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| December 7, 2014, 1:43 pm

“King for a Day” (review)

Malik, who uses a wheelchair, uses his skill in his quest to win the spring kite festival in Lahore, Pakistan

Malik, who uses a wheelchair, uses his skill in his quest to win the spring kite festival in Lahore, Pakistan

“King for a Day” is Rukhsana Khan’s lovely story about a young boy in a wheelchair, and his ambition to become the King of Basant, the annual spring kite festival in Lahore, Pakistan.

Basant is a big deal in Pakistan. Huge. Bigger than Halloween in the U.S. Instead of candy, children fly kites whose strings are coated with powdered glass or made of something else sharp enough to cut the strings of other children’s kites. The goal is to keep your kite aloft and intact, while taking down and collecting as many kites as possible.

That’s the goal of Malik, who is handicapped in more ways than one. His wheelchair means that he’s limited to the roof of his home, instead of being down on the ground with other competitors. He dearly hopes to beat the neighborhood bully who hits Malik and throws stones and bad names at Malik’s sister.

Can Malik succeed? His kite-flying skills are keen, and his eagerness to teach the bully a lesson are both on his side. It’s a wonderful look at another culture’s treasured holiday, and a thrilling story.

Author Rukhsana Khan creates a dynamic, likable character in Malik, and illustrator Christiane Kromer’s mixed-media collage illustrations are powerful and arresting.

“King for a Day” by Rukhsana Khan, illustrated by Christiane Kromer (Lee & Low Books, $17.95) Ages 4 and up.

| December 7, 2014, 4:45 am

“The Sittin’ Up” by Shelia P. Moses (review)

Shelia P. Moses writes an endearing novel about the custom of paying final respects to a  loved one.

Shelia P. Moses writes an endearing novel about the custom of paying final respects to a loved one.

“The Sittin’ Up” is an utterly charming story about the tradition of paying final respects to the recently deceased. In this case, that’s Mr. Bro. Wiley, who is referenced by his full title throughout the novel, illustrating the reverence in which his community held him.

Mr. Bro Wiley, a former slave, was “like a daddy” to Bean, a boy taking his first steps toward what he calls “grown-folk mess,” or what some of us call “adulthood.” It is Bean’s first encounter with death, and it is by turns upsetting, fascinating, painful and challenging.

Memories of Mr. Bro. Wiley punctuate nearly every page:
“Mr. Bro. Wiley appreciated anything you did for him and I knew the flowers made him smile from heaven.”
“That black hearse was so much longer than it looked sitting at the funeral home. It seemed bigger than when they carried Mr. Bro. Wiley away.”
“Ma was holding me so tight that I could feel the life growing inside her move again, but Mr. Bro. Wiley’s life was over. I touched his hand. Those old hands were hard and stone-cold.”
“I had to remember what Mr. Bro. Wiley told me and Pole: ‘Don’t worry about what the folk call you. Just worry about what you answer to.'”
“It was a fine day. Everything was going to be all right. Mr. Bro. Wiley was gone, but Papa and the menfolk would protect us just like they did in the storm.”

The novelty of Mr. Bro. Wiley’s burial preparations and the wakin’ up itself, the local version of an Irish wake or the Jews sitting shiva (though that’s after burial), is interrupted by a powerful storm. It promises to wash Mr. Bro. Wiley back to the river he loved, and serves as a level between the African-American community of Low Meadows and the whites who live in the town above the lowlands.

There is some change by the story’s end, the small, reluctant steps that lead to bigger change. “The Low Meadows were underwater a whole week. We had no choice but to live among the white folk. We ate at the same tables and slept in their beds,” Pole recounts. It’s an uneasy time for both communities, but by the time the Ole River’s waters recede, the “Whites Only” sign on Taylor’s Grocery Store has been taken down. Mr. Bro. Wiley would have been satisfied to see that.

“The Sittin’ Up” should be included in any 20th century history class as an excellent example of race relations and mourning traditions, and it might help children coming to grips with the death of a loved one, as well.

“The Sittin’ Up” by Sheila P. Moses (G.P. Putnam & Sons, $16.99)

| December 2, 2014, 4:59 am

“The Madman of Piney Woods” by Christopher Paul Curtis (review)

The latest young adult novel from Christopher Paul Curtis follows the story of "Elijah of Buxton."

The latest young adult novel from Christopher Paul Curtis follows the story of “Elijah of Buxton.”

“The Madman of Piney Woods,” set in 1901, tells about an unlikely friendship forms between two 13-year-olds: Benji, a young African American, and Red, an Irish-American boy whose grandmother is a genuine terror.

They don’t meet until nearly two-thirds of the way through the story, drawn together by their fascination with the legendary creature said to live in a forest near Buxton, Canada, a refuge for runaway slaves. (This is set in 1901, remember, when the Civil War was still fresh in people’s memories.)

Bound by an elaborate prank they play as well as their mutual interest in the forest-dweller. Red knows him as the South Woods Lion Man; in Benji’s community, he’s called the Madman of Piney Woods.

Read more…

| November 30, 2014, 5:26 am

“The Teen Vogue Handbook” (review)

"The Teen Vogue Handbook" features behind-the-scenes profiles, photos, career advice and job descriptions for the fashion industry.

“The Teen Vogue Handbook” features behind-the-scenes profiles, photos, career advice and job descriptions for the fashion industry.

“The Teen Vogue Handbook” takes dead aim at adolescent girls obsessed with becoming a model (or looking just like one). Got a young fashionista in your life? If she doesn’t have “The Teen Vogue Handbook” yet, she will love this.

The layout is weirdly web-friendly, with balloon captions for a still life of Teen Vogue editor’s desk, a cell phone, a mock-up of Teen Vogue, a stack of newspapers (Teen Vogue editors read newspapers in print! Not online?!?), bouquets from grateful designers and other artifacts.

There are also tips from Alexandra Thurmond — assistant to Amy Astley, and if you don’t know who that is, you’re probably too old for “Teen Vogue Handbook” — advice on creating individual style, thoughts from Leandra Medine and other fashion bloggers, stylists, photographers, rising design stars and many, many more fashion-forward voices.

“Teen Vogue Handbook” is indebted to “Tiger Beat” in design and breathless sharing — I love the #AskAnEditor Twitter chats — and they’re a great way for people starting out in fashion or beauty journalism to get advice. But “Teen Vogue Handbook” also offers solid tips in there, along with the glaring graphics. Read on for examples.

Read more…

| November 29, 2014, 5:39 am

“The Terminals” by Royce Scott Buckingham (review)

The Terminals by Royce Scott Buckingham.

The Terminals by Royce Scott Buckingham.

“The Terminals,” Royce Scott Buckingham‘s camera-ready young adult thriller, begins with 19-year-old Cam contemplating his mortality.

No, really. A prescient student and soccer player, he’s just been diagnosed as terminally ill, thanks to a malignant brain tumor that doctors say will kill him in less than a year. So much for college interviews, and sowing wild seeds at a house party with a hot girl from school.

He barely has time to start pitying himself when a man in a tan jumpsuit visits his hospital bed with a proposal. Since Cam’s fatally ill anyway, but so far free of symptoms, how about joining a James-Bond-ish organization that promises fast cars, exotic locations and jumping from planes on a mission that can “help save your fellow man.”

Beats being in a hospital bed, Cam reckons. The stranger arranges to invent a cover story (Cam dies, but his parents inherit $250,000), and sneaks Cam from the hospital room, “Mission Impossible” style, through the window and up to a waiting helicopter. (That’s the point where this novel lands squarely in the middle of Ian Fleming territory, minus Pussy Galore and friends.)

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| November 4, 2014, 5:37 am

“No One Needs to Know” by Amanda Grace (review)

Amanda Grace's novel is a coming-of-age romance about a girl who falls for her twin brother's latest crush.

Amanda Grace’s novel is a coming-of-age story about a girl who falls for her twin brother’s latest crush.

At the opening of Amanda Grace’s teen romance novel, “No One Needs to Know” (Flux, $9.99), it’s less a case of no one needing to know than several people not really knowing exactly what they need.

While well-off twins Olivia and Liam are best friends. But Olivia takes a dim view of her brother’s girlfriends, including his latest interest, Zoey, a chick from the wrong side of the tracks.

For her part, Zoey thinks Olivia’s a little pathetic, with a backstabby best frienemy and such an empty social life that she’s increasingly lonely without her more outgoing twin. And while Liam seems interested in Zoey, he’s just not around as much as Olivia. Partly, that’s because Olivia and Zoey are assigned partners on a school project (Diverse Perspectives In American History).

After some sparring, the girls decide to tackle the narratives of an upper-class girl, and a working-class girl, mirroring their own real-world relationship. They develop a cautious friendship, Olivia watching uneasily as her brother flirts with Zoey. But then one kiss changes everything.

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| November 2, 2014, 5:46 am

“In A Handful of Dust” by Mindy McGinnis (review)

The excellent sequel to author Mindy McGinnis's "Not  Drop to Drink."

The excellent sequel to author Mindy McGinnis’s “Not Drop to Drink.”

“In A Handful of Dust” is Mindy McGinnis’s sequel to “Not A Drop To Drink,” a post-apocalyptic young adult novel set in a world where water is the premium currency, jealously guarded by those who have access to it, and coveted by those who don’t.

Polio strikes the band of refugees who’ve collected around Lucy’s homestead and its little creek. Nobody knows exactly what to do. Without reference books, and with only one old-timer who vaguely remembers the disease, fear sweeps through the little community. People die, and the survivors warily eye one another.

When it appears that either Lucy or her close friend Carter may be a carrier, they’re banished. Lucy’s adoptive mother, Lynn, sends Carter out on his own. But she joins Lucy to travel west to California, where there’s a rumored desalination plant that makes ocean water drinkable.

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| November 1, 2014, 5:25 am

“Threatened” by Eliot Schrefer (review)

Image by Scholastic Press

Image by Scholastic Press

Eliot Schrefer’s “Threatened” is a sequel of sorts to his excellent novel “Endangered,” in which an African coup threatens a sanctuary for bonobos, along with its caretakers.

This time, we follow Luc, an orphaned Gabon street boy, who is naturally suspicious of the creatures he calls “mock men,” what an Arab researcher calls chimpanzees. The Arab travels with a vervet, a monkey Luc usually sees gutted and hung up for sale in the bushmeat market.

This man tells Luc to call him Prof, for “professor,” and hires him to help lug his equipment to the optimistically-named Beverly Hills hotel in Franceville. When Luc steals Prof’s briefcase, the man comes after him. But instead of punishing Luc, Prof buys his freedom from Monsieur Tatagani. He wants Luc to help him with his research in the bush, but even with the promise of escaping his vicious master Tatagani, Luc’s not sure:

“In Gabon, we called the places men live the Outside and the jungle the Inside. Humans weren’t supposed to go Inside,” Luc says. But he won’t abandon Prof, who’s paid Luc’s debt, bought him shoes and who seems to have more money than Luc thought existed.

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| October 31, 2014, 12:39 pm

“Gifts of the Heart” by Patricia Polacco (review)

Patricia Polacco's "Gifts of the Heart" celebrates the nucleus that makes a family.

Patricia Polacco’s “Gifts of the Heart” celebrates the nucleus that makes a family.

“Gifts of the Heart” tells of the final Christmas on the farm for Trisha and Richie, their mother and grandfather. They hate to leave it, but with their grandmother dead, the place is too full of memories for Grampa. And the family is a little strapped for cash. Selling the farm will help them.

Trisha and Richie are feeling sad when a newcomer shows up on the farmhouse threshold. It’s Kay Lamity, their new housekeeper. (But they didn’t have an old housekeeper! Anyway.)

She is full of wonderfully quirky phrases and has a winning way in the kitchen. After some hesitation, the kids embrace her, and confide that their favorite part of Christmas is the presents. Richie is thinking about a train model he saw in a downtown store window. Trisha is thinking about a sweet doll.

“All them toys ya see in them shop windas are one kind of gift…Maybe they ain’t the ones that count,” Kay Lamity tells them. She elaborates:
“Gifts that come straight from the heart, that’s the kind that’s kept forever!”
“What do you mean…from the heart?” Richie asks.
“A gift of the heart ain’t opened by pullin’ on a fancy bow or rippin’ pretty paper off a box. It’s about openin’ your heart…and givin’ what’s inside. That’s the greatest gift of all!”

Read more…

| May 9, 2014, 10:03 am

Colorado Authors’ League names 2014 award winners

Joyce Meskis, owner of the Tattered Cover bookstores in Denver, was honored May 8 by the Colorado Authors League.

Joyce Meskis, owner of the Tattered Cover bookstores in Denver, was honored May 8 by the Colorado Authors’ League. (Photo from The Denver Post archives)

The Colorado Authors’ League named its 2014 honorees on May 8, with awards going out in categories ranging from poetry to fiction to childrens books, magazine journalism to blogging.

Among those recognized were two women with decades in the literary world between them.

Joyce Meskis, owner of the Tattered Cover bookstores in Denver, was honored with the CAL Author Advocate Award. Among other things, she was cited for her support of local authors and championing First Amendment rights.

Lois Hayna, a 101-year-old Colorado Springs poet who didn’t devote herself fully to writing until she was in her 60s, won the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Meskis and Hayna were the inaugural winners of their awards. They were honored in an evening dinner at the Marriott Courtyard in Cherry Creek. Award-winning novelist Robert Greer of the University of Colorado School of Medicine’s Department of Pathology, was the keynote speaker.

Other honorees included: Read more…

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