The Big Field by Mike Lupica

I'm not a fan of Lupica - he's pretty much a loud mouth ESPN sports writer - a breed I tend to dislike - and I thought Heat was middling OK - but not great. But 2 fourth grade boys I know loved that book - I mean REALLY loved it. One of them is a baseball nut and a reader and the other just a reader. So I gave Lupica's newest book a ride, and I have to and hate to admit it, but I really liked it. I liked the pacing, the backstory, the characters, the setup - even if it is a typical kids' sports book that features an unnaturally gifted athlete in a championship series in which every game comes down to do or die. "Hutch" Hutchinson is a natural shortstop, a 14 year old boy who lives in a lousy neighborhood in Palm Beach County, Florida. He is the son of a Puerto Rican mom and a dad who once made it all the way to AAA baseball, but washed out. Now Hutch's dad works as a caddy and a limo driver. Hutch has always wished his dad would share baseball with him, but his dad never does. To make matters worse, Hutch has been moved to 2nd base because a young phenom (D-Will) has joined the team, and that boy has SKILLS - even if he doesn't seem to care about the team or the game - only where they can take him. The action moves along in this book, it all pulls together in the end, and Hutch finds out that his dad really does care. It all ties up neatly in a perfectly predictable way - but it is mighty satisfying and interesting along the way. I'd give this to any boy reader from about 5th grade up to 8th, and especially to your baseball or sports fan.

http://www.amazon.com/Big-Field-Mike-Lupica/dp/0399246258/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1207082107&sr=1-1



http://www.amazon.com/Big-Field-Mike-Lupica/dp/0399246258

Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale

Shannon Hale has not been one of my favorite children's writers. A perennial on the two star and best of lists, her works have typically left me cold, and the arrival of a new book often makes me groan about having to read another Shannon Hale book. Well, this book finally made me understand what the reviewers see in her. Book of a Thousand Days is a fast moving tale of two young women walled up in a tower. Basing her book on a Grimm Fairy Tale called "Maid Maleen," Hale takes the basic structure of the story and transfers it to a quasi-Mongolian setting. The story follows a serving maid named Dashti, who finds herself walled into a tower with her mistress, who has angered her father by refusing to marry the man he has selected for her. The two are to be walled in for seven years. Gradually, the food goes from plentiful to scarce, rats begin to eat the stores, and Dashti impersonates her mistress while speaking to the lad to whom the lady had promised herself. Eventually, the guards stop bringing food, and the girls are alone. Dashti finally breaks out to find that the country has been laid waste, and no one remains. The two young women wander to the land of the lady's betrothed and end up as kitchen maids in the palace. What happens after this strains credulity for an adult, but I think 5th-8th grade girls who like princess or fairy tales will find the tale both engrossing and satisfying. Note that the younger level I recommend this to would have to be strong, motivated readers - the book is not slim.

Click here to read the original Grimm tale online:

http://www.4literature.net/Jacob_and_Wilhelm_Grimm/Maid_Maleen/

Here's a link to Hale's website including info about the book.

http://www.squeetus.com/stage/books_b1000.html

The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron

Oh no, it's the children's book with the word "scrotum" in it! There was a tremendous uproar over this book in the past summer when a listserv of school librarians had a discussion over the offending word, and some said they would and some said they wouldn't purchase the title for their schools. The national media picked it up, and for a little while, the world of the librarian was abuzz. As usual, everyone took it too seriously, and camps divided along the "someone must save the children" vs. the "you must never censor" line, and no one convinced anyone else of anything.

So what is the book about? Lucky lives in hard luck Hard Pan, California. Her mother died a few years before (oh, we mothers, we drop like flies in books, don't we?) and she lives with her father's first wife (second wife was the mom), a French woman who misses her life in France. Lucky, whose father is a non-presence in her life, is terrified that Brigitte is going to abandon her and run back to France where there are no snakes and no dust storms and no tasteless government cheese. Lucky decides to run away in order to force Brigitte's hand, and all becomes well after a scary sandstorm misadventure. Oh, and the s-word? Lucky hears it while eavesdropping on an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting.

Well, the controversy is all over now, and we can hopefully look at the book for what it is worth. And what is it worth? Well, it is a short little book, pretty nicely written, with an interesting girl protagonist, but I have to confess that the book underwhelmed me. I felt that the central conflict (is Brigitte preparing to leave Lucky and return to France?) rests on the very thin premise that Brigitte would hide 2 facts: 1) that she is taking online restaurant management classes in order to open a cafe in Hard Pan, and 2) that she is in the process of doing the paperwork to officially adopt Lucky. I find point 1 harder to believe than point 2, as I can't see an adult in a caregiving role never telling a 10-year old - "be quiet, I have to STUDY!"

So what about the book? It was no better - or worse - than other books I had read over the past year. It is probably better than the run of the mill, but is it a Newbery? I don't know. I preferred both Rules by Cynthia Lord and Penny From Heaven by Jennifer L. Holm, which were Honor Books. I work with a librarian who thinks Lucky was chosen precisely for the word "scrotum" on the first page, in hopes that the controversy might revive an award that is prestigious in library-land but means little to your average reader... I'm not sure that the Newbery is languishing, but I do think she has a point. So it all comes down to - "What hill do you want to die on?" If I were a school librarian today, and I thought my community would freak out at the deadly word on page 1, would I stock the book anyway? Would I fight for it? Well, sorry library idealists, but probably not. The book just doesn't have enough child appeal, in my opinion, to be worth it. On the other hand, if I thought my community would accept it, I'd probably buy it. Either way, I hate to say, I don't think the book would circulate much.

Reading a mile a minute for class

I can't possibly list all the books I've read for my Children's Literature class, so I'm going to hit the highlights of the past two weeks:

No More Dead Dogs by Gordon Korman - some funny pokes at award winning novels for children (love the part where Wallace points out that in any book with a medal and a dog on the cover, the dog is definitely going to die - yes, I know Shiloh doesn't die, but he's an exception), a middle school play, a character named Wallace Wallace who will not tell a lie... This book is LOL funny.

Sammy Keys and the Hotel Thief by Wendy Van Draanen - definitely a much more contemporary mystery series than the hoary old Nancy Drew books I grew up with. I'd give this book to the mystery readers who are looking for something a bit more "hip" to read.

Wait Till Helen Comes by Mary Downing Hahn - some of the cultural surroundings in this book might feel a little dated to adults, but I don't think kids will notice it at all as they read this creepy ghost story. A very well-done thriller for the older elementary school reader.

On the Wings of Heroes by Richard Peck - I remember reading Richard Peck when I myself was a teen, and I had forgotten how compulsively readable he is. This is a slim little book that reads like a memoir of life as a child during WWII. The way the story skips forward in time from tale to tale really feels like how we remember childhood, as a series of the "highpoints" of memory. I liked this book immensely. My favorite line comes when Earl Bowman (dad) asks Davy (son): "When you're taller than I am, are you still going to stick this close to me?" and Davy answers, "Sure," I said. "Why not?" Beautiful.

Last Shot: A Final Four Mystery by John Feinstein - this is one of those books that I personally didn't think that much of for myself, but that I could see a 4-6 grade reader snarfing down whole. Whip-smart kids, nefarious adults, a super-cool, friendly teen/young adult for the 8th grade protagonists to help.... This book has it all for the young reader.

Out Standing In My Field by Patrick Jennings

This is a funny-sad baseball book for upper elementary school readers. Continuing in my quest to find good baseball themed books to pass on to my son, I picked this one off the shelf at work. The book tells the story of Tyrus Cobb Cutter, a boy whose father played one day in the majors and never got over it. The unique angle this book takes versus other baseball books is that our hero really stinks at the game. Ty's looking to tie the league record for highest number of errors in a season, and his batting average hovers somewhere below .100. Everyone knows Ty stinks but his dad just won't let Ty be the bench warmer he was born to be. Meanwhile sister Daisy has all the talent in the world, but steadfastly refuses to play for her father. Told wryly and memorably in the first person by the funny, baseball loving Ty, this book captures both the magic and the heartache of baseball, and the sheer awfulness that can come from being the son of a monster of a children's sports coach. I would probably not offer this book to under 11 or 10 year olds, as there is some reference to Ty's father having a drinking problem, but for boys who like baseball and who are sick of reading books about miracle kids, this could be a real winner.

Hatchet by Gary Paulsen

A 13 year old boy reeling from the divorce of his parents manages to crash land the plane he is taking to visit his father in the far northern Canadian oil fields into a small lake in the wilderness after the pilot dies of a heart attack. The boy proceeds to survive in the wilderness for 55 days on his ingenuity and using the small belt hatchet his mother gave him before he climbed on the plane. A well-executed survival story long on action and self-reliance and self-actualization, this book would likely have enormous appeal for boys from about age 10 to 14. Younger readers with strong skills could also probably tackle the book, but references to the family breaking up over possible infidelity on the part of the mother may give some parents pause, but the book as a whole is definitely recommended strongly for school and public libraries. This was a Newbery Honor book in 1988.

Rules by Cynthia Lord

A book about a girl whose brother is autistic, this story about coping with life in a family that revolves around a child with special needs is funny and touching. Catherine lives her life making rules for David to help him cope with life. Some are practical, like "No toys in the fish tank" but others mean a little more, like "Some people think they know who you are, when really they don't." This story of one summer when Catherine does some growing up is deceptively simple, but emotionally complex. When Catherine tells her father that just because David needs him more, doesn't mean she doesn't need him at all, it's a real heartbreaker of a moment. As an aside, how can you not like a book that quotes so extensively from Frog and Toad?

http://www.cynthialord.com/rules.htm