Archive for the ‘Child-raising’ Category
Saturday, March 10th, 2007
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| Author: | Diane Duane |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Children 12 and up |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 8 and up |
| Genre: | fiction |
| Year of publication: | 1985 |
My daughter and I read A Wizard Abroad first (the fourth book in the So You Want To Be A Wizard series), and then we read So You Want To Be A Wizard, the first book in the series.
Both stress the responsibilities and hazards of having great power. Both climax in a to-the-death battle between Good and Evil. And So You Want ..., much to the dismay of my daughter, proclaims the theme that self-sacrifice to the death is deemed a worthy and necessary outcome in certain extenuating circumstances. And that it might happen to a friend of yours. Perhaps because you need them to make that sacrifice. This is not a theme that my daughter much likes.
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Which is why, as a project, I am suggesting that my daughter spend time looking for Christian symbolism in the novels she reads, even fluffy ones like this one.
Deep Wizardry, the second book in the series, picks and chooses from the themes and plots of the others in the series. Duane is wonderful at describing young teenagers accidentally taking on more than they can really handle and then -- handling it. She's also very good at describing parents of gifted kids who really want to trust their children but have a hard time understanding what those children are capable of or what drives them. Duane's descriptions of the world and senses of whales in Deep Wizardry make it well worth reading. My daughter and I loved getting to know Kit and Nita, the young wizards, and Nita's younger sister Dairine, as well as Nita's earnest and striving parents and the advisor wizards and their interesting and talented familiars (a parrot and a dog).
But, by the end of the bloody and demoralizing battle at the end of Deep Wizardry, we decided to take a break, concerned that other books in the series prove to be more of the same. I understand there are seven books in total in the series.
Our recommendation: Read Deep Wizardry first. Then, read A Wizard Abroad if you are interested in Celtic myth and atmosphere, or read So You Want To Be A Wizard if you feel you need the gory details of how Nita and Kit over-promised.
-- Emily Berk |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Deep Wizardry |
Posted in Animals, Conceptual: age 12 and up, Death is a central theme, Dragons and/or mythological beasts, Fairy tales, Female protagonist, Fiction, Gifted, Parenting gifted children, Reading level: age 8 and up, Science Fiction | Comments Closed
Friday, March 9th, 2007
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| Author: | Diane Duane |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Children 12 and up |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 8 and up |
| Genre: | fiction |
| Year of publication: | 1983 |
My younger daughter and I have been lucky in that we have often failed to start at the beginning of a series, and when we have, it has often worked out well for us.
We read A Wizard Abroad a while back, enjoyed it, and were advised to start at the beginning of the series. If we had started at the beginning of the series -- hmm -- well, we might not have continued.
Like A Wizard Abroad, So You Want To Be A Wizard stresses the responsibilities and hazards of having great power. And like Abroad, it climaxes in a to-the-death battle between Good and Evil. Unlike Abroad, but not unlike the third book in the series Deep Wizardry, and much to the consternation of my daughter, self-sacrifice to the death is deemed a worthy and necessary outcome in certain extenuating circumstances.
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As a project, I am suggesting that my daughter spend time looking for Christian symbolism in the novels she reads, even fluffy ones like this one.
I think, perhaps, she felt that this one was too fluffy to merit the death and destruction. But she/we did decide to go on to read Deep Wizardry, the next book in the series.
-- Emily Berk |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: So You Want to Be a Wizard |
Posted in Conceptual: age 12 and up, Dealing with bullies, Death is a central theme, Dragons and/or mythological beasts, Fairy tales, Female protagonist, Fiction, Gifted, Parenting gifted children, Reading level: age 8 and up, Science Fiction | 2 Comments »
Friday, February 23rd, 2007
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My 12 year old just gags every time she sees a commercial for this movie.ÂÂÂ
She really hates books in which majorly bad things happen \”suddenly\” to one or more protagonists.  Mr. McCabe, her 5-6th grade teacher, sent this link to me: http://www.slate.com/id/2160370/pagenum/all/#page_start He was the one who \”made\” her read the book. (Which I STILL have not read. Think dear daughter and I share a genetic link?)
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0064401847?tag=armadilloassoc0c
Posted in Child-raising, Conceptual: age 12 and up, Dealing with bullies, Death is a central theme, Dragons and/or mythological beasts, Fairy tales, Female protagonist, Fiction, Gifted, Parenting gifted children, Reading level: age 12 and up | Comments Closed
Monday, February 12th, 2007
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| Author: | Diana Wynne Jones |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Children 8 and up |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 8 and up |
| Genre: | fiction |
| Year of publication: | 2003 |
A girl whose family manages a historic castle in England summons a witch, Robert, who was buried 350 years earlier. Although Robert's behavior is impulsive and assertive, he usually has reasons for enchantments. |
Recommended.
-- Emily
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If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Wild Robert |
Posted in Conceptual: 8 and up, Dragons and/or mythological beasts, Fairy tales, Female protagonist, Fiction, Gifted, Parenting gifted children, Reading level: age 8 and up | Comments Closed
Thursday, February 8th, 2007
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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: | 2006 |
Sometimes a precocious person uses her gifts in a way that have dire consequences. Whether or not the harm was intentional, that person should take responsibility for the problems she creates and try to resolve them.
Early in this tale, Tiffany Aching, a very mature and gifted if reluctant witch, makes the awful mistake of arousing the romantic attention of the Wintersmith (God of Winter), and nearly simultaneously but through no fault of her own, loses her teacher and home. Wintersmith is the story of how Tiffany:- Rectifies (with the "help" of her silly blue friends the Nac Mac Feegle and her not-quite-as-silly boy?friend, Roland) the wrong she's done,
- Learns to fit back into her home, and
- Comes to appreciate, understand, and learn from other mentors.
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Wintersmith is the third installment in the story of Tiffany Aching.
My daughter and I also enjoyed reading the previous books in the series:
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If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Wintersmith |
Posted in Conceptual: 8 and up, Death is a central theme, Dragons and/or mythological beasts, Fairy tales, Female protagonist, Fiction, Gifted, Parenting gifted children, Reading level: age 8 and up | Comments Closed
Tuesday, January 23rd, 2007
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| Author: | Diana Wynne Jones |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Children 8 and up |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 8 and up |
| Genre: | fiction |
| Year of publication: | 2006 |
In this, the latest episode in the life of Cat Chant, Cat has truly settled in to preparing for his future. The story reveals that he has come far in his apprenticeship to Christopher Chant, (the current Chrestomanci -- Chief Enchanter) and his family.
Cat has learned how to learn from a very gifted nine-lived enchanter who is (obviously) very talented, but possibly not as talented as Cat is. Throughout the book, Cat works on identifying skills Chrestomanci has that Cat still needs to learn, on when to solve problems on his own and when to call for help, and on how and when to intervene in the lives of the less gifted inhabitants of the universes he is destined to govern.
Like the plots of many other stories in the Chrestomanci series, the plot of this novel explores the problems of a gifted child (in this case a girl) who is made to feel inferior because she is special. |
There are many thrilling touches in this tale, which started out "less slowly" (as my 12 year old says) than other Chrestomanci books and then -- got better and better.
Two of our favorite were when:
- Cat just comes out and tells Marianne (the talented girl enchantress with low self-esteem who is being utterly abused by her family) that she has great power, but needs to be brave and stick up for herself.
- The entire sub-plot that concerns Klarch, the griffin. SO cute! Will definitely make you want a puppy.
Highly recommended, but you probably want to read at least Charmed Life first. |
| Similar books |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Pinhoe Egg, The: A Chrestomanci Book |
Posted in Animals, Child-raising, Conceptual: 8 and up, Dealing with bullies, Dragons and/or mythological beasts, Fairy tales, Female protagonist, Fiction, Gifted, Homeschool, Parenting gifted children, Reading level: age 8 and up, Science Fiction | Comments Closed
Monday, January 8th, 2007
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| Author: | Rohinton Mistry |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Sophisticated readers |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Sophisticated readers |
| Genre: | fiction |
| Year of publication: | 2002 |
Poverty and religious fanaticism nearly destroy a Parsi family trying to care for a grandfather dying of Parkinson's disease in Bombay.
Wrenching, but the characters are so endearing that I found myself alternately clutching the book, putting it down in horror and sadness, then grabbing it up again to find out how everyone was doing.
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Highly recommended for very sophisticated young readers (teens, perhaps), especially those with an interest in the history and culture of modern India. |
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If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Family Matters |
Posted in Child-raising, Conceptual: highly sophisticated, Culture, Female protagonist, Fiction, Gifted, History, Reading level: Sophisticated reader | Comments Closed
Tuesday, January 2nd, 2007
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| Author: | Diane Duane |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Children 12 and up |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 8 and up |
| Genre: | fiction |
Fourteen year-old wizard Nita's parents are worried about her "relationship" with her wizarding partner (a boy), so they ship her off to Ireland, where she gets into much more harrowing situations (and a romantic one as well) than those she might have experienced if she'd just stayed put in the USA.
My daughter and I loved the way the tiny Bard Cat interacts with her less gifted human allies. The seeming contradiction between the way wizards look -- ordinary -- and what they have to do -- extraordinary -- might be heartening to a child who feels that his or her specialness is not reflected in appearance or circumstances. And, the cameo appearances by Celtic mythological beings are fun.
The discussions of Nita's romantic thoughts (nothing graphic, but probably not of great interest to younger children) and the responsibilities that go along with great power, and the excitement, mayhem, and death that inextricably mix with battle might make this book appealing to adolescent readers, rather than to younger readers. |
My 12 year-old and I enjoyed reading this not very challenging, but plot-intensive story. We did feel that we might have liked it even more if we'd at least read the first book in this series first.
One of my cynical thoughts on reading this book was that Duane almost certainly was able to deduct a summer's vacation or maybe even a home in Ireland and use this book to prove that it was business-related. Must be nice to be a successful author.
-- Emily Berk |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Wizard Abroad, A |
Posted in Animals, Child-raising, Conceptual: age 12 and up, Culture, Death is a central theme, Dragons and/or mythological beasts, Fairy tales, Female protagonist, Fiction, Gifted, History, Parenting gifted children, Reading level: age 8 and up, Science Fiction | Comments Closed
Saturday, December 30th, 2006
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| Author: | Anne Tyler |
| 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: | 2004 |
Thing is, most marriages in the USA are "amateur", aren't they? In fact, most decisions made by anyone, especially in his or her personal life, are going to be made amateurly, and some better than others. And just because a decision is sudden, that does not always mean that it was wrong.
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After reading one of Anne Tyler's novels, we know so much about the characters that we feel that, if the character walked past us in a shopping mall, we might recognize him or her. And Tyler doesn't have to tell us much about each character to work her magic. This one wears a red coat; that one has a limp. In this way are decisions made and in this way are people known, both in Tyler's novels and in real life.
A heartbreaking occurrence in many Tyler novels is the sudden disappearance of a child or teenager, through death or other circumstance, and the repercussions of that disappearance on the parents. The disappearance described in this novel is cruel, believable, and utterly wrenching.
-- Emily Berk
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If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Amateur Marriage, The |
Posted in Child-raising, Conceptual: for grown ups, Culture, Fiction, History, Reading level: Grown up | Comments Closed
Monday, December 18th, 2006
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| Author: | Diana Wynne Jones |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Children 8 and up |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 8 and up |
| Genre: | fiction |
| Year of publication: | 2001 |
Many of the stories in Wynne Jone's Chrestomanci series explore the problems of gifted children who are made to feel inferior or taken advantage of because they are special.
This happens to the protagonists of The Lives of Christopher Chant and Charmed Life, for example.
But in the society evoked in Witch Week, anyone identified as a witch is burned at the stake. Which puts the students at the Larwood House School, all of whom are orphaned because of a family connection to witchcraft, in a desperate position. Many of them know they are witches. And although it's exhiliarating to know that one has great power, they know from experience that the penalty for getting caught, or worse, being turned in by one's peers, is death by fire.
Spoilers below...
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If my daughter and I had not already read several of the earlier Chrestomanci books, I don't know that we'd have enjoyed this Lord of the Flies meets The Fountainhead for the younger set as much as we did.
When Chrestomanci, he of the perfectly-creased gray suit and impeccable hair, finally makes his appearance, our horror and dread turned to giggles, even while the poor, witchy students retained their mortal fear for quite a few more pages.
But then, once again, there's that ending. In this case, the remedy is to make the gifted students accept that they need to make themselves just slightly less gifted, at witchcraft at least. So they do. Kind of like the protagonist in the movie, Pi, albeit not quite as bloody. Sigh. I'd vote for The Fountainhead instead, but that is more difficult to read.
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If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Witch Week |
Posted in Child-raising, Conceptual: 8 and up, Culture, Dealing with bullies, Death is a central theme, Dragons and/or mythological beasts, Fairy tales, Female protagonist, Fiction, Parenting gifted children, Reading level: age 8 and up, School | Comments Closed
