What's Going On Here?

There are SO MANY wonderful book review blogs out there and I can't compete with them, that is for sure. So this is not a book review blog. This is just a way for me to organize what I have read so that I can be better at matching the right book to the right person. The blog title comes from the brilliant mind of the most talented woman who ever lived, Ms. Judy Garland. The full quote is, "Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of someone else." That is what I hope to do here and in ever aspect of my life.

Thursday, March 5, 2015

A Week in the Woods WAY Better than A Walk in the Woods

Everyone loves Bill Bryson.  Many people look at me with disbelief and even disgust when I told them that I couldn't get through A Walk in the Woods.
But Andrew Clements is just magic for me.  He sucks me right back in to that age and place.  A Week in the Woods,
Maybe I didn't like the Bryson book because it was part of our county library system's very poorly run One Book, One Community program.  While our county has wonderful libraries, the administrative group that puts together OBOC is lacking in so many ways and only depletes already scarce resources that would be better off going directly to the libraries where patrons will reap the benefits.  It is a long time problem and it only grows worse as resources become even more scarce.  So maybe I should revisit a Bryson book because it isn't fair to judge a whole author by the fact that a dismal organization chose one of his books as their OBOC read.
Mark is a rich kid who is finishing his fifth grade year at a public school before going off to a prep school for sixth grade.  The tradition at his new school is for the fifth graders to spend a week camping in the woods.  Mark has a rough start at his new school.  He is judged because of his family's wealth and he doesn't have the best attitude.
This was an interesting take on a kid being judged by his financial status in that mostly we read about kids being judged because of their lack of money, not because of their wealth.
Great book from Clements, as usual!

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