Title: The Seventh Most Important Thing
Author: Shelley Pearsall
Genre: historical fiction
Similar books: Framed by Frank Cottrell Boyce
What I Came to Tell You by Tommy Hays
Rating:
 |
| nice, but a little odd |
Summary: In a moment of frustration, Arthur threw a brick at the Junk Man, hitting him in the arm. Arthur expects to be sent to juvie. Luckily, the Junk Man speaks to the judge on his behalf and Arthur is sentenced to probation instead: 120 hours helping the Junk Man with his mysterious project. Arthur will be spending his weekend hunting for light bulbs, foil, mirrors, cardboard, coffee cans, glass bottles, and wood. He thinks the Junk Man is crazy. He's about to discover a much more amazing secret.
My Opinion: Initially, this is a rather odd, if charming, book. That oddness is softened when you learn that the Throne is a real piece of art. So, this seemingly bizarre concept has a root in reality. Is James and odd, perhaps mentally ill, character? Certainly, but that may well have been reality as well. I liked how working on the piece, and even more so finding the materials, was symbolic of Arthur's brokenness and search for meaning. Not the best book I've ever read and perhaps a hard sell to young readers but a nice story if you're willing to stick it out.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley.
This craft comes from a variety of coincidences. Some time ago I got a bag of coffee. This particular coffee happened to come in a shiny blue bag with an applied label. It begged to be used in a craft, so when the coffee was gone I cleaned out the bag and tucked it away to use eventually. After several months I finally decided that I wanted to make it into a pouch (probably for pencils since I never carry a clutch purse). I envisioned making the sides out of duct tape. I just didn't have any tape with the right color combination. Then just last week I was given the perfect colored tape. It took a little fiddling but here's the completed pouch.
Warning: This review contains mild spoilers!
Title: Everything, Everything
Author: Nicola Yoon
Genre: realistic fiction
Similar books: Because You'll Never Meet Me by Leah Thomas
Hold Me like a Breath by Tiffany Schmidt
Rating:
 |
| a charming page-turner |
Summary: Maddy never leaves the house and she's okay with that. Suffering from SCID, she's essentially allergic to the entire world. She's accepted her life as it stands until a new family moves in next door and she sees Olly for the first time. Olly is an enigma and Maddy is fascinated. For the first time, she finds herself thinking of leaving, accepting almost certain death for a day or two of life in the larger world.
Mild spoilers ahead.
My opinion: This book starts out as a fairly standard doomed love story. In some ways, you can't help but wonder of his inaccessibility is part of what attracts Maddy to Olly. So long as they are separated by her illness, he remains perfect and can't let her down. He can be her ideal. Personally, I found Maddy's actions mystifying. She doesn't seem to take the threats to her life very seriously. It was one thing to ask for Olly to be able to visit as her tutor does. Even their brief touches seemed like a halfway reasonable risk. It was her sudden decision to go outside and then to fly to Hawaii, a near certain death sentence, that bothered me. And then, when nothing seemed to hurt her, even the recycled air and close quarters on the plane, my suspension of disbelief began to fail me. Of course, the twist ending resolves many of those concerns with halfway logical explanations. The characters are mostly likeable and believable (though somewhat idealized at times). What really sells this book for me is the format. While the bulk of the book is standard 3rd person omniscient, there are instant message logs, book spoilers, images, and more that really take us into Maddy's world and make this a memorable read.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley.
Little Robot by Ben Hatke
This most recent effort from Hatke is probably closer to his Julia's House for Lost Creatures than his Zita the Spacegirl trilogy. This book has sparse dialogue and rather detailed, expansive illustrations. This lends it a deceptively simple air but leaves a great deal of room for interpretation. It is an imaginative tale that leaves us with just as many questions as answers. The illustrations have Hatke's signature appealing style.
Title: Smart and Spineless
Author: Ann Downer
Personally, I'd never really considered the intellectual capacity of most animals, not to mention invertebrates (apart from jellyfish - I'd wondered on more than one occasion how they can even live without brains and with so little body structure). This book was, therefore, pretty eyeopening. It really challenges our perceptions of what makes something intelligent. If worms, with only two brain cells, are capable of learning, we have no choice but to look at all life differently going forward. While the ideas in this book are surprisingly thought-provoking, the vocabulary and the sentence structure is rather easy to understand. Really, it's a good choice for upper elementary school and middle grade kids just looking to learn a few facts about some animals.
Title: Whippoorwill
Author: Joseph Monninger
Genre: realistic fiction
Similar books: Stay With Me by Paul Griffin
Made of Stars by Kelly York
Rating:
 |
| Nice enough |
Summary: Clair has always tried to ignore her neighbors: their comings and goings, their loud arguments, and all of the junk in their yard. Then they chain up a dog in their yard, only paying him attention to occasionally mistreat him. Clair can't stand to see the dog so desperate for attention that he even loves this abuse. Her efforts to help Wally capture the attention Danny, the boy next door, and forges a connection between them that neither expected.
My opinion: This book makes a comparison between dogs and people, this idea that what we put into our pets and our children is largely what we get out of them. So, there are some interesting parallels between Danny and Wally. Meanwhile Monninger also paints a clear contrast between Danny's and Clair's fathers, who's situations are similar but their responses are far different. While the ideas explored in the novel are fascinating, the plot is relatively simple and the characters don't have a great deal of depth. Interesting but predictable.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley.
School is nearly back in session around here and that means it's time to prepare for our after-school programs. For me, that largely means planning our puppet program. I've been working on examples, making sure our planned puppets will work for our standard group. One I wanted to try this year is the Coaster Creature from the book Puppet Mania!, a simple puppet using basic craft foam shapes but with a lot of room for personalization. This is the puppet I came up with.
I'm pretty happy with my Harry Potter puppet and it lead me to two conclusions.
1. We will definitely be making Coaster Creatures. They're easy enough for little kids to make and operate but can be complicated if a kid is willing to put in the time.
2. I will definitely discourage the kids from making recognizable characters. It's very difficult to make a familiar face fit the necessary shape and the curve of the puppet makes a strange distortion in the face. I spent probably half an hour drawing and redrawing my pattern just to get it this recognizable and the features are still out of proportion.
