April 2008 Blog Posts (116)

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The Yellow Jar by Patrick Atangan

This book is truly a work of art. Atangan's art is amazing - nearly every frame could be an 18th century Japanese woodblock print. The style of his drawings transports you to ancient Japan where you first follow the story of a fisherman's quest to save his wife (whom he found inside the yellow jar of the title) from a demon warrior. The second story is of a gardener who mistakes two beautiful flowers for weeds and learns his lesson in the end.



I liked the stories themselves because… Continue

Added by Corinne on April 23, 2008 at 11:39am — No Comments

Moxy Maxwell Does Not Love Stuart Little by Peggy Gifford

Ha! This book is a GEM. Moxy spends this entire book avoiding her summer reading assignment (due tomorrow) of Stuart Little. The adventures and mayhem! The definitions of useful words and the photographs of the action! Moxy is a fantastic, quirky character and the short chapters made the read a clever one. Great fun.

Added by Corinne on April 23, 2008 at 11:38am — No Comments

The Sisters Grimm by Michael Buckley

Very clever idea. All of the fairy tale characters we've ever read about are real and are living their lives in a sleepy town in the Northeast. When Daphne and Sabrina's parents go missing, they end up in this town with the grandma they didn't know existed. Sabrina and Daphne come to find that their family is responsible for helping to keep the peace among all those creatures as well as to solve the mysteries that come up among them, with the help of some interesting and familiar friends along… Continue

Added by Corinne on April 23, 2008 at 11:38am — 1 Comment

The Red Shoe by Ursula Dubosarsky

I'm having a hard time putting my finger on a plot in this book. The setting is Australia post World War II and throughout the text are actual news headlines and stories about the events of the time. The newspaper clippings interested me and was why I read the book in the first place. The sad thing is, and maybe it's because I'm not Australian, but they actually added very little to the story for me. They were interesting in their own right, but almost distracting from the story.



You… Continue

Added by Corinne on April 23, 2008 at 11:37am — No Comments

Water Street by Patricia Reilly Giff

I finished this book with a smile on my face. I've been meaning to read it for a long time - ever since I saw the cover at my library. I love stories of New York in the late 19th century, and this one was a particularly good read.



Bird is the child of two Irish immigrants and her family is living in Brooklyn during the time that the Brooklyn Bridge is being built. A new neighbor moves into the top floor of their tenement and thirteen year old Bird and Thomas (whose only family is his… Continue

Added by Corinne on April 23, 2008 at 11:37am — No Comments

The Plain Janes by Cecil Castellucci and Jim Rugg

In this graphic novel, our "main" Jane goes through a traumatic experience in the city and her parents move her out to the suburbs. As she finds her way in a new school, she makes choices about the friends she wants to have and slowly she wins over the other Janes at the "reject" table in the cafeteria. The Janes begin creating neighborhood art projects on the sly, designed to make the world a brighter place - but the adults around them view it as some kind of teen conspiracy...more In this… Continue

Added by Corinne on April 23, 2008 at 11:36am — No Comments

Lost in the Labyrinth by Patrice Kindl

Lost in the Labyrinth is the retelling of the Greek myth of Asterius (the Minotaur) and Theseus. Kindl does a great job of setting up ancient Greece for us - the political intrigue, the lavishness of the palace, the relationship between the people and the Gods. We follow the story through the character of Xenodice, one of the daughters of the queen - an interesting point of view, since she a very minor part in a story of betrayals, murder and escapes, with several well-known Greeks (namely,… Continue

Added by Corinne on April 23, 2008 at 11:36am — No Comments

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

I don't know what specifically made me wait so long to read this book. I'm always slow to pick up the boy-coming-of-age stories and I don't know why but I hesitate to read what everyone else is raving about. I am glad, though, this one fell into my lap. Though the writing isn't anything spectacular, it did suck me in. It took me a while to sympathize with the main character, Amir. His attitude and his choices were frustrating and obnoxious to me - and Hassan seemed almost too perfect. I found,… Continue

Added by Corinne on April 23, 2008 at 11:35am — No Comments

Swan Sister: Fairy Tales Retold - edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling

This is a short collection of retold fairy tales. Half the fun of reading it, for me, was figuring out which fairy tale was being retold - sometimes i didn't get it until the very end and sometimes I didn't get it at all. Who knew have many different fairy tales there were in this world? Some of them very well written (The Harp That Sang), some of them were just okay (A Life in Miniature) and one of them was so hauntingly beautiful that it made me cry and I can't stop thinking about it (My Swan… Continue

Added by Corinne on April 23, 2008 at 11:35am — No Comments

The Courageous Princess by Rod Espinosa

I don't feel like I am able to judge this graphic novel very well. It's the first "manga" I've ever read - although I watched several different manga movies when I was a child, so the look of all the characters is comfortingly familiar to me. The dialogue was just so cheesy, and I don't know if that's just what you get with manga or if this happened to be a cheesy one.



Mabelrose is quite a courageous princess, after she figures out that no prince is going to fall for her on her… Continue

Added by Corinne on April 23, 2008 at 11:34am — No Comments

The Women of Brewster Place by Gloria Naylor

Naylor is a master of words. She's not just trying to tell me a story - she's choosing each phrase with care, painting a picture of a life that is completely unfamiliar to me. And yet, she's showing me that what's inside the women of Brewster street is also inside of me - the same hopelessness you have to overcome to feel peace, the same need for acceptance and love.



Life on this run-down block is not easy - once you arrive there, you're either at the end of your rope, or you're… Continue

Added by Corinne on April 23, 2008 at 11:34am — No Comments

Robot Dreams by Sara Varon

This graphic novel was such a pleasure to peruse. Even with no text, it was a poignant tale of friendships found and lost and found again. I had so many memories (mostly from junior high) going through my mind as robot was left behind, thinking of all the different ways things COULD have gone. And as Dog was searching for new friends that were a good fit - I'm STILL doing that. I think readers from grade school and up and get something out of this book.

Added by Corinne on April 23, 2008 at 11:33am — No Comments

The Arrival by Shaun Tan

My first review of a book with no text. The Arrival is an artistic and other-wordly look at the journey from the "old" world to the "new." We follow one man as he leaves his home and family behind and travels to a foreign country. The new country seems like a different planet - you can sense his wonder and frustration at feeling so ignorant, but you rejoice with him as he find people to guide him and "tell" him their own immigration stories. The drawings are breathtaking and haunting -… Continue

Added by Corinne on April 23, 2008 at 11:33am — No Comments

The Winter Queen by Boris Akunin

This is a brilliant book. The plot is clever and full of those "no way!" moments that I love in mysteries. I laughed out loud more than once - Fandorin is such a silly and unassuming hero, and his use of the "male corset" was absolutely divine. I did see a few things coming - but the writing was such fun to read, that it didn't spoil the book for me.



I appreciate it as a work of Russian literature (excellently translated) - of course, the ending was incredibly Russian (we can't have… Continue

Added by Corinne on April 23, 2008 at 11:31am — No Comments

American Born Chinese by Gene Yang

I've never read a graphic novel before - I got this one from the library when I read about the author coming to town. I wasn't sure what to expect - but I found it really readable. I think anyone who has lived through adolescence can identify with a lot of the feelings of the main character - whether you are of the majority race in your community or not. I think Yang presents a really interesting look at how hard we look to find ourselves and be comfortable in our own skin. I liked that the… Continue

Added by Corinne on April 23, 2008 at 11:30am — No Comments

Leven Thumps and the Gateway to Foo by Obert Skye

I wish I could give this more stars. Really, I do. It just reminds me too much of a story I wrote myself while in junior high - very similar plot, same flat characters, same plastic, explanatory dialog. Things wrapped up and sorted themselves out too easily and so much of the book was spent trying to convince the main character that he had to actually do something. The parts that were supposed to be humorous just felt cheesy to me. With the kind of fantasy set-up Skye has created, I guess I… Continue

Added by Corinne on April 23, 2008 at 11:11am — No Comments

Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren

I grew up watching this movie, and so it was fun to introduce her to my children (7 1/2 and 5). Pippi is a great character - lives like an adult, on her own, but with the innocent mentality of a toddler. The kids loved her crazy antics (climbing up on the roof, sleeping with her feet on the pillow instead of her head...) and how she misunderstands everything. I don't think the book is spectacularly well written, but my kids could never get enough of it and often they were laughing out loud.… Continue

Added by Corinne on April 23, 2008 at 11:10am — No Comments

Sister of My Heart by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

As a book about relationships, this book rang so true for me. The love between sisters, between mothers and their children, and the love/frustration between husbands and wives - all the intricacies and pain were woven throughout the story. The plot wasn't particularly memorable - don't get me wrong, it was fine - but for me, the characters were what struck me more.



I connected with both of the sisters - the impetus and lively Anju and the more deliberate and selfless Sudha - and how… Continue

Added by Corinne on April 23, 2008 at 10:58am — No Comments

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

There is much to like in this book. Junior is such a mix of weakness and strength - caught between two different worlds, both culturally and mentally. I appreciated his struggles and honest words about living on a reservation and the vices that can stifle his people. But you also get a sense that, as much as his Indian Family frustrates him and angers him, there is truly a feeling of solidarity and community that he recognizes and sorely misses once he chooses to leave. I felt like the line on… Continue

Added by Corinne on April 23, 2008 at 10:57am — No Comments

The Kitchen God's Wife by Amy Tan

I didn't NOT like this book. Well, actually, I didn't particularly like the first two chapters and I didn't really like the last two either - the dialogue in these chapters seemed so contrived to me. The interactions and dialogue seemed so stereotypical Chinese mother with her Chinese-American daughter - I just didn't believe they were real.



My feelings changed, however, for the entire middle of the book, when Winnie (the mother) is telling her story of growing up in China. THAT felt… Continue

Added by Corinne on April 23, 2008 at 10:56am — No Comments

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