of the school year alive, however, we jumped into swimming lesson madness, and THEN there was only a brief hiatus before the JULY OF ALL THE TRIPS.  (I told Britt at one point that July was only about 6 seconds long, and she replied “Yes–and you spent all of them packing.”  SO true.)  And while life doesn’t necessarily seem like it’s slowed down ALL that much (sorry, this is also the post of all the caps), Center’s book became available in audio through my trusty county library system, and so I finally got to enjoy it.

And seriously–did I ever enjoy it.  First of all, if you can swing it, the audio is sheer pleasure if you’re an East Coast transplant and get sentimental at the sound of pretty much ANY New England accent.  (Props to the narrator, because she was awesome.)  Even if you stick with the hard copy, however, you won’t be disappointed.  Cassie’s voice is funny, poignant, and honest, and I liked the supporting cast as well.  There were a couple of descriptions of people that dipped into straight-out romance-y language, but Things You Save isn’t just fluff–it’s like a good pillow top mattress.  I need the pillowed top so that my muscles can relax and my edges don’t get sore, but the support underneath matters just as much.  It’s the combination that makes for a good night’s sleep…or a thoroughly enjoyable read.  This is a book about reconciliation and healing as much as about love, with a happy ending and an impressively rendered (read:  successfully but not explicitly) love scene.  If any of that sounds appealing to you, you’re pretty much guaranteed to like this book; it’s going with me on my next trip to Idaho so that my sister can borrow it.*

*Just borrow, though.  Sorry, Favorite Sister–you can’t keep this one!

Since I finished another book today, I figured I’d better just go ahead and review it now before I get even more behind, right?  Besides, Nightmare Escape (Dream Jumper, Book 1) is the sort of graphic novel that my second girlie is likely to go nuts for, so the sooner the better.

I actually enjoyed it more than I expected to, to be honest.  Fast-paced and not terribly text-heavy, Nightmare Escape follows Ben through a land of nightmares, where he discovers his identity as a dream jumper and attempts to use his newfound powers to free those trapped in their nightmares, including some of his classmates.  The characters are drawn with humor and it’s a fun adventure all the way through, even if the climax felt slightly rushed to me.  This ought to appeal graphic novel and adventure lovers from 2nd-3rd grade on up–enjoy!

You know those books that lend themselves beautifully to reading in small chunks?  I finally finished one of those!  I received an ARC of Quackery:  A Brief History of the Worst Ways to Cure Everything ages ago, but life got in the way (because CHILDREN).  I finally tucked it into my bathroom drawer, made significant progress on it, and then carried it around with me to various places until last weekend, when I finished it on my last night in Rhode Island.

It was seriously fascinating.

Quackery is written in a gossipy, conversational style, and yet it packs in the information pretty impressively.  It’s divided into sections, like ‘Elements,’ which are further divided into chapters, such as ‘Mercury’ and ‘Gold’.  My favorite parts, however, were very possibly the ‘Hall of Shame’ bits sprinkled throughout.  (Seriously.  Do not miss the ‘Women’s Health Hall of Shame.’)  Read this book and you’ll learn enough about the crazy side of medicine to satisfy just about any layman I can think of.  (I will say that I found one tidbit that Google considered an urban legend, but the other bits of oddity that I chose to investigate further were corroborated online.)  This isn’t so much a book that you read in one sitting–it would get to be a bit much–but as something to dip into when you have an odd moment, I’d recommend it wholeheartedly.  After all, who wouldn’t want to learn about the tobacco smoke enema kits that were once strategically placed along the banks of the Thames?

I’ll just leave that there…

SO.  If you were assuming I’d be reviewing one of the previously-mentioned books I’d already finished two days ago, well–you’d be wrong.  Instead, you get a review of Boy-Crazy Stacey, the 7th and latest of the Baby-Sitters Club graphic novels and the 3rd by Gale Galligan (Raina Telgemeier did the first four), because graphic novels are short reads and my girls will be pushing me to pass it on.  (The two that can read, that is.)  If I review it tonight, they’ll both finish it this weekend, and then back it goes to the library on Monday.  What’s not to love?

Anyway.  I remembered very little of Ann M. Martin’s original novel other than the premise, which seems to be faithfully recreated here:  Stacey and Mary Anne accompanying the Pike family on their beach vacation as paid babysitters to help with the kids.  The graphic novel is on par with its predecessors, I think, with one or two exceptions–as a parent, I didn’t love Mary Anne’s comment about her dad at the very end, and Stacey’s turnaround time made my head spin.  (It’s not that I found her emotional state unrealistic, mind you; it’s just that what happened with it by the end wasn’t quite the message I’d prefer the target age group to get.  That’s the best I can do without spoilers.)  On the other hand, I think the timing and treatment of the chore hat was a lovely message, so there’s that.

Ultimately, the target audience is going to be pleased, and the nostalgia factor makes for a fun read.  Ah, the trip down Memory Lane!