I am not usually a fan of short story collections; I like really long books, long enough that I feel like the characters are friends by the time I finish reading. However, this collection of stories was delightful. I was engaged from the first story to the last. All three authors, Gratton, Stiefvater and Yovanoff, are popular young adult authors. They created a website, www.merryfates.com, as an avenue for experimentation and critique. This book is a selection (more than 25) of the more than 250 works the three have posted online. Some of the stories originated from an image, others from an idea, a sentence or a common prompt. Just as good as the stories themselves are the comments and illustrations of the authors. Every story begins with an introduction by one of the Merry Fates and comments from the author and has handwritten notes by any or all of the authors throughout the story. The selections range from stories about the fey and serial killers, to pyromaniacs, dragonslayers, berserkers and ghosts. This would be a wonderful book for any teen who wanted to become a writer.
Author Archives: SSBRC Former Member
The Right Fight – Book 1
How often did young men( pre-Viet Nam) think going off to war would be glorious? A soldier’s frustration and optimism of being at war are well balanced in this book . Chris Lynch writes this first book in his World War II series about a young man, Roman, who lives and breathes baseball, as a member of the minor league Red Sox team, that his going off to fight the Nazis will have to down sides to it. Roman enlists, even before Pearl Harbor and the United States involvement is declared. The town’s people have a send off for the baseball players who have enlisted, as this is the last game of the season. Roman is so gun ho. Then comes the many long months of training. “But I still couldn’t help feeling that, as much as we were learning in Louisiana and East Texas, in Kentucky and the Carolinas, it wasn’t nearly as much as the Nazis were learning in Poland and Czechoslovakia, in France, in Norway and Denmark, and the Soviet Union.” (p. 48) Why can’t they get to the actual fighting. “While I’ve been training, practicing, maneuvering for the better part of a year, the Nazis have been playing for real, dominating, spreading carnage and rewriting maps, with what seems to be feeble resistance along the way.” (p. 51) These first four chapters that make up Part 1 of the book are full of foreshadowing. Part 2 begins with more training, but this time in Northern Ireland. Then just two pages short of the middle of the book, Roman gets his first taste of battle- all the months of maneuvers couldn’t prepare them for this. Roman is a tank driver in North Africa. There is still down time, but now it is often due to waiting for the other squads to all aline before the battle can begin. There is down time traveling from one location to another, too, weeks of driving the tank cross country. Then, there are the actual battles. Landing on a beach, being shot at by the German Luftwaffe, seeing an enemy tank driver being burnt, having his tank partner loose his hearing due to the enemy bullets and shells hitting the outside of their tank, the retreating from the German, and later getting surrounded Germans and having their tank’s turret shot off along with three of its company while he survived.
The book is never graphic in its descriptions, but Lynch gets the point across. Roman learns of the mortality involved in war, but also knows that the Nazis must be stopped. This book ends with Roman and the only other living member of his tank comrades in Italy.
Furry and Flo: The Big Hairy Secret #1
Stephen Gilpin’s manga style illustrations, with its big eyes, skinny arms and legs, will grab the readers attention before the story begins, because in this case, the reader should judge the book by its cover! The black and white illustrations continue two or three times in each of the eleven chapters, too.
Flo (short for Florence – but don’t call her that) and her mother move around a lot since her father died. They are moving into yet another apartment building. This is the fourth in four years. Flo knows her mother is trying hard, but this isn’t much of a place, maybe they won’t be here long enough to unpack Flo thinks. After dinner, Flo goes to investigate who stole her entire box of Popsicles from the grocery bag in the hall, while they were unloading the rest of the groceries in the kitchen. Flo asks the new neighbor across the hall where the ‘underwear boy’ is? (Illustration on page 22 is priceless.) The grandmother tells Flo he’s down in the basement laundry room. Flo decides to not take the rickety elevator to the basement , but used the stairs instead. The stairs are filled with webs and big white fuzzy balls. Yuck. The ‘underwear kid’ is indeed doing the laundry. The kid’s name is Ferdinand, Furry for short. Furry asks Flo, ” Want to see something awesome?… It’s a crack in the floor…The light shining from the crack bathed his face in an eerie blue light. And just like that, Flo forgot all about the Popsicles.” (pg. 48-49) As it turns out, the building’s retired ‘maintenance guy’ informs Flo and Furry the apartment building was “built a long time ago on top of an ancient seal…. A seal like a plug… It was built to seal off a doorway into another world.” (p. 71) Furry and Flo work their way back up to their apartments on the 17th floor. A little while later, Flo hears Furry leaving his apartment and he has her box of Popsicles! Flo follows Furry up to the roof where the full moon turns him into a werewolf. The Popsicles are to help keep him cool in all the fur, hence only the ‘tightie whities’ (illustration on p. 83). Flo steps on one of the big white fuzzy balls on her way to the roof. It turns out, it is actually a giant spider egg and the mother spider is now after them. Back to the basement they go. They stop the giant mother spider by putting her eggs into the crack in the laundry room floor. “As Flo headed back upstairs to her new home, she got to thinking. Sure Coran Towers were dumpy and kind of creepy, but they were growing on her. And having a werewolf as a friend certainly didn’t hurt. At least I won’t be bored, Flo thought. (p. 120)
Flo has 3 questions to ask the readers to guide them into a deeper understanding of her character. Then Furry has 3 writing prompts for the readers. Finally there is sneak peak at Furry and Flo’s next book – The Problem with Goblins.
Truck Stop
This is a story especially for those youngsters who work as part of a family business. A mother, father, and young son run the diner at a truck stop, while his uncle runs the service garage. The mother, father, and son begin work long before daylight hours. The young boy catches his school bus from the diner, in the morning, after his job of squeezing the fresh orange juice. The diner has regular customers: the eighteen wheeler, the silver milk tanker, the moving van, the flat bed, and the tow truck. The family knows each trucker’s breakfast order by heart. This morning the old green pickup does come. Everyone begins to wonder where he can be. Off on the school bus, the boy asks the bus driver to radio in the location of the green pickup which he sees has broken down.
Melissa Iwai’s illustrations are done in bright paint and cut paper. There are 16 different types of trucks inside the front cover and repeated inside the back cover.
Stone Soup with Matzoh Balls: A Passover Tale in Chelm
Linda Glaser takes this well-known classic tale and adds all new charm to it by setting it in the fictional Jewish village of fools- Chelm.
“You know what we say at Passover,” the stranger proclaimed to the people in the square. ‘All who are hungry come and eat’.” The town’s people, of course, try to shoo the stranger away. Then, he shows them his stone that can make delicious matzoh ball soup. Little by little the stranger coaxes the villagers to bring out first the salt, then the onions, followed by garlic, carrots, celery, and chicken. The stranger is called to task for not having matzoh balls in the soup. His stone can make matzoh balls so heavy they will stay in your stomach for a week. To this the Chelm villagers bring out their famous light matzoh balls and put them into the soup. Then, “it took four men to lug the pot into the synagogue– the only place where everyone would fit for the Seder… The stranger spread his arms wide and proclaimed, ‘ All who are hungry, please come and eat!'”
On the page turn, the reader will learn about “A Little about Passover”, “A Little about Chelm”, and “A Little about Stone Soup”.
Three’s Company, Mallory! # 21
In this the 21st Mallory book, there is all the drama of pre-teen girls, but with more than the usual maturity level in the end to solve the problem.
It all begins when a new neighbor girl moves into the house across the street from Mallory. She looks incredibly like Mary Ann – Mallory’s BFF. Mallory is jealous immediately of the attention the new girl Chloe Jennifer (and her family) is getting from Mary Ann and is feeling left out. ” I just don’t like that having her around makes everything with Mary Ann different. It’s like Mary Ann has forgotten that we’re supposed to be best friends.” (p. 66) Mary Ann over compensates for Mallory’s coolness towards Chloe Jennifer. Mary Ann gets very bossy to the point she has Mallory cutting Chloe Jennifer’s hair. OOPS! Grounded. Chloe Jennifer has to get a new shorter hair style. “From the minute she moved to Wish Pond Road, I was so worried that she would mess up my friendship with Mary Ann that I didn’t really give her a chance. ” (p. 121) Mallory is able to get ungrounded to give Chloe Jennifer a chance. Also, Chloe Jennifer’s tells her side of the story about being the scared new girl to Mary Ann and Mallory.
Mallory and Mary Ann Take New York
Even though this is #19 in the Mallory series, it is my first time reading one. I found it quite enjoyable because it is so naturally believable and full of energy. This one begins, ” My favorite TV show, hosted by my favorite TV hostess, Fashion Fran, is about to have a fashion design contest for kids.”
( p. 7) Both Mallory and her best friend Mary Ann enter, they always do everything together. Mallory wins the contest. How will she keep her pinky swear promise to take Mary Ann to the TV show in New York? Mallory and Mary Ann convince their mothers to make this trip for 4 into a trip for 2 mothers and 2 daughters. WOW! [This trip is pretty amazing, because on two different pages the word “WOW! is repeated 10 times.] BUT rules are rules, so Fashion Fran’s assistant says only Mallory can be on the show. Now Mary Ann is mad and not talking to Mallory while they tour New York’s Statue of Liberty, Time Square, Central Park, and Johnny’s Famous Pizza. It’s the day of the Fashion Fran Show. Mallory whispers to Mary Ann how they can both be on the show. First Mallory will model and then Mary Ann will after the commercial break, by exchanging clothes in the restroom. They look so much alike, no one will notice. The difference between a right-handed wave by Mallory and a left-handed wave by Mary Ann at the end of the runway tips off Fran to the switch. ” ‘I don’t like being fooled,’ says Fran.’ But I understand the situation, and applaud you both for finding such a creative solution.. ‘.” ( 129)
The Home Fronts in World War I
This reference geared for upper elementary grades illustrates not the battles and campaigns of WWI but what life was like for those not engaged in battle. The chapters are short; each chapter answers a question, such as “Did Civilians Face Attacks?” or “What Was Life Like for Children?” Photographs and sidebars cover most of the pages; the book is more about sound bites than expansive information. One of the recurring sidebars is “In Their Own Words,” excerpts from primary sources; another is short biographical sketches of important individuals. Information on propaganda and posters were included. I was most surprised by the fact the home fronts of many countries, not just the U.S., were covered. The book concludes with a timeline, glossary and list of resources for more information. This could be a useful introduction to this aspect of WWI for elementary students.
The Saga of Erik the Viking
Terry Jones, best known as part of Monty Python’s team, wrote this story for his young son after going to an exhibition about Vikings at the British Museum. Deciding the Icelandic epics were a little difficult to read, he decided to tell the Sagas in a way that would be interesting to younger readers, filled with action, strange adventures, monsters, and magic. This is the 30th Anniversary Edition of the story of Erik, who is compelled to find the land where the sun goes at night, even though no one who has attempted the journey has successfully returned. The rest of the book relates his adventures in chapters that can be read individually as separate adventures so younger readers do not have to tackle the whole book at once; a teacher could easily read one adventure at a time aloud to a class. Jones strikes a balance between the formal storytelling tone of ancient myths and language accessible to modern school age children. When Erik returns home after his voyage, he tells the people of his village, ” We have faced the Dragon of the North Sea, we have three times tricked the Old Man of the Sea, we have been turned to stone…and we have been to the edge of the world and over it…” The tales of those adventures and more, including how he defeats Death in a game of chess, make up the book. This is a wonderful addition to the mythology section of a school library. This book would be a good next step for students who read D’Aulaire’s Book of Norse Myths.
Darkness Everywhere: The Assassination of Mohandas Gandhi
While this book does provide a biography of Gandhi, it does not focus solely on his life. Half of the book provides the history of the group of conspirators who plotted and carried out the execution of “Mahatmaji.” Gandhi’s evolution as a proponent of nonviolent civil disobedience, from his time in South Africa to his return to British-controlled India, is juxtaposed with the growing movement for a Hindu controlled India. Vinayak Damodar Savarkar was the leader of a group of Hindu nationalists who saw Gandhi’s vision of an independent India with freedom for both Muslims and Hindus as a betrayal of all Hindus. One of Savarkar’s followers, Nathuram Godse, decided that there was only one way to prevent Gandhi from further weakening India: Gandhi had to die, and Godse was willing to implement the solution. The book follows the conspirators through the assassination and the trial, and wraps up with more about Gandhi’s message and others who were inspired to action by it. The book is colorful; it includes many interesting sidebars, photos, and direct quotations from the major players in the events that occurred. Prime Minister Nehru’s speech to his nation after the assassination of Gandhi is included along with a few good ideas for a lesson connected to the speech. The book concludes with a timeline, a who’s who section with short biographies, a very short glossary, and a list of resources for further information. I see many uses for this book in the classroom to support both history and English curriculums and I highly recommend it.