Lost on Planet China by J. Maarten Troost

I'm obviously a little anxious about my impending trip to the far east. This book's subtitle is "One man's attempt to understand the world's most mystifying nation". Sounds like it might be helpful. I think instead I'm more anxious. It sounds like breathing will be challenging, as not only am I going to the Himilayas, where oxygen is scarce, apparently, the pollution in China is abysmal. On the other hand, I've been practicing two phrases that I think will be most comforting; "Qingwen. Wo buhui dun zhege cesuo. Youmeiyou biede cesuo keyi yong?" Translated; "Excuse me, I am not proficient at squatting. Is there another toilet option?" And, the more simple, but perhaps more crucial "Zhege zhende shi jirou ma?"Translated; "Are you sure that's chicken?" Thank you Mr. Troost for these helpful navigators. Unfortunately, he also points out that learning something in Mandarin does not mean you'll be understood by those who speak Cantonese, or the other 291 languages in the country of China. It's not that I'm expecting to be understood by the 1.5 billion inhabitants of China, but I'm afraid I may not be understood by any of them. I will be an unintelligible, blonde, tall, Laowei female wearing scuba gear. If you are feeling disheartened about living in the Good Ol' USA, picking up this book will make you feel much better. As usual, much of the language that crosses all barriers would never cross my Grandmother's threshold, and once again, it seems harder to avoid members of the sex trade in this country than here in the rural cornfields of middle America. Not sure I would share this book with my kids, unless they were of the mind to get a back pack and head for the Orient to find themselves. Cruising through these pages might make them skew their travels more towards Norway. "Jeg er glad Norweigans bruk toilet papir!" Translated: Heck, you don't even need me to translate it.

Candy Freak by Steve Almond

Mallo-Cups, 5th Avenue, Turtle Bar, Necco Wafers, Original Bubble Yum, Harry London's Mint Bar..just getting started. I am a freak. There are certainly many of us, but perhaps Steve Almond is a bit more freakish than most. The guy has a serious affinity for candy, and a sensual attachment to the ultimate sweet. The way he describes a chocolate enrober is positively poetic, and a bit too intimate for comfort- but no doubt you start thinking about the waves on top of your bar a bit more. This book is not for kids. Toooooo bad, as candy freakdom starts in childhood, and kids understand candy. Now, certainly you'll be able to share parts of the book, or at least knowledge gleaned from the book with your children- but don't hand this one over, okay? If you are a foodie, this book will appeal to you. If you like candy, this book will appeal to you, and if you are a freak, what are you waiting for??? I have started looking at the candy aisle in a much friendlier way, and with a detective's nose, looking for the obscure small candy companies with the kahunas to duke it out on the same shelves with the big three (that being, Hershey's, Nestle and Mars). And you need kahunas, as well as the bucks to shelve out "shelving fees", which is what you pay the store to put the product on their shelves, and it is in the multi thousands. Just look at Walmart, or your grocery store, and see how many candy products are not from the big three that you can put your hands on.... pretty sparse. Candy used to be very regional. Each area of the country, each state, had their bars and they were fresh and local. Not so any longer. With my new found knowledge, I am looking for a Idaho friend to send me an "Idaho Spud" and a Iowa friend to ship me a "Twin Bing", and a California friend to post me a "Aba-Zaba". Also accepting Five-Star Bars, Valomilk and Goo Goo Clusters- my mouth is as open as my curiosity. And I am frantically sharing all these tastes with my children before the little candy companies melt and go the way of the Caravelle Bar...extinct.

The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey by Trenton Lee Stewart

Earlier, I reviewed, positively, the first installment in the Mysterious Benedict Society series. I have been reading this first book aloud to my youngest son, and for the first time, I get tired of reading aloud before he gets tired of listening to me! My eldest daughter, also a fan of MBS has likewise been settling down on the porch swing to read a chapter or two to her brother and we are near the end! Thus, I decided to see if the next book would be worth dangling as a literary carrot in front of my boy's nose.
The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey is maybe even more fun! Bad guys, good guys, riddles and action heroes, another yarn about the team of prodigious youngsters defeating evil with brains, determination and teamwork. This time, the characters are already devoted friends, but they are still learning about one another, as well as developing themselves. Mister Benedict, narcoleptic as usual, and his evil brother, Ledroptha Curtain, are absent most of the book, but are the puppeteers of the tale. Number Two (okay, who in the world would allow themselves to be nicknamed "Number Two"???), Rhonda, and Milligan are all there, as well as the baddies from MBS the first. The action travels through Portugal, Holland, and another mysterious island (not "Nomansan" this time)! And through it all, the clever capering kids.
Allow your own little adventurers to set sail on the Shortcut with the kids of the Mysterious Benedict Society and partake in a safer version of a perilous journey!

Lunatic Express by Carl Hoffman

Later this year, I will be traveling outside my comfort zone. Where I know no one, and I will stand out like a circus freak at the yacht club. Because of this, I find my book choices leaning towards "HELP"! Lunatic Express, written by journalist Carl Hoffman, is his personal Odyssey,over 5 months, traveling on the worlds most dangerous and fatal public transports. Think ancient buses careening around mountain passes in South America, bumper-car style Matutus in Africa and enormously overcrowded ferries and trains in southern Asia. I figured, an account of the worst in the world will give me some measure of comparison, and I will feel safe. And, I do find myself a bit encouraged. Nearly everywhere he travels, an English speaker finds him, and even where he doesn't find a conversant, he encounters most generous hospitality by the poorest people in the world. Unfortunately, the hardest time he has communicating is where I'm headed. Huh.
While this book is an account of sweaty, dirty, loud crushes of humanity, it is mostly about connection. A connection perhaps seen least in America, where we have personal space and lots of privacy, and relative wealth and use that as an insulator. After a trip around the world in third class, what depresses the author most is the Greyhound bus from Las Vegas. Can't say I disagree. Vegas creeps me out big time. And it is those contrasts in travel and home that bring the author to epiphany.
Interestingly, it seems that folks in countries that speak little or no English, they know curse words. So, they appear in the print, an invitation from a South American prostitute as playful question: "*&%$#-*&%$ ?" Or, just a statement by an Indonesian cabbie. Otherwise, good choice for the teen kid contemplating a back packing trip. They may see the benefit of Europe!

Eragon , The Inheritance Series, by Christopher Paolini

One of my favorite fantasy series ever penned! Really, really terrific, especially if you like fantasy stories. This series was written by a young man. He was in his early teens when he began writing the first book, Eragon, and by the time he was 19 he was a New York Times Bestselling author. Three books have been published in the series, and I gobbled them up like Ms. PacMan in her prime. These books are smart. But, they are a bit violent, and sometimes a bit gory- think destruction of bad ogres, but in a "written by a 17 year old geek" kind of way. Young Mr. Paolini has followed the old adage, and written about what he knows. And this kid has a ACTIVE imagination. He knows a LOT about Dragons. He knows about magic, and pride, and trust and cooperation, and bad guys. He does not know about courtship and dating and marriage and sex. He doesn't write about what he doesn't know. This is a good thing when it comes to finding great books for kids. Not that it is a "kid's book". Like The Christmas Song: Chestnuts Roasting on an open fire...this is a book for kids from one to ninety-two. Well, perhaps one is a little ambitious. I still recommend Goodnight Moon for this crowd, or a rousing oration of Ferdinand The Bull.
In Eragon a 15 year old boy finds a dragon egg, then joins the anti-government underground movement, then fights the battle of Farthen-dur, killing a shade (evil sorcerer).... this is the synopsis of the first book, as told by my 12 year old, who has read this book approximately 7 times. I have to point out that in the book, there is a wonderful relationship built between the boy and his dragon, and alliances with strong characters and it is actually quite a long book. Certainly, you can't just read one, you'll have to trip back to the library for a copy of Eldest, then Brisingr, then, like my kids, wait painfully for the next, perhaps last, installment of the Inheritance series!

Gregor Mendel: Planting the Seeds of Genetics by Simon Mawer

This is a cool little book. About 150 pages, and a size the feels good in the hand (about 7.5" X 10'), I think this is how science should be introduced. In the context of history and biography, science is about people. Anyone who has sat through as many science classes as I have knows that at times, science is exciting (blow up stuff in a test tube!) and at times, excruciatingly boring (if you add a benz to that molecule, what shape will it become and what organic compound will it now be?) And yet, my kids, and yours, have a lot of science to come in their next 12-20 years of schooling. (Husb. and I slogged through 45 years combined..) So, how to get them interested and invested?
Gregor Mendel is no Robert Pattison, he wasn't Hollywood Handsome(he looked like Garrison Keillor) and he wasn't glamorous (he grew thousands of peas and was a friar!) but he was interesting, and simply methodical. What he conceived and figured out, through persistence and mathematical evaluation put us on the scientific road that leads us today into gene mapping, cures for disease through genetic manipulation and cows that can produce on average 23 gallons of milk a day. 23 GALLONS. Unfortunately there were some majorly bad turns in the road( like Eugenics which gave Nazi Germany a scientific basis for the holocaust). Reading this book will give a face not just to Mendel, but Sturtevant(DNA mapping), Watson and Crick (the crazy boys of double helix fame) and Punnett (a real square). And perhaps when they sit in their first genetics class and the teacher begins to introduce deoxyribonucleic acid, they'll think- "Yeah, yeah, when is lab? I want to try using restriction enzymes to cut up DNA, then using electrophoresis, separate out the fragments, then switch my fragment with a copy from a bacterial plasmid using a ligase enzyme! That would be so cool. I could then grow my gene on a culture. Cloning dude. Cloning..."