Book Review: Martha Doesn't Say Sorry, by Samantha Berger & Bruce Whatley

 

Berger, Samantha & Whatley, Bruce. Martha Doesn't Say Sorry! 48 p. Little, Brown. 2009. Hardcover $15.99. ISBN 9780316066822.

If you have a three year old, you NEED this book. Believe me, I know.

It tells the story of a spirited young otter named Martha who, as you can guess from the title, is kind of a pain in the rear. She stirs up all kinds of trouble and then has a little trouble with apologies.

NOT COOL, MARTHA.

But, of course, she does learn the beauty of a nice, clear "I'm sorry" in the end. Whew!

Now, why is it that kids love watching other kids do something bad and get in trouble for it? Toddler schadenfreude, I tell you. Our little guy picked out this book all on his own, and he finds Martha's naughtiness hilarious. He totally gets that she's doing bad things, and he delights in commenting disapprovingly on her behavior. ("Marfa not say sorry.")

The story may seem didactic to an adult, but it's wonderfully simple and straight to the point, reinforcing the importance of an apology at just the perfect level for a small child's understanding. The illustrations add a layer of levity to the text that children and adults will both enjoy.

The book's title is repeated quite a few times in the narrative, making for a fun-filled interactive reading experience. When you read it aloud, trail off with "Martha doesn't say..." and let your little one fill in with an exuberant "SORRY!" This works well for enhancing the participatory elements of a preschool storytime, too.

I love it-- a crowd-pleaser that teaches an important lesson.

Graphic Novel Review: Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Promise, Part 1, by Gene Luen Yang & Gurihiru

Yang, Gene Luen & Gurihiru. Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Promise, Part 1. 80 p. Dark Horse. 2012. Paperback $10.99. ISBN 9781595828118.

After my enthusiastic review of Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Lost Adventures, you can guess I'm a fan of this franchise, right? In case you're new to it, believe the hype. With solid storytelling, incredible worldbuilding, an epic good versus evil plot, and characters you'll grow to love, it's an animated series you don't want to miss.

This graphic novel, written by Printz-award winning author Gene Luen Yang and illustrated by Japanese illustration team Gurihiru, picks up right where the original series leaves off, and retains the feel of the show exquisitely. To be honest, I was quite giddy to read this! It was like catching up with a long-lost friend.

The writing has pretty much everything a fan could hope for: fast-paced action, laugh-out-loud one-liners, and demonstration of true bonds between the characters. The dialogue leaps off the page as if spoken by the original voice actors. There's a little bit of aww-inducing romance that I found absolutely adorable-- but since the relationships in this series are a hotly debated issue, I'll point out that those who don't care for the romance will be mollified as one character freaks out every time the others display affection for each other, to hilarious effect.

Almost all of the characters we know and love all get a chance to shine here-- although I wouldn't mind seeing more of Uncle Iroh in subsequent volumes! And with two more parts to this story, I'm confident we'll get our Iroh fix.

The art is outstanding, with rich colors and lively facial expressions. And the backdrops! Some of the panels simply made me pause to admire their gorgeousness-- a Fire Nation colony in the Earth Kingdom struck me as particularly spectacular.

I can't recommend this volume highly enough to Avatar fans. If you liked the show, you'll definitely want to read this.

Avatar: The Last Airbender -  The Promise, Part 1 comes out on January 25th. ARC for review provided by Dark Horse Books via NetGalley.

And!! We're interviewing Gene Luen Yang on the Authors are ROCKSTARS! podcast this Friday, January 20. If you have any questions for Gene, please comment here and we'll do our best to ask them on your behalf!

Book Review: The Dead of Winter, by Chris Priestley

Priestley, Chris. The Dead of Winter. 224 p. Bloomsbury USA. 2012. Hardcover $16.99. ISBN 9781599907451.

This engaging, atmospheric gothic novel is the perfect antidote to the 80-degee weather we've been having here in Southern California lately. I mean, it's JANUARY. I'd like to feel the cold!

Well, despite the unseasonable temperatures, reading The Dead of Winter made me want to wrap myself in a heavy blanket and sit in front of a roaring fire to keep warm. It's deliciously chilling!

The plot neatly comprises nearly all the familiar Victorian gothic tropes: an orphan, a gloomy old manor with a tortured owner; a helpful and loyal servant; a tragic ghost. Oh, and moors. In short, it's pretty awesome.

This book reads like an homage to classic gothic novels, and could be a great introduction to Poe or the Bronte sisters. Occasional SAT words encourage vocabulary building, but short sentences and a fairly straightforward plot make the old-fashioned writing style very approachable for a young reader.

The ambiguous ending works well with the tone of the novel, and the overall effect is genuinely creepy, but not exactly scary-- a solid pick for a middle schooler who likes ghost stories. 

The Dead of Winter was published in the UK in 2010, and will hit US bookstore shelves on January 31. ARC for review provided by Bloomsbury USA via NetGalley.

Adventures in Butterbeer

You guys know Jimmy Wong, right? He's this total YouTube sensation with a ton of awesome music videos. I've been a fan ever since he made that hilarious and super catchy song about Alexandra Wallace. (Remember her? Asians on cell phones in the library? Yeah, her.)

Well, Jimmy Wong has a new venture: Feast of Fiction, a video series that aims to recreate recipes from games, books, and so on. One of his first videos will be of particular interest to librarians and kidlit fans: three versions of BUTTERBEER!




Like most youth services librarians, I harbor a certain amount of love for the Harry Potter books. In fact (um, should I admit this?), I have a Gryffindor costume I bought for a Harry Potter party I hosted at the library to celebrate the Deathly Hallows release. I trot it out every so often on Halloween.

So of course I had to try the butterbeer!

I love heavy whipping cream, so I had the most fun making the butterbeer foam. I cut the recommended sugar by half, and it was perfect for me. Depending on your sweet tooth, you might want to proceed cautiously with the sugar and add in more to taste as you go. The plentiful amount of vanilla gives it a nice kick. The recipe as stated in the video makes a very generous amount of foam, so if it's just you and a friend, you can adjust the recipe accordingly.

Of course, I didn't mind having extra, because it's DELICIOUS.

Now, onto the results of the recipes...

The cold version is super simple to make. The foam is what really takes this drink to a whole new level of awesome. I've made butterbeer before (as a refreshment for the aforementioned library Harry Potter party), but I never thought of adding whipped cream foam. Genius!

The blended version allows for copious amounts of that oh-so-good foam, and would be a refreshing treat on a hot summer afternoon.

The hot version is the ultimate comfort beverage on a chilly evening. It's mild and quite sweet. Since this is a hot drink, the whipped cream foam sinks in as it melts, making the end result all the more delectable. As suggested in the video, rum would indeed be a nice addition to this recipe for the adults among us!

Having tried all three recipes, I'm with Jimmy-- the hot version is my personal favorite. The blended version is excellent for those who like frappuccino type drinks. But the simple cold version impresses me the most as the drink I picture from the Harry Potter books, both in taste and appearance. Perfection!

Thank you to Jimmy Wong and friends for these "magical" recipes. Cheers!

Book Review: Across the Universe Series, by Beth Revis

Revis, Beth. Across the Universe. 398 p. Razorbill. 2011. Hardcover $17.99. ISBN 9781595143976.

Revis, Beth. A Million Suns. 400 p. Razorbill. 2012. Hardcover $17.99. ISBN 9781595143983.

Across the Universe begins with an agonizing decision as seventeen-year-old Amy must choose whether to stay on Earth or be cryogenically frozen for 300 years alongside her parents, who are instrumental in a space mission to a new planet. She decides to go with her parents-- but is awoken 50 years too early. Somebody on the spaceship is unplugging the frozen people and leaving them for dead, and she has to solve the mystery before her parents fall victim to the murderer.

I'm honestly not much of a sci-fi reader, yet Across the Universe kept me turning the pages with its layered characters and riveting plot twists. The narrative is well paced, blending mystery and suspense with moments of human reflection, (justified!) angst, and even some romance as Amy forges a tentative relationship with the ship's future leader, Elder. The story is told through the dual narration of these two characters, and the constant shifting between their perspectives works to keep driving the plot forward.

I truly felt immersed in this book. Reading about characters cooped up on a spaceship made me crave the outdoors. I had to go out for a walk and get some fresh air, and had a new appreciation for the ability to breathe fresh air and see the sky! Revis creates and sustains a remarkably claustrophobic atmosphere with the spaceship setting, and the result is unforgettable.

A Million Suns does exactly what a sequel should do: it has more of what we experienced in the first volume, but ups the stakes, reveals more complications, and delves deeper into the characters and their relationships. It answers questions from Across the Universe while raising new ones, and leaves the reader eager for the final book in the trilogy. There were some truly awesome "OMG!" moments in this one. Just when you think it can't get any worse for these characters, Revis drops another bomb. I couldn't put it down!

I recommend these books to sci-fi fans and non-fans alike. This series has something to appeal to almost every reader. Don't miss it!

Across the Universe was published in last year, and A Million Suns comes out from Razorbill/Penguin tomorrow, January 10.

Challenge Accepted!

In keeping with my New Year's resolution of being a more interactive blogger, I'm signing myself up for a few reading challenges.

The Debut Author Challenge, hosted by The Story Siren, looks like just my cup of tea. I love reading debut authors! A quick count tells me I read and reviewed nearly 20 books by debut authors last year, so I'm thinking I can probably manage the official goal of the challenge, which is to read and review at least 12 middle grade or young adult novels this year.

The first debut novel I'm reading this year is Incarnate, by Jodi Meadows. Thanks, HarperCollins and NetGalley!

Eye-catching cover, right? I'm only about 25 pages in, but the story is intriguing so far. I'm really liking it.

I'm also going to try the Newbery Book Challenge, hosted by Mr. Schu and Colby Sharp. This challege encourages participants to read every single Newbery book... ambitious, right?? But the challenge very kindly allows for modifications and above all, NO STRESS.

So I'm going to take Mr. Schu's advice and simply commit myself to reading one Newbery winner from each decade this year. I have way too much going on to read all the Newberys, and to be honest, that's not a particular goal of mine. But I am curious about some of the older Newbery winners, and I'm sure I can find at least one winner per decade that I'll enjoy.

I haven't decided yet what I'm going to read from the 1920s, but my selection from the 1930s will be Hitty: Her First Hundred Years, by Dorothy P. Lathrop.

When I was a kid, my mom told me it was a really good story, and I completely blew off her suggestion because I was the kind of reader who needed to discover books on my own. (Also, maybe because I was being kind of a brat.) I'm sorry, Mom. I'm going to read Hitty, and I bet you're right about this book!

How about the rest of you? Are you excited about any particular reading challenges this year? Any tips? Recommendations?

Book Review: Under the Never Sky, by Veronica Rossi

Rossi, Veronica. Under the Never Sky. 400 p. HarperCollins. 2012. Hardcover $17.99. ISBN 9780062072030.

It took me a little while to get into this book, but once I did, I was seriously hooked!

A unique blend of dystopian sci-fi, fantasy, and adventure, Under the Never Sky tells the story of Aria, a girl from a rigid pod-based society whose residents use virtual reality to escape the monotony of their closed-in life. When she's banished to the outside world after an incident, she is rescued by the rugged Outsider, Perry. Though the two can't stand each other, they have to learn to work together to achieve a common goal.

This book strikes me as a great title to introduce science fiction to a non-sci-fi reader. Despite the dystopian setting, most of the action takes place in the more primitive outside world. With battles against warring tribes, fierce wolves, and unpredictable bursts of deadly weather, the bulk of the narrative is a riveting survival story as Aria and Perry undertake their journey through one dangerous situation after another. 

Worldbuilding is somewhat vague, but I didn't mind the lack of specifics one bit. I didn't feel like I needed to know exactly what had happened to this world to make it such a harsh place-- I could glean enough from context. 

Rossi's concept of a dualistic society is inventive, with those living in the pods being completely dependent on their technology, and those left on the outside having developed supernatural powers to help them survive the elements. The contrasts between these two factions of society set up a perfectly compelling conflict between the two main characters as they learn to overcome their differences.

Indeed, the romance between Aria and Perry is well-crafted and quite swoon-worthy-- definitely one of the highlights of the narrative for me. These characters harbor true disdain for each other initially, and the gradual development of their relationship is believable, with genuine chemistry. I couldn't get enough of these two!

First in a trilogy, this fast-paced story is sure to please those who read across a variety of genres.

Under the Never Sky hits bookstore shelves today. ARC for review provided by HarperCollins via NetGalley.

New Year's Resolutions: Bookish Goals

Happy 2012! As a librarian and book blogger, I resolve to… 

Read more sequels

Because part of my job as a librarian is personally recommending books to all different types of readers, I feel obligated to read as widely as possible. Sequels don't add to the variety of my reading, so they languish on my to-read shelf. But I think I'm missing out! I used to LOVE getting really hooked on series. I'm going to reclaim that pleasure this year, if only just a little. After all, reading a series can strengthen my reader's advisory in that I can authoritatively state whether the quality is maintained after the first book, right? Right!

Be a more interactive blogger

I love the great wide world of book blogs. I want to comment on your blog. I want to connect with you. But alas, in juggling my time and energy between family life and professional responsibilities, I fall behind on blogs. Even if I just comment on one blog a day in 2012, it'll be an improvement.

Apply for a YALSA selection committee 

As I've mentioned before, I'm the current chair of the YALSA Local Arrangements Committee for the 2012 ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim, and loving it. I am energized by the opportunity to serve YALSA and connect with fantastic colleagues in the library field, and I'm so excited about Annual. (Will YOU be there? Tell me!) When I wrap up my responsibilities for the Local Arrangements Committee, I'm eager to apply for the chance to serve on a selection committee. I find the YALSA selection lists so helpful in developing my library's collection; I want to take part in forming those lists.

What are your bookish goals for the new year?