Tiny Treasury

There’s an email forward that’s been going around the internet for weeks now, telling people to boycott the film version of The Golden Compass as well as the books. The gist of the emails is that the author, Phillip Pullman, is anti-Christian. While it’s true that Pullman is an atheist, the anti-Christian statement is mostly based upon two quotes from the author. Both quotes, while certainly provocative in nature, are taken out of context, making them seem far more subversive and offensive than they are when the interviews are read in their entirety.

The His Dark Materials trilogy (The Golden Compass is the first book of the series) is the story of how a girl discovers a plot to separate children from their “daemons”, which are animal-shaped physical manifestations of the soul in the universe of the books. Both adults and children have daemons, but only children’s daemons can change shape, which makes them valuable to the villains, for mysterious reasons. The story is about the science and morality behind the existence of daemons (souls), and the power of these souls. It’s a profoundly moral story. There’s no question that there are anti- religious elements in the book. But in regards to those elements Pullman said in an interview, “As for what it’s against - the story is against those who pervert and misuse religion, or any other kind of doctrine with a holy book and a priesthood and an apparatus of power that wields unchallengeable authority, in order to dominate and suppress human freedoms.”

One of the quotes used to justify the boycott is “my books are about killing God.” But in the same interview Pullman says “That’s not to say I disparage the religious impulse. I think the impulse is a critical part of the wonder and awe that human beings feel. What I am against is organised religion of the sort which persecutes people who don’t believe. I’m against religious intolerance.” The “God” in his books isn’t the God worshiped by Christians. The God in his book is a God in an alternate universe with a corrupt church trying to stop the spread of good and wisdom.

Another quote the anti-Pullman camp is jumping on is from a different interview when Pullman says, “I’m trying to undermine the basis of Christian belief.” What the email doesn’t add is the rest of the quote that continues, “Mr. Lewis would think I was doing the Devil’s work.” Pullman is specifically answering a question about what C.S. Lewis would think of his work. He’s not saying that he’s trying to undermine Christian belief. He’s saying that’s what someone else would think. The author isn’t against Christianity, Catholicism or religion in general, he’s anti-religious intolerance and against the dogmatism and oppression of the church.

If you’ve read the complete interviews and still disagree with the author’s viewpoint and don’t want to read the books that’s one thing. It just irks me that based upon a few emails and memos from people who haven’t seen the movie or read the books that parents all over the country are going to forbid their kids from reading an award winning trilogy.

I should add that I am completely against censoring books for children for any reason except age-appropriateness. I am all for dialogue between parent and child and think that it’s imperative for parents to monitor what their kids read. But I think it’s most important for parents to read along with their children and discuss the books they read rather than forbidding them from reading them altogether. Though I wouldn’t necessarily agree with the decision, if a parent were to take the time and read the book before deciding they didn’t want their child to read it I wouldn’t complain. As a parent it’s your right to make decisions for your family.

As for the movie, it doesn’t bother me that parents may not want their children to see it. I’ve read the books and I don’t think they’re appropriate for young children. As far as I know the movie is rated PG-13, and if it’s true to the book I wouldn’t recommend kids much younger seeing the movie since the books were written for a young adult audience. Based on my classroom experiences, kids much younger than seventh grade wouldn’t even understand the books for the most part, so a PG-13 rating seems spot on. In other words, while I haven’t actually seen a movie in the theater for two years now, if I were to see this movie and parents with children under ten were in the audience I’d be annoyed.

I have to admit that I’m reticent to see the film because I don’t want it to ruin the books for me. The books are remarkable. I can’t recommend them enough. But I have hope. One blogger who has seen the movie writes, “It is gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous. Go see it in the biggest theater you can.”

Unless you’ve been media deprived the past few days you’ve probably heard that J.K. Rowling outed everyone’s favorite wizard, Albus Dumbledore. Frankly, I’m a bit underwhelmed by the news. Since the series has been completed and Dumbledore’s sexuality never came into play, why does it matter now?

Here’s an article from the Harry Potter Fan Zone:

You can read more from Stacey, the new blogger at Hogwarts Herald.

Celebrate Teen Read Week along with YALSA. This year’s theme is “LOL@ your Library,” encouraging teens to laugh out loud. Here are some quotes from some favorite teen authors from the Teen Read Week wiki about what makes them LOL.

What makes me laugh most is Congress. Dogs can also be very funny, but I have to give the edge to Congress. –Dave Barry author of Peter and the Starcatchers

A woman strutting out of the bathroom with toilet paper stuck to her heel gets me every time. –Lisi Harrison author of The Clique

Freudian Slips: One night I was reading to my four-year-old daughter a rather boring picture book about Paul Revere. When I came upon the word ‘timber’ I accidentally said ‘tampon’ instead. I became immediately hysterical, laughing so hard tears were running down my cheeks. Of course my daughter thought I was insane and insisted that I continue reading, even though I had the giggles. Soon she had the giggles too and our giggles morphed into uncontrollable howls of laughter. It reminded me of my seventh grade biology class when I raised my hand to answer a question and I said ‘orgasm’ instead of organism. I turned purple and had to hide under my desk because my teacher was a man with a mustache and I could not look at him without bursting into hysterical laughter. By the end of class we were all under our desks. — Cecily von Ziegesar author of Gossip Girl

Reading (and writing about) characters’ excruciating embarrassing social gaffes always make me laugh! Which is awful, since goodness knows I’ve committed enough of them! — Meg Cabot, author of The Princess Diaries

The Readergirlz are also celebrating Teen Read with chats this week.

October 14th: Tanya Lee Stone
October 15th: John Green
October 16th: Sara Zarr
October 17th: Deb Caletti
October 18th: Rachel Cohn
October 19th: Kirsten Miller
October 20th: Mitali Perkins

One of the golden rules in the world of kids’ toys, TV, and books (besides the one that says you must be a celebrity to write a children’s book) is that girls will play with boy toys, read boy books, and watch boy TV. But the reverse is not true. Boys do not play with Bratz dolls, read The Babysitters Club, or watch Dora. Yes, there are exceptions (including my son, who likes to make sure Barbie gets her turn going down the slide). But gender-neutral, feminist fuming aside, it’s a pretty hard and fast rule, whether we like it or not. So when MotherTalk knocked on my door with this book review, I was immediately interested to see how James Patterson broke the rules in Maximum Ride 3 and whether he would get away with it. I mean, Patterson is a 60-year-old white guy who writes books middle aged men read on the beach. How on earth would he 1)write a story from a 14-year-old girl’s point of view, and 2)get boys to like it? But after reading the entire book in two days, all I know is he succeeded.

“Maximum Ride” is the name of the book’s eponymous heroine, a 14-year-old wise-cracking girl who kicks serious butt. Genetically engineered to be two percent bird, she sports giant wings that let her fly into battle against evil scientists, robots, and other nefarious types. As a mother figure to the other bird children, she is alternately tough and tender, leading them on an escape from the lab where they were raised and into a campaign to save the world.

I felt sorry for Max. At 14, she shouldn’t be a mother figure. She shouldn’t have to save the world. She shouldn’t be on her own, taking care of other kids. I mean, I know 14-year-olds who still sleep with stuffed animals. But she is on her own, and the fate of the world does rest on her (feathered) shoulders. Her voice is angry and authentic, right down to the sarcastic distrust of the grown-ups who’ve screwed everything up, and I found myself wanting to cheer for her and hug her at the same time. Not that she would let me.

Joining Max in her save-the-world mission is Fang, a technically talented bird guy who uses his blog to mobilize kids around the world and becomes Max’s love interest at the same time. (And the blog? It’s real- check it out.) So even the most testosterone addled boy who refuses to cheer for Max will find a hero in Fang and the rest of the flock.

All around, I give Maximum Ride 3 two thumbs up. I’ve already ordered the first two books in the series so I can read them before number four comes out next spring. As for the movie … bring it on!

As a mom of two young daughters, I am very sensitive to this notion of the connection between females and the fields of math and science.

I was a math girl - math team, math minor, attended the NC School of Science and Mathematics. But I was acutely aware that this wasn’t encouraged. I guess I realized this for the first time when my friends thought I should “play dumb” during a math competition. I had just bested my “steady” at try-outs and that was viewed as a death sentence. I could do okay at math, they said, just don’t embarrass the boys.

By the time that I enrolled in college (at an all women’s college), I was struggling to remember why I liked math. I enrolled as a history major and tested into Calculus (we were required to take one math class). During Calculus, my professor, Dorothy Preston, took me aside one day and gave me a pat on the back. I was, she told me, good at this. Next semester, I took Calculus 2, then Calculus 3… you get the picture.

I am now a tax attorney, a field that is hardly proliferated with women. And (gulp) I like math - despite the stereotypes, despite the Barbies that were programmed to say “Math is hard!” (remember those?).

I am so glad that I didn’t just become a statistic, another girl that gave up math in junior high, when in wasn’t cool anymore. My senior college thesis was a report on the connections between girls and math/science - and the ages at which interest and retention in those subjects decreased. It is very clearly in junior high and my “attitude surveys” in the local schools showed that girls perceived math to be fun and easy until puberty. What changed at that age? The coolness factor. The number of girls interested in math after that plummeted.

It is, then, encouraging and refreshing, to see someone willing to take center stage and be a good role model for girls who are interested in math. Huge kudos to brainy (and beautiful) Danica McKellar for choosing to transform her celebrity into something positive instead of taking the dumb party girl route favored by such embarrassments as Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears.

Danica’s book, “Math Doesn’t Suck: How to Survive Middle School Math without breaking a nail or losing your mind” goes on sale this week. If you know a middle school aged girl, I hope that you’ll consider preordering it.

Positive role models for girls in Hollywood these days are far and few between. I hope that this inspires girls to take a second look at math - and what success and math can mean (there’s a link on Danica’s web site where she discusses the correllation between math and the arts).

math, girls, Danica McKellar

Get the book.

In yet another example of Hollywood being too clever by half, the book about the Nancy Drew movie (which is, of course, based on the books) is out.

Nancy Drew Movie Novelization is available in bookstores now.

Nancy Drew

Some times a kids’ book comes along that makes you long to be a kid again. that girl Lucy Moon is like that - several times over.

that girl Lucy Moon is authored by Amy Timberlake, whose picture book, The Dirty Cowboy, was fabulous (one of my girls’ favorites) and yet very different from this one. The Dirty Cowboy focused on a loner who liked being a loner, a cowboy who was happy to be left in the wild with his dog.

that girl Lucy Moon is also about a loner, but not one alone by choice. Lucy Moon is that odd kid that we all knew in school - maybe that kid that was you - who marches to the beat of a different drummer. She cares about things that other people don’t. And when that makes her the most ostracized girl in town, she has a choice: she can conform or she can fight. She chooses to fight.

The book is all about making a difference and finding your own identity. It’s about prioritizing what’s important to you in terms of family and community. In other words, it’s about growing up.

It’s funny and sweet and well-written. And I’m not the only one who thinks so. It has won a ton of awards, including Friends of American Writers Literary Award; Bank Street College of Education Best Children’s Books of the Year 2007; 2007 Amelia Bloomer Book; NYPL Children’s Book 2006; and Fall 2006 Book Sense Pick.

I highly recommend it! And if you don’t have a child aged 9-12, pick it up for yourself. Shh! No one will tell.

One of the cool things about writing this blog is being *forced* to review books (and genres) that I would normally not even take off of the shelf. This is one of those books.

Barry Yourgrau’s Yet Another Nasty Book is almost indescribable. It’s weird. It’s oddly written. It has no sense of order. The cover isn’t attractive. The chapters aren’t organized. Some of the pages can’t be read because they’re printed backwards or because there are odd fonts.

And I will say this: if I were a 10 (or so) year old kid, I’d totally be into this book.

With entire chapters that read like this:

If this sentence contains exactly nineteen words, your very least favorite person will turn into a turtle wearing purple earmuffs!

And others with shrinking text, stories about swallowed cell phones and creepy fairy tales, how can you not love it?

The book changes direction every few pages, which is annoying if you’re trying to read a novel, but it’s cool if your attention is short to begin with… The book is clearly written by someone who has a handle on what it’s like to be a kid. A weird kid, maybe, but a kid.

No wonder Lemony Snicket wrote about it: “Barry Yourgrau’s work makes me shudder…”

To find out more about the craziness, you can visit the nasty book web site or Barry’s own site.

Yet Another Nasty Book, Barry Yourgrau

Meg Cabot’s new book, Pants on Fire, is helping HarperTeen blaze its way to summer. To celebrate, you can enter on HarperTeen to win a signed copy of Meg Cabot’s Pants on Fire and a $100 gift certificate to Sephora for you and a friend.

Meg Cabot, Pants on Fire, HarperTeen

The Sight, authored by Erin Hunter, is billed as “a dazzling feline twist on classic epic fantasy” and is the first book of an arc of the national bestselling series Warriors: The Power of Three.

Fantasy is not my thing, but I was willing to give it a whirl. After all, the praise for the series was positive. “Action-packed. Certain to please any young reader who has ever wondered what dreams of grandeur may haunt the family cat” claimed Publishers Weekly. And “A suspenseful adventure story that urges readers onward” touted ALA Booklist. Even the reviews on amazon.com were overall positive, though there was some grumbling about the original series being much better - isn’t it always?

And I like cats. I like fiction. I was ready to embrace the book.

The beginning of the book is a just over four page summary of the characters, the “allegiances” - literally a laundry list of who’s who. And the who’s who was lengthy. There are more than forty cats classified as leader, deputy, medicine cat, warriors, apprentices, queens and elders for each of four clans. This was my first inkling that I wasn’t going to love the book. As a rule, I don’t like books that require flow charts.

The book spends a lot of time setting up story lines that never seem to take off. I assume that many of the questions raised in the book will be resolved in the remaining two books of the series - and that the purpose of this book was to whet your appetite for those that follow. And herein is my second gripe: I’m not a big fan of series that purposefully set you up to buy more books. Now wait, don’t get me wrong. I like series. As a kid, I was a big fan of Nancy Drew, Trixie Belden, you name it. I like stories that build on each other. But I am not crazy about those that just feel like they’re written in order to sell another book. And that’s what this feels like to me, pretty much from top to bottom.

The basic story line of the book is that three kittens from the ThunderClan (Hollykit, Jaykit and Lionkit) are set to more or less take over the next generation. Each of the the three has a special power or talent that will allow them to take their rightful place in the Clan. About halfway through, the kittens become warriors and thus change their names to Hollypaw, Jaypaw and Lionpaw. With the number of characters in the book, I’m not crazy about the switch - I’m surprised that children aged 10 (which is the recommending reading level) and up can keep them all straight…

The one aspect of the book that I did find compelling was the determination of Jaypaw to become a “medicine cat” despite his disability (I’ll let you read it to find out what it is). The underlying principles that you can do anything if you work hard enough, and the admonition to Hollypaw (Jaypaw’s sister) to follow your heart and do what it is that you love and not what you feel is simply your lot in life are good lessons for children to learn.

But all of the good principles and plot twists couldn’t make this an enjoyable read for me. I couldn’t find that moment in the book where it all clicked for me and made me want to read more. Instead, I found myself flipping the pages backwards trying to recall which cat was which, and wondering when it was going to end…

Fans of the books (and there are a number of them despite my take on the book) can visit the web site to find out more information about the series, the characters and the authors. That’s right, authors plural. Despite the name “Erin Hunter” on the book, the series is actually penned by a group of three children’s authors, Victoria Holmes, Kate Cary and Cherith Baldry. You can read their bios on the site.

Warrior Cats, Power of Three, Warriors: The Sight, Erin Hunter, Victoria Holmes, Kate Cary, Cherith Baldry

That’s the question that author Troy CLE initially tried to answer when he created his character, Louis Proof.

But it would be simplistic to paint Louis as simply a black version of the beloved Harry. Louis is a very different character. The brainchild of Troy, Louis loves listening to hip-hop, racing radio-controlled cars, and hanging out with his best friend, Brandon. If he sounds a little normal, maybe it’s because he is meant to be.

Of his character, Troy says, “I couldn’t find any action hero kids who looked like me in popular literature. That’s what sparked me to write this book.” And where is comes from is pretty amazing. The 29 year old New Jersey native grew up and still lives (according to his myspace page) in the urban, gang-infested city of East Orange, NJ. However, Troy didn’t fall victim to the stereotypes. He studied classical piano and acting, and went on to succeed at New York University, including earning degrees in American literature and English, and a masters in digital design.

Despite his successes, Troy couldn’t shake the desire to create something that reflected his roots. The Marvelous World series was inspired by his own vow to create a movie where kids looked and lived like he did. While a big fan of Spielberg’s “The Goonies”, Troy realized that the kids in that movie didn’t look like him. In the Marvelous World series, the 13 year-old kid from New Jersey sounds a little like Troy might have been like as a child.

But that’s where the similarities appear to end. While Louis’ fictional world takes off in a whirlwind of fantasy, science fiction, hip-hop, gaming, race cars and Anime. Troy’s real life world has taken off in a manner that’s a little more mainstream (no comas, no magic portals) but no less fantastic.

Troy’s continuing rise to fame isn’t completely a solo effort. He had a little help from some pretty impressive friends. For starters, the cover art for the first book of the series was created by Daryl Mandryk, formerly of EA Sports and now the lead artist for Disney’s video game company, Propaganda Games. And the book’s back cover was created by Joe DiVelario, who was the visual effects designer for the Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie now infamous’ flick, “Mr. And Mrs. Smith.”

But Troy still couldn’t find a publisher. He didn’t stop trying. David Finn, owner of the public relations firm Ruder Finn, saw potential in Troy’s book and offered a hand. David lent his resources to help Troy self-publish his book and become his own publicist. And the hype began, resulting in deals with Simon and Schuster and Random House.

Since then, the buzz around Troy’s book has exploded. It is, quite likely, the second most anticipated new release of the summer. And oh yeah, Harry Potter isn’t the only book that you can pre-order. Pre-order The Marvelous Effect before its May 22 release date.

To hear a snippet as read by Malcolm Jamal-Warner, click here.

Troy CLE, The Marvelous Effect, Marvelous World, Harry Potter, sci-fi, gaming, Daryl Mandryk, Ruder Finn, Joe DiVelario

The Meg Cabot series The Princess Diaries was a huge hit. Since the debut of the series, there have been fourteen more Princess Diaries books. So, which is the better sequel:

Princess in the Spotlight (Vol II) or Princess in Love (Vol III)?

Meg Cabot, The Princess Diaries

Following the release of Lemony Snicket’s last book of his Unfortunate Events series, The End, HarperCollins has announced that they will release the entire series in paperback.

The first paperbacks to be released next month will be The Bad Beginning and The Reptile Room. Additional titles will follow once every few months.

HarperCollins is looking to up the appeal of the paperback releases by including additional information and new illustrations by illustrator Brett Helquist with each book. The additions should help boost sales, although it’s hard to imagine topping the more than 25 million copies of the hardback books already in print.

HarperCollins, Lemony Snicket, paperback, The End, The Bad Beginning, The Reptile Room, Brett Helquist

Last year, Katherine Paterson, author of Bridge to Terabithia (and also The Great Gilly Hopkins, one of my favorite books ever), won the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award for Literature. Terabithia was also awarded the Newberry Book award. So, it was only a matter of time that the book would be made into a movie. The movie opened last month to mixed reviews and is still in theatres today. It has grossed nearly $75 million to date.

You can watch the trailer here:

A lot of the criticism of the movie stems from the argument that it is not true to the book. Quite frankly, I can’t say as I haven’t (1) read the book (though it’s on my list) nor (2) seen the movie. But it has got me to thinking… Watch for a post later in the week about books that made the leap to the movies…

Bridge to Terabithia, Katherine Paterson, The Great Gilly Hopkins, Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, Newberry Award

Oh yeah, the bargains keep coming. First, the skinny on paperbackswap.com and now this…

Simon & Schuster has announced that you can download the ebook Swashbuckling Fantasy: 10 Thrilling Tales of Magical Adventure by Margaret Peterson Haddix and Obert Skye and Alan Snow and Anne Ursu and Jane Johnson and Kai Meyer and Linda Buckley-Archer and D. J. MacHale and Scott Westerfeld and Holly Black - for free. You can download it in one of four formats, for Adobe Reader, Microsoft Reader, Palm Reader and Mobipocket. Enjoy!

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