Thursday, March 20, 2008

The Best Written Award Nominee(#1)

It's time to award the book that I just keep thinking about. A book that I couldn't get out of my head. A book that was really good. A book that I enjoyed, though the end depressed me.

I will award...

(by Donna Jo Napoli)

Sirena is a beautifully written book. Even now I just keep thinking about it. It had a large impact on me... The story is so sweet, so sad, so... I just loved it. It's one of those books that you can't tell what you think of it until it's over. Then you hate it. But as time passes you know you love it. I do.


Honorable Mentions:

Waiting For Odysseus
Holes

That's all, Folks!


Galaxy

Unclaimed Treasures

Author: Patricia MacLachlan
My Description: I didn't like it much. It's about a girl named Willa mostly, though it does include her twin brother Nicholas and their friend Horace.
The story was confusing, and it was hard to get what was going on. It took me a while to actually start liking Willa a little bit, and since I like liking the main character right away because their such a wonderful person, the story didn't quite take me in... and of course, it didn't help that it was so confusing. I really didn't like it that much, but maybe it would appeal to someone. I don't know.
Back-Of-The-Book Description: Oh, to do something special, something extraordinary! That, and to find a true love...
Willa was always watching for her true love, in every line outside the movie theater, or ice rink or at the bank. He would, she knew, be tall and solemn.
Willa does fall in love, but it isn't at all the way she dreamed it would be. And just what is extraordinary? Willa, her twin brother Nicholas, and their new friend Horace Morris all wonder about that. Willa's mother will have a new baby soon. That seems ordinary to Willa. Horace's mother has left to "seek her fortune." That, Willa thinks, is extraordinary. There are other new friends: Old Pepper, ancient and wrinkled; Horace's maiden aunts, the Unclaimed Treasures who play Beethoven by the garden; and Horace's father, tall and solemn.
What is ordinary, what is not? Old Pepper knows. And by the end of the long summer of laughter and talk under the old apple tree, Willa and Nicholas know too. And each does something quite extraordinary.
Starting Date: March 16th
Ending Date: March 19th
Reading Time: Four days
Pages: 118
Recommendations: Too... young girls... I don't know. You'll have to decide yourself. I didn't really like it.
Writing Rating: 4
Story Rating: 3
Overall Rating: 4

Book #19 of '08

Saturday, March 15, 2008

A Ring of Endless Light



Author: Madeline L'Engel
My Description: It was a good book. I really enjoyed it... It was very... deep. One thing I will say is that this book is about life and death... consiquently, this book is full of life and death...
Also, the book didn't end, it just stopped. I didn't understand what was going to happen to the characters, or how it was all going to work out. I enjoyed this book, but it definetly is for older readers.

I can't say anything more.

Back-Of-The-Book Description: Vicky Austin is filled with strong feelings as she stands near Commander Rodney's grave while her grandfather, who himself is dying of cancer, recites the funeral service. Watching his condition deteriorate as the summer passes on beautiful Seven Bay Island is almost more than Vicky can bear. To complicate things, she finds herself the center of attention for three very different boys: Leo is an old friend wanting comfort and longing for romance; Zachary, whose attempted suicide inadvertently caused the Commander's death, is attractive and sophisticated but desperately troubled; and Adam, her older brother's friend, offers her a wonderful chance to assist in his experiments with dophins but treats her as a young girl just when she's ready to feel most grown-up.
Starting Date: March 12th
Ending Date: March 15th
Reading Time: Four days
Pages: 336
Recommendations: Mostly for girls 13 and up
Writing Rating: 8
Story Rating: 7
Overall Rating: 8

Book #17 of '08

Friday, March 14, 2008

The Lost Queen



Author: Frewin Jones
My Description: It's a really good book. I highly enjoyed it. The Lost Queen is sequel to The Faerie Path, and though I didn't think this book was better than the last, I do believe that this was just as good, and that's saying something considering how good the first was!
I won't say mauch about this book--so I won't give it away--but I will say that I really loved it and highly recommend reading it--after you've read the first that is--oh, and it's a cliff-hanger, so be warned.
Back-Of-The-Book Description: Once upon a time, Tania was an ordinary girl. But then she was swept into another world, where she was the long-lost princess of the elegant and magical court of Faerie, and only she could save the court from great peril.
Now Tania--and her true love, Edric--will go back to the Mortal Realm to seek Queen Titania, lost hundreds of years ago while searching for Tania.
Their return leads to struggles with Tania's much-loved mortal parents and friends as she and Edric try to conceal their secret. But much more serious dangers lurk: The sinister Lord Gabriel Drake is not yet defeated, they are pursued by dark supernatural forces, and Tania's two worlds are about to collide in amazing and frightening ways she never could have anticipated.
Starting Date: May 13th
Ending Date: May 14th
Reading Time: Two days
Pages: 331
Recommendations: To anyone who liked the first one.
Writing Rating: 7
Story Rating: 8
Overall Rating: 8
Book #16 of '08
(Okay, I know I didn't put this up on the 'what I'm reading' thing, but I started this after I started the other book and didn't have chance to put this up. Sorry. I'll finish "A Ring Of Endless Light" soon)

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

The Young Unicorns


Author: Madeline L'Engle
My Description: Another great book by Miss L'Engle. The Young Unicorns is the continuation of The Moon By Night, and The Moon By Night is the continuation to The Arm of the Starfish. I really liked The Young Unicorns. It was very interesting. It had mystery, suspense, adventure, plot twists, the one thing I would change is I would have had it a little more centured on Vicky, and not so evenly dispursed. I like Vicky.
Anyway, I can't say what happened without giving away awesome secrets, but I will say, though the begining was a little confusing and it took a bit to figure out what was going on, I LOVED IT! (oh, and it has NOTHING to do with unicorns, don't ask me why it's called that)
Back-Of-The-Book Description: "You called me?"
When Suzy and Rob Austin and their friend Emily Gregory find an old lamp, rub it, and appear to conjure up a tall, powerful figure in long, smoky green robes and pale blue turban who says he is "the genie Hythloday, the servant of the lamp," they are completely unaware that a bizarre and terrifying plot to rule New York City is under way. It means extreme danger for the Austin family and their friends, all of whom are targets for the corruption--or destruction. But luckily their "genie" is on their side.
Starting Date: March 3rd
Ending Date: March 11th
Reading Time: Nine days
Pages: 285
Recommendations: To people who like suspenses and mysteries. I would say this book is good for ten and up, (or a family reading together) because it would be to hard for younger children to understand some of the scientific content. Though the previous book in this series had some facts in it that I wouldn't recommend to younger children, this one is fine--as long as you have someone who can understand science!
Writing Rating: 7
Story Rating: 8 1/2
Overall Rating: 8 1/2

Book #15 of '08

Saturday, March 1, 2008

The Name Of This Book Is Secret


Author: Pseudonymous Bosch
My Description: It had a wonderful beginning. It made me laugh. It made me smile. It was--I tell you--a wonderful beginning. I loved it.
Then the book continued. It was suspenseful. It millions of questions, it was gripping. I was scared. It was great.
Then it ended, and I tell you, it put me in a bad mood. Not only no one believe them, but they got blamed for all the bad things that happened! Also, some people who turned out to bad were people I really didn't want to be, though I guess I suspected it... The book just had an awful ending. Do yourself a favor, and skip chapter 32. Go strait to chapter 32. (really, that wasn't a typo, the have two chapter 32s. One you can write yourself) Then end the book before you get put in a foul mood... But I guess the worst part was, I NEVER LEARNED THE SECRET!
Back-Of-The-Book-Description: If this were a normal cover for a normal book, I would tell you that this book is fantastic! Gripping! (according to their covers, all books are fantastic and gripping) You'd meet the brave young heroes, Cass and Max-Ernest*. And you'd hear about how a mysterious box of vials, the Symphony of Smells, sends them on the trail of a magician who has vanished under strange (and stinky) circumstances. If this were a normal book, I would brag about the hair-raising adventures that follow--about the brain twisting riddles Cass and Max-Ernest* solve and the nefarious villains they fave. But, sadly, I can't tell you about any of those things: they might make you want to read the book.
You see, not only is the name of this book secret, the story is too. For it concerns a secret--a big secret--that has tormenting people like you for over... OH NO! Did I just mention the Secret? Then it's too late.
I'm afraid nothing will stop you now. Open the book if you must, but please, tell no one.

With apologies, Pseud. Bosch

*not their real names.
Starting Date: February 29th
Ending Date: March 1st
Reading Time: Two days
Pages: 360
Recommendations: To people who are at least 10 or a family reading together. I guess some people may not mind the ending, but I do, and I wouldn't like you to feel as I do, so I would recommend to play it safe and follow advice I gave earlier.
Writing Rating: 9
Story Rating: 8
Overall Rating: 8 (you know, had it not been for the ending, it would have been one of my favorite books... *sigh, sigh sigh*)
Book #14 of '08