Joey Pigza

I just finished reading Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key, which my 11-year-old daughter was pressing me to read. It's the first in a series about a boy with ADHD (plus family issues). It was also a National Book Award finalist in 1999, and one of the later books was a Newbery Honor book in 2001.

Joey begins the book in a regular classroom, but has trouble sitting still and focusing, and keeps getting into trouble when he can't stop himself from acting on whatever his thoughts lead him to. For instance, after his teacher puts him to work sharpening pencils for the class (which seems like a good strategy on her part) he injures himself by trying to sharpen his fingernail in the pencil sharpener.

Joey ends up going to the special ed room part-time, for help with sitting still and focusing (not for anything academic). But when he injures a classmate in his regular classroom, he is suspended from school and sent to a special ed counseling center day program for six weeks.

Meanwhile, Joey has recently been reunited with his mother. His grandmother had been raising him, in a chaotic and abusive manner. His mother seems to have mostly pulled herself together, and is trying to do the right things for Joey.

Joey does get help from the counseling center. They change his medication from pills to a new patch that gives him a constant stream of medication, and it seems to work better than his previous medication. The counselor talks about helping Joey change the way he makes decisions, too, and I was eager to see what they would do with this, but nothing really happened there (at least not on the page). Joey ends up going back to his regular school, although they start him off in the special ed room again.

This book, while well-written, left me feeling sad. You see, I work in a school. I'm on the adult end of this story. Joey's the kind of kid I often really don't enjoy working with, because I feel helpless around them. Gantos' descriptions of Joey bear this out -- Joey apparently can't help what he does. He transitions from sharpening pencils to sharpening popsicle sticks to sharpening his finger without really thinking about it. The only thing that seems to help is medication.

The teachers in the story don't always make good choices. But sometimes it's hard to see how to really help kids like Joey. Sometimes none of the strategies in your toolbox work.

My 11-year-old, on the other hand, doesn't have my biases or adult point of view. She enjoys the Joey Pigza books because they're about a kid her own age, and she can relate to that. And while she doesn't have ADHD, she knows kids who do, and as she just told me "why shouldn't there be books about them? There are books about every other kind of kid."

I wonder whether these books are helpful for kids with ADHD? Do kids with ADHD read them, or care about them? Maybe Joey Pigza can help by letting them know that they're not the only ones? And I suppose if typical kids read the Joey Pigza books, it might help them to be more understanding of classmates with ADHD.

I was really struck by the difference between my reaction to this book and my reaction to Mockingbird, which is about a child with Asperger's syndrome. Children with Asperger's can also be difficult to deal with in school -- but when I read Mockingbird, I was delighted by its accurate depiction of Asperger's syndrome, and even though it deals with difficult subjects, it didn't leave me feeling sad.

Anyone else read one or both of these books? Care to comment?

The Absolute Value of Mike by Kathryn Erskine

Kathy Erskine wrote my favorite book of last year (and winner of the National Book Award for juvenile literature), MOCKINGBIRD. Her follow-up novel, The Absolute Value of Mike, hits shelves today.

Mike is the child of a single father, an engineer, who suddenly has to travel to Romania for work, and decides that Mike should spend the summer with aging, eccentric relatives.

Life with Poppy and Moo takes a lot of getting used to. But soon, Mike gets involved in a project -- raising money to help a local pastor adopt a child from Romania. And along the way, Mike ends up helping several other people in town, too. And he finally tells his dad that he's just not interested in math and engineering, and Dad is OK with it.

Mike is an enjoyable story, and I liked seeing him (and his father) come to the realization that people are gifted in different ways, and that having a learning disability in math doesn't mean that one will be crippled for life.

I didn't fall in love with this book the way I did with MOCKINGBIRD, though. I think Mike himself just didn't feel as real to me -- he seemed out of the ordinary for a 14-year-old boy. I don't know many 14-year-old boys who are so community-minded and relate so well to adults! Then again, I suppose he would be different, given that his father is both highly intelligent and displays many characteristics of Asperger's Syndrome (never mentioned explicitly, but it's there). Mike is used to having to take care of his absent-minded father, so he feels he has to take care of others, too.

But I and my 11-year-old daughter enjoyed reading this book, and I can recommend it!

Visit author Kathryn Erskine on the web at kathyerskine.com.

Young Adult Books: Too Dark?

I'm steaming through the ears right now, because I've just read the Wall Street Journal article in which Meghan Cox Gurdon claims that current young adult literature is too dark for most parents and kids.

I won't disagree that there's a lot of dark and paranormal "literature" out there right now. In fact, I think some of it's trash, too.

I won't disagree that books with sex, violence, or difficult subjects like rape and incest may not be appropriate for all children. I don't let my 11-year-old read these books. They're generally not intended for 11-year-olds. I don't let her read many of Lauren Myracle's books (mentioned in the article) because I don't think she's ready for them yet.

But there are several things I do disagree with in this piece.

First, the idea that one might leave a bookstore EMPTY-HANDED because there is nothing, nothing appropriate out there (which is what the mother in the beginning of the piece did). Please. There is such a rich variety of literature available for children and teenagers right now that you'd have to be in a pretty sad bookstore for that to happen. Surely you could at least come away with a selection from the classics of youth literature?

And then this:

As it happens, 40 years ago, no one had to contend with young-adult literature because there was no such thing.

Are you kidding me? 40, 50, 60 years ago, maybe the term Young Adult Literature didn't exist, but the books were definitely there. Look up Rosamond Du Jardin, Maud Hart Lovelace, and Betty Cavanna, among MANY others. Were they different from young adult books today? Yes. The world has changed, and so have the books.

But here's the meat of what made me angry:

By f—ing gatekeepers (the letter-writing editor spelled it out), she meant those who think it's appropriate to guide what young people read. In the book trade, this is known as "banning." In the parenting trade, however, we call this "judgment" or "taste." It is a dereliction of duty not to make distinctions in every other aspect of a young person's life between more and less desirable options. Yet let a gatekeeper object to a book and the industry pulls up its petticoats and shrieks "censorship!"

Absolutely you should use your judgment and taste in deciding what YOUR children should read. I do! But please, for the love of all that is holy, why should anyone get to decide what other people's children should read?

You're right, Ms. Gurdon. There are a lot of books out there that I don't want my children to read. But I'm perfectly capable of drawing those boundaries for myself, even if my boundaries are different from yours.

By the way, your lists of books for young men and young women? I certainly hope my daughters will be reading from BOTH categories. Just saying.

"Ready!" by Lydia Ondrusek

"Ready!" is the first e-book in King of the Marshmallows, a series of short stories for children and teens published by Echelon Press (publisher of Killer Cows). Mark has Asperger's Syndrome, and has a hard time at school. Mom's looking for solutions, and ends up signing him up for taekwondo classes, where ends up in a class with both adults and kids. And one of the other kids also has Asperger's Syndrome.

Mark also figures out how to deal with his book report at school -- and ends up reading one of my favorites, Mockingbird!

Author Lydia Ondrusek is a friend of mine, so I can't claim objectivity here. But I thoroughly enjoyed the story, and look forward to the next installment (the first one is only about 3000 words). I would suggest this story for kids ages 9-14 (or younger if they read well).

"Ready!" is available through SmashWords for only 99 cents! You can read it either online with a regular computer or on an e-reading device.

Edges by Léna Roy

"It's about addiction, and twelve-step programs, and mysticism. In Utah."

My husband just looked at me and shook his head. Yes, it sounds weird. But Léna Roy's Edges works!

Luke is seventeen, and has left his home in New York for a youth hostel in Moab, Utah. Why? Well, that's part of the story.

Meanwhile, in New York we meet Ava, nineteen, sober only a few weeks, and attending AA meetings. Her path and Luke's are about to cross.

As the book moves along, Roy unfolds for us how Luke came to be in Utah, how Ava came to be a recovering alcoholic, and how their lives are about to connect. I really liked the pacing of this.

There's also a strong dash of mysticism and spirituality. AA, of course, has a spiritual basis, with its reliance on a Higher Power, and Roy's characters do frequently refer to the Higher Power concept. And in Utah, we meet a Southwestern mysticism, with kachinas, spirit animals, and a shaman. But, subtly, Roy shows us that it's all one -- that there *is* something out there, surrounding us and caring for us. Is it God, the spirit of the bear, the power of love, or just our collective souls working together? Perhaps it depends on the eye of the beholder. Whatever it is, it's life-changing for the characters in Edges.

I really enjoyed reading Edges, and in fact, I read it TWICE before reviewing it, because after the first time I felt like it was still sinking in; I wasn't sure I got everything the first time. The story's well told, and the characters and descriptions are vivid. And love and community both run throughout the book.

Finally, yes, Léna Roy is Madeleine L'Engle's granddaughter. I had contacted Léna several months ago with a question about her grandmother's work, and found that she had a young adult novel coming out soon! Naturally, as a huge L'Engle fan, I was interested -- and I'm very glad now that I tracked her down and got to read this book!

Find out more about Edges at http://lenaroybooks.com, and visit Léna Roy's blog at http://lenaroy.com.

Thank you to Farrar, Straus and Giroux/Macmillan for providing me with a review copy of Edges.

Books I Read in 2010 (Kathleen)

Apparently a lot of people make these lists, and like to see other people's lists. I'm not sure mine is totally accurate. This is based on a combination of my Goodreads list, my e-book history on my phone, and my reading history at the library (my library system will save your check-out history online if you allow it). It only includes books read for the first time in 2010. It may or may not be missing a few books. They are in no order at all, but I did put a star in front of those titles I rated five stars on Goodreads.

Blogger doesn't want to show you the line numbers, so I'll just tell you that there are 102 books on the list.

1. Creepers, Joanne Dahme
2. Tombstone Tea, Joanne Dahme
3. Lompoc: Padres to Pinot, John McReynolds
4. Rock What You've Got: Secrets to Loving Your Inner and Outer Beauty from Someone Who Has Been There and Back, Katherine Schwarzenegger
5. Ship Breaker (Ship Breaker, #1), Paolo Bacigalupi
6. *Lockdown, Walter Dean Myers
7. Dark Water, Laura McNeal
8. Breathless, Jessica Warman
9. A Blue So Dark, Holly Schindler
10. Red Glass, Laura Resau
11. Cookie, Jacqueline Wilson
12. On The Wings of Heroes, Richard Peck
13. The Canning Season, Polly Horvath
14. Bread and Roses, Too, Katherine Paterson
15. The White Darkness, Geraldine McCaughrean
16. The Slave Dancer, Paula Fox
17. Peak, Roland Smith
18. A Paradise Built in Hell: The Extraordinary Communities That Arise in Disaster, Rebecca Solnit
19. One Crazy Summer, Rita Williams-Garcia
20. As Easy as Falling Off the Face of the Earth, Lynne Rae Perkins
21. Louisa May Alcott, Susan Cheever
22. Twelve by Twelve: A One-Room Cabin Off the Grid and Beyond the American Dream, William Powers
23. Looking Backward, Edward Bellamy
24. Colors of God, Dave Phillips
25. Makers, Cory Doctorow
26. Peter and the Starcatchers (Peter and the Starcatchers, #1), Dave Barry
27. On the Hill, Lisa Jahn-Clough
28. The Beatles: The Biography, Bob Spitz
29. Starter Vegetable Gardens, Barbara Pleasant
30. A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from My Kitchen Table, Molly Wizenberg
31. Ash, Malinda Lo
32. *Frindle, Andrew Clements
33. Gimme Refuge: The Education of a Caretaker, Matt Love
34. Illyria, Elizabeth Hand
35. Radical Homemakers: Reclaiming Domesticity from a Consumer Culture, Shannon Hayes
36. The Clearing, Heather Davis
37. Confessions of a Prairie Bitch: How I Survived Nellie Oleson and Learned to Love Being Hated, Alison Arngrim
38. The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963, Christopher Paul Curtis
39. Will Grayson, Will Grayson, John Green
40. Wintergirls, Laurie Halse Anderson
41. *Before I Fall, Lauren Oliver
42. Unwind (Unwind, #1), Neal Shusterman
43. Forget-Her-Nots, Amy Brecount White
44. The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes from an Accidental Ranch Wife, Ree Drummond
45. The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #1), Rick Riordan
46. *Cabin Fever: Notes from a Part-Time Pioneer, William L. Sullivan
47. Anastasia Krupnik, Lois Lowry
48. Quaking, Kathryn Erskine
49. The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott, Kelly O. McNees
50. The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ, Philip Pullman
51. The Town That Food Saved: How One Community Found Vitality in Local Food, Ben Hewitt
52. *Mockingbird, Kathryn Erskine
53. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Seth Grahame-Smith
54. Shadow Tag, Louise Erdrich
55. Heat: An Amateur's Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany, Bill Buford
56. Love is the Higher Law, David Levithan
57. House of Rain: Tracking a Vanished Civilization Across the American Southwest, Craig Childs
58. Heat, Mike Lupica
59. For The Win, Cory Doctorow
60. Red Inferno: 1945: A Novel, Robert Conroy
61. Bamboo People, Mitali Perkins
62. Anything But Typical, Nora Raleigh Baskin
63. Louisa May Alcott: The Woman Behind Little Women, Harriet Reisen
64. Cracked Up to Be, Courtney Summers
65. The Ask and the Answer (Chaos Walking, #2), Patrick Ness
66. The Knife of Never Letting Go (Chaos Walking, #1), Patrick Ness
67. The Drifters, James A. Michener
68. The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate, Jacqueline Kelly
69. Thy Kingdom Connected: What the Church Can Learn from Facebook, the Internet, and Other Networks, Dwight J. Friesen
70. The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane, Katherine Howe
71. Alcott in Her Own Time: A Biographical Chronicle of Her Life, Drawn from Recollections, Interviews, and Memoirs by Family, Friends, and Associates, Daniel Shealy
72. Live Sent: you are a letter, Jason C Dukes
73. Genius of Common Sense, Glenna Lang
74. Jenny Kimura, Betty Cavanna
75. How to Hook a Hottie, Tina Ferraro
76. *Crush It!: Why Now Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion, Gary Vaynerchuk
77. The Dead-Tossed Waves (The Forest of Hands and Teeth, #2), Carrie Ryan
78. Restoring Harmony, Joelle Anthony
79. Elske (Kingdom, #4), Cynthia Voigt
80. What I Saw And How I Lied, Judy Blundell
81. *When You Reach Me, Rebecca Stead
82. One True Thing, Anna Quindlen
83. The Glory Cloak: A Novel of Louisa May Alcott and Clara Barton, Patricia O'Brien
84. Anne Frank: The Book, The Life, The Afterlife, Francine Prose
85. Hungry City, Carolyn Steel
86. Lips Touch: Three Times, Laini Taylor
87. The Sixty-Eight Rooms, Marianne Malone
88. Bicycle Diaries, David Byrne
89. Crunch, Leslie Connor
90. Tin Lizzie, Allan Drummond
91. I Am the Ice Worm, Maryann Easley
92. Sweet Treats & Secret Crushes, Lisa Greenwald
93. Zombies vs. Unicorns, Holly Black & Justine Larbalestier
94. *The Resilient Gardener: Food Production and Self-Reliance in Uncertain Times, Carol Deppe
95. White Sands, Red Menace, Ellen Klages
96. Edges, Léna Roy
97. The House of Seven Gables, Nathaniel Hawthorne
98. Agnes Grey, Anna Brontë
99. The Abbot's Ghost, Louisa May Alcott
100. The Sleeper Awakes, H.G. Wells
101. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, Anne Brontë
102. Origin, J.A. Konrath

Mock Newbery in Oregon

I just came across this in my local newspaper -- a group of kids at Boones Ferry Primary in Wilsonville, OR (near Portland), have chosen Out of My Mind as their Mock Newbery winner. There's also a nice picture in which they're all holding up books (presumably their individual favorites?).

I haven't read Out of My Mind. What say you?