It’s been a Holly Black weekend. I like those kinds of weekends.
I will admit to being nervous about White Cat. It isn’t about faeries. Even though I’ve read Black’s short stories, which weren’t all about faeries, I was still a little concerned that I might not like her non-faerie work as much – or enough. Wrong.
The curse work was really interesting. And as usual, her characters are fascinating – even the most minor of them.
Holly Black’s faeries are some of the best and Kith was an excellent follow up to Kin. I cannot wait to see what Rue does. I kind of hope she doesn’t save the human world. Wouldn’t that be awesome?
Oh one thing, was her father drawn differently in book 2 than in book 1? It felt like he was but I don’t have book 1 here to compare it with. Anyone out there own them both? Or have them book checked out of the library at the same time?
Kith: Good Neighbors Book 2 Read More »
I didn’t enjoy The Poet Prince as much as I did the first two books in the Magdalene series. I think it’s because I didn’t like any of the “modern day” characters enough – or maybe there weren’t as many entries about them so I didn’t really get into their dilemma? I mean we got all of what, two paragraphs, about Peter and Petra. Two paragraphs. Please. I’m all for telling us the stories from the past but you have to keep us connected to the current characters, too.
Damn Stephenie Meyer. The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner was good. Really good. I hate it when I don’t want to like something and then I do. I sure wish Eclipse had ended differently. I liked Bree. And Diego. And Fred.
If you’ve read the other Twilight books, you should read this one. You won’t be sorry.
I knocked out all of the shortlisted poetry books from the Cybils list last night:
African Acrostics
The Bill Martin Jr Big Book of Poetry
The Monsterologist
Red Sings from Treetops
The Tree that Time Built
I enjoyed The Monsterologist quite a bit. Quick, amusing, great illustrations. African Acrostics was excellent, a nice way to expose kids to a different kind of poetry. The best thing about the Bill Martin Jr Big Book of Poetry is it’s just another Bill Martin Jr book and they all kind of read the same to me. Red Sings from Treetops almost put me to sleep but I soldiered on to my favorite of the bunch…. The Tree that Time Built.
The Tree that Time Built comes with a CD, which I haven’t listened to yet – but I have high hopes for it. The book itself was more than I expected. Poems from great poets. (Langston Hughes, D.H. Lawrence, Mary Oliver, Christina Rossetti… I could go on, but you get the picture….) A brilliant mix of science, nature and poetry with excellent footnotes that are interesting and don’t feel like something I’d skip over because it’s just boring.
Cybils Children’s Poetry Read More »
I went on a Cybil’s binge last night. It’s easy when my binge comes from the children’s category. Quick, easy reads that are usually a lot of fun or pretty interesting. Last night, they were more interesting than fun.
The last two books from the Children’s Non-Fiction short list were The Frog Scientist and Marching For Freedom.
The Frog Scientist was interesting but I can’t see any of my kids reading this one for fun – or just because they were interested in frogs. It’s more like a resource for a paper about frogs or environmental issues. And as a resource for such a paper, it’s a great one. The photos are good. The description of the experiment taking place was excellent. Any kid who needs a research topic ought to consider the plight of the frog and the effects of pesticides on frogs. Fascinating, really. (And way to go Tyrone! A fellow South Carolinian! Nice to see an African American scientist with a really diverse group of research assistants. For that alone, this book ought to be handed to every kid to peruse.)
I wasn’t prepared to really enjoy Marching for Freedom. I’ve read a whole slew of books about African Americans and their fight for the vote, Rosa Parks, MLK, etc…. this one was completely different. OK not completely different but because it really focused on the children and teenagers who played a huge role in the fight for the right to vote, it was a different story. Selma and the march to Montgomery – completely different look when you’re thinking about just how many children CHOSE to march. That’s a story that just hasn’t been told before – and one that we should be telling our kids about. Kids can do great things and make huge contributions – and they should. It’s a scary story – 10 year olds and 12 year olds and 14 year olds being jailed and beaten, but it’s important. Those kids knew that this was something worth standing up for.
Cybil’s Children’s Non-Fiction (The Last Two) Read More »
Awhile back, Sassymonkey told me that everyone was going to be reading The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. I admit, I only half believed her. It is non-fiction, after all. And a story about science and an African American family – not really mainstream reading, unfortunately. I don’t know if Sassymonkey is right and everyone is reading it. I do know my mother started reading it a few weeks ago. And I do know that everyone SHOULD read this book.
It’s a story that pissed me the hell off.
Everyone should know Henrietta Lacks’ name and everyone should know what happened to her, to her cells, and to her family.
Did I mention this pisses me off? I’d like to see Skootz do a book about “The Hospital for the Negro Insane of Maryland” next. (Or maybe someone has already written this one and I just haven’t stumbled across it? I’m off to look.)
I love the “Just Returned” shelf of the library. I always find interesting things there. Things like a book with a hot pink cover called Hello Kitty Must Die. If you like Dexter, you’re going to like this book. You might even like this book more than you like Dexter. (I know, I’m scaring you now aren’t I?)
Try it. Trust me. I take my serial killer books very seriously.
Hello Kitty Must Die Read More »
Alt Ed is like The Breakfast Club but without Ally Sheedy. Or without any of the really cool characters that made up The Breakfast Club, now that I think about it. The Breakfast Club Lite? Errr. It wasn’t a bad book, it was a nice book. But it’s impossible to not compare it to the movie – and of course this nice little book will come up way short in those comparisons. If I hadn’t grown up with The Breakfast Club, I’d probably like Alt Ed a heck of a lot more than I did.
I’m a big fan of “Roadfood” and if I liked food in general just a little bit more… and also travel just a little bit more than that… I’d be envious of Jane and Michael Stern. What better job than to drive across the country, eating at diners and truck stops and hole in the wall restaurants? Thanks to Two for the Road, I can just convince TW to make some of these foods at home and live laugh vicariously through the Sterns’.