Kidz Book Buzz Blog Tour: The Diamond of Darkhold, Day 2

In The Diamond of Darkhold, two children discover a jewel capable of bringing electricity to the people of Ember and Sparks.

Science was never my strong subject, so here's Robbie to explain what that's all about.

Okay, those of you who have read the book are probably all interested in solar power, so I'll explain just a little bit about it.

The solar panel that you see in the diagram uses photovoltaic cells, also known as PV cells. These cells take light from the sun and convert it into an electric current. Calculators that have solar panels on them use PV cells.

The charge controller regulates the amount of electricity that gets sent to the battery. This prevents overcharging, which can shorten the battery life and reduce the battery's performance.

The battery system is what stores all of the energy until it is ready for use. DC power is for battery operated electronics only. The inverter converts the energy from DC power to AC power, which is what the outlets in your house use.

Kidz Book Buzz Blog Tour: The Diamond of Darkhold, Day 1

Instead of writing a typical review, my 15-year-old brother Robbie, 17-year-old cousin Marie and I decided to chat about the good--and bad--in Jeanne Du Prau's new Ember book, The Diamond of Darkhold.

Noel: Thanks for joining me, kids. It is okay to call you kids, right? I mean, you're still in high school. And I graduated like, three years ago.

Marie: laughs

Robbie: Yeah, that’s fine.

Noel: No comment, Marie?

Marie: laughs No comment.

Noel: Okay. Um, welcome. Have you read … uh, let’s just not start there, let’s start with, um, did you like this book? Did you like “The Diamond of Darkhold?”

Marie: Yeah, I liked it.

Robbie: Yeah, I did.

Noel: Can you be a little more specific for our friendly readers?

Robbie: It was an intriguing book?

Marie: It was really interesting.

[Note: these people need to look up the word "specific."]

Noel: In what way?

Robbie: The plot.

Marie: Yeah I wasn’t expecting lots of stuff that happened.

Noel: Okay had you read any of the previous Ember books?

Marie: I actually read all three because I knew I wanted to do this tour, and I didn’t want to be lost so I read all the previous books

Robbie: I only read the first two.

Noel: So you didn’t read—

Robbie: The third one, whatever it was—

Noel: “The Prophet—

Robbie: Wasn’t it about aliens?

Noel: of Yonwood.” What was that about?

Marie: That was set before the “Diamond of Darkhold,” before all the other books.

Noel: So it was like a prequel.

Marie: Yeah.

Robbie: Only it was the third one.

Marie: Yeah. That was kind of confusing, how they weren’t written in chronological order.

Robbie: So it was before the ancient world became the ancient world?

Marie: It was before the disaster.

Robbie: Yeah

Noel: Okay, well, I’d only read “The City of Ember,” but “Diamond” seemed to pretty much pick up where that left off.

Marie: Yeah.

Noel: Um, who was your favorite character in this book? The Diamond of Darkhold. By Jeanne Du Prau. On sale now.

Marie: Um.

Robbie: I forget a lot of the names now.

Noel: Well that’s a good … "buy this book, you’ll forget the people’s names before a month’s gone."

Robbie: Here, hand me the book.

[thud, as the book is thrown across the table]

Noel: Okay, um, I guess liked, like um, the trader, she was interesting.

[Note: Noel, also, needs to look up the definition of "specific"]

Robbie: (suggestively) You liked Doon best, probably.

Noel: No. I liked Maggs, the roamer with the horse, because it was like a remnant of their past. What about you, Marie?

Marie: I liked Lina.

Robbie: Well duh, come on.

Noel: Any special reason?

Marie: Um, I don’t know. I like how she faced her fears when she had to, because she knew that was the only way and she had to.

Noel: Another thing I liked was the names of the Troggs, the family living down in Ember when they went back. That was pretty funny. And actually I’m going to give away a free copy of the book later this week, and it involves those names, so you’ll be hearing more about that. But anyway, as I read, I noticed that Jeanne did a great job keeping the action going, there wasn’t really a time when something wasn’t either happening, or about to happen, or had just happened. Was there any event that really stood out to you?

Marie: Um, I liked when they went back to Ember.

Noel: What about you Robbie?

Robbie: Um, the event that stood out to me was when Doon’s father fell and—

Noel: Just stop, right there. You know how I feel about blood and needles and things so, yeah. You did that on purpose.

Robbie: Because I feel that—

Noel: Just—

Robbie: –it was the turning point that made Doon want to go back so he could find that anti-b stuff.

Noel: Yes. Okay. A couple of times it seemed like Jeanne put parentheses around some of the important information, and I kind of wished she would have developed the last chapter or two a little more…

[here the recording screeches to a chipmunky halt]

Noel: Okay, I’m back. It was the batteries. As I was saying, I’m sure she was at her limit as far as middle grade word count goes. What did you guys think of the ending, did she tie up the series well?

Marie: I think she did. She covered everything that I could think of, but it did seem like it all happened really fast. Like in the last chapter, everything was being wound up at the exact same time.

Robbie: You know, I don’t see how you guys catch this stuff, because I just read the book and it’s like hey, that was kind of a good book and you know? That was about it. I don’t see where it went fast.

Noel: Well, you’re a boy.

Robbie: Well, I—what I caught was, how I put it was, I didn’t think it was AS well written as they rest of the books.

Noel: What about you, Marie? Do agree with that statement?

Marie: Um, I think that it is a good book and the others might have been a little more developed, like there was more of a spark for them—

Noel: Haha, no pun intended

Marie: Hahaha.

Noel: I don’t know, I guess every time I thought well, this is kind of getting slow, something happened. So that’s what I was talking about when I said you know, she kept the action going. There was never really a lull in the action, and so that’s definitely in the book’s favor. Cause lots of times you start reading a book and about the middle there’s nothing happening and you can go chapters and it’s just people walking and talking--like The Hobbit, you know?

Marie: laughs

Noel: Yeah. So she definitely kept the plot moving.

Robbie: I liked that book.

Noel: The Hobbit?

Robbie: Yeah, can we do a discussion on that?

Noel: Anyway, um okay, so the film version of the City of Ember comes out October 10th. Are either of you planning to see the film?

Robbie: Yes, yes!

Marie: Yes, I would like to see it.

Noel: Like one to five, how excited are you? Um, you’d like to see it, or—

Robbie: Four!

Noel: One to five, Marie.

Marie: What’s five?

Noel: Five is you’re peeing you pants like Kathleen [another of our cousins] waiting to see Narnia.

Robbie: That’s nasty

Marie: I’ll go with a four then.

Noel: Okay, that’s good. Kathleen owns the five. Um, oh! Do you have any parting thoughts, anything I haven’t touched on that you’d like to share?

Robbie: Yeah, I want to figure out how they, did you get the impression that they screwed the light bulb inside the diamond? Cause that’s what it looks like on the cover of the book.

Marie: Well … yeah, that’s what it looks like.

Robbie: And it also—doesn’t it also mention about a blue light? And so it’d be coming through the diamond? part? glass? thing?

Noel: Well, I think that actually what you’re seeing on the cover is one of the diamonds without the light bulb attached—

Marie: But it’s shining—

Noel: It’s shining, I don’t know—

Robbie: The sun is behind it!

Noel: Yeah, see because I think the little round ring thing at the bottom is where you screw in the light bulb and the blue light he’s talking about is from the reflection off the glass.

Robbie: It looks like hyperspace.

Marie: If you put the light bulb in at the gold rim—

Robbie: So they stick out at opposite ends, the light bulb and the diamond.

Marie: Then how do you set it down anywhere?

Robbie: You tip it upside down.

Noel: Yeah, you set in on the diamond, cause it’s got like a flat top. Okay, well, Marie, did you have a parting thought?

Robbie: Hey, that wasn’t my parting thought.

Noel: Marie? Are you there?

Robbie: She’s departed.

Marie: Oh, um … no?

Noel: Okay, well, thank you so much for chatting, Marie and Robbie, and everyone, be sure to come back tomorrow to continue the book tour.

Kidz Book Buzz Blog Tour: The Diamond of Darkhold

Be on the lookout for Jeanne Du Prau's newest novel this week--Kidz Book Buzz, a children's book blog tour, of which I'm a contributor, is featuring her final Books of Ember title: The Diamond of Darkhold.

Book tours are a lot like carnivals ... a community gathering, where bloggers share, smile and have fun.

So look around. Try the cotton candy. Don't forget the dunking booth. And enjoy a dozen-odd spins on Jeanne Du Prau's Diamond of Darkhold.

Participating blogs:

Becky's Book Reviews
The 160 Acre Woods
And Another Book Read
Comox Valley Kids
Homeschoolbuzz.com
Book Review Maniac
Never Jam Today
A Christian Worldview of Fiction
Super Fast Reader
Bellezza
Through the Looking Glass
Cafe of Dreams
Hyperbole
Fireside Musings

September Reading Log

The Rest of the OT Books, KJV *
The Educated Imagination, by Northrop Frye
Swallows and Amazons, by Arthur Ransome
The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins
Nahum, KJV *
Micah, KJV *
Rob Roy, by Sir Walter Scott *
The Black Tower, by P.D. James
The Decline and Fall of Practically Everybody, by Will Cuppy
The Diamond of Darkhold, by Jeanne Du Prau
Jonah, KJV *
Obediah, KJV *
Amos, JKV *

*denotes a title I resolved to read this year

Scoop of the e-e-evening: The Hunger Games

Be forewarned, The Hunger Games is part of a projected trilogy, and the next installment isn't released until September '09. Store that away. It's important. Because you're gonna want the sequel--pronto.

In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and cruel and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV. Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she is forced to represent her district in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before-and survived.

I was supposed to pack this book and read it on the plane, but I had to take a tiny peek last night ... then at 3 am, I finally closed the last page. You'd think I'd have learned by now.

Sometimes, five stars jump out at you. Other times, as with The Hunger Games, you waver a moment, then go with a four. The Hunger Games kept me reading into the wee sma's, but lacked that intangible something that dips a novel's colors a third time, and comes up dripping brilliant-beyond-brilliant depths of purple.

As futuristic novels go, it was a bit hard to keep the advanced setting in mind, because so much of the novel took place in primitive surroundings. On the other hand, most stories set in the future assume that science and technology will never stop furthering civilization. Ms. Collins presents a world where dreams of utopia have been utterly lost.

Like a light bulb in the last minutes of its life, there were times when the light sputtered and the story's strength faltered. Unlike dying power, however, Ms. Collins' novel is fresh from the box: she's just warming up. I warned you at the beginning ... when you reach the last page, you'll be perishing for next September's Catching Fire.

As the first in a series, The Hunger Games is full of promise for sequels that will equal--perhaps even surpass--it in conflict, development and satisfaction.

Let the games begin!

Packing List

You never know. It pays to be prepared.

Twilight Trailer Spoof

Too good. You have to check this out.

Even if you're disapproving, like me, it's funny.

I'd just like to take this opportunity to say: my name is Noel, and I've been clean for 42 days.

Thank you.

All in a Day's Work

There's two guys in here, using the computers, and their conversation's going something like this:

"Longest I've ever been in jail is ... 25 days."

"Longest I've been in is 17."

"What've you got now?"

"Um, bodily harm to the body." [huh?]

"Assault and battery."

Etc.

Think I'm slightly nervous over here behind this little desk?

BBC Ecstasy

I've spent the week watching the BBC's spectacular productions of Dorothy Sayers' Strong Poison, Have His Carcase, and Gaudy Night. Yes, I was supposed to be packing. But I was not my own.

I saw the adaptions on Amazon ages ago, but our local rental place is a laugh, and Netflix warns that Strong Poison has a Very Long Wait. I was too cheap to pay $43.99 without knowing if they were any good, so finally, I persuaded the library to purchase the set.

Well. Now I know.

Let's just say that every day has been a frabjous day this week, because there were two episodes of Lord Peter to look forward to each night. Wonderful, gorgeous performances from Edward Petherbridge and Harriet Walter (who you might recognize as Sense and Sensibility's Fanny).

Gaudy Night wasn't quite up to the first two titles, but there's balm in Gilead--I can always go back to the novel itself, my very favorite of Sayers' work. In fact, after watching the series, I'll most likely be going back to reread all of that lovely trilogy.

Callooh callay.

What's your favorite BBC?


Image Credit: ogeecons @ Live Journal

Heroes: L.M. Montgomery

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

This could take a while.

The Blue Castle At twenty-nine, Valancy had never been in love, and it seemed romance had passed her by. Living with her overbearing mother and meddlesome aunt, she found her only consolations in the "forbidden" books of John Foster and her daydreams of the Blue Castle. Then a letter arrived from Dr. Trent -- and Valancy decided to throw caution to the winds. For the first time in her life Valancy did and said exactly what she wanted. Soon she discovered a surprising new world, full of love and adventures far beyond her most secret dreams

Emily of New Moon Emily Starr never knew what it was to be lonely -- until her beloved father died. Now Emily's an orphan, and her mother's snobbish relatives are taking her to live with them at New Moon Farm. She's sure she won't be happy Emily deals with stiff, stern Aunt Elizabeth and her malicious classmates by holding her head high and using her quick wit. Things begin to change when she makes friends: with Teddy, who does marvelous drawings; with Perry, who's sailed all over the world with his father yet has never been to school; and above all, with Ilse, a tomboy with a blazing temper. Amazingly, Emily finds New Moon beautiful and fascinating. With new friends and adventures, Emily might someday think of herself as Emily of New Moon. Followed by Emily Climbs and Emily's Quest.

Pat of Silver Bush Patricia Gardiner loved Silver Bush more than anything else in the world. She was born and raised in the beautiful old-fashioned house on Prince Edward Island, "where things always seemed the same" and good things never changed. But things do change at Silver Bush--from her first day at school to the arrival of her new own first romance. Through it all, Pat shares her experiences with her beloved friends and discovers the one thing that truly never changes: the beauty and peace she will always find at Silver Bush--the house that remembers her whole life. Followed by Mistress Pat.

The Story Girl Sent to live with their extended family, Bev and his brother Felix make friends with the children from the surrounding area, including the story girl whose talent for telling stories is famous throughout the community.

Jane of Lantern Hill For as long as she could remember, Jane Stuart and her mother lived with her grandmother in a dreary mansion in Toronto. Jane always believed her father was dead--until she accidentally learned he was alive and well and living on Prince Edward Island. When Jane spends the summer at his cottage on Lantern Hill, doing all the wonderful things Grandmother deems unladylike, she dares to dream that there could be such a house back in Toronto...a house where she, Mother, and Father could live together without Grandmother directing their lives--a house that could be called home.

Anne of Green Gables series When Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert of Green Gables, Prince Edward Island, send for a boy orphan to help them out at the farm, they are in no way prepared for the error that will change their lives. The mistake takes the shape of Anne Shirley, a redheaded 11-year-old girl who can talk anyone under the table. Fortunately, her sunny nature and quirky imagination quickly win over her reluctant foster parents. Anne's feisty spirit soon draws many friends--and much trouble--her way.

The Selected Journals of L.M. Montgomery These books are a must for every Montgomery fan. Such intriguing looks into her personal life and development. Hard to find, but worth it.

On the Absence of Jam

Ever wondered why this blog is called Never Jam Today?

It's my justification for spotty blogging.

There's plenty in the archives--"yesterday"-- and plenty of ideas for future posts--"tomorrow"--but the jam pot is often empty.

I'm heading off for my nanny gig in Kiev next Tuesday, and I doubt there will be much time for blogging over there.

But I have scheduled posts for September 29th thru October 1st, a Kidz Book Buzz blog tour featuring Jeanne Du Prau's new Ember book, The Diamond of Darkhold, so be sure to pop in for that. I'm even giving away an ARC.

By the way, doesn't that jam look delicious? I'm starving.

Quote from P.D. James

I've just discovered James, and though her mysteries are hardly YA material, this bit blew me away.

"What, he wondered, had those carefully spaced encounters, both participants groomed for pleasure like a couple of sleek cats, to do with love, with untidy bedrooms, unwashed dishes, babies' nappies, the warm, close, claustrophobic life of marriage and commitment." The Black Tower, P.D. James

Yum yum

Good stuff coming later this month, and early October. While I'm gone. Boo hoo. The other librarians will get them first.

Never Jammers at the Art Institute

Marie, sister #1, sister #2, me, Robbie

Too Cool for ... the Library

So Robbie (guitar) and I (vocals) and two of our sisters (keyboard and violin) led worship at a family camp this weekend. Friday night, a little boy, about five, came up to me and said, "You sing really beautiful."

"Aw, thanks," I smiled.

"Yeah," he continued. "I wish I could sing like you and the Jonas Brothers."

blink blink

"So, um, you think I sing like the Jonas brothers?"

"Yeah. They rock."

"Huh. Um, thanks. I think."

So I guess I'm cool now. Like, amazingly cool. Jonas Brothers cool.

Can librarians be that cool?

Scoop of the e-e-evening: Jellicoe Road

"What she writes is always worth waiting for," says Viewpoint Magazine.

And you can always reread Saving Francesca while you wait.

Abandoned by her mother on Jellicoe Road when she was eleven, Taylor Markham, now seventeen, is finally being confronted with her past. But as the reluctant leader of her boarding school dorm, there isn't a lot of time for introspection. And while Hannah, the closest adult Taylor has to family, has disappeared, Jonah Griggs is back in town, moody stares and all.

In this absorbing story by Melina Marchetta, nothing is as it seems and every clue leads to more questions as Taylor tries to work out the connection between her mother dumping her, Hannah finding her then and her sudden departure now, a mysterious stranger who once whispered something in her ear, a boy in her dreams, five kids who lived on Jellicoe Road eighteen years ago, and the maddening and magnetic Jonah Griggs, who knows her better than she thinks he does. If Taylor can put together the pieces of her past, she might just be able to change her future.

I'm not a fan of experimental fiction. Just get on with the story, for heaven's sake, forget about chic workshop techniques ... first person present tense, alternating POVs, cryptic flashbacks, etc. Not usually my cup of tea. But Marchetta uses them all, and I'm in love.

It's not going to be a book that everyone likes. You have strong, vivid friends who grab your gut and don't let go, even when tragic things happen. Characters with history, as Taylor realizes. Those are the hardest kind to come by, but they're the only kind that knit themselves into readers' hearts.

You want a story that doesn't let you dive into another book, but keeps events and people circling in your head? A novel that demands rereading, because there's so much more you'll get from it the second time? Writing so strong, it never once occurs to you that the words were written? Then read Jellicoe Road.

It lives.

Hurray!

Macmillan is reprinting L'Engle's Austin books in paperback. About time. Meet the Austins ... we adore that book.