The Returning by Christine Hinwood (2011)

Why me? Cam would ask him, Lord Ryuu’s son. Why? It may be the answer was what he had been seeking.
And so he left them, the safety, the prison of family and friend and village. Through Castle Cross he rode on and on, north and away. And that was it–was everything and more and enough. For now (p 88).

In this serenely paced debut novel, Hinwood examines the effects of war on a community. Cam was the sole survivor from his small Downlander town of Kayforl after their loss in the war against the invading Uplanders. He returns without an arm to a community that wants answers for the deaths of its other members. Unwilling to relive the war or explain his return, Cam faces suspicion. At home, his father’s unwillingness to assign Cam work makes him feel a prisoner. He leaves for the North, for answers as to why the Lord’s son, Gyaar, spared his life.

Chapters follow different characters from Cam’s town and from the capital where the victors reside. The edges of these vignettes overlap and make a whole at the end. The plot is nuanced and the interactions are loaded with subtle glimpses into the truth of these people and their lives…

But I found myself very uninterested. The book was well done, I believe it accomplished what it set out to do, it just wasn’t a story I was interested in as a whole. Some of the storylines were more interesting than others but I didn’t feel wholly satisfied with any of them. I enjoyed the writing and the pace, I just didn’t connect strongly with the story or the individual characters to feel invested.

There is a good review from Kirkus that explains much of what is excellent about this novel. Other reviews: A Chair, A Fireplace and a Tea Cozy, Publishers Weekly, SFWP, Chachic’s Book Nook and Persnickety Snark.

The Berlin Boxing Club by Robert Sharenow (2011)

The sounds of men hitting speed bags and jumping rope mingled with the gutteral grunts of exertion and blended in a strange primitive symphony. The place also had a distinctive animal smell that was warm and damp like a butcher shop on a summer day (p 101).

Fourteen-year-old Karl Stern is a tall, lanky youth when his boxing lessons with champion Max Schmeling begin at the Berlin Boxing Club. Hitler’s Nazi party is just coming to power in Germany and Karl is being bullied at school for his Jewish heritage, though he considers himself a Red with no religious affiliation.

He finds refuge in his apprenticeship at the boxing club, strength training and secretly meeting the beautiful Greta. He is also a passionate cartoon artist. Then his world begins to crumble. His father’s bussiness disappears, his family is evicted and his relationship with Greta is forbidden by law and her parents. Though reluctant to leave, it soon becomes clear to Karl’s father he must take his family out of the country.

Fluid prose, metaphors that reinforced the time period and the narrator’s youthful perspective, a well-paced plot and genuine characters define this novel. While there are several crescendos, the denouement was gripping and a wave of terror clutched at me. An excellent read.

Read other reviews:
Book Smugglers
Opps… Wrong Cookie

I also recommend:

The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka (2011)

LAST DAY

Some of us left weeping. And some of us left singing. One of us left with her hand held over her mouth and hysterically laughing. A few of us left drunk. Others of us left quietly, with our heads bowed, embarrassed and ashamed (p 105).

The Buddha in the Attic begins with boat full of Japanese women making their way to California to be wives. The husbands, misrepresented to their brides, await them at the docks. The white community never truly accepts them. Their meager wages and accomodations endured without complaint. The pride and self-respect exuded. The few who found easier lives, in brothels or with generous employers. In the end, all are forced to leave as World War II casts suspicion on anyone of Japanese decent living along the coast. By framing her sotry thus, Otsuka brings her readers fill circle.

With sparse and rythmic prose, Otsuka gives readers a glimpse into another time. In just a handful of words she conveys much, sets the tone, and hoks readers into continuing.

This is America, we would say to ourselves, there is no need to worry. And we would be wrong (p 18).

One of my favorite books of 2011, I highly recommend it!

Library copy | August 23, 2011 | Alfred A. Knopf | ISBN 978-0307700001 | Adult | 144 pages | $22.00

The Romeo and Juliet Code by Phoebe Stone (2011)

As I walked back towards the house with Aunt Miami, Uncle Gideon tried to interst me in several more seashells, but my eyes were all blurry. I actually only cried about five teardrops. I as counting them to keep the sadness away. I found out that one eye cried more than the other eye, or else a few tears got away without being accounted for (p 6).

Felicity Bathborn Budwig is eleven years old when her British mother, Winnie, and her American father, Danny, drop her off at her the Bathborn residence in Bottlebay, Maine, USA. It’s 1941 and the Germans are bombing London. Felicity will be safer in Bottlebay with her father’s family. Felicity doesn’t understand why her parents return to England, why her Uncle Gideon and The Gram are angry with Danny, nor why she is restricted from entering a certain room in the house. Then letters, with Danny’s handwriting, arrive from Portugal but Uncle Gideon keeps them locked up.

Then Felicity mets Derek, a boy who has lost the use of his left arm because he was sick with polio. Together, they find and copy the letters from Danny. The only problem is the letters are written in code.

This is a lovely story about a girl neglected for the greater good, a family built on and torn apart by love and the secrets people keep.  It reminded me of Moon Over Manifest, another historical fiction novel about family and tied to a war, but it was a lot less dense than the 2010 Newbery winner. Wink, Felicity’s stuffed pillow, became very dear to me and reminded me of my own Mr. Bear.

Several people have commented on the cover, and while it is very misleading, it got me to pick up the book. I think a cover of romeo cookies with pink frosting would have worked just as well.

Pair with: Moon Over Manifest by Claire Vanderpool, Turtle in Paradise by Jennifer L. Holm, The Penderwicks by Jeanne Birdsall, Countdown by Deborah Wiles, and Shooting the Moon by Frances O’Roark Dowell.

Read other reviews:
Collecting Children’s Books
Consumed by Books
Kirkus
Ms. Yingling Reads
PIPEDREAMING
Publisher’s Weekly (starred)

For notes on the cover, see History in 2011: Conveying or Concealing the Past? by Fuse #8

Library copy (print) | Arthur A. Levine Books | January 1, 2011 | 304 pages| ISBN: 978-0545215114 | Ages 8-12 | $16.99

The Midnight Zoo by Sonya Hartnett (9/13/2011)

Like a roach it was sniffing its way into the smallest corners and lurking there; like a great storm it was sprawling out hugely, darkening the land. Everything it touched it tainted, making ordinary things different from how they’d been — making them difficult, and sometimes dangerous. Everywhere they traveled, Andrej felt the unease (p 125).

Angrej and his younger brother, Tomas, are two young boys with a precious bundle in their care. As their gypsy band is attacked and taken away by German soldiers, Angrej and Tomas watch from a nearby wood. Their mother yells “Run, Children!” as she is led away so they run.

Their wanderings lead them to a village devastated by bombs where they discover a wonder: a small zoo with creatures who can talk. From these animals – a wolf, monkey, eagle, bear, lioness, seal, kangaroo, llama, chamois and boar – the children learn of the village’s and the animal’s misfortunes. 

This fable is layered with story inside of story. The unifying conflict is freedom versus enslavement. As the boys and animals discuss the invaders (the Germans), they contemplate the reason for the violence.

Andrej recollected his courage, and remembered that the wolf was caged. He looked in the wolf’s eye and asked, “What is the reason, then?”
The wolf sniffed loudly, as if scorning, and sat down on its haunches. “The same reason there is for everything,” it replied. “I will have my way” (p 54).

This book has a strong atmosphere and the feeling I got while reading it was similar to that I get when reading Kate DiCamillo. The ending was fantastical and haunting. The back jacket recommends this book for ages 10 and up and I agree.

Advance Reader Copy | September 13, 2011 | Candlewick Press | ISBN 978-0-7636-5339-2 | 224 pages | $16.99

A Brief History of Montmaray by Michelle Cooper (2009)

24th October 1936

I did have several thoughts last night after I put my books away, but they were pathetic rather than profound. They were, I must admit, mostly about Simon Chester, Rebecca’s son (p 15).

This is the first book in The Montmaray Journals series, chronicling the royal family of the small, fictitious island country of Montmaray, located just northeast of the Bay of Buscay.

Sophie begins her journal on her sixteenth birthday. She lives with her uncle, the mad King John, her cousin, the intellectual Veronica, and her sister (who would rather be a boy) Henry. Toby, her charming elder brother is in England at school. Rebecca, the housekeeper, does little house work, spending most of her time caring for the King. But Rebecca’s son, Simon, is the object of Sophie’s ardor.

Few villagers live on the island but when two German’s arrive, their small island life hangs in the balance between the Facists and the Communists.

This book begins slowly, building late toward a faster paced climax/denouemont. It is a book with a lot of atmostphere, gothic overtones, and foundation in history. For me, it slumped in sections and took too long to plod through. I expected something to happen and so little did, until everything came to a head in at the conclusion.

There is a possible incestuous/homosexual relationship alluded to in very loose terms but not explored. Otherwise, it’s a pretty gentle read for the 6th through 8th grade kids. It is on the 2012 Garden State Teen Book Award ballot.

Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys (2011)

They took me in my nightgown.
Thinking back, the signs were there — family photos burned in the fireplace, Mother sewing her best silver and jewelry into the lining of her coat late at night, and Papa not returning from work. My younger brother, Jonas, was asking questions. I asked questions, too, but perhaps I refused to acknowledge the signs. Only later did I realize that Mother and Father intended we escape. We did not escape.
We were taken (p 3).

It’s 1941 and Lithuania has been occupied by the Soviets for the last year. On June 14th, in the dead of night, the NKVD (the public and secret police of the Soviet Union acting under Joseph Stalin) round-up Lithuanians deemed troublesome.

Fifteen-year-old Lina, her ten-year-old brother, Jonas, and mother have twenty minutes to pack before they are led from their homes and sorted into overcrowded boxcars at the train station. Separated from their father, the family begins the long, cruel journey to Siberia.

For most Lithuanians, the boxcar is a tumbrel whose executioners are interminable hunger, pernicious guards, disease and freezing weather. Labeled thieves and prostitutes, those captured must rally together if they are to survive and maintain their humanity.

Desperate to learn of their father’s whereabouts, Lina passes on her art work – sketches and wood carvings – hoping they will reach the prison in which he is detained. It is how she captures the truth the Soviets hope to conceal from the world.

Gripping from the outset and fluid in its telling, I couldn’t put this one down. While it felt like my heart was in a vice throughout, a budding romance provided some levity and hope midway. Intermittent flashbacks to Lina’s life in Lithuania also provided a respite from the horrors of the NKVD and illumiated the reason her family was targeted.

An excellent book. Between Shades of Gray has received a starred review in Kirkus.

I also recommend:

Soldier’s Secret: The Story of Deborah Sampson by Sheila Solomon Klass (2009)

In the black night I went, the moon and stars concealed by swollen, gray summer clouds. I was grateful for the shadows (p 84).

Soldier’s Secret is based on a real woman, Deborah Sampson, who cut off her locks and served as a boy in the Patriot army during the American Revolutionary War. In a time when women were expected to keep house and nothing more, Deborah, a “give-away child,” dared to form her own opinions, longed for equality and eventually, gathered the courage to act.

I found this a well-structured, well-written work that carries a strong and modern feminist message. Each scene accomplishes an important task in the overall story, the primary characters are well developed and Deborah is not only determined but she also has a great sense of humor.

Pair with:

Journey of Dreams: Fleeing for their Lives on a Perilous Path to Freedom by Marge Pellegrino (2009)

Our family does not talk about the helicopter that slashes the air like a machete. Instead, Papa strikes a match and lights the lamp. He takes on the voice of a storyteller and makes our fear vanish (p 7).

Tomasa lives in a small highland village in Guatemala, struggling to survive during the government’s ‘scorched earth’ campaign. First, mama and Carlos, Tomasa’s older brother, flee in the night after 14-year-old Carlos narrowly avoids being taken into the army. Then, caught between guerrillas and the military, Tomasa and her remaining family make the dangerous journey to freedom in the United States.

The journey is fraught with peril; helicopters chop up the sky, check  points threaten to undue all their progress, coyotes try to cheat them. All the while, Tomasa is missing her mother and brother, wondering if they will ever be reunited again.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

This is a solid middle grade book that brings the immigrant experience home. It is well told, giving the reader a glimpse at another culture, the horror of genocide, the danger of merely living in the wrong place at the wrong time, and the fathomless capacity for hope and courage. All without being overwhelming.

Countdown by Deborah Wiles (2010)

Uncle Otts peers down at Drew and blinks. The sun peaks out from behind the as he slowly, painfully, recognizes Drew and salutes him back. “At ease, Private,” he says softly. His shoulders slump and tears crowd his eyes (p 43).

Franny’s life is beset by problems. It is 1962 and the threat of nuclear war permeates every part of her life, especially as her father is a military pilot. Her older sister, a college student, is keeping secrets. Franny’s best friend isn’t acting friendly and her crazy Uncle Otts isn’t helping her reputation by digging up the front lawn to build a bomb shelter and ordering her about like a soldier.

In this first of three companion books, Wiles has created what some are calling a documentary fiction. The book begins with photos, advertisements, quotes and other historical matter setting the stage for Franny and her family’s life just outside a base near Washington, D.C.

Franny’s story is frequently interrupted… by a 007 movie poster, a Nancy Drew cover image, a short biography of Pete Seeger and the like, painting a more complete picture of the world surrounding Franny and her family and adding greatly to the overall story.

I love that Franny enjoys reading out loud during class. I was the same way, always wanting the teacher to call on me. I love that Franny resents Judy because of her poor singing voice, that she adores her father and longs for her older sisters attention while simultaneously hating her. She is just a great, complete character.

If I were a middle school history teacher, I would send Wiles a Thank You card. As it is, I’m sure this one will garner attention by mock Newbery groups and bloggers (However are we to categorize these new, form and genre defying books? **I’m looking at you, Hugo**).

*UPDATED AUGUST 30, 2010*

Here are some snipits from our mock Newbery group discussion:

• The inserts really amped up the tension.
• Those who were in school during the 60′s didn’t remember Bert the Turtle (including one member who lived in D.C.).
• Those who were in school during the 60′s recalled that the death of Kennedy and the resulting stree stuck in their memories more than the fear of nuclear attack.
• Love the opening line of the book, “I’m eleven years old and I’m invisible.”
• The mother in this story reminds one of the mother from Neil Armstrong is My Uncle and Other Lies Muscle Man McGinty Told Me.
• Franny and her girlfriends model their behavior after their mothers.
• What does the name Countdown signify/mean to you? What would a kids impression be from the title and cover? Take the flap off and look at the illustration on the hard cover. Powerful.
• How will kids react to the inserts? Will it enhance the story or will they skip over it?