Powerful Listen

I think that Seek would be a powerful book to read, but I KNOW it was a powerful book to hear.  It's Paul Fleischman at his very best.  Paul is the son.  Sid is the dad.   Both are amazing.  Rob Radkovitz is writing a school paper, a memoir. He is reflecting back upon the father that he never knew and how that has impacted him.  It is a portrayal of love and understanding and family.  So very, very well done.

The Boring Room

So I have known about this book for a long time.  My first boss told me that The Borning Room was one of her most favorite books.  But I was sure, because of the cover (and admittedly, back then I wasn't open to any kind of book that didn't seem super interesting or exactly what I knew I already liked) I just thought The Boring Room would be a better title.  Shockingly, I was wrong!  This book, written by Paul Fleischman (the son!  I remembered!) was quite good.  The story of a family, told from an old woman's POV, beginning when she was a young girl.  The borning room was the room in which she was born.  Most of the book takes place in the borning room, life and death.
This is a beautiful story and I would have given it 5 of 5 stars but I think I was comparing it to the Alida trilogy from Gary Paulsen, which really isn't fair.
I had never heard of borning rooms before, I am embarrassed to say.  But here is some info!  The book takes place in Ohio, and part of it is set during the American Civil War.  

The Son!

Not THE SON!  But Paul Fleischman, the author of Bull Run, is the son of Sid Fleischman!  And I knew it right away!
I really liked this book a lot, I would have given it 5 of 5 had I read it, listening to it was hard because there were so many characters.
The thing is it was very disturbing.  I am not a fool.  I grew up a Presbyterian.  I know there are no good people.  But to hear the horror racism from the Union soldiers.  It just ripped me up.  It just made me even more angry and puzzled and sickened.
The book also had a wonderful quote about war, "After a time though, the men took to studying Bibles instead of poker hands.  It struck me as strange that nearly all the legions of soldiers camped around me considered themselves to be whole, sold Christians, had heard preaching every Sunday of their lives, had memorized piles of scriptures and verses and yet were ready to break the commandment against killing, the moment the order was given."

Totally

A new fan of Paul Fleischman, I was excited to listen to A Fate Totally Worse Than Death.  I had no idea that it was a spoof when I first started listening to it because I hadn't read the description, I just chose it because of the author!  So it was a very shocking start for me!
This book was written when the Scream movies were popular and the Christopher Pike and Diane Hoh books were burning out.  Super funny and fantastic!  Loved it!

Literary Fiction

Graven Images by Paul Fleischman is another one of those books that will be enjoyed by folks of all ages.  Fleischman is such a creative, thoughtful and original writer.  I have never fully understood the distinction between literary fiction and genre fiction, but after reading a couple Fleischman books, I would have to put him in the literary fiction camp.
This little book contains three short stories and the audio edition, and maybe the printed one, not sure, has a not from the author which explains how the idea evolved.  All three stories were so different but all involved a graven image, something carved in wood or stone or marble.  Great, great book.

A sower went out to sow...

Thus starts a wonderful parable.  I've preached on it several times and so I've looked at if from many angles.  It's one of those passages from the Bible that at first, when you first realize you have to preach on it, you panic or roll your eyes because you think "Oh man, how can I look at this in a new way?  Everyone knows this already! There's nothing new to say!"  But then, like all of the rich texts of the Bible, once you get into it, you find things that you never saw before.  I won't keep on preaching here, but this book reminded me of that parable, not just because of the seeds themselves.
Seedfolks is lovely story about a garden in a transitional neighborhood in Cleveland.  The garden beings as a dumping ground, it's an empty lot where people just dump their garbage.  A little Vietnamese girl, grieving on the anniversary of her father's death, decides to plant some bean seeds in this vacant, ugly lot, to honor his memory.
People start noticing.  And helping.  And planting their own flowers or vegetables.  And something beautiful starts to grow, in the ground and in the neighborhood.
The story is told in many voices, each chapter is a different gardener.  Their stories are as diverse as their backgrounds, as diverse as what they choose to plant.  Some of their stories are heart-breaking, some are funny.  I loved listening to this on cd because the readers are fantastic.  Great stories, great book.