“Nothing is really so very frightening when everything is so very dangerous”

― Gertrude Stein

(Photo by Nancy Ellen Row Rawley)

New classic, just like that… “Neanderthal Opens the Door to the Universe,” by Preston Norton (Hyperion, 2018, middle school & high school readers, 410 pages, $17.99). Cliff Hubbard doesn’t want anyone to get too close. Nicknamed “Neanderthal” because of his size (6’6″ tall, 250 pounds at age 16), grieves for his dead brother, is ridiculed by the other students at his high school, is damaged daily by his abusive father, while cherished by his mother, who is trying to get a better life for them. In spite of it all? He’s an amazingly good person, who wants better for his mom, himself and those around him.

Chapter One

Rule number one: It’s all bullshit.”

This novel has replaced “Catcher in the Rye” for me as my new favorite teenage angst book. It’s brilliant, well-written, and thoughtful.

“The Perfect Secret” is Rob Buyea’s sequel to “The “Perfect Score.” (Delacorte Press, 2018, ages 9-12, 364 pages, $16.99.) The kids from Lake View Middle School — Gavin, Randi, Scott, Trevor and Natalie — are back for another adventure, this time hoping to patch up the relationship between the mother/daughter duo who teach at their school. Buyea knows kids — he has taught third- and fourth-grade, plus high school biology, and was also a wrestling coach. His dialogue and stories will speak to young readers.

“It Wasn’t Me,” by Dana Alison Levy (Delacorte, 2018, ages 10 and older, $16.99), is a new one on my shelf. A prank goes wrong, a student’s photography project is damaged, and five other students claim, “It wasn’t me.” A la “The Breakfast Club,” we have the Nerd, the Princess, the Jock, the Screw Up, the Weirdo and the Nobody.

“Inkling,” by Kenneth Oppel, illustrated by Sydney Smith (Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2018, ages 8 and older, 256 pages). Extraordinary children’s book by Oppel and Smith, both Toronto, Canada residents. It’s about an artist father, who has creative block; a son who is faltering because he can’t create the art he needs to for a school project, and a sister, who has Down Syndrome and is needing attention. They all miss Mom.

Reminds me of “Crenshaw,” the Katherine Applegate book, which is an outstanding read, too. Both are good titles for grabbing the reluctant readers.

Bon appetit, babies. Happy holidays, and here’s to a grand 2019!

WM

(Photo by Nancy Ellen Row Rawley)

(That dog loves to be read to. Photo by Nancy Ellen Row Rawley)

“Live in the sunshine, swim in the sea, drink the wild air.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Book reviews! Fun stuff.

This is part of the Rick Riordan Presents series. “Aru Shah and the End of Time: A Pandava Novel, Book One” by Roshani Chokshi (Disney-Hyperion, 2018, 355 pages, $16.99). Chokshi, who also wrote “The Star-Touched Queen” and “A Crown of Wishes,” has written a great young adult novel that I’m hoping is turned into a film someday. Oh, wait! Looks like Paramount Pictures landed the rights.

Our heroine, Aru, plays kind of fast and loose with the truth. Her schoolmates find her out when they discover she’s working at the Museum of Ancient Indian Art and Culture (where her mother is curator) and not taking a fancy vacation like she told them she was. They don’t believe that the museum’s Lamp of Bharata is cursed and here, our story begins. Great to read a book that focuses on Hindu mythology, with an Indian girl as the main character.

The next book in the series, “Aru Shah and the Song of Death” will be released in April, 2019.

“The Isle of the Lost,” by Melissa de la Cruz, adapted by Robert Venditti, with art by Kat Fajardo, and lettering by Leigh Luna (it’s a labor of love, this one) is a very cool graphic novel. (Based on the “Descendants” novel, from Disney-Hyperion, but of course, 2018, $21.99). Nice art — all purples, greens and reds — that rises off the pages and invites you in. The plot is a little all over the place, but I think I’m the only one who’s going to have a problem with that, not Disney fans. A lost scepter; a big cast of familiar characters; Diablo (Maleficent’s evil raven); Dr. Facilier, the strange MC — it’s good fun. The story: Disney villains and their family members are given the heave-ho from the Kingdom of Auradon and sent to the Isle of the Lost.

Things get weird.

Tim Burton’s “The Nightmare Before Christmas: A Petrifying Pop-Up for the Holidays” was just released (Disney Editions, 2018, $65). Matthew Reinhart worked hard on this one, and it’s amazing. Save it for the teenagers and grown-up “Nightmare” buffs; keep it on the shelf and only let the babies admire it under supervision. It’s an outstanding work of art.

Bon appetit, babies.

WM

Books! Halloween Books! Even though it’s almost Thanksgiving. Work with me people, I didn’t get a chance to review these until now.

Bon appetit, babies.

WM

(All photos by moi, Nancy Ellen Row Rawley)

“Mickey Mouse: The Scariest Halloween Story Ever!”

“The Nightmare Before Christmas”

These two slim paperbacks include CDs with sound effects and narration, and that is pretty, pretty cool (Disney Press, 2018, $6.99 each).

I’m aware that Donald Duck has nephews (Huey/Dewey/Louie) but Mickey has nephews, too? Well, they’re cute, and so is this book. It’s all purple and green and you know Wacky Mommy likes those colors best. Story is good, too. Thumbs up for this one.

And “Nightmare Before Christmas, because it’s “Nightmare Before Christmas” and I heart Sally. Jack Skellington is OK, he has a lot of personality for someone so boney. But that creepy Mayor can get to steppin’. (Disney sent me this amazing “Nightmare Before Christmas” pop-up book, too (Disney, 2018), but I have to review it later.)

“H is for Halloween: A Book of First Words and ABCs” (Disney Press, 2018, $12.99)
“A” is for Abu and Aladdin juggling apples, “B” is for Belle and the Beast brushing bats from the attic, “C” is for Lilo and Stitch collecting candy in a cauldron, and so on. Super pretty big board book, heavy and with nice thick pages for the littles to work with. They can open the flaps, and trace the sunken letters with their fingers.

“5-Minute Halloween Stories” (Disney, 2018, 188 pages, $12.99)
“Spooktacular” stories, again in an oversized format. There are a dozen total, all with a Halloween theme, from “Wreck-It Ralph” to “Inside Out” to “Alice in Wonderland.” This is the kind of collection they’ll pore over by themselves, to enjoy the art and play at reading, and will like to read again and again with their older siblings and parents. Candy colors and, of course, big, beautiful art. It’s Disney.

“Heartwood Hotel: Home Again,” written by Kallie George and illustrated by Stephanie Graegin (Disney-Hyperion, 2018, ages 4-8, 170 pages, $14.99). Ms. Prickles is marrying Mr. Quillson in the fourth and final book in the “Heartwood Hotel” series. (“Heartwood Hotel: A True Home,” “Heartwood Hotel: The Greatest Gift” and “Heartwood Hotel: Better Together” are the earlier titles.) Acorn souffles, beds lined with moss, and “the grandest hotel in Fernwood Forest” provide a sweet way for young readers to escape.

These critters, Mona the Mouse; Mr. Heartwood, the badger owner; Tilly, the squirrel maid; hedgehogs Mr. and Mrs. Higgins, the gardener and head housekeeper, respectively; and the rest, will warm the heart for sure. Break out the Calico Critters and Rabbit Family, I’m just saying. J

“The Adventurers Guild,” by Zack Loran Clark and Nick Eliopulos (Disney-Hyperion, 2017, grades 5-8, 306 pages, $16.99). This is a cool dystopian-style novel for the younger set, and is more Rick Riordan than Suzanne Collins. Best friends Zed Kagari and Brock Dunderfel live in the city of Freestone, where the two of them and the other young people of their city, one of the last standing after monster attack, wait to be assigned to a craft union.

The book is fast-paced, lively and with interesting characters.

Bon appetit, babies!

WM

(Pictures by me, in my own inimitable style. NERR)

OK, y’all. Here are some creepy-cool-scary new young adult novels that I don’t wanna talk about. Because they’re scary is why. But they are all four excellent books, but gifted new writers, and you’ll like them. I promise.

Boo!

Bon appetit, babies!

WM

“#murdertrending,” by Gretchen McNeil (Freeform Books, 2018, pages, 339 pages, $17.99.) I’m hearing a lot of good buzz around this book, it looks good. Haven’t started it yet because, hello, it looks super creepy, too. #notabadthing

“The Mortification of Fovea Munson,” by Mary Winn Heider (Disney-Hyperion, 2018, 328 pages, $16.99.) She’s not Igor, she’s Fovea Munson, and yes, her parents run their own cadaver lab. What? You think that’s weird? (OK, it’s pretty weird.) Funny, grim, kinda kooky book about a girl making the best of a nutty situation. #love

“Part of Your World: A Twisted Tale,” by Liz Braswell (Disney Press, 2018, 475 pages, $17.99.) Ursula: alive and well and living on land, running Prince Eric’s kingdom. Ariel: in trouble. Is her father still alive? I like this one, it’s like yummy, yummy, Disney fan fic.

“The Life and Death Parade,” Eliza Wass () This one is spooky-scary-sad-good. I have been freaking out reading this one. It’s well-written, with well-developed characters and a good plotline. (Art? The cover and inside pages are beautiful, gold and black. Perfecto.)

#westcoastbestcoast

This is one of our favorite spots, forever and always, on the Oregon coast. Leave the dogs at home or in the car (if the weather is cool, which it generally is.) All photos by me and my kid.

Enjoy your weekend.

WM

(“Boots’s Alberta Spruce & friends” — Photo by Nancy Ellen Row Rawley)

Here’s a partial list of everything I’ve planted in the past year (all successes, except for the clematis, and the cuke). I’m putting tomato cages around everything, and the chickens are mostly leaving stuff alone.

Vegetables
* tomato “Bush Early Girl” — surviving in spite of the deer
* tomato — Roma, ditto
* “Golden Cross Bantam Hybrid” corn — not so much. V. popular with deers.
* squash, yellow summer
* “Kentucky Wonder” pole beans
* a big, healthy artichoke — “Green Globe”
* sweet bell pepper “California Wonder”
* “Lunchbox Orange” sweet snacking pepper — the chickens keep digging it up; I keep replanting. We’ll see…
* Ferry-Morse Pumpkin “Jack O’Lantern”
* “Slicemaster Select” cuke (a goner)
* Bush Blue Lake Beans (yum. They’re good.)

Flowers
* Lupine “Russell’s Mixture”
* Laurentia Fluviatilis “Blue Star Creeper”
* Nasturtium (Mahogany)
* Baby’s Breath “Covent Garden”
* Lobelia “Color Cascade/Trailing Mixed Colors”
* Delphinium “Pacific Giants Mixture”
* Mexican Sunflower “Tithonia” — these took awhile to get going, but eventually got 10 feet tall and were just glorious
* Clematis “Jackmannii” (short-lived, due to chickens picking)

Boots’s Plants
* Alberta Spruce — several of these babies. They appreciate water.
* Begonia “Elatior”
* One sweet little lone fuchsia
* Raspberries! Marionberries! One of the chickens, Ludell, jumps straight up, snatches a berry, lands, gobbles it, and jumps straight up again. Rinse & repeat. I get that song stuck in my head when I see her doing this — “jump around! jump around! jump up jump up and get down!” Yeah, that’s her song.

All for now, loves.

WM

(All photos by my kid)

“Homing Instincts: Early Motherhood on a Midwestern Farm,” by Sarah Menkedick (Vintage Books, 2018, 276 pages, $17). A woman who has traveled the world travels back and begins her new life as a mom on her family’s farm in the Ohio countryside. I like Menkedick’s style, sister-from-another-planet, but down-home at the same time. It’s an interesting read. You feel like you’re right there when you read it.

“The Gravity of Birds,” by Tracy Guzeman (Simon & Schuster, 2013, 294 pages, $15.99). Just started this one, it’s very good.

“An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness,” by Kay Redfield Jamison (Vintage Books/Random House, 1995, 219 pages). “well i think/i’m losing my mind this time/this time/i’m losing my mind/that’s right…” — “What’Cha Want,” Beastie Boys We’ve all been there, babies. I read this book when it first came out, to try to figure out where shit went sideways with my Dad. I’m re-reading it now for my own sanity, and because I’m working with elders now, and there is nothing scarier than to feel your mind slipping away (see: dementia, see: memory loss, see: Alzheimer’s, see: too much info crammed into the computer that is the human brain). To know it’s happening, and not be able to stop the slide? Scariest shit ever. This is a brilliant work, from a brilliant lady. Read it.

“The Nightingale,” by Kristin Hannah (St. Martin’s Griffin, 2015, 567 pages, $16.99). World War II, the French Resistance, a love story… rock it. This was a birthday present from B. :)

(^^ That’s me! ^^ And photo by me, Nancy Ellen Row Rawley)

Bon appetit, babies, have a great weekend, bye.

WM

(Photo by I don’t know who)

(Photo by Nancy Ellen Row Rawley)

“Still Alice,” by Lisa Genova (SimonandSchuster.com, 2007, 293 pages). I remember watching the Julianne Moore film based on this novel when it came out in 2014 — Kristen Stewart and Alec Baldwin co-starred and were great, but Julianne Moore just owned the film. I found the novel to be a profoundly beautiful and upsetting work. It was so good. Genova holds a Ph.D. in neuroscience from Harvard, and is a columnist for the National Alzheimer’s Association. She is a big deal and all, and knows her stuff, but the only thing I care about is that she wrote a touching, insightful novel that will help others understand the inner workings of someone’s ravaged mind, and that will make you cry, too. Great novel.

(Photo by my kid)

“The Night Gardener: A Search for Home,” by Marjorie Sandor (The Lyons Press, 1999, 206 pages). Beautiful collection of essays by this Corvallis, Oregon/Oregon State University writer and teacher. I came across this book awhile back and am glad it found me.

(Photo by my kid)

“Making Time for Music: How to Bring Music Into Your Busy Life,” by Amy Nathan (Oxford University Press, 2018, 280 pages, $24.95). Great resource to get grown-ups inspired to begin or renew a love of music. The book includes a comprehensive reference section, as well. Nathan’s other books include “The Music Parents’ Survival Guide: A Parent-to-Parent Conversation,” and “The Young Musician’s Survival Guide.” Now go play.

Bon appetit, babies.

WM

We have skunks. They stink, but so do a lot of things, lol.

Photos by me, Nancy E. Row Rawley, gardener at large.

“Mae”

“Henna and McNugget”

“Leggy Peggy”

All for now, back to it.

XOXOXO

WM