Review: Tell The Wolves I’m Home by Carol Rifka Brunt

Posted on August 16, 2012 by Sarah

Tell the Wolves I’m Home by Carol Rifka Brunt. Dial Press, 2012. Currently Available.

Genre: Realism. (also technically Adult Fiction. shhh)

Face Value: I love this cover. I love it so much that I want a print of it to put up on my wall. I love the teapot, I love the font and the wolf and the girl’s silhouette. It’s a piece of art that evokes both the literal story and the emotional tone of the book. I was totally proud to be reading this in the public airport setting (at least until I started crying my eyes out and had to hide awkwardly behind my cardigan).

I suppose I have the fact that this book was published as an adult title to thank for this classy cover. Nice to be spared an image of June’s torso looking longingly out at a cityscape or something.

Does it Break the Slate? YES YES YES YES YES. This is a book that features Slatebreaking characters at moments of transition in their lives, when they have to figure out how to go from being girls to being women. Both June and Greta are Slatebreakers in their own way. It’s also an important story about a moment in our history that we don’t see talked about that much. Shedding light on what it was like to be a gay man with AIDS in the 1980s is an important perspective that I’d like to see more of.

Who would we give it to? This is another book for sisters. The strained relationship between Greta and June will resonate with almost anyone who has a sister and was a teenager. But also this is a book about mentors and family, and growing up and grieving and taking care of other people. This is a rich, loving book for humans of all kinds. Continue reading →

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Review: When You Were Mine by Rebecca Serle

Posted on August 13, 2012 by Sarah

When You Were Mine by Rebecca Serle. Simon Pulse, 2012. Currently Available

Genre: Retelling, Contemporary Realistic Fiction

Face Value: Quite sincerely, this is probably my least favorite cover on a book I’ve read this year. Which is a shame, because the book deserves better! Something Shakespeare-y maybe? Something about feuding families? I think I’d even take a headless girl in a fancy dress over this awkward stagey makeout session. At no point in this story does anyone close their eyes and touch noses.  This is a good book – it deserves better cover art.

Does it break the slate? Yes and no. It’s not that it’s anti-Slatebreaking, but its not shattering anything either. This book takes a contemporary look at a tired story that is not, in and of itself, Slatebreaking and gives us a new point of view with great female characters. Rose is recognizable both in her heartbreak and her ability to ultimately take care of herself and move forward with her life. But at the same time, a lot of that happiness is still wrapped up in being with a guy.

Who would we give it to? Last year I had the privilege of teaching a drama class with middle school students in which we read Romeo and Juliet together and then “deconstructed” the story, turning it into a totally new, contemporary play. The Rosaline character had a much bigger role in our play than she did here – in the translation to the contemporary this brushed-aside character was profoundly interesting. Since R&J is more or less required reading at some point in secondary education, this contemporary rendition that gives Rosaline full focus is bound to attract interest. Continue reading →

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Frontier Week Review: Caroline by Willo Davis Roberts (A Sunfire Novel)

Posted on August 10, 2012 by Sarah

Caroline by Willo Davis Roberts. Scholastic, 1984. No longer in print.

Genre: Historical Fiction / Romance

 Face Value: It’s terrible of course, but it evokes a certain nostalgia for me. All the Sunfire covers looked like this, basically – a girl in historical garb looking off into the distance with the men vying for her attention looking surly in the background. Nevermind that Caroline spends the majority of this book disguised as a boy, and that she actually only has one love interest on the horizon (unusual for a Sunfire romance, if I remember correctly). But it’s the tagline that really sells the story – “Her disguise would keep her safe. But not from love.” How can you not be a strange mix of excited and horrified for that?

Does it Break the Slate? It kind of does! Sure, it’s a kind of surface value feminism – Caroline is just as competent as a boy! She’s strong! She can swim! She can shoot! But once her secret is revealed, everyone agrees – she was always just “too pretty to be a boy.” But it is kind of great, the way that Caroline acknowledges liking both the freedom and respect she gets for her skills when disguised as a boy and the more traditional feminine experiences, like wearing pretty dresses and dancing in them. When her secret is revealed, Caroline gets to live the best of both worlds because Dan Riddle loves her just the way she is. It’s surprisingly satisfying, from a feminist POV, even if it’s all resolved far too easily.

Who would we give it to? Hmm, that’s a good question. This romance looks and feels pretty dated, and I’m not sure that it would hold up for a contemporary YA reader without the nostalgia factor. The writing is appealing, but also totally cheesy. And even a frontier book written in the 1980s (more than 50 years after Laura and Caddie) has painfully racist elements. So I probably won’t be recommending it to anyone who isn’t seeking out a nostalgic look back at the Sunfire series. Continue reading →

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Frontier Week Review: Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink

Posted on August 9, 2012 by Brianna

Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink. Macmillan, 1935. Currently available.

Genre: Middle Grade Historical Fiction

Face Value: There are hundreds of variations on the Caddie Woodlawn cover out there, but I am particularly fond of the cover on my copy. Caddie is joyously skating on a frozen pond, her glorious red hair flying loose behind her. She looks independent and strong and like someone who I would want to be my friend.

Does it break the slate? Tough call. Caddie is, apart from her surroundings, a Slatebreaking individual. She challenges gender norms and refuses to be boxed in by the expectations of her friends and family. However, this book makes so many grievous offenses regarding ethnicity and cultural bias that it destroys its Slatebreaking credentials.

Who would we give it to? No one, actually. More on that later. Continue reading →

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Frontier Week Review: Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson

Posted on August 8, 2012 by Sarah

Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson. Delacorte Press, 2006. Currently Available.

Genre: Historical Fiction

Face Value: This is a totally respectable historical fiction cover, in that it makes no secret that it is, in fact, set in the past. There’s no headless girl or fancy dress that would have been useless on the frontier. The image of Hattie, with her back to us, looking out at that wide expanse of prairie sets just the right tone.

Does it Break the Slate? Yes! Goodness yes. Hattie is that terrific kind of Slatebreaker who possesses just the right balance of skill, willingness to learn and pluck to survive, stand up for herself and figure out what kind of person she wants to be. It’s no secret that surviving the frontier was not for the faint of heart and for a sixteen year old girl to take that on herself, there’s bound to be some Slatebreaking qualities at her core.

Who would you give it to? If our blog theme for this week appealed to you add this to your reading list. Hattie Big Sky gives us all the classic elements of a Frontier Girl while telling us a totally new story with a compelling character. Continue reading →

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Frontier Week Review: Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Posted on August 7, 2012 by Brianna

Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder. Scholastic, 1932. Currently available.

Genre: Middle Grade Historical Fiction

Face Value: I have a special place in my heart for the illustrations of Garth Williams. His drawings graced the pages of some books that are very memorable to me, and there is something about the way he brings the characters to life that fits with my vision of what the Ingalls family should look like. Any other cover feels wrong, so it is especially disappointing when I see covers in the store with stills from the television series as the featured image. I think that Garth Williams’s illustrations are timeless, and it is a shame to abandon them in favor of images from a TV show that only loosely followed the details of the series.

Does it break the slate? Laura is not yet a Slatebreaking character in this book, but the glimpses of her desire to challenge gender norms are sprinkled throughout her recollections. This is the first book in the Little House series, and Laura will eventually grow into a bright and independent young woman. And although Ma and Pa’s marriage exhibits a very traditional division of duties, Wilder writes about their relationship in a way that shows how they supported each other as equals and valued each other’s skills and talents.

Who would we give it to? Little House in the Big Woods can be a magical reading experience for little girls living in the Midwest who wonder what life was like for those who first settled the land. As a Wisconsin resident, I loved reading the book and then driving to Pepin with my family to see how much the town had changed since Laura lived there. Continue reading →

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Frontier Week: Revisiting the Love of Laura Ingalls

Posted on August 6, 2012 by Brianna

Brianna: One of the wonderful things about reading is that it can transport us to places and eras that we would not normally be able to visit. As a kid, I desperately wanted to visit the frontier era. I wanted to rough it in a cabin with my cozy little family as we hand-sewed our clothing and baked our bread from scratch. I had the romantic notion that it would be so much more adventurous and wonderful than my 1990s childhood. In our frequent conversations about childhood reading habits, Sarah and I discovered that we both loved reading about frontier girls. My personal fascination with Laura Ingalls and Kirsten Larson was deepened by my parents, who believed that family vacations should have an educational component and frequently took my sister and I to historical sites. I got to churn butter, peer into log cabins, and sit in covered wagons. For an eight-year-old girl obsessed with historical fiction, it was the coolest thing ever. Continue reading →

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Review: Eye of the Storm by Kate Messner

Posted on August 2, 2012 by Brianna

Eye of the Storm by Kate Messner. Walker/Bloomsbury, 2012. Currently available.

Genre: Middle grade speculative fiction/mystery.

Face Value: This is an excellent middle grade cover. One of its immediate standout qualities is that a human, not a computer, created it. In the landscape of increasingly digitally manipulated book covers, an honest-to-goodness illustrated cover is refreshing. The menacing storm that looms large in the background forecasts the action and tension that makes this novel such an engaging read. I like that this cover feels very appealing to a wide range of readers. Boy and girl readers will both be intrigued by this cover. That’s a good thing – get this book into as many hands as possible. It is fantastic.

Does it break the slate? This book is a Slatebreaking role model. Not only is the young protagonist a Slatebreaker, but there are also no fewer than three – three! – prominently featured adult female Slatebreaking characters. In Jaden, the narrator of the story, Kate Messner has hit just the right note of early adolescent curiosity, self consciousness, and longing.

Who would we give it to? Girls with an intense sense of curiosity. This book is all about investigating and finding answers. Jaden digs deeper into a scientific challenge as well as her own family history and her sense of self.

Continue reading →

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Review: The Storyteller by Antonia Michaelis

Posted on July 30, 2012 by Sarah

The Storyteller by Antonia Michaelis. Amulet Books, 2012. Currently Available.

Genre: Contemporary Realism with a dash of fantasy

Face Value: Beautiful. This cover invites you in and perfectly reflects the austere tone of the book. The rose surrounded by ice with a few drops of blood invokes fairy tales, which is a part of the story. But it also reflects the cold, sad, harsh beauty that is a big part of it as well.

Does it Break the Slate? I thought about this a lot, because I actually found a lot to like in this book. But no. It truly doesn’t break the slate. For one thing, Anna, our smart and sincere and lovely protagonist has potential Slatebreaker written all over her at the beginning of the story. Good-hearted and naïve, and about to graduate from high school, she’s starting to feel like she’s lived her life so far “in a soap bubble,” protected from the outside world. While her friends experiment with drugs and sex, teasing her for being a “little lamb,” Anna plays her flute, rides her bicycle and still indulges in imagination. But then she finds herself wrapped up in Abel’s life. It’s not anti-slatebreaking to fall in love, but over the course of the story we see Anna give up more and more to be in his world. We see her needing to be protected by others, whether it’s Abel, the also-vying-for-Anna’s-affections Bertil, her best friend, her parents. Though she does do things that are brave, she is mostly the victim or the martyr throughout the book. And then something happens (spoiler will be revealed in the review, after the break) that is horrible. And that horrible thing is acknowledged, but ultimately  forgiven, both by our protagonist and (it felt to me) by the book overall. That I couldn’t get over.

Who would we give it to? This is one for older teens who are comfortable with darkness. I feel like the lush surreal quality of the writing, as well as the storytelling element would make this contemporary realistic novel popular with fans of fantasy and fairy tale writing. Mystery readers will find something here as well. Personally, I wouldn’t hand it to anyone, because it contains elements that make me too uncomfortable. But I think it will find its audience.

Spoilers ahead Continue reading →

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Review: Bink and Gollie: Two for One by Kate DiCamillo & Alison McGhee, Illustrated by Tony Fucile

Posted on July 26, 2012 by Brianna

Bink & Gollie: Two for One by Kate DiCamillo and Alison McGhee. Illustrated by Tony Fucile. Candlewick Press, 2012. Currently available.

Genre: Picture book/easy reader.

Face Value: Stunning. The eager faces! The mysterious crystal ball and hands creeping from the foreground! This cover shows the reader a glimpse of the humor and heart that they will find inside the book. Tony Fucile’s illustrations have reached new heights of awesome (more on that later).

Does it break the slate? Bink and Gollie are two of my newest favorite Slatebreaking characters. These girls are independent yet codependent. As a twosome, they can conquer anything, and they never have to go an adult to help them get things done. Yet when things interfere with their friendship, they are less successful in their pursuits, because it is the power of their matched strengths and energies that makes them so capable. In the first Bink and Gollie book, we watch the two girls navigate differences of opinion in their relationship. In Bink and Gollie: Two for One, we see how they support each other through mishaps and disappointments. These characters model flexible, supportive friendship and intelligent conversation for young girl readers. They are brilliant.

Who would we give it to? This is great book for young readers who have moved past the majority of the easy reader series and need something a little more intriguing, with snappier dialogue. I would recommend it as a nice co-reading opportunity for adults and kids, because you can enjoy the amazing pictures together and sound out some of the more challenging words. The vocabulary in these books is challenging, and young readers will get good practice using context clues to determine the meanings of new words. Because this book is the second in a series, those who are just getting to know Bink and Gollie should start with the first book to get a little background insight into this dynamic friendship before reading Two for One. Continue reading →

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