Echo North, Death By Newbery Medal, And MORE!!!

    Happy Valentine's/President's Day Weekend!  Whoo!

    I've read some good Beauty and the Beast stories, and some bad ones, but that's going to be in another blog post.  (Because I seriously love Batb - it's like catnip, and I can't go on about that, or we'll be here forever.)

    Right now, we'll begin with Echo North by Joanna Ruth Meyer.  

 

 Gorgeous cover, yes?

    Goodreads' description of the book is as follows:

   "Echo Alkaev’s safe and carefully structured world falls apart after her father leaves for the city and mysteriously disappears. Believing he is lost forever, Echo is shocked to find him half-frozen in the winter forest six months later, guarded by a strange talking wolf—the same creature who attacked her as a child. The wolf presents Echo with an offer: for her to come and live with him for a year. But there is more to the wolf than Echo realizes.

    In his enchanted house beneath a mountain, Echo discovers centuries-old secrets, a magical library full of books-turned-mirrors, and a young man named Hal who is trapped inside of them. As the year ticks by, Echo must solve the mystery of the wolf’s enchantment before her time is up—otherwise Echo, the wolf, and Hal will be lost forever."

  *claps hands*  Okay.  So.  I read this in January, and it was really nice!  Like a line of cupcakes ready to be eaten, one by one.  (Not cocaine, because eww.)  This is a retelling of East of the Sun and West of the Moon, which I dearly love.  Like, almost-as-good-as-Narnia love.  If you have nothing to do, and a little time to spare, read the original fairy tale.  Be patient.  It's worth your time, despite how long it may seem to our electrically buzzed, 21st century minds.  Also, pro-tip for parents: it will be so long, it will put your kids to sleep.  Unless your kids are the kind that want you to read the same story over and over again, until they can recite it by rote memory.  Not that I would know anything like that.

   I love some of the descriptions in this book, such as this excerpt:

  "Beyond was a grand hall that might once have been a ballroom.  It had high paneled ceilings, formerly elegant wainscotting, and intricately patterned wallpaper that was faded and torn."

   Not particularly poetic, but I envy writers who can bring images to life in the reader's mind.  It's not something I have accomplished yet in my own work, but it is something I aspire to.

  The relationship between Echo and the Wolf is as twisted and turned as a cinnamon bun.  I like the raw, honest-but-not-too-honest chemistry between them, and their relationship to Hal.  There is one character that I especially love, and I wish we could know more of her story, but I've said too much already.  

  Things were great up to around the ending.  Things just got confusing, and I wish they had been a little more defined.  Some of the characters' motives were sudden, and a little shocking.  I also wished that a character from the original fairy tale had been a little more...mystical?  I guess?  I just want a girl who literally rides on the back of the Winds.  Literally.  Even the best EotSaWotM books seem to miss that, with the exception of Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow by Jessica Day George.  

   Also.  Donia.  

   I HATE Donia.  

  I wanted her to die a thousand deaths, and that's a sure way of knowing that the author is doing a good job, when you want to jump inside a book and kill a fictional character.

  So, yeah.  Echo North.  Four stars out of five.  Read it, like it, rate it, comment on it.  I follow the author on Instagram, and she's a very nice lady.  Also, her son seems to nap a whole lot, because she's constantly talking about getting some writing and revising in while her babe is snoozing.  I hope to have a kid like that, one day.

  

  As that guy on the Cinefix YouTube channel says, SEGUE!!!

  We Need To Talk About Newbery

  Newbery, Newbery, Newbery.  Where do I begin?

  There's a joke among writers and readers (or at least by the gremlins on TV Tropes) that's called "Death By Newbery."  It means that if you really, really, really, really, really, really, REALLY want to get the Newbery Medal (or honorable mentions and other awards), then kill off a beloved character.

  "Oh, that's not so bad," you might say.  "Everybody dies.  Even in fiction land."

  Did I mention Newbery was for kids' literature?  Hmm?

  Oh, my gosh.  I can name at least three books I read in elementary school that had somebody near and dear to our little candied reader's hearts pass away.  There's Old Yeller, a book that I can't remember that has a dog named Ring, and THE TASTE OF BLACKBERRIES.

  Dagnabbit, The Taste of Blackberries.  Where a little kid gets the coolest and most horrifying death by Newbery ever: getting stung to death by BEES.

  BEES!!!!  COVERED IN BEES!!!!!

   I can see it now!  The bees see wee little Jamie and say, "Hey up!  This little lad's allergic to bee stings, but John at the watercooler doesn't think it's true!  I say we prove him wrong."  Sting, sting, sting!  It totally justified my then-eight-year-old terror of those black and yellow little monsters.  

   And THEN, there's Old Yeller!  Who not only dies, but teaches impressionable young children that rabies can turn animals and people into crazy, frothy mad murderers, that would kill you for looking at them funny.  (Serious note: rabid animals bite, but rabid people don't.  Also, Louis Pasteur invented the vaccine for rabies.  And now you know.  And knowing is half the battle.)  Good doggos are NOT supposed to die like some crazy-looking meth addict.

   Now, many writers believe that one shouldn't hide children from real world problems.  To which I say, bullcrap.  Children's books are already filled with death.  Thorin from the Hobbit dies in battle.  Aslan dies in sacrifice, and rises again.  The witch in Hansel and Gretel gets baked (and not by smoking a joint).  

   There's more that I can't remember or don't know that tell children that the world can be a scary place.  But not by killing a kid with bees.  Kids don't want to feel helpless when it comes to that stuff.  If somebody dies that's a hero, that can make death more acceptable.  Telling kids, as Corrie ten Boom's father did, that when the time comes to die, they will be given exactly what they need to face it.  THAT'S acceptable.  

   

    But not randomly killing kids or old people or the world's best doggo.  That just gives kids nightmares.

   And it makes them afraid of bees.

The Umbrella Academy

    Oh my gosh.  The Umbrella Academy.

       This is the brilliant Netflix adaptation of Gerard Way's comic book of the same name.  It's complex and brilliant, and full of flawed, emotional superheroes.  

        Couple of takeaways:

1. I love Klaus, but also terribly annoyed with him.  I like his growth as a character.  I don't think he needed to be gay.  Nothing useful about that.
2. I hear everybody hates Luther (the big guy).  I can't hate a guy with body problems, but I don't care for a guy in love with his sister, even if they're not blood-related.  It just looks like an argument for incest.
3. I'm getting a sore arm, typing this, because my fat cat is on top of me, and I can only type with one hand.
4. Vanya, Vanya, Vanya.  I like and pity you, but not your actress, who witch hunts Christians for not agreeing with her life choices.
5.  Ben.  I love you.  You're cute.
6. Cha Cha.  I hate you.
7. Hazel.  Best role for Cameron Britton ever.  I've known big, gentle guys like him, and he deserved a better role than that of Edmund Kemper.
8. THE HOUSE!!!  I WANT IT!!!!  IT'S GORGEOUS!!!!
9. Ahem.

     Go watch it.  It's good food for the mind.  Stay classy, folks, and tune in next time for reviews, raves, and rants - here on Between The Pages.