The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate

Summer reading has begun!  I love summer reading with my kids and they love to hear me read to them.  Of course I only pick books that I am also interested in reading, some I've previewed and some are new to all three of us.  The first book this summer was The One and Only Ivan  by Katherine Applegate.  I saw this book reviewed in several places and the reviews were all very positive. 

The One and Only Ivan is a fictional story based on real life events.  Ivan is a real gorilla who was captured as an infant in the Congo.  He lived for nearly thirty years in a circus themed shopping mall in Washington state.  After public outcry brought attention to the far less than ideal living conditions of the animals, Ivan was moved to a real zoo, Zoo Atlanta, where he lived with others of his kind to the ripe old age of 50.  He died just last August 20th.   

The fictional story is told from Ivan's point of view.  Ivan describes the mall, it's visitors, and his friends, both human and animal.  These friends include a small dog who claims to be a homeless wanderer, an elderly female elephant and, new to the mall, a baby female elephant.  As for Ivan's experience with humans, there is Mack, the mall owner, George, the mall janitor, and Julia, George's daughter.  Ivan tells the story of his long journey from Africa, the family he lost there, and how he came to live in the mall. 

One of the things I loved about this book is that Ivan can perfectly understand the humans.  He is disappointed that he cannot make them understand him.  When I was in elementary school, our class went on a field trip to the zoo.  They have since remodeled into a beautiful primate exhibit.  The day of our field trip, however, we were walking through the interior of the exhibit where we could see into the gorillas' inside habitats.  One gorilla was sitting with his back to the glass, ignoring the visitors.  My mother looked at him and said, "Wow.  He looks like he could break right through that glass if he wanted to."  Immediately after she said this, the large gorilla turned toward the glass and gave it a very loud hit.  We all jumped a good two feet in the air.  It's a funny story now, but it does make one wonder if that gorilla had understood her and was just confirming that yes, he could break through if he wanted.

As we have well established here, I am a crier.  This book more than accommodated me in that respect.  Reading aloud to my children, I occasionally had to stop for a tissue or three.  Neither my 6-year-old nor my 9-year-old joined me in my tears, but they both agreed that the situations were sad.  I think this is a wonderful book for teaching children compassion.  It also gives children a view of the outside world they may not have previously experienced.  I had to explain poaching and the grotesque market for the animal's body parts.  They were astonished that someone would want a gorilla hand in their home as a decoration or an ashtray.  I share in that bewilderment.  I also explained to them that even in our own country, animals are not always treated humanely.  I was able to ask them questions such as, "If you were an animal do you think you would like living in a cage?"  "Do you think that animals should be cared for and allowed to live in the most comfortable conditions possible?"  I also explained the difference in a Good Zoo and a Bad Domain (as does Ivan in the book).  This was the perfect book to begin our Summer Reading and I would absolutely recommend you add it to your list. 

We love Ivan.

Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness

The second installment in the All Souls Trilogy is Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness.  What I like most about this series is that it is smart.  The characters are smart and the author assumes that the reader has a somewhat high level of intelligence.  Not all authors do that.  I've read enough to know.

 

  Shadow of Night  follows Diana Bishop as she continues to pursue her magical education.  Only one problem: there is no one who can safely teach her, not in this time anyway.  Where A Discovery of Witches  is a wonderful magical novel surrounding witches, vampires and demons, Shadow of Night  becomes a historical novel following those same creatures in a time in which they aren't thought of as mythical.  The possibility of walking into a witch hunt becomes a very real and very dangerous possibility. 

 

While I know many people have become fatigued with stories of vampires, let me assure you this is very different.  I love that Diana Bishop is a very strong female character.  She stands up for herself and seems to know her own strength and worth.  That alone makes this series different.  These books are also fantastically complex.  There are dozens of characters and so many twists and turns that I am surprised I can keep up.  As I said, the Ms. Harkness expects her readers to be intelligent and her books are so much the better for it. 

 

The final book of the trilogy is not yet out and I am waiting anxiously for it.  There is no release date as of yet and so I must be patient.  I know once I get word that it will be published, I will have to go back and reread the first two installments.  Luckily for me they were so wonderful that won't be a chore at all.  I actually can't wait to read them again!

The Supremes at Earl's All-You-Can-Eat by Edward Kelsey Moore

I love it when a book grabs me as a reader and won't let go.  This month's book club selection did just that.  The Supremes at Earl's All-You-Can-Eat  by Edward Kelsey Moore follows Odette, Barbara Jean and Clarice over four decades of friendship.  They weather all their storms together- cheating husbands, the loss of a child, cancer and crazy fake fortune tellers.  These are friends every woman wishes to have.  "We overlooked each other's flaws and treated each other well, even when we didn't deserve it."

I laughed my way through this book and as usual, I cried a little, too.  This was a very quick read, it took me only four evenings to finish.  I wish I could tell you more, but I'm afraid if I were to start, I wouldn't be able to stop myself!  I can't recommend this book enough.  I will be shocked it we aren't hearing very soon about a film version in production.  It is really wonderful.

A Fairy Called Hilary by Linda Leopold Strauss

I saw this book, A Fairy Called Hilary  by Linda Leopold Strauss, at our library book store and had to buy it because I have a lovely friend named Hilary.  My friend Hilary is one of the funniest people I have ever met and she brings so much fun into every life she touches.  That sounds like a magic fairy to me.  I wanted to send it to her, but I thought I should give it a read first. 

 

It is a very short book, I read it in an evening and a morning, about a little girl, Caroline, whose life is suddenly made more exciting when a fairy comes to live with her.  I was interested to read in the front of the book that the story originally appeared as a series in Cricket, The Magazine for Children in 1995.  This was a cute story that will be enjoyed by younger readers ready to move to chapter books.  Scholastic recommends this book to Grades 3-5.  I think my favorite part of the book is the end when Caroline is sad about the prospect of her fairy friend Hilary leaving someday because fairies come "only for a visit.  Not forever.  It can never be forever."  Hilary tells Caroline she can remember her for as long as she wants and Caroline replies, "That's always, then."  My dear friend Hilary recently moved away and we were all very sad to see her go, but we can remember her always.  What a great thing for us to teach our children and remember ourselves:  our friends may move away, we may move away from our friends, but the memories of those wonderful people in our lives are ours to keep forever.

 

 

A Discovery of Witches

I have been hearing about this book for a long time, but it took me a while to get around to reading A Discovery of Witches  by Deborah Harkness.  Oh, it took me too long.  Actually, I saw it in a store right after it came out, but I didn't know anything about it and didn't really want to pay $20 for a hardback copy of a book of which I had never heard.  Then I saw it at a library book sale for $5, but my pile was too tall and I thought it could wait.  Finally, I went in to the library book store searching for something completely different and spied this on the shelf.  It was only $3, but alas I had only $2 in my pocket.  Suddenly, I wondered what section of books were on sale that day and would you believe it?  Fiction was a dollar off!  For $2 I was able to take this practically new gem home.  I love my library! 

 

Okay, so then I went to GoodReads to list it as currently reading and I browsed quickly through the reviews.  Those reviews had me a little worried.  There were a lot of 4- and 5-star reviews, but there were almost as many 1- and 2-star reviews.  Had I picked up a stinker?  The poor reviews complained that it was too long, that it needed more editing, and the most surprising to me, that it was too academic.  Readers complained that the science aspect of the novel was too complicated and they just couldn't understand what was going on.  Now, I'm no Sheldon Cooper, but I didn't have a hard time at all with the discussions of DNA and history.  While I can understand how one reviewer called it "Twilight for middle-aged academics", I thoroughly enjoyed it.  It was far smarter and better developed than Twilight and the characters are all educated adults.  Of course, it is still a fantasy, but that is the fun thing about reading, isn't it?  We get to dive into a fantasy world and run around in it for a bit. 

 

A Discovery of Witches  is about Diana Bishop, a direct descendant of one of the witches executed in the Salem Witch Trials.  Diana has spent most of her life trying to ignore the magic she has inherited from her parents, but the time has come when she can no longer turn her back on her heritage.  In Diana's world, not only do witches exist, but also vampires and daemons.  Most of the humans are oblivious to this fact, but a new crisis endangers their ignorance. 

 

I was sick this week and while it's no fun to be sick, it helps when one has a wonderful book with which to curl up on the couch.  That is just what I did.  The second book in the series has already been downloaded to my Kindle and I can't wait to get to it! 

My favorite quote:  "The scars don't bother me.  They're just signs that I've fought and survived."

Juniper Berry by M.P. Kozlowsky

 

Isn't that a lovely cover?  Maybe you can't judge a book by it's cover, but a good cover will definitely make you want to pick up the book and read it.  That was the case for me with Juniper Berry  by

M.P. Kozlowsky.  Last year, my son's second grade teacher was letting the kids pick a book to keep from a stack she had for student gifts.  I found myself wishing I was in her class and could pick this one.  Instead, I went right to Amazon to buy my own.

 

This is a wonderfully written cautionary tale about resisting the temptation to take the easy way in life.  Juniper's parents have become world famous actors, but they don't seem like Juniper's parents any more.  They have changed and it is most obvious when she looks into their blank eyes.  Perhaps this is also a book about parents who become so caught up in their work and with their own lives that they forget to give their children the attention they need.  Juniper takes it upon herself to discover the cause and save her parents.

 

I just love books with a female hero.  They just weren't that common when I was a kid and I feel particularly drawn to them now.  I am so grateful that my daughter will have so many wonderful heroines to emulate.  This book will be joining the stack intended for our family summer reading.  I hope the kids will like it as much as I did.

eleanore & park by Rainbow Rowell

From time to time, I come across a recommend on one of the book blogs I follow that is so convincing I just have to take it.  This book, eleanore & park  by Rainbow Rowell, was one of those books.  I don't always enjoy YA fiction because sometimes I feel like the writer just scratches the surface and doesn't really create a strong enough storyline.  This book was not like that.  I will admit that eleanore & park  did not make a great first impression.  I read the first few pages and seriously considered just returning it to the library.  Right away there is a lot of foul language and I mean a lot.  This is a book about teenagers and I know that a large percentage of teenagers curse, but it's still not my favorite thing to read.  I pressed on, fueled by that glowing review I had read, and I'm so glad that I did. 

 

eleanore & park is, not surprisingly, about two teenagers named Eleanore and Park.  They live in a not-so-nice part of Omaha, Nebraska in 1986-87.  The book begins with Eleanore, the new kid who doesn't look like she is going to have an easy time fitting in with the other kids, boarding the school bus for the first time.  She gets on the bus and no one will let her sit down.  The other kids scoot to the edge of the seat or place their bags so that there is no room.  The bus driver is screaming at her to sit down when Park, the only Asian kid who has his own troubles fitting in, finally moves over and tells her to sit down, but not exactly in the nicest fashion.  For weeks, Eleanore sits with Park, never speaking, never even looking up.  She is picked on and called names and becomes the new favorite target of all teenage cruelty.  The bus and gym class are where she suffers the most.

 

Unfortunately for Eleanore, school is not the worst of her problems.  She lives in a very small home, sharing a very small bedroom with her three younger siblings.  The bunk bed is so small that the boys have to sleep on the floor. The bathroom is in the kitchen and doesn't even have a door.  They have very little food and she has only two or three sets of clothes, all purchased at the thrift store and either stretched out or filled with holes.  Her stepfather is a drunk who beats her mother and hates Eleanore.  The children live in a state of constant fear and hunger.  It is not a good situation, to say the least.

 

Gradually, Eleanore and Park become friends and then more.  It is so sweet watching two outcasts find someone with whom they have so much in common.  I had so much fun experiencing the beginning of a teen romance with them, but I also cried.  It is so hard to be a teenager, especially when there is so much else working against said teenager.

 

This is a book I would almost add to my Teen Required Reading list, but I would have to do so with caution.  The language and a few make out scenes may cause some parents to pause before passing this to their child.  On the other hand, the topics of bullying and domestic violence are important as well as the need to understand that some people have much more difficult circumstances than we might realize.  One of my favorite quotes is "Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle."  If we could somehow help our teenagers, and ourselves, understand this, the world would be filled with so much more compassion.  I will recommend this book to you, adult Smart Girls, and if you so desire, pass it along.