Ghost Canoe by Will Hobbs

Ghost Canoe by Will Hobbs

My rating: 1 of 5 stars


Listening to this book reminded me of why I avoid books like this.



I suppose that's a bit unfair; years ago I read _Jason's Gold_ and didn't mind it, and a coworker read and enjoyed _Go Big or Go Home_. But I just couldn't get into this! What kills me is that this book won all sorts of awards when it came out (1997), and literary reviews call it exciting! *sigh*



The story is about a younger teenage boy named Nathan who lives off the Pacific Northwest Coast in 1874. One of his favorite things to do is fishing with his adult friend Lighthouse George, a Makah fisherman.



One day they learn that a ship has crashed and that the captain's murdered body has floated to the shore. Nathan decides to figure out what exactly happened. Also involved in this twisted tale is the weird behavior of the local store owner Captain Dan, a canoe that Nathan finds lodged in a tall tree, and a man who's interested in becoming the new store owner. All of this is going on while Nathan's father is away and his mother is ill.



I have to admit, I couldn't wait til this audio book was finished. There's a lot of Makah culture weaved into the story, which is fine--but not necessarily interesting to me. I didn't hate this audio book as much as I hated _The Dark is Rising_ (Susan Cooper), but this was a close second.



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The Boy Who Looked Like Lincoln by Mike Reiss

The Boy Who Looked Like Lincoln by Mike Reiss

My rating: 1 of 5 stars


I picked this book up at the library because the illustrator David Catrow was a speaker at the Youth Services Author Breakfast at ILA 2010. Someone in the audience mentioned that Scholastic refuses to sell this book based on some readers' complaints. It was a long morning and I was sort of spacing out and didn't catch what exactly about the book made it so undesirable to Scholastic...which is why I read it yesterday.

The story is straight-forward enough; a boy tells about how people have thought that he looks like Abraham Lincoln ever since he was born, and how he's given stove pipe hats and Lincoln Logs as presents, etc. He realizes that he's happy to be the way he is after he attends a camp that specializes in kids who look like things/people.

As I read the story, I kept watch for something offensive and didn't see it. Yeah, the pictures aren't cute at all (or, rather, what I consider cute) and the child, quite honestly, is ugly!!

Then I arrive at the final page, where he states, "Now I just have to figure out how to help my baby brother, Dickie." ...Dickie is portrayed as Richard Nixon--"Tricky Dick"--with a very phallic-looking nose. BINGO! Of course, a child wouldn't recognize this, but adults surely will--and have!

I'm not for pulling this book from the shelves or banning it or whatever, and I think Scholastic is being a bit dramatic about it. When it comes down to it, the story isn't anything special and the pictures are yucky! Just pass this book on by when cruising the picture book section for a good read.



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The Sound of Colors: A Journey of the Imagination by Jimmy Liao

The Sound of Colors: A Journey of the Imagination by Jimmy Liao

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I came across this book while weeding the fiction section at work and I just had to put it aside to look at it more. This story is about a nearly blind lady who describes what she "sees" in her imagination as she walks through life.

The pictures are amazing; they are all interesting, if not what one would picture while on an acid trip--not disturbing...just sort of strange.

I got a feeling of wistfulness at some parts of the story; in fact, I felt it right at the beginning: "A year ago / I began to notice / that my sight was slipping away. / I sat at home alone / and felt the darkness settle around me. / But today I walked outside..."

And this part near the middle of the story: "Home is the place / where everything I've lost / is waiting patiently / for me / to find my way back..."

And also this part in the middle: "There must be someone / who'll sit beside me / sip tea, / tell me her hopes for the future, / and listen to mine..." (Aww! *wipes away a tear*)

There's an author's note in the back; I was curious to learn whether he is blind or losing his sight himself. It doesn't mention that, though it does state that he is a cancer survivor.

I don't know that I'd recommend this book to kids, though I'm sure they'd enjoy the pictures. Maybe if a child read it along with an adult...? Regardless, this book warmed my heart.



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The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner

The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I began this series due to a recommendation from a friend. I dutifully read it but, admittedly, I didn't find it super-wonderful.



This story is about a young teen named Gen who is locked in a prison cell when the reader is introduced to him; he had been arrested in a wine shop after gloating about something he stole. He is approached by someone who works for the king who is interested in using Gen to help capture a very elusive item. Having nothing better to do, Gen agrees to help the man get the item for the king.



Gen accompanies not only the man who approached him, but also two other boys around his age who are apprentices--more or less--to the man, and also a royal guard.



This book is mostly about the group's travels to get to the location of the elusive item. It reminded me of book one of _The Lord of the Rings_ trilogy--walking and walking and sleeping and eating and walking and walking. I didn't particularly love all of the traveling in the LOTR series, and I didn't particularly enjoy it here, either.



The reader grows to dislike Gen due to his snotty, smart-mouthed personality. I began to feel a bit of sympathy for him when he is in the place where the item is because it is so scary in there, but on their trek back, my sympathy would ebb and flow for him.



Once they reach their destination after the adventure, we learn that there is much more to Gen than we originally thought, setting us up for book two of the series, _The Queen of Attolia_.





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Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I was looking forward to reading (listening) to this book and I was -mostly- not disappointed. I love love LOVED the first book _Hunger Games_ and have faithfully continued to make my way through the trilogy.



This story finds Katniss rescued from the second Hunger Games she is forced to participate in by an underground group that has been attempting to fight the Capital. However, they weren't able to rescue Peeta, so he is captured by the Capital's people.



The rest of the story is about how they get Peeta back, the chaos all of the districts are experiencing, and how the underground group tries to fight the Capital. The epilogue brought to mind the epilogue in the _Harry Potter_ series, in that it completes the series so that there is no speculation as to what happens to the characters.



I thought that this book was fine; nothing can compare to the first book in the series, and this was a fine way to end it. There were a few parts in the book where I was like, "noooo!"--so I was pretty attached to some of the characters.



I've recommended book one to others, also mentioning that they don't necessarily need to read the rest of the trilogy.



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The Ink Garden of Brother Theophane by C. Millen

The Ink Garden of Brother Theophane by C. Millen

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


When I read the review of this book in a literary journal, I was really excited! I have a love of anything Medieval (my MA is in Early English Literature) and I thought this story would be right up my alley. But, as it turns out, not really...



This story is about a monk named Brother Theophane whose job is to copy text (along with other monks). However, Theophane isn't that great at his job because he daydreams all the time and feeds birds crumbs on the nearby windowsill. He eventually gets demoted.



His new job is awful; he must crush bark in a cauldron to make the ink used by the other brothers. One day, while out to retrieve more bark, he trips and falls on some blackberries and realizes that the juice stains...so he figures he can use this for ink. He goes on to discover other colors of ink in the nature around him.



Eventually, he no longer stirs bark in the cauldron, but grows a garden full of things he can get colors from.



In reality, it was early chemists who experimented with creating ink from things in nature (minerals, herbs, shrubs, etc.)...not necessarily a dreamy monk.



The pictures are nice, and the story is told in a poetic form, but those two things are really the only things I liked about the book.



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Making the Moose Out of Life by Nicholas Oldland

Making the Moose Out of Life by Nicholas Oldland

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


I admit that the pictures in this book are really cute, but that's where my praise ends.

The story is about a moose who is unfulfilled in life, so he decides to go on a boat trip to see if he can find what he's missing in life. He runs into bad weather and ends up on a deserted island.

However, it's not as deserted as he first thought, as he meets a turtle named Tuesday and they have all sorts of fun adventures together. One day, they spot a cruise ship, so they build a large fire to get its attention and the moose is rescued.

The cruise ship isn't heading home for a few weeks yet, so the moose enjoys all sorts of activities while on board. When he finally gets home, he decides that he's found what was missing in his life and invites his friends to go cliff jumping.

This story seems more geared towards adults stuck in a rut than small children wanting to hear a story. I just wasn't that impressed with it, but, like I said, the pictures are really cute.




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