Fiction Books - Page 12

Emily of New Moon

L. M. Montgomery

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 84 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

A great, honest, straight forward book. 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Emily Starr is a daughter of a faith-confused father that her mother's family has shunned for his poverty. Her mother, Juliet Murray, died when she was five, and then when she is older, her father dies of consumption, leaving her an orphan.

Her mother's family takes her in, and teaches her all their traditions and strict codes of honor and pride.

Emily makes new friends, grows, and even has a few love intrests, despite her young age.

The only problem I had with this book was her father way of thinking of God. He says everyone has their own God, and that Emily shouldn't worship their housekeeper's God.

That is very untrute. Every one has their own PERSEPTION of God.

Get it right L.M. :)

Editorial Review:

Beloved classics adapted for young readers!

Emily Starr has to go live with Aunt Elizabeth on New Moon Farm after her father dies.  Although she is certain she will not like her new home, she soon discovers new friends and the beautiful surroundings.  Maybe being Emily of New Moon won't be as bad as she thought it would be!

Planting the Trees of Kenya: The Story of Wangari Maathai (Frances Foster Books)

Claire A. Nivola

Amazon Price: $11.53 List Price: $16.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR) Amazon Marketplace: 44 new & used starting at $9.45

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Wangari Maathai, winner of the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize and founder of the Green Belt Movement, grew up in the highlands of Kenya, where fig trees cloaked the hills, fish filled the streams, and the people tended their bountiful gardens. But over many years, as more and more land was cleared, Kenya was transformed. When Wangari returned home from college in America, she found the village gardens dry, the people malnourished, and the trees gone. How could she alone bring back the trees and restore the gardens and the people?

Bill McKibben, author of The End of Nature, says: “Wangari Maathai’s epic story has never been told better—everyone who reads this book will want to plant a tree!”

With glowing watercolor illustrations and lyrical prose, Claire Nivola tells the remarkable story of one woman’s effort to change the fate of her land by teaching many to care for it. An author’s note provides further information about Wangari Maathai and the Green Belt Movement. In keeping with the theme of the story, the book is printed on recycled paper.

The White Giraffe

Lauren St. John

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Beautiful but unsettling... 3 out of 5 stars.
2 of 6 people found this review helpful.

I must agree with the reviewer who found the premise of this book disturbing. I think it's excellent that a white author engages a white heroine (and her western audience) with Africa. But the total effect here may not be worth the beauty and informative nature of this book.

I have no problem with a white girl going to live in Africa and being the center of an "African" narrative. But in the South African context, the notion that a foreign white person has a supernatural connection to nature is both absurd and tiresome (after centuries of Afrikaner farmers making the same argument to justify taking the land). The idea that the heroine has "control over all the animals" is also outdated at a time when our sense of domain over nature has done devastating damage to our environment.

Speaking of tired ideas, meet the major black characters in the novel. There is Tendai, the wise, noble, avuncular black "helper" on the heroine's quest. (I'm sure he'll be played by Morgan Freeman in the movie version.) We also meet Grace, who I'm sorry to say is very much an Aunt Jemima character. She is jovial, overweight, headscarfed and motherly, and she says things like "Look at you, chile, you just skin'n'bone." These characters are given a bit of depth, but like many things in the book it's not enough and feels unplanned.

I wouldn't discourage any child from reading this highly satisfying story. But any reading of it should be guided with a discussion of stereotypes and questions about our relationship to nature. Kids are smart; I wish the plot and characterization here had been just a bit smarter.

Editorial Review:

A thrilling adventure classic-inthe- making!

The night Martine Allen turns eleven years old is the night her life changes completely. Martine’s parents are killed in a fire, so she must leave her home to live on an African wildlife reserve with a grandmother she never even knew she had. When Martine arrives, she hears tales of a mythical animal living there—a white giraffe. They say no one has ever seen the animal, but it does leave behind footprints. Her grandmother insists that the white giraffe is just a legend, but then, one stormy night, Martine looks out her bedroom window straight into the eyes of the tall silvery animal. Could it be just Martine’s imagination, or is the white giraffe real? And if so, why is everyone keeping its existence a secret?

The Saturdays (Melendy Family)

Elizabeth Enright

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 29 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

An accurate and loving story about growing up in New York 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I wanted to respond to the reviews below that thought it was either implausible or dated for children aged 10-13 to wander around New York by themselves. I grew up in New York (in Manhattan, across the park from the Melendys) in the late 1980s. I turned 13, just Mona's age, in 1990. I started walking home from school alone in fourth grade (when I was nine, a year younger than Randy). Like Mr. Melendy and Cuffy, my parents' major worry was that I was careful crossing the street. (Reasonably enough, they feared that drivers would not be able to see a small child.) Many of my friends from elementary school walked or took the bus to school alone at the same age. By twelve (Rush's age), I was allowed to take the subway to visit friends from junior high school, and they took the subway to visit me. By fourteen our teachers assumed that we were competent to find the Metropolitan Museum of Art on our own for projects. None of these people were neglectful, and none of them were "horrified" at the idea of pre-adolescents wandering around the city alone. This was in the supposed "bad old days" when crime was theoretically much higher than it is now, and none of us ever suffered any accident. (Although a group of friends and I got lost coming back from the theater in eighth grade, and were pretty embarrassed that we looked like tourists.)

Anyone familiar with the geography of New York City knows that the Melendy children stay within a fairly small geographic area in THE SATURDAYS, and that the areas where most of their adventures take place are some of the richest and safest in the city. Most sensible New York parents would allow their children to wander there on Saturday afternoons with no more concern than the appropriate ones that Mr. Melendy shows. (Be careful of traffic, don't talk to strangers, and don't get lost.)

Ironically, this ties in with the review that says that Enright did not take enough "risks" with the book, by having her characters get kidnapped by gypsies or run away from home. The fact is, she wrote a fairly realistic description of the childhood of the middle and upper-middle classes of New York City....kids who come into CONTACT with a relatively diverse group of people who have had a variety of experiences, but who actually live in a fairly safe, and sheltered world.

As a New York City kid, I was thrilled to read a book that reflected MY real life experience, as opposed to yet another story about kids who lived in houses with back yards and rode a school bus, and generally had no relationship to my real life. I still love THE SATURDAYS for its loving description of a New York that has in some ways remained startingly the same, even though parts of it have disappeared (no more two way traffic on Fifth Avenue, and no double decker buses!). As other reviews have said, The Saturdays is a charming, well-written book for kids, that can also be enjoyed by adults. It's also one of the few accurate and positive stories about growing up in a great city. I would recommend it for all ages.

Editorial Review:

Four New York City siblings decide to pool their resources so that each can do a special thing on the Saturday that is his turn to receive the combined allowance.

Geography from A to Z: A Picture Glossary

Jack Knowlton

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Fun book 5 out of 5 stars.
7 of 8 people found this review helpful.

Geography is a fun subject because it is so visual. This book has fun, brightly colored pictures that illustrate basic geography words. I found this little gem at a library sale years ago and have used it to help prepare my chldren for our homeschool association geography bees. They love this book too!

good introduction to geography and reference books 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.

Being a glossary, this book is a dictionary of geography terms beginning with "archipelago" and ending with "zone". Definitions are short and incomplete, but enough for the target audience of 7-10 year olds. The illustrations are bold and colorful.

See also "Maps and Globes" by the same team for the same age group.

Great Dictionary Type Book! 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

We are homeschooling our 8yr old son. We wanted to make sure he had a good introduction to geography. As it turns out, He loves it! It's definitions are easy for him to grasp and there are drawings to describe each term. If geography knowledge is important in your home too, I suggest you get this book.

Editorial Review:

A glossary of geographic terms, from "archipelago" to "zones", with definitions and descriptions of the Earth's features.

Romiette and Julio

Sharon M. Draper

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 85 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Do you feel the soul of another calling to

you? Do you know in your heart that your

destiny and his wore meant to merge In

the cosmos? We can help you find him.

When Romiette Cappelle and her best friend, Destiny, decide to order The Scientific Soul Mate System from the back of Heavy Hunks magazine, they're not sure what they're getting into. But Destiny, a self-proclaimed psychic, assures Romi that for $44.99 plus shipping and handling, it's the only way they're ever going to find out who their soul mates really are. If nothing else, maybe Romi will get some insight into that recurring dream she's been having about fire and water.

But they never expect that the scented candle and tube of dream ointment will live up to their promises and merge Romiette's destiny with that of Julio Montague, a boy she's just met in the "cosmos" of an Internet chat room. It turns out they go to the same high school, not to mention having almost the same names as Shakespeare's famous lovers! Sweet-scented dreams of Julio have almost overtaken Romi's nightmares...

...when suddenly they return, but this time in real life. It seems the Devildogs, a local gang, violently oppose the relationship of Romiette and Julio. Soon they find themselves haunted by the purple-clad shadows of the gang, and the fire and water of Romiette's dream merge in ways more terrifying -- and ultimately more affirming -- than even Destiny could have foreseen.

Great Expectations (Literature for Christian Schools Ser.)

Charles Dickens

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 326 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Delightful Read 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Many people scoffed this book back in my freshman English class, because it was Dickens, and Dickens meant "boring" to them. However, shrug off the normal tendencies to stereotype an old-time classic to be a bore, one can find a true delight in this beautiful story of a young man struggling with an impossible love, the pressures of money and society, and, of course, himself. It is an excellent, absolutely enriching read.

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

Great Expectations didn't meet my expectations. I was a little bored throughout the begining and middle of the story. I think what kept me reading on was the desire to read a "classic" (I usually read biography or history).

I continued reading because I wanted to find out if Magwitch would meet his daughter. In addition, I was interested in Pip's strong desire to be a gentleman. Other than help his friend in business and dawdle about thinking about an emotionally deadweight chic, Pip didn't seem interested in obtaining a job or taking real advantage of his opportunities. I'll give Pip credit for helping his friend attain stature in business, and eventually going on to operate with his friend after losing his unearned wealth. But the lazy part is 19th century gentleman, huh?

Maybe Dicken's purpose was to show the benefits of wealth and the slothfullness of one who didn't have to work himself to attain it. Maybe it hit me at the wrong time, as my fiancee just took a hike and left me after I just sold my house (and now have no place to go). Trust you me, I won't be wasting my life away like Ms. Havisham though. I haven't reached gentlemanly status and need to continue working . . . .

I've only read Charles Dicken's Nicholas Nickleby and Oliver Twist in addition to "Great Expectations". Of these, I thoroughly enjoyed Nicholas Nickleby. In the future, I'll look for Kates and Madellines and not Estellas. Great Expectations was a tougher read for me as these characters just simply didn't entice my interest too much. Of course, maybe I needed a brighter read . . .

Editorial Review:

When young Pip is accosted in the graveyard by Magwitch, a convict who has escaped from a nearby prison-ship, he begins a series of adventures which take him from his humble home to places he has never dreamed of.

The Secret Garden (Book and Charm)

Frances Hodgson Burnett

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 73 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Great version of the story 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I also loved the movie when I was a kid, but back then it was more difficult to get copies of the movie unless you recorded it on your VCR at home when it came on TV.

I enjoy this one much more than the more recently made movie. More drama, more story shared, before, during and after. The characters have much more depth and really shows much more the variation of the changes to each person as Mary changes.

We just watched it yesterday and the music is excellent and the scenery and location was superb. Perhaps not a movies for very young children but any around 10-11 on up could handle the drama of it...

My niece had not seen this version and she liked it much more and was more scared around that big old castle when Mary walked around in it at night searching for the mysterious source of what she heard.

Editorial Review:

Discover the magic and mystery of Frances Hodgson Burnett's classic The Secret Garden with our new book and locket package. Lonely Mary Lennox finds adventure and friendship among the secrets of the old deserted garden on the Yorkshire moors. Now young readers will cherish their very own gold-tone necklace and pendant, shaped like the key that opens the enchanted garden for Mary. A paperback edition of this classic tale, beloved by readers for over 80 years, welcomes readers, new and old alike.

Amazing Grace

Mary Hoffman

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

Amazing Grace 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.

This is a great story with a great message. It tells children there are no limits to what they can be. It tells children not to be deterred by sterotypes or opinions. You can be anything you set your mind to. I bought copies for both my son and my niece.

Amazing Grace 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.

I liked this story because Grace can be Peter Pan if she put her mind to it. My favorite part is after the ballet. I would recommend this book to a friend because its about your imaginery. The book is amazing.

By: S.J.
Los Angeles
Age 5

Amazing Grace 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I got the book as a gift for my grand daughter who likes to draw. The vivid colors and expressions on the characters faces should keep her interested for a while. The story line is an added bonus.

Amazing Grace 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I purchased this book for my daughter so she can read that anything is possible if you truly believe no matter who you are. We are now Big Grace fans !!!

Editorial Review:

Grace loves stories, whether they're from books, movies, or the kind her grandmother tells. So when she gets a chance to play a part in Peter Pan, she knows exactly who she wants to be. Remarkable watercolor illustrations give full expression to Grace's high-flying imagination.

Urban Babies Wear Black

Michelle Sinclair Colman

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

Could there be any beter indication that civilization is doomed? 1 out of 5 stars.
4 of 17 people found this review helpful.

I need to talk to the head librarian, and inquire why unbelievably shallow tripe like this is being stocked in our library. "Urban babies wear black" - what sortof narrow thinking spawned something so petty and worthless? It's one thing to teach babies about colors and animals, but to teach children to be shallow?
Awful.

Adorable boardbook! 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

I love this series! The artist has a style that is adorable. Finding a board book that is worth buying isn't easy, and this is one that I would recommend for little ones. Moms and Dad won't mind the humor either. When I gave this book to a friend, she had a fit over it - loved it!! I went on to buy several of the others.

A must-have for today's modern babe! 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

As soon as I saw this book (before my daughter was born), I knew I had to have it! The concept alone sold it on me, and the clever copy and cute illustrations are fabulous! It's unique and refreshing--a breath of fresh air. I love it! A perfect gift for contemporary couples ... for city-dwelling playmates ... or for yourself! Very cool!

Editorial Review:

Infantus urbanus (defn.): Young mammal raised in city environment. Infantus urbanus love nights at the opera, modern architecture, and fine cuisine. Difficult to spot at night due to their penchant for black clothing. See also URBAN BABIES.