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Ago S. (compac) - Reviews

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Anyone But Me (Katie Kazoo Switcheroo, Bk 1)
Review Date: 1/17/2007


good read for avg 3rd graders, as stated in other reviews has a anti-meat flavor in later series titles... ;)


Biscuit's New Trick (My First I Can Read)
Review Date: 1/17/2007


Great story for pre-schoolers,
Good pics, easy story line for a child to follow: about teaching a puppy a new trick... fetch


Chanukah Guilt
Chanukah Guilt
Author: Ilene Schneider
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
 3
Review Date: 9/16/2008
Helpful Score: 2


This book is written from the point of view of a female rabbi who backs into investigating 2 deaths. The story has nothing to do with Chanukah, except that it happens to take place from late November to early December during the festival. The author gives a lot of detail on the day-to-day activities of the main character, but still gradually reveals clues about the mystery as the Rabbi discovers them. The final piece of information needed to tie everything together is held off until the end of the book.


Cheater, Cheater
Cheater, Cheater
Author: Elizabeth Levy
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 3.8/5 Stars.
 4
Review Date: 6/16/2008


An easy read for an avg 6th grader, A girls book with just a touuch of romance and boy friend trouble thrown in.

"Cheater Cheater" is about a middle school student and her problems with cheating at a friends bowling party (and getting caught)and cheating or not at school. Some simplistic situations but a good intro into a complex topic or two. It has something for all to learn about everyday life and for children who have never cheated, those who have or those who are tempted.


Clifford's Tricks (Clifford)
Clifford's Tricks (Clifford)
Author: Norman Bridwell
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 3.5/5 Stars.
 15
Review Date: 1/17/2007


Yep it the dog "everone loves"...


Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister
Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister
Author: Gregory Maguire
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 3.4/5 Stars.
 1439
Review Date: 3/1/2008
Helpful Score: 1


Story with realistic details of a mother and two daughters that begin a new life in Holland during the time period of Rembrandt and Vermeer. This is the story that over the years following the end of the book evolves into the version of Cinderella we know today. The characters have depth and scenes are described so that I could easily get a picture in my mind. Overall, I enjoyed the book and plan to read Wicked.


Corrie's Secret Pal (Here Come the Brownies : A Girl Scout Book, No 1)
Review Date: 10/14/2008
Helpful Score: 3


reading level ~ 2nd grade, lower if read w/ a parent. (not age 9-12 as desc. above)

Learn what a Brownie troop & GS is about.
POV is from a new girl in town joining a troop from her school and making friends.


Dave Barry's Greatest Hits
Dave Barry's Greatest Hits
Author: Dave Barry
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 4.1/5 Stars.
 39
Review Date: 9/24/2007


This is a collection of Barry's best columns. I have read this book twice, and even the second time I laughed out loud at many of the stories.


The Day the Fifth Grade Disappeared
The Day the Fifth Grade Disappeared
Author: Terri Fields
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
 11
Review Date: 11/13/2007


Good book for 6 to 8 year olds. My 9 year old daughter said this was too easy for her.


Death at Windsor Castle (Her Majesty Investigates, Bk 3)
Death at Windsor Castle (Her Majesty Investigates, Bk 3)
Author: C. C. Benison
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 3.6/5 Stars.
 27
Review Date: 11/9/2008


This book is third in a series. Modern day housekeeper at Windsor Castle, Jane Bee, plays amateur detective to solve a murder that has just taken place at the beginning of the book. Enjoyed the character of the Queen, she is used as a sounding board and voice of reason by Jane. The ending is not clear cut, part is left up to the reader.


The Emerald City of Oz
The Emerald City of Oz
Author: L. Frank Baum
Book Type: Mass Market Paperback
  • Currently 3.7/5 Stars.
 23
Review Date: 1/17/2007


Also titled The Land of Oz... Story is after Doarthy is gone but her other 3 friends have new adventures


The Homework Machine (Homework Machine, Bk 1)
The Homework Machine (Homework Machine, Bk 1)
Author: Dan Gutman
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 4.3/5 Stars.
 20
Review Date: 11/27/2007
Helpful Score: 1


An easy 4th grade read... fun and fast says our 9y/o

Child Magazine
Only a miracle -- like a homework machine named Belch -- could unite this unlikely foursome: genius inventor Brenton, overachiever Judy, slacker Kelsey, and smart-aleck Sam. At first, only the machine connects them, but after enough sessions of "doing homework" together, they begin to value each other's differences and become friends. Ideal for middle-grade readers, this highly entertaining story unfolds in short, first-person interviews at the police station. (Yes, they do get caught.) Tucked in between the laughs are excellent messages about tolerance, honesty, and the importance of what the students' teacher calls the "homework machine [that] already exists. It's called your brain." (Ages 8 to 12)
Child magazine's Best Children's Book Awards 2006


I Was a Really Good Mom Before I Had Kids: Reinventing Modern Motherhood
Review Date: 10/24/2010
Helpful Score: 2


This book is mainly geared toward mothers of kids 4 and younger. The main points that the authors bring out are good and the format is easy to read and follow. But, they seem not to realize that children can learn from people other than their parents. The book is also somewhat stereotypical and old fashioned about the roles of the mother and father...and assumes the mother does all or a large majority of running a household and raising the children. It basically ignored single parent families and issues. I got no help, humor, or entertainment from this book.


Iced (Regan Reilly, Bk 3)
Iced (Regan Reilly, Bk 3)
Author: Carol Higgins Clark
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 3.5/5 Stars.
 109
Review Date: 8/5/2008


Nice story about solving an art theft in Aspen,CO. There is a twist in the story for some of the characters at the end in a somewhat contrived, convenient ending.


Loverboy
Loverboy
Author: Victoria Redel
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 2.4/5 Stars.
 8
Review Date: 3/7/2007


From the Publisher
In Victoria Redel's mesmerizing first novel, the question of what happens when a mother loves her child too much is deeply and darkly explored. Left with a small fortune by her parents and the cryptic advice, "it would do to find a passion," Redel's narrator sets out to become a mother--a task she feels she can be adequately passionate about. She conceives her son Paul through a loveless one-night stand, surrounds him with a wonderful, magical world for two--a world filled with books, music, endless games, and bottomless devotion--and calls him pet names like Birdie, Cookie, Puppy, and Loverboy. She wonders, "Has ever a mother loved a child more?" But as life outside their lace curtains begins to beckon the school-age Paul, his mother's efforts to keep him content in their small world become increasingly frantic and ultimately extreme by all definitions.
In this exquisite debut novel, Victoria Redel takes us deep into the mind of a very singular mother, exposing the dangerously whisper-thin line between selfless and selfish motivation that exists in all types of devotion.



From The Critics
Publishers Weekly
In Redel¹s controlled and convincing tale of a mother¹s obsession for her child, the first-person narrator endangers the life of her grade-school son, then asks rhetorically, "Has a mother ever loved a child more?" It is a disturbing question, since the entire novel proves to be the narrator¹s heartfelt demonstration of her single-minded devotion to the raising of her son, Paul. Beautifully succinct, lyrically composed chapters give occasionally disturbing glimpses of the narrator gravely ill in a hospital room, but not until the end of the novel does the reader become chillingly aware of how she has resisted the intrusion of the real world. Painting a convincing portrait of her complex and surprising sympathetic narrator, Redel (Where the Road Bottoms Out) makes it possible to empathize with the woman¹s overwhelming love for her son: the novel succeeds because the reader cannot condemn her.
Isn¹t a boy¹s best friend always his mother? But what if Mom¹s existence revolves exclusively around the child? In Loverboy, debut novelist Victoria Redel takes maternal love to bizarre, harrowing extremes.
Loverboy is stunningly fine. No Novel has rattled me this much since Judith Rossner¹s Looking for Mr. Goodbar. More Redel, please, and soon.


Misty of Chincoteague (Misty, Bk 1)
Misty of Chincoteague (Misty, Bk 1)
Author: Marguerite Henry, Wesley Dennis (Illustrator)
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 4.2/5 Stars.
 102
Review Date: 1/19/2007


A v good read for girl or boy... great book for horse fans!

A little bit of history of the Eastern Shore and lots of action w/ a family and the Mother horse and her colt

Two children, Paul and Maureen, work together to bring the wild pony, Phantom, and her newborn foal, Misty, to Chincoteague Island


Phantom, a rarely seen mare that eludes all efforts to capture her--that is, until a young boy and girl lay eyes on her and determine that they can't live without her. The frenzied roundup that follows on the next "Pony Penning Day" does indeed bring Phantom into their lives, in a way they never would have suspected. Phantom would forever be a creature of the wild. But her gentle, loyal colt Misty is another story altogether.

Marguerite Henry's Newbery Honor Book has captivated generations of boys and girls both with its thrilling descriptions of true incidents from the tiny island of Chincoteague, and its realistic yet wonderfully magical atmosphere. This story of an animal brought into captivity poignantly reveals the powerful opposing forces of humans and nature.


Murder at the Follies (Amy Francis Mystery Series)
Murder at the Follies (Amy Francis Mystery Series)
Author: Elaine Rounds Budd
Book Type: Hardcover
  • Currently 3/5 Stars.
 1
Review Date: 12/14/2008


Nice look at the backstage workings of the Ziegfeld Follies. The story is told from the point of view of one of the chorus girls. She is not out to play amateur detective but ends up helping solve a murder.

FYI...book is signed by the author. Don't know if this is authentic.


Murder with Peacocks (Meg Langslow, Bk 1)
Murder with Peacocks (Meg Langslow, Bk 1)
Author: Donna Andrews
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
 241
Review Date: 7/31/2007
Helpful Score: 3


Format of book is a daily journal of the main character. This made the story a little slow in the beginning, but once a murder took place I had to keep reading to find out what happened. The end was also satisfying and clever. In other words, it was not apparent to me, and I read a lot of mysteries.


The Officers' Wives
The Officers' Wives
Author: Thomas J. Fleming
Book Type: Hardcover
  • Currently 4/5 Stars.
 3
Review Date: 1/20/2008


This is an interesting story about 4 fictional couples. The men are just graduating West Point at the beginning of the book and the story takes the couples through the Korean War and Vietnam. It is easy to follow each couples story line, even though most chapters of the book are only about one couple at a time.


The Old Willis Place
The Old Willis Place
Author: Mary Downing Hahn
Book Type: Paperback
  • Currently 4.2/5 Stars.
 38
Review Date: 11/13/2007
Helpful Score: 3


My 9 year old daughter enjoyed the book. She recommendd the 4 out of 5 star rating and said it was good for 8-10 year olds.


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