Answers to Dog, by Pete Hautman

     The latest release by one of my favorite authors, Pete Hautman. Answers to Dog is a dog story, of course, and I love a good dog story! Especially one where the dog is smart, resourceful, strong, and just all-around awesome!

    Throughout this short book Dog, also called Sam later in the story, is a border collie who keeps escaping his kennel and the hands of an abusive handler. He finds Evan, a middle schooler who is shy and a bit of a kennel kid himself. Evan has a mom and dad, but he is quirky, like most teens are in middle school, trying to figure his life out day to day while staying away from the bullies at school. Dog finds Evan, and although things don't sync up right away for them, it puts them both on a journey that is wonderful to read!

    Hautman is a very good storyteller. This is the third of his books that I have read over the last couple of years, and I always like them...but also have a hard time describing them. He reminds me a lot of another of my favorite authors, A. S King, both of whom write in a way that makes me feel like I've just dropped into the middle of someone's life, and I immediately know them and feel what they are feeling as their story unfolds. And then, just as seamlessly, the story ends, and I feel like I just moved away from my friends suddenly, and it's hard to not think about them and wonder what they are doing. If you've ever moved somewhere new you'll probably know that feeling...it takes a while to let them go and start to look forward to your new surroundings and life (but it does eventually happen!). That is what reading Answers to Dog is like, and I miss Sam the dog and Evan already!

    If you love a good dog story (like Ann Martin's A Dog's Life), like I do, you'll enjoy this! Hautman's books don't usually blow my doors off, but they always make me wish the book continued on. Answers to Dog does that as well. 4 paws and a wag!

    

The Misfits: A Royal Conundrum, by Lisa Yee & Dan Santat

     So about a year ago I reviewed Lisa Yee's Newbery Honor book Maizy Chen's Last Chance, and mentioned that I was really looking forward to this new series, The Misfits. I finally got my paws on a copy of the first of two books so far in the Misfits series, and was excited to have it be part of my holiday break reading binge! Add Dan Santat, Caldecott winning illustrator, and this should be a win-win book, right? Right?

    Ugh. It is not a win-win book. It's not even a 'win' book. I will admit something I hate to admit, but it is very rare that I do not finish a book, but I did not finish this one. I often say life is too short to read a bad book (and in dog year's that is really saying something), but I hardly ever come across a book so bad I don't want to finish it. Yee is such a good writer, and with Santat's wonderful illustrations, I don't know how this fell off so badly...but it did.

    Let's be fair - this is not the worst book I have ever tried to read. The plot is a group of misfit kids who end up at a special school for kids who are not succeeding in "regular" school. In this school a few students are identified as super smart and talented, and then recruited to be teen super agent spies and crime solvers. What an opportunity to create some genuinely quirky characters and situations, right? I think that is what Yee was aiming for...but the characters are not that memorable or cool, and the school and group they end up in is not easy to follow, all that interesting or believable. 

    Before I decided to stop reading, I checked some respected sites for other reviews of this book, and found that there were a lot of other readers that think the same thing. So it wasn't just me having a bad book day. This book made me want to go back to some truly memorable books with similar characters and plots; Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer or the Alex Rider series by Alex Horowitz. As for Misfits, book 1, don't do it. Or if you do decide to try this book, and you find it to be the bee's knees (meaning you really enjoy it!), please post a comment in this blog and let me know...I'd love to be wrong about this book and maybe have a reason to try it again someday. Until then, 2 paws and a hint of a wag.

Graciela in the Abyss, by Meg Medina

     I hope you were as fortunate as I was in these recent snow days to be able to enjoy the beautiful snowflakes outside while reading and reading and reading inside! There isn't much for a small pup to do in the snow except what I need to do, snow or no snow, outside...so in between potty breaks I have been reading the most wonderful book - Graciela in the Abyss by Newbery-winning author Meg Medina and expertly illustrated by twins Anna and Elena Balbusso!

    Graciela is a young girl who becomes a sea spirit far before her time. As she wrestles with that fact, she is becoming part of the sea spirit world, which is a wonderful creation in Medina's master storyteller mind. The world under the sea is full of beauty and wonder, but also has its share of darkness and danger. In this book, darkness and wonder meet, and Graciela has to navigate both if she is to find herself again, and discover who she really is and what kind of being she wants to be.

    Author of the Mercy Suarez books, Richmond author Medina is at her absolute best in this story. I read a lot of books over time, most of them very good, and on occasion I am lucky enough to find a gem - a true masterpiece in a storyteller's tale. Graciela in the Abyss is one of the best books I have read this year! A unique and fantastical story that won't match anything you've read before. Read it soon, and then read it again - books this magical are rare and you'll be glad you got to meet Graciela! 5 paws!

How the Word is Passed, by Clint Smith

     How the Word is Passed: Remembering Slavery and How it Shaped America by Clint Smith is the complete title of this book adapted for young readers (like you and me!) by Sonja Cherry-Paul. In this non-fiction book, Smith visits seven places - six within the United States and one in West Africa - that are crucial to understanding the full story of the history of this country. As Smith explains in the book, we cannot know our nation's complete history if we exclude or ignore the ugly parts. Slavery was an ugly part of this country's history, and the remnants of that history are still with us today. The many races we have in the U.S. are not treated equally and this stems from how the country got started (and continued into the late 1800s and early 1900s). 

    Two of the sites Smith writes about are in Virginia, which was a pivotal state in our Civil War. Another is in New York City, which surprised me as it will many people, I suppose. In each place Smith digs into the history of the location, what it meant during slavery times as well as what it means today. He asks a lot of questions of a lot of people he meets in each place, and that helps us understand the history but also the complexity of inequality as we still live it today.

    I found this book so interesting and powerful, I bought my human the adult version of the book for Christmas (but don't tell him, because I haven't given it to him yet!). It reminded me of another powerful book about race and inequality, Caste by Isabel Wilkerson. I read that book two years ago, and like How the Word is Passed, found it to be truly lifechanging. I encourage you pups of all ages and colors to read this book, and any book that will ask as many questions as it answers about how we got to be here, today, in a nation striving for peace and equality but with still a lot of work to be done to get there. Books like this will help us get there, if we are brave enough to read them. 5 paws.