Jen Robinson's Book Page

Books Now Available: the dead & the gone

Back in November I was fortunate to publish the first official review of Susan Beth Pfeffer's young adult novel the dead & the gone. The dead and the gone is the companion volume to to Like As We Knew It (reviewed here, and recently released in paperback), and should now be available in stores. It takes place in the same post-apocalyptic world as LAWKI, but features different characters. After a meteor hits the moon, causing various natural disasters, seventeen-year-old Alex Morales is left to care for his two younger sisters in a crumbling New York City. Here's what I said in my review:

"the dead & the gone gripped my attention completely, brought tears to my eyes, and made me think about the many things for which I am thankful. The characters, especially Alex and Julie, are three-dimensional, with strengths and flaws, and occasional unreasonable behaviors. In summary, LAWKI fans, this one is worth waiting for."

I learned today, via Susan Beth Pfeffer's blog, that the dead and the gone is in stores now (or at least available for order from Amazon). So, if you liked Life As We Knew It, or if you are in any way a fan of dystopian or post-apocalyptic fiction, I highly recommend that you head on out to get your copy of the dead and the gone. It is not to be missed.

Reviews that Made Me Want the Book: May 7

Welcome to the latest installment of my Reviews that Made Me Want to Read the Book feature, highlighting intriguing books and the reviewers who made them that way. I just did one of these posts a couple of days ago, and it seems soon to do another. All I can say is that the book blogging community has been very active this week, and five more books have made their way onto my radar screen.

This one looks fun: The Crystal Skull, by Manda Scott. Court at Once Upon a Bookshelf called it "a cross between an Indiana Jones movie and your typical hero’s journey novel." She also said: "I don’t usually go for apocalyptic fiction, but in this case the description that it was a “blend of history, myth, and science” sparked some interest." Well, that sparks some interest for me, too. This is an adult title, currently available in the US in hardcover.

I learned from The Reading Zone that Margaret Peterson Haddix has started a new series: The Missing. Sarah says: "This series promises to be just as good, if not better, than Shadow Children. The Missing: (Found) is a pageturner with twists and turns you will never see coming... Margaret Peterson Haddix is sure to draw in many more reluctant readers with this speculative fiction series." She describes the plot, too, and it sounds fascinating.

I read about Carol Plum-Ucci's novel Streams of Babel in Notes from the Horn Book. They called it "a breakneck tale of a bioterrorist attack on a small town’s water supply told through the eyes of the affected young adults. Plum-Ucci includes some timely issues with the action, but it’s the vivid characters and expertly controlled tension that will keep readers’ eyes glued to the page." Sounds compelling to me!

Anne Boles Levy reviewed A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever by Marla Frazee at Book Buds. I was already favorably disposed to the book because Marla Frazee illustrates the wonderful Clementine books. But then Anne said "Frazee's narration and pictures don't line up exactly, to hilarious effect", and gave examples. I can totally picture it, and I want to read it.

And finally, although she only gave it 3.5 stars, I was pulled in by Becky's review of Bronte's Book Club, by Kristiana Gregory, at Becky's Book Reviews. It's about a girl who moves to a new town, and starts a book club as a way to make friends. Becky says: "Books. Friendship. Summer adventures. And snacks. This is perfect light reading for young readers." I think it will be perfect light reading for me, too.

But enough blogging about books that I want to read - I'm going to go read one of the many books already sitting on my shelves.

Why DON'T Our Children Read?

Just a very quick post to send you over to The Reading Zone. Please go check out Sarah's post about the state of reading education in the U.S. She references two of the recent news articles that I've already mentioned (Jordan Sonnenblick's article in School Library Journal, and the Washington Post article about the Renaissance study of kids' reading habits). But she also issues a call to arms, saying:

"Reading Jordan Sonnenblick’s editorial, coupled with the Washington Post’s recent survey, has lit a fire under me. I hope it does the same for you. Find a child or teen today. Share a book with them."

And she has more to say on what to do - please do check out Sarah's full post. And then take her advice. Do SOMETHING to counteract the negative forces of NCLB and endless test-taking. Do SOMETHING to pair a child with the right book. You could make a life-long difference. Thanks!

Growing Bookworms Newsletter: May 6, 2008

This afternoon I will be sending out the new issue of the Growing Bookworms weekly email newsletter. (If you would like to subscribe, you can find a sign-up form here.) The Growing Bookworms newsletter contains content from my blog focused on children's books and raising readers. There are currently more than 260 subscribers.

This week I have a middle grade review (The Penderwicks on Gardam Street), a young adult review (Audrey, Wait!), an installment of my "reviews that made me want to read the book" feature, a children's literacy and reading news round-up, two Kidlitosphere round-ups with links to useful posts from the week, and a post about today's release of the new Percy Jackson book. Recent posts not included in this newsletter include:

• An announcement about the May issue of Readergirlz.
• An announcement about a summer literacy resources page from ReadWriteThink.org.

My crazy treadmill of moving, travel, and visitors has finally slowed a bit, and I expect to get to some more reviews this week. It's great to be back!

Thanks for reading, and for growing bookworms!

Reviews that Made Me Want the Book: May 6

Welcome to the latest installment of my Reviews that Made Me Want to Read the Book feature, in which I highlight the books that catch my eye and the review writers who have the talent and/or turn of phrase to capture my attention.

Cheryl Rainfield made me want to read Dru Pagliassotti's Clockwork Heart by saying that it "has everything you might want in a book–a strong girl hero, romance, intrigue, mystery, suspense, great humor, believable characters, strong writing, all in a fantasy setting." She also said "Clockwork Heart is the best YA fantasy–the best book–I have read in a long time. Pagliassotti is now one of my new favorite authors, and I’ll look for any other book she comes out with." Sounds like a book worth picking up, doesn't it?

I learned via Chasing Ray that a sequel to Ellen Klage's wonderful Green Glass Sea will be released in October. Colleen says "White Sands, Red Menace follows the adventures of Dewey and her best friend Suze Gordon who are now living near the White Sands Missile Range as "Phil. Gordon is now working on rockets that will someday go the moon; Terry Gordon is working on stopping the Bomb"." I agree with Colleen that "this one should be great."

Something about a recent review of Anthem of a Reluctant Prophet by Joanne Proulx at Reading Rants! Out of the Ordinary Teen Booklists caught my eye. I think it was this sentence: "This outrageous, day-in-the-life chronicle of a basement-dwelling, pot-smoking burn-out turned modern day mystic manages to be philosophical, sad, and uplifting all at once." Plus the cool cover.

Angieville wrote an intriguing review of Magic Bites, by Ilona Andrews. She said: "I have to say what I liked best about this first book is the crazy, psychedelic Atlanta it takes place in. This alternate city is saturated in daily waves of magic that doggedly eat away at any signs of civilization and/or technology. The city's skyscrapers are no more than dwindling piles of granite and steel. Magic and technology are basically anathema in this world and the inhabitants of Atlanta live a sort of refugee-type half life." Sounds like a book that will satisfy my incessant need for dark, post-apocalyptic stories, doesn't it? And it's the first book of a series.

A more realistic novel that looks like it might feed my yen for dystopian stories is Little Brother, by Cory Doctorow. Swarm of Beasts says: "This is not a far-future dystopia. It is about the world now. (Based on Marcus having a Sega Dreamcast when he was seven, and discussions of the upcoming midterm elections, I’d put the date at 2010. I’m not sure if the technology is there yet, but certainly Doctorow would know more about that than I would!) It is, specifically, about the situation in the U.S. in the present day, not some handwavy analogy of a dystopia." She also says that it's "made of awesome." Sounds like a good companion to an adult novel that I just read, Nelson DeMille's Wild Fire.

Ms. Yingling is a regular source for reviews that make me want to read the book. This week, she reviews Steel Trapp: The Challenge, by Ridley Pearson. Honestly, she had me at her introduction: "Bravo, Mr. Pearson! I've waited for this author (The Kingdom Keepers, Peter and the Starcatchers) to turn his talents to young adult spy novels, and he has with Steel Trapp: The Challenge." But the rest of her review helped, too. She thinks it's better than Pearson's two other YA novels. And as a fan of Pearson's adult writing, and a fan of young adult spy novels in general, I won't be able to resist this one.

And that's all for this week. But I really look forward to, one of these days, reading these books. Right  now I'm reading The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey by Trenton Lee Stewart.

Quick Hits from Across an Interconnected Community

I've run across a few other posts to share with you since yesterday's round-up:

• Open Education is taking an in-depth look at education in the Netherlands, a country that had high scores on the 2006 PISA Exams (Programme for International Student Assessment). According to their post "one of the highest performers on the PISA exams (ranked the ninth best in the world as of 2008), the children from the Netherlands scored eleventh in Reading, ninth in science (twenty places higher than the US) and fifth in Mathematics (thirty places higher than America)." The site's editor, Tom Hanson, visited the Netherlands, and will be reporting on "the complex system that forms the basis of public schooling in the country."
• Inspired by Nonfiction Monday, Jenny from the new blog Read. Imagine. Talk. (a companion to the website Ethan's Bookshelf) has started a feature called Teaching Tolerance Tuesday. She says: "One aspect of children's literature and teaching that I am most passionate about is using books to generate conversation and help teach tolerance... To that end, I have decided to go ahead and post each Tuesday (because I couldn't resist the alliteration of Teaching Tolerance Tuesday) about a book, a poem, an article -- whatever comes to mind -- that helps kids challenge their ideas about people different from them." This feature is a new venture for Jenny, so if you think it's a good idea, or you have suggestions, please comment at Read. Imagine. Talk.
• Don't miss Colleen Mondor's new column at Booksl**: Kid, P.I. She reviews several titles that feature youthful detectives, including the latest in Nancy Springer's Enola Holmes series, Curtis Parkinson's Death in Kingsport, The London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd, and several others. If you know any young mystery fans, this column is a great place to start looking for recommendations.
• Inspired by a challenge from Weekly Geeks to take a more inclusive approach to book reviewing, Terry from The Reading Tub has decided to "have an invitation in all of our reviews, both on the blogs and on the Website" to link to reviews from other blogs. It's going to take a while for them to set up the infrastructure for this, but the idea will be that other reviewers can automatically link to their own reviews of listed titles. Like the way that Anastasia lets people list their Nonfiction Monday posts at Picture Book of the Day, and Sherry lets people link to their reviews in her Saturday Review of Books. It's ideas like this that help the Kidlitosphere to become ever more interconnected, and ever more useful.
• And finally, should have any doubts about the nature of the Kidlitosphere as a community, check out Eisha's Happy Birthday to Jules post at 7-Imp. Take a quick peek through the comments. Some of these commenters have never met Jules face-to-face. Most of the others have only met her once, at the Kidlitosphere conference last fall. But have no doubt that everyone who commented (myself included) knows and cares about Jules, from reading 7-Imp, and from interacting with her via the other Kidlitosphere activities (especially the Cybils and the Robert's Snow Blogging for a Cure event, and J&E's weekly 7-Kicks posts). Anyway, this birthday post is a nice tribute to Jules, and a reminder for all of us of what a great community this is. Happy Birthday, Jules!

Children's Literacy Round-Up: May 6

Here are some recent children's literacy and reading related stories from around the wires:

• MotherReader has the scoop on the success to date of the campaign to save funding for Reading is Fundamental's book distribution program. RIF's President has said that "The combination of more than 45,000 e-mails, phone calls, letters, and faxes from supporters across the nation bolstered our effort to highlight RIF’s services and accomplishments throughout this year’s campaign. A notable achievement of this year’s campaign is the increase in the number of members of Congress who signed RIF’s funding letter. This year’s impressive increase can be attributed to all who gave their time to contact their members of Congress and voice their support for RIF." Many thanks to everyone who offered their support to RIF!
• Via a USA Today article by Greg Toppo (via the RIF Daily News), a recent study found that a "$1 billion-a-year reading program that has been a pillar of the Bush administration's education plan doesn't have much impact on the reading skills of the young students it's supposed to help... Reading First last year was the subject of a congressional investigation into whether top advisers improperly benefited from contracts for textbooks and testing materials they designed, and whether the advisers kept some textbook publishers from qualifying for funding." Sigh! Surely there are ways to help raise readers, while steering clearly of costly, corruption-prone federal government programs. See also the Washington Post article on this topic. What's particularly sad about the lack of success of the Bush administration's reading program is that I believe that Laura Bush and Jenna Bush both truly care about kids and reading (see this Daily Herald article, for example, about the women's book, Read All About It!). And yet... The Early Ed Watch blog has a different perspective, feeling that "it’s too early for this to be the last word on Reading First".
• While you're lamenting the effects of federal programs on reading, check out this heart-felt School Library Journal article by Jordan Sonnenblick about how No Child Left Behind is hurting students and teachers. He says: "No Child Left Behind has done to my school what it has done to untold thousands of urban schools. Our arts programs are gutted, our shop courses are gone, foreign languages are a distant memory. What’s left are double math classes; mandatory after-school drill sessions; the joyless, sweaty drudgery of summer school. Our kids come to us needing more of everything that is joyous about the life of the mind. They need nature walks, field trips, poetry, recess." And then he really says what he thinks. It is demoralizing. But important for people to think about. He concludes by asking parents to fight this if they can. Thanks to Sharon Levin for the link.
• As long as we're dissecting bad reading news, check out Jill's response to the recent Renaissance study of kids' reading habits at the Well-Read Child. Jill reports: "Something that was very disheartening though were the number of books children read in 2007. Seventh-graders averaged 7.1 books in 2007, while 12th-graders averaged 4.5 books. Wow...why aren't kids reading more?" That's the question, isn't it, Jill? What keeps me out there reading all of these blogs, and all of these news stories, looking for things that might help to reverse the trend.
• Meanwhile, in Jamaica, "Literacy Specialist with the Expanding Educational Horizons project, Maureen Byfield, has urged parents to embrace creative strategies to improve their children's literacy levels", according to the Jamaica Gleaner. "The Literacy Specialist cautioned that reading must never be used as a form of punishment but should be seen as a meaningful, functional and purposeful activity."
• According to a recent press release, the nonprofit Reach Out and Read has now distributed more than 20 million books to children. Through Reach Out and Read, doctors give free books to children on their well-child visits, up to age five. According to the article, "Reach Out and Read now reaches 25 percent of low-income U.S. infants, toddlers and preschoolers." I think that this is a great program. Parents usually trust the pediatrician, and if he or she says that books are important, that has to help.
• CNN.com has an inspiring article about a man from rural Ethiopia, Yohannes Gebregeorgis, who grew up to become a children's librarian in the US, and an advocate for getting books into the hands of Ethiopian children. "Children could imagine everything from books -- connections to other cultures, to other people, to other children, and to the universe at large," recalls Gebregeorgis. "It gives them hope. It gives them pleasure. It gives them everything that they cannot otherwise get in regular textbooks." Also, "Reading storybooks to children who have no access to television or computers, Gebregeorgis believes that literacy and education will emancipate his impoverished land, gripped by HIV/AIDS."
• According to a recent press release, "Elfrieda (Freddy) H. Hiebert, noted author of many influential reading programs, including Pearson's QuickReads, is this year's recipient of the International Reading Association's (IRA) highest award, the William S. Gray Citation of Merit. An adjunct professor at the University of California, Berkeley, Hiebert will also be inducted into the IRA's Reading Hall of Fame.

And that's all for this week. Thanks for caring about children's reading and literacy.

Monday Afternoon Visits: May 5

Here's some news from around the Kidlitosphere from the past week or so (bearing in mind that I had two more trips this past week, and thus probably missed a lot):

• Mary Hershey and Robin LaFevers are celebrating independent bookstore month over at Shrinking Violet Promotions. Every day they'll be highlighting one or more independent bookstores, beginning today with "Chaucer's in Santa Barbara, the Toronto Women's Bookstore, and Maria's Bookshop in Durango." I actually just placed my pre-order for copies of The Battle of the Labyrinth with my local independent: Hicklebee's Children's Books of San Jose. Go independent booksellers!!
• Terry's got a new Reading Round-Up available at The Reading Tub's blog. She has links from Susan at Wizard's Wireless, Mary Lee and Franki from  A Year of Reading, and Jill from The Well-Read Child, among other sources, about reading programs and initiatives.
• A belated congratulations to Andrea and Mark from Just One More Book! They were recently featured in an article by Kate Heartfield in the Ottawa Citizen. Attention couldn't come to two people more dedicated to children's books and the children's book blogging/podcasting community. Heartfield describes JOMB as "one of those creative projects that no one ever thought of doing, and then some one did, and now I can't imagine how the world ever got along without it." Agreed.
• This week's Nonfiction Monday round-up is available at Anastasia Suen's Picture Book of the Day site. I will get back to participating in that one of these days. Really. But in the meantime, lots of other people are highlighting great nonfiction for kids at Anastasia's.
• Since it's the first Monday of the month, Colleen Mondor has a new installment of her Wicked Cool Overlooked Books feature at Chasing Ray, highlighting books by Cherie Priest. Little Willow also participates with What Happens Here by Tara Altebrando at Bildungsroman, and TadMack is in at Finding Wonderland with Patricia A. McKillip's Solstice Wood (what a compelling title!).
• Sherry has some new lists going at Semicolon. She'll be publishing suggested summer reading lists for various of her children, beginning with this list of recommendations for her 11-year-old son. Sherry assures us that "I don’t give them summer reading lists in order to control their reading or to make them read books that they don’t want to read. They often ask me for suggestions of books to read, so I’m trying to include on their summer reading lists books that they would enjoy but that they haven’t remembered to try or I haven’t remembered to suggest." I think that other readers, not related to Sherry, will also benefit from the lists. 
• There's an interesting Washington Post article that summarizes a Renaissance Learning study on kids' reading habits. Thanks to Gwenda Bond for the link. Apparently several of the classics still rank high on children's reading lists. Though of course, as Gwenda pointed out, "the big flaw is it's based on accelerated reader quiz data--which tells you what kids are reading for credit, off I'm assuming lists of acceptable books, but not what they choose themselves outside school." Colleen also links to a couple of interesting stories at Chasing Ray - click through to see.
• Many thanks to Becky Levine for awarding me the Excellent Blog Award last week. I was traveling at the time, and couldn't respond formally, but it made my day! As I've long known, through reading blog posts and exchanging emails, Becky and I are kindred spirits. I hope that we can meet in person soon (perhaps at Hicklebee's...). I'm now supposed to name 10 other blogs that I think are excellent. And, as Becky noted, the problem with that is not finding 10 blogs, but in narrowing it down to 10. But it seems to me that I've linked to about 10 blogs during this post (or slightly more). So let's say that if I linked to your blog in this post, then I'm giving you the Excellent blog award. Feel free to pass it along. And if I link to your blog next week, or any other time in the future, then I think that your blog is excellent and worthy of other people knowing about. Thanks, Becky!!
• Speaking of excellent blogs, I also owe a thank you to Sara Lewis Holmes. She paid my blog a compliment recently by including my Growing Bookworms newsletter in an off-the-cuff list of recommended blogs for readers with children or teenagers. She was inspired to put together her list by an article about Best Blogs in Real Simple magazine that did not include any book-related sites. They did have a quote of the month for May from Madeleine L'Engle though, so they are a bit children's book friendly. Anyway, thanks Sara! Read Write Believe is one of my "go to" blogs, too.

And that's it for today. Happy reading!

The Battle of the Labyrinth Launches Tomorrow

Just a head's up, for those who haven't been paying attention. The fourth Percy Jackson and the Olympians book, The Battle of the Labyrinth, will be released TOMORROW, May 6th. Advance copies were not released of this title, so there's a lot of excitement among readers wondering what to expect. I think that this will be THE summer reading book for the 10 to 14 year old set (and doubtless will appeal to many older readers, too).

Personally, I'm holding out to buy my copy at Hicklebee's on May 15th, when author Rick Riordan will be visiting. I've been very determined in protecting my schedule that day. But it will be hard to wait... I'm dying to know what role Rachel Elizabeth Dare plays. If I still lived in Austin, I'd be camped out at BookPeople.

Meanwhile, here are some links to keep you occupied:

• The official Percy Jackson website.
• Rick Riordan's blog, Myth & Mystery (see, for example, this post about whether or not the demigods who have different parents are related to each other, and whether it's ok for them to, hypothetically, date).
• My interview with Rick Riordan from last year's Winter Blog Blast Tour.
• Camille's post at BookMoot about waiting for Percy.
• (Updated to add) Susan's post at Wizards Wireless, with a bookseller's perspective on waiting for publication day.

Readergirlz: May Issue

The May issue is now available at Readergirlz. This month's topic is Honor, and the featured book is Shannon Hale's Book of a Thousand Days. The issue includes a fun list of facts about Shannon Hale (like "I have a life-size cutout of Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy in my bedroom"), a while you read playlist, book party suggestions, discussion questions, and suggested companion reads from the Postergirlz (including Mitali Perkins' Monsoon Summer, which is one of my favorites). The featured community outreach program for the month is the Asian Task Force Against Domestic Violence.

Next month, in a perfect selection for June, the Readergirlz will be discussing Laurie Halse Anderson's Prom (that's her book Prom, not her personal experiences with proms, though if I know the Readergirlz, and I do, that will come up, too). You can also find links to a complete archive of the Readergirlz issues at Little Willow's blog, Bildungsroman.

Kudos to the Readergirlz Divas, and all of the other participants, for the huge success of the recent Readergirlz Operation Teen Book Drop. The Readergirlz Divas sent out this thank you message:

A shout out to all you readergirlz for joining us, YALSA, and publishers for making Operation Teen Book Drop a success on April 17! We dropped more than 10,000 books into the best pediatric hospitals in the U.S. and Canada. Well over 10,000 hospitalized teens will find solace in these donated stories.

In case you missed Operation TBD, you can read about it in Publishers Weekly, School Library Journal, and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

Go Readergirlz! Although I'm no longer working as a Postergirl (due to focusing more on literacy for a broad range of kids), I'm so proud to have been associated with them, and inspired by their continued efforts.

ReadWriteThink.org Launches Enhanced Summer Literacy Site

I received the following press release from the NCTE, and thought that it would be of interest to readers of this blog, as it pertains to reading and children's literacy (highlighting mine):

For years, ReadWriteThink.org has provided educators with hundreds of free lesson plans covering a wide range of K-12 reading and language arts-related topics. Now parents, camp counselors, and others gearing up for a summer of fun, educational experiences can take advantage of new additions to Learning Beyond the Classroom, a companion website that features everything non-teachers need to promote literacy learning and practice even when school is out. 

Learning Beyond the Classroom, initially launched in June 2007 by the International Reading Association (IRA) and the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE), extends the reach of teacher-popular reading and writing lesson plans for K-12 students to an out-of-school setting. The activities on the site provide a fun twist to literacy fundamentals. Even better, the activities can ward off the learning loss that many students, especially those who struggle in school, experience over the summer.

The collection of more than 50 out-of-school activities, organized by age groups, is available at www.readwritethink.org/beyondtheclassroom/summer/. Each activity comes complete with a list of needed materials, clear instructions, and an explanation of the practiced skill, including a glossary that defines literacy jargon, like "theme" or "phonemic awareness." The site also features online, interactive materials, like a crossword puzzles tool and another for creating comic strips, many with related tip sheets that explain how the tool can be used along with suggested activities. 

This year, the website features two new podcast series, Chatting About Books and Text Messages. Emily Manning, an elementary teacher and mom in Denton, Texas, who hosts Chatting About Books, has contributed many lesson plans to ReadWriteThink.org, including 2007's most popular lesson, "Can You Convince Me? Developing Persuasive Writing." She notes, "As a classroom teacher, I'm always looking for new ways to make reading enjoyable and meaningful to students."

Text Messages provides book recommendations that adults can pass along to preteen and teen readers. Scott Filkins, the host of the series, notes, "As a high school English teacher, I've worked with a wide variety of teen readers and I delight in seeing a reader connect with a good book." His first podcast will delve into American Born Chinese, a book that tells its story in words and pictures and that made Amazon's editors choice list in 2006. (Note from JR: American Born Chinese also won the 2006 Cybils Award for Graphic Novels, ages 13 and up. See an interview with author Gene Yang here.)

Learning Beyond the Classroom is part of ReadWriteThink.org, a nonprofit website maintained by IRA and NCTE with support from the Verizon Foundation, and in association with the Thinkfinity consortium. Last year, more than 10 million visitors visited the site for free lesson plans, interactive student materials, Web resources, and standards for K-12 classroom teachers of reading and the English language arts.

The International Reading Association is a nonprofit, global network of individuals and institutions committed to worldwide literacy. With more than 80,000 members, the Association supports literacy professionals through a wide range of professional development resources, advocacy efforts, and volunteer programs. For more information, please visit www.reading.org.

The National Council of Teachers of English, with 50,000 individual and institutional members worldwide, is dedicated to improving the teaching and learning of English and the language arts at all levels of education. For more information, please visit www.ncte.org.

The International Reading Association's annual conference is going on right now in Atlanta. Maybe next year I'll be able to attend.

Audrey, Wait!: Robin Benway

Book: Audrey, Wait!
Author: Robin Benway
Pages: 320
Age Range: 13 and up

Audrey is an ordinary teenager. She lives in Southern California. She works in an ice cream shop, loves her cat, and has strong relationships with her parents and her over-the-top best friend, Victoria. Her life is ordinary, that is, until she breaks up with her aspiring musician boyfriend, Evan. After she ignores his final plea to her ("Audrey, wait!"), Evan writes a new song about her. That song becomes a hit, and Audrey finds herself reluctantly famous. Her life is turned upside down, and she learns the upside, and the downside, to fame.

Audrey, Wait!, by Robin Benway, is a fun, fast-paced book. I read it in a single sitting, laughing along the way. It reminded me a bit of Melissa Walker's Violet on the Runway (reviewed here), another tale of a girl thrust into fame, and her subsequent mis-steps and strained relationships. It also has a ripped from the headlines feel, as in "what would someone like Lindsey Lohan say about the paparazzi? What would be her side of the story?"

But what really makes Audrey, Wait! work is the authenticity and humor of Audrey's wry, first person voice. I first flagged this passage, from page 4:

"... Victoria asked. By now she was on her third Diet Coke and I could see caffeine starting to shoot out of her eyes."

This passage from Chapter 1 gives a pretty good sense of Audrey's voice:

"You know how in movies, the room will be really crowded and noisy and someone will say something that causes everyone's heads to whip around and stare at that person? Let me tell you something: That happens in real life, too. And it happened to me when Evan said that. Two hundred people in the room, four hundred eyes (actually 399 -- Jake Myers lost one in a fishing accident when he was six), and all of them were burning into me."

I love the bit about the guy with the lost eye - it made me laugh. Or how about this:

"The bell rang and she glanced up at the ceiling. (Why does everyone do that when the bell rings? Have you ever noticed? It's like we expect the ceiling to come crashing down on our heads.)" (Chapter 19)

Is that true? I haven't been in school for a long time, so I can't say for sure, but it feels true. Anyway, I enjoyed Audrey's little asides, and I liked her, even when she was doing things that were clearly mistakes.

Although Amazon lists this as a book for 9 to 12 year olds, I think that this is definitely a high school book. There are profanities and occasional references to drug use, teen sex, and underage drinking, though none of these are the point of the story (and the drug use is frowned upon). Audrey herself feels like a normal teenager, and we have a sense that she is going to land on her feet because she has strong underlying values. She cares what her parents think, even if she doesn't always do her laundry. She adores music, is bored by school, and gets giddy over a certain red-haired boy. In short, she feels real. And that, I think, is going to be the key to this book's success with teen readers, especially girls. They'll be able to identify with Audrey, and will be able to experience, through her, a brush with fame. Without having to deal with that pesky paparazzi. Highly recommended for teen readers.

Publisher: Razorbill
Publication Date: April 2008
Source of Book: A review copy from the publisher. Quotes are taken from the review copy, and may not reflect the final, printed book.
Other Blog Reviews: Liv's Book Reviews, The Inkblotter, The Compulsive Reader, Teen Book Review, A Chair, A Fireplace and a Tea Cozy
Other Links: I learned from Sellers Library Teens about an online video contest that Razorbill is running related to this book. You download the lyrics, and record your version of the song from the title. Doesn't that sound fun? Also, Book Publishing News writes about the contest. See also Robin Benway's blog, where she describes her book tour for the release of Audrey, Wait!

The Penderwicks on Gardam Street: Jeanne Birdsall

Book: The Penderwicks on Gardam Street
Author: Jeanne Birdsall
Pages: 308
Age Range: 9-12

I adored Jeanne Birdsall's National Book Award winning middle grade novel The Penderwicks (review here). I called it "wonderful". I was thrilled when I learned that a sequel was forthcoming, and I did a little happy dance the day that The Pe