Yes...it has been a LONG time since I had a topic for a top ten and a list on that topic with ten in it! This one took a lot of thought...These books are all in a series. I have read most if not all of the books in the series with them (OK, the only series I haven't read all of represented on the list is Captain Underpants...now you know). These are the ones I like more than the other books in the same series. Only one is a first book (one other is kinda of a first book; just not written first). Two are graphic novels. Two are hybrid graphic/text. And two are SADLY out of print at present. These are series books that prove that not all series (serieses?) are fluffy and sub-par fiction. Try them all--Mr. Tim guarantees they is good books! Series books · Captain Underpants and the Perilous Plot of Professor PP Poopypants by Dav Pilkey · Lamp from the Warlock’s Tomb by John Bellairs · Celery Stalks at Midnight by James Howe · Magician’s Nephew by C S Lewis · Bad Kitty: Drawn to Trouble by Nick Bruel · Darth Paper Strikes Back by Tom Angelberger · Ghost in the Third Row by Bruce Coville · And Then There Were Gnomes by Colleen AF Venable · Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J K Rowling · Binky the Space Cat by Ashley Spires |
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Brilliant re-imagining of the story of Morgan le Fay (though I had always thought it was le Fey). This prequel/companion to I Am Mordred again deals with Briton's première dysfunctional family. Morgan resents her half brother Arthur from his birth. He is the offspring of King Uther who murdered her father to sleep with their mother. Arthur is the reason she and her flighty older sister Morgause must flee their castle Tintagel with their nurse who is more than just a nurse. Arthur is the object of their mother's obsession when she goes slightly mad after Uther's death. Morgan tries to fight fate and live a happy life away from the world with her true love Sir Thomas, but she loses the fight, her lover, and for a time her mind. The characterizations, especially Morgan's, are excellent as is the imagery and writing in general. Morgan's complex relationship with Thomas not to mention what is intimated at the tale's end to occur between ½ siblings Morgause and Arthur push this title on to YA ground unlike it's companion volume...which I guess inevitably ends in patricide, so it skews a bit older too. The infusion of figures from mythology is nicely handled too. The author has created a wholly believable world. Worth a look-see whether you are an Arthurian tale fan or not. There are draggy bits, but the last thirty-forty pages are wonderful! As I said this is a prequel/sequel to "I am Mordred." I loved this and only liked Mordred. But I usually have a soft spot for sorceresses especially those of Arthurian Legend. Try these...but I suggest reading Mordred first.
Bubble: What I loved most was the illustrations by Arthur Howard. Not only was Tabby a gorgeous puss, but she seemed to be having so much fun. She really looked and acted like a cat. I think Arthur must have a fine cat like Tabby (and me). Banjo: We should talk about the book. Bubble: I thought we were. Banjo: No, we were talking about you. Bubble: And how much I liked the book. Isn't that what a book recommendation is? Banjo: That's part, you have to tell the people, humans and cats, what the book is about so they'll want to read it. You know that. You've been helping Daddy Tim write his book blog since he has been working on his book. Bubble: Right! I'll start. Mr. Putter is an old human who has a very pretty lady cat named Tabby. Apparently, they do lots together that is interesting enough to be in books. I should be in books. I play volleyball and take care of Pink Baby and can I can completely disappear when I hide behind the curtain in the torture chamber. {Daddy Tim editorial note: I just discovered that cats can roll their eyes. Banjo just rolled his}. Banjo: Yes, fine Bubble. You are the most interesting cat in the world...The BOOK is about Mr Putter and Tabby in the Autumn. They go out in their back yard and see all the juicy pears on the tree and Mr Putter wants to pick them. Bubble: Do we have pears? Banjo: No we have a Lilac. You can't eat that. Bubble: Oh yeah? Well, I think you should know that I HAVE eaten the Lilac. Banjo: That explains the brain damage. Daddy Tim: Hey! You two need to talk about the book and stop fighting! Bubble, what happens when they get outside and try to pick the pears? Bubble: Mr Putter's knees are too old to get up the ladder. Banjo: So he makes a slingshot to shoot them out of the tree. He picks up apples from his other tree (Can I just say that humans eat some weird stuff? Apples and Pears! Really?) and shoots them with his slingshot at the pears. Bubble: But he keeps missing the pears...and then he runs out of apples.
Banjo: Hey! That's my line! I give this book four and a half treats!
Bubble: Does that mean it gets nine? Nine out of five? Banjo: You are such a blonde girl cat. Here's a Tip for CaCHups: Don't let your Daddies adopt a blonde girl cat. {Daddy Tim editorial note: I have to go break up the cat fight in the front room. See you next time! Happy reading :-) } You know I'm a Librarian, and so you know you'd be hard pressed to count the number of children's books I've read--tens of thousands I am sure--or the story times I've presented--hundreds and hundreds...and I am really quite fond of Baby Turtle's Tale. Baby Turtle hatched late and he searches the sea for his family. First the minor cons: the rhyme of the text is a little bit "fat cat sat on the rat": "Where is everyone he said to the air. Shouldn't my family be around here somewhere?" And the big manga-eyed turtle is a wee bit too CUTE! Couldn't he just have regular turtle eyes? But the Pros: the moving picture windows are fascinating! I know they are low-tech, but for lapsit storytime, these will hold attention. You'll hear lots of "Again again!" That little turtle in the circle in the image "swims" when you open the book. On other pages, the turtle hatches and birds fly...Neat! The water color illustrations are well done, and the science facts at the back are perfect! I AM a sucker for a sea turtle story, so that is one point in its favor. Still, this is well worth your time and your dollar. A great gift! It’s been established here that I am a sucker for a monkey book. That monkey can be a spider monkey or an ape, but chimp books have the easiest time at winning me over. The kids in my Teen Advisory Group love Oppel’s other titles. I’d always been interested in his bat-centric titles, but I’d never read one…then I discovered this book…and I loved it. It’s set in the seventies in Canada. Thirteen year old Ben has to move with his scientist parents to accommodate their newest experiment: raising a chimp as if it were a human child. Ben is at first against the project, but baby Zan (named by Ben after Tarzan) charms him quickly. So while trying to integrate into a new school and pursuing a cute girl, Ben helps out with the experiment. In order to get results his father makes some really stupid decisions about the direction the experiment should take…and problems occur for everyone. Like all chimp in the family books I have read there are some departures from likely reality near the end of the story, but the whole is an excellent novel that examines what it is to be human, the relationship between father and son…and brother and half-brother, and what it’s like to be thirteen—that wicked inbetween time. Ben is one of the most real thirteen year olds I have read. Highly recommended if you like chimps and more fun if you grew up in the 70’s. Pratchett has spent the greater part of his career writing about the Discworld, and we readers thank him for that! In one of his rare non-Discworld novels (the first since 1996's Johnny and the Bomb if I'm not mistaken, though he has a couple of newer collaborations now) he's created a real winner for kids, adults, fans, non-fans...all human-types. (Parrots will like this too; however some pigs may be scandalized). It's set in a world similar to ours but with a different history. England is beset by plague & the heir to the throne who was quite a ways down the list before some dying occurred in the royal family needs to be fetched from his position as Governor of Port Mercia. His daughter Ermintrude who was in route to be with him will need to be picked up on the way... Meanwhile, on an island so small as to not be on maps--well maps made by people who think being on a map makes you civilized--Mau is leaving his boyhood behind. He's about to complete the ritual that will lead him to being considered a man...Then something happens--a wave washes away everything and everyone Mau knew. But it deposits Ermintrude's ship in a tree. Anyone who has ever had the pleasure of reading a Pratchett novel knows that summarizing them just doesn't do them justice, so I'm stopping there. Suffice to say that this is an amazing book. It's fun to read. The characters are funny, but never made fun of. Pratchett's trademark dry, sly British humor is well in evidence. It takes on several weighty issues (death, imperialism, religion, grief) without ever being preachy or patronizing. It's the story of a boy who didn't know there were questions (especially about the whole gods thing) and a girl who was taught questions were improper (especially questions about propriety)...how they meet and share their questions and answer a few of them. That with guns and sharks and milking of pigs in. Just like his Discworld books starring Tiffany Aching, this is a gift to young audiences and people who read like them. Try it you will like it!
As a child I fell in love with the Arthurian tales at the same moment Philip Reeve did (according to his author's note): when I first watched what he describes as the "barking mad" and "brilliant" movie "Excalibur." I can still recite Merlin's spell that got Uther into the castle to sire Arthur in the movie; I wonder if he can. I have since read quite a few retellings of the Arthur legends or adults and young adults and kids...and this Carnegie Medal winner (Britain's version of the Newbery Medal) is a very good addition to that long list of books and series. I never forgave Mary Stewart for explaining away all the magic in her novels...this does similar, Myrddin is a very smart trickster and storyteller not an actual wizard, but "Here Lies Arthur"'s magic lies in the telling of the tale and the concrete characters. The re-jiggering of the old tales is quite imaginative. Myrddin is a pragmatic athiest, Arthur is a shrewd, stubborn, pig of a warrior (except in Myrddin's retellings of his exploits). The narrator Gwynna/Gwyn (she dresses as a boy for a fair piece of the novel) is real and engaging. At its character-driven core, it's the story of a father and his adopted daughter/son. If you have young adventure readers...boys or girls ages 10 to 14...this is an excellent pick for them. Fantasy readers might not love it quite as much (the whole no-real-magic thing) but they'll still like it. It's worth a read by big people too! I passed my copy on to my dad (who's in his 70's and he loved it too). Oh, and in case you ever need to break into a castle surrounded by a moat in the middle of the night & you want to be disguised as the king: "Ahn'hal Nathrack Oothfas Bethode Dah'hee El D'invey" (my spelling might be a bit off, should still work if you say it right...) Konigsburg never fails to amaze me...spinning story lines and characters aimed at the sophisticated child readers and creating stories that touch and entertain kids and adults. Even her "more accessible" novels like From the Mixed up Files of Mrs. Basil E Frankweiler ask more of readers than most of children's literature, and that's a good thing. Her books are works of art you can either spend time picking the levels and relationships of events and people apart...or just enjoy the gestalt. In this near-sequel to The Outcasts of 19 Schyuler Place, Amadeo Kaplan and his mother move from New York to St Malo, Florida. It's his first time being "the new kid" and he's smart and rich, so he doesn't make many friends right off the bat. He does befriend William whose mother is helping to catalog the possessions of the strange and pretentious Mrs. Zender, a retired opera singer who is moving to a retirement community before her money runs out. Amadeo wants to discover something no one else has, and there's a chance of that, he thinks, in helping William and his mother with Mrs. Zender's belongings. Through bits of memoir and letters, the boys uncover a mystery that touches on art history and Nazi oppression. Maybe I just had a weird childhood, but no matter whether her books are set in the modern world or before I was born or back in the mists of history, reading Konigsburg puts me in mind of my own childhood. Her one-of-a-kind Newbery win (Mixed up Files) and Newbery honor (Jennifer, Hecate, MacBeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth) in the same year happened the year I was born--maybe that's the root of my connection to her books. Give them a try; you're in for a treat. |
About MeTim is a writer, book reviewer and Librarian. He has a Master's of Library Science and was on the Newbery Committee twice. Technology scares and often annoys him, but he is always game for a silly costume! Archives
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