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| Author: | Benjamin Hoff |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Children 12 and up |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 5 and under |
| Genre: | Non-fiction, philosophy |
| Year of publication: | 1983 |
Not difficult to read, but explains some very interesting ideas in a humorous way. | |
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If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Tao of Pooh, The | |
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| Author: | Meindert DeJong |
| Illustrator: | Maurice Sendak |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Children 8 and up |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 8 and up |
| Genre: | Fiction |
| Year of publication: | 1955 |
The children of a Dutch fishing village try various strategies in order to find a wheel that they can put on the roof of their schoolhouse so they can attract storks that will bring them luck. Winner, 1955 Newbery Medal | |
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If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Wheel on the School, The | |
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| Author: | Michael Pollan |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Children 12 and up |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 12 and up |
| Genre: | non-fiction |
| Year of publication: | 2006 |
Elegant essays about the symbiotic relationship between certain plants and humans. The discussions about the way tulips and potatoes changed human history ought to change the way any reader thinks about gardens and commercial agriculture. | |
Moral: Just because we think we're at the top of the food chain, that doesn't mean we can't be manipulated by things we believe we subjugate. -- Emily | |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World | |
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| Author: | Jerry Spinelli |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Children 8 and up |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 8 and up |
| Genre: | fiction |
| Year of publication: | 1990 |
Modern day tall tale, beautifully written by Jerry Spinelli, whose Stargirl we also loved. Maniac's athletic gifts and personal fortitude give him entree behind the window curtains of many homes in his small Pennsylvania town, where he is privileged to share meals and experiences with old and young, black and white, humans and zoo animals. Maniac re-pays the kindness of strangers by helping to bridge, although not heal, the town's racial divide. | |
Winner, 1991 Newbery Medal | |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Maniac Magee | |
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| Author: | Louise Erdrich |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | For grown-ups |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | For grown-ups |
| Genre: | Fiction |
| Year of publication: | 1984 |
Set of interlocking short stories that combined help us understand many things about life on Native American reservations. One has to do with the devastating effect of alcohol on family life. | |
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If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Love Medicine | |
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| Author: | Nancy Farmer |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Children 12 and up |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 8 and up |
| Genre: | fiction |
| Year of publication: | 1996 |
1997 Newbery Honor book. First person account of how a gifted Mozambiquen girl orphan survives and forges families -- with baboons, scientists, and her own kin -- for herself during a harrowing trip through the South African wilderness. Nhamo, the girl, must use all that she knows -- which foods to eat, what happens when the seasons change; how to consult/appease her spirit guardians -- to survive on her own on her long trek. A lovely, interesting, intense survival story. | |
The first few chapters are stomach-churners, as the girl's aunt and other relatives consign her to the control of an evil witch-doctor. Similar to, but more graphic, than the treatment of Cinderella. Subsequent chapters are fascinating and, while Nhamo does face danger at many junctures, it is thrilling to observe her making mostly good decisions and learning from her few, scary mistakes. | |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Girl Named Disaster, A | |
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| Author: | Karen Armstrong |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Sophisticated readers |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Sophisticated readers |
| Genre: | Non-fiction: Autobiography |
| Year of publication: | 2004 |
Thoughtful autobiography of a former nun turned writer about religious thought. | |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Spiral Staircase: My Climb Out of Darkness, The | |
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| Author: | E.L. Konigsburg |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Children 12 and up |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 8 and up |
| Genre: | fiction, historical |
| Year of publication: | 1973 |
Eleanor of Aquitaine and some of her friends hang out in heaven and discuss Eleanor's life and loves. | |
Fascinating discussions about the Crusades, British and French history, religion, architecture, and the role of women in Medieval royalty ensue. Illustrations, by the author, in the form of "miniatures" are lovely and fascinating. | |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver | |
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| Author: | Simon Winchester |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Sophisticated readers |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Sophisticated readers |
| Genre: | non-fiction |
| Year of publication: | 1998 |
Fascinating but depressing story of the life of the murderer who worked on the OED (one of our favorite dictionaries.) | |
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If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Professor and the Madman, The: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of The Oxford English Dictionary | |