You know the drill, add your 5 words (or less!) to mine in a comment and earn $1 for charity. Once we get to $100 the person with the most reviews will choose the charity. Click here to see the past winners, the charities they chose and the other reviews you can add to. Anyone is welcome to join in at any time.
The Lost Husband, 2020 (Leslie Bibb, Josh Duhamel, Nora Dunn, Sharon Lawrence, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Herizen F. Guardiola) Grade B
Kinda slow but still sweet.
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The Big Wedding, 2013 (Robert DeNiro, Diane Keaton, Susan Sarandon, Katherine Heigl, Amanda Seyfreid, Topher Grace Robin Williams, Christine Ebersole, Ben Barnes) Grade B-
This was Gage’s favorite book of the week. Let me start by saying that I made an error in throwing this in with other picture books in his basket. I didn’t look closely enough or I may have been prepared for the book (or maybe not since it was more graphic than I’d thought it should be. One review called a few of the pages in the middle the ‘ crayon kama sutra’ and they were spot on). But as we snuggled up on the couch and Gage started to read to me I thought I was safe, the parents telling the story were clueless. Then the kids took over and all of the information, with crayon pictures drawn by the kids, came out.
Gage already knew a bit (enough I thought) about where babies come from, but this was another level. After he finished I asked if he had any questions and he flipped back through the pages and asked a few. In the end, I think this was a good fit for Gage’s 10 years. Could younger kids read it? Depends on the kid, as always. I’m glad we read and even thankful for the somewhat crude but funny illustrations.
Gage’s thoughts...
The mom and dad tell their kids where babies come from, but the mom and dad did not tell the truth. The kids know where babies come from and they tell where babies really come from. I liked this book because it has facts about where babies come from. I would recommend this book. 4 1/2 stars.
But instead of peace and quiet, she encounters an enigmatic artist with a craving for solitude, a fairy-tale sprite with too many secrets, a helpless infant, a passel of curious teens, and a town suspicious of outsiders, especially one as headstrong as Tess. Just as headstrong, is Ian North, a difficult, gifted man with a tortured soul—a man who makes Tess question everything.
When life throws her one setback too many, midwife and young widow Tess Hartsong takes off for Runaway Mountain. In this small town high in the Tennessee mountains, surrounded by nature, she hopes to outrun her heartbreak and find the solace she needs to heal. from Goodreads
I love Susan Elizabeth Phillips and pretty much everything she writes. She infuses her stories with larger than life characters, lots of humor, and real romantic sparks. Her latest had all of those things, but there was also a heaviness to the story that was somewhat surprising. Tess and Ian are a great couple and their love story was very satisfying, but there was a lot of loss along the way. The book felt very 2020 even though I know it wasn’t written this year. Fans of SEP and romances set in small town will love it.
Gage’s favorite was Seeds by Ken Robbins and I highly recommend it as beautifully done introduction to seeds for kids.
Gage’s thoughts…
This book is about all kinds if seeds. I liked the interesting facts about seeds because I love nature. I never heard about sticktight seeds and they are sticky. Maple tree seed wings are called samaras. The photos are incredible. I recommend this for anyone who is interested in seeds or great photos.
I accepted this book for review, something I’m not doing much anymore since I’m so limited on reading time, because it’s a book AND a game and that sounded like a great combination to me. This was everything I’d hoped it would be. I’d hoped that it would help Gage learn more about how to tell a story and it so did in a fun and creative way. He absolutely loved it and Jason and I loved watching his mind work. He was also good at guessing whether we were telling the truth or lying. I felt like he got so much out it that I counted it for some school time this week 🙂
How it works… The book gives you the ‘cards’ with three stories to choose from. Card one choices are a job you would like to have in the future, something silly you have done, and an animal you thought might bite you. The storyteller secretly flips a coin (not provided) to figure out whether to tell a truth or a lie. They tell the story and the players individually vote on if it true or false. The storyteller gets a point for anyone they fool. Then the next person tells the story and so on until someone gets 21 points and wins the game.
This is based on the board game and put into book form just in time for those 2020 Zoom calls! It was nice to be able to throw it in a suitcase and take it with us on our road trip. There are variations on the rules you can try. Each 3 cards even has a place where you can record funny highlights so the book can become a memory book of happy times the more times you play.
Reactions from the boys. “I loved it! It was so much fun. Can we play again tomorrow?” “I loved being creative and telling stories. Educational for kids.”
I recommend this for any family with kids. Kids learn what makes a good story, how to decide what to risk (they risk 1, 2, or 3 points each time), and how to come up with a story quickly (something Gage often struggles with). We’ll be making this a weekly family fun activity!
Every Friday Gage will choose his favorite book from the school week and write a short review of it. Sometimes he’ll write two if his teacher makes him 🙂
Geronimo Stilton (author) is the pseudonym for Elisabetta Dami from Italy
The book is fiction since Geronimo is a mouse.
This is book #46 out of 65.
Geronimo goes to a ceremony at the castle but he doesn’t know what it was. Two mice fall in love and more. I really liked the Stingysnouts, Geronimo’s family because they were crazy. I liked the part where Geronimo figures out that the ceremony is fake. I like the end where Geronimo faints. I would recommend this book to kids who like mouse stories.
Mom’s honorable mention…
Explorers: Ancient Egypt by Jinny Johnson. This was a nice precursor to our Ancient Egypt studies. Heavy on the photos and text in small, easy to read bites. This is not comprehensive in any way but a starting place to generate interest.
Bunnicula. Written by Deborah and James Howe and illustrated byAlan Daniel. Finished 8-7-20, 5/5 stars, children’s literature, 144 pages, pub. 1979
Oh, how I loved Harold and Chester. And the Monroes. And everything else. This book is a warm blanket on a cold winter’s night. There was humor and intelligence for both you and a child. I appreciated some of the humor more than Gage did, but Chester’s antics had him laughing. A children’s book not to be missed.
Gage’ thoughts…
Bunnicula was a bunny found at the Dracula movie by the Monroes. Chester (the talking cat) thought he was a vampire because he was turning vegetables white, was out of his cage at night, and slept all day. Chester tried starving him, putting a steak (instead of a stake, lol) on his chest. and doused him with water. Chester was right, but not in the way you think. Harold (the talking dog) tells the story.
You know the drill, add your 5 words (or less!) to mine in a comment and earn $1 for charity. Once we get to $100 the person with the most reviews will choose the charity. Click here to see the past winners, the charities they chose and the other reviews you can add to. Anyone is welcome to join in at any time.
Gage successfully completed the book-a-day challenge in September. Woohoo! I found it increasingly difficult to keep up here and on IG near the end, but we made it. I do plan on having Gage pick a few favorite books of the week and review them here on Fridays. I think we can both manage that.
Thank you all for reading and commenting. It has meant a lot to Gage 🙂
I Am Every Good Thing by Derrick Barnes, illustrated by Gordon C. James, 32 pages, published 2020.
I adored this book. A love letter to African American boys about everything good they are and all of the great things they will become. It did not specifically name a race, but all of the gorgeous illustrations were of black boys. I read this story to Gage twice telling him that it was the way I felt about him and he felt that. A nice thing to pick up when your boy is having a bad day.
Gage’s thoughts…
What do you think sums up this book?
“I am not what they might call me, and I will not answer to any name that isn’t my own. I am what I say I am.” (a quote from the book)
Emmanuel was born in Ghana, West Africa with only one good leg, but he didn’t let that stop him. Forced to support his mom and siblings at a young age, he did all he could until his mom passed. Then he decided to raise awareness for people with disabilities by biking across Ghana. This is an inspirational story about a man still living and fighting the good fight.
Somehow I have misplaced Gage’s notes on this. If I find them I’ll come back and ad them.
This book could go deeper of course, I believe it is a story about climate change?, but I think it’s a cute picture book for younger kids about the power of working together. We did tie this to our earlier book of Why We March.
Gage’s thoughts…
My favorite person is number 673 Red-Hooded spectacled female (juvenile). There was a bird who liked to go people watching. Fog comes and the bird can’t see people. The person sees the girl and they sent out boats asking Do you see the fog? They floated it out to sea and they waited for a reply but none arrived. They finally get replies and goes away.
Gage loves Monopoly. I did when I was a kid, too, although I have less patience for it now. He did like learning about the real story, although I don’t think he was all that terrible interested and zoned out. I liked the story more than he did 🙂 A woman makes the most popular game in the world and made men rich.
I asked him what new things he learned.
Gage’s answers…
Lizzie Magie made the first Monopoly game. The longest Monopoly game was 1,680 hours.
The man had the name Rich Uncle Pennybags until 1999.
The boat, thimble, and a wheelbarrow were the first pieces. Then they added a penguin, rubber ducky, and t.rex.
This story of Gino Bartali, two-time Tour de France champion is for the older elementary child. There is a lot of story, each page having a paragraph or more, but it takes it’s time with the fun stuff first to draw the reader in. From his childhood working to save money for a bike to his heroic efforts to save Jewish Italians during WWII, this was an inspiring story. We both loved it and Gage did share parts of the story with his dad, but because it was so long and at the end of a Friday afternoon of school, I only made him write one sentence about it.
Gage’s review…
Gino Bartoli helped save Jewish lives by delivering fake IDs on his bike.
“It takes Courage to Grow up & become Who you Really are.”
Gage’s review…
EE stands for Edward Estlin. He writes poetry. His first poem at age 3 was, “Oh my little birdie, Oh with his little toe, toe, toe.” He liked to make new words and squished others together. When he was 11 a teacher noticed how good he was. He started Harvard when he was 16 years old. After he moved to New York City we entered World War I and he became an ambulance driver (in the war). His first book was The Enormous Room. He didn’t follow writing rules.
Most reviews we might work on together, some are based on a series of questions he writes the answers to and some, like this, are what he comes up with himself. Can you tell he hates to write? We paired this book with this video of the author.
Gage’s review…
His dad knock knocked on his door and came onto the bed and sat down and the boy jumped in is arms. One day his dad didn’t knock and he was sad. A letter was on his desk and it said, dear son I will not knock knock on your door so you have to knock for yourself.
The Proudest Blue by Ibtihaj Muhammad with S.K. Ali, art by Hatem Aly, 36 pages, published 2019.
This is a Wonderbook that first reads the story aloud and then asks questions at the end. Gage’s review is the answers to those questions. I think this is a good book for the younger set. It’s an introduction to the hajib.
Gage’s review…
What did you like best about the book? the illustrations
Who was your favorite character and why? Asiya because she is strong when people make fun of her.
What was your favorite picture and why? I liked the cover page because of the detail.
This Caldecott Medal Winner was a hit with both of us. Gage still loves stories told from the animals point of view and this one was fun. Until the death, that hit me hard! For the record, mosquitoes love Gage and each bite swells up terribly. We went to the botanical garden this week and he came home with about a dozen bites all over. It was after we read this book and he’s made jokes about the mosquitoes since.
Gage’s review…
The iguana puts sticks in his ears because a mosquito was talking about nonsense, so he doesn’t answer the python. The python gets scared and hides in the rabbit hole. Mother Owl was sad because her owlet died and she wouldn’t wake the sun. King Lion called a meeting of the animals.
Odd and the Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman, illustrated by Chris Riddell, 97 pages, published 2008.
We spent about a week reading this one. The book itself with the abundance of gorgeous illustrations is one worth buying for the bookshelves. We both loved it. And it’s a great introduction to Thor, Loki and Odin for newbies.
Gage’s review
Odd is a boy who ran away from his family. He went to his dad’s cabin. A fox led him to a bear that was trapped. The bear, an eagle and the fox went back to his cabin. He discovered they were gods when they started talking. They needed to go to Asgard because Thor’s hammer was stolen. Odd beat the Frost Giant so they were allowed in Asgard.
So, we’re not exactly horror experts here, but I liked the shortness of the stories so we read this over a few weeks, culminating with Gage writing his own scary story on the last day. The stories themselves were hit or miss for both of us and some of them were brutal. I had him choose his two favorites and he chose one in which the heads were chopped of two dead men and exchanged for the funeral, and the other was about a butcher who ground up people as the special ingredient in his sausage. Yeah. A good read for October if your older kid can handle it.
Stacy's Books 