Have I mentioned I really love Cherie Priest? People, are you paying attention. YOU MUST READ HER BOOKS. Clementine was a fabulous piece of steampunk – loosely related to Boneshaker (very loosely) – and it was fantastic. Belle Boyd rocked as a strong female lead. Croggin Hainey and his “fellas” (because let’s not use the word “boys”, ok?) rocked just as hard. I want a dirigible! I also want Dreadnaught – like right NOW.
I’m very tempted to write a long post about Mockingjay. But to do that, I’d have to post spoilers and I am very anti-spoiler. So… I will say that this was an excellent trilogy. Even when I was disappointed in Collins decisions – and I was, at least once, in each book though the biggest disappointment for me did take place in this one. Toward the end. It didn’t make me want to come here and rant about the ending, which is what I often do (particularly with YA fiction) – it just made me wish Collins had taken a few more chances with her characters. I just had moments where I wished she’d let her characters grow, just a little bit more – or a little bit differently. Katniss is an awesome female character but she could have been so much better in the last several chapters of Mockingjay.
Go read it (or read the series) – it’s excellent work, it really is.
Mockingjay – No Spoilers Read More »
I am a Pamie fan girl. A big Pamie fan girl. So it’s no surprise that I really loved Going in Circles. (Why Girls are Weird is still my favorite, though.) I loved that Charlotte made miniatures. I loved that she joined Roller Derby. I loved the whole darn thing. (though honestly, I could have done without the John Goodman narrative – but it did feel very Pamie so I get it.)
Life-Size Zoo is a fun children’s non-fiction book. Each animal image is displayed full sized which means kids get a really good idea of just how big a giraffe’s tongue really is. It’s really brilliant. The only problem is that because some animals are so large, they can take up to four full pages to display – which makes refolding the pages of the book difficult. My copy came from the library and the pages were all folded incorrectly. And at one point. I had a tough time figuring out just how the pages were intended to be folded. I mean I could put the pictures of the elephant together properly but to refold them back into the book, in a way that properly displays the animals before and after… well that was tough. This is a book that some kids will be frustrated by, for that very reason. It’s also a book that other children will love figuring out – tearing could be a problem for the frustrated child.
Otherwise – I loved it. And not just because there’s a cute photo of a prairie dog – though there is a cute photo of a prairie dog.
The problem with a well written novel about a classic author, particularly when the novel is based on facts, is that it makes you want to go back and re-read those old classics. A book like that might spur you to pick up a never-read book by the classic author. Romancing Miss Bronte caused this over and over again. Because not only did I feel compelled to read (and re-read) the works of Charlotte, I realized I’ve never read Agnes Gray… and I was tempted to dig into Elizabeth Gaskell, too. Thankfully, nothing in the story compelled me to re-read Thackeray (shudder – that’s worse than The Moonstone!)
I tried to fight off the urge, but in those last pages, as Charlotte lay dying, I grabbed the iPad and started downloading. Maybe just the act of downloading Agnes Gray and Shirley and Mary Barton will be enough. Maybe I’ll get off easy… unlike any of the Bronte sisters. Or maybe I should download Vanity Fair and read a few pages – that should knock some sense into me, right?
Romancing Miss Bronte Read More »
It’s disconcerting to read a novel written by “Rebecca James” – particularly a novel like Beautiful Malice. I’d like to keep our Rebecca James far, far away from this book because she’s already got such a thing for “being safe” – this book might just scare her over the edge. I could NOT put it down even though I wanted to put it down because I knew really bad stuff was going to happen – I just had to keep reading and reading and reading.
Now someone tell me – is this or is this NOT YA? When I first started hearing about it, before release, I heard it was YA. But, it’s not catalogued YA. It feels a little YA but then again NOT YA. I know a lot of YAs are going to read this thing and a lot of adults might not… What do you think?
Good grief John Green is brilliant. He writes such smart teenagers. I really like that. There’s nothing worse than reading YA and having a bunch of stupid stereotypical vapid teens. In Paper Towns, even the vapid teens were smart, or at least not stupid. If I’m not careful, I might find myself a bigger John Green fangirl than Sassymonkey.
In no particular order, here’s what I thought of five of the children’s non-fiction books from the Cybils shortlist:
Faith – nice picture book for those who want to introduce young children to a variety of religions and cultures. Beautiful photos of children participating in faith based activities. TW leaned over while I was reading it and said, “Is that a UU book?” – which made me laugh. It would certainly be UU approved.
Down, Down, Down – interesting but a wee bit boring. The pictures were nice enough but considering just how crazy some deep sea creatures really look, it was a bit of a let down.
I think I liked Moonshot more than any of my kids would have. Apollo 11 just doesn’t seem all that interesting to little kids today. It happened too long ago and a world without Velcro is just not something they can comprehend at the age that this book is geared to. And if we want the older child to learn about Apollo 11’s history, then we can do better than this – it’s just too young for the school aged child and too old for a toddler. It’s fun for you if you sit down and look closely at the artwork – and then compare the real photos with the drawings…
14 Cows for America is a super nice, feel good story about 9/11 without really talking about 9/11. I liked it. I liked the art. I liked the softly told story. I liked the feel good message. I just liked it.
Mermaid Queen was my favorite. As much as I have griped about attending synchronized swimming meets with RJ (and then Liz), I do have a fondness for water ballet and I’ve been a big Esther Williams fan all of my life. Annette Kellerman should be better known than she is. I really loved this book. I should buy it – for the girls, of course.
Cybils Shortlist: Five Children’s Non-Fiction Books Read More »
I’m a big fan of zombie books and was pretty pleased when my library had a table full of zombie books on display. Most I’d read, but a couple were new to me and looked good, so I grabbed them. Breathers is the BEST zombie book I’ve ever read. The BEST. Funny. Sad. Interesting. I didn’t want to put it down last night – laugh out loud funny and I almost cried in a couple of places at the end. Read it and be sure to tell me what you think. Zombies are people, too!
I’m finally starting to dig into the YA books from the Cybils shortlist. How to Say Goodbye in Robot was a nice book to relax with, after the long crazy week that is BlogHer Con (and its aftermath.) I expected to read it slowly but it was so darn good that I read it in just two sittings. Excellent book, an unhappy/happy ending. Just right.
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