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Reviews written by Mamma B - Page 3
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Books
I'm trying pretty much everything
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Supernanny by Jo Frost was written by the ABC star probably because of numerous requests from fans of the show. I've seen the show more than a few times and I've always been astounded by how well her system works. Of course, I NEVER thought my angelic little daughter would be as naughty as 'those types of kids'. Well, she's three now - and let me tell you, they are ALL those types of kids. I guess it just depends on how long you want it to go on for. The book itself has lots of pictures - which surprised me a little. Technically it could have been a much smaller book if it was all just written in a regular font and straight forward style. But it kept my attention and made me feel like I was getting through a lot of stuff quickly. (I wondered if she was using some of her kid methods to try and keep my attention through the book! Haha :) The book was very much like a textbook format with lots of bullet points for very specific ways to put rules into action. I also found it very helpful that there were many points in the book that told you 'this will work for this age, but not this age, and here is why', so I think I will be able to use the book for a much longer range of time. While I don't believe she has any kind of psychology degree - she does have 15 years of experience taking care of dozens of different children. Which says to me that if these methods work on most of 'her' kids - then they have a pretty good chance of working on mine too. Could you get a book with less fluff? Sure, but the tips are still very good and it makes for less of a dry read. |
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Books
Maybe it's just me...
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0 of 0 people found the following review helpful
The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin is about a group of unlikely heirs to a huge fortune. Unfortunately for them, the deceased, Sam Westing, loved to play games and centered his will around one. The winner would receive all of his vast estate. The twist of the story is that one of the heirs is said to be the killer and they have to discover who it is in order to win the prize. This book won the Newbery Medal in 1979.Okay, with that all said - I did not enjoy this book. In fact I was shocked to see it with such a huge group of fans! The idea behind the story is fine and I usually love a who-dunnit, but this book had way, way, way too many characters. There are 18 people to keep track of in this book. And not only just mentioned, but to try to figure out the complex secret ways they are connected. The writing was dry and I found it very difficult to follow all but a few of the characters because they had no depth and were not very likable. I struggled to finish this short book and honestly, I still have no idea how they came up with the ending. |
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Books
Reminds me of a kids version of Wicked
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The Looking Glass Wars is the first book in a series of stories about life in Wonderland by Frank Beddor. The books are aimed at a slightly older audience than what would have originally been interested in the original Alice in Wonderland books. The story centers around Alyss Heart, who is the princess of Wonderland. Her parents (mostly her mother) rein over the 'Queendom' as good, well liked leaders. The royal family has been put in place through a regular line of royalty, but also because they have the special power of White Imagination. In Wonderland, certain people can make things appear or happen simply with the power of their White, or Black, Imagination. (This is very similar to a white/black magic type story line.) We learn in the story that the queens sister, Redd (the queen from the original Alice and Wonderland story) was banished and denied the throne due to her cruel nature and Black Imagination. She is bent on revenge and retrieving the throne. In the very first few chapters, Redd gets to the palace and kills the queen and king and attempts to kill Alyss while she runs for her life. She travels through the Pool of Tears with her bodyguard to Victorian London and is separated from him. There she lives out her life as an orphan, and is eventually adopted and begins living a 'normal' life. All the while, Hatter Madigan (the bodyguard) is searching the world to find her. Eventually he does, and they find a way back to Wonderland and start the battle to recapture the throne. Personally, I really loved Wicked by Gregory Maguire, so I was drawn to the idea of this book. The story is interesting, but possibly a bit predictable to adults. The book did get better after the first three chapters, when I felt that the writer was trying just a bit too hard to show you just how many characters were similar to the old story. I also would have liked to see a bit more character development, but in general it was pretty well written. I think that boys and girls alike would be drawn to this princess + adventure story. It was exciting and imaginative - although maybe not as much description and detail as an adult version of this story would have had, it would still be a good read for mostly high school aged kids. Some things that people might have issues with in this story are the use of magic (or 'imagination') and there is actually quite a bit of bloody violence. The violence is not very detailed or gory, but there is quite a lot of it. Unless someone has religious issues with magic, I don't really see this book bothering anyone over the age of 12. |
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Books
Cute story, will probably read the rest of them
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
The Sisters Grimm, Book 1 - The Fairy Tale Detectives by Michael Buckley, is the start of a series that is very similar to Harry Potter or A Series of Unfortunate Events. A pair of sisters stuck in the foster care system are soon to be dropped off with a grandmother they thought was dead. The girls think that they were abandoned by their parents and the older sister, Sabrina (12), is angry at the world and unable to trust anyone. The younger, Daphne (7), still has much of her childhood innocence, because in a way still has a guardian figure in her life through her sister. After arriving at their grandmothers, the girls discover that they are from a long line of regular people living among fairy tale people/creatures - or 'Everafters' as they prefer to be called. The story quickly turns to adventure when Granny Relda is kidnapped by a giant and the girls must figure out how to save her. The basics of the storyline have been pretty popular these days - young kid finds out they are special in some way, is taken somewhere magical and unfamiliar, and then tested for bravery, strength, and smarts. I imagine the reason we see this storyline so often is because it works. It lets the child who is reading consider what they would do in the characters place since they are 'regular kids' just like they are. The story was fun, not too predictable, and definitely lends itself to a large series of stories. The only thing that I could find possibly being objectionable to some parents would be a small amount of death in the story. Threats like, "If I catch you, I'll slit your throat!" or the fact that a few characters are killed by a giant stepping on them. There is some violence in the story, but nothing that a mature 3rd grader or average 5th grader couldn't handle. |
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Books
Not nearly as bad as I expected
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0 of 0 people found the following review helpful
Honestly, when I picked up LA Candy by Lauren Conrad, I expected it to be awful, but I knew that I had to be fair and not jump to conclusions. The story is about two friends who move out of their parents houses to start college and work in LA. The girls are supported by their parents - but not overly so. They still have school and work to deal with. After being in town for just a few weeks, they run into a TV producer who is interested in them for a reality series that turns into anything but "reality". While there is a LOT of underage drinking, some cussing, and dating - there really is only one, very brief, sex scene and no illegal drug use. There is a lot of talk about dating and hooking up, but there are really very few even kissing scenes. The story was silly and predictable, and basically has no ending in order to get you to purchase the second book, but all in all it was just an easy simple read. The only thing that I could see parents objecting to would be the excessive drinking in the story. All the characters were constantly drinking, never carded, and even their parents were accepting of it. I really didn't understand why the characters couldn't have been just one or two years older - making all the drinking legal. Could an older HS girl be reading something more productive? Sure. Is this book bad for her? Nah. If anything, it shines a negative light on all the reality shows out there by someone who has actually be behind the scenes. |
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Books
Cliche, cliche, cliche
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0 of 0 people found the following review helpful
Frankly, living in Central Florida, I expected more from a book that seemed to know a little more than the average person about Walt Disney World. I have enough friends who have worked in the park to know that it's no bed of roses, and it's definitely a tougher job than most people think, but this book portrays the park as an unfair workplace, or maybe that's just the way they are trying to make it seem through the eyes of the teens in this story. The book pretty much stinks of a former employee taking a stab at an old job that they didn't like much. Okay now let's get to the characters: Rich guy with parents that want him to be a businessman, but he wants to be something creative? Check. Nerd girl with a hidden past becomes hot when she takes off her glasses? Check. Hot girl who is really a bitch? Check. Smart, nerdy guy that nobody likes has key information that they need? Check. All other teens acting stupid, drunk, immature and oversexed? Check. Basically this story relies on you knowing all these characters from other stories. The kids in the book have no respect for the job they are given, break the rules constantly, and basically have no self control whatsoever. The main characters are shallow and the story is very predictable. While I don't necessarily object to sex in a story if it is key to developing characters or the plot, the groping and sexual references are unnecessary other than perpetuating a 'horny teen' image. The story ends exactly how you expect it to. No surprises there. I suppose maybe if you were an older teen girl, like a junior or senior, you might find this enjoyable as something to read on a trip or the beach - but certainly don't expect to get anything out of it. And I wouldn't recommend to anyone younger than a sophomore. |
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Books
A Survival Story
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Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank is a recommended school reading book that I was surprised that I had never heard of before. I happened to stumble across it while browsing the summer reading section at Books A Million in Orlando. And that may be part of the reason I hadn't heard of it - the book takes place in a small town in Central Florida. The book is set in 1959 (the same year it was written) and the US public is aware of the threat of nuclear war and afraid, but has no idea exactly how close it actually is. The main character, Randy Bragg, gets very short advanced notice from his brother in the military that a nuclear attack is imminent. Mark, Randy's brother, sends his wife and two children to live with Randy in the hopes that his small town will be safer than the military base they are currently living in. The very next day the attack happens and the small community is suddenly cut off from the entire world. Of course you expect there to be problems - no power, no water, crime - but over time more complicated problems evolve, like the human need for salt or natural migration of hunting animals. The entire book was fascinating to me to see how this small group of people manage to cover most of their basic needs. They are not entirely thrown back to the days of the pioneer since they happen to live in the old homes of their grandfathers that are equipped with things like fireplaces and old 'antique' equipment that comes in handy, but every member of their small group (from the old man to the little girl) have to use their individual talents and know-how in order to find solutions to things we take for granted every day. Most of the book isn't really thrilling (although there are parts) but there is excitement in the fact that they don't discover the answers as easily as they expect. As far as normal parental concerns - even though this book deals with the death of basically most of the planet, there is very little violence. There is no swearing or sex, but there is drinking and making moonshine. I would think that any child over the age of 10 who can understand the concept of war would be fascinated with this book. In a way it is very much like any book dealing with pioneers or explorers from years before. I would highly recommend this book to any teen who has shown interest in a period of history before electricity was commonplace. |
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Books
A silly story little kids love
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0 of 0 people found the following review helpful
The Foot Book is a very simple book of opposites by Dr. Seuss made for even the youngest of children. Not only does it show simple opposites like big and little, it also shows feet on different people and rhyming.It has classic Seuss illustrations, but none of his made up fantasy style words. The book is very short - but it's one of the stories my daughter liked since she was small and I think its because her feet were one of the very first body parts she could identify. |
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Books
One of my old favorites from when I was little!
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
When I was little, our house was near a small pond and most of the houses in the area were on two or three acres of heavily wooded land. My sister and I, would spend countless hours out on our own - exploring the woods, building forts and make believe adventures. This story always brings me back to those hot California summers when I was a kid. Willy, the main character, is a grumpy boy who is on the verge of becoming a teen. He has always listened to his father and loves and respects him very much, so naturally he assumes that his father is always right about people. His father tells him that the 'Summerfolk' are trouble and pests, so he believes him. But one afternoon a leaking boat causes him to seek help from one of these strangers, and it starts off one of the most amazing summer days of his life. This is a story about compassion and acceptance of others the way that only kids can. Someone might think you are weird or strange - but sometimes they just accept you for who you are and know that just because you are different doesn't mean you can't be friends. |
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Books
Entertaining - but....
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0 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Spanking Shakespeare was definitely an interesting story and very entertaining from an adult perspective. BUT I am torn on how to rate this as a mom recommending it to teen readers.I think that this was an extremely realistic portrayal of a 17 year old boy and the things that go on in his day to day teenage life. He is a very smart kid - but he is also a gross, perverted, hormones-bursting-out-of-the-seams, teenager. This book has drugs, masturbation, and lots of vulgar language. But did I think it was not worth reading? No, not at all. As a matter of fact, I think that if you have a mature teen reader they could get a lot out of this story. The character is normal. He's a geek, he doesn't play sports, he is afraid of girls, he thinks about girls all the time; he is just a normal teenager and you can really relate to him. But he takes the talents he does have and uses them to his advantage in his life and he loves his family even though he thinks they are insane. Also, several times when I was reading this story I thought to myself that this would be a great book for teenage girls to read. I think it could really give them some insight to how a teen boy thinks - the good things, and the bad things - to help them understand the way they act a little better. It was good story, and very funny (I laughed out loud more than a few times) - but it might be a little too wild for some of you out there and I would only recommend it to anyone under 15 if they were very, very mature. |
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