( V ) Books - Page 6

The Wreck of the Zephyr

Chris Van Allsburg

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 23 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Jumanji 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 6 people found this review helpful.

jumanji is a WONDERFUL book a real page turner. It was a delight to read and the illustrations were awsone!!!

The Wreck of the Zephyr 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Students love this story. Great for teaching how to infer.

My two and a half year old grandson LOVES this book! 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I chose this wonderful author not only for his story, but equally importantly for his exquisite illustrations. I gave it to my grandson for his second birthday and he is enthralled with it, and frequently chooses it at bedtime for his Grandma Janet to read again and again. I love it as much as he does, and it is a timeless classic.

Editorial Review:

At the edge of a cliff lies the wreck of a small sailboat. How did it get there? "Waves carried it up in a storm," says an old sailor. But is it possible that waves could ever get that high? There is another story -- the story of a boy and his obsessive desire to be the greatest sailor, the story of a storm that carried the boy and his boat to a place where boats glide like gulls high above the water and not upon it. Chris Van Allsburg tells that story of the boy and his boat, the Zephyr, in words and haunting, full-color pastel paintings. His sailboats sail the night sky with the stars in pictures so vivid that the reader can almost hear the wind in the sails. Here is a work of unusual artistry that will enchant readers of all ages for many years to come.

Absolutely, Positively Alexander

Judith Viorst

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 10 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Who hasn't had a "terrible, horrible no good very bad day" 5 out of 5 stars.
7 of 7 people found this review helpful.

I grew up just loving Alexander in Alexander and the Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day. My mother read it to us a children (ok, so now you know I'm not too old!) and I was just thrilled to see such a good copy of not only it but the other Alexander stories as well. The library binding is very nice and this book will definitely be a keepsake for my children someday. If you like to have books to pass on, this one's for you!

Editorial Review:

First published in 1972, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day introduced to the world a feisty young hero who soon captured the hearts of a generation. Since then Alexander has returned in Alexander, Who Used to Be Rich Last Sunday and Alexander, Who's Not (Do you hear me? I mean it!) Going to move, and his position as a classic character in children's literature is assured. Alexander is everyone's favorite boy, struggling against those obstacles that seem to get in the way of growing up, with the most formidable ones being his siblings. Here, all three Alexander stories are combined in one book -- a perfect way for Alexander to be introduced to a whole new generation of certain fans.

Zathura

Chris Van Allsburg

Amazon Price: $12.24 List Price: $18.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Houghton Mifflin Amazon Marketplace: 117 new & used starting at $0.06

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 24 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

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

I read Zathura by Chris Van Allsburg, I liked and would recommend this book because one of the kids said, "I have a robot" and I like robots. In the book I read how the boys saw a spaceship through the window. The robot came into the house and tried to get the aliens. This helped convince me that it was a good book.

Editorial Review:

On the last page of the Caldecott-winning book Jumanji, young Danny Budwing is seen running after his brother, Walter, with a game tucked under his arm. Now after twenty years, Chris Van Allsburg is ready to reveal what happens when Danny and Walter roll the dice. This time the name of the game is Zathura and the battling Budwing boys are in for the ride of their lives.
The first book in seven years by Chris Van Allsburg, Zathura is a dramatic adventure that promises a breathtaking and unforgettable experience. At the story"s end which becomes, miraculously, the beginning, we find that Walter"s feelings for his little brother are greatly altered.
Only the mind and hand of Chris Van Allsburg could create this fantastic world where shifts in time and space and perspective take the reader on such an extraordinary journey.

The It Girl (It Girl #1)

Cecily von Ziegesar

Amazon Price: $9.99 List Price: $9.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Little Brown and Company Amazon Marketplace: 264 new & used starting at $0.01

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 36 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

The It Girl 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 6 people found this review helpful.

The It Girl, a novel, by Cecily von Ziegesar unleashes a whole new kind of clique book which continues the life of the main character Jenny Humphrey who has gotten kicked out of her old school. She realizes that she should get a fresh start at her new school. She has figured out that Waverly is where all the preppy kids go, and in order to go there, she would have to fit in. Soon after Jenny arrives at her new school, she sees that her survival depends on a new Jenny instead of the old. Will she survive in this new school and make new friends?

I have never read a clique book this good with so much detail about the characters and their thoughts. The reader can really visualize what the characters look like and how they react to things from the author's detailed description. There are a lot of cliff hangers at the end of the chapters which makes the reader want to read more. I would recommend this book to teenagers that enjoy a realistic fiction dealing with relationships and drama of college life.

Editorial Review:

Popular Gossip Girl character Jenny Humphrey is leaving Constance Billard to attend Waverly Academy, an elite boarding school in New York horse country where glamorous rich kids dont let the rules get in the way of an excellent time. Jennys determined to leave her crazy Manhattan past behind and become a sophisticated goddess on campus. But first shell have to contend with her self-absorbed roommates, Callie Vernon and Brett Messerschmidt. Hot guys, new intrigue, and more delicious gossip all add up to more trouble than ever for Jenny. But if getting caught with boys and going up against the Disciplinary Committee is what it takes, Jennys ready. Shell do all that and more to be The It Girl.

Janice VanCleave's A+ Science Fair Projects

Janice VanCleave

Amazon Price: $10.17 List Price: $14.95 By: Wiley Publishing - Model: 0471331023 Amazon Marketplace: 28 new & used starting at $7.88

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

A fabulous collection of science projects, explorations, techniques, and ideas!

Looking to wow the judges at the science fair this year? Everyone’s favorite science teacher is here to help. Janice VanCleave’s A+ Science Fair Projects has everything you need to put together a winning entry, with detailed advice on properly planning your project, from choosing a topic and collecting your facts to designing experiments and presenting your findings.

Featuring all-new experiments as well as time-tested projects collected from Janice VanCleave’s A+ series, this easy-to-follow guide gives you an informative introduction to the science fair process. You get thirty-five complete starter projects on various topics in astronomy, biology, chemistry, earth science, and physics, including explorations of:

• The angular distance between celestial bodies
• The breathing rate of goldfish
• Interactions in an ecosystem
• Nutrient differences in soils
• Heat transfer in the atmosphere
• Magnetism from electricity
• And much more!

You’ll also find lots of helpful tips on how to develop your own ideas into unique projects. Janice VanCleave’s A+ Science Fair Projects is the ideal guide for any middle or high school student who wants to develop a stellar science fair entry.

Janice VanCleave's Physics for Every Kid: 101 Easy Experiments in Motion, Heat, Light, Machines, and Sound (Science for Every Kid Series)

Janice VanCleave

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

How do magnets work? What makes a curve ball curve? What keeps an airplane in the air? How can a pulley make you five times stronger? Now you can learn the answers to these and other questions about basic physics through 101 fun, safe, low-cost experiments and activities that can be performed at home or in the classroom. In Physics for Every Kid, you’ll learn about gravity from funnels that seem to defy nature by rolling up hill. Using a balloon as a power source, you’ll make a fluorescent light bulb glow and learn how electrons are used to produce light. And you’ll levitate a Ping-Pong ball to understand aerodynamics. Each of the 101 experiments is broken down into its purpose, a list of materials, step-by-step instructions, expected results, and an easy to understand explanation. Every activity has been pretested and can be performed safely and inexpensively in the classroom or at home. Also available in this series from Janice VanCleave: Astronomy for Every Kid Biology for Every Kid Chemistry for Every Kid Dinosaurs for Every Kid Earth Science for Every Kid Geography for Every Kid Geometry for Every Kid The Human Body for Every Kid Math for Every Kid

A Solitary Blue (The Tillerman Series #3)

Cynthia Voigt

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 66 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

A great book 4 out of 5 stars.
9 of 9 people found this review helpful.

I just read this book for the first time in several years, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Everyone else has already given a basic summary of its plot, so I won't try for that. However, I greatly appreciated this book.

My favorite part of "Solitary Blue" was the character development. I loved watching Jeff grow and change throughout the book, from what he described as a ghost, even in his own life, to someone actively involved in the world, making friends and finding things that he loved to do. I ached for him when his mother broke his heart and he thought it was his fault, got angry at himself for being so fragile and easy to break, and determined not to be that fragile again (I wanted to shake him and say, "You're SUPPOSED to be easy to break at 12 years old! That's because you're supposed to be able to TRUST your parents to protect and watch over you."). I also enjoyed watching his father grow and develop as a character. At the beginning he came across as almost completely unaware of Jeff, as well as unable to care for him at all. However, as the story progressed he began to open up, to care for his son, and to reach out to him. I was glad to see that it wasn't too late, that despite all of his hurt Jeff was still able to respond to his father and develop that relationship.

His mother, on the other hand, was something else. One of the strong points of this book was that it got me involved enough to feel passionately angry at Melody for her treatment of her son. Perhaps because I have feminist do-gooder tendencies like the ones she claimed, I had no patience for her constant desire to hide behind her beliefs. I'm sorry, it doesn't matter how much good you want to do the world; you don't abandon your child(ren) to do so (if it was so important to her that Jeff learn about social justice issues, why not take him with her?). You don't send them off on a 16 hr. bus ride with no money or food. You don't use and manipulate the people around you for the "greater good of society". All in all, I was thoroughly disgusted with her. In a weird way, that speaks to the strength of the book; I don't generally get so angry with a book character, and the fact that I did means that Voigt knew what she was doing.

As I mentioned, this is a good book and worth reading. It may be for slightly more mature tastes, however; I remember that I thought it rather boring the first time I read it years ago.

Editorial Review:

Jeff learns a lesson about love and emerges from a solitary depression when he realizes that he can be alone and not be lonely. By the author of Homecoming and Dicey's Song. Reprint. PW. K.

Gossip Girl (Gossip Girl)

Cecily von Ziegesar

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Welcome home Serena. 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.

Serena's come home after getting kicked out of boarding school and everyone wants to know if the rumors are true. Was she pregnant and did she leave her baby in France? Is she really dealing drugs with her initial "S" stamped on each pill? And what's up with her clothes? Is she getting them from a homeless shelter?

All Serena wants to do is hang with her friends and have her old life back. Unfortunately, her friends and old life don't seem to want her back. But don't waste any time feeling sorry for her. She's still rich and gorgeous, and manages to draw the attention of two photo-artists who ask her to model for them and then plaster the city with her pictures. (Well, pictures of some part of her. No one's really quite sure which part, though. Belly button, maybe?) Anyway, she also manages to make new friends and shows signs of adding some depth to her otherwise shallow world.

Don't expect to walk away feeling enlightened after reading this page turner, however. It's not great literature, but it is entertaining and a breezy bit of escapism, much like its tv namesake. Fans of the weekly drama will note some character differences: the names are the same, but physical descriptions, personality traits and economic status vary - most notably in the characters of Dan and Ginny Humphrey. Dan is a little more gritty and angst-ridden and Ginny doesn't look so much like Barbie's little sister, Skipper.

I rated the book five stars because I really enjoyed it and plan on reading the rest of the series. Would I recommend it to you? Well, if you're familiar with and enjoyed Morgan Burke's Party Room trilogy, Melissa De La Cruz's Blue Bloods or Hobson Brown's The Upper Class, you'll probably like Gossip Girl, too. They all center around spoiled, rich kids - or, in the case of Blue Bloods, spoiled, rich vampires - and the dirty secrets that sometimes even money can't hush.

Editorial Review:

First Sentence:
Ever wondered what the lives of the chosen ones are really like? 

The Wretched Stone

Chris Van Allsburg

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

Blinded and De-minded by the glowing light 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.

Even my eight-year-old grandchild got the message of this wonderful allegory. The Wretched Stone is an important story with a message-- a great reminder lesson for children and adults alike, about the dangers of watching too much television. It's so easy to slide into the passive oblivion in front of the tube. We need to tear ourselves and our children away from the "glowing orb."
The sailors on the ship became captive to a glowing stone that said nothing. Anything like that around your house?

A Mind-Numbing Glowing Orb... Hhmmm 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

This is one of my favorite Chris Van Allsburg books. Chris Van Allsburg, author to gems like The Polar Express, The Stranger, Just a Dream, and The Wreck of the Zephyr, tells another captivating story with a message. This one serves as a great reminder and launching point for discussion, for children and adults alike, about the dangers of too much television.

It's estimated that the average child watches about 4 hours of TV per day. That calculates out to 28 hours per week or 120 hours per month. Imagine what any one of us could accomplish in that amount of time! The sad truth is that for so many of us parents, the TV becomes a cheap and easy babysitter for our kids.

The Wretched Stone is a great story with wonderful illustrations and a very important message.

Editorial Review:

In a story recounted through the daily log of Captain Allan Hope, the sailors aboard the Rita Anne become mesmerized and transformed by a mysterious glowing rock, and only music and books can restore them to normal.

The Z Was Zapped: A Play in Twenty-Six Acts

Chris Van Allsburg

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 23 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Inappropriate for young kids 1 out of 5 stars.
3 of 5 people found this review helpful.

Last Friday, my son, a kindergartener, borrowed this book from the school library. I felt disturbed immediately after browsing through a couple of the pages. Too much violence and insane! I did not like it and I didn't want my son to be exposed to such a book - he is not even 6 yet. But my son insisted to finish all the pages - he likes all the books from the school library.

My husband and I searched online. We found out the author Chris Van Allisburg is a well known illustrator, and this book has been well acclaimed since 1987. To our surprise, we did not find any negative reviews of this book at all. "Are we over-reacting?" we asked ourselves.

After thinking it over, we were back to our common sense.

Here are some excerpts from this book that we found depressing and disturbing:

"The B was badly Bitten." (violence, with a vicious dog head)
"The C was Cut to ribbons." (violence)
"The D was nearly Drowned." (death)
"The F was firmly Flattened." (with a torturing foot firmly and cruelly stepping on letter F)
"The K was quietly Kidnapped." (violence and crime)
"The N was Nailed and Nailed again." (violence and insane)
"The P was repeatedly Pecked." (violence and insane, with a vicious bird)
"The Q was neatly Quartered." (violence and insane, with a big lethal knife)
"The T was all Tied up." (with suffocating ropes tying around letter T)
"The U was abruptly Uprooted." (indicating destruction of life)
"The Z was finally Zapped." (violence and death)

Some may say this book is well illustrated. I agree it is creative and can be considered as a way of art, but ONLY to the readers who are mature enough to digest it.

This book contains too much violence and death related contents, and it is illustrated in a disturbing and torturing way. We don't think it is a good idea to educate young kids about dark side of the life in such a violent and extreme manner.

Movies have rating, so do video games. Should books too? How about music CDs? (Last weekend, my son picked up a free CD from a coffee shop, with songs like "all my friends are evil" and "I am glad you do drugs" - Gee! My fault - I should have paid more attention before allowing him to pick it up.)

We found this book somewhat inappropriate for young kids. Or it should at least be rated as "PG", so that parents can guide the kids about what is OK and what is not.

I told my son that this book contains some inappropriate contents for him to read. At the beginning, he was very upset. After we went through the alphabet, and explained which one is OK, which one is not and why, he seemed being able to understand it. I am glad about the communication between me and my son, and I think it worked.

Editorial Review:

A dramatic black- and- white presentation of the alphabet in which the three-time Caldecott medalist depicts a mysterious transformation of each letter.