The Dangerous Days of Daniel X - A MotherTalk Review

The "reluctant reader" is a term we've been reading and hearing about a lot lately, usually referring to boys who just can't seem to get hooked on reading. Part of the solution is providing reluctant readers with books they actually want to read, rather than books we think they should be reading. The Dangerous Days of Daniel X is James Patterson's (and his co-author Michael Ledwidge) contribution to this concept of adolescent literature (although the jacket cover reads "James Patterson has written this story for readers from ten to a hundred and ten.").

When I first received a complementary copy of this book from MotherTalk, I was a little bit surprised at the cover of the book - red and black tones with an image of a solar eclipse on the front - it seemed more fitting for adult Clancy fans than for tween and teen boys. I can tell you that even as a brand spankin' new library media specialist, I know that kids do judge a book by its cover and I'm not so sure how much this one would appeal to them.

Moving from the exterior to the interior, we find the protagonist Daniel X, orphaned as a toddler, dedicated to avenging the death of his parents by taking on a number of gruesome aliens. My gut reaction to this book is that it seemed more of an outline than a finished product. It seemed sparse in places and I really did not feel attached to Daniel or particularly inspired by his mission. The nods to popular culture (PlayStation3s and Gladiator) are cute, but will become dated rather quickly. This book was a very quick read for me;I did appreciate the short chapters (often just two pages or so) and I think this will appeal to readers who get a little boost from completing smaller chunks of text rather than a feeling of slogging through long chapters.

I couldn't help but think that books such as Harry Potter and the soaring popularity of graphic novels such as American Born Chinese have shown us that reluctant readers are also drawn to complex tales with well developed characters, but I suppose even adults enjoy the occasional light fare and not all books for teens and tweens need to result in a bout of soul-searching. The Dangerous Days of Daniel X may accomplish exactly what James Patterson intended and inspire readers to read other books with similar but more richly fleshed out themes such as Sabriel or Feed.

Road Map to Holland - A Mother Talk Review

Whether you have a child with Down syndrome or not, read this book...

If you have ever battled the instinct to flee - to run from your family and from the mess you think you have created, read this book...

If you have ever been stunned into silence and vowed next time you will know exactly the right way to respond, read this book...

If you need to be soothed by descriptions of the natural world, read this book...

If you have ever needed to forgive yourself, read this book...

We have all had experiences that are worthy of writing about and we do on on blogs, in our own private journals, maybe a short story later stuffed in a filing cabinet, a poem, a 5-7-5 haiku. Jennifer Graf Groneberg's new book "Road Map to Holland" is one of those rare books where the writer has both a story to tell and the talent for telling it.

Way back in September of 2007 I blogged about the lack of children with Down syndrome in the popular media and highlighted a story written by Groneberg in BabyTalk magazine. In Road Map to Holland: How I Found My Way Through My Son's First Two Years With Down Syndrome Groneberg deftly weaves the story of her family (older brother Carter and his younger twin brothers Avery and Bennett, her husband Tom) into a book that also educates; subtlety letting the reader know what Down Syndrome is all about, translating the alphabet soup of medical acronyms, and touching on the books, websites, and guides that serve as her own personal road map.

Her descriptions of the NICU, the struggles to breastfeed, the trips to and from the hospital, never feeling settled there or at home all rang true to me - Pip only spent 9 days there, but many of Groneberg's feelings mirrored my own. Some of the most moving parts of the book are her descriptions of moments of release: letting go, acceptance in increments, life going on.

Finally, helpful chapter notes, a list of resources and a glossary add to this love letter to her own family. I recommend this book for public libraries, hospital libraries, and consumer health libraries, wherever they may be located. This book would also make an excellent choice for a health care professionals' or medical students' book group.

Learn more at the National Down Syndrome Congress or the National Down Syndrome Society.

This review brought to you in partnership with MotherTalk.

Healthy Child Healthy World - A MotherTalk Review

There may be many mothers now who are too young to remember Meryl Streep's sincere and earnest campaign against Alar in the late 1980's. Her forward to Christopher Gavigan's book "Healthy Child Healthy World" is a fitting introduction to this new book that inspires us to create a safer, cleaner, and sustainable environment for children.

HCHW is divided into ten chapters, each focusing on a different strategies for making areas of your household and community less toxic. I loved that this book had a "handbook" feel to it. Read a chapter here or there, skip to the "burning questions", or read an "expert opinion" (the celebrity "testimonials", other than Meryl Streep's foreword, seemed too contrived for me) focusing on the areas that are most important to you at whatever stage you're at. Eventually you will refer to all of it - it's too important not too.

I would love to see a "Pocket Guide" companion to this book, one that would slip easily into your diaper bag or purse. Also, while Healthy Child Healthy World is rather child-focused, my non-Mom co-worker found the book both fascinating (She copied the "Under Sink Makeover") and discouraging ("WHAT?! No microwave popcorn!?"). More importantly it got us talking about the things we were doing, and wanted to do, exchanging ideas and experiences.

Here are my personal "top ten doable steps" that I intend to take after reading Healthy Child Healthy World.

1. Use low or no-VOC paints for our next paint job
2. Give seed-in-paper cards as party favors!
3. Use phthalate-free polish on my toes (and my daughter's!) this summer
4. I'm sticking to DEET (West Nile Virus is rampant in my area and I'm not fooling around with that) but I will stick to levels under 10% as the book suggests and still go for the other recommended anti-mosquito tricks.
5. Purchase chunk light tuna, not albacore (smaller fish => less time to accumulate mercury)
6. Switch to all natural, non-toxic cleaners (repeat after me: baking soda, soap, vinegar - baking soda, soap, vinegar - baking soda...)
7. You can bet I'm trying "Volcano in the Drain" with the kids next time I have to de-gunk my disposal!
8. Photocopy the Environmental Working Group's list of the Dirty Dozen for my wallet
9. Buy safe sunscreen for my children this summer
10. Find a way to help people who are just too poor and just too focused on making it day-to-day to worry about these things. Let's worry for them and help make changes so that all their options are, by default, healthy options.
    

For more information please visit the Healthy Child Healthy World website.

This book review brought to you by MotherTalk

Gift of Green Reviews...Kelly Corrigan's The Middle Place

When MotherTalk offered up copy of The Middle Place, I jumped at the chance to receive an advance copy of this memoir by Kelly Corrigan.

I first saw Kelly Corrigan, on the Today show back in 2005. I'm not sure why I was home at the time, usually I was well on my way to work by the time Katie and Matt were on the air. I suspect I must have been home on maternity leave - the day Kelly's dad's bladder showed no "discernable signs of cancer" happens to be the same day Sprout was born. I saw Kelly with her dark, thick hair, just growing back, and her mom, Mary, and her dad, Big George, and listened to their words. Now you can read Kelly's words, beginning January 8th when the book is finally released. I highly recommend you do.

I had the strange experience of beginning The Middle Place, a chapter where Kelly is filling out those tedious medical forms with all the check boxes right before she goes in for her biopsy, just as I had finished filling out all those tedious forms with the check boxes as I waited to see the dentist. The contrast between our two "simultaneous" experiences was not lost on me. Sure, I suppose there was a possibility that my hygienist might find some sort of rare tooth-related neoplasm, but chances were slim. My day was all about getting the cleaning over with; a small side trip on an otherwise worry free day. I wouldn't be giving this appointment another thought. So I couldn't help but think of the differences between my experience in that benign (no pun intended) setting and her appointment that instead marked the beginning of a series of appointments that were more than just a tad routine.

When I finished reading her memoir, just a day later, I immediately felt that The Middle Place is one of those books that you'd love to re-gift (ask her mother about that one) just so you can spread the gospel of Kelly Corrigan to your friends as soon as possible, yet at the same time selfishly wanting to hold onto it for yourself, for no other reason than the comfort of knowing that it's sitting there on your bookshelf to pick up again at any time. There is something incredibly visual about The Middle Place. I could picture everything she described from her reverse in pike on the diving board to a singular evening she spends with friends and family when happiness trumps whatever the future might hold. So much of what she writes resonated with me even though I have not had many of her experiences, from siblings to cancer. But being a daughter, wife and mother seems to be the tie that binds - and even though this memoir is about cancer, it's not about cancer, if you know what I mean. It really is about so much more. To me it's more about, as Kelly writes, "that sliver of time when childhood and parenthood overlap", the frustration of your body being so in control of you that it forces you to miss you daughter's preschool orientation picnic, her examples of fear and pain, being an adult and then, with just a gesture or a word, becoming a child again.

This is a book that alternates between the past of her childhood and the past of her adult life. Parts are heartbreaking - a preview of life's future events flicker by as a preview to a play that we can only hope a parent won't miss. This is not a puritanical piece of work either. There is drinking, and swearing, and with out a doubt, I will never be able to look at pair of Guess jeans in the same way again. Thank you, Kelly, for that.

Left out of the book are photographs of Kelly's treatment experiences taken by her and by her husband, Edward Litchy, so supplement your reading of The Middle Place with these fine black and whites by going to Kelly's website, Circus of Cancer. Thank you, Kelly, for sharing your words and photographs with us and for sharing with us a little bit of what it's like to be a Corrigan, from Wooded Lane to California and back again.