The Humming Room by Ellen Potter

Published February 28, 2012.

Author website.

Hiding is Roo Fanshaw's special skill. Living in a frighteningly unstable family, she often needs to disappear at a moment's notice. When her parents are murdered, it's her special hiding place under the trailer that saves her life. 


As it turns out, Roo, much to her surprise, has a wealthy if eccentric uncle, who has agreed to take her into his home on Cough Rock Island. Once a tuberculosis sanitarium for children of the rich, the strange house is teeming with ghost stories and secrets. Roo doesn't believe in ghosts or fairy stories, but what are those eerie noises she keeps hearing? And who is that strange wild boy who lives on the river? People are lying to her, and Roo becomes determined to find the truth. 


Despite the best efforts of her uncle's assistants, Roo discovers the house's hidden room--a garden with a tragic secret.  (goodreads.com)

To start off with fairness this is an MG read, not my forte but if the story sounds intriguing enough I'll snag it.  THE HUMMING ROOM fit this profile.  I keep a special place in my cockle area for things related to THE SECRET GARDEN so when I saw that this book was influenced by it I accepted it for review.  It was definitely a riveting story but the ending was abrupt, a blink and you miss it kind of thing that derailed the rest of the work for me perhaps a little more than what it should have.

Roo is an unfortunate case born to the wrong parents and as a result ends up in the care of her uncle who's more absent than present and keeps his kid locked up in his room for his sake, apparently.  It's a cyclical thing.  Phillip got depressed when his mother died and became bedridden but his father didn't really know what to do with himself and became more withdrawn, making them both more reclusive and fostering an environment of neglect and anti-social behavior.  Crappy situation.

Roo's a spunky little thing and doesn't put up with the crap that's been allowed to foster in this house and, as can probably be predicted, her presence riles things up, disrupts the otherwise fragile order of things.  THE HUMMING ROOM sticks pretty closely to THE SECRET GARDEN storyline so if you know the latter you'll know the steps Phillip takes and ends up with a reintroduction to his father and all of that.

Really it's a compelling story with the scene set magnificently.  The house, which is really an old children's hospital, is given this incredibly creepy air that'll give you the chills just reading it.  I mean how horrifying would it be to live in an old hospital where more children died than lived?  Seriously?  It may be Stephen King's wet dream but I sincerely doubt it's a child's first choice at a play place.  But I think that was the best part of THE HUMMING ROOM, Potter's ability to make Roo's surrounding shine.  Or cake them in cobwebs, as it were.  The setting itself was it's own character, from the personification of the river to the garden, everything was alive.

I felt Jack, the river boy, was ultimately irrelevant to the plot as a whole since the story really centered around Roo, Phillip and Roo's uncle.  He was a means to draw Roo out of her shell which precipitated the events that moved the story forward but he didn't have much else of a function.  Remove Jack from the story and I think it would have worked out just fine.

As for the end, like I said above, it was really abrupt and I felt it was resolved too easily, glossing over what could have been a really good healing period to see between Phillip and his father for a flash forward moment.  It plays into the nice resolution that I think a lot of MG novels have but as an outsider looking in it left me a bit unsatisfied.  I would have liked to have seen more.

Ultimately it's a read with a lot of ambiance that follows pretty closely to THE SECRET GARDEN premise.  It's a good story and you'll end up feeling a lot for Roo, I think, since she really is an unfortunate character and the adults are a little less than understanding towards her (you can start a drinking game for how many times they threaten to send her back to foster care as a means of discipline, effing terrible).  But she's a BIG character that, once she's out of her own shell, will pull others out of theirs as well.  She's goal-oriented and has an uncanny knack for hearing the earth thrive.  Kind of weird but it has it's part in the story.  A good story at that.

Ban Factor: Medium - The banners would actually have to read it but there's a lot of bucking adult instruction going on.  We wouldn't want to give children any ideas that they shouldn't always listen to adults, now would we?

A Jane Bites the Pile Review: Over Sea, Under Stone by Susan Cooper

This review is the demented brain child of Laura at A Jane of All Reads and yours truly, Donna at Bites.

Originally published 1965.

Author website.

On holiday in Cornwall, the three Drew children discover an ancient map in the attic of the house that they are staying in. They know immediately that it is special. It is even more than that -- the key to finding a grail, a source of power to fight the forces of evil known as the Dark. And in searching for it themselves, the Drews put their very lives in peril. (goodreads.com)

So Laura and I have some books in common in our TBR closets so we decided to wear this particular outfit on the same day like a couple of besties from 1964.

So after we snorted our malts and tried to take out eyes with our bumper bullets, we got down to the business of reading, cat eye glasses and all. Like the good little demon child clones we are, we felt pretty much the same about OVER SEA, UNDER STONE, a quaint little ditty, fit for the middle graders, about a sibling team racing against the adults to find clues to save the world from the ever-encroaching Dark. Although for us old farts it can get a bit boring.

Now, it's never made all that clear just what the Dark is, what it can do, what the fate of the world is, what either side is striving for. It's all kept in the dark . . . where in the dark I don't want to know. But it's there. Squishing. We know there's a connection to King Arthur, we know there's a grail hidden somewhere and we know we have baddies dressed in black a la Spy vs. Spy chasing after them trying to get the elusive "it." Really, I think it's the chase that matters.

If it were a little more interesting. There's a lot of silly idealized 60s English children blathering on about Gumerry and whatever shall we do's and generally speaking as if they were 35 and sitting for a spot of tea, or living in a bubble filled with pink sparkles and daisies. One must remember that we're reading 1965 words so there's a lot of "shoulds" going on as opposed to "for reals." The language could have been checked at the door of The Queen's Head Pub with Hugh Laurie doling out proper British bitter. But once you get past that, and the absurd image of a 10 year old speaking like his grandfather, it's a flight of fancy book that offers much in the way of child shenanigans and adult bumbling, as with any other children's book of this age bracket. So it fits there at least.

Of course I couldn't help but running some wind sprints parallel to the NARNIA series by CS Lewis. It was inevitable. Laura, being the NARNIA virgin, hasn't had the thrill of being exposed to the likes of Jesus Aslan and his painted whore-hating ways but I enlightened her. Don't get me wrong; I loved the Narnia series but I think I was baptized by the end of it. While NARNIA left me burping up angel wing feathers, OVER SEA, UNDER STONE had a significant "Evil East" aftertaste for me. The Dark is always mentioned as coming from the east. Always. Now I don't know what the overall political climate was in England in the early 60s but this seemed reminiscent of rather medieval times. I kept expecting a wayward morning star or joust to pop up. Of course, Evil East carries with it many connotations and could be a number of things but, you know, instead of puffing up Christianity like Lewis, it seemed to elevate the evils emanating from the east more than anything, be it religions, cultures, whatever. Maybe it's just my brain going there and I'm pulling something out that isn't really there. Or maybe it's because I made the NARNIA connection so it's making its own dots to string together. I'm just saying, there's a lot of Eastern Evil going on here.

But it's ultimately very similar to NARNIA with children as the protags striving to save the day, a generally slower, introductory start to the series and the world, a whimsical feel. It's a good "classic" story. Maybe the floofy language adds to that. Maybe it's the children overcoming dark, evil odds. Whatever it is, they're similar in my eyes. And I think Laura needs to get herself baptized by Deacon Lewis.

Laura ultimately enjoyed OVER SEA, UNDER STONE more than I did. I'm chalking it up to the fact that I've already read THE DARK IS RISING and I totally heart that one so it's difficult to live up to those standards. Laura felt the ending "quite nice" and "cute" that "all those scholarly old gentleman chasing around children to steal a map." I'm hoping she'll be blown away Maxell-style by book two. Forget whimsy. That's nice in small doses. Those kids weren't in enough danger to me. They need to fight harder and stop relying on their ever so brilliant verbiage to get them out of scuffles. Have fist will punch.

Ban Factor: Low - What with ragging on the Evil East and good little children not talking in slang, this one would be on many a banner's shelves.

YAckers Review: Liesl & Po by Lauren Oliver

Published October 4, 2011.

Author website.

Liesl lives in a tiny attic bedroom, locked away by her cruel stepmother. Her only friends are the shadows and the mice—until one night a ghost appears from the darkness. It is Po, who comes from the Other Side. Both Liesl and Po are lonely, but together they are less alone.

That same night, an alchemist's apprentice, Will, bungles an important delivery. He accidentally switches a box containing the most powerful magic in the world with one containing something decidedly less remarkable.

Will's mistake has tremendous consequences for Liesl and Po, and it draws the three of them together on an extraordinary journey. (goodreads.com)

Ultimately it ended up being a lovely story but it just felt something was missing. And really I think it was. The characters just weren't built up enough and the story didn't reach it's full potential. But it was still nice. I enjoyed reading it and so did my fellow YAckers. But I think our mindset was so fixed on YA that we kept forgetting this was a middle grade story. Read our thoughts over at our substitute Keeper of the Book's place, Laura at A Jane of All Reads.

Ban Factor: Medium - It's got magic in it but it's almost as light and fluffy as Cinderella so it would depend on how smart the reading banner was. Which is an oxymoron.

Return to Titanic: Time Voyage, Book 1 by Steve Brezenoff

Pub date: February 1, 2012.

Author Website.

On the first day of their spring break, best friends Tucker and Maya discover a "Special Collection" of Titanic artifacts at the local museum. But the artifacts have more power than they know. When they touch a magic ticket, Tucker and Maya find themselves transported 100 years in the past — to Titanic's maiden voyage. Now they must figure out how to save a new friend, and return to the present, before time runs out. (netgalley.com)

Holy crap. I have so much love for this book it's quite possibly bordering on unhealthy. The love is not just for the book's topic (MAJOR love) but for the writing. It's probably because I hardly read middle grade books but TIME VOYAGE is written so amazingly that I can't form thoughts beyond ill-conceived adjectives. There is no pandering to the reader whatsoever, no talking down, no kiddie feel. Yeah, it's written in a very precise way. Absolutely no fat (and as a result very little detail or depth) but Brezenoff wrote it in such a way that it told the story that needed to be told and you got out of it what you should. You get just enough emotion, just enough feeling, just enough depth to really connect with it. As someone that is WELL beyond middle grade reading, I didn't feel like an adult reading a kid's story (like when I read GOOSEBUMPS, for instance). I just felt like I was reading a succinct story about one of my favorite topics. The amazing pictures didn't hurt either. Okay, the kids may be a little whiny at first but that's short lived.

And the story! Just being able to touch a ticket and get zapped back in time? If you were a history nerd like me when you were younger (and maybe still are), if that fantastical thought never crossed your mind I will sit here and call you a big fat LIAR! That's epic fantasy right there and Brezenoff pulled it off without it being hokey at all. Touch the ticket, flash, back in time. No frilly waves or flashing lights. Just poof! Time warp.

Of course, TIME VOYAGE left me wanting MORE! How could it not? I read it in the span of roughly 20 minutes and it just hit all the right happy nerves on me. And let me tell you how giddy my inner Titanic nerd was. Insane. Thankfully there are three other books in this series and I so can't wait to read them. Between the phenomenal story and the absolutely amazing drawings to supplement it, RETURN TO TITANIC as a whole won't be a series to miss. So be sure to pick up TIME VOYAGE and start yourself, and any other Titanic aficionado you know, on the journey.

Ban Factor: Low - If they bitched about anything it'd be the time travel and even that's a stretch. This one's pretty wholesome.

Goosebumps: The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb by RL Stine

Published January, 1993.

Gabe just got lost - in a pyramid. One minute, his crazy cousin Sari was right ahead of him in the pyramid tunnel. The next minute, she'd disappeared.

But Gabe isn't alone. Someone else is in the pyramid, too.

Someone. Or some thing.

Gabe doesn't believe in the curse of the mummy's tomb. But that doesn't mean that the curse isn't real.

Does it? (book back blurb)

As much as I love all things Egyptian, I have to say this isn't one of my favorite GOOSEBUMPS books. The Idiot Adult Syndrome runs a little too high for my liking in this one. For instance, right at the beginning, Gabe's father asks Gabe how he thinks the pyramids were built. His father then reminds him that the Egyptians didn't even have the wheel. Now I don't know if this was an editorial oversight or a comment on just how dumb Gabe's parents are but they're supposed to be successful business people. So I don't know. And Gabe's archaeologist uncle had some serious TSTL moments. Far too many for his own good.

I get it. The kids are supposed to save the day and all but this one goes a bit too far to make the parents look incompetent where the kids would have to step in and save the day. It just ended up being a bit TOO silly for me. I can take some silly. I wouldn't be reading GOOSEBUMPS if I couldn't. But this one's at the top of the ladder.

I also wasn't too thrilled with the characters so I didn't have that to fall back on. Gabe is a bit of a whiny brat and Sari is a spoiled brat. Neither exhibit real redeeming qualities at all and while there's some growth, I think it comes too little and a bit too late.

It's good for the Egypt factor. It paints a great picture of the artifacts and the dig site and all of the mummies. It's got some good exciting moments where you don't know if the kids are going to make it or not (with RL Stine that's not always a given). But MUMMY'S TOMB isn't at the top of my GOOSEBUMPS list. Thankfully there are a ton more to more than make up for it.

Ban Factor: High - Horror always equals high. Considering this one includes ancient Egypt and mummies' curses, it's bound to be some kind of heathen in the banners' eyes.

Goosebumps: Ghost Beach by RL Stine

Published August, 1994.

Jerry can't wait to explore the dark, spooky old cave he found down by the beach.

Then the other kids tell him a story. A story about a ghost who is three hundred years old.

A ghost who comes out when the moon is full.

A ghost . . . who lives deep inside the cave!

Jerry knows that it's just another silly made-up ghost story . . .

Isn't it? (book back blurb)

Another piece of awesome from RL Stine. Even for a middle grade book, he really doesn't pull any punches.

Sure there are some cheesy moments. Some kooky senses of humor being thrown about. A lot of spooky moments that turn out to be something not so spooky after all. But it all comes back around in the end, leaving everything hanging, including Jerry and his sister!

Stine's got the MG voice down pat. He doesn't dumb it down for the reader and he doesn't skimp on the spook. He targets an age that he knows needs a bit of a goof but isn't afraid to get scared too. And I have to say it again, it all comes back to the ending. It was fantastic! You'll probably see it coming but where Stine leaves the story off, you have to give him credit for it. No nice neat, tidy endings for him.

GOOSEBUMPS is a great series to get the young ones hooked on horror early. It'll help develop their appreciation for the spookier things in life. My entry into the horror realm wasn't so subtle (Poltergeist at age 4, The Exorcist at age 6) so by the time I got to reading these books, they were old hat and far beneath my horror comprehension. But for the better protected youth who needs their horror a touch watered down but not entirely forgiving, GOOSEBUMPS is the way to go and GHOST BEACH is an excellent addition to that classic series.

Ban Factor: Medium - It's horror. It'll be on the banners' radar just for that. Age inappropriate or whatever. But there are sure to be other books at the front of their list. GOOSEBUMPS is a bit tame for them.

The Limit by Kristen Landon + Contest!

Published September 7, 2010.

In a world not too far removed from our own, kids are being taken away to special workhouses if their families exceed the financial debt limit imposed by the government. Thirteen-year-old Matt briefly wonders if he might be next, but he quickly dismisses the thought. After all, his parents are responsible with their spending, right? But after Matt's family unexpectedly goes over their limit, Matt's whisked away to a workhouse where far more serious dangers exist than anyone on the outside realizes - dangers that could change his reality forever. (book back blurb)

See, for me, that blurb exerts far more tension than what the story did. Yeah, the threat is there but it's kind of cartoonish and the way it's told kind of waters down the tension that could be there.

To be fair, this is more of a middle grade novel than a young adult. Just the age of the MC and the style it was written in showcases that so I'm not a prime candidate to judge this one. But I think I can still make a few comments on it.

I loved the kids in this story. I just thought each one of them so individually unique, with their own quirks that stood out so vividly on the page that I felt they were right there next to me. Matt was so real and up until the end, even Honey Lady (a nickname Matt gave her that existed, for the most part, in his head) was exceptionally real. I think that was the strongest part of this book; the characters.

The world I could believe too. I'm not sure of the greater overall motive of the government to put spending caps on people or take their children away. It's really government spending and deregulation that ultimately screws over debt but that's beside the point. It felt real to me for personal reasons I won't go into. I kept being able to put myself in Matt's shoes and I found it horrifying. When you're that young you have such faith in your parents that they're doing right and when you find out they're not infallible, it hurts. In this world it just so happens the children that have to have that realization end up paying for it. Again, I don't really get the dynamics but I'll swallow it.

The parts leading up to the workhouse were really good, grinding in tension in the background through backstory and hint-dropping. I liked it. But I think it unhinged a little bit once the workhouse came into play. I liked THE BIG REVEAL towards the end but I think the context could have been a little better. I don't want to give anything away so I'll say that the threat isn't all that present in the way it's presented. Good for trickery but, to me anyway, bad for the ultimate execution of it.

The biggest thing that threw me, though, was that every adult seemed to be suffering from Idiot Adult Syndrome. Not as common in YA (I don't think, at least not in what I've read) but much more prevalent in MG where all of the adults end up being dopes for the sake of allowing the kids to rise to the top and solve the problem. I likened it to those really obnoxious live action shows on Disney or Nickelodeon where the parents are just caricatures of what parents really are. I absolutely facepalmed a few times with some of these adults, especially towards the end. All I'll say is, to save the plot, if you're a member of SWAT and need to rely on kids to connect the dots in front of your face for you, you need to lose your job for the safety of the greater public.

I was ultimately okay with the book until the end when every adult in the story turned into a raging moron. That just aggravated me. I understand that the kids need to be the ones to solve the problem in these books but it doesn't make them look any better to plop them in a pool full of idiots. Really, it was a good story. I enjoyed it. I didn't think it carried the amount of tension it would have liked to (especially by the way of the blurb) but it was enjoyable. Just beware of idiot adults. They run rampant in The Limit.

Contest Time!!!

Want my ARC? All you have to do is fill out the form below for your chance to win. Open to US residents 13 years of age and older only. One entry per person per email address. Duplicate entries will be deleted. Contest ends April 21st at midnight, EST.

Middleworld: The Jaguar Stones Book 1 by J & P Voelkel + Contest!

Published 2010.

Fourteen-year-old Max Murphy, video-gamer extraordinaire, is furious when his archaeologist parents cancel the family vacation to go on a dig in Central America. But things go from bad to worse when Max is summoned to join them, only to discover that his parents have vanished. With the help of Lola, a fast-talking, quick-thinking Maya girl, Max embarks on a quest to find out just what's going on. Soon Max and Lola are running for their lives in the perilous rainforest, as they unlock ancient secrets, meet mysterious strangers, and begin to understand that, in San Xavier, nothing is ever as it seems.

Fate has delivered a challenge of epic proportions to Max Murphy. But can a teen whose biggest talent is for video games rescue his parents from the Maya Underworld and save himself from the villainous Lords of Death? (book back blurb)

For a middle grade book, this is certainly a long one! 400 pages plus a glossary of terms! Not that is wasn't compelling to read through but that's mighty long for YA let alone MG.

I found Max to be a rather unlikeable character for about 2/3rds of the book. He was whiny, bratty and self-centered and it was rather disturbing to watch him insult entire tribes with his tantrums. As with all good coming-of-age books, he does realize the err of his ways and starts doing things for the greater good as opposed for just himself but it's right on the cusp of too little too late for me. Once his character turned, he didn't show any signs of reverting but still, he was a right pain in the ass for a good chunk of the book.

Lola is such an awesome character. She puts Max in his place when he's acting like a spoiled brat (which is every other page), she can survive on her own, not to mention she's strong of character. Really I wish there were more characters like her in YA. In terms of this particular book, she added that female touch to the story that could draw girls into reading it (although girls will more readily read a book with a male protagonist than boys will read a book with a female protagonist). I really had no complaints about Lola at all. I could relate to her on so many levels and I really wished she was a more prominent part of the story. I'm hoping to see more of her in the sequel.

The story had some camp to it, like kind of stupid humor, and I'm not sure if that's sort of normal in MG books. I found it a little grating and sort of undermining but it wasn't really too prominent so it was easier to look over.

To me the best part of the book was the history. All of the Mayan stuff dripping throughout. And I swear I did not plan to read two Maya books back to back! It just worked out that way. Instead of being background information to fuel the story, all of the Mayan information in Middleworld was front and center. It was the story. It removed itself from history and became the present, combining the two in an action-packed river ride into a parallel world.

Middleworld certainly isn't short on action. There's never a dull moment as you turn the pages. I think the success of the book to the person hinges on how much the reader can tolerate Max. If you can make it through his rough patch where he's finding himself, you'll surely enjoy the ride after that. If you can't make it, I have to say you'll be missing some interesting twists. The liberties the Voelkels took with Mayan history were totally within believable parameters and had they not said anything, I would have believed The Jaguar Stones were real.

The glossary at the back of the book provides some great rounding information that puts some of the more foreign pieces of the story into a better context. Worth reading as well so don't skip it!

Contest Time!!!

Want my copy of Middleworld? Then fill out the form below for your chance to win! Open to US residents 13 years old and older only. One entry per person per email. Duplicate entries will be deleted. Ends August 12th at midnight, EST.

The Ghost of Crutchfield Hall by Mary Downing Hahn

Pub date: September 6, 2010

When twelve-year-old Florence boards the crowded horse-drawn coach in London, she looks forward to a new life with her great uncle and aunt at Crutchfield Hall, an old manor house in the English countryside. Anything will be better, she thinks, than the grim London orphanage where she has lived since her parents' death.

But Florence doesn't expect the ghost of her cousin Sophia, who haunts the cavernous rooms and dimly lit hallways of Crutchfield and concocts a plan to use Florence to help her achieve her murderous goals. Will Florence be able to convince the others in the household of the imminent danger and stop Sophia before it's too late? (from netgalley.com, digital review copy provided by HMH via NetGalley)

This truly is a much more traditional Victorian ghost story and I loved it! While it very much carried a Secret Garden element do it with the sickly brother never coming out of his room, that's pretty much where the similarities end.

Florence is stuck in a conundrum, having left her friends at the orphanage to be alone in an old house with a rather doting uncle and an aunt that hates her, not to mention a cousin she never sees and a dead cousin that won't leave her alone. She has no one to complain to and she can't tell her orphanage friends for fear of them thinking she's ungrateful. So what's she to do? Sophia, her tragically dead cousin, won't leave her alone and no one will speak of the horrible cold corners and whispers and laughter. They say it's all in her imagination although they seem very frightened of it.

While the story didn't have me jumping, it certainly had a creep factor to it and for a moment (or maybe even longer), I didn't know how it was going to end. I hate it when I can see the ending coming and with this book, I certainly couldn't. Not really. Hahn leaves puncture wounds in the plot that round out the whole of the story, but there may be a string or two left behind that someone may have forgotten.

Under Sophia's power no one has the ability to control themselves. She controls anyone she wants; it's a power she's always wanted and almost nearly had in life. Sophia's a nasty piece of work and even with the revelation at the end, it's difficult to sympathize with her, which I think is the point. She is a selfish, horrible little girl that was more than willing to sacrifice others for her own means. Aunt is the same way. How she treats Florence is abhorrent and it's hard to NOT sympathize with the poor girl. Years after living in an orphanage and the first place she can call home has someone belittling her every chance they get. How warm!

Even the secondary characters were full of life for how little they showed on the pages. The groundskeeper with his superstitions and the housemaids with their passive yet adamant defense of Florence; it's an awesome cast of characters. Really Aunt and Sophia balance it all out in their wickedness, creating an atmosphere of not only fear but destitution and loneliness. Plus I brewed up some truly horrible images when it was described how the dead Sophia looked. I couldn't help but think of the drawing on one of the Scary Stories books. You know which one I'm talking about. Truly frightening!

If you're looking for a good spook, definitely pick up The Ghost of Crutchfield Hall. It's an old-fashioned ghost story with a modern edge that'll add more fuel to the 'what happens after we die?' fire, for sure.

poetry speaks who i am edited by Elise Paschen and Dominique Raccah + Contest!

Pub date April 6th, 2010.

This is not poetry class . . .

There is no memorization required . . .

There will not be a test . . .

But there are more than 100 amazing poems about you, who you are, and who you are becoming. Dive in - find the one you love, the one that makes you angry, the one that makes you laugh, the one that knocks the wind out of you, and add your own inside the book. (book back blurb)

I'm not too big into poetry but with compilations like these, I tend to grab onto them. In this case, the editors did an amazing job of compiling old and new work into a compendium of poignant and touching poetry for teenagers (and really, anyone that's still a teenager on the inside).

You have Langston Hughes, Edgar Allen Poe, Maya Angelou and Percy Bysshe Shelley mixed in with more current writers like Sherman Alexie and Nikki Giovanni. The editors chose perfect poems from the past that, despite their age, young adults of today can still relate to and they can still be touched by them.

Some of my favorites were Caroline by Allison Joseph (about teasing and protecting), In the Fifth-Grade Locker Room by Rebecca Lauren (about chicks and puberty), Bra Shopping by Parneshia Jones (I don't think I even need to explain), Dream Variations and Dreams, both by Langston Hughes (because Hughes is a poetry god and can do no wrong), Oatmeal by Galway Kinnell (about going it alone, or not), If I Can Stop One Heart From Breaking by Emily Dickinson (yet another slightly reclusive and batty poetry goddess), Ozymandia by Percy Bysshe Shelley (one of the best poems I've ever read about the fading of popularity, basically), The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost (a classic about standing up on your own), and the first prose by Rainer Maria Rilke (on writing).

Personally I don't think it's fair to review the individual poems because poetry is something so intensely subjective (moreso than novels, I think) that it just wouldn't do them justice. I didn't think any of them bad at all but I loved some more than others. I didn't listen to the CD as I'm not a fan of actually listening to poetry but I'm sure it would only heighten the effect of reading the work on its own.

As I said, the editors did an awesome job of compiling such great works and I would highly recommend this book to anyone that has even a slight interest in poetry. Even if you don't, it's a quick read and you never know; you might just get something out of it.

Contest Time!!!

I have one ARC in hand and Sourcebooks is putting up two finished copies of this book for a giveaway, so I'll have 3 winners total. If you're interested, just fill out the form below. Good luck!

Goosebumps: Welcome to Camp Nightmare by RL Stine

First published in 1993.

The food isn't great. The counselors are a little strange. And the camp director, Uncle Al, seems sort of demented.

Okay, so Billy can handle all that.

But then his fellow campers start to disappear.

What's going on? Why won't his parents answer his letters? What's lurking out there after dark?

Camp Nightmoon is turning into Camp Nightmare!

And Billy might be next . . . (book back blurb)

The last time I read any of these books I was actually of target age to read them. So yeah, it's been a while. And while I couldn't get totally engrossed in it like I used to, it still kicked major ass. I really don't think RL Stine can do much by the way of wrong.

The writing is very simple and I think reflects the era of middle grade it was written in. If you compare it against MG of today, I don't even think it'd really qualify for that shelf space (although it still does). But even apart from the simplicity, it's still masterful at telling the story. Heavy emphasis on telling. But really, I didn't mind it. I could still visualize everything. I didn't feel like I was being talked at. I felt like I was being told a story by a twelve-year-old boy, which I'm pretty sure was the point. The language isn't disingenuous to the age at all (as I feel a lot of MG and YA can be) and it just sticks to telling the story how a twelve-year-old would tell it without fluffing it up.

I can't remember how quickly I caught on to the catch when I was in that age bracket (if I did at all) but I felt it was pretty obvious right from the outset. What I didn't see coming, and it was something I'd completely forgotten, was the very end. The story had a twist plus a triple axle. Totally awesome.

It had all the creepy elements required of telling a good spooky story but not so much that you'd end up shrieking like a banshee at the drop of a pin. Although it might make you freak out about the woods a little. For me, though, I don't need much help with that. Stine keeps the horror hidden and hinted at. We never get a really good look at these supposed creatures and the inaction of the counselors is far scarier than some true-to-form demon thing.

I'm so glad Goosebumps has transcended time like it has. This book is closing in on twenty years old! OMFG! I have to stop dating myself! But really, they're timeless. There's nothing in the story that dates it to a certain time. I don't think Stine felt a need to name drop like a lot of authors do today so his stories fared better. All the more power to them. It just means that more and more generations will grow up loving Goosebumps! Always a plus.

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

First published in 2008.

He would be completely normal if he didn't live in a sprawling graveyard, being raised and educated by ghosts, with a solitary guardian who belongs to neither the world of the living nor of the dead.

There are dangers and adventures in the graveyard for a boy - an ancient Indigo Man beneath the hill, a gateway to a desert leading to an abandoned city of ghouls, the strange and terrible menace of the Sleer.

But if Bod leaves the graveyard, then he will come under attack from the man Jack - who has already killed Bod's family . . . (book flap blurb)

What an amazing book. No wonder it won the Newbery Award. It was completely deserving. And it only took Gaiman 20 years to write! Now my spending a year on my own manuscript doesn't make me feel so guilty.

I tend to not make connections from one book to another all that easily and it wasn't until Gaiman mentioned the Jungle Book reference that it all clicked for me. Of course! Same concept, different landscape. Granted it's been quite a while since I've read Kipling, I still remember enough to draw the post-parallels.

Bod is such a magical character, and this is above and beyond the Freedom of the Graveyard that he has. There was something special about him right from the very beginning. There was something calling to him to get him out of harm's way and into the safety of, of all places, a graveyard. The man Jack never stood a chance.

And how I loved the Jacks of All Trade! How awesome of a group. I really wish the book went into a little more detail about just what they were because, really, the little worm on a hook we got about them so wasn't enough for me. I wanted more! And I just might get it in Gaiman's supposed sequel!

The book is written in such a simplistic way that it would be simple for a child of really any age to understand but the older you are, the greater you're capable of understanding all of the underlying elements it holds. This book is literally something for people of all ages to read. There's nothing in here that someone 10 or 30 wouldn't like.

All of the characters are living and breathing as soon as they come onto the page. Maybe it's the bias that I have towards Gaiman because I love most of his work so much, but I honestly think the man could create an infinitely dynamic character from a couple of words, he's that good. But everyone from Bod to Scarlett to Silas (how awesome Silas was!) to the Owenses and Liza and the Jacks, even the Sleer had a rich depth about them that only magnificent storytelling could weave.

What pulled at me the most was the relationship between Scarlett and Bod. I found myself in Bod's shoes asking why? towards the end because there were other ways, there could have been other ways but Silas knew what he was doing. And that pain of Bod being without another living person to exist around really permeated the pages. Of course he loved where he was and he loved his ghost family, but at the end of the day Bod was human and as a human he required like companionship.

The ending opened up all sorts of possibilities for Bod but even then it was a sad send-off for him. I didn't want him to leave the people that have cared for him all those years. And he was so young! But all times must come and it was Bod's turn to play that fiddle. It didn't keep the tears from prickling my eyes, though, that much I can tell you.

The writing is, without a doubt, fantastic. The characters are as real as if they were breathing at your neck and every emotion Bod feels, every sense of fear or pain or sadness or happiness, pulls at your heart just like it does to him. You'll look up to the parental figures of the graveyard, you'll sneer at the foes and you'll love the life just like Bod does. So be sure to read this book because this is one you certainly don't want to miss.

The Magician's Elephant by Kae DiCamillo

Pub date - September 8, 2009

What if? Why not? Could it be?

When a fortuneteller's tent appears in the market square of the city of Baltese, orphan Peter Augustus Duchene knows the questions that he needs to ask: Does his sister still live? And if so, how can he find her? The fortuneteller's mysterious answer (an elephant! An elephant will lead him there!) sets off a chain of events so remarkable, so impossible, that you will hardly dare to believe it’s true. With atmospheric illustrations by fine artist Yoko Tanaka, here is a dreamlike and captivating tale that could only be narrated by Newbery Medalist Kate DiCamillo. In this timeless fable, she evokes the largest of themes — hope and belonging, desire and compassion — with the lightness of a magician’s touch. (bn.com)

I snagged a chapter preview of this book at BEA and once I read it, I immediately, and I mean immediately (at like 10 at night on a Tuesday or something like that), requested an ARC from the publicist. I had to have it, I was that enamored with just the one chapter I read.

And let me tell, the rest of the book certainly didn't disappoint. At all.

It's about a boy whose only hope in life was to join the military and be a good soldier like his father. But he had a doubt. He doubted that what Vilna Lutz, his caretaker, told him about his sister, Adele, was true. Peter was always told she was dead. When Peter goes to town and decided to spend food money on a fortune teller, he hears otherwise, and that the magician's elephant will take him to her. It sounds amazingly far-fetched. I mean, what could an elephant possibly have to do with this, right?

And that's when one comes crashing through the ceiling of the local opera house and right into the lap of a well to-do woman that the wheels start in motion for the rest of the book. All Peter wants, no, needs, to do is get to this elephant because he knows he can get to his sister through the animal. He has no idea how, but he believes everything will work itself out.

Every once in a while the story shifts to Adele's perspective and it's like little pieces of my heart get torn off and set on fire. Her situation isn't dire but it's one of those so close yet so far scenarios. And she starts having a dream of an elephant coming to rescue her from the orphanage, to take her away to a happier place. And all the while you're still trying to figure out how the deuce this is all going to play out.

The writing is absolutely amazing. I really need to read more of DiCamillo's work. It's such a simply told story told in the tone of an older time fairy tale of sorts but in that simplicity lies the depth of the story itself. Yes, Peter just wants to find his sister but him starting on this quest opens up so many more doors. Soon it's not just his sister he's worried about but the well-being of the elephant and even the magician that's stuck in the jail cell because of his surprise magic stunt.

And the very end, you can see it coming. It's alluded to, and not subtly, right around the middle of the book, but even so, when it gets there, you can't help but have tears in your eyes because finally, they're all happy. And I'm not one for happy endings either, people. Usually I think they're too fluffy and blah. But here it fits. It's just so nice and comforting to see these two children get someone wonderful after struggling for so long. And they're so young to boot!

Even though the writing is simple, it's told in such a fluid language that it pours over you like a waterfall that you just can't get enough of. Just at the plot is allowed to branch in such simplicity, we're allowed to see multi-dimensional characters in their simplest forms. They are in no way shape or form cardboard cut-outs or pandering to the will of the main character. They are fully flesh and blood with such rich feelings that I have a hard time seeing other authors attempting to create such rich characters with so few, and so simple, words. Therein lies such amazing talent.

And the drawings. Oi! There aren't very many in my little ARC but the few that are in there are absolutely astounding. Yoko Tanaka is a truly talented artist and the simplicity of the drawings matches the simplicity of the words so thoroughly. But it's not like they're stick figures here. They are rich, fully realized drawings that capture scenes at their zenith, but they're not superfluous or overtly elaborate. They just capture the moment as it was meant to be.

This is a middle grade book and it can be read probably in about an hour but you will feel so much richer for having read it. It makes you feel good. Your eyes might get a little wet, and you will feel the pain of these children and that poor, poor elephant, but you will enjoy the book immensely. I have no doubt. There's nothing not to enjoy here. Not a bit.

Book Preview: The Magician's Elephant

Pub date - September 8, 2009

What if? Why not? Could it be?

When a fortuneteller's tent appears in the market square of the city of Baltese, orphan Peter Augustus Duchene knows the questions that he needs to ask: Does his sister still live? And if so, how can he find her? The fortuneteller's mysterious answer (an elephant! An elephant will lead him there!) sets off a chain of events so remarkable, so impossible, that you will hardly dare to believe it’s true. With atmospheric illustrations by fine artist Yoko Tanaka, here is a dreamlike and captivating tale that could only be narrated by Newbery Medalist Kate DiCamillo. In this timeless fable, she evokes the largest of themes — hope and belonging, desire and compassion — with the lightness of a magician’s touch. (bn.com)

So when I stopped drooling and got over the envy of such amazing writing, I immediately contacted the publicist and requested an ARC of this book. Just from reading the first chapter.

I've never read any of DiCamillo's work prior to this but I've heard great things about it. But how often does that happen, right? Opinions and all, they can differ widely. I finally got around to reading the chapter preview I picked up from BEA and holy shit did I want to kick myself for not having read it sooner.

It's such a simply told story but in that simplicity lies the magic and the wonderful prose that DiCamillo weaves her tale with. This is another one that's reminiscent of older fairy tales; it has that air of . . . superiority, but that's not the right word, just the word that fits ok right now. The tone, it's very old school, almost stilted, but it's meant to be in this type of tale. Think Neil Gaiman's Stardust but only not at all contrived and told with ease.

The drawings, just the couple included in the preview, are gorgeous and just made me want to flip through the whole book that much more eagerly.

The first chapter is so riveting yet so simple but it pulls at your heart, urging you to move forward, only there's no forward to move to because it's only the first chapter! I had to have this book and I know that anyone that likes simple, touching, eloquently told tales will fall in love with it.

Look for my review of it soon!

School of Fear by Gitty Daneshvari + Contest!

Pub date - September 1, 2009

Everyone is afraid of something . . .

Madeleine Masterson is deathly afraid of bugs, especially spiders.

Theodore Bartholomew is petrified of dying.

Lulu Punchalower is scared of confined spaces.

Garrison Feldman is terrified of deep water.

With very few options left, the parents of these four twelve-year-olds send them to the highly elusive and ultra-exclusive School of Fear to help them overcome their phobias. But when their peculiar teacher, Mrs. Wellington, and her unconventional teaching methods turn out to be more frightening than even their fears, the foursome realize that this just may be the scariest summer of their lives. (book back blurb)

This is a middle grade book so maybe I'm not to best person to be reviewing it since it's a little hard to get into the head of a kid that age, but I'll try. I might not "get it" but someone half my age might (ugh, remind me never to say that again).

I picked it up at BEA because the title was really catchy and I loved the quirky drawings. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Judging a book by it's cover. Unless you read the back of every book you look at, you do the same thing. Anyway, I didn't really have hopes one way or another for this one. I went in kind of impartial; nice blank slate.

I liked the language. Kind of a mock story-telling type of language. Uppity but in a Monty Python sort of way. And, of course, the characters were all quirky in their own ways and it was endearing. At first. Except for Theodore. I wanted to hit him with a bus right from the beginning.

Mrs. Wellington is over the top but I guess that's the point. All of the characters are pretty over the top and relatively exist only within the confines of their own little worlds. I don't quite want to say one dimensional but it's close. There is some reformation at the end. Sort of. And speaking of endings, I was kind of irked with that whole "teach these kids how to smile with Vaseline on their teeth" thing. It was inconclusive and overall pointless to the plot except to further define Mrs. Wellington's insanity. Insanity understood but it really did mean nothing to these kids getting over their fears.

But back to the quirky characters. Quirky characters can be entertaining but at the same time they can be really hard to maintain. And the kitsch in this book wore on me halfway through. I can only take so much quirk and ridiculous characterizations. All of the characters seemed to be caricatures of themselves, which was probably the point, but I thought it got annoying.

I saw the twist for what it was because no author is that dumb to do something like that in the middle of a book without a damn good reason for it. So, unfortunately, I saw right through it. And I don't think it'd be hard at all for kids that are actually in this age bracket to figure it out either. It's not rocket science and kids are suspicious to begin with. They'd have it in the bag.

I understand the driving force behind the plot line and literally forcing these kids to face their fears by removing the option of not having to but I felt it could have been toned down a little bit. It kind of reminded me of one of those shows on Nickelodeon (doesn't matter which one, they're all the same to me) that are decent for about 30 seconds and then just end up sounding like nails on a chalk board, they're so obnoxious.

Ok, this book isn't that bad but if you have a tendency of getting annoyed by, more often than not, over-the-top quirk, then this might not be the book for you.

Really, it's a cute book. I couldn't stand Theodore but really, the rest of the characters were pretty entertaining. Even Mrs. Wellington. But at the end of the day, I'll take a little less quirk, please. The best part of the book was the writing. I loved the humor in the tone but mixed in with the plot, it was just a touch overkill.

CONTEST TIME!

I have 2 ARCs of School of Fear to give away, plus each winner will get two School of Fear pins to go along with it! Sound good? Here's what you have to do--

Comment with your email and answer this question to enter--

What's your biggest fear?

No answer, no entry. Period.

+ 2 for following (new or old)
+ 2 for linking
+1 for each subsequent link, up to 3

Open to US residents only, this contest will end on September 7th at midnight, EST. Good luck!