The Graveyard Book will be added to the list of books that has an incredible and enticing first line: "There was a hand in the darkness, and it held a knife." The man Jack has killed a family of three. It was supposed to be four, but the baby has gone wandering and ends up in the nearby graveyard. So begins the story of "Bod" (Nobody) Owens. The 2009 Newbery Award winner is a macabre tale that is sure to become a classic read.
The story follows the adventures of Bod from his adoption by the Owens' through his childhood until he reaches the age of his emancipation. It is a story adopted from Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book and provides adventure, fantasy, and the ability to touch every human emotion. In addition to the Owens, Bod is protected by his guardian, Silas with the lupine Miss Lupescu, Mother Slaughter, Josiah Worthington and the poet Nehemiah Trot, and my favorite, the Roman Caius Pompeius. Although still hunted by the murderer, Bod enjoys protection when he is within the confines of the graveyard. Such a setting provides the background for all sorts of macrabre adventures and ghostly encounters.
Bod's life passes in front of us and we grow to really love this boy who has his share of troubles. One very poignant scene is how he is bullied by his schoolmates when he attempt to attend a school outside the graveyard. He has thirsted for knowledge, but has to give up his dream when classmates make his life there totally miserable. As a little boy he develops a real friendship with a Scarlett, a girl who visits the graveyard with her mother. As the chapters ensue, she disappears for a while, but then reappears as the book reaches its climax. As one might expect Bod meets up again with a man Jack and the all the supernatural entities that Gaiman can muster.
As a reflect on the book, I realize that it was an incredibly written and complex story, full of ghostly haunts and "personages", but also that there was something missing in the first third of the book. It took me a while to really get into it, but by the end I was emotionally hooked and even a bit teary-eyed as the last pages were turned. It is a book that should satisfy all those who are looking for story that is scary and haunting.
We are magically transported back to the 1960s in Gary Schmidt's Newbery Honor book, The Wednesday Wars. It is September of 1967 and Holling Hoodhood is starting the 7th grade. He is the only Presbyterian in a class of Catholic and Jewish students and consequently has no place to go when the rest of his class leaves on Wednesdays to go to religious education classes. It is then that he decides that his teacher, Mrs. Baker, hates him. She first has him doing very meaningless chores like cleaning blackboards and erasers. (How many remember cleaning erasers against a brick wall?) But when that doesn't work out as she plans, she decides that he will begin reading Shakespeare. Total proof that she hates him.
Schmidt craftily weaves the Shakespearean plays into Holling's life both in and out of school. He becomes totally involved in the plays and realizes that the Bard speaks to junior high boys as well as English teachers. Holling even joins a community group and plays Ariel in the local theatre production. Needless to say he suffers some repercussions from this decision. 1967-1968 were tumultuous years with the Viet Nam War, the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Bobby Kennedy, atomic bomb drills, and the peace movements. They were also the years of Ralph Houck's Yankees and we meet so many of the memorable players of those years like Mel Stottlemyre, Mickey Mantle and Joe Pepitone. There are numerous other subplots involving Holling's father's architectural firm, his sister's running away from home, classmates, and Mrs. Baker's husband who is a soldier in Viet Nam. We get much of the news from the venerable Walter Cronkite.
This book is a gem and well deserving of the Newbery Honor. It is funny, no actually hilarious, and thought-provoking. It is a shame that the cover does not do the inside of the book justice. It is not enticing and that is a definite shame. Read this book and have a thoroughly enjoying experience. For classroom teachers, it begs to be read aloud. Have fun on a trip back in time!
If you have ever been to London, you will have seen that the London Eye dominates the skyline along the Thames River across from Parliament. When one flies the Eye, you experience breathtaking views of the city and on a clear day, the countryside for roughly 20 miles. Siobhan Dowd sets her mystery around this landmark. Ted and Kat are on half-term break and are really not looking forward to a visit from Aunt Gloria and their cousin, Salim who are on their way to relocating in the United States. From the onset of the novel we know that Ted is a very special kid. He is consumed with meteorology and numbers and thinks outside the box. As the book progresses we see that he most likely as Asperger's syndrome. Salim has always wanted to fly the Eye and so Aunt Gloria, Ted, Kat and Ted and Kat's mom, Faith, set out the day after their arrival to do so. While Gloria and Faith have coffee, the 3 young people stand in queue for tickets and boarding. But, what luck! A stranger approaches them and offers a free ticket. He bought it and realizes that being claustrophobic, he could never get into one of the pods.
Since Kat and Ted have flown the Eye, Salim takes it and boards for his flight. The flight takes exactly 30 minutes and Kat and Ted wait for him. The people in his pod disembark, but Salim is not among them. Maybe it was the wrong pod. Could they have missed him? Where is he?
The mysterious disappearance has everyone puzzled and the story that ensues takes the reader on a very wild ride. Ted is certain that he can figure it out. He and Kat develop some nine theories as they try to find Salim. The police become involved. But time is ticking away and throughout the next 3 days the family becomes more frantic. To test a few theories Kat and Ted venture out on a trip through London and the Tube. As they develop and test the hypotheses, we get an incredible and fascinating insight into how Ted's mind really works.
This is a great mystery, full of Britishisms, some laughter and some very tense moments. I tried to pick up on some clues through the course of the story, but must admit, I missed o
ne that would have helped me solve it. It is a page-turner and would be a fun book for both boys and girls. Siobhan Dowd was a wonderful author and it saddens me that she will write for us no more.
After just a couple of weeks on the job as a new reporter, Lesley gets the opportunity to interview world-renowned violinist, Paolo Levi before a concert that will celebrate his 50th birthday. She is is told, however, that she must not ask him The Mozart Question. To her amazement, upon meeting with Mr. Levi, and asking the first question that comes into her mind, she is told his story from the very beginning of how he started playing the violin. By the British Children's Laureate this is a story that takes you from the beautiful city of Venice to the horrid concentration camps of World War II. It is Paolo's story from a boy who wants to have what he knows he can't and what he will do to get it. It is a story of secrets that need to be told and in the end it is a story of hope and perseverance.
The Graveyard Book will be added to the list of books that has an incredible and enticing first line: "There was a hand in the darkness, and it held a knife." The man Jack has killed a family of three. It was supposed to be four, but the baby has gone wandering and ends up in the nearby graveyard. So begins the story of "Bod" (Nobody) Owens. The 2009 Newbery Award winner is a macabre tale that is sure to become a classic read.
