Deza Malone's teeth are rotting, but her family cannot afford the luxury of a dentist. Her elder brother Jimmie has achieved the grand height of a twelve-year-old and does not seem to be growing any further. Eating welfare food - sometimes filled with bugs - is normal for the Malones. Set in the years of the Great Depression, The Mighty Miss Malone, the story of a black family in Gary, could have been a tale of woe that would make me weep. In fact, that is what I expected when I picked the book up. But The Mighty Miss Malone is, instead, a story of hope. Every character in the book speaks of love, optimism and sweetness. Sweetness in literature goes, for me, with a slowness of pace. Books that are sweet are not thrilling or action-packed. Rather, they are hopeful and gentle, full of life and the belief that something delightful is about to … [Read more...]
A Tigress Called Machhli
A Tigress Called Machhli has added at least three places to my neverending list of places I want to visit: Kokkare Bellur, the village of storks, Kalo Dungar in the Rann of Kutch and Jawai for the leopards. A collection of true animal stories promised to be delightful, and A Tigress Called Machhli did not let me down. I loved the lighthearted style, and how easily facts are woven into engaging stories. Perhaps you know about the tigon - the result of irresponsible mating between a tiger and a lion - but how does that become a story? Supriya Sehgal's storytelling style is simple, and the brevity of each tale left me smiling and satisfied. A story I found particularly striking was "The Sport in the Sky", which is about a creature that is not dear to me at all - the pigeon. Pigeons are messy - and what I hate most is when they come into the … [Read more...]
Al Capone Does My Shirts
Doesn't the title just grab your attention? The edition of Al Capone Does My Shirts that I picked up begins with a letter from the author Gennifer Choldenko, where she talks about having set out to write a book for boys. And somehow, Natalie, an autistic sixteen-year-old, slipped into the story, making it far more steeped in emotion than she had intended. And yes, boys did like it too. Boys do also like emotional stories, given a chance. The story of a family on Alcatraz, Al Capone Does My Shirts is a unique tale told from the point of view of Moose, a boy with a specially-abled sister. Adding to the layered narrative is the fact that autism has not yet got its name - the novel is set around 1935 - so Natalie goes from one school to another, trying out treatment after treatment. A sensitive, beautiful portrayal of family relationships, Al Capone Does My Shirts moved me and … [Read more...]
One
Every so often, you come across a book that brings life around you to a standstill. It makes you stop and feel more than you think you are capable of feeling. It makes you hug yourself and breathe, so that you don't get lost in the raw beauty of human emotion. And as I live in the pages of a book like One, I find myself wondering, How can anyone write so beautifully? One is among the most moving books I've ever read. Twice, I was able to sniff and move on. Once, I had to put the book away and let myself cry before I got back to reading. Tippi and Grace are conjoined twins. They are privy to every detail of each other's life, joined in blood and bone. They are both two and one, and this creates a bond that no one else can dream of sharing. They hold each other up, hooking their arms around each other's waists, waking up to each other's nightmares, and … [Read more...]
Hell and High Water
Recently, I wrote about rereading The Goldsmith's Daughter by Tanya Landman and looking out for more books by her. I almost didn't pick up Hell and High Water because the cover did not catch my eye. Only when I noticed the name of the writer did I pick up the book--and I'm so glad I did. Hell and High Water was just as good as Apache and The Goldsmith's Daughter. It is told from the point of view of a "darkie" Caleb, a boy of mixed race. When Caleb's Pa is transported as a convict for a crime he did not commit, Caleb learns of the existence of his aunt Anne, who Pa is sure will help him. The fifteen-year-old boy finds his aunt but is soon drawn into a wicked world where the wealthiest of criminals perform heinous deeds without being punished, while the poorest suffer for the slightest of crimes. Along with his aunt's … [Read more...]
The Extraordinary Colours of Auden Dare
I took a while to sink my teeth into The Extraordinary Colours of Auden Dare. I went slowly through the first few chapters: I found the narrative voice a little puzzling, and I could not figure out whether I liked the protagonist, Auden Dare. Once I got sucked into the book, though, it was a different story. The cover asks whether a friendship can save a world under threat - and the way Zillah Bethell deals with this idea is tender and moving, for the friendship is a most irregular one. A dystopian novel, The Extraordinary Colours of Auden Dare is set at a time when a war is being waged over the most precious commodity in the world - water. A country like the UK is slightly better off because it is surrounded by the sea, and though the water needs to be desalinated before being fit for consumption, there is access to it. … [Read more...]
The Infinite Lives of Maisie Day
As I read The Infinite Lives of Maisie Day, I realised yet again that Christopher Edge is a writer I want to look out for. The first book I read of his was probably Twelve Minutes to Midnight. I enjoyed it so much that I ended up buying two copies of it - one to keep and one to gift. Somehow, the sequel, Shadows of the Silver Screen, did not make such a powerful impression on me. I liked it, but I can barely remember it now - in my defence, I read it five years ago. Then, I read The Many Worlds of Albie Bright, which I loved. It was unlike anything I'd ever read before and I was drawn into Albie's world - a world of science that has at its core not just human curiosity but something even more deep-rooted than that - love. If I had read The Infinite Lives of Maisie Day … [Read more...]
The Bubble Boy
I had just started reading The Bubble Boy, when I came across an article on 'sick-lit', which made me think. There really are a lot of books about children who are ill, but I'd never thought about it in that way. And yes, the idea of the dying girl redeeming a broken man would irritate me. As a result, I was unfairly wary when I got through the first few chapters of The Bubble Boy. I didn't want the emotional manipulation that plays out like a formula in literature where someone may die, and I was more than a little sceptical. But I said 'unfairly' because The Bubble Boy is nothing like that. For one, it is not YA - the protagonist, Joe, is an eleven-year-old, who is called bubble boy because he is stuck in a bubble - a sterilised, temperature-controlled, heavily monitored hospital room. He has severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID), and cannot ever leave his sanitised room. His … [Read more...]
Wildwitch Wildfire
Wildwitch Wildfire. The name seems to hark back to an earlier time, a time when magic was different, ancient, unknown. Yet, the cover, with its bright red, and a cat staring a girl down gave me the idea of something almost modern. I picked it up, curious about what it would offer--and put it down when I had finished reading it. Wildwitch Wildfire won me over with the wonder of its storytelling. A beautiful story, simply told - is there anything more fulfilling than that? Clara Ash is mauled by a huge cat on her way to school, but that's hardly an excuse she can offer her scary math teacher for being late. With an incident that simple, the story begins. Clara's mum never cries, but when she hears about the cat, she begins to cry. It is time for Clara, little Clara Mouse, to visit her Aunt Isa, a wildwitch. For Clara is a wildwitch herself and needs to learn how to … [Read more...]
Septopus: Trouble on the High Cs
Question 1: How many books have you read about octopuses?Question 2: How many books have you read about an octopus with seven and a half tentacles?Question 3: How many books have you read about an octopus band - an oct-estra - playing Mozart? The answers to those questions will show you how unusual, unexpected and quirky Septopus: Trouble on the High Cs is. As octopuses have eight tentacles, all of them have names that end with '8', so this book features Rot8, Irrit8, Imit8, Emul8, and my favourite - Po8 (say it aloud a few times if you don't get this one immediately). For convenience sake, though, the '8' is dropped. Rot, the seven-and-a-half tentacled octopus is on a mission to save Sea World from sabotage. His clues include red and yellow sneakers, smelly socks and the symbol of an octopus. Where can he go with these? Lots of places, including the top of a coconut tree, … [Read more...]
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