The Rhyming Season by Edward Averett, 2005
Brenda, “Bren” to her friends, loves basketball. She loved her brother better, but her brother died in a single-car crash the year before, midseason his senior year, and now she’s the senior. Her senior year doesn’t go as expected. The town’s mill closes, leaving most of the town out of work; her dad and mom split; her coach takes another job; the new head coach wants to have the players recite poetry from the foul line; and her best friend, and best team player, wants to quit. When the ghost of her dead brother turns up, it’s mostly a comfort, even if she’s started fainting at the foul line and may be going crazy.
I enjoyed the parts of the story about the release that can come from a love of a sport, and the strength that comes through teamwork and friendship. Listing the events of the story, it seems a bit heavy on the unfortunate events, and the tempo is clipped and not extremely lyrical, even with the poetry thrown in. But I found that the book pulled me along enjoyably quickly.
Some memory-jogging tags: Grief, fiction. Basketball. Senior year. Parental separation. Poetry. Emily Dickenson. Death of a sibling. Brother. Small town. Washington state. Sawmill. Family feuds. Coach. Sexism. State championship. First romance. Trees.
MS Rating: OK. The character is a senior, but the writing level seems more suited for a young MS reader. Beehive Award 07-08 nominee.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Inkheart
Inkheart by Cornelia Funke, 2003
This was a reread. I read it first several years ago, but since the movie is coming out soon, I wanted to read it aloud to my kids. My husband was immediately captivated by the story and read it through in just a couple of days. I grew impatient with reading on only when we were all together, so I, too, finished it on my own.
Meggie lives with her dad, a book repairer, when a mysterious and ominous person shows up outside their home one night. Dustfinger talks about Capricorn wanting “it” and by the next morning, Meggie and her dad, “Silvertongue,” are off to hide at her great-aunt Elinor’s house. But this house full of books wasn’t clever enough to hide the desired book from Capricorn’s goons. Thus begins a lengthy adventure with Meggie being kidnapped, then escaping, then captured again, then learning she can read things out of books as well, then finding her mom, then reading a new ending to the book and destroying Capricorn and most of his men at the same time. The ending leaves an opening for the next book, Inkspell.
I liked it throughout, especially the premise of reading things out of books, but really liked it by the end.
Some memory-jogging tags: Magic. First published in Germany. Gangs. Fictional characters brought to life. Book repair. Authorship.
This was a reread. I read it first several years ago, but since the movie is coming out soon, I wanted to read it aloud to my kids. My husband was immediately captivated by the story and read it through in just a couple of days. I grew impatient with reading on only when we were all together, so I, too, finished it on my own.
Meggie lives with her dad, a book repairer, when a mysterious and ominous person shows up outside their home one night. Dustfinger talks about Capricorn wanting “it” and by the next morning, Meggie and her dad, “Silvertongue,” are off to hide at her great-aunt Elinor’s house. But this house full of books wasn’t clever enough to hide the desired book from Capricorn’s goons. Thus begins a lengthy adventure with Meggie being kidnapped, then escaping, then captured again, then learning she can read things out of books as well, then finding her mom, then reading a new ending to the book and destroying Capricorn and most of his men at the same time. The ending leaves an opening for the next book, Inkspell.
I liked it throughout, especially the premise of reading things out of books, but really liked it by the end.
Some memory-jogging tags: Magic. First published in Germany. Gangs. Fictional characters brought to life. Book repair. Authorship.
Monday, January 14, 2008
Angel Experiment (Maximum Ride), Field Guide (Spiderwick), Light of the Oracle, and Endymion Spring
The Angel Experiment (Maximum Ride, bk 1) by James Patterson, 2005
I started this one over the break, and then left it at my aunt’s house, so I didn’t finish the last bit until a few weeks later. Six winged children, mutated by scientists, have escaped the lab and are living in a remote mountain home. Led by 14-year-old girl Max, their location has been discovered and the Erasers (part human, part wolf) are on the hunt. The other winged mutants are called Fang (even stronger than the others), Iggy (blind and really good with explosives and locks), Nudge (can sense others’ presence from places they’ve been), the Gasman, and little Angel (6 years old who can persuade others of most anything). Very short chapters pulled me right along. It’s a fun read, lots of action, and the premise is really cool.
Some memory-jogging tags: DNA experimentation. Genetic engineering. Mutants. Winged humans. Mind reading. Outcasts. Orphans. Betrayal. Adventure story.
The Field Guide (The Spiderwick Chronicles, bk. 1) by Tony Di Terlizzi, 2003.
The Grace kids, boy twins Jared and Simon and their older sister Mallory, have just moved with their mom to their great-aunt’s large and fairly decrepit Victorian house in the country. Right away, they hear weird noises in the walls. Trying to track down the source, they find a decorated mini-room within the wall, a dumbwaiter that leads up to a room with no doors, and a poem that contains clues to a treasure hunt. While some creature (a boggart) plays tricks on the family (ties Mallory’s hair to the bed, trashes the kitchen), Jared follows the clues to discover an old book: Arthur Spiderwick’s Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You. Jared convinces the others to try to make it up to the boggart in order to change him back to a harmless mannikin.
The Light of the Oracle by Victoria Hanley, 2005
Set in a world similar to our middle-ages, Bryn, a stonecutter’s daughter, is found by the master priest, Renchald, and brought to the temple of the Oracle to study to become a priestess. But all is not well at the temple. In a setting where all are to suppose to be equal, and honesty the rule of the day, there are pecking orders, favorites, and secret plots of deceit and murder. Bryn’s powerful gift of prophecy and humble clothing brings her under the ridicule of Clea, another new handmaid and cousin to the queen. Even worse, her gifts make her a threat to the master priest himself as he plots with another to overthrow the queen’s daughter, the rightful heir to the throne. It is unclear at the beginning if the story is going to be historical fiction or fantasy, but the gifts developed and exercised at the temple are beyond our reality. I liked the story, and the friendship between Bryn and Kiran, a boy who can speak to the animals with his thoughts. The writing was fine, though there was nothing terribly moving about the story.
Some memory-jogging tags: Birds. Talking to animals. Friendship. Conceit. Priests and priestesses. Secret plots.
Endymion Spring by Matthew Skelton, 2006
This story flips between modern day Oxford and medieval Germany, the two time periods tied together by a book without words made of dragon skin parchment. Endymion works for Gutenberg, steals a magic book from Fust (aka. Faust, the man who sold his soul to the devil), and escapes to Oxford, hiding the book in the new college there. Drake has just moved to Oxford with his mom and younger (and annoyingly superior) sister Duck from the United States. He finds a blank book in the library, or it finds him, called Endymion Springs and is intriqued by it. If he looks closely enough, writing appears. But he is not the only one interested. I loved the premise, but I found the actual story a little slow. Also, it was a bit unclear to me what this magical dragon book was actually doing. However, I did hear from one student that he liked it.
Some memory-jogging tags: Fantasy. Gutenberg. Books and reading. Magic. Apprentices. Oxford. Family problems. Mystery and detective stories.
I started this one over the break, and then left it at my aunt’s house, so I didn’t finish the last bit until a few weeks later. Six winged children, mutated by scientists, have escaped the lab and are living in a remote mountain home. Led by 14-year-old girl Max, their location has been discovered and the Erasers (part human, part wolf) are on the hunt. The other winged mutants are called Fang (even stronger than the others), Iggy (blind and really good with explosives and locks), Nudge (can sense others’ presence from places they’ve been), the Gasman, and little Angel (6 years old who can persuade others of most anything). Very short chapters pulled me right along. It’s a fun read, lots of action, and the premise is really cool.
Some memory-jogging tags: DNA experimentation. Genetic engineering. Mutants. Winged humans. Mind reading. Outcasts. Orphans. Betrayal. Adventure story.
The Field Guide (The Spiderwick Chronicles, bk. 1) by Tony Di Terlizzi, 2003.
The Grace kids, boy twins Jared and Simon and their older sister Mallory, have just moved with their mom to their great-aunt’s large and fairly decrepit Victorian house in the country. Right away, they hear weird noises in the walls. Trying to track down the source, they find a decorated mini-room within the wall, a dumbwaiter that leads up to a room with no doors, and a poem that contains clues to a treasure hunt. While some creature (a boggart) plays tricks on the family (ties Mallory’s hair to the bed, trashes the kitchen), Jared follows the clues to discover an old book: Arthur Spiderwick’s Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You. Jared convinces the others to try to make it up to the boggart in order to change him back to a harmless mannikin.
The Light of the Oracle by Victoria Hanley, 2005
Set in a world similar to our middle-ages, Bryn, a stonecutter’s daughter, is found by the master priest, Renchald, and brought to the temple of the Oracle to study to become a priestess. But all is not well at the temple. In a setting where all are to suppose to be equal, and honesty the rule of the day, there are pecking orders, favorites, and secret plots of deceit and murder. Bryn’s powerful gift of prophecy and humble clothing brings her under the ridicule of Clea, another new handmaid and cousin to the queen. Even worse, her gifts make her a threat to the master priest himself as he plots with another to overthrow the queen’s daughter, the rightful heir to the throne. It is unclear at the beginning if the story is going to be historical fiction or fantasy, but the gifts developed and exercised at the temple are beyond our reality. I liked the story, and the friendship between Bryn and Kiran, a boy who can speak to the animals with his thoughts. The writing was fine, though there was nothing terribly moving about the story.
Some memory-jogging tags: Birds. Talking to animals. Friendship. Conceit. Priests and priestesses. Secret plots.
Endymion Spring by Matthew Skelton, 2006
This story flips between modern day Oxford and medieval Germany, the two time periods tied together by a book without words made of dragon skin parchment. Endymion works for Gutenberg, steals a magic book from Fust (aka. Faust, the man who sold his soul to the devil), and escapes to Oxford, hiding the book in the new college there. Drake has just moved to Oxford with his mom and younger (and annoyingly superior) sister Duck from the United States. He finds a blank book in the library, or it finds him, called Endymion Springs and is intriqued by it. If he looks closely enough, writing appears. But he is not the only one interested. I loved the premise, but I found the actual story a little slow. Also, it was a bit unclear to me what this magical dragon book was actually doing. However, I did hear from one student that he liked it.
Some memory-jogging tags: Fantasy. Gutenberg. Books and reading. Magic. Apprentices. Oxford. Family problems. Mystery and detective stories.
Thursday, January 3, 2008
The Last Dragon, Listening for Lions, and Life as We Knew It
The Last Dragon by Silvana De Mari, 2006 (English), 2004 (Italian).
The first half is the story of young orphaned elf named Yorsh-something who is helped along his way by two kindly humans who almost get hung for their trouble. The misunderstanding between the two species is clever, laugh-out-loud funny. The second half is the story of Yorsh tending a brooding (as in an egg), melancholy, grumpy, dying dragon, teaching the new hatchling to fly, and figuring out how he can fulfill his prophesy. Ultimately he abandons his conscientious following of the prophesy in order to follow the dreams and desires of his own heart, only to fulfill the prophesy anyway. Fun read.
Some memory-jogging tags: Dragons. Elves. Misunderstanding. Culture clash. Dictatorship. Oppression. Orphans.
MS Rating: Great.
Listening for Lions by Gloria Whelan, 2005.
This book reminded me of The Secret Garden until the last part. A young girl, Rachel, is orphaned when her parents (British, African missionaries, orphans, doctor and teacher) die of influenza. A racist, greedy couple living nearby, who recently lost their daughter, Valerie, to the same disease, convince Rachel to assume the identity of Valerie and visit her grandpa in England who is dying and won’t live long, but wants to see his granddaughter first. Lots of animal and African landscape metaphors. Lots of nature and bird descriptions. Ultimately Rachel confesses the truth, convinced she will be sent to the orphanage or worse - prison, but the grandfather has known the truth for a long time and wants to adopts her. He provides for her every need and they are happy together until he dies, a few years later. The book begins between the great wars but the ending part progresses quickly through her school years, and then through medical school. Rachel must fight against discrimination against women to pursue her dream - become a doctor and return to her parents’ mission and reopen the hospital there.
Some memory-jogging tags: Women’s rights. Greed. Family relationships. Honesty. Mistaken identity. Assumed identity. Doctors. African missions. Bird watching.
MS Rating: Great.
Life As We Knew It by Susan Pfeffer, 2006.
This is a totally absorbing story of what life might be like if we had to live through a catastrophic event that wiped out our food production and commerce systems practically overnight. A seemingly benign event of an asteroid hitting the moon visibly knocks the moon closer to the earth, and the consequences continue to ripple destruction for several months to follow. First, the coastal cities and populations around the world are drowned by huge and recurring tsumanis and tides. Communications go out. Cell phones, land lines, TV and radio stations work intermittently and then not at all. Same with electricity. Stores are quickly sold out and then ransacked. Automobile gas becomes a luxury. Heating oil runs out. School is ended early. And then it really gets bad - earthquakes and volcanoes fill the atmosphere with ash and the world is plunged into a premature winter, isolating Miranda and her family from even her closest neighbors. She records her family’s experiences in her journal in her 16th year. Her brother Jon is 13, her other brother Matt is home from college. Her dad and his new wife try to make a go of it by heading south, and they don’t hear from them again. Finally, epidemics sweep through a hungry and weakened population and brings even more death. The story gripped me from beginning to end.
Some memory-jogging tags: Catastrophes. Natural disasters. Starvation. Family relationships. Skating. Swimming. Survival story. Science fiction story. Diary format.
MS Rating: Great. For older students.
The first half is the story of young orphaned elf named Yorsh-something who is helped along his way by two kindly humans who almost get hung for their trouble. The misunderstanding between the two species is clever, laugh-out-loud funny. The second half is the story of Yorsh tending a brooding (as in an egg), melancholy, grumpy, dying dragon, teaching the new hatchling to fly, and figuring out how he can fulfill his prophesy. Ultimately he abandons his conscientious following of the prophesy in order to follow the dreams and desires of his own heart, only to fulfill the prophesy anyway. Fun read.
Some memory-jogging tags: Dragons. Elves. Misunderstanding. Culture clash. Dictatorship. Oppression. Orphans.
MS Rating: Great.
Listening for Lions by Gloria Whelan, 2005.
This book reminded me of The Secret Garden until the last part. A young girl, Rachel, is orphaned when her parents (British, African missionaries, orphans, doctor and teacher) die of influenza. A racist, greedy couple living nearby, who recently lost their daughter, Valerie, to the same disease, convince Rachel to assume the identity of Valerie and visit her grandpa in England who is dying and won’t live long, but wants to see his granddaughter first. Lots of animal and African landscape metaphors. Lots of nature and bird descriptions. Ultimately Rachel confesses the truth, convinced she will be sent to the orphanage or worse - prison, but the grandfather has known the truth for a long time and wants to adopts her. He provides for her every need and they are happy together until he dies, a few years later. The book begins between the great wars but the ending part progresses quickly through her school years, and then through medical school. Rachel must fight against discrimination against women to pursue her dream - become a doctor and return to her parents’ mission and reopen the hospital there.
Some memory-jogging tags: Women’s rights. Greed. Family relationships. Honesty. Mistaken identity. Assumed identity. Doctors. African missions. Bird watching.
MS Rating: Great.
Life As We Knew It by Susan Pfeffer, 2006.
This is a totally absorbing story of what life might be like if we had to live through a catastrophic event that wiped out our food production and commerce systems practically overnight. A seemingly benign event of an asteroid hitting the moon visibly knocks the moon closer to the earth, and the consequences continue to ripple destruction for several months to follow. First, the coastal cities and populations around the world are drowned by huge and recurring tsumanis and tides. Communications go out. Cell phones, land lines, TV and radio stations work intermittently and then not at all. Same with electricity. Stores are quickly sold out and then ransacked. Automobile gas becomes a luxury. Heating oil runs out. School is ended early. And then it really gets bad - earthquakes and volcanoes fill the atmosphere with ash and the world is plunged into a premature winter, isolating Miranda and her family from even her closest neighbors. She records her family’s experiences in her journal in her 16th year. Her brother Jon is 13, her other brother Matt is home from college. Her dad and his new wife try to make a go of it by heading south, and they don’t hear from them again. Finally, epidemics sweep through a hungry and weakened population and brings even more death. The story gripped me from beginning to end.
Some memory-jogging tags: Catastrophes. Natural disasters. Starvation. Family relationships. Skating. Swimming. Survival story. Science fiction story. Diary format.
MS Rating: Great. For older students.
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