Children's Books discussion

Come join us to discuss the Medal Winner,
Crispin: The Cross of Lead by Avi

and/or the Honor books:
The House of the Scorpion by Nancy Farmer
Pictures of Hollis Woods by Patricia Reilly Giff
Hoot by Carl Hiaasen
A Corner of the Universe by Ann M. Martin
Surviving the Applewhites by Stephanie S. Tolan

I'm going to be traveling, visiting my mom, this month. Considering how many books I'll have to read (six! five honors!), I may just start early. I own House of the Scorpion (and the sequel) so I'll probably start with them.

Ok, I'm about 1/3 through The House of the Scorpion. I did read it years ago. My adult son has read it three times over the years. He's even read the sequel.

I don't know if I'll read the sequel, if I'll be up to it. This is tough going. Intense and complex. Not "juv," like most Newbery books, but "YA" which means for ages 13 up. At least 13... I don't know if I'd encourage kids younger than 15 to read it, tbh. (Not that I'd forbid them to, of course.)

I can't guess why the kid's bodyguard is named Tam Lin. Maybe it will make sense later?

Ok done. I did not want to try to sleep while in the middle of this.

Still not sure of Tam Lin's name. He does appear to be a bad guy, then good, then bad..., so that's kinda like the shape-shifting in the folk tale. :shrug:

"Always choose your bodyguards from another country...."

"... coma victims hear everything people say and need voices to keep their brains alive."

"All clones are classified as livestock because they're grown inside cows. Cows can't give birth to humans."

"... some people may think slowly, but they're very thoroughabout it."

I have read The House of the Scorpion three times since 2013. Even though, it's at the upper range of ages covered by Newbery, it's one of my favorite books. It also won a Printz Honor so it appears both groups of judges found it distinguished.
Except for The Cross of Lead, I have read all of these. Surviving the Applewhites was a hoot; it had me laughing out loud more than once. Pictures of Hollis Woods became a TV movie that aired on CBS in 2007.

Thanks for giving me encouragement to read the rest!

I usually like Avi so am looking forward to Crispin : The Cross of Lead anyway.

Yes, Farmer's book def. deserves the accolades. It's just tough for me, because I'm squeamish. Did you read the sequel, The Lord of Opium?

I haven't read any of these which means I probably don't want to!

Cheryl wrote: "Ok done. I did not want to try to sleep while in the middle of this.

Still not sure of Tam Lin's name. He does appear to be a bad guy, then good, then bad..., so that's kinda like the shape-shift..."

Tam Lin is a Scottish folk ballad where Tam Lin is rescued by his true love from the evil queen of the fairies. Does this Tam Lin have anything otherworldly and fairy like about him as in the Tam Lin ballad, Tam Lin has been changed by the fairy queen and at first no longer recognises his love.

Right, I know the folk story, and, no, there's nothing fey about any of this at all. No Janet, either.

Cheryl wrote: "Right, I know the folk story, and, no, there's nothing fey about any of this at all. No Janet, either."

Too bad, that would have been interesting.

Maybe, but not a good fit at all. I just cannot imagine how to make any sort of connection between the folk tale and the novel.

Cheryl wrote: "Maybe, but not a good fit at all. I just cannot imagine how to make any sort of connection between the folk tale and the novel."

Maybe the name is supposed to sound Chinese? When I first saw the folk tale title I erroneously thought the title character was from China.

No, he's a Scot. And Nancy Farmer is an accomplished author, widely traveled, well educated. She definitely knows what she's doing & saying.

Btw, don't look for info. online. I did, and not only have I not found anything, I did find major spoilers.

Cheryl wrote: "No, he's a Scot. And Nancy Farmer is an accomplished author, widely traveled, well educated. She definitely knows what she's doing & saying.

Btw, don't look for info. online. I did, and not only ..."

Thanks, good to know.

I do recommend A Corner of the Universe. Reads fairly light, with lots of joyful moments, but tackles some fairly heavy issues.

I just have trouble with the blurbs that say Adam acts like a child. Well, not exactly. Nor is he stupid. Nowadays I'd hope we'd appreciate him the way the main character does. But in 1960, yeah, there were probably a lot more people who just couldn't deal, like his parents.

Great book for discussion. Did his parents truly love him? Would they have been (view spoiler)[as sad if he had just died, instead of committed suicide (hide spoiler)]? What is it that Hattie recognizes as so much like herself in him? Is it healthy for Hattie to have friendships with adults, but only one friend her own age? Etc.

I'm surprised that only one of my libraries has a copy of this. I enjoyed the read, would have even more when I was a young girl, and see plenty of value in it.

Besides, how often are we lucky enough to have juvenile historical fiction that isn't heavy, isn't intensely about the hardships? Lately, not often enough!

Crispin: the Cross of Lead
I read this more than a decade ago, so the details are fuzzy, and I didn't write a review. But I remember that I loved the book (5 stars worth) so much that I also read the 2 sequels. I liked them as well, but not as much as I loved the first book.

Surviving the Applewhites
I also gave this book 5 stars and wrote a review (I read it in 2020):
Very, very funny; reminded me of the equally funny Bagthorpe series by Helen Cresswell.
I laughed so hard throughout this hilarious book. Jake, who had been expelled from every school he had attended, is sent to stay with the Applewhites, who run a kind of teach yourself homeschooling place. Besides Jake, there are only the 4 Applewhite kids as students. I loved a scene near the beginning of the book, when Jake arrives at the Applewhite establishment. He is gothed-out in all black, with black spiked hair and numerous piercings. But Aunt Louise takes one look at him and exclaims, "You are a radiant light being!" I haven't laughed so hard at something in a long time.

Oh yay! You make them both sound so worthy and enjoyable, too.

And now it's finally April, the 'official' start of the discussion!

My review for Surviving the Applewhites:

About halfway done. Not sure what to think. I ache for E.D. I despise the father, Randolph. I don't know the main character, Jake, at all - why was he such a delinquent, and why does he behave himself here?

And I absolutely do not understand how anyone can live at this family compound. I get a headache and sore, tense muscles just reading about the chaos.
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Ok done. I'm not sure about the guru who advocates a passion for eating, either. He's not even a vegetarian. Maybe I'm being ignorant, but whatever I've learned about the Indian guys who teach meditation makes this guy seem different.

I did like the way the ending came together.

Not sure who to recommend this to, or what to rate it. Not my cup of tea, but surely somebody's, including at least some members of that year's Newbery committee.

Pictures of Hollis Woods
I read this book for the first time for this club read. I did enjoy this book, even though I had trouble relating to Hollis, since I have never been a foster child. This story is in turns sad and then heart-warming and sweet; but there were scenes where I just could not understand Hollis's decisions. Like many kids, she acted emotionally, and not in her own best interests. I couldn't get a sense of the time frame for this book; television and radio are mentioned, but not cell phones, and I don't remember computers being mentioned. It takes place somewhere around Long Island, but even that is somewhat nebulous. Anyway, I do recommend it.

Thanks! I'm tentatively looking forward to it. I must admit, vague settings bother me... I know that authors want their books to be timeless and universal, but I prefer them to also be grounded.

And yes, kids don't always act in their own best interests, as you say. It'll be interesting how much I sigh & shake my head as I read! :)

Cheryl wrote: "And yes, kids don't always act in their own best interests, as you say. It'll be interesting how much I sigh & shake my head as I read!.."

I definitely sighed and shook my head!

Hoot
This is another book I had never read before. I listened to the well-narrated audiobook, and this is my brief review:
This story is almost more about the bullying Roy receives from Dana than it is about the adventure of saving the owls. It is a fairly fast-paced, humorous story, with an element of mystery, interesting characters, and a well-fleshed out setting. This story will have readers rooting for Roy, the running boy (what is his name?), and the owls whose nesting site is threatened.

Carl Hiaasen is a fairly popular writer for adults. I am looking forward to my reread of Hoot but I have no interest in his, erm, 'mature' works. I'm glad it worked for you!

I, personally, wasn't overly impressed by Crispin. Not my style unless it's got something extra going on,
and this felt workmanlike to me. In fact, I only gave it three stars.

My review:
Was this the book that started the tropes? Cuz it reads pretty stale. But, um, no, there was another Newbery that had many of them, much earlier, The Whipping Boy. And the idea of having freedom by being an itinerant adventurer goes way back to the marvelous Adam of the Road. The twist is a bit too much like The Prince and the Pauper but of course that's Twain and so much better, more going on with more clever writing (yes, I'm due for a reread).

I dunno. It may be a fun book for some, a valuable book for others, but to this jaded reader it's just not enough. Rounding up to three stars for the motto "If you have to choose between alertness and worry, being alert will bring you more days of life." Awkwardly phrased, but, yes, I will try to choose being alert over being fretful and I may thus live longer & better.

Cheryl wrote: "I, personally, wasn't overly impressed by Crispin. Not my style unless it's got something extra going on,
and this felt workmanlike to me. In fact, I only gave it three stars.

My review:
Was thi..."

I tried reading The Cross of Lead right after reading and loving Adam of the Road a few years ago and kind of got nowhere with Crispin. I actually think that many of the older Newbury books set in the middle ages are superior to the more recent ones.

I do wonder what children think of Crispin. The rest of the trilogy did get written, and this is still in all my libraries (not every Newbery book that's twenty-some years old is). Is it on teachers' supplementary reading lists? Do kids like it? I don't know... I'm just not the target audience.

Cheryl wrote: "I do wonder what children think of Crispin. The rest of the trilogy did get written, and this is still in all my libraries (not every Newbery book that's twenty-some years old is). Is it on teacher..."

I loved historical fiction as a child and still do now, but seem to always enjoy the older novels more than the more recent ones.

A Corner of the Universe
I finished listening to the audiobook today, and this is my first time with this book as well. I basically enjoyed it, although I did agree with another reviewer that the author too egregiously disses people of religious faith. I thought that the narrator of the audiobook did a fantastic job of bringing all of the characters to vivid life, especially the uncle, Adam, who is possibly autistic. The novel is set in the early 1960s, so before very much was known about autism.
I thought the characters were interesting and the plot was well-paced. I didn't get much of a sense of place, other than vague small town.

Historical fiction's popularity waned at the end of the 90s/early 2000s when Twilight and the Hunger Games and dystopian fiction took over but it does look like the other two Crispin books have been published. I have to applaud Avi for continuing to write historical fiction even though it's not super popular. I like it when he writes about his old neighborhood (Something Upstairs, The Man Who Was Poe).

Good points.

Meanwhile, I read (reread) Hoot but still don't know how to rate it. My review:

The ending is great, but I think only the character of Curly was nuanced at all and I don't appreciate that. I wouldn't be surprised if this is one of the many books banned in Florida, despite its popularity and the fact it was made into a movie. (Maybe not banned, but just never recommended?)

"... he refrained from doing some of the wild, daredevil stunts that boys his age usually tried... because he felt it was his solemn duty as an only child."

I'm surprised mom didn't go with Roy to the groundbreaking... I suppose because it was his 'project' and she didn't want to horn in.

I love the happy ending for Kimberly Lou Dixon.

I'm still not sure about Hennepin's hair, but I saw it on a young woman who worked in a bookstore in Reno... it might have some significance to paganism or voodoo or some other minor religion?

Anyway, can't rate. Part of me wants every kid to read it, every kid who needs to learn to take a stand on environmental issues, part of me wants no kid to read it, because there are very few people irl who are as simplistically stupid or evil as most of these characters.

I couldn't bring myself to appreciate Pictures of Hollis Woods enough to give it more than three stars. I'd still recommend it to interested readers, and for classrooms, though.

My review:
Not particularly interested in another tale of a child having difficulties with the foster system, nor in another tale of a child rescuing an incompetent adult. And I'm a little confused about Hollis - she seems ready to be hostile to any foster home but has loved two of them... maybe when the central issues are revealed her character will become more believable.
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Ok done. Yeah, things make more sense now. There are still some awful implausibilities; it's almost a fairy tale. But it's sweet, wholesome, heartwarming. I'm glad I finished it.