Kid Lit Groupie, Part II

Had an AMAZING vacation at Rocky Mountain National Park last week and got to meet one of my all-time favorite people and kid lit writers, Lindsay Eland, whose super fun and adorable Scones and Sensibility belongs on every young romantic's shelf. And by "fun and adorable," I mean it is every bit as sweet as Lindsay herself, whom you can see in this photo is the equivalent of a 110-pound bag of all-natural sugar, and by "young," I mean any age at all.

Origami Yoda: Blog About It I Must

So, um. It's been a while. Like, almost four months. And not because I've been slackin' ... in fact, I've been busy. Writing! Yay!

But I had to pop back in to talk up the uber-awesome masterpiece of kid lit that is THE STRANGE CASE OF ORIGAMI YODA, by my favorite terminally 12-year-old author, Tom Angleberger (aka Sam Riddleburger).

Here's me buying the book the day it came out. Two copies - one for me and one for my niece. The book hadn't been placed on the shelves yet, so I had to ask the nice B&N rep to fetch my copies from the back room ...

... and by the time she came back, another pair of customers was already lined up, waiting for their copy as well!

Pretty cool, huh? Even cooler: When I went back to B&N a few days later, I checked to make sure it was out on the shelf. When the rep (a different one this time) saw me looking at YODA, she came over and said, "That's the hot one right now." Oh, yeah!!

So, what's so hot about it? Well, there's the format: part graphic novel, part diary, told from a bunch of points of view ... each more fun than the last. Then, there's the humor: pure Angleberger (which, for those of you unfamiliar with Tom, is very, very humorous). Then, there's the tension: We find out right away that the stakes are high in this book, and we're dying to know how it'll all play out. Then, there's ... oh, yeah ... YODA!

Anyone who likes Yoda, and I'm pretty sure that includes anyone who has a pulse, needs to get their butt over to the nearest library or bookstore and check this book out! Now! Go! What are you waiting for?

Cuz I know you're not holding your breath and waiting for my next post....

P.S. Want to know how to make your own Origami Yoda? Check out Tom's Web site.

Cute Ad Promoting Children's Literacy

It's Back to School! Pass this YouTube video on, and make it a point to do something this fall to promote literacy in your own community.

(FWIW, I am not familiar with the organization named in the video, so I'm not advocating for that group in particular, but rather for literacy in general.)

Cutest PB Character Ever

Check out Woolbur !

Isn't he great?

Jay Asher, Author Extraordinaire!

Just five days after meeting fellow kid lit writer and Internet buddy Sam Riddleburger, last night I had the pleasure of meeting fellow kid lit writer and Internet buddy Jay Asher!



Sam, Jay and I are all represented by the same awesome literary agency. The only real difference between us is that both of them actually write and publish books, while I ... well, let's just say my work-in-progress is coming along slowly but surely.

Jay probably doesn't realize it, but he's played a major role in this blog. He left my first ever comment, singlehandedly caused the blog to receive a not-entirely-family-friendly rating and was my 5,000th visitor.

Jay is also a huge icon for me and the entire kid lit community because in January 2006, not long before he received The Offer for his now best-selling teen book, 13 Reasons Why, Jay wrote a dejected post on a kid lit message board in which he said: "Right now, I feel like throwing my hands up and walking away. ... part of me wants to at least say, 'For the next year, I'm not putting myself through this anymore. It's time to see what else I'm interested in.' ... I ... am ... just ... so ... frustrated!" These are sentiments most writers can identify with all too well, and knowing that someone who has met with such success once felt that way himself has been a great encouragement to me and many others.


So anyway, you can imagine how excited I was to hear that Jay was holding a book reading and signing at the Border's in Fairfax. He brought up one lucky volunteer from the audience to read the part of Hannah. (If you aren't familiar with 13 Reasons Why, you can check out my review of it here.)



After reading from the book, telling his inspirational publishing story and sharing some of the very moving emails he has received from teens affected by the book, Jay kindly signed my "Ask me about 13 Reasons Why" t-shirt, which I won in a contest on his old blog. Jay said he'd never signed a shirt before, so it's a one-of-a-kind! I could probably get a nice price for it on e-Bay, eh? Sorry ... not gonna happen.

OK, enough fan grrrl talk. Jay was as nice as could be and his book is fantastic ... so check it out!

Sam Riddleburger, Live and in the Flesh!

It's always cool to meet email buddies in person.

Today, after a longtime Internet friendship with kid lit author Sam Riddleburger, I had a chance to experience him live and in person at his book reading and signing at Bull Run Regional Library in Manassas.



I say "experience" because a morning with Sam is truly an experience. He and his "Stonewall Hinkleman and the Battle of Bull Run" co-author Michael Hemphill kept a room chock-full of kids (mostly boys, no less) rapt for about an hour and a half.



If ever someone decides to open a Kid Lit Improv, Sam and Michael will make their fortune.

Great stuff ... check it out:


Who says boys aren't into books? These kids were all over that Stonewall Hinkleman action!


They had juggling ...


and dramatic readings ...


and a flag making contest.

And that wasn't all! Sam and Michael held some other cool contests, including:

• A Bugle Blowing Contest - The winner burped mid-blow. Of course Sam couldn't resist rewarding this gross and hilarious move. (Sam's first published kid's book is about a poop fountain. Need I say more?)
• A Hard Tack Eating Contest - Eight brave kids agreed to try this Civil War soldiers' staple. The consensus seemed to be that it tasted like dog food and/or dog biscuits. Disturbing. (OK, yes, I tried dog food when I was a kid, too. Once.)
• A Civil War Quiz - The winner not only answered all five of the regular quiz questions correctly but also managed to answer the bonus question ("Who is buried in Grant's tomb?") doubly correctly by writing "Grant and his wife." Hah! I did not know that.

And while the kids were creating flags and burping into bugles ...


their parents were lining up to buy the book!

Afterward, Sam and Michael signed books and bookmarks.


Check out the little cutie in the soldier's uniform!

Overall, a great way to recognize the anniversary of the Battle of Bull Run and introduce kids to a fun book. I'll end this post the way I ended my review of Stonewall Hinkleman: Well done, lads. Well done!

Puzzle News

When I'm not reading or writing kid lit, you'll often find me solving puzzles. Crosswords and logic puzzles are my favorites, but I love any type of puzzle that presents a good challenge. So the last couple of weeks have been especially fun for me, for three reasons:

First, my husband and I entered the 2009 Washington Post Hunt. We didn't do so hot -- we only got three out of five of the basic puzzles, which meant we didn't even have a shot at the Super Ridiculous Impossible End Game Puzzle -- but we had lots of fun trying. And considering that we went it alone, I felt OK about it. They recommend teams of at least four, and now I know why. The more brainpower, the better. The hosts (humor columnist extraordinaires Dave Barry and Gene Weingarten as well as Washington Post Magazine Editor Tom Shroder) estimated only a small percentage of teams solved all five of the basic puzzles, so I don't feel too bad.



Here's me at Post Hunt Ground Zero, posing in front of Dave Barry posing with someone else!

You may be too late for this year's hunt, but you can experience some of the fun (and frustration!) and start preparing for next year by checking out these practice video puzzles. Enjoy!

Second, I visited the Tyson's Corner Barnes & Noble and picked up a copy of The Potato Chip Puzzles by Eric Berlin. Berlin is not only a kid lit author but is also a New York Times crossword constructor, which in my world makes him All Kinds of Awesome. A follow-up to Berlin's debut mystery, The Puzzling World of Winston Breen, his new book proved an even better read, in my opinion. Lots of great puzzles, a great underlying mystery and the same very likeable cast of characters.

Third, I was checking out Berlin's blog this weekend and came across a very cool project he has undertaken. If you love crosswords or would like to get signed copies of his both his books, check it out here. For just $5 you can support his project and receive a suite of nine -- count them, nine! -- crossword puzzles and enter his puzzle contest. (You need to contribute at least $40 to get the books. Well worth the price if you like kid lit mysteries.) Berlin's goal for the project was $1500 and he has already exceeded that. Which is pretty darned cool.

Stonewall Hinkleman on Location

It is my great pleasure and honor to host the first stop of a week-long blog tour for the newly released Stonewall Hinkleman and the Battle of Bull Run!

When my buddy Sam Riddleburger, who co-authored the book along with Michael Hemphill, first asked whether I would participate in their tour, my first thought was, Woohoo! I love that book! My second thought was, What the heck am I gonna write? I've already reviewed it once.

(For those of you who are not familiar with the book, long story short: It's about a very likable kid with the unfortunate name of Stonewall Traveler Hinkleman whose parents are major Civil War buffs and who gets dragged along to their Civil War reenactments every weekend. As Stonewall says, the reenactments are really cool ... when you're six. When you're practically a teenager, it's boring. That is, until our hero finds himself transported back to the actual Battle of Bull Run, where he finds the fate of the country lies in his hands and so he ... well, you'll have to read the book to find out what he does.)

So anyway, for my tour stop, I decided to take Stonewall Hinkleman and Company on a little field trip to the site of the Battle of Bull Run, Manassas National Battlefield.


A very nice park volunteer who would identify himself only as "Snake" checks out my copy of Stonewall.


Stonewall rolls his eyes at the statue of General Thomas Jackson, sitting astride his horse like a ... a stone wall! Why couldn't General Bee have blurted out a much cooler nickname, like Rock? or Hammer? or Lone Wolf?


Lest that last photo leave you thinking the park's statue of the great Stonewall Jackson is kind of puny, here is a close-up, with me holding the book for scale. Check out the dude's pecs. As one passer-by commented, "He must have worked out."

Thus ends the field trip and the first stop on Stonewall's tour.

For details on the rest of the tour, including a cool contest where you can win some Stonewall- and Dial Books-related goodies, check out Sam's Web site.

To buy the book (and if you like Civil War stuff, or time travel, or kids with attitude, or just plain fun reading, you really should buy the book), check it out here on Amazon.

Update: Oops, my bad! As Sam mentions in the comments, the key to winning the goodies is to send an email to blogtour@stonewallhinkleman.com with "Stonewall Contest" as your subject line. Good luck!

It's a Start, Part VII

Time to revive an old favorite!

"It's a Start" takes a look at the first sentence (or so) of books plucked randomly from the Acorn bookshelves. You can find Parts I-VI along with my later "It's a Start: Work in Progress" posts here.

I don't get paid to do this and have no real credentials, so my comments are just one reader's thoughts. If you feel differently, speak up! That's what the comments section is for. Note: Maximum number of stars = 5.

The week before I left my family and Florida and the rest of my minor life to go to boarding school in Alabama, my mother insisted on throwing me a going away party. Looking for Alaska, by John Green

As I noted in an earlier post, this book really didn't do much for me, but I do love this first sentence. We get some sense of the main character and his voice ("minor life"? "insisted"?). We get setting. We get a hint of the change that is about to set the plot in motion. So much accomplished in so few words. Stars: ****


I was supposed to play the piano. A Crooked Kind of Perfect, by Linda Urban

Talk about accomplishing a lot in a few words! We know our MC believes she was supposed to play the piano. Why? We can infer from this statement that she does not play the piano. Why not? This sentence involves the reader right off the bat and respects our intelligence. A lovely sentence, simple and yet complex. Much like the book itself. Stars: *****


The day I broke up with my boyfriend Evan was the day he wrote the song. Audrey, Wait! by Robin Benway

Again, we have a first sentence that tells us something has just changed in the narrator's life: a breakup. We also have a teaser. What song? We also have a bit of a play for empathy. Anyone who has been through a breakup knows this ex-boyfriend-writing-a-song scenario can't be good. Stars: ****


When Eddie B. dared me to walk the net bridge over the Elijah Hatchett River where we'd seen an alligator and another kid got bit by a coral snake, I wasn't scared--I just didn't feel like doing it right then. Violet Raines Almost Got Struck by Lightning, by Danette Haworth

I love spunky main characters (and who doesn't?), so this grabs me right away. Again we have setting. And you can't help but feel there's more than just a hint of foreshadowing in there, can you? Net bridges, alligators and snakes, oh my! Stars: *****


Of all the kids in the seventh grade at Camillo Junior High, there was one kid that Mrs. Baker hated with heat whiter than the sun. Me. The Wednesday Wars, by Gary D. Schmidt

Can you say, "conflict"? Sheesh! A teacher who hates our MC with a "heat whiter than the sun." Why? And what does she have in store for him? A great first sentence from my current Favorite Kid Lit Writer on the Face of the Earth. Stars: ****


That's it for this post. Not sure what's up with all the first-person narrators this time around, but they sure make for some compelling starts! What did you think of these?

Book Review: Stonewall Hinkleman

OK, so there I am, all la-di-da, reading my brand new ARC of Stonewall Hinkleman and the Battle of Bull Run, by my buddy Sam Riddleburger and his co-author, Michael Hemphill.

I’m marveling at the spot-on teen voice. I’m appreciating the historical references expertly inserted throughout. I’m admiring the way they handle the whole time-travel-portal thing. I’m just plain enjoying a fun story, well told.

When all of a sudden … Wham!

A third of the way through the book, there’s this note, written by Thomas Stonewall Jackson himself to our main character, Stonewall Hinkleman (who, in case you haven’t guessed, is named after him), and the note is urging Hinkleman to prevent the South from winning the Civil War.

Yes, the South, the very side I fought for, but which I now know to have been very much in the wrong. Now I understand the extraordinary injustice of slavery and the countless contributions that African Americans as a free people have made to….

Get. Out.

Now, for those of you from the North, or the Midwest, or the West, or Florida … you may be wondering, Linda, what’s the big deal? The Union beat the Confederacy. The slaves were freed. It’s all good. Right?

Hmph. Shows what you know.

Not that I don’t get where you’re coming from. I was born, raised and educated in Pennsylvania. I’m a Yankee at heart.

However, having lived south of the Mason Dixon line for 20+ years and having a brother who teaches Civil War history to fifth graders in North Carolina, I can tell you, there is another version of that portion of American history, one that has less to do with freeing slaves and maintaining these United States of America and more to do with rejecting rule by a federal government and protecting one’s homeland from an invasion by the North.

So how is it that two authors from the great state of Virginia have fictionalized a note from Stonewall Jackson calling the South wrong? Surely they realize this will be considered sheer blasphemy by many of their neighbors. Are they trying to stir up controversy? And if so, wouldn’t it be simpler just to use the word “scrotum” somewhere in the note and be done with it?

So now I’m all no-they-didn’t as I’m reading the rest of the ARC, wondering (fearing) whether this is going to be just a PC indictment of the South with no acknowledgement of the genuine issues the Confederacy faced during the dark days of the war.

But I don’t have long to wonder. About 20 pages later, I get to a part where a Confederate soldier named Cyrus tells Hinkleman about his family’s business dealings with blacks.

Hinkleman is shocked:

Free blacks? In Virginia? And Joshua treated them the same as whites? I look hard at Cyrus to see if he’s joking. I always think of all blacks as slaves and all whites as slave-owners, but it was a lot more complicated than that.

And just a few pages later, Cyrus and Hinkleman have this exchange:

“… the way I see it, the North is full of men like John Brown. Men who killed my brother and now want to come down here and tell us how to live. … some things are worth fighting for. Like family and home.”

“But John Brown was trying to free slaves,” I say, more to myself. “I mean, that’s what the war was all about.”

I look up at Cyrus. He’s got a scowl on his face and he says real low, “Joshua didn’t have no slaves. Daddy and me don’t have no slaves. This ain’t about the slaves. This is about us being free.”

And so it is that I was able to resume my la-di-da reading, this time with an even keener appreciation for the historical perspectives being brought to Stonewall Hinkleman’s story.

Well done, lads. Well done.

(P.S. No review of “Stonewall Hinkleman” would be complete without mention of the fantabulous cover, illustrated by none other than Tuesday Mourning.)

What's Your Reading Speed?

I have always considered myself a slow reader. Turns out my reading speed is "average" (though I'm guessing that is slow relative to others who read as much as I do).

How fast do you read? Find out.

Grab Bag o' Kid Lit Stuff

I've had a busy few weeks (thus the dearth of posts), but my adventures have provided some good fodder for a post:

• At the SCBWI Mid-Atlantic Chapter New Member Welcome event on April 26 (which I never miss, though it's been years since I was "new") we were treated to excellent presentations by Candlewick Editor Kate Fletcher and authors Gigi Amateau and Meg Medina. One comment that really hit home for me was Meg's answer to a question about how to handle an editor's request for major revisions to a novel. Meg said she finds you need to take some time to grieve the manuscript you thought you were writing, and when you are finished grieving, you can open your eyes to the amazing manuscript you have and its wonderful, unrealized potential.
  
  Kudos to the event organizers, who ... no lie ... baked hundreds of homemade cookies and brownies for us. Oh, yeah!
  
  
• On May 2, Phillip Lerman, a former producer for FOX's "America's Most Wanted" and author of the very funny Dadditude, spoke at a Northern Virginia Writers event on what print writers can learn from TV folks.
  
  Lerman suggested a fun exercise to build our skills at creating voice. Pick people you know ... this can be family, friends, TV personalities ... and write in their voice. Imagine them saying the words. How would they sound? Lerman said he knows how John Walsh of "America's Most Wanted" speaks better than John knows himself. We need to tune into our characters just as strongly.
  
  (BTW, be sure to check out Lerman's book as a potential Father's Day gift ... but only if dad can handle plenty of colorful language.)
  
  
• A visit to my brother in North Carolina this past weekend gave me a chance to quiz my 8-year-old niece about her kid lit preferences. Her favorite characters? Amelia Bedelia, Junie B. Jones and Captain Underpants. Hah! Cool kid. Must take after her aunt.
  
  
• Sunday's Washington Post Book World was devoted to children's books (woohoo!!). Most interesting to me was a piece by my favorite advice columnist, Carolyn Hax. Carolyn's regular column in The Post is smart, funny and brutally honest, so I was curious to see what she had to say about kid lit. Turns out, as a mother of three, she understands a thing or two about the genre. Her reviews are just as smart, funny and brutally honest as her advice column. Check it out.
  

Ah, the Wonders of Self Publishing

First we have My New Mommy, explaining to kids why mom needs a tummy tuck (helpfully written by a plastic surgeon), and now this.

Even if the topic weren't laugh-out-loud funny, the preachy prose would be. I won't pick on the illustrations, as they do at least seem to be, er, inspired by the subject matter.

Thanks to Word Wrangler for turning me onto it (the book, that is).

(BTW, I do not think self publishing is bad in and of itself. There are some excellent reasons to self-publish, and there are many quality self-pub'd books out there. But that's a post for another time.)

Maybe Some Day I'll Try to Write a REAL Book

Today's Washington Post Book World has a terrific piece by Lois Lowry, "The Writing Life: In Which a Chronic Liar Grows Up to Be a Celebrated Children's Author." Lowery's article on her childhood proclivity for creating "fiction" is funny and enlightening, a celebration of storytelling in its purist form.

The accompanying sidebar, "Lois Lowery: Making It New," written by Maria Arana, details Lowery's biography and her prolific writing career as evidenced by her 30 published books, including two Newbery winners.

A full page in the Post Book World devoted to a children's writer! Heaven on newsprint for someone like me.

Er, until the second-to-last paragraph of the sidebar, in which Arana for some reason feels compelled to ask: "Has she ever contemplated writing a novel for grown-ups?"

Huh? Am I being sensitive or does that question discount this woman's vocation (and avocation) of writing for children? Why do some people, including perhaps this Washington Post Book World reporter, seem to think "real authors" must write for adults?

Bravo to Lois Lowery for her response to this bit of idiocy: "I'm doing something far more valuable, writing for someone who is wide open -- aged somewhere between 10 and 14. I'm preparing kids to enter the difficult world of contemporary times."

One wonders if Lowery had to bite her tongue to give that answer. She is a better woman than I.

I Just Didn't Connect with It

I really, really wanted to love Looking for Alaska. Because, well, almost everyone loves it, and because it won a Printz Award and because John Green seems like a nice, funny guy and has a great blog.

Writers are always hearing from agents and editors that "I just didn't connect with your work." And now I know what they mean. John's writing is great, the voice authentic, his theme intriguing. But, I just didn't connect. (Actually, John may be one of the few writers in the world never to have been told that ... apparently he sold Alaska to the first editor he submitted to, which is another reason I know I really should love this book.)

I think there were three main reasons I didn't connect.

1. I hate pranks. Pranks play a large part in the book. And granted, the final prank is a hoot and is pulled off beautifully. But I cringe at TV shows and movies with pranks, and I felt that same discomfort here.


2. I generally shy away from dark themes. I've never been a big Coen brothers fan. Disliked Fargo. Hated No Country. So you see where I'm coming from. Alaska has lots of humor and light moments, but let's face it, suicide (or, I should say, potential suicide) is dark, no matter how you frame it. This is not to say I never enjoy reading serious or dark books, but that generally is not my preference, so I'm sure that had something to do with my overall reaction to the book.


3. The ending made me very, very unhappy. Not because it wasn't satisfying. Not because it didn't work. Not because it seemed contrived or inappropriate or unrealistic or any of those things. No, the reason I hated the ending is because Green ends with his main character writing a school essay exploring the meaning of life and love and friendship ... and that's how I was going to end my current work in progress! Now I'll just seem derivative. So I have to think about whether to stick to my plan or change it. Waaaah! (Ah, well, great minds... LOL.)

Now, please do not take this post to mean that you shouldn't read the book. John Green probably has more writing talent in his little finger than I have in my whole body, so by all means take this "review" with a couple/few grains of salt. My main point here, as indicated by the title of this post, is to reinforce to myself and maybe to others that those six little words, "I just didn't connect with it," might mean just that. And just because one editor or agent or reader didn't connect doesn't mean no one will.

You Gotta Have the Passion

I've been down sick this week, so I've made the best of it by getting some reading done. In the last three days, I've finished two terrific examples of kid lit, The Puzzling World of Winston Breen by Eric Berlin and A Crooked Kind of Perfect by Linda Urban.

Eric Berlin is a New York Times crossword creator, which makes him, like, practically a god. The fact that he can do that and write a fun middle-grade mystery with puzzles scattered throughout it makes him, like, actually a god. If you or someone you know enjoys puzzles, particularly word puzzles, you'll want to get your hands on this book.

Linda Urban is not a New York Times crossword creator. For all I know, she may not even be able to solve them. Nonetheless, she is a goddess. Crooked is one of the best books I have ever read. Ever. And I've read a lot of books. The writing, the humor, the story arc ... everything about the book is perfect, crooked or otherwise.

One thing these books have in common (besides being written by higher beings) is the fact that they tell the story of a character who has a passion. Winston Breen is passionate about puzzles. Zoe Elias is passionate about playing the piano (well, even if she is stuck playing the organ).

Whether or not we can relate to each kid's passion (puzzles ... oh, yeah! pianos ... not so much), we like to see it. It makes the character interesting, a little different from his or her peers. It gives the character strength and spunk. It provides a path for conflict and growth. It makes us care about them and root for them.

What is your main character's passion?

5,000 and Counting

Last night Just Like the Nut got it's 5,000th visitor! And that visitor was ... Jay Asher! Or at least, according to SiteMeter, it was someone from Jay's hometown who entered here by way of a comment I made on a kid lit message board about his book, so I think it was him. Jay also happens to be the first person who ever left a comment on my blog.

So, in Jay's honor, I want to direct everyone who stops by here to today's Disco Mermaids blog post, where Jay celebrates some exciting news about his book. If you're into kid lit but haven't yet read 13 Reasons Why, well, you are now officially "out of it." Jay's book is going to a second printing less than three months after its release. (Want to know what the first print run was? Check out that link!)

It's a Start, Part VI

It's a Start is an occasional feature that takes a look at the first sentence (or so) of books picked randomly from the Acorn bookshelves. You can find Parts I-V here.

We have a great crop today, some real winners! As always, if you feel differently, let your voice be heard in the comments section! Note: Maximum number of stars = 5.

You are not going to believe me, nobody in their right minds could possibly believe me, but it's true, really it is! When I woke up this morning, I found I'd turned into my mother. Freaky Friday, by Mary Rodgers

Well, they say you should start the story at the point where something unusual happens to your protagonist. This'll do! We have voice and we have conflict. Oh, do we have conflict. A teenager's worst nightmare. Stars: ****


You'd think I could spend the night at a friend's house without finding myself knee-deep in pig poop. Sammy Keyes and the Curse of Moustache Mary, by Wendelin Van Draanen

Knee-deep in pig poop? Hold my calls, honey, I have some reading to do! Stars: *****


From his perch behind the clock, Hugo could see everything. The Invention of Hugo Cabret, by Brian Selznick

This is the first written sentence of Chapter One of "Hugo Cabret," but as anyone familiar with the book knows, it is hardly the beginning. We have already followed Hugo through a Paris train station and up the steps to the clock through Selznick's illustrations. Still, it's a great first sentence. Why is Hugo perched behind a clock? And what is meant by "everything"? I have a feeling we're about to find out. Stars: ****


RULES FOR DAVID. Chew with your mouth closed. Say "thank you" when someone gives you a present (even if you don't like it). When someone says "hi," you say "hi" back. Rules, by Cynthia Lord

If you haven't read "Rules," these first sentences appear as part of a handwritten list placed before the first chapter, as a sort of prologue. (And there are five additional rules on the list, for a total of eight.) It's a perfect beginning for this book, for a number of reasons. First, it grabs the reader's attention. A handwritten note is unusual and has a very personal feel to it. Second, though the first two rules are ordinary enough and might be applicable to any child (heck, I have to be reminded sometimes, and I'm, er, older than a child), when you get to the third rule, you start to wonder about David. Who is he, and why does he need to be told such a thing? And third, this list sets the stage for the book as a whole, in which David's rules play a major thematic role. Stars: *****


I'll be a millionaire by the time I turn thirty-five. Successful. Independent. Abbey Garner -- Self-made financial genius. Beauty Shop for Rent, by Laura Bowers

Again, this is the start of a brief prologue to the book. I like this because it tells us a lot about the character, and it makes us want to learn more about her. And even though technically it is "telling" and not "showing," it sort of "shows" us that this is one determined, self-confident girl, by virtue of the fact that she would make these predictions so matter-of-factly. Stars: ***


Bonus Start: Hypothetical Question of the Week: If you were forced to have an extra body part implanted on your back, which would you choose? A finger, ear, breast or nose? Beauty Shop for Rent, by Laura Bowers

I just had to add the first sentence of Chapter One of Laura's book as a bonus. While the first sentence of her prologue draws us in and makes us want to learn more about her character, the first sentence of the body of the book is just plain funny. And intriguing. And it's one of those probing first sentences that really makes the reader stop and think. (For the record, I'd go for a finger ... that way I could scratch my own back!) Stars: ****

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Ha!

This week I read Jeff Kinney's Diary of a Wimpy Kid. I was hoping to post a review of it, but the only thing I can think to say about it is: Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!

My usual M.O. when I review a book is to take one aspect, one thing I feel the author handles really well, and analyze it. Well, the one thing Kinney does really well ... and he does it really, really well ... is make you laugh. He's funny. So you can see my dilemma. You try to analyze funny and, well, we all know how that goes.

So suffice to say, if you have not already read this book, get thee to a library or a book store or Santa's lap and secure a copy posthaste!

P.S. Before reading, you may want to check this out.

It's a Start, Part V

Today's "It's a Start" will highlight books from my high school AP English class ... way, way back in the day.

If you're new to this blog, It's a Start is an occasional feature in which we take a look at the first sentence (or so) of books picked randomly from the Acorn bookshelves (only this time it's not so random, I guess).

Each of the following books is considered a classic piece of literature, so let's see whether they manage to draw readers in with the first sentence, as today's authors are urged to do. Before we start, let me say that I tend not to care much for "classic literature," or any literature, for that matter. I prefer commercial, genre stuff. So if you disagree with these ratings, well, it's all good. Let me have it in the comments section. Note: Maximum # of stars = 5.

I had the story, bit by bit, from various people, and, as generally happens in such cases, each time it was a different story. Ethan Frome, by Edith Wharton

Intriguing start. We know that whatever tale is about to unfold has been told over and over, so it's gotta be good, right? I love the voice here, too. Not "I heard the story," but "I had the story." An unusual turn of phrase to launch the book. In the interest of full disclosure, I have a soft spot in my heart for Ethan Frome, as I wrote the essay portion of my AP exam on it. However, I am confident this first sentence deserves each and every one of its stars: *****

The towers of Zenith aspired above the morning mist; austere towers of steel and cement and limestone, sturdy as cliffs and delicate as silver rods. Babbit, by Sinclair Lewis

Well, it's literary, I'll give it that. Would today's author get away with a semicolon in the first sentence? Hmm. I do appreciate the word choices, especially "aspired." So much better than "rose." If I knew what silver rods were, maybe the contrasting imagery at the end would have worked better for me. Mixed feelings on this one. Stars: ***

If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth. The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger

Bingo!! Voice. Attitude. Even takes a swipe at a literary classic ... now, that's my kinda book! And, of course, the reader doesn't really want all that background stuff, anyway. We want to start where the action is, and that's precisely what this first sentence tells us our narrator is going to do. A great start to one of my all-time favorite books. (Hey, I said I "tend" not to go for classics ... there are of course some exceptions!) Stars: *****

When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow. When it healed, and Jem's fears of never being able to play football were assuaged, he was seldom self-conscious about his injury. To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee

I love this book. I'm not so crazy about the first two sentences. But, um, it's Harper Lee. She seemed to know what she was doing. The day I can write a book one-tenth as compelling as Mockingbird is the day I'll criticize. Stars: ***

Mr. Sherlock Holmes, who was usually very late in the mornings, save upon those not infrequent occasions when he was up all night, was seated at the breakfast table. Hound of the Baskervilles, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Can't help but read that one with a British accent, can you? Wonderful voice. I also love that it starts us out with a little mystery. Why is Holmes at the breakfast table already? Was he up all night? Or is he up unusually early this morning, and if so, why? Sir Arthur has me hooked. Nicely done, old chap. Stars: ****