Middle-Grade Review: Bea Wolf

I was intrigued by the title and cover of middle-grade graphic novel Bea Wolf by Zach Weinersmith, illustrated by Boulet, and I absolutely loved this smart, clever, funny riff on the Old English classic Beowulf.

The graphic novel begins with a short history lesson, about a long succession of child kings (and queens), going back generations, ruling benevolently over the other kids in the suburban neighborhood, ensuring there was plenty of candy, toys, and fun for all:

"Listen to the lives of the long-ago kids, the world-fighters,
the parent-unminding kids, the improper, the politeness-proof,
the unbowed bully-crushers,
the bedtime-breakers, the raspberry-blowers,
fighters of fun-killers, fearing nothing, fated for fame."

We learn about each of these renowned child leaders, including the famed Carl, who eventually succumbed to teendom: "Lament not his low fate. Time lingers for no kid." Finally, we get to the current kid king, Roger:

"Kids who knew the crown-line of Carl flocked to their cause.
So that by the reign of Roger, so rich was the candy cache,
so much bully-gold was berthed, so well-betoyed were boy and girl,
that Roger, game-giver and toy-sharer,
turned his thoughts to treehouses."

Roger and the other kids build an amazing treehouse, which comes to be known as Treeheart and provides a place for raucous, unfettered, un-chaperoned kid fun. But Mr. Grindle watches all this unbridled chaotic joy from his yard:

"He would stride the starless dark, staring over hedge, stirring his temper,
harrowing his hearing, hating the gum-smacking, the blowing of bubbles,
the butt-jokes and belching laughter, the bursting of bang snaps,
the vast-volumed video games of no educational value whatsoever!"

Mr. Grindle, "the fun-grinder, the grim-faced joy-gobbler," won't stand for such unproductive, noisy activity, and he attacks Treeheart, with his cleaning supplies and educational materials. Things become sad and hopeless for the kids for a while, until Bea Wolf, a five-year-old cousin of Carl, who lives upriver in Heidi's domain, comes to save them.

I just had to include several quotes from this book because the text is so delightfully clever and fun! Every page is like that, as the author mimics the cadence, rhyming, and alliteration of the original Beowulf. I never read the epic poem myself (so you don't need to know it to appreciate this wonderful book), but I remembered my son studying it in Brit Lit, and I looked it up while reading this graphic novel to further enhance my enjoyment. I knew about Beowulf and Grindle, but Weinersmith also takes some other character names from the original, like King Hrothgar (Roger), as well as the general storyline. But the writing is only half of the fun here! The fabulous illustrations are just as enchanting, and I often took my time to reread the text and enjoy the pictures before turning the page.

When my sons were young, they would have loved this joyful, witty, ingenious book! I'm sure we would have read and reread it, as they said, "again!" and I can just see them poring over each detailed illustration intensely. This is the best kind of book for kids--the kind that adults will love, too.

208 pages, First Second

This book fits in the following 2023 Reading Challenges:

 

Diversity Reading Challenge
R.I.P. Challenge

 

Visit my YouTube Channel for more bookish fun!

 

You can buy the book through Bookshop.org, where your purchase will support the indie bookstore of your choice (or all indie bookstores)--the convenience of shopping online while still buying local!

    
  

Teen/YA Review: Solo

The award-winning YA novel Solo by Kwame Alexander with Mary Rand Hess was published in 2017, and I heard nothing but rave reviews of it. I did add it to my want-to-read list, but in spite of all the praise, I kept putting it off. I'd heard it was a novel in verse, and I'm not a big poetry fan usually. I did absolutely love Brown Girl Dreaming (a YA memoir in verse) by Jacqueline Woodson, but still, I kept putting off reading Solo. Then, I downloaded an audio version of the book from SYNC and recently found the time to listen to it. I was completely blown away by this powerful, unique, musical novel about a teen boy trying to find his place in the world in the shadow of his famous father. The audio book, in particular, was outstanding.

Blade seems to live a charmed life from the outside. His father, Rutherford Morrison, is a famous rock musician, so Blade lives with him and his sister, Storm, in a huge house, with a pool and every possible luxury. But Blade lost his mother when he was only eight years ago, and his father is an alcoholic and drug addict who is even more famous these days for the trouble he gets into than for his music. Blade wants nothing to do with his escapades, his wild lifestyle, or his long trail of broken promises. Blade has inherited his family's musical talent, but while Storm and Rutherford are into hard rock, he prefers quieter, softer music. The bright spot in Blade's life is his girlfriend, Chapel, but her preacher father won't let her see Blade. He fears he will be a bad influence on his daughter because of what he reads about Blade's dad in the media. Blade and Chapel have to sneak around to see each other. Blade is doing his best to hang on until the fall, when he will finally be able to leave home, and he and Chapel will be attending college together. That hope for a brighter future is blown apart, though, when Rutherford (once again) ruins one of the biggest moments in Blade's life, his relationship with Chapel is turned upside down, and he learns some shocking news about his family. Emotionally destroyed, Blade takes off on the journey of a lifetime, to find his place in the world.

As I mentioned, this is a novel in verse, so the print book (which I got out of the library partway through the audio) looks like a series of short poems on the pages. Once you get into the book, though, you realize that this unique book incorporates conversations, texting, songs, and more. Some of Blade's own songs that he's written, describing his feelings and experiences, are interspersed throughout the novel, as well as tracks from a mix CD that Storm made for Blade (some of the songs well-known and others more obscure). On audio, all of these elements come across as a cohesive whole story. In fact, I forgot at first that it was in verse. The story, narrated by the author, just sounded impactful and rhythmic, with emotional depth. Listen to the audio sample on this page to get an idea of the feeling and flow of the novel; it includes Blade's memories of when he and Chapel first met. The audio book won the Audie Award for Young Adult in 2018.

Audio was definitely the right way for me to experience this beautiful novel, given my inexperience with (and I'll admit, bias against) poetry. I could just allow myself to fall into the details of the story, not even realizing it was laid out in verse. Additionally, because music is such a huge part of the story (and of Blade's life), I loved being able to not only read the lyrics but actually hear Blade's own original songs, sung by Randy Preston on the audio. I was fully immersed in the story immediately and completely engrossed, anxious to pick it up again anytime I had to set it down. The novel itself had far more depth to it than I expected, with Blade's pain and desire for meaning palpable. I was sorry when it ended and it was time to leave Blade but so inspired that I began playing the songs from the mix CD tracks that are mentioned throughout the book. This is an amazing, moving story told in a unique and powerful way. Highly recommended, especially on audio (or do what I did and experience it both ways!).

464 pages, Blink

Note: This post contains affiliate links. Purchases from these links provide a small commission to me (pennies per purchase), to help offset the time I spend writing for this blog, at no extra cost to you.

Listen to a sampleof the audio book, read by the author, here and/or download it from Audible.

You can purchase Solo from an independent bookstore, either locally or online, here:

Or you can order Solo from Book Depository, with free shipping worldwide.

Fiction Review: Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead

When Book Cougars, one of my favorite podcasts, announced a February read-along of the novel, Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk (translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones), I thought it was a very odd--and sort of creepy--title! Then I found out that this little novel from Poland was short-listed for the International Booker Prize, long-listed for the National Book Award for Translated Fiction, and won the 2018 Nobel Prize in Literature. Impressive! This quirky, funny, thoughtful novel deserved all those accolades, and I am glad to have read it.

An older Polish woman named Janina (though she dislikes her name and anyone who calls her by it) lives in a remote rural area near the Czech border. She is an ex-civil engineer who used to build bridges and now teaches English to children and studies astrology. While her home is in a lovely area during the short summer, the winters there are fierce and lengthy, when Janina helps to caretake for the people who own summer homes there. One night, Janina's neighbor, Oddball (she often nicknames people rather than remembering their names), comes to her door to ask for her assistance; their other neighbor, Big Foot, is dead. As the only three people in the area during the winter, the two of them go to Big Foot's small cabin and find he has choked to death on a deer bone, with evidence of the deer he poached in the kitchen. Janina, a staunch vegetarian, is certain that the animals took revenge on the man who had killed so many of their brethren, though the police don't seem impressed by her theory once they arrive. Shortly afterward, another suspicious death occurs in the same area, and this time, the police determine that it was murder. As Janina consults the stars and spends time with her friends--including Dizzy, her former student who engages Janina in helping him translate William Blake's works--other deaths occur, and she continues to hound the police about her theory that the animals are taking revenge on the hunters in the area.

I know this sounds like an odd plot description ... and it is an odd sort of book but in a good way. It is unexpectedly funny--often in a way that had me reading passages aloud to my husband, like this one, with Janina musing about her quiet neighbor, Oddball:

"With age, many men come down with testosterone autism, the symptoms of which are a gradual decline in social intelligence and capacity for interpersonal communications, as well as a reduced ability to formulate thoughts. The Person beset by this Ailment becomes taciturn and appears to be lost in contemplation. He develops an interest in various Tools and machinery, and he's drawn to the Second World War and the biographies of famous people, mainly politicians and villains. His capacity to read novels almost entirely vanishes; testosterone autism disturbs the character's psychological understanding. I think Oddball was suffering from this Ailment."

We both laughed over this, since I often complain my husband barely speaks to me (though he does still love to read novels). The entire novel is peppered with passages that either made me laugh out loud or were insightful thoughts that made me nod my head in agreement, like:

"Once we have reached a certain age, it is hard to be reconciled to the fact that people are always going to be impatient with us."

In fact, the incredible cleverness and humor in this book make its translation seem even more amazing. I think it must be hard to translate humor and wordplay into a different language, but this translator has done a magnificent job, including passages from Blake that Janina and Dizzy translate  (the title itself is a line from Blake). Aside from the pure pleasure of reading the narrative and being privy to Janina's thoughts, it's an interesting and intriguing plot, a murder mystery set in a small community. Who is killing off the local hunters? Could Janina actually be right? The novel does make you stop and wonder. My book is filled with tabbed pages with quotes that I want to write down, and I thoroughly enjoyed both the mystery and spending time with quirky Janina and her friends.

274 pages, Riverhead Books

Note: This post contains affiliate links. Purchases from these links provide a small commission to me (pennies per purchase), to help offset the time I spend writing for this blog, at no extra cost to you.

Listen to a sample of the audio book, narrated by Beata Poizniak in a lovely Polish accent, here and/or download it from Audible.

You can purchase Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead from an independent bookstore, either locally or online, here:

Or you can order Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead from Book Depository, with free shipping worldwide.

Memoir Review: Brown Girl Dreaming

Although Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson recently won the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature and its publisher says it is for ages 10 and up, I chose not to categorize it that way in this review because it is a beautiful, lyrical memoir in verse that will be enjoyed by all ages, especially adults. Let me say up front that I am not normally a fan of poetry in any form, but this was one of the best books I’ve read (listened to) all year.

Brown Girl Dreaming is a memoir, told in short verses, of its author’s childhood, from birth through the start of adolescence, following her from Ohio to South Carolina to Brooklyn. Each titled poem highlights one particular aspect of Jacqueline’s life, and through these brief snapshots in time, a whole, colorful, compelling picture emerges. What makes this unique memoir even more interesting is the way that Woodson weaves details of what’s going on in the world into the verses, so that as we watch little Jackie grow up, we are also witnessing our country growing and maturing.

Here’s the start of the first verse, about her birth:

february 12, 1963

I am born on a Tuesday at University Hospital

Columbus, Ohio,

USA –

a country caught

between Black and White

I am born not long from the time

or far from the place

where

my great-great grandparents

worked the deep rich land

unfree

dawn till dusk

unpaid

drank cool water from scooped-out gourds

looked up and followed

the sky’s mirrored constellation

to freedom.

You can see just in that short example how Woodson can take an event as ordinary as the birth of a new baby against the backdrop of history and make it sound graceful and beautiful. As a writer myself, I was amazed by the way she told a complete story through such small and brief details. In fact, her writing inspired me to try the same sort of approach in my own personal essay writing. The story unfolds in this way, as we watch her grow from a tiny baby to an energetic little girl to a budding writer, with the details of the time and places highlighted along the way.

That first verse is a page and a half long. Others are just a few lines, like this one:

how to listen #1

Somewhere in my brain

each laugh, tear and lullaby

becomes memory.

I listened to this book on audio, read by the author, and was entranced by her lovely voice reading the details of her life in such a lyrical way. However, I was also eager to see the verses on the page, to see how they were laid out, and to copy down some beautiful quotes that I wanted to remember, so I also requested a hard copy from the library and pored over that as well. It is a quick read, but you will want to linger over it and savor every word (plus, there are some family photos in the back!).

Don’t miss this book. Its National Book Award was well deserved, and it’s on the top of my list of favorites from recent years. Brown Girl Dreaming is the unique and engaging story of both a girl and a nation, and I highly recommend both the audio version and the book itself. I can’t wait to read more of Jacqueline Woodson’s work.

320 pages, Nancy Paulsen Books (imprint of Penguin Group)

Listening Library

Video of Jacqueline Woodson accepting the National Book Award:

You can also listen to an audio excerpt at the Amazon link below:

 

Nonfiction Review: Sea Trails

I recently read and thoroughly enjoyed Sea Trails: Poems and 1977 Passage Notes by Pris Campbell, a unique book chronicling the author’s sailing trip down the east coast more than thirty years ago.  

Let me say upfront that I am not at all qualified to review a book of poetry.  I haven’t read much poetry since high school English classes and – if I’m completely honest – I often don’t really “get” poetry.  Despite this appalling lack of qualifications, I really enjoyed Pris’ book, which is a unique combination of original poetry, maps, photos, and excerpts from her ship’s log.

Like me, Pris has a disabling chronic illness called Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), and we’ve become friends in the virtual online world of blogs.  So that’s how someone who reads so little poetry ended up reading Sea Trails.  And I’m so glad I did.

Pris’ collection tells a story – maybe that’s why I liked this book so much when more abstract poetry has failed to reach me.  It’s the story of a dual journey – of both the physical sailing trip  from Massachusetts to Florida (made long before CFS changed her life) and of an emotional journey where she and her sailing partner/lover grew further apart as the trip progressed.  Her poems often reflect both of these passages:

Fog

The sky is a woman

suppressing her tears.

I think that woman is me.

She describes the details of her sailing trip and her emotional state through her poems, some longer and some short, like this one:

Courage

Courage is docking a small boat

with the current shoving your keel

one way, wind pushing your hull

the other and knowing Superman

isn’t going to show up to help you.

In between  poems, maps, pictures, and ship’s logs fill in the story.  I felt like I was along on the boat with her.  I’ve been sailing a few times with my mom and her husband, on the boat they keep in Stonington, CT, mainly to Watch Hill and Block Island in Rhode Island.  I loved the parts of the book where Pris traveled to these same places I’m familiar with, but the rest of her journey was just as fascinating to me, both in terms of the sailing trip and her personal relationship.

Sea Trails is beautifully written, with informative prose and imaginative poetry that even a non-poetic person like me can appreciate.  I felt like I was along for the ride, enjoying the excitement of the wind in the sails.

92 pages, Lummox Press