Many books have inspired me to be a better writer, but it’s rare that a book inspires me to be a better person. Wonder by R.J. Palacio is just such a rarity.

A free sample copy of the book arrived in my mailbox at school toward the beginning of last school year. This is the second time in my teaching career that such a gift has arrived. (The first time was when I received a copy of Maximum Ride, James Patterson’s first foray into young adult literature.) I’m not sure why some publishers give away free copies to teachers, but quite frankly, it’s a brilliant marketing strategy.

Wonder sat in  my classroom all school year. Over time, I started hearing more and more good things about it on Twitter and on other blogs. Then I saw that it made the 2014 Rebecca Caudill list. I recommended to my co-teacher that she put it on the summer reading list because I’d heard so many good things about it. Boy, am I glad I did. I finally read it last week (in one day!), and it’s one of the best children’s books I’ve read in a long time.

Title: Wonder

Author: R.J. Palacio

Genre: Contemporary realistic fiction

Age group:  middle grade

Summary: This is the story of Auggie, a boy born with a very rare syndrome that causes his face to look different than everyone else’s. In fact, he’s so abnormal looking that adults stare and other children have been known to run screaming and crying from him. Numerous surgeries have done little to improve Auggie’s appearance so his parents homeschool him until the fifth grade when they decide it’s time for him to face the world. It doesn’t take much imagination to predict how his classmates will react to his unusual appearance. The book starts in Auggie’s perspective but switches to his sister, his classmates, and even his sister’s boyfriend.

I think this book has appealed to so many people because it’s so truthful. The characters feel like people I’ve met. I’ve certainly met children like the ones Auggie encounters in his new school: the friendly ones, the sometimes friendly ones, the pretend-to-be-friendly-around-adults-but-be-a-jerk-when-alone ones, and the straight-out bullies. And I’ve definitely met similar parents: the really kind ones and the ones that spawn bullies. (One incident in the middle of the book really got to me because it’s a perfect example of parents being bullies toward school administrators and teachers.)

Another reason this book has become so popular is that it speaks about something that we all want more of–kindness. In a lot of kids’ books, we see many children being bratty and obnoxious. In this book, we see some of that, but we also see instances of real kindness, and not the fake sugary kind of kindness that makes you roll your eyes and say, “Oh that would never happen.” Palacio draws such realistic characters, and she shows true insight into how kids think and react to situations.

So how has this book made me want to be a better person and teacher? It’s made me rethink what my curriculum should really be. Yes, I must cover the Common Core Standards. No big deal. We’ve been covering that material in reading and language arts classes for ages. But somewhere in there, maybe overriding all that, we should be teaching kids to be kind. Here’s a great quote from the end of the book when the principal is giving a speech:

“If every person in this room made it a rule that wherever you are, whenever you can, you will try to act a little kinder than is necessary – the world really would be a better place. And if you do this, if you act just a little kinder than is necessary, someone else, somewhere, someday, may recognize in you, in every single one of you, the face of God.”

Isn’t that a beautiful lesson for kids to learn in a book? Be “a little kinder than is necessary.” And the story is told with such humor and such authentic voices each time the perspective changes, that I think most kids will find it really engaging. I can’t wait to share it with my summer reading class tomorrow!

During the summer (probably into the fall as well), I’ll be reviewing some of the 2014 Rebecca Caudill nominees. First up is a historical fiction novel that takes place during the early part of the Cold War and mixes in some mystery and fantasy.

Title: The Apothecary

Author:  Maile Meloy

Age group: upper middle grade

Genre: historical fiction

Synopsis: Fourteen-year-old Janie Scott has been told by her parents that they must suddenly move to London. The year is 1952, and fear of Communism dominates the culture, especially in the entertainment industry. As screenwriters, Janie’s parents go to London to work while Janie meets Benjamin, the fascinating son of the local apothecary. Benjamin wants to be a spy, and Janie accompanies him on a couple spying missions. Soon, they discover that Benjamin’s dad has been targeted by a local Russian spy, but before they can do anything to prevent it, the apothecary is kidnapped. Using a book of special “potions” the apothecary left behind, Janie and Benjamin set out to find the apothecary and his friends who, in turns out, are the only people who can stop an impending nuclear disaster.

This is one of those stories that made me ask, “How do people come up with these ideas?” Who would think to mix a bit of “magic” with espionage and the Cold War. This isn’t magic along the lines of Harry Potter, but more of a “what if you mixed x, y, and z, could you make this happen?”

The book is very well written. The characters are believable and likable. You do have to allow for some slightly unrealistic situations in order for the plot to develop. For example, Janie’s parents have to go away for a few nights to work on their next movie. They leave Janie home alone with only an old neighbor to check in on her. I don’t think that even in the 1950s, parents would have left an fourteen-year-old home alone overnight. However, it’s necessary for the plot so that Janie can delve into the task of finding the missing apothecary.

Overall, I think kids who like mysteries with a bit of magic will enjoy this story. The pacing is excellent, and I quickly flew through the story in a couple days.

Tomorrow (June 4) will be the release day for The Well, the debut novel by Stephanie Landsem. Stephanie and I first met through the American Christian Fiction Writers (ACFW). When she told me last year about The Well, she explained that she originally thought she was writing a YA novel but realized later that it best fits into the category “Biblical fiction.”

I was blessed to receive an advanced copy of The Well and am happy to share this moving story on my Monday Book Reviews. 🙂

Title: The Well

Author: Stephanie Landsem

Age group: adult (but it’s okay for teens, too)

Genre: Biblical fiction

Synopsis: The Well is based on the Gospel story of the Samaritan woman at the well. If you’re familiar with this story, you know it as the one in which Jesus tells a woman who says she has no husband, “Yes, you are right. You have five husbands.” And then he offers her living water. In this version of the story, the Samaritan woman is named Nava, but the story focuses more on her daughter Mara. Because of her mother’s sins, Mara has been shunned by most of the people in their small village. Mara must also care for her crippled younger brother since Nava is often too ill to do much else than remain in the corner of their simple home. Mara’s life changes when two men come to town: a handsome young man from Caesarea and a Jewish teacher by the name of Jesus. Their arrival sends Mara on a journey to save her mother and provide her and her brother with a future.

I really enjoyed this take on a familiar story. We have no real idea what the background was on the Samaritan woman’s five husbands, but Stephanie’s adaptation provides a richly detailed story that explains how a woman 2,000 years ago might have ended up with five husbands and what consequences that would have brought.

One of my favorite aspects of this story is that it made life in Jesus’s time very real for me. Stephanie clearly did a lot of research into clothing, food, religious beliefs, and geography. In fact, if you want to learn more about the differences between Jews and Samaritans, you can visit Stephanie’s blog, where she’s been discussing those differences lately.

My favorite part of the book was the ending, but of course I can’t give that a way. I’ll just say that at one point in the story you find out that a character is really another real-life person we know by another name. My initial reaction was “Oh, no, you mean that guy’s actually so-and-so. Ack! I know what happened to him in real life!” But that surprise twist made the ending perfect. The epilogue was a moving finale to the story.

My only slight problem with the story was that I’m terrible with names, and so I had a hard time keeping characters with names like Mechola, Uziel, Zevulun, Moshe, Abahu, Amram, Noach, and Enosh straight. I could’ve used a list of character names and brief descriptions. Or even a family tree–when a woman has five husbands, it’s hard to keep track! 🙂

Even with the slight name confusion, I still really enjoyed the book and would highly recommend it to adults and teens who might be interested in this imaginative view of a familiar story.

You can visit Stephanie Landsem online here, check out her Twitter here, or like her Facebook page here.

Congratulations, Stephanie, on your debut! I look forward to your next book.

An infinitive is the basic form of a verb. In English, we express it as “to + the verb.” For example, to give, to run, to sleep, to travel, to speak.

An infinitive is “split” when an adverb is placed between the word to and the verb. The most famous example is from the opening of the original Star Trek episodes. (I have four brothers; go easy on the nerd jokes.)

“to boldly go where no man has gone before”

Notice the adverb boldly between to and go.

So who cares if you put an adverb in the middle of an infinitive? The truth: Not too many people. Writers, grammarians, editors–sure, we might care. But most people won’t even notice them.

If most people glance right over them, why do writers, grammarians, editors, and the ilk get our their red pens for split infinitives? Technically, when you split an infinitive, you are splitting something that is meant to be treated as one word. I’m no linguist, but in the few languages I’ve studied, infinitives are generally expressed in one word, not two like they are in English. For example, “to speak” is only one word in Italian (parlare), German (sprechen), and Spanish (hablar).

Stylistically, I think most purists just feel that sentences flow better when the infinitive is not split, but honestly, I’ve rewritten sentences to get rid of split infinitives and decided I actually liked the split version better!

So should you care? If you’re writing to impress someone who might be a stickler, avoid it. Otherwise, write on! Most people won’t even notice. Grammar Girl even refers to it as an “imaginary grammar rule.”

Do you speak another language? How do you say “to speak” in that language? Can you express it in one word or do you need two?

On May 2, the Mystery Writers of America will announce the winners of the 2013 Edgar Awards. Since I’ve read all the nominees for best YA mystery, I thought I’d share my prediction. In case you missed any of my previous reviews of the nominees, here are the links to refresh your memory.

• Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
• Crusher by Niall Leonard
• Amelia Anne Is Dead and Gone by Kat Rosenfield
• The Edge of Nowhere by Elizabeth George
• Emily’s Dress and Other Missing Things by Kathryn Burak

Before I give my prediction, I should note that I have no experience doing this whatsoever. This is simply me. as a mystery fan, having fun making predictions, kind of like I do with the Oscars (except in this case, I’ve actually read all the nominees).

My guess is that the Edgar Award will go to Code Name Verity. Why? First, I heard a ton of buzz about it online from agents, editors, and YA book fans. It seems to be very popular among book people. Second, it’s a World War II historical, and those books always appeal to large groups of people. Third, it has some good twists in the plot, some of which surprised even this avid mystery reader.

If Wein doesn’t win it for Code Name Verity, my next guess would it be that it would go to Elizabeth George’s The Edge of Nowhere. She’s known for her Inspector Lynley series (adult novels) and has won other writing awards, including the Agatha Award for Best First Novel.

Of course, if it goes to any of the other nominees, that will simply prove I know nothing about predicting awards. 🙂 I’ll post the names of the winners after they are announced on May 2.