Monday, February 25, 2019

MMGM - HOOT




 

Hoot

by Carl Hiaasen

Alfred A Knopf Books for Young Readers

2002 

I'll be honest, I picked this book up at a thrift store. I had heard a lot about Hoot and it was a Newberry Honor Book, so I had high expectations.

Once I was trying to see how many Newberry winners I could read. I told the librarian it would be nice if they would be shelved separate from the others so they could be found easier. The librarian told me that if they did that the kids wouldn't pick those to check out. Hmmmm


Well, this book was okay, but it took me a while to get into it. I could tell the author was used to writing adult novels, by the way he wrote this book. 

It was a fairly slow start with a lot of telling - the very thing I try not to do when I write. I even considered stopping, but I continued.

I had to get used to the way it was written - kids' scenes stopping and turning into adult scenes in the middle of the chapters. I would be engrossed in what was happening with the kids and then he would suddenly stop and go to what was happening with the adults.

Then there was this thing with the bad words. I think they could have been left out.
And, although many people describe Hoot as a laugh-out-loud book, and I love humor in a book, I was disappointed. I never once laughed out loud while reading it.

For those of you who may not have read it. Roy, the main character, just moved to Florida from Montana and he isn't very happy with the change. A bully has targeted him to pick on all the time. And I can't believe the bus driver is oblivious to all of this. And very few of the adult characters in the book could be considered good role models.

The premise of the story is that Roy, a soccer player girl and her step brother join to save cute little burrowing owls where a Pancake House is scheduled to be built. I'll let you read it to find out what happened.

I am glad I continued. After I got used to the way he was writing it, the story had me wanting to see what would happen next. To me this was an okay book, but I have read better. 

But, according to reviews online, many people really like it and you may, too.

Happy reading!

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Sunday, February 17, 2019

MMGM - Catch Me When I Fall



Catch Me When I Fall

Bonnie Graves

2019
Age Range: 9-12 years
Grade Level: 4-7
Publisher: Regal House Publishing
 

 Image result for catch  me when i fall

This book is set during the Great Depression in Wisconsin.

Emma is a very athletic girl who likes to run, to cartwheel, and to walk on the narrow railing on the bridge over the muddy water of Root River.

She dreams of running away to join the circus. But mostly she dreams of finding out who her father is.

The circus was coming to town and she saw the picture of Filippo the Flying Wonder on it. She gasped. It looked just like the picture she saw of her dad. The picture her mother kept hidden in her bureau.

She wanted to go to the circus to see Filippo and ask him if he was her father. She didn't have the money for the ticket and her mother didn't want her to have anything to do with the circus.
So she decided to dress like a boy to get a job at the circus to earn a ticket for the matinee. She finds out it's not easy being a circus worker. She helps put up the tent and makes friends with 'her' elephants. But . . .

Will the Boss Man see through her disguise?
Will she get to talk to Filippo?
Will her nosy cousins tell on her to her mother?

The book is a page turner. But in the end you will get the answers to your questions.
And you will find out why her mother didn't want her to sneak out to the circus and why she kept secret who Emma's father was. But she also finds out a secret about her mother.


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