NONFICTION THAT READS LIKE FICTION

James L. Swanson has adapted two of his adult books for younger readers. Both books are concerned with the end of the American Civil War and the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. In Chasing Lincoln's Killer, Swanson tells how the assassination of Lincoln was accomplished and of the manhunt for John Wilkes Booth, the assassin, and his accomplices. It is a fast-paced thriller where you have to keep reminding yourself that communication in those days was so slow that it took two weeks before Booth was finally tracked down! Even though you know the end of the story, Swanson's day-by-day account builds with suspense.
Following that book Swanson has given us Bloody Times, the story of the funeral of Lincoln and the manhunt for Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy. While the North mourns the loss of Lincoln and a funeral train slowly brings his body back to Illinois passing millions of mourners, Davis moves further south as the states of Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina become too dangerous for him. Both men were respected by their people, but came to such different ends.
Both books are filled with illustrations, many of them photographs, which helps you get a real sense of time period. I found that I had a hard time putting down either book.

CATCH-UP TIME

It's been awhile since I blogged about my summer reading, so I need to catch up. First, there is Avi's new Poppy book, Poppy and Ereth, which he says is the last Poppy book. If you haven't read the Poppy books, you may need to catch up. Poppy is a deer mouse who lives in Dinwood Forest. Her books are full of adventure and friendship. Poppy and Ereth is no different. Here Poppy loses her husband, is propelled through the air and caught by a bat, and manages to escape a forest fire. There's never a dull moment with Poppy!

Another adventurous book is North by Donna Jo Napoli. Alvin is tired of his overprotective mother's restrictions on his life and intrigued by the adventures of Arctic explorer Matthew Henson, so he decides to leave home and make his way north to the Arctic. Though he is a runaway he is aided by strangers along the way and makes it to Bylot Island where he lives with a trapper and learns of the dangers and the joys of Arctic life.

For fantasy lovers I read Serendipity Market, by Penny Blubaugh. When the world gets out of balance Mother Inez calls a group of storytellers to Sependipity Market to tell their stories and restore the world's balance. These stores are from familiar fairy tales and folklore but with a different perspective. It was fun hearing about Cinderella from a mouse or the "prince" and the pea or the shoemaker and the elves from the elves point of view. There are ten tales in all for you to enjoy.

Another fantasy is in a new series from Kathryn Lasky called Daughters of the Sea. The first book, Hannah, which I read, tells the story of an orphan in 1899 who gets a job with a wealthy family as a scullery maid. However Hannah feels an unusual pull to the ocean. When the family goes to their summer house on a spit of land that juts out into the sea, Hannah finds that pull so strong that she cannot ignore it.
In the humorous genre I read I Am a Genius of Unspeakable Evil and I Want to Be Your Class President, by Josh Lieb. Besides the incredibly long title which I kept laughing at, the book features Oliver who appears to be fat, lazy, and not too smart, but he is really a genius and a billionaire with his own plan to dominate the world. Unfortunately Oliver wants the approved of his milk-toast father and goes to extraordinary lengths to prove himself by becoming class president at his middle school.

Not to ignore my favorite genre, science fiction, I read Neptune's Children, by Bonnie Dobkin, an Illinois author. Terrorists have released a toxin to kill their enemies that works too well and kills all people over the age of twelve. Several thousand children who were at the amusement park known as the Isles of Wonder with their families and survive the toxin are organized by Milo to create their own community using the resources of the park. This may sound like a great future with no adults to interfere, but problems arise inside and outside the park to threaten the children's safety and Milo's rule.

Finally for nonfiction readers, there is The Secret of the Yellow Death, by Suzanne Jurmain. This book looks at the hunt for the cause and a cure for Yellow Fever that was lead by Walter Reed in Cuba at the beginning of the twentieth century. At that time no one suspected that mosquitoes could transmit disease. Just comparing the medical techniques of that time to what we have today is fascinating. The book is loaded with photographs that are as interesting as the text describing this search.

I hope are enjoying your summer reading as much as I am. Please share your choices with me through this blog or when we come back to school in August.

All Winners

It's been a while since I blogged and a lot has happened in that time -- BUT I DIDN'T STOP READING! I have finished 6 terrific books. Let's start with --
The Red Blazer Girls is a new series by Michael D. Bell. I read the first book The Ring of Rocamadour. The cover advertises "A puzzling mystery! A mystery with puzzles!" and it is as Sophie, Margaret, Rebecca, and Leigh Ann try to find a birthday present that has been hidden for 20 years!

Lois Lowry's new book Bless This Mouse is a sweet story about a community of church mice who try to keep a low profile so the parishioners won't demand the Great X - Exterminator. Each mouse character has a very human-type personality and the illustrations reflect that personality.

Finishing the Crispin trilogy by Avi is Crispin: The End of Time. Now Crispin is stranded in France with the loss of his friends Bear who died and Troth who stays at an abbey to help with her healing skills. Crispin is still trying to make his way to Iceland where he believes he can live free when he falls in the a murdering thief band disguised as musicians. He risks his life to escape with a new friend Owen. Set in the Middle Ages you have a window into life of the the rich, the poor, and the criminal.

Storm Runners by Roland Smith is an exciting and dangerous adventure with Chase Masters and his father who travel the country turning up wherever there has been or is about to be a disaster. This time they are in Florida just before a hurricane with an unpredictable path hits. Chase and his father each have their own survival tale to tell. It seems that this book is going to be followed by another book continuing the story of survival after the hurricane's landfall. Please let me know if you would like the IMC to purchase this sequel.

For those of you who are not fond of science fiction, Ally Condie's book Mismatched may change your mind. In a story that takes place sometime in the future, society has rebuilt after a total breakdown into a world where all choices are controlled by the society for the betterment of the society. Cassie is excited about her Match Banquet where she will find out who she will marry. Surprised and delighted that her selected partner is announced to be her childhood friend and neighbor Xander, she becomes confused when her microcard shows a different boy. She is further confused when at her grandfather's mandatory death at 80, he tells her about a smuggled poem he wants her to have. This is a story about love, romance, and questioning a society where all choices are programmed.

All of the previous books will be new to our collection in the fall, but I also finished a book that is already on our shelves -- The Water Seeker, by Kimberly Willis Holt. Set in pioneer days this tells life story of Amos, son of a beaver trapper who is also a dowser, someone who can find water using a forked stick. Since his mother dies giving him birth, Amos has a series of mother figures in his life while his father Jake is away most of the time trapping. When Jake and his Indian wife Blue Owl finally collect Amos, they head west eventually joining a wagon party going to the Oregon territory. Amos's story is so intriguing that you find you can't wait to turn the page to learn what new adventure or experience is coming his way.

Two More Great Reads

I love Caroline Cooney's books and I found a great new one to read this summer. If The Witness Lied presents a family filled with tragedy. First the mother dies with the birth of her fourth child Tris. Then in a horrible accident the family car rolls over the father killing him. The only one in the car at the time of the accident is Tris who somehow as a two-year-old was able to release the emergency brake causing the accident. After the accident the family split apart. Smithy goes away to boarding school, Madison goes to leave with her godparents, and Jack stays at home with Tris and his Aunt Cheryl who delights in completely remodeling the family home. One year after the accident Aunt Cheryl has contacted a TV producer who wants to do a series on the tragic family. The siblings are appalled, and come together to protect Tris, about to celebrate his third birthday, from the media. With all that is going on, Jack begins to question the circumstances of the accident and wonders what really happened. Part mystery, part media spectacle, Cooney has again captured a story that could be right out of the headlines.
Tragedy on a larger scale is presented in John Marsden's Tomorrow, When the War Began. Set in Australia, the story follows a group of teenagers who go off on a camping trip for five days in a wild area called Hell. When they return they find their world has changed for the worse. Some unknown army has taken over their rural community and apparently all of Australia. All the teens' parents and community are imprisoned and the teens are on their own. After a terrifying expedition to check on their homes, the teen decide to retreat back to Hell and to plan their next move. Should they hide out until the world returns to normal or should they take action and mount a guerrilla war against the invaders?

Welcome to My Summer Reading Blog

I am starting off the summer finishing off 3 great books. First, I am reading The Throne of Fire, the sequel to Rick Riordan's The Red Pyramid. Like the first book in this series there is lots of action, danger, and a whole lot of Egyptian mythology. This time Sadie and Carter Kane have to stop Apophis, the God of Chaos, from escaping his centuries-old prison -- and they only have 5 days to do it. There is a touch of romance for each of the Kane kids as well as a few new god helpers like Bes, a dwarf god considered lucky by the common people in ancient Egypt.

Next I am finishing Black Mirror, by Nancy Werlin. I started reading this one as a possible addition to the Romeo and Juliet Book Reports list since it deals with the suicide by drug overdose. Now I am beginning to see that it is also a mystery and the death of Frances' older brother Daniel may have been murder. All the action takes place on a preppy boarding school campus where Frances and Daniel are recipients of scholarships sponsored by a showy charitable organization known as Unity that may be involved in criminal activities.

Lastly I am half way through X Isle, by Steve Augarde. In a drowned world, people in the mainland try to arrange for their children to be chosen for the X Isle which is said to be a paradise. Baz and Ray are picked but find that the island is run by a religious fanatic and his brutish sons and the boys are slave labor. Rather than a paradise, the boys each get one can of food a day and have to do all kinds of manual labor without knowing why and are terrorized by the adults and their older teen assistants. The boys are beginning to see an advantage in working together. Their current plan is to create some kind of bomb that will kill the adults so the boys can take over the island. I can hardly wait to find out how it ends.
Please let me know what you are reading or if you have read of the same books I am. Books that I am reading this summer will be available for check out at Lakeview in the fall. Have a great summer and participate in Read S'More, Lakeview' Summer Reading Programs. Details are available on the Lakeview Library webpage.

All Kinds of Trouble

Two books I read this summer deal with Trouble with a capital T. In Tracey Porter's book, Billy Creekmore, young orphans are in trouble at the orphanage. In this early 1900s story Billy and other orphans and abandoned children at the Guardian Angel Home for Boys are sent to work in the glassworks factory as young as ten years old. Their dangerous jobs lead to crippling or fatal situations. Billy, abandoned by his father, is determined to escape this fate. Just in the nick of time his unknown aunt and uncle appear to take Billy to live in a coal mining town. This seeming salvation doesn't last long, for the miners are organizing to strike for better wages and conditions. When his uncle is killed in a raid by mine owner troops, Billy is on the run. He finds temporary shelter with a circus and a friend from the orphanage. This, too, is short lived when Billy's father appears working for a rival circus that cheats its customers. Will Billy ever escape the trouble that seems to follow him and find a real home and family?

In Gary Schmidt's book Trouble, Henry and his family have moved far away from Trouble, but Trouble seems to have found them anyway. Henry's older brother is killed when he is struck by a truck driven by a Cambodian classmate. To honor his brother Henry decides to fulfill his brother's dying wish that he climb Mount Katahdin even though his brother claimed Henry couldn't do it. The journey that Henry and his best friend take to Mount Katahdin involves all kinds of trouble including getting a ride from Chay, the Cambodian refugee who killed his brother. The journey makes Henry take a good long look at his life, his brother, and his family and the Trouble that seems to be all around him.

Billy Creekmore is on Oprah's Kids' Reading List and is already in the Lakeview collection. Trouble is a 2011 Rebecca Caudill nominee and multiple copies will be added to the Lakeview collection in the fall.

Two Fairy Tales Retold

There is a lot of buzz in the young adult literature world about looking back to traditional fairy tales, folklore, and legends for story ideas. note the success of Rick Riodan's Percy Jackson series. I just finished two such books and enjoyed both of them.

In Elizabeth C. Bunce's book A Curse Dark as Gold, we have a retelling of the Rumpelsliltskin story set in a small English village. The village grew up around a river-operated mill owned by the Miller family through many generations. The Millers have had all kinds of tragedies - breakdowns at the mill, unexplained accidents, and deaths of male children in the family. Finally the last of the Miller family, Charlotte and Rosie, are trying to keep the mill going through debt, accidents, and sabotage. One dark night a strange-looking man calling himself Jack Spinner appears and offers to help. Well, you know that part of the story, but Bunce adds witchcraft, mystery, and romance to this fairy tale and gives us a compelling story. This book is already in the Lakeview collection and is listed on Oprah's Kids Reading List.

Shannon Hale has retold a little-known Grimm's fairy tale in Book of a Thousand Days. While I didn't recognize the fairy tale, I was quickly caught up in the story which Hale has placed in a central Asian setting to add an intriguing element. The story is told in a journal/diary kept by a young servant girl Dashti who follows her royal mistress Lady Saren into banishment for not marrying her father's choice. This banishment is to be sealed up in a tower for seven years with enough food and fuel, but little light and no contact with the outside world. The girls are able to escape after about four years but find their world completely changed. The kingdom has been reduced to rubble. No one is left alive. To find out what has happened the girls travel to Lady Saren's true love's city and disguise themselves as kitchen maids. While there is a happy ending, it may not be the one you expect. This book will be added to the Lakeview collection in the fall.