Puss Reboots: Blog: July 2012

July in Review: 07/31/12

Rating out of 5 stars (as posted on GoodReads)

Five Star books:

Amulet 4: The Last Council by Kazu Kibuishi
Arthur's Nose by Marc Brown
Bad Kitty Meets the Baby by Nick Bruel
Bedtime for Mommy by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
The Bog Baby by Jean Willis
Catering to Nobody (audio) by Diane Mott Davidson
The Chocolate Touch by Patrick Skene Catling
The Cow Loves Cookies by Karma Wilson
Everything on a Waffle (audio) by Polly Horvath
My Brother Charlie by Holly Robinson Peete
The Owl and the Pussycat by Edward Lear and illustrated by Anne Mortimer
Spoon by Amy Krouse Rosenthal
Spork by Kyo Maclear
Twin Spica 06 by Kou Yaginuma
xxxHolic 10 by CLAMP

Four Star books

Calvin Coconut: The Zippy Fix by Graham Salisbury
The Dazzle of Day by Molly Gloss
Disappearing Desmond by Anna Alter
Emily the Strange: Lost Days by Rob Reger
Fairest by Gail Carson Levine
Food, Girls and Other Things I Can't Have by Allen Zadoff
Fullmetal Alchemist 17 by Hiromu Arakawa
I'm Going to Grandma's by Mary Ann Hoberman
Maggie's Monkeys by Linda Sanders-Wells
Soul Eater 01 by Atsushi Ohkubo
Wow! Ocean! by Robert Neubecker

Three Star books

Adventures in Cartooning: Christmas Special by James Sturm
Alexander Who Used to Be Rich Last Sunday by Judith Viorst
Angels by Marian Keyes
Mooshka, A Quilt Story by Julie Paschkis

Two Star books

Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle 03 by CLAMP

One Star books

Books by Age

Books by Source

Books by Age Group

Books and stories read this month (reviews coming)

Personal Collection

Born on a Blue Day by Daniel Tammet
Chi's Sweet Home, Volume 5 by Kanata Konami
f2m by Hazel Edwards and Ryan Kennedy
Gentlemen of the Road: A Tale of Adventure by Michael Chabon
Monster by A. Lee Martinez
Owl in Love by Patrice Kindl
The Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown
Sweet Revenge by Diane Mott Davidson

Library book

All These Things I've Done by Gabrielle Zevin
Amy and Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson
Babymouse: Monster Mash by Jennifer L. Holm
Bake Sale by Sara Varon
Black Juice by Margo Lanagan
Boy and Bot by Ame Dyckman
Chi's Sweet Home, Volume 2 by Kanata Konami
Chi's Sweet Home, Volume 3 by Kanata Konami
City Dog, Country Frog by Mo Willems
City of Thieves (audio) by David Benioff
The Dark Wind by Tony Hillerman
Delusions of Gender by Cordelia Fine
Demons are a Ghoul's Best Friend by Victoria Laurie
Dinorella: A Prehistoric Fairy Tale by Pamela Duncan Edwards
Drive by Andrew Bush
Drood by Dan Simmons
The Disappearing Spoon by Sam Kean
The Drowned World by J.G. Ballard
Flash Forward by Robert J. Sawyer
The Floating Girl by Sujata Massey
How Did You Get This Number (audio) by Sloane Crosley
How I Stole Johnny Depp's Alien Girlfriend by Gary Ghislain
Iguanas in the Snow/Iguanas en la nieve by Francisco X. Alarcón
The London Eye Mystery by Siobhan Dowd
Nothing But the Truth by Avi
One Moon, Two Cats by Laura Godwin
Skywalkers: Mohawk Ironworkers Build the City by David Weitzman
The Three Weissmanns of Westport by Cathleen Schine
The Twins' Blanket by Hyewon Yum
Will Supervillains Be on the Final?: Liberty Vocational Volume 1 by Naomi Novik
Yotsuba&! Vol. 6 by Kiyohiko Azuma
Yotsuba&! Vol. 9 by Kiyohiko Azuma

Review copy

Amulet, Vol. 5: Prince of the Elves by Kazu Kibuishi
Courtney Crumrin and the Night Things by Ted Naifeh
Hereville: How Mirka Met a Meteorite by Barry Deutsch
Yesterday by C.K. Kelly Martin

5 = all new books, -4 = all to be reads. The goal is to be as close to -4 as possible.

Read vs Review by Date - Jan / Jul 2012

blog | books

Comments (2)

Permalink

Wow! Ocean! 07/31/12

Wow! Ocean! by Robert Neubecker caught my attention both for it's enthusiastic title as well as its ocean setting.

The book opens with Izzy and her family traveling from the mountains to the beach for a day of fun. Then the book settles into page after page of the basic different things of the ocean, each introduced with "Wow!" For example: "Wow! Fish!" and "Wow! Whales!"

For children in preschool through about first grade, the Wow! text is perfect. It gets across basic concepts: fish, coral reef, sunken ship, whales, and so forth while drawing the eye in with colorful and complex illustrations.

For older children in the second through fourth grade level, there are labels for most of the things in the illustrations. For example, all the fish are labeled on the "Wow! Fish!" page.

The book was a huge hit with both of my children and we had to read each and every label. Both children then took a turn re-reading the book.

Four stars

The Owl and the Pussycat 07/30/12

The Owl and the Pussycat illustrated by Anne Mortimer is among Edward Lear's best known nonsense poems. It's also a family favorite, one we recite on a semi-regular basis. It's perfect for a family of owl and cat lovers. The owl and pussycat go on a long sea journey in their pea green boat. After sailing the world for a year and a day they decide to get married.

It includes elements listed as children's preferences in The Essentials of Children's Literature (Lynch-Brown, Tomlinson & Short, 2011, p. 64). Anne Mortimer specializes in cat paintings and her attention to detail brings new life and whimsy to this classic poem. Children can discuss friendships, travel, how cats and owls are in real life and if they'd make a good couple as well as how the poem is structured. They could even be asked to do their own illustrations for the poem.

I read this delightful version the first time for the materials for children ages 5 to 8 course I took.

Five stars

What Are You Reading: July 30, 2012: 07/29/12

I doubt I'll get much reading done this week. I have a trip coming up, longer days at work and staying up late / getting up early to watch the Olympics live.

My favorite read last week was Hereville: How Mirka Met a Meteorite by Barry Deutsch which I read via NetGalley. It's very much like Stardust but with the Hereville cast. It comes out in the Fall.

The runner up was Bake Sale by Sara Varon. It's about a cupcake and an eggplant who like to bake together and play together in a band. There's a chance they can go to Turkey to bake with the famous Turkish Delight. I know it sounds hokey but it's really a great little middle grade graphic novel. It includes recipes and some baking tips. The best tip is to save the butter wrappers as they'll have just enough butter left for greasing a pan.

I'm still slowly chugging through Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett and I'd like to finish it soon. I also plan to finish I Thought You Were Dead: A Love Story by Pete Nelson. During our trip I'll be re-listening to the Wayside School Collection by Louis Sachar.

What about you?

Did Not Finish:

Drood by Dan Simmons (library book)
Skywalkers: Mohawk Ironworkers Build the City by David Weitzman (library book)

Finished:

All These Things I've Done by Gabrielle Zevin (library book)
Bake Sale by Sara Varon (library book)
Born on a Blue Day (audio) by Daniel Tammet (pesonal collection)
Chi's Sweet Home, Volume 3 by Kanata Konami (library book)
Courtney Crumrin and the Night Things by Ted Naifeh (review copy)
The Floating Girl by Sujata Massey (library book)
Hereville: How Mirka Met a Meteorite by Barry Deutsch (review copy)
Iguanas in the Snow/Iguanas en la nieve by Francisco X. Alarcón (library book)
Yotsuba&! Vol. 6 by Kiyohiko Azuma (library book)

Currently Reading:

1Q84 by Haruki Murakami (personal collection)
Between Shades of Gray (audio) by Ruta Sepetys (library book)
I Thought You Were Dead: A Love Story by Pete Nelson (library book)
I Was Told There'd Be Cake (audio) by Sloane Crosley (library book)
Sacre Bleu by Christopher Moore (personal collection)
The Shocking Pink Hat by Frances Crane (personal collection)
Tuesdays at the Castle by Jessica Day George (personal collection)
The Wedding Officer Anthony Capella (personal collection)
Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett (personal collection)

Reviews Posted:

Arthur's Nose by Marc Brown (library book)
Calvin Coconut: The Zippy Fix by Graham Salisbury (library book)
The Dazzle of Day by Molly Gloss (library book)
Disappearing Desmond by Anna Alter (library book)
Everything on a Waffle (audio) by Polly Horvath (library book)
Fairest (audio) by Gail Carson Levine (personal collection)
Maggie's Monkeys by Linda Sanders-Wells (library book)

What Are You Reading

Comments (30)

Permalink

The Dazzle of Day 07/29/12

The Dazzle of Day by Molly Gloss is is a generation ship saga written in the style of A Canticle for Leibowitz. It has three distinct parts: planning to leave, a death enroute, and life on the new planet.

Although there isn't a single character to carry the book through from start to finish, Gloss manages to still make it a very character driven book. Each section reads like a self contained novella, thematically tied together.

My favorite part was the first story. In it, an older woman is thinking about her life in the South American Quaker community that will now be leaving Earth. She tries to compare the life she knows with the sacrifices that will be expected on the ship. It's an interesting way to begin a Generation Ship story.

If you've read Inside Out by Maria V. Snyder and want to read something just as enjoyable but more literary, give The Dazzle of Day a try.

Four stars

Calvin Coconut: The Zippy Fix: 07/28/12

As is so typical for me, I ended up reading the second book in the series, Calvin Coconut: The Zippy Fix by Graham Salisbury first.

In this one, Calvin still isn't happy with having to give up his bedroom to the girl from Texas. She picks on him constantly and makes home life for him hell since his mom is too busy to notice how much of a bully she is. He decides to convince her to go home by making her life as miserable as possible.

Calvin knows she's allergic to cats. So he sneaks the neighbor's cat into his old room and lets it lounge on her pillow. What he doesn't realize is just how allergic she is. The prank gets out of hand and Calvin is faced with the consequences of his desire for revenge.

With her birthday coming up, Calvin decides it's time to be the better person and make amends with a nice birthday gift. Most of the book centers on his efforts to cobble together the money to buy her what she wants most.

Along the way he has to deal with school bullies, his own bad luck and many other typical kid problems. All of this is set against a Hawaiian setting that feels genuine with out being exotic.

Four stars

Maggie's Monkeys 07/27/12

I'm a little sad as I post my review of Maggie's Monkeys by Linda Sanders-Wells. While looking up reviews to link to I can across the obituary for the author. She passed away last fall after a fight with breast cancer. You can read a tribute to her written by Heather Henson.

Maggie's Monkeys celebrates imagination and family. One day Maggie proclaims that there are pink monkeys living in the family refrigerator. Her brother doesn't believe it and is baffled when their parents play along.

As a parent I've had to welcome monsters into the house and chase other monsters out. There was a particularly mean one who used to live in my son's clock. Later he had an entire city of monsters!

After weeks of Maggie protecting the monkeys in the fridge, big brother is put on the spot when his friends are over for a play date. Imagine for him how embarrassing it must be to have his sister going on about monkeys in the fridge! The charm of this book hangs on his reaction. Give it a read to see what he does!

Four stars

Disappearing Desmond: 07/26/12

Disappearing Desmond by Anna Alter is about a painfully shy cat who does everything he can to make himself invisible at school. Desmond accomplishes his disappearances through camouflage clothing and carefully placed props. He blends into the wallpaper during reading time and with the plants during recess.

All that changes, though, when Gloria shows up. Gloria is an outgoing, talkative child who knows who she likes. She doesn't seem to notice Desmond's hiding as a sign of shyness. Can her enthusiasm win him over and bring him out of the background?

My daughter who is about the most out-going person I know, didn't pick up on the theme of shyness. She did however like playing "find Desmond" on each page. She also liked Gloria and probably related to her best of all.

Disappearing Desmond reminds me of the picture book version of Secret Letters from 0 to 10 by Susie Morgenstern. The author's information at the back of the book explains how she too was shy as a child. She is appropriately dressed in true Desmond fashion!

Four stars

Everything on a Waffle 07/25/12

Everything on a Waffle by Polly Horvath is the story of Primrose Squarp and her unusual life in Coal Harbour, Vancouver Island, British Columbia. She begins her tale with her parents being lost at sea. Throughout her tale she maintains her belief that her parents are marooned on an island even if the adults in her life try to tell her otherwise.

Young Primrose, then, goes from home to home as her parents' disappearance lengthens. Her first caretaker is her babysitter — an elderly women obsessed with mothballs. Then, there's her wayward uncle, Jack. And finally, she's put into foster care with a delightful couple who dote on their dog as much as they do their charge.

The one piece of stability in Primrose's life is The Girl on a Red Swing — the local restaurant where everything is served on a waffle. Primrose spends her free time there, learning how to cook and getting sage advice from the only adult who seems willing to believe her. As food is such a part of Primrose's life, each chapter ends with a recipe.

I listened to the book on audio on a family trip. It was entertaining enough to keep the entire family occupied on an otherwise long drive.

Five stars

Arthur's Nose 07/24/12

Arthur the aardvark is two years older than Garfield the cat and he's changed just as much since his debut in 1976. Arthur first appeared in Arthur's Nose by Marc Brown, an appropriate and funny title for a cover sporting a typically shaped aardvark, but a little disturbing in thinking of what Arthur looks like now.

Brushing aside 20-20 hindsight for the moment, I want to look at the first edition book because that's the version I read. It's part of the K12 collection at Holy Names University that I cataloged for my MLIS internship. The book has probably sat there unread since the Education Department brought Sr. June's collection over from wherever they used to keep them to be housed in the main library.

The cover art is typical mid 1970s. It's done in browns, oranges and pink. Artistically it's firmly planted in the year it was published.

And there in the middle of the cover, framed in gold (or puke yellow) is a nerdy aardvark in an orange and yellow striped shirt and pocket protector. For fans of the more recent incarnation of Arthur, the only familiar details are the eyes and the rounded ears.

So Arthur's in school with some vaguely familiar looking friends. It's easier to tell through squinted eyes who the are. The entire cast seems to have transformed over the years. He's being teased for his nose and decides to do something about it.

Rather than treat the situation like a no bullying lesson from the get-go, Arthur decides on rhinoplasty to fix his problem. Being an animal in a world of anamorphic animals, Arthur's choices are beaks, trunks, and so forth. As those would all look even more ridiculous on his face than his current nose, he decides against the operation. As it stands by itself in the absence of all other Arthur books, it's a cute story with a solid message.

But wait! Look at modern day Arthur. Where the heck is his nose? By the 1980s, Arthur has morphed into his modern day form. If the moral of the story was be happy with what nature / genetics has given you, then where's his nose?

The disappearance of Arthur's nose in later books and in the PBS series calls into question the ending of Arthur's Nose in the same way that The Magic School Bus: Going Batty makes it clear that Ms. Frizzle is actually a vampire.

Five stars

books | Marc Brown | childrens | 1976

Comments (2)

Permalink

Fairest 07/23/12

Bear with me if this ends up being a somewhat rambling review. I both read and listened to Fairest by Gail Carson Levine over the course of a weekend car trip.

Fairest is a tween fantasy inspired by Snow White but that connection only becomes obvious in the final third of the story. Aza is a foundling, raised by innkeepers of the Feather Bed. In the kingdom of Ayortha, beauty in voice and body are prized above all else. While Aza can sing better than anyone she knows, she is too tall, too wide, too plain of face and too clumsy. As she hones her singing skills, she learns how to throw her voice, or as she calls it, illuse.

Aza's self-esteem therefore isn't great. It gets put the ultimate test, though, when circumstances beyond her control take her to castle for a royal wedding. When the king is injured, leaving his new queen in charge, Aza finds her stay extended for the foreseeable future.

Queen Ivi, the young commoner with unusual beauty but a terrible singing voice, stands in for the wicked stepmother queen. Aza with her hair too black, her skin to pale and her lips too red, stands in for Snow White. Ivi's, though, isn't driven by an insane desire to be the "fairest one of all" even if that's what's expected of her. Her actions are driven more by her immaturity and homesickness, making her both a more interesting and more dangerous character.

As Ayortha prizes singing, there's frequent mention of singing, including characters randomly breaking out in song mid sentence when the mood strikes. In the print form, these moments of song are rendered as short lines of poetry — the longest one taking maybe three quarters of a page. In the Full Cast Audio version, these songs can add upwards of five minutes to a page that would otherwise take a minute or two to read. As I was reading it on my own at night and listening to it in the car, these inflated areas were more noticeable than they would otherwise be.

Four stars

What Are You Reading: July 23, 2012: 07/22/12

Work is going great. Because of my commute, I'm nearly done with Born on a Blue Day by Daniel Tammet. After that I'll start I Was Told There'd Be Cake by Sloanne Crosley.

My favorite read last week was Amulet, Vol. 5: Prince of the Elves by Kazu Kibuishi which I read via NetGalley. I own the entire series and will definitely be buying a copy of Volume 5 when it comes out in September. The artwork is fabulous and the story finally explains the Elf Prince's motivation. He reminds me very favorably of Prince Zuko from Avatar: The Last Airbender.

The runner up was Flash Forward (audio) by Robert J. Sawyer. I listened to it because I was curious how it was compared to the television series. Although it's different, being taken from the point of view of the people who inadvertently caused the event, it was still very good. My son ended up listening to the entire audio with me. So if you have some tweens who are speculative fiction fans, they might also like Flash Forward.

My goal this week is to finish The Floating Girl by Sujata Massey and Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett. After that I'll start reading All These Things I've Done by Gabrielle Zevin and The Wedding Officer by Anthony Capella.

What about you?