HIP AND WITH IT CONTINUED

Ok, all you hip and with it 21st century folks, you have to see this!

WINTERGIRLS- Laurie Halse Anderson

Just finished reading an ARC of WINTERGIRLS (actual publication date- March 19). All I can say is WOW, WOW, WOW, WOW, WOW!  Laurie Halse Anderson is an amazing author! I want to buy copies of this book for my niece (and every other teenage girl I know! This is an amazing story!

WINTERGIRLS is narrated by Lia, an upper middle class senior in high school. Lia has been hospitalized twice for anorexia, and is still deep in the throes of this horrific disease. She lives with her father, a college history professor and author who wants to believe Lia is fine, her stepmother, and her nine-year-old stepsister, Emma. Her mother, from whom she is semi-estranged, is a cardiac surgeon. 

When the book opens, Lia has just received the news that Cassie, her long-time best friend, has been found dead in a motel room. Lia and Cassie have been estranged for several months, but the night she died, Cassie called Lia's cell phone 33 times. Lia did not answer any of these calls. 

Cassie, it turns out, has died of complications related to years of bulemia. She and Lia have supported each other's eating disorders for years and years. Now Lia must battle demons of guilt. Why didn't she answer the phone when her friend called? Why did she discourage her friend from seeking help for her struggles? Why did the two girls challenge each other to see who could be the thinnest? As the last one alive, is  Lia really the winner of this challenge?

Laurie Halse Anderson has done an amazing job capturing the voice of an anorexic. She captures Lia's steep descent into a dark, frozen place where there are no feelings, and consequently no hurt. Maybe more importantly, she captures that one moment when Lia decides to come back from this dark forest, to a place of light and hope.

 I know this book is going to be a huge hit when it comes out. I imagine thousands and thousands of girls reading it and somehow finding the courage to fight their own demons. I am going to mail my copy to my sweet niece tomorrow. I'm going to buy copies for my sons' high school and middle school teachers. It's a book every teenage girl needs to have available.

POETRY FRIDAY

Last week, the ALA conference was in Denver. On Wednesday, Kate McClelland and Kathy Krasniewicz, YA librarians from Connecticut and leaders in ASLC,  were on their way to the airport when their cab was hit by a drunk driver. The cab rolled and both women were thrown out and killed.  I picture them at the conference, seeing old friends, sharing meals, poring over wonderful books, and I feel terribly that their visit to our city ended so badly. I imagine the teenagers at Perrot Library in Greenwich, Connecticut missing their book friends and mentors. I imagine families mourning wives, mothers, and grandmothers. I offer this poem in honor of all involved in this situation…

Do You Have Any Advice for Those of Us Just Starting Out?

Ron Koertge

Not surprisingly, libraries are a good place to write.

And the perfect place in a library is near an aisle

where a child a year or two old is playing as his

mother browses the ranks of the dead.

Often he will pull books from the bottom shelf.

The title, the author's name, the brooding photo

on the flap mean nothing. Red book on black, gray

book on brown, he builds a tower. And the higher 

it gets, the wider he grins.

You who asked for advice, listen: When the tower

falls, be like that child. Laugh so loud everybody

in the world frowns and says, "Shhhh."

Then start again.

Read the whole poem here.

POETRY FRIDAY this week is at Adventures in Daily Living.

LISTEN TO THE WIND: THE STORY OF DR. GREG AND THREE CUPS OF TEA- Greg Mortenson and Susan L. Roth

I'm always on the lookout for books that will grow kids' hearts and spirits. I want kids to be exposed to real heroes- ordinary people who are making an amazing difference in the world. Here is a new book I will definitely add to my real world hero collection.

Over the past year or so, many of us have read Greg Mortenson's THREE CUPS OF TEA. In case you haven't read this book,  Mortenson is a nurse whose failed attempt to climb K2 ultimately led him to build many, many schools in the remotest regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan. Now he's paired with Susan L. Roth to write LISTEN TO THE WIND, a picture book about his experiences. The book is narrated by the children of Korphe, a village in the mountains of Pakistan. The children tell of the day "Dr. Greg" stumbled into their village, cold, hungry, and sick, and of how he returned a year later to build a school in their village. The final few pages of the book are a photo album/essay of the village of Korphe, and of Mortenson going about his work. It's an inspiring story, and will probably make many children want to get involved in Mortenson's Pennies for Peace project.

In addition to a terrific story, Susan L. Roth's amazingly detailed collage illustrations- a myriad of colors, and textures, and shapes, and details-- are beyond wonderful, and leave me wondering whether it is too early to start making predictions about the 2009 Caldecott winner. I also loved the two-page spread where Roth explained how she went about making the collages. 

This book has made it onto my new favorites list. It could grow the hearts of children from 5-105!

SAMANTHA HANSEN HAS ROCKS IN HER HEAD- Nancy Viau

Samantha Hansen is a spunky ten-year-old naturalist, who loves, loves, loves rocks. She lives with her mother, who designs birthday cards and feeds the family weird kinds of birthday cake on a daily basis, and a teenage sister, whose secret belly button piercing sets off the metal detector at the airport. Sam spends most of her time making lists about rocks and other natural phenomena,  trying to control her temper as she deals with an oh-so annoying older sister, and gathering snippets of information about her father, who has passed away. 

This is a fun, fairly light, read about a girl who loves science. There's lots of "rock information" embedded throughout the book, and I could see using the book as a read aloud during a unit on geology, or a unit on the Grand Canyon. Sam is a consummate list maker, and I could also see myself sharing the book during discussions of that genre. I do have to admit that I was a little uncomfortable with Sam's developing interest in boys- I know fourth graders are starting to care more about the opposite sex, but it's not something I encourage.

THE NIGHT AFTER…

Ok, so the Newbery and Caledecott Awards were announced today, and I failed dismally this year. I have not read either award winner, nor have I read ANY of the Honor books. YIKES! 

NEWBERY AWARD

 THE GRAVEYARD BOOK- Neil Gaiman

This sounds like one my boys might like, so maybe we'll do it as a family read aloud.

Newbery Honor Books

After Tupac and D Foster- Jacqueline Woodson

Jacqueline Woodson is one of my all-time favorite authors. I haven't read this one though…

Savvy- Ingrid Law

I didn't know, until today, that Ingrid Law is a Colorado author. Our school library has this one, I gotta get reading…

The Surrender Tree: Poems of Cuba's Struggle for Freedom- Margarita Engel

I haven't even seen this one. 

The Underneath- Kathi Appelt

I started this book. The writing is absolutely beautiful. I didn't, however, love the book- I really don't like animal fantasy, and as far as I got, it was pretty sad. Maybe I'll go back and try it again, though…

CALDECOTT AWARD

The House in the Night-

written by Susan Marie Swanson and illustrated by Beth Krommes

I've never heard of this book. I looked at it online tonight, though, and it looks beautiful.  

CALDECOTT HONOR BOOKS

A Couple of Boys have the Best Week Ever- Marla Frazee- 

I love the CLEMENTINE series, but I have not read this one. 

How I Learned Geography- Uri Shulevitz

Haven't read it or even read about it.

A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams

I've been meaning to get hold of this one- does that count?

ALMOST HEAVEN

I feel like I died and went to heaven last night. ALA is having their midwinter meeting in Denver. The exhibit hall opened last night- I was one of the first people in the door and one of the last people to leave (my boys are now absolutely sure that their mother qualifies as one of the world's biggest nerds!) All of the publishers are there with their latest and greatest, and I got to look at tons of books that people have been blogging about, e.g. BLACK

I bought a couple of books, the new DIARY OF A WIMPY KID, which I had planned to go buy for the boys this weekend, and SAMANTHA HANSEN HAS ROCKS IN HER HEAD. Mostly, though, I picked up free ARC's!

Here's a list of what I will be reading for the next few weeks:

LISTEN TO THE WIND- Greg Mortenson (this is THREE CUPS OF TEA for kids, I also got the THREE CUPS OF TEA chapter book for kids)

THE BEAUTIFUL STORIES OF LIFE: SIX GREEK MYTHS RETOLD- Cynthia Rylant

JUST GRACE GOES GREEN (third grade-ish novel)- Cherise Mericle Harper

DRAGONBREATH (young novel)- Ursula Vernon

SIR JOHN HARGRAVES MISCHIEF MAKER'S NOVEL

WOULD YOU RATHER (gross choices to ask kids- dinner table conversations with the boys!) Justin Heimberg and David Gomberg

THE VALENTINE CAT (young novel)- Ann Whitehead Nagda

PETE'S DISAPPEARING ACT- (dog novel)- Jenny Tripp

TROLL'S EYE VIEW- (fantasy)edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling 

MY VICKSBURG (historical fiction)- Ann Rinaldi

MY BROTHER ABE (history)- Harry Mazer

CHASING LINCOLN'S KILLER (historical fiction)- James Swanson

TILLMON COUNTY FIRE= Pamela Ehrenburg

CLOSED FOR THE SEASON- (mystery)- Mary Downing Hahn 

THRE GREAT RECEIVER- (football)-Elena Yates Eulo

CITY BOY (YA)- Jan Michael

ABSOLUTELY MAYBE (YA)- Lisa Yee

THREE WILLOWS- (YA)- Ann Brashares

FOREVER (YA)- Meg Cabot

WINTERGIRLS (YA)- Laurie Halsen Anderson

FLYGIRL (YA) Sherri L. Smith

THE UNKNOWNS- YA mystery- Benedict Carey

ANNIE'S GHOSTS- (memoir/mystery)- Steve Luxenberg

DREAMING IN HINDI (adult memoir)- Katherine Russell Rich

THE WRITING ON MY FOREHEAD (adult novel)- Nafisa Haji

HOW WE DECIDE (adult nonfiction)- Jonah Lehrer

JOKER ONE- Donovan Campbell

THE WORD SNOOP- Ursula Dubosarsky

FUN, FUN, FUN, FUN, FUN!!!!!!!!!!