On Santa's Book List: Dystopia and Fantasy and Espionage, Oh My!

What books might the middle-schooler in your life be excited to find under the tree this holiday season?  In speaking to several school librarians and some bookstore folks recently, it appears that The Maze Runner continues to be the hot ticket right now.  Books from the Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan are often asked for as well.  For those who have not yet read The Hunger Games*, the release of the latest movie has also spurred another spike in requests.  Additionally, The Cherub series by Robert Muchamore for boys (about the under-17 highly specialized Cherub Agents), and the Selection series ("...a cross between The Hunger Games and The Bachelor...") by Keira Cass for girls are popular.  Rounding out the list, the Cassandra Clare Mortal Instruments series, about the secret fantasy world of the Shadowhunters, is also sought after.  For the slightly younger crowd, almost anything Disney "Frozen"-related is flying off the shelves. 

Happy Reading to all, and for all, a good book!


*I must admit that when I read about "The Hunger Pains; A Parody," by The Harvard Lampoon, featuring Kantkiss Neverclean, I had to chuckle.  Not sure if it would be worth reading, but I do love a good parody!


Andrea Perry, December 12, 2014

Poll: Most Memorable Meals in Children's Literature

By Susan Chapek

Inspiration for this poll:

In the delicious FICTITIOUS DISHES, photographer Dinah Fried highlights a wide range of notable literary meals—from HEIDI's comforting toasted cheese to THE BELL JAR's poisonous crabmeat-stuffed avocado. 

So what would the Route 19 Writers put into our own collection of Memorable Meals?


Our resident poet Andrea nominates Maurice Sendak's classic CHICKEN SOUP WITH RICE, "due to the combination of the soup as comfort food, and the lovely repetition at the end of each month's poem."

Happy once
Happy twice
Happy chicken soup 
with rice.


Kitty, who not only writes but teaches children's literature and writing for children, was struck by the way Naomi Shihab Nye  (HABIBI) gives small details, "things that are familiar and things that are just a bit different, that help young readers take in different cultures without being given a lecture.”

The owner, a nice man about Poppy’s age, brought them steaming bowls of aromatic lentil soup, saying once they tasted it, they would keep coming back for more. The table filled up with olives, purple marinated turnips, plates of baba ghanouj and hummus, and hot flat breads, even before the real lunch came.”



Devoted to historicals and classics, SCPoe admires how Charles Dickens could make a three-act drama out of one dish: 

. . . Mrs. Cratchit left the room alone—too nervous to bear witnesses—to take the pudding up and bring it in.
Suppose it should not be done enough! Suppose it should break in turning out! Suppose somebody should have got over the wall of the back-yard, and stolen it, while they were merry with the goose—a supposition at which the two young Cratchits became livid! All sorts of horrors were supposed.
Hallo! A great deal of steam! The pudding was out of the copper. A smell like a washing-day! That was the cloth. A smell like an eating-house and a pastrycook’s next door to each other, with a laundress’s next door to that! That was the pudding! In half a minute Mrs. Cratchit entered—flushed, but smiling proudly—with the pudding, like a speckled cannon-ball, so hard and firm, blazing in half of half-a-quartern of ignited brandy, and bedight with Christmas holly stuck into the top.
Oh, a wonderful pudding! Bob Cratchit said, and calmly too, that he regarded it as the greatest success achieved by Mrs. Cratchit since their marriage. 



For Dave,who's been concentrating on serious contemporary YAs, scenes of food deprivation can prove even more memorable than scenes of feasting. Out of several finalists, he finally chose a scene from Jerry Spinelli's MILKWEED.  

"It is early in the novel and the main character (Misha), known at this time by the name Stopthief, because he is always trying to steal food to feed his hunger, is brought into a barn where there is a large group of homeless,Jewish boys. They are so happy because they have been able to raid some of the finer German stores. . . . They have the food stacked in large piles in the corner of the barn. Sausages. Buns. Bread. Fresh fruit. They ask him if he is a Jew. He doesn't know what that is. So one of the boys in the barn explains what a Jew is. (The description is unbelievably scary and powerful.)"




In contrast, Marcy (Dave's partner in our monthly reviews of exciting YA debuts) chooses THE HUNGER GAMES, a series replete with scores of gourmet dishes. Nevertheless, Marcy zeroes in on something simple and familiar--a time when Katniss can't sleep and seeks comfort in a mug of warm milk and honey. 




YA writer Jenny would love to chow down at "any and all meals served in the Hogwarts Dining Hall from the Harry Potter books, especially the beginning of the year kick-off dinners."

He had never seen so many things he liked to eat on one table: roast beef, roast chicken, pork chops and lamb chops, sausages, bacon and steak, boiled potatoes, roast potatoes, fries, Yorkshire pudding, peas, carrots, gravy, ketchup, and, for some strange reason, peppermint humbugs.




My own nominee comes from Louisa May Alcott's JACK AND JILL. Sensitive, artistic Merry feels out of place in her drab farmhouse surroundings. In a coming-of-age episode, she longs to experiment with fancy pastry, but what her father wants is plain old corned beef and cabbage:  

She was repaid at noon by the relish with which he enjoyed his dinner, for Merry tried to make even a boiled dish pretty by arranging the beets, carrots, turnips, and potatoes in contrasting colors, with the beef hidden under the cabbage leaves.

I still think of Merry whenever I make a boiled dinner, and I admit that the smell of simmering cabbage (loathed by many) is a comfort to me. 



We invite you to nominate your own favorite to our potluck of Memorable Meals in Children's Literature.

Top 10 YA Books Made into Movies

by Jenny Ramaley

One of the highlights of Thanksgiving break was when our entire family went to see the new Hunger Games movie, Catching Fire. Even though our youngest turned 20 in October, YA books are still bring us together. How cool is that?

Those teen years were tough. If you’ve been there, you know what I’m talking about, and if you’re not there yet, accept my sympathies for what’s coming. But no matter how challenging things got at our house, books gave us something to share and to talk about – and the resulting movies gave us something to do together. Being able to ask a teen if they preferred the book or the movie, and the discussion that follows – priceless!

Here are my favorite YA books that have been made into movies. I’d love to hear your favorites!

1.     The Hunger Games Series by Suzanne Collins. The first book made a great movie. The second is even better. Usually I prefer the book, but “Catching Fire” does a great job of capturing the fear and horror that’s driving the people in the Districts to revolution.

2.     The Twilight Series by Stephanie Meyer – although people seem to have strong ‘love it or hate it’ feelings about the books, the movies are great fun. And what’s not to like about Robert Pattison’s hair?

3.     The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. An oldy but goody made even better when you tell your teens it was written by a 16 year old girl. The movie pales in comparison to the written word, but it’s fun to see how the young cast of characters turned into a who’s who of big name actors.

4.     The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. Amazing book, amazing movie with incredible performances. WRITTEN BY A PITTSBURGHER, PLUS THEY FILMED IT HERE! That tunnel where she stands up in the back of the truck? We drive through it all the time.

5.     The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants Series by Ann Brashares. Loved the books and the movies, too. Deals with some tough topics (like how sex too soon and too young can be awful) but not in a preachy way.

6.     Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson. Another story that deals with a tough topic (rape). Both the book and movie are well done, but if the writing style doesn’t appeal to your teen, skip the written version and go straight to the film. Just don’t skip this story – it should be read or seen by every young person before they start high school.

7.     To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. This book, which was required reading in our school district, presents a writing style that’s quite different from today’s often more casual approach. Follow the book with a family movie night – a surefire way to an interesting discussion on race and justice in the U.S.

8.     Holes by Louis Sacher.

9.     The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold.

10. Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling. No list of books-to-film would be complete without the story of Harry, Hermione and Ron. Our girls had the joy of reading the books as they were published – and long before the movies came out. I hope today’s families can encourage their sons and daughters to read this series before seeing the movies. But that’s just my two cents.

Advice For Writers From a Seventh-Grader: No Boring Parts

Guest blogger: Grace Brown 

I love The Maze Runner by James Dashner. It’s one of my favorite books, right up there with The Hunger Games. But I almost didn’t keep reading it, because the first part was boring.

I liked the VERY beginning because it didn’t start off with the main character, Thomas, in his normal everyday life.  It started right in the dystopian world, a maze.  Right after the very beginning, though, it slowed down while the author set up a lot of details, which I didn’t like as much. From the time Thomas came out of the box (p. 3) until the girl shows up (p. 58), it felt slow. I’m not even sure why it felt slow; maybe because even though some things were happening, and I was learning things about the maze and the other kids, Thomas wasn’t really DOING anything.

So why did I keep reading? I was in a competition with a friend for who would finish first. I’m glad I kept reading, because it’s one of my favorite books, but I’m not sure I would have otherwise.  I probably would have, because it’s on a list of books that people might like if they liked The Hunger Games.

I’m not sure that I’ll change my habits and continue reading something even if it feels slow. Maybe, maybe not. I’m not crazy about reading the boring parts.      

So don’t write boring parts.  

Note by Grace's mother, Cynthia: I just about fell off my chair when Grace said the reason she kept reading The Maze Runner. For my part, I didn't find the beginning of The Maze Runner  boring at all. But compared to the latter two-thirds of the book, it is somewhat "slower." It is a wake-up call to me that 7th-graders have a different perspective from adults, and I need to continually be reminded of that. Certainly, many kids like things slowed down a bit, but many want things to move very quickly. 

Grace and I were talking about types of books (she prefers dystopias and fantasy), and I mentioned realistic fiction. I love this quote by her:

"Ugh. Realistic fiction. That's like those books they shove on you at school."

No doubt, a 12-year-old will tell it like they see it.