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Cindy: I recently ran two book fairs in my middle school libraries and ran into a real-life mystery: WHY is this cover art on the paperback of Susan Beth Pfeffer’s Life As We Knew It???? Seriously. Look at this photo I took of the trilogy as displayed in the sale cases:

Which one of these things does not belong? Where is the fabulous blue cover with the striking looming moon threatening Miranda’s world as tidal waves, earthquakes, volcanoes, and communication interruptions change everything? The cover that drew boys and girls to the hardcover when the book was first published? The cover that spawned two look alike sequel covers? This purply-pink dresser makes it seem as if the biggest problem facing Miranda is which lipstick to choose tonight.

One of my 8th grade teachers saw the cover in the book fair and debated for three days and then refused to buy it. Pfeffer’s book is popular in her classroom and in the science fiction unit we teach and she wanted another copy or two, but decided to wait to find it elsewhere. I don’t blame her. This dystopian series has been popular with both boys and girls in my middle schools but this cover does not represent the story accurately…even with Miranda’s longing for prom and driver’s license and a normal teen life amidst the major crisis she is facing.

The publisher for the hardcover and the paperback with the original looming moon cover is Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and the paperback with that cover appears to be available in the prominent online book vendors. So…I am kicking myself for not looking at the imprint on this book fair edition. Was it also HMH or was it a special book fair publication? The plot thickens. Do any of you book cover sleuths have any clues for me?

Lynn: Seventeen-year-old Farrah Higgins is a math genius.  She can see math patterns instantly, topped the nation in math test scores and is heading to MIT in the fall.  Once nicknamed “Digit,” Farrah has spent her high school years hiding her gift, hanging with a popular and apparently brainless group and trying to be “normal.  While watching a TV show, Farrah spots a string of numbers that are repeated three weeks in a row and her brain shifts out of idle.  When she realizes the numbers are related to a recent terrorist attack, Farrah talks to her Dad and they go to the FBI – where no one will take her seriously.  But Farrah won’t give up and when her investigations lead her right to the terrorist cell she has to run for her life.  This time the FBI does listen and, accompanied by a handsome rising young star in the Bureau, Farrah is on the trail  – and in serious danger.

Digit’s voice is unique and immediate and it was the strength of the voice and her fascinating gift that captured me.  I don’t know a teen with a Digit’s mathematical genius but I do know far too many gifted young people – especially girls – who do all they can to hide what makes them exceptional and it was this strong thread that was at the heart of the book.  There’s plenty more here though.  This is a sweet romance, a clever puzzle and a satisfying coming of age story all wrapped up in one terrific heart-pounding thriller.  And make no mistake, this is quite a thriller!  Schemes, double-crosses and nasty villains kept me reading far into the night.

I read this book which was originally titled “Digit”  in a plain cover galley.  OK – the cover WAS pink but I have to say I was taken aback when I saw the final cover.  While it’s attractive I’m not convinced that the cover really conveys the essence of this smart suspenseful story.  You may have to push it to the teens who will relate to it best but I guarantee that anyone who starts it won’t be able to put it down till they’ve galloped to the end!

Cindy: Check reality at the door for this one, folks. I like this mystery for all the reasons Lynn does, but Holy Fibonacci Series, Batman, you have to be willing to forgive a lot. Let’s say our young math genius does manage to connect the dots between the number code to the terrorists to the extent that she has to fake a kidnapping and go into hiding to save her life. And let’s say the FBI let’s the young agent and 17 year-old “hottie” hole up on mattresses in a warehouse and delegates the translation and decoding of phone transcripts to these two who then figure out where an important item is hidden. Why, oh WHY, if she was in such danger in L.A. that she had to go into hiding would the FBI allow her to travel with the agent to Grand Central Station in NYC to look for the clue. Yeah, no danger there. Good grief. But teen mysteries have always been fraught with these problems. How many teens are in the position to get involved with real mysteries? My middle schoolers love Finding Lubchenko by Michael Simmons and it certainly requires a similar suspension of belief.

Even with these quibbles, the book is a page turner and the romance and the issue of Farrah embracing her academic talents will make this a fun summer beach read to recommend. I mean, who is this past Nancy Drew addict to criticize a mystery for having some lapses in reality? And, truth be told, I am still haunted by a past female middle school student who refused to read any fiction unless it included math. I was worn to a frazzle finding her books she would read. I would buy this just in memory of that girl.

Cindy: Oh, I know. Circle of life and all, but I’m still sad after yesterday’s news of Maurice Sendak’s death. There are plenty of tributes already posted for this beloved author and illustrator and I am feeling particularly inadequate to add anything of substance, so I will just leave you with these simple but important words of advice from Maurice himself:

“…love your children, and believe in them passionately.”*

His life’s work showed us that he did.

*–Biography Today Author Series, V. 2. Omnigraphics, 1996.

Cindy: WOW! It seems appropriate for a blog called Bookends to promote a book about symmetry! And the word WOW has three symmetrical letters and word symmetry as well!  Seeing Symmetry (Holiday House 2012) by Loreen Leedy is a boon to the sparse 510′s of the Dewey shelves but it has connections to language, nature, and art lessons as well. The book starts with the standard: line symmetry. An object that can be folded in half along a single line or one that divided in half has two identical halves is said to have line symmetry. It might also be called mirror, reflection or bilateral symmetry according to the additional examples and the notes in the back of the book. Examples include faces, shapes, letters and even words.

Rotational symmetry spins the lesson on its head! If an object can rotate around a single center point and maintain its shape it has rotational symmetry. The white trillium flowers blooming here in Michigan or a wind turbine blade is an example.

Add this book to your collection to support geometry Common Core Standards (4.G.3) but in addition to the suggested activities for practice in finding and creating symmetry examples, check out this fabulous webquest with many activities to support the concepts introduced here.

Oh, and a head’s up. It’s Mother’s Day this coming Sunday and MOM is symmetrical! HA!

Update: The author has this offer available:  a FREE 20 page PDF to go with Seeing Symmetry that can be downloaded here: Seeing Symmetry Activity Pack

For more Nonfiction Monday blog fun, head over to The Swimmer Writer. Enjoy!

Lynn: Hang onto your slouch hat and seven-shot derringer! Caroline Lawrence trades togas for buckskins as her new Western Mysteries series gets off to a rip-snorting start in The Case of the Deadly Desperados (Penguin/Putnam, 2012). The story opens as P. K. Pinkerton inscribes the events that have brought him to be in the deepest mine shaft of the Comstock Silver Mine with three desperados closing in. It seems P. K. had come home to find his foster father dead and his foster mother breathing her last. ”Fetch your medicine bag,” she tells him, “It contains your Destiny and then get out fast!” P. K. can’t read expressions or express emotions well but he hightails it out of the tiny town of Temperance for Satan’s Playground—Virginia City—with three ruthless killers hot on his trail. Half Lakota, P. K. discovers that his medicine bag contains a valuable deed left to him by his father—a railroad detective. Virginia City of 1862 was packed with eccentric characters:  Soiled Doves, miners, hurdy girls, Celestials, gamblers and, the “Devil’s Own”—lawyers! Can P. K. trust anyone but himself? How can he stake his claim and head east to Chicago to join the Pinkerton Detective Agency? After all, detecting is in his blood.

The action is non-stop, the passel of eccentric characters from Whittlin’ Walt to Poker Face Jace to Sam Clemens himself are a hoot and the historic setting is as fascinating as it is vividly drawn. (There’s great stuff here on silver mining!) Lawrence throws in some truly surprising plot twists that will have readers shouting, “Whoa” in delight as the story speeds by like a runaway stage. Smart-as-a whip P. K. is a great character and I can’t wait to meet him again in new adventures.  As for me—well, partner—like P.K., I’m done trying to read faces and moving on to feet, “the most honest part of the body.”

Cindy: Well, pard-ners. Hang on to your slouch hat, indeed! And your fedora too. If you haven’t noticed, the mystery-crazy folks at the helm of Booklist are back in their Mystery Month saddle and Bookends is joining the fun. We’ll be adding a youth mystery post every Wednesday this month, perhaps a few other surprises along the way as well…we can’t play all of our cards this first week. But we hope you will tune in…and if you love mysteries but are not regular readers of some of the other Booklistonline blogs, take a peek this month. You are surely in for some mysterious shenanigans.

Cindy: I finally scraped together a couple of free hours with my husband in town so we could go see The Hunger Games movie. I’ve long since gotten over expecting movies based on books to live up to my standards, but I have to admit that this one fared well. Within the obvious limitations of the time constraints it represented the plot and themes well and the sets were great. I loved Woody Harrelson as Haymitch and Jennifer Lawrence was perfect as Katniss. I could have done without the shaky Blair Witch Trial camera action–I mean, really. The tech crew that was working the magic of the arena on their computers, generating predators with their computer 3D animations certainly could have produced smooth camera work, but…whatever. Some of the special effects were better on screen than I had imagined them…but some moments paled in comparison. I cried when I read about Rue’s death as Katniss sang to her…but the scene in the film did not pull at my emotions in the same way. But, I’m not really here to discuss the movie. It just happens to overlap with several conversations I’ve had with adults in the past few days concerning Suzanne Collins’ trilogy.

A woman with young teen children asked me what I thought about the books and when I responded enthusiastically, she said she just couldn’t get excited about books that pit children against children in a fight to the death. A male teacher, big fan of Harry Potter, admitted he can’t bring himself to read these for the same reason. The woman had read the first book at least, but just couldn’t get past the violence. She started to come around when I talked about the issues of socio-economic differences, corrupt governments supressing their people, our fascination with reality tv, the power of the media, compassion for our adversaries, remaining true to yourself at great risk/cost…etc.  These weren’t the first concerns I’d heard. So…I’m curious. Have you read any of the books in the series? Seen the movie? Or are you avoiding them…and if so, is it due to the premise? Leave a comment. And may the odds be ever in your favor.

Cindy: Since 2002 one of the National Poetry Month celebrations includes “Poem in Your Pocket Day.” You can read the details and history at that link, and get print-ready poems and other ideas, but don’t overthink this. Find a poem, write it down or print it out and put it in your pocket. Pull it out throughout the day and share it with others. DO IT.

Here’s the poem that is going in my pocket on what will be a very busy day. I’d love to have you post the poem that you will be carrying in the comments for us. Any day filled with poetry is a good day.

Come With Me

To the quiet minute between two noisy minutes
It’s always waiting ready to welcome us
Tucked under the wing of the day
I’ll be there
Where will you be?

–Naomi Shihab Nye

Cindy: I am still recovering from a fun weekend in L.A. attending the L.A. Times Book Prize and Festival. That article will give you an overview of all the fun I had at this festival that draws 140,000 visitors to celebrate the world of literature. Families, aspiring authors, teachers, and book lovers of all sorts descend on the USC campus to revel in books and 400 authors and over a 100 panels. All five of our YA Literature finalists were there and it was a treat to meet each of them.  Mal Peet and Patrick Ness traveled across the pond to be with us and since I am still struggling to deal with my measly 3-hour time difference as I face a busy week I am even more impressed with their coherent and lively discussion during our panel with John Corey Whaley on Saturday. In another panel, Libba Bray and Pete Hautman were delightfully entertaining with their talk of books and expert pineapple slicing, mushroom identification and discussion of the War on Women with the line of the weekend: ”Transvaginal Wanding is not just my drag name anymore.” Sorry–you had to be there. A post-panel report just isn’t the same. Suffice it to say, a good time was had by all. The Award ceremony with its presentations to a host of authors in the adult categories added to my already long list of big girl books I am missing out on in my life. But I was heartened to find that I am in the middle of reading the winner of the adult mystery/thriller category. Stephen King won for his time-travel novel 11/22/63. I can’t turn the pages fast enough on this one.

Back to Pete and his L.A. Times Prize winning novel, The Big Crunch. We blogged about it a year ago and you can catch that here. And you can read an interview by editor David Levithan with Pete about this book here. Oh, and the best part? Pete’s reaction to the weekend and details of surprise celebration party thrown for him upon his return home! Read it here on Pete’s blog. Congrats, Pete!

Cindy and Lynn: The two halves of Bookends are flying out tonight but in different directions!  Cindy is flying to L.A. where the L.A. Times Book Prizes will be announced and much fun will be had over the weekend.  Lynn is leaving for three weeks in the south of Spain with her husband where she is hoping for adventure, sun and gorgeous Spanish red wine.  Lynn has done some work ahead and will be sending back travel reports too but Cindy will be holding down the Bookends fort after she returns from her celebrations in California.  Stay tuned for Cindy’s announcement of the winner from her jury’s awesome short list.

Lynn: I am writing this review on April 15th – the 100th anniversary of the tragic sinking of the Titanic.  The week previous has been filled with programs about the ship and it was an interesting experience to see and hear those while reading a book on the subject for young readers.  I am happy to write that Titanic:  Voices from the Disaster (Scholastic 2012) fared extremely well in comparison.   I admit to being a little reluctant to read this.  I’m not a big fan of disaster books or movies and in fact, I haven’t ever seen the James Cameron movie.

I really appreciate Hopkinson’s approach to the subject.  In the introduction she acknowledges the intense fascination with the event but goes on to point out that our interest makes us all historians.

We can’t help being curious.  What happened?  Why?  Who said what when?  What did it mean? And, of course what if?

Through the eyes and voices of some of the survivors, Hopkinson introduces readers to the ship itself, to its crew and passengers and takes us through a step-by-step investigation of what happened.  This provides us with a slight distancing that I found helpful  but it is impossible not to find these actual words and experiences intensely poignant.  Most eye-opening for me were the chapters that chronicled the 90 minutes from the collision to the final sinking and the chapters that describes the conditions in the lifeboats as the stunned survivors hoped for rescue.  Short sections depict what was happening to the individuals we had been introduced to in a vivid and terrifying count-down as the minutes clicked by.   New to me was the information on the boats in the area and the efforts of Carpathian and its crew to get to the Titanic in time and how the survivors were picked up and treated as the ship steamed to New York.

The book is packed with fascinating illustrations, photographs, maps, and telegrams.  The back matter is stellar and includes biographies of the passengers, survivor letters, a time line, fascinating statistics, a bibliography and much more.  I read the book in galley and cannot wait to see the finished copy!  This one is a must purchase for elementary and middle school collections.  Interest in this event is always high and this outstanding book does just what Hopkinson hopes it will do – “reminds us that our lives are fragile and precious and makes us wonder what it would have been like to have been aboard so many years ago.”

Cindy: It seemed you couldn’t turn anywhere this week without running into an iceberg…um…coverage of the Titanic anniversary. Even my church rearranged our seating yesterday into cruise ship dining circular tables and played music from the ship while the teaching focused on hubris. While many were following the History Channel’s Twitter stream reliving the key moments of the Titanic voyage, I was happier reading Deborah Hopkinson’s take this weekend. The big moments and the small are included. For instance,  the deviation from the norm when crew cat Jenny carried her litter of kittens off the ship, prompting one crew member to leave as well, considering Jenny’s actions a bad omen.

I, like Lynn, am eager to see this book in its finished state. Normally, that wouldn’t be a problem but for the first time in 28 years of my career, my budgets were frozen mid-year. I never spend my whole budget in the fall, prefering to save money for spring releases, award titles announced mid-year, and new projects that my teachers scheme up and are excited about. But, my Scholastic Book Fair starts tomorrow, and surely when I unpack the cases today I will find Titanic: Voices from the Disaster among the offerings and can snag some copies with my profits…and booktalk it during the sale to my students. Fingers crossed….that fireman sailor is not the only superstitious one.

For more nonfiction books please go to today’s Nonfiction Monday host, The Nonfiction Detectives.