Ending the year with Dumplin'

Reading the title of this post, you may think I am ending 2016 by eating dumplings. I do enjoy dumplings - old fashioned chicken and dumplings (my favorite meal each Wednesday evening served at church before GAs), as well as the Chinese variety, or pot stickers as they are sometimes known, but this is all about Willowdean Dickson, the main character in Julie Murphy's 2015 YA novel Dumplin'.

Dumplin'
by Julie Murphy

I wish Dumplin' had been written when I was a teen. I don't know if it would have significantly changed by life, but it might have made growing up a large girl easier. I was never a badass, but I have always been fat. Like all teens, you go through awkward stages where your peers tease you (now called bullying), but when you're a large person, it never seems to stop. Society does not accept large people. I say large, because I have always hated the word fat.

I remember the summer of 1990 driving up to my parent's house and seeing a tall, dark, and handsome young man sitting in the front yard of the house next door. He was playing with a huge rabbit. I'm not sure what prompted me to walk over, unless it was the rabbit. I didn't know this person, but I was brave enough to go over and introduce myself. I was instantly attracted to him, but I knew it would never be possible for someone like him to want to be with someone who looked like me. I saw him outside a few times over the summer, but knew nothing would come of it. He was older and so much more intelligent than me. Again, why would he want to have anything to do with me? I was silly teenager ~ and fat! There's that word again, but it accurately described me (and still does). Thankfully for me, Walter saw through the person I saw in the mirror. We will celebrate our 24th wedding anniversary in May of this coming year.

Willowdean embodies the self conscious teen I was, as well as the middle aged adult woman I have become. I don't know if reading this book will help me to remove my own mental insecurities, but she has definitely put some things into perspective for me as we move into 2017. 

I love the quotation, "I think you gotta be who you want to be until you fee like you are whoever it is you're trying to become." To me, it seems like a great mantra moving forward as we open the door to wonderful opportunities and possibilities of a new year. I also need to remember "...half of doing something is pretending that you can". I hope I can embrace my inner Dolly Parton (and Willowdean) to make 2017 the best year yet, no matter what anyone else thinks, says, or does to stop me.

Dumplin' was published in September 2015 by Balzer + Bray. I would highly recommend this book for middle and high school readers. Although the book is listed as #1 in the Dumplin' series, I see no evidence of a subsequent book.

The Marvels by Brian Selznick

The Marvels
by Brian Selznick

Brian Selznick's masterful illustrations and writing are combined in this beautiful tome which captures your attention immediately with the elaboratly decorated cover and gilded pages. The first part of the story (approximately half of the 665 pages) is told with Selznick's signature style of illustrations, black and white, telling the story of a lone survivor - Billy Marvel - of a shipwreck in 1766. As the story progresses the reader follows the Marvel family through five generations of actors and theater life.

Abruptly the Marvel story ends (as do the pictures) and a new story (in text form) begins in 1990 as Joseph runs away from school to locate his eclectic and estranged Uncle Albert. Joseph finds himself in a home unluck he has never been. 

How are the two stories connected? Who are the Marvels? What connection do they have to Uncle Albert and Joseph? All of the questions will be answered in this marvelous story loosely based on The Dennis Severs House located in Spitalfields, London.

Brian Selznick created a wonderful book trailer for this book. It can be seen on The Marvels website.

I highly recommend reading any and all of Mr. Selznick's other books, such as the following.

• The Houdini Box (1991)
• The Boy of a Thousand Faces (2000)
• The Invention of Hugo Cabret (2007) - Caldecott Winner
• Wonderstruck (2011)

A Tale Dark & Grimm

I have completed my first book of 2011...reading it that is, not writing it.

Granted it was a YA (young adult) book, but it was, like the author says, "Awesome". I was totally engrossed in the story from the first page. This is a wonderful debut novel by Adam Gidwitz. In nine chapters he tells of Hansel and Gretel in a way I have never before seen or heard. This is not your typical Disney-fied version of a fairy tale. In fact it is far from it! This story is grim, bloody, dark, and AWESOME! The reviews suggest this book for grades 3 and up. I have asked three of my young reader friends to read the book (if they were interested) and let me know what they think of it. One of them, D.D., read the blurb and the first chapter and was so taken by the story she took my copy away from me. Another of my friends, D. R., went to get her library card from her mother so I could put the book on hold for her at the nearby branch of the public library. They both seemed very excited, which thrilled me beyond belief. I LOVE connecting readers and books!