Non-Fiction Monday: Fifty Cents and a Dream: young Booker T. Washington by Jabari Asim

Illustrated by Bryan Collier. 48 p. Little Brown Books for Young Readers, December, 2012. 9780316086578. (Borrowed from public library.)

Booker T. Washington may have been born into slavery and forbidden to learn to read, but that did not stop him from dreaming or stealing glances at the school books he had to carry for his master's daughter or eavesdropping on her lessons int he school house. The Civil War ended before he was ten, but young Booker had to work to help support his family. Still, his mother presented him with a primer and, when a school for young negroes opened, Booker would work his hours, then rush to the schoolroom. When he learned of a boarding school 500 miles away, he started saving in order to attend, then walked there. By the time he arrived, his meager savings were spent, so he had to find work and start saving again. He eventually found work as a janitor in the school, which helped pay for his room and board. A scholarship was found for him to help pay the tuition. This is the story of a person who refused to let his dreams die.

All this is told in spare, powerful blank verse along the outer edges of each double-page spread. The 1 & 1/4 pages (3/4 page spread) remaining are filled with watercolor collages equally powerful and so stunning that they beg closer examination. Indeed, with each rereading, I have found details missed on earlier readings. And the paper! It's creamy, thick and luscious. 

Additional facts about Booker T. Washington are listed at the end, followed by a timeline of his life, an author's note, an illustrator's note and short bibliography. I was unaware of the controversy surrounding his approach to Civil Rights. I'm happy that the author addressed it. 

I sincerely hope that this gets some serious consideration by the Caldecott committee. 

What's New? Stacking the Shelves

Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Tynga of Tynga's Reviews. Pop on over to share your new books and ogle what other bloggers got.

I was virtuous this week. I placed just one order online and, I actually went on a BN date night with the hub and Didn't Buy a Thing! I almost didn't cruise at all but I finished the arc I brought into the store while he cruised. Then, couldn't resist a quick spin while he skimmed his haul. (Polishes halo.)

Bought:

Scrivener's Moon by Philip Reeve. Fever Crumb book 3. Unabridged audiobook on 9 compact discs, 10 hours, 57 minutes. Read by Sarah Coomes.

Publisher synopsis: The final adventure in Philip Reeve's brilliant FEVER CRUMB trilogy.

The Scriven people are brilliant, mad--and dead.

All except one, whose monstrous creation is nearly complete--a giant city on wheels. New London terrifies the rest of the world, and an army of mammoth-riders gathers to fight it. Meanwhile, young Fever Crumb begins a hunt for Ancient technology in their icy strongholds. She finds a mysterious black pyramid full of secrets. It will change her world forever.

Scrivener's Moon follows Fever Crumb and A Web of Air to complete one of the most exciting and inventive fantasy adventures series ever recorded for audio.

I can't recall how I came to learn that Fever Crumb was back but it was quite accidental. And, the book has been out since November! Shame on you Scholastic!

That's what new with me. What's new with you? Happy reading!

Reached by Ally Condie

Unabridged audiobook on 11 compact discs, 13 hours. Read by Kate Simses, Jack Riccobono, and Matt Burns. Penguin Audio/ Penguin Group (USA), November, 2012. 9781611761023. (Purchased)

In this conclusion of the trilogy that began with the wildly imaginative, Matched, the three star-crossed lovers are living separately while they await the fall of the Society at the hands of the Rising and its Pilot. The first book was told just from Cassia's point-of-view. Crossed was told by Ky and Cassia in alternating chapters. Reached adds Xander's point-of-view and since he was the most intriguing of the three from the beginning, this was a welcome addition.


The Rising came to power relatively easily, too easily I suppose, since the plague that they spread and had the cure for, soon mutated. Cassia was in a bit of a holding pattern, but made good use of her time by creating a "gallery" where the creatively inclined could share their art. Then, she was whisked away to the mountains with Ky and Xander to find a cure. Yep, three teenagers are the hope of mankind. But there's treachery afoot and a blustery blowhard and shifting alliances and, it just didn't add up for me in the end despite some moments of lovely writing and character growth. 

I read all three with my ears and, while I loved the first pretty unconditionally, especially Kate Simses' performance, I didn't love the second. In my review of it on LJ, I did not comment specifically on the addition of Ky or the performance of the narrator, but in Reached, I wanted to scratch my eyes out each time it was Ky's turn. Jack Riccobono whined through the entire book! Sure Ky's a bit angsty (too much for my taste. Really Cassia?), but the performance was painful. I was actually relieved when Ky went still!

The world-building, which I so enjoyed in the first book all but vanished. Sure the Society was losing power, but for all the rigidity, Cassia and the Rising sure had a ton of freedom of movement. 

So, I had to read to the bitter end and in the end, I was bitterly disappointed. I'm writing this six days after finishing and am honestly having a hard time remembering plot lines. I'm donating my recording to my public library and will be purchasing the hardcover for my own school library for fans, but I'm sorely tempted to direct inquiring students to the public library rather than buying one. I have to think on that. 

2013 Comment Challenge

The Comment Challenge is back. Lee Wind and Mother Reader host this challenge each year. Last year's challenge was a bit of a bust for me. This year, I set a goal for myself to comment more, but now the warm-up is over and the challenge begins in earnest. Can I comment on 5 blogs per day for 21 days? Going to try. Head on over to I'm Here. I'm Queer to sign up. And, while you're at it, pop it into your feeder. 

Butter by Erin Jade Lange

296 p. Bloomsbury USA, September, 2012. 9781599907802. (Purchased)

Butter, is the morbidly obese, sixteen-year-old narrator of this painful, yet riveting debut novel. The reader not only learns quite quickly that he tips the scales at over 400 pounds, but also the humiliating way he earned his moniker. My heart broke for Butter as he matter-of-factly recounts his school day from parking his BMW in the Handicapped spot, through the special desks and the solitary bench seat in the cafeteria, through tension-fraught meals with an indulging mother and distant father. 

Butter's voice is compelling - at turns desolate and snarky, brave and frightfully alone. He's not completely sympathetic, he lies to the people who reach out to him, a teacher, his diabetes doctor, his mother, his friend from fat camp. He's also lying to Anna, the hot, popular girl who has unwittingly befriended his online persona.  

I picked this up on a date night at my local Barnes and Noble. On date nights, I head to the Children's/ YA section and the hub heads to the mystery section. We each grab a pile of books and head to the café where, the first one there snags a table, some lattés and a calor-ific snack to share while we sift through our pile to decide what will be bought. On this particular night, the café was quite crowded. I snagged the last table, which was around the corner and had only one chair. I sat down, texted the hub to say I had a table and to take his time, plucked Butter off the pile and started reading. It was so-o busy that I didn't get on line to grab a drink and snacks. 

A while later, I realized that I hadn't heard from hub, checked my phone, texted him again, saw an empty chair, snagged it for him to sit in, and got back to my reading. Still later, tore myself away, looked around through the blur and realized that it was totally unlike him not to text a reply, so I called and got voice mail. Turns out, he left his phone at home. He had come to the café, bought two coffees, looked around, DIDN'T SEE ME and wandered around the store looking for me. This is the man who looks in the fridge and can't find the butter sitting right in front of him.

Anyway, had I not been totally sucked in, I would've realized much sooner that our wires were crossed. As it was, he returned to the mystery section and drank both coffees. Though I was grumbly over not having coffee and a snack, I do believe I was more grumbling over having to interrupt my reading to look for him. The following day, I had an all-day event to drive to and attend, so my reading was done with my ears to and fro in the car. When I finally returned to it a day later, it was with the rabid curiosity of one engaged in savage gossip. Really. I felt like a voyeur.

And I felt guilty about my interest. Was it prurient? Was he actually going to go through with it? Would everyone who viewed the web page actually watch on New Year's Eve? Would no one alert a responsible adult? No one comes off clean here, including the reader. This is raw and real. I would love to have a group of eighth graders (it's a bit mature for most middle school readers) read and discuss it. 

Click here to view the trailer and stay to check out other pages on the author's web site.

Others have reviewed this more eloquently than I:
Stacked
Literary Meanderings
Novel Thoughts
The Write Path

Waiting on Wednesday

WoW is a weekly meme hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine in which we share the titles of books we are eagerly anticipating.

The Runaway King (Ascendance Trilogy; bk. 2) by Jennifer A. Nielsen. 352 p. Scholastic, Inc. March 1, 2013. 9780545284158.

Publisher synopsis: A kingdom teetering on the brink of destruction. A king gone missing. Who will survive? Find out in the highly anticipated sequel to Jennifer A. Nielsen's blockbuster THE FALSE PRINCE!

Just weeks after Jaron has taken the throne, an assassination attempt forces him into a deadly situation. Rumors of a coming war are winding their way between the castle walls, and Jaron feels the pressure quietly mounting within Carthya. Soon, it becomes clear that deserting the kingdom may be his only hope of saving it. But the further Jaron is forced to run from his identity, the more he wonders if it is possible to go too far. Will he ever be able to return home again? Or will he have to sacrifice his own life in order to save his kingdom?

The stunning second installment of The Ascendance Trilogy takes readers on a roller-coaster ride of treason and murder, thrills and peril, as they journey with the Runaway King! 

Top Ten Tuesday - 2013 Reading Goals

TTT is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish and the theme is reading goals. I was very happy to have completed the various challenges I set for myself in 2012. I read 15 books past my Goodreads Goal of 400 books. I knocked 48 books off my TBR pile (don't ask by how many the pile grew), read 30 debut novels and 83 with my ears. 

So, here are my goals:
1. I set a Goodreads goal of 450 books. 

2. Will continue to keep track of books read from the tbr pile, audios and debuts even though I haven't signed up for any challenges. (Maybe I should've broken these out to separate goals?)

3. Will read more non-fiction.

4. Will read more poetry.

5. Will get back to my Dickens Challenge. (I read 6 Dickens novels way back in 2009 and had 6 left on my list to complete.) Need to read The Pickwick Papers; Bleak House; Edwin Drood; Little Dorritt; Barnaby Budge and (reread) A Christmas Carol.

6. Review more. I read a ton in 2012, but reviewed far fewer books than in past years. Writing is a very slow process for me. Seriously, sometimes I labor hours over a two paragraph review! And when I reread it, I usually cringe. Unfortunately, I did not review some of my favorite favorite books last year. Shameful.

7. Comment more on blogs. I am always thrilled to find a comment. The problem here is that I read blogs in my feeder at school, where most of the blogs are blocked. I need to get in the habit of jotting down the names of blogs and revisited at home.

8. Weed my blog feeder. If I come across a blog post I like, I will usually drop it into my feeder without doing too much exploring of other posts. The result is that I end up skimming or wasting my time reading reviews of, 1. books I'm not interested in reading, 2. poorly written, un-critical reviews, or 3. lots of blog tours or author interviews. 

9. I knew I should've broken #2 out into separate goals. That's all I have.