DECEMBER 18TH?? A book a, ahem, week?

Okay.
I admit it. December sucked me up in its vortex of madness. Alumbradas, novenas, natilla, bunuelos ... Christmastime in Colombia is more than busy. IT'S MADNESS. Every night (every single night) there's an event. My girls have been on the Colombia Christmas buzz for a couple of weeks now meaning they're overstimulated, overtired, sensitive, crabby, and balls of excitement all at the same time. We go from tears to laughter in millimoments ... and that's just me.
This. IS. EXHAUSTING.
That said, I have SIX BOOKS to make up for my utter lack of dedication to the task. You still have SHOPPING DAYS LEFT! So my list includes everything from funeral singers to satire to art to non fiction ... compelling reads for everyone.

Please, somebody, TAKE ME AWAY! (That was my wee little cry for help in the turmoil here).

 I keep thinking, "I wish my Dad could've read this book." It's devastating, compelling, stressful ... I just kept wanting to scream, "STOP PLOWING THE DAMNED EARTH!" Every page terrifying, like watching a death march. For example, in April, one dust storm one afternoon moved TWICE THE AMOUNT OF EARTH that was extracted from the Panama Canal. (Which took seven years to build).
Simply phenomenal. (Adult -- mature content and a hefty read.)

Here's the blurb:

The dust storms that terrorized the High Plains in the darkest years of the Depression were like nothing ever seen before or since.
Timothy Egan’s critically acclaimed account rescues this iconic chapter of American history from the shadows in a tour de force of historical reportage. Following a dozen families and their communities through the rise and fall of the region, Egan tells of their desperate attempts to carry on through blinding black dust blizzards, crop failure, and the death of loved ones. Brilliantly capturing the terrifying drama of catastrophe, Egan does equal justice to the human characters who become his heroes, “the stoic, long-suffering men and women whose lives he opens up with urgency and respect” (New York Times).

In an era that promises ever-greater natural disasters, The Worst Hard Time is “arguably the best nonfiction book yet” (Austin Statesman Journal) on the greatest environmental disaster ever to be visited upon our land and a powerful cautionary tale about the dangers of trifling with nature.

 Melanie is snarky, talented, and has a wry sense of humor. Plus, it's completely unexpected! This is a great book for music lovers, romance lovers, and readers who want to escape an afternoon.
Definitely a great gift for later high school+

Blurb:
Being a funeral singer was a dead-end job until it led her to him ...

Seventeen-year-old Melanie Martin has witnessed her share of lame eulogies and uninspired epitaphs while singing part-time at her dad's funeral home. She's determined to be more than a funeral singer, more than just someone's "beloved wife" or "loving mother."

When Mel's impromptu rendition of "Amazing Grace" at a local rock star's graveside service goes viral on YouTube, she becomes an Internet sensation, gains thousands of fans and followers, and snags a hot rock star boyfriend--Zed Logan, bass player for The Grime.

But instant fame isn’t easy—and neither is love. Especially when Mel realizes she’s falling for another guy—one who may just want her heart more than her voice.   Last year, my mom gave this to me. I've always been a die-hard Calvin & Hobbes fan. And here, I GOT THEM ALL! What I really loved was the forward by Bill Watterson -- the inside story behind the comic strip, how it developed, and how he fought to not make it into trinket/commercial-ville.
Simply astounding. Every single page brings me to tears!






Vernon God Little, written by DBC Pierre, is, hands down, one of the best novels I’ve read in the past ten years. Winer of the 2003 Man Booker  Prize, Vernon God Little is as surprising as it is unsettling. Set in small town, trailer-park central, Texas, USA, this is a story about how Vernon Gregory Little's life has been turned upside-down after his friend, Jesus Navarro, commits a Columbine-style massacre at his school.
This no-name town becomes the center of a media frenzy as a hungry-for-fame hack reporter, Eulalio Ledesma (yes, they all have weird names in the book!), manipulates events to look like Vernon was the perpetrator of the school killing.
Vernon heads to Mexico, Against All Odds-style to escape trial and possible death row with Taylor Figueros. As you can imagine, he doesn't escape and at his trial is represented by a Johnny Cochran-style big-shot lawyer
This is a slicing satire about American media, reality TV, fifteen-minute-famers, death row, and tragedy becoming a media orgy. And it's one of the funniest novels I've ever read in the midst of it all. I laughed out loud from beginning to end, and I sure wish this would be required reading when it comes to media ethics.
Writing a novel is hard work.
Writing comedy, real comedy, is an art.
Plus, Vernon is the best anti-hero I've ever read. And he's always nice to his mom (who's worth about as much as her latest home perm).(mature high schoolers + )



It was like he had taken a wrecking ball/and SMASHED IN/The House of Jazz,/till the walls came tumbling down….
Dizzy, written by Jonah Winters and illustrated by Sean Qualls, is a picture book about the life of legendary jazz trumpet player John Burks “Dizzy” Gillespie. This visually phenomenal, breathtakingly rhythmic journey into the turbulent life of this trumpet musician takes no short cuts and doesn’t gloss over the incredibly difficult life of Gillespie growing up in poverty in an abusive home. Gillespie’s life changed the day a teacher gave him a trumpet and Gillespie’s red-anger splashes over the pages as he plays into the trumpet with a blare. Follow the rhythm of the music, the colors that accompany Gillespie’s journey through childhood sadness to the vibrant city life in New York. A starred Booklist review says “Qualls is able to translate the story (and the music) into shapes and colors that undulate and stream across the pages with a beat and bounce of their own.”If you or your children don’t know much about jazz, check out Dizzy  and get lost in a palette of colors and rhythms. Then sit back and listen to Dizzy’s version of The Way You Look Tonight and literally be blown away.
Just as with Shaun Tan, Oliver Jeffers is another PHENOMENAL ARTIST who illustrates picture books. His work is simply gorgeous. (I kinda wish I had all of his books, signed ... but anyway). My favorites, though, end this post with TWO great great picture books. (I sometimes think I'm giving my girls books I want just because I want them. But that's okay. That's why books are books -- to share!) I think the key to remember is this we don't read TO our kids, we read WITH them ... :-)