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Reviews written by Mamma B
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Books
Second book just as clever as the first
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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. |
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Books
Better than the first!
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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. |
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Books
Very Impressed
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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. |
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Books
Simple teen read? Yes. Groundbreaking and controversial? No.
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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. |
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Books
Only for very mature readers
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Into The Woods by Jean Hegland might not even be considered a 'teen' book by most people. But because the two main characters are teens and since I have heard of a few AP English classes reading the story, I have decided to include it here. Two sisters and their father live in a house far in the forest, at least 30 miles from the nearest town. They enjoy their quiet life there and don't mind the inconvenience of driving to town for things they need, I mean, it's only 30 miles right? But then something happens, the tv stops getting channels, the power goes out, the postman stops coming - you never really find out exactly what happens, but suddenly the 'civilized' world that we know with utilities brought to our doorstep, protection, and government gradually slips away. A scary concept, but possible when all lines of distant communication fail. The small family retreats to their home and struggles with the idea of waiting for modern society to return, but also how they plan on taking care of themselves in the mean time. When a horrible accident happens, the girls find themselves alone and an scared. Just climbing on a chair to reach a high shelf seems life threatening, but life must go on. With the land at their hands and a shelf of books with life sustaining secrets - the girls push forward. I've always enjoyed post-apocalypse type stories. Or even pioneer stories for that matter, since in a way they are very similar. I find it very annoying that some novels of this sort seem to think that it would be impossible to go back to a life without modern technology. I just imagine Laura Ingalls Wilder laughing in their face. But I do agree that it would be extremely difficult and very, very scary. The aspects of the story about the family learning to survive are interesting and make sense. But there are some things about the story that just seem unrealistic. First off the girls are home schooled for a large part of their life, they are used to being in the forest for long periods of time with no outside interaction. But it seems that as soon as they lose contact, they panic and long for company - which is odd, and yet they also become overly paranoid about any visitors coming to see them at all. Yes, there are a few places in the story that would make them very cautious about visitors - but not enough to seclude themselves from society forever. Near the end of the story there are two events that really shape the way the book plays out. There is a brutal rape and a pregnancy which make the girls decide to leave their house and escape to the forest because they just can't stand the constant fear of intruders. For me, this is where the story lost me. They literally destroy the house - all the food they canned and grew, the books that helped them survive, the shelter, the fireplace, and the very few comforts of the world they had left just to get away from the Boogy-man. To me that seemed to be a stupid and juvenile move by girls who were supposed to have grown into logic adults over the course of the story. The story was an interesting read for adults - but I do I think it is worth seeking out to give to a mature, high school reader? Maybe if they already read a lot and you just happened to have it around. There is one section that a large number of people would have issues with. After one of the sisters is raped for weeks afterward she can't stand to even be touched. The other sister tries to help her get over this by giving her a massage - and to that point I am totally fine with it, and it makes sense. But then somehow the scene becomes a very short, lesbian incest scene and I'm not really sure why. Honestly the girls haven't been alone together all that long and they ARE sisters after all. I'm definitely not against homosexuality in books - but this didn't seem to make sense. They had no inclination prior to that of being gay and perhaps the author was trying to show that people who are alone for long periods of time may develop sexual desire for each other or just intimate human contact, (also the whole scene started with the girl trying to get her sister to relax after a severe trauma) but I would think that the period of time that had passed would not even been close to enough time for them to a) feel that sort of pull to each other, and b) get over the fact that they were sisters. Fifteen or twenty years? Maybe. Less then 3? Not a chance. I just felt that the surprisingly brief encounter after the massage was not necessary to the story, and just leaves you thinking, "Huh?" |
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Books
Potter Readers Will Love It!
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0 of 0 people found the following review helpful
The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan is the first book that I have read trying to jump on the Harry Potter reader fan wagon that is actually pretty darn good. Percy Jackson is a troubled kid - he gets into trouble no matter how hard he tries to stay out of it. He's only in the 6th grade and he has already been kicked out of six schools. He's hyperactive and dyslexic, and even though he loves his mom a ton, his home life is far from perfect. After getting kicked out of his most recent school he heads home to spend the summer with his mom and step dad in New York. But when crazy monsters start attacking him out of nowhere and his best friend turns out to be half goat, Percy starts to think he's going crazy. But not quite, turns out the dad he never met is actually a Greek god. The first few chapters of the book are about him coming to terms with the fact that he is a 'half-blood' (half human, half god) and is in constant danger from monsters. He escapes to a special camp for kids like him and in the perils journey to get there, loses his mother at the hand of a minotaur. Percy is devastated and is determined to find a way to get his mom back from the underworld - a quest may be his only chance. While reading this book you can easily tell who it is geared towards - Harry Potter fans. Young boy finding out he is more than he seems, and goes to a special place to develop his powers and fight bad guys. But I have to say, this concept of the Greek mythology is a great spin on it. While reading there was actually a lot of things that I never knew about the story of the gods and it made for an interesting subplot. Percy is similar to Harry - but more in a Rebel Without A Cause type way. He is blunt and doesn't think before he speaks. He is jaded about being sent away to schools and doesn't do well because if his temper and his learning disabilities. But all in all, he is a pretty good kid and means well. The story continues with him on a quest with two of his friends to return some stolen godly weapons and he hopes to save his mom in the process. The action is pretty much constant and violent - but because they are monsters/gods they just disintegrate and nobody is ever hurt much. It might not have the depth of description and detail like the Potter books, but if you have a kid who really loves adventure stories this might have more of the level of excitement they are looking for. I could see some parents having a problem with this story in a religious sense. While it does have a whole central story revolving around gods and demons - they actually do mention that the gods are still considered like VP's to someone higher up, making them more like a high ranking saint. I don't think that this was the case in the original mythology and may have been added to help sales, but I'm not positive. Overall, a really good story and I am looking forward to reading the rest of the series. If you have never read HP or even if they were not your favorites, I would give Percy a shot. He has a little more edge and maybe a little more 'bad boy' would be right up your alley. |
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Books
Predictable and unrealistic
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0 of 0 people found the following review helpful
Taken by Edward Bloor seemed to have potential when I picked it up. Sadly though, the book was not able to flesh out what I was hoping for the story. Charity lives a life of privilege in a sheltered society of rich people. In the future (2035 I believe) kidnapping is very, very common and anyone with wealth is under constant protection. It has become so common that the kids even know exactly what they are supposed to do if they are taken and how to make the best of the situation. When Charity is kidnapped obviously things don't go 'according to plan'. First off - the book is very predictable, which sometimes is a hard thing to get past when you are reviewing books for little children. BUT this book is for older kids - I think that when you get to the point of kids getting past their first chapter books and wanting to dive into some really good stories, the last thing you want to do is lower the bar because they are 'just kids'. They want good characters, realistic dialog, and excitement just as much as adult readers do. Pretty much all of the characters in the book are completely one dimensional and have these insanely complicated, philosophical discussions that would never realistically happen in that situation. During several points in the book I thought to myself, "Wow - did they get the whole debate team in the back of that ambulance to kidnap?" My impression was the the whole book was supposed to be a lesson of, "Even though I'm rich and you are poor, we are all the same inside!" But personally, no matter who kidnapped me I think I would have a hard time seeing things this way and debating with my kidnapper. On one hand the kidnappers are supposed to be so professional that they can get into this crazy, protected mansion - and the next they are leaving her unattended or feeling sorry for her. If this is a step up from your kids playing video games, then it's probably fine, at least they are reading. But if your kid is a regular reader of any kind - they will probably find this book as snooty and predictable as I did. |
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Books
Possibly a chance to learn vocabulary
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0 of 0 people found the following review helpful
When I Wear My Tiara by Lisa Lebowitz Cader is a book about a little girl who likes to pretend she is a princess/queen while she wears her tiara through the day. The book does have its good points, like possibly expanding vocabulary by saying things like, "When I wear my tiara, I outwit foes with ease" instead of "When I wear my tiara, I get away from the bad guys!" The pictures are colorful, but very plain and simplistic. I really didn't care very much either way about this book because it makes the little girl seem kind of selfish. I got this book second hand, but from what I have found the book was originally sold with a gimmicky fabric tiara. It's not a bad book, and the little girl isn't outright rude or bossy - but this book is really only for little girls who are really into the princess thing. |
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Books
Good Story, odd illustrations
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0 of 0 people found the following review helpful
Whoever You Are by Mem Fox is a great book on showing young children the diversity in the world. It's a short book made for kids under approximately 7, so it's not too long or overly complicated. It shows examples of different houses, schools, foods and such, and how even though these may be different then what your family experiences, you still have several things in common like, joy, pain, love and kindness. I really like the story and it doesn't go past the comprehension level of small children, however I find the illustrations kind of weird. Maybe they are considered avaunt guard - but I just find them disproportionate and honestly, a little freaky. I will admit that they are definitely their own style and are very colorful. As much as I hate to admit it, there may be some parents out there that find the illustrations objectionable. I didn't care for the drawing style - but that is just my personal taste. The things that very few people might find objectionable would be possible references to other religions via the images. While I DO NOT feel this is a good reason to not purchase this book - I like to include ANYTHING that someone might be uncomfortable with in my reviews. I do feel it is important to note that religion is not mentioned in the text of the story. |
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Books
A wonderful science story!!
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0 of 0 people found the following review helpful
The Prometheus Project by Douglas E. Richards is a fantastic, exciting read and would be a great asset to any science teachers classroom. Brother and sister, Ryan and Regan, are upset that their parents moved them across the country and can't understand why. Just by luck they happen to overhear their parents talking about passwords and secret government projects they have started working on. Fearing for their parents safety, they use the information they overheard to break into the complex and enter a world they could never have imagined. This book would be a great gift for any child who shows even the slightest interest in science. Ryan and Regan are very bright kids who use several scientific methods and problem solving to work their way through the obstacles they encounter in their adventure. From figuring out the password puzzles in the first chapters of the book; simple experiments to discover if water is safe to drink; or if the aliens they run across are friend or foe; the book finds great ways to incorporate really interesting science facts without taking away from the story. There were actually quite a few things they figured out that I wouldn't have known myself! Definitely a good read - could use a little more depth in the characters - but with the age range it is intended for, I predict a lot of happy adventure readers with a new respect for science experiments. |
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