Diane Stanley

I didn't know anything about this book when I started reading it (except that I like the author). It starts off contemporary realistic. There's a girl named Joplin who lives in New York City. Her famous eccentric grandfather has just died and she's being bullied about it at school (seriously, her classmates are so cruel). Joplin inherits her grandfather's broken antique painted pottery. It turns out to have magical properties and presents a mystery for Joplin to untangle.

Honestly, this is the kind of book I could probably take apart if I felt like it (the magic seemed to have a lot of holes in it and the heroes were impossibly precocious 12-year-olds) but I just enjoyed it. Joplin has a strained relationship with her single mother and her ache to feel close to her mom was palpable. When it came time to solve the problem presented by the magic delftware, it was worked out logically in a satisfying way.

This has a kind of fairy tale quality, but it's hard to explain without giving away the plot. Let's say there are aspects that made me think of [b:Ella Enchanted|24337|Ella Enchanted|Gail Carson Levine|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1410727190s/24337.jpg|2485462].… (mehr)

I appreciate what Diane Stanley is trying to accomplish with this book: What if the War on Terror escalates and our world is drastically changed? Rationing, attacks, fear, panic, etc. grip the nation and our leaders make some ugly choices. They treat people of Arab decent the same way people of Japanese decent were treated after Pearl Harbor. What would you do if they were going to take your friend away just because of where his parents were born? Would you be brave?

Now let me be cynical: An idealized hippie-agrarian family (the kids are named Mouse and Sky, they live off the grid without TV or computers, they practice some kind of humanist/pagan spiritualism that involves a lot of blessing of stuff) does what any saintly family would do during a crisis and rescues a young boy of Arab descent from racist, Arab-fearing government officials. Sky writes an essay about how messed up the country has become.

I like/don't like this book because it's message is so clear. It would be absolutely terrible to live in a country that openly punished people of a certain ethnicity. It takes a lot of courage to stand up for what's right when everyone is scared and the country is being attacked. The United States is not a perfect nation. Bad things could happen here. Have happened here.

This book is saved from being unbearably preachy by good writing and a fast-moving plot. I enjoyed reading it, even though I rolled my eyes more than once (it was mostly the perfection of Sky's parents that brought on the eye rolls). It would be a good choice for a book club this year or next, but I don't think it will have staying power. It's kind of a modern, speculative version of [b:Number the Stars|47281|Number the Stars|Lois Lowry|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170346710s/47281.jpg|2677305]. The ending is totally open-ended, which is how a book taking on such a big topic manages to be so short. Often, I wished the author would do more showing and less telling.… (mehr)

Okay. This is a review with two different views because

1.) Alice Water's vision and mission in regards to food was trailblazing. Fresh ingredients and preserving farms is something vitally important. Being self-sustaining is huge. Loving food for what it can be and do is why I love to cook myself

HOWEVER

1.) I do agree with other reviews that this book does feel tone deaf. Or at the very least it is not approachable. Because not everyone has access to fresh ingredients. It is freaking expensive to dine at restaurants like Chez Panisse (For instance, it's $175 a person PLUS a 17 percent service charge AND a 10.25 percent sales tax).....that's too rich for my blood. And frankly, the small businesses chefs claim to want to help.

That is a pet peeve of mine. Unapproachable prices for the masses....… (mehr)