Heart of a Samurai, by Margi Preus (book review) – first Japanese in America?

Jun9

book cover of Heart of a Samurai by Margi PreusA true story becomes even more real in the hands of a talented author.

As we read Heart of a Samurai, we experience the horror that Manjiro and his fellow fishermen felt on the 1840s whaling ship, the sad knowledge that they are forbidden to return home to Japan by their own emperor, the prejudice that John Mung finds in his adoptive New England town.

Interesting to note that another young man was the first known Japanese to arrive in the US, several years before Manjiro, but Otokichi never returned to live in his homeland.

Yes, Heart of a Samurai is a Newbery Honor Book for 2011, but it isn’t yet the bestseller that it deserves to be.
**kmm

Book info: Heart of a Samurai / by Margi Preus. Amulet, 2010. [author’s website] [author interview] [publisher site]

My Book Talk: Big-nosed barbarians! A ship larger than 7 fishing boats! Is it rescue…or capture? Young Manjiro was not sure what to tell the 4 other Japanese fishermen who had drifted to a rocky island after a storm in 1841, barely surviving.

But the captain of the American whaling ship is kind to them, and Manjiro begins to learn English and help aboard ship. The Japanese are horrified when whales are slaughtered only for their blubber, wasting enough meat to feed many villages. Alas, they will never see their home village again, since the Emperor has decreed that no Japanese that leaves their islands may ever return, just as no foreigners may ever enter that country.

Reaching Hawaii, Captain Whitfield gives the fishermen new clothes and money to help them settle there. He asks Manjiro if he would like to continue whaling and to go to America with him – as his son! Manjiro’s adventurous heart answers yes, and he becomes the first Japanese to visit the United States when their ship reaches New Bedford in 1843. Some folks accept John Mung (as his shipmates call Manjiro), but others do not.

When Captain Whitfield goes to sea again, he leaves John to look over the rest of the family. Working on the Whitfields’ farm, going to school, even riding a horse like a samurai – what other son of a village fisherman ever had such wealth and experiences?

After training as a navigator, John signs on with another whaling ship whose captain goes crazy when month after month passes with no signs of whales for capture. Will the crew of the Franklin survive? Can Manjiro ever return to Japan?

Based on a true story, this exciting book includes illustrations by Manjiro himself, plus glossaries of Japanese words, whaling terms, and sailors’ lingo. Travel the high seas during whaling’s glory days as you learn how a humble fisherboy grows up to have the heart of a true samurai. (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

X Isle (fiction)

Jun8

For World Oceans Day, a frightening possible future for Earth as climate change and melting glaciers threaten to drown humanity.

So, diving to salvage canned goods from flooded supermarkets would help your chances of survival – relying on the brutal Ecks brothers and their extremely crazy father Preacher John would definitely reduce your chances…

Clever kids will always find innovative solutions to problems, even if there’s only a 33% chance that their gassy output will have enough methane to make their invention work.

Survival and escape – a classic adventure story theme set in a watery dystopia – can the guys really make it off X Isle alive?
**kmm

Book info: X Isle / by Steve Augarde. David Fickling Books/Random House, 2009. Paperback Nov.2011 [author’s website] [author’s blog] [publisher site]

Recommendation: The seas rise to drown the Earth, leaving inland cities as islands, the remaining humans desperate to survive. Everyone knows that X Isle is the best place to be, where the salvage divers bring up food and supplies from sunken shops and stores.

The Ecks family trades salvaged canned goods to the mainlanders for fuel, sometimes taking a lucky boy to work with them, if his parents have something special to send along with him, and he’s small and strong. A boy who’s too big to feed is sent back from the island, of course.

This day, both Baz and Ray are chosen to go to X Isle, where Preacher John prays for the survival of humanity. They’re sure that there must be many, many boys working there, but are surprised to find only eight and are shocked to find out what they must really do.

When they learn that no one makes it off X Isle alive, the boys all decide that they must invent a weapon to free themselves, using their best resource – methane gas from farts. But will they really be willing to destroy their captors? Can they be as brutal as their guards and the Ecks brothers and the increasingly crazy Pastor John? (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, by Ransom Riggs (book review) – monsters are real

Jun7

book cover of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs published by Quirk BooksUntil it’s grown, you don’t known if that weedy stuff is crabgrass or horrible, clawing grassburrs.

Likewise, Jacob didn’t realize that the monsters that Grandpa warned him about were real until it was too late, as he looks up from the dying man to see the horrifying creature…and the monster sees Jacob.

Author Ransom Riggs started collecting old photos some years ago, drawn to the captions often written on them. For the most peculiar images, he began inventing their backstories and what the oddest captions might have been.

In this thriller, Riggs’ imagination has gone far beyond those idea seeds planted by the old photos, as he brings the “peculiar children” to life, as well as the monsters that pursue them…and Jacob.
**kmm

Book info: Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children / by Ransom Riggs. Quirk Books, 2011. [author’s blog] [publisher site] [book trailer]

My Book Talk: Jacob stopped believing in Grandpa’s monster stories years ago, but what else could kill someone so thoroughly? Fatally attacked, Grandpa gasps that Jacob “must go to the island” where he will be safe, as he sees the blackened creature of his nightmares disappear into the Florida woods.

Now 16 year old Jacob has the nightmares, the monster alternating with the old photos of “peculiar children” who were his grandpa’s friends at the Welsh orphanage which rescued him from the Holocaust – an invisible boy, the floating girl…real or faked? Clues found at Grandpa’s house convince him that he must find that island and the orphanage, or go insane!

Thankfully, his psychiatrist agrees, so Jacob and his dad head for Wales, and the mystery grows deeper.
If the orphanage was bombed-out in 1940, how did Grandpa get there later?
Why can Jacob hear voices in the old building when no one else can?
Who is following them on the tiny island?

As the past and present tangle and unravel, Jacob finds the old photos to be new truths as the monsters pursue children for their peculiar talents. A chilling debut novel for very mature readers which ponders how the balance point between good and evil loops through human history… (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

Diamond Ruby (fiction)

Jun6

Yes, girls can be baseball stars! But when the men with the money and the men with the clout got involved, early 20th century dreams faded for talented women, like Jackie Mitchell who faced the great Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in the 1930s – and struck them out!

Mitchell’s brief career struck a chord with author Wallace, who took the idea of a phenomenal female pitcher into the Roaring 20s of baseball-mad New York City.

Ruby faces incredible odds to keep her family together following the Spanish Influenza epidemic which killed more people than World War I. She encounters good guys like Babe Ruth and Jack Dempsey, bad ones with the KKK and organized crime, as well as women’s rights activists and folks on both sides of the Prohibition issue.

A great story and a great baseball story (and a happy birthday today to MB, Braves-loving gal and baseball fan extraordinaire!).

Book info: Diamond Ruby / Joseph Wallace. Touchstone, 2011. [author’s website] [publisher site] [book trailers one and two]

Recommendation: Ruby’s pitches were straight and true, but girls weren’t allowed to play baseball in 1913. She kept practicing in secret, through the end of World War I and the Spanish influenza epidemic that ravaged her neighborhood and wiped out most of her family.

It was her pitching skills that kept her orphaned nieces alive into the 1920s, first to put squirrels into their soup pot, then as Ruby became a speed pitcher for a Coney Island sideshow. Amanda kept the speed-sensing machine working, Allie posted the pitch speed, and “Diamond Ruby” hurled pitch after pitch, seven days a week, equaling the velocity of most major league pitchers. Her extra-long arms were good for something at least.

Her amazing pitching performances drew celebrities, like Babe Ruth and Jack Dempsey, as well as the attention of women’s rights activists, organized crime bosses, and a minor league baseball team that needed publicity to stay alive, but needed a great pitcher even more.

Could Ruby really earn enough money by pitching to keep her small family intact? Can she keep her new friends from harm during the raucous days of Prohibition? Can she keep on pitching accurately despite threats, violence, and blatant prejudice?

This intriguing tale of survival, grit, and amazing athletic skill, set amid the glitter and glare of the Big Apple’s speakeasies and rum-runners, is inspired by a real woman pitcher of the era. Play ball, Ruby! (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

YA saves! YA books cover every subject & emotion

Jun5

I wasn’t gonna post today, but yesterday’s Wall Street Journal article about YA books “Darkness Too Visible” has me and lots of other folks pretty steamed up.

Check the Twitter conversation #YASaves for reaction from authors, readers, and librarians; we gotta wonder about the article author’s qualifications as a book reviewer… (search her name and tell us what you think)

Did she ask any independent bookstore folks about what books they would recommend to the worried mom in paragraph one? How about her child’s school librarian? Or their public librarian?

Maureen Johnson (whose 13 Little Blue Envelopes and The Last Little Blue Envelope are bestsellers and won’t get the full BooksYALove treatment – so just go read them!) has a new favorite picture, by Anastasiy Gorbunov, which illustrates exactly how books lead to new interests and visions and experiences. (The caption translates as “Reading isn’t dangerous. Not reading is.”)

Dr. Teri Lesesne, “the goddess of YA literature” and major expert in the field, was explosively ticked-off by the article, as her LiveJournal today shows. The points that she notes there are exactly why YA books are so important, and why I’m trying to get the word out about the great titles that you’ll miss if you don’t dig past the big display stacks at the big-box bookstores or the “you’ll like this one” lists at the big online retailers.

Too bad that the mom in the WSJ article didn’t have someone to help her find that great book for her 13 year-old daughter… like Smile and Dancing Through the Snow and Sequins, Secrets and Silver Linings… sigh…

At least the #YASaves hashtag is trending high right now (#3) so the conversation continues! C’mon over to Twitter and join in.
**kmm

A glance back at month #1

Jun4

Whew! Time to step back and look at the first month of BooksYALove…

So many firsts = first posting on May 1st as WordCount’s Blogathon2011 gets rolling. Followed by first book recommendation, first comments, first subscribers, first tweets – and lots of friendly feedback from fellow Blogathonners.

Most of my recommendations were for fiction books, with some cool nonfiction thrown in, all books that young adults (and young-at-heart adults) will enjoy reading, but might not find in the big displays at booksellers or on best seller lists.

Worth looking at again:
Scary books: Stolen and The House of Dead Maids
High school drama (but funny): Flawless and Ten Miles Past Normal
Futuristic books: Awaken and Across the Universe
Graphic novels: Smile and My Boyfriend is a Monster
Across the sea: Warriors in the Crossfire and Saraswati’s Way

I have a big stack of books that I;ve read and just cannot wait to share with y’all, this summer I’m planning to post several new book recommendations every week (though perhaps not one a day), with occasional reflective musings and some guest posts that highlight “forgotten gems” of YA lit from earlier years.

So, grab a book and take your mind somewhere else this summer – you’ll be glad you did! And let me know of any books that I need to read and recommend here, too.
**kmm

Who Is Frances Rain? by Margaret Buffie (fiction) – family squabbles, Gold Rush ghost

Jun3
book cover of Who is Frances Rain by Margaret Buffie published by Kids Can Press

Ah, summer vacation season…the change of scenery, the same ol’ family. Except when your family suddenly has a new member, like a stepparent.

So, escaping to the island is Lizzie’s best way to cope with the rising tensions at Gran’s place in Manitoba’s gold country. Even if she does start seeing visions…or ghosts…

So “who is Frances Rain” you wonder? Hope you’ve got plenty of flashlight batteries…
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Book info: Who Is Frances Rain? / by Margaret Buffie. Kids Can Press, 2007 [author’s website] [publisher site]

Recommendation: Lizzie is sure this summer will be awful – the Canadian gold rush country, all lakes and wilderness, was the kids’ special place with their grandmother, so why did Mom suddenly want to leave her law office and bring their new stepdad here for the summer?

Gran’s old lodge is the same, with board games for everyone and plenty of blueberry pie. Their across-the-lake neighbors are still the same, except 16 year old Alex has grown tall, towering over Lizzie and her big brother Evan. But Evan is awful to their stepdad, Mom’s good mood has vanished, and Gran tells Lizzie to stay away from Rain Island.

Of course, 15 year old Lizzie decides to escape the tension at the lodge and explore Rain Island on her own. When she finds an old pair of glasses that might have belonged to a woman prospector there, she begins to see ghosts or maybe visions of the past.

What are they trying to tell her? Why does she feel this strange connection to the island? When she and Alex start digging into the history of the island and the area’s gold rush days, the mystery becomes stranger than they ever could have imagined.

This great tale of suspense from noted Canadian author Margaret Buffie will have you wondering “who is Frances Rain?” with Lizzie and Alex until the very end. (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

Fire, by Kristin Cashore (book review) – power of beauty, lure of power

Jun2

book cover of Fire by Kristin Cashore published by DialWe usually think of monsters as horrific, terrifying, and hideous (like the Creature from the Black Lagoon).

But what if the monstrosity was purely inner? These are the monsters of Fire’s world, the monsters whose dazzling physical beauty and powers of mind control are an irresistable lure and a snare to entrap mere humans.

As a monster-human hybrid, Fire knows the power of her beauty, yet her human half strives to overcome it. In an unstable kingdom attacked by monster creatures as well as human treachery, Fire may be the key to a possible peace… or utter ruin.

Fire is chronologically a prequel to Cashore’s stunning debut novel, Graceling. Each story can stand alone, but you’ll want to read both. Check the author’s blog for her progress on their sequel Bitterblue.

Book info: Fire / Kristin Cashore. Hardback – Dial Books, 2009. Paperback – Firebird, 2011. [author’s website] [publisher site] [book trailer] Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

My Book Talk: In these days of war, Fire travels watchfully to her music students’ homes in the mountains. But Fire is a human-monster, capable of controlling minds, far more dangerous than any bandits. Raised by a foster family of humans, she has become a master archer, like her foster brother, and loses herself in her music to forget her father.

She’s determined not to become like him, her full-monster father who ruled the king’s mind and being as they stripped the Dells of its safety, emptying the treasury for pleasures and drugs. Cansrel and King Nax are dead now, leaving unprepared young King Nash on the throne, with lords in the North preparing to battle him for the crown.

An assassin whose mind is completely blank, King Nax’s widow in voluntary exile, the armies of Lord Myddogg and Lord Gentian gathering in the North, the increasing number of monster-animals attacking humans, first with their irresistible beauty and then with claws and teeth – can the Dells survive such threats and dangers?

When Prince Brigan asks Fire to travel to the King’s City to help them hold the kingdom together by using the powers of her mind, she wants to refuse. Is she truly their only hope? Can she resist the lure of continuing to manipulate people’s minds after the crisis has past? Is there any future for the last human-monster in this suspicious, vicious world?

A companion to Graceling, Fire’s story stands on its own, asking questions about humanity and responsibility and society in a fantasy world that may be too much like our own. (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com)

Mamba Point, by Kurtis Scaletta (book review) – truth, self, visions of snakes

Jun1

book cover of Mamba Point by Kurtis Scaletta published by Random HouseMoving… I’ve done it all my life, during the summer, during the school year, but I never moved to Africa, like Linus did.

And to befriend a black mamba, the fastest snake in Africa, in the whole world – wow!

Linus tried to transform himself into someone cool, to find friends in a strange land, to understand a new culture. Will getting so close to a mamba make it happen?
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Book info: Mamba Point / by Kurtis Scaletta. Alfred A. Knopf, 2010. [author’s website] [author’s blog] [publisher site]

My Book Talk: Linus can reinvent himself as a cool, bold guy when his family moves to Liberia for his dad’s new job at the U.S. Embassy. Middle school in Dayton in the 1980s was tough enough without being known for panic attacks, so even going to Africa is bound to help, right?

When they walk down the airplane steps onto the hot runway asphalt, a deadly black mamba snake is the first thing Linus sees of Africa! Black mambas are supposed to be very rare, shy of people… so why is the Embassy residence area called Mamba Point?

Before school starts, Linus and his older brother Law (who changed his name from Larry on the way over from the States) explore their new neighborhood. Most kids of Embassy employees hang out at the pool, so Law is there all day, every day. Linus meets Matt downstairs, who introduces him to role-playing games with many-sided dice and crazy situations. He visits the library for comic books to draw from and a book about snakes, especially the black mamba.

Linus spots black mambas all over, even in the residence courtyard, when others don’t see them at all. He even goes so far as to bring his black mamba into his closet to keep it close by as a pet. Then a local vendor tells him of ‘kaseng’ – the idea that some people have a deep connection to certain animals, perhaps even sharing some characteristics with them. Slowly, Linus becomes more assertive and self-confident much like the black mamba he has come to know. Could he really share a ‘kaseng’ with the friendly black mamba who begins to visit him?

When their parents go away for the weekend, Law decides to throw a party, and things go farther out of control than either brother could imagine. (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

Kat, Incorrigible, by Stephanie Burgis (book review) – magic, manners, mischief, mayhem

May31
book cover of Kat Incorrigible by Stephanie Burgis published by Atheneum

Ah, Regency England, with its balls and hunting parties and other fascinations for the well-to-do who have little of importance to do. Jane Austen’s works set in this time period tell us of love, family, and social custom.

Manners and lovely clothes are a must in this era, but 14 year-old Kat don’t care to be ladylike, especially where vital matters of family and magic are involved!

The idea of magic being more tolerated in Kat’s England 1803 than in the British Isles of our history adds to the suspense – what trouble will she get into next, while truly trying to stay out of trouble?

And to think that we must wait until April 2012 for volume 2 to arrive in the US! Then another full year before volume 3! (let me know if you’re headed to the UK and can pick ’em up earlier…)
**kmm
Twitter: @BooksYALove

Book info: Kat, Incorrigible / by Stephanie Burgis. (book 1 of The Unladylike Adventures of Kat Stephenson) Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2011. [author’s website] [booktrailers one & two] [publisher site] (one of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher through NetGalley.

My Recommendation: Oooh! Why her older sisters can’t see that Elissa’s marrying old Sir Neville is just impossible, Kat does not understand! Even if he is rich and will pay off their brother’s debts, there’s that rumor about the death of his first wife… Just because their late mother practiced magic, even while married to their country-parson father, is no reason to think that society won’t welcome them, during all the rules and restrictions of Regency England… well, perhaps their family is rather on the fringes.

Of course, their stepmother insists that they all go to the country ball so Elissa can be introduced to Sir Neville (who will surely fall in love with her), and she doesn’t dare leave 14-year-old Kat behind to get into mischief.

Before they leave, Kat sneaks into the locked cabinet where Stepmama has banished all the beautiful things that her mother held dear, and a little golden pocket-mirror takes her fancy. Well, actually it takes hold of Kat and won’t stay away from her. As Kat falls through the mirror into a golden room, she wonders about her mother’s magic books that she found hidden under Angeline’s bed.

Has Kat’s middle sister been casting spells?
Are there two kinds of magic?
Will a highwayman rob their coach as they travel through the forest to the ball?
Can’t they prevent this horrible marriage and still save their family from ruin?
And will that golden mirror ever stop burning Kat when she holds it?

Oh, Kat tries to mind her manners in this rollicking romp, but you should never underestimate the daughter of a magic-wielder, should you? 306 pages of twists and turns, old angers and new secrets.