The Year of Shadows - a review

Let me begin by saying that it's very hard to review a book that has already been so spectacularly reviewed by none other than its own author and main character!  Check out Claire Legrand's review of The Year of Shadows here.

Below is my more feeble attempt.

Legrand, Claire. 2013. The Year of Shadows. New York: Simon & Schuster.

(Advance Reader Copy)

Twelve-year-old Olivia Stellatella is a loner.  Black is her color of choice, and she prefers the company of her ever-present sketchbook to that of her peers at school.  It's been a difficult year, what with "The Economy" and all.  Olivia doesn't know exactly what "The Economy" means, only that in her case, it means that she now shops at the "charity store" and the orchestra that her father conducts may go out of business, taking his job with it. And her mom has left, an occurrence she blames solely on the Maestro. If that sounds bad, just wait; it gets worse.  Having spent all the family funds on the Philharmonic, the family's new "home" is the backstage area of the crumbling Emerson Hall, home of the Philharmonic orchestra.

Initially, her only "friend" is the peculiarly intuitive and communicative cat, Igor.

The cat rolled over at looked at me upside down. "Who's the Maestro?" I rolled over on my back too. Staring at him like this made my head hurt, but it was kind of fun. "Well, technically, he's half my DNA. But I don't like to think about that."

The cat blinked slowly, like he was already half asleep.

"I mean, I guess, yeah, he's my father." I made quotation marks with my fingers. "On paper, maybe. But not to me. I've disowned him, I guess you could say. " I paused, tapping my feet together. "Everyone at school thinks I'm crazy these days, you know.  Because of my clothes and because I draw all the time instead of talking to people.  I guess by talking to a cat I'm proving them right." 

Until she makes an unlikely friend in Henry, the "perfect" kid from school.

"Hey, cool," a voice said from above.  "You found a cat."

I scrambled up into a sitting position and faced the voice: red hair, tons of freckles, stupid ears that stuck out.

Henry Page.

Ugh. 

Together, Olivia and Henry meet the other inhabitants of Emerson Hall - ghosts, or more specifically, the affable Frederick, the mysterious Mr. Worthington, and the close yet strangely disconnected pair, Tillie and Jax. Frederick and friends may be friendly, but they are desperate as well.  Desperate to move on to the world of Death. And there are other more dangerous things than these ghosts haunting Emerson Hall.

If the orchestra cannot make enough money, the hall will be demolished.  If the hall is demolished, Olivia and her ghostly friends will become homeless.   Olivia believes that perhaps by helping set the ghosts on their way, she can begin to find her own way.  In the process, she learns that sometimes, it is only by looking outward to the plights and concerns of others,  that we can begin to understand our own.

The Year of Shadows is a dark and gripping tale that is not without humor, supplied primarily by the wryly comedic cat, and the antics of  Joan, Olivia's classmate and resident intermediate school protest performer. Olivia has just the right amount of sass and sarcasm for a troubled, but ultimately good, young girl. Goth-lite for middle school readers.

The publisher's site suggests The Year of Shadows for Grades 3-7.  I would suggest Grades 4-8, depending on the reader.

Look closely at the cover art for The Year of Shadows and in addition to Olivia and Igor, you will see Frederick, Mr. Worthington, Tillie and Jax.

Coming to a shelf near you, August 27, 2013.

Note:
If you're a librarian or book blogger, you may request an Advance Reader Copy of The Year of Shadows on the author's website.  I did!

Oprah: The Little Speaker

Weatherford, Carol Boston. 2010. Oprah: The Little Speaker. Illustrated by London Ladd. Tarrytown: NY.

If ever there was a life story about overcoming odds, Oprah, The Little Speaker is it. It's well worth remembering that as recently as the 1950s, a woman in the rural south could be raised in such primitive conditions

in a run-down house off a Mississippi dirt road...No indoor plumbing, just an outhouse, not even a bed of her own. ... God only knew what would become of that child.

Well, we all know now what became of that intelligent and precocious child. An inspiring story of Oprah Winfrey's earliest years; a paean to faith and the power of words.

Enjoy the trailer by Jefferey Weatherford.

Today's Non-Fiction Monday is hosted by Bookends. Head on over!

Share

Waiting for Normal

Connor, Leslie. 2008. Waiting for normal. New York: Harper Collins.

“Truth was I never really liked dinnertime. Breakfast was our best meal because it was the only meal that was normal. What I mean by that is we had either toast or cereal. That’s normal for breakfast – everyone eats those things for breakfast. But we often had cereal or toast for dinner, too. … So, toast dinners became my specialty.”

Addie and Mommers live in a dilapidated trailer, sitting on cinder blocks on a busy street corner in Schenectady. The corner, not in Schenectady’s best part of town, has a vacant lot, a Laundromat, and thankfully, a mini mart and gas station. The trailer is a parting gesture from Addie’s ex-stepfather. After Mommers fritters away the mortgage money on another Internet scheme and abandons Addie and her half-sisters while Dwight is out of town on a job, Dwight really has no other choice but to take his daughters (whom Addie affectionately calls, The Littles) and move on. But despite his love for her, Addie is not his daughter. Addie belongs to Mommers, and Mommers is what Addie describes as "all or nothing." The problem is, Addie often gets nothing, while business schemes, boyfriends, and Internet chat rooms, get all.

In spite of all this, Addie displays remarkable courage, self-sufficiency, adaptability, honesty and humor. She becomes friends with Soula, the sickly and overweight owner of the mini mart and and her employee, Elliot. She makes new friends at her new school. She waits for normal.

This first person account of a young girl's triumph over adversity is reminiscent of Susan Patron's Newbery winner, The Higher Power of Lucky, however, Connor's protagonist is more hopeful, more believable. Even the dismal Schenectady street corner trailer seems to offer more promise than Lucky's trailer in a remote California desert town.

Both a coming-of-age and a triumph over adversity story, Waiting for Normal is a winner.

Rumor has Waiting for Normal as a possible Newbery contender. If chosen, it will be the second choice in as many years of a young adult (YA) or teen title. As a children's librarian, I hope that juvenile (J) title is chosen instead. There are many good choices this year.