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Archive for the ‘Conceptual: 8 and up’ Category
Book review: The Princess Bride
Saturday, April 1st, 2006Book review: The Great Brain
Saturday, April 1st, 2006 | Tweet |
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| Author: | John D. Fitzgerald |
| Illustrator: | Mercer Mayer |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Children 12 and up |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 8 and up |
| Genre: | biographical |
| Year of publication: | 1967 |
First person story of one of three Catholic brothers growing up in turn of the century Mormon Utah. | |
We were amazed at the similarities and differences between then and now. For example, they had telephones, but used them only in emergencies. A boy's leg gets infected, he gets gangrene and the leg is removed. The chapter about his attempts to commit suicide because he is "plumb useless" is terrifying, sad, and, eventually, funny. The Great Brain, the middle brother, is the smartest and not ashamed. | |
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If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Great Brain, The | |
Book review: Harriet the Spy
Saturday, April 1st, 2006 | Tweet |
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| Author: | Louise Fitzhugh |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Children 12 and up |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 8 and up |
| Genre: | Fiction, girl heroine |
| Year of publication: | 1964 |
My daughter initially resisted reading this book because the movie made such an awful impression on her. But she really enjoyed this story of a girl who "wants to know EVERYTHING" and gets into deep trouble for writing down what she knows. | |
Interesting slice-of-life of mostly upper-middle class children at school and play in Manhattan in the nineteen-fifties. The sequel, Harriet the Spy: The Long Secret gets into all sorts of complicated topics such as menstruation, abusive-parenting, and the public expression of religious beliefs that my daughter did not find as compelling. | |
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Book review: Millicent Min, Girl Genius
Saturday, April 1st, 2006 | Tweet |
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| Author: | Lisa Yee |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Children 12 and up |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 8 and up |
| Genre: | fiction |
| Year of publication: | 2003 |
A must-read for gifted girls, especially those in middle school or grade-skipped into high school. Eleven-year old Millicent Min will be a senior in high school in the fall, but at the beginning of the summer we read about, she is teacher's pet in a community college poetry class and students ranging in age from high school age through college take advantage of her as a tutor but don't treat her as a friend. "Sooo sad!", my 10 year old sighs, empathetically. Lisa Yee claims to not have skipped five grades in school, but she certainly understands what many of the issues that might confront a sensitive, gifted, 11-year old high school senior might be. | |
The plot is NOT what makes this book so good. Even my daughter, who is usually not keen to guess plot twists, figured out early on what many would be. (And said, "foreshadowing".) No matter -- the characters are spot-on. My daughter rated this a 4 out of 5, but that was because, "it ended". An interesting thread of questions it raised for her started with "Is there such a thing as an average IQ?", proceeded to "And how do you know what someone's IQ is?", to "Do you know MY IQ?", to "What IS my IQ?".... | |
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Book review: Surviving the Applewhites
Saturday, March 25th, 2006 | Tweet |
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| Author: | Stephanie S. Tolan |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Children 8 and up |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 8 and up |
| Genre: | fiction |
| Year of publication: | 2002 |
Joyous, involving story about a family of stereotypically gifted but stereotypically self-involved Artistes and the stereotypically Troubled Youth who benefits by becoming swept up in their passionate pursuit of Art. Stephanie Tolan takes wonderful advantage of the fact that we all know the Sound of Music so well we can hear the music in our heads, and those stereotypical personality types move the story along efficiently and with great humor. The characters themselves know they are stereotypical; and their self-awareness is one of the things that saves them and the story. Not a great book, but one we are very glad to have read. We particularly LOVED the way butterflies weave the various plot elements together. Excellent portrayal of the joys of homeschooling. -- Emily Berk | |
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Book review: Black and Blue Magic
Saturday, March 25th, 2006 | Tweet |
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| Author: | Zilpha Keatly Snyder |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Children 8 and up |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 8 and up |
| Genre: | fiction |
| Year of publication: | 1966 |
Twelve-year old boy learns to use and appreciate his gifts. A soothsayer once told Harry that his was "... a rare gift, and his magic will be of a special kind." Now, many years later, it is summer in San Francisco. It's possible that Harry has heard that same voice intone the words "The air is absolutely heavy with possibilities." Or maybe he dreamed them. Because he performed a good deed, twelve-year old Harry (interesting name, isn't it? -- my daughter thought so!) receives a gift. As such gifts often do, this one is bestowed with limitations. Harry must never be caught displaying the gift "publicly" lest the giver of the gift be harmed. | |
My 9 year old loved this story about how Harry learns to take advantage of the gifts with which he's been born and the gift he receives. Zilpha Keatley Snyder has written MANY books! And all of the ones we have read have held our interest. Black and Blue Magic is based in the San Francisco Bay Area; we really enjoyed the geographic "cameos". The 9 year old says, "I am SO glad I read this book!" Much resonance, I thought, with the plight of gifted kids: to use their gifts but to use them in such a way that they do not attract undue attention. And also, that what others might imagine to be the way a gift is to be used may not actually be the way the one who has the gift might choose to use it. -- Emily Berk | |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Black and Blue Magic | |
Book review: Anastasia Krupnik
Saturday, March 25th, 2006 | Tweet |
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| Author: | Lois Lowry |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Children 8 and up |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 8 and up |
| Genre: | fiction |
| Year of publication: | 1979 |
"Mom," my daughter said to me, in response to a very bad joke I told her. "Anastasia Krupnik is funny. Anastasia Again is funny too. That joke was not." Life and loves of a ten year old aspiring poetess. | |
Slighter than later Lois Lowry, but interesting to our nine year old. | |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Anastasia Krupnik | |
Book review: Al Capone Does My Shirts
Saturday, March 25th, 2006 | Tweet |
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| Author: | Gennifer Choldenko |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Children 12 and up |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 8 and up |
| Genre: | fiction, autism |
| Year of publication: | 2004 |
Some books are of their times. This book takes place at Alcatraz prison in the 1930s but is very much a reflection of contemporary culture. The first-person narrator is a boy whose family moves to Alcatraz so that his sister may apply to a school for autistic children near San Francisco. | |
The characters' understanding of the disease and of each other is no doubt very anachronistic. My daughter enjoyed the local color and the family relationships seemed truthful, for a child of today at least. -- Emily Berk | |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Al Capone Does My Shirts | |
Book review: Adam of the Road
Saturday, March 25th, 2006 | Tweet |
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| Author: | Elizabeth Gray Vining |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Children 8 and up |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 8 and up |
| Genre: | fiction, historical, medieval |
| Year of publication: | 1942 |
Eleven year old boy walks the roads of medieval England searching for his father and his dog. Newbery award winner | |
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Book review: Eragon
Saturday, March 25th, 2006 | Tweet |
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| Author: | Christopher Paolini |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Children 8 and up |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 8 and up |
| Genre: | fiction |
| Year of publication: | 2003 |
Involving dungeons and dragons style story, with dragons of the Anne McCaffery model. (You know, the inhabitant of the egg becomes impressed on a single special human. They grow up together and have adventures.) | |
Amazingly well-written by a 15 year old homeschooler. Grabs you right from the beginning and pulls you along. My 11 year old is not sure she'll survive until we get the next book in the series. And here is our review of Eldest, Book Two in this trilogy.-- Emily Berk | |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Eragon | |