Allison's Blog – March 2011 Archive (43)

One Crazy Summer is different than my typical read. In certain ways, One Crazy Summer is about experiences which anyone can have. In other ways, One Crazy Summer is one particular time, place, and situation. It is the fictional experience of three sisters during the 1960's African-American revolution.…

I don't have room in my current library for more books, but I liked Unwind so much that it's on my wish list for when I do. Moreover, I have been recommending it to all my reader friends--and now am recommending it to you. Unwind is a fabulous read!

http://allisonsbookbag.wordpress.com/2011/03/20/unwind-by-neil-shusterman/

If you are looking for a plot-driven book, Up A Road Slowly by Irene Hunt is not the book for you. This quiet novel is about Julie's growth, her changing relationship with her relations, and her adolescent romances.

http://allisonsbookbag.wordpress.com/2011/03/12/up-a-road-slowly-by-irene-hunt/

I love fairy tales! Any wonder that when I spied The Fairy Tale Detectives at my local library, I had to borrow it. The book is the first in a series called The Grimm Sisters. With there being six more books in the set, I'd have my reading set for a month. Unfortunately, my love of fairy tales is what left me less than happy with this book.…

What if you were the worst at an assignment? Would your friends stick by you? How would your enemies react? What if you were part of a group presentation for an important person? Could you handle the pressure? These are some of the dilemmas faced by Mildred Hubble in a delightful book called The Worst Witch by Jill Murphy.…

"She was running away for the third time. How terrible it would be if she were caught again." With just these two sentences, Celadine by Steve Augarde proves more riviting but also darker than The Various: the first book in the Touchstone trilogy. In Celadine, we are thrust back into the World War II years. Ten-year-old Celadine is growing up on Mill Farm. Three times, she tries to run away, not with the intention of returning home but of escaping to where the Various (or little people)…

Meet Madeline! She lives in an old house in Paris that is covered with vines and is one of twelve little girls. As we soon discover, Madeline might be the smallest of the girls but she is also brave and adventurous. She is not afraid of mice, loves winter, snow, and ice, and says "Pooh-hooh" to a tiger at the zoo. Two of the girls' adventures happen right in the house. The other four happen after the girls set out at nine in two straight lines to explore Paris. You can read all six…

Ready for an adventure story? How about a story filled with sea adventures, pirates, and treasures? Rediscover the old classic Treasure Island written by Robert Louis Stevenson in 1880 for his son.

http://allisonsbookbag.wordpress.com/2010/11/21/treasure-island-by-robert-louis-stevenson/

Once upon a time, I read a book called Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor and fell under the spell of its intriguing theme, whimsical style, and odd cast of characters. Then I read Seeing Redd and fell out of love. In this second book of the Looking Glass trilogy, Alyss has taken her proper place on the throne, Redd is in hiding on Earth but biding her time for when she can return to Wonderland and defeat Alyss, and Arch (King of Boarderland) has risen as a new enemy to the throne. With a…

What if the well-being of your family depended on how well you could fake feelings for a guy whom you barely knew? What if your friends and neighbors could be hurt everytime you rebelled against rules that you disliked? How would you choose to act? How easily could you make those choices and face the consequences? Katniss may have thought her life would return to normal after the Hunger Games--but how could it?…

What is it about Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins that enthralls me so much? My husband teases that it's all the fighting and the killing. He is right that the book is driven by violence. It is also driven by suspense. Which means in either case, it's not my typical book. I prefer character books; where there is more than action to the story. Hunger Games however is that special hybrid that offers mind-bending and heart-wracking thrills, while also offering up characters to love, settings to…

Ah, sequels. Can they ever live up to the original? Can Tough Winter fill me with the same calm and appreciation for animals that Rabbit Hill did? Should it even have to invoke the same feelings? No, but this didn't stop me from wanting it to, expecting it to, and being disappointed when it didn't. Does this mean you should skip reading Tough Winter? No, but you might want to wait to read it until Rabbit Hill has become just a fond memory so that you won't compare them.…

Somedays I like to plop on a sofa and read formulaic books that are about as memorable as toilet paper and require as much thought as an amusement park. Other days I prefer to stretch out with multifacted books into which their authors have obviously divulged their souls. While such complex fare requires me to slow down the way one does for a yellow light and to put forth the effort one might for a first date, they also linger with me and ultimately alter my perspective on life. When in the…

Partway through GONE, the final book in Lisa McMann's dream trilogy, Janie's boyfriend yells at her to, "Just shut about your stupid problems!" To which I nodded my head and voiced an inner, "I agree!" Indeed, my biggest criticism of this last book is Janie's attitude. Well, what keeps me reading is the new developments in her relationship with her parents. Having now read the whole trilogy, I can heartily recommend it to mature audiences.…

FADE is my favorite book in the dream trilogy by Lisa McMann. For one thing, all our favorite and not-so-favorite characters have returned. For another thing, this book better succeeds at being more than simply a supernatural thriller. While in the first book Janie discovers she can enter dreams and struggles controlling them, in this follow-up Janie uses her skill to uncover the very realistic and terrifying threat of date rape. She also faces incredible choices about what to do with her…

Dragons, wizards, witches, talking animals, disappearing ledges, and magic. What else could a lover of fantasy books want? Did I forget to mention a rebellious princess? The book doesn't exactly tell a new story. Princess Cimorene prefers male activities, disdains marriage, rebels against her parent's wishes, and even runs away from home. Yet Dealing with Dragons by Patricia Wrede is fun and contains enough new twists (including one that involves a bad wizard) to make it worth adding to your…

Imagine being gifted. Or not having any parents. Or being cared for by no one except your tutor. This is Reynie Muldoon’s Life in The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Stewart. And it is all about to change. http://allisonsbookbag.wordpress.com/2010/06/07/the-mysterious-benedict-society-by-trenton-stewart/