If you liked The Glass Castle, check out our new book: Half Broke Horses, the story of Jeannette Walls' maternal grandmother. Book Page magazine published a great interview with Walls here.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
The Shack
Although William Paul Young has written several pieces for family members and friends and given them away as gifts, The Shack is Young’s first published book. What’s most amazing is that this book topped the New York Times bestselling paperback fiction list in 2008!
When Mack and Nan’s youngest daughter Missy is kidnapped and murdered while the family is on a camping trip, he sinks into a depression he calls The Great Sadness. After several years of this depression, one wintry day Mack receives a single letter in his mailbox that asks him to return to the shack where Missy was murdered if he wants to talk. The letter is signed “Papa;” the problem is that “Papa” is Nan’s favorite name for God. Could this be some sort of sick joke, could Missy’s murderer be trying to lure Mack away from his family in order to murder them next, or could this letter truly be from God?
Relating to Mack comes naturally; although we may not have had daughters get murdered, many of us as humans have found ourselves stuck in a depression of some sort, whether it be because of the death of a grandfather or the illness of an aunt or the deterioration of a relationship.
–-MINI-SPOILER ALERT NEXT SENTENCE--
Though one may be taken aback at first upon discovering that God in The Shack is played by an African-American woman and the Holy Spirit is given the physical form of an Asian woman, the reader quickly adapts to these two and to Jesus and quickly connects to them and begins to love them.
-–END MINI-SPOILER ALERT--
The only complaint I have about the characters themselves is that Mack occasionally asks questions that are unrealistic (as in some of them were written simply to further the plot and state the point that Young wants to make; they do not always come naturally and realistically). Biblically speaking, The Shack does a good job of sticking to what is present in the scriptures most of the time; other times, the novel goes beyond what’s written to what could be suggested between the lines of scripture.
The novel is full of suspense and has the capability of intriguing a wide variety of audiences of any religious background, though I would recommend that any child reading this book be at least twelve or thirteen because of Missy’s implicit murder and because of the level of vocabulary.
Is there really a God who cares about Mack, or is he just the victim of cruel chance?
-Ashley, class of 2010
When Mack and Nan’s youngest daughter Missy is kidnapped and murdered while the family is on a camping trip, he sinks into a depression he calls The Great Sadness. After several years of this depression, one wintry day Mack receives a single letter in his mailbox that asks him to return to the shack where Missy was murdered if he wants to talk. The letter is signed “Papa;” the problem is that “Papa” is Nan’s favorite name for God. Could this be some sort of sick joke, could Missy’s murderer be trying to lure Mack away from his family in order to murder them next, or could this letter truly be from God?
Relating to Mack comes naturally; although we may not have had daughters get murdered, many of us as humans have found ourselves stuck in a depression of some sort, whether it be because of the death of a grandfather or the illness of an aunt or the deterioration of a relationship.
–-MINI-SPOILER ALERT NEXT SENTENCE--
Though one may be taken aback at first upon discovering that God in The Shack is played by an African-American woman and the Holy Spirit is given the physical form of an Asian woman, the reader quickly adapts to these two and to Jesus and quickly connects to them and begins to love them.
-–END MINI-SPOILER ALERT--
The only complaint I have about the characters themselves is that Mack occasionally asks questions that are unrealistic (as in some of them were written simply to further the plot and state the point that Young wants to make; they do not always come naturally and realistically). Biblically speaking, The Shack does a good job of sticking to what is present in the scriptures most of the time; other times, the novel goes beyond what’s written to what could be suggested between the lines of scripture.
The novel is full of suspense and has the capability of intriguing a wide variety of audiences of any religious background, though I would recommend that any child reading this book be at least twelve or thirteen because of Missy’s implicit murder and because of the level of vocabulary.
Is there really a God who cares about Mack, or is he just the victim of cruel chance?
-Ashley, class of 2010
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
LibraryThing's Top 10
This month's most popular books on LibraryThing. The top ten now:
The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown
Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger
Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
The Magicians by Lev Grossman
South of Broad by Pat Conroy
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan
The City & The City by China Mieville
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest by Stieg Larsson
The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown
Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger
Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
The Magicians by Lev Grossman
South of Broad by Pat Conroy
The Help by Kathryn Stockett
The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan
The City & The City by China Mieville
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest by Stieg Larsson
Monday, November 2, 2009
Amazon Teen Top 10 for 2009
Amazon has just released its Top 10 Books for Teens - see both the editors' picks and the most popular.
Ellen Hopkins at ISLMA
On Saturday at the ISLMA conference in Springfield, Ellen Hopkins (Crank, Impulse, Burned) accepted the Abraham Lincoln Illinois High School Book Award for her book Crank. She has a large following, as evidenced by the the 200+ messages she receives from fans each day, many of them thanking her for writing her books, and Crank specifically.
"I want kids reading my books; that's why I write," she stated. She most appreciates the readers' choice awards (although she would like a Printz someday).
Regarding challenges and censorship of her work, Ellen said, "I write hard subject matter because someone has to do it. I don't do it to be gratuitous. I don't do it for the money. I do it for the kids who are going through these situations."
Informally, she shared she has just finished work on the final book about Kristina (from Crank and Glass), and she expects it will be available in August. Excited and pleased, Hopkins described the artwork for Fallout's dust jacket: gold, with purple accents. With Fallout, she wrote all the way up to deadline, and even a couple weeks past, because "the ending had to be right."
Amy Bland won the opportunity to have breakfast with Ellen Hopkins. She learned Hopkins revises as she writes, crafting each poem before moving onto the next one. Bland also told Hopkins she appreciates the her blog, finding the various posts useful for discussion.
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