Bone Gap by Laura Ruby

Bone Gap is an odd town, one where when people disappear, the residents shrug if off with the belief that they fell through the “gap”. “Everyone knows Bone Gap is full of gaps—gaps to trip you up, gaps to slide through so you can disappear forever” (Ruby, 2017). Finn knows Roza didn’t disappear. She was kidnapped, but no one believes him. Not his brother, Sean, not the sheriff, not any of the other residents in town because Finn can’t tell you what the man looked like. How he moved. What he wore. The way he made Finn feel, sure. He can you tell you that, but he can’t tell you a single distinguishing feature of the man.  The only person who believes him is Petey, and she will sacrifice anything to help him find the truth.

Roza’s story is even more harrowing than Finn’s desperation. Trapped in places she doesn’t understand, Roza has no idea how to get free or how to save herself, but she knows that she cannot give in to the very odd, peculiar man that has taken her. She clings to familiarity even as she plans and plots and tries to figure out how to get free with an usual guardian at her side.

The magical realism of Bone Gap hides in the very world around it. Many of the twists and turns, many of the secret myths don’t reveal themselves into the last harrowing chapters of the book when everything looks lost for Finn and Roza. The world is richly layered with more textures than might appear. The characters are believable and sympathetic, ones you want to root for even when many of them are still steeped in deep shrouds of mystery.

ALA Booklist said, “With rich characters, captivating world building, and a stunning secret at its heart, BONE GAP is utterly bewitching” (2016). And the New York Times Book Review followed with “It s a novel about actual changes in worldview, and all its science and myth and realism and magic are marshaled, finally, to answer crucial questions about empathy and difference, and the way we see people we love” (2016).

Awards:

Winner of the 2016 Michael L. Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Literature

National Book Award Finalist (Ruby, 2017).

Check out the book trailer I made for this book:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NDZGRzbjNM

 

Ruby, Laura. Bone Gap. Blazer and Bray: Harper Teen (2015).

Ruby, Laura. “Bone Gap”. (2017) Website. lauraruby.com Accessed 27 November, 2017.

ALA Booklist. “Bone Gap – Book Review”. (2016). Website. https://ipage.ingramcontent.com/ipage/servlet/ibg.common.titledetail.pd1000?ttl_id=31959905 Accessed 27 November, 2017.

New York Times Book Review. “Bone Gap”. (2017) Website. lauraruby.com Accessed 27 November, 2017.

ALA Booklist. “Bone Gap – Book Review”. (2016). Website. https://ipage.ingramcontent.com/ipage/servlet/ibg.common.titledetail.pd1000?ttl_id=31959905 Accessed 27 November, 2017.

The Graveyard Book – Neil Gaiman

Nobody Owens, or Bod, lives an unusual life. As a baby, his parents and older sister were murdered and he escaped only because he climbed out of his crib and noted the front door was open. Bod wandered into an old historical graveyard with the murderer tracking him like a scent hound. The ghosts might have debated but in the end, Bod was given to the Owens’s to be raised with the mysterious Silas to be his guardian because as a man that was not a ghost, but not a human, he could help get items needed to raise a child.

The story follows Bod from this fateful night through his rebellions against his ghostly teachers and Miss Lepeschu, a woman that helps when Silas must venture away from the graveyard. Bod encounters a dead witch, ghouls, night-gaunts, and a mysterious gray lady on a white horse who’s job it is to ferry the dead to their resting places. Bod learns how to Fade, Dreamwalk, cause Fear and Terror as the ghosts do, but he also wants to learn about the human world, craves the touch of warmth and knowledge and experience that can be hand in the living world. His love for the ghosts around him do not diminish this desire.

There is one rule for Bod: Do not leave the graveyard. Outside the old gates the man that killed his family still hunts him. Silas and the ghosts can’t protect him if he leaves, but Bod is human He grows, he ages, and he cannot stay in the graveyard forever.

Neil Gaiman offers a dark, beautiful world filled with a plethora of creatures from myth, such as the ghosts and ghouls. He guilds a unique world with its own rules and consequences when they are broken and he keeps the very real need for life at the center of his deeply rich and emotional novel. Booklist said, “This is an utterly captivating tale that is cleverly told through an entertaining cast of ghostly characters. There is plenty of darkness, but the novel s ultimate message is strong and life affirming. This is a rich story with broad appeal” (2008). And the many, many awards and nominations Gaiman earned for this book show that many people agreed.

This list was taken from Neil Gaiman’s website:

• Awards:
  • Newbery Medal
  • ALA Notable Children’s Book
  • ALA Best Book for Young Adults
  • American Bookseller Association’s “Best Indie Young Adult Buzz Book”
  • Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children’s Book Award (Vermont)
  • Chicago Tribune Young Adult Literary Prize (for body of work)
  • Audio Publishers Association Audie Award
  • Audiobook of the Year
  • “Thriller/Suspense” and “Children’s Titles for Ages 8-12” categories
  • IndieBound Award
  • Horn Book Honor
  • Burr Worzolla Award
  • Midwest Booksellers Choice Award
  • Locus Award (Young Adult)
  • Hugo Award – “Best Novel”
  • Booktrust Teenage Prize
• 2008/2009 Best Lists:
  • Horn Book Fanfare: Best Books of 2008
  • ALA Booklist Editors’ Choice: Books for Youth, 2008
  • Kirkus Reviews Best Children’s Books of 2008
  • Cooperative Children’s Book Center Choice 2009
  • Fall 2008 Indie Next List, “Inspired Recommendations for Kids from Indie Booksellers” – #1
  • New York Public Library’s 2008 “One Hundred Titles for Reading and Sharing”
  • New York Public Library Stuff for the Teen Age
  • Amazon.com Best Books of 2008 – Editors’ Top 10 for Teens, #9
  • Time Magazine Top Ten of 2008 Fiction List – #9
  • Bank Street College of Education Best Children’s Books of 2009
  • 2009 Capitol Choices (District of Columbia); in “age 10-14” and audiobook categories
• Nominations:
  • LA Times Book Prize for Young Adult Literature Finalist
  • World Fantasy Award
  • Finalist for Amelia Elizabeth Warden Award
  • Shortlisted for British Fantasy Award for best novel

Though some may see a book about a child being raised by ghosts in a graveyard to be dark, disturbing, and macabre, the book is much more.

Gaiman, Neil. The Graveyard Book. New York: Harper Collins. 2008.

Booklist. “The Graveyard Book – Book Review”. https://ipage.ingramcontent.com/ipage/servlet/ibg.common.titledetail.pd1000?queryString=H4sIAAAAAAAAAKtWKk5RskpLzClO1VEqzs9XsiopKgUyC0qUrJSc8vOzlYDs4iolK0MDAyArByjq6efuqwRSDGQHhDq5hIA4BUpW0dGGOkpAtndqZXl-UUp8SGZJTiqQX5KRqpBelFiWWplYlKKQBDIzNrYWABY3MNp5AAAA&R=51561015&dNo=0 Accessed 24 November, 2017.

Gaiman, Neil. “The Graveyard Book – Awards”. http://www.neilgaiman.com/About_Neil/Awards_and_Honors Accessed 24 November, 2017.

Rapunzel’s Revenge by Shannon and David Hale

The early pages of Rapunzel’s Revenge follow most tales of Rapunzel a reader night be familiar with. A young girl is being raised by Mother Gothel in an elegant villa, but the young girl never does exactly what her mother wants, such as learning how to throw a lasso from a guardsman and wanted to know what lies beyond the villa’s wall. Rapunzel climbs the wall to look over and sees the desert plains that stretch out as far as the eye can see and the lines for the slave mines. And her true mother, one that she didn’t remember until she saw her. Rapnuzel’s insubordination leads to her getting locked inside a tree Mother Gothel uses her magic of growth to create as a tower and leaves Rapunzel there for years. Her hair grows to the fabled proportions, long enough that years later, Rapunzel lassos a nearby tree and escapes. Her journey has begun, one where she meets up with Jack and the pair start on their adventure together. Jack always wants to take the easy way out: theft, manipulation, but Rapunzel is always the voice of lawful reason unless the situation drives her to break her morals, such as stealing horses from men that want to hurt her and Jack. They embark together on the goal of getting Rapunzel back to the villa so she can confront Gothel and save her mother. Along the way they meet other outlaws, get duped by a rancher out of pay they earned, and a crazy man that might have given them the key to ending Gothel’s reign.

The setting is not what one might expect, set in a western setting with horses, spurs, lassos, and endless plains trapped in Gothel’s drought. The clothes worn by the characters fir the appropriate time and lead to Rapunzel getting into jeans and chaps and cowboy boots. The color variances through the graphic novel help with the ambiance and the worldbuilding, such as the lush greens and rainbows of Gothel’s garden, to the darkness of the swampy forest where Rapunzel is imprisoned, to the sepia and earth tones of barren dirt, dried out land, and mountains.

The story is engaging, one that follows a true heroine’s journey, and is a vibrant retelling of a classic fairy tale. Any child that loves the old tales and children that love gunslingers and horse wranglers will be drawn to this graphic novel. As the story progresses, more tales peek their heads into the narrative, but those are secrets better discovered through the reading, such as discovering the means to weaken Gothel.

School Library Journal reviewer, Cara von Wrangel Kinsey, felt “Rapunzel is no damsel in distress, she wields her long braids as both rope and weaponbut she happily accepts Jacks teamwork and friendship. While the witchs castle is straight out of a fairy tale, the nearby mining camps and rugged surrounding countryside are a throwback to the Wild West and make sense in the world that the authors and illustrator have crafted. The dialogue is witty, the story is an enticing departure from the original, and the illustrations are magically fun and expressive. Knowing that there are more graphic novels to come from this writing team brings readers their own happily-ever-after” (2008).

It’s no wonder that in 2009 this graphic novel won the Notable Children’s Book award.

Hale, S. and Hale, D. Rapunzel’s Revenge. New York: Bloomsbury USA. (200

8). Graphic Novel.

Kinsey, Cara von Wrangel. “Rapunzel’s Revenge – Book Review”. School Library Journal: 2008. https://ipage.ingramcontent.com/ipage/servlet/ibg.common.titledetail.pd1000?queryString=H4sIAAAAAAAAAKtWKk5RskpLzClO1VEqzs9XsiopKgUyC0qUrJSc8vOzlYDs4iolK0MDAyArByjq6efuqwRSDGQHhDq5hIA4BUpW0dGGOkpAtndqZXl-UUp8SGZJTiqQX5RYUJpXlZqjXqxQlFqWmpeeqhQbWwsA9_w_cHkAAAA&R=8665640 Accessed

November, 2017.

American Library Association. “Rapunzel’s Revenge”.

http://www.ala.org/awardsgrants/content/rapunzels-revenge

Accessed 20 November, 2017.

 

 

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly

Calpurnia Virginia Tate is a 12 year old girl that lives on her families cotton farm in Texas in 1899. The new millennia looms, and with it Calpurnia’s shucking of the social norms of her day. Instead of learning to cook, she wants to be at the river with her grandfather hunting for new species to observe. Once her grandfather introduced her to the Scientific Method, genus and phylum, Darwin, and Dickens. He values her for more than a favorable marriage match and she wants the promise of the life he offers. Her mother, however, has other ideas and will do all she can to raise a proper lady, no matter how much of that lady’s spirit is destroyed in the process.

The history of the setting is cemented by the unveiling of the first phone in the nearest town and the hiring of a female operator, a woman that makes her own money and does a worthwhile job. This is something that Calpurnia clings to. The first automobile is highlighted at a fair and her grandfather wants to drive one despite the dangers. Together, Calpurnia and her grandfather uncover a new species of plant and wait for news to see if they are correct. All of these things, and the continual reminder of a woman’s proper places during the time, make the historical details and the setting accurate.

The end of the novel offers hope, shepherded on n the New Year of 1900. However, Calpurnia still struggles against what society believes a woman should be and should do, which doesn’t include science. This passage shoes Calpurnia’s view point perfectly:

“One day I would have all the books in the world, shelves and shelves of them. I would live my life in a tower of books. I would read all day long and eat peaches. And if any young knights in armor dared to come calling on their white chargers and plead with me to let down my hair, I would pelt them with peach pits until they went home” (Kelly, 2009).

Teri Lesesne from the Voice of Youth Advocates said, “The culture and social life of the early twentieth century is reflected in the lives of Calpurnia and her family and community. What is central always to this novel, though, is the close relationship shared by Calpurnia and her grandfather, who are brought together through their interest in observing nature. Grandfather encourages Calpurnia not only to be scientific in her approach to studies but also underscores the importance of learning the other skills she deems useless, such as learning how to cook. Each chapter opens with an excerpt from Darwin’s Origin of Species, offering a quote that mirrors what is also occurring in Calpurnia’s life. Science teachers might use portions of this story to discuss the scientific method. Tie it to Deborah Heligman’s Charles and Emma, the biography of the Darwins (Henry Holt, 2009/VOYA December 2008), for an interesting text pairing” (2009).

Readers who enjoyed the journey of Calpurnia will want to check out the second book in the series as well.

Awards:

2010 Newbery Honor Book; Booklist Top 10 Historical Fiction for Youth 2010; 2010 ALA Notable Children ‘s Books, Middle Readers; ALA Best Books for Young Adults 2010; Amelia Bloomer List 2010; IRA Teachers’ Choices 2010, Advanced Readers; Indies Choice Honor Award 2010, Middle Reader; Booklist The Best of Editors ‘ Choice 2009; 2009 Booklist Top 10 First Novels for Youth; Bulletin Blue Ribbons 2009, Fiction; Publishers WeeklyBest Children ‘s Book of 2009

Kelly, Jacqueline. The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate. New York: Henry Jolt and Company, LLC. (2009).

Kelly, Jacqueline. “Calpurnia Tate – Quotes”. https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/2824557.Jacqueline_Kelly Accessed 13 November 2017.

Junior Library Guild. “The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate”. https://www.juniorlibraryguild.com/books/view/9780805088410 Accessed 13 November, 2017.

Lesesene, Teri. “The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate – Book Review”. https://ipage.ingramcontent.com/ipage/servlet/ibg.common.titledetail.pd1000?ttl_id=9438254 Accessed 13 November, 2017.

 

Gingersnap by Patricia Reilly Giff

 

All Jayna has in the world is her brother, Rob, and her turtle, Theresa. When Rob is deployed to serve as a Navy cook during World War II, Jayna has no idea how to live with their landlady, Celine, until he returns. Shocking news and the voice of a ghost send her running to Brooklyn armed only with an old recipe book with an address to a bakery. Maybe there, Jayna will finally have a family.

Kirkus reviews said, “Giff is one of few writers who can entwine an odd lot of characters, set them in Brooklyn during World War II, flavor the story with soup recipes, add a ghost and infuse the plot with a longing for family–and make it all believable” (2012). Giff makes it believable with vivid characters, realistic emotions, and a trick for keeping the reader guessing. The news reports and headlines heard over the radio help cement the story during World War II, discussing what happened in Iwo Jima and other famous battles in quick little tidbits to keep the story focused on Jayna and her struggles. These splinters of history keep the prose firmly cemented in the times, but let the reader explore Jayna’s smaller world in the bakery. The ghost is also sprinkled throughout the story where one isn’t sure if the ghost is real or a figment of a troubled young girl’s mind as she desperately tries to cope with her life and sorrow.

The addition of Jayna’s recipe’s for her soups and their personalized names, such as Family Soup which includes the note “It’s almost like stone soup. The bigger the family, the more ingredients” (140). Or Hope Soup which is made from “chicken, water, oleo (too bad), salt, pepper, thyme, an onion or two noodles” (90) and the final note “Keep whispering ‘Hope”, ‘Believe’, ‘Soon’, ‘Really’ (90). The names and the intimate instructions show the reader the depths of Jayna’s emotional journey and little bit of an insight to the way her mind works. It’s a brilliant little trick to deepen character and to highlight the emotion.

Awards for Gingersnap:

2013 Kirkus Reviews – Starred Review (*)

2015 South Carolina Children’s, Junior, and Young Adult Book Award – Children’s (Nominee)

2015 Volunteer State Book Award – Intermediate (Nominee)

2016 William Allen White Children’s Book Award – Grades 3-5 (Nominee)

(FictionDB) Giff, Patricia Reilly. Gingersnap. New York: Wendy Lamb Books. 2013. Kirkus. “Gingersnap – Book Review”. Website. https://ipage.ingramcontent.com/ipage/servlet/ibg.common.titledetail.pd1000?ttl_id=21223651 Accessed 8 November, 2017. FictionDB. “Patricia Reilly Giff”. Website. https://www.fictiondb.com/author/patricia-reilly-giff~book-awards~59413.htm Accessed Accessed 8 November, 2017. Plugged In. “Gingersnap – Book Review.” Image. http://www.pluggedin.com/book-reviews/gingersnap/ Accessed 8 November, 2017.

Dash by Kirby Larson

The attack on Pearl Harbor changed Mitsi Kashino’s life forever. Though she was born in America, her Japanese heritage forces her and her family to leave their home, their jobs, their friends and move into an internment camp. The worst part for Misti is leaving behind her dog, Dash, with a friendly neighbor. Mitsi doesn’t want to do anything, not even leave the cramped living quarters of her family’s apartment, but then a letter from Dash arrives telling her all about his life with his caretaker. Hope blossoms for Mitsi, and that hope infects the entire camp despite all the trouble and heartache the interred face every day.

Kirby Larson uses compelling characters, vibrant details of Japanese culture and language, and a family struggling to highlight the awful realities the citizens faced during World War II. One of the most emotional pictures Larson presents is the diminishing light of Mitsi. As an artist, Mitsi would draw and craft amazing pictures and tokens for her friends and family but in the camp without her friends or Dash, Mitsi doesn’t want to draw at all. In the first pages of the book, we see her love for Dash and art. “She couldn’t wait to tell them what she’d found under her tree: a brand new sketch pad and a box of chalk pastels. The kind real artists use. Mitsi had spent hours on the pictures tucked in her sketchpad. There were several of Dash – one of him curled up on her bed. One of him watching Mom cook, waiting for some bit of food to drop. And one of him dancing in a circle, begging for a treat” (Larson, 2-3). Not even when she meets Eddie Sato, a real artist from Camp Harmony where the fictional Misti is first sent. You can check out his work here: http://www.lib.washington.edu/specialcollections/collections/exhibits/harmony/exhibit/photo/sato

And like Sato’s sketches, Larson sketches a picture of how vibrant the Japanese culture can be, even in hard times, and how stark the reality in the internment camps were. Seeing the difficulties through the eyes of a child who so desperately misses her dog will keep readers enthralled. A reviewer for Kirkus stated, “Larson makes this terrible event in American history personal with the story of one girl and her beloved pet. Spot-on dialogue, careful cultural details and the inclusion of specific historical characters such as artist Eddie Sato make this an educational read as well as a heartwarming one. An author’s note adds further authenticity. . . This emotionally satisfying and thought-provoking book will have readers pulling for Mitsi and Dash” (2014).

• Awards for Dash: Scott O’Dell Historical Fiction Award
• Capitol Choices Nomination
• NAPPA Gold Award
• CBC Hot off the Press Featured Book
• BEA Galleys to Grab
• State Young Readers Choice Award Nominations:
  • Mississippi Magnolia Award
  • New Hampshire Book Award
  • Tennessee Volunteer State Award
  • Virginia Reader’s Choice Award (Larson)

 

Larson, Kirby. Dash. New York: Scholastic. 2014.

Larson, Kirby. “Dash”. Website. http://www.kirbylarson.com/dash/ Accessed 8 November, 2017.

Kirkus. “Dash – Book Review”. (2014) Website. https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/kirby-larson-2/dash-larson/ Accessed 8 November, 2017.

Image. “Dash”. https://www.google.com/search?q=dash+by+kirby+larson&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjZhf2K3q_XAhUkwFQKHXOeCyoQ_AUICigB&biw=1777&bih=882#imgrc=z9TljHRbKDZ3NM: Accessed 8 November, 2017.

Funny Bones: Posada and His Day of the Dead Calaberas by Duncan Tonatiuh

Jose Guadalupe Posada, or just Posada, grew up in Mexico where he learned the art of printing, using lithography and engravings to create political cartoons poking fun at local leaders. Though these were popular, it was Posada’s calaveras (skeletons) that he began producing to accompany poems for el Dia de Muertos (Day of the Dead) that were the most popular. Sadly, Posada was not known as the artist of the popular calaveras, but in our modern times, his work can be found in museums across the world. Later in his life, he also learned how to create his art by etching.

Examples of Posada’s work fill the pages of the pictures, helping to accent the biographical details provided by Duncan Tonatiuh. There are examples of Posada’s political cartoons and his calaveras interspersed with careful illustrations and simple descriptions that teach how lithography, engraving, and etching worked to highlight how Posada created his popular images. Tonatiuh also makes a point to show how Posada had to create his images backwards so they would face the proper direction when printed on paper.

Cheryl Preisendorfer for School Library Journal say, “Many of Lupe’s freestyle calavera drawings, the skulls associated with the celebration of Mexico’s Day of the Dead festival, depict the cultural and historical time period in which the artist worked. Tonatiuh poses possible symbolic interpretations of Lupe’s portrayal of this “intangible cultural heritage of humanity” (2016). Cheryl is referring to examples of Posada’s calaveras where Tonatiuh asks the reader to question the images. “Don Lupe drew some skeletons dancing and partying was he saying that . . . el Dia de Muertos is not only a celebration of death but also a celebration of life? A day when the dead become alive?” (Tonatiuh). These questions help make this book perfect to add to discussions about the Day of the Dead. The author also supplies images of what he feels modern calaveros would look like; skeletons reading books; dressed in jeans, hoodies, and hats; skeletons dancing and playing modern instruments.

Two pages of author’s notes help further discuss el Dia de Muertos, Posado, and the calaveros, making note of how Posado died poor and virtually unknown. Now, he is known for his work and many artists and historians are looking deeper into his art and his life. A glossary helps define many of the words and terms used in the book, terms like ofrenda (offering), engraving, and la Catrina (a female calaveros in a fancy hat with bright flowers).

 

Awards: A Sibert Award Winner, Pura Belpré (Illustrator) Honor Book, New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Books of 2015 and International Latino Book Award Finalist!

 

Tonatiuh, Duncan. Funny Bones: Posada and His Day of the Dead Calaveras. Abrams Books: 2015.

Preisendorfer, Cheryl. “Funny Bones: Posada and His Day of the Dead Calaveras – Book Review”. School Library Journal (2016).

https://ipage.ingramcontent.com/ipage/servlet/ibg.common.titledetail.pd1000?queryString=H4sIAAAAAAAAAKtWKk5RskpLzClO1VEqzs9XsiopKgUyC0qUrJSc8vOzlYDs4iolK0MDAyArByjq6efuqwRSDGQHhDq5hIA4BUpW0dGGOkpAtndqZXl-UUp8SGZJTiqQn1aal1epkJSfl1qsFBtbCwAsIjS3cgAAAA&R=44732585&dNo=28 Accessed 31 October, 2017.

Abrams Books. Funny Bones: Posada and His Day of the Dead Calaveras. Website. (2017) http://www.abramsbooks.com/product/funny-bones_9781419716478/ Accessed 31 October, 2017