Review: Robot Dreams

Varon, Sarah (2007). Robot Dreams. New York: First Second. 205 pages.


Summary & Evaluation: In this wordless graphic novel, a dog assembles a robot friend (brought to him by the postman in a box) and, after sharing some quality bonding time with him, carelessly allows his new robot friend to take a dip in the ocean during a trip to the beach. After sunning themselves, the dog realizes that his robot friend is rusted to the point of immobility and decides to leave the robot on the beach while he goes back home. The story then follows the two characters: the robot left naked to the elements and the meanness of strangers, ultimately being repaired by a raccoon and given a new lease on life; and the dog drifting from one friendship to the next, finally purchasing a new kit robot and acting more responsible towards it than the last.

This one was a really quick read but had me coming back for a second, and even third, read-through. While some wordless graphic novels allow for the reader to make up their own story, Robot Dreams tells the story in a much more direct way, so there's not much ability for the reader to construct a story--but that doesn't detract from the book at all. It's a really great tale, heavy on the morals but subtle in its telling. The dog's got big problems, he can't treat his robot friend right and it haunts him in his relationships until he builds another robot and treats it right. While that's going on the discarded robot, after visiting a series of dream-states while immobile under a blanket of snow, experiences the harsh realities of the world (being ripped apart for spare parts, sold to a scrap yard) but is reborn when he is discovered by the raccoon who rebuilds him. It's a great tale for young adults struggling through the crappy friendships that can take place during middle and high school and can serve to soothe the injured soul or teach the trespasser.

Booktalk Hook: I think I'd have to booktalk this with other graphic novels or other books about friendship because, while this book has a lot to teach, it's a really quick read. With that in mind, I'd give a quick rundown of the plot, possibly after starting with the question of whether anyone's felt like they were mistreated (or were the mistreater) in a friendship.

Review: The Golden Compass

Pullman, Philip (1995). The Golden Compass. New York: Random House. 399 pages.


Summary & Evaluation: Lyra Belacqua, an orphan, and her daemon Pantalaimon are confined to the stuffy halls of academia and scholarship at the Jordan College--but after hearing about a dangerous arctic expedition and its discovery of mysterious Dust from the terrifying Lord Asriel, Lyra's world begins to expand beyond the confines of the College. Danger begins to lurk around every corner as the malicious child-snatchers, known as the Gobblers, haunt the city and, unknowingly, Lyra enters into their company by becoming the assistant to their leader, the alluring Mrs. Coulter. Lyra escapes their clutches and begins a journey that takes her to the arctic, with her new-found friends--gypsies, witches, armored bears and a balloon pilot--who help her to free the abducted children.

I picked up The Golden Compass partly because of its upcoming movie release, but also because I told a friend of mine that I was looking for a good YA fantasy novel and he recommended it as his favorite. After reading it, I can certainly understand why it's being made into a movie, and why my friend liked it so much--when you have armored bears (with the awesome name of panserbjorn), witches and gypsies and the book is set in a Victorian-type England, how could it not be good? There are a lot of veiled (and unveiled) swipes at the Catholic Church throughout the novel, which might go over the heads of some readers or anger others (especially their parents, if they're onto it) but it doesn't really get in the way of the driving narrative, with Lyra running from college to Gobblers to gypsies to the arctic--and then on, to another universe.

Booktalk Hook: As mentioned, there's going to be a movie adaptation of this novel released soon (December 2007) so it wouldn't be hard to get interest up for this novel, especially since the series (His Dark Materials) is already so popular.

Dylan and Elvis, live and in person!

Sam and I took in an Elvis Costello and Bob Dylan concert this Friday, up in Manchester, New Hampshire. Good stuff. My friend, Ted, asked me to tell him how it went so I wrote him this . . . thought I'd post it to the blog, too, rather than re-write it.

Costello took the stage first (after Amos Lee, who's alright) and began his one-man show with a high-energy rendition of "Radio, Radio." He had his acoustic guitar tuned so the bass strings sounded more like an electric guitar, making it sound like two guitarists were playing. Pretty cool effects with that. At points Elvis got a little political, getting a rise out of the audience when he took jabs at the war and made fun of the robots on the campaign trail (a subject particularly appealing to those living in NH).

Dylan's set was pretty good, had some arrangements that I hadn't heard before which was refreshing. Sam made the comment that he hasn't changed the arrangement on any songs from "Modern Times" because he hasn't gotten bored with them yet. I thought that must be close to the mark, because his 60's songs were arranged so differently from the originals (and the more recent arrangements that I'd heard before) that I couldn't tell which song it was until he sang the first verse--songs like "Positively 4th Street" and, surprisingly, "Lay, Lady, Lay." "Pos. 4th St." was just awesome, where he slowed down the song and stretched out the second-to-last word of every-other line, making it sound more like words of advice, like a love song--far from the usual arsenic-laced and sharp-tongued wit of the original. Really, he stuck to songs from the 60's and his last two albums, so it was almost a "greatest hits" concert.

Sadly, Dylan and Elvis didn't take the stage together. I was left with a "what the fuck?" feeling after they turned on the house lights. Sam thought they'd come on and do "Working Mans' Blues" after Costello's political subjects. I thought maybe "Political World" would be even more appropriate. Well worth the hour drive and the ticket price, though, as I had a great time with Costello's set (first time I've seen him in concert) and Dylan, well, unless he came on stage and puked, he couldn't disappoint me.

Review: Born Confused

Hidier, Tanuja Desai (2002). Born Confused. New York: Scholastic. 500 pages.

Summary & Evaluation: Dimple Lala's an Indian by birth and American by nature, and she's confused--but she won't stay that way for long. After Dimple's parents try to arrange for her to meet a "suitable" boy, Dimple begins the process of discovering her Indian heritage as she increasingly comes into contact with it through Karsh (the boy), Kavita (her Indian born-and-bred, college-aged cousin) and others in the "underground" Indian heritage scene in NYC. The "suitable" boy complicates matters, however, as Dimple's all-American friend--the always-at-the-center-of-attention Gwyn Sexton--begins to crush on Karsh and claims him for her own. In the end, Dimple not only comes to terms with her Indian culture but also learns to embrace her family and friends, taking the relationships to a new level.

Born Confused is, to date, the hippest YA novel I've read. The main characters live between New Jersey and NYC and, at the age of 17, have fake id's, are hanging out with college-aged men and women and have a language all of their own. It's perhaps the language that's the most appealing, however, as this secret language morphs somewhat as the story progresses. At the beginning, Dimple and Gwyn are speaking in cutesy American slang of half-curses ("frock" and "oh my Claude"s predominate)--but as Dimple (and Gwyn) begins to investigate her Indian heritage, the language of the novel integrates more Indian words, and Dimple engages her culture in a more positive manner. That said, the language of the novel was also also one of its biggest problems for me, in that there was no glossary of Indian words used (okay, not a big gripe, but I forgot what bhangra meant and people were being described left and right as being all "bhangrad up"). Also, the novel tended to drag in the middle as Dimple's complex relations with everyone and everything--her family, her friends, herself, her heritage--took a while to describe and even longer to solve. Regardless of its problems, however, Born Confused was fun to read in that it wasn't your typical "I hate my parents and I need a boyfriend" novel, and more of an "I want to discover my heritage and, by the way, I need a boyfriend" novel.

Booktalk Hook: The book's plot relies somewhat on Dimple's ever-present camera (named "Chica Tikka") and her growth as a photographer as a parallel to her relationship with others, so I think I'd want to read pages 200-201. I think it's a pretty good description of Dimple's journey of self-realization and involves the author's fascination with a lyrical narrative and fusing Indian words with English.

swing, you sinners!

I know that I've been posting a lot of YouTube videos on here lately but I think you guys reading this can deal with it. Hell, they've been good--so how can you complain? This one is about Betty Boop's pal--Bimbo the Dog--who has stolen a chicken and now faces the consequences, as he enters into a graveyard and sees the effects his bad actions in the present have on his soul in the afterlife. There'll be no more stealing chickens, no more shooting craps, no more chasing skirts for this guy! So, please enjoy this great black and white cartoon featuring a fantastic mix of jazz music and cartooning.

get up on this!

Since the last James Brown YouTube video I linked to is now down, I'm posting this one, roughly from the same era and with the same dance steps--with the notable inclusion of James Brown's famous quick-splits. Enjoy James Brown . . . on the Night Train!

Burmese Refugees in Fort Wayne

I used to hang out with a group of Burmese refugees while back in Fort Wayne. I had met Win Moe, who was just a great guy, while taking an Astronomy course at IPFW and he introduced me to his group of friends. All of them had fought a guerrilla campaign against the Burmese military regime and were a fascinating bunch to talk to. And to drink with--boy, could they drink! Before meeting these guys, I had studied Aung San Suu Kyi, who is the spokeswoman for Burmese democracy (and has been under house arrest for over a decade because of it), so I was somewhat familiar with the country's recent history. But Win Moe and his friends introduced me to their culture, as well as the Burmese community in Fort Wayne--a city that has the largest population of Burmese refugees. And since the recent pro-democracy protests in Burma have begun, the news is taking note of the community in Fort Wayne, an example of which is this report on NPR. Let's hope that this protest gets further than the last one . . . .

mmm . . . carrots

I have to admit, I've got a bit of a crush on Giada de Laurentiis. Her and Natalie Portman. In fact, I think the two are the same person. But anyway, the reason I'm mentioning this is because I was watching YouTube videos of Kids in the Hall and this video was posted alongside it . . . I couldn't stop laughing. Maybe it's the fact that I got 5 hours of sleep last night. Who knows . . .

Review: Saint Iggy

Going, K.L. (2006). Saint Iggy. New York: Harcourt. 260 pages.


Summary & Evaluation: Iggy's life is pretty frustrating: he's soon to be expelled from high school for something he didn't do; nobody at the high school really even likes Iggy--they all think he's addicted to drugs because he doesn't do well in school and is constantly in an agitated state; his mother (who was pregnant with Iggy while addicted to drugs, which might explain his agitated state) has left the family without saying when she'll be back; and his father cares more about his drug habit than he does anything else, especially his son. So, taking the advice of his principle, Iggy sets out to make something of himself, to do something that will make people change their minds about him. Iggy ends up achieving this by helping his (only) friend, Mo, to get out of a drug deal gone wrong--thus giving Mo a second chance to reconnect with his estranged family.

Saint Iggy was a heartbreaking novel to read. While a lot of the other YA novels that I've read so far deal with kids getting themselves into tough positions and then extracting themselves from it, Saint Iggy is all about a kid whose in a situation created almost entirely by other peoples' bad decisions. I first picked this up because I was looking for a readalike to the novel for my booktalk, A hero ain't nothing but a sandwich, mistakenly thinking it was another story about a kid hooked on drugs. I'm still going to use it for the booktalk, because it's almost the reverse story of Hero--where Benji was the drug-addled kid with everyone willing to help him, Iggy is the straight one with (almost) everyone around him addicted to drugs and in need of help. It was all that more fantastic for it, though, because it's not always the kid's fault that they're in a bad situation.

Booktalk Hook: The start of this story is just awesome--it really grips you with Iggy talking about how he got kicked out of school and was planning on making amends. Since the story's in first-person, the intro of the story is Iggy going on this rant about how unfairly he was treated and it's just so believable, the way it's written. Because of that, I'd have to read the first two pages, and I really don't think it would take much more than that to get some people interested in this book.

Review: Smack

Burgess, Melvin (1996). Smack. New York: Avon. 293 pages.


Summary & Evaluation: Tar and Gemma are two fourteen-year-olds runaways who have left their troubles behind (Tar with his physically and verbally abusive parents; Gemma with her atypically authoritarian parents) and found a comfortable alternative by squatting in houses with some benevolent anarchists. But while Tar is just beginning to find himself, Gemma is agitated and unhappy with the situation--until she meets the mystically appealing Lily, a fellow runaway who introduces the two to heroin. Soon, Tar and Gemma have become addicts as their lives spiral out of control as their dependency upon smack increases--until a series of pregnancies snaps heroin's hold on Gemma and she takes drastic action to get them all straight.

Melvin Burgess' novel Smack is far from your typical teenage tale of "reefer madness." Released the same year that the movie adaptation of Irvine Welsh's Trainspotting, Smack tells a similar tale with some of the edge taken off--but not much. Smack does seem to glorify the life of a runaway somewhat at the beginning of the novel, when Tar and Gemma fall in with Richard, a college-aged anarchist who "liberates" empty houses for young squatters to live in. But Young Adults (and their parents) will be horrified as they watch Gemma, a loveable, somewhat erratic teenager make the move from being a grungy punk runaway to a junkie who supports her habit by working at the local massage parlor. Other subjects are explored as well, including family abuse, alcoholism, abortion, boy-girl relationships, and the bonds of friendship. Overall, a fantastic read for its stark portrayal of how the life of a junkie is frighteningly easy to fall in to.

Booktalk Hook: I don't really think that this novel would be much of a hard sell in that it got quite a bit of attention when it was released--but it has been over ten years since then, so perhaps it would need a little push. A reading from it would certainly suffice however, which is why I'd read pages 102-103, where Gemma first comes into contact with Lily at a party. It's a great intro into why Gemma was attracted to the life of a heroin addict and I'd want to keep away from the depictions of h0w her life goes downhill after that, which isn't that much of a surprise.

Review: Troy

Geras, Adele (2000). Troy. New York: Harcourt. 340 pages.


Summary & Evaluation: In this work of historical fiction, Adele Geras creates a story where the gods of Ancient Greece not only concern themselves with the famous events of the Illiad, but also with the unknown citizens of Troy. The story focuses on five adolescents--three girls and two boys--entwined in the intrigues of love, as Aphrodite and Eros guide their affections to create conflict and disarray. As Troy begins to fall to the Greeks, the youth begin to understand that love, like war, has very real consequences in that it can rend the bonds of friendship and family and injure in lasting ways.

While Adele Geras found fertile ground for an exciting tale--what better excuse to feature the horrors and heroes of battle alongside the high passion of youth lovemaking than by setting the tale in Homer's Illiad?--her execution of the story is close to one-dimensional. The heroines' voices are not unique and so they begin to blend together, meaning that their first experiences with love becomes a shared reality to the reader. It's a bit unfortunate that this happens, as Adele Geras examines three very real modes of love--those being unrequited, spurned and fulfilled--that are important when examined individually. Adele Geras also tends to rely on a literary technique that becomes a bit tiresome as the Greek gods appear to the characters to impart crucial knowledge (driving the plot) but the characters--save one of the youths--always tend to forget, as the experience becomes dreamlike, and ultimately forgotten, a few seconds after it happens. Aside from these faults, the story captures the fervor of the youth's love stories while Troy teeters on the brink of destruction.

Booktalk Hook: If I were going to booktalk Troy, I would pull Frank Miller's graphic novel 300 in with the talk. Since 300's movie adaptation did so well in the theaters recently, I think it would be successful to offer Troy as an alternative for young adults interested in the theme of Ancient Greece and its wars.

Review: Alan Mendelsohn, The Boy From Mars

Pinkwater, Daniel (1979). Alan Mendelsohn, the boy from Mars. New York: E.P. Dutton. 248 pages.



Summary & Evaluation: Not only is Leonard Neeble the new kid at Bat Masterson High School but he's also the least popular. After befriending Alan Mendelsohn, an equally unpopular kid who claims he's from Mars, the two begin to have strange adventures as they discover the strange Samuel Klugarsh and his patented Klugarsh Mind Control course. Quickly achieving the right level of omega brain waves, Leonard and Alan achieve "state twenty-six" and begin to realize the untapped potentials of their mind as they discover extra-dimensional worlds--culminating in the two saving the "lost" land of Waka Waka while creating a lasting friendship.

Never having read Daniel Pinkwater before, I'll admit that I picked this book up because Daniel Pinkwater seemed to be popular in YA lit (there were tons of his books on the shelf) and because the cover was so off-the-wall (with a painting of two children in robes, surrounded by motorcyclists and topped off with a bizarre, flat-faced dragon). The cover fits perfectly with Pinkwater's eclectic subjects, as the story quickly progresses from being a story about poor, unpopular Leonard Neeble to revealing a sci-fi laden world where Leonard and Alan can do all sorts of wonderful things with the power of their minds. The book is less of a morality tale than it is a pulpy sci-fi tale, but that keeps it from getting bogged down in the moral of the story and allows the reader to just have a good time.

Booktalk Hook: A lot of really great sci-fi stories rely heavily on a new set of created terminology, and this story's no different. Of course, that can make it impossible to read from the middle of a story and have anyone understand you, so I wouldn't be reading from this book. Rather, I'd probably go into a description of this book, dropping some terminology along the way to keep the interest up ("so these two students walk into a dingy old bookstore, not knowing that they're about to understand how to control people by studying the patented Klugarsh Mind Control course and attaining state twenty-six!").

future posts: young adult literature

So that nobody gets confused, I wanted to let you know that I'll be posting reviews of young adult (YA) books that I've read. Keeping a journal of reviews is part of the requirement for a YA lit course I'm taking this semester and I thought that, given my lack of recent posts to the blog, that this would be a good way to keep me posting. Perhaps this will get some of you interested in reading Ya lit (it's not just for kids!). If it does, enjoy, because I've been having a blast with it so far.

play that banjer, boy!

let's start off with a song to begin this post, one to get you "in the mood" to read about my summer . . . this song's called "Jackson Stomp" and it's by the Mississippi Mud Steppers (it's off of the great Yazoo label's "Before the Blues Began, Vol. 1"--buy it!)

So I really only have ten minutes to write this post since I'm going into work this afternoon so here's a quick rundown of what kept me from posting to this blog:

see the last post for the beginning of the summer. after all that happened, Sam traveled to the Adirondacks to visit her friend in the backwoods for a week.

Sam returned, and we begun almost a month's-worth of weekends camping in New Hampshire. First we stayed at our favorite spot in Pillsbury State Park, where we got to chase the Pillsbury boy around and eat his delicious bread leavings. The next week we traveled to Crawford Notch in the White Mountains and stayed for four days with a large group of friends. While there we hiked around a bit and got to see the challenge that would face us on Sam's b-day weekend (Aug. 18th)--the very imposing Mt. Washington. The next weekend Sam's sister, Alana, visited us to help Sam shop for a wedding dress. Just before they got to their second stop, some nitwit ran a red light and plowed into the car. Both Sam and her sister were safe but it was so sad to see these two very happy girls be so bummed out. So I made pudding for them! And then the next week we hiked Mt. Washington. I'll be posting a video to YouTube here shortly, when I get the chance. So after all that, Sam and I didn't get enough of hiking mountains, so this past weekend we made out way to Mt. Monadnock--the second most-climbed mountain, after Mt. Fuji--and got our hike on! And glory be, we found a great hot dog stand on the drive there. School began the day after that and so now we're back to the grind and I'm back to posting.

If you want a visual depictions to go along with the narrative, visit my flickr page where I've uploaded the photos. I'll be labeling them and adding commentary as well soon.

weekends are for relaxing?

Well, I hate to admit that it's been over two months since my last post. The fact that it's been so long made it so much easier to keep letting it go. So for that one individual (you know who you are!) who kept on me to keep posting, this one's for you . . .

A quick recap of events these past two months:


I didn't get either of the jobs mentioned in my last post.

I'm now working full-time between three departments (circulation, cataloging and inter-library loan) at the Simmons library.

I had an interview yesterday afternoon at a public library that went well.

I went to the Book Expo America (the largest book publisher convention in the U.S.) in NYC.

I got to stay with Sam and I's friends Alex and Ally while in NYC. YAY!

Sam and I drove to Philly for Father's Day/Larry & Ilene's 40th wedding anniversary in June.

Big Larry (Sam's father), Little Larry (Sam's brother-in-law), William (another of Sam's brother-in-laws) and I saw a Phillies game.

The Phillies lost. Miserably.

While driving back from Philly the car broke down on the Garden State Parkway.

I got to stay with William & Alana (Sam's sister) in South Orange for two days while the car was being repaired (thanks guys!).

Sam and I drove to Indiana to stay with my parents during the week of the 4th of July.

It was a very relaxing week but we did so much! Got to see friends and family, toured a pickle factory, had our engagement photos taken (I'll post one of them to my flickr page soon), did lake stuff (fished, swam, etc.), ate with my grandparents at Ft. Wayne's Famous Coney Island, toured the new Allen County Public Library (check out my flickr page to see photos!), got a new car (thanks Mom & Dad!), and all sorts of other great stuff that I won't go into.