Book of a Thousand Days, by Shannon Hale

This is the empowering story of Dashti, mucker-turned-ladies' maid, who agrees to be locked in a tower with her mistress for seven years. She is mentally, emotionally, spiritually, physically, and morally strong, and is a great example for youth readers.

"I held her and sang to her and let our dinner burn on the fire..." I'm too practical for that, because my mother was. But there are a lot of women in this world whom I admire who would let dinner burn before leaving a grieving daughter to tend to the dinner.

Dashti has a cat for awhile, and one night is writing with him on her lap. She says "His purring shakes my lap but steadies my hand."

This is not a spoiler because it says on the title page that the book includes the tale of their adventure after the tower. She has been locked up with no windows for so long - Dashti gets out on a clear night and says "I was under the stars, like a fish is under water." Surrounded and swimming in the beauty of the sky.

"I can't say which is more terrible, to be locked away from everyone or to be free in a world where all are dead. Both are different shades of darkness."

"I didn't know when Shria would appear, so I stayed startled and alert all day. It reminded me of summers as a child before my brothers left, when your family set up our gher [house] in the summer pastures and there were loads of children around. The Hunt, we'd play, some of us being animals hiding in the tall grass, the others searching us out with small bows and blunt arrows. How my heart would pound! I waited, crouched, prayed to Carthen, goddess of strength, and wanted to cry for the thrill oand the terror. That's how I felt today."

"Windows are the eyes of the Ancestors. Windows are better than food!"

"These past days, it seems I could scarcely draw breath for feeling so gray, and then today . . . well, the change makes me think about the sky over the steppes, cloudy one moment and Eternal Blu Sky the next. There's never a day that we don't see some blue sky. That's the way with a mucker's emotions, too. My mama used to say, "Are you sad? Then just wait a minute.""

"There's nothing more aggravating in the world than the midnight sniffling of the person you've decided to hate."

(Spoiler alert:) "Giving [the cat] to Saren was the hardest thing I've ever done. And I felt emptied, a well dug out of my chest, and as pathetic as a three-legged cricket. But, strangely, as I rolled over to find sleep again, I realized that I didn't hate her anymore."

Reached, by Ally Condie

As always, Condie focuses on the power of art and the written word:

"This poem is between the two of us, but also for others… It strikes me that this is how writing anything is, really, A collaboration between you who give the words and they who take them and find meaning in them, or put music behind them, or turn them aside because they were not what was needed."

This was a good continuation of the other novels in the series and wrapped the story up well. I appreciated the plot twists. I loved the power that her grandfather had, even through death, to reach her and help her come into her own. What a blessing our ancestors can be to us.

The One and Only Ivan, by Katherine Applegate

This is a beautiful story told from Ivan's point of view - a gorilla stuck in a roadside arcade. The themes of love, loss, persistence, optimism, and survival are present throughout, as well as thought provoking scenes discussing the benefits and drawbacks of deceiving oneself.

I enjoyed this discussion of anger:

"The freeway billboard has a drawing of Mack in his clown clothes and Stella on her hind legs and an angry animal with fierce eyes and unkempt hair.

"That animal is supposed to be me, but the artist made a mistake. I am never angry.

"Anger is precious. A silverback uses anger to maintain order and warn his troop of danger. When my father beat his chest, it was to say, Beware, listen, I am in charge. I am angry to protect you, because that is what I was born to do.

"Here in my domain, there is no one to protect."

While this book is short and written simply, I found it incredibly thought provoking.

Hat Full of Sky, by Terry Pratchett

I love-love-loved the prequel to this one - The Wee Free Men. This novel didn't have quite as compelling a plot, the the symbolism was still very powerful. I highly recommend reading this article before starting the book - the symbol of bees is pervasive and meaningful in the telling of Hat Full of Sky.

River Secrets and Forest Born, by Shannon Hale

  

I loved that River Secrets is written from a male's point of view. There is not enough good literature for young men out there. Razo seems to have a good head on his shoulders and learns many valuable lessons in the course of the story, despite his not being in possession of one of the amazing gifts that grace Shannon Hale's world of Bayern. A girl does straddle him with no good intentions, but he is uncomfortable and works his way through the situation.

Razo's sister, Rin, narrates Forest Born. The book is not what I expected. The gift works differently than anyone expects and creates a more beautiful balance in Rin's life than any of the other gift-bearers will be able to enjoy.

At one point some women are traveling without many supplies and they enter a house with fresh-baked bread. "That was the smell of home, and her ma, and the warm cottage when rainstorms seethed outside. It was a hard, hard thing to lose a home full of bread and Ma."

Later Rin and Razo have a tough decision to make, and Rin decided "She would risk herself. It was her gift to give." That is a beautiful statement of selflessness and is very characteristic of the woman Rin is becoming.

One of Razo's comments also struck me: "I'm not the smartest boy, I know that. Maybe that's not such a bad thing--smarts seem like a load of fancy clothes that you have to wear all the time, and they're heavy and rip easily even though you're supposed to keep them clean. A hassle, that's what that is." There are different kinds of 'smart' and Razo has his own, as he proves in the following sentences, but the idea that smart people feel they have to 'put on' for others is an interesting one to ponder. If you are smart there are things you can draw from that, and if you feel you are not, there is also a valuable lesson in that.

I felt that Forest Born was not quite as well written - there were a couple cheesy moments and a few crossed facts, but the core knowledge that Rin gains through the events in the book are a powerful and long accepted truth that will better any young adult who reads about it.

Spoiler alert: Rin learns that the trees act like a mirror, reflecting herself to her. When something ugly is in her soul or has marred her actions, she cannot find peace in the trees because she does not have peace within herself. She learns that she must repent to find peace again. This is important is a complex and powerful way. Where much is given, much is required.

A Girl of the Limberlost, by Gene Stratton-Porter

The sheer amount of emotion involved in this book was really incredible to me, and so enjoyable! It covers five years of Elnora Comstock's life and takes her through some incredibly challenging and joyful events in her life, not the least of which were high school and a courtship. Her honor and strength are beautiful. She comes to town from the Limberlost, a forest of great trees, swamps, and valuable moths.

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     "S'pose we'd taken Elnora when she was a baby, and we'd heaped on her all the love we can't on our own, and we'd coddled, petted, and shielded her, whould she have made the woman that living alone, learning to think for herself, and taking all the knocks Kate Comstock could give, have made of her?"

     "You bet your life!" cried Wesley warmly. "Loving anybody don't hurt them. We wouldn't have done anything but love her. You can't hurt a child loving it. She'd have learned to work, to study, and grown into a woman with us, without suffering like a poor homeless dog."

      "But you don't see the point, Wesley. She would have grown into a fine woman with us; but as we would have raise her, would her heart ever have known the world as it does now? Where's the anguish, Wesley, that child can't comprehend? Seeing what she's seen of her mother hasn't hardened her. She can understand any mother's sorrow. Living life from the rough side has only broadened her. Where's the girl or boy burning with shame, or struggling to find a way, that will cross Elnora's path and not get a lift from her? She's had the knocks, but there'll never be any of the thing you call 'false pride' in her. I guess we better keep out. Maybe Kate Comstock knows what she's doing. Sure as you live, Elnora has grown bigger on knocks than she would on love." (p51)

Now some of that is good sense to me, but some of it is baloney. Allowing children to see and feel adversity and understand the world is important. But it doesn't have to come with unrighteous dominion or neglect. Loving anybody doesn't hurt them, but shielding and coddling can.

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     "I am almost sorry I have these [new] clothes," she said to Ellen.

     "In the name of sense, why?" cried the astonished girl.

     "Everyone is so nice to me in them, it sets me to wondering if in time I could have made them be equally friendly in the others."

     Ellen looked at her introspectively. "I believe you could," she announced at last. "But it would have taken time and heartache, and your mind would have been less free to work on your studies. No one is happy without friends." (p77)

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Here are the grosbeaks of which Elnora is speaking in this letter she dictates to Philip's fiance:

     "I am writing this," she began, "in an old grape arbor in the country, near a log cabin where I had my dinner. From where I sit I can see directly into the home of the next-door neighbor on the west. His name is R.B. Grosbeak. From all I have seen of him, he is a gentleman of the old school; the oldest school there is, no doubt. He always wears a black suit and cap and a white vest, decorated with one large read heart, which I think must be the emblem of some ancient order. I have been here a number of time, and I never have seen him wear anything else, or his wife appear in other than a brown dress with touches of white.

     "It has appealed to me at times that she was a shade neglectful of her home duties, but he does not seem to feel that way. He cheerfully stays in the sitting-room, while she is away having a good time, and sings while he cares for the four small children... I just had an encounter with him at the west fence, and induced him to carry a small gift to his children. When I see the perfect harmony in which he lives, and the depth of content he and the brown lady find in life, I am almost persuaded to buy a nice little home in the country, and settle down there for life." (p214)

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Elnora's father was a violinist and she found his violin through a neighbor in the first year of high school. She divided her practice time so that half was dedicated to playing the sounds of nature. She was a great proficient at the master's pieces, but the following description is of how she played nature after just three or four years of practice. This scene takes places in a forest "room" with trees for walls and violets as carpet. (p141, 220-221)

     Elnora lifted the violin and began to play. She wore a school dress of green gingham, with the sleeves rolled to the elbows. She seemed a part of the setting all around her. Her head shone like a small dark sun, and her face never had seemed so rose-flushed and fair. ... Elnora played the song of the Limberlost. It seemed as if the swamp hushed all its other voices and spoke only through her dancing bow. ... She played as only a peculiar chain of circumstances puts it in the power of a very few to play. All nature had grown still, the violin sobbed, sang, danced and quavered on alone, no voice in particular; the soul of the melody of all nature combined in one great outpouring.
     ...When the last note fell and the girl laid the violin in the case... she came to him. Philip stood looking at her curiously...
     "With some people it makes a regular battlefield of the human heart--this struggle for self-expression," said Philip. "You are going to do beautiful work in the world, and do it well. When I realize that your violin belonged to your father, that he played it before you were born, and it no doubt affected you mother strongly, and then couple with that the years you have roamed these fields and swamps finding in nature all you had to lavish your heart upon, I can see how you have evolved. I understand what you mean by self-expression. I  know something of what you have to express. The world never so wanted your message as it does now. It is hungry for the things you know. I can see easily how your position came to you. What you have to give is taught in no college, and I am not sure but you would spoil yourself if you tried to run your mind through a set groove with hundreds of others. I never thought I should say such a thing to anyone, but I do say to you, and I honestly believe it; give up the college idea. Your mind does not need that sort of development. Stick close to your work in the woods. You are becoming so infinitely greater on it, than the best college girl I ever knew, that there is no comparison. When you have money to spend, take that violin and go to one of the world's great masters and let the Limberlost sing to him; if he thinks he can improve it, very well. I have my doubts."

Matched and Crossed, by Ally Condie

     

I finished Matched feeling as if it were a cross of the Hunger Games and 1984, with a little of Brave New World mixed in, but not as compelling as any of them. I think part of the reason I didn’t enjoy this book as much was because I chose one guy for the main character, and she picked another. I kept waiting for Cassia to come around and get it, but in the end, I had to come around. It wasn’t a pleasant experience for me.

The pacing didn’t particularly suit me, but the story line was interesting. The way the society uses the things people love to break their citizens was cruel. (For example, Cassia’s father loves books, but his job is to destroy any from the old society that are found.) Ally Condie conveys her love of poetry, art, and the written word throughout the novel. The way this society suppresses the written word (and thus elevates its importance in our eyes) is food for thought.

The three pills (green for calming, blue for nutritional sustenance, and red for only-the-society-knows-what) don’t add up – I thought the author hadn’t thought those through completely. Not so, but you have to read the other books. 

That I didn’t find much compelling in this book made it a loss for me.

I wanted to give the series a second chance because there were so many good reviews of the second novel, Crossed. I really enjoyed it – I found many philosophical questions that drove me to deeper thinking and that will make for good discussion with others who have read the book or enjoy dystopian discussions: the pros and cons of believing or not believing in the power of resistance. The choice between trying to change everything or just making the most of whatever time we have. The question “Is it worth it… to have no choice but to [get incredible, life-changing benefits]?” The problems that come with allowing those we love to make choices for themselves. And then the ultimate choice for Cassia: being able to do the things she always thought she would, or being able to do things she never thought she could.

I’m looking forward to the third novel in the series, which is slated to come out in November.

Goose Girl and Enna Burning, by Shannon Hale

What fun! The tragic story of the betrayed goose girl is retold in fabulous fashion by Hale. Added to the mix are beautiful reminders of what nature is and how closely it is tied to us. Wind is the element of note in this novel. Love, friendship, fate, deceit, honor, and the eventual triumph of truth are all present. Ani is the princess/goose girl, and one of her worker-friends, Enna, is the subject of the next book.

Enna Burning is a much more dramatic book by nature of the fire that pervades the tale, as contrasted with the wind in Goose Girl. The cleverness of the problems faced and solutions to solve age-old (if virtually unknown) problems are intriguing for those who like a puzzle.

The journey and incredible friendship of Ani and Enna are the stuff of lore and legend. The risks and sacrifices willingly undertaken are a testament to the blessing of friendship and the power it has to overcome adversity.

Artemis Fowl, by Eoin Colfer

What Fun! This 12 year old criminal mastermind had me in the dark almost as often as his bodyguard! Plenty of suspense, a secret Gnomish code, and eloquent (if abundant) foreshadowing. It was a great ride, and I plan to read the other books in the series.

Artemis learns much about himself as he goes through the novel, developing a sense of humor, allowing fairness and heart to lead the way, and sacrificing for those he cares about. He's not your typical criminal mastermind in that way, and I've heard his character continues to develop beautifully through the series.

Other main characters in the book also have valuable character traits - Holly the fairy/gnome/leprechaun and Butler the bodyguard. Holly has no qualms about disobeying policy if someone's life is at stake, no matter what race they are from. She is also creative in tight situations and effective in her duties. Butler is a huge man with brawn and brains, but he plays fair and loves his sister more than he loves himself.

Beautifully written and morally upright (all of Artemis's criminal activities are duly chastised). Highly recommended.