The Phantom Tollbooth

The Phantom Tollbooth
by Norton Juster and Jules Feiffer (illus.)

Milo never knew what to do with his time and he was always bored no matter what he did.  Then one day he received a package.  Inside this package was an assemble-yourself-tollbooth, a map, some coins and other travel apparatuses.  With nothing better to do, Milo assembled the tollbooth, picked a place on the map and started driving along in his toy car.  As Milo drove through that tollbooth, he stepped into an incredible adventure in a kingdom fraught with disarray.  With his two new companions, Milo must rescue the princesses Rhyme and Reason to restore order to the whole world.

I wonder how it’s possible that I grew up never reading this book.  It’s one of the best books I’ve ever read.  From the clever wordplay (I can never get enough of it!) to the sensory imagery (have you ever seen a din personified?), I devoured this book.  It made me laugh, it made me think deeply, it made me forget that I was reading.  I wish I had read this over and over as a child instead of for the first time now.

Image taken from http://www.amazon.com

Stitches: A Memoir

Stitches: A Memoir
by David Small

David Small grew up in a harsh family.  His mother never displayed any emotion but anger.  His father never displayed any emotion at all.  His older brother kept to himself, which meant that David was alone with his thoughts and his drawings.  When he was 11, he discovered a growth on his neck.  His parents did not have it operated on until he was 14.  When he woke up from the surgery, his vocal chords had been destroyed.  He’d stayed silent by choice as a child in his household – now the decision had been made for him.  Among many of the secrets they kept from him, his parents never told him it was cancer.  Stitches chronicles the very hard beginnings of the now very respected artist and author, David Small.

While reading this graphic novel, all I could really think of was, “Wow.  This is an awful way for anyone to grow up.”  This is not a story for the faint-hearted.  There is not really anything visually grotesque about Small’s illustrations.  No, everything that disturbed me about this book is in the story.  The sad, true story.  The haunting images that establish the setting just augment the bleakness.  Very powerful.

Image taken from http://www.amazon.com

Storyteller

Storyteller
by Edward Myers

Jack grew up in a small, poor village in the kingdom of Sundar.  Not content with being a farmer, he knew he was destined to go out into the world and make his fortune telling stories.  He told all sorts of stories and entertained people all over the kingdom.  When he finally came to the Royal City, he was granted an audience with a sullen king.  Jack’s stories deeply moved the sad king and made the princess fall in love with him.  But his talent made him enemies with the king’s son.  When some strange twists that not even Jack would have put into one of his stories happen to the royal family, Jack’s storytelling might be the only way to save the kingdom from a reckless tyrant.

I love hearing a good story, plain and simple.  I highly admire anyone who can tell me a good, captivating story.  A story about a storyteller is an interesting concept.  I especially liked how Myers showed how Jack discovered his stories, how they came to him and evolved, elaborations on the truth.  I did not, however, like the character of Jack.  He was very selfish, and did not deserve the friends he had.  This book is an instance in which I would have loved to know the secondary characters much better – even the villains – more than the main character.

Image taken from http://www.amazon.com

Where’s Walrus?

Where’s Walrus?
by Stephen Savage

Where’s Walrus?  He escaped from the zoo and now he’s running all over town!  Always one step ahead of the policeman, his clever disguises take him to all sorts of places!

Seriously, the smirk on the face of this walrus should be enough to make you pick up the book.  He’s so cheeky!  Also, it’s an adorable picture book.  No words, so kids can make up the story each time you “read” it to them.  And I liked the possible/probable “Where’s Waldo?” allusion.

Image taken from http://www.amazon.com

Zombie Felties

Zombie Felties
by Nicola Tedman and Sarah Skeate

Have you ever wanted to have your own cute, cuddly, portable zombified creature but you just didn’t know where to get one?  Well, Zombie Felties is the book for you.  Tedman and Skeate lay out 17 different gruesome patterns and instructions to create your own personal undead monster.  From the traditional zombie to zombie kitties and puppies to the undead Michael Jackson on the front cover, there’s something for every zombie lover in your family.

So I discovered this book surfing on some blog… I don’t remember which.  I must say, these projects are adorably disturbing.  I didn’t try making any of them.  I’m not craftily-inclined, and most reviews I read said they were difficult to make.  I just enjoyed looking at the pictures of what some sick and twisted mind decided to do with felt, beads, and sequins.  I think the zombie kitty was the cutest one, followed closely by the Nightmare-Before-Christmas-inspired zombie duck.

Image taken from http://www.amazon.com

The Name of This Book Is Secret

The Name of This Book Is Secret
by Pseudonymous Bosch

Psst.  Hey.  Can you keep a secret?  I mean really keep a secret?  Well, the author of this book can’t, which is why you can read it.  These two kids, whose names may or may not be Cass and Max-Ernest, end up discovering clues about the disappearance of this strange old magician who lived in their town.  While neither of them have ever really had friends before, they befriend each other in a quest to save one of their classmates who has been kidnapped by some strange cult that wants his brain.  But I’ve already said too much!  Go and read the book!

Well to start off, let me just say that I’m glad I knew synesthesia existed before I read this book.  Otherwise I might have thought that Bosch had made the condition up, given the tone in which s/he writes.  Secondly, I’m super-impressed that s/he was able to craft a good children’s story around this condition, because it’s really cool.  For those of you who don’t know about it, Wikipedia has a very detailed article about it.  Essentially, it’s a blending of senses – one visual stimulus might cause a person to smell something, or and audible stimulus might cause someone to see certain colors.  Very cool.  Anyway, back to the book.  While sometimes the author’s interjections could get annoying, for the most part, I really enjoyed this book.  I would definitely finish this series out.

Image taken from http://www.amazon.com

All My Friends Are Dead.

All My Friends Are Dead.
by Avery Monsen and Jory John

All of this dinosaur’s friends are dead.  All of the zombie’s friends are undead.  All the mix tape’s friends are obsolete.  All of the pirate’s friends have scurvy.  Everyone is just having a terrible time – and you can laugh at their expense!

This book is so hilariously macabre… it was definitely worth the 6 week ILL wait for it (although you can buy it online for $10).  I would definitely not put this in the hands of a child because of its utter hopelessness, but I would give it to almost all of my teen and adult friends.

Image taken from http://www.amazon.com

The Graveyard Book

The Graveyard Book
by Neil Gaiman with illustrations by Dave McKean

Nobody Owens (or Bod, for short) was raised in a graveyard.  His family was murdered when he was a baby.  He managed to escape.  The ghosts of the graveyard agreed to take him in as their own and raise this living child.  While he stays inside its gates, he is safe.  But the man who killed his birth family is still out to get him.  As Bod grows up, half in the living world, half in the dead, he realizes he will have to face this evil that still threatens him and who is now threatening his home.

I thought that this was a fabulous book.  Part 1 sets up part 2 part two perfectly, and the characters and the atmosphere are engrossing.  It reminded me of Guillermo del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth in some ways.  It’s creepy, but you can’t stop reading it.  You become totally engrossed in this world… or at least I did.  I didn’t expect to finish it in one sitting simply because of how long I’ve had it on my shelf, but I could not put it down.

Image taken from http://www.amazon.com

Goddess Boot Camp

Goddess Boot Camp
by Tera Lynn Childs

Warning!!!  Contains spoilers for Oh. My. Gods.!!!

In the follow-up novel to Oh. My Gods., things seem to be going pretty well for Phoebe.  She has an amazing, super-hot boyfriend, she’s adjusting to her new life in Greece, and, oh yeah, she’s the great-granddaughter of Nike, the goddess of victory.  That comes with some pretty sweet powers.  Unfortunately for Phoebe, she has practically no control over her powers.  Doubly-unfortunately, the gods have decided to give her a test to see if she can control her ridiculously strong powers, being such a close descendant of them.  With only two week to prep, her step-father signs her up for Goddess Boot Camp where she will learn to control her powers.  If that wasn’t embarrassing enough in itself, it looks as though her boyfriend might be secretly hooking up with his ex.  All this drama with the slight chance of being smote before the end of the summer?  Sounds like a typical vacation for Phoebe.

I really like Tera Lynn Childs’ work.  There’s no great depth or anything to them, but sometimes it’s nice to read a book where everything works out the way that it’s supposed to.  And I was highly pleased to get that out of this book, especially after my last entry.  I personally also enjoyed her librarian character, and the discovery of the term “librarianatrix.”

Image taken from http://www.amazon.com.

The Iron King

The Iron King
by Julie Kagawa

Meghan Chase just wanted to be a normal teenager.  But that was never going to be possible, being the half-faery daughter of Oberon.  When her brother is kidnapped by evil faery folk, her friend Robbie leads her into the Nevernever to get him back.  It is there that she discovers that “Robbie” is actually the infamous Robin Goodfellow and that she is the daughter of Oberon, king of the Summer fey, mortal enemy of the Winter fey.  On her quest, however, she and her companions (one of them is, of course, the prince of the Winter fey) discover that there is a much more devastating force threatening the Nevernever, and their whole existence now depends upon the success of this powerful half-blood.

Sorry it’s been awhile since I’ve posted.  I’ve been trying to read this book for a week, which is an absurdly long time for me.  I would say that I trudged through this book.  It started off slowly, and then it picked up for me when Puck arrived.  Puck is one of my favorite literary characters, period.  But I had a tough time picturing him as Kagawa’s gangly ginger teenager and not Stanley Tucci.  That’s no fault of hers.  I do fault her, however, for her writing style.  She does the same thing as I do when I try to write stories, and that’s why I don’t like my writing.  She uses entirely too much description.  Pages are loaded with adjectives and adverbs that don’t show me what’s going on; it’s just a lot of telling.  High levels of predictability + characters I didn’t really connect with = I will probably not be reading the rest of the series.

Image taken from http://www.amazon.com