Bella the Bookworm: July 2012

Sunday, July 29, 2012

West to a Land of Plenty

Hey!
Time's fun when you're having flies! Whoops, sorry--guess I've been hanging out around the local frogs too much lately :) I meant to say, Time flies when you're having fun! Here's this week's review.
Keep reading,
Bella

Title: West to a Land of Plenty: The Diary of Teresa Angelino Viscardi
Author: Jim Murphy
Setting: New York to Idaho Territory, 1883
Target Audience: Middle School
Approximate Independent Reading Level: 8th

Summary: Teresa and her family are Italians living in New York with several other Italian families on their street. "Poppa" has come home and announced that they will be leaving their home in New York to go to Idaho territory, where they will be able to get a large plot of land and farm it. Also, they will not be looked down on as they are in New York. Teresa is very upset about leaving her home and her friends, and she writes in her diary at the suggestion of her teacher. Her younger sister Antoinetta, who goes by Netta, also writes in the diary sometimes. The trail is long and hard, with many sicknesses and dangers. Several people decide not to continue or die along the way. Teresa's (almost) daily story shows how the journey changes her and others.

Review: Another book in the "Dear America" series, this book is again written in a diary format. Teresa's arguing with Netta is comparable to the sibling rivalry in most families. Teresa uses a few Italian words, but they are close enough to the American to be determined from context. Different typesets are used to make it easy to determine whether the writing is Teresa's diary entry or something else (Netta's diary entry or a letter that Teresa pasted into the diary. I think the book is well-written in Teresa's voice (and others when appropriate), including spelling and grammatical errors. The use of historical fiction makes this time period in America's interesting.
**** 4 stars

Happy reading, y'all!

Saturday, July 21, 2012

Quackadack Duck

Hey, y'all!

Taking a quick break from the Dear America series this week for a short read. This week flew by, and I can't believe I'm a day late on posting again!

Bella

Title: Quackadack Duck
Author: Allen Morgan
Illustrator: John Beder
Target Audience: Young children (a read-aloud book)
Approximate (independent) reading level: 3rd grade

Summary: A troll likes to make mischief and collect pennies. One day, he comes across a duck egg as it is hatching. The baby duck thinks the troll is his mother, and begins copying the troll. At first, the troll is upset and ignores the baby duck; but he soon feels pity for the duck and lets him into his home, naming him Quackadack Duck. When the duck follows him to the market and is taken by a man with a poultry store, the troll must choose between his treasured pennies and his new friend.

Review: The story is well-written and the artwork is just as good and also flows well into the story. The words are rhythmical and sometimes rhyming, which makes it more fun for young children. The story also teaches a good lesson about the importance of friendship.
**** 4 stars

Saturday, July 14, 2012

My Heart is on the Ground

Hi, folks!
I missed last week AND am late this week--WHOOPS! I had a couple of family trips over the last two weeks an was unable to finish reading my book in time. Hope y'all enjoy this review, and I should be back on track next Friday.
God bless,
Bella

Title: My Heart is on the Ground: The Diary of Nannie Little Rose, a Sioux Girl
Author: Ann Rinaldi
Setting: Carlisle Indian School, Pennsylvania, 1880
Target Audience: Upper Elementary-Middle School
Approximate reading level: 6th grade

Summary: Little Rose lived on a reservation with her family and tribe until her father decided to send her to the school for Indians in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. There, she was forced to lose her Indian language and customs and take on those of the white people--even being required to take a new name, Nannie. In her diary, she writes about her first year away from home. She meets new friends and welcomes old ones and grows in her understanding of "white" customs and language.

Review: Nannie Little Rose's writing improves while at the school, but may be difficult to understand at times. There are some controversial elements, such as Nannie's hurting herself in a time of grief, and the Indians being forced to give up their clothes and hair. These are historically accurate, however, and contribute to the story--not gratuitous at all.
**** 4 stars

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)

Mission Statement

Many Christian parents want their children to read, but are worried about them reading books that may undermine their Christian faith, even subtly. But, most parents don't have the time to read every book their children want to read to make sure it's okay.

I love to read, and I love kids. I'll often choose a children's or young adult's book over an adult book. So, I would like to help parents out by providing a summary and review of books.

Some books may contain objectionable elements, such as violence or profanity. I will note these elements, but the presence of any objectionable content will not make the book immediately unreadable in my opinion. How the author uses and deals with the element is more important. Even the Bible includes elements that might be considered objectionable if they were not dealt with in a godly manner.

Although some Christians consider the fantasy genre to be wrong, I do not. Again, it depends on how the fantasy is dealt with. Talking animals don't present a problem in and of themselves.

Above all, I am not here to tell you how to parent your child. You are the parent, and you have the ultimate decision as to what you let your child read, not me. I just want to be a resource for you to use in making those decisions.

Love in Christ,

Bella

Privacy Policy

The privacy of our visitors to BellatheBookworm.blogspot.com is important to us.

At BellatheBookworm.blogspot.com, we recognize that privacy of your personal information is important. Here is information on what types of personal information we receive and collect when you use and visit BellatheBookworm.blogspot.com, and how we safeguard your information. We never sell your personal information to third parties.

Log Files

As with most other websites, we collect and use the data contained in log files. The information in the log files include your IP (internet protocol) address, your ISP (internet service provider, such as AOL or Shaw Cable), the browser you used to visit our site (such as Internet Explorer or Firefox), the time you visited our site and which pages you visited throughout our site.

Cookies and Web Beacons

We do use cookies to store information, such as your personal preferences when you visit our site. This could include only showing you a popup once in your visit, or the ability to login to some of our features, such as forums.

We also use third party advertisements on BellatheBookworm.blogspot.com to support our site. Some of these advertisers may use technology such as cookies and web beacons when they advertise on our site, which will also send these advertisers (such as Google through the Google AdSense program) information including your IP address, your ISP , the browser you used to visit our site, and in some cases, whether you have Flash installed. This is generally used for geotargeting purposes (showing New York real estate ads to someone in New York, for example) or showing certain ads based on specific sites visited (such as showing cooking ads to someone who frequents cooking sites).

DoubleClick DART cookies

We also may use DART cookies for ad serving through Google’s DoubleClick, which places a cookie on your computer when you are browsing the web and visit a site using DoubleClick advertising (including some Google AdSense advertisements). This cookie is used to serve ads specific to you and your interests (”interest based targeting”). The ads served will be targeted based on your previous browsing history (For example, if you have been viewing sites about visiting Las Vegas, you may see Las Vegas hotel advertisements when viewing a non-related site, such as on a site about hockey). DART uses “non personally identifiable information”. It does NOT track personal information about you, such as your name, email address, physical address, telephone number, social security numbers, bank account numbers or credit card numbers. You can opt-out of this ad serving on all sites using this advertising by visiting http://www.doubleclick.com/privacy/dart_adserving.aspx

You can chose to disable or selectively turn off our cookies or third-party cookies in your browser settings, or by managing preferences in programs such as Norton Internet Security. However, this can affect how you are able to interact with our site as well as other websites. This could include the inability to login to services or programs, such as logging into forums or accounts.

Deleting cookies does not mean you are permanently opted out of any advertising program. Unless you have settings that disallow cookies, the next time you visit a site running the advertisements, a new cookie will be added.

AdSense Privacy Policy Provided by JenSense

Rating System

5 stars--Gourmet meal.
Great book. Nothing wrong whatsoever. It's pretty close to, "I don't think I could ever read anything better. " I think everyone should read this book. It is likely that very few books will get this rating.
4 stars--Out to eat.
Pretty good. The writing is good. Any objectionable elements are treated very well. No problems. I would read this author again. I'll probably keep the book to re-read.
3 stars--A good meal.
The book is satisfying. Maybe a couple problems with how things are treated, but overall a good book. Be very cautious with readers who accept everything they see in print. I would try another book by this author.
2 stars--Not my cuppa tea.
An okay book. Nothing seriously wrong with it, but it didn't catch my interest. I would recommend the book if it was on a topic another reader was interested in.
1 star--Junk food.
If this book is read, it should be with extreme caution, and by a discerning reader. Objectionable elements are high. I would likely not keep the book. There are probably other books on the same topic that would be a better read. OR The book has some problems that might make reading difficult. For example, a book that changes details such as the color of the main character's hair with no explanation.
0 stars--Spoiled food.
Either this book has serious reading problems that shouldn't have left the printer, or it blatantly attacks Christian truth. I will not keep the book, and will be very hesitant to try another book by the author or in this series.

Bella the Bookworm