48 Hour Book Challenge: Liar, Liar

Liar, Liar: The Theory, Practice and Destructive Properties of Deception by Gary Paulsen. Wendy Lamb Books, 2011
(review copy from the publisher)
Genre: Realistic fiction  (Did not plan my 48 Hour Book Challenge to end up as a "realistic fiction" marathon.)

I am so fond of these relatively short but utterly readable little books Paulsen has been writing recently.  They are full of humor and story that resonates with readers 4th grade and up.  With page counts between 100-120 pages, they are not intimidating to readers who eye a book for its thickness or thinness.

Oh what a tangled web we weave,
When first we practise to deceive!
Sir Walter Scott, Marmion, Canto vi. Stanza 17

Kevin knows the difference between telling the truth and telling a lie.  He just finds that lies are easier on everyone. He has rules for telling lies but even his experience and talent cannot keep him from becoming hopelessly entangled in the multiple threads he is working.  There is trouble on his home front too when his father's business travel begins to interfere with their family's life. He realizes his duplicity may have hurt his parent's relationship too.

Kevin realizes the value of truth telling in a poignant moment with the little boy he babysits. He comes clean with a clear-eyed maturity that is a wondrous thing to behold.  As he writes letters of apology to all the people he has lied to and accepts the consequences that befall him, life gets better.

Earlier this week I finished Paulsen's Masters of Disaster (Wendy Lamb, 2010, 112 pages) which made me laugh out loud.  Henry is the brains who embroils his friends, Riley and Reed in quests to set records and prove their bravery in the hopes of impressing girls.  Reed bears the brunt of the danger and damage in these exploits. Amazingly, no one is seriously hurt but Reed does accumulate a horrible odor as the book goes on. Henry and Riley reflect:

"It's like he has a gift, " Henry said to Riley as they flipped on their flashlights and made their way down the tunnel toward Reed's voice. "No matter where we go or what we do, he's like a compass pointing north when it comes to locating smelly goo."

"Extraordinary," Riley agreed. "You work so hard to come up with adventures and somehow it always come down to Reed in a pile of poop."

Time reading: 1 hour, 120 pages.

Noisy Outlaws, Unfriendly Blobs, and Some Other Things That Aren't As Scary

Noisy Outlaws, Unfriendly Blobs, and Some Other Things That Aren't As Scary, Maybe, Depending on How You Feel About Lost Lands, Stray Cellphones, Creatures from the Sky, Parents who disappear in Peru, a Man Named Lars Farf, and One Other Story We Could Not Finish So Maybe You Can Help Us Out, Stories by Nick Hornby, Neil Gaiman, Jon Scieszka, Jonathan Safran Foer and more. Delacourt, 2005 -- publisher supplied review copy


I would just like to point out that the introduction to this book of short stories by Lemony Snicket is utterly and completely laugh-out-loud perfection.

It served as an outstanding introductory read for eighth grade English classes making their first visit to the school library this school year. Now eighth graders are a tough audience. They have heard the library spiel for two years in a row. They know where the Fiction is, They know where the NonFiction is shelved. They know they have to have their ID with them to check out books.

My lesson plan, as the substitute librarian, was to deliver the stern warnings about book damage, overdue items and other "cheerful" library topics.


-- sigh --


As first period slouched in, they fell on their chairs and draped their shoulders into a position on the table tops to best cradle their heads for sleep.

After the teacher arrived, I opened this book to the title page and began to read the "title without end." Heads began too pop up. I continued to the introduction. By the time I finished Snicket's first paragraph, every pair of eyes was on me and as I proceeded, tired faces began to assume a degree of alertness and mouths began to turn upward. When I arrived at the "tedious" snippets from "tedious" stories, they were completely with me. Laughter was filling the library. The kids completely got the artful skewering of the children's literature standards and afterwards, at least half the class asked where the library copy of this book could be found.

"Well, the library does not have it yet, but I've left a note for your librarian to get it."

Oh , I hope she does.

Buy this book for the introduction alone. The quirky, off beat and NEVER "tedious" short stories are a bonus. Also, the cover completely drew their attention. The last story in the book is served up with an unlikely set of characters and ends abruptly, with a request that the reader finish the story. I would love to read what they come up with.

This title is the next recommendation for fans of Guys Write for Guys Read: Boys' Favorite Authors Write About Being Boys.

This is A MUST HAVE.
Elementary school libraries, junior high, high school, go ahead. Put is on your acquisition list RIGHT NOW!

Yes, NOW!

Hell Phone

I had an opportunity to visit with one of my former students recently. As their "librarian-for-life," I am always interested in their current reading choices and interests. He said, "You have to read William Sleator, Mrs. P."

My sojourns into middle school libraries have reinforced my belief that is is NEVER too late for a kid to become a reader.



Hell Phone by William Sleator, Harry N. Abrams, 2006

Start with some classic Rod Serling-Twilight Zone; add in some of Dante's Divine Comedy with extra "Inferno" sprinkled on top. Mix in cell phones, video games, part time jobs, and a high school romance and you have a book that grabs the most reluctant, uninterested, I-don't-read-books guy (or girl) and keeps them turning the pages.


The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
[1855 H. G. Bohn Hand-Book of Proverbs 514]


Nick is an "A" student works a part-time job at a hospital. His income helps his mother who is working two jobs to support them. He does not have a car but gets around on an old bike.
For the first time in his life, Nick has a girlfriend and he is crazy about her. He is respectful to her parents and mindful of her commitment to the high school soccer team. He just wants to be able to talk to her on the phone in the evening.

A flier advertising the "cheapest phones in town" lures him to a store in a seedy neighborhood to look for a cell phone The fact that the caller ID does not work, does not dissuade him from buying the phone that is offered to him. The whiff of sulfur about the cell phone store foreshadows the events to come.

He begins to receive terrifying calls the moment he turns the phone on. A sobbing young woman and dire warnings from the former owner of the phone frighten him. When an anonymous, sinister voice threatens him, Nick's life begins to spin out of control.

He begins lying, stealing and becomes enmeshed with unsavory characters. The reader can sense the downward spiral Nick is on and calls to him at every turn to stop and reverse his course. The cell phone takes on a life of its own and plays on his insecurities. Nick acts heroically to rescue his girlfriend from an attempted rape (before anything happens) but then commits a crime for which he is tried and punished.

The book has great appeal to middle school boys. Seventh and eighth grade guys are looking towards high school when they will be have a part time job, working for good grades to earn college scholarships, and dating for the first time. Books are a safe way for kids to "try on" a future.

In every way, Hell Phone is a cautionary tale. The ease in which Nick slips away from his former life is frightening as each decision seems to be made almost innocently or as an attempt to protect his girlfriend and mother.

Sleator allows for redemption but harsh lessons are learned and no one escapes scot-free. The situations are grim and the book is creepy but there is no vulgar language or "Sam Peckinpaugh" style violence. The filth and ordure of Hell is vividly described and provides a hefty, "eeewww..." factor.

What a great teen book club read this would be!
There is much to ponder and discuss here about right and wrong, religious implications, free will and the nature of evil.

The book design is by the imaginative Chad Beckerman. (who also designs The Last Apprentice series) This cover grabs the reader by the shoulders and dares them to move on to another book. The opening pages shows a cell phone signal strength icon with the final and tallest bar in flames. Flames edge the pages exactly where a reader holds the book to read.

No wonder the book hardly ever makes it back to the shelf before it is checked-out again.

Author: Mike Lupica

Nice profile on author, Mike Lupica.

Although Mike still writes his popular sports column, and is a regular on ESPN’s “The Sports Reporters,” he says writing for young readers is his new favorite job. “This is the greatest writing adventure of my life,” Mike said. Does Mike have any advice for young readers? Of course, after all, he’s a dad and a coach. So here it is: Whether you’re taking about basketball or writing, Mike said, “Don’t let anybody limit your dreams, because nobody limited mine.”

I was talking to a friend yesterday who was telling me how much his son loves Lupica's books. He had to make his son return Heat to the school library so they could get his year-end report card.

Author: Mike Lupica

Matt Lauer interviews Mike Lupica at Live From Studio 1A about his new book, Summer Ball, the sequel to Travel Team.

Lupica talks about sports and life and his characters. His aim to demonstrate that "anybody can get knocked down, that's easy, but it is how you pick yourself up" that is important. He says he never gives his kids (characters) more than they can handle.

Summer Ball is one of the books at the top of my TBR pile right now.

Update: The MSNBC website seems to be experiencing some problems right now. I hope these links work. The interview is great.

The Dangerous Book for Boys

I loved this Meghan Cox Gurdon review of The Dangerous Book for Boys sent to me by an alert reader.

She transcribes the comments of (her?) 10-year-old boy. How fun!

Then the boy explodes into action. Leaping up, he rummages in a drawer for a pad of Post-It notes and vaults back into his seat. And this, transcribed from life, is what follows: "Man! This book has everything!" the boy cries, marking a page. "Sweet! Making cloth fireproof!" He puts in another bookmark. "The Golden Age of Piracy!" There's a pause, and in a lower voice he says, " 'How to Talk to Girls,' that'll be useful ..."

Author: Charlie Higson

Here is a terrific interview/article by Ben Macintyre about Young Bond author, Charlie Higson in The Times Online. Higson thinks it is "fantastic" to be part of the Bond family.
Macintyre's article is so entertaining, be sure to read the whole thing.

Higson’s formula is straightforward, but then boys of 10 are not, on the whole, particularly complex organisms: “Deliberately keep the language simple. Stripped-down and hard-boiled. Not 12 pages of internal monologue.” Boys aren’t big on internal monologue. Unless it also involves exploding noises. “We didn’t want to encourage violence, but I have tried to show the consequences of violence,” says Higson. To judge from the response of his sons (and mine), the result feeds directly into the central cortex of boy brain: action, suspense, gadgets, threat, fights, escapes, jungle survival, evil baddies and plenty of guns. My sons devoured each of the novels in the same way that I consume adult thrillers, in great, unreflective, purely enjoyable lumps.

I have Silverfin waving to me from my TBR shelf. So many books...

Books that guys love

In one of those "things come in 3s" deals, I have been told three times in the last 24 hours that I HAVE to read Twilight by Stephenie Meyer (I was cataloging the sequel New Moon, at the library today too. Weird! I better read it.)

I also have been asked three times in 24 hours for recommendations for book gifts for boys. I figure the question must be in the air so for the record, here are my suggestions for books that guys absolutely love:



Guinness World Records 2007
The gold standard for guy-hood fascination. Readers and nonreaders LOVE the Guinness World Record books. Give this as a gift and you will be appreciated.



Calvin and Hobbes
It continually amazes me that guys and girls cannot remember their multiplication tables but can recite entire pages of Calvin & Hobbes dialog and strips from memory. Yes, graphic novels are all the rage, manga "rules" but no comic or graphic will ever top Calvin and his tiger in our hearts.



I Spy & Can You See What I See?
Just check the bindings of these books in any school library and you will KNOW how beloved this series is. In a time when computers can make anything possible, Walter Wick's images are actual photos NOT Photoshop renderings. He designs his sets and layouts with an artist’s eye. The optical illusions book is amazing, drawing you in and making you wonder, how did he do that?


Do you have to give a book for a guy who is marginal about the whole reading thing?


The Lightning Thief and the sequel, Sea of Monsters by Rockstar Rick Riordan
Received an email from a friend who thought her son, now a 6th grader, would NEVER become a reader. Over Thanksgiving he didn't watch TV or play videogames, he just read this series and then began working through the Alex Rider books. News like that gives his old librarian-for-life a case of the warm fuzzies.


Guys Read, edited by Jon Scieszka
Small bites of prose and illustrations. They don't have to commit to the whole book, just jump in where it looks interesting. Don't miss Jack Gantos's piece though!


Alex Rider series by Anthony Horowitz
Gadgets, explosions, danger and high speed chases. See above.

• Stormbreaker
• Point Blank
• Skeleton Key
• Eagle Strike
• Scorpia
• ArkAngel

For your dedicated readers try:


For a WWII buff there is Code Talker: A Novel About the Navajo Marines of World War Two by Joseph Bruchac. This terrific read follows young Ned Begay from his early years at boarding school to his enlistment in the Marine Corps following Pearl Harbor. Tapped to help develop a top-secret code, he becomes a code talker. Ned is there in the thick of it at Guadalcanal, Bougainville, Guam, and Iwo Jima. He draws on the strength of his Navajo heritage to survive and lives to tell the story of the Navajo code that was never cracked by the enemy to his grandchildren. I love this book.



Tangerine by Edward Bloor
My reading friends tell me this is one of their favorite books. This was Bloor's first book and has made me a fan for life.

If the boy-o in your life has not read Holes by Louis Sachar or Hatchet (and its multiple sequels) by Gary Paulsen then those are good bets too.

At the junior high library today, I noticed that the Warriors books by Erin Hunter were flying off the shelves.

TA Barron's Lost Years of Merlin was a fantasy favorite with guys before there was a Harry Potter. Boys revere these books which tell the story of Merlin's early life. Mike Wimmer's covers are wonderful.