Archive for the ‘Culture’ Category
Saturday, April 18th, 2009
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| Author: | Terry Pratchett |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Children 12 and up |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 8 and up |
| Genre: | fiction |
| Year of publication: | 2008 |
My daughter has been censoring my reading lately. She refuses outright to allow me to read certain books, like Brisingr, the third book in the Eragon series and Inkdeath, the third book in the Inkheart series.
As for Nation.... "You won't like this book," my daughter said as she handed it to me. She meant that SHE did not like this book. "I usually would give every Terry Pratchett book I read a 10 out of 10. I give this one a 6, maybe. He is usually at least amusing, even when he is grim. This one is mostly just grim though."
My assessment is more generous than my daughter's. Nation is intense. And contains significantly more mayhem, death, and destruction than most Pratchett stories, for adults or children. And rage at the universe. Along with Pratchett's customary skewering of the silliness of every society and religion he happens across. With, perhaps, a little more bitterness than usual.
I could not put Nation down. And as I parsed each angry word, I thought that if I were Terry Pratchett, brilliant author of unforgettable stories, and I had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's, well I would be raging at the Universe as well.
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I did find much that I found amusing in Nation. But it is more serious than Pratchett's other stories for children. Nation is about growing up fast and taking on responsibilities that appear crushing because you have to, because there is no else to do it. It is about tolerating the idiosyncrasies of others because you need them. It is about using religion to get people to do what you need them to do and about whether it is alright to do so even if you do not yourself believe. And, as per most Pratchett books, it also touches on the flimsiness of the differences between civilization and savagery, manners vs. self-control vs. the power to break free of convention when necessary.
So given that my daughter did allow me to read this book when she has physically prevented my putting hands on so many others in the last few months, I will say that we both recommend this book to gifted, sophisticated teenage readers with a good tolerance for death and destruction.
-- Emily |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Nation |
Posted in Conceptual: age 12 and up, Culture, Dealing with bullies, Death is a central theme, Dickensian, Fairy tales, Female protagonist, Fiction, Gifted, History, Reading level: age 8 and up | Comments Closed
Monday, April 13th, 2009
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| Author: | Rogers and Hammerstein |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Children 12 and up |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 8 and up |
| Genre: | musical |
| Year of publication: | 1999 |
X-Men have been, and remain, our favorite super-heroes. We watch the movies; have not gotten into the comic books. Have recently also enjoyed Hellboy. Some of us really admire The Incredibles (but some of us do not).
We must write our homage to X-Men someday. After all, this is a group that thinks that hiding out in a school for the gifted will somehow shield its members from bullies. A creative, if foolish, concept.
Plus, they have both Patrick Stewart and Hugh Jackman. And very cool superpowers. And great special effects.
We are waiting with great anticipation for the release of the latest X-Men movie, Wolverine. Although, judging from the previews, it's probably going to be depressing as anything. And meanwhile, since we love and admire Hugh Jackman (have started watching Australia), and we love and admire musicals, we sat down and watched this production of Oklahoma.
Plot spoiler alert: plot spoilers follow below... |
As we have pointed out before, Broadway musicals, at least the good ones, are much more than song and dance. Musicals' pretty costumes and music often disguise powerful messages.
Oklahoma is an odd one -- the messages are truly of their original time -- 1955. - There's a guy named Jud. He's got some unattractive habits. (Kind of like the X-Men -- they accidentally kill you with their thoughts, he impulsively brandishes switchblades.) Plus no one normal likes him. (Kind of like the X-Men, huh?)
- Then there's Laurey, Jud's young woman employer. She is not yet ready to commit herself to her true love, Curly, and instead teases Curly by agreeing to let Jud take her to the barn-raising. Teasing is not nice. And so Laurey gets everyone into real trouble.
- There's also a loose woman and the two men who love her -- Will Parker (a cowboy) and Ali Hakim (a Persian peddler, played with an accent that seems to waver between NY and who knows where by Peter Polycarpou). Wow, Persian. Put there in the 1950s. An outsider from the Middle East with enough money to buy whatever he wants, but -- perhaps we shouldn't let our women get involved with guys like him. And yes, Ali Hakim IS Persian in the original.
- And "Why is it that Aunt Eller runs the town? Did any woman wield that kind of power in those days?," my daughter didn't think that was in any way realistic. I speculated about there not being many women surviving childbirth into "old age" in the days before OK statehood; but then, in this production at least, there are a LOT of women -- they overwhelm the wedding scene, for example.
So how DO our musical Oklahomans deal with this bully? (Even if he's one that they've sort of created. Or, maybe he's just crazy and not really their responsibility, just a problem for them to dispose of?) If you are Curly and just want Jud gone, perhaps you sidle over to Jud's hovel and sing him a song encouraging him to suicide. ("Is this FORESHADOWING?," my daughter asks.) And when that does not work, you and Laurey try various other things, all of which end up infuriating the bully further. And then .... Go here to skirt spoilers SPOILER BELOW SPOILER BELOW SPOILER BELOW SPOILER BELOW SPOILER BELOW SPOILER BELOW SPOILER BELOW SPOILER BELOW SPOILER BELOW SPOILER BELOW SPOILER BELOW SPOILER BELOW SPOILER BELOW SPOILER BELOW SPOILER BELOW SPOILER BELOW SPOILER BELOW SPOILER BELOW SPOILER BELOW SPOILER BELOW SPOILER BELOW SPOILER BELOW
You accidentally kill the guy (see! it WAS foreshadowing) in self-defense, stage a trial in a convenient venue, are let off in seconds (since everyone, even the farmers, KNOWS for sure that the murder was in self-defense), and then you get on with your happy life. You settle down and become a farmer. Oklahoma settles down and becomes a state.
What DID we actually think of this version of the musical?
Well, the famous songs are famous for a reason. The choreography is by Agnes del Mille. My daughter found it a bit intrusive. "So now here comes the next DANCE number." Laurey's dream sequence is VERY disturbing. Hugh Jackman does not disappoint. Shuler Hensley, who plays Jud Fry, has a remarkable voice and keeps us vacillating between sympathy and digust for his character.
The filming decisions were odd too. We see the audience clapping after most scenes, and that is ok. And we get to see SOME of the stagecraft (much is made of the revolving stage). But the peeks into the stagecraft made my daughter want to see MORE of the stagecraft, and she came to doubt that we were actually seeing the musical as it was presented to a real live audience. We noticed some shoe changes -- boots to toe shoes to boots -- that we found very confusing.
Should your sophisticated children watch Oklahoma? If they have an interest in musical theatre, absolutely. But, beware: Musicals' pretty costumes and music often disguise powerful messages. And the messages of Oklahoma are -- hmmm -- disquieting. As messages of musicals often are. |
| Similar books |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma! (London Stage Revival) |
Tags:Broadway musical, bullies, bullying, cowboys vs. farmers, Hugh Jackman, musical, oklahoma, oklahoma statehood, Patrick Stewart, suicide, X-Men
Posted in Broadway musicals, Conceptual: age 12 and up, Culture, Dealing with bullies, Death is a central theme, Female protagonist, Fiction, Gifted, History, Music, Reading level: age 8 and up | Comments Closed
Thursday, December 11th, 2008
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| Author: | Chaim Potok |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Sophisticated readers |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 12 and up |
| Genre: | Fiction |
| Year of publication: | 1967 |
WAS:Orthodox Jewish boy trying to decide what to be when he grows up.
Flippant. Flippant. And, entirely unfair to this book.
It is the middle of World War II and most citizens of the US are still unaware of what is happening to the Jews of Europe. Reuven Malther, an Orthodox Jew, is severely injured in a baseball game by a ball pitched by Danny Saunders, a Hasidic (much more fundamentalist) Jew. They become friends and as a result they, and we, learn a great deal about the different styles of parenting, religious observation, and reactions to the formation of the state of Israel, among believers in different branches of Judaism. |
More generally, this is a story about parents struggling to figure out how to raise their gifted sons to honor their religious heritage and to reach their potential.
And it is about gifted boys realizing that they may not be called to follow in their fathers' footsteps.
"A very sad book," my 12 yr. old says. "But well worth reading." My other daughter called me from college to recommend the "sequel" (It's not about the same characters, but the themes are similar): My Name is Ascher Lev. |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Chosen, The |
Tags:Baseball, Gifted, Hasidic, Holocaust, Jew, Jewish, Parenting gifted children, World War II homefront
Posted in Baseball, Child-raising, Conceptual: age 12 and up, Culture, Fiction, Gifted, History, Parenting gifted children, Reading level: age 12 and up, School, Sports | Comments Closed
Tuesday, October 21st, 2008
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| Author: | Meg Wolitzer |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | For grown-ups
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| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | For grown-ups
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| Genre: | fiction |
| Year of publication: | 2003 |
First person fiction in which the wife of a famous author describes the events that lead to the end of their marriage. |
Plot seems to describe a situation that I suspect is fairly common in pre-feminist societies.
-- Emily Berk |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Wife, The |
Tags:academia, feminism, feminist literature, women in academia, women in the 1950s
Posted in Conceptual: for grown ups, Culture, Female protagonist, Fiction, Gifted, Reading level: Grown up, School | Comments Closed
Thursday, September 11th, 2008
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Tags:1776, American Revolution, consequences of war, Declaration of Independence, George Washington, Independence Day, July 4, suffering in war, war
Posted in Biography, Conceptual: age 12 and up, Culture, Death is a central theme, Gifted, History, Parenting gifted children, Reading level: age 12 and up | Comments Closed
Friday, March 21st, 2008
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| Author: | Simon Winchester |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Children 12 and up |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 12 and up |
| Genre: | non-fiction |
| Year of publication: | 2003 |
Simon Winchester does what he does better than any other science writer I know. He starts with one well-known natural disaster. Introduces us to many of the people affected by the unfolding events. Then weaves in information about the geography, geology, history, state of technology, and then puts it all together and tells the story of the disaster. |
In this case, Winchester provides many details about the effects of the eruption of Krakatoa on the air around the world. This eruption also caused a sea-surge, which also killed many people. He also discusses the "top ten" (I think it was ten) volcanic eruptions in history.
This book also provides a great overview of the history of the theory of continental drift, which I think is currently thought to be the cause for volcanism in much of the world.
Obviously, not for the squeamish. But a must-read for everyone else who lives on Earth.
-- Emily |
| Similar books |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded: August 27, 1883 |
Posted in Biography, Conceptual: age 12 and up, Culture, Death is a central theme, Gifted, History, Reading level: age 12 and up, Science | Comments Closed
Thursday, February 28th, 2008
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| Author: | Jerry Spinelli |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Children 12 and up |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 8 and up |
| Genre: | fiction |
| Year of publication: | 2007 |
It had been one of those errand-intensive Saturdays. On the way home after much driving, with groceries in the car, my 13 yr. old said, in a studiously casual way, "Hey Mom, you know the sequel to Stargirl is out." One of the pathetic things about us is that we forget our own phone numbers, but know by heart the precise coordinates of every bookstore and/or library in our current vicinity (where ever in the world that might be) and their hours. We checked Love, Stargirl out of the library within 15 minutes.
If you have a gifted child, particularly a girl, who is about to enter high school, or who is already in high school, and who has not already read Jerry Spinelli's amazing
novel about the glory and the pain of being orders of magnitude different from one's peers, go now and read Stargirl. And then hand it to the child.
Love, Stargirl, which takes the form of a letter that Stargirl writes to the boyfriend who was insufficiently tolerant of her uniqueness, is not really a sequel that can be fully appreciated unless one has already read Stargirl. In her letter, Stargirl describes the process by which she rediscovers her joy in creatively reaching out to others.
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Solving the puzzles that Stargirl poses us is interesting and moving and so we recommend reading Love, Stargirl highly, but -- read Stargirl first. |
| Similar books |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Love, Stargirl |
Posted in Child-raising, Conceptual: age 12 and up, Culture, Female protagonist, Fiction, Gifted, Homeschool, Parenting gifted children, Reading level: age 8 and up | Comments Closed
Saturday, December 8th, 2007
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Posted in Conceptual: 8 and up, Culture, Death is a central theme, Dickensian, Fairy tales, Female protagonist, Fiction, Gifted, History, Reading level: age 8 and up | Comments Closed
Wednesday, November 14th, 2007
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| Author: | Susan Cooper |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Children 8 and up |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 8 and up |
| Genre: | fiction |
After reading The Dark Is Rising, I never would have imagined that Susan Cooper was capable of writing a book in which all characters are not either entirely good or entirely evil. And yet, here we meet the Boggart, an Old Thing, whose purpose in the world is to play tricks on people. He never intentionally harms anyone, but he almost always acts impulsively and many of his actions result in chaos at best.
Accidentally exiled from his castle in Scotland, the poor Boggart discovers peanut butter and that playing around with electricity and streetcars in modern-day Toronto can lead to dire (unintended) consequences.
Even the gifts the Boggart bestows on his hosts, ten-year old computer nerd Jessup and his twelve-year old sister, Emily, cause terrific problems.
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The Boggart is the story of several families -- some are families by blood, others by community -- separated by miles and in some cases oceans, and by history -- who come to know and cherish each other. Parents, children, actors, friends, and one magical creature draw on prodigious, if often hidden, talents and work together to understand each other as awesome (and often dangerous) supernatural events nearly destroy them.
The depictions of:
- The rocky but eventually trusting relationship between the siblings,
- The Gang of Five who are obsessed with writing a computer game,
- The dilemma of parents who are concerned that perhaps their children are possessed (most parents must believe that sometimes) and that their children's friends might not be the most upstanding citizens,
- The life of an old-fashioned gentleman who lives on a remote island in a remote community in Scotland,
- The hard work of a regional acting company, and
- The interesting character of the Boggart, who really does love his humans, even as he schemes to come up with more annoying tricks to play on them,
are truly delightful.
Note: The limitations of the personal computers that existed when this book was written play a significant part in the story. And for that reason, the fact that the author's descriptions of how computer operating systems work are a bit off deflated the story a little for me. If I were to make a movie of this book (and I think it would make a fantastic one), a slight change in a couple of the nouns would resolve this issue.
Highly recommended. |
| Similar books |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Boggart, The |
Posted in Animals, Child-raising, Computers in society, Conceptual: 8 and up, Culture, 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
Wednesday, October 10th, 2007
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| Author: | A. Manette Ansay |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | For grown-ups
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| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | For grown-ups
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| Genre: | fiction |
| Year of publication: | 1999 |
Romantic story with a spooky sub-plot, about the marriage day of a couple who know they are right for each other, despite the misgivings of the bride's family. If you want to validate someone who believes in love at first sight, then this is a book for them. |
One of those "can't sleep until I've finished reading it" books. Not terribly deep, but involving.
-- Emily Berk
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If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Midnight Champagne |
Posted in Child-raising, Conceptual: for grown ups, Culture, Female protagonist, Fiction, Reading level: Grown up | Comments Closed
