The Poet Slave of Cuba

The Poet Slave of Cuba: A Biography of Juan Francisco Manzano, written by Margarita Engle, and illustrated by Sean Qualls, is the winner of the 2008 Pura Belpré Award for text. This is a sad but hopeful story written in verse to represent the poetic genius of Juan Manzano, who was a slave in Cuba from 1797 to 1837, more than half his life. He could memorize and recite any poem, verse, or psalm that he heard, and taught himself to read and write and to compose his own poetry. He also learned various trades while enslaved such as cooking, painting, and sewing. He was frequently beaten for little or no reason at all. But he survived and finally escaped. I was touched and saddened to read about this great man, who I learned inspired many people with his poetry and writings.

Los Gatos Black on Halloween

Los Gatos Black on Halloween, written by Marisa Montes, and illustrated by Yuyi Morales, is the winner of the 2008 Pura Belpré Award for illustration. The text of this book incorporates Spanish terms in a pleasing way and tells a fanciful Halloween tale using rhythmic poetry. The illustrations are painted with dark and vivid colors, with lots of shadow. None of the Halloween characters are too scary. There are grinning black cats, fat pumpkins with innocent faces, plump witches on broomsticks, skeletons dressed as if for Día de Los Muertos, friendly phantoms and ghosts, a vampire combing his hair looking into a mirror with no reflection, a werewolf wearing glasses, and elegantly-dressed corpses rising from coffins. All of these are heading to a haunted mansion to dance at a ball, where the scariest creatures of all arrive at the door - trick-or-treaters! I enjoyed this book, and especially appreciated the child-friendly illustrations and the logical way that the Spanish terminology was incorporated into the text. For children who enjoy Halloween stories, this book would be fun to read.

The Invention of Hugo Cabret

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick is the winner of the 2008 Caldecott Award. This book is an amazing combination of novel, picture book, and graphic novel. It was inspired by the true story of Georges Méliès, one of the earliest filmmakers and the father of science-fiction movies. But the characterization of Mr. Méliès was completely imagined. Hugo Cabret is a twelve-year-old orphan who lives in the walls of a Paris train station at the turn of the twentieth century, where he tends to the clocks and steals what he needs to survive. Hugo's recently deceased father, a clockmaker, worked in a museum where he discovered an automaton. It turns out that the automaton was created by the toy maker who works in the train station, who it turns out is Georges Méliès. Hugo befriends his godchild, Isabelle, which leads to his discovery of these secrets. This is a fascinating page-turner in which the pictures don’t just illustrate the story, they help tell it. At the end, Hugo finds his true calling and becomes a magician named Professor Alcofrisbas, who wrote the introductory letter at the beginning of the book. I was fascinated, touched, and relieved throughout the book at various points. It's size appears daunting, but because of the numerous beautiful pencil drawings and the font used, this book did not take as long to read as you would expect. Plus, it's well worth it!

Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!

Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village, written by Laura Amy Schlitz and illustrated by Robert Byrd, is the 2008 Newbery Medal winner. What a fun book! The author wrote it for the students at Park School, where she works as a librarian. She wanted them to perform something about the Middle Ages, which they were studying, but nobody wanted to play a small part. So she wrote seventeen short plays, mostly monologues, so that everybody could be a star. As someone who has a Bachelors in History and is working on her Masters in Library Science, I can completely relate to the author’s rationale behind this book. There are actually twenty-three characters in this book, all between the ages of ten and fifteen years old, and they range from pauper to nobility. I enjoyed reading about all of them, but my favorite was probably Mogg because of the way they spared their cow Paradise from being taken away by the Lord after her father’s death. I also liked the way the characters were intertwined - you would meet or hear about a character in one story and find them again in the next. The book begins with a map of the setting of the book, with the characters labeled by name. The plays include helpful information about the time period in footnotes in the margins. The book also includes several pages of kid-friendly background information, and there is a wonderful bibliography at the back of the book.

The Wednesday Wars

The Wednesday Wars by Gary Schmidt is a 2008 Newbery Honor book. It’s a fascinating story set in the late sixties on Long Island about a seventh grader named Holling Hoodhood who has to spend Wednesday afternoons alone in his classroom with his nemesis and teacher Mrs. Baker while half of his classmates go to Catechism class and the other half attend Hebrew school. Holling is Presbyterian. He is also somewhat paranoid and convinced that his teacher hates him and is plotting his demise. The first several weeks of Wednesdays are spent with Holling doing classroom chores, but then in October they begin reading Shakespeare’s plays together. It turns out that Mrs. Baker doesn’t hate him at all. She’s a great teacher who not only has him read and discuss in depth seven of Shakespeare’s plays, but she also goes out of her way to coach him in running and take him to a baseball game and take the class camping. She’s there for him and other students when they need her, and he and his classmates are there for her when her husband returns from Vietnam. I enjoyed the way Holling internalized many lines from Shakespeare’s plays, and quoted them to himself and others as comebacks.

Feathers

Feathers by Jacqueline Woodson is another 2008 Newbery Honor book. In it, we meet Frannie, a sixth grade girl growing up in the early seventies with a loving father whose work takes him away for days at a time, a fearful mother who worries about her unborn child, a religious grandmother who uses the Bible to lovingly discipline her grandchildren, and a deaf brother who taught her about the world of words. One day a white boy enters her all-black classroom on the all-black side of the highway, and changes the assumptions she and her classmates had about their world. Through conversations with her family, her best friend Samantha, and the new boy referred to as Jesus Boy, Frannie learns that not only is hope a thing with feathers, as in the Emily Dickinson poem, but “every moment . . . is a thing with feathers.”

Reaching for Sun

Reaching for Sun by Tracie Vaughn Zimmer is the 2008 winner of the Schneider Family Book Award. I really enjoyed reading this story about a thirteen-year-old girl named Josie who lives with her Mom and Gran in a farmhouse. I loved getting inside Josie’s head and learning about her hopes and dreams, as well as her new friendship with her neighbor Jordan. Josie’s very knowledgeable about plants, having been descended from a line of knowledgeable women. She also has cerebral palsy, and this is a source of conflict with her Mom, who wants her to get extra rehabilitation, as well as a source of embarrassment for her at school. This book is recommended for middle school readers, but would be appropriate for anyone who reads at least at a third or fourth grade level. The story is written in lyrical free verse. Reluctant readers would appreciate the short chapters and flowing style of this book. The book follows three seasons and ends with the end of summer and a new appreciation for her family, her life, and herself.

There Is a Bird on Your Head

There Is a Bird on Your Head by Mo Willems is the winner of the 2008 Theodor Seuss Geisel Award. I enjoyed this sweet, simple book very much. Gerald is an elephant with a problem. There is a bird on his head. Soon, there are two birds, a nest, and three baby birds. His best friend, Piggie, is there to give advice and offer moral support, and eventually he advises his friend to ask the birds to go somewhere else. This works. The birds move to Piggie’s head. The illustrations are simple with few colors and the large font makes the text easy to read. This is the third of a series of Elephant and Piggie books.

The Cat

The Cat: Or, How I Lost Eternity is the 2008 Mildred L. Batchelder Award Honor Book. It was written by Jutta Richter, and translated from German by Anna Brailovsky. I enjoyed this book very much until the end. It ended too abruptly and the conclusion was unclear. Eight-year-old Christine has been talking with a white cat every day, but on the last page she knows that eternity is over and she will never speak with the cat again. My favorite part was when the headmaster of her school, tired of her arriving late everyday, ordered her to write two hundred times “There are no talking cats and in the future I will come to class on time.” She fretted over the words because writing them would make her believe it. So, she leaves out the word “No”. The headmaster never noticed.

Story of a Girl

Story of a Girl by Sara Zarr is a finalist for the 2008 National Book Award in the Young People's Literature category. It’s a realistic story about how you live with the consequences of the mistakes that you make. Deanna was thirteen when she was caught by her father in the backseat of a car having sex with Tommy, a seventeen-year-old boy. Now, three years later, she has to deal with the taunting from boys at school (everyone thinks she’s a slut) and the looks and comments from her father (he can’t forget what he saw and what he thinks she’ll do again). With the help of her older brother Darren and her boss Michael at the pizza place, as well as some advice from her friends Lee and Jason, Deanna learns about forgiveness and about confronting people with honesty so that you can move on with your life. I felt empathy for this girl as she came home everyday to a shabby house where her father not only made her feel unworthy, but also tried to make her brother and his girlfriend feel bad for having a baby and living in the basement. The author realistically portrayed this girl in the center of a dysfunctional family in a way that readers could relate to.

The Name of This Book is Secret

I just finished this book, and even though it was not for my class, I want to blog it for practice. Although the promised secret was not revealed at the end of this book, I really enjoyed reading about 11 year olds Cass and Max-Ernest as they discovered clues and deciphered codes which led them to a spa where two villains were about to murder a synesthetic classmate in order to gain eternal life. The author writes with humor and wit, and any reader, especially 9-12 year olds, will be lured in by the author's style, which combines metafiction, playfulness, and interesting asides and anecdotes.