Into the Wild by Sarah Beth Durst, 2007
Julie, daughter of Zel (as in Rapunzel), lives with the Wild under her bed, mostly harmless, turning shoes into seven-league boots and magic rings. Her grandma, Gothel, runs the Wishing Well Motel and guards the wishing well, the last remnant of the Wild not under Julie’s bed. The Wild sounds fun to her friend, Gillian, but Julie knows better. When the Wild is wished out from under the bed, begins to overtake Julie’s New England town, and has already recaptured her mom and grandma, Julie must try to rescue them. She is the only one who knows enough about the old fairytale stories, without being one of them, to make it through the Wild’s tricks and restore her life back to normal, even if that means having to put up again with mean schoolmate Kristen and embarrassing family friends, such as Cindy and Snow’s seven.
For me, the premise and summary work better than the actually reading of it. I couldn’t ever quite suspend disbelief. The idea of the Wild as a conscience entity seemed too abstract to fully engage me. And the writing is very episodic: too choppy for my tastes.
Some memory-jogging tags: Jolly green giant. Swan brothers. Hansel and Gretel. Princess and the pea. Poisoned apple. Snow’s seven. Puss-in-boots. Hair salon. Cindy is Cinderella. Goldie is Goldilocks. Mom is Rapunzel. Absent father. Wish the wish that is dearest to your heart.
MS Rating: Great.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Friday, February 8, 2008
Does My Head Look Big in This?; The Seeing Stone; and Lucinda's Secret
Does My Head Look Big in This? by Randa Abdel-Fattah, 2005
Amal, a high-schooler in Australia, decides over school break to start wearing the hijab full-time when she returns to school. The first part deals with the consequences of this decision and the reactions of people around her. The second half gets into her relationships with two sets of friends, one from her former Muslim school and the other from her current private prep school. Her current friends stick by her, though she has a rough time when her guy friends wants to kiss and she refuses. One of her Muslim friends comes from a very repressive, conservative family and is being constantly pressured to marry already. It is this second half that was most interesting to me. I think it captures how it must feel to be under the veil and confronting others’ reactions on a daily basis.
Some memory-jogging tags: Islam, fiction. Hijab, Islamic clothing. Friendship. Oppression. Stereotypes. Religious differences. Religious tolerance. Religion vs culture.
MS Rating: Great. It’s a good cross-cultural read.
The Seeing Stone and Lucinda’s Secret (Spiderwick Chronicles, bk 2 and bk 3) by Tony DiTerrlizzi, 2003
When Simon is looking for his missing cat, he is taken as well. Jared sees the goblins through an eyepiece that Thimbletack helps him find. When Thimbletack starts giving riddles as the price for the eyepiece, Jared takes it by force and he and Mallory go after Simon. They first find fairies who like to trick them and a troll who wants to eat them, but finally stumble upon the goblins around a camp fire eating something that looks a lot like a cat. Several cages are hanging from the trees, one containing Simon and another containing Hogsqueal, a goblin that uses baby teeth instead of animals’ and helps them escape. Jared tricks the goblins into following them toward the troll, who lets the children go and feasts on the goblins instead.
In the next book, the Grace children visit Aunt Lucinda who’s living in an asylum. Aunt Lucinda is the daughter of Arthur Spiderwick, the author of the field guide, and has been committed by her cousin, the Grace children’s grandmother, because of her refusal to eat and bad cuts down her arms. But the children know she is not crazy, just aware of and abused by the fairies and goblins who are after the field guide. They learn from her that the magical creatures want the book. Since Thimbletack has stolen the book, the children snoop around the library, looking for a clue of how to proceed, when they find a map with a long-ago meeting noted on it. They wonder if Arthur didn’t leave his family on purpose, but was somehow forced to because of this meeting. They follow the map and end up in a conference with elves, who indeed want the book and try to trap one of the boys as a ransom until they receive the book. Jared’s quick thinking saved them again, as he tricks the elves into swearing an oath to let the trapped boy go.
Books Two and Three of the Spiderwick Chronicles read just as fast and fun as the first.
MS Rating: Great. Good books for comic-book readers.
Amal, a high-schooler in Australia, decides over school break to start wearing the hijab full-time when she returns to school. The first part deals with the consequences of this decision and the reactions of people around her. The second half gets into her relationships with two sets of friends, one from her former Muslim school and the other from her current private prep school. Her current friends stick by her, though she has a rough time when her guy friends wants to kiss and she refuses. One of her Muslim friends comes from a very repressive, conservative family and is being constantly pressured to marry already. It is this second half that was most interesting to me. I think it captures how it must feel to be under the veil and confronting others’ reactions on a daily basis.
Some memory-jogging tags: Islam, fiction. Hijab, Islamic clothing. Friendship. Oppression. Stereotypes. Religious differences. Religious tolerance. Religion vs culture.
MS Rating: Great. It’s a good cross-cultural read.
The Seeing Stone and Lucinda’s Secret (Spiderwick Chronicles, bk 2 and bk 3) by Tony DiTerrlizzi, 2003
When Simon is looking for his missing cat, he is taken as well. Jared sees the goblins through an eyepiece that Thimbletack helps him find. When Thimbletack starts giving riddles as the price for the eyepiece, Jared takes it by force and he and Mallory go after Simon. They first find fairies who like to trick them and a troll who wants to eat them, but finally stumble upon the goblins around a camp fire eating something that looks a lot like a cat. Several cages are hanging from the trees, one containing Simon and another containing Hogsqueal, a goblin that uses baby teeth instead of animals’ and helps them escape. Jared tricks the goblins into following them toward the troll, who lets the children go and feasts on the goblins instead.
In the next book, the Grace children visit Aunt Lucinda who’s living in an asylum. Aunt Lucinda is the daughter of Arthur Spiderwick, the author of the field guide, and has been committed by her cousin, the Grace children’s grandmother, because of her refusal to eat and bad cuts down her arms. But the children know she is not crazy, just aware of and abused by the fairies and goblins who are after the field guide. They learn from her that the magical creatures want the book. Since Thimbletack has stolen the book, the children snoop around the library, looking for a clue of how to proceed, when they find a map with a long-ago meeting noted on it. They wonder if Arthur didn’t leave his family on purpose, but was somehow forced to because of this meeting. They follow the map and end up in a conference with elves, who indeed want the book and try to trap one of the boys as a ransom until they receive the book. Jared’s quick thinking saved them again, as he tricks the elves into swearing an oath to let the trapped boy go.
Books Two and Three of the Spiderwick Chronicles read just as fast and fun as the first.
MS Rating: Great. Good books for comic-book readers.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Rhyming Season
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.
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.
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.
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