Summary: Before you walk past Me & Jack by Danette Haworth, let me just put your mind at ease – the dog on the cover doesn’t die. Because, let’s face it, most dog & boy stories (as Gordon Korman points out in No More Dead Dogs) end with the dog dying. The ending in Me & Jack is, thankfully, dog-death free.
Don’t think that means that this is a happy little story of a boy and his dog. Me & Jack is full of heart-wrenching and frustrating conflicts suffered by characters that I, as a reader, quickly grew attached to and felt very sympathetic toward.
Joshua Reed is an Army brat growing up during the Vietnam War. His father is a recruiter, and his job is taking them to yet another new town with a new start. Josh is excited when he quickly makes a new friend, Ray, and his dad lets him get a dog. Jack, with his oddly glowing ears and understanding eyes is exactly what Josh wants in a dog; loyal, playful, and protective of his boy.
Ray & Josh get along great, but Ray’s cousin, Alan, seems determined to hate Josh and Jack, and does everything he can to make Josh’s life hard. To make matters worse, Jack is being blamed for all sorts of mayhem in the town, from tipped garbage cans to dead livestock, and Josh’s dad is finding many people turning against him because of the rising casualties of the troops serving in Vietnam.
Can Josh & Ray remain friends even though Alan is determined to ruin everything? Will Josh be able to prove that Jack is not the menace that many believe he is or will he be forced to give up his new companion?
Themes:
Family
Fairness
Standing up for those you love
Age Appropriateness:
10 and up
Areas of concern (content):
Foul Language: none
Nudity/Adult Content: none
Violence: mild
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Monday, September 26, 2011
Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson
Alcatraz vs. The Evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson is, hands down, my favorite Sunshine State Book of the year. This book is just fun and perfect for middle grades and teen readers! The humor in it is tinged with adolescent sarcasm, and has Lemony Snickett-esque warnings and asides to the reader sprinkled throughout the story. I will definitely being looking for more books from this author, and I hope that the series will continue to be as enjoyable as this first book.
Summary: Alcatraz Smedry has spent his life shuffling from one foster home to another thanks to his uncanny ability to break things. In his latest home, he has just caught fire to the kitchen when some even more shocking and destructive events suddenly take over his life.
Alcatraz escapes a man attempting to kill him and joins forces with a crazy man who claims to be his grandfather in order to claim his inheritance, which he had both received and had stolen in the same day. Alcatraz discovers that he is one in a long, distinguished line of Smedry family members who are Oculators (a job that involves wearing some very powerful glasses) with Talents, and the family business is….well, it’s a little hard to explain.
Basically, the world as you, dear reader, know it is ruled by a vast librarian cult who controls the populace by controlling the information we have access to. Librarian-controlled lands are, appropriately enough, called the Hushlands. The Smedry family, along with other freedom fighters, is working to prevent the librarians from taking over the remaining Free Kingdoms.
Alcatraz’s inheritance, a bag of very special sand that his father has painstakingly collected over the years, must be retrieved from the librarians before they can create lenses with it – for the lenses created could have untold powers! Can Alcatraz, his grandfather, and a few other brave souls infiltrate the library and recover the sands before they can be used against the Free Kingdoms? Are dinosaurs really British? And what is up with the random repetition of “rutabaga?” And how can being late be considered a life-saving talent? Read Alcatraz vs. The Evil Librarians to find out!
Themes:
Courage
Family
Self-discovery
Age Appropriateness:
10 and up
Areas of concern (content):
Foul Language: none
Nudity/Adult Content: none
Violence: moderate
Summary: Alcatraz Smedry has spent his life shuffling from one foster home to another thanks to his uncanny ability to break things. In his latest home, he has just caught fire to the kitchen when some even more shocking and destructive events suddenly take over his life.
Alcatraz escapes a man attempting to kill him and joins forces with a crazy man who claims to be his grandfather in order to claim his inheritance, which he had both received and had stolen in the same day. Alcatraz discovers that he is one in a long, distinguished line of Smedry family members who are Oculators (a job that involves wearing some very powerful glasses) with Talents, and the family business is….well, it’s a little hard to explain.
Basically, the world as you, dear reader, know it is ruled by a vast librarian cult who controls the populace by controlling the information we have access to. Librarian-controlled lands are, appropriately enough, called the Hushlands. The Smedry family, along with other freedom fighters, is working to prevent the librarians from taking over the remaining Free Kingdoms.
Alcatraz’s inheritance, a bag of very special sand that his father has painstakingly collected over the years, must be retrieved from the librarians before they can create lenses with it – for the lenses created could have untold powers! Can Alcatraz, his grandfather, and a few other brave souls infiltrate the library and recover the sands before they can be used against the Free Kingdoms? Are dinosaurs really British? And what is up with the random repetition of “rutabaga?” And how can being late be considered a life-saving talent? Read Alcatraz vs. The Evil Librarians to find out!
Themes:
Courage
Family
Self-discovery
Age Appropriateness:
10 and up
Areas of concern (content):
Foul Language: none
Nudity/Adult Content: none
Violence: moderate
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Scat by Carl Hiaasen
Summary: Scat by Carl Hiaasen is a fun and exciting read. Hiaasen is an author who is able to write books for both adults (Sick Puppy) and children (Scat, Hoot, Flush), and does both with great success. (Mr. Grisham, you could learn a little something from our friend Carl!)
In Scat, Hiaasen stays in his beloved Florida and introduces us to a cast of interesting and realistic characters: Nick is a baseball playing school kid whose dad has been injured fighting in the Middle East, Marta is his friend and a straight-arrow, follow the rules kind of girl. They become entangled in a mystery when their biology teacher, Mrs. Starch, disappears after a field trip into the Black Vine Swamp; a field trip that is interrupted by a mysterious fire that turns out to be arson! The prime suspect: their classmate, Smoke, who has a history of lighting fires.
Where is Mrs. Starch? Who is the strange guy that refers to her as “Aunt Bunny?” And what is the Red Diamond Energy Corporation doing in the swamp? Could it have anything to do with the endangered panther that Nick thinks he heard on the day of the field trip?
Hiaasen delivers another great mystery for kids involving corrupt businessmen, eco-warriors, and kids who are just trying to do the right thing. Scat is also full of chuckles and twists that keep the reader guessing, making it a hard to put down read.
Themes:
Protecting endangered species
Standing up for what is right
Friendship
Choices
Family
Age Appropriateness:
11 and up
Areas of concern (content):
Foul Language: none
Nudity/Adult Content: very mild nonsexual
Violence: moderate
In Scat, Hiaasen stays in his beloved Florida and introduces us to a cast of interesting and realistic characters: Nick is a baseball playing school kid whose dad has been injured fighting in the Middle East, Marta is his friend and a straight-arrow, follow the rules kind of girl. They become entangled in a mystery when their biology teacher, Mrs. Starch, disappears after a field trip into the Black Vine Swamp; a field trip that is interrupted by a mysterious fire that turns out to be arson! The prime suspect: their classmate, Smoke, who has a history of lighting fires.
Where is Mrs. Starch? Who is the strange guy that refers to her as “Aunt Bunny?” And what is the Red Diamond Energy Corporation doing in the swamp? Could it have anything to do with the endangered panther that Nick thinks he heard on the day of the field trip?
Hiaasen delivers another great mystery for kids involving corrupt businessmen, eco-warriors, and kids who are just trying to do the right thing. Scat is also full of chuckles and twists that keep the reader guessing, making it a hard to put down read.
Themes:
Protecting endangered species
Standing up for what is right
Friendship
Choices
Family
Age Appropriateness:
11 and up
Areas of concern (content):
Foul Language: none
Nudity/Adult Content: very mild nonsexual
Violence: moderate
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