Archive for the ‘Culture’ Category
Tuesday, June 30th, 2009
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| Author: | Joe Meno |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | For grown-ups
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| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | For grown-ups
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| 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
Tuesday, June 30th, 2009
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| Author: | Rick Riordan |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Children 8 and up |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 8 and up |
| Genre: | fiction |
| Year of publication: | 2009 |
A great ending to a great series, which is about a kid named Percy who discovers he's the son of Poseidon (the ancient Greek sea god) and that all of the "mythology" he learned in school is real.
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In this book, Percy must fulfill a prophecy and save the world... no big deal. Anyway, very fun. Definitely a stay up to finish the last page book (I actually stayed up late to start it, then stayed up even later to finish it.)
I like how in the end, the world goes on: it's not just "and they all lived happily ..."
--Fizzy, age 14
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| Similar books |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Last Olympian, The (Percy Jackson & the Olympians, Book 5) |
Tags:book review, Greek mythology, Percy Jackson
Posted in Conceptual: 8 and up, Culture, Dealing with bullies, Dragons and/or mythological beasts, Fairy tales, Fiction, Gifted, History, Reading level: age 8 and up, Science Fiction | Comments Closed
Sunday, June 21st, 2009
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| Author: | Terry Pratchett |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Children 12 and up |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 12 and up |
| Genre: | fiction |
Really cool book about a conspiracy to kill the Hogfather, who is like Santa Claus in Terry Pratchett's Discworld.
Death's granddaughter Susan, along with a toothfairy and the oh-god of hangovers have to save the world.
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The book is great because the people and places are almost like our own, but with a bit of a twist.
-- 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!: Hogfather |
Posted in Conceptual: age 12 and up, Culture, Dragons and/or mythological beasts, Fairy tales, Female protagonist, Fiction, Gifted, Reading level: age 12 and up, Science Fiction | Comments Closed
Wednesday, May 27th, 2009
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| Author: | Steven Johnson |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Children 12 and up |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 8 and up |
| Genre: | Non-fiction |
| Year of publication: | 2008 |
A lovely biography of Joseph Priestley, a scientist, theologian, and political thinker.
In these days when we are trying, finally, to get the politics out of science, this book argues that the reverse, having scientists care about politics is deeply ingrained in the fabric of the United States and Britain. Not that kings and princes always wish it so.
Note to sensitive readers: Priestley's experiments often involved the use of live animals and plants, some of which died in the absence of oxygen.
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One of Priestley's great strengths was in his ability to create experiments and to note details that signaled where his results might be followed up by further experiments. Priestley was less adept at giving up on assumptions that he brought into the experiments to begin with.
Another great strength was his ability, in fact, his obsession, with exchanging information with other scientists.
This biography serves as a tribute to the scientific method (which Priestley did not really follow), Joseph Priestley, Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and, in an interesting way, John Adams.
Highly recommended.
-- Emily |
| Similar books |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Invention of Air, The |
Tags:American Revolution, Ben Franklin, Benjamin Franklin, book review, deism, experiments, Franklin, Jefferson, Joseph Priestley, Priestley, scientific experiments, scientific method, Thomas Jefferson, unitarianism
Posted in Biography, Conceptual: age 12 and up, Culture, Gifted, History, Reading level: age 8 and up, Science | Comments Closed
Monday, May 25th, 2009
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| Author: | Daniel Tammet |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Sophisticated readers |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Sophisticated readers |
| Genre: | Non-fiction: Science |
| Year of publication: | 2009 |
Daniel Tammet is autistic, intellectually gifted, and synesthesic. This book, a follow-on to his autobiography, is billed as a "...book about the mind -- its nature and abilities. It combines ... the latest neuroscientific research with [Tammet's] personal reflections and detailed descriptions of [his] abilities and experiences. [Tammet's] ... intention is to show that differently functioning brains ... are not so strange ... and that anyone can learn from them ... [and to] clear up many misconceptions about the nature of savant abilities and what it means to be intelligent or gifted."
Great intentions; I agree they are worthwhile. But, I fear, a disappointing execution. Or, perhaps, I am not gifted enough to understand the arguments. But, really, to use the outcome of the US Presidential Election of 2000 to "prove" that the Electoral College works? Without mentioning that this election was decided by the Supreme Court and not really by the Electoral College? Seems to me that using the ideas of one person, even one admittedly highly gifted person, as a model for the prototypical smart person from whom we can all learn to think is -- misguided? |
Well, anyway, I certainly admire and even envy many of Mr. Tammet's abilities and accomplishments. And, again, I sympathize deeply with his goal of helping others less gifted than he is learn to observe the world around them more intently and reason out their opinions rather than blindly accept "common wisdom", which is often not correct.
On the other hand, and this is something that both of my gifted daughters had figured out by the time they were 11, if not before, Just because someone is gifted, that doesn't mean they know all the answers.
Judging from the stated premise of this book and its execution, I am not sure that Tammet is actually as smart as my high school student. |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Embracing the Wide Sky: A Tour Across the Horizons of the Mind |
Tags:autism, book review, Gifted, synesthesia
Posted in Biography, Child-raising, Conceptual: age 12 and up, Culture, Gifted, History, Parenting gifted children, Reading level: age 12 and up, Science | Comments Closed
Sunday, May 24th, 2009
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| Author: | Marilynne Robinson |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Sophisticated readers |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 12 and up |
| Genre: | fiction |
| Year of publication: | 2008 |
Beautifully written, desperately sad novel that seems to prove that love, family, friendship, faith, words, and circumstances sometimes collude to defeat well-meant efforts to escape the trap of alcoholism. |
The book traps readers too. It is not divided into chapters. So there you will be, at 2 in the morning, just waiting to get to the end of the chapter. And, an hour or two later, you realize -- there hasn't been one.
-- Emily Berk |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Home |
Tags:alcoholism, book review, novel
Posted in Child-raising, Conceptual: highly sophisticated, Culture, Female protagonist, Fiction, Gifted, Parenting gifted children, Reading level: age 12 and up | Comments Closed
Wednesday, May 20th, 2009
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| Author: | Mark Twain |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Children 12 and up |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Sophisticated readers |
| Genre: | fiction |
| Year of publication: | 1884 |
When i started this book i had to get used to the language and it went along rather slowly, but as i continued to read it, I sped up and by the end i was very satisfied.
Huck Finn describes a historical period (it's set during times of slavery) and i found it very interesting to be in the mind of a boy struggling with the moral problems of setting a slave free.
--Fizzy, age 14
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Note from Emily:
It took Fizzy nearly a year to read Huckleberry Finn. It was not an easy read, and so, when something more flashy came along, say, Twilight, Fizzy would put Huck down.
And then the transition back was challenging. But every time she started reading Huck Finn again, she would say, "NOW I remember why I like this book." It is not just the dialog that makes reading difficult here. It is also about the concepts.
What is the difference between "owning a person" and taking responsibility for a person? What are the rights of parents and society over children, who do sometimes know right and wrong better than their elders? This is a deep, dangerous book, and not only for its time, but still, now, more than a hundred years later. Amazing.
In many ways it was like when she read Kim a few years back. (Except then I did help with the reading, this time, she read the entire book to herself.) LOVED, LOVED, LOVED Kim. Didn't really want to read more "grown-up" Kipling for a while afterward. Although, Jungle Book and "Just So Stories", which are not all that easy to read either, are still often in our minds. |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The |
Tags:book review, slavery
Posted in Child-raising, Conceptual: age 12 and up, Culture, Dealing with bullies, Dickensian, Fiction, Gifted, History, Homeschool, Parenting gifted children, Reading level: Sophisticated reader | Comments Closed
Tuesday, May 5th, 2009
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| Author: | Esther Friesner |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Children 8 and up |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 8 and up |
| Genre: | fiction |
| Year of publication: | 2007 |
Kinda cute... the princess doesn't want to be girly, but wants to learn to fight and hunt and other things that only boys are allowed to do. The book is about Helen of Sparta before she was queen or beautiful.
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Although it wasn't a very fresh idea for the plot of a book, i am going to read the sequel because i am wondering how Friesner is going to connect this story to the big myth and the Trojan war.
--Fizzy, age 14 |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Nobody's Princess |
Posted in Biography, Child-raising, Conceptual: 8 and up, Culture, Dragons and/or mythological beasts, Fairy tales, Female protagonist, Fiction, Reading level: age 8 and up | Comments Closed
Monday, May 4th, 2009
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| Author: | Robin McKinley |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Children 8 and up |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 8 and up |
| Genre: | fiction |
| Year of publication: | 2007 |
This book was very slow for a long time in the beginning, but good. It is from the perspective of a teenage boy who lives in our world, which, it seems, has dragons in it. A protected species, of course. I know that sounds very cheezy, but it is well put together, and a fun, quick read (except the beginning).
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Jake finds a dragonlet and then, all of a sudden, the novel gets interesting when it is up to Jake to save Smokehill Dragonhaven Natural Park...
--Fizzy, age 14 |
| Similar books |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Dragonhaven |
Tags:dragon, dragons, endangered species, protected species
Posted in Animals, Child-raising, Conceptual: 8 and up, Culture, Dealing with bullies, Dragons and/or mythological beasts, Fairy tales, Fiction, Gifted, Parenting gifted children, Reading level: age 8 and up, Science Fiction | Comments Closed
Sunday, May 3rd, 2009
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| Author: | Nikita Lalwani |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | For grown-ups
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| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | For grown-ups
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| Genre: | Fiction, parenting |
Unless you have been through it yourself, it is probably impossible to understand how challenging it is to parent a gifted child.
The gifted child in this story, the daughter of two immigrants from India, is identified in kindergarten by a teacher who seems not to understand that being a gifted child might not be an unmitigated blessing and that raising a gifted child may not be as easy as it would seem.
Rumika Vasi's father determines to honor her giftedness by yanking her out of the public school and forcing her to concentrate almost entirely on mathematics. Her mother is overwhelmed and threatened by British culture and defers to her husband.
By the time Rumika lives up to her father's dream -- being accepted to Oxford at 14 -- Rumika feels isolated, deeply resentful of her intellectual gifts, almost -- determined to throw them away.
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The book comes off, a bit, as an indictment of raising a gifted child as an immigrant parent. But I think that parenting a child who is smarter than you are is difficult in any culture. Being culturally displaced may make that even more difficult, perhaps. But being the parent of any child who is vastly different from his or her peers is always going to be hugely challenging.
My review of another incisive novel about parenting a gifted child can be found here: excerpt. |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Gifted |
Tags:Gifted, immigration, mathematics
Posted in Child-raising, Conceptual: highly sophisticated, Culture, Female protagonist, Fiction, Gifted, Parenting gifted children, Reading level: Sophisticated reader, School | Comments Closed
