Additional Information
Reviews written by Mamma B
| 69 results - showing 1 - 10 | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 | Results per page: |
Books
Cute gimmick for a series
|
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful
Googlies is a series by Joanna Bicknell that includes several different titles. My daughter got this book for Christmas when she was two years old and she really likes it. The illustrations in the book consist of photographs of farm animals (along with large general shapes and colorful swirls) with their eyes replaced with large button "googlie" eyes like you can find at craft stores. I wouldn't say that the illustrations are anything out of the ordinary, but the pictures are very clear and the addition of the eyes is the main point of the story. The plot revolves around all the animals at the farm being surprised (hence the big googlie eyes) about a secret guest that you don't discover till the end of the book. The story is very simple, but the eyes make the animals look very silly and the surprise at the end makes most kids laugh. It's a good board book to have around with a silly story and an easy way to help learn animals. Don't agree with me? Post your own review! |
Was this review helpful to you?
|
Books
Great for dog lovers!
|
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful
Charlie the Ranch Dog is a children's book by Ree Drummond, who is better known to most as The Pioneer Woman. The dogs in the story, Charlie and Suzie, are real dogs that are often featured on her website - thepioneerwoman.com. First, I must say that the illustrations are just beautiful and really captures the look of a modern working ranch. Even though you see mostly greens and browns, the book reminds me of spring on the prairies in my old town in the Midwest. I also love that fact that the dogs are extremely cute - but not overly cartoonish. I read the story to my 4 year old daughter when it came in the mail and now she will probably spend the rest of the week baying like a basset hound ("Rrrrooowww-oooh!"). She loved the story and had me read it to her twice in a row before running off to pretend she was a ranch dog. The story follows an average day at the ranch for Charlie and his little friend, Suzie. Charlie brags during the story of all the work he gets done, but he really just eats and sleeps a lot. It's a great subtle introduction to the concept of exaggeration for little kids. I would really recommend this story to families that might have an older pet. It's a loving tribute to a dog who is a well loved member of the family, even though he may have lost the pep of his puppy days, and it shows that there is room for all kinds of personalities in a home. Don't agree with me? Post your own review! |
Was this review helpful to you?
|
Books
Don't judge a book by its cover!
|
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Land of Mountains by Jinx Schwartz was a fantastic book. But I have to say, that had I seen this on a shelf in the bookstore I would have passed it by due to the poor cover art and almost completely unreadable title. (Sorry, Ms. Schwartz, but you really need to talk to your publisher about redesigning your cover!) Now I'd really like to see this happen because I thought this book was great and I'd like to see it reach more readers. Lizbuthann is a 10 year old mix between Shirly Temple, Pippi Longstockings, and Scout from To Kill A Mockingbird. A girl with a ton of spunk and not afraid to go on an adventure. She moves with her family to Haiti because her father is a high ranking contractor in a work camp building a damn for the island. All the families of the US workers are housed in a military base style housing development for the duration of the project. She makes friends with the other kids in the camp, but most of her time is spent exploring the island and learning about the people who live there. She is fascinated by how different the people are from the culture she is used to as a young girl living in 1950's Texas and makes friends with all sorts of people on the island with her natural curiosity. And gets in TONS of trouble. She learns about voodoo (or at least the parts of it that would be interesting to a 10 year old) and soon comes face to face with a zombie outside her bedroom window. The whole book was hysterical - one of my favorite excerpts came in the early chapters: "I'd thrown up my hand during Show and Tell so I could share it with my classmates. "My Daddy's a dam builder, he's going to Hell, and he's taking us with him," I'd begun, only to have my favorite teacher, Mrs. Baldwin, grab my hand and march me straight to the principals office." She is actually trying to tell the class that she is going to Haiti (HAY-tee) with her family, not Hades (HAY-dees). This is one of the great examples in the story of the authors ability to really make me laugh out loud and her really get into a child's head and think like they do. The plot was great and I didn't know what would happen till the very end. Although I felt the last few chapters were a tad rushed, overall the story was a great adventure for girls. I think that boys would like the story too, but if you have an adventurous daughter this would be right up your alley. The only things I think some parents might find objectionable about this book are brief discussions of the voodoo religion and some negative racial references which are appropriate for the time period and are dealt with in a positive way. Don't agree with me? Post your own review! :) |
Was this review helpful to you?
|
Books
A good classroom book
|
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful
If Babies Went To School by Barbara Lock is a book mainly for grade school children to start deductive reasoning. Brother and sister, Brian and Amanda, discuss what would happen if they brought their little brother, Luke, to school and if all the other kids brought their family babies as well. The book discusses things like what the babies would eat, how they would get to school, what they would do there, and what kind of trouble they would probably get into. While I really like the concept of the kids really thinking about the reality of what would happen, both the pros and cons of bringing a baby to school, I think there could have been a bit more actual story/plot involved. Even in the very first page we seem to have walked into the middle of a conversation already in progress. I did like the fact that they also went into multiple scenarios with the idea of the babies at school, not just a few basic simple examples. The illustrations were alright, just basic colored pencil with white backgrounds. Some of the pages were a lot better than others - including the cover. There was nothing wrong with them, but not really anything special either. I think my best suggestion for this book might be a 1st or 2nd grade classroom setting with a follow up assignment. Read the book aloud in class and then have the students come up with three more ideas of what the babies could do at school and how that would work out. This book would be fine for at home as well, but as I said before, without an actual story involved I wonder how often a child would want to read it over again. Don't agree with me? Add your own review! :) |
Was this review helpful to you?
|
Books
Not very engaging
|
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful
City of Bones by Cassandra Clare is book 1 of The Mortal Instruments series (Followed by City of Ashes and City of Glass).Clary is a teenage girl who goes to a club with her friend, Simon, and witnesses a very strange attack in a storeroom. She thinks of it as a murder - but the body disappeared before her eyes, so how could it be? This is the start of her involvement with the Shadowhunters, an ancient group of mythical hunters who go after demons, and keep vampires and werewolves in check. Her mother suddenly goes missing and she seems to be running into some kind of monster around every corner. Maybe she is more involved with these people than she knows... It took me forever to get through this book. Not because it was a difficult read - quite the opposite, actually. I thought the characters were dreadfully shallow, boring, and every single one of them was completely self absorbed. I really didn't care what happened to them at all. All the teenagers in the story were rude and conceited, even though they were supposed to be deep and 'outsiders'. The actual back story that comes out explaining where the Shadowhunters came from and why would have made a much more interesting main story then the one that was told. And perhaps they go more into that in the other books. But overall, this story was bland, predictable, and basically riding on the popularity of the Twilight and Harry Potter books. If you have a teen daughter, she might like these books if she is into the whole vampire thing. But if she is an advanced reader, she might find the book a bit contrived. Some basic things that parents might object to is violence, a small amount of drinking, and no sex - but sexuality. Don't agree with me? Add your own review! :) |
Was this review helpful to you?
|
Books
Excellent read - different viewpoint of WWII
|
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
One has to remember that this is a 'young reader' book if you are an adult reading it for entertainment. The author goes to lengths to avoid harsh language, sex, and most of the extreme violence that you get with most books that deal with WW2. But, that actually works to his advantage in this story since its about a young girl from the age of about 6 to 14 and even though it's not told from her point of view, the story has an innocence about it. Believe me, it is still very emotional, but from the view point of an 11 year old and the concerns that she would have at that age.If someone were to ask me exactly why the book was worth reading, I would say it was good because it showed that just because you happened to be a 'safe' German during this time period, that those years were still certainly no bed of roses either. Through the daughter (who is an orphan and has been taken in by these foster parents) you see a family who doesn't agree with what is going on but doesn't have the means to fight against it. So, they do what they can - basically risking there life through the whole book to first help her, the man they hide, and lots of other small - but still very dangerous, choices. And the whole time, the daughter doesn't spend all her time thinking of how noble her family is - she just takes it for granted that is the right way to act even though the majority of the community is against it. Even though they do amazingly selfless things - they are just your normal, run of the mill family - the mom yells and cooks bad, the dad has a normal job and doesn't make much money, and the girl gets in trouble and plays with friends. 'Normal' people can make a difference in the world. The end of the story had me sobbing. I think the reason was because I thought the author did a great job creating characters that were definitely flawed, but realistic and loved. Like the mom for instance, she was portrayed as a swearing, mean, bitchy, fat tyrant. But, when it came down to it she never questioned helping Max (the Jew), or loving her foster daughter, or just giving up even though life was really hard. And she was the least likable character! Of the handful of bad reviews I've read (very few) most of the people complained that the book was trite. Yes, they didn't go in action movie style and defeat Hitler, or do a daring rescue from inside a labor camp - the book was just about her life and the funny, tragic, and normal things that happened in it. Kid things. Stuff an 11 year old should be doing, even though she is doing them in a dangerous, uncertain time in Germany that casts a shadow on everyone's life no matter how mundane the activity. Parents might be concerned about the events happening in the story during that time period. You may want to wait until your child has a basic understanding of what happened during the war, or at least be ready to explain to them what would have happened to Max if he had been captured since the book assumes that you would know. There is violence and some mild swearing - but nothing overly graphic, especially considering that it could have been with the subject matter. This book would be a great follow up after reading Ann Frank in school. |
Was this review helpful to you?
|
Books
Second book just as clever as the first
|
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful
The Prometheus Project - Book 2: Captured by Douglas E. Richards is a great follow up to the first novel in the series. The readers start off by catching up with the Resnick kids, Ryan and Regan, and how their research with the underground city has been going over the course of a few months. (The first chapter or so gives you a pretty good background into the first story, but I would definitely still recommend reading them in order.) The team of scientists have been making big strides and the kids couldn't be more excited about the city. They rush to the complex every day to assist their parents with their discoveries, but everyone is starting to let their guard down a little. When an unexpected alien invader breaks into the city in disguise, only a lucky turn of events keeps the Resnick kids from being held prisoner along with the rest of the team. Richards again mixes a very creative story with a line of science and reasoning that keep the reader very interested in the story. He is very careful in explaining all the discoveries/plans/objects that the characters use as plausible in real life, instead of just futuristic sci-fi or magic. I particularly enjoy when he explains things that are already in existence that a child might find cool, but has never heard about. The story flows well, and I never seem to be able to guess what the solutions will be before the kids find them. Several times in the story I was thinking to myself that the author would be great writing an adult movie screenplay, since so many of them these days need some good creative twists and logical thinking! Still, my only complaint with the story is the characters lack depth. They don't ever seem to be wrong about anything and I can only describe them as perfect angels who don't even let a negative thought float into their heads. There is nothing wrong with putting a few negative aspects in a character - it makes them more real. All in all, I think that kids will like Richards books because of the fact that he doesn't dumb them down just because they are kids. Yes, the concepts are broken down to simple terms, but I don't know if I could have even understood them written in a more sophisticated manner. And even with a high tension, alien invasion going on there is an extremely low level of violence in the book. I think this is a great set of books for science lovers, or even just science fiction lovers, to read as a family. |
Was this review helpful to you?
|
Books
Better than the first!
|
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful
Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins was an impressive second installment in the Hunger Games series. The writing has reached a more mature level and the twists in the story are truly surprising. I find myself often able to guess what is going to come next in most stories - but Collins really throws a few curve balls that I did not see coming. The story picks up a few months after the original story ended Katniss and Peeta are back home and have been moved in to the special area of town designated for victors. While their lives have become more comfortable with nice homes and plentiful food - they can tell that a foul mood and tension has entered the community. I really don't want to say much more of the plot than that because the surprises come pretty early on in the story. I finished this book in about two evenings time, mostly because I couldn't put it down. I'm very glad that the third installment to the series, Mockingjay, is coming out shortly because the ending of this book is extremely abrupt. It had the feel of the end of a chapter - not the end of a complete story. There are the same issues in this story with violence and adult themes of war and oppression - but nothing that I don't think anyone above 6th grade couldn't handle. In fact, I think it's actually better to have a child read about violence in a way where a character dies; there is blood and damage; and consequences follow; then the way many video games and tv shows have people being killed without anyone batting an eye or having it be no big deal. I would definitely recommend this book to both parents and kids alike. |
Was this review helpful to you?
|
Books
Very Impressed
|
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins was a fantastic teen book. A rating of a 10 is pretty high for me, and some adults may not agree - but I think knowing that this book is written for teens gives it the edge to push it up there. It might not be an adult read 10, maybe more like a solid 8, but for a kids book it was excellent. Katniss is a 16 year old girl who has to fight to the death against 23 other kids in a competition set up by the government. They have no choice but to enter and everyone is at risk. It's a way to force their districts (sort of like states) to compete against each other, whether they want to or not. Only children 12 to 18 are allowed to be chosen, adding to the horrifying brutality of the games. Lots of the negative reviews I have seen about this book were quick to point out that the idea of humans hunting each other for sport is not a new idea, and they would be right. I can think of at least three other very similar stories right off the top of my head. But I think that the execution of the characters, the back stories, and the incorporation of romance and action was a great way to attract girls and boys equally. Also there were aspects of the competition that I hadn't seen in other stories that I thought were more realistic than most - like how sponsors and viewers could pool their resources to help the players when they needed it. It reminded me of the way that the new reality series talent shows these days ask you to call in and vote. I could see how some parents could be upset about the level of graphic violence. While it doesn't go into too much detail about the wounds, it definitely doesn't just write them off either. I found it to be a pretty realistic depiction of what it would be like to have someone stab you in the leg, or the reality of having to kill someone in hand to hand combat. I did find one review by a mom that I found confusing: "The world is depressing enough without letting my kids read books like this." I couldn't disagree more. Of course this story is an over the top example of a society gone wrong - but I think it's very important to show kids (especially young teens) how far things can get out of hand if people don't speak up. The evening news and the internet usually just report the facts, but not the feelings of oppressed and abused people out in the world. Without empathy for our fellow man, how can we possibly have a responsible, caring society? I think stories like these help teens look at the other side of the coin for people who might have things worse, or better, than they do. |
Was this review helpful to you?
|
Books
Simple teen read? Yes. Groundbreaking and controversial? No.
|
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
The Bermudez Triangle by Maureen Johnson have been up for being banned in LOTS of places around the country. Even though it's just a basic teen summer romance novel with absolutely no sexual content other than deep kissing, the fact remains that a lot of people are very upset that the two teens kissing happen to be girls. First off, let me say this, I did not give the book a 6 due to it's controversial content - I gave the book a 6 because it's just a pretty average book. The characters are very one dimensional - the smarty, the girly-girl, and the punk. Even with these one sided characters, I still had a hard time remembering which one was which. I also wondered why, if the author who was trying to show that your average girl next door could be gay and that doesn't make them any less of a person, that you would give them typically male names. The book was pretty much the standard formula for a teen romance - whirlwind start, not sure how to break up, and everyone stays friends. Nothing particularly out of the ordinary. Now, I do want to congratulate Maureen Johnson on being forward enough to even create a novel with lesbian characters. Their romance was interesting to me BECAUSE IT WAS AVERAGE. I want to make sure I get that across - their relationship in the book was your normal, run of the mill, teen stars-in-their-eyes-and-then-just-broke-up-and-moved-on kind of relationship. It is a great example of the fact that just because you are gay it doesn't make your relationships any different then any other average teen. Nobody was killed, or scarred for life, or jumped off a bridge in despair - they just dated for a while and then they didn't, just like any other teen. But in another aspect she still dealt with a lot of things that would come with the territory - telling friends and family, being 'outed' at school, still being confused about what you are exactly (straight, gay, bisexual), and discrimination. I found it interesting that the author decided to keep the discrimination and abuse very minimal in the story and focused more on how little it actually 'ruined' their lives. In fact, the only character who seems to have a meltdown about the whole situation is a frequently absent parent who is portrayed as kind of paranoid and prone to fly off the handle. For the most part, the majority of the side characters in the story take the news in a stride and actually, I think these days, that would probably be the more realistic response to the situation. Will some parents have a problem with this book? Oh yeah, of course. Is it really something to get crazy about? Probably not. My guess would be that most of the people who have a very, very strong negative opinion about this book probably haven't even read it. The gay girls are not obsessed with sex, they are not stalking other girls down the halls, trying to catch them naked in the locker room, or trying to convert anyone. They are just normal girls. And as I stated earlier - there is no crazy lesbian sex scenes in the story anywhere. There are a few allusions to staying overnight when a parent is out of town, but it doesn't go into any other detail than that, and you find that in any typical teen romance story. If you have a young gay teen who feels like he/she is constantly an outsider then this would be a great read for them. Or if you have any kid over the age of 16, this is nothing they haven't already heard of or have probably encountered with homosexual friends or acquaintances. |
Was this review helpful to you?
|
| 69 results - showing 1 - 10 | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 | Results per page: |