Caroline Akervik's Blog, page 14
September 17, 2012
Review for Malcolm at Midnight
Malcolm is a rat who is suffering an identity crisis of sorts. He aspires to be a rat of “valor and merit,” a heroic rat. The problem is that his friends at the McKenna School, both human and animal, are suspicious of rats in general and mistake him for a mouse. Honey Bunny, one of the leaders of Midnight Academy, despises rats and claims that they are “skuzzy garbage-eaters who lie and cheat.” Malcolm aspires to be the rat he is inside, the rat he is when he is alone at midnight, while striving to save the McKenna School and the nutters who attend it from the evil plottings of a desperately evil villain, the cat Snape.
Malcolm is an heroic and compelling protagonist. Readers come to care deeply for him. The characterization of all of the animals in the story, from Malcolm, to Snip, to Aggy the iguana, and Beert, the great snowy owl, is particularly strong. These characters come to life in a reader’s mind, as do the nutters and Mr. Binney and Ms. Brumble.
Beck includes clever little footnotes throughout and the lovely illustrations by Brian Lies bring the story to life.
Malcolm is an adventure with many unexpected twists and turns. Some of the magic of the story is in the details, from the symbols left by the members of the Midnight Academy for each other, to the descriptions of Malcolm’s three story cage, to the dust and grime of the upper floors of the McKenna school. Indeed, the descriptions are incredibly vivid. I could smell Snape’s foul breath and hear her raspy voice.
Malcolm at Midnight should be on every must read middle grade fiction list along with The Adventures of Edward Tulane and the Tale of Despereaux.
Malcolm purports to be about a mouse, but it’s more universal than that. Readers come away from it reflecting on who we are at midnight, whether we are the individuals of valor and merit whom we may wish to be.
September 7, 2012
August 6, 2012
Ebooks or tradtional books for the over 50 crowd?
I read an article today that for the first time in Great Britain, ebooks sales have exceeded print books sales. Do you prefer ebooks or do you prefer to have a "real book" in your hands. For a long time, I was convinced that only the younger generations would adopt ebooks, while older readers would cling to the traditional format. However, then, my mother-in-law got a Kindle Fire for Christmas. After a short tutorial, she was off and running. This woman who had sworn that she could never imagine herself reading on "one of those things" is a complete convert. She has mastered Overdrive and found all sorts of free books online. She raves about how great it is to read on while on the tread mill. She loves that you can adjust the font size and the brightness. Bottom line, I was dead wrong. Kindles, tablets, and Ipads open up opportunities for mature people. My mother-in-law observed that nursing homes should have tablets on hand as well as young people to train the residents on how to use them. She was convinced that these devices would make books much more accessible to older reads because of all the advantages they offer. Ebooks for pleasure reading and for learning are the future. Now we just have to have to provide the access and the training.
August 2, 2012
July 17, 2012
13 Treasures by Michelle Harrison
This book was not at all what I expected. The premise of 13 Treasures is that a young girl, Tanya, can see fairies. But these aren't charming little Tinker Bells. Instead, they are malevolent monsters who set out to make her look troubled if not completely disturbed. As a result, Tanya is sent to live with her seemingly disinterested grandmother. There the fairies' mischief continues and there is an old mystery involving a missing girl to be solved. Characters are most definitely not what they initially seem in the story. The unexpected twists and turns make it tough to put the book down. This is a good read. The key to it is being open to the unexpected.
June 29, 2012
Featured article in Volume One about A Horse Named Viking
A Horse Named Viking was featured in the June 28th issue of Volume One. Marni Kaldjian wrote a lovely article that captured the story.
Volume One's new space on Dewey Street truly rocks. Do stop down and check it out. Wonderful merchandise and great atmosphere.
Also, Julie Schaller, the cover artist, and I did our first school visit at Trinity Lutheran's VBS. We met with 4 groups of elementary students and talked about reading and writing, journalling and painting. It was great fun!
Volume One's new space on Dewey Street truly rocks. Do stop down and check it out. Wonderful merchandise and great atmosphere.
Also, Julie Schaller, the cover artist, and I did our first school visit at Trinity Lutheran's VBS. We met with 4 groups of elementary students and talked about reading and writing, journalling and painting. It was great fun!
