Archive | December 2006

Happy Kid by Gail Gauthier

Dec11

Review by Brown Bear Daughter, age 11, almost 12:

I really enjoyed this book. It was absolutely HILARIOUS. It had a couple of places in the book where…oh…let me tell you all I liked about if before I tell you what I didn’t.

First off, as I said before, it was the most hilarious book I’ve read lately. Also, it shows the exact emotions that any real kid would show in the situations that the main character finds himself in. I just thought to myself, “This author (Gail Gauthier) must really understand kids.”

It was easy to imagine what I would do if I was accused of bringing a weapon to school, (though I’m homeschooled, of course) which does happen to Kyle, the narrator. Okay, now I’ll give a small summary of the first couple of chapters:

Kyle hears his mother yell for him to come open his “back to school present.” So after his sister opens hers, he unwraps Happy Kid: A Young Person’s Guide to Satisfying Relationships and a Happy and Meaning-Filled Life! After being reminded to thank his mother for the gift, Kyle says, “Thank you for believing I’m such a reject I need a book on how to be happy. I really appreciate the thought.” I couldn’t help but laugh at this because it sounds like something I would say. Is that good or bad? Anyhow, Kyle’s mother thinks that he looks at everything negatively…so when she saw the book that “just screamed (Kyle’s) name,” she bought it immediately.

There were a few gross parts which I will not mention, and a bit of bad language also, but altogether I consider it a very interesting and well-written book. I had sooo much fun reading it!

Happy Kid is another good book nominated for the Cybil Award for Middle Grade Fiction.

2006 Book Lists

Dec11

I don’t read many new books, books published this year. I get most of my books from the library, and I can’t afford to pay twenty plus dollars for a new book unless I already know I will like it and want to own it. So most of my book purchases are classics and books I’ve already read and know I will want to re-read. These are some of the many lists that are popping up all over of “best books of 2006.” Maybe I’ll get around to a few of them in 2007.

Hornbook Fanfare List: Best (Children’s) Books of 2006. Of these I read The Book Thief (Semicolon Ambivalent Review here), but I didn’t really get what all the fuss was about. A few of the others sound intriguing.

Kirkus Reviews’ Best Children’s Books of 2006. Again, The Book Thief is the only one of these I’ve read, but I’ll probably get around to several of the others thanks to the Cybils.

New York Times 100 Notable Books of the Year 2006. I haven’t read a single one of the books on this list, and what’s more hardly any of them sound very interesting. I might read a couple of the books on the nonfiction list. Can anyone say “The NY Times is out of touch with Real America”?

Amazon Best Books of 2006: Editors’ PicksI’ve actually only read one of these, The Thirteenth Tale, but a couple of them are on my list to read, The Omnivore’s Dilemma and Reading Like a Writer. I haven’t read even one of Amazon’s Top 50 Best Sellers for 2006. Can anyone say, “Sherry’s out of touch with Amazon’s mainstream readers, and proud of it?”

Publisher’s Weekly 100 Best Books of the Year 2006. Same story, I guess I’ve really got to pick up Omnivore’s Dilemma and Mayflower.

Christian Science Monitor Best Fiction of 2006. I haven’t read any of these books either, but I do have The Inheritance of Loss and The Accidental on my list. I even have the latter book on my bedside bookshelf.

Christian Science Monitor Best Nonfiction of 2006. Mayflower is on the list again, and The Worst Hard Time by Timothy Egan sounds interesting.

Washington Post Best Books of 2006, Fiction and Nonfiction I did read The Secret River by Kate Grenville, and although it was rather violent, I thought it gave a vivid picture of the British colonization of Australia.

School Library Journal’s Best of 2006. We’re back to children’s and young adult books. Thanks to the Cybils, I’ve read or am reading several of these books: Yellow Star, Framed, Fly By Night, and, one more time, The Book Thief.

John Wilson (Books and Culture) Top Ten Books of 2006. This list is a different one from a different point of view; I had never even heard of any of the books oon thie list. However, I’m going to add at lest one of them to my list, Crisis of Doubt: Honest Faith in Nineteenth-Century England, by Timothy Larsen. Mr. Wilson says this book tells the story of the Victorians who moved from doubt to faith rather than the opposite.

Slate picks the Best Books of 2006. Editors and columnists each pick one or two favorite books from 2006. I didn’t see any of these on anyone else’s list, nor have I read any of them. So, it’s a distinctive list with a couple of pearls among the swine.

Economist.com Books of the Year 2006. I thought this list was one of the best of the lot, even though I haven’t read any of the books on it either. I found several that I want to read, however, including biographies of Thomas Hardy and George III, a couple of books on why foreign aid doesn’t work so well, a history of Wal-mart, the Omnivore again, and a book called Will and Me: How Shakespeare Took Over My Life.

Framed by Frank Cottrell Boyce

Dec8

Maybe Tom was right. Maybe the paintings weren’t just paintings. Manod had changed a lot since the paintings arrived. Maybe the paintings were like mutagen, changing the town. Maybe we were living in Ninja Manod!!

So there you have it. Framed is a kid caper comedy about Fine Art and Mutant Ninja Turtles. And small town life. And slate mines. And insurance fraud. And family unity.


Mr. Boyce says “Framed was inspired by a news story he’d read in an old scrapbook. During the Second World War, a collection of valuable paintings from the National Gallery was hidden in a slate mine for safekeeping. He couldn’t resist imagining how all that great art might have affected the people who lived near the mine.” Frank Cottrell Boyce is a screenwriter, and I could see that influence in the book. I kept thinking this book would make a good movie. It turns out that Boyce’s first book, Millions, was a movie. I’ve never seen it, but I might look it up.

At any rate, Framed is a funny story. The setting, the small town of Manod, Wales, sort of reminds me of Petticoat Junction with all the requisite characters, including a butcher who’s afraid of liver and a pair of sisters who share the driving since “Miss Edna can see but she can’t drive,” and “Miss Elsa can drive but she can’t see.” Then there’s Daft Tom who collects Mutant Ninja Turtle gear: T-shirts, videos, collectors’ cards, lunch boxes, models of the four turtles, and a full-size strap-on Turtle shell. Sheep run wild, but the distinguishing feature of Manod is its greyness. It’s all grey because it’s perched on the side of Manod Mountain, this great big mountain covered with slate, grey slate. Dylan, the dim-witted but loveable hero of our story, is rather fond of Manod, even if he is the only boy who lives there and consequently has to wait ten years or so for his baby brother Max to grow up before he can play a decent game of soccer.

So, Framed has Setting and Characters and Plot and Humor. What else does it need? Throw in a few mutant turtles and a lot of cars and a few masterpieces by Michaelanglo and Monet, and you’ve got an entertaining mix. The British/kid slang is a bit thick. If you’re NOT British, and you know the meaning of all the following terms, you’re legend. Get yourself a packet of crisps.

1. legend, as in “Ma made a legend breakfast.”

2. pillock

3. hectic, as in “That’d be hectic.”

4. nuddy

5. get nicked

6. a kick-around

7. packet of crisps

8. beastier, as in “DDS is even beastier.”

9. ticking over

10. trunk sale

Framed is one of the many good books nominated for the Cybil Award for Middle Grade Fiction.

Advent: December 8

Dec8

Read Brenda’s story.

After reading that story, I am humbled. I think I need so much —health, money, gifts for everyone, children who behave perfectly, a husband who reads my mind. Paul said, “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” And didn’t He supply all we need at Christmas, a Saviour who is sufficient?

All the rest is gravy . . .

Friday’s Center of the Blogosphere

Dec8

Another solution for Lost Sock Syndrome. One of my dear daughters just wears whatever socks are available and clean in her drawer, whether they match or not, mostly not.

Here’s a very practical post by Joe Carter on How To Change Your Mind. I’m planning to follow his plan and see what happens. Tell me if you do it, and if so, what the results are.

Cher Smith is (almost) lost without LOST. I will admit going through some withdrawal pangs on Wednesday evenings, but I find it hard to believe that any writers will be able to resolve fifty loose ends in the plot, which is what somebody says they’ve left.

Gift-buying Tips for Men from Ian’s Messy Desk. That would be gifts for men, not gifts that men buy for others.

Advent: December 7

Dec7

Every year on this date, my mom would ask me, “Do you know what today is?”

“Christmas? Almost Christmas? The beginning of Christmas?”



I eventually learned that December 7th has nothing to do with Christmas. Go here for an article by Maggie Hogan on commemorating this “date which will live in infamy” in your homeschool.

The book Early Sunday Morning: The Pearl Harbor Diary of Amber Billows, Hawaii, 1941 by Barry Denenberg is one of the Dear America series from Scholastic. Go here for more information on the book and some activities to accompany it.

Other books for children and young adults:
Air Raid–Pearl Harbor!: The Story of December 7, 1941 by Theodore Taylor

A Boy at War: A Novel of Pearl Harbor by Harry Mazer

World War II for Kids: A History with 21 Activities by Richard Panchyk

Links:
Phil at Brandywine Books: The Last Survivors of Pearl Harbor.

Michelle Malkin: Remembering Pearl Harbor.

George Grant posts Franklin Roosevelt’s December 8th “Date Which Will Live in Infamy” speech, broadcast on radio worldwide.

From Hawaii, Palm Tree Pundit comments and links to a few others who remember this date.

Book-spotting #23

Dec7

A list of Christian classics from Julie at Happy Catholic.

Not exactly book-spotting, but I just found out that Ken Myers of Mars Hill Audio has a podcast blog.
In the latest issue of Audition, “Ken Myers talks with Ralph Wood and Alan Jacobs about the power and meaning of James’s fiction, specifically of the themes raised in the bleak (but finally hopeful) story now adapted for the screen by Alfonzo Cuaron, Children of Men.”

Kim at Hiraeth is collecting book piles. Go over and take a look at her books of 2006, and then share yours. I can’t participate because most of my books came from the library, but it looks like fun.

Jeri Westerson posts a list of her favorite books. There are some great reads on this list and a few that I must add to my list.

Advent: December 6

Dec6


Take a look at Lindsay’s seasonal blog, Advent for Evangelicals. She’s collecting stories, ideas, crafts, all sorts of helps for evangelicals (and others) who are challenged in the area of celebrating advent.

We’ve decided to go with Cindy’s idea of listening to portions of Handel’s Messiah and discussing those scripture portions that Handel put to music. I found this unit study on Handel and The Messiah with some helpful ideas.

Fly By Night by Frances Hardinge

Dec6

“When words take flight, heroes are born.”

“Imagine a world in which all books have been BANNED.”

There you have the taglines, the story in a nutshell. Fly By Night is all about words and books and freedom of speech and wild heroics. It’s also full of plot twists, memorable characters, fantastical adventures, spies and secrets. Lots of spies and secrets.

In her first novel, Frances Hardinge drops her readers into The Fractured Realm, home of Mosca Mye and her homicidal goose, Saracen. The fractures are real; Mosca compares her country’s politics to a broken honey pot in which the pieces are held together by a fragile bond of honey that will come spilling out whenever any pressure might come to bear. The politics and religious controversies are a bit complicated, and it takes a dedicated reader to get far enough into the book to get it all straight. I found the story fascinating, and so it wasn’t hard for me to fit all the clues together to get a picture of a fantasy land where several religious/political groups are locked in a stasis of power. Any number of events could upset the delicate balance of political power in the kingdom; even the actions of a girl from a small town on the frontier of the country could influence the course of history.

This book reminded me of the Westmark books of Loyd Alexander; it made Betsy at A Fuse #8 Production think of Leon Garfield’s zany Victorian crooks and characters. If you want more information, read her review from last February. She’s a real fan(atic) about the book.

Once again, this book is one of the many good books nominated for the Cybil Award for Middle Grade Fiction.

Yellow Star by Jennifer Roy

Dec5

This afternoon Brown Bear Daughter inhaled this story of a little Jewish girl who survived life during World War II in the Lodz ghetto, and I read it myself in one sitting a few days ago. It’s not a long read, 227 pages, and the prose text is arranged in an almost poetic form such that each page only has about a hundred words. So it doesn’t take long to read, but it does pack an emotional punch.

Ms. Roy wrote the book based on the true story of her Aunt Sylvia Perlmutter, who was one of only twelve children who survived the Lodz ghetto in Poland. If you read the introduction or know anything about the Holocaust, you know from the beginning that there are difficult things coming in this book. I hesitated to give it to my eleven year old daughter because I didn’t know how it would affect her emotionally. However, she read it, said it was a good book, and didn’t seem too disturbed. I was the one who mourned as I read for all those children who didn’t survive —and even for those who did.

The Jewish refrain in relation to the Holocaust is, “Never forget!” However, we’re always only one generation away from forgetting what horrors man can perpetrate upon other men. I don’t know what at what age a child is old enough to learn about the horrors of the Holocaust, but I agree that we must not forget that “civilized” man is only one step away from barbarous acts of cruelty. And at some point even our children need to know that sin and evil are real.

They also need hope, and Jennifer Roy manages to tell a story that is filled with tragedy and yet leaves the reader with hope. As the story begins in the fall of 1939, little Sylvia is four and a half years old. On January 20, 1945, the day after she and her family are liberated from the ghetto, Sylvia celebrates her tenth birthday. By the time she is ten, Sylvia has seen and experienced things that most of us have, thankfully, only read about. She goes on to live a full life, marriage, a son, grandchildren. For over fifty years she doesn’t talk about her experiences during World War II. Finally, she tells her niece in a series of telephone interviews what she remembers of what happened to her and her family during the Holocaust.

It’s a story worth reading and remembering.

Again, this book is one of the many good books nominated for the Cybil Award for Middle Grade Fiction.