Geo Librarian

Jacob Wonderbar and the Cosmic Space Kapow by Nathan Bransford Dial Books for Young Readers, 2011 Grades 3-6 Reviewed from purchased copy. I read this book during the 48-Hour Book Challenge as sort of a comic relief after the tearjerker I had just finished.  I figured it looked kind of fun and wacky, and it was.  What did surprise me a little bit was the level of writing and how the characters had more depth than I was expecting for a book that I thought would emphasize plot. Here's the blurb from the inside cover: Jacob Wonderbar has had a weird day.  First there was that incident with the substitute teacher and the sprinklers. (Okay, maybe that wasn't so unusual for Jacob.)  Then he and his best friends, Sarah and Dexter, discovered a silver man and a spaceship in the woods near their houses. Weirdest of all? The man offered to trade his ship for a corn dog!  It sounded like a pretty good deal to Jacob, until he and his friends took their new ship for ...

Words in the Dust by Trent Reedy Arthur A. Levine Books, 2011 Grades 6 and up Reviewed from purchased copy. I love reading books about other cultures, other places, and other times. But sometimes these stories can be really gut-wrenching. In this book, the main character, Zulaikha, is an Afghani with a cleft palate.  Not only does this make eating, smiling, and talking difficult, but she is treated poorly by both neighborhood boys and her stepmother.  It seems that her chances of making a good marriage are about nonexistent. When Zulaikha meets an old acquaintance of her mother, her desire of learning to read starts to bloom.  Then the opportunity to have her mouth fixed arises and learning to read becomes secondary.  At the same time, Zulaikha's sister, Zeynab, is preparing for marriage.  Just when it seems all will work out, a devastating blow falls on Zulaikha, and she has to decide what she wants the most.  I won't say any more than that because I...

The Manatee Scientist: Saving Vulnerable Species by Peter Lourie Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, 2011 Grades 4 and up Reviewed from purchased copy. I'll start by saying that I really like the Scientists in the Field series, and this one is no different.  The high quality photographs and straight forward writing make these books fascinating to read.  I didn't like this one quite as much as some of the others that I've read, but it is still good and shows the impact that field work can have in the real world. In this book, the author follows the efforts of three groups of scientists who are studying the three different species of manatees, in Florida, the Amazon River basin, and coastal West Africa. Lourie makes it clear that the Florida manatees have been studied the most because they are the easiest to locate. The Amazon River Basin is enormous and the murky water makes it hard to see these creatures who spend much of their time well below the surface.  The s...

I know I'm a little late in posting this, but since I didn't expect to win anything, its okay.  Here is what I accomplished: 16 hours of reading time $26 given to charity The following books completed: The Manatee Scientists , Words in the Dust , Jacob Wonderbar and the Cosmic Space Kapow , Penderwicks on Gardam Street (I know this one wasn't on my list, but I really wanted to finish it) 1/2 hour of blogging/social networking etc. I was surprised that I didn't get more books read considering the number of books I used to fly through when I was younger.  I think there are a couple of reasons for this.  First, I read more thought-provoking books now than when I was younger, and second, I think and question more as a I read than I did as a child.  Anyway, now I have a starting point for next year.  It has been fun to get some books read over the weekend, I d did finish an additional book after my time expired, so I finished 5 books over the weekend which is...