Archive for September, 2006
Wednesday, September 27th, 2006
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| Author: | Georgia Byng |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Children 8 and up |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 8 and up |
| Genre: | fiction |
| Year of publication: | 2005 |
We had not read the first two books of this series when we read this one, and that was not a problem. Apparently, earlier in the series, Molly Moon escapes from the dreary orphanage in which she is confined by becoming a master hypnotist and defeating her uncle, who is an evil madman.
In this episode, Molly must learn to travel through time so she can rescue her beloved dog, Petula, her friends Forest and Rocky, and her earlier selves, all of whom have been kidnapped from the present to India in the 1870s.
The plot is twisty and interesting and Molly is a wonderful role model for gifted children. She has obviously had to work hard to learn to be a great hypnotist in previous books. Now that Molly is possibly the best hypnotist in the world, there are still other challenging skills she needs to work hard to learn. Skills that some adults around her have mastered and other adults are just adequate at doing. Time-travel for one.
Another endearing trait that Molly has is that she is very aware both of her great abilities and of her shortcomings. The all-knowing narrator of the book takes especial care to let us know what Molly is thinking when she masters her self-doubts, carefully thinks through her options, and then puts her all into implementing whatever solution she thinks will work best. |
-- Emily Berk |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Molly Moon's Hypnotic Time Travel Adventure (Book 3) |
Posted in Animals, Conceptual: 8 and up, Culture, Dealing with bullies, Dickensian, Fairy tales, Female protagonist, Fiction, Gifted, History, Reading level: age 8 and up, Science Fiction | Comments Closed
Monday, September 18th, 2006
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| Author: | Julia Alvarez |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | For grown-ups
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| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | For grown-ups
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| Genre: | fiction, historical |
| Year of publication: | 1991 |
Sometimes, by escaping a dreadful danger, people find themselves safe, but not happy. The Garcia Girls is a touching reminder that the situation in which you meet people might not, on its surface, tell you much about who they are or what they've suffered. |
-- Emily Berk |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accent |
Posted in Conceptual: for grown ups, Fiction, History, Reading level: Grown up | Comments Closed
Sunday, September 17th, 2006
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| Author: | Donna Jo Napoli |
| Illustrator: | Judy Schachner |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Children 5 and up |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 5 and up |
| Genre: | fairy tale |
| Year of publication: | 1992 |
A deeply imaginative, if sad, deeper look at the story of the Frog Prince.
In this version, narrated by the frog who becomes the prince's wife while he is a frog, the prince gradually adapts to his watery environment and becomes content in his amphibian incarnation. |
My daughter felt enormous empathy both for the narrator and for the frog-prince, both of whom learn a great deal and ultimately suffer greatly because of the changes the prince undergoes.
The line drawings make the physical differences and similarities between the naturally occurring frogs and the frog prince easier to understand.
-- Emily Berk |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Prince of the Pond, The: Otherwise Known as De Fawg Pin |
Posted in Animals, Child-raising, Conceptual: age 5 and up, Dragons and/or mythological beasts, Fairy tales, Female protagonist, Fiction, Reading level: age 5 and up | Comments Closed
Saturday, September 16th, 2006
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| Author: | Rodman Philbrick |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Children 8 and up |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 8 and up |
| Genre: | fiction |
| Year of publication: | 1993 |
When I was young and feeling lonely, isolated, ridiculed by my fellow students, my father, one of those hugely gifted people who thrives with little interaction with other people because he is constantly obsessed by projects of his own, would suggest that I reach out to "other lonely children" and make friends with them. I never really found that forging alliances with other "outcasts" made me feel better when those in the "In Group" made fun of my clothes, hair, etc. Freak the Mighty is one of those novels in which the alliance of the weak prevails.
And, Sad Ending Alert. The foreshadowing is quite subtle, so it might come as a shock to young readers. |
In Freak the Mighty, the physically imposing narrator is living with his grandparents who fear that he has inherited the evil nature of his father, who is in prison. The narrator befriends an intellectually gifted but physically frail neighbor. By combining their gifts, they can travel far and not get lost; they can find proper placement in the school's advanced classes. And together, they triumph over bullies adolescent and grown, the narrator's learning disability is diagnosed, and he learns to appreciate dictionaries, reading, and learning.
As with Hoot, the plot is involving, but, as with Hoot, I felt as if the novel's promise that adults and peers will eventually come to their senses and recognize/honor the child's worth and Do the Right Thing(s) may not jibe with how the world usually works. (For example, even if their test scores don't reflect it, let them participate in the gifted program even though that might "not be fair" to other students.)
-- Emily Berk |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Freak the Mighty |
Posted in Conceptual: 8 and up, Dealing with bullies, Death is a central theme, Fiction, Gifted, Reading level: age 8 and up, School | Comments Closed
Tuesday, September 12th, 2006
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| Author: | Terry Pratchett |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Children 8 and up |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 8 and up |
| Genre: | fiction |
| Year of publication: | 2005 |
A Hat Full of Sky is the sequel to the Wee Free Men. It is about an eleven-year old girl named Tiffany Aching, who is training to be a witch, and the Nac-Mac-Feegle (Wee Free Men), who are fairies (but do NOT call them that unless you want to be seriously injured).
Tiffany is a very unusual witch, because she's from the Chalk Land. In fact, Tiffany is actually the ONLY official witch of the Chalk. She is also the Hag of the Chalk Land, which means that it is her job to protect the Chalk. (She tells it what it is; it tells her what she is.)
When something evil comes to the Chalk, Tiffany has to make it go away.
-- Fizzy, age 11
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An adult's view...
The Hat Full of Sky of the title is Tiffany's witch's hat. For services rendered in the first book in this series (The Wee Free Men), Tiffany is anointed with the invisible but meaningful hat of the Head Witch. And throughout the book, Tiffany wrestles with whether to proclaim to the world that she is indeed a witch (by putting on a hat that everyone can actually see), with whether to accept the responsibilities as well as the honors accorded to witches, and with whether she is qualified to succeed her illustrious grandmother and talented enough to conquer the evil and the self-doubt that threaten her land and herself.
Pratchett seems to think that, yes, Tiffany is indeed talented enough, and she needs to know that, but no need to admit to the rest of the world that she really is magical. So, here's a child allowed to be special enough to save her Land, but she's not to be too special. And Tiffany is not the only one who is pressured to conform. Her Teacher is another special one. As the plot progresses, the feature that makes her special is mitigated so -- no more problem -- the specialness is gone.
My daughter really enjoyed reading this series, as did I. But as the end of this book approached, I came to realize that if one wears an invisible witch's hat, one does not have to admit to oneself or to anyone else that one is special/magical. Kind of like the Rainbow Fish, who gives away all his colorfulness, so that he can be just like all his new friends, who were not very accepting of his uniqueness. Is this the message we want to convey to the heroes in our society? (It's fine to sacrifice your all for our good, but please don't admit that you have qualities that we do not have.) Just asking.
So, anyway, both my daughter and I also enjoyed reading Stargirl, which weighed much less on my mind than Hat Full.
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If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Hat Full of Sky, A |
Posted in Conceptual: 8 and up, Dealing with bullies, Dragons and/or mythological beasts, Fairy tales, Female protagonist, Fiction, Gifted, Reading level: age 8 and up, School | Comments Closed
Monday, September 11th, 2006
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| Author: | E.B. White |
| Illustrator: | Garth Williams |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Children 8 and up |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 5 and up |
| Genre: | fiction |
| Year of publication: | 1952 |
Updated Sept. 11, 2006:
My then-10 year old daughter fixed her eyes on me, eyes that implied that she'd just realized that a Truth had been withheld from her, and she was going to get to the bottom of it.
"So, Mom," she said, "It seems as if what a fiction book is about is not really what it's about. Is it?"
"Hmmm," I answered. "What you mean is that a story is not just about its plot. Sometimes, often, in fact, a story has a message and the message is conveyed by the plot, but also by the author's choices of words. The message is sometimes called the theme of the book. It's what the author wants you to learn from reading the book. It's why authors go to all the trouble of writing books."
Which brings us to Charlotte's Web. Charlotte's Web has long been a favorite of mine and my daughter enjoyed listening to it for a year or two when she was very young. But when dear daughter (dd) was around four, her best friend was diagnosed with a disease that was, at the time, almost always fatal. We happened at the time to be listening to the audio book version of Charlotte's Web as read by the author, E.B. White. So, there we are in the car, listening, and dd asks, "Is L. going to die?" I turn the tape player off and answer that I don't know. Dd says "I don't like Charlotte's Web. And what did Cinderella's mother die of?"
I explain that in those times long ago, nearly everyone was more likely to die but that women of childbearing age were particularly at risk. Dd asked, "So, are you going to die? Am I going to die?" ....
For years after that conversation, dd did not willingly read or listen to Charlotte's Web. I believe that this is because, more than any other children's book that I have read, Charlotte's Web is about death as a normal consequence of living. And, no, I'm not saying that children/people never die in books, but they die romantically as in At the Back Of the North Wind or they die unexpectedly young at the hands of Evil Doers or they die off-screen, like Cinderella's mother. (Dd's friend lives and thrives, thank goodness.)
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Throughout Charlotte's Web, starting with the first chapter, Wilbur the pig's life is at risk. In the beginning, it's because he is a runt, a child who lacks the health/strength necessary for his mom and the farmer to be willing to care for him.
Later, now healthy if small, naive, and unremarkable, Wilbur's life is still in jeopardy because he is a pig and it is normal for pigs raised on farms to be slaughtered for Christmas dinner.
Wilbur is forced to become remarkable, or to at least seem remarkable in order to survive. Which, I think, is one of the reasons that I love, and my dd loved the story. Some of us are actually remarkable, and we've found over the years that being remarkable is not always the best thing for a person to be.
Charlotte's Web is still not my daughter's favorite book, although it remains one of mine. If your child is a sensitive reader, it might be best to read Charlotte's Web with them, rather than on their own.
Or, if you want them to read E.B. White's amazing, elegant prose in service to a less stark plot, encourage them to read the equally quirky and beautiful Trumpet of the Swan, in which death does not play a central role.
Original posting on Monday, November 26th, 2001:
For her own reading, the six-year old is back to Charlotte's Web. It's an interesting book. The vocabulary is very technical, actually. Many descriptions of the goings-on at a farm. And words like "Frigidaire", "phoebe" (the bird), "interlude" -- make reading slow if the child wants to know what every single word means.
We go from the child reading about life, death and friendship and discussing these concepts with us as she reads, "...do you realize that if I didn't catch bugs and eat them, bugs would increase and multiply and get so numerous that they'd destroy the earth, wipe out everything..." and "... what a gamble friendship is! Charlotte is fierce, brutal, scheming, bloodthirsty -- everything I don't like. ..." to US reading to her "The B. stands for Beatrice, but I just like B that's all." (Junie B. Jones)
--Emily |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Charlotte's Web |
Posted in Animals, Conceptual: 8 and up, Death is a central theme, Female protagonist, Fiction, Reading level: age 5 and up | Comments Closed
Sunday, September 10th, 2006
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| Author: | Rudyard Kipling |
| Illustrator: | Jerry Pinkney |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Children 8 and up |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Sophisticated readers |
| Genre: | fiction |
| Year of publication: | 1894 |
"At this point, reading pretty much any book is very easy for me. So what's important to me is how the book is written and what it's about," my 11 year old said to me recently.
"Then what about The Jungle Book? Did you find that easy to read?"
"Well, no, actually. It was very hard. But beautiful."
Rudyard Kipling's century-old story may be the perfect book for advanced but very young readers to tackle. The plot is involving, the characters -- people and animals -- think and act like individuals you might have met. But what's truly captivating about the book is the language Kipling uses.
My daughter's only misgiving about the book: It's clear that Kipling does not hold monkeys in high regard. Unlike people who do not even know of the Law of the Jungle, monkeys know of the Law, but refuse to submit to it. Monkeys are dear daughter's favorite animals. She will need to write her own book, in which they state their reasons for their recalcitrance.
In terms of the monkeys and the plot in general, it turns out that Disney's animated movie, Jungle Book, stays pretty close to the original book. And it's got some wonderful music and voices as well. Too bad I won't be recommending anything Disney for the next year or so.
Anyway, this book is better than any movie.
The hardcover to which this review links also includes the stirring story of Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, a very brave little mongoose. |
There are many thees and thous in Jungle Book, which make parsing some sentences challenging. But the ideas described in these complicated sentences and long chapters (each one a tale that pretty much stands on its own) are thrilling.
For example, one chapter tells how Mowgli, the wolf boy, organizes his pack to stop the marauding gang of over 200 dholes, red dogs, which threaten to stampede through the jungle, ripping every animal they come upon to shreds. There is much blood shed, unavoidable bloodshed, and Akela, who led the wolf pack when it adopted Mowgli, is mortally wounded:
"Said I not it would be my last fight?" Akela gasped. "It is good hunting. And thou, Little Brother?"
"I live, having killed many." [responds Mowgli]
"Even so, I die..."
"So why does he say 'Good hunting' if he's dying?" my daughter asks? (Dear daughter was prepared for this death, although she is very sad about it. Akela is old and prepared to die.)
Well, in the book, 'Good hunting' is a greeting, like, 'Shalom' that means both 'hello' and 'good bye'. And also, Mowgli's plan has succeeded, so it has been good hunting, even though Akela was mortally wounded. And also, it is the wolf's way to kill and be killed, in accordance with the Law of the Jungle. So many layers of meaning expressed in just a very few words!
This chapter, like all of them, beautifully shows the power of that Law. You kill only when you have been gravely wronged. You make sure bullies do not harm you or those for whom you are responsible. But you don't act out of malice or greed, and you act in concert with your friends and brothers.
Highly recommended for advanced young readers.
-- Emily Berk |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Jungle Book, The |
Posted in Animals, Child-raising, Conceptual: 8 and up, Dealing with bullies, Death is a central theme, Fiction, Homeschool, Reading level: Sophisticated reader | Comments Closed
Sunday, September 3rd, 2006
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| Author: | Stephen King |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Children 12 and up |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 8 and up |
| Genre: | fiction |
| Year of publication: | 1987 |
According to the blurb, Stephen King wrote this book because his 14 yr. old daughter could not read his other books.
I got this book because I'm not a fan of horror, but wanted a chance to read a book by Stephen King.
It is not a book I'd recommend to a child; I found it CREEPY, perhaps not in a horror-ish way, but creepy nevertheless.
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If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Eyes of the Dragon, The |
Posted in Child-raising, Conceptual: age 12 and up, Dealing with bullies, Death is a central theme, Fairy tales, Fiction, Reading level: age 8 and up | Comments Closed
