"Times are bad. Children no longer obey their parents, and everyone is writing a book. " Cicero
 |
:: February 2007 |
| Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl (Anne Frank, 1952) | |
“I see the world gradually being turned into a wilderness, I hear the ever approaching thunder, which will destroy us too, I can feel the sufferings of millions and yet, if I look up into the heavens, I think that it will all come right, that this cruelty too will end, and that peace and tranquility will return again.” (Saturday 15th July, 1944) |
|
| Comments: From 1842 till 1844 Anne Frank kept a diary addressed to her fictitious friend Kitty, while she and her family hid from the Germans in the attics above her father’s store in Amsterdam. Two weeks after writing the above entry, the Franks were arrested and deported to Germany. Following the end of the war, her father, Otto Frank, having survived the camps returned home to discover that his wife, and his daughters, including Anne, had all perished in Belsen. The Franks’ betrayer, who has never been identified, would have received around five gulden (approximately $1.40) as a reward from the Nazis for telling them where to find the hidden Jews. | |
 |
:: October 2006 |
| The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (John Boyle, 2006) | |
"But while he was thinking this his feet were taking him, step by step, closer and closer to the dot in the distance, which in the meantime had become a speck, and then began to show every sign of turning into a blob. And shortly after that the blob became a figure. And then, as Bruno got even closer, he saw that the thing was neither a dot nor a speck nor a blob nor a figure, but a person. In fact it was a boy." |
|
| Comments: John Boyle describes this book as a "fable" about a nine-year old boy, though not a book for nine year olds. Bruno's dad gets a new job and the family have to move from the city to the country. One day, bored and missing his old home, Bruno goes exploring and comes across a fence, and on the other side of the fence he sees a boy. Boyle hopes you never see such a fence. | |
 |
:: August 2006 |
| His Dark Materials Trilogy (Philip Pullman, 1995) | |
"Lyra and her daemon moved through the darkening hall, taking care to keep to one side , out of sight of the kitchen. The three great tables that ran the length of the hall were laid already, the silver and the glass catching what little light there was, and the long benches were pulled out ready for the guests. Portraits of former Masters hung high up in the gloom along the walls. Lyra reached the dias and looked back at the open kitchen door, and seeing no-one, stepped up beside the high table. The places here were laid with gold, not silver, and the fourteen seats were not oak benches but mahogany chairs with velvet cushions." (The opening of The Golden Compass) |
|
| Comments: Anyone (including adults) impatient for the last Harry Potter could do no better than turn to the dark delights of Pullman's magical trilogy about Gobblers and stolen children, witch clans and armored bears. Several schools in the American South find it questionable material for children, so it must be good.. | |
 |
:: May 2006 |
| The Book Thief (Marcus Zusak, 2006) | |
"I traveled the globe . . . handing souls to the conveyor belt of eternity," (says Death). "I warned myself that I should keep a good distance from the burial of Liesel Meminger's brother. I did not heed my advice." |
|
| Comments: A highly unusual book, the character Death narrates the story of Liesel Meminger, a little girl who, during the 1930's and 1940's in Germany, steals books... For grade 9 and upwards (age 12 on). | |
 |
:: March 2006 |
| The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane (Kate DiCamillo, illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline)) | |
"Edward Tulane felt himself to be an exceptional specimen. Only his whiskers gave him pause. They were long and elegant (as they should be), but they were of uncertain oraigin. Whom the whiskers had belonged to initiallly - what unsavory animal - was a question Edward could not bear to consider long. And so he did not. He preferred, as a rule, not to think unpleasant thoughts." |
|
| Comments: Edward, the china rabbit is rather vain and cold hearted. After becoming lost at sea, he experiences many trials while trying to find a new home, and learns how to love, on the way. Captivating, interesting language, and stunning illustrations. A book to give and keep. Ages 4-7? | |