Friday November 21, 2008
Children's Books: History & Historical Fiction
Displayed below are the top selling items for today, Friday November 21, 2008 along with the review customers have voted "most useful".
To find top selling items in for a specific category, use the menu on the left or click here to see all categories.
- The Jesus Storybook Bible : Every Story Whispers His Name by Sally Lloyd-Jones
- Magic Tree House #40 : Eve of the Emperor Penguin (A Stepping Stone Book(TM)) by Mary Pope Osborne
- The Book Thief (Readers Circle) by Markus Zusak
- Boy In the Striped Pajamas (Movie Tie-in Edition) by John Boyne
- The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
- 39 Clues : Maze Of Bones by Rick Riordan
- The 39 Clues : Card Pack by Scholastic
- Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst
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The Jesus Storybook Bible
Every Story Whispers His Name
by Sally Lloyd-Jones
(based on 104 customer reviews)
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(Hardcover)
Author: Sally Lloyd-Jones
Publisher: ZonderKidz
Price: $11.55
You save: $5.44 (32%) off the list price!
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Most useful review as voted by customers:
42 out of 42 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 7/11/07
Your Family Needs This!
I love every aspect of this Bible. The illustrations by Jago are both charming and intriguing. There are about fifty stories, a good balance. The text itself is exactly what I want my children to hear, theologically. I love this line from the very first chapter. "The Bible isn't mainly about you and what you should be doing. It's about God and what he has done." AMEN.
The subtitle is "Every Story Whispers His Name" and indeed, every story does. "No, the Bible isn't a book of rules, or a book of heroes. The Bible is most of all a Story. It's an adventure story about a young Hero who comes from a far country to win back his lost treasure. It's a love story... You see, the best thing about this Story is -- it's true. There are lots of stories in the Bible, but all the stories are telling one Big Story. The Story of how God loves his children and comes to rescue them."
She goes on to say that the center of the story is a baby who is like the missing piece to a puzzle that makes all the other pieces fit together, and to reveal the beautiful picture. She stays true to this aim, pointing to Christ with every story, helping children to see the whispers of redemption through it all. If you buy just one Children's Story Bible, I'd commend this one to you.
Click here to see more reviews for: The Jesus Storybook Bible
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Magic Tree House #40
Eve of the Emperor Penguin (A Stepping Stone Book(TM))
by Mary Pope Osborne (based on 1 customer review)
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(Hardcover)
Author: Mary Pope Osborne
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers
Price: $9.40
You save: $2.59 (22%) off the list price!
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Most useful review as voted by customers:
11 out of 11 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 10/21/08
Excellent New Addition to the Series or Standalone Children's Book
I have read many of the Magic Treehouse books while recently "studying" for my 6-year old's Magic Treehouse Birthday Party. She really loves this series, reads them ravenously, and plays "Jack and Annie" constantly with her friends. I read around 15 of them, up until now the first part of the series (this is my first of the Merlin Missions), and have found the books to be cute, quick and entertaining.
I have never found anything in them that concerns me for my daughter to be reading, which is more than I can say for many of the series out there for young children, whose main characters are often wisecracking, sibling-hating and constantly in trouble. I love the way Jack and Annie play together and protect one another, even while they don't always agree and have different styles and strengths.
In any case, regarding this specific book, I think it is a wonderful addition to the Magic Tree House Series, or if you child is new to the series, an excellent introduction. My daughter just got it for her birthday.. and I gave it a quick read because now that I've read so many, I wanted to see what the Merlin Missions were all about.
I was quite impressed. This book seemed a little bit more developed and engrossing than some of the early stories. Not in a way that is too difficult for kids, but just more substantial. It was a good mix of fantasy and fact, like usual, with easily digestible facts and lessons, in this case on penguins and the Antarctic. This book was doubly interesting in that it was a culmination of a 4-book set (the magic treehouse books have 4 book sets that circle around a particular theme or type of mission -- in this one they are trying to find 4 secrets of happiness for Merlin who is exceedingly sad and have been asked by Morgan le Fay, the owner of the treehouse, to help). The secrets they share -- nature, curiosity, compassion and taking care of others -- provide just lovely messages for kids.
There are a few scary parts, when they fall down a cliff, or when a predatory bird is attacking a penguin, but Osborne has a gift for having adventure in her stories without the "scary" aspect being too much for kids. My daughter will hardly watch anything these days because of mean or scary characters, and that extends to some books -- but these stories always engage her without frightening her.
If your kids already like the Magic Tree House series, definitely add this one to their collection. If MTH is new for your children, this is a great one to start with. It stands alone nicely (she has a short prologue which explains things well up to this point), and may get your child interested in reading the earlier books. What's so great about Magic Tree House is that it is wonderful for boys and for girls. And it really creates a gentle exposure to history and character often natural science, but in a fun way. And for those kids that love the topic of the book, there are non-fiction research guides, very easily accessible for 5-6 years and up with lots more information on those topic (for this book, the companion research guide is Penguins and Antarctica (Magic Tree House Rsrch Gdes(R)).
This book makes a wonderful gift for any early to mid-level reader. If your child is an early reader, it would be great to read with them. For a mid-level reader, they can spread it out a chapter at a time, or like my daughter, tear through it in an afternoon. Great job, Mary Pope Osborne. Please keep them coming!!!
Click here to see more reviews for: Magic Tree House #40
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The Book Thief (Readers Circle)
by Markus Zusak (based on 437 customer reviews)
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(Paperback)
Author: Markus Zusak
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Price: $9.59
You save: $2.40 (20%) off the list price!
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Most useful review as voted by customers:
351 out of 375 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 3/23/06
This book deserves more than 5
I am not going to tell the plot of this book yet again, Amazon and some other reviewers have done it quite well...I will tell you that this is an astounding book, a beautiful book, and a book that I know I will read again and again......
I read a lot, two to three books a week, my family makes fun that I "love" so many that I read...but in the past few years there have only been a handful of books that when I finish reading the book I sit and try to think of who I can send a copy to, who can I share this wonderful experience with. A book that when I finish, I want to go back to the beginning and start over.
I am a little sorry it is listed as a young adult book, I feel that if the bookstores put it in the young adult section, so many people will be missing out on a wonderful experience. Yet it is important that younger readers, high school readers, read this book too. When I was growing up, I remember reading Diary of Anne Frank, and the feelings I had when I read it...and understanding the importance of everyone reading that book. Well, this book is that important, this book is a must read.
I am going to go back and read this author's other book, I don't know how it can measure up to this one, but if it is half as good, I am in for a treat.
Click here to see more reviews for: The Book Thief (Readers Circle)
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Boy In the Striped Pajamas (Movie Tie-in Edition)
by John Boyne
(based on 104 customer reviews)
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(Paperback)
Edition: Mti
Author: John Boyne
Publisher: David Fickling Books
Price: $8.99
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Most useful review as voted by customers:
34 out of 40 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 2/11/08
This one stands apart, for many reasons, should be on anyone's "must read" list
I've read many books that fall into the "Holocaust literature" category. This one may actually be a book that is written in a style that COULD be read by a child but should be read by adults. Whether it is suitable for children depends on how sensitive your child is- and how well you think he or she could handle some very graphic details. They aren't "graphic" in the sense of being spelled out in detail but the reader's imagination can fill in the blanks. At age 9, this book would have been far too intense for me - and the main character in this one, Bruno, is age 9.
The author used a technique which was brilliant, taking readers into the mind and thoughts of a child whose father work for the "Fury" (the Fuhrer) and who is sent to live in Out-With (Auschwitz), on the safe side of the fence, in an actual home.
The novel is labeled "a fable" and I think this was a wise choice by both author and publisher. After all, no one knows exactly how a 9 year old son of a German officer would think and young Bruno seems remarkably naive sometimes. But just as light sets off shadows more vividly, I think his exaggerated innocence allows readers to experience the horrors of Auschwitz that much more. For that reason, I don't think the accuracy of Bruno's character is all that important. The effect on the reader (THIS reader, anyway) is profound and deep.
After moving to Out-With (Auschitz) Bruno meets a boy "on the other side of the fence", one who is the same age, a lad named Schmuel. At first Bruno is envious of the boy who gets to wear striped pajamas all day and who seems to have lots of companions.
On Bruno's side there are few playmates and he doesn't realize that he has so much compared to Schmuel. There is a sudden twist in this tale and I can't write about that. I will say it is the one reason adults should read this book before sharing it with children.
The book isn't quite like any other of this type I've read, not even The Diary of Anne Frank. Each chapter has a simple headline (Bruno Makes a Discovery, Bruno Tells a Perfectly Reasonable Lie) that reads like something a child could write. So do the words of each chapter and I think the child's voice should speak to both the child and adult residing in readers. It certainly did for me!
You'll be haunted by this one. If you get the edition with a Reading Guide included, you will find all sorts of extra features, includng an interview with the author, John Boyne.
Click here to see more reviews for: Boy In the Striped Pajamas (Movie Tie-in Edition)
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The Invention of Hugo Cabret
by Brian Selznick (based on 200 customer reviews)
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(Hardcover)
Author: Brian Selznick
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Price: $15.63
You save: $7.36 (32%) off the list price!
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Most useful review as voted by customers:
215 out of 228 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 2/11/07
Curiouser and curiouser
No one can really summarize a book any better than the author proper. So what is, "The Invention of Hugo Cabret" anyway? "... this is not exactly a novel, and it's not quite a picture book, and it's not really a graphic novel, or a flip book, or a movie, but a combination of all these things." In short, what you have is a book that can't really be lumped into a single genre. With the rising popularity of the graphic novel, authors have been looking at how to let the visual elements of a given story complement the text. Some will weave graphic novel elements in and out, panels on one page, text on another. Others prefer a kind of "Captain Underpants" melding with cartoonish pictures. And while all these books are fun reads, none of them have ever really had the (for lack of a better word) gravitas you'd find in a classic text-only children's novel. Until now, that is. "Hugo Cabret" is a risk. A 500+ page book that's told just equally by pictures as it is by text. It is also like nothing you've ever seen before. No other children's book has even come close.
Without Hugo Cabret, none of the clocks in the magnificent Paris train station he lives in would work. Though he's only a kid, Hugo tends to the clocks every day. But there's something even more important in the boy's life than gigantic mechanics. Hugo owns a complex automaton, once his father's, that was damaged in a fire and it is his life's goal to make the little machine work again. To do so, he's been stealing small toys from an old shopkeeper in the station. One day the man catches Hugo in the act, and suddenly the two are thrown together. Coincidences, puzzles, lost keys, and a mystery from the past combine in this complex tale of old and new. The story is told with pictures that act out the action and then several pages of text that describe the plot elements. The final effect is like watching a puzzle work itself into clarity.
Selznick is juggling so many different elements and inspirations in this book that you honestly expect the result to be a muddle. Okay. So you have a story involving old-timey movie-maker Georges Melies (he's the old shopkeeper) whose image in this book was modeled on children's book author Remy Charlip (also an influence). You have an automaton, the history of automatons, and the history of movies themselves. There are photographs of old films mixed in with some bizarre sketches. Then you throw all of this together and add in a story about a boy, a girl, a one-eyed man, toys, keys, and a train station. Boom! Instant book. The fact that this title ISN'T a mess is downright bizarre.
They say that the mark of a good musical depends on how well the songs advance the story's plot. You can't just have your characters burst into song and then act like nothing ever happened. The case could be made too for books like "Hugo Cabret". If there is a picture in this story, it has a purpose. Nothing here was included on a whim. When the book breaks from word to image, it has to be done just right. It has to feel natural. At one point in "Hugo Cabret" our hero is nearly trapped by the Station Inspector. The book reads, "The Station Inspector saw the bandages and loosened his grip, at which point, like a wild animal, Hugo escaped." What follows is a thirty-six page chase sequence that comes across like a black and white film. And the real star of this show, in the end, is Selznick's art. The man is doing things with mood and lighting that give the book just the right mysterious feel. Selznick's pictures are done, for the most part in graphite with plenty of shading involved. At the same time, he knows how to get the viewer involved in what they are seeing. There are moments where the "camera" is zooming in on a particular shot and instantly gets your attention. In the book's opening, we begin with a shot of the moon that pulls back and follows young Hugo. Then suddenly, we see Hugo look over his shoulder and the picture hits you hard. We're on the eighteen or nineteenth page and already we're deeply interested in what we're seeing. We want to know more. Hugo does have some magnificent bags under his eyes at times, and he and the old man's granddaughter Isabelle sometimes look rather similar, but on the whole it's hard to find anything wrong with what Selznick has chosen to place in this book.
Admittedly, not everything works as smoothly as it might. Selznick has to keep everything in this story moving constantly. Nobody wants to see picture after picture of people just sitting around and talking, after all. So really, the downside to this kind of book is that some degree of characterization and description is lost in favor of plot and theme. The kids in this book go from liking one another, to hating, to liking again in a manner that feels a tad awkward. Motivations are sometimes murky, even if they're explained later down the line.
But the allure of this book for kids can't be stressed enough. Selznick is most familiar to children, at this point in time, because of his covers of such Andrew Clements books as "Frindle" and "School Story". When kids see a Selznick cover, they know to grab it. Children who like big thick Harry Potter-sized tomes will pluck the multi-colored "Hugo Cabret" from its shelves without hesitation. Ironically, though, this is a perfect title for reluctant readers. Though the page count will scare off some, those who've been shown the insides will appreciate this unfamiliar form of storytelling. Unlike a graphic novel or a picture book, however, you can't understand "Hugo Cabret" through pictures alone. You can try, I guess, but you end up with a very different tale from the one Selznick has written. The nice thing is that in spite of all the complicated details and influences at work here, the story itself is straightforward and interesting.
Extra kudos for the spine of this title, by the way. Publishing houses too often forget that sometimes the spine of a book is all a customer is ever going to see of a title. And if there were a Best Spine of the Year Award, I think I know who the winner might be. The spine and back are of Hugo's face, lit from the side. Just his left eye and part of his cheek are visible on the spine, with the title, author, and publisher information shoved to the bottom. It's haunting. Does haunting sell? You bet your sweet bippy it does.
It's hard to say whether or not this kind of format would work with any other book. Really, it's the fact that so much of "Hugo Cabret"'s plot revolves around black and white movies that allows this book to jump so easily between image and text. If you did something similar with a story about, oh I dunno, a lion in the jungle, it might feel odd. But given Selznick's subject matter and his careful use of both his own illustrations, movie stills, and sketches, the book holds together. The writing is second to the illustrations, but it's still heads and tales better than most of the crummy kidlit you'll stumble across. Sometimes you hold a book in your hands and it feels like a classic from day one. "The Invention of Hugo Cabret" radiates that feeling.
Click here to see more reviews for: The Invention of Hugo Cabret
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39 Clues
Maze Of Bones
by Rick Riordan (based on 28 customer reviews)
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(Hardcover)
Edition: Hardcover
Author: Rick Riordan
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Price: $10.18
You save: $2.81 (22%) off the list price!
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Most useful review as voted by customers:
58 out of 66 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 9/13/08
An addictive new series
I was reminded of both The Da Vinci Code and the Harry Potter books as I read Maze of Bones. First of all, it's an addictive read. Second, it is a mystery with multiple clues involving famous people, like Dan Brown's book. Last, like J.K. Rowling's famous books, it is about a group of people separated into four different branches, or houses; and about children saving the world.
The plot involves the diverse, far-flung Cahill family, which has been the most powerful family in history. Anyone important in history was probably a Cahill, including Abraham Lincoln, Isaac Newton, Winston Churchill, Napoleon Bonaparte and, especially, Benjamin Franklin. The source of the Cahill's power has been lost over time. The 39 Clues is about the search for that source, by a group of Cahill relatives vying against each other to find the answer. The clues are found all over the world.
Penniless orphans Amy and Dan Cahill enlist the help of their teenage au pair, Nellie, to find the solution to the mystery. The kids seem like real people, and you root for them against their mostly despicable relatives. Amy is a painfully shy, stuttering 14-year-old; Dan is a precocious 11-year-old who loves collecting things. Although they often fight, the siblings help each other during the many dangerous adventures collecting the clues.
Maze of Bones is the first of 10 books in this new Scholastic series, which also has an elaborate supplemental contest where readers can try to come up with the answers to the clues themselves. The book comes with six game cards that you can use to get clues online. There are 350 cards in total, so the series is also a card-collecting game for kids.
But if you just want to read Maze of Bones, it's certainly worthwhile. It's fast-paced, full of fascinating people and has an interesting mystery. I recommend it, and look forward to the second book.
Click here to see more reviews for: 39 Clues
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The 39 Clues
Card Pack
by Scholastic (based on 6 customer reviews)
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(Cards)
Author: Scholastic
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Price: $6.99
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Most useful review as voted by customers:
4 out of 4 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 10/6/08
Very Clever!!
These are very nice cards. As a baseball card collector, I was very pleased to see the high quality and attention to detail that these cards offer. My son has has a ball examining the cards and entering them on line to play the game. Naturally, card collecting is addicting and these cards coupled with the book and game are a kid magnet. The box that the cards came in is fantastic - it protects the card and offers information on how to read the cards and enter them onto the web site. This is a very clever item and worth buying more than one set.
Click here to see more reviews for: The 39 Clues
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Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
by Judith Viorst (based on 181 customer reviews)
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(Paperback)
Author: Judith Viorst
Publisher: Aladdin
Price: $7.99
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Most useful review as voted by customers:
306 out of 307 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 9/9/99
I think this book is good for "kids" of all ages!
I think this is one of the best books I've read. It is warm, and funny. At the same time it reminds us that everyone has bad days! I adore this book not only because it's an excellent children's book, but because it appeals to the child in all of us. Another such book is Why Some Cats are Rascals, Book 2. Read them both you will be glad you did it.
Click here to see more reviews for: Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
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