Sports from Hell: Review Haiku

Middle-aged writer
puts a ferret in his pants
for the sport of it.

Sports from Hell: My Search for the World's Dumbest Competition by Rick Reilly. Doubleday, 2010, 224 pages.

I'm at ALA!

For my bookish friends who are also in DC for ALA Annual, come see me in the Charlesbridge booth, #2710!

Seven Year Switch: Review Haiku

Middle-aged woman
has midlife crisis. It's summer --

must be Claire Cook.

Seven Year Switch by Claire Cook. Hyperion, 2010, 256 pages.

Countdown: Review Haiku

Franny learns not to
duck and cover when it counts.

Fab docu-novel.

Countdown by Deborah Wiles. Scholastic, 2010, 400 pages.

P.S. Am I wrong to have wanted a little propaganda dispelling in the author's note (i.e., a newspaper over your head will not, in fact, protect you from nuclear fallout)?

Turtle in Paradise: Review Haiku

My second-favorite
Turtle in literature.

Our Gang, Key West-style.

Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer L. Holm. Random, 2010, 208 pages.

The Double Comfort Safari Club: Review Haiku

You don't really care
what it's about, right? Just enjoy
some nice bush tea.

The Double Comfort Safari Club by Alexander McCall Smith. Pantheon, 2010, 224 pages.

[Incidentally: the first synopsis on that link is completely wrong. Strange.]

The Unusual Mind of Vincent Shadow: Review Haiku

Twenty-two minute
Nickelodeon sitcom
dressed up like a book.

The Unusual Mind of Vincent Shadow by Tim Kehoe. Little Brown, 2010, 185 pages.

Only One Year: Review Haiku

Broke my heart as a
mom; what would I have thought
as an eight-year-old?

Only One Year by Andrea Cheng. Lee & Low, 2010, 97 pages.

It's Not Summer Without You: Review Haiku

What is it with these
YA ladies and unfinished
summer romance?

It's Not Summer Without You by Jenny Han. S&S, 2010, 275 pages.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks: Review Haiku

Holy HeLa -- the
best and very worst of
scientific progress.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. Crown, 2010, 369 pages.

Octavia Boone's Big Questions About Life, the Universe, and Everything: Review Haiku

You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll

want to throw things at the grownups.
Fabulous read.

Octavia Boone's Big Questions About Life, the Universe, and Everything by Rebecca Rupp. Candlewick, 2010, 192 pages.

P.S. Bonus points for the Hitchhiker's reference in the title.

Bobby the Brave (Sometimes): Review Haiku

Give this to all the
awkward, good-hearted fourth-grade
boys you know. Do it!

Bobby the Brave (Sometimes) by Lisa Yee. Levine/Scholastic, 2010, 176 pages.

P.S. Look, she signed it!

Will Grayson, Will Grayson: Review Haiku

Giant, magical
gay boy helps two Will Graysons
find their paths forward.

Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan. Dutton, 2010, 304 pages.

The Strange Case of Origami Yoda: Review Haiku

Middle-school boys in
all their crazy-monkey glory.
Read it you will.

The Strange Case of Origami Yoda by Ton Angleberger. Amulet, 2010, 141 pages.

The Viper's Nest (39 Clues #7): Review Haiku

Am I the only
person still reading these books?
Don't hear much these days.

The Viper's Nest (The 39 Clues, #7) by Peter Lerangis. Scholastic, 2010, 190 pages.

Raising the Perfect Child Through Guilt and Manipulation: Review Haiku

You say "manipulation"
like it's a bad thing.

How else do they learn?

Raising the Perfect Child Through Guilt and Manipulation by Elizabeth Beckwith. Harper, 2009, 240 pages.

Happy birthday to me!

Da-na-na-na-na-na --
You say it's my birthday?
Hello, thirty-five.

This Book Is Overdue! Review Haiku

Is it ironic
that I wanted more
organization in this?

This Book Is Overdue! How Librarians and Cybrarians Can Save Us All by Marilyn Johnson. Harper, 2010, 272 pages.

Imperfect Birds: Review Haiku

Wanted to love it
but just cannot understand
addiction like this.

Imperfect Birds by Anne Lamott. Riverhead, 2010, 288 pages.

The Popularity Papers: Review Haiku

All the friendship angst
of almost-middle-school, in
handy graphic form.

The Popularity Papers: Research for the Social Improvement and General Betterment of Lydia Goldblatt + Julie Graham-Chang by Amy Ignatow. Abrams, 2010, 206 pages.

Judy Moody, Girl Detective: Review Haiku

Judy Moody goes
Nancy Drew (then, maybe, Sonia
Sotomayor?).

Judy Moody, Girl Detective (#9) by Megan McDonald. Candlewick, 2010, 192 pages.

The Dark Days of Hamburger Halpin: Review Haiku

Fat deaf kid rules the
world -- or at least, goes mainstream
and solves a murder.

The Dark Days of Hamburger Halpin by Josh Berk. Knopf, 2010, 256 pages.

My Life as a Book: Review Haiku

Heffley wannabe
and a mysterious death
oddly juxtaposed.

My Life as a Book by Janet Tashjian. Holt, 2010, 224 pages. (ARC from IRA 2010.)

Northward to the Moon: Review Haiku

People are complicated.
Thank God Horvath's here
to write about them.

Northward to the Moon by Polly Horvath. Schwartz & Wade, 2010, 256 pages.

Regretsy: Review Haiku

Hey, am I allowed
to say "whimsicle f**kery"
on this blog? SNARK.

Regretsy: Where DIY Meets WTF by April Winchell. Villard, 2010, 176 pages.

Problem Solving 101: Review Haiku

You could learn how to
use PrecisionTree software,
or just read this book.

Problem Solving 101: A Simple Book for Smart People by Ken Watanabe.

Ruby Lu, Brave and True: Review Haiku

Episodic gem
that makes me want to move to
Seattle. Great fun.

Ruby Lu, Brave and True by Lenore Look. Anne Schwartz, 2004, 105 pages.

Alchemy and Meggy Swann: Review Haiku

Toads and vipers! The
queen of hist. fic. goes
Elizabethan. Hail, Meg!

Alchemy and Meggy Swann by Karen Cushman. Clarion, 2010, 176 pages.

Hey! I'm at IRA!

Am heading out this morning for Chicago for the International Reading Association conference. If you're there, stop by the Charlesbridge booth and say hi!

One Crazy Summer: Review Haiku

Black Panthers for kids!
Not political - familial.
Crazy good.

One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia. Amistad, 2010, 218 pages.

Babymouse Burns Rubber: Review Haiku

Get your motor running . . .
head out on the highwaaaayyy . . .
Watch out for cupcakes.

Babymouse Burns Rubber by Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm. Random, 2010, 91 pages.

Babymouse: Dragonslayer: Review Haiku

The Quest for the Golden
Slide Rule: One cupcake to
rule them all! Geek WIN.

Babymouse: Dragonslayer by Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm. Random, 2009, 91 pages.

The Mysterious Howling: Review Haiku

Shelve it next to The
Penderwicks in my cache of
old-fashioned Awesome.

The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: The Mysterious Howling by Maryrose Wood. Balzer + Bray, 2010, 272 pages.

Happy Blogiversary to Me: Birthday Haiku

FOUR! How I wish
"Blogiversary" didn't sound
like "Blagojevich."


In my fourth year of blogging I wrote 164 entries (most of those = books read) and found a much saner blog/life balance by switching to posting only three days a week. I started paying attention to typos (21 books) and sloppy page design (13 entries; widows, I am looking at you). I abandoned The LIST, to my great relief (Tocqueville and Joyce, I hardly knew ye).

By the numbers (which don't all add up to the same total; so sue me)
Audience: Split fairly evenly among adult (46/30%), YA (48/31%), and middle-grade (59/39%).
Veracity: Much more fiction (106/73%) than nonfiction (40/27%).
Reaction: I loved several (33/22%), liked many (95/65%), was meh about a few (18/12%), and only hated one (1/1%).

Onward and upward. Er, onward, anyway.

SIX: Birthday Haiku

Every day she gets
more stubborn, more intractable . . .
just like her mom.

Happy birthday, Munchkin.

The Small Adventure of Popeye and Elvis: Review Haiku

A simple story
of two boys, a girl, and a
Holiday Rambler.

The Small Adventure of Popeye and Elvis by Barbara O'Connor. FSG, 2009, 149 pages.

Watch This Space: Review Haiku

Urban design for kids!
Great voice, no-nonsense --
SimCity in real life.

Watch This Space: Designing, Defending, and Sharing Public Spaces by Hadley Dyer and Marc Ngui. Kids Can, 2010, 80 pages.

Note: There is a truly, truly unfortunate typo on page 66. See if you can guess what it is, given the title.

Incarceron: Review Haiku

Maybe I'm having
dystopian overload,
but this? Just okay.

Incarceron by Catherine Fisher. Dial, 2010, 448 pages.

The Birthday Ball: Review Haiku

Nothing new under
the sun, but come on -- it's
Lowry and Feiffer. DUH.

The Birthday Ball by Lois Lowry, illustrated by Jules Feiffer. HMCo, 2010, 192 pages.

The Night Fairy: Review Haiku

High drama in
miniature -- and oh, how I love

the way Flory looks!

The Night Fairy by Laura Amy Schlitz. Candlewick, 2010, 128 pages.

Scarlett Fever: Review Haiku

The theatrical
Martins outdo themselves, but --
but -- it doesn't END!

Scarlett Fever by Maureen Johnson. Point, 2010, 352 pages.

The Hive Detectives: Review Haiku

Gorgeous photographs,
winning prose, great mystery --
but no answer. Buzzzz.

The Hive Detectives: Chronicle of a Honey Bee Catastrophe by Loree Griffin Burns. Scientist in the Field series. Houghton Mifflin, 2010, 66 pages.

The Checklist Manifesto: Review Haiku

So simple, yet makes
such a difference. Did you do
it right? Check this box.

The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right by Atul Gawande. Metropolitan Books, 2009, 209 pages.

The Secret Science Alliance and the Copycat Crook: Review Haiku

Baby nerdfighters!
Three unlikely friends use their
super-smarts, solve crime.

The Secret Science Alliance and the Copycat Crook by Eleanor Davis. Bloomsbury, 2009, 154 pages.

Once Was Lost: Review Haiku

Faith and doubt are two
sides of the same coin, as Sam
quickly discovers.

Once Was Lost by Sara Zarr. Little Brown, 2009, 217 pages.

How the Mighty Fall: Review Haiku

Twenty pages of
worthwhile insight, two hundred
pages of filler.

How the Mighty Fall: And Why Some Companies Never Give In by Jim Collins. Harper, 2009, 222 pages.

School of Fear: Review Haiku

Better in concept
than execution, but a
fun read nonetheless.

School of Fear by Gitty Daneshvari. Little Brown, 2009, 352 pages.

Tangled: Review Haiku

Four characters seeking
connection: A study
in misperception.

Tangled by Carolyn Mackler. Harper, 2010, 308 pages.

Emily's take on the Kindle

Continuing in my tradition of being on the right-hand side of the Technology Adoption bell curve: I borrowed a Kindle from the Bedford Free Public Library not too long ago. They have one the circulates for seven days, loaded up with various adult books -- new ones, bestsellers, and classics.

And it was . . . okay. Honestly, after having an affair with my iPhone for the past 9+ months, I found the Kindle slightly underwhelming, but it has its bright spots, too.

PROS:

• Size is nice. Feels like a slim book (especially the library copy, which came with a snazzy leather case).
• Screen is easy on the eyes.
• Interface is mostly intuitive (but see below).
• Capacity is good.

CONS:

• Black and white screen seems low-rent compared to full-color iPhone (and iPad).
• While not hard to figure out, the interface does have some funky elements. The little five-way button doesn't always do what you want or what you expect. Again, suffers in comparison to the finger-swipe goodness of the Magical Phone.
• Can't easily tell where I am within a chapter. The Kindle gives you a little counter on the bottom of the screen to show you that you're 43% of the way done, for example. There's also a progress bar with little dots to indicate a chapter shift. But the distance to and from dots isn't clear, so if it's late at night and my husband is nagging me to stop reading and turn out the light already, I can't easily tell him, "I just have two more pages."
• The screen gives a big flickery shudder every time you turn a page. Wicked annoying.

And I'm not even getting into how and where you can get books on it, and where you can't.

So would I buy one? Probably not. I love me some ink and paper, and I feel like there are better options coming soon (iPad, sure, but also full-color dedicated readers, I would think). But did I hate it? No.

I don't believe print will ever really die, and I think in my industry -- children's books -- print will live and last and be profitable longer than in other genres. But I'm not afraid of the digital revolution that we're in. My kids know how to use my phone as well as I do. They love physical books, but they love other media, too, and they're already well-versed in computer games. I fully expect they'll do a good portion of their reading for school on a screen.

Overall I give the Kindle a B-. I'm glad I had a chance to check one out (literally).

Superfreakonomics: Review Haiku

Full of good stuff to
impress your uncle Bob at
next year's Christmas bash.

Superfreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes, and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen P. Dunbar. Morrow, 2009, 288 pages.

Read on a Kindle.

8th Grade Superzero: Review Haiku

It preaches without
preachiness: a feel-good story
that still feels real.

8th Grade Superzero by Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich. Levine/Scholastic, 2010, 324 pages.

Ivy and Bean, Doomed to Dance: Review Haiku

Didn't think I could
love Ivy and Bean more than
I already do.

Ivy and Bean: Doomed to Dance by Annie Barrows. Chronicle, 2009, 129 pages.

This World We Live In: Review Haiku

And once again I'm
moved to wrap my arms around
my woodstove and pray.

This World We Live In by Susan Beth Pfeffer. Harcourt, (April) 2010, 258 pages.