Review: Du Iz Tak?

Du Iz Tak? by Carson Ellis
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

My daughters would have loved this as kids. They thoroughly enjoyed confusing their mother with Spoonerisms, backwards words, words in other languages (predominantly German, Russian, Spanish, French, Italian) - all in the same sentence.

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Review: Hitler's Daughter

Hitler's Daughter by Jackie French
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book is more interesting to me as an exploration of philosophy than as a good novel. It would make a good discussion book for middle school aged kids. The story isn't as strong as Pennies for Hitler, because of the narrative style - Anna is telling the story about someone else's story. That gives it a bit too much distance from the reader. The ending makes it more personal, but by then, it is a bit too late to get involved with the character.

Still, it has some interesting questions that are relevant even now with regard to various political situations. How much moral responsibility do we have for our parents' choices, our politicians' choices, our country's actions?

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Review: Emily of Deep Valley

Emily of Deep Valley by Maud Hart Lovelace
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

While I enjoyed the premise of this book, it doesn't particularly stand out for me. I have not read the Betsy-Tacy books, so I wasn't invested in the location or the characters. It was sweet and interesting, but it didn't grab me by the heart and refuse to let go like Anne of Green Gables does.

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Review: Hello, Universe

Hello, Universe by Erin Entrada Kelly
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I should probably give this book a higher rating. It held my interest long enough to finish it. The various children are unique and worth reading about. But, as a child, I would have been terrified by the problem situation. Even as a mature adult, it is scary to me. It is almost too real and too well written. That said, I am quite the wimp when it comes to scary situations. If realistic, scary situations appeal to you, the book is worth reading.

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Review: The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World

The Geography of Bliss: One Grump's Search for the Happiest Places in the World by Eric Weiner
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I enjoyed this book. Unlike some other reviews of it, I found the research aspect quite interesting and would have enjoyed even more detail about it. I didn't expect him to come to any absolute answers, and he didn't, but I did find the exploration of the topic through various and within diverse cultures interesting. Since there has been some discussion in the news right now of the differences between urban and rural living, I was glad he included side trips away from the big cities as well.

I agree with some of the answers he found: money matters, but only so much. Culture matters: it sets the stage. Community matters: it can change how we react to the places. Personal characteristics matter: they often mitigate what you might expect in those surroundings.

It would be interesting to do this on both a larger and smaller scale - more countries, especially including Africa and South America; and, on the other end of the scale, states within a large country, cities within large states. Even on the micro scale, I have seen differences. I have worked quite a few years as a substitute teacher. Some schools are definitely happy schools. Some made me anxious, just being in them. Intriguing.

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Review: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Gorgeous art work. Great addition to my already large HP collection.

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Review: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I am enjoying these illustrated versions. This one has some especially good pictures of Fawkes, the phoenix, plus some additional wonderful spreads of Diagon Alley. It is interesting to me that these illustrations don't seem to detract from my own imaged visions of the people and places in the books, but the movies did. I stopped watching the movies after the third one, because it was so unsettling to me to see the differences between my imaged HP world and the movies' imagined HP world.

It would be interesting to me to know how the illustrator chose which scenes to elaborate. He has chosen some that I would not have and omitted others that I would have included. Maybe I will go look that up.

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