Killer heels

As mentioned before, I am a sucker for a good cover and I think this one is fabulous. I'm not a wearer of heels but that doesn't mean to say I don't appreciate them and, yes, I was drawn to this book by the killer heel on display.

Then there's the intriguing glimpse of an apparently metallic skeleton inside the leg, and a hint of an old, old story. It also indicates that it is the first of a series ... The Lunar Chronicles. So, does Marissa Meyer make something of the Cinderella story in this book?

Well I think she does. Cinder lives in a future time when vast swathes of earth have been devastated and individual countries no longer exist. She lives with a cruel stepmother who despises her partly because she is a cyborg - part human, part machine.

And yes, there is a handsome prince who asks Cinder to a ball. There is much more too so the author is not just ticking off the appropriate Cinderella boxes. There is a terrible, deadly plague that is killing off the citizens of earth and trouble with the lunar colonists who seem to have amazing mental powers.

Then there's the fact that there seems to be some mystery about just who, and what Cinder is. There's plenty to think about in this book and I found it most enjoyable. Cinder has great character, she is no wimpy princess who relies on others, she is a self-assured mechanic who faces up to her problems.

Roll on the next books in The Lunar Chronicles.

(Cinder by Marissa Meyer is a Puffin paperback and costs £6.99.)

Posted with Blogsy

Seraphina - meaning fiery or ardent - very apt

I read Seraphina by Rachel Hartman partly on the tube on the way home from a buying expedition to Foyles in Charing Cross Road. It was powerful enough to hold my attention from Tottenham Court Road to my home station in the western 'burbs and then that journey in reverse the next day when I went to a CILIP meeting at Library HQ.


Seraphina lives in a world where dragons and humans co-exist in an uneasy fashion. Dragons are able to assume human form but lack, and despise, human emotions.
There have been forty years of a truce between the species, but something is amiss and Seraphina gets herself involved in the heart of it all. She is a great character, full of power and energy and lives up to her name.

Early on, we discover a secret about her birth and about her family that she is unable to tell her friends - usually I find this plot device infuriating but this time, it is believable and works well.

There is loyalty and love and treason and adventure and plenty of action. Seraphina is tried and tested as are many others. A traitor is unmasked and emotions run high even amongst the dragons.


This is Rachel Hartman's first (published) novel. I am looking forward to many more.

Summer in the city

I was delighted to receive a cheering text on Friday from my daughter-in-law (who resides in bonny Scotchland) - school's out for summer - a celebration of the prospect of six weeks to hope for better weather, i.e. much less rain and much more sun. Yes, indeed, the summer holidays have started as has the summer reading.

I am refusing to think of the horrors of moving the school library from its old home - two former technical rooms - into a spanking new block. The books and shelves have made the transition, albeit unpacked but we may not do anything with them until September. Sadly, all our other bits and bobs have gone awol ... Lost in the abyss of the old gym, the hall, somewhere behind the bike sheds. Who knows.


So, thinking positively, summer reading. I intend to read as many new books for children and young adults as possible whilst also keeping up with a goodly amount of adult novels.
Today, I have just finished Team Human by Justine Larbalestier and Sarah Rees Brennan and jolly good it was too. It's set in contemporary USA and its characters are vampires, humans and zombies. However despite there being something of a lurve story there is also mystery, intrigue and an exploration of friendship that had me engrossed. I even put aside my Saturday crossword in order to finish it. I forgot to mention that it avoids having a feeble heroine, a tedious love triangle and sparkles with wit and humour.

I've read several books by Justine Larbalestier* (and enjoyed them all very much) but none yet by Sarah Rees Brennan, something I shall rectify over the holidays.


*Liar, How To Ditch Your Fairy, and the Magic Or Madness Trilogy

CWCS Battle of the Books 2012 - FINAL ROUND!

The time has come to let everyone know which book has won our BoB.
The judge for this round was T. Daly whose first response was to thank us for asking him to read the three books because "they were amazing."

What We Keep is a beautiful novel that I read with my heart. There was a lovely quirkiness about it. In the end I suspect that Angela would have made the same mistakes as her mother and would have gone all the way to destruction with Jesse except that the heavy hand of the author gave her such good sense. I hope she and Noah will be happy for a while.
I read Nothing with my stomach. As the heap of meaning grew so did my mounting sense of dread. This was one of the best horror stories I have read.

Fishtailing, I read with my mind - wondering at the strange format. By about the second page I was completely engaged. The terse sentences drew me into poor wounded Natalie's web of evil. I needed the coming together of Kyle and Tricia at the end. I needed the smell of spring.

My winner is Fishtailing.


Hooray! We have a decision ... and next term in the new Library, in the new Block we shall have a party to celebrate not just this wonderful book but all the others too.

Battle of the Books -penultimate round

Apologies for the lateness of this post. We are in the process of moving our Library to a new building and life is, to say the least, chaotic.
Enough said, let us move to business.


The books pitted against each other for this round were Cat's Table vs Fishtailing and Ship Breakers vs What We Keep Is Not Always What Will Stay.


The judge for the first two books was J. Waudby, Greenford resident and writer and she wrote of the book she chose as winner:-
I chose Fishtailing because it hooked me from the first page, and also because it raises questions about looking at poetry as creativity or as an expression of anguish - even a cry for help. Every word is important and each verse holds the voice of that character. The way the poem structure reflects the poems written by Natalie, Miguel, Tricia and Kyle is very satisfying and the language in this book is breathtakingly beautiful. But I thought the best thing about it is the haunting story and the way that it builds slowly but inevitably to the tragic climax. I also liked the echo of the teacher's writing advice, to give the protagonist hope, in the moment of hope at the end of this poem-story.


The judge for the other two books was M. MacInnes, a School Librarian from Ealing.
Ship Breakers is set in a dystopian future and I found it a difficult read. However, if you enjoy literature which describes a society that struggles with fear violence and shortages as the main characters spend their days just trying to survive.
What We Keep ... is not a book that I would normally pick up but I really, really enjoyed it. Angie the main protagonist is a very likeable 15 year old who has the normal teenage stresses that go with life. Her relationship with her Mum is strained as is her relationship with Jesse, the war hero, who returns to school to finish her education.
Her confidante throughout is Felix, who listens to her and encourages her to come to her own conclusions about her life and the people in it.


My winner is What We Keep Is Not Always What Will Stay.


There you have it. The finalists for the CWCS Battle of the Books 2012 are Fishtailing by Wendy Phillips vs What We Keep Is Not Always What Will Stay by Amanda Cockrell.

What of the contestant brought back from the dead? The group of judges have decided that Nothing by Janne Teller is the choice for them.

A triumph for North American and European publishing ...
The judge for the last round has been given copies of the books and will let us know his decision soon. Watch this space!

Swim the Fly vs. What We Keep Is Not Always What Will Stay

Many thanks to Mr. Knight who was our reader for this contest - despite the pressure of exams and coursework and everything else!

Swim the Fly

 

This was a very easy book to read, perhaps a little too easy! It would make a really good “Animal House” film as it definitely had a light comedic style. The characters were a little superficial but I enjoyed it very much.

What We Keep Is Not Always What Will Stay

I read this book after “Swim the Fly” and found it much less flippant. I was absolutely riveted by it. The characters had real depth and I was unable to put it down. I particularly enjoyed its honesty and realism.

My winner is What We Keep Is Not Always What Will Stay

Battle of the Books Nothing vs Ship Breaker

The judge for this round was Ms Mac Elhatton

Nothing is extremely abstract and profound. It disturbs the reader on a very deep level and it is a book that you have to think about. It sits with you and you have to think about it for a long time after you have read it. At some points you have to set it down as the levels of disillusionment, disaffection and desensitisation shown by the characters are overpowering.

It is not a book to be enjoyed, it is a book to be experienced. If you are looking for a challenging read, I thoroughly recommend it but if you are at all faint hearted then leave it alone.

Ship Breaker is a novel about a dystopian future and, for me, was unique. It is not trite or formulaic though it could so easily be so. I liked the fact that there was not a straightforward hero vs villain plot and there was no definitive right or wrong. There were shades of grey and one saw through the main character’s eyes and empathised with his viewpoint. It was all about a struggle for survival and how luck plays a large part in the achievement and pursuit of happiness.

My winner is Ship Breaker.

Round 2 Far Rockaway vs Fishtailing

The judge for this round was Ms Angela Doherty.

Far Rockaway is a great idea for a story. While on holiday with her parents visiting her grandfather, Cat Manno is saved from death by her grandfather Victor as they are both hit by a truck while crossing the road. Both end up in the hospital with Cat falling into a deep coma. As her parents keep a vigil by her bedside, Cat enters an adventure world of her grandfather’s stories – a professor of Literature – the world of the Last of the Mohicans, Treasure Island and Kidnapped.

The book switches between the hospital and the adventure world with Cat and Victor’s struggle to remain alive in the real world mirrored in a range of exciting episodes and encounters with characters from the books.

Although I really liked the concept of the book I have not read any of the books referred to and so probably missed out on the significance of some of the exploits and escapades which to me seemed very long and drawn out. There were a few exciting and tense moments but I didn’t think it was pacy enough although I did enjoy the final chapters of the book in both the real and adventure worlds which brought the story to its bitter sweet conclusion with some thoughtful reflections and life and death.

Fishtailing is a short book which consists mainly of poems created by the four main teenage characters Tricia, Natalie, Kyle and Miguel in their English class, interspersed with comments from the teacher and the school counsellor in response to the content of the poems and the behaviour of the students.

The setting of the book is a school in Vancouver; two of the characters have relatively regular teenage lives, the two new arrivals with much darker experiences of life. Their lives intertwine, initially in expected ways which then develop and gather pace. Risks lead to tragic consequences.

The student’s poems, with sparing language, vividly convey their attitudes, experiences, hopes and concerns and contrast dramatically with the adult perspective - the teacher’s homework feedback and the e-mails and notes between the teacher and counsellor expressing their concerns about the students (and also their hopelessness in not being able to address their highly complex needs).

I didn’t think that I was going to enjoy the book but I was soon gripped by the characters and narrative and completed it in under an hour; I think this is the only way to read this book. The characters and story stayed with me. I read it again – highly recommended for older teenagers.

My choice is Fishtailing.

Battle of the Books Update

Battle of the Books : Round 2 Result of the first match

The contestants in this round were An Act Of Love vs The Cat's Table and many thanks to our reader Ms Haughey.

Each book has considerable merit. An Act Of Love takes on major topics - racism, fundamentalism, and war and works a strong story around the trials and tribulations of the characters. Alan Gibbons has written a book that makes the reader think and try to understand what motivates people while delivering a gripping race against time.

The Cat's Table takes place on a long sea voyage which gives the reader a strong sense of journeying with the fascinating array of different characters. Ondaatje also provides the reader with the history of the three boys after they arrive in Britain in a masterful way. What appears at first to be a rather slight tale of youngsters on a ship travelling across the seas from Sri Lanka (Ceylon at the time the story is set) to Britain becomes a deep and rich story of the human condition.

 

The winner of this round is The Cat's Table.

 

After the Snow

I have to admit that this cover really caught my attention, as to the story - it seemed to be a typical misery dystopian future. Then I read it.

First of all, S. D. Crockett has a tremendous gift for description. From mountain to grotty encampment, I was there and could see it in my mind's eye.

Now, to the story which was not run of the mill nor dull. I was gripped by Willo's efforts to survive and found his dialect an important part of his characterisation, not an irritant (as can sometimes happen e.g. as in Billy Dean.)

His memories of other characters filled them out and, even though unseen, they became vital and real.

This will not make my Y7 Incoming list but I shall be promoting it to anyone else who will listen. Why not for the list? It's possibly a bit daunting - 307 pages with some harrowing detail and I don't know these students yet. Once I do, I'm sure somebody in the group of 300+ will be up for it.

Another factor is the price. I try to recommend paperbacks. This is a hardback costing £12.99. Not a lot to some but it is for many, especially if you have to kit someone out for high school as well as provide for siblings.

Could that be one reason why libraries have always been important ...?

 

 

 

Ealing Readers' Award (ERA) 2012 Shortlist

Ealing Readers' Award is an attempt to give our students some say in what they think is the best book of the previous year.


It began because the Ealing School Librarians felt that, after many years of Shadowing the Carnegie, students got very little satisfaction for their effort. In over ten years of Shadowing, our school agreed with the official panel once - for Mal Peet and Tamar.
Frequently, the students were baffled as to why they were involved in Shadowing if there was no end result for student choice. So - step forward ERA.


If you are in a participating high school in Ealing you may nominate any eligible book - i.e. one that has been first published in the previous year (in the UK). Any student from Years 7,8 and 9 may nominate.


Our closing date for nominations this year was World Book Day. Since then the nominations have been counted and there are eight books on the shortlist.


A panel of six readers from each school will read all the shortlisted books and then decide their winner at a meeting at Featherstone High School on the 27th June.


Here is the shortlist:

There are eight participating schools this year - Acton High School, Brentside High School, Cardinal Wiseman Catholic School, Drayton Manor High School, Elthorne Park High School, Featherstone High School, Greenford High School and Northolt High School. (Dormers Wells High School is unable to participate this year because of a major building programme.)


Previous winners were:
Darren Shan in 2012 with Hell's Heroes - guest speaker Candy Gourlay
Charlie Higson in 2011 with The Fear - guest speaker Alan Gibbons

Second Round

So, the books are now lined up for the second round.


We have:







An Act of Love   vs    The Cat's Table

Far Rockaway    vs    Fishtailing

Nothing     vs    Ship Breaker

Swim the Fly  vs  What We Keep Is 
Not Always What Will Stay

The True Tale of The Monster Billy Dean vs What We Keep Is Not Always What Will Stay

The judge for this round is Miss Murphy




Despite a number of excellent reviews, I found this very difficult to digest.  At first, it reminded me of Emma Donohue’s The Room, as it begins with a child hidden away in some sort of closet or room. At other times, it reminded me of Russell Hoban’s Riddley Walker as it too is written in a mixture of dialect and phonetic spellings (of a child born into a post nuclear holocaust world). In The Room, the voice of the child as he struggled to understand his own version of Plato’s cave convinced. In Riddley Walker, the eccentric spellings of a child trying to make sense of a world devastated by nuclear war engaged. In The True Tale of the Monster Billy Dean, the combination of the child’s voice and the odd spellings did not add to any sense of verisimilitude, merely detracted from the story and created unnecessary distance between reader (this one, anyway) and protagonist. In sum, this book has had great reviews, so it may simply be a matter of the book not being everyone’s cup of tea.



At first, I was not particularly taken by the main character, Angie, as she spilled all her teenage angst over a little statue of St. Felix. However, once the statue came to life, in a magical moment of ‘magical realism’, the novel seemed to find its voice. What I took for the ramblings of a spoilt middle-class American teenager became an energetic story that managed to combine the difficulties of starting and maintaining positive human relationships in a world that is complicated by war (for Angie and her love interest, Jesse), religion (for her mother and step-father) and the primordial demands of the ego and id that their needs be met. The book takes the reader on a journey which leaves them feeling a little more human, a little more in tune with our struggle to love well and be loved in a tough world. St. Felix becomes a synecdoche for that struggle, occupying a wobbly space between sainthood and humanity, reality and fantasy, reader and novel.


My winner is What We Keep Is Not Always What Will Stay

Edible Book Competition

Today was judgment day for the Edible Books Competition. We had so many entries that we had to extend the prizes to a 1st and 2nd for students AND a 1st and 2nd for staff! Winners received book tokens.

The ingenuity and skill has been outstanding and our judge, Mrs Neville, found it very difficult. However, the results are out and the winners have been announced (in fact, as it is now the end of the school day, one prizewinning entry has been shared amongst the Librarians. Nom, nom, nom!)

First prize for students went to L. Walsh with her entry based on Rue's Song in Hunger Games.

Second prize went to A. Kailani for her amazing tribute to Memoirs of a Geisha.

Staff winners were Ms Hollis for a very smart Alice in Wonderland and Mrs Keating for We're Painting the Octopus Red.

The quality of entries was superb and here is just a sample ...

Of Mice and Men from Mrs Abi-Karam

Monster Book from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban



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A Y7 student's entry

Ms Edwards - English Dept.





Lord of the Rings from the PE Dept.

 



Swim The Fly vs A Time Of Miracles

The judge for this round is Mrs Murray.

I was given two very different books. I read Swim the Fly first and thought it was unbeatable. It was funny, poignant and about boys. A group of teenage boys who set themselves a challenge. They have to see a girl, naked, before the end of the summer. Written from the standpoint of a teenage boy it's engaging and funny. It's also gross at times, just like a teenage boy, as well as naive and awkward.

The addition of the Grandfather is a nice touch as it shows the universal nature of men's problems. The teenage boys all have very distinct characters although you only really warm to the main character. Female characters are peripheral, as you would expect.

The plot is ostensibly about the summer challenge but there's also the challenge Matt sets himself to swim butterfly for the school swimming team, and how he overcomes this, the trials he undergoes and ultimately, the character he develops. I'm not sure is this is the greatest literature but it is a great read. I was engrossed from the first page.

A Time of Miracles is a serious book. It is based around the story of a refugee from the former Soviet Union and his journey to France and citizenship. It is an engaging read and although I didn't expect to enjoy it, I did. It's a fast moving story with a large cast of colourful characters. The refugees, because of their plight keep having to move on and meet new people so there are plenty of tales to tell. It's told from the child's eye view and inevitably there is a feeling that you know how the story will end because you are not as innocent or naive as the main character.

My winner is Swim the Fly

Pigeon English vs Ship Breaker

The judge for this round is Mrs McKenzie.

Pigeon English depicts life on a gang ridden estate as seen by a young boy, recently arrived from Ghana with his mother and sister. It conveys the closed world of school and the rituals and lore of schoolchildren very well but the voice of the main character, Harri, is not entirely convincing. He and his friends are in the first year of secondary school but seem younger.

Other characters are much more believable, especially the women such as Harri's aunt or his sister's schoolfriend who are emotionally tied to the men who treat them so brutally. Harri's attempts at being accepted by his local gang are well drawn and the reader really feels his shame and horror in what he becomes involved in. The episode where he is challenged to throw stones at a bus, only to be seen and chastised by his Mum, is particularly good.

However other elements do not work so well, one such being the mystical pigeon/angel sections. The book also loses narrative pace part way and this, coupled with the unconvincing nature of the boy, Harri, take away from its good points.

By the by, the two very different covers are quite interesting - the one in the red and orange was the first to appear, the top one appeared later. It seems to me that the early one is intended for an adult audience whereas the later edition is geared to younger readers. The later edition gives up on the pigeon while using the trainers over the wire to give some indication of content. 

Ship Breaker is a very different story, set in a dystopian future although it too is concerned with young people working out how to survive in a difficult environment.

It centres on the lives of teams of scavengers - ship breakers - who eke out a precarious living by cutting up beached oil tankers. Only the small and agile can work deep within these vessels and our hero, Nailer, is close to becoming too big. Luckily for him, he discovers a wrecked ship, owned by one of the remaining wealthy families who control his world, and rescues a girl, Nita, who belongs to the family.

After this he is plunged into a world of intrigue and adventure as he and Nita set out to restore her to her family. Their situation is complicated by his father who is a vile and vicious bully and by the power struggle between the great families. Will Nailer and Nita even survive?

This is a very well told story with well defined and believable characters. The action is exciting and the doubts that assail Nailer are quite understandable - is he going to end up like his father or will he prove himself to be a true hero?  There is plenty of action and excitement and the dilemmas faced by Nailer are convincing. The book transcends the hectic nature of an ordinary adventure by its attention to scene setting, and its exploration of character.

My winner is Ship Breaker.

A Dance of Ghosts vs Far Rockaway

The judge for these two books is Mrs Plant.

In A Dance of Ghosts, Kevin Brooke explores a dark world of violence and corruption. Still numb with pain 16 years after his wife’s death, private investigator John Craine embarks upon an investigation that opens up old wounds.
The character of John Craine, a man who drinks too much and has a reckless disregard for his own safety, is very believable. However, some of the other characters felt a bit too contrived: in particular, a computer geek who would not be out of place in any formulaic Hollywood action adventure film. The plot was well put together and tied up loose ends well, but occasionally took a turn which seemed convenient for the author rather than entirely naturalistic.

It isn't often I read a book from beginning to end without putting it down but A Dance of Ghosts drew me in from the first page. The book is fast paced and taut throughout; overall a very exciting page-turner.

In Charlie Fletcher’s Far Rockaway, Cat and her grandfather are involved in a terrible accident before they could make a long promised journey to Far Rockaway at the end of the subway line. It leaves both gravely ill with Cat in a coma. The story shifts between the hospital and another world populated by characters from books that Cat’s grandfather had been reading to her since she was small, in which she finds herself on a quest to save her grandfather, or so she thinks.
The scenes in the hospital, where the family are watching and waiting, are honestly and painfully written. The characters Cat meets are faithful to the original books and it was a pleasure to be reacquainted with them. Long John Silver was just as I remembered him. In my impatience I googled a character I didn’t know, but needn’t have done so as Charlie Fletcher introduces them all so well that you are left in no doubt as to their true nature. This is a real swashbuckling adventure story in which the landscape, its inhabitants and their emotions are vividly and richly described.


Both books deal with family tragedy effectively and humanly. A Dance of Ghosts kept me reading and on the edge of my seat, but has faded quickly after finishing. Far Rockaway remains rich and colourful and vivid.


My winner is Far Rockaway