More Obligatory Book Blurbs
Jul. 28th, 2004 02:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
daemonlunaIncidentally, I've now gone through and added all previous book blurbs to my memories, under ya book recs.
The Fire Eaters by David Almond
This one was, as David Almond's stuff often is, a strange book, but without the narrative coherency of Skellig to hold it together. It's the 1960's, nuclear war seems imminent, and in a small village on the coast of England, Bobby Burn's chance encounter with a fire-eater at a midway has a profound effect on him. Class differences, a family's battle with serious illness, and the Cuban Missile Crisis all eventually come into play. It got good reviews, but it reads to me like a book that adult readers will get more out of than most kids. (Unfortunately, I'm not in the position to test that theory, so if anyone else knows a kid who's read it, lemme know if they liked it.)
Hidden Roots by Joseph Bruchac
In upstate New York in the sixties, eleven-year-old Harold comes to an eventual realization about the family secrets that are the root of his father's perpetual anger, and the clandsetine nature of his relationship with his mother's Uncle Louis. I thought this was going to be about child abuse, but instead it ended up being about a 1930s Native American sterilization program. It's a well-crafted story, but slow and serious-minded, and I suspect will be more loved by teachers than most students.
The Presence by Eve Bunting
After the car crash that killed Catherine's best friend, her parents send her to stay for Christmas with her grandmother in California. Little do they know that in her grandmother's church lurks... (cue ominous music) the presence of the title. Which is, of course, evil. The lurking ghost promises to connect her with her dead friend, but of course, has a much more sinister motive. The ghost story, while possessing (no pun intended) enough suspense and clever plotting to keep me reading to the end, wasn't what really stuck out for me, however. Instead, it was the backstory about the dead friend. Because the two girls were best friends who met online, and the one who died was visiting from Scotland when the accident happened. And the emotional intensity of their friendship was incredibly strong (and slashy! They had NICKNAMES! She called Catherine her "wee banty hen!" Aww!) even in the few scenes of it that we got, and resonated with me, reminding me of several friends and "couples," of the platonic sort, and otherwise, both.
Hmm. Only fifteen more books to catch up on. Plus, of course, whatever I read in the interim. I suspect that I'm doing this for me more than anyone else. That's okay, though. Having some sort of reference point for what I've read is occasionally helpful.
The Fire Eaters by David Almond
This one was, as David Almond's stuff often is, a strange book, but without the narrative coherency of Skellig to hold it together. It's the 1960's, nuclear war seems imminent, and in a small village on the coast of England, Bobby Burn's chance encounter with a fire-eater at a midway has a profound effect on him. Class differences, a family's battle with serious illness, and the Cuban Missile Crisis all eventually come into play. It got good reviews, but it reads to me like a book that adult readers will get more out of than most kids. (Unfortunately, I'm not in the position to test that theory, so if anyone else knows a kid who's read it, lemme know if they liked it.)
Hidden Roots by Joseph Bruchac
In upstate New York in the sixties, eleven-year-old Harold comes to an eventual realization about the family secrets that are the root of his father's perpetual anger, and the clandsetine nature of his relationship with his mother's Uncle Louis. I thought this was going to be about child abuse, but instead it ended up being about a 1930s Native American sterilization program. It's a well-crafted story, but slow and serious-minded, and I suspect will be more loved by teachers than most students.
The Presence by Eve Bunting
After the car crash that killed Catherine's best friend, her parents send her to stay for Christmas with her grandmother in California. Little do they know that in her grandmother's church lurks... (cue ominous music) the presence of the title. Which is, of course, evil. The lurking ghost promises to connect her with her dead friend, but of course, has a much more sinister motive. The ghost story, while possessing (no pun intended) enough suspense and clever plotting to keep me reading to the end, wasn't what really stuck out for me, however. Instead, it was the backstory about the dead friend. Because the two girls were best friends who met online, and the one who died was visiting from Scotland when the accident happened. And the emotional intensity of their friendship was incredibly strong (and slashy! They had NICKNAMES! She called Catherine her "wee banty hen!" Aww!) even in the few scenes of it that we got, and resonated with me, reminding me of several friends and "couples," of the platonic sort, and otherwise, both.
Hmm. Only fifteen more books to catch up on. Plus, of course, whatever I read in the interim. I suspect that I'm doing this for me more than anyone else. That's okay, though. Having some sort of reference point for what I've read is occasionally helpful.
