Language:  0

Violence:  0

Sexual Content:  0

Adult Themes:  1

Title:  A.P.  Giannini: The Man With the Midas Touch

Authors:  Dana Haight Cattani and Angela B. Haight

Ratings Explanation

Adult Themes: References to corrupt mob bosses influencing votes during an election.  References to unequal treatment of minorities

Synopsis

This biographical account of Amadeo Peter (A.P.) Giannini traces the life of one of the most powerful, yet unassuming, men in the financial business world during the first half of the 20^th century.  As founder of the Bank of Italy (forerunner to the Bank of America), A.P.’s influence in the financial industry is felt, even today.  A.P., a native of the San Francisco Bay area, started his bank in 1904 so that the needs of minorities, blue-collar workers and even women could be met.   His formula for success was simple–hard work, individual customer service, and respect for the common man.  He taught the bank’s customers the concept of interest and how it could work in their favor.  Small, local loans were approved instead of the prevailing philosophy of only loaning to established large businesses.  Long-term, loyal customers were the goal, not short-term profits.  Mr. Giannini saw opportunities when others saw chaos and disaster.  The Bank of Italy not only survived, but thrived during an earthquake, a national financial crisis, and two world wars.  One bank grew into a network of banks that crossed California, the United States and eventually the world.

I wish I could have met Mr. Giannini—and I wish he were around to help America through its current economic recession.  I’m sure we’d be better off!  This man had great character and an untarnished value system.  Traits we’d all do well to develop.  I was reminded of the great poem, “If” by Rudyard Kipling as I read this book.  Such lines as:

“If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs”…

“Or walk with kings—nor lose the common touch”…

Language: 0

Violence: 0

Sexual Content: 0

Adult themes: 0

Title: Extra Credit

Author: Andrew Clements

Synopsis

Being “left back” in 6^th grade while all her friends move on to 7^th grade is the horrible possibility facing Abby Carson. To be promoted, Abby will have to do top work on all homework and tests, and do a big extra credit assignment as well! So she gets started writing pen pal letters.  Sadeed Bayat lives in a community in the mountains of Afghanistan.  Sadeed is assigned to help his little sister Amira write the letters, but he wants to write to Abby himself.  He must do so secretly because conservative tradition dictates that it would be improper for boys and girls to write to each other.  Abby sends a handful of corn from Illinois.  Sadeed sends a particle of rock from the mountains near his village.  Despite difficulties caused by intolerant adults, a few exchanged letters enrich the lives of three young people on opposite sides of the world.

Andrew Clements writes “school stories,” and I have loved all of them that I have read.  He taught 5^th grade for many years, and his books show a real understanding of this age.  They are realistic stories of modern kids with individual problems.  Here’s a simple story with no fighting, swords, dragons, blood, magic, or epic anything, that shows real life to be warm and rich and interesting.  It brought to life the yearnings of two 12-year-olds each wanting to reach out across the world to a friend.  I would enthusiastically recommend this book to all my friends in the upper elementary years.

Language: 0

Violence: 1

Sexual Content: 1

Adult Themes: 1

Title:  Princess for Hire

Author:  Lindsey Leavitt

Ratings Explanation

Violence:  In the Amazon rainforest, subbing for an Amazon tribal princess, natives shoot poison darts in Desi’s direction and at the “bubble” she travels in. The bubble then malfunctions, sending her crashing to the rainforest floor and breaking her rib.

Sexual Content:  Desi kisses Prince Karl. She also receives mouth-to-mouth resuscitation from a dreamy boy when she falls into a dunk tank and almost drowns.

Adult Themes:  Desi’s attorney father prosecutes the father of her former best friend (Celeste), landing him in jail. Celeste’s mother then divorces her father. Celeste blames Desi for ruining her life.

Synopsis

Desi Bascomb is a 15-year-old girl who dreams of making an impact in the world. The problem is, how do you do that when you’re stuck in Sproutville, Idaho, your ex-best friend torments you and is dating the boy you’re secretly crushing on, and your boring job requires you to dress as a groundhog for the local pet store? Ahh, with a little magic potential (“MP”), of course, which Desi just happens to be unwittingly in possession of.  She spots an ad in the paper looking for a “substitute Princess” and eagerly signs up when Meredith, a fairy godmother of a very different sort, appears in a magical bubble in her bathroom. Now all Desi has to do is rub some magical Egyptian rouge on her cheeks and, presto! she morphs into whatever princess is in need of a breather from the tedium of royal life. What she learns, however, is that not all princesses live glamorous, charmed lives. They have problems, too, like manipulative older sisters and unrequited love. Navigating these trials on-spot proves more difficult than Desi expects, and even though she lands herself in hot water a few times, she uncovers her true self-worth along the way.

Girls who enjoy princess-themed stories (a la “The Princess Diaries” or “Ella Enchanted”)–and even girls who don’t–will devour this book. The story is light-hearted and upbeat, but I was glad to see the main character learn that a princess’s life is not always enchanted. An entertaining read that leaves you with that happy, bubbly feeling afterwards. This book, released in spring 2010, is the first in a series (book 2 is in the works). I’m sure the sequel will have an eager following.

Language:  0

Violence:  2

Sexual content:  1

Adult themes:  2

Title: The Ruins of Gorlon (The Ranger’s Apprentice,  Book 1)

Author: John Flanagan

Ratings Explanation

Violence:  Pushing, name calling, humiliation – like having to stand holding a heavy rock over his head, and enduring beatings with heavy sticks.  A boy is held with a knife to his throat, fighting with a wooden sword and canes, and a boy is paddled and kicked.  A monster receives an arrow in the eye, screams in rage and fury, is pierced with arrows and pikes.  There is a battle using war axe, broadsword, arrow, and pikes, without a lot of gory descriptions.  There are 2 or 3 descriptions such as “blood streaming from a half-dozen deep slashes in his back.”  A monster emits piercing screams of agony as it burns.

Sexual Content:  Will is kissed on the mouth once by a girl and he thinks about the memory later.

Adult themes:  Abusive hazing

Summary
Fourteen-year-old Will has one great dream:  to become a knight in the Kingdom of Araluen.  If only he would grow!!  As the smallest of all the orphans being kept by the Baron, his chances of being chosen for Battleschool are slim.  When he is finally assigned an apprenticeship, it is his abilities to move across a field unseen, climb steep tower walls like a spider, and his great inquisitiveness that land him an assignment with the Ranger instead.  The next days are filled with learning about Rangers—they are the intelligence arm of the king’s forces.  The next months are filled with practicing the skills Rangers use—knife throwing, stealth moving, tracking the enemy, listening in without being seen, and learning to work with his unstoppable pony Tug.  In the meantime, Will’s friend Horace is having a harder time in his assignment at Battleschool.  He is humiliated, harassed and beaten by three upper classmen, and he thinks the authorities intentionally look the other way.  A deep resentment starts burning inside of Horace, with a bitterness that threatens long-term trouble.  He doesn’t realize that his instructors look at him as “a natural”, with the talent to be one of the great swordsmen of all time.  Horace alienates his friends, including Will, and then they face life-threatening danger together.  Bigger trouble lies ahead as rumors of war whisper through the intelligence community, and Will joins his master in facing the dangerous beasts called Kalkara that are slaying the military leaders of Araluen.

Will begins as an orphan, a common place to start in this kind of adventure, and ends up in battle, a common place to go.  However, a story does not have to be original to be good!  I like the way the relationship between Will and Horace develops, because friends do butt heads and have hard feelings, and sometimes these things really cement a true friendship.  Although a medieval fantasy, these young men face struggles real kids might face.  I thought many parts of the story were realistic, not overly contrived. Good adult characters add a lot to the story.  Most of the adults in this story act logically and honorably, and show patience and understanding in training the young people.   The Ranger’s description of the Battlemaster is choice: “He’s got a little more up top than the average bush and whacker.”  This adventure would appeal to boys in the 9 to 12 age range.

Language: 0

Violence: 2

Sexual Content: 0

Adult Themes: 1

Title: Which Way To The Wild West?  Everything Your Schoolbooks Didn’t Tell You About America’s Westward Expansion

Author: Steve Sheinkin

Illustrator: Tim Robinson

Ratings Explanation

Violence: The Alamo, a massacre of many various Indian tribes and buffalo.  Many Chinese immigrant deaths accompanied the railroad expansion through the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range.

Adult Themes:  The advent of the Indian Reservation.

Synopsis

An entertaining, captivating and completely digestible book on America’s Westward Expansion.  The search for gold and land led to a hard scrabble rush for wealth.  There were many casualties that accompanied the American Westward Expansion.

Sheinkin, formerly a textbook writer, collected stories: good, funny, amazing, inspiring, surprising, and disgustingly true stories. He has succeeded in writing an entertaining, captivating and completely digestible story of America’s Westward Expansion.  I loved this book!  I really enjoyed the last chapter, “What Ever Happened to….?”

©2010The Literate Mother

Language: 0

Violence: 2

Sexual Content: 0

Adult Themes: 2

Title: King George – What Was His Problem?: The Whole Hilarious Story of the American Revolution

Author: Steve Sheinkin

Illustrator: Tim Robinson

Ratings Explanation

Violence: The Revolutionary War.

Adult Themes: War.

Synopsis

An entertaining, captivating and completely digestible revolutionary war history book.

Sheinkin, formerly a textbook writer, collected stories: good, funny, amazing, inspiring, surprising, and disgustingly true stories. He has succeeded in writing an entertaining, captivating and completely digestible revolutionary war history book.   I laughed aloud when reading, ” Dawes and Revere (Paul) had a quick snack (you have to eat, even in the middle of famous historical events), Captain John Parker got the Lexington minutemen together on the town common.”  A snack amidst the start of The American Revolution?  I just don’t think of historical figures being concerned with eating.   I highly recommend this book.

©2010The Literate Mother

Language: 0

Violence: 2

Sexual Content: 0

Adult Themes: 2

Title:  Two Miserable Presidents

Author: Steve Sheinkin

Illustrator: Tim Robinson

Ratings Explanation

Violence:   The Civil War.

Adult Themes:  War, death, and deplorable conditions for soldiers and P.O.W.’s.  Jefferson Davis’ five year old son slipped off a balcony to his death.

Synopsis

An entertaining, captivating and completely digestible civil war history book.

“War is cruelty.  There is no use trying to reform it.  The crueler it is, the sooner it will be over.” – William T. Sherman

Sheinkin, formerly a textbook writer, collected stories: good, funny, amazing, inspiring, surprising, and disgustingly true stories.  He has succeeded in writing an entertaining, captivating and completely digestible civil war history book.  I highly recommend “Two Miserable Presidents – The Amazing, Terrible, and Totally True Story of the Civil War”!  My sixth grader is currently held hostage by this fabulous book!

©2010The Literate Mother

Language: 1

Violence: 0

Sexual Content: 0

Adult Themes: 1

Title: School of Fear

Author: Gitty Daneshvari

Ratings Explanation

Language: Derogatory language and name calling such as loser, portly, chubby, ugly beast, creep and chunky funk are used.  Lulu speaks disrespectfully to people in authority.

Adult Themes: Mr. Munchauser has a gambling problem and is always trying to bet.

Synopsis

People are scared of many things.  For some people, the fear gets out of hand and begins to rule their lives, becoming a phobia. That’s how it is for Madeline, Theo, Lulu and Garrison.  Each has an uncontrollable phobia.  Madeline is deathly afraid of bugs, Theo is petrified of dying, Lulu is scared of confined spaces and Garrison is terrified of deep water.  Luckily, there is a place for just such children –   The School of Fear.  The School of Fear is “an exceedingly exclusive program run by the elusive Mrs. Wellington; it is actually so select that few people are even aware of its existence.”  Things are not always as they seem though, and the four 12-year-olds are in for some interesting and even frightening experiences!

This was such a fun read!  I found the whole book so amusing, I even laughed out loud  (which really is something for me). Theo was by far my favorite character.  I loved him!  There is a new phobia listed at the beginning of every chapter which is funny.  I’d share it with whoever was closest to me.  Amid all the humor were deeper messages too.  Don’t judge a book (or person) by its cover.  Helping others will help you forget your own fears and problems.  And finally, most problems (or phobias) are not miraculously cured.  Instead it takes time and effort and will likely be a life long journey.  Here is my favorite quote from this book:  “It is a rather lamentable fact that few can call upon courage with the expediency they can fear.”  I think the recommended age range for this book is spot on.  I am now happily passing this book onto my kids.

Language:  0

Violence:  1

Sexual Content:  0

Adult Themes:  1

Title:  A Whole Nother Story

Author:  Dr. Cuthbert Soup

Ratings Explanation

Violence: Captain Jibby’s hand was once eaten by a tiger (and was replaced by a Swiss Army Knife with multiple, useful tools.)  The “Coats”–referring to the men in suits chasing after the Cheeseman family–use guns to threaten Captain Jibby.  The Coats kidnap Ethan, the father, and his son Gerard at gunpoint.  A monkey accidentally shoots his spy partner in the leg with a banana-shaped gun.  Captain Jibby rams his bus into a chain link fence that one of the Coats is climbing.  Captain Jibby stabs a Coat in the shoulder with his knife-hand.

Adult Themes:  Mrs. Cheeseman was poisoned and killed by the evil men who want her husband’s time machine.

Synopsis

Ethan Cheeseman is a scientist/inventor who has developed a super-secret time machine.  The problem is, the secret got out and now a whole slew of dirty government spies and evil thugs all want a piece of it–or actually, the entire thing.  This means Mr. Cheeseman and his three children, who are all “smart, pleasant, witty, attractive, polite, and relatively odor-free” are constantly on the run, moving from city to city and barely staying in one place long enough to make any friends.  The evil “Coats” will stop at nothing to get their hands on the time machine, even poisoning Mrs. Cheeseman, who dies before the story begins.  But this clever family is resourceful and quick, eluding the Coats at nearly every turn, changing their names with each move (half a chapter is devoted to recounting their long string of hilarious pseudonyms) and relying on their trusty, hairless, clairvoyant dog Pinky, who warns the family when evil is near.  Along the way, they meet and make friends with the odd members of a traveling circus sideshow and a quirky cowboy poet.  The story is narrated by Dr. Cuthbert Soup, “founder of the National Center for Unsolicited Advice”, and–you guessed it–he doles out short tidbits of advice on everything ranging from tattoos (“avoid getting one at all costs”) to dealing with ghosts (“listen to them carefully”) to squash recipes (“eat doughnuts”).

We read this one as a family, and there were several places where I found myself laughing so hard that my kids had to wait for me to catch my breath before continuing!  An entertaining, offbeat, and clean adventure, one that everyone will heartily enjoy.  I hope this debut novel from “Dr. Soup” is not his last.

Language: 1

Violence: 1

Sexual Content: 0

Adult Themes: 1

Title: Moby Dick (Campfire Graphic Novels)

Author: Herman Melville, adapted by Lance Stahlberg and illustrated by Lalit Kumar Singh

Ratings Explanation

Language: one instance each of hell and damn

Violence: Whalers hunt and kill whales. Moby Dick destroys the Pequod and Captain Ahab is dragged under the water.

Adult Themes: Vengeance

Synopsis

Out of money and anxious to see the “watery part of the world”,  young Ishmael decides that his next adventure must be on a whaling ship. Pairing up with his new friend Queequeg, they sign up to sail on Captain Ahab’s ship, the Pequod. Ahab leads his crew on a marine adventure to destroy Moby Dick, the greatest white whale ever encountered.

Having never read Moby Dick, I enjoyed getting the highlights of the story. My two boys got a hold of this graphic novel before I did and both read it in a day. An 80-page version, as opposed to the over 600 page version, makes this classic story accessible to much younger readers. My hope is that when my boys are required to read the original at some point in their educational future, they will be less daunted having had this introduction to Moby Dick.

I liked the style of  Singh’s illustrations. Captain Ahab looks crazy with revenge while he is hunting Moby Dick and I loved the depiction of Queequeg, a tattooed harpooner from New Zealand.

Language:  1

Violence:  2

Sexual Content:  0

Adult Themes:  1

Title:  Artemis Fowl

Author:  Eoin Colfer

Ratings Explanation

Language:   Swearing includes four uses of  “damn” and several uses of a swear word in fairy language that is not translated, “D’Arvit.”  There are mild ongoing insults between characters and verbal sparring.

Violence:  We see magical creatures fighting humans and bodies fly into walls, shattering bones.  There is one battle including gun shots to a troll, “serrated ivory” talons piercing a human’s chest, blood matting the Troll’s fur, a human paralyzed, the troll thinking about eating a human.  The troll is crippled with blows by a mace and then hand-to-hand combat.  There are several incidents of highly explosive dwarf flatulence.

Adult Themes:  Artemis is a youthful criminal from a criminal family.  His mother has no control of Artemis, takes a lot of sleeping pills, and has been bedridden since her husband disappeared, losing her sanity.  A fairy is corrupted by alcoholism.

Synopsis

Artemis Fowl is a 12-year-old criminal mastermind from a legendary family of criminals.  His father is missing, possibly killed, and his mother has lost her sanity.  In addition, the family fortune has been largely lost, and Artemis sets out to restore it.  This is the story of  “his first villainous venture”—a scheme to kidnap a magical creature and hold it hostage for a ransom of fairy gold.  First, he deviously acquires “The Book,” which tells the rules of the magical world.  Then he abducts a fairy who is out of magic for the moment.  A team from the “Lower Elements Police,” or LEP, is dispatched to rescue her.  Having knowledge of fairy operations, Artemis and his trusty bodyguard Butler are one step ahead of the fairy folk for most of the conflict.  The situation escalates to a life-or-death battle of wits, brawn, and technology, which concludes with a clever turn of events.  In the fairy world we meet sprites, leprechauns, centaurs, goblins and others of a magical persuasion, and learn about fairy technology.  The book includes a secret message along the bottom of all the pages, and the reader can either break the code themselves or get help online.

This fantasy speeds along on quick repartee, interesting technical inventions and unexpected plot twists.  Some of the characters that started out as  “just plain bad” turned out to be more “human” than expected, and I found myself wincing, hoping that Artemis would not betray his loyal servants.  His concern for his mother and loyalty to friends surprised me and added a satisfying depth to the story.  The part about dwarves eating dirt and bodily “processing” the dirt as they tunnel, with lots of powerful flatulence, was definitely directed at young boys.  There was suspense and risk and lots of humor.  It’s a fun adventure for the 9- to 12-year-old but interesting enough for younger teens as well.

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: 1

Violence: 1

Sexual Content: 1

Adult Themes: 2

Title: My Double Life

Author:  Janette Rallison

Ratings Explanation

Language: Reference is made to a “stream of swear words”.

Violence: There is yelling and face slapping.

Sexual Content: Discussion on making out and kissing. There is some kissing.

Adult Themes: Alexia is raised by a single mom and doesn’t know anything about her dad. Kari has gambling debts and is a shop-a-holic. She enters a rehab program.

Synopsis

Alexia lives with her mother and grandmother with no knowledge of her father. People are always telling her that she looks just like the pop star Kari Kingsley. Then when a random picture of Alexia finds its way to the internet, she is offered a job as a double for the famous singer. Alexia’s mother has always warned her away from celebrities and this is no exception. Going against her mother’s warnings, Alexia travels to California to work for Kari Kingsley. Alexia realizes that Kari is actually her half-sister and that they share the same father, a singing legend. Alexia’s biggest wish is to meet her father, but pretending to be something or someone you are not isn’t easy and can lead to problems.

This was a fun book to read. It was light, easy reading with some humor and wit that made me smile. I appreciated the way Alexia deals in kindness to people with her words and her actions, especially when put in positions where she could become greedy, demanding and rude. I would say this book is appropriate for ages 12 and up.

No sexual content or foul language

*Guest Post*

Christie H. is a high school English teacher currently pursuing her Master’s degree. She is the mother of 5, grandmother of 1 and a very dear friend. As part of her studies, she is enrolled in a course exploring Young Adult literature. Thanks Christi, for contributing to The Literate Mother.

Title: The Trumpeter of Krakow

Author: Eric P. Kelly

1929 Newbery Medal Winner

The Trumpeter of Krakow, set in medieval Poland, is the story of Joseph Charnetski, a 15 year old Ukarinan boy traveling to Krakow after his family’s home and lands in the Ukranie are destroyed. Joseph’s father Pan Andrew Charnetski is a nobleman-farmer and is related to the nobleman Pan Tenczynski of Krakow. Pan Andrew hopes to find and settle with his relative but learns that he has been killed by bandits within the city. Pan Andrew is carrying with him a great treasure that he has given an oath to return to the King of Poland. Pan Andrew, his wife and son Joseph find themselves homeless and friendless in a town filled with bandits, intrigue, and history. Through a variety of unusual events, the Charnetski’s find lodging and employment as the Trumpeter of Krakow, with particular help from the scholar-priest Jan Kanty and the Alchemist Pan Kreutz and his 15-year-old niece Elzbietka .

The treasure they are carrying is known to the Bandit Button-Face Peter. Through their cunning and loyalty to each other and their beloved Poland, Pan Andrew and Joseph endeavor to protect the King’s treasure and the city of Krakow.

The Trumpeter of Krakow is filled with adventure, and a deep nationalist loyalty that motivates all of the heroic characters. It is written in a rather formal style compared to recently published Young Adult Literature but the formality only adds to the nobility of the characters. The characters are inviting and provoke compassion and empathy. One particular element in the book is the alchemy discussed throughout and character discussions about the sorcerer’s stone and the Great Tarnov Crystal that allows whoever is holding it to see what they want most. Harry Potter buffs will recognize these story elements.

Language: 1

Violence: 2

Sexual Content: 0

Adult Themes: 2

Title: Plain Kate

Autor:  Erin Bow

*This review refers to an Advanced Reading Copy. Plain Kate will be available September 2010.

Ratings Explanation

Language: One reference to Diety.

Violence: The book’s premise demonstrates a town’s cruelty to witches—burning at the stake, cutting off ears and hair, and drowning. The Roamers believe Kate is a witch and has brought evil with her. They imprison and try to burn her. Kate’s friend, Drina, is treated cruelly, as well as Drina’s mother, Lenore, due to their witchcraft abilities. Many people die from the sleeping death caused from the ghost’s touch.

Adult Themes: There are references to menstruation. There are descriptions of blood-letting by wrist slashing. Linay has evil desires to mass-kill a town to avenge the death of his sister Lenore, a witch.

Synopsis

Plain Kate, a young orphaned wood carver, lives in a land where superstitions run rampant. The people believe charms bring good luck and witches are to be feared and destroyed. Now there is a mysterious, evil curse that is bringing famine, fear and a sleeping death through a heavy, moving fog over the land. Cast out of her town on rumors of witchcraft, lonely Kate trades her shadow for the wish of her heart—the companionship of a talking cat. Little does she suspect that the albino stranger, Linay, who bargains for her shadow, wants it for an evil purpose. For Kate’s shadow can bring life back to the dead. And Linay plans to avenge the death of his sister—a witch who has been burned and drowned by the townfolk. Lonely Kate travels with a band of Roamers as she gains and loses friends, and experiences the anxiety of slowly losing her shadow. Linay rescues her from near tragedy amongst the Roamers, only to use her again to keep the ghost alive and moving toward the town. Plain Kate knows that since it is her shadow and blood that has kept the fog-driven curse alive, it is only she who can bring a stop to the evil before the whole town is destroyed.

While books about witchcraft, curses and rampant superstitions are not my favorite genre of literature, Plain Kate has a compelling storyline that keeps the readers interest piqued.

Language: 2

Violence: 0

Sexual Content: 1

Adult Themes: 3

Title: Walk Two Moons

Author: Sharon Creech

1995 Newbery Medal Winner

Ratings Explanation

Language: “Lordy”, OMG, helluva, and several swear words.

Sexual Content: Ben and Sal kiss, Phoebe’s mom kisses The Lunatic. The word “sex” is used twice.

Adult Themes: Sal’s mother looses a baby and Sal feels responsible. Following the still birth, her mother has two operations and says, “They took out all my equipment.” After losing the baby, her mother goes to Idaho and doesn’t come back. Sal feels abandoned. Phoebe’s mother disappears for a couple of weeks. Phoebe is upset and worried since they don’t know where she has gone and when, or if, she is coming back. Death of a loved one.

Synopsis

One Spring morning 13-year-old Salamanca Tree Hiddle’s mother boarded a bus headed for Idaho, promising to return before the tulips bloomed. Now the tulips have long since withered and her mother has not yet returned. Determined to bring her mother home where she belongs, Sal embarks on a cross country journey with her endearingly eccentric grandparents.

To pass the time (and listen to Gram and Gramps less), Sal “spins the yarn” of her friend Phoebe Winterbottom’s missing mother, the lunatic, and the cryptic notes left on the Winterbottom’s doorstep. Sal’s journey of discovery, loss and love intertwine with Phoebe’s story, producing a moving story within a story.

This is our latest read-aloud success story. When the kids are begging for one more chapter over and over each night, it is obviously a winner.

One of my favorite things about Sharon Creech is that she can really turn a phrase. One of my personal favorites said by Gram, “Being a mother is like trying to hold a wolf by the ears. If you have three or four – or more- chickabiddies, you’re dancing on a hot griddle all the time. You don’t have time to think about anything else. And if you’ve only got one or two, it’s almost harder. You have room left over – empty spaces that you think you’ve got to fill up.” Gram also says, “Huzza, huzza” when she likes something. I just might adopt that one into my own vocabulary.

Our family laughed, cried and worried through this story, and loved every minute of it.

Language:  0

Violence:  2

Sexual Content:  0

Adult Themes:  1

Title:  The Tales of Beedle the Bard

Author:  J.K. Rowling

Ratings Explanation

Violence:  Witchhunters of the Middle Ages seek to persecute, imprison, or behead witches and wizards in one tale.  In another, a wicked warlock kills a maiden he woos to steal her beating heart and replace his own with hers, then dies in the process.  In another tale of three wizard brothers, one brother dies when his throat is slit; another kills himself. 

Adult Themes:  Typical unethical behavior of witches and wizards seeking to gain control over others.

Synopsis

This book is a short collection of five fairytales from the magical world of Harry Potter.  The tales were supposedly written by a 15th century wizard named Beedle the Bard (a sort of magical version of Hans Christian Andersen), and include extensive commentary by the late Hogwarts Headmaster Albus Dumbledore.  The commentary is often longer than the tales themselves, but very tongue-in-cheek and well-written.  So now the “Muggle” reader can enjoy such familiar tales to the wizarding world as “The Warlock’s Hairy Heart” and “Babbitty Rabbitty and Her Cackling Stump.”  Like traditional fairytales, virtue is prized and wickedness is condemned; those who deserve to come to a bad end generally do.  However, unlike Muggle children’s fairytales in which magic often lies at the root of a person’s troubles (a spell has been cast on our heroine by a wicked witch, for example), these tales are meant to teach young wizards and witches that magic can cause as much trouble as it cures.

This is an enjoyable read for any fan of Harry Potter.  My favorite tale of the five was “The Fountain of Fair Fortune,” in which three young, clever witches seek to relieve themselves of their sufferings and trials by entering the magical curing waters of the fountain, but in the end solve their problems through their own wit and wisdom.

Language- 0

Violence-1.5

Sexual Content-1

Adult Themes-0

Title: Princess of Glass
Author: Jessica Day George

Violence: One boy punches another boy in the jaw.  Poppy pulls out a pistol and points it.  Hot glass is poured over feet and it really hurts.

Sexual Content: “And Dickson Thwaite kissed me…”  He lowered his eyelids in a flirtatious manner.  Poppy has a very nice figure.  There is a kiss on the lips.  She “kissed him soundly.”

Synopsis

In this sequel to Princess of the Midnight Ball, Princess Poppy sets off to the kingdom of Breton as part of an exchange program.  After being cursed to dance every night with her sisters, Poppy swears never to dance again.  Instead she entertains herself with playing cards at every ball.  Then Poppy meets a handsome prince and a friendship begins.  But,  a servant girl shows up at the balls dressed in elaborate and beautiful gowns and seems to enchant everyone, including Poppy’s handsome prince.  Because of Poppy’s history with curses and magical enchantments, she can see through what is happening to everyone when the servant girl is around.  Poppy is determined to find out who and what is behind the curious happenings and hopefully save the heart of the prince for herself.

I always enjoy a new retelling of an old story.  This was a very interesting take on the Cinderella story.  I loved that this book was clean and appropriate for the target reading level.  My 12-year-old daughter loved this book.  Poppy has a no nonsense sort of attitude that I found amusing.   I enjoyed her personal journey back to something that she realized she loved but had lost while going through a difficult time in her life.

Language-0

Violence-1

Sexual Content-1

Adult Themes-0

Title:  A Posse of Princesses

Author: Sherwood Smith

Ratings Explanation

Violence: There is sword training. Many kids carry around swords and knives. Princess Rhis is held as a hostage in a tower with guards watching her. People are ready to fight, but peace agreements are made.

Sexual Content: The girls talk about flirting and kissing several different times. Rhis remembers kissing the cooks nephew. There is a kiss at the end of the book.

Summary

Rhis is the youngest princess of a small but wealthy kingdom called Nym. She loves writing ballads and dreaming away in her tower room. She is invited along with many other princes and princesses to a coming of age party for Lios, the Crown Prince of Vesarja. Princess Rhis has never been to such an event and is excited and wary. She meets new people and makes new friends. In the process she learns much about herself and the lessons of life. Rhis and her new group of friends band together for an adventure to rescue a princess who has been abducted.

I really enjoyed reading this book and I am happy to say that as soon as I finished it, I handed it to my 12 year old and said, “you can read this book!” Princess Rhis displays many typical 16 year old traits, but her heart and actions are kind and good. I loved her story. It is sweet and innocent. Rhis learns about friendship, politics, magic and love. Here are a couple of my favorite parts of the book. “People are surprising, she thought, even the ones you think you know.” “Why is it that the prettiest flowers don’t have the prettiest scents? The nicest scents seem to belong to the smallest blossoms. Or the plainest. And that wonderful one over there, with the blue and lavender petals, which I think the prettiest plant in the garden, smells like moldering grass. Phah!” “I don’t know, but I suspect it’s because the big, bright ones don’t have to compete so hard for the attention of the bees and butterflies. The little ones put out the powerful aromas to get their share of attention. A lot like people.”

©2010 The Literate Mother

Language:  0

Violence:  2.5

Sexual Content:  0

Adult Themes:  2

Title:  Peter and the Shadow Thieves (Starcatchers Series, book 2)

Author:  Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson

Ratings Explanation

Violence:  The pirates on Mollusk Island kidnap the island chief’s daughter.  It is briefly mentioned that Slank (one of the “Others”) killed and ate Little Richard while lost at sea.  In London, Peter runs into a man who beats runaway children; Peter is attacked by a street vendor who sells birds and has captured Tinkerbell, then arrested by a policeman for hitting the bird seller.  The Others kidnap Molly’s mother.  A servant girl working with the Others tries to stab Molly with a kitchen knife.  At the Tower of London, Molly tells Peter the story of two princes who were locked up, beaten, and murdered in the Tower by their cruel uncle.  Mr. McGuinn, a fellow Starcatcher, is killed when he falls from a stone stairwell.  In the final battle for the starstuff, both Peter and Molly’s father are shot by the Others (both recover.)

Adult Themes:  Peter is arrested and sent to jail, where he encounters several other boys (street urchins) who have been sent there “to rot.”  Boys who have been arrested are seldom set free again, but generally face a lifetime of imprisonment or hardship (very Dickensian).  When Molly’s mother is kidnapped by the Others and held for ransom, Molly’s father must choose between surrendering the starstuff to the evil powers or saving her life.

Synopsis

In this sequel to Peter and the Starcatchers, Peter and his gang of Lost Boys now live on Mollusk Island and gamefully spar with Black Stache (now nicknamed “Hook” by Peter & co.) and his fellow pirates.   But the day a different ship arrives on the island bringing Slank, the noseless man Nerezza, and a dark, creepy figure called Lord Ombra in search of the magical starstuff, Peter smells trouble.  When Ombra and his men learn the starstuff is in London, they sail off, and Peter decides he must head to England to warn Molly and her family before the evil men get there first.  He stows away on Ombra’s ship unseen, then flies off in London with Tinkerbell to find the Aster family.  London does not receive Peter kindly, and he is cast into jail and Tinkerbell kidnapped by a bird seller before they can even blink.  They escape, of course (the ability to fly can come in handy) and eventually reach Molly, but not before the eerie, inhuman Lord Ombra kidnaps her mother for a starstuff ransom.  Ombra steals people’s shadows (and their souls), reads their thoughts, and turns them into emotionless robots.  But Peter, Molly, Tink, and even a young George Darling team up to combat the nefarious shadow-thieving Others and ensure that the starstuff does not fall into their filthy hands.

This sequel-to-the-prequel proves just as satisfying as the first, but has a different tone.  There is less swashbuckling and pirate jargon, as Hook and his crew on Mollusk Island take a back seat to the main storyline set in the streets of Dickens-era London with the spooky Lord Ombra, whose shapeless figure can creep under doorways and suck up people’s shadows without warning.  Famous London landmarks (the River Thames, the Tower of London, Kensington Gardens) make brief but shining appearances in the story, with the final showdown between good and evil being set in farm country at a very familiar, “stony” location.  The authors even have James Barrie (Peter Pan’s creator) make a clever cameo in one scene.  Another entertaining and adventurous read.

Language: 3

Violence: 3

Sexual Content: 1

Adult Themes: 0

Title: The Unusual Suspects (The Sisters Grimm, Book 2)

Author: Michael Buckley

Ratings Explanation

Language: Insults and name calling are prevalent throughout this book.  “Dirty little snot face, horse breath, you are as slow as you are ugly, ugly freak, big goon, numbskulls, idiot, stupid, fat boy” and so forth.  (There are way too many to list.) In one place a teacher calls a student a worthless fat body and then says, ”I bet you didn’t forget breakfast.  Everyone can see that.”  The teacher calls all the students morons.  Someone “mumbled a bunch of cuss words Sabrina had never heard before.”  There is talk of barfing and farting.

Violence: Ms. Smirt pinches the girls repeatedly.  Sabrina and Daphne find Mr. Grumpner dead.  They see his “bloodless purple face.”  People are attacked and chased by a frog girl.  Then they are chased by killer bunnies.  Sabrina hits a monster in the head with a shovel.  There is a “sound of ripping flesh” and then a bloody knife.  Monsters capture people and attack Sabrina.  Sabrina breaks her arm and is violently thrown against the wall.  Puck and the Big Bad Wolf fight.  “I’m going to kill you.”  The school explodes in flames and smoke.

Sexual Content: Ms. Smirt tries to flirt.  Daphne says, “You are in love with her.  You want to kiss and hug her!”  Someone gives Snow White “a huge kiss on the mouth.”

Synopsis

In this second book of the Sisters Grimm series, Sabrina and Daphne continue to help their grandma solve mysteries in the small town of Fairyport Landing.  Fairyport Landing is the town where the Everafters  live.  Everafters are actually fairy-tale characters who fled Europe to escape persecution.  Settling in the little river town almost two hundred years ago, they now use magical disguises to live and work alongside their normal neighbors.  Sabrina and Daphne start school and find Snow White as a teacher and the Pied Piper as the principal.  When the kids find a teacher dead, they have a new mystery to solve.  Sabrina continues working to find which Everafter is holding her parents captive. She becomes increasingly angry and distrustful of every fairy-tale resident.  Her anger takes center stage in this book and fuels the fire of the villains.  Literally.

I find I have much to say about this book, but if I say it all, I may reach epic levels.  The good:  pictures, silhouettes at the beginning of each chapter and a fun storyline.  I really do think the ideas behind these books are good.  In the first book I loved all the vocabulary lessons given because the younger sister, Daphne, didn’t understand some words.  This happened much less in this book, which I was sorry about.  I love the magic mirror.  He’s my favorite character.  He shows you what you want if you ask in a rhyme.  He also keeps all the magic “stuff” organized and under lock and key.  There are many things I didn’t like.  I did not like all the name calling and insults.  Do kids really need to hear that?  I especially did not like all the references made about “chubby” kids.  If I were a child who was overweight, or even felt overweight, this book would make me feel bad.  I guess the problem I have is that all the insults and name calling are supposed to be funny but the reality is, words like that do hurt.  Especially when coming from teachers or other role models.

Now, here is something I can totally relate to.  “When one wakes up to find a giant hairy spider crawling on one’s face, one should be allowed to throw a hissy fit.”  (I completely agree with this!)  Next is my favorite line from the book.  “Of course the Big Bad Wolf does yoga, why did I even bother to ask?”

Language:0

Violence: 2

Sexual Content: 1

Adult Themes: 2

Title:  Angel on the Square

Author: Gloria Whelan,  National Book Award Winner

Ratings Explanation

Violence:  Mentions of assassinations, beatings of peasants and animals, wounded soldiers, amputations, suicide,  and murder.

Sexual Content:  Rasputin tries to take advantage of a palace maid but is caught by the princess and her friend.

Adult Themes:  The setting of the story takes place during the revolution of Russia.  This brings with it many difficult issues such as war, death of loved ones, suffering of the poor, and murder and suicide because of the stress.

Synopsis

Fourteen-year-old Katya Ivanova lives in St. Petersburg, Russia shortly before the country’s revolution.  She is the daughter of the Empress’s lady-in-waiting and a special friend to the royal family’s youngest daughter, Anastasia.   Katya’s father and uncle were both killed in the last Russian war.  Her uncle’s son Misha is now under her mother’s care.  He is a young teenager, lured by local college students’ opinions of how poorly the government is being run.  Misha occasionally sneaks Katya out with him to see what life is really like outside of the royal palace.  He shows Katya a sweat shop employing children and women being beaten trying to get food for their families.  Katya returns horrified and determined tell the Tsar.  The royal family has become her family and she knows the Tsar would never allow such awful things to happen to his beloved people.  Before her confession, war breaks out with Germany.  Katya tells her mother instead, hoping she will have some influence with the Empress.  Her mother panics, knowing that Misha’s political opinions will not be popular and quickly enlists him in the army.  The war is long and takes a heavy toll on the Russian people.  Revolutionists begin to rise up and take control. Bitter peasants want to overthrow the Tsar.  The royal family is exiled to Siberia, and Katya and her mother go with them.  They are imprisoned in a home there where they have no contact with the outside world.  As the revolution progresses, funds are cut off from the Tsar and the royal family is taken back to St. Petersburg to face their new leaders.  Katya and her mother return to their estate only to find it burned to the ground.  They decide to stay, and with the help of some old servants, fix up a small hut to live in.  Misha returns from the war and finds them there.  He asks Katya to join him  and return to the city to help their country find peace and democracy.

I was touched by Katya’s story.  It was interesting to see the Revolution from an aristocratic point of view.  How true to life the story was I don’t know, but it was disheartening to see the royal family who loved and cared for each other and did want their country to be great, destroy their country because they were so far removed from their people and their day to day struggles.

Language: 3

Violence: 3

Sexual Content: 2

Adult Themes:  3

Title: The Princess Bride

Author: S. Morgenstern, William Goldman

Ratings Explanation

Language: There is one reference to deity in the Princess Bride itself, but several during Goldman’s storyline interjected throughout the novel or during his editing comments.  Also, two other “major” swear words are used.   There are a couple of derogatory comments referring to the Spanish race.

Violence: With sword fighting between Inigo and the “man in black”, a fight between the giant and the “man in black”, and the revenge sword/knife scene between Inigo and Count Rugen, there is plenty of action.  There is also a kidnapping, a planned murder of the bride, and the use of clubs.

Sexual Content: This mainly occurs in the sequel, “Buttercup’s Baby”.  Buttercup reminds Westley that even though they have “true love”, they have only kissed.  They engage in dialogue discussing the answer to the question, “What else is there?”  Also, Goldman becomes infatuated with Morgenstern’s daughter who is using her feminine charm to entice Goldman to sign legal papers regarding manuscripts.

There is one scene where Count Rugen’s wife lustily looks at Westley in the Princess Bride.

Adult Themes: There are descriptions of Westley’s torture in the Zoo of Death by the prince and Count Rugen. Brandy is drunk excessively by Inigo.  Wine and poison by iocane powder are used during the “battle of wits” between “the man in black” and Vizzini.

Synopsis

The Princess Bride is S. Morgenstern’s classic tale of true love, high adventure, pirates, princesses, giants, miracles, fencing, and even some wild beasts.  That’s something for everyone to love!   The original 1000 page story was edited down to 300 by Hollywood screen writer, William Goldman.  The 30th anniversary edition begins with lengthy introductions of how Goldman’s father read the book to young William and why he felt the need to abridge the novel. This edition also includes an abridged version of a Princess Bride sequel, “Buttercup’s Baby”.  Goldman wrote the screenplay for the 1987 movie.  That is why the movie and the book are nearly one and the same (dialogue and all).

The beautiful peasant, Buttercup, loses her true love–Farm-Boy, Westley.  Devastated, she reluctantly agrees to marry Florin’s Prince Humperdinck.  Hoping to start a war with the neighboring country of Guilder, the Prince arranges for Buttercup to be kidnapped by mercenaries.  His plan is foiled when Buttercup is rescued by a mysterious pirate, “the man in black”.  She is returned to the palace, unwillingly marries the Prince and then is saved by the same group who captured her in the first place.  During her adventure she meets Vizzini, a criminal philosopher, Fezzik, a gentle giant, and Inigo, the revengeful Spaniard who seeks to kill the six-fingered Count Rugen, second in command to Prince Humperdinck.

Who doesn’t love a fairytale full of sword fighting, villains, implausible rescues and, most importantly, the greatest motive for heroism—true love?  Girls are magnetized by the power of “true love”.  Boys feed off of the action, the torture in the Zoo of Death, and the feats of revenge.  Or, that’s how it worked out for my kids. Additionally, we all loved the quirky characters.  Of course, when I finished the book, I had to re-watch the movie. But remember, even if Goldman tries to convince us otherwise, “The Princess Bride” is fictitious, as are the “European” countries of Florin and Gilder.

Language: 1

Violence: 3

Sexual Content: 0

Adult Themes: 1

Title: The Last Olympian (Percy Jackson & the Olympians, Book 5)

Author: Rick Riordan

Ratings Explanation

Language: “gods” used as an exclamation, e.g., “Thank the gods!”

Violence: A large ship explodes, killing many, including a friend of Percy. Percy takes on an entire army in Hades and single-handedly destroys them all. A full-scale battle in Manhattan with Percy and the other half-bloods battling Kronos and his army. In the battle, Percy tries to wound, not kill, the half-bloods who are on Kronos’s side. Destruction of many monsters. Annabeth is stabbed and another beloved half-blood is killed in battle.

Sexual Content: Percy and Annabeth kiss.

Adult Themes: Strained relationships between the gods and their half-blood children. Some are willing to give their lives in order to advance their cause.

Synopsis

In this last installment of the Percy Jackson series, Percy and his friends from Camp Half-Blood prepare for the final battle against Kronos and  his ever-growing army. While the gods are busy fighting the monster Typhon, who is advancing across the U.S., Percy and his army must defend Manhattan and Mount Olympus. Percy finally learns the entire prophecy surrounding his 16th birthday and realizes the gravity of it. It is very possible that he will not survive the fight against Kronos, the Lord of Time. Surrounded by those still loyal to the gods, Percy leads the army in this final conflict.

This was definitely my favorite book of the Percy Jackson series. Percy has always been the kind of hero I like to read about, but his loyalty, strength and bravery were extra-apparent in this book. I especially enjoyed the setting of Manhattan as, coincidentally,  my first visit to The Big Apple coincided with finishing this book. Being there made the descriptions of the city so alive I half expected to see monsters and Greek demi-gods rounding every corner.

My three readers ages 13, 10 and 8 all love this series. The level of content (in all 4 areas that we rate) remains constant throughout the series. I find that an advantage since in some series the content escalates with each book, making it inappropriate for younger readers to complete a series. Overall, I honestly enjoyed Percy and his adventures.

Language: 1

Violence: 3

Sexual Content: 0

Adult Themes: 2

Title: On Etruscan Time

Author:  Tracy Barrett

Ratings Explanation

Language: A common swear word used twice.

Violence: Vision of a boy after he was beaten, bruised and bleeding, about to become a human sacrifice.  Scene cut out as the knife is coming down.

Adult Themes:  History of human sacrifice to gods briefly discussed.

Synopsis

Eleven-year-old Hector reluctantly accompanies his mom on a trip to Italy for the summer.  She was asked to interpret ancient writings for an archeological dig of an Etruscan site.  Hector finds a companion in one of the archeologists who suggests that he become his apprentice.  Hector’s first find is a strange rock with the symbol of an eye on it.  He shows the archeologist, who claims the rock is not Etruscan and must have been dropped by a tourist.  Hector hangs on to the rock anyway, for a souvenir.  That is when things take an interesting turn.  When Hector holds on to the eye rock, he finds himself traveling back in time to when the Etruscans inhabited the area.   He meets a twelve-year-old boy named Arath, who is the son of the current priest and next in line to become a priest.  His uncle Cai, however, is a jealous man and wants Arath dead so that he can inherit the religious position himself.  Arath knows his life is in danger and begs Hector to help him.  Hector is forced to return to the present site where unfortunately, nothing has been found to impress the sponsors of the dig. They are threatening to close down the operation. With the help of his eye rock, Hector’s  ‘intuition’ leads him to find a few interesting Etruscan artifacts  which helps to keep the crew motivated.   Shortly afterward, Hector is brought back to the past where he tries to learn more about Arath’s situation.   He knows he does not have much time to stop his evil uncle from killing him.  Torn between two worlds, Hector’s summer is suddenly turned into a time traveling adventure where he must find a way to save his new friend and keep the site from shutting down.

An interesting plot that really made me want to travel to Europe to do a little digging myself.  I enjoyed Hector who was unassuming and awfully normal but brought into the middle of a great adventure.  The idea of human sacrifice, especially involving children was hard to think about.  Although not described in great detail,  I would steer sensitive readers away.

Language: 1

Violence: 2

Sexual Content: 2

Adult Themes: 1

Title:  Once Upon a Marigold

Author: Jean Ferris

Ratings Explanation

Language: The name of deity used. Name calling.

Violence: Some fighting with arrows and swords. Queen is forced off balcony and falls to the river far below. Queen threatens to kill her daughter and the king to gain power. The queen poisons the king to gain control over him.

Sexual Content: A scullery maid forces a kiss upon Christian. Babies born out of wedlock.

Adult Themes: Desire to rule a kingdom no matter the cost to family and others.  Dysfunctional family relationships.

Synopsis

Christian is adopted by a troll, Edric, who lives in a crystal lined cave in a forest. The young boy grows up learning the ways of troll life and inventing contraptions from things left behind on the forest road. One of these contraptions is a telescope with which Christian enjoys watching the inhabitants of the castle across the river. As he grows older, Christian becomes more unsettled and wants to see and be a part of the outside world. With Edric’s permission, he leaves the cave hoping to find a job at the castle.  Christian finds a job helping the castle housekeeper. This presents him with the opportunity of getting to know the young princess he has seen for years only through a lens.  He finds Princess Marigold quite enchanting. She loves the simple things in life like reading, telling awful jokes, and playing with her dogs. She is very lonely however, because of a curse put upon her at birth. Marigold can read the thoughts of anyone that touches her. No one dares to touch her and rarely even talks to her. Christian is not afraid of this and finds Marigold fascinating,  simple and charming. Unfortunately, the queen wants Marigold married so that she can take over the kingdom. Christian struggles with his emotions as he watches his new love being courted by neighboring royalty. Things get exciting when Marigold’s forthcoming marriage is announced. Christian finds himself in jail, Marigold’s sisters are locked up and the king is being poisoned. Christian must prove he is not a traitor, rid the kingdom of their evil queen, find a way to save his true love and live happily ever after.

This was your predictable fairy tale with many quirky twists and turns to keep you guessing how the heroes would ever manage to live happily ever after. Christian even manages to re-invent royal life by introducing p-mail, vegetarianism, and one ear piercing.

Language: 1

Violence: 1

Sexual Content: 1

Adult Themes: 1

Title: Beauty: A Retelling of Beauty and the Beast

Author: Robin McKinley, Newbery Honor Author

Ratings Explanation

Language: This may not even rate for some but, the word “damning” used as a verb in the following sentence:”To a certain extent this was damning me with faint praise…”

Violence: Talk of desire to kill the magician that cast the spell.

Sexual Content: Beauty’s sister is advised to get married and start a baby. Beauty is kissed by a boy at a dance.

Adult Content: Beauty’s sister loses her fiance in a shipwreck. Beauty is offered ale by the villagers that she has helped. Parents threaten their children with stories of monsters taking them away if they are not obedient.

Synopsis

Beauty’s wealthy family has come to financial ruin after her father’s ships are destroyed by disease and storm.  A shipyard worker offers the family a home with him back in his native village.  The desperate yet grateful family accepts the offer despite rumors of magic being practiced in the area.  The family adjusts to their new country life and do quite well for themselves until their father’s fateful journey.  After being lost in a snow storm, Beauty’s father stumbles across an enchanted castle in the nearby woods.  The invisible servants care for his every need.  After resting, he prepares to finish his journey home.  On his way out of the gates he notices a most beautiful rose garden and decides to pick one for Beauty.  This enrages the castle’s owner, a beast who up until now has remained unseen.  He accuses the father of being ungrateful and demands that either he or one of his daughters returns within the month to stay with him forever as payment.  Upon returning home, Beauty’s father tells his story to his daughters.  Beauty insists that she will be the one to return.  After an emotional debate upon the matter, Beauty gets her way.  The rest of the story is fairy tale history as Beauty and the Beast discover real love in each other and live happily ever after.

One of my all time favorite books!  I read it as a young girl and twice as an adult.  McKinley’s words are beautifully enchanting and  quickly bring you into this fairy tale world.  I only wish that the ending wasn’t so quick. McKinley has written a sequel to this book called Rose Daughter which I haven’t read yet.

Language: 1

Violence: 1

Sexual Content: 0

Adult Themes: 1.5

Title: Ruby Holler

Author: Sharon Creech

Ratings Explanation

Language: 2 instances of “Lord” as an exclamation. Florida uses words like “putrid” and “stupid” throughout the book.

Violence: Several foster families mistreat Dallas and Florida. Mr. Trepid, who runs the orphanage they live in, smacks them when they misbehave.

Adult Themes: Dallas and Florida’s mother abandons them as babies. They genuinely want a family to call their own, but their behavior always lands them back in the orphanage. Because of their experiences they have a general distrust of adults. A young boy dies while living in the orphanage and Dallas thinks it is his fault. Mr. Trepid is dishonest.

Synopsis

13-year-old twins, Dallas and Florida, have lived in the Boxton Creek Home for Children all of their lives, and according to the proprietors,  Mr. and Mrs. Trepid, cause much more trouble than they are worth. They want more than anything to find a family, but after a long string of unsuccessful foster home experiences which included digging a well, being locked in a dark, damp cellar, and defending themselves against unwelcoming foster siblings, they have all but given up hope.

Then one day Tiller and Sairy walk into the Boxton Home looking for a couple of teenagers to accompany them on their next adventure. Florida is to join Tiller on his trip down the Rutabago River and Dallas will help Sairy find an exotic bird on the island of Kangadoon.  As this unlikely family gets to know and understand each other, Florida and Dallas are surprised to learn that adults can be trusted and that they are worth loving.

This is the second time our family has read Ruby Holler aloud and it was just as good the second time. We all love this sweet book in which Florida and Dallas expect the worst from Tiller and Sairy, but are terribly disappointed. These sweet, older parents teach instead of scold and show patience instead of anger when the twins misbehave.  I love Creech’s writing style and the hilarious way the twins mix up words. One of my favorites comes from Florida, “She wished she’d paid more attention in health class, when that nurse had come in with a rubber dummy and showed how to do that artificial perspiration stuff.”

Recommend this one to your kids, and then treat yourself to it as well.

Language: 1
Violence: 3
Sexual Content: 0
Adult Content: 1

Title: The Messenger
Author:  Lois Lowry

Ratings Explanation

Language: Matty quotes Lady Macbeth, “Out damn’d spot!  Out, I say!”  He also quotes Macduff, “O hell…”

Violence: References are made to Matty’s childhood of being abused and beaten bloody by his mother.  A man from Village is found dead.  He has been mutilated by the forest and it is described. Seer’s story is told of being found in the forest with his eyes gouged out and left for dead.   Matty cuts his leg and heals it himself.  The forest is evil and attacks Matty and Kira.  Branches and vines cut them like knives,   dripping sap burns their skin, leaving sores that weep and swell.  Vines try to strangle them, insects attack them and rocks fling through the air.

Adult Content- There are references to child abuse and government oppression.

Synopsis

In this final book, following The Giver and Gathering Blue, Matty lives in Village with Seer, a blind man who took him in after escaping an abusive home.  People in Village eventually receive a true name, and Matty hopes that his will be Messenger.  Things are changing though, in Village, in Matty, and in the dark forest.  Matty discovers he has a special power to heal others but isn’t quite sure how to use it.  People in Village are changing and not for the better.  Where they were once kind and welcoming, they are becoming selfish and mean.  They want to build a wall to keep new people out.  The dark forest is becoming increasingly sinister and foreboding, killing people.  Matty must make a final trip through the forest as a messenger to others.

This book has so many layers and levels, I think.  I often found myself drawing parallels between the world we live in and the world in this book.  The forest is evil and scary!  The book  builds in suspense because you just know something really bad is going to happen.  I’m a girl who loves a happily ever after ending.  I want to feel good and content at the end of a book.  That didn’t happen for me with this book, but I will say that the story was well written and evoked emotion in me.  This book would be best when read and discussed with your child, or as a book club read.  A quote from this book, “there were communities everywhere, sprinkled across the vast landscape of the unknown world, in which people suffered.  Not always because of beatings and hunger, the way he had.  But from ignorance.  From not knowing.  From being kept from knowledge.”

Language: 1

Violence: 1

Sexual Content: 1

Adult Themes: 2

Title: Gathering Blue

Author: Lois Lowry

Ratings Explanation

Language: Woman dyes threads in a “pot of piss”

Violence: Kira’s father recounts the story of when he was attacked by a man, beaten up and left for dead. His attacker slashed his face, blinding him.

Sexual Content: “Others would be coupling tonight, creating new people.” p.18

Adult Themes:  Kira was born crippled. When she was a baby the leaders of the village wanted to take her away to “give her back to the earth,” but her mother fought to keep her. Kira’s mother dies, leaving her alone in the world. People are generally unkind to each other in the village. No one helps each other, even Kira’s uncle doesn’t offer any assistance when her mother dies. Parents treat their own children poorly, slapping them, penning them up and yelling at them.

Synopsis

In this companion novel to The Giver, Kira, a young, crippled girl, is left to fend for herself after her mother’s death. In a society where the weak are cast aside, or worse, Kira makes a plan to rebuild the hut she and her mother  lived in and make her own way in their unforgiving village. After a confrontation with the fiercest woman in the village, who wants Kira’s land for her own, Kira is assigned a defender from the Council of Guardians. Having discovered her exceptional talent for embroidery, The Council brings her to  live in the Council Edifice where she has plenty of food, running water and a bed. These are luxurious accommodations compared to the living conditions of the village. There she meets a new friend, Thomas, who is a young, gifted carver of wood. Kira learns that her responsibility, in exchange for food and shelter, is to restore the elaborate robe worn by the Singer who, once a year, sings the village’s ancient history. The story is told on the robe through intricate designs and Kira is to tell the future of the village through her art.

While Kira enjoys the advantages of living in the Edifice, she begins to realize that she, Thomas, and Jo, the tiny girl who will be Singer one day, have been “collected” for their artistic abilities, making the Edifice start to resemble more of a prison than a haven.

I enjoyed this book far more than The Giver. While not the focus of the story, Kira’s disability is handled beautifully. She is never embarrassed or bitter about her lot in life. “Mother said pain made me strong,” states Kira. She is determined to be an influence for good and to change the future of her village. Although The Giver and Gathering Blue are companion novels, there isn’t any connection between the stories until the end when a boy is mentioned who might, or might not, be Jonas. I will be interested to see if they fit together in The Messenger.

Language-0
Violence- 2
Sexual Content- 1
Adult Themes- 1

Title: Crown Duel
Author: Sherwood Smith

Rating Explanation

Violence: Meliara and her brother lead an uprising against the King of the land. There is training for war using weapons like swords and arrows. The king’s men are victims of taunting and exploits. Meliara is caught in a trap and hurt. She is captured and put in prison. There is war and fighting. Flauvic is turned into a tree by magic.

Sexual Content: There are a few kisses between Meliara and Shevraeth.

Adult Themes: Magic and sorcery are a part of this book as well as war. Meliara is given a drink that unknowingly makes her drunk.

Synopsis

Meliara and her brother promise their father on his deathbed that they will defend their people against a greedy and evil King. Although her intentions are good, Meliara’s plans don’t always go according to her desires. Her people are ill-prepared for the battle which they undertake. Meliara finds herself caught, hurt and a prisoner to the King. Unexpected allies emerge and a battle is fought. In the fragile peace that comes next, Meliara finds herself in the royal palace where a very different sort of battle is taking place. She must learn a new way of fighting that involves more wit, words and secrets than she has ever known. Meliara decides she cannot trust anyone because friends and enemies look alike.

Meliara is the best sort of heroine. She is brave and strong, yet sometimes she bumbles things up, leading to some grand messes. Her character is believable, and I found myself really enjoying the tale that emerged in this book. I love the fierce loyalty that Meliara has for her people, her family and her land. She desires to honor the “covenant” made with the tree people. It took me a few chapters to really get into this book, but by chapter 8 I was hooked. I loved this book. I even forgot that I was supposed to be reviewing it and taking notes! I guess one of the best parts of this book for me was that I didn’t have to take many notes. It was a good, clean read. This book will make it on my favorites list, for sure. I would recommend 12 and up as a reading level for this book.

Language:  0

Violence:  1

Sexual Content:  0

Adult Themes:  1

Title: The Westing Game

Author: Ellen Raskin

1979 Newbery Medal Winner

Ratings Explanation

Violence:  One character, a teenage girl named Turtle, runs around kicking people in the shins.  Three small bombs explode (in a restaurant, in an elevator, and at a bridal shower) causing minimal damage and injury.  Discussion of how Mr. Westing may have been murdered (the premise is a murder mystery, after all.)

Adult Themes:  Samuel Westing, multi-millionaire businessman, has supposedly been murdered and multiple suspects are partnered together to solve the crime.  Mr. Westing’s daughter died years ago; some speculate drowning, some think suicide.  One character is disabled and in a wheelchair; light discussion of racism.

Synopsis

“I Samuel W. Westing declare this to be my last will and testament and do hereby swear that I did not die of natural causes.  My life was taken from me–by one of you!”

An odd assortment of people have been personally offered the opportunity to move into a new, swanky condominium development.  Once they’ve moved in, the residents of Sunset Towers discover that they have two things in common:  they are all potential heirs to multi-millionaire Samuel Westing’s paper products fortune, and they are also all suspects in his murder.  Now they have been brought together to have his cryptic will read to them and a puzzling set of clues dispersed to mis-matched partnerships.  Thus, the Westing Game begins.  The players include mothers, fathers, teenagers, a secretary, an inventor, a Chinese chef,  a doorman, a doctor, a judge, and a dressmaker (not to mention a bookie, a bomber, and a burglar).  They must work in pairs to solve the mystery, and the first pair to solve it wins the enormous fortune.  But since none of them appear to be related,  how are they all tied to Mr. Westing?  And why do all the clues, when put together, become the lyrics to “America the Beautiful”?

I dusted off this Newbery-winner from my childhood to read aloud to my youngest and discovered that, even as an adult, it requires serious attention to details to follow this clever mystery.  Young readers might want to take notes if they intend to solve the crime before the surprise ending.  The book tends to shift perspectives frequently during the narrative, which makes it somewhat confusing if you are reading it aloud (unless you are good at acting out several different voices, including Chinese and Scottish accents), but it is a very worthwhile and entertaining read.  A good introduction to the mystery genre for young readers.

Title: The Fairy Tale Detectives (The Sister’s Grimm, Book 1)

Author: Michael Buckley

Ratings Explanation

Language: There are many derogatory phrases and insults in this book.  For example:   loser, dirty little hooligan, incompetent boob, snot, goon, scum, mental patient, and you lumpy bag of foolishness.

Violence: Sabrina and Daphne are pinched by their case worker.  The girls are bitten by pixies and they bleed.  Three thugs block Grandma and the girls and threaten them with a metal pipe.  Grandma hits one thug with her purse while one of the girls kick him.  Mr. Canis holds two thugs up by the necks and then throws them to the ground.  A giant kidnaps Grandma and Mr. Canis.  Jack fires arrows at the Giant and Charming.  Jack cuts the dog and leaves him bleeding.   Mirror is beat up and bruised.  Mr. Canis fights with Jack and bites him.

Synopsis

Sabrina and Daphne Grimm find themselves in and out of foster care homes after their parents disappear, but then they are sent to live with someone who claims to be their grandmother.  The girls have always believed their grandmother to be dead, so they are quite shocked to find her not only alive, but full of information about a family history they never knew about.  Sabrina and Daphne are descendants of the famous Brothers Grimm, and they learn that the fairy-tales they wrote about are actually history.  The girls now find themselves in the middle of a fairy-tale mystery with a giant trying to destroy their home and new found family.   When grandma is taken by the giant, Sabrina and Daphne become the detectives, because that’s what Grimms are made for.

I loved the pictures throughout this book as well as the silhouettes at the beginning of each chapter.  That is one of the pleasures of reading childrens books.  I also really liked how the author uses the younger sister as a reason to explain and define larger words in the book that younger readers might not understand.  It’s like having a vocabulary lesson without even knowing it!  I could have done without the name calling in the book and the frequent insults.  There always seemed to be someone sticking out their tongue.  Overall though, a fun read.  I’m thinking this would be a fun series to read aloud with my 8 year old this summer.   I found this book to be pretty on par with the recommended age group.  My quote from this book is, “Fear can make people do terrible things.”

Language: 0

Violence: 2

Sexual Content: 0

Adult Themes: 1

Title: Tombs of Terror

Author: T. Lynn Adams

Ratings Explanation

Violence: A drunk man is murdered. 3 murders reported in the newspaper. All 3 had their throats slit. Severino points a gun at Jonathon. Terrorists kidnap Jonathon; they tie a bag over his head, hit him in the head and drag him away. Previous actions of the terrorists are related. They killed a man, a woman and her baby. They plan to torture and kill Jonathon. They shoot at Jonathon and Carlos as they make their escape. Jonathon is attacked in the hospital; he is poisoned and choked.

Although I wouldn’t call this violence, the creepy factor is high in Tombs of Terror. Jonathon falls into an ancient set of tunnels where hundreds of dead spiders fall on him. He also encounters mummies, skeletons, all kinds of icky bugs and booby traps meant to kill trespassers.

Adult Themes: Jonathon and his father have a rocky relationship. Peruvian terrorists kidnap Jonathon.

Synopsis

While accompanying his father on a research trip to Peru, Jonathon Bradford hears the fascinating story of the ancient Incas whose entire civilization vanished in one night to escape the invading Spaniards. Local legends abound concerning the accomplishment of their escape through a set of subterranean tunnels connecting many cities throughout modern-day Peru. But if these tunnels truly exist, wouldn’t someone have discovered them by now?

While descending a jungle trail from Machu Pichu, Jonathon discovers that the tunnels are all too real. In order to survive, he must learn to avoid the perils concealed in them, face the truth about himself and his father, and push his strength and determination to their limits.

I found the story of the Incas disappearance intriguing and enjoyed Jonathon’s transformation from boy to man. It made me want to do a little more research to find out what is really known about the tunnel system in Peru. I thought Adams did an excellent job of illustrating the differences between the predominantly privileged American way of life and the poor, difficult, yet proud life of many Peruvians. Tombs of Terror is creepy, but my 13-year old is lined up to read it next.

Language:  1

Violence:  2.5

Sexual Content:  1

Adult Themes:  2

 Title:  Peter and the Starcatchers

Author:  Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson

Ratings Explanation

Language:  A few instances of the word “damn”; typical derogatory pirate talk.

Violence:  A lot of talk of walking the planks, men being thrown overboard, and threats of slicing them up and feeding them to the sharks; the pirates smack each other around a lot.  Typical descriptions of pirate attacks on the open seas.  The natives on the Mollusk Island throw Peter and his friends into a pit to be eaten by a crocodile.  Mermaids viciously attack two seamen who, in turn, attempt to stab and kill the mermaids.  The boys beat up one of the seamen with coconuts.  Molly is held at knifepoint by a pirate.  Black Stache stabs a native in the chest and leaves him to die.  And quite a few other instances of pirates attempting to kill Peter, Molly, and other pirates.

Sexual Content:  Allusions to Mrs. Bumbrake, Molly’s governess, spending evenings in Slank’s cabin on board the ship.  Peter dreams he is kissing a mermaid and wakes to find it is true (she is actually breathing life into him); Peter sweetly thinks about kissing Molly and how “it doesn’t seem so bad”.  The pirates wantonly gaze at the sunbathing mermaids (who, being mermaids, are naturally topless but with very long hair discreetly covering certain areas.)

Adult Themes:  Mrs. Bumbrake (is she married?) getting cozy with Slank; an allusion to Peter being maltreated at a home for boys; common pirate behavior such as drinking rum into oblivion, ogling mermaids, stealing, plundering, pillaging, etc.  The sails on Black Stache’s pirate ship resemble an enormous brassiere.

Synopsis

In this clever ”prequel” to J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan, we learn all about what happened to Peter before we meet him on Wendy Darling’s bedroom windowsill.  The book begins with Peter, a 13 or 14-yr-old (even he’s not sure) and his fellow orphan mates being taken from St. Norbert’s Home for Wayward Boys in London and being placed aboard a ship, the Never Land, which unbeknownst to them will deliver them into servitude on a faraway island.  There he meets Molly Aster, an astute, pretty 14-yr-old girl who speaks with porpoises and confides in him about the contents of a mysterious trunk aboard the ship.  According to Molly, the trunk contains mystical, glowing ”starstuff”, star matter which falls from the sky and is quickly retrieved by a secret society called the Starcatchers whose job it is to keep the powerful stuff from falling into the wrong hands.  Starstuff gives anyone who touches it immediate joy, warmth, increased intelligence, and the ability to fly.  It can also transform fish into mermaids, but in the hands of the Others, its power can be used for evil.  Peter is instantly intrigued (and a little dazed by the lovely Molly) and vows to help her protect the starstuff from Black Stache, a notorious and greedy pirate whose ship is now in hot pursuit of the Never Land.  Inevitably, a storm shipwrecks everyone on a tropical island inhabited by savage natives and a monstrous crocodile.  Swashbuckling adventures ensue as Peter and Molly rush to find the trunk before the pirates do. 

As with all great children’s fantasy tales, this one indulges the adults, as well.  Its classic pirate dialogue (not too randy for the kids), clever storyline, and high-seas adventure will keep the pages of this novel turning.  The authors fill in many of the blanks from the original story (and the Disney cartoon) with delightful satisfaction.

Language: 1

Violence:3

Sexual Content: 2

Adult Themes: 2

Title:  Heir Apparent

Author: Vivian Vande Velde

Ratings Explanation

Language:  Three common swear words used.  Belittling of others because of their rank in society.  Sarcastic humor used for good and bad throughout the book.

Violence:  A group of activists, supposedly protecting children and families, storms an arcade gaming center, damaging equipment and placeing some of the gamers lives in danger.  In the game, the participant can virtually kill other characters as well as be killed which starts the game over.  There are many battles using weaponry from the middle ages (bow and arrows, daggers, swords, catapults, poisoning etc.) .  Many heads are cut off, throats are slit, and bodies stabbed.  A young boy is killed for poaching, a man’s head is crushed by a wagon wheel.

Sexual Content:  Mentions that sexual harassment is not allowed in the games.  A man sits so that he has a good view down the front of a woman’s dress.  One of the wizards, a female, uses her good looks and feminine charms to influence men around her.

Adult Themes:  Main character does not have a good relationship with her dad.  She is uncertain that dads in general are any good.  The story is based on total immersion gaming which requires the gamer to link their senses and memories to the gaming system.  A group of activists protest the gaming center saying its product is ruining children and families.  In the game, minors are allowed to ‘consume’ alcoholic beverages.

Synopsis

Giannine receives a gift certificate for her 14th birthday from her dad.  It is for a gaming center which offers Total Immersion Gaming, the latest fad in the gaming industry.  When she arrives at the arcade, she  encounters a group of protesting activists claiming to protect families and children from this new evil.   She decides to go in, despite the protests, and signs up to play Heir Apparent.  This game offers a medieval adventure where the gamer is chosen to be the late king’s heir and must gain the confidence of the characters in the kingdom in order to be to be crowned and win the game.  Shortly after Giannine is in immersion, the activist group breaks into the building and begins to destroy some of the equipment.  Because she has already been immersed, technicians cannot safely disconnect  Giannine out without risking damage to her brain.   In order to be released from the total immersion status, Giannine must win the game.   On her adventure, she meets a spiteful step family, odd wizards, a few untrustworthy advisers, rebelling barbarians and a giant dragon.  Giannine must learn how to win their favor and be crowned before time is up.  She is killed virtually in several attempts and must start the game over until she finally learns from her mistakes.  This is coupled with the pressure of getting through the game in a timely manner so that she can escape her total immersion before her real brain is destroyed.

This book is a unique mix of fantasy and future with a creative story line and characters.  I thought it was interesting to see the influence that each of Giannine’s  choices had as she returned to the beginning after being ‘killed’. Sarcastic humor was abundant throughout the book and was a little much for me personally.  Because of the violence, (even though it wasn’t ‘real’, ) I would recommend it for the older end of the grade 6-9 spectrum depending upon the sensitivity of your reader.

Title:  The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane

Author:  Kate DiCamillo

Ratings Explanation

Violence:  A cruel man kicks and yells at a hobo when he is discovered sleeping on a train.  The diner owner yanks Edward out of a little boy’s hands and slams the rabbit against the lunch counter, shattering Edward’s head.  Edward is nailed to a wooden stake and turned into a scarecrow, and the illustration of him resembles a crucifixion. Some of these themes and images may be disturbing for sensitive children.

Adult Themes:  A little boy’s father is an abusive alcoholic.  The boy’s younger sister dies, and he runs away from home.

Synopsis

In a house on Egypt Street there lives a beautiful china rabbit named Edward.  He dresses in the finest apparel and is adored by a little girl named Abilene.  But Edward thinks so highly of himself that he thinks very little of anything or anyone else.  Being loved by Abilene is fine as long as she doesn’t squeeze him so tightly that his clothes get rumpled.  One day they embark on an ocean journey, and Edward is tossed overboard by two careless boys.  There on the ocean floor he lays for some time, until a storm tosses him upwards and he is caught in the net of a fisherman who brings him home to his wife.  Thus begins an adventure for Edward of being lost and found over and over, from Abilene to the fisherman, from a garbage dump to a hobo, from the railroad tracks into the arms of a deathly sick little girl (who squeezes him very tightly), and all along the way, Edward begins to understand what it truly means to be loved and to love in return.  But will he ever see little Abilene again?

I read this book aloud to my little girl before bedtime, and each night after she fell asleep I would keep reading to find out what happened next to Edward.  Of course I knew he was just a pompous toy rabbit, but like Abilene, I loved him anyway and became engrossed in his journey.  The book is pure magic.  Edward is real not just to the reader, but to every character whose path he crosses in the book; the characters themselves are so sweet that it is heartbreaking to see Edward get separated from each one of them.  The ending gave me goosebumps.  A beautifully told story; it is, however, incredibly poignant and sad in many parts, which may be considered too heavy for very young or sensitive readers. That being said, it is still an extremely worthwhile read.

©2010 The Literate Mother

Language: 1

Violence: 2

Sexual Content: 2

Adult Themes: 2

Title:  The Book of the Maidservant

Author:  Rebecca Barnhouse

Ratings Explanation:

Language: One mild swear word.  The use of ‘damn’ and ‘hell’ in a religious sense.  Talking down to servants.  Belittling language used towards servants.

 Violence:  Johanna and company are threatened by mercenaries until they give them money.  Johanna’s mistress has a knife held to her throat.  Johanna is repeatedly hit by a large man for not doing her work to his expectations.  Johanna is attacked with a knife and forced upstairs by the man.  Another friend comes to defend her and is also threatened with a knife.  Johanna uses her dagger in self defense on a mercenary who is chasing her.  A young student slips on a rock while crossing a river and is seriously wounded.

 Sexual Content:  Mention of out-of -wedlock intimacy.  Allusions to sexual harassment towards servants.  Johanna’s mistress has a reputation of having several children by different fathers.  Johanna is forced upstairs by a pilgrim.  She is saved by a friend. A young married pilgrim traveling with her old husband flirts with a young student accompanying them. 

 Adult Themes:  Johanna’s mother dies in childbirth along with the baby.  Her older sister marries and Johanna is forced to become a maidservant  to a ‘holy woman’.  The servants are treated as less than people. 

 Synopsis

 Johanna is a maidservant of the well known holy woman Dame Margery Kempe.  Dame Margery hears the Lord speak to her daily and feels the pain and suffering of the Virgin Mary for her son.   Her gift, however, does not help her notice the pain and suffering of those around her.   When Dame Margery decides to go on a religious pilgrimage, she brings young Johanna with her to cook, wash, mend and care for the group of pilgrims she will travel with.  The journey brings many hardships, most of which arise from  the arguments between Madame Margery and her fellow travelers concerning her incessant preaching.  Relationships become so embittered that Dame Margery turns her back on the group and abandons them all, including Johanna.  The young maidservant is left on her own to find her way through foreign countries without any money, food or protection.  Johanna learns much from her adventures and in the end finds strength in herself and from the love of others.

  This book was inspired by the 15th century auto-biography of the real Margery Kempe.  These were hard times for women, especially the young and the poor.  An eye opening look for young readers at life in early England.

©2010 The Literate Mother

Language:  2

Violence:  1

Sexual Content:  1

Adult Themes:  1

Title:  The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate

Author:  Jacqueline Kelly

2010 Newbery Honor Award

Ratings Explanation

Language:  Profanity in many of Grandfather’s exuberant exclamations; Viola, the cook, tends to use “Jesus” and “Lord a’mighty” as exclamations.  A handful of “damns” and “hells” sprinkled here and there.

Violence:  Grandfather tells Callie about the horrors he witnessed during the Civil War:  amputations, mutilations, death, disease, burning bodies.

Sexual Content:  Calpurnia tells her best friend Lula what is expected of wives when they marry (“lots of kissing”); Callie learns how plants reproduce; some light discussion on the mating rituals of farm animals and other species in the wild.

Adult Themes:  Callie’s mother drinks Lydia Pinkham’s “tonic water” (which isn’t water) when stressed.  Grandfather smokes cigars and imbibes on occasion.  He makes several attempts to produce liquor from pecans in his laboratory and gives Callie a taste, which results in her fitful coughing and belching.

Synopsis 

It is 1899 in Fentress, Texas, and young Calpurnia Virginia Tate (known as “Callie Vee”), the only daughter of seven children in an uppercrust family, is soon to turn twelve.  There are certain expectations of a girl in this era, none of which Callie is living up to.  She is less than praiseworthy at knitting, sewing, cooking, or “deportment” (i.e.: posture and propriety).  What she cherishes is spending time with her Grandfather, inaugural member of the National Geographic Society, out in his shed or in his library studying and classifying plants and insects and learning about evolution (gasp!).  She is fascinated by science but realizes that because of societal constraints, she will probably never be able to realize her dream of becoming a scientist.  Callie’s mother is overly concerned with her only daughter’s preoccupation with Darwin and Dickens, but when she attempts to steer her toward more ladylike pursuits by giving her the book The Science of Housewifery for a Christmas present (a humorous and poignant moment in the story), Callie feels her ”life sentence [has] been delivered.”  Despite these impediments, Callie is a determined and charming heroine who knows her heart and ambitions.  The conversations she has and discovery she makes with her grandfather (a new plant species) are the highlights of the book.  When a new invention, the telephone, comes to tiny Fentress and the entire town turns up to watch its installation, Grandfather says to her, “Do you realize what this means, Calpurnia?  The old century is dying, even as we watch.  Remember this day.”  The book ends with the new century dawning, and the reader is left to wonder if Grandfather’s words will ring true not just for the passage of time, but for the future of our young lady scientist and her traditional expectations, as well.

A wonderful novel.  I relished watching the relationship between inquisitive little Callie and her grandfather blossom as she learned by his side about the world around her.  Lines like “I’d never fainted in my life, but I thought it sounded like an interesting experience,” and “It was too bad, but sometimes a little knowledge could ruin your whole day, or at least take off some of the shine” (upon seeing through a microscope all the miniscule creatures that inhabit her favorite swimming hole) made this book truly enjoyable and real.  Details that make the turn-of-the-century come alive are Callie’s first taste of Coca-Cola at the county fair and Grandfather’s infatuation with a new-fangled invention, the automobile.  A book you will recommend to your friends. 

©2010 The Literate Mother

Language:  1

Violence:   0

Sexual Content:  2

Adult Themes:  1

Title:  The Secret Language of Girls

Author:  Frances O’Roark Dowell

Ratings Explanation

Language:  Some profanity.

Sexual Content:  Typical 12-yr-old girl talk of kissing boys.  Marylin has a crush on her teacher, Mr. Kertzner, who has a crush on Marylin’s newly-divorced aunt.  At Marylin’s first boy-girl party, the kids play spin-the-bottle and must kiss whomever the bottle winds up pointing to.  Marylin wonders what it would be like to kiss so-and-so, etc.  Andrew asks Kate to “go” with him.

Adult Themes:  Kate’s dad suffers a heart attack.  Talk of Flannery hanging out with friends who smoke.  The girls have a seance at a slumber party.  Marylin’s parents are getting divorced.

Synopsis

Kate and Marylin are eleven years old and have been best friends for as long as they can remember.  But when a new girl named Flannery moves into the neighborhood and threatens to come between the two, their perfect friendship is put to the test.  Suddenly Marylin is thinking about cheerleader tryouts and boys, while Kate is still thinking about catching fireflies and baking cookies.  When Flannery chooses Marylin for her new BFF,  Kate is snubbed and begins to sit with the “nerdy” kids at lunch.  She meets Paisley, an off-beat world traveler who doesn’t seem to care what anybody thinks of her, even when she has a piece of food stuck to her shirt.  Kate suddenly sees the nice boy Andrew in a whole new light–it is she, not Marylin, who finds herself with a boyfriend.  Meanwhile, when Marylin makes the cheer squad and Flannery does not, it’s Marylin’s turn to be snubbed.  Marylin finds out that her parents are getting divorced and wishes she could talk to Kate about it, but now that she is part of the in-crowd, will she have the courage to reach out to Kate and renew their friendship?

I viewed this book from two angles, the first being that it portrays somewhat accurately the ups and downs of preteen life and all of its insecurities, peer pressure, and backbiting.  The second, however, is that I struggled to finish it because of these issues and a trite story line.  Was it because I’m not eleven anymore and no longer concerned with these problems?  I doubt it, but there may be some schoolgirls out there who see themselves in the characters and can relate.  Not on my “must-read” list, but an innocuous read; a pre-cursor to typical teenage romance novels.

©2010 The Literate Mother

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: 3

Sexual Content: 1

Adult Themes: 2

Title: The Battle of the Labyrinth (Percy Jackson & the Olympians #4)

Author: Rick Riordan

Ratings Explanation

Language: “Thanks the gods” used as an exclamation.

Violence: Empousi, monsters that are half vampire, exist to feed on the blood of young men. Percy slashes through one with his sword and she explodes. Another weird, disturbing monster, who is half woman and half dragon, attacks Tyson with poison swords. Percy battles a monster with 3 chests. He shoots an arrow through all three hearts, killing him. Monsters throw hot lava on Percy and his skin starts to burn. King Minos is completely bound with string and dies. A centaur is stabbed in the chest with a javelin. Percy is put in an arena to fight for the entertainment of monsters. He kills one monster and then fights another half-blood boy. He has the boy at sword point, but lets him go. He then fights another monster, killing him. Kronos’s army launches a full scale attack on Camp Half-Blood; there is a lot of fighting and many monsters die. A few campers are also killed in the battle.

Sexual Content: Annabeth is the the daughter of Athena and a mortal man. Athena was born out of Zeus’s head; born literally from thoughts. As Annabeth explains to Percy, “I was a brain child. Literally. Children of Athena are sprung from the divine thoughts of our mother and the mortal ingenuity of our father.” That’s as far as the explanation goes. Annabeth kisses Percy.

Adult Themes: Nico, son of Hades, summons the dead. His dead sister appears to him.  He also summons an army from the underworld to combat the monsters attacking Camp Half-Blood.

 Synopsis

This 4th book in the series starts with Percy scoping out another new school at orientation. He is attacked immediately by two monsters masquerading as cheerleaders, but with the help of his new mortal friend, Rachel Elizabeth Dare, who can see through the Mist, Percy escapes unscathed to Camp Half-Blood.

When the camp discovers that Luke is leading Kronos’s army there by way of Daedalus’s legendary labyrinth, Annabeth is called on a quest. She is to find Daedalus’s workshop, enlist his help and stop the progress of the advancing army. The quest team, consisting of Annabeth, Percy, Grover and Tyson, must first learn how to navigate the constantly changing labyrinth. Enlisting help in some unusual places, they find Daedalus, but it is too late; Luke’s army beat them to the workshop by an hour. Now the race is on to see who will reach camp first. Will Annabeth and Percy arrive in time to sound the alarm and help defend Camp Half-Blood? Or will Luke and his army destroy the camp as they have promised?

This has been my favorite book yet in the series. Percy is a flawed hero, bumbling things up regularly, but he is always loyal; he never wavers in his allegiance to what he sees as the right cause. He is unfailingly true to his friends, and never blood thirsty or vengeful. 

©2010 The Literate Mother

Language:  0

Violence:  0

Sexual Content:  0

Adult Themes:  1

Title:  Dear Mr. Henshaw

Author:  Beverly Cleary

1984 Newbery Medal Winner

Ratings Explanation

Adult Themes:  Leigh’s parents have recently divorced and his father is mostly absent from his life.

Synopsis

Dear Mr. Henshaw,

Guess what?  Today the school librarian stopped me in the hall and said she had something for me.  She handed me your new book and said I could be the first to read it.  Now I know Mr. Fridley isn’t the only one who notices me.

Leigh Botts is a sixth-grader with a lot of trouble on his mind.  His parents have recently split up, he and his mother have moved to a new town, and Leigh’s only friend at his new school seems to be the kindly custodian, Mr. Fridley.  He is angry at his father, a cross-country trucker who took the pet dog with him, seldom phones and usually sends his support payments late.  Does he even remember my name?  Leigh wonders to himself.  (He only ever calls him kid–even Mr. Fridley calls him son.)  And to add insult to injury, someone keeps stealing all the “good stuff” out of his lunch every day.  Then an assignment in English class comes along:  write a letter asking questions to an author.  Naturally, Leigh chooses Mr. Boyd Henshaw, who’s been his favorite author since the second grade.  What Mr. Henshaw replies just may help Leigh through this rough patch, gain him some perspective, and earn him a friend or two while he’s at it.

Written as a series of letters and journal entries (first “Dear Mr. Henshaw”, then “Dear Mr. Pretend Henshaw”, then just a date at the top of the entry), this book is a shift from Beverly Cleary’s usual light-hearted fare of children living on Klickitat Street and motorcycle-riding mice.  But as can be expected with Mrs. Cleary, her trademark sense of humor and realistic voice help paint an endearing portrait of a young boy coming to grips with himself and his emotions.  A wonderful and poignant book.

©2010 The Literate Mother

Language:  1

Violence:  2

Sexual Content:  0

Adult Themes:  2

Title:  Sounder

Author:  William H. Armstrong

1970 Newbery Medal Winner

Ratings Explanation

Language:  One instance of an offensive racial epithet.

Violence:  The boy’s father is gruffly and cruelly manhandled and chained when arrested; the men shoot the boy’s dog in the road; a somewhat graphic description of the dog’s suffering and injury; the boy is treated harshly when visiting his father in prison; he vividly imagines a cruel fate for the jailer; a detailed description of a bull being choked, strangled, and prodded to death.

Adult Themes:  The boy’s father steals a ham to feed his family and is arrested, imprisoned, and sentenced to hard labor for his crime.  As the story is set in the deep South in the late 19th century, social injustice and prejudice are a major theme in the book.  Also death, uncertainty, hunger, hardship, and pain are all addressed.

Synopsis

This is the story of a poor sharecropper’s son and his loyal companion, a coon hound named Sounder.  The boy’s father and Sounder come home night after night from possum hunting empty-handed.  But one morning, the delicious, sweet smell of ham and sausage fills their tiny shack; finally, the family will eat a real meal.  But then the sheriff and his deputies come to arrest the father for stealing.  The mother is quiet as he is dragged away; the children cry; Sounder breaks free, chases after the sheriff’s wagon, and is shot in the middle of the road.  The boy finds a shot-off piece of Sounder’s velvet ear in the road and puts it in his pocket.  (“He was going to put it under his pillow and wish that Sounder wasn’t dead.”)  Sounder disappears, presumably to die somewhere, and the boy is broken-hearted.  His mother tells him, “You must learn to lose, child. . . Some people is born to keep.  Some is born to lose.  We was born to lose, I reckon.”

Time passes.  Months after Sounder’s disappearance, the dog wanders back home.  He is as thin as a skeleton, missing part of his ear and head, blind in one eye, and limping on three legs.  He no longer barks.  He is a shell of his former, robust self.  The boy wanders from county to county in an attempt to find his father, who has been sentenced to hard labor.  Years go by and his father finally returns.  He is now crippled and limping from a mine blast, but he is home at last.  Sounder barks at his master’s return.  One day the boy’s father lays down to die in the woods, and soon thereafter, Sounder gives up the ghost.  The boy learns that hardship for his family is a way of life, but remembers something he read in a book, “Only the unwise think that what has changed is dead,” which he interprets to mean if a flower blooms once, it goes on blooming somewhere forever.

This is a powerful and moving book, subtle in its writing style yet deep in its nuances.  Names are left out of the story, and the characters are referred to as simply “the boy,” “the boy’s father,” and ”the woman,” lending them the universality of the common, oppressed spirit.  I found some parts hard to read because it was so heart-wrenching and, to be honest, depressing.   It might even be hard to bear for particularly sensitive children (i.e.:  the scene where Sounder is shot is painfully detailed), but it gives the reader a deeper understanding of the social injustices of the day.  A favorite line of mine:  The boy had heard once that some people had so many books they only read each book once.  But the boy was sure there were not that many books in the world.

©2010 The Literate Mother

Language:  1

Violence:  2

Sexual Content:  0

Adults Themes:  1

Title:  The Graveyard Book

Author:  Neil Gaiman 

2009 Newbery Medal Winner

Ratings Explanation

Language:  Use of the word “hell” to describe the underworld.

Violence:  The family of the main character (Bod) is murdered in their sleep at home.  Bod is hunted throughout the book by the evil character Jack.  Bod is kidnapped by ghouls and taken to their underworld.  Descriptions of their ghoulish activites and appetites (eating creatures and crunching bones).  Some of the ghouls are killed.  Bod meets a witch girl living in the graveyard who was drowned and burned.  Bod is locked in a storage closet by a pawn shop owner.  Bod forces himself into the dreams of the school bully to scare him.  The police pick him up and hit his guardian Silas with their car.  Jack returns and tries to kill Bod with a knife; he holds Bod’s friend Scarlett at knifepoint; Jack is killed by the Sleer, a creepy, snake-like creature.

Adult Themes:  Bod’s family is murdered when he is just a baby.  He must deal with growing up in the surreal world of the graveyard.  He is persistently hunted throughout the book by either the man Jack, the ghouls, or bullies at the neighborhood school.  The deaths of some of the graveyard ghosts are described (again, not in vivid detail).  Jack suffers a violent death in the end which Bod orchestrates.

Synopsis

Nobody Owens (“Bod” for short) is just a toddler when he is adopted by the ghost couple Mr. and Mrs. Owens, graveyard residents, after his family has just been murdered.  The entire graveyard of spirits help raise the boy, many of whom are reluctant to allow a living boy in their realm until they realize they may be his only hope for survival.  Bod is given the “Freedom of the Graveyard”, which enables him to see all the ghosts and to replicate some of their talents, such as “fading”(disappearing).  He is not allowed to leave the graveyard.  Another resident, Silas, a man who is neither dead nor alive, agrees to be his guardian and teach him skills he will need to survive one day in the real world.  As Bod grows, he becomes curious about why his family was killed.  He knows that one day the man Jack will come back after him.  Bod meets interesting characters who live in the graveyard, such as Liza Hempstock, a witch girl who was drowned and burned at the stake, and Caius Pompeius, the oldest resident who was buried in Roman times.  Bod’s only contacts are with the dead; he has no living children as friends until he meets Scarlett, a little girl who sometimes plays in the graveyard.  When she moves away, he is left with only his ghost friends again.

One day three ghouls arrive and promise Bod a better life, and he unwittingly travels with them to their underworld.  He then realizes he’s been kidnapped.  Miss Lupescu, a friend of Silas’s, enters the underworld as a werewolf and rescues Bod.  As Bod grows, so does his restlessness, and when Scarlett returns he agrees to leave the graveyard with her to solve his family’s murder mystery.  Unknowingly, the two of them are being helped by the kindly ”Jay” Frost, who is really the man Jack in disguise.  Mr. Frost tells Bod he can help him and they return to the home where Bod’s family was killed, now being rented by Mr. Frost.  He takes Bod upstairs and pulls out a knife.  Bod escapes and he and Scarlett go back to the graveyard to an underground crypt where the “Sleer” lives, a hideous snake-like creature with three heads that guards a treasure.  Jack follows them, is tempted by the treasure and is killed by the Sleer.  Silas erases Scarlett’s memory, she leaves, and Bod is left alone again.  As he grows older, he finds his ability to fade and see the ghosts weakening.  Silas tells him it is finally time for him to leave the graveyard and join the living, and Bod leaves, determined to see the world.

The murder of Bod’s family in the beginning of the book, though not explicit in detail, sets the overall tone for the book.  It is a somber yet fascinating story of a boy being raised by ghosts; there are no overtly disturbing images of death or violence.  But some children may be too sensitive for this book–I could see my youngest having nightmares of being kidnapped by ghouls–while others may enjoy the ghosts and other-worldly characters.  The graveyard characters are loving and gentle, not creepy.  You find yourself growing very fond of the mysterious Silas and rooting for Bod to survive and thrive. 

©2010 The Literate Mother

Language: 0

Violence: 0

 Sexual Content: 1

Adult Themes: 2

Title: The Thief Lord 

Author: Cornelia Funke

Ratings Explanation

Sexual Content:  Hornet falsely claims she is being molested/kidnapped by Detective Victor Getz, as he is following the orphans through the city.

Adult Themes:  Prosper and Bo are orphaned.  Their cruel Aunt Esther does not want Prosper at all.  She only wishes to adopt Bo, since he is a darling little boy.  The orphans would rather live in an abandoned movie theater than live at The Sister’s of Mercy Orphanage.

Synopsis

The Thief Lord is a story of two brothers, Prosper and Bo.  Prosper is twelve and Bo is five years old.  After the death of their mother, they run away from their cruel Aunt Esther.  Esther wants to adopt a perfect little boy, she wants Bo, and only Bo.  She wants to send Prosper to boarding school.  The boys flee to Venice, the magical city their mother told them about.  While orphans in Venice, they are befriended by a pack of orphans and their leader, Scipio a.k.a. “The Thief Lord”.  The Thief Lord provides them with shelter in an abandoned movie theater, The Stella.  They survive by selling possessions Scipio steals from the wealthy to a quirky and greedy shopkeeper, Ernesto Barbarossa.   The boy’s happiness is fleeting.  Aunt Esther hires a detective, Victor Getz to bring Bo back to her. Victor Getz finds Bo and Bo tells him where he lives.  Victor meets the owner of The Stella, Dottorre Massimo, and finds The Thief Lord is Scipio Massimo, Dottorre’s son.  Victor raids The Stella and is held hostage by the orphans.  They ultimately befriend Victor and he realizes that his heart has softened towards the orphans and he dupes Aunt Esther.

The Thief Lord’s services are in demand.  He accepts the job and enlists the orphans to help him steal a wooden wing from Ida Spavento, a famous photographer.  The orphans are caught by Ida Spavento as they try to steal the wooden wing.  Ida reveals the story of the wooden wing. The wing belongs on a magical merry-go-round that can make a child an adult and an adult a child.  They follow the buyer of the wooden wing, the Conte, to the island, where the merry-go-round is kept.  The Conte and Countessa ride and become younger versions of themselves. Scipio rides and becomes and adult.  Barbarossa crashes the party and rides, turning into a child, and breaks the merry-go-round.  Scipio cannot go home to his father as a grown man so he becomes Victor’s apprentice detective.  The orphans grapple with a horrid child Barbarossa. They don’t know how to rid themselves of him.  They help Barbarossa trick Aunt Esther into adopting him.  Barbarossa begins to steal from Aunt Esther and she sends him away to boarding school where he successfully bullies all the other children and forces them to call him, “The Thief Lord”.

We read this book aloud.  I really enjoyed reading this tale set in Venice.  Funke is a fabulous writer!  I could smell the sea air coming off the lagoon as we traveled through the canals of Venice with Scipio and Prosper. 

©2010 The Literate Mother

Language:1

Violence:2

Sexual Content:0

Adult Themes:0

Title:  How to Train Your Dragon Book 1

Author: Cressida Cowell

Ratings Explanation

Language: No swearing but several bits of name calling and taunting.   Many of their names are based on primitive crudeness (the Meathead Tribe, Snotlout, Duhbrain, Newtsbreath etc.)

Violence:   These young viking characters are all about the ruff and tumble lifestyle of their parents.  Lots of teasing, bantering and taunting.  A very large dragon has eaten an entire army of Roman soldiers, carts, horses and all.  The dragon also describes the best way to bone a human.   Live sheep are one of the dragon’s  favorite snacks because of their crunchy bones.  Two dragons take chunks out of each other during a fight.   A large dragon explodes after his fire breathing holes are plugged.  His innards are sprayed everywhere.

Synopsis

Hiccup is the unassuming hero in this book.  He is the son of the viking Chief Stoik but unfortunately, lacks the brawn and brutal manner that is so important in his culture.   As part of a right of passage, Hiccup must capture a dragon and prove that he has trained it.  This doesn’t turn out well. He comes back with the smallest, most common dragon that doesn’t even have teeth.   Discouraged, Hiccup talks with his grandfather Old Wrinkley who is trying his hand at predicting the future.  His grandfather tells Hiccup that there is hope and  that he will eventually become a hero.  Hiccup finds that using his brains can be just as important as using brawn.  He does eventually save his tribe from a gigantic sea dragon using his clever tricks.

A fun read for those that enjoy a quirky sense of humor.   There are silly illustrations and ink splots all through the book adding to its youthful appeal.  Hiccup is the true underdog hero that we all find ourselves rooting for.

©2010 The Literate Mother

Language: 2

Violence: 3

Sexual Content: 0

Adult Themes: 1

Title: The Titan’s Curse

Author: Rick Riordan

Series: Percy Jackson and the Olympians

Ratings Explanation

Language: Referring to the Olympian gods, “Oh my gods” and “thank the gods” used as exclamations. Percy and his friends visit Hoover dam, in jest they refer to the “dam bathroom, dam french fries, dam snack bar” and laugh about it.

Violence: A monster masquerading as a professor changes back into his true form and shoots poison darts at Percy, then Annabeth stabs the monster with a sword.  There is a fair amount of sword fighting in the book. A vicious, armed game of capture the flag. Thalia blasts Percy with electricity. Skeletons, under the direction of “The General”, attack Percy and his friends. They try to destroy the skeletons but they are able to reform. They are also attacked by a lion and they kill it with arrows. The skeletons shoot at them and hit Percy but he is wearing a bulletproof fur coat so he is not harmed. They stab the skeletons and they explode in flames. A giant pig destroys the skeletons, smashing them to pieces. A giant metal statue attacks them and a character dies trying to save her friends. A battle with Atlas using arrows, spears, javelins and swords. A character falls 50 feet off a cliff and his broken body lies on the rocks below. A biplane shoots machine guns at the monster army. A character dies from a dragon bite.

Adult Themes: Good vs. evil. One character is disowned by her family and her father is the cause of her death.

Synopsis

In the third installment of the Percy Jackson series, Percy and 4 others are off on a quest to rescue Annabeth and Artemis and thwart the dark plan of the rising Kronos. Traveling cross country from Washington DC to San Francisco, they again encounter several mythical monsters bent on stopping their progress. According to the oracle’s prophecy, this quest will only succeed with the ultimate sacrifice of one of their own.

I enjoy this series. Percy is a very likable hero, humble and flawed, but strong and brave too. All my reading-age children have read this series and loved it.

©2010 The Literate Mother

Language:2

Violence:3

Sexual Content:1

Adult Themes:3

Title: Red Scarf Girl

Author: Ji-Li Jiang

Ratings Explanation

Language: A few common swear words.  Taunting and degrading talk towards those who were accused of being non-revolutionists (teachers, parents, wealthy, elderly etc).  Signs were hung around the city claiming unlawful actions and wrong doing on the part of many innocent people.

Violence:  The Revolution caused many to look down on the wealthy regardless of age or health.  Many teachers, parents and elderly were pushed around and beaten to get a confession of wrong doings.  Those who were suspected of having different political views and opinions were tortured and beaten until they confessed, whether they were guilty or not. Some committed suicide rather than face a life of disgrace.

Sexual Content:  Teacher accused of having relations with a student.  Mention of a women who had several sexual relations outside of marriage.  Ji-Li has an admirer but wants nothing to do with him.  When Ji-Li’s home is searched they find her sanitary belt.  She is humiliated that nothing is kept private.

Adult Themes:  The Revolutionaries taught that political status comes before family.  Many young people were caught up in the allure of their Revolutionary leaders and disowned their families.  The Revolution was meant to bring new ideas and change to improve China.  All old traditions and anything alluding to them were to be destroyed.  The homes of many families were searched for photos, books, clothing, antiques etc. that reflected old China.  These things were confiscated and destroyed leaving many families in poverty.  Teachers were looked down on as corrupting the minds of the youth with old ways.  They were publicly disgraced and replaced with new Revolutionary-minded teachers.  Reverse discrimination from the poor to the wealthy was common.  The wealthy were publicly humiliated and made to work regardless of age or health to help them repent of their years of wrong doing.  Those who were suspected of different political views were subjected to verbal torture from family members and physical punishment from captors.

Synopsis:  When Mao Zedong launches China’s  Cultural Revolution, young Ji-Li’s world turns upside down.  She was top of her school class and highly recognized for her hard scholastic work.  Ji-Li comes from a well-to-do Chinese family with a history of wealthy landlord ancestors. The Revolution taught that all old culture must be abandoned and the wealthy blamed for China’s suffering.  Ji-Li’s father, the son of a wealthy landlord, is detained leaving the rest of her family living in constant fear.  Over the next few years, Ji-Li must decide whether to disown her ‘black’ family and join the Revolution or give up all she has worked so hard for to help her family.

I was deeply touched by Ji-Li’s story.  I have a better understanding of how an entire nation can be swallowed up in an idea that leads to their destruction.  The Revolution through a child’s viewpoint was powerful and eye opening.  I closed the book with an appreciation for our incredible freedom and an admiration for all of the heroes around the world that choose to follow their heart.  The author, Ji-Li, currently oversees projects that promote eastern and western relations.  She also shares her story in person with many students around the nation.  

©2010 The Literate Mother

 Language: 0

Violence: 2

Sexual Content: 1

Adult Themes: 3

Title: Fever 1793

Author: Laurie Halse Anderson

Ratings Explanation

Violence:  An old woman ,fearful of catching the fever, hits Mattie with her cane, knocking her to the ground.  The local doctor bleeds Mattie’s mother in hopes of curing her.  Two men break into the coffeehouse looking for food and money.  Mattie defends herself with her grandfather’s sword by wounding one of the men. The intruders injure her grandfather, causing his death.

Sexual Content:  Mattie admires a young apprentice named Nathaniel.  She wonders what he would think of her standing in the creek with her underclothes.  Mattie kisses Nathaniel on the cheek.

 Adult Themes:  Incredible devastation from the yellow fever epidemic.  Dead bodies are everywhere waiting for burial.  Many children are orphaned and many parents loose their children.  As the fever runs its course, the person can have violent fits, vomit blood, and sometimes go mad.  Mattie is with her grandfather when he dies.  She must figure out what to do with his body.  Mattie’s mother cannot be found.  She is left wondering if she is an orphan.  Some mention of the racial prejudice of the time.

Synopsis

A young teenage girl, Mattie Cook, lives above the coffeehouse run by her mother and paternal grandfather.  She spends her days avoiding chores while her mother works tirelessly with their African-American cook, Eliza.  Rumors have been spreading of a fever spreading through America’s then capital city, Philadelphia.  Shortly thereafter, her worn out mother contracts the disease and requests that Mattie be taken immediately to the country to avoid the plague.  Against her will, Mattie is escorted by her grandfather.  He becomes ill on the journey and although it was not yellow fever, frantic townspeople  forbid them to enter their gates.  Both are thrown from the wagon, leaving Mattie to care for her grandfather with no food or water.  While doing so, Mattie contracts yellow fever and is taken to a hospital.  She spends days suffering and eventually recovers.  She and her grandfather return home in hopes of finding her mother alive.  They find that the city is mostly abandoned.  Only a few people have remained, shut up in their homes suffering from the fever or trying to avoid it.  The smell of death and disease is everywhere and there are too many bodies to bury properly.  Wheelbarrows are used to carry the dead to a large mass grave.  Mattie’s mother is missing and her grandfather is still ill.  After a run- in with two thieves, her grandfather dies and Mattie must face life alone.  While searching for answers, she finds their old cook Eliza, who takes her in.  Mattie joins Eliza and the Free African Society in caring for the sick.  Mattie’s attitude towards work matures as she tirelessly serves the suffering.  Relief from the fever finally comes with the first frost and Mattie and the city begin to heal.

I heard recently that boiling water hardens eggs and softens carrots.  Trials have a similar effect on people’s hearts.  Reading this book was taking a step back in time when people were tried to their very core.  The story line grabbed me because Mattie Cook was human like the rest of us and decided to take the worst and do with it the best she could. 

©2010 The Literate Mother

Language: 0

Violence: 3

Sexual Content: 1

Adult Themes: 0

Title: The Two Princesses of Bamarre

Author: Gail Carson Levine

Ratings Explanation

Sexual Content:   Princess Addie and the Sorcerer Rhys kiss.  They profess their love for one another and marry.

Violence: The Gray Death kills many people.  The Kingdom of Bamarre idealizes their greatest hero in the epic poem Drualt.  Drualt is a dragon/monster slayer.  The epic poem contains descriptions such as, “”Two gryphons lay dead, Entrails spilling”.  The dragon, Vollys, hungrily devours the gryphons.  Vollys captures Princess Addie and keeps her prisoner.  Vollys blows fire on Addie’s skirt and burns her leg.  Addie then discovers a trunk filled with human bones.  Addie wields the sword, “Blood-Biter” and wounds the dragon.

Synopsis

Queen Daria succumbs to the Gray Death, leaving behind two young daughters.  Princess Addie is reserved and fearful.  Princess Meryl is brave and bold.  They are very different, but rely upon each other, and are one another’s greatest asset.  Brave Princess Meryl becomes ill with the Gray Death.  Princess Addie cannot believe that her strong sister is now facing an impending death.  Addie is terrified.  She knows she must find the cure for the Gray Death and she has just nineteen days before Meryl will die.  Addie overcomes her fear and sets out on a journey to find the cure.  Addie encounters spectors, ogres, gryphons and the dragon, Vollys, in her quest to save Meryl’s life.  Addie ultimately saves the Kingdom of Bamarre.

This is an enjoyable fairy tale.  Your young readers will enjoy reading of Princess Addie’s brave crusade.

©2010 The Literate Mother

Language: 0

Violence: 3

Sexual Content: 0

 Adult Themes: 2

Title: Invasion: The Story of D-Day

Author: Bruce Bliven

Ratings Explanation

Violence: Stories where soldiers are wounded and killed are mentioned often as factual consequence to war, not in gory detail.  Instances of field mines, sniper fire, drownings and other related causes  of death are mentioned.  Among the stronger stories are when a leader is shot through the cheek while giving his troops a motivational speech.  He continues his speech spraying blood as he speaks.  Many soldiers are overcome with fear and drown in the ocean or lay out in the open where sniper fire seriously wounds or kills them.  One leader is shot in the stomach while attempting to direct a tank into  position.

Adult Themes:   Many instances are related where fear overtakes young soldiers leaving them mentally and emotionally paralyzed and vulnerable to enemy fire.   These weak moments allowed opportunities for heroes to rise and take the spotlight as they lead their comrades on to battle.  Several instances where leaders had to make difficult decisions that could put several soldiers lives at risk.

 Synopsis

This book takes a look at one of the greatest invasions in our country’s history, D-day. The author includes insight into the risky plans of the allied forces and takes a look at some of the different missions carried out by thousands of courageous soldiers. The author also discusses some of the successes and setbacks the troops experienced along with stories of individual heroes that helped to turn the war around.

 Author Bruce Bliven did a fantastic job in describing one of our country’s important, historical moments.  His writing was very reader friendly even for the ‘non-war buff’ like myself.  I enjoyed his simple style.  It helped me to understand the bigger picture behind the D-day Invasion.  Also included are pictures of soldiers in action, as well as a translated letter from a German soldier describing his point of view of one of the paratrooper invasions.  There are other books in this Sterling Point Book series that take a look at other historical events in our nation’s history.

Language: 0

Violence: 2

 Sexual Content: 0

Adult Themes: 1

Title:  The Dark Hills Divide:  The Land of Elyon Book 1

Author: Patrick Carman

 Ratings Explanation

Violence: Pervis, a city guard, verbally belittles Alexa and destroys some of her personal property.  Two evil cats are killed after being crushed by bookcases.  A group of convicts joins together to take over the city.  Alexa hits a man in the leg with a fire poker.  The impact causes bleeding and a broken bone.  The same man admits killing Warvold, a city leader and friend to Alexa.  Alexa’s wolf friend attacks the man, causing further damage to the injured leg.  Alexa’s friend, Yipes, keeps the attacker at bay with a knife.

Adult Themes:  Alexa is with an important city official and friend when he dies. She describes the feeling of his cold bony wrists and cold clammy skin.  A boy with dwarfism is shunned by society and leaves the city to live on his own.  Prisoners are branded with letters indicating their crimes.    Alexa  spends some time in a prison, with rank smells and sounds, trying to find answers to her questions.

 Synopsis

Alexa, a small but clever twelve year old girl, visits the city of Bridewell every summer with her father, a political leader.  Bridewell and three nearby cities are surrounded by a high, stone  wall to protect the citizens from an unseen evil that lives outside of them. These walls have been there for as long as Alexa can remember and she has always wondered what lay beyond them.  One sad night after watching her old friend Warvold die suddenly, she finds a key in his hand.  Alexa takes it without telling anyone in  hopes that the key will help her find the answers that she has been looking for. This key and her curiosity lead Alexa to a map which shows a way out of the city and beyond its walls.  Alexa is determined to follow the map which leads to an enchanted land.  Here she finds a friend and guide in Yipes a dwarf.  Yipes introduces Alexa to the talking animals that inhabit this enchanted land.  These animals help her to find the answers she is seeking.  Alexa also discovers that Bridewell is in danger of being taken over by convicts filled with revenge for past wrongs.  Her courage and wit help to save the city and expose an unknown, powerful enemy.

I enjoyed this story, the first in its series.  Alexa was an engaging character, small for her age but full of curiosity and adventure.  Her friends Yipes the dwarf and Murphy the talking squirrel made unique supporting characters.  There are a few intense moments that are not overly graphic but could be intimidating to some young and sensitive readers.

Language: 2

Violence: 1

Sexual Content: 1

Adult Themes:0

Title: When You Reach Me

Author: Rebecca Stead

2010 Newbery Medal Winner

Ratings Explanation

Language: Around 10 instances of profanity. “Hell” used a hand full of times.

Violence: Sal is punched in the stomach and nose. A man is hit and killed by a truck.

Sexual Content: An innocent kiss.

Synopsis

Sal and Miranda, Miranda and Sal. That’s how it always was, until one day it wasn’t anymore. Best friends since early childhood, Sal and Miranda are inseparable, but one day Sal gets punched by another boy on the way home from school and walks out of Miranda’s life with no explanation. Then she starts receiving mysterious notes that seem to predict the future. The first note tells her that someone is coming to save her friend’s life,  but which one of her friends is in danger? How do all of the dots connect? Filled with emotion, this realistic representation of a 6th grader’s life in 1979 New York City will touch the heart of all kinds of readers.

I heard Nancy Pearl review this book on NPR one morning, voicing her opinion that it should win the Newbery Medal. With such an enthusiastic endorsement, I checked it out from the library and my 12-year-old promptly commandeered it, reading it in a few hours. It took me longer, of course, as I have much less discretionary reading time than she, but it was worth every minute. I thoroughly enjoyed this exceptional book.

Language: 1

Violence: 2

Sexual Content: 0

Adult Themes: 1

Title: Cryptid Hunters

Author: Roland Smith

Ratings Explanation

Language: A handful of profanities

Violence: Grace is kidnapped, tied up and help prisoner. Marty hits Butch in the head with a stick. Bertha ties up Butch. A dinosaur kills a person. Characters in peril.

Adult Themes: Grace and Marty’s parents are missing after their helicopter crashes in the Amazon. They go to live with their uncle.

Synopsis

The O’Hara twins, Grace and Marty, are attending boarding school in Switzerland when they learn that their parents have disappeared in the Amazon jungle. Whisked away to live with a mysterious uncle they never knew they had, they arrive on Uncle Travis’s private island in Washington state. Travis Wolfe is a cryptozoologist. He studies cryptids, mythical creatures, like the Sasquatch and the Lock Ness Monster, whose existence has not yet been scientifically proven. Uncle Travis has an excursion to the Congo planned, which does not include the twins, but the twins have plans of their own.

Literally falling into the Congolese jungle, Grace and Marty learn to navigate the dangers of the jungle while trying to find a dinosaur that may not be extinct. If that isn’t enough for the 13-year-olds to worry about, they also have to outsmart Travis’s enemy and cryptid hunter, Noah Blackwood and his henchmen, who are also looking for the dinosaur. Grace and Marty find out what they are truly made of in the jungle, they also find out who they truly are.

This was a fun read-aloud for our family. It is exciting and kept everyone engaged, and it has some interesting relationships as well. 

Language: 0

 Violence: 3

 Sexual Content: 1

Adult Themes: 3

Title:  Bud, Not Buddy

Author:  Christopher Paul Curtis

2000 Newbery Medal Winner

Ratings Explanation

Violence: Bud is beaten by his foster brother, Todd Amos.  He is threatened with a beating by razor strap from his foster mother, Mrs. Amos.  He is forced to apologize for antagonizing Todd Amos.  He is emotionally abused with threats of beatings.  Mr. Amos locks Bud in a shed for the night where there is a stain on the ground from the last foster child.  Bud alludes to previous beatings from his foster families.  He fantasizes about retaliation towards the Amos family with a shotgun he saw near the stove on his way outside.  

Sexual Content: Deza Malone holds Bud’s hand and kisses him. 

Adult Content:  Bud is subjected to physical and emotional abuse while spending time in foster homes and the orphanage.  Bud is picked up at 2:30 a.m.  by a stranger, Lefty Lewis.  Lefty gives Bud a ride to Grand Rapids, Michigan.  Lefty lets Bud know that he ought not be a young brown-skinned boy in Owosso.  A sign outside Owosso reads, “To Our Negro Friends Who are Passing Through, Kindly Don’t Let the Sun Set on Your Rear End in Owosso!”

Summary

Bud Caldwell is ten years old.  His mother dies when he is six years old and his life is forever changed.  Bud misses his mother and he has never met his father.  He leads the life of an orphaned boy in the 1930’s in Flint, Michigan. He encounters cruel foster families and has an extremely cruel foster brother, Todd Amos.  He beats Bud.  Todd blames the encounter on Bud, and claims self- defense.  Bud, while still bloody, is then forced to apologize to the Amos Family.  Mr. Amos locks Bud in the shed for the night.  Bud escapes after he is stung repeatedly by wasps.  Bud imagines taking a double barreled shotgun to the Amos Family.  He retrieves his suitcase and begins his journey to find his father.  He has a few “Herman Calloway” band flyers and a few rocks his mother gave him.  He carries these prized possessions everywhere.  He believes Herman Calloway to be his father.

Bud and his friend, Bugs, spend the night in a “Hooverville” near the railroad tracks and try to ride the rails out of Flint.  Bugs successfully leaps on the train, leaving Bud behind.  Bud decides to walk to Grand Rapids, Michigan to find his father.  A man, Lefty Lewis offers him a ride.  Bud takes the ride and is delivered to the front door of Herman Calloway’s pub.  Bud announces that he is Herman’s son.  Bud’s announcement is met with laughter.  Herman is an old man.  The band takes a liking to Bud and they allow him to stay and work for them.

Bud is actually Herman’s grandson.  Bud’s mother ran away from home as a teenager.  Bud is reunited with his grandfather and family.  Bud finds his way out of a dismal existence into a warm, loving environment.

 I enjoyed reading Bud’s story.  The passages detailing the abuse Bud endured were jarring.  Ultimately, this is a beautiful story of courage and redemption from a ten year old protagonist.  I highly recommend this book.

 ©2009 The Literate Mother

Language: 0

Violence: 1

Sexual Content: 0

Adult Themes: 1

Title: Call It Courage

Author: Armstrong Sperry

1941 Newbery Medal Winner

Ratings Explanation

Violence: Mafatu kills a shark, a pig and an octopus.

Adult Themes: Mafatu’s mother dies when he is very small. His father does not approve of him because he is a timid child and not brave like the other boys his age.

Synopsis

Somewhere in Polynesia is the island of Hikueru, where Mafatu lives with his father. While a young boy, Mafatu nearly drowned at sea and has been terrified of the ocean ever since. Now at 10 years of age, the other boys tease and taunt him because he won’t go out fishing with them. Mafatu’s father is the chief, and in a society in which bravery is prized, Mafatu can tell that his father is ashamed of his fear. The time has come for Mafatu to face his enemy, the sea. He ventures out in his boat knowing that he will either come back fearless, or he will not come back at all.When my 10-year-old son finished this book he announced, “I just finished Call It Courage and on a scale from 1 to 10, it is a 10!” With that kind of recommendation I thought I better read it too! We ended up reading it aloud with our family, which I highly recommend. The narration and descriptions lend themselves naturally to a great read-aloud book. We all thoroughly enjoyed it and I think the message is important. Everyone has a fear to face, but with ingenuity and courage, we can conquer what most frightens us.

©2009 The Literate Mother

Language: 0

Violence: 2

Sexual Content: 0

Adult Themes: 2

Title: Someone Named Eva

Author: Joan M. Wolf

Ratings Explanation

Violence: A Nazi teacher slaps a student, pulls down another student’s underwear and skirt and slaps her bear skin with a ruler.  The same teacher beats an old woman repeatedly with a billy club. A girl is beaten with a belt. Two young girls hit, kick and scratch each other.

Adult Themes: Boys and girls in the same room must completely undress for an exam. Children are torn from their mothers and taken away. Nazi propaganda and brainwashing. War.

Synopsis

In the Spring of 1942, Milada and her family lead a happy life in Lidice, a small town in Czechoslovakia. Because of food rations during the war, getting enough sugar for a birthday cake takes a little cooperation between neighbors, but other than that, life is good. One terrible night Nazi soldiers come and take her father and older brother away, then Milada, her mother, grandmother and younger sister are taken to a school with all of the other women and children of Lidice. Milada undergoes an exam in which her captors measure her nose, match her hair color to blonde hair samples and examine her blue eyes.  When the Nazis tear her from her family, Milada holds onto her grandmother’s parting words, “Remember who you are, Milada. Remember where you are from. Always.”

This is a truly moving story based on actual facts about the town of Lidice and its inhabitants. It is terrible to read about what we humans are capable of doing to each other, but I hope that as children read books like this that they will become more grateful and compassionate people. 

©2009 The Literate Mother

Language: 0

Violence: 3

Sexual Content: 0

Adult Themes: 1

Title: Island of the Blue Dolphins

Author: Scott O’Dell

1961 Newbery Medal Winner

Ratings Explanation

Violence: Islanders hunt and skin sea otter. Many men are killed in a battle between Aleuts and the islanders. Wild dogs kill a young boy. Karana shoots dogs with arrows and kills several. She also kills an octopus.

Adult Themes: Karana, a young woman, looses her entire family and must survive alone.

Synopsis

The Island of the Blue Dolphins is based on the true story of a young girl who lives on a remote island. After Aleuts visit the island and kill most of the men, including her father, a ship comes to take the survivors away. Shortly after boarding the ship, she realizes that her younger brother has been left behind on the island. She cannot bear to leave him, although the chief promises that they will return to rescue him later, and jumps off the ship. The rest of the book is the story of her lonely survival on the Island of the Blue Dolphins.

I read this book as a child and, if memory serves, I liked it. Unfortunately, this reading did not live up to the memory. I had completely forgotten how sad the story is. We read it aloud as a family and it was a little upsetting for our 7-year old and the 10-year old thought it was boring. (He’ll be reading it next year in school, so he’ll get another chance to enjoy it.) Her determination to survive is admirable, but her struggles and the harsh environment wore on us. Maybe it is more upsetting now because I’m reading it from the perspective of  a mother.

©2009 The Literate Mother

Language: 1

Violence: 2

Sexual Content: 0

Adult Themes: 1

Title: The Witches of Dredmoore Hollow

Author: Riford McKenzie

Ratings Explanation

Language: 1 instance of profanity

Violence: a girl attacks a boy, hits and kicks him and puts him in a strangle hold. Two witches try to kill their mother with magic spells.

Adult Themes: I don’t necessarily think that magic is an adult theme, but I will mention a couple of things here. In their spells and incantations, the witches use skulls, bones, toads, spiders and snakes. They turn people into stone, turn a man into a turtle and a dog into a snake. A few ghosts appear.

Synopsis

Set in 1927, Elijah and his parents live in Dredmoore Hollow on an old farm that has been in his Mama’s family “practically since the pilgrims.”  As far as Elijah knows, his Mama doesn’t have any family except Grandma Ester, who travels by hot air balloon, so when two strange women show up announcing themselves as his aunts, he is skeptical. Elijah is easily spooked and, by his own admission, lily-livered, but all of the strange occurrences that coincide with the arrival of Aunt Serena and Aunt Agnes cannot be blamed on Elijah’s overactive imagination.

When Elijah’s parents unexpectedly leave town, he has no choice but to go the Moaning Marsh with his aunts and stay at their home until his parents come for him.  Elijah learns that his mother has been keeping a dark family secret from him, but he can’t quite figure out what it is. His aunts talk about the “family gift” and they are exceptionally interested in his chin. What could possibly be going on? It is up to Elijah to find out and rescue his missing parents.

A very entertaining read, The Witches of Dredmoore Hollow kept me anxiously turning pages. The story is chilling enough to keep kids on edge, but it won’t scare the daylights out of them. The creepiness and humor will strike a perfect balance for most young readers.

©2009 The Literate Mother

Language: 0

Violence: 2

Sexual Content: 0

Adult Themes: 0

Title: The Sinking of the Bismarck

Author: William L. Shirer

Ratings Explanation

Violence: Naval battles, shooting guns, dropping torpedoes, explosions. Injuries and death resulting from battles, but no gore.

Synopsis

William L. Shirer, author of The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, recounts Britain’s quest to find and destroy the Bismarck, Germany’s greatest battleship in WWII. Full of stratagem and battles, this historical account is sure to hold the interest of youth interested in WWII.

My husband found this 1962 copy on my parents’ bookshelf last time we visited them and we started reading it aloud to the kids on the drive back to our house. Our sleepy 7-year old dozed off and missed the first several chapters and never really got interested in it, but our 12 and 10-year olds were hooked. There are many ships and captains to keep track of, but it is quite exciting, and we all enjoyed learning this part of WWII history. This book could definitely be used as a source for a research paper.

©2009 The Literate Mother

Language: 1

Violence: 1

Sexual Content: 1

Adult Themes: 1

Title: Sammy Keyes and the Cold Hard Cash

Author: Wendelin Van Draanen

Ratings Explanation

Language: 3 uses of the names of Deity

Violence: A man dies of a heart attack. 2 older men attack Sammy. She rips off a prosthetic leg and pops out a glass eyeball.

Sexual Content: A boy and girl go into the girl’s bedroom and kiss. When her mother comes home he dives out the window.

Adult Themes: Sammy comes across a large amount of money. If she spends it, is that stealing? Marissa’s parents have marital and money problems. They fight and the father leaves for Las Vegas. He has a gambling problem. Sammy’s mother is not really a part of her life and only shows up occasionally. She is dating Casey’s father, which is uncomfortable for Sammy and Casey (Sammy’s love interest). A description of a large woman’s bare backside.

Synopsis

Sneaking into her grandmother’s seniors-only apartment building via the fire escape has never seemed dangerous, until one night when Sammy Keyes scares a man to death, literally. With his dying breath, he directs her to throw 3 bundles of cold hard cash into the bushes below. Later that night, Sammy sneaks back to the bushes to retrieve the money. Why would he want her to toss the cash? And why shouldn’t she spend it? She didn’t steal it, after all. But Sammy is not one to let a mysterious occurance go uninvestigated. What follows is a mystery full of intrigue and disguise.

This is the first Sammy Keyes book I have read and I seemed to be missing a little information regarding some of the characters and their relationship to Sammy. This isn’t a big deal though and did not interrupt the flow of the story. A fun and quick read with a good mystery and a little romance thrown in for good measure. Sammy is a likable character with plenty of spunk. Although a fairly light book, there are actually some good points to be discussed with young readers. 

©2009 The Literate Mother

Language: 2

 Violence: 2

 Sexual Content: 3

 Adult Themes: 3

Title:  The View from Saturday

Author:  E.L. Konigsburg

1997 Newberry Medal Winner

Ratings Explanation

Language:  Hamilton Knapp writes the word “cripple” on the chalkboard in reference to his teacher, Mrs. Olinski, who is a paraplegic.  Hamilton Knapp writes on Julian Singh’s leather book bag, “I am a ass.”  Julian changes the phrase to read, “I am a passenger on Spaceship Earth”.

Violence:  Hamilton Knapp and Michael Froelich attempt to feed Ginger, the dog, a tranquilizer and laxative in the form of a doggie treat.

Sexual Content:  Grandpa Gershom said to Grandma Gershom, “Why don’t you ask me how I can stand making love to the same woman over and over again?”  Sixth grade girls display lacy bra straps inside their T-shirt necklines.  The groom gives the bride a very long and thorough kiss.  The bride, Grandma Margaret Draper, is referred to as a thoroughbred Protestant and Grandpa Izzy is a thoroughbred Jew, but they don’t plan on breeding.  Grandpa Izzy refers to Margaret as zaftig, which is Yiddish for pleasingly plump.  He can’t keep his hands away from her and is constantly pinching her.

Adult Themes:  Allen Diamondstein kept saying, “Isn’t it ironic?  My father is getting married just as I am getting divorced.”   Nadia grapples with her parents’ divorce.  Nadia channel surfs and watches a show about teenagers whose mothers flirt with their boyfriends and another about people who pierce weird body parts.

Synopsis

Mrs. Olinski, a sixth grade teacher at the Epiphany Middle School, has the responsibility of choosing an academic team to compete in The Academic Bowl.  The team, The Souls, are hand chosen by Mrs. Olinski—or did the team choose Mrs. Olinski?  The Souls trounce the competition and win round after round.  Finally, they have the opportunity to compete in the State of New York Academic Bowl.  Nadia, Julian, Ethan and Noah’s lives have been intertwined in many ways and generations, long before the academic team was created.

I chose this book based on the author, E. L. Konigsburg, its odd title, and its Newberry Medal status.   This book is a quick read, but not up to the high bar set with Konigsburg’s “From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler”.

©2009 The Literate Mother

Language: 2

Violence: 3

Sexual Content: 3

Adult Themes: 3

Title:  The Ever-After Bird

 Author:  Ann Rinaldi

Ratings Explanation

Language:  Common swear words.  Several uses of the name of deity. The word ‘nigger’ used to describe African-Americans.  Degrades  the capability of women.

Violence:  Cece is punished physically and emotionally by father. Cece’s father is shot and killed in a slave dispute.  Slaves are whipped and beaten.  Cece is whipped like a slave while trying to protect Earline.  Earline’s husband is killed for marrying a black woman.

Sexual Content: Cece is injured and concerned the doctor will have to go fishing under her skirts to remove her hose.  A slave owner makes advances towards a young slave which results in her becoming pregnant.  After a couple is married, the woman says that “he bedded me last night.”  Cece discusses menstruation with another woman and the doctor.

Adult Themes:  Both of Cece’s parents die.  Her father was verbally and physically abusive towards her.  Her mother died after giving birth to Cece while her father was out with another woman.  The story is about an abolitionist who is trying to guide slaves in the south to freedom.  There are descriptions of the poor living conditions of the slaves they meet.  There are also descriptions (blunt but not graphic) of slave beatings.  A young black boy is experimented on by a doctor trying to learn how to  control fevers.  The boy is forced into a heated pit wrapped in a blanket and brought out as he becomes unconscious. One slave’s head is encased in an iron type cage with antlers and bells to prevent him from running away.  There is controversy over a white man marrying a black woman. 

 Synopsis:

After Cecilia’s father is shot in a slave dispute, her uncle Alex, a doctor and ornithologist, comes to take her to live with him and his wife.  Alex is an abolitionist like his brother.  He decides to take Cece on a trip down south to visit plantations in search of the rare scarlet ibis.  The slaves call it the Ever-After Bird because they believe when they see it they will be set free.   Alex brings with him his assistant Earline who is a college student.  Because she is black, she poses as their slave on the trip.  Uncle Alex explains to Cece that this trip has another purpose and that is to care for the sick slaves and direct them to the Underground Railroad.  As their trip progresses, the stark contrast between the wealthy homes of the plantation owners and the deprived and dirty shacks of the slaves helps Cece to understand her father and uncle’s passion for helping the African-American people.

 This story was a powerful illustration of the suffering and injustice that many African-Americans experienced living as slaves in the south.  The author covered some painful topics and although they were not overly graphic, they were blunt.  I would caution parents to read this book with their child and discuss with them some of the issues that are addressed.

©2009 The Literate Mother

Language: 0

Violence: 2

Sexual Content: o

Adult Themes: 2

Title: The Diamond in the Window

Author: Jane Langton

Ratings Expanation

Violence:  The children have nightmares during which any injury received carries over to when they are awake.  During these dreams the children become trapped in a giant shell, caught in an avalanche of building of blocks and are chased by an evil man with a long sword who eventually falls on it, ending his life.

Adult Themes:  Ed and Eleanor are orphans cared for by their parents’ siblings.  Their Uncle Eddy has suffered severe emotional trauma due to the disappearance of his younger siblings Ned and Nora.  He is shunned and teased by the townspeople.  Aunt Lily’s love, Prince Krishna, turns up missing as well after trying to find the two missing children.  The bank threatens to take the family’s home if back taxes are not payed.  Eleanor and Eddy worry where they will live.

Synopsis

Eleanor and Eddy Hall live in an eccentric old house in Concord Massachusetts.  The children are in the care of their deceased parents’ siblings, Uncle Freddy and Aunt Lily.  Uncle Freddy was once a respected authority on the local transcendentalism (Emerson, Alcott and Thoreau are historical residents there), but after the disappearance of his younger siblings, Ned and Nora,  Uncle Freddy’s mind is never the same.  Aunt Lily does her best to hold the family together and support them by teaching piano lessons until the bank shows up demanding that all the back taxes on the home be paid by a certain date.  Eleanor and Eddy worry what will become of them all.  The town already looks on them as outcasts.  One summer day changes it all when the two go exploring in the attic.  They find  a room that seems to have remained untouched since Ned and Nora’s time.  It had two little beds and a collection of toys and is lit by a colored glass window.  Upon closer inspection, the window reveals a message or poem of sorts with the title Transcendental Treasure.  Intrigued by a possible treasure that may help them save their home, Eddy and Eleanor beg to move into the attic.  Once settled, the children find their dreams at night go along with clues from the poem etched on the window.  They also discover that the dreams are somehow real.  Whatever happens, good or bad, is reflected in the real world when they awake.   They also catch glimpses of Ned, Nora and Aunt Lily’s love, Prince Krishna.  They do find treasure throughout their adventures, but not the kind that brings them money.  Their adventures became more and more dangerous the closer they come to the final clue.  In the end, Eleanor and Eddy break the spell holding Ned, Nora and Prince Krishna prisoner all these years and return them to a recovered Uncle Freddy and a grateful Aunt Lily.  They also come away with a greater understanding of the treasures life has to offer.

I don’t think this book is in print currently but, it is available through places like Amazon.  It is actually a first in a series of the Hall Family Chronicles by Jane Langton.  A truly unique children’s book with a great mixture of adventure and true life lessons.  I am a little partial, because I too am a fan of Emerson, Alcott and Thoreau.   One of my favorite Uncle Freddy quotes is ‘… we are all sculptors and painters, and our material is our own flesh and blood and bones… So carve yourself well!” A great read for young and old.

©2009 The Literate Mother

Language: 1

Violence: 2

Sexual Content: 1

Adult Themes: 2

Title:  Water Song:  A Retelling of “The Frog Prince”

 Author: Suzanne Weyn

Ratings Explanation

Language: A couple of common swear words and two uses of the name of deity.

Violence: War violence, gun fire, bombing, poisonous gas.  Describes some suffering of the soldiers that were gassed while in the trenches.  Jack is seriously injured from the gas.  His skin is peeling and eyes are swollen shut.  One soldier’s pockets are stuffed with rocks and then he is shot and thrown into a pond.  Emma and Jack’s lives are both threatened if they do not cooperate with the enemy.  During their escape, both Jack and Emma are shot at.  Emma is wounded.

Sexual Content:  Jack asks for a kiss several times throughout the story.

Adult Themes:  The setting of the story is during WWI.  Bombing and gun shots are a common background to everything.  Emma’s mother is killed during a bombing.  Back home no one has heard from Emma or her dead mother and some assume the mother has run off with someone.  Emma is asked to be a spy and betray her country by giving information to the enemy.  A younger Jack was accused of pick pocketing.  Jack’s mother was a type of witch doctor who used chants, dreams and herbs to help heal others.

Synopsis:

Thinking they are safe from the war, a beautiful, young Emma and her mother travel from their native England to visit the family estate in Belgium.  Unfortunately the war front is closer than expected and Emma’s mother is killed during a bombing attack.  Emma is unable to get home to her father and must remain at the estate with an elderly couple who are the caretakers and her only companions.  One day a rare letter arrives.  It is from her boyfriend who writes to say he is breaking off their relationship because of rumors that her mother has run away with another man.  Infuriated, Emma tosses his picture, contained in an heirloom locket, down a nearby well.   After cooling off, she remembers that the locket also contained the only pictures she has of her parents.  Desperate, she climbs down the well to retrieve her necklace.  Before coming to the bottom, Emma is surprised to find that someone else is already there.  His eyes are large and swollen, his skin is peeling and he cannot talk without having a severe coughing fit.  She decides to help him out of the well and ask the caretakers to nurse him back to health.  Upon coming out of the well, Emma and her new patient are greeted by armed German soldiers then ordered to return to the estate.  The estate has been taken over by the German army who is using its impressive views to monitor the battle fields below.  Emma and the injured man, Jack, are locked in the master bedroom.  Only a caretaker is allowed in and out to bring in food and care for Jack.  As Jack recovers, he begs Emma to give him a kiss.  She is repulsed by his looks and forwardness and refuses him.  This odd ritual continues on a daily basis. Emma finally promises to be his true friend and Jack is satisfied.  Eventually, Emma is allowed to visit the local market accompanied by guards to get supplies and pick up any useful information for the German soldiers.  She is tempted to escape but remembers her promise to be Jack’s true friend.  As tensions build at the estate, Emma and Jack learn to get along and enjoy each others company.  The soldiers soon tire of their prisoners and plan to kill them.  Jack and Emma have gained useful information about the Germans and know they must escape as soon as possible.  They also have gained more than a friendship and discover that they truly love each other.  After many close calls they reach the safety of a neighboring town and continue to help the allied forces win the war and give peace to the war-torn land.

This book is part of a series called Once Upon a Time. Each book is a retelling of a different fairy tale.   I enjoyed this retelling of the not so common Frog Prince.  The WWI European setting was a unique time period for this story.  I thought that the  author’s develpment of Jack as the  Frog Prince was very clever and realistic.  I also appreciated that the author included the underlying moral of the classic tale.  You really can’t judge a book (or frog) by its cover.

©2009 The Literate Mother

Language: 0

Violence: 1

Sexual Content: 0

Adult Themes: 1

Title: Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!: Voices From a Medieval Village

Author: Laura Amy Schlitz

2008 Newbery Medal Winner

Violence: A boy and his uncle kill a boar with spears. The knight’s son wants to go on the crusade to “sharpen my sword on the Saracen’s throat – crush the bones of the heathen horde – all for the glory of Our Lord!” 

Adult Themes: Class distinctions. Children were sometimes beaten by parents. The miller is dishonest and fills the flour bags with chalk, the baker steals the bread and the peasant steals from the lord. Dislike between Jews and Christians. The beggar boy fakes a crushed foot and he and his father stage a miracle healing with holy water in order to make  money. Note: these are not major themes, but will provide opportunities for discussion with your children.

Synopsis

This collection of 22 individual but related poems and essays gives the reader an exceptional overview of a typical English Medieval village. Each selection is from the perspective of a child or youth in the village and through their narration we learn how children were treated, their social standing, how the village functioned and even what they ate. There are also six one to two page explanations on topics pertinent to the narratives such as the crusades, medieval pilgrimages, and Jews in medieval society. Beautiful artwork adds to the charm of this book.

I found this a fascinating read.  My favorite character is Barbary, the young girl who takes her toddler twin brothers to the market to buy fish because her step mother is at home pregnant with another baby. One of the twins grabs the fish out of her basket and throws it on the ground. Barbary has to wade through the mud to pick it up, then the other twin has a messy diaper all over her. Just then she sees the Lord’s daughter in a beautiful blue dress with her hair combed “sleek as an otter.” Barbary feels the injustice of life and throws mud at her, but she only enjoys her vengeance for a moment before she feels guilty. She stops by the church on her way home to pray for forgiveness and realizes, “all women are the same – silk or sackcloth, all the same.”

Children 4th grade and up will enjoy this book. It would be fun to get a group of friends together and memorize some of the selections.

©2009 The Literate Mother

Language: 1

 Violence: 1

Sexual Content: 0

Adult Themes: 1

Title: Swindle

Author: Gordon Korman

Language:  1 instance of profanity. “God Bless America!” used as an exclamation.

Violence: Ghost story mentioned with a chainsaw cutting up a woman and a nail driven into her head (very brief).

Adult Themes: Griffin’s father quits his job to develop an invention. It isn’t going well and his parents are very worried about money. They have to put their house up for sale because they can’t afford it anymore. Kids in the story plan and carry out a robbery.

Synopsis

Griffin Bing is “the man with the plan.” He always knows what to do, but when he is cheated out of a valuable baseball card by a shady sports memorabilia collector, he has to make a plan like no other to get back what is rightfully his. A well planned heist ensues with lots of surprises and near misses.

This was a very fun read-aloud for our family. We all enjoyed the kids getting even with the dishonest Swindle, but they don’t actually get away with the heist. (We wouldn’t want to encourage criminal behavior!) You’ll have to read it to find out how it ends, but justice is poetically served.

©2009 The Literate Mother

Language: 2

Violence: 2

Sexual Content: 1

Adult Themes: 2

Title:  Schooled

Author:  Gordon Korman

Ratings Explanation

Language:  One common swear word and some uses of the name of deity.  Name calling like jerkface, buttwipe, Neanderthal, freakazoid etc.

Violence:  Bullying by the popular kids. A knockout punch to the nose by a football player.  The entire football team tackles Cap who is innocently dressed in the opposing teams uniform.

Sexual Content: Naomi kisses Cap in front of a group of students and lets him know it is to be continued.  Cap is attracted to Sophie.  When he looks at her he feels funny.

Adult Themes:  Cap is arrested for being an under-aged driver after taking his grandma to the hospital.  Cap is arrested again for driving a school bus to the hospital after the driver passes out.  Sophie’s parents are divorced.  Her dad frequently makes promises he doesn’t keep.  Some anti-government opinions from Cap’s hippy grandmother.

Synopsis

Capricorn Anderson has been raised by his hippie grandmother Rain on a farm commune his whole life.  He knows nothing of modern technology, and has had little or no social interaction with the outside world.  That all changes when his grandmother is seriously injured and has to stay in the hospital.  Cap, as he is called, is forced to move in with a guidance counselor and her moody daughter.  He is enrolled in the local middle school where school politics rule and weirdness is shunned.  Zach, a fellow student, has climbed the popularity ladder and sees Cap as an opportunity to become the next legend of Claverage Middle School.   As the school’s tradition goes, the oddest nerdiest student is elected eighth grade president and always wins.  Zach nominates Cap for the job and sees to it that he wins.  Innocently, Cap becomes the butt of all of his pranks and jokes but not for long.  Cap’s unique non-violent and non-competetive upbringing helps him through it all.  Students begin to admire his weirdness when they see that it is genuine kindness with a hippie flare.  Capricorn Anderson wins over the student body and helps Rain to see a way to balance the past with the future.

This was a great story of accepting and understanding others  before we judge them.  It reminded me of the book Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli.  Each chapter in the book was from a different character’s point of view.  This gave a different insight to the situation at hand which was interesting.

 ©2009 The Literate Mother

 Language: 1

Violence: 2

Sexual Content: 0

Adult Themes:  2

Title:  Run Away Home

Author: Patricia C. McKissack

Newbery Honor Winner

Ratings Explanation

Language:  The word nigger is used twice by members of the Knights of the Southern Order of Manhood.  A group of captured Apache Indians are called the “meanest bunch of cut-throats ever walked on two feet.”

Violence:  Mention of violent acts against the black population by members of white supremacy groups, such as burning businesses and schools,  destroying property and lynching.  A local white supremacy group throws torches into Sarah Jane’s home.  Her father threatens to shoot anyone that means harm to the family or property even though he had no ammunition in the gun.  Sky defends the property by scaring the group off with well aimed arrows.  One arrow does hit a man in the leg.  Buster, Sarah Jane’s dog,  is shot by one of the group members in the struggle and dies.  Sky is attacked in a store by two large men.  He skillfully defends himself, ending up with a knife and threatens to scalp one of the attackers.

Adult Themes:  Native Americans are shipped by train from Florida to a reservation. Mention is made of their suffering at the hand of the white man.  Sarah Jane’s father briefly remembers hard times during slavery.  The black population of their town are looked down upon and treated unequally in spite of the end of slavery.  Black citizens are threatened, and some beaten, if they choose the exercise their right to vote.  Segregation is carried out in businesses and schools. 

Synopsis

Sarah Jane and her parents lived in a small Alabama town in 1888.  One day, she and her father noticed an unexpected train full of soldiers escorting a group of Apache Indians.  They were on their way to a reservation after being held in Florida for the past two years.  While her father was speaking with some of the guards, Sarah sees a young Indian boy escape.  She decides to say nothing of what she saw because she feels that everyone has the right to be free.  A few days afterward, the Apache’s translator, Mr. Wratton, comes to the farm in search of the missing boy and leaves empty handed.  Sarah later finds the Indian boy, Sky, hiding in their barn, suffering severely from swamp fever.  Her mother takes him to the house and she and Sarah nurse him back to health.  Mr. Wratten learns that the boy has been found and decides to let Sarah’s family care for him until his health returns.  Sky’s recovery is slow but he learns to respect the family that has helped him so much.

Tragedy strikes when the family’s cotton crop becomes infested with boll weevil.  They are unable to pay their debt to the white man that threatens to take over their farm.  Sarah finds a carpentry job for her father, who is a skilled craftsman, making desks for an all black school.  The debt collector gives them thirty days to pay before he takes over the farm.  A few nights later, the Knights of the Southern Order of Manhood threaten to destroy Sarah’s home and all of the wood to make the desks.  Sky helps to defend his new family by scaring the group off with arrows.  The time to pay off the debt was  quickly approaching, but workers were now scared for their lives and no one came to help with the desks.  Sky mysteriously dissapears for a few days and brings back  Mr. Wratten, along with several Apache Indians, to help finish the project.  Through this group effort the job was finished on time and the farm was saved.  Sky decides to stay with his new family and hope is restored to Sarah Jane’s family.

McKissack bases this story on  her own family history.  Her great-great-great grandfather was a Native American who married an African American woman.  I found the mix of these cultures fascinating.  Both races had suffered so much from prejudiced thinking and fought so hard to stay free.  I enjoyed having this story told through the point of view of a child. It was interesting to see her perspective as the nation was trying to redefine itself.  Because the difficult topics of this book were handled truthfully yet tactfully, I highly recommend it to young readers wishing to more fully understand this difficult time in our nation’s history.

 ©2009 The Literate Mother

Language: 0

Violence: 1

Sexual Content: 0

Adult Themes: 1

Title: The Big Wave

Author: Pearl S. Buck  (Pulitzer and Nobel Prize Winner)

Ratings Explanation:

Violence:  Nature versus man as a small Japanese village faces the fury of a volcano and a tsunami.

Adult Themes:  The tsunami kills many of the fisherman and their families in the village.  Jiya is from one of these families but was able to escape before the tidal wave hit.  He is left to face the death of his father, mother and brother.  In their culture, the Japanese are taught to “learn to live with danger” and “enjoy life and do not fear death.” 

Synopsis

Kino and Jiya are good friends growing up in a small Japanese village.  Kino and his family are rice farmers who live high up in the hills.  Jiya and his family are fishermen by trade and live below the hills on the beach.  One day, while working in the rice fields, Kino and his father notice a great deal of smoke rising from a volcano 20 miles away.  Changes in the sky and ocean make the villagers nervous as they watch, trying to protect their families.  The sound of a great bell from a palace below warns the villagers of danger and encourages them to come within its wall for safety.  Some heed the warning but many stay close to their homes.  Jiya’s family orders him to flee to the palace for protection.  Jiya instead runs up the hills to his friend’s home.  Kino and Jiya watch the commotion in the village below when suddenly the ocean turns angry and a giant tidal wave sweeps up onto the beach, taking houses and people with it.  Jiya watches in horror as his family is swept away.  Kino’s family commits to care for Jiya and raise him as their own.  Before fully recovering,  the wealthy owner of the palace comes to visit him.  He tells Kino’s father that he would like to take Jiya as his own son and give him an education.  Knowing that this is a great opportunity for the grieving Jiya, Kino’s father encourages him to visit the palace to see the opportunities that would be his.  Jiya obeys and visits the old man.  After touring the grounds, he then tells the palace owner that his choice is to stay with Kino’s family.  The old man is irritated at Jiya’s response and tells Jiya he could have everything he needs.  Jiya respectfully tells him that he already has a home on the farm.  Jiya returns to the hills and grows from a boy to a man.  He learns to live with his loss with the kind help of Kino’s family.  He is eventually drawn back to the ocean where he longs to be a fisherman like his fathers before him.  Then facing his greatest fear, Jiya builds a home on the beach for him and his new wife (Kino’s kind sister) .

 This is an incredibly powerful story in a very few short pages.  I loved the wisdom of life that Buck has pulled from the Japanese culture.  The underlying theme of the book is that life is stronger than death.  As Kino’s father tries to help his son understand the tragedy that has torn at their village he says, “No one knows who makes evil storms … We only know that they come.  When they come we must live through them as bravely as we can, and after they are gone, we must feel again how wonderful is life.  Every day of life is more valuable now than it was before the storm.”  A great read for quiet contemplation and thoughtful discussion.

 ©2009 The Literate Mother

Language: 1

Violence: 0

Sexual Content: 1

Adult Themes: 2

Title: A Mango-Shaped Space

Author: Wendy Mass

Winner of the ALA Schneider Family Book Award,  honoring artistic expression of the disability experience

Ratings Explanation

Language: 2 instances of profanity

Sexual Content: Molly grows breasts over the summer and she is not going to hide it. Boys look at her. Mia’s doctor asks her if she has begun menstruating yet. Mia communicates with a boy in a chat room and when they meet in person he almost immediately asks to kiss her. Mia lets him.

Adult Themes: Jenna is coping with her mother’s death and her father dating. Mia lies occasionally then tries to make up for it by doing good deeds. Adam, age 14, discloses in an email that he got drunk on egg nog and threw up a lot. Coping with losing a pet.

Synopsis

Mia has always seen colors associated with numbers, letters and sounds, but in third grade she discovers that not everyone sees what she does. Afraid of being different, Mia keeps her gift a secret until 8th grade when it interferes with her school work and she goes to her parents for help. She discovers that she has a condition called synesthesia, and that other people have it too. Encouraged that she isn’t a freak, Mia dives into the world of synesthesia by attending research weekends, chatting with other synesthetes online and trying new experiments that heighten the effects of “her colors.” As she enters this new world she leaves her family and friends behind, but when her cat Mango becomes ill she is abruptly reminded of what is truly important.

A very interesting read! I had never heard of this condition and was fascinated by what synesthetes see in their everyday lives.  A different twist on the coming-of-age story.

©2009 The Literate Mother

Language: 1

Violence: 3

 Sexual Content: 1

 Adult Themes: 2

Title: Elephant Run

Author: Roland Smith

Ratings Explanation

Language: 2 common swear words and one instance of profanity

Violence: A description of the many ways an elephant can kill a human. A rogue elephant knocks Nick down and almost tramples him. A Japanese soldier hits Indaw with a rifle and kicks Mya. There are two dead bodies lying in front of a  home, one has been decapitated and the other, Mya’s father, has been beaten to death. A Japanese soldier is executed (beheaded) for killing Mya’s father. Indaw and other Burmese are taken behind the house and beaten. Bukong uses  his cane to maintain order and control. He hits anyone who opposes him or makes him mad. The Japanese colonel hits Bukong with his own cane. An elephant attacks a man and then other men attack the elephant. Some animal kingdom violence. A Japanese captain orders a Burmese house burned for no reason and he hits an old man with a stick. POWs threatened with execution if they try to escape. Captain Moto hits Nick, Mya and Hilltop with his baton and threatens them with his sword. An elephant flips a jeep over and it kills Captain Moto, then the elephant gores Bukong with his tusk, killing Bukong. The elephant is shot at and two Burmese are shot and killed.

Sexual Content: Bukong, who is at least 40, plans to marry Mya, who is 12. He touches her face and favors her. She is repulsed.

Adult Content: Before WWII breaks out, Burma is governed by the English, but many Burmese resent the English and want to govern themselves. This leads to many of the Burmese welcoming the Japanese invasion. The Japanese are generally portrayed as brutal and violent, with one exception being Captain Sonji. Nick’s father is sent on a long march to a POW camp. The POWs are treated very poorly with barely enough food to keep them alive and basically no medical attention.

Synopsis

When Germany bombs London, Nick Freestone’s mother sends him to Burma to be with his father and ride out the storm of the war in Europe. But almost as soon as Nick arrives in Burma, so do the Japanese. The teak plantation his Father’s family has owned for generations is turned into a base for a Japanese air field, Nick’s father is sent to a POW camp and Nick becomes a prisoner in his father’s house. A daring escape liberates Nick and his friend Mya from their captors, but then they must brave the Burmese jungle on elephant back and dodge Japanese soldiers in order to rescue Nick’s father and Mya’s brother.

We read this book aloud as a family and everyone liked it. My husband and I did find ourselves doing a lot of explaining about the Burmese/Enlgish relations before the war and then the Burmese/Japanese relations after the invasion. There are nuances to that subject that children will not understand because of their limited life experience. We also spent time discussing the current positive relationship the US has with Japan.

Language: 2

Violence: 4

Sexual Content: 1

Adult Themes: 3

Title: Nick of Time

Author: Ted Bell (New York Times Bestselling Author)

Ratings Explanation

Language: A few common swear words and two derogatory uses of the name of deity. 

Violence:  Nick, Kate and Gunner are threatened to be electrocuted by a security system if they continue to trespass.  A sailor is ordered to be sealed in a torpedo tube of a submarine and launched to his death.  Several instances of death and injury occur during a battle between two ships.  Sailors are killed or injured by cannon balls, guns and swords and the victims are seen laying on the deck or heard moaning and screaming in pain.   Before the battle, the ship’s decks are covered in sand to absorb any blood that would make it slippery.  A sailor’s severely injured leg is amputated and thrown into the sea.  Nick finds an injured sailor bleeding from both ears.   Nick sees another sailor fall on the deck that has “a small fountain of blood bubbling at his belly.”  One sailor sits on the deck drinking the last of his rum with only half of his face still intact.  Sailors on both sides of the battle are described as “wanting at each other’ throats”.   An evil pirate cuts off the end of his own tongue and swallows it to show Nick how sharp his dagger is.  The pirate’s dagger is shot out of his hand along with three of his fingers.  He goes crashing to the deck below.  The arm of the evil pirate captain is cut off and Nick sees the fingers on the stump still twitching.  Nick is cautioned to beware of the pirate captain’s bird because it could peck his eyes out.  A Nazi doctor aboard the sub tells Hobbes that he is a horrible surgeon but a great interrogator while flashing a scalpel.  Hobbes dreams that this crazy doctor cuts out his tongue.  The eccentric submarine captain shoots his escaping assistants as they try to swim  back to their U-boat.  Their blood pools in the water which attracts  sharks which finish them off.  The captain thinks he is leaving Hobbes and young Kate behind to suffer death by electrocution.

Sexual Content:  The pirate captain cannot be found and is suspected to be “sporting with his captured English filly”.  He is later said to be sipping tea with his English mistress.  Nick finds the woman a prisoner, chained up with “long deep red curls falling over the creamy white silk of her dress and bosom.”

Adult Content: Nick’s father goes against government wishes by being on the look out for the suspicious activity of German Nazis in the waters surrounding his light house.  He is later sent a letter telling him that he no longer has a job as light keeper and must move.  The submarine spying on them is an experimental Nazi U-boat.  It’s captain is short tempered and displays erratic behavior.  His assistant, a doctor, uses torture as a method of extracting information.  An evil pirate captain kidnaps children and holds them for ransom in the dark dank depths of his ship.  Most of the men in the story smoke as a means of relaxing.  Alcohol is consumed by sailors as well as by Lord Hawke and company for dinner.

Synopsis

Twelve year old Nick McIver and his younger sister Kate live on an English island in 1939, shortly before WWII.  Their father is part of a spy ring that is on the look out for suspicious activity in the waters around their lighthouse.  The English government is in denial that another war could possibly be coming and has warned all spying to cease.  Mr. McIver is found out and sent a letter relieving him and his family of duty at the lighthouse.  Nick’s parents immediately head to London to sort things out leaving their children in the care of an old family friend named Gunner.  Meanwhile, Nick and Kate discover a strange chest on the shore near their home.   With the help of Gunner and a reclusive neighbor, Lord Hawke, and his assistant Hobbes, they are able to open the chest and discover a beautifully crafted gold ball along with a note inside.  The note is from Nick’s ancestor, a sea captain living in 1805.  It explains  that the gold ball is actually one of two time machines in existence and that he is in desperate need of help.  Nick, Gunner and Lord Hawke head to the past to aid the captain.  There they find Billy Blood, a common enemy and owner of the other time machine.  Blood has kidnapped Lord Hawke’s children and taken Nick’s dog in hopes of obtaining both time machines.  This evil pirate has also kidnapped several other children from wealthy families throughout time and is holding them for ransom money.  Before it’s all over, the two ships engage in an intense battle leaving Blood with only one arm and fleeing off somewhere in the past or future.  After returning all of the children to their families, Nick returns home to find that his sister and Hobbes have had an adventure of their own.  They had been captured while trying to deliver secret documentation concerning sightings of a German U-boat. To their surprise, they become the U-boats prisoners.  Through careful planning and a lot of acting they persuade the captain of the German sub to return to the island.  Hobbes uses the captain’s ego against him and captures the U-boat in a secured lagoon.   English government officials are notified and come to inspect the submarine.  In the end, the two young heroes, Nick and Kate, are congratulated and reunited with their family.

This book was a fun sea-going journey from beginning to end and certainly satisfied in the adventure department.  I enjoyed the characters and found the mix of Nazis and pirates a great combination for some very suspenseful moments.  Although this book was written for readers ages 9-12, I thought that the battle sequences and threats of torture by scalpel were a bit intense for the younger reader. 

 ©2009 The Literate Mother

Language: 0

Violence: 2

Sexual Content: 0

Adult Themes: 1

Title: Fablehaven

Author: Brandon Mull

Rating Explanation

Violence: Seth is attacked by fairies after he captures one and they turn him into a misshapen walrus. Dark creatures try to harm Seth and Kendra, but they are protected by magical charms. Dale is turned into a statue by something evil. The house is ransacked and nearly destroyed by unknown dark creatures. Grandpa and Lena are kidnapped and held against their will. Grandma shoots Muriel with a small crossbow and she is wounded, but lives. An army of fairies fight dark creatures and a demon. Many fairies are wounded or killed, but most of them are healed. Some dark creatures are also killed. 

Adult Themes: Seth and Kendra’s other grandparents die of asphyxiation. There is a brief discussion of the wake, funeral and coffins.

 Synopsis

Kendra and Seth don’t really know their Grandma and Grandpa Sorenson, so when they go to stay with them for two and a half weeks, they are prepared for boredom. To their amazement, they discover that Grandma and Grandpa Sorenson are the caretakers of Fablehaven, a preserve for magical creatures where both friendly and dark creatures exist. Once they discover the secret, they learn that fairies, imps, witches, satrys and many other creatures are alive and well at Fablehaven. But when Seth breaks his Grandpa’s strict orders regarding interaction with some of the more unsavory creatures at the preserve, an evil is unleashed that could claim all of their lives.

Both my 6th grader and my 4th grader have read all of the Fablehaven books so far and have loved them. They have been begging me to read them since last summer, but it took me awhile to get around to starting the series. Overall I liked the book. I thought that the demon and evil witch were taken care of a little too easily, but was also glad to skip the violence that could have been created to get rid of them. I loved the army of oversized fairies, very cool!

 ©2009 The Literate Mother

Language:1

Violence:2

Sexual Content:0

Adult Themes:3

Title:  The Wednesday Wars

Author: Gary D. Schmidt 

2008 Newbery Honor Book

Ratings Explanation

Language:  Some name calling from fellow students. ”Death threats” from fellow students if Holling doesn’t bring them cream puffs. Unkind comments like “Go back where you came from!”, toward a Vietnamese refugee student . The coach uses phrases such as “dang, wimpy, slugs” when referring to his slow track team.  Holling uses curses he has learned from Shakespeare.  His favorites are pied ninies and toads, beetles, bats.  Holling and his classmates refer to their principal as one who is aspiring to be a dictator of a small country.

Violence:  Holling intentionally trips a school bully giving him a concussion.  The eighth graders bully the seventh graders around to show their rank in the school.  Scenes of stabbings, poisonings and other forms of murder from Shakespeare’s writings are referred to as Holling tries to connect experiences in his world to those in Shakespeare’s.

Adult Themes:  One of the students has been to jail and has several run-ins with the law for his pranks on teachers and students.  The evening news reports the poor conditions of soldiers fighting in Vietnam.  Some  marines are trapped in barracks while under heavy artillery fire.  Mention of some soldiers that are missing and killed in action.  Racial prejudice is shown by students and some adults towards a student who is a Vietnamese refugee.  Holling’s father questions the importance of religion, especially the customs of his son’s Jewish friend.  Holling’s mother is always trying to hide her smoking habit.  The eighth grade boys spend their break time smoking in the boys’ bathroom.  Holling’s father considers his appearance in the community far more important than the happiness of his family.  Holling’s sister runs away with her boyfriend to “find herself.”  When she decides it wasn’t a good idea to run away, her parents refuse to pick her up or give her help of any kind.  Holling assumes that responsibility himself. 

Synopsis

Holling Hoodhood is a seventh grade student living in the ‘perfect house’ on Long Island with his parents and older sister in the late sixties.  Because his father expects him to one day take over the family business Holling must be on his best behavior to keep up appearances.  The community they live in is made up primarily of Catholics and Jews.   On Wednesday, each week, the students are allowed to leave school early in the afternoon to attend activities at their local church or temple.  Holling is neither a Catholic nor a Jew.  He is a Presbyterian.  On Wednesdays he is the only student left in his class.  When his teacher, Mrs. Baker, learns of this, she tries desperately to find somewhere else for Holling to be.  Holling is convinced that Mrs. Baker truly hates him and has cleverly plotted to take him out one way or another.   When Mrs. Baker resigns to the fact that Holling has nowhere else to go but her classroom on Wednesday afternoons, she starts assigning him small chores like cleaning the erasers and rat cages.  After these chores end up with unpleasant results, Mrs. Baker resigns to the fact that Holling is there to stay and decides to teach him the plays of Shakespeare.  At first Holling is pleasantly shocked that his teacher would let him read something with so much exciting adventure and bloodshed.  But as the school year progresses, Mrs. Baker helps Holling see the lessons that this great writer was trying to teach the human race. These teaching moments become a great strength to Holling as he deals with difficult family issues, ethical decisions and the challenges of life’s ups and downs.  Mrs. Baker and Holling develop a unique and touching relationship as she helps him embrace his destiny.

I thoroughly loved this book.  The main characters were so well developed, that I feel like I would know Holling and Mrs. Baker if I saw them walking down the street.  I also appreciated the humor that Schmidt incorporated.  I found myself laughing out loud more than once.  The various situations Holling found himself in brought back memories of my teenage years and reminded me of how hard it is to grow up.  Schmidt’s story also reaffirms my appreciation for and belief in great teachers.  Everyone needs a Mrs. Baker in their life.  She is someone who sees  potential and encourages others to achieve all that they can be. 

 ©2009 The Literate Mother

Language: 1

 Violence: 0

 Sexual Content: 0

 Adult Themes:1

Title: Criss Cross

Author: Lynne Rae Perkins

2006 Newbery Medal Winner

Rating Explanation

Language: Four swear words, 2 instances of profanity

Adult Themes: After leaving home to go to school, Debbie and Patty meet in the rhododendron bushes to change clothes. “Both of them had mothers who were stranded in the backwaters of a bygone era, and who were unable to grasp many current trends and ideas. You could argue and argue, but they weren’t going to get it. At some point you just had to go change your clothes in a bush.” (This is an amusing chapter)

Lenny experiments with chewing tobacco.

Synopsis

14-year old Debbie wished something would happen to her, soon. Criss Cross follows Debbie and some of her friends and neighbors through a period of everyday days. Sometimes something interesting happens, but quite often not much of anything happens. A coming-of-age story.

You know how Seinfeld was a show about nothing? Well, Criss Cross is a book about nothing. I was excited to read this Newbery winner, but my enthusiasm waned early on. There isn’t a plot or much of anything actually happening in the story, just random experiences. With that said, some of the experiences are pretty funny and her writing is quite witty, but I am surprised that Criss Cross won the Newbery Medal. Overall I found it a little better than mediocre.

An interesting note, the number of Amazon reviews rating Criss Cross as a 5 and as a 1  are almost equal. Maybe it’s one of those books you either love or hate.

 ©2009 The Literate Mother

Language: 0

Violence: 2

Sexual Content: 3

Adult Themes:2

Title: Just Ella

Author: Margaret Peterson Haddix

Ratings Explanation

Violence:  A maid servant is beaten within an inch of her life for oversleeping.  The prince kills a sentenced man in front of Ella, in an attempt to show his power and win her affections.  As Ella approaches the refugee camp, “screams of anguish and terror” come from the battle grounds.

Sexual Content:  Ella describes the power of persuasion through pillow talk “when coupled with a kiss and a breathing whisper and the rest of what men and women do in bed.” Ella says her father was blinded to her step-mother’s faults because of his “desire to touch her skin, caress her body, join his to hers.”  There is mention of different privileges for married women than for virgins.  Ella is threatened to comply to marry the prince or be “taken care of” by a sentenced rapist.

Adult Themes:  Ella’s religious teacher suffers a stroke or heart attack during a lesson and nearly dies.  He “fouls himself”  after passing out.  Religion is talked of as a formality. Brief comments on the sufferings of war.  Citizens living on the country’s borders loose their homes and farms to the destruction of war.   Ella is imprisoned to weaken her will  and force her compliance in marrying Prince Charming.  She is fed occasionally, only a bowl of thin gruel with weevils.

Synopsis

A twist on a popular fairy tale whisks Ella off her feet to live in the Charming castle after winning the prince’s affections (without magic) at a ball.  As she prepares for her upcoming wedding, Princess Cynthiana Eleanora, as she is now called,  is surrounded by tutors and advisers that teach her the proper way to think and behave.  Ella quickly becomes uncomfortable with this restrictive, royal life and longs to have some freedom.   After suffering ill health, Ella’s religious teacher is replaced by his son Jed.  Ella finds Jed refreshingly honest and real and decides to confide some of her feelings to him.  He in return tells Ella that his greatest desire is to create refugee camps for those left homeless from their country’s war.  As her wedding day quickly approaches, Ella realizes that she does not love the prince and decides to break off their engagement.  The prince doesn’t take this well and Ella is thrown into prison until she agrees to the marriage.  Meanwhile, Jed is finally given permission to start his refugee camp when palace advisers suspect a relationship forming between him and the princess.  After days of torment and starvation, Ella escapes the dungeon by digging her way out.  She discovers that Jed is at the battle front and decides her best bet at living a free life is to study up on her agricultural and medical skills,  making herself a valuable asset that the refugee camp cannot refuse.  Days of travel bring her to the country’s border where she finds Jed.  He immediately professes his love to Ella, but she is unsure that this is really what she wants.  After agreeing to work at the camp for a while, Ella eventually discovers that Jed is her one and only true love.

What girl doesn’t dream about living happily ever after.  The author gave this fairy tale a creative spin by using self initiative instead of magic to decide the heroine’s fate.  I did find Ella hard to connect with.  I never felt really drawn into her plight.  I think the author focused too much on the power of feminism rather than developing believable characters.  I also thought that some of the sexual content was too mature for some young readers that might be attracted to a fairy tale story.

2009 The Literate Mother

Language: 1

Violence: 1

Sexual Content:1

Adult Themes: 1

Title:  Stargirl

 Author:  Jerry Spinelli

Ratings Explanation

Language: One use of the name of deity. Some name calling and belittling. One girl, Hillary, says that Stargirl’s parents are witches or brain-dead vegetables in a hospital. She also belittles Stargirl in front of a group of other students, calling her goofy, crazy and tells her to go back where she came from.

Violence: Hillary holds Stargirls rat from a high balcony and threatens to drop it. She also slaps Star Girls face in an attempt provoke her to fight back. A tomato is thrown at Star Girl from fans at a basketball game when she continues to cheer for the opposing team.

Sexual Content: Leo describes the miracle of summer when someone “leaves in June looking like a little girl and returns in September as a full-bodied woman”. Leo and Stargirl’s first kiss is described as follows: “the last remaining space between our lips was gone… that was no saint kissing me.”

Adult Themes: The whole story revolves around social ethics dealing with individuality versus conformity. The characters must decide which is most important and to what extent they are willing to defend their position.

Synopsis

When a mysterious young girl moves to Mica, Arizona, she turns the local high school upside down. Stargirl, as she calls herself, “laughed when there was no joke. She danced when there was no music. She had no friends, yet she was the friendliest person in school”. Leo, a fellow student, is fascinated with Stargirl but never expects to actually like her. This relationship forces Leo to take a good look at himself and his relationship to others. Stargirl teaches him about true humanity and the importance of the individual, while bringing unity to their small community.

Spinelli did a great job in helping the reader rethink the importance of the individual. While reading, I experienced many of the same soul-searching questions that Leo had. In the end, I was left feeling a greater desire to look out for my neighbors and not be so quick to judge others. A great book to read and discuss with pre-teens and older.

  ©2009 The Literate Mother

 Language: 0

Violence: 2

Sexual Content: 1

Adult Themes: 2

 Title:  The Star of Kazan

Author: Eva Ibbotson

Ratings Explanation

Violence:  Hermann attaches fireworks to the dog’s tail.  The dog loses a leg and partial eyesight.  Stefan pushes a harp down the stairs at Grossenfluss, a boarding school, and critically injures the cruel headmistress.  A young boy is saved from near trampling by a horse. 

Sexual Content:  Frau von Tannenberg falsely claims to have rapidly met and married Annika’s father, who deserts his young pregnant wife only weeks after their marriage.  Frau von Tannenberg often travels with her brother-in-law, Oswald, much to her sister’s disdain.

Adult Themes:  The Eggharts, a wealthy Vienna family, resist caring for their elderly aunt.  The aunt, a former Parisian Chorus Girl was nicknamed “La Rondine”.  The Eggharts begrudgingly comply and the great-aunt is given an ascetic space in which to live her last months.  Frau von Tannenberg deceives Annika, an orphan, as she claims to be her long-lost mother.  Unbeknownst to Annika, Frau von Tannenberg is a con artist who uses unscrupulous methods to steal Annika’s inheritance.  Annika is completely unaware of her inheritance from “La Rondine”.   Frau von Tannenberg sells a few jewels, rapidly spends the money, and hides the remaining jewels in a vault in Zurich.  Frau von Tannenberg then sends Annika to Grossenfluss, an inhumane boarding school for unwanted girls of the aristocracy.   Girl #126 commits suicide at Grossenfluss, and the police are not allowed to investigate the girl’s death properly.

 Synopsis

Ellie and Sigrid, a housemaid and a cook, discover an abandoned baby girl in a village church while hiking in the Austrian Alps.  They raise Annika in the home of three eccentric professors in Vienna, where they are employed.  Annika is loved. However, she yearns for her mother.  Annika has an opportunity to make money reading to her wealthy neighbor’s great aunt.  She befriends “La Rondine” and soon it is not a job at all, but a pleasure to visit with the older woman.  When “La Rondine” dies, she bequeaths her possessions to Annika.  Annika is completely unaware of the inheritance.  Frau von Tannenberg arrives to claim Annika as her daughter.  Annika leaves Vienna and returns with her mother to Germany, to the ancestral home, which is a castle that has fallen into great disrepair.  Annika is not permitted to attend school or work due to her new aristocratic status.  She grows increasingly homesick.  Annika befriends Zed, the stable boy.  Hermann, her step-brother, is showered with attention and gifts.   Frau von Tannenberg steals her inheritance and lavishes the riches upon her son, Hermann.   Annika is then sent to Grossenfluss, a boarding school.  The Professors, Stefan, and Ellie rescue Annika and bring her back to Vienna.  Pauline and The Professors unravel the mystery surrounding Annika’s so-called “mother” and the stolen inheritance.

 At 403 pages, this is a very quick read.  Although, I am convinced the story could have been pared down.  I enjoyed the interesting character names and setting of the early 1900’s in Austria-Hungary and The German Empire.  Ibbotson’s descriptions of Viennese cuisine were divine.  Strudel anyone?  This book is extremely mild in all categories. I recommend this book to young readers Grades 4-8.

  ©2009 The Literate Mother

Language: 1

Violence: 3

Sexual Content: 0

Adult Themes: 3

Title:  Chasing Lincoln’s Killer

Author: James L. Swanson

Ratings Explanation

Language: Damn, damned

Violence:  Assassination of President Abraham Lincoln.  Dr. Leale prolongs President Lincoln’s life with C.P.R.  “Dr. Leale pulled another blood clot from the hole in Lincoln’s head to relieve the pressure on the brain and tossed the gooey mass into the street.  Fresh blood and brain matter oozed through Leale’s fingers.”  The President’s  feet and legs were getting cold.  The eyelids were so filled with blood that they looked bruised, like someone had punched the president in the face.  All signs were consistent with a catastrophic injury to the brain.  They laid a clean white napkin over the bloodstains on the pillow.”  Dr. Leale used a Nelaton probe to work inside Lincoln’s brain.  An autopsy on President Lincoln’s brain and body served very little scientific purpose.  “One surgeon reached for his saws and knives while the others watched.”  The bullet was preserved for history and Lincoln’s blood was drained from his corpse, transferred to glass jars and preserved.  Powell viciously attacks Seward, his sons, his daughter and the nurse.   After Seward’s murder, his bed was saturated with blood.  Fanny Seward’s dress was dripping in blood.  “Augustus Seward had been stabbed and his brother, Frederick was unconscious from a crushed skull; brave Sergeant Robison had endured multiple stab wounds.”  J.W. Booth’s leg was broken.  Herold led the horses to a quicksand pit, shot them and sank their bodies.  The Garrett’s lock Booth and Herold in the tobacco barn.  The barn is lit on fire by the cavalry.  Booth contemplates suicide, but before he can act Boston Corbett shoots him.  Booth dies a slow death.  “Booth’s lips turned purple and his throat swelled.  He gasped.”  The four convicts were “bound and hooded.  Nooses were slipped over their necks and…, they dropped to their deaths.” 

Adult Themes:  Mary Todd Lincoln laments and sobs that her son will not see his father alive again.  General Stanton cruelly commands “Take that woman out and do not let her in again.”  Stanton was obeyed.  Slavery, anti-Union, anti-black themes, a reversal of The Underground Railroad for confederate spies and those seeking for the South to secede.   Reference to Lincoln’s son, Willie who died of typhoid.  Reference to Mary Jane Welles’ son who died of diphtheria.  J. W. Booth places Dr. Mudd and his entire family in great danger by taking advantage of Mudd’s hospitality.  Unbeknownst to Dr. Mudd, he became an accomplice to the murder of President Lincoln.  Betrayal and intrigue amongst all the conspirators.

Synopsis

This book is based on James L. Swanson’s bestselling adult book, “Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer”.  This version was written especially for young people.  “The story is true.  All the characters are real and were alive during the great manhunt of April 1865.  Their words are authentic and come from original sources: letters, manuscripts, trial transcripts, newspapers, government reports, pamphlets, books, and other documents.  What happened in Washington, D.C. that spring, and in the swamps and rivers, forests and fields of Maryland and Virginia during the next twelve days, is far too incredible to have been made up.”  This is the story of Lincoln’s assassination and John Wilkes Booth’s attempted escape to a safe haven in the South.

Swanson’s book is intelligently written for youth.  The history surrounding Lincoln’s assassination captivated me.  I highly recommend this book and think it would be great for a leisure read as well as a research paper source – a rare combination for literature!

 ©2009 The Literate Mother

Language: 3

Violence: 4

Sexual Content: 3

Adult Themes: 3

Title: The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963

Author: Christopher Paul Curtis

1996 Newberry Honor Book, Coretta Scott King Honor Book, ALA Top Ten Best Book, ALA Best Book for Young Adults, ALA Notable Children’s Book, IRA Young Adult’s Choice, The Jane Addams Peace Award Honor Book, A Booklist 25 Top Black History Picks for Youth, An NCSS-CBC Notable Children’s Trade Book in the Field of Social Studies, Bank Street Child Study Association Children’s Book Award, A New York Times Book Review Best Book, A Publishers Weekly Best Book, A Horn Book Fanfare, A Bulletin Blue Ribbon, A Golden Kite Award for Fiction, Winner of the California Young Reader Medal

Ratings Explanation

Language: Hell, Damn, Ass, Diety, ”…we all heard him say, real clear, the ”S word”.  “Byron flips Kenny a dirty finger sign, Byron flips double middle fingers and a finger sign that Kenny has never seen before.”

Violence: Byron bullies Kenny at home.  Larry Dunn bullies Kenny at school, giving him “Maytag (face) Washes” in the snow.  Byron and Buphead bloody Larry Dunn’s nose as they repeatedly throw him into a chain link fence as a crowd of kids cheer them on.  Rufus, Kenny’s friend, and his younger brother, Cody, recount their squirrel hunting with a .22.  Byron kills a bird with a Swedish Creme cookie.  Momma burns Byron’s hand to punish him for lighting matches.  Kenny nearly drowns in a whirlpool at Colliers Landing, where six other children have drowned.  A church building in Birmingham, Alabama is bombed and 4 girls die.  Kenny witnesses the aftermath of the bombing, as the bloody young girls’ bodies are brought out of the church building.  Kenny suffers from shock and depression.

Sexual Content:   ” Dad reached over past Momma to start the car, but on the way his hand kind of accidentally on purpose brushed her chests. Boy, did they think we were blind?  Even though Dad thought he was being slick, everybody saw this.”  Mr. Robert studs his coon dog.

Adult Themes: Racial prejudice that led to the Civil Rights Movement (ie”Coloreds Only” Bathroom, Swimming Pool etc.).  The Watson’s stop at a rest stop in Tennessee at night on the drive to Alabama and they are all afraid, “Man, they got crackers and rednecks up here that ain’t never seen no Negroes before.  If they caught your ass out here like this they’d hang you now, then eat you later.”  Kenny is so scared that he feels a couple of warm drips of urine dribble down his leg.  The church in Birmingham is bombed because,  “Two grown men hate Negroes so much that they’d kill some kids just to stop them from going to school?”  Kenny faces ridicule because he has a lazy eye.  Rufus and Cody have raggedy clothes and no food for lunch each day. Dad Watson shaves Byron’s hair when he straightens it to have “Mexican Hair”.

Synopsis

Ten-year-old Kenny Watson and his family, “The Weird Watsons” live in Flint, Michigan.  Kenny has a younger sister, Joetta, and a thirteen-year-old brother, Byron, who is an “official juvenile delinquent”.  Kenny struggles to avoid being bullied by Byron at home and bullied by classmates at school.  Kenny is a brilliant young boy, who longingly desires a friend.  He is elated to have Rufus, the new guy, be his friend.  Byron is a magnet for trouble.  As a last resort, the Watson’s take a road trip to Birmingham, Alabama, the home of Grandma Sands.  Momma and Dad arrange to leave Byron with strict Grandma Sands for the summer, and possibly the next school year to encourage Byron to improve his decision making abilities. While in Birmingham, a church building is bombed and four little girls are killed, many are injured.  Kenny witnesses the aftermath of the bombing and struggles to comprehend racial prejudice and the violence surrounding the Civil Rights Movement.

I first read this book about ten years ago, as a new mother - and loved it!  Our family listened to “The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963″ on CD while on a road trip last year.  This book was an incredible way to introduce my children to the racial inequality that led to the Civil Rights Movement.  My children were stunned to learn this is part of our American History.  As I read this book again last week, I am impressed by the author’s ability to weave a humorous and captivating family story into the historical context of the Civil Rights Movement.  I highly recommend “The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963″.

©2009 The Literate Mother

Language: 1

Violence: 2

Sexual Content: 0

Adult Themes: 3

Title:  Hattie Big Sky

Author:  Kirby Larson

2007 Newbery Honor Book

Ratings Explanation

Language: As Hattie is milking, the cantankerous cow slaps Hattie’s face with her tail.  Hattie slaps the cow back and practices a curse word she heard on the train.  Hattie thinks, “There was no Aunt Ivy to recoil in horror at my language and, truth be told, there is nothing like the occasional outburst of profanity to calm jangled nerves.” 

Violence:  Violet the cow, is attacked by a wolf while grazing.  Hattie rescues the cow from certain death.  However, the wolf makes off with Violet’s tail.  An arsonist set the Mueller’s barn on fire because Karl was born in Germany.  A lawyer, Mr. Ebgard, is ruffed up by members of the Council of Defense because he wrote a letter defending a minister preaching to his German congregation in German.

Adult Themes:  Prejudice prevails against German Americans during World War I.  The Flu Epidemic of 1918 claims the life of Perilee and Karl’s young daughter, Mattie.  Hattie helps deliver Perilee’s baby.  Hattie ties off the cord, thumps the baby on the back and tries not to be too alarmed by the amount of blood as she cleans up the birthing room. 

Synopsis 

Hattie Here-and-There, a sixteen year old orphan has been shuttled from one relative to another throughout her life.  When given the opportunity to go west and prove up on her late Uncle Chester’s homestead claim in Montana, Hattie courageously begins her journey.  Hattie’s best friend, Charlie is ”Fighting the Kaiser” in Europe during World War I.  Hattie and Charlie correspond and detail their separate adventures.

When Hattie arrives in Montana, she learns to brave the elements, build fences, milk a cranky cow, cook edible food and nurture her neighbors.  Hattie is befriended by Perilee Mueller, her German born husband, Karl, and their children.  For the first time, Hattie feels at home.  She learns the real definition of home.  Hattie finds the strength to stand up to Taft Martin and his gang of  rowdies, the “Council of Defense”, who make life difficult for anyone of German descent during World War I.

I devoured this Willa Cather-esque book!  I was enthralled with Hattie’s determination as she assumed her late Uncle Chester’s homesteading claim and the many tasks required to “prove up” the claim.  I found the history of hardship for Americans of German descent during World War I fascinating.  Kudos to Kirby Larson for a well-written story based on her great-grandmother’s homesteading experience as a sixteen year old girl.  I look forward to reading more of Larson’s work.  A great read for 4th-8th grade readers. 

©2009 The Literate Mother

Language:0

Violence: 1

Sexual Content: 0

Adult Themes:1

Title: The Mysterious Benedict Society

Author: Trenton Lee Stewart

Ratings Explanation

Violence: Two men try to kidnap the main characters in the book, but Milligan, a quasi-body guard, shoots the men with tranquilizer darts. Several children engage in a fight, including kicking, hitting, and shoving. Once again Milligan shoots some of the children with tranquilizer darts.

Adult Themes: All of the children in the book are alone, some are orphaned and some have been abandoned. The antagonist in the story uses these children in his diabolical plot to take over the world. One of the children in the story lies and falsely accuses another child of making him cheat in school.

Synopsis

Reynie Muldoon, an 11-year old orphan, responds to an unusual ad in the newspaper addressed to  “gifted children looking for special opportunities.” He and 3 other children complete and pass a series of non-traditional tests that qualify them for a secret and dangerous mission. Together the 4 bright and resourceful children constitute the Mysterious Benedict Society and are tasked with bringing down the evil Mr. Curtain and thwarting his plan to take over the world. Each member of the society has unique  talents that are essential to the success of their plan, but learning to rely on each other and working together to accomplish their assignment is not as easy as it seems.

After an enthusiastic recommendation from my 12-year old daughter, I tackled this nearly 500 page book. Overall I quite liked it, although the length may discourage some young readers. A fun story of kids outsmarting the evil adult, it reminded me of Chasing Vermeer, by Blue Balliett. The book also brings up some meaty discussion points like messages in the media, abandonment, loneliness, and putting yourself at risk for the benefit of others.

Language: 2

Violence: 3

Sexuality: 0

Adult Themes: 0

Title:  Where the Red Fern Grows

Author:  Wilson Rawls

Ratings Explanation

Language:  Hell, damn and the term for a female dog (in reference to Little Ann, a female dog) are used.

Violence:  Billy is beat up by a gang of young boys in town as he collects his new dogs from the train depot.  A mountain lion prowls in front of the cave where Billy and his hound pups spend the night.  Billy traps a racoon and kills him with a double bit ax in order to obtain a skin to train his hounds.  Old Dan and Little Ann track and kill many racoons.  Rubin Pritchard picks a fight with Billy.  Rubin then becomes enraged when he sees that Old Dan is killing his hound, Old Blue.  Rubin grabs Billy’s ax and runs towards the dogs, to kill Old Dan and Little Ann.  Rubin trips, falls on the ax and bleeds to death.  The hounds track a mountain lion.  The lion tries to attack Billy.  Old Dan and Little Ann sacrifice themselves to save Billy’s life.  Old Dan is severely injured. He is disemboweled by the big cat.  Billy hacks the mountain lion with the ax. Old Dan and Little Ann’s jaws clamp down on the mountain lion’s throat.  They rip the jugular vein and kill the moutain lion.  Billy’s Mom cleans off Old Dan’s intestines and then stitches him closed.  Old Dan dies from the violent encounter.  Little Ann dies mourning the loss of Old Dan.

Synopsis

Billy is a ten year old boy who lives on a farm in the Ozarks.  Billy finds a magazine discarded by fishermen.  In the magazine he discovers an advertisement for red coon hound pups.  He works hard to save money for two years to purchase the pups.  Unbeknownst to Billy’s parents, Billy’s grandpa orders the dogs for Billy.  Billy is so excited to get the dogs.  He walks all the way to town, thirty miles each way to collect the dogs from the train depot.  Billy camps in a cave on the way home and encounters a mountain lion.  The fire and the hounds protect Billy from the mountain lion.   Billy trains his pups to hunt racoons.  Old Dan and Little Ann outhunt everyone around.  Billy, Old Dan and Little Ann become an inseparable three-some.  Their love for one another is unconditional.  Grandpa is goaded into a bet with Rubin and Rainie Pritchard, which ends poorly.  Rubin falls while running with Billy’s ax and he bleeds to death.   Grandpa registers Billy, Old Dan and Little Ann in a championship coon hunt.  Little Ann wins the “Best-Looking Hound” contest and Billy receives a silver cup.  Billy, Old Dan and Little Ann win the Coon Championship Hunt and Billy receives a gold cup and three hundred dollars that was collected from the hunt’s participants.  Mama feels that her prayers have been answered, because the family can now afford to move to town and her children may receive an education.  Old Dan and Little Ann track a mountain lion.  A violent fight ensues.  Old Dan sacrifices himself to save Billy.  Old Dan dies.  Little Ann dies mourning.  Billy buries both dogs on a scenic overlook.  When Spring arrives Billy finds that a beautiful red fern has grown between the two graves.  Indian legend states that “only an angel could plant the seeds of a red fern, and that they never die; where one grew, that spot was sacred.”

How can I read and review youth literature and not include this perennial favorite?  This book is the first memory I have of my mother reading aloud to us, her children.  The six of us, (out of eight), lay on the threshold of our bedrooms and listened to my mother read as she leaned up against the wall in the hallway.  I loved the story of Billy, a ten year old boy’s adventure and the unconditional love Old Dan, Little Ann and Billy all had for one another.  I recall my great sorrow when she read of Old Dan and Little Ann’s deaths.  I also remember crying when she told us that Wilson Rawls, embarrassed by his lack of education, burned a trunk full of manuscripts he had written.  I cried over the loss of such great stories.  “Where the Red Fern Grows” is with few exceptions, an autobiographical tale of Rawl’s childhood in Scraper, Oklahoma. 

My children received this book for Christmas.  We began reading aloud and I wasn’t sure it would have the same effect upon my children as it had on me.  I was wrong.  Night after night, my daughter would beg for just one more chapter.  She also claimed she couldn’t sleep, because she just couldn’t stop thinking about getting a dog.  (We are dogless.)  They were so sad when Old Dan and Little Ann died, but they loved the story!  If you haven’t yet read this to your children – what are you waiting for?   

©2009 The Literate Mother

 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: 2

Violence: 4

Sexuality: 2

Adult Themes: 3

Title: Inkheart

Author: Cornelia Funke

Ratings Explanation

Language:  Aunt Elinor curses often.  “Elinor swore a lot, and the more upset she was the worse her language became.”  The only words mentioned specifically are “damn” and “bloody hell” and one instance of diety.  Elinor is also referred to as a “fat woman” (offensive language in my house).

Violence:  The villains are from the middle ages.  They use brute force first and may or may not ask questions later.  Dead roosters are their calling card.  They infest the hills surrounding their village base with venomous snakes.  People condemned to death are put in a crypt under the church to die.  Tires are slashed.  Capricorn’s henchmen shoot shotgun rounds at the escaping prisoners.  While Elinor is driving the escape car, she collides with a stone wall.  Farid is bitten by a marten (a furry creature) and his finger bleeds profusely.  Farid hits Flatnose in the forehead with a rock and knocks him unconscious.  Mo is bitten by a dog and his sleeve is covered in blood.  Eleanor holds a shotgun to Basta’s head and threatens to kill him.  Flatnose and Basta are gagged, tied up and the left in the hills.  Basta uses his knife to slit throats and gash faces.  Dustfinger’s face is scarred by Basta’s knife.  Basta cut a pattern into Dustfinger’s face when they both fancied the same girl.  Dustfinger pulls a knife on Mortimer.  Flatnose puts his hand over a woman’s mouth to keep her quiet and she dies.  Farid snares a rabbit and kills it. Farid recalls beatings by the thieves, “they beat me like a dog”.  Tresa and Dustfinger are held captive in dangling nets.  Meggie and Fenoglio are kidnapped by Basta and Flatnose.  Capricorn threatens to wrap “pretty little vipers” around loved one’s necks, he threatens, “You all love something…”.  Capricorn seeks the submission of all.  The Shadow submits to Capricorn.  The Shadow is immortal, invulnerable and as pitiless as Capricorn.   The Shadow kills many.  An execution is planned and they hope the executioner is good with the sword so it will be over quickly.  Meggie kicks Basta in the shins and he drags her back up the stairs by the hair.  Dustfinger has the opportunity to kill Basta and he nearly takes it as he runs the knife over Basta’s flesh.  Elinor punches Cockerell and bloodies his nose.  Mortimer a.k.a. Silvertongue hides in a shallow grave with skeletal remains.

Sexuality:  Capricorn refers to Meggie as a “pretty little thing” that will come in handy when she is a bit older.  Capricorn has women read out of books by Darius to take care of his  needs.  Basta likes to use snakes to scare women who reject his advances. 

Adult Themes:  Capricorn was subjected to abuse as a child.  “His father, a blacksmith, made him play with hot coals, and sometimes beat him as hard as he beat the iron he forged.  There were more blows if he said ‘I can’t’ or ‘I’ll never do it’.”  Arson.  A trusted authority figure, a policemen, brings escaped prisoners seeking help, back to their captor, Capricorn.  Inkheart is rife with betrayal.

Synopsis

The book’s title is Inkheart “because it’s about a man (Capricorn) whose wicked heart is as black as ink, filled with darkness and evil.”

Meggie is twelve years old.  She and her father, Mortimer, have been constantly on the move since she was three years old.  Mortimer is a book binder.  They are both avid book lovers and voracious readers.  Curiously, Mortimer has never read to Meggie aloud.  One night, an old acquaintance, Dustfinger loiters under the street light in front of their home.  He is invited inside and therein begins the adventure for Meggie.  The trio of Dustfinger, Mortimer and Meggie travel to great-aunt Elinor’s to hide.  Mortimer is found and taken captive by the villains.  Meggie, Elinor and Dustfinger then travel to Capricorn’s hide-out to convince him to free Mortimer.  Meggie’s eyes are opened to her father’s mysterious talent.  When Mortimer reads aloud, the story escapes from the pages of the book, and is transplanted into their world.  Meggie soon discovers that she also possesses the gift.  Meggie discovers how to use her imagination to save her family.

“Inkheart” the movie will be released Friday, January 23rd, 2009.  The movie will no doubt pale in comparison to the book.  They always do.  However, if  the movie is 2/3 what the book is, it will be a fantastic movie!  The bags under my eyes are ENORMOUS today, after reading this book into the wee hours of the morning.  The adventure was captivating!  I was disappointed by the survival of two of  the villians, Basta and Mortola.  However, their existence is a perfect segway into a sequel. 

FYI: Inkheart was first written in German and then translated into English.  The writing style is superb.  As a lover of the printed word, I found the inclusion of book binding history to be fascinating. 

1/27/09  We saw the movie last night and the plot drastically departs from the plot in the book.  My husband, children and I all enjoyed the movie, but it is very loosely based upon the book’s premise.  My children were surprised when I outlined the differences and now they would like the book read aloud to them.

©2009 The Literate Mother

Language: 1

Violence: 2

Sexual Content: 0

Adult Themes: 3

Title: Elijah of Buxton

Author: Christopher Paul Curtis

2008 Newbery Honor, Coretta Scott King Award Winner

Rating Explanation

Language: The word “blanged” is used as a cuss word in the book.

From the book, “And me and all’em other little nigg–”

“I didn’t even get the chance to get the whole word out. I never saw it coming”

Violence: After the above exchange, Mr. Leroy backhands Elijah across the mouth. He blacks out for a second. The preacher rescues a black boy at gun point who is basically a slave in a carnival. A woman learns through a letter that her husband, who was still a slave in the U.S., was accused of stealing and then beaten so badly that he died.  Elijah’s mother relates the story that when she was a girl, her mistress took her on a trip to Michigan. When she comes back and tells her own mother how close she was to Canada her mother hits her three times for not trying to escape. She tells her daughter, “If you gets another chance and don’t take it…or die trying…I swear, girl, I’ll kill you myself once you get back here.” The preacher shoots and beats up a fellow inhabitant of Buxton, then leaves him for dead.  Brief description, after the fact, of the preacher being beaten and tortured. He is left hanging by his arms in the barn after he is dead.

Adult Themes: Many issues involving slavery. Slaves in the U.S. trying to escape to Canada. Some are caught and taken back to their masters. While it is illegal to have slaves in Canada, slavery is still practiced in the United States. Several families in Buxton are separated because the father or mother has escaped and is trying to earn the money necessary to buy the rest of their family out of slavery in the U.S. Runaway slaves are chained up in a barn. They have shackles on their hands and feet and are naked. The preacher in the story asks Elijah to deceive his parents and sneak out with him late at night to go to a carnival. He is also dishonest with Elijah when dividing fish between them. He eventually steals a significant amount of money and nearly kills a friend.

Synopsis

Elijah is the first child born free in Buxton, Canada, a settlement of former slaves not far from the American border. He is a “fra-gile” boy who is gullible and given to crying, but he is also honest, kind and, although he doesn’t know it, brave.  Elijah’s friend is saving money to buy his family out of slavery in the south, but when someone steals that money Elijah must track down the thief. On his own, he discovers that he is “growned” and can handle the most difficult of situations.

This is an exceptional book. I thoroughly enjoyed the writing which brought Elijah and the other inhabitants of Buxton to life. His humor is priceless, “It sounded peculiar at first, but if you started thinking like you didn’t have no common sense at all it seemed like Cooter’s put it all together real good!” and there are many life lessons, “Let this here be a lesson to you. You caint let your wantings blind you to what’s the truth. You always got to look at things the way they is, not the way you wish ‘em to be.”

This book allows young readers to become more acquainted with the issues of slavery without being too intense. The focus of the story is Elijah, how he grows up, and the adventure he is drawn into. But at the same time we learn about others who have escaped a life of slavery and those who have tried to escape, but were unsuccessful. Some of the lessons in the book will be lost on younger readers and they will just enjoy the story, but for those a little more mature, they will learn that the price of freedom for some is great and for others it costs all.

Amazon lists the reading level as ages 9-12. I agree with the reading level, but I think that an older child would learn more from it. I wouldn’t recommend it for my 9 year-old, but I want my 12 year-old to read it.

©2009 The Literate Mother

Language: 1

Violence: 2

Sexuality: 0

Adult Themes: 2

Title: The Misadventures of Benjamin Bartholomew Piff: You Wish

Author: Jason Lethcoe

Ratings Explanation

Language: Only one reference to “Profanity Production” in the Curseworks Factory. “In spite of the heavy walls, Ben blushes when he hears the foul curses that were emanating from the room.”

Violence: Ms. Pinch raises her hand to Ben as if to strike him and stops at the last minute. In one of the footnotes a factory worker flies a chair after too much drinking at the pub. He ascends three thousand feet and his body is never recovered. Simon Spinchley is turned into a spider. There is a scaly, dragonlike monster the Curseworks Factory has built. During the battle sequence, hideous creatures screech curses, which emit a horrible green acid that burns. The fanged jaws of a creature crack the windshield. Many of the flying chairs crash during battle, and death is imminent. The Jinns swing giant scimitars like sickles through the Spider Monkeys. Ben is shot by a magical curse-covered arrow. He is immediately in agonizing pain as the liquid fire courses through his veins.

Adult Themes: Ben’s parents die in a plane crash. He recalls how great his life had been before he became an orphan. He recalls being told about their deaths. Ben misses his parents terribly. He finds himself in an orphanage under the watch and care of cruel adults. Later in the story, Mr. Thornblood, the President of the Curseworks Factory, who has a history of being very manipulative, slyly tries to persuade Ben to give his wish to him.

Synopsis

Benjamin Bartholomew Piff is an orphan. Ben he has been living for the past year at “Pinch’s Home for Wayward Boys”, a dilapidated orphanage managed by the cruel spinster, Ms. Eliza Pinch and “The Disciplinarian”, and cook, Mr. Roach. Ben plots his escape and is foiled. Ben then receives a cake from his kind case worker, to celebrate his 11th birthday. Ms. Pinch snatches the cake from Ben and Mr. Roach locks the cake in the refrigerator. Later that night, after Ben has spent hours scrubbing pots with a toothbrush, he unlocks the cake from the refrigerator, lights the candles and makes a birthday wish….and follows the rules for Birthday Wishing:

1. The wish must be made with the eyes closed.

2. Every candle on the birthday cake must be blown out in one breath.

3. The wish must never, ever be spoken aloud.

Ben wishes for the most dangerous wish of all…unlimited wishes. He is thrilled with his clever wish, until he learns he has completely disrupted the fragile balance in the magical realm of wishes and curses. Ben is then recruited by the Wishworks Factory President, Candlewick, to be trained for battle against the Curseworks Factory and their evil army of henchmen. The battle ensues as Wishworks fights to regain power.

The old adage, “Be careful what you wish for…. ” is brought to life in “The Misadventures of Benjamin Bartholomew Piff You Wish”. This story will interest 4th – 6th grade readers as they read on their own.  Please don’t forget to read the hilarious footnotes! The book’s gem, “Forgiveness is the sweetest revenge”.

©2009 The Literate Mother