The Wednesday Wars: Review Haiku

It's got "award bait"
written all over it, folks.
P.S. Yankees suck.

The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt. Clarion, 2007, 264 pages.

A Wrinkle in Time: Review Haiku

Never have I felt
so smart, so dumb, so Christian
all at the same time.

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle. FSG, 1962, 212 pages.

Listened to on a Playaway device.

#19 on The LIST.

My Mother the Cheerleader: Review Haiku

Limited portrait
of integration-era
New Orleans. Tough stuff.

My Mother the Cheerleader by Robert Sharenow. Harper, 2007, 304 pages.

Slogging through The Iliad

Boys and swords, angry gods, women as chattel, Greek Guy #1 led the army of Greek Place #24, featuring the noble warriors Greek Guy #96 son of Greek Guy #126 . . .

Egad. Hera, give me strength.

First Daughter: Extreme American Makeover: Review Haiku

The way politics
should be. But I have to ask:
is she too perfect?

First Daughter: Extreme American Makeover by Mitali Perkins. Dutton, 2007, 192 pages.

Hatchet: Review Haiku

Brian demonstrates
survival of the fittest.
(I won't even camp.)

Hatchet by Gary Paulsen. 189 pages.

# 18 on The LIST.

Love Is a Many-Trousered Thing: Review Haiku

Snogosity is
getting old; still, "the cakeshop
of love" is brilliant.

Love Is a Many-Trousered Thing by Louise Rennison. Harper, 2007, 288 pages.

Middle School Is Worse than Meatloaf: Review Haiku

A tour-de-force of
ethnographic research! (A
nightmare to proofread.)

Middle School Is Worse than Meatloaf: A Year Told Through Stuff by Jennifer L. Holm. Atheneum/Ginee Seo, 2007, 126 pages.

Evil Genius: Review Haiku

Expected hijinks,
X-Men style; got a darker,
sadder book instead.

Evil Genius by Catherine Jinks. Harcourt, 2007, 496 pages.

The Elements of Style: Review Haiku

Strict, graceful, fussy:
Classic primer states the rules.
I've broken them all.

The Elements of Style (Illustrated) by William Strunk, Jr., and E.B. White, illustrated by Maira Kalman. Penguin, 2005, 145 pages.

Madame Bovary: Review Haiku

Oh, good God, woman,
just go get a vibrator.
Useless bourgeoisie.

Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert. Modern Library, 1957 (orig. 1857), 400 pages.

#17 on The LIST.

Vacation roundup

Six books, 1500 pages*, one new tooth (him), and approximately 743 jumps off the diving board (her). Good times.

*Woulda been seven and 1900 if I could finish Madame Friggin' Bovary . . .

Wringer: Review Haiku

To be a wringer!
Palmer can't imagine worse.
He'd rather be Bert.

Wringer by Jerry Spinelli. Harper, 1997, 229 pages.

#16 on The LIST.

The Secrets of Peaches: Review Haiku

Ah, summer chick lit:

Traveling Pants without pants.

Peachy nothingness.

The Secrets of Peaches by Jodi Lynn Anderson. Harper/Alloy, 2007, 297 pages.

Fahrenheit 451: Review Haiku

In nightmare future,
"Burn, baby, burn" is the law.
Montag fights the fire.

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. S&S, 1951, 190 pages.

#15 on The LIST.

The Rising Star of Rusty Nail: Review Haiku

Fortiss-iss-imo!
Franny and Commie in a
three-part invention.

The Rising Star of Rusty Nail by Lesley M. M. Blume. Knopf, 2007, 270 pages.

On the Road: Review Haiku

They gave these aimless,

jobless, shiftless, drunk junkies
drivers' licenses?

On the Road by Jack Kerouac. Viking, 1957, 293 pages.

#14 on The LIST.

I Am the Cheese: Review Haiku

Cormier, master
of intrigue: gives new meaning
to, "Cheese it! The Feds!"

I Am the Cheese by Robert Cormier. Dell, 1977, 221 pages.

#13 on The LIST.