Nose in a Book

Firewing by Kenneth Oppel

Griffin Silverwing has heard all the stories about his famous father’s adventures and feels he will never match up to him. So when his friends dare him to steal fire he does it. Unfortunately, it results in one of his friends dying and Griffin being sucked into the underworld during an earthquake. When his father, Shade, finds out what has happened he follows Griffin into the underworld where they must make a pilgrimage in order to return home. And of course, Goth is back causing all kinds of mischief.

I enjoyed this book just as much as the first two, if not more. This one was definitely darker and was written with older audiences in mind. I don’t know if this was intentional but there seemed to be a lot of religious symbolism which added some depth to the novel.

As with the previous two stories, the novel was full of adventure and although it followed a well established pattern for adventure stories, it was completely unique because of the nature of the adventures. I don’t want to say too much more because to do so would give away the story but trust me when I say that the adventure never stops and it’s really quite a captivating novel.

Once again, I can’t find enough good to say about Oppel as an author.  Not only does he tell a fascinating story but he writes it beautifully as well. I’ve found that reading books aloud to my son (as I did this one) has given me a greater appreciation for they way a novel is written. Some books are much harder to read aloud than others but never Oppel’s. His words just flow off the page and are a great pleasure to read out loud.

My son and I both enjoyed this book. Here’s what he had to say about it:

“I liked that the book was about bats. I liked everything about the book. Griffin was my favourite character because he was brave and he saved his friends. I would give this book a 10/10.”

Sunwing by Kenneth Oppel

Those who read my blog regularly will already know this, but I love Kenneth Oppel.  He’s definitely one of my favourite juvenile authors.

In this novel, a companion to Silverwing, Shade Silverwing is still longing to find his father.  He begins by travelling to the human building with a few other silverwings and his brightwing friend, Marina.  And that’s when the adventure begins and doesn’t stop until the very last page.  I can’t do much more than that for a summary without giving away some major plot details!

I don’t know how many more of Oppel’s books I can review because I find myself saying the same things over and over but I do love his writing.  I read this one out loud to my son and I always find that to be a really good test for the writing.  Sometimes I read books aloud to my son and I find the wording trips me up and doesn’t seem to flow but not with Oppel, and this book was no exception.  It was so fun and exciting to read and even though this one took us quite a while to get through (because we haven’t had much time for reading, not because it was boring) we never lost the momentum of the story.  Every time we picked the book up again after a long break, we were both swept up into the story again within seconds.

And even though the story was packed with action and adventure, it never seemed like too much.  It was just fun and entertaining.  My son and I loved this book and we can’t wait to read the next one!

Silverwing by Kenneth Oppel

Shade is a silverwing bat.  It’s nearing the end of the summer and it’s time for Shade and his colony to travel to Hibernaculum where they will spend the winter hibernating.  Unfortunately for Shade, he is swept out to sea during a storm and separated from his mother and the rest of the silverwings.  Shade is lucky that his mother sang him the colony’s sound map before he was separated and he and a brightwing bat named Marina undertake to find Shade’s colony.   Of course there are obstacles along the way the biggest ones being two vampire bats named Goth and Throbb who plan to follow them to the colony and eat the silverwings over the winter.

Now, I know what you’re thinking because it’s exactly what I thought before I read it the first time – “Who wants to read a book about bats?  It’s so weird!”  But actually the book is amazing.  As anyone who regularly reads this blog will know, I think Kenneth Oppel is brilliant.  His stories are always captivating and well written.  And this one is no exception.  It’s definitely intended for a younger audience than anything else of his that I’ve reviewed on this blog but that did not affect the quality of the novel at all.  I remember loving this book when I first read it (as an adult) and I loved it again.  I read it to my seven year old (who is already a huge fan of Oppel’s) and he liked it too.

The other thing I like about Oppel’s books is his ability to write to different age levels.  As I mentioned before, this one was aimed at a younger audience and the language reflected that.  But it wasn’t unreadable for an adult either.  The same goes for the story.  The target audience is children but it’s still an enjoyable read for adults.

A book with a bat as the main character could very easily be a difficult one to get into and feel a part of but not with Silverwing.  I felt just like I was there with Shade, soaring way up above the forests or roosting in the giant tree they called home.  It was simple things like measuring distance in wingbeats or the imagery of echo vision that made me forget that I was human for short periods of time.  My son and I can’t wait to read the next book in the series, Sunwing.

Savvy by Ingrid Law

Mibs Beaumont is about to turn thirteen and in her family that is a BIG deal because at thirteen, your savvy begins to show itself.  One of her brothers caused a hurricane on his thirteenth birthday and her other brother has a way with electricity.  But just two days before her birthday, Mibs’ father, who comes from the non-savvy side of the family, is involved in an accident that puts him into a coma that’s he’s not coming out of.  Mibs decides that she needs to get to him because she’s sure that she can pull him out of his coma.  So she sneaks onto a bus along with some others (some accidentally, some on purpose) and the adventure begins.

This book was a quick, fun read.  I loved the writing.  It was a little bit silly, but not overly so, just enough to make it fun to read.  I liked this book but I didn’t love it and I can’t quite figure why.  It just didn’t grab me like some books do.  It was fun and well written and there was a good, original story with even a little bit of a message but somehow it just didn’t do it for me.  I liked the characters but sometimes they were just a little too much, or not enough.  Now, I realize I’m not the target audience for this book and that may have something to do with my disappointment in the book.  I was just expecting a little more from a book that won a Newbery Honour (2009).

Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher by Bruce Coville

Jeremy Thatcher, grade six, spends his time drawing and avoiding girls and bullies.  One day as he is doing just that, he stumbles across a magic shop.  Once inside, the strange proprietor, Mr. Elives, sells him a marble-like object that he later discovers is actually a dragon egg and he is expected to hatch it and then care for the dragon that it produces!

I didn’t particularly enjoy this book but I’m not exactly the target audience so I’m going to turn this review over to my seven year old son and he can tell you what he thought of the book.

Isaiah:

“I liked this book because of the dragon.  There was a really funny part where the dragon chased the cat into the dining room and caused a lot of trouble.  I liked that the book was about magic.  At the beginning, I didn’t like the book because it started out kind of boring.  My favourite character was the dragon because it burned the art teacher’s foot.  My favourite part of the book was the ending (which we aren’t going to tell you about because we don’t want any spoilers!)”

I thought this book had a lot of potential but I think I’ve been spoiled by all the really great children’s fantasy out there.  (Harry Potter, Fablehaven etc.)  I just found that it moved too slowly and there wasn’t a whole lot of excitement.  But my seven year old seemed to enjoy it.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians Series by Rick Riordan

I’ve just finished reading this series with my seven year old son.   I’m going to get him to help me with the review.

First of all, I’m not sure I need a summary or how to go about that with an entire series so I’ll just give you the basic premise.  So, Percy Jackson is a half-blood, meaning that one of his parents is a Greek god.  Because, the Greek gods do exist and are still around.

I really enjoyed reading these books to my son.  I was worried that they would get too old for him as the series progressed but they didn’t.  (They were getting there.  My son is pretty mature for his age and I’m not sure my second son will be able to appreciate them at that age.)  I really liked this about them.  I would love to read Harry Potter to my son but I think they just get too dark in the last few books but I would like to read him the whole series at once so I’ll be holding off on them.  That’s one thing I really appreciated about these books.

They were definitely entertaining.  And sometimes I find that a series of books like this gets old or tired by the end of the series and I’m just reading to find out what happens, but that wasn’t the case with these.  In fact, I think they got better over the series.

We also learned a lot about Greek mythology.  It also made me realize how much Greek mythology is still present in our society today.  Isaiah (my son) has started noticing Greek letters everywhere and names of the gods also.   He’s also given everyone in the family a godly title.  For example, I’m the goddess of books and reading!

Here’s what Isaiah had to say about the books:

“I liked them because there were lots of battles and quests.  They were exciting.  I learned lots about the Greek gods and some letters from the Greek alphabet.”

“My favourite book was the 4th one (The Battle of the Labyrinth) because they went into the Labyrinth and time went by really fast.”

“My favourite character was Percy because he was the main character.  My favourite god was Zeus because he can control the sky.  He shot lots of lightning bolts at the bad guys.”

Overall, this was a great series for us to read together.  Now, I just have to find something else for us to read.  Any suggestions??

A Swiftly Tilting Planet by Madeleine L’Engle

The third book in L’Engle’s Time Quartet.  I remember loving these books as a child.  I didn’t like this one as much as the first two this time around.  I still enjoyed it but I still like A Wrinkle in Time the best.

This book has skipped a lot of time since the last one.  Meg is now pregnant with her first child and Charles Wallace is 15.  As they are all enjoying Thanksgiving dinner, Mr. Murry receives a phone call from the president informing him that a South American dictator plans on starting a nuclear war the next day.  The Murry family spends the rest of their evening worrying about the end of the world as they know it.  After they all go to bed, Charles Wallace and Meg (through kything – a kind of mind to mind communication.  She just stays in her warm bed with the dog the whole time.) travel through time making small changes that they hope will change the future and prevent the nuclear war.

Each of the times they visit are almost like short stories and I’m still not sure how I felt about this.  The characters in each time were all descendants and ancestors of each other and their names were the same or similar in each story.  Also, they didn’t appear in chronological order and I have to admit I found it a little hard to keep everybody straight.

Even though time travel is a huge part of this novel, I found it to be less science fiction-y (is that a word?  It is now!!) than the previous two which is something that I loved about them.  I also found the good vs. evil theme to be more subtle in this one (still it’s not that subtle) and somehow I liked the more obvious approach in the first two.  And lastly, it wasn’t really about the Murry’s because Charles Wallace actually goes “Within” (becomes a part of the individual) the other characters in the story.  And I like the Murry’s.  I don’t typically choose character driven stories over plot driven ones but in this case, I’ve fallen for this family and I wanted to read more about them.

After having said all that, it probably sounds like I didn’t like the book at all but actually I did.  In fact, as a childhood favourite I think it stands up pretty good to the adult reading.  It’s just in the comparison to the other books in the series that it doesn’t do so well (for me)!  I can’t wait until I can read these books to my seven year old.  We started reading A Wrinkle in Time about a year ago and it was a little bit over his head but I think that he might be getting there.  I’m almost afraid to read him some of my childhood favourites because I’m worried he won’t love them as much as I did!

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin

Read for: Newbery Honour Book 2010, Global Reading Challenge – China, Asia

This is the third in my quest to read all the Newbery Honour Books and the Newbery winner from 2010.  To be honest, I don’t think this one is at the same level as the other two I’ve read.  I enjoyed it, but it just doesn’t compare to the first two.

This one reads like a fairy tale or a fable (I should sign up for Once Upon a Time – this would be a perfect read!) but it also contains other tales within the text.  I believe that most of these are based on traditional chinese folktales.  Minli, a young girl who loves stories, lives in the shadow of Fruitless Mountain – a mountain that will allow nothing to grow.  Of course there is a story to explain the fruitlessness of the mountain!  Minli’s mother is unhappy with their fortunes and isn’t afraid to let it be known.  So Minli decides to go in search of the Old Man of the Moon to ask him to improve their fortunes.  As she journeys she meets many people who all have lessons to teach her.

I actually did enjoy the story and the lessons contained within it but I’m not sure it’s all that great for children.  I don’t know if it’s just because I read it over a longer period than I normally read a book or if I was just distracted this week, but I found the tales within the story caused confusion.  I’m just not sure a child would be able to follow and make the connections between the tales and the main storyline.

I did love the illustrations though.  You can see that the cover is beautiful and there were several colour illustrations in the book that are gorgeous.  Over all, I liked the book but I’m not sure I agree with it’s being included as a Newbery Honour Book this year.

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly- Newbery Honour Book 2010

So, I’ve decided to read all the Newbery Honour books since I’ve already read the winner.  I want to know if I agree with their choice!

I chose to read this one first because of the cover.  Isn’t it fun?  Anyway, Calpurnia Tate is a twelve-year-old girl with six brothers, three older and three younger.  She lives in Texas at the turn of the century (the 20th that is).  Her grandfather is distant and most of the kids are afraid of him (if not all), until Calpurnia goes to him with a question about grasshoppers.  He tells her she’s smart enough, she should figure it out herself.  When she figures it out she reports to him and they begin to develop a relationship based on their mutual interest in the natural world.

The book is really about Calpurnia’s relationship with her grandfather.  There isn’t a major plot and while I really liked the book, I can see that it might not appeal to the younger audiences like When You Reach Me would.  That being said, I still think I would have enjoyed this book as a twelve-year-old…I just can’t see reading it to my seven-year-old anytime soon.

But, I did really like it.  Calpurnia was a likable protagonist and her brothers were entertaining as well.  There was also a coming-of-age aspect to the book, both for Calpurnia and some of her brothers.  I like the Kelly’s writing style as well.  I can’t quite put my finger on what appealed to me but it did.  I can see why this was chosen as one of the honour books, and I would recommend it but I also see why it didn’t win the actual prize.  Not because it isn’t good, but because When You Reach Me is better.

When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead

Wow, I loved this book!  It was such a quick easy read (probably because I’m not the target audience).  I can see why it won the Newbery Medal this year.  I haven’t read the rest of the honour books yet so I can’t say for sure that it was the best one, but I’m working on it!

Twelve-year-old Miranda, who lives in New York City with her mother, begins to receive mysterious notes.  She doesn’t know who they are coming from and she doesn’t quite understand what they mean either.  On top of that, her best friend Sal, got punched for no reason on the walk home and that caused him to stop talking to her entirely, there is some weird homeless guy living on her street creeping her out and she keeps bumping into the guy that punched Sal, and he doesn’t ever seem to remember her.

This book was so sweet.  Miranda is a totally believable twelve-year-old and a likable one too.  She has some friend issues but she works them out in the end.  What I liked most about the book was that I felt it was uplifting.  Miranda has some problems but nothing insurmountable.  Lately, it seems like there have been a lot of books with children who have truly depressing lives.  I liked that Miranda had a pretty happy life.

I loved the ending.  I don’t want to give anything away because the surprise was what I liked the most about it.  This was a sweet little book that I was able to read in an afternoon.  A definite recommend.  I can’t wait until my seven-year-old is just a little bit more mature so I can read it to him.