Non-fiction book review: Coding Projects in Python

Coding Projects in Python

I've read a variety of coding books and websites of varying quality. This is a particularly good one. Coding books for children have a tendency to be simplified, often to the point that they are hardly useful. DK, though, has provided young readers with an in depth introduction. Explanations are clear. Loads of examples of the various coding principles. Even more importantly, the examples are more than just code. We're given concrete, applicable uses for these principles, how to use them for creating, say, a game. It's this direct application, not for a particular project (as web guides tend to have) but for a type of project. This is an excellent choice for any kid or adult looking to get started in Python.

Book review - The Road to Winter

Title: The Road to Winter
Author: Mark Smith
Genre: post-apocalypse
Similar books: Parched by Melanie Crowder
                      The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Rating:

a good level of tension

Summary (provided by publisher): Since a deadly virus and the violence that followed wiped out his parents and most of his community, Finn has lived alone on the rugged coast with only his dog Rowdy for company.
He has stayed alive for two winters—hunting and fishing and trading food, and keeping out of sight of the Wilders, an armed and dangerous gang that controls the north, led by a ruthless man named Ramage.
But Finn’s isolation is shattered when a girl runs onto the beach. Rose is a Siley—an asylum seeker—and she has escaped from Ramage, who had enslaved her and her younger sister, Kas. Rose is desperate, sick, and needs Finn’s help. Kas is still missing somewhere out in the bush.
And Ramage wants the girls back—at any cost.
Finn, Rose and Kas try their hardest to look after each other in the harsh post-apocalyptic world. They suffer setbacks, difficulties brought on by adults but also sometimes as a consequence of their own poor decisions. They’re kids—they make mistakes. They stuff up but they find a way through. There are no superheroes, no magical powers to help them out of life-threatening situations.
A novel about honor, friendship and love, and a gripping realist teen survival narrative.

My opinion: Think of this book as The Road meets The Children of Men, though appropriate for teens. The interesting thing to me is that this post-apocalyptic novel doesn't show society devolving. It has devolved. We get, instead, the attempt of the remnant to live in the aftermath. Teen fiction tends to show the down fall. This is a more adult approach. It works surprisingly well. While listings for this book make it clear that this is the first in a series, it stands fairly well. Additionally, the writing has a distinctly foreign feel but is not so foreign as to be distancing. A solid choice for teens interested in survival.

More information: The Road to Winter releases June 13.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley.

We're too cool for regular business card holders

My sister recently received business cards at work and was looking for something to hold them on her desk. Sure, we could have rigged up some kind of little box, but when I spied this recipe card holder it seemed like the perfect solution.

Plain white is a little boring, so this cow needed some paint. Personally, I'd have decorated the cow to look like Harry Potter, but my sister is a little more conservative. We went with a more subtle patterning.

It won't hold very many cards, but it certainly has more personality than a box.
 

Book review - Words in Deep Blue

Title: Words in Deep Blue
Author: Cath Crowley
Genre: realistic fiction
Similar books: Words and Their Meanings by Kate Bassett
                      We are Still Tornadoes by Michael Kun and Susan Mullen
Rating:

lovely

Summary (provided by publisher): A beautiful love story for fans of Jandy Nelson and Nicola Yoon: two teens find their way back to each other in a bookstore full of secrets and crushes, grief and hope—and letters hidden between the pages.
Years ago, Rachel had a crush on Henry Jones. The day before she moved away, she tucked a love letter into his favorite book in his family’s bookshop. She waited. But Henry never came.
Now Rachel has returned to the city—and to the bookshop—to work alongside the boy she’d rather not see, if at all possible, for the rest of her life. But Rachel needs the distraction. Her brother drowned months ago, and she can’t feel anything anymore.
As Henry and Rachel work side by side—surrounded by books, watching love stories unfold, exchanging letters between the pages—they find hope in each other. Because life may be uncontrollable, even unbearable sometimes. But it’s possible that words, and love, and second chances are enough.

My opinion: Read this one for the writing more than for the plot. It's beautifully engaging. There is grief - for people, for dreams, for the way life changes when we want nothing more than to freeze it as it is right now. There is the love of books in every form. Not just classics, but all literature that makes us feel. I defy any reader to finish this book and not want to go make notes in a novel, to spread thoughts and feelings through the universe. Read this book and enjoy each moment. Just let it be what it is without justification or explanation.

More information: Words in Deep Blue releases June 6.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley.

Pick 6: Magic

Spells, faeries, witches, giants. Magical elements seem to resonate with young readers and there are some really excellent fantasy novels being written for them. Here are six books published in the past six months that feature magic.

6 new magical novels

1. The Spell Thief by Tom Percival

2. Long Live the Queen by Gerry Swallow

3. The Uncommoners: The Crooked Sixpence by Jennifer Bell

4. Tricked by Jen Calonita

5. The Castoffs Volume 1 by MK Reed

6. The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart by Stephanie Burgis

Non-fiction book review - Shark Lady

Shark Lady by Jess Keating

I love that the primary message of this book seems to be "if you want something, work for it". In order to study sharks for her career, Eugenie first learns all she can about fish, works hard in school, studies in her spare time. Keating baskically tells young readers that the key to success is education. Read, learn, dedicate your time and effort. 
Apart from that, the plot is very simple, easy for even the very young to follow and well supported by truly lovely and dynamic illustrations.

More information: Shark Lady releases June 1.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley.

Book review - The Gravediggers Club

Title: The Gravediggers Club
Author: Robert J. Harris
Genre: historical fiction/mystery
Similar books: The Magician's Fire by Simon Nicholson
                      The Great Shelby Holmes by Elizabeth Eulberg
Rating:

a nice nod to a familiar story

Summary (provided by publisher): One day Arthur Conan Doyle will create the greatest detective of all -- Sherlock Holmes. But right now Artie Conan Doyle is a twelve-year-old Edinburgh schoolboy with a mystery of his own to solve.
While sneaking out to explore Greyfriars Kirkyard by night, Artie and his best friend Ham spot a ghostly lady in grey and discover the footprints of a gigantic hound. Could the two mysteries be connected?
These strange clues lead them to a series of robberies carried out by the sinister Gravediggers' Club and soon they find themselves pitted against the villainous Colonel Braxton Dash.
Will Artie survive his encounters with graveyards and ghosts in the foggy streets of nineteenth century Edinburgh -- or will his first case be his last?

My opinion: We see plenty of young Sherlock Holmes or modern Sherlock Homes. I think this is the first I've seen young Arthur Conan Doyle. All references to known material aside, it's not a bad mystery. Clues aren't always the clearest but the pacing is solid. There are a number of cultural and historical references, which will be a barrier for some young readers. What I really enjoyed was the way Harris used elements from Sherlock Holmes stories in this plot, implying that events in his early life were the inspiration for Doyle's writing. Fun for a young Holmes fan.

More information: The Gravedigger's Club releases June 1.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley.