sprite writes
broodings from the burrow

October 18, 2015


dewey’s 24-hour readathon: hour 22
posted by soe 5:15 am

This is not my 22nd hour of participation in Dewey’s 24-Hour Readathon, but is the 22nd hour the readathon has been going on. I am a bad readathon participant and fell back asleep this morning, got a slow start, went out for a while this afternoon, and put my book down after a while to listen to the Mets game on the radio. Oh, and I went out a few hours ago to find a non-apple snack.

The good news is that I’ve read three books during these past 22 hours:

Bandette by Paul Tobin and Colleen Coover is a graphic novel about a charming teen cat burglar/Robin Hood. I bought it last spring on Free Comic Book Day, when the cover and a rave review from my local comics shop caught my eye. If you enjoy capers (of the hijinks variety, rather than the pickled vegetable matter), this is for you. The book is also interesting in that it includes a few pages of script from the writer (so you can see his suggestions vs. what appears on the page), as well as a demonstration of how the artist goes about doing her work. I was captivated enough that I contemplated running over to the shop to see if they had the second volume in stock.

Dumplin’ by Julie Murphy (which I checked out from the library) is about a fat Texas girl growing up in a small town noted for its annual beauty pageant. Dumplin’, aka Willowdean, juggles grief after her beloved aunt dies, confusion over boys who have crushes on her, frustration at the growing distance between her and her lifelong best friend, and disappointment with her ex-pageant winning mother, who greets Willowdean’s (and several other misfits’) surprise entrance into the pageant (which she runs) with a lack of enthusiasm. The book has received a lot of buzz among the YA book community, and it’s easy to see why. Willowdean, a mostly confident, Dolly Parton-loving teenager, is not a perfect hero, but she knows it and is working on making her space in the world a comfortable one.

I Am Not Joey Pigza by Jack Gantos is about a boy, Joey, whose father comes back into the picture after winning a comfortable sum of money on the lottery. Declaring himself a new man (with a new name), he declares his interest in picking up as a family man, and Joey’s mother, eager herself for a new life, agrees. Joey, whose parents have decided will be henceforth be called Freddy, is suspicious of his father’s transformation and his mother’s willingness to be bought off, but isn’t given a lot of choice in the matter. He’s moved, made to throw out all his old things, taken out of school, and given a series of increasingly erratic tasks to do by his parents, and somehow this 6th-grader must still find a way to live with himself and the adults who ought to have his interests at heart. Probably a good series for those who have aged out of the Wimpy Kids books, but who aren’t yet ready for Percy Jackson.

I may read a bit more, or I may call it for the night. I have to go back to work on Monday, and I’d like not to do it as a zombie.

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