Cheshire Cheese Cat Review

Book talk:  Skilley is a cat with a big secret and Pip is a mouse with a hidden talent.  When they meet under the roof of the Cheshire Cheese Inn, they form an unlikely friendship.  But they're not the only strange characters with close-guarded secrets in the inn.  When they fall in with the inn's in-crowd they find themselves in hot water.  The intrigue at this inn is insanely hilarious, insistently  entertaining, and inspiring.  Don't let this one squeak by--let the cat out of the book and dive in to the cheesy goodness!

Rocks my socks:  This was the purrfect novel to read after I got home from the Dickens Fair (on an outing with the local Forever Young Adult book club.)  Though it is billed as a Dickens of a tale it was a fun and quick read and even children who have no idea who Charles Dickens was will love reading about the unlikely friendship between a word-loving mouse and a cheese-loving cat.  Despite my bias towards cats, I must admit preferring the mouse in this novel. And how could I not when he collects words like trading cards and slips them into his conversations?  The authors clearly have a passion for words as well which leads to such clever observations as "Cat....a small, mean word, one that began harshly and ended crossly."  The plot becomes increasingly absurd as it continues, but this is not a novel meant to be taken seriously.  With its puns and word-play it's clear that the authors had a lot of fun writing it and that sense of enjoyment is infectious and makes it fun to read.  The illustrations throughout are excellent as well.

Rocks in my socks: none

Every book its reader:  I'd give this fans of A Tale of Despereaux, Malcolm at Midnight, or Charlotte's Web.  Students in 3rd grade and up looking for a heart-warming anthropomorphic animal tale will enjoy this novel.  While a knowledge of Charles Dickens isn't necessary to enjoy the novel, adult fans of puns, word-play, and Charles Dickens will love finding the references hidden in this light-hearted story.

Extras:

The Cheshire Cheese Cat has its own website that is absolutely loaded with extras like a history of the inn and the literary figures who frequented it, word games, facts about the Victorian Era, and more.  It's a great site, definitely worth checking out.

Carmen Agra Deedy also has her own website

Source: copy purchased at #ALA12

The Cheshire Cheese Cat: A Dickens of a Tale by Carmen Agra Deedy & Randall Wright illus. by Barry Moser: Buy it or check it out today!

Cardboard Review

 Book talk:  When Mike brings home a cardboard box for his son's birthday the neighborhood kids tease him, but once they find out what the cardboard can make they'll do anything to get their hands on some.  This isn't just any cardboard--things made out of it come to life and can talk, think, and move on their own.  Which is great, until they start thinking that maybe they don't need the humans who made them...

Rocks my socks:  I love the idea for this comic: that a father who can't afford to buy a present for his son's birthday ends up getting him a cardboard box that they use to make a man who comes to life.  Like most golem stories, things get out of hand and soon there's an impending cardboardpocalypse. The story reminds me of Calvin and his cardboard creations and perhaps this modern comic about the fun to be had from an empty cardboard box will spark some creativity in the children reading it.  I also appreciate that they brush on the issue of free will and whether it's all right to make beings to do your bidding without giving them any choice in the matter.  The original cardboard man, Bill, decides that instead of doing chores he wants to get an education (which he achieves, much to my delight, by reading Plato and Star Trek novels.) The artwork is great as well and I enjoyed looking at the depictions of the fantastic things that were created with the cardboard.

Rocks in my socks:  Unfortunately the flesh-and-bone characters might as well be cardboard for all the depth that they have.  The protagonists, Cam and his father Mike, are hardworking but down on their luck and nice to the point of being pushovers.  The antagonist, Marcus, is rich and spoiled with long black hair and fingernails.  He even has an idiotic yes-man sidekick with a physical deformity to match his twisted mind.  Perhaps most worrying is when Marcus justifies his actions by saying "The doctor says I'm bipolar.  It's a genetic problem so my outbursts aren't really my fault" to get Cam's forgiveness, then uses Cam's pity to take advantage of him.  It's never mentioned again so it's not clear if he really is bipolar or if he was lying to get into Cam's house, but either way it's not a sympathetic portrayal of those with the disorder.  It isn't something that should be thrown about carelessly. If you're going to mention it in a story, you should follow up with it more.

Marcus eventually sees the error of his ways when attacked by his own creations and makes a completely unrealistic hairpin turn in personality.  The portrayal of this new Marcus is just as troubling to me as the old Marcus.  I suppose because comics are so visual they are particularly prone to perpetuating stereotypes, but that doesn't means comic creators shouldn't work to avoid it.  The moment Marcus changes his personality he also trims his hair, takes off the nail polish, and his skin magically gains a healthy tan, even though he was regularly depicted as being outside when he was sickly pale and evil so it's not like he was never exposed to the sun before the change of heart. And as everyone knows, boys with long hair and nail polish are not to be trusted so he had to give that up if he was going to be good.

As long as I'm on my soapbox let me talk about the female presence in this comic, or should I say the lack thereof.  First we have Tina, the neighbor who is inexplicably in love with Mike despite his treating her like a jerk.  She bakes cookies when Mike looks down and is ready to drop everything to watch Cam when Mike has to leave.  Once at their house she says "you men live like complete animals" as she notices the gunk on their burners and is quick to clean and cook for them while she's over because the menfolk clearly can't handle that (at least Bill learns how to bake despite being cardboard)  She then uses her feminine wiles and flowery perfume to try and seduce Mike when he gets back, and yells at him because he's not over his dead wife yet.

That brings us to the second female character: the dead mother who is re-created in cardboard and whose only purpose seems to be to tell Mike to move on and date the lovely Tina because "Cam needs a father--and a mother!"  While I appreciate her message of 'move on with your life' I resent the implication that single fathers are incapable of raising a child properly.  After she nags her husband and yells at him to keep fighting to save their son she literally runs away instead of actually, you know trying to save her son herself.  Bill has proven that cardboard characters are more than capable of saving the day and affecting human lives, after all.  But clearly the only thing dead mothers are good for is nagging their husbands and spouting propaganda for 50's-style nuclear families.

Which brings us to the last female character, the one with the smallest role: Marcus's living mother.  Her purpose is to nag Marcus.  She only has a few lines and she speaks almost exclusively in cliches: "Marcus!  How many times have I asked you not to slam your door?!" and "That's no way to talk to your mother!" and "Look at the dark circles under your eyes! Were you up all night again?" and my personal favorite, as her husband helps pull their son out of their collapsing house,  thereby saving his life, she stands back from the action and cries "My beautiful house!"

I don't know what mothers TenNapel has been hanging around but I can tell you that if some monster was trying to eat me even a cardboard simulacrum of my mom wouldn't run away and leave me to its mercy and if I saw a child, even one with no relation to me, pulled from a collapsing building my first concern would not be property damage.   I doubt TenNapel set out with the intention of writing weak female characters or that he has a low opinion of mothers' strength and love of their children, he probably just didn't think about his portrayal of women at all.   Which is why they ended up so sloppy and unrealistic.  But perhaps if reviewers comment on this type of thing instead of just accepting it authors will start to pay more attention and we'll have better female role models for girls who read comics.  I really did enjoy the idea behind this story and I'll look out for TenNapel's next comic, I just hope next time he puts as much careful attention into his characterization as he puts into his beautiful artwork.

Every book its readers:  I think the idea of cardboard creatures coming to life will appeal to a lot of kids and the pacing and imaginative, action-filled artwork is sure to keep them engaged.  Its characterization isn't as strong as its plot, however.  I'd give it to kids grades 4 and up looking for a quick, action-packed comic.

Extras:  

The author has his own website.

The publisher has a page for the book as well.

Source: school library

Cardboard by Doug TenNapel: Buy it or check it out today!

Tiger Lily Review

Book talk:  Neverland is not the fantasy you know it as.  It's an island in the Atlantic that few know how to visit.  Because of its isolation, there are creatures there that cannot be found anywhere else, creatures like mermaids and fairies.  It's one of those creatures, Tinkerbell, who tells us the story of Tiger Lily as she saw it.  Her story is not one of childhood dreams and happy endings.  Neverland can be a dangerous place, and if you're not careful the island will eat you alive.  But for Tiger Lily the most dangerous things on the island are not the native hazards, but the foreigners who wash-up and make the island their home.  Foreigners like the infamous Peter Pan.

Rocks my socks:  This is one of the best re-tellings of a story that I've read.  All of the familiar characters are there, but what were two dimensional archetypes in the original story have been transformed into layered characters with interesting new histories that inform their every move.  Even Captain Hook gets a new back story that lends him some human interest and sympathy: his hand was not eaten by a crocodile "it came off in an assembly line...I was staying up nights to study. I thought I could study my way into being a gentleman. Well, I fell asleep. My hand went in instead of the leather."  Smee, on the other hand, is transformed from a bumbling idiot into a psychopath who literally gets away with murder because he looks so innocuous.

The story is full of outsiders with Tiger Lily and her best friend described as "both misfits or, as I liked to think of them, strange exotic birds, one too fierce to be hemmed in as a girl, and the other too hesitant to be respected as a boy."  My favorite of the new characters introduced in this book is Tik Tok, the medicine man who adopted Tiger Lily as a child.  He wears dresses, grows his hair long, and engages in women's activities instead of hunting with the men.  Everyone in the island accepts him for who he is without a second-thought--that is until an Englishman washes ashore and begins to convert the islanders.  His story is the most heart-wrenching in a novel that is ultimately about heartbreak.  Tinkerbell loves Peter Pan, but she cannot communicate with him even if the difference in their size could be overcome. Tiger Lily is torn between her love of her father and her tribe and her growing affection for Peter, but knows that she can't have both.  Peter senses these difficulties but ignores all his problems in hopes that they'll go away.

Wendy is one of the few characters that isn't presented as vulnerable and broken:  "She had the blissful confidence of someone who had never been put in a pot of turkey broth to die." I think the quote that best describes her though is "She held her skirts against her legs as they walked, making sure to slowly avoid this tiny briar and that muddy boggy spot, for out of all the things in the forest, she noticed her dress the most."  Perhaps this is why she is so attractive to Peter: in an island of misfits she stubbornly insists on molding her surroundings to suit her so that she always belongs.  For the rest of the characters things do not work out as well.  The emotions of the novel are as raw and wild as the Neverland forest: characters act in haste, they make mistakes, they betray each other.  That is precisely why I loved this novel so much.  There are enough stories about people who can do no wrong and love that conquers all.  But unfortunately we are not all Wendys and life doesn't always work like that.  This is a story is for the misfits, for the failed romances, for the voices that are silenced.  This is Tiger Lily's story so it doesn't take Peter's advice and ignore things that are difficult or unpleasant.  I loved it for that, even if it made bawl harder than I have in a long time.

Rocks in my socks:  The only thing that nagged at me was that despite beginning with a warning that things will not end well, Anderson takes a lot of time at the end of the novel describing the rest of the lives of the characters and tying up loose ends to show that everyone was ultimately more or less happy.  I wish some of that had been edited down.  I'm not a fan of lengthy goodbyes in real life or bloated denouements in fiction.

Every book its reader:  I'd give this to people who like darker retellings of classic stories.  Fans of Wicked Lovely and Tender Morsels should enjoy this modern perspective on Peter Pan.  It's definitely more character than plot-driven though so those looking for action scenes with pirate fights should look elsewhere.  There's plenty for adults to enjoy but because it is so dark I'd save it for at least 7th grade and up.

Quotes: 
"Let me tell you something straight off. This is a love story, but not like any you’ve heard. The boy and the girl are far from innocent. Dear lives are lost. And good doesn’t win. In some places, there is something ultimately good about endings. In Neverland, that is not the case."

"Peter gave her a crooked smile. 'The way I see it, ignoring things is important.'”

"Every kind of love, it seems, is the only one. It doesn’t happen twice."

"Sometimes love means not being able to bear seeing the one you love the way they are, when they’re not what you hoped for them."

Extras:

There's an official trailer, but it's pretty short.

The publisher has a webpage for the book that includes a discussion guide.

Jodi Lynn Anderson has an official facebook page.

Source: school library

Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson: Buy it or check it out today!

Mini Reviews: Comics

I can see why this comic is so popular.  Naruto has a lot of action and humor and a rich setting.  Watching Naruto's antics, the fight scenes, and immersing yourself in the mythology and ways of the world it's set it is a lot of fun.  Plus, it's about ninjas. The story has a lot of heart as well though.  Naruto has the spirit of a demon that tormented the town trapped inside him and as a result the villagers have never really accepted him.  He acts out to get them to notice him and has big goals to prove them wrong--that he does have what it takes to lead the town and be a force of good.  As he learns the ways of ninjitsu he also learns about teamwork and discipline.  He refuses to sink to the level of his bullies and defends the town even when it's tempting to do otherwise.  There's a lot of good lessons for the real world to be learned in this manga.  Due to the ample and bloody fight scenes and Naruto's famous Ninja centerfold move I'd save this for teenage manga fans.  Naruto: Volume 1 &2 by Masashi Kishimoto: Buy it or check it out today!

This manga is about a girl who can see fairies who ends up on a quest to find a lost artifact in the service of a handsome man with a mysterious and dangerous past.  She has to solve riddles and uncover clues while unraveling layers of deception and deciding who to trust.  Did I mention she has a talking cat who isn't really a cat but a fairy?  What more could I ask for?  Gorgeous costumes stemming from a setting in 19th Century England?  Wait, it has that too.  It's certainly not the most thought-provoking thing I've ever read but darn is it diverting!  I'm looking forward to breezing through the rest of the volumes in this series.  The Earl & the Fairy Story and art by Auyko, Original Concept by Mizue Tani: Buy it or check it out today!

This nearly wordless, surreal gem is exquisitely strange and absolutely delightful.  It stars a little girl who literally eats herself out of house and home as she consumes everything in sight and is sent to the market.  There she finds an egg that hatches into a shapeshifter and leads her on a series of strange journeys including one seemingly meta-fictional one where she calls a time-out and asks that Forsythe alter his drawing.  Being nearly wordless it would be great to give to a child and ask them to describe what's happening in the story.  Adult fans of the surreal are sure to enjoy it as well.  Jinchalo by Matthew Forsythe: Buy it or check it out today!

I enjoyed this manga about two middle school kids who team up to make manga together.  It has a nice quiet plot, but it takes time to develop the characters so that I really wanted them to succeed in their plans.  I think their struggle of whether they should do what is expected of them or follow their dreams is one that many middle school students will be able to relate to.  It was interesting to get a glimpse into the world of how manga gets made as well.  I have mixed feelings on the romantic subplot though.  On the one hand I like that the main character is a romantic and wants to exchange e-mails with the girl he has a crush on instead of seeing her in person.  On the other hand I am not okay with the way gender roles are portrayed.  One of the male main characters describes the female lead by saying "Azuki naturally knows that a girl should be graceful and polite...and because she is a girl, she should be earnest about things and get average grades.  She knows by instinct that a girl won't look cute if she's overly smart."  While they are serious about their goal of making manga "'the reason she's thinking about becoming a voice actress is she naturally chose a dream that many girls have nowadays, and she's just trying to fully enjoy her life as a girl.  She doesn't feel any pressure like we do about our future and whatnot.'  'Because she's a girl?' 'That's right.  She knows what it means to be a girl she knows by instinct that the best thing for a girl is to get married and become somebody's wife...and until then--no, even after she's married, she'll remain graceful and polite.'"  Excuse me!  I'm really hoping that this is just an example of how the characters are clueless about girls and that in later issues they learn how wrong they are because I enjoyed this comic otherwise.  If they don't join the rest of us in the 21st century though I'd be hesitant to recommend it.  Bakuman by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata: Buy it or check it out today!

I absolutely loved this irreverent, Scheherazade-esque take on American history.  Nathan Hale is about to be hanged when he utters his famous last words and the Big Huge Book of American History swallows him up.  This infuses him with knowledge beyond his life and allows him to stay the hand of the executioner as he regales him with historical tales.  This first volume is all about Nathan Hale and the Revolutionary War and despite wars being my least favorite part of history to study I was just as rapt as the executioner, and learned a lot that I had either never learned or forgotten due to lack of interest.   I particularly enjoyed reading about Henry Knox, the kick-butt bookseller.  The book definitely has an American bias, but it doesn't view American history as sacred.  When Nathan Hale encounters the ghost of Crispus Attucks and they tell the hangman that they're in the brotherhood of American Martyrs the hangman asks "What's a martyr?" their response: "Nothing. What's a martyr with you?"  It takes a special kind of person to make puns about martyrs, and that is a kind of person whose work I want to follow.  Even the notes at the end of the book were entertaining: Nathan (the author) introduces us to the people who helped make the book and the team of adorable babies that he put in charge of research.  He has a panel with all of his references arranged in two stacks with the title, author, and pub year showing on the spines.  Perhaps not MLA formatting, but very attractive.  Nothing about it is conventional but it is actually something that kids will read as opposed to most backmatter which I'm sure is entirely passed over even by adults.    Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales: One Dead Spy by Nathan Hale: Buy it or check it out today!

Geeks, Girls, and Secret Identities Review

Book talk:  Vincent Wu knows Captain Stupendous like no one else.  Sure everyone in the city loves their caped crusader and there's four separate fan clubs devoted to him, but the one that Vincent is president of is the only one that's the real deal-even if it only has three members.  Still, Vincent takes his responsibilities seriously--he writes about Captain Stupendous for every school report, he knows all his moves, and he watches and re-watches footage of his fights.  But when he finally meets Captain Stupendous he's nothing like Vincent imagined him.  On the outside he's big, strong, and super fast but on the inside he's...a girl?  Something's gone terribly wrong and Captain Stupendous's stupendous powers have been passed on to a surly girl who doesn't even want to be a superhero.  Will Vincent and his friends be able to change her mind and whip her into shape or will Professor Mayhem take over the town?

Rocks my socks:  I love that the superman-esque hero of the story ends up being a sassy teenage girl who isn't thrilled about suddenly changing form into a burly man.  Just because she doesn't want to be a superhero doesn't mean that she can't kick butt though.  And she will kick Vincent's and his friends' butts if they don't watch what they say.  The awkward tensions that ensue among them are comedy gold and while Jung is clearly a fan of the superhero comic genre he isn't afraid to make fun of it either.  I enjoyed watching him play with superhero cliches and turn them on their heads.  I also appreciated that while there was a mad scientist there were good scientists as well.  In fact they use science to fight him and without their knowledge and quick-thinking Captain Stupendous would never be able to fight Mayhem.  I enjoyed the romantic subplot as well and the unconventional path it takes.

Rocks in my socks:  The plot is riddled with holes that nagged at me, but I was enjoying myself so much I was mostly able to ignore them.  I would have also preferred it if a bit more time was spent on character development. Hopefully we'll find out more about them in the next novel.

Every book its reader:  I'd give this to anyone 3rd grade and up looking for a humorous story.  Fans of superhero comics will enjoy the novel in particular.  The fast pacing and ample pictures make it great for those just starting to read full chapter books.  I'd also give it to anyone interested in stories that play with gender stereotypes and strong female leads.

Extras:
So there's this video of Mike Jung performing a hilarious song he wrote, just watch it:


Mike Jung also has a website with a blog, information about him, and "contact the galactic emperor" feature

Scholastic has a page for the book as well

Source: Free ARC from #ALA12

Geeks, Girls, and Secret Identities by Mike Jung: Buy it or check it out today!

These go to 11!

I was working on a gift for a friend recently when it dawned on me that much like the famous amps from This is Spinal Tap, Doctor Who's doctors also go up to eleven.  I whipped up this little graphic to amuse myself and other fans of both the famous satirical movie and the excellent British science-fiction show:

Here's a clip from the movie for those who don't know what I'm talking about:

And for those who don't know what Doctor Who is, a 6 minute recap of a show that's been running for decades:

Rules Review

Book talk: Have you ever had to explain something that you thought was obvious?  Well, Catherine is an expert in that field.  Simple rules like "Don't stand in front of the TV when other people are watching" or "You can yell on a playground, but not during dinner" or even "Flush!" need to be spelled out for David.  Younger brothers can be embarrassing enough without them taking off their pants in public.  Catherine loves David, but sometimes she wishes her life were a bit more normal.  That's why she's so excited about the new girl moving in next-door.  With her best friend gone for the summer, this is her chance to make a new friend who can do all the normal best friend things: she already has the tin cans and flashlights ready for secret messages.  Will this be the summer she's always dreamed of?  Or will it turn out to be another disaster?

Rocks my socks: I enjoyed the way Cynthia Lord worked the various rules Catherine has created into the narrative.  Catherine with all of her hopes, dreams, and insecurities seemed very real to me and one of the people in my reading group who is the parent of an autistic child said that those aspects of the story rang true as well.  This would be a great book to get a discussion started about what normal really means and how we treat those who we perceive as different.  My favorite character in the novel was Jason.  He  is unable to speak and communicates by pointing to cards with words on them contained in a binder.  Catherine volunteers to make some new cards for him and I found it interesting to see how she decided what cards to make.  I don't know how he lived so long without the card 'joke' to indicate sarcasm!

Rocks in my socks:  The novel has a pretty laid-back pace with not much happening for most of it, then the conflict that leads to the climax seems to come out of nowhere and be over very quickly.  I felt like characters overreacted to produce an inflated climax and then made up again in ways that seemed off to me. The other people in my book club were also a bit confused about what exactly was supposed to have happened between some of the characters and what their real feelings on the situation were.  Perhaps this is because the other characters weren't fleshed out as well as Catherine so we weren't able to infer what tone, etc they were using to say certain things and we weren't clear on all of their backgrounds that effected how they responded.

Every book its reader: I'd give it to readers 4th grade and up looking for a school story with a lot of heart.  It would make a particularly good class read to give students the chance to discuss the themes raised in the novel.  

Extras:

Cynthia Lord has her own site with a page for the book as well as extras and a discussion guide

Scholastic has a page for the book as well

You can find fan-made book trailers for the book on YouTube including these two

Source:  Copy received as part of faculty & staff book club

Rules by Cynthia Lord: Buy it or check it out today!