Hello, Universe

Hello, Universe
by Erin Entrada Kelly

From the publisher:
"Winner of the 2018 Newbery Medal 

In one day, four lives weave together in unexpected ways. Virgil Salinas is shy and kindhearted and feels out of place in his loud and boisterous family. Valencia Somerset, who is deaf, is smart, brave, and secretly lonely, and loves everything about nature. Kaori Tanaka is a self-proclaimed psychic, whose little sister Gen is always following her around. And Chet Bullens wishes the weird kids would just act normal so that he can concentrate on basketball. They aren’t friends -- at least not until Chet pulls a prank that traps Virgil and his pet guinea pig at the bottom of a well. This disaster leads Kaori, Gen, and Valencia on an epic quest to find the missing Virgil. Through luck, smarts, bravery, and a little help from the universe, a rescue is performed, a bully is put in his place, and friendship blooms."

Once again, Newbery Committee, I would just like to say, "What. The. Heck?!" How about instead of only picking books that teach kids diversity, you pick a book that teaches kids about strong parent-child relationships? Or maybe kindness and compassion? Every parent in this book was completely idiotic, and yes, that includes you, Lola, the grandmother. Filling Virgil's head with thoughts of boys being eaten by everything from rocks to crocodiles? Isn't traumatizing him just as bad as calling him Turtle? You may have loved him, but I'm pretty sure that is not how to deal with an ultra-sensitive 11 year old. In my opinion this was a mildly enjoyable book with a lot of flaws, so if this was the best we had in 2018, than it is a sad commentary on children's literature that year. It wasn't horrible, just very underwhelming. I rarely agree with the Newbery Committee, but I haven't felt this upset at the committee since The One and Only Ivan won and Wonder didn't even get an Honor.

Will middle schoolers like it? One of my main concerns is the cover. It makes it look very young. I have had this on my main display since September and it has only been checked out 3 times. I would say this book might work better for elementary. The main characters are all quite quirky, so I'm not sure how that will go over, either. 

Areas of concern:
*A bully who almost kills someone and has zero repercussions.
*11 year olds who are gone for hours at a time and their parents have no idea where they are.
(Does it sound like my rant is continuing? There are not many areas of concern here.) 

Suggested Ages:

Publisher's Weekly - Ages 8-12

School Library Journal - Grades 3-7

Gone-Away Lake

Gone-Away Lake
by Elizabeth Enright

From the publisher:
"Summer has a magic all its own in Elizabeth Enright's beloved stories about two children and their discovery of a ghostly lakeside resort.

Portia always expects summer to be a special time. But she couldn't imagine the adventure she and her cousin Julian would share this summer. It all starts when they discover Gone-Away Lake--a village of deserted old houses on a muddy overgrown swamp.

"It's a ghost town," Julian says. But the cousins are in for a bigger surprise. Someone is living in one of those spooky-looking old houses."

A sweet children's book about a simpler time and place. Imagine a world where children could pack a lunch, walk out of the house and be gone for the whole day exploring and playing without any adult worrying or wondering. And how sad that our children and grandchildren will never have that freedom. So it's nice to have a book that shows us what it used to be like.  Read it aloud at home or school, or just by yourself.

From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler

From the Mixed-up Files
of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
by E.L. Konigsburg

From the publisher:

"When Claudia decided to run away, she planned very carefully. She would be gone just long enough to teach her parents a lesson in Claudia appreciation. And she would go in comfort-she would live at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She saved her money, and she invited her brother Jamie to go, mostly because be was a miser and would have money. Claudia was a good organizer and Jamie bad some ideas, too; so the two took up residence at the museum right on schedule. But once the fun of settling in was over, Claudia had two unexpected problems: She felt just the same, and she wanted to feel different; and she found a statue at the Museum so beautiful she could not go home until she bad discovered its maker, a question that baffled the experts, too. The former owner of the statue was Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. Without her-well, without her, Claudia might never have found a way to go home."

To honor E. L. Konigsburg, who passed away this week, I did a quick re-read of her Newbery winning book that I loved as a child.  It did not disappoint, which is unusual because I so rarely enjoy the winning Newbery books.  I remember when I read it as a child, I thought running away and living in a museum was the coolest thing ever.  Now that I have actually visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art, it was even easier to be impressed.  I didn't see a lot of statues when I visited because I just wanted to sit in the Impressionists wing the whole time.  It didn't matter that people were milling around, I could have sat there gazing at those paintings all day long, so I really related to Claudia and Jamie and their obsession with the Angel statue.  However, it is interesting to read the book with adult eyes and feel the horror of 2 children on their own in New York City and to have such empathy for their poor parents.  This is a fun story that encourages interest in the arts and good grammar!  (You'll have to read it to find out ;) )

 

The One and Only Ivan

The One and Only Ivan
by Katherine Applegate

From the publisher:
"Ivan is an easygoing gorilla. Living at the Exit 8 Big Top Mall and Video Arcade, he has grown accustomed to humans watching him through the glass walls of his domain. He rarely misses his life in the jungle. In fact, he hardly ever thinks about it at all.
Instead, Ivan thinks about TV shows he's seen and about his friends Stella, an elderly elephant, and Bob, a stray dog. But mostly Ivan thinks about art and how to capture the taste of a mango or the sound of leaves with color and a well-placed line.
Then he meets Ruby, a baby elephant taken from her family, and she makes Ivan see their home—and his own art—through new eyes. When Ruby arrives, change comes with her, and it's up to Ivan to make it a change for the better.
Katherine Applegate blends humor and poignancy to create Ivan's unforgettable first-person narration in a story of friendship, art, and hope."

I may be the only person on the planet who didn't think this book was amazing.  It won the Newbery Medal for 2013.  But after reading reviews that used words like "life-changing", "it transformed me", and "I cried for the last 30 pages", I was expecting a little more. It was a sweet story, if quite predictable.  It just didn't pull me in.  Charlotte's Web (another children's book with humanized animals that received the Newbery Honor Award) had me from the first sentence.  My lack of feeling for this book may stem, in part, from the double spacing and empty pages.  I felt that made the whole thing seem rather choppy and disturbed the flow.  However, I can see middle schoolers enjoying this book. The animal characters are charming, the story is sweet and simple with a happy ending.

On another note...I rarely agree with the Newbery winners, so I'm not surprised that I just found this book okay, but it still leaves me flabbergasted that Wonder didn't even get a nod from the Newbery people and this is what won the award. *Sigh*

Suggested ages:
Publisher's Weekly:  Ages 8-12
School Library Journal:  Grades 3-7