Rules

Once again, I read this to make sure my 9 year old could read it. Or at least so I could talk to her about any issues that might come up. I was only a chapter in before I realized it'd be great for my girls to read. But because I wanted to read it as well, I got the audio from the library and we listened together in the car. EVERY MOM SHOULD DO THIS! What a fun way to taxi around.

Back to the book. It was great. The overall message was great, the writing was good, the characters were precious and endearing, and the story was captivating...even for me.

Rules is meant for younger kids. However, the message and themes are ageless. Catherine is a 12-year-old girl who has an 8-year-old brother with Autism. She makes rules for him to follow so he can better navigate his world. Catherine is trying to navigate her own world of being and doing all things for her brother when she meets a boy, Jason, who is wheelchair bound and can not speak. Jason can communicate through his communication book and he and Catherine become friends. Now Catherine has to navigate being friends with Jason and still trying to impress her new neighbor that she desperately wants to be good friends with.

I highly recommend this book - not only for young kids, but for adults as well. It's a sweet story that will remind you of what true friendship is and the value of life, regardless of how different that life is from your own.

The Giver, Gathering Blue, Messenger, and Son - The Giver Quartet

I've been on a Lois Lowry kick these days, so of course I had to read The Giver Quartet. The Giver introduces a world that on the outside looks utopian, but we find out it's actually dystopian. It ends with a boy leaving his government controlled community to find what's outside its borders. He sees a lighted house down a long hill, but readers are left not knowing if it's his imagination as he is dying in the snow or if it's real and he makes it.

Gathering Blue introduces another world and more characters. There is a society where the lame, blind, or just birth marked people are taken to a field to die. Within the society, there is a council who controls the people through manipulation and fear. The protagonist is a young girl who is recently orphaned who ends up living with the council due to her artistic abilities. The book ends with her understanding that her society doesn't have to be like it is and wanting to change it.

The two above worlds meet in Messenger. The boy from The Giver meets up with some characters from Gathering Blue and some the readers finally get some answers to their questions. Human nature becomes more evident in this book. People start trading at a Trade Mart and it turns the community upside down.

Son is the conclusion to the loosely related series. Up until now, I had thought I'd let my 3rd grader read them. However, Son is much darker than the others and so the series really is more appropriate for 5th-6th graders. We see more of the trading that devastated the Village in Messenger. And we see the conclusion where all ends well...a good thing for this series. It's written very well. There are Before, Between, and Beyond sections. And the plot is riveting, even though it's juvenile fiction.



Overall, the themes in the Giver Series are love, sacrifice, strength regardless and maybe because of disabilities, and loss. Perfect series.

Dad is Fat

I like Jim Gaffigan. He's pretty funny. Although sometimes I sense that he tries too hard. Anyway, overall he's a funny guy. I didn't know that he had several books already out, so this is the first (and probably not the last) book of his that I've read.

This has mixed reviews. Honestly, this is my first comedy book, so I'm not sure what I should expect. It's a funny book, some of the time. It's old some of the time. He uses some similar jokes throughout that get a little old.

It's not one of those books that you want to read cover to cover without putting down. It's a great book to read just before bed though since the chapters are super short and not related to each other. It would be a great book to read when you're reading other books as well. I have lots of friends who can read multiple books at the same time. I am not one of those people. I read one book at a time. In fact, once I tried that reading style and picked up 3 different books to read at the same time. They are all still unread and I've read countless books between then and now. Just not those 3.

Back to this book. I'd probably give it a 4 out of 5. But only if you have kids. If not, don't even bother reading it because it wouldn't be funny. Just scary.

Bottom line, I'd recommend this book if you need a break from heavy reads. Or if you just like to laugh.

The Chaperone

This is my first official book on CD. I don't have much opportunity to have someone read my books to me. I have little people around me. All. The. Time. My books aren't all that appropriate for little ears to hear. So sadly, no read-a-louds for me. However, I recently took a longish car trip sans kids and I opted for a book instead of music. Good call. I'm convinced that while The Chaperone is a great book, it's even better being read to me.

The Chaperone is a very well written and engaging novel. The characters are not only endearing, but lovely. Honest. And thought provoking.

The main character is Cora. Moriarty wrote her life pretty much from start to finish and I love that. While there are many books out there that do that, this one is unique in some way. You see her growth and morph in a fascinating way. The people that she comes in contact with change her. Or rather, I should say that she allows them to change her. The complex relationships in the novel are during morally shifting times. The main time periods are the roaring 20s and WW2. Cora's moral compasses shift as she interacts with people different from herself. And while I am weary of shifting moral compasses, Cora's was so interesting because she let her society define morality. Which is so so dangerous. There should be something or someone bigger than us and when/where we live to define morality. Not only does Relativism not jive well with me, it's just not logical. I digress.

The Chaperone is a story about compassion. And while I don't agree with some of the very subtle agenda of the book, I do agree with compassion. Love. Mercy. So when read within the context of the time period and how issues of homosexuality, birth control, and modesty were viewed, it's easy to see no moral agenda. However, if you read it at face value and get wrapped up in the characters without taking the historical timeline in view, you will see a political and moral agenda.

Overall, I highly recommend reading this book. Or better yet...having it read to you.

Unsouled

The Unwind and Unwholly series are great books. Unsouled is the third one. Reader beware: there are four in the series, not the typical trilogy. And while a critique may be that Unsouled seems drawn out, I reserve judgment until the last book is out. It's not quite fair to judge it yet bases only on that. Hopefully what seems stretched out and added just to make the book longer and turn it into a fourth book is just setting up the last book.

I did feel like the characters got old toward the end of the book. I was just a bit tired of the story, setting, and characters. In contrast, I never tired or got bored of the Divergent characters.

I like the questions created and discussed in this book. Shusterman brought in more philosophical arguments and reasoning in this books than in the others.

While I wouldn't say it's bad, I might call it forgettable. I do feel like Shusterman was trying so hard for character development and reconnection with the characters that all the scenes in the book are a little too long. It feels like he added every thing he could. And much of it doesn't seem to further the plot. But I could be wrong. I think with the movie rights already sold that he's starting to write for a movie and not just the book. Which makes the characters seem less authentic.

The book has a lot of Snarky leading the stork army. A lot of Lev and Connor on a reservation. Really a lot of hiding from the authorities. More background and interaction with the people who invented the technology to unwind which is probably the most interesting thing in there.

Overall, it was a quick read. While reading it, I loved it. Afterwards, it was just okay. But still worth the read and hopefully the last book will pull it all together.

Allegiant - Big Spoiler!

There are lots of opinions out there about this book, the final in the Divergent series by Veronica Roth. Some people don't like it. Some people love it. Some think there is too much character development and not enough government conspiracy details and others agree with them, but liked that.

Here's my take on the book. My first critique is that the duel voices telling the story (Tris and Four...because I just can't bring myself to call him Tobias) aren't distinct. They both sound so similar that I had to look back to remember who was narrating. I recall this as a problem with the previous books as well, so I wasn't that put out by it and even kind of expected it. So it didn't bother me.

My second critique is that although I absolutely loved the book, I was disappointed in the lack of details regarding the government role in the whole Chicago experiment. Was David a rouge government agent? Or was the US government in control of him? I think that Allegiant is more about human nature than conspiracy, which was disappointing. While I loved all the human nature and character development, I wished there were more about the government.

SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And the end. Oh. My. I got so involved with the characters of this trilogy that when Tris died, I was shocked. I wept. I went back and forth from hating Roth for her ending to loving her. It's really the first of the genre to kill off the main character. I love it. I hate it. The message that is told about true sacrifice is beautiful. Caleb wanted to sacrifice his life out of guilt and Tris knew better. Sacrifice should be done out of love. With a pure motivation. So while I wept at Tris' death, I also wept at the love and forgiveness her death portrayed. And I also love the redemption of Four and his mom. The overarching themes of forgiveness and sacrifice are amazing in this book.

Overall, great series. I highly recommend it. And while a little disappointed with the dystopian aspect at the end, I think overall it's the best trilogy in the genre.

Gossamer

I've already sung praises for Lois Lowry. And here I go again. Gossamer is an interesting little book. It's a juvenile fiction book that is great for middle-upper elementary school age kids (and apparently adults as well).  It is well written for what it is and highly creative.

The main players are dream givers. A young one is being trained in the art of giving dreams to humans. It has some heavy details of a fathers' abuse in it, so beware. If you let your 8-9 year old read it, they need to know themselves well, have a strong sense of justice, and not be persuaded by other ideas.