edh's reviews
352 reviews

Charlotte Miller's father has died, and she is determined not to let Stirwaters (the family mill) die with him. She sets to work with her sister Rosie to keep the business going, but it's harder and harder to break even, much less make a profit. The arrival of their uncle further confuses the issue - a dandy and socialite, he recommends selling the business immediately to competing mill Pinchfields. Meanwhile, the mill itself resists all efforts of repair and care - and the odd happenings surrounding it and its workers revive the talk of a curse set on the old place. Charlotte eventually learns that her father inexplicably took out a huge loan shortly before his death using Stirwaters as collateral, so if Pinchfields doesn't get the mill the bank surely will. At the very last second, a mysterious man stops by to inquire if there's any work that needs doing - and demonstrates his special ability to spin straw into shimmering golden thread. His ultimate price may be far too much for Charlotte to afford.

Advertising this book as simply a retelling of Rumpelstiltskin is selling it short. There's a reason why Bunce won the Morris YA Debut award - the characters and settings are lush and almost cinematic in their detail, regardless of whether she's talking about a length of costly cloth or the appearance of a run-down shack. The pacing is great too - you're forever on the edge of your seat wondering what new oddity will come careening around the corner full tilt at Charlotte and her crew. Highly recommended - full of dastardly deeds, fantastical doings, a smattering of romance, and an earnest dedication to family honor.

Levi, better known as Biff, is brought back to life by an angel in the year 2000 to give his long-missing testimony to the world as the best buddy of Jesus—Yeshua called Joshua. Josh and Biff ’s story covers the time left out of the Bible, from after Jesus’s birth to the beginning of his public ministry. Bawdy jokes and language will send some readers running, but those who appreciate all-too-human humor will stick around for this hilarious tale of the antics of two guys from Galilee. (my annotation from the June 2006 issue of VOYA)

These boys had a great time... doing everything! A visit with grandparents at the beach turns into a week filled with trips to nature camp and all the things that make a lazy summer great, including eating large amounts of waffles and playing video games together. Frazee does a great job of making one of those all-important weeks seem like an entire summer filled with monumental journeys, a little boredom, and wild discovery. Pick this one for inspiration for your own summer adventures, or read to a youngster who can't wait for summer to start.

While I like the premise of this series, the books suffer from being overlong. It's the opposite of the Big Empty series: instead of a killer virus, it's a nuclear meltdown. And instead of the country being decimated and left mostly empty, the Gone kids are all trapped in the boundary of the FAYZ together with no adults. If you have a reader who loves meaty, drawn-out drama then they will enjoy this saga. 5th-8th grade is your likely audience.

Emiko is in the middle of the summer that will change her life. After being fired from her job as a whip girl at a froufrou drinks store and being saddled with babysitting when her parents demand that she do something productive, Emi has no real direction. Stumbling on the Freak Show makes her believe that there might be something more for her - that she might have some sort of artistic ability. Part rave, part vaudeville: the Freak Show features performances that defy normal conventions (and occasionally involve toilet seats and jam). Emi is especially impressed by Poppy, a performance artist who is strong and beautiful. Henry also frequents the Freak Show, but like Emi he doesn't fit into the scene - he's always on the edges of the action. It's a summer to remember.

I've been devastated by the demise of the Minx imprint. Somehow DC didn't give this line enough time to saturate into their potential audience. Strong girls and independent thinkers will love all the Minx books they can find and will wish there were more. Follow Emi's suburban rebellion and awakening with something equally powerful, like Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis.

Nisbett gives a cogent argument for reforming our understanding of intelligence. Of all the measures of someone's "smarts," their IQ is merely part of the equation. Cultural variables have serious effects on intelligence, not to mention belief patterns - if your culture tends to believe that being good at math is an innate trait rather than the result of hard work and persistence, then you are surely going to have two cultures with very different outcomes in mathematic intelligence. For Nisbett, genetics is merely a springboard for future achievement - not an unbending and unchanging ruler. He examines several educational intervention programs in detail and makes the statistics comprehensible to the lay reader. Highly recommended for book groups interested in education and society.

A pretty solid overview for those unfamiliar with the field. LIS theory and reasoning is laid out in basic terms. Give this one to newbies, those just starting library school, and school administrators as a way to start getting up to speed on the ins and outs of library service.

Anyone who works with youth should read this immediately, and everyone who works with adult readers can read this to better understand how these readers may have developed.

Kelly Gallagher has written a powerful indictment of contemporary educational strategies aimed at turning kids into literate, critically-thinking adults. Instead of producing lifelong readers with deep comprehension skills, a combination of testing and overteaching has created adults who are soured on the very act of reading itself. Through a dearth of adequate reading opportunities, drill-and-kill testing, and failing to link fictional situations to contemporary examples from real life, Gallagher asserts that the American educational system is committing readicide.

We are reminded that ample access to reading materials is something that must happen IN school - because too many youth live in print-poor environments - and that the library should come to the students when necessary to reduce the effort needed to get a "good read." Reading widely for pleasure not only helps students reach their point of flow (Csikszentmihalyi) but also greatly boosts their depth of background experience, which proves more crucial in testing than you may think. Effective direct instruction is also just as crucial as sustained silent reading, especially when the number of literary concepts taught per book/piece are limited and reading strategies are explicitly taught to students who are then allowed time to practice them during class time.

The real gem of this slim volume is the list of 101 books that the author's own reluctant readers frequently choose. It features outstanding YA and adult titles that every school and public library should own in quantity. Also helpful are teaching tips and sample student "one pagers" in the appendix, making this a must-buy for every school library and English department. Gallagher's own students at Magnolia High in Anaheim (CA) are lucky indeed for having a teacher who is not only dedicated to helping students succeed in the classroom, but to walk out of that classroom equipped to succeed in life.

I cheated & got this for my Kindle reader on my iPhone... HA! Set in the Dark Tower universe, this is the only logical 21st century extension of his classic Word Processor of the Gods. It's an intriguing little truffle of a story - I can't add anything that others haven't already said in their reviews. For hardcore King fans and those who enjoy tightly spun short stories - his specialty.