Posted by Becca
Categories: Fiction, Review, Younger Readers
Tags:Animals, Dogs, Elizabeth Enright
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Every Saturday, the four Melendy children receive their allowance, but each child never has enough to do what he or she really wants to do. Mona, Rush, Randy (short for Miranda), and Oliver decide one rainy day to pool their resources, and the Independent Saturday Afternoon Adventure Club is formed. Each child gets a turn to use all the allowance money for whatever he or she wants. This arrangement is satisfying to everybody and the Melendys plan what exciting things they will do on their Saturdays.
The first of four books about the Melendys, The Saturdays is similar in style to The Moffats. I found The Saturdays to be not quite as good as the Moffat books, but still enjoyable to read. Later events in The Saturdays shift a little towards the unbelievable, almost as if the author wanted to put in some adventure and it didn’t quite fit. Nothing weird happens; the events just seem to get a little too coincidental. Overall, a good, simple story of four children growing up during the early 1940s.
Posted by Sarah
Categories: Adventure, All Ages, Historical Fiction, Review
Tags:Animals, Horses, Joanne Williamson
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After the death of his father, Uriah the Hittite journeys from his hometown and eventually comes to the hill country, where Barak and Deborah are mustering the tribes of Israel to fight against Sisera.
I was assigned to read this book for school. It was interesting enough to keep me reading, but it didn’t really grip me. Parts of it seemed a bit cliché, and the author seems to favor blatant foreshadowing. I categorized this book as all ages, but I would suggest using discretion as there is a lot of pagan gods and such in the story. Overall a relatively interesting book, but I think it could have been better.
Posted by Becca
Categories: All Ages, Fiction, Review
Tags:Animals, Arthur C. Bartlett, Bootleggers, Dogs, Good Read Aloud, Out of Print, Sled dogs
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More than anything, 16-year-old Peter Riggett wants to be considered a man, so he finds it an affront to his pride when his father won’t let him a buy a very good sled dog that was offered at a ridiculously cheap price. Mr. Riggett had good reason to be suspicious of the seller’s honesty, but he fails to tell Peter his reasons. Peter, frustrated by what he sees as unfair treatment by his father, runs away from home. Too proud, and secretly too ashamed, to go back home, Peter joins a group of men, finding out later that the men are rum-runners. Peter is finally thrown out of the group when he stands up to the leader, who is the man who tried to sell Peter the dog earlier. Feeling that he must redeem himself for his past actions, Peter joins two police officers and another man named Pewee Ledoux in the hopes of catching the gang he has just escaped.
There is much more to this book than can be put into a summary. It would make a good read-aloud, though some characters talk in broken English mixed with the occasional French that could be difficult to read out loud. The Runaway Dog Team is written in an late 1920s style, so there are a few places where the author gets a little wordy. Other than that, this is a great story of a self-centered boy learning to dump his pride and finding what it really means to grow to manhood.
Posted by Ruth
Categories: Fiction, Older Readers, Review
Tags:Animals, Gene Stratton-Porter, Limberlost
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Abandoned, crippled, and bearing no more of a name than “Freckles,” a young man takes upon himself the job of guarding the Limberlost forest. It’s a big task, requiring courage and stamina, but Mr. McLean, the boss of the lumber company, consents to give him a chance. During his work in the months to come, Freckles befriends the bird woman, an avid photographer, and he meets a beautiful girl whom he calls his swamp angel. But Black Jack the timber thief has his eye on several of the most valuable trees, and he will stop at nothing to steal them.
This is really quite a good book, and I’m afraid it gets overlooked more often than not. I love following Freckles’ journey as he learns to love the forest and the creatures that live there, and all the events which come about through his time there. Written in an older style (all the chapters are titled “In Which…”) but not short on adventure, Freckles is well worth reading. Give it a try, and prepare to be swept off to the Limberlost.
Posted by Sarah
Categories: Fiction, Picture Books, Review, Younger Readers
Tags:Animals, Easy Read, P. D. Eastman, Quick Read
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One day, a boy finds an egg lying in the path. He sees a nest nearby and decides to put the egg into it. Later, Mr. and Mrs. Bird are quite surprised when they come back to find a very large egg in their nest. Nevertheless, they take care of the egg until it hatches into… Well, you’ll find out.
A humorous tale, accompanied by P. D. Eastman’s excellent illustrations. I found it rather difficult to read aloud, as the sentences tend to be very short, but it would probably be enjoyable for a beginning reader. Overall, a fun book, but I think I like The Best Nest better.
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