Archive for the ‘Female protagonist’ Category
Monday, March 13th, 2006
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| Author: | Astrid Ericsson Lindgren |
| Illustrator: | Louis S. Glanzman |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Children 8 and up |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 8 and up |
| Genre: | fiction |
| Year of publication: | 1950 |
My daughter was hooked the moment Pippi started explaining about how everyone in Egypt walks backwards all the time. |
Can't believe that my daughter was 9 years old before I remembered to remind her to read Pippi Longstocking. And then, she saw the cover and almost refused. So, cover the cover with its broadly comic, ugly picture of Pippi and just start them reading. |
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If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Pippi Longstocking |
Posted in Conceptual: 8 and up, Culture, Female protagonist, Fiction, Gifted, Homeschool, Reading level: age 8 and up | Comments Closed
Monday, March 13th, 2006
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| Author: | Anita Diamant |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | For grown-ups
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| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | For grown-ups
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| Genre: | fiction, historical |
| Year of publication: | 1997 |
Riff on life of biblical woman, Dinah |
A passage in the book of Genesis refers to Dinah, the only daughter of Joseph. Dinah's brothers "avenged" her by killing her husband and all his men.
Diamant's novel gives voice to Dinah, who is granted only this one passage in the Bible. In so doing, Diamant muses on the way the roles of women changed as Abraham's descendants' allegiance to the single God, El, became stronger.
Contrasts in an interesting way with The King Must Die, which also describes a transition from a culture where women were acknowledged to possess some divinity to one in which male deities were ascendent.
-- Emily Berk |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Red Tent, The |
Posted in Conceptual: for grown ups, Female protagonist, Fiction, History, Reading level: Sophisticated reader | Comments Closed
Saturday, August 20th, 2005
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| Author: | Cynthia Voigt |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Children 12 and up |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 8 and up |
| Genre: | fiction |
| Year of publication: | 1988 |
A gloomy book about the effects of war and weather on real bodies and minds. And about how a child can come to feel responsible for the acts of man and nature. |
My ten year old found it compelling, but depressing. Without an understanding of the hideous weapons used during World War I, the descriptions of the injuries were difficult to understand. (Not that I'd have wanted them to be graphic.)
A child might take the moral of this scary fairy tale to be "Be very careful what you wish. Very careful." And, yes, I approve of that message as it's presented in Into the Woods. "Be careful the wish you make. Wishes come true. Not free."
And I do think it's good for all people to think through the full ramifications of their actions and their wishes. And through the main character, the book does help us to think about how to formulate effective, clear, less dangerous wishes.
But do we want our children to worry that their possibly less-than-perfect wishes will come true? |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Tree By Leaf |
Posted in Conceptual: age 12 and up, Culture, Death is a central theme, Female protagonist, Fiction, History, Reading level: age 8 and up | Comments Closed
Saturday, January 15th, 2005
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| Author: | Louise Erdrich |
| 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: | 2001 |
Woman is mistaken for a priest, and ends up adopting his identity and ministering to an Indian reservation in the early twentieth century. It's interesting to learn the background of some of the characters we met in Love Medicine. |
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If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Last Report on the Miracles at Little No Horse |
Posted in Conceptual: for grown ups, Culture, Dealing with bullies, Death is a central theme, Female protagonist, Fiction, Gifted, History, Reading level: Grown up | Comments Closed
Sunday, May 30th, 2004
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| Author: | Lousia May Alcott |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Sophisticated readers |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Sophisticated readers |
| Genre: | fiction, historical |
| Year of publication: | 1864 |
Four sisters grow up poor, but mostly, with dignity, during the Civil War. |
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If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Little Women |
Posted in Biography, Child-raising, Conceptual: age 12 and up, Culture, Death is a central theme, Dickensian, Female protagonist, Fiction, History, Parenting gifted children, Reading level: age 12 and up | Comments Closed
