Ghost

Ghost by Jason Reynolds (2016), narrated by Guy Lockard

Castle Cranshaw - self-nicknamed Ghost - knows how to run. He's been running fast since he was a kid trying to outrun a bullet. But track has never been his thing, until one day he impulsively shows up a practice and challenges one of the best runners there. The coach takes ghost under his wing and adds him to the team. But it's a challenge. Not the running - that part's easy. What Ghost keeps getting stuck on is the part where he needs to stay out of fights, plus he doesn't have the right gear for running track and the only way he knows how to get it might get him in even more trouble.

Middle-grade fiction has never really been my thing, but I keep hearing about Jason Reynolds and this book in particular recently (partly because a book group at work is reading it) so I downloaded the audio which was a nice short listen between some of my longer audiobooks.

I enjoyed this story way more than I thought I would. Ghost is really a great kid, and Reynolds captures all the difficulties of growing up with its myriad pressures and few solutions available to kids. Ghost is really doing the best he has with what he has, which isn't much. His father is in jail for trying to shoot Ghost and his mother, and now his mom is working her butt off to take care of him. She works in the cafeteria at a hospital and she's taking classes to be a nurse. Every time she appears in the story she is exhausted, and it's not hard to see why. She's a pretty amazing, strong woman and I think Ghost sees this too.

He's not over what happened when he was so young, but he's never really talked about it. Only when he joins the track team does he have a real support system of peers who help each other out and understand what their friends have been through. This camaraderie is due in no small part to their fantastic coach, a former Olympic medalist who doesn't like to talk about his past but obviously cares more about the kids on his team than pretty much anything else.

The other great adult in Ghost's life is Mr. Charles who owns a store where Ghost goes all the time to buy his favorite snack, sunflower seeds. The two have a great relationship and when Ghost finally gets his track uniform Mr. Charles is the first person he goes to show it to.

Lest we forget how young this kid is, at one point he exclaims how great it would be to own a store because you wouldn't have to buy groceries. I totally remember being young enough to think that makes sense. He's also obsessed with the Guinness Book of World Records, memorizing and rattling off the names of people who hold records for various feats, a very common interest for people that age (I also found it fascinating, but never got as far as memorization.)

Guy Lockard captured all the humor and wonder and cleverness of Ghost's personality and made this book a lot of fun to listen to. He narrates some other books by Reynolds too, so if I decide to read more from this author - which seems likely after Ghost - I'll probably listen to the audio version again.

The Only Road

The Only Road by Alexandria Diaz (2016)

Jaime and his cousin Miguel were asked to join a gang in their native Guatemala and refused, and now Miguel is dead. The gang wants Jaime and his cousin Angela, so their parents decide the only solution is for the two to make their way to the United States to live with Jaime's older brother. They don't have passports or very much money, but their families pool everything they've got and make a plan. Together, Jaime and Angela take buses and trains, stay in refugee camps, and entrust themselves to strangers - sometimes regretting it - to try and escape to a better life.

This is one of our picks for the Community Read committee at my library. We asked for suggestions from the public and many, many people wanted something about immigration. This definitely fits the bill, and it's a middle grade book so it's accessible to people of many ages.

I found it pretty easy to get into, and I liked the characters a lot. Jaime was a budding artist and as he traveled, his sketchbook was his prized possession and he was always worried about losing it. I can't even imagine leaving my life for another country with only a backpack. How do you decide what to bring? Angela was almost sixteen and I think she felt a responsibility to be a bit more in charge, but also she was only sixteen. I know that in real life kids do leave their homes for similar reason and try to get to the US and it is mind-boggling. They're kids! It's hard enough for an adult to do what they did.

I think my only criticism really is that, despite the hardships and dangers of this journey, I felt like these characters probably wouldn't have made it in real life. They would have been caught and sent back home, stranded somewhere in Mexico for years, or killed. They just kept lucking out. But the author acknowledges this in her note at the end and, really, it's a book for kids. You can have a couple of people die or go missing, but you've got to let these kids reach their destination fairly unscathed or nobody is going to let their kid read this. I think it's a good way to introduce the idea of immigration, and the necessity and dangers of illegal immigration, without scaring the pants off kids. You just want to make them be compassionate, not traumatized.

This was pretty good, despite my trepidation because it's a middle grade book which I'm not usually super keen on. Also, you may not have noticed, but I don't ever read any kind of Latin American literature. I once tried reading Love in the Time of Cholera and then I tried reading The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, and I couldn't get through either of them and I became convinced that I just dislike Latin American books and/or authors, and that something is very very wrong with me. This is ridiculous of course, and I'm very glad to have actually finished and enjoyed this book because maybe it will snap me out of this silly mindset. Oh! And there's a glossary of all the Spanish words used, which would have been awesome to know about before I reached the end (though it was easy to figure them out through context.)

In terms of the Community Read, I don't yet know what my top pick will be, but I can at least say that I wouldn't be upset if this was it. It's not the sort of book that I'll be thinking about for weeks and recommending to everyone I know, but it was a good story on a topic that is important and relevant and I enjoyed reading it.

Throwback Thursday: Little Gray Mouse Goes Sailing

In which I share vague recollections of books I read long ago that have stuck with me.

My dirty, well-loved copy of the book.

This is a bit of a different TBT because I still own my copy of Little Gray Mouse Goes Sailing, an easy reader published in 1965 that I read many times during my early childhood in the 70s. I even took a few minutes to reread it before writing this post. This story never gets old for me.

Little Gray Mouse lives in a house with a family. One day he is lured outside by the tempting aroma of hot dogs on a grill, feeling very confused about why the family is eating outside. He meets Brownie, an outside mouse who explains the concept of barbecuing in the summer. In my favorite scene, they eat a giant (compared to them) hot dog and drink a giant (compared to them) bottle of soda. Little Gray Mouse is all "I like being outside!" Then, in an ominous scene of foreshadowing, Brownie warns Gray Mouse not to ever go near the swimming pool. They continue to play and frolic all summer, until one day Brownie accidentally falls into the pool and Gray Mouse hops aboard a toy boat to save him. This was the most traumatic part of the story and the part that I never, ever forgot. Gray Mouse saves Brownie, who decides to move to a yard down the street where there are hot dogs but no swimming pool. Gray Mouse, though, he now yearns to return to the sea. So late at night when the family is in bed, he dons an adorable sailor suit and sails around the pool.

Interestingly, I remember part of this story a little differently. To me, the moral of the story was that if you go near the swimming pool you will drown, so please stay far far away from anything that is remotely dangerous. I had forgotten Gray Mouse's return to the boat and sailing, so I'm glad I re-read the book. In my memory it was more of a stern warning than a happy adventure.

I still have copies of a few more childhood favorites hanging around, so I'll write about some of those on future Throwback Thursdays!

A few shorter works

Recently I read a few shorter books so rather than trying to get a whole post out of each of them, I'm combining the mini-reviews in one post here.

Walter: the Story of a Rat by Barbara Wersba, illustrated by Donna Diamond (2005)

I spotted this on a coworker's Staff Picks shelf at my library and grabbed it immediately. Walter is a rat who, for unknown reasons, was born knowing how to read. He's lived in a number of places during his life, but now lives with a writer of children's books named Miss Pomeroy. He loves it there because it is peaceful, he gets plenty of food, and all the books he could ever want. Walter knows how people generally feel about rats, but decides to take a risk and writes a note to Miss Pomeroy that says, "My name is Walter. I live here too." The next day he receives a note back from her: "I know."

This story was just as adorable as I had hoped, and I love that the illustrations are so realistically rendered. That is what a rat actually looks like, and he is extremely cute. I will likely read this again before returning it to the library.

Devotion: a Rat Story by Maile Meloy (2013)

It really is a coincidence that I happened to read two rat books in a row. This one was mentioned on a blog and I had it sitting around for a while before I impulsively read Walter first. Devotion is a short story, but published as an adorable, tiny standalone volume. When I say "adorable" I really am just talking about the physical book, not the content. The story is about a young woman who buys her first house where she plans to live with her 4-year-old daughter. But she starts noticing a lot of rats around, and comes to find out that her neighbors, two elderly sisters, are feeding and harboring a whole houseful of rats. It's pretty weird and upsetting. Meloy's writing style is deceptively upbeat, not what I'd expect of such a dark story, but it works quite effectively. I really liked this little story. I could almost hear the rats scurrying about with their thousands of little claws scraping at the floors and walls....

Bitch Planet, Vol. 1: Extraordinary Machine by Kelly Sue DeConnick and Valentine De Landro (2015)

There are no rats in Bitch Planet, unless you count the Fathers, the patriarchal evil men in charge who send "non-compliant" women away to their own prison planet. The women are strong, diverse, and have potentially interesting back stories, though I don't feel like I really got to know any of them much. The rather vague plot involved some sort of sports event, in which the women are being encouraged to enter their own team for reasons that didn't seem super clear, but maybe were related to entertainment value. The women decide to do so because they think they can actually manage to prove something (and possibly kill some important people in the process?) I'm not super clear on it all actually.

The art isn't really my style and, as I said, the plot seemed a bit weak. But I like the overall premise and the women in the story. My favorite parts were the satirical ads, and especially the discussion guide in the back. I love discussion questions when they are good, and these were probably the best ones I've seen. Granted, the ones I have seen generally suck, but these are actually really good. So if you're looking for something a little different for your book group, you might want to try Bitch Planet.

El Deafo

El Deafo by Cece Bell (2014)

After a scary bout with meningitis at the age of four, Cece lost her hearing. Now in middle school, she has some added challenges both in class and in making friends. Some kids talk really loudly and slowly, which actually makes them more difficult to understand. Some laugh when she mishears them. Some ask questions about her hearing aids. On the other hand, she feels like she has special powers. Her teacher must wear a transmitter for the hearing aid which means that Cece can hear her not only during class, but in the teacher's room and even in the bathroom. In her imagination, Cece isn't that awkward weird kid who stands out because of the cords coming out of her ears - she is El Deafo.

I think El Deafo is geared towards middle grades, but as with many great books for kids and teens, there's loads of appeal for adults too. We all remember our best friends growing up, and how there could be a new best friend every year, and the way that some friendships ended. Particularly poignant were the situations in which Cece found herself unable to express what she felt: in her imagination, her El Deafo self would come right out and tell someone what she thought, but the real-world Cece was afraid to speak her mind. This led to unhappy situations, like remaining friends with someone who wasn't very nice to her, and who she didn't want to be friends with anymore.

Cece experienced a lot of strange comments and behaviors because of her disability, which she didn't really consider a disability. (This was an interesting point, because I have a nephew who is deaf and I think the first time someone referred to his "disability" I was very surprised. I sort of thought, "He's not disabled. He just can't hear!") When some friends invited her to a slumber party, she had a little trouble following conversations and couldn't at all understand the tv, not to mention that one of the girls kept trying to teach her sign language. But when they all decided to talk with the lights out and Cece wasn't able to lip read or rely on visual clues, she decided it was time to go home. In her imagination as El Deafo, she responded to a barrage of questions from one of the girls. "What are those cords for? Why do you wear overalls so much? Are you DEATH?" El Deafo brazenly answers, "Yes, I'm death! And you are next on my list!"

Cece also had some good friends and fun times as well, so it's not a downer of a book at all. It's a more-or-less true account of events from the author's childhood, and I found that it felt very genuine. She really captured what I remember middle school being like. I can't believe I've gotten this far through the post without mentioning that it's a graphic novel, but one of its charms is that all the people are drawn as human-like rabbits. It's very cute.

El Deafo won a Newbury Honor Award and has received lots of praise. I found it cute and endearing and an entertaining way to spend an evening. If you think you might like a graphic novel about a middle school kid just trying to fit in, you should give it a try!

Bridge to Terabithia

Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson (1977)

Jess Aarons is determined to be the fastest runner in the fifth grade. He practices all summer, getting up early to go running before breakfast every day. Then on the first day of school he's beaten anyway - by a new girl named Leslie Burke. Despite being outshone by this tomboyish girl, the two become friends and create a magical kingdom in the woods that they call Terabithia.

Bridge to Terabithia was published when I was four, and it reminded me a whole lot of my childhood somehow. Partly I think it's because Paterson captures the imaginations of young people so well, but it also has a distinct 70s feel to me. But I don't think it feels dated, just a bit old-timey. (Jess does have to milk a cow twice a day, after all.)

I loved how Jess and Leslie created a secret magical place, one that probably looked ordinary to everyone else. They fancied themselves king and queen, even naming their dog Prince Terrien. It's a safe respite from the real world, Jess's family's money troubles and Leslie's ostracism at school.

Paterson doesn't talk down to kids, and there's some pretty tough talk here compared to more recently-written books. There's mention of a kid whose father beats her, and the response was basically "So? Whose father's doesn't beat them?" an attitude you'd be hard pressed to find in any book these days. She even compares drawing to drinking whiskey, which of course would never happen in a children's book now, unless perhaps it was part of a moral tale about alcoholism. But it was a pretty vivid comparison that made a lot of sense.

Jess's parents exhibited some subtle prejudices that perhaps are a little out of date - they disapproved of Jess's "hippie" art teacher, for instance. And Jess couldn't admit his interest in art because when he was younger and proudly told his father he wanted to be an artist, his father grumbled about the teachers at his school, "Bunch of old ladies turning my only son into some kind of a -" The thought wasn't finished, but we can guess. (Way to go, Mr. Aarons. See if your son ever confides in you again.)

Still, despite these minor outdated attitudes I appreciated the timeless themes about facing one's fears, the importance of friendship, and the perennial problem of bullying. Reading books written in different time periods really puts some of our social mores into perspective, while highlighting certain aspects of growing up that apparently never change.

You may notice, with my recent reading of Charlotte's Web and now this, that I'm trying to catch up with some children's classics that I've missed. This might be all for now, but it's been fun to finally read these old classics.

Edited to add:  I just realized this is on my TBR Pile Challenge list as an alternate. So I'm more ahead on that challenge than I thought!

Charlotte's Web

Charlotte's Web by E.B. White (1952)

As far as I know, this was my first time reading Charlotte's Web. It's entirely possible I read it as a child eons ago and just forgot. But it seems like the sort of story I would have remembered so I think somehow I actually did manage to miss it.

For anyone else who also passed this one by, it's about a little girl named Fern who saves a runt pig and names him Wilbur. Wilbur befriends a spider named Charlotte who lives above his pen, and when they learn that Wilbur is to be slaughtered in the fall, Charlotte devises a plan to save him.

I've always been a sucker for an animal story, and I found Wilbur to be quite a charming pig (though I must admit I've never met a pig I didn't like.) His unlikely friendship with a spider was actually rather touching and I found Charlotte rather appealing for an arachnid. I've got to respect someone so clever, even if she has far too many legs for my comfort. There was a supporting cast of sheep and a rat named Templeton, all of whom were rather mean or selfish, I suppose to highlight how kind Wilbur and Charlotte were to each other.

This edition was illustrated by Garth Williams, whose style was instantly recognizable from my many readings of the Laura Ingalls Wilder books. I've always liked the way his drawings are simple without being cartoonish or cutesy, and they are very integral to my memories of the Wilder books. I was happy to recognize him here.

I'm kind of interested in how childhood is treated by different generations, and couldn't help but take note of a passage that described a swing hung from a hayloft that was apparently both exhilarating and terrifying:

"Mothers for miles around worried about Zuckerman's swing. They feared some child would fall off. But no child ever did. Children almost always hang onto things tighter than their parents think they will."

Are there still parents who would let their kid swing on a swing they thought was dangerous? Or would Zuckerman haven taken it down from fear that a kid would get hurt and he'd be sued? Or was this not even representative of parenting at the time it was written? I realize I'm putting way too much thought into something minor, but this is what happens when I read children's books as an adult.

Although I didn't find it sad like I was probably supposed to, Charlotte's Web was nevertheless an endearing little story and I'm glad I finally took a little time to read it. Better late than never!

My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece

My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece by Annabel Pitcher (2012), narrated by David Tennant

Jamie was just five years old when his sister Rose was killed in a terrorist bombing. Now ten, he lives with his dad and his sister Jasmine, Rose's twin. Months ago his mother left for another man and the rest of the family had to move to a new house. Jamie's father drinks way too much and pays more attention to the urn of Rose's ashes than to his still-living children. He raves against Muslims, who he holds responsible for her death, and gets angry when he doesn't think Jamie affords Rose the attention and respect she deserves. But Jamie barely remembers Rose, never mind missing her or feeling sad about her death. Of course he won't tell his father that. Neither will he tell his father that the only friend he's made at his new school is Muslim.

Desperate for his mother's attention, Jamie attributes her continued absence to her boss Mr. Walker not letting her have time off. When he receives a birthday package from her with a Spider-Man shirt, he wears it all the time. His persistent optimism is so sad! His sister Jasmine is older and more grounded in reality, but doesn't want to dash Jamie's illusions. Their fierce loyalty toward one another was the very best part of the book.

I knew Jamie would learn a lot of painful truths in the course of the story, but he also gained a great deal of strength and confidence, thanks in no small part to his sister Jasmine and his fearless friend Sunya.

The audiobook is brilliant narrated by David Tennant. I was a bit dubious at first: a middle-aged man performing a first-person narration of a 10-year-old boy? But he captures Jamie's exuberance and humor just perfectly. (It also doesn't hurt that I just like listening to British people talk.) The musical interludes between each chapter were unnecessary and a little too long, but even that couldn't detract from the excellent production.

A really lovely, sweet book about family and friendships and growing up. The audiobook isn't available at libraries in my area (I got it from audible.com) but it's absolutely worth seeking out.

Wonder

Wonder by R.J. Palacio (2012)

August Pullman has always been different, has always endured the stares and gasps of people meeting him for the first time. He was born with severe craniofacial abnormalities and though he has endured surgery after surgery, he still doesn't look like a regular kid. Home-schooled through the fourth-grade level, Auggie is about to encounter the biggest, most frightening, challenge of his life: middle school.

No matter how much his parents and school administrators try to easy the transition, it doesn't change the fact that kids can be incredibly cruel. Thanks to his family and his few friends, Auggie has the self-confidence to make it (even if barely) through the really tough times, and his courage and resilience inspire kindness in others. 

The novel was extremely touching, as you would expect, but also laced with humor. Auggie's self-deprecating style is charming. When his friend Jack asks whether Auggie will be always look that way, or be able to have plastic surgery, Auggie points at his face and says "Hello? This is after plastic surgery!" Jack laughs hysterically, retorting, "Dude, you should sue your doctor!" Both boys then erupt in laughter before being chastised by their teacher.

Wonder is usually shelved in the children's department in libraries, but the appeal is ageless. We could all do well to follow a precept from one of Auggie's teachers and be kinder than necessary. If Auggie can manage to do it, as mean as people can be to him, then surely the rest of us can too.

Like the Willow Tree

Like the Willow Tree: The Diary of Lydia Amelia Pierce, Portland, Maine, 1918 by Lois Lowry (2011)(audio)

Lydia and her brother Daniel live a regular life with their parents and new baby sister, Lucy. But they begin hearing about a deadly disease arriving in Maine, and soon their school is closed and they have to stay inside and can't even visit their friends. Then, their parents and Lucy all become ill and in just days they are dead, leaving Lydia and Daniel alone. Their uncle comes and brings them to his house but he and his wife already have more children than they can really care for, so one day he takes Lydia and Daniel to live with the Shakers at Sabbath Day Lake.

Their new life with the Shakers is very different - they cannot keep their own possessions and Lydia has to give up her copy of The Secret Garden and the ring from her grandmother which is very precious to her. All material items belong to everybody here. In addition to school, all the children must work and Lydia learns to knit, iron, and make baskets, though what she really can't wait to try is candy-making. Boys and girls live separately, for Shakers do not every marry and there is little interaction between the sexes. Also they must regularly "open their minds" to one another, which is similar to the Catholics' confessions.

Part of the Dear America series, Like the Willow Tree was a very fun slice-of-life audiobook that was perfect for my commute. It covered such a short period of time and I was really curious whether Lydia would come to embrace the Shaker life long-term or if she would return to "the world" (as the Shakers say). I was prepared to not have these questions answered - it's a children's book after all, and only meant to cover what it was like at that place and time. But to my surprise, the book included an epilogue which answered my questions. As if that weren't enough, there was additional material about the historical period as well as some performances of Shaker songs.

Although I found the narrator's voice a bit grating at the beginning, I grew used to it and came to really look forward to listening. I enjoyed this book a lot - I am always a sucker for old-timey novels - and will absolutely consider other books from this series in the future.