Fiction Books - Page 12

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? 

Hey, Al

Arthur Yorinks

Amazon Price: $6.95 List Price: $6.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR) Amazon Marketplace: 80 new & used starting at $0.25

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 11 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Great book for teaching values! 5 out of 5 stars.
7 of 7 people found this review helpful.

"Paradise lost is sometimes heaven found" is the closing line in Hey, Al, a wonderful book that has a timeless moral for both kids and adults. Al is a janitor who is not happy with how is life is going. He lives in a room with his dog, Eddie, who is also not happy with his situation. One day a bird appears at the window promising to bring them to a better place, "no worries, no cares". Of course, something that sounds that good probably isn't.

This book is definitely an entertaining story. The pictures are colorful and very detailed. Kids will love looking at them and pointing out all the different birds and laugh at the silly transformation that Al and Eddie go through. I think they will also get the story, that what you have is usually better than what you lust for. Everyone, at some point in their life, dreams about something better. This book is a great reality check for us, giving a serious message in a kid's book.

Editorial Review:

Al, a janitor, and his faithful dog, Eddie, live in a single room on the West Side. They eat together, they work together, they do everything together. So what's the problem?

Thier room is crowded and cramped; their life is an endless struggle. Al and Eddie are practically at eachothers throats when a large and mysterious bird offers them a new life in paradise. After some debate, they decide to accept.

Transported to a gorgeous island in the sky, Al and Eddie are soon living a life of ease and luxury. But they come to find that the grass can be a little too green on the other side. After a dramatic, nearly tragic escape from their paradise prison, both man and dog agree: there really is no place like home.

Dreams in the Golden Country: The Diary of Zipporah Feldman, a Jewish Immigrant Girl, New York City, 1903 (Dear America)

Kathryn Lasky

Amazon Price: $8.76 List Price: $10.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Scholastic Inc. Amazon Marketplace: 274 new & used starting at $0.01

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 65 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

the golden country 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I thought the book was awsome. I couldn't put it down there was no part that was boring. I recccomend this book to every one. i read it so fast and i want to read it again

Could I give it ten stars? 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Have you ever encountered a book for young readers so good that it gave you goose bumps? This is such a book.

Told through the viewpoint of a twelve-year-old Jewish immigrant from Russia living on the Lower East Side of New York City, we see the very real struggle of people who came to America to find a new life, but struggle over giving up the old. Despite the fact that this is a fictionalized diary, the author provides us with an intimate look into the sometimes painful personal experiences that make up our history as a whole.

No matter what your own family's history might be, we can learn from the experience of Lasky's incredible characters.

Dreams in the Golden Country: The Diary of Zipporah Feldman, a Jewish Immigrant Girl, New York City, 1903 (Dear America) is a book to be savored and cherished.

Editorial Review:

Twelve-year-old Zippy, a Jewish immigrant from Russia, keeps a diary account of the first eighteen months of her family's life on the Lower East Side of New York City in 1903-1904.

Sign on Rosie's Door

Maurice Sendak

List Price: $17.95 By: HarperCollins Publishers Amazon Marketplace: 16 new & used starting at $1.89

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

A Classic that's hard to classify 5 out of 5 stars.
8 of 8 people found this review helpful.

I am so glad this book is still in print. It means that you can have the enjoyment of sharing the whimsical story about the quirky Rosie and the miraculous drawings of Maurice Sendak.

This isn't a saccharine kiddy book, or a gritty true-to-life drama of childhood situations. It's just a fine read and one of those books that kids ask for again and again. In our family, it was the favorite evening book of my baby sister, and I have to say, she has exquisite taste, then and now, 30 years later.

Editorial Review:

There was a sign on Rosie's door that said, "If you want to know a secret, knock three times." Kathy, Rosie's good friend, knocked three times and learned the secret-that Rosie was no longer Rosie, but Alinda, the lovely lady singer.

Adventures with Alinda were fun for Kathy and Sal and Pudgy and Dolly. Even Lenny, who occasionally didn't believe in Alinda, was delighted by the Fourth of July celebration that Alinda, with the help of the Magic Man, held. At the end of the celebration, Alinda was gone forever, and Rosie had returned, but she soon found something else nice to be.

Maurice Sendak, the well-known artist and author-illustrator of Kenny's Window and Very Far Away, has written a story of real children, playing as only children know how. Young readers will wish that Alinda lived next door to them.

Policeman Small

Lois Lenski

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

an animated look at a busy policeman 4 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

Lois Lenski's _Policeman Small_ illuminates the busy day of a traffic cop of the early twentieth century. Policeman Small directs traffic himself! He carries a sign to work which says STOP on one side, and GO on the other! Certain details of his work date the book as a whole, but my toddler son still loves _Policeman Small_.

Small visits the scene of an accident, and sorts things out. Small stops traffic so kittens don't get hit by cars. Small stops a young speeding driver, and cautions him to obey the speed limit.

All the various duties of Policeman Small can keep a curious young reader mesmerized. We are invited to watch Policeman Small as he performs all the various duties of the traffic cop; when he retires at the day's end, he is tired. Exhausted parents can sympathize. This is a good book to finish a bedtime storytime.

ken32

All that and a song 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Pure, as simple and direct as you'd expect from Lois Lenski with an added benefit, the Policeman Small song to sing along.

Editorial Review:

Describes the many daily duties of a corner traffic cop.

Dare Truth or Promise

Paula Boock

Amazon Price: $6.99 List Price: $6.99 Not yet published By: Graphia

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 24 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

INCREDIBLE and BRILLIANT 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

THE best EVER lesbian/questioning book I have read so far. You fall in love with the characters instantly and it is easy to find yourself lost in the beautiful love story of this book. I loved it so much and couldn't put it down, that I read it in one night. I first got it from the library near where I live and after reading it, I loved it so much that I simply HAD to buy it. Beautifully inspirational. You will never find a story quite as true and good as this one. Everything about it is absoltely BRILLIANT. A MUST READ for lesbian or questioning teens.

Editorial Review:

"[A] steamy, brilliant girl-on-girl romance," says Kirkus, now available in paperback in our Graphia imprint with an eye-catching new cover!

Willa and Louie could not be more different. Louie wants to be a lawyer and is an outstanding student. Willa lives in a pub and just wants to get through the year so she can graduate and become a chef. But they are completely attracted to one another when they first meet at a fast-food restaurant. Soon they fall in love fast and furiously, and everything the girls are sure of -- their plans, their faith, their families, their identities -– is called into question...

Jazzy Miz Mozetta (Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe Award for New Talent. Illustrator (Awards))

Brenda C. Roberts

Amazon Price: $13.22 List Price: $16.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR) Amazon Marketplace: 64 new & used starting at $1.00

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

Dance dance wherever you may be 5 out of 5 stars.
9 of 9 people found this review helpful.

Whenever I see yet another children's picture book celebrating the heyday of jazz, bebop, and swing I always wonder how interesting that book is to the intended child audience. I mean, sure "Ella Fitzgerald: The Tale of a Vocal Virtuosa", by Andrea Davis Pinkney is fun, but do child readers dig it? Or do they just see it as yet another history lesson disguised as a book? With this in mind, "Jazzy Miz Mozetta" is extraordinary because even though it covers some old-fashioned odes to the dances of yesteryear, kids will enjoy reading and watching this extraordinary heroine as she bops, jitterbugs, and re bop she bams her way through the night.

One evening, sweet Miz Mozetta decides to doll herself up for a stroll in the moonlight. She applies Pretty Plum powder, Tango Mango lipstick, and a dress of a distinctive red sheen. Once outside, she runs into three of her friends while across the street some kids dance and jive to their beatbox. In a rare humor, Miz Mozetta asks the kids if she can join in, but their skepticism puts her off. Her friends won't join her either, so it's up to her apartment she clumps where she decides to turn up the radio and dream of dancing days. Fortunately for us, the tale doesn't end there. Her friends, lured by Miz Mozetta's spunk and the music from the band, put on their finest swing clothes and zoot suits and start some serious jitterbugging. Now it's the kids asking if THEY can join in on the fun and by the end everyone's cutting a rug in Miz Mozetta's snazzy living room floor.

There are tons of children's picture books out there that have elderly adults as their heroes, but few in which those adults dance as wildly and extravagantly as this. Author Brenda C. Roberts has a good ear for the cadences and wordings required for such a jazzy snazzy book as this. There's wonderful repetition and the characters speak affections like, "chickadee" and "honey dear". When Miz Mozetta's friends come in to dance the night away, one man's hair, "was shiny and slick and blacker than black and smelled like shoe polish". Couple this with first time children's illustrator Frank Morrison and you've got yourself a pretty little picture book. Morrison may never have helped create a book for kids before, but he's the perfect person to pair with Brenda Roberts' words. His Miz Mozetta all akimbo arms and straight strong legs. Characters in this book twist their bodies into an assortment of strange shapes and angles. Best of all are the wild dancing sequences where the multicolored elders regard the baggy clothed youngsters then burst into magnificent twirls and romps.

The book's certainly the kind of thing to wake the kids up with, that's for sure. If you want a high stepping picture book to accompany your dance-centric storytime (of which books like "Dumpy LaRue" and the aforementioned "Ella Fitzgerald" would have to be a part of), this book has your number. A visual stunner with a great sense of wordplay to boot.

Editorial Review:

"Okay, young cats, let the beat hit your feet."

One fine evening, Miz Mozetta puts on her firecracker-red dress and heads outside to enjoy the moonlight. When she hears the neighborhood kids' music, she's inspired to dance, but her old friends have too many aches and pains to join her. The kids doubt that Miz Mozetta would be able to keep up with them. So she retreats to her parlor, where she dreams about the old days at the Blue Pearl Ballroom. Just when her feet are itching to get out there and do the jitterbug -- friends or no friends -- a knock comes on the door, and Miz Mozetta gets some welcome company.

Lively, colorful illustrations and a rhythmic text make for a jazzy dance party that readers will delight in attending again and again.

Martin Pebble

Jean-Jacques Sempé

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

"Martin Pebble" is a timeless, touching and very funny book which will appeal to readers and Sempe connoisseurs of all ages. The story is told through images, speech bubbles and short linking texts. Children and adults alike will be able to relate to this tale of a little boy, Martin, who blushes a lot, and who is happiest in the summer, when everyone else has a red face too. He sets out to find a reason for his strange affliction, and finds a friend instead - a boy called Roddy Rackett, who keeps on sneezing, even when he doesn't have a cold. But one day, his new best friend moves away. Martin Pebble makes other friends, but doesn't have the same bond with any of them as he did with Roddy Rackett - the kind of friendship where you play games and make jokes but are also happy just to be in each other's company, saying nothing but still never feeling bored. Years pass and Martin grows up, but he never forgets his childhood friend. One day they meet again, on a crowded bus in the city. There is a lot of catching up to do, but they soon realize that some things never change: Martin still blushes, Roddy still sneezes, and the two of them are still the very best of friends.

Subway

Karen Katz, Anastasia Suen

Amazon Price: $10.87 List Price: $15.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Viking Juvenile Amazon Marketplace: 42 new & used starting at $8.15

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

My daughter's favorite 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

My daughter is 22 months and this is now her favorite book. The pictures are delightful and the text has a simple and catchy rhyme. She "reads" along by joining in on the last two lines of every stanza.

I first bought this book before our first trip to Manhattan. I knew we'd be riding the subway and wanted to give my daugher some preparation for that event. The book worked fabulously in that sense too.

I recommend this book highly - and there's no reason to wait until your child is in the recommended reading age of 4-8. Younger children enjoy this book immensely!

Editorial Review:

a rush of air
a car is there
hop, hop, hop
on the subway!

Come along for the ride as a little girl and her mother hop on the subway. From spinning turnstiles and musicians performing on the platforms to people hopping off and on and lights flashing past in the tunnels, the sights and sounds of the subway have an energy all their own. Anastasia Suen’s sprightly text and Karen Katz’s brightly colored patterns and lively perspectives combine for a pitch perfect celebration of an underground train ride, where the hustle and bustle is only part of the fun.

Little City by the Lake (Little House)

Celia Wilkins

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

College 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Fifteen almost sixteen year old Caroline is going to the city to attend "Milwaukee Female College". While she's in the city, she stays with her Aunt and Uncle. Her Aunt takes her to her first restaurant. She gets turtle soup which she finds very well.

If you don't like girl and boyfriends in books at all, you wouldn't like this book because she meets a boy named "James" who she likes a lot.

I personally adored this book. I would definitely recommend this book because I read it three hours straight one day because I couldn't put it down. I finally stopped because my eyes burned.

The age level for this book would probably be, nine years old to adult.

Find out what happens next in Little City by the Lake.

Editorial Review:

Spirit of the Western Frontier

Fifteen-year-old Caroline is leaving her Concord home for the first time to live with her aunt and uncle in Milwaukee, where she will attend Milwaukee Female College. At first, Caroline is frightened by the big, bustling city, and she finds school more challenging than she expected. But she soon begins to enjoy all the excitement Milwaukee has to offer. As the school year comes to a close, Caroline wonders if living in the city is the life for her.

Little City by the Lake is the sixth book in The Caroline Years, an ongoing series about another girl from America's favorite pioneer family.