Getting Children to Read with GRREAT Books

Grreat Read Outloud for Young Children

2008-10-02T12:42:00.000-05:00

Title: Whose Ears are Whose?
Author: Lana Jordan
Illustrator: Pam Farrance & Melanie Babcock
Publisher and/or Distributor: Jorlan Publishing, Inc.
Publisher Website: www.jorlanpublishing.com
Pages: 32
ISBN: 978-1-933830-01-8
Price: $14
Publishing Date: 2008
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating:5 hearts

A boy comes into his room to find all his stuffed animals very upset. His little sister has removed all their ears and thrown them into a pile on the floor. He sorts them all out and returns them to each animal properly. The animals don’t recognize their own ears because they are too loose. The boy resorts them into some very funny combinations and duct tapes them on so they feel fitting and tight. The animals all love their ears now, although the elephant has sheep ears; the lion has rabbit ears; the pup has deer ears and antlers; the deer has mouse ears; and so on.

This is a delightful read-a-loud. First, it teaches patience when the boy doesn’t become angry at his little sister. It demonstrates sorting skills, inventiveness with using the duct tape, and flexibility in how the ears are finally matched. The animals demonstrate how people don’t always know what’s really best for them. My wife and I eagerly look forward to sharing this book with our young grandchildren. It is indeed rare that a picture book teaches so much so quickly and easily. We rated it five hearts.

A Fantastic Book for Reluctant Readers

2008-05-19T05:22:00.000-05:00

Title: The Secret Zoo
Author: Bryan Chick
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Second Wish Press
Publisher Website: www.secondwishpress.com
Pages: 252
ISBN: 978-0-9791887-3-2
Price: $5.99
Publishing Date: Oct 2007
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 5 hearts

This is an excellent book for reluctant readers. Four pre-teens (the Adventure Scouts) become involved in their town’s zoo, which they discover is connected to a very secret underground city designed to allow people and animals to live together in peace. In doing so, Megan mysteriously disappears and her brother Noah and friends Ella and Richie find themselves in this adventure of their lives that has earth-changing potentials. The riding of a huge polar bear and a sharp-horned rhino, as well as a giant penguin while being supported by birds and a colony of prairie dogs will fire the imaginations of young readers. Thrill to their conflict with a mysterious Shadow Man and a colony of evil Sasquatches. Discover a decades old secret that is protected by a secret society of humans and animals. We rated this book with a constant lightning pace five hearts.

48 Demons of Tezuka

2008-05-07T12:10:00.000-05:00

Title: Dororo Vol. 1
Author: Osamu Tezuka
Illustrator: Osamu Tezuka
Publisher and/or Distributor: Vertical, Inc.
Publisher Website: www.vertical-inc.com
Pages: 342
ISBN: 978-193428716-3
Price: $13.95
Publishing Date: 2008
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 5 hearts

This Manga is yet another Japanese classic brought to us from the New York publishing house that is dedicated to bringing the best of Japanese literature to the United States. The first in a three-volume series. Its movie version grossed $30 million. This is the first time it has been rendered in the English language.

There is a battle on almost every page—definitely an action graphic novel. A samurai seeking to become warlord of Japan. He agrees to trade his soon to be born son’s 48 body parts as payment toward that end. When born, he throws the deformed baby into the river to drown. The boy is discovered by a doctor who makes prosthetics for the missing body parts and adopts him as his own. Grown now, our hero meets a wild bandit boy with whom he teams. Along the way, he kills demons and regains a missing body part for every demon he kills.

This is one of the most influential Manga artists in Japan’s history. We rated it a solid five hearts.

YA About Foster Children

2008-04-26T16:45:00.000-05:00

Title: Kyleah’s Tree
Author: Janet Muirhead Hill
Illustrator: Publisher and/or Distributor: Raven Publishing, Inc.
Publisher Website: www.ravenpublishing.net
Pages: 192
ISBN: 978-0-9772525-9-6
Price: $12
Publishing Date: Aug 2008
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 4 hearts

This young adult story addresses the problems of being an abandoned or orphan child living with foster care givers and the child imagining many threats that either don’t exist or are misinterpreted. Kyleah believes that if she could become prettier, her abandoning father and twin brother might come for her. She also believes that if she climbs a tall oak tree in the front yard right at sun rise, she will get her wishes.

She and foster brother Benjamin decide to run away from the foster home in Kansas to Canada, where they almost freeze while trying to escape border patrol and RCMP policemen. This is an exciting story that teaches much about many critical concepts as well as entertaining the reader. We rated it four hearts.

A Spanish Author Writes GRREAT YA Fantasy

2008-04-26T16:24:00.001-05:00

Title: Ivan of Aldenuri: The Forest of the Taurocs
Author: J.P. Foncea
Translator: Stephen Caro
Publisher and/or Distributor: Cambridge Brick House, Inc.
Publisher Website: www.cbhbooks.com
Pages: 261
ISBN: 978-1-59835-058-6
Price: $19.99
Publishing Date: 2008
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 5 hearts

This is an excellent YA fantasy written by a lawyer in Spain and translated by a successful actor in England with lots of stage play translation experience.

Twelve-year-old Ivan discovers a medal in a hollow tree. Shortly afterwards, Ivan discovers he can float and fly. His new ability helps protect his community by allowing him to spot sea raiders. Ironically, they manage to kidnap him for a ransom effort later on.
An attack by sea monsters helps break him away from captivity and he flies away from the raiders’ ships to a land far away from his home. There, he becomes involved in saving new friends and communities from horrific monster Taurocs (a cross between bulls and dinosaurs). In the meantime, Ivan’s home community is being asked for a huge ransom by the sea raiders, even though they have lost Ivan.

This is a cleanly written and exciting story for young adults. We especially liked the emphasis on instinctively doing the right thing, no matter how frightened you are. We scored this five hearts.

Literacy by and for Tweeners

2008-04-14T14:53:00.000-05:00

Title: Journey to the Homeland
Author: Hannah Stahlhut
Illustrator: Hannah England
Publisher and/or Distributor: Baker Trittin Press
Publisher Website: www.bakertrittinpress.com
Pages: 107
ISBN: 978-0-9814893-0-8
Price: $10.95
Publishing Date: 2008
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 4 hearts

This delightful YA novel won the first Tweener Time International Chapter Book Competition. Written by a teen for tweens (8-12), this wonderful chapter book follows a young man, Keegan, who wanders around in search of a home. His quest is complicated by his secret talent—the ability to speak telepathically with animals. His best friend and protector is an imposing jaguar, Adrian. His life becomes complicated and endangered by an arrogant girl, Nora, who suddenly takes the credit for animal speaking. They find themselves traveling together to a neighboring country trying to escape agents of their greedy king, but the chase doesn’t end with their crossing of the border.

The author and illustrator have won large scholarships for their efforts. This competition is an exciting addition to the book industry by providing young people an opportunity to prove their talents. We welcome this first competition’s winners and rate her book four hearts.

New YA Series for Horse and History Lovers

2008-04-14T12:16:00.000-05:00

Title: Eclipsed by Shadow: The Legend of the Great Horse Series
Author: John Royce
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Micron Press
Publisher Website: www.micronpress.com
Pages: 288ISBN: 978-0-9724121-3-1
Price: $19.95
Publishing Date: Summer 2008
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 5 hearts

This fascinating YA first book of a trilogy on the history of man’s relationships with the horse is particularly well done. Meagan, a young teenager, witnesses the arrival of a new colt she names Promise. She enjoys socializing the colt and caring for him until it’s time for him to grow up with other colts. Several years later, the now young adult horse returns to Meagan’s horse farm to begin saddle training. Unfortunately, a crooked horse trainer is out to steal Promise. Meagan stumbles on the plot and manages to leap onto Promises back and jumps a fence in order to escape. Suddenly Promise sprouts wings and carries Meagan back in time to caveman times. Meagan falls off, only to find herself in the middle of a caveman horse hunt for fresh food. After a short time there, she jumps on another horse and finds herself as a slave in Rome, and then she moves forward to ride with the Mongols. After more hard times, she moves forward in time to the times of the Crusades, where the book ends with the reader anxious to know what is next.

This series teaches not only the history of Man’s relationship with the horse, but the history and day to day cultures of different civilizations of the past. We rated this first book five hearts.

A GRREAT Book for Young Horse Lovers

2008-04-11T09:36:00.000-05:00

Title: Twoey and the Goat
Author: Robbie Timmons
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Mitten Press
Publisher Website: www.mittenpress.com
Pages: 182
ISBN: 978-1-58726-517-4
Price: $15.95
Publishing Date: March 2008
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 5 hearts

This is great story for young equine fanciers. This fictionalized novel is based on a true-life story about a young racing thoroughbred and is friend and constant companion Captain Kidd, a billy goat. The story follows their whole lives from Twoey’s birth, the training he receives from his mother and advice he receives from a racing champion. He makes the transition to yearling and adulthood, winning race after race, with his ever present friend, Capt Kidd always there to calm him down. After a racing injury, we watch his slow but courageous decline into racing obscurity, always accompanied by Capt Kidd as he is sold from owner to owner. Finally, he finds redemption in retirement.

The author has done an excellent job of switching points of view to tell the horse’s story. She has an intimate style of writing that allows her readers inside her characters’ minds. We rated this book five hearts.

Into the Volcano

2008-04-07T11:19:00.002-05:00

Here is our first graphic novel review. This one is focused toward 2nd grade and up:

Title: Into the Volcano
Author: Don Wood
Illustrator: Don Wood
Publisher and/or Distributor: Scholastic / Blue Sky Press
Publisher Website: www.scholastic.com
Pages: 175ISBN: 978-0-439-72671-9
Price: $18.99
Publishing Date: Oct 2008
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 4 hearts

This graphic novel for ages 7 and up follows two young brothers who are sent by their father with a strange cousin to a remote Pacific volcanic island to see their aunt Lulu. One of the brothers, Sumo, is afraid of doing or experiencing anything. His brother Duffy is just the opposite.

They are flown by charter jet to the island and there, they quickly involved with going inside an active volcano, trying to escape their so-called family. Their mother, supposedly doing research in Borneo, shows up in an underground cavern. She shows them a treasure trove of magical gems which may solve all mankind’s energy problems. Finally, the family comes back together and Sumo gains a modicum of bravery.

The artwork and the characters have a definite Samoan flavor. We rated this graphic novel by a Caldecott Award Honors winner four hearts.

Graphic Novel Category

2008-04-05T09:22:00.003-06:00

Recently, I have been offered many more graphic novels for review than in the past. It's a sign of our times where so many people have become visually oriented in their communications due to the evolving technologies. Comic specialty store employees say that by far the age group of customers shopping for comic versions are adults in their twenties, not children. Many of the major publishers have begun producing Manga (Japanese comics) books.

For these reasons, I have decided to add a graphic novel genre to HeartlandReviews.com. Many of these graphic novels are appropriate for young adults, and I will include these reviews in this blog because many reluctant readers find they identify more with graphic novels. Please let me know your thoughts on this topic.

The Hunger Games

2008-03-24T08:09:00.000-06:00

Title: The Hunger Games
Author: Suzanne Collins
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Scholastic Press
Publisher Website: www.scholastic.com
Pages: 420
ISBN: 978-0-439-02348-1
Price: $17.99
Publishing Date: Oct 2008
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 5 hearts

This YA is the best book I have read in the past year. In a possible future, America no longer exists. It has been replaced by Panen, a wealthy capitol surrounded by twelve districts. (It was thirteen districts until one was utterly destroyed as an example to the others) which are kept dirt poor and starving. To remind the districts they are totally under the control of the capitol, a unique levy is required every year. Each district must select one boy and one girl aged 10-17 to travel to the capitol to compete in the Hunger Games—a battle to the death of the selected youngsters until only one is left alive. The survivor’s district and the survivor are given vast rewards (money, food, and a life of ease ever after), so there is a strong vested interest in the districts participating willingly.

The tension is constant and the heroine, 16-year-old Katniss Everdeen, is an accomplished hunter (poacher) and survivalist who brings her outdoor skills to the games. The boy selected from her district, Peeta, claims to have loved Katniss since they were five, much to her surprise. What if they have to try to kill one another? The conflicts are multiple and deadly. The book ends with the perfect set up for a series. Its treatment reminded me of Stephen King when he wrote The Long Walk as Richard Bachman. It is a theme dating back to the days of the Minotaur. The author handles the violence in a tasteful manner, but it still is pretty intense—a book more suited to the older segment of the YA genre. This promises to be an exciting series and will be ideal for reluctant readers. We rated it five hearts.

GRREAT New SF/Fantasy Series

2008-03-07T10:52:00.001-06:00

Title: Paraworld Zero
Author: Matthew Peterson
Illustrator: Matthew Peterson
Publisher and/or Distributor: Blue Works
Publisher Website: www.windstormcreative.com
Pages: 251
ISBN: 9781590924914
Price: $16.99
Publishing Date: 2008
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 5 hearts

Twelve-year-old orphan Simon Kent is a much abused nerd at school who wears glasses he doesn’t need in hopes that bullies won’t hit him. He has a whole drawerful of broken glasses, so that doesn’t work so well. All that changes when he accidentally meets Tonya, a girl whose hair changes colors like a giant mood ring and comes from a parallel universe. Simon discovers he can perform magic and uses it when he and Tonya find themselves running for their lives between parallel worlds.

This is the first in a wonderful series for mid-grade young adults that promises many more adventures. The author has mastered the formula for injecting a constantly increasing level of tension in his story. No, this does not replace Harry Potter. It’s totally different—it’s more SF than fantasy and definitely more American cultural oriented. This series should become a bestselling set of stories. We rated it an almost perfect five hearts.

Now It Can be Told

2008-03-07T09:26:00.002-06:00

Most of my readers here and at my book review site http://www.heartlandreviews.com have probably notice I haven't written a review since November. Now I can tell you why. Once again, I was selected to be one of the judges in this year's Publishers Marketing Association's Benjamin Franklin Awards. I don't get paid for that, but it is a huge credibility booster and a chance to see some of the newest small press and self-published books for this past year. Imagine my dismay when I received two shipments totaling 54 books of popular fiction. This week I finished reading the last of these and rendering my scores. One book I had to recuse myself from judging because I had been its content editor (Ascent into Darkness).

Since I finished on Tuesday, I have read a wonderful YA SF Adventure novel, Para World Zero, which I will write its review later this morning. I also tried to read another book, but it was too poorly written to review. Despite our attempt to filter books offered, we still get substandard ones occasionally. That's when I prove my worth by sifting the wheat from the chaff.

You're going to see many more reviews of excellent books for gifted and reluctant readers now.

The Direction's the Reading World is Taking

2008-02-18T14:07:00.002-06:00

I had an interesting conversation with a client in Arizona recently. I had suggested he might want to convert his novel into a graphics novel as well, to try and capture a share of that market. He was not aware of recent developments in the book industry, so the picture he had in his mind was of a series of 42-page comic books which would be serialized into a novel. He was shocked when I explained that now we have 300-page novels rather than much smaller comics. He was also shocked when I told him the cost of turning a novel such as his into a graphic novel would be between $75,000 and $250,000 just for the artwork, never mind the designing and printing. We immediately tabled that discussion.

Herein lies one of the problems in the reluctant reading field. Not only kids, but now many adults will only read something that is visually based rather than written word based. For a more detailed analysis of where this all is leading, you may want to subscribe to my FREE monthly newsletter. You can find a subscription form at any of the pages at http://www.grreatbooks.com .

Latest Word on Books

2008-01-28T10:47:00.000-06:00

We're back! My wife and I drove to Louisville, Kentucky, and back over the weekend to attend the American Booksellers Association's Winter Institute. This is an excellent get-together for over 500 folks from independent bookstores all over the United States. We attended many seminars that brought us up to date on customers service, technology, and what's happening in the industry. We were able to attend four different sessions with bookseller reps from many different major publisers to hear and see what they are releasing onto the marketplace within the next three months.

I was very pleased to see how many young adult and childrens books could easily qualify as books for gifted and reluctant readers. I will be reviewing many of these (we got advanced copies) and will be posting them here on this blog.

I should also mention that my review activities have been greatly slowed because I am busy reading and judging general fiction books in a major national book award competition. That will continue through March. This promises to be a very exciting year in the book industry and what is available to readers.

Reluctant reader Books Just Got Cheaper

2008-01-04T18:51:00.000-06:00

As one of my last actions before I take a week off for a medical procedure, I have programed our new online catalog site http://www.grreatbooks.com/ to provide a 15% discount on most of the books we are recommending. That is also true for many of the books in our distributor's 2,000,000 title database. We made the decision to do this as a way to compete against the big corporations. We hope this makes acquiring a library for your children and yourselves just a little bit easier.

I'll be back in a week, just in time to put together our first reluctant reader newsletter. If you would like to be on our mailing list, go to our catalog pages. I have not automated the process yet, so I will send you our free special report on gifted and reluctant readers when I get back. Thanks for understanding. I'm a one-man band here with no webmaster other than myself, but I'll eventually build in all the bells and whistles.

New Source for GRREAT Books

2007-12-08T15:05:00.000-06:00

Do you want an easy source for many of the books reviewed and talked about on this blog? We have formed an alliance with the largest book distributor in the world, Baker & Taylor, who will do our fulfillment for books ordered online from our bookstore's extended catalog service called GRREAT Books. We've been working on this for months and have finally gotten it up and operating. Please go to http://www.grreatbooks.com to see what we have. As a major added bonus, you can get the following three free offerings:

A) The chance for a free subscription to our monthly newsletter, Getting Your Child To Read

B) A free special report entitled, Gifted & Reluctant Readers

C) Free Entry into the Baker & Taylor 2,000,000 Titles data base in addition to our almost 200 book recommended list. They offer musical CDs, as well as DVDs as well as books.

We look forward to your comments and your orders. Please let your friends know about us as well.

Bob

GRREAT Social Commentary Sci Fi for Gifted Readers

2007-11-19T09:04:00.000-06:00

Title: Expert Assistance
Author: Robert Collins
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Asylett Press
Publisher Website: www.asylett.com
Pages: 173
ISBN: 9781934337080
Price: $8.75
Publishing Date: 2007
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 4 hearts

This very funny space opera science fiction is also a brilliant social commentary, especially on the shallowness of pop culture. Spacer of fortune, Jake Bonner, finds himself short of funds; therefore, he takes on two jobs simultaneously: a controlling consultant to mine workers governed by an unethical tyrant who seek revolution and to chauffeur Evvie, a nineteen-year-old pop star who is on a performance tour. He is assisted by his ship’s artificial intelligence-driven spaceship, which was originally designed for wholesale espionage and over which he was able gain salvage rights. Things really get complex when Evvie discovers Jake’s revolutionary mission and wants to play in it to gain massive PR points.

In addition to being a humorous read, this story should be considered a classic in the field of social commentary. It ranks right up there with Animal Farm and 1984, but with a far less dire atmosphere. The author, an active historian, brings to bear an excellent knowledge of what comprises good music and theatre and how bad and shallow current and evolving pop culture is. It is a cleanly written story and is very appropriate for young, gifted readers. We rated this excellent social commentary novel four hearts.

A Younger Series Similar to Artemis Fowl

2007-11-13T15:15:00.000-06:00

Title: Quest for the Elfin Elixir: A Duncan Family Adventure (Book 2)
Author: Ami Blackford
Illustrator: Ami Blackford
Publisher and/or Distributor: Red Cygnet Press
Publisher Website: www.redcygnet.com
Pages: 80
ISBN: 978-1-60108-021-9
Price: $16.95
Publishing Date: Sept 2007
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 5 hearts

If your children readers liked the Artemis Fowl, they’ll love this series. The author, a recent graduate of the Atlanta College of Art, combines the elements of modern day action with fairies and other such magical creatures. This particular episode has Ruth Duncan and older brother David traveling to the Caribbean with fairy Simone to find a magical elixir. The only problem is it is held by a group of elves who live in a cave under the ocean. Even with the best of diving equipment, how will Ruth find the courage to go diving under the surface of the sea when she’s terrified of diving? We rated the story and its attendant illustrations five hearts.

Red Cygnet Press: An Exciting Publisher Program

2007-11-13T12:43:00.000-06:00

We have discovered an exciting program for children's literature that focuses on both text and illustrations. Red Cygnet Press, an imprint of Sound Prints, has a unique relationship with a number of major university fine arts programs. Red Cygnet works closely with universitys' faculty to find students who are especially talented as both writers and illustrators. The result is a line of children's books that is fresh and extremely well done by some of the top student talent in the country. They are producing books which are ideal for both gifted and reluctant readers. I will be writing a number of book reviews based on these excellent offerings so you will be aware of this wonderful resource.

A Holocaust In China--Wonderful YA Fare

2007-11-06T09:39:00.000-06:00

Title: Shanghai Shadows
Author: Lois Ruby
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Holiday House, Inc.
Publisher Website: www.holidayhouse.com
Pages: 284
ISBN: 0-8234-1960-6
Price: $16.95
Publishing Date: 2006
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 5 hearts

This superb young adult book chronicles in a fictionalized form the escape of 20,000 Jews from Austria in 1939 when the Nazis take over that country to the only country that will accept them—China. They are gathered into the foreign compounds of Shanghai. They soon discover that the encroaching Japanese may be just as bad as the Nazis. The story centers on a family of four—father, mother, older brother, younger sister—who steadily find their quality of life declining, along with everyone else’s. The concert violinist father and the caring mother find very little work. The brother and sister find themselves involved in an underground spy group and risk their lives and freedom almost daily.

Beyond its historical significance, this is a revealing story about family relationships under extreme stress. Seen through the eyes of Ilse, the young daughter, we witness what it’s like to only be able to find a handful of hours of minimum wage work in a totally alien country. Just when the reader believes the plot has become totally predictable, the author throws an incredible relationship twist (ah, ah, no peeking) into the story that takes our breath away. Just when you think it cannot get worse, it does so in a huge way.

Lois Ruby has become the social conscience of a whole generation of uninformed children. Without the usual histrionics of many holocaust books, she builds plausible stories with relationships that can be understood by teens and tweens to illustrate how bad this timeframe was. She has also done the same for the Civil War timeframe (Steal Away Home). It is no wonder why this retired librarian continues to win accolades for all her books. We rated this book five hearts.

An Aesop-Like Fable Teaches Balance in Life

2007-11-05T11:53:00.000-06:00

Title: The Leaping Grasshopper
Author: Jeanne Archambault
Illustrator: Dwight Smith
Publisher and/or Distributor: Jitterbug Books
Publisher Website: www.jitterbugbooks.net
Pages: 32
ISBN: 978-0-9763031-2-1
Price: $15.95
Publishing Date: 2006
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 4 hearts

This picture book tells a story in Aesop’s style about a grasshopper who is too busy jumping high, far, and often to take the time to make friends and play along the way. Toward the end of the day, he notices the only animal still left in his vicinity is a cat. Although he is frightened of the cat, he asks if she wants to play. She politely replies yes, and they play together. This raises grasshopper’s realizations that perhaps he should have taken the time to make more friends and will demonstrate his willingness to do so from now on.

The quality of this book’s poetry does a good job of teaching the need for friendliness. The story is similar enough to Aesop’s grasshopper to reinforce the need for more than single-mindedness, whether it be work or play. Balance in life is what is taught here. We rated this book four hearts.

A Lesson in Self-Worth

2007-11-05T11:19:00.000-06:00

Title: Larry the Lawnmower
Author: Jeanne Archambault
Illustrator: Victoria Corey
Publisher and/or Distributor: Jitterbug Books
Publisher Website: www.jitterbugbooks.net
Pages: 32
ISBN: 978-0-9763031-0-7
Price: $15.95
Publishing Date: 2007 (2nd Printing)
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 4 hearts

Larry the Lawnmower is a lesson in self-worth picture book. Larry enjoys his assigned role as a grass cutting tool until his age causes his owner to replace him with a lawn tractor. Larry is sad until he is sold at a yard sale to a young boy who gives Larry a new coat of paint and fresh oil. Larry knows he will have more time to work for the boy so the boy can earn money for a new bike. Larry is happy with his station in life once again.

Although the illustrations are not of museum-level quality, they are cute and eye appealing. The story is logical and the rhymes flow. Larry becomes humanized and the child reader/listener learns we all age but we also have worth, even in our old age, as long as somebody cares. We rated this book four hearts.

The Importance of "By Example"

2007-10-27T15:14:00.000-05:00

When was the last time your children caught you reading a good book? When was the last time you read to them? If you want your children to read, you've got to set a good example. If you don't and you rail on them to read more, they will think, "Why should I? You don't!"

We read books out loud together, such as James and the Giant Peach, as a family well into our kids' teen years. Of course, our kids also grew up in our bookstore, instilling in them the love of reading and knowing the business of books. This experience held them in good stead getting them into their colleges and getting them their careers after college. Was it worth it? Oh yeah! My grandchildren think new books are the best presents ever. . .and the beat goes on.

A First Book for Elementary Students

2007-10-25T13:19:00.000-05:00

Title: Pirates Eat Porridge
Author: Christopher Morgan
Illustrator: Neil Curtis
Publisher and/or Distributor: Roaring Brook Press
Publisher Website: www.roaringbrookpress.com
Pages: 80
ISBN: 978-1-59643-304-5
Price: $12.95
Publishing Date: Oct 2007
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 4 hearts

This fun book is written as an elementary child’s first novel. It’s filled with fun illustrations that spark the imagination. The story line centers around a pirate who comes to visit a girl and her brother, insisting they feed him porridge. He is accompanied by a pig who the pirate insists is a parrot. The kids’ house suddenly becomes a pirate ship and they learn how to sail it into several adventures featuring such excellent things as cabbage and treasure. We rated this enjoyable first book four hearts.

Mature Young Adult Coming of Age Book

2007-10-25T10:46:00.000-05:00

Title: Last Dance at the Frosty Queen
Author: Richard Uhlig
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Knopf
Publisher Website: www.randomhouse.com
Pages: 358
ISBN: 978-0-375-83967-2
Price: $15.99
Publishing Date: 2007
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 5 hearts

This “R” rated young adult book (explicit sex scenes) is a superbly written coming of age story centered in a small Kansas town in the 1980s. Arthur M. Flood is a member of a dysfunctional family: the widower-remarried funeral director father who escapes his melancholy by watching TV constantly; the older brother who mourns the loss of his high school sweetheart to the “world” and deals with it with booze, pot, and junk food; and Arthur, who deals with the confines of his small community and high school through frequent sex with a variety of inappropriate partners, including a teacher. Suddenly mysterious, wild, and crazy Vanessa comes into his life from urbane California and great wealth. Sent to stay with an uncle while she undergoes treatment at Mennigers in Topeka, Vanessa takes on Arthur as an interesting project.

The characters and the settings make this an especially strong, realistic commentary on small town Midwestern life and the need for its youth to escape to the opportunities of large, urban environments. We rated this well-crafted story five hearts.

Another Grreat Book for Lady Reluctant Readers

2007-10-25T09:09:00.000-05:00

Title: Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy
Author: Ally Carter
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Hyperion
Publisher Website: www.hyperionteens.com
Pages: 236
ISBN: 978-142310005-8
Price: $16.99
Publishing Date: 2007
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 5 hearts

This is the second novel in a young adult series that focuses on a girls’ private school dedicated to training young women for careers in espionage—Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women. Protagonist Cameron “Cammie” Morgan had to deal with a short-lived romance with Josh, a townie boy in the first series novel. In this story, Cammie and her friends return for their sophomore year of school to learn that the east wing of their mansion has been mysteriously closed off. Of course the young spies immediately begin obsessing over the mystery. Their curiosity is satisfied when a group of young men spies are inserted into a field exercise. Enter a contingent from the hitherto unknown Blackthorn Institute who has moved into the east wing.

The author has an almost magical ability to portray teenaged female angst issues with the complication of the natural instinct toward paranoia instilled in the girls by their training. The inner dialogue is hilarious and the story development pulls the reader along with the constant curiosity of what comes next in this shadow world’s dilemma. We rated this fun read five hearts.

Teens, Jazz, and the 1950s

2007-10-23T13:33:00.000-05:00

Title: Sky
Author: Roderick Townley
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Publisher Website: www.simonsayskids.com
Pages: 266
ISBN: 0-689-85712-8
Price: $16.95
Publishing Date: 2004
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 5 hearts

This superb young adult book takes on several age appropriate conflict themes. Alec “Sky” Schuyler is fifteen going on thirty. Attending high school in New York City in the 1950s is a challenge, especially when one is seeking to become a competent jazz musician, keep a low profile at school, win the heart of a cute girl, support an incompetent father while putting up with his unreasonable demands, and figure out which life path to take. Sky and his father escalate their conflict to the level where Sky runs away from home while continuing to complete school assignments. Life is further complicated by a male teacher’s inappropriate advances on Sky’s girl friend. Fortunately, help comes from a reluctant mentor in the form of a genius blind jazz pianist who takes on Sky as a special project.

The author has brought to life the core emotions of all these conflicts and manages to bring them to resolution with the artistry of a symphony conductor. For those of us who lived this timeframe and had an interest in the jazz scene of those years, this story is especially poignant. For the young target audience, it opens a window onto another reality. This is an ideal book for reluctant readers and for gifted readers. We rated it five hearts.

New Edgar Font's Book

2007-10-22T13:17:00.000-05:00

Title: Edgar Font’s Fakersville Power Station
Author: Patrick H.T. Doyle
Illustrator: Patrick H.T. Doyle
Publisher and/or Distributor: Armadillo Books
Publisher Website: www.armadillo-books.com
Pages: 303ISBN: 978-0-9786132-1-1
Price: $7.99
Publishing Date: 2007
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 5 hearts

This is the second midgrade fantasy in the Edgar Font’s Search for A House to Haunt series. As the first novel, this one encourages communications between children and their grandparents. Audrey and Garrett accompany their grandfather to Northern California where drawings left by great grandfather Leo Font lead them to a most unusual deserted community powered by hydroelectric power. All is not as it seems, however; the community isn’t deserted, just hidden.

These first two books have been delightful. We love seeing the teamwork between grandparent and grandchildren. The stretching of the reader’s imagination is always foremost—“This really could happen, right?” The story line is rarely predictable and the characters and settings are memorable. We rated this book five hearts.

A GRREAT Young Midgrade Spy Novel

2007-10-01T15:26:00.000-05:00

Title: Spy Mice: Goldwhiskers
Author: Heather Vogel Frederick
Illustrator: Sally Wern Comport
Publisher and/or Distributor: Aladin Paperbacks / Simon Schuster
Publisher Website: www.simonsayskids.com
Pages: 250
ISBN: 978-1-4169-1442-6
Price: $5.99
Publishing Date: 2007
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 5 hearts

This young midgrade spy novel reminds me of Oliver Twist. A robbery ring, run by an older rat named “Master,” (aka “Goldwhiskers”) is made up of orphan mice who are taught to steal. They have to please the Master with their efforts if they want to eat and be sheltered. A piece of the Crown Jewels of England is stolen and three American mice investigators (Oz, D.B., and Glory Goldenleaf) team up with mice from Scotland-Yard to find the missing piece and to expose to the world this nefarious plot.

It is a very cute, exciting story with short chapters, great settings, and wonderful characters. This is a stand-alone third in a series which is ideally suited for reluctant readers. We rated it five hearts.

Midgrade Angst Is Essential to Interest Reluctant Readers in Reading

2007-10-01T12:57:00.000-05:00

Title: Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Author: Jeff Kinney
Illustrator: Jeff Kinney
Publisher and/or Distributor: Amulet Books / Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
Publisher Website: http://www.amuletbooks.com/
Pages: 217
ISBN: 978-0-8109-9313-6
Price: $12.95
Publishing Date: 2007
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 5 hearts

This hilarious midgrade graphic novel about a professional nerd’s childhood in middle school is wonderfully realistic. Written in a journal format with self illustrations, we learn about the stresses and ironies that are ever present in a bright but non-athletic young man. This is not a perfect kid. He is just as likely to take advantage of other people given the chance to get ahead or to escape a painful experience. He’s particularly hard on those who are closest to him—especially his best friend.

The author shows us ourselves with uncanny accuracy. All of us have warts and pimples and painful memories. He portrays life in school and the cruelty of children in a manner that is all too familiar to many of us. We rated this book five hearts.

Very Popular with young Girls

2007-09-26T14:48:00.000-05:00

Title: Two Moon Princess
Author: Carmen Ferreiro-Esteban
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Tanglewood
Publisher Website: www.tanglewoodbooks.com
Pages: 324
ISBN: 978-1-933718-12-5
Price: $15.95
Publishing Date: Oct 2007
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 4 hearts

This midgrade medieval fantasy portrays a princess who wants to be competitive with men, while her parents insist on grooming her for a politically arranged marriage in the near future. She stumbles into an inter-dimensional gate that dumps her into modern Earth (Southern California) society. Fortunately, her mother’s brother lives on this side of the gate, and he enrolls her in college as a way of keeping her out of trouble until it’s time to open the gate again a month later. The princess finds herself shunting back and forth between worlds—ours and her own with two moons. In the process of all this, she finds both enemy threats and true love. We rated this book four hearts.

A Book for Older Teen Girls

2007-09-26T13:25:00.000-05:00

Title: Twilight
Author: Stephenie Meyer
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Little, Brown and Company / Hachette Book Group USA
Publisher Website: www.twilightnovel.com
Pages: 400+
ISBN: 978-0-316-01584-4
Price: $8.99
Publishing Date: 2005
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 5 hearts

This is the first of a YA romance/vampire trilogy written by the very personable, author-on-the-rise, Stephanie Meyer, who has been compared to J.K. Rowling. Bella goes to live with her dad in Washington State so her mother can travel with her significant other. As she tries to fit in with a new circle of acquaintances, she develops a love/hate relationship with a family that seems to pretty much keep to themselves. Her life is saved in a school parking lot car accident that should have left her crushed and broken. Instead, Edward of the odd family, saves her with his super human speed and strength.

This is a painfully portrayed coming of age and maturity novel under extremely unusual circumstances that include the vampire family that has members who are hundreds of years old. She falls deeply in love with Edward and must figure out how she can develop their relationship despite its unusual circumstances. This author is superbly able to develop characters and their interactions. We rated this book five hearts

A GRREAT Graphic Novel

2007-09-26T09:21:00.000-05:00

Title: Red Prophet (1st of 6 in the Alvin Maker Series)
Author: Orson Scott Card adaped by Roland Bernard Brown
Illustrator: Renato Arlem and Miquel Montenegro
Publisher and/or Distributor: Marvel
Publisher Website: www.marvel.com
Pages:
ISBN: 0-7851-2721-6
Price: $19.99
Publishing Date: May 2007
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 5 hearts

This graphic novel based on Card’s very popular Alvin Maker novels is perfect for reluctant reading boys. As should be expected, the picture quality is superb and the text adaptation works well with the graphics. This is a tale about the frontier of the mid-1800s in a universe where magic really works. It is a story dear to my heart because I grew up seven miles from its setting.

As an added bonus, there is a space-based alien story segment in the back of the book. This helps parents kill two birds with one stone in terms of appealing genres for boys. We rated the book five hearts.

A Modern Gaelic Fantasy

2007-09-26T08:26:00.000-05:00

Title: The Light-Bearer’s Daughter
Author: O.R. Melling
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Amulet Books (an imprint of Abrams Books)
Publisher Website: www.hnabooks.com
Pages: 348
ISBN: 978-0-8109-0781-2
Price: $16.95
Publishing Date: 2007
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 4 hearts

This YA fantasy focuses on Irish protagonist, Dana Faolan, a young teen who constantly hunts for and hopes in finding her mother who walked out of her life when she was a toddler. Her father has decided that a change in environment to Canada and his relatives is necessary for his daughter’s mental health. Dana resents the impending move. In desperation, she agrees with a mysterious lady to a quest into the land of fairy. She is assisted by a large wolf (spirit guide), which is a good because she is being stalked by a twisted maniac. Her quest becomes a race against time because of the impending Canadian move. We rated this interesting book four hearts.

A Cute Magical Realism Midgrade Book

2007-09-24T15:02:00.001-05:00

Title: Saving The Griffin
Author: Kristen Wolden Nitz
Illustrator: Yoshiko Jaeggi
Publisher and/or Distributor: Peachtree Publishers
Publisher Website: www.peachtree-online.com
Pages: 185
ISBN: 978-1-56145-380-1
Price: $14.95
Publishing Date: 2007
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 5 hearts

This is a darling Midgrade YA fantasy about Kate and Michael who discover a cute little baby griffin in an ornate garden in Italy. In their efforts to keep the griffin’s existence a secret, they become embroiled with greedy scientists, a strange being from another dimension, and the paparazzi. Where did the little tyke come from? How will they get him safely back home? Is his life in danger? Are their’s? In a pleasant mixture of modern and ancient times—reality and mythology—and a bit of magical realism mixed with parallel world concepts, the author stretches young readers’ minds like rubber bands. We rated this book five hearts.

Quake: a Grreat YA Midgrade Historical Novel

2007-09-17T13:00:00.000-05:00

Title: Quake: Disaster in San Francisco, 1906
Author: Gail Langer Karwoski
Illustrator: Robert Papp
Publisher and/or Distributor: Peachtree Publishers
Publisher Website: www.peachtree-online.com
Pages: 154
ISBN: 1-56145-369-2
Price: $7.95
Publishing Date: 2004
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 5 hearts

This mid-grade historical novel takes on the great San Francisco quake and how it impacted on peoples’ lives for years afterward. It follows Jacob Kauffman’s fortunate survival of the many buildings collapsing in the quake, including his own family’s, and how he rescues a young Chinese boy from the rubble of another building. The author does a superb job of bringing the quake’s drama to life and also the subject of racial prejudice of that day. As the two boys seek food and safety, as well as their families, they have all kinds of adventures, both good and bad. We rated this excellent YA five hearts.

Another Summer Gone

2007-09-03T16:09:00.000-05:00

Dear Readers,

My sincere apologies for not posting since early June. Unfortunately, a staph virus which had attacked my new artificial knee two years ago and which we thought had died, had only lain dormant. In June it came back with a vengeance, necessitating the cutting open of the knee joint, rehab of the soft tissues (again), and hospital stays of 2.5 and 1 weeks respectively when that didn't work. We are keeping our fingers crossed. What a wasted summer!!!

Oh well, enough of my medical problems. I hope the summer was kind to our young readers. We had a fantastic Harry Potter release party where we turned our whole downtown block into a Diagon Alley experience for almost 2,000 kids and their parents. BTW, I read HP7 and found it to be less well written than the others (the center section's pace drug on forever), but it was good to come to closure.

I have read some excellent reluctant reader books this summer and will be posting reviews as soon as I find time and energy to write them up. In the meantime, what are your special needs? Are there any special problems or questions about books or reading in general? Please let me know.

Bob

The Read-Aloud Handbook

2007-06-04T20:43:00.000-05:00

If you don't want children to turn into reluctant readers, there is one resource that you must read and keep on hand--The Read-Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelese. This book has to be your first priority. He tells you what to do, when to do it, and how to do it with research data to back up everything he explains. Then he provides a treasure trove of information about what are excellent books to read aloud at what ages. This is an invaluable resource that sells for only $15.

He makes the point that children need to be read to in utero through teen years. Making book reading an integral part of your family's routine is essential for the full development of your children.

Types of Reluctant Readers

2007-05-29T21:20:00.000-05:00

There are different types of reluctant readers. Do any of these sound familiar?

Over-scheduled kids with too many activities
The kids who say they can't find interesting content (especially boys)
Those who struggle with reading and, therefore, don't like to

Too many parents are keeping their kids and themselves way too busy. Pick a few quality activities to enjoy and schedule time for both silent reading and out loud reading.

My wife and I are working on solving this one. We are currently working on an on-line catalog for reluctant readers that will highlight some of the best books and series for kids of several age ranges. This service will make you aware of a lot of really neat books.

The secret for dealing with the third group is to provide chapter books with bigger print, short chapters that pull the readers through their stories, and supporting activities and games to provide related content that helps them get over short attention span challenges.

Sci Fi for the Gifted Reader

2007-05-23T10:03:00.000-05:00

Gifted children like to read books that provide a reasonable challenge and which cause them to think. The following is one such. This is classic SF at its best.

Title: The Hiveborn
Author: Paul Collins
Illustrator:
Publisher and/or Distributor: Bohemian Ink
Publisher Website: www.bohemian-ink.com
Pages: 248
ISBN: 0-9726051-8-5
Price: $24.95
Publishing Date: 2006
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 5 hearts

At last, science fiction that would be competitive with that written by the masters of 30 to 40 years ago. Hiveborn, the third and last book in the Earthborn Wars series. There is a little of Star Wars mixed with the Night of the Living Dead and the Body Snatchers in this book about a time in our future where survivors of an earthly holocaust, a cultic spaceborn group, and people taken over by alien parasites vie to win over the others and create a new day and a new way for planet earth’s human population. The key is which one will gain ascendancy? The action and pace are relentless, the characters unique and believable, and the technologies are predictable. We rated this excellent novel by its award-winning Australian author five hearts.

Reluctant Readers Like Young Girls and Horses

2007-05-17T11:03:00.000-05:00

There is a special connection with young girls and horses. Books using this theme are often eagerly sought by reluctant reader girls, especially if the protagonist is a troubled girl with problems at school and home, which she somehow manages to solve. The following is one such book.

Title: Starlight’s Courage
Author: Janet Muirhead Hill
Illustrator: Pat Lehmkuhl
Publisher and/or Distributor: Raven Publishing, Inc.
Publisher Website: www.ravenpublishing.net
Pages: 160
ISBN: 0-9772525-4-X
Price: $9.00
Publishing Date: August 2007
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 5 hearts

Ten-year-old Miranda is a troubled girl. She lives with her maternal grandparents in Montana because her father died shortly before she was born and her mother is working in Los Angeles. She focuses her need for love and loving on a damaged black stallion called Starlight. Out of concern for this horse, Miranda makes many wrong choices but ends up in the end winning over school enemies into friends and saving her precious Starlight. She is challenged by a vengeful insane man who sets out to kill Starlight and authority figures who see her activities as irresponsible and threatening.

This is an excellent book for reluctant readers. There are so many value lessons which are woven throughout the story. Miranda is a very independent spirit who finally discovers she is not along in the world. We rated this mid-grade book five hearts.

James Patterson's New Series for Reluctant Readers

2007-05-10T10:23:00.000-05:00

Title: Maximum Ride: Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports
Author: James Patterson
Illustrator: Publisher and/or Distributor: Little, Brown and Company
Publisher Website: www.lb-teens.com
Pages: 404
ISBN: 978-0-316-11280-1
Price: 16.99
Publishing Date: May 07
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 5 hearts

This tween young adult thriller is about Max and her friends, who have been genetically altered to become “Bird People.” They have escaped their laboratory of origin and are fighting to save the world from wolf-man mutations from the same lab and its evil scientists. A threat to her relationship with her best friend “Fang” causes her group to split forces in a fight against the greedy lab-owning multinational corporation that is attempting to wipe out much of the world’s population while taking over the remains of the planet. At the same, Max learns who her real parents are.

James Patterson continues to demonstrate his incredible range of genre mastery with this reluctant reader series, which is absolutely impressive. All the needed elements for this age of readers are there—humor, coming of age, fantastic fantasy, a fast paced plot, and characters that readily endear themselves to our hearts. We rated this book a solid five hearts.

The Most Incredible Picture Book

2007-05-07T18:41:00.000-05:00

Title: Hopalong Jack and the Blue Bunnies
Author: Jeri Landers
Illustrator: Jeri Landers
Publisher and/or Distributor: Ochre Moon Press
Publisher Website: www.jerilanders.com
Pages: 36
ISBN: 0-9765303-0-9
Price: $19.95
Publishing Date: 2005
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 5 hearts

This gorgeously illustrated children’s picture book looks like something Beatrice Potter might have done, only better. The artwork is exquisite, using a combination of water colors and old/new world paper cutting. The story is cutely funny about a young rabbit, Hopalong Jack, who feels frustrated about having so many brothers and sisters (we all know rabbits don’t add; they multiply.) This is especially irksome because so many of them look up to Jack and copy everything he does to appear different from them (does this sound like a middle-school peer group?) When Hopalong Jack uses blueberries to dye his fur blue, all his fellow siblings follow suit. When his brothers and sisters begin copying his discovery of music and dance, he finally realizes being a trend setter is not such a bad thing.
Although written for a younger set, there are lessons here for slightly older children as well. The artwork is more intricate than a “Where’s Elmo” book. Reading this work requires repetitive study to extract all the nuances from its pages. We rated it a very high five hearts.

A GRREAT ESL Bi-Lingual Book

2007-05-04T11:46:00.000-05:00

Title: A School Named for Someone Like Me / Una escula con un nombre como el mio
Author: Diana Dávila Martίnez
Illustrator: Anthony Accardo
Publisher and/or Distributor: Piñata Books
Publisher Website: www.artepublicopress.com
Pages: 63
ISBN: 1-55885-334-0
Price: $7.95
Publishing Date: 2001
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 5 hearts

This bilingual book tells the story of a young Hispanic man who exemplified kindness and concern for others all his life. He rose from a working class home to become brilliant young lawyer for the people. After an untimely drowning death, an elementary school in his old neighborhood is renamed after him. The story is told through the author’s eyes as a young girl. The use of both an English and a Spanish version on the same page will be helpful to students trying to learn the other language. The story of this fine young man’s life and the people he helped is touching. The fact that he was Hispanic makes him important as a role model for both Hispanic and Anglo youth. We rated it five hearts.

Grreat Mid Grade Biography Series

2007-05-03T20:51:00.000-05:00

Title: Frederick Douglas: Young Defender of Human Rights
Author: Elisabeth P Myers
Illustrator: Cathy Morrison
Publisher and/or Distributor: Patria Press
Publisher Website: www.patriapress.com
Pages: 113
ISBN: 978-1-882859-57-3
Price: $15.95
Publishing Date: Feb 2007
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating:5 hearts

This is the thirteenth volume in Patria Press’s Young Patriots’ 8-12 series, which is the republishing of the wonderful, rescued biographies, which many of us older folks read in our libraries back in the 1950s (those light blue or orange books). This particular book presents the realities of the American slave culture in a way that communicates its horrific realities, yet does it in a tasteful manner. Frederick, a brilliant, self-educated young black man, became the abolitionists’ voice in New England. His books and lectures helped raise the level of awareness of the unrighteous plight of slave life. As a one-time teacher of troubled youth, I believe all young Americans of all colors should read to learn and understand from where today’s Black Americans come. Although a tastefully written book, there will be no doubt how terrible slave life was when children were simply commodities to be trained to a life of forced servitude. We rated it five hearts.

Getting Kids to Read--Why Is It Important?

2007-05-03T19:32:00.000-05:00

Way too many graduate without a legitimate education. A high percentage (85%) of children attending school in the Juvenile Detention Center, where I taught all primary and secondary grades, were functionally illiterate. If they read, most read way below actual grade level. We had a good library and all the books were on the accelerated reading lists, but most children chose to read much younger books. This was startling because statistics say that if a child hasn't mastered reading by fourth grade, he or she has a 67% probability of ending up in jail or on welfare. Too many end up as adults, unable to read. I'll never forget coaching a young Samoan drug dealer/electrician from Los Angeles who was doing time at Leavenworth's max security Federal penitentiary. He thanked me with tears in his eyes because, for the first time, he had been able to read a letter sent by his wife.

If you want to really make a difference in some one's life, coax and coach a non-reader to read. it's important to that person and it's important to society. Mentor kids in the reading skills they will need to function in society. I have seen so many prisoners who had given up. Left behind by the education system, and more importantly, their parents, they felt a life of crime was their only alternative.

Find a Big Brothers/Big Sisters or other community help program and give of your time and talent's.

The Call to Shakabaz

2007-05-01T22:51:00.000-05:00

Title: The Call to Shakabaz
Author: Amy Wachspress
Publisher and/or Distributor: Woza Books
Publisher Website: www.wozabooks.com
Pages: 272
ISBN: 0-9788350-2-6
Price: $15.50
Publishing Date: January 2007
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 5 hearts

This midgrade fantasy is perfect for a young reluctant reader. The book is unusual in that all the characters are people of color—not only African American hues, but other colors as well. Four modern orphans find themselves escorted through a gate into another dimension where they come to take over the roles of their mother and her three siblings as protectors and problem solvers for different people in conflict with an evil wizard. Unique among other fantasy adventure books, they discover only non-violent solutions to the impinging threats.

The author shows the four children, along with their very intelligent parrot, growing and developing into their legacy—becoming what they are intended to become—The Four. We ranked this excellent book five hearts.

Caught by Surprise--ESL Needs

2007-05-01T00:51:00.000-05:00

When I started this blog a little over a week ago, I knew there was a need for information among the parents of gifted and reluctant readers. Since starting the blog, I have been tracking from where my visitors have been coming. I expected to get information seekers from the US, Canada, and even from Great Britain and Australia, and they came. What I hadn't expected to see was visitors from Germany, South America, Mexico, Portugal, Moscow, South Africa, India, Malaysia, Tokyo, and so on. I looked at a map with little flags marking each represented country when I came to the startled realization that there must be a need for content suitable for children for whom English is a second (or third or fourth, or fifth) language. Now that I've come to this realization, I will try to include material and recommendations that cover ESL needs as well.

What would help me is for any and all of you to make comments on my blog entries and let me know what your specific needs are. I lived in Germany twice for a total of five years and speak enough of the language to be able to each self-defense auf Deutsch. I lived in Korea for almost three years and speak just enough of that language to be dangerous to myself. I've traveled in Japan and picked up a little of that language while studying Judo. I've traveled throughout Europe and was able to always get by, language-wise. My point is, I am sensitive to the needs of parents who want to see their children improve their language studies. India is a good example. They speak at least fourteen different languages and goodness knows how many dialects. That's why they use English as a common language and seek to improve their English fluency. The Netherlands is another good example. I could always find a German speaking native if they didn't speak English.

One night in a Gasthaus in Austria, four of us (all strangers) kept a fantastic conversation going for hours in English, Spanish, Italian, German, and Czech. What an interesting evening that was. The Mexican engineer was studying English in London. The Czech lady worked as a translator and spoke German, Italian, and Russian. Her Italian boyfriend only spoke Italian but was able to communicate quite a lot to the Spanish speaking Mexican. I spoke German and a little Russian and had been trained to sing in Italian and to speak Latin. I'll never forget the experience!

As a book reviewer, I get a lot of excellent English / Spanish bi-lingual children's books sent to me. I'll certainly pass on some of those reviews to you. Unfortunately, I don't see many other bi-lingual language combinations; however, I do recognize those books that make for good translation exercises and will point those out.

Again, let me know your needs!

Cronyism Affecting Reading Programs

2007-04-30T10:38:00.000-05:00

It won't be often that I go on a political rant, but this was too aggravating not to. Startling enough is the large number of non-USA visitors to my blog. My apologies to them because what follows is USA-specific politics; however, it might raise its head in your countries, so you should be aware of the problem.

In the Kansas City Star newspaper yesterday, April 29th, there was a front page story about the Kansas City School District's recent denial of a grant request from our Federal government's Department of Education. They had asked for assistance with a reading program entitled "Success for All" designed by Robert Slavin of John Hopkins University in Baltimore. The House Education Committee is looking into whether the Bush administration steered contracts to its favorite vendors, shutting out Slavin and others.

As always, when it comes to politics, follow the money trail. The pot of gold in this case is a $6 billion Federal grant program known as "Reading First." Complaints began back in 2005, at which time a panel of experts was formed to review grant applications. Three of these experts had a conflict of interest in that they were owners/developers of another reading system called DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Learning Skills). These three had profited to the tune of almost $1.5 million because of its selection as the vendor of choice. Of course, the powers that be are saying there was no wrong doing.

My state of Kansas requires voters register either as a Republican or a Democrats only, even though I am an independent; therefore, I'm a registered Republican. As a social conservative and an economic liberal (part of the time), I find this kind of cronyism to be abhorrent, especially when our children's futures are at stake. Nine of my 25 years working for the Federal government was spent testing and evaluating military systems and concepts in the field as used by typical soldiers. My evaluations judged both the tested system and its testing process with hundreds of millions of development dollars at stake. Sometimes I found myself having to defend my evaluations against intense pressures from General Officers and high ranking civilians who were trying to ram through their programs, whether they worked or not. We kept the system honest and above board. It's too bad the above expert committee wasn't run the same way as the military test and evaluation process. This saddens me greatly.

A Book for Gifted Parents

2007-04-28T22:12:00.000-05:00

Title: Gifted Children Gifted Education
Author: Gary A. Davis, Ph.D.
Publisher and/or Distributor: Great Potential Press, Inc.
Publisher Website: www.giftedbooks.com
Pages: 344
ISBN: 0-910707-73-1
Price: $32.95
Publishing Date: 2006
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 4 hearts

As a parent of two gifted children who are now grown and well-adjusted to society, I could have used this book to help me understand what to expect from my children and the educational system. The book covers such things as what giftedness is, the characteristics of the gifted, how they are identified, what accelerated programs might be available, how gifted students are grouped, and potential problem areas in the educational systems as well as potential problems with gifted children. This treatise is of benefit to both parents and teachers/administrators of gifted programs. We rated it four hearts.

Problems With Gifted Readers

2007-04-28T22:01:00.000-05:00

Just because a child is very, very smart doesn't mean he or she won't have any problems. In fact, the opposite is often true for many good reasons. In the case of a gifted child refusing to read, the primary reason is boredom. The books have either not been challenging enough or more probably, they don't address areas the child is interested in.

The solution for books that are too easy is to give the child older-level books; however, at the same time, the parent needs to be the censor cop--ensuring that the content is still socially age appropriate. This means Mom or Dad needs to read books through before recommending them to their children. Yes, that takes time, but it's time well spent.

As far as interest areas go, see my earlier blog on that subject.

Inability to Read?

2007-04-28T15:44:00.000-05:00

If your child is resisting pleasure reading, there may be something wrong other than attitude. Some children have valid reading disabilities--it's just too difficult for them to overcome dyslexia or what have you. Others have been taught to read using flawed educational approaches such as whole-word recognition. I could always immediately tell when a problamatic student had been taught the whole-word approach. One of the coping mechanisms was word guessing from context. What evolved was their developing favorite words. For example the, their, they, or there became substituted by their favorite guess word for the TH form: THE. This became clearly evident when they read out loud. It also produced reading that made no sense to anyone, especially the child. I call whole-word the same as learning Chinese idiographs or Japanese kanji. The graphic content of the word becomes more important than its sounds and meanings.

I believe that phonics. especially when made into fun activities by approaches such as "The Phonics Game" and "Hooked on Phonics" is a far more effective reading approach. I volunteered at "Big Brothers, Big Sisters" once to use the "Phonics Game" with a handful of 5th grade learning disabled kids. In 10 or 11 sessions I had they reading at a high "B" level, as opposed to the "D-minus" level they had been at before.

If reading ability or the lack thereof is getting in the way of reading enjoyment, work with a reading specialist to improve on or overcome problems. Even your own teaching through a phonics program can make a world of difference in the right direction.

A Book for Military Families who have Lost a Loved One in Battle

2007-04-27T18:42:00.000-05:00

Title: Danny’s Dragon
Author: Janet Muirhead Hill
Illustrator: Pat Lehmkuhl
Publisher and/or Distributor: Raven Publishing, Inc.
Publisher Website: www.ravenpublishing.net
Pages: 190
ISBN: 0-9772525-0-7
Price: $10
Publishing Date: 2006
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 5 hearts

This mid-grade novel is badly needed by the families and children of soldiers who have lost their lives. Danny’s dad is shot down in the Iraq war. With no money coming in, Danny’s mom is about to lose their ranch. Danny finds solace on his horse, which he imagines is a dragon. He submerges his anger of losing his father and his guilt feelings that he was the one that forced his dad to go back on active duty to get enough money to buy Danny’s horse. Held in emotions can cause problems and do so in Danny’s case. Meanwhile, Danny’s mom has her own issues, which come forth in her hobby of painting. There is conflict galore and many parallels to other young peoples’ plights, which are addressed in this book, and which is nicely illustrated with pen and ink drawings. We rated it five hearts.

A Very Popular Midgrade SF Adventure

2007-04-26T11:04:00.000-05:00

I have hand sold quite a few copies of this book. Inevitably, the parents come back to thank us for recommending Flip because their children loved it so much.

Title: Flip
Author: David Lubar
Publisher and/or Distributor: Starscape Books
Publisher Website: www.tor.com
Pages: 304
ISBN: 0-765-34048-8
Price: $5.99
Publishing Date: 2004
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 5 hearts

This is one of the most exciting books for mid grade and YA reluctant readers I have seen this year. Fraternal twins Ryan and Taylor stumble across fifty some disks, which are virtual recordings of some of history’s best heroes’ lives. The disks are activated by flipping them into the air and absorbing them into one’s hand. The thoughts, abilities, and personality characteristics of that disk’s hero are imparted to the flipper. Devil may care Ryan and his perfectionist sister Taylor are constantly embroiled in all kinds of adolescent angst situations, which include bullies, teachers with grudges, cliques, and demanding parents. Ryan, especially, uses the disks to help him overcome all these obstacles and much more.
I was particularly struck by the shortness of chapters, each one a cliff-hanger, which are used to draw along the reluctant reader. The book imparts some excellent history lessons while addressing typical problem areas for many adolescent readers. We are handselling this book like hotcakes from our bookstore. If I had to compare it to a recent book of similar popularity and impact, it would have to be Holes. We rated Flip a high five hearts.

Interests and Hobbies

2007-04-26T10:41:00.000-05:00

If you want a child to become more interested in reading, it is best to know what his or her interests and hobbies are.But, that's only the first step. Now comes the harder part--you must find content, excellent content, that supports these interest areas. The best places to find content are at your local bookstores, libraries, and online. Other places are the recommendations of associations and organizations of interest areas. For example, if your son is really into skate boarding, google "skate boarding organizations" and see if there are any recommended reads on their sites. If not, contact them and see if they know of any good books to read on skate boarding. In other words, do your due dilligence--research what's out there. You can always call our bookstore, (913) 682-6518, The Book Barn, in Leavenworth, Kansas and ask. We may know what you need.

We do have some good news, later this summer, we will be going on line with our GRREAT Books catalog site, where we will be offering many books we feel support reluctant readers. We're still in the negotiations phase of locating all the e-commerce elements necessary to make this happen, but we should be up and running by July.

What are your wants and needs for good books.

Sports Series

2007-04-22T17:13:00.000-05:00

Many teachers and parents complain there isn't enough good nonfiction content, especially for boys. These books (available in English and now some in Spanish) are absolutely GRREAT for catching young sport fanatics' attention. They're easy to read and filled with interesting sports trivia about favorite teams. Here is what their new catalog says about one of these new books:

"The St. Louis Cardinals
The winners of the 2006 World Series, the Cardinals were founded in 1892 as the Browns (named for the color of socks they wore). Their name later changed to the Cardinals when they started wearing red-colored socks.

Team Trivia: Famous slugger, Mark McGwire, set a record of 62 home runs in one season for the Cards. They also had two brothers who played for them at the same time with the unusual names of “Dizzy” and “Daffy.” Find out who the first woman to ever manage a baseball team was and how did the Cardinals do under her leadership."

Title: Team Spirit / Espiritu de Equipo Series
Author: Mark Stewart
Translator: Manuel Kalmanovitz and Eduardo Narváez
Publisher and/or Distributor: Norwood House Press
Publisher Website: www.norwoodhousepress.com
Pages: 48
ISBN:
Price: $25.27 List; $18.95 School and Library
Publishing Date: 2007
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 5 hearts

These are two versions of the same series. One set of books are in English and the other are in Spanish. They are targeted toward grades 3-6. Both versions are focused toward the football, basketball and the baseball teams of major cities. Their excellent information and stories are the fuel for true developing young sports fans. They have large print and an easy flowing format to allow acceptability by reluctant readers.
The new English language books for this spring season are focused on baseball and the teams involved in last year’s World Series. They include: The Baltimore Orioles, The Detroit Tigers, The Houston Astros, The Los Angeles Dodgers, The Saint Louis Cardinals, and The Seattle Mariners.
The first four Spanish titles for this spring are: Los Heat de Miami, Los Lakers de Los Angeles, Los Mets se Nueva York, and Los White Sox de Chicago. Everything this publisher does is top notch and really achieves its goals. We rated all these five hearts.

Excellent Replacement for Lemony Snicket

2007-04-22T16:55:00.000-05:00

I don't know about you, but I hated the horrific negativity of the Lemony Snicket Series. This is a new and far more positive first of series book which will grab the attention of your midgrade children.

Title: Edgar Font’s Hunt for a House to Haunt: Adventure One The Castle Tower Lighthouse
Author: Patrick H. T. Doyle
Illustrator: Patrick H. T. Doyle
Publisher and/or Distributor: Armadillo Books
Publisher Website: www.armadillo-books.com
Pages: 220
ISBN: 0-9786132-0-1
Price: $6.99
Publishing Date: 2006
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 5 hearts

At last, a young adult midgrade series to take the place of Lemony Snicket, and it’s about 1,000% better. A brother and sister, Garrett and Audrey, are motherless and find themselves staying with their professional woman aunt while their father gads about the world as an architect. When their aunt is invited to join their father at a building site in China for the summer, the kids find themselves foisted off on their eccentric grandfather, Edgar Font, who has taken on the task of searching for the proper hours to haunt when he passes on.
This book was so positive. Granddad pushes them beyond their fear and self-confidence limits, teaching them how to take on the world and even the spirit realms. I loved the author’s illustrations and how the kids learn to stand on their own two feet with the help of a family mentor. It’s so refreshing to find adults who are not trying to take advantage of children, which is what I abhorred in Lemony Snicket. We rated this excellent new start to a series five hearts.

We Both Read Series

2007-04-22T11:22:00.000-05:00

Overcoming reading reluctance starts early by giving children positive reading experiences. This series is designed to do just that.

Title: We Both Read Series
Author: Various
Illustrator: Various
Publisher and/or Distributor: Treasure Bay, Inc.
Publisher Website: www.webothread.com
Pages: 48
ISBN: various
Price: $3.99
Publishing Date: 2002 to Present
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 5 hearts

We occasionally review a series of books from a publisher, rather than an individual book from the series. This means we see a similar quality from the series and are impressed with it. Such is the case for the “We Both Read” series. These are colorful books designed for use by the 5-7 year-old range and their parents. The books cover a wide variety of nonfiction and fiction subjects. Their unique feature is the structure of their layout. Each left-hand page is to be read by the parent or teacher. The right-hand page is much simpler so the child can read it. The pictures and the words are informative, humorous, and fun. The books allow the grownup to model good reading while giving more detail, while the child can contribute at his or her level. These books enhance bonding as well as developing reading skills. The specific book on pets, which I read, was really funny and interesting—making for a pleasant reading experience. Its pictures were adorable, and its text flowed easily back and forth between the adult and child reading levels.

This series can also be used as a step-up for slightly older children reading the adult side, so they can gain confidence in their reading abilities while having fun. We rated this series five hearts.

Content Is King!

2007-04-18T22:28:00.000-05:00

One of the main reasons some kids, especially young boys, drop out of recreational reading is a lack of good content. In recent years, there has been a major push to supply young girls with lots of new books. Young boys' books haven't fared so well, especially amongst the major publishers. As bookstore owners and operators since 1979 and book reviewers since 2002, my wife and I have been fortunate to find some wonderful books published by small, independent presses that answer this need for good content.

Across the board, whether they be picture books, chapter books, midgrade books, or young adult books, there are many with themes and professional quality to capture and hold the attention of young, wandering minds. From time to time, I will share reviews and suggestions on this blog in an attempt to make parents and grandparents aware of what excellent resources are out there.

What are your needs?

Runt the Hunted

2007-04-14T11:59:00.000-05:00

From time to time, I will post a review of an excellent book for reluctant readers. Here is one that I just posted to: http://www.heartlandreviews.com/Young_Adult.html

Title: Runt the Hunted
Author: Daniel Schwabauer
Publisher and/or Distributor: Clear Water Press
Publisher Website: www.clearwaterpress.com
Pages: 304
ISBN: 978-09742972-3-1
Price: $17.99
Publishing Date: July 2007
Reader: Bob Spear
Rating: 5 hearts

This children’s fantasy sequel to Runt the Brave is a stand-alone story of Runt JaRed, the small mouse, and his tribulations with the unjust, mad King SoSheth of the mouse colony Tira-nor. Runt must somehow stay alive while foiling an overwhelming attack by evil rats. For readers of the Old Testament, you will recognize many arch-type parallels with the David and Saul story.

The author has the uncanny ability to turn animal characters into human-like roles. He compares very favorably with Jacques’ Redwall series. This is a perfect book for reluctant readers and can be read at multiple levels. We rated it a high five hearts.

If you want to see more reviews like this one, go to http://www.heartlandreviews.com/Young_Adult.html

What the Polls Say

2007-04-14T10:20:00.000-05:00

Last summer Scholastic Books released an independent study that explained why kids stopped reading so much from about the age of eight and onward. There were three reasons why:

Parents, seeing that there kids could now read for themselves, ceased reading aloud to them.
Parents were not letting their kids catch them with a good book. In other words, they were not modeling good reading habits.
Content availability, especially for young boys, decreased by age group. The older the kids became, the less the reading choices were.

The fixes are simple:

Make reading aloud to the family something that never stops. We read aloud to our teens and they loved it.
Let your kids see that you read for enjoyment.
Look harder for better content. Much of it is coming from the small, independent presses that don't have as much money to advertise as the big publishers do. Go to http://www.heartlandreviews.com to get some ideas as to what is out there. We specialize in finding the good stuff.

What questions do you have?

What Are Gifted Reluctant Readers

2007-04-13T11:19:00.000-05:00

There has been a trend lately for very intelligent children to find reading unrewarding. This is partly due to the content not being challenging enough. On the other hand, other children have problems with reading. They choose to resist reading in lieu of computer games and sports. There are fixes to these problems and other related ones. The purpose of this blog is to invite comments about what is working for others and to discuss books and series of books, which may provide badly needed content, especially for young boys. I invite any and all constructive comments in the spirit of working together to help young readers over some of these barriers. What do you think?