Luann's comments
(member since Feb 25, 2008)
Luann's comments from the Children's Books group.
(showing 1-20 of 58)
Miriam wrote: "For marine life, isn't there also a Madeline L'Engle novel where a teenager is working at a dolphin research facility? Maybe in the Austin series."A Ring of Endless Light
Kathryn wrote: "Luann, "Mister Seahorse" by Eric Carle is a good fish story."Thanks for the suggestion! I went to add it to my TBR list and it was already there. I hadn't added it to my fish-stories shelf, yet, so I did that. And I'll bump it up in priority to read. Thanks!
I have a shelf called "fish-stories" which has picture books about fish. Not all of them are set at the ocean, but there are a couple there that might work for you. And I'll be watching this thread for other fish picture books I could add to my shelf. :)
I liked your review, Chandra - in addition to your comments here. And I look forward in a few months to hearing what you think about the writing style in Smoky, The Cow Horse as compared to this book. :)
Chandra wrote: "I think it's biggest weakness is that it's just not a good cover to cover read - too long, too dense. And I wonder if that was the original intent or not."I agree. It's not a book you want to read in one sitting - or even two or three. It's fine for reading a chapter or two at a time - and almost seems to encourage that type of reading with the way the chapters are set up.
Chandra wrote: "Do you have any idea how old he is supposed to be?"I couldn't remember for sure, but I thought he was even older than that. I found a nice review of it here - even though that reviewer really liked the writing style :) - that says he is 19:
http://newberryproject.blogspot.com/2007...
Just reading the excerpts that reviewer included reminded me how glad I am that I don't ever have to read that book again! :)
This wasn't one of my favorite Newbery winners, Chandra. In fact, it would probably be somewhere in the top five of my LEAST favorite Newberys. I felt a lot like you do, with only getting interested for parts of it. I do think the main problem I had with it was the writing style. It was just a chore to get through, and I was glad once I finished that I would never have to read it again.
Abigail wrote: "Leslie: I'm not familiar with the book in question, but a google search turned up this interesting article, Children's Picture Books About Cardboard Boxes:http://picture-books.suite101.com/articl..."
What a fun idea for a list! I see they didn't include Not a Box, although maybe they created the list before that was published.
Oh. :) I should have looked there first, huh?
If you don't get the answer here, Savta, you could try posting your question in the What's The Name of That Book??? group.
I finally finished The Old Tobacco Shop! I didn't like it quite as much as some of you here, but I did enjoy it more and more as the story progressed. You can read my review here. I'm also carrying around The Great Quest and The Windy Hill on my Palm, so I'm sure I'll get to those eventually as well.
Very interesting, Kathryn! Thanks for sharing that list. Unfortunately my library doesn't have any of them. :( But it does have two others by Leonard Marcus that sound interesting:
Author Talk - interviews with 15 children's book authors including Jon Scieszka, E.L. Konigsburg, Judy Blume, Laurence Yep, Gary Paulsen, James Howe, Ann M. Martin, Russell Freedman, Lois Lowry, Lee Bennett Hopkins, Karen Cushman, and Johanna Hurwitz.
The Wand in the Word: Conversations with Writers of Fantasy - interviews with Susan Cooper, Madeleine L'Engle, Ursula LeGuin, Philip Pullman, Terry Pratchett, Garth Nix, Nancy Farmer, Tamora Pierce, Lloyd Alexander, Franny Billingsley, Brian Jacques, Diana Wynne Jones, and Jane Yolen.
You also might find some mystery titles/series you like at this thread:http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/8409...
I would love that, Chandra. I'm just now getting to The Old Tobacco Shop.
You can download several formats of the book (PDF, full text, etc.) at Internet Archive:http://www.archive.org/details/voyagesof...
Project Gutenberg also has several formats you can download:
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/1154
Do you know which version you are reading? Quoting from Wikipedia: "The original edition contains several derogatory terms for Africans that are removed from modern editions. Some illustrations have also been removed." I remember reading this as a child and enjoying it. I loved the talking to animal parts - especially when he talked to the fish who used to live in an aquarium and spoke English. I always remembered that part. And of course the floating island and the giant snail. I reread it a few years ago when I was reading all the Newbery winners, and loved rediscovering the parts I had remembered. One of the better early Newbery winners!
I second Abigail's suggestion of The Tenth Good Thing about Barney. Another that I haven't read but have seen recommended along with The Tenth Good Thing about Barney is Goodbye Mousie by Robie H. Harris. I just recently read Tomie dePaola's book dealing with the death of his great-grandmother: Nana Upstairs and Nana Downstairs.
I haven't read this one yet, but I just came across another by Patricia Polacco about Easter and Ukrainian painted eggs: Rechenka's Eggs
