The Strongest Man in the World: Louis Cyr

Debon, Nicolas. The Strongest Man in the World, Louis Cyr. Groundwood Books/House of Anansi Press, 2007. Tr. $18.95, ISBN 978-0-88899-731-9.

           What’s it about?

This short, unique biography in a graphic novel format tells the story of little-known Quebecois strongman Louis Cyr through the eyes of his young daughter, Emiliana.

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 The Strongest Man in the World, Louis Cyr by French author and artist Nicolas Debon is a well-crafted biography about a little-known Canadian. Readers today may not be familiar with the Louis Cyr, the Quebecois weight lifter who died a century ago. This graphic-novel style biography invites them to learn about this humble man and his amazing feats of strength. The book opens in November, 1900 with a warning from a doctor: if Louis does not retire from weightlifting, he may not live to see 1901. Emiliana, his daughter, reminisces with him about his career, beginning with his childhood memories of his grandfather, also a man of considerable strength.  As Louis tells of his feats of strength and the founding of his own circus, Emiliana asks more questions that unfold the story.

The expressive panels have a retro feel, which is enhanced by the simple palette of muted browns, reds, grays and blues. The endpapers are illustrated with sideshow performers who appeared in the Louis Cyr circus, including contortionists and a man who bent nails and coins with his teeth. The author’s afterward notes the dark side and eventual decline of circus sideshows. There are reproduced archival photos of Louis Cyr and his family and a poster from 1898, complete with Cyr’s $25,000 challenge to competitors worldwide.  Amazingly, Debon notes, some of Cyr’s records still hold today, despite the large improvements in training and nutrition in this sport.  This is a story with heart; Louis is an admirable man and father because he refused to cheat, winning well-deserved worldwide acclaim in an era where tricks and exaggeration were commonplace-- even expected-- for weightlifters. Louis retires with grace, noting to his daughter that “the strongest of all is the man who knows how to leave what he has loved with no regret.” Tweens will enjoy the non-traditional format of this little-known historical figure. Circuses and feats of strength are curious topics, especially to children that gobble up the Guinness World Book of Records.  This is an unassuming and unique gem of a book that more people need to know about.    

Genre label: Nonfiction (biography in graphic novel format)

Subjects/themes: Weight-lifting, History, Biography, Strongmen, French Canadians, Circuses, Sideshows, Fathers

Reading level: 5^th grade

Interest level: Grades 3-6

Awards:

Boston Globe-Horn Book Award winner, Nonfiction, 2007 

Best Friends and Drama Queens (Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls #3)

Cabot, Meg. Allie Finkle’s Rules for Girls: Best Friends and Drama Queens. Scholastic, 2009. Tr. $15.99 ISBN 978-0-545-04043-3.

What’s it about?
When Allie comes back to school after winter break, she discovers she is no longer the new girl--there is a new girl Cheyenne, from Canada, who turns fourth grade into a comical boy/girl drama!  

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Not so long ago, Allie Finkle was the new girl at Pine Heights Elementary. Now a girl all the way from Canada is the new kid in town. Allie wants to make her feel welcome, but feels that Mrs. Hunter is asking a bit too much of her when she asks Allie to switch her seat to make room for the new girl. She plans to seat the new girl, Cheyenne, next to Allie’s friend Erica and place Allie in the back with Rosemary (who previously bullied Allie, but then became friends) and the rowdiest boys in the class.  Allie wants to please her favorite teacher, so she says yes. Allie and her friends are nice kids, so when they see Cheyenne all alone at recess, they invite her to play their favorite game. Cheyenne rudely replies that since they are in fourth grade, they are too old to play “babyish” games of pretend. Instead, she introduces the kissing game to the fourth grade. Then she insists that all the fourth graders pair up and start “going together.” Allie isn’t ready for this, but nor is she is ready to be the laughingstock of the fourth grade, with her new nickname “Big Baby Finkle.”

In the third book of the Allie Finkle’s Rules for Girls series, Allie is confronted with peer pressure and different type of bullying from what she faced in The New Girl. Her new classmate is pushing herself and her classmates into growing up. Kissing and going out are not usually high on the list of a fourth grader’s priorities, but they are high on Cheyenne’s list. She influences her peers to discard everything she thinks is “babyish,” and pushes them to do things most of them are not ready for, and don’t yet understand. Young tweens are confronted by this constantly, by the media and their peers, and it is refreshing to see that Allie remains a hold out. This isn’t easy for her to do, though. She is ridiculed, especially when she ends up being the only girl besides Rosemary to not “go out” with a boy, and ends up so upset that she shuts herself in a closet and bawls.  Allie is not a mindless conformist, but her feelings are as fragile as any other child’s. Hand this book to younger tween girls, especially those navigating the perilous waters of friendship, cliques, bullying and the pressure to grow up too soon.    

Series information:
#1 Moving Day
#2 The New Girl
#3 Best Friends and Drama Queens
#4 Stage Fright
#5 Glitter Girls & the Great Fake Out
#6 Blast from the Past

Read alikes:
Beverly Cleary’s Ramona series

Paula Danizger’s
Judy Blume’s Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great and the Fudge series

For a slightly older audience: Judy Blume’s Starring Sally J. Friedman as Herself, and Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret

For a slightly younger audience: Pennypacker’s Clementine series and Park’s Junie B. Jones series

Reading level: 5th grade

Interest level: Grades 3-5

Genre: Humor, Friendship Fiction, Contemporary Realistic Fiction

Subjects: Friendship, cliques, maturity, popularity, rules

Characters:

Allie Finkle—the nine-year-old protagonist with a penchant for rules

Caroline—Allie’s best friend—the smartest girl in fourth grade

Sophie—Allie’s best friend—pretty and in love with “Prince Peter” a.k.a Peter Jacobs

Erica—Allie’s best friend and next-door neighbor—a spirited gymnast

Jay—Allie’s uncle, who is studying poetry in college

Kevin—Allie’s youngest brother, obsessed with pirates

Mark—Allie’s younger brother, obsessed with dirt bikes, bugs and sports

Mrs. Hunter—Allie’s teacher

Rosemary—Allie’s tough classmate, and foe-turned-friend of Allie  

Cheyenne—a boy-obsessed drama queen, who has little tolerance for girls who act like “babies”

The New Girl (Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls #2)

Cabot, Meg. Allie Finkle’s Rules for Girls: The New Girl. Scholastic, 2008. Tr. $15.99 ISBN 978-0-545-04049-5.

What’s it about?

Being the new girl is not easy, as Allie Finkle, the new girl at Pine Heights Elementary, can attest.  While she makes new friends, one scary enemy, the biggest, toughest girl in the fourth grade, Rosemary Dawkins, makes life difficult for her.  

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Allie Finkle is the new girl at Pine Heights Elementary, and while she loves her new teacher, Mrs. Hunter, and her new friends, Caroline, Erica and Sophie, who love to play the same games she enjoys, a bully, a big, tough girl named Rosemary Dawkins, teases her and threatens to beat her up. While Allie dodges Rosemary, and seeks out advice on how to deal with her from her friends and the adults in her life, she and her family are still adjusting to their new home. When Grandma comes to visit from out of town and sees that the family hasn’t received their stove yet, she orders them another one—but not the one Allie’s parents want. Feeling unappreciated, she storms out and goes to Allie’s Uncle Jay. Fortunately, Grandma’s ruffled feathers get smoothed out, and Allie gets exciting news—she finally gets to take home her new, prematurely born kitten Mewsette.  Allie’s mind is on taking care of Mewsie, so she lets her guard down regarding Rosemary. Following the advice of the janitor Mr. Elkhart, she begins to look at Rosemary in a new light.

The New Girl is a better book that the first Allie Finkle book Moving Day. The characters are more complex, and Allie is portrayed as a more thoughtful and mature kids than she was in the first book. The relationship between Allie’s grandmother and parents is interesting because it is a tense, complex relationship. The grandmother seems to have plenty of money and not a lot of patience. She expresses her frequent displeasure in passive-aggressive jibes. For instance, she tells Allie’s mother, “Don’t you look shapely, Elizabeth,” and when she hears Jay will meet them later, at dinner, she says, “Undergraduate students who are in their sixth year of taking poetry classes always have very important work to do, indeed.” She has a softer side, however, helping Allie care for her new kitten. By the end of the story, Rosemary turns out to be more complex than expected as well. The New Girl is a good exploration of friendship, bullying, and family relationships. This is a great book to hand to younger tween girls.  Allie is easy to relate to for this age group, because she is not a little girl, and still a long way from her teen years. Developmentally, she is beginning to form her own identity separate from her parents. She is actually mortified when her parents and grandmother come to her spelling bee, but she is still young enough to enjoy using her imagination in a make-believe battle between Queens and an evil warlord.

Genre: Humor, Friendship Fiction, Contemporary Realistic Fiction

Reading level: 5th grade

Interest level: Grades 3-5

Read alikes:

Beverly Cleary’s Ramona series

Paula Danizger’s Amber Brown series
Judy Blume’s Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great and the Fudge series

Lindgren’s Pippi Longstocking

For a slightly older audience: Judy Blume’s Starring Sally J. Friedman as Herself, and Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret

For a slightly younger audience: Pennypacker’s Clementine series and Park’s Junie B. Jones series

Subjects: Friendship, Rules, Family, Grandmothers, Bullies, Kittens

Series information:
#1 Moving Day
#2 The New Girl
#3 Best Friends and Drama Queens
#4 Stage Fright
#5 Glitter Girls & the Great Fake Out
#6 Blast from the Past

Characters:

Allie Finkle—the nine-year-old protagonist with a penchant for rules

Caroline—A new friends of Allie’s—the smartest girl in fourth grade

Sophie—A new friend of Allie’s—pretty and in love with “Prince Peter”

Erica—Allie’s friend and next-door neighbor—a spirited gymnast

Jay—Allie’s uncle, who is studying poetry in college

Kevin—Allie’s youngest brother, obsessed with pirates

Mark—Allie’s younger brother, obsessed with dirt bikes, bugs and sports

Mrs. Hunter—Allie’s new teacher

Rosemary—Allie’s classmate—a bully who taunts Allie and threatens to beat her up

Allie Finkle's Rules for Girls: Moving Day

Cabot, Meg. Allie Finkle’s Rules for Girls: Moving Day. Scholastic, 2008. Tr. $15.99 ISBN 978-0-545-03947-5

What’s it about?

Allie Finkle has lots of rules, and one is that you don’t let your family move into a haunted house, where there might be a disembodied zombie hand in the attic! Will Allie succeed at saving her family?

Find out more:

Allie Finkle loves math and science because they have rules—and Allie really likes rules, because that way, you know where you stand. Things like friendship are much more complicated. After getting into a fight with her weepy friend Mary Kay, she decides that she’d better get the rules of friendship in writing, and she creates “Allie Finkle’s Rules for Girls,” where she records nuggets of wisdom like “you can never make a second first impression” and “don’t put your cat in a suitcase.”  Allie records lots of new rules when her parents announce they are moving to a decrepit old house that may be haunted. She is adamantly against moving, and finds ways to sabotage the move. She knows that if she behaves maturely, she will get a kitten, but her fears drive her to find ways to stop the move, even though she may have found a new group of friends that she can relate to, instead of the obnoxious and mostly fair-weather friends she has in her old neighborhood.  

Meg Cabot is a well-known author of chick-lit for teens, particularly the Princess Diaries series. The Allie Finkle series is Cabot’s first stab at writing for tweens. Allie Finkle is a memorable character, whose good intentions don’t quite match with some of her actions. In fact, she does some really bratty and potentially dangerous things, like setting up a booby trap with her rock collection to chase away potential buyers.  She redeems herself in other ways, such as confronting her classmate Brittany Hauser’s mistreatment of her beautiful Persian cat, Lady Serena Archibald. Cabot’s style is very readable and humorous, and Allie’s voice is believable.  This is a fun, entertaining read, and the portrayal of an intelligent girl’s methods of making sense of the rules of friendship and other gray areas is spot on. One criticism I have is the unconvincing portrayal of the parents. Allie’s bad behavior was essentially rewarded at the end of the book. Although she did a good thing by standing up for the cat, her other actions and sabotage of the move should have been punished, not rewarded. What sane parent gives their child a kitten after they’ve set up a dangerous trap that could have injured someone??  

Genre: Humor, Friendship Fiction, Contemporary Realistic Fiction

Reading level: 5th grade

Interest level: Grades 3-5

Reviews/Awards: Starred review in Publisher’s Weekly

Read alikes:

Beverly Cleary’s Ramona series

Paula Danizger’s Amber Brown series
Judy Blume’s Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great and the Fudge series

For a slightly older audience: Judy Blume’s Starring Sally J. Friedman as Herself, and Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret

For a slightly younger audience: Pennypacker’s Clementine series and Park’s Junie B. Jones series

Subjects: Moving, Friendship, Rules, Family, Fear, Treatment of Animals

Series information:
#1 Moving Day
#2 The New Girl
#3 Best Friends and Drama Queens
#4 Stage Fright
#5 Glitter Girls & the Great Fake Out
#6 Blast from the Past

Characters:

Allie Finkle—the nine-year-old protagonist with a penchant for rules

Mary Kay—Allie’s cry baby off and on best friend at Allie’s old school

Brittany Hauser—a bratty, volatile classmate whose mistreatment of her cat boils Allie’s blood

Erica—a potential new friend at Allie’s new school

Courtney—a genuine friend of Allie at her old school

Jay—Allie’s uncle, who is studying poetry in graduate school and has a great TV, but little elkse in his apartment

Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret

Blume, J. Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret. Delacorte Books for Young Readers, 2010, c1970. Paperback $8.99 ISBN 978-0-3857-3986-3

What’s it about? Eleven year old Margaret has lots of worries about growing up, boys, and faith--even though her parents aren’t religious. She has always talked to God, but now she wants to find out where she hears him best--in a synagogue, a Protestant church or a Catholic parish.

Find out more:

Eleven year old Margaret Simon’s family has just moved to a New Jersey suburb, where everything is new—her friends, her school, the neighborhood boys, and the distance from her beloved grandmother, Sylvia Simon. She feels out of the loop about a lot of things, including kissing experience, puberty, and religion. Margaret shares her worries with God, including concerns about her crush, Philip Leroy.  She begins to resent the fact that her parents don’t practice religion, because other kids don’t have to choose—they are born into their faith.  Religion has driven a wedge between her maternal grandparents and the rest of her family, and when her trip to visit Grandma Sylvie is cancelled because her mother’s parents--who have never even met Margaret-- are visiting, Margaret’s faith is tested.

Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret is one of the prolific Judy Blume’s best known novels. Blume has an uncanny knack for giving her young characters authentic voices, and Margaret is no exception.  She is an observant narrator, with refreshing and humorous candor. Margaret’s dilemma is frankly discussed; she is afraid of being the last girl in her class to develop and get her first period. She is eager for this to happen, and this is the topic of many of her prayers. It is touching that her relationship with God is so authentic, and sad that she doesn’t feel that she belongs in any particular faith. She concludes that she won’t make up her mind one way or another for a long while. Her conversations with God don’t end, though, as the book closes with Margaret relaying some exciting news to him. This is a book primarily for girls entering or about to enter puberty. This is not an easy topic for some girls to address, and it is refreshing to see a sympathetic portrayal of physical maturity that is neither crude nor saccharine sweet. 

Genre: Contemporary Realistic Fiction, Friendship fiction, Humor

Reading level: 4^th grade

Interest level: Grades 4-8

Subjects: Family Relationships, Puberty, Friendship, Religion

Read-alikes:

Naylor’s Alice series

Naylor’s Faith, Hope and Ivy June

Goldschmidt’s The Secret Blog of Raisin Rodriguez

Awards/Recognition:

Time Magazine named Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret as one of the

top 100 books written in English since 1923 

Characters:

Philip Leroy—the best looking boy in the class, but not the boy with the best character

Laura Danker—the tallest and most developed girl in the 6^th grade, victim of baseless rumors

Margaret—the protagonist, a frank girl with an interest in finding God—and puberty

Nancy—the leader of Margaret’s clique

Gretchen—another clique member

Janie—Margaret’s closest friend, also a late bloomer

Bone: A Modern Graphic Novel Classic

Smith, Jeff. Out From Boneville. Graphix, 2005. Tr. $10.99, ISBN 978-0-439-70640-7

What’s it about?

 The Bones, Fone Bone, Phoney Bone, and Smiley Bone have been banished from Boneville, where Phoney’s latest selfish scheme has gotten them in big trouble. The three of them get separated, and Fone Bone must face perils including rat creatures, a dragon, and a mysterious cloaked figure that wants something from Fone Bone.  

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Cousins Fone Bone, Phoney Bone and Smiley Bone are in big trouble. They’ve been chased out of town, thanks to the greedy and unscrupulous Phoney Bone’s latest scheme, and find themselves lost in a desert, with no water in sight. A swarm of insects engulfs them, and the three become separated. Bone follows the adventures of Fone Bone, who encounters frightening creatures, such as the voracious rat people, as well as kind ones, like the beautiful Thorn and her ultra-tough grandmother, (who bears a resemblance to Popeye) take in Bone. Eventually, the cousins cross paths, and find themselves tested by the strange new land. Bones, you’re not in Boneville anymore.

The Bone graphic novel series began as a well-received comic in the early nineties. Its strengths are in its artwork, humor, and fast-paced storyline. The rat creatures are particularly memorable, with their quasi-Bigfoot appearance and humorous squabbles. The plot has the feel of several fractured fairytales strung together to form a whole adventure story. The characters are exaggerated and sometimes surreal, more hilarious caricatures than complex beings.  Phoney Bone’s schemes, such as combining a slaughterhouse with a petting zoo, are ludicrous, but this works with the tone of the tale.  Bone is hardly meant to be realistic! Hand Bone to tween boys, especially those who enjoy humor and adventure, as well as tween and teen girls and older graphic novel enthusiasts looking excitement and laughter.

Genre: Adventure, Fantasy, Humor

Reading level: 4^th grade

Interest level: Grades 4-9 --and beyond

Awards/reviews:

Publisher’s Weekly starred review

On ALA’s list of the Top 25 Graphic Novels for Young Adults   

The Comic’s Journal Book of the Year

Series information:

Vol 2: The Great Cow Race

Vol 3: Eyes of the Storm

Vol 4: The Dragonslayer

Vol 5: Rock Jaw, Master of the Eastern Border

Vol 6: Old Man’s Cave

Vol 7: Ghost Circles

Vol 8: Treasure Hunters

Vol 9: Crown of Thorns

Bone Prequel: Rose

Read-alike graphic novels:

Spy vs Spy

 Asterix

Simpsons comics

Queen of Hearts: "Coming of Age--in a Hospital Bed"

Martha Brooks, Martha. Queen of Hearts. Groundwood Books Limited, 2010. Tr. $17.99 ISBN 978-0-3743-4229-6

What’s it about?

Imagine having tuberculosis and living in a sanatorium, not knowing if you will survive. This is fiery sixteen-year-old Marie-Claire’s life, and she is fighting to live it.  

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It’s the year 1940, and French Canadian Marie-Claire’s itinerant uncle Gerard is staying with the family. He contracts tuberculosis, and continues to stay with the family because there are no beds at the nearby sanitarium. He finally gets a bed at the Pembina Hills Sanitarium, but he does not recover. After he passes away, Marie-Claire and her two younger siblings are also diagnosed with the disease, and are sent to the sanitarium as well. The treatments are nearly as harsh as the disease—collapsing of the lungs, removal of ribs, overnight exposure to icy cold winter air—and nothing can prevent Marie-Claire’s brother Luc from succumbing to the illness. Marie-Claire becomes very ill as well, but she eventually begins to mend, and becomes friends with her much sicker roommate, Signy. When she gets stronger, she begins to notice a boy—Jack Hawkings—who is a musician, and a fellow patient. He is near recovery, and as Marie-Claire’s health continues to improve, their relationship also gains strength.

Queen of Hearts is a sad book, and very realistic. Brooks doesn’t shy away from the tragedy and ugliness of tuberculosis, or its treatments. The descriptions of the frail Signy, in particular, who has had nine ribs removed and is forever deformed—if she lives—is haunting. The prose and complex characters make for high quality writing, which makes up for the somewhat uneven pacing. Marie-Claire struggles with being an invalid, and her headstrong nature makes her relationships more difficult. She is initially quite unfriendly to Signy because of she dislikes her Pollyanna-esqe demeanor. How could anyone be happy in a sanatorium? Marie-Claire eventually seeks her friendship, and opens her mind and heart to a romantic relationship as well. Queen of Hearts is not likely to fly off the shelves, but may find a niche audience among historical fiction fans grades 6 and up. The target audience will definitely skew female, although boys may relate to the feisty Marie-Claire. The romance in this title is poignant, and doesn’t begin to build until two third of the way through the book, not enough to truly bill this as a romance.  

Genre label: Historical Fiction, elements of romance

Reading level: 4^th-5^th grade

Interest level: Grades 6-12

Read-alikes:

Joan Blos’s A Gathering of Days

Laurie Halse Anderson’s Fever 1793

Betty Smith’s A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

Subjects/themes: Tuberculosis, sanitariums, dying, death, chronic illness, grieving, friendship, romance

Awards: Starred reviews in Kirkus, School Library Journal and Horn Book

Character name/descriptions:

Marie-Claire—the protagonist, an impetuous teen stricken with tuberculosis

Jack—Marie-Claire’s eventual boyfriend

Signy—Marie-Claire’s roommate and eventual friend