BOOK REVIEW: Nest by Esther Ehrlich

This is Freshman orientation week for my daughter at college. A whole new life phase has begun. I’ve been wallowing in nostalgia lately, and one piece of that was a mental tabulation of the literary journey I’ve taken with my kids. Because of them, I revisited so many favorites from my own youth and discovered kids' classics I hadn’t gotten around to or known about, as well as a wealth of new children’s literature. It saddens me to think how much of that has trailed off. I still read YA, but not as much as I used to. And I never read middle grade fiction anymore.

So it was fortuitous to see Nest by Esther Ehrlich as a Netgalley offering. I thought, why not? And then I devoured it in a sitting.

Nest is the story of Naomi (Chirp) Orenstein and her neighbor, Joey, two eleven-year-olds with big problems. Chirp’s tight-knit family is on the verge of rupture by her mother’s impending diagnosis of multiple sclerosis and depression. Her father, a psychiatrist, cannot cure his beloved wife’s ills, and has difficulty dealing with a truculent thirteen-year-old daughter (Rachel, Chirp’s sister) and the sensitive Chirp.

Chirp’s lifeline is her friend, Joey, a good kid who’s been dealt a bad hand. He lives next door. His older brothers are bullies, behavior learned from an abusive father. Chirp knows something isn’t right in Joey’s family but doesn’t know what. There are secrets in everyone’s families.

This is a lovely book. It’s a bit dark and might be too heavy for children on the younger end of the targeted age group, though it is certainly appropriate for older tweens. The writing is superb so it is a perfect book for strong readers in that age range who are moving beyond the simplistic. Naomi has an endearing voice and the author also captures the frightened, rebellious voice of the 13-year-old sister perfectly. Joey is heartbreakingly real.

If you are fortunate enough to have a tween reader in your life at this stage, one who enjoys contemporary novels, Nest is due out September 9.

DISCLAIMER: I received a free review copy from Netgalley. This did not affect my review.

YA BOOK REVIEW: The Legend of the King by Gerald Morris

The only bad thing about the story of Camelot is that I know how it’s going to end.

   King Arthur has played a large role in my long love affair with the middle ages. Once upon a time, the Arthurian ideal of chivalry embodied for me all the romantic and glorious images the word "medieval" conjured up: gallant knights, noble ladies, castles, questing, the protection of the downtrodden etc. Of course I learned that the real middle ages were nothing like Camelot. But I was thrilled to learn how the Arthurian romances were born in the middle ages. These extraordinary tales have survived through the centuries. They have been told and retold. New generations of story tellers have built upon them, turned them on their heads, told them from the point of view of major and minor characters– the adventure and romance live on.
But there is no escaping the fact that Camelot ends tragically. Good and evil clash. Evil doesn’t exactly triumph but it is a pyrrhic victory for good. No matter how you slice and dice the tale, it will break your heart.

   Which brings me to one of my favorite series of books and my review for today. If you like adventure tales that will captivate you, make you laugh out loud, characters that will win your heart, and writing that will make you stand in awe of the cleverness of the author, try reading The Squire’s Tale(s) by Gerald Morris. This ten book collection is written for older middle grade kids (I swear they are equally entertaining for boys and girls) and for teens. But if you are a grown-up who likes Arthuriana and you have no convenient young person around, go ahead and read the books just for yourself. The obvious jokes will entertain kids while the more subtle humor will have parents chuckling as they read between the lines.

   Morris retells several classic Arthurian tales, remaining surprisingly faithful to original storylines, but inserting enough extra context to help modern-day readers make sense of medieval material. Most, but not all, of the books make use of the boy named Terence from book number one (The Squire’s Tale) who ends up being squire to Sir Gawain, King Arthur’s nephew. Terence has other talents that I will leave you to discover. I read the book with my son, who was about 8 or 9 at the time. He was hooked. We’ve reread it more than once over the years.

   Still, it isn’t my favorite book in the series. My favorites are The Savage Damsel and the Dwarf (Book III) and The Ballad of Sir Dinadan (Book V). I think Dinadan ranks up there with my favorite fictional characters of all time.

   So, after nine marvelous books, Gerald Morris brings his series to a close with The Legend of the King, which tells the story of the final confrontation between Arthur and Mordred, using for excuse the affair between Queen Guinevere and Sir Lancelot. We’ve seen hints of the end. Mordred, Arthur’s illegitimate son, (his only son and thus his heir), has been lurking for the past couple of books. Sensitive characters (like Terence) have felt something amiss. Therefore, anyone who knows the story of Camelot will pick up this last book with a bittersweet reluctance. Gerald Morris will tell the story and tell it well. But even he can’t change the course of well-known fictional history. Can he?

   Knowing it would break my heart, I had to read it anyway. I had to see the way this version brought Arthur’s legend to a close.

   These books don’t have to be read in order because each one is a pretty well self-contained tale. However, I do recommend that you read them sequentially since I think ALL series should be read that way. And I think this one also has a more pleasing chronology if read from one to ten. Save The Legend of the King for last, but by all means, read it. The legend of Arthur is not complete without its finale.

   Have I gushed enough?

MG BOOK REVIEW: The Mother-Daughter Book Club #1 and #4

Heather Vogel Frederick has written a wonderful series of books for middle grade/young teen girls.

I bought the first book in the series, The Mother-Daughter Book Club, for my daughter a few years ago. I confess that when I saw it in the store I was smitten with the idea of the title. Part of me hoped that my daughter would fall for it and we would be trotting off to a mother-daughter book club of our own. Well, that wasn’t going to happen. Nevertheless, I was happy with the outcome of the purchase: she loved the book. (We were going through a phase where books I suggested were dismissed out of hand.) Now, she was telling me to read the book!

It went on my pile, but, I’m sorry to say, I didn’t immediately follow through on her endorsement. (Like daughter like mother.) Even though she eagerly read each new instalment, it took awhile for me to pick up book number one. But I did get to it.

The Mother-Daughter Book Club is a delightful story following the trials and tribulations of four girls and their mothers during a middle school year. Although not all the best of friends at the start, they grow on one another, bound together by the book club and their discussions of Little Women. The references to that classic were interesting and didn’t overwhelm the modern day tale. Each of the girls had social and/or home problems that girls today can relate to. There was a "mean" girl they had to struggle against and eventually find a way to accommodate. In short, it was a strongly written contemporary tween girl friendship book with a nice literary twist.

I can appreciate the appeal of these books and was very pleased that my daughter gobbled up the series, especially because it called her attention to the books "assigned" in the book club. We’d already read Little Women and Anne of Green Gables, but in book 3 of the series, Dear Pen Pal, the girls tackle Daddy-Long-Legs. This was a cherished favorite of my own teen years, and I was thrilled to see my daughter reading it – and loving it. That inspired me to reread it and enjoy it all over again.

Still, I didn’t keep reading the series. I’m not the target audience; my daughter is. Although I appreciate the writing, the characters, and a story well-told, at my stage in life, there is only so much fictional contemporary teen angst I can empathize with.

Until we come to the latest book in the series: Pies and Prejudice. The book club members are growing up. It is now their first year in high school. They each have adjustments to make. The greatest change is that Emma and her family will be spending a year in England. In honor of this, the club chooses to read Pride and Prejudice.

After reading this, my daughter wanted to read Austen’s book, so we started it together. I’ve read it before, but it’s been many years, and I’d forgotten just how intricate and beautiful the language is. So much of it is dialogue and the humor sneaks up on you. It is pure pleasure having our own mini book club. And as we read, my daughter told me I should read Pies and Prejudice because the author did such a good job of basing the characters on Darcy and Mr. Collins. So, breaking my hard-and-fast rule about reading series in order, I skipped to book four.

In Pies and Prejudice, Emma’s mother has arranged a house swap with a British family. The two teenage boys who come to live in her home remind the other girls of Darcy and Bingley. In England, Emma meets a boy who is the very image of Mr. Collins. The girls adapt to a whole new set of challenges and enjoy new adventures while learning some Austeneque universal truths.

Once again, I have to praise Heather Vogel Frederick for creating such likable girls to build a story illustrating the power of friendship. Wrapping it all around works like Daddy-Long-Legs or Pride and Prejudice is a wonderful way of introducing young readers to these classics.

Flashback Friday: The Saturdays by Elizabeth Enright

Jacki at Lovely Little Shelf has a great meme called Flashback Friday. It's a chance to showcase books you read as a kid or a teen that are still stuck in your head.


Ah! The books I read when I was young...

One of the joys of parenthood is the excuse to reread some of these wonderful old stories. One delightful book that meant a great deal to me when I was young was The Saturdays by Elizabeth Enright. Written in 1941, it was already a classic by the time I discovered it, and it has recently been re-released for another generation of young readers to enjoy.

The close-knit Melendy siblings—Mona, Rush, Miranda and Oliver (ranging from a young teenager to age five or so)— live in a rambling old house with their kindly but distant father and an affectionate housekeeper. Their mother is dead. The children are pretty well left to their own devices throughout much of the book, but adult supervision is always implied as being just beyond the door. They are very much individual personalities, but their loyalty to each other is unquestionable. The main plot-line of the book centers around a decision to form a club to fight the weekend doldrums. They resolve to pool their weekly allowance, then take turns receiving the whole pot. Saturdays are reserved for spending the money. The only rule is the money can’t be wasted but must be used for something significant.

Each Saturday is a different adventure. The book is fun to read because of the children’s joy in little things. They are at different life stages and make different types of discoveries about the world as they strike out in pursuit of their goals.

When I read first read this book, I wanted to enter the world of the Melendy’s, to join them on their adventures. I missed the family when the story ended. I don’t know how it escaped my attention that the book was part of a series. But my cluelessness then allowed me a very pleasant surprise when I went hunting for the book to read with my daughter a few years ago. Enright had written a Melendy quartet of books. And this time around, I read all four.

These books are wonderful for middle grade readers. If you’re older but looking for something well written and sweet about idyllic childhood in a bygone era, have a look at The Saturdays.

BOOK REVIEW FOR YOUNGER TEENS: Nice and Mean by Jessica Leader

Since I am spotlighting local authors, I’ll add squeeze in another category—a middle-grade book, dealing with girls’ friendships/relationships.

Nice and Mean by Jessica Leader is a fun foray into contemporary tween culture as nice girl Sachi and mean girl Marina sign up for a video class at school, each with her own secret agenda. The author does a great job of getting into the heads of each of the girls. It’s particularly thoughtful in the way it explores what motivates a "mean" girl. Marina’s behavior is not excused or judged, but over the course of the book Marina gains more insight into her own conduct and the consequences of her actions. The situations and characters feel authentic, and I really cared about what would happen. It's a great read for middle grade girls, but older teens will also recognize the conflicts and appreciate the issues that are raised.

YA BOOK REVIEW- Cate of the Lost Colony by Lisa Klein

Lisa Klein is fast becoming one of my favorite YA historical novelists. I thoroughly enjoyed Lady Macbeth’s Daughter and was even more excited to read Cate of the Lost Colony to see what tale Klein could spin from the fate of the colonists.

Cate (or Lady Catherine Archer) is an orphaned young gentlewoman taken into Queen Elizabeth’s court to be a maid of honor. Catherine is grateful at first, and awed by her new surroundings, but soon finds the atmosphere at court stifling. It seems no one can even breathe except at the pleasure of the queen. Cate, who is independent minded, wishes she might earn the queen’s favor but is constantly frustrated by Elizabeth’s changeability and the unjust demands she makes of her maids. When Sir Walter Ralegh (author’s spelling) appears on the scene, Cate is smitten by the handsome courtier, and he is attracted to her pretty face and eventually also to her wit. Unfortunately, he is the queen’s favorite, and when Elizabeth is made aware of the budding romance, Cate is punished by banishment to Ralegh’s colony in the new world. There, amidst the hardship of daily struggle for survival and her frustration with the infighting of the colonists, Cate blossoms. Personality traits that doomed her at court serve her well in Roanoke. The new world offers freedoms she could never have imagined in the old one, including the possibility of a new love.

Knowing our history, we know the colony is doomed to fail. So what will happen to Cate?

This book just pulled me along. The story is told from Cate’s point of view and from that of Manteo, the Croatoan native brought to Elizabeth’s court to learn English customs and eventually act as a go-between. It also shows Ralegh’s point of view, primarily through letters and poems. Each voice comes across as authentic, but it is Cate’s that truly shines. She grows from an insecure but proud girl to a confident and wise young woman.
　
Just as an aside, the book reminds me of a novel published in 2006 that was somewhat similarly themed but for a younger age group, My Lady, Pocahontas, by Kathleen V. Kudlinski, which tells the story of the Jamestown colony. I reviewed this book for The Historical Novels Review, Issue 39, February, 2007. My review is as follows:

In grade school, we all hear the story of Pocahontas, the daughter of an Indian chief who befriends Captain John Smith and helps ensure the survival of the fledgling English colony established at Jamestown in 1607. But details of the relationship between Pocahontas and Smith are somewhat murky, and most times you never hear what happened to the "Indian princess." My Lady, Pocahontas, written for 10-14 year olds, tells the tale from the point of view of Neetah, a loyal Pamunkey girl whose very name means friend.

Pocahontas sees visions which lead her first to spy on the settlers in order to protect her people, then to believe she herself will prove a peaceful link between the two disparate cultures. Neetah stands by her friend through many trials, even when she begins to suspect Pocahontas’s visions might be clouded by love for Captain Smith. She remains steadfast when it appears Pocahontas’s machinations have not been protecting the Pamunkey from the newcomers but inadvertently bringing death and destruction.

Steady and true, Neetah understands Pocahontas’s heart and presents to young readers a sympathetic account of this Pamunkey woman whose life can be seen as both tragic and inspiring. Well-researched and engaging, this book is recommended, although it may be a bit mature for some ten-year-olds.

YA BOOK REVIEW: Black Ships before Troy by Rosemary Sutcliff

Rosemary Sutcliff was a prolific British historical novelist who wrote primarily for children/YA but also some adult or cross-over books. I’ve been meaning to read her work for a long time, and finally settled on Black Ships before Troy, which was first published posthumously in 1993. (This book could actually fit in any of my categories: historical fiction, YA, or golden oldies!)

In all honesty, it’s my least favorite of the Greek Week readings. Good points are that it is comprehensive and yet, at the same time, it’s short and a very quick read.

My problem with it is that it’s fairly dry. It reads less as a novel and more as though it were a narrative summary of the Iliad—fleshed out a bit to round out the story—but a summary nevertheless. It’s a very good introduction to the story of Troy for anyone who wants to get a handle on who the main players were and a straightforward account of what happened. But for me, what was lacking was the emotional involvement I usually feel with the characters in various retellings. I know this is tragedy– I usually care more.

So, if you’re concerned your background knowledge in Homer might not be up to snuff, consider this a quick readable Trojan War primer. (There is also a companion volume: The Wanderings of Odysseus that I haven’t read, but that I suspect would be similar.)