Problem Solving 101: Review Haiku

You could learn how to
use PrecisionTree software,
or just read this book.

Problem Solving 101: A Simple Book for Smart People by Ken Watanabe.

Ruby Lu, Brave and True: Review Haiku

Episodic gem
that makes me want to move to
Seattle. Great fun.

Ruby Lu, Brave and True by Lenore Look. Anne Schwartz, 2004, 105 pages.

Alchemy and Meggy Swann: Review Haiku

Toads and vipers! The
queen of hist. fic. goes
Elizabethan. Hail, Meg!

Alchemy and Meggy Swann by Karen Cushman. Clarion, 2010, 176 pages.

Hey! I'm at IRA!

Am heading out this morning for Chicago for the International Reading Association conference. If you're there, stop by the Charlesbridge booth and say hi!

One Crazy Summer: Review Haiku

Black Panthers for kids!
Not political - familial.
Crazy good.

One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia. Amistad, 2010, 218 pages.

Babymouse Burns Rubber: Review Haiku

Get your motor running . . .
head out on the highwaaaayyy . . .
Watch out for cupcakes.

Babymouse Burns Rubber by Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm. Random, 2010, 91 pages.

Babymouse: Dragonslayer: Review Haiku

The Quest for the Golden
Slide Rule: One cupcake to
rule them all! Geek WIN.

Babymouse: Dragonslayer by Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm. Random, 2009, 91 pages.

The Mysterious Howling: Review Haiku

Shelve it next to The
Penderwicks in my cache of
old-fashioned Awesome.

The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: The Mysterious Howling by Maryrose Wood. Balzer + Bray, 2010, 272 pages.

Happy Blogiversary to Me: Birthday Haiku

FOUR! How I wish
"Blogiversary" didn't sound
like "Blagojevich."


In my fourth year of blogging I wrote 164 entries (most of those = books read) and found a much saner blog/life balance by switching to posting only three days a week. I started paying attention to typos (21 books) and sloppy page design (13 entries; widows, I am looking at you). I abandoned The LIST, to my great relief (Tocqueville and Joyce, I hardly knew ye).

By the numbers (which don't all add up to the same total; so sue me)
Audience: Split fairly evenly among adult (46/30%), YA (48/31%), and middle-grade (59/39%).
Veracity: Much more fiction (106/73%) than nonfiction (40/27%).
Reaction: I loved several (33/22%), liked many (95/65%), was meh about a few (18/12%), and only hated one (1/1%).

Onward and upward. Er, onward, anyway.

SIX: Birthday Haiku

Every day she gets
more stubborn, more intractable . . .
just like her mom.

Happy birthday, Munchkin.

The Small Adventure of Popeye and Elvis: Review Haiku

A simple story
of two boys, a girl, and a
Holiday Rambler.

The Small Adventure of Popeye and Elvis by Barbara O'Connor. FSG, 2009, 149 pages.

Watch This Space: Review Haiku

Urban design for kids!
Great voice, no-nonsense --
SimCity in real life.

Watch This Space: Designing, Defending, and Sharing Public Spaces by Hadley Dyer and Marc Ngui. Kids Can, 2010, 80 pages.

Note: There is a truly, truly unfortunate typo on page 66. See if you can guess what it is, given the title.

Incarceron: Review Haiku

Maybe I'm having
dystopian overload,
but this? Just okay.

Incarceron by Catherine Fisher. Dial, 2010, 448 pages.

The Birthday Ball: Review Haiku

Nothing new under
the sun, but come on -- it's
Lowry and Feiffer. DUH.

The Birthday Ball by Lois Lowry, illustrated by Jules Feiffer. HMCo, 2010, 192 pages.