Snow Books, Fullmetal Alchemist, Theo of Golden, Time of the Child, & more

February Edition

For the Littles:
Story of the Snow: The Science of Winter’s Wonder by Mark Cassino
Did you know that a snowflake could form over a tiny fleck of volcanic ash? Or pollen, or bacteria, or plain old dirt? Something to think about if you eat snowcream…
We did this book for science, and I actually learned snowflake facts I had never heard before - how they are formed, the different kinds and why the different kinds form the way they do. There are actual pictures (and size comparisons to show you how big they would be in real life) that are simply beautiful. We read this after reading Snowflake Bentley.

Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martin
The true story of Wilson Bentley, a farmer who spent his life producing some of the first photographs of snowflakes. I was moved by his passion for his work - he spent more on making his photographs than he did selling them to universities, but it wasn’t about profit or fame for him - it was all about the snowflakes. I was particularly impressed that his parents supported his work by buying him his first camera - which, at the time, cost as much as his father’s entire herd of cattle.

The Dead Sea Squirrels by Mike Nawrocki
This entire 12-book series could have been ONE picture book.
Unfortunately for me, I naively checked them all out from the library for my 8-year-old and ended up reading the entire thing to her. The Entire Thing. (Actually my husband tag-teamed it with me because we are good at going through trials together). So the premise is Merl and Pearl Squirrel accidently get preserved in the Dead Sea caves (like the scrolls…get it….?) until a little boy finds them 2,000 years later. At first, the author starts to make these little moralistic stories - “don’t lie to your parents, kids!” - with a little bible story tacked on. Then around book three or four, the author decides to make this an international squirrel kidnapping story. What professor can afford to fly his entire family + two of the kid’s friends to Israel to look for squirrels? He’s not even the department chair! That was less realistic to me than the talking squirrels. Anyway, this whole series was awful, avoid at all costs!

For the Teens & Family Readaloud:

Fullmetal Alchemist by Hiromu Arakawa
My husband and I are going through our anime watching era (probably a mid-life crises), so we watched this whole series (the Brotherhood one NOT the first one, obviously), and my oldest two were itching to watch it too. But I was worried about the bloody fight scenes being too scary for my Sensitive Reader/Watcher, so I told them they had to read the manga first. My 14 year old read the entire series over a weekend.
FMA is the story of the Elric brothers, Edward and Alphonse, alchemists. In this show, alchemy is basically this magic power to manipulate elements to fight people - like make a big fist out of a clump of rock, or change a metal arm into a sword. Not everyone can do it, but Ed and Al are gifted, especially Ed - so when their mother dies, they attempt to bring her back to life (breaking the biggest rule of Alchemy!). This leaves Ed missing an arm and leg, and Al missing his entire body (his soul is in the big robot-looking body armer). The boys go on a quest to find the alchemy magic to get their bodies back.
I knew my teenagers would love this show because of Edward. He is a peppery punk kid but also self-sacrificing and noble. The plot starts off at their quest but eventually includes quite a bit of political intrigue and a bigger picture. The characters are complicated (“Greed” was another favorite character for my girls), and there is a enough humor to balance out the battle scenes.
Content warnings - Ed sometimes has some light cussing (by “light cussing,” I mean he may say “hell” or “damn”), there are some kind of scary episodes with skeletons or zombies or blowing up people. I didn’t personally feel it was gratuitous violence. For my family, I think I’m going to keep this a for ages 12+, depending on the kid.
But if you are a grown-up, go for it!

The Bootlace Magician by Cassie Beasley
I reviewed the first book in this series recently, and I read this one just for myself. I actually liked it better than the first book - the magical circus, the performers with unusual abilities, the kid processing grief and being newly adopted and fitting in with his new world - it was a bit Harry Potterish but not cheesy. I kind of wish there were going to be more in the series, but the author did wrap it up pretty well and doesn’t intend to do more - I hope she explores the world with other characters though. The Lightbender (basically a man who can create hallucinations) is especially interesting, sort of like a Zen Indiana Jones. The epilogue is dumb though, skip it.

For Myself:
Theo of Golden by Allen Levi
Overall, I thought this book was too sweet for my taste.
An old guy (Theo) goes to this small town (Golden) and in the coffee shop sees a series of portraits. He decides to buy each portrait and gift it to the person who is the subject of the art -
My murder-mystery version of this book: Then, the people he gifts them to end up murdered! Of course he would be a suspect, but it wasn’t him - who was it then? The Artist? The barista? Or someone else entirely…
Reality: Theo gifts the portraits to each person and through their talking we learn about the different characters, and he makes all of their lives better through his kindness and generosity.
I thought these parts were a bit “tell” instead of “show” (you know, show don’t tell, as they say?), and I would have rather just seen how the characters lives were instead of the interviews. Also I could tell it was this guys first book because his writing is a bit flowery and wordy / trying to be poetic. Also, there is no real bad guy. I need a villain! Or at least an inner-turmoil that acts as a villain!
So I think this book is tolerable but “not enough to tempt me…”

In contrast….

Time of the Child by Niall Williams
This book is gorgeous. A sequel, but following different characters, to This Is Happiness, which I also adored. The harsh 1950’s Irish countryside, the poetry and wisdom on every page, the complex characters…In this story Dr. Troy and his daughter Ronnie are caring for a foundling newborn, trying to keep the general public from finding out about the baby and taking her away. This book is a slow burn and the prose is so beautiful it’s like eating really rich chocolate cake. It reminded me a bit of Carr’s A Month in the Country (perhaps from place setting but also pacing?). I finished this book and immediately began looking for which Williams book to begin next.
Just one little quote:
“There might have been an invisible force pressing down on each day, but rain and religion had left the people a twinned philosophy of offering it up and getting on with it.”
Ok, one more:
“I’ll see you in the morning,’ her father said, and raised a palm a few inches in a compendium gesture of Goodnight farewell thank you I’m sorry and I love you.”

Also, I’m suddenly obsessed with -

The Half-Finished Heaven by Tomas Transomer, translated by Robert Bly
Everytime I love a poet in translation, I inevitably hear from someone that I am reading the VERY WORST translation - so if I am, let me know. Actually, I like to read poets in multiple translations and see which one I like best.
Read “The Bookcase” on page 4 (I am sorry I could not lift this from the internet somewhere- but this is a good link!). I have been thinking about this poem for weeks. First off, a prose poem - those I read less often than the lineated variety - but also the breath on the glass… ah it is so good! So please stop reading this and go read that, it is much better than anything I have to say here.

Writing Updates:
I have a few upcoming online workshops (Sharon Olds and Louise Gluck) that are still open if you are interested.