What Do You Mean You Didn't Like It?!

A few weeks ago a sixth grade teacher came to me looking for read alouds for her language arts classes.  I handed her a couple including one that I referred to as one of "my favorite books."  It was The Big Splash by Jack D. Ferraiolo.  If you have read my blog for a bit you will know how very much I loved this book.  But, I know not everyone loves it.  It has a noir-ish tone that some people do not get.  And if they don't get it, the book isn't as enjoyable.

So, when she came back a week later and told me she didn't like the book I was kind of offended.  No, make that really offended.  I know this book is not for everyone. I know the tone is way different.  But I was still offended.

Does this happen to you?  Do you feel offended when someone doesn't like a book that you LOVE?!

For some reason it doesn't bother me that much when kids do this.  I expect their honesty and I can give them some good-natured ribbing about them not having any taste. Then I can find something else they like.

Maybe the way she told me she didn't like it was the problem.  I guess I would have preferred she just returned the book quietly and asked me for another recommendation. 

So here's where this is all going.  There has been all those discussion about negative reviews and authors and agents and bloggers all over reacting.  If I felt that upset by a book I didn't write, I can just imagine how hurt an author feels about a book they nurtured into life.

Everyone has the right to their opinions, just as long as they are the same as mine!  :)

(And seriously, The Big Splash is awesome.  Try it for yourself!)

Ellen Potter Interview: The Humming Room Tour

I was so excited to be asked to participate in the blog tour for The Humming Room by Ellen Potter.  She was the first author to ever comment on my blog.  I was so excited that she had found her way to my blog and felt moved enough to comment.  You can read that post here.  Plus, I really love her books!  Olivia Kidney and The Kneebone Boy both made me laugh and cry.  Her writing has that Roald Dahl touch of whimsy, but also with quite a bit of emotion.  I have already read and reviewed The Humming Room which I adored and below is my interview with Ellen Potter!

*Why did you pick The Secret Garden as a book to "reinvent"?
 I’ve always been obsessed with The Secret Garden. It’s one of those rare books that seem to mature with each reading. I have a battered old copy on my book shelf that I reread every year, and each time I find something new and extraordinary in it. I was drawn to the idea of re-imagining it because the book deals with certain issues that I’ve often written about before—magic that is hidden in the everydayness of things, ghosts, secrets, and tough little girls. A sad postscript: A week ago my dog urinated on my bookshelf and one of the casualties was that beloved edition of The Secret Garden. I gave it a proper funeral that involved Celtic music and Febreeze. 

*What is your favorite movie version of The Secret Garden?
I’ve seen them all, but my favorite is the one from 1993, with Maggie Smith. The girl who played Mary had wonderfully disheveled hair and a great snarl. And then, of course, there’s Maggie Smith. I’d pay good money to watch that woman bite her cuticles, she’s that mesmerizing. 

*What other childhood books/authors have influenced your writing?
I’m a huge fan of Roald Dahl. I also love E. Nesbit, Ellen Raskin, and Madeleine L’Engle. All those oldies but goodies. 

*Did you always intend to write for children or was that a happy "accident"?
I always knew I wanted to be a writer. Always, always. I started off writing for grownups. But, you know, adult readers ask too many tough questions at book signings. They want to know about literary allusions and dramatic structure. When I sign books for kids, they ask me things like, “Do you have a hamster?” 

*Because I am a middle school librarian as well, do you have any wonderful library/librarian memories to share?
Yes! I had my literary epiphany in my elementary school library. We had this great school librarian who knew the sort of books I loved. When I asked her for something new to read, she directed me to Harriet the Spy, by Louise Fitzhugh. I started reading it right then and there, and suddenly I KNEW that the best books in the world were written for 11-year-olds. I l also knew I wouldn’t be eleven forever, and I had this fear of forgetting how great kids books were, like so many adults. So at that moment I decided that I would simply have to write books for 11-year-olds when I grew up. 

 *I cried so hard when I read the first Olivia Kidney and then again with The Kneebone Boy. One of the things I like about your books is that they have a touch of humor and whimsy, then, bam, strong emotion. How do you write that so well?
It’s a gift. Nah, I’m just kidding. Honestly, I’m always a little nervous about writing very emotional things. I’m afraid of seeming sappy or overly dramatic, so I tend to keep things light to cushion the heavy stuff. 

*Do you have a favorite character from your books or one you relate to?
I have a soft spot for so many of them, but I really love my “tough customers,” like Roo from The Humming Room and Olivia Kidney. There is just something about these sharp-eyed, sharp-tongued girls that is so appealing to me. I guess they’re the kind of people I would have wanted to be friends with when I was a kid, but would have been too scared to approach. 

*I feel like you have been so lucky with your book covers! I like the one for Slob because it is clean yet still eye catching and The KneeBone Boy and The Humming Room ones are amazing. Is it a really anxious moment when you get the email with the cover attachment?
Don’t even get me started about my book covers! They’re incredible. Jason Chan did the covers for both The Kneebone Boy and The Humming Room. The guy is a genius. He knew what my characters looked like better than I did. I’d like to live inside his brain for a day. It must be paradise in there. 

*What are you working on now?
I just finished a book for younger kids called Otis Dooda. It’s a silly, ridiculous romp. I hope it makes little boys everywhere laugh like mad. 
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I was just delighted when I read her answers.  I believe Ellen Potter to be a true kindred spirit!   I loved, loved her answer about her memorable librarian.  One reason I became a librarian is because I didn't want to forget that those books existed either!  If you haven't read any Ellen Potter books I strongly encourage you to pick one up today.

(The covers above are only a sampling of the books written by Ellen!  Check out the other ones here.)

Review: Pure by Julianna Baggott

4 soft and sweet whoopie pies.

Cover Love:  Actually, yes.  I really like it.  However, I don't feel it matches the book nor is it very eye catching. 

Why I Wanted to Read This:

I was sitting around really feeling over dystopian books, so this one wasn't very high on my radar.  However, I started seeing good reviews and knew I liked Julianna Baggott's writing so I decided to give it a try.  You can read the synopsis here. (It's long and I don't want to paste it here).

I Kept Reading Because:  I actually took a break partway through because the visuals in this book (or the things I was visualizing) were freaky.  But I came back to it and am very glad I did.

Romance?:  The start of a couple.

What I Liked (And Didn't):

When I first started this I was not sure what I thought about it at all.  It was not a dystopian book, it was more like an apocalyptic book.  But it wasn't until I saw it referred to as a horror book that it really clicked.  I had to shift my thinking and that is what helped me do that!  I don't think it was truly a horror book but there were so many disturbing things in this story!

Don't let that turn you off though.  Julianna Baggott has created quite the world.  And she gave the reader just enough to want to know more.  There are so many things I want the answers for, I will be anxiously waiting for the next book.

The idea that people who were caught outside of the Dome during the Detonations fused with whatever they were touching was so weird.  In fact, I don't see how any of them actually survived!

I loved Pressia and Partridge.  I truly expected the romance to be between them but it wasn't, and that was just another great little twist in the book.  Pressia was such an innocent in this harsh world.  I was glad she found Bradwell to help her navigate this world.

I want to know more about Partridge's father.  Just who was he before and after the Detonations?  And what are they doing to all the kids in the Dome?!

A great thing is that this book would appeal to both boy and girl readers.  

To Sum Up:  An intriguing book that I will be looking forward to booktalking to my students.

Book requested and received from NetGalley.  Thanks Grand Central Publishing!

e-Readers and School Libraries

There is no getting around it, e-readers are everywhere.  I was amazed at the amount of e-readers that came back with my students after Christmas.  (Even with non-readers, but those Kindle Fires and Nook Tablets are so much cheaper than ipads...)

So, my fellow librarian and I were debating how to service this growing trend.

First of, we kind of decided not to have the e-readers for check out.  That might come, but for now enough of our readers have them that we just want to be able to get them books.

However, Destiny (our catalog) does not allow downloads of ebooks.  You can check them out and read them on the computer.  At least that is what we've been lead to believe, if you know differently, let me know please!

Our public library system has ebooks for check out so this is as far as we've gotten.  I am going to get the tech guy from the public library to come and teach a class for our students on how to check out ebooks from the public library.

Seriously, that's all we've decided.

We did buy four ipads for teacher check out though.  (However, in the interest of being able to "teach" the technology, we are each keeping one of them until next fall so we know them in & out...)

If you are a librarian have you added ereaders into your system?

Review: The Vanishing Game by Kate Kae Myers

4 soft peanut butter cookies.

Cover Love:  Yes.  This is a double image.  Such a good cover for this story!

Why I Wanted to Read This:  I saw it on some Waiting on Wednesday posts and the synopsis intrigued me.  Here it is from GoodReads:

Jocelyn's twin brother Jack was the only family she had growing up in a world of foster homes-and now he's dead, and she has nothing. Then she gets a cryptic letter from "Jason December"-the code name her brother used to use when they were children at Seale House, a terrifying foster home that they believed had dark powers. Only one other person knows about Jason December: Noah, Jocelyn's childhood crush and their only real friend among the troubled children at Seale House.
But when Jocelyn returns to Seale House and the city where she last saw Noah, she gets more than she bargained for. Turns out the house's powers weren't just a figment of a childish imagination. And someone is following Jocelyn. Is Jack still alive? And if he is, what kind of trouble is he in? The answer is revealed in a shocking twist that turns this story on its head and will send readers straight back to page 1 to read the book in a whole new light.

I Kept Reading Because: You could just feel that a twist (or two, or three) was coming!

Romance?:  Yes.

What I Liked (& Didn't):

I really liked Jocelyn.  She had a good voice and finally had hope in her life.  She was not a "woe is me" type of character.  I liked her strength.

I loved Noah.

It was so interesting to see these foster kids growing up and making something of their lives.  We meet them first as older teens and see glimpses of who they were in the past.  Jocelyn and Noah were making something of themselves.  It was refreshing to see.

The twists!  I knew there were twists because I had read a few reviews (none that revealed too much because I didn't want to be spoiled).  I was really expecting that the final twist would be one thing, but it wasn't.  I was completely surprised!  But it was done in such a way that I totally bought it also.  Well done!

To Sum Up:  Since I don't want to reveal too much about the story let me just say that you should give this one a try.  It was surprising and interesting and well paced.

Book Blogging & Social Networking

Gah!

I am not a social person in the best of situations.  I can pull it out when I need to but my preference is to be at home (in a bubble bath reading, but that rarely happens)(oh, and if you ask people they will tell you that I am very social, that's because I can pull it out when I need to, but I don't love it).

I hardly ever participated in discussions in college classes and hated when participation was part of the final grade.  And when I started doing online classes and was required to comment on other people's work it about did me in.

So the fact that now I feel I have to advertise my blog over Facebook and Goodreads and Twitter makes my stomach hurt a little bit.

I don't mind tweeting about a blog post and have a blast last week tweeting with Carrie Harris and Joanne Levy (two published authors!) 80's hairstyles, but overall I am mostly not active on twitter.

And now people are adding Google+ into the mix (oh and don't even get me started on Klout--does anyone understand that?!)

And then, even when I put myself out there it feels like no one is listening because I have to fight for my spot among much bigger book blogs.  I just don't want to.  So, sometimes I wonder who is reading because I have a couple very loyal commenters, but overall it feels lonely here on this blog sometimes.

Then I discovered something:  on the new Blogger dashboard it shows the view count for each post.  I am not sure how accurate it is, or what good numbers are (I know what really good numbers are but for a blog like mine I am not sure what realistic numbers are).  All I know is that there are people looking and coming back and some posts have gotten way more views than I would have thought.  So I feel pretty good about that.

I may not be the best hostess but there are people coming to my party!

(I also like seeing what the most popular posts are and then realizing I need to do more of those kinds of posts!)

Reason to Love Print Books

Here's another reason I will always read print books:  BOOKMARKS!
I love bookmarks, always have.

Then today I get one from one of my favorite students EVER:
It just begs to be in between the pages of a good book!  Then I will be smiling for two reason; 1-because I am reading and 2-because of this adorable bookmark!

The funniest part is that I use paint chips as bookmarks all the time.  My favorite being the Disney ones you can get at Home Depot because I love the names--they always make me smile.  I normally pick one that I feel goes with the book I am reading either in tone or matching the cover.

So now I get a personalized paint chip bookmark.  How perfect is that!

Review: The Night She Disappeared by April Henry

4 double stuffed Oreos.

Cover Love:  Yes.  It sets up the mystery perfectly.

Why I Wanted to Read This:  For some reason I am into mysteries right now so this one was perfect for my mood.  Here's the synopsis from GoodReads:

Gabie drives a Mini Cooper. She also works part time as a delivery girl at Pete’s Pizza. One night, Kayla—another delivery girl—goes missing. To her horror, Gabie learns that the supposed kidnapper had asked if the girl in the Mini Cooper was working that night. Gabie can’t move beyond the fact that Kayla’s fate was really meant for her, and she becomes obsessed with finding Kayla. She teams up with Drew, who also works at Pete’s. Together, they set out to prove that Kayla isn’t dead—and to find her before she is.

I Kept Reading Because: It was a great mystery with interesting characters.

Romance?: Yes, but it was not a focal point of the story.

What I Liked (& Didn't):
I liked the format of this book.  Each chapter was from a different point of view.  This author totally makes it work.  There are some chapters from a character's point of view that we only meet in that chapter and never see again.  But it is vital to the story.  I also liked that the author added a piece of evidence or memorabilia in between each chapter.  This helped move the story along and added some lightness to the tone of the book.

The mystery of who took Kayla was good and I liked that we did sometimes get chapters from her and her captor's point of view.

I really liked Drew and liked how his story ended.  He was the level-headed one during the whole story.  I liked Gabie too, but Drew was the rock.  I also liked how their stories had parallels.  Even though Gabie's parents were successful and educated they were still absentee in her life.  And Drew's mom just couldn't get anything together.  They really were on their own.  It was good they found each other.

The chapter's written from Kayla's point of view were well written.  Not so harrowing that they were hard to read, but just enough that you could feel her despair.

The story moved along quickly and was hard to put down!

To Sum Up:  Great mystery that was not too dark in tone.  I will be ordering this for my library and looking into more books by April Henry!

Book requested and received from NetGalley.  Thanks Macmillian!

Radio Silence

Argh!  I have been reading and have some reviews coming down the pipeline, but...
We just bought ipads for our library and all myc thoughts are consumed with those.
They are for staff check out and we are trying to figure out the logistics of that.
Also, I had a girls weekend last weekend and did no blogging.
I know you all understand. 

For some reason I have been into mysteries so I have reviews for The Vanishing Game by Kate Kae Myers and The Night She Disappeared by April Henry up soon!

Have a great Tuesday!

Dystopian-ed Out (The Non-Dystopian Week)

I am reading a dystopian book right now.  It's actually pretty good, but the world that has been created is so horrible that I don't even know why people are fighting to save it.  Because you have to feel hope when you are reading a dystopian.

I feel like I am being cheated a bit by this genre.  There are so many of them that have been published and that are being published that I am having a hard time remembering the wonder of those first ones that I liked:  the ones by Lois Lowry (the Giver), and John Christopher (the Tripods series).  Even The Hunger Games which really ignited this genre for today's readers.

And it's okay.  There are a lot of readers out there still looking for good dystopians, and I will get back to reading dystopians,  I know I will.  But for now, I want something anti-dystopian.  So I am going to have non-dystopian week.  February 20-24 I am going to focus on light books about the here and now that offer hope and fun.

I already have a bunch in mind, but what about you?  What books do you think are anti-dystopian?  And would you like to participate?