The Dreamer

Author: Pam Munoz Ryan
Illustrator: Peter Sis
Published: 2010, Scholastic
384 pages

This is a fictional biography of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda, focusing mostly on his childhood.  It details the possible relationships he had with his emotionally abusive father, loving stepmother, and two siblings.  He was a shy boy who had a stutter, but also had a way with the written word.  And that's as far as I can go in my description, because.......

I hated it!  I really just don't get it.  What exactly is the purpose of a "fictional biography"?  "Fiction" and "biography" are two completely conflicting concepts and I have no idea how they ever combined to become the most illegitimate child in literature.  Even more annoying than the whole concept behind the book is the fact that the story Munoz made up isn't even entertaining.  She skims the surface of what life may have been like for Neruda growing up, but never really goes in depth.  It is full of "blah" characters amidst a "blah" storyline.

For some reason completely beyond my comprehension, this book has received absolutely rave reviews.  It has gotten starred reviews (translation: "book of remarkable merit" for Kirkus) from all the major reviewing sources, which is virtually unheard of.  It is even in the running for the 2011 Newbery Medal!  To make matters worse, a very reliable source told me that it has a very real chance of winning!  Come on, Newbery committee, we can do better than this!

On the positive side, the book itself is very beautiful.  The cover is gorgeous, as are the illustrations by Peter Sis.  As far as content is concerned, though, it didn't even make me want to read any of Neruda's poems, which were right in the back of the book.  Not a very good sign, if you ask me.

Looking For Alaska

Author: John Green
Published: 2005, Dutton
221 pages

This is another book that really spoke to my morbid side.  It is written from the perspective of Miles, a teenage boy who ships himself off to boarding school in search of "the Great Perhaps" (a quote he borrowed from the last words of poet Francois Rabelais).  Once he gets there, he makes a few friends, including his roommate "the Colonel," and falls in love with the girl every other boy is also in love with -- Alaska Young.

The book is organized into two sections: "Before" and "After."  Toward the middle of the book, it's still unclear what pivotal event is going to transform the "Before" into the "After."  Then Alaska tragically dies.  And we have our pivotal event.  In the "After" section, Miles and the Colonel commit themselves to uncovering the mystery behind Alaska's death.

This book won the Michael L. Printz Award in 2006, and it is clear why.  The characters are extremely well-developed.  From timid, naive Miles to destitute, genius the Colonel to smart, strong, moody, feminist Alaska, Green has created completely believable characters.  Miles and the Colonel's journey through grief is touching, but it isn't complete over-the-top drama.  It maintains a sense of humor and lightheartedness while dealing with such an intense subject matter.  The characters and plot, while similar in setting, stand in stark contrast to the one-note characters and stereotypical plot I think Cormier created in The Chocolate War.

My favorite thing about this book is that Miles is obsessed with famous people's last words, and I've decided that I should start getting obsessed with that, too.  There are several good last words mentioned in the book, but my favorite are playwright Henrik Ibsen's, on page 11: "...he'd been sick for a while and his nurse said to him, 'You seem to be feeling better this morning,' and Ibsen looked at her and said, 'On the contrary,' and then he died."  I don't think it gets much better than that, but if I find any other good ones as I explore my new hobby, I'll let you know.

This is a great book for anyone, but especially for anyone dealing with grief.  The message I took away from Miles's journey is that death sucks, but life goes on and the best way to deal with losing someone you love is to celebrate his or her life, not completely bring your own to a halt.

The Golden Compass: His Dark Materials, Book 1

Author: Philip Pullman
Published: 1996, Knopf
399 pages

Philip Pullman is a genius.  I could talk about this book for days, but I'll try to reel it in as best I can.  This is Book #1 in a trilogy, and probably the only one I'll talk about unless I get requests to post about the others.  The other two are The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass.  The truth is, there are so many underlying themes in all of these books that can go right over children's heads, but there is also a fantastic story that everyone can enjoy.

The story follows the child Lyra Belacqua, who is easily my favorite character ever created, as she travels to the North to save her friend and other children who have been captured to endure horrendous experiments at the hands of the Magisterium.  Pullman has created a truly magical world in which polar bears can talk, witches fly through the Northern sky, and all humans have animal counterparts called daemons.

In the midst of Lyra's adventure, Pullman manages to skillfully intertwine elements of modern science, my favorite being the Many-Worlds Theory of quantum physics.  If you're interested in that aspect, an entire book has been written about that alone: The Science of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials.

There has been a lot of controversy about this book, especially when it was being made into a movie in 2007, that stems mostly from Pullman's outspoken atheism.  There are certainly some elements in The Golden Compass that are anti-organized religion, but this theme is not as prevalent in the first book as it is in the second two (and definitely not as prevalent as it is in his latest book: The Good Man Jesus and The Scoundrel Christ).  And, frankly, the story is good enough that if you didn't know anything about the controversy before reading it, you might completely miss it.

Anyway, I'm glad I'm so obsessed with this book because now I can name my future spawn Lyra instead of "Ponyboy Curtis," which I was planning to do after reading The Outsiders and which is just not a socially acceptable name (no, not even for a librarian's child).  My future child thanks you, Philip Pullman.

Be the Pack Leader

Authors: Cesar Millan and Melissa Jo Peltier
Published: 2007, Crown Archetype
336 pages

Some people watch The Dog Whisperer “every now and then” or “if there’s nothing else on.”  I, on the other hand, am one of those rare people who actually goes out of my way to watch The Dog Whisperer.  I actually DVR it.  I should stop there, before I really embarrass myself.  On to the book!

If you are looking for a step-by-step guide of how to get your dog how to “sit” or “stay” or “speak,” this is not the book for you.  Cesar never claims to be a dog trainer.  He is an expert on dog psychology, and that is what this book is about.  He keeps to his usual guidelines of “Exercise, Discipline, and Affection,” and elaborates further on his principle of calm assertive energy.  He provides a list of tools (different kinds of collars, leashes, etc.) and suggestions for how to use them properly.  He also gives advice on how to deal with special situations (going to the vet, bringing a dog home for the first time, etc.).  He doesn’t, however, address the really important issues like stealing my socks, or waking up at 6:30am even on the weekends.

Cesar was recently in the news for criticizing Obama’s handling of his dog Bo, and I’m happy to report that the cutest dog in the world a.k.a. Cooper a.k.a. MY dog has slightly calmed his wild beastly leash-pulling ways and has become a sweeter little beast who happily trots behind me every morning.  Except when there are squirrels.  And except when, well… maybe he’s not that “calmed” yet.

Cooper, cutest dog in the world

There’s nothing life-changing, or even dog-changing, about reading this book, but it was an interesting read for someone as obsessed with dogs as I am.  I recently bought his new book, Cesar’s Rules: Your Way to Train a Well-Behaved Dog, and I’m looking forward to reading that as it appears to contain collaborations with other trainers.  Stay tuned.

My book cover images

Today I realized that I have been engaging in risky criminal behavior lately — copyright infringement.  And all for this blog!  For my first couple posts, I just went into Google images and did a quick browse for the title.  As a librarian, I should know that I can’t just right-click and do a “Save Image As” because that’s illegal.  Luckily, I found this article about LibraryThing giving away their cover images before the copyright soldiers tracked me down and arrested me.

So, thank you, LibraryThing!  And, readers, you should also send LibraryThing a thank you e-mail because the alternative was taking pictures of the covers myself, and you don’t even want to know what my trial pictures looked like.  Flash or no flash?  Indoors?  What if it’s raining?  Will a piece of construction paper make a suitable “background”?  Whatever, I took a photo class during my undergrad but apparently I absorbed the information like a sieve.

God Went To Beauty School (poetry)

Author: Cynthia Rylant
Published: 2003, HarperTempest
56 pages

I finally “get it.”  I get what it is about poetry that I’ve never gotten before.  Everybody is always saying things like, “I get it.”  “It really spoke to me.” “It really says something." about different art forms, and I’ve always heard “Blah, blah, blah, I’m a pretentious culture snob.”  Now, don’t get me wrong, some of those people still are pretentious culture snobs, but now I do see the grain of truth in their constant mutterings.  And I have Rylant to thank for that.

From my completely non-religious frame of mind, I have no idea what it is about a collection of poems about God that captivated me so much.  They are humorous, lighthearted, and convincing while still being respectful.

It’s unclear whether Rylant approaches it from a religious or non-religious standpoint.  She doesn’t say anything about it in the inner or outer covers nor does she mention her spiritual/religious preferences in her author bio.  And the great thing is, I don’t really care.  So if anybody feels the need to do the research for me and posts the answer, I will be forced to disable your sweet little comments because I think knowing might ruin some of this magic for me.  Remember, I am a librarian — If I wanted to find something out, I could and I would.

In related news, I am a pretentious culture snob who apparently likes poetry that doesn’t even rhyme.

And now for the main event: a sample, for all my fellow snobs….

God Bought A Couch
He ordered it from Pottery Barn
and He had a little trouble
because His credit card
billing address didn’t match
the delivery address.
They weren’t totally convinced
He was God.
Because for one thing
He got His credit card
bills in Hell
(just His quirky sense of humor)
and He wanted the
couch shipped to Heaven

Brilliant.

Briar Rose

Author: Jane Yolen
Published: 1992, Tor Books
241 pages

After finishing (and being very disappointed in) Zel, I started rethinking my decision to read Briar Rose, another reimagined fairy tale.  Fortunately, I decided to stick it out… And I couldn’t be happier with my decision!  In case any of you don’t know (I didn’t until I read this book), “Briar Rose” is another name for “Sleeping Beauty.”

To me, Briar Rose represents everything a reimagined fairy tale should be.  The story is new while still being recognizable.  Yolen takes the familiar Sleeping Beauty fairy tale and turns it into a Holocaust mystery.  We follow Becca, our main character, along on her journey to discover where her mysterious Grandmother came from and why she always claimed to be Briar Rose.

I’ve done a lot of Holocaust reading — fiction and non-fiction — but I’ve never read a Holocaust mystery.  “Historical Holocaust fiction” and “fairy tale mystery” are two concepts I would never expect to be a fitting description of a single book, but Yolen manages to pull it off without losing any of the horror of the Holocaust nor the fantasy of a fairy tale.

If you’re interested in Holocaust fiction or nonfiction (I know I am… very morbid, I know.  I’ll also read anything about the death penalty.  I swear I’m not maintaining this blog from inside a psych ward.) then this is a good book to add to your shelf.