Tag Archive | relationships

To Timbuktu, by Casey Sciezka (nonfiction) – art, teaching, love, travel

Nov16

Nine countries,
Two people,
One true story.

Travel the long route To Timbuktu with Casey and Steven on this World Wednesday, sharing their everyday joys, occasional mishaps, and adventures on their two-year journey together.

Steven’s charcoal sketches perfectly complement Casey’s retelling of their experiences as teachers of English in Beijing (becoming residents instead of visitors that cold winter ), as travelers in Vietnam and Thailand (paradise of warmth and way too many tourists), and as observers in different towns of Mali, including the remote and legendary Timbuktu.

Returning to the US, they’ve established the Local Language Literacy foundation to provide humorous books to African students in their native languages. Casey’s first LLL book was translated into Bamanakan by a teacher they worked with in Mali, and 1300 copies are now in the hands of Malian high school students. Currently, she and Steven are working with author Daour Wade to create books in French and Wolof for students in Senegal.

What an adventure Casey and Steven had as they traveled together! You’ll be glad that you came along on their winding journey To Timbuktu!
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Book info: To Timbuktu: Nine Countries, Two People, One True Story / Casey Scieszka, illustrated by Steven Weinberg. Roaring Brook, 2011. [author’s website] [publisher site] [book trailer]

Recommendation: World travel – that’s the plan for Casey and Steven after graduation. Now, actually getting jobs overseas – that’s another thing…

When they met in Morocco during junior semester abroad, the pair tried to just live in the moment, as they’d be in college on opposite coasts when they returned to the US. But they couldn’t let each other go and kept up their long-distance romance through that long, difficult year before graduation.

Casey dreams of living overseas and writing the stories told by Muslims who live in different cultures, examining how Islamic schools differ from others in the same country. Steven’s art is his passion; what career that will lead him to is still uncertain. As Casey writes grant applications for her research, Steven wonders how his future fits into hers…

When Casey finally gets funding to live and write in Mali – a year from now – she and Steven decide to travel and work in other countries along the way. Teaching English in Beijing, touring Southeast Asia, grabbing a quick rendezvous with their families in Paris, a detour through Morocco to see their host families again, then they’re finally in Mali!

But can the couple stay in love through traveler’s flu, bureaucratic red tape, and erratic train schedules? When Casey is piled-up with research, will Steven have enough to do? And once you’ve gone all the way To Timbuktu, what do you do next??

This autobiographical travel memoir leaps off the pages, thanks to Casey’s evocative narrative and Steven’s many sketches, taking us from their Beijing neighborhood to the schools of Mali and everywhere in between. And, yes, Casey is the daughter of author Jon Scieskza. (Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher)

Hothouse, by Chris Lynch (book review) – dead firefighters, heroes or reckless?

Nov15
book cover of Hothouse by Chris Lynch published by Harper Teen

Hero dads?
Reckless heroism?
Negligent heroes?

Losing your dad is difficult at any age; losing the dad you idolized and emulated, just as you’re about to join him in an amazing career together is terrible.

But to have your hero dad suddenly called a villain by the same people he protected and served as a firefighter his whole life? Devastating.

How will Russ and DJ cope with the loss of their firefighter dads during their senior year, especially now that the whole town has turned against them?

Hothouse packs so much emotion into its 208 pages that this intense story has been included on several recent booklists for older teens – catch it at your local library or independent bookstore.
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Book info: Hothouse / Chris Lynch. HarperTeen, 2010. [author interview] [publisher site] [book trailer/recap]

My Book Talk:  Two dads – best friends forever, their sons named for each other, firefighters together, dead in a flash.

Their sons must start their senior year of high school without them, their wives wish they could hear the phone ring again from the “Hothouse” fire station. Their community honors the memory of David and Russell as “Outrageous Courageous” heroes and treats sons Russ and DJ like heroes, too.

Russ had always planned to be a firefighter like his dad, practicing his skills at Young Firefighters, ready to graduate from high school, enter the Fire Academy, and work alongside his dad to keep their city safe.

But a house fire rescue gone wrong has changed that, at least the part about working with his dad. No one at school knows how to talk to Russ about it, and now the investigation into the firefighters’ deaths is raising questions about whether they were really fit to work that rescue call.

What is courage?
When are heroes not heroes?
How can Russ keep going when old questions get new answers?

The danger and stress that firefighters face every day can be so hard on them and their families. (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

World traveling, page by page (reflective)

Nov9

Lots of traveling lately on BooksYALove, especially on World Wednesdays as we look at life through the eyes of folks living outside the USA.

Which is the real Australia – the remote Red Center where Gemma’s kidnapper has taken her, Stolen from her parents in a busy airport?
The sleepy country town where Laura and Leon investigate the mysteries surrounding The Visconti House?
Urban Sydney where The Reformed Vampire Support Group meets every Tuesday night, trying to keep out of temptation’s way?

Deo loves soccer and his family – will he have either one left after fleeing a massacre? Now is the Time for Running as he suddenly becomes one of the many refugees struggling to enter South Africa.

Maya’s trip from her birthplace in Canada to her parents’ homeland of India became a much longer and more perilous journey than she or her father ever imagined, as chronicled in the verse-novel Karma.

When I Was Joe jumps right out of the headlines about urban London gang fights and the witness protection programme, followed by the gripping Almost True – yes, Keren David is writing a third book about Ty right now.

Trapped between a massive glacier and the frozen fjord, Solveig and her siblings pray for rescue by their royal father, listening for Icefall, trapped in a mountain fort with a traitor.

Louise suddenly went from the Connecticut suburbs to the decks and plush staterooms of the Titanic as she unwittingly became The Time-Traveling Fashionista.

Of course, the River of Time series took us far away and far back in time, as Gabi and Lia traveled back to the 14th century from their archaeologist mother’s dig site in Tuscany. Swordfights, romance, and intrigue! Start with Waterfall (first in the series), then continue the adventure in Cascade and Torrent. Lisa T. Bergren is working on the next book in the series, after her recent trip to Italy for more research.

More of the wide world coming up, as we travel soon to Iran, to the Moon, to the future, to Australia, and beyond with the BooksYALove (but won’t find on the bestsellers’ lists).

Found this great statue of kids reading in Kingston, Jamaica.
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LIttle Women and Me (fiction)

Nov4

Fun Friday with a blast into the past, as a middle-school girl is launched back into the pages of Little Women – no cellphone, no jeans, no kidding!

It seems like the world of Little Women is so much simpler than modern life, but Emily finds that even in 1861, human nature keeps things interesting. And the personalities of those March girls!

So, can Emily change the parts she dislikes about her favorite book? Will her actions as “the middle March” fix it or spoil it?

You’re sure to find the original Little Women at your local library or indie bookseller, but if you’d like to read Emily’s favorite online -free!- in a variety of formats, visit Project Gutenburg here.
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Book info: Little Women and Me / Lauren Baratz-Logsted. Bloomsbury, 2011. [author’s website] [publisher site]

Recommendation: Emily jumps into the assignment to change something in a classic novel – she can’t change her real-life family, can she? Being a middle sister is just so annoying…

Back in the pages of her favorite book, Little Women, Emily tries to decide on just one thing to change: Prevent sweet Beth from dying? Keep Papa out of the Civil War fighting? Have boy-next-door Laurence marry Jo instead of silly Amy?

Suddenly she is whirled into the book itself – as middle March sister Emily!! What a different world – life for 13 year-old girls in 1861 means corsets and needlework, not jeans and text messages.

As she lives through the events chronicled in the novel’s pages, Emily tries to fit into the story without giving herself away as a time-traveler. School isn’t mandatory for girls? Hooray! Reading aloud to grumpy, demanding Aunt March? Yikes! Long evenings at home with sewing instead of the internet? Urrr…

Key events in the story are just around the corner – can Emily change things enough to keep Beth alive or make Laurie realize that he loves his best friend Jo instead of her sister Amy? And what will happen to Emily when the last page of the book is turned?

Whether reading this before or after Little Women itself, readers will see 19th century life and Alcott’s classic tale in a deeper way through Emily’s humorous adventures and misadventures. (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy courtesy of the publisher.

Icefall, by Matthew Kirby (book review) – deadly secrets in the ice, sent by the gods?

Nov2

As the glacier above the wooden fortress creaks and groans…
As the fjord begins to ice over, with no word from home…
As the royal children and their guardians realize that treachery is locked into their hiding place with them…

Our world Wednesday book takes us to the far North and far, far back in time, when the people who would become the Vikings battle winter’s fiercest blasts sent by the gods, as well as attacks from mere mortals.

Singing odes of gods and kings, reshaping history to suit the ears of the victors, skalds tell countless stories from memory. Is it Solveig’s destiny to walk the storytellers’ path, instead of being a dutiful daughter to the king?

Another wonderful, unusual tale from Matthew J. Kirby, who brought us The Clockwork Three (my review here).
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Book info: Icefall / Matthew J. Kirby. Scholastic, 2011. [author’s website] [publisher site]

My Book Talk: Solveig wonders if winter will trap them in the mountain fort, waiting for word that her father has defeated an attacking king, listening to the glacier creak, worrying, worrying.

The king had sent her, her young brother the crown prince, and her older sister Asa away from the battle for their safety. When his best warriors arrive to protect them in the hidden fortress, Solveig knows that the berserkers would rather be fighting alongside her father instead of guarding them as the fjord ices over.

As the cold nights grow longer, the king’s storyteller gives them tales of the gods and of great battles. The skald finds that Solveig has an ear for story and a memory for detail – would she like to learn the storytelling arts? Finally, something worthwhile for this middle child – not pretty enough to marry off to forge an alliance, not a boy to be a warrior-prince.

A sudden outbreak of illness in the fort – a curse? Poison? The plague? Secrets told, promises broken, tempers flaring among the restless warriors. Will their father triumph over the invader who tried to steal Asa as his bride instead of negotiating? Will young prince Harald survive the winter? Will any of them?

A story from the days when storytellers kept history and hope alive through their ballads and odes, Icefall brings readers to the glacier’s edge, watching with Solveig over the stormy sea, hoping that the sails in the distance bring news of victory instead of danger. (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.

After the Kiss, by Terra Elan McVoy (book review) – one kiss, one photo, several broken hearts

Nov1

book cover of After the Kiss by Terra Elan McVoy published by Simon PulseModern technology – friend or foe?
Starting over again – easy or hard?
Broken trust – mend or abandon?

A novel in verse with two voices, two viewpoints, and countless ripples of intersecting lives and repercussions….
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Book info: After the Kiss / Terra Elan McVoy. Simon Pulse, 2010. [author’s site] [publisher site]

My Recommendation: Starting her senior year in a new city, Camille kisses a cute boy just once, starting a painful chain of events as a cellphone photo of “The Kiss” gets back to his girlfriend, Becca.

Camille journals her longing to be with her boyfriend back in Chicago (her dad’s job makes them move so often) or with her best friend in San Francisco instead of being on the fringes of this group of lifelong friends who hang out at the lake house on weekends, savoring one last school year together. At least the puppies at the animal shelter in Atlanta accept her and love her.

Becca’s poems reflect her world – her adoration of haiku-writing baseball catcher Alec, her shock at causing a fender-bender accident and having to get a coffeehouse job to pay the repair bills, and her helplessness after seeing the photo of “The Kiss.”

Camille does her writing after school in Becca’s coffeehouse, but neither one knows the identity of the other until one heartstopping afternoon. Can Becca’s future include Alec? Is happiness waiting for Camille in Chicago?

Alternating chapters of poetry and journal entries look for answers on how life can go on when plans don’t go according to plan. (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Cover image and review copy courtesy of the publisher.

Morpheus Road: The Light (fiction)

Oct31

Happy Hallowe’en on this Mysterious Monday…

A monstrous creation becomes real.
The created stalks its creator with malign intent.
[cue eerie, spooky music and more than a few nightmares]

The graphic novel character that Marshall invented visits him in his dreams, then in the dark corners of night, and then…his best friend Cooper disappears and is presumed dead. Marsh knows that Coop’s not dead – ghosts just don’t lie about such things.

This is the first book in D.J. MacHale’s frightening Morpheus Road trilogy. Marshall’s adventures (and nightmares) continue in The Black (book 2) and The Blood (book 3) – find all three at your neighborhood library or independent bookstore. And be sure to have a flashlight near your bed at night – who knows when Gravedigger might visit your dreams?
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Book info: Morpheus Road: The Light / D.J. MacHale. Aladdin, 2010. [author’s website] [publisher site] [book trailer]

Recommendation: Graphic novel fan Marsh creates “Gravedigger”– long black coat, pickaxe over his shoulder, grinning white skull. Drawing helps him forget just a little how his photographer mother died 2 years ago, trapped in the ancient temple she’d just captured on film. Her assistant brought back her photos and this golden glass ball covered in weird designs, but couldn’t bring her back.

Sketches packed away as school ends, Marsh looks forward to summer with his wild friend Cooper. But Coop has done one crazy thing too many, and his parents take him up to their old lakehouse – no cell phone, no computer, lots of time to get his act together.

When Marsh’s dad is out of town, eerie things start happening – a breeze that traces patterns in the powder on the counter when no windows are open, a gravelly voice on the phone that says “You must journey along the Morpheus Road,” Gravedigger luring him to the deserted gym with blood-covered walls…

Gravedigger is just a character from his own imagination, right? But that bony hand on Marsh’s shoulder felt too real, and Gravedigger keeps showing up, talking about the Morpheus Road.

Coop disappears from the lakehouse, so Marsh and Coop’s sister head up there to help search. When Sydney starts seeing Gravedigger too, then maybe Marsh isn’t just imagining this, and they all might wind up dead! 352 pages for those who love to be frightened… (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy courtesy of the publisher.

Karma, by Cathy Ostlere (fiction) – lost in her parents’ India during civil war

Oct26

World Wednesday takes us from the prairies of Canada to the crowded streets of India as Maya travels to her parents’ homeland on a grief-stricken mission.

Instead of learning more about her Sikh and Hindu heritage or meeting family for the first time, she’s flung into the chaos, violence, and massacre that followed the assassination of Indira Gandhi in 1984.

Look for this stunning verse novel at your local library or independent bookstore – you need to hear Maya’s story for yourself.
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Book info: Karma / Cathy Ostlere. Razorbill, 2011, paperback 2012. [author’s website] [publisher site] [book trailer]

Recommendation: At 15, Maya is taking her mother’s ashes home to India, back to the grandparents she’s never met, traveling with her father in 1984, far from Canada where she was born.

Unheard-of for a Sikh and a Hindu to marry in India of the 1960s! Disowned by her family, his family warning of spiritual disaster, Maya’s parents emigrate to Manitoba, where Bapu hopes to be successful and Mata prays for children and peace.

The aloneness that the prairie winds swirled around her mother finds Maya in the crowded streets of poverty-stricken New Delhi, as she tries to make sense of everything in her journal, her diary in verse.
Suddenly, India’s Prime Minister is assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards, and Hindus begin killing Sikhs in revenge. Bapu disguises himself and leaves Maya at their hotel while he tries to find a safe way for them to get to his hometown.

When rioters set fire to the hotel, Maya flees blindly into a city filled with mayhem, heading to the train station to go – anywhere. An accident, an attack, a fright, amnesia, a lost girl… Others continue telling Maya’s story when her own voice is no longer sufficient, as she journeys and drifts in confusion.

Can she find her voice again? Can she find her father? Did he really plan for her to marry someone here in India? How can she keep going, knowing that she left Mata’s ashes behind? This powerful novel in verse takes mature readers to a far land in a time not so distant, when civil war almost fractured India and its horrors threatened a young girl’s hold on reality. (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy courtesy of the publisher.

Belladonna (fiction)

Oct12

World Wednesday takes us to Cornwall in the 18th century, where the war between Britain and France is a backdrop to the drama of a young woman separated from her last friend.

Ling must find her white circus horse before it’s too late.
Thomas must find a profession after eye problems shut him out of school.
Both must stay clear of the “crimpermen” who would send Thomas off to war and the constables who would send Ling to the hangman.

Noted artist George Stubbs’ lifelike paintings of horses inspired the setting for this captivating novel in which Stubbs himself plays a major role.

Author Mary Finn says that this young groom with noble horse reminds her of Thomas, while Ling’s jockey disguise looked like the outfit worn by Gimcrack’s rider in another famous Stubbs painting which recently sold for a record price.

Enjoy this priceless story of friendship at your local library or independent bookstore.
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Book info: Belladonna / Mary Finn. Candlewick Press, 2011. [author interview] [publisher site]

Recommendation: Beautiful circus horse Belladonna has been sold away, and her acrobat-rider is desperate to find her. Thomas has abandoned school after months of trying to make sense of letters and words, returning to work in his father’s wheelmaking shop, sketching maps and animals in his spare moments.

Rambling the paths near his village, he discovers the young French rider seeking the horse butcher rumored to have bought Belladonna. Even though England and France are at war in 1757, Thomas decides to help Ling search for her beloved mare, entranced by her stories of their circus performances, leaping and dancing through the air.

It turns out that Stubbs the horse butcher is really an artist studying horses’ bodies and beauty for his paintings. Belladonna did not stay with Stubbs, but has been passed on to a nobleman’s stables. The artist offers Thomas work as his assistant, detailing horse anatomy and improving his drawing skills. Ling’s impatience to find Belladonna grows as winter sets in and Stubbs cannot remove the mare from her new home.

Will Ling try to rescue Belladonna by herself? Will English soldiers find the young French girl, even if she stays hidden in the countryside? Can Thomas settle down to a village wheelmaker’s life after learning about art and beauty and dreams from Stubbs and Ling?

Charming Ling and tall Thomas are clever young people, trying to get past war-fueled suspicions and struggles in this lyrical novel that takes us to the time and place where the real artist George Stubbs drew and painted horses with precision and affection. (One of 5,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy courtesy of the publisher.

Hereafter, by Tara Hudson (fiction) – dead, yet tied to the living

Sep6
book cover of Hereafter by Tara Hudson published by Harper Teen

Mysterious Monday lingers on, bringing you an unusual story of ghostly Amelia, seemingly anchored to the river after her death.

So many ghost stories and legends are told in the Ouachita Mountains of southeast Oklahoma, from Jesse James’ missing million dollars hidden near possibly haunted Robbers Cave to the notorious Belle Starr.

Are there truly ghost seekers like Joshua’s grandmother? We’ve heard of love that lasts even beyond death, but can a dead spirit and a living person fall in love?

Enjoy this eerie debut novel and cheer for Joshua and Amelia as she tries to recapture memories of her life and her death while being pulled by evil forces beyond the river.
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Book info: Hereafter / Tara Hudson. Harper Teen, 2011. [author’s website] [publisher site] [book trailer]

Recommendation: Amelia races through the dark river waters to save a young man from drowning…even though she’s already dead. She doesn’t know how she died or where or even when, but she does know that she must save him from dying into her dreary hazy world.

No one on High Bridge Road saw her rescue Joshua, not his high school buddies, not the rescue squad from their small Oklahoma town – no one ever sees her wandering near the “haunted bridge.” Amelia wonders why she could lift his head above the water when she can’t carry other real things.

When Joshua returns to the scene of his accident and recognizes her as his rescuer, Amelia is startled into speaking – and he hears her, too! As they spend more time together, Amelia begins to remember tiny fragments of her life, always returning to the river. Joshua is charmed by her, and she revels in his company.

But a malignant force in the river is pulling at her – dead Eli claims that she must always stay at the river, that she must lure others to their death at the High Bridge, that she must become his and his alone.

Did Amelia really cause Joshua’s car to go into the river? Can she find out enough about her life to discover the truth about her own death? Is Eli right about her destiny as part of the haunted High Bridge’s future?

This mysterious love story from first-time author Tara Hudson brings a new twist to the ghost stories of Oklahoma’s wilderness forests. (One of 6,000 books recommended on www.abookandahug.com) Review copy and cover image courtesy of the publisher.