Friday November 21, 2008
Children's Books: People & Places
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.
- Fancy Nancy by Jane O'connor
- Pinkalicious by Elizabeth Kann
- Fancy Nancy at the Museum (I Can Read Book 1) by Jane O'connor
- Horton Hears a Who! (Classic Seuss) by Dr. Seuss
- How the Grinch Stole Christmas! by Dr. Seuss
- The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
- Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney
- Diary of a Wimpy Kid : Rodrick Rules by Jeff Kinney
- The Care & Keeping of You : The Body Book for Girls (American Girl Library) by Valorie Schaefer
- Shadow Kiss (Vampire Academy, Book 3) by Richelle Mead
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Fancy Nancy
by Jane O'connor
(based on 161 customer reviews)
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(Hardcover)
Author: Jane O'connor
Publisher: HarperCollins
Price: $12.23
You save: $5.76 (32%) off the list price!
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Most useful review as voted by customers:
65 out of 71 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 1/1/06
Loved, Loved, Loved this one!
Fancy Nancy is a book I can relate too, even thirty plus years after being a little girl who would have LOVED to have my "fanciness" appreciated by my family! I appreciate the wisdom and creativity of our little protagonist - she is a good peer role model for the young picture-book set.
I am buying two copies - one for my seventy-three year old mother who is a "Fancy Nancy" herself and also for myself... my children may borrow it to read, but I will keep it in my room to read-aloud and laugh and laugh and laugh!
Oh - a special nod, too, for the "fancy" illustrations. Loved each and every one.
Click here to see more reviews for: Fancy Nancy
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Pinkalicious
by Elizabeth Kann
(based on 88 customer reviews)
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(Hardcover)
Author: Elizabeth Kann
Publisher: HarperCollins
Price: $12.23
You save: $5.76 (32%) off the list price!
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Most useful review as voted by customers:
45 out of 45 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 10/24/07
Cute, colorful, and entertaining
I bought this book a few weeks ago and my kids already know it by heart! Is there any such thing as too much pink? Pinkalicious loves pink. She especially loves yummy cupcakes with pink frosting. But, when she eats too many of them, she turns pink and comes down with a horrible case of pinkititis !!!! The doctor says the cure is to stop eating pink and to eat a steady diet of green foods. Can Pinkalicious resist the pink cupcakes sitting on the refrigerator? You must read Pinaklicious to fint it out. The words are pinkticious-delicious and the pictures are pinkorgeous-gorgeous. In between the whole fun there also is useful message about proper nutrition and the merits of a balanced diet. I also recommend a series of fun-filled books with great educational values titled Why Some Cats are Rascals
Click here to see more reviews for: Pinkalicious
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Fancy Nancy at the Museum (I Can Read Book 1)
by Jane O'connor (based on 14 customer reviews)
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(Paperback)
Author: Jane O'connor
Publisher: HarperTrophy
Price: $3.99
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Most useful review as voted by customers:
20 out of 20 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 2/8/08
Cute as a button; educational to boot!
A trip to the art museum is right up Fancy Nancy's alley -- she gets to see masterpieces! The whole class gets a gentle lesson on what a gallery is; the difference between a still life, a landscape and a portrait; and what it is like to go on a field trip.
I was especially charmed by Nancy's art teacher, Ms. Glass, the epitome -- that's a fancy word for best -- of a great teacher. She wears earrings that look like miniature Alexander Calder mobiles and a smock over her dress decorated with an artist palette and the giant word "Art" on her back. She is kind and funky and listens to kids when they have a tummy-ache on the bus.
Nancy herself is as cute as ever, not only in her girly outfits but also with her boundless enthusiasm. She likes to use big "fancy" words, and French words, too: "'Merci,' I say. That's French for 'thank you.'" At the end of the book is a list of all the fancy words used in the story, with their definitions.
Like the other Fancy Nancy titles, the cover has glittery sparkles on the artwork and letters.
Click here to see more reviews for: Fancy Nancy at the Museum (I Can Read Book 1)
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Horton Hears a Who! (Classic Seuss)
by Dr. Seuss (based on 63 customer reviews)
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(Hardcover)
Author: Dr. Seuss
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers
Price: $10.17
You save: $4.78 (32%) off the list price!
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Most useful review as voted by customers:
39 out of 48 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 8/14/01
A classic parable of social justice
Like many of Dr. Seuss' great classics, "Horton Hears a Who!" can be read on multiple levels. You could approach it as a straightforward story (which is, I'm sure, how most children enjoy it). Or you could read the plot and characters as metaphors for larger issues. Either way, "Horton" is an unforgettable text."Horton" opens with the delightful rhyme "On the fifteenth of May, in the Jungle of Nool, / In the heat of the day, in the cool of the pool." Horton, a kind-hearted elephant, is the only inhabitant of the jungle who is capable of hearing the Whos, a microscopic race of beings whose entire civilization exists on a speck of dust. Mocked and abused by those who refuse to believe in the tiny Whos, Horton must ultimately join the Whos in a bold plan to prove the tiny beings' existence, and thus save their civilization from destruction.
Dr. Seuss brilliantly combines the classic animal fable genre with a brilliant science fiction twist. But I also see "Horton" as a deeply humanistic parable of social justice. The Whos could be seen as symbols for any group of individuals who have been rendered "invisible" and voiceless by an arrogant dominant group. So the Whos could represent the poor, the lesbian and gay community, ethnic or religious minorities, women, or other groups.
And Horton could be seen as a courageous, nonconformist prophet of social justice--a sort of Seussian version of Pablo Neruda, or Walt Whitman. Moreover, Horton is a member of the "dominant" group who chooses to identify with and stand in solidarity with a marginalized community, even at the risk of his own freedom. Furthermore, the hoped-for salvation of the Whos lies not in Horton's actions alone, nor in the Whos' own actions alone, but rather in the combined strength of both the entire Who community and their elephant advocate. I believe that Horton's quest reflects the ideas expressed by Brazilian educator-philosopher Paulo Freire in his classic volume "Pedagogy of the Oppressed."
I don't want to reveal the details of the book's ending, but I'll just say that Dr. Seuss brings this suspenseful tale to a triumphant and life-affirming conclusion. And the story is brilliantly enhanced by marvelous Seussian artwork--I especially liked the illustrations of the whimsical Whos and their Escheresque city. "Horton Hears a Who!" is a classic for readers of all ages.
Click here to see more reviews for: Horton Hears a Who! (Classic Seuss)
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How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
by Dr. Seuss (based on 93 customer reviews)
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(Hardcover)
Author: Dr. Seuss
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers
Price: $11.20
You save: $2.80 (20%) off the list price!
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Most useful review as voted by customers:
13 out of 14 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 11/2/00
The Real Grinch
My 9 year old took a look at the face of Jim Carey, as the movie Grinch, and said, "That's not the real Grinch!"He's right, of course. It's hard when a book you've been reading faithfully every year is made into a movie, and you see who Hollywood gives the lead part to. (Then again, who else would anyone cast in this rubber-faced role?)
This is the original story, with the real face of the scowling, mean-spirited Grinch. That face changes from bad to worse, and then to tender when he finally "gets" the meaning of Christmas.
But before he does, children and adults will read (and reread) in delight and shock as the Grinch disguises himself as Santa. The innocent townspeople of Whoville never seem to catch on as the Grinch forces his poor dog Max to help him steal all the toys and ornaments. He's so sure that once he's done away with the material goodies, the Christmas spirit will be gone.
A wonderful story with a message we can't hear enough. Add this to a child's Christmas bookshelf, or give it to that grumpy coworker who's ba-humbuging around.
This book is the classic (accept no substitutes)!
Click here to see more reviews for: How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
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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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Diary of a Wimpy Kid
by Jeff Kinney (based on 177 customer reviews)
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(Hardcover)
Author: Jeff Kinney
Publisher: Abrams Books for Young Readers
Price: $10.15
You save: $2.80 (22%) off the list price!
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Most useful review as voted by customers:
93 out of 110 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 3/26/07
Or why you never want to play a tree in a school production of The Wizard of Oz
The world has not yet invented a method of finding the best webcomics currently available on the Internet for kids. So basically, for every twenty low-quality/poorly thought out amalgamations of crap, you get one bright shining star. "Diary of a Wimpy Kid," the webcomic, was one such star. The only conclusion I can really draw at this point is that somebody at Abrams is a friggin' genius for plucking the comic up and making it into a book. Now normally I don't like to separate titles into "girl books" and "boy books", but Jeff Kinney has written such a marvelous "boy book" that for every parent that walks in the door of my library I'm going to be cramming this title into their arms. Heck, I'll slip it into their purses if I have to. This book is going to reach its intended audience whether I have to wrestle skeptical parents to the floor with it clamped firmly in my teeth. Want to transfer your Captain Underpants lovers from graphic novels to fiction? This book won't do that. It's just something that every single person will get a kick out of.
First things first. Boys do not have diaries. Girls have diaries. Let's get that straight cause things could get messy if we don't. Basically, what we have here are the gathered thoughts and memories of Greg Haffley. Greg's got a pretty average life, all things considered. His older brother is a jerk, his younger brother annoying, his best friend a doofus, and his parents perfect dweebs. To top it all off, Greg's been thrown into his first year of middle school and things are really weird. Suddenly friendships are shifting and Greg's not sure who he wants to be. Add in some haunted houses, wrestling, downhill games involving bodily injury, forbidden cheese, and basic family fears and you've got yourself one heckuva debut.
I should specify that in spite of the fact that this book is based on a webcomic, it's not a graphic novel. Not really. Comic illustrations appear on every single page and complement the storytelling, but this is really more a (what's the term again?) illustrated novel. What this appears to be, more than anything else, is a notebook that's been written in by hand with the occasional cartoony illustration here and there for effect. It never breaks up into panels or long illustrated periods. There are just tasty little comic treats on each and every page.
Now the term "laugh-out-loud funny" is not to be bandied about. When I say that something is "laugh-out-loud funny" I don't want to be talking titters, mild chuckles, or undersized, underfed guffaws. I want to describe something so amusing that you think about it later and start laughing in an embarrassing manner on the subway. Jeff Kinney gave me that more than once. There was the moment when Greg's trying to get out of performing as an apple-throwing tree in his school's production of, "The Wizard of Oz." He thinks that maybe if he screws up what he has to say, that might be his out. "But when you only have one word to say, it's really hard to mess up your lines." The next thing we know, "Dorothy" has picked an apple and Greg's trying out a tentative, "Owwwchhh?" Oh! And the form thank you letters! Greg figures out that he says basically the same thing to all his relatives. So he just cranks out a form letter and fills in the details. This works great until he gets to something like, "Dear AUNT LORETTA, Thank you so much for the awesome PANTS! How did you now I wanted that for Christmas? I love the way the PANTS looks on my LEGS! All my friends will be so jealous that I have my very own PANTS." I think I was laughing over this for a good three hours after I read it.
There's something particularly charming about Kinney's illustration/cartoons too. The lines are incredibly clean and precise, even as they are showing some pretty raucous stuff. Kinney's grasp on visual gags is without comparison. At one point Greg happens to mention that if you "mess up in front of Dad" (i.e. kick over your little brother's toys maliciously) he'll throw whatever he has in his hands at you. We then see two shots of Greg misbehaving. The first is labeled, "GOOD TIME TO SCREW UP:" and shows him kicking over some blocks while his dad is holding the newspaper. The second reads, "BAD TIME TO SCREW UP:" and shows him doing it while his dad is cementing together a brick wall. Comedy gold, people! The comics are drawn over lined paper, making the whole enterprise really feel as if you're poring through someone else's journal.
And for all that, the writing's not too shabby. When Greg talks about week-ends he says, "The only reason I get out of bed at all on weekends is because eventually, I can't stand the taste of my own breath anymore." Been there. Tasted that. Kinney's able to point out all kinds of funny school details we adults may have forgotten, but that kids will recognize instantly. For example, why should you tell kids that "It's great to be you," when a lot of people really should think about changing themselves? We see two bullies shoving some poor kid down at this point yelling, "It's great to be me!," you you have to concede the point. I mean, Kinney remembers what it was like to roll a really big snowball and then see that you were ripping up the grass on your lawn in the process. No one remembers that! Characters are also lovingly delineated, not only in words, but in their little comic illustrations. Take as your example the character of Greg's fellow student and neighbor Fregley. Fregley is weird. So how would you, as the writer/cartoonist, convey this? You might want to have him say things like, "Wanna see my secret freckle?". You might draw him with a mouth wider than his head. You might have him stabbing kites in his front yard, shirtless. For a start, anyway. Every character in this book feels real. Even Greg's annoying, practically mute, little brother.
And so much more. Such as the name of Greg's older brother's band. Loaded Diaper, only it's spelled "Loded Diper" with an umlaut over the "o". Greg suspects his brother thinks that it really is spelled that way. And there are the small failures and triumphs of your average pre-adolescent. No one in their right mind would ever want to return to the days of Middle School, but if Jeff Kinney keeps churning out books like this one, I'll follow him there any day of the week. This title has already been getting some pretty choice reviews here and there. Can I make a nomination for funniest children's book of 2007? Consider it a necessary purchase.
Click here to see more reviews for: Diary of a Wimpy Kid
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Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Rodrick Rules
by Jeff Kinney (based on 115 customer reviews)
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(Hardcover)
Edition: 1
Author: Jeff Kinney
Publisher: Amulet Books
Price: $10.15
You save: $2.80 (22%) off the list price!
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Most useful review as voted by customers:
68 out of 87 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 1/17/08
Jeff Kinney Strikes Again! PYP Funny!
In his latest book, DIARY OF A WIMPY KID: RODRICK RULES, Jeff Kinney nearly put me into the hospital. That man is going to have serious medical bills to pay if this keeps up. I almost busted a gut laughing out loud and almost aspirated my Diet Dr Pepper on a few occasions. And, yes, I hold him completely responsible.
If not for Kinney's dry wit, keen insight into the lives of elementary school boys (especially their rationalization for EVERYTHING), and fantastic line drawing on nearly every page, I wouldn't have had so many close brushes with death in his latest book. But he put me there time and time again. Even when I thought I had things figured out (because I was once an elementary school boy with a wild imagination without a governor), Jeff would throw a wrinkle at me that I didn't see coming. He ambushed me with regularity throughout the pages.
But it's not just me that Jeff has his merciless sights on. He's taking out EVERYBODY. My wife teaches elementary school and Jeff's books are all the rage among the students. I have to admit to adding to that bonfire because I talk about his books all the time (and I have to admit that I haven't quite become the responsible adult either, because I'll rile my wife's fourth grade class up and take my leave--taking her out to dinner usually gets me off the hook and my cool points go up with the kids).
Parents have become interested in the books and I've told them they need to keep up with what their kids are reading. After all, they're supposed to be responsible parents. (I, myself, have been known to buy extra copies of Jeff's books and give out as gifts - some parents have accused me of inciting subversion, but I point out that Jeff's first book was a NEW YORK TIMES bestseller and that is a far better recommendation than I could ever make. Except the TIMES doesn't give away Jeff's books as gifts that I know of. That's why they hold me more accountable.)
But when I recommend the books to parents, I issue a stern warning. I call it the PYP warning. I especially give it to pregnant mothers and people with weak bladders who read in public places. PYP is Pee Your Pants. The books are just that funny. You're reading along, and the next thing you know, WHAM! -- you're laughing so hard you're peeing your pants.
The funniest thing about Jeff's humor, and the life of his main character, Greg Heffley, is that everything in the book COULD BE COMPLETELY TRUE. Speaking from experience, a lot of what's between those pages has been true. But I'm not going to incriminate myself now when I got away with those things all those years ago. And there should be some kind of time statute on most of them. I still don't want my mom to know, however.
Greg is THE man when it comes to taking a boring day and turning it upside down. People who underestimate the creativity of a bored child are simply asking for trouble. Nuclear war pales by comparison.
And Greg has an excuse - or a rationalization - for everything he does. Worse than that, half the time I get sucked in and totally buy into his point of view. Because, upon occasion, that point of view has been mine as well (or at least my defense). That's where Jeff's magic truly lies: he's never lost touch with his inner child. And boy, his wife must be mad and his kids must be terrified!
In this second book, I was totally blown away yet again. Greg is a middle kid, which means that his life is made miserable from both ends of the spectrum - from his older brother Rodrick and his younger brother Manny. Rodrick is the sulky teen with a band called Loded Diper. And their music stinks, so they're appropriately named. Manny is three and gets into all of Greg's stuff.
I love how Jeff sets something up in the books and continues to play off of it at appropriate times. His sense of pacing is fantastic. The work of "art" Manny creates out of toothpicks and aluminum foil is great, and I've seen that done, actually. Greg's mom tells Greg he should keep it around and he does - until it impales Greg's semi-best friend Rowley.
Another sequence in the book focuses on Greg's ringleader abilities. Kids will follow anyone with a semi-great idea. Or at least one that will bring pain or embarrassment to another kid. See, Greg is NOT hero material. At least, not yet. He does show some potential, but it's really far into the future.
One of those ideas involved making believe one of the other kids didn't exist. Following Greg's lead, the rest of the class pretends the kid doesn't exist so much that Greg gets called into the principal's office, then gets read the riot act by his parents.
I loved when Greg gets involved in the role-playing game Magic and Monsters and his mom becomes concerned. She decides to show up and play with them. And her rules don't involve all the violence and bloodshed all the kids are used to enjoying. Worst of all, some of Greg's friends start liking the way his mom plays!
Another instance is when the parents leave for a weekend trip and put Rodrick in charge. They're no sooner gone than Rodrick is on the phone calling people over for a party. Madness ensues. A door gets painted with permanent marker. Rodrick gets Greg to help him change out doors so the parents don't find out. Later, when they're punished, Rodrick says he's going to study the effects of decompression of the spine suffered by astronauts during prolonged weightlessness. He does this by sacking out on the couch and sleeping all the time while he's grounded.
If you want, you can even read the books for free on the internet. Just go to Funbrain-dot-com to read them. One of the most interesting things about Jeff's books is that they're given away for free and STILL sold enough to make it to the top of the NEW YORKS TIMES BESTSELLER bestseller list.
You see, Jeff wants everyone to read his books that wants to. However, kids want books they can hold in their hands, share with friends, and put on a shelf. Plus, it's kind of hard to take your computer and internet along when you're stuck in the car on a family trip or out with a parent at a doctor's appointment or a shopping spree.
One of the best features about Jeff's books after you put them in your kids' hands is that you don't have to worry about batteries going dead. They're kid powered: fueled by imagination and driven by humor. They're good for the environment. Except for that whole PYP warning.
Jeff's books are hilarious. I just can't recommend them enough. Call me subversive if you want.
Click here to see more reviews for: Diary of a Wimpy Kid
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The Care & Keeping of You
The Body Book for Girls (American Girl Library)
by Valorie Schaefer (based on 265 customer reviews)
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(Paperback)
Author: Valorie Schaefer
Publisher: American Girl Publishing Inc
Price: $9.95
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Most useful review as voted by customers:
271 out of 277 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 7/9/02
Appropriate for preteens
My daughter is 9 and I thought it to be an approprate time to start the "talks". This age group is still so innocent, it's hard for them to fully understand all that is coming up for them in just a few short years. The thing I like about this book is that kids can absorb information at their own pace and as they need it. What they're not ready for they won't read and when they are, they can look at it with some privacy (I've even heard her giggle about it with her friends).The book coveres a lot of self care like teeth brushing, showering, and the basics. The last part of this book is about menstruation and body hair. There is no sex talk like some other puberty books.
Click here to see more reviews for: The Care & Keeping of You
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Shadow Kiss (Vampire Academy, Book 3)
by Richelle Mead (based on 22 customer reviews)
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(Paperback)
Author: Richelle Mead
Publisher: Razorbill
Price: $8.99
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Most useful review as voted by customers:
7 out of 8 people found the following review helpful.
Review Date: 11/16/08
Up all night, disturbed and sad
I didn't want the book to end. But by the time I got to the end I was so drained, emotionally and physically (pacing around reading) I collapsed in a heap.
First of all is a change in Rose. Not only does she view her relationship with Lissa differently, she starts to question her purpose in life and the choices that have been thrust upon her. The life of a dhampir is one of duty and hardship. She'd always thought the only other choice was to be be a blood whore, so of course, being a guardian for her best friend, the Dragomir Princess was a better life.
But all that is turned on it's head when she discovers the true meaning of what it means to be Shadow Kissed. That it wasn't just a name given to St. Vladimir's friend and help mate, Shadow Kissed Anna, there was a more relevant meaning behind it.
With this knowledge and the disturbing presence of a lost friend, her life is in turmoil when it should have been smooth sailing with Victor Dashkov in prison and the trials going swimmingly for her.
Then comes tragedy. I can't write about it. I don't want to spoil the book for anyone, I will say this though, I spent over half the book cringing at each page I turned, hoping that I was wrong, that Ms. Mead wouldn't do what I was terrified she would do in the end. So by the time it happened I was a mess; weepy and depressed.
I hate and love this book.
I can't wait for the next one, so addicted.
Click here to see more reviews for: Shadow Kiss (Vampire Academy, Book 3)
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