Yesterday they released the last of the "Heroes of Olympus" books, the "Blood of Olympus".
Not bad, but not really good either.
On the good side, Riordan mostly stopped doing the thing that has been driving me crazy through much of this second Greek-Roman book series: he's dealing with teens, so he constantly has them thinking that any time they use their demigod powers, everyone else must hate them for it. For example: Frank can turn into an elephant: oh no! Hazel will hate me now! Leo can shoot flames at people: that's just too weird, I'll never fit in now and everyone will hate me! Hazel can bring cursed gems out of the earth: no one will ever love me, wah!!
That got old five books ago. Riordan put a little of that in this book with Nico, but pretty much limited it to him and kept it to a minimum (and Nico has some freaky powers. [I loved it when he was told to get over himself, and that the only reason he's isolated is because he's isolated himself. Yep.])
The two major battles were a bit of a disappointment. The battle against the giants was over pretty quickly. Yes, it ended with a deus ex machina, but that was entirely appropriate--yes, the hand of Zeus came down and cleaned things up...and Athena's...and Poseidon's...etc. It would have been nice if that went on for more than half a chapter though. I would have liked to see more of how each demigod fought beside their parent. Annabeth and Athena, certainly, deserved more time, and Riordan could have been very creative about the ways they would play off each other's strengths. I always want more Percy and Poseidon, who barely rated a paragraph.
The actual defeat of Gaia was also over pretty quickly and was incredibly easy. Defeating a primordial goddess should be really, really hard!
My biggest gripe--and it is a pretty big one--is that Riordan has been foreshadowing since, I think, "Titan's Curse", seven books ago, that Percy would have to deal with his fatal flaw--excessive loyalty to his friends. This should have been a traumatic event, difficult and painful to overcome. Riordan even foreshadowed that the decision would be a life-or-death one, as in: leave one friend to die in order to take care of a problem elsewhere. It was supposed to be a pivotal decision which would decide the fate of the world. Despite all of that hinting over the course of several books, in the end it was a squib. If it is in the book at all, it is in half a paragraph, and his decision is a simple one. He had to choose between letting three of his friends focus on fighting Gaia without him--which he knew they were capable of doing, or go help Annabeth who was about to be overwhelmed. The way it was laid out, this was pretty much a no-brainer for him. No trauma, no angst: go help Annabeth and trust the others to take care of other matters.
I can't tell if Riordan just forgot to put it in, forgot that it should have been a bigger deal than he made it, or if the structure of the book made it hard for him to cover. In this second Olympus series, Riordan has been writing each chapter from a particular character's point-of-view. But, in this book, all of the chapters are written from the point of view of Jason and his friends (Jason, Piper, Leo, and Reyna) or from Nico's. Neither Percy nor Annabeth have a chapter of their own, nor do Hazel or Frank. It's hard to make a big deal of Percy's dilemma, when he is never the focus of a chapter. I had been waiting for this for years, and went away very disappointed.
And no death! In two major battles--the biggest battles since the age of Heracles--not one of the major characters gets killed off. This is what separates "Harry Potter" from Riordan. Rowling had battles with real repercussions: Cedric dies, Fred dies, Lupin dies, Dobby dies, Dumbledore dies. Everyone has to deal with those losses, the guilt of surviving, the drive to finish the job, and move on. Riordan seemed to know that in the first series: Selena, for example, dies. So does Ethan Nakamura. Luke's death is part of the whole point of the series--and certainly the Great Prophesy. He redeeems himself and sacrifices himself to save the world. Their deaths meant something for the plot. They were sacrificing for the greater good, and accepting that sometimes that is necessary. Their deaths drive others to greatness. Without Selena's death, you don't have Clarisse slaying the drakon. Without Ethan's and Luke's, does Percy give up immortality to keep his promise?
But, in this series, Riordan balks. I'm sure he's setting up another series (and left lots and lots of loose ends to tie up later,) and didn't want to write anyone off, but massive battles and victories like this should come with a real cost--which was even mentioned and was a minor theme in this book. He chickened out, when he should have been ruthless.
Overall, I didn't enjoy this second Olympus series as much as the first. Riordan seemed to get lazy and was writing by the numbers. Step 1: pick a god or monster. Step 2: the demigods meet the god or monster. Step 3: either the demigods have to fight the god/monster or work with them. Step 4: pick another god or monster. Step 5: repeat... A little more creativity would have helped. Also, as I said before, the teen angst was boring and always hitting the same note over and over again. Teens are more interesting than that, and demigod teens even more so; he made them boring.
The books were enjoyable, but I prefer the original Percy Jackson books by a pretty wide margin.
Showing posts with label Book Review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Book Review. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 8, 2014
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Math prep
I've been working with the 11 year old, prepping her for the ISEE exam. I've come to realize that half the battle, or more, is finding the right materials. This was true of the boy's spelling as well. Once I found "All About Spelling" the rest was easy.
With math, the trick is to find as many problems as possible. Repetition and experience--practice to mastery, if you want to use the lingo--is the way and the light.
So, I've been hunting for good resources. I'm not exactly shocked that a Singapore Math workbook is currently my favorite. I've decided to work on ratios and proportions for a while, and this book:
has lots of good proportion problems just like the ones on the ISEE.
Of course, the more I look at these books (I worked through all the workbook the other day,) the more I realize how sloppy they are. Even the Singapore one has poorly worded questions and some flat-out wrong answers.
Poorly worded such as: You have a box of known dimensions, filled to height y with water. Rocks are added to bring the level up 10 cm. How has the volume of water changed? Well, of course, the water hasn't changed at all, you just added rocks.
Ann and Wilma share some apples and pears in the ratio 5:7.... Is the ratio the number of apples to pears? or is the ratio Ann's to Wilma's? I assumed the former, because it was closer to the modifying ratio. Unfortunately, they actually meant the ratio of Ann's to Wilma's fruit.
If Joe swam 33 laps on both days... Should that be 33 laps per day, for a total of 66 (which is what I assumed)? or should it be 33 combined on both days? The answer in the back of the book correlates with 33 laps total.
These are books that are republished regularly, you would think that they would fix the errors over time.
With math, the trick is to find as many problems as possible. Repetition and experience--practice to mastery, if you want to use the lingo--is the way and the light.
So, I've been hunting for good resources. I'm not exactly shocked that a Singapore Math workbook is currently my favorite. I've decided to work on ratios and proportions for a while, and this book:
has lots of good proportion problems just like the ones on the ISEE.
Of course, the more I look at these books (I worked through all the workbook the other day,) the more I realize how sloppy they are. Even the Singapore one has poorly worded questions and some flat-out wrong answers.
Poorly worded such as: You have a box of known dimensions, filled to height y with water. Rocks are added to bring the level up 10 cm. How has the volume of water changed? Well, of course, the water hasn't changed at all, you just added rocks.
Ann and Wilma share some apples and pears in the ratio 5:7.... Is the ratio the number of apples to pears? or is the ratio Ann's to Wilma's? I assumed the former, because it was closer to the modifying ratio. Unfortunately, they actually meant the ratio of Ann's to Wilma's fruit.
If Joe swam 33 laps on both days... Should that be 33 laps per day, for a total of 66 (which is what I assumed)? or should it be 33 combined on both days? The answer in the back of the book correlates with 33 laps total.
These are books that are republished regularly, you would think that they would fix the errors over time.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
The Lost Hero
LOTS OF SPOILERS FOR THIS BOOK ARE BELOW. READ ON WITH CAUTION!!!
Two nights ago, I couldn't fall asleep until after one, despite trying.
Last night, I didn't try. At midnight, I was loading and reloading Kindle updates hoping to get the download of the new Heroes of Olympus book "The Lost Hero", by Rick Riordan. It finally downloaded at about 12:15... and I read for over 2 hours before forcing myself to go to sleep. I finished it (576 pages) this evening.
After reading the Percy Jackson series (Greek Mythology) several times, and reading the first of Riordan's Kane Chronicles (Egyptian mythology), I was eager for something new. I also wondered what Riordan could possibly do in the same world as the Percy Jackson stories, when he seemed to have blown through every major and a lot of minor stories from ancient Greek Mythology. What was left to work with?
Well, his answer was to overlay Roman mythology on top of the world he built centered on the Greek. Along came a hero who seemed to be the son of Zeus, but slowly it is revealed that he's really more the son of Jupiter. But wait, you say, isn't Jupiter just the same guy as Zeus with a different name? Yes, and no. It is the same god, but he has different aspects, and different personality traits reveal themselves when he portrays himself as Jupiter as opposed to Zeus. As Jupiter, he is more stern, more rigid, more distant, and more authoritarian--the god of an empire. Zeus is a little more easy-going than his Roman aspect.
So when Zeus has an affair with a woman, their offspring naturally speaks ancient Greek, ends up at Camp Half Blood, and calls dad Zeus. But when Jupiter has an affair, that kid naturally speaks Latin, ends up at a Roman camp (the name is never divulged in the book) and calls dad Jupiter.
That means that there are two groups of demigods: the Greek and the Roman. From time to time in history, the two sides meet...and usually pretty much destroy each other. After a particularly brutal war in the 19th Century, the gods decided to keep the two sides completely apart, and should they meet, all memories of the contact would be wiped out of their minds. Thus, each is completely unaware of the existence of the other.
First, a little history: Several thousand years before, after the first Titan war, it was followed by an even worse war, as giants were brought forth with the sole purpose of destroying the Olympians and getting revenge for the Titans. That war ended in Olympus's favor. Now, after the second Titan war (the Percy Jackson books), history is again repeating itself, and the giants are again on the move. This second war has the potential to be far more devastating that Percy's.
Along comes Hera/Juno, who takes a desperate gamble. She believes that only by uniting the two demigod factions, can the war be won. So she makes an exchange: A Roman demigod leader for a Greek demigod leader. She sends the leaders of both camps to the other camp, in order to attempt to establish good ties between the two. Thus, Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon, disappears to the Roman side, and Jason, son of Jupiter, appears on the Greek side. Thus also, the "lost hero" of the title, actually refers to both of these exchanged demigods, since they have each disappeared from their regular worlds, and though Percy can't be found, Jason is pretty lost in this new world of his.
Of course, it takes pretty much the entire book to figure all of this out, because the Roman demigod's memory of his past has been completely erased, and all of this is revealed to him slowly. Percy plays no part in this book, except as someone being sought by others.
Another interesting theme, is the redemption of Aphrodite and her kids. In the first series, they were portrayed fairly relentlessly as beautiful, shallow, vain, spoiled, and wimpy. In the end, also, the leader of the Aphrodite kids turned out to be a (very repentant) spy for the Titans. In this book, far from being a vain wimpy, the lead girl--daughter of Aphrodite--is strong and capable, and doesn't care a lot about her looks. Aphrodite appears in the book and reminds her daughter that she was the first Olympian (the last book of the PJ series was called the "Last Olympian"), the offspring of Ouranos himself (while Zeus is only his grandson), and that she is far more than a pretty face. In the previous book, Riordan defended the hearth and the home by promoting the goddess of the hearth, Hestia (the last Olympian). In this book, he promotes love and devotion by defending Aphrodite.
The book, I think, is quite as good as the Percy Jackson books. It was fun, and funny in places, and the story was certainly engaging. I can't imagine that anyone who liked the Percy books would dislike this one.
Now I'm looking forward to the next. Interestingly, the next book is titled "Son of Neptune". That could easily refer to Percy, if the second book centers around him finding his way in the Roman world, but it could also refer to an unknown, and as yet undisclosed, brother. Should be interesting.
Two nights ago, I couldn't fall asleep until after one, despite trying.
Last night, I didn't try. At midnight, I was loading and reloading Kindle updates hoping to get the download of the new Heroes of Olympus book "The Lost Hero", by Rick Riordan. It finally downloaded at about 12:15... and I read for over 2 hours before forcing myself to go to sleep. I finished it (576 pages) this evening.
After reading the Percy Jackson series (Greek Mythology) several times, and reading the first of Riordan's Kane Chronicles (Egyptian mythology), I was eager for something new. I also wondered what Riordan could possibly do in the same world as the Percy Jackson stories, when he seemed to have blown through every major and a lot of minor stories from ancient Greek Mythology. What was left to work with?
Well, his answer was to overlay Roman mythology on top of the world he built centered on the Greek. Along came a hero who seemed to be the son of Zeus, but slowly it is revealed that he's really more the son of Jupiter. But wait, you say, isn't Jupiter just the same guy as Zeus with a different name? Yes, and no. It is the same god, but he has different aspects, and different personality traits reveal themselves when he portrays himself as Jupiter as opposed to Zeus. As Jupiter, he is more stern, more rigid, more distant, and more authoritarian--the god of an empire. Zeus is a little more easy-going than his Roman aspect.
So when Zeus has an affair with a woman, their offspring naturally speaks ancient Greek, ends up at Camp Half Blood, and calls dad Zeus. But when Jupiter has an affair, that kid naturally speaks Latin, ends up at a Roman camp (the name is never divulged in the book) and calls dad Jupiter.
That means that there are two groups of demigods: the Greek and the Roman. From time to time in history, the two sides meet...and usually pretty much destroy each other. After a particularly brutal war in the 19th Century, the gods decided to keep the two sides completely apart, and should they meet, all memories of the contact would be wiped out of their minds. Thus, each is completely unaware of the existence of the other.
First, a little history: Several thousand years before, after the first Titan war, it was followed by an even worse war, as giants were brought forth with the sole purpose of destroying the Olympians and getting revenge for the Titans. That war ended in Olympus's favor. Now, after the second Titan war (the Percy Jackson books), history is again repeating itself, and the giants are again on the move. This second war has the potential to be far more devastating that Percy's.
Along comes Hera/Juno, who takes a desperate gamble. She believes that only by uniting the two demigod factions, can the war be won. So she makes an exchange: A Roman demigod leader for a Greek demigod leader. She sends the leaders of both camps to the other camp, in order to attempt to establish good ties between the two. Thus, Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon, disappears to the Roman side, and Jason, son of Jupiter, appears on the Greek side. Thus also, the "lost hero" of the title, actually refers to both of these exchanged demigods, since they have each disappeared from their regular worlds, and though Percy can't be found, Jason is pretty lost in this new world of his.
Of course, it takes pretty much the entire book to figure all of this out, because the Roman demigod's memory of his past has been completely erased, and all of this is revealed to him slowly. Percy plays no part in this book, except as someone being sought by others.
Another interesting theme, is the redemption of Aphrodite and her kids. In the first series, they were portrayed fairly relentlessly as beautiful, shallow, vain, spoiled, and wimpy. In the end, also, the leader of the Aphrodite kids turned out to be a (very repentant) spy for the Titans. In this book, far from being a vain wimpy, the lead girl--daughter of Aphrodite--is strong and capable, and doesn't care a lot about her looks. Aphrodite appears in the book and reminds her daughter that she was the first Olympian (the last book of the PJ series was called the "Last Olympian"), the offspring of Ouranos himself (while Zeus is only his grandson), and that she is far more than a pretty face. In the previous book, Riordan defended the hearth and the home by promoting the goddess of the hearth, Hestia (the last Olympian). In this book, he promotes love and devotion by defending Aphrodite.
The book, I think, is quite as good as the Percy Jackson books. It was fun, and funny in places, and the story was certainly engaging. I can't imagine that anyone who liked the Percy books would dislike this one.
Now I'm looking forward to the next. Interestingly, the next book is titled "Son of Neptune". That could easily refer to Percy, if the second book centers around him finding his way in the Roman world, but it could also refer to an unknown, and as yet undisclosed, brother. Should be interesting.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Book Review: The Red Pyramid
Thanks to Amazon Prime, I got Rick Riordan's new book "The Red Pyramid" a day early, and finished it up Thursday night.
This is the first in a proposed 3-book series. Whereas Riordan's Percy Jackson books asked the question What if the Greek gods were still around? The Red Pyramid changes the Greek gods to Egyptian ones.
Oddly, though, this book didn't remind me of the Olympians books so much as it did Riordan's other project: The 39 Clues. In the 39 Clues, a brother and sister discover that they are part of an amazing and important family as they travel the world to complete a difficult quest. (Riordan only wrote the first of the 39 Clues books, but wrote the overall arc for the 10-book series on behalf of Disney publishing.)
The Red Pyramid has a brother and sister team traveling the world on a difficult quest while learning they are part of an amazing and important family.
The kids in the 39 Clues are escorted by an intriguing au pair. The kids in the Red Pyramid are escorted by an intriguing cat/goddess, Bast.
The kids in the 39 Clues pick up...well...clues, as they work to piece together a bigger puzzle. The kids in The Red Pyramid pick up clues as they work to piece together a bigger puzzle.
So, other than the fact that the overall pattern of the book is familiar, what does this book bring to the table?
The cool part of the book is finding out how Egyptian mythology worked and the relationship between Egyptian magicians and the gods. It is a very different relationship than the more-familiar Greek mythology. The Egyptian gods can be controlled by magicians and magicians can draw on the power of the gods, giving humans much more power in Egyptian mythology.
Other than that, though, I found the book pretty flat. And, though I saw parts of the ending coming, I still found it convoluted and anticlimactic. Throughout the book we are told of the evils of one god, and his quest to destroy North America. But when the final battle concluded, that god was basically told to shape up and allowed to go on his way (because a bigger threat was looming). After hearing about this guy's evilness for so long, not having him really vanquished came as a bit of a let down. Nor was it explained why a good talking to would be sufficient to keep this god quiet until he was needed again. Either I missed something, or it wasn't explained very well.
I would say there are plenty of better books out there to read. If you're interested in Egyptian mythology, you'd probably like it, but I wouldn't go out of the way to read it. Wait for the soft-cover.
This is the first in a proposed 3-book series. Whereas Riordan's Percy Jackson books asked the question What if the Greek gods were still around? The Red Pyramid changes the Greek gods to Egyptian ones.
Oddly, though, this book didn't remind me of the Olympians books so much as it did Riordan's other project: The 39 Clues. In the 39 Clues, a brother and sister discover that they are part of an amazing and important family as they travel the world to complete a difficult quest. (Riordan only wrote the first of the 39 Clues books, but wrote the overall arc for the 10-book series on behalf of Disney publishing.)
The Red Pyramid has a brother and sister team traveling the world on a difficult quest while learning they are part of an amazing and important family.
The kids in the 39 Clues are escorted by an intriguing au pair. The kids in the Red Pyramid are escorted by an intriguing cat/goddess, Bast.
The kids in the 39 Clues pick up...well...clues, as they work to piece together a bigger puzzle. The kids in The Red Pyramid pick up clues as they work to piece together a bigger puzzle.
So, other than the fact that the overall pattern of the book is familiar, what does this book bring to the table?
The cool part of the book is finding out how Egyptian mythology worked and the relationship between Egyptian magicians and the gods. It is a very different relationship than the more-familiar Greek mythology. The Egyptian gods can be controlled by magicians and magicians can draw on the power of the gods, giving humans much more power in Egyptian mythology.
Other than that, though, I found the book pretty flat. And, though I saw parts of the ending coming, I still found it convoluted and anticlimactic. Throughout the book we are told of the evils of one god, and his quest to destroy North America. But when the final battle concluded, that god was basically told to shape up and allowed to go on his way (because a bigger threat was looming). After hearing about this guy's evilness for so long, not having him really vanquished came as a bit of a let down. Nor was it explained why a good talking to would be sufficient to keep this god quiet until he was needed again. Either I missed something, or it wasn't explained very well.
I would say there are plenty of better books out there to read. If you're interested in Egyptian mythology, you'd probably like it, but I wouldn't go out of the way to read it. Wait for the soft-cover.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Book review: City of Ember
After seeing the movie of "City of Ember" I wasn't terribly impressed. Nevertheless, there was enough to the story to intrigue me, and I got the book.
It was a surprise. The book is fairly short, and is essentially straight-up science fiction. Some big, unexplained catastrophe has occurred. This has rendered the surface of the world uninhabitable. Before the end of the world, a handful of experts created an underground city called Ember. They stocked it with food, babies, and elderly couples. The elderly parents were barred from discussing the surface world or anything from outside of Ember. In this way, the children would grow up content with their city and not harbor any regrets for the lost world of the surface. The experts who built the city also left behind instructions on how to leave the city. Instructions to be followed two hundred years later.
Unfortunately, the instructions get lost, the food and supplies are running out, and the electrical power of the city is failng. It is left to two kids to try to get out of the city and try their luck on the surface--that part is very Logan's Run.
I really liked the book. The characters are pleasant and there are many little things and ideas in the book that are clever and keep your attention. That's one of the good things about science fiction. It's the little, clever, what-if ideas that can get thrown in along the way. How would the inhabitants of a dying world behave? How would they react to blackouts, which would be the equivalent of the sun going out in our world? How would they remember foods that are no longer available?
I haven't read any of the sequels yet, but I do recommend the first book in the series.
It was a surprise. The book is fairly short, and is essentially straight-up science fiction. Some big, unexplained catastrophe has occurred. This has rendered the surface of the world uninhabitable. Before the end of the world, a handful of experts created an underground city called Ember. They stocked it with food, babies, and elderly couples. The elderly parents were barred from discussing the surface world or anything from outside of Ember. In this way, the children would grow up content with their city and not harbor any regrets for the lost world of the surface. The experts who built the city also left behind instructions on how to leave the city. Instructions to be followed two hundred years later.
Unfortunately, the instructions get lost, the food and supplies are running out, and the electrical power of the city is failng. It is left to two kids to try to get out of the city and try their luck on the surface--that part is very Logan's Run.
I really liked the book. The characters are pleasant and there are many little things and ideas in the book that are clever and keep your attention. That's one of the good things about science fiction. It's the little, clever, what-if ideas that can get thrown in along the way. How would the inhabitants of a dying world behave? How would they react to blackouts, which would be the equivalent of the sun going out in our world? How would they remember foods that are no longer available?
I haven't read any of the sequels yet, but I do recommend the first book in the series.
Book Review: Mysterious Benedict Society
I've read all three of the MBS books. They are all interesting and good. It's worth it to go to a book store to read the first part of the first book, which is funny and clever.
The book follows (what else but) an orphan as he responds to a newspaper ad for a child seeking "extraordinary opportunities". When he responds, he joins a number of kids for a written exam. The exam is absolutely impossible, and some kids leave the room in tears.
Nevertheless, the boy uses his exceptional brain to pass the test. Other tests follow, and in the end, he and three other kids have all passed.
What follows is a tale of adventure and danger, intellect and puzzles. The four kids have to team up to save the world from a mind-control device. Needless to say, they succeed and go on to other adventures in books 2 and 3.
These books reminded me most of "7 Professors of the Far North". But it's been a long time since I read that one.
These books aren't deep reads, nor do they have themes beyond using your gifts and working as a team. But they are fun.
The book follows (what else but) an orphan as he responds to a newspaper ad for a child seeking "extraordinary opportunities". When he responds, he joins a number of kids for a written exam. The exam is absolutely impossible, and some kids leave the room in tears.
Nevertheless, the boy uses his exceptional brain to pass the test. Other tests follow, and in the end, he and three other kids have all passed.
What follows is a tale of adventure and danger, intellect and puzzles. The four kids have to team up to save the world from a mind-control device. Needless to say, they succeed and go on to other adventures in books 2 and 3.
These books reminded me most of "7 Professors of the Far North". But it's been a long time since I read that one.
These books aren't deep reads, nor do they have themes beyond using your gifts and working as a team. But they are fun.
Book review: Ann of Green Gables
I read "Ann of Green Gables" about a year ago. Of all the books I have ever read, this one had one unique element--more on that later.
The basic story is simple. An elderly couple (brother and sister) need help on their farm and decide to adopt a young boy. Instead of a boy, a mix-up leaves them with a girl. Though the brother takes to her immediately, the sister takes more time. The girl is a dreamer and loves gothic stories of tragedy and love. Whatever she does, she does wholeheartedly.
As the girl grows older, she, naturally, begins to mellow. By the end, she is an adult who has put many of her childish fancies aside.
This brings us to the unique element. In the beginning of the book, it is not only Ann who is over-the-top in everything. The author's voice is as well. All the descriptions are enthusiastic and a little overblown. If the book continued that way, it would have been cloying and annoying. But by the end of the book, the author's voice has also mellowed, the storytelling has become more settled and mature.
I don't think I have ever read any other book in which the author's voice changes and matures as the book progresses. That makes this book unique.
I don't think this book is for the middle grades, but junior high and up would enjoy it.
The basic story is simple. An elderly couple (brother and sister) need help on their farm and decide to adopt a young boy. Instead of a boy, a mix-up leaves them with a girl. Though the brother takes to her immediately, the sister takes more time. The girl is a dreamer and loves gothic stories of tragedy and love. Whatever she does, she does wholeheartedly.
As the girl grows older, she, naturally, begins to mellow. By the end, she is an adult who has put many of her childish fancies aside.
This brings us to the unique element. In the beginning of the book, it is not only Ann who is over-the-top in everything. The author's voice is as well. All the descriptions are enthusiastic and a little overblown. If the book continued that way, it would have been cloying and annoying. But by the end of the book, the author's voice has also mellowed, the storytelling has become more settled and mature.
I don't think I have ever read any other book in which the author's voice changes and matures as the book progresses. That makes this book unique.
I don't think this book is for the middle grades, but junior high and up would enjoy it.
Book review: Cricket and Hugo
Since almost all I read these days are kids' books. I thought I should start leaving reviews...
About two years ago, I read "The Invention of Hugo Cabret" which won the Caldicot Medal for outstanding picture book. At the time, it was like no other picture book anyone had seen, and the award drew a lot of criticism. The book starts out with page after page of pencil drawings. You see a kid running, then ducking behind a grate in the wall, then peering out from behind a clock, etc. Page after page after page of drawings. The book isn't a slim little pre-school reader. When there is text, it's more at the 4th grade level or higher. It's meant for older kids.
The book has two parts. The first tells you of Hugo and his struggle to survive essentially on the streets. His uncle, who maintained the clocks at the Paris train station has disappeared or died, and Hugo is left with no one to take care of him. So, he takes over his uncle's job and paycheck. He figures that as long as the clocks continue to run properly, he'll be able to continue on. Obviously, he has struggles and problems. By the end of the first part, he is in a more-secure position.
That is as far as our then-third grade girl got in the book. Which is too bad, because the second half is great. Hugo discovers a mechanical man and begins to repair it (I think that actually happens in the first part of the book). The thing is made with extraordinary complexity. Wind it up, and it can draw a complete and complex picture on a piece of paper. This leads to other discoveries, and in the end Hugo himself becomes a master of making similar automatons.
The book is exciting and interesting. I highly recommend it.
Right after I read "Hugo", I read the old classic "The Cricket in Times Square". I found the two books were perfect companions. Both have an adventurous boy who move about their cities, both take place in train stations, and both have a sense of wonder and magic.
Not only do I recommend both, but I recommend they be read together.
In fact, they would be great books to pair up in a book club. The club could discuss the differences and similarities between the two and the similar thematic threads.
About two years ago, I read "The Invention of Hugo Cabret" which won the Caldicot Medal for outstanding picture book. At the time, it was like no other picture book anyone had seen, and the award drew a lot of criticism. The book starts out with page after page of pencil drawings. You see a kid running, then ducking behind a grate in the wall, then peering out from behind a clock, etc. Page after page after page of drawings. The book isn't a slim little pre-school reader. When there is text, it's more at the 4th grade level or higher. It's meant for older kids.
The book has two parts. The first tells you of Hugo and his struggle to survive essentially on the streets. His uncle, who maintained the clocks at the Paris train station has disappeared or died, and Hugo is left with no one to take care of him. So, he takes over his uncle's job and paycheck. He figures that as long as the clocks continue to run properly, he'll be able to continue on. Obviously, he has struggles and problems. By the end of the first part, he is in a more-secure position.
That is as far as our then-third grade girl got in the book. Which is too bad, because the second half is great. Hugo discovers a mechanical man and begins to repair it (I think that actually happens in the first part of the book). The thing is made with extraordinary complexity. Wind it up, and it can draw a complete and complex picture on a piece of paper. This leads to other discoveries, and in the end Hugo himself becomes a master of making similar automatons.
The book is exciting and interesting. I highly recommend it.
Right after I read "Hugo", I read the old classic "The Cricket in Times Square". I found the two books were perfect companions. Both have an adventurous boy who move about their cities, both take place in train stations, and both have a sense of wonder and magic.
Not only do I recommend both, but I recommend they be read together.
In fact, they would be great books to pair up in a book club. The club could discuss the differences and similarities between the two and the similar thematic threads.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Book Review: 39 Clues
"The 39 Clues" books are sort of the Monkees of the kid-lit book world. It's not a natural construct, but something put together by a publishing house--Scholastic--to make money. The idea is this: pick one author to write a general story arc for a series of 10 books, then play a sort of telephone game with the writing of them--each book gets written by a different author. Each author is allowed to put their own spin on things, within reason, but they have to stick to the main arc and get their characters to the desired place by the end of the book. Basically, with the end of the Harry Potter series, Scholastic had to come up with some new ways to get kids to buy their books. This was one of the things they thought up.
Part of the reason for the series is to tie it all into a website and a series of clue cards--some of which come with the books, some of which are sold separately. The idea behind that is to pull the internet generation into the series and create a web/book synthesis. The books provide about 10 of the 39 clues, and many of the others can be found on the website. I just spent some time on the site, and it has some interesting games and things on it.
As for the books, they are very quick reads and the overall story is interesting. The basic concept is kind of fun: there is one family, the Cahills, who are behind almost everything in history. Members include: Edison, Marie Curie, Benjamin Franklin, Napoleon, Mozart, Amelia Earhardt, Deng Xiao Ping, and just about any other historical figure you could name. The family is divided into four branches: an inventor branch, a artistic branch, a power-hungry branch, and a branch known for physical strength. At some point, the family developed a great and powerful secret. But the secret has been hidden for hundreds of years. In order to discover it, you have to find the 39 clues. Some of the family branches have discovered some of the clues, but you need to bring them all together. If you do, then you have the most powerful secret on the planet.
Sent to hunt for these clues are a number of teams. One from each family, plus the lead characters, Dan and Amy Cahill. The books take Dan, Amy, and their au pair, Nelly, around the world and into many dangers. In the end, though other teams may have gathered a clue or two along the way, Dan and Amy, so far, have been able to collect them all.
There is definitely a difference between the different authors. Some of the books are simply better written than some of the others. The books, however, are very expensive. There will be 10 books in total, and each book is $13.00. That's a lot of money for books which can be read in a couple of hours. These are definitely library books. They're not good enough to go out and buy $130 worth of book, but they'd be good to borrow for a little light reading.
Part of the reason for the series is to tie it all into a website and a series of clue cards--some of which come with the books, some of which are sold separately. The idea behind that is to pull the internet generation into the series and create a web/book synthesis. The books provide about 10 of the 39 clues, and many of the others can be found on the website. I just spent some time on the site, and it has some interesting games and things on it.
As for the books, they are very quick reads and the overall story is interesting. The basic concept is kind of fun: there is one family, the Cahills, who are behind almost everything in history. Members include: Edison, Marie Curie, Benjamin Franklin, Napoleon, Mozart, Amelia Earhardt, Deng Xiao Ping, and just about any other historical figure you could name. The family is divided into four branches: an inventor branch, a artistic branch, a power-hungry branch, and a branch known for physical strength. At some point, the family developed a great and powerful secret. But the secret has been hidden for hundreds of years. In order to discover it, you have to find the 39 clues. Some of the family branches have discovered some of the clues, but you need to bring them all together. If you do, then you have the most powerful secret on the planet.
Sent to hunt for these clues are a number of teams. One from each family, plus the lead characters, Dan and Amy Cahill. The books take Dan, Amy, and their au pair, Nelly, around the world and into many dangers. In the end, though other teams may have gathered a clue or two along the way, Dan and Amy, so far, have been able to collect them all.
There is definitely a difference between the different authors. Some of the books are simply better written than some of the others. The books, however, are very expensive. There will be 10 books in total, and each book is $13.00. That's a lot of money for books which can be read in a couple of hours. These are definitely library books. They're not good enough to go out and buy $130 worth of book, but they'd be good to borrow for a little light reading.
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