The Easter Break has come to an end and we are all back at work even though the traffic sure did seem light going into Charlotte Amalie to bring Steve to work. But, there are 5 cruise ships in so I am sure it will be a nightmare to go in and get him here shortly as I have to drive by the cruise ship area.

It was a great 5 days break. We took the ferry over to St. John on Good Friday and had lunch at Island Jazz on Coral Bay. It was so relaxing to just sit and watch the herons walk along fishing and the sailboats rocking at anchor. That side of St. John is very pretty - hadn't visited there before. We would love to live on St. John but since most of it is National Park rentals are few and very expensive. A lot of the teachers live on St Thomas and take the ferry over each day.

I didn't do as much reading as I wanted to during the weekend as we watched a lot of movies. I wallowed in oldies - one with Doris Day and James Garner and then Gidget - I had never seen it before. We also watched Drew Barrymore's 50 First Dates - what a wonderful feel good movie. The Hawaiian scenery was nice too. I liked Shall We Dance because Richard Gere is in it but Steve wasn't too impressed. I don't even want to talk abut Bubba Ho Tep, the funky movie he rented. Imagine Elvis overweight and old in a rest home fighting an Egyptian mummy wearing cowboy boots and hat. Oh yes, and Elvis' side kick is JFK, who is now black and played by Ossie Davis!

Okay - gotta mention books. I finished Crutcher's The Sledding Hill. It was an interesting read, but not my favorite of his books by any means. It is very message driven about censorship. A fundamental church group is trying to censor a fictitious Crutcher book called "Warren Peece". The story is told from a dead boy's point of view about his best friend standing up to the church group, which his mom belongs to.

But, I did love Forest of the Pygmies, the third Alex Cold and Nadia Santos adventure by Isabel Allende. I also loved the first one - City of the Beasts that is set in the Amazon with wonderful disappearing Amazonian Indians, etc. The second one Kingdom of the Dragon is set in a China like kingdom with Alex and Nadia getting involved in saving the Golden Dragon. Wasn't as exciting. Forest of the Pygmies is set in very remote part of Africa. I loved the first part when the elephant let Alex know how she felt about him riding her by knocking him into a puddle then "blowing wind" in his face - and it wasn't from her trunk. :-) Again, Alex and Nadia use their totemic powers to save the pygmies and the villagers from a band of mercenary soldiers who are using them as slaves. I'm sorry to see their adventures come to an end.

That's all the YA reading I did - I am in the middle of an adult mystery set in the Caribbean at the moment. Have to give myself a break from the YA once in awhile. Okay - gotta get in the car and go get Steve. I am listening to a YA novel - Card's Ender's Game and I am not impressed. I waited all this time to read/listen to this book and I am not enjoying it. All the practice battle scenes are boring me and I am not crazy about the narrator's voice. I guess I shouldn't have chosen this one to listen to after the beautiful language of Cold Mountain.

Good morning! I am off to the eye doctor's shortly. GRRR!! Old age is creeping up on me and I need glasses for my close up vision. Never had problems with that before - just distance and that was fixed with lasik a few years ago. Steve convinced me to have it done in time for our first sailing trip together. He knew I was pretty much blind without my glasses or contacts and a sailboat is not a good place to be with no depth perception. I still remember sitting in the restaurant on Mustique Island and looking out at the lush vegetation and realizing I could actually see the delineation between leaves. I find myself pushing up those imaginary glasses again, but now it is because I can't read the fine print.

Well, I finished Walter Mosley's 47. It is an intriguing mix of historical and science fiction. 47 is a young slave who is to be the savior of the universe, at least that is what Tall John, a runaway slave who is actually an alien from another planet/solar system, tells him. 47 learns that calling himself or other blacks a niggah is not appropriate nor is considering himself property of the plantation owner. This is a very thought provoking book, but I have to admit I was disappointed by the ending.

I started Crutcher's Sledding Hill last night and so far am enjoying it. He wasn't kidding when he said there is no profanity in it. You have to chuckle when he says the student used a term in class that rhymes with what they call a classmate's dad who drives big diesel trucks. The narrator, Billy, has recently died and is watching his super hyperactive best friend not dealing well with the recent death of his father and his best friend.

The question came up on YALSA-BK about what is the one YA book you would give someone. That is a tough one as there is a book in every genre that would be appropriate, but for contemporary realistic fiction I would have to recommend Crutcher and anything he has written. For years Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes was the one I had my students read, now it is Whale Talk. But my favorite of Crutcher's is Ironman - because of the inner battle the protagonist has with his anger and feelings toward his domineering father, but mostly because of his letters to Larry King. :-)

In historical fiction one of my all time favorites is Sherryl Jordon's The Raging Quiet. A romance, but so much more with her teaching a mute young man how to communicate and her response to the villagers testing her as a witch. My own palm was tingling as I read about her holding the red hot metal rod in her hand.

All for now.

Yahoo! The Internet connection is working at the same time I want to use it. :-) Had to go in to the Montessori library on Sunday to work on a book order that was due on Monday because our DSL connection at home was down. It was so darn hot in there I thought I was going to melt. The library doesn't have air conditioning - just lots of louvered windows and fans, but because the library is between other buildings it doesn't get much air flow. I am trying not to get excited about the new books for the students as I have been told it will take about a year to get them. These are books bought with Federal funds and nothing works quickly through governmental channels down here.

Speaking of books - I have a new favorite - A Room on Lorelei Street by Mary E. Pearson. I really enjoy the edgy books for older YAs and this is one of them. Zoe (with a f....ing "e" at the end!) has her anger just barely under control. Well not always under control - she is suspended from class for her outburst about how to pronounce her name! Luckily she can let some of that anger and frustration out on the tennis courts. Zoe has finally had enough of being the caretaker for her alcoholic mother and moves into a room on Lorelei Street in the home of an eccentric older woman, Opal. Opal gives Zoe a delicious touch of caring - something no one in Zoe's family has done in years. Opal actually goes to Zoe's tennis matches - Zoe is so stunned and touched she doesn't know how to respond. But, the wonderful feeling of having a safe and calm place of her own may be coming to an abrupt end as Zoe has to give her grandmother most of her rent money to pay for the car registration. Now Zoe has to figure out how to come up with the rest of the rent money so she can keep her promise that she will not go crawling back to her mother and grandmother. Will be out in June 05.

Pearson's other books for teens are David v. God and Scribbler of Dreams.

I haven't had much time to read in the last day or so but I am about through with Mosley's 47. Such a beautifully written, but strange book - a combination of historical and science fiction. I will write more about it when I finish it. I'm still at the savoring point. :-)

All for today.

Just watched a small sailboat come into the marina for fuel. It was under power, sails down, which made me think of the huge sailing ships of years ago and how they didn't have an engine to depend upon when the wind died down or when they had to navigate into small places. Amazing!

Started the ARC for A Room on Lorelei Street by Mary E. Pearson. It is fantastic! I love the edgy YA for older teens and this is one of them. The scene where she loses it in class and tells the battle ax of a teacher that her name, Zoe, has an f...ing e at the end is so true to the teen with such anger building up inside that erupts at the most inopportune times. Pearson also wrote David v. God and Scribbler of Dreams.

A short posting today.

With summer upon us the sun in the morning is quite intense. We still open the patio doors but have begun to drop the shade to keep some of the heat out. The cat sure doesn't like having to go under it to go outside. Not that she can't go out the window we keep the screen off of for her. She is spoiled rotten and shedding like crazy due to the weather change. Who would have thought that a cat would even get a "winter coat" in the islands?

The sunburn is healing but now I look like a half peeled tomato. My nose is the worst. The kids didn't say a word yesterday - I was surprised.

I just started reading Walter Mosley's 47, which will be out in May 05. I am just at the very beginning where the boy has been sent to the slave quarters and has his number branded into his shoulder. He hasn't yet met Tall John, the runaway slave who will change his life. So far I am enjoying it. Wondering if Tall John will be anything like Paulsen's Nightjohn. I do love that book and the sequel, Sarny.


Reading this book also made my think of my favorite Walter Dean Myers' book - The Glory Field. It doesn't get much attention but it is a wonderful novel that traces the lives of a black family for over 140 years - from when the first member of the family is brought over on the slave ships until present day when one of them is struggling with drug addiction. I am very glad to see that new paperback and hardback editions are coming out within the next year.

That's it for today.

Good morning! I look a little less like a tomato today but I am sure the kids at Montessori are going to comment on my red face. I have a group of 9th graders coming in to work on ancient civilization research. This is the same group that chose to read Alder's The King's Shadow - one of my favorite YA historical novels from the 90s.

I am looking at the inclusion of various fiction genre types on the BBYA and Children's Notables lists and was disappointed to see Mary Logue's Dancing with an Alien is out of print. A student borrowed my copy and didn't bring it back, but this one of my favorite YA SF novels to booktalk. Love the part where the alien is trying to convince her he really is an alien and pulls off his nipples. That would convince me. :-) YALSA-BKers have been talking about Melina Marchetta's Looking for Alibrandi and it is also out of print. Wonderful book about an Italian girl in Australia that addresses the reality that cultural prejudice is also present in other English speaking countries.

All for now - the sun has finally risen and it is time to fight the traffic going into Charlotte Amalie to drop Steve off.

I am sitting here slathered from forehead to chin with aloe vera, along with a few other places the sunscreen didn't get. OUCH!! I look like an over ripe tomato. Went sailing with friends on Saturday and didn't put any sunscreen on my face. Just wasn't thinking about the fact that the new moisturizer I am using doesn't have a sunscreen in it. At least now I can smile without it hurting but it still hurts like heck to wrinkle my forehead. This is going to be really ugly if it peels!

But, on the positive side we had a really great time. Breezes were good and we sailed over to St. John and went snorkeling. Saw the biggest sea cucumber I have ever seen along with star fish and lots of the very same fish we used to have in our salt water aquarium in Houston. Lots of boats out because of the gorgeous weather. The guys put out the spinnaker - what a gorgeous billowing sail.

While laying around bemoaning my sunburned fate I finished Broken China by Lori Aurelia Williams. China stays in the denial stage of grief through most of the book - refusing to go to her little girl's funeral and doesn't visit the grave site even though she insisted on a coffin and a service she could not afford. She is working in a strip joint as a counter girl to make money to pay the funeral home loan. One minute she is acting like an immature 14 year old and then next she is old beyond her years. Made me think of Glovach's Beauty Queen which is also set in a strip club with a teenage protagonist who gets involved for the money. But she ends up getting hooked on drugs. China gets out before it is too late - she is fortunate to have a loving uncle and friend to help her. Glovach's Samantha is pretty much alone in the world.

Started reading the ARC for Barry Yourgrau's Nasty Book. It will be out in April. Have no idea what I think of it yet. Very short snippet type stories that are quite nasty. In one of them three girls plan on torturing the ghost who comes back to apologize for scaring them. In another an imaginary friend, a bear, decides his creator is boring and heads off on his own, only to be run over by a truck. My favorite so far is the ventriloquist puppet who suddenly realize he is a puppet.

That's it for today.

Yesterday was like Christmas on the island for me - not only did we get 7 boxes of new books in at Montessori, the health food store had a shipment in of soy products so I savored soy yogurt for breakfast this a.m. Yogurt is the only dairy product I really miss because of being lactose intolerant. I like the rice and soy based "ice creams" better, but miss the creamy texture of Yoplait yogurt. It tends to be feast or famine on the island as far as stocked shelves - buy it when it is there as likely it won't be the next time you are in the store. So yesterday was a good "shopping" day. :-)

I just finished reading The Game of Silence, the sequel to The Birchbark House by Louise Erdrich, a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Ojibwe. Having grown up in Upper Michigan I enjoyed reading about the Ojibwe way of life in the 1800s. Omakayas, a young girl with the ability to dream the future, is the only survivor of a small pox epidemic and is a much loved adopted daughter to Yellow Kettle and Deydey. A great addition to a middle grades (3-6) collection.

My YA reading at the moment is Lori Aurelia Williams' Broken China, about a teenage mother whose two-year-old daughter dies and her life spirals out of control. I met Williams when her first book When Kambia Elaine Flew in from Neptune was first published. She is a delightful woman and I enjoyed talking to her about Houston as that is where her books are set. I loved her debut novel and have recommended it to many people. The way the neighbor girl deals with sexual abuse by referring to the wolves in the walls and making up stories about being from another planet breaks your heart. William's second book is Shayla's Double Brown Baby Blues. William's has captured the life of the inner city blacks of Houston in her novels.

That's it for today.

Good Monday morning to all. A very large catamaran docked in the marina this a.m. That and seeing all the sails out on the diamond sparkling ocean makes me want to be sailing. A perfect day for it - sunny and breezy. Cats are more stable and easier sailing for those of us who suffer from motion sickness. I wear the wristbands when we sail. Been awhile - can't wait to get out on the water again.

Summer is upon us with heat and humidity. We went down to Sapphire Beach yesterday to walk and swim. Lots of tourists at the resort this time of year. They are so much fun to watch - the little ones with their "water wings" on but not quite sure they want to go in. All the shades of sun starved skin out on display - from whale belly white to fire engine red as they work on tans before they go back home.

I finished Brent Hartinger's The Order of the Poison Oak during the weekend. Russel and his friend Min both get taken in by Web, who is out for nothing but sex, with anyone of either sex who he can convince he "loves". There is no substance underneath those rock hard abs and sexy eyes. But, it is a love story nevertheless for both Russ, who finds his guy, and clumsy Gunnar, who is "found" by a girl. Russ also learns a bit about himself as he figures out how to work with groups of young campers to gain their respect. The title has to do with a special ceremony he does with his first group of campers - a group of male burn survivors who have been running him ragged.

Time for some breakfast and to find the top of my desk before I start working on an article for Library Media Connection.

Watched a sailor park his sailboat this morning while I ate breakfast on the balcony. It seemed so effortless for him to back into his small berth at the marina - and that was no tiny boat he was parking. Wish I could do as well with parking my car on this island. I thought parking spots were small and hard to find when I lived on Oahu, but St. Thomas is incredible. If only I could figure out a way to side-step my car into spots since I can't parallel park! Or even better, be able to just rotate the car from a central pivot point instead of trying to navigate around cars parked helter skelter in what are clearly not parking spots. Thank goodness I have an assigned parking spot at Montessori that I can just drive right into. :-)

Started reading Brent Hartinger's The Order of the Poison Oak this morning. Should be on bookstore shelves this month. Hartinger uses a first person narrative with the character, Russel, often speaking directly to the reader. Russel has recently come out of the closet and joined the Gay-Straight-Bisexual Alliance at school. As the school year ends Russel is more than sick of the fag jokes and makes a point of how words can hurt you. But now he, his geeky straight friend Gunnar, who has decided to give up on girls after all the embarrassing encounters he has had trying to get one, and their bisexual friend Min, who checks out body parts on guys and girls both, are working as summer camp counselors. Russel learns the hard way how all kids will manipulate you if given the chance - especially his charges who know he is afraid to discipline them because they are burn survivors. Russel also has eyes for the good looking bad boy, Web - more reading will tell where this goes. :-)

I loved Hartinger's Geography Club and really liked Last Chance Texaco so I suspect this will continue to be an enjoyable reading experience.

Now to write a midterm.

Insomnia has me in its grips again - last two mornings wide awake at 3:30 a.m. Finally gave up today and got up at 5:00. Not much of a sunrise - very overcast and dreary. That may change though. Summer is upon us heat and humidity wise - it arrived on Friday! The reason I say that is I work at Montessori on Tuesdays and Fridays and the library isn't air conditioned. I was miserable in jeans! So now I have to find my "summer clothes" - sun dresses, light fabrics, etc.

Have been working with the 9th grade History teacher to find a novel to read as a group. We narrowed it down to The King's Shadow by Elizabeth Alder. It was a BBYA title back in the mid 90s. Wonderful story of a Welsh boy named Evyn who is sold as a slave after his tongue is cut out. He ends up as the "foster son" to King Harold, the last Saxon King. A much more interesting way to learn history. :-) Our second choice was a newer titles - The Edge on the Sword by Rebecca Tingle but the students voted it down. Not surprising since most of the students are boys and some of the girls in the class had already read it. It is about the daughter of King Alfred. The class had just finished fighting their way through the Iliad. Wish I had known - I would have suggested Dateline: Troy by Fleischman to supplement or replace it! Wonderful juxtaposition of historical narrative text with newspaper clippings from modern events.

No new YA to report on this a.m. - I am reading a book written by a local VI author that was locally published. Not one Mainlanders will have ready access to!

That's it for today. Need to work on a Board presentation for Montessori - we are going to automate the library with Follett's Destiny. Will be the 2nd existing collection I have automated from good old check out/catalog cards to barcodes and scanning. But, that was an elementary school in Alaska in 1989! How times flies when you are having fun.

Good morning! What a wonderful weekend we had. We were invited to go to Dominica (pronounced like the Singing Nun song) with new friends, Brian and Janna. Brian has a 4-seater Comanche prop plane so we had a fantastic flight down, checking out all the islands along the way. What a fun experience - first time I have been in a plane that small. Thought I would get motion sick but a 1/2 a Dramamine took care of that.

Dominica is an incredible island. It is quite large compared to many of the other Caribbean island and is extremely mountainous due to the volcanic action. We hiked along a sulphur spring fed creek that was beautiful, but the sulphur beds were more than a bit odoriferous. We also hiked up to Trafalgar Falls and Janna even went in swimming. She is the adventurous one - climbing a sour orange tree to get us fruit which was too sour to eat. Talk about pucker power! We were later told they are used mainly in marmalade. The roads are narrow and winding - Steve was very glad Brian was driving so he could sightsee for a change. Usually he is busy watching the road and dealing with my gasps when we are too close to the side on my side! Fantastic vistas. Janna and I began to make up stories about Rasta-fairies and Rasta-leprechauns since we saw a rainbow and wonderful moss covered rocks and trees that conjured up imaginary creatures left and right! Put two literature people in a beautiful environment and the creative juices have to flow. :-)

We stayed at an eco resort called Exotica Cottages. Quite a "rustic" road to get to it but well worth the trek - we watched the sun drop into the ocean - incredible from that altitude. The owners Fae and Athie were a delight and Fae's cooking was delicious. They have a large organic garden and orchard. The fruit was so good Janna and I were still talking about it later in the day and craving more.

As we flew out we were busy pointing out the roads we wanted to go on the next time the four of us visit so I think I will have further islands adventures to report. :-)

Too tired to read at night after trekking through the rain forest as I haven't hiked in years. Brian and Janna put us to shame but I was thinking about YA lit set in the Caribbean, or at least partially set here, such as Call Me Maria by Judith Ortiz Cofer. Maria and her mother happily live in Puerto Rico where her mother teaches English, but Maria's father is unhappy living there. He had grown up in a Spanish speaking neighborhood in New York and the islanders tease him about the way he speaks Spanish. His loneliness gets the best of him and he moves back to his childhood home, taking Maria with him where she has to learn how to live in the city. I love how Cofer writes about Maria and everyone else in the neighborhood, Hispanic or not, learning Spanglish, even her Indian friend. :-) The other one that came to mind is Danticat's Behind the Mountain which is about Haiti. Gives the reader a glimpse into the country's politics and violence, but more a sense of how she loves her mountainous homeland. Danticat is a very well known author in the Caribbean. She writes more adult than YA, but she has another Scholastic title coming out - Anacoana, Golden Flower, Haiti, 1490 - about one of the queens of Haiti. It is part of the Royal Diaries series and will be out in April. Danticat's newest adult novel is The Dew Breaker.

That's it for today. Have tons of email to catch up on since I was computer-less for a few days. Felt good!

Good morning all. Slept in today since my online chat last night with my undergrad. YA class ran until 11 p.m. Boy were they an interactive group - it was a delight to see how strongly they interacted with the YA novels they are reading.

My grad class also had an online chat last night with Lara M. Zeises. It was very interesting to hear about her writing process. I think all entering 9th grade girls should read her Contents Under Pressure to help prepare them for the assertive older guys. They are such "fresh meat" and not all girls will be as lucky as Lucy is to be dating Tobin, a more experiences Junior who is willing to wait until Lucy is ready, which may be a long time since she is dealing with the family repercussions of her older brother's pregnant girlfriend living with them. Lucy and Tobin discuss sexual boundaries in relation to what Lucy is ready for. Really cool book with wonderful secondary characters as well. As one of my students said - her writing is very tight! :-)

I did love Bringing Up the Bones - Zeises' first book for older teens. Bridget is taking a year off before she goes to college to deal with her grief over Benji's death. Benji is/was the love of Bridget's life, but although he loved her, he wasn't in love with her. That in itself is something to grieve over - the loss of a love you really never had, your best friend Elle did. Jasper enters the picture and Bridget isn't quite ready to let go of Benji yet, but Jasper helps her take those first steps, the final one she needs to take on her own, alone.

We talked about how the covers on both of Zeises' books have face shots of girls and how most of us found the covers appealing. Covers are such an important element of a book - drives me nuts when some libraries take the book jackets off the books, or the jobbers do, only giving you the cover art, or worst yet, a blank front and back with only the author and title on the spine. How appealing is that? I want all the good stuff - the art, the book blurb and the stuff about the author. I picked up Crank by Ellen Hopkins because of the cover and because it is a 2005 Quick Pick. A thick but quick read due to the free verse format. The cover shows the title "written" out in lines of crank on a black cover. It might be a quick read but it sure isn't an easy read as you spiral into crank addiction with Kristina - alter ego Bree - as she enters into a drug induced high that causes her to do and say things she would never have done before. If only she hadn't gone to visit her drug using father none of this would have happened. If only she hadn't let Adam talk her into cigarettes, then pot, then crank. If only, if only - but how does she get herself out of this alive? Does she?

Okay - that's it for today. Need to get some grading done.

GRRRR!!! I just lost my whole blog entry when I tried to spell check it. I am working on Steve's laptop instead of my desktop and he has so many security levels on here it wouldn't let me go directly to the spell checker within Blogspot and when I tried to override it I lost my posting. And I had put such thought into it!

I had written about J. Minter's series, The Insiders. I just read the third book in the series, Take It Off. It will be out in June. Considering I hadn't read the first two - The Insiders and Pass It On - Minter did a good job of introducing the new reader to the four guy friends. Mickey and Arno are still fighting over girls and showing each other up in the physical prowess area. David, the good boy, is sent home from their "educational" cruise along the Spanish coast for being drunk the first day out. Jonathan has asked David to watch out for his girl Flan, even though Jonathan had broken up with her and has now decided that wasn't a good idea and is obsessing because she hasn't e-mailed him. And we can't forget Patch, the golden boy who is the teacher's pet. Add large amounts of alcohol of every kind you can think of, clove cigarettes, sex, sand, and designer clothes to a group of rich kids trying to out do each other and you have an interesting, though shallow, read as they keep drowning in the deep end of the pool of life as they try to be nothing like, or everything like, their money and status obsessed parents. Oh what a nasty play of words that is - can't do any better since I am still irritated I lost my last posting.

Off to have breakfast and then do some grading.

Good morning. Not quite 6:30. Can't say what the day will be like yet as it is still dark outside. Roosters are busy trying to get the sun to wake up but Sol hasn't listened yet. Tuesdays and Fridays are my early mornings when I get up with Steve so I can take him in to work before I spend the day at Montessori. And to think I could sleep another hour and 1/2 if I didn't have to make the trip in and back to Charlotte Amalie. Not a good thing to think about when you are not a morning person. And Steve is typically one of those chipper ones you just want to whack with a frying pan as he tries to joke and tease my morning grumpies away.

Well, I should have known better about the cute raccoon in Napoli's Bound. It bit off two of Wei Ping's toes so Stepmother killed it - let's just say there wasn't much left for the stew pot when she got done. She was a bit mad (both in the angry and insane definition) and chopped off Wei Ping's toes on her other foot so they would match. She figured Wei Ping would be married before her duped husband realized there was less under those binding strips than there should be. Shing Shing took the beautiful carp back to the pool and set it free but if you know the Chinese Cinderella story you know that the magical fish is far from safe when it comes to Stepmother. Shing Shing does prevail in the end and marries the prince - not quite the handsome devil from the Walt Disney version as corpulence is a good thing in a man. A delightful read and what a beautiful cover.

The sun is up but you would hardly know it - misty and dreary day beginning.

It is gorgeous out there with the sun sparkling on the water - like liquid diamonds. My favorite type of ocean. Steve loves the harbor in Charlotte Amalie because of the shades of turquoise to deep blue depending upon depth. I sighed in contentment this a.m. as I looked out at the ocean and Steve smiled and quipped - "Just another day in paradise!"

Lots of talk on YALSA-BK about Naughts & Crosses by Malorie Blackman. I see why. Imagine a world where the whites (naughts) were the slaves and the blacks (Crosses) were the owners. It is years later but desegregation of the schools has just begun and Callum is one of the first naughts to attend Sephy's all Cross high school. This book is so raw it hurts to read it, but oh what a wonderful book to use with teens in relation to prejudice and race relations. What if Henson was the one everyone talked about in relation to the North Pole expedition instead of Peary? What if history was written so that any white accomplishments were left out of the history books? It is all told through alternating chapters from Callum and Sephy's perspectives - two teens in love caught up in the fight between races and the haves and the have nots. I think we may be looking at a 2006 Printz award or honor book. I am almost afraid to say that as I predicted right for Rosoff's how i live now for 2005.

All for now - I'm going work on the L for my NOEL Christmas hanging - yes, I am a Christmas nut all year round. :-)

What an absolutely gorgeous and relaxing Saturday it has been. We went to lunch at Fungi's, which is a little restaurant bar on the bay at Point Pleasant Resort. We stayed at Point Pleasant last year when we first came over to St. Thomas to check it out. Fungi's is right on the beach so the waves lap up on the rocks next to the tables. The chicken roti was as good as I remember them - yummy West Indian curry specialty. Our dining entertainment was a hungry pelican that was diving into the water, very shallow water at that, and gobbling up fish. I am surprised he didn't knock himself out with some of those vertical dives.

While driving around the island we are listening to Duane's A Wizard Abroad. It has been awhile since I have "read" a Duane book and we are having a great time with the narrator's Irish accent and just listened to Nita's encounter with the local Irish teens - quite entertaining. Nita is a feisty female wizard - recommend her to girls who love Harry Potter. Speaking of Harry, we finally picked up The Prisoner of Azkaban at Blockbuster today. That and The Village. Guess who picked Harry and who picked the horror movie - YA lit. specialist vs. IT geek? :-) Steve joined Blockbuster online and we should be getting movies in the mail, but who knows when that will start and how "regular" they will be with our spotty mail service down here. He has quite a list built up for them to choose from!

In good old book format, I am reading Napoli's Bound at home and Fleischman's Whirligig in the car (the paperback from the used bookstore here on the island fits in my purse - perfect for those long stands in line). And, for some weird reason it is one of those older YA titles I just hadn't gotten around to reading. Haven't read Seed Folk either and I know I should. So far I am really enjoying Bound, a Chinese Cinderella story. How can you not love a blind and quite spoiled raccoon as a pet? I can close my eyes and see it sprawled out asleep on its back with all four legs in the air. Kind of like my cat Sophie! I hope they don't eat the raccoon like the Stepmother wants them to. Made me think of Hansel and Gretel when she suggested putting it in a cage and feeding it to fatten it up. Guess I just have to keep reading to find out what happens to Ying Ying and the raccoon. And oh those bound feet on the favored daughter - yuck! Made me think of the passage in Namioka's The Ties That Bind, the Ties That Break when the older sister unbinds her feet and the stench sweeps through the room. That would have made me darn sure I had made the right decision not to let them bind my feet!

That's it for today - need to go pick up the laundry - found a place that does it by the pound. This should prove to be interesting. I miss having a washer and a dryer!

I was just reading the news online and thinking how war has become a part of every generation. Guess I am in somewhat of a pensive mood as I just finished reading L. J. Adlington's The Diary of Pelly D. It is a science fiction novel set on another planet that humans have colonized, but the humans have evolved to the degree that they have gills. Wallowing in clean water is an essential part of their daily routine - it is called Bliss. They even have a water theme park called Waterworld. Hmmm - gills, water - makes me think if a futuristic Kevin Costner movie that bombed in the box office, but I loved it. :-)

Pelly D is the self proclaimed most popular girl in school - at least that is what her diary says. Toni V found her diary buried in a paint can when he was jack hammering apart the old city plaza. The war is over and they are rebuilding the city and discarding all the debris left behind by the war- books, mangled laptops, etc. He becomes obsessed with the life of this self-centered pre-war girl. Pelly D's life takes a drastic change for the worst when the government insists on genetic testing and everyone is stamped with their genetic code. The power brokers all flash their red Atsumisi hand stamps and no one wants to be Galrezi - sure they are supposed to be the artistic types, but they are the bottom of the gene pool. Although Pelly D's dad is Atsumisi her sculptor mom is Galrezi and it is a dominant gene so Pelly D and her brother and sister wear the shameful Galrezi green hand stamp as well. Before long the Galrezi are told that, with the water shortages and the refugees coming into the city, everyone has to share - but it seems only the Galrezi are being moved out of their large apartments and into the Artist Quarters. And then forcing the Galrezi to live in a group isn't enough - Pelly D's family, minus dad who is Atsumisi and in another city, is being moved. No one knows where.

This book gave me the shivers and then some. Reminded me of Nazi Germany. Racist is a dirty word in this book, but racism is certainly alive and well. Sorry folks - this one won't hit book stores until April.

Sorry - didn't mean to end on a down note, but this is one of those books that has your mind chewing away at it as you settle it into your mind. I think I will be "chewing" on this one for days.

Okay - now we have geese, or at least a goose, in the neighborhood. Like the chickens and goats weren't enough? I feel like I live on a farm, but a weird farm that also includes the sounds of diesel truck horns blaring down on the main road, to tell the other drivers to get the heck out of their way as they come barreling through along with neighborhood cars' rap music thumping so loud your chest hurts. When friends say it must be so peaceful living on a tropical island I have to smile and tell them they have never visited St. Thomas! This is the party island of the Virgin Islands and is not quiet at all, unless you get way off of the beaten path on the West end of the island. Not an option for me - I need my DSL and cable. :-)

If you want a fun read get Dancing in Red Shoes Will Kill You by Dorian Cirrone. Kayla has a wicked sense of humor - something that is required when you are a ballerina with double Ds. She says "even NASA couldn't design a tank suit to camouflage my proportions." Kayla doesn't even think about the possibility of being anything other than who she is until she is passed up for the lead role of Cinderella because of her breasts - they would be a distraction says the visiting director Timm with two m's. Her ballet teacher suggests she see a plastic surgeon in relation to breast reduction if she wants to continue in ballet. Her older sister Paterson, the artist in the family, decides to focus on prejudices about body types/parts her art project and is censored by the principal because of the male nude in the picture. Kayla's new boyfriend Gray suggests that she look into different types of dance other than ballet as well choreography. Although the other guys in school seem to be obsessed with her boobs ( some are wearing save the hooters pins when they hear about her possible reduction surgery) Gray is not. He is the son of a poet who has taught him well - she researches the role of women and how they are oppressed in fairy tales. Hence the Dancing in Red Shoes Will Kill You title of the books. Rumor has it Kayla is out to get the girl playing Cinderella. After all, Kayla is dancing the role of the wicked stepsister, who wears red shoes. Yes, this an entertaining mystery/romance, but it also bears a message teenage girls need to hear - your body does not define who you are. Like Kayla, find humor in the stereotypical female body "stuff" when you can - she names her boobs Lucy and Ethel. Hey - guys name body parts - why not women? :-)

Dancing in Red Shoes Will Kill You should be hitting the bookstores about now - release date, Feb 1 2005.

A breezy cool Valentine's Day here, but bright and sunny. We celebrated early and went out and had the Sunday night prime rib special at Bottom's Up - one of the local marina bar/restaurants near us. It was packed. At least we got our prime rib before they ran out, even though we waited an hour for it. It was worth the wait. The people watching was fun so we really didn't mind.

I just finished reading, or I should say experiencing, Chanda's Secrets by Allan Stratton. I see why it is a Printz Honor book. The fear of HIV/AIDS is so intense it radiates off of the page and makes the reader queasy. Chanda's courage and strength to keep her family together when all social taboos demand she leave her mother to die hidden away in a fallen down hut, to spare the family the shame, is incredible. This is one smart and resilient young African female who isn't willing to let rumors dictate who she loves and cares about, including her friend Esther who fools herself into thinking she can hook for just a little while to get her siblings back. Death visits Chanda's family far too often, but the symbolic white stork leaves the reader with a sense of hope for the future.

Happy Heart's Day all.

Happy Day Before Valentines' Day. Apparently Heart's Day is more highly celebrated here than Christmas. Lots of stands cropped up around the island selling big stuffed bears holding hearts and lots of other Valentine type gift "stuff". We went wandering yesterday, looking at areas on the island we might like to move to - love the Hull Bay area. There is a very popular little beach there and beyond that a cool enclave of homes. We stopped to use the "facilities" at the little beach bar there and had to chuckle over the barber shop in the parking lot - it was in an old ice cream type truck. There was the barber, cutting some guy's hair, with the back door door and other guys hanging around watching. I was very glad Steve didn't insist on getting his hair cut there.

I am sitting here with a copy of Jennifer Richard Jacobson's Stained in front of me. I am not Catholic, but where I grew up you were either Lutheran or Catholic, with a few Baptists and others around as well. I remember the teasing from the Catholic kids when they would ask what's your father's name and I would answer Paul and they would say, "No stupid, that's your dad's name, what's your priest's name?" You either fit in or you didn't, and Jocelyn no longer fit in after her mother quit going to church with their neighbors and Joss didn't go through her First Communion. She never forgot the nun's comment that until you went through First Communion your soul was stained. Joss hung around at the fringes of the crowd. She and Gabe had played together as kids and here she was in high school and still let him treat her like dirt even though she was involved with Benny, another Catholic boy worried about the fate of his soul because he lusted after Joss. When Gabe disappears Joss wonders why Father Warren is always hanging around the search groups and why the teens hang on his every word. She doesn't like him at all because she knows he is telling Benny to stay away from her - he says she lures him into their sinful trysts. Father Warren feeds on the boys' insecurities and is the reason Gabe has disappeared.

Stained is not graphic in relation to the sexual abuse, but it is clear what is going on with Father Warren and Gabe and why Gabe waits to talk to Joss before he disappears from their lives. Very poignant tale of how small town lives intertwine and how one powerful authority figure can ruin the lives of so many. Stained is a Richard Jackson Book from Atheneum and will be out some time this month.

All for now.

Good morning! What a beautifully sunny day it is here in the islands - the birds are singing outside my window. And I don't mean the "time-challenged" rooster who lives below us. :-)

So the Patriots won the Super Bowl. We both gave up on it in the 3rd quarter and crashed for the night. Down side of being on Atlantic Time - everything is an hour later than Eastern.

Interesting discussion occurring on Child-Lit about the qualifications of authors. It all started with someone suggesting authors should all have advanced degrees in writing - well, that knocks out the greats like Jane Yolen, who certainly had something to say about it. It has now progressed to discussing the types of books published - such as series, movie tie-ins, etc. that many consider junk. Perhaps they are in a sense, but they are essential junk for readers, just as the mass market stuff for adults like Danielle Steele. Much of what we read isn't ever going to be in contention for a Newbery or Printz literary merit type award. So what? To be a life longer reader one has to read and that can be anything from the latest Princess Diaries book to Sports Illustrated magazine. We have to wallow in unconscious delight type reading or we may become unconscious while reading. If we are forced to read at our determined reading level each time we read something we would quickly become non-readers. Look what we are doing to kids in schools - leveling them and then requiring the books they check out from the library be on that level. What about just plain fun reading that requires no work on your part - it is just a fun reading experience? These delightful reading experiences are what cause us to pick up the next book early on and pretty soon we are looking for more in a book and recognizing the quality of writing and developing connections with characters, etc. I say YAHOO for junk books - they are an essential piece in the array of materials that help create life long readers.

Speaking of series reading - I just finished Mixed Messages by Jahnna N. Malcolm. It is part of the Love Letters series. Quite a delightful quick read about three friends who are very different - Jade is a red-head who plays guitar and writes her own songs, Lucy is a blonde granny skirt wearing vegetarian hippy, and Keesha is an African American fashion diva - but they have each other's backs in all occasions, perhaps a bit more than they should. It is Jade's turn to write the love letter and Lucy puts it in the wrong guy's locker. But, Cupid had it right to begin with and Jade discovers that her heart does belong to quirky derby wearing Adam rather than spike-haired electric guitar squealing Zephyr. This is the kind of unconscious delight book you take to the beach, enjoy and pass on to someone else to read. It isn't one that you put on your "special books" shelf. But, I need books like these - I read so much YA that a light romance is a joy after reading several heavy themed books in a row.

Okay, that's it for this beautiful sunny a.m.

Happy Super Bowl Sunday to one and all. It is a cool misty day in the islands. I feel sorry for the tourists who hoped to watch the game in their swimsuits at the beach bars. It is a bit chilly for that. But, I guess if you are coming from snow country this is still paradise weather wise. We had dinner with friends on Friday night and walked out on the dock to check out the sailboat he just bought - 43 footer. We can see it from our balcony. It is a big sailboat, but I wouldn't have enough room for my books. :-/ While out on the dock we were looking up at the stars - the sky is so clear down here it is as if you could reach up and touch them. No light pollution like in Houston. Made me think of growing up in Upper Michigan - I thought everyone had the Big Dipper hanging over their house at night. :-)

Just finished grading YA Literature Discussion Posting on how we define YA literature. One of the students found a great quote that states teens crave books with characters who are real, inspiring, and flawed. She just described Darren in Joyce Carol Oates' upcoming novel, Sexy. It will be out in a few days - February 15th. Darren is one of those "beautiful" boys who wishes he were more macho like his dad and older brother. And unaware of the effect he has on people, he is showing off that hairless beautiful body in his tiny Speedo every time he gets up on the high board. Darren is being watched, by both the girls and the guys. One of the guys watching is his English teacher Mr. Tracy. Tracy doesn't do anything more serious that offer Darren a ride home, but Darren knows there is a reason he is uncomfortable being in a car with the English teacher who gives him better grades than he deserves. But when the other jocks, who aren't getting good grades from him, decide to play a "joke" on Tracy and slide an envelope with kiddy porn under the principal's door indicating that Tracy is into it, Darren buries his head in the sand rather than stand up for Tracy. You just don't narc on your buddies, no matter how much you know you should, but the "joke" is getting out of hand. The police get involved and they know Darren was in Tracy's car.

Sexy is one of those books I picked up and read right through. Granted, it is a quick read, with some of the chapters being a mere page long, but I found Darren such a disquieting and almost unlikeable character that I kept reading. The ending is a bit too abrupt and gets him out of the situation too easily (a distant uncle to spend the summer with), but I am not sure how much more of Darren I could handle. Or maybe it was the dad and older brother I found so disconcerting. I think it was all the characters! All of them were so flawed, so "real" that I felt as if I were prying into this mixed-up teen's most private fears. In other words - it isn't a book I will forget. Nor have I been able to forget any of the other YA books Oates has written - Freaky Greens Eyes is still my favorite but Sexy gave me goosebumps.

Wonder if the groundhog saw his shadow today. It is my day off so I slept in - burrowing into my blankets, wishing I were a groundhog. I am so not a morning person. This 5:30 a.m. on the days I work at Montessori is killing me. Whine! Whine! Whine!

As tired as I was last night I had to stay up and finish A Fast and Brutal Wing by Kathleen Jeffrie Johnson. It is one of those books that you think about between reading sessions if you don't finish it in one sitting. The plot weaves in and out of reality and fantasy as the siblings shape shift into animals - Emmet into a hawk and Niki into a cat. They are eager for the hunt and the taste of blood - they even hunt each other. The credibility of the sibling's stories is further compromised by the psychiatrist, their missing father, and their mother's new boyfriend/ reclusive author having shape shifting abilities as well. Interesting that their father is missing and now so is Slanger, the author. And whose bone is it the police find in the woods where Emmet, Niki and their geeky neighbor Doug end up naked and bloody? The story is told via chapters in a book Niki is writing, Doug's emails to the psychiatrist, newspaper articles, along with Niki's and Emmett's letters to the more than spooky psychiatrist who specializes in working with teen murderers.

All for now - need to grade YA lit homework.

Up at 5:30 a.m. - not typical for me but this is my first day at Montessori and I am driving Steve in to work so I can have the car. Can't wait to dive into that collection and see what is actually there. My goal today is to work my way through the supply closet and see what I need to order and just settle in.

We must have a new cat in the neighborhood - poor Sophie! She just screams for help when they corner her on our balcony. It isn't like she can jump off - we are on the second story and the house is built on a steep hillside as well.

Interesting discussion on YALSA-BK about how we decide what to read next. It really depends upon my mood for leisure reading, but when I am reading professionally, which means YA literature in most cases, I try to read first time authors, favorite authors, books from small presses, and those that are recommended by colleagues. Right now I am setting aside MS/JH titles and concentrating on upper level YA since I am reading for the HS booktalking book. I am reading A Fast and Brutal Wing by Johnson right now - a recommendation by Julie Scordato, whose recommendations I trust. Thanks Jules! :-) It is an incredible book about siblings who shape shift (I think - I haven't finished it yet) into a hawk and a cat. The story is told through emails, letters to the psychiatrist, and the girl's "novel".

Time to finish getting ready for work.

I think I am beginning to thaw out a bit. We had a wicked cold snap come through the islands this weekend - wind, rain, and just plain cold temperatures for the islands. As the wind was moving our chairs around on the balcony I looked down at the sailboats in the marina and was not the least bit envious of those people who live on their boats. BRRR!

We did make a run into town on Saturday before the rain hit to check out the couple of small furniture stores in the Fortress Storage place. Stores open up in the strangest locations down here. Most of the furniture you find is either wicker or heavy dark woods. We have wicker now and I am not crazy about it and I don't like the dark woods. I like the clean lines of Scandinavian style furniture with the light wood. Oh well, we will keep looking.

But, I did have my first infamous Shipwreck burger at the Shipwreck Tavern, right across the street from Havensight, where the cruise ships dock. Even though it is in a touristy area lots of locals hang out there because the enormous yummy burgers. Oh yeah - I do think the pool tables and casino type poker machines have something to do with the appeal too. :-) Steve and I split a burger since they are so big. We also played the trivia bar game while we waited for our food - we have to play together as one player since I get too competitive otherwise. :-/

There is an ongoing conversation about book covers on YALSA-BK that is very interesting. I was adding some of Dickinson's older titles to my booktalking book as suggested similar titles and I thought of the cover of my favorite book of Dickinson's - Eva. I used to have it as required reading for my YA lit. students and it always resulted in very interesting class discussions about medical ethics. But, I do think the cover on the paperback is wonderful. The haunting blue eyes on the bottom of the cover topped by a "memory" of dark trees. I know it is a "memory" because I have read the book, but what does the teen reader think who sees it for the first time? The response to a cover is very individual, based on prior knowledge and just plain old likes and dislikes. It is said that you can't judge a book by its cover but it really is too bad we don't have the space in libraries to do more bookstore like displays, covers out, to attract teens.

Okay - back to editing. I am nearing the end. I've been at it since 7:30 this a.m. Took a break to blog - needed it. I was getting cross-eyed!

Bummer - the last day of my "free" week before I start working a part-time contract at the VI Montessori School and I couldn't sleep in! I was up before Steve left for work and he asked me if I wanted the car. I said no as I would have gone wandering instead of finishing up the editing I need to do. Not sure what I am getting myself into with the school library, but it should be fun. It is just through the end of the school year. Will get me out of this apt. office anyway.

Since I was up so early I laid in bed and finished Sharon G. Flake's Who Am I Without Him? Wow! She sure didn't pull any punches about how teenage boys and girls view each other. It hurt to read "So I Ain't No Good Girl" - she encourages his abusive behavior - it's all she knows. Had to chuckle over "Mookie in Love" and how all the women in the family dote on him until he wisely brings a baby boy into the family scene so he can have time with his girlfriend - a girl the women don't approve of cause all her family has is girl babies. My favorite of the short stories is "Jacob's Rules". All teenagers, and lots of adults, could learn from taking Jacob's class called BOY STUFF. Brandon has some heavy duty thinking to do when what he thinks is true is turned upside down when he is paired with the "ugly jock girl" in class. And, I would like to pass out copies of "A Letter to My Daughter" to every freshman girl - actually, more like 7th grade girl in this day and age. This daddy pulls no punches about what a guy wants from a girl and it isn't her mind. This is a "gotta have" and is more than deserving of the Coretta Scott King Honor it received.

Back to the editing. Hard to do when the sun is shining on the ocean, making it look like it is covered with sparkling diamonds. Good darn thing I don't have the car today!

Hi All. My right wrist has click-itis! Right now HighBeam Research has free access to all of their full text material. I have a free membership, but you normally have to pay the upgrade to save the full text articles - otherwise you just get the citations. So I have been busy saving YA Lit related articles to my file. Was up until midnight last night - clicking away! My wrist and arm are sore but I will keep at it as the freebie ends tomorrow. If you have time go check out www.highbeam.com and take advantage of their resources. They have some esoteric full text articles I don't find in other databases.

I was reading posts on one of the listservs, I think YALSA-BK, and they were talking about how teens love the CSI series. My daughter is fascinated by this stuff too, but she is a surgical technician so that makes sense. I got to hear all about the first open heart surgery she watched - GROSS!! Anyway, recommend Last Breath by Christopher Golden and Rick Hautala (a good Finn name!) to those CSI watchers. This is part of the Body of Evidence thriller series. There are 7 other titles in the series, with titles like Body Bags - that one should get the attention of even the most reluctant reader.

Jenna is a Freshman college student who works as a diener - pathology assistant - in the county medical examiner's office. She gets way too involved in how the bodies on the slab got there, to the point that she becomes the target for the serial killer in this thriller. She also has the hots for an older cop so there is a bit of romance in there too, but no steamy sex scenes, just gruesome autopsy scenes. Jenna is such a likeable character that the reader can't help but shake their head, knowing full well that she is going to put herself into danger trying to figure out the case. She is born for this profession. Wonderful gruesome read.

Nose back to the manuscript editing grindstone for me.

Good morning all. Another breezy cool day down here. Took Steve to work yesterday so I could have the car. Hope he buys some kind of clunker to drive soon so I can have my car back. I gave up on trying to keep it neat. He seems to think the floor in the back seat is a trash can for his junk mail. GRRR!! Listened to more of The Red Tent while I was out and about. It is not an easy one to listen to in mixed company. I don't even try with Steve in the car anymore since what goes on in the Red Tent and in the marriage bed is talked about in such detail that Steve's ears go red within minutes. It is not one I would give to teens - very much an adult woman's book.

If you have read Oppell's Airborn you know that it includes pirates that take over the airship. I was telling Steve a bit about it on the way to town yesterday and he asked me if it was rated "ARRR!!" A bit of pirate humor there. It was too early in the a.m. for me to be highly amused!

Since I had been reading so many fantasy titles, many with a "witchy" element, I decided to expand my reading horizons and picked up a historical romance, Spirited by Nancy Holder. It is one of the Simon Pulse books and typically I really like these. A bit "outside of the box," just like me. :-)

Since Holder is the coauthor of the Wicked series I should have known there would be some magic/mysticism. There is, but what a great G-rated "bodice ripper" - you know, the kind with Fabio on the front and lots of heaving bosoms. There are western versions of these too - fondly referred to as "Wrangler rippers." Naive but feisty Isabella joins her father on a journey through Indian country to one of the British forts. They are ambushed by a group of Mohican type Indians and Isabella becomes the slave of Wusamequin, the young handsome medicine man. You know - washboard abs and rippling biceps. :-) As every romance reader knows - they initially hate each other even though they are physically attracted, and then they fall in love. Sure, it is a "typical" historical romance in some ways, but add the mystical journeys they take together and you can also booktalk this one to the girls who only want books with a supernatual element to them. It is delightful reading romp - a Beauty and the Beast tale with Native American flavor.

All for now.

Very slow Internet connection today. I am getting up and doing things around my office while pages load. I have the patience of a gnat! I get teased down here because I have yet to develop the laid back island approach to life. I still expect things to happen in a timely fashion. We went down to our favorite little marina bar/restaurant Saturday night. Got there at 7 p.m. - got our first drink at 7:30, menus around 8, and then gave up around 8:30 and came home and heated up leftovers. I do have to give them a break though - new wait and kitchen staff and lots of boat people ordering dinner. We are locals - we come last in the chain of importance. :-)

When I looked at Kenneth Oppel's Airborn I was just not intrigued by the cover and 355 pages didn't call to me. Thanks to the Printz committee for honoring it - I decided I had to read it. I am glad I did. I have to admit I was not enamored by it for the first quarter of the book. I found the details about the airship itself a bit much, but once the adventure began when the pirates arrived I was enchanted. What happened to me is exactly what I warn my students about when they recommend fantasy to teen readers. Giving a thick fantasy read like Airborn to a reluctant reader is not a good idea. This book requires a reader willing to let the author take the time to set the scene so the adventure can begin. I reluctantly began this book, but I stuck it out and what a great swashbuckling adventure story. Matt is a delightful character, but I related more to the feisty Kate, bound and determined to prove her beloved dead grandfather is right. There are mysterious creatures (cloud cats is what she and Matt dub them) flying around the uncharted island he found while trying to circumvent the world in his hot air balloon. Kate would have been right there with him if her parents had allowed it. Her book learning vs. Matt's life experience make their trek into the jungle both hilarious and scary at the same time.

Even if you aren't a big fantasy reader - give this one a chance. It is worth the effort!

Almost football time, but I still have a few minutes to blog. We are an hour later than Eastern time so all of our favorite shows, like Lost, are on fairly late. The VIs don't change time with the seasons so we go between one and two hours different.

Gorgeous sunny day again. Spent the a.m. cleaning house a bit as we have had a lot of gritty ash come in. One of volcanoes erupted down here and the ash made its way to us on the wind - weeks later!

There have been quite a few YA novels about immigrant families being published. Just finished reading the ARC for Fresh Off the Boat byMelissa De LA Cruz about a Filipino family who moved to the SF area from Manilla. Vicenza's parents were very wealthy restaurant and business owners who lost everything. They were starting over with nothing, but that isn't what V is telling her best friend back in Manilla. In her imaginary Email world V is the girlfriend of the hottest guy at her private school and is spending thousands on her imaginary charge cards. A very touching story of a family starting over, with hopes for a better life in the U.S.

All for now. Kick off!

AH! Home sweet home! I am so glad to be back. A beautiful sunny Saturday here on St. Thomas. Steve says I brought the good weather home with me - not hardly, it was nasty rainy cold in Boston and then just plain cold in Houston. We just got back from a trip to "town" - Charlotte Amalie - to drop off laundry. I hope our next apt. has a washer and dryer hook-up. Water is a real issue on the East End of the island where we live. Lots of people end up buying water so few rental units have washers and dryers. Wish we had rented the place we initially looked at on the North Side as that part of the island get lots of rain so there was a washer and dryer hook-up. We drove up a side road on the way to town that looked like it might have promise of a rental with a great view, but when we saw the guy herding goats I said no way. We have them in this neighborhood and they are noisy little things.

Only two cruise ships in, but lots of BABS (big ass boats) along the wharf and in the marinas. The CEO of Oracle's BAB is docked at the marina where we ate lunch. Beautiful sleek boat. Steve and I love to boat watch and drool. Would have to win the lottery to afford one of them. Took a picture of the Lady Allison since that is our granddaughter's name.

I haven't read the Truesight Trilogy by David Stahler, Jr., but after reading the ARC for his newest YA novel - A Gathering of Shades - I certainly plan on. What a cool ghost story. Aidan's father had recently died in a car accident and his mom has moved them back to her childhood home in a remote area of Northern Vermont. They are living with his grandmother, Memere, who is certainly not like any grandmother I have ever met, in a run down old house. Memere goes for a stroll into the orchard each evening and Aidan follows her to discover she is "feeding" the shades - ghosts of the dead who have not gone to the other side yet. Their shadowy forms fill in a bit as they drink the creek water flavored with a few drops of her blood. It isn't long before Aidan becomes angry because his father never shows up with the shades. His first glimpse is of his father as a shade in his child form. His father's shade ages as Aidan seeks and sometimes finds him, but Aidan is not able to catch up with his father as he wanders through the hills he left behind years before. Aidan's pain of letting go is so intense it makes your eyes smart with tears and your heart hurt.

Memere has given Aidan a copy of the Odyssey, which she has read many times through the years, and he begins to compare the events in his life with those of Odysseus and his son. I think the Odyssey is one of the greatest adventure stories every written, so if teens will pick it up after reading A Gathering of Shades I would be delighted. I hope librarians will share Stahler's books with the HS English teachers. Made me want to go back and read it again.

All for today.

Hello from Clear Lake, Texas - home of NASA and the University of Houston-Clear Lake. This may be Texas but I am freezing my bippy off! I am in the UHCL library with my leather jacket on and my wool scarf across my legs to help keep me warm. What is it about places that keep their air conditioning temp. so low that you form icicles on your nose? When I get home tomorrow night I am not going to complain about our lack of air conditioning - at least for a few days. :-)

I teach the first sessions of my 2 YA Literature courses tonight and then I head home tomorrow. Can't wait. I love being able to teach the online sessions in my shorts and t-shirt with a diet Coke next to me. It is too dang cold here to drink diet Coke - I am having withdrawal symptoms!

ALA Midwinter in Boston was wonderful. Got to sit in on the BBYA straw vote Friday night. What a well run committee with great members. I loved being on that committee (several years ago) - but talk about reading! The only place I didn't have a book was in the shower and I was contemplating how I could do that!

I was so pleased to see that how I live now (in lower case) by Meg Rosoff won the Printz award (best YA lit. of the previous year). I predicted that when I read the ARC almost a year ago and listed it as my prediction in a blog entry before I left for Midwinter. A unique book with a unique voice. And having terrorists invading England certainly has a contemporary "ring" to it.

I shame facedly admit I have not read the honor books. An order will go in to B&N for the ones I don't have as soon as I get home. I keep my copies of the Printz award books as I use them so much in booktalking sessions and at other workshops I do on YA lit.

Did pick up a bunch of ARCs (galleys) at Midwinter, but not as many as I would have liked to. My luggage is so heavy now I can barely get it into the trunk of the rental car. But, I have begun reading. I had to start Julia Hearn's The Minister's Daughter since I met Julia at Midwinter and she was such a delight to talk to. Our discussion of the book and the research she did to write it had me just waiting for a few hours to read in peace and quiet. I was actually disappointed we were landing in Dallas as I wanted to finish it on the plane. It isn't out until June 2005, but if you can get a copy, do so. What a well researched and well written story of a manipulative minister's daughter whose deception puts a naive young herbalist healer in great danger. Wonderful bits of piksy (may be spelled wrong - I don't have the book with me) and fairy magic as well as herb/nature based remedies and charms.

I'll write more about Midwinter and books when I get home. I have got to go find a cup of hot tea and then I am going sit in the car with the heat running for a bit. My nose is running it is so darn cold in here! BRRRRR!!!

Home for a day! And what a beautiful breezy day it is. I ate breakfast while watching a gorgeous sailboat come into the marine below us. A great day for sailing. The Charlotte Amalie wharf area was lit up last night when Steve picked me up - lots of luxury yachts docked and one huge sailboat with lights all the way up the masts. Had the windows in the car open and breathed in the wonderful moist sea air and pretended I was out on that sailboat. :-)

Got back from North Carolina late last night. I spent two days in the Greensboro area and loved it. Had lunch with two really cool Library Science graduate students from the U of North Carolina at Greensboro. We ate at a little vegetarian restaurant on State Street - neat area and yummy food. I had "chicken" salad and, honestly, the tofu tasted like chicken. :-) State Street is a funky area within walking distance of campus. UNCG has such a neat campus, with a new student center and lots of other new buildings going up. But, there are still many of the older buildings on campus with lots of character. A very comfortable campus.

If you ever visit Greensboro, stay at the Biltmore Hotel downtown and eat at the Liberty Oak Restaurant across the street. The Biltmore is a delightful old hotel with charm to spare. I don't know what I loved more - the old caged elevator or the delightful four poster bed I slept in. Oh yes, can't forget the breakfast and newspaper delivered to your door in a basket each morning. And the food is to die for at the Liberty Oak Restaurant and the prices won't kill your wallet. The old downtown area is being renovated and I wanted to stay longer just to wander through the neat shops that are opening up.

While on the plane I did get some reading done. Loved Darlene Ryan's Rules for Life. Sixteen-year-old Izzy is perfectly content with life the way it is - she and her father are best friends who tell each other everything and she mothers her messed up older brother Jason. Mom died a few years ago and Izzy has a handwritten book of Mom's rules that she tries to live by while she is busy trying to control the lives of everyone around her, especially her dad. Her dad has the audacity to fall in love with a younger woman from work and they are getting married and a baby is on the way. As much as Izzy stonewalls the marriage idea, it happens anyway. And as much as she wants Jason to stay clean, he doesn't. And, as much as she doesn't want to care about the little sister who arrives too early and does not have the strength to survive, she does. And, as much as she wants to not like Ann, her new stepmom, it happens anyway. Izzy learns that bad and good things have a way of happening in life no matter how much you try to stop them.

Izzy will make you laugh and cry, mostly laugh when you read Mom's rules. My favorite is Rule #20: Chocolate chip cookies and good jewelry go with everything. Hmmm - may it is Rule #26: If duct tape won't fix it, chocolate will. They both have the world chocolate in them and that works for me. :-)

Okay, back to getting ready for the next trip! Off to ALA Midwinter in Boston tomorrow a.m. Exhibits here I come! :-)

It is pouring outside and the mud filled rain water is rushing down the hillside between our building and one next door. Our neighbor had to shovel buckets of dirt off of the roof of his first story before he could start building the walls for the second story. I imagine there will be more mud to shovel away after this rain. We have been watching him build the walls for the second story out of concrete blocks. Down here the entire house is built out of concrete. Makes hanging anything on the walls a bit difficult. His house is so close to the one we live in that I can hear him clear his throat while he is working. We have big windows on that side of the apt. and certainly had to put curtains on them as one is above the kitchen sink and the other is above our bed. Privacy is not a big commodity since most of us don't have air conditioning and the windows are usually wide open.

I hope the rain stops by this afternoon. I am flying out around 5 p.m. on a small plane to Puerto Rico and then on to Charlotte, NC. The weather forecast indicates it is a lot nicer in NC than in the islands right now - at least it is sunny. Hopefully I will get there.

One of my favorite Canadian publishers is Orca. The Soundings series is great for reluctant readers. I am so glad to see a MS series for reluctant readers is coming soon. One of my favorite Orca titles is Holubitsky's Alone At Ninety Foot. Wonderful story about a young teen dealing with her mother's suicide. She goes out into the woods and sits near where her mother died. I was glad to see Orca kept the wonderful jacket illustration of a girl sitting on a rock with her arms wrapped around her knees for the paperback.

Now the cover on Carrie Mac's The Beckoners has less emotional impact before you read the book than after. The tops of a book of matches, deep red and ready to be stricken. And stricken they are, both matches and characters in this dark look at bullying and hazing at it's worst. As a new student Zoe has no idea how feared the girl gang, the Beckoners, are. They have pretty much free rein in the school to harass anyone they feel like, and April, referred to as Dog by most all the students, has been their main target for years. Other students stay away from her for fear they will come under the Beckoner's wrathful eye. Before she knows what has happened Zoe is initiated into the Beckoners by literally being branded. The hard part is getting out once she realizes the hell she has gotten herself into. This one is certainly going to be an entry in the 2nd edition of the HS version of Tantalizing Tidbits. Wow!

Need to finish packing. Will talk about what I read on the plane when I get back on Tuesday. Then Thursday it will be off to Boston for ALA. :-)

Hi All. Just had my bowl of cereal out on the balcony watching some guys trying to get a stalled vehicle off of the road into the grocery story parking lot. This is one laid back island in most ways, but put a West Indian behind the wheel of a vehicle and he/she has the patience of a gnat. The horn becomes a weapon. The light has barely turned and at least two cars in the line are aggressively honking. And the honking is even worse if there is no way for you to get out of the way. And the bigger the vehicle the worse it is. The attitude seems to be - "get the heck out of my way or pay the price in damage to your vehicle." Now granted, there is the very polite honking that occurs, like when you let someone out in front of you in traffic, or on a blind curve. That honking I don't mind at all, but I sure would like a mute button for most of the horn honking on this island.

Well, I had my final Holiday fix by reading Andrew Clements The Last Holiday Concert. The age old tale of the music teacher losing his job because of budget cuts and losing his temper with the kids as well. In a fit of anger he tells the kid who shot the rubber band at him to take over the Christmas Concert, and Hart does. It is truly a learning experience for both the 6th grader and the novice music teacher. A wonderful respite with a cup of tea on a breezy cool Saturday morning. Clements has the middle grades novel down pat.

Reading this book and working on the Middle School edition of Tantalizing Tidbits has certainly reaffirmed my concern with the two year overlap in the ALSC/YALSA definition of young adult - ages 12 through 18. A 12 year old is either 6th or 7th grade, most often 7th, but still at the edge of childhood. The Middle School concept has put 5th through 8th graders in the same schools. In my humble opinion a 5th grader is still a child and an 8th grader is a budding young adult. The emotional and social concerns of the two groups are quite different. So where do we put a book like The Holiday Concert? The characters are 6th graders, so common sense says a middle school, but this is a book I would recommend to a 4th grader without any reservations so it certainly belongs in an elementary school as well. Publisher suggestion on the book flap is 8-12, basically 3rd grade through 7th grade. Okay, so elementary and middle school librarians will buy it. But, there is a big different between what 3rd graders and 7th graders are reading and certainly in their maturity level. Third graders are still playing with toys and 7th graders are playing with each other! In reality - I suspect the readership for this book is 3rd through 5th. At least that is the age group I would recommend it to.

Can't wait to sit in on the discussions at Best Books for Young Adults and Quick Picks at ALA Midwinter. Real people talking about books - how cool is that! :-)

It's another government holiday - lots of them down here - so Steve has the next two days off. He has the Simon and Garfunkle Reunion Tour DVD playing in the living room, with both of us singing along while we work on our computers- him singing in tune, not me! That's why I am singing softly. :-) Isn't it interesting that no matter how old you are you seem to know the words to their songs?

I've been taking Christmas decorations down a little at a time. I love to put them up, but hate taking them down. All that cool stuff put away for most of the year. But, I have several needlecraft Christmas projects to work on during the year. That will keep me in the Holiday frame of mind all year. :-)

Been working on the MS edition of Tantalizing Tidbits for Teens and have Terry Pratchett's A Hat Full of Sky in front of me, along with the The Wee Free Men. I have read a few of Pratchett's books, but I am not a big Discworld fan. I did however, love The Wee Free Men. How can you not love six inch high blue guys who love nothing more than to drink and fight? One of my favorite Nac Mac Feegles is Daft Wullie. He had me chuckling through both books. Interesting comrades for a little girl who is initially looking for her brother in fairyland. In the second book, A Hat Full of Sky, Tiffany's natural talent as a witch has attracted a Hiver, a disembodied entity that takes over the minds of very powerful people. Her natural curiosity about her power causes her to draw the Hiver to her. It takes another powerful witch and the Wee Free Men to help save her.

My favorite of Pratchett's books is Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents. I've always been a bit fascinated with the Pied Piper of Hamlin story. Loved Napoli's Breath, but I consider it upper level YA due to the orgies - not a big part of the novel, but still disconcerting. Absolutely fascinating concept of how the beer is what is making the people crazy. Only one not affected is the boy who doesn't drink it because of his breathing issues.

I just made Maurice required reading for my YA Literature classes. Many of my students say they don't care for fantasy, but after they read a few good ones, I usually have them hooked. I am a big fantasy fan, have been since I was a kid. Never have been much of a science fiction fan, but some of the best books I have read in the last year have been science fiction, such as Nancy Werlin's Double Helix. The research Werlin did for this book is very evident in how smoothly it flows and how plausible the scenario seems. Also loved Mortal Engines by Phillip Reeve. Haven't gotten the second book in the series yet, but I have heard it is good too. Sadly, my reading is pretty much limited to what the publishers send me as I don't have access to a decent public library down here.

All for now - back to writing the booktalk for A Hat Full of Sky.

Hi everyone. BRRRR!!! (By island standards) I am drinking hot tea - wonderful mango flavored black tea that is made in Jamaica. It is worth every penny I pay for it - it's a tourist thing so, of course, it is expensive. It was so cold yesterday I was in jeans, tennies, and a fleece top. Not typical island attire. Still very chilly today so I stayed in bed for a bit with the cat to warm me up while I read The Beckoners. These girls make my HS days look like a fairy tale, and it certainly wasn't. Branding newcomers into the group - my arm hurt reading about it.

I had the car for the day so I spent a good portion of yesterday on the road. Started listening to The Red Tent by Anita Diamant. It is turning out to be a wonderful listening experience. The narrator's voice is soft and musical and she certainly knows how to use the right tone to get you to laugh at the best parts. Not exactly your typical "Bible story" - I had to snort laugh over the comment about Jacob bringing one of the sisters an urn shaped like a woman that poured through the nipples. The traffic was snarly, as usual, but I didn't mind as I was enjoying listening to the book.

Yesterday's wanderings included a very pleasant visit to the Montessori School here on the East End where Steve and I live. It has been in existence since the 1960s and their administrator, Ms. McWeeney is a delight. I was there to offer guidance as to their library situation. Their current library is quite small, but they are growing and will be adding a new Upper Level building with a separate library wing. What a welcoming campus, including a gazebo in the middle with comfy chairs for the parents to relax and chat before or after picking up their children. You just wanted to grab a book from the library and curl up there and read.

A trip to KMart is always an experience. After the rains and flooding our roads are still in pretty bad shape. I haven't blown another tire yet, but I keep dreading when I will as I know it will happen. Heck, these pot holes are big enough to swallow a small Honda! Was listening to a St. Croix radio station and the announcer was complaining about their roads too and said a call to the territory road repair office resulted in a response of - "Why repair them, they will just come back anyway!" Hmmm - interesting approach to road maintenance. Kind of like the approach to abandoned cars by the VI Police Dept. We have one on our goat trail of a road that has weeds growing out of it! You just smile and get used to it - it is island time, or in other words - you're lucky is if it happens in your life time. :-)

All I really wanted from KMart was a covered casserole dish, but there was only one available and it wasn't big enough. Guess I am going to have to buy one while I am on the Mainland and put it in my suitcase along with a bunch of spices I plan on buying. This is the "spice capital" as far as spicy food goes, but either you can't find it in the grocery store or you pick yourself up off the floor after you faint from the cost of a small bottle of the spice you need a pinch of.

Oh the joys of island life - and yes, it is joyful. All I have to do is grab a book and go sit out on the balcony and watch the sailboats out on the ocean and the rest of it is just "little stuff".

On to working on the MS edition of Tantalizing Tidbits. :-)

Good afternoon. Still cool and breezy in the islands. Not tank top and shorts weather by any means of the word.

Was looking through various list of books suggested for the Printz award. My number one choice for Printz - Rosoff's How I Live Now.

Honor book contenders: Aidinoff's The Garden, Zeises' Contents Under Pressure, Chotjewitz's Daniel Half Human and the Good Nazi, and Farmer's Sea of Trolls.

There are lots of other books I hope make BBYA so I am looking forward to attending the meetings and listening to the committee members' discussion.

I noticed one of the lists included Jaclyn Moriarty's The Year of Secret Assignments. Delightful reading experience - hope it makes BBYA. My favorite character is Emily - how can you not like someone who sends "empty" envelopes to her pen pal with little notes inside. Em also says her nickname should be "Toblerone". On that bent, my nickname would have to be Godiva, and I don't mean Lady, I mean dark chocolate! YUMMY!! :-) But, Lydia is the one who held my attention the longest - she is one intriguing character with her weird letters to Seb and her insistence on filling out the notebook even though it is totally stupid in her opinion. With all the email and chat room based teen novels of late, it was nice to read a book based on letters that were actually sent via snail mail.

All for now - need to finish up a review for VOYA.

The sun is out again! :-) Still breezy and cool, but sunny. I go into a funk when the weather is overcast and nasty.

Finished Head Games by Mariah Fredericks this a.m. I loved The True Meaning of Cleavage so I was anxious to read this one. Federicks has the ability to create a believably strong but vulnerable teenage girl who the reader connects with from the very first page: "All it is, is a little pressure. And just like that, everything changes." Judith is talking about pressing a key on the keyboard to determine her fate in an online game, but she is also describing her life.

The fantasy world becomes part of her real world when she discovers that one of the players is Jonathan the "bad boy" who lives next door. Pretty soon they are playing their own fantasy/role playing game, with Judith the willing "student". Judith would rather live in a fantasy world, playing a role, than deal with her feelings and fears about a sexual assault she has told no one about. She has shut down the "girly" side of her personality and prefers to role play as a male. A venture into the "real world" of tutoring another female student and coming to terms with an old friendship gone bad, Judith is able to step back inside her own skin and begin to figure out who she is.

I thought the cover on The True Meaning of Cleavage was suggestively clever due to the title, but I really do not care for the cover on Head Games. It is a close up of a girl who looks slightly stoned, or perhaps she is supposed to look aroused, with her mouth partially open. Oh well, I am sure it will attract teen readers and cause a bit of snickering from the guys.

That's it for today. Hmmm - what to read next? The Beckoners by Carrie Mac.

Happy New Year everyone! We are bringing in 2005 with wind, rain, and very cool temperatures in the islands. The revelers from last night might think they are still foggy brained, but the fog is real. The mist and rain in the air is so thick I cannot see St. John, which is quite close to St. Thomas.

After listening to the neighborhood celebrate until 1 a.m. last night I gave up and went to bed. Was awakened at dawn to dueling roosters. Turned the fan up higher to drown them out and went back to sleep. These are the kinds of days that deserve a hot cup of tea and a book. I would say in front of a fireplace, but those are not common down here.

Or a good chic flic. My "daughter" Annika (foreign exchange student who joined our family years ago in Alaska) who lives in Finland said she and friends went to see the second Bridget Jones movie and that it was wonderful mindless entertainment, but no one laughed during the scenes set in Thailand. Thousands of Scandinavians died in the tsunami and the region is reeling from the blow of so many deaths. These are sparsely populated countries to begin with.

I do enjoy the Brit chic lit and movies and the slang. I had just gotten used to snogging being kissing in Rennison's Angus, Thongs, and Full-Frontal Snogging and its companion titles, when along comes Tyne O'Connell's Pulling Princes. Pulling is defined in the book's glossary of Brit terms as "to make out, score, kiss, etc." Hmmm - wonder how extensive the "etc." is!

In O'Connell's vicarious look into the lives of girls in a posh British private school, pulling refers to kissing. The more boys you pull the higher your popularity quotient. Calypso, the "freaky American"who doesn't fit in, decides to start out the school year with a boyfriend back home in LA (her mom's gay personal assistant), but has no idea that her popularity will soar to great heights during the school year - to the point that HRH, Prince Freddie, bestows upon her her first kiss. Honey, whose name should be Arsenic, had her eyes on Freddie and attempts to make Calypso's life miserable, but her vicious behavior back fires on her when the girls support Calypso. The escapades of this group of rich Brits and a LA born American is quite hilarious and would be a good curl up and read on a rainy day book, if I hadn't already read it. I started reading Frederick's Head Games and I don't think I am not going to be snort-laughing over this one.

All for now. And to the person who keeps blowing his/her car horn going around the corner by our apt. - "Don't get your knickers in a bind!" :-)