Sunday, May 18, 2014

full-ride

full-ride
YA Fiction

Can you imagine having to leave home, cut ties with
friends...that is former friends, and start all over in a new town
with an assumed identity. Oh, yeah, and you're losing touch with one
parent for years at least. That's the plight of Becca, protagonist of
Margaret Peterson Haddix's full-ride. Her father has been convicted
of embezzling a lot of money. He also has antagonized a powerful
company with less than squeaky clean ethics. Aided by their lawyer,
Becca and her mother have obtained documents to start all over. They
are admonished to never reveal a shred of their former existence.
In her former life Becca was not that great of a student. But
in her new milieu there's not much else to do but study. Friends must
be only seen at school and kept at arms length. Telling the wrong
person any fragment of the truth could be a fatal error. Social media
are far too risky so Facebook is decidedly not an option. She starts
her senior year as one of her school's top scholars with college
ambitions filling her head.
Becca's mother tells her she can't apply for financial aid. Too
many chances for the wrong people tracking them down. What can she
do? The college she yearns to get into is quite pricey, nothing she
can afford without an awful lot of help...help that might come at a
terrible cost.
On a personal note, my Amber now has her masters degree. Her hooding
was last Friday and her graduation ceremony was the next day. I'm
very proud of her.
A great big shout out goes out to Amber and her fellow graduates.
Julia Emily Hathaway




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Friday, May 16, 2014

Wicked Cruel

Wicked Cruel

Most of our kids have grown up on urban legends ranging from the
simplicity of the cautionary razor blade in the Halloween apple (not
sure anyone's ever found one in real life--just gave us parents the
chance to snitch a few sweet tidbits while dutifully examining candy
wrappers) to the richly detailed Bloody Mary. If the kids in my life
are any indication they love them. In Wicked Cruel: Three urban
legends Rich Wallace brings us some of the most original, spine
tingling, beautifully crafted spooky tales it's ever been my great
good fortune to read.
The three stories are tied together by a sense of place. The
common setting is an old New England college town, richly and lovingly
described to the point of feeling familiar. Cheshire Notch is a town
of 25,000 joined during the school year by 6,000 students. Oh yeah,
if there is any truth to rumors, the berg also boasts phantoms, both
two and four legged.
Wicked Cruel involves a boy, Lorne, who moved away from town
after being bullied by just about all of his peers. One day Jordan
sees him in a video of a concert. When he replays it Lorne has
disappeared. This turns out to be only the first of a number of
unexpected nocturnal Lorne sightings. What makes them bizarre and
unlikely is that word on the street is that he has died from brain
damage caused by his many beatings.
The Horses of Brickyard Pond concerns a team drowned when they
were unable to escape a surge of water from an aquafer, but evidently
not completely gone. Some folks claim to have seen their frightening
apparition. This includes Danny's poet father who has documented his
close encounter in verse.
My favorite, though, is Rites Of Passage. A reputedly haunted
tavern is the former home of a farmer who built five barns. Under
each he buried one of his five children. They all died tragically
young, none living past fourteen. A daughter, it seems, did not move
on to another sphere, maintaining the ability to appear, communicate
with the living, and even dance.
Summer is the perfect time for late night bonfires. A few
s'mores and the reading aloud of one of these stories would make for a
perfect spooky evening. Works for me. ;)
On a personal note, last Friday was Orono Arts Cafe. My three poems
were well received, especially the one about frisbee. In Maine, it
seems, everyone loves that passtime.
A great big shout out goes out to all frisbee lovers, including those
of the canine variety.
Julia Emily Hathaway




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And We Stay

And We Stay

Jenny Hubbard's And We Stay starts off like one of those
headline news stories that horrify (and fascinate) so many people
until something new and gruesome replaces them. A high school student
with seemingly everything going for him points a gun at his girlfriend
and then turns it on himself. One young life is ended; another is
deeply scarred.
Unlike the viewer/reader who can dismiss the tragedy with maybe
thank God that wasn't me, bereaved Emily, Hubbard's protagonist, must
go on day by day, navigating a drastically changed emotional
landscape. Not to mention a drastically altered physical landscape.
She has been pulled from the high school she and Paul had attended and
placed in a boarding school where she knows no one in the middle of
her junior year.
In a skillfull alternation of poetry and prose, looking back to
the tragedy, ahead to the future, and inward, And We Stand gives a
poignant picture of a young woman struggling to survive and recover
from a life altering tragedy. "...Fine means no highs or lows. Fine
means no troubles, no conflicts..." Who can she trust? How much must
she hide of her past...even from herself. This is a gem in the
realistic fiction genre and a must read for all high school guidance
counselors.
On a personal note, this year Easter was really good. I started off
with a sunrise service and church breakfast jointly put on by my two
churches. Then I went to the in-laws' abode for a family
celebration. What put me in mind of Easter? The Easter basket I
received just last Friday when it was donated to Black Bear Exchange.
All the goodies including a good sized chocolate bunny. Never will be
too old for that.
A great big shout out goes out to both my church families.
Julia Emily Hathaway


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Two From Tilbury

Two From Tilbury

One of my absolute favorite publishing houses is Maine's own
Tilbury House. They carry a small line of some of the most distinct
and memorable books around. So it was much to my delight that one
day, shelving picture books, I found two of their imprints from 2010.
To those of us who reside in northern states like Maine snow is
pretty much taken for granted. This year, in fact, in nearly
everyone's minds, the cold, white stuff wore out its welcome by
weeks. Can you imagine, however, how exciting and mysterious it would
be if you had never seen it?
Amadi, protagonist of Katia Novet Saint-Lot's Amadi's Snowman
lives in Nigeria. His mother is always after him to have Mrs.
Chikodili teach him how to read. He has no idea why. He already
knows numbers. He wants to be a trader, a man of business. What does
he need the written word for?
One day at the market he sees an older friend, Chima, at a book
stall. Chima is holding a book with a picture of a very strange
creature with a carrot nose. What exactly is it? What will the boy
in the picture do with it?
Could books and reading actually have some relevance in his life?
In Jan West Schrock's Give A Goat curiosity goes in the other
direction. A class of Maine students is fidgity because of too much
rain. Their teacher, Mrs. Rowell, reads them a book about Beatrice, a
girl in Uganda, whose dreams of going to school come true when her
family receives a goat from Heifer International. The students are
inspired. They want to give a goat even after Mrs. Rowell warns them
that it will take a lot of hard work.
This book is a great one for teachers, scout leaders, and other
folks who influence and inspire the next generation. The process from
inspiration to achievement is broken down very clearly. If you want
people to care about global problems, to feel empowered rather than
indifferent or overwhelmed, the earlier you get to them, the better!
On a personal note, as I look forward to my September birthday I think
way across the globe. The celebration will consist of a supper and
silent auction to raise money for education for little girls in far
away nations. So far everyone I want involved is excited. YOWZA! My
mom who was big on person to person diplomacy would be so happy!
a great big shout out goes out to all who look beyond their nation's
borders with curiosity and caring.
Julia Emily Hathaway



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