Children's Book Week Review of The Rising by Kelley Armstrong

Publisher: Harper
Series: Darkness Rising #3
Format Read: hardcover
Source: My local library
Release Date: April 2, 2013
Buying Links: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository

Blurb from goodreads: *May contain spoilers for earlier books*


 

Things are getting desperate for Maya and her friends. Hunted by the powerful St. Clouds and now a rival Cabal as well, they're quickly running out of places to hide. And with the whole world thinking they died in a helicopter crash, it's not like they can just go to the authorities for help.

All they have is the name and number of someone who might be able to give them a few answers. Answers to why they're so valuable, and why their supernatural powers are getting more and more out of control.

But Maya is unprepared for the truths that await her. And now, like it or not, she'll have to face down some demons from her past if she ever hopes to move on with her life. Because Maya can't keep running forever.

Old secrets are revealed and unexpected characters make a surprising return in this stunning conclusion to Kelley Armstrong's New York Times bestselling Darkness Rising trilogy. 

Bea's Thoughts:   *May contain spoilers for earlier books*



 
With this book, I feel as if the Otherworld books really are at an end. WAAH! I know that Kelley may do more novellas but I don't believe there are any full length books planned and while this book wraps up most of the loose ends in this series and the related YA series, Darkest Powers, the ending is also open-ended enough to leave the possibility of future stories. Please, Kelley, please? PLEASE! The ending is not too open-ended, there's a resolution, and it's a Happy For Now, not a definitive Happy Ending.

I should probably back up and start over. "The Rising" starts right after the end of the second book. Maya, Corey and Daniel are free; Hayley, Rafe, Annie, Sam and Nicole have been captured by a Cabal. Maya, Corey and Daniel are trying to rescue their friends, reunite with their families and avoid the Cabals. Things don't go according to plan. In fact they make mistakes, some poor decisions, and at one point I was ready to smack Maya for being so stubborn and single-minded and for her poor choices. I got frustrated with some of the bad decisions she and the others made in the first half of the book but I reminded myself that they were after all teenagers and their lives prior to these events had been pretty cushy. They may have been book smart but they weren't street smart. Fortunately they hook up with another teen, Ash, who is street smart and is disgusted with some of their decisions. With his appearance, the action, and tension, really picks up. Later, the kids meet up with the kids and adults from Project Genesis from the Darkest Powers trilogy. I really enjoyed seeing their interactions and their opinions of each other. Seeing Maya change over the books and become aware of her tendency to be judgmental and becoming a little less so was also wonderful. The relationships between Maya, Daniel, Corey, Rafe and Ash were beautifully, realistically done and added to the story, gave it depth. The ending, as I said, is a Happy For Now, with a door left open for more stories in the future for any or all of the characters in the two YA series. I wasn't sure how Kelley was going to pull off any sort of happy ending but she did it and while it's not perfect, Maya and the others had to accept compromises, it's a good ending for them and for us the readers. 

Armstrong gives us emotional twists, some angst, some romance, betrayal, unexpected allies, plot twists and one hell of an absorbing story. I stayed up until 3:30AM finishing the book and it was worth every minute. If you haven't started this series, go buy them now.

Sunday Book Share #37

I'm participating in Feed My Reader Friday hosted by I Am A Reader, Not A Writer,  The Sunday Post, hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer, Showcase Sunday hosted by Books, Biscuits and Tea,and Stacking the Shelves, hosted by Tynga's Reviews. These  memes allow book bloggers the chance to share print and digital books they've received, and different posts and events at their blogs. 

Children's Book Week is still going on through tomorrow and then it's back to my regularly scheduled programming. Don't forget to enter my giveaway for Children's Book Week. There are six books to choose from and it's open internationally. Last week I not only reviewed every day but I guest posted at a couple of blogs. I was at Nocturnal Book Reviews discussing my favorite books so far this year and then I was at author Calle J. Brookes' blog discussing how to handle food allergies in the classroom.

Life at school was hectic last week as one child had a really rough week that affected the entire classroom and had the entire teaching team reaching for wine bottles at the end of the day every day. I really hope he has a better week this week; there may not be enough chocolate or wine to get me through the day otherwise.

The Week In Review

Reviews: 

Loki's Wolves by K.L. Armstrong & M.A. Marr (MG, Mythology, UF)

Stephanie Lisa Tara's Turtle Book (ages 5-12) (Science, non-fiction)

The Man Who Dreamed of Elk-Dogs & Other Stories from the Tipi by Paul Goble (ages 3-12) (Folk tales)

The Five Mouse Brothers by Rachel Yu (ages 3-6) (Folk tales)

The Ugly Duckling and The Turtle (ages 2-6) (Folk Tales)

Zoophabets ABC Book: Animal Alphabet A-Z by Rob Mabry & Michael Golez (birth to 2)

Memes:  Quote-Tastic #2  Cat Thursday - I Love You Mom  Sunday Book Share #36

News & info: Hopping around the blogosphere!

Giveaways:
Win 1 of 6 kids books, open internationally, ends May 19th.
Kindle Fire from author Stephanie Lisa Tara, ends May 31st, 2013
A Kindle Fire HD or $199 Amazon Gift Card or $199 PayPal Cash, ends May 31st.
2 Melissa and Doug Giant Plush Stuffed Sea Turtles, ends June 12th.
15 copies, 1 per winner, of Stephanie Lisa Tara's Turtle Book, ends June 12th. 

Odd and Unusual Search Phrases Leading to the Blog: "how to catch a cat"; "textures words"; "beta 2 agonist"; and "sex aan de beas" (snicker)

Clean Sweep ARC Challenge: One book but that's one more than I expected since my focus was on children's books -

The Man Who Dreamed of Elk-Dogs & Other Stories from the Tipi by Paul Goble (ages 3-12) (Folk tales); this week I should have at least two.

The Upcoming Week

Reviews - The Rising by Kelley Armstrong (YA, UF)

The Farm by (YA, UF)

Eliza's Forever Trees by Stephanie Lisa Tara (G, Fantasy)

Blog Tours - Excerpt from "The World Below" by Mike Phillips (UF)

Spotlight on "Beyond A Doubt" by Felicia Rogers (Historical Romance) 

Excerpt from "A Matter of Circumstance and Celludrones (Dark Matters - Book 1)" by Claire Robyns (Steampunk UF)

Spotlight on "Riverbend" by Tess Thompson (Romantic suspense)

Excerpt from "The Tree of Jesse" by JR Mattison (PNR, Mystery)

BOOKS

Bought - Kindle

Review Consideration- Print

Review - Kindle

Kindle Freebies

Leave me a link in your comment and I'll come visit. :) I hope you have a great week!

Children's Book Week Review of The Man Who Dreamed of Elk-Dogs & Other Stories from the Tipi by Paul Goble

Publisher: Wisdom Tales
Format Read: I started with an Egalley and then switched to print
Source: I received an egalley from the publisher & I won a hardcover on goodreads, both in exchange for an honest review.
Release Date: June 2012
Buying Links:  Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository

Blurb from goodreads:

In this beautifully illustrated book by award-winning author Paul Goble, readers can discover the fascinating story of how horses first appeared to the tribes of the American Plains. In his final collection of stories from the tipi, Goble features a collection of 23 traditional stories from the Blackfoot, Lakota, Assiniboin, Pawnee, and Cheyenne nations. This book features a foreword by Lauren Candy Waukau-Villagomez, an educator and author of works on the oral traditions and storytelling of the North American tribes.

Bea's Thoughts:

The artwork in this book is gorgeous, with vibrant colors done in a semi-primitive folk style. I can see young children looking at the pictures and making up their own stories. The stories themselves are more suited for older children, say elementary school age, or for curious adults. Goble admits that they are pared down versions of oral traditions and some of them are quite short or end abruptly. The vocabulary is occasionally more adult than you might expect in a book marketed for children, but I don't have a problem with that; in my opinion it's better than talking down to children and encourages them to ask more questions. If the majority of the vocabulary were over their heads, then that would be frustrating. Some of the topics, such as attempted murder, are a bit much for children. I should point out that the author states in his Author's Note that he chose only stories that he felt "fit comfortably with today's thinking, avoiding stories which involve revenge or killing,...the stories are abbreviated; oral tellings would have been much longer." He apparently forgot about the story where wives try to kill their husband.

Goble assigns each story to a Native American tribe but freely admits that such designations are often arbitrary and that tribes hundreds or thousands of miles apart had similar stories. I found some of the stories to be dry; some, as I mentioned, were rather abrupt; and others were engrossing. The stories themselves are a mix of parables, morality plays and creation stories. Each story has a forward, afterward or even both, to give some context to the story for modern readers and the back of the book has a bibliography for readers interested in doing more research. "The Man Who Dreamed of Elk-Dogs and Other Stories from the Tipi" is a good primer for Native American Folklore. It's a rich and complex tradition and the stories, I am certain, only scratch the surface.

Children's Book Week Review of The Ugly Duckling and the Turtle by Sharlene Alexander

Publisher: Amazon Digital Services
Format Read: Kindle Book
Source: I own it.
Release Date: June 19, 2012
Buying Links:  Amazon Sorry, it's only available at Amazon

Blurb from Amazon:

This is a fun modern twist on the classic story, "The Ugly Duckling" by Hans Christian Anderson. Find out how a little turtle saves the day when the ducklings wander off to the beach. This story ends with a great message about family and being yourself.

-Illustrated with bright color pictures
-A fun story to read over and over again.

Bea's Thoughts:

The title of this book is slightly misleading as the turtle IS the ugly duckling. I understand the author was playing on the Hans Christian Andersen story but the author could have come up with something else. That quibble aside, "The Ugly Duckling and The Turtle" is a cute, if predictable story with good illustrations. There are nice little details such as furrowed brows on the faces of the ducklings when they are nervous or scared and the colors are not too bright. On my kindle touch, which isn't color, some of the details get lost but I also read it using my laptop's kindle app which is in color and that made a world of difference.

The story, as I said, is predictable but it's sweet and cute and the message of acceptance is a good one to learn at a young age. Happily, for me anyway, the message is not shoved down our throats but is a little more subtle. Young readers will enjoy the story and the pictures.

Hopping Around the Blogosphere!

I'm visiting two different blogs, sharing my thoughts. First, I'm over at Nocturnal Book Reviews talking about my favorite books so far this year. Kara is on vacation and invited other bloggers to post while she's gone. Then, if you hop over to author Calle J. Brookes' blog, I'm talking about handling food allergies in the classroom. It's Food Allergy Awareness Week and she's been focusing on it all week at her blog. For those of you who don't know, I teach preschool and have extensive experience dealing with allergies in the classroom as well as my own food allergies.

So stop by one or both blogs and say hi!

Children's Book Week Review of Zoophabets ABC Book: Animal Alphabet A-Z by Rob Mabry & Michael Golez

Publisher: Amazon Digital Services
Author: Rob Mabry
Illustrator: Michael Golez
Format Read: Kindle Book
Source: I own it.
Release Date: September 2, 2012
Buying Link: Amazon It doesn't appear to be available elsewhere.

Blurb from Amazon:

Can an alligator ride on an airplane? Do zebras zoom on zip lines? They do in the magical world of the Zoophabets. Take your child on an alliterative adventure through the alphabet with this charming, colorful ABC book for kids.

There's an adorable Zoophabet character for every letter of the alphabet from Allen the Alligator to Zed the Zebra. Your kids will love the delightful animals that inhabit the world of the Zoophabets.

Teach your child their ABCs with this wonderfully illustrated alphabet book that's best appreciated on a device that displays in color. Babies and toddlers will love having this read to them, learning letters, animals and objects on every page.

Preschool age kids will enjoy the alliterative sentences and cute characters as they read about vultures with violins and beavers riding bicycles.

Bea's Thoughts:

The illustrations in this book are cute and not overly detailed. Each picture nicely illustrates the letter being depicted and the authors use both lower and uppercase versions of each letter. They also use a simple, clean font which makes the letters easy to see and read and use that same font for the text. There's an animal for each letter and a sentence involving the animal and at least two other words that start with the letter. So for H, we have "Henry the Horse is hiding in the hay" and the picture illustrates the sentence. A few of the words used in the book are probably not found in most children's vocabulary which is a great way to stretch their vocabulary.

Overall, it's a cute book that does a good job of introducing the alphabet and new words.

Cat Thursday - I Love You Mom

Welcome to the weekly meme hosted by The True Book Addict that celebrates cats; their foibles and humorousness and the joy they bring. You can join in by posting a favorite LOL cat pic you made or came across, cat art or share with us pics of your own felines, then post your link up at The True Book Addict.

Since it was Mother's Day this Sunday, here's a belated tribute to moms.
 

 

 

Children's Book Week Review of The Five Mouse Brothers by Rachel Yu

Publisher: Createspace
Format Read: Kindle book
Source: I own it.
Release Date: July 16, 2011
Buying Link:  Amazon  Barnes & Noble

Blurb from goodreads:

Five mouse brothers live happily in Bok Tong Goh Village. But then…

One brother, falsely accused of thievery, must face the “Wheel of Doom.” What will they do to rescue him from his fate? Fortunately, an ingenious plan with the help of their family secret may just save the day. Join the mouse brothers on this fun and entertaining adventure, adapted from a classic Chinese folktale.

Bea's Thoughts:

Although the book doesn't specify which folktale it was adapted from, I believe "The Seven Brothers" was the inspiration. In this story, which is generously illustrated, one of the brothers is falsely accused of theft and sentenced to die. But the brothers are not normal mice and they each have a supernatural ability. The brothers use trickery and their abilities to ensure that the accused brother doesn't die. The story has a twist at the end that appears to set up for another book. I couldn't completely appreciate the pictures as my kindle touch is black and white but the style is cute and younger readers will enjoy simply looking at them. "The Five Mouse Brothers" is a cute story that can be appreciated as is, as an introduction to folklore or a jumping off point to study Chinese culture.