The Not Even Once Club by Wendy Watson Nelson

The Not Even Once Club by Wendy Watson Nelson

The Not Even Once Club is a story about a boy, Tyler, who has moved to a new neighborhood. His primary class has a secret club house and is close-knit group that likes to play together. Tyler has to pass a test to be able to join the club—the test is turn down drinking an alcoholic drink on a pretend restaurant  menu. Tyler then signs a club contract that says he will always keep the word of wisdom, dress modestly, avoid pornography, and other bad habits. The boy is super happy about his new friends and super excited about his commitment to avoid doing any of these things Not Even Once!

On the one hand I think this is a pretty decent story. I think the idea of a secret club based on keeping the commandments is a fun idea for kids. Finding friends that have the same standards as you is a rewarding experience. The book also provides a safe way for parents and kids to have discussions about church standards and the choices we make. There is a discussion guide in the back for parents and kids to follow on topics like modesty and pornography, obedience, and repentance.

I did kind of have a problem with the fact that the primary teacher was the founder of the club and that she supplied the club house with snacks, candy, puzzles, games and crafts as long as the kids kept the promise of the contract. I didn’t like the message that the primary teacher would provide treats and other external rewards conditional on the children’s behavior. Because keeping the commandments shouldn’t be motivated by getting candy or games, keeping the commandments should be motivated by how living the gospel brings peace and happiness internally. Also, why should this primary teacher get to be judge if these kids deserve snacks or not? Is she going to keep track of everything they do? Also, what primary teacher can afford to do that? Seriously? 

I think this book does have a lot of potential to be a good catalyst for gospel discussions and conversations in families, but I’m not a fan of the teacher’s influence. I’d like the book much more if the kids had decorated and supplied the club on their own initiative out of a desire to do what the primary teacher taught them about. They could have all brought something special to share— an activity, snack or game that reflected their commitment to make choices different from the world and to create a safe haven for themselves and their friends.

I hope that my quibbling with story details doesn’t cause people to discount completely the potential for this story concept to be a positive influence. I don’t want to convey that idea at all. I think that with the guidance of parents this story concept is flexible enough to adapt to different situations and circumstances, and that it could be a tool to strengthen families. 

Find more information about the book here.

 

Picture Books: Candace Fleming part II

Clever Jack Takes the Cake

One day jack receives an invitation to visit the princess’s birthday party up at the castle. His mother tells him that he will not be able to go because they cannot afford a gift. Jack is disappointed but he comes up with a plan. With a little bit of creativity and work he manages to make the perfect cake for the princess. Cake in hand he sets out for the castle only to discover that the way there is more difficult that he imagined. First, crows eat the nuts on the cake, then a troll demands a toll to cross a bridge, and the candles are used in order to get through the dark, dark forest. Jack travels until finally he reaches the princess’s feet with nothing to offer but a brave adventure story of how he travel to see her. Delighted with the gift of a clever story the princess becomes Jack’s fast friend.

Once again the clever and polished story telling of Fleming delivers a delightful and entertaining tale about a boy poor boy who tries very hard to give his princess and nice birthday present.

Seven Hungry Babies

Momma Bird’s eggs hatch one morning and now she has seven hungry baby birds on her hands. She travels all over the neighborhood snatching things for them to eat. When she if finally done feeding all seven and settles into rest they are hungry again. All moms can sympathize with this harried momma bird. This is a cute little tale full of fun repetition and sounds.

Imogene’s Last Stand

Imogene Tripp is a unique character, who has had a passion for history from a very early age. In fact, her first words were “four score and seven years ago.” She takes over the historical society of her small town Liddleville in New Hampshire. After organizing, cleaning, and repairing the old building news comes down from the mayor that he is going to tear down the historical society in order to build a shoe factory.

Imogene will not stand for the destruction of her town’s history, but no one will listen to her protests. Not even when drops flyers from a bi-plane. Then she makes a marvelous discovery about the history of Liddlevill—George Washington stayed the night there once. Imogene notifies the town historian and asks for help, but it might be too late. Imogene is the only thing standing between the bulldozers outside and their town’s precious historical heritage.

Seriously! I found another picture book I just adore by Candace Fleming. This little tale could also be ranked under my most favorite picture books ever. Imogene is a hilarious, passionate, and precocious little character that you can’t help but root for. It is fun to watch her take on the whole town and fight for what she believes in.

Picture Books: Emily Gravitt

Orange Pear Apple Bear

This small and simple book has only five words. Yet the author manages to pair and re-pair them in interesting ways. The pictures illustrate the subtle and different pairings of these words. An orange bear is different from orange, bear. It is interesting to see how the author’s clever word play can affect the meaning of two simple words.

Spells

The story about a frog who finds a book and wishes to go on many adventures, but he can’t really go on adventures with a book. Until he realizes that the book is a spellbook. With a book a spells he can become many different things.

I thought this was a really interesting and innovative picture book. In the middle of the book the frog starts reading out spells and he turns into different animals. The book has been arranged so the top and bottom pages split in the middle so the top and bottom half of the frog can be changed into half-creatures. It is a book that is very fun to play and experiment around with.

Wolves

A bunny rabbit checks out a book out from the library about wolves. As he reads more and more about these dangerous creatures he grows more and more cautious, but if he continues to keep his nose in the book he may just end up being caught unawares.

This short little book is fun because it gives you the experience of checking out a library book about wolves. The illustrations are drawn in such away that the reader experiences the book about wolves just as the rabbit experiences it. Down to the little spreadsheet on front recording what dates the book has been checked out.

Emily Gavett has a fasinating website.

The Duchess of Whimsy by Randall de Seve

The Duchess of Whimsy by Randall de Seve

The Duchess of Whimsy has a reputation for being the life of the party. She loves extravagant parties, unusual attire, and exotic pets. Being a duchess unfortunately requires here to associate on occasion with those less interesting than herself. For example the Earl of Norm wears ordinary clothes, has a reasonable pet, and likes to talk about practical things.  The Duchess thinks that they don’t have anything in common, but the King admonishes her to be friends with their neighbors.

Then one evening The Duchess’ cook becomes ill. Without food the evening will be ruined so all her guests scramble to make the most unusual dinner that they can. That is except for the Earl of Norm, who decides to make a grilled cheese sandwich with milk.  The simplicity of the meal catches the Duchess’ eye, and he offers her a bite. The food is delicious and suddenly she and the Earl of Norm have something to talk about, and she discovers that he isn’t as bad as she thought. In fact, they find each other very interesting. It is possible that the Duchess misjudged the Earl of Norm and shall have to get to know him better.

This is a cute little love story with fantastic art and engaging story line. It is so fun to watch these two characters get to know each other a little better. 

Picture Books: Emma Dodd

Picture books by Emma Dodd

What pet to Get ?

Jack asks his mother for a pet, and she agrees to allow him to get one. At first he asks for an elephant. Sadly his mom does not think this is a good idea. So he must dream up another awesome pet to get. A lion!

So continues the fun until he and his mom find the perfect pet for their family.

I loved the pictures in this book as all the animals look so friendly and nice. Even if they would be really bad pets, and the illustrations of why they would be bad pets are really funny. This is a humorous and charming little read.

I don’t want a cool cat!

The little girl in this book describes just what kind of cat she wants.

I really like the rhythm of this picture book. The text feels modern and hip not like an old nursery rhyme. The style was refreshing and fun to read. Once again the pictures are charming and fun.

No matter What

This is the story of little elephant, who learns that his mother loves him no matter if he is happy or sad, good or bad, dirty or clean.

This book has cute little pictures of an elephant playing. The text is simple and beautiful and is full of opposite pairings. It is also short. It was a good one to read to the girler as her attention span is rapidly shortening as she realizes there is so much to do in the wide world.

Just like you

The text about a little bear that wants to grow up to be just like his mama/papa bear.

This little book is very similar to No matter what. The text is short and simple and the message is sweet. Has fun illustrations of bear and cub doing activities together.

Picture Books: Lois Ehlert

This week I picked out a bunch of books by Lois Ehlert. I was immediately attracted to her books on the shelves because of the bright and beautiful art. I picked out about five books of hers  that corresponded along a nature theme (I like nature)and read them to girler. Most of them weren't very successful. While the art in her books is beautiful and I love how it uses natural elements like leaves, bugs, and animals as inspiration, I felt like her stories were kind of boring. In addition her prose isn't very lyrical or rhythmic. I find that I prefer picture books that have a certain rhythm to them. They don't have to rhyme, but I enjoy that natural pause in the text that indicates it is time to turn the page. So below are my two favorite books I read of hers.

Waiting for Wings
Waiting for wings tells the story of a caterpillars transformation to a butterfly. It is very much like A Very Hungry Caterpillar, but is more detailed about the process of becoming a butterfly. It follows the life cycle of a Caterpillar from egg to butterfly, but continues the story until that butterfly lays its own eggs, completing the life cycle. The text in this picture book was one of her more poetical ones, and I enjoyed it a lot.

 The author usually includes some factual information about the nature topics contained in the story. There are two color pages at the end dedicated to this information. One page showed each type of butterfly that appeared in the book and labels them. The second page showed each type of flower that appeared in the book and labeled them. I would show these two pages to girler as she laid on her tummy and she would just stare at all the beautiful and interesting colors.

Nuts to You

Tells the story of an active squirrel that scampers around outside an apartment in the city. The narrator accidentally allows the squirrel in her window, and so has to lure the creature back outside with food. The story was simple and short. It was not very lyrical, but not long winded enough to get boring like several of her other books. I also very much enjoyed the nature artwork in this book.

The end of this book contained quite a bit of factual information about squirrels and their habitats and etc.

What I am reading to celebrate the Fourth!

Visit Author's Website

This is a humorous little read for those that love the founding fathers and early U.S. history.  The author tells a humorous little story from the childhood of the founders John Hancock, Paul Revere, Ben Franklin, George Washington, and Thomas Jefferson. The little anecdotes are based on folklore or extrapolated from the known character of those included in the book. The point of the book is to be more clever and funny that completely factual. To compensate the end of the book is a true or false test so that the reader can separate the truth from the false. I love this funny little book and enjoyed reading it this week so close to our nation's birthday.  '

Picture Books: Mem Fox

In where I talk about the sampling of picture books I got from the library this week.


Picture Books: Mem Fox

Where is the Green Sheep

This picture book was one of my favorites to read to Sera. One it has sheep and I like sheep. Two it has a nice rhythm when you read it, and so it is fun to read. Three, it moves at a quick pace and has interesting pictures. In the book we meet all kinds of sheep in couplet type pairs.

Here is the blue sheep

And here is the red sheep.

Here is the bath sheep

And here is the bed sheep.

Yet there is the eternal quest for the green sheep. Where is he? Well you have to read to the end to find out.

Hattie and the Fox

This little story is about Hattie the hen who lives on a farm with a bunch of other animals. One day she spots a nose coming out of the bushes. The nose is quickly joined by two little eyes. The animals react as a fox slowly inches out of the bushes and into the barn yard. Who will save the day and chase away the fox?

This was a fun little book to read. The animals repeat the same chorus over and over as each new body part of the fox appears out of the bushes. This was a fun little tale, but I didn’t really have a huge preference for it.

Hunwick’s Egg

I didn’t like this one so much as the others. Hunwick, a bandicoot, lives in a desert and on day he finds a smooth oval egg. Hunwick asks around, trying to figure out if anyone lost an egg or knows someone who lost an egg. No home is found for the egg so Hunwick takes the egg in and waits for it to hatch. He keeps waiting, and waiting, and waiting but it never hatches.

The twist ending is that the egg is a rock and not an egg. I was excited to see the egg hatch, and see who this new little egg person would be, so I was disappointed when my expectations were let down when the egg turned into a pretty rock at the end of the book.

Picture Books: Eric Carle

Picture Books: Eric Carle


I’ve been reading a lot of picture books to the baby girl recently, and not as many novels as I would like. So, I realized that I’m not really that qualified to review pictures books, but I wanted to keep a record of what I read to the little one so that if/when I decide to build a library of children’s books I’ll remember which ones that I thought were worth reading .



The Very Quiet Cricket

This is the story of a newly hatch cricket. He has a little bit of trouble making noise at first. Each time another bug greets him he tries to chirp back, but he can’t make any sound. At the end he meets a pretty little cricket and when he rubs his wings together to greet her he finally makes a sound.

I find this little story to be satisfying and cute. The last page has an electronic chirping sound to simulate the sound of our brave hero’s first chirp. This is one I could read to the girler often.

Will You be My Friend?

This is a unique book about a mouse looking for a friend. The book has no text, and the reader is supposed to make up the story as they go along. The book is intended for children just learning to read and learning how books work. As in they have to physically turn pages in order to find out what will happen next. Eric Carle uses the art work as cues to aid the child by putting the tail of the next animal in the story on the page before it appears. This also leads the child to predict what animal will appear next, which is reportedly an important reading skill.
The girler wasn’t developmentally ready enough for this one. At, you know, two months old. Though, part of the reason I record what I am reading is that perhaps a book like this can serve her better later. At least I know books like this exist.



The Very Hungry Caterpillar




This was a book given to me at my shower and I really love it. It tells the story of a newly hatched caterpillar, who is very hungry. Each day he eats more and more food until he is huge and goes into a cocoon and becomes a butterfly.




I have read this one over and over to the girler. She seems to like it a lot. I don’t know if it is because of the brightly colored pictures, and unique page sizes that makes it more interesting, or if she enjoys listening to me read the text. It is short and sweet so it is very easy to finish quickly, which is important in the short attention span of a newborn.

She doesn’t seem to like Goodnight Moon as well, though it is similar, and I wonder if it is because it has too little text. She doesn’t get to listen to the cadence of my voice as much and turning the pages in between short lines makes the sound choppy.
The Grouchy Ladybug
This book tells the story of a Grouchy Ladybug that refuses to share aphids with another ladybug. He challenges the Ladybug to fight, who accepts the challenge. In a fit of bravado he claims that he needs to fight a bigger opponent and runs off.
So, the book continues as the Ladybug goes off to find bigger and bigger opponents to fight. Very similar to the Hungry Caterpillar, but the pages are set up with the times of the clock instead of the days of the week. A lot longer than the Hungry Catapillar, and a bit more complex.

I didn’t like this one as much as the hungry caterpillar. The book ran a bit too long for me. I got bored of the same thing about half way through. Girler didn’t show a negative or positive preference for it either way.

Papa, Please get the moon for me

This was a cute little story, but was kind of annoying to read. The daughter requests her father to go and get the moon in the sky. Her father follows her request and gets a huge ladder, and climbs all the way up to the moon.
This book is unique in that is has a lot of pages that fold out to show huge pictures of papa’s ladder, his climb to the moon, and the moon. I found the fold out pages to be a little bit annoying to deal with, and I kept thinking about how easily they would tear if girler wasn’t a newborn and instead a toddler who handled books roughly.
What age are these types of books appropriate for? Mature enough not to tear a book to pieces, but immature enough to still enjoy a picture book. Does anyone out there have an answer?

The Limit by Kristen Landon

The Limit by Kirsten Landon
"An eighth grade girl was taken today . . .

With this first sentence, readers are immediately thrust into a fast-paced thriller that doesn’t let up for a moment. In a world not too far removed from our own, kids are being taken away to special workhouses if their families exceed the debt limit imposed by the government. Thirteen-year-old Matt briefly wonders if he might be next, but quickly dismisses the thought. After all, his parents are financially responsible, unlike the parents of those other kids. As long as his parents remain within their limit, the government will be satisfied and leave them alone. But all it takes is one fatal visit to the store to push Matt’s family over their limit–and to change his reality forever."
(summary from Author's website)

I was immediately intrigued by the concept of this novel. The idea of people coming and snatching children away to pay off their family’s debt when they went over the limit was a very compelling hook. The author does a very good job a conveying the conventions of society in her world and introducing the main character, Matt.

Matt is super smart, unusually smart and the author does a really good job at portraying how smart he is without making him seem unrealistic or unsympathetic. When Matt gets taken away from his family after they go over the limit during a trip to the grocery store I as a reader felt as desperate as he did for him to get back to his family.

At the workhouse it seems that some of the action in the book slows down a bit after Matt gets sorted onto his floor. The workhouses are actually designed to be quite humane and comfortable for the kids. They do work assignments, get paid, meet new friends, and some of them even forget a bit about getting back to their family. Sure, Matt misses his family at first, but then he sort of gets used to living the luxurious life on the “top floor.” It was kind of hard for me to keep reading the novel after the initial conflict of him being taken from his family weakens, but the author has a few twists and turns in the plot, and soon Matt is working with his friends to save children on the lower floors from the director’s illegal experiments.

While I thought The Limit was well-written novel with an interesting concept at the end I felt like the novel was lacking for me. I was expecting the book to have a few more action scenes, and a little less down time. All the loose ends of the plot were nicely tied off, but the ending wasn’t as big as I expected it. It becomes obvious that the corruption of the director was localized to Matt’s workhouse. That at the end the society in the book would continue to function as it always had before, and there would be no huge overall change. I suppose that took me off guard because I expected the plot to go in the character v.s government plot line that is so typical of this type of book these days.

Alas, my expectations for the book led for me to feel let down at the end of the novel, but it really is a decent little novel. I would recommend it to those who like the dystopian sci-fi genre as a quick, stand-alone read.

Kristen Landon's Website

The Diamond of Darkhold by Jeanne Duprau

Diamond of Darkhold by Jeanne DuPrau

“It's been several months since Lina and Doon escaped the dying city of Ember and, along with the rest of their people, joined the town of Sparks. Life above ground is hard. The winter storms have been fierce. Supplies are running low. Accidents and disease have taken a toll.

It's during this dark time that Doon finds an unusual book. Torn up and missing most of its pages, it alludes to a mysterious device, a piece of technology from before the Disaster. Doon is sure that the Builders of Ember meant for the citizens to find this device when they left the city. Together, he and Lina must go back to their old home and retrieve what was lost.”

So, I really loved The Diamond of Darkhold, not as much as I loved The City of Ember, or the People of Sparks, but it was really nice to revisit Doon and Lina, and go on another adventure with them. For me it was more similar to The City of Ember than the second book The People of Sparks. Once again Doon and Lina have to go on an adventure to discover another secret that the founders of Ember hid near the city.

That’s right you get to go back to the City of Ember, and I love how the story has that magical mixture of adventure and mystery. Of course a few things go wrong, but Doon and Lina use their resourcefulness and cleverness to survive their challenges, and that is why I love these two characters! They are so brave and smart. Oh, yeah, I remember the one thing that bugged me. The ending is so weird and random, like really random. It totally came out of nowhere. The ending doesn’t ruin the book for me because it seemed to be tacked on so randomly and strangely that I didn’t really consider it part story in the book. I think the author was just trying to put a hopeful end on the series or something. I don’t know. It was weird, though.

So, if you really enjoyed reading the City of Ember, and wish you could revisit The Diamond of Darkhold is an awesome read.

Visit Author Jeanne DuPrau's Website

Glossamer by Lois Lowry

Gossamer by Lois Lowry

“Where do dreams come from? What stealthy nighttime messengers are the guardians of our most deeply hidden hopes and our half-forgotten fears? Drawing on her rich imagination, two-time Newbery winner Lois Lowry confronts these questions and explores the conflicts between the gentle bits and pieces of the past that come to life in dream, and the darker horrors that find their form in nightmare. In this haunting novel that tiptoes between reality and imagination, two people—a lonely, sensitive woman and a damaged, angry boy—face their own histories and discover what they can be to one another. Their strength comes from a tiny, caring creature they will never see.”
(summary from jacket flap)

At first I was put off by the simplicity of this book. I thought it was going to be about the adventures of an enthusiastic but pesky dream fairy, but the story took an unexpected twist. This dream Fairy is put in charge of guarding and giving dreams to an old woman, who takes a trouble boy into her home. This adds a whole new dimension to the book, and makes it a story about healing from the past, finding safe places, and creating a happy family. How could something that started out with a deceptive simplicity weave into something profound? As you read you begin to love the characters and cheer them on in their journey. It is rewarding to watch them change into stronger, though not perfect, people.

Lois Lowry's website

The Ravenmaster's Secret by Elvira Woodruff

The Ravenmaster’s Secret by Elvira Woodruff

Forrest Harper’s father is Ravenmaster in the tower of London, and each day Forrest helps him to feed the birds, and guard the prisoners in the tower. Forrest often dreams of leaving the small confines of the tower grounds to go on adventures, to show the boys around him that he is brave, yet he remains stuck attending to his duties in the tower. Then news comes that Scottish rebels are going to be kept in the tower. Forrest is sure that guarding a huge Scottish warrior will show that he is brave, but it turns out that he guards a young girl his own age named Maddy. As he learns more about Maddy and her beautiful homeland they become fast friends. Then Forrest learns that Maddy is going to be executed. She claims that she is innocent of any wrong doing, and Forrest has to decide what is the right thing to do. Should he commit treason against the crown and help her escape, or let an innocent girl go to her death?

I picked this book up because I thought the setting really sounded cool, and besides that I really like Ravens. And what Ravens are more intriguing than those kept at the Tower of London? Though the Ravens in the Tower are more background characters than anything. Though Forrest does have a pet Raven that is sort of crucial to the plot in a few places. I sort of felt Forrest came to trust Maddy too easily, and didn’t relate to her as much. Forrest has a friend Rat that got sold to be a chimney sweep to a bad master, and I rooted for him more than I did Maddy, and I thought he was a cool character. So while I enjoyed this book it really wasn’t my favorite even though it was set in an interesting historical setting.

Author Elvira Woodruff's Website

Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling

The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling.

My dear husband gave this book to me for my Christmas present and I was so excited. I really love Harry Potter, and so wanted to read this little book. This little book contains five wizarding fairy tales that fit in with the Harry Potter universe—“The Wizard and the Hopping Pot,” “The Fountain of Fair Fortune,” “The Warlock’s Hairy Heart,” “Babbitty Rabbity and Her Cackling Stump,” and “The Tale of the Three Brothers.” The last of which features prominently in the plot of book seven. The stories are fun and charming to read all in themselves. Yet, to add some fun to the mix J.K. Rowling has included commentary written by Albus Dumbledore at the end of every story.

His comments range between thought provoking insights, hilarious observations, and historical information and background on the wizarding world. Harry Potter fans will finally be happy to learn the difference between an animagus and merely transfiguring oneself into an animal. The reason behind Lucius Malfoy’s stubborn persistence to remove Dumbledore from his headmaster position at Hogwarts is also revealed. As well as other interesting anecdotes on the wizarding world that Rowling has created. She even draws the pictures! They are pretty decent too; I’m impressed.

This is a fun little book to read, and I would recommend it to all Harry Potter fans. Though I’m sure some non-fans will enjoy it too. The profits from this book all go to a charity organization that helps abandoned European children find homes

Author's website:http://www.jkrowling.com//

Alcatraz Versus the Scrivener's Bones by Brandon Sanderson

Alcatraz Versus the Scrivener’s Bones by Brandon Sanderson
The life of Alcatraz Smerdy changed the day his grandfather walked into his life and handed him his inheritance, and told him his incredible ability to break things was actually a talent. He’s supposed to meet up with his grandfather, who is late (as usual—that’s his talent), only to be chased down by some Librarians. He is rescued by his old friends, and discovers his grandfather has gone on a quest to find Alcatraz’s father. So Alcatraz leads the crew on an adventure in Library of Alexandria, which was not destroyed, but moved underground. Now Alcatraz has to find his grandfather, and avoid the curators, who are ready and willing to take his soul if he checks out library materials.
I think I liked the sequel more than the first book, though, I do have to admit the cover made me feel embarrassed to read it in public. I mean just look at it, plus it reminds me of science fiction and the book isn’t science fiction at all. Alas. The first book gets a little annoying with the whole tangent notes, but I don’t know if they were just cooler in this book or if I was used to them, but I liked them better. I thought they were also trickier, and a bigger audience could appreciate them. Loved the humor and the action packed story line. Just don’t try to explain this one to your co-workers.

“What are you reading?”
“A story about a boy who has a talent for breaking things and has to defeat a cult of evil librarians that steal your soul.”
Weird looks.
“It’s a funny book.”
“Yeah, funny.”
Then they would look at the cover, and I would think, don’t look at the cover don’t look at the cover. I promise I’m an intelligent adult.

Moral of the story: this book is way better than the cover and my sad summary implies and you should try it out.

Sanderson's Website:http://www.brandonsanderson.com/

The Castle Corona by Sharon Creech

The Castle Corona by Sharon Creech

Pia, a peasant girl and Enzio, her peasant brother, dream of going to live in the Castle Corona across the river and atop a sloping hill. They imagine often that they will go and live there to make their existence with their strict and demanding master more tolerable. Then their lives are interrupted one day when they see the royal guard chasing a thief through the woods, and they discover the treasure that he drops. Uncertain of what to do with the bag they keep it and wonder over its contents.

Meanwhile the royal family lives a luxurious life in their castle, but they are not satisfied with what they have. The king desires naps, softer clothes, and the answers to what has been stolen for his kingdom by a mysterious thief. The Queen desires a place to find serenity, and her very own hermit, Gianni wishes for the words to be a poet, Vito desires adventures, Princess Fabrizia—the tantrum thrower—wants to do something interesting. This full cast of characters is brought together through the actions of a mysterious and elusive thief, but what has been “stolen” brings reveals a secret that very few expected.

I enjoyed this book greatly, partly because the layout is so cool! It looks sort of like an illuminated manuscript on the inside, with pretty curly cues, and pictures, and bold letters. I’ve always loved illuminated manuscripts half because they are awesomely beautiful, and half because they frequently contain Latin. So, I love the quaintness that the style brought to the tale, and made it more fun to read. The writing is wonderful and smooth, and the characters are drawn with wit and humor. The plot is kind of sketchy, and I sometimes was wondering where exactly the story was going, but it fits with the story’s style, though, I kind of wish that the princes and princess had a little more plot line action. I wanted a sequel on account of the fact I felt like their stories didn’t really finish. The book really was about the characters and their little problems, and intrigues. Overall the book really was fun, interesting, and humorous to read.

Sharon Creech is an Newberry awards winning author, and you can find more information about her here: http://www.sharoncreech.com/index.html

Coffin House by Pamela Carrington Reid

Coffin House by Pamela Carrington Reid.

Toni and her Father move to a new place in New Zealand, and she has to adjust to a new ward and make new friends. She has a hard time adjusting, but joins a basketball team and starts to make new friends. Then one night she sees that the house across the street has a light moving in the upper window. She learns that the house is haunted, and full of coffins that the local mortuary stores there. She tells her new friends Erana and Wiremu about what she saw, and later Wiremu confides a secret of his own. He thinks that he saw his dead grandfather wandering around the house. Wiremu and Toni decide to investigate the house and find out the secret behind his grandfather’s ghost.

This book was a so-so book for me. I didn’t particularly like it, but neither did I hate it. I liked the characters and thought they were fun. I liked that it was set in New Zealand, but would have liked to see a bit more culture, and description of the setting. There was a little bit, but not really enough to make the book stand out. I think the main reason why I didn’t like this mystery was because I knew the way it was supposed to end, and it ended exactly that way. The writing was good and I thought it was worth reading, but I’m glad I got it from the library and didn’t purchase it. I would have given it away to someone I thought would like to read it. So, decent read, but it didn’t really excite me. I’d be curious to ask a kid their opinion on it, since it is written for them that is whose opinion really counts.

Ben Franklin's Almanac by Candace Fleming

Ben Franklin’s Almanac: Being a True Account of the Good Gentleman’s Life by Candace Fleming

“But as I read Ben’s letters and essays, looked at pictures of his family, and uncovered Franklin stories and anecdotes, I began to see him differently. Innovative, vulgar, sometimes heroic, sometimes flawed, the incredibly complex Ban Franklin I discovered beguiled me, and I was no longer satisfied to tell his story in a ordinary way. I needed a form that would illuminate each of the many facets of his life—the vastness of his interests and accomplishments, and the deep commitment he made to each one….And like a scrapbook, the stories of Ben’s life has been centered around visuals—portraits, etchings, cartoons, and sketches. These images—most created long ago—will bring you face-to-face with history, and help you to connect with Ben the person, rather than just a name and dates. You will actually see Ben’s childhood home. You will see his electrical equipment, the faces of his family, the first pages of his most famous writings. And hopefully, like the individual pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, these snapshots will come together and a whole picture of Ben Franklin will emerge.” ~Candace Fleming

This middle grade non-fiction biography of Ben Franklin’s life includes multiple, cartoons, pictures, images that come directly from Franklin’s own life. The Biography is not organized in a chronological form, but by chapter theme. Some chapter topics are: “Boyhood Memories,” “A Family Album,” “Tokens of Well-Lived life,” and “Revolutionary Memorabilia.” This book totals 120 pages, and includes a Year-by-Year look at Ben’s life, a bibliography, picture sources, and recommendations for books and websites about Ben for Younger readers.
The instant I opened this book I absolutely adored it! I seriously love this book! Each of the pages is typeset to looks exactly like a pamphlet, broadside, newspaper or almanac from the colonial era, except the print is far more legible. Most of the images or pictures are from the time-period, something the Ben would have printed, or seen himself during his lifetime. They are all black and white, and add to the illusion that you are reading from an old book. The book has fun little anecdotes and stories about Ben’s life, and illustrates his humor, wit, and intelligence. I wonder if the book should be for middle grade readers, since Franklin’s prose is a product of his time and a bit hard to understand at times. Still each page has a layout that looks like old newspaper articles, complemented with pictures. These little articles are small and approachable to read, and I can see myself as a small student browsing through and reading the small articles and looking at the pictures. Then as I became an older student going through and reading some of the longer passages and learning the more complex background behind Franklin’s life and inventions. This truly is an innovative and versatile scrapbook of Ben’s life that will bring entertainment to readers of all ages. The history major in me applauds.

This book is a James Madison Honor Book, and had won multiple other awards. The author has published several other scrapbook looks into the life of American Heroes and also writes fiction. Check out her other work at her website: http://www.candacefleming.com/index.html

My Mom's a Mortician by Patricia Wiles

My Mom’s a Mortician by Patricia Wiles

This story is about a boy named Kevin Kirk. On the day that his mother finally finishes her schooling in mortuary science they pack up their things and move to Texas. What Kevin doesn’t realize is that his family is going to live in the top floor of a mortuary. At first, he is disgusted but eventually he gets used to helping his parents run the mortuary. They organize a funeral for a man name Cletus McCulley, whose family is LDS and look at death in a very interesting way. Kevin feels a strange connection to this man, and feels that he is watching over him. Kevin learns important lessons about life and death in this book, how to make friends in a new place, and how to confront bullies. As, he watches his family heal from a tragedy that happened years ago, which caused his parents to leave the LDS church.

This book is delightfully funny at times and yet also able to deal with some serious themes. I love how the author mixes humor and seriousness at the same time. It makes the story light, but also lets you know that the author has an important story to tell. A huge theme in the book is death and how it affects the living. There is also a theme of healing from death and familial love and support. It has supernatural elements in it because of the “guardian angle” role that Cletus McCulley plays in the book. I think the author dealt with that extremely well, making the connection a little creepy, but never like a ghost story. This was a delightful read, and I would recommend this book without reservation.

The book won the AML Award for Middle Grade Fiction for 2004, and you can visit the author website here:http://www.patriciawiles.com/

She also blogs here: http://latterdayauthors.blogspot.com/search/label/Patricia

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIHM by Robert C. O'Brien

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O’Brien

This is an older book, but I found it an old used bookstore and decided to pick it up. The story is about Mrs. Frisby, a mouse, and mother of four little mice children. They are getting ready to move because it is spring. They are living in the farmer’s field in a little buried cinder block, and soon the farmer will come through with his plow and dig up their house and plant the fields. If they do not move then their home will be destroyed and so will her family. Mrs. Frisby’s littlest boy, Timothy, gets sick with pneumonia and must stay inside where it is warm. If they move to a new summer home and spend those early, cold, summer nights outside, then her Timothy may never get well again, and may in fact die. Uncertain of what to do Mrs. Frisby looks for ways to save her Timothy, and turns to the rats to save her son. She discovers that these aren’t ordinary rats and they have a revolutionary plan.

I enjoyed reading this book, and had fun remembering the movie version that I watched as a child as a read through. Interestingly, the movie was scary and kind of dark, but the book is totally opposite in tone and mood. I liked the character of Mrs. Frisby and found that the story line behind the rats fascinated me. I thought it odd that a lot of chapters in a book are basically a rat telling the story of what happened to them, and why they are executing their plan, but it is a fascinating and wonderful tale to read about. I immediately wanted to read more about this world and the characters. It really does spark the imagination, and curiosity. So, I researched and found that O’Brien did not write a sequel, but his daughter wrote two. The first called Rasco and the Rats of NIHM, and the second R-T, Margaret and the Rats of NIHM. I am now curious to see if she can write well in her father’s world, and may have to check them out.

I’d recommend this endearing middle grade classic to all fantasy and animal lovers.

Here is a link to nice biography:http://bccb.lis.uiuc.edu/0204focus.html