All the Crooked Saints by Maggie Steifvater

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater is one of my favorite books.

I loved her Raven Cycle series.

But All the Crooked Saints––Stiefvater's latest novel––hit a soft place inside me, where love meets darkness longing for redemption. In her book, she tells a story rife with magical realism that strips away the stupidity of religion and pokes at the characters that are hurting and want to be healed. This is the sort of story I love––where an author is able to deal with real life issues in ways that feel like fantasy. Or maybe this was a fantasy, that felt like real life.

Three cousins live with their extended family on a ranch in Colorado where pilgrims will come hoping for a miracle. One of the cousins is can provide a miracle but what happens after that is up to the pilgrim. And what happens when that balance of miracle and darkness is tipped? Thus the story begins to move forward in interesting ways.  It results in a whirlwind of life-changing events for all three cousins.

I found that it took me awhile for the story to settle in and make sense, so I encourage readers to push through the seemingly confusing first pages. It is well worth the read.

I don't know if Stiefvater is a Christian or just someone who understands the darkness that exists in the world. Her view of how we should deal with that darkness is beautifully rendered through this story.  We are all crooked saints.

Turtles All the Way Down by John Green

I have been a fan of John Green for years. In his latest novel, Turtles All the Way Down, he gives readers an excellent picture of what it means to suffer, to be imperfect and yet be loved. What starts as a mystery, soon becomes the story of one teen's struggle to understand (or rather decide) if she is a whole person.

This book is an incredible inside-look into the fears and identity crises we all have experienced manifested intensely inside one girl.

When Aza discovers a long-ago friend's billionaire father goes missing, she and her friend Daisy decide they will try and solve the missing-person case for the offered reward.  But as they dig into the past to find clues, they discover more about themselves than they do the case, resulting in a series of life-changing events.

Green again gives readers uncompromising characters who are able to be funny, honest, raw and likable. This is my favorite of his to date.

Toot & Puddle by Holly Hobbie

Friends, even those who live together, can be very different. Such is the case with pigs, Toot and Puddle. Toot wants to see the world; Puddle likes to stay at home in Woodcock Pocket.

 (Woodcock Pocket: I love saying that aloud. So satisfying in the mouth).

Holly Hobbie's pictures are stunning, which is why I fell in love with these darling pigs. Their understanding of the sorts of differences we find in each other - and embrace -  is a lovely picture of friendship for young children.

I fell for her earlier books - before they became more brightly colored and eventually a tv series. I will advocate for the originals as my favorites by far.









You can find more of the original-style adventures with Toot & Puddle here:

Swimming Lessons by Claire Fuller

I would love to turn this book into a stage play. I spent one whole night dreaming up exactly how I would stage certain scenes, with a revolving set that transforms from the past cabin to the present-day cabin.

Aaaah. Fuller's Swimming Lessons has left an indelible print on my heart. It centers on the relationship between Gil and his wife, Ingrid, who disappeared 12 years ago. The book begins with Gil thinking he has seen his lost-missing wife outside his bookstore and chasing her outside. In this process he becomes ill and his adult daughter, Flora, comes to stay with him for time. She is a woman who still longs for her absent mother and thinks this visit might finally provide her with answers to past.

Flora's present-day chapters are broken up by letters Ingrid wrote to her husband before tucking them into books, where her husband may or may not ever find and read them. Together, these letters give a picture of how she and Gil met, fell in love and what led to her disappearance.  As Flora cares for her father, she learns some of what happened in the past and must make hard choices about what they mean for her future.

I loved this character-driven story filled with mystery, regret, sorrow and love.

Did I mention I want to make it into a stage play?

The Diviners by Libba Bray

OK. So while the storm blew spitty snow and our electricity was out for 12 hours last night, I had to finish this book. By flashlight. It was that good.  I knew it would be. Libba Bray is a fabulous writer. After her book, Beauty Queens, I about had a heart attack from laughing. The Diviners took her knack for witty dialogue and wrapped it in a 1920's bow. Memphis, a numbers runner in Harlem, hides a dark secret. Evie, who aspires to a real flapper girl, can tell something about you if she touches something you own. Theta is running from a dark past.  Their lives converge in New York City. And something is coming. Something dark and old and sinister. 

Bad news: it's the start of a series, which means even after the 578-page first book it still leaves a whole lot of questions unanswered

Good news: it's the start of a series! You want more (NOW!)

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

I've seen The Prestige. I've seen The Illusionist. And I liked them both. So I figured, based on the book jacket - which seemed so very, very like those plot lines - I would like this book, too.

I was wrong about it being like those movies. And I should know better, right?  Morgenstern has crafted a unique book that is magical and haunting and suspenseful. I was intrigued from the beginning when Celia is just a little girl growing up under her circus father and she is able to do what most girls cannot. Thus begins her life duel with another magician, Marco. It is a love story like no other, set in a time and place where in order to be the greatest, you must kill the one you love.

The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom by Christopher Healey

Why do the princesses always get the story named after them? Think about it....Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Rupunzel...there is no fairy tale called  'The Brave Prince Charming'. And why? Because every fairy tale hero is named Prince Charming. And the Princes Charming are quite upset about that, too.  The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom is their story.

I read this book aloud to my children (ages 9, 7, and 6) and they LOVED it. It gave me opportunity to do some really fun voices for each of the princesses  - Cinderella, Snow White, Rupunzel and Sleeping Beauty-  and Princes, respectively - Frederick, Duncan, Gustav and Liam -who all have very different personalities; . Each character has been delightfully given a backstory to the fairy tale we know and an evil witch who plans to overthrow all of the kingdoms...unless the Princes Charming can work together. Throw in a giant, some dwarves, a dragon and a host of other adventures and you've got a hilarious romp to Save Your Kingdom. 

Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese

 

My aunt Marcia recommended Cutting for Stone but it wasn't until my library book club decided on this title that I ended up reading it.  Why did I wait? I immediately told my husband he needed to read it. But he didn't right away either and then when he did he was as awash with awe as I was. This is a gorgeous picture of how our choices have lasting repercussions.

It is the story of twin Indian brothers, orphaned at birth, growing up in Ethiopia at a mission hospital. Surrounded by illness and the mystery of who their parents really were, the boys grow up learning the hard lessons of death, love and the bond between brothers.

Cutting for Stone gave voice to the things that shape us and how sometimes one small thing becomes the hinge upon which the rest of our lives turn. Two brothers. One love. A ripping apart. A cutting. This is a beautiful book.

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

 

If ever there was a writer whose dialogue makes me laugh out loud (or want to meet his characters in real life), it's John Green. Sadly, I did not get to meet him before we left the Indy area. Perhaps we can blame this on the fact that I only recently discovered his work.

I have since read two other books by Mr. Green, both of which won the Printz Award : Looking for Alaska, and An Abundance of Katherines. 

Funny enough, it was The Fault in Our Stars that I enjoyed most. It centers on Hazel, a teenage girl who has cancer and doesn't really live until she meets Augustus Waters at a cancer support group. While this has all the makings of a weepy romance produced by Hallmark, this book has enough wit and realism to make Hallmark look away. It is possibly one of the best books I've ever read which deals with the messiness and ugliness and truth about dying.

Chloe and the Lion by Marc Barnett and Adam Rex

First off, I love Adam Rex's style. And this whole book concept is brilliant. You can see from the cover that both author, Marc, and illustrator, Adam, have roles to play. In the grand style of Mo Willems' pigeon and so many other recent children's authors, the reader is front and center in the book, being told things from their points of view. My kids go gaga for this!

If you want a book that is fun to read aloud AND will make your child grab the book out of your hands the minute you're done so they can read it AGAIN to themselves, well -here is a great one.

Look at Me by Jennifer Egan

I was first introduced to Jennifer Egan's work via A Visit from the Goon Squad, which my husband read and recommended. Rightfully so. Now only did Goon Squad win the Pulitzer, it was my gateway drug to Egan's fabulous writing which focuses not on plot, but on the motivations of characters.

Look at Me centers on a young model who after a car accident must have her face (and thus her identity both inside and out) reconstructed.  Like all Egan books, though, you are introduced to a number of characters who are all struggling with who they are and how they are shaped by their experiences and  the people who surround them.

That sort of synopsis alone would not typically draw me to any book. It sounds too mystical for my liking. But this is a stunning look at how we are all made into the people we are. By following a host of very different characters in academic, fashion, and journalistic arenas we can't help but look to our own life and say, look at me.

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

                                                           

Ah, this book.  This book left me breathless. It drew on Welsh mythology involving flesh-eating horses that would rise out of the sea. One girl and one man (who made me think of Man from Snowy River...) who both, for their own reasons, decide to ride one of these wild beasts in the Scorpio Races. It is no surprise that this book won the Printz Award.


I had previously read Shiver and Linger by Stiefvater, which pale in comparison to this stunner.  (I guess Shiver is being made into a movie, as will Scorpio Races eventually). But, movies aside!

                                             


The Scorpio Races was recommended to me as a "if you like Hunger Games try this out" book. When I went into it, I was expecting another 'games' type scenario. Not at all, and yet the female protagonist, Puck, held a similarilty to Katniss in her determined spirit. This is not a book for just girls. I would hand this to anyone and say, "Read!"

  (ht Allie at Hyberbole and a half for her awesome art)

The Orchardist by Amanda Coplin

Most recently I finished The Orchardist by Amanda Coplin.  In some ways it reminded me of Charles Frazier's writing (author of Cold Mountain and Thirteen Moons, both recommended reads...even if you already saw the Cold Mountain movie...books are always better! Ahem.)  My husband loves books where it shows what it means to be a man, dealing with struggle and pain and loss. This book is one I intend to have him read for those reasons, but also because the main character, Talmadge, has a quietness about him that made his simple life choices in the face of turmoil all the more poignant. 

Here is the synopsis from Amazon: 

"At the turn of the twentieth century, in a rural stretch of the Pacific Northwest, a reclusive orchardist, William Talmadge, tends to apples and apricots as if they were loved ones. A gentle man, he's found solace in the sweetness of the fruit he grows and the quiet, beating heart of the land he cultivates. One day, two teenage girls appear and steal his fruit from the market; they later return to the outskirts of his orchard to see the man who gave them no chase. Feral, scared, and very pregnant, the girls take up on Talmadge's land and indulge in his deep reservoir of compassion. Just as the girls begin to trust him, men arrive in the orchard with guns, and the shattering tragedy that follows will set Talmadge on an irrevocable course not only to save and protect but also to reconcile the ghosts of his own troubled past."

The Gardener by Sarah Stewart

I mentioned The Friend, the first book I read by Sarah Stewart, on here a few months ago. It made me cry. 

Yesterday I read another of her books which did the exact same thing. In fact, my husband walked in, saw me crying and read the book for himself. Stewart's husband, David Small, offers poignant pictures in this simple story told through the letters of a girl living away from her family during the 1930's.  When she is sent to live with her uncle, a baker in the city, she is determined to make the stern man smile. She finds a secret place where she can plant the flowers she loves and with the help of new friends, makes it beautiful.

If you're looking for an uplifting, beautifully told story, I recommend The Gardener.

Pssst! by Adam Rex

I read Pssst! for the first time today and had to post.

Part comic book, part prose, completely funny. A young girl goes to the zoo and is enlisted by a variety of animals to get them items they desire. The penguins want paint, the sloths want bicycle helmets. Why? she asks them all. Each creature is able to answer with a seemingly logical response.

I found the choices Rex made both visually and with typesetting a treat, aiding in the out-loud reading of this book. (Think: words covered in ice for the penguins and a bright Hola! from the javelina). My almost five-year old asked for it to be read again immediately.

Toy Boat by Randall deSeve

This story, beautifully illustrated by Loren Long,  gives life to a small boat that ventures away from his boy one day. In the wake of larger, faster boats on the lake, the toy boat feels lost and scared, but mostly alone.

While it focuses on the adventure of the toy, I loved that it showed the connection between the boy and his beloved boat. Children will connect with the boat's feelings, but also with the boy at the thought of losing a favorite toy.

* Don't worry-this one has a wonderful, happy ending.

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick

The Invention of Hugo Cabret is the 2008 Caldecott winner, usually assigned to a 29 page book with colorful illustrations and geared toward an elementary student.  Selznick rocked the world with this novel in words and pencil drawings--over 500 pages of them.

So why include it here? I had a mother tell me she read this aloud to her son at bedtime over the course of a couple weeks and he LOVED it.

Rife with mystery and amazing pictures, it is a wonderful choice for introducing a young child to the art of a well-written novel:

  





My rating:

The Three Pigs by David Weisner

This book won the Caldecott in 2002 and I'm always reviewing the list of past winners to see if my children are ready for them. Amazingly enough, though the award is given for illustrations, sometimes the amount of words accompanying them makes them unpalatable for young ears.

However, The Three Pigs is not only well-drawn, but has a great storyline within the pictures. The pigs rescue familiar nursery rhyme characters as they 'jump' out of their own story to avoid the wolf. As with many books that rely on the pictures to tell the story, it many require some adult explanation for younger children to understand. But therein lies another beautiful thing about this book: there is an invitation for the adult to participate in the creative process of storytelling.