Nonfiction: Blue Mind, Wallace J. Nichols

Blue Mind: the surprising science that shows how being near, in, on, or under water can make you happier, healthier, more connected, and better at what you do.
Wallace J. Nichols
ISBN: 9780316252089
Nonfiction: popular science: the therapeutic benefits of various interactions with water.

Interesting book, but despite the footnotes and carefully applied various disciplines and sciences (everything from property valuation to fMRI to sensory-deprivation chambers), it felt a little light-weight.  I don't know why - perhaps because most of what was covered falls squarely into common sense.  I sympathise with the scientific urge to explain and nail down the whys and wherefores of life, but for something as basic and universal as this, it feels somehow cheap to attempt to pin down specific biological responses and say that those are the reason; to me, that is confusing the mechanism with the motive.

Perhaps in humans, the mechanism and the motive are so interlinked as to be one and the same when looked at through a scientific eye, but in the meantime, as much as I enjoyed reading about the science behind emotional responses, and the peculiar human preferences that make ocean-view penthouses millions of dollars more expensive than their city-view next-door neighbors, I just didn't feel like I was any more renewed or enlightened about my relationship with water, or any more able to advocate for it.

Still, it was a nice enough read, much like floating around on a lazy river loop.  The journey is relaxing, even if you don't go anywhere new.

The Return of Zita the Spacegirl, Ben Hatke

The Return of Zita the Spacegirl
Ben Hatke
ISBN: 9781626720589
Juv: Graphic Novel, human girl navigates alien menaces trying to keep herself and her friends safe.

This is the third (and last?) installment of the Zita the Spacegirl graphic novel series.  (Parts 1&2 reviewed here)

After Zita gets her best friend accidentally teleported off Earth into a universe full of aliens and marvels, she manages to get him sent home through a series of adventures chronicled in the first two volumes.  Unfortunately for her, a copy-bot impersonates her, resulting in her being branded as a criminal and incarcerated on a rocky asteroid, which is where we start.

Zita keeps her spunky attitude pretty intact as various friends (old and new) appear like clockwork to help Zita and the other unfortunate captives escape the brutal clutches of the Screed Dungeon Lord, and to prevent the Screed from using the final (?) portal device to invade Earth itself!

Lots of stuff going on, and lots of characters to remember from the last installments, plus a few more interesting characters to learn to love.  The ending is bittersweet, with a not-so-subtle hint towards further adventures (which I would be all about, just FYI) that Zita and Joseph will undertake with their assorted and colorful friends.

Storytime Potentials: Once Upon a Twice, Denise Doyen, Barry Moser

This book came up as a suggested title when I was searching for "Mouse" themed books for an upcoming storytime.

Sadly, this one is waaaaay too long and linguistically complicated for use in storytime, but it has interesting potential as a storytelling (ie - no books, just memorized) experiment, along the lines of Jabberwocky.

Once Upon a Twice
Denise Doyen, illustrated by Barry Moser
ISBN: 9780375956126
picture book with "nonsense verse" of portmanteau words, mostly descriptive, narrating the tale of an especially adventuresome mouse who didn't heed the cautions of his elders.

The language in this is just stellar, although I have to give an early shout-out for the beautiful cover with the glorious moon hanging over dense jungly grass-scape (shades of William Joyce's The Leaf Men) and the lush dark pages with firefly glows on every page not-quite concealing the pairs of non-firefly-eyes that peer hungrily at the little mousies.  (Attentive viewers can pick out snake and cat eyes on many of the pages, as well as a soaring hawk silhouette menacing overhead.)

Now, that said, the language.  I love nonsense verse, but here the words are really not that nonsensical - they're more like rap or beat poetry vocalizations and improvisations - here's an example from early in the book describing the mice:

The Mice were scoutaprowl
They runtunnel through the riddle -
Secret ruts hid inbetwiddle-
But one mousling jams the middle!
Whilst he goofiddles, others howl;
"What's the holdup?  What's the matter?"
Night's qui-etiquette is shattered!

And another one later on, describing a deadly danger:

Half-submerged, a slender queen
Esses 'cross the pond unseen,
Espies the furlickt mouse's sheen,
Sly serpentine - bound not to miss...

So really, I do think that "nonsense verse" is taking it a little far.  Anyone can see where those words are coming from, and the implications of them as so blended or creatively applied (I'm especially fond of "esses" as a water-snake's movement verb).

Anyway - the actual story isn't all that amazing - brazen mouse wants to stop and smell the roses, to enjoy life under the moon, and ignores warnings to stick to hidden paths and to watch out for danger.  A quick snap, a snaky struggle, and our mousling learns an important life lesson, which results in a long life, and great popularity as a teller of terrible tales to subsequent mousy generations.

I really do think it would be fun as a Halloween story to tell, I just can't do it with my group because they're way too young.  I almost think that adults would enjoy the wordplay more if they were just listening.

Tuesday Storytime: Back to School

It really feels like fall today - the air is crisp and cool, the breeze is blowing, and the muggy haze of summer is melted away.

Smaller group, but fun as always.  One of our books (Go Home, Mrs. Beekman!) this week was a teeeeensy bit of a stretch for my group; it's a little long, and we have a lot of babies) but I did two really short ones to compensate, and I think everyone comported themselves quite well.


Go Home, Mrs. Beekman!
Ann Redisch Stampler, illustrated by Marsha Gray Carrington
ISBN: 9780525469339
Brightly colored busy scenery with colorful (but mainly white) students.

Emily does not want to go to school on her first day, so she extracts a promise from her mother to stay at school with her for a "million gazillion years" and keep Emily safely on her lap the whole time.  Mom gamely lives up to her promise even though after noon on the first day, parents aren't allowed.  This simply means Mrs. Beekman has to get creative, disguising herself as a coatrack, an oversized hat, a large green dog (a possible wink to the Emily with the big RED dog), a flying yellow bird (brought in on a helicopter) and a hula-hoop.

Emily, on the other hand, begins to realize that her promise wasn't too well-thought out after the end of the first day - she wants to start playing with her new school friends, and to do interesting new school things, but she's stuck on her mom's lap, as promised.  Emily spends a few days passively hoping that her mom will "forget" about the promise, but on the hula-hoop morning, she finally bites the bullet and informs mom kindly that her services aren't required any longer.

Clever mom, lovely progression of emotions for our little Emily, and a very longsuffering school teacher makes for a fun inversion story, which makes it a great pick, even if it's a touch on the long side.


The Bus for Us
Suzanne Bloom
ISBN: 0563979322
Hugely diverse city-kids build up at a bus-stop, waiting for a school bus while a progression of other interesting vehicles pass by.

I partly like this one for the totally non-textual diverse kids that build up - the actual words are really limited and repetitive "Is this the bus for us, Gus?" "No, Tess, this is a(n) X" - but the scenes are dynamic and filled with lively and varied kids and pedestrians and drivers, and a whole unstated story involving a dog, cat, and turtle.  Love showing it off to the kids, and the super-quick progression makes it perfect for my middle read.


 
llama llama misses mama
Anna Dewdney
ISBN: 9780670061983
Series books with a llama child and mother, this time dealing with new-school anxiety and separation.

I flat out love the llama llama series.  The facial and body expressions are just amazing, the rhymes are cute and fun to read without usually feeling labored or reached-for, and the issues are just spot-on.  All of them are good, and model excellent validation of feelings while still requiring appropriate behavior, within age-appropriate parameters.  In this one specifically, I like that they make a careful note that it's ok to feel sad or miss people, but that it is also ok to try to distract yourself from your sad feelings, and that sometimes the distraction can actually help you feel better.  Good "moral" for teaching kids how to self-regulate.

Next week is a holiday for me, and then after that I think we're going to read about mice.  I like mice.  
     

Graphic Novels: Hildafolk Series, Luke Pearson

Graphic Novels are always fun, especially when they're nice kid-safe ones that can help reluctant readers.

The series titles in order, all by Luke Pearson:

Hilda and the Troll (HC re-issue of originally-titled Hildafolk from 2010)
ISBN: 9781909263147

Hilda and the Midnight Giant
ISBN: 9781907704253

Hilda and the Bird Parade
ISBN: 9781909263062

Hilda and the Black Hound
ISBN: 9781909263185

Basically, Hilda is an explorer and an adventurer.  She's spunky, curious, and is constantly finding new peoples to learn about and new places inside and around her city (some real, some perhaps less real, some not exactly congruent with reality) to have interesting adventures.

The map on the first spread of Hilda and the Troll is very useful, otherwise the adventures all end up in a sort of placeless muddle (not that there is anything wrong with that, either) but I always like having a good solid map to reference, and this is a good one.  Sadly, neither the map or the vivid endpapers make it into the other three volumes of the set, which is a disappointment, to be perfectly frank.

However, the stories inside are worth it, and they are frankly, weird as all get-out.  I love them.

The Midnight Giant has some great musings about size and friendship and realizing what's important, and not judging people by appearance, all mixed in with a funky story dealing with teeny people and giant people, all sharing the same space (honestly, rather badly).

Hilda and the Bird Parade hits on the differences between life in the country and the city, how hard it is to integrate with a new group of friends (or even if you want them as friends) the importance of not getting lost, and of being empathetic towards others (especially if they turn out to be a giant magical Thunderbird) and most importantly, the benefits of having positive expectations, which is a great lesson, even if it's really hard to live up to sometimes in actual life.

Hilda and the Black Hound has an exultant Hilda joining a Scouting group, and showing off her ability to get badges because she used to live out in the country.  This goes about as well as one might imagine, with bonus hijinks created by the various magical creatures all up everywhere.  The underlying lessons touch on racism, parental pressures to excel, and preconceived stereotypes.

Very European, truly awesome, hope there are more to come!

Juvenile Nonfiction: Josephine, Patricia Hruby Powell, Christian Robinson

Got some new books into the library, and this one was a Junior Library Guild "premier selection" book, and it's about Josephine Baker (who was awesome, and horribly treated in America) so I thought I'd take a look.

Josephine
Patricia Hruby Powell, illustrated by Christian Robinson
ISBN: 9781452103143
Biography of Josephine in free verse and odd naive illustrations

Bad stuff first - the art style is not my favorite.  The wobble-armed figures and strange round-headed audience and kindergarten-style landscapes just didn't do it for me.  I'm sure lots of people will really love the spunk and liveliness of the pictures, and the freedom from representative human form, but it wasn't for me.  Sorry, Mr Robinson.


The text was really interesting - a spare progression of free verse, no rhymes, but a lot of powerful word-choices, and lots of SHOUTING with capital letters.  It really made me feel like someone was Tumblrizing a biography for fun.  It's an interesting approach, and I think that it works overall, although there were times where I thought that clarity of narration slipped in favor of keeping the text relatively sparse.  I especially was struck by the handling of her various marriages; first at fifteen to a Pullman porter, whereupon she met and married him in the space of three lines, left him by the start of the next page, ignored him completely for 36 pages, then divorced him in one stanza:

"The very first thing,"
She divorced Willie Baker -
ended that long-ago marriage."

Then the millionaire fly-boy who she met, married, and divorced in four lines (he doesn't even get a name).

Then finally she marries her orchestra leader, who does get a name, but only two lines before he's dropped completely in favor of learning about the children she adopts as her Rainbow Tribe.

Wait - what?  Did she love any of them?  Were they jealous?  Why marry someone in the first place if she's going to immediately leave town or if he's not in favor of her performing?  Did she have biological kids with anyone?

There were several instances like this (none quite so glaring) where I thought that just a little more background (the war effort) or a few extra lines (her final American tour) might have aided understanding.

Overall, really interesting, although I feel for the poor kid who tries to use block quotes from this strange creature to back up their biography assignment in class.

The Mirk and Midnight Hour, Jane Nickerson

The Mirk and Midnight Hour

Jane Nickerson

ISBN: 9780385752862

YA: Civil-War gently creepy fantastical novel of manners.

This is a companion-book of sorts to the author's first book, Strands of Bronze and Gold, and where that one gently tweaked the Bluebeard tale, this one has Tam Lin at heart.  

The story begins with our focus character Violet reeling from the loss of her twin brother, dead in a Civil War battlefield.  Her father is preparing to head to war himself, leaving her behind with the family slaves, Laney and Michael, and baby Cubby.  Violet's household is soon filled to the brim with a stepmother (more pathetic than wicked), a stepsister (excellent character development there, shattering expectations), and a set of cousins - one, the fae and sensitive child heir to a luxe plantation, and the other, a swaggering blockade-running showboat of a young man, from the cadet branch of the family, raised on the plantation, and expected to be the heir himself until the unexpected birth of his young cousin.  The variety of relationships (and neighbors) made the story really flow like a novel of manners, gently showing relationships building and changing over time.  The discovery of an injured Union soldier in an abandoned lodge nearby, cared for by the enigmatic and creepy VanZeldt "family" of a white doctor and a set of haughty Africans changes everything, and the ripples of her discovery will impact every corner of Violet's life.

As in the other story, I was very happy to see that abusive characters are shown clearly, with no excuses made for their behaviors, even when other characters don't see (or remain willfully blind) to those faults.

I also liked the way that the author presented the question of slavery - slowly showing Violet becoming aware of how her way of life was impacting people that she loved or respected.  It could have been corny or harsh, but it was almost natural.

I especially enjoyed the tension set up by the VanZeldts.  They exist somewhere on a range from casually evil to amoral to totally alien, which is an interesting path to take with your main "villains" and I think only works as well as it does for me because of the association with the unknowable fae of the traditional Tam Lin tale.  Relatedly, I thought that the integration of houdoun and voodoo and grisgris and rootworking was done nicely (even the shoutout to traditional zombies!)  I especially enjoyed reading all the various interpretations and justifications that the different characters used to make their non-Christian practices fit into the dominant culture and belief system.

The storyline didn't grip me quite as hard as the first one did - I think partly because of familiarity.  I've encountered lots of variants on Tam Lin, some good (as this one was) and most really wretched, where I don't recall ever reading a novelization of Bluebeard other than Fitcher's Brides (which I liked, but felt like the fairy-tale association was a bit forced into the cult setting).

I'm happy to see Nickerson writing another novel so soon, and I hope that she continues - her take on the Civil War south is a nice change of pace and setting from usual fantasy works.

 

Tuesday Storytime: Boats

Last week of summer for most of us here in SC, so I'm finishing out the season with the last of a trio of "vacation" books, looking at boats on rivers and oceans.

Two of these are repeats, I've used and liked them before, but the middle book (Little Tug) is new to my library, and I tried it out for the first time today.  I liked it also - very short and cute.

Toy Boat
Randall de Seve, illustrated by Loren Long
ISBN: 9780399243745
Painterly full-spread illustrations of a handmade toy boat on a dangerous night alone on the lake.

This is a sweet book, but it does get a little intense - there's a separation, then a storm, and a night alone on the water before the happy reunion with the boy.  I love the cadence of the words here, and the repeated "Move along" from the various sources.


Little Tug
Stephen Savage
ISBN: 9781596436480
Blocky print in limited color palette and very few words show the tug helping boats, and then a sweet goodnight.

This is my first read of this one, and I was a little worried that the lack of text would be a bit of a problem, but the flow was really smooth and slow, and that allowed plenty of time to appreciate the artfully blocky pictures.  I especially liked that the sailboat is male, and the motorboat is female.


Sail Away, Little Boat
Janet Buell, illustrated by Jui Ishida
ISBN: 1575058219
Stylized people and beautiful water scenes follow a toy boat from a brook downstream to the ocean, in verse.

This one is one where I'm not entirely sold on the verse structure.  Some books really just sneak it in there, and other books practically celebrate their verse structure, and some are just so brilliantly versified that it's a joy to read them.  This one is just a bit meh, and that makes it hard to summon the necessary energy to read this (decently long book) in the necessary rhythm to keep the verses and rhymes somewhat pointed.  That may just be me being a bit tired today.  Otherwise, I love that the boat itself is pretty much an excuse to explore the sights and sounds and wildlife (so much wildlife) along a brook, river, bay, and ocean.  The water, especially the fishes in the water, are just mesmerizingly painted.


And that's the end of summer for us, so next week, we'll do "Back to School" even though most of my group are too little to be in classes yet.
  

Nonfiction: Weird Life, David Toomey

Weird Life: the search for life that is very, very different from our own
David Toomey
ISBN: 9780393348262
Finished August 12, 2014
Exploration of various possible "weird life" based on different chemical, physical, or multiverse arrangements.

This was a really interesting book.  I especially liked the progression of relative "weirdness" from extremophiles (hello, tardigrades!) to potentially non-carbon-based life (yay for silicone and extreme environments), to life based around even more peculiar physical/electro-chemical finagling, to the possibilities raised by having different universal constants in different multiverses.

All of that without ever once stepping fully into the realm of science fiction (although some weird life from those pages was referenced) or handwaving explanations.

The only slightly weird digression was the abrupt switch to SETI and the constraints of having life that is intelligent, communicative, and existing at the same (generally speaking) point in time to actually communicate with each other.  Not that I didn't enjoy the thought exercises and the background on SETI, but it did seem an odd fit.  Which is actually telling, as SETI is sort of the only game in town for finding life, since NASA has gotten cut and governments aren't much interested in science for science's sake.

I live in hope that before I die at the ripe old age of 300+, someone looks back at this book and can compare the examples there with what we've actually found out there.

Tuesday Storytime: Swimming

Following up on our beach theme last week, I got all of my swimming books into the library early enough to move on to swimming, leaving boats for next week.

These are all new to me, and all three are adorable, but Don't Be Afraid, Little Pip is my favorite (not surprised, Karma Wilson and Jane Chapman are a great duo).

Don't Be Afraid, Little Pip
Karma Wilson, illustrated by Jane Chapman (Bear books)
ISBN: 9780689859878
Plump and cuddly penguins over colorful but soothing backgrounds of beaches and oceans.

It's time for all young penguins to learn to swim, but Little Pip isn't too thrilled about the deep dark ocean.  She'd rather fly, but after taking lessons from several birds, she's still grounded, and her final lesson ends with an accidental plunge into the sea!  Once in, she learns that swimming is natural, and swimming in the ocean is much like flying in the air.  My only quibble is that I would have liked that metaphor to be a little more metaphorical - "swimming is flying" doesn't work well with literal-minded toddlers.



Two Dogs Swimming
Lynn Reiser
ISBN: 0060086483
Naive art of two curly-haired dogs in a primary-colored world of grass and pond.

Spot and Whistle play together.  They are well-matched in their games of chase, fetch, and jump - "sometimes one wins, sometimes the other" - but when they are swimming, Whistle can't figure out why Spot always makes it back to the edge of the pond first.  The not-so-secret is that Spot isn't actually swimming - he's walking on the bottom, and not going all the way across the pond.  Another accidental plunge, and Spot forgets that he needs to walk with one set of legs, and accidentally starts swimming!  Now the games are equally matched no matter where they take place.  Very cute, with a little touch of dry humor.


Sergio Makes a Splash
Edel Rodriguez
ISBN: 9780316066167
Part of a series about Sergio the pop-art colored penguin.

Sergio likes soccer, fishies, and water, but he can't swim yet, so he's not too sure about the big field trip to the ocean to learn to swim.  Bolstered by helpful classmates and a kind teacher, and a good helping of positive self-talk, Sergio takes the plunge (safely ensconced in snorkel, swimmies, and a life-preserver) and learns that the ocean is not just water, it's LOTS of water (with bonus fishies), and great fun into the bargain!  While I like the illustrations and narrative of Little Pip, I have to say that Sergio is a much better choice for modeling behavior - Sergio is the only one who chooses to jump into the water - and also for representation of him encouraging himself despite having "scary" thoughts.

Next week, boats!

Nonfiction: You Are Not So Smart / You Are Now Less Dumb, both by David McRaney

Books that originate from blogs are always very interesting to me, especially when they're on a pet topic like neurochemistry, behavior, and psychology.

I read these back to back, on August 5th and August 6th, and I probably should not have - they're a little repetitive even inside themselves, and even more so when compared to each other.  I know that it's the type of book where people can be presumed to read chapters at random, or to read the second book before the first, but it was a little jarring.

You are Not So Smart
David McRaney
ISBN: 9781592406593

You are Now Less Dumb
David McRaney
ISBN: 9781592408054
Both Nonfiction; behavioral science and neuro-psychology.

First off, I saw these float through the library, and was really taken by the cover, so congratulations on mastering that specific portion of influence and marketing.

Once inside, the short chapters didn't quite ever get deep enough into the crunchy bits for my taste, but I fully realize I'm an outlier who reads actual journal articles because they're interesting.  (They'd be more interesting if statistics weren't as impenetrable to me as Mandarin Chinese, but one must persevere.)  The topics were a bit scatter-shot, and I think this more than anything reflects the blogged origins of the book.  There just wasn't much connection or build between the chapters, and that is much more reminiscent of a blog, where each post is pretty much taken on it's own unless it specifically references another.  In a book, even nonfiction, the ebb and flow of an overall narrative structure (which, ironically enough, is addressed in decent length in both books) makes the journey through the pages (see, I'm even doing it here) seem more enlightening and fulfilling.

It's the difference between those amazing Japanese conveyer-belt eateries, and a good 4 star restaurant.

In the first, you get to pick and choose, and each dish is designed to stand alone.  You eat too much because you want a little bit of everything (and if you're American, you waste more than you should by tasting and then not finishing when you didn't like it), you don't really have a set beginning or ending (oooh, I just sat down, but mochi is coming through right now!) and there isn't any exterior cue for you to stop eating (other than the incriminating pile of plates you accumulate) until you finally waddle your satiated way up to pay the amazing low price for your gastronomical sins.

In the second, you have a narrative established.  Everything from the table (dressed in crystal, heavy utensils, and vivid white cloths) to the high-class music (played softly) and the lighting (also soft) makes the meal into an experience rather than a simple dinner.  As for the food, there's an order there also.  Appetizer, soup, salad, entree, dessert, a drink (or two, or three - no more than three in this environment) and a helpful menu and staff optimize your choices into a pleasing progression that ends with you happily forking over a ridiculous amount of money for your experience.

New Arrivals: The Dolphins of Shark Bay, Pamela S. Turner, Scott Tuason

Got a new batch of juvenile nonfiction in at the library, and the standout of the pile was this photo-essay about the dolphins that live off the coast of Australia and use sponges to hunt for a specific type of fish.

The Dolphins of Shark Bay
Pamela S. Turner, photographs by Scott Tuason
ISBN: 9780547716381
Read August 7, 2014

This is simply an excellent book.  The narrative follows a set of "sponging" dolphins off the coast of Australia, and broadens out into discussions of dolphin feeding, tourists, dolphin family and social dynamics, the concept of cultural or learned behaviors (in this case, possibly the sponging behaviors) and all sorts of other really interesting dolphin-related information.

Our main human character is Janet Mann and her crew of scientists and PhD students, studying the dolphins of the Shark Bay area.  Our main dolphin characters are a loose family arrangement of dolphins with peculiar names: Puck, Piccolo, Real Notch, Blip, Bytefluke, and Google among them.

The whole book is amazing, and anyone who is interested in intelligence and tool use and complex social behavior will find a lot to love here, but my absolute favorite thing is that the book takes interesting subject matters and breaks them down like a scientific problem, right there in the book, showing by example what the scientists are doing and studying, and how they are doing it so that their information is factual, relevant, quantifiable, and repeatable.  Truly excellent writing.

My final note is on the photographs - the author thanks the photographer in the credits, mentioning that he "clicked away nonstop" to capture the photographs used, and the dedication really shows.  These are excellent photographs, and truly enhance the appeal and impact of the writing and the subjects.

Excellent book all around.  

Emerald House Rising, Peg Kerr

A surprisingly good read, losts in the mountains of old paperbacks.

Emerald House Rising
Peg Kerr
ISBN: 0446603937
Read August 1, 2014

Jena Gemcutter works with her father, cutting and setting the best and brightest gems for the nobility and merchants of the kingdom.  She's submitted her application to become a journeyman jewelsmith, but all of her hopes and dreams for her future are upset by the arrival of a strange magical noble, and the sudden discovery of her own aptitude for magic.

I love just about everything about this book:

The concept of a Diadem Court, where the line of succession travels between several different royal families.

The idea of magical partnerships creating a more stable and thus more powerful force by balancing out the weaknesses and blind spots of the respective partners.  (one quibble; I would have liked more if the energy manifested was required to be masculine or feminine, rather than the people themselves always having to be in a male/female partnership).

The conflict between magicians and nobility was well created and thought out.  The resulting "invisible services" industry was a very nice touch, as was the shadowy ranks of the magical nobles themselves.

The sub-plot of Jena's conflicted interests in both magic and gemcrafting was very well handled, as was the development of her relationships and her conflicted feelings about her fiance.  I loved that these things remained points of difficulty for her, and that she didn't simply embrace her new abilities and instantly forget about her previous desires or life goals (that happens way too often in fantasy stories).

Finally, the story ends in a solid and natural place, with no pussyfooting around for sequels, but with enough of the world left untapped that a companion book could naturally occur - or not.  That is also all too rare for fantasy stories.

The antagonist could have been a bit stronger, and the overall plotting was a smidge meandering, but these were very minor quibbles in an otherwise excellent read.

Overall, I was strongly reminded of Rachel Neumeier's House of Shadows.

Tuesday Storytime: Going to the Beach

Back to picking my own topics for storytimes again!

August is pretty much the height of summer here in SC, so I'm celebrating my free choice of topics by spending some time focusing on boats, beaches, and swimming.

Today, the beach!

A Beach Tail
Karen Lynn Williams, illustrated by Floyd Cooper
ISBN: 9781590787120
An expressive black boy explores a beachfront, tethered to his dad by the long tail of a "sandy-lion" he's drawing in the sand.

Gorgeous illustrations, and a great story, and always so very nice to see POC in picture books without that being made a part or a focus of the story.  Gregory and his dad (just the two of them) are at the beach, and while dad rests in the shade of an umbrella, Greg draws a lion in the sand.  Dad warns him not to leave "Sandy" behind, and Greg complies by drawing the lion a long tail as he wanders along the beach.  Eventually the boy realizes he's gone too far from home base, but his "tail" is right there to guide him back, where his dad gently chides that "Sandy has a long tail" before they both head out for a swim.  This is my first read of this lovely book, but it certainly won't be the last.


All You Need for A Beach  
Alice Schertle, illustrated by Barbara Lavallee
ISBN: 0152167552
Roly-poly people with odd profile outlines populate a slowly-developing beach along with rollicking rhymes.

This is a fun one because of the language.  The rhymes and rhythm are so much fun to play with, and the conceit of only needing one simple thing for a beach - a grain of sand - AND a few trillion more AND some trees AND birds AND ocean... really makes the pages fly.  I've done this one a few times before, and it's always been a hit.


One White Wishing Stone
Doris H Gayzagian, illustrated by Kristina Swarner
ISBN: 0792251105
A National Geographic book, with a doll-like girl playing on a soft-edged, muted, calming beach.

This one is a very beautiful, and very soothing book.  A girl plays on the beach, collecting items starting with One white wishing stone, then Two periwinkle shells, and so on, until she has enough collected to build and decorate a sandcastle.  Once the waves reclaim her treasures, she keeps the periwinkles and the wishing stone and uses them as talismans that night to recall a beautiful day and anticipate others like it.  I love that it ends with the people home and remembering a happy time, and that it shows her leaving most of her collected treasures at the beach where they belong.

High Rise, J.G. Ballard

High Rise
J. G. Ballard
ISBN: 9780871404022
Re-read in February 2014 and August 2, 2014

I first read this in high school, when I was on my giant dystopian kick; 1984, Brave New World, Animal Farm, Utopia, Herland, Handmaid's Tale... For a pretty class-ignorant southern American, it was a real eye-opener to the enduring class consciousness and prejudices in England.

I re-read it again in a happy daze when I first heard that Ben Wheatley was going to be doing a film version of it, and I never finalized my draft review because I realized it was more about my hopes and fears for the movie than it was about my thoughts on the book.  I read it again just this weekend in hopes of clarifying, but I don't know that I much have.

On the one hand, this is a really enjoyable read.  We have three "protagonists" who are from the highest class of society, the middle class, and the lowest class.  We learn in great detail what jobs and heritages compose the three classes, and about the worries, fears, and aspirations of the three specific individuals we follow through the book.  The chaos is well-drawn, the situations are fun and gory and individualized, and the premise of a horde of a thousand citizens reverting to animalism is wildly entertaining.

On the other hand, there are some massive problems with the world of the book.  Firstly, despite the crazed activities, it's part of the narrative that the residents still go out to work regularly until nearly the bitter end, and despite them falling asleep on their desks, and eventually not coming in at all, no one outside seems to care - the police arrive once or twice, tentatively, and are gently rebuffed, seemingly unconcerned at the vanishing of a thousand people from work and life.  The time skips don't make much sense - a week here, a month there; time just vanishes between pages.  The supply situation is likewise a bit peculiar - the food begins to run short after the first week or so, and the water lines and pools are vandalized early on, but no one seems to die from dehydration, and only a few are shown starving.  Dogs only go so far.

Finally, the decline is just odd to consider.  On the one hand, it seems too quick - the slide from polite and civilized citizens and neighbors to cannibalistic speechless pre-humans is a shock.  On the other hand, (given the supply concerns noted above) the process takes too long - the looting and rioting and destruction aren't over in one quick galvanized shudder, but a series of slow protracted military campaigns that advance and retreat the tide of chaos over a few months.

As an adult, I appreciate more the subversion of the three endings, but I do wish that more hints had been dropped throughout the narrative, because before the end, I (even knowing what's coming) get very misandric towards the protagonist characters and their personal views of women.  This is also where I note that I remain confused that Wilder's wife is named Helen, until the end where he thinks she's named Judith.  Now, Judith is a totally appropriate name for that ending, but if she changed her name, or was given that name somewhere, I've missed it each time I read the book.  That makes me a little twitchy.  This is also where I'll note that when considering his own ending, the character of Dr Laing is an interesting one for Mr Hiddleston to choose, given his current rabid girl fanbase.

As an adult, I finally realize that the names of our three leads give us insight into their characters - Royal, Laing (better perhaps as Lying, or Laying) and Wilder - all show very clearly what drives them, as well as what their ending is to be.  A nice touch that I either totally missed as a younger person, or totally forgot about.