Smile

Smile
by Raina Telgemeier
214 pages
published by Graphix (Scholastic)

Publisher's description:

Raina just wants to be a normal sixth grader. But one night after Girl Scouts she trips and falls, severely injuring her two front teeth, and what follows is a long and frustrating journey with on-again, off-again braces, surgery, embarrassing headgear, and even a retainer with fake teeth attached. And on top of all that, there's still more to deal with: a major earthquake, boy confusion, and friends who turn out to be not so friendly. This coming-of-age true story is sure to resonate with anyone who has ever been in middle school, and especially those who have ever had a bit of their own dental drama.

My comments:

I've never had braces and slept completely through the removal of my wisdom teeth, so Raina's account of her personal "dental drama" was very enlightening to me. I had no idea, for instance, that teeth could be shifted to the extremes that hers are. The fact that this is a graphic memoir, and Telgemeier uses drawings to show you what has been done to her teeth makes it very easy to grasp the process. I'm not sure if young people facing the prospect of wearing braces would be more horrified or reassured by seeing what they could be in for, but anyone who's been through any of the various procedures will likely be comforted to know that they're not alone.

In addition to the dental drama, she also depicts how she learned to stand up for herself and pursue her own interests in high school, rather than trying to hold on to middle school friendships that no longer suit her. Who can't identify with that?

I really like Telgemeier's artwork. It's colorful and detailed without looking cluttered. The details help to create a strong sense of time (early 1990s) and place (both the overall San Francisco setting and her middle and high schools).

Other nice touches include the end papers, which have been designed to look like signature pages in a school yearbook, and the author's note, which explains how she came to put her story down on paper. Overall, it's a cute and charming book.

Your comments?

The Hive Detectives

The Hive Detectives: Chronicle of a Honey Bee Catastrophe
by Loree Griffin Burns
80 pages
published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt


Publisher's Comments:

Without honey bees the world would be a different place. There would be no honey, no beeswax for candles, and, worst of all, barely a fruit, nut, or vegetable to eat. So imagine beekeeper Dave Hackenburg's horror when he discovered twenty million of his charges had vanished. Those missing bees became the first casualties of a mysterious scourge that continues to plague honey bee populations today. In The Hive Detectives, Loree Griffin Burns profiles bee wranglers and bee scientists who have been working to understand colony collapse disorder, or CCD. In this dramatic and enlightening story, readers explore the lives of the fuzzy, buzzy insects and learn what might happen to us if they were gone.


My comments:

This is another solid entry in the Scientists in the Field series. Burns provides a very interesting look at honeybees, the mysterious affliction (Colony Collapse Disorder) that have decimated their populations since 2006, and the scientists who study them. The pages are full of colorful high-quality photographs that show off the bees and the different colors of honey that they produce, as well as lots of facts about bees, apiarists (another name for beekeepers) and the scientists, of course.

I like that the various theories of what is happening to the bees are presented, as well as the evidence the scientists find that either rule them out or mark them as possible culprits. It's made clear that we don't know for sure what is happening to the bees yet, and that further research is necessary.

At the end there is a helpful glossary of bee-related terms, the cutely named "Appendix Bee," and a nice list of resources (including books, documentaries and websites) for further study.

This book didn't grab me as much as another title in the same series, The Frog Scientist. I think this is partially because The Hive Detectives highlights several scientists instead of focusing on one. There simply isn't time or space for Burns to get very personal with her subjects.

Your Comments?

Simeon's Story

Simeon's Story: An Eyewitness Account of the Kidnapping of Emmett Till by Simeon Wright with Herb Boyd
144 pages
published by Lawrence Hill Books

Publisher's comments:

No modern tragedy has had a greater impact on race relations in America than the kidnapping and murder of Emmett Till, the 14-year-old black boy from Chicago whose body was battered beyond recognition and dumped in the Tallahatchie River while visiting relatives in Money, Mississippi, in 1955. This grotesque crime became the catalyst for the civil rights movement.

Simeon Wright saw and heard his cousin Emmett whistle at Caroline Bryant at a grocery store; he was sleeping in the same bed with him when her husband came in and took Emmett away; and he was at the sensational trial.

Simeon’s Story tells what it was like to grow up in Mississippi in the 1940s; paints a vivid portrait of Moses Wright, Simeon’s father, a preacher who bravely testified against the killers; explains exactly what happened during Emmett’s visit to Mississippi, clearing up a number of common misperceptions; and shows how the Wright family lived in fear after the trial, and how they endured the years afterward.

Simeon’s Story is the gripping coming-of-age memoir of a man who was deeply hurt by the horror of his cousin’s murder and, through prayer and hope, has come to believe that it’s now time to tell it like it was.

My comments:

The foreword, by writer Herb Boyd, relates how he met Simeon Wright at a screening of a documentary about Till. Over the course of a few years, Wright was convinced to put his story in writing with help from Boyd. Boyd explains that it's Wright who tells the story (not him) and that he has merely added facts here and there to fill readers in more fully on the time and place. In the acknowledgments that follow, Wright thanks his wife for helping to convince him to share his story with Boyd.

Wright has told his story in plain but compelling language, and I felt as I read that I sat and listened to Wright telling it to me in person. There are only a couple of spots (near the beginning and near the end) where I sensed Boyd's intrusion, but even then the spell wasn't completely broken.

In addition to presenting a unique first-hand perspective of Emmett Till's last days, Wright reveals the story of his own life, which has been irrevocably shaped by Till's murder. Chapters near the end provide updates about the case, which was reopened in 2004, and the "Till Bill" that was signed into law in 2008.

In an appendix, Wright refutes several myths surrounding his cousin and the original trial of his murderers. The index is helpful for looking up names, things that modern young readers may be unfamiliar with (like the Sears catalog), and key locations like Bryant's grocery store.

There are a few black and white pictures integrated into the text, as well as a map and a layout of the Wright's home. The design and layout are not fancy; the gripping story is the main focus.

Your Comments?

Discussion Updates

The initial discussion held on June 2 was attended by a small but passionate group. Several new titles came up in addition to the ones I've written about on this blog:

The Hive Detectives: Chronicle of a Honeybee Catastrophe by Loree Griffin Burns has received starred reviews from Booklist and Kirkus. It's part of Houghton Mifflin's wonderful Scientists in the Field series, and like other entries in the series the well-researched text is accompanied by beautiful photographs.

If Stones Could Speak: Unlocking the Secrets of Stonehenge by Marc Aronson is a colorful archaeological mystery from National Geographic that has received starred reviews from School Library Journal and Booklist. New theories and discoveries about Stonehenge's are among the highlights.

They Called Themselves the KKK by Susan Campbell Bartoletti comes out in August, and is already generating a lot of buzz. The cover is shocking and the topic -- a secret terrorist organization takes root in America -- is gripping.

Charles Darwin and the Mystery of Mysteries by Niles Eldredge and Susan Pearson came out in May - I know, I know - do we need another book about Darwin? This seems to be a good one, though.

We Are the Weather Makers: The History of Climate Change was adapted by Sally Walker from a 2005 adult work by Tim Flannery. This is an important and popular topic.

Hip Hop World by Dalton Higgins is part of the Groundwork Guides series, and is a brief but well-rounded international survey of hip-hop music.

The final discussion has been scheduled for Thursday, December 2 at National-Louis University's North Shore Campus in Skokie, IL. Keep an eye out here for more details. In the meantime, look for reading suggestions here and feel free to post your own suggestions, as well.

Look for this Interesting Article...

If you haven't read it already, look for Angela Carstensen's article in the Spring 2010 issue of YALS, "YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults, Year One. " The 3-page feature starts on page 38. Carstensen was the chair of the new award committee, and she presents an enlightening inside view of the process that went into the selection of the 2010 nominations, finalists, and winners.

The committee wrangled with issues like whether to include poetry and books published for the 10-12 age range, readability and accessibility versus appeal, and how to judge books that don't rely on research. Carstensen ends the article by encouraging field nominations. The link to the page where you can nominate a title is: http://yalsa.ala.org/forms/nonfiction.php.

Discussion Scheduled for June 2 Moved to Niles

I haven't posted my thoughts about any new books lately because, unfortunately, I haven't had time to read much during the past couple of weeks. I apologize for that. A couple of good-looking books that I hope to read when I get the chance are Simeon's Story: An Eyewitness Account of the Kidnapping of Emmett Till by Simeon Wright and Smile, a graphic memoir by Raina Telgemeier. Smile has been checked out almost constantly since it first arrived here, and the excerpts I've seen look promising.

The main news I have this week is that a discussion of current nonfiction books for young adults that I had previously scheduled at NSLS headquarters in Wheeling, IL has been moved to the Niles Public Library in Niles, IL. Just in case you haven't heard about the North Suburban Libray System's dire financial trouble, here's an article from the May 19 Daily Herald that sums up the situation.

The discussion will now take place on Wednesday, June 2nd in the library's board room, from 9:30am to approximately noon. Our address is 6960 W. Oakton St. Click here for a map. Attendees are invited to bring and discuss any current nonfiction titles for young adults that they wish. There's a place across the street that makes great cupcakes.

An Unspeakable Crime

An Unspeakable Crime: The Prosecution and Persecution of Leo Frank
by Elaine Marie Alphin
152 pages
published by Carolrhoda Books

Publisher's Description:

On April 26, 1913, thirteen-year-old Mary Phagan planned to meet friends at a parade in Atlanta, Georgia. But first she stopped at the pencil factory where she worked to pick up her paycheck. Mary never left the building alive.
A black watchman found Mary's body brutally beaten and apparently raped. Police arrested the watchman, but they weren't satisfied that he was the killer. Then they paid a visit to Leo Frank, the factory's superintendent, who was both a Northerner and a Jew. Spurred on by the media frenzy and prejudices of the time, the detectives made Frank their prime suspect, one whose conviction would soothe the city's anger over the death of a young white girl.
The prosecution of Leo Frank was front-page news for two years, and Frank's lynching is still one of the most controversial incidents of the twentieth century. It marks a turning point in the history of racial and religious hatred in America, leading directly to the founding of the Anti-Defamation League and to the rebirth of the modern Ku Klux Klan. Relying on primary source documents and painstaking research, award-winning novelist Elaine Marie Alphin tells the true story of justice undone in America.

My Comments:

Overall, the book looks wonderful, and is a great example of black and white design. The color scheme also fits the sober subject matter. One thing I do find annoying is that the tiny black text on the dark gray title page is hard to read.

I was already familiar with the Frank case because of the '80s-era mini series that Alphin mentions in her author's note, but I never felt bored as I read. I was grabbed immediately, and pulled through very quickly. The story unfolds in chronological order without giving away the ultimate outcome of the case ahead of time, which I think makes it more compelling than if Alphin had divulged Frank's fate early on.

Photographs of the people involved and images from the trial and aftermath appear throughout. Reproductions of newspaper headlines about the case are also integrated into the text. I like that Alphin emphasizes the influence of newspapers on public opinion, as well as the impact they had on the jury.

The timeline at the end is helpful, as is the "further reading" list of teen-friendly materials. I didn't need to reference the list of major figures involved, index, or glossary as everything in the text seemed very straight-forward to me. Some younger readers may find these features helpful, but with Law and Order airing constantly it seems far-fetched that a teen would need to look up words like jury, verdict, or even coroner.

Alphin indicates in her author's note that she did extensive research, and the detailed source notes and selected bibliography are evidence of this. She occasionally makes biased statements, like on page 103 where she claims that Governor Slaton was, "an unusual politician: a man with a conscience." Statements like this are small but jarring mistakes that marr an otherwise excellent book.

Your Comments?