A Paddling of Ducks: Animals in Groups from A to Z

A Paddling of Ducks: Animals in Groups from A to Z
by Marjorie Blain Parker and Joseph Kelly

This is no normal trip to the zoo.  From A to Z, we encounter groups of animals going about their days in their usual ways.  Well, sort of usual.  Naturally a knot of toads are going to be knitters.  And a bloat of hippos should probably work out if they’re going to work off those greasy lunches.

So I’ll freely admit I picked up this book because of the cover.  I normally don’t read alphabet books because come on… there’s no surprise or anything.  But seriously?  The happy bear hugging a laughing duck?  It’s just too cute!  The illustrations in this book are absolutely charming and totally take the spotlight in this book.  No offense to Ms. Parker, but I barely noticed the words.  The animals steal the show, and they should.  The only time where the words take the cake for me is the letter P.  It seems so fitting that a group of peacocks should be called an ostentation.

Image taken from http://www.amazon.com

The Pop-up Book of Phobias

The Pop-up Book of Phobias
by Gary Greenberg, Balvis Rubess, and Matthew Reinhart

Did you know that the fear of public speaking is called glossophobia?  Or that the fear of snakes is called ophidiophobia?  In this pop-up book geared toward adults, you will not only learn a little bit about some of the most common phobias and fears, but you may also discover some you never knew you had thanks to Rubess’ and Reinhart’s renderings.

I was so excited when I finally got this book through ILL!  I had first seen it one probably one of the best book blogs out there, Awful Library Books.  This book is incredible.  It might not look like much from the cover, but as soon as you turn the page, there’s a dentist confronting you with a huge drill and his assistant ready with barbed wire dental floss.  It’s so macabre… not only illuminating your biggest fears, but then making them pop out at you!  Greenberg has a sick and twisted sense of humor.  The art and pop-ups are incredibly well-done, although they don’t inspire any pleasantries.  I particularly enjoyed their take on claustrophobia: the pages don’t even open all the way.

Image taken from http://www.amazon.com

James Cameron Beat Him to the Punch

Was anyone else confused when the movie Avatar was announced, and then when it came out and it WASN’T the Nickelodeon anime version?  I certainly was.  I guess James Cameron has better people working for him then M. Night Shyamalan.

← A couple of weeks ago, a patron recommended that I watch this movie.  I finally did last week.  If you look on any movie rating site, you’ll see that it got HORRIBLE reviews.  Well, I didn’t read any reviews before I watched it.  And before I give my two cents, I’d like to give you some background as to why I decided to.

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Last fall, I read these books,
The Lost Scrolls →

They’re supplementary to the TV show Avatar: The Last Airbender.  I had never watched an episode of the series when I picked these books up, but I still enjoyed them.  Each book is an overview of one of the four nations of the earth – Water, Earth, Fire, and Air and they also have some short episodic stories in them.  As an anthropology minor, I found it really interesting how these books were written like ethnographies.  So having enjoyed these books, I decided to give the movie a try when it came with a recommendation.

Basic breakdown of the plot: the TV show Avatar: The Last Airbender is broken up into 3 books and lasted 3 seasons.  The movie The Last Airbender encompasses Book 1: Water.  The avatar is supposed to be a powerful element bender who keeps all of the nations in balance.  But the last one disappeared for 100 years and the Fire Nation is trying to conquer the world.  Two Water Nation siblings, Katara and Sokka discover the avatar, Aang frozen in an iceberg near their home.  But he’s not all-powerful yet.  He’s only 12 (well, technically 112), and he needs to master all of the elements before defeating the Fire Nation.

The movie was terribly written. The horribly unnatural dialog made Orlando Bloom’s performance in Pirates of the Caribbean look Oscar-worthy.  But just like the Pirates phenomenon, I found this movie highly entertaining.  It’s never going to win any awards, but it’s visually stimulating and I got caught up in the story.  It’s a strong tale that shines even through bad story-telling.  And Noah Ringer’s performance as the lead character was enthralling. Apparently he got the part because he filmed himself doing some moves, and had shaved his head and inked some of the tattoos on his head (IMDb) and sent that to Shyamalan.

Once I read that, unfortunately all I could think of was George Michael Bluth from Arrested Development.  But unlike Michael Cera, this kid has got some serious skills when it comes to combat.

A lot of the fan criticisms about this movie deal with divergences from the TV show.  I totally understand where they are coming from.  As a Narnia-phile, I refuse to see The Voyage of the Dawn Treader because of how much they’ve changed and manipulated the story.  BUT knowing that the original is almost always better than the remake, I’ve started watching the series to see what couldn’t be put into a 2 hour movie.  I began watching them on Sunday… and now on Tuesday, I’m halfway through book/season 2.  Yeah, it’s a great story.

Images gleaned with the help of Google.

The 39 Clues: The Black Book of Buried Secrets

The 39 Clues: The Black Book of Buried Secrets
by Mallory Kass

Thought you knew everything you needed to know about the infamous Cahill family?  Think again!  The Black Book of Buried Secrets pools all of the family branches’ histories and secrets into light in one book.  Why would the Cahills allow such a thing to happen?  Pooling all of their knowledge may be the only way the family can survive the upcoming challenges they will face.  The clue hunt was just the beginning.

Marketing to children is a very, very lucrative business.  The 39 Clues enterprise is no different.  The 10 books that compiled the clue hunt were naturally only an introduction to a greater journey for the Cahills.  But the Cahill vs. Vespers books aren’t going to start coming out until April of 2011.  So in the meantime, they’ve published a book about the books… or at least the main characters.  Like the other clue books, there are hidden messages throughout the text, and there are teasers for the upcoming tensions and trials that Amy, Dan and the other children will have to come to terms with.

I’m cynical about this book just because of the marketing aspect and how much money this series has made.  I mean, the author’s name only appears on the page verso; not on the cover, not on the title page.  The introduction by Rick Riordan stands out above all, drawing kids to probably the most well-known of the series’ authors.  But I still plan on reading the next installments.  Really, it’s a fascinating world they’ve created where all of the world’s most powerful and influential people are related… and you could be one of them.

And typing that last sentence made me think of one more thing.  It’s funny and cute and okay to suggest that Daniel Radcliffe is a member of the Janus branch (the artsy, creative branch, for those of you who aren’t familiar with the Cahills).  It is NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES okay to say the same thing about Justin Bieber.  Fail.

Image taken from http://www.amazon.com.

Another Faust

Another Faust
by Daniel and Dina Nayeri

The Faust children are more than remarkable.  Belle is a ravishing beauty.  Victoria is a genius.  Christian is a star athlete.  Valentin’s poetry could bring Shakespeare to tears.  And Bicé probably knows more languages than anyone else alive.  They all have strange and wonderous “gifts” and “talents.”  All of them were adopted by their strange and powerful governess, or so two of them think.  The other three really know how they came to live there and know the full extent of the situation in which they are living.  Having lived abroad for many years, their governess has brought them now to the prestigious Marlowe School in New York for them to hone their talents and essentially begin to take over the world.  But the five children could never predict what would happen this year.

If you know anything about the legend of Faust, you probably know the basis of this story.  I didn’t.  I went here to learn more about it when I was around 1/4 into the book.  I started to get a lot more out of the book.

I really wanted to read the 2nd book in this series (Another Pan), but I figured I should read the first one first.  When I got hold of it, I was immediately intrigued by the cover.  It reminded me of the movie Cruel Intentions, because teenagers do not dress or live like that, and that story is one of my guilty pleasures.  I thought this book was great.  First of all, I’m impressed that a brother-sister team wrote it.  I don’t think I could write a Christmas card with my brother, let alone a series of novels.  Secondly, I enjoy modern tie-ins with classic literature.  Even though I’d never read any of the Faust legends, this book made me want to read them, and hopefully it will inspire teens to do the same.  Thirdly, I was captivated by the writing style from the introduction.  When there are many characters involved in a story, some authors have difficulty writing each character clearly so that you can imagine each one.  Not the Nayeris.  I could distinguish each character, primary and secondary, throughout the entire novel, and I truly appreciate that.

I feel like I’m not doing this book justice in my review of it.  But I don’t want to give too much away.  I guess you’ll just have to pick it up for yourself.

Image taken from http://www.amazon.com

Forgive My Fins

Forgive My Fins
by Tera Lynn Childs

Lily isn’t your average teenager.  She’s half mermaid.  Her mom was human.  Her dad is king of this quaint little kingdom about 45 miles off shore and a couple of leagues deep.  For three years, she has lived on land with her aunt, doting on one particular young man, Brody.  On the night she plans to confess everything to him, something goes wrong.  Instead of meeting Brody, the man she meets and who subsequently kisses her is the annoying boy next door, Quince.  Things get more complicated.  When merpeople have their first kiss, they are magically bonded to their partner.  This is not at all how Lily planned on living the rest of her life!  There’s only one way for this magic to be canceled, and she’s got to see her father about it.

I checked this book out almost two months ago because I saw it on a YA blog and it sounded interesting.  I planned on reading it tonight because it’s due, and I really need to bring some of my books back.  The funny thing?  I had been thinking I finally needed to read the sequel to Oh. My. Gods., so I checked it out (probably intending to read it 2 months from now), not at all realizing they were written by the same author.

I thought it was funny.

For some reason, YA lit is probably the only venue through which I buy into romantic comedies.  Forgive My Fins is a perfect example of this.  I thought I had this entire book figured out from Chapter 1.  Well, I had some parts figured out.  They were obvious.  But Childs threw in some twists and loops I was not expecting, even up until the last few chapters.  Maybe I’m just the sucker audience she’s looking for.  Who knows?  But I will definitely be on the look out for the sequel, even if it was so cheesily planted.

Image taken from http://www.amazon.com

A Pig Parade Is a Terrible Idea

A Pig Parade Is a Terrible Idea
by Michael Ian Black and Kevin Hawkes

Like most children (or adults who are fans of children’s stories), you might think that having a pig parade sounds like a great idea!  All those cute little pigs in majorette uniforms playing cheerful music, walking down the street in a big fanfare… sounds adorable, doesn’t it?  There’s just one problem with that: a pig parade is a terrible idea!  And Michael Ian Black is here to tell you exactly why.

I saw this book in School Library Journal, but for some reason decided it wasn’t worth my time to request and read.  And then a week later, my children’s librarian hands it to me and tells me I have to read it.  So I did.  Oh my gosh!  Utterly adorable-mazing.  Hawkes’ illustrations are perfect, cleverly shifting between cartoonish (for what you’d think would be a good idea) and very realistic depictions (for what would actually be the case) in a pig parade.  It wasn’t until I reached the back flap and I saw the picture that I realized this book was written by Michael Ian Black.  My experiences with Black are with his single-season television show Stella.  I must say, I am highly impressed with this fabulous children’s book considering the kind of comedy he’s capable of.  Simple, humorous, and no innuendo.  I will definitely be looking for more of his work.

Image taken from http://www.amazon.com

Because I Am Furniture

Because I Am Furniture
by Thalia Chaltas

Anke has witnesses many terrible things every day, all because of her father.  She sees him disrespect and cheat on her mother, beat her brother, and the aftermath of repeated sexual assaults on her sister.  But he ignores her.  For whatever reason, she doesn’t attract any of his attention, positive or negative.  Anke doesn’t know how much longer her family can go on living like this.  Any family, even an effed up one like this, is better than no family, right?  Maybe not.  One place where she finds solace is in her high school volleyball team.  And she also finds out she has strength.  And a voice.  Perhaps it’s finally time for someone to speak up about the atrocities that happen at home instead of keeping them secret.

It may sound awful, but my thoughts toward Anke’s father is that this man hit the abuse home run: verbal abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse and neglect.  And I don’t mean that to be funny.  It’s sick and sad, and there are people who live like this.  But then there are people like Anke who are willing to risk everything in the face of such evil to protect what she loves.  Between yesterday’s post and today’s, I am amazed at how the verse novel tends to evoke such horrid situations.  But the broken phrases I suppose reflect the broken thoughts in a battered heart.  I think I’m done with novels in verse for a little while.  I had some residual ones hanging out from a blog project this semester, but I think it’s time I get back into some prose.

Image taken from http://www.amazon.com

Sold

Sold
by Patricia McCormick

Lakshmi is a poor, 13 year-old girl from the mountains of Nepal.  She lives there with her mother, her baby brother, and her drunk, gambling step-father.  When the monsoons wash away all of their crops and their hopes for the upcoming year, Lakshmi decides to go to the big city to work as a maid in a rich home.  Her step-father exchanges words and money with an elegant woman for whom Lakshmi thinks she is going to work.  But after a 4-day journey across the border and into a crowded, noisy, dusty city, she realizes something is amiss.  She has been sold into slavery in a brothel in Calcutta, run by a cruel fat woman.  She must now “work” to pay off her family’s debt in a hell that she never knew existed.

Wow.  This is a powerful, powerful story.  And the saddest part is that it’s based on true accounts.  Real children are sold by their impoverished families into these dreadful situations every day, both willingly and unknowingly.  I can’t even think of a good word for Lakshmi’s voice.  I was so drawn in by her.  The hope she tries to find in the smallest things; the love and the heartbreak; the utter disgust and desperation.  The range of emotions.  Wow.

Image taken from http://www.amazon.com.

Brains for Lunch: A zombie novel in haiku?!

Brains for Lunch: A zombie novel in haiku?!
by K. A. Holt and Gahan Wilson

Middle school bites for everyone, whether you’re a zombie, a Lifer (not undead), or anything else.  Loeb, a Z, is nursing a crush on a Lifer.  But is there any possible way anything could work between them without her getting grossed out or him craving her brains?  Told completely in haiku and also illustrated, Brains for Lunch is certainly one of a kind.

I checked out this book because of the absurd combination of haikus and zombies.  I’ve always been a fan of haiku.  Zombie lit… not so much.  The best word I have to describe this book is “grotesque.”  The descriptions and illustrations of kids who are rotting and falling apart is just a bit too much for me.  However, it’s probably great if I were 11 and male.  Additionally, haiku does not seem to be the best way to convey a story.  Haikus play a big part in the story themselves, and Loeb points out that haikus are kind of how zombies talk anyway.  But the choppiness made it hard for me to follow the story and characters.

Image taken from http://www.amazon.com