Tangled Bank,” and include one column that was pulled
for editorial reasons. Pyle writes on butterfl ies, boogers,
Amsterdam and turtles to touch on just a few topics, and
each is a pearl waiting to be pulled out and worn close to
your skin. — Camilla Mortensen
teen
The Edge of Nowhere
By Elizabeth George. Viking, $18.99.
k Amber House
By Kelly Moore, Tucker and Larkin Reed. Arthur A. Levine
(Scholastic), $17.99.
Adult readers may bemoan Twilight, mock Harry
Potter and wish The Golden Compass was “as good as”
C.S. Lewis’ Narnia books, but if there’s one thing getting
a doctorate in literature has taught me, it’s to appreciate
good, light reading, and some of the best light reading
out there is in young adult fi ction. Thanks to Potter and
Twilight, publishers seem to be taking more risks with
fantasy, ghosts and magical powers, and that’s good news
for escapist teen readers and adults.
Amber House, written by a mother and two daughters
from Jacksonville, Ore., is the fi rst in a trilogy that weaves
strange powers, ghosts, and family drama into a web of
time and altered time. The book takes place in an old
mansion in Maryland, layered with secrets both historical
and new, as Sarah deals with family memories, turning 16
and her younger brother’s autism.
Elizabeth George’s The Edge of Nowhere brings the
a hint of the paranormal as well, this time to the Pacifi c
Northwest, as Becca King, a girl with the strange power to
hear the thoughts of others and a haunted past, fi nds herself
homeless and on the run on Whidby Island, Wash. Like
Amber House, Edge brings romance into the supernatural
teen plot, and both books deal with a teen protagonist
falling for a boy of a different racial background with
tact and realism (these are real boys, no Edward Cullens
here). The Edge of Nowhere is the fi rst of a series as well,
and both promise to leave young adult and adult readers
wondering what will come next. — Camilla Mortensen
The Great Unexpected
By Sharon Creech. HarperCollins, $16.99.
One of my favorite young adult works, which still makes
me cry, is Katherine Paterson’s The Bridge to Terabithia,
and there’s something about Sharon Creech’s The Great
Unexpected that brings that book to mind, mixed perhaps
with a little Because of Winn Dixie. Narrator Naomi Deane,
who shines brightly despite the loss of her parents and a
withered arm from a long-ago accident, lives in the small
town of Blackbird Tree with her chatty best friend Lizzie
Book
Money
Local author raises $44,000 for
Jasper Mountain
Just 20 minutes from the heart of Eugene sits Jasper
Mountain Center, an internationally recognized nonprofi t
where kids who are hurt and troubled, often by severe
trauma or abuse, can live and attend school in a safe
environment while getting the help they need to heal.
After volunteering there since 2008, Gregory Ahlijian
wanted give more to the center and the kids he works
with, so he wrote a book and has been donating all of its
proceeds plus its production costs to the center — so far
about $44,000.
Scatterding. One day a lovely boy drops out of a tree and
soon a mystery, a bit of a tragedy and a delightful story full
of hope are underway. — Camilla Mortensen
poetry
k Evensong
By Ingrid Wendt. Truman State
University Press, 2011. $15.95.
Lane County is blessed
with a plethora of poets, and
not only that, we are also lucky
to have poets that care about
the community, from placing
poetry in downtown parking
garages to printing poems on
broadside to be displayed with
photographs at Maude Kerns to
call attention to the destruction of Parvin Butte, as Ingrid
Wendt and other local poets did earlier this year.
Wendt’s collection of poetry, Evensong, is wistful and
lovely, a profusion of small narratives that refl ect Wendt’s
musical background, her everyday world in and around
Eugene and simultaneously a global perspective on life
and loss. — Camilla Mortensen
The Large Rock And The Little Yew: A short story about
courage, perseverance, self-respect and hope: The yew
seedling starts its life in a fi ssure of a big, negative rock
and overcomes its tough beginnings to be a happy tree. It’s
inspired by a real tree in the U.K. and a discussion about
trees in one of his classes at the center.
Ahlijian says that the fi rst time he visited the center and
learned about the very serious reasons the children were
there, “It was not a happy experience” for him. He started
teaching to help out, and he says he hopes the book will be
used to teach as well. Each section contains a life lesson,
and its downloadable discussion packet has vocabulary
words and open-ended discussion questions.
The book, now approaching its second anniversary and
in its second printing, is available for $20 at local stores
including Hirons, The Book Nest, Imagine Gallery and
Market of Choice. Ahlijian says his next challenge is
marketing nationally and possibly internationally (he just
received an order from Malta), taking no reimbursement
for the printing costs and donating every dollar to Jasper
Mountain. — Shannon Finnell
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eugeneweekly.com • December 13, 2012
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