Issue Four - Family

Each person’s family is as unique as a thumbprint.  Parents, siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins all play a role.  Characters are shaped by their upbringing.  Are they the oldest?  The baby?  An only child?  Do they have both parents, only one, a step or none?  So really, in a sense, every story is a family story. 
 
This month WRN? devotes our issue to books with family themes.  Families can be loving like Lucia Alvarez’s in The Red Umbrella or flawed like Groovy’s in The Year the Swallows Came Early or in crisis like Yancy’s in Riding Invisible.  But, no matter what a family looks like, one thing is certain—it is the thread that binds us all together.

This month we’re chatting about a book from debut author Christina Diaz Gonzalez. The Red Umbrella is a powerful novel about a family that must make the heartbreaking choice to send their kids to the United States after Fidel Castro slowly, yet harshly, takes over Cuba. Operation Pedro Pan allowed over 14,000 Cuban children to come to the United States. The Red Umbrella tells the story of Lucia, a fourteen year old girl, who experiences changes in her town in 1960. Our hearts break along with her’s as every part of her life shifts until finally her family is  ripped apart when her parents make the decisions to send her and younger brother Frankie to America where they know not a soul. To say anything else would spoil this simply amazing and beautifully written story. A MUST READ!

Kerry: Whadya' think, girls?
Jill: I LOVED it! so emotional, in all the right places
michelle: I loved this book!
Kerry: and powerful!
michelle: for so many reasons. I love historical fiction!
Kerry: it's one that's sure to be around for years and years
Kerry: I do too, Michelle
Jill: definitely, made you think about so many things differently
michelle: i think this story is so, so important here in south Florida
Jill: actually, I don't always love historical fiction, but this one was done so well.
Kerry: I think it's important everywhere
Jill: yeah, but it is a good part of South Florida history

Kathryn Fitzmaurice

Kathryn, I am super-excited to interview you. The Year the Swallows Came Early has been dear to my heart since it first touched my fingers. You do a beautiful job in and in telling Groovy’s story and making the reader feel like they are there in San Juan Capistrano as it all unfolds. Now we get to spread the love to our fabulous WRN? readers. Total Awesomeness!!! Here we go.

1. Of course, we want to know Whatcha’ Reading Now?

Kathryn Fitzmaurice: Usually, I read more than one book at a time.  Right now, I’m re-reading The Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson, and for the first time, I’m reading The Best 361 Colleges, (I have a junior in High School), The Help, by Kathryn Stockett., and Gods In Alabama, by Joshlyn Jackson.  Oh, and also, I have been reading Make Lemonade again.  (I’ve read it three times already, but it is just so fabulous.)  I used to be a person who read only one book at a time, but now, since I’ve started writing full time, I pick up a book according to what kind of mood I’m in.  I also used to finish a book, even if I wasn’t wild about it.  I don’t do that anymore.  Sometimes I just read the first and last chapters, so at least I know the beginning and the end.  I can’t wait for Deborah Wiles new book, Countdown, to come out on May 1.  She is one of my favorite authors. 

2. Groovy is probably the coolest character name I’ve ever read in a book. How’d you pick that?

Riding Invisible - by Sandra Alonzo

Yancy Aparico has family trouble.  It’s not his mom and dad that are the problem, but his older brother Will, who suffers from what the doctor’s call “conduct disorder”.  But Yancy thinks this is just another way of saying what Will really is—a monster.  The situation at home is bad; Yancy lives with constant tension and fear.  His parents are trying to fix things, but Will is broken beyond repair.  When Will attacks Yancy’s horse, Shy, Yancy packs up his saddlebags and gallops away.

During his more than two-week adventure on the trail, Yancy faces many hardships but never considers returning home to be an option.  He eventually befriends Tavo, a hand at the Triple R ranch, who guides Yancy to an understanding of his parents predicament.  Life at the ranch is calm and Yancy doesn’t mind the work—it’s an improvement from home.  But all the while, Yancy knows he must face his family situation.  It’s clear to him that the family can’t continue to live together.  His parents have run out of options and Yancy realizes they will need to make an unbearable choice—which of their children must go.

In Riding Invisible, debut author Sandra Alonzo tells Yancy’s story as a journal, always writing in the open and honest voice of a teen boy dealing with a family crisis.  Nathan Huang’s illustrations add an authenticity to the journal and depth to the character by highlighting his playful side.  Highly recommended. 

Turtle in Paradise - by Jennifer Holm

Turtle’s Mama always says life is like a bowl of cherries, but Turtle doesn’t believe that life is sweet.  She doesn’t think children are like Necco wafers and she can’t stand Shirley Temple, either.  So far, life has only been a series of disappointments.  So when her Mama takes a job housekeeping for a woman that doesn’t like children, Turtle is shipped off to relatives in Key West.  She goes willingly—chin up, no tears.

Florida is a strange world.  Everyone has a nickname, no one wears shoes, and the food is exotic – alligator pear, conch, flan. Stranger still are the people who inhabit Key West, especially her unruly boy cousins, who run the Diaper Gang, a no-girls allowed club of sorts.  Despite the clubs rules, Turtle is allowed to tag along.  Her adventures with the gang help her discover family secrets and eventually expose the soft belly, under Turtle’s considerably hard shell.

Set during the Depression in 1935, this book vividly recalls another time without ever seeming like it’s teaching a history lesson.  The characters are fun and memorable, particularly spunky Turtle, who will win everyone’s heart.  Turtle in Paradise is one of those books that made me smile and then laugh out loud and then cry.  Turning the last page, I felt melancholy that my time with Turtle and her family was over.  Jennifer Holm has written a beautifully crafted novel that will certainly withstand the test of time and I’d recommend it to anyone and everyone who loves a book with heart.

For Baby (For Bobbie) - by John Denver & Janeen Mason

On its own, John Denver’s song For Baby (For Bobbie) is a lyrical dream. But, when teamed up with the breathtaking illustrations by renowned artist, Janeen Mason, For Baby (For Bobbie) becomes a visual masterpiece—one that parents and grandparents will enjoy with their young ones for years and years to come.

For Baby (For Bobbie) flawlessly celebrates the universality of nurturing love around the world. With lyrics such as, “And I’ll sing you the songs of the rainbow, A whisper of the joy that is mine” paired with Mason’s dazzling paintings of the “great north,” For Baby (For Bobbie) is sure to enthrall  its reader with every page turned.

Not only does Mason depict the closeness between families from countries like Sri Lanka, Iceland, Hawaii, Borneo and Sumatra, she draws parallels between these familial relationships, and the relationships between animal families. For Baby (For Bobbie) defines the true meaning of love between all cultures, and all living things.

For Baby (For Bobbie) is just one title in the ever-popular John Denver series for children. Other titles include Sunshine On My Shoulder, Ancient Rhymes, a Dolphin Lullaby, and Take Me Home, Country Roads.  Although this is the first book in the John Denver series that Mason has illustrated, her art has graced the pages of over eight picture books to date.  Most recently, Mason returned from opening her “one woman exhibition” of original picture book illustrations in the 22nd floor gallery of the Capital Building, in Tallahassee, FL. Her art will remain on exhibit there until July 1, 2010. For Baby (For Bobbie) is a finalist for the Book of the Year Award at BEA (Book Expo America) in NYC. 

As we’ve said, families can be fun, crazy, lonely, big, small, adopted, and often times, downright embarrassing. But hey, that’s what makes for great stories right? This month, we are giving away books with family themes. If you want a chance to win one, be sure to post the answer to the following question on our Facebook wall, or send an email to contests@whatchareadingnow.com.

Which book best describes your family life?

For me, if I could name a TV show, I’d say Everybody Loves Raymond. But, since I need a book title, I’m gonna have to think about this one.

Can’t wait to read your answers!!!

Hiya Jennifer. You’re our first ever editor interviewee and we’re super lucky to have you with us. Seems like most of our readers have read and fallen in love with The Hunger Games, which you co-edited. Now you have a brand new book that you’ve edited, Life, After, to be released in July. It’s based on the life of fifteen year old Dani whose story is propelled by terrorist attacks in Argentina, as well as September 11 in the United States. The book is tragic, yet beautiful. We’re hoping you’ll give us the inside scoop on how this book went from a submitted idea to print.  

If you’re ready, here we go.

I’m the first editor? Wow, that’s awesome! Okay, so go easy on me!

Of course we wanna know, Whatcha’ Reading Now?

I’m reading Countdown by Deborah Wiles—it’s fantastic!—so different from anything I’ve read in a long time.

How did you come upon Sarah’s manuscript Life, After?

We were just getting ready to publish Sarah’s amazing Purge (April 2009) and my esteemed colleague and editorial director extraordinaire David Levithan and I asked Sarah what was next for her creatively. She mentioned an idea she had which had been on her mind for some time—that idea became Life, After. David and I were immediately drawn to Dani’s story. Sarah also had a ton of enthusiasm for the project which was infectious. It ended up being an easy book to acquire—and believe me, most books are not!—our group loved it.

What was it about the manuscript that made you fall in love with Dani’s story?

Sarah is an expert on voice. I don’t think you can read Life, After and not be drawn to Dani as a person—or any of the other characters for that matter—you care about her characters every step of the way, and a lot of that feeling comes from voice and how powerfully readers can connect. I was also extremely impressed with how Sarah wove very complicated historical events into an emotionally charged narrative with such elegance and raw power and simplicity—there’s just enough historical information so that a reader (who maybe doesn’t have previous knowledge of these specific events) will understand what happened and how the course of events led to things being what they are currently, and yet not so much as to overwhelm the narrative with facts. Not an easy feat by any means!   

Was there anyone else you had to get on board with you at Scholastic Press before you could acquire the novel?

Yes, our entire sales, marketing, and publicity teams!

We’ve heard editors say that they read a manuscript many, many times before it’s officially a bound book. How many times have you read Life, After?

Man, you guys ask hard questions! 15? 20? Maybe more. It’s true that as an editor you read any given manuscript a zillion times in many different forms before it actually gets published. The key is to not dread it! I have to say that I enjoyed Sarah’s book every single time I read it—I kept finding more to love about it, and I kept discovering little amazing details or subtleties that even I, as Sarah’s editor, hadn’t noticed before. And, lest you all think I’m not, I’m a pretty careful reader!

Life, After has strong cultural aspects to it. Was that a bonus for you as an editor?

Yes, definitely! I loved learning about a place and time that I really didn’t have much prior knowledge of. I also love the flavor that the cultural aspects give the book. They make it truly unique. What Sarah does so well is that she weaves everything together so seamlessly. The cultural aspects aren’t showy or included just for the sake of being included. This is a huge pitfall for a lot of writers and definitely something to pay attention to if you’re working on this kind of story. The cultural aspects of the story can’t be simply there for whimsy—there has to be a reason why they are important, why there couldn’t be any other way of telling the story. The details have to really matter, ya know? Whew! Was that a soapbox I was just on?

How much time passed from when you first read the book to when you made an offer? And then to the final printing and release?

Uhhhh . . . you got me there. I can guestimate, but even better, I can tell you that we actually acquired Life, After based on a detailed synopsis and several sample chapters, and that’s saying a lot, because it means those chapters were powerful enough to skip ahead to acquisitions which is pretty rare, especially in today’s publishing climate. After we acquired the book, Sarah got right to work on it and turned in something pretty quickly I remember. By “quickly” I don’t mean to imply that she did this carelessly or easily; she was working really, really hard on it, like night and day. I remember being so impressed. After we had a working manuscript, Sarah and I went through a few early rounds and several edits to get everything just right.

We’ve included Life, After here in our family issue. Yet the book also has strong themes of friendship, forgiveness, and loss of innocence. Which one spoke the most to you?

All of them! I can’t choose. Do I have to?! Hey, look, question 9!

Being an editor sounds like it’s right up there with being a rock star. What do you love most about your job?

For the record, I am so not a rock star. More like a stage manager! Is that sexy, too? That said, being an editor is awesome; I love it. What makes my job amazing is all of the wonderful authors I get to work with and the amazing stories they tell. One of my favorite things in the world is to hold a newly printed book that so many people worked so hard on, and think, Wow, this is truly something special!

What other titles from Scholastic Press should our readers be on the lookout for in the next few months? Anything you’re over-the-moon excited about?

Oh my gosh, yes! There are two debuts that I can’t stop talking about: Sellout by Ebony Joy Wilkins (July 2010) and Everlasting (June 2010) by Angie Frazier. They are so, so, so good—I think you’ll be hearing a lot about them. Also, a few that are just out by very favorite authors of mine: Wish I Might by Coleen Murtagh Paratore and Finally by Wendy Mass.

And our bonus question—because who doesn’t love a bonus?—can you tell us something totally random about yourself?

I grew up on a farm in Pennsylvania and can operate a backhoe and a tractor! Hey, that’s three things. A triple bonus (aren’t you all glad you read to the very end of this interview?!). In conclusion (doesn’t that sound professional of me?), those were awesome questions. Many, many thanks for interviewing me about Sarah’s beautiful book—I hope everyone will get to read it—this is the most fun I’ve had (aside from editing and plowing, of course) in a long time! 

OMGosh, your job is super-cool. And those are some amazing titles you’ve worked on. We can’t thank you enough for taking time to do this interview and give our readers a sneak peek into the job of an editor. WRN? peeps, be sure to look for Life, After when it hits the shelves in July. And Jen, for the record, you are totally a ROCK STAR!

One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia

Reviewed by Kristina Miranda

In the summer of 1968, eleven year-old Delphine and her two younger sisters, Vonetta and Fern, are sent on an airplane from Brooklyn, New York to Oakland, California to spend the summer with a mother who abandoned them just days after Fern was born. She is a complete stranger to the girls, and Delphine is not expecting much, but the reception is less than lukewarm, it’s icy. Their mother Cecile lets them know right from the start that she wants nothing to do with them. She even refuses to use Fern’s name, and calls her only “little girl.”

 Cecile sends the three girls to a Black Panther Community Center every day so they can eat breakfast and lunch and stay out of her way while she works on her poetry. Delphine is given only enough money each day to bring home dinner, usually Chinese takeout, that the girls and their mother eat on the living room floor. No one is allowed in the kitchen where Cecile prints her poetry.

Author Rita Williams-Garcia beautifully portrays the relationship between the sisters in this story, capturing three very distinct personalities. At eleven years old, Delphine is already a mother figure to her little sisters and her care of them and her sense of responsibility touches your heart. The racial issues that the girls face, and their education at the Black Panther’s People’s Center, are handled in a sensitive yet thought-provoking way. One Crazy Summer, draws the reader into a historical time period and into the lives of three young girls. It is a delightful, heart-warming book.

Wow! This month we had wa-aaay too many great books to feature all of them. Follow these links if you’re looking for more teen reads, middle grade stories or picture books focused on family.

Contributed by Darla Warrior

You know ‘em by heart, by name, by shoe size and possibly by sock color. The sometimes odd and annoying people who: use your things, wear your clothes without permission, read your diary, needle into your business, boss you around, ground you and generally drive you batty. Family! You gotta love ‘em — or else!

Recently, Ben Campbell’s family in The Last Exit to Normal drove into my life. Initially, the title and the cover drew my attention. As a former Montanan, whose mother was nicknamed Normal by a free-thinking bull rider named Bill, I had to give this book a look-see. Man, was I sucked in! Relating to Ben Campbell, with his wit and smart-aleck ways, was off-the-charts easy. His VERY unconventional family worked its way into my heart and made me realize that no matter how one defines family – it’s a precious gift. You see, Ben’s father train wrecked Ben’s life after he announced that he was gay. Now, my father didn’t drop that kind of a bomb on me at seventeen, but he did pass away from a very unexpected heart attack, while playing softball. So, I related to Ben. Whenever I find a book with a seventeen-year old protagonist who steps or gets shoved into the muck, I feel a special connection to that character and want my peeps to connect also. So, if you think your family is a bit “out there” pick up The Last Exit to Normal and take a very heart-warming trip into Ben’s life – where you will find love, heartache and mystery.

Artichoke's Heart by Suzanne Supplee is a fantastic young adult book that will weigh heavy on your heart. Rosemary Goode’s quirky family sparked big with me. I mean – how many of us struggle with weight and gossipy family members? Have you ever had to endure comments like: “Oh, your daughter would be such a beautiful girl, if she’d only lose some weight.” or “Man, you’re a cutie for such a big girl.” Well, if you have, then you gotta read Artichoke's Heart.  Well, if you haven’t, (I’ll be nice here) consider yourself blessed and read this book for the hot romance. Rosie’s quirky family will make you laugh and cry and jump for joy.

Markus Zusak’s book The Book Thief takes you deep into Liesel Meminger’s foster family’s life, where you will find enough heartache for a lifetime – but not for the reasons you might think. THE BOOK THEIF book opens you up, slicing a new path of understanding about what a family means. After Liesel steals her first book: The Grave Digger’s Handbook, which had fallen from a grave digger’s pocket while digging her younger brother’s grave, Liesel goes on to take more books – even plucking a book from a Nazi book-burning party. But, Liesel does more than lift books. She takes off with the hearts of all those around her – especially the reader.

Make it a Memory - by Rebecca San Juan

Imagine a teenage boy bickering with his nine-year-old sister.

Boy, “Give it to me!”

Girl, “If only you realized that boy’s drool and girl’s rule!”

Bring into the equation the father coming home. All he wants to do is sit on the couch and flip through the latest football game.

The doting wife/mother, who’s also arrived from work, thinks, “How many dishes will I need to scrub tonight?” When she really wants a foot massage.

Plus, the last member of the family – the untrained puppy who bounces from one corner to another sniffing, peeing, and eating anything it can get its paws on.

The job of a family book is to bring all of these members together.

A family book is usually like a G-rated film. Some crash and burn. The reason is simple. How can one book grasp the attention of the kids who thirst for fantasy, a father who wants a slice of adventure, the mother who wants a cup of wisdom, and a canine who doesn’t have a say? Most family books may go unnoticed. Books that rise to the top, like family books, become legends, later on referred to as bedtime stories that carry imagination that inspires and captivates all.

So what makes a family book a hit? A story like Marley & Me: Life and Love with the World's Worst Dog by John Grogan, that holds a sense of connecting back to roots, when a door was always open and the stay was pleasurable. When a story wasn’t told on paper or screens, but by the mouths of relatives. A good family book, like Marley & Me: Life and Love with the World's Worst Dog, measures up to irreplaceable literature, where every page holds that never-closed-open-door policy.

Marley & Me: Life and Love with the World's Worst Dog by John Grogan wrapped me into John and Jenny, his wife, lives when it revolved around Marley, their new puppy. Marley’s growth leads to tension, excitement, and pivotal moments in the book. Grogan held his voice of comedic value through moments of turmoil. When his wife was trying to get pregnant with their first child, he smoothed out tension with lines like, “How embarrassing would that be? My strong wife bearing the news stoically as her husband lay unconscious on the floor, the nurses trying to revive him with smelling salts.” This book not only brought my mother and me closer, but it also stood as a bedtime story for my dog Brownie.

Family books are difficult to write. The standard elements of a story, plus the extra stress of needing to entertain the entire family isn’t easy. Imagine giving words of wisdom mingled with laughter for rebellious kids, a smile to a stern father, a second to breath for a doting mother, and a belly-rub for the untrained dog? When this difficult task is achieved it brings certain warmth to us. Whether the story ends as happily-ever-after or as farewell-my-love, it carries us through a memory. That memory holds one of the secrets to wonderful relationships, which is the never-closed-open-door policy. Everything is out, real, and trustworthy once more.

A Kid’s Take on Some Classics: Dysfunctional Families Nothing New - by Veronica L. Hernandez

“All happy families are alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”

This well-known quotation from Anna Karenina perfectly embodies the truth of unhappy families.  While many of us are blessed with wonderful families, some are not, and the theme of dysfunctional families is important in literature.  This is true of many books, new and old.

Keep reading for a kid’s take on three timeless, literary masterpieces that include troubled families.

To Kill a Mockingbird

by Harper Lee

Harper Lee’s only book, To Kill a Mockingbird, has been called the best American novel of the 20th century.  Many eighth or ninth grade students read it in school, and if you’re lucky, you might read it, too. 

In the small, southern town of Maycomb, one event changes its citizens forever.  In spite of the town’s hatred for blacks, Atticus Finch, a local lawyer, defends Tom Robinson, a black man accused of a crime.  Atticus Finch goes against all the racism in Maycomb and its citizens’ beliefs.  Told from his young daughter Scout Finch’s perspective, the story is presented with innocence and naiveness.  It teaches a reader many valuable lessons. The most significant of which (in my opinion) is that following the letter of the law does not always produce justice, as Atticus Finch learns in the end.

To Kill a Mockingbird won the Pulitzer Prize in 1961.  It was made into an Academy Award-winning film, and the book has sold over 15 million copies worldwide.  Because of some language and certain mature material, the book is better for teen readers and serious middle-schoolers.

Creepy family alert:  While Scout’s family is happy, it is the dysfunction of the alleged victim’s family that helps to drive the plot.

A Christmas Carol

by Charles Dickens

The epitome of a classic, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens is one of the world’s most popular holiday stories.  Dickens wrote that he intended this narrative, set in Victorian England and originally published in a collection of short stories, to rouse “some loving and forbearing thoughts” which are “never out of season.”

Written in 1843, A Christmas Carol traces the transformation of Ebenezer Scrooge from a misanthropic miser to a generous, Christmas-loving person.  Charles Dickens used this book, like many of his other works, as social commentary on the condition of London’s urban poor.  Although Dickens considered it a trifle (compared to Martin Chuzzlewit, the serious novel he has writing at the time), A Christmas Carol was a huge success, selling six thousand copies in one week.

Most people are familiar with the basic plot.  On Christmas Eve, Scrooge is visited by four ghosts; by morning, he realizes the true consequences of his behavior and mends his ways.  This story has been adapted for the stage and screen countless times.  However, nobody tells the story like Dickens.  Short and so easy to read, Scrooge’s tale is best enjoyed in its original form.  Read it before you see the movie version.

Family estrangement issues: Until he learns the true meaning of Christmas, Scrooge rejects the only family he has, a loving nephew who tries to embrace him.

Anna Karenina

by Leo Tolstoy

With its famous opening line, Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy dives into the scandalous life of a Russian noblewoman.  Known as the world’s most perfect novel, Anna Karenina explores our strongest feelings such as compassion, the need for self-discovery, love, and guilt.

Published in a series of installments in the periodical The Russian Messenger during 1873-1877, it later was published as a novel in 1877.  At first it was ridiculed by critics; later, famed Russian novelists Fyodor Dostoevsky and Vladimir Nabokov praised it as a work of art.

The novel starts with Anna Karenina trying to fix the marriage of her brother, Stiva Oblonsky.  He has had an affair with the governess and was caught by Dolly, his wife.  Anna reconciles the two and returns to her home.  Meanwhile, Dolly’s sister, Kitty, is being courted by two suitors, Alexei Vronsky and Konstantin Levin.  Anna meets Vronsky and falls in love.  This crush leads to a scandal that becomes the talk of Russian high society and ultimately to a tragic death.

This classic masterpiece is great for accomplished readers looking for a challenge.  With a whopping eight parts, this book is a long read, but it is worth the time.

Shame and meddling are all in the family:  While Anna Karenina worries over her brother’s marriage, she tears apart her own family with her infidelity.