Review: The Green Book

The Green Book by Jill Paton Walsh

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



I don't seem to have annotated this when I read it, but I remember enjoying it. The date shown will be today, but that isn't when I read it. It was probably several years ago.

Good introduction to SF for kids.



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Review: What Came from the Stars

What Came from the Stars by Gary D. Schmidt

My rating: 0 of 5 stars



My jury is still out on this one. I like science fiction and I like this author a lot, but I am not sure if the book will work for me. I like the MC and his family, but the SF connection is a bit dubious for me right now. I haven't given it up yet, though.



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Review: The Encyclopedia of Me

The Encyclopedia of Me by Karen Rivers

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



This book is cute and very true to life for this age group - the anxieties and changes in friendships, the relationships to family members, the first boyfriend. It got a tad boring to me after while, but I think it would be very appealing to this age group.



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Review: Dead End in Norvelt

Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos

My rating: 1 of 5 stars



I am sorry, but this book just didn't appeal to me. The bloody noses were the first turn off and the unappealing characters were the second. Yes, there is humor, but it was a painful kind for me - more at other people's expenses than laughing at life.

I respect others' evaluations of the quality of the book, but it didn't work for me. I am halfway through and I am abandoning it with relief. Please take this into consideration when reading this review.



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Review: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



This is a very well written book. The gradual unfolding of each story and their ties together are masterfully done. I haven't seen the movie and I am not sure I want to. There is a lot of pain in the story. I should probably give the book 5 stars, but I usually reserve 5 stars for books I undoubtedly want to read again. This is almost that status, but not quite.



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Review: Leviathan

Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



I wish I liked steampunk better, but, alas, I don't really and I am not sure why. I like science fiction and I like exploring the "what if" of alternative histories. But, for some reason, steampunk annoys me. Given that, I actually liked this book a bit better than I expected to. The characters are interesting.



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Review: The Youngest Girl in the Fifth

The Youngest Girl in the Fifth by Angela Brazil

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



This is a book from a much earlier era, where school girls actually tried to be moral and ethical and when it wasn't a subject of ridicule to try to be honest and work hard. I like that part about the book. On the other hand, the writing is saccharine and overbearingly descriptive in places.

But, since I am quite interested in books about schools, that aspect of the book was still worth reading for me. It was a time when competition for school prizes was about real scholarship, not just high scores on standardized achievement tests. And competition itself was not anathema to education. It was a time when being the best at school work was equally valued with being good at sports (at both of which the heroine was, a bit unrealistically, victorious).

I read the book on my Mac, on the program Kindle for the Mac - not my favorite reading place, but still OK.



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