Okay for Now

When I began hearing Gary D. Schmidt’s Okay for Now mentioned over and over as a potential Newbery winner this early in the year, I can’t say I was very surprised.  After all, he’s won the Newbery Honor Award twice (as well as a Printz Honor and other awards).  I think you would be foolish to count him out.  But I am going on record as saying if this book doesn’t win the Newbery (and possibly a Printz Award too), I’d be very surprised.  It is a multi-layered  narrative, combining history, family, coming-of-age and a little bit of romance and mystery.  It also bridges the divide between Newbery and Printz age groups gracefully.

Schmidt takes a character from The Wednesday Wars (Doug Swieteck) and moves him from Long Island to Marysville, New York.  Doug, who is going to start eighth grade, comes home one day to find out that his father has been fired after a fight with the owner of the lumber business where he works.  In Marysville, Doug’s father has a friend who can get him work at the paper mill, so off they move.  Doug’s father is a tough man, the kind who blusters, thinks he knows better than anyone else and isn’t afraid to let you know it.  He is a drinker and there is abuse in Doug’s household.  He is capable of amazing cruelty to his family, which the Swieteck boys see every day.  Each of them deal with this differently, and Doug mostly handles it by keeping his head down or disappearing when it’s a “wrong day”.

When they get to Marysville, Doug happens across the Marysville Free Public Library on a Saturday, the only day it’s open each week.  And it’s there that he sees the most amazing picture of a bird he has ever seen.  A librarian, Mr. Powell, tells Doug the book is Audubon’s Birds of America and Doug is mesmerized.  His regular visits to the bird portraits in a glass case lead to Mr. Powell teaching Doug how to draw.  He practices his skills using the portraits of the birds.  As Doug learns the techniques Audubon used to create the birds, he also learns to observe closely and to analyze exactly what makes the drawings so compelling.  The chapters are all named after birds Doug sees and draws, and I found it very helpful that reproductions of the plates are included in Schmidt’s book.  Many of the birds were not familiar to me, and as Doug describes their magnificence, readers can go back and see what he is describing for themselves.

There are so many tightly-woven details that make up Doug’s story, and I don’t want to ruin the experience for you.  Suffice to say that every story Doug retells and every detail included in this narrative counts.  Doug’s oldest brother, Lucas, is serving in the Vietnam War when the novel begins, helping to set the historical period.  But what I believe is one of Schmidt’s greatest skills is his ability to totally craft a historical era, along with period details, but allow the narrative’s themes to be very contemporary in feel and tone.  Doug is also telling the story to the reader, which feels more contemporary to me.  His tough-guy demeanor (learned at home) gradually gives way to a different way of talking to the reader as the novel moves on, and it is a good indicator of the changes in Doug.

One of the themes in this coming-of-age novel is judgment and how that can be accurate or inaccurate.  The Swieteck boys are perceived as no-good troublemakers when they arrive.  Or at least, the middle brother, Christopher, is.  He is repeatedly questioned by the police about a series of burglaries.  It does seem as if there is some evidence pointing to his involvement, but Christopher always insists he is innocent.  In the meantime, Doug is judged by his teachers, the principal and other townspeople just because he is the brother of a troublemaker.

Another theme in this book is faith – not the religion type of faith, but faith in Doug.  Because as the year goes on, more and more townspeople begin to show faith in Doug.  It begins with Mr. Powell , who sees something in Doug’s careful viewing of Birds in America that makes him take Doug under his wing, so to speak.  There is Doug’s science teacher, who tells Doug directly that it doesn’t matter what his brother does, it matters what Doug does.  There is the police officer’s family on his grocery delivery route who asks Doug to babysit their children.  This is a town full of people who get to know Doug and see his potential.  And as he is recognized for his good qualities, you begin to see a change in Doug.  He begins to break out of the mold he seems destined for at the beginning of the novel.

This book is breathtaking, both in its cruelty and its hope.  You root for Doug from the beginning, but as you get to know his family and the town of Marysville, you want them all to succeed.  I strongly believe this should be on every Mock Newbery and Printz list (Glendale Public Library, I’m talking to you!) this year.  Its combination of historical fiction, coming-of-age story and layered family narrative are compelling and exquisite.  Read it now – don’t wait until it wins a medal.

Okay for Now.  Gary D. Schmidt.  Clarion Books, 2011.

Borrowed from Lewis & Clark Library

Jeremy Bender vs. the Cupcake Cadets

I think it’s natural that when I read middle-grade and teen fiction, I prefer to read books with girl main characters.  After all, as librarians know very well, we tend to be drawn to books that look as if the main character is their particular gender.  Boys will choose books with boys on the cover, and girls are attracted to prominently featured girls.  This is why I think even the title Jeremy Bender vs. the Cupcake Cadets is so genius.  Just with six words, Eric Luper has indicated that this book will satisfy both boys and girls.  And when readers look at the cover, they see both Jeremy and the Cupcake Cadets prominently featured, along with a neutral blue background.  Everyone on the cover has their arms crossed, showing their readiness to fight.

First – Jeremy Bender.  He’s an average 6^th grader with a couple of big problems.  First, there’s his problem at school.  The problem’s name is Paul Vogler, and he is a bully who picks on Jeremy and his best friend, a skateboarder named Slater.  His second problem is much larger.  Jeremy believes that he can show his father how responsible he is by meticulously caring for his father’s prized Chris-Craft boat.  But when he and Slater bring sodas on board the boat…let’s just say there is one very sticky mess.  He needs $450 to fix the engine before his dad tries to take the boat out next summer.  But Jeremy doesn’t even have 450 pennies to his name.

This is where the Cupcake Cadets come in.  The Cupcake Cadets sponsor a model sailboat contest with a $500 prize.  The only catch?  You must be a Cupcake Cadet – and a girl – to enter and win.  Jeremy and Slater plunge right in, dressing as girls to infiltrate the Cupcake Cadet troop.  While the Cupcake Cadets seem sweet and innocent, they are not always that naïve.  The Cupcake Cadets’ song says it all “I’ll use teamwork and cooperation, and innovative thinking.  I’ll use caring and sharing, and a bit of vanilla frosting.”  While the Cupcake Cadet troop fosters all of those traditional girl qualities – caring, sharing, cooperation- it also looks for innovation.  The troop rewards creativity and intelligence.  While they may not recognize Jeremy and Slater for the boys they really are (and many of the girls either go to school with them or have met them before), they reward the boys for working hard and teamwork.

And while Jeremy and Slater aren’t technically allowed to be Cupcake Cadets, they actually fulfill the tenets of the troop.  One of the biggest examples of this is a car wash the boys hold to sell their cupcakes.  The cupcakes are the Cadet equivalent of Girl Scout cookies, only much less tasty.  The boys have a lot to sell, having been manipulated into taking another Cadet’s portion along with theirs.  The boys are having a terrible time getting rid of them, until they hold a car wash, “giving” the customer a free cupcake with each wash.  They eventually get their whole troop involved in the car wash.  Slater is a good example of cooperation, caring and sharing.  After all, while he helped make the mess that landed them in the Cupcake Cadets, dressing as and impersonating a girl goes above and beyond the call of friendship.  By the time the sailboat competition comes around, the boys are far more invested in the troop than they expected.

What I love about the girls in the Cupcake Cadets is that they are smart, competitive and tough.  The Cadet who Jeremy and Slater spend the most time with is Margaret.  Margaret has won the sailboat competition for years running, and has taken an aerodynamics class this year in order to create the best sailboat.  Not only is she competitive and smart, she is ambitious as well.  Margaret is the Cadet who gets Jeremy and Slater (they are known as Jenna and Samantha within the troop) to sell all of her cupcakes along with their own.  There is a rival Cupcake Cadet troop, whose leader is out to get their troop’s leader, Mrs. Rendell.  And Jeremy’s older sister, Ruthie, an ex-Cupcake Cadet (where else would the boys get the uniforms and wigs?) is savvy and sharp.  She spends most of the novel on the phone, dispensing advice to Jeremy while cultivating gossip from everyone in her class.  Trust me, these girls are more spice than sugar, just the way we like our main characters.

Jeremy  and Slater’s predicament is laugh-out-loud funny.  It is also suspenseful.  We keep reading to find out when someone is actually going to look past their uniforms and wigs to see them for what they really are.  Among the other memorable characters is a very cool children’s librarian who is always complaining about the other librarians who don’t like children.  Librarians always appreciate seeing a great librarian character in the novel they are reading!

By the end of the book, there are resolutions to both of Jeremy’s problems, but they may not be the solutions you expect.  While the bullying issue is handled with a light hand, the boys are genuinely leery of Paul, and I believe readers will be able to empathize with their problem.  I appreciate that the solution to the bullying doesn’t include bribery, hiding out or adult involvement.  Luper gives readers another solution to dealing with bullies, and this one will resonate with kids.  All in all, this is a satisfying read for both boys and girls.  It has something to appeal to everyone!

Jeremy Bender vs. the Cupcake Cadets.  Eric Luper.  Balzer & Bray: HarperCollins, 2011.

FTC Full Disclosure: I was given this book by the publisher, hoping I would review it.

Mockingbird

I usually don't waste time writing about books that I don't feel passionately about.  I don't think as readers of this blog, you want to hear about every little thing I read, especially when it isn't something I either love or feel compelled to talk about.  But this book was different - even though I didn't love it, it is one of the National Book Award finalists for Young People's Literature.  And I did say here that I would be reading them all, so I felt that I needed to comment on it.

Caitlin is ten years old, and at the time of this book, it is arguable which is her defining characteristic - her diagnosis of Asperger's Syndrome or the fact that her brother has just been killed in a school shooting.  She is struggling to cope - Caitlin's brother really supported her and guided her in her interactions with the rest of the world.  Without him, she is lost.  Her father is also falling apart with the combination of the loss and dealing with Caitlin's issues at the same time.  And in their small town, reminders of the shooting are everywhere, including at her school.  She meets both the child of another victim and the cousin of one of the shooters in her school environment.  The only thing that Caitlin really has going for her is a supportive school counselor with boundless patience and a talent for connecting with Caitlin.

The way Caitlin's brain works separates her from her classmates and father.  She doesn't understand others' feelings, and often puts her own way of feeling onto others, mostly unsuccessfully.  The book is told from her point of view, but perceptive readers will be able to empathize with those around her as they grapple with all of the events.  Caitlin's Asperger's Syndrome also affects the way this story is written - the concepts that she feels strongly about are capitalized.  For instance, Caitlin is searching for a way to get Closure - something she has been told will help her move on.  Caitlin's counselor is also searching for a way for Caitlin to connect with friends since she has lost her brother.  All of the dialogue in the book is italicized , which can be confusing when there is more than one person talking.   Caitlin tells the story directly, without a lot of comments such as "Mrs. Brook said", leaving the reader to keep track of who says what.

Erskine states in the author's note that she wrote the book in response to the Virginia Tech shootings, thinking about how a shooting would affect a family.  I really respect her reasons for writing it, but by the end of the book I felt it was a little precious.  Caitlin seems to come out of her shell and to begin to connect with people.  However, the way she ends up being the closest to the people also involved in the shooting, without any prompting from anyone else, seems somewhat forced.  While I think her counselor, Mrs. Brook, is wonderful, she seems a little too wonderful - she even calls Caitlin while away on an unexpected family emergency to make sure Caitlin is okay.  Her brother, Devon, also seems a little too perfect - one of the youngest students to work towards his Eagle Scout badge, he is trying to include Caitlin in the process of earning his badge. 

The book is tied to To Kill a Mockingbird , but because of the way Caitlin's brain works, the connection again seems forced.  She brings up the same things over and over again - how her brother Devon thought of her as Scout, how the mockingbird was a symbol of innocence.  I know this is a function of  Caitlin's brain, but it feels like the reader is being beaten over the head with it.

I do think it is an interesting look at Asperger's Syndrome and I would hope that it would lead to tolerance and understanding in classrooms with Asperger's students.  I just felt that it was all too much when it was taken together with the theme of To Kill a Mockingbird and the school shooting too. I worried that it was just me who felt this way - after all, it is a NBA finalist, but I have seen at least one other review mentioning some of the same issues I brought up.   I was so wowed by Ship Breaker, and I just felt that this paled in comparison.

Erskine, Kathryn.  Mockingbird.  Philomel, 2010.  Borrowed from Helena School District.