Entries Categorized as 'All Ages'
Posted by Ruth
Categories: All Ages, Fiction, Review
Tags:Animals, Dogs, Jim Kjelgaard, Out of Print
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All of Big Red’s puppies show great prospect for becoming skilled hunters. All except Mike, that is. As the runt of the litter, coupled with his mischievous behavior, Danny has no hope for him. But Mr. Haggin starts wondering if English Setters would be better hunters than Irish Setters. Then, when Mike starts to do some growing up, they think he may just be the dog for the job.
Warning: This is definitely a dog book. But if you liked Big Red, you’ll like this one. You can read about one of Mike’s brothers, Sean, in Outlaw Red.
Posted by Jordan
Categories: Adventure, All Ages, Fiction, Review
Tags:Animals, Birds, Dogs, Funny, Good Read Aloud, Hugh Lofting, Mice, Monkeys, Pigs, Rats, Seafaring
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Dr. Dolittle is the best doctor ever, but none of his patients will come because of his animal pets (think crocodiles!). Because of this, he can’t make any money. So his parrot teaches him how to speak to Jip, the dog. The doctor is eager to learn, and learns to talk to all his pets. All the animals hear about it, and come to him, and the house is crowded. Then a swallow comes with news of an epidemic among monkeys in Africa. Can Dr. Dolittle make it through storms, pirates and angry natives to help the monkeys?
Ah, Hugh Lofting has such a fun way of writing humorous, exciting stories. I didn’t even mention Gub-Gub, the food loving pig; Too-Too, the owl with a head for figures; or the cute little White Mouse who lives in the piano. Worth reading again and again.
Note: There has been a lot of controversy about Lofting’s books, because some people thought they were racist. Because of this, some newer editions don’t have portions that editors thought were offensive. I will say that I have read the originals, and found nothing wrong with them, merely a slight British patriotic spirit. If you want to read the originals, your library will be more likely to have them than the book store.
Posted by Ruth
Categories: Adventure, All Ages, Fiction, Review
Tags:Animals, Bears, Dogs, Jim Kjelgaard, Out of Print
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Jase Mason plans to spend the summer in the wilderness with his Airedale terrier, Buckles, and his cameras in an attempt to fulfill his dream of becoming a famous wildlife photographer. While they’re there, however, they experience a run-in with a well-known poacher, the Cat Bird, and, with the help of Tom Rainse, they have to track down him down and deal with a huge, renegade black bear.
I enjoyed this one more than I had expected to. Wildlife Cameraman provides a good look at just how much work went into taking a picture. After all, this book is from the 1950s, and using a camera required more than just pushing a button, as it does today. Now, I may have rated this one more than most people because I like wildlife and I like cameras, but I do recommend it. As a note, this is the same Tom Rainse and Jase Mason in A Nose for Trouble and Hidden Trail
Posted by Ruth
Categories: Adventure, All Ages, Fantasy, Fiction, Review
Tags:Animals, Cats, Edward Eager, Funny
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Jane, Mark, Katharine, and Martha are four ordinary children. They love reading books about magic, but can’t help wishing they could find some magic somehow. Then, when Jane finds an old, dropped coin on the sidewalk, everything changes. It’s a magic coin that grants wishes. Well, almost. It will grant half of your wish. This may sound simple to thwart, but it’s not as easy as it seems. After all, if you have a cat that can half talk, how many times do you have to wish it to not talk before it’s back to normal?
This is a very funny book. The children go from one adventure to another, in a style very similar to E. Nesbit. Most of their wishes result in a minor disaster of some sort or another, and they have to figure out how to get everything back to normal. In the end though, everything is nicely resolved. I definitely recommend Half Magic.
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