Archive for the ‘Dragons and/or mythological beasts’ Category
Thursday, February 21st, 2008
| |
| Tell friends about this blog entry |
|
| Author: | Diana Wynne Jones |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Children 12 and up |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 12 and up |
| Genre: | fiction |
| Year of publication: | 1998 |
"The cool thing about Diana Wynne Jones is that we've read many of her books, but her stories are all very different.
She doesn't repeat herself. This one goes from amazing to intense, maybe it's even a little too intense," says my 13 yr. old.
As you can tell, we here are huge fans of Diana Wynne Jones.
We admire the magical worlds she creates and her characters -- human, wizard, and fantastical -- captivate us.
We find the plots of her stories unpredictable but plausible, at least in the magical environments in which they
take place.
Dark Lord of Derkholm is about a planet that is used as a playground by a imperial power, in the person of one
"Mr. Chesney". The inhabitants are compelled to stage elaborate wargames, games in which they and the tourists who pay to
join them risk losing lives, families, and livelihoods. (Lest this be thought of as a metaphor for the American adventure in Iraq,
please note that this story was written back in 1998, before our Mr. Cheney lead us there.)
I have a friend whose brilliant son graduated from college and then promptly enlisted in the military. "Maybe I won't get sent
to Iraq," he told her. "Yeah, and why are they teaching you Arabic?" she asked him. There are young people who need to
truly understand how terrible war can be. And maybe we should try to communicate this to them before they are
old enough to sign on the dotted line of that enlistment contract.
But what about the kids who have already drunk the Kool-Aid? Those who know that war is not a game. Do they
need to know that mercenaries sometimes rape innocent children? That sometimes heroes die in battle?
That those who sponsor the wars often profit vastly from the carnage? Maybe not. But I think I'd have been happier if
my friend's son had thought about these things before he enlisted.
|
So, do we recommend Dark Lord of Denholm? Not for sensitive children. Because they will fall in love with the griffins
and the dragons and flying horses and annoying geese and Derk and his human children and then they will read about how
all these gorgeous characters suffer just because they live in a society that plays at war.
Do I think our children ought to read books like this one? Even though they can hardly bring themselves to read on?
Yes. In a country where our leaders feel comfortable cheerfully singing "Bomb, bomb, bomb Iran" to the melody of a Beach Boys song,
our children need to read about how a downtrodden society can pull itself together and say "No" to war. |
| Similar books |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Dark Lord of Derkholm |
Posted in Animals, Child-raising, Conceptual: age 12 and up, Dealing with bullies, Death is a central theme, Dragons and/or mythological beasts, Fairy tales, Female protagonist, Fiction, Gifted, History, Parenting gifted children, Reading level: age 12 and up, Science Fiction | Comments Closed
Wednesday, November 14th, 2007
| |
| Tell friends about this blog entry |
|
| 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.
|
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
Sunday, September 9th, 2007
| |
| Tell friends about this blog entry |
|
| Author: | Susan Cooper |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Children 8 and up |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 8 and up |
| Genre: | fiction |
| Year of publication: | 1999 |
"I'm more patient with books that are pretty much just pure plot than you are," my 12 yr. old tells me.
Perhaps that's why she liked The Dark Is Rising more than I did.
The contest in The Dark Is Rising is simply good vs. evil. No one who is evil at the beginning of the book recants. No one who is (truly) good goes bad. In addition to the other gifts Will Stanton, seventh son of a seventh son, inherits comes the ability to tell, almost upon meeting someone, whether they are with the Light or with the Dark.
|
This book is spooky and intense, but no real violence takes place.
A Newbery Honor Book. Note that this is the second book in the Dark Is Rising series. |
| Similar books |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Dark Is Rising, The |
Posted in Conceptual: 8 and up, Culture, Dragons and/or mythological beasts, Fairy tales, Fiction, Gifted, History, Reading level: age 8 and up, Science Fiction | Comments Closed
Monday, September 3rd, 2007
| |
| Tell friends about this blog entry |
Posted in Child-raising, Conceptual: age 12 and up, Culture, Dealing with bullies, Death is a central theme, Dickensian, 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
Sunday, August 26th, 2007
| |
| Tell friends about this blog entry |
|
| Author: | Diana Wynne Jones |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Children 8 and up |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 8 and up |
| Genre: | fiction |
| Year of publication: | 2003 |
Once, one of my daughters was interviewed for an article about gifted children. "Sheesh," she sighed when she got off the phone. "People don't realize that just because a person is smart, that doesn't mean that she knows everything. We still need to learn things and learn how to do things."
Diana Wynne Jones is one author who understands that many children have the potential to be great wizards, but they need guidance or they can go wrong. And although they are able to teach themselves many things, in order to reach their full potential, they often crave time with mentors.
In The Merlin Conspiracy, we meet three potentially great wizards. Roddy and Grundo are children of the royal court of Blest. Roddy is the daughter and granddaughter of wizards; her grandfather in particular is dauntingly illustrious. Grundo is the scion of a single (evil) mother. Roddy babies Grundo because of his learning disabilities; could it be that she coddles him too much? In another universe, Nick Mallory longs to learn from Romanov, a wizard who was hired to kill him, but who decided to let him go. But everything Nick does seems to harm Romanov rather than ingratiate him. The Merlin Conspiracy is the story of how all three get to know each other and find ways of getting educated about their worlds in an organized way. |
My 12 year old and I are huge fans of Diana Wynne Jones. Although we did not love this story as much as some of her others, we still recommend it highly.
Other books we've enjoyed by Diana Wynne Jones
-- Emily |
| Similar books |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Merlin Conspiracy, The |
Posted in Conceptual: 8 and up, Dragons and/or mythological beasts, Fairy tales, Female protagonist, Fiction, Gifted, Reading level: age 8 and up, Science Fiction | Comments Closed
Saturday, July 14th, 2007
| |
| Tell friends about this blog entry |
|
| Author: | Diana Wynne Jones |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Children 8 and up |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 8 and up |
| Genre: | fiction |
| Year of publication: | 2005 |
Either Diana Wynne Jones must have had a truly rocky relationship with her uncle, and found that her mother did not protect her from him, or else she's just got a thing against uncles. In any case, evil uncles are major drivers of plots in Jones' intriguing set of worlds, as Conrad Tesdinic, the 12 yr. old narrator of this book, learns. Conrad's uncle is every bit as evil in his own ways as Christopher Chant's (who becomes the Chrestomanci in Diana Wynne Jones' universe) was to him.
A 16 yr. old Christopher Chant and his future wife, Millie, play supporting roles in this, the eventful, but not frenetic story of how Conrad avoids the terrible fate his uncle attempts to foist upon him and instead finds himself a mentor. |
My now-11 year old and I really enjoy our glimpses into Diana Wynne Jones' multiple alternative universes, in which the outcomes of historical events led to the preeminence of technology in some universes and the preeminence of magic in others.
Although Conrad's Fate stands well on its own, we recommend that readers enter this interesting and complicated universe by reading at least A Charmed Life and then The Lives of Christopher Chant before reading this one. |
| Similar books |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Chronicles of Chrestomanci, Volume 6: Conrad's Fate |
Posted in Child-raising, Conceptual: 8 and up, 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
Wednesday, July 4th, 2007
| |
| Tell friends about this blog entry |
Posted in Animals, Child-raising, Conceptual: age 12 and up, Dealing with bullies, Dragons and/or mythological beasts, Fairy tales, Female protagonist, Fiction, Reading level: age 8 and up | Comments Closed
Friday, June 15th, 2007
| |
| Tell friends about this blog entry |
|
| Author: | George MacDonald |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Children 5 and up |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 5 and up |
| Genre: | fiction, fairy tale |
| Year of publication: | 1873 |
A parable that preaches unquestioning loyalty to an inherited monarchy and being hospitable to strangers. |
Like At the Back of the North Wind by the same author, this one is a book that fails to transcend its times.
I found it nearly impossible to stomach from early on. My 12 year old became outraged by the ending.
-- Emily Berk |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Princess and Curdie, The |
Posted in Conceptual: age 5 and up, Culture, Dragons and/or mythological beasts, Fairy tales, Fiction, History, Reading level: age 5 and up, Science Fiction | Comments Closed
Saturday, March 31st, 2007
| |
| Tell friends about this blog entry |
|
| Author: | Neil Gaiman |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | For grown-ups
|
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | For grown-ups
|
| Genre: | fiction |
| Year of publication: | 2005 |
Fairy tale for us grumps about two sons of Anansi, the Spider God. |
The upbeat moral: We all have all we need inside us. We just need to know that to be able to find it.
-- Emily Berk |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Anansi Boys, The |
Posted in Conceptual: for grown ups, Culture, Dealing with bullies, Dragons and/or mythological beasts, Fairy tales, Fiction, Gifted, Parenting gifted children, Reading level: Sophisticated reader | Comments Closed
Sunday, March 18th, 2007
| |
| Tell friends about this blog entry |
|
| Author: | Nancy Farmer |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Children 8 and up |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 8 and up |
| Genre: | fiction |
| Year of publication: | 1996 |
Gentle tale of a young giraffe who is stolen away from her home and marshals a multi-species group of friends to help her find her way home.
As in other Nancy Farmer stories, many of the bad guys in this tale are space aliens. |
An excellent choice for sensitive young readers. |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Warm Place, The |
Posted in Animals, Conceptual: 8 and up, Dragons and/or mythological beasts, Fairy tales, Female protagonist, Fiction, Gifted, Reading level: age 8 and up | Comments Closed
