Stitches: A Memoir

by David Small

Stitches is a graphic novel retelling the creator's life as a child in a dysfunctional family. As a small boy, David was plagued with sinus and respiratory problems. As a treatment, David was given hundreds of X-rays by his father, a radiologist. His father believed that the powers of radiation could help solve sinus problems.

David grows up in a cold world, where each of his family members has retreated into their own world. His mother is cruel. His older brother is preoccupied with his own method of escape (drumming). His father just seems, well, absent.

Years later, David develops a "growth" on his neck. After seeing a doctor, who says that it is probably benign but should be taken care of, it takes his parents three years to take him to the surgeon.

David believes that he is having surgery to remove his cyst, but when he wakes up he can no longer speak. There is no explanation. His parents leave fourteen year old David to make the adjustment himself.

But he doesn't adjust. He rebels, and who could blame him?

I 'll leave the synopsis right there. This is a sad, tragic story. Wally Lamb style, for sure, but true. But it works. Why? It's not over-wrung with emotion. You can feel how David develops his own protective armor, his own cold separation. And yet you can still feel how disappointed the boy is. I'm not sure if this is communicated via the drawings or via the terse dialogue that goes on.

But it's good, and it's a real quick read (< 1 hour). It ends abruptly, and I can see how many wouldn't like it. But I liked the ending a lot.

Grade: B

Unequal Childhoods: Class, Race, and Family Life

by Annette Lareau.

I read about this book in a NYT's article, which I will post here. It is probably more informative than this review. (BTW, the article is further discussed in Lisa Belkin's NYT blog, Motherlode.)

Unequal Childhoods is about Lareau's study into the difference in parenting philosophies between different classes and races during the 90s. She and a team of researchers spent intensive time with different families as they went about their lives. She found that race does not so much affect one's parenting philosophy as class does. Working class and the poor tend toward the philosophy of "natural growth," while middle class families tend to raise their children with the philosophy of "concerted cultivation."

A lot of it comes down to money. If you have money, then you can afford to reason with your kids. You can afford the myriad of activities that help prepare your child for an adult world. Middle class parents teach their child how to elaborate, persuade, and reason. They teach them how to demand individual attention. They teach them how to get what they want and how to manage in an adult world. Hence, middle-class children often have very adult schedules. Why? Middle class parents enjoy their own adult lives greatly and see the pleasures of work, which results in financial gains. They want to prepare their children for the same lifestyle. Low-income and working class parents tend to let their children have lots of free time to manage as they see fit. Why? The parents are busy working, just trying to have ends meet. These parents give directives. Why? Because they don't have the time. In a way, this philosophy reflects the parents' attitudes towards adulthood: a time of struggle. Why try to train your kids for that?

There are distinct advantages to the natural growth philosophy: the kids really don't fight with siblings (versus regular fighting in middle class families with more than one child), the kids learn how to occupy their own time (therefore, less of the "I'm bored" stuff), they easily work and play with kids of different ages, and they argue less with adults.

The advantages to "concerted cultivation"? The children have increased verbal skills. They learn how to persuade and argue. They learn how to speak up to individuals of authority to make their concerns and ideas known. They are better prepared for a middle class lifestyle.

Each chapter begins with the recounting of a different family that was studied. This is the most interesting part. Then the chapters begin a deeper exploration of what those family practices mean for the development of the child, etc.

An interesting read, but a bit repetitive. What I liked about it was that it does shed light on some of what I see as a teacher. The town I work in has a pretty equal divide of "concerted cultivation" and "natural growth." In fact, where I live there is a lot of "natural growth" philosophy out there. It's a kick back to what I imagine the 50s and 60s were like, when most parents (regardless of class), practiced natural growth: Kids playing on the streets, riding bikes everywhere, jump roping, etc. Granted, the problem is that natural growth parenting does not always work well with the educational system. Natural growth parents tend to see school as a totally separate part of their child's life. Therefore, school problems are mostly a teacher's problem. Teachers want the best of both worlds: natural growth, which leaves the teacher alone and doesn't question him/her, and concerted cultivation, which is supportive and actively involved in their child's education.

Grade: B

The Forest of Hands and Teeth: Remarkably Like The Passage

by Carrie Ryan

"Who are we if not the stories we pass down? What happens when there's no one left to tell those stories? To hear them? Who will ever know that I existed? What is we are the only ones left - who will know our stories then? And what will happen to everyone else's stories? Who will remember those?
...
'I know about you, Mary.' He places a hand on my cheek, trails one finger along my jaw, and I'm forced to close my eyes so that he doesn't read in my expression the words that ring in my head but that I can't say aloud. That it is not enough.

That I am terrified that he is not enough." (p. 207)

The ocean: a wide, unending expanse of water. A fairytale? Or a memory passed down from mother to child through generations? In Mary's world all that exists beyond the village is the Forest of Hands and Teeth.

In this isolated world of order, all individuals have a common fear: the unconsecrated.
(Or virals, as they were known in The Passage, but the Unconsecrated are more like zombies.)
There are the Guardians, who guard the perimeter, and the Sisters, who make the decisions.
(Or the First Families, as they were known in The Passage.)
There are the villagers, who live their lives out despite the constant death and terror that surrounds them. Grow up, get married, have children.

And then there is Mary, who is torn between the man she is betrothed to and the man she loves. Mary, who also believes in the ocean and the existence of others.

As Mary's world begins to unwind, she learns of deeper secrets held by the Sisters. Secrets that lead Mary to suspect that another world is out there, and it is attainable. As the village's way of life is destroyed, Mary and her friends struggle to determine the right paths for their own lives.

Yup. So this is super familiar, right? We've heard this storyline before. Much to my surprise, though, this novel is much better done than both Cronin's The Passage and Haddix's Running Out of Time. The characters were much more personable, the pacing was super-fast (I read it this afternoon), and the prose was almost poetic at times.

Grade: A

Musings

There are things I like to think about in the history of novels. I'm no expert, so these are just random thoughts.

• Average sentence length of a 2010 novel compared to one from 100 or 200 years ago.
  
  
• Use of first person and/or present tense now versus then.
  
  
• Repetition of ideas. The say that all great stories come from other stories, but are we in an age where access has decreased originality? Or is it that access had led to more imitation? Or is it just that there is more of the same, so that a few ideas can dominate a market?

I guess I've been thinking about the last idea frequently lately. Many of the books that I read are really good books. Good prose, good story. But familiar, and not in a sense that you would expect. What do I mean? Well, in a series you would expect to find a familiar story line and characters. But so many books feel so connected. If I were to read only books from, say, the 1830s, would common threads run through many of them? I don't know; I've never done such an experiment. Perhaps it is because I read a lot, and I tend to read the YA market (which is heavily weighted towards girls).

Anyway, I just posted this because I'm two pages into The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan (a 9th grade summer reading book), and I'm already thinking this:
"Hmm... an isolated and secured village? Haddix's Running Out of Time --> Cronin's The Passage --> M. Night Shymalan's The Village --> Perhaps even Lowry's The Messenger. (BTW, I do believe Haddix's book predates them all.)

Heist Society

by Ally Carter.

Perhaps my second favorite book of the summer. A fast-paced book about a group of young thieves.

Think Da Vinci Code (for the art) plus the Ocean movies (for making thievin' look cool as hell) and maybe a bit of the Bourne movies (just because they're cool movies about being on the run). Oh, and that TV series that I watched a few times about a family of con-artists who assume the identity of a dead family. He becomes a lawyer... I don't know, but I like the primary actor a lot. Great comedian.

Kat Bishop was born into a family of thieves and con-artists. Not bad check writing type. Not the type that steal your credit card numbers. Not the type that scam the elderly. Not the type that steals TVs or computers and sells them from the back of the truck. (And, no, not dream thieves, Inception fans.)

High-end thieves. Swiss banks. Crown jewels. Artwork by the Masters: da Vinci, Raphael, Degas...

Kat loves her family-her father, her Uncle Eddie, her too-beautiful cousin, Gabrielle, the Bag boys-, but she longs for something different. Using all of her con-artist skills she gains not only admission into one of America's most prestigious boarding schools, but also the disapproval and censure of her family. She comes to appreciate the predictability of her life as a student until she is framed, and consequently expelled, for a school prank involving the destruction of one vintage Porshe owned by the headmaster.

Interestingly enough, though, this is not what the book is about. After her expulsion, Kat discovers that her father is suspected of stealing five Masterpieces, and the owner wants them back. Because he is tied up (under surveillance by the Interpol, actually), Kat must take on the mystery herself - with the help of her young family and friends. Not only must she find out who the real thief is, she also must devise a way to steal the paintings back. Her father's safety depends on it.

This was a great, fun read. A mystery to unravel. Cool tricks and technology to contemplate. A splash of romance. An evil bad guy. I wish the cover wasn't so feminized because this book could bring in a fairly large male audience as well. I wish it had gone into a little more detail: more detail on how the heist was done, more detail into relationships, but now that I think about it the Bourne Identity (book) went into too much detail, and I didn't like that. Regardless, I eagerly await a sequel. Also, if you liked the Frankie-Landau-Banks book, you will definitely like this one (imho).

Grade: A+

The London Eye Mystery

by Siobhan Dowd

Ted (a boy whose age I can't recall and perhaps was not even mentioned) is the u-neek-ique protagonist in this mystery. Ted and his family, mom, dad, and sister Kat, live in London. Before his aunt and cousin leave to follow his aunt's career in NYC, they come to visit. Aunt Gloria is overly dramatic and pushy. Salim, Ted's teenaged cousin, is super cool and down-to-earth.Salim is reluctantly moving to America, and on their last full day in England he requests that they take a ride on the London Eye. Some gigantic Ferris-wheel type of ride, which sounds totally cool and awesome. And I always wanted to go to London, but now I want to go even more. Back to the book: Kat (Ted's sister), Ted, and Salim wait in line (or queue for tickets, since it is British) for tickets and a man approaches them. He has one ticket for free, any takers? Discouraged by the super long line, they decide that Salim should take it. Kat and Ted have already been on it anyway, and it would save money.

Thirty minutes after boarding, Salim's "pod" (Ferris carriage thing) lands.

And he's not on it.

What ensues is the unraveling of a mystery and insight into a family's interactions during a traumatic crisis. What you also see at work is Ted's unusual thought processes, his reactions to the world around him, and his growing relationship with his sister Kat.
Well-written, and an intriguing look into Ted's mind.

Grade: B+

Cool Looks at the London Eye

The photo "London eye" is copyright 2008 by **maurice** and made available under Creative Commons-licensed content requiring attribution.
The photo "London Eye" is copyright 2009 by "apdk" (Anthony Kelly) and made available under Creative Commons-licensed content requiring attribution.

The Mailbox

by Audrey Shafer

By far the best book I have read all summer long. It's a quiet book, focusing on a young boy's love of his uncle.

Gabe Price has had a hard life - tossed from foster home to foster home - until his social worker is able to find his one last living relative - Uncle Vernon. So fifth grader Gabe finally has the stability and home that he always wanted. Vernon's not the warm, fuzzy type, though. A bit rough and crusty, and certainly more than a bit curmudgeonly, Vernon - a vet who seems somewhat haunted by his life in Vietnam - dispenses advice and knowledge to Gabe in small bits and pieces. But it is a good fit for both of them, and they clearly appreciate each other's presence. Oddly, the reader learns all of this after Vernon's death - so I'll back up a bit.

Gabe, a 12 year old boy, returns from his first day of middle school to find Uncle Vernon dead in his study. No fowl play. Just dead. Gabe is naturally shocked and terrified. While most 12 year-olds would run to the nearest adult, Gabe must contend with the fact that Vernon's death means that he will return to foster care. So Gabe shuts the door and goes to bed.

When he wakes up the body is gone. (Ah, the plot thickens!) Gabe is now even more terrified, but in an effort to cling to the one bit of security and stability he has left, he goes to school and returns to find an envelope in the mailbox. A stranger is communicating to Gabe. A stranger who knows about Uncle Vernon. A stranger who seems to know Gabe's conundrum. And where Uncle Vernon's body is.

The mystery of it pulls you in, eh? That's why so many 6th graders said they wanted to read it. But while you wait to discover what exactly happened to Uncle Vernon's body, you fall in love with Gabe and his bittersweet grieving reflections.

This book rocked. I loved the characterization. Gabe and his desire for a home. Gabe and his friends, sometimes childish, sometimes so genuine. Gabe and his dog. Gabe and his teachers. Gabe and the mysterious letter writer. Just a plain great read.

Grade: A+

Out of My Mind

by Sharon Draper.

Melody is a middle school girl with a lot on her mind, but she has spastic quadriplegic cerebral palsy. She has little control over her movements and has no speech. Melody lives at home with a loving family that has no idea of what she is truly capable of. She is limited by the word board that is in front of her. She spends countless hours in a special education room listening to mundane lessons.

But things change, little by little (but they seem fast in the book). First, Melody is mainstreamed into several new classes. She has an awesome new aide. Most importantly, she gains the ability to truly communicate with the use of some high-tech assistive technology. Using a computer board, Melody is now able to speak - very much a la Stephen Hawking.

For the first time, Melody is able to show her exceptional intelligence and her normal middle-school personality. She makes friends - kind of. She's able to say something back to the rude and heartless. She is able to tell her family how much she loves them. And she wows her classmates by getting on the quiz bowl team, helping them win their way all the way to the nationals.

But it's not all perfect. Really. Melody is brought to such heights, you begin to become frustrated. I mean, she is dealing with severe CP, and the book feels damned optimistic. That's why you become frustrated. You know it can't go on, but you want it to. You know it can't go on, and something worse will happen. How happy can this happy ending be? (And for those of you who know me, I'm not a big one for vibrant happy endings anyway.)

I'm going to leave it there and not say anything else. I'll just comment on the style. This book was well-written, straight forward with clean and crisp language. At times, Melody can have some beautiful poetic prose, but that's mostly just at the start and finish. It's an interesting view into the world of someone who is trapped in their body, and I think it would definitely open up any person's view into this type of disability. However, I do think that this book plays it a little too light, but as there are so few fiction books out there on the severely disabled, it's hard to judge. On a side note, this is a great companion to Stuck in Neutral by Terry Trueman, which was about another character with severe CP, but that book was much heavier and darker. I liked Out of My Mind much better, because Melody and her family were much more likable. I guess, although I don't profess to love happy endings, in the end I would prefer to dream that children dealt the most unfair physical hand are at least brought into truly loving and responsive families.

Grade: B

Babymouse 1: Queen of the World

by Jennifer L Holm.

I picked this up at the library booksale. It's a little comic book about a girl mouse who goes to school. Babymouse isn't in with the cool girls, but she would like to be. When Babymouse hands over her own school paper to coolest girl in school, she gains an important invite to what is sure to be a fabulous sleepover. While Babymouse daydreams about how she is sure to become supercool, too, she barely gives a thought to the fact that she is going to stand up her equally nerdy friend with whom she already has plans.

The night finally arrives, and you guessed it. Babymouse doesn't have fun and the cool girls don't treat her very nicely. She bails out early and meets up with her friend.

The end.

Thank god this book was super short (think 30 minutes) because it was a definite waste of time. Like this was so predictable, it was an after school special, but not as well-written and lacking any gravitas. It was a Hallmark card: Accept yourself. Be happy with who you are. Trite and predictable, this could probably be made into a short film (think 5 minutes) that wouldn't be too much of a waste of time.

I did just research this book, and it's target audience is between 4 to 8 (amazon) and 7 to 10 (bn.com). That reassures me a little. I can't stand the idea of taking this seriously for anyone over 8, but I haven't read any of the others in the series. But I can see this being appropriate for a first through third grader, but absolutely not for anyone older.

No Grade as it is not relevant.