Entries Categorized as 'Review'
Posted by Becca
Categories: All Ages, Fiction, Review
Tags:Animals, Good Read Aloud, Horses, The Black Stallion, Walter Farley
Add a comment »
Our rating: 
Alec Ramsey is returning from a visit with his Uncle Ralph when his ship stops at an Arabian port and a giant black stallion is put on board. Alec makes friends with the horse, whom he names “The Black.” Later, The Black saves Alec’s life (rather unwittingly) by pulling him to an island. After quite a long time, Alec and The Black are rescued and make it back to Flushing, Alec’s home. Alec finds lodging for his stallion at a neighbor’s barn. Henry Dailey, the owner of the barn, sees The Black’s potential as a race horse. And so Alec and Henry try to find a way to get The Black onto a racetrack with two of the greatest racing stars at the time…
An interesting book. The ending is rather predictable, but is still enjoyable. I find that The Black Stallion is one of the better books in the The Black Stallion series. I especially enjoy Tony, the Italian huckster.
Posted by Rebekah
Categories: Adventure, Fiction, Older Readers, Review
Tags:Animals, Dogs, Moose, Scott O’Dell, Sports
1 Comment »
Our rating:
Bright Dawn is an Eskimo girl whose father, Bartok, is a seal hunter. When Bartok narrowly escapes death by a hunting accident, losing four fingers in the process, some men approach him to run in the Iditarod dogsled race. He refuses, but says that Bright Dawn will do it. After some vigorous training, Bright Dawn and her team of dogs, including Black Star, who is mostly wolf, set out on the biggest adventure of their lives.
It’s interesting to get this first-hand look at what it’s like to drive a dogsled. I don’t think I could do it. There are some Eskimo superstitions in here. But it’s not your ordinary girl/dog hero story. The way the race ends is unexpected.
Posted by Jordan
Categories: Fiction, Picture Books, Review, Younger Readers
Tags:Animals, Birds, Dr. Seuss, Easy Read, Funny, Good Read Aloud
Add a comment »
Our rating:
Four silly stories by Dr. Seuss about some rather interesting subjects.
The Sneetches, the title story, is about birds. Half have stars on their bellies, the other half don’t. The ones with the stars lord it over the ones without. One day, a man offers to add stars to those with none.
The Zax is a tale of two creatures who won’t budge from their tracks to let the other through.
Too Many Daves is a crazy poem about a woman who named all of her sons Dave.
Finally, What was I Scared of? tells the story of “a pair of walking green pants with nobody inside them.”
This is probably my favorite Seuss book. I’ve always loved The Sneetches, and Too Many Daves is a poem that I can partially recite. Anyway, some great stories.
Posted by Ruth
Categories: Adventure, All Ages, Fiction, Mysteries, Review
Tags:Animals, Dogs, Horses, Jim Kjelgaard, Out of Print
1 Comment »
Our rating:
Trailing Trouble is “an adventure-mystery about a young game warden, his pinto pony, and Smoky, the dog with ‘a nose for trouble.'” Many people think it would be a good idea to make a National Park of the Gistache, but somebody obviously doesn’t share their sentiments. Bad things start to happen, and Tom Rainse thinks that this is more than the usual small band of poachers…
Well, I can’t say much more, because, after all, this is a mystery. I wouldn’t want to spoil anything, would I? Another fun Kjelgaard book, overall. The dialogue between Tom and his friend, Buck, is very comical at times. I am sorry to say, though, that Trailing Trouble ends just as abruptly as some of the other Kjelgaards. The climax occurs at the third paragraph from the end. But that’s okay. It still works.
Posted by Jordan
Categories: Fiction, Older Readers, Review
Tags:Animals, Award Winner, Funny, Lizards, Louis Sachar, Snakes
Add a comment »
Our rating:
Camp Green Lake doesn’t really have a lake. And it’s not a fun camp. It’s a punishment camp for bad boys, where every boy digs a hole every day to build character. If you find anything interesting, you give it to the Warden. If she likes it, you get the day off. Stanley Yelnats is sent to Camp Green Lake for a crime he didn’t do. He doesn’t mind, because things like this are always happening to his family. They all blame it on his great-great-grandfather, who stole a pig, and seemingly caused the family bad luck. Somehow, the camp’s past is entangled with his family’s past, and with the past of Zero, a supposedly brainless camper.
If Holes sounds like a boring story, let me tell you, it’s not! This is an unbelievably tall tale that is amazingly believable. Sachar’s story is interesting, quirky, funny, and a bit tense. On the subject of tense, I would suggest that if you have anything against poisonous lizards that you don’t read this with the closet door open, at night, or anytime you might feel like you could be assaulted by lizards. The only big problem I found in Holes was a few places where the writing style changed.
content rss
