Archive for October, 2010

FABULOUS FRIENDSHIP FINDS!

October 25, 2010 at 2:38 pm · Filed under Ages 3 - 6 ·Tagged , , , , , , ,

Rebecca’s Fabulous Friendship Finds!

Here are a few of my favorite tales celebrating the power of friendship!

Welcome Home Mouse, by Elisa Kleven

Elisa Kleven’s delightful tale explores friendships of all shapes and sizes! When clumsy Stanley the elephant sets out to the grocery store, his ball mistakenly crashes in on Mouse’s cottage! With a little creativity, however, Stanley and Mouse rebuild the little critter’s home, forming a friendship as well as a cozy new house for Mouse! Kleven’s vivid, intricate  illustrations are mesmerizing, capturing a colorful, charming world with the turn of every page. page. Welcome Home Mouse, by Elisa Kleven, Tricycle Press. Ages 3-6

Everyone Needs a Friend, by Dubravka Kolanovic

Jack the wolf lives a quiet life in the hills. While he spends his days making jam, knitting scarves,and picking berries, he never has a friend to join him. Everything changes one winter night when Walter the mouse come trekking over the hills, looking for some shelter for the night. Walter and Jack discover all the things they can do together! Even though Jack gets angry when the new house guest begins to make a mess, he eventually learns that friendship is more important than spilled jam! Everybody Needs a Friend is filled with soft and gentle pastel  illustrations!

Everybody Needs a Friend, by Dubravka Kolanovic, Price Stern Sloan (An Imprint of Penguin Group) publishing. Ages 3-6

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Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly

October 20, 2010 at 7:43 pm · Filed under Ages 14 and Up ·Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,

Amanda’s Pick: Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly
After the death of her younger brother, Andi Alpers is clinically depressed and prescribed a myriad of anti-depressants to help her to cope with the loss. No matter what she does, it seems nothing is working to bring her out of the darkness. She’s doing terribly in school and only finds peace while playing her guitar or studying music. To top it all off, her father forces her to go to Paris with him on a business trip, where he’s performing a DNA study on a preserved human heart to see if it’s the son of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. Andi knows she is going to be bored and is eager to continue her plan to end her life.
In Paris, Andi is supposed to begin an in-depth study of a French composer for school, but instead of focusing on that, she can only focus on the diary she finds, written by Alexandrine, a young companion to the son of Louis and Marie Antoinette. And in the midst of discovering more about Alexandrine and her life during the French Revolution, Andi also meets a boy. A special boy that starts to transform her attitude about the world.

There’s an impressive amount of detail on every page and the fact vs. fiction aspects of the story are incredible. Obviously the French Revolution was real, as were the people referred to in the book, yet the seamless weaving of a contemporary fictional story and with  historical fact was amazing.

Donnelly’s prose evokes sadness and despair. You’ll find yourself lost in both Andi’s and Alexandrine’s worlds and their fight for survival.  Andi’s sadness just pours off the page and her emotional state is ultimately transferred the the reader.
Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly, Delacorte Press, YA

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The Lost Dogs by Jim Gorant

October 11, 2010 at 8:49 am · Filed under Adult fiction and non-fiction ·Tagged , , , , , ,

Amanda’s Pick: The Lost Dogs: Michael Vick’s Dogs and Their Tale of Rescue and Redemption, by Jim Gorant

If you are a dog lover or an animal lover of any sort, you must read this book. It will probably rip your heart into pieces, but it is such an important book, needing to be read, passed around and understood. Jim Gorant takes us through the process of investigating football player Michael Vick for his role in a dogfighting operation in Virginia, the subsequent seizing of over fifty dogs, and follows the rehabilitation of almost all of the dogs taken from Vick’s property.

From Vick’s early friendships from his hometown of Newport News, to his years of getting into trouble prior to being drafted into the National Football League, we are able to see the issues brewing long before his involvement in creating one of the biggest dogfighting rings in history. Gorant investigated the case exceptionally well, giving us background on the detectives involved, as well as the rescue workers that took in dog after dog, determined to give them a second chance, no matter how long and challenging the road to rehabilitation, rather than simply euthanize.

The amount of detail is staggering, especially when describing the living conditions of the animals while still owned by Michael Vick and the end some of the dogs met, but also in the manner of which each dog was actually rehabilitated. Extensive research was done into the history of the breed and the current stereotypes surrounding them. It was obvious that Gorant wanted to not only break stereotypes of pit bulls, but also to open the readers’ eyes to the fact that in almost every case, no matter what has happened to a dog, they still have love to give and lessons to learn. In the beginning, these dogs were terrified of absolutely everything, didn’t understand the meaning of play or toys, and often didn’t want to be touched. What they ended up as is amazing family pets, loved by children and adults alike, and full of life. A gracious second chance was all they needed.

By no means an easy read, but an important one.

The Lost Dogs: Michael Vick’s Dogs and Their Tale of Rescue and Redemption by Jim Gorant, Gotham Books, Adult

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