SWEEP

Every single word on the 300+ pages of SWEEP are well worth every minute of reading.  Jonathan Auxier fills these pages with quotable quotes and characters to love. He stirs up feelings from the gut and places you in settings so vivid you question whether you have actually been there or not. Lucky for all of us, today, Nan, Charlie, Toby, Newt, Miss Bloom and that wicked Crudd arrived on bookshelves everywhere ready for you and the students in your lives to experience late 19th century London from the eyes of young chimney sweeps.

When Nan was six years old, her Sweep disappeared.  The only thing he left for her was a clump of soot that she kept safely in her pocket. Now 11 and after spending years working for the evil Crudd, Nan gets stuck in a chimney fire.  She should have died from the "Devil's Nudge" except that her ember "creature" saved her.

Named after char, Charlie, is a what?  "I have met monsters before and you are not one of them," Nan tells Charlie. Not a monster but a golem. In search of learning more about golems, Nan turns to Miss Bloom, the Jewish teacher at a nearby school.  "Once a golem has fulfilled its purpose, it must die."

What is Charlie's purpose?  Is he there to teach love? Friendship? Courage? Fear? All of the above?  It was interesting to chat briefly with Jonathan about the book and compare it to The Night Gardener. He said he was thinking of writing a trilogy with each book capturing a different feeling: Night Gardener would be fear; Sweep grief and the third love.  I actually thought there was a lot of love in this book, along with fear, too. "If you're not afraid, you're not doing it right." Take my word for it, Jonathan you're doing it just right.

I read this book in two days.  I had to finish it before I met up with Jonathan at the Princeton Book Festival on Saturday and of course, before its book birthday today.  I'm glad closed the book on time because then I got to talk to Jonathan about a few of my observations including what I think is the recurring theme of a tree growing in a house.

One thing I love about the book are the thoughtful and quotables quotes.  I can even picture some of them in a yearbook*:

On defining a year: "A year is a little lifetime..." this couldn't be truer and as my daughter navigates 11th grade, I want this lifetime and the next to go VERY slowly.

"We are saved by saving others."

"In some ways, accidents feel even worse than if you'd done them on purpose."

"The world is full of wonders that I can scarcely imagine....Like everyday was a miracle."

"Courage is feeling fear and facing it head-on." (Graduation speech material?)

I picked up a copy of The Night Gardener for my son on Saturday.  He started reading it this afternoon and later said in a surprising voice, "It's good, Mom."  Would I really steer him astray?

Trust me, that's Jonathan!

Happy Book Birthday, Sweep!

Hope it was a good one!

🎈

Postscript

I still share this Night Gardener Animoto with students as an example of a good one.  After that lesson, students flock to the A section. What do you think?

Year #4 of Princeton Book Festival

It's hard to believe that for the past four years, my son and I have made the trek to attend the annual Princeton Book Festival #PPLBookFest, but we have and it continues to be worth it.  It doesn't hurt that my grandmother lives a half hour away so it becomes a weekend of books and Bubby.

We were very late leaving Castleton.  Why?  Because at ALA I was given an ARC of SWEEP by Jonathan Auxier and had not read it yet.  I began it Thursday and it had to be finished before I saw him at the festival.  Well, I stayed up late, woke up early and closed the book (after reading all the excellent back matter, too) at 9:00 am.  We were on the road an hour ish later. It was so good and I promise to blog about it before the big book birthday on Tuesday! So, yes, I was able to chat with Jonathan about it (Are you Jewish? No but...Trees in houses seem to be running themes in your books. This was not scary like The Night Gardener but crushed my heart in other ways.)

Jonathan is a tall guy and his leap is "off the page!"

I was THRILLED to see old friends:

Lauren Castillo with her newest book that got an amazing review in the NYT recently!

Anna Kang and Chris Weyant who will come to Castleton ONE OF THESE DAYS!

I met Ellen Potter at ALA in NOLA and now she is a New Yorker in the Syracuse area and a friend!  

Ame Dyckman ran out of Misunderstood Shark before I got there but we still got to take a leap!

The photo dedicated to Matt Cordell: Bob, Not Bob! authors Audrey Vernick and  TEXAN, Liz Garton Scanlon.

The incomparable Sophie Blackall who WILL be at CES someday soon, maybe even this year?
Looks like I'm squeezing her hand for dear life!

HAPPY to finally meet IRL some new friends:

Stella Diaz will be on my Newbery list!

I promised Abby Hanlon she will never forget this leap!

I love Shaking Things Up and Susan Hood's newest (and first middle grade) Lifeboat 12.
Plus, she's a Matt Cordell author, too!

Torrey Maldonado seemed to always have a crowd when I walked by. 

But I got lucky he was right behind me on the checkout line.

Tight will be on my Newbery list, too!

I've met Greg Pizzoli before but never really chatted.  He's the illustrator of Crunch, which I read to first graders on the first day of school.  "Did they sing 'Happy Birthday'?" he asked.  "They did!"
Who's mouth is open wider???

I'M STILL IN AWE when I chat with some folks who I wish were my friends:

Another Newbery list book.  Two years ago at the same festival I bought a copy of Liar and Spy (my favorite).
Then I came home only to find out I already owned a copy.  At least I remembered this year so as not to buy a third!

The only time I really saw my son smile yesterday was when he told Wendy Mass that The Candymakers is his favorite book.

Every time I see David Wiesner I tell him about our Surf City, Long Beach Island connection.
This time we talked about mini golf.  It didn't hurt that my son was wearing his Flamingo Golf t-shirt.

Susan Verde (also a Matt Cordell author) is our Gala author this year and our theme is "I am...ME!" piggybacking her "I Am" books with Peter H. Reynolds. We finally met IRL but of course, I never got a photo :-(.  I did get one with John Parra who illustrated Susan's latest book, Hey, Wall, that we will be featuring at our October Monthly Morning Assembly.

Shhh...Don't tell anyone (except me because I'd love to know that you read to the end of this post) but Mrs. Kelliher and I are going to dress up as the "I Am Peace" character for Halloween this year. I discreetly asked Susan if she had any of the hats and she told me that a woman made three of them and told her that she would never make any again. Hmph?! I guess they were really hard to sew or crochet?  Well, I put a query out on Etsy tonight to a woman who loves to crochet.  Stay tuned.

Check out this stack of books for my library:

All in all a wonderful day to be a librarian.

I am taking up a collection though.  Send all donations to the Princeton Police Department:

Dear Princeton Municipal Court, 
Please pardon my negligence in feeding the meter.  I was too caught up in leaping with a slew of superstars that I became irresponsible in my parking payment duties.

Sophie Quire

I have to admit that I have not read the first Peter Nimble book. But I did love The Night Gardener so when a new Jonathan Auxier book was released I knew I had to read it. And after reading the multiple starred reviews saying that this book could stand alone I put it on my TBR pile.

Full disclosure:  I am not a fantasy reader.  My brain has a hard time imagining other worlds and magical creatures and accepting that they are believable.  But that's what's so great about good fantasy authors--their language and descriptions make you believe.  Jonathan Auxier is one amazing storyteller that has given us all "a story worth remembering."

Hints of Harry Potter, J.A. White's Thickety series, Narnia, Lloyd Alexander and Fahrenheit 451, this book is filled with strong characters that you will love and hate, a plot that keeps you turning the pages and language so rich and beautiful you almost think Auxier has some magical spell cast on him when pen hits paper or, more likely, fingers strike the keys.

12 year old Sophie Quire lives with her father in their bookshop in Bustleburgh.  As the annual Pyre Day, book burning day, approaches and Peter Nimble shows up with The Book of Who requesting it to be mended by Sophie, things get exciting immediately.

"What if" you are on a quest to find four books to save your world?  Could you do it?

"What if" there was a mystery about your mother's death and you craved to find the truth?  Would you?

"What if" evil was out to destroy all stories because "...there is nothing harmless about filling people's heads with nonsense.  Children deserve better than to be lied to about magic buttons and talking wolves.  They deserve a proper, scientific education.  They deserve the truth."  Do they?  Reading Auxier, I realize how valuable it is to escape the mundane reality of my real world and young people will, too.

This is not a short book but it moves fast.  You will root for Sophie Quire; Peter Nimble, the "greatest thief who ever lived"and his side kick, Sir Tode; Akrasia, the tigress and find your heart racing and your voice cheering as they fight the evils in their world.

As Sophie says, "A world without stories is a world without magic" and I say--

Dear Jonathan Auxier, Please do not stop writing the stories because I am already yearning for my next magical escape...

At AASL in Columbus last year

Are we miming the Zeitgeist without me knowing it???

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