never truly gone

Over the weekend I read Ghosts by Raina Telgemeier. My kids absolutely love anything by Raina Telgemeier, but I knew this particular book came with some controversy. Ghosts uses the Day of the Dead (Dia de los Muertos) celebration as a way for two sisters to explore their Mexican heritage and as a way to find solace in the younger sister's diagnosis of cystic fibrosis. It is a beautiful story of sisters and family.

The watered down version of the Day of the Dead used in the graphic novel, Ghosts, is there as an attempt to understand death, to honor the memory of ancestors, and to celebrate death the way we celebrate life... that when someone we love dies, they are not forgotten.

If Ghosts has done anything, it has made us as readers question how we use and absorb other cultures' celebrations (sometimes without cultural sensitivity) to tell our own stories. And I believe, when you know better you do better.

With the coming of Halloween, there will inevitably be some party goers who wear makeup and face paint to look like sugar skulls. Sugar skulls represent a departed spirit. Dia de los Muertos is a celebration of the dead to help support their spiritual journey. Families of the departed clean and decorate graves with ofrendas (altars). Perhaps this fall, we can honor Dia de los Muertos more authentically and not attempt to bend it to our idea of Halloween.

Young readers will love Ghosts. And hopefully it will start a conversation in your home about honoring those who have passed and knowing that when each of us does die, we are never truly gone.

Some Writer!

"I wonder what I am going to be when I grow up?"

This week I read Some Writer! by Melissa Sweet. It's the new and wonderful, illustrated biography of E.B. White. Young readers and adults will absolutely love this book; it is a work of art. 

E.B. White was a compassionate person and an amazing writer. Where children have found a hero in the fictional Wilbur, so will they aspire to the originality of E.B. "Andy" White.

"I have discovered... that writing of the small things of the day, the trivial matters of the heart... was the only kind of creative work which I could accomplish with any sincerity or grace." - E.B. White

Melissa Sweet provides a beautiful glimpse into the life of a beloved author. Who doesn't remember reading the final chapter of Charlotte's Web, Last Day? I still can not get through this paragraph without tears:

"Wilbur never forgot Charlotte. Although he loved her children and grandchildren dearly, none of the new spiders ever quite took her place in his heart. She was in a class by herself. It is not often that someone comes along who is a true friend and a good writer. Charlotte was both."

Young readers and writers will benefit from the handwritten manuscript pages included in this biography. The importance of iteration and editing, of word choice and simplicity is ideal.

"Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all his sentences short, or that he avoid all detail and treat his subjects only in outline, but that every word tell."

"There you have a short, valuable essay on the nature and beauty of brevity - sixty-three words that could change the world"   - from The Elements of Style 1959

This book could almost be called the perfect biography, as it encourages and entices the reader to dig around for more. If you haven't read Charlotte's Web or Stewart Little or The Trumpet of the Swan, you will be compelled to. If you have, a re-read feels in order. The Letters of E.B. White, Elements of Style fourth edition, Essays of E.B. White, In the Words of E.B. White, and E.B. White on Dogs will all find a place onto your to-be-read pile of books.

Get this book for every young reader you know this holiday season. It is the perfect gift for every E.B. White fan you know... or perhaps it is the perfect gift to give to make E.B. White fans of your dearest friends.
"You have been my friend," replied Charlotte. "That in itself is a tremendous thing."

"All I hope to say in books, all that I ever hope to say, is that I love the world. I guess you can find that in there, if you dig around." - E.B. White

you might as well do painful, brave, and beautiful things

The Serpent King by Jeff Zentner is a must read for teens and lovers of young adult literature. Told in alternating perspectives of the three main characters, this book is sure to become a life long favorite to be read and reread.

The three main characters live in Forrestville, Tennessee - a town named after Nathan Bedford Forrest, the founder of the Ku Klux Klan. Dill Early Jr. is a talented song writer. His father is a convicted criminal and his mother blames Dill for his father's imprisonment. Lydia Blankenship is an internet star who runs a famous fashion blog and dreams of leaving Forrestville for New York City. Travis Bohannon is a gentle giant who is obsessed with the fantasy series, Bloodfall, where he escapes regularly. Travis is an odd duck with a sad story of his own.

The Serpent King is Jeff Zentner's debut novel. He has been a guitarist and song writer, and his poetic style comes through in this beautifully written story.

About The Serpent King, Jeff says, "I wanted to write about young people who struggle to lead lives of dignity and find beauty in a forgotten, unglamorous place. Who wonder what becomes of dreams once they cross the county line. This book is my love letter to those young people and anyone who has ever felt like them, no matter how or where they grew up."

 My favorite bits from Dill's chapters:

And worse, somewhere, circling and flitting around that dread, was another awful feeling: nothing makes you feel more naked than someone identifying a desire you never knew you possessed.

 "I read somewhere that a lot of the stars we see don't exist anymore. They've already died and it's taken millions of years for their light to reach Earth," Dill said.
"That wouldn't be a bad way to die," Lydia said. "Giving off light for millions of years after you're gone."

"I think lives are more than the sum of their parts," Lydia said. "I don't think it's fair to measure them in accomplishments."

"Nothing stops when we're gone," Lydia said. "The seasons don't stop. This river doesn't stop. Vultures will keep flying in circles. The lives of the people we love won't stop. Time keeps unspooling. Stories keep getting written." 

And if you are going to live, you might as well do painful, brave, and beautiful things.

My favorite bits from Lydia's chapters:

"We should do things we're afraid of. It makes it easier every time we do it."

"I'm tired of many things," Mr. Burson said, fighting for composure. They turned. "I'm tired of watching children perish. I'm tired of watching the world grind up gentle people. I'm tired of out living those I shouldn't be outliving. I've made books my life because they let me escape this world of cruelty and savagery. I needed to say that out loud to somebody other than my cats. Please take care of yourselves, my young friends." 

My favorite bit fromTravis's chapters:

"Writing is something you can learn only by doing. To become a writer, you need an imagination, which you clearly have. You need to read books, which you clearly do. And you need to write, which you don't yet do, but should."

And even though this comes in a Dill chapter, it belongs to Travis:

Rest, O Knight, proud in victory, proud in death.Let your name evermore be a light to those who loved you.Let white flowers grow upon this place that you rest.Yours was a life well lived, and now you dine in the halls of the Elders at their eternal feast. 

And, finally, my favorite bit from the author's website: 

"What’s funny is that I never set out to write a YA novel. What I really wanted to do was to write for young adults. And it happens that the best way to do that is by writing a YA novel. So that’s what I did. I think that’s such an amazing period of life, where you’re basically as intelligent as an adult, but the world and experience haven’t lost their newness. I remember the immediacy of feeling and wonder that accompanied those years of my life. There’s a magic there. I also love the way that young adults experience art and cling to the pieces of art that they love. I wanted to create something that would (hopefully) be loved and clung to."

Get this book for every teen you know! They will love and cling to it.

My Name is Alexander Hamilton

If you know someone (or if, like me, you are someone) who loves Hamilton: The Original Cast Recording...

be sure to share this list of all things Hamilton:

Hamilton The Revolution by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Jeremy McCarter. This is the behind the scenes look at the creation and production of the hip-hop musical with footnotes by Lin-Manuel Miranda. Also, there's a song in the play that's not on the cast album: Tomorrow There'll Be More Of Us.

Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow. This is the book that Lin-Manuel Miranda picked up on his way to vacation in Mexico. It's the 800-page biography that inspired Hamilton the musical. 

Alexander Hamilton: The Outsider by Jean Fritz. This ten-dollar, founding father biography is the best read for middle grade scholars. "Don't be shocked when your history books mention me. I will lay down my life if it sets us free." This 100-page biography might satisfy most young Hamilton fans; but, there may be some who choose to "rise up" and listen to Chernow's audio book.

The Duel: The Parallel Lives of Alexander Hamilton & Aaron Burr by Judith St. George. This middle grade book introduces A.Ham and A. Burr: both were orphans, both were brilliant students, both studied law, both were war heroes, and both were politicians. Told in alternating chapters, this book catalogs the similarities and differences (Wait For It) of these two founding fathers who played major roles in the formation of the United States. 

Death doesn't discriminate/ between the sinners and the saints,/ it takes and it takes and it takes./ History obliterates./ In every picture it paints,/ It paints me and all my mistakes./ When Alexander aimed at the sky,/ He may have been the first one to die,/ But I'm the one who paid for it./ I survived but I paid for it./ Now I'm the villain in your history./ I was too young and blind to see./ I should've known./ I should've known the world was wide enough for both Hamilton and me./ The world was wide enough for both Hamilton and me.

The Most Famous Duel in American History: Aaron and Alexander by Don Brown. This illustrated middle grade book looks at the complicated relationship between Aaron and Alexander and gives a more sympathetic spin where Burr is concerned. "Even though we started at the very same time, Alexander Hamilton began to climb." (Non-Stop)

And for those who have fallen head over heals for Lin-Manuel Miranda, be sure to listen to the audio book of Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz (read by Lin-Manuel Miranda)

"I sure as hell don't want to study Alexander Hamilton." - Lin-Manuel Miranda (Reading Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe)

And for fans of the Tony Awards, be sure to watch the cast of Hamilton perform Yorktown (The World Turned Upside Down) and Lin-Manuel Miranda's Tony acceptance speech for Best Score.

And, for learners and teachers: The New York Times The Learning Network's ideas for Learning with Hamilton. It is an amazing resource! Also check out School Library Journal's page of Teaching with Hamilton.

Finally, for fans of The White House performances of Hamilton: The 2009 Hamilton Rap, cast performance of Alexander Hamilton, cast performance of My Shot, and the #Ham4Ham West Wing Cabinet Battle.

Enjoy!

Unproductive Ted

On a recent long plane trip I read Every Exquisite Thing by Matthew Quick. 

Every Exquisite Thing is the story of Nanette O'Hare, an average high school senior who has always done the right thing and followed the path chosen for her by her parents – that is until she is given a copy of The Bubblegum Reaper ... and it changes her life.

“And then one day you will look for you in the mirror and you’ll no longer be able to identify yourself—you’ll only see everyone else. You’ll know that you did what they wanted you to do. You will have assimilated. And you will hate yourself for it, because it will be too late.” 

After reading (and re-reading and re-reading) The Bubblegum Reaper, Nanette is full of questions about the book, and life in general, which leads her to seek out the paperback's writer. 

"Just because you're good at something doesn't mean you have to do it."

This book is for every high schooler...

“Then we talked a lot about our parents and how we didn't want to become them, but we had no other role models--or "maps," Alex kept saying. 'My father is a terrible map, mostly because he doesn't ever lead me anywhere.' And I thought about my parents being maps that led to places I didn't want to go-- and it made a shocking amount of sense, using the word maps to describe parents. It almost made you feel like you could fold Mom and Dad up and lock them away in the glove compartment of your car and just joyride for the rest of your life maybe.”

For every high school senior who needs to make big decisions...

“Sometimes you just have to pick a direction and make mistakes. Then you use what you learn from your failure to pick new, better directions so you can make more mistakes and keep learning.” 

For every teen who is attempting to insert their true self into the world...

“Behind every exquisite thing that existed, there was something tragic.”

brokenhearted

This weekend I read Kate DiCamillo's new book, Raymie Nightingale. The book is beautiful and wonderful and loosely based on DiCamillo's childhood. The story is about loss and love and friendship and community.

It's the summer of 1975 and 10-year-old Raymie Clarke has a plan to enter and win the Little Miss Central Florida Tire competition. And, if Raymie intends to win the Little Miss Central Florida Tire contest, she must learn how to twirl a baton... enter Beverly Tapinski and Louisiana Elefante.

This book is absolutely perfect for the middle grade readers you know. It's perfect for anyone who needs to know that you are stronger than you think; that it takes a lot of bravery to be kind; that sometimes you think you can understand how the world works but not know why it exists.

Read the first five chapters HERE.

My favorite chapter is Chapter 21

My favorite quote:

"Beware of the brokenhearted," said the grandmother, "for they will lead you astray."

Outside it started to rain even harder.

"That's all of us, though, Granny, isn't it?" said Louisiana over the noise of the rain. "Aren't we all brokenhearted?"

BOOKED: an inspiring gift for readers

Kwame Alexander's new book, BOOKED, is a reminder of the power of verse. It's a beautiful entry point for reluctant readers, an amazing look at the power of words, and an inspiring gift for readers.

Twelve-year-old Nick Hall has a passion for soccer, but is less enthusiastic about reading. However, BOOKED will nudge even the most reluctant reader to take a second look at words, language, other novels, and pop culture.

I loved the footnotes: malapropism, the amusing and ludicrous misuse of a word, especially by confusion with one of a similar sound. Here's an example: my English teacher, Ms. Hardwick, is a wolf in cheap clothing.

And...

Ms. Hardwick's Honors English class
is one boring
required read
after another.
So you've become a pro
at daydreaming
while pretend-listening.

Huckleberry Finn-ished
Great discussion today, class.
I'm sure you all see why
Mark Twain is one
of our greatest literary
treasures, Ms. Hardwick says.

With only five minutes left in class,
it's probable she's forgotten
the assignment
she gave you,
which means
you're off the hook.

Tomorrow, we will begin
another classic
of children's literature.
One of my favorites,
Tuck Everlasting.

And your laughter gushes
like an open fire hydrant
'cause you could have sworn
You heard an F,
Instead of T.



Limerence
She says,
from the French word limier.
I can tell you what it means right now, Ms. Hardwick.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Go right ahead, Winnifred.

Limerence is
the experience of being in love with someone,
commonly known as a crush,
but not any old crush.
A. Major. Crush.

NICHOLAS B. HALL
BELOVED SON. BEST FRIEND. SOCCER STAR.
2003-2016
DIED OF ONOMATOPHOBIA.*
MAY HE REST IN PEACE.
*onomatophobia: fear of hearing a certain word. DEAD!!!!


Your Suggestion
Can we please choose
a book with a boy this time -
Weren't you listening? Winey interrupts. It is about
a boy.

Preferably in this time period, you continue.
I need a break from history, I'm just sayin'.
Like what? Winnifred whines.

Like Peace, Locomotion,
an epistolary novel, which
means a -

I KNOW WHAT EPISTOLARY MEANS, she shouts,
still frowning. IT'S A BOOK WRITTEN IN LETTERS.
Great choice, April says, and winks

at you.


Get this book for all the readers and non readers you know. Get it in the hands of sports lovers, word lovers, and librarian lovers. This book will spread the idea... don't be afraid to show your intelligence.

Bravo! Bravo!

Your Fate Is Not Yet Sealed.
Even In The Darkest Night, A Star Will Shine,
A Bell Will Chime, A Path Will Be Revealed.

Echo by Pam Muñoz Ryan is a wonderful story within a story within a story. (phew)

The book begins with Otto and Mathilde playing hide-and-seek. It moves to three sisters, a kindhearted midwife, and a selfish witch. And then there is the harmonica and twelve-year-old Friedrich, eleven-year-old Mike Flannery, and fifth grader Ivy Lopez. The harmonica travels across years and continents and wars.

Echo is almost 600 pages of historical fiction, fantasy, fairy tale, magic! Even with its hefty size, Echo is a book you will want to read more than once.

The story contains a magical element around the power of music, and an audio version of the book is highly recommended. Hearing the musical pieces that Ms. Ryan uses in the book adds an extra emotional element to the narrative - as the characters get carried away by the music, so too can the listener.

Brahms' Lullaby, America The Beautiful, Auld Lang Syne, Some Enchanted Evening

Tonight, there was a brilliance in the hall, a communion of spirits, as if ... everyone were one, breathing in and out to the same tempo, feeling one another's strength and vision, filling with beauty and light, glowing beneath the same stars...... and connected by the same silken thread.

"Let me say it!" said Frankie. "We will stand up and clap and yell, 'Bravo! Bravo!'"

Get this book; read it once or twice, then listen to the audiobook. And every night as you lay in your bed, wondering what joy tomorrow might bring, yet knowing how precarious life can be, repeat the words:

Your Fate Is Not Yet Sealed.
Even In The Darkest Night, A Star Will Shine,
A Bell Will Chime, A Path Will Be Revealed.

win-win

"About one in twenty-eight school-aged children in the United States has a parent in prison."

All Rise For The Honorable Perry T. Cook by Leslie Connor is the story of a boy raised in a minimum security correctional facility. The story embraces "what home means". It explores second chances, forgiveness, and win-win.

"Win-Win. That's Big Ed's other motto for being a successful resident. The first "win" means you count all small good things that happen to you everyday... The second "win" means you do things that bring victories to others. I've heard Big Ed say it at least a hundred times. 'No matter where you live, you have a community of some kind. And you can be a contributor.'"

If you want young readers to contemplate commuting overly long sentences for nonviolent offenders, get them the book, All Rise For The Honorable Perry T. Cook. 

protesting its very existence

"When I want the west to scream, I squeeze on Berlin."

- Nikita Khrushchev, Soviet Union premier, 1958-1964

Have you read, A Night Divided by Jennifer A. Nielsen yet? It is a wonderful book, filled with historical references and teachable moments.

We have been reading a lot of books based on World War II. A Night Divided is an historical fiction novel that continues the timeline to what happens in Germany after the war.

This is the story of twelve-year-old Gerta and her family who are separated by the Berlin Wall. Greta's father and brother are in West Berlin when the wall goes up overnight in East Berlin, and now they can't return.

It was Sunday, August 13, 1961, a day I would remember for the rest of my life. When a prison had been built around us as we slept.

If you know readers who is interested in the Berlin Wall... on why it went up, who put it up, who guarded it, and what it all meant for the citizens of Berlin... this is the book for them. 

Young readers will love this book as it reads like a dystopian novel. We had many thoughtful conversations on walls past and present. As well as discussions on border police and secret police.

Lines of Grenzers - our nickname for the border police, the Grenztruppen - stood guard along a fence of thorny wire, in some places higher than their heads, and for as far as my eyes could see. They stood like iron statues with stern expressions and long rifles in their hands. It was obvious that anyone who tried to cross would get far worse than a rip in their clothes. Because the Grenzers didn't face the westerners on the other side of the fence. They watched us.

Read this book with the young people you know. Discuss how a wall separated East and West Berlin from 1961 to 1989* and how its demolition began June 13, 1990. With the wall being such recent history, what do you remember of its demolition and the reunification of Germany? This book will inspire so many wonderful conversations on emigration, defection, the Iron Curtain, and the Cold War.



Some of my favorite parts...

It didn't take long for the government to realize that they couldn't guard the fence so heavily forever. Even with the fence and armed soldiers, people were still finding ways out. If things were bad in our city before, they would only get worse now. We all knew that.

Mama once said the most wonderful thing about being young is our ability to make things normal. That whatever life does to us, no matter how strange, it isn't long before insanity seems ordinary, as if upside down is the way things should be.

My eyes drifted to the Berlin Wall, the side of it we had never seen before in the east. It was covered in graffiti and signs protesting its very existence. The sight of it startled me, that people would dare to express themselves so boldly, so publicly.

*Did you know that German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, was a young physicist in East Berlin on November 9, 1989 during the fall of the Berlin Wall? 

Books join us together as a global reading community

We the survivors are not the true witnesses.

The true witnesses, those in possession of the unspeakable truth,

are the drowned, the dead, the disappeared.

- Primo Levi

This weekend I read Salt To The Sea by Ruta Sepetys. It's an extraordinary work of historical fiction for young adults. Ruta Sepety takes an extremely tragic and overlooked moment in history and created a beautiful story around it. 

From the jacket cover:

Winter, 1945. Four teenagers. Four secrets.

Each one born of a different homeland; each one hunted, and haunted, by tragedy, lies…and war.

As thousands of desperate refugees flock to the coast in the midst of a Soviet advance, four paths converge, vying for passage aboard the Wilhelm Gustloff, a ship that promises safety and freedom.

Yet not all promises can be kept.

Inspired by the single greatest tragedy in maritime history, bestselling and award-winning author Ruta Sepetys (Between Shades of Gray) lifts the veil on a shockingly little-known casualty of World War II. An illuminating and life-affirming tale of heart and hope.

Salt To The Sea is a book that allows readers a glimpse into how ordinary people can get caught in war. And, how each can react with cruelty or kindness, hatred or apathy, selfishness or altruism.

Get this book for the young adult readers you know. Get this book for the history lovers you know. Get this book... because books join us together.



Two of my favorite quotes from Salt To The Sea:

What had human beings become? Did war make us evil or just activate an evil already lurking within us?

His smugness was annoying. This was the type of man who looked at a picture on the wall and instead of admiring the photo, looked at his own reflection in the glass.

And, having visited the Catherine Palace (the summer palace) in Saint Petersburg (formerly Leningrad) last summer, I loved this bit about the Amber Room:

Originally created in Prussia and gifted to Peter the Great, the Amber Room was a glittering chamber of amber, jewels, gold, and mirrors. In 1941, the Nazi's stole it from the Catherine Palace in Pushkin, near Leningrad. Packed into twenty-seven crates, the Amber Room was the culmination of Hitler's artistic dreams. He carefully strategized its safekeeping and after much deliberation the twenty-seven crates were secretly shipped to the castle museum in Königsberg.

When I toured the Catherine Palace, I saw the recreated Amber Room. The whereabouts of the twenty-seven crates remains a mystery. Beginning its recreation in 1979 and installed in 2003, the current Amber Room in the Catherine Palace is a collaboration between Russia and Germany.


The Wilhelm Gustloff was a KdF ship. KdF - Kraft durch Freude "Strength Through Joy"

KdF was a national German organization that was supposed to make leisure activities available to the masses, regardless of social class. Hitler said KdF brought opportunity for everyone, all were equal. But how could all be equal if some were favored?

Ships Capacity: 1,463. Passengers on board: 10,573. Lifeboats: 22. But then I remembered. Ten of the lifeboats were missing.

The sinking of the Gustloff is the largest maritime disaster, yet the world still knows nothing of it. I often wonder, will that ever change or will it remain just another secret swallowed by war?

Be sure to read the entire Author's Note. Here's just a bit...

"There are many important stories of World War II. Much has been documented about combat, politics, guilt, and responsibility. Suffering emerged the victor, touching all sides, sparing no nation involved. As I wrote this novel, I was haunted by thoughts of the helpless children and teenagers - innocent victims of boarder shifts, ethnic cleansing, and vengeful regimes. Hundreds of thousands of children were orphaned during World War II. Abandoned or separated from their families, they were forced to battle the beast of war on their own, left with an inheritance of heartache and responsibility for events they had no role in causing. Many experienced unspeakable atrocities, some miraculous acts of kindness by complete strangers.

Every nation has hidden history, countless stories preserved only by those who experience them. Stories of war are often read and discussed worldwide by readers whose nations stood on opposite sides during battle. History divided us, but through reading we can be united in story, study, and remembrance. Books join us together as a global reading community, but more important, a global human community striving to learn from the past."

Boy, what do we need a car for?

If you are looking for a great picture book, Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Peña is wonderful and poetic.

On January 11th, Matt de la Peña became the first Hispanic author to win the Newbery for Last Stop on Market Street  -   beautifully illustrated by Christian Robinson. It's the story of a young boy riding the city bus with his grandmother, and wondering why their family doesn't have a car.

"Nana, how come we don't got a car?"

"How come we gotta wait for the bus in all this wet?" 

"How come it's always so dirty over here?" 

and what was left behind was a smile

Beautiful and Devastating...

“He really could have been any other eighth-grade kid at Eastham Middle School. Except he had a daughter.”

I read Orbiting Jupiter by Gary D Schmidt this weekend. It is a book about friendship and sadness and 'having someone's back' and love and heartbreak... all written in a way that young people can understand and embrace. 

12 year old Jack lives a quiet life on his family's farm in Maine, when his parents take in a 14 year old foster kid named Joseph.

I really cared about these two boys. And, as is always the sign of a good book, they broke my heart wide open.


My favorite quotes:

Christmas is the season for miracles, you know. Sometimes they come big and loud, I guess - but I've never seen one of those. I think probably most miracles are a lot smaller, and sort of still, and so quiet, you could miss them. I didn't miss this one. When my father put his hand on Joseph's back, Joseph didn't even flinch.

"Would you have left a guy being beat up to go find a teacher?" I asked. My father wiped his hand across his face, and what was left behind was a smile. Really, a smile."Not in a million years," he said.

It stayed cold that Monday, and even though it was pretty bright out, there were snowflakes in the air that afternoon again, drifting like they didn't care if they landed. 

You can tell all you need to know about someone from the way cows are around him. 

And the conversation about angels between Reverend Ballou and Joseph...

Reverend Ballou: Maybe angels aren't always meant to stop bad things.
Joseph: So what good are they?
Reverend Ballou: To be with us when bad things happen.
Joseph: Then where the hell were they?

If you know a young adult reader who enjoys good narration, who seeks out bravery, who pays attention to trust, and who sees people for who they are as well as who they could be... then get this book for them.