Chester
Mélanie Watt
Kids Can Press
Fiction, YA Picture Book
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: Once upon a time, a little mouse lived in the country - at least, until the author's cat Chester got his paws on the story. It's writer versus pet in
the battle for creative control.
REVIEW: Anyone who has ever tried to do anything around a pushy pet can relate to this story. It's even worse when that pet has a red marker and an ego the size of
an unabridged encyclopedia set. Fun, though for some reason I found the sequel (Chester's Back!) a little more amusing.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Never Let Your Cat Make Lunch For You (Lee Harris) - My Review
The Devious Book for Cats (Fluffy and Bonkers) - My Review
Chester's Back! (Mélanie Watt) - My Review
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Monday, October 21, 2013
Nick of Time (Ted Bell)
Nick of Time
(The Nick McIver Time Adventures series, Book 1)
Ted Bell
Square Fish
Fiction, YA Adventure/Sci-Fi
*** (Okay)
DESCRIPTION: Young Nick McIver may be the best sailor on Greybeard Island; who else, after all, has successfully mapped the deadly reefs off Gravestone Rock? Sailing runs in his blood, as McIvers have served in the British Navy since before the days of Lord Nelson. Living in the lighthouse with his family, sailing the rough seas, exploring the many nooks and crannies of the shoreline... his life couldn't get any better! But it may just take a turn for the worse.
It's 1939, and though the Prime Minister assures the public that the brewing troubles in Europe are none of their concern, Nick's father and other patriots keep a sharp eye on the waters. Despite wartime treaties, the Nazis are developing new, powerful submarines, many of which have a suspicious obsession with the English channel. It all sounds very exciting to Nick, a chance to try his hand at becoming a hero like the men and boys in history books. But Nazis aren't the only trouble stalking the island. When Nick and his kid sister Katie discover a strange sea chest - one with his own name on it! - washed up in a hidden cove, a forbidding stranger soon appears. Billy Blood is a ruthless pirate, a traitor to his country and a merciless kidnapper. With a stolen time machine, he steals children throughout history, holding them for exorbitant ransoms aboard his blood-red ship. Even the reclusive Lord Hawke, the island's most unusual resident, has fallen victim to the monster. When Blood steals Nick's beloved dog, the boy sets out to find him - a journey that will take him into the heart of two wars, over a century apart.
REVIEW: Time travel, pirates, Nazis... this had all the makings of a great, rollicking adventure. Nick starts out as a resourceful, if impetuous, protagonist, and if his family and friends tended to fall neatly into genre stereotypes (the stoic but loving father, the worried mother, the precocious kid sister), well, that's not entirely unexpected in an old-school adventure yarn. But it takes nearly a third of the book to reach the time travel element promised by the cover, a delay involving lots of needless babbling and obvious Lesson-Inducing Blunders on the part of Nick. An awful lot of adults crowd the pages for a children's adventure, talking and explaining and generally eating page count, while the kids linger in the background waiting for their chance at heroism. There's a reason grown-ups usually have back seats in these stories; it becomes harder to suspend disbelief, that a kid will save the day, when too many competent adults are in on the action. Indeed, Nick and Katie's contributions stand out like sore thumbs, especially Katie, who - though not even seven years old - fools trained Nazi Gestapo agents with nary a misstep. Bell wrote a previous series about Hawke, which may explain why he and his right-hand man dominate so much of the story, but they crowded Nick out of his own adventure. The book also can't seem to decide on a definitive tone. One minute, it's trotting out silly stereotypes and eye-rolling efforts at jokes, the next it's callously and gruesomely picking off extras. It all snowballs into a jumbled mess by the end. It also seems to forget that a key element of the plot is a time machine - capable of targeting any time, and any place. Several tense situations could've been resolved with that little golden device.
Despite some good moments and a few memorable scenes - Nick's meeting with a longtime hero leaves him nearly speechless for more than one reason - the whole story felt too long and too unfocused to make for a satisfying read.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Bloody Jack (L. A. Meyer) - My Review
Ghost Ship (Dietlof Reiche) - My Review
Treasure Island (Robert Louis Stevenson) - My Review
(The Nick McIver Time Adventures series, Book 1)
Ted Bell
Square Fish
Fiction, YA Adventure/Sci-Fi
*** (Okay)
DESCRIPTION: Young Nick McIver may be the best sailor on Greybeard Island; who else, after all, has successfully mapped the deadly reefs off Gravestone Rock? Sailing runs in his blood, as McIvers have served in the British Navy since before the days of Lord Nelson. Living in the lighthouse with his family, sailing the rough seas, exploring the many nooks and crannies of the shoreline... his life couldn't get any better! But it may just take a turn for the worse.
It's 1939, and though the Prime Minister assures the public that the brewing troubles in Europe are none of their concern, Nick's father and other patriots keep a sharp eye on the waters. Despite wartime treaties, the Nazis are developing new, powerful submarines, many of which have a suspicious obsession with the English channel. It all sounds very exciting to Nick, a chance to try his hand at becoming a hero like the men and boys in history books. But Nazis aren't the only trouble stalking the island. When Nick and his kid sister Katie discover a strange sea chest - one with his own name on it! - washed up in a hidden cove, a forbidding stranger soon appears. Billy Blood is a ruthless pirate, a traitor to his country and a merciless kidnapper. With a stolen time machine, he steals children throughout history, holding them for exorbitant ransoms aboard his blood-red ship. Even the reclusive Lord Hawke, the island's most unusual resident, has fallen victim to the monster. When Blood steals Nick's beloved dog, the boy sets out to find him - a journey that will take him into the heart of two wars, over a century apart.
REVIEW: Time travel, pirates, Nazis... this had all the makings of a great, rollicking adventure. Nick starts out as a resourceful, if impetuous, protagonist, and if his family and friends tended to fall neatly into genre stereotypes (the stoic but loving father, the worried mother, the precocious kid sister), well, that's not entirely unexpected in an old-school adventure yarn. But it takes nearly a third of the book to reach the time travel element promised by the cover, a delay involving lots of needless babbling and obvious Lesson-Inducing Blunders on the part of Nick. An awful lot of adults crowd the pages for a children's adventure, talking and explaining and generally eating page count, while the kids linger in the background waiting for their chance at heroism. There's a reason grown-ups usually have back seats in these stories; it becomes harder to suspend disbelief, that a kid will save the day, when too many competent adults are in on the action. Indeed, Nick and Katie's contributions stand out like sore thumbs, especially Katie, who - though not even seven years old - fools trained Nazi Gestapo agents with nary a misstep. Bell wrote a previous series about Hawke, which may explain why he and his right-hand man dominate so much of the story, but they crowded Nick out of his own adventure. The book also can't seem to decide on a definitive tone. One minute, it's trotting out silly stereotypes and eye-rolling efforts at jokes, the next it's callously and gruesomely picking off extras. It all snowballs into a jumbled mess by the end. It also seems to forget that a key element of the plot is a time machine - capable of targeting any time, and any place. Several tense situations could've been resolved with that little golden device.
Despite some good moments and a few memorable scenes - Nick's meeting with a longtime hero leaves him nearly speechless for more than one reason - the whole story felt too long and too unfocused to make for a satisfying read.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Bloody Jack (L. A. Meyer) - My Review
Ghost Ship (Dietlof Reiche) - My Review
Treasure Island (Robert Louis Stevenson) - My Review
Friday, October 18, 2013
The Celestial Omnibus and Other Stories (E. M. Forster)
The Celestial Omnibus and Other Stories
E. M. Forster
Public Domain Books
Fiction, Collection/Fantasy
**+ (Bad/Okay)
DESCRIPTION: A boy discovers an omnibus into a world of poetic wonders, a man caught up in the race of life makes a startling discovery, an English boy on vacation abroad is touched by the pagan god of the wilderness... these and more tales await in this collection of short stories by the noted author E. M. Forster.
REVIEW: Once again, my general lack of education is showing. These stories, aimed quite clearly and directly at the upper-class English reader of yesteryear, raised on a classical education and steeped in generations of social constraints, by and large deride the human folly of those very social constraints and attempts to separate oneself from the wonders of the world by thinking true enlightenment can come from bookish education. Yet the literary backflips Forster employs, the obscure allusions and assumptions about the reader's body of knowledge, can only be fully appreciated by one raised in the traditional upper-class English manner. From my undereducated viewpoint, I found many of the stories lacking a point, aside from the sledgehammer-subtle Metaphors and admittedly poetic imagery. Like much higher literature, the story itself appears to be an afterthought, far less important than the play of words and interweaving of Themes. While I enjoyed a couple of the tales in this collection, overall I found them dull and repetitive.
On an unrelated note, looking at the past few reviews, I've come to the conclusion that I have no literary taste whatsoever, if these three books appear on the same reading list, on the same day.
You Might Also Enjoy:
The Book of Dragons (Edith Nesbit) - My Review
The Lightning Thief (Rick Riordan) - My Review
E. M. Forster
Public Domain Books
Fiction, Collection/Fantasy
**+ (Bad/Okay)
DESCRIPTION: A boy discovers an omnibus into a world of poetic wonders, a man caught up in the race of life makes a startling discovery, an English boy on vacation abroad is touched by the pagan god of the wilderness... these and more tales await in this collection of short stories by the noted author E. M. Forster.
REVIEW: Once again, my general lack of education is showing. These stories, aimed quite clearly and directly at the upper-class English reader of yesteryear, raised on a classical education and steeped in generations of social constraints, by and large deride the human folly of those very social constraints and attempts to separate oneself from the wonders of the world by thinking true enlightenment can come from bookish education. Yet the literary backflips Forster employs, the obscure allusions and assumptions about the reader's body of knowledge, can only be fully appreciated by one raised in the traditional upper-class English manner. From my undereducated viewpoint, I found many of the stories lacking a point, aside from the sledgehammer-subtle Metaphors and admittedly poetic imagery. Like much higher literature, the story itself appears to be an afterthought, far less important than the play of words and interweaving of Themes. While I enjoyed a couple of the tales in this collection, overall I found them dull and repetitive.
On an unrelated note, looking at the past few reviews, I've come to the conclusion that I have no literary taste whatsoever, if these three books appear on the same reading list, on the same day.
You Might Also Enjoy:
The Book of Dragons (Edith Nesbit) - My Review
The Lightning Thief (Rick Riordan) - My Review
Once Upon a Cool Motorcycle Dude (Kevin O'Malley)
Once Upon a Cool Motorcycle Dude
Kevin O'Malley, illustrations by Kevin O'Malley, Carol Heyer, and Scott Goto
Walker Childrens
Fiction, YA Picture Book
***+ (Okay/Good)
DESCRIPTION: Once upon a time, a beautiful princess's beautiful ponies were being kidnapped by an evil meanie giant. Then a cool dude on a motorcycle showed up to save the day - or did he? When a brother and sister attempt to write a fairy tale together, things quickly get out of hand.
REVIEW: Another quick read during downtime at work, this has a fun concept. The girl's story starts out sickeningly sappy, the boy's tale counters with swords and volcanoes, but they manage to find common ground somewhere in the middle, learning that cooperation is more fun than competition. It wasn't bad, but the wrap-up lacked punch.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Dragon (Jody Bergsma) - My Review
The Knight and the Dragon (Tomie DePaola) - My Review
The Two Princesses of Bamarre (Gail Carson Levine) - My Review
Kevin O'Malley, illustrations by Kevin O'Malley, Carol Heyer, and Scott Goto
Walker Childrens
Fiction, YA Picture Book
***+ (Okay/Good)
DESCRIPTION: Once upon a time, a beautiful princess's beautiful ponies were being kidnapped by an evil meanie giant. Then a cool dude on a motorcycle showed up to save the day - or did he? When a brother and sister attempt to write a fairy tale together, things quickly get out of hand.
REVIEW: Another quick read during downtime at work, this has a fun concept. The girl's story starts out sickeningly sappy, the boy's tale counters with swords and volcanoes, but they manage to find common ground somewhere in the middle, learning that cooperation is more fun than competition. It wasn't bad, but the wrap-up lacked punch.
You Might Also Enjoy:
Dragon (Jody Bergsma) - My Review
The Knight and the Dragon (Tomie DePaola) - My Review
The Two Princesses of Bamarre (Gail Carson Levine) - My Review
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