everydayreading's reviews
1633 reviews

Overall, I just can't understand why this book won the Newbery, unless it was a sad year for children's lit. I just started listening to another Newbery book, A Wrinkle in Time," and in the introduction, the author comments that adults don't understand this book, but children "get it." I feel like this book is the exact opposite; I'm sure some adults felt like it was deep and meaningful and rich, but I suspect many children will find it a bit dull and depressing. Also, I found the book to be a bit of a paradox in that it seemed like an adult message with a childishly simple (and often hole-filled) plot.

It's certainly not a book I would recommend to my brother or any other kid that was the recommended age. It just wasn't that great and it certainly wasn't memorable. I've read Newbery's that moved me to tears, like Bridge to Terabithia and Walk Two Moons. I've read ones that I thought about for weeks afterwards, like The Giver. I've read ones that just charmed the socks off of me, like Caddie Woodlawn. This book did none of these for me. It will likely be most remembered for the wild publicity and protests that the inclusion of the word "scrotum" caused.

Read my full review at http://everydayreading.blogspot.com/2007/06/higher-power-of-lucky-by-susan-patron.html

I really liked the Peter and the Star Catchers, but this book was even better. The plot was tighter (and quite unpredictable), the characters more developed, and the story just raced along. The bad guys were scarier to me than the previous ones, and the situation was both more fantastic and more desperate than the last book. I loved that George Darling was introduced into the story. I literally could hardly put this book down - I was so anxious to see what was going to happen next.

This book is, however, fairly dark and scary (of course, I'm also a total wimp). I wouldn't read it as a nine-year-old, that's for sure. But get a bit older than that, and I think just about anyone would really enjoy this story.

Read my complete review at http://everydayreading.blogspot.com/2007/06/peter-and-shadow-thieves-by-dave-barry.html

The plot is certainly basic enough fairy-tale material, but Hale makes it something really wonderful. I haven't enjoyed a book as much as I did this one in quite a long time. It read quickly, but I felt that it had substance. It didn't feel, as so much has recently, like junk food. Perhaps the thing I appreciated most was a heroine I really liked and could admire. Ani is a very real character, well-developed, with actions and emotions that feel natural and uncontrived. So many of the female lead characters in books seem flat, petty, or stereotypical. If I had a daughter, I'd want her to have literary role models like Ani - smart, self-sufficient, unafraid, and caring.

Read the rest of the review at http://everydayreading.blogspot.com/2007/01/goose-girl-shannon-hale.html

http://everydayreading.blogspot.com/2007/04/enna-burning-by-shannon-hale.html

I heard a lot of good things about this book, but it was a little too simplistic and crude for me.

You can't compete with Jane Eyre - it's one of the finest books ever written. Read it and love it.

I read a very abridged children's version of this as a kid - I was delighted to enjoy the full version even more a few years later. An unbeatable story.

A beautiful account of one man's struggle to defend a black man in a racist court, as seen through the eyes of his daughter. Moving and amazing.