Every summer I dream of my classroom. When considering my third grade writers, what do they need to grow and how can I provide classroom spaces for that?

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There are so many entertainment options available for kids today. From video games to cell phones to t.v. and movies, kids have an array of activities at their fingertips. So how can we inspire kids to read? What do they look for from a book?

The 2010 Kids & Family Reading Report provides some great insights:

68% of kids age 9-17 say they read books to use their imagination and 66% read books to gain new information

62% of kids age 9-17 say they read books for fun to be inspired by storylines and characters.

Half of kids age 9-17 say they read books for fun "to help you figure out who you are and who you could become."

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Right before I went to sleep last night I checked my e-mail.  It contained a couple of useless e-mails from companies trying to get me to by their wares as well as an e-mail from one of my former students.  I quickly deleted the marketing pitches and went right to this student’s email.  It’s been [...]

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Come visit us at ALA this weekend! We will be at Booth #2609 and will have trailers of our new Fall product.

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I think Dr. Seuss sums it up best . . .

"The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more you learn, the more places you'll go.
- Dr. Seuss, I Can Read With My Eyes Shut

Happy Children's Book Week!

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Happy Wednesday, everyone! Shannon is at TLA today (visit booth 2531 if you are too!) so I'm popping in from the PILE of red folders and last-minute rush editing on my desk to give you this week's Words of Wisdom, which is . . .

DON'T SEND ANY SUBMISSIONS TO ANY PUBLISHER WITHOUT LOOKING FOR, AND FOLLOWING, SUBMISSION GUIDELINES.

(Ours are here, with more info from me here.)

And bonus tip: DO YOUR RESEARCH. When I get a submission pitching a nonfiction book, or a book for adults, I roll my eyes and ignore it--we don't publish those books here, and those authors are clearly not trying. (Though nonfiction writers for kids should follow the nonfiction guidelines on that link above to reach our nonfiction editors.)

However, when I get a good submission, addressed to Samantha, or a submission for a book exactly like one we've already published, or a query for an idea that seems cool, but hasn't hit its target market at all (like a picture book for teenagers), it especially bugs me. Those people clearly didn't do their research, and it's frustrating.

Writing, my friends, is a business like any other. You wouldn't assume you could set up shop as a dentist without going to medical school, right? And you'd never hire a contractor who showed you photographs of the lovely roof he'd built in the basement. Do your research, take your time, find the right publisher, and work hard at revisions (there's another post right there). You'll find your queries reaching far more appreciative eyes if you do.

Questions? Let me know!

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We thought we'd try something new on the blog. Every Wednesday, we will post some words of wisdom . . . this could be a quote, a famous saying, an idiom, tips, tricks, etc. We would love to hear from you too so please share your words of wisdom with us!

Today:
"Students who read independently become better readers, score higher on achievement tests in all subject areas, and have greater content knowledge than those who do not." (Cullinan, Independent Reading and School Achievement, NYU).

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Be sure to watch this all the way through. It's what happens at the end that counts! This really makes you think of how easy it is to look at things differently. Thanks Karin for the link.

Created by DK (UK)

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One of my favorite things to do on long car rides is read bumper stickers. So lately, when I see a funny one, I scribble it down (only if I'm a passenger, of course). Here's my List of Vehicular Words of Wisdom so far: 

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Final words from The Day I Became an Autodidact, by Kendall Hailey, which I shall at last return to the library:

Happiness is like everything else. The more experience you have, the better you get at it.

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I swear I'll stop quoting The Day I Became an Autodidact, by Kendall Hailey, soon... if only because I'm nearing the end. But I can't resist sharing a couple more passages that speak to the uncertainty of life and pursuing one's dreams:

I feel I am kind of poised—waiting for life to begin. But what if this has been life all along? What if it never gets any realer? I keep attributing this feeling to youth, but what if I go through my whole life without ever feeling it really began?

I suppose the ugly truth is that life begins the moment you're born. And it is asking too much of it to request that it always live up to its reputation of being real. (p. 238)

And this:

One of my worst fears is of what I will be in the future. Not really of what will happen to me, but of what it will turn me into. If none of my dreams comes true, will I be embarrassed to keep dreaming? It takes courage to fulfill dreams, but I think even more if we can't.

The world is much too random a place for any of us ever to end up with exactly what we want, but then very few of us are bright enough to know exactly what we want. I just hope that if I go through life without getting what I think I want, it will not change me. (p. 240)

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Gray weather, gray moods. On the bright side, I've been trying to clean off my desk at work—partly by doing things that need to be done, partly by stacking everything else in a tidy procrastination pile—and came across a paper scrap that's been sitting here since, um, January.

I keep moving it around because it resonated with me and I didn't want to throw it away. It's a quote from author Eva Ibbotson, from her wonderful interview on the Just One More Book podcast. She's talking about the value of writing novels, especially for children, in which everything comes out all right in the end—even though reality rarely treats us so. She says this:

I find it quite difficult to maintain happiness. It has to be fought for. (4:10)

Totally.

Anyway, now that it's here on the blog, I'm going to recycle that scrap. Yes! Four more square inches of desk revealed!

Here's another gem from The Day I Became an Autodidact, by Kendall Hailey, apropos in a week in which I've decided I've done enough banging my head against the wall on one project and must work on something else for a while:

The truth is, I don't know how I am to go on writing at all, since I am pretty well convinced it's all excrement. But who knows, there is always the vague chance it's just shit. The only thing is, I'm going to have to ask soon and if anyone tells me it's anything but brilliant, I'll die. I type with one hand and hold my nose with the other, but at least I feel I'm getting something done. (p. 73)

That about says it.

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So, after I posted yesterday, I saw that I had missed 2 very important updates!

1. The new issue of The Edge of the Forest is up! Check it out! Lots of awesome articles, plus 2 reviews by yours truly (My Last Best Friend by Julie Bowe and Reality Leak by Jodi Sensel-- both are great reads!)

2. The new Carnival of Children's Lit is up over at Wizard's Wireless. My contribution is actually my Geek Buffet post about the Xela Awards... check it out!

And now, a review of 2 books off the big scary list! (And a break because they're both Adult Nonfiction)

First up is Ten Thousand Miles Without a Cloud Sun Shuyun

This book isn't available in the US, so I had to order it from England after reading her The Long March: The True History of Communist China's Founding Myth.

In Ten Thousand Miles Without a Cloud, Sun sets out to retrace the journey of Xuanzang, a Buddhist monk who traveled to India at the start of the Tang Dynasty to learn Sanskrit and bring back new sutras to Chinese Buddhists. (His travels being the basis of Chinese classic, Journey to the West.)

Not a Buddhist herself, Sun is searching for her grandmother's faith, and Xuanzang's. What was his driving force as he faced many perils along his way?

Sun has a magical way of trying history and legend together with her current narrative. It all blends seamlessly and also paints an amazing portrait of the changing face of Modern China.

I highly recommend it, even if you do have to get it from England. Well worth it.

ALSO! How much do I love the fact that she has an Orphan Works notice on her list of illustrations! WONDERFUL!!!!! (sorry, that's the geek in me)

A Needle in the Right Hand of God: The Norman Conquest of 1066 and the Making and Meaning of the Bayeux Tapestry R. Howard Bloch

While this was interesting, as pop history it was ultimately unsatisfying. Bloch spends a lot of time proving minor points (did I really need half a chapter on the longship find of Sutton Hoo?) and leaves some other points hanging.

His premise is that the Bayeux Tapestry was stitched as a way to bring about a new multi-cultural peace and ultimately... I didn't buy it. There are many obvious other explanations to his supporting points that he doesn't address.

For instance, the fact that the tapestry is vague about some of the stickier points of the story (what the contents of the oath Harold swore, who Edward appointed as successor) isn't necessarily "sufficiently undefined as to permis all to identify with their particular point of view" ON PURPOSE. Maybe (a) it was common knowledge-- it's not like there are paragraphs of text here, most of the narration is based on common knowledge (b) Maybe they didn't know. This information doesn't appear in any other source, either. Maybe it was a secret.

But Bloch doesn't address these possible explanations for any of his evidence.

I do like his in-depth art-analysis of the symbolism and origins of various aspects of the tapestry, especially as he does refer to specific panels that are illustrated in the full color insert pages, as well as several other full-color and black-and-white illustrations throughout the text.

And as a minor note, I really didn't like the font. The lower case p has this little bit that extends out and is just visually very distracting.

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Before the festivities begin, I'm over at Geek Buffet, following up on how YA is an age-range, not a genre. The comments on my original post sparked a conversation about how to get non-teens to read teen lit. Inspired by this year's Caldecott winner also being named a Best Book for Teens, I'm proposing a whole new award for teen lit. Check it out here. I'd love your comments.

And, now, a poem, because it's Friday. Yesterday it snowed. It's warm today, but is supposed to snow again tomorrow. So, here's a snow poem!

Snow flakes.

I counted till they danced so
Their slippers leaped the town,
And then I took a pencil
To note the rebels down.
And then they grew so jolly
I did resign the prig,
And ten of my once stately toes
Are marshalled for a jig!

--Emily Dickinson

I love the imagine of austere, often depressing, recluse Dickinson dancing in joy of snow.

Farm School has this week's roundup!

And here's a lovely picture of what happens when it snows in DC (photo from Roxandabear):

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Forgive me if I am distracted, but wouldn't you be if such a bundle of cuteness came and started to live with you? Meet Sassy, our new puppy-dog. She's almost 3 years old, a hound mix (hound is the only identifiable breed in her) and is super sweet, pretty mellow, and big fan of getting scratched behind the ears.

I'm celebrating Vetran's Day over at Geek Buffet today with my list of recommened WWI reading.

But, let's get down to some books, ok? Earlier this summer, I blogged about DC Comics new imprint, Minx. I have now had the chance to read two more books in the series.


Clubbing Andi Watson and Josh Howard

Exiled to her grandparent's Lake District golf resor after a minor incident involving a club, a fake ID, the cops, and a school, night, Charlotte is set for a summer of drudgery. But then, a woman trying to tell her something is found murdered, drained of blood, with some weird symbol carved into her arm. The police rule it as suicide, the Charlotte and her friend Howard think differently.

Vaguely reminiscent of Hot Fuzz, the ending left me a big underwhelmed.

I really liked the drawing style of clear, bold lines, with lots of large blocks of space.

Re-Gifters by Mike Carey, Sonny Liew, and Marc Hempel

Dixie is hapkido (a Korean martial art) fanatic. Living on the edge of LA's Koreatown, she battles the usual high school crap of boys and the urban crap of which side the street it's ok for Koreans to walk on.

In a daring move to get the guy, she spends her tournament entry fee on a statue of a Korean warrior. The guy promptly gives it to the prettiest girl in school. Heart in the gutter, with no way to enter the tournament, Dixie needs to find her missing ki, and fast.

A most fantastic story, this is my favorite Minx title so far. Very well done. I love Dixie's prickly character and the very real story arc.

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I like the idea of blogging with music, so we're going to start doing that. Now, when I link to a song, it's through Napster, which is now 100% legit. The song is free and you don't need to log into anything to listen to it. The way it's legit is that you can only listen 3 times (to each song) before it asks you to buy that particular track.

Today's song is... We Didn't Start The Fire by Billy Joel.

Also, I'm now allowed to officially announce that I'm part of the Cybils awesomeness that is once again happening this year. I'm helping with the Middle Grade/ Young Adult non-fiction. Nominations start on October 1st, so start thinking and then get over there!!!!

Also, I'm hanging out at Geek Buffet today blogging about the morals of Communist Kitsch Chic.

And now, a book. It's one of those ones for grown-up type people.

Big Breasts & Wide Hips: A Novel by Mo Yan

Now, to preface this, I have to say that Mo Yan is my favorite author. Hands down. His depictions of Modern China are wonderful and his language is lush. So lush, especially when compared to most other Chinese prose. I almost puked Red Sorghum reading the scenes in when the Japanese invaded. I could taste the garlic while reading The Garlic Ballads.

Not everything he writes gets translated, so a new Mo Yan novel is to be savored. To the point where I've owned this for a few years now and never read it. It just sat on the shelf, waiting. Waiting for a time when I could pick it up and read it slowly and fully enjoy it.

Now, it was a perfectly fine book. But not one of his best, leaving it a bit of a disappointment.

The story is of the Shangguan family, who live in Northeast Gaomi Country in Shandong Province (almost all of Mo Yan's works take place here).

Shangguan Jintong is the only boy in a family of 9 sisters. He's obsessed with breasts, particularly those of his mother-- he isn't fully weaned until around the age of 17. This novel tracks the family through the 20th century-- a pretty tumultuous time in Chinese history. Unlike most historical novels, history isn't a main character--it's just a small part of the background noise, with a few exceptions. Because of this, I'm wondering how much sense parts of it will make to people not acquainted in modern Chinese history. The section leading up to WWII and going through the success of the Communist Revolution is confusing at best. Now, it was confusing to those who lived through it, too, but...

According to the introduction, Mo Yan wanted to write a story feauturing strong female characters. Now, most of his work features strong female characters and, outside the character of Mother, I'm not entirely sure this one does. Many of the sisters are introduced and then disappear. Many are not well fleshed out and I wouldn't call all of them strong by any means.

Now, if this had been by anyone else besides Mo Yan, I'd be much more enthusiastic about it, but I expected more of him.

Now, to eagerly await the March release of Life and Death are Wearing Me Out. In the meantime, if you haven't read his work yet, pick up a copy of Red Sorghum-- you won't be disappointed.

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I don't know how many of you ever belly up to the Geek Buffet. I only found out about it though Jennie, from BiblioFile. She sometimes has articles posted (displayed? served?) at the Buffet, and recently, it was a tasty piece called: "I'm an Adult, I swear!" In it, she writes about sugary cereals, and red shoes, and notes to yourself on the palms of your hands. And she asks: What indulgences do you allow yourself, as a tribute to your inner child?"

I allow myself to eat popcorn for dinner.
I walk out barefoot to get the newspaper.
I cry (yes, sob) when reading.
I read at the breakfast table.
I dance like a maniac.
I play dress-up with new clothes, trying them on in all sorts of combinations.
I sweat and get dirty and work out hard until I stink.
I lie down on the floor and wonder about things.
I carry a beat-up notebook around, and write in it whatever I like.

Yeah, that last one's the best. Whatever I like. And miracle of miracles, "whatever I like" turns out to be (sometimes) a story that someone else could also like. Told you so! says my Inner Child.

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So, today, as you are hopefully aware, is Talk Like a Pirate Day.

When being told of this, the kids today wanted pirate books. I was more than happy to oblige.

It reminded me of a great day with the same bunch of kids when I was wearing my Babymouse t-shirt.

Girl 1 (age 8): Miss Jennie, what's that on your shirt?
Me: It's Babymouse!
Girl 2 (age 8): Miss Jennie, what's Babymouse?
Me: You guys have never read Babymouse?
Girls 1 and 2: Uh-uh.
Me: Come with me! You'll love it!
We walk over the stacks where I find copies. When the other kids see I'm handing out books, they all come over. I end up handing out all 10 or so copies of various Babymouse titles that we have on the shelf...

Ten minutes later:

Boy 1 (age 7. Very macho): Miss Jennie! I want that pink book that everyone else is reading!!!!

Me: tries very hard not to laugh

End scene.

Sometimes, peer pressure is a force for good.

Here's a vacation photo of me (looking a little demented-- can we blame that on the sun? Look how burned I got that morning!) in front of the "Reading Room for Youngsters" in the Beijing Underground City. When China feared nuclear war with the Soviet Union, they didn't build bomb shelters in their elementary schools and backyards. They built and entire underground city-- a series of rooms and tunnels that could house 300,000 people. It has tunnels leading the Great Wall and the Forbidden City, ventilation shafts, and parts can be sealed off in case of contamination. And now, for 20 yuan (about $2.56 US) you can have an English-language guided tour. Very, very cool. There was also a Battle Field Library and a Recreation Room of Old Persons.

Also, I'm at Geek Buffet today, blogging about being an adult, your inner child, and the amount of sugary cereal in my pantry.

But, here's a book review:

Violet Bing and the Grand House by Jennifer Paros

Violet Bing does not like change, or things that are not exactly just so. As such, she has refused to go on vacation with her family and is shipped off to spend some time with her great-aunt Astrid instead.

When her aunt suggests that make some sandwiches and ride their bikes to the beach, Violet's reaction is typical:

Violet thinks she likes her sandwiches with white bread that is nice and soft. She likes them to have the smooth kind of peanut butter and not too much of it, and her jelly must be grape because sometimes strawberry as pieces of strawberry in it. And also, along with not being all that good at ride a bicycle, she can't swim because she does not want to put her face in the water. Putting her face in the water seems like a bad idea because you cannot breathe while your face is in the water.

And so Violet uses her catch-all excuse that she just doesn't have the time.

It's a nice little story about a getting a girl to try new things. Really though, it's Paros's illustrations that make the book for me. Line drawings, sometimes labeled, and Violet in her triangle dress add much to the enjoyment of this story.

And let's review another book:

Horseradish: Bitter Truths You Can't Avoid by Lemony Snicket

This is quite a nice little book of Snicket's bon mots. Kinda like a depressing Deep Thoughts. Or cross-stitch samplers for the demented.

As I'm sure you know, the key to good eavesdropping is not getting caught.

Labor Day is a holiday honoring those who work for a living. Laborious Day is a lesser known holiday honoring those who cannot stop talking about their work.

The way sadness works is one of the strangest riddles of the world.

A fun tie-in for fans of Snicket.

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Ah finals week. Stress stress stress stress... but, the final has been turned in and the group project given and now I have a whopping 6 days until fall semester starts.

Let's see... this weekend I went to Des Moines for my friend's wedding, which was lots of fun. While there, we went to the State Fair and you can read all about it all at Geek Buffet.

I had also forgotten what Iowa is like during primary season. Lots of Washington types were at the fair and Huckabee's Iowa headquarters was right by our hotel. Coming out of the airport, we saw a billboard that said "Are You Running for President?" Oiy. It might even be crazier than DC for your average-type person.

Anyway, I didn't review anything due to the stress of last week, so I'm quite behind! Let the catching up commence! So many books to talk about, I hardly know where to start. But let's start with some WWII YA novels, ok?

First up is The Girls They Left Behind by Bernice Thurman Hunter

Beryl/Natalie is a teenager in Toronto during the World War II. It's mostly written in diary form, but with a few-stand alone scenes scattered throughout--mostly towards the end of the book. The story deals with the feelings of always been left behind as she sees one more friend, relative, or neighbor off at the train station nearly every night--some of whom she will never see again. She drops out of school to work in an airplane factory and tries to go on with life, despite rations, black-outs, and no boys left to date.

Beryl (who hates her name and is trying to change it to Natalie, if only her friends and family would remember to call her as such) is a real voice dealing with the frustrations of always being left behind, of British girls snatching away the Canadian boys when they're stationed overseas, and in being laid off and having to go back to school when the war is over and the most of the boys come home. Her voice is very straight forward and matter-of-fact:

Dad had resurrected the Quebec heater from the garage and set it up in the kitchen so we would use less coal in the furnace. Coal was scarce these days because it was needed in factories like The Steel Company of Canada. Dad said the munitions factories practically ate it up by the ton.

I prefer more evocative prose and this language left me a little 'meh' on both the story and the character, but that's just me. I think it's still a good book about life on the home front and the hardships and heartbreaks the girls left behind had to endure.

Another book written with a similar voice that left me a little off is

For Freedom: The Story of a French Spy by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

Based on the true story of Suzanne David, a teenager in Cherbourg, France, this is a first person narrative of a teenager turned Resistance spy. Suzanne is an aspiring opera singer who isn't that caught up in current events until Cherbourg beach is bombed while she's sitting on it. She watches one of her neighbors blow up and her best friend never recovers from the experience. Her strength in such an ordeal and the fact that her singing takes her throughout northern France leads the local resistance leader to recruit her as a spy.

Now, she's not reporting on troop movements or anything, but passing messages from one spy to another. There's the adrenaline rush as she walks past Nazi soldiers with a note about the Normandy landing in her hat, but the hardest part is being able to get to her scheduled meetings without her parents finding out. One of my favorite parts was when she had to pass a message but it was time to go to church and she had to find a way to get her parents to let her stay at home, as they had no idea what she was really up to.

A good story for younger teens/ tweens on the French resistance the role young people played. But, as with The Girls They Left Behind, the straight forward, matter-of-fact narration left me a little less engaged than I would have liked. But that's just me.

Also, Good as Lily (review here) and Clarice Bean, Don't Look Now (review here) are now both available!

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Going to Wisconsin tomorrow to go to a wedding and hang out with the fam. Very excited.

Also, I'm blogging over at Geek Buffet today about the Death of the Author and J. K. Rowling's recent interviews adding more information to the text. (If you access the post from the Geek Buffet page, you will not be spoiled, as I hid them after the break. If you follow the direct link, beware the second half of the post. Everything after the Excuse me?!)

But let's talk about... books for librarians. These aren't books for a general audience, but I think both of them are really good for what they are.

From Cover to Cover: Evaluating and Reviewing Children's Books by Kathleen T. Horning

This is a great book if... you need to evaluate and review children's books on a professional level. It might be a bit much for parents who just want a good feel on kidlit for their own children. However, if you are a children's book professional, this is a must have for your bookshelf. She gives a lot of useful advice on what to watch out for, both in terms of text and in general book design. Horning covers pictures books, transitional readers, and older readers with tons of in-depth information about every single aspect (it seems like) of each group.

My one complaint is her dismissal of humorous poetry in favor of "more sophisticated forms of true poetry." I really don't think humorous poetry such as Shel Silverstein of Jack Pretlusky is any lesser than other types of poetry out there, especially when it comes to children's poetry.

Another great book is Managing Archival & Manuscript Repositories (Archival Fundamentals Series) by Michael J. Kurtz

Normally I don't count textbooks that I've read as part of my reading total, because, well, I usually don't read all of them. Rarely is an entire book assigned, and, when it is, I usually miss a chapter or two. Also, they're usually assigned a little out of order and you're reading it over the course of a semester, so you don't get a good sense of what the book is like as an over-arching whole.

This semester I tried something different. I had to read the first four chapters and the book is engaging and well written and really not that long so... I just didn't stop after the first four chapters and just read the whole thing. Plus, now I don't have to worry about reading for the rest of the semester. Woohoo!

Anyway, the book. If you work in information management (by which I don't mean managing information but rather being a manager in an information environment) or an archives, this is a good book to have on your shelf. If you're a manager in an archives, you really need this book.

Covering everything from management theory through the years, HR, budgeting, PR, planning, and project management, Kurtz writes and well-thought out handbook with a lots of information presented in an easy-to-understand way with lots of concrete examples.

And I'm not just saying that because I'm taking management right now with Dr. Kurtz. It's just a good book. You know, if you're a manager.

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To start the day, I went to see Norman Borlaug receive the Congressional Gold Medal. It was a pretty great way to start the day. In addition to me and Dr. Borlaug, most of the Congressional leadership was there, as well as the President. Pretty good way to start the day.

Then I get to work and find out that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is now available online. I'm not happy about this. Read all about it over Geek Buffet.

But for now, some book reviews!

So Far from the Bamboo Grove by Yoko Kawashima Watkins

One the surface, this is a gripping and exciting story of survival, based on Kawashima Watkins life. She lived a comfortable wife with her parents, older brother, and older sister in a nice house in a bamboo grove in northern Korea. With the outbreak of WWII, the Koreans rebelled against the Japanese. Yoko's father was posted to Manchuria (also under Japanese control) and her brother was taken prisoner. Yoko, her mother, and her sister, then lead a harrowing tale of escape as they try to get to Pusan so they can get to Japan. Yoko witnesses rape and is the victim of a bombing. Then, once they get there, they must survive with no money in a country ravaged by the end of the war, and try to find their missing family members.

This book was in the news a lot last year as it was challenged for classroom inclusion. The problem with this book, wasn't really the violence and rape (of which there was quite a lot for a children's book, but not gratuitously) but the lack of historical context. If you knew nothing about the Asian theater in the lead up to WWII (and most elementary school don't)... after reading this book, it'd look like the Koreans were the bad guys and the Japanese were innocent victims. After all, to a young girl, that was the way it appeared. Not only that, but there are no end notes to put the book into context. Kawashima Watkins never discusses Japan's involvement in the war, or the fact that the Japanese occupation of Korea was brutal.

The book does show that war is an awful, awful thing and there are innocent victims on both sides, it needs context for the young readers it's aimed at.

My Brother, My Sister, and I by Yoko Kawashima Watkins

This is the sequel and picks up with the Kawashima siblings fighting for survival. The book starts with a fire in their warehouse. Yoko's sister, Ko is gravely injured. Yoko and Ko are blamed with starting the fire and murdering two bodies found in the ashes. That plot wraps up about half way through the book, and the struggle to survive and find Yoko's father (who is a war prisoner in Siberia) continues.

As far as context goes, this one does not have the overwhelming problems that the first does. It's also helpful to read, because I was disappointed that Bamboo Grove did not have an epilogue. But as far as the prose goes, it lacks the gripping quality of the first. How do you tell someone their life has plotting and pacing problems? I don't know. But how the murder investigation played out seemed highly unlikely (what do I know though? I wasn't there) but more importantly, that's just the first half of the book. The second half seems a bit boring in comparison.

The one problem this book has is that it never address why Yoko's father was being held prisoner. She's always maintained he was against the war and did no wrong. Now, students of history will find it hard to believe that a Japanese official station in Manchuria during this time did no wrong. But I'm not going to go so far as those that claim he was an official at Unit 731 (a Japanese unit that carried out horrific medical experiments in Manchuria during WWII). Because I just don't know.

Both are great books that I recommend as long as they can be read in a the proper context, which is going to need some help.

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I should review some books. I'm not really in the mood though. I'm a little angsty for no apparent reason. And tired. Semester ends tomorrow and I really can't wait. I've been working really hard on this project and it's been a good process, but I'm ready to be done with it.

BUT! I'm over at Geek Buffet today talking about the hip librarian coverage over the weekend.

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Hey dudes!

Check out these recent book-related posts I have over at Geek Buffet:

Harry Potter and the BIG FAT SECRET, pt II

Judging People by Their Covers

More book reviews this week, I promise.

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I'm blogging over at Geek Buffet today about guilty pleasures in reading. Check it out.

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