Weekly book shelf, 9/3
What Calvin read to himself this week...
Escape from the Chanticleer, is the story of a merry-go-round horse who longs to leave his post outside the Chanticleer restaurant to visit the nearby ocean shore, and in this fantasy such dreams come true. The book is probably a local hit in Nantucket, and it paints a beautiful picture of the northeast beach both with poetic language and illustrations. The story simple and lacks the stressors of suspense, questionable behavior, or what have you, but it's the simplicity that allows it's beauty to shine. The illustrations are detailed without being overwhelming, and they contain hidden treasures for those who look closely enough. This one is a big hit in our house.
What would happen if all the water in the Great Lakes was drained away? Where would we vacation? How would we ship cargo? The Day the Great lakes Drained Away is exactly the ecology book it sounds like and it relays a valuable warning, but it does so in poorly developed rhyme that is hard to read and enjoy. The illustrations are interesting, but mostly because they include recognizable landmarks from actual points of interest along the lakes. I have yet to find a book that Calvin openly dislikes, but he really didn't seem overly interested in this one, and really I can't blame him. There are better books out there on water preservation.
The Happy Hedgehog is not so happy when his grandfather accuses him of wasting his life being lazy, so he goes in search of some goal in life. Our actually un-happy hedgehog interviews a number of other forest animals who are busy with their own fields of study or practice, but he rejects all of these and ends up recognizing the value of his own interests and of doing exactly what he was doing originally. I think Calvin liked this one, the characters are shallow and petty as they train to be best in their fields, and hedgehog is so negative about all the work they have to do that he really does seem kind of lazy. Calvin brought this one home from our library sale room, but it's one that I will be donating right back.
The Boxcar Children #2, The Surprise Island is the second installment in the Boxcar Children Series but it didn't come along until 1949, over 25 years after the original. Calvin is really enjoying it.
What We read out loud...
We are still working our way through The Secret Zoo, and Jon has been looking through the graphic novel adaptation of Neil Gaiman's Coraline with him, too, although they are not strictly reading it together—especially in this form the story is a bit dark for Calvin.
On my own shelf...I've finished The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and plan to focus on Proust and a handful of homeschooling and parenting books for a short while, although I'd better step it up or I'll never finish 52 by the end of the year.
Book reviews, Weekly book shelf | tagged children's fiction, graphic novels, youth fiction
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