WOW!

Joey Pigza.
I don't need to "get back to you on that" if asked what I think The Dented Head of Joey Pigza.  This is the sixth installment in one of my most favorite series.  Mr. Gantos has a heart as big as the world and talent to match.  Joey Pigza is wow.

This is actually the first in a NEW Joey Pigza series, The Hidden Files of Joey Pigza!

A Big Box of

terrible.
That's all I can say about the first three Boxcar Children.  I am going to publish this post when I finish four of them.  Why four?
Well, they are so popular, even today.  So I feel like I have to give them a chance.  People I love and respect and even admire claim to love the books.  But man.
The Boxcar Children, the first one, written by Gertrude Chandler Warner is just well...sad.
And the second one, Surprise Island is offensive and boring.  And The Yellow House Mystery is offensive, boring and just ridiculous.  Two and three have all of the "Indian" stuff, some tribe that is never named, just "Indian" so that is a huge problem.
I just can't see how these books are still popular.  The language is so dated.
I do want to listen to a new one just to see if Benny is still so freaking annoying.
So I went on and read Mystery Ranch, which was actually two stars!  And so was Mike's Mystery was a two star one as well.  But I am done now!  And glad for it. 

 

  

The Wrights

Who Were the Wright Brothers? was a great read for me because while I have been to Kitty Hawk, and saw all of the Wright Brothers stuff there, I didn't know much about them at all.  These were some really, really good guys.  Now I wonder if an adult biography about them would turn up all of these juicy secrets and bad habits that they had, but I have a feeling that this series would have touched upon them, if there were skeletons to be found because of the ways in which the series has handled other famous people with infamous parts to their past.  Good book! 

While

I didn't love or even really like like like Heather, The Totality I am glad that I didn't read the goodreads reviews.  I don't generally let them impact my decision to read a book, but these were so bad.  And the book wasn't THAT bad.  I mean I think that one has to look at the bigger picture and think about it, you know?  I mean as I think about the characters a little.  It is written by Matthew Weiner who is one of the guys behind Mad Men and The Sopranos.  I can see this being a movie so that makes total sense!

Get Me Some Kellerman

I have read a lot of Kellermans and written about them a lot, too.  Savage Spawn:  Reflections on Violent Children is an old nonfiction book.  Written in 1999, there are so many more horror stories that it would include today.  This was published just before the Columbine shooting, for example, I assume.  Although folks on goodreads remarked their surprise at it not being included, the book was published in 1999 and the massacre took place in 1999, and it takes a long process to write and publish a book, regardless of the exact date, this one was done before April 20.
In addition to being an author, Kellerman is has a PhD in Psychology and has done a great deal of work with children.  He is very informed on the topic.  This work seems like a very balanced read.  The pros and cons of nature vs. nurture, an examination of what begets violence, is it the media?  Maybe, maybe not.  Is it oppression?  Poverty?  Education?  Maybe, maybe not.  There is discussion of psychopathology as well.  A lot to think about and Kellerman doesn't claim that he or anyone has the answers. But one thing he definitely takes a stand on is children's access to guns.  He admits he has gotten a lot of criticism about this but it makes sense.  I know I always repeat the story that there was a knife attack in China in a school on the same day that the Sandy Hook nightmare occurred.  No fatalities.  Dude to strict gun laws.  Could anyone have stopped the nut who stabbed the Chinese children?  Could anyone have stopped the nut who shot the children of Sandy Hook?  Who knows?  But if the Sandy Hook nut had not had a gun....

Put up 11 fingers

I do this preschool math class, right?  And we do the numbers 0-10 and once as a joke I asked them to put up eleven fingers.

A very smart four year old held up her two pointer fingers, each to look like a one and held them side by side, so she did put 11 in the air.

It was awesome!

And very smart!

Eleven is by Patricia Reilly Giff who has written some super-popular first reader series like The Kids of Polk Street School and Polka Dot Private Eye.

This a mystery book about a boy, age eleven, who discovers something that makes him question his past.  It is a really good little mystery and moves very quickly.

Then Again, Maybe I Didn't

book cover after the movie 

read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the maybe-first-maybe-second book in C.S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia series when I was a kid.  I remember the book cover.  My dear friend and I have decided to read a book together, well not together, but at the same time and then when we finish, we will talk about it.  There is an article about how read LLAW as a child and as an adult.  I have not gotten through the article!  Isn't that terrible?  But I have finished LLAW for the second or maybe first time.  I do remember seeing the movie.  But I can't seem to find the right movie that I saw.  Wait!  This is it!
I did enjoy this book, mostly because I didn't know if I was going to, so much.  I had "meh" expectations because everyone has said such amazing things about it.
I also, for some reason, thought that it would be super-long.  And hard to understand.  The only part that was hard to understand was the dialog at the end, when the two Sons of Adam and the two Daughters of Eve start using very proper and kingly and queenly words to communicate!
But the book moved quickly, and I didn't find myself so angry with Edmund as I did when I was a kid, watching the movie.  I wonder if that is just one difference between LLAW as a child and LLAW as an adult.
While as a kid, watching that movie, I couldn't BELIEVE what a jerk and scum and heartless, greedy dirtbag Edmund was, as an adult, I thought...Edmund is no so different from me.
And Aslan.  Well...he was more magnificant and his sacrific even more profound as an adult.
Yeah...
Yeah...
Praise God.

book cover I remember

Meet Rebecca, not Rachel!

For some reason I always refer to Rebecca Rubin as Rachel Rubin!  I have no idea why!  But this American Girl is featured in the first American Girl book that I have read all the way through!  So now I think I will always remember her name!  Meet Rebecca takes us back to New York City in 1911.  One can learn a lot from this book about what life was like for one Jewish Russian immigrant family.  This is an interesting site that I found that gives a little more information into what NYC was like for the immigrants and also why each group came to America at that time.  Here is some more information about the pogroms in Russia that would have brought families like the Rubins to a new country.
One of the comments on goodreads said that All-of-a-Kind Family is a better book that deals with the same time period.  I am listening to it now!  It is very good!  While Meet Rebecca isn't great, it isn't bad.  And if you already are used to the typical American Girl book, then it won't be a disappointment.

Nothing is Black and White (SPOILERS)

I had a visceral reaction when I realized that this book was about a deserter from WW2.  The thing is, had it been the Vietnam War, okay, sure, we have heard that all before, right?  And as Waylon sang:
and the men
who could not fight 
in a war
that didn't seem right
you let them come home,
America
But WW2?  That was the "Good War," right?  Did ANYONE desert from that?  Is this fantasy? What? What?  What kind of person would do that?
And then I felt like a real jerk and fool for thinking that way.
See the thing is this.
If you are a Christian, which I am.  So for me, as a Christian, killing is always wrong.  Christ prohibits it.  There really is no "just war" no matter what Augustine said.  Augustine wasn't Christ.
Turns out there were conscientious objectors in WW2.  The thing is, the enemy was so clear in WW2. Hitler, Mussolini and Hirohito were evil, evil men.  The hideousness of their actions can't be described. But as Jesus said, "Do not be afraid of those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul."  Ah, man...it is so hard.  As you know, I am a fierce, fierce patriot.  I have so much respect and thanks for our veterans and servicemen and women.  And I am not sitting in judgement of those who follow Christ and serve in the armed forces.  No, no, no.
See.
See how much this books makes one think??
This is a fantastic novel.  So not preachy.  No easy answers.  And no cliches.  Fantastic.
There is just so much in here.
Stepping on the Cracks should be required reading.   And then required discussion should follow.

Another Really Great School Story!

Andrew Clements, man.  He is GOOD GOOD GOOD.   Lost and Found was another excellent one.  It is about twin boys who are entering a new school and they pretend that there is only one boy instead of two!  The guys move to Cleveland over Labor Day weekend.  One twin is sick on the first day of school and his brother discovers that the school has messed up and combined both boys' records together so instead of being Jay and Ray, there is only Jay!  They get the idea to play it out and see how long they can be one only child instead of half of twins.  Really good!

Freddie, Ivy, Bean and Junie B.

Freddie Thresher is a popular guy.  He has a series of twenty-seven books now.  Looks like one is due out this year so I guess he is still rolling.  This seems like one of those book package kinda deals, like I Survived.  The first one is this one, Tooth Trouble.
Freddie is a super rotten kid.  He is the male Junie B. pretty much.  I really can't say anything good about this book except that kids are reading it.  But man, it is pretty bad.  As I will write later, Roscoe Riley is a much better choice.

Literary Fiction

Graven Images by Paul Fleischman is another one of those books that will be enjoyed by folks of all ages.  Fleischman is such a creative, thoughtful and original writer.  I have never fully understood the distinction between literary fiction and genre fiction, but after reading a couple Fleischman books, I would have to put him in the literary fiction camp.
This little book contains three short stories and the audio edition, and maybe the printed one, not sure, has a not from the author which explains how the idea evolved.  All three stories were so different but all involved a graven image, something carved in wood or stone or marble.  Great, great book.

Nate

I was wrong.  I thought Big Nate was a Diary of a Wimpy Kid rip-off.  I had no idea that it has actually been a comic strip since 1991!  I am very embarrassed and ashamed of those feelings!  I thought that a lot of this was funny, but the reason I didn't love it was that Nate is a jerk, really.  Greg can be jerky, but Nate is always a jerk, it seems.  There is a difference.  It is that whole Ramona vs. Junie B. deal.  But I will read the next one to give him a chance! 

Love this Lady...

Polly Horvath is fantastic.  The only thing is, I wish she hammered out books faster!  But maybe then they wouldn't be as wonderful.  From Everything on a Waffle, to my first Horvath experience, Northward to the Moon, this lady writes wonder after wonder.  The Pepins and their Problems is so funny, so fantastic.  I laughed on every page.  Great, funny book for kids!

They Look Like Ramonas, but They Act Like Junie B.s

So, if you like Junie B. Jones and don't like Ramona Quimby,  Ivy and Bean will appeal to you.  I love Ramona, but for me, Junie B. is too nasty.  I was really surprised because Ivy and Bean look so so so cute and sweet!  But no, they really aren't.  I know that this series is super popular, but I would offer the JBJ and RQ analogy when recommending it.

Pucker Up!

One of my most favorite shows is Modern Family.  Although I couldn't stand the show Married, with Children and especially the character that Ed O'Neill played on it, Ed O'Neill is one of my favorite characters on MF.  Last night I was watching the episode which saw him and his granddaughter, Lilly, selling lemonade and advertising it as "Pucker Up" and so that's how this whole stream of consciousness thing got started.  Anyway...
The Lemonade War is a book a that I have been wanting to read for some time.  It's a series and I hope to read the rest, because this was a sweet little story and good for guys and girls.
It's a brother and sister story.  Evan and Jessie have gotten along pretty well.  Evan is older, just by a year.  He isn't as book-smart as his sister, because Jessie seems to be a gifted kid and she is actually skipping a grade.  As we meet them in this first book, they have just found out that Jessie and Evan will be in the same class next year.  That makes Evan super sad.  And super cranky.  Jessie can't really understand why Evan is being so distant and mean.  The two begin to compete to see who can sell the most lemonade before school starts.  There's math in here and good info about starting a business.  It isn't preachy though and it all comes across very naturally as part of the story that I think kids in grades 2-4 would really like.  Good stuff!

I Survived the 1954 Oscars

I didn't.  But anyway...I Survived is a pretty popular series right now.  The author, Lauren Tarshis is coming to Sewickley in early March and I am pretty excited!  I have only read I Survived...the Attacks of September 11, 2001 and I thought it was okay, I only gave it three of five stars, but I think that was because I remember 9/11 so well and well, any book about it, written for kids that weren't even born is going to seem to not do the horror of it justice.  How can you do the horror of it justice?  Is that even an appropriate way to word it?  It was just such a horrible, scary, unreal day.  It was just beyond words.  And I know that this was a kids' book and so it couldn't even come close to capturing the horror of it all.  So for me, because of personal stuff, I just didn't love it.  I am going to read more in the series though.  I am going to do that right now.  It is interesting because at the end of the book, Tarshis says that she didn't plan to write about 9/11, but her readers asked over and over again for her to do it.

The Second Time

This is the second time I've read a non-picture book by Kevin Henkes, but The Year of Billy Miller was a totally different experience for me and I loved, loved, loved it.  Billy is just a typical second grade boy and his family is just lovely and this is just a pleasant, lovely story.  Great, great, great!  Possible Newbery?

Once again...

it was October.  But Favorite Scary Stories of American Children was less than scary and less a favorite.  I think I ended up listening to the abridged version, which was good, because the only good thing about this was that it was short.  Okay so it wasn't THAT bad.  There were a few good tales, but it just wasn't as good as I had hoped.

So it was October...

and, as I have mentioned, I often have to tell scary tales in October.  I am always looking for some new one and I happened upon Scary Stories for All Ages (American Storytelling) available on audible and I bought it and really enjoyed it.   Great stories and well narrated on the audio.  Did I use any?  No.  But still, I loved this book.