Donuthead and Donutheart by Sue Stauffacher

Synopsis: Franklin Delano Donuthead (yes, that really is his name) is afraid of everything. He doesn’t see it that way – he just sees it as avoiding unnecessary risk. Franklin could quote you risk factors for engaging in practically anything (painting outdoors on a metal ladder near the power lines: high risk of electrocution), but when he meets Sarah Kervick in 5th grade, his life begins to turn upside down. Sarah is far from Franklin’s high sanitary standards, and yet they end up friends. By the end of the first book, Donuthead, Franklin begins to suspect that maybe his way of living in fear of everything isn’t the best. By the end of the second book, Donutheart, Franklin finds himself doing things he never would have considered the year before.

Rating: Both excellent.

Opinion: Franklin is wonderful. He is so exact in his language (especially for a 5th and 6th grader), so fastidious, and yet very warm-hearted and loyal. He is hilarious, though he doesn’t realize it.

My story takes a decidedly dangerous turn on the morning of our
visit to Happy Cattle Dairy Farm. Needless to say, I always position
myself just in back of the bus driver to take advantage of the extra
protection offered by the plastic barrier located behind her head.
Originally intended to shield the bus driver from spitballs, it might
hold the weight of my body in a minor impact situation.
(Donuthead p. 9)

I loved the humor in the writing – I really did laugh out loud at some of the passages. I was also on the edge of my seat about Sarah. The real drama in the story is about Sarah and her home life. I liked the juxtaposition between Sarah’s real problems and Franklin’s self-perceived ones – we see everything through Franklin, since he is the narrator, but the reader can clearly see the difference between Sarah’s problems and Franklin’s. Both these books would be great for 4th or 5th graders of most reading levels – they’re easy enough to comprehend the basic story, but the story also has depth for more advanced readers. I hope that there are more Donuthead books to come!

The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron

Synopsis: Lucky Trimble is a curious, independent child who is in the guardianship of her father’s first wife, Brigitte. Brigitte is French and came to California to be her temporary guardian, and Lucky is afraid she will move back to France and Lucky will have to go to an orphanage. The story follows Lucky as she strives to find her Higher Power (Lucky eavesdrops on AA meetings and other twelve-step programs at her job of cleaning up at Hard Pan’s Found Object Wind Chime Musem), even though she’s not really sure what that is, exactly. Miles, her five-year-old friend, and Lincoln, a classmate and future president (if you ask his mother), come along for some of her adventures.

Rating: Very good

Opinion: This book won the Newbery, so I expected a great book. I was a tad bit disappointed for this reason: I put the book down about half-way through to read something else, and it took me a long time to pick it back up again. I wasn’t even sure I was going to finish it. To me, that says that the book wasn’t gripping. However, it was a very well-written book, even if it wasn’t a thrilling page-turner. Lucky is so accurately drawn as a child. She hears a few things, sees Brigitte’s passport in a suitcase, and jumps to the conclusion that Brigitte is leaving her to move back to France. With her world tumbling down around her, Lucky comes up with a grand plan to keep Brigitte with her: she plans to run away, which will make Brigitte realize that she wants to keep Lucky. That thinking – that logic – is spot-on for a child. I remember thinking similar things as a child, and I wasn’t even an orphan, like Lucky is.

Now, to weigh in on the Great Scrotum Debate, oh joy! Having read the book from cover to cover, I really think that there is more controversy than there needs to be. See, on the first page of the book is the word scrotum. Not a word you hear in everyday conversation, I’ll grant you, but Lucky overhears this word and wonders what it means. It’s not even talking about a man’s scrotum – it’s a dog’s. It comes up again at the end of the book when Lucky asks Brigitte what it means, and she explains it in very straightforward terms. And that’s it. It’s not the central theme of the book, nor does it go into raunchy terms inappropriate for the book’s readership. This is essentially a book about a child who needs to be loved and to be taken care of, and it’s a shame that a single word overshadows what is good about this book.

Shopaholic & Baby by Sophie Kinsella

Synopsis: Becky Brandon, née Bloomwood, is back and larger than life (literally! Her bump is is getting bigger by the month). At the end of the last book, she found out she’s pregnant, and at the start of this one, she’s super excited and buying five prams (all of them necessary, of course). When she finds out that there’s a celebrity obstetrician in London, she just has to switch baby doctors. She might meet Kate Winslet! However, Dr. Carter turns out to be an ex-girlfriend of Luke’s from Cambridge, and Becky starts to suspect something is going on. They even text in Latin! Does fac me laetam mean what she thinks it means?? Meanwhile, They’ve found the house of their dreams (it has the coveted Shoe Cupboard!), but the owners accepted another offer while they’re looking at it. Becky must have it – can her fashion connections give her an edge? On top of that, Becky works for The Look, which is a joke of a clothing store. The press are calling the store cursed for all of the misfortunes that have happened, and every day the store is deserted. Becky has the bright idea to bring her now-famous designer friend Danny in to do an exclusive, but, considering how flaky he is, is it really such a wonderful idea?

Rating: Laugh-out-loud funny!

Opinion: Kinsella really delivered another good one with the latest Shopaholic. I adore this series, and I was afraid that the later books in the series wouldn’t be as good, but my fears were unfounded. Becky’s shopping obsession has another outlet – baby supplies. It’s a whole untapped market for her! Jess is also back and encouraging Becky to make her own nappies from rags and rent her baby crib and pram, while Becky secretly orders a £1200 crib. The situations Becky gets herself into made me laugh out loud, literally. I hope the next one will be as good as the rest.

A Drowned Maiden’s Hair by Laura Amy Schlitz

Synopsis: Who doesn’t love an orphan story? Anne of Green Gables, the Boxcar Children, or Secret Garden, anyone? This story has all the charm of these stories, as well as an intriguing mystery and refreshing realism. Maud is an orphan who doesn’t fit in well at the asylum, and when the Hawthorne sisters come to adopt a little girl, she is defiantly singing “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” at the top of her voice in the outhouse. Thus begins her unconventional relationship with the Hawthorne sisters. She is to be a “secret child”, about whom nobody is to know. Maud is so desperate to leave the awful orphanage that she doesn’t care that she has to stay inside and hide when visitors come. Only after she has been with them for a while does she discover their secret life that they have been hiding from her.

Rating: Very, very good. I’m not sure why this didn’t get a Newbery honor.

Opinion: I especially enjoyed the quality of writing in this book. The author obviously has a great appreciation of language:

Maud was altogether blissful. For the first time, she
was wearing the white muslin dress that was her best,
and she was drunk with the glory of so much lace.
Hyacinth had tied the bow of her sash and encouraged
her to adorn herself with her new glass beads. Maud
felt almost too fine to breathe. She sat dagger straight,
cut her food into minuscule portions, and ate with
impeccable daintiness. [p. 102]

I really enjoyed the fact that the bad characters aren’t pure evil and the good characters aren’t angels. Maud is basically a good kid at heart, but she’s also stubborn, proud, and willful. Hyacinth appears an angel to Maud, but she is self-serving and doesn’t truly care for Maud or anyone else. Muffet, the family servant, seems slow and unintelligent at first because she is mute, deaf, and makes a moaning noise when she walks (with a limp); however, she is very smart and learns sign language quickly. And while the ending is predicable, it is the resolution that the reader longs for the entire book. This is a very satisfying book to read.