Kristin
One of two juvenile biographies of Jim Henson I received for Christmas. I really enjoyed it, especially the pictures. The more I learn about the Muppets and Jim Henson, the more I appreciate them. (I've always loved The Muppet Christmas Carol and “Fraggle Rock,” but am just starting to get into the original Muppet world.) I'm not sure how this book would be received by school-aged kids, but in light of the latest big screen movie starring Jim Henson's originals, it might go over pretty well.
Siblings Christina and Grant have the enviable opportunity to visit Kitty Hawk for the 100th anniversary of the first flight. While in North Carolina, the model airplane that will be used in the demonstration is stolen. The children set out to solve the mystery and save their family's reputation.
This series is called “Real Kids, Real Places” and yet I still found it so unbelievable. The dialogue didn't seem natural to me. On the plus side, I actually didn't figure out the mystery until Christina did, which is strange for me. I don't know if I'll read more in this series.
This book was...intense. I'm not sure that's the right word for it. It definitely raises some moral questions about education in the worst of the worst inner city schools. It made me thankful I have a good job in an excellent school!
I read this in a weekend and I found it interesting and excellent. Amy Julia's confessions are so honest and real, it's hard not to get pulled in. I felt almost like I was part of the family. I started reading this book as a special ed teacher but ended up connecting with it as a person and a Christian. Definitely recommended.
What an absolutely delightful Christmas collection! I just wish there had been more fiction stories (I think there were three) instead of all the news clips and recipes. They were interesting, but the stories were great.
Not really my type of book. The mystery kept me guessing the whole time, but I didn't care about most of it, especially the soccer parts. It was pretty obvious which parts were written by a student and which parts were written by an author but it was still cool to imagine them collaborating on this work. I'm sure this won't be my last [a:Walter Dean Myers 13291 Walter Dean Myers http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1230178601p2/13291.jpg] if I ever get to teach middle school.
This edition of Chicken Little, as retold by Elinor Chamas, is not radically different from most other editions I have seen. It follows the traditional story: Chicken Little, convinced the sky is falling, informs his friends and all of them proceed to try to tell the king.
When I used this with my first and second graders in clinic, I had the most success when they were re-reading bits of it out loud pretending to be characters. Exaggerated shouts of “Oh no!” seemed to be the highlight of the lesson for the children.
Kim needs a new pair of shoes but the shoe store does not have the pink pair that she wants. She must make a decision between blue shoes or red shoes.
This is one of those easy readers that has a good theme but is simply boring. The students did not really enjoy it even though it has somewhat of a surprise ending.
There is too much going on in this tiny book. Dogs, rescue, stars/constellations, family, being small, friendship, it all felt rather hastily thrown together. If it had just been about one of those things, perhaps the theme could have been explored a bit better, maybe have been a bit more nuanced. As it stands, it just felt like a rush job.
I found this book a bit boring but not at all unreadable. I liked the setting and language. The characters had quirks that made them come to life, like Pa's speech pattern. Not a lot happened in the plot, until the end. Even in the end, I never really felt a major conflict or sense of doom.
Recommended for young middle school students interested in American historical fiction.
Quite a charming collection. A bit dated in some areas, but it's hard to put together a “Present” section and expect it to hold up to everyone's present. I'll probably revisit a few of the stories every now and then.
The stories on this playaway are delightful. Of course, “The Adventure of the Speckled Band” has always been a personal favorite of mine. I also quite enjoyed “The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire.” I love Sherlock Holmes in all his superior skills and smug demeanor. I kept getting distracted on one or two of the stories but other than that I found this a very pleasant listening experience.
This book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
A lovely book about why dogs are such good companions. The story is a good one, but what really shines in this book are the pictures. I can imagine reading this to a group of young children during religion class. I wouldn't really say it's for all fourth graders, but I can think of a few who would be touched by this book. I've also been on the hunt for books (picture and chapter) that portray people with disabilities/differences. This book fits the bill!
John Green, you are totally winning.I read a fair amount of young adult books (ostensibly because of my job, but I only teach up to third grade so I think I have to let go of that excuse) and I think John Green is the best author for teenagers these days. I have heard [b:Looking for Alaska 99561 Looking for Alaska John Green http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1312503335s/99561.jpg 919292] is his best book so I hope I'm not overselling him, but I have also read and thoroughly enjoyed [b:Will Grayson, Will Grayson 6567017 Will Grayson, Will Grayson John Green http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1290480018s/6567017.jpg 6759965] and [b:An Abundance of Katherines 49750 An Abundance of Katherines John Green http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1309200918s/49750.jpg 48658] so I think he's the real deal.Few of Green's characters have what I'd call a normal high school experience, but there are things every student human can connect with in each of his characters. Parts of Looking for Alasak were so heartbreakingly sad that I just wanted to curl up and do nothing but sulk in sorrow for a while. This book was powerful and I loved it.
Updated Review, May 2020:I was shocked when I saw my original rating for this book was 3 stars. In my memory, it was a 5-star read. I was tempted to up the rating to 5 stars on reread, but settled on 4 as a compromise. I really enjoyed this book the second time and immediately checked out the sequel on Hoopla.Also, for anyone reading in the spring/summer of 2020, there is a small part at the very end when one of the characters describes what the USA was like during the 1918 flu, and it is eerie. It feels delightfully serendipitous that I would have chosen this year to revisit this one. Original Review, April 2012:I kind of expected more out of this book, the Newbery Medal winner for 2012. Although it was similar in theme to another Newbery contender, [b:Okay for Now 9165406 Okay for Now Gary D. Schmidt http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1327889281s/9165406.jpg 14044509] it was not nearly as good. The setting was not utilized to the fullest, mainly because young hero Jack is grounded and doesn't wander around all that much. Furthermore, I do not think this will go over so well with its intended audience. It's historical fiction, but the history is not that interesting.
There are many good things about this book, but let's dwell on the bad for a moment. This book is creepy, but never truly scary as I was hoping it would be. The supernatural things do not happen often enough to make this a really frightening read. (But when they do happen, it is satisfying.)
On the other hand, the setting is superb. The classic foggy English moor proved the perfect creepy place for a ghost story.
I liked this book, though I can't say I loved it. It took me a while to get into it and I eventually had to put it on hold. When I finally got around to picking it up again, which was months later, I found it much more likable than I had originally thought. It was easy reading and it was pretty interesting I guess.
I had a really bad attitude about this book at first. As it went on, however, I got involved in the story and ended up enjoying it a lot. I will read the sequel, though it's not currently very high on my to-read list.
A predictable follow-up to [b:Matched 7735333 Matched Ally Condie http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1311704885s/7735333.jpg 9631645]. Follows the general young adult dystopia trilogy format: 1st book is world building, 2nd book is joining the resistance, 3rd book is a battle to overthrow the government. In this installment, Cassia runs away from her work placement and spends the whole book on the move looking for various people and establishments.
A pleasant but ultimately too-juvenile read for me. The author accurately but tenderly relates the hardships of the Depression for one family in particular while giving glimpses into the state of the country as a whole. Tween girls who are interested in history would probably like this one. Not much for boys in this one.
Every year at Christmas, I read books I would normally not read. I do this because Christmas books in my library tend to be of the genre of book that does not thrill me for the rest of the year (that is to say, overly religious and sickeningly sweet). This was one of those. It is a story of a small-town Quaker minister and his town of quirky characters. Right, that about covers it.
This didn't exactly live up to the reviews I had read of it before, but it wasn't a chore to read. The different points of view worked well and since several of the characters are nonverbal or speak very little, it was interesting to get their insights. It did drag on a bit long through the middle but the beginning and ending were well done.
Nope, this was not a necessary addition to the 39 Clues series. Any time I think, “I just have to get through this” I know I am not reading a good book. I thought that many times while reading this one. I get that they wanted to establish these back stories and bring them into the canon for the next series, but I mostly thought the stories were pretty boring.
I read this book in one day, but mostly because it was easy, not because it was a page-turner. (I'm in need of a good page-turner...anybody?) This was an alternate world dystopian book about a city that appears perfect until you take a closer look at it. A fairly exciting (though overdone) premise that feels rather empty here. The characters were uninteresting, which was my major problem. I found it hard to find pieces of real people in any of them (with the exception of David's inclination to use old-fashioned words and phrases, which was the most interesting thing about any of the characters).