Hello, I'm Richard Nimz, prospector of the written word and literary explorer extraordinaire. Well folks, this is it, my last module for class. I enjoyed being able to read through the books I did (except the ones I hated, although I'm glad I got the chance), and I'll be continuing this blog when I can, perhaps using the list as a guide for future selections, although the blog will continue in a modified format (whenever I finish a book I think could use more love). So, to wind everything down, here's the last, and biggest, module of all, the controversial section.
Contained within this part of the list are books that, for whatever reason, have been challenged or banned from library displays. These reasons may seem justified or they may not, that depends on the sensibilities of the individual. For my last selection, I have chosen a book where at least some of the reasons for challenging it are understandable, and might remain so for a few more years. My final book for class is Lois Lowry's Anastasia Krupnik.
Citation: Lowry, Lois (1979). Anastasia Krupnik. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Summary: Anastasia Krupnik is a pretty normal girl with a green journal containing a list of things she loves and another of things she hates. Over the course of several months, the two lists are populated with various items, such as her first crush, her impending little brother, and her grandmother. Several items change lists, some are dropped entirely, but through it all, Anastasia just tries to get by with the normal troubles that plague every ten-year-old.
Impressions: I can see why it's controversial: the word 'shit' is used in one part of the book, a reference to a song called 'One-Ball Reiley' is dropped in another, and Anastasia is allowed sips of alcohol throughout the book. Also, religion is discussed, death and Alzheimer's are featured as part of the plot, and Anastasia's crush is a different race from her. However, if one can look past all of that, they would see a book with humor, although several parts of it can be predicted in advance. The main character feels more like a real ten-year-old than an adult in a ten-year-old body, with her own errant opinions about the world and a youthful immaturity, although both are reigned in to believable measures by opinions that are closer to reality. To quote ayvalentine, the woman who runs Reads 4 Tweens: "It’s not a terribly exciting book—mostly a slice of life, covering a few major months in 10 year old Anastasia’s life where she learns that her parents are having a baby boy, she has her first major crush, and her grandmother who has Alzheimer’s passes away...I loved this book. It made me cry emotional tears several times at the end—this isn’t terribly hard to do, mind you, but most books don’t. I’m anxious for my daughter to read it, because I wonder if this is actually a better book for moms who were 10 year old girls around 1979. I wonder if she will think it’s boring and if she won’t be able to identify with Anastasia, even though I think they have a lot in common. I’ll update this once she’s read it. It’s suitable for ages 8 to 12, especially for kids dealing with things like the birth of a sibling, the death of a grandparent, or a first crush."
I had never heard of this book before this class, although I had passed it several times at the central library, mostly because I was looking for the Magic Tree House books. As such, I think that it would be great to put in a nostalgia display, along with other good books that have been forgotten. I think that, if children today were told about it, they might enjoy it as much as I have, or more.
Auxiliary sources:
ayvalentine (9 Mar. 2012). Reads 4 Tweens - Anastasia Krupnik. Reads 4 Tweens. Retrieved from: http://reads4tweens.com/anastasia-krupnik/
Friday, December 6, 2013
Module 14: Mirror Mirror
Hello, I'm Richard Nimz, prospector of the written word and literary explorer extraordinaire. Alright, coming into the home stretch now, now it's time for poetry. Yeah, the genre is often considered fluff bar a few classics, but, as with video games, it's unfair to dismiss the whole genre out of hand. Case in point: today's selection, which features a new kind of poem that should impress even those most convinced of poetry's uselessness. Ladies and gentlemen: Mirror Mirror, by Marilyn Singer.
Citation: Singer, Marilyn (2010). Mirror Mirror: a Book of Reversible Verse. New York: Dutton Children’s Books.
Summary: On the surface, this is just like any old book of fairy tale poetry with pretty illustrations. However, all of them are told in reversos, a set of two poems, both having the same lines, but one putting all those lines in reverse order. As a result, the same words tell two different sides of the story, Little Red Riding Hood's and the Big Bad Wolf's, Cinderella's and her Prince's.
Impressions: Clever idea. The art is your standard pastel painting (which is beautiful) and the subject matter is pretty standard for the age group, this lets the new style stand out. The poetry itself is fine on its own, but it's the fact that it can make two different related stories just by reading it backwards that really makes it stand out. To borrow from Everyday Reading: "What I particularly like about this is that it can appeal to younger children who just enjoy the pictures and the poems, while older children will really get a kick out of how clever it is to have the same poem read two ways and take on completely different meanings.
I did a pretty fun unit on poetry last year and I'm kicking myself for not having included this title (and style). What was I thinking?"
Yes, this book can be used as part of a poetry display, but I think that it can be used in a broader sense: as part of the Mental Olympics. Using the theory of multiple intelligences, a library can base a series of events around all of the different intelligences, and as part of training camp, this book can be used to help build up the verbal-linguistic competitors. But even just on its own, it's a wonderful refutation of the idea that poets are dumb people.
Auxiliary sources:
Author Unknown (22 Nov 2010). Everyday Reading: Mirror Mirror: A Book of Reversible Verse by Marilyn Singer and Josee Massee. Everyday Reading. Retrieved from http://www.everyday-reading.com/2010/11/mirror-mirror-book-of-reversible-verse.html
Citation: Singer, Marilyn (2010). Mirror Mirror: a Book of Reversible Verse. New York: Dutton Children’s Books.
Summary: On the surface, this is just like any old book of fairy tale poetry with pretty illustrations. However, all of them are told in reversos, a set of two poems, both having the same lines, but one putting all those lines in reverse order. As a result, the same words tell two different sides of the story, Little Red Riding Hood's and the Big Bad Wolf's, Cinderella's and her Prince's.
Impressions: Clever idea. The art is your standard pastel painting (which is beautiful) and the subject matter is pretty standard for the age group, this lets the new style stand out. The poetry itself is fine on its own, but it's the fact that it can make two different related stories just by reading it backwards that really makes it stand out. To borrow from Everyday Reading: "What I particularly like about this is that it can appeal to younger children who just enjoy the pictures and the poems, while older children will really get a kick out of how clever it is to have the same poem read two ways and take on completely different meanings.
I did a pretty fun unit on poetry last year and I'm kicking myself for not having included this title (and style). What was I thinking?"
Yes, this book can be used as part of a poetry display, but I think that it can be used in a broader sense: as part of the Mental Olympics. Using the theory of multiple intelligences, a library can base a series of events around all of the different intelligences, and as part of training camp, this book can be used to help build up the verbal-linguistic competitors. But even just on its own, it's a wonderful refutation of the idea that poets are dumb people.
Auxiliary sources:
Author Unknown (22 Nov 2010). Everyday Reading: Mirror Mirror: A Book of Reversible Verse by Marilyn Singer and Josee Massee. Everyday Reading. Retrieved from http://www.everyday-reading.com/2010/11/mirror-mirror-book-of-reversible-verse.html
Thursday, December 5, 2013
Module 13: The Truth About Stacey
Hello, I'm Richard Nimz, prospector of the written word and literary explorer extraordinaire. OK, by show of hands, who remembers The Baby-Sitters Club books? A series of books centered around the eponymous Baby-Sitters Club... OK, I've got nothing else. I never read them as a kid: blame my Y chromoso...well, maybe, maybe not. Anyways, when the graphic novels based on this book series showed up on the list of options, I decided that I'd take this opportunity to see what 'the other side' was reading. So therefore, this is my review of The Baby-Sitter Club #2: The Truth About Stacey, originally written by Ann M. Martin and adapted by Raina Telgemeier.
Citation: Telgemeier, Raina (2006). The Truth About Stacey. New York: Graphix.
Summary: The Baby-Sitter Club is in crisis. Due to the four girls' youth, they are getting passed over for jobs in favor of older children. Even worse, a competitor, the Baby-Sitter Agency, has sprouted up offering nothing but older children. Though the members of the Club are coming up with great new ways to compete, the number of calls they get per week soon falls through the floor. Meanwhile, Stacey, one of the girls in the club, has to deal with frantic parents trying to find 'the best' treatment for her diabetes, even if their daughter has it well in hand.
Impressions: On reflection, this was a pretty decent book. The characters and artwork are alright, you don't have to have read the first book to read this one, and the story involving Stacey's diabetes actually felt like something I'd be willing to share with other people, although you can tell the source was written in the eighties based on the fact that several kids in the book didn't know that diabetes wasn't contagious (seriously, I knew that when I was in fourth grade). A more pertinent complaint of mine involves the other plot, where it turns out that the Agency is staffed by terrible people who don't care at all about the kids they babysit. Yes, it makes a good point that children should be able to voice concerns about who watches them when their parents aren't home, but I think it also cuts the legs out from under the story by making it clear that this competitor isn't going to last 'til the end of the book. If you can overlook that, though, I'd say check this book out, even if you're a boy. I'm not the only one who thinks it was good, according to Dave Baxter of Broken Frontier:
"[T]he entertainment value of the book is off the charts. Recall: I am a boy. I am not prone to liking stories that involve preteen girls sitting in their bedrooms in small groups and talking about all the other preteen girls at their junior high school. Baby-sitting, as a job or even an experience, is not something I have any interest or personal investment in; in short, this story, on a surface level, connects with me not one iota. Yet it did. The characters are instantly likeable, the plot appealing and winsome. There have, in the history of my life, been only three girl-oriented properties that have been this perfectly suited to my very male-centered tastes (and thus marking them as possibly universal, gender-wise) – Anne of Green Gables, the My Little Pony animated movie, and now The Baby-Sitter’s Clubgraphic novels."
Come to think of it, this book actually has a myriad of uses. On the one hand, I could show this to parents, to encourage them to take their children into consideration whenever they make plans about their children. On the other, I could use this as part of a competition to try and break down the gender barrier by making it part of the reading list for boys, saying that whoever can read the most 'girl books' (including this one), will win a prize of some sort. However I use it, I don't doubt that whoever I show this book to will appreciate it.
Auxiliary sources:
Baxter, Dave (20 Nov, 2006). The Baby-Sitters Club: The Truth About Stacey GN - Broken Frontier - Comic Book and Graphic Novel News & Community | Reviews. Broken Frontier. Retrieved from: http://old.brokenfrontier.com/reviews/p/detail/the-baby-sitters-club-the-truth-about-stacey-gn
Citation: Telgemeier, Raina (2006). The Truth About Stacey. New York: Graphix.
Summary: The Baby-Sitter Club is in crisis. Due to the four girls' youth, they are getting passed over for jobs in favor of older children. Even worse, a competitor, the Baby-Sitter Agency, has sprouted up offering nothing but older children. Though the members of the Club are coming up with great new ways to compete, the number of calls they get per week soon falls through the floor. Meanwhile, Stacey, one of the girls in the club, has to deal with frantic parents trying to find 'the best' treatment for her diabetes, even if their daughter has it well in hand.
Impressions: On reflection, this was a pretty decent book. The characters and artwork are alright, you don't have to have read the first book to read this one, and the story involving Stacey's diabetes actually felt like something I'd be willing to share with other people, although you can tell the source was written in the eighties based on the fact that several kids in the book didn't know that diabetes wasn't contagious (seriously, I knew that when I was in fourth grade). A more pertinent complaint of mine involves the other plot, where it turns out that the Agency is staffed by terrible people who don't care at all about the kids they babysit. Yes, it makes a good point that children should be able to voice concerns about who watches them when their parents aren't home, but I think it also cuts the legs out from under the story by making it clear that this competitor isn't going to last 'til the end of the book. If you can overlook that, though, I'd say check this book out, even if you're a boy. I'm not the only one who thinks it was good, according to Dave Baxter of Broken Frontier:
"[T]he entertainment value of the book is off the charts. Recall: I am a boy. I am not prone to liking stories that involve preteen girls sitting in their bedrooms in small groups and talking about all the other preteen girls at their junior high school. Baby-sitting, as a job or even an experience, is not something I have any interest or personal investment in; in short, this story, on a surface level, connects with me not one iota. Yet it did. The characters are instantly likeable, the plot appealing and winsome. There have, in the history of my life, been only three girl-oriented properties that have been this perfectly suited to my very male-centered tastes (and thus marking them as possibly universal, gender-wise) – Anne of Green Gables, the My Little Pony animated movie, and now The Baby-Sitter’s Clubgraphic novels."
Come to think of it, this book actually has a myriad of uses. On the one hand, I could show this to parents, to encourage them to take their children into consideration whenever they make plans about their children. On the other, I could use this as part of a competition to try and break down the gender barrier by making it part of the reading list for boys, saying that whoever can read the most 'girl books' (including this one), will win a prize of some sort. However I use it, I don't doubt that whoever I show this book to will appreciate it.
Auxiliary sources:
Baxter, Dave (20 Nov, 2006). The Baby-Sitters Club: The Truth About Stacey GN - Broken Frontier - Comic Book and Graphic Novel News & Community | Reviews. Broken Frontier. Retrieved from: http://old.brokenfrontier.com/reviews/p/detail/the-baby-sitters-club-the-truth-about-stacey-gn
Module 12: Temple Grandin: How the Girl Who Loved Cows Embraced Autism and Changed the World
...wow, that was a mouthful. Hello, I'm Richard Nimz, prospector of the written word and literary explorer extraordinaire. Now it's time for a biography, and I was so glad to see that a person I so admire was on the list of options. Like me, Temple Grandin has a form of autism, and partially in spite of it and partially because of it, she managed to be one of the people who shook the world, which is completely unlike me...although I'm trying. Therefore, this blog's book is Sy Montgomery's biography of Temple Grandin.
Citation: Montgomery, Sy (2012). Temple Grandin: How the Girl who Loved Cows Embraced Autism and Changed the World. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children.
Summary: When Temple Grandin was born, she acted so strangely that her father wanted to put her in a mental institution. Her mother, however, sought a second opinion. Thanks to her mother's determination, Temple managed to overcome the worst parts of her autism and go on to gain a doctorate degree in animal science. From there, she managed to revolutionize kind treatment of animals in the meat industry due to the best parts of her autism.
Impressions: I'll admit I'm a little biased here, but I loved reading this book. Seeing some of the parts of autism Dr. Grandin describes gave me insight into my own Asperger's syndrome. I had no idea that my thinking in pictures and tendency to 'scramble' words I hear were parts of autism. It was also nice hearing about the other parts of Grandin's life, such as her college prank involving a UFO. I'd consider this a good book to give to people curious about how the shallow end of the autistic spectrum works, or perhaps as part of a promotion of the neurodiversity movement. It has a fair bit of mass appeal as well. According to Pamela Kramer of Examiner.com: "The book is a fascinating one and an important one for many reasons. It’s a book about being different -- and how that’s okay. It’s a book about standing up for what you believe in. It’s a book about advocating for yourself -- whether at school or in the workplace." Even if that doesn't interest you, it's still a good biography and well worth your time.
Auxiliary sources:
Citation: Montgomery, Sy (2012). Temple Grandin: How the Girl who Loved Cows Embraced Autism and Changed the World. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children.
Summary: When Temple Grandin was born, she acted so strangely that her father wanted to put her in a mental institution. Her mother, however, sought a second opinion. Thanks to her mother's determination, Temple managed to overcome the worst parts of her autism and go on to gain a doctorate degree in animal science. From there, she managed to revolutionize kind treatment of animals in the meat industry due to the best parts of her autism.
Impressions: I'll admit I'm a little biased here, but I loved reading this book. Seeing some of the parts of autism Dr. Grandin describes gave me insight into my own Asperger's syndrome. I had no idea that my thinking in pictures and tendency to 'scramble' words I hear were parts of autism. It was also nice hearing about the other parts of Grandin's life, such as her college prank involving a UFO. I'd consider this a good book to give to people curious about how the shallow end of the autistic spectrum works, or perhaps as part of a promotion of the neurodiversity movement. It has a fair bit of mass appeal as well. According to Pamela Kramer of Examiner.com: "The book is a fascinating one and an important one for many reasons. It’s a book about being different -- and how that’s okay. It’s a book about standing up for what you believe in. It’s a book about advocating for yourself -- whether at school or in the workplace." Even if that doesn't interest you, it's still a good biography and well worth your time.
Auxiliary sources:
Kramer, Pamela (6 Apr, 2012). ‘Temple
Grandin’ by Sy Montgomery is a fantastic middle grade/middle school book -
National Book | Examiner.com. Examiner.com. Retrieved from http://www.examiner.com/review/temple-grandin-by-sy-montgomery-is-a-fantastic-middle-grade-middle-school-book
Wednesday, December 4, 2013
Module 11: Dogs on Duty
Hello, I'm Richard Nimz, prospector of the written word and literary explorer extraordinaire. Now I shift my gaze to non-fiction, and a book I was really glad to find. Its topic is a little off the beaten path, but it's an interesting one all the same, and I'm glad someone wrote about it. The book is Dorothy Hinshaw Patent's Dogs on Duty.
Citation: Patent, Dorothy Hinshaw (2012). Dogs on Duty: Soldiers' Best Friends on the Battlefield and Beyond. New York: Walker & Co.
Summary: As the title said, this book talks about dogs in the American military. That includes history (from World War II) as well as what dogs are being used for now, how the dogs are trained, and what happens after they leave the service.
Impressions: Good book. It's thorough, but still doesn't go into so much detail that the subject matter becomes boring. The photographs used were appealing and arranged in an appealing manner. Especially good were the stories included, including stories about how dogs help soldiers with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder readjust to life outside of the service and how men and women do the same for them. In the words of Military Press: "This thoroughly-researched book features exclusive images from Lackland Air Force Base where the greatest number of active military working dogs are raised and trained. These dogs and their handlers are an inspiration for all of us and their stories will warm your heart, no matter how old you are." I think that this book would be perfect for Veteran's Day or Animal Appreciation Day, as a reminder of what dogs do for us and what we do for them.
Auxiliary Sources:
Author unknown (26 Nov, 2012). Dogs On Duty | Military Press. Military Press. Retrieved from http://www.militarypress.com/dogs-on-duty/
Citation: Patent, Dorothy Hinshaw (2012). Dogs on Duty: Soldiers' Best Friends on the Battlefield and Beyond. New York: Walker & Co.
Summary: As the title said, this book talks about dogs in the American military. That includes history (from World War II) as well as what dogs are being used for now, how the dogs are trained, and what happens after they leave the service.
Impressions: Good book. It's thorough, but still doesn't go into so much detail that the subject matter becomes boring. The photographs used were appealing and arranged in an appealing manner. Especially good were the stories included, including stories about how dogs help soldiers with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder readjust to life outside of the service and how men and women do the same for them. In the words of Military Press: "This thoroughly-researched book features exclusive images from Lackland Air Force Base where the greatest number of active military working dogs are raised and trained. These dogs and their handlers are an inspiration for all of us and their stories will warm your heart, no matter how old you are." I think that this book would be perfect for Veteran's Day or Animal Appreciation Day, as a reminder of what dogs do for us and what we do for them.
Auxiliary Sources:
Author unknown (26 Nov, 2012). Dogs On Duty | Military Press. Military Press. Retrieved from http://www.militarypress.com/dogs-on-duty/
Module 10: A Long Way From Chicago
Hello, I'm Richard Nimz, prospector of the written word and literary explorer extraordinaire. I love this book. It's a piece of historical fiction set in the Great Depression, but described within are the sort of events that could've happened ten minutes ago. Best of all, I think it's one of the funniest things I've read all year. This book is A Long Way From Chicago by Richard Peck, Newbery Honoree of 1999.
Citation: Peck, Richard (1998). A Long Way From Chicago: a Novel in Stories. New York: Dial Books for Young Readers.
Summary: Joey and Mary Alice Dowdel are two children from Great Depression era Chicago. One summer, they are sent to live with their grumpy grandmother in rural Illinois for a few weeks. During that time, a homeless man dies and a reporter asking for details gets directed to Grandma Dowdel, who then spins a yarn that this man was a decorated war veteran, who lost his home after selling everything to help the poor. During the wake that Grandma Dowdel sets up, the coffin and the man inside move and Grandma shoots it with her shotgun to supposedly prevent the dead man from rising again. This book contains the stories of that summer and the seven equally impressive summers after, as told by the boy who learned to respect his sharp-tongued, guileful, and secretly caring grandmother.
Impressions: I loved this book. Grandma Dowdel is easily one of the cleverest people I've ever seen in literature. This grumpy but kindly old woman, who has the brains to do anything she sets her mind to, regardless of the toes she steps on, truly demonstrates the phrase "crazy like a fox". These eight stories are really about her exploits, although the children don't get in the way at all, and in fact become two fantastic accessories to all kinds of acts, from stealing the sheriff's boat to feed the homeless to helping lovers elope by dressing up as 'the Phantom Breakman'. As Publisher's Weekly put it: "Like Grandma Dowdel's prize-winning gooseberry pie, this satire on small-town etiquette is fresh, warm and anything but ordinary." This is the perfect book to introduce people to short stories, to show what rural life was like in the years of the Great Depression, or to honor the Newbery honorees (this book lost the Newbery Medal to Louis Sachar's Holes). Or just to recommend for the heck of it, that works too.
Auxiliary Sources:
Author unknown (31 Aug, 1998). Children's Book Review: A Long Way from Chicago: A Novel in Stories by Richard Peck, Author Dial Books $16.99 (148p) ISBN 978-0-8037-2290-3. Publishers Weekly, September 1998. Retrieved from http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-8037-2290-3
Citation: Peck, Richard (1998). A Long Way From Chicago: a Novel in Stories. New York: Dial Books for Young Readers.
Summary: Joey and Mary Alice Dowdel are two children from Great Depression era Chicago. One summer, they are sent to live with their grumpy grandmother in rural Illinois for a few weeks. During that time, a homeless man dies and a reporter asking for details gets directed to Grandma Dowdel, who then spins a yarn that this man was a decorated war veteran, who lost his home after selling everything to help the poor. During the wake that Grandma Dowdel sets up, the coffin and the man inside move and Grandma shoots it with her shotgun to supposedly prevent the dead man from rising again. This book contains the stories of that summer and the seven equally impressive summers after, as told by the boy who learned to respect his sharp-tongued, guileful, and secretly caring grandmother.
Impressions: I loved this book. Grandma Dowdel is easily one of the cleverest people I've ever seen in literature. This grumpy but kindly old woman, who has the brains to do anything she sets her mind to, regardless of the toes she steps on, truly demonstrates the phrase "crazy like a fox". These eight stories are really about her exploits, although the children don't get in the way at all, and in fact become two fantastic accessories to all kinds of acts, from stealing the sheriff's boat to feed the homeless to helping lovers elope by dressing up as 'the Phantom Breakman'. As Publisher's Weekly put it: "Like Grandma Dowdel's prize-winning gooseberry pie, this satire on small-town etiquette is fresh, warm and anything but ordinary." This is the perfect book to introduce people to short stories, to show what rural life was like in the years of the Great Depression, or to honor the Newbery honorees (this book lost the Newbery Medal to Louis Sachar's Holes). Or just to recommend for the heck of it, that works too.
Auxiliary Sources:
Author unknown (31 Aug, 1998). Children's Book Review: A Long Way from Chicago: A Novel in Stories by Richard Peck, Author Dial Books $16.99 (148p) ISBN 978-0-8037-2290-3. Publishers Weekly, September 1998. Retrieved from http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-8037-2290-3
Tuesday, December 3, 2013
Module 9: Capture the Flag
Hello, I'm Richard Nicholas Nimz, prospector of the written word and literary explorer extraordinaire. The theme of the blog now is mystery, one of those genres that I personally am ambivalent towards. I may not go there normally, but point me towards a good one and it stands a good chance of being liked. What I am about to review is one of those books that I took a chance on and I'm proud to say that I didn't really care for it. It's called Capture the Flag by Kate Messner.
Citation: Messner, Kate (2012). Capture the Flag. New York: Scholastic Press.
Summary: One night, after the Smithsonian is closed, the original American flag is stolen. As a result, all flights out of Washington D.C. are cancelled. The Society of the Silver Jaguar, a secret organization dedicated to protecting American historical artifacts, mobilizes to find the flag. So do three children whose parents are all in said organization, and they might be closer to solving the case than their parents.
Impressions: Not good. First, the good things:
Citation: Messner, Kate (2012). Capture the Flag. New York: Scholastic Press.
Summary: One night, after the Smithsonian is closed, the original American flag is stolen. As a result, all flights out of Washington D.C. are cancelled. The Society of the Silver Jaguar, a secret organization dedicated to protecting American historical artifacts, mobilizes to find the flag. So do three children whose parents are all in said organization, and they might be closer to solving the case than their parents.
Impressions: Not good. First, the good things:
- The mystery was decent, with one good twist, although I thought it was a little flawed.
- The diction was decent, too, so I could get by in the book.
Now the not-so-good:
- The Silver Jaguar Society. What the heck is this doing even existing? The last time I saw this much security over American cultural artifacts, it was a pair of binoculars that could disintegrate people. Even worse, we don't even see what they do in this book to try and catch the thief, so I can't grade how well these people do their job, but they got shown up by their kids. That's several points off right there.
- Several decisions made in the book by the main characters are kind of stupid. The tagalong kid (not one of the three I mentioned earlier) has a dog who will apparently never be able to sleep without a special toy. What does he do when he finds out this toy has gone missing? He wanders into the luggage room on his own to give it back. He promptly goes missing, courtesy of the bad guy, before he can get detained by airport security, though. Also, the thoughtful one always carries around a really heavy backpack filled with Harry Potter books. He argues that he has got to take it with him even when he and the fearless leader are running to save their new friends lives because he doesn't know when he might need it. To his credit, it sees use. As a blunt instrument. In the luggage storage room. Where there are a million different suitcases that could easily serve that purpose.
- The anti-xenophobia message really needs to be toned down. One group of suspects is a mostly-foreign orchestra dedicated to international love and peace and so on. On further reflection, this might feel like something a parody would slip in as the real bad guys. Here they're played straight, and we know that none of them could've stolen the flag because the eight-year-old son of two of the orchestra's members says so (they're very close). Also, the (Mexican-American) thoughtful one whom I guess we are supposed to admire compares the people who want immigration reform to Death Eaters. On the one hand, it's his personal opinion. On the other, his expressing it that way makes me want to Flipendo him into next week. Finally, one of the suspects is a xenophobic senator from Texas (boisterous attitude included) going up against the governor of Vermont in the primaries (whom we're supposed to admire, given the praise heaped upon her). The tone of this story means that when he is revealed as the bad guy, it's not that surprising.
In the middle are the characters, who are OK to could-use-a-little work. The eight-year-old, besides being the child of the wrongfully-accused orchestra, has a hobby of drawing visual puns of English idioms and phrases which I guess is supposed to be charming, but which I drew nothing from. The thoughtful Harry Potter fan has a list of his favorite phrases from various sources, including Albus Dumbledore. The fact that he quotes Albus Dumbledore may interest people, but he didn't click with me (in any case, I'm not letting his wizarding-Nazi crack about anyone slide). Apart from those two, things are fine on that department. I just wish that the authoress had done a few things differently...
...Come to think of it, if I ever had an "OK, you write it" event at the library, where I ask patrons and staff to take books they read and show how they would've written the book, I could use this book and my own idea of how I would've done it as a guide. Other people seem to be able to read it and like it, with Jackie from My Tower of Books saying: "I thought this was an enjoyable book with spunk. I loved the friendships that were formed throughout and I'm assuming these same friendships will continue if there were to be a sequel. This would make a nice Indiana Jones-esque series for this age group." I just didn't like it that much.
Auxiliary sources:
Jackie (20 Jun, 2012). My Tower of Books: MG Review: Capture the Flag by Kate Messner. My Tower of Books. Retrieved from http://mytowerofbooks.blogspot.com/2012/06/mg-review-capture-flag-by-kate-messner.html
Module 8: Ashfall
Hello, I'm Richard Nimz, prospector of the written word and literary explorer extraordinaire. Well, we've moved into my favorite genre today: speculative fiction. I love this genre, although I prefer Star Wars-style escapism to Avatar-style 'contemplation'. However, there appears to be one exception to my rule: disaster fiction, which, if done well, feels like a survival guide with an intriguing plot. Did Michael Mullin's Ashfall meet this criteria? Well, wait and see.
Citation: Mullin, Michael (2011). Ashfall. Terre Haute, Indiana: Tanglewood.
(Huh, a book that was not published in New York City. Make a wish, folks.)
Summary: In the not too distant future, the Yellowstone caldera erupts, leaving the United States buried in ash. A few days later, an Midwestern teenager named Alex decides to set off in pursuit of his parents and sister, who were off visiting relatives in Indiana. He soon finds, though, just how hard travelling across the new ashen wastes are in winter, with bandits, cannibals, and snowstorms at every turn. He soon has the help of the irascible Darla, but that might not be enough to succeed in his quest, or even survive...
Impressions: Mixed. On the one hand, it presents an interesting view of a catastrophe that I thought might happen in my lifetime (although I've found since then that the likelihood of that happening in my lifetime is slim, courtesy of the United States Geological Survey (Lowenstern, Christiansen, Smith, Morgan, & Heasler, 2005)). The main characters are alright. Although the main character is really unsympathetic at the start, he gets better as the book goes on. Also, how the author depicts survival in this world is pretty nice, and I could imagine using this book as part of Survival Day at the library (toilet tank water is apparently good enough to wash your hands with in the real world, given what Tokyo is doing). While there is a gay couple early in the book, they're not there to make an annoying or intrusive political statement of any kind, they're just being people.
Alas, there are two big holes in the book. For starters, there's a scene near the beginning where a Baptist friend of the religion-not-disclosed-but-OK-with-premarital-sex main character claims to have a way to survive the ashfall...which turns out to be fasting and praying in the hopes that her and her congregation (which is also doing this) will get taken up to Heaven. I'm a Catholic with several Baptist relatives: I was offended. While I don't doubt this would occasionally happen, it just felt wrong, even though other Baptists show up later as relief workers in a FEMA camp.
Oh, there's my second point: the United States government apparently runs refugee camps in disaster zones the same way the Schutzstaffel ran the concentration camps in Nazi Germany, minus the forced labor. This just feels completely wrong, and there's one example that caps it all off. Apparently, as a result of the eruption, the United States is struggling to make ends meet. Fair enough, the bread basket is now covered in ash, after all. As a result, food and shelter are hard to come by, even in the FEMA camps (I'm wondering where the relief from other countries is, but maybe it's somewhere else). But, by good fortune, Alex and Darla happen upon a whole fleet of cargo ships on the Mississippi river bearing grain. Alright, relief is in sight! Nope. Apparently that grain belongs to someone and the United States can't do anything with it until they lawfully acquire it. They can't just seize it as an act of desperation, that would be easy. As an added bonus, the camp guards seem to be corrupt, just in case we were on the fence about the poor conditions being the result of merely not having enough to go around by far. While it's possible that other camps are honest, this is the only one we see, and thus it's easy to stereotype the others as being like it.
Bottom line, here's a review from Thea James of The Book Smugglers: "...I still was engaged with this novel and certainly have an emotional investment in Alex’s story. I’ll be back for more, and, if you’re a disaster/apocalypse junkie like me, Ashfall is certainly worth the read." To get my opinion, just delete the second sentence and soften the first a little.
Auxiliary sources:
Lowenstern, Jacob B., Christiansen, Robert L., Smith, Robert B., Morgan, Lisa A., & Heasler, Henry (2005). Steam Explosions, Quakes, and Volcanic Eruptions--What's in Yellowstone's Future? | USGS Fact Sheet 2005-3024. Retrieved from http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2005/3024/.
James, Thea & Grilo, Ana (4 Nov, 2011). The Book Smugglers | Joint Review: Ashfall by Mike Mullin. The Book Smugglers. Retrieved from http://thebooksmugglers.com/2011/11/joint-review-ashfall-by-mike-mullin.html.
Citation: Mullin, Michael (2011). Ashfall. Terre Haute, Indiana: Tanglewood.
(Huh, a book that was not published in New York City. Make a wish, folks.)
Summary: In the not too distant future, the Yellowstone caldera erupts, leaving the United States buried in ash. A few days later, an Midwestern teenager named Alex decides to set off in pursuit of his parents and sister, who were off visiting relatives in Indiana. He soon finds, though, just how hard travelling across the new ashen wastes are in winter, with bandits, cannibals, and snowstorms at every turn. He soon has the help of the irascible Darla, but that might not be enough to succeed in his quest, or even survive...
Impressions: Mixed. On the one hand, it presents an interesting view of a catastrophe that I thought might happen in my lifetime (although I've found since then that the likelihood of that happening in my lifetime is slim, courtesy of the United States Geological Survey (Lowenstern, Christiansen, Smith, Morgan, & Heasler, 2005)). The main characters are alright. Although the main character is really unsympathetic at the start, he gets better as the book goes on. Also, how the author depicts survival in this world is pretty nice, and I could imagine using this book as part of Survival Day at the library (toilet tank water is apparently good enough to wash your hands with in the real world, given what Tokyo is doing). While there is a gay couple early in the book, they're not there to make an annoying or intrusive political statement of any kind, they're just being people.
Alas, there are two big holes in the book. For starters, there's a scene near the beginning where a Baptist friend of the religion-not-disclosed-but-OK-with-premarital-sex main character claims to have a way to survive the ashfall...which turns out to be fasting and praying in the hopes that her and her congregation (which is also doing this) will get taken up to Heaven. I'm a Catholic with several Baptist relatives: I was offended. While I don't doubt this would occasionally happen, it just felt wrong, even though other Baptists show up later as relief workers in a FEMA camp.
Oh, there's my second point: the United States government apparently runs refugee camps in disaster zones the same way the Schutzstaffel ran the concentration camps in Nazi Germany, minus the forced labor. This just feels completely wrong, and there's one example that caps it all off. Apparently, as a result of the eruption, the United States is struggling to make ends meet. Fair enough, the bread basket is now covered in ash, after all. As a result, food and shelter are hard to come by, even in the FEMA camps (I'm wondering where the relief from other countries is, but maybe it's somewhere else). But, by good fortune, Alex and Darla happen upon a whole fleet of cargo ships on the Mississippi river bearing grain. Alright, relief is in sight! Nope. Apparently that grain belongs to someone and the United States can't do anything with it until they lawfully acquire it. They can't just seize it as an act of desperation, that would be easy. As an added bonus, the camp guards seem to be corrupt, just in case we were on the fence about the poor conditions being the result of merely not having enough to go around by far. While it's possible that other camps are honest, this is the only one we see, and thus it's easy to stereotype the others as being like it.
Bottom line, here's a review from Thea James of The Book Smugglers: "...I still was engaged with this novel and certainly have an emotional investment in Alex’s story. I’ll be back for more, and, if you’re a disaster/apocalypse junkie like me, Ashfall is certainly worth the read." To get my opinion, just delete the second sentence and soften the first a little.
Auxiliary sources:
Lowenstern, Jacob B., Christiansen, Robert L., Smith, Robert B., Morgan, Lisa A., & Heasler, Henry (2005). Steam Explosions, Quakes, and Volcanic Eruptions--What's in Yellowstone's Future? | USGS Fact Sheet 2005-3024. Retrieved from http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2005/3024/.
James, Thea & Grilo, Ana (4 Nov, 2011). The Book Smugglers | Joint Review: Ashfall by Mike Mullin. The Book Smugglers. Retrieved from http://thebooksmugglers.com/2011/11/joint-review-ashfall-by-mike-mullin.html.
Monday, December 2, 2013
Module 7: Charlie Joe Jackson's Guide to NOT Reading
Hello, I'm Richard Nimz, prospector of the written word and literary explorer extraordinaire. In the interest of ending today's blogs on a high note, I've decided to review not only something much lighter, but also something for a slightly younger audience. It's also got a point to make of its own, which I think is only a little less important than the book on my previous blog post. This book is Charlie Joe Jackson's Guide to NOT Reading, by Tommy Greenwald.
Citation: Greenwald, Tommy (2011). Charlie Joe Jackson’s Guide to Not Reading. New York: Roaring Brook Press.
Summary: Charlie Joe Jackson is a child with an unusual claim to fame: in his entire life, he has never read a book from cover-to-cover. His system works surprisingly well until the person who reads the 'middle' of the books for him decides to drop him. Now Charlie has to find a way to keep his track record unblemished, and he will go to any extremes to avoid that most hated of activities: reading.
Impressions: Don't dismiss this as a Diary of a Wimpy Kid knockoff: it's actually a darn good book in its own way. Charlie Joe Jackson, while having a pathological hatred of reading that leads him to very extreme actions, remains likable and relatable throughout the book (as a bonus, he even has a likable and relatable family, whom he likes in kind). This book is also pretty funny and very insightful into all sorts of things relating to middle school, from boy-girl interactions to how to 'cheat' at school assignments. Maybe this is just me, but my favorite part is how the book seems to say 'reading is kind of overrated and you don't have to be a bookworm to be intelligent', as well as how it says it without being preachy (helped along by the fact that most of Charlie's friends enjoy reading). I'd definitely keep this around to show kids who hate reading as well as adults who are thinking of becoming teachers (possibly as book-to-movie day, to show books that the staff and patrons would love to see on the big screen). Elizabeth Bird takes the concluding words right out of my mouth here: "All in all it’s a great little book (and I say that in spite of Charlie Joe’s rousing/baffling endorsement of The Giving Tree). This is definitely the book to hand those The Strange Case of Origami Yoda fans out there who are looking for more, and it’ll probably satisfy non-non-readers as well. Book haters of the world, your spokesman is here."
Auxiliary Sources:
Bird, Elizabeth (21 Sep, 2011). Review of the Day: Charlie Joe Jackson's Guide to Not Reading by Tommy Greenwald — @fuseeight A Fuse #8 Production. School Library Journal. Retrieved from: http://blogs.slj.com/afuse8production/2011/09/21/review-of-the-day-charlie-joe-jacksons-guide-to-not-reading-by-tommy-greenwald/#_
Citation: Greenwald, Tommy (2011). Charlie Joe Jackson’s Guide to Not Reading. New York: Roaring Brook Press.
Summary: Charlie Joe Jackson is a child with an unusual claim to fame: in his entire life, he has never read a book from cover-to-cover. His system works surprisingly well until the person who reads the 'middle' of the books for him decides to drop him. Now Charlie has to find a way to keep his track record unblemished, and he will go to any extremes to avoid that most hated of activities: reading.
Impressions: Don't dismiss this as a Diary of a Wimpy Kid knockoff: it's actually a darn good book in its own way. Charlie Joe Jackson, while having a pathological hatred of reading that leads him to very extreme actions, remains likable and relatable throughout the book (as a bonus, he even has a likable and relatable family, whom he likes in kind). This book is also pretty funny and very insightful into all sorts of things relating to middle school, from boy-girl interactions to how to 'cheat' at school assignments. Maybe this is just me, but my favorite part is how the book seems to say 'reading is kind of overrated and you don't have to be a bookworm to be intelligent', as well as how it says it without being preachy (helped along by the fact that most of Charlie's friends enjoy reading). I'd definitely keep this around to show kids who hate reading as well as adults who are thinking of becoming teachers (possibly as book-to-movie day, to show books that the staff and patrons would love to see on the big screen). Elizabeth Bird takes the concluding words right out of my mouth here: "All in all it’s a great little book (and I say that in spite of Charlie Joe’s rousing/baffling endorsement of The Giving Tree). This is definitely the book to hand those The Strange Case of Origami Yoda fans out there who are looking for more, and it’ll probably satisfy non-non-readers as well. Book haters of the world, your spokesman is here."
Auxiliary Sources:
Bird, Elizabeth (21 Sep, 2011). Review of the Day: Charlie Joe Jackson's Guide to Not Reading by Tommy Greenwald — @fuseeight A Fuse #8 Production. School Library Journal. Retrieved from: http://blogs.slj.com/afuse8production/2011/09/21/review-of-the-day-charlie-joe-jacksons-guide-to-not-reading-by-tommy-greenwald/#_
Module 7: Split
Hello, I'm Richard Nimz, prospector of the written word and literary explorer extraordinaire. Now it's time for something a little more complicated on this blog: chapter books. Due to their greater complexity, they're aimed at older readers, something that means they can explore topics more thoroughly and more explicitly than picture books. Young adult books can get into some especially prickly topics, like the book being featured here. That book is Swati Avasthi's Split.
Citation: Avasthi, Swati (2010). Split. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
Summary: One night, Christian Witherspoon leaves his abusive father's house behind, along with his mother and his little brother Jace. Years later, Jace drives twenty hours to live with his brother. As he adjusts to living with the sibling who left him behind and tries to lead a normal life, his thoughts are occupied with the life he left, particularly his mother and his girlfriend, and one dark secret that could destroy him.
Impressions: I would put this on the reading list of things teenagers should know. It deals with the topic of domestic abuse, but more specifically with how it can affect its victims (it helps that it was written by someone who works in domestic abuse cases). The two brothers are decent people, though not spotless, and the story is actually very gripping. While it does not end the way I would like it to, I must admit that it was probably for the best, for the message's sake. In the words of Ivy Book Bindings: "Overall, this novel is simply brilliant. It is a powerful, thought-provoking, and beautifully-written novel about two brothers coming to terms with their past and learning how to move on - together."
Auxiliary Sources:
(5 Sep, 2012). Ivy Book Bindings: Review: Split by Swati Avasthi. Ivy Book Bindings. Retrieved from http://ivybookbindings.blogspot.com/2012/09/review-split-by-swati-avasthi.html
Citation: Avasthi, Swati (2010). Split. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
Summary: One night, Christian Witherspoon leaves his abusive father's house behind, along with his mother and his little brother Jace. Years later, Jace drives twenty hours to live with his brother. As he adjusts to living with the sibling who left him behind and tries to lead a normal life, his thoughts are occupied with the life he left, particularly his mother and his girlfriend, and one dark secret that could destroy him.
Impressions: I would put this on the reading list of things teenagers should know. It deals with the topic of domestic abuse, but more specifically with how it can affect its victims (it helps that it was written by someone who works in domestic abuse cases). The two brothers are decent people, though not spotless, and the story is actually very gripping. While it does not end the way I would like it to, I must admit that it was probably for the best, for the message's sake. In the words of Ivy Book Bindings: "Overall, this novel is simply brilliant. It is a powerful, thought-provoking, and beautifully-written novel about two brothers coming to terms with their past and learning how to move on - together."
Auxiliary Sources:
(5 Sep, 2012). Ivy Book Bindings: Review: Split by Swati Avasthi. Ivy Book Bindings. Retrieved from http://ivybookbindings.blogspot.com/2012/09/review-split-by-swati-avasthi.html
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)