reading: Uglies, Scott Westerfield (2005)

I read an article in a newspaper about The Hunger Games books (already reviewed, see here), and it mentioned several other current young-adult books set in a dystopian future so I noted them down and checked out three at the library. I am amazed they were all available. Spoiler later, don’t read this if you [...]

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reading: Short Stories of Jack London (1990)

Remember around 8th grade or so you read Jack London’s “To Build a Fire,” because everyone everywhere read that one, right? Did you know there are two versions? 1902, and 1908. I can’t remember 8th grade beyond a few glimpses of moments here and there, but I’m pretty sure we read the 1908 version. And [...]

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Reading: Hunger Games, The (2008)

When I went to watch a certain serial vampire movie (rhymes with Twilight), one of the trailers was for a movie set in a dystopia where kids had to fight to the death to win a reality game. “Cool,” I said, “they’ve finally made Battle Royal,” by Koushun Takami (2003), “into a movie!” My friend [...]

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reading: Make Way for Ducklings (1941)

Make Way for Ducklings is the Robert McCloskey book most of you have probably read. Or it was read to you a long time ago. A winner of the Caldecott Medal of honor. I read the book trying to figure out why it won this prestigious award. I decided that it probably resides in two [...]

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reading: Lentil (1940)

Lentil was written by Robery McCloskey; I wish our library had more of his books as it looks like he wrote or illustrated abut nine. The very first page of Lentil is shocking by today’s standards: What is that on his watch chain? A pocket knife? At school? The other kids seem so unconcerned. No [...]

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reading: One Morning in Maine (1952)

After reading Blueberries for Sal, I got on a Robert McCloskey kick and checked out the other books our library had. McCloskey’s Sal returns in One Morning in Maine, she is still about 6 years old. The family has a wonderful English Setter, and the same little black cat. Mom still looks pretty tired. Sal’s [...]

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reading: Babar the King

We got to the end of Babar the King (1935), by Laurent De Brunhoff, and the sentiments on the final pages surprised me. Let’s look at the pages. Just in case the legend beneath each nasty is too small to be seen, each monster is: Fear, Indolence, Misfortune, Anger, Stupidity, Sickness, Discourtesy, Anger, Cowardice, and [...]

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reading: Blueberries for Sal (1948)

Blueberries for Sal, by Robert McClosky. Remember when you sat in a reading circle in school or at the library and someone read this one to you? I do. I remember it was a favorite. What do I get today? “Noooo, I don’t want to reeead that one! Put it back!” Because we only check [...]

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Reading: Land of Painted Caves, The (2011)

When I first heard there was going to be a final installment in the Ayla saga, The Land of Painted Caves, by Jean Auel, I was of course excited — despite having been let down by the last three books in the series. So I waffled about buying it (despite two prompts from amazon that [...]

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Reading: A Case of Need, by Michael Crichton writing as Jeffery Hudson (1968)

I don’t know Michael Crichton’s history or a complete list of what he’s written, but I’ve read a fair share of his post-1995 work. Finding an example of one of his first books, published when he was 26, was a pleasant surprise and an exercise in comparison. I found his writing voice changed very little [...]

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