Chronicles of a Book Evangelist

Hello? Hello? Is this thing on?

At first I thought I would simply start posting reviews again, quietly and without fuss - try to sneak into the back of the auditorium mid-play as it were. That somehow felt wrong, though. I also feel like I should have all sorts of neatly plotted excuses and justifications for two years of silence. And I do have some very good reasons, but they aren't really meant for such a public forum. Suffice it to say, I will be spending a few weeks getting reacquainted with and sprucing up this space. Then I'll be slowly building up to posting regular reviews again. I don't precisely know how this old space fits into my new life, but I am very excited to find out!

Link Trove #18

Smart Owl by Amy Hamilton

The print above is "Smart Owl" by Amy Hamilton, and the Art Print size is available for only $17.  My bird girl's (whose favorite books include Owl Moon and Owl Babies) has her 4th birthday coming up -- as well as a redo of her big girl room.  I see a framed "Smart Owl" in her future.  Now that I've mostly stopped curling my toes at the cute owl, on to the links!

Censorship:

• Following a lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union, the Davis School District has returned "In Our Mothers' House" by Patricia Polacco to school library shelves.  It was removed from shelve after a group of parents petitioned the school for its removal.  You know, because we can't have a book that represents a same-sex household as normal or anything! (That was extreme sarcasm, for the record.)

• The New York Times had an interesting question in their Room for Debate feature, What’s ‘Just Right’ for the Young Reader?  The various perspectives were all interesting to read, though I must admit that I still think Sendak said it best, "I don't believe in children, I don't believe in childhood. I don't believe that there's a demarcation. 'Oh, you mustn't tell them that. You mustn't tell them that.' You tell them anything you want. Just tell them if it's true. If it's true, you tell them."  In all fairness, that is essentially what a few of the debaters, especially Lisa von Drasek, said.  I also found the opinion of Betsy Bird, who wrote "kids are excellent self censors," to be particularly interesting in terms of this next piece:

• Susane Colasanti's When It Happens will stay in the teen section of IL library, despite a parent's attempt to remove it.  The unsuitability of the reading material for her daughters' age group was pointed out to her by -- wait for it -- her daughter.  As Leila from bookshelves of doom responded:

Discounting the whole challenge thing, this story was actually a nice example of a younger reader holding her hand up and saying, "WHOA. THIS BOOK IS NOT FOR ME."  I mean, obviously, the parent took that statement and went a step further to "IF IT'S NOT FOR YOU, IT'S NOT FOR ANYONE YOUR AGE", which is problematic, but still."

• Oddly enough, Maggie Stiefvater was also recently weighing in on the issue of age appropriate content, albeit in a much more light-hearted fashion.  After mentioning that she won't let any of the children in her family read her current books until they are 30, she announced that she will be participating in a middle grade level project with scholastic.  Very cool.

For The Girls:

• Elizabeth Burns of A Fireplace, A Chair & A Tea Cozy raises an interesting question about the importance of (or lack thereof) including menstruation in stories about teen girls with her post It’s That Time of the Month.  I highly recommend reading the comments as well as the post, as there are lots of interesting things being said, and good books being recommended.

• Jezebel managed to scare the crap out of me with their article about teen girls meeting strangers in real life that they met on the internet.  According to a new study released by the American Academy of Pediatrics, 30 percent of teenage girls have met an internet contact without confirming their identity beforehand.  YIKES.

To Lighten Things Up:

• McDonald's in the UK is replacing its Happy Meal toys with books.  How awesome is that?!  Now, if they could just make this an international policy!

• Maureen Johnson is offering up some awesome swag in the form of custom stickers and an autographed bookplate to anyone who preorders Madness Underneath from an indie bookstore.  Check out her website for a view of the stickers and a list of participating bookstores.

• Finally, a lovely quote from Ursula K. Le Guin found via teaching literacy:

"While we read a novel, we are insane—bonkers. We believe in the existence of people who aren’t there, we hear their voices… Sanity returns (in most cases) when the book is closed."

And Then There Were Five...

Yes, that would be baby number three propping up my Nook.  And also the reason for the prolonged silence around here.  Unfortunately, I suffer from a relatively unknown condition called Hyperemesis Gravidarum during the early to middle part of my pregnancies*, and must work especially hard to make sure that baby and I are both safe and healthy.  That has meant many months of barely moving from my bed or sofa, forcing myself to drink fluids so that I wouldn't have to get them via IV, and daily weight checks.   We are now nearing 28 weeks and, thankfully, everything is going really well.  The older two couldn't be more pleased about the newest (and last) addition to our family, and neither could we! However, to make sure that baby and I stay healthy and that our family continues to fully engage in activities that are important to us -- like educating the older two kiddos -- I'll be slowly returning to this space, with fewer and less strenuous expectations for myself.  I will probably be backing off of most ARC (read time sensitive) reviewing, and will have a much less structured schedule.  It also means that I have not and will not meet the reading challenges I set for myself this year, but I am okay with that.  I do not see these changes as permanent and plan to return to a more normal schedule after baby is born.  For the moment, though, I want to thank those readers who have stuck with me for their patience and understanding.

*At least it was before Kate Middleton apparently popularized it.  Wow, have I been seriously out of the loop.  Now EVERYONE is an expert. Ahem. 

it's always ourselves that we find in the sea... or Weekly Forecast: August 6, 2012 - August 9, 2012

After a couple of very stressful months, we decided to load the family up and head to the Gulf for a few days.  We have a very special island we go to a couple times each year that just nourishes all of our souls (making the two days on the beach worth the two days of driving!)  Excluding the few fishermen who hang out by the rocks and the island wildlife, we have the entire island to ourselves.  We spend hours picking up shells, building sand castles, swimming, and just soaking up the beauty.  Every time I sit there watching the sunrise -- waves washing over my legs, my kids playing behind me -- it reminds me of ee cummings' maggie and milly and molly and may: 

 

maggie and milly and molly and may

went down to the beach to play one day

and maggie discovered a shell that sang

so sweetly she couldn't remember her troubles, and

milly befriended a stranded star

whose rays five languid fingers were;

and molly was chased by a horrible thing

which raced sideways while blowing bubbles: and

may came home with a smooth round stone

as small as a world and as large as alone.

For whatever we lose (like a you or a me)

it's always ourselves we find in the sea

 

 

Our mini-vacation has left me feeling very refreshed but also a little lazy... I'm still on coastal time.  Next week will be a little on the light side with only three reviews:

On Tuesday will be Burn Mark by Laura Powell, which, to be truthful, should have already been posted LONG ago.  It was such an odd book for me... there were parts that I really loved, and others that I really didn't.

 

 

 

 

 

On Wednesday I will be posting the review for Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake.  I loved this book.  Even though each of the books are quite different, I would put Anna Dressed in Blood with the Curse Workers books, Hold Me Closer, Necromancer, and I Hunt Killers on my quirky-fun-male-protagonist-books-i-love shelf.  I also love it for all the reasons I love Supernatural (which I may or may not have been re-watching on Netflix).

 

 

On Thursday I will finally post my review for Unspoken by Sarah Rees Brennan.  I have been sitting on this review forever.  I cannot even begin to say how much I loved it.  My love for Unspoken is all wrapped up in my love Mary Stewart and gothic novels; but it is more than that as well.  Unspoken is funny and smart and fresh...and I should be saving this for the review!

 

 

 

I am still trying to keep my new books to a minimum until I wade through my enormous TBR pile, but I simply couldn't resist The Assassin's Curse by Cassandra Rose Clarke (and I wasn't the only one!)  

That's it for me.  What are you reading this week? 

 

 

 

Where I Was...

Due to some unforeseen circumstances, I went back into the family business this year.  Which is to say that I spent almost a month of this dusty, drought-ridden, 100 °F Arkansas summer sitting in a tent trying to convince people to buy fireworks while under a burn ban.  My three-year hiatus actually made the experience much more fun than I was expecting it to be; and seeing everything through my son's eyes made me remember how much I used to love it all when we first started.  Magic happens in those tents.

Some lessons learned:

• Most people are into instant gratification.  They don't care that the city will let them shoot off their fireworks when the burn ban is lifted, they want to blow stuff up NOW.  I cringed every time I saw the fire truck drive by.
• Technology, toddlers, truck trailers, and gravel do not mix.  Specifically when a hot and angry toddler throws said technology from the back of a 5ft high trailer onto the gravel.  My poor Nook.
• The Nook Insurance was SO WORTH IT.  (My husband was right; I was wrong.)
• Technology and  extreme heat do not mix.  Funny things happen.  My poor (new) Nook.
• Little boys don't like picking up trash.  Unless free rockets are involved.  Then little boys love picking up trash.
• When the heat index is around 104 °F, light reading is possible but thinking is not. I stopped taking notes after the first book.
• I have some amazing friends who are excellent cooks and willing to bring me food!  Score!
• On a related note: teenage boys prefer the hot pockets and ramen.
• All those years I spent maligning my friends for playing Magic -- thinking they were so much dorkier than I -- were years of ignorance.  My 17 year old cousin succeeded where my friends failed...I now fully don my geek mantel and prepare for my first draft party.

So, that is a pretty fair approximation of my experience of June and July.  I will be back soon with regularly scheduled reviews.   

Maurice Sendak, 1928 – 2012

 

"And in and out of weeks"from Terrible Yellow Eyes (via Bookshelves of Doom)

Finding out Maurice Sendak had died on Tuesday morning was crushing for us as a family.  I still don't really have the emotional wherewithal to do him any sort of justice.  I have also been avoiding the internet all week because I wasn't really ready to read what everyone else had to say.  You see, he is not just one of the favorite authors in our house, he is one of the favorite authors in our house.  Of course, we all love Where the Wild Things Are.  (We even dig the movie.)  But it isn't our favorite -- we all have different favorites for very different reasons I would suspect.  My favorite is Brundibar.  I will explain why, but first a little background.  

I freaked out when I became a parent.  I went nuts researching every little thing during my pregnancy and the subsequent baby years -- and are there ever books for those years -- but it hit me when my son was about 18 months old that pretty soon I would be on my own.  The multitude of parenting books that would dicker over a few months difference in age for starting solid foods would soon give way to a vast array of...nothing.  I mean, yeah, there are a few books on parenting for older children, but they are primarily for children with a special need: gifted, troubled, ADHD, etc., etc., etc.  I felt lost in a sea of nothing.  I wanted to protect my son from the dark and scary things of the world, but I also wanted him to have empathy and compassion for people less fortunate.  I wanted to shield him from violence, but I wanted him to understand why, how and when things are worth fighting for.  How could this possibly be done?  Then I found one of my favorite quotes of all time:

"I said anything I wanted because I don't believe in children, I don't believe in childhood. I don't believe that there's a demarcation. 'Oh, you mustn't tell them that. You mustn't tell them that.' You tell them anything you want. Just tell them if it's true. If it's true, you tell them." -Maurice Sendak

If it is true, you tell them.  Tell them if it is true.  If he is old enough to ask the question, he is old enough to hear a true answer.  As a child I loved adults like Sendak because they respected the possibility of a child's intelligence.  That is not to say he thought all children were brilliant (listen to some interviews, obviously not.)  That is to say that he afforded all people, no matter what qualifiers might be tacked on, the same level of respect.  He didn't condescend.  If I wanted to be the sort of adult I respected as a child, I had to show my children that same respect.  Maurice Sendak helped my husband and I shape ideas that would become part of the core of our parenting practices -- how we operate as a family.

When my son was a little older I went back to school.  Toward the end I took a class that I both loved and hated, and that would eventually change me forever.  It was German-Jewish Writers with Dr. Hoyer, and there were nights where I would come home emotionally shredded.  Roo (my son) would come to me, wanting to know why I was so sad, and I wanted to tell him something...but also something true.  But how do you explain the Holocaust to a child, a young child?  You read Brundibar.  Then you talk about the history, the story, the sadness, but also the hope and how they are all interconnected.  We didn't go into every tiny detail, or even a lot of the big ones.  (Being truthful, after all, doesn't mean telling everything you know.)  But I was able to share a little of why I was so sad with Roo, a little truth, just enough for him to empathize.  As he has gotten older, we have discussed more of those little details Sendak has nested in the book -- the yellow Star of David sewn to their clothes or the Hitler-esque nature of Brundibar.

Since that initial reading my son has experienced a lot of personal loss -- he understands much more deeply now what it means to be gone forever.  As a family we like to talk about how sharing stories from and about people who are gone helps keep them alive and present in our memories and lives.  On Tuesday we scrapped our Language Arts lessons and instead we read different Sendak books in honor of his passing: some just illustrated by him, many both written and illustrated by him.  Lady A wanted Little Bear.  And my Seven Little Monsters/Where the Wild Things Are boy?  He chose Brundibar; maybe because he knows how much I love it, and knew that I was sad.  While reading Brundibar, Roo made a wonderful connection: "Brundibar isn't just keeping that musician and those kids alive anymore, mom, but also Maurice Sendak."  Stories within stories making up our lives.  I am sad that there will be no new stories, but I am grateful for the ones we have.  I know that in this household Maurice Sendak will be greatly missed, but he will also always be present.

Transforming Magic: Diana Wynne Jones

When I was first deciding what I would write about Diana Wynne Jones for this blog tour, I thought it would be a piece about one of my favorite books such as Howl's Moving Castle or Enchanted Glass.  An almost-review about how amazing it was -- how amazing all of her books were really.  But the world doesn't really need another review claiming that her books are "good," that is obvious at this point.  What was so special about Diana Wynne Jones was not that she wrote good books.  People write and read good books all the time.  Diana Wynne Jones wrote books that transform you, the reader.  She wrote the books that reshape your mental landscape, that become a part of who you are, who you want to be.  

I have already written about how my grandmother changed the way I looked at reading by introducing me to Mary Stewart.  The next chapter of that story goes something like this:

Fifth grade Michelle walks into the Upper Elementary School Library and asks for more Mary Stewart.  Well meaning librarian says, "Um, dear, I think you would find that in the Junior High or High School Library.  What else would you like?"  Long silence.  Then, in an instance of either desperation or very insightful reader advisory, "Have you read Diana Wynne Jones?"  

Perhaps she had recently read Diana Wynne Jones, perhaps she thought "hey, both middle aged British women," perhaps she just really loved Diana Wynne Jones herself.  Whatever her motivations, she changed the way I read once again.  

Diana Wynne Jones' books are complex.  You get the gist from reading them that she has respect for you, the reader; for your intellect and discernment, no matter your age.  Her settings are rich and beautiful.  Her characters live -- they become people you know and love with intensity and longevity.  Opening her books truly is like opening a door into another world.  If Mary Stewart led me into genre fiction, Diana Wynne Jones lead me into fantasy.  And, much like with Mary Stewart, in those pre-internet days the search for new Diana Wynne Jones to read became a quest in and of itself; the same select few were placed in bookstores and libraries, but the treasured new ones could occasionally be found in thrift stores, yard sales, and the used and out of print bookstore.  Out of desperation I found my way to other authors who would later become true loves as well: Garth Nix, Neil Gaiman, Anne McCaffrey, Marion Zimmer Bradley, CS Lewis, Tolkien.  Yes, she was my first.  

Fast forward to the spring of 2011.  I had been spending a lot of time at my grandparents' house.  My grandfather had Parkinson's Disease, and he was getting progressively worse.  I went to spend time with him, but as it always had been, much of my time there was spent in reading -- reading like I hadn't done in years.  Companionable silence during the day.  Or, at night, hour after hour wrapped in quiet darkness, alone in a world of someone else's creation.  Then, one day, the inevitable but still unthinkable happened: my grandfather died.  I spent a few days hiding from the world.  On one of my first visits back into the virtual world I was looking around on bookshelves of doom came across this post: Diana Wynne Jones, 1934-2011.

I remember telling myself when the call first came out for letters, "I'll write to her.  Tomorrow.  Tomorrow I'll write."  But I didn't.  Diana Wynne Jones and my grandfather got all wrapped up in each other and it was really hard to separate them.  Reading and my grandparents are forever entwined; and I was just too shattered to pull a big enough piece of myself out to send to her.  I wanted to thank her, to tell her how much she helped shape me, but I didn't.  So, when Robin McKinley said the following about Diana Wynne Jones after her death, it reverberated through me:

Everyone leaves a themselves-shaped hole when they go, and we all feel it, whether we know or recognise the individual holes or not.  No one is an island, as John Donne almost said, each human death diminishes me.

I used to think my experience with Diana Wynne Jones was incredibly personal, unique to me, something I could never publicly share. But as this blog tour has progressed it has become increasingly clear that Diana Wynne Jones transformed many lives.  I have cried so many times during this blog tour, but with the sadness was also a feeling of closeness to other readers.  (Some of the ones that move me most are Chasing Ray, Finding Wonderland, Charlotte's Library, and Sarah Rees Brennan.  I would also recommend reading Neil Gaiman's Being Alive. Mostly about Diana.)  Here we are, over a year after her death, and just sharing our love of her is transforming our lives -- or, at least mine.  

In this passage of time, another thing has become more and more obvious.  I like to talk in my reviews about stories that are about stories within stories; the layers upon layers and sticky, tangled-up webs of how everything and everyone is connected.  Just because Diana Wynne Jones (or my grandfather) is no longer living does not mean that she is gone.  Every time we share a story about or from them with a new generation, they are here.  Every time my kids watch Hayao Miyazaki's Howl's Moving Castle, or we read Charmed Life aloud, Diana Wynne Jones is here.  Her story becomes a part of my story, their story, your story.  She is still transforming lives.  And, though I know she won't receive it, this is my letter to her.

To find more people Celebrating Diana Wynne Jones, please check out the Tumblr or follow the Blog Tour.  I am also really excited that Dogsbody, A Tale of Time City, and Fire and Hemlock (which also features the essay "The Heroic Ideal") have be rereleased with new covers this month.  They also have all new intros written by Neil Gaiman,  Ursula K. Le Guin, and Garth Nix respectively.  

Review for 2012 Classics Challenge: Eight Cousins and Rose In Bloom by Louisa May Alcott

I find it particularly funny and fitting how this month's Classic Challenges have worked out together.  The prompt chosen by November's Autumn for the month of April is Book Cover while the book I chose to read from Sarah Reads Too Much's list was Reread a Classic: Eight Cousins and Rose in Bloom from Louisa May Alcott.  "Why would that be funny?" you may ask.  Well, these are my books:

 

April Book Cover Prompt: What are your first impressions as you look at the cover?  Does the book cover have an aspect that reflects the character, setting, or plot of the novel?  If you could have designed the book cover what would you have chosen?

I have known and loved these books for so long that it should be hard to remember my first impression of them -- but I do.  I was staying with my grandmother for a few weeks in the summer.  As summers in Arkansas are, it was very hot.  I was sleeping in the coolest room in the house -- a porch-like addition to the front.  She lived in a quaint old rock house, so the room was almost nothing but windows and rock walls.  She had it overflowing with plants and a small brass bed; in a way it was like sleeping in my own secret garden.  I finished reading whatever books I had brought with me in a matter of days, and was ready for something new.  So, late one night after dinner and bath and the tucking-in process, my grandma walked into the room with four books.  "These were mine when I was your age," she said.  "They are very old, so you have to be very careful with them, but you can read them if you want to."  In her hands were a 1930 American Book Company printing of Stories of Animals and Other Stories, a 1935 Little, Brown and Company printing of The Nature Activity Readers Book Two: The Outdoor Playhouse, a 1911 Little, Brown, and Company printing of Louisa May Alcott's An Old Fashioned Girl, and a1927 Little, Brown and Company printing of Eight Cousins.  

I remember being staggered by their age.  I remember thinking the Louisa May Alcotts were such a lovely shade of blue, even with the stains.  I had never held a hardback that felt like cloth before -- it made the books feel at home on the quilted bed.  And (please forgive me, grandma) I remember wondering if the waxy black spots were from candles or oil lamps that my grandmother had used to read them.  (I didn't realize at the time that just because one Grandmother was old enough to have lived without electricity didn't mean that they both were.  Ahem.)  I also remember thinking that, considering how...shall we say worn they looked, it was odd that she was so careful with them now.  

It was many years later that I read something that captured so perfectly my feelings upon first holding those books.  I think it was in a paperback copy of Little Women (but it also may have been Under the Lilacs or Little Men -- if you know, PLEASE tell me!  I've googled for hours!) but in her Preface Louisa May Alcott said something along the lines of, "I hope to one day have my books be the dirtiest in the Library, for then I will know that children actually read and loved them."  (Not a direct quote.)  That is how I felt when I held those books for the first time -- I knew that, for the covers to have gotten that dirty, something really good had to be inside!  They perfectly fit the story within: comfortable, welcoming, familiar, humble, but still dignified and deserving of respect.  I could not design a more perfect cover.

Publisher: Little, Brown, and Company

Publication Date: 1927

Illustrator: Hattie Longstreet Price

Goodreads Description:

Eight Cousins:

Rose Campbell, tired and ill, has come to live at "The Aunt Hill" after the death of her beloved father. Six aunts fussing and fretting over her are bad enough, but what is a quiet 13-year-old girl to do with seven boisterous boy cousins?

Rose in Bloom:

In this sequel to Eight Cousins, Rose Campbell returns to the "Aunt Hill" after two years of traveling around the world. Suddenly, she is surrounded by male admirers, all expecting her to marry them. But before she marries anyone, Rose is determined to establish herself as an independent young woman. Besides, she suspects that some of her friends like her more for her money than for herself.

Review:

I think that in Eight Cousins we come as close to seeing what it would have been like to grow up as a child of the founders of the transcendentalist movement as Alcott ever writes.  Rose comes to Uncle Alec as a sad, sick, spoiled, unhappy child.  Having never had children of his own (and, excepting Aunt Jessie, being perpetually surrounded by what he would consider poor parenting), he -- with a little help from his sister-in-law Jessie -- decides to treat Rose's health and education as a grand experiment of sorts.  As a child, I found Uncle Alec and Aunt Jessie to be amazingly calm, even-tempered, unfailingly awesome examples of parenthood.  I wanted to be Aunt Jessie when I grew up.  As an adult, and parent, I have now come to think of them as the epitome of the ideals expounded upon by the transcendentalists.  Throughout both books there are echos of -- and occasionally direct references to -- the likes of  Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, John Muir and, of course,  Amos Bronson Alcott.  As an adult who has read their works, it is nice to spot the ideas in practice, if you will.  I love the way quiet Archie and Phoebe fall in love over music.  And I love the way Mac and Rose get to know each other through writing letters, discussing and reading the essays.  I also love the roots of American Feminism that are visible -- advocating choice and control in one's own future, finding fulfillment in oneself before finding love, being an equal partner in relationships.  The suffragette movement is not quite so visible as in say An Old Fashioned Girl, but I think that is more a product of the Campbell's wealth -- a young girl with an independent fortune and a guardian willing to hand over all control doesn't really have to fight for her independence.  

It is hard to criticize what is for me the literary equivalent to chicken soup; but in trying to take an objective view, I do find a few problems.  It is sad to see all these brothers of Uncle Alec missing all the time.  I understand that they were sailors, Captains even, and a product of their times, but it is still sad to see all the absent fathers.  Also, the fact that first cousins are marrying (and I find it romantic and cheer for them!) in here really squicks me out.  (Yes, that is a very proper and technical term -- squick.)  Additionally, I find the moralizing to be very heavy handed -- when Ms. Alcott gets her teeth into something, she just doesn't let go.  Poor Charlie in Rose in Bloom, whose failings weren't really all that extreme, pays the ultimate price for his lack of perfection.  It is especially sad considering how we left him at the end of Eight Cousins.  (Were it not Louisa May Alcott, I might even accuse the author of character assassination in order to clear the way for Mac.  But it is she, so I will not.)  I think now that perhaps if I had not read quite so much Alcott as a child I wouldn't have been such a goody-goody perfectionist all the time!  The books are delightful to read, but set some pretty impossible standards for children and adults alike.

                      

Review: Laugh with the Moon by Shana Burg - A Review on World Malaria Day

Expected Publication Date: June 12, 2012

Publisher: Random House Children's Books

Goodreads Description:

After the sudden death of her mother, Clare Silver remains in denial until her father, a doctor, whisks her away to a remote African village—the one place he believes can heal both of their hearts. 

A budding fashion designer, Clare feels stuck in the jungle, living under primitive conditions without cell phone reception or any contact with the outside world and expected to attend school with the locals and learn their language. 

When a teacher quits, Clare reluctantly agrees to teach the youngest students. Clare can't help being impressed with the kids who are so eager to learn, despite having to work in small, crowded spaces and share their schoolbooks. As Clare develops a friendship with an orphan named Memory, this girl who has lost so much dares Clare to open her heart again, remember her mother, and laugh with the moon.

Review:

Shana Burg's Laugh with the Moon is such a complex yet simple book that packs a hefty emotional punch.  (I cried while reading the last fourth of the book; and, a month later, I still get emotional just thinking about writing this review.)  Before I write what may sound like criticisms (but are not!) I want to put what I will say into context.  Have you ever had someone tell you a story about a "friend?"  A story about something so bad or sad or hard that the insulation of the "friend" was required, even though you both knew the story was really about them?  Laugh with the Moon is a little like that story.  You see, it isn't really fiction at all.  Burg tackles some very harsh realities about Malawi.  She spent years learning about these realities, and then even more crafting a story in which she could communicate them.  Burg has some very specific issues that she wants to discuss, and it leaves her characters feeling less like actual people and more like symbolic representations of groups of people.  She manipulates them to tell her story, but they never feel like puppets; she uses them to speak with her voice, but they never become her megaphone.  They have nuance even while feeling a little flat.  The insulation was needed to tell this story in a middle grade novel.  (I am a 28 year old woman and I needed it!)  

Laugh with the Moon deals with death, dying, illness, and grief, but it is always full of life.  Burg not only shows how different cultures celebrate life and death, but also how people within those cultures deal with it differently.  It is a frank look at loss, but it remains ever hopeful.  (I didn't read the Author's Note until I finished, which just elevated my already very high opinion of her.  Three different people who were her friends and helped make this book possible died before it was published; also before they were 40 years old.  Shana Burg is an amazingly hopeful and optimistic woman.)

Burg also very subtly but effectively takes on the idea of privilege.  Laugh with the Moon begins with Clare donning her mantle of privilege as carelessly and obliviously as one slips into flip-flops on the beach: Throwing an anti-Malaria pill away because it has fell to the floor, regularly chugging bottled water in front of people who have only had it once or twice in their lives, or causally using - then giving away - pens in front of students who have never had formal school supplies.   As the story progresses, though, she becomes more aware of her privilege, and how unjust that privilege really is.  Each one of her friends is instrumental in different ways to her achievement of this awareness.  I particularly like how Burg uses Memory and Agnes as foils - the extremes of how Malawians might react to an American such as Clare.  Memory loves and accepts Clare as she is, overlooking Clare's thoughtless acts because she knows they are unintentional.  Agnes, however, calls her out at every turn - forces her to face it.  It would be easy - and is often done - to make Agnes the 'mean' or 'bad' character, but she isn't.  Agnes, too, becomes a friend, once Clare sees why Agnes treats her the way she does.  Innocent shows her the value of the pills she so casually took; a child who dies for lack of a medicine that costs .28 USD per pediatric dose* or a mosquito net that costs $3.00 USD.** Saidi shows her the value of the education she took for granted; he cannot move into high school for lack of the <$1.00 USD*** a year it would cost, and leaves primary school early because he cannot afford a suitable uniform.

These two issues, then, are the soul of why Shana Burg wrote Laugh with the Moon: access to adequate medical attention and access to an adequate education.  It is hard to pull these issues out of the book because they are so deeply woven into the fabric of every single scene.  The reality of what Malawians face is right there under the surface of the story; the fabric on which it is constructed. And, much like her characters Memory and Agnes, Burg by turns coaxes the reader and forces the reader to confront our privilege.  The stark contrast between the private schools that children of white missionaries and doctors attend from that of the local village children is heartbreaking.  The unutterable decadence of the fully equipped hospital Clare receives treatment in compared to the hot cave of a room that Innocent dies in is tragic.  It is impossible to read Laugh with the Moon and remain unmoved.  But it is a movement into action; a feeling of hope rather than despair.  We can, and should, do something to change this.  

________________________________________________________________

*http://www.malariajournal.com/content/4/1/36

** http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/malawi_2430.html

*** From Laugh with the Moon

Some Facts About Malaria

• Malaria is preventable and treatable

• 91% of malaria deaths occur in Africa

• Every minute, a child dies of malaria

• 85 percent of those who die from malaria are children under 5 years of age

• Malaria accounts for approximately 22% of all childhood deaths in Africa

• In 2010, malaria caused an estimated 655 000 deaths

 

What You Can Do to Help

• World Altering Medicine was cofounded by Dr. Kevin Bergman, a friend of Shana Burg.

• Malaria No More is determined to end malaria deaths in Africa by 2015. Malaria is a preventable and treatable disease and recent progress shows that malaria's days are numbered — but we need your help. Together, we can make malaria no more.
  

•  UNICEF is doing a lot to make sure that preventative measures become more affordable in Malawi.

• World Malaria Day - A Year round resource to count malaria out.

• WHO has the Roll Back Malaria Partnership.

• International Medical Corps  is a global, humanitarian, nonprofit organization dedicated to saving lives and relieving suffering through health care training and relief and development programs.

• Global Refuge has the Malaria Initiative.

This review also appears on Goodreads; a review copy was provided by the publisher.

Kickstarter Campaign: The Kairos Mechanism a New Novella from Kate Milford

***Updates here***

***Check out my Interview with Kate HERE***

Well, let me just say that Kate Milford's The Boneshaker is one of the books that made that quote resonate with me.  I just can't put into words how much I love this book.  (I tried here.)  I have already pushed The Boneshaker on every child I know who is even remotely in its target audience, and quite a few adults as well, because it is just that good.  The Broken Lands, a sort of prequel set in the same world as The Boneshaker but with new characters, will be released this September.  (For those of you who have read The Boneshaker, it gives the back-story for drifter Jack!  I really can't wait!)  

However, while we're waiting for September to come, Kate has something awesome planned.  She is self-publishing a novella entitled The Kairos Mechanism to be release at the launch party for The Broken Lands. In her words:

The idea is that, since the two books are related but Natalie's not in the new one, the novella will be a self-contained Natalie adventure that also helps to make clear the connections between the books.

I would love to read that, wouldn't you?  In order for this to happen, Kate needs some help.  She launched a Kickstarter Campaign yesterday with a goal of $6500 that must be met in 60 days, that is June 9.  If we meet this goal, The Kairos Mechanism will be available in three different formats:

• A paperback edition using McNally Jackson Books’s self-publishing services and Espresso Book Machine.  As with The Boneshaker  and The Broken Lands, it will have a brand-new cover illustration by Andrea Offermann, and will be designed by Lisa Amowitz.

• A digital edition through Google Play.

• A very special digital edition illustrated by tween and teen reader artists, each having been given a chapter for which to create an illustration of their choice in the style of their choice. This edition will be available at Kate Milford's site, The Clockwork Foundry, pay-what-you-like. 

All you have to pledge to help this project along is $1.  However, if you want to contribute more, there are TONS of really awesome pledge packages.  Another cool thing?  If this works out, The Arcana Project may become a reoccurring project!  Again, in Kate's words:

The basic idea is this: self-publish a novella to accompany each of my traditionally-published hardcover releases. The companion novella might or might not be about characters from the specific book it’s released with, but it will always be related to it.

 I am so excited about this!  The only question I have now is this: "How much can I talk my husband into contributing?"  If you haven't checked out the Kickstarter Page yet, you should!   Just click the image below:

A NOTE: I am not receiving any sort of compensation for promoting this campaign.  (Aside from whatever prizes go with the pledge package I chose, of course!)  I just love Kate Milford's writing that much, and really, really want to read this myself.