Locomotion is the story of Lonnie Collins Motion who at the age of seven, his parents die in a tragic house fire, while he and his sister are on an overnight outing,  He is forever changed.  After spending some time in a children’s home, Lonnie and his sister are separated and put in two different foster homes.  Now at the age of eleven, Lonnie has turned to poetry to help him sift through his feelings as he transitions from his stable home to one of uncertainty.

Lonnie writes:

But when Miss Edna’s voice comes one, the ideas in my
head go out like a candle and all you see left is this little
string of smoke that disappears real quick
before I even have a chance to find out
what it’s trying to say.

So this whole book’s a poem because poetry’s short and

this whole book’s a poem ’cause Ms. Marcus says
write it down before it leaves your brain.
I tell her about the smoke and she says
Good, Lonnie, write that.
Not a whole lot of people be saying Good, Lonnie to me
so I write the string-of-smoke thing down real fast.
Ms. Marcus says We’ll worry about line breaks later.

Write fast, Lonnie, Ms. Marcus says.
And I’m thinking Yeah, I better write fast before Miss
Edna’s voice comes on and blows my candle idea out.

Locomotion is an excellent book for readers of all readers, especially middles readers to introduce them to the fact that poetry isn’t hard to write nor understand.  I must admit that I am not a huge poetry fan.  It’s usually not what I read in my leisure time, but I will admit that I am loving all the free verse novels I’ve read this past year.  Woodson creates the perfect characters and the perfect backdrop of words for them to live in.  I truly loved them all.  A simply beautiful book.

Other books I’ve reviewed by Jacqueline Woodson:  Show Way, Feathers,  If You Come Softly and Behind You.  Jacqueline Woodson’s website.

Do you read free verse novels?  Do you have any favorites that I should read?

Copyright 2010. Maw Books Blog

Maw Books has an affiliate relationship with several bookstores, including Indiebound, Powell’s, and Amazon . When you buy a product (not just books – any product), via one of my links, Maw Books earns income from the sale and as always, it’s much appreciated as all affiliate income is used to support the blog. There is no cost to you.

The stories illustrates the true meaning of Christmas.  In one a girl scout is assigned a service project to visit a woman at the retirement home, and she finds that she’s not anything like she expected.  In another, a little girl is sent to live with her disinterested grandmother.  The farmhand gives her a little lamb that ends up being the star at the local nativity play.  And in yet another, a father learns the true meaning of Christmas when he stays home while his family goes to Christmas Eve mass.

I enjoyed these Christmas stories, they would be great for young readers who may feel like they are now to old for Christmas picture books.  I’ll try to track down the others for Christmas next year.

Copyright 2010. Maw Books Blog

Maw Books has an affiliate relationship with several bookstores, including Indiebound, Powell’s, and Amazon . When you buy a product (not just books – any product), via one of my links, Maw Books earns income from the sale and as always, it’s much appreciated as all affiliate income is used to support the blog. There is no cost to you.

The only surviving mouse of a litter, Despereaux was born with his eyes open, his body too small and his ears too big. All the other mice thought something was wrong with him and his mother declared him a disappointment. Despereaux is not like the other mice. He wanders around the castle, reads books, loves music, and when he discovers Princess Pea, he forgets all the rules and hopelessly and devotedly falls in love. When the rest of the mice discovers that he has spoken with Princess Pea, they call an emergency council and condemn himto death. His death will not be a happy one as he is consigned to the dungeons where the evil rats will eat him alive. I found it so very heartbreaking that his own father didn’t stand up for him and voted for his death.

In the dungeon, we meet a rat who also doesn’t fit in with the other rats. While rats live in darkness and who’s goal it is to make others miserable, Roscuro craves the color and light that he is denied.

We also meet Miggery Sow, a quiet large girl, whose father sold her for a red tablecloth, a hen, and a handful of cigarettes. Her new owner “clouts” her so often that she loses most all of her hearing and develops cauliflower ears.

Things get exciting when Miggery Sow, now a servant in the castle, wants to become a princess and Roscuro convinces her to kidnap Princess Pea to the dungeons that are so dark and large that everybody who enters them never returns. Despereaux who must also save himself from the rats now is on a quest to save the Princess Pea.

Beautifully written, this is a story about good and evil, light and dark, love and hate, cruelty, abandonment, redemption, love, empathy, and forgiveness. The book does balance out the bad with the good but if you have a sensitive child it would be best to read this one ahead of time so you’re prepared to discuss the issues brought up.

I highly enjoyed The Tale of Despereaux and would recommend it. Read my review of Because of Winn-Dixie and also my review of The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane. Kate DiCamillo’s website here.  My next Kate DiCamillo book? Tiger Rising.

Oh, and on a side note, did you know that this is currently in production as a animated movie set to release in December 2008? It has a great voice talent (think Emma Watson, Mathew Broderick, Sigourney Weaver, Dustin Hoffman) and hope that it will be good.

Read this one? What did you think?

Parvana has fond memories of her “other” life before war broke out in her home country. What her and the other children don’t understand is what’s happening all around them. They ask themselves, why do they bomb us, why would they hurt children, why would they kill Grandmother, when they don’t even know who she is? Why, why, why? Parvana, the oldest of the group, is strong and determined. She works hard to lead them to safety and is forced to act much older than she is. I so desperately wanted to know what happened to these children that I couldn’t stop reading. This is a stunning tale of the bravery, resourcefullnes, and determination that children have when faced with the unthinkable during war.

I thought Parvana’s Journey was stunning sequel to The Breadwinner and I can’t wait to read the completion of Parvana’s tale in the third and final book, Mud City.

This was a beautiful, powerful novel. Set in Afghanistan, it tells the incredible story of two young best friends. Amir, our privileged, wealthy narrator, and Hassan, the son of his father’s servant. Having fed as babies from the same breast, both boys love each other dearly. But Amir who constantly competes for his father’s love can’t help being jealous of Hassan. Set against the backdrop of the soviet invasion, their overthrow, and the rise of the Taliban, the story takes us from the innocence of two young boys, a decision that will change both forever, the guilt and then ultimately, the redemption. There were several plot twists that I honestly didn’t see coming, although I’m sure there were clues all over the place. These twists and wanting to know what happens in the lives of these two boys as they grow into men and have families of their own kept me engrossed to the very end.

I haven’t seen the movie. But now that I just finished the book. I’m intrigued. Has anybody seen it? What did you think?

Visit Hosseini’s website.
Reading group guide.
Publishers reading group guide.

I sure hope Hosseini is writing another book. It would be a shame if he didn’t. What a powerful and gifted storyteller. Read this book! If you have, what did you think?

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon believably takes us into the mind of 15 year old Christopher Boone. Christopher is autistic. For autistic children (and adults) most stimuli registers with equal impact. Because these pieces of information are not processed effectively, life can become a very confusing with consistently competing signals. Christopher has to figure out how to deal with all these competing signals and how to function in a society where he doesn’t understand other people, environments, or situations.

In Christopher’s world he knows every country and their capital, every prime number up to 7,057, hates the color yellow and brown, loves the color red, 5 red cars in a row is a Super Good Day while 4 yellow cars in a row is a Black Day, won’t eat food that touches on his plate, does not talk to strangers, does not like to be touched, cannot understand human emotions, is unable to lie, is a math genius, and has a photographic memory in which he says, “My memory is like a film . . . And when people ask me to remember something I can simply press Rewind and Fast Forward and Pause like on a video recorder.”

Christopher who loves animals finds his next door neighbor’s dog has been murdered and he’s determined to find the culprit. Christopher begins writing a book to tell his story (thus this book). To solve the mystery, Christopher is taken well out of his comfort zone, has to make difficult decisions, take risks, venture out into unfamiliar environments, and talk to strangers. Along the way he finds out more than he bargained for and has to assimilate new information and circumstances into a world that already doesn’t make any sense for him.

Cons: Just a warning. This book has a lot of foul language. Why? Why do authors always do this? I liked the story enough to buy this book but the language is holding me back. Sigh.

This was a great book. I’d recommend it. I enjoyed the story, the quirks, the character. To be taken into the mind of an autistic child was interesting and well worth the read to try to understand the world in which an autistic child lives. I enjoy books which leave me with empathy and understanding. And a little fun along the way certainly helps.

Group reading guide and discussion questions from the publisher.

Have you read this book?  What did you think?  Any other book recommendations for me?