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| Author: | John Irving |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | For grown-ups |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | For grown-ups |
| Genre: | fiction |
| Year of publication: | 1998 |
If you like John Irving, I think you'll find The Cider House Rules and Hotel New Hampshire much more interesting. | |
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| Author: | John Irving |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Sophisticated readers |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Sophisticated readers |
| Genre: | fiction, historical |
| Year of publication: | 1999 |
Complex, heavily plotted, John Irving disquisition on how official rules/laws and unwritten norms are unequally enforced based on gender, social status, and other factors. In other words, it's about the politics and the realities of Making Hard Choices. | |
Unlike Jane Eyre and David Copperfield, orphans in The Cider House Rules are routinely well cared for and frequently give in to temptation (for good causes, of course). Irving bravely compares himself to these two, and to Dickens, and bravely proclaims the utility and necessity of lying (aka creation of fiction) in the face of unfair rules. Once you finish reading The Cider House Rules, you will feel compelled to (re)read David Copperfield and Jane Eyre. | |
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| Author: | Richard Feynman |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Sophisticated readers |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 12 and up |
| Genre: | Non-fiction, autobiography |
| Year of publication: | 1985 |
First volume in inspiring autobiography of physicist (and all-around extremely intelligent and charming guy), Richard Feynman. | |
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\”Allegra Shapiro is me,\” says my daughter, who adores The Mozart Season. Granted, dear daughter, now 8, is not a 12-year old violin prodigy. But then few people are. In fact, there are actually few similarities between my daughter and Allegra. But the few there are are enough.
Both are intelligent, inquisitive, thoughtful, beloved children, children who are growing up in a world in which sometimes parents have to give their children away to save them. A world in which parents, no matter how loving, sometimes cannot save their children at all.
The Mozart Season is the story, told in the first person, of a young girl who comes to understand, deeply understand, the depths of good and evil in the world. This coming-of-age novel describes the process by which Allegra comes to cherish the eccentricities of her grandmother, (who is the daughter of a Holocaust survivor), her mother’s brilliant best friend (who lost her child and her equanimity in a dreadful accident), a street person (Mr. Trouble, who lost his brain to lead poisoning and his quality of life to an indifferent system), and Mozart’s Fourth Concerto.
My young daughter read The Mozart Season so slowly that my husband had to beg a special dispensation from our library. Allegra painstakingly describes the process by which she masters her violin piece. She collects challenging words, which my daughter wanted to master before she went on. Defining every single unfamiliar word in the book became an obsession. This mastery took time. \”I need to know what a delphinium LOOKS like NOW,\” my daughter cried. \”It’s a flower,\” I insisted. \”It’s time for bed. We can figure this out tomorrow.\”
The words of The Mozart Season flow smoothly and truly as if spoken by a precocious twelve-year old girl, but don’t let that deceive you. Parents who are reluctant to have their children think deeply about how evil in the world can destroy even the most ordinary family should steer clear of this one.
The virtues of The Mozart Season are those of The Giver or Ender’s Game, but the horrors it describes happened and do happen. Its matter of fact presentation adds to the power, and terror, of its message.
–Emily
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| Author: | Alexandre Dumas |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Children 12 and up |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 12 and up |
| Genre: | Fiction |
| Year of publication: | 1844 |
Gifted guy takes his devastating revenge. | |
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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 | |
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| Author: | Marianne Wiggins |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | For grown-ups |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | For grown-ups |
| Genre: | fiction |
| Year of publication: | 1999 |
Intense story about how ordinary people cope (or fail to cope) with witnessing horrors, both natural and man-made. -- Emily Berk | |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Almost Heaven | |
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| Branwen: | I have no idea what your powers might be, my son. I only know that God didn’t give them to you without expecting you to use them. … | |
| Emrys: | But I didn’t ask for powers! | |
| Branwen: | Nor did I. … But with every gift comes the risk that others may not understand it. … | |
| Emrys: | Don’t you sometimes wish … [t]hat you didn’t have your gifts? That you weren’t so different? … | |
| Branwen: | Of course. | |
| — T.A. Baron, The Lost Years of Merlin |
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| Author: | Paul Stewart |
| Illustrator: | Chris Riddell |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Children 8 and up |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 8 and up |
| Genre: | fiction |
| Year of publication: | 2004 |
The Edge Chronicles is an interesting series for advanced young readers. They are for-real chapter books set in a very odd post-apocalyptic time/place, but they include very interesting pen drawings on nearly every page. The only downside to them is that there is a great deal of violence and death throughout, including deaths of very prominent characters. | |
Two years ago, my daughter would not have finished even one of these. She's on the fourth of the series now. Each time she finishes one, she vows to not read the next, but after a few weeks pass, she's on to the next. | |
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| Author: | Pearl S. Buck |
| Illustrator: | Hokusai and Hiroshige |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Sophisticated readers |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 8 and up |
| Genre: | fiction |
| Year of publication: | 1947 |
Two Japanese boys survive a tidal wave. Living as we do near the coast, I was surprised that it took my ten year old more than a week to react to the recent devastating tsunamis. Last night, finally, she began to take the tsunamis very personally. "We live at the top of a high hill," she said. "So I'm not worried about what would happen if I were here and the tsunami hit. But, my school is much closer to sea level. What would we do if the tsunami hit when we were at school?" Run uphill, I told her. Run fast. What else should I have said? Today, I paid a visit to my daughter's school. I asked them whether they would be notified if a tsunami were detected. I asked what the procedures would be in case that sort of a warning is issued. I suggested that everyone at the school get together to discuss what the plan would be. | |
Tonight, I read The Big Wave all the way through in one sitting. It is only 80 pages long and it packs a punch. The lovely woodblock prints in the hardcover edition were selected by the author. Here are my favorite quotes in order. The Big Wave: every child over 10 living on a coast should read it. But although the words are simple,
the ideas are difficult to deal with.
-- Emily Berk | |
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