A Little Princess

A Little Princess
Frances Hodgson Burnett, 1905.

What a lovely little book!  I decided to reread it over Christmas break after hearing the news.  And I agree wholeheartedly with what was said over at bookshelves of doom:  I'm not much for sequels to classics, but Hilary McKay can do whatever she wants.

Anyway, I hadn't read A Little Princess since I was a child.  My mother and I read it together, if I recall correctly.  I remember loving it then.  I remember seeing the movie.  I remember thinking "Wow, they changed a LOT."  So, when I came back to the book, years later, I had all these movie memories.  The book surprised and delighted me all over again.

Sarah is a little British girl who lives in India with her father.  At the beginning of the novel, she is sent off to school.  She is so brave!  So kind!  So with-it.  Despite teasing peers and her slightly odd looks, she does her best to act like a princess.  When she becomes suddenly penniless, the headmistress employs her as a maid.  She struggles with her identity, the physical labor involved, and just with growing up.  The plot is complimented by beautiful description and detail.

I've been thoroughly enjoying old fashioned books lately: The Penderwicks, The Willoughbys, The Keeper of the Bees, etc.  This won't be the last one I pick up.  Also it made me want to learn French.

A Resurrection of Magic #1

I just finished reading Skin Hunger, because its sequel, Sacred Scars, is on the Cybils shortlist for YA Sci-Fi/Fantasy. Oh yeah, my category got switched, because one of the YA panelists had a conflict of interest, so jumped to the middle-grade panel. So I jumped to YA! Which I'm excited about. It was actually my first choice. I'm not supposed to review the actual shortlisted books, but I don't see the harm in reviewing a prequel.

The premise and writing in Skin Hunger make me think not of your average YA fantasy novel but of a kind of Lord of the Flies meets The Chocolate War. Dark story, impossible love, evil people, dying children pitted against one another, non-happy cliffhanger ending, etc. Definitely more the kind of book your English teacher would assign you to read in high school---not necessarily the kind of book you'd grab for "fun." There wasn't anything you could call fun about this book. But it was intriguiging, fascinating, and deep. The focus is on the characters themselves and their flaws more than on the magic of the fantasy world the author's created. The world and its laws definitely take a backseat to the characters. I might even say they're in the trunk. I'll definitely be interested to see where the second book will take the story. I'm about to go dig in right now. For language and thematic reasons, I'd recommend this for older teens.

Honorable Mention

So if you talk to any panelist in Cybils first round judging, they will be able to tell you their favorite nominated book that just didn't make the shortlist.  Mine was Cat Burglar Black by Richard Sala.

Such atmosphere!  I absolutely adored the illustrations.  They really evoked an era, if you know what I mean.  It was, like, old school.  The style (and the story somewhat) reminded me of classic mysteries like Nancy Drew and Scooby Doo (I don't actually like Scooby Doo very much.  So if you don't, don't be put off by my saying that).  I mean, bright colors, unique characters, old cars, obvious villains. 

K has come to live at a boarding school with her aunt.  But when she arrives, her aunt is ill and bandaged so heavily that she is unrecognizable.  Was K meant to come to the school at all?  Will she be had, or meet her destiny?  And what of the vast fortune that is somewhere on campus?

I loved to hate the villain(s) of the book.  They were easy to pick out and the perfect mix of ridiculous and actually kinda scary (I don't like the really creepy stuff).

I loved to love the heroine, K.  She was unique, but it was easy to relate to her.  She didn't make the wacky choices that she might have, if someone else had written this book.  She was solid.

Both genders could dig this book, if you ask me.  There's no swooning or romance that might shut out the guys, and the female lead is quite the unassuming representative of girl power.  By that I mean that she's so awesome -- but it's just because she's doing her thang.  Not because she's on a crusade.

The book had a great ending too.  I won't say much -- but it was complete and yet left you wanting more.  I can't wait for a sequel.   

P.S. Ooh, a great page sample from Here Lies Richard Sala, see what I mean?

Cybils Shortlists announced!

The Cybils (Children's and Young Adult Blogger's Literary Awards) have announced the 5-7 titles in each category that represent the best of 2009.  The books are judged on kid appeal and literary merit -- there's sure to be a book on one of the lists that you'll like. 


Cybils shortlists here!  Click on the category you want to see the titles.

Christmas book fun

I recently received a couple of fun Christmas reads from Sourcebooks to review on the blog. So here they are!
A cute new picture book by Christi Love ... I mean, Elsbeth Claus ... who went around the country posing as Mrs. Claus to collect real kids' questions about Santa, the elves, the reindeer, and the North Pole. The questions are compiled in this charming book, illustrated by David Wenzel, to finally set at rest all of the things we've always wondered about how Christmas happens each year.

~Dear Mrs. Claus, How old are you and Santa?
~Dear Mrs. Claus, What are Santa's workshops like?
~Dear Mrs. Claus, Can all reindeer fly?
Check it out for a fun, secular Christmas read.

I'm new to the Horrid Henry series, but I understand that they are very popular, and after reading this Christmas installment, I can see why. Totally irreverent, truly horrid Henry makes no apologies for his ways. He's not a naughty boy who finally realizes how naughty he's being and reforms in the end. He's just a stinker to the core. This collection of four Christmas stories was completely un-Christmas-y (not a sappy, uplifting, tear-jerking moment to be found), but still totally funny. And while I hope that my own sons grow up to be Perfect Peters (Horrid Henry's little brother who can do no wrong), I also hope that they'll have at least a few Horrid Henry moments. As horrid a child as he is, Henry still manages to be strangely endearing. Not a classic, but definitely entertaining. Maybe read it to your kids first, and then read The Best Christmas Pageant Ever to them. So you get at least a little upswing.

Cybils, Round Two

Fun news! The round-two panel for the Science Fiction/Fantasy category in the Cybils Book Awards just got split in two: elementary/middle-grade, and young adult. I (Ashley) will have the privilege of judging the elementary/middle-grade subsection of this awesome category. And I'm so excited! I've looked over the list of nominees, and I can't wait to see what short list the first round of judges comes up with. I might just pick a few myself and start reading now. There's a good number I've read already. Guess I'm in the right place! If you're interested in this particular category, check out the list here.

In other news, I finally finished Once a Witch. Yes, finally. It took me a long time to read, because I was quite unengaged by it. The main character was somewhat sympathetic, but mostly kind of whiny. (In my opinion.) She smoked and drank (at age 17) like it was a character trait, not a character flaw, which bothered me. Call me conservative. And there was far too much whispering in general. Made for an overexaggerated sense of drama. Also some unanswered questions that were generally confusing. The jacket made it sound like my kind of book, but unfortunately, it wasn't. Oh well. On to the next!

A rash of reading

I've been buried in some thick books for about the past week and a half. The first was a stand-alone novel by Sarah Dessen called Lock and Key. According to the author's website:

It's the story of a girl named Ruby who is abandoned by her mother and determined to make it on her own, even---and especially---when she is sent to live with her long-lost sister in a whole new world of privilege, family, and relationships. As Ruby learns, there's a big difference between being given help and being able to accept it. And sometimes, it takes reaching out to someone else to save yourself.

I loved the character progression of this book. Ruby starts out as an outwardly lost cause. She pushes everyone around her away. She casually experiments with drugs and alcohol. Her mom is totally deadbeat and rarely around, and then disappears altogether. Her one source of stability, her big sister, disappeared into college when Ruby was still a child and apparently never tried to contact her again. Ruby's internal walls are totally believable, and their gradual dismantling is so beautiful. I definitely recommend this book.

The other thick books I've been immersed in were the Mortal Instruments trilogy by Cassandra Clare (City of Bones, City of Ashes, City of Glass)---which, incidentally, according to this, is actually going to have another book added to it in March '11, and has been optioned as a movie by the guys who oversaw the Lord of the Rings production. Wow. I am seriously excited for that one. Hopefully it gets made into a movie someday in the not-too-distant future. Many thanks to our guest reviewer who so highly recommended the series. Ditto to everything she said. Just read her review if you want more info. They were an action-packed, un-put-down-able collection of books. I can't imagine what the fourth book could possibly hold. The series seemed to wrap up quite tidily with the third. Two thumbs up to all my recent reads.