Sunday, March 10, 2024

The Eyes and the Impossible

I got The Eyes and the Impossible by Dave Eggers from the library after seeing it won the Newbery Medal this year. The book description reads, "Johannes, a free dog, lives in an urban park by the sea. His job is to be the Eyes—to see everything that happens within the park and report back to the park’s elders, three ancient Bison. His friends—a seagull, a raccoon, a squirrel, and a pelican—work with him as the Assistant Eyes, observing the humans and other animals who share the park and making sure the Equilibrium is in balance. But changes are afoot. More humans, including Trouble Travelers, arrive in the park. A new building, containing mysterious and hypnotic rectangles, goes up. And then there are the goats—an actual boatload of goats—who appear, along with a shocking revelation that changes Johannes’s view of the world."

I loved this book so much! The book engaged me pretty much right away and just had the best characters (all animals). I loved the story and found myself laughing out loud several times and tearing up at the end. It was just a beautiful story with characters you're rooting for the entire time, and it's a story that makes you want to keep reading. Highly recommend this one. I'm passing it onto my husband and daughter next.

Rating: * * * (3/3 = Loved it)

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Ollie and I are continuing on our Roald Dahl kick, so I read him Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The book description says, "Willy Wonka's famous chocolate factory is opening at last! But only five lucky children will be allowed inside. And the winners are: Augustus Gloop, an enormously fat boy whose hobby is eating; Veruca Salt, a spoiled-rotten brat whose parents are wrapped around her little finger; Violet Beauregarde, a dim-witted gum-chewer with the fastest jaws around; Mike Teavee, a toy pistol-toting gangster-in-training who is obsessed with television; and Charlie Bucket, Our Hero, a boy who is honest and kind, brave and true, and good and ready for the wildest time of his life!"

This was such a great read. I know the story well, but Ollie didn't know pretty much anything except for Willy Wonka from the new Wonka movie (a prequel story). So it was so fun to read together. The story was engaging and entertaining, and Ollie and I both enjoyed it all the way through. I am excited for us to watch the classic movie from my childhood now. I liked how this book introduced 6-year-old Ollie to some hard things in life (like a family not having enough money to buy food and being hungry) but also had a nice happily ever after.

Rating: * * * (3/3 = Loved it)

My Antonia

I read My Antonia by Willa Cather for my book club with friends from church. The book description says, "Set during the great migration west to settle the plains of the North American continent, the narrative follows Antonia Shimerda, a pioneer who comes to Nebraska as a child and grows with the country, inspiring a childhood friend, Jim Burden, to write her life story."

I felt super out of the loop not really knowing about Willa Cather and her books before this (since lots of others in the book club had already read or were familiar with her books), so this was one of those books that I came away from being glad I read even if only to "educate" myself and be more literary. :) I wasn't overly engaged in the book but did enjoy the story and really loved the character of Antonia. There were some sad parts of the story, but I thought the end was satisfying. I probably won't pick up another one of her books on my own, but I wouldn't mind reading another someday if another book club picked it.

* * (2/3 = Liked it)

Friday, February 16, 2024

Fantastic Mr. Fox

I read Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl to Ollie this past week. Ollie wrote a letter to a favorite author/illustrator (Kevin Sherry) and got a letter back that included a recommendation of Roald Dahl books. So Ollie wanted to give one a try--so I figured we'd start with this nice short one. The book description reads, "Someone's been stealing from the three meanest farmers around, and they know the identity of the thief—it's Fantastic Mr. Fox! Working alone they could never catch him; but now fat Boggis, squat Bunce, and skinny Bean have joined forces, and they have Mr. Fox and his family surrounded. What they don't know is that they're not dealing with just any fox—Mr. Fox would rather die than surrender. Only the most fantastic plan can save him now."

This was such a fun read. Ollie loved it from the start and was always happy to keep reading more chapters. The illustrations matched perfectly with the text, and I loved the goofy characters and clever ideas of Mr. Fox. Glad we read this one.

* * * (3/3 = Loved it)

The Reading List

I read The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams for the book club I go to with my mom and her friends. The book description says, "Widower Mukesh lives a quiet life in Wembley, in West London after losing his beloved wife. He shops every Wednesday, goes to Temple, and worries about his granddaughter, Priya, who hides in her room reading while he spends his evenings watching nature documentaries. Aleisha is a bright but anxious teenager working at the local library for the summer when she discovers a crumpled-up piece of paper in the back of To Kill a Mockingbird. It’s a list of novels that she’s never heard of before. Intrigued, and a little bored with her slow job at the checkout desk, she impulsively decides to read every book on the list, one after the other. As each story gives up its magic, the books transport Aleisha from the painful realities she’s facing at home. When Mukesh arrives at the library, desperate to forge a connection with his bookworm granddaughter, Aleisha passes along the reading list…hoping that it will be a lifeline for him too. Slowly, the shared books create a connection between two lonely souls, as fiction helps them escape their grief and everyday troubles and find joy again."

This book was SO GOOD. I've been needing a book I just loved, and this was it. I was engaged in the story from the beginning and just loved Mukesh as a character. He was just so endearing and likable, and I was rooting for him throughout the story. I loved his relationship with his late wife and with each person he interacted with in the book. I was enjoying the story all along, but then when something tragic happened, I was worried it'd ruin the rest of the book for me--but luckily it didn't. The ending came together beautifully and had me crying as I finished up. I loved the messages in the book about helping each other and about how books can help and teach us. This was easily my favorite read of 2024 so far. It was a great read that I got through in just a few days even though I expected it to take me much longer. As a disclaimer, this book does have some bad language in it.

Rating: * * * (3/3 = Loved it)

Tuesday, February 13, 2024

The Mona Lisa Vanishes

I got The Mona Lisa Vanishes: A Legendary Painter, A Shocking Heist, and the Birth of a Global Celebrity by Nicholas Day (with art by Brett Helquist) from the library after seeing it won the Sibert Medal for this year (most distinguished informational book for children). The book description says, "On a hot August day in Paris, just over a century ago, a desperate guard burst into the office of the director of the Louvre and shouted, La Joconde, c’est partie! The Mona Lisa, she’s gone! No one knew who was behind the heist. Was it an international gang of thieves? Was it an art-hungry American millionaire? Was it the young Spanish painter Pablo Picasso, who was about to remake the very art of painting? Travel back to an extraordinary period of revolutionary change: turn-of-the-century Paris. Walk its backstreets. Meet the infamous thieves—and detectives—of the era. And then slip back further in time and follow Leonardo da Vinci, painter of the Mona Lisa, through his dazzling, wondrously weird life. Discover the secret at the heart of the Mona Lisa—the most famous painting in the world should never have existed at all."

This was an interesting read. I enjoyed learning the story of the theft of the Mona Lisa and how that is what made the painting so famous. I also liked learning more about Leonardo da Vinci. I wasn't a huge fan of the format of the book (jumping between different interconnected stories) and wasn't always completely engaged, but I do think the author did a great job as a storyteller and trying to make a story like this interesting for kids. I think this was almost a "liked it" rating, but I didn't like it as much as all the other "liked it" books I read this year, so I feel like I had to go one notch lower. (But I do feel terribly guilty doing that for a Sibert award winner. It still was a good one!)

Rating: * (1/3 = It was okay)

Tuesday, February 6, 2024

Fourteen Talks by Age Fourteen

I saw Fourteen Talks by Age Fourteen: The Essential Conversations You Need to Have with Your Kids before They Start High School by Michelle Icard recommended somewhere and got it from the library on audiobook. I figured this was a good time to read it since I'm coming up on my daughter starting high school next year. The book description says, "Trying to convince a middle schooler to listen to you can be exasperating. Indeed, it can feel like the best option is not to talk! But keeping kids safe—and prepared for all the times when you can't be the angel on their shoulder—is about having the right conversations at the right time. From a brain growth and emotional readiness perspective, there is no better time for this than their tween years, right up to when they enter high school. Distilling Michelle Icard's decades of experience working with families, Fourteen Talks by Age Fourteen focuses on big, thorny topics such as friendship, sexuality, impulsivity, and technology, as well as unexpected conversations about creativity, hygiene, money, privilege, and contributing to the family. Icard outlines a simple, memorable, and family-tested formula for the best approach to these essential talks, the BRIEF Model: Begin peacefully, Relate to your child, Interview to collect information, Echo what you're hearing, and give Feedback. With wit and compassion, she also helps you get over the most common hurdles in talking to tweens."

This was a good read. I thought it gave lots of helpful thoughts and good advice on how to structure conversations in a way that avoids a fight. Sometimes the examples didn't seem like the best way to handle a situation, but I also think the point is that every teenager handles things differently, so you have to kind of adjust the advice to fit your situation. I'm going to check out the physical copy of the book now so I can make note of a few things that were hard to keep track of in the audiobook version. Overall, I think books like this are definitely a helpful thing to read to just expand my mind in terms of parenting and give me more tools and ideas.

Rating: * * (2/3 = Liked it)