( L ) Books - Page 3

Mouse Soup

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Subjects -> Children's Books -> Animals -> Mice, Hamsters, Guinea Pigs & Squirrels -> Fiction

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 14 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Kid Tested and Approved - a review of "Mouse Soup" 4 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

I have to bow to a superior opinion in rating this book. After reading it to my 5 y.o. son, I had come to the conclusion that the subset of stories were pretty lame and uninteresting. I mean one of them is about two rocks that get lied to by a bird (or so the rocks think). And another is about a rose bush growing out of a comfy chair.

But my 5 y.o. informs me that I don't know what I am talking about. This book is great, he told me. And he convinced me that this was true by doing something his active little self seldom does: he went and got the book off his shelf and dragged his father over to the couch so that dad could listen to him read the stories. [Could have knocked me over with bookmark.]

The AR Reading level for this book is 2.4 which means that the Accelerated Reading committee, and it's software, suggests this book for Second Graders in their fourth month of school.

[The AR designation is a general "guide" that rates books on a relative scale of difficulty. Children can certainly read at levels above or below their group range, so that this number should only be used as a aid to help choose books that are appropriate and not frustrating.]

Four Stars. This book has a mouse cum Scheherazade premise: A weasel captures a poor little mouse and the mouse plots to get out of being eaten by telling stories. The stories the mouse tells didn't appeal to me, but my five y.o. son sure liked them. The AR reading level indicates the book is suitable for Second Graders.

Editorial Review:

Mouse is in a
jam -- soon he'll
be weasel soup!

Weasel is ready for his dinner. And poor mouse is it. Just in time, he thinks up a clever and entertaining way to distract weasel from serving up mouse soup for supper.

Frog and Toad

Arnold Lobel

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 13 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Great stories for smart kids. 4 out of 5 stars.
18 of 18 people found this review helpful.

The expression on the faces of my three and five year old as they puzzle, smile and nod over the adventures of Frog and Toad is something I think I'll carry with me for a long time. The kids are fully engaged with the audio CD, and can now follow along with the printed words when I read the same stories to them from the Frog and Toad books.

While Arnold Lobel has a calm, kid friendly reading voice, he never panders or talks down to the kids. I like that. I also appreciate the gentle, absurd wit that Lobel weaves into these stories. I'm not kidding when I say that I could see the skeleton of a Seinfeld plot in some of these stories. Makes it easier for an adult in the car to listen to, that's for sure.

Editorial Review:

There's nothing like a best friend ...

Frog and Toad, those famous pals, are beloved by generations of children. Their every adventure is filled with the magic of true friendship, whether they're telling ghost stories, searching for a lost button, or eating too many cookies. This captivating audio collection features all four of the Frog and Toad books, read with humor and charm by award-winning author Arnold Lobel.

CONTENTS:

Frog and Toad Are Friends
Frog and Toad All Year
Frog and Toad Together
Days with Frog and Toad

Frog and Toad are good friends—with each other and with generations of children. They have lots of fun together, whether trying to fly a kite, searching for a lost button, eating too many cookies, or telling ghost stories. Read in their entirety by author Arnold Lobel, these award-winning children's stories will tell listeners of all ages something about the nature of friendship and kindness.

Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life

C.S. Lewis

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 69 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

For C.S. Lewis Devotees Only! 2 out of 5 stars.
3 of 5 people found this review helpful.

I love most of what C.S. Lewis writes. I can read the Narnia series over and over, and I adore Till We Have Faces. I find him an incredible philosopher and a brilliant mind and a fantastic writer all 'round.

This book is possibly the dullest thing I have ever forced myself to read.

I wanted to like it; heaven knows it had interesting parts, fascinating things I had never thought of before. I found it valuable for understanding what themes that Lewis meant to convey in all of my favorite books.

Oh, but I could have gone without that long and utterly boring chapter about going to boys' school, being hazed, and interactions with the Bloods; I could barely keep myself in the thing even in the most interesting parts about his childhood. Even his conversion came with little emotional interest. For a second I wanted to say that I was missing something, that I had the problem, but I'm not sure that this is so. It's just... boring. I'm not even sure it's applicable for the person on the brink of accepting Christianity, for intellectually, Lewis is on another plane entirely. What if the reader has never felt this stab of "joy," or at least, experienced it the way Lewis experienced it? I tried to remember such a feeling and, although I remember it, I do not recall it being such a life-changing event.

Furthermore, his conversion didn't seem like such a logical step as much as returning to an old friend, if that makes any sense. I think another reviewer hit the nail on the head when they said they doubted that Lewis ever truly left Christianity to begin with. This isn't to say he didn't become a true atheist -- but it was as though he retained some sort of regard for it, even when was most disdainful of it.

To sum things up, this book is painfully boring, but invaluable for the insight it delivers into Lewis's works of fiction than for the path he took to conversion.

Editorial Review:

In this book Lewis tells of his search for joy, a spiritual journey that led him from the Christianity of his early youth into atheism and then back to Christianity. This book, together with his early diary All My Road Before Me, form the closest thing we have to an autobiography.

Manners Can Be Fun

Munro Leaf

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 22 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

If we want something
we
say
PLEASE
We say THANK YOU
if you help us or
give us something or
do things for us.
Before we leave the table
we ask if
we
may
be
excused.
And say THANK YOU
if we are told we may.

Continuing the success of How to Behave and Why-with hundreds of thousands of copies sold, 50,000 in the last year and a half alone!-comes another gem from the trove of Munro Leaf.

Considered his second most popular book, Manners Can Be Fun was first published in 1936 and is among Munro Leaf's acclaimed "Fun" series, which includes Grammar, Reading, and History. In his signature style of stick-figure illustrations and wholesome text, this charming guide, in which courtesy does not have to be a chore or a response to scolding, makes manners a delight to learn. With such characters as the Mefirsts and the Whineys, children can laugh while absorbing the elementary rules of thoughtfulness and etiquette. To listen, cooperate, act graciously, and share, among others, are invaluable lessons that should never be underestimated, and that help make happy, well-adjusted, and secure children who will one day grow up to be happy, well-adjusted, and secure adults.

The Complete Chronicles of Narnia CD Box Set

C. S. Lewis

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 46 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Journeys to the end of the world, fantastic creatures, and epic battles between good and evil -- what more could any reader ask for? The lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, written in 1949 by Clive Staples Lewis, had all this and more. But Lewis did not stop there. Six more books followed, and together they became known as The Chronicles of Narnia.

For the past fifty years, The Chronicles of Narnia have transcended the fantasy genre to become part of the canon of classic literature. Each of the seven books is a masterpiece, drawing the reader into a land where magic meets reality, and the result is a fictional world whose scope has fascinated generations. Now, some of the most noted actors of our times have come together to read these extraordinary works.

This timeless boxed set includes all seven unabridged recordings: The Magician's nephew; The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe; The Horse and His Boy; Prince Caspian; The Voyage of the Dawn Treader; The Silver Chair; and The Last Battle. Deceptively simple and direct, The Chronicles of Narnia continue to captivate fans with adventures, characters, and truths that speak to readers of all ages, even fifty years after they were first published.

Mouse Tales (I Can Read Book 2)

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 22 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Mouse Tales 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

There are seven short tales, all involving mice, and bookended by a father mouse who is telling these stories to his children at bed time, one per child. The seven stories included are: The Wishing Well, Clouds, Very Tall Mouse and Very Short Mouse, The Mouse and the Winds, The Journey, The Old Mouse, and The Bath. Of the seven, my favorite is The Wishing Well as it takes an unusual and humorous approach to the usual wishing well story. The most disturbing of the stories is The Journey because it involves replacement feet. Knowing Sean, I think his favorite will be The Bath because of the absurd bath/flood the little mouse creates just to get clean.

Mouse Tales 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

ISBN 0064440133 - Based on the reading level, Mouse Tales is for 6-8 year olds, but I think younger children will enjoy it quite a bit, as well.

Papa tucks his seven boys into bed and promises them seven stories, so long as they promise to go right to sleep. Once they've promised, he starts with The Wishing Well... and tells the seven stories, ending with The Bath. His boys have all fallen asleep by then and Papa says good night.

The stories are all so short that just recapping them would be pretty much the same thing as retelling them! There are great possibilities within the very few pages of this book. With simple words and a fairly large font, the stories can be read by a child easily. He or she will find them fun and engaging. They can be read to a child by an adult, who might like to explain the deeper meanings of some of the stories (for instance why, once the mouse in The Wishing Well helped the well, all of her wishes came true). But, much to my surprise, there's a little Aesop's Fables feel to the stories, which might be one of the most unexpected ways to read this little book - as an adult! This isn't true for every story - if it is, I haven't found the message in the story of the mouse who wears out his feet and gets new ones. Still, all around a charming set of bedtime stories with nicely done illustrations that don't take up three-quarters of every page.

Editorial Review:

Seven mouse boys lie awake one night... . . . And they ask their Papa to tell them a story. Papa does better than that -- he tells them seven stories, one for each boy.

The Tombs of Atuan (The Earthsea Cycle, Book 2)

Ursula K. Le Guin

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 109 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Earthsea Always Satisfy's. 4 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Book one The Wizard of Earthsea was required reading for a children's literature course I did back in 1999. I enjoyed it so much I read all the books and collections of short stories set in that world. Yet even though this novel finishes by revolving again around Ged, it is really about Tenar/Arha, a young girl believed to be the reborn High Priest of the unnamed ones. (Nameless ones.) Her name is taken from her at 6 years of age, a year after she was taken from her family and home. She is given the name/title "Arha" - "the one without a name."

She grows, learns and becomes high priestess under the tutelage of Kossil, priestess to the God-Kings and Thar of the God Brothers.

Then one day she sees Ged in the under tomb, and he has magic light. She traps him in the labyrinth. She then chains him and visits with him. Kossil finds out about this and plans to kill them both. Tenar, fearing this, visits Ged in the treasury where she has hidden him.

He renames her Tenar and together they escape and return the Ring of Erreth-Akbe to the inner islands that they may have peace. For the 9th rune that had been lost when the ring was broken when the rune was cut in half. Now with both pieces Ged could recover the rune and restore peace.

The book ends with them in the city of Havnor.

Note: Pay close attention to the names of boats in the series. In this one Ged guides a boat called Lookfar.

Editorial Review:

Arha's isolated existence as high priestess in the tombs of Atuan is jarred by a thief who seeks a special treasure.

The Dispossessed

Ursula K. Le Guin

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 95 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Turgid, ideological and pedantic 2 out of 5 stars.
2 of 6 people found this review helpful.

A novel beginning with anarchists on one planet, 'archists' on its twin. That is, the planets are astronomical twins; the anarchists' planet is only marginally habitable while that of their seeming bete noir is quite earth-like. Very earth-like, in fact, replete with capitalists and modified communists (the novel is a cold war artifact).

The author attempts to explore what happens in societies, how people lose their freedom. The anarchists become somewhat bureaucratic and terribly provincial in the worst sense, that of pruning outcroppings of creativity by means of social opprobation.

The capitalists, wealthy though the aristocrats are, are not free in the author's view. The society has its best analogue in 19th century Great Britain, complete with the class distinctions then normal.

The text is turgid, even occasionally ungrammatical. The characters are shallow, mere ciphers for the author's didacticism. Of action we will not speak: there is none of which to speak.

Looking at the other reviews, I see one that says he got the message: "capitalism good, communism bad." I do wonder what book he read when he thought he was reading this book. The message here is "freedom,which implies responsibility, good; societal/governmental repression of freedom bad." This is a message that is easy to endorse, even if the book was far from my favorite.

Editorial Review:

Shevek, a brilliant physicist, decides to take action. he will seek answers, question the unquestionable, and attempt to tear down the walls of hatred that have isolated his planet of anarchists from the rest of the civilized universe. To do this dangerous task will mean giving up his family and possibly his life. Shevek must make the unprecedented journey to the utopian mother planet, Anarres, to challenge the complex structures of life and living, and ignite the fires of change.

Pippi Longstocking

Astrid Lindgren

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Subjects -> Children's Books -> Authors & Illustrators, A-Z -> ( C ) -> Child, Lauren

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 11 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Buy the for the illustration 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

0670062766 This edition is illustrated by Lauren Child. It has large type and exceptional illustrations. The attached file for the "look inside" feature is absolutely the wrong one as of this writing -- 7/27/2008. I can't find a place to tell Amazon that. The illustrations on this version are unique. The pages are designed around inserted motifs and there are many, many unique full page illustrations. No matter how many other editions of Pippi you have, buy this one too.

Editorial Review:

In 1950, Viking published the original English version of Pippi Longstocking, the story of an irrepressible red-haired, freckle-faced girl who lived with a monkey and a horse, slept with her feet on the pillow, and found her way into the hearts of children all over the world. Now, Astrid Lindgren’s best-selling book has been given a sparkling new translation by the awardwinning Tiina Nunnally and delightful full-color illustrations by the critically acclaimed Lauren Child. This large-format gift book is sure to become the definitive edition of a favorite classic.

Gathering Blue

Lois Lowry

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 278 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Good read 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This book was interesting and a parrallel to The Giver, being a primitice society while The Giver presented a futuristic society. This is a worthwhile book like I said, but I read it because I was told it was a "companion" to The Giver, which is my favorite book. If you are looking to find out what happens to Jonas and Gabe by reading this book you won't find an answer! The conclusions of the characters from both The Giver and Gathering Blue are given in the third companion, The Messenger.

Bothersome Blue 2 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I found this somewhat slow to start. About 70 pages in it seemed more interesting. I continued reading because this has fairly decent reviews and I've read Lois Lowry's 'Gossamer' which I really liked.

I have mixed reviews on this book. I did NOT enjoy reading this book. I thought the writing was well enough that I did like the characters and cared for them. I was bothered by how people are treated in this society especially the children. I felt a sense of urgency to continue to read to make sure the kids and the main characters turned out ok. With that said, I never found much relief. I don't understand why people are saying this has a happy ending. I wouldn't say this has a happy ending. Also, I thought the ending left you with so many questions...Why did she stay? Why not go and take her friends with her? Why didn't she tell anyone the truth about the dyer's death?

I can understand how some people would like this type of book. I prefer a book with a happy ending, an uplifting moral/message or clean love story. None of that was found in this book.

Editorial Review:

Kira, an orphan with a twisted leg, lives in a world where the weak are cast aside. When she is given a task that no other community member can carry out, Kira soon realizes that she is surrounded by many mysteries and secrets. No one must know of her plans to uncover the truth about her world—and to find out what exists beyond it.