The Art of Racing in the Rain

It's been a few days since my last post, but life gets busy, and I find myself with unfinished posts in the editor and a lapse. Today I have to gush about a book that I finished reading a few weeks ago, but want to share. I first came across Garth Stein's wonderful book in a children's catalogue. The adult version was such a success that they are releasing a young reader's adaptation this spring. I read the "children's version" in a day, and promptly arranged for a copy of the adult version to compare. The children's version has been abridged, and edited slightly to remove some of the more adult content, but otherwise they are virtually the same.

Now the story: On the eve of his death, Enzo the dog reflects on his life, and recalls everything that his family has been through. Denny, his person, is an aspiring race car driver, and through Denny, Enzo has gained tremendous insight into the complexities of being human. He realizes, that like racing, life is not always about going fast, and that by using the techniques needed on the race track, one can successfully navigate life's ordeals.

I LOVED this book, and I can't say enough about it. Whenever I describe it to someone, the first comment is usually "Oh no- is it sad? I don't want to read a sad book". The answer is yes and no. You'll bawl your eyes out, and then you'll smile at the end. (Really!)  Using the dog's voice to narrate this story is incredibly original, and it works really well. Enzo is funny, intelligent, and amazingly human.

It is an emotional roller coaster of a book with moments that will both touch you and break your heart, but it's worth every second of it. This is the kind of book that will grab hold of you and not let go, and it will leave you thinking about it long after you turn the last page.

Last night at Passover dinner, I gave the book to my extremely reluctant reader brother. (Who is just a few years younger than I am) He read the first few pages and put it down, insisting that it's too depressing and sad. I persisted, and he agreed to give it a chance. After dinner, he disappeared for a while, and when he came back, he was several chapters into it. Fast forward a couple of hours later, and he was more than halfway through. He stayed up late last night to finish it (which he's never done) and is passing it on to our mother to read next. I can't think of a better endorsement than what he told her when he finished it:  "It is quite the book".

Banned Books and Unsuitable Reads

At some point in your reading experience as children/teens, somebody probably once tried to tell you that a book you wanted to read was unsuitable. If you were anything like me, it only made you want to read it all the more. Nothing piqued my interest like being told that I was too young or it was too hard, and by hook or by crook I would find a way to read that book.

In a recent article in the Guardian newspaper, YA author Patrick Ness suggested his top ten picks for books that are considered unsuitable for teens, but that they should read anyway. Here is the link to the full article:  http://www.guardian.co.uk/childrens-books-site/2011/apr/08/patrick-ness-top-10-unsuitable-books-teenagers

Coincidentally, this article came out roughly at the same time as the ALA most frequently challenged books of (http://www.oif.ala.org/oif/?p=2008) 2010. 

Though nobody (that I'm aware of) has published such a list in Canada, there have been quite a few titles from the Ontario Forest of Reading Lists that have been challenged and banned. Just last year, Anne Laurel Carter's book The Shepherd's Granddaughter came under fire after complaints from parents and Jewish groups alledging an anti Israel bias. To make matters worse, a  trustee for Toronto Centre-Rosedale vowed to have the book removed from school shelves, but admitted to not having read it. (In the end the board voted not to remove the book) Disagreeing with an author's perspective is a personal perogative, but at least read the book first and be prepared with ammunition to defend your claim. (I have read it and didn't find evidence of bias)

I'm not a parent, but my view has always been we censor because something makes us uncomfortable, and not because it bothers the child. Books should make us think and feel, and discuss, and instead of telling children why they shouldn't read these books, there should be more people out there like Patrick Ness who tell them why they should.

Do kids really fear thick books?

It seems to me, that each season, books for young readers get thicker and thicker. Unfortunately, my customers are often reluctant to buy these 300+ page books for the library, insisting that thick books will scare the kids and they won't read them.

While that might be true for struggling readers, the global popularity of series such as Harry Potter (Book 7 is over 600 pages), Inkheart (560 pages) and Septimus Heap (Book 1 is 576 Pages) prove that thick doesn't matter if the book is engaging enough to hold their attention.

If that's the case, then what is the real reason behind this resistance to thick books? Despite overall positive results from the EQAO reading tests in Ontario, are the reading levels of GTA students that much lower than elsewhere in the province, or even the country? Is it a lack of time? Are kids so busy with after-school and leisure activities that we are assuming that they don't have time to read these thick books? Or, could it be that they avoid these books because they lack the time to read them, and are unfamiliar with the content? 

And here's an even more interesting question- as reading e-books becomes more popular with kids, will page counts still be important without a physical book to judge?

Age categories on books

One of my constant struggles as a buyer is finding the appropriate age category for the fiction books I select and sell. First novels are relatively easy to identify and to place. They contain shorter page counts, bigger print, and illustrations. They look and feel like something a 7 or 8 year old would read, and they have a section all their own.

A publisher's job is to sell their books to as large an audience as possible, and therefore, they place as wide an age-range as possible on their books. Have you ever picked up a children's book where the reading level was described as 8-12? The 8-year-old and the 12-year-old reader are two very different readers in terms of reading ability and reading interests, and I often find myself turning to the page count and age of the characters to make a decision on placement.

Even more frustrating than the generic "middle grade" rating which seems to be slapped on virtually every book for young readers is the young adult category. A few brave publishers will place the 14 years and up or even 16 years and up rating on a content-heavy YA novel, but most teen fiction carries a 12 and up rating.  Selling books to school customers requires me to offer a deeper level of division within the teen category. I work both with middle schools (grade 6-8) and high schools, and I maintain a special middle school fiction section with "clean teen" reads that are vetted for sexual content and swearing. I also have a 14 and up teen fiction section, which contains edgier novels more appropriate for a high school audience.  Before I can determine which category to place these books, I need more information about character age, content and the complexity of the writing. If I haven't read the book myself, I rely on bloggers and reviewers who have read it to answer these questions.

Some publishers maintain that bookstores don't like the 14 and up rating and believe it will hurt their sales. But wouldn't you think that the customers who are shopping for their 12-year-old sixth grader would appreciate this distinction?

Reading the back of the book

Yesterday, as I was pouring through a publisher catalogue, I came across a book that looked interesting, but after reading the catalogue copy a couple of times, and sharing it with a co-worker, neither one of us could figure out exactly what it was about. We were able to glean that it was about a war and took place in India, but it was only after googling certain key words from the description that I stumbled upon a summary from Scholastic Asia's catalogue that made more sense.

I think we can all admit that despite the old adage, we do judge books by their covers, but that's only the first stage to actually making the decision to purchase/read the book. It's very nice that School Library journal thought it was "superlative historical fiction" or that it's been nominated for multiple State/Provincial awards, but how does that help the average person who just wants to find an interesting read?

When I make a decision about purchasing fiction, I want to know in a paragraph or less what the book is about, and I certainly don't need long-winded descriptions that rehash the entire plot without offering any of the really important details.

In a perfect world, book summaries would only be written by people who have actually read the entire book, but in the meantime, here's my suggestion: Put yourself in the reader's shoes, and think about what you would like to know about the book, and write that as simply and succinctly as possible.

Series Fiction- The good and the bad

As I review my spring publisher catalogues, I've noticed that there are a large number of series continuations releasing this summer, and this led me to think about series fiction.

I love a good series, but as much as they publishing gold, for the fans, they can be incredibly frustrating. One of the most commonly asked questions on author websites is "when is the next book coming", and for the fans, it's never fast enough. As soon as we finish one book, (particularly the kind that end on cliff-hangers) the long, torturous wait for the next book begins. Fans of Katniss in The Hunger Games couldn't wait to find out how her story would conclude, and by the magic of internet and social networking, these fans had a place to rant and speculate about what was coming next. Having read book 2 in manuscript format, it was an even longer wait for book 3, and trust me- it wasn't easy! Finishing the series was more of an exception for me than the norm- I don't usually have enough time to keep up with the volume of series released. But this got me thinking.

The Hunger Games series released all three books within a couple of years, meaning that for the most part, those who were teens when the first book released were still teens when book 3 released last fall. On the other side of the coin, Christopher Paolini's Inheritance Cycle, concludes this November with book 4, which will mark 8 years since the first book released.

The print run for this book is 2.5 million copies, and they continue to show strong sales. But with so many series on the market competing for readers' attention, what is it about books like these that still draw readers after so many years?

Scaredy Squirrel makes it to TV!

Scaredy Squirrel Interviews Melanie Watt

Everybody's favourite squirrel makes his television debut today on Canadian network YTV with a sneak peek at 4:30 pm, before moving to its regular time slot on Sundays at 9:30am.

As fans will discover from the Melanie Watt interview, Scaredy will look a little bit different than what we are used to from the books, but loses none of the charm. Scaredy also has his own YTV page, (http://scaredysquirrel.ytv.com/)  where fans will find lots of extras to support the show.

No Small Victory Commentary

Today I finished reading Connie Brummel Crook's latest book No Small Victory. The story follows the adventures and mishaps of Beatrice (aka Bonnie) when she and her family relocate to Lang, Ontario, in the height of the depression.

While it wasn't a bad book, there is really nothing stand-out about it either. 9-year-old Bonnie is far from thrilled about moving to a new town far away from her friends, family and her school.  The family is poor, but living on a rural farm helps ensure that they don't go hungry.

There are many things to like about Bonnie. She's smart, loves to read and write stories, and would prefer to become a teacher than a housewife when she grows up. She tries her best to please her parents, and makes mistakes along the way. Unfortunately, the rest of the characters are not well-flushed out, and seem two-dimensional.  The epidemic of choice is Scarlet Fever, (which is a switch from TB or Polio) but it's really only lightly touched on before the author moves on.

The trouble with most of these small-town books is that while the details of small-town-life are well-described, they lack the depth and charm that classics like Anne of Green Gables still have today.

Reading Historical Fiction

This year, I have the privelege of being on the jury for the Geoffrey Bilson Award- an award given annually to the best historical novel for young people by a Canadian author. As the reading period draws to a close, the next stage of the process is to narrow the selection from 30 or so down to my top ten.

With a few books left to go, I can already see from my notes that I will have some whittling down to do of my list. I must confess though that the remaining books were at the bottom of my stack for a reason, so I'm not expecting to fall in love with any of them (but I am certainly open to being surprised).

Regardless of which book the jury selects as the winner, I have learned a lot about what makes a historical novel stand out for me. I enjoy reading about different time periods and events in history, and the ones that I loved contain vivid historical details but have contemporary voices.

I also discovered that while reading about small-town Ontario in 19- (fill in the blank here) was interesting the first time around, by the sixth book there isn't much left to say. Just because your mother/grandmother/aunt told you stories about their childhood doesn't mean that young readers will be interested in hearing about it.

This leads me to a question for the readers- How do you define "good" historcal fiction?