'Symphony for the City of the Dead: Dmitri Shostakovich and the Siege of Leningrad'' by M.T. Anderson

Anderson, M.T. Symphony for the City of the Dead: Dmitri Shostakovich and the Siege of Leningrad. Somerville, MA, Candlewick Press, 2015. Print.

Truth is stranger than fiction sometimes.  Sometimes, the truth is so bizarre, so out in left field, so deliciously weird that even Muldar and Scully would have to investigate.

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www.penguinrandomhouse.com

Our tale begins with a spy-worthy journey, as a mysterious microfilm makes its way from Soviet Russia to Tehran, then on to Cairo, through northern Africa, where it crossed the Atlantic Ocean, landing in Recife, Brazil, where it was picked up by a U.S. Navy plane and flown to Florida, finally landing in Washington, D.C.  What is on this mysterious microfilm?  Battle plans?  Spy reports?  Wait, what?  A symphony?  All that for a symphony? You bet!

The following pages present a multi-layered biography, not just of the composer Dmitri Shostakovich, but also of the establishment of the Soviet Union and its often bloody and terrifying history under Joseph Stalin.  A dual biography is important for context here.  It's impossible to understand Shostakovich and his works unless you understand the circumstances under which he composed.  For this particular book, M.T. Anderson uses Shostakovich's Seventh Symphony -- the Leningrad Symphony -- as the lens through which he views not only Shostakovich, but the Soviet Union.  One of the most remarkable things about the Seventh Symphony is that Shostakovich composed most of it while living in Leningrad during the brutal Nazi siege (September 1941-January 1944) in World War II.  The Seventh Symphony became synonymous with the Soviet war effort during World War II, and was key in gaining material support from Western allies.  The symphony humanized the Soviets to Western audiences and was often played as part of fundraising efforts on behalf of Soviet civilians.

Anderson presents a well-researched book about one of the most well-known 20th century composers, who wrote music under unimaginable circumstances (the Russian Revolution, the purges under Stalin, the off-and-on repudiation of Shostakovich by people he considered friends, the middle of a siege). He also refuses to condescend to his intended audience, and never sugarcoats the torture under the Stalin regime or the privations in Leningrad under the siege.  Anderson doesn't dwell on it, either, but he offers more than enough detail to get the point across without gratuitous lingering over some of more gruesome aspects. (The torture of the theatre director Vsevolod Meyerhold during one of the Purges in 1938 stands out in particular.) Anderson is also mindful of his subject.  The Soviet Union was not a place where one could necessarily freely exchange ideas.  Every so often, Anderson reminds his readers that quotes attributed to Shostakovich might genuinely be Shostakovich's ideas, but there is a good chance Shostakovich spoke under duress.  After all, it wasn't uncommon for the Soviet government to allow artists to travel outside the Soviet Union, but keep their family home as "insurance" that the artist in question would not only toe the party line, but return home.  Anderson uses Shostakovich as a sort of shorthand to illustrate the raging paranoia that infiltrated every aspect of a person's life under Stalin, to the point where an artist of Shostakovich's caliber can be praised to the heavens by the critics on Tuesday, but then end up vilified and shunned on Thursday.

Anderson provides several photographs of Shostakovich, Leningrad during the siege, and production photos from the Soviet performing arts scene of the 1920s. In several photographs, Anderson's captions offer more information about the arts in the 1920s and 1930s or a little more background on a person in the photograph.  He also helpfully provides maps that outline the Nazi siege of Leningrad, delineating German and Soviet held territory.  Anderson also includes his extensive bibliography of works he consulted while he wrote the book.  There's also a table of contents and an index.  Anderson also sprinkles in a few footnotes to clarify certain topics, like the difference between "Bolshevik," "Communist," and "Socialist."

This book would be a great resource if you're studying World War II, and would like a different perspective.  To be honest (and I was a history teacher for many years before I earned my library degree), the Soviet side of things is somewhat forgotten in the larger narrative of World War II.  It would be also a good idea to track down some of Shostakovich's recordings and listen to them after you've read the book.  Google "Shostakovich Seventh Symphony," and you ought to find several recordings on YouTube.  You don't have to watch the video, just listen.  Shostakovich's symphonies really are as Anderson describes them: film scores without the film.  After reading Symphony for the City of the Dead, you don't really need a film to appreciate Shostakovich's music.

M. T. Anderson is the author of the award-winning books Feed and The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing.  Symphony for the City of the Dead  was a longlist finalist for the National Book Award and was also a finalist for the YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction.  Symphony for the City of the Dead has also been awarded a Horn Book Honor for 2016 in nonfiction.  NPR's program Here & Now interviewed Anderson about the book.  It's worth a listen.

*On a side note, if you look on a map of Russia today, you won't find a city called Leningrad.  You will find St. Petersburg, and Anderson traces how St. Petersburg became Petrograd, then Leningrad under Soviet rule.  It wasn't unusual for cities to have their names changed under Soviet rule, and they sometimes changed when almost as soon as a new leader came to power.  If you'd like, to look into things like this more in depth, you can research ways that new leaders of the Soviet Union tried to change historical records to remove people who had been executed during one of the Purges, especially other Party leaders who had fallen out of favor.  One of Stalin's methods was to remove former colleagues from photographs -- pre-digital Photoshop, if you will.

'Mr. Wuffles!' by David Wiesner

Wiesner, David. Mr. Wuffles!. Illustrated by David Wiesner. New York, Clarion Books, 2013. Print.

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www.davidweisner.com

I'm a little late to the party to heap praise on David Wiesner's unbelievably charming, funny, gorgeously illustrated, and fantastic picture book Mr. Wuffles!  If you're a fan of his earlier book Tuesday, with its whimsical humor, then you'll enjoy Mr. Wuffles!.

Weisner introduces us to the titular Mr. Wuffles before we even see the title page.  In a single page, Wiesner is able to give us the primary conflict of the story: Mr. Wuffles, like many cats, is extremely disinterested in cat toys.  His owner (or if you live with a cat, his servant/food and treat provider) tries to entice him with a brand-new toy, the price tag still attached.  Mr. Wuffles turns his nose up at the latest offering and walks away.  Over the title page and title page verso, we can see the new toy of the introduction page was just the latest in a long line of failed attempts to coax Mr. Wuffles to play with cat toys.  Weisner includes the price tags on all the previous toys, too, to emphasize that Mr. Wuffles disdains all cat toys.  The next page zooms in on a row of abandoned toys, but one does not look like the others.  What looks like a kitchen gadget turns out to be a tiny spaceship, with five tiny green aliens, thrilled and elated to have landed on another planet.

They are soon discovered by Mr. Wuffles, his eyes looming ominously in their window.  In the next frame, Wiesner shows the aliens tumbling in their ship, and we turn to page to find Mr. Wuffles intently studying the small ship.  He proceeds to happily play with the ship, and breaks their power source (or warp drive, for you Star Trek fans out there) in the process.  When he suddenly decides to have a nap, as cats are wont to do, the aliens make a break for it, and find refuge under a radiator, aided by a ladybug, who distracts Mr. Wuffles.

The aliens discover a world inside the walls of the house, complete with murals depicting the struggle of ants, ladybugs, and a few poor mice against Mr. Wuffles.  The aliens add their part of the story to the mural, and soon, the ants, aliens, and ladybug are sharing food and stories.  They hatch a plan to fix the spaceship's warp drive, and draw Mr. Wuffles' attention away so that one of the aliens can install the repaired warp drive.

Mr. Wuffles knows they're under the radiator.  He waits intently for them to emerge.

Will the aliens escape?  Does their warp drive work? Read Mr. Wuffles! and find out!

Wiesner's illustrations in watercolor and India ink are beautifully done.  Wiesner is able to give the aliens, who don't have much in the way of facial features, expressions that convey their feelings of the moment.  He creates a wonderful textures of Mr. Wuffles' fur, so that you want to touch the page to rub his fluffy tummy.  (Of course, Mr. Wuffles will probably bite you for your troubles.)  Wiesner absolutely nails a cat's behavior.  The apathy with toys they don't like, the leaping shock when you surprise them, the moment when they can't decide where to look when there's a commotion, the rapt focus when they do find something with which they'd like to play.  Wiesner is even able to give ants facial expressions, which makes him an extraordinary artist, in my opinion.

There are beautiful bits of detail in the drawings, such as the reflection of Mr. Wuffles' paws in the hardwood floor; the texture in the fibers of a piece of twine or a cheese cracker in the ants' treasure stash behind the walls; or the translucence of a child's marble.  It's no wonder that Wiesner earned a Caldecott honor for this book.

Another thing that makes this book so fantastic, is that it's light on dialog.  Well, dialog in English, anyway.  It's limited to Mr. Wuffle's owner and few short sentences.  The dialog between the ants, ladybug, and aliens is done in symbols or a series of what appears to be small brushstrokes on the paper.  The differences in their communication styles doesn't seem to hurt the ants, ladybug, or the aliens.  They understand each other perfectly.

If you're teaching narrative structure to kids whose first language is something other than English, this would be a great way to introduce it.  The lack of dialog is an asset in this book.  If you want to teach kids how to write dialog, this is also a great resource, because the actions are so clearly shown on the page, that it would be easy to give the assorted characters words.  Plus, the format of single-panel pages, alternated with multi-paneled pages that can easily be distributed to students as a group project.

I recommend this to anyone that lives with a cat, likes cats, loves sci-fi, loves picture books, loves seeing Jerry outsmart Tom -- oh gosh, I'll recommend this to everybody!  I'm certainly adding it to my picture book collection.

David Wiesner is also the author and illustrator of Tuesday (1992 Caldecott medal), Flotsam, Sector 7 (2000 Caldecott honor), and Freefall (1989 Caldecott honor).

'Carry On' by Rainbow Rowell

Rowell, Rainbow. Carry On: A Novel. New York, St. Martin's Griffin, 2015. Print.

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www.rainbowrowell.com

Simon Snow is your average foster kid in England, shuttled from care home to care home during his summer holidays from Watford School of Magicks.  Did I say average?  Simon's one of the most powerful mages in England.  Or he would be if only he could get his magic under control.  Usually when Simon uses his magic, the spells don't work or they work too well.  He suspects his roommate at Watford, Baz, is a vampire, and Simon and Baz don't get along very well.  Needless to say, Simon's afraid that Baz is going to sink his fangs into his neck while he sleeps.  To add insult to injury, Simon believes his girlfriend, Agatha, has thrown him over for Baz.  His best friend, Penelope, constantly breaks school rules by sneaking into Simon and Baz's room.  On top of all that, there have been attacks by the Insidious Humdrum and strange dead spots have been appearing all over England where magic has just disappeared.

A series of strange events marks the beginning of Simon's final year at Watford, namely the fact that Baz's dead mother, Natasha, appears to Simon and delivers a cryptic message about the circumstances of her death for Simon to give to Baz; and an obviously ill Baz doesn't show up to the school until eight weeks into the term.  Once Baz returns to Watford, he, Simon, and Penelope team up to try and uncover the tangled mystery surrounding Natasha's death, while also trying to figure out how to defeat the Humdrum.

Rowell first introduced us to Simon Snow in her novel Fangirl, where it's a fictional fantasy series that bears more than a passing resemblance to the Harry Potter phenomenon.  Rather than write the book as the fictional author might have, Rowell has basically written a fan-fiction novelization of a fictional fantasy series she created.  Got that?  The Harry Potter influence is so strong in Carry On, that for the first third of the book, it's impossible not to mentally tally all the bits and pieces that are literary cousins to their Harry Potter counterparts.  Once Baz arrives on the scene, though, the story really picks up and races to the frantic and satisfying conclusion.

It's worth mentioning that although Rowell's magical world somewhat resembles that of Harry Potter, it diverges in significant ways.  Rowell's witches and mages live in the world of Normals, use smartphones, and create savvy Google searches.  Spells are common catchphrases or quotes from popular movies or songs, and witches and mages don't always use wands.

I was a little disappointed that Rowell didn't delve as deeply into the emotional lives of Simon or Baz as she did in her award-winning novel, Eleanor & Park.  Still, Simon and Baz's inner monologues probe their emotional attachments to each other and their families and friends.  As in her other novels, characters are allowed to unfold slowly across the pages of the book.  Character development is not rushed or forced, which also helps keep the reader on their toes as the resolution of the book approaches.

Readers of Rowell's other YA novels, Eleanor & Park, and Fangirl will probably love this novel.  So will readers of the Harry Potter series, if they can help themselves from comparing it to Harry Potter.  There's enough mystery to keep mystery fans engaged, too.