Book Notes Books

A Reader's Companion to J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye

Peter G. Beidler

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

Editorial Review:

Peter G. Beidler’s Reader’s Companion is an indispensable guide for teachers, students, and general readers who want fully to appreciate Salinger’s perennial bestseller. Now nearly six decades old, The Catcher in the Rye contains references to people, places, books, movies, and historical events that will puzzle many twenty-first-century readers. Beidler’s guide provides some 250 explanations to help readers make sense of the culture through which Holden Caulfield stumbles as he comes of age. It provides a map showing the various stops in Holden’s Manhattan odyssey. Of particular interest to readers whose native language is not English is the glossary of more than a hundred terms, phrases, and slang expressions. In his introductory essay, “Catching The Catcher in the Rye,” Beidler discusses such topics as the three-day time line for the novel, the way the novel grew out of two earlier-published short stories, the extent to which the novel is autobiographical, what Holden looks like, and the reasons for the enduring appeal of the novel. The many photographs in the Reader’s Companion give fascinating glimpses into the world that Holden has made famous. Beidler also provides discussion of some of the issues that have engaged scholars down through the years: the meaning of Holden’s red hunting hat, whether Holden writes his novel in an insane asylum, Mr. Antolini’s troubling actions, and Holden’s close relationship with his sister and his two brothers. Readers of A Reader’s Companion to J. D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye will wonder how they managed without it before.

A Reading Guide to The Giver (Scholastic Bookfiles)

Jeannette Sanderson

Amazon Price: $4.99 List Price: $4.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Scholastic Reference Amazon Marketplace: 41 new & used starting at $0.55

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

BEST BOOK EVER!!!!!! 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 7 people found this review helpful.

This was a very good, very very very good book. It was provacative, and scary, but not in a bad way. It was an alagory, which is why, if you don't understand the alagory, was boring to some people. I would reccomend that children under the age of 10 should NOT read this book without parental guidence. The only problems I had with the book were (a The ending was awful . . .it left you hanging . . and (b release . . . . the reason you should have a mentor preveiw it, or read it with you. But, the rest of the book was AWSOME!!!!!!!!!!!!! READ IT!!!!!!!!!

The Giver: Awesome book! 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 4 people found this review helpful.

The Giver is an awesome book. It took me two days to read it, and when I read a book it usually takes me weeks. Its a great book that always makes you question certain things. It makes you think as your reading. I also think this book is great because it is not made for one certain age group. Anyone from junior high to adults could read this book and still enjoy it.
Lastly, the book teaches a good lesson. When you think about it, it shows how much you take advantage of the little "differences" in life. If we all of a sudden had to change into the world where the Giver lived, our whole mind set would have to change. Therefore, once I read this book and I thought about what it would be like to be a part of that community, it made me realize how important different things are, even colors.

Editorial Review:

The Giver by Lois Lowry is a favorite middle grade novel. This companion gives background on the author, including an interview, questions to guide reading, clues to themes, plot, characters, and setting of the book, a glossary, writing and other activities, and more. If you loved The Giver, you need this reading companion.

SCORE! Mountain Challenge Math Workbook, Grade 3 (Ages 8-9) (Score! Mountain Challenge)

Kaplan

Amazon Price: $8.76 List Price: $10.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Kaplan Publishing Amazon Marketplace: 27 new & used starting at $5.50

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Editorial Review:

The SCORE! Mountain Challenge Math Workbook, Grade 3 will encourage children to have fun learning key math concepts including:

• Algebra
• Geometry & Measurement
• Probability
• Practical Problem Solving
• Interpreting Data
• And MUCH More!

This exciting, interactive workbook equips children with crucial math skills and empowers them with the confidence they need to confront any learning challenge and achieve their goals.

This unique approach includes:

• 6 theme-related base camps full of questions, fun activities, practice quizzes, and a trip up SCORE! Mountain.
• 150 book questions plus 60 interactive online items
• Challenge exercises designed to promote critical thinking skills
• Special sessions on Everyday Math, providing more practical ways to apply learning
• Friendly and helpful hints that guide students toward right answers
• Interactive online companion with quizzes tied to each session in book, providing students even more opportunities for learning success

Walk Two Moons (Saddleback's Focus on Reading Study Guides)

Marshall K. Hall, Sharon Creech

Amazon Price: $12.91 List Price: $18.99 In stock soon. Order now to get in line. First come, first served. By: Walch Education Amazon Marketplace: 1 new & used starting at $12.91

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 723 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Walk Two Moons 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

Never judge a book solely on its cover. Wait until you read it. When the guy in ratty clothes drives by in a junk pile on wheels, don't assume he's poor. He may be the richest man in town. When it takes that socially awkward student in your class extra time to coherently put words together or complete an assignment, don't assume he's "learning disabled." He may have the most creative mind in your room. And when the single, redheaded woman who lives next door and keeps to herself, begins acting friendly and goes out of her way to be kind to you, don't assume she's an ax wielding murderer with something to hide. She may just care about you. This is a lesson that Salamanca Tree Hiddle learns all too well, in Sharon Creech's amazing Newbery Medal Winner, Walk Two Moons.

Sugar Hiddle left her home, husband, and daughter in Bybanks, Kentucky and set out by bus to Lewiston, Idaho without any real explanation and never returned. So Sal, Sugar's 13 year-old daughter, embarks on a cross-country trip with her grandparents to track her mother down and bring her home. Along the journey, Sal entertains her grandparents by telling them the story of her friend, Phoebe Winterbottom, whose story begins to weave itself around Sal's own tale. Like Sal, Phoebe has a mother with plenty of questions on her mind and like Sal, there are some hard truths to life that Phoebe will need to learn how to face.

The first time I finished this book, I was at a loss for words. I wondered how Sharon Creech managed to tackle such adult themes in such a kid-friendly book, because there are plenty of them scattered throughout these pages. The whole idea of writing a story for children about a woman who packs up her things and leaves her loving husband and caring daughter for no apparent reason, could be a dangerous path to tread along for a children's author. Think of the fear you could instill in your young readers. "What if MY mother left me without explaining why?" Add to this the possibility of infidelity (because I do believe that Creech KNOWS her readers are going to go there) and you have the ingredients for an extremely heavy, thought-provoking, and scary novel. However, Creech pulls this off impeccably by trusting that her children readers are able to handle the assumptions they will make through the course of reading this book. And parents remember, don't judge a book by its cover, or at least until you've read it. That's the point Creech is trying to hammer home. There's more to this story than what first meets the eye. Much more.

Creech takes the Native American proverb, "Never judge a man until you've walked two moons in his moccasins" and lets it resonate throughout her novel. To truly understand and appreciate the intricate layers to Walk Two Moons, you need to be aware of this. It's this proverb that I feel, drives every decision Creech made when telling Sal and Phoebe's stories. It's this lesson that carries the plot. Which brings me to something I have to discuss but wish to do so carefully . . . the "surprise" ending.

My intention is not to give away too much of the story, (although by discussing it, I hope to entice you enough to pick up a copy for yourself) but to address a very popular critique of this novel and defend Creech's work. Many negative reviews of this novel claim that Creech "tricks" her readers with her ending and in doing so, loses some credibility in the unique "story within a story" method she's chosen to write with. I could not find this to be any farther from the truth. It is absolutely necessary that Creech "trick" the reader the way she does in order to really give her true message it's meaning. Without this ending, the book would fail to live up to it's own title.

In my opinion, Walk Two Moons is nearly flawless. It is one of the most engaging books I have ever read, and is a story that can affect so many people on so many different levels. It sounds cliché to say, but there really is something for everyone. There's mystery, (who is leaving the Winterbottom secret notes), there's suspense, (who is the Stranger), there's love, (will Sal and Ben become "more than" friends), and there's drama, (why did Sal's mom really leave Bybanks). Even reluctant readers in my 5th grade classroom poured over its pages, asking questions and searching for answers. It doesn't matter the grade, it doesn't matter your age, Sharon Creech's message will speak to anyone. Open your mind, open your heart, and let Salamanca Tree Hiddle settle inside to tell you the story of her mother, her friend, and her journey.

Editorial Review:

Thirteen-year-old Salamanca Tree Hiddle's mother has disappeared. While tracing her steps on a car trip from Ohio to Idaho with her grandparents, Salamanca tells a story to pass the time about a friend named Phoebe Winterbottom whose mother vanished and who received secret messages after her disappearance. One of them read, "Don't judge a man until you have walked two moons in his moccasins." Despite her father's warning that she is "fishing in the air," Salamanca hopes to bring her home. By drawing strength from her Native American ancestry, she is able to face the truth about her mother. Walk Two Moons won the 1995 Newbery Medal.

The Giver (Cliffs Notes)

Suzanne Pavlos

Amazon Price: $5.99 List Price: $5.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Cliffs Notes Amazon Marketplace: 40 new & used starting at $2.12

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 12 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

It makes you think 5 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

My teacher read this book to us in English class for a unit. I really liked this book because it makes you think or imagine what could have happened to Jonas and Gabe. I know in my class when we finished the book, my teacher asked us what we thought happened at the end, so we all gave our ideas. Some kids said that he got a job or got married or died. Anything could have happened to them. Thats why I liked this book.

AMM 7.3 4 out of 5 stars.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.

I like the book it is different, because of the way she uses the different world how they can't make different choices. I thought that she used new words to express the feelings about Jonas and The Giver. I also thought that she used the advantage of them not having choices, because it made them realised that "Elswhere" really exixted.
I didn't like the ending it was making me hang of the edge of my seat. It made me think about the ending and how Jonas got to elsewhere. She needs more of the ending or the sequel to the book. I do agree about the way she described about not having a sequal though.

Editorial Review:

Jonas, the protagonist in Lois Lowry's novel The Giver, lives in what appears to be a safe, predictable, familiar community. Members of this utopia, which is void of disease, hunger, poverty, war, or lasting pain, have given up all emotions and memories of experience to attain Sameness and the illusion of social order. In the end, Jonas recognizes the hypocrisy on which the community is based and crafts a way to "free" everyone from this Sameness.

The Middle School Student's Guide to Ruling the World!

Susan Mulcaire

Amazon Price: $16.95 List Price: $16.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Tween Publishing LLC Amazon Marketplace: 2 new & used starting at $12.81

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

A great tool 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

What a kid-friendly organizational book! My 13-year-old read it cover to cover, as did I. It was full of practical tips and motivational suggestions that really work. Plus, its approach takes away the stigma of "disorganized people are essentially lazy or stupid" and instead shows that disorganized people simply need to learn some helpful skills. Highly recommended!

Editorial Review:

The Middle School Student's Guide to Ruling the World!, is a fun and informative workbook teaching students in grades six through eight basic work management and organizational skills for success in middle school. Just some of the skills and strategies addressed in this book are, organizing a Goof-proof binder, using a planner, working with a study bud, following up on matters that affect your grade, managing a group project; organizing a workspace that rocks, how 2 uz ur comptr 4 mor than im 's, following the Rules of Rubric Road, managing long term projects, detecting and correcting nasty homework habits, goal setting for success in middle school -- it's all in here!

Focus on Reading: A Long Way from Chicago (Saddleback's Focus on Reading Study Guides)

Lisa French

Amazon Price: $12.91 List Price: $18.99 Usually ships in 7 to 12 days By: Saddleback Educational Publishing, Inc. Amazon Marketplace: 6 new & used starting at $12.91

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Much Ado About Nothing (Cliffs Notes)

Richard O. Peterson

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Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> World Literature -> British -> Shakespeare

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 290 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Great! 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Wonderful movie! Now to find the Flying Karamazov Brothers' rendition of the Merchant of Venice.

Great Movie 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

A great movie to watch. It's kind of shallow in the plot, but very witty and comical. The acting is excellent, and it's definitely worthy of imagination of Shakespeare himself... as if these people were watched while he penned this play.

For those worried about being able to follow the archaic language, don't worry. The movie has subtitle options and it's by far one of the easiest to grasp!!!

DVD Much Ado About Nothing 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This is an excellent Hollywood presentation of Shakespeare's play Much Ado About Nothing. Emma Thompson is an excellent actress. I would definitely be careful not to show it to children or young teens as there is a fairly explicit sexual scene in it unless you totally fast forward that scene.

Editorial Review:

One of Shakespeare's romantic comedies, this play is set in the seaport town of Messina, in Sicily. The drama concerns "the battle of the sexes" and focuses on the barbed wits and intrigues that two sets of lovers and their friends and family create. Brimming with wit and antagonism, the play has amused and provoked audiences for centuries.

Watsons Go to Birmingham 1963, the Reading Guide (Saddleback's Focus on Reading Study Guides)

Kyla Brown

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American Poets of the 20th Century (Cliffs Notes)

Mary Ellen Snodgrass

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Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> History & Criticism -> Criticism & Theory -> General

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

Editorial Review:

This literary companion carries you into the lives and poetic lines of 41 of America's most admired poets from the last century. From popular favorites such as Robert Frost and Carl Sandburg to the more esoteric T. S. Eliot and Ezra Pound, this handbook also introduces you to living poets, such as Rita Dove, who are still inscribing their places in literary history. The book opens with an approach to analyzing poetry, and each author-specific chapter includes sections devoted to Chief Works, Discussion and Research Topics, and a Selected Bibliography.

Complete list of authors covered in this comprehensive guide: Edgar Lee Masters, Edward Arlington Robinson, Robert Frost, Amy Lowell, Carl Sandburg, Wallace Stevens, William Carlos Williams, Ezra Pound, Hilda Doolittle (H. D.), Robinson Jeffers, Marianne Moore, T. S. Eliot, John Crowe Ransom, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Jean Toomer, Louise Bogan, Hart Crane, Allen Tare, Sterling Brown, Langston Hughes, Countée Cullen, Elizabeth Bishop, John Berryman, Randall Jarrell, Gwendolyn Brooks, Robert Lowell, Richard Wilbur, James Dickey, Denise Levertov, A.R. Ammons, Allen Ginsberg, W. S. Merwin, James Wright, Anne Sexton, Adrienne Rich, Sylvia Plath, Amiri Baraka, Wendy Rose, Joy Harjo, Rita Dove, Cathy Song