48 posts tagged “books”
I'm so glad I did.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson is an involved mystery with a huge cast of characters. The two main characters are Mikael Blomkvist - a journalist who has been found guilty of libel against a multimillionaire - and Lisbeth Salander - a slightly unstable young woman with a knack for finding information, even if it means breaking a few laws. We spend about half of the book waiting to see what twist of fate will bring these two people together. And once they team up, we spend the rest of the book wondering how they will solve this 40 year old crime.
I'll re-emphasize that this is an adult novel. It's complex and has some very disturbing scenes and themes (let me put it this way - the original title in Swedish translates to "Men Who Hate Women"). The book is well written. The characters full formed. The story engrossing.
Simon Vance reads the audiobook and I was blown away by his performance. This book has a cast of probably 20 some characters and Vance manages to give them all their own unique voice. Blomkvist sounds like a British Sam Spade; Lisbeth manages to sound like a girl and a bad ass at the same time; Henrik Vanger sounds like Richard Harris...I never found myself confused about who was speaking and my mind never wandered as I was sucked into this story of a reporter, a rich family, a delinquent woman, and a missing girl.
5 out of 5 for the audiobook version - Fantastic story, AMAZING performance.
Imagine you are 11 years old. Imagine you go into the doctor's office, thinking you're just going to have a growth removed from your neck. When you wake up, half of your vocal chords have been removed, along with your thyroid and the only sound you can make is a pathetic "Ack" noise.
This happened to David Small when he was growing up, and this event, along with the general dysfunctional-ness of his family, is the story he tells us in Stitches, a memoir told in graphic novel format.
This format works perfectly for his story - The book opens with all the way the family "speaks" to each other without actually saying anything - his mother slams the cupboard doors shut in the kitchen while cleaning up, his brother bangs on his drum set - the images explain it all, text is unnecessary.
David is a shy child, too shy speak up and the wordless panels reflect this solitude. He lives in his head, with the cartoons he draws, the characters he reads about. His main way of getting attention from family was to let himself get sick so his parents would take care of him. When the operation occurs and he loses the ability to speak, the wordless panels take on a sense of frustration because now there are so many things he wants to say.
The story of the operation is just a small part of Small's memoir, though this event effects the rest of his life. Growing up in the 1950s, you just didn't talk about certain things, and the poor kid stumbles through life, discovering things at all the wrong times.
Small's art is simple and expressive. It's as though he has been working all these years on children's books to hone his skill enough to create this book. Considering what he has become today, the book is both disturbing and inspiring.
5 out of 5 stars, best graphic novel I have read all year.
Candlewick Press, 2007. 256 pages.
$16.99 ISBN: 978-0-76362-906-9
Ghosts, ghouls, tell-tale hearts, and vampires. This collection of short stories has something for everyone that is a fan of supernatural tales, all written by some very well known young adult authors.
As I've heard other readers mention, the problem with short stories is that they either tend to feel formulaic, as the writer tries to craft a tale to fit a certain length (and in this case, genre) OR the other extreme - they are too short and you would rather sit down with the characters for a full length novel.
I found several of the stories in this collection hit or miss. A few of them felt like the authors were just doing an assignment: write a short story that incorporates something supernatural. But there were a few stand-outs for me. Ones that went beyond the basic retelling of a classic eerie story and really tried to make it their own.
If I hadn't been assigned to read this book for "Books for the Beast", I probably would have skipped over a few of the tales that I felt moved too slowly or were too predictable. None of the stories are particularly keep-you-awake-at-night scary, but several of them have moments that will give you a chill.
If you're craving some short stories to read while you gear up for Halloween, this might be a good place to start. It's also a nice way to get a taste of several different writing styles. I know I jotted down a couple of the authors' names so I could look into their full length works. And there are a few I might avoid after reading this book as well.
2.5 stars
Egmont, 2009. 249 pages.
$16.95 ISBN 978-1-60684-012-2
Respectful space in every place.
Academics are the key to success.
Never keep secrets from your parents.
These phrases sound like something the average teen would hear on a regular basis as adults try to influence their behavior. While children may not immediately obey these words, they do listen. But what if they had no choice but to listen? What if these messages were not coming from their parents' mouths, but instead being delivered subliminally, every second of every day?
In the town of Candor, that is exactly what life is like. Well-to-do families move in, hoping that the messages will help mold their children into something "better". It only takes a matter of days before the child starts to spout these phrases. Once cherished items, like skateboards, art supplies, and M&Ms, are thrown in the garbage by their owners. The town is quiet, safe, and seemingly perfect since all of its citizens must obey the Messages.
Oscar Banks is the son of Candor's creator. As the Messages will tell you, he is a superior person. He does well in school, participates in extracurricular activities, and even has a perfect girlfriend, Mandi. But no one knows the real Oscar. He was in Candor from the start, and he's managed to figure out how the Messages work. He can't avoid them completely, but he has created a set of special messages just for himself, to help him remember who he really is. He also creates messages for kids that are willing and able to pay his high fee to get out. He has managed to build his own little world inside right under his father's nose, and no one knows about it but him.
Then one night, Oscar meets a mysterious girl. She's clearly new in town, still wearing her dark clothes and a collection of earrings. She's also snuck in a can of orange spray paint. He is amazed by the spirit this girl possesses and is drawn to her. He slips her a music CD, filled with special Messages to keep her from changing into a brainwashed Candor teen. He doesn't tell her that, of course. Who would believe that they were being controlled by subliminal Messages? Plus, he hasn't quite figured out what he wants to do with her - should he smuggle her out of Candor and out of his life? Or should he keep her in the town so they can be friends...or more?
Pam Bachorz's Candor is a society that feels eerily plausible. Oscar Banks narrates the story in a natural voice, explaining to the reader how the Messages and the town work as a whole. Oscar starts out somewhat self-centered (as anyone in his situation might be, since he is the only teen not repeating the Messages) but as the story goes on, he begins to realize a bit more about himself, Candor, and the what the world outside must be like. He starts to see how much of a personality can really be suppressed by the Messages, and how far his father will go to keep the town safe and sterile.
Candor would be a fitting book suggestion for a fan of Scott Westerfeld's Uglies series - the bubbly Pretties and the Candor teens have a lot in common. But even if they are not familiar with that series, readers will enjoy this well-written, fast-paced (and other hyphenated words) story.
Pilkey, D. The Adventures of Captain Underpants.
The Blue Sky Press, 1997. 121 pages.
$16.95 ISBN 0-590-84627-2
Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? – The Shadow
I am terror. I am the night. -- Batman
Up, up, and away! -- Superman
Tra-la-laaaaa! – Captain Underpants
In The Adventures of Captain Underpants,
the first book in a series by Dav Pilkey, we meet a pair of
pranksters. Harold and George are best friends who like to have fun
together, which usually take the form of playing tricks on their
classmates. When they are not putting pepper in the cheerleader’s
pom-poms, the boys go to their tree house and write comics. Harold and
George sell these comics to the students at their school, much to the
principal’s chagrin. He attempts to stop their activities and the boys
retaliate by using a hypnotic ring to control the principal. But
something goes wrong and the friend’s simple prank ends up transforming the principal into one of their comic book characters – Captain Underpants!
Dav Pilkey is no slouch. Having published over 20 children’s books, he is well-known for his silly characters and wacky imagination. With titles like The Halo-Weiner, Dogzilla, and The Dumb Bunnies, even the earliest reader knows that these stories are meant to tickle their funny-bone. Such is the case with The Adventures of Captain Underpants, a simple chapter book meant to entertain new readers. Each page has large print text and lots of illustrations. Chapters are usually 4-5 pages, except when they contain FLIP-O-RAMA sequences, a very basic form of animation that instructs the reader to flip between two pages so they can see the story’s climactic battle. It’s a fun addition to the book, adding a bit of interactivity, and the novelty may inspire some young artists to create FLIP-O-RAMAs of their own. Other pages are filled with Harold and George’s comic strips, which contain numerous creative spelling errors.
Some adults may be concerned with the behavior of Harold and George throughout the story. They are not the most respectful of students and their activities do ruin the school’s big football game. Yet the age-group that will read this book knows that this is pure escapism, letting them live out the fantasy of squaring off with the principal and fighting robots. For an 8 year old boy, the inclusion of fake doggy doo-doo only makes the situation more hilarious. They will spot the misspellings in Harold’s and George’s comic strip and feel proud that they are better writers than the two boys. The book is a great stepping stone from easy readers to beginner chapter books, especially for reluctant readers that might have been turned off of reading due to the mature subject matter of more acclaimed children’s literature.
It is easy for parents and educator to condemn the immature elements of this series and want to remove it from bookshelves in schools and libraries. But it is important to remember that silly stories like Captain Underpants can show a child a whole other side of reading. A book that can make them laugh out loud will encourage them to continue reading. Perhaps after they finish the stories of Harold and George they will feel more confident in their reading abilities. And maybe then they will move on to the stories of the classic and more acceptable pranksters, Tom and Huck.
Montes, Marisa. Los Gatos Black on Halloween. Illustrated by
Yuyi Morales. Henry Holt and Company, LLC, 2006. 32 pages.
$16.95 ISBN-13 978-0-8050-7429-1
Los gatos black with eyes of green,
cats slink and creep on Halloween.
With ojos keen that squint and gleam -
They yowl, they hiss…they even scream!
From the first page of Los Gatos Black on Halloween, the reader can tell that this is not your ordinary Halloween picture book. Marisa Montes’ bilingual rhymes are each beautifully portrayed in Yuyi Morales’ two page illustrations. The story introduces each creature commonly seen on Halloween night in both Spanish and English. They each appear, moving towards their haunted destination, a monsters’ ball, and leading up to a surprise ending when they meet the scariest creatures of all!
Yuyi Morales grew up in Mexico and it is obvious that her illustrations draw from childhood memories of the Mexican celebration of Dia de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead. During this celebration, it is not uncommon to see skeletons and skulls on display, sometimes painted or filled with candy. So, it is no surprise that the skeletons and other Halloween creatures in the story seem to be in a festive mood, wearing their sombreros and smiling. Marisa Montes also has roots in the Hispanic world, having been born in Puerto Rico. She carefully crafts each rhyme in the story, placing the Spanish nouns in such a way that a non-Spanish speaking child might be able to decipher its meaning even before moving on to the next sentence that provides the world in English.
Of course, Yuyi Morales’ artwork also assists the reader in discovering each word’s meaning. The night sky is the backdrop to almost every page, and Morales portrays each creature walking, flying, or stumbling to their destination. The cool palette of colors she has chosen (light blues, browns, and dark reds) create an eerie element but do not let the mood become so intense it would overwhelm a young child. Montes’ words fly through the sky too, never appearing as normal straight lines of text, but as wispy, wiggly words that follow each gato, bruja, and fantasma across the pages.
For a young child that is unfamiliar with the holiday of Dia de los Muertos the images in this book may be a bit disturbing. But if they have already watched movies like Tim Burton’s animated classic The Nightmare Before Christmas, these illustrations may actually draw them in and open them up to a new language and culture. For a family with a young child that celebrates the holiday of Halloween or Dia de los Muertos, this book would be a great way to get into the spirit (pun intended). Los Gatos Black on Halloween would be a welcome addition for elementary school teachers’ or public librarians’ storytime shelves when they want to fit some multicultural elements into a holiday that is dominated by spooks and sugar.
My Friend is Sad. By Mo Willems. Hyperion,
2007. 57 pages. $8.99
Mo Willems’ already had two Caldecott Medals for his picture books Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus and Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale when he published his first books for beginner readers. So it came as no surprise to his fans that Elephant and Piggie would contain the same kind of humorous storytelling that appeals to both children and adults.
My Friend is Sad opens with Gerald the elephant sighing heavily. His good friend Piggie is concerned and decides that she will cheer him up. Over the next few pages, she appears in various costumes of things she knows Gerald likes, but none of them make him happy. Piggie is perplexed about what to do next, so she decides to just talk to Gerald. The next part of the story will have both children and their parents giggling with delight.
Gerald and Piggie’s story of friendship will bring to mind Arnold Lobel’s classic Frog and Toad series, except Gerald and Piggie are targeted toward early readers. My Friend is Sad contains only four or five words per page, all of them words a new reader can recognize by sight. When Piggie enters in one of her costumes, the visual clues help the beginner reader sound out the more complex word on the next page, such as cowboy. There is plenty of space between the words and the lines, helping the new reader distinguish the stop and start of words and sentences. The text size is quite large, probably around 22 point font size, and even larger when Gerald excitedly describes to Piggie his visit from “A COOL COOL ROBOT!”
Willems’ illustrations are simple yet expressive. The cartoon pig and elephant seem to run across the page, and even the youngest child can read the emotions on the characters’ faces. The pages are completely blank except for our two main characters and the lack of scenery might help a beginner reader focus better on the text. It also provides a great starting point for discussion between parent and child – “Where do you think Gerald and Piggie are today?” Each of Piggie’s entrances are two page spreads with no text, so the adult and child working through the book together can take a moment to identify her outfit, which should help the beginner reader with the more complex word on the next page. Along with that, Willems applies comic strip sensibilities to the text. Instead of having the words across the bottom of each page, he creates word bubbles encircling the lines in character specific colors (gray for Gerald, pink for Piggie) that clearly assign each statement to a character.
Though this book is perfect for early readers that have just mastered the world of sight words, this title will not collect dust on the shelf. The lively illustrations and hilarious interactions between Elephant and Piggie will keep young readers coming back for more and parents won’t mind hearing this silly, sweet story one more time.
DiCamillo, K. The Tale of Despereaux. Illustrated by
Timothy Basil Ering. Candlewick Press, 2003. 270 pages.
$17.99 ISBN 0-7636-1722-9
Kate DiCamillo has made a name for herself in children’s literature with titles such as The Tiger Rising and Because of Winn Dixie. Both of these realistic stories featured a child that came in contact with an animal, and that contact changed their lives forever. In her latest book, The Tale of Despereaux, she turns things around with the fantastical story of an animal that meets a child which alters the animal’s perception of the world around it.
Despereaux is considered small, even for a mouse, but, like all heroes, there is more to him than meets the eye. Instead of munching on the library books, Despereaux reads their tales of faraway lands and knights coming to the rescue. Instead of hiding when he hears human voices, Despereaux seeks out the sound and discovers the beauty of music. Instead of holding his tongue in the presence of the king, he speaks out and breaks the mouse code. And that is only the start of his adventure, an adventure that intertwines with many other residents of the castle.
The Tale of Despereaux moves along at a quick pace. Even though the book is 270 pages long, most chapters are just 4-6 pages, and one page usually contains an illustration. With a large font size and generous margins, this book could be read by a confident 3rd grader reader, but would also fit easily into the hands of an older child who does not have as much experience reading longer chapter books. Either child would be familiar with the fairy tale framework of this story – the outsider that becomes a hero, the villain, in this case a rat named Roscuro, seeking revenge, and a princess in distress.
Also common in fairy tales is an omniscient narrator. DiCamillo never gives him a name, but Despereaux’s narrator interjects with questions directed to the reader, to help them understand some of the more upsetting aspects of the story, such as when the Mouse Council votes to send Despereaux to the dungeon:
“Reader, can you imagine your own father not voting against your being sent to a dungeon full of rats? Can you imagine him not saying one word in your defense?”
The careful tone of the narrator keeps these intense events from overwhelming the younger reader, by assuring them that they know things will come around in the end (and the reader knows this is true because that is how fairy tales work).
The Tale of Despereaux is an endearing story that has something for every child. Not only a great choice for the independent reader, this book would also make a good read aloud selection for older school children. Like a hot bowl of soup, the classic fairy tale themes make the story both enticing and comforting, and clearly deserved of the Newberry Medal.
That is the main plot of Neil Shusterman's disturbing YA novel Unwind. Like Scott Westerfeld's Uglies series, this book takes an issue and does what all good sci-fi should do - takes it to an extreme. It doesn't beat you over the head with what is right or wrong, but it does get you caught up in a story, with characters, but at the same time, your brain begins to think about the deeper themes and questions behind the story.
In Unwind, three teens runaway while on their way to the unwinding facility - Connor, whose parents scheduled him to be unwound after some bad behavior in school, runs away the night before. Risa, an orphan, was scheduled by the state after they realized they could not afford another mouth to feed. And Lev, a tithe, a sacrifice that is family had decided to make before he was born, raised knowing that he would be unwound. Fate throws these three together and the book is the story of their adventure through this future world.
Unwind sucks you in from page 1 and doesn't let go until its over. It is an intense story, and I found myself needing to put the book down and walk away for a bit. But it is the kind of book you want to read with your friends because you're going to want to discuss it. Schusterman is careful not to preach any sort of agenda - he is just playing with a scenario that feels all too plausible in a twisted way.
If you're in the mood for some well written science fiction that has a good blend of action, suspense, and pseudo-science, pick up this book!
Last month, the sequel was released - Catching Fire.
I am not going to post any spoilers because the thing that made reading Hunger Games and Catching Fire so great was how little I knew about them before I started. But let's just say that Catching Fire has everything Hunger Games had, but kicked up a notch. It picks up right where we left off...
That being said, I give Catching Fire 4 out of 5 stars because of the usual reasons with middle books - this book is more about setting things up for the grand finale than anything else so the ending is a lot rougher than Hunger Games, which felt like the first Star Wars movie - yeah, there was more to do, but it had a satisfying ending for the biggest story.
With Catching Fire, Suzanne Collins knows that she owns us, that we are invested in these characters, and that we'll be expecting that cliffhanger. And she gives it to us. I read the last page several times, trying to figure out exactly what it all meant because I know I have another year before I found out what happens.
Seriously, why are you reading this post? You should be reading Hunger Games or Catching Fire RIGHT NOW!
