Kidliterate

2011 Holiday Gift Guide: Compromise Picture Books for You and Your Pink-Loving Child

I changed the title of this entry. There are plenty of boys who like pink, ballet, and fairy tales. What was the matter with me?

My 5-year-old daughter Molly is obsessed with pink. Her walls are pink. She gets upset (VERY UPSET) if the day's outfit does not contain pink, and it's better for all concerned if it contains a LOT of pink. She is a living Pinkalicious. I know she will grow out of this; someday she will be a goth-y, moody teenager who will want to paint her bedroom black, and I will look back on these pink days wistfully. And to tell the truth, I don't mind it. She likes pink. What am I going to do? Give her an extended lecture on gender politics?  

We do like variety in our books, though, and I prefer that the pink books have something girl-powery about them. I'm not saying that we don't read some Disney Princess books. But we have to alternate those with better books, if only for the sanity of the three adults in the house. So these books are all
currently parent and Molly approved.

1. TALLULAH'S TUTU by Marilyn Singer: Tallulah believes that at the end of her first ballet lesson, she will receive a tutu. All ballerinas have tutus! When she learns that it takes a lot of hard work to earn your tutu, she refuses to continue lessons. But when the world conspires to put ballet everywhere she looks, Tallulah realizes that it's more a part of her than she knew. My ballerina was nuts about this one from the moment I first opened the cover.

2. THE PRINCESS KNIGHT by Cornelia Funke: The king lets his daughter, Violet, learn swordplay and horseback riding with her older brothers - but when she turns sixteen, he decides to hold a tournament. To choose her husband. Violet decides to take matters into her own hands by disguising herself as a boy and entering the tournament herself. I have been loving and recommending this book for years.

3. I HAD A FAVORITE DRESS by Boni Ashburn: I am crazy about this sweet, slightly melancholic story. When a young girl outgrows her favorite dress, her mother turns it into a shirt. When that grows too small, it becomes a tank top...and then a skirt...socks...and finally a hair bow. Molly hasn't done this yet with a favorite piece of clothing, but I'm sure she will before too
long.

4. THE QUEEN OF FRANCE by Tim Wadham: I had the pleasure of hosting the launch party for this book back in March, and I'm just as happy to recommend it today as I was then. Rose wakes up feeling royal, and soon enough, the Queen of France imperiously presents herself to Rose's mother. However, when Rose comes to find the Queen of France a little later, the Queen has disappeared. When the Queen comes back and proposes that she switch places with Rose, the parents talk about how much they would miss Rose. The ending sets up a sequel (I hope) quite nicely. We have read this time and again and I never get tired of it.

5. THE PRINCESSES HAVE A BALL by Teresa Bateman: No one has ever heard of this awesome multicultural retelling of The Twelve Dancing Princesses. The king wonders where his daughters disappear to every night, and how they are constantly wearing out their dancing slippers. When the cobbler follows them, he learns that they are...playing basketball! They convince their father to let them throw their own ball, and play a lively game for the court.

6. MISS LINA'S BALLERINAS (and sequel!) by Grace Maccarone: This one's super fun to read aloud, because Miss Lina's perfect eight ballerinas are named Christina, Edwina, Sabrina, Justina, Katrina, Bettina, Marina, and Nina. But one day Regina shows up and throws off the balance, and they have to figure out how to adjust their steps.

7. PRINCESSES ARE NOT QUITTERS by Kate Lum: This is another one that seemed to fly totally under the radar. Three totally bored princesses decide that their servants are having more fun outside, doing things - so they decide to switch places for the day. They quickly find out that the work is hard and exhausting, but stick to it. In the morning, they take pride in what they did (eating the bread they baked, etc) and make up some new rules for the palace meant to lighten the workers' loads and ensure that everyone has some peaceful time to play.

8. BETTY BUNNY LOVES CHOCOLATE CAKE by Michael Kaplan: After Betty Bunny tastes chocolate cake for the first time, she decides that she is going to marry it - and that she doesn't want to eat anything else. When she throws a tantrum over the cake, her mother decides to teach her a lesson in patience. This bunny IS my daughter, and I suspect some of yours as well, and you will find much that is familiar in these pages. Betty's siblings are also kind of hilarious.

9. BELINDA THE BALLERINA (and sequels) by Amy Young: There are four books about Belinda, and we love them all to pieces. Belinda has gigantic feet, and despite being an incredibly talented dancer, is basically laughed out of an audition. She gives up dancing forever and takes a job in a restaurant. But her love of dance won't disappear, and one night, the Maestro of the Grand Metropolitan Ballet is eating in the restaurant and sees her dance. Belinda's dream quickly comes true. Subsequent stories find her in Paris and then dancing the part of Cinderella, and one of our favorites takes us back to Belinda as a little girl.

10. THE SECRET KEEPER by Kate Coombs: Yet another book that cause people to look at me blankly. This one feels like an old fairy tale, but isn't. Kalli is the Secret Keeper of the village of Maldinga, and the villagers come to her and leave her with their most dreadful secrets. She locks them away in tiny drawers in her cottage. The secrets become too much for her to bear and she becomes ill. The villagers decide then to share happier secrets with her as well - including Taln, the potter's son, who has the happiest secret of all. This is a book I actually hug every time I take it down from the shelf, I love it so much.

11. THE DUCHESS OF WHIMSY by Randall de Seve: This is the utterly charming tale of the Duchess of Whimsy, who is fancy and wild and fabulous, and her totally ordinary husband, the Earl of Norm, who is not. The Duchess throws a dinner party, and when the chef becomes sick, her friends go nuts making the most extremely crazily elaborate food possible. The Earl's just hungry, though, and wanders off to make himself a grilled cheese. What happens when the Duchess follows?

12. WHILE MAMA HAD A QUICK LITTLE CHAT by Amy Reichert: This one's a bit of a wry lesson for those of us who love our smartphones. It's Rose's bedtime, but Uncle Fred calls, and Mama just needs to have a quick little chat. But the doorbell rings, and when Rose opens it, she finds men with party supplies. She tries to get Mama, but Mama just needs a minute! The doorbell keeps ringing and ringing and soon enough there's a huge party going on, and Rose's Mama just won't get off the phone. What is Rose to do? This book introduced me to the art of Alexandra Boiger, who also illustrated Tallulah's Tutu!

I have to stop here or I will never stop. If I've forgotten your favorite, it's entirely possible I've forgotten one of mine - post what you think I've overlooked and I'll do a catchup post in the weeks to come!

2011 Holiday Gift Guide: 7 Fantastical Books With Awesome Teen Girl Characters

I admit it; I'm doing the easiest one first! Because with this category, it's simply a matter of narrowing down to the best of the new and throwing in some of my old favorites. If you are buying for a younger kid who's reading way up and want to know if there's any older content in any of the titles, just leave me a comment.  

Also, with these holiday gift guides (and going forward), this blog has become an affiliate of my neighborhood indie bookstore, Left Bank Books. They ship pretty much everywhere. I can walk there from my house! If you click on a "buy" link from here, a teeny portion of what you buy will come back to me. I in turn will take that money and purchase kids' books and donate them to St. Louis city school libraries. It will be totally transparent; I will tell you how much I have received, what I bought with it and where it went!

Note: this list presupposes that your gift recipient has already read THE HUNGER GAMES, Robin McKinley, GRACELING, MISTWOOD, Cassandra Clare, and DIVERGENT. If they haven't, put all of those titles (and Robin's and Cassie's entire oeuvre) on your thinking-about list. Comment if you want specifics on Clare or on McKinley, my favorite writer of all time.

1. I don't suppose I've mentioned THE SCORPIO RACES, have I? (I reviewed it yesterday.)

2. DAUGHTER OF SMOKE AND BONE by Laini Taylor - Not only does it sport one of my favorite covers of the year, but it's also the story of seventeen-year-old Karou, an art student in a Prague boarding school, who carries a sketchbook of hideous, frightening monsters--the "family" that raised her. Her father sends her on dangerous missions across the world, collecting teeth for an unknown purpose. Strange black handprints begin to show up on the doors between our world and theirs, and then one day a chance encounter with an angel brings both of Karou's worlds crashing down around her. (And the end is a KILLER.)

3. THE NAME OF THE STAR by Maureen Johnson: This one is definitely for the
 Doctor Who fans on your list in particular. Maureen's latest brings us Rory, a Louisiana teen who's spending the year at a London boarding school. And just her luck - the day she arrives, a serial killer begins a series of Jack the Ripper copycat murders across the city. After a body is discovered on school grounds, Rory is pretty sure she's seen the killer - but why did no one else see him? I LOVE this book. Creepy and mysterious and a little funny with a dash of romance. 

4. SISTERS RED by Jackson Pearce: I love this incredibly dark Red Riding Hood retelling. Scarlett defended her sister Rosie during the wolf attack that killed their grandmother, but was seriously maimed in the attack - both physically and emotionally. Now Scarlett and Rosie hunt the wolves, protecting the young girls that the wolves seek to lure in and kill. Rosie's getting older, though, and has begun to dream of a different life. Can she have it and still remain loyal to the broken sister who saved her life?

5. SORCERY & CECELIA, or THE ENCHANTED CHOCOLATE POT by Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer: I love to haul out an oldie but goodie like this one, book one of a series that began in 2003. It's an epistolary Regency fantasy. (Yes, you read that correctly.) I
love epistolary novels, Regency romances and fantasy, so you can imagine that when this came out I DEVOURED it. It takes place in an alternate, enchanted England, and our two protagonists are cousins: Kate, who's in London for the Season, and Cecilia, who's not allowed to go and has been left behind in the country. They keep up with one another through letters, and when Kate's nearly poisoned by a mysterious old woman and Cecilia meets a girl who she believes is enchanting young men to fall in love with her, their stories start sliding together. This is a romp of a fantasy, told with a wry sense of humor, in two distinct and charming voices.

6.GIRL OF FIRE AND THORNS by Rae Carson: This is the book for your GRACELING and MISTWOOD fans. Once every hundred years someone is born with the Godstone embedded in their navel, and that person is destined to perform a great duty in their lifetime. Elisa is the chosen one, but has been overshadowed her whole life by her older sister and feels useless and adrift as a result. She comforts herself with food and is overweight as a result (what? a real girl?) and hopes to marry someone ugly - but instead ends up married to a mysterious foreign prince, for reasons no one will tell her. Early in her marriage she is kidnapped, and as a result is forced to grow up quickly - to take charge of her life and become the person she was chosen and destined to be. The book started slowly for me and I really didn't like Elisa at all at first, but stick with it - the writing gets stronger and stronger as the book goes on (as does Elisa), and I think Rae Carson is a writer to watch. 

7.PARANORMALCY by Kiersten White: This one's good for Buffy fans. Evie's 16 and lives at the International Paranormal Containment Agency. Because she has the rare power to see through magical
glamours, she helps the Agency capture rogue fantastical creatures and keep the world safe from harm - with the help of her pink taser. In her spare time, though, she's fending off obsessive advances from a nefarious fairy; obsessing over clothes and television shows; befriending a mermaid; and falling for the mysterious new guy who's some sort of magical creature...but no one can figure out exactly what. This one's a lot of fun but also has a ton of thrilling moments, and (despite looking like a bitchy Barbie on the cover) a heroine that you wish you could be friends with. 

If I've forgotten your favorite, it's entirely possible I've forgotten one of mine - post what you think I've overlooked and I'll do a catchup post in the weeks to come!

THE SCORPIO RACES by Maggie Stiefvater

I have typed and erased, typed and erased the first sentence of this review no fewer than five times. I do not really know how to tell you about this book. I feel like I have been living inside of it since I closed the pages on the first reading. I have now read it twice and am listening to it on audio, and I am quite sure that before the year closes I will have read through the physical book again. I have been a fan of Maggie's for awhile now, and loved the Wolves of Mercy Falls series a lot, but this book is different.

This book is exquisite. This book is magic. This book has moved me in ways that I think I haven't been moved since I first opened a Robin McKinley book. This book is now on my top ten YA of all time list. (Yes, I will write that entry.) This book is not for everyone, and some may dismiss it as being "too horsey," although I think those people may not have been looking deeply enough. To look at THE SCORPIO RACES and see only a book about horses is to miss...so much.

I do not want to spoil a single moment of this story for you, but I want to tell you that it is based on a tiny fragment of a legend about water horses that has been with the author a long time. It is about an island called Thisby, which is in our world, but not, because this book is what we call "alternate history." Our world, but not. Our history, but not. It is about the Scorpio Races, which are run on the beach every year, when the capull uisce (CAPple ISHka) come out of the ocean and into the hands of men, who fight to control their speed and their danger for a brief time in order to be named victor at day's end.

If they survive the beach, that is. And many do not.

And it is about Puck Connolly (and her brothers and her dead parents) and Sean Kendrick (and his dead father) and their mutual desire for freedom and mutual love of horses, and how their stories slide into one another, quietly, seamlessly, beautifully. These two people, who have lost everything and yet still have everything left to lose, somehow find one another amidst the surf and the sorrow and the stunning, beautiful words, and their story - the separate parts and the together parts - weave together to make something that I cannot seem to put down for more than a few days at a time. 

It is about horses, and not. It is about love, and not. It is about life and death and magic and folklore and family and debt and honor and OH MY GOODNESS THE SCENE WHERE SEAN BRINGS THE BREAD TO DINNER. And the last line, which has made me bow my head over the pages and sob twice. 

This book. THIS BOOK. This book, if you (or your gift recipient, should you be looking for holiday recommendations) love Robin McKinley or Kristin Cashore or Leah Cypess or Patricia McKillip. This book, which I feel I may never stop reading. This book, which has become tied for my Printz pick (my other favorite will be in another post). 

This book, which has curled itself around my heart and lives there still.

(This book, which you can enter to win a hardcover copy of, by going over to Kidliterate's Facebook page. For various reasons I need to up the numbers of fans the blog has on Facebook, so for the time being, contest entries will only be taken there.)

TUESDAYS AT THE CASTLE by Jessica Day George

First, a bit of business: Kidliterate now has a Facebook page, and I am giving away books every time we get a hundred new followers. When we got to 100, I gave away a complete set of Emily Jenkins' TOYS series in hardcover! So go here to like us on Facebook. Don't worry - we don't post often, so we won't be clogging up your feed!

Longtime readers of this blog (or shoppers at my former employer, The Bookstore That Shall Not Be Named) will most likely remember how unhappy I was when I learned that DRAGON SPEAR would be the last of Jessica Day George's books about the superlatively awesome Creel. And you may also remember that said book made my 2009 Favorites list (and that I again expressed my unhappiness about said series ending). Now, Ms. George has a good sense of humor, as her comment on that entry shows, and she did produce an awesome sequel to the gorgeous PRINCESS OF THE MIDNIGHT BALL (called PRINCESS OF GLASS), and is writing a third in that series.

So even though I still want more Creel (MORE!), I can't possibly stay mad at someone who writes these books I love so much. Because, my friends, she went and did it again - and not in a Britney type of way. This time, she's gone and created Princess Celie, and darned if I'm not head over heels again. 

Celie lives in Castle Glower, where Tuesdays are amazing. Why, you ask? Because on Tuesdays, the castle gets bored and changes itself. It might rearrange some corridors, or add a new room or two, or stick an entire wing on one end, or pop on some new towers. That door you take to get where you go? Might not be there on Tuesday. It was certainly frustrating to some visitors, but "Celie truly loved Castle Glower. She never minded being late for lessons because the corridor outside her room had become twice as long, and she certainly didn't mind the new room in the south wing that had a bouncy floor. Even if you could only get to it by climbing through the fireplace of the Winter Dining Hall." And Celie felt like the Castle loved her, too. Whenever she urgently needed to be somewhere, she could usually get there quickly. When she was sick, the Castle filled her room with flowers. It left her snacks when she was hungry and led her to fun places when she needed something to do.

Not only does the Castle change itself when bored, it also changes itself to alter circumstances or to help a situation along. The current King, Celie's father, was chosen by the Castle. If the Castle furnished a visitor's room poorly, the guards knew to keep a close eye on them. It seemed like the Castle truly knew everyone and exactly what was going on, all the time. 

So when Celie's parents and older brother disappear and she and her sister and younger brother are left alone with a Council that doesn't seem all that broken up about the vanished royals, it is to the Castle that the prince and princesses turn for help. But when the situation turns ever more dangerous and even the Castle seems unable to help, will Celie be able to save her family?

This is a GREAT read-aloud. It's also perfect for kids who love Gail Carson Levine or Jean Ferris or E.D. Baker. This is younger than Ms. George's other books, though fans of DRAGON SLIPPERS will find much to love here. I love feisty, whipsmart Celie and the motley band of allies she assembles under the watchful eyes of the Council scoundrels. I love how she learns and grows during the book but the learning and growing is all wrapped in rollicking adventure and secret passageways and spying and the most awesome Castle in kids' books. I love her relationship with her siblings, especially Rolf, the king's heir. I love how when you read this book, you can go from heart-pounding excitement to loud laughter on the same page.

AND it's the first book of three, so we've got two to go, and then you can all be mad with me at the end. At least until Jessica Day George pulls another awesome heroine out of her seemingly endless bag of tricks. **Correction - Ms. George tells me that she doesn't know how many books there will be about Castle Glower, and that it's not intended to be a trilogy. Sad face. Well, I love this one, and will be hopeful of more!**