Wednesday, December 13, 2006

THE LAST DRAGON by Silvana Di Mari

Grades 5-8; 361 pages; fantasy. 


 "Translated from the Italian. After his village is ruined by a flood, Yorsh, the world's last elf, reads writing on ancient ruins and realizes that in order to stop the torrential rains, he must find the only remaining dragon." :

My Comments
I am in the middle of this charming, funny and poignant book. The elf is the show stopper. He is exasperatingly passionate and firm in his convictions, but entirely lovable. Entertaining, poignant and humorous. I want to find out what will happen - a good sign.

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

THE GREEN GLASS SEA by Ellen Klages

Historical Fiction, Los Alamos, World War II, Manhattan Project
321 pages.

"While her father works on the Manhattan Project, eleven-year-old gadget lover and outcast Dewey Kerrigan lives in Los Alamos Camp, and becomes friends with Suze, another young girl who is shunned by her peers." :
  • Follett Library Resources


  • The intriguing title and cover alone drew me to this book initially. The perspective of a child in the Los Alamos community during the Manhattan Project years is matter of fact, concerned more with the immediate concerns of absent parents and bullies. The Project's influence looms on the periphery, but the story centers on one child's life and that is the startling effectiveness of this story.

    Tuesday, December 05, 2006

    THE MOORCHILD by Eloise Jarvis McGraw

    Fantasy
    241 pages.

    Book Description
    "Feeling that she is neither fully human nor "Folk," a changeling learns her true identity and attempts to find the human child whose place she had been given." Newbery Medal/Honor 1997 :


    My Comments
    I read this book a few years ago and list it as one of my favorites. I am reminded of it as I continue to listen to Summerland by Michael Chabon during my morning and afternoon commutes. Both stories tell a fascinating story of fairies and changelings, a story of worlds in peril, and a longing for identity. The Moorchild is timeless and complex, a good choice for advanced elementary through adult.

    Thursday, November 30, 2006

    LIFE AS WE KNEW IT by Susan Beth Pfeffer

    Dystopian, Science Fiction, Diaries
    High School
    321 Pages


    LIFE AS WE KNEW IT by Susan Beth Pfeffer "Through journal entries sixteen-year-old Miranda describes her family's struggle to survive after a meteor hits the moon, causing worldwide tsunamis, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions."
  • Follett Library Resources
  • I found this book at our annual book fair and was hooked immediately. It's the kind of book you keep thinking about. Pfeffer manages to keep the suspense and hope alive even though the family's world keeps shrinking. This book could generate some great discussions on what's important in our lives.

    Sunday, November 26, 2006

    SUMMERLAND by Michael Chabon

    Middle-High School, Baseball, Fantasy

    500 pages.

    Book Description
    "The ferishers, little creatures who ensure perfect weather for Summerland, recruit Ethan Feld, one of history's worst baseball players, to help them in their struggle to save Summerland, and ultimately the world, from giants, goblins, and other legendary, terrible creatures."


    My Comments

    This is a book of amazing one-liners. Michael Chabon is a genius at crystallizing a universal truth, or at least a zinger, a "YES" in a single sentence. I have resolved to start a web page, a list of fabulous sentences that capture the essence of my favorite books. Here's a good one:

    "You better be ready kid," said a voice just behind him. "Pretty soon now you going to get the call." Chiron Brown (Ringfinger) page 21.

    What a fabulous book. It just got better and better. A GREAT CHOICE for one of those long car rides or a read-aloud or a read alone! Now, I HAVE to read The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay!

    Wednesday, March 22, 2006

    THE BOOK WITHOUT WORDS by Avi

    Fantasy, Evil, Magic
    book cover
    Book Description
    The Book Without Words: A Tale of Medieval Magic (2005) "Thorston, an alchemist who has spent his life trying to decipher the secret to immortality contained in the Book Without Words, is on the brink of realizing his dream when he drops dead, leaving Odo, a talking raven, and Sybil, a servant who was about to be sacrificed to Thorston's plan, to reap the rewards of his work."  (Follett)

    My Comments
    Avi is a safe bet as recommended reading for most people and I am personally addicted to him. I always make sure to offer one of his books to browsing students. This is not one of my favorites, as I don't feel drawn into the plot or very interested in the characters, except perhaps the talking bird, Odo and the servant girl. Are the characters too simple in this story of greed? That said, I'm still looking forward to reading it later tonight. There you go; Avi should be a staple for all reading diets!

    Tuesday, March 21, 2006

    INKHEART by Cornelia Funke

    Fantasy, Book Arts
    book cover
    Horn Book Magazine (January/February, 2004)

    Who hasn't dreamed of it--characters leaping from the pages of a book to interact with the reader? Or, better yet, the reader transported--quite literally--into the make-believe world of a novel? In this tale of adventure and fantasy by the author of The Thief Lord (rev. 11/02), twelve-year-old Meggie and her father Mo live in a house overflowing with "small piles of books, tall piles of books, books thick and thin, books old and new." But it's one particular book that brings a stranger named Dustfinger to their house one rainy spring night. Meggie learns that many years earlier, while Mo was reading aloud a novel called Inkheart, his voice somehow brought many of its characters--including Dustfinger and the evil despot Capricorn--"slipping out of their story like a bookmark forgotten by some reader between the pages." Now Dustfinger (who longs to return to his fictional origins) wants Mo to read him back into the book, while Capricorn (who likes it here just fine) wants Mo to use his powers to read gold and riches out of stories such as Treasure Island and summon a malevolent, immortal character called the Shadow from the pages of Inkheart. Thanks to Harry P., kids may not be scared off by this volume's heft, though they may wish the pacing wasn't quite so leisurely--even the novel's many chases and hostage-takings are related in a deliberate fashion. But bibliophiles will delight in a story that celebrates books (each chapter begins with a literary passage ranging from Shakespeare to Sendak), and the conclusion is especially satisfying.



    My Comments

    I have to mention both of these books as 'must-reads' for anyone who loves fantasy. I was completely pulled into the world of Inkheart and didn't want to come home!

    Monday, March 20, 2006

    THE RACE TO SAVE THE LORD GOD BIRD by Phillip Hoose

    Nonfiction, Endangered Species, Birds
    212 pages
    book cover
    Book Description
    From Follett

    Includes bibliographical references (pages 185-199) and index. Tells the story of the ivory-billed woodpecker's extinction in the United States, describing the encounters between this species and humans, and discussing what these encounters have taught us about preserving endangered creatures.

    From the Publisher

    The tragedy of extinction is explained through the dramatic story of a legendary bird, the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, and of those who tried to possess it, paint it, shoot it, sell it, and, in a last-ditch effort, save it. A powerful saga that sweeps through two hundred years of history, it introduces artists like John James Audubon, bird collectors like William Brewster, and finally a new breed of scientist in Cornell's Arthur A. "Doc" Allen and his young ornithology student, James Tanner, whose quest to save the Ivory-bill culminates in one of the first great conservation showdowns in U.S. history, an early round in what is now a worldwide effort to save species. As hope for the Ivory-bill fades in the United States, the bird is last spotted in Cuba in 1987, and Cuban scientists join in the race to save it.


    All this, plus Mr. Hoose's wonderful story-telling skills, comes together to give us what David Allen Sibley, author ofThe Sibley Guide to Birds calls "the most thorough and readable account to date of the personalities, fashions, economics, and politics that combined to bring about the demise of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker."


    The Race to Save the Lord God Bird is the winner of the 2005 Boston Globe - Horn Book Award for Nonfiction and the 2005 Bank Street - Flora Stieglitz Award.


    My Comments
    This is a heart-wrenching, but hopeful story. A dark side of human history is told here, portraying the environmental destruction humans wreak in order to "collect" wildlife or to manufacture goods. This is a powerful book for all ages. Visit the Cornell Lab of Ornithology website at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/ for the postscript to this story. There is some hope that this magnificent bird may still be around.