Jama Rattigan's Alphabet Soup

Stop by this wonderful books and food blog to read a delightful interview with collage artist Melissa Sweet (who just won a Caldecott Honor medal for A River of Words-about William Carlos Williams). There is a great book giveaway at the end!

Along for the Ride & PIE- NEW Sarah Dessen!

First of all, another huge thank you to Scottie Bowditch at Penguin who is keeping me in the loop by sending me ARCs of good books that come across her desk. And, who wouldn't LOVE a copy of Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen before it comes out in June? Even though the girls were DROOLING over it during Reading Workshop today, I managed to finish it in a matter of hours. Again, Dessen doesn't disappoint which is why the envious green faces from 13 year-old girls today.

Auden West is an incredibly driven and intelligent character who hasn't really had a childhood and is scheduled to start college in the fall. Her mom is a tightly wound English professor who has very specific plans for Auden's future, and a map of how to get there. Auden's dad, Robert, and his new wife Heidi have a brand new baby girl and are struggling to make their new lives work. Auden decides to head out to the beach and live with them for the summer to have some new experiences and to get away from her mother for a while. In her time at the beach house, Auden meets Eli, who teaches her how to live and enjoy life by guiding her on a quest to regain her childhood. Eli is haunted by his own ghost and the two make a great pair while they are out "running errands" all night long-neither one of them are good sleepers. The end is a very humane look at how people can each benefit from different parts of a relationship. While Eli is giving Auden some of the experiences she never got in childhood, Auden brings Eli out of his slump after a car accident the year before. The whole story is underscored by this backdrop of biking and jumping. At first I thought it was odd, but it really makes sense and the jumping and trusting you'll land safely is a great metaphor for the entire novel.

I loved these characters! Each one of them grew on me in a way no others have. I've always really loved the character aspect of novels, but I truly loved these characters and who they became. It did, however, make me want LOTS AND LOTS of coffee as that is something Auden drinks constantly. And, the pie at Clyde's sounded like something I couldn't resist. Now, if I could just get off this silly cabbage soup diet, maybe I could control myself enough to have some. Yum...pie!

Castration Celebration

When I got this lovely box from Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, I immediately emptied it and sorted. I have a student at school who reads like no one would ever believe and she wanted to help me review some of the books. As I was flipping through them (because I had NO idea what the content of any of them were), I came across Castration Celebration by Jake Wizner and I yanked it based purely on its title.

Olivia is at a dramatic arts camp for the summer and has sworn off boys. Sure enough, one (Max) begins to hound her. Her roommates are stereotypically hysterical and the play Olivia begins writing for her final drama performance left me in stitches. It's a really good thing I yanked this one and read it because the extreme lewdness makes it totally inappropriate for middle schoolers (but this adult laughed out loud). However, I will be sending it through school mail to my high school friend so the more mature kids can enjoy it.