reading

book review: The Boy Who Dared (Susan Campbell Bartoletti)

Bartoletti is probably best-known for her award-winning work of non-fiction, Hitler Youth. With her novel The Boy Who Dared, Bartoletti shows off a great storytelling talent, as well as the meticulous research behind this story that brings it to life.

The Boy Who Dared is the true story of Helmuth Hübener, a German teen in World War II who stood up to the Nazis by distributing leaflets against the Nazi regime. He is one of the teens mentioned in Bartoletti’s Hitler Youth book.

So why a novel, and not another non-fiction book? What makes this story fiction is the lively dialog and very specific actions of the character that Bartoletti could only infer from research. Her informative author’s note describes what she did to dig for the details that help color the novel with a broad swath of reality.

The tension and intrigue transform The Boy Who Dared into a real-life spy novel, as the clock ticks up to Hübener’s final moments in prison before execution. Bartoletti gives us a real sense of how terrifying this must have been for him, placing us there in the cell with him, as the prison guards approach.

book review: A Drowned Maiden’s Hair (Laura Amy Schlitz)

One of my favorite things about this tantalizing read is that the subtitle is “A Melodrama.” How cool is that?

The novel follows likeable heroine Maud (an orphan, what could be better?) as she is “rescued” from the orphanage by a trio of scam-artist-old-ladies (no joke), who take her down to their house by the shore, where she is kept captive up in the attic with contact only to the deaf-mute servant (again, no joke).

Maud is the epitome of plucky, and her story strings the reader along until the fairy-tale ending she deserves. And yes, there’s a reason that it’s a melodrama. 🙂

PS The author also wrote the Newberry-award-winning Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!

book review: A Curse Dark as Gold (Elizabeth Bunce)

After reading the buzz on Verla’s board, I had to read this book.

As the type of kid who read the author’s note first to find out the real story behind the story, I was thrilled to see a potential explanation for the Rumplestiltskin fairy tale (and yes, I read Bunce’s author’s note first, heh).

Charlotte is a strong and likeable heroine, who also infuriates the reader at times, which made her more realistic to me. I almost wondered if I was missing something when her relationship with Randall fizzled, but it fit perfectly with her character, so I bought it.

As a young mother, I was much more terrified by Charlotte’s situation than in the original fairy tale. I was completely drawn in by her emotion and by her predicament. What would the reader do in her place?

The only part that was too drawn-out for me was the side story with the uncle and his (and thus Charlotte’s) family history. It wasn’t dramatic enough for so much attention to me.

Overall, I love these modern retellings which offer us explanations – everything from Gregory Maguire’s books to the 2005 movie “The Brothers Grimm,” and Bunce’s CURSE takes its place right beside those as an excellent work of fiction.

book review: The Zookeeper’s Wife (Diane Ackerman)

Wow, what a great read! This is a McCullough-style biography outlining the life of the wife of the zookeeper of Warsaw, Poland during World War II. Ackerman uses meticulously researched details to bring Antonia’s story to life: how she and her family sheltered Jews from the Warsaw ghetto in their zoo. Her descriptions are vivid. She used photographs, diaries, and letters, along with newspapers from the time, to draw pictures on the pages with her words. And what a likable and brave heroine!

Another great role-model author for wanna-be biographers. 🙂

book review: Jacob Have I Loved (Katherine Paterson)

That’s another list I have to make – a list of all Newbery award winners to read … which was one of the reasons I read this book (1981 winner). The other was that it’s about twin sisters. Sounds applicable and interesting! Except …

Right, I just found the main character sooo bitter and depressed (and depressing). I just didn’t want to hear another complaint out of her, about how wonderful her sister was, and how awful she was. Ever think it’s your attitude, honey? What a downer. Anyway, hope neither of my twins ends up feeling bitter or that she is anything less than her sister. Well, that would be hard, because both of mine are just totally perfect, heh heh.

book review: The Zookeeper’s Wife (Diane Ackerman)

Wow, what a great read!

McCullough-style biography: details, details, details. Like when reading McCullough’s work, I learned a lot while reading Ackerman’s book about how to bring in additional information about weather, people’s appearances etc. from external sources rather than trying to depend on scant details from the individual. She really brought Antonia’s story to life, while providing a fresh perspective on what it was like to live in Warsaw in WWII, on the other side (outside) of the ghetto walls. So besides being a great learning tool for a non-fiction writer, it was just such an interesting read in itself. Bravo!

book review: Speak (Laurie Halse Anderson)

I’ve wanted to read this, for a while years after all the hype. (I’m not one of those mid-hype readers.)

Finally I got my motivation, since the author is coming to speak at the NESCBWI conference this April. I’ve already read her historical fiction novel “Fever: 1793” about the yellow fever in Philadelphia – wicked good read.

But I wasn’t too excited about a contemporary high school story. Another girl on the outside, feeling left out etc. etc. etc. But that’s about all I knew about it, and man, was I intrigued as the story unfolded.

This one has it all – it’s an “issue” book, but totally character-driven,  and what characters indeed! Multi-dimensional and very realistic.

Makes me glad I didn’t grow up in Syracuse …

book review: Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child (Marc Weissbluth)

When you’ve got twins, you might not remember sleep. I’m hoping to get some again at some point in my life. In the meantime, I read books about what you’re “supposed” to do to get your kiddies to sleep (ignoring the ridiculous claim that 6 hours of sleep is technically sleeping through the night -bah!).

This particular one was a pretty good one – it was actually recommended by Elizabeth Lyons in “Ready or Not – Here We Come!” about the first year with twins.

We are in the fifth month without a real night of sleep, and yet it seems we are doing all the “right” things and are on the right track. So we’ll see when the little girls finally tire of seeing  out sleep-deprived faces in the middle of the night …