Archive for the ‘Parenting gifted children’ Category
Sunday, September 13th, 2009
| |
| Tell friends about this blog entry |
|
| Author: | Irving Stone |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Sophisticated readers |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 12 and up |
| Genre: | Fiction, biography |
| Year of publication: | 1961 |
Reading this novelized biography of Michelangelo just now, after so recently reading the non-fictionalized Dancing To the Precipice was probably a mistake.
I did read The Agony and the Ecstasy to the end and found it mostly interesting, but -- so many unexplained wars, duplicate names, minor characters, changes of venue. Seems to me if you are going to fictionalize, you might want to streamline. If there are three characters named Ludovico, maybe rename one to be Vico?
I did learn a lot of facts, or at least I think they were facts, about Michelangelo's life and the history of the Papacy and the Italian city states. What I did not learn, and missed, was a bit more of an explanation about why this talented, obsessed artist allowed himself to be so taken advantage of? And why did the patrons who claimed to admire him so much abuse his gifts rather than help nurture them? I understand that they might need to use their enormous wealth to pay their armies, but -- Why the law suits? Why did so many popes ask the impossible when they clearly wanted Michelangelo to do great work for them?
|
The story felt to me like a history text, but because the text was labeled "fictionalized", I was never sure which parts were factual.
Seems like Irving Stone's message to us about Michelangelo is that his obsession with working marble led him to make foolish business decisions. But if he had not been so totally obsessed with working marble, would he have had the fortitude to keep on struggling given the financial strain he was under his entire life? On the other hand, maybe if he had refused to take on some projects until they were funded, he would have found himself under less financial strain?
|
| Similar books |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Agony and the Ecstasy, The: A Biographical Novel of Michelangelo |
Tags:art, european history, Gifted, History, history of art, italian history, michaelangelo, papacy
Posted in Biography, Child-raising, Conceptual: highly sophisticated, Culture, Dealing with bullies, Death is a central theme, Fiction, Gifted, History, Parenting gifted children, Reading level: age 12 and up | Comments Closed
Monday, August 3rd, 2009
| |
| Tell friends about this blog entry |
|
| Author: | Susan Fromberg Schaeffer |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | For grown-ups
|
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | For grown-ups
|
| Genre: | fiction |
| Year of publication: | 2007 |
Grown-up fairy tale about how the grown children and former lovers of a philandering novelist unite to defeat his widow, the children's evil stepmother, and secure his money and his legacy. |
I guess that the point of the book, which is truly unpleasant to read, is that even folks who are not gifted can destroy lives, unless they are stopped. And that stopping them can take time and strategizing, even for gifted and deserving and creative people.
Or maybe, the book makes another point, which is that tremendously gifted people can so desperately hurt their less gifted spouses that they are driven to terrible evil.
-- Emily Berk |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Poison: A Novel |
Posted in Child-raising, Conceptual level, Conceptual: for grown ups, Culture, Dealing with bullies, Death is a central theme, Fairy tales, Female protagonist, Fiction, Gifted, Parenting gifted children, Reading level: Grown up | Comments Closed
Sunday, July 19th, 2009
| |
| Tell friends about this blog entry |
|
| Author: | Phillip Pullman |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | For grown-ups
|
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | For grown-ups
|
| Genre: | fiction |
| Year of publication: | 1999 |
This book is really cool: it doesn't have very much big vocabulary but it really goes deeply into the ideas of what is human or not and how our souls manifest themselves.
It also approaches the question of faith versus science, and blindly following versus scoping out your paths.
-- Fizzy, age 14
|
As a parent, I have concerns about the themes and plot of this novel and the others in this series, which involve abuse and murder of children and other adult themes.
Please see The Golden Compass for my thoughts.
-- Emily |
| Similar books |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Subtle Knife, The |
Tags:book review, Gifted, Parenting gifted children, religion
Posted in Child-raising, Conceptual: highly sophisticated, Culture, Dealing with bullies, Death is a central theme, Dickensian, Fairy tales, Female protagonist, Fiction, Gifted, Parenting gifted children, Reading level: age 12 and up, Science Fiction | Comments Closed
Saturday, July 18th, 2009
| |
| Tell friends about this blog entry |
|
| Author: | Libba Bray |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Children 12 and up |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 12 and up |
| Genre: | fiction |
| Year of publication: | 2003 |
This a spooky book about a girl with powers she doesn't understand. As she tries to survive in a "we shall civilize your daughters" kind of school, she makes friends with her enemies and brings them in on her secret.
I was always on the edge of my seat with this book, because even if no magic was happening, or she wasn't being chased by a monster, the social conflicts of teenage girls can seem terrifying sometimes.
|
A good read that kept me wondering what happens next. I don't know if there is a sequel, but if there is I will read it.
-- Fizzy, age 14 |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Great and Terrible Beauty, A (The Gemma Doyle Trilogy) |
Tags:boarding school, book review, feminism, Gifted, Parenting gifted children, victorian
Posted in Child-raising, Conceptual level, Conceptual: age 12 and up, Culture, Dealing with bullies, Death is a central theme, Dickensian, Female protagonist, Fiction, Gifted, Parenting gifted children, Reading level, Reading level: age 12 and up, School | Comments Closed
Wednesday, July 15th, 2009
| |
| Tell friends about this blog entry |
|
| Author: | Loretta Ellsworth |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Children 8 and up |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 8 and up |
| Genre: | fiction |
| Year of publication: | 2007 |
This is a book about a girl who spends three days on a bus to visit Harper Lee, the author of "To Kill A Mockingbird". Her mom died when she was a baby, and Erin, who is exactly sixteen, just wants to know her mother before her father re-marries.
When she discovers that Mockingbird was her mother's favorite book, (it's her favorite too), Erin decides to make a pilgrimage from her home in Minnesota to Lee's in Alabama on a Greyhound bus.
On her journey, Erin meets many interesting people who cheer her on and help her to discover herself.
|
I like this book, because a seemingly normal girl decides, on a whim to discover something about herself. Written between the style of a diary, or someone telling a story, it is put together very nicely, and very satisfying.
--Fizzy, age 14
|
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: In Search Of Mockingbird |
Tags:book review, Gifted, Parenting gifted children
Posted in Child-raising, Conceptual: 8 and up, Female protagonist, Fiction, Gifted, Parenting gifted children, Reading level: age 8 and up | Comments Closed
Saturday, July 11th, 2009
| |
| Tell friends about this blog entry |
|
| Author: | Jane Lindskold |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Children 12 and up |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 8 and up |
| Genre: | fiction |
| Year of publication: | 2003 |
My daughter will read nearly any book that is put in front of her, and she knows just about intuitively when one is "good" or not. In other words, we are entirely in sympathy with, for example, The Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories by Christopher Booker, in which he explains that there are really only a few stories to be told and the important thing is to tell the tale creatively and well.
On the other hand, my daughter and I have noticed that in many young adult book series, nearly every book in the series uses, not only the same basic plot, but also the exact same plot elements in the exact same order. This is truly frustrating, because, once we've caught on to this failing, basically, not only do we know exactly how each book will end, but we also know pretty much what the twists and turns will be before the end. This is even more frustrating when the characters are as interesting and unique as they are in Jane Lindskold's Wolf Series. And, even worse, Lindskold's plot twists seem to always include a planned rape, described, not too graphically, but at length, and then a protracted and bloody battle.
So, what can we now say about Wolf's Head, Wolf's Heart, the sequel to Through Wolf's Eyes, which we raced through just a while ago?
|
Well, this book is pretty much the same as the first one. The wolf-girl's early sufferings have gifted her with nearly superhuman hearing, smell, strategic sense, and strength. But she still lacks social skills. Each of those who ends up on this Quest (and yes, the Booker plot of this one is probably not the same as the Booker plot of the first book in the series), has certain special gifts and limitations, very nicely described by the author.
Wolf's Head, Wolf's Heart certainly keeps you turning the pages. And the many loose ends left at the end of the book ensure that, assuming that the really nasty rape planning session didn't turn you off too badly, you will want to read the next book in the series.
I am hopeful, but not optimistic, that perhaps by the third book, the author might have found alternative plot elements to put in service of her story.
-- Emily |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Wolf's Head, Wolf's Heart (Wolf, Book 2) |
Tags:book review, falcons, Gifted, Parenting gifted children, wolf, wolves
Posted in Animals, Child-raising, Conceptual level, Conceptual: age 12 and up, Fairy tales, Female protagonist, Fiction, Gifted, Parenting gifted children, Reading level, Reading level: age 8 and up | Comments Closed
Tuesday, July 7th, 2009
| |
| Tell friends about this blog entry |
|
| Author: | Lynne Ewing |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Children 12 and up |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 12 and up |
| Genre: | Science fiction |
| Year of publication: | 2000 |
This is the second in a series. This "goddess" can read people's minds. She is chosen by the evil shadow king to become evil, but fights it off.
|
Classic good vs. evil and a bit cheesy.
--Fizzy, age 14 |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Into the Dark Fire, (Daughters of the Moon, Book 2)
|
Tags:book review, Gifted
Posted in Child-raising, Conceptual: age 12 and up, Fairy tales, Female protagonist, Fiction, Gifted, Parenting gifted children, Reading level: age 12 and up | Comments Closed
Sunday, July 5th, 2009
| |
| Tell friends about this blog entry |
|
| Author: | Terry Pratchett |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Children 12 and up |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 12 and up |
| Genre: | fiction |
As usual with Pratchett, this book is witty, often downright, funny, but it also has to do with real life problems.
The plot follows a girl who wants (and is destined) to be a wizard, but is not allowed to be because she is a girl. Wizarding is OBVIOUSLY only for boys. But as little kids do, she doesn't really understand the situation and so proves that she CAN be whatever she wants. |
Loved it.
-- Fizzy, age 14
Note: This novel is in Pratchett's Discworld series, which is not calibrated for young adult readers. |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Equal Rites (Discworld #3) |
Tags:academia, book review, feminism, feminist literature, Gifted, Parenting gifted children, women in academia
Posted in Child-raising, Conceptual: age 12 and up, Culture, Dragons and/or mythological beasts, Fairy tales, Female protagonist, Fiction, Gifted, Parenting gifted children, Reading level: age 12 and up, Science Fiction | Comments Closed
Tuesday, June 30th, 2009
| |
| Tell friends about this blog entry |
|
| Author: | Joe Meno |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | For grown-ups
|
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | For grown-ups
|
| Genre: | Fiction, parenting |
| Year of publication: | 2009 |
This novel is a deeply Confucian, metaphorical attempt to explain the outcome of the US Presidential Election of 2004. And the explanation is that many societies and ecological niches require a bully to be in charge of them in order to function well enough to survive. The bully may well shed some blood, and may often be wrong, but at least he (and it would always, pretty much, be a he), causes stuff to happen.
The metaphors here come fast and heavy-handed. The husband, Jonathan Casper, is a nerdy scientist who forgets his promises to his family as he quests after a "prehistoric" giant squid. In her off-hours, the wife, Madeline, chases a giant man-shaped cloud. At work, Madeline investigates the pecking order of pigeons by disrupting their power structures and witnessing the devastating results. (Perhaps like many academics, Madeline neglected, before she started her experiment, to understand what a pecking order is. How lucky she is to have an adviser to explicitly explain that pigeons NEED to be dominated by moderately violent males in order to avoid rampant rape and murder by the underclasses in their society.)
One of the two Casper daughters copes with her problems with excessive piety. The other responds to the chaos at home by building a bomb and ignorantly attempting to apply the Communist Manifesto to the running of her school. |
Luckily, in the end, each of these characters acquires a male mentor who explicitly tells him or her what to do to solve all the problems. Just like the US got four more years of George W. Bush. Difficult problems; easy answers.
Neat. Overly neat. Well written. Psychotic.
Not for young readers, which is a shame. The book would be great for a beginner's game of "spot the metaphor".
-- Emily |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Great Perhaps, The |
Tags:book about raising gifted daughters, book review, election 2004, George W. Bush, internment camps
Posted in Animals, Child-raising, Conceptual: for grown ups, Culture, Female protagonist, Fiction, Gifted, History, Parenting gifted children, Reading level: Grown up | Comments Closed
Sunday, May 31st, 2009
| |
| Tell friends about this blog entry |
14 year-old: \”I cried for the whole movie. It was very, very depressing.\”
Me: \”So are you glad you saw it?\”
She: \”Yes, but younger kids should not see it. It is too depressing. But because of the previews, they are going to want to.\”
Her Dad: \”It is a Disney movie. You know that the mom has to be dead in order for the plot to progress.\”
We discussed the fact that dear daughter is truly a very sensitive child. She admitted that she is. \”Nevertheless, young kids should not see this movie.\”
We all agreed that the dogs are brilliant, the plot is not entirely original, but not predictable either, and the visuals and music are impressive.
Tags:balloons, Disney, dogs, kids movies, movie review, sad movies
Posted in Animals, Child-raising, Conceptual: age 12 and up, Dealing with bullies, Death is a central theme, Fiction, Gifted, Parenting gifted children, Reading level: age 5 and up | Comments Closed
