Princess Academy by Shannon Hale

Recently I received a comment about the presence of several girl-centered books on the blog. "Thought these books were for your boy," the commenter stated. "Does he like it when you read books about girls?"

Well, yes. Because, you see, we read them to him.

I think we do our kids a real disservice with our preconceived notions about what boys will like or what girls will be into. We're big believers in following our kiddo's lead, but also in giving him a diverse crop of things to read and do. So we include books that feature girls as often as boys, just like we read about an equal number of books featuring characters of various ethnicities. And I hope that as he grows older, this will make him open to the idea of cracking open a book with a female protagonist.

Having said that, I know it's probably an uphill battle to expect that most boys will want to read a book titled Princess Academy, no matter how awesome it is (and with Shannon Hale as the author, you know it's going to be a good one). Heck, I'll admit that even I had reservations about this because let's be honest, that title is kind of awful. Still, it's a Newbery Honor title, and I'm on a mission to read as many Newbery medalists as I can, so I overcame my feelings about the name of this book and dove right in.

Princess Academy tells the story of Miri Larendaughter, who lives with her father and sister in the village of Mount Eskel. The villagers have been quarriers for generations, extracting linder from the mountain and trading it to lowland traders, sustaining themselves through the harsh winter months. The people of Mount Eskel are used to the idea that the lowlanders look down on them, and keep to themselves as much as possible. But then comes the proclamation that the prince's bride is to be one of the girls of Mount Eskel, and that in preparation, all girls of the right age must enter the Princess Academy to be established on the mountainous slopes.

Miri's torn about whether or not she wants to be chosen, and this struggle forms much of the narrative drive of the book. But there are other factors as well -- competition among the girls, worries about home, the completely horrible tutor Olana, and Miri's feelings for her childhood friend Peder -- that make up the complexity that is Miri's life at the Academy. I love that through it all, Miri relies on her own cleverness and the help of her friends to solve her problems. When bandits take the girls hostage, for example, it is Miri's knowledge of the villagers' "quarry speech" that allows her to summon help and save everyone from a terrible situation.

I'm so glad I read this, and it's one I'm really looking forward to reading with Sprout when he's old enough. The story is paced very well -- there's plenty of suspense to keep readers turning pages, but enough heart and soul with the characters to make them easily relatable. Add in a touch of fantasy, and just a hint of fairy-tale essence, and you have the makings of a solidly classic title that will appeal to readers of all types. Plus you can't help but admire the mighty-girl message here. Miri's anything but a damsel in distress, and really none of the other girls are helpless maidens either. The idea of a fairy tale where the heroine saves the day isn't new, but it's beautifully done in this novel. Easy to see why the Newbery committee couldn't pass it by!

Grab this one for your middle-grade girl or boy -- because once they get past the titles, readers can't help but cheer for Miri and thrill at the adventures this fantasy has to offer.

Princess Academy by Shannon Hale, published by Bloomsbury Children's Books
Ages 9-12
Source: Library
First lines: "Miri woke to the sleepy bleating of a goat. The world was as dark as eyes closed, but perhaps the goats could smell dawn seeping through the cracks in the house's stone walls. Though still half-asleep, she was aware of the late autumn chill hovering just outside her blanket, and she wanted to curl up tighter and sleep like a bear through frost and night and day."
Recommended

Nonfiction Review - They Called Themselves the KKK by Susan Campbell Bartoletti

This past semester I was fortunate to take a class on teen literature. We read some amazing stuff over the course of the 16 weeks in the class, and my professor really made every attempt to introduce us to a diverse cross-section of books for teens. One unfortunate side effect, however, was that my already formidable TBR list grew by leaps and bounds (sadly, my available reading time did not grow with it, so who knows when I'll get to all these wonderful books, but that's another problem).

One of the titles we read that really blew me away was Susan Campbell Bartoletti's nonfiction selection  Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow. Not only was the subject matter fascinating -- the effect of Nazism on tweens and teens who became part of the movement -- but Bartoletti's writing is top-notch. While never sensationalizing events, she has the ability to pull you into the story and absolutely compel you to keep reading, to find out how life turned out for the young men and women Bartoletti focuses on. The book was recognized with a number of awards, including a Newbery Honor and a Sibert Honor, and for good reason, because it's simply incredible.

Reading Hitler Youth left me wanting more from this talented author, so I turned to her more recent book They Called Themselves the KKK, published in 2010. This is another fascinating historical account, this time centering on the formation of the Ku Klux Klan in the period of post-Civil War Reconstruction. I knew little to nothing about the KKK's history, so I went into this one entirely fresh, and was amazed at the depth of historical detail Bartoletti was able to uncover.

Her story takes up right after the Civil War concludes, when the Southern states were still reeling from their devastation and defeat at the hands of the Union soldiers. Tennessee was particularly hard hit, and the residents of Pulaski, TN worried about their future in a country that intended to see the South punished for their rebellion. Six Pulaski men took up meeting in the evenings to reminsce about "the good old days" before war ravaged their region; it was at one of these meetings that the Ku Klux Klan was formed, as a club for men who shared the six friends' ethos.

To say the Klan took off like wildfire is an understatement. Bartoletti traces the rapid spread of the KKK through the South and also the tactics that caused its membership to swell, even if many of the new recruits joined against their will. To oppose the Klan was to risk reprisal, and few young men were willing to risk it. And very soon the Klan began to take steps to protect its members and other white Southerners from what it felt were overly punitive and biased laws and mandates.

Of course, we all know of the violence and bloodshed that was left in the wake of the KKK, but it is here that Bartoletti's book becomes most moving. She traces first-hand accounts from former slaves and others who stood up to the Klan and were severely punished for their trouble. Stories like that of disabled preacher Elias Hill, whose sermons caused the Klan to target him for inciting black-on-white violence, provide an essentially personal element to this period of history. Throughout the book, reproductions of photographs, illustrations and historical documents add depth and bring out the poignant moments of human suffering described in Bartoletti's text. Much of it is horrifying, and yet critical to understand events that followed, most notably the Civil Rights Movement.

With excellent resources like this well-researched and riveting book, history truly comes alive for students, in a way no dry textbook can do. It's easy to condemn the actions that were carried out by the KKK -- far harder to analyze what events brought the Klan to power and how its effects lingered for years afterward, even to this day. I so admire the balance, sensitivity and accuracy Bartoletti employs in this account, which should be required reading for every student of American history.

They Called Themselves the KKK by Susan Campbell Bartoletti, published by Houghton Mifflin
Ages 13+
Source: Library
Sample: "Despite the Klan's terror tactics, freedmen turned out to vote in extraordinary numbers. In Spartanburgh County, South Carolina, for instance, freedmen swam rivers, waded streams, and walked miles to reach the polls. 'A man can kill me,' explained Henry Lipscomb, 'but he can't scare me.'"
Recommended

Bonus: Susan Campbell Bartoletti's visit to a KKK rally as background research

48 Hour Book Challenge - Everything on a Waffle by Polly Horvath

Second book completed for my 48 Hour Book Challenge! I managed to log 2.5 hours reading last night before collapsing and sleeping like the dead (until 5:30! The child slept in!). After finishing Zachary Beaver I dived right into Polly Horvath's delightful Everything on a Waffle. I finished it today at lunch - in between I've been listening to the audiobook version of A.J. Jacobs' The Year of Living Biblically, which I may not be finished with before the challenge ends.

And you wouldn't think an adjective like "delightful" could sum up a book about a young girl whose parents are lost at sea, whose guardian is preoccupied by development deals and who loses not one but two digits in the course of the novel. Oh, and who sets a guinea pig on fire. But somehow this book is not only smart but moving, funny and charming even as it is insightful.

Primrose Squarp knows her parents aren't dead, she just knows it, and no amount of intervention on the part of nosy adults in her town of Coal Harbour will convince her otherwise. Though the snoopy Miss Honeycut and the crisp and proper Miss Perfidy try to make Primrose realize that she is an orphan, she won't believe them. Rather, Primrose continues to have various misadventures that are not at all related to her being depressed, as the two women believe. And all the while she enjoys the company of the somewhat unusual adults who do support her, including her devilishly charming Uncle Jack, her foster parents Evie and Bert (whom she compares to "kindly old hard-boiled eggs) and of course the culinarily inventive Miss Bowzer (she of the restaurant The Girl on the Red Swing, where everything is, as you've probably guessed, served on a waffle).

Primrose is an engaging character in the vein of such sparky lasses as Pippi Longstocking or Matilda Wormwood (though without a nemesis half as threatening as the Trunchbull - shudder). Primrose makes the kind of keen observations of the world around her that bely a depth far beyond her years. Nothing gets past Primrose; though the adults in her life think they are outmaneuvering her, she always ends up right where she wants to be. This is definitely an unusual novel and one that's on the surface packed with oddball sensibilities. However, dig a bit deeper and you'll find commentaries on love, loss, loneliness and the value of always being just who you are.

Everything on a Waffle by Polly Horvath, published by Farrar Straus Giroux
Ages 9-13
Source: personal collection
Sample: "Uncle Jack thought it was strange that I didn't move my sweaters into his house. I said it was because the mothballs were protecting them but really it was because I wanted to see Miss Perfidy now and then. We had a peculiar relationship. We didn't like each other much but had lived through my parents' disappearance together. It gave us a kind of melancholy bond."
Recommended