Author/Illustrator: Ian Falconer
Book Summary: Olivia and her family take a vacation to Venice, Italy. After spending a few adventurous days taking in the historical sights, riding a gondola, feeding pigeons and eating lots of gelato, Olivia wants to get a souvenir. She considers a mask and perfume, but decides they are just not her. Just before it's time to leave, Olivia settles on a rock from the bell tower in the Piazzo San Marco, which leaves a lasting impression on Venice.
Book Review: Olivia fans will love her latest adventure in Olivia Goes to Venice which takes her across the ocean to Italy. The adorable, spunky pig takes delight in all her experiences. She is "very pleased" to be searched for weapons at the airport. She is both excited and relieved to find out there is no shortage of pizza and ice cream in Italy. Seeing the Grand Canal is so "life-changing" that she needs several gelatos to recover. Ian Falconer fills the pages with photos (some digitally enhanced) of Venetian landmarks and plenty of comic relief.
Interest Level: Pre-K - 1st grade
AR Level: 2.7 (worth .5 points)
Lexile Level: 520
Profanity:
None
Potentially Inappropriate References:
None
Potentially Inappropriate Behavior:
None
Parental Concern Rating: 0 out of 5
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Diary of a Wimpy Kid - The Ugly Truth
By Jeff Kinney
Book Summary: Growing up is hard and Greg Heffley is about to find out just how hard. The baby egg experiment, boy/girl parties, the "talk" from grandma, stinky pits and P.E. showers are all a part of Greg's junior high life in the newest edition of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. The only thing missing is Rowley, who for some unknown reason is not speaking to Greg anymore. Greg can't even remember why, but that's Rowley's problem because Greg is determined to replace his best friend and get through the school year without him.
Book Review: No one does slices of tween-age life better than Jeff Kinney. Kinney covers it all in the fifth Diary of a Wimpy Kid, this time revealing the ugly truth, growing up stinks. Avid readers of this book series will not be disappointed as, true to Wimpy Kid style, this edition has no shortage of butts, pimples, and farts. However, parents may pause over the edgier content, which lightly covers puberty. Greg and his classmate have to endure "Advanced Health," and the same sex ed video he's sure his dad watched thirty years ago. "I'm not going to describe everything that they showed in the video, because it was actually pretty disgusting. If you ask me, some of that stuff doesn't belong in a classroom," writes Greg. The good news is, if your child doesn't know anything about sex, he won't learn it from this book, and if he does, well, he won't learn anything new.
Interest Level: Grades 3 - 8
AR: 5.5 (worth 3 points)
Lexile: 1000
Profanity:
None
Potentially Inappropriate References:
Farts
Butts
Puberty
Potentially Inappropriate Behaviors:
Farting
Rioting in the classroom
Parental Concern Rating: 3 out of 5
Book Summary: Growing up is hard and Greg Heffley is about to find out just how hard. The baby egg experiment, boy/girl parties, the "talk" from grandma, stinky pits and P.E. showers are all a part of Greg's junior high life in the newest edition of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. The only thing missing is Rowley, who for some unknown reason is not speaking to Greg anymore. Greg can't even remember why, but that's Rowley's problem because Greg is determined to replace his best friend and get through the school year without him.
Book Review: No one does slices of tween-age life better than Jeff Kinney. Kinney covers it all in the fifth Diary of a Wimpy Kid, this time revealing the ugly truth, growing up stinks. Avid readers of this book series will not be disappointed as, true to Wimpy Kid style, this edition has no shortage of butts, pimples, and farts. However, parents may pause over the edgier content, which lightly covers puberty. Greg and his classmate have to endure "Advanced Health," and the same sex ed video he's sure his dad watched thirty years ago. "I'm not going to describe everything that they showed in the video, because it was actually pretty disgusting. If you ask me, some of that stuff doesn't belong in a classroom," writes Greg. The good news is, if your child doesn't know anything about sex, he won't learn it from this book, and if he does, well, he won't learn anything new.
Interest Level: Grades 3 - 8
AR: 5.5 (worth 3 points)
Lexile: 1000
Profanity:
None
Potentially Inappropriate References:
Farts
Butts
Puberty
Potentially Inappropriate Behaviors:
Farting
Rioting in the classroom
Parental Concern Rating: 3 out of 5
Saturday, November 27, 2010
The Curious Garden Book Review
By Peter Brown
Book Summary: Liam lives in a gloomy, depressing city where nothing grows, and people stay inside. Liam finds a patch of wildflowers high above the city on an abandoned railway during his daily walk. "When he took a closer look, it became clear that the plants were dying. They needed a gardener." Liam decides he can help. "The flowers nearly drowned and he had a few pruning problems, but the plants patiently waited while Liam found better ways of gardening." As wildflowers often do, they begin to spread. They transform the dreary city into a beautiful city of color.
Book Review: The Curious Garden starts out much like the garden itself, dying for light and happiness. It doesn't take long to find hope in the little patch of dying wildflowers. Excitement follows as Liam learns to grow the garden. The painted pictures highlight the transformation from dreary to cheery. Dark, muted pictures depict a sad city and a bored Liam. As the garden grows, so does the color. Liam's gray coat is replaced by bright shirts. The hazy gray sky becomes blue. This is a beautiful story that, without preaching, shows children what can be accomplished with a little effort.
Interest Level: Pre-K - 3
AR Level: 4.4 (.5 points)
Lexile Level: AD840L
Profanity:
None
Potentially Inappropriate References:
None
Potentially Inappropriate Behaviors:
None
Parental Concern Rating:
0 (scale 0-5)
Book Summary: Liam lives in a gloomy, depressing city where nothing grows, and people stay inside. Liam finds a patch of wildflowers high above the city on an abandoned railway during his daily walk. "When he took a closer look, it became clear that the plants were dying. They needed a gardener." Liam decides he can help. "The flowers nearly drowned and he had a few pruning problems, but the plants patiently waited while Liam found better ways of gardening." As wildflowers often do, they begin to spread. They transform the dreary city into a beautiful city of color.
Book Review: The Curious Garden starts out much like the garden itself, dying for light and happiness. It doesn't take long to find hope in the little patch of dying wildflowers. Excitement follows as Liam learns to grow the garden. The painted pictures highlight the transformation from dreary to cheery. Dark, muted pictures depict a sad city and a bored Liam. As the garden grows, so does the color. Liam's gray coat is replaced by bright shirts. The hazy gray sky becomes blue. This is a beautiful story that, without preaching, shows children what can be accomplished with a little effort.
Interest Level: Pre-K - 3
AR Level: 4.4 (.5 points)
Lexile Level: AD840L
Profanity:
None
Potentially Inappropriate References:
None
Potentially Inappropriate Behaviors:
None
Parental Concern Rating:
0 (scale 0-5)
Saturday, November 6, 2010
One Crazy Summer
By Rita Williams-Garcia
Summary: Eleven-year-old, Delphine and her younger sisters, Vonetta and Fern, travel from New York to California to spend 28 days with the mother that abandoned them. The girls are disappointed to find that their mother, Cecil, doesn't want them there. Cecil sends the girls out each morning to get a free breakfast from the Black Panthers (a group of mostly black people who are fighting for their rights in the 60's) and tells them not to come back till sunset. With nothing better to do, the girls stay for the Black Panther Summer Camp after breakfast. It's not so bad, so they keep coming back. Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern make new friends, go on a few adventures, and learn new things about their mother.
Review: One Crazy Summer is not exactly what the title implies. The title gives the impression that the story will be fun and humorous. It is neither. It is well-written, though. One Crazy Summer shares details of life as a black person in the 60's, and, in greater detail, the life of three young black girls surviving in an unstable and unsafe environment. Rita Williams-Garcia has created characters that are so thoroughly developed that you will think you actually know them. It is the kind of story that readers will not want to wait to finish.
Interst Level: 3-6
AR Level: 4.6 (worth 7 pts.)
Lexile Level: 750
Profanity:
None
Potentially Inappropriate References:
None
Potentially Inappropriate Behavior:
None
Parental Concern Rating:
0
Summary: Eleven-year-old, Delphine and her younger sisters, Vonetta and Fern, travel from New York to California to spend 28 days with the mother that abandoned them. The girls are disappointed to find that their mother, Cecil, doesn't want them there. Cecil sends the girls out each morning to get a free breakfast from the Black Panthers (a group of mostly black people who are fighting for their rights in the 60's) and tells them not to come back till sunset. With nothing better to do, the girls stay for the Black Panther Summer Camp after breakfast. It's not so bad, so they keep coming back. Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern make new friends, go on a few adventures, and learn new things about their mother.
Review: One Crazy Summer is not exactly what the title implies. The title gives the impression that the story will be fun and humorous. It is neither. It is well-written, though. One Crazy Summer shares details of life as a black person in the 60's, and, in greater detail, the life of three young black girls surviving in an unstable and unsafe environment. Rita Williams-Garcia has created characters that are so thoroughly developed that you will think you actually know them. It is the kind of story that readers will not want to wait to finish.
Interst Level: 3-6
AR Level: 4.6 (worth 7 pts.)
Lexile Level: 750
Profanity:
None
Potentially Inappropriate References:
None
Potentially Inappropriate Behavior:
None
Parental Concern Rating:
0
Monday, October 18, 2010
The Quiet Book
By Deborah Underwood
Illustrated by Renata Liwska
Summary: A collection of different kinds of quiet, some of which are random. Others tell a story if you pay attention to the pictures.
Review: The Quiet Book is possibly the sweetest, definitely the quietest, book of 2010. Cuddly animals demonstrate the many different kinds of quiet of a child's life, such as "Making a wish quiet," and "Thinking of a good reason you were writing on the wall quiet." The text is simple, using only a few words per page. Some say The Quiet Book is Caldecott (an award given for excellent artwork in a children's book) worthy, and I agree. The pictures create their own sense of quiet with the use of Earth tones and soft texture. The animal characters are perfectly depicted with expressive faces and childlike qualities. The Quiet Book is different in the very best way.
Interest Level: PreK-2
Profanity:
None
Potentially Offensive References:
None
Potentially Offensive Behavior:
None
Parental Concern Rating:
0 out of 5
Illustrated by Renata Liwska
Summary: A collection of different kinds of quiet, some of which are random. Others tell a story if you pay attention to the pictures.
Review: The Quiet Book is possibly the sweetest, definitely the quietest, book of 2010. Cuddly animals demonstrate the many different kinds of quiet of a child's life, such as "Making a wish quiet," and "Thinking of a good reason you were writing on the wall quiet." The text is simple, using only a few words per page. Some say The Quiet Book is Caldecott (an award given for excellent artwork in a children's book) worthy, and I agree. The pictures create their own sense of quiet with the use of Earth tones and soft texture. The animal characters are perfectly depicted with expressive faces and childlike qualities. The Quiet Book is different in the very best way.
Interest Level: PreK-2
Profanity:
None
Potentially Offensive References:
None
Potentially Offensive Behavior:
None
Parental Concern Rating:
0 out of 5
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Swindle
By Gordon Korman
Summary: When Griffin finds an old baseball card in an abandoned house, he knows it's worth a lot of money. A lot of money is just what his family needs right now. His father is out of work and spending his time working a revolutionary invention, that hasn't exactly swept the nation's interest. Griffin takes his card to sell it to a memorabilia collector, but is told the card is not worth nearly what Griffin thinks it is. Griffin takes a deal of $100 for the card, only to find out later it's going to be auctioned off for somewhere around two million dollars! Griffin has been swindled by the king of swindles, S. Wendell Palomino, but Griffin isn't going to take his loss and go away. Griffin, with the help of his friends, plans and carries out a heist to get the card back. Things, of course, do not go as planned, but in the end Griffin and his friends get the card back from Palomino, but they don't get to keep it.
Review: Swindle incorporates humor, mystery, adventure, and drama in a story that will have readers rooting for revenge. Korman's knack for creating characters readers can relate to, or to someone they know, makes his stories all the more believable. Descriptive scenes allow readers to feel the action as if they were right there. Although the end seemed rushed and tied up in too neat a bow, the overall story is captivating and actually makes you want the little thieves to succeed, even though you know what they are doing is wrong, wrong, wrong.
Interest Level: 3rd-6th
AR Level: 4.9
Lexile Level: 710
Profanity:
None
Potentially Inappropriate References:
None
Potentially Inappropriate Behavior:
Kids make and implement a detailed plan to commit two robberies
Lying to adults (parents, teacher, stranger)
Torch a safe open, disable alarm systems
Talk about how to handle a police interrogation (what to say)
Lie to police
Parental Concern Rating:
4 of out 5
Summary: When Griffin finds an old baseball card in an abandoned house, he knows it's worth a lot of money. A lot of money is just what his family needs right now. His father is out of work and spending his time working a revolutionary invention, that hasn't exactly swept the nation's interest. Griffin takes his card to sell it to a memorabilia collector, but is told the card is not worth nearly what Griffin thinks it is. Griffin takes a deal of $100 for the card, only to find out later it's going to be auctioned off for somewhere around two million dollars! Griffin has been swindled by the king of swindles, S. Wendell Palomino, but Griffin isn't going to take his loss and go away. Griffin, with the help of his friends, plans and carries out a heist to get the card back. Things, of course, do not go as planned, but in the end Griffin and his friends get the card back from Palomino, but they don't get to keep it.
Review: Swindle incorporates humor, mystery, adventure, and drama in a story that will have readers rooting for revenge. Korman's knack for creating characters readers can relate to, or to someone they know, makes his stories all the more believable. Descriptive scenes allow readers to feel the action as if they were right there. Although the end seemed rushed and tied up in too neat a bow, the overall story is captivating and actually makes you want the little thieves to succeed, even though you know what they are doing is wrong, wrong, wrong.
Interest Level: 3rd-6th
AR Level: 4.9
Lexile Level: 710
Profanity:
None
Potentially Inappropriate References:
None
Potentially Inappropriate Behavior:
Kids make and implement a detailed plan to commit two robberies
Lying to adults (parents, teacher, stranger)
Torch a safe open, disable alarm systems
Talk about how to handle a police interrogation (what to say)
Lie to police
Parental Concern Rating:
4 of out 5
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Speak (Banned Book)
By Laurie Halse Anderson
Summary: High School freshman Melinda Sardino had a traumatic summer. She was raped at a party by an older kid from her new school. She instinctively called the police, but said nothing when they answered. She ran when she saw the flashing lights, but not before people noticed she'd been on the phone. Now it seems the whole high school is talking about how Melinda ruined the party. Some torment her. Other's just whisper behind her back. All her friends dump her. She is an outcast. Melinda tries to bury that night and ignore her feelings. She stops speaking. It's not so much a conscious decision to stop, it's just that she doesn't know what to say and even if she did, she doesn't think anyone will listen. So, she says nothing at all. As the school year progresses, Melinda slowly begins to find her voice again. She starts to face what happened to her and comes to terms with what it really was, a crime. Eventually, she is forced to face her attacker, but this time she fights back and as a result exposes him and gains the respect of her classmates.
Review: Speak is maybe one of the best written books I've ever read. It is a fast-paced, pager turner. It is not the type of book I would pick to read for fun. I do not like dark subject matters. But Anderson takes a very sad story and infuses it with realism and sarcasm and, yes, even humor. The character, Melinda, is authentic and even if you can't relate to her situation (and I sincerely hope you can't), you will empathize with it. Readers get the payoff they are waiting for when Melinda takes back control of her life and comes out a winner.
My Two Cents: Speak is more than a decade old, but still gets a lot of attention. It is #60 on the American Library Association's Banned Book List for 2000-2009. Just this past week a Dr.Wesley Scoggins blogged that Speak and a couple other books should not be allowed in Missouri schools. He argued Speak is essentially "soft pornography," because it depicts two scenes of rape (There was technically only one and it was tame, believe me), and because the character comments that the cheerleaders score more than the basketball team. He goes on to write: "As the main character in the book is alone with a boy who is touching her female parts, she makes the statement that this is what high school is supposed to feel like." This is actually false. The boy is touching her butt (definitely not strictly a female part), which Melinda thinks is rude. Comparing the moment to high school, I believe, has more to do with how fast things are moving at that point. Scoggins references Christian beliefs in his blog and asks, "How can Christian men and women expose children to such immorality?" Rape is immoral, I'll give him that. Using a condom is not. Having sex is not. Maybe what he really objects to is that the character admits, "My parents didn't raise me to be religious."
If you look at this book by the few bad words it says, the rape, and a few shocking comments made by a character who is depressed and angry, Speak looks bad. But Speak is 198 pages and these words and scenes put together would take up two pages at most. All I'm saying is Speak is a story that deserves to be told and you should not let Scoggins or me, or anyone else decide for you if this book is suitable or not suitable for your kids. All I ask is that you read it before you deny the chance to read Speak to your teen.
Interest Level:
8th-12th grade
AR Level:
4.5
Lexile Level:
680
Profanity:
Pissed
Asshole
Whore
Potentially Inappropriate References:
Trojans - reference to condoms
Abortion - referenced when the character talks about cheerleaders getting abortions in mass after prom
Slit my throat - not a literal reference
Get it up -
Potentially Inappropriate Behavior:
Rape
Bullying
Knee to the back
Pulled hair
Violent fight involving choking and a shard of glass held to a person's throat
Parental Concern Rating:
5 out of 5
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