Kill the Music

I really had a hard time listening to The Haymeadow, not because of the book itself.  I mean, it's Gary Paulsen!  But because the audio is terrible!  Not the reader, it's John-Boy Walton, Richard Thomas.  I wonder if he hates being known as John-Boy, or if he is glad this has made him kinda immortal.  I think I would like that, my ego and all.  Even if I was linked to a particular character.  He does a great job.  It's that there is this super-annoying music that plays over top of a lot of his narration!  Maybe some people like this?  I don't.
In any case, if you have seen Brokeback Mountain, you will understand what John Barron is doing in this book.
I mean, kinda.
I mean, not the interpersonal stuff.
But the taking the sheep to a different place for the long winter kinda thing.
This is another short, great book from Paulsen.  I love the father-son-grandfather angle and also the part about the original sheep herder's illness.  In just a few words, Paulsen says so much to one's heart.  More words don't make a book better, Mr. King.

Just Because You are Paranoid...

doesn't mean they aren't after you.  So said Joseph Heller.  And I agree.  That is probably why I read Spy Secrets that Can Save Your Life:  A Former CIA Officer Reveals Safety and Survival Techniques to Keep You and Your Family Protected.
There were some good things in here.  Basically though, to be super safe, one needs to have a lot of money.  But I still found this to be pretty good!  Just kind of interesting.  And I would think that Jason Hanson has seen the worst side of humanity, so he has a very suspicious outlook, so I can't really criticize him for that.  But since I have never been a CIA officer, I am still thinking that there is good out there.  And that not every one is out to get me.  Mostly not everyone.  Still I think I will give tactical pens as gifts this Christmas!  Why not!

Nightfall

was also the name of a radio show...I think...I am going to check.
Nightfall has a really interesting premise!   Just read the goodreads summary to get it, but I really liked the idea!  But for some reason, the book just didn't hold my interest.  I think it got a little too fantasy-like.  If it just would have stuck to a "survival" kind of story instead of introducing the creatures, I would have liked it more, personally.  But I totally can and will recommend this book because that was just my personal likes and dislikes and I think a lot of people would enjoy it!
Yes! Nightfall was!  It was Canadian!  And I really liked it!  Scary!

Deep, Dark and Dangerous

Rodman Philbrick has written some books that I really liked:  Freak the Mighty and Zane and the Hurricane.  I was super excited to see The Big Dark on hoopla.  If your library doesn't have hoopla, please see if they can get it.  There are so many great titles on there!  This book reminded me of Susan Beth Pfeffer's Last Survivors series, which I absolutely loved.
This isn't a rip-off though.  And it is a stand-alone, which I just loved about it.
There has been some big scientific that I don't understand event that has wrecked that magnetic field around the earth and so nothing works.  I mean flashlights, too, cars, all of that.  It's like the world has gone back in time.
And there are nuts around, too.  Those kind of nuts who are end-of-the-world-racist-conspiracy nuts.  And there is a young man who is super brave.  And his mom is a diabetic, and she needs medication.  And this is just a really, really, great book!

Fire! Fire!

These guys were pretty funny.  The Great Chicago Fire was not.  The book, The Great Fire, by Jim Murphy, was excellent.  A Newbery Honor Book, and well deserved.
Mr. Murphy brings the past alive.  I had no idea about the classism factor that was a part of the fire.  I do remember the story of Mrs. O'Leary's cow and hearing Judy sing, "Shout how-now to Mrs. O'Leary's cow." But somewhere in my head I thought that maybe the whole cow story was a myth, but it wasn't.
The way that the poor were blamed for the fire was shocking, but then as I consider the human condition, I guess it isn't, still it is hard to read.
One of the players in this book was exceptionally horrid.  The newspaper reporter...I can't think of his name, and maybe that is best.  He should just be forgotten.  I wonder if this kind of blame goes on today when there are disasters.  Sadly, I bet it does.
Just like in Blizzard, it is just crazy to think about how hard it was to navigate the world before the advances in technology that we enjoy today.  Firefighters of yesterday and today are heroes, truly.  How many people would run INTO a fire while the rest of us are running away?

Mr. Paulsen

consistent.  Wonderful storyteller.  Love him.  Woods Runner is historical fiction, not for kids.  A look at the truly brutal aspects of war.  Set during the American Revolutionary War, in Western Pennsylvania, starring a young teen named Samuel, who experiences his family's murder at the hands of a British/Native American attack.  This book taught me about the Hessians and their role in the American Revolutionary War.

The Return

Brian's time in the woods has changed him forever.  He tries to go back and live a "normal" life, but he just can't.  He gets into a bit of trouble with the law, but not really, he is pretty much just misunderstood.  Brian's Return is Brian's journey back into the Northern Woods.  Brilliant.

Brian's Hunt

When I finished listening to Brian's Return, I found it odd that Gary Paulsen had noted that this was going to be the last Brian book.  Fortunately, it wasn't.  Brian's Hunt was fantastic.  At the end of this one, Paulsen explains that he still gets letters from people who want to know more about Brian.  And even now, after finishing Hunt, I still want to know more.
I love the way Paulsen writes about hunting.  I would imagine that he has gotten a lot of flack for it, but it really does make sense.  And no one can call Brian or Paulsen a wimp.  This book had some pretty brutal moments, for sure.  But what a great, great book and so well done.  I do hope that Paulsen gets around to visiting Brian again.

Winter Has Come

I know that winter doesn't technically start until December 21, but winter to me starts when the first snow is on the ground.  That was this morning.  And I couldn't help but think of Brian's Winter when I looked out the bedroom window and saw the snow on the trees.   When Paulsen wrote Hatchet and The River he received a ton of letters from kids, sometimes as many as 200 a day.  In an author's note before the book, he explains that the readers were mad that Brian didn't have to go through the winter and they wondered what it would have been like if he hadn't been found before the winter came.  Brian's Winter takes place right after Hatchet, before the rescue, as if Brian hadn't been found and now had to make it through the snow and ice of the changed season.  A great idea and a great addition to the series.  I am already listening to the next one, Brian's Return. 

On a Roll

Of course, as soon as I finished Hatchet, I had to download The River. I can't believe that I used to rip on Paulsen this way and that way.  Then this happened and I've been in love ever since.  When I was about six minutes from the end, I checked goodreads to see what others had said about The River and there was a lot of criticism, but it didn't matter to me, because I was just sucked into Brian's second adventure.  Now I am finished with it, having loved it as well, and on to Brian's Winter!

I Just Realized

That Hatchet was written in 1987, when I was still in high school, yet the book isn't dated at all.  I have no idea why I didn't try to read it before this.  I've been in love with Gary Paulsen for a while, but Hatchet aways scared me.  I'm not an adventure story kinda gal.  But man, Hatchet was seriously good.   The detail of the plane crash reminded me of the opening scenes of the movie Alive, which I haven't seen since it came out in 1993, but it still stays with me.    I've already downloaded The River and I can't wait to listen to it.  Peter Coyote does a great job with the reading and he does The River as well.

It Was a Short Book

By an author I've enjoyed a ton in the past. Helen Frost wrote Keesha's Place and Hidden and I loved them. But Diamond Willow just didn't do it for me. Though I am sure it would be popular with the right kind of reader. Maybe a girl who likes Gary Paulsen's survival stuff?  Diamond Willow just wasn't my kinda story.  But!  It was set in Alaska!