Book reviews

Since I have been exercising at the Y more the past couple of months I've been able to read a little more for pleasure sometimes as I walk on the treadmill. Young adult fiction has been what I've grabbed most frequently, its fast and easy and can usually be put down for a while and picked up again later without much difficulty. It's also geared toward the age group that I want to teach when I'm done with my masters so I also consider it professional development. Plus, let's face it, it's good stuff. YA authors are getting better and better thanks to J.K. Rowlings success/example and there's less chance of the questionable content and bad language that spring up so commonly in adult fiction. Here are some of the good books I've read lately:

Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Maniac Magee is a fictional story about an orphaned boy looking for a home in a small town in Pennsylvania. This was a great story to have a discussion with my preteen about racial identity, tolerance, homelessness, and friendship. Maniac is a great character and although a lot of his story reads like a tall tale as big as Paul Bunyan himself, his search for his own identity and a place he can finally call home is heart wrenching and real.


Igraine the Brave by Cornelia Funke


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is a great fictional story about a young girl growing up in an old castle with a family of magicians and all she can think about is wanting to be a knight. She finally gets to prove her mettle when the evil Osmund the Greedy attacks the castle in an attempt to steal the magical books that her parents have been entrusted with, at the same time that her parents have mistakenly turned themselves into pigs. Lots of fun to read with my 10 and 11 year old boys. Igraine is sweet, brave, and endearing. 


The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I can't say enough how much I enjoyed reading this book! Suzanne Collins (also the author of the Gregor the Overlander series) has really perfected her craft with these books. Jon and I read them together and couldn't read them fast enough. I love Katniss, the heroine of the story- she's strong, smart, brave, and completely selfless, she's also charmingly unaware of her beauty and her effect on the young men around her. The book takes place sometime in the future, after the dissolution of what we know to be the United States, with a new nation called Panem  replacing it. The author has said that she got the idea for the premise of the story by channel surfing one day, when the line began to blur between reality tv shows and actual war reports on the news. (I actually saw an eerie coincidence between the story and the tragedies of the recent winter Olympics). There is also a little greek mythology in there with the people being required to sacrifice their young men and women to the Hunger Games the way Athens had to send their youth to the Minotaur. I don't want to give too much away so I won't say anymore here but I HIGHLY recommend reading it- its a fast read and completely riveting and thought provoking. It'd be great for a book club! 



Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I loved Hunger Games and couldn't get to the store fast enough to get this one, the second book of the trilogy- it did not disappoint! I loved getting more of the big picture of what was happening behind the scenes and the development of the characters. I'm totally Team Peeta! I don't want to give anything away so that's all I'll say for now, but if you read the Hunger Games and loved it, don't worry, you won't be disappointed; and with the serious cliff hanger at the end of this one you'll be super anxious for the next one to come out at the end of this summer ;)

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I think I'm missing some books that I've read, but this is good for now and if I remember then I'll do an additional review, and if I don't then they must not have been that great. I am currently reading the first book in the Fablehaven series, which was highly recommended. My son, Shule, read it before me in just two days over Easter break and he said it was FANTASTIC. I'm almost half way in and haven't read anything FANTASTIC yet but it's been good and I'm hopeful. There have been parts here and there that have struck me as very insightful and observant of the author. I loved his description of the morning after the two children (Kendra and Seth) have found out about their grandfather being the caretaker of a special refuge for magical creatures:

"Kendra snapped awake with her sheets tented over her head. She was supposed to be excited about something. It felt like Christmas morning. Or a day she was going to take off school so her family could visit an amusement park. No, she was at Grandpa Sorenson's. The fairies!....They had stayed up late discussing the events of the day, almost like friends rather than siblings."

Good stuff!