The Yellow House Mystery (Calvin's review)

The Secret Zoo, By Brian Chick (our reviews)

Late one night Megan notices something strange about the animals in the next door zoo. Shortly after that she disappears. Her brother, Noah, is convinced that the zoo had something to do with her disappearance, and when he starts receiving strange visitations and communications from the animals there, he enlists the help of close friends Ella and Richie in getting her back. The kids are used to having adventures together, but they aren't at all prepared for the bizarre experience that awaits them at the zoo in their quest to rescue Megan. Told with humor and warmth, The Secret Zoo is a unique story of friendship and conservation, and in this capacity it was enjoyable read. But being a mystery, the element of suspense is strong, and a war at the end of the book brings fighting and death into the conversation, so this may not be the best read aloud for young children. Additionally I found the sarcastic tone of humor to be off-putting, especially in an example of young friendships.

Interview with Calvin:

What is the story about?
Noah is looking for his sister Megan. She's been missing for two months. He goes to the zoo two times because he receives notes from two animals that are pieces from Megan's journal. At school he finds two of the scouts and they go to the zoo together. At the zoo they meet some animals. Noah goes to Arctic Town and meets a penguin. The penguin takes him to the Secret Zoo. Ella and Richie go to the prairie dog exhibit and they prairie dogs take them to the Secret Zoo. Then they find Noah and they find all their animal friends and some scientists.  Then Mr. Darby tells them the story of the Secret Zoo. Then the go to the Dark Lands and find Megan and bring her home with help from Mr. Darby and all the animals.

What did you like or not like about the book?
I liked the characters and the animals and how they work together to find Megan.

Surprise Island, Boxcar Children Book #2 (review by Calvin)

Weekly book shelf, 9/10

There is no real theme to this week's book list. We are still finishing up our exploration of Antarctica, but have already started into prehistory by watching BBC's Walking With Monsters. So this week I'm just reviewing some of our old favorites—go-to books for Calvin that I saw him pick up at least once over the week.

What Calvin read to himself....

I wouldn't call The Little Train a story so much as a cute and simple explanation of train travel. We travel with Engineer Small as he pilots his train from the small town to the big city, carrying people, mail, and more. We see countryside, we deliver mail, we wait for larger trains to go by, which allows the reader to enjoy the use of the railroad signal system. There is no conflict, and while the story and illustrations are cute, they are neither specifically down-talk, nor are they childish in nature. Lois Lenski is a master of that art, one of the reasons why I really enjoy her work, even if it's a little dated.

Duck is sad that he can't lay an egg like all the other birds in the book (shown sitting on theirs) so he is very excited one day to find an egg which he takes on as his own. The other birds laugh at him—his egg is ugly!—and when their babies hatch they laugh some more because Duck's is still incubating. Then Duck's baby crocodile (because that's what the egg turns out to be) finally hatches and snaps at them all, forcing them to beat a hasty retreat. The illustrations in the book are darling, and it has some short cut pages to show the hatching of the chicks that a youngster will enjoy. The birds are a variety of species and their babies are well drawn to match. The Odd Egg is definitely cute, but because I am overly picky about seemingly moral tales in books I'm not fond of the "make fun of others and you'll get your head snapped off by a crocodile" ending to the story.

Franklin and his friends excitedly plan their costumes for the upcoming Halloween party. When the big day comes they are almost tricked into believing there is a real ghost in the haunted house! And Bear has to stay home sick with a cold, but all of his friends share their candy with him after the party. Franklin's Halloween is an enjoyable story without serious conflict, a good example of how a book can teach strong character traits (making his own costume, working together to figure out the ghost, sharing candy with Bear) without first showing the wrong way to do things. This isn't true about all of the Franklin books, but seems to describe all the early ones in the series. My guess is that popluarity is what changed things.

Calvin is just one chapter away from finishing The Secret Island and I am still pleased with The Boxcar Children as a series for him to read alone. The vocabulary and sentence structure is simple enough for him to read comfortably, but also pushes him to ask for explanations from time to time. Plus the story is simple, but it's also well written and contains a light mystery that is solved in the end. Some parents might be displeased with the class situation since the grandfather is wealthy, has personal staff, and some emphasis is put on his willingness to buy anything for the children that they need or want. But the children also rarely ask for anything and are giving and considerate with each other and with others. I think Calvin enjoys the books because the characters are well written and easy to enjoy.

What we read out loud...

We are two chapters from the end of The Secret Zoo.

And on my bookshelf...I finished The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and Raising Our Children, Raising Ourselves. I'm still plugging away at Proust, and I'm waiting for an advanced copy novel that I'm supposed to read and review by next Thursday, but it failed to arrive as yet. Good luck with that.

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.