"The True Meaning of Smekday" by Adam Rex

I often pick up the books at the library that are put out for the school reading list. As a homeschooler, I like to know what the schools are teaching. I liked this book overall. It does make me wonder why authors think that they need to make their young character curse, even if they ask you to excuse their language as this main character does. My son started to read this before I did and decided not to read it because of the light cursing and the use of God's name in vain. My oldest is reading it now and will add to this post when she is done.

The story is the journal of an eleven year old girl who describes what happened in the United States when the world was invaded by aliens. This isn't a scary, deep story even though there are a few deep subjects covered. The girl, who is named Gratuity, ends up traveling with one of the aliens (who has a secret) named J.Lo, to Arizona, where all the Americans are sent to live. They drive across the states meeting interesting people with quirky personalities. And of course, the two save the world from yet another alien race who plans on destroying the world. Over all a good book.

The main question of this book is who has the right "colonize" an already inhabited land. I have to be honest, this book made me think. I am looking forward to the conversation that the oldest and I are going to have. There are some fun pictures, some done in comic book style, in the book. The biggest gripe I have is with the language. One group of people that Gratuity meets calls themselves "BOOB". It is a big joke that these pre-adolescent boys want to call their gang this. I didn't think it was needed. I also don't think the cursing was needed, it did not add the the authenticity of the characters or the story. I recommend this book with that warning attached.

Rating:

Mom....4

"Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat" by Lynne Jonnell

This is a book that I will make required reading for a few of my older kidos. It is a funny story that deals with what people will do for attention. The heroin is a young girl who's parent inherit a large estate. Then unexplainably, they start to leave their daughter in the care of a nanny and jet set around the world. Emmy finds that it is not only her parents that ignore her, but that the whole world doesn't seem to be able to see her. This lonely girl befriends the classroom rat who through mysterious means is able to talk to her. As the story progresses, the girl solves the mystery as to why she is ignored by those around her and makes new friends. There are rodents who have the ability to effect behaviour that also play an integral part of this story.
I found this story very funny. There are a lot of play on words for character names. The descriptions of behaviors is clever. There are even some good fart descriptions for kids who are in the that stage that think that kind of thing is funny. I giggled through out this book, causing more than one of the team to ask what I was laughing at. There is also a flip book picture that travels down the outside edge of the pages. There is a lesson to be learned by everyone in the story.

Rating:

Mom...5

"The Wolves of Willoughby Chase" by Joan Aiken

"The Wolves of Willoughby Chase" was written in 1962 by Joan Aiken. In this story an evil governess takes over when Bonnie's rich parents go away on a trip for mothers health . Her cousin Sylvia, who is as quite and calm as Bonnie is bold and rambunctious, has just come to live with her. The two young girls (I would say about 10) have to learn how to conquer their fears and gain self control as they fight to keep the evil governess from the family fortune. They face wolves, secret passage ways, an evil boarding school (reminiscent of "The Little Princess"), a long walk to the city and finding justice. It is a fun little story, not to complicated, a little scary in places (the wolf attack and suspense might be a little hard for sensitive kids). My son would not enjoy this, it is a little girl story. It is an adventure that I think 9-12 year old girls would enjoy. The language is rich and yet easy to read with sketches scattered through out.

Rating:

Mom: 4

"Percy Jackson and the Olympians" by Rick Riordan

We have a lot of favorites in our house that we have already read that I thought I would add to our review list. One of these is the "Percy Jackson and the Olympian" series. I read the first one and absolutely loved it. This sparked a discussion between my sweetheart and myself about learning about pagan Gods. We have heard both sides of the argument. We have decided that so much of our language and history has some sort of tie to mythology, and that this story series was a great way to introduce it.

Percy Jackson is a demi god. One parent is mortal and the other a god. The premise of this series is that these god do exist and are still up to their old tricks, interfering with mortals. Mount Olympus is now over the Empire State building and there is a curse. It says the demi god child of one of the big three, Zeus, Poseidon, or Hades, will destroy the gods. The three had decide not to have anymore children, but as we all know, gods have a hard time staying away from mortals. Now the demi gods from Camp Half Blood have to figure out how to save their parents and the world.

I read all the books and then as a family we listened to the books on cd, all read by Jesse Bernstein. Having the entire series read by one reader is a plus. There is also an added book that tells in between stories and has fun little factoids about the characters. We listened to that as well as looked at the book.

We thoroughly enjoyed this series, waiting in anticipation for each instalment to come out. Percy starts out 12 years old (no one has an adventure like a 12 year old boy) and goes til he is 16. There are sword fights and scary monsters and epic battles. All the major greek gods show up in the series as well as some of the minors. I actually learned quite a few things about some of the greek myths and stories behind some of the words we use today.

Everyone, even little Lila, rate this series as a ....5

"A Brief History of Montmaray" by Michelle Cooper

I love to read historical fiction. As much as history intrigues me, I can never seem to remember dates and people in order. But when I read about it in a story, I seem to "get" it better. The book I am reviewing today is "A Brief History of Montmaray" by Michelle Cooper. It tells the story of a fictional island's royalty just prior to WWII. There are very few people left in this little kingdom. In fact it is mainly the royal family. One of the princesses receives a journal and the story is told through her entries. I found it to be intriguing for the most part. There was much confusion during this time as to who was the good guy and who was the bad. Of course we can look back now and see the evil that was brewing but for many of the time, it wasn't as clear. I think the characters in this story express the differing views well. It is a story from the young adult section so there is a little romance involved. I don't think I will recommend it for my kids because of a reference to homosexuality. There is murder, madness and intrigue in the story and for me, no clear line between right and wrong. The story telling is good, the subject is good, but too many ethical questions not dealt with correctly.

Rating:
Momlady....3

"The Cat in the Hat" by Dr. Seuss

This is a funny story. Thing One and Thing Two mess up their house. The Cat in the Hat does silly things. The pictures made me laugh. I like the words BUMP and PLOP. Their fish gets easily mad. Just wait until mother gets home!.......Lila(7)

From MomLady: You can't beat Dr. Seuss for silly stories that use so many sight words.

Rate:

Lila...5

MomLady...5

"Nick of Time" by Ted Bell

How does one twelve year old boy and his little sister get to meet Lord Nelson and Winston Churchill, fight a bloody pirate, and catch a German U-boat? Why with a Leonardo da Vinci's time machine of course. We listened to "Nick of Time" written by Ted Bell , and read by John Shea. It was an amazing adventure of Nick who learns what it means to be a hero. There are spies, sword fights, and harrowing storms. The story is 10 cd's and 11+ hours long.

From a mom's perspective, this was a great book. No one has an adventure like a 12 year old boy. This charactor was so much fun to follow through history. His character was positive and worthy of emulating . I can see my kids putting this book into their imaginative play. It was a great way to learn of historical characters and events. There is an interview with the author at the end of the story. My older kids liked this story best.

Rating: 5: Now that was a good book 4: Recommend for some 3: It was okay 2: It could have been better 1: Wish I had my time back

Mom Lady.......5

Becket (17)......5

The Doctor(12)...5

Porscha(11)........5

Janet(9)........5

Lila(7)........3