Saturday, July 29, 2006

Back to the original mission

Time to talk about all the new kids' books we're reading that might be potential Newbery winners. Only problem is that my current read, for my adult book club, is A FINE BALANCE (600 pages), and even pushing for 100 pages a day, it will still be three days before I finish. Great book, though. I'm learning more about India (1947-1975) than I could have imagined. And the narrative style of Rohinton Mistry is amazing -- I love the way he loops off on side tangents or back into a character's past to give the story its depth and breadth.

So that leaves us with my to-read pile. Before starting A FINE BALANCE, I finished AT THE SIGN OF THE STAR (Katherine Sturtevant) so that I could decide if I want to read A TRUE AND FAITHFUL NARRATIVE. I do. What fun to find such a passionate reader and writer who lives in 1677.

I'm also looking forward to THE LOUD SILENCE OF FRANCINE GREEN. Fuse #8 and Bookshelves of Doom have already reviewed it, but I will wait to read their reviews until I've read it. It's by Karen Cushman. Gotta be good!

VICTORY, by Susan Cooper is next on the pile. Once again, Fuse #8 is ahead of the pack with her review. And once again, I'll wait.

I really didn't like KIRA-KIRA, so Cynthia Kadohata's WEEDFLOWER is down lower in the pile. Couple of reviews to read after I get around to reading the book: Fuse #8, and MotherReader.

Besides these possible Newberys (Newberies?) I'm looking forward to ADVENTUROUS WOMEN: EIGHT TRUE STORIES ABOUT WOMEN WHO MADE A DIFFERENCE, by Penny Colman. Can't ever have too many strong women role models. And THE CONCH BEARER, by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. Can't find enough good books with India-Indian main characters so that my classroom library will have books in which every reader can find "someone like me." And POND SCUM, by Alan Silberberg. Can't decide on a first read-aloud. This might be it.

4 comments:

  1. Just FYI, if you hated Kira-Kira, you'll probably love Weedflower. That's the tagline that should be on the cover of the book.

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  2. Modesty aside - I have to agree - POND SCUM makes an excellent read-aloud. That's how I wrote it actually, by reading a chapter at a time to kids in my son's school. After each week's installment I had to rush back home and crank out more story or be met in the schoolyard the following week with groans and blank stares. And you don't want to get the cold shoulder from a school-full of kids!

    Thanks for noticing!

    Alan

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  3. Ditto on what Fuse#8 said about Weedflower. You can probably safely read my review before reading it if you want a bit more info. I don't give much away in the books - except picture books, they're fair game.

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  4. I third the motion! I also did not fall in love with Kira-Kira, but Weedflower is one of my favorite books of the year so far.

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