Book Review: Take Me With You, by Carolyn Marsden (Candlewick Press, 2010)

Recommended for ages 8-12.
 
Carolyn Marsden  is well known for her middle-grade novels set in other countries or focusing on multi-cultural themes.  In her newest novel, she takes us to Naples, Italy, a few years after the end of World War II, where Pina and Susanna are best friends who have lived together since they were babies in a Catholic orphanage.  Both girls believe they are orphans, and hope with all their heart to be adopted.  A nice family is sure to adopt the beautiful Pina, with her golden hair and creamy skin.  But who will want Susanna, a mulatta, or mixed-race child, whose father must have been a black American soldier.  Perhaps La Befana, an angel who hides presents on Three Kings' Day, will grant her wish for parents to adopt her.

Imagine Susanna's surprise when Sister Anna calls her into her office one day and tells her that she's received a letter from a man who may be her father.  An American sailor, he is on a "tour of duty."  Will he come soon? Pina, too, is in for a surprise, when she discovers that her mother is indeed alive, and living right there in Naples.  Whose parent will show up?  Will the two friends have to abandon one another?

Finally, a very dark man in a blue sailor's uniform visits the orphanage.  Susanna's big moment has arrived, but instead of throwing herself at him, "she wanted to cover her face with her hands."  But he soon leaves, promising to return.  Pina, on the other hand, is desperate to find her mother, and together with Susanna, discovers her address and goes off to find her in Naples.  But for both girls, their fantasies about their families do not work out exactly as planned. Will both girls get the loving families they deserve?

This bittersweet tale of two Italian orphans will capture the hearts of middle-grade readers, particularly girls who are drawn to orphan stories.  Marsden captures for young readers the atmosphere of the Italian orphanage, with its (mostly) kindly black-garbed nuns who drag the girls around Naples to sing for funerals and teach them to crochet blankets, which are sold to support the orphanage.  Life is not all drudgery, however, with outings to the movies and to the beach also described. 

At 160 pages, this slender novel is a good choice for students in grades 3 through 5 who are ready to graduate from beginning chapter books to slightly more complex stories. 

Take Me With You was selected as one of Booklist's Top 10 Historical Novels of 2010, and I would recommend this book for both school and public libraries.

Book Review: The Ghost of Crutchfield Hall, by Mary Downing Hahn (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2010)

Recommended for ages 8-12.
Mary Downing Hahn, best known for her scary  ghost stories for young people, will be sure to please her many fans with her newest creepy tale, The Ghost of Crutchfield Hall, which will be released in September.  


In this new novel, set in 19th century England, we meet ten-year old Florence Crutchfield, who has been living in a London orphanage since her parents died when she was five and no relatives came forward to claim her.  But, surprise!  After five years a great uncle surfaces, who invites her to live with him, his unmarried sister, Eugenie, and her cousin James.  In classic gothic tale fashion, Eugenie arrives at Crutchfield Hall after being soaked by a violent rainstorm.  Eugenie's first impression of the house is not a positive one:

Below me was a gloomy stone house, grim and unwelcoming, its windows dark and lifeless...a writer like Miss Emily Bronte would have been entranced by its Gothic appearance, but I hung back again, suddenly apprehensive of what might await me behind those towering walls.

Although her uncle is kind to her, her aunt takes an immediate dislike to Florence, who bears an unfortunate resemblance to her cousin Sophia, who died in a mysterious accident some time before.   With a nod and a wink to The Secret Garden, we learn that Florence's cousin James is so sickly that he never leaves his room, and Florence is forbidden to visit him.  


All is not well in Crutchfield Hall, and before Florence is even there for a day, she has a strange sensation that someone is watching her.  "A chill raced up and down my spine, and my scalp prickled."  Although her uncle insists that ghosts do not exist, Florence becomes more and more convinced that Crutchfield Hall haunted by the ghost of her cousin Sophia. And what does the ghost want from Florence?  


Florence soon discovers that Sophia is not the ideal child her aunt recreates, but rather an evil spirit who wants someone else to die in her place!  Can she bend Florence to her will, and force her to help her in her devious plans?


It is easy to see after reading this story why Mary Downing Hahn's books have sold over 2 million copies and have received more than forty child-voted state awards.  She manages to create a spine-tingling atmosphere without the novel becoming too frightening for the 8-12 year old crowd.  And you have to love the deliciously macabre cover, of a photograph of two young children (James and Sophia, we assume) in Victorian garb, with Sophia's face obscured by a splash of blood.  While ghost stories are not personally a favorite genre of mine, scary stories are perennially popular with kids, and this quick read is perfect for reluctant readers as well as fans of ghost stories.  


Release date:  September 2010

Nonfiction Monday Book Review: Sparky: The Life and Art of Charles Schulz, by Beverly Gherman (Chronicle Books, 2010)

Recommended for age 8 through adult.

Like so many millions around the world, I grew up reading Peanuts, perhaps the most beloved comic strip ever. So I was excited to learn from Betsy Bird at Fuse #8 of a new biography of this comic book icon for young people. Beverly Gherman's book is sure to find a place on library shelves everywhere, and is a must-have for Peanuts fans as well.

Gherman's book, at 125 pages, provides enough biographical information to be useful for school reports, but the striking layout and graphic design, along with the abundant illustrations, make it a relatively quick book to read, even for the youngest comic fans. Personally, I learned many interesting facts about Schulz from this book. Born in 1922, he was nicknamed Sparky before he was a week old, a suitable nickname as it turned out since Sparky was a character (a "sad-eyed horse") from the then-popular comic strip Barney Google.

Sparky never wanted to be anything but a cartoonist from early childhood, and always had a pencil or paper handy for a quick sketch. Gherman intersperses the text with Peanuts cartoons that match the topic; for example, while talking about Sparky's father's barber shop, we read on the opposite page a strip about Peppermint Patty visiting a barber shop. The book also features many personal photographs from the archives of the Charles M. Schulz Museum. We meet people and see interests in Schulz's life who later will appear in his comics, such as Sparky's best friend Shermy, and his mother, a classical pianist, Sparky's great love of baseball, or his failed romance with a redhead who later will appear as "the little red-haired girl."

Schulz was particularly proud of his military service in World War II, where he was honored for excellence in combat. When he returned from the war, his comics were rejected by many publishers, but he finally found work lettering comic strips for a company that produced Catholic teaching aids. At this time he developed his first comics featuring kids, which he finally sold to the St. Paul Pioneer Press as a weekly comic, Li'l Folks. But his career really took off in 1950 when United Feature Syndicate offered him a five-year contract to develop a comic strip, which they renamed Peanuts. Sparky didn't like the new name, but he had little power to do anything about it.

Gherman describes how innovative Peanuts was at the time, with its spare drawing style and its focus on kids dealing with their daily concerns. Peanuts quickly caught on with readers; by 1956, Sparky had not only become financially successful but was honored by his fellow cartoonists with the Reuben Award as cartoonist of the year.

In the book, we also learn about Sparky as a devoted father and family man. His first marriage, however, ended in divorce in 1972 (this is discussed very briefly in the book). Although this was a difficult period for Sparky, he persevered, and later said he had drawn some of his best comics during this time.

Gherman does not neglect to talk about how Schulz worked as a cartoonist. She writes:

Sparky prided himself on always drawing and writing his own strips. He was the only cartoonist who managed to do that for fifty years. He tried to keep his drawings simple and "pleasant to look at." And always funny. He once told an interviewer that he wanted to be remembered for making people happy.

Not only did Schulz make millions of people happy with his beloved Peanuts characters, he continues to do so even after his death, since Peanuts Classics are still published in many newspapers. Gherman, too, will make many people happy with her delightful biography of this king of comic book artists.

The extraordinary design of this book, done by Jennifer Bostic of Paper Plane Studio,deserves special mention. No boring white pages for this book--every color in the rainbow seems to be used for the page backgrounds, with different contrasting colors chosen for the text. In fact, each time the reader turns the page, the page color and text color changes. While some of the combinations (i.e. white text on a bright green background) are a bit difficult to read for older eyes, the energy and vitality that these bright and ever-changing colors lend to the book make the reader eager to turn to the next page.

Here is a excerpt from the book that allows you to see the unique design:

Sparky: The Life and Art of Charles Schulz

The book includes a bibliography of books, magazine articles, interviews, and television programs about Schulz.

I can't resist sharing my own personal Schulz anecdote...as a little girl in the 1960's, I sent Schulz a copy of my "book" Misery is, inspired by his book Happiness is a Warm Puppy.  He sent me a personal letter back--I remember being particularly impressed by his special Snoopy stationery, something that wasn't commercially available in those days.  I still have the letter in my house somewhere, if I could only find it  in all my clutter!

Peanuts fans should plan a visit to the Charles Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa (I haven't had a chance to get there yet, alas, but on my next visit to Northern California...)

Got Books contest winner!

Congratulations to Ashley at Books from Bleh to Basically Amazing who has won my beautiful, brand-new from Amazon (with cool graphic novel-style cover) Penguin Classics edition of The Three Musketeers. I only wish I could afford to send a copy to all the 43 people who entered the contest! Fortunately, this is a book that's fairly easy to find at the library--I highly recommend reading it before next summer's new 3-D movie of this classic comes out. It would be a great book to read aloud with your kids, although it would take a while!  and although they're not as well-known, Dumas wrote four sequels to this classic (a long series from the pre-Harry Potter era).  If you're an e-book sort of person, you can also read it on-line or on your e-book reader for free, although not in this newest, very well-reviewed English translation, courtesy of Google Books.

I'm a big fan of the Michael York-Richard Chamberlain movie from 1973 but I'm always open to something new and am looking forward to seeing D'Artagnan and his musketeer buddies in all their 3-D swashbuckling splendor. According to Wikipedia, there have been 22 feature films made of this classic, starting with silent films, with the most recent English version being The Musketeer (2001), apparently a very loose adaptation, in a style imitating Asian action movies! I have to say I missed that one, although I've seen the 1993 Charlie Sheen/Disney film and the really old (1948) Gene Kelly/MGM version.  There have also been TV series, animated movies (including Tom & Jerry), a Russian musical (!) and more! Check out the link below for up-to-date information on the upcoming film. 

Thanks so much to everyone who entered my contest.

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Author Interview: Margi Preus, author of Heart of a Samurai

Author Margi Preus

Thanks so much to author Margi Preus for agreeing to be interviewed by me for today's blog post. Yesterday I reviewed her first novel, Heart of a Samurai. Margi (pronounced with a hard "g" like Margo!) lives in Duluth, Minnesota, where she spent 20 years directing Colder by the Lake Comedy Theatre while writing comic plays, adaptations, libretti, short fiction, and “short short fiction." She also teaches children’s literature at the College of St. Scholastica’s School of Education. She has previously published several books for children.

Q: Please tell us a little bit about how you learned about the story of Manjiro and why you decided to write a novel about him.

A: I was introduced to Manjiro by a friend, an astute elementary media specialist, while I was researching a picture book, The Peace Bell (Holt, 2008) (also based on a true story with Japan-America themes). She gave me Shipwrecked! by Rhoda Blumberg, and said "read this." Manjiro's story was compelling, and resonated with the same themes I was working with in The Peace Bell--fostering peace and friendship between antagonistic nations, which turned out to be a timely subject as we were deep into war in Iraq and Afghanistan at the time. Unfortunately, I guess it's always a timely subject. I decided to write a novel because I didn't think it was possible to cram everything about Manjiro's life into a picture book. I had no idea what that meant--writing a novel. I thought it'd take me a couple of months--ha ha!

Q: I understand you made two trips to Japan to research this story; did you rely mostly on primary or secondary sources?

A: Secondary. I have an enormous stack of books, only a few of which are about Manjiro himself. The others are about whaling or life in traditional Japan or nautical reference books. Also, of course, my constant companion, Moby Dick.

Q: As an animal lover, I found it difficult to read the fairly graphic whaling scenes in the book. How did you approach balancing a realistic portrayal of whaling practices versus writing something that would be palatable to young readers?

A: Is it palatable? I thought it was pretty gruesome. It took me days and days to work up the courage to even read about whaling, and then many more days to work up the courage to write about it. I wasn't sure I could do it. Writing those chapters felt like cleaning gravel out of a bloody knee after falling off a bike, you don't want to look at it; you don't want to do it, but you have to grit your teeth and do it, don't you?

Q: With your background in comedy theatre, have you considered writing funny books for young people?

A: I want to! I'm working up to it. Writing well for young people is hard. Writing good humor is even harder. It's harder than anything. I have great respect for good comic writers.

Q: What new projects are you currently working on?

A:I have a picture book about famous trees of the world (Celebritrees, Holt) coming out early 2011. I'm also working on a picture book length story based on the extraordinary adventures of a treehouse builder and a YA mystery--which is humorous! I hope. At least a little bit.

Q: What books do you have on your nightstand? (that is, that you are reading or plan to read)

A: I always have an enormous pile of books which occasionally topple over in the middle of the night. I just finished The Madonnas of Leningrad. Go read it right now! I've also been reading the Stieg Larsson mysteries, like everyone else in the whole world. And now I've started Hotel on The Corner of Bitter and Sweet and The Omnivore's Dilemma (which everyone else has already read). I'm also reading the YA novel Bog Child by Siobhan Dowd.  I listen to a lot of books for young people on audio books when I drive. They're short, for one thing. I positively adored The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie who also reads, or perhaps I should say shouts the whole thing, yet makes you cry and laugh and sit in the car in the driveway when you get back from your trip, listening until the car battery finally wears out.

Q: What were some of your favorite books as a child? Were you especially interested in history?

A: My favorite book was National Geographic's Indians of the Americas, especially the very colorful depictions of Mayan ritual sacrifice. Let's just say, I'm pretty sure it wasn't meant to be a kids' book. But the illustrations were riveting. I don't think I was interested in history as a subject. Some junior high history teacher took care of that. Fortunately, I loved to read, so when I read Green Mansions, I spent time in a 19th century Venezuelan jungle. When I read A Tale of Two Cities, I lived through the French Revolution. Reading Kristin Lavransdatter, I breathed medieval Norway, as sure as if I had been transported there by time machine. Ever since reading Huckleberry Finn I feel as if I, myself, have drifted down the Mississippi on a raft. If you read enough, sooner or later you are going to learn to appreciate history. And everything else, for that matter. Literature gives one the privilege of living in a different time, a different place, and getting to know a host of people--wonderful and terrible--intimately.

Got Books contest!

Got Books? is a celebration about books and the bloggers that help tell the world about them.  Follow the link to discover more great book bloggers, both general blogs and ones specializing in particular genres.

For this event, I am hosting my first ever contest!  I had such a hard time determining an appropriate prize, but I finally decided on a copy of the newest edition of (guess what?) Dumas' The Three Musketeers.   Here is the description from Penguin Classics:

A major new translation of one of the most enduring works of literature, from the award- winning, bestselling co-translator of Anna Karenina-with a spectacular, specially illustrated cover.  The Three Musketeers is the most famous of Alexandre Dumas's historical novels and one of the most popular adventure stories ever written. Now in a bracing new translation, this swashbuckling epic chronicles the adventures of d'Artagnan, a brash young man from the countryside who journeys to Paris in 1625 hoping to become a musketeer and guard to King Louis XIII. Before long he finds treachery and court intrigue-and also three boon companions: the daring swordsmen Athos, Porthos, and Aramis. Together they strive heroically to defend the honor of their queen against the powerful Cardinal Richelieu and the seductive spy Milady.

 The winner will supply his or her home address to me via e-mail, and I will have the item shipped directly to you.  To enter, leave a comment below with your e-mail address.  The winner will be selected at random through a random number generator.  Note:  you do not need to sign up to follow my blog to enter the contest (although of course it's much appreciated!)  The contest will end at midnight on Saturday, July 24.  Good luck!

A bit of movie news:  a new 3-D version of the Dumas classic is about to go into production, starring, among others, Orlando Bloom (see link below).

And check out today's book review on my blog (in a separate post):   Heart of a Samurai by Margi Preus, an action-packed novel based on the true story of a shipwrecked Japanese fisherman who becomes the first Japanese citizen to visit the United States.  This exciting new title will be released in August, and I will post an interview with the author tomorrow.

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Also, check out Mila Jovovich in her stunning costumes as Milady de Winter in the upcoming movie!

Book Review: Heart of a Samurai, by Margi Preus (Amulet Books, 2010)

Recommended for ages 10 and up.

Inspired by a true story, Heart of a Samurai, by debut novelist Margi Preus, tells the fascinating tale of young Nakahama Manjiro, who at the opening of book is a 14-year old fisherman from a small village in Japan and goes on to become the first Japanese person to visit the United States.

In 1841, when the book begins, Japan's Sakoku policy under which no foreigner could enter or leave Japan under penalty of death had been in effect for nearly two centuries, and Japanese children were taught that Westerners were blue-eyed demons and barbarians. Yet when Manjiro and his comrades are shipwrecked on a tiny island, he is rescued by a passing American whaling boat when he and the others are nearly at death's door. Everything about the Westerners is strange to the Japanese fisherman, from their bizarre way of sitting on chairs, with their legs swinging under them, to eating with a fork, to their strange clothing with buttons and pockets. Manjiro is quick to learn their language, and is encouraged by the ship's kind captain, a New Englander named Whitfield, to ask as many questions as he likes. To begin with, he's never even heard of America!

While on the American ship, Manjiro is introduced to American-style whaling. When he proves his bravery during the whale hunt, the captain gives him a new American name: John Mung. Whitfield explains to Majiro that America is the land of opportunity, where men can fulfill their hopes and dreams. In Japan, Manjiro had never ever thought about such things; if your father was a fisherman, you, too, were a fisherman, and so it went, from generation to generation. When the Captain offers Manjiro the chance to go to America with him as his adopted son, Manjiro accepts, leaving his friends behind in the Sandwich Islands.

When Manjiro arrives in America, he is puzzled by the prejudice he encounters. Boys laugh at him openly, as well as making faces and gestures behind his back, even pulling at their eyelids. At church, the elders think he would be more "comfortable in the seats reserved for negroes." He must cope with intolerance at school as well. Although the captain and his wife are kind to him, Manjiro is homesick for Japan, but how will he ever be able to return?

When Manjiro is offered a position on a ship that will be sailing in Japanese waters, he sets sail, but years pass, and many adventures, including time spent in the California gold fields, before he is able to make his way back to Japan.

When he finally lands in his homeland, the much-anticipated reunion with his family is not to be; instead he is arrested and imprisoned as a Western spy! Not until 1852, eleven years after he originally left Japan, is he reunited with his family. At the conclusion of the story, Manjiro is called into service by a Japanese lord who wants Manjiro to teach his samurai more about the "barbarians." Perhaps Manjiro will even become a samurai himself, an unheard-of-dream for a former lowly fisherman.

In an epilogue, Preus explains that just months after Manjiro began teaching, Matthew Perry demanded access to Japanese ports for a fleet of American ships. Suddenly Manjiro's knowledge of America was in high demand by the shogun himself, and Manjiro indeed was elevated to samurai rank, an unprecedented event for someone of such low birth. His many accomplishments included translating navigational books into Japanese, writing the first English book for Japanese people, interpreting at the first Japanese embassy to the U.S., and teaching navigation, shipbuilding, English, and mathematics.

I found this action-packed historical fiction/adventure story to be a real page-turner.  Moreover, after having read a number of books where young Westerners find themselves in Japan (see my reviews of The Young Samurai series, for example), it was interesting to imagine just how strange America and the West would have seemed to a Japanese person at this time.  One caveat for sensitive readers:  there are quite graphic descriptions of the whaling activities, which may disturb some young animal lovers.

The author includes a glossary of Japanese words, whaling terms, and sailors' lingo, as well as a bibliography for further reading.

The story of Manjiro has so many classic adventure story elements--a shipwreck, rescue by "barbarians," violence, danger, mutiny, a "fish-out-of-water" theme, even gold fever. Not surprisingly Manjiro's amazing story has inspired several other books for young readers as well. These include:

Manjiro: The Boy Who Risked His Life for Two Countries, a picture book by Emily Arnold McCully (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2008) and Shipwrecked!: The True Adventures of a Japanese Boy, by Rhoda Blumberg (Harper Collins, 2003), a biography aimed for ages 9-12.

Release date:  August 1, 2010