What I read this week

Citation: Aston, D. & Long, S. (2006). An egg is quiet . San Francisco : Chronicle Books. Summary: This is a children's book about eggs. Each page of the book gives information about eggs from the life cycle that takes place inside them to the shapes and sizes of the eggs themselves. Each page has illustrations done scientifically accurately , or noted when they may not be to-size. My thoughts: This is a great informational book for children second grade and older reading on their own, or Kindergarten and older being read to. the book is informational, but still speaks at a child's level of understanding and is eye catching. Quite a fun read. Professional Review: "K-Gr 2-An exceptionally handsome book on eggs, from the delicate ova of the green lacewing to the rosy roe of the Atlantic salmon to the mammoth bulk of an ostrich egg. Aston's simple, readable text celebrates their marvelous diversity, commenting on size, shape, coloration, and where ...

Citation: Zusak, M. (2005) The book thief.  New York : Alfred A. Knopf : Distributed by Random House. Summary: This story is a third person omniscient novel as told by Death. Death tells the story of the book thief, Liesel, who grew up in Nazi Germany. Unlike many novels written about this time, it is not about the concentration camps, though they are mentioned and not glossed over. This is about Liesel, a little girl who lost her family (because her parents were communists and her brother dies on the way there), and was put into the care of Hans and Rosa Hubermann. Liesel's life was pretty simple for a few years, she got a best friend (Rudy) and Hans and Liesel worked on her reading, since she was behind. Then Max comes in the picture. Max is Jewish and the son of the man who saved Hans's life. As the war seems to be progressing it gets more and more dangerous for the Hubermanns to keep Max a secret. My thoughts: What a compelling story. I have read many stories about ...

Citation: Jinks, C. (2008). Evil genius. Boston : Graphia, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Summary: Cadel Piggot is smart. He is smarter than most adults, in fact. So when he figures out how to start using his smarts to cause trouble, the adults finally start to treat him like a problem. First they take away his computer and make him go to therapy. This happens to be a mistake on their part because the therapist is his biological father's right hand man. Cadel's biological father is an world renowned evil genius and wants to ensure that Cadel is smarter than him but grow in his footsteps. With the help of the right hand man, Thaddeus Roth, Cadel develops his skills as an evil genius and is eventually admitted to an undercover evil genius school. My Thoughts: This story, for the most part, is cute and entertaining, however most of the women mentioned in the story are bland, one-note, stereotypical women. This turned me off of the book after a while. I do not think thi...