General Books - Page 17

Just Mom and Me: The Tear-out, Punch-out, Fill-out Book of Fun for Girls and Their Moms (American Girl Library)

American Girl Editors

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

What were you like when you were a little girl, Mom? 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

My daughter likes to ask me a lot of questions about my life before she was born, particularly my life as a child. "When did you learn to ride a bike?" "What did you want to be when you grew up?" "What was the naughtiest thing you ever did?"

On and on and on...endless questions.

I bought Just Mom and Me because I thought it would be a fun way to answer some of her questions, but to also ask her a few of my own. This book has opened a dialogue between us. I like to keep it near the dinner table and ask her a few questions before we start eating - oftentimes, the whole family jumps in and we all start talking about our favorites, least favorites, memories, fears, etc.


This question and fill-in-the-blank with your answers book is a lot of fun. It would be perfect for a rainy day, long car ride, vacation, sick child, or a snow day. It would also be fun at family reunions or even at a mom and daughter tea party!

Editorial Review:

This book is full of fun things for girls to do with their moms, from the new to the tried and true. They can tear out and share the notes and gift coupons, test their knowledge of each other with checklists made for two, and get to know each other even better with games and activities that are sure to leave them giggling. Tear-outs include quizzes, checklists, recipes, door hangers, bookmarks, notes, coupons, a photo frame, leaves for a family tree, CD case covers, and more.

Ark Angel (Alex Rider)

Anthony Horowitz

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 71 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Alex Rider Ark Angel 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Before you read the review of ARK ANGEL, you need to take into account that this is the sixth book in the engaging, entertaining, action-packed adventure series starring Alex Rider. If you haven't read the first five books in the series, you'll probably want to do that before you pick up ARK ANGEL. Although it can stand on its own, you'll feel more in the loop by reading the previous books first.

ARK ANGEL picks up immediately where SCORPIA, book five, left off. At the end of that book, we saw Alex Rider on the ground, wounded by a sniper's bullet. For those who thought that Anthony Horowitz was planning to kill off our favorite young MI6 agent, please be assured that ARK ANGEL does not in any way imply dead. Alex is alive and relatively well, recuperating in an exclusive private hospital in London. The sniper's bullet missed his heart, instead bouncing off a rib and exiting out his arm. Now, as he's recovering in posh room nine of the hospital, he becomes friends with Paul. The same Paul that turns out to be the son of Nikolai Drevin, one of the richest men in the world.

When Alex saves Paul during a kidnapping attempt, Nikolai invites Alex to finish his recuperation at his estate. Alex soon wonders at the wisdom of being in Drevin's company, however, when he learns that an eco-terrorist group known as Force Three has threatened not only the Drevin family, but the safety of the entire world.

Nikolai Drevin's latest project, Ark Angel, is in full swing. Designed to become the first ultimate luxury hotel in outer space, it contains everything the world's richest people could want. It's also, at least according to Force Three, a threat to the environment of Earth as we know it. Now the members of the terrorist group are out to stop Ark Angel from ever opening, and they'll do anything--and everything--they can to see their mission come to completion. Even if it means hurtling the hotel back through the atmosphere and onto Earth's surface.

ARK ANGEL is another action-adventure read that will keep you turning pages right through to the end. Alex Rider has come a long way since the fourteen-year old boy roped into complying with MI6, but there's part of him that's still determined to leave the spy organization for good. Yet he knows that his skills are needed, and the unending action of ARK ANGEL show in detail why that is. You won't go wrong with any of the books in the Alex Rider series, and I can say that I'm excited about the opening of the movie STORMBREAKER, the first Alex Rider adventure, which is in development now.

Editorial Review:

The sniper’s bullet nearly killed him. But Alex Rider managed to survive . . . just in time for more trouble to come his way. When kidnappers attempt to snatch a fellow patient from the exclusive hospital where Alex is recovering, he knows he has to stop him. But the boy he saves is no ordinary patient: He is the son of Nikolai Drevin, one of the richest men in the world. The eccentric billionaire has been targeted by Force Three, a group of eco-terrorists who claim his project Ark Angel—the first luxury hotel in outer space—is a danger to the environment. Soon Alex discovers that Force Three will stop at nothing to destroy Ark Angel, even if it means sending four hundred tons of molten glass and steel hurtling down to Earth and killing millions . . . unless Alex can stop them.

The Big Book of Girl Stuff

Bart King

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 24 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

This book was awful! 2 out of 5 stars.
5 of 13 people found this review helpful.

Me, a 13 year old, read this with my 12 year old friend and the whole time we were LAUGHING. The "cool slang" was terrible, and most of the stuff in there seemed to be aiming towards middle schoolers with the mentality of elementary schoolers. Of course, not everything was bad. But there was just enough of things that made me laugh out loud to make it a bad book. For example, an insult he gives is: "May the ice cubes from a 100 ice trays fill your bra!"
Yeah, a good insult if you want to be made fun of even MORE.
Also, the section on periods barely touches the surface. Basically it says talk to an adult because they don't know how comfortable people are with that information. Come on, it's The big book of GIRL stuff. You can talk about periods!

Overall, I can't see why this got so many great reviews. That made me literally lol.

Editorial Review:

The Big Book of Girl Stuff shares everything a girl needs to know-from sleepovers to diaries to makeup to boys to shopping, and everything in between! It's the ultimate guide to unlocking the delightful mysteries of being a girl. Dozens of girls, young women, teachers, and mothers collaborated on this book to make it the most comprehensive guide to being a girl that has ever existed! Perfect for pre-teen, 'tween, and teenage girls, The Big Book of Girl Stuff shares inspiration, empowerment, and some seriously silly laughs just when girls need it the most! It's filled with information, activities, quotes, and games, as well as lists for favorite books, movies, and music.

Mr. Popper's Penguins

Richard Atwater, Florence Atwater

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 132 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Our first successful read-aloud 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I had tried many different books from Black Beauty to Little Britches to enrich our homeschool literature time.
No joy. Of course, to be fair, it's worth mentioning that my children are still all 6 and younger (all five of them!)

When we did a thematic unit study on penguins, I came across this book in our local homeschool store, and it was a HIT! They all begged me to read "just one more chapter" every night. We went and saw the penguins in another town as a family vacation as a culmination to our study, and the main thing discussed was the book and Mr. Popper, and which penguin looked like Greta and Captain Cook from the book.

My boys still dress in all black some days, so they can be penguins. So, to keep the attention of a 6 year old, 4 year old, and 3 year old (and sometimes the 19 month old) it truly IS a classic! I look forward to reading it again to them soon! We ALL enjoyed Mr. Popper.

Sra. Gose
Author of Flip Flop Spanish: Ages 3-5: Level 1 & Spanish Fun Activity Calendar

Editorial Review:

The 1938 classic tells the story of Mr. Popper, the small-town housepainter who dreamed of exploring Antarctic regions, and Captain Cook, the redoubtable penguin who turned Mr. Popper's world upside down. Reprint. Newbery Honor Book. H. SLJ. NYT. AB.

The Good Earth (Pacemaker Classics)

Pearl S. Buck

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 464 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Pearl S. Buck's epic Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of a China that was -- now in a Contemporary Classics edition.

Though more than sixty years have passed since this remarkable novel won the Pulitzer Prize, it has retained its popularity and become one of the great modern classics. "I can only write what I know, and I know nothing but China, having always lived there," wrote Pearl Buck. In The Good Earth she presents a graphic view of a China when the last emperor reigned and the vast political and social upheavals of the twentieth century were but distant rumblings for the ordinary people. This moving, classic story of the honest farmer Wang Lung and his selfless wife O-lan is must reading for those who would fully appreciate the sweeping changes that have occurred in the lives of the Chinese people during this century.

Nobel Prize winner Pearl S. Buck traces the whole cycle of life: its terrors, its passions, its ambitions and rewards. Her brilliant novel -- beloved by millions of readers -- is a universal tale of the destiny of man.

James and the Giant Peach

Roald Dahl

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 200 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Book review 3 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Ever been in a giant flying peach? James and the giant peach by Roald Dahl tells about a boy who's parents get eaten by a giant rhino, goes to live with his evil aunts, then rolls away in a giant peach. To begin, His parents take him to the London Zoo when only to encounter a loose rhinoceros. The rhino eats James' parents to leave him on the streets. Then, he goes to live with his evil aunts, Aunt Spiker and Aunt Sponge. They treat him very badly and don't let him play with other kids. Finally, an old man comes and gives James some magic crystals. Then a giant peach grows, James crawls in the peach to find some unusually large insects. They then roll away in a giant peach in hope of finding a better place.
Read this book to find out what happens to James and the giant peach

We just love this book! 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I can't say enough good things about this book. My kids & I just love it. The chapters are short, which makes it a bit easier for the kids to read, and the story is so engaging it has all all on the edge of our seats, waiting to hear what will happen next. Such a fun book!

Editorial Review:

A young boy escapes from two wicked aunts and embarks on a series of adventures with six giant insects he meets inside a giant peach.

Artemis Fowl Boxed Set

Eoin Colfer

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 23 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Now available in a gorgeous paperback box set--the first five books in the blockbuster best-selling Artemis Fowl series, starring everyone's favorite criminal mastermind. An ingenious gift indeed

Artemis Fowl

Twelve-year-old Artemis Fowl is a millionaire, a genius-and, above all, a criminal mastermind. But even Artemis doesn't know what he's taken on when he kidnaps a fairy, Captain Holly Short of the LEPrecon Unit.

 

Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident

Artemis receives an urgent e-mail from Russia. In it is a plea from a man who has been kidnapped by the Russian Mafiya: his father. Now, instead of battling the fairies, Artemis must join forces with them if he wants to save one of the few people in the world he loves.

 

Artemis Fowl: The Eternity Code

Artemis is going straight-as soon as he pulls off the most brilliant feat of his criminal career. But the plan goes terribly wrong when his loyal bodyguard and friend Butler is mortally injured. It's going to take a miracle to save Butler, and Artemis's luck may have just run out..

 

Artemis Fowl: The Opal Deception

Artemis is in Munich preparing to steal a famously well-guarded painting. Little does he know that his every move is being watched by his cunning old rival, Opal Koboi, who plans to destroy Artemis by turning his own genius against him.

 

Artemis Fowl: The Lost Colony

There's only one human who can help the fairies and protect the world from the demons beginning to materialize on Earth--Artemis Fowl. Or is he? It seems someone else has unlocked the secrets to the fairy world. And she is just twelve years old...

Birnbaum's Walt Disney World For Kids 2009 (Birnbaum's Walt Disney World for Kids By Kids)

Birnbaum Travel Guides

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Children are perhaps Walt Disney World's biggest fans. On playgrounds and in classrooms, there's always excited talk about who went to Walt Disney World and what they did each day-or minute. It has become almost a rite of passage to visit America's most popular travel destination, and kids can be wonderful sources of information.

Le Petit Prince (French Language Edition)

Antoine de Saint-Exupery

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 70 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

great book 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

this is a classic book -- a wonderful read. i bought this copy for some friends in Burkina Faso who don't get a lot of books. i figured that they might as well have the best.

Incroyable! 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This is probably one of the best books I have ever read. We read it in my fourth year french class, right before graduation. It is such a simple tale wherein lies a deep and meaningful message. It is open for interpretation, which is part of what makes it so great. You really have to think in order to gather the entire message. I hope to purchase the french version soon.

AMAZING 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I'm not gonna write a paragraph about this literature, but i will say this...
I cried and laughed and at the end i felt overwhelmed with this book..its all there and i think everyone should read it. the best book ever. Ive read a lot. This one has my heart.

a lovely story 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This is a great book. It is very helpful for the French student--not too difficult as to be beyond the intermediate level, but also with enough themes to keep a more advanced student interested. I loved the story. The only thing is that the version I had for school had a nice introduction and info about Saint Exupéry that this version lacks.

Editorial Review:

Adventures of a little Prince who visited our world from his own tiny planet. Full-color and black-and-white illustrations.

The Penderwicks on Gardam Street

Jeanne Birdsall

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 21 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Gentle subversion in kidlit clothing 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

I can't exactly remember what it was that kept me from reading "The Penderwicks of Gardam Street" the minute it came out on bookstore and library shelves. As a children's librarian I certainly enjoyed Ms. Birdsall's previous title, The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy (Penderwicks (Quality)), which garnered itself a bright and shiny National Book Award. Then there was all that talk about a resurgence of "old-fashioned" children's books and how "Penderwicks" marked a nostalgia trend. I didn't like that notion, and maybe that feeling ate away at the good time I'd had reading the novel. Maybe I felt guilty for liking it so much. Maybe that's what slowed my hand when it came to reading and reviewing the next Birdsall title. "I've read the first one," thought I. "How much more different could it be?" But then all these librarians and teachers stared telling me how good the sequel was. No, not just good. "Better than the original." Those were the exact words I heard from three different pairs of lips. And the general rule states that if three different pairs of lips tell you to read something, it is wise to follow their advice. So I finally finally FINALLY got around to picking up a copy and reading it and . . . . shoot. They were right. It really is better than the original. And the original, for all my hemming and hawing, was pretty darn good in its own right too.

Under normal circumstances Aunt Claire's visit to the Penderwick girls (Rosaline, Jane, Skye, and Batty) is a time of fun and jubilation. But when Claire announces that it was Mr. Penderwick's wife's dying wish that he eventually date and remarry, shock hits the girls. Rosalind, the eldest, takes it particularly hard and decides to institute a plan to save their father from the claws of some foul woman by setting him up on purposefully horrendous dates (thereby turning him off of the idea altogether). Of course there are other concerns clawing at the girls' attention. Skye and Jane have switched their homework yet again, and unfortunately it worked so well that Skye's English teacher has decided to stage "her" play with you-know-who in the lead. Rosalind, on top of this dating crisis, is dealing with the unwanted (?) attentions of next door neighbor Tommy Geiger. And even Batty has a situation of her own, involving the adorable little boy neighbor (and his beautiful and intelligent mother) and a creepy fellow lurking about the street whom she calls "Bug Man". Fortunately everything works out well in the end with the girls happier, wiser, and just as amusing as ever.

I know that there are some parents, teachers, and librarians out there amongst you for whom the term "classic" when applied to a contemporary work of children's fiction means only one thing to you: twee. Ootsy-cutesy. Sunshine, flowers, and suburbs full of white children acting as if it is 1959 and they haven't a care in the world. Well, let's examine this, shall we? First off, there's no denying that this is a book about four relatively well-off white girls living in the suburbs in a big beautiful house. Let the record also show, that in her defense Jeanne Birdsall has not pulled the old let's-just-throw-in-a-black-best-friend move that so many authors do in a fit of white guilt. There are kids of different races here but they fit in within the context of the story and not in a way that feels forced. And I know that everyone likes to discuss the Birdsall nostalgia factor, but does anyone properly credit how she doesn't fall back on the usual character stereotypes? Skye acts somewhat like a jock, but her interests lie in being smart in math and extremely tidy. Jane, in comparison, is the romantic Anne-of-Green-Gables-type of gal who is deeply into writing and daydreaming but who, on the side, turns into a Cockney soccer player when she gets into a skirmish on the field. These kids have a little depth to them, often when you least expect it.

Maybe the best argument that the book belongs to the past (though it seems pretty contemporary, just without iPods and things) are the two moments when Mr. Penderwick makes Latin references that any child familiar with the Harry Potter books would recognize. The first happens on page 50 when he mentions the word "bellatrix" and no one follows it up with the accompanying "Lestrange". The second time happens on page 65 when he describes his latest date with the term "cruciatus." The forbidden curse unfamiliar to kids? It is the only evidence that this family of readers isn't living in the here and now. The evidence against this theory? Well, there are little moments like when the rules on entering into Quigley Woods are discussed. In the past a kid would wander abandoned would with impunity. These days it's a good idea just to have a couple ground rules here and there.

I'll just sum up the name of the game here in one word: Subversive. This is a deeply subversive children's novel. Aw, look at your little skeptical faces. You don't think I can back that statement up, do you? Well, consider how Ms. Birdsall both acknowledges and plays with our expectations. You walk into this novel with a certain attitude on how it will be portrayed. Then you get to page seventy-four when Jane makes the argument that their father should date because: " `men have needs . . . I read that in a magazine.' `What needs?' asked Batty. `What magazine?' asked Skye." Cheeky. You won't find that conversation in an Elizabeth Enright novel, I'll tell you that right now.

I do love the characters too. I was particularly fond of Skye since she reminded me of my best friend growing up. I knew a Skye type once. In terms of character development Birdsall respects and provides the proper amount of small, almost invisible moments that make a person who they are. The telling snippets that expose our humanity beneath the exterior. Here's an example: There is a moment when Rosalind has been so wrapped up the notion of her father dating again that she has wandered off and failed to tell Batty her usual bedtime story. Batty is fond of repetition and desperately needs her story. When Rosalind finally comes home her over-tired little sister's interior monologue works itself up and up until she's in tears (I found the line about being worried that Skye would think her a coward particularly touching) and Rosalind finally takes her to bed and gives her the story. The moment could be done in such a way that Batty comes off as looking bratty, and really the fact that the child doesn't high herself henceward is a testament of writing right there. But for me, the really telling point is right at the end of the chapter where it says of Rosalind, " `Sleep well, Battikins,' she whispered, then watched over her for a long time, just in case she woke up again, still wanting a story." In a way, the book is also about the selfishness of childhood. Every kid just cares about what they care about. It takes an extraordinary amount of energy sometimes for a person, be they old or young, to crawl out of their own little shell of self-pity to see and aid a fellow human being, no matter how close to them they may be.

Finally, it's funny. That probably should have been my first point lo these many paragraphs ago. It's true in any case. I think I may have snorted in a particularly unladylike fashion when I read the poem that Jane wrote for Skye's homework assignment which went, "Tra-la the joy of tulips blooming, Ha-ha the thrill of bumblebees zooming. I'm alive and I dance, I'm alive though death is always looming" (remember what I said about subversion earlier?).

I was at an event recently where I expressed my pleasure with this book. My companion nodded politely and listened, but then asked if I didn't find the story just a bit . . . well . . . . much. I could see where she was coming from. We're dealing with a book that contains something called the "Save-Daddy Plan". On top of that the answer to the girls' woes is so seemingly obvious (to say nothing of the last-minute villain who would have gotten away with it too if it weren't for those meddling kids and their pesky dog) that even the youngest reader is bound to guess where the storyline is going. I'll grant that, but the degree to which a children's book is predictable doesn't necessarily bother me. When you judge a book written with a child audience in mind, familiar tropes are standard fare. What's important is how well the author plays with them. J.K. Rowling, after all, was not the first author to write about a kid going off to a school for magic. She just happened to write it best. Likewise, Birdsall isn't the first writer I've seen to come up with a storyline that involves matchmaking and the like, but she writes so bloody well that I doubt any child, no matter how jaded, is going to mind if they suspect where the plot is headed.

Kids actually dig these books, which shouldn't strike you as much of a surprise. For devoted readers there's a veritable bibliography within these pages as well. Copious amounts of Eve Ibbotson, Sense and Sensibility, The Phantom Tollbooth, and on and on. Birdsall's writing is also extremely accessible. Without relying on hoopla and bombast she ropes you in with just a sentence or two. There's something for everyone here. For the kids that like "old-fashioned stories" you can make the argument that Birdsall is conjuring up the distant past (what other novel out there today contains a kid with the name "Tommy" for heavens sake?). For those of you who couldn't care less about books with a classic feel and just want something funny, well written, and enticing, "The Penderwicks on Gardam Street" has your number. Even if you didn't much care for the first one, you're going to find a lot to love here. Better than the original.

Editorial Review:

THE PENDERWICK SISTERS are home on Gardam Street and ready for an adventure! But the adventure they get isn’t quite what they had in mind. Mr. Penderwick’s sister has decided it’s time for him to start dating—and the girls know that can only mean one thing: disaster. Enter the Save-Daddy Plan—a plot so brilliant, so bold, so funny, that only the Penderwick girls could have come up with it. It’s high jinks, big laughs, and loads of family warmth as the Penderwicks triumphantly return.