Spiderwick Chronicles, volume 3,
Lucinda's Secret by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black. Children's Fiction. DONE. Action! Tension! Humor! I hope my hold request for volume 4 comes in soon because I don't like not knowing what will happen next in this series.
The Hungry Thing Returns by Ann Seidler, Jan Slepian, and Richard Martin. Children's Fiction. DONE. I have not read the original, but this sequel can stand alone. It has an animal who says almost the right thing, then people have to try to figure out what he is saying by thinking of rhyming words. Kids like figuring out the answers and the baby Hungry Thing elicits an "aah" response.
Riverworld, To Your Scattered Bodies Go by Philip Jose Farmer. Adult Science Fiction. Hugo Award Winner for Best Novel of 1972. This has a unique plot, but is rather blasphemous. I can see this being a banned book and it made me a bit uneasy to read, since it seems to dismiss all world religions in one fell swoop. A number of times I thought of not finishing it because it made me feel dirty. I could relate to Alice, the poor Victorian era lady who is appalled that nudity, promiscuity, and violence are the norm without religious restraint. This was also made into a television movie, but based on the immorality of this book, I don't think I will watch it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Your_Scattered_Bodies_GoThe title is derived from the 7th of the "Holy Sonnets" by English poet
John Donne:
At the round earth's imagin'd corners, blow
Your trumpets, angels, and arise, arise
From death, you numberless infinities
Of souls, and to your scattered bodies go.
I liked
Barnstormer in Oz by Farmer better. This shows my prejudice, since I generally like just about all Oz books. Now that I think of it, some scenes in
Barnstormer made me uneasy as well...
Farmer is an effective author, but I would only recommend him to people who are not looking for a "gentle read". I definitely would
not recommend him to conservative home-school type patrons. Personally, I probably won't read any more of his works, but as a librarian I would keep his books on the science fiction shelf with works by many other fine writers.
Kittens, Kittens, Kittens by Susan Meyers and David Walker. Children's fiction. DONE. I don't think I have to tell you what this is about. If you want a book on juvenile felines you know where to look. Not suprisingly, the duo also has a book called
Puppies, Puppies, Puppies.
Three Little Kittens by Anna Alter. Children's fiction. DONE. There is a definite cuteness factor to this telling of the familiar nursery rhyme.
Kitten Red, Yellow, Blue by Peter Catalanotto. Children's fiction. DONE. The author goes through 16 colors of colors that a cat can have. I am not so sure that little children need to know the difference between brown, rust, and tan unless their parents work for Crayola.
Spiderwick Chronicles, volume 4,
The Ironwood Tree by Tony DiTerlizzi and Holly Black. Children's Fiction. DONE. This is my favorite in the series so far. It is probably because it is most like my favorite series of books, the Oz books. The dwarves are definitely similar to Baum's Nomes as portrayed in a number of classic Oz books and the description of the dwarves' lair could come right out of
Ozma of Oz or
Tik-Tok of Oz. The end leaves us wondering how this series will end.
Julius by Syd Hoff. Children's fiction. DONE. This book is very similar to many other Syd Hoff books, so you will like it if you like
Danny and the Dinosaur, et al .
Spiderwick Chronicles, volume 5, The Wrath of Mulgarath by Tony DeTerlizzi and Holly Black. Children's Fiction. DONE. So ends the saga. Somehow I doubt they will leave this series at only 5 books. Now to see the movie...
We're Going on a Lion Hunt by David Axtell. Children's Fiction. DONE. This familiar classic children's song is beautifully illustrated, but the plot is someone lacking.
"We're going on a lion hunt. We're going to catch a big one". Okay. So what do you need to catch a lion? You can capture him on film or capture his corporal body so you need at least one item from list A or list B:
A. Gun. Net. Trident. Spear. Bow. Knife. Bait. Rope.
B. Camera. Camcorder. Cell Phone. Telescope. Binoculars. Opera Glasses.
The children bring: one blue stuffed animal. Now, I can understand if an author doesn't want to have them bringing "my gun, bullets on the side" if he is anti-hunting. He is entitled to his opinions and artistic license is fine, but does he have to present the children as just plain stupid to go to catch a lion with no plan at all? It is too bad that the plot had this hole in it so big that someone could drive a Chevy through it, because the 4 and 5 year olds that I read this to enjoyed the pictures and the rhymes. I would recommend the illustrator as an illustrator, but not as an author, or maybe I should blame the editor for letting this book be published as is.
Great Adventure by Steven Curtis Chapman, Joni Eareckson Tada, Stephen Elkins, and Ellie Colton. Children's Fiction. DONE. The song is great. The pictures are decent. The book is a jumbled mess. They took the Dove Award winning Christian song and added pictures. Okay. That would work. Then they cut the song into pieces, added extra words to make a story and an explanation to go with it, that is supposed to be at about a 4-8 year old comprehension level. That did not work. The pages are arranged so there is a picture, the quote from the song, and the extra words. I didn't know how I was supposed to read this out loud. Maybe one person is supposed to read one part and another person is supposed to read the other part? Having asides like in a Shakespeare play is too sophisticated to spring on a 5 year old. The hopeful, forward-looking song comes across with preachy, overbearing tones. Only the heavily religious patron would find this attractive. Most would not. I wonder if all the books in this "Dove Award Signature Series" are this confusing, or if some are better integrated?
http://www.doveawards.com/Lola at the Library by Anna McQuinn and Rosalind Beardshaw. Children's Fiction. DONE. This book is recommended for 2-3 year olds. A very young girl, maybe 1 1/2 - 2 1/2 years old, loves toddling to the library with mommy for storytime or just to get books. She obviously loves the library and it shows. The little girl is African-American (or maybe African-English, since the writers are British), and the librarian appears to be Hispanic. I am guessing that it is an urban library, since they walk and the library uses modern equipment. It is straightforward and clearly written. A child can know what to expect from a trip to the library with this book. This would be a good one to read on day one of a storytime or in daycare visits.
Ten Little Lambs by Alice B. McGinty and Melissa Sweet. Children's Fiction. DONE. My audience and I were a bit confused because on the first page it showed children going to bed and on the second page it showed that they were lambs instead. This is because the teacher or mother or camp counselor or whoever she is calls them "lambs". (Inside the front cover the description says it is a sleepover party, but the book itself does not say). Once we understood that, we caught on that the lambs/children were falling asleep one by one in this book that uses a classic count-down-from-ten-to-zero idea. It would be a good book to introduce the concept of subtraction or minus along with the "Ten Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed" song or "A Hundred Bottles of Coke on the Wall" song.
http://kids.niehs.nih.gov/lyrics/tenmonk.htmhttp://kids.niehs.nih.gov/music.htm#copyright
