Great Science Fiction and Angry Young Man

The sun rose at 7:07, and brilliant orange of sunset was at 540

I read Marsbound, by Joe Haldeman, after I got home yesterday and was quite peeved that I didn't think far enough ahead to buy Starbound just in case I finished it. So, we walked to Elliott Bay Bookstore and went shopping. Saw Jamil and took in the scene that is Elliott Bay.

We walked down to the Melrose Market (obviously on Melrose Street) and fell completely in love with the rough-hewn loveliness that holds a butcher shop, sandwich shop, flowers, wine and cheese. It was packed! and we took complete advantage of the different offerings they had. There are cheese classes, home-made soups, brunch in a wonderful terrarium-like room where you can watch the cooks make your food. And it smelled so good, like rosemary and mint, exotic spices from the butcher's counter.

Such a be-yoo-ti-ful day. Blue skies, sunny, and COLD and WINDY! We didn't even break a sweat walking all those miles. I think we're going to make these long neighborhood walks on Saturdays a tradition. We've been to the Pike/Pine neighborhood twice, I know, it sounds like we've never lived on Capitol Hill, but there is so much to see and eat and drink there. How can you take it all in in two hours-long walks?

It is going to be a clear and star-filled night tonight, in the mid-20's, I'm going to go out and cover the daphne again. The poor thing looks awful.

I read Angry Young Man, by Chris Lynch, another author whose books I will read without even looking at the blurb. His books are often about young men on the edge of violence, the edges of society, difficult books to read about people who have done some awful things or who have had awful things to them. That having been said, he has also written some hysterically funny books about growing up and living with the choices that are made.

Angry Young Man is the story of two brothers, Robert, our narrator, the older brother of Xan, a misfit with a good heart, different enough to not have a comfortable place in the world. Xan's sense of justice runs high, he doesn't really have the ability to see two sides of an argument and he's worried that people can see into his soul by looking in his eyes.

Robert is in college and has a job, not enough to leave home, though; his life is hard but it's working out. When things start to get really rough at home, more bills than money, Xan is asked to get a job, too. Unfortunately, things don't go well and his behavior begins to get more and more extreme. When it looks like Xan may resort to violence to set things right, Robert has to figure out how to save him.

I love the relationship between the brothers, I love that the mom is flawed and has done the very best she could have done under the circumstances. I love the relationship between the brothers and the mom. It's a book that illustrates how quickly things can go pear-shaped and how hard they are to fix when it happens.

It's a small book, a quick read, but very good. Ages 12 and up. (Simon and Schuster. Available now. $16.99.)

books, books, boxes of books (long post for a car full of all those words)

Sunrise, 7:08, sunset 5:39.

It's Friday once again and what a great day. For one thing, it's not raining. There is light in the sky and it isn't freezing. The other good thing was getting up and delivering boxes and boxes of books to schools that REALLY need them. I am on the board of the Northwest Literacy Foundation and we have a program called Fill the Shelves. We delivered 20 or so boxes to 6 different schools, schools that have lost all or almost all of their funding for books and their libraries. We choose these schools based on the percentage of children who receive free or reduced lunches.

The look on the faces of the librarians and the kids when we rolled the handtruck into the libary was pretty amazing. Some cried, most laughed, the buzz in the libraries when we walked in was intense. We'd put the boxes on the counters and then let the kids open them up and look at what was inside. By the time the kids get back from their winter break, most of the books should be catalogued and ready to be checked out. The kids who helped with the book opening all got a post-it note and a pen and dibs on the book they most wanted to read first.

One of the classrooms was in the middle of the RIF book distribution, selecting a (free) book and
then putting their names inside. One little boy kept asking, with a very sweet emphasis on the word "book" (booook, pronounced like Luke), I can read this book every day? Every day I can get to read this book? and the librarian, Pat Bliquez of Roxhill Elementary, said, Yes, it's yours forever! You can read it forever! He really got the idea of forever and the joy flowing from his little first grade heart was palpable.

The single middle school we went to, Chinook Middle School in the Highline School District, was in the middle of class change, high movement, lots of noise, and Carolyn Rancour reminded us to stay alert in case we didn't get to the library before getting embroiled in the hallway world of middle school. Her library was filled with computers and books. The computers were lent her from other classrooms so the kids would be able to work together in labs or in groups. She found the space for them by searching through the stacks for old history, science, social studies books, books long out of print, now filled with misinformation. One book she told us about was published in 1962. We hadn't even made it to the moon. John F. Kennedy was still president. The Beatles hadn't yet come to America.

Her new books will be helpful in correcting some of that old information: there is no Soviet Union.

Concord International School in South Park is filled with different languages, many of which I couldn't recognize. The signs are in English, Spanish, Vietnamese...All the kids were in pajamas, obviously it was Pajama Day, the last day in school before Winter break. The first graders in Mindy Terr's library that day got to ride up in the elevator in shifts, each chaperoned by the adults, two of whom were our younger delivery people, Elizabeth and Riley. You forget how exciting riding in an elevator can be for little kids and how very open they are. John Odland and I learned that you should never get in an elevator with anything that could catch on fire because then you could have a fire in the elevator. Someone really learned her lesson about fire safety.

Mindy's students gathered around the books and each one found one they really wanted to read and headed to the little reading area, settling in and reading out loud to each other. I don't think ANY of them were listening to each other, they were just sharing everything, laughing, getting up and showing their friends what they were reading, and then going back to their chairs.

Our first delivery was quiet, school hadn't yet started but this school, Muir, is near Franklin High School, one of the schools that consistently comes in the top places in the Global Reading Challenge. Their librarian, Steve Marsh, is tireless in getting kids who may not speak English at home, literate and at or above grade level before they leave him.

(All the elementary schools are participating in the Global Reading Challenge. Briefly, it is a contest involving books and facts about each one. Each school's 4th and 5th graders will read ten books and then do a Quiz Bowl type trivia test. The school with the most points goes home with the trophy to compete against schools in British Columbia. Northwest Literacy is one of the groups that funds the program.)

Mary Manzin, at Emerson Elementary in Rainier Beach, had only a couple of kids in the room, one in a suit, ready to move on to perform in an assembly but books have an amazing lure for children at this age. Well, for kids of all ages, actually. Mary's assistant was like a bee in a flower bed, touching the boxes, walking around us, getting closer, moving away.

Marcia Kauzlarich at Madrona Elementary in Highline was in the middle of Free Day, the kids had had perfect behavior for 5 weeks (!) and got to choose what they wanted to do. They seriously gave up the games and puzzles they were involved in to be some of the first people in the school to handle books only a few people have touched before. BRAND NEW BOOKS! Again, each of those students immediately found at least one book they "Really have to have it NOW! Can we have this NOW?"

Yeah, I love this. Seeing the progression of literacy, from the tiniest first graders sounding out the words they don't know, the third graders secure enough now in their reading to choose something to read that they haven't had any contact with before, to the great, big middle schoolers who, because they got the right book in their hands, may go onto college or at least have a life filled with beauty and interest.

These librarians, too, are faced with huge obstacles in their schools. There are 80 different languages spoken in the schools in Rainier Beach. There are more than 240 dialects spoken in the Highline School District. They are poorer schools, mostly filled with kids from poorer families. They don't own many books, so the books they can borrow from the library not only change their lives, they change the whole family as they come home for a week or two. Kids read the books to their parents who may not speak any English, thus passing what they learn on to others.

And you know the librarians at EVERY school, not just these few, are dedicated to the kids in their schools and to their lives of literacy, all the forms of literacy. They work long hours, they know every child, every need, make decorations and run math labs. The excitement in each of these libraries was amazing. Every single one of these librarians seemed to be vibrating, their minds ahead of their bodies, they were answering questions and handing out pens, solving problems, catching someone's eyes, and still paying attention to the 4 people who came and interrupted the day.



Look at these classrooms, they are vibrant, bright, connected, filled with laughter and words. What wonderful places to be.

If you are ever looking to donate some money to a good group, think of The Northwest Literacy Foundation. 21 years in existence, it has given thousands and thousands of dollars worth of books to schools in need. It is completely run by volunteers, has no office space, every penny goes to buying books for schools, using a locally owned, independent bookstore for the sales. It is a truly worthy place to give money.

Paul Doiron, Marie Lu: Trespasser and Legend

Sunrise at 71:9 , sunset at 5:29. Stormy tonight, windy and rainy. The sun's going down and there is a strip of clear, lemony light between the Olympics and the rest of the sky. The lights have been flickering and the radio's done that static-y thing that scares the bird. The rain is pummeling the windows.

It's been a long couple of reading days and night. Yesterday was the first day of my weekend, tomorrow's the first day of the next week.

I got up early and took D to the doctor and then to work; I love the drive back down Rainier Avenue South toward home, anchored in the way, way south by Mount Rainier. Every so often, mostly when the air is clear, I can feel the gravitational pull of having something that big at the southern horizon. It is the horizon.

Once, years ago, my friend Jo and I got off the bus in Banff, long before daylight, probably around 4 am, and spent the hours waiting for morning just wandering around looking in windows and deciding where to eat when things opened up. Just as the sky began to lighten, I got really dizzy. It felt like I was walking with a decided lean. When we could finally actually discern the difference between the sky and everything else, I realized that I must have felt the absolute massiveness of the mountain that loomed over the place we were in. It felt like the world had tipped a bit, the mountain was so big and straight up that, even though I thought I was standing upright, I was actually leaning at a slight angle to make the sidewalk seem flat. Bizarre. I think that was the first time that I realized that mass has pull.

I read off and on all day yesterday. It was a good day. I watched the Food Channel (Jamie Oliver is my very FAVORITE!), surfed through old photos, and read.

I absolutely loved Paul Doiron's next book in his series about Mike Bowditch, Maine State Game Warden, Trespasser. Trespasser is about a young game warden dealing with all the crap of trying to hold a relationship together while investigating the disappearance of a woman who hit a deer and then left her car. Great descriptions of the Maine woods in the middle of winter, great descriptions of the Maine folk who live on the edges of those woods and on the edges of society.

The first book in the series is The Poacher's Son. It is still only in hardcover (and well worth the money, in my opinion) but will be available in paper in April, 2011. Trespasser will be out in June. (Minotaur Books. $24.99)

I got to meet Paul at an author dinner here in Seattle last year. Good food, good company, good wine, good book, and then he wolf howled on the corner of 4th and Virginia. Absolutely fabulous night.

I finished Trespasser at midnight and was still not too sleepy so, quietly and with great stealth since every floor in our house squeaks, went into the next room to rummage through the stash of Winter Institute books that I have squirreled away. I found Legend, by Marie Lu.

Legend is a huge deal at Penguin. They rushed out a Special ABA Winter Institute Edition, bound in shiny black paper, with an exciting paragraph on the cover. Sometimes you have to kind of laugh about the serious discussions that people have about the books they are selling us. As booksellers, we hear SO many intense descriptions about certain kinds of books that they all begin to sound alike. And right now, anything that is in anyway about the future world, and not a particularly nice view of the world, is described as a little like Hunger Games, but with a twist. It isn't a very good way to get started with a book that should be read with new eyes.

It is a really good book; great characters, great themes, not so much a utopia gone wrong as a world in decline. It's the story of Day, a boy with issues, smart, caring, and worried about the health of his family. He's also on the run, the government's been looking for him, as he's been taking from the rich and giving to the poor. He's also supposed to be dead. Most of the poor have different versions of plague and he's been secretly stealing money and medicine to help his family.

It's also about June, a wealthy 15 year-old girl who has perfect scores, the highest scores on the youngest person ever allowed to join the military. Her brother has been training her to be the best officer ever, and it seems that most of their time is spent checking to see who hast he plague and looking for Day.

One fateful night, June and Day's worlds collide and their lives will never be the same.

Great read for everyone. It's exciting, well-written, sad and hopeful. I am really looking forward to telling everyone about it when it's published in NOVEMBER! AND it has to be a series because there are certain things in the story that aren't resolved. It ends in such a way that it could be finished, but I hope it does go on! Age 11 and up. (Penguin. Due November '11. $17.99.)

Books, Ideas, Life

Nancy Pearl and Steve Sher talking about books and big ideas on KUOW. What books changed your life, your way of thinking, and Nancy mentioned the tv show Eyes of Veronica Mars, it sounds like she really likes the show. And she should! As the pre-eminent librarian in the world today, she recognizes good writing when she hears it!

Rob Thomas is the writer of Eyes of Veronica Mars and the author of some extraordinary teen books: Rats Saw God, Slave Day, and Doing Time. His others are alright but, come on, Rob. Even a fan like myself can't champion those!

Anyway, the books that I love and still think should be at the top of most teen reading lists are the above. Books that deal with self-discovery, stepping into someone else's shoes, how your actions change the world...I think we book sellers of teen lit need to bring these books back into the canon. If you haven't read them, do. If you have, order a couple for the shelf and make them the ones you go to first. They, as far as I can remember, aren't dated, they are funny, they will make the reader re-think their everyday actions and thoughts.

Rats Saw God is the story of a boy who is in detention and has to write about how and why he got there. Along the way it becomes much more than just an assignment.

Slave Day is reminiscent of Glee, now that Glee is in the world. Slave Day is just that: A fundraiser for the school, slaves are auctioned and bought, much horror and insightfulness ensues.

Doing Time is a collection of inter-connected stories, all about people doing their 200 hours of community service. The story about the girl and volunteering at the vet's....

Okay, if you read any of these, will you let me know what you think? Rob has stopped writing books for young adults and he is such an amazing writer. I would love to let him know that his words still reverberate with us, that paper books are still making a difference out there.

I am having trouble working with sizes, obviously, sorry for the unevenness of this post.

These books are good for ages 12 and up. Especially good for boys.

(I have a picture of the two of us in a bar in L.A.. It was a party for Ian Falconer in an amazing hotel -one seen in many commercials- and he was standing at the bar. I couldn't help it, I had to introduce myself and tell him how much I loved his books. His agent was standing right there, and heard the story, kind of looked at Rob -yes, I feel I can call him Rob- and told him that he needed to finish the book he was writing. Well? It's been many years since then, he's done Cupid and Veronica Mars and no more books! I am so bummed.)

Sunrise was at 7:26 and sunset will be at 5:21. Only a little while more to the equinox, March 20 this year! Cold, overcast, stripes of blue sky and gray clouds and it's supposed to be mostly sunny and close to 50 degrees today.

Dull colors and once more I had to take note of the color in the yard. We have a sustainable, low water, Northwest plants yard so it seems to be mostly gray, green and brown. Some of the things we planted and kept from before the renovation will have great colors, eventually, and then there are the volunteers: the crocuses are rising.

The photo on the left, I don't know the name of this plant but it's strong and rubbery looking, hangs down over the rock wall and has the most vibrant dark blue flowers. All washed out in the camera, though. I find the crocuses most exciting, these little harbingers of spring. They come up everywhere and I have no idea where they'll be next year. The squirrels help to keep the mystery strong.

I finished Ruby Red, by Kerstin Gier, yesterday and so enjoyed it. What if there was a gene for time time travel? What if your cousin was the one in your generation who inherited and was being trained for the experience? And what if all the training should have been for you, instead?

Gwen lives with her extended family in London, keeping watch on her cousin, Charlotte, just in case she disappears from sight and time. The female side of this family has the gene for time travel, exhibiting the signs just around the age of 16. Charlotte has been groomed for this from the time of her birth, long anticipated (since the other family members have been able to at least figure out the when if not the who would be the next in line for the talent) by the family. She knows many languages, has been schooled in different time periods' clothing and manners, can fence and curtsy, and has a comfortable relationship with Gideon, another time traveler.

Unfortunately, Charlotte isn't the one with the gene. It's Gwen. And she hasn't been trained for anything that will help her deal with suddenly appearing in the drawing rooms of ancient mansions.

There are vast, centuries long conspiracies, very interesting time discussions, a missing chronograph, and two of the other time travelers have run away and disappeared into the past. Ruby Red is the first in a trilogy and a fun, funny, light read. I am looking forward to Sapphire Blue and Emerald Green (I think those are the colors!) and more adventures with Gwen and Gideon. Age 12 and up. (Henry Holt. Available in May, 2011. $16.99.)

PS: These books were originally published in German and the only jacket covers I could find were on Kerstin's website (I think it was Kerstin's site!) and they are beautiful! I hope the US publications are as nice.

Brian Jacques

Brian Jacques died. A moment of silence to remember the man who was able to make every child (and adult) feel they were the only reason he created that vast Redwall world.

I don't know how many of you visited All for Kids Books and Music but if you'd ever been, you'd have seen the event room and its walls full of art and words from all of the visitors who'd ever presented to us. Brian Jacques' signature was the very first one; big and black on a wide, white drywall'd wall.

He came and spoke to many children that first event, the very first event we'd had since moving to our new space which included an Event Room. Taking a couple of ciggie breaks, and signing everything we asked him to, he saved a few of the saltier stories about his life for the after-event while his wife and the staff sat laughing and handing him books. When he was done, he said something about how something needed to be done about the blank wall and asked "Shall I sign it?" And that was that. A tradition was born. We found some not too dry markers and he stepped up to the middle of that wall and with a flourish put his name smack dab in the middle, a little like John Hancock's. It was big and bold and all the other authors after signed around his name, eventually filling every open space, the inside of soffits, the door frames, the ceiling and moving out of the room into the store itself.

He came back a few more times just to say hello and to slide another little note onto the wall: Il Ritorno. I return. He was a marvelous man to listen and talk to, someone who never thought there was a difference in writing for kids or adults, that if the story was a good one, it was a good one for all. He changed a lot of lives, Brian did. Children, especially boys, would read his very thick, very small print, books straight through, surprising their parents and teachers, because the story was so good and Brian said they could. Kids still find themselves traveling through Redwall into the rest of the world.

Travel well, Brian. Eulalia!
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-12380763

Stork, by Wendy Delsol

I have to write about Stork before I forget.

I read Stork, by Wendy Delsol last month but I obviously went on to something else before I got it written down- I really like retellings of fairy tales or re-inventions of how myths get started and Stork is a good example of this.

Katia Leblanc is 16 and a reluctant new resident of a small northern Minnesota town. Not only is she new to the town, she has to start over at a high school smack dab in the middle of a whole class of kids who have known each other forever. Even though Katia has been to visit her grandfather before, she doesn't really know anyone else.

One night, she meets the old woman who owns the fabric store across the street from the grocery store her grandfather owns and she helps out in. This meeting heralds a huge change in her life, combining ancient worlds and rites and modern day choices about life and death. She is inducted into the Icelandic Stork Society, an order of women with the ability to connect unborn children with the correct mother.

If that's not enough, she has to deal with a bad decision she made with BMOC Wade at a party and some interesting feelings she has with Jack, a boy she fights with every time they meet, even though she feels strangely drawn to him.

This was a really intriguing read. I hate the cover, it certainly doesn't evoke any of the innards of the book. I picked it up thinking, "Okay, read a page or two and then you can take it back to the store and leave it." Nope, you're right, I had to finish it. Absolutely riveting and will be one of those books you can recommend to teens who like fairy tales. Age 12 and up. (Candlewick. Available now. $15.99.)