When You Reach Me

So, some (or most or all--I have no idea who reads this) of you know that When You Reach Me recently won the prestigious Newbery Award. For the second year in a row, the award was given to a book that I'd read. I actually finished When You Reach Me about 24 hours before the win was announced, so it was fresh in my mind when I heard the news. It made me think about award-winners and how they're chosen.

Last year I was on the committee that chose Steinbeck's Ghost by Lewis Buzbee for the YA category of the Northern California Book Award. The committee communicated by email to nominate titles for a longlist and then choose a shortlist, which each member was supposed to read. One day I came to work and found a poster advertising Steinbeck's Ghost as the winner. This was news to me. We'd had a brief discussion about Lewis Buzbee and his relationship to the Indie Bookseller community, but as far as I knew we hadn't reached a decision about the award. I wouldn't have voted for it. I loved the book, and it was Northern Californian through and through, but it was hard to sell because kids weren't interested in Steinbeck. Whomever had chosen the winner had not taken young readers into consideration, which was supposed to be the reason I was on the committee.

I'm sure that the Newbery committee doesn't operate this way, but it makes me wonder what criteria are considered when the award is given. I have read several books in the last year that I would call Newbery-worthy. But do kids love them? Do they ask deep and important questions? Do they teach us anything? Will they still make an impact in twenty years when kids read them in school? Will kids even want to read them in twenty years? I imagine that these are the questions that the Newbery committee asked while they were choosing a winner. Rebecca Stead's When You Reach Me checked all the boxes.

I remember reading other Newbery winners when I was in elementary school. I loved each and every one. Whatever the criteria, they are tried and true. I have no doubt that When You Reach Me will hold its own in the ranks of Newbery award-winners.

Broccoli & Bow Ties and Birthday Sheet Cake

Yum! Pasta with broccoli, garlic, pine nuts, lemon, and parmesan. Ina's Broccoli & Bow Ties (obviously I used farfalle instead of bowties) was as good as it sounds. This comes from the Kids! section of The Barefoot Contessa Family Style, because it's so simple. It's not bland, though, thanks to the addition of the garlic and lemon zest. It was easy to make and delicious, which are both things I've come to expect from Ina Garten's recipes.


Here we have the Birthday Sheet Cake, which I made in honor of my fiance's birthday. We decorated it together. As you can see, we're just about ready to start our own bakery specializing in cake decorating...not.

I admit I was a little disappointed with the frosting. The cake itself is amazing--it's a buttery and rich white cake with, you guessed it, lemon zest. But I'm a little tired of all the lemon zest so I used orange zest instead and I'm glad I did. The cake is moist and yummy. It ALMOST overflowed the pan while it was in the oven but in the end it was fine.

The frosting, like I mentioned, was not my favorite. It's just semi-sweet chocolate chips, some cream, and a little butter and vanilla. I'm not a huge fan of chocolate and this was just a little too semi-sweet. Plus, it never came to the right consistency so it was like pouring fondue over the cake. Actually, that sounds delicious. Maybe it's just that I don't love chocolate. I've been scraping it off the top of my pieces of cake and leaving just a hint, which is enough for me.

Review of The Dead-Tossed Waves

The Dead-Tossed Waves
by Carrie Ryan
Young Adult Science Fiction
Pub date March 2010

As you may have noticed, I do a fair amount of reading. One might even say a lot of reading. As a result, I have acquired enough self control to put down a book at night and go to sleep--usually. About once a year, I encounter a book that I CANNOT PUT DOWN, not even to bake a cake, not even to sleep. This was that book.

The companion volume to The Dead-Tossed Waves, which is entitled The Forest of Hands and Teeth, was good. Not nearly as un-put-downable, but good. I was expecting the same from this one: lots of fear, running from zombies, beloved characters dying, the forest slowly closing in. I was expecting the main character to be Mary, whom you might remember from the first book. I was wrong on all counts.

The Dead-Tossed Waves opens in the village of Vista, where Gabry lives in the lighthouse with her mother. Gabry is a typical teenager. She wants to run with the fast crowd with her best friend Cira, but she's afraid of the world outside the barrier. Cira's brother Catcher finally persuades Gabry to join in their illegal escapade outside the wall--and the consequences are more hideous than anyone imagined. Suddenly all of Gabry's friends are locked up or missing or dead, and she is left with the guilt of running away from them. Can she overcome her fear and set things right? Can she trust the handsome young stranger who appears just when she needs him? And should she follow her mother into the Forest of Hands and Teeth?

Romance novels: a personal history

When I was little, my grandma's house was full of teenagers. My mother was the oldest of 5 and had me when she was 20, so there were lots of young aunts and uncles to entertain me when I was a kid. As they left home one by one, their cast-off belongings were slowly moved into a closet in one of the upstairs bedrooms. As I grew up, this closet became magical--it seemed like there was a neverending supply of books inside. Here was where I discovered the Sweet Valley twins (Jessica and Elizabeth), Nancy Drew, and the tragic and predictable novels by Lurlene McDaniels. And then, one summer when I was 12 and spending a couple of months with my grandparents, in the bottom of the closet I found a small paperback with a shirtless Scottish man on the cover.

And thus began my love affair with romance novels.

Now, let me pause here and say that this closet was ACTUALLY MAGICAL. I will explain. When I began finding the books, my mom and her next-youngest sibling had already moved out of the house. As far as I know, of the five children in that generation, these two are the only readers. The books probably didn't belong to my uncle, and they definitely didn't belong to my aunt Jennifer. My aunt Carolyn isn't much of a fiction reader. And yet books kept appearing in a steady supply. So who did the books belong to? And, even more curious, why was there a lurid bodice-ripper in the closet years after the last child had moved out?

In any case, I devoured that first romance novel and continued to read them avidly for years. I especially loved Scottish history--in fact, after reading Diana Gabaldon's series about Jamie and Claire, I decided to spend my year abroad in Scotland. I loved every kind of romance, though, and my grandpa fed my addiction with those horrible 4-packs that Costco sells.

I don't really read romances any more, unless Jude Deveraux comes out with a new one. But those early obsessions contributed to a lifelong love of historical fiction, and a great appreciation for genre fiction.

This post was inspired by THE SIXTH SURRENDER by Hana Samek Norton, which exists somewhere between romance and historical fiction. Pub date July 2010.

Another review

Hawksmaid: The Untold Story of Robin Hood and Maid Marian
by Kathryn Lasky
Young Adult Historical Fiction
Pub date May 2010

I am a complete sucker for Robin Hood retellings. Ever since I read The Outlaws of Sherwood, by Robin McKinley, I can't get enough of them. This one was so good, different from all the rest but with enough of the familiar elements that I was satisfied. Matty is the daughter of an English noble, and when she is a child her home is invaded by the vile Guy of Gisborne. In the aftermath of the invasion, Matty finds herself bearing more responsibility than a child should, and she learns to hunt with her father's hawks. Soon her band of friends are not satisfied with innocent games in the woods--their home is changing under the influence of Prince John and his cronies. They decide to do something about it, and Matty becomes Maid Marian, a spy within the household of the Sheriff of Nottingham. Naturally, I loved the story itself, but what I really loved was the way that Kathryn Lasky wove so much falconry into the tale. It's a subject that I knew almost nothing about, and I didn't feel like the book was trying to cram facts into my head. I'm curious to see what kids think of this one.

Reviews

31 Bond Street
by Ellen Horan
Adult Historical Mystery
Pub date: April 2010

I wasn't sure what to expect from this: it was part mystery, part historical fiction, and part courtroom drama. The action shifted back and forth between Henry Clinton, a defense attorney who leaves his comfortable partnership to take on a controversial murder case; and Emma Cunningham, the suspected murderer, who tells her story piece by piece. Emma, a widowed mother of two, is the housekeeper for Dr. Harvey Burdell. When he is found brutally murdered, all evidence points to her. Henry Clinton is the only lawyer brave enough--or foolish enough--to represent the doomed woman. One thing I liked about this book was that I didn't know if Emma was guilty, even right up until the end. I also love the way the novel dealt with nineteenth-century New York: the landscape, the population, the legal system, society, women's roles, slavery, etc. I especially liked the character of Henry Clinton's wife--she has an extremely sharp legal mind but her station doesn't permit her to work in the field.


Drake's Bay
by T.A. Roberts
Adult Mystery
Pub date April 2010

T.A. Roberts actually dropped this book off to me at work last week. He had read some of my reviews and delivered his book right into my hands! I felt famous for about a minute and a half. I took it right home and read it.

I read a lot of mysteries of this type: a lost manuscript of some sort, a professor trying to solve a puzzle, other (sometimes evil) professors racing the main character to find the truth. It's a genre that Dan Brown made popular, but there are a lot of great books that have been published as a result of The da Vinci Code's success. This one distinguishes itself from the pack, however, in several ways. First of all, there is a TON of sailing detail in the book. The protagonist, Ethan Storey, lives on a boat and is trying to find the lost travel logs of Sir Francis Drake before a mysterious antagonist destroys all the evidence (and people) involved. Secondly, there's a lot of California history and geography that I found really interesting. This book is great for people who live in the Bay Area, because so much is familiar and yet there's a lot to learn. I also appreciated that Dr. Storey teaches at SF State, where I'm currently a graduate student. : ) The sometimes-strained partnership between State and UC Berkeley is given some attention in the novel, which I enjoyed.

I did find myself wishing that there was more background on Francis Drake. He's a fascinating figure but I don't know much about him, especially his search for the Northwest Passage, which he called the Strait of Anian. All in all, a good mystery.

Christmas...and BEYOND!

Sorry it's taken me so long to post pictures and reviews of my Christmas recipes. I had a "guest photographer" for some of them, because I can't find my (extremely crappy) camera. I actually used the built-in webcam on my laptop for some pictures and it works way better than my 6-year-old digital camera...pretty sad. Anyway, here's what I've been up to for the last week and a half:

On Christmas morning, we opened our stockings and then I made these Banana Sour Cream Pancakes. They were really easy, and the consistency was PERFECT--they were light and airy and perfectly cooked inside. I think the trick is to add the bananas after you pour the batter onto the pan--every time I make pancakes with mashed bananas in the batter, it seems like the batter doesn't cook properly. Ina is a genius. My only issue was the syrup. The pancakes didn't taste right with the real maple syrup that I had...they were way too lemony. I confess that I don't really love real maple syrup, but maybe I just haven't found the right one yet. When I used Mrs. Butterworth's, though, the flavor overwhelmed the pancakes. In any case, Casey said these were the best pancakes he'd ever had.

And for dinner...this very small pot roast. We started off with a soup/salad course with leftover Roasted Vegetable Soup from the night before, and Green Salad with Creamy Mustard Vinaigrette. Then we had Sunday Rib Roast and Chive Biscuits. For dessert we had more Raspberry Cheesecake. The roast was delicious, although I overcooked it a bit. The only thing we did was cover the top with salt and pepper--but somehow it created this amazing crust. As for the Mustard Horseradish Sauce, it was pretty good on the pot roast and even better on sandwiches the next day. It was very mayonnaisey, so I doubled the amount of mustard and horseradish.

The biscuits were great, too. Light and flaky and the chives added a little zing that went great with the pot roast.

Now, on to New Year's Eve:
On New Year's Eve I made Ina's Rum Raisin Rice Pudding. I'd never made pudding before, and I'd never even seen rice pudding, so I wasn't sure what to expect. Unfortunately, the recipe didn't help much. Unlike most of the recipes, there was no picture to help me out. In addition, the recipe didn't give any indication of how the pudding was supposed to look or feel at any point. I ended up leaving out a whole cup of half-and-half because I didn't think the pudding was thick enough, and I'm glad I did--with that extra cup, it never would have set up right. The recipe doesn't even mention that it has to be refrigerated in order to set up--it says "serve warm or chilled" at the end and makes no mention of refrigeration. Luckily, Casey knows his way around the kitchen and suggested that my soupy mixture might look more like pudding in the morning. He was right. It tasted great, though. I'm not much of a raisin fan but I might make this again sometime.


On New Year's Day I had some friends over for pasta salad and games. I made Pasta with Sun-Dried Tomatoes and it was a huge hit! The dressing is made of sun-dried tomatoes, red wine vinegar, oil, capers, garlic, and salt--what a winning combination. The pasta-to-cheese-to-tomato-to-olive ratio was spot on, and I loved the last-minute additions of basil and parmesan. I left out the cheeses for Casey's vegan brother and he seemed to like it too.


And here we have the dreaded Linguine with Shrimp Scampi. I say "dreaded" because I have an irrational fear of cooking seafood, having had way too many overcooked specimens. Also, I have to be in the mood for shrimp to enjoy it, and that night I was decidedly NOT in the mood for shrimp. Still, the recipe was good. It was a little too lemony, though, which has been a theme throughout this cookbook. I think my palate is just too lemon-sensitive, and the flavors are often overwhelmed by the amount of lemon in the dishes. Oddly, Ina's picture in the cookbook seems to have way more parsley than mine did. Hers looks delicious, and mine was so-so. I guess that's why she's the chef and I'm...not.

THESE COOKIES ARE THE BEST. They're Jam Thumbprint Cookies from the Kids! section. They're shortbread batter, which is mostly butter, rolled in coconut and filled with raspberry jam. Really, how can you go wrong with that? That's right, you can't. These will definitely make it into my box of recipe cards.

reviews!

Heist Society

by Ally Carter

Young Adult fiction

due February 2010

If you like books about spies, criminals, art heists, and/or smart young people, this is the book for you. As in Carter's Gallagher Girls series, the characters in this book come from an extraordinary background: they all belong to an age-old family of thieves. Kat was among the best, but then she pulled off her biggest job yet--she left the criminal world and decided to go to school. It doesn't last long, though. After a few months she is called back among the thieves to save her father from a threat bigger than any she's ever seen.

I loved this book. The characters are believable, despite the fact that they're completely unbelievable. The action was intricate enough to make it good, but it wasn't too confusing. I hope there's going to be a second book--I can't wait to read it.

The Fire Opal

by Regina McBride

Young Adult fantasy

due March 2010

I come from a big Irish family, and I grew up hearing tales about selkies, the sidh, the tuatha de Danaan, Finn MacCool, and all the other myths. This book was written in the vein, with all the old lore worked into a pretty fantastical plot. Maeve O'Tullagh encounters a mysterious woman one day, and the woman gives her two small bottles to protect her mother and herself. However, soon after giving birth to Maeve's sister Ishleen, Maeve's mother falls into a strange sleep that she cannot be woken from. When Ishleen suffers the same ailment years later, Maeve must rescue them. During her journey she encounters all manner of strange creature, including a handsome Spanish sailor. I liked how faithful this book was to Irish lore.