Oh My Stars! By Lorna Landvik

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Another Landvik gem. I love her quirky characters and her northern settings. The people ring true because they are like the people that we know...

Here is a story of a woman who has had all the hardship life has to offer before she is 16 - her mother ran off, her father abused her and neglected her, she was dreadfully poor and only had a tree to love. Then life started to improve - she got a factory job in a thread factory, made friends and began to see life differently -but on her 16th birthday her life changed...she lost an arm in a accident, her ears filled with the buzzing of bees and there didn't seem to be a reason to continue on...

So, Violet boards a bus to San Francisco to jump off the Golden Gate Bridge.

Then life starts to throw her a rope...there is a bus crash and she is rescued by two unusual musicians - Kjel (prounced Shell) the most amazing looking blond North Dakota has to offer and Austin the blackest of all black men with the largest vocabulary of smooth and high talk. That crash and rescue change the course of Violet's life.

Austin and Kjel are musicians and they invite Violet to join them on a whim. They begin an amazing band called the "Pearltones." They start a tour with Austin's brother Dallas through the small towns changing their lives and the lives of those who hear them play through a very memorable summer.

In typical Landvik fashion nothing seems to go like they planned. But, life continues. Also in Landvik fashion, this book covers Violet's life from childhood through her old age with many stops and starts and curves and twists in between. It is filled with music and beauty and characters that I wish I could meet!

The title is from Kjel - each morning he greets the world with "oh my stars!" a prayer and a song to the beauty of the heavens and world that was created around him!

I loved this!

Singing Hands by Delia Ray

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My good friend, Phyllis, recommended this book to me. She knows my connections to sign language. It's one of the new books in our school library this year.

Here is a great moment in time captured by the granddaughter of two deaf grandparents. So, it's based on many real family stories of Delia. The story centers around Gussie who hates that her deaf parents aren't like everyone else in Birmingham. It all comes to a head one hot summer. It begins with her humming loudly during the worship service at the deaf church where her father is the minister - she and her two hearing sisters are the only ones that can hear her.

Her nasty and obstinate side continues through clandestine searches through the boarders rooms upstairs and continues to her skipping Sunday school at the hearing church downtown. All this naughtiness comes to a screeching halt when she is discovered. Her punishment is a very eye-opening experience which changes the way she sees her family and her life.

I worked with hearing impaired students for 2 years in Ohio and lived with a hearing impaired adult. Nancy taught me sign language and a whole lot more. I think she would really like this book.

Nancy grew up in the mid 70s when signing was still not really very accepted. She went through hearing schools and was proud of her lip reading abilities. That is until she went to Galludet College in Washington DC. It was there that she understood and embraced what it meant to be deaf. She completely changed her life. She became a teacher of deaf children - starting a preschool for deaf kids in Wooster, OH. That's where I came to know her. Today, Nancy is teaching deaf children in Belize.

This book made me think about what life was like for Nancy - growing up different. When I lived in Ohio, Nancy and I went out to eat one time and sat at the table signing back and forth to each other. I didn't really think about it until the waitress came to our table and didn't know what to do. She stood and stared and then bent over and very carefully and clearly asked us for our order. There was a moment when I had to decide what to do... I answered her, she blushed and moved away. In that moment - I understood what it really felt like to be different - to be deaf.

An Unfinished Life by Mark Spragg

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This is a great read! Another story of a single mother and a remarkable daughter. What is it about single mothers and their daughters?? This is the story of Jean and Griff, her daughter. Jean has bounced from one awful man to another. Roy, the last boyfriend, beats her and Griff finally convinces mom to leave him - to leave Iowa. They take off for the ocean - but their car spontaneously combusts near Estherville. They have enough money to catch the bus to the little hole in the wall town in Wyoming where Jean grew up and to the grandfather that Griff never knew she had.

There is bad - awful bad-  blood between Jean and Einar, the grandfather. But, Griff is just what the relationship needed. Griff is the unpretentious little girl that sees all and quietly helps the situation.

Jean is only agreeing to stay for a month. Mitch, the black cowboy that Einar has cared for since a bear mauling, becomes Griff's friend and slowly things begin to work out. Until the night the Einar sees Jean in his dead wife's dress. Words are said, Jean runs again but this time Griff puts down her foot and runs back to the ranch.

Life gets interesting as a bear freeing escapade goes wrong, Roy shows up again ready for blood and Jean finds out that life in a small town can be utterly amazing- everyone is watching out for you!

Anyway - i really liked it. It was a bit predictable, but the language is beautiful and you really like Griff - like her a lot. And the secrets that all the main characters keep are dooled out slowly - you get to savor the knowledge, just like Griff does.

Quick and fun read.

Welcome to the Great Mysterious by Lorna Landvik

I really enjoyed this one too!

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It's another Lorna Landvik book, and I think it's one of my very favorites. It is very predictable.. from the beginning you pretty much know that Geneva the Broadway actress is going to connect with her Downs' Syndrome nephew in a deep way and fall in love with the small town mailman...but, that's not the great part.

The great part is how it all happens. This isn't one of the amazing surprises that sometimes Landvik throws, instead it's a comfortable stroll through the growing up moments of one very self-centered former Minnesotan!

Geneva is a twin to Ann who has been offered a once in a lifetime 2nd honeymoon to Italy. The only problem is childcare for Rich - the 15year old son. Geneva has been patronizing of Rich, but to think about spending time with him is more than a little daunting. So, she agrees because she likes the thought of doing it - that seems to be more important to her than actually doing it. What she discovers is an amazing young man and his surrounding cast of characters. She becomes friends with Barb and her son Conrad, Rich's best friend. Connie has cerebral palsy and a contagious outlook on life! But, most of all she meets James, the mild mannered mailman next door.

But, my favorite part of this book is the book they reveal...The Great Mysterious. When Ann and Geneva were girls they created a pocket book with a question on each page. Their mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, ant and uncle wrote their answers on slips of paper to be read by the group. I love that idea. Adults and kid answering the questions together. Each sharing their answers and thier ideas to create a great mysterious. The best part is that they continue the practice through this book. I really like this idea... I would love to try it...

Anyway - I would happily recommend this book!

Because of Anya by Margaret Peterson Haddix

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This is the second book club book for February.

I didn't like this as well as Stuck in Neutral mostly because it wasn't as adult appealing. It was much more predictable. But, I think it would really appeal to kids. I think I will recommend it to my 4th graders. It's not nearly as scary as Neutral.

The story is told from two 10-yr-old girls' perspectives.

Anya is the quiet, shy girl who suddenly began loosing her hair. It was pretty much all gone my Christmas. With the loss of her hair she also looses who she is. She refuses to look in the mirror. She wants/hopes to fade into the walls of her classroom and simply fade away.

The second side is Keely's. Keely is the minion of powerful and nasty Stef. But, she has a tender side. When Stef notices Anya's wig after Christmas vacation and wants to make sure it's a wig by getting Keely to tug on it...Keely stands up to her and tells her to stop.

But - the wig seems to have a mind of it's own - and in the midst of gym class it comes off and all the 4th graders see what Anya really looks like.

As Anya is revealed - so is Keely. Because it's Keely who attempts to connect with Anya and offer some sort of a solution.

Maybe it's because I teach 4th grade - but the adults in the story including the teacher didn't act like the adults I know. Instead, they sort of stood around wringing their hands and crying. It was Keely who went online and did research and it was Keely who crossed the divide and went to Anya's house with an idea...

Anyway- these two books will make for great conversation at book club. Each presents a child in need and very different ways of helping/solving that....

Stuck in Neutral by Terry Trueman

This is one of two books for our February book club.

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It doesn't take long to read the book - but it takes a long time to get the story out of your mind. It's one that will haunt me.

The story is about Shawn McDaniel, told by Shawn. He is a 15-year-old trapped in a body which obeys no one. Shawn was born with cerebral palsy - an extreme form that has affected his brain stem. That means he can not control any voluntary movement in his body. Only involuntary reflexes like swallowing and breathing function. His IQ comes out about 1.3 - that's about a month old baby.

But, there is a dastardly twist. Shawn can remember absolutely everything he hears - forever. He thinks he may be a genius. But, no one will ever know because he can't control his body enough to share that gem.

Add to this a father who was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for a poem about Shawn. His famous father seems on the brink of a monumental decision... is Shawn's life so painful that the merciful thing to do is to end it. Is that what a loving father would do?

There is the book - a simple enough tale.
But what do we think? At one point Shawn's father asks an audience member on a TV talk show..."Have you ever told someone to pull the plug if you are brain dead following an accident?" With that the audience is silenced - and Shawn and I wonder...is that what his life is?

What would we do? How do we know what is happening inside a person's head when their body does not allow us to know? And how would a father show his love?

And that is why this short youth fiction book haunts me...and will probably haunt you to!