Archive for the ‘History’ Category
Monday, September 18th, 2006
| |
| Tell friends about this blog entry |
|
| Author: | Julia Alvarez |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | For grown-ups
|
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | For grown-ups
|
| Genre: | fiction, historical |
| Year of publication: | 1991 |
Sometimes, by escaping a dreadful danger, people find themselves safe, but not happy. The Garcia Girls is a touching reminder that the situation in which you meet people might not, on its surface, tell you much about who they are or what they've suffered. |
-- Emily Berk |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accent |
Posted in Conceptual: for grown ups, Fiction, History, Reading level: Grown up | Comments Closed
Saturday, August 12th, 2006
| |
| Tell friends about this blog entry |
|
| Author: | Annie Dillard |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Children 12 and up |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 12 and up |
| Genre: | non-fiction |
| Year of publication: | 1988 |
Annie Dillard aims her clear scientist's eyes and the evocative Voice of the Pilgrim At Tinker Creek at the lives of upper class families with children in Pittsburgh, PA in the fifties. She reveals a great deal about Pittsburgh; and just about nothing about herself. |
As long as one isn't determined to read this as an autobiography, it will not disappoint.
Dillard's reflections on the differences between her fascination with the French and Indian War versus her obsession with reading about World War II (one was history, the other was an open wound), about the good that Andrew Carnegie did for the people of Pittsburgh and the good that he could have done if he'd made different choices, about her father's aborted trip down the Mississippi, and, especially, about Dillard's growing awareness as she grew up that Pittsburgh high society was not the box she wanted to be in -- made me grateful to have read this book. |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: An American Childhood |
Posted in Biography, Child-raising, Conceptual: age 12 and up, Culture, Female protagonist, Gifted, History, Reading level: age 12 and up, Science | Comments Closed
Saturday, August 12th, 2006
| |
| Tell friends about this blog entry |
|
| Author: | James and Christopher Collier |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Children 8 and up |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 8 and up |
| Genre: | fiction |
| Year of publication: | 1997 |
A review by a 10 year old reader...
I liked With Every Drop of Blood, but it was sad. I never have understood how people thought they were better, and smarter, and deserved a better life than black people just because they looked different.
There were two main characters: Johnny and Cush. Johnny is a white kid whose dad got killed in the civil war. When his dad died he left Johnny, his mom and his two younger siblings Sam and Sarah alone. They needed food and money (and Johnny wanted to revenge his dad's death) so Johnny went teamstering food in a wagon for the rebel soldiers.
|
Cush is a black slave who ran away from his master to be a union soldier. He is about Johnny's age. He ends up capturing Johnny while he's on his teamstering mission and later on becoming his friend.
I think Johnny was a good character. But it took him a long time to realize that Cush was just as smart as him even though he was black. So none of his escape plans fooled Cush.
Even though it's sad, With Every Drop of Blood is an okay book.
Fizzy, age 10
|
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: With Every Drop of Blood |
Posted in Conceptual: 8 and up, Death is a central theme, Fiction, History, Reading level: age 8 and up | Comments Closed
Tuesday, August 8th, 2006
| |
| Tell friends about this blog entry |
|
| Author: | William Pene du Bois |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Children 8 and up |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 8 and up |
| Genre: | Science fiction |
| Year of publication: | 1947 |
Technologist/balloonist discovers an island on which a group of very special folks have isolated themselves.
Winner, 1948 Newbery Medal |
| Similar books |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Twenty-One Balloons, The |
Posted in Conceptual: 8 and up, Culture, Fiction, Gifted, History, Reading level: age 8 and up, Science Fiction | Comments Closed
Wednesday, August 2nd, 2006
| |
| Tell friends about this blog entry |
|
| Author: | A.S. Byatt |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | For grown-ups
|
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | For grown-ups
|
| Genre: | fiction |
| Year of publication: | 1990 |
Intricate and, yes, romantic, story of the work and loves of a motley community of poets and researchers, in this century and in the past all exploring pieces of a literary puzzle.
These nerdy people, all obsessed with doing the arcane thing that they do very well, figure out how to combine their efforts for the good of the group and themselves.
Not for children, but similar in theme, although vastly more ambitious than, Dragonfly. Highly recommended for gifted adults. |
Reading about how these gifted people connect intellectually and re-combine romantically, how they work together to solve the mysteries of the past and of their own hearts -- well, it's like wandering through a strange but beautiful garden.
In many discussions about academia, the intellectual pursuits, the single-minded pettiness of people who are deeply interested in -- let's face it -- minutia -- are ridiculed. But in Byatt's treatment -- not really a novel, but a combination of prose, poetry, excerpts from first-person narratives (pseudo-historical documents), we come to admire nearly every character in the book, obsessions, prejudices, intellectual prowess, and all.
Winner of the 1990 Booker Prize |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Possession: A Romance |
Posted in Biography, Conceptual: for grown ups, Culture, Fairy tales, Female protagonist, Fiction, Gifted, History, Reading level: Grown up | Comments Closed
Friday, July 7th, 2006
| |
| Tell friends about this blog entry |
|
| Author: | Michael Pollan |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Children 12 and up |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 12 and up |
| Genre: | non-fiction |
| Year of publication: | 2006 |
Elegant essays about the symbiotic relationship between certain plants and humans. The discussions about the way tulips and potatoes changed human history ought to change the way any reader thinks about gardens and commercial agriculture. |
Moral: Just because we think we're at the top of the food chain, that doesn't mean we can't be manipulated by things we believe we subjugate.
-- Emily |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World |
Posted in Conceptual: age 12 and up, Culture, History, Reading level: age 12 and up, Science | Comments Closed
Monday, July 3rd, 2006
| |
| Tell friends about this blog entry |
|
| Author: | Nancy Farmer |
| Reading Level (Conceptual): | Children 12 and up |
| Reading Level (Vocabulary): | Children 8 and up |
| Genre: | fiction |
| Year of publication: | 1996 |
1997 Newbery Honor book. First person account of how a gifted Mozambiquen girl orphan survives and forges families -- with baboons, scientists, and her own kin -- for herself during a harrowing trip through the South African wilderness. Nhamo, the girl, must use all that she knows -- which foods to eat, what happens when the seasons change; how to consult/appease her spirit guardians -- to survive on her own on her long trek.
A lovely, interesting, intense survival story. |
The first few chapters are stomach-churners, as the girl's aunt and other relatives consign her to the control of an evil witch-doctor. Similar to, but more graphic, than the treatment of Cinderella.
Subsequent chapters are fascinating and, while Nhamo does face danger at many junctures, it is thrilling to observe her making mostly good decisions and learning from her few, scary mistakes. |
If you found this review helpful and/or interesting, consider supporting our book habit: Buy this book!: Girl Named Disaster, A |
Posted in Animals, Conceptual: age 12 and up, Culture, Fairy tales, Female protagonist, Fiction, Gifted, History, Reading level: age 8 and up | Comments Closed
