Archive for the ‘Animals’ Category

Book review: King of the Wind

Monday, March 13th, 2006

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Author:Marguerite  Henry
Reading Level (Conceptual):Children 8 and up
Reading Level (Vocabulary):Children 8 and up
Genre:non-fiction: animals
Year of publication:1948

Newbery award-winning story of Sham, the father of the modern thoroughbred, and the slave boy who believed in him.

Gently written, but the facts of the tale are harrowing. The boy, his horse and his cat are regularly tossed out on the street by uncaring adults. I won't share the ending, but we found the boy's fate disturbing as well.
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The Selfish Gene: Reviewed

Monday, March 13th, 2006

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Author:Richard Dawkins
Reading Level (Conceptual):Sophisticated readers
Reading Level (Vocabulary):Sophisticated readers
Genre:Non-fiction: Science
Year of publication:1990

Richard Dawkins' take-no-prisoners-style riff on how evolution has made all of us.
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Book review: Little Bear Books (series)

Monday, March 13th, 2006

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Adventures of a young bear and his mom, who is always right.

Very beautiful illustrations in a very easy to read chapter book format.

Book review: The Cat in the Hat

Monday, March 13th, 2006

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One of the books we liked when learning to read (and, actually, we still like to read them, although now we like to read them very fast and, sometimes, backwards).

Book review: A Fly Went By

Monday, March 13th, 2006

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A Fly Went By is in our list of books we liked when learning to read (and, actually, we still like to read them, although now we like to read them very fast and, sometimes, backwards):

  • Green Eggs and Ham
  • Angus and the Ducks
    Doesn’t rhyme so harder to memorize; funny; cool pictures; not cutesy

  • Harold and the Purple Crayon
    Doesn’t rhyme so harder to memorize; funny; cool pictures; not cutesy; some pretty hard words keep it interesting

  • A Fly Went By
  • Cat in the Hat
  • Ready, Set, Read
    A wonderful anthology of easy-to-read but not flimsy stories. The story Boris Gets a Cold is a family favorite.

  • Goodnight, Moon
    Cool pictures; not cutesy; some pretty hard words (\”night\”, \”air\”, \”house\”, \”everywhere\” for example) keep it interesting

  • Little Bear books
  • Nutshell Library by Maurice Sendak
    Very cool pictures; extremely non-cutesy. Tiny format is another draw. Can be taken anywhere.

  • The Important Book by Margaret Wise Brown, Leonard Weisgard
    Doesn’t rhyme so harder to memorize; not cutesy; some pretty hard words in surprising configurations.

See also: Learning to Read.

Book review: Tale of Despereaux — Being the Story of a Mouse, a Princess, Some Soup, and a Spool of Thread

Tuesday, June 1st, 2004

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Author:Kate Dicamillo
Reading Level (Conceptual):Learning to read
Reading Level (Vocabulary):Learning to read
Genre:Fairy tale
Year of publication:2003
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