Inside Jacket

A lot of Newbery reviews this past week.  A Fine White Dust by Cynthia Rylant is a Newbery Honor book from 1987.  This is one of those books which has benefited from a face lift.  Sadly, the book that I own is the cover on the right (blech!) but I love the book cover shown here on the left.   

At 106 pages, A Fine White Dust is a very quick read.  13-year-old Pete has always loved to go to church. It has always been one of his most favorite places to be.  In second-grade he’d invite himself to go with the neighbors, by fourth-grade he’d get up and go by himself, and by fifth-grade he became very serious and religious about  church.

I didn’t want to go to hell.  I wanted somebody to tell me I wouldn’t go to hell.  I’d look at me and I’d see a boy who never did seem to be good or holy or worth anybody dying for.  Just nothing real special.  And I guess I wanted somebody to make me better.  To save me from hell.

Pete was looking for somebody to understand him.   With his best friend, an atheist and no desire from his parents to go to church, he felt alone in his desire to be close to God.  To be saved.  That all changes when a traveling preacher, James Carson, comes to town.  Pete finds in him an answer to his prayers.  Ardent with a near frenzy call to faith, Pete decides to run away with the preacher as his new disciple leaving behind his friend and family.   But his is faith misplaced?  When he is helplessly betrayed, Pete must come to terms with his faith in God and himself.

Pete is working out who he is independently of his parents and best friend and I really liked that about his character.  He’s also very naive though, thinking that he can simply run away and begin a new life with the preacher.  He learns the hard way that not everything will go according to plan and that one shouldn’t put all your eggs in one basket – so to speak.  He certainly learns about heartbreak and betrayal but it also seems that his character is slightly  more or less the same than at the beginning of the book.

I’m glad I read this one but also not one that will stick with me for a long time.  But well worth the read because I haven’t read many books about young children who are navigating the world of faith and God.  A very positive book in that regard.  It is not his faith that fails (in fact – his faith in God only becomes stronger) but rather he learns to beware the folly’s of man.

Links of interest:  More book blogger reviews.
Genre: Middle Grade Historical Fiction
Publisher: Atheneum. Reprint 2006.  Originally published 1987.
Paperback, 112 pages. ISBN 1416927697
Source copy: Own
A Fine White Dust is available from your favorite independent bookstore, Powell’s, and Amazon.

Copyright 2010. Maw Books Blog

Maw Books has an affiliate relationship with several bookstores, including Indiebound, Powell’s, and Amazon . When you buy a product (not just books – any product), via one of my links, Maw Books earns income from the sale and as always, it’s much appreciated as all affiliate income is used to support the blog. There is no cost to you.

Winner of the 1971 Newbery Medal, The Summer of the Swans by Betsy Byars is the story of the longest day of 14-year-old Sara’s life.  Her summer has already been awful and boring, she thinks that her feet are too big and she’s jealous of her beautiful older sister Wanda.  Sara, her sister and their little brother Charlie, who is mentally handicapped (the book written in the ’70’s labels him as retarded – I would suspect some type of autism), live with their Aunt who has been taking care of them since their mother died six years ago. Their father, who only visits on weekends, has become a distant figure in Sara’s life.

Sara is fiercely devoted to Charlie but also feels as though she can never get a moment alone without him.  One night, after having watched the swans at the nearby lake, Charlie goes missing.  That next morning a desperate search takes place to find him, and Sara is certain that he’s gotten lost when trying to find the swans again.  The story centers around Sara’s search for Charlie.  The Summer of the Swans has a rather simple story line but around it revolves a story of family dynamics and coming-of age-angst.

As I’m attempting to read all of the Newbery books, I’m glad to have read The Summer of the Swans but I doubt I’ll be holding on to this one. I wanted to know what happened to Charlie and if they’d find him but otherwise, not much else stood out for me.  If anything, I enjoyed the process of reading a children’s book written in the ’70s and getting a kick out of all the TV show’s that  Sara watched.  That, and taking notice of how an author treated a character with a disability at a time when not much was understood about them.  Certainly, not a favorite Newbery but not particularly terrible either.  Meh.

Links of interest: more book blogger reviews.
Genre: Middle Grade Fiction, approx ages 9-12.
Publisher: Puffin. 1981. Originally published 1970.
Paperback, 142 pages. ISBN B000OJ5ZLQ
Source copy: Own
The Summer of the Swans is available from your favorite independent bookstore, Powell’s, and Amazon.

Copyright 2010. Maw Books Blog

Maw Books has an affiliate relationship with several bookstores, including Indiebound, Powell’s, and Amazon . When you buy a product (not just books – any product), via one of my links, Maw Books earns income from the sale and as always, it’s much appreciated as all affiliate income is used to support the blog. There is no cost to you.

Written in 1949, The Door in the Wall by Marquerite de Angeli won the 1950 Newbery Medal.  To tell you the truth, I don’t have much to say about the book except that I read it.  And I liked it.  I found it entertaining and authentic.

From the back cover:

Ever since he can remember, Robin, child of Sir John de Bureford, has been told what is expected of him as the son of a nobleman.  He must learn the ways of knighthood.  but Robin’s destiny is changed suddenly when he falls ill and loses the use of his legs.  Fearing a plague, his servants abandon him and Robin is left alone.

A monk named Brother Luke rescues Robin and takes him to the hospice of St. Marks, where he is taught woodcarving and – much harder – patience and strength.  Says Brother Luke, “Thou hast only to follow the wall far enough and there will be a door in it.”

Robin learns soon enough what Brother Luke means.  And when the great castle of Lindsay is in danger, it is Robin, who cannon mount a horse and ride to battle, who saves the townspeople and discovers that there is more than one way to serve his king.

Shortest book review ever. But really, not much else to say.  Noteworthy in the aspect that I don’t often read books set in the Middle Ages. A perfectly fine book.

Links of interest:  More book blogger reviews.
Genre: Historical Fiction, approx ages 9-12.
Publisher:  Yearling. July 1990 later printing. Original publication date 1949.
Paperback, 128 pages. ISBN 0440402832
Source copy: Own
The Door in the Wall is available from your favorite independent bookstore, Powell’s, and Amazon.

Copyright 2009. Maw Books Blog

Maw Books has an affiliate relationship with several bookstores, including Indiebound, Powell’s, and Amazon . When you buy a product (not just books – any product), via one of my links, Maw Books earns income from the sale and as always, it’s much appreciated as all affiliate income is used to support the blog. There is no cost to you.

Hashbrown Winters and the Mashimoto Madness by Frank L. Cole is the followup to The Adventures of Hashbrown Winters but I found one doesn’t need to read the first to understand the second.  This book is wonderfully strange, irreverent, funny, quirky, odd, and perfect for young boys who are reluctant readers.    Such a weird, weird, and oftentimes a very random book.

First let’s start with some of the character names: Hashbrown Winters, Brody the Ape Slayer, Snow Cone, Whiz (he has a bladder problem), Hummas Laredo, Butter Bibowski, Bubblegum, Four Hips, Pigeon, Gurgles Dunderland, Squeaky Mittons, Wish Bone Parker, Echo Rodriguez, Fibber Mckenzie, Measles, Yeti, McKean, Twinkles, Brandy Newspickle, Saddle Bags Bollinger, Cup o’ Noodle Hickock, Frosty John, Hambone, Teeter-Totter Williams.  Um . . . yeah.  Seriously not even kidding.  That alone should give you a taste of what kind of book this is.

Hashbrown has a lot of great friends and runs his treehouse club like a well oiled machine but when his arch enemy, Hi Mashimoto, starts his own rival treehouse club, Hashbrown is so jealous that he will do anything to prove that his treehouse is cooler than Mashimoto’s.  What he doesn’t expect is that Mashimoto will go to any length to secure his domination.

Kids will love the story, the antics, the stink bomb during school assembly, the prison out back of the school that holds all the bad kids, and the dungeon in the basement of Prudence Elementary.  Hashbrown Winters and the Mashimoto Madness is so random, so quirky that boys will eat it up.  Lots of strange humor and more than one potty joke.

But more than that, reminds me that reading is supposed to be fun.

Links of interest: Frank L. Cole blog, more book blogger reviews.
Genre:  Fiction, approx ages 9-12.
Publisher: Bonneville.  January 8, 2010
Paperback, 128 pages. ISBN 1599553783
Source copy: Review copy sent from author
Hashbrown Winters and the Mashimoto Madness is available from your favorite independent bookstore, Powell’s, and Amazon.

Copyright 2009. Maw Books Blog

Maw Books has an affiliate relationship with several bookstores, including Indiebound, Powell’s, and Amazon . When you buy a product (not just books – any product), via one of my links, Maw Books earns income from the sale and as always, it’s much appreciated as all affiliate income is used to support the blog. There is no cost to you.

Dork Diaries: Tales for a Not-So-Popular Party Girl by Rachel Renee Russell is a very fun sequel to the cute Dork Diaries: Tales from a Not-So-Fabulous Life. If you recall my review of the first book, I loved it.  I thought it was so much fun and highly recommended it for tween girls and middle schoolers.  I’m glad that this second installment did not disappoint.  I found myself laughing out loud a few times and pretty much loving all the hilarious scenarios that Nikki Maxwell gets herself into.

Nikki still has a crush on Brandon, and things are looking up when he asks her to be his lab partner in school.  But Nikki is heartbroken when she discovers that Brandon is taking mean girl MacKenzie to the upcoming Halloween dance.  So it’s no problem when she agrees to spend the night instead helping out a kids’ Halloween party for her little sister.

It ends up that MacKenzie lied about the whole thing.  Can Nikki’s dream of going to the Halloween party with Brandon come true?  Can she juggle two parties?  Combine that with the natural adventures that Nikki manages to get herself into, and life is always interesting.

Dork Diaries is funny, easy to read, and has adorable illustrations.  Nikki’s full of spunk and her diary is certainly one entertaining read.  Can’t wait to continue with this series as they continue to be published and hope that they have a long life.  Hilariously good.

Links of interest: Dork Diaries website and blog.  Maw Books review of Dork Diaries: Tales from a Not-So-Fabulous Life, more book blogger reviews.
Genre: Middle Grade Fiction, approx ages 9-12.
Publisher: Aladdin. June 8, 2010.
Hardcover, 288 pages. ISBN 1416980083
Source copy: review copy
Dork Diaries is available from your favorite independent bookstore, Powell’s, and Amazon.

Copyright 2010. Maw Books Blog

Maw Books has an affiliate relationship with several bookstores, including Indiebound, Powell’s, and Amazon . When you buy a product (not just books – any product), via one of my links, Maw Books earns income from the sale and as always, it’s much appreciated as all affiliate income is used to support the blog. There is no cost to you.