Posted by Becca
Categories: All Ages, Fiction, Review
Tags:Animals, Dogs, Geese, Good Read Aloud, Horses, Jim Kjelgaard, Mules, Out of Print, Quick Read
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To start with, this book is made up of three unrelated short stories. The first, A Dog Remembers is about a large, friendly dog named Brad that comes to town one day with his master. The townspeople joke about Brad, saying that the dog is a lion. When Brad’s master is killed by another dog, Brad gets the blame. After all, he’s a big dog. Throughout the story, Brad tries to avoid the other dog and later on tries to find another master.
The second story is called The Black Horse. Jed Hale, lured by his employer’s reward of five hundred dollars, sets out to capture a wild black horse. This is no easy task. The horse is a said to be a killer and Jed has been crippled since childhood. Jed finally trails the horse to a ravine that is blocked on one side by an impassable swamp. The horse gets scared by a landslide and jumps into the swamp. Jed, not willing to leave the horse, must rescue it all by himself.
The last story The Lake and the Lonely Exiles is (surprise, surprise) about another dog. This dog lives on a farm and is quite happy. Then the farmer goes away on vacation, leaving the farm to a caretaker. The dog, who looks like a wolf, is blamed for killing sheep. Rather than kill the dog, the caretaker does what he thinks is the easy way out and dumps the dog on a lonely road. The dog ends up near a lake and adopts an injured goose as a companion.
I can’t decide which story I like the most. There are only two animal characters that have names. In the first story there’s Brad and in the third there is a mule named Adolph Hitler. I don’t believe that there is any bad language in any of these stories. This is a short book, but it is also very enjoyable.
Posted by Becca
Categories: Fiction, Older Readers, Review
Tags:Animals, Cats, Emily of New Moon, Funny, L. M. Montgomery, Long Read
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Emily Starr’s father has just died and Emily has to get adopted by one of her many Murray relations. The Murrays are very prideful and consider it their duty to adopt Emily. Emily is taken to New Moon with her Aunt Laura, Aunt Elizabeth and Cousin Jimmy. Aunt Laura and Cousin Jimmy learn to love Emily, but Aunt Elizabeth is very stern and, as Emily thinks, unfair. Life is hard for Emily until Aunt Laura gives her some old “letter-bills” to write on. Then she can write away her free time. Emily also makes the acquaintance of Ilse, the doctor’s daughter, Perry, the New Moon hired boy and Teddy Kent.
Okay…This book is rather hard to sum up because there is so much to it. Emily’s logic can be rather funny sometimes as can her adventures. I like the descriptions of how Emily feels when she writes because I feel the same way when I write. Emily of New Moon is worth reading even if it is a long story.
Posted by Sarah
Categories: Fiction, Review, Younger Readers
Tags:Animals, Bears, Funny, Good Read Aloud, Michael Bond, Paddington
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Mr. and Mrs. Brown are at the Paddington train station when they spot a small bear with a hat and suitcase. He tells them that he’s a stowaway who lived on marmalade during his trip from South America, and the Browns decide to let the bear live with them. They name him Paddington and take him home with them. (After a sticky happening.) The book is full of Paddington’s adventures, most of them funny.
At some points I was a little confused as to whether something happened or not, and there are places where Paddington could have apologized, but he doesn’t. However, it’s a fun book and the start of a whole series. I like the part where Paddington goes to see a play.
Posted by Rebekah
Categories: Adventure, Fiction, Incredibook!, Older Readers, Review
Tags:Animals, Brian Jacques, Castaways of the Flying Dutchman, Dogs, Long Read, Sad, Seafaring, Snakes
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Ben and his black Labrador, Ned, becalmed in the Mediterranean Sea, are captured by Arabian slavers. Ned is thrown overboard and left to drown, but he tries to follow his master. Ben and three other young people are sold to Al Misurata, the most feared pirate on the Barbary Coast. Ben creates a strange fascination for Al Misurata, but when Ben speaks out against the pirate’s approval of slavery, he finds himself in very deep trouble. Meanwhile, the almost-drowned Ned is rescued by Herr Otto Kassel, the strongman in the traveling Rizzoli troupe. Fortunately, Al Misurata’s men capture the troupe, reuniting Ben and Ned. Al Misurata keeps up a pretense of just wanting to help the Rizzoli troupe, but Ned uncovers a plot to sell the troupe as slaves. Ben and his faithful hound determine to help the Rizzolis at whatever cost.
Hold onto your hats, friends, this is quite a tale. Like all Brian Jacques’ books, it is packed full of humor, memorable characters and rip-roaring, swashbuckling, edge-of-your-chair adventure. The review only tells about half of the story. So many things happen during Ben’s efforts to save the troupe! Pirates, smugglers, spies, raiders, a shark… This is a great addition to Castaways of the Flying Dutchman and The Angel’s Command.
Posted by Jordan
Categories: All Ages, Fiction, Older Readers, Review
Tags:Animals, Bears, Cats, Dogs, Donkeys, Elephants, Frogs, Funny, Good Read Aloud, Mark Twain, Out of Print
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This book is collection of several short stories by Mark Twain. The highlights include the title story, about a man who bets on a frog jumping race; and The Bad Little Boy, a cynical tale of a boy who is very bad, and yet has the best of luck.
If you like your humor a bit on the cynical side (I do), this one is for you. Otherwise, you’ll probably dislike these five stories. The link to Amazon is a different book, with several more stories in it. I don’t know what they are, but it was the only one I could find.
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