| Patricia E. Kefalas Dudek |
Advocate for Elders, People with Disabilities and Their Families |
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 | Book Reviews My family and I are avid readers, so here I'll share our thoughts on what we enjoy reading. |
| The Stars of the Dudek Girls' Favorite Books: | ||||||||
| Al
Capone Does My Shirts - Gennifer
Choldenko This is a wonderful book. In this story, the guards' children live on the Island and one of the kids has a disability. Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger First published in the United States in 1951, the novel remains controversial to this day for its liberal use of profanity and portrayal of sexuality and teenage angst; it was the thirteenth most frequently challenged book of the 1990s according to the American Library Association. The wonderful book has become one of the most important novel literary works of the 20th century, and a common part of high school and college curricula worldwide; it has been translated into almost all of the world's major languages. Around 250,000 copies are sold each year, with total sales of more than 60 million. Gilda Joyce, Psychic Investigator - Jennifer Allison Patti's Comments: The author is from Michigan and the books take place in Michigan. Ms. Allison came to my husband's school and Stephanie got signed books and had the chance to speak with her. www.gildajoyce.com Girls Like Us - Sheila Weller Patti's Comments: I just finished listening to this book for the second time in less then two weeks. I have it on my IPod. Anyone that knows me knows that I love to read and listen to books. I love movies, but most importantly I love music. It has been a passion of mine for as long as I can even recall having memories. The first concert I ever went to was James Taylor. I still love this man's music....it should then come as no surprise to anyone that I also love the music of Carly Simon (James' ex wife and the mother of two of his kids), Carol King, (his friend and former girlfriend) and Joni Mitchell (responsible for bring CSNY together and some of the best songs ever written). Let me be clear about a couple of things: First -- these are certainly not the only wonderful women song writers that were already writing great music before I was born. Second -- just because I think these woman are amazing, does not mean I would like a book written about them. Third -- I love the NY Times book review attached, but I am not sure I agree with all its content. So with that said, here is what I think about this book. It is an amazing amount of information about truly interesting, talented and in many ways, fragile people. It goes back and forth between the life stories of these three ladies. This results in a book that is very interesting. I enjoyed comparing what was happening at about the same time for these woman. However, it also goes back in forth in time frames. That made the book difficult to follow. The book also quotes the lyrics of many of the unforgettable songs penned by these ladies while talking about their lives. That made the book just plain silly. Lastly, way too much time is spent on the details of each ladies' loves and losses. I would have loved more insight into their minds, hearts and souls. Either way -- PLEASE ENJOY THE BOOK. I hope it reminds you of the wonderful music created by the Girls. Click for New York Times review.Harry Potter Series - JK Rowlings We're not the only ones who love this series. A British charity has sold a complete set of Harry Potter books autographed by their author JK Rowling on e-Bay for $37,100. Bidding for the seven books on the online auction site closed after a starting offer of $204, Books Abroad development official said. I cannot tell you how excited I was to hear about this…… just to dream about it is exciting to me. Sahara Special - Esme Codwell Her blog and website are down right now - but she has a wonderful list of books and reviews. She also wrote Diary of a Fairy Godmother (which I loved) - and How to Get Your Children to Love to Read. SHE IS ALMOST AS WONDERFUL AS JK ROWLINGS. Sisters Grimm books. See www.sistersgrimm.com/books.html Sleep Ponies - Elaina loves horses, so she loves this book written and illustrated by Gudrun Ongman. The Anybodies - Julianna Baggott's debut novel for kids, under the pen name N.E. Bode, The Anybodies, was published by HarperCollins in spring 2004 and was a Children's Book of Month Club selection, a Washington Post Book-of-the-Week, a Booksense selection, and a People Magazine book pick. The Nobodies followed in 2005 and then The Somebodies in 2006, which won a Gold Medal in the Florida Book Awards. She will publish The Slippery Map in the fall of 2007, as well as the prequel novel to Mr Magorium's Wonder Emporium, a movie starring Dustin Hoffman, Natalie Portman, and Justin Bateman. The Prince of Fenway Park will follow during spring training of 2008. Julianna is signed on to write one more novel for HarperCollins. For more info: www.theanybodies.com. Patti's Comments: The girls love her kids books, and I like both her books for kids and her books for those of us that pretend to be grown ups…. The Anybodies was a "Battle of the Books" book in our school district and then we all went to our public library to hear her speak - she was great. She told the kids to thank their parents for the moments of boredom as that is when they will have time to use their imagination. I loved that… The third in the Anybodies, Nobodies series by N. E. Bode is as wonderful as the first two. I must share some my favorite parts with you: 1) In one of the scariest scenes ever written for a book lover like me, there is a scene where the souls of the writers of the book are ripped out of the book. This is because. of course. anyone that writes a book puts bits of themselves and their soul into their book (so true). So, the quote I love is: "And I can't speak for Terry Practchett or Neil Gaiman or Kate DiCamillo on how it felt for them to have that bit of their souls that they'd stitched into their own books ripped out. No, I cannot. But I can tell you that I was in a donut shop at the moment, and although I didn't know what was happening, I felt something awful - as if a corner of my own soul, the one I walk around with day in and day our went dark."I love these writers, and love books, have never written one with my soul stitched into it yet, but I can tell you I would dearly love to, so I could empathize with this part of the book. My girls did not get it, but I LOVED it. 2) Another great quote that I believe with all my heart, that I am trying to teach my girls: "The more I get to know...the more I'm sure that they were wrong. And the more I get to know people in the world--readers, you know, like you, who sometimes write me letters about your own amazing lives, sometimes rowdy lives, but always full, complicated lives, -- I start to think that nobody is truly ordinary....not if you look hard enough. I've come to believe that we all have our own gifts - strange and lovely and true." 3) Last but not least: "The world is always changing, but there's a part of you that never changes. It's essentially you, and you can always rely on it to be true....You've really got to be yourself in this life. You have to rely on something deep inside... The Araminta Spook - Angie Sage. Click here for website. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee Published in 1960, and selling more than 10 million copies since then, To Kill a Mockingbird won the Pulitzer Prize in 1961. It is taught in approximately 74% of schools in the United States. A 1991 survey by the Book-of-the-Month Club and the Library of Congress' Center for the Book found that To Kill a Mockingbird came in second after the Bible in books "most often cited as making a difference." The novel is loosely based on the author's observations of her family and neighbors, as well as an event that occurred in her hometown when she was 10 years old. Lee has acknowledged that the character Jean Louise "Scout" Finch, who serves as the novel's narrator, is based on herself. To Kill a Mockingbird addresses themes such as courage, racial justice, the death of innocence, tragedy, and coming of age, set against a backdrop of life in the Deep South. One writer noted its impact in saying, "In the twentieth century, To Kill a Mockingbird is probably the most widely read book dealing with race in America, and its protagonist, Atticus Finch, the most enduring fictional image of racial heroism." It has proven to be not only an extraordinarily influential book to have it compared with the Bible, but controversial as well, being the target of various campaigns to have it removed from public classrooms. The book was successfully adapted for film by director Robert Mulligan with a screenplay by Horton Foote in 1962. To date, it is Lee's only published novel. Harper Lee, born in 1926, might be called a "one hit wonder." Even though it is one of the best selling novels of all time, and even after she received the Pulitzer Prize for it in 1961, she's never written another book. Reclusive and extremely protective of her privacy, she rarely grants interviews or makes public appearances. One of the exceptions is that she regularly attends the awards ceremony for an essay contest on the subject of her famous novel. The contest is sponsored by the Honors College at the University of Alabama. She says she enjoys how young people find new perspectives on the book. "They always see new things in it…and the way they relate it to their lives now is really quite incredible." They can still relate to racial tensions and southern stereotypes. One girl wrote an essay likening the trial of the book's Tom Robinson (a black man unjustly accused of raping a white girl) to the 1999 murder of a young man in Sylacauga killed because he was gay. Adults are similarly affected - mothers have named their children after the author or the characters. Her involvement with the contest began with her induction to the Alabama Academy of Honor, a society that pays homage to influential people born or living in the state. The main concern of the society was that the author would not accept the nomination due to her desire for privacy. But during her public appearances, she is quick-witted and gregarious, cheerfully signing autographs even though she laughs at all the fuss. Her friend, Horton Foote, wrote the screenplay for the film version starring Gregory Peck. She spent three weeks on the set, but took off when she saw everything was going fine without her input. She was pleased with the outcome, stating, "I think it is one of the best translations of a book to film every made." After the film "Capote" in which Ms. Lee is portrayed as the moral conscience of her childhood friend, Truman Capote, reporters again began clamoring for interviews. A friend suggested she come up with a form letter response to these requests. At that, Ms. Lee responded that what it would say is simply, "Hell, no." Like its author, To Kill a Mockingbird, is a rare commodity. Since its publication in 1960 it has never been out of print. When the 35th anniversary edition of the novel was being prepared, publishers asked her to write an introduction. She replied that as a reader she hates long introductions and suggested, "Mockingbird has never been out of print and I am still alive…it still says what it has to say; it has managed to survive the years without preamble." | |||||||||
| Websites & Blogs of Interest: | |||||||||
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The Book Whisperer - Anyone that knows me knows that I have a passion for reading (and of course, my family, my job, rock and roll, sports, wine and, of course, FOOD). This review of books is great and I LOVED Airman by Eoin Colfer. Read Chasing Vermeer and Wright Three by the same author - they are wonderful...some of the best children's books ever written!! Enjoy and feel free to share your favorite books as well. Teen
Ink -
A
print magazine, website and book series written by teens. LibriVox
- Free audiobooks |