Throwback Thursday: Child of the Owl by Laurence Yep

To be honest, I’m quite nervous about doing this Throwback Thursday. Child of the Owl means a lot to me, more than I think my words will be able to do it justice. But I will try my best. :D

In which I will talk about one of my childhood novels and my reaction rereading them. (Idea from Taste Life Twice

Blast from the Past: I first stumbled upon Child of the Owl in my school library, wandering around the shelves when I caught a glimpse of the cover. The one my library had was the red one, with the girl with a purple hoodie in front of a Chinese restaurant, holding a necklace in her hands. The cover girl looked like me. Back as a child I always sought out books with East Asian faces on the covers. I think the reason why I did this was because almost every novel I was ever handed always had stories about white people having their great splendid adventures and I longed for stories with people who looked like me being the star of the storyline for once. These stories were so far and few in between that I got into the habit of borrowing novels that showed an Asian face without so much as even checking out the summary or the first few pages. They didn’t even have to be Chinese. I’d read it as long as the cover showed an Asian face with familiar black hair and rounded nose and brown eyes. I came to read stories about Mongolians, Koreans, Japanese, Vietnamese etc etc that way.

I read it, and fell in love. I don’t think any book that I ever came across before or after that had me identifying with the protagonist as much as I did with Casey in Child of the Owl. Her Cantonese was abysmal! She had a hard time getting along with her peers! She constantly begged her Grandma to tell her stories of the past! She was snarky and fun, and, I will admit, one of my favourite parts was the bits when Casey tells us how sometimes she doesn’t feel Chinese enough, with all the people in Chinatown around her speaking the language fluently while she can barely understand simple phrases, not to even get into the whole reading thing.

And the story itself! It had family relationship explorations and mythology and generation history and *flails*. I think the part that charmed me the most was the story-within-a-story part of this novel, in which there was a myth-like story the Grandma tells about their ancestors, with owls and feathered robes and a touch of folklore magic, and I loved it. I distinctly remember re-checking out this worn out novel more than once just to reread that particular story. It was just, this novel felt like a novel catered specifically for someone like me, and that feeling I get whenever I remember this book, I can’t really describe it but it’s a bit like when you’re at the table, birthday cake in front of you, and smiling nonstop at everyone around you because they’re there to celebrate for you, and you feel like you could be someone special.

The Re-visiting Experience: I found this novel again after so many years at a secondhand bookstore for $4.99, along with other Laurence Yep novels. I seriously couldn’t believe my luck. I mean, even the big megachain bookstores don’t stock Laurence Yep stuff anymore, finding his old Golden Mountain Chronicles series (Which Child of the Owl is part of) was something like a miracle in my eyes. I grabbed just about all of them. (Unfortunately there wasn't the red cover version, but I'll take what I can get.)

Rereading Child of the Owl made me fall in love all over again. If anything, the book means so much more to me now, after all these years have passed. I now know that this novel is part of a longer generational story, a series that spans through the generations of one Chinese family as they move over to the US during the gold rush and over to the generations thereafter. The whole Golden Mountain Chronicles series came to mean a lot to me, the one and only children’s series that showed me a world that Chinese aren’t just newly come immigrants, the perpetual foreigner and can be rooted in the nation and have a long history within the United States. I mean, obviously I knew in my head that the Chinese were in United States since Gold Rush days etc, but there’s nothing like historical fiction to make you feel like it happened for real, reading words after words so that this fact starts to finally feel like truth in your heart. The Chinese were in America and have history there, and their stories are worth more than a footnote in a textbook, worth more than being just background props to the grand narrative. The Chinese-Americans too can star in their own history.

I still love the myth part of the novel a lot, but I also came to appreciate everyone else in the story beyond just being like CASEY IS THE BEST all the time, lol. The thing about this series is that you can be sure that everyone has a story, full lives of their own beyond what this particularly novel tells you. I liked Talia/Booger, Casey’s friend, quite a ways more now. There were more passages in this novel that struck me, my perspectives having changed when I grow older. That’s the thing I love about this novel, how I can grow up with it, reading again with changed eyes, different world perspectives and still come away with something, still coming out like I’ve just read something truly special.

Will quote a couple passages under cut (I know! I actually narrowed it down to only three! I would have quoted the whole myth part of the story, but er, I figured that would be way too much…)

Waiting on Wednesday: The Gaslight Dogs by Karin Lowachee

(Meme from ETA Breaking the Spine)

=O What is this? I actually have a book to talk about for Waiting on Wednesday? *is in shock*

Summary from OrbitBooks.Net:

At the edge of the known world a new empire built on war, technology, and religious fervor faces a new enemy.

A young spiritwalker of the Aniw and a captain in the Ciracusan army both find themselves unexpectedly thrown together, the Aniw girl a prisoner taken from her people, the soldier a reluctant student of a forbidden talent—one that may turn the tide of the war and will surely brand him an outcast.

From the rippling curtains of light in an Arctic sky, to the gaslit cobbled streets of the city, war is coming to the frozen north. Two people have a choice that will decide the fates of nations—and may cast them into a darkness that threatens to bring destruction to both their peoples.

(Coming out APRIL 2010)


NEW SERIES BY KARIN LOWACHEE, EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE. *excited* And nothing has been able to fill in on my urge to have Inuit fantasy world setting since Avatar: the Last Airbender ended (Know one?! Please rec me!! *makes eager face*) so I have high hopes. =D (Yes I have read Warchild and I swear the review is going to come before this week is over...*crosses fingers*)

Review: Give Up the Ghost by Megan Crewe

Title: Give Up the Ghost
Author(s): Megan Crewe
Genre: YA Paranormal High School Slice-of-Life
Page Count: 241
Publisher: Henry Holt and Company

Summary: Cass McKenna much prefers ghosts over “breathers.” Ghosts are uncomplicated and dependable. They know the dirt on everybody… and Cass loves dirt. She’s on a mission to expose the dirty secrets of the poseurs in her school.
But when the vice president of the student council discovers her secret, Cass’s whole scheme hangs in the balance. Tim wants her to help him contact his recently deceased mother, and Cass reluctantly agrees.
As Cass becomes increasingly entwined in Tim’s life, she’s surprised to realize he’s not so bad—and he needs help more desperately than anyone else suspects. Maybe it’s time to give the living another chance…
-Summary from cover flap.

The Review: I had a really good time reading this novel. My favourite aspect of the novel was definitely the treatment of the supernatural. Rather than going on about the Very Special Powers of Cass and running off on Very Cool Adventures, it’s more about the way in which her abilities seeing ghosts impact, rather than change, her life. It’s got this slice-of-life feel with dark humour that I’m a complete sucker for, and I love it.

The writing is very easy to get into. It’s fluid and quick, and Cass’ wry humour and sarcasm lends itself well to the first person narration Crewe choose to tell this story in. I was pulled into the flow of the story very quickly and finished the novel within the 24 hours after I checked it out of the library. The dialogue is also very snappy, flows well, and fun to read as well. I really love the steady pacing of the whole story. There was never really a moment that was too slow or too fast. I guess if I really must complain than maybe the flashbacks could have been handled a little better, but that is a minor quibble on my part.

Note: This is again, one of those YA fiction that does the list thing. But it's handled in a humourous way, so it wasn't as annoying as it potentially could have been.

The two strongest characters in the novel are definitely Cass and Tim. I suspect that the reader’s enjoyment of the novel is highly dependent on how much they can empathize with Cass, and sometimes Cass and her cynicism makes her a hard person to sympathize with. But once the reader gets her, it makes the story that much more interesting because you really feel for Cass, with all her flaws, and care about what Cass goes through. I really liked what Crewe has done with Tim. He could have so easily just been the perfect angsty boy love interest to swipe Cass off her feet, but he wasn’t. That’s another thing I really enjoyed about this novel: Crewe chooses to not concentrate on romance. This is not another paranormal epic romance about two people falling in love. This is about a girl and a boy with very big problems and flaws, and how they grow by interacting with one another, and learn to care for people. Crewe holds tight reign over the story and refuses to let high romantic drama take over, and in doing so she achieves greater emotional impact with her story. The Cass/Tim dynamic is definitely one of my favourite aspects of this novel.

While these two central characters shine brilliantly throughout the story, the side characters do fall a bit to the wayside. Some of the ghosts felt more like stock characters more than anything, simply there to facilitate Cass’ storyline. Cass’ ex-best friend feels more like a 2D evil villain than a real person, and her parents fair even less, with her Dad almost a non-presence for how much he is even mentioned in the story. This didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the story, but it’s something to point out.

Now, onto the setting. This novel was very much one of those generic high school in upper-class white town types. The reason why I say this is that, really, beyond the description of the school hallways, and perhaps a couple trees and the houses, there really isn’t much other description Crewe bothers to give us readers. It’s all too easy to imagine this novel to be set in any all-white town, and the reason why I came to this conclusion is by how bland the setting: there’s only houses, all Anglo-Saxon names, lacks the city type bustle. Now, add to the fact that this novel is Canadian, and we get, yet again, another Canadian children’s/YA lit that is All-White, All-Canadian fiction land. It wouldn’t bother me so much if it weren’t for the fact that after I finished reading, I was trying to think of the last time I read a Canadian YA paranormal/fantasy novel that featured anyone who wasn’t white in any prominent way and came out empty. (Can anyone name one for me? Anyone...?)

Still, it was a fun read overall. The slice-of-life feel to the supernatural was the biggest selling point for me and I definitely think everyone should give this novel a shot. =D

Raiting: 3/5
Enjoyment: 80%

Title and Cover Discussion: Okay, let's start with the title because I actually have something nice to say about it. I like it. If we look it in a literal way it fits the plot of the story very nicely. Unfortunately I don't quite find the title snappy enough to be memorable, because I find myself referring to this novel as "That really good novel called mumblemumble Ghost!! =D" ^^; Another thing I liked was the font of the title. Very ghost-like if we ignore the random pink Now, for the cover, I'll be upfront: Do. Not. Want. It's one of those covers that's conceptually cool but when it comes out it just doesn't work. I like the idea of a high school girl with the ghost whispering all the secrets into her ear but when it's on the cover it just looks weird. The ghost almost looks like s/he's melding into the main cover girl and ugh. Also, the weird forehead cut off doesn't do it for me. I mean, if you're going to show her full face then why not show ALL of it? Why cut off the forehead and the hair at the top? I don't get it. And the random pink is too random. I like pink but it just didn't work with the blue tones of everything else in the cover. The only reason why I wouldn't fail this cover is that we actually see the girl's face, and in current YA novel land (ESPECIALLY with the paranormal YA stuff), this is rare enough that I'm going to relent on my ratings based on this fact.

Title: B+
Cover: C-

In My Mailbox (3) 11/22/2009

(Meme from The Story Siren)

Random Note: ninefly bugged me into getting GoodReads. I'm wingstodust there, so if anyone wants to add me, well, there I am. =D

lol something I noticed last week. At first I thought the # besides the "In My Mailbox" title meant the amount of books you got that week as oppose to, you know, the number of times you did IMM. It feels strange to me that it's actually the latter because, honestly, who cares how many times you've done IMM? (Can you feel my n00b-ness showing through? lulz) I guess the title tags would be confusing if I get the same number of books in a week, so instead I'll be adding the date on the tile as well as the amount of books I got. =D

Nothing bought this week, but I did borrow three books from the library.



Give Up the Ghost by Megan Crewe

I finished it and loved it and I swear the review is coming up soon. It reminds me of Natsume Yuujinchou, except replace Japanese mythology with contemporary ghosts, for those who know their animanga. =D








I Wanna Be Your Shoebox by Cristina Garcia

I first heard of this from Doret and it sounded adorable~ So obviously I had to get it. =D I am a few chapters in and I really like it so far. =D








Ten Cents a Dance by Christine Fletcher

Historical fiction with girls and dancing. How can this possibly go wrong? *optimist*





So, what did everyone else get this week? =D

Triple Snapshots: Eternal, The Haters, Leviathan

(Inspired by Hyper Parfait's Triple Delights feature)

Eternal by Cynthia Leitich Smith - I could not get into Eternal. (Hence the short paragraph—I could say more, give it a fully fleshed out review, but I didn’t care enough about this story to bother.) Which sucks because this whole star-crossed lovers premise is totally my thing, and bi-racial vampire girl! But I couldn’t do it. I didn’t care about any of the characters, least of all Zachary and Miranda, and hence I couldn’t invest myself in the plot or the romance. (Actually the romance was probably my least favourite aspect of this novel, surprisingly enough.) I’ll be honest: if I didn’t buy this and instead borrowed it from the library I probably would have stopped halfway through the novel, max. Sometimes the writing is snappy enough to make things interesting but most of the time the writing felt trite and dragged on for me. But the fandom references were amusing, I’ll give it that. (This was probably the only thing I can say I liked with no reserves about this novel.) Just to put it out there, I didn’t hate this novel. I just found myself really distant and meh towards it. (lol if I truly hate it I’d be really obvious and mean about it.) I guess, to sum things up, this really wasn’t the novel for me. I’ll be passing on the rest of the books in this series.


Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld - When it comes down to it, I just had plain good fun reading this novel. It’s fun and fast and I love the action and the dialogue. Also, the illustrations are beautiful. I’m reserving opinions on how well this alternate version of WWI is done until I get to the third book to see how this divergence will play out. Also, this has been marketed as a kind of Romeo and Juliet romance, so I’m crossing my arms and waiting for it to happen. I hope it delivers on the Tragic Love aspect all the way to the end. ♥ So basically, it’s a book full of potential. Perhaps when the trilogy is over I can make a proper assessment on how well the story pans out.




The Haters by Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez - A YA high school drama novel—this time with the school population being ethnically diverse. I never really became fond of our protagonist. Possibly because the way her powers were handled. (Was the whole animals bowing to her really necessary?! And if you want tips on handling magic in a realistic slice-of-life fashion, watch Natsume Yuujinchou or read Give Up the Ghost or something. Don’t just like, have it sit there and put us readers through her constant whining about her ~*freaky powers*~. It just makes her annoying.) Also, this was one of those many novels where I got attached to the one side character that everyone is supposed to hate aka the evil queen bee Jessica Nguyen. This book, while parading around to be full of Diversity and what not, our author sure doesn’t have any qualms about reinforcing Asian stereotypes. (Valdes-Rodriguez is better with other ethnic groups, btw.) The whole evil robotic Asian person out to get you, all math and no emotions? All there, without any attempts at subversion. I think I should be happy that an Asian girl even gets a prominent role with lines and stuff, but I can’t really find it in myself to be charitable. So instead I ended up rooting for the nemesis and constantly reimagine everything from Jessica’s point-of-view. That was how I managed to finish the whole novel and while I did enjoy the novel, I er, didn’t enjoy it for the “right” reasons.

Links Roundup 11/20/2009

!! I'm on time this week! =D

Book Reviews
Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl - YA Supernatural romance, except it's the girl who's the mysterious other this time. Steph Su's review is my favourite review out of all the ones I've seen so far.
The Demon's Lexicon by Sarah Rees Brennan - A different critical take on TDL from the usual reviews I've seen for this novel.
The Magicians by Lev Grossman - Adult School Fantasy.
The Accord by Keith Brooke - Reviews terrible SF novels so that we don't have to read them! =D
Sarah Rees Brennan's batch book reviews - Hilarious scripted take on the following novels: Meredith Duran's Bound by Your Touch and Written on Your Skin, Tessa Dare's Goddess of the Hunt, Cindy Pon's Silver Phoenix, and Megan Crewe's Give Up the Ghost.

The lovely Justine Larbalestier has a post on the Blank Page Heroine phenomenon.

Also, as some of you may or may not know, there's some buzz over the creation of a "New Adult" category in the book section. Now, I personally have a strong distaste for this and hope the category dies off like, now so my linking is going to be biased. I'd point to a link roundup that is far more fair than mine, but I haven't seen one so far. If you do, please let me know so I can link it here. =D

Two posts on this "New Adult" category, and fiction theory's three posts on why this is fail.

Throwback Thursday: I Want to Go Home by Gordon Korman

whut 2 posts in one day?! the world's surely gonna end...

In which I will talk about one of my childhood novels and my reaction rereading them. (Idea from Taste Life Twice)

Blast from the Past: I was in Grade 5 and we had one of those Independent Study Units things where you pick from a select booklist a novel to read and do write-ups for. I can no longer remember the reason why I was late in choosing the books, but by the time I got there, all that was left was these old, yellowing books called I Want To Go Home by Gordon Korman, with a crumbling cover so faded I could barely make out the cover image. I was distraught. Here I was, stuck with the ugly novel no one wanted. In my mind, there was no conceivable way this sorry state of a novel could possibly be good. (And man, was my Gr. 5 self proven wrong.)

Anyhow, filled with pessimism, I cracked over the yellowing pages and decided to get my ISU done and over with. One chapter into the novel and I could not be parted from its yellowing pages. It was so funny. I was hooked by the time Rudy wrote his letter of typhoid and being chased by bears and various other outrageous lies about his camping experience. To this day I thank the heavens that I was late into the book choosing and wound up with this diamond in the rough. Every time I remember this book I find myself smiling in happiness.

The Re-visiting Experience: Wandering around a secondhand book store, I stumbled upon a copy of this novel. Needless to say, I bought it up. Childhood happiness for about the price of a toonie. I could have died happy. And rereading this novel was just as fun as it was when I was twee. The jokes were still laugh out loud funny and I had to actually pause midway through the book because I’d be losing my breath from too much laughter. And I still enjoy reading about Rudy very much. Thinking back, Rudy may have been one of my many influences in getting all attached to snarky characters causing chaos wherever they went, with a touch of sullenness. ♥

However, some other things that I was completely blindsided to when I was a child:

1. Wow, this novel comes off as very white. If the cover doesn’t tip off this impression then the very Anglo-type names of all the cast would probably do the trick. Skin colour is rarely described, but if mentioned at all it’s always “pale” or “white” , and other times they’d go red from angry or being sunburnt, etc etc. Basically, white is clearly default and in case we readers get any different ideas, our cover of All-White Campers will be there to remind us of our mistake. I mean, I suppose this isn’t shocking since this is a Canadian children’s novel and Canada is our Great and Forever White North. (bossymarmalade has a post about this if anyone’s interested.) It’s just, I look back, at all the Canadian Kid’s lit books I was given back in elementary school, and wonder how much I must have absorbed from them, a Canada that had no place for someone who looked like me.


2. This is very much a Boy’s Book that has no place for girls. If we are there, we’re the fretting mothers, or the girls keeping Rudy down and foiling his escape routes, the party poopers. When described we’re “petite blue-eyed”, the classic European Standard of Beauty for women/girls, the date, the love interest, the accessory. Basically, another book to the string of Boy’s Adventure books that have no place for girls and girl cooties.

That being said, I honestly did enjoy my reread. It was quirky and laugh-out-loud fun, and I’ll quote the letter bit under the cut, because the comedy was sincerely one of my favourite aspects of this novel.