Summary:
Mary Smith, who lived in London, had a very important job in
1927.She was the town’s
“knocker-up”.Long before the sun came
up she would leave her house with her peashooter and a pocket full of dried
peas.Many people depended on Mary to
wake them, and she wouldn’t leave until they came to their window to let her
know that she had woken them up with the plinking from her peas hitting their window.This fun story has a great unexpected ending
when Mary’s daughter is still in bed when Mary comes home after her morning
rounds.
Review:
This is one of my favorite picture books!It is based on the real Mary Smith who had to
wake up the town people. At the
beginning of the book be sure to look at the actual photograph of Mary.Also the end of the book has a little more of
an explanation of the job of the “knocker-up”.What child can’t imagine the job of shooting dried peas at a window –
and getting paid to do it!
Haruki Murakami’s short and minimalist book, After Dark, appears simple and straightforward on the surface; separate people, who are vastly different, all intersect on one fateful night in Tokyo. There is Mari, the lonely and lost girl looking for her place in the world. There is her sister, Eri Asai, who has suffered a horrible shock and now sleeps all day long. Over the course of six hours, Mari meets a young musician, a hotel owner, and a Chinese woman who was savagely beaten. Mari is drawn outside of her comfort zone with these new acquaintances, while simultaneously discovering the many, and often dangerous or shocking sides, to a city during the nighttime hours.
The book has several other plotlines, but these were much harder to understand as they meditated on the role of perspective, the passage of time, and the role of memory. There are several untied endings and no real answers at the end of the novel; however, this just lends the story an even more realistic feeling. Murakami’s writing is highly descriptive while using as few words as possible. While the story meanders during some parts of the book, I highly recommend this short read for the style of the prose and the depth of the characters. Next on my list is Murakiami’s latest novel, IQ84.
A skeleton is unearthed, found buried beneath the sand on a deserted beach in the distant future. The setting is the United States of Europe, and professions such as archaeology are considered a lost science due to the feelings of separatism and inequality that their findings stir up. This, combined with the ongoing and bitter dispute between “native” people and the rest of society that is now nearly genetically identical and flawless, is the basis for this novel. Who, exactly, owns the rights to the dead body? So begins Jan Mark’s teen sci-fi thriller, Useful Idiots.
The premise of the story is unusual, which makes it an interesting and exciting read. Mark creates an atmosphere of discontent as she details the story of young Merrick Korda, an archaeology student caught in a dangerous game involving the government, black market, academic institutions, and reserve land. Mark cunningly fashions the natives, known formally as Aboriginals and insultingly as “Oysters”, after ourselves. She simultaneously paints a very clear and perhaps accurate depiction of a future dystopic society in which all imperfections and inequalities have been erased. The book ultimately deals with questions of equality, race, and human ethics as the events come to a horrifying close.
I have read Useful Idiots not once, but three times, each time at a different age. While the book is marketed as Teen Fiction, I believe it should be read by both teens and adults. It is an unusual yet highly enthralling story which has something for everyone. The dialogue is spot on, Mark's writing is beautiful and highly descriptive, and there is a healthy dose of suspense. Science fiction, mystery, fantasy, thriller, and romance—the book manages to be all of these at once and yet none of them. Useful Idiots is truly in a class of its own.
One Dog and His Boy
by Eva Ibbotson
5/5 Stars
Reviewer: Deb
Summary: This book is Eva
Ibbotson's final masterpiece; a tale of a boy and dog who were meant to be
together.
All Hal had ever wanted was a dog. "Never!" cries his mother.
"Think of the mess, the scratch-marks, the puddles on the floor." But
on the morning of Hal's 10th birthday, the unbelievable happens. He's allowed
to choose a dog at Easy Pets, a rent-a-pet agency (a fact his parents keep from
him). The moment he sees the odd-looking terrier, he knows he's found a friend
for life. But no one tells Hal that Fleck must be returned. When Hal wakes up
on Monday morning, Fleck is gone. If dog and boy are to stay together they'll
have to run away. . . .
Eva Ibbotson’s final novel is a tale laced with humor and brimming over with
heart, stunning in its beauty of the love of all things dog.
Review:
Eva Ibbotson’s last
novel is definitely one of her best ever.Quirky characters abound in this heartfelt story about a boy who only
wanted a dog.His quest across England
to Scotland to insure that he keeps his beloved Fleck is comparable to LASSIE
COME HOME.If you are a dog lover or
just enjoy a good story with many twists, this is a novel for you. I loved it. I
would recommend this for grades 4 and up.
These 7 words are what Michael Pollan distills years of food
research into.This is the answer to the
question so many of us find ourselves asking all too often of the right way to
eat to lose weight and be healthy.Really
you could stop right there if that is all you are looking for from this book,
but if you continue on you’ll be rewarded with a plethora of information on
food and food science.Pollan discusses
nutritionism and the age we live in where the nutrients in a food item are more
important than the whole and how that can often lead us astray.Frequently, a whole is greater than the sum
of its parts and food is no exception.Sometimes it is the way components in a food item or a dish interact
that create benefits for the body and focus on just the carbs (or any other
aspect) of a particular food overlooks this fact.
Pollan also discusses the social, cultural, and scientific
changes over the years that have lead us to as whole gain weight, develop
diseases, and generally live unhealthily.He looks at how our great-grandmothers used to eat and urges us to go
back to simpler times.No he’s not
telling you to give up your modern conveniences that help the cooking process,
but he is telling you to eat REAL food not the stuff manufactured in laboratories.So if you want a simple plan to be healthier
and some interesting science, history, and cultural studies about food- be sure
to pick up this book.
Shadows are encroaching on the city our main character leaves behind in search of a better life for his family. He arrives in a fantastical world full of fear and promise. Tan masterfully tells the story of immigration and being an outsider in a new world through exquisite pictures. The arrival serves as a silent movie of the ups and downs of the immigrant experience that anyone can relate to. It is a beautiful, deeply moving book that is hard to put into words (possibly because it uses none). Pick it up and enjoy the journey.
The One and Only Ivan
by Katherine Applegate
5/5 stars
Reviewer: Dawn
Summary:
Ivan is a silverback gorilla who has lived in a cage at the Exit 8 Big Top Mall
and Video Arcade for the past 27 years. He has not had any contact with other
gorillas during this time. He is lonely. He spends his days watching TV (when
someone turns it on), eating, and sometimes drawing. He has a few friends- a
dog named Bob and an elephant named Stella who lives in the domain next to his.
But then one day, a baby elephant named Ruth comes to the mall and everything
changes.
Review:
This is an amazing, eye-opening book. It’s heartbreaking and hopeful all
in the same story. The text is sparse, almost verse-like, but it’s the perfect
way to tell this story- from the eyes and mind of Ivan the gorilla. The themes
that this book deals with, like mortality and captivity, would make me hesitate
to give it to young, sensitive readers, but it is a wonderful book for animal
lovers and middle grade children. This book is not just a great story; it’s inspired by a TRUE
story, which readers will find out about at the end of the book. I would
recommend this book to anyone who enjoyed The
Underneath by Kathi Appelt.
Jeffrey Eugenides, author of critically acclaimed books such as The Virgin Suicides and Middlesex, has done it again by creating another novel that has been on nearly every Top Ten reading list. Set in the early 1980s, the novel follows three students as they graduate from college and their specialized majors and attempt to journey out into the “real” world.
At the heart of the story is Madeleine Hanna, a lovelorn English major who wrote her senior thesis on the notion of marriage plots in literature. At the same time she is (ironically) dealing with a nasty breakup and the rekindling of an old friendship with another man. In the end, this novel is a love story at heart, asking whether this idea can truly exist anymore. As the book jacket summary says, “Are the great love stories of the nineteenth century dead? Or can there be a new story, written for today?” The book is a charming read, and I although I haven’t read anything else by this author, I enjoyed the humor and wit of the characters. Being an English major myself, I appreciated most of the obscure references to authors, literary theorists, and stylistic movements, since I don’t encounter many of them outside the classroom. This also shows how this literary novel pokes fun at itself and its own literary-ness. However, this might be off-putting to some, as there are a lot of these name-dropping moments. Furthermore, the shift between character’s points of view grew confusing at times, but this did not detract majorly from the book. The Marriage Plot is a good introduction to an author that has been, and will continue to be, pivotal in the American literary scene.
Angus, Thongs, And Full-Frontal Snogging: Confessions of Georgia Nicolson
By: Louise Rennison
4/5 stars
Reviewer: Marina
Georgia Nicolson is a 14 year old British girl going through the same trials and tribulations of her American counterparts just using some funny words to describe it. Her cat, Angus, is prone to Scottish wildcat outbursts of stalking his poodle prey and her 3 year old sister is full of surprises. Her parents are, of course, incredibly embarrassing and always causing trouble for her. Georgia’s diary (which is the book we find ourselves reading) is filled with honesty and humor about anything and everything- from kissing lessons to breast growth to the size of her nose. If you’re looking for a laugh out loud relatable story about being a teen girl on the cusp of adulthood this is definitely the book (and the series) for you!
Balloons Over Broadway
by Melissa Sweet
Rating: 5/5 stars (Caldecott Honor Winner)
Reviewer: Helen
Summary: Tony
Sarg was a puppeteer who spent his life dreaming of toys that were bigger,
brighter, and more animated than anyone had imagined they could be. He started
as a marionette maker, and made his way to New York City, where he took his
marionettes to Broadway. Eventually, he was commissioned to design animated
window displays for Macy’s Department Store; these were very popular and when
Macy’s decided to create a Thanksgiving Day Parade they knew Tony was the man
for the job. Macy’s challenged Tony to make the parade a spectacular event and
Tony did. He combined ideas of using a blimp, rod puppets and his own
marionettes. Tony created a new kind of giant floating puppet. Each year the
puppets grew more ambitious until Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade became the
extravaganza we see on television today.
Review: This is
a book that kids can read over and over and keep making new discoveries. The
biography is straightforward but the illustrations are complicated and full of
references to the genius and hard work of becoming an inventor. The author’s
illustrations include her paintings, photos of toys she made for the
project and newspaper clippings from parade days. This is a delightful
book.
Lake Eden Minnesota is a small town with what has to be the largest per capita murder rate. In this 16th installment in Joanne Fluke’s Hannah Swenson mystery series, Hannah finds another dead body and not long after her mother stumbles across a murder scene. As per usual, Hannah commences her investigation into the mysterious deaths using her local resources and leaving her baking partner Lisa to keep track of their bakery. The mystery is somewhat predictable and not really full of too many surprises, but what makes these books enjoyable is the likeable characters and Hannah’s quirky personality. This particular installment also makes strides towards resolving some love triangle issues brought up in previous books (or at least I hope so!
These books can be read independently, but you get a little more character development by reading them all in order (as I have).
Usually I’m not a big fan of zombies, however, there are a
few examples in the genre (if you can call it a genre) that stand out to me as
really great and this is one of them.This book is the story of the great Zombie War from inception to
recovery told in short stories from many people’s perspectives.The novel is divided into sections based on
the different points in time of the war and each section contains a few
different people’s stories from different areas to give the reader a better
picture of the whole event.You get
pulled along through the stories easily, always wanting to know each
individual’s experience and what happens next in the grand scheme of
things.While it is a story of zombies,
more than anything it is the story of people overcoming seemingly
insurmountable odds and struggling through challenges to emerge on the other
side- not necessarily entirely victorious but emerging and surviving all the
same.
Saving Zasha
by Randi Barrow
5/5 stars
Reviewer: Roberta
Summary:
This is the story of a close-knit family, the Tarkovs
consisting of Mrs. Tarkov, sons Mikhail and Nikolai, and daughter Rina, who
live on a farm in Soviet Russia at the end of World War II.Mr. Tarkov went off to fight the war and has
not been heard from in two years.The
family hopes that he is still alive.
One day, the two boys find a dying man and his dog, a beautiful
German shepherd named Zasha.It is
dangerous to have anything German after the war, so after the man dies and Mrs.
Tarkov is persuaded to let the boys keep the dog, but she must be in hiding so that
no one finds her and turns the family in for having a “German” dog.The boys fix up hiding places for Zasha and
successfully hide her from dog thieves and drunken soldiers returning home from
the war.They spend a lot of time training
her so that she is a faithful and well-trained dog. Even a noisy Katia, daughter
of the village’s newspaper owner, who suspects the Tarkovs have a dog is kept away
from Zasha.
But there is news to deal with.First, Zasha is having puppies.Second, the wife of the dying man they found
is coming to the village and Mrs. Tarkov says that Zasha belongs to her. Will Mikhail and his family be able to keep Zasha and her puppies? Find out in this riviting story that you won;t be able to put down!
Review:This was a heart-warming story about a family overcoming
adversity.The book moved along nicely
and was never boring.Historically, it
gave you a good view of post WWII Soviet Russia.The post script gave the interesting truth
about dogs in post WWII Soviet Union.There were almost no dogs left alive.Starvation, abandonment, illness and injury plus service in the military
left the Soviets with hardly any dogs left.The Soviet government did establish a program to create a new Russian
dog.This task was given to a soldier
and a biologist.Over a hundred dogs
were used in seventeen breeds to finally produce “the black pearl of Russia”-
the Black Russian terrier.First
introduced to the public in 1955, the American Kennel Club finally recognized
the dog as a new breed in the working class in 2004.
