So, I saw this video Monday morning, and I just had to share it with you. As fellow book lovers, I’m sure you’ve already heard of this book. But I love it, and this video explains it all. Can you hear all of children laughing hysterically? As a storytime librarian, can I just tell you that moments like this are what I cherish most about my job. And they’re thanks to authors like B. J. Novak, who aren’t afraid to write silly children’s books with silly words and sounds that adults have to read. This book was one of the first booktalk books I ever read aloud when visiting schools. I can’t take credit for picking it out. The children’s librarian before me picked it out, and let me just tell you, that lady was a genius.
If you haven’t read The book with No Pictures, I highly suggest you do, whether you have children in your life that you must entertain or not. It’ll even make you laugh, if you allow yourself to read it out loud with all the right infections. If you can’t must that, watch a few of the videos of Novak reading it himself. The videos are great!
This video includes B.J. Novak explaining why he wrote the book the way he did. From an author’s perspective, it’s kind of cool to listen to as well. I just can’t get over how well he wrote to his audience.
And now: Let’s get down to business, to review the books!
Book Review Books: Let's get down to business, to review the books!
Moto and Me: my year as a wildcat foster mom by Suzi Eszterhas Target Audience: 8-12 year olds Genre: Animal Nonfiction Stars: 5/5
Suzi is a wildlife photographer. While living in Kenya, Suzi is asked to foster a baby serval kitten that has been separated from his mother by a wildfire. She documents her time spent with Moto in both sweet words and amazing photographs. The intended audience is children, but this heartwarming story will steal the heart of any reader, I promise.
This was an amazing book! The details were precious, the pictures phenomenal. As someone who has just fostered a domestic kitten, I loved this book!
Ghosts by Raina Telgemeier
Target Audience: 8-12 year olds Genre: Graphic Novel Stars: 5/5
Catrina and her sister Maya move to a new city in northern California. Maya has cystic fibrosis and the move is supposed to help her with her illness. Catrina knows this, but it doesn’t ease the pain of moving and leaving supportive friends behind. The fact that their new home town is haunted by ghosts doesn’t help matters much. Through this heartwarming and tear-jerking story, Catrina and her sister learn what it means to die young and not fear death.
I love the fact that this story is centered around El Día de los Muertos. It’s a Mexican holiday celebrated on November 1st that honors the memories of the love ones we have lost. Part of the celebration is creating alters that welcome our dead with gifts they loved when they were alive, including their favorite foods, flowers and other things that remind us of them. On El Día de los Muertos, our loved ones come back to visit and I love the way this is portrayed in this graphic novel. Plus, for those of you that don’t celebrate the holiday, it still makes for a great October / Halloween read =]. The way the two cultures, American and Mexican mix is delightful and very realistic.
Who Killed Darius Drake by Rodman Philbrick
Target Audience: 8-12 year olds Genre: Mystery Stars: 3/5
Darius Drake is clearly a young Sherlock Holmes. He's clever and aloof, brilliant but solitary until one day he hires Arthur Bash to help him solve his first crime, who killed Darius Drake. The chapters are short and the book does a great job of introducing and explaining all kinds of wonderful vocabulary. But it drives me nuts that the narration is told in present tense. I also dislike how many times the main character puts himself down about his weight and not having any friends. Arthur might end up a hero in the end of the book, but it saddened me to read just how many terrible things he called himself because of his weight.
The mystery aspect was good. It was hard to pinpoint who the criminal was and the search for the diamonds was exciting. I just had a bit of trouble getting over the present tense writing and the fact that the main character weight-shamed himself throughout the entire book. It was painful to read and I would feel nervous handing it to a kid because of the way the weight situation was handled.
Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
Target Audience: Teens Genre: YA Coming of Age Stars: 5/5
Cath and her sister Wren are twins. They’ve always done everything together, including taking care of their mentally ill father after their mother left them at a young age. As they enter college, leaving dad at home for the first time in years, Cath doesn’t expect their twin dynamic to change, but Wren has had enough of being glued to Cath’s side, and for the first time ever, wants to live a life of her own.
Cath struggles to adjust to the new college life and being separated from her sister. To cope, she returns to her world of fanfiction writing. Slowly she begins to make friends of her own and make an identity for herself that doesn’t revolve around her twin. This book is very heartwarming and reminiscent of my high school and college years. No, I’m not a twin, but I lived for Harry Potter fanfiction just as Cath lives for hers. If any of this sounds like something you did at any point in your life, you’ll love this book too!
The Selection by Kiera Cass
Target Audience: Teens Genre: YA Dystopia Stars: 5/5
The Selection is a process through which the Prince gets to pick his wife from the common folk of his country. For the girls, this is a chance to go from the bottom of the cast system to the top with nothing more than a little bit of thoughtful seduction. At least, it’s the chance of a lifetime for most girls. America Singer, however, doesn’t want to be a part of the Selection and only does so when her true love breaks her heart and begs her to go anyway.
As a standalone book, I loved this. I read through it so fast, devouring the drama. It was totally a guilty pleasure read. However, as a series, it drags on the whole love triangle thing for way too long and, even though I read every single one of them, I did not like the sequels as much as the first. As a series it gets a 3/5 star rating (and that’s being generous).
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As a standalone book, I loved this. I read through it so fast, devouring the drama. It was totally a guilty pleasure read. However, as a series, it drags on the whole love triangle thing for way too long and, even though I read every single one of them, I did not like the sequels as much as the first. As a series it gets a 3/5 star rating (and that’s being generous).
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Have you been reading anything interesting lately? I'd love to hear from you if you have!
--Larkynn
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