Dovey Coe

by Frances O'Roark Dowell
PRMS, hardcover, 181 pages
genre: YA coming-of-age, mystery

Dovey Coe is a smart-mouthed Appalachian girl whose older sister Caroline is a true beauty. The wealthy town bully, Parnell Caraway, starts wooing Caroline as she's preparing to go to teacher's college. Dovey is fit to be tied! Along with her deaf mute brother Amos, she prefers trekking all over the mountains, hunting and gathering plants, to any social activity.

This is a re-read for me (though I missed the seventh grade book club discussion last Thursday). I remember not having been impressed with this story the first time I read it, but not why. In re-reading it, I think part of my issue is how quickly the story resolves once Parnell dies. The seriousness of his death is only briefly mentioned, as Dovey realizes that his sister Paris and his mother are sad that he's gone. Even her relationship with Amos doesn't seem to be a strong enough thread to hold the story together.

Shanghai Girls

by Lisa See
PRMS paperback 309 pages
genre: historical fiction, China, relationships

I finally finished this, even though the book club discussion was last week . . . it was a sad story, filled with sorrow and disappointment. I think the thing that shocked me most was seeing the picture of the author on the back page. She doesn't look oriental at all! I definitely empathized more with Pearl. May just seemed too selfish and shallow. Sam was my favorite character, though, and his story most resonated for me. What a powerful story!

The above was written on 5/24/10. I added the notes below in spring 2017.

I grabbed the audiobook because I didn't remember the details of the story and enjoyed the vocal work by Janet Song on this. WARNING: There are spoilers in my notes!!!

•  Pearl is so sad, she feels so unworthy
• the Japanese - murdered the wheelbarrow puller, raped Mam. No, Pearl! Stay in hiding! Mom's strength - wow. so sad.
• "What can I do?" This got old after a while - Pearl is such a victim. (What did I think of this the first time I read it? My notes above don't indicate.)
• arranged marriages . . . Sam is a good guy, but Vern is only 14 years old! And he has issues . . . 
• conversation with Sam and Pearl - the honesty and closeness - I loved this!
• "None of that Jesus thinking sank into us." - Pearl's observations of the missionaries in Shanghai and how her family got what they wanted without buying in to the beliefs.
• white - the color of death
• Sam's suicide . . . devastating.
• perceptions / jealousy, victimhood, accusations, honesty, built-up resentments
•  ending - what?!?! Pearl is going to Red China to find Joy? Ugh!
• Sisters' story, really.

Oggie Cooder

by Sarah Weeks
PRMS paperback 172 pages
YA friendship / self-esteem

Oggie is a fourth-grade boy with thrift store clothing and a strange talent: he charves (chews / carves) processed cheese. This story is cute and has a good lesson about being yourself. The characters are mostly stereotypes, but Oggie himself is an anachronism. Pretty young for middle school, but might appeal to some sixth graders.

The School Story

by Andrew Clements
Hennepin County Library, audioCD 3:18
read by Spencer Kayden
genre: YA kid empowerment

Cute story, but definitely an older elementary title. The protagonists are sixth graders and I think this book will appeal to third through sixth graders. Natalie Nelson is a talented writer who is working on a novel called The Cheater. Her best friend Zoe thinks it is good enough to be published, and is strong-willed enough to make it happen. The two girls overcome many obstacles and learn a lot along the way. Enjoyable story - Clements is good at these!

Kayden's narration is very good - easy to listen to, and nice character distinction.

The Radioactive Boy Scout

by Ken Silverstein
subtitled: The Frightening True Story of a Whiz Kid and His Homemade Nuclear Reactor
PRMS hardcover 203 pages
genre: biography, science

Wow. It's scary how much this story makes me think of my son Alex. I don't think he would go this far. It would be really interesting to have him read this book and give me his perspective. David Hahn was fascinated by chemistry, atomic energy, experimenting, and science in general. The fact that he got so far on his own is stunning. With some guidance and direction, he probably could have been a successful scientist. I wish he hadn't backed out of the full-body scan. I'm curious about how much radiation is in his body. What a scary, fascinating story.

Remember Me: Women & Their Friendship Quilts

by Linda Otto Lipsett
loaned by Mary Verbick, paperback 135 pages
genre: history / quilting

The women featured in this book had records left behind - their signed friendship quilts, but also letters and photographs handed down. Their stories are fascinating, but it makes me think of how many people have left no record at all. The popularity of friendship quilts gave interesting insight into people's lives in the 1800s. The women who lost husbands in the Civil War struck me the most. Raising children alone in relative prairie and not even knowing if your spouse was alive or not - horrible! What an interesting book, though not strong in a narrative sense.

Loving Will Shakespeare

by Carolyn Meyer
Hennepin County Library audioCDs 6.5 hours
read by Katherine Kellgren

Interesting premise - since we know so little about William Shakespeare and his wife Anne Hathaway, what might their relationship have been like? But this story disappointed me. It felt as though it took forever to build to a climax and then was over far too quickly. What a sad story. My favorite part was the budding romance between Agnes and Will. I liked when she had words with Joan and Joan Little.

It would be interesting to include this title with the middle ages books that Sarah is having kids read. Some of the historical details were truly interesting. Overall, though, I wouldn't recommend this to my middle school readers.

Rowan Hood: Outlaw Girl of Sherwood Forest

by Nancy Springer
Hennepin County Library, audioCD 4 hours
read by Emily Gray
genre: YA adventure, magic

Rowan's mother has just been murdered and she sets out to find her famous father, Robin Hood. Only he doesn't know she exists . . . There were parts of this story that were very enjoyable and parts that were exasperating. Too much preteen girl angst. It was funny listening to it with Louise and Ann on our quilting weekend. They were yelling at the stereo as I had, "Just tell him!" This will be a good book to recommend to 6th grade girls who like fantasy and adventure stories.

Stolen in the Night

by Patricia MacDonald
Hennepin County Library, paperback, 374 pages
genre: murder mystery

I'm not actually done with this one yet, but I've exceeded maximum checkouts. I started by getting this on CD for my dad. He enjoyed it but couldn't finish because the CDs were so scratched. So I checked it out and started reading aloud. Then he went to Florida. I had the brilliant idea of reading it and saving as mp3 files. . . I'm only on chapter 11 and it's been months. I'm going to bite the bullet and just buy a copy of it.

So far, I'm frustrated by the paradox: was the DNA test wrong or did she identify the wrong person? I love that Ernie just brought up another possibility: someone different from the abductor committed the murder. Cue creepy music. I really want to see how this ends!

Nation

by Terry Pratchett
PRMS paperback 367 pages + afterword
genre: adventure, philosophy

Very interesting book! The story of Mau and Daphne, being a child and becoming an adult. A giant wave that wipes out a village and a shipful of people. Belief, religion, relationships, good & evil. I wish I had read this in time to talk about it with the book club! It has a lot going on in it!

The Blind Side

by Michael Lewis
PRMS paperback 339 pages
genre: sports biography

This telling of Michael Oher's life story was fascinating. Now I'm ready to see the movie! And I'm curious to know more. As the author points out in the afterward, he was too impatient to wait to see how Michael's story turns out. This young man went from a homeless, uneducated teenager to a member of a wealthy white family who was courted by many football programs. The Duohy family made such a huge difference in his life! The historical info on football was less interesting to me, though some of it amazed me. I didn't really know who Lawrence Taylor was, but for one man to impact the game so much is incredible. What an intriguing story. Kudos to the author's wife for pointing out that it was a story that needed to be told! Miss Sue is my favorite person in this story - the educator.

Whale Talk

by Chris Crutcher
Hennepin County Library, audioCD, 6:32
read by Brian Corrigan

I just noticed on the back that this audiobook is recommended for ages "10 and up" - seriously?!? It's another powerful Crutcher story, well-written and intense. But the language is vintage Crutcher - lots of swearing, including liberal use of the F-word. The language shouldn't deter teen or adult readers, though. There is an incredible story of power, morality, family, and honor.

TJ is a complex character - powerful athlete who won't play on school teams because he won't buy in to the "jocks rule" mentality. A mixed-race boy in a mostly white community, his adoptive parents and his counselor Georgia have helped him tame the rage that he learned early in his young life. A decent, good person, TJ tries to make a point with the newly formed swim team.

What an incredible story! This one was easy to booktalk to 8th graders (part of their coming-of-age and making-a-difference literature circles). I loved it!

Kim

by Rudyard Kipling
Hennepin County Library audioCD 10.5 hours
read by Ralph Cosham
genre: historical fiction / classic literature / adventure

I don't think I would have ever read this text cover-to-cover. I was curious about this legendary Kipling story, but I struggled to finish it even in audio version. The narrator was wonderful, but the story meandered too much for me. There was a lot of it that I missed because the names and some of the ideas just didn't sink in. I think I'll just summarize here by copying from the back flap:

"Kimball O'Hara is . . . (covered by barcode) . . . streets of India. As a boy, he shows self-reliance and resourcefulness, running errands for Mahbub Ali, who works for the British Secret Service. Kim also meets a Tibetan lama who is on a quest to be freed from the Wheel of Life and becomes his disciple. Together they have wonderful adventures on the exotically colorful Grand Trunk Road through the Indian countryside. Then Kim is pulled into the great game of British imperial espionage and becomes a member of the Secret Service, even capturing documents from the enemy spies. Yet Kim is greatly attached to the lama and begins to feel the conflicting pulls between a life of contemplation and one of action."

I don't regret reading it, but it wasn't one that I enjoyed a lot. Kim, along with The Life of Pi, and one other that I read in the past year that is set in India (Ann's book club title . . . ) all give me an interesting idea of what India is like as a country and a culture.

Heart and Soul: The Story of Florence Nightingale

by Gena K. Gorrell
PRMS hardcover, 135 pages
genre: biography

Interesting book! I have read other articles and a shorter children's biography of Florence Nightingale, but this one was much more informative. She was a very driven woman. One fact that stunned me was "in her lifetime she wrote about thirteen thousand letters, and published some two hundred books, pamphlets, and papers." There were others who were also pushing for reform in the medical field, but she was tireless! And she was an acquaintance of Queen Victoria. Interesting how frustrated Nightingale got by her lack of power in a male-dominated world. Very interesting book. Gorrell does a nice job of blending the story of Florence's life with photographs, documents, and information about other world events at the time. The Crimean War was just once piece of Florence's fight for reforms at a time when many doctors scoffed at the idea of germs.

Though Waters Roar

by Lynn Austin
Hennepin County library, hardcover, 428 pages
genre: Christian / historical fiction

This generational story stretched from Hannah helping with the Underground Railroad to Bebe and the temperance movement through Lucy and the women's right to vote, and was framed by Harriet's struggle with her identity and cause. Each of these women, and the men in their lives, have an interesting story to tell.

I thought there was a bit too much time-hopping at the start of the story, but it became clearer as the story went on. Enjoyable. Good discussion at the Fish Tale! I love my book club.

City of Bones

by Cassandra Clare
book one in The Mortal Instruments
Becky C loaned it to me, hardcover, 485 pages

Hmmm. This one didn't do it for me. I'm a bit surprised that it's a "New York Times Bestseller" - wonder if that happened before or after Stephenie Meyer endorsed it as a "story world I love to live in." It has some interesting characters and scenes, but I found it to be too dark. The romance angle was also disappointing (spoiler alert!) . . . when the sparks between Jace and Clary fizzle upon their learning that they are actually siblings. I don't even want to read the rest of the series to find out what happens. The scene in the church was most disappointing to me. Jace's abrupt change of allegiances in the final scene with Valentine put the nail in the coffin, so to speak. I'm glad Becky has found a series that she loves, but I don't share the love!

Shug

by Jenny Han
Hennepin County Library, audioCD 6 hours
read by: Liz Morton
genre: YA coming-of-age

Interesting! At first, this story drove me crazy. Annemarie "Shug" Wilcox is starting seventh grade and everything seems to be changing. Her best friend Mark is hanging with the "guys" and spending less and less time with her. Elaine is starting to hang out with the popular girls, and her family seems to be falling apart. I ended up really liking this story. It's got some wonderful scenes dealing with friendship, peer pressure, etc.

Truer Than True Romance

by Jeanne Martinet
PRMS paper 112 pages
genre: humor / romance

What a hoot! When I saw this on the media center shelf, I did a double-take. This is a snarky, sarcastic take on the stereotypical 1940s romance comics. The original splash page is reprinted next to this author's rewritten story lines. A comics-lovers delight. I'm going to send it to the high school, because I don't think most middle schoolers would get it at all. It's hilarious!

Chinese Cinderella: the true story of an unwanted daughter

by Adeline Yen Mah
PRMS paperback 205 pages
genre: memoir

When a student told me I "had" to read this, I was glad to comply. Now, like that student, I want to read Falling Leaves, which is Mah's full autobiography, and an award-winning book. What a horrible childhood - to be blamed as an infant for her mother's death and then treated like a non-person by her stepmother . . . at first, I actually thought she was a bit of a whiner ("poor me"), but as the story went on, I was saddened by the gap between what could (and should) have been for her and her siblings, and their reality. I am curious now to read Falling Leaves. One of the most stark scenes, to me, was when her father had to ask her what her Chinese name was because he didn't remember that (or her birth date). A well-told story.

The Greatest Generation

by Tom Brokaw
Hennepin County Library hardcover 390 pages
WWII non-fiction / heroes

I didn't finish this in time for book club discussion, but found that I was somewhat disappointed in the book. I've heard so many rave reviews of it that I think I expected more. My favorite chapters were on Dr. Van Gorder and Mary Louise Roberts Wilson. I guess in general, I liked the down-to-earth stories of the ordinary people. Even though Brokaw included a "shame" category, the book overall seemed to idealize the generation. We had a great discussion about that. I definitely think that there can be a general social mentality even when there are "good" and "bad" individuals in every era. I think the "me" decade was a time of great selfishness although there were many generous caring people and events at that time, too. Interesting book. Those of a slightly older age were really curious to hear what the 20-somethings thought of the book, but most of the younger book clubbers hadn't read it . . .