General Books

Breaking Through (Edition 001)

Francisco Jiménez

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 20 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

book review on Breaking Through 4 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

Book Review on Breaking Through


Hi, this book Breaking Through by Francisco Jimenez is a sad book. Why is it a sad book? A boy named Francisco struggles through life trying to keep his family together. He works and goes to school, also trying to keep his grades up. This book is a good book because of the Theme, believable charters, and a nice setting.

The theme is, heart breaking. It's heart breaking since a boy and his family have to face many difficult obstacles. The obstacles are not easy for Francisco and his family. They have to pay bills but they don't have any money. So the whole family except mom and the youngest ones have to work.

Besides the heart breaking theme there are nice believable charters. The charters sometimes where confused. They where confused because they didn't have money. No one to help them, and struggled to keep food on the table.

There also was a very good setting. The setting took place in many different places. Like school, fields, gas company, Twitchel and Twitchel. There are many different places. So that means that the family is all over the places.

So this book has a great theme. Wonderful setting that makes you feel like your there watching it all happing. Also nice believable charters that do things that you could relate to. So if you like heart breaking novels then this is the book for you.


The End

Editorial Review:

At the age of fourteen, Francisco Jiménez, together with his older brother Roberto and his mother, are caught by la migra. Forced to leave their home, the entire family travels all night for twenty hours by bus, arriving at the U.S. and Mexican border in Nogales, Arizona. In the months and years that follow, Francisco, his mother and father, and his seven brothers and sister not only struggle to keep their family together, but also face crushing poverty, long hours of labor, and blatant prejudice. How they sustain their hope, their goodheartedness, and tenacity is revealed in this moving sequel to The Circuit. Without bitterness or sentimentality, Francisco Jiménez finishes telling the story of his youth.

Annie's Baby: The Diary of Anonymous, a Pregnant Teenager

Anonymous

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 150 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Poorly-written propaganda 2 out of 5 stars.
9 of 9 people found this review helpful.

Maybe it's because I'm now past the target age for this book, and because I now know about how Dr. Sparks in all probability just makes up these books instead of using real teen journals, but I didn't believe for one blessed moment that this book was a real teen journal, nor that Annie was a real person. I was a teenager of the Nineties myself, and am a nearly-lifelong journaller, and nothing about Annie (her personality, thought process, writing style, etc.) rang true. She and everyone else in this book come across as one-dimensional stereotypes and clichés, like they're all characters in some over the top morality play or afterschool special. It's so suspicious how the teens in all of Dr. Sparks's "real-life diaries" have the exact same writing style and moral preachiness, holding rather conservative views in line with her own. I don't begrudge her her sincerely held beliefs even though they're radically different from mine, but it's just morally irresponsible to push these beliefs on impressionable teens by pretending they're from peers instead of some over-the-hill ultra-conservative psychiatrist. There are far better ways to teach teenagers to not do drugs, have unprotected sex at young ages, get eating disorders, have an affair with a teacher, or join a gang than lying to them and trying to scare them straight.

I find it hard to believe that Dr. Sparks is that respected of an adolescent shrink, since she seems so profoundly out of touch with how real teens write, behave, talk, and think. But chances are, if she'd used a real diary from a pregnant teen she had worked with, it wouldn't have had the desired holier than thou moral preachiness, anti-abortion and anti-welfare rants, childish writing style, stereotypical characters, sense of shame and guilt for something like having sex or lying to one's mother, or depiction of all teen moms as terrible parents who are just setting their kids up for a lifetime of problems unless they do the responsible thing and place the babies for adoption. Teenagers are a lot smarter, more mature, articulate, and self-aware than she gives them credit for. Real teen journallers also don't over-analyse everything, use babyish expressions worthy of a six year old, use excessive italics and exclamation points, FREQUENTLY WRITE IN ALL CAPS (those sections were so annoying, irritating, and distrating I found myself just skimming over them), feel guilty for engaging in normal teen behaviors (like going to parties or lying to one's parents about their whereabouts), or apologise for having used the occasional curse word in their own journals. Annie also acts really bipolar, the way she's all happy, excited, and bubbly one moment, then depressed, angry, frustrated, and confused the next. The way she often talks to her journal like it's an actual person, even going so far as having entire back-and-forth conversations, arguments, and tantrums with it, would also seem to suggest a serious mental problem.

While there are a few things about her character that ring true, such as how many teen girls are in abusive relationships and how many young teen moms do feel overwhelmed when the baby arrives, those details are cancelled out by all of the over the top clichés and stereotypes littered throughout the rest of the book. The "relationship" with Danny develops way too fast, for instance, and she's already acting like he's her soulmate before she even knows his name, and then thinks they have some serious relationship when they've only had a couple of dates and hung out at school a few times. As the relationship wears on, she seems to deliberately put herself in bad situations and do the most foolish things possible, like going back to him after he first tries to rape her and then actually rapes her. I could see if this were a longer-term relationship, but making excuses, blaming herself, and wanting to stay with him for the sake of some minor fling at age fourteen? I never felt anything for anyone in this book, not even at the supposedly dramatic moments, like when Annie stages some elaborate ruse to trick her mother into thinking she was hit by a car instead of raped, or when she tries to abandon her baby. The characters and situations were just too unbelievable.

A real teen journal would also have a lot more mundane chit-chat, like about hanging out with friends, a movie she just saw, schoolwork, that sort of thing, not this obsessive focus on the "problem." And where are all of the details a normal teen girl would make sure to write about, like how she got the birth control pills or just how Danny was roughing her up during sex? How are we supposed to get accurate mental images of these people and things if all we're given are generalities? Unless of course this were deliberately written as a fictional teen journal about a specific issue and not really drawn from the pages of a real teenager's journal, something she never dreamt would be published. I also found it really hard to swallow how Annie is switched to an "unwed mothers' home" in her town. Such places do still exist, but they're far and few between anymore. How convenient one of the few still in existence is in her area. And what American teen of the Nineties would actually use the term "unwed mother"? What is this, the Fifties? Annie also looks down her nose on most of the "unwed mothers" in the school, particularly because they're planning to use welfare. I found the anti-welfare rhetoric to be even more offensive than the anti-abortion rhetoric. (And how is her baby allowed to leave the hospital after only about two weeks when she's two months premature? Don't most babies born at seven months need to spend at least a month in the hospital?)

The only real thing going for this work of fiction are the supplemental sections in the back. There are quizzes to find out if one is in an abusive relationship, a Q&A on birth control and teen pregnancy (which continues with the anti-welfare rhetoric and the downright offensive view that teens are automatically sub-par parents who are putting their kids at risk for all sorts of problems if they don't do adoption), and some resources for things like STDs and rape. Funny how the writing style in this section, as well as in the author's note, is the exact same one used by Annie all throughout the book, down to the FREQUENT CAPS. So it's not totally useless. I don't know whether to feel more sad, amused, or scared that apparently many teen girls believe this book was written by one of their own instead of an elderly shrink pretending to be some whiny immature self-absorbed holier than thou teenager.

Editorial Review:

When Annie discovers she's pregnant by her boyfriend, she's devastated. She has never felt so alone. With no one she can talk to, she pours her heart out to her diary, confiding her feelings of panic, self-doubt, and the desperate hope that some day she can turn her life around. She decides she wants to keep her baby and dreams of loving and caring for this little person. But after the baby is born, it's in her diary that she faces the agonizing question: Can she really raise this child on her own?

It's a Jungle Out There (The Rani Adventures; Bk. 1) (The Rani Adventures Series : Vol 1) (The Rani Adventures Series : Vol 1)

Ron Snell

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 9 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Book One of the Rani Adventures begins with Ron Snell's birth as the eldest child of missionary parents living in the rainforests of Peru. Colorfully depicting what growing up in such surroundings was like, Snell has captured a wide-ranging audience ranging from homeschool children to senior citizens. "I wouldn't trade my childhood for any other," Snell writes. "Conceived in the Amazon rainforest, I learned to walk and talk among the Machiguenga Indians who, to this day, call me 'Rani'. "The 'Machis' were my first babysitters and friends. From them I learned to tie a house together, eat monkeys and macaws, and make dugout canoes. They laughed at my log rides down rampaging rivers and caught exotic pets for me. "Life was one great adventure after another. After all, what could be more fun than perching in thorn trees at night to escape a herd of stampeding pigs? "The Machiguengas adopted me and my family into theirs. As they touched our lives we discovered what it would cost us to touch theirs. "I hope this first book of the Rani Adventures will bring you laugher, tears and a new perspective on the old cliche: 'It's a jungle out there!' " The second edition (5 1/2 inches by 8 1/2 inches) is larger than the first edition (4 1/4 inches by 7 inches. You are currently viewing the larger, second edition.

Bully for You, Teddy Roosevelt! (Unforgettable Americans)

Jean Fritz

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

Unacceptable historical errors 3 out of 5 stars.
12 of 20 people found this review helpful.

Although Jean Fritz is an award winning author of history books, she makes some serious errors in this book making it unacceptable for school libraries. I love her writing style and the way she relates many humorous stories of Teddy Roosevelt's childhood, but when she relates his western adventures her historical research is seriously lacking. She refers to how the Sioux Indians killed 10,000 buffalo a feat which would have been impossible since the tribe was totally defeated, low in numbers, and relegated to reservations in the time period she described, the late 1880s. White buffalo hunters, not Native Americans slaughtered buffalo for their tongues and left their carcasses to rot. The Sioux had a tremendous respect for nature and only hunted a few buffalo at a time, just enough to feed their tribal group.

These egregious fallacies make this book totally unacceptable. Children should be given historical sources that are accurate, not ones that perpetuate myths. It is unfortunate since the rest of the book is wonderful and with some judicious editing, this would be one of the best children's biographies of Roosevelt.

Editorial Review:

Today's preeminent biographer for young people brings to life our colorful 26th president. Conservationist, hunter, family man, and politician, Teddy Roosevelt commanded the respect and admiration of many who marveled at his energy, drive and achievements. An ALA Notable Book. A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year.

The Seuss, the Whole Seuss and Nothing But the Seuss: A Visual Biography of Theodor Seuss Geisel

Charles D. Cohen

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

Editorial Review:

Theodor Seuss Geisel, aka Dr. Seuss, was one of the titans of 20th century American children's literature--a legacy that shows no sign of diminishing in the 21st. But such epochal fare as The Cat in the Hat and enduring, whimsical characters as Horton, The Grinch and Sam-I-Am represent but one corner of the late writer/artist's vast artistic universe. Other Geisel biographies have detailed his remarkable life and vibrant art, but Massachusetts dentist/Seussiana collector nonpareil Richard D. Cohen serves up a "visual biography" that's part lovingly illustrated coffee table book and part insightful analysis of a creative mind and the various historical and cultural forces that shaped it. Cohen richly illustrates his compelling tribute with key, telling artifacts from his own massive collection. No corner of the author/artist's life has escaped Cohen's obsessive collector's eye, including: turn-of the-century bottles of the Geisel family brewery, Geisel's teenage writings and illustrations, later work that spans careers in cartooning advertising (successful campaigns for Esso, Flit and others), wartime propaganda (including uncredited work on the Oscar-winning Hitler Lives!) and Hollywood (The 5000 Finger of Dr. T). Indeed, in Cohen's thoughtful, lavishly illustrated analysis, Geisel's latter-day incarnation as children's author supreme was but the logical distillation of a lifetime devoted to wit, wordplay and whimsical art. --Jerry McCulley

Diary of an Anorexic Girl

Morgan Menzie

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 20 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Talk About Real!!! 5 out of 5 stars.
12 of 13 people found this review helpful.

Morgan Menzie's book was the first diary of an eating disorder I read, and is the reason why I continue to read more ED books. She unlike many ED authors talked about things other that just her eating disorder, such as relationships with friends, family and boyfriends. It's not a book that's all about anorexia but does emphasize more so than other subjects in her diary.

In her book, I believe she cover about mmm... three or four years, I really can't remember. Anyway it's a long period of time. One thing that she does that annoys the heck out of me is that she'll skip a whole month of entries but I guess that's the author's way of cutting out insignificant things.

Basically a girl named Blythe, which I think maybe be her middle name, becomes anorexic in middle school because of a friend. On of her friends begins to loose weight and Blythe decides she wants to loose to. But it goes beyond loosing weight it becomes a desire for thinness, and a fear of food.

Another thing I love about this book is Morgan keeps it so real. She said one of the- the truest thing EVER published about our human ways. It's on page 49 and is the...um... 4th paragraph I believe since the book is copy written I don't want to post it without permission. But what she says in that paragraph is so overwhelmingly true that I had to put down the book and think about my life. Although what she says is completely irrelevant to her eating disorder I couldn't write this review without reference to that paragraph.

Would I recommend it? Heck yeah! To anyone, even if you're not anorexic or never have been, even if you think the disease is stupid, anyone should get this book. Recoverees, havebeens, thinking about its and neverwillbees, get the book. You'll understand what it's like to have the disease for this one girl and may have a whole new outlook on anorexia.

Editorial Review:

Morgan Menzie takes readers through a harrowing but ultimately hopeful and inspiring account of her eating disorder. Her amazing story is told through the journals she kept during her daily struggle with this addiction and disease. Her triumphs and tragedies all unfold together in this beautiful story of God's grace.

Features include: daily eating schedule, journal entries, prayers to God, poems, and what she wished she knew at the time. It's the true story of victory over a disease that is killing America's youth.

Jay's Journal

Beatrice Sparks

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 84 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

An Educator's Perspective on Beatrice Sparks: Dishonest and Dangerous! 3 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

Unlike Beatrice Sparks, I actually have earned a Ph.D. (in English and American Literature). During my years as a school and school district administrator, I don't know how many of Sparks' books I've authorized the purchase of, upon the request of my district's English teachers. A few years ago, I was sitting in my office and picked up a copy of "Jay's Journal." I read it when I was a kid (not surprisingly, I was a very early and precocious reader). During the ensuing years, I not only had grown up, but I actually had learned about Satanic rituals and practices not in any esoteric way, but simply as a member of several Catholic Yahoo Groups and reading genuine scholarly journals

Consequently, I did an Internet search, compiled material that I e-mailed to ALL my teachers along with a directive to inform their students Sparks' books were fiction. I couldn't make the books I had ordered disappear, but I could do something to be true to what I consider the first percept of good teaching, which is to put the kids first and be as honest as possible at all times. Incidentally, there has been no evidence that Beatrice Sparks is, in fact, a licensed mental health professional -- and believe me, I knew where to look.

When "Jay's" brother, Scott Barrett, offered his book for sale in the spring of 2006, I ordered a copy, sent him a check for $15 -- and only received an e-mail stating that there would be a delay in getting my copy. I never did, unfortunately. It would have made a terrific article for "The English Journal" and several other publications for teachers of English (and all teachers of adolescents), school counselors, school psychologists and licensed mental health professionals in general.

What Beatrice Sparks did to the Barrett family is unconscionable. If she has a license to lose -- and I have found no evidence that she is a licensed mental health professional in Utah or any other state -- she more than deserves to lose it.

Editorial Review:

Jay's journal reveals his growing involvement with witchcraft before his suicide at age 16.

Going Solo

Roald Dahl

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 33 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Going Solo 3 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Going Solo (the sequel to Boy) is a collection of Roald Dahl's most interesting stories of his time in Africa. These include: meeting a man you gives himself dandruff, teaching an African boy to read and write, seeing a lion attack a cook, learning to fly without a teacher, crashing in the African desert, leading a unit of R.A.F. soldiers to stop a caravan of German people from leaving Dar es Salaam, becoming temporarily blind, meeting the girl of his dreams then falling out of love when he sees her and living on a Greek airfield soon before he was grounded. Roald Dahl's style of writing changes each time slightly changes to fit the story. Basically, you get the idea that you have known Roald for years and he is just telling you an amusing story. Going Solo was not as interesting as some of his other fiction stories. For some readers it may not be interesting enough to keep you in the book; but it is not boring, thrills and adventure are always happening. To compare this to Boy would be a little difficult because even though they are the same writer, Boy is about his childhood and is for younger readers. Going Solo is probably for older readers. Even it you do not like one of the chapters the next will bring you back in. So if you want a lot of good anecdotes to read then or if you really liked Boy, you should pick up Going Solo.

Editorial Review:

This is the second part of Roald Dahl's remarkable life story that tells of his time working in Africa and his wartime exploits.

Parallel Journeys

Eleanor H. Ayer, Helen Waterford, Alfons Heck

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 33 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

The World Must Never Forget 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.

The world must never forget the holocaust. Today some people espouse a theory that the nearly 12,000,000 deaths (6,000,000 of them Jews) at the hands of the Nazi party never happened. This sad, but honest, tale traces the lives of two persons who lived through that era. Helen Waterford was a Jew who experienced the atrocities first hand. Alfons Heck was a high ranking member of Hitler's youth. Both lived to tell their tales. Both met each other after the war. Both told their tales together. This book alternates chapters between the two principle characters so the reader can witness this period through eyes on both sides of the ideological conflict. This is really two books in one. Either story will challenge the mind and heart. Either one of the stories is an important read, but both placed together in this manner makes for a 5-star book. Our local middle school uses this classic in some of the literature classes. You will be richer for having read this book.

Editorial Review:

She was a young German Jew.

He was an ardent member of the Hitler Youth.

This is the story of their parallel journey through World War II.

Helen Waterford and Alfons Heck were born just a few miles from each other in the German Rhineland. But their lives took radically different courses: Helen's to the Auschwitz extermination camp; Alfons to a high rank in the Hitler Youth.

While Helen was hiding in Amsterdam, Alfons was a fanatic believer in Hitler's "master race." While she was crammed in a cattle car bound for the death camp Auschwitz, he was a teenage commander of frontline troops, ready to fight and die for the glory of Hitler and the Fatherland. This book tells both of their stories, side-by-side, in an overwhelming account of the nightmare that was WWII. The riveting stories of these two remarkable people must stand as a powerful lesson to us all.

Treacherous Love: The Diary of an Anonymous Teenager

Beatrice Sparks

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 29 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

bearly there 3 out of 5 stars.
2 of 3 people found this review helpful.

Despite the fact that I'm VERY disapointed Beatrice Sparks wrote this and not an "anonomous teenager" I still found it pretty good. It shows how you can get sucked into that kind of thing, it also makes you aware of that [frustuated] teacher( there's at least one). I say it would have been better if it REALLY written by a teenager!

Editorial Review:

Fourteen-year-old Jennie's life is turning upside down. Her father has walked out, and her anguished mother seeks solace in pills. Her best friend practically abandons her to be with a boyfriend. It seems like Jennie's real best friend is her diary. Then she meets Mr. Johnstone, the substitute math teacher. Jennie has never met such a charismatic teacher. She feels honored when Mr. J. seems to single her out for special attention, and begins to fantasize about him as her boyfriend. When Mr. J. first reveals his feelings for her, she is thrilled by the relationship that grows outside the classroom walls. Then, slowly, Jennie's diary becomes a record of her loneliness, pain, and confusion. Will it also offer her a way to escape from this treacherous love?