Wednesday, August 29, 2007


FINISHED:

Nordstrom, Ursula. (1960). The secret language. New York : Harper & Row.


[]

STARTED:

Buckley, Michael. (2005). The sisters Grimm: The fairy tale detectives. New York : Amulet Books.

[Been on my list for quite a while...]

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Tuesday, August 28, 2007


FINISHED:

Pullman, Philip. (1996). Clockwork. New York : Arthur A. Levine Books.


[]

STARTED:

Nordstrom, Ursula. (1960). The secret language. New York : Harper & Row.

[Recommended by the same kidslit blog that recommended "At the Firefly Gate"... Grain of salt, grain of salt...]

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Monday, August 27, 2007

STARTED:

Pullman, Philip. (1996). Clockwork. New York : Arthur A. Levine Books.

[It's short, Pullman is a master storyteller, and I am already not in the mood to read for class...]

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Saturday, August 25, 2007


FINISHED:

Newbery, Linda. (2004, 2007). At the firefly gate. New York : David Fickling Books.


[Not my favorite book that I've read recently. For only being 150 pages, it was slow and jumped around a lot - kind of not making a whole lot of sense. It was recommended as a "Wicked Cool Overlooked Book" by this kidslit blog that I read, but I didn't feel the same way about it that they did...]

STARTED:

???

[Classes started up again yesterday and so I feel guilty reading anything outside of what I should be reading for school. Inevitably, in the next couple of days, I'll pull something off the shelf so that I'll have something to read when I don't feel like reading for class. Instead of reading a book or two a week, it may revert to a book or two a month...]

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Wednesday, August 22, 2007


FINISHED:

DuPrau, Jeanne. (2006). The prophet of Yonwood. New York : Random House.


[]

STARTED:

Newbery, Linda. (2004, 2007). At the firefly gate. New York : David Fickling Books.

[]

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Friday, August 17, 2007


FINISHED:

Owen, James A. (2006). The chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica: Here, there be dragons. New York : Simon & Schuster.


[]

STARTED:

DuPrau, Jeanne. (2006). The prophet of Yonwood. New York : Random House.

[the third BOOK OF EMBER...]

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Monday, August 13, 2007


FINISHED:

Beddor, Frank. (2006). The looking glass wars. New York : Dial Books.


[Alyss is a young princess and heir to the throne of Wonderland until her evil Aunt Redd stages a coup, kills Alyss's parents, and takes control herself. Alyss and Hatter Madigan, desperate to escape, jump into the Pool of Tears and Alyss ends up London where she is put into an orphanage. For the next 13 years, Alyss is adopted and lives with a family who are friends with a writer that takes an interest in the "stories" that Alyss tells about her former life in Wonderland. Eventually, Hatter Madigan finds Alyss and takes her back to Wonderland so that she can wrest back control from Redd and become the rightful Queen of Wonderland. Part sci-fi, part fantasy, part historical fiction, this alternate take on the Alice in Wonderland story was a welcome surprise. Initially, I thought, "What is going on here? This is really kind of stupid", but then got pretty wrapped up in the story. Recommended.]

STARTED:

Owen, James A. (2006). The chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica: Here, there be dragons. New York : Simon & Schuster.

[Been on my radar for quite some time...]
*

Friday, August 10, 2007


ABANDONED:

Kostick, Conor. (2004, 2007). Epic. New York : Viking.


[It's gotten great reviews, including STARRED reviews from Booklist and School Library Journal, but I just couldn't get into it. One review actually said that the characters were easy to keep track of and that the action was easy to follow... both of which are the exact OPPOSITE of what I thought about it. At our ACL meeting today, while going over my reviews - of which this was to be one - I said that I was having difficulty getting through it and someone else said that they would read and review it for me. Whew. Now I can read stuff that I WANT to read...]

STARTED:

Beddor, Frank. (2006). The looking glass wars. New York : Dial Books.

[Had my eye on this one for awhile...]





WATCHED:

Anderson, Bill. (Producer), & Tokar, N. (Director). (1975). The apple dumpling gang [Motion picture]. United States: Walt Disney Home Entertainment.



Devlin, Don. (Producer), & Bill, T. (Director). (1980). My bodyguard [Motion picture]. United States: 20th Century Fox.



Disney, Walt. (Producer), & Stevenson, R. (Director). (1964). Mary Poppins [Motion picture]. United States: Walt Disney Video.


[]


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Tuesday, August 7, 2007


FINISHED:

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


[Little Fur is a half-elf, half-troll girl who plants seeds in the nooks and crannies of human cities, ensuring the survival of the earth spirit, and heals the sick creatures of the natural world. After a heavy rainfall she comes into the possession of an orphaned owlet and, while asking the Great Owl what she should do with it, finds herself plunged into a quest to see if the Troll King of the underworld is plotting to kill the earth spirit. On Little Fur’s quest, some of the forest creatures that have accompanied her are captured and injured during their daring escape. It is then up to Little Fur herself to play up her troll side in order to rescue the yet detained Sorrow, a red fox who has given up his will to live. This is an intriguing little tale that takes on such advanced and diverse topics as betrayal, environmentalism, experimentation on animal subjects by humans, and the morality behind the right to die. Told with rich, poetic language and augmented with simple, yet evocative, black and white line drawings, this second story in the Little Fur series (at least two more are on their way) stands on its own without having any knowledge of the first tome in the saga. While neither being wholly original or densely plotted, Carmody has crafted a lyrical tale of being true to your nature that will resonate with fans of light-fantasy, animal tales, and the environmentally aware.]

STARTED:

Kostick, Conor. (2004, 2007). Epic. New York : Viking.

[Reviewing for ACL...]


WATCHED:

Buffett, Jimmy. (Producer), & Shriner, W. (Producer/Director). (2006). Hoot [Motion picture]. United States: New Line Home Video.


[]

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