I'll start with The Amazing Life of Birds: The Twenty Day Puberty Journal of Duane Homer Leech by Gary Paulsen. This was a fun read. As Duane discovers the craziness of puberty (one minute your normal and the next your clumsy, awkward, covered in zits and your voice is doing all sorts of wierd stuff) . As Duane chronicles his trials of growing up he also watches and comments on a fledgling chick in the nest on his window sill. Gary Paulsen always creates a wonderfully real world for his characters and makes this stuff so believable you'd think it all happened to him. A perfect book for someone in need of a quick, humorous read.
Also this weekend - Princess Ben by Catherine Gilbert Murdock. I truly enjoyed this authors' previous works, Dairy Queen and The Off Season, so I was a bit surprised to find a historical (fairytale) fiction offering from her this time.
Sometimes it's that first sentence that grabs you and insists that you read on to learn more. Murdock has a great example of just this " How many times I have wondered what my fate might have been had I accompanied my parents that rainy spring morning." Princess Ben soon finds herself in a very different world than the comfortable one she started her life in. With her parents lost to assassins, she finds herself under the tutelage of Queen Sophia (Ben or her full name Benevolence will be the next in line to the throne). Ben reluctantly begins her schooling of what she considers all things dull - dancing, embroidery, and foreign languages. Locked away in the castles highest tower, she discovers a mysterious magical room and soon begins an education she can get excited about, spells, flying broomstick and the like. Eager to escape the Queen, she uses her new magical powers and finds herself stuck with the enemies army. Ben eventually makes her way back to the kingdom and finds that she needs to make some mighty changes if she really does want to save the country and herself from foul tyranny.
What I liked about the book, was how Murdock interwove various childhood fairy tales - The frog prince, Rapunzel, Cinderella, Jack and the bean stock, Sleeping beauty, and who knows maybe a few others I missed. Unfortunately I found Ben's character to be too different from start to finish and therefore not completely believable, but beyond this one small thing I enjoyed the book and would recommend it to anyone who likes a historical fiction with a fun twist to it.
Read on.
Also this weekend - Princess Ben by Catherine Gilbert Murdock. I truly enjoyed this authors' previous works, Dairy Queen and The Off Season, so I was a bit surprised to find a historical (fairytale) fiction offering from her this time.
Sometimes it's that first sentence that grabs you and insists that you read on to learn more. Murdock has a great example of just this " How many times I have wondered what my fate might have been had I accompanied my parents that rainy spring morning." Princess Ben soon finds herself in a very different world than the comfortable one she started her life in. With her parents lost to assassins, she finds herself under the tutelage of Queen Sophia (Ben or her full name Benevolence will be the next in line to the throne). Ben reluctantly begins her schooling of what she considers all things dull - dancing, embroidery, and foreign languages. Locked away in the castles highest tower, she discovers a mysterious magical room and soon begins an education she can get excited about, spells, flying broomstick and the like. Eager to escape the Queen, she uses her new magical powers and finds herself stuck with the enemies army. Ben eventually makes her way back to the kingdom and finds that she needs to make some mighty changes if she really does want to save the country and herself from foul tyranny.
What I liked about the book, was how Murdock interwove various childhood fairy tales - The frog prince, Rapunzel, Cinderella, Jack and the bean stock, Sleeping beauty, and who knows maybe a few others I missed. Unfortunately I found Ben's character to be too different from start to finish and therefore not completely believable, but beyond this one small thing I enjoyed the book and would recommend it to anyone who likes a historical fiction with a fun twist to it.
Read on.
No comments:
Post a Comment