bookshelves of doom

The Top 10 Most Discarded Books in Hotel Rooms

Who thinks* of these surveys??

*In this case, a hotel chain, I guess -- and heck, as silly as it is, it seems to work.  It certainly got their name in the paper.

Roger Sutton OFFICIALLY a rockstar.

A podcast rockstar.

I don't know why it's making me giggle.  But it is.

(via Fuse)

Under the Radar Recommendations: Thursday.

My part in the Under the Radar Recs project is done -- here's what's going on elsewhere:

A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy: Friends for Life and Life Without Friends both by Ellen Emerson White

Shaken & Stirred: The Changeover and Catalogue of the Universe, both by Margaret Mahy

Big A, little a: An interview with Helen Dunmore

Jen Robinson's Book Page: The Treasures of Weatherby by Zilpha Keatley Snyder

Bildungsroman: Swollen by Melissa Lion

Finding Wonderland: Lucy the Giant by Sherry L. Smith

Miss Erin: A discussion of Erec Rex: The Dragon's Eye and an interview with author Kaza Kingsley

Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast: An interview with Nancy Crocker, author of Billie Standish Was Here

Fuse Number 8: The Noisy Counting Book by Susan Schade

Chasing Ray: Juniper, Genetian and Rosemary by Pamela Dean

lectitans: Who Pppplugged Roger Rabbit? by Gary K. Wolf

Writing and Ruminating: Hugging the Rock by Susan Taylor Brown

Semicolon: some overlooked Christian fiction

Under the Radar Recommendation: Harry Sue -- Sue Stauffacher

This Under the Radar Rec is going to be a bit shorter than my last two -- but that doesn't mean it's any less whole-hearted.  If you have any interest in The Wizard of Oz, you should read this book.  If you have any interest in slang, you should read this book.  If you have any interest in stories about friendship, you should read this book.  If you have any interest in the family of prison inmates, you should read this book.  If you have any interest in children's fiction at all, you should read this book.  If you DON'T have any interest in children's fiction at all, you should read this book, because you know what?  It beats the socks off of a whole lot (if not most) of the grown-up books out there.

Sue Stauffacher is most well-known for the Donuthead books, which are (don't get me wrong!) great.  But this is Under the Radar Week in the kidlit 'verse, so I'm going to focus on Harry Sue.  As far as I can tell, this book is NOT getting the attention it deserves.

My history with the book is as follows:  A friend (who is to be trusted, recommendation-wise) of mine told me to read it.  She loved it so much that she even wrote a guest review for this site.  For an entire year after recommending it to me, whenever we were in touch, she asked if I'd read the book yet.  As time went by, her missives (when they reached that topic) got somewhat sarcastic.

(I don't know what my problem is.  Sometimes, the more something is recommended to me, the longer it takes me to read it.  I still haven't read Kavalier and Clay, for instance.)

Anyway.  Finally, I read it.  And after reading the first paragraph, I conked myself on the head with it six times.  WHY.  DID.  I.  WAIT.  SO.  LONG?:

All you fish, listen up.  I'm talking to you.  While you're sitting there, cooling your heels in the tank, you might as well know the story of Harry Sue.  Everything moves slower here.  It's like walking underwater.  Time, my friend, is something you have too much of, and you'll learn that a story well told--even if it's full of joint jive you can't fully comprehend--is worth more than all the personals you collected on the outs.  Especially if it lifts you out of your skin.

The following is my original write-up of Harry Sue:

Finally.  I finally read Harry Sue.

I LOVED THIS BOOK.

If I had a box full, I'd be handing 'em out on the street corner:

Harriet Susan Clotkin is not the sort of name you'd imagine for the first lady president of the United States.  That's just fine by me, as I never had designs on running for political office but planned instead on following in the family tradition: a career of incarceration.  As soon as I was old enough, I was headed for the joint.  First I had to have the required fourteen to sixteen years of rotten childhood.  So far, I had only served eleven years and change.

Seriously.  How could you not love her?  Go.  Read.

Harry Sue lives with her wicked Granny, who makes life miserable without raising a hand.  That doesn't mean that everyone else is safe -- she is constantly trying to protect the crumb snatchers* from Granny Clotkin, who runs the cheapest daycare around.

But Harry Sue can't protect them all the time.  She has to spend her weekdays doing time at Trench Vista Elementary School with the cheese eaters** and the busters***. 

Luckily, she has Homer Price to count on.  He's got his own time to do, and it's a life sentence with lots of time in the hole, but he's there for Harry and Harry's there for him.  She has The Wizard of Oz, which she loves so much that she's read it twenty-seven times.  There's also Beau, Homer's home health aide, who taught them Conglish, and Harry knows that someday, she'll make it into The System and she'll find her mom.

So.  Super.  Fab.  While I caught some of the parallels to The Wizard of Oz, the Author's Note pointed out a whole lot more that I'd missed.  Actually, while I'm on that subject: The paperback cover art is really, really attractive -- I do think that kids will be more likely to pick it up now -- but it's too bad that they went with the red sneakers.  Harry Sue shows a decent amount of contempt for the differences between the book and the movie version, so really, her sneaks should be silver.

I grant you that the red is attractive and eye-catching, though.

In terms of issues dealt with, it's quite dark, but Harry's voice -- original and so smart -- makes it feel lighter and it reads fast and snappy.  It's hopeful and the connections Harry Sue has and makes with people -- Homer, J-Cat, Baba, the crumb snatchers -- made me think of the Vachss**** quote:  "It's the family you choose that counts." 

*little kids
**tattletale, rat
***jerk, rhymes with "can't trust her"
****Yes, I have Vachss -- and that quote specifically -- on the brain.  It's because the de Lint book opens with it.

Today's other Under the Radar Recommendations:

A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy: The President's Daughter series by Ellen Emerson White

Big A, little a: The Tide Knot by Helen Dunmore

Jen Robinson's Book Page: The Zilpha Keatley Snyder Green Sky trilogy

Bildungsroman: Innocence by Jane Mendelsohn: A Discussion Part 1

Chasing Ray: Innocence by Jane Mendelsohn: A Discussion Part 2

lectitans: Innocence by Jane Mendelsohn: A Discussion Part 3

Finding Wonderland: The House on Hound Hill by Maggie Prince

Miss Erin: The Reb & Redcoats and Enemy Brothers, both by Constance Savery

Interactive Reader: Shake Down the Stars by Frances Donnelly

Chicken Spaghetti: Pooja Makhijani guest blogs with Romina's Rangoli by Malathi Michelle Iyengar

Writing & Ruminating: Dear Mr. Rosenwald by Carole Weatherford

Shaken & Stirred: Elizabeth Knox and the Dreamhunter Duet

I LOVED THIS BOOK.

If I had a box full, I'd be handing 'em out on the street corner:

Harriet Susan Clotkin is not the sort of name you'd imagine for the first lady president of the United States.  That's just fine by me, as I never had designs on running for political office but planned instead on following in the family tradition: a career of incarceration.  As soon as I was old enough, I was headed for the joint.  First I had to have the required fourteen to sixteen years of rotten childhood.  So far, I had only served eleven years and change.

Seriously.  How could you not love her?  Go.  Read.

Harry Sue lives with her wicked Granny, who makes life miserable without raising a hand.  That doesn't mean that everyone else is safe -- she is constantly trying to protect the crumb snatchers* from Granny Clotkin, who runs the cheapest daycare around.

But Harry Sue can't protect them all the time.  She has to spend her weekdays doing time at Trench Vista Elementary School with the cheese eaters** and the busters***. 

Luckily, she has Homer Price to count on.  He's got his own time to do, and it's a life sentence with lots of time in the hole, but he's there for Harry and Harry's there for him.  She has The Wizard of Oz, which she loves so much that she's read it twenty-seven times.  There's also Beau, Homer's home health aide, who taught them Conglish, and Harry knows that someday, she'll make it into The System and she'll find her mom.

The Tangram Bookcase.

Someday, I'll have enough room for this:

(via Kimbooktu)

It's good to be Neil Gaiman.

Awwwwww:

Under the Radar Recommendations: the Olivia Kidney books.

I freaked out about the release of the third Olivia Kidney book recently.  And I've been thinking about it since then.

Now.  On one hand, I understand why the Olivia Kidney books haven't made a bigger splash on the kidlit scene -- they're not particularly easy to categorize. 

The first book, for instance:  You can't simply put it on a fantasy booklist, or on a Trials & Tribulations of Being Twelve booklist, a New Kid at School booklist, a quirky books list, a booklist of stories about loss, or a ghost story booklist.  Technically, yes.  The book could go on any of those lists -- but it would be a huge simplification -- Olivia Kidney is so much more than that. 

Olivia Kidney has just moved into yet another apartment building.  Her father is an apartment super, and while he tries really hard, he just isn't very good at his job.  He gets fired, they move, he messes up the new building, and the cycle begins anew. 

Due to a lost set of keys, Olivia finds herself locked out of her apartment.  She spends that afternoon wandering her new home, meeting her neighbors -- and what neighbors they are!  One woman has a one-way glass floor and spends her day spying on her downstairs neighbor.  One woman vacuums the air.  One apartment is like a rainforest, populated by hundreds of lizards, a woman who plays the conch shell and a man with huge black rubber gloves.  And then there are the Biffmeyers.

If I had to be nailed down, I'd maybe try to describe the first book as a mostly non-spooky, extremely quirky Coraline.  At times, it reminded me of Alice in Wonderland.  A modern Alice, of course, and a version of Wonderland that is set entirely in an apartment building, but it's similar in that Olivia explores her new home, meets lots of strange characters, hears lots of strange stories, and like Alice, isn't particularly bothered by the illogical nature of what she sees and hears.

In terms of recommendations -- well, I'd definitely try them on younger fans of the Gilda Joyce books.  Like Gilda, Olivia is cranky:

Olivia sat down on the low barrier and resumed the search for her keys.  On the street in front of her a large group of children was playing freeze tag, a perfect game for the day's weather.  They were screaming and laughing.  One skinny, freckled girl was sitting on the concrete bench watching, bundled in a coat that was too large for her, and screaming with them.  They probably all lived in the building.  They probably all had keys.  Olivia hated them.

Also like Gilda, Olivia has suffered a loss, and she has a preoccupation with the afterlife.

Heck, now that I've really thought about it, I'd try 'em on young readers who I merely suspect will like the Gilda Joyce books.  And I'd definitely recommend the books to Polly Horvath fans.

But while it's easy to find similarities in other books, Olivia Kidney is still very much an original.

As are the other characters -- for instance, the Princepessa (this is from the second book):

But when Olivia asked the Princepessa if it was she who had slipped the note under the door, the Princepessa had snapped, "I do not slip notes under doors.  It stirs up all the dust on the floor.  And besides, it's the act of a coward!"

"I was just asking," Olivia shot back.

"And what if I 'just asked' you if you were a Philistine?"

"I wouldn't know what you were talking about," Olivia replied.

"Then we understand each other," the Princepessa said.  "Now come inside and we'll play a round of pinochle."

"I don't know how."

"Even better.  We'll play for money."

I don't understand how anyone could resist a passage like that. 

Judging from the recent change in cover art -- and the renaming of the second book (it went from Olivia Kidney and the Exit Academy to Olivia Kidney Stops for No One) -- it seems that:

A) The books haven't found the audience that they so rightly deserve and
B) Penguin isn't quite sure how to market them.

Cripes, if you're going to change a title, change the third one -- I know that people look at that and think, "Kiki Strike rip-off", even though, of course, it's nothing like Kiki Strike.  Sorry.  This is devolving into obnoxious backseat publishing.

But I wouldn't be blathering if I didn't care a whole lot about these books.

Obviously, those are all just guesses on my part, but it's always a bad sign when television execs start moving shows to different times and demanding revamps and whatnot -- just think of poor, poor Arrested Development*.  This could be the literary equivalent of what happened to our beloved Bluth clan.  So, to readers, I freaking beg you -- give these books a chance.  At the very, very super extreme least, read the first one.

And to Penguin, please, please, pleasepleaseplease -- bring back Peter H. Reynolds.  His covers -- especially the first one, which I personally think is more perfect than perfect, cover art that made me snatch the book off the shelf the very first time I saw it -- his covers are so much more engaging and energetic and exciting than the new, flat, boring (and honestly? they look self-published) ones. 

*Though they really made the best of it, didn't they?  The Burger King episode?  Genius.

Today's other Under the Radar Recommendations:

Big A, little a: Ingo by Helen Dunmore

Bildungsroman: The Girl in the Box by Ouida Sebestyen

Bookshelves of Doom: the Olivia Kidney series by Ellen Potter

A Chair, A Fireplace & A Tea Cozy: A discussion of author Ellen Emerson White

Chicken Spaghetti: The Natural History of Uncas Metcalf by Betsey Osborne

Finding Wonderland: A Door Near Here by Heather Quarles

A Fuse #8 Production: The Winged Girl of Knossos by Erick Berry

Jen Robinson’s Book Page: The Changeling and The Velvet Room, both by Zilpha Keatley Snyder

Miss Erin: Girl With a Pen and Princess of Orange by Elisabeth Kyle

Writing and Ruminating: Jazz ABC by Wynton Marsalis

The YA YA YAs: Massive by Julia Bell