Chasing Augustus: A Review and an Audio Book Giveaway

REVIEW

What 10 to 14-year-old doesn't enjoy a good dog book?  If your son, daughter, grandchild, or student fits into that category, then Chasing Augustus by Kimberly Newton Fusco, is a book that you want to win for them.  

Rosie's got it tough. Her mother left her as a child to make a better life for herself in California. Her father has a stroke and is hospitalized. That leaves her paternal grandfather, Harry, in charge of raising her--something he is ill-equipped to do. On top of that, when her mother comes home temporarily, she gives away "Gloaty Gus"-- Rosie's "lug of a dog." 

From the first chapter, the reader is rooting for this spunky protagonist who feels as if she is "half the girl she used to be" without her furry, stubborn friend. As the title intimates, the book is mostly about Rosie trying to find Augustus and the various obstacles she has to overcome in the process. Readers see the sandpits which cover the town with grit whenever the wind blows--and which makes riding a bicycle (when she goes looking for her dog) include wearing swim goggles. Readers feel her apathy in school and cringe when she makes bad choices. And of course, they resonate with her longing to be reunited with her dog. 

Although this is a book about determination and not losing hope, it is truly about making friends in unexpected places. Readers meet Rosie's next-door neighbor, Phillipe, a foster kid who won't shrug off his huge overcoat and who is obsessed with Monopoly; Cynthia, a girl who gets on Rosie's nerves because she asks too many questions; Swanson, a mute woman who the town kids mock and fear but who provides surprising answers to Rosie's questions; and even her grandfather Harry, who is an ornery sardine-and-cracker-eating guy who makes Rosie get tutoring over the summer for her poor English grade; and Mr. Peterson her tutor who she despises at first, but who she learns to appreciate. 

Readers will care about Rosie, but they will also see how her behavior is not above reproach. She puts her desire to find Augustus above everything else; not caring about how her Grandfather will worry when she leaves home in a storm or how Phillipe feels when she pushes him into helping her. I think if the book is read in the classroom, I would recommend pointing out her lack of empathy and why she is self-absorbed in her quest. It would also be good to discuss how she resolves her relationships in the end. 

Here's an audio snippet from the beginning of the book. The narrator, Karissa Vacker, created an authentic voice for the first-person protagonist. The secondary characters are also portrayed well through a variety of authentic voices. 

And finally, a line early in the book which summarizes the sand-pit setting as well as Rosie's life, “If you don’t do something with all the grit in your life, things seem to jam up something awful."


GIVEAWAY

A winner will receive a code from Tantor Audio and instructions on downloading the book. To enter, please leave me a comment with your email address if you are new to my blog by 6 PM on May 29. 

We are All That's Left: A Review and a Great Audio CD for You

Congratulations to Danielle Hammelef who won BLACK GIRLS LIKE ME from last week's blog.

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I always enjoy sharing amazing books and a young adult author who I'm unfamiliar with. That's what you'll find if you read, or listen to, Carrie Arcos' book, We Are All That's Left (Philomel, 2018).  Both narrators, Laura Knight Keating and Elisabeth Rodgers, perform the book with clarity, fervor, and excellence. (Please keep in mind that quotes may not be exact; I took notes as I  did other tasks.)

REVIEW

Told in dual points of view, Ms. Arcos provides readers with an intimate look at the effects of the Bosnian War as well as a very personal experience with modern day terrorism. If you're not familiar with this civil war, you might want to read about it first.

The book opens with a view of the River Drina and the bridge that crosses it. The bridge plays an important part in the story and also symbolizes the connection between Zara and her mother, Nadja. 

Quickly, the reader discovers that Zara feels shut out from her mother's life. Although Zara knows that her mother lived through the Bosnian War and she hears the screams from her nightmares, Nadja never speaks about it. Zara doesn't go anywhere without her camera, but her mother can't stand the sound of a camera clicking. Zara concludes, We have nothing in common except our sea green eyes.

Then, a terrorist attacks.

On a summer day, Zara and her brother Benny are at a farmer's market with their mother. Without warning, a bomb goes off, their lives are shattered, and Zara is left holding her mother's yellow ballet slipper.

At that point, the novel switches to Nadja's story in 1992. She's a teenager in love with a Serb teen photographer, Marco. They both plans to study in Sarajevo. And even though they are different ethnically, who cares? They are both Bosnians.

Then, war breaks out. 

The story flits back and forth between the present in which Zara deals with severe physical, emotional, spiritual, and psychological wounds, and Nadja's heart-rending, horrific story. Nadja is in a coma as a result of the attack and Zara experiences a wide range of emotions. Their silence seems no different than what is normal between them, but Zara fears that her mother will die and they'll never truly know each her. 

Before the attack, Zara had enrolled in a photography class. Although she feels like a freak with bandages across her face, she decides to attend. Each student must create a photo story. The instructor prompts: "What do you want the viewer to feel? Look for stories around you. What story are you in?"

Zara finds a box full of old letters and photos that Marco took. She feels like she's discovered a treasure which leads her to anger and grief over the grandparents (and uncle) she never knew. I’ve peaked over an abyss I didn’t know existed.

The book holds a sense of timelessness. The events are different in time and place, but Zara grapples with the violence her mother experienced and the ISIS attack against her community haunt her day and night. My emptiness is all that's left. 

Zara meets Joseph who is also searching for meaning in suffering. Zara wonders how God allows terrorist attacks. Joseph shares his spiritual journey, but more than anything, becomes a friend with whom Zara can unburden herself. By listening and understanding he helps Zara put back together the pieces of her broken self and her shattered life. 

I listened to this at the same time that I was reading For Black Girls Like Me. Mother abandonment is a theme in both books and both fathers are overwhelmed and not quite sure how to help their daughters. At one point Zara's father tells her: "People fear what they do not know." Even though it is true, that hardly satisfies her emotionally.  

Zara's photography teacher asks the class to consider their photo stories and ask, "What is the character’s narrative and is it true?" Her photography project bridges the gap between mother and daughter and brings healing to their relationship. 

When Nadja comes out of the coma, Zara spends hours in the hospital talking to her and hearing her mother's story. Zara concludes, "Maybe God is love. I have no choice but to use the suffering. Love and forgiveness go hand in hand. I survived and am still surviving." 

Here is an audio snippet so you can sample this powerful book. 

GIVEAWAY

I'm going to give away this book in conjunction with the January issue of Talking Story on Eastern Europe. Leave me a comment (with your email address if you are new to my blog) and I'll add your name to the list. Hang in there--this book is worth waiting for. But if you don't want to wait until then, get a copy now for yourself or the young adult reader in your life! (Continental United States only.) Giveaway ends January 20.

Wonderland: A Review and Audio Book Giveaway

Browsing a recent Recorded Books catalog, I was pleased to find Wonderland (Farrar Strauss and Giroux, 2018), by North Carolina author, Barbara O' Connor. I hope one of your students, children, or grandchildren will enjoy it as much as I did.

REVIEW

The book opens with10-year-old Mavis Jeeter leaving Hadley, Georgia for the same reason she's left so many other homes--her mother's job hasn't worked out and she decides it's time to move on. Mavis is brave and spunky--but because of their frequent moves, she never ends up having a best friend. The reader quickly figures out Mavis's internal goal: to live somewhere long enough that she can have a "true" best friend. 

Therefore, when she meets Rose Tully, the shy daughter of her mother's new employer, Mavis announces, "You'll be my new best friend." Since Rose doesn't feel like she fits in with the other girls in their exclusive Magnolia Estates neighborhood, that suits her just fine. 

The story sweetly shows their ups and downs in navigating this new friendship. Since Wonderland is written from multiple-POV's, the reader gets to see the agonies each girl suffers when they feel as if they've blown it with the other person. The author does a great job of showing their gaffes as well as how the two girls forgive one another. 

The main conflict centers around Mr. Duffy, the elderly gatekeeper at Magnolia Estates whose dog recently died. Since Queenie's death, Mr. Duffy has become depressed and increasingly forgetful. Rose and Mavis love Mr. Duffy and fear that he's in danger of losing his job. When Rose's arch-enemy, Amanda, discovers a loose dog in the woods behind her house, Mavis is convinced that "Henry" (as Amanda names him) is the answer to all of Mr. Duffy's problems. 

The story has a happy ending--Mavis proves to be right--but there are enough obstacles that get in the way of that perfect solution to make the story interesting for elementary school girls. 

A neat addition to this friendship story is that Henry has his own POV. Readers will enjoy "hearing" Henry's thoughts and "feeling" his emotions as the greyhound longs for freedom and a person of his own to love him. 

I asked Barbara about her reason for including Henry as a POV character and she said, 

I know that most kids love dogs and have no problem thinking of them as an actual character in a story. I needed Henry (the dog) in order to add another emotional layer to the story. I needed the reader to know Henry’s feelings and motivations for his actions. Having a third POV character also kept the story moving forward but in differing, yet parallel, ways.

I enjoyed Mavis's child-like optimism that her plans would work and her persistence to come up with a "Plan B" when they didn't. In the end, she has gained what she wanted--but not exactly in the way she had expected. Rose's character arc--from a shy, quiet girl to a brave 5th grader who speaks her mind to her mother--is believable and worth cheering for.  

Besides Rose, Mavis, and Henry, the secondary characters including Mr. Duffy and the two mothers are well developed. Mr. Duffy's colorful language, Ms. Jeeter's petulant complaining, and Mrs. Tully's constant criticisms of her daughter and Mr. Duffy, show all these secondary characters well--and serve both Mavis's and Rose's journeys. 

The story will help young readers to consider what truly makes a best friend. In the end, as all three main characters reach a new normal I thought, "Is this Rose, Mavis's or Henry’s story?"

That will be for the reader to decide.

GIVEAWAY

I am giving this book away in conjunction with the winter issue of Talking Story in which Barbara is our expert. Leave a comment here and I'll enter your name once. Leave it through the newsletter and you'll have two chances to win. Hurry! Giveaway ends January 21. 

Here is an audio excerpt as a teaser.

Be Light Like a Bird: A Review and ARC Giveaway

Congratulations to Connie Saunders and Karen White who won copies of AIM from last week's blog. Thanks to everyone who left comments.

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In August I featured Susan Campbell Bartoletti, a faculty member at Highlights Foundation Summer Camp. Her keynote was so packed with information that it was impossible to give you everything she said. In this blog post I use more of her points to review Monkia Schroeder's latest middle grade novel, BE LIGHT LIKE A BIRD.

Major Dramatic Question

In that previous post, I quoted Susan as saying that every book should have a MDQ--A Major Dramatic Question that can be answered yes or no.

In BE LIGHT LIKE A BIRD, Monika poses this dramatic question for Wren, the protagonist: Will she and her mother resolve her father's death? The answer to that question drives many scenes and is raised again at the climax of the book. 

Key Scenes

Susan offered a working description of key scenes which Patti Gauch shared while helping her with her first novel. You might not want to use it as a writing formula, but it’s a helpful approach to analyze your work as well as other writers' novels. 

A Scene that Incites: Wren's father's plane crashes and his remains are never found. We read,

After the search-and-rescue people called, there was an explosion in my brain, and a cloud appeared, spreading out over everything. The cloud pressed down on me like overstuffed down bedding, the kind you want to push away so you can breathe. Except there was nothing I could do to lift it. The cloud made all my thoughts seem as though they came through a fun-house mirror, like the one Dad and I had stood in front of at the county fair last year, laughing...It made it hard to think. 

It was because of the cloud that I didn't notice at first how much Ma had changed. I didn't remember her often being angry before... (p. 9)

The cloud over Wren and her mother's anger trigger their reactions. Wren's mother goes from town to town in a seeming random effort to escape their past. She refuses to talk about Wren's father, leaving Wren angry, confused, and the two estranged from one another. They end up in the Upper Peninsula in Michigan and for the third time within a few weeks, Wren starts attending a new school. 

A Scene that Agitates: Wren's new teacher asks the students to find a controversial topic for a class presentation. She mentions that the township plans to expand the landfill. In this snippet, we meet Theo, the dorky kid in class who is a loner, like Wren. 

"They've already started to survey the area, I blurted out. "I saw it. It's so sad!"
"There's nothing wrong with it," Carrie piped up. "My dad runs the landfill. They just need more space."
I frowned. Why did I not know that about her?
"Who cares about that swamp anyway?" Carrie added.
"Pete's Pond is not just a swamp," I said quietly. In my mind I added, There's actually a wetland surrounding the pond with very exciting bird life.
"Sounds like this is already controversial here in our classroom," Mrs. Peters said with an encouraging smile. "Theo what do you think?"
Theo was the master of pauses. He didn't seem to mind that a gigantic silence spread out, hovering in the middle of the conversation. He just sat there, thinking about an answer. "I wonder why we need that space to bury garbage," he finally said. "The town hasn't grown very much."
Mrs. Peters gave us a big smile. "Looks like you've already figured out why this is an interesting issue." She wrote our names and the topic on her chart. 
After school Carrie and Victoria left the building together, giggling as if they had known each other forever, just like a pair of turkey hens." (p. 62-3)

A Scene that Confuses and A Scene When the Character Faces Choices. Wren is at recess with Carrie and Victoria, the two girls who she hopes will like her. Wren has been doing Carrie's math homework in an attempt to win her friendship. Victoria is reading through a quiz in Miss Magazine that determines if you're compatible with a friend. Victoria asks, 

"If you had to spend a week on a deserted island and could only take three things what would you take?"
"That's easy," Carrie said. "I'd take my gel pens, my journal, my pink sweater."
"I'd take my photo album, my favorite quilt, and my pink jacket," Victoria said.
If I had to spend a week on a deserted island, I would take matches so I could make a fire. I'd take my binoculars to observe birds or watch for a boat to come. I'd also need a pocket knife. But I knew I couldn't say what I really thought.
"I would take..." I began slowly.
But Victoria was already reading the next question.  She looked at me, and when I didn't finish my sentence she said, "Okay you can come back to that one." Then she read the last question: "What is your favorite hobby?"
Carrie spit out her answer. "Playing tennis."
Victoria nodded eagerly. "Mine is playing tennis too!"
They both looked at me. "What's yours?"
I didn't want them to roll their eyes when I said I liked watching birds. Maybe I should tell them I liked to read. That was also true and much safer. But before I could give an answer, the bell rang, and I was glad we had to go back to class. It was easier to avoid answering than to be true to myself. (p. 72-3)

A Scene that Confronts. Wren and Theo decide to collect signatures to petition the town to preserve Pete's Pond. At lunch Carrie confronts her,

"I heard you're exhibiting your bird photos at the library and collecting signatures for a petition against my dad's landfill."
"We're just collecting signatures," I said. "It's not a big deal." I was thinking about Ma and didn't have any patience for Carrie's hysterics.
"I can't believe you're doing this to me," she said. "Making my dad out to be some evil destroyer of nature." 
"I'm not doing anything to you." I looked at her and added. Not everything is about you." (p. 140-1)

A Scene that Shows Strength or Courage. (this is continued from the previous scene)

Carrie inhaled sharply and glared at me. "You probably just want to hurt my dad because you don't have one."
Suddenly the kids at the tables near grew quiet. Everyone was watching.
I didn't know how Carrie had found out about my dad. I was mad at her for saying that, and at the same time, I was scared to what I felt the need to do next.
Then I heard Dad's words again: You are braver than you think you are.
I slowly got up, not saying a word. But before I left, I paused and looked down at Carrie. My voice was calm when I said, "I don't think I want to have anything to do with you anymore." (p. 141)

A Scene that Resolves. Wren's mother tells her daughter that after her husband died, she discovered that he was having an affair and this was why she has refused to talk about him. Wren is shocked, denies it, and decides to take a bus to Chicago to confront his girlfriend. Her mother finds Wren walking along a road holding a dead dog she wants to return to its owner. 

"Oh, baby," Ma said. "I'm so glad I found you."
"I was going to Chicago," I said. "I wanted to talk to that woman. I don't believe what you said about her. I don't want to think of Dad having done something like that. I just don't want to." Suddenly there wasn't enough space inside my chest and I could only take small breaths. "And now... now I have to tell these people that their dog died. But I can't do it. I can't. It's too sad."
"You don't have to go to Chicago," Ma said, holding my shoulders. "And I'll go with you to meet Corey's owner."
[Wren asks her mother why she hadn't told her about the affair and hears her mother's explanation.]
..."Oh, Wren, I've made so many mistakes. I hope you can forgive me."
I was startled for a moment. No one had ever asked me for forgiveness. I looked up at her. "Of course I'll forgive you. But it's still so hard to believe that Dad did this. I don't how to...how to..."
"I know, Ma said. "It means we have to forgive him for what he did and mourn him. I don't know how to do that by myself either. But maybe we can do it together."
I fell into her arms, and Ma held me tight as I buried myself in her jacket. I could feel her lips on my hair. We stayed like that for a while, and I felt good and warm.
When I looked up at her, Ma gently pushed a strand of hair from my forehead. "Come on, baby. We'll bring Cory home." (p. 211-213)

Although this isn't the end, you can see how the MDQ has been raised and answered. 

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For a chance to win my ARC, please leave me a comment by October 13. If I don't have your email address, please make sure you include it. 

Come back next week when Monika will share some of the backstory of BE LIGHT LIKE A BIRD and you'll have a chance to win an autographed copy. 

This review originally appeared on litchat.com.