During a recent one day sale on Amazon, I bought ORPHAN TRAIN for only a few dollars for my Kindle. I have read other books about the real orphan trains: trains full of NYC street urchins that brought them to the Midwest for “adoption” and a new life in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s.
In ORPHAN TRAIN, the story flips between current day foster kid, Molly, who is doing community service at an elderly woman’s house, and the Irish immigrant girl Niamh, whose family perishes in a fire in the late 1920’s. Molly is part Native American and while not an orphan (her mother is alive), she is in the foster care system and has moved about many times. She is almost eighteen and hopes to stay out of trouble until then. Unfortunately, she chooses to steal a copy of “Jane Eyre” from the library and has to do community service to make up for her theft. The elderly woman she works for (they are cleaning her attic) is named Vivian. She is a wealthy widow and she tells Molly the stories behind the items in her attic. Vivian is really Niamh, though – a young Irish girl who leaves NYC after her family supposedly all dies in a tenement fire. Niamh’s tenacity to survive and her integrity to be the best she can be given her circumstances is mirrored in modern day Molly. Over time the two stories connect and we see how each character has become who she is at the end.
I loved reading this story. I always find historical fiction interesting, and Niamh’s story held my attention. My only dislike in the book was the character of Molly’s foster mother, whom I found to be almost a caricature. Also the ending wrapped up quickly and neatly – I would have loved to follow Niamh’s earlier life a bit longer.
In all, I’d recommend it if you like to read about this period in history.
I recently was subbing in a nearby middle school and the students were reading MAUS by Art Spiegelman. I had never seen this book (though it won a Pulitzer and is widely known). After my day teaching, I found the book, THE COMPLETE MAUS, in the library so that I could continue the story. Maus is an early graphic novel (originally published in 1991). It is told entirely in comic strip form. The first part is “A Survivor’s Tale: My Father Bleeds History” and leads up to Spiegelman’s parents being sent to Auschwitz, while the second part, “And Here My Troubles Began”, focuses on his father’s experience in the concentration camp and after the war for his parents.
MAUS depicts the story of Spiegelman’s father’s survival of the Holocaust in Europe, as he relays it to his son. A Polish Jew, Vladek Spiegelman marries his wife Anja and they are wealthy and successful business owners. WWII is creeping across Europe, however, and antisemitism is on the rise. Vladek relays when they first see a Nazi flag, when their first friends lose their businesses, when people begin to disappear. Slowly you see their world deteriorating, yet through it all, Vladek’s resiliency and resourcefulness shine through. He protects his wife first and foremost, and tries to save her parents as well. They have their young son go to live with friends so that he will be safe (he ends up dying though). Their main goal becomes to survive and make it through to the other side of WWII. The stories become more and more disturbing as the war progresses, and are made all the more disturbing as you know this is a true story.
I know I’m a little late to the party here as this book has been around for a while, but I am so thankful that I came across it and read it. Spiegelman’s depictions of the Nazi’s as cats and the Jews as mice is very clever (the Americans are dogs), and this book can be a great teaching tool in the classroom, particularly with older students. The graphic novel form makes it both easy to read and yet disturbing. Peppered throughout is Spiegelman’s own relationship with his father, especially in the second volume. You can see him trying to come to grips with their relationship, his father’s seemingly eccentric ways, and his father’s failing health, along with his mother’s death several years earlier. This was a touching and brilliant depiction of a Holocaust survivor which stayed with me long afterwards.
Highly recommended for this genre/time period! I got mine at the library.
I received HOW TO MAKE FRIENDS AND MONSTERS from my friends at Zondervan and gave it to my 4th grader to read. Here’s the blurb from Amazon on it:
Some Friends Are Just Worth Making For Howard Boward, science genius, making friends in middle school is hard. The other kids have more fun creatively expanding Howard’s name than actually hanging out, as in How-weird or How-Lame. . So, why not actually make a friend? A little wonder putty, some DNA, a few accidentally spilled chemicals and—boom!—instant friend. Monster friend, that is. Franklin ends up being cool in middle school, and he helps Howard climb the uber-popular ladder, becoming How-Cool. But the new fame and friendship isn’t exactly everything Howard hoped. Turns out real friendship might not be so simple, even when you create your own friends from scratch.
Mini Me says that the theme of this book is it’s hard to be a new kid. Overall, she says it is really funny and fun to read. It had some hard words, but not too many. At 352 pages, she was fine with it, but it may seem like a long book to some. We made sure we got a copy for our school library!
Just in time for Halloween! Dan Newman’s THE CLEARING is a suspenseful story within a story. In 1976 four boys were playing the swamps and woods of St. Lucia when one of them dies. The others decide to keep the events surrounding his death secret and instead blame it on island superstition: the monster Bolum. Time passes and while lives are irreparably changed by the child’s death, life does go on.
Fast forward forty years to present day, and our hero, Nate, is returning to the island to put old ghosts to rest. However, in doing so, Nate opens up old wounds and upsets the precarious balance of society on the island. Soon he is being followed and attacked by scary men wielding sacrificed animals and vials of blood. Someone is trying to hush up the events of that night and will stop at nothing to keep Nate and anyone who helps him quiet.
I enjoyed reading this novel which read quickly and was rather thrilling. At the end things tied up pretty neatly, and I felt that Newman expounded the final conclusions a bit too much (just in case someone couldn’t figure it out on their own, I guess); however, all in all, I enjoyed this light read and kept going to the end. A little fantastic – yes. A good read for the Halloween season – yes!
I got mine as an ARC from Net Galley (Exhibit A Publishers) – thanks!
If you read my blog, you know I enjoy reading books by a former student (now grown up!), Trilby Kent. Trilby published SILENT NOON this summer in Great Britain and Canada. I was able to get it on Kindle here in the States.
In SILENT NOON, it is the early 1950’s, and Barney Holland is sent on scholarship to a boys’ boarding school in England. Post-war England is still recovering and the boys are a scrappy lot. Barney doesn’t fit well with the others, and finds a companion in the older (but troubled) pupil Ivor. Then one of the teacher’s daughters starts attending school as the only girl (she was sent home from her boarding school) and she and Barney form an unlikely friendship. Unfortunately, all the plots converge into a somewhat traumatic and unsettling ending.
There’s a lot going on in this book: peer relationships, budding sexuality, a ghost story, and more. Trilby has a wonderful way of making post-war Britain come alive. The details of daily life are quite vivid and one can feel both the coldness of the dormitory and the coldness of the relationships. One note: if you are looking for a neatly tied up ending with full resolution to all plot lines, this isn’t the read for you! I really enjoyed it, and it kept me thinking about it afterwards.
You can see it on Amazon for Kindle, where I got mine.
My friends at Booktrope contacted me to see if I wanted to review this middle grade book. I thought Charis’ story sounded a bit like a female Percy Jackson and I was interested, so I said yes.
I just loved this story about thirteen year old Charis, chosen by the gods (Greek ones that is!) to find and save Pandora’s jar with its last true hope inside. Charis is a pretty typical teen, with typical teen problems with peers and schoolwork, but she is destined to be a great hero. Along with her buddy Gabe, and her love of Greek mythology, Charis has to face down some pretty powerful and scary opponents in order to save the world.
I just loved the character of Charis! She was strong and smart, but not perfect. Her relationships with her family and her friend Gabe were realistic. Charis is a great role model for tweens and teens, and I’ll be giving my daughter this book to read.
While the viewpoint changes throughout this story, from Charis to the gods and back again, it was not overly confusing. I think kids who like a good fantasy/adventure would enjoy this story, girls and boys alike.
Today I am happy to be part of the blog tour for THE REALITY OF ESP – which is subtitled: A Physicist’s Proof of Psychic Abilities – by Russell Targ.
First let me say that I have always been fascinated with the concept of ESP – extra sensory perception. It’s the type of things that logic tells me I should not believe in, but intuition tells me there is reason to believe (at least to some extent). In his book, Targ, a laser physicist who worked for Lockheed, examines the evidence for a variety of ESP phenomena, including case studies of psychics, remote viewing experiments, NASA and CIA work in the area, precognition, and even how he and a group of colleagues predicted the silver market and made a lot of money in the 1980’s.
As I read this book I was reminded of a class I took as an undergraduate at the University of California: Altered States of Consciousness. Not surprisingly, my professor from that class, Charles Tart, is cited on the back of the book!
THE REALITY OF ESP is an interesting look into parapsychology and the unexplained. Using case studies, his own experience, and information from research studies, Targ presents a case for ESP where, even if you can’t wholly believe in it, you really can’t NOT believe in it! Of all the topics, I think the one I found most intriguing was the story of Pat Price, the psychic policeman. Pat had the uncanny ability to “see” crimes as they were happening, so he was a very effective policeman. He could accurately visualize places and things he had never seen before – anywhere in the world. He was instrumental in the solving of the Patty Hearst kidnapping as he visualized the getaway car and where it was at the moment (they located it) and even named one of the kidnappers and selected him from mug shots. Truly, he had some remarkable abilities.
I challenge readers to remain skeptical after reading this book!
Here’s some info from the publicist on the book and Mr. Targ:
The Reality of ESP: A Physicist’s Proof of Psychic Abilities
Nobel laureate physicist Brian Josephson says, “This book should make those who deny the existence of [psychic] phenomena think again.” In The Reality of ESP, Targ presents evidence from the $20 million research program he co-founded at Stanford Research Institute (SRI) in the 1970s. The amazing feats of psychic ability he details include: While remote viewing for the CIA, SRI psychics found a downed Russian bomber in Africa, reported on the health of American hostages in Iran, and described Soviet weapons factories in Siberia. When San Francisco heiress Patricia Hearst was abducted from her home in Berkeley, a psychic with the SRI team identified the kidnapper and then accurately described and located the kidnapppers’ car. After leaving SRI, Targ’s group made $120,000 by psychically forecasting for nine weeks in a row the direction and amount of changes in the silver commodity futures market – without error! Targ also describes a plan for developing your own psychic abilities.
About Russell Targ
Physicist Russell Targ was the co-founder of a 20 year $25 million research program investigating psychic abilities for the CIA, Army Intelligence and many other agencies at Stanford Research Institute (SRI). This previously SECRET research and applications program is now declassified. Targ has written a comprehensive book describing the remarkable accomplishments of this program.
To learn more about Russell Targ’s work as the co-founder of a 20 year $25 million research program investigating psychic abilities for the CIA, Army Intelligence and many other agencies at Stanford Research Institute (SRI), get your own copy at http://www.amazon.com/Reality-ESP-Physicists-Psychic-Abilities/dp/0835608840.
One thing I found really fun in this book was mention of a free iPhone app – ESP Trainer – which I downloaded. I am currently developing my own powers of perception!
Thanks, Nikki, for my copy and having me be part of the tour!
I saw MARIE ANTOINETTE, SERIAL KILLER at the YA session at BEA but quite frankly, I walked past it. Marie Antoinette – serial killer?? It sounded rather absurd, plus the cover had a costumed girl with blood on her – ick (just a note here: looks like the blood didn’t make it to the final cover). However, when they were doing the session, they mentioned it as a good example of the “mash up” genre: part mystery, part historical fiction, part horror, part supernatural, part contemporary. The speaker recommended it, so I immediately slipped back to the table and grabbed a (free) copy. I have to say – I really enjoyed reading it!
MARIE ANTOINETTE, SERIAL KILLER starts with high schooler Colette Iselin preparing for a class trip to France. She is struggling with her parents recent break up and the family’s new, strained, financial situation. She can’t wait to get away with her (rather mindless and not very nice) friends, to explore the place where her family has its roots. Colette’s school group has barely gotten their feet on terra firma when they hear about a serial killer running loose – beheading victims, all of whom are from long-standing French/Parisian families. Colette sees a costumed young woman and realizes she is seeing Marie Antoinette’s ghost. As you might guess, Colette realizes she may be the next victim and needs to figure out the how and why of the murders in order to stop them. Along the way she is helped by their friendly teen tour guide (insert romance!), and she comes to realize that perhaps she has been spending too much time focusing on the things that don’t matter and less time on the things that do.
All in all, this was an enjoyable read and cleverly plotted. I’m a big fan of all things French, so I love reading about people strolling through Paris and seeing the places I love.
Hey, local readers — Antoine Laurain, author of THE PRESIDENT’S HAT, is coming to Brookline Booksmith on the 30th of September (7 PM) and will read from his book (now available in the USA). Rachel, his publicist from MZPR, contacted me and this is what she had to say:
“If you want to get ahead get a hat” This was an advertising slogan in the 1940s and it remains in the public consciousness to this day. Is this just a line or does it have merit? Perhaps it’s symbolic of truly taking ownership of your life. Antoine Laurain explores this concept in his latest novel The President’s Hat (September 2013, Gallic Books). Three characters’ lives are changed forever when they discover and wear former French President François Mitterrand black felt Homburg hat. It alters their perception of themselves and has a profound affect, freeing them of self-doubt and replacing it with self-worth. The President’s Hat (September 2013, Gallic Books) is set in 1980’s France and reads like a fairytale in that the mundane becomes magical.
Antoine Laurain began his career as a screenwriter and director. His passion for art led him to take a job assisting an antiques dealer in Paris. This experience provided the inspiration for his first novel, Ailleurs si j’y suis, the story of a collector which by a strange twist of fate, was awarded the Prix Drouot, the literary prize founded by the famous Paris auction house. Two more novels followed, and now his fourth, The President’s Hat, has received acclaim by critics, readers and booksellers.
I am reading it now – thank you for my copy – and am really enjoying it (I love all things Parisian!). At just over 200 pages, it is short and sweet. I checked out the website, too. Love the “find the hat” game!
Thanks, Rachel, for sending me this information for my local Bostonians!!
Regular readers know that I LOVE the Sue Grafton alphabet mysteries and have read them all. I was so excited for “W” to come out this month and pre-ordered it on Amazon. (I actually ordered it to give to my husband for his birthday in October, but gently read it last week while he was away on business!).
W IS FOR WASTED starts with two deaths: a homeless man is found dead of what appears to be natural causes and a less than upright private investigator is found shot to death. Kinsey dismisses the PI’s death, as he was known for being less than honest. She figured he came up on the wrong end of a deal. She decides to help find out the homeless man’s name so that they can notify his next of kin. As his story unfolds, however, Kinsey finds herself drawn into the man’s life with a connection she could not have foreseen. Things become more and more complicated, and then more and more dangerous, as Kinsey becomes involved in an intricate web of dishonesty, subterfuge, and shadows from the past. Are these two deaths related? Is Kinsey much more involved than she first realizes? Will she figure it all out before more people are killed?
I really enjoyed this quick read, which was well plotted and moved swiftly. While I have been disappointed in only a few of Grafton’s stories, this was one that I really liked!
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