Language: 0

Violence: 2

Sexual Content: 1

Adult Themes: 2

Title:  The King of the Trees

Author: William D. Burt

The First Book in The King of the Trees Fantasy Series

Ratings Explanation

Violence:  Rolin, the Tree People and Thalmosians’s battle Felgor, his foot soldiers-Army of Gorks, Gorgorunth the Black Serpent/Dragon and  the Yegs to rule the kingdom.  Waganupa – The Tree of Life is burned and destroyed.

Sexual Content: Rolin and Marlis kiss, as they are married.

Adult Content: Symbolism of Christ the Savior’s sacrifice, atonement, and resurrection for all mankind.

Summary

Rolin, son of Gannon sets out to solve a riddle left behind by his grandmother: an old wooden box, a jeweled pendant, and the mysterious green cloaks.  Rolin’s adventures take him worlds beyond the walls of his little log cabin. With the help of some grumpy griffins and a long-lost prophecy, Rolin and his friends battle a sorcerer and his underworld army; deadly snake-trees; dragons and other mythical creatures. On their perilous quest for the fabled Isle of Luralin, they must trust the King with their very lives. In the end, they learn that “The greatest help oft comes in harm’s disguise to those with trusting hearts and open eyes.”

This is a Christian Fantasy book, written in the tradition of C.S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia.  A great coming of age story!  Burt  is a beautiful writer, with an exceptional grasp of language.  Although, I  did stumble reading some of the character’s names aloud.  However, a glossary and pronunciation guide is provided.  I recommend this book for all ages.

©2010 The Literate Mother

Language: 0

Violence: 0

Sexual Content: 0

Adult Themes: 0

Title: Good Manners Are Contagious: Real Solutions for Raising Responsible, Resilient and Respectable Children!

Authors: Dr. Jodi Stoner & Lori Weiner

Ratings Explanation

Not Applicable

Synopsis

The authors provide great techniques to use to teach your children proper etiquette.  They also offer great solutions to improving your family’s communication!  Priceless.

A great book!  Everyone ought to use this book as an annual refresher course.

©2010The Literate Mother

Language: 0

Violence: 1

Sexual Content: 0

Adult Themes: 2

Title: The Great Brain

Author: John D. Fitzgerald

Ratings Explanation

Violence: The boys in town pick on other boys (especially a new immigrant boy) and prove who is the toughest amongst them through fist fights that result in black eyes and bloody noses. Very typical of the time period, however.

Adult Themes: Tom has quite the ability to swindle other kids, especially his younger brother John, and be able to talk his way out of any guilt. There is one chapter in which a friend who has lost his leg talks about and attempts to commit suicide, (quite comically, however) because he feels “plumb useless” at his inability to do any chores. Tom saves the boy’s self esteem by helping him cope and succeed with his new disability.

Synopsis
Take a step back to a simpler time–where dirt roads run through town, when boys played in vacant lots, carried marbles and slingshots in their pockets, and schools were the one-room variety. This is Adenville, Utah, circa 1896. The Great Brain is a comical book told through the eyes of eight-year-old John (the author) who is the youngest of three boys. His ten-year-old brother, Tom, is the Great Brain. Tom uses his great brain to earn money, usually through swindling. He charges the neighborhood boys a penny apiece to watch the first “water closet” in town flush. Tom also comes up with a scheme to get the new school teacher fired when Tom feels unduly punished. But, Tom is also the town hero when it is his plan that saves two boys who are lost in a cave. There is never a dull moment around Adenville with Tom Fitzgerald on the loose!

If you liked the antics of Tom Fitzgerald in The Great Brain, then you’ll be excited to read more!  It is the first book in a seven book series.

I loved this book as a child and have loved sharing with my children. It was a great read-aloud during a car trip. All ages can enjoy the mischievous antics of The Great Brain.

Language:0

Violence:1

Sexual Content:0

Adult Themes: 2

Title:  The Invention of Hugo Cabret

Author: Brian Selznick

2008 Caldecott Medal Award Winner

Ratings Explanation

Violence:  Hugo is treated roughly after robbing a store.  Hugo is seriously hurt from his hand being slammed in a door.  Isabelle breaks her leg falling off of a chair. Hugo is almost run over by a train while trying to run away from his pursuers.

Adult Themes:  Hugo and Isabelle sneak into the movies without paying.  Isabelle’s  parents died when she was a baby.  Hugo’s father is burned to death after being accidentally locked in a museum that caught on fire.  Hugo is orphaned after the accident and is sent to live with his alcoholic uncle.  His uncle disappears and Hugo must learn to survive on his own.  He steals his food from local stores.  The toy shop owner’s health is affected by his past.  He has a breakdown.  Hugo is put in jail for a short time.  His uncle’s body is found at the bottom of a river.

Summary
After Hugo’s father dies in an accidental fire, Hugo is given to his alcoholic uncle who lives in the local train station and maintains their clocks.  One day his uncle leaves and never comes back.  Hugo doesn’t want anyone to know he is alone and decides to keep up appearances by maintaining the clocks himself.   His hope for living lies in trying to repair an automaton his father found in the museum where he worked.  Hugo is convinced the robotic man holds some secret answer to a happier future.  Hugo relies on stealing food and parts from local stores.  One day he is caught by the toy store owner.  A young girl, living with the owner, befriends Hugo and tries to help him discover the mystery of the automaton.  They discover the toy store owner is the famous Georges Melies, a magician and maker of early films.  Hugo and Georges find their lives mysteriously intertwined and end up becoming the answer of hope that the other had been searching for.

This book amazed me.  Selznick uniquely combines 525 pages of  illustrations and text with a movie like feel to tell this amazing story.  The message was tender, the story suspenseful, and the artwork beautiful.  My favorite quote from the book is when Hugo is looking down from the clock tower with Isabella and says, “I like to imagine that the world is one big machine.  You know, machines never have any extra parts.  They have the exact number and type of parts they need.  So I figure if the entire world is a big machine,  I have to be here for some reason.  And that means you have to be here for some reason, too.”

©2010 The Literate Mother

Language: 0

Violence: 1

Sexual Content: 1

Adult Themes: 1

Title: Remembering Isaac – The Joyful Potter of Neiderbipp

Author: Ben Behunin

Ratings Explanation

 Violence:  Mary, Emily, and Marge witness the near killing of a chicken in what Farmer Hill called ‘the pecking order’, saying there was little he could do to save the poor bird. “He told us that if he stepped in now, it would only be a matter of time before another bird began to get picked on and that it would be better just to let nature take its course.”  The chicken’s pecking order is no different than the girl’s social circle.

Sexual Content: Jake and Amy share a kiss.

Adult Themes: Pregnancy Loss.

Summary

Jake purchases a post-college graduation airline ticket to Greece and eagerly awaits his upcoming adventure.  A ceramics professor suggests he apply for an unusual position,  a town potter.  Neiderbipp’s town potter, Isaac, has died.  Jake takes the bus to rural Pennsylvania to weigh his options before his departure for Greece.  He arrives in Neiderbipp and finds a somewhat quirky, yet charming town settled by German immigrants in the early 1700’s.  A town that looks as if it has been transplanted from Germany to Pennsylvania.  Jake is intrigued and accepts a trial position as the town potter for the summer, delaying his trip to Greece for a few months.

Jake cleans out the potter’s studio/shop and discovers an array of mugs hanging from the rafters with varying levels of dust.  As the summer passes, Isaac’s friends stop by to clean their mug, make a pot of peppermint tea, and share their “Isaac Experiences” with Jake.   Jake realizes that Isaac was much more than the town potter as he pieces together Isaac’s life story.  Jake also discovers the “wisdom of a humble craftsman”.

This book simply makes me want to be a better person.  I loved it!  I look forward to reading the sequel.

©2010 The Literate Mother

Language:  1

Violence:  0

Sexual Content:  0

Adult Themes:  1

Title:  Because of Winn-Dixie

Author:  Kate DiCamillo

2001 Newbery Honor Book

Ratings Explanation

Language:  Miss Franny, the librarian, describes war as “hell”.  Amanda tells her, “Hell is a cuss word.”  Miss Franny replies, “War should be a cuss word, too.”  Gloria Dump expresses herself by saying “Lord”.  The Dewberry boys call Otis “retarded”.

Adult Themes:  Opal’s mother abruptly left her and her father when Opal was only three.  Opal struggles to understand being abandoned.  When Opal asks her father to tell her about her mother, he tells her she was an alcoholic.  Gloria Dump tells Opal that she has made many mistakes in her life, some of them attributed to drinking too much.  Opal gets a job in a pet store working for Otis, who says he was in jail once.  Opal worries her father won’t like her working for a “criminal”.  (It turns out Otis went to jail for refusing to stop playing his guitar on a street corner.)

Synopsis

Young India “Opal” Buloni and her father, a preacher, move around a lot.  Their latest move is to a small town in Florida called Naomi.  Opal has no friends until she rescues a mangy mutt from a supermarket and names him Winn-Dixie.  Now everywhere Opal goes, Winn-Dixie comes along, including to church and the library.  The lovable dog attracts unlikely people who soon become friends with Opal:  Miss Franny Block, the elderly librarian, and full of good stories; Gloria Dump, an old, nearly-blind black woman that the Dewberry boys think is a witch; Otis, the shy, quiet, guitar-strumming pet store clerk; even “pinch-faced” Amanda Wilkinson, who Opal later learns is not mean, just sad because of the death of her little brother.  Opal’s relationship with her father begins to change, and he opens up to her about her mother, telling his daughter ten things about her that Opal memorizes in her head, so she will recognize her if she ever walks back into their lives.

Over the course of a muggy Florida summer, Opal’s friends teach her life lessons that transform her.  She learns from Miss Franny that in life, sometimes sweetness is mixed in with sorrow in a way that makes it endurable.  Gloria Dump shows Opal her “mistake tree”, with empty liquor bottles hanging by strings to scare away the ghosts of the things she’s done in the past.  She tells Opal that the most important lesson to learn in life is different for everyone, but that “you can’t always judge people by the things they done.  You got to judge them by what they are doing now.”  Gloria, whom Opal describes as the best adult she knows, also teaches her that “There ain’t no way you can hold on to something that wants to go. . .you can only love what you got while you got it.”  By the end of the story, Opal’s heart, which ached for so long without her mother, has begun to fill up again with the love of so many quirky and wonderful people, and she attributes it all to her faithful pooch, saying, “Just about everything that happened to me that summer happened because of Winn-Dixie.”

This is a pure gem of a book.  It resonates with sweetness and sorrow; its tale of unbiased friendship, expressed in the voice of a little girl with a hint of Southern twang, will strike a chord in every reader.  Highly recommended.

©2010 The Literate Mother

Language:  0

Violence:  0

Sexual Content:  0

Adult Themes:  1

Title:  Sarah, Plain and Tall

Author:  Patricia MacLachlan

1986 Newbery Medal Winner

Ratings Explanation

Adult Themes:  Anna and Caleb must deal with the loss of their mother, who died the day after Caleb’s birth.  They must also weigh the chances of having Sarah, who has come to stay with them for a “trial period” of one month, return to Maine rather than stay with them, marry their father, and become their new mother.  The theme of love, loss, acceptance, and change is the thread that runs through this story.  All of it is gently told from the perspective of Anna, and the book would be appropriate to read to any age.

Synopsis

Anna and Caleb live with their father, Jacob, on a farm in the Great Plains during pioneer times.  Their mother passed away at Caleb’s birth.  Several years have passed.  Papa doesn’t sing anymore and the home is too quiet.  One day, Papa tells the children he has placed an advertisement in the paper looking for a mail-order bride and a Miss Sarah Elisabeth Wheaton from Maine, self-described as “plain and tall”, has replied to say she and her cat will come stay with the family for a trial period of one month to see how things work.  Anna and Caleb are thrilled at the prospect of having a new mother, but their excitement must be tempered because they are too afraid to hope for the best.  When Sarah arrives, she is kind and gentle.  She sings, braids Anna’s hair, draws pictures for Caleb, and cooks stew.  She has never touched a lamb before, or seen a field of wheat.  She describes for them the colors of the sea, the seagulls, the seals, the wind, and her home in Maine; it is all too apparent to Anna that she misses her home too much to stay with them on the plains.  One day Sarah asks Papa to teach her how to drive the wagon so she can go into town by herself.  Anna and Caleb wait nervously all day, too afraid she won’t return.  Caleb cries that he is “too loud and pesky” for her and their house is too small.  But at the day’s end, in a cloud of dust on the horizon, the wagon returns with Sarah, who brings with her three pencils the colors of the sea:  blue, green, and gray.  She misses the sea, she says, “but the truth of it is I would miss you more.”

This is a simply told yet beautifully written book, short enough to read in an hour or two, and too good to miss.  It was based on a true event in the author’s family history.  A tender story about the yearnings of a lonely father and his children for someone to make their family complete.

©2010 The Literate Mother

Language: 0

Violence: 2

Sexual Content: 0

Adult Themes: 0

Title: The Swiss Family Robinson (Great Illustrated Classics)

Author: Johann Wyss, adapted by Eliza Gatewood Warren

Ratings Explanation

Violence: The family kills many animals, most of which they eat. Some animal kingdom violence, animals attack and kill each other.

Synopsis

Sailing from Switzerland, the Swiss family Robinson is headed for an island near New Guinea where they plan to establish a colony, but while underway they encounter a violent storm. Abandoned by the captain and crew, the family of father, mother and four sons must fend for themselves. They are able to reach an uninhabited island where they establish a home and survive for years against wild animals and the whims of nature. While on the island their resourcefulness and bravery are tested, but they come to love their home. When a ship sails into their bay, they must decide if they want to return to their homeland or stay on the island.

A true adventure!

There are so many great new books that sometimes we forget to go back and read the classics we grew up on. We read this aloud with our family and it was enjoyed by all. We watched the Disney movie a few years  ago so the kids kept waiting for the pirates and the coconut bombs to appear in the story. They never do, so either that part was edited from this abridged version, or the pirates are an invention of Disney. But even without the pirates it is a great read. First published in 1813, this adventure has truly stood the test of time!

*Children’s book available soon through Amazon.

Language: 0

Violence: 0

Sexual Content: 0

Adult Themes: 0

Author:  Jeff Shepherd

Illustrator:  Frank Shepherd

Ratings Explanation

Clean and cute!

Synopsis

Poem written at a 1st Grade Level – perfect for memorization exericises.

I love this young children’s book!  Included there is a picture of the mother (looks like Rose Mofford - Former Governor of Arizona) and one picture of a sugared-up child that are simply frightening.  My 7 year old, Helena, thought is was hilarious!  She loved the cotton candy O.D. and the pink cotton candy hair.

 ©2009 The Literate Mother

Language: 0

Violence: 0

Sexual Content: 0

Adult Themes: 0

Title: Today, I Live… A Gift of Peace for Girls at any Age

Author: Karen C. Eddington

Synopsis

This is a fun look at girls of all ages and what helps them find their own self worth. Covering topics from body image and true friends to the challenges of being a single mother and finding a purpose once you have raised your children, this book teaches that beauty and confidence come from within.

I related well to Today, I Live and am looking forward to reading it with my 12 year old daughter. I don’t think she will find the parts devoted to adult women and their challenges terribly interesting, but we can just skip those few pages. The author does point out, however, that the issues that young girls face are not any different from those of adult women. I’m not sure if my daughter would find that comforting or discouraging, realizing that the issues she deals with today are not likely to go away any time soon.

 Language: 1

Violence: 1

Sexual Content: 0

Adult Themes: 1

Title: One False Note

Series: The 39 Clues (Book 2)

Author: Gordon Korman

Ratings Explanation

Language: 3 profanities (references to deity)

Violence: Amy and Dan are physically attacked by cousins also searching for the clues. There is an explosion while Amy and Dan are in a tunnel, they are trapped, but escape. While driving a boat they crash into a larger ship, are knocked unconscious, taken on board  the larger ship, and later thrown overboard. Amy and Dan are held at dart gun point by their cousins Ian and Natalie. There is another explosion. Ian is knocked unconscious and Natalie is hit with the tranquilizer dart.

Adult Themes: Amy and Dan break into a hotel room and steal a clue, jumping out a window to escape. They also steal a recipe from a monastery, which they mistakenly think is a clue, but later return it. There is a short conversation at the beginning of the book about whether they will stoop to the dastardly deeds of their rivals to get the clues. They decide that if they really want to win, they will have to play hard ball.

Synopsis

Amy and Dan are on the hunt to collect the 39 clues that will lead them to the Cahill family secret and fortune. This time they are in Austria and Italy searching for clues from Mozart’s life. Their ruthless cousins are still trying to win the contest as well and will stop at almost nothing to get ahead.

I  liked the first book better than this one. It felt like this second book was cutting corners and details in order to keep the book short. But, all in all, a fun series for kids with very minimal content to worry about. The violence is brief and non-graphic. Both my 6th grader and 4th grader like the series and my 1st grader has just started the first book. This would be a fun series to read aloud since the books are short and fast paced.

Language: 0

Violence :0

Sexuality: 0

Adult Themes: 0 

Title:  Clementine

Author: Sara PennyPacker

Illustrator: Marla Frazee

2007 Boston Globe/Horn Book Honor book/Winner of the 2007 Bank Street/Josette Frank Award/Child Magazine Best Book of the Year

Ratings Explanation

None applicable

Synopsis

Clementine has a really bad week.  In a Ramona Quimby Fashion, trouble finds Clementine everyday.   Monday, Clementine is sent to the principal’s office for helping Margaret cut her hair.  Tuesday,  Margaret’s mother is angry with Clementine, and Margaret is forbidden to play with her.  Wednesday, Clementine finds herself back in the principal’s office.  Thursday, Clementine is shunned by Margaret.  Friday, Clementine’s teacher is cranky with her and she continues to be shunned by Margaret and Margaret’s new best friend.  Saturday, Clementine thinks her mother wants to only keep the easy child, and she is not the easy child.  Clementine redeems herself by the end of the week.  

Clementine is a 3rd Grade Level Book.  If you enjoyed Beverly Cleary’s  Ramona Books you will enjoy introducing your young reader to the Clementine series as well.  You will groan aloud as trouble finds Clementine each day.

©2009 The Literate Mother

Language: 0  

Violence: 3  

Sexuality: 0

Adult Themes: 2 

Title:  A Time for Courage – The Suffragette Diary of Kathleen Bowen - Washington D.C. 1917

Author:  Kathryn Lasky

Ratings Explanation

Violence:  As the women are peacefully picketing in front of the White House, a riot ensues and the suffragettes are attacked by young Army and Navy men.  (The suffragettes are viewed as unpatriotic.)  The soldiers punched and dragged the women.  More than 200 women are arrested on false charges of “obstructing traffic”.  The soldiers nearly pulled Lucy Burns, a suffragette leader off the balcony at The National Women’s Party Headquarters.  A shot was fired at that time into the headquarters, narrowly missing Ella Dean.   The more than 200 women who were arrested were sent to Occcoquan Workhouse in Virginia where they were treated brutally.  The women were beaten and fed food filled with worms.  The suffragettes then began a hunger strike and were force-fed with a tube.  The force-feeding is described in vivid detail.  Alma, Kat’s cousin ran away from home and joined the Red Cross and the Voluntary Aid Detachment in England.  She vividly describes the wounds of the soldiers she attends to as they are brought back from the front for aid.

Adult Themes:  The fight for a woman’s right to vote began when the suffragettes demanded equality under the constitution, instead of the chivalry they had already been granted.  Sojourner Truth’s life as a slave is recounted as well as her speech, “Ain’t I a Woman”.  World War I is the historical backdrop.

Synopsis

Kathleen Bowen, a fictional character, is a 13 year old girl who lives in Washington D.C. in 1917.  She attends Miss Pruitt’s Academy for Young Ladies.  Her father is a renowned doctor and her mother is a society lady and a suffragette.  Kat has two older sisters.  The oldest attends the university and the sister just older than Kat runs away from home to drive an ambulance in France during World War I.  Kat spends a lot of time with her cousin, Alma.  Kat’s mother is heavily involved fighting the cause of women’s rights.  Kat’s mother is incarcerated in the Occoquan Workhouse for several months.  Kat’s father spends a lot of time training people to become medical personnel for the war effort.  Kat leads a lonely existence as her parents are gone tending to their causes.  She says, “It’s not easy being the child of a parent or parents with noble causes.  You want to believe in what your parents believe.  On the other hand  you’re still a kid.  You want your mom there for you.”

I enjoyed reading about the Suffragette Movement from the perspective of the daughter of a suffragette.  This book provides a glimpse of the sacrifices the families of the sufragettes had to make so their mothers and wives could stand in a picket line for months.  Included is a timeline of women in U.S. Politics.  I think most young readers would find it shocking that women in the U.S. have had the right to vote for less than a 100 years. 

©2009 The Literate Mother

Language: 0 

Violence:  1 

Sexual Conduct:  0 

Adult Themes:  1 

Title:  Evangeline Mudd and the Golden-Haired Apes of the Ikkinasti Jungle

Author:  David Elliott

Illustrator:  Andrea Wesson

Ratings Explanation

Violence:  Dadoo, a reformed headhunter, in the Ikkinasti Jungle shoots a poisonous dart at Rexi, the villainous developer, which causes him to behave in a strange manner.  The Golden-Haired Apes imprison Evangeline’s parents for months.  Her parents are brachiated through the jungle by the Golden-Haired Apes.  There is a description of the Ikkinasti Spitting Spider, who blinds and then eats its prey.

Adult Themes:  Dadoo is a reformed headhunter, who displays his trophy heads by hanging them from the ceiling in his jungle hut.  Evangeline is left for months at an extended relative’s home.  She is neglected and depressed with her situation. 

Synopsis

Evangeline Mudd is the daughter of Merriweather and Magdalena Mudd, primatologists whose expertise is the Golden-Haired Apes of the Ikkinasti Jungle.  Evangeline has had an unusual upbringing.  She learned to brachiate while still a young child, that is to fly through the trees like a primate.  She is also an extremely gifted piano player and composer. 

Merriweather and Magdalena are asked to come to the Ikkinasti Jungle for a special research project.  Unfortunately, there are only two travel visas.  Evangeline is left behind with a distant relative of Mr. Mudd.  Cousin Melvin Mudd owns a mink farm/fur coat company.  His wife is the famous former ballerina, India Terpsichore, who is apparently consumed with “not letting herself go….”.  The combination of this self-consumed couple leads to homesickness and loneliness for Evangeline as a two week stay stretches in a multi-month stay.  Evangeline is rescued from the selfish duo by another famous primatologists, Dr. Aphrodite Pikkaflee.  Dr. Pikkaflee and Evangeline head to the Ikkinasti Jungle to rescue Merriweather and Magdalena Mudd with the help of Dadoo, a reformed headhunter.  They encounter Golden-Haired Apes, Ikkinasti Spitting Spiders and Rexi Pikkaflee, the villainous developer.

A fun read.  A delightful and engaging tale for a young chapter book reader.  There are great illustrations to help keep your reader focused.  I anxiously await a sequel.   

©2009 The Literate Mother