new issue of Notes from the Windowsill
Wendy E. Betts
include it. It can also be found at www.windowsill.net/15.1.html
<html>
<body>
<p>
<h1>NOTES FROM THE WINDOWSILL</h1>
<h2>celebrating children's books loved by adult readers</h2>
<i> (ISSN 1078-8697)</i>
<p>
Copyright 2007 Wendy E. Betts.
<br>Reproduction for personal and non-commercial
use is permitted only if this copyright notice is retained. Any
other reproduction is prohibited without permission. Mail <a
href=mailto:edi...@windowsill.net>edi...@windowsill.net</a> with
comments or questions.
<p>
All reviews by Wendy Betts unless otherwise noted. For info and
archives,
see <a href=http://www.windowsill.net>http://www.windowsill.net</a>.
To
subscribe, mail <a href=mailto:windowsill...@yahoogroups.com>
windowsill...@yahoogroups.com.</a>
<p>
<a
href=http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/partner?partner_id=26825
<img src=http://www.powells.com/images/partners/partner3.gif
align=right>
</a>
<p>
<i>Click on the book covers for more publisher's information or to
order from Powell's Books.</i>
<p>
<b>Vol. 15, No. 1; February 2007</b>
<p>
<b>New Books</b>
<p>
<a href=http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/partner?partner_id=26825&cgi=product&isbn=0060007656>
<img src=http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/imageDB.cgi?isbn=0060007656
align=left hspace=6></a>
<i>Days to Celebrate</i> edited by Lee Bennett Hopkins. Illustrated
by Stephen Alcorn. Greenwillow, 2005 (0-06-0007656) $16.99
<p>
A curriculum in a book, this anthology brings together poems, facts
and descriptions of notable accomplishments to make each day of the
year one to celebrate. Divided by months, each section includes a
calendar of notable events and birthdays (with an emphasis on poets)
and an eclectic sampling of poems that relate in some way
to that calendar: for June, for example, we have a poem by Gewndolyn
Brooks
(birth date June 7), a father's day poem by Rebecca Kai Dotlich, a
poem by Christina Rossetti about the first day of Summer, a poem by
John Anthony Ciardi (birth date June 24) and a poem by J. Patrick
Lewis
about the legendary female athlete "Babe" Zaharias (birth date June
26.)
<p>
As you can expect from a Hopkins anthology, every poem included is an
individual pleasure to read, and the juxtaposition of fact and poem is
sometimes inspired: dictionary compiler Noah Webster's birth date is
lovingly honored with another poem by Dotlich, "Treasure Words,"
<pre>
Words are magic--
quiet, loud.
Steady, strong,
slow, proud.
Whisper, shout--
let them--
hold words close,
toss afar,
see them sparkle--
each a star.
Thread words on
a silver chain.
let words touch you
warm as rain.
<i>Written, read, said, heard--</i>
delight in, sip on
<i>treasure</i> words.
</pre>
<p>
Illustrations that use a folk-art style flatness and a pale,
pastel palette of colors make this book slightly less inviting to look
at than to read, though there are some intriguing personifications and
visual metaphors: a plant grows rainbow-colored hearts; a boy fishes
with
a giant key while sitting on a bridge made of clasping hands; Harriet
Tubman breaks chains binding her wrists as a train puffs out of a
tunnel
in her chest. (That one might possibly cross the line between
"intriguing"
and "creepy.") Overall, this is a valuable and highly readable
collection, one whose potential for usefulness is matched by its
potential for enjoyment. (7 & up)
<br clear=left>
<p>
<a href=http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/partner?partner_id=26825&cgi=product&isbn=0152058052>
<img src=http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/imageDB.cgi?isbn=0152058052
align=left hspace=6></a>
<i>Cyrano</i> by Geraldine McCaughrean. Harcourt, 2006 (0-15-205805-2)
$16.00
<p>
The play <i>Cyrano de Bergerac</i> by Edmond Rostand has just about
anything a romantically inclined reader could want: swordfights,
star-crossed love, sacrifice, and a magnificent yet deeply vulnerable
hero. This essentially faithful "novelization" strips the story to its
bones, then dresses it again in language that is fluid and accessible,
opening it up for readers who might have trouble appreciating the
dense, archaic poetry of the original. Although the translation
of busy stage action into fiction occasionally limps, <i>Cyrano</i> soars
in filling in the parts of the story that would, in a good production,
be conveyed by the power of the actors--the emotional lives of its
characters.
<p>
Cyrano, a renowned swordsman and wit, is a larger-than-life
character--but even his reputation is smaller than his nose. Able to
easily outtalk or outfight anyone who mocks him, Cyrano maintains a
dazzling image, but inside he feels grotesque and invisible,
especially to his beautiful cousin Roxane. When Roxane asks for a
rendezvous, Cyrano briefly believes his love is requited: "Like the
spilled oranges bouncing down the aisle of the theatre, Cyrano's
heartbeats tumbled through him, golden, sweet, falling bruisingly hard."
But Roxane only wants to confess her love for the beautiful Christian:
<ul>
"'I haven't actually spoken to him yet, but no one with a face like
his could be anything but marvelous and good! His soul shines out
through his eyes!'
<p>
Cyrano held up a hand to his face. On the wall beside him, his shadow
seemed to thumb its prodigious nose at him... His tumbling heart
struck the floor and broke, unnoticed, like a bird's egg nudged from
its nest by a cuckoo."
</ul>
<p>
When Cyrano meets Christian, a newcomer to his regiment, Roxane's
passionate belief in his soulfulness hardly seems justified:
"Christian snorted. 'Well, naturally I can <i>write</i>. Joined up and
everything! It's just that... poems and suchlike? Love letters?" Once
again the mouth hung open, and Cyrano thought that he glimpsed, between
those perfect white teeth, a space as large as an empty library: a
vacancy." But Christian's inability to communicate turns out to be an
opportunity Cyrano can't resist, to finally express his love to
Roxane.
<p>
Showing a respect for its source that never creates a reverent distance,
<i>Cyrano</i> beautifully captures the noble idealism, pathos and tragic
irony
that are the heart of Rostand's play, thankfully avoiding any hint of
postmodern mockery. (There is only one notable change for modern
sensibilities: Roxane is not depicted as finding Cyrano ugly.) It
may inspire readers to discover the original play, but even if it doesn't,
the story of the dashing hero who covers up his heartbreak and
vulnerability
by living his life with <i>panache</i> will be hard to forget. (12 & up)
<br clear=left>
<p>
<a href=http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/partner?partner_id=26825&cgi=product&isbn=0803730012>
<img src=http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/imageDB.cgi?isbn=0803730012
align=left hspace=6></a>
<i>The Rules of Survival</i> by Nancy Werlin. Dial, 2006
(0-8037-3001-2) $16.99
<p>
A National Book Award finalist, <i>The Rules of Survival</i>
is an exceptionally powerful look at children in an
untenable situation and how they choose to survive.
<p>
Matthew and his sister Callie have been a team for years, constantly
on alert to protect themselves and their much younger sister Emmy from
their volatile, irrational mother Nikki. But as the oldest, Matthew
feels a special responsibility towards his family:
<ul>
"I was the director of our theater, arranging the stage set, telling
you [Emmy] and Callie to take your places, prompting you to do or say
this or that... 'Don't forget to hug her!' 'Go get her some Advil and a
glass of water, fast.' 'Ask her is she'll help you with your homework
later, she likes that.' 'Stop stomping around, she'll go ballistic.'
<p>
"Of course, I had to act in the play as well as direct it. And all the
while I was directing, and acting, I also had to gauge the reaction of
our audience of one."
</ul>
<p>
Living constantly with fear has changed Matthew, made even his
"subatomic particles twist and distort." "I know I am not who I was
supposed to be, who I could have been," he narrates, " and I know it's
because I was too afraid for too long." When he witnesses a
confrontation in a store, a man defending a little boy from the boy's
violent father, Matthew is awestruck by the man, whose name is
Murdoch: "He wasn't afraid. Or--if he was--he took action anyway."
Seeing in Murdoch the hero his family needs, Matthew becomes obsessed
with him, or the idea of him, an obsession that indirectly leads to
Murdoch becoming part of all of their lives. And the result will be in
some ways much less and in some ways much more much than Matthew had
hoped for.
<p>
Abusive parents are hardly a new topic in young adult
literature, but Werlin has moved far beyond the familiar here.
As an older Matthew tells the story, in the form of a letter
intended for Emmy when she grows up, it becomes more than a
compulsively readable account of kids in trouble:
ultimately it's about Matthew's growth from child to adult, about
moving from being a person desperately searching for a solution to
being someone who is capable of creating one, who thus has tremendous
power and responsibility.
<p>
With the same fine touch for delineating complex moral ambiguities
she's previously shown in novels like <i>The Killer's Cousin</i>, Werlin
has created a story that is penetrating, achingly real and in some ways
very frightening--overall, thoroughly unforgettable. * (13 & up)
<br clear=left>
<p>
<b>Now (or Again) in Paperback</b>
<p>
<a href=http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/partner?partner_id=26825&cgi=product&isbn=0385732066>
<img src=http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/imageDB.cgi?isbn=0385732066
align=left hspace=6></a>
<i>The Boyfriend List</i> by E. Lockhart. Delacorte, 2005
(0-385-73206-6) $15.95; 2006 (978-0-385-73207-9) $8.95 trade
<p>
What could be worse than losing your boyfriend? Losing him to your
best friend. Then losing your best friend. Then losing the respect of
just about everyone you know. Then having panic attacks about it.
In this wryly funny story, fifteen-year-old Ruby--Roo--describes
a series of personal and social debacles so humiliating and sad, I
was almost having panic attacks along with her. Yet it's not at all
a <i>heavy</i> book; the first-person narrative keeps both
teen breeziness and teen angst in intelligent proportions, making
Roo's plight plausible, entertaining and sympathetic. (14 & up)
<br clear=left>
<p>
<a href=http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/partner?partner_id=26825&cgi=product&isbn=0152058516>
<img src=http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/imageDB.cgi?isbn=0152058516
align=left hspace=6></a>
<i>White Lilacs</i> by Carolyn Meyer. Gulliver, 1993 (0-15-200641-9)
$10.95; Harcourt, 2006 (0-15-205851-6) $6.95 pb
<p>
A shameful, little-known episode in American history is fictionalized
in this poignant novel. While waiting table for her employer's Garden
Club, twelve-year-old Rose Lee Jefferson overhears a frightening
conversation: The Garden Club's latest plan to beautify the city is by
"getting rid of us." It's 1921, and Rose Lee and her family, like
almost all the other blacks in Dillon, Texas, live in a neighborhood
called Freedom. They have their own school, churches and businesses,
as well as Rose Lee's grandfather's beautiful garden, "The Garden of
Eden...right here in Freedom." Now the white residents of Dillon want
to "rid our city of the blight...eradicate the squalor" of Freedom and
they look upon its residents like children..."who may have to be
persuaded that it's for everyone's good." And as Rose Lee discovers
when her school is burned down, there's nothing that the white
citizens of Dillon won't do to persuade them.
<p>
Told through Rose Lee's eyes, <i>White Lilacs</i> is a moving story of
a
young girl forced to witness the devastation of her entire community.
Although slightly flawed by a strained and slap-dash ending that seems
designed merely to highlight a "good" white person, its clear and
forthright version of the true story of Quakertown, Texas is a quietly
pointed reminder of a terrible injustice. (10-14)
<br clear=left>
<p>
<a href=http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/partner?partner_id=26825&cgi=product&isbn=0316160172>
<img src=http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/imageDB.cgi?isbn=0316160172
align=left hspace=6></a>
<i>Twilight</i> by Stephanie Meyer. Little, Brown, 2005
(0-316-16017-2) $17.99; 2006 (978-0-31601584-4) $8.95 trade
<p>
I was a little girl, a very nervous little girl, when Charles Manson
was big in the news; I still distinctly remember a dream from those
days, in which Manson tenderly assured me that he was my friend and
would never kill
me or anyone in my family. Perhaps this is a common fantasy--
interestingly, Meyer says <i>Twilight</i> was inspired by a vivid
dream, which she transcribed as a love scene in the book--
since I am clearly not the only little girl who grew up to adore
stories about powerful, dangerous
creatures who are incredibly protective of those they love. Although
this version was published for teens, the romance is so exquisitely
drawn, it has appeal for much older readers.
<p>
<i>Twilight</i> begins with a bang--"I'd never given much thought to
how I would die--though I'd had reason enough in the last few
months--but even if I had, I would not have imagined it like this"--
then steps back to describe the events that lead to that fearful
moment. Seventeen-year-old Bella comes to live with her father in a
small town in Washington, though she hates the annoyingly rainy place
where everyone knows everyone else's business. Her transition to a new
high school becomes much rougher when she becomes lab partners with
the gorgeous and aloof Edward Cullen, who seems to hate her almost on
sight. (Later, she will learn it was not on sight, but on
<i>smell</i>. Bella smells much, much too good.)
<p>
When Edward saves Bella from being crushed by a car, her interest in
him becomes even more intense. How did he move so fast? Why does he
still refuse to
talk to her? Bella narrates her story with an easy grace that allows it
to build slowly yet tautly, as we see the growing evidence that
something is very different about Edward, as well as Bella's growing
obsession with him. A feeling, she learns, that is returned: Edward
doesn't hate her, he fears--with very good reason--that being with him
will hurt her. "'I know that at some point, something I tell you or
something you see if going to be too much. And then you'll run away from
me, screaming as you go.' He smiled half a smile, but his eyes were serious.
'I won't stop you. I want this to happen, because I want you to be safe.'"
But nothing Edward tells her or shows her could make Bella run: she's in
love for the first time, and it's her entire world.
<p>
To appreciate <i>Twilight</i>, you have to be as fascinated with
Edward as Bella is, since it seems as if two-thirds of the book is
description of him--Edward speaking, Edward reacting, Edward simply
being unbelievably attractive. Despite its suspense and paranormal
aspects, <i>Twilight</i> is first and foremost romance. For those who
love the fantasy, it delivers--like a dream. * (13 & up)
<br clear=left>
<p>
<a href=http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/partner?partner_id=26825&cgi=product&isbn=9780618737482>
<img src=http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/imageDB.cgi?isbn=9780618737482
align=left hspace=6></a>
<i>The Princess, the Crone, and the Dung-Cart Knight</i> by Gerald
Morris. Houghton Mifflin, 2004 (0-618-37823-5) $16.00; 2006
(978-0618-73748-2) $6.95 pb
<p>
On a quest to revenge herself against the knight who killed her
mother, thirteen-year-old Sarah gets caught up in another quest: to
rescue King Arthur's stolen queen. Along the way she learns to let
her bitter heart open to friendship and caring once again. Sixth in a
series of retold Arthurian tales, this fast-paced book will be a
little hard to follow for those who haven't read the previous titles,
but the intriguing heroine and premise make it worthwhile, as does the
unexpectedly droll humor found in the whims of courtly life. (13 &
up)
<br clear=left>
<p>
<b>Back to the <i>Notes from the Windowsill</i>
<a href=http://www.windowsill.net>Home Page.</a></b>
</body>
</html>
--
My son reviews _Come Back, Amelia Bedelia_:
"This book is scary, because it's about creampuffs."
spankin' new reviews and blog: http://bunnyplanet.blogspot.com/
Anita Wilhelm
Just wanted to second your recommendation of Nancy Werlin's "Rules of
Survival." I thought it was her most compelling book yet. Great job!
Best wishes,
Anita
________
"Wendy E. Betts" wrote about:
/
nancy13g
in HTML, if you copy the text into Notepad and then copy and paste it
again into your newsreader, you'll avoid a post that looks like this:
> Mail <a
> href=mailto:edi...@windowsill.net>edi...@windowsill.net</a> with
> comments or questions.
> <p>
> All reviews by Wendy Betts unless otherwise noted. For info and
> archives,
> see <a href=http://www.windowsill.net>http://www.windowsill.net</a>.
> To
> subscribe, mail <a href=mailto:windowsill-subscr...@yahoogroups.com>
> windowsill-subscr...@yahoogroups.com.</a>
> <p>
> <a
> href=http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/partner?partner_id=26825
> <img src=http://www.powells.com/images/partners/partner3.gif
> align=right>
> </a>
> <p>
... etc.
Wendy E. Betts
nancy13g <nanc...@verizon.net> wrote:
>Next time you want to submit something to Usenet that's been written
>in HTML, if you copy the text into Notepad and then copy and paste it
>again into your newsreader, you'll avoid a post that looks like this:
Ah, but then I would have to have Notepad, wouldn't I. :-)
Wendy E. Betts
Anita Wilhelm <wil...@core.com> wrote:
>Just wanted to second your recommendation of Nancy Werlin's "Rules of
>Survival." I thought it was her most compelling book yet. Great job!
I think _the Killer's Cousin_ is still my favorite, though I haven't
read it since it first came out.
Her short story in _Twelve Shots_ is superlative, as well.
Anita Wilhelm
Hi Wendy,
Thanks for recommending Werlin's short story since I was unaware of its
existence! I'll look for it in the library.
When I re-read "Killer's Cousin" last year I still liked it very much, but I
must admit that I'm at a loss as to why the hero felt so connected to his
little cousin--the one who murdered her own sister. His own situation was
entirely different--he didn't set out to deliberately kill his friend. Even
though "Rules of Survival" is outwardly more grim, there is more hope and
redemption in it. Maybe "Killer's Cousin" is just too depressing for me! I
must admit I like happier endings. I think I liked Frank the best and was
glad to get to know him better in "Locked Inside" (I hope I have the correct
title).
Also, back to "Rules of Survival", I think the hero was wrong when he
decides at the end not to give his little sister the letter when she is
older. What do you think?
Best wishes,
Anita