Top 10 Under-Rated Books

Posted on July 5, 2016 by Katy K.

It’s Tuesday again!  I still need to write my monthly reading summary, and we won’t even talk about how far behind I am on reviews.  But this week’s Top 10 Tuesday topic (hosted as always by the good folks at the Broke and the Bookish) was both such a fun challenge and an opportunity to promote some of my favorite underappreciated books that I found myself participating again.  The cut-off was officially books that have under 2000 Goodreads ratings, but when I saw how low some of my favorites were, I took it down to under 600, with honorable mentions that have a few more.  Without further ado, here are my top ten under-rated middle grade and teen books, mostly fantasy as usual.  Links to my reveiws; numbers of Goodreads ratings in parentheses.

Top Ten Tuesday

Middle Grade

Honorable Mention: Rose by Holly Webb (1,360)

Teen

Honorable Mention: The Story of Owen by E. K. Johnston (1,769)

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TTT: Top 10 Summer Crafting Books

Posted on June 29, 2016 by Katy K.

This week’s topic at Top 10 Tuesday (hosted by the good folks at the Broke and the Bookish) was a freebie. Even though I don’t actually have more time in the summer than during the school year, somehow I always find myself drawn to craft books over the summer, as if I’ll magically have time to do more.  Just dreaming is half the fun! Links to my reviews where available.

Top Ten Tuesday

Cooking

Foolproof Preserving by America’s Test Kitchen I’ve never yet canned anything but applesauce and apple butter, but I have this book on hold at the library in hopes that this will be the year I make my own jam!

Campfire Cookery by Sarah Huck and Jaime Young – gourmet cooking over the campfire, this was a dream from a few summers ago.

Homemade Soda by Andrew Schloss  – this one we bought, as well as a soda siphon, though we’re now just as likely to mix lemon juice and carbonated water for a light drink.

The Weekend Baker by Abigail Johnson Dodge – a favorite in my house, this is full of fruit-based desserts like Uncomplicated Fruit-Topped Yellow Cake, many with variations depending on the season.

Gardening

Handmade Garden Projects by Lorene Edwards Forkner – this book is full of lovely things to put in the garden, meant for people with more time than money.

Roots, Shoots, Buckets & Boots written and illustrated by Sharon Lovejoy – beautiful hand-lettered and illustrated plans for garden meant for children, both to help with and to play in.

Knitting

Charmed Knits by Alison Hanson – I thought I wasn’t enough of a Harry Potter fan to want to put in the time to knit Harry Potter things.  I was wrong, as it turns out.  I’ve knit more from this one book than from all of the other knitting books I own.  (I also have and love the Interweave Knits Unofficial Harry Potter Knits special issue.)

Literary Knits by Nikol Lohr – fun patterns relating to favorite book characters.

Sewing

Fabric-by-Fabric One-Yard Wonders by Rebecca Yaker and Patricia Hoskins. – Low-commitment patterns perfect for relaxing sewing.

Sewing Happiness by Sanae Ishida – This recent find prompted this whole list, as the author gives a year’s worth of unfussy projects like Japanese-style aprons, simple dresses, and a gorgeous felt floral wreath, along with thoughts on finding sanity making time for breathing, sleep, good food and crafting.

The Upcycled T-Shirt by Jenelle Montilone – Another recent find, this one is full of projects to make out of recycled old t-shirts, ranging from reusable household items like unpaper towels, dust mops and mitts and produce bags to garments, tote bags and a gorgeous quilt.  Some are no-sew, some simple enough sewing for kids, and some use arm knitting.  I have a feeling our Brownies will be doing some crafts from this book this year!

What do you dream of doing with spare time?

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Space Hostages by Sophia McDougall

Posted on June 24, 2016 by Katy K.

Hooray! The sequel to last year’s Cybils finalist Mars Evacuees.

 

spacehostagesSpace Hostages by Sophia McDougall. Published in the U.K. by Egmont, 2015, in the U.S. by Harper, 2016.
Following her return from Mars and the publication of her memoir on the subject, Mars Evacuees, Alice Dare is now considered one of the celebrated “Plucky Kids of Mars.” She’s all set to go on a new space with the other Plucky Kids to celebrate the official opening of the new Morror planet. Kind of accidentally/on purpose, she ends up on the ship without her father. She’s thrilled to see Carl, his younger brother Noel and Thsaa – but her former best friend Josephine isn’t speaking to her anymore, preferring to spend time with her older sister. As an added wrinkle, they’re travelling on the luxury cruiser Helen of Troy, owned and operated by Captain Trommler, the father of Christa Trommler, the bully from the last book. She’s on board, too, and not happy about her portrayal in Alice’s book. Captain Trommler has very creepily programmed the Helen to be in love with him and want to obey him, something that even Goldfish finds suspicious.

Things are going rough in the way that you might expect when getting together a disparate group of people after a while when the ship is boarded by a new alien species, the Krakkiluk, who are 9-ft tall crustaceans with highly decorated shells. They revere the married couple to the point of only being willing to negotiate with married people, and then only as a couple, and do not think that “spawn” are really people. Thus it happens that part of our group finds themselves marooned on a new planet without even having any duct tape! And this planet is home to another species, a brightly-colored fruit bat-like people all too familiar with the Krakkiluk…

As the group is split into two, the story is narrated part of the time by Noel. This makes me want to jump up and down with excitement, not only because Noel is a great character, perceptive and able to notice the humor in these stressful circumstances, but also because this is the first middle grade speculative fiction I’ve ever read with a POV character of Filipino extraction – finally a book in the only genre my son is really interested in that somewhat reflects that side of his heritage! It’s also great to see a kid younger than the other main character take center stage at least part of the time.

There is lots of high-stakes adventure here, along with realistic friendship struggles and looks at imperialism and the rights of species, children, and even artificial intelligences. But with all of that deep thinking and trying to stay alive (even the floating goldfish teacher-robot gets some serious moments) – it also made me laugh out loud frequently, and read many snippets to my family over the breakfast table. These books continue to impress me, and I really hope that there will be more of them.

This would also pair very well thematically with my beloved The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex.

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Echo by Pam Muñoz Ryan

Posted on June 23, 2016 by Katy K.

This book was showered in honors last year, including a Newbery honor and an Odyssey honor for audio production for children.  A great audiobook involving music, magic and history was one I didn’t want to miss.

echoEcho by Pam Muñoz Ryan. Read by Mark Bramhall, David de Vries, MacLeod Andrews, and Rebecca Soler. Scholastic, 2015.

A magical harmonica comes in and out of the lives of four children around World War II in this novel that reads like a series of linked novelettes.  In the first, short story, Otto in Germany gets lost in the forest and meets three sisters lost in time.   Next, we meet Friedrich, who has orchestral conducting in his blood but who had to leave school at an early age because of bullying around the constant conducting and the large birthmark that covers half his face.  He’s still hoping to attend the music conservatory, but his hopes are endangered as Hitler comes to power and his father attracts attention due to his outspoken support for Jews.  Continue reading →

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TTT: Favorite 2016 Releases So Far

Posted on June 22, 2016 by Katy K.

It’s Tuesday again, which means it’s time for Top 10 Tuesday.  And halfway through the year already, which I might be inclined to forget if the dedicated book bloggers of The Broke and the Bookish hadn’t proposed that we reflect on our favorite books of the year so far.  I’ve chosen to limit myself to books published in this year, so that my introducing my son to the Chrestomanci books (for example) doesn’t count for this list, nor do any of the books I’ve been reading to catch up on last year.

Top Ten Tuesday

Younger children

Nobody Likes a Goblin by Ben Hatke

When Green Becomes Tomatoes by Julie Fogliano and Julie Morstad

Middle Grade

Mouse Scouts by Sarah Dillard

Space Hostages by Sophia McDougall

Teen

Kindred Spirits by Rainbow Rowell

Peas and Carrots by Tanita S. Davis

The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater

Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton. 

A Tangle of Gold by Jaclyn Moriarty

 

Adult

masksandshadowsMasks and Shadows by Stephanie Burgis

What have been your favorites this year?

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Kindred Spirits by Rainbow Rowell

Posted on June 18, 2016 by Katy K.

Do you love Rainbow Rowell as much as I do?  I thought I’d read everything she’d written – until Kate at Mom’s Radius posted about this one, a novella written especially for World Book Day in the UK.  Happily, she’d bought a case and I won a copy in her giveaway!

Kindred Spirits by Rainbow RowellKindred Spirits by Rainbow Rowell. Macmillan (UK), 2016.
Rowell takes us to a movie theater in her usual Omaha setting.  18-year-old Elena, who keeps getting mistaken for a 12-year-old, has decided she’s up for the ultimate fan experience of getting in line a week early to wait for the opening of Star Wars: the Force Awakens. Unfortunately, there are only two other people in line: talkative Troy, who brags about the jobs he lost to waiting in line for previous Star Wars movies; and way-too-quiet Gabe, who seems her own age but won’t talk to her at all.  The nights are very cold, there’s no place to shower or even to use the bathroom at night, her mother keeps calling Elena to try to convince her to come home, and Elena feels out of place as the only girl and the only Asian in the way-too-small line.  She’s still determined to stay, and to put the very best spin on things she can in what she tells her friends and posts to Instagram.

This touches a lot of familiar Rowell themes, with the learning of uncomfortable truths about oneself leading to utterly believable, heart-tugging romance, told with empathy and humor.  In this case, it’s mixed with a hefty dose of self-aware Star Wars fandom.  It is short and sweet and well worth reading if you can get your hands on it.

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Top 10 Tuesday: Anticipated Releases for the Second Half of 2016

Posted on June 15, 2016 by Katy K.

I had so much fun with this topic in the spring, and again now looking at what my friends are planning to read, that of course I had to participate in this week’s Top 10 Tuesday, hosted as always by the dedicated readers at the Broke and the Bookish.  Top Ten Tuesday

I spent so much time mulling over this list and trying to find to find some good diverse titles, especially diverse fantasy or science fiction titles, that my Top 10 Tuesday list is now being published on Wednesday.  News flash (surprising, I know): I did not find very much in the way of diverse sf/f in middle grade especially, and what is there is hard to find.  If you know of any coming out yet this year, please let me know!

Middle Grade

The Ninja Librarians: Sword in the Stacks by Jen Swann Downey (June 8) – I liked the first in this series, and Charlotte says the second is even better, with diversity throughout the cast if not the main characters and lots to think about underneath the action.

The Treasure of Maria Mamoun by Michelle Chalfoun (July 12) – via Ms. Yingling. It looks like character-driven mystery rather than fantasy, with a heroine of Lebanese extraction.

Towers Falling by Jewell Parker Rhodes (July 12) – a new one by Cybils finalist author.

The Left Handed Fate by Kate Milford (August 23) – It’s Kate Milford.  It looks like a book I’d want to read even if I didn’t already know Kate Milford’s work.

 The Creeping Shadow (Lockwood and Co. #4) by Jonathan Stroud (September 13) – continuing adventures!

A Little Taste of Poison by R.J. Anderson (September 27) – more continuing adventures!

When the Sea Turned to Silver by Grace Lin (October 4) – This one I might even buy, even though I know the library will have it, as we love Grace Lin so much in my house.

Disenchanted: the Trials of Cinderella by Megan Morrison (October 11) – I was charmed by Grounded last year.

Teen

The Poisoned Blade by Kate Elliott (August 16) – I just finished Court of Fives – yet to be reviewed, but I’m happy the sequel will be out soon!

Bright Smoke, Cold Fire by Rosamund Hodge (September 27) – I have been anxious for this one, a Romeo and Juliet re-telling, for a while now.

Of Fire and Stars by Audrey Coulthurst (November 22) – A brand-new author for me – high fantasy with a romance between two princesses.  Count me in!

Spindle by E. K. Johnston (December 6) – It says it’s a companion novel to A Thousand Nights – so maybe Sleeping Beauty in an Arabic setting?  It will be good, whatever!

Honorable Mention

What are you looking forward to reading?

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Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton

Posted on June 13, 2016 by Katy K.

“I was reminded of Harry from The Blue Sword and of Katsa from Graceling and I was in love,” said Melissa at Book Nut.  That was enough for me to put myself right on hold for this book, jumping over everything else in the queue. I regret nothing.

rebelofthesandsRebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton. Viking, 2016.
The Blue Sword comparison here was apt, but this is a modern, grittier desert fantasy. Amani Al’Hiza has the typical dark skin and hair of her desert town, though her bright blue eyes make everyone think her father was not the man who raised her.  He wasn’t kind, and the uncle she’s been living with since both her parents died is even less kind.  As the story opens, Amani is sneaking out of that house to enter a shooting contest, hoping to use her gun skills to win enough money to leave the dead-end factory for the city, disguised as a boy, natch, since well-bred females don’t go to places like this.  At the contest, she’s shooting next to a stranger, Jin, whose coloring is almost right but whose face shape is wrong.   Unfortunately, Amani shoots too well to avoid attention.  And when a boy in the street starts shouting about his support for the rebel prince, all hell breaks loose.  Soon Amani and Jin are off on a wild adventure involving ghouls, jin, magical sand horses, and yes, a rebel prince.

So the romance is not the understated, barely visible variety that Robin McKinley was famous for – probably closer to Katsa than Harry here.  It’s quite obvious to the reader, if not the characters, where things are going.  The route surprised me.  And there is plenty to delight in Amani’s journey.  I do enjoy the lone tough female against the worl, trying her best to resist romance plot, especially when well done, as here.  But the world is also nicely fleshed out, with struggles between magic and technology and very different religions clashing.  There was enough of an ending to wrap things up, while leaving plenty of room for more to come.  I hope there will be more soon, and that this review comes somewhere close to conveying how very enjoyable this book is.

Pair this with E.K. Johnston’s A Thousand Nights for a very different desert heroine, as well as with The Blue Sword, Graceling, or The Assassin’s Curse  by Cassandra Rose Clarke.

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Something Like Love by Beverly Jenkins

Posted on June 10, 2016 by Katy K.

A few months ago, there was an article in Book Page magazine about Beverly Jenkins and her new novel, Forbidden.  Wait – a Michigan historical romance author of color I was completely ignorant of?  (Ok, given that I read maybe one or two romances a year, it’s not that surprising.)  But being a librarian, I wanted her latest book to stay on the new book shelf where someone could see it and check it out.  I took this older book from our collection home instead.

somethinglikeloveSomething Like Love by Beverly Jenkins. Avon, 2005.
It’s 1888.  Olivia is a talented seamstress with her own business, but her father is arranging a very distasteful marriage for her. (Do not take the low-cut dress of dubious taste on the cover seriously – she wears modest but fashionable and impeccably tailored dresses in the book.)  She gathers up her savings and runs away to the all-Black Kansas town of Henry Adams, featured in Jenkins’ previous romances.  On the way there, the train is robbed by handsome Black Seminoles Neil July and Two Shafts.  Despite her fear, Olivia gives Neil July a talking-to about stealing from someone else of the race, as well as giving the race a bad name by thieving in the first place.  Naturally, this interchange leads to attraction on both sides. But months go by before they see each other again, during which Olivia sets up her business in town, makes friends, and runs for mayor of the town, opposing a “nasty little man” running against both Olivia herself, the idea of a woman in a leadership position at all, and her education and health platform as opposed to his bigger saloon platform.

There is a lot of delightful lost history here. Olivia’s business sense and dressmaking abilities weren’t surprising to me, though I appreciate it both because I enjoy sewing myself and because I have read historical romances where the heroines were engaged in entirely unconvincing careers.  The Black Seminoles’ real history makes a quite legitimate robber with a heart of gold back story for Neil July, and it turns out that there were all-Black towns out West, and these actually did have very strong female leadership.  I didn’t care for the initial focus on attraction because of manliness and womanliness – those bits felt overdone and stereotypical to me.  But Olivia and Neil’s relationship deepened quite satisfactorily, and there were plenty of supporting characters to care about as well.  All in all, a delightful way to combine spending time with great characters, some fun sexytimes, and painless learning about buried history.  I’ll certainly look for more Beverly Jenkins next time I’m in the mood for a romance.

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Diversity on the Shelf – May Update

Posted on June 5, 2016 by Katy K.

I am participating in the Diversity on the Shelf Reading Challenge hosted by the Englishist.

The Englishist

I read 17 books in May, a little better than April.  By age, there were 3 early chapter books, 4 middle grade books, 8 teen books (including the entire Raven Cycle on audio) and 3 adult books.

Six of these were by authors of color:

Two more had main characters of color:

  • When Green Becomes Tomatoes by Julie Fogliano and Julie Morstad
  • A Thousand Nights by E.K. Johnston

It sounded like some of the main characters of A Tangle of Gold by Jaclyn Moriarty were secretly mixed race, but I wasn’t sure if I read this right.

Bonus diversity points for gay and bi main characters in the Raven Boys books.  And my non-American, British or Canadian author diversity included Atinuke, Nigerian; Jaclyn Moriarty, Australian; and R.K. Narayan, Indian.

My total count for authors of color this year is now at 26, with an additional 15 books by white authors with main characters of color.

I just started Court of Fives (white author, brown heroine), which was on my planned reading for April, and Sorcerer to the Crown (author and characters of color) is up next.  I’m also currently (by request) trying to make a diverse girl-led read-aloud bibliography for 2/3s, similar to my Girl-Led Read-Alouds for 4/5s, and discovering that I need to read more diverse books to round out my 2/3 list.  Please let me know if you have favorite books suitable for reading aloud to 2/3s (a little more challenging than they’d read to themselves) with girls of color as protagonists!

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