Charlotte's Web by E.B. White
I can't believe I'd never read this until now. I've seen the 1973
animated movie many, many times but I honestly have no memory of ever
reading the book. I had to read it for children's literature and have
also been reading it with my 7 year old son (he's loving it).
What a charming and lovely book. Wilbur is so open and sweet and trusting, even if he is a runt of a pig.
Charlotte is beautiful and caring and smart, even if she is a spider. And she sacrifices for Wilbur, because she likes him.
Fern
saves the runt of the piglets born the spring she is 8. She feeds him
from a bottle, pushing his around in a doll carriage and loves him whole
heartily. She can hear the conversations the animals in the barn have
and she begins to grow up.
Charlotte's Web is really not just
about a pig and a spider. It's about love and loyalty and friendship.
It's a coming of age tale, a story about dealing with losing loved ones
and belief in the things children know and adults forget, like the art
of listening closely and with your heart.
(Finished February 25, 2013)
Monday, February 25, 2013
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Anne Frank: The Diary of A Young Girl
I don't think I really need to go into any background about who Anne Frank was so I'll skip right to my review.
Anne's diary reads like the diary of just about any 13-15 year old girl, full of self-discovery, interest in movies and boys, and angst at her parents not understanding her.
Excpet Anne wasn't just any young teen girl. She was Jewish at a time when being Jewish was criminal and deadly. She was in hiding with her sister, parents, the Van Daan family and a dentist named Dussel.
For 25 months the 8 Jews lived in secret rooms behind and above Mr. Frank's business, taken from him during the Nazi invasion of Holland.
Anne's diary is at it's most heartbreaking not when she is talking about the food shortages, the fighting among the 8, the fear of discovery, or the desire to go outside. While those are truly heartbreaking, her words are at their most devastating when the thoughts, hopes and dreams of typical of average young girls are expressed. For example when she writes about her future children and the kind of mother she hopes to be.
NOTE: You will see quite a few Holocaust book reviews in the coming months as I work on two projects for school, for children's literature I am doing a study on how the Holocaust is presented in children's books (picture book through YA) and for my graduation capstone I am doing a project on what our government knew and when, why we didn't act sooner and arguing the point that many, many lives could have been saved had we acted sooner and so we should have.
(finished February 6, 2013)
Anne's diary reads like the diary of just about any 13-15 year old girl, full of self-discovery, interest in movies and boys, and angst at her parents not understanding her.
Excpet Anne wasn't just any young teen girl. She was Jewish at a time when being Jewish was criminal and deadly. She was in hiding with her sister, parents, the Van Daan family and a dentist named Dussel.
For 25 months the 8 Jews lived in secret rooms behind and above Mr. Frank's business, taken from him during the Nazi invasion of Holland.
Anne's diary is at it's most heartbreaking not when she is talking about the food shortages, the fighting among the 8, the fear of discovery, or the desire to go outside. While those are truly heartbreaking, her words are at their most devastating when the thoughts, hopes and dreams of typical of average young girls are expressed. For example when she writes about her future children and the kind of mother she hopes to be.
NOTE: You will see quite a few Holocaust book reviews in the coming months as I work on two projects for school, for children's literature I am doing a study on how the Holocaust is presented in children's books (picture book through YA) and for my graduation capstone I am doing a project on what our government knew and when, why we didn't act sooner and arguing the point that many, many lives could have been saved had we acted sooner and so we should have.
(finished February 6, 2013)
Saturday, February 2, 2013
Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan
I've read a few books by David Levithan, Every Day, Boy Meets Boy, Love Is The Higher Law, Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares (also with Rachel Cohn), and will grayson, will grayson (with John Green)(loved but can't find my review, I will try).
This was the first one that didn't make me feel like I had too keep reading and not put it down until I was done. I know it was made into a movie and since I liked other books by this author I grabbed it for free from paperbackswap.com. It wasn't bad but I didn't truly love it either.
Nick & Norah meet at a club when Nick asks Norah to be his girlfriend when he sees the girl who shredded his heart coming towards him with her new guy. Norah is in the right/wrong place at the right/wrong time so gets asked by the stranger next to her to be his five minute girlfriend. Got that?
When that the girl turns out to be Tris, someone Norah has a hate/tolerates relationship with she jumps in with both feet...err, lips and kisses Nick. And he is a great kisser.
What follows is a night spent talking music, kissing, more than kissing, eating perogies and kielbasa, trying to start Nick's car and other such adventures.
I loved that the story takes place in my home city, NYC. I didn't love that for the first time reading one of Mr. Levithan's books I felt a little too old. I loved how you get Nick's voice and thoughts in every other chapter with Norah's voice in the ones in between and you can see them almost clicking and you know they are on the same page but can't see it. It's like being a fly on the wall.
So I guess my only complaint is that I felt a little too old for the book. Not the whole time, just at some points. But I really liked Nick & Norah and was hoping they'd figure things out.
Not one I would have bought but to borrow or get for free it was not a waste of time. It's not a long book and it was funny and touching.
(finished Feb. 2, 2013)
This was the first one that didn't make me feel like I had too keep reading and not put it down until I was done. I know it was made into a movie and since I liked other books by this author I grabbed it for free from paperbackswap.com. It wasn't bad but I didn't truly love it either.
Nick & Norah meet at a club when Nick asks Norah to be his girlfriend when he sees the girl who shredded his heart coming towards him with her new guy. Norah is in the right/wrong place at the right/wrong time so gets asked by the stranger next to her to be his five minute girlfriend. Got that?
When that the girl turns out to be Tris, someone Norah has a hate/tolerates relationship with she jumps in with both feet...err, lips and kisses Nick. And he is a great kisser.
What follows is a night spent talking music, kissing, more than kissing, eating perogies and kielbasa, trying to start Nick's car and other such adventures.
I loved that the story takes place in my home city, NYC. I didn't love that for the first time reading one of Mr. Levithan's books I felt a little too old. I loved how you get Nick's voice and thoughts in every other chapter with Norah's voice in the ones in between and you can see them almost clicking and you know they are on the same page but can't see it. It's like being a fly on the wall.
So I guess my only complaint is that I felt a little too old for the book. Not the whole time, just at some points. But I really liked Nick & Norah and was hoping they'd figure things out.
Not one I would have bought but to borrow or get for free it was not a waste of time. It's not a long book and it was funny and touching.
(finished Feb. 2, 2013)
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