Tuesday, July 31, 2007


FINISHED:

Rowling, J.K. (2007). Harry Potter and the deathly hallows. New York : Arthur A. Levine Books/Scholastic.


[Thoughts to come...]

STARTED:

Carmody, Isobelle. (2007). Little Fur #2: A fox called sorrow. New York : Random House.

[Reviewing for ACL...]

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Wednesday, July 25, 2007



STARTED & FINISHED:

Rockwell, Thomas. (1973). How to eat fried worms. New York: T. Nelson.


[Wow. So not what I remember this book being as a kid. That said, I'd be interested to see what kids these days think of it. It's non-traditionally written - with super-short chapters, odd descriptions, and esoteric language and style choices. I found it especially remarkable when it mentioned, in a matter-of-fact way, how one kid's dad goes to the fridge to get a beer. Not one of my most favorite classics, but it has some charm and wit. Again, though, I'm not sure that the style or humor would still fly with kids today.]

WATCHED:

Boyter, Cal. (Producer), & Dolman, B. (Producer/Director). (2006). How to eat fried [Motion picture]. United States: New Line Home Video.


[I actually watched this before I started reading the book. As a future children's librarian, I will be called upon to assess the value of children's films as well as literature, so when I watch something that would appeal to the younger set, I'll try to talk about it here. So, yeah, the BASIC PREMISE - a kid on a bet to eat worms - is the same as the book, and the names were brought over, but that's pretty much it. On it's own, I was actually kind of charmed by this film. It had a style that was reminiscent of films for kids when we were young and had some fun with the way that it was told visually. I laughed more than I thought that I would, and a few of the kid actors were incredibly charismatic. Recommended.]


ABANDONED:

King, Stephen. (1987, 2003). The drawing of the three: The dark tower II. New York: Plume.

[I had forgotten how much I really don't like King's writing style. There's always a ton of unnecessary gore, and, worse, creepy weird sex stuff. Invariably, he lets us know when someone goes to jerk off or how someone was excited by the sight of death or something icky like that. Bizarre sexual behavior doesn't shock me, but I just don't feel like reading about someone's kinky habits - especially in a Stephen King book. I respect King because he's an outspoken devotee of LOST, but that's all I'm going to give him...]

*

Tuesday, July 24, 2007


FINISHED:

Rowling, J.K. (2005). Harry Potter and the half-blood prince. New York : Arthur A. Levine Books/Scholastic.


[It's been, well, 2 years, I guess, since I've read one of these books. This is the first one I've read (for the second time) since being in the Masters program and having taken a number of kids/YA lit classes and being so immersed in library culture, etc. And, I've got to say, from a now more INFORMED opinion, these books are quite good. The writing is deft, the characters are well defined and complex, there's a TON of humor, they keep your attention and read quickly, and the stories are intriguing and well plotted. This one is definitely dark and brutal, but that only adds to the surprising complexity. After having read Year 1, I never would've guessed that Rowling would've gotten so heavy like this down the line. Bravo to her.]

STARTED:

Rowling, J.K. (2007). Harry Potter and the deathly hallows. New York : Arthur A. Levine Books/Scholastic.

[Here we go. This is it. After just finishing up Year 6, I'm especially curious to see where this all ends up...]

*

Saturday, July 21, 2007

I'd be remiss as a [future] children's librarian...

if I didn't mention that today is the day where the most POPULAR book of all time is released. The LAST in the MOST POPULAR children's book series of all time.




I've been thinking about the Harry Potter phenomenon and realized that it must be much the same as STAR WARS was to us children of the '70s and '80s. I helped out at a Harry Potter event at our library last week and it was astonishing to see kids, ages 2-17, dressed up in Hogwarts garb.

Our copy arrived early this morning via UPS/Amazon [sorry independent bookstores, but they were offering it at HALF OFF...]. Brian is reading it while I finish up Book 6.

Truly, the end of an era...


*

Thursday, July 19, 2007

***FIRST OFFICIAL POST ON THE NEW "READING BLOG"!***


STARTED:

Rowling, J.K. (2005). Harry Potter and the half-blood prince. New York: Arthur A. Levine Books/Scholastic.

[I'm having trouble getting through the Stephen King book - it just isn't keeping my attention. Thus, I haven't been reading as much this week as I would've liked. Seeing as the LAST Harry Potter book comes out on Saturday, and because I have a tradition of rereading the previous HP book before the new one comes out, I decided to put aside Mr. King for a bit and pick up Ms. Rowling. I've read only the first chapter so far and am already remembering why this series is as popular as it is...]

*

Sunday, July 15, 2007



STARTED & FINISHED:

Sobol, Donald J. (1963). Encyclopedia Brown, boy detective. New York: T. Nelson.



Sobol, Donald J. (1966). Encyclopedia Brown finds the clues. New York: Elsevier/Nelson.


[These little novels are like candy. I was inspired to read a couple books in this classic series because SFPL's Summer Reading program this summer is detective themed. The Encyclopedia Brown books, for those who don't remember, contain a number of short mysteries with the answers to each at the back of the book. Fun stuff - interactive in a way - and sure to keep a kid's attention. Dated, certainly - a couple of the mysteries I couldn't solve because they were SO dated with details that are no longer relevant - but equally timeless.]

{On a side note: I'm kind of anal retentive when it comes to presenting the covers of the books that I've read. I mean, I want to post the EXACT cover. Unfortunately, that meant posting the cover for "Boy Detective" that you see here. Ick - clearly a reprinted edition meant to draw in current youngsters. The one for "Finds the Clues" is the CLOSEST that I could find to the one that I got from the library. It was definitely the same, classic drawing but without the color. Not only until I got to the story in the book that is depicted on the cover did I realize that it's a dog with TWO VERY SHARP KNIVES strapped to its head. YIKES.}

STARTED:

King, Stephen. (1987, 2003). The drawing of the three: The dark tower II. New York: Plume.

[I, for some reason, read Part I a couple of years back - or maybe last summer - and thought that I should read one every now and then so that I don't completely lose my way between each book.]

Saturday, July 14, 2007


FINISHED:

Bowe, Julie. (2007). My last best friend. Orlando: Harcourt.


[A sweet little tale about girls in 4th grade. Ida's best friend moved away over the summer and she is now trying to find her way in the social world of 4th Grade by herself. There's a new girl that seems pretty cool, but she's been taken under the wing of the class bitch (who refers to Ida as I-duh). When Ida starts secretly exchanging notes with the new girl, friendship is born again. I'm not sure that this is quite Outstanding, as it has been labeled by others in ACL, but it has a great message and I would highly recommend it to elementary school kids.]

STARTED:

Sobol, Donald J. (1963). Encyclopedia Brown, boy detective. New York: T. Nelson.

[Squeezing in a quick classic before other things...]

Friday, July 13, 2007


FINISHED:

Knox, Elizabeth. (2006). Dreamhunter: book one of the dreamhunter duet. New York : Farrar, Straus and Giroux.


[At our ACL meeting today, I wrestled with this one... and ultimately voted that it ISN'T "Outstanding". It was intriguing, but it never completely pulled me in, and there were many times where I just wanted it to end because I was either bored or confused. It's a world where Dreamhunters travel into a mysterious other land to find and store dreams which they can then share with others at "Dream Operas". See, intriguing. Ultimately not compelling enough for me to deem it fantastic.]

STARTED:

Bowe, Julie. (2007). My last best friend. Orlando : Harcourt.

[This was another book labeled "Outstanding" by someone at ACL, so I'm reading it to see if I concur. I meant to bring along an Encyclopedia Brown book to read on the way home from the ACL meeting that we had this morning... and, naturally, forgot. I got this one at the meeting today, and it's quite short, so I thought I would knock it out right away.]

Sunday, July 8, 2007


STARTED & FINISHED:

DuPrau, Jeanne. (2004). The people of Sparks. New York: Random House.


[Sequel to "The City of Ember" - which I ate up. I'm quite impressed with this series so far (still have one more book to go...). This one deals with what happens with the citizens of Ember after they emerge from their underground, failing city and try to assimilate themselves with the citizens of the town of Sparks. It's a number of years after a major world "disaster" and there are VERY FEW people/towns left in the world. The 350 people of Sparks have enough space and food for themselves, but do they have enough for the 400+ citizens of Sparks who have shown up looking for a place to go? An interesting and timely look at just how much any one society can/should do to help others in need.]

Monday, July 2, 2007


FINISHED:

McCarthy, Cormac. (2006). The road. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.


[If you haven't heard of this one, I don't know what to tell you. It not only won the Pulitzer for fiction this year, it was also an OPRAH Bookclub pick. Seems like that would pretty much cover everyone. Um, I liked it. The language and style were definitely "literary", but it kind of played out as a highbrow Stephen King novel. Blasphemy, I'm sure. Back to the Young Adult fiction for me...]

STARTED reading again:

Knox, Elizabeth. (2006). Dreamhunter: book one of the dreamhunter duet. New York : Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

[This was labeled "Outstanding" by someone at ACL, so I'm reading it to see if I concur. Our next meeting is next Friday, so I've got to get finishing.]