Funny How Things Change

Funny How Things Change by Melissa Wyatt, Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2009, 208 pp, ISBN: 0374302332

Recap:
Remy Walker has grown up deep in the valleys of the Appalachian mountains. He never planned on leaving, but with only a few short months until his girlfriend Lisa leaves for college in Pennsylvania, he starts having second thoughts.


Some things are worth leaving home for, and isn't true love one of those things? One thing is for sure, by the end of this summer, Remy will have to make a decision that he won't be able to turn back from.

Review:
Funny How Things Change by Melissa Wyatt is my second-to-last on the list of 2010-2011 Black Eyed Susan books! Since the 2011-2012 list has already been released, I figured I'd better step up my reading game.


Honestly, after reading I was a little surprised that it had made the list. Don't get me wrong! It was certainly an enjoyable read, but seemed to have little in common with the other - often more well known - books on the list. 


Remy's story is a slim little gem of a character study. Having grown up with his father on Walker Mountain, Remy is as comfortable walking the highways of West Virginia as he is under the hood of a car. With little concern for material possessions, Lisa is the first "thing" that Remy can't stand to lose - even if following her to Pennsylvania means giving up the only life he's ever known. But as the title suggests, Remy learns that nothing can stay the same forever, but sometimes it's funny how things change.


Every character in Wyatt's novel was real enough to step off of the page. I can see Duff in his garage, or Dana with her freckled legs dangling from the water tower, just as clearly as if I were looking at a photograph. At only 208 pages, there was no room for excess or unnecessary drama. Remy's summer unfolded naturally, with an easy pacing that held my attention for the course of one perfectly lazy afternoon.

Recommendation:
I would recommend Funny How Things Change to readers who appreciate carefully crafted characters, who wrestle with the pull between the familiar and the future, and to those who value a wholly realistic love story. High school and up!

Challah! Your Mouth Will Thank You.

It had been a while since I'd read a book that I just couldn't stop talking about. Eishes Chayil's Hush was one of those books. An absolutely remarkable read. Have I piqued your curiosity? I hope so... go read Hush!

But first, take a moment (ok, many several moments) and treat yourself to the indescribable deliciousness that is Challah bread. Gittel's family makes Challah in Hush, and my own family made it fairly often while I was growing up. I can still vividly remember taking two golden loaves out of the oven, and gobbling it down right there. My mom, sister, and I all gathered around the counter, no longer thinking about dinner, because all we wanted was the bread (and lots of butter)! YUM.

Here's how you can bake your own:
- 2 tbsp yeast
- 1 1/4 cups hot water (to dissolve the yeast)
- 2 cups flour
- 1 1/4 cups oil
- 3 eggs
- Mix all of the above ingredients together, and then add 5-6 more cups of flour, 1 cup at a time
- Let the dough rise in the bowl for one hour, covered with a dish towel
- Punch the dough down, then divide into 2 separate parts
- From each part, create 3 long "ropes," then braid the ropes into a nice thick braid
- Put both braids onto a greased cookie sheet, then cover again with a towel and let them rise for another hour
- Bake in the oven at 325 for 25-35 minutes
- Throughout the baking time, brush an egg wash mixture over the top so that it has that "glossy" finish
- Now comes the best part... pop it out of the oven, coat with butter, take a bite, fall in love.

Image from here. Recipe from my mom :)

CHAOS WALKING PREQUEL!!!

OH HAPPY DAY!! I may just be the last person in the world to know about this, but I just discovered that there is a prequel to the Chaos Walking trilogy by Patrick Ness - all around genius and master of words! And not only that... The New World is available for FREE on Amazon!

I have been reading a great variety of books lately, but I always find myself mentally lamenting the fact that there's just nothing and no one even comparable to Todd, Viola, Manchee, and the Mayor. Imagine my ABSOLUTE DELIGHT when I learned about The New World today. Thank you, thank you to Super Librarian for bringing it to my attention! And now if you'll excuse me, I need start reading...

Hush

Hush by Eishes Chayil, Walker Books for Young Readers, 2010, 368 pp, ISBN: 0802720887

Recap:
Gittel saw her best friend Devory being raped when they were both only 9 years old. But because Gittel, a Chassidic Jew, had been raised in such a sheltered world, she truly could not understand what she was seeing. Devory tried everything she could to cry for help - just short of revealing the whole truth about the nightmare her life had become - but no one was willing to listen. When Devory simply could not take the abuse any longer, she used Gittel's purple jump rope to hang herself in the shower.


Bound by her ultra-Orthodox community's code of loyalty, Gittel was forced to stay silent about the truth behind Devory's suicide. Now, years later, Gittel is haunted by visions of her childhood best friend. Will she ever find the courage to try and make things right?

Review:
I honestly am not sure that I can do this book justice. Hush is an absolutely remarkable piece of literature. As I worked my way through Gittel and Devory's story, I found myself constantly thinking about the two girls and their way of life that was so drastically different from my own. Initially, I felt sure that the lifestyle Gittel described had to be pure fiction. In 2008 could there really be a whole community of New Yorkers who don't watch TV or touch electricity on Sundays? A community where arranged marriages are still the rule and no one is allowed to know about sex until they are engaged? A community where faith is so valued that all wives are full-time working mothers so that their husbands can be full-time scholars of the Torah? It all sounded so foreign, and yet that world is alive and thriving in America today.


It literally broke my heart to read about Devory's desperation. Yes, she is a fictional character, but in real life there are so many others like her - children who are sexually abused by family members and close friends, and who are unable to tell the truth about their situation. Through it all, I pitied Gittel. She could not be blamed for her naivety, and had spent her entire life being conditioned to value her community above all else. She knew that she should tell the truth, but in doing so she stood the risk of losing everything.


Because of Hush, I cannot stop thinking about some of my own students. How many children do you know whom adults describe as "crazy" or "out of control?" That was how Devory's parents and teachers referred to her. She was "wild," a "bad influence." Now the faces of those real-life students are on a permanent scroll in my mind. What is truly causing them to behave that way? Why are they trying so desperately to get our attention?


Lately there has been so much talk about the darkness in YA literature. Hush was a remarkably powerful reminder that when we are a witness to darkness, we must do everything we can to shed light. There is no excuse for silence or secrecy. 


In the Authors Notes, author Eishes Chayil writes,

"We didn't need the outside world. We had our own. We published our own newspapers, wrote our own literature, and put on our own plays - separate for men and women of course. We attended Orthodox Chassidic schools, spoke Yiddish first and English second, covered ourselves with modest clothing, and never ever talked or played with anyone but our own kind. We built walls and built them high. The walls would keep the gentiles and their terrifying world far away. The walls would protect us and shelter us - and as we built them higher, thicker, wider, we forgot to look inside. We forgot that the greatest enemies always grow from within."

Eishes Chayil is a pen name that means "Woman of Valor" in Yiddish. I am thankful to Chayil for choosing to be a woman of valor who looks within, who speaks the truth, who sheds light. I know she will help others to do the same.

Recommendation:
Right now, I want to recommend Hush to everyone I see. I literally cannot stop talking about it. I believe that Hush will require a certain level of maturity from its readers, and based on some adult content, I would recommend it for high school age readers and up.

Quotable Quotes:
In spite of the serious content, there were actually quite a few humorous passages in Hush. Striking a perfect balance between levity and truth, Gittel was a thoroughly enjoyable narrator.

"Devory and I strongly disagreed about adults. She thought it was fun being a grown-up; I said it was exhausting. Adults had to smile all the time. From the moment they walked out of the kitchen, no self-respecting adult dared not to smile... When they wanted to cry, they smiled. When they wanted to be alone, they smiled... They all smiled and shook hands and asked each other how they were doing, and then walked away and cried, and frowned, and were angry... I always knew how lucky I was that Hashem made me a child."

"I grabbed the candy and stared at it. A candy from a priest. It could only be poison. In the stories, the evil priest always gave poison to the Jewish children who wouldn't convert. I held up the candy and peered into it suspiciously. It looked good."

"'How dare you go against the Rabbonim?' Surie screamed at me. 'How can you do this to them? That is not the way an Eishes Chayil acts. A Woman of Valor does things quietly - at least anonymously...' and she slammed down the phone. 

Yankel comforted me. 'You are the Eishes Chayil,' he said. 'You are the real one. You are the only one protecting the children, and that is what a real mother does.'"

Tyger, Tyger

Tyger, Tyger: A Goblin Wars Book by Kersten Hamilton, Clarion Books, 2010, 320 pp, ISBN: 0547330081

Recap:

Teagan is sure she's just a typical teenage girl; maybe a little more focused on her studies than most, but there's nothing wrong with that. Right? Teagan is especially close to her family: her music-minded little brother, her father who loves to tell the stories of their Irish heritage, and her artistic mother who makes a living painting illustrations of goblins. 


Finn Mac Cumhaill is the first boy who has ever made Teagan question her no-relationship-rule. Of course, Finn is no ordinary boy. His introduction into Tea's life opens up a whole new world that she thought could exist only in fairy tales. It turns out, all of her father's stories are true, and the subjects of her mother's paintings all exist in real life.

Review:
I've wanted to read Kersten Hamilton's Tyger, Tyger ever since reading Amelia's review at Imagination in Focus. It even made her Top 3 of 2010! I've never been a huge fan of books with fairies and goblins, but after such rave reviews, I wanted to give it a shot.


Tyger, Tyger was unique in the fact that it was based largely on Celtic folklore. I liked the idea that so many stories of the past were being brought back to the present through YA literature. Can it be considered a less traditional type of fairy tale re-telling?


Perhaps it was because I had read Fat Cat so recently, but Teagan's work at the zoo reminded me of Cat and Matt's scientific pursuits. Ultimately, I wished that Teagan were a little more like Cat. Granted, Teagan's story was a fantasy and Cat's was realistic fiction, but looking at the two characters on their own, Cat just felt more well-rounded and real to me.


Romance was a huge part of this story. ***Mini-Spoiler*** Evidently, Tea and Finn were destined to be each other's true love. Well, ok. I actually do believe in destiny and love at first site. And I think this love story was supposed to be a part of the Irish folklore that all of the other fantastical characters sprang out of. But was I really convinced that this was a love for all eternity? Um, no... It just didn't seem to be based on anything but physical attraction and fact that it was "meant to be." But maybe the love story will grow on me in book #2?

Recommendation:
All things considered, I'm probably not the best Tyger, Tyger judge because this just isn't one of my favorite genres. If you're a reader who loves fairies and goblins and all of those other fantasy friends, you will probably love Tyger, Tyger. I would recommend it for middle school and up!

And I Thought I Wouldn't Use Math Again...

With regard to the recent outcry over a certain WSJ article, here is a response that I think sums things up quite nicely:

Image from here!

Split

Split by Swati Avasthi, Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2010, 288 pp, ISBN: 0375863400

Recap:

Jace knows all the rules of Fightology. Rules like, "#5: Anger comes in all forms... You think you've forgiven, and you've doused it with trust, but give it a sudden burst of oxygen and - backdraft."

Growing up with a father who beat his mother, and then his brother, and then him after his brother escaped, Jace has faced more than his fair share of backdrafts. But even once Jace finds a way to escape, he quickly learns that the fire from a fight can be almost impossible to put out - especially when it's inside you.

Review:

You need to read this book! I'm having a hard time remembering the last book that had me so completely engrossed from the very first page. Swati Avasthi's debut novel, Split, is a grippingly real story of domestic violence, and the extreme lengths people will go to in order to protect their families. Prior to writing Split, Avasthi spent time working in a domestic violence legal clinic. The experiences and insights she gained there clearly played a large role in the creation of this novel. 

Each character was multi-faceted and distinct. Jace, the primary voice in this story, fights every day to beat down the many similarities he shares with his father. From their physical appearance to their violent tempers, Jace is his father's son whether he likes it or not. His older brother Christian has spent years building a new, completely separate life. When Jace shows up on his doorstep, at an address he thought no one knew, Christian can't help but be scared of his past catching up with him. 

Split is a story about being rescued - two boys trying to rescue their abused mother, trying to rescue each other, trying to rescue themselves. The ending proves that real life is never the same as it is in fairy tales; not everyone can have a happy ending. In the end, all we can do is forgive ourselves and love the people around us just as much as they'll allow.

Recommendation:

I am recommending Split to everyone, starting in 8th grade and up. This book has something for every reader: drama and realism, regrets and heartache, romance and redemption. I just can't say enough good things about it!