Entries Categorized as 'All Ages'
Posted by Sarah
Categories: All Ages, Fiction, Review
Tags:Animals, Funny, Good Read Aloud, Lions, Quick Read, Shel Silverstein
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Once upon a time there lived a young lion (later named Lafcadio) with a lot of other lions. One day, a band of hunters comes to the jungle. Lafcadio confronts a hunter and, after a hilarious turn of events, eats him up — including his red fur cap. The gun and bullets are too hard to eat, so he carries them back with him. He learns to use the gun and eventually becomes the best sharpshooter in the world. (Every time he needed more bullets, he went and ate another hunter.) A circus man comes to the jungle and offers Lafcadio a job. So the lion goes with the circus man to the big city — and most importantly, to taste a marshmallow!
An enjoyable book! Whatever your first impression was, this is not a horrid story about the Ferocious Man-Eating Lion. The eatings of hunters are not told in a grusome way and the lion in the city is rather funny. This book has an interesting ending. (I won’t say any more about that. Now you have to read it!) This is one of those long short books where it’s a little too long to be a picture book, but a fairly quick read. Relax in a chair (maybe some hot chocolate?) and enjoy the story of Lafcadio: The Lion Who Shot Back.
Posted by Jordan
Categories: All Ages, Fiction, Review
Tags:Funny, Good Read Aloud, John D. Fitzgerald, The Great Brain
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In the small town of Adenville, Utah, in the 1800s, John’s older brother Tom has a great brain. Tom is always doing something smart, like finding two lost boys, or helping an immigrant boy learn English. But Tom also uses his great brain to think up money making schemes.
The blurb on the back of this book states that John D. Fitzgerald based the story of The Great Brain on his childhood in Adenville, Utah. I have no idea how much of the book is true, and how much the author made up. I do know that The Great Brain is a wonderful look at American life in the 19th century. Every chapter can stand on it’s own, each being a separate “episode” in Tom’s life. Unfortunately, the final chapter contains a large part about a boy with a peg leg who wants to kill himself, as he thinks he is useless. Although Tom stops him from carrying out his plans, parents may wish to discuss this chapter with their children.
Posted by Sarah
Categories: All Ages, Fiction, Review
Tags:Animals, Birds, Eleanor H. Porter, Funny, Good Read Aloud, Squirrels
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Nearly all healed from her automobile accident, Pollyanna is about thirteen now. Della Wetherby asks her to stay with Miss Wetherby’s sister, Mrs. Carew, while Aunt Polly and Dr. Chilton are in Germany. After some painful family experiences, including the loss of a nephew named Jamie, Mrs. Carew has shut herself into a gloomy, dark world. Pollyanna goes to Boston and cheers up Mrs. Carew before going with her aunt and uncle on another trip to Europe. During the six years abroad, however, Dr. Chilton dies and it seems as if there will be hard times ahead for the young woman who is still playing her Glad Game.
Whew. There’s a lot of plot to this book. Pollyanna Grows Up is a little more adult than the previous book, Pollyanna, as it focuses more on love and marriage. It’s a little funny because just about everybody thinks that the person they love loves somebody else. Anyway, there’s a subplot going on with the lost Jamie that I barely mentioned in the review. There’s a lot to this book and it might make for a long review if I tried to stuff it all into one. But although somewhat different from the first book, Pollyanna is still herself. I enjoyed this book. The plot, though perhaps a little predictable, ends well.
Posted by Jordan
Categories: All Ages, Fiction, Review
Tags:Animals, Dick King-Smith, Dogs, Funny, Good Read Aloud, Pigs, Quick Read
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When Farmer Hogget guesses the weight of a piglet at the fair, he has no idea that he will win the contest. But once he brings the pig home, things start happening. Who would have thought that his sheepdog Fly would adopt the pig? And who would have thought that the pig would be better at herding sheep than the dog?
Lots of fun here. If you’ve seen the movie, you will notice some differences between book and film. Babe is enjoyable, lovable, and a great family book. Kids love it, adults laugh more than the kids (but at wholesome jokes), and therefore, we have a winner.
Posted by Ben 
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