Pi in the Sky by Wendy Mass

244 p. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, June 11, 2013. 9780316229586. (Arc chosen at ALAMW from publisher.)

How do I love this book? Let me count the ways:

 1. It’s by Wendy Mass. Anything written by her is basically an automatic purchase by me. I have not read everything she has written, but have enjoyed everything I have read. Plus, her books don’t sit on the shelf in my library much. The kids like them and tell their friends to read them. Ms. Mass is a writer who never condescends to her readers. Her characters are fully fleshed, flawed individuals whom the reader tends to come to love. Each one of her books is unique – even the series books.

2. It has an endearing narrator named Joss, who is supposed to be around twelve, but, since time is relative in the Realms and the inhabitants are immortal, he has been stuck in his tween years for… um, a long time. His opening lines are, “If you think it’s tough being the Supreme Overlord of the Universe, try being his son.

      Or, more precisely, his seventh son.” 

He’s definitely got an identity crisis. Since his older brothers have taken all the cool jobs, Joss is stuck delivering pies. Yes, pies. Pies are the glue that holds the universe together. Besides, as Joss asks, “Who doesn’t like pies?”

3. There are twenty-six chapters in this book and each begins with a quote by a famous scientist/ physicist/ astronomer. The quotes are not only deep and profound in their own right, but relate somehow to the action or theme of the chapter. Totally ingenious. I had heard of most of the scientists and one or two of the quotes, but there are at least three quotes I want to print out as signs and post around my library.

4. There’s real science embedded in an engaging, suspenseful, yet humorous story. Pi in the Sky would make a great read aloud. And why shouldn’t the science teacher do that? (Indeed, when I finished the book, I literally ran over to the fifth grade wing and burst into the science classrooms raving about this book!) If the science teacher can’t/ won’t find the time, (Believe me, mine will because they are that good) the language arts teacher should read it aloud during the space unit. This book can be read on many levels so if your school is all about differentiated instruction, Pi in the Sky is just the ticket. Not only is it deep, deep, deep thematically, with lots of Big Ideas to wrestle with, but also it’s got action and humor that less adept, nay, all readers will appreciate.

5. The Realms may be a figment of Ms. Mass’ imagination but it’s vividly real and totally possible to the reader. And even though Joss can grow wheels instead of legs when he needs to get someplace quickly, he’s very human in his capacity to love as well as worrying about his insecurities. I must say I got verklempt near the end when I realized certain inevitabilities.

So this is my new favorite book for 2013. I favorited two others on Goodreads so far, but gave them four stars. I save the five star assignations for truly outstanding books. Pi in the Sky is out of this world.

Attention faithful blog readers! When I sent an email containing my love for this book to Victoria Stapleton, Queen, Director of School and Library Marketing, she responded with an email for folks interested in reading Pi in the Sky. If you have a real address, no post office boxes, send an email to LBYRBookBuzz@hbgusa.com, and you, too, might share in the wonder of the Realms and the universe.

Waiting on Wednesday

WoW is a weekly meme hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine, in which we share the titles of books whose release we are most anticipating.

Sure Signs of Crazy by Karen Harrington. 288 p. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, July 16, 2013. 9780316210584.

Publisher synopsis: 
Not every person responds to words the same way. Some words are trouble words. A trouble word will change the face of the person you say it to. Love can be a trouble word for some people. Crazy is also a trouble word.

I should know.

You've never met anyone exactly like twelve-year-old Sarah Nelson. While most of her classmates geek out over Harry Potter, she writes letters to Atticus Finch. Her best friend is a plant. And she's never known her mother, who has lived in a mental institution since Sarah was two.

Sarah and her dad have spent the past decade moving from one Texas town to another, and she's never felt truly at home....until now. This is the story of one extraordinary summer in which Sarah gets her first real crush, new friends, and the answers about her family she's always been looking for.

This is the author's middle grade debut. Here's a link to her website. I learned about the book here.

Top Ten Tuesday

TTT is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and Bookish. This week's theme is "top ten series I missed/ would like to start."

Ah, series fiction. I love/ hate you! As a school librarian, I feel I need to read across genres and as widely as possible in order to be effective in Reader's Advisory. If I get hooked on a series, I am reading it at the expense of another, possibly standalone title. I can't possibly keep up with it all! Ack! 

These are mine in order of likelihood of reading:
Sidebar: does anyone familiar with Blogger know how I can put these images side by side?

The Predator Cities Series by Philip Reeve. This series started with Mortal Engines in 2001. But I missed it somehow, not becoming aware of it until it was talked about a few years ago when Steampunk became popular. I had read Reeve's decidedly un-steampunk Here Lies Arthur and totally loved it. Next, I read and fell in love with Fever Crumb, which is a prequel of sorts to this series. 

The Princess Academy series by Shannon Hale. I cannot believe that I haven't gotten to this, especially since Goose Girl is one of my all-time favorite books! These books recently got popular among the fifth and sixth graders. I think there's some word-of-mouth going on here. 

The Iron Fey series by Julie Kagawa. I picked up these three based on a lot of blogger love and began reading The Iron King. I was about halfway through it and enjoying it, when an eighth grader saw it and begged to read it. So I cataloged my book and gave it to her. Never did get back to it. She loved it, by the way and got the other books from the public library.

Anna and the French Kiss and Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins. I'm not sure if these are exactly a series, but they seem to go together well and are by the same author. They look adorable and I realize that I don't read enough romance. Should remedy that situation soon. Really, enough dystopian and sad, sad stories! 

The Ranger's Apprentice series by John Flanagan. This one came out around the same time as another series with the word "apprentice" in it. I read that one and somehow, never got around to this one. It is now up to 11 books! So, I'm almost too overwhelmed by how far behind I am to even start it.

 Paranormalcy series by Kiersten White. The first two books of this series was sent in my JLG subscription. I was a bit done with paranormal at the time so I didn't read it; but had a number of students really into it, so I suggested it without reading the series. Word of mouth makes this one a rare shelf sitter.

Across the Universe series by Beth Revis. I have had the first book on TOM, the tbr pile since its publication, but have never gotten to it. Personally, I find the cover change for books 2 & 3 a bit blah.

The Warriors series by Erin Hunter. I am not even going to try and post cover photos as this series spawned at least two additional series. My head is spinning. I really don't need to read this one as it seems to have its own built in fan base and I've bought many of the books by virtue of it.

Delirium series by Lauren Oliver. I have had Delirium on Tom since its publication as well. I also enjoyed Oliver's debut, Before I Fall, which was decidedly skewed to a high school audience. When reviews of Delirium recommended an older audience as well, I kept bumping other middle school friendly titles over it and now I'm three books behind. I see that they are available as audiobooks, so I might take a listen. Who knows? Maybe they can reside on my "eighth grade only" shelf.

Pretty Little Liars series by Sara Sheppard. Here's another series that I will probably never get to, one, because there are so many books in it and, two, because it's a bit mature for my crowd. I always get asked if we have the series in the school library and I always ask, since most of the requesters have read at least one book in the series, "Is it really a book for middle school readers?" Luckily for us all, the public library is right across the street and has one of the best YA collections in Bergen County. 

Non-Fiction Monday: Dogs on Duty: soldiers' best friends on the battlefield and beyond

by Dorothy Hinshaw Patent. 48 p. Walker & Company, September, 2012. 9780802728456. (Purchased.)

Sporting a patriotic cover and featuring a kitted out German Shepard perched alert and ready for action atop a tank, this book doesn't stand a chance at sitting on its display easel for very long. Flip to the back cover and examine the photo of a be-goggled dog waiting patiently with his similarly be-goggled handler in an aircraft with an open door in the background and we know that these dogs are unusual. And the "wow" factor never lets up. Each page turn brought gasps and widened eyes and minutes spent inside each photo. These are not your ordinary dogs here. Here there be heroes folks. Just as I myself wondered if I could hack even basic training let alone Special Forces training when reading A Warrior's Heart recently (I would not), I turned an affectionate eye to my two basically trained labradors and faced the bitter truth that they wouldn't cut it either.

Okay, now go back and read the text.

It doesn't take much to get me to open a book with a dog on the cover. I love dog stories - fiction, non-fiction - bring it on. I am also a fan of Mrs. Patent. You can find quite a few of her books on my shelves both at school and at home. She's a wizard at explaining. Her writing holds it own against the fantastic photos as she provides a history of dogs in the military, what traits are sought after by the military, the training process, life in action, what happens when either partner is injured and life after service. There will be somber moments.

Suggested reading, including books and websites, as well as a glossary, index and source material wrap up this absolute must-purchase volume. Your student patrons will thank you for it.

Pair this with Cracker the Best Dog in Vietnam by Cynthia Kadohata or Shadow by Michael Morpurgo for engaging fiction featuring military dogs. Cracker, in particular, portrays the process of training and bonding that both human and canine go through. 

Book to Movie

Of course, the book is (nearly) always better. 

Now that that's out of the way, let me also tell you that I'm not a huge movie-goer or television watcher. Don't get me wrong. I love the movies (not so much t.v., except to watch the occasional movie). I read reviews religiously and always want to go and see many of the latest flicks. Part of the problem is that I'm such a homebody that by the time I get the energy and the time to stay up late and have a movie date, the movies I most want to see are no longer playing. So, I sometimes see them on t.v. Sometimes, I buy them on dvd so I can see them on t.v. when I want to.

Here's part of the problem: when I watch something, I am totally engaged. I am not a talker during a flick. If you try to speak to me, I become unpleasant. My hub and kids are talkers. So, I usually watch things by myself, which hardly ever happens. And now that we have this fancy flat screen with not one, but two dvd players plus a blue ray player, I don't watch dvds or television. I can hardly turn the thing on let alone switch to a component!

My husband happens to be away skiing with #4 son. #3 son happens to be home this weekend and upstairs in the hub's study watching t.v. I did get him to turn on a movie I ordered a month or two back after dinner and before he retreated back into the man-cave.

Fat Kid Rules the World. Starring Jacob Wysocki and Matt O'Leary. Directed by Matthew Lillard. Arc Entertainment, January 22, 2013. 

I found out about the movie because I friend a ton of authors in order to stalk them keep up with what's new with them. Author K.L. Going posted about the movie a while ago and suggested that I "like" the movie page. So I did, which is how I got to see photos and trailers, etc, which was cool. That's also how I learned of it's release in January. I even pre-ordered it. 

You would think that I would've reread the book before watching the movie. I read it way back when it released in 2003. I loved it and have been recommending it ever since. It's a bit edgy for middle school, but there are always readers ready for this one. But, yeah, no. I didn't. I plan on rereading it now, though, with my ears.

My impressions of the movie: Quite a few of the scenes and characters stuck with me these past ten years, and I was happy to see that the movie not only included them, but nailed them. 

But there were  a few changes, most notably the setting - New York to Seattle. That opening scene from the book of Troy imagining headlines in the New York dailies while contemplating jumping in front of a subway was just priceless. Um, that doesn't sound right. You have to read the book to know what I mean. Perhaps the NY dailies was too much of an in joke and wouldn't translate out of the area. I also wondered how all that rich interior dialogue that Troy had with himself would be dealt with on film.

When I realized that the setting was Seattle and the method of suicide was walking in front of a bus, I will admit to a moment of disappointment, especially since the day was beautifully sunny, which, I suppose, was meant to be ironic. I don't know if the ingeniousness of this setting change would've dawned on me had I not travelled to Seattle for ALA Midwinter. I did get to see a bit of the city and was struck by several things: how clean the city is; how many homeless folks there were; and how many talented buskers spent their days on the streets. 

Jacob Wysocki was brilliant. I swear I could stare at his face forever. Matt O'Leary as Marcus was also brilliantly twitchy and charismatic. The chemistry between the two felt real to me. Billy Campbell as the dad, whom I really cared about in the book was also quite good.

I loved the cinematography too, even though Seattle seemed too sunny. 

I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but I've been up since 4AM and have to get up early tomorrow and need to walk the dogs.
Do look this one up if you have a couple of free hours. 

Little, Brown Librarian Web Preview

On Thursday, Victoria Stapleton hosted a preview of books that are in the Little Brown pipeline - online for the very first time. I stumbled upon an invitation to it on social media and registered for it even though I had the good luck to attend a preview at Midwinter. I was certain that there would be new titles in there to salivate over and nice reminders about what is coming. And I was right.

Actually, this post is a bit of a "take 2." I started it on Thursday night, looked at it on Friday and added to it on and off all day today. It was getting way long because I kept commenting on the books and I hadn't even gotten to the middle grade stuff. Then, I thought, "Really, folks can see for themselves." So I ruthlessly hit the delete key and started over. You don't need my peanut gallery comments. The link is here. Enjoy.

Then, share what caught your fancy in the comments below. I would like to read them all really. (Which is why this is take two.) That is all.

What's New? Stacking the Shelves

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Tynga of Tynga  Reviews. Pop on over there to share your new books and ogle what other bloggers got.

The Cydonian Pyramid by Pete Hautman (The Klaatu Diskos Book 2). Candlewick Press, May 14, 2013. 9780763654047.

Publisher synopsis: The much-anticipated sequel to The Obsidian Blade transports readers to the terrifying and thrilling world of Lah Lia, the enigmatic girl who changed Tucker Feye’s life.

More than half a millennium in the future, in the shadow of the looming Cydonian Pyramid, a pampered girl named Lah Lia has been raised for one purpose: to be sacrificed through one of the mysterious diskos that hover over the pyramid’s top. But just as she is about to be killed, a strange boy appears from the diskos, providing a cover of chaos that allows her to escape and launching her on a time-spinning journey in which her fate is irreversibly linked to his. In this second volume of the Klaatu Diskos trilogy, Tucker Feye and Lah Lia each hurtle through time, relating their stories in alternating viewpoints that converge at crucial moments. Fans of the first adventure will be intrigued by the chance to see the world through Lah Lia’s eyes — no matter how disturbing the vision might be.

I have not read everything Pete Hautman has written but what I have read of his, I have admired. I do need to read book one before I get to this baby.

Quintana of Charyn by Melina Marchetta (The Lumatere Chronicles Book 3). Candlewick Press, April 9, 2013. 9780763663605.

Publisher synopsis: The climactic conclusion of Printz Award winner Melina Marchetta’s epic fantasy trilogy!

Separated from the girl he loves and has sworn to protect, Froi and his companions travel through Charyn searching for Quintana and building an army that will secure her unborn child’s right to rule. While in the valley between two kingdoms, Quintana of Charyn and Isaboe of Lumatere come face-to-face in a showdown that will result in heartbreak for one and power for the other. The complex tangle of bloodlines, politics, and love introduced in Finnikin of the Rockand Froi of the Exiles coalesce into an engrossing climax in this final volume.

I adored Finnikin of the Rock but have not yet gotten to Froi of the Exiles. Another situation to remedy ASAP.

That's it for me this week. What's new with you? 

Happy reading!