The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy--9 stars
www.jeannebirdsall.com/

Ooh. Great book! It won the National Book Award and is a Bluebonnet selection for next year...and the writing is just perfect. It's almost as if Ms. Birdsall in conversation with you, with the narrator inserting funny asides in addition to the story...

I liked her writing style a lot. Here's hoping that this book becomes a series--one describing every Penderwick summer family vacation!


The Penultimate Peril by Lemony Snicket--1 star
www.lemonysnicket.com/

Well, I finally have a few ideas about what V.F.D. might stand for.

Vexingly, Fantastically Dreary.
Vacuous Frustrating Denouement.
Very Fatally Dull.
Vomitously Feeble Disaster.
Virtual Fictional Dumpster.
Vile, Festering Doo-doo.
Vast Financial Disappointment (I bought the hardcover version.)

This book is only for hard-core Snicket fans who are determined to stick with the series until its ultimate end, the 13th book.


Project Mulberry by Linda Sue Park--9 stars
www.lspark.com

Really good. If I were a teacher, I'd give it a 92; as a book reviewer, I give it 9 stars. This book is a 2006-2007 Bluebonnet book so lots of kids across Texas will be reading this one. I really didn't think I would enjoy this book about raising SILKWORMS, of all things, but I ended up liking it and seeing why the Texas Bluebonnet Committee chose this one. One of the best things about this book is the part *between* the chapters, when the main character & the author have discussions about what's going on in the book. Very clever.

Oh, and here's something I learned from this book--an irrational fear of worms is called scoleciphobia. And an irrational fear of teenagers is called ephebiphobia. I'm glad I don't have either one of these. I'll just stick with my muriphobia (fear of mice) & coulrophobia (fear of clowns...but doesn't everyone have that, just a little?) :-)

Oh, and I have another irrational fear of monkeys wearing clothing. (Naked monkeys at the zoo don't freak me out. It's only when they put on vests and hats and have little tea parties that I start getting the Royal Creeps.) Scientists don't have a name for this weird phobia yet so I'll just keep it under my hat…the hat I'll NEVER share with a monkey.


Serious Kiss by Mary Hogan--9 stars
www.teenreads.com/reviews/0060722061.asp

Great cover…and an even better book. Girls who grab this one solely because of the cover--and boys who get over their temptation to write this one off-- are in for a big surprise.

I thought it was just going to be a light piece of Chick Lit…until I read the first line: "My dad drinks too much and my mom eats too much, which pretty much sums up why I am the way I am: a knotted mass of anxiety, a walking cold sweat."

Here's hoping you all have a wonderful first SERIOUS kiss…one you share with a good and special person…one that feels like coming home to the place you belong.


Shark Life by Peter Benchley--9 stars
The author's obituary: news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4707576.stm

I always say there should be at least one nonfiction book on the Texas Lone Star list each year, and I'm thrilled that the Young Adult Round Table picked a fascinating one with this selection. I hope Mr. Benchley, the legendary author of Jaws who passed away in February, 2006, took pleasure from the knowledge that his book (adapted for young people by Karen Wojtyla) was recognized with this state award a month before his death.

This book was so good that I couldn't put it down. (Even though it was supposed to calm me down about swimming in the ocean, it kinda freaked me out, to be quite honest. Every time we go to the beach, I get in and I like it, but I enjoy the pool back at the campground WAY more--no deadly rip or undertow, comfy lounge chairs, and 100% jellyfish-free!)


Strange Red Cow: And Other Curious Classified Ads from the Past by Sara Bader--8 stars
www.strangeredcow.com/

Listen to the author's NPR interview:
www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4991744


What kind of a nut writes a book featuring classified ads from history? And what kind of a nut actually LIKES that book? (Answers: Sara Bader wrote it; I liked it.) This is a good book, especially for HISTORY nuts like me (a history major in college…with a lifetime teaching certificate in Social Studies!).

Sometimes the ads are funny; sometimes they are sad. These little slices of life really show how similar we are to our grandparents & great-grandparents…we accidentally leave gloves and umbrellas on public transportation--whether it's a modern taxi or a horse-drawn carriage. We lose pets. We look for jobs. We place personal ads. (Check out Chapter 4!)

The most heart-breaking part of this book is the chapter featuring runaway slave notices; while most of Strange Red Cow initiated smiles or stirred curiosity, Chapter 2 just brought tears to my eyes. Even George Washington, one of my heroes and the only Founding Father to free his slaves in his will, once offered 40 shillings for the return of his runaway slaves Peros, Neptune, Jack, and Cupid. Crispus Attucks, the first American killed by the British during the Boston Massacre (often called "First to Defy, First to Die" and honored with his own Boston Common monument) was himself once the subject of a runaway slave notice when his master offered ten pounds for his return to Framingham, Massachusetts.

Another sad chapter was the 1874 kidnapping of four year-old Charley Ross, America's first high-profile kidnapping which played out in classified notices posted between Charley's distraught parents and the men who stole him. (You can tell it didn't go well; in fact, the Philadelphia police were still looking for Charley's body in 1943.)

Strange Red Cow is a strange, small book…and should be read by everyone who loves history!


Surviving Antarctica: Reality TV 2083 by Andrea White—9.5 stars
booktalk.sagebrushcorp.com/viewBook.aspx?bookId=78

Wow. Once I got into this book, it was hard to put down. So glad that it's a Bluebonnet selection! (I absolutely fell in love with Andrew…and with Scott Expedition explorer Birdie Bowers, too!) This one will be a favorite at voting time, for sure.

Think "reality TV" is out of control now? Wait until you see what happens in 2083! Mandatory educational shows--followed by tests--instead of going to real schools, having to *win* a real education in a national game of chance, and reality television shows where people actually die…all for the "enjoyment" of the people staring at the screens at night. It's scary and alarming…and possible, if Americans don't shape up. (Side note: This book was written by a Texan…the wife of Houston's mayor!)


Ten Thousand Charms by Leander Watts--8 stars

A deposed German king and his three lovely daughters make their new home in America, a land of "ten thousand charms." Life soon becomes creepy when a spectral figure who lives the forest decides that Thea, the middle princess, must become his midnight bride. (Yikes!) It is up to Roddy, the mysterious boy the royal family rescued from a cruel rope factory, to rescue them right back. A good book, even if the ending could have been way more satisfying.


Twilight by Stephenie Meyer--7 stars
www.stepheniemeyer.com/twilight.html

I know some kids are gonna' love this book…even though it went on WAY too long and could have used a more aggressive editor. (Vampire books are really not my cup of tea, but y'all enjoy this one, if you like that sort of thing!)


Uglies by Scott Westerfeld--9 stars
www.scottwesterfeld.com/

Loved it. A creepy cautionary tale about power and physical perfection in The Future. GREAT book.

Oh, and if you enjoy this one, be sure to check out all the other Scott Westerfeld books we have in the Madison library! (Kids are crazy about his Midnighters series…we're having a hard time keeping those on the shelves!)


White Darkness by Geraldine McCaughrean--10 stars
www.geraldinemccaughrean.co.uk

Wow. Um…wow. Not sure how many teens will enjoy this one, but I loved, loved, LOVED it. This book, set in the harsh frozen landscape of Antarctica, would be the PERFECT book to read during those long, hot Texas days of summer. (I *promise* you…some of the most exciting passages of Sym’s icebound journey made me shiver under the covers!) The way Sym’s journey paralleled that of her heroes from the Scott expedition--including Captain Oates, in particular--was simply genius.

By the way, one could do a lot worse than Captain Oates in the Hero Department…his self-sacrifice, afraid he was slowing down the rest of the Scott expedition, is the stuff of legend.

Oh, and the writing…Ms. McCaughrean’s way with words...The School Librarian proclaimed, “There is such a thing as virtuoso writing, and this is it.” High praise…and well-deserved. Virtuoso, indeed!


White Midnight by Dia Calhoun--8 stars
www.diacalhoun.com/

Good book…creepy, disturbing, and a nifty companion to Calhoun's Lone Star book, Firegold. (This prequel is set 400 years earlier.) Poor, timid, asthmatic Rose is chosen to marry the beast in Mr. Brae's attic because he needs an heir. Evil Mr. Brae offers her family their freedom if Rose will go along with this evil arrangement. Even though I liked this book, it needed a more aggressive editor and a LOT fewer pages. Girls will probably prefer this one, just as boys seemed to prefer _Firegold_.