Bookami

Shift by Jennifer Bradbury

Synopsis: Best friends, Chris and Win, set out on a cross-country bike trek to Seattle before beginning their Freshman year of college.  Along the way, the two have a fight and stop riding together.  Chris makes it to Seattle and then heads home to start school.  Win doesn't, and no one is quite sure what has happened to him.

Review: How far the world of YA has come.  Forty years ago the cover of Shift would have just noted the author's name with a first initial like Hinton's name appeared on The Outsiders.  No way could a chick write such a great guy book, but much like Hinton, that is exactly what Jennifer Bradbury has done.  And the best part is, it's a contemporary guy novel without the traditional guy plot.  This book is not about a guy trying to get the girl.  It's not about a kid who wants to blow up his school. It's not about a guy trying to kill himself.  It's just about two guys who start out a trip as best friends, fight a lot along the way, disband their friendship for a while, and then discover they can pretty much count on each other for anything even as they realize they don't really need each other anymore.   

This is not to say that this debut novel isn't without a few flaws.  The dialogue between Win and Chris seemed a bit off.  It's all a bit too clean.  I just don't know many 18-year-old guys who don't use the F-word at least once in every other sentence.  In addition, it's not really a mystery.  Win's disappearing act was pretty obvious.  Controlling father, laissez-faire mother, etc.  Having said that, moving back and forth between Chris' present life and the trip still gives a good tight, tense feeling to the novel.  While I've never read a novel that didn't romanticize a cross-country ride as life-changing, I'm still happy to have taken the journey with Win and Chris. 

The Underneath by Kathi Appelt with drawings by David Small

Synopsis: A calico cat, about to have kittens, is abandoned in the depths of the bayou.  Desperate to find a home for her wee ones, she befriends a chained-up old hound.  Ranger is happy for the company, but the hound warns her that she and her kittens must stay underneath the porch or his owner, Gar Face, will surely use them for alligator bait.  Of course, how can one expect eager, playful kittens to stay out of the sun?  One kitten's moment of curiosity leads to acts of extreme violence and hate, but also to ones of great, enduring love.

Review: When I was in the fourth grade, my teacher read aloud to the class Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls.  Except for the small one on her desk, she turned out all of the lights and allowed us to put our heads on our desks as she read the tale of a boy and his daring, beloved pups.  The room was dark and peaceful and silent except for Rawls' words.  The Underneath requires that same sort of peace and quiet.  I could not read this book when my children were playing or when the T.V. was on.  I found that both my surroundings and mind had to be settled in order to appreciate this mellifluous novel.  This is a book that expects a lot of its readers.  It makes me realize why Watership Down is generally shelved in adult fiction.  Not all animal stories are children's stories, and I think The Underneath is not meant to be read by children so much as it is meant to be read to them.  Do I want a child to be alone when reading about how Gar Face is so filled with rage even as a boy that he would fill his mother's birdbath with rat poison?   Do I want a child to be alone when she reads how he shoots his own dog and can't be bothered to take the bullet out of the dog's leg?  No I don't think I do.  I want them to share the horror with another person so that it doesn't haunt them.  I want them to see the reaction of someone else and know that this sort of fierce hate is wrong.  I also don't want them to be alone when reading about a mother cat pushing her young son to swim to survive or when a hound saves his young feline friend by biting his vicious owner on the leg.  These acts of love have greater meaning when shared.  Children should see the happy, emotional reaction of an adult when something goes right for this unlikely family.  Children should know it's okay to be so involved in a novel that it brings one to tears.

For an animal love story truly for children, try The Wainscott Weasel by Tor Seidler with illustrations by Fred Marcellino.

Gods of Manhattan by Scott Mebus

Synopsis: New Yorker Rory Hennessey just wants to keep his mom and sister safe, but when a magician opens Rory's eyes to the spirit city of Mannahatta, this becomes seemingly impossible.  Mannahatta co-exists alongside present-day Manhattan and is ruled by New York's most famous inhabitants such as Alexander Hamilton, Babe Ruth and Peter Stuyvesant.  Only Rory has the ability to see Mannahatta and reveal its magic to others, but as he is pursued in both the past and the present, he soon realizes that this gift could be more of a curse.

Review: This book has a beautiful package, talking roaches and rats, a papier-mache boy, tons of magic and a bit of New York history, and yet for all of these fabulous elements, I found the book to be a bit lacking in detail and boring.  I never think it bodes well for an intermediate reader to need to have a cast of characters, especially one that doesn't really tell you anything.  For instance under the Council of Twelve heading, historical names and their Mannahatta titles are listed, but would it not have been better to list these names at the end of the novel with a brief paragraph detailing their historical significance?  Not a New Yorker by birth, I didn't know who Adriaen van der Donck was and still don't after reading the novel.  Also, the cast of characters isn't complete.  Willem Kieft isn't even listed, and he is the main villain of the story.

Also, I never felt any great fear for Rory's life, or any of the characters' lives for that matter.  All of the scary scenes seem to be cut too short, whether they take place in current Manhattan or Mannahatta. For instance when Rory and his sister, Bridget, are looking for the magician in the Village, Rory gets bitten by a Stranger, and then the next time we see him, he is awake and totally fine. Or when Bridget wakes up and realizes she is made of paper.  Wouldn't a nine-year-old show some sort of distress at this predicament, no matter how much she likes to kick butt?  Given that this is the author's first novel for children, I fear he was a bit too conscience of his young audience. Books are only as scary as the readers' imaginations allow them to be.  It's not like watching T.V.  The author certainly could have stepped up the fright level a bit with no repercussions.

Finally, do we really need another long-lost father tale?  I know there is a planned sequel for this novel, but a mention of the father would have been enough.  He certainly wasn't relevant to this story at all, and having Rory see him on the deck of the Half Moon was a little too much foreshadowing for my taste.  Guess what, not all parents are great.  I don't understand why in the fantasy world there is such a need for all parents to be good and to have a greater reason for deserting the family.  So his dad ditched the family.  Rory still has plenty to do with his gift even without having to search and hope for his old man.  It just seems like this was an unnecessary plot device.

So while not awful for a first novel, there are better tales out there right now for this age group.  Tunnels and The True Meaning of Smekday are two that come to mind.

The Pigeon Wants a Puppy Written & Illustrated by Mo Willems

With a rather self-explanatory title and the Pigeon's rock star status in the picture book world, I didn't really expect to have much to write about The Pigeon Wants a Puppy.  I bought the book just to enjoy with my boys.  Then, today, I took my youngest to the playground and realized that I have a greater understanding of why the Pigeon is so belligerent and demanding a literary character.  It's because three-year-old kids like my son chase and roar at the pigeons in the park, never giving these feathered creatures a moment of peace.  Seriously, you would think all these kids had become Tyrannosaurus Rexes the way they were chasing and growling at the birds.  I can't deny I sort of thought it was funny, but then it also made me think that the Pigeon should get whatever he wants. Certainly at least a hot dog.  And as far as staying up late, night time is likely his only time away from scary children.  And if he wants a puppy (or a walrus) to love and cuddle, then I say it will likely make him more well-adjusted.  With the way children treat pigeons, it's totally amazing that the Pigeon is ever happy.  We're all very lucky he has chosen to become a funny, charming literary icon instead of a mean-spirited bird pecking at children's toes.