Slam by Nick Hornby March 8, 2008

Slam by Nick Hornby (Penguin, 2007)

     What do you do when you find out that your kind of ex-girlfriend is pregnant?  You talk to Tony Hawk of course, or rather, a Tony Hawk poster.  At least that’s what Sam Jones does.  It sounds like the most bizarre of premises, and one that would only interest those who skateboard, or skate, as Sam says, not to be confused with roller or ice skating. Many people I’ve talked to about the book couldn’t get past the idea of a skateboarder who talks to Tony Hawk. But because he is ridiculously clever, Nick Hornby makes it work. He makes it worth your while to swallow the odd premise and go with it.  Sam isn’t crazy, he doesn’t hear Tony Hawk talking to him.  But talking to Tony Hawk, or TH as he calls him, is for Sam what a journal is for others.  It could be a poster of Einstein, but because Sam is a skateboarder, it is TH that he turns to. 

    

Sam of course feels panic and terror at the idea of impending fatherhood, even more so because he is the product of a teen pregnancy and knows all that it entails.  There are more than a few laugh-out-loud moments in the book, so consider yourself fairly warned. This is Nick Hornby’s first book specifically for young adults.  However, those familiar with his previous books will find his trademark humor and human foibles here.  And for those who are not, it’s a funny, fast read (Bridget, The Loft).

My Swordhand is Singing January 26, 2008

My Swordhand is Singing (Wendy Lamb, 2007, c2006) by Marcus Sedgwick

 

    Set in the forests of 17th century Europe, My Swordhand is Singing is a perfect winter read.  It is the tale of woodcutters Peter and his father Tomas.  Strange things are happening in the village of Chust: animals are being attacked, dead men are reportedly seen, and there are whisperings of the Shadow Queen.

 

    Peter and Tomas live on a self-made island in the forest outside of the village. While Peter works hard and dreams about Agnes, a girl in Chust, his father drinks. There is a secret that separates father and son, a wooden box that Peter is forbidden to look in.   Soon gypsies come to Chust and Tomas’s past catches up with them.

 

    This is not your average vampire book. In fact, the word vampire is never once used in the entire 200 pages. But there is little doubt as to what the “hostages” are. Vampires were not always the suave creatures of the night we imagine them to be.  Sedgwick has done his research.  Here we see the bloated forms they once took. This is a fast paced book filled with vivid imagery, and an occasional all too real smell (Bridget, The Loft).

Martin Luther King Jr. Day January 20, 2008

Race Matters: Janet McDonald’s Off-Color (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2007)

 

It is 2008, exactly forty years since the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Much has changed for the better. Yet we are still a long way from fulfilling Dr. King’s dream of an unprejudiced society that considers not a person’s race but the content of his or her character. In many respects, there is a lack of sincere dialogue about race in this country. That’s why it’s so refreshing to come across a novel like Janet McDonald’s Off-Color (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2007).

 

The book’s main character, Cameron, is a white teenager growing up in a predominantly white section of Brooklyn. When her mom’s financial crisis forces them to move into a largely African-American public housing unit, Cameron must confront for the first time what it means to be a minority, to be different from the prevailing norm. Or is she so different? A chance unearthing of an old photo reveals that her absent father is actually African-American. This discovery leads Cameron on an exploration of her personal identity, as she must wade through the quagmire of terms like “black,” “white,” and “biracial.” How will her white friends react? How will the black community view her? As Cameron comes to learn, she is not the only one asking such questions. One of the gratifying aspects of McDonald’s novel is its vivid portrayal of New York’s unmistakably mestizo reality, and of the many different groups that compose any big city public high school.

 

An amusing side-note: James Watson, the Nobel Prize-winning biologist who recently sparked controversy for his (ridiculous) suggestion that people of African descent are intellectually inferior, was last month revealed to have “16 per cent of his genes.…from a black ancestor of African descent”  (The Independent, UK). Go figure. I like Mozambican writer Mia Couto’s notion that “every man is a race.” And I recommend Janet McDonald’s Off-Color unreservedly (Jacob, The Loft).

 

Martin Luther King Jr. Websites

MartinLutherKingJrArchive.com

Martin Luther King Jr. Papers Project

Book of a Thousand Days November 25, 2007

I have been eagerly awaiting Shannon Hale’s latest novel, Book of a Thousand Days  (Bloomsbury, 2007), and it definitely does not disappoint. The language sings! It is an imaginative retelling of a little-known fairy tale, Maid Maleen by the Brothers Grimm.

 

Set in a fictionalized, medieval Mongolia, 16-year-old Lady Saren is locked away in a tower for seven years by her father for refusing to marry the man her father has chosen, Lord Khasar. The story is told, however, by Lady Saren’s mucker maid Dashti, who has sworn to serve her mistress and therefore is shut away in the tower with her. Dashti keeps a journal which propels the story forward with spunk, grit, resourcefulness, and humor, all of which definitely come in handy as they face long and lonely days without sunlight and the great blue sky to brighten their world.

 

As Lady Saren despairs, Dashti does her best singing the healing songs she learned as a mucker girl on the steppes. Dashti even poses as Lady Saren when two suitors appear outside the tower, one the despicable Lord Khasar, and the other, the gentle Khan Tegus. Dashti’s growing friendship with Tegus and her rethinking of the gentry fuel subplots to come.

 

Adventures, misadventures, and a war-ravaged land await Dashti and Lady Saren. Highly recommended (Christie, The Loft).

It’s Absolutely True - Alexie wins! November 14, 2007

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie is this year’s winner of the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature. (Little, Brown, 2007)

 

Arnold Spirit, aka Junior, is born with “brain grease” (hydrocephalus, or excessive accumulation of fluid on the brain) which in his words “mucked up the works.” Junior has 10 extra teeth, a large head, a lisp, a stutter, and eyeglasses by age three, and he rapidly becomes a candidate for the black-eye-of-the-month club thanks to school bullies. To avoid being beaten up, he stays inside and draws cartoons and reads books. The son of an alcoholic father and “long suffering mother,” life on the reservation (Spokane Indian) poses its share of challenges for Junior.

 

So he decides to take a chance on an “all-white” school 22 miles away where the only Indian is the school mascot. A new world opens up for Junior, but many of his reservation friends, including his best friend Rowdy, think he has sold out. Juggling these two worlds leaves Junior feeling like a part-time Indian. Through it all he keeps drawing, and his cartoons keep him afloat: “I think the world is a series of broken dams and floods, and my cartoons are tiny little lifeboats.”

 

Thankfully for us, while Junior keeps drawing, Alexie keeps writing (and laughing). Move over Holden Caulfield - meet Arnold Spirit! (Christie, The Loft)

What if you forgot the last 4 years of your life?! November 10, 2007

Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac, by Gabrielle Zevin (Farrar Strauss Giroux, 2007)

 

Imagine having no memory of events that happened in your life over the last four years. If you were dating someone, you don’t remember. If you were learning a new language, you don’t remember. That’s what happens to Naomi Porter. She loses a coin toss with her co-editor of the high school yearbook, so she has to go back to the office to retrieve the expensive camera they left behind. Naomi falls down the stairs, and in a frantic attempt to protect the camera, she hits her head and loses four years worth of short-term memory.

 

Naomi can’t remember why she was dating Ace, especially when she’s attracted to someone else, and she also can’t remember the last four years of changes in her parents’ lives and marriage, or why she pursued some activities in school and not others. Naomi has to rely on her friends and family to piece together events in her life. What if she is not sure she likes the Naomi she hears about? How do identities evolve? How much of other people’s perceptions have shaped Naomi’s identity? Can we reinvent ourselves?

 

This thoughtful story about identity and character is rich in metaphor. Don’t miss Zevin’s other fascinating YA novel, Elsewhere  (Christie, The Loft).