Children’s Literature

Books About Prairie Dogs

2010, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Non-Fiction /

The other night, I was looking for something light and fluffy to read and I came up empty. So I figured, what the hell, I’ll read these non-fiction prairie dog books that TW made me reserve at the library.

First – Prairie Dogs (The Complete Owners Handbook) made me stop halfway through and look to see if Sharon Vanderlip was on Twitter. She’s not and I want to know why. I would like to talk to her about some of the things she mentions are important for prairie dog owners to know. I’d also like to ask her some questions. Like has she ever spent any time with a prairie dog in her house. Ya know, stuff like that. I also am anxiously awaiting the updated version of this book because it’s only freaking available used – for more than $100. Do you know how many giant plastic balls I can buy with $100? I want the book but I need the stupid balls. (Which are not, by the way, mentioned in the book at all. They should be – along with the fact that you’ll have to buy new ones constantly.)

Next – The Prairie Dog: Sentinel of the Plains was awesome. I’d like to buy this one too, and I might because it won’t cost me four giant plastic prairie dog balls errr $100.  Great photos, nice bit of prairie dog history, and a well balanced look at the prairie dog “problem”. (I have an unbalanced opinion – stop killing the damn prairie dogs, people. They are a keystone species. We don’t kill our keystone species without serious consequences.)

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The Celestial Globe

2010, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Sci Fi and Fantasy, Young Adult /

The second book in the Kronos Chronicles wasn’t quite as good as the first. The Celestial Globe had all of our favorite characters but for most of the book they were split off from each other. Well, not exactly. It was Petra and Astrophil and Dee in England and Neel and Tomik together… in several places. Which was interesting, very interesting, but it took too long to bring the whole gang together. Or maybe it was that once they were all together, the story moved too quickly and we didn’t get to see the relationships of the three kids together.

It looks like the next book will remedy that, though…

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Dreamdark: Silksinger

1 Comment / 2010, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Cybil Challenge, Favorites, Sci Fi and Fantasy /

Dreamdark: Silksinger is the second in the Dreamdark series and I haven’t read the first. I hate it when that happens. But TW assured me that I didn’t need to read the first one… and she was right, though I probably would have found it easier to dig into this one had I read the first. I found the first few chapters a little slow and confusing because of the introduction of so many new to me characters and situations. Once I got through that initial slowness, I was hooked.

Now I have to go back and read the first one.

(Also loved the author’s note at the end – the evil character was named for a comment captcha form. That’s awesome! I like it when funky captchas turn into something good.)

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The Farwalker’s Quest

1 Comment / 2010, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Cybil Challenge, Favorites, Sci Fi and Fantasy /

The beginning of Farwalker’s Quest made me feel like I’d already read this story – 13 year old children preparing for their naming test, a treesinger, a healtouch – it just seemed familiar. Now that I’ve finished, I know I haven’t read it before but it still feels familiar.

But anyway – another good middle grade science fiction/fantasy book from the Cybils short list. I don’t think this is going to be the winner but it’s an excellent story with characters I liked a lot. The ending was particularly interesting. I expected the Farwalker (and her companions) to find what they were looking for, where they found it, and how they found it – but I didn’t quite expect what they found. I don’t know why I didn’t expect it, that’s what made sense – or it did once I read it. Heh.

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The Serial Garden

1 Comment / 2010, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Classics, Cybil Challenge, Favorites, short stories /

I’ve read a couple of Joan Aiken’s stories before and I’ve always been interested in reading more, thank goodness for The Serial Garden – a compilation of Aiken stories. Nice. Loads of fun. Except for The Serial Garden where I gasped at the ending (TW didn’t find this nearly as troubling as I did) or The Goblin Music where I couldn’t believe the goblin child … well I won’t spoil it for you.

Another great Cybil Middle Grade Fantasy/Science Fiction selection. I have no idea how a winner can be picked from this group. They’re just too bloody good.

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Where the Mountain Meets the Moon

2 Comments / 2010, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Cybil Challenge, Favorites, Sci Fi and Fantasy, Young Adult /

And here’s the problem with the Cybils – and with any awards really – books that don’t really “go together” are judged in the same category. How do you put Where the Mountain Meets the Moon in the same category with something like Farwalker or Dreamdark? 11 Birthdays is a completely different type of “fantasy  or science fiction” than Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, which is different from The Prince of Fenway Park, which is different than… it goes on.

Folk tales should not be up against science fiction.

Modern fantasy should not be up against folk tales.

Bah.

Can we just give every book in the Fantasy & Science Fiction (Middle Grade) a prize. They’ve all been excellent. Every single one of them.

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon felt familiar – like I’d read it before, or like I’ve read all of those Chinese folk tales before, in one book – or maybe like I know Minli. If you do read aloud with your kids, this would be a nice one – short chapters and within most of the chapters are stand alone tales that are being told within the story. So if you’ve really only got just two minutes to read, there are a lot of easy stopping points – and you can drag the book out for a long time, if you have kids who like that.

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The Prince of Fenway Park

1 Comment / 2010, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Cybil Challenge, Favorites, Sci Fi and Fantasy, Young Adult /

I didn’t expect to like The Prince of Fenway Park, much less love it. But – it rocked. I mean it really did.

I know a good bit about baseball but I’m not a fan. I only watch it when we go to dinner at Booby’s and I’m facing a TV that is playing a baseball game.  So really, why would a kids book about baseball appeal to me at all? Well… it was a fantasy. It had great characters, and I’m not just talking about the Hall of Famers (and those who should be in the Hall of Fame) but the cursed creatures who lived underneath Fenway Park – those characters were brilliantly written.

I was almost sorry to see the book end.

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11 Birthdays

1 Comment / 2010, Books in Bed, Children's Literature, Cybil Challenge, Favorites, Young Adult /
11 Birthdays http://www.amazon.com/11-Birthdays-Wendy-Mass/dp/0545052408/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF… was tons of fun. I loved it – but I’m a big fan of the movie Ground Hog Day, so it makes sense that I would love this book. Two kids relive their 11th birthday over and over again until they can fix something that went wrong.

It’s a lot of fun – easy to read – by the end, you’re frustrated for them, having to do it over and over again even after they think they’ve fixed what needed fixing.

Excellent Cybil shortlist book. Kids will have a lot of fun with it.

Sent from my iPad

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