Teen Tuesday and Audiobook Review: Technically, You Started It by Lana Wood Johnson

Technically, You Started It by Lana Wood Johnson. Unabridged e-audiobook. ~5 hours. Narrated by Katie Koster and Christian Barillas. Scholastic Audio, June, 2019. (Review of e-audiobook borrowed from public library. Finished copy courtesy of publisher.)

When I opened the hard cover of this epistolary novel, my heart sank a bit to find that it is told entirely in text messages. I don't love texting irl and my digital-immigrant eyes have trouble following long strings of text. Still, the premise intrigued. Luckily, I found it while browsing new e-audio additions in Libby. It was delivered to my phone after a brief hold. I found it quite entertaining. 

High school senior, Haley receives a text from a classmate in her AP history class regarding an upcoming assignment. He identifies himself as Martin Nathaniel Munroe II. The only problem is that there are two Martin Nathaniel Munroe IIs in her class and she hates one of them. Believing she is talking to the one she doesn't hate, Haley answers his question. He responds and the two begin to banter. Soon the bantering turns into full-fledged honest conversations as the two open up. Is it time to meet irl?

This was kind of fun. It was like eavesdropping. The challenge of the text format is that the only clues we have to these characters are what they say type to each other. There is no interior dialogue, no setting, and few extra characters weighing in to add dimension. All have is two smart teens getting to know each other in all its messy glory. 

Another challenge when texting or reading texts is the absence of emotional clues. Sure, we have emoticons, of which I am not fluent; but it can become tricky. The performance of these two new-to-me narrators helped with that. Haley was snarky and anxious and often hilarious. Martin was earnest. But then, perhaps the audio turned the book into a series of phone conversations? 

Either way, Technically, You Started It was an amusing experiment. I'm eager to book talk it when we return to school. I think my teens will love it. Not sure I'd jump into another text-only novel very soon, but interested in reading more from this debut author. 

Picture Book(s) Review: Three Titles by Ryan T. Higgins

I recall reading rave reviews of Mother Bruce a year or so back but, being in a middle school, I don't always get to all the picture books I'd like. Then, I had the good fortune of hearing the author/ illustrator read Hotel Bruce at a rip-roaring Disney preview at Annual in Orlando. What a hoot!

Earlier this week, I attended the Disney preview at Midwinter in Atlanta. As soon as I spied the name Ryan T. Higgins, I grabbed an fng of Be Quiet!! It was read to us by the editorial staff and the room was highly amused. I could not wait to return and share Be Quiet! with my "period Kahn" students.

Because the main characters in this were from Hotel Bruce and because Bruce makes a cameo appearance in this one, I decided to read all three books to them to test the group's stamina and observe what my students noticed. Luckily, the amazing public library across the street from the school owned both Mother Bruce and Hotel Bruce. The story time was a huge success. I don't believe I have ever heard them laugh so hard or be so attentive. And, yes, connections were made!

So here's a sort of review of all three:

Mother Goose Bruce by Ryan T. Higgins. unpgd. Disney/ Hyperion, 2015. 9781484730881. (Review from copy borrowed from public library)

Hotel Bruce by Ryan T. Higgins. Disney/ Hyperion, 2016. 9781484743621. (Review from copy borrowed from public library)

Be Quiet! by Ryan T. Higgins. Disney/ Hyperion, April 4, 2017. 9781484731628. (Review from fng courtesy of publisher)


We always start by examining the end pages if they are decorated. We always start by finding the copyright date because one student (a natural librarian) is intensely interested in copyright dates and NEEDS to know it before anything else. Then, we proceed to check out the front flap and whether there are decorated end pages. We often flip to the back flap, especially if the author and/or illustrator are new to us.

Often, a picture book story begins on the end-pages, but in Mother Goose Bruce, it actually begins on the front flap. 

Do you see the tiny little nest containing four eggs on the bottom left corner? Here:

Bruce is a bear so grumpy he could give Grumpy Cat a run for his money. He also likes eggs. Any eggs but he doesn't eat them raw. He is a connoisseur and has mastered various ways of cooking them. When he's interrupted while preparing four goose eggs, he returns to find them hatched. Since goslings imprint on the first thing they see, Bruce becomes, "Mama!"

Hilarity ensues.

In Hotel Bruce, the end-pages show Bruce's den in the fall, followed by a picture of snow covering the den. 

Spoiler alert for Mother Bruce - Bruce is heading south with his four wards for the winter because that's what geese do. After several amusing spreads of frolicking on the beach with gators, the family boards a bus and returns to the den the following spring. They discover that three mice have moved in and opened a hotel.

Bruce was not happy.

He sets about ridding his den of the intruders but things only get worse.

More hilarity ensues.

In Be Quiet!, the three squatting mice get a story. In fact, Rupert is planning a wordless story! Wordless, because wordless books are artistic. Then comes the title page with a goose piloting a plane dragging a banner reading, Rupert the Mouse Presents Be Quiet! So, he announces that it will be quiet starting now. Only he joined by Nibs, who wants to know what Rupert is doing. When he learns that Rupert is planning a wordless story, he wants to help but can't help talking. Rupert finally loses it, which attracts Thistle's attention. Thistle's exuberant commentary drives Rupert over the edge.

Be prepared for more hilarity.

The cast of characters include the aforementioned cameo by Bruce, his geese and a few other characters from the earlier books. It's also a bit of meditation on authorship and collaboration as Nibs' imagination runs amok.

I'm not sure what media was used to create the art but there is plenty of color, texture and visual humor to please the eye and tickle the funny bone. Fans of the previous books will be delighted to return to Bruce's neighborhood. If you are not already familiar with the Bruce books, remedy that asap and pre-order Be Quiet! Your story time patrons will love you for it, especially if you pull out all the stops during the read aloud. The students' aides who were in the room while I performed Be Quiet! asked what I was going to do to top my reading of it! I am not sure. It was quite fun to read aloud. I wouldn't mind doing it again. This is  crowd-pleaser and one that will elicit, "Read it again!" repeatedly.

Zero Tolerance (The Odd Squad #2) by Michael Fry

240 p. Disney/ Hyperion, September 3, 2013. 9781423170990. (Arc obtained from publisher at ALA Annual)

Nick, Karl and Molly find themselves a bit at a loss after having solved their bully problem (Odd Squad: Bully Bait). Instead of being the heroes of the school, they find themselves a bit bored with the mundane duties of Safety Patrol, hallway crossings and warning against the dangers of Jello-meat. When a new girl arrives, she and Molly become instant bffs. This upsets and threatens Nick, after all, Molly whacked his back. And, Simone doesn't believe in Emily, the ghost/ protector/ whatever of the school.

When Nick decides to TP himself and then dump himself in a trash can, instead of flushing out Emily, he prompts the school board, led by his mother's current "perfect" boyfriend, to institute an Zero Tolerance policy on bullying. Then, Nick is accused of bullying Simone, and finds himself on the receiving end of the ZT policy and kicked off the class trip. But he just knows that Simone is not who she says she is.

I actually found myself laughing out loud quite a bit with this second installment. I also must admit to initially not liking the first. I received it at Annual in 2012 and read it pretty quickly, before leaving Anaheim, I believe. I was fairly meh about it at the time, so I put the arc aside to revisit. But I forgot about it. In January, I attended a Disney preview and Stepanie Lurie read aloud from it. Wonderfully. I totally changed my mind, reread the thing when I got back and became a fan.

This endearingly funny book will appeal to fans of the wimp and diary/ notebook type books.

Charlie Joe Jackson's Guide to Summer Vacation by Tommy Greenwald

Illustrated by J.P. Coovert. 231 p. Roaring Brook Press, May 7, 2013. 9781596437579. (Purchased.)

My favorite reluctant reader is back and I'm happy to report that momentum is not faltering. In author Greenwald's capable hands, Charlie Joe is fresher and funnier than ever. (And, he may be maturing, just a teensy bit, sh-h!)

Charlie Joe pleads temporary insanity when, on the last day of school, he decided to make his parents happy and attend Camp Rituhbukkee (pronounced, read-a-bookie). "Books were everywhere. And cell phones and video games were nowhere." (p. 2) 

What has Charlie Joe gotten himself into? One look at the camp schedule confirmed Charlie Joe's worst fears, that camp was school in disguise and that he risks turning into a reader, writer and quite possibly, nerd, unless he does some quick thinking. 

Luckily for Charlie Joe, he is not alone. Katie Friedman decided to attend camp and Nareem Ramdal, is a returning camper. But there are 75 other kids, many of them sporting tee shirts to Ivy League colleges, that think reading is fun, fun, fun. There is some time to swim and play basketball built into this schedule to achieve a "perfect balance of studies and recreation." In this environment, where it's cool to be nerdy, Charlie Joe is definitely the odd man out.

Unfortunately for Charlie Joe, there's a basketball rivalry between Camp Rituhbukkee and Camp Wockajocka. Charlie Joe learns that his arch-nemisis Teddy Spivero is on the team. Just great. He manages to make the best of it in his inimitable Charlie Joe style. 

Instead of Charlie Joe's tips, letters to and from camp are interspersed throughout to keep the reader up-to-date about news from the home front. Coovert's clever cartoons break up the text nicely as well. 

CJJ3 is a must purchase, preferably in multiple copies. I'm donating my copy to my school library, where there is a waiting list already and it's not even cataloged.