Marvelous Middle Grade Monday: The Strange Case of Origami Yoda

Middle Grade Author Shannon Whitney Messenger began Marvelous Middle Grade Mondays a while back. If you love middle grade literature, check out her blog for a list of other sites featuring MG books.

Today I will talk about The Strange Case of Origami Yoda by Tom Angleberger.

From Goodreads: In this funny, uncannily wise portrait of the dynamics of a sixth-grade class and of the greatness that sometimes comes in unlikely packages, Dwight, a loser, talks to his classmates via an origami finger puppet of Yoda. If that weren’t strange enough, the puppet is uncannily wise and prescient. Origami Yoda predicts the date of a pop quiz, guesses who stole the classroom Shakespeare bust, and saves a classmate from popularity-crushing embarrassment with some well-timed advice. Dwight’s classmate Tommy wonders how Yoda can be so smart when Dwight himself is so clueless. With contributions from his puzzled classmates, he assembles the case file that forms this novel.

From Vicki: This was one of the cutest and most unusal reads in a long while. The case file concept really worked, thanks to Tommy’s commentary at the bottom of each classmate’s story, one friend’s cynical comments, and another friend’s doodles. At heart is an age-old question, Does So-and-so really like me? Tommy isn’t willing to let Origami Yoda answer that question without understanding where OY’s wisdom comes from and if he’s for real.

So this book had heart and lots of laugh-out-loud-funny moments. A-Read loved it, too, even though he could care less about whether this boy likes that girl, and all that. He loved the humor. And the finger puppet. And of course, he and his younger brother, with help from RocketMan, made their own Origami Yoda finger puppets when he finished the book (directions included at the end of the book).

The sequel, Darth Paper Strikes Back, sounds like it will be more of the same. It is out now, so I’ll have to get that for A-Read ASAP!

A-Read’s Recs

This is a series based on the Book Talks my 8-year-old son writes for school. As you’ll see, he is not ready for publication, but he knows what he likes.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling

I was inspired to read this book because I like the series.

The story takes place in England.

The main character in the book is Harry.

Here is how I would describe the main character: He is a 14 year old boy that is a wizard. He lost his parents to the evil lord Voldemort but he survived.

Another important character is Cedric Diggory.

Here is how I would describe this character: He is a 17 year old wizard who is one of the Triwizard Tournament champions. Cedric and Harry helped each other with the tournament.

The story is about four young wizards from three wizard schools.

The main problem is Harry got entered into the tournament even though he isn’t yet 17.

I liked this book because Professor Mad Eye Moody taught them the unforgiveable curses.

A connection I made while reading this book was Harry and I really like to fly and Harry is really good at it.

I would recommend this book to [his best friend] because we both like the series.

I give this book 5 stars out of 5.

(He was so into this book that he didn’t use any yellow sticky notes.)

Top 10 Books I Read in 2011

According to Goodreads, I read 48 books last year. Frankly, I was surprised that number wasn’t higher. I think I may have missed a few. Anyway, here are my favorites (in reverse chronological order). The most recent 3 are middle grade and the rest are young adult. If I featured the book in a Read Through Thursday or Marvelous Middle Grade Monday post, then the link is embedded. The dates in parentheses are when each book was published, not when I read them.

The Strange Case of Origami Yoda by Tom Angleberger (Mar 2010)

Savvy by Ingrid Law (May 2008)

Elliot and the Goblin War by Jennifer Nielsen (Oct 2010)

Luminous by Dawn Metcalf (Jul 2011)

Divergent by Veronica Roth (May 2011)

The Demon’s Surrender by Sarah Rees Brennan (Jun 2011)

Red Glove by Holly Black (Apr 2011)

Darkness Becomes Her by Kelly Keaton (Feb 2011)

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver (Mar 2010)

Magic Under Glass by Jaclyn Dolamore (Feb 2010)

* If I do my top 10 YA books of 2011, I would replace the 3 MG books with:

Across the Universe by Beth Revis (Jan 2011)

The Liar Society by Lisa and Laura Roecker (Mar 2011)

The Shattering by Karen Healey (Sep 2011)

This was a tough choice. Several books vied for that last position. I learned quite a bit by looking at my list of books read. For example, I was definitely fantasy-heavy last year. I think I read more contemporary YA in 2010, which probably reflects what I was writing at the time. I’m happy to see a large number of debut books here, mixed in with a couple of sequels.

How many books did you read in 2011? Are you setting any reading goals for the new year?

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday: Elliot & the Goblin War

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and is looking forward to a new year filled with health, happiness, and success (whatever that means to you)!

Middle Grade Author Shannon Whitney Messenger began Marvelous Middle Grade Mondays a while back. If you love middle grade literature, check out her blog for a list of other sites featuring MG books.

Today I’ll talk about Elliot & the Goblin War by Jennifer Nielsen. 

From Goodreads: As of today, there are only seven children who have ever read this book and lived to tell about it. Ninety five children successfully read the first chapter, but upon beginning Chapter Two, they started blabbering in some language known only as “flibberish,” which makes it very hard to tell their parents why they can’t finish their homework. The only thing known for sure about those who read the final chapters of this book is that something in Chapter Fifteen seems to make body parts fall off. Read it now, if you dare. But don’t say you haven’t been warned, for this is the story that unfolds the mysteries of the Underworld.

From Vicki: The blurb above comes from the foreword of the book and its tone is faithful to the narrative tone of the entire book. But since the above doesn’t actually tell you what the story is about, allow me to summarize. Elliot is a human boy who once saved a Brownie from Goblins and now the Brownies want him to help them stop the war with the Goblins. The Goblins, on the other hand, don’t want to end the war, but they would be happy to end Elliot.

Elliot has a bunch of siblings (one of whom cooks for them and always burns dinner), lives in a crooked house, and is bullied by a human named Tubs. Now, I don’t know any children in the same circumstances, but anyone can relate to Elliot’s journey. You will root for him to figure out how to do the best he can for the Brownies without losing his life.

I unequivocally loved this book. The story moves at a quick pace and the voice had me on page one. I kept laughing out loud on the elliptical at my local gym.

A-Read is looking forward to reading this one, too, as soon as he finishes Savvy. He especially wants to read about the character named Fudd Fartwick. Which illustrates some of Jennifer Nielsen’s brilliance. She gets the sense of humor of 8-year-old boys and delivers the kind of situations, character names, and character traits that young boys will appreciate.

Elliot and the Pixie Plot (Book 2 of the Underworld Chronicles) was published in May by Sourcebooks and is now on my to-read list.

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday: Savvy

Middle Grade Author Shannon Whitney Messenger began Marvelous Middle Grade Mondays a while back. If you love middle grade literature, check out her blog for a list of other sites featuring MG books.

Today I’ll talk about Savvy by Ingrid Law.

From Goodreads: For generations, the Beaumont family has harbored a magical secret. They each possess a “savvy” -a special supernatural power that strikes when they turn thirteen. Grandpa Bomba moves mountains, her older brothers create hurricanes and spark electricity . . . and now it’s the eve of Mibs’s big day.

As if waiting weren’t hard enough, the family gets scary news two days before Mibs’s birthday: Poppa has been in a terrible accident. Mibs develops the singular mission to get to the hospital and prove that her new power can save her dad. So she sneaks onto a salesman’s bus . . . only to find the bus heading in the opposite direction. Suddenly Mibs finds herself on an unforgettable odyssey that will force her to make sense of growing up -and of other people, who might also have a few secrets hidden just beneath the skin.

From Vicki: I have been recommending this book to every child of appropriate age (from 8 up, depending on the reader). Neighbors, friends, family. Everyone. From the first sentence, Mibs’s voice leaps off the page at you. Any backstory is so fascinating that you just want more. And the plot is a rollicking joyride. Actually, a heartwarming and rollicking joyride.

I loved the theme that we all have a savvy, even if not in the sense of the Beaumont family. We all have something special about us, our own kind of magic.

And the family names – from Grandpa Bomba and Grandma Dollop to Mibs (short for Mississippi) and her siblings (Rocket, Fish, Samson, and Gypsy). My kids got a kick out of hearing about the characters.

What books can’t you stop recommending to everyone who’ll listen?

Read-Through Thursday: Little Brother

This is a series wherein I will discuss whatever book I’m reading or have just finished.  Feel free to post in the comments what you’re reading or your own thoughts about the books I discuss.

Little Brother by Cory Doctorow

From Goodreads: Marcus, a.k.a “w1n5t0n,” is only seventeen years old, but he figures he already knows how the system works–and how to work the system. Smart, fast, and wise to the ways of the networked world, he has no trouble outwitting his high school’s intrusive but clumsy surveillance systems.

But his whole world changes when he and his friends find themselves caught in the aftermath of a major terrorist attack on San Francisco. In the wrong place at the wrong time, Marcus and his crew are apprehended by the Department of Homeland Security and whisked away to a secret prison where they’re mercilessly interrogated for days.

When the DHS finally releases them, Marcus discovers that his city has become a police state where every citizen is treated like a potential terrorist. He knows that no one will believe his story, which leaves him only one option: to take down the DHS himself.

From Vicki: Go check out the reviews on Goodreads to see how controversial this novel is. I was actually quite surprised by the vehemence of some of the negative reviews. I felt like I’d read a completely different book. I enjoyed this one a lot and it really stayed with me afterward (I read it in April). Putting it down, my glassy eyes didn’t focus for several minutes, and I couldn’t get Marcus out of my head.

I don’t tend to read sci-fi, and I wouldn’t have called this sci-fi, but others do. There is a lot of technology and some violence and some sex, but all of that was just background to me. The story moved along at a great pace and I cared what happened to Marcus and his friends.  I felt sick for them at certain points.

The voice and the tension kept me turning pages.

Have any of you read it? Which side of the debate do you land on?

PS I just read on Twitter that Cory Doctorow is working on Little Brother II!

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday: Beyond Lucky

Middle Grade Author Shannon Whitney Messenger began Marvelous Middle Grade Mondays a while back. If you love middle grade literature, check out her blog for a list of other sites featuring MG books.

Here’s how Goodreads describes Beyond Lucky by Sarah Aronson: Ari Fish believes in two things: his hero-Wayne Timcoe, the greatest soccer goalie to ever come out of Somerset Valley-and luck. So when Ari finds a rare and valuable Wayne Timcoe trading card, he’s sure his luck has changed for the better. Especially when he’s picked to be the starting goalie on his team. But when the card is stolen-and his best friend and the new girl on the team accuse each other of taking it-suddenly Ari can’t save a goal, everyone is fighting, and he doesn’t know who, or what, to believe in.

Before the team falls apart, Ari must learn how to make his own luck, and figure out what it truly means to be a hero.

Vicki says: One of the themes of this book reminds me of a post I wrote earlier this year about imbuing our characters with heroic qualities. In that post I mentioned that Jimmy Carter used to be my hero, because of his humanitarian endeavors. But in his last book (and in his defense of it), Mr. Carter made some comments that many people found offensive, and basically meant that this politically-aware Jewish girl couldn’t continue to keep him on such a high pedestal.

Ari goes through a similar experience. What do you do when your heroes are found to have “feet of clay?” Heroes are human, too, but we tend to hold them to a higher standard. What happens when they can’t live up to our standards?

This is the kind of theme that gets me in the heart and the head. Combine it with tight writing, good characterizations, and a well-woven plot, and you have the makings of a GOAL! Not just any goal, of course, but the goal that leads to winning the league championship for the first time in fifteen years.

I originally picked up Beyond Lucky to see if A-Read would like it. His teacher wants him to broaden his horizons beyond fantasy. Like Ari, he loves soccer, and he will be studying for his Bar Mitzvah in a few years. (You do not need to be Jewish to appreciate this book.) While I loved this book and highly recommend it to MG readers, Beyond Lucky is a little beyond my 8-year-old. But he will read it one day. Definitely.

Who are your heroes? Do they continue to live up to your ideals?

Favorite Quotes from SCBWI Winter 2011

This is a repost from last winter, but as it gets colder and colder here in Upstate New York, I thought we could all use the reminders.

I had an awesome, inspiring weekend in New York City. I made some new writerly friends (Hi, Guys!  *waves*), and met some amazing authors.

Here are some highlights – I apologize if my quotes are not exact. I did my best to take faithful notes, but I also didn’t want to miss anything important by focusing on note-taking.

• Picture books are the lynchpin of a child’s emotional beginning. Jane Yolen
• “I’ve read 40 of your books and they’re so boring.”  From a letter by a child to R.L. Stine
• Say yes to everything. You never know where it will lead.  R.L. Stine
• Save the chaos and drama for your books. Sara Zarr
• Fundamental difference between adults and kids is that kids are shorter. Mo Willems
• Don’t believe in yourself. Believe in the work. Linda Sue Park

A-Read’s Recs

This is a new series based on the Book Talks my 8-year-old son writes for school. As you’ll see, he is not ready for publication, but he knows what he likes. And I think it’s great for us kidlit writers to read the opinions of our audience.

Jack Blank and the Imagine Nation by Matt Myklusch

I was inspired to read this book because my mom brought it home from the public library.

The story takes place in the Imagine Nation.

The main character in the book is Jack.

Here is how I would describe the main character: cool, smart, and awesome.

Another important character is Jazen.

Here is how I would describe this character: smart, cool, robotic, and nice!

The story is about Jack Blank who doesn’t know he has superpowers but he does.

The main problem is they can’t figure out what his powers are.

I liked this book because it had a lot of cool parts.

A connection I made while reading this book was I didn’t have one (despite many many notes).*

I would recommend this book to people who like superheroes because half the city are superheroes.

I give this book 5 stars out of 5.

*His teacher asks them to take notes while reading, about anything that occurs to them. He told me she calls it thinking about the book. So now all his books have multiple yellow sticky notes sticking out of them with notes like, “I’m amazed that Jack wanted to read Smart’s science books,” “Because Smart is asking where he was 137 minutes and 49 seconds ago,” and “Because Galaxis is giant space-port with aliens all over the place.”

Thanksgiving Abroad

As you probably know, we celebrated Thanksgiving here in the States last Thursday. Now that the holiday has passed, I am reminded of the Thanksgiving I spent in France when I was in college. Our school put on a special lunch for us at a fancy-pants restaurant in Paris. And it was fine.

But my roommate (let’s call her Mary, for the sake of protecting the innocent) and I had other plans for the holiday. The weekend before, we had met two French guys, one of whom was half-American (we’ll call him John, to protect myself), and they invited us to have Thanksgiving with them and the family of the whole-French guy (I’ll call him Pierre). So, yeah, we cooked a Thanksgiving meal in the kitchen of a family we’d never met before. Did I mention I was in college?

In between classes, because Thanksgiving is not a holiday in France, and that lunch the college planned, Mary and I shopped for obscure ingredients like cranberries. That’s not an obscure ingredient here in the States – especially here in the Northeast. But it sure was hard to find in Paris. And we had to come up with recipes from our heads. Luckily, Pierre took care of the turkey. It was just a turkey breast, and I think it might have already been stuffed with something really frou-frou French like spinach and herbs. But it was at least one thing we didn’t have to worry about.

We had a lovely meal. Mary did an awesome job – she did most of the cooking and I helped where I could. Pierre’s family was welcoming and appreciative. John kept looking at me a certain way and putting his arm across the back of my chair – but that’s for another story and I think that we just won’t go there. Our French Thanksgiving was memorable.

This year, RocketMan made a Turducken and it came out great. We had a lot of food, but leftovers are part of the holiday.

What was your most memorable holiday?