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Never Mind the Goldbergs
Matthue Roth
Push (April 2006)
368 pages
High School Interest

The kids at school don’t really get Hava. She has her own style: purple and burgundy streaked hair, ripped skirts, death rock t-shirts. But her style has limits. Her skirts come down to her ankles and her shirts are always modest. She rocks out at punk shows, but she’s careful not to touch boys while she’s rocking. She straddles two distinct cultures: Orthodox Judaism and punk.

All the rules that go along with being Orthodox might seem overly restrictive, but Hava really believes. Sometimes she questions, but she always comes back to the fact that she believes. Not that she doesn’t live on the edge of her own principles sometimes, and even make some mistakes, but who doesn’t?

When she leaves her Jewish neighborhood and school for a stint on a TV show in Hollywood, she finds out first hand how hard it is to have a different set of values than the people around you. Like Amal in Does My Head Look Big in This? (My review), she chooses her faith even though it makes her an outsider.

Hava’s first person narration is vivid and funny. The book is an odd and appealing (to me, at least) combination of over the top gimmick and compelling coming of age novel. Somehow, it works.

Related Lists: Acting, Religion

Awards: ALA Popular Paperback 2007, New York Public Library Best Book for the Teen Age

Review Copy from Publisher via Tandem
Teen/Fic

I’ve been tagged! Here goes:

What were you doing five years ago?

In May of 2003, I attended a good friend’s college graduation and an award ceremony for my brother. I also visited Allerton Park in Monticello, Illinois. According to my journal, anyway. :)

What are five things on your to-do list for today (not in any particular order)?

Put laundry away
Return library books
Catch up on blogging
Take a walk
Appreciate the beautiful weather

What are five snacks you enjoy?

chocolate in any variety
apples
chips and salsa
baby carrots
strawberries

What five things would you do if you were a billionaire?
(not in order of action folks!)

Support local businesses (I love my neighborhood!)
Restore my 1917 bungalow to it’s original condition
Donate to causes I believe in
Start a college fund for my daughter
Pay off whatever needs paying off for me and mine

What are five of your bad habits?

Reading in low light
Slouching
Worrying
Being messy
Being a pack rat

What are five places where you have lived?

Champaign, IL
DeKalb, IL
St. Charles, IL
North Aurora, IL
St. Paul, MN

What are five jobs you’ve had?

Waitress at a restaurant
Library Clerk at a public library
File Clerk in a university office as a student
Financial Aid Advisor at a university as a grad student
Librarian at a public library

The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary Pearson is the inspiration for this installment of “By the Cover.” This thoughtful science fiction story has been getting a lot of attention around the blogosphere, and it’s well deserved. I couldn’t put it down. Science fiction readers might also be interested in Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card. The hand on the cover is a little less dramatic, but it definitely draws the eye.

Take on tough subjects with Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult and Rules of Survival by Nancy Werlin. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer is an unusual and experimental book that will appeal to some teens. It’s a favorite of mine, so I can’t resists including it and its huge drawn hand in this list. Freewill by Chris Lynch is another experimental book that will fit in this display.

Immerse yourself in the rich traditions of India with Koyal Dark, Mango Sweet by Kashmira Sheth. The beautifully hennaed hands on the cover are sure to capture interest, and the sweet love story inside will not disappoint. Gary Soto gives us a glimpse into Mexican American culture with the poems in Fire in My Hands. The Revised and Expanded version is perfect for classroom use.

Start with these, fill out your display with the rest of the list, and watch the books fly off the shelves!

Thanksgiving: The True Story
Penny Colman
Henry Holt (Sept 2008)
160 pages
Grades 4 to 8 Interest

In 1621, the Pilgrims celebrated the first Thanksgiving. Or was it a group of colonists in 1610 who were celebrating the arrival of a supply ship? Or even earlier in Texas? Turns out that there are more claims to “first” than you might think.

Penny Colman takes us on her investigation into her favorite holiday starting with the story we all learned about the Pilgrims and the Native Americans. She writes in an author’s note, “This is the true story of Thanksgiving—as true as it can be, based on the available evidence. New evidence, of course, might be discovered, or old evidence might be reinterpreted. I am open to that and hopeful that you are too.”

I must admit that I love history books that make history into something that can be questioned and explored. Possibility isn’t just in the future. There are possible versions of the past as well. Russell Freedman does something similar with the discovery of the Americas in Who Was First (My review), but Thanksgiving takes it even further. Colman writes about her personal research, including a survey sent to teens and adults (I couldn’t find a number of how many) about their perceptions and traditions related to the holiday. She includes quotes from the survey responses throughout the book but especially in the sections about holiday traditions. For younger readers, you can pair the last section of this book with Deborah Heiligman’s Celebrate Thanksgiving for a look at the different ways people celebrate.

A must have middle school nonfiction collections and a great choice for history classrooms.

More nonfiction reviews at the Nonfiction Monday Round Up!

Keywords: History, Holidays, Traditions

Children’s/NF
Advance Review Copy from Publisher

First off, I’m a regular reader of several parenting blogs, including Parent Dish, and it is actually quite disconcerting how little books and reading comes up on these blogs. So I hope that the Book Pick of the Week feature is here to stay at Parent Dish. This week we’re talking about nature books. I started the conversation. Join in!

Speaking of parenting blogs, Parent Hacks has a discussion going on letting your young readers choose their own books. Sometimes it’s a challenge, as a few commenters point out.

And around the kidlitosphere…

As I mentioned in the Quote Break from earlier today, Hard Love is a favorite of mine. So you can imagine I was eager to get my hands on Love & Lies: Marisol’s Story. It doesn’t come out until July 2008 (10 years from when Hard Love came out), but the story takes up from a few months after Hard Love ends. Marisol is taking a year off before college to write a novel. It doesn’t live up to it’s predecesor for me, but it Marisol tells a solidly enagaging story. Read more about it at Worth the Trip.

Back in 2006, Life As We Knew It had everyone who read it thinking of stocking up on canned food. The Dead and the Gone changes the scene of survival, but keeps the compelling drama of LAWKI. I stayed up way too late to finish this one just because I had to know how it ended. Check out Jen Robinson’s review for more information.

Interestingly, both of these companion books stand on their own quite well. So if you missed the first book, you can just jump in with these.

“That’s what I love about writing. Once you get the words down in paper, in print, they start to make sense. It’s like you don’t know what you think until it dribbles from your brain down your arm and into your hand and out through your fingers and shows up on the computer screen, and you read it and realize: That’s really true; I believe that.”

–John in Hard Love by Ellen Wittlinger

Hard Love is a favorite of mine from way back, but don’t just take my word for it:
YA Lit Musings
Bookish Marginalia
Written Kith – A Book Journal
Not Acting My Age

Thumbelina, Tiny Runaway Bride
Barbara Ensor
Schwartz & Wade (May 2008)
160 pages
Grades 4 and 5 Interest

“A quick read for smart girls.”

So says the cover of this fairy tale retelling from the author of Cinderella, As if You Didn’t Already Know the Story. This time she takes on the story of Thumbelina, whose mother wanted a baby so badly that she went to a witch. And everyone knows that you have to be careful what you ask for when you’re talking to a witch. And that’s how she ends up with a tiny baby she names Thumbelina. But eventually Thumb wants to get out from under her mother’s watchful eye. And off she goes, only to be trapped into engagements she doesn’t really want to be in. I have to admit that it bugged me that she didn’t just say NO to these unwanted suitors, but by the end of the book she’s learned a few things about the world.

It’s a cute book that may appeal to reluctant girl readers with its easy to read prose and the black and white illustrations on each spread. It would make a great gift book for tween girls.

Get another opinion: Goddess of YA Literature, Biblio File

Keywords: Fairy Tale, Girls, Tweens, Adventure

Review Copy from Publisher
Children’s/Fic

My colleagues on the YALSA-BK listserv were way ahead on me on this By the Cover series I’ve started. They compiled a great list of books with flowers on the covers and directed me to this post about teen fiction with roses on the cover at Jacketwhys. Some standouts from that list and a couple of my own:

Garret Freymann-Weyr’s Stay With Me is a quiet and poignant novel about a teen who is beyond her years and dealing with her sister’s suicide. Recommend this title to older teens and adults. The simple and dramatic cover serves the book quite well. Briar Rose, a take on the Sleeping Beauty story, by Jane Yolen is another one that would be at home in YA or adult collections. Same goes for Beauty by Robin McKinley. And just because I like Fairy Tales, I’m also going to point out Beast by Donna Jo Napoli.

But it isn’t just about the upper end of YA. Colibri by Ann Cameron will immerse your middle school readers in Guatemalan and Mayan cultures. The Outcasts of 19 Schuyler Place by E.L. Konigsburg is a particular favorite of mine, and if you have the hardover version, it’ll work perfectly for this display.

I was hoping to mix in a few nonfiction titles, but the only one I could find was Extraordinary Ordinary People, which features the story of a paper-and-wax flower maker among other traditional artists. It isn’t exactly high interest to most teens, but it really is fascinating.

Want more?

How could a browser resist the full color magnifications of all things sneeze related in Sneeze! by Alexandra Siy? The dramatic design and chatty text make this a great choice for casual readers, but the information it contains will satisfy your young scientists and inspire them to learn more about our fascinating bodies.

Dive in to the world of marine biology with Across the Wide Ocean by Karen Romano Young (My Review). This colorful book follows a sea turtle, a submarine, and a sailboat on their journeys across the sea. Each spread is full of photos, drawings, captions, and more making this book a great browse for your elementary or middle school students.

Whether they’re cute and cuddly or wild and ferocious, animals always get attention. Nic Bishop’s photography is especially eye-catching in the Sibert Honor winning Spiders. And don’t forget his latest, Frogs (My Review). The Face to Face series from National Geographic (My Review) are perfect for face out display with their close up covers featuring intriguing animals.

It may sound a bit morbid, but I Found a Dead Bird by Jan Thornhill (My Review) is a fascinating look at life cycles. The title will probably get browsers to double take, and the collage style design filled with all sorts of disgusting photographs and fascinating facts just may entice some reluctant readers to read this title straight through.

More great nonfiction at the Nonfiction Monday Round Up