Things to Read - Book Reviews from a 4th Grader

As you've probably noticed, we spent a lot of time in the car this summer. Without internet. Luckily, we had kindles. Here are P's reviews of some of her favorite reads:
________________________

Ms. Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children is full of wonders - both creepy and great, with lots of imagination and suspense.

As a young boy the main character finds a collection of odd photographs. And when he is 15, he sees a monster after witnessing his grandpa's bloody death and every one thinks he is crazy. The thing is - was he? He always knew his grandfather was different, but how different? Then he found out something that blew his mind - it started out like a dream and became a nightmare. A remote island, odd children, and monsters - find it all in Ms. Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children.
__________________________

The War That Saved My Life is a great book that will leave you on the edge of your seat.

This book takes place during World War II. The main character is a girl named Ada who is abused and hit by her mom because of her club foot. She soon finds out that all the children are being sent away in case the city gets bombed. But her mom will only let her brother go, not her. So even though Ada can't even walk, she sets out with her brother. When she arrives in the countryside things being to change for Ada - she learns new things, makes friends, rides a horse, and even stays with a nice person. But there are problems she didn't know about too. Read about Ada's journey in the War That Saved My Life.
___________________

Brown Girl Dreaming is a award winning book with a series of poems and chapters about a little girl and her life.

The book begins when the girl was little and she lived with here grand parents in the south. It describes her experiences there - how she loved everyone and everything was perfect. So it was hard for her when she moved to New York. It is a wonderful story about a girl, her 3 siblings, and her life, including the Civil Rights movement.

Things to Read - On the Bookshelf (Kids' Reading, June 2015)

1. Minions: The Junior Novel - All three of my kids are somewhat Minion obsessed. I don't quite understand, I mean they're funny enough as co-stars, but I can't imagine a whole movie of just Minions. But F read the book and loved it. So who am I to judge?

2. Meet the Dullards - After I read about the Dullards on Silver Shoes and Rabbit Holes, I immediately reserved a copy from our library. And it did not disappoint. Especially when the Dullards LITERALLY watch paint dry. My kids could not stop laughing.

3. History Safari - My mom mailed History Safari to the kids after discovering it in a thrift store. And since then it has become T's favorite book. I'm not sure why (he's too young for the text), but the pictures are very detailed, so he enjoys looking at them and asking us questions about ancient times.

4. WALT DISNEY'S STORYLAND : 55 Favorite Stories Adapted from Walt Disney Films - I loved this book as a child. And even with a battered covered and destroyed spine, my kids seem to enjoy the old stories as much as I did. Davy Crockett. Pinocchio. Paul Bunyan. So much fun to discover them all again.

Things to Read - On the Bookshelf (2nd/3rd Grade Edition, May 2015)

I asked the girls to review their recent reads -

1. A Single Shard - F's review: I really enjoyed a single shard. The plot was incredible, and the ending has a twist. The main character, Tree-ear, is an orphan who lives with Crane-man under a bridge. Than Tree-ear gets a job working for a very talented potter named Min. There is a ton of adventure and tragedy, but not too sad. The book is incredible. I recommend it to kids 9-100.

2. Brown Girl Dreaming - F's review: I LOVED this book! The poems are incredible, and inspiring. It is the story of the author, Jackie Woodson, growing up. She describes the land and sadness of the time when blacks and whites were segregated. There are poems about her older brother and sister, and her younger brother. I recommend it to kids 9-100.

3. Superheroes (Amelia Rules!) - F's review: I really enjoyed this book. It is part of a series of books called Amelia Rules!. As you have probably guessed, it is about a girl named Amelia. This specific one is about when her club, G.A.S.P. (gathering of awesome super pals,) becomes famous. Everybody is trying out to be part of the team! I recommend this hilarious comic to kids 8 to 100.

4. The Baby-Sitters Club Graphic Novels - P's review: I like these books because they are interesting. They are also funny.

5. Garfield Sings for His Supper - F's review: I really love Garfield comics! This fat cat will bring a smile to your face when you read his books! It is about his adventures with his owner, the household dog, Odie, and the owner's girlfriend. It has everything from camping to candy! I recommend to kids 1 day old to 100 years old.

Things to Read - On the Bookshelf (2nd/3rd Grade Edition)

I'm feeling lazy, so I asked the girls to write about their recent reads. Don't these books sound awesome?

1. A Long Walk to Water: Based on a True Story

P's review - I love this book because it tells you about the lost boys of Sudan. Salva, the main character, was from the Dinka tribe. His story all started when he heard gun shots at school. The war had come to his town. He had to run for miles to get away from the fighting - all the way from Sudan to Ethiopa, which takes a very long time. On the way, he loses his uncle, who is his only remaining family. When he got to Ethiopia he lived in a refugee camp. After about six years in the refugee camp, everyone was kicked out and had to walk hundreds of miles again. This time to Kenya. Months later Salva was at a refugee camp in Kenya when someone taught him how to read. They picked some boys to go to America and he was one of them. In America,he started a family . He also started a charity to build wells for Sudan. When Salva built a school and well for his enemy tribe, the Nuer, everyone was surprised. And that is the story of Salva.

2. The Fourteenth Goldfish

P's review - I really like this book so far. The book is about a girl with a cranky old grandpa, who is a scientist. The grandpa is looking for a cure to make people young again. And then he actually turns young again. So when a thirteen year old boy comes to the girl's house, she doesn't believe he is her grandpa. Though eventually she believes him because he is so cranky. So far I like the book.

3. Under the Egg

F's review - Under the Egg is incredible so far. It is a mystery about a 13 year old girl who lives in Manhattan on her Grandfather's legacy of 375 dollars. Her grandfather has recently died, leaving her basically on her own. She still lives with her mother, but her mother stopped living in the real world a long time ago. As Jack, her grandfather, would say, "As the years passed, your mother started to prefer the world inside her head instead of the world outside, until she didn't even think the real world existed." Then the girl finds a painting that she thinks could change her life forever. I've only read this far in the book, so I don't know the end yet. I highly recommend it to kids 9-13.

4. Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes

F's review - This book is hard to explain. Peter Nimble and his Fantastic Eyes is a book with complex words and an intense plot. It is about a blind 11 year old thief, who only steals to survive. He has an incredible sense of smell, and astounding hearing. He lives in a small port town, but even when he sees a giant fish, he is shocked. Would you not be shocked if you came across a giant dogfish the size of your boat when traveling to rescue a kingdom who's children are locked up and enslaved? I'm pretty sure you would be shocked. His loyal companion, Sir Tode, part cat, part horse, part man, is a knight... by default. A local dragon happened to come into Sir Tode's farm yard, eat some sheep, and choke. The next morning, when the local neighbors saw the dead dragon and Sir Tode sitting next to it, they assumed he had killed him and demanded he be knighted. And one day, while on a mission, he was fighting with a local cat while riding his noble horse in front of a old witch's home. Anyway, long story short, they woke up the witch, she cast a spell on the cat, the horse, and Sir Tode, combining them all into one odd creature, and preventing the weird creature from dying forever. So, when he meets Peter, he is hundreds of years old. Yet he looks shockingly young for his age. I recommend this book to kids 8-11.

Things to Read - The Book With No Pictures

We don't read many new picture books anymore. The girls seem to have outgrown them and T's the kind of kid who always wants to read the same books over and over. But we bought this a few months ago and the kids still can't stop laughing. All three kids. Even the nine year old.

What about you? Any funny children's books to recommend?

Things to Read - The "You Wouldn't Want to Be" Series

Lately all three of my kids are super into the "you wouldn't want to be" book series. T, in particular, can't get enough of You Wouldn't Want to Be a Pirate's Prisoner!: Horrible Things You'd Rather Not Know (You Wouldn't Want to...), which is pretty gruesome (hanging with rats in the ship's hold, tied to the deck for days at the time, disease, and (finally) being marooned on an empty island. The girls, on the other hand, keep reading You Wouldn't Want to Be an American Pioneer!: A Wilderness You'd Rather Not Tame, which tells a much more gruesome story than the Little House books.

I think kids like them because of the gore (well, of course because of the gore), but the books also contain lots of random facts and funny illustrations. The weapons, in particular, fascinate T; whereas F prefers the "handy hints" on every page that coach on the ways of survival.

I enjoy the series because the books put a personal face on history. (I've also learned that I sort of would like to be a ninja warrior, but that's a whole other story).

Things to Read - Paul Meets Bernadette

We've read some awful children's books this winter, I'm not sure if it's bad luck, or bad moods, or bad publishing - but there's some truly horrid stuff out there. Then we somehow discovered Paul Meets Bernadette, a true "light in the fog."

It's beautiful, it's short, it's funny. T laughs out loud every time (literally every time) Bernadette describes a tea kettle as an elephant and the tea cups as baby elephants. Honestly, it's sort of the perfect book, especially during winter, when much like the fish, you're stuck inside and need some imagination to pull you through.

Things to Read - Two Fantastic Alphabet Books

In my continuing attempt to teach T how to read, we've spent a lot of time checking out alphabet books from the library. Most start off fun enough, but 26 letters is a lot of letters. Usually, both T and I are crazy bored before we reach M. But these two books have kept us (miraculously) entertained for much of the winter. Magic, pure magic.





SuperHero ABC - T loves this book. The superheros described are bizarre and often gross ("the Volanco vomits on villians"), but entertaining. We spend a lot of time discussing the merits and detriments of each lettered character and Z comes before we lose interest. Nice.





Curious George Learns the Alphabet - Two weeks ago T found the "secret" Curious George corner at the library and since then the annoying monkey is all we read about. (On a total sidenote, what does it say about our culture when the most enduring children's books involve a monkey who f***s up a ton of sh** and then everyone tells him how great he is for trying to help make things better at the end? George is sort of like Banksy for children). Anyways, the Curious George alphabet book is pretty cool - every letter becomes an object or animal, some of which are quite creative.

And so go our days. What about everyone else? Any good alphabet books to recommend? We could use some more suggestions.

Things to Read - Four Children's Books Written By DC High School Students

(A photo of some of the books' teenage authors.)

Lately, I've been getting lots of "junk" blog-related email, asking (approximately) "could you please write a free exclusive blog post for our for-profit organization? For your time, you will get nothing whatsover." Ugh.

Luckily, every once in awhile, a wonderful reader email appears in my inbox.

A few weeks ago, a reader reached out to me about a program called Reach Incorporated that launched in 2010 to combat DC's literacy crisis (85% of DC public school students enter 9th grade below grade level). Through the Reach program teachers train high school students to become paid tutors for grade school kids. Sounds pretty great, right?

Even better, through its summer program, Reach works with DC high school students to author children's books. (Did you know that only 3% of children’s books feature characters of color, and only 1.8% of children’s books are written by authors of color? Pretty sad statistic.). For the book program, Reach split teens into groups of 3-4 students and paired each team with a Reach staff member and an illustrator to help craft and write the story. Four wonderful children's books resulted from their efforts.

Reach Incorporated sent us review copies of all four books (which are available for purchase here) and both the kids and I were pretty impressed, especially since each book involves some sort of lesson or moral that works great for the 2nd/3rd grade crowd (though T loved them too, so the age range is pretty flexible). Our reviews are below:



The Airplane Effect
This was probably my favorite of the books, it involves a boy going through chemo meeting a new friend. And I really like how the authors tackled a hard to talk about topic, while still creating a story that was upbeat enough for young children.

T [age 4.5] - It was good, the story made me think about watching TV all the time, but that TV must get boring at the hospital. Maybe they don't have Rescue Bots? I also really liked the dances! Can you read it again please?

me - Um, we have three more to review, how about another book?

T [age 4.5] - But this one is SO GOOD!



The Gloomy Light
This was the most bizarre of the books as it involved a llama/frog friendship, aliens, and a new baby. Truthfully, it seemed somewhat random, but the kids really liked it. So these high school authors obviously "get" what 2nd graders want.

P [age 7] - I liked it, lots of my stories have aliens too. I wish I could have read more about the llama's adventures in space.



Trio+1
This book involves a boy who feels like an outsider, so he comes up with a plan to break up a trio of three popular best friends by creating contests that have them all compete against each other. Luckily, his plan fails. And in the end everyone becomes friends.

F [age 8] - It was really good. It begins with a guy who is lonely, which everyone is sometimes, but then he realizes he has friends, he just didn't know it.

T [age 4.5] - I think it was good.

P [age 7] - I liked it. The cool boys were actually good guys.

T [age 4.5] - How did they get to have contests without asking grown-ups for permission?

P [age 7] - I liked the end when they all discover the truth at the end and all become friends.



One Lonely Camel
So this book involved a "rapping" camel trying to make friends at his new home, a zoo. It's pretty funny, in a good way.

P [age 7] - I liked how all the zoo animals had a story, but I wondered where the zookeepers were.

F [age 8] - I wish we had learned more about what happened to the camel's family, but all in all I liked it.

T [age 4.5] - I'm glad everyone became the camel's friend.

Things to Read and Do - Zoopossible! Royal Kingdom

When my friend Lola told me about an awesome-sounding children's book she authored, my immediate response was "I want a copy! I want to review it for the blog! This sounds fantastic!" And then I became nervous, what if my kids didn't like it? How awkward. My fears were not alleviated when I told F I received a new book for us to read. Without even glancing at the book in my hand, F declared "um, mom, I'm kind of into picking out my own books now. sorry." So I moved on to my ever-skeptical second child who answered my inquiry by stating, "um, well, I guess. What's it about? Can I play wii instead?"

As you can tell, operation book review was NOT going well. Then, FINALLY, P actually looked at the book. Still hesitant, she stated, "this looks sort of cool, can we read it together?"

Luckily, as soon as we started reading, the MAGIC KICKED IN!! The plot, which involves a zoo kingdom, an animal lover prince, and an arranged marriage with a mall-loving (rather awful) princess is funny in a way that both parents and kids can appreciate (thank you, Lola!!). But here's the really cool part - every few pages the books asks children to draw something mentioned in the story. For example, early in the book the prince discusses a hurt "Snoozfly." And then a blank page asks children to doodle/describe the injured creature.

"But what does a snoozfly look like, mom?", asked P.

"Well, it's up to you," I replied. "How do you think a snoozfly would look?"

Within seconds, P had relocated the markers to our living room and was busy creating a new species.

And so went our afternoon, alternating between reading and arting, as P became both reader and illustrator for "Zoopossible! Royal Kingdom."

I have to admit, I think Lola's whole idea of an interactive book is sort of brilliant. Sometimes when I read to my kids, I wonder "are they even listening?" It can be like talking to a void. But with Zoopossible, kids actively engage with a book. And, more importantly, they WANT to do so.

The book is available on Amazon, click here to check it out (and/or purchase a copy).

*Zoopossible! is somewhat long and contains some large words, so I'd probably recommend it for children over 5.