An Elephant in the Garden

Title: An Elephant in the Garden
Author: Michael Morpurgo
ISBN: 9780312593698
Pages: 199 pages
Publisher/Date: Feiwel and Friends Book, c2010.

“There was an elephant in the garden, you see. No, honestly there was. And she like potatoes, lots of potatoes.” I think my wry smile must have betrayed me. “You still do not believe me, do you? Well, I cannot say that I blame you. I expect you and all the other nurses think I am just a dotty old bat, a bit loopy, off my rocker, as you say. It is quite true that my bits and pieces do not work so well anymore–which, I suppose, is why I am in here, isn’t it? My legs will not do what I tell them sometimes, and even my heart does not beat like it should. It skips and flutters. It makes up its own rhythm as it goes along, which makes me feel dizzy, and this is not at all convenient for me. But I can tell you for certain and for sure, that my mind is as sound as a bell, sharp as a razor. So when I say there was an elephant in the garden, there really was. There is nothing wrong with my memory, nothing at all.” (14-15)

And with that, the elderly woman named Lizzie begins her story of how, when she was a young girl during World War II, an elephant came to live in her garden. Her mother, an employee of the Dresden Zoo, brought home to care for a baby elephant named Marlene rather than have her killed out of the fear she’d get loose and cause havoc if the city was bombed. Marlene is living in Lizzie’s backyard when Dresden does get bombed, and the family is forced to flee across miles of German landscape with the elephant in tow. But how are they going to find a safe place for themselves, much less a safe place for a very conspicuous and unusual pet?

Michael Morpurgo, probably most well-known for his book War Horse that was recently made into a movie, brings to life this tale that is hailed on the cover as being inspired by a true story. Morpurgo separates fact from fiction very nicely in the author’s note at the very end, clarifying that the story originated from the Belfast Zoo, and you can find articles online about the zoo trying to identify the zookeeper in charge of that initiative. As Morpurgo further clarifies, he took some creative license in setting the story in Dresden, which also “had a zoo there too, and [...] exactly the same order had gone out in that zoo, to shoot all the large animals if the bombers came” (198) That seems to have been a common solution, as this website details the same outcome for the animals in Japanese zoos, although some of them were less humanely starved to death as opposed to being shot.

The story is somewhat unique in that the narration is framed by Lizzie, as an old woman, telling the story to a young boy named Karl in the present day. It then flashes back in time, and is told in the present tense but set in the past, with occasional interruptions coming from Karl and his mother. I can’t think of many children’s stories that present an adult’s perspective, much less are narrated from it.

While there is a bombing that takes place and serves as the main instigator of the trek across country, most of the tension and suspense is internalized. It’s the absurdity of caring for an elephant as refugees, when you don’t have enough food for your human family, that really boggles readers minds, and encourages the thoughts of “Are they crazy?” This trepidation and cluelessness continues as they encounter more and more refugees on their journey that really has no ready itinerary.

I think this would also make a great movie, and the descriptions make it easy to visualize Lizzie’s brother feeding the elephant and Lizzie’s initial resentment towards the creature that is stealing so much of her mother’s attention. Bringing to life the multitude of reactions is something else Morpurgo does with realism, as not everyone is happy about the elephant moving in next door. Give this to animal fans, suckers for “based on a true story,” like me, or anyone who likes stories of insurmountable odds.

The Undertakers

Title: The Undertakers: Rise of the Corpses
Author: Ty Drago
ISBN: 9781402247859
Pages: 465 pages
Publisher/Date: Sourcebooks, Inc., c2011.

Pratt was the neighborhood grouch. Somewhere in his seventies, he lived alone, kept to himself, and got pissed off more often and with less reason than anyone I’d ever met.
“I’m talking to you, Ritter!”
I tried to speak–I really did–but no sound came out. When you turn around expecting to see something familiar–not particularly pleasant but familiar–and instead see something else altogether, it takes a little while for your brain to catch up with your eyes. Some people might call it shock. I call it the holy crap factor.
Ernie Pratt was dead–very dead–which didn’t make much sense because as far as I knew, dead men didn’t get pissed.
He was wearing what he usually wore in the mornings: a white terry-cloth robe and slippers, except the skin inside the slippers had gone as dry as old paper. His face was gray and pulled tight around his skull. One of his eyes was hanging out of its socket, dangling by a short length of thick, corded tissue. The other one, looking milky and sightless, nevertheless stared at me. His lips were gone, receded, revealing a black-gummed mouth with only half the teeth it should have had, and even those were as yellow as old eggs.
Which is also how he smelled. (4-5)

Twelve year old Will Ritter wakes up one morning and realizes that his next-door neighbor has become a walking corpse. His day unfortunately goes from bad to worse when Will escapes on the school bus, only to realize when he gets to school that his assistant principal and math teacher are less than alive as well. After being rescued by classmate Helene (pronounced like it has three a’s) , Will becomes involved in a secret organization of kids called the Undertakers who are among the few people able to identify these Corpses. Will is less than pleased about being drafted into their organization, but soon realizes that there are few other options. As the organization is forced to consider switching their tactics from defensive to offensive, Will just might be the recruit they need to tip the scales in humanity’s favor.

My coworker and I were very intrigued when this book came in to see a zombie book for middle schoolers. How many other zombie books are out there for this age group? The cover is appropriately creepy and blood-red toned, which definitely adds to the appeal in my opinion.

The story itself rises to the occasion as well. The zombies–excuse me, Corpses–are described in gruesome detail. In the dedication, the author thanks his son “who read it and offered helpful (and often profound) insight into the realities of his age, his culture, and his mysterious language.” It definitely shows, with the text riddled with mild cussing (crap, hell, pissed, etc.) that is definitely warranted and rings true to the horrific, scary, and adventurous outings that the teens experience. Will’s pleas for his mom at one point is also unique, because so many times in children’s books the main character is just thrust in their world saving position and blindly accepts their new role. Will doesn’t, and is really reluctant to joining this group and getting involved, and his actions realistically reflect what some scared tweens would be feeling. I really appreciated that aspect of the story. Another realistic aspect of the book: people die. Books where no one dies in an end of the world prevention fight really annoy me, and the fact that the characters were affected and mourned the loss of their fellow fighters is even more authentic. The fighters solve their problems with ingenuity, technology, physical confrontations, and a little bit of luck. Okay, in some cases a LOT of luck, with people coming to the rescue just in the nick of time on more than one occasion. But Ty Drago (even the author’s name is cool!) does an admirable job explaining these last-minute saves, and it works without any trepidation crossing your mind as you’re reading.

It’s a fast paced, high energy novel that should get readers invested in the story. I could definitely see myself book talking this title to tweens and teens, especially around Halloween. There are twists and turns that readers don’t see coming, and although the ending is satisfying, it’s also open-ended enough to leave people excited about the sequel, Undertakers: Queen of the Dead which is coming out in October 1st (perfect again for Halloween!) AND there’s apparently a third one in the works too!

Hound Dog True

Title: Hound Dog True
Author: Linda Urban
ISBN: 9780547558691
Pages: 152 pages
Publisher/Date: Harcourt Children’s Books, an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, c2011.

It is Principal Bonnet who finally helps him. Answers his cell phone call and comes to the rescue. Helps him to his feet and out of the administrative office.
Principal Bonnet who comes back for Mattie, too, knocking gently on her own office door before she opens it.
“I’m sorry,” Mattie says.
“He’ll be okay,” Principal Bonnet. [...]
A doctor. Uncle Potluck needs to go to a doctor. Mattie had been picturing him in Authorized Personnel wrapping his traitorous knee with electrical tape. But Uncle Potluck can’t fix what Mattie has done to him. He needs a doctor. (88-89)

Mattie’s mother always says that “when the going gets tough, the tough get going.” So that’s what Mattie and her mother are doing. They get going to visit Mattie’s uncle, moving back into the house Mattie’s mother grew up in. Uncle Potluck serves as the janitor at Mattie’s new school, her fourth one in four years. Instead of once again trying to introduce herself and make new friends, Mattie has a different plan in mind. If she proves that she’s useful to Uncle Potluck during this week before school gets out, maybe he’ll let her be a Janitorial Assistant, and she can avoid the lunch room and recess rush. But things don’t go as planned for shy Mattie.

I was really looking forward to this book, having enjoyed A Crooked Kind of Perfect so much. But this book was a painfully slow read. For a book that only takes place over the span of a week, I thought there would be a little more action. I realize janitor’s days aren’t all that glamorous, especially since they’re working in a mostly closed school that hasn’t officially opened yet. That being said, I still thought there would be more.

Mattie is painfully shy, not speaking up to her mother, not to prospective friend and neighbor Quincy Sweet, and not to former teachers and classmates as we see in a tiny flashback sequence. Even when she realizes that someone has been reading her notebook without her permission, she doesn’t flip out, doesn’t yell, doesn’t really react in any way. She’s very introverted, and maybe it’s because I’m such an extroverted person myself, but I had a hard time relating to her. Besides, what middle schooler is going to want to be the janitor anyways? When I was in school, janitors/custodians were looked down upon and were in the same level as garbagemen, lunch monitors/cafeteria ladies, and the “do you want fries with that” guy at McDonalds.

Overall, this just didn’t live up to my expectations.

The Kite Rider

Title: The Kite Rider
Author: Geraldine McCaughrean
Narrator: Full Cast; David Baker, Cynthia Bishop (narrator), Daniel Bostick, Bob Brophy, Bruce Coville, Ted Davenport, Galen Druke, Ann Marie Grathwol, Todd Hobin, Mimi K. Mead, Bill Molesky, Gerard Moses, Lauren Synger, Thea Van Der Ven
ISBN: 9781932076387 (book on CD), 0780066238753 (hardcover)
Pages: 272 pages
Discs/CDs: 6 CDs, 6.75 hours
Publisher/Date: HarperCollins Children’s Books, c2001.

The hurdle-a big square hatch cover woven out of palm leaves-was being carried along the deck by seven or eight sailors. The rope was already attached to it by a harness of four cords shackled to each of the four corners. Also bound to this giant kite was a man.
A cloth had been wrapped around his head, but now, as he twisted this way and that, struggling to break free, the cloth slipped down and Haoyou caught a clear glimpse of his face.
“Father!” [...]
Haoyou flung himself at the man-a brute as thick-set and sturdy as a post, with a round, neckless head. “You sent him up there! You killed him!” Haoyou shouted, pummeling the flat, unyielding stomach, bruising his fists on Di Chou’s leather belt.
Di Chou took hold of Haoyou by the ear, and the shining flesh of his cheeks twitched with menace as he smiled down at the boy.(7-12)

Obedient, twelve-year-old Haoyou’s life is turned upside down when his father is killed. His father’s killer offers to marry Haoyou’s beautiful mother, but between Haoyou and Mipeng, the family’s medium, they set into motion events that prevent that from happening. As a result, Haoyou finds himself recruited to perform in the traveling circus of the Great Miao as a kite rider, soaring high over the grief that his father’s death has caused. But can Haoyou rise above his own guilt, his uncle’s greed and the teachings of his youth that weigh him down?

Readers will soar with Haoyou when listening to the full cast production of The Kite Rider. Not to be confused by The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini or Linda Sue Park’s The Kite Fighters, the story starts with a punch and keeps the excitement high as Haoyou encounters greedy uncles, abusive suitors, and the “honorable” Kublai Khan. Some of the situations seem meant for a slightly older audience, which is probably why I’m finding copies of this book in children’s and young adult collections.

The audio is well voiced, although whoever voices Haoyou is sometimes just a tad over enthusiastic with his lines. His excitable voice works for most of the time though, as he’s either yelling, crying, or exclaiming over some event, probably as a result of his naivety. Narrator Cynthia Bishop does a good job at bridging the gaps between the different characters, and the landscape is described in breath-taking detail and poetic language.

[...] rising out of the roofless building, the fragments of countless kites rode on the incandescent updraft, trailing tails of fire, lurching and plunging, climbing and ditching: a flying menagerie of flame, a fleeting festival of catastrophe. (46)

Mipeng showcases some feminist traits that are well beyond the thirteenth-century Chinese culture that the book is set in. While she provides a more modern perspective and contrasts the rest of the characters’ attitudes with her opinions, it’s a little jarring to hear and see her disregard for everyone else’s teachings and beliefs, which was what she too was taught.

Overall the story has a lot of suspense as, just like the tail of a kite, McCaughrean leaves plot points dangling until the very end, waiting to be caught up again and tied up into a neat little bow. While the package might look a little too neat, I think readers will be well pleased with the results and remember the story for quite some time.

Ready Player One

Title: Ready Player One
Author: Ernest Cline
ISBN: 9780307913142
CDs/Discs: 13 CDs, 15.5 hours
Pages: 374 pages
Publisher/Date: Crown Publishers, Random House Audio, c2011.
Awards: 2012 Alex Awards

“You’re first instinct right now might be to log out and make a run for it,” Sorrento said. “I urge you not to make that mistake. Your trailer is currently wired with a large quantity of high explosives.” He pulled something that looked like a remote control out of his pocket and held it up. “And my finger is on the detonator. If you log out of this chatlink session, you will die within a few seconds. Do you understand what I’m saying to you, Mr. Watts?” (142)

In the year 2044, humanity escapes from what is left of the world by plugging int the OASIS, a virtual utopia similar to the Sims where people can be anything and do almost anything. It’s here we meet Wade Watts, a seventeen-year-old who has been competing against millions of other people in the biggest scavenger hunt ever created. The massive fortune of the creator of the OASIS, James Halliday, has been put up for grabs for the first person to complete a series of challenges and puzzles that range throughout the virtual OASIS. Based on aspects of 1980s pop culture, including movies, music, books, and especially video games, the hunt has gone on for five long years, and quite a few players have lost hope. Then Wade stumbles upon the first puzzle, and the frenzy of the hunt resumes. Wade must outwit and outplay the entire world in order to win, but he’s especially worried about the Nolan Sorrento, the CEO of a conglomerate company who’s only goal is to monopolize and monetize the free virtual escape.

Full disclosure: I was not a teenager in the 1980s like James Halliday was, but I still throughly enjoyed listening to Ready Player One. I was yelling at my speakers, laughing along at Wade’s exploits, and was pleasantly pleased at how many references to 1980s culture I was already familiar with, including Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Star Wars and Star Trex, Pacman, and Dungeons and Dragons. Some of the more obscure trivia I think would have even people who lived during that era scratching their heads, unless they are well versed in hacking history.

While the start is somewhat slow as Cline takes the time to explain his world building and the background behind the events, it quickly escalates after the first clue is found. Geeks might actually enjoy knowing the ins and outs of the OASIS, although non-geeks might get turned off by the technical talk. The characters are all most certainly grandiose geeks, and while there are some spots where the information is repeated, in my opinion it’s better to have a refresher of the information than not receive it at all. I think the action moved a little too quickly for my tastes towards the end, as clues are deciphered very quickly by multiple players, when the first clue took everyone five years to figure out, but listeners get caught up in the excitement and the hunt and really don’t have time or an inclination to quibble about the breakneck, escalating frenetic pace and epic battle at the end.

Wade is a likeable enough character, participating in the competition as an underdog since he has almost no experience points, financial assistance, or even a secure physical home where he can reside. Sorrento, the head of the commercial conglomerate (the company is nicknamed the Sixers in the book due to their avatars six digit identification numbers) is a stagnant and one-dimensional, stereotypical greedy bad-guy type character. Wade’s four top human competitors are a little more three-dimensional, although still stereotypical in certain ways.

Although Wil Wheaton struggles with female voices, most of the narration is first person from Wade’s perspective, which allows him the ability to really develop Wade and delve into his role. It’s an added nod to the 1980s culture to have him narrate, since Wheaton portrayed Wesley Crusher in the Star Trek: The Next Generation television show in the 1980s and 1990s. I can definitely see geeks and gamers of both genders gobbling up this book.

The Probability of Miracles

Title: The Probability of Miracles
Author: Wendy Wunder
ISBN: 9781595143686
Pages: 357 pages
Publisher/Date: Published by Penguin Young Readers Group, Produced by Alloy Entertainment, c2011

In the past month Cam had been to an acupuncturist, a Reiki practitioner, a reflexologist, an herbalist, a hypnotist, a taulasea– a Samoan medicine woman who made her drink breast mile–and had had a phone call with a “distance healer” from New Zealand named Audrey. They had paid eighty-five dollars Australian, plus the cost of a phone call to New Zealand, to hear Audrey hum into the phone for a while and then send Cam an e-mail with the “results” of the healing, which included bar graphs measuring the strength of her aura.
At least they got a good laugh out of it.
Cam had vowed that that was it, though. She was done trying stupid New Agey crap. In fact, if she heard another note of Yanni or Enya or anything on the harp, she was going to lose it. (36-37)

Self-proclaimed hope-resistant Cam has suffered from cancer for years, and they’ve finally received the diagnosis that there is nothing else to be done or tried. Cam’s mother refuses to give up, and packs Cam and her younger sister Perry from her Disney World Florida home to Promise, Maine for the summer. Promise is known for the unexpected, such as flamingos in the Atlantic, purple dandelions, and sunsets that last for hours. Showing no optimism and sulking over a fight with her only friend, Cam keeps receiving help from local boy Asher, who literally keeps popping up when she least expects it. Trying to make the most of her time and with nothing better to do, she starts crossing things off her own version of the bucket list that she’d made years earlier. When surrounded by people who see miracles in the everyday, Cam struggles to maintain her outlook on life and her belief that miracles are coincidences. Will Cam come to believe in miracles so that she can receive one of her own?

I’ll admit that this book has been sitting in my to be read stack for way too long. Personally, I really think it needs a new cover. But by the time you finish the book, you forget how glaring the cover is. The characters are all multi-faceted and developed. Cam’s mother is trying so hard to hold the family together. Although I think she could have been portrayed as a little more of a realist and hands-on, especially regarding her daughter’s illness, I can see she’s struggling with what the “right” thing to do is in this unique situation. Cam’s mood swings are evident, oscillating from “What’s the point” to “Let’s do what I can” to maybe even a little bit of restrained hope. Perry expresses what I think every sibling of a cancer patient must feel, but isn’t supposed to say:

“I make a lot of sacrifices for you.” Perry’s voice quavered. “Like being here. Do you think I want to spend my entire summer away from my friends? No one ever has time to think of what I want or what I need because your needs are so tremendous. You have tremendous needs. And that’s fine. Really, I’m used to being an afterthought. But the least you can do is let us believe that this might work. I do a lot for you, Cam,” said Perry, and one tear finally broke loose and slid down her face. (183)

The only person I wasn’t a huge fan of was Asher. Now, don’t get me wrong, I liked the knight in shining armor allusions and that he was always there for Cam, and the fact that he was afraid of flying added some humanity to his character. But the little we find out about his previous… “relationship” just irritates me. Yes, I guess to each his own, but still. Eh.

However, I loved the ending. I think I need to say again that I loved the ending. I can’t say anything else about the ending, because that would give everything away, but wow. The last 50 pages, and especially that last chapter, packs an emotional punch. I loved how Cam handled events, and although Asher’s actions seemed a little overly climatic, it sort of fit somehow. Cam really redeemed herself in my eyes when she puts other people’s needs ahead of her own for once.

Knucklehead

Title: Knucklehead: Tall Tales and Mostly True Stories About Growing Up Scieszka
Author: Jon Scieszka
ISBN: 9780670011063
Pages: 106 pages
Publisher/Date: Viking, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group, c2008.

The first time I heard the name Knucklehead, it wasn’t being used as a particularly good name. I think it was my dad, finding that his toast tasted like melted green plastic army man, who first asked the question, “What Knucklehead put an army man in the toaster?”
The answer was Jim. He was trying to get one of his riflemen to aim a little higher. But that didn’t seem like the best answer. So Jim, me, Tom, Greg, Brian, and Jeff all said, “I don’t know.”
Over the years, there were a lot more questions. (105)

Since he grew up in Flint Michigan, I tend to count Jon Scieszka as one of “our” authors, even if he doesn’t live in the state anymore. So I have a soft spot for his work and his accomplishments. His autobiography of his time in Michigan growing up as one of six brothers is a laughable account. Proof that biographies don’t have to be about stuffy old dead people, Scieszka instead relates tales of boyish high-jinks like making money by charging your siblings and friends for various things, getting in trouble for using bad words, and all aspects of sibling rivalry and one-upmanship including Halloween costumes, grades, and sharing your room.

This is one of my go-to books for parents who are serving as guest readers in the upper elementary schools. Filled with dozens of very short stories, most kids and especially the boys find quite a bit to laugh about, and parents can read as many or as few as necessary to fill their time slot. Teachers and librarians should take a look too.

Sunday Shout Out #7

Sunday Shout Out series was created to remind/encourage me to provide links to news stories, blog posts, and other things that I think are interesting and noteworthy. If you’re interested in participating or being featured in my next Sunday Shout Out, just drop me an e-mail. Do you have some news or links to share? Feel free to link to your own Sunday Shout Outs in the comments.

The Young Adult Library Association announced their nominations for the Teens’ Top Ten Award. Teens’ Top Ten is a “teen choice” list, where teens nominate and choose their favorite books of the previous year. Readers ages twelve to eighteen can vote online in August and September, and the winners will be announced during Teen Read Week in October. I love how YALSA runs their Teens’ Top Ten Award, because not only are the nominations determined by teens (who get to read ARCs in order to stay ahead of the publishing schedule) but it also allows the general public several months to get ahold of the books to read prior to making their decision.

The list is available on their official website as a PDFwith annotations of each title. If you’re too lazy to click over, here’s the list:

• All Good Children by Catherine Austen (Orca Book Publishing, 2011; 9781554698240)
• Ashes by Ilsa Bick (Egmont USA, 2011; 9781606841754)
• Abandon by Meg Cabot (Point, 2012; 9780545040648)
• Tempest by Julie Cross (St. Martin’s Griffin, 2012; 9780312568894)
• What Happened to Goodbye by Sarah Dessen (Penguin Group/Viking Juvenile, 2011; 9780670012947)
• Wither by Lauren DeStefano (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2011; 9781442409057)
• Where She Went by Gayle Forman (Penguin Group/Dutton Juvenile, 2011; 9780525422945)
• Scarlet by A.C. Gaughen (Walker Children’s, 2012; 9780802723468)
• Eona: The Last Dragoneye by Alison Goodman (Penguin Group/Viking Juvenile, 2011; 9780670063116)
• The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (Penguin Group/Dutton Juvenile, 2012; 9780525478812)
• Page by Paige by Laura Lee Gulledge (Abrams/Amulet Books, 2011; 9780810997219)
• Legend by Marie Lu (Penguin Group/Putnam Juvenile, 2011; 978-0399256752)
• Hourglass by Myra McEntire (Egmont USA, 2011; 9781606841440)
• Cinder by Marissa Meyer (Macmillan/Feiwel and Friends, 2012; 978031261894)
• Shine by Lauren Myracle (Abrams/Amulet Books, 2011; 9780810984172)
• A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness, inspired by an idea from Siobhan Dowd, illustrated by Jim Kay (Candlewick, 2011; 9781406311525)
• This Dark Endeavor: The Apprenticeship of Victor Frankenstein by Kenneth Oppel (Simon & Shuster Books for Young Readers, 2011; 9781442403154)
• Across the Universe by Beth Revis (Penguin Group/Razorbill, 2011; 9781595143976)
• Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs (Quirk Books, 2011; 9781594744761)
• Divergent by Veronica Roth (HarperCollins/Katherine Tegen Books, 2011; 9780062024022)
• Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys (Penguin Group/Philomel Books, 2011; 9780399254123)
• The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater (Scholastic/Scholastic Press, 2011; 9780545224901)
• How to Save a Life by Sara Zarr (Little, Brown Books For Young Readers, 2011; 9780316036061)
• All These Things I’ve Done by Gabrielle Zevin (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011; 9780374302108)

While the website has some really great publicity, they don’t have an easy to distribute summary of the titles to give to teens. Taking the four page PDF printout, I condensed the descriptions even further to just a few lines, included the title, author, and book cover, and will be printing them out in a tri-fold for my teens. I’ve included a copy for others to use if you’d like. If someone can tell me how to add a Publisher file to the blog, I’ll add it in that format, but for right now, it’s available as a PDF or as an admittedly rough copy of a Word .doc file and you can paste your logo and contact information where it’s indicated. If anyone has an issue with what I did, just let me know and I’ll remove it.

How did I miss this? Following a trail of links, I discovered a project that has been in the works since 2009. Star Wars Uncut is the brain child of Casey Pugh, who with some help cut down the very first Star Wars movie into 15 second segments and crowdsourced it out for people to reproduce. The final compiled version apparently won a 2010 Primetime EMMY for Outstanding Creative Achievement In Interactive Media – Fiction. In a New York Times article that appeared after the win, it explains that:

A computer program written by Mr. Pugh automatically plays the highest-rated rendition of each scene, and it compiles those scenes on the fly, so the movie can change in real time depending on the ratings of users.

I haven’t watched the whole thing yet, but what I have watched is amazing, and any Star Wars fan should take a look. Apparently it’s even supported by Lucas Films! I feel like this is totally something you should have found in Ready Player One.

Last, but certainly not least for this Sunday Shout Out, is the Weapon of Mass Instruction. I don’t speak/read Spanish well enough to glean any information from the original site, but the blog I’ve linked to provides a basic translation as well as a link to a YouTube interview with the creator, Raul Lemesoff. Honestly, a picture is worth a thousand words, right?

You can’t tell me this isn’t seriously cool… I’m extremely jealous.

Until next time!

Small as an Elephant

Title: Small as an Elephant
Author: Jennifer Richard Jacobson
ISBN: 9780763641559
Pages: 275 pages
Publisher: Candlewick Press, c2011.

“It’s gotta be lunchtime, he thought, kicking off his sleeping bag. Why hadn’t she woken him up? He raced the tent zipper around its track and scrambled out into fresher air.
Dang!
The rental car was gone! He stood there, rooted, as if his eyes just had to adjust to the light, had to let forms take shape, and the car would be there, right where she’d left it. But the car was really gone. So was the little tent his mother had pitched on the gravelly ground next to his. [...]
All that was left on the site was Jack and his Hubba [tent].” (2-3)

Eleven-year-old Jack Martel wakes up during a camping trip with his mother over Labor Day weekend to discover his mother gone. While any other kid would get help from someone, Jack’s mother has had problems before, and Jack is afraid he’ll be taken away permanently from his mom if he reports her disappearance. With a dead cell phone and no idea how to contact her, Jack heads off for the one place he’s hoping his mom will think to look for him. But striking out across Maine with no money or food is going to draw some attention, and Jack must avoid the cops if he’s going to find his mom before they do.

The author’s note on the back jacket talks about how Jennifer Richard Jacobson actually traced Jack’s route, since every place he visits actually exists. I visited Arcadia National Park several years ago, and I wish I’d had this book with me at the time. It makes me want to go back and also trace Jack’s route, from the bed and breakfast to the Jesup Memorial Library, the sports store where he spends a night, and the bookstore with the huge vault. Jack’s survival instincts are impressive, and I appreciated how realistic his actions were. By the end, he’s doing whatever he can to survive and not get caught, and he’s stressed and confused and scared. There are tears and rage and defeat, all the emotions that readers feel along with him in this touching story.

Jacobson includes quotes about the elephant from a multitude of sources, ranging from Abrahama Lincoln and Henry David Thoreau to Kate DiCamillo. There are also facts about the elephant that bring alive Jack’s fascination with this animal. Readers learn that elephants have refused to eat posioned food, have secretly practiced their tricks at night, and even aid in the germination of seeds. Who wouldn’t develop a foundness for these creatures after seeing them in this new light?

The ending strikes the perfect chord between hope and bittersweetness, and would be a great selection for book discussion groups.

The Night Circus

Title: The Night Circus
Author: Erin Morgenstern
Narrator: Jim Dale
ISBN: 9780307938909
Pages: 387 pages
Dics/Cds: 13.5 hours, 11 CDs
Publisher/Date: Doubleday, c2011.
Publication Date: Sept. 13, 2011

The circus arrives without warning.
No announcements precede it, no paper notices on downtown posts and billboards, no mentions or advertisements in local newspapers. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not.
The towering tents are striped in white and black, no golds and crimsons to be seen. No color at all, save for the neighboring trees and the grass of the surrounding fields. Black-and-white stripes on grey sky; countless tents of varying shapes and sizes, with an elaborate wrought-iron fence encasing them in a colorless world. Even what little ground is visible from outside is black or white, painted or powdered, or treated with some other circus trick.
But it is not open for business. Not just yet.(3)

Celia Bowen is apprenticed to her magician father. Marco has been adopted from an orphanage by a competing magician. While they both are separately aware that they are being prepared for a “game”, neither one of them are knowledgable about the rules. When they finally meet through their roles in the formation of a circus, Le Cirque des Reves, Marco realizes instantly that this is the woman he’s been training to beat. But as the years pass with no clear winner or end in sight, both Celia and Marco become tired and press for more information from their mentors. When the rules of the game finally become clear, they realize that they and the circus might have more to lose than they originally thought.

You just can’t go wrong with Jim Dale as a narrator! His voice is seductive when describing the love that two of the characters share. The scenes where he takes on the voice of the reader visiting the circus is also perfectly pitched, making the writing sound like a Choose Your Own Adventure Novel rather than a regular book. Picking up the printed copy and reading those opening lines months later, I still hear his voice and narration, drawing readers into the mystery and magic that make up the circus.

It helps that he has amazing writing to fall back on. It’s no wonder that everyone is clamoring to claim a copy of this debut novel by Erin Morgenstern. The descriptions of the circus include not just the sights and sounds but the tastes and textures. Circus tents and their contents play a massive role in the tale, and Morgenstern intersperses the tale with second person point of view narration detailing their make and design, which range from the more conventional fortune-teller, magician, and suspended acrobats to a fantastical library of memories triggered by smells and a wishing tree lit by candles. The magic and amazement are palatable, and I was left wishing that such a circus truly existed just so that I could see it for myself.

The publishers tip the author’s hat a little too early in my opinion, because based on the jacket copy readers go into the book knowing that Marco and Celia are going to fall in love. How the competition plays out is a series of interrelated and complicated actions that leave not one person responsible, but also prevents everyone from being wholly knowledgeable about what exactly happened. The mystery, intrigue, and romance dance around each other, until they draw to a climatic yet satisfying conclusion.

One of ten books chosen for the Alex Award, which is given to an adult book that has special appeal to young adults, this is a fascinating read for teens, and a patron I recommended it to raves about it months after the fact. You can contribute to the experience by listening to Erin Morgenstern’s playlist, which she lists in an interview with Largehearted Boy and makes available on her own website.