The Adventures of a Girl Called Bicycle

 The Adventures of a Girl Called Bicycle

By Christina Uss

There's really only one word to adequately describe this book, and its one I'm a bit loathe to use, but here

goes anyway: charming. I know -- cringe. But hear me out. It's true.

The eponymous girl in question is left at a young age on the steps of a religious order called the Mostly Silent Monks. Their ethos is that it is better to listen than speak, so they have reduced their verbal communication to a mere eight words, the most expressive of which is, supposedly, sandwich. All of this near silence suits Bicycle quite well, which worries her main caregiver, a retired nun named Wanda, because the young woman seems averse to friendships with kids her own age. Her solution: A summer stay at the Friendship Factory, which guarantees -- guarantees! -- three friendships by the end.

The prospect of spending time at such an institution is more than Bicycle can take, so she sets off on a cross-country bicycle trip to the Blessing of the Bikes in San Francisco, where she hopes she can befriend her bicycling hero, a Polish star named Zbig, and prove to Sister Wendy that she does need Friendship Factory. Her journey is filled with adventure. She meets a Civil War ghost named Griffin G. Griffin who decides to haunt her bike and ride back to his hometown in Missouri. She helps a cafe owner develop a business plan, rescues a racehorse from the Kentucky Derby, loses her bike, buys a new technologically advanced bike at an auction, escapes another Friendship Factory, and finally, finally makes it to the Blessing of the Bicycles, where Wanda is, finally, convinced that Bicycle can, indeed, make friends.

So, why charming? It's partly the steadfast earnestness of the narrator. It's also the fact that the author inserts just enough whimsy. The whole ghost-inhabiting-a-bike thing could be borderline stupid; but she makes it work. Sure, there are parts that are a little over the top -- a scientist studying luck is invited to a fictional country with incessantly bad luck -- but for the most part it all works. And it is so upbeat. Even the downs make you smile. It was just what I needed at this moment.

Hatchet

 Hatchet

By Gary Paulsen

We've been trying to get Kes to read some chapter books without much luck -- Harry Potter was a no-go --

until this one stuck. I'm so glad it did. I'd remembered the story from when I was a kid, and it was great to both share that with him and also to rediscover just what a lovely book it really is. It's not just the plot, which unfolds at a perfect pace, but Paulsen's writing. This really is a literary tale. I love the cadence of Paulsen's sentences, the way he uses repetition and mixes up the length. He's not just trying to get you to read on, he's offering an opportunity to savor the experience. We now have the whole Brian series out from the library. I am looking forward to digging into them all.

Nothing to See Here

 Nothing to See Here

By Kevin Wilson

I came across this book after beginning Richard Powers' new book, Bewilderment, which certainly lived

up to its name for the first hundred pages or so. I was bewildered why the author would create a story so sad and, more importantly, why I was still reading it. So I went searching for something more...comical?

Despite Jacqueline Woodson's claim that Nothing to See Here is "laugh-out loud funny" (according to the book jacket), I didn't find it quite that. It was funny more in an absurdist, Phish kind of way. Exhibit A, the premise: A powerful Senator has two children who catch on fire when agitated. That's right, their skin bursts into flames when they are upset. And there is much to be upset about. They were kicked out of the filthy-rich politician's home when they were five, their mother just killed herself and tried to get them to join her, and they've spent the aftermath living with two incompetent grandparents only interested in checks from their father. So -- lots of fire. 

Enter Lillian, the narrator of the book, a longtime "friend" of the kids' stepmother, who is more or less obsessed with getting her new husband the post of Secretary of State so she can have some kind of political platform herself. It becomes Lillian's job to take care of the kids, to keep them from bursting into flames in a public way so that the vetting process can go off without a hitch. Lillian, whose life has amounted to very little -- in no small part because she agreed to take the fall when this step mother was caught with coke at the fancy private school she managed to get herself into -- is an unlikely caregiver. But she sees her weirdness reflected in the two kids, Bessie and Roland, and manages to bond with them.

Lillian's voice is what makes this story work. She has some very interesting turns of phrase. As she readies herself for Bessie to burn, for instance: "‘Roland,’ I said, so quietly, so calm, like I was euthanizing a cat, ‘go get me a towel, O.K.?’” Like she was euthanizing a cat?! What a wonderful comparison. Perhaps this is what made Jacqueline Woodson laugh.

I'll definitely be checking out more of Wilson's work.

The List of Things that Will Not Change

 The List of Things that Will Not Change

By Rebecca Stead

The list referred to in the title of the book was bestowed on the main character, Bea, when her parents let her know that they were getting divorced. But this is no usual divorce; Bea's dad, it turns out, is gay, and the separation is beyond amicable. To the list her parents started -- they will always love her, etc. -- Bea continues to add as she grows. So the divorce isn't really the conflict that one might think it is. Rather, the conflict is Bea's own internal struggle to accept herself, to control her impulsivity, and to forgive herself for the mistakes she has made. The backdrop to all of this is Bea's dad's wedding to his new partner.

If this all sounds a bit too tidy and even a little cliched -- there is even a scene at the wedding where an estranged cousin causes an anti-gay scene -- it is. But Stead is a great writer who made even this predictable tale engrossing.