The Giver

Oh The Giver... I will have to admit that I had never read this book before. I had a lot of expectations though. Every time I would mention that we would be reading The Giver I got pretty much the same reaction from everyone. The would say that they loved the book. Even in class I got the impression that a lot of people liked it considering many people wanted to read it again. But it lived up to all my expectations. Maybe a even a little more.
When I started reading the book I didn't understand exactly what was going on. I thought that the way Jonas was talking was a little different than what I wanted to read. I found myself reading words that weren't in the text because it was how I wanted him to say something. But as I got further along in the book the way it was written was very consistent with the type of community that Jonas lived in. I had mixed feelings about the ceremony part of the book. I thought it was really unfair how all the children celebrated their "birthdays" all on the same day. It really took away from their individuality and grouped them into a general group. I understand it was a characteristic of the community but I really didn't like it. It made me not like the community. When the Elder skipped over Jonas I really felt sad for him. But then I was happy for him because he got the honor of being Receiver. But then when I found out what the job of Receiver meant, I was unhappy again. It was like an emotional roller-coaster for me. The biggest shock I had was about the release. The whole book was making the release this big thing to be celebrated and to look forward to. Then the part about the twin being released by Jonas' father almost made me cry. I really was not expecting anything like that to happen.
Our discussion in class also made me think a lot. Throughout the whole book I really pictured Jonas as a white child, his family white, a nice "dwelling", and dressed in nice clothes. It is so weird how you automatically have these visions of how things are supposed to be. I also envisioned everyone in the community to be white as well as the Giver. The whole idea of the community being colorless also made an impression on me. I think this is a very big concept to get your head around. I think it is even more difficult for a child to do. I cannot imagine things being colorless but I like the way that Jonas was beginning to see color.
I would definitely recommend this book to any young reader. I can completely understand the hype around this book and why Lois Lowry won a Newbery Medal for this book.

Insects from Outer Space

And the King and Queen Bug of the Ball goes to.....
This is a very interesting book. Judging by the cover there is no way you could guess what the book is about inside. It is about bugs, what else, that are attending their annual Bug Ball. It just so happens that they are invaded by outer space insects. They make friends right away with these alien bugs and they help determine who the King and Queen of the Bug Ball are. It is just a happy go lucky story with not much conflict. There are a few humorous lines about rubbing antennae and shaking feelers or something of that sort.
But where the book excels is in the illustrations. These pictures are gorgeous and cover the entire page. There are borders around each picture that make the illustrations even more interesting. I never thought insects could be cute but these pictures do a pretty good job of making them look good. There is so much detail and color to ever picture. I first thought this would be a book that boys would like with bugs but I soon figured out that it is a very girlie book about a dance. The outer space insects would maybe grab the boys' attention a little bit more.
One last thing that I liked was that the story was told in first person by the insect who just so happens to win King this year at the ball. It adds another dimension to the book that I really liked.

Zathura

So I didn't know when I picked this book out, that it was in a way a continuation of Jumanji. I remember seeing that movie for the first time in the theaters. I was so scared. I didn't like all the animals running a muck. I fortunately liked this book at my age now than I liked the Jumanji movie when I was younger.
In this book, instead of animals, the boys endure things like meteor showers, no gravity, and crazy robots. It is also a good story about brothers and their relationship. In the beginning they were fighting and on each other's nerves and in the end they became closer through playing this game.
Our in class discussions have made me think about different things I have been reading. In this book I noticed that even though the pictures are done in pencil and are in black and white, you can tell the boys are Caucasian. They live in a nice house and in a nice neighborhood. They are also dressed nicely. I have been thinking about this a lot lately in how our perception of what is normal is really shaped by all of these things and subtle messages. No where in the text does it say that the boys are white or that they have a nice house or anything like that but the illustrations depict that. It makes me wonder now if that really is true for the majority of children in this world. I really liked the book and the illustrations but it just made me wonder a bit. I think this is a great book for the science fiction genre as well.

Benny and Penny in the Big No-No

So this is my graphic novel. I am going to be honest and say I really wasn't too excited to read one of these types of books. I really had a bad attitude about it because I thought for sure I wouldn't like the style of writing. I was so wrong. I really enjoyed the movement and the pictures and all the dialect the story had.
It didn't hurt that the story was about two little mice. They were brother and sister and had the stereotypical brother/sister relationship. The brother is older and he picks on his sister but at the same time he is protective over her. He looks out for her and tries to show her the difference between right and wrong. The little sister is also very curious and almost on the edge of mischievous. They get a new neighbor and the story is about them meeting her and having a little problem at first. In the end they make a new friend with this new neighbor. I think it is even more cute because they are little talking animals.
The illustrations are done in colored pencil. They are really simple and mute colors. But the pictures add so much to the story. It is crazy to be able to see emotion on a little critters face like you can in this story. Definitely changed my perspective of this style of writing.

Jack and the Meanstalk

Everyone has heard the story Jack and the Beanstalk. Well this is a play on that story. Jack is a scientist in this book who loves to garden. He decided that he wanted to impress all of his gardener friends by having the fastest growing plants. So he went into his laboratory and got to work. Eventually his plant became enormous. It started creating problems like wrecking homes and towns with it's roots and blocking all the sunlight with its leaves. So the animals got together and destroyed the plant by chewing through its roots. I didn't enjoy this book as much as I thought I would. I really liked the original version so I thought maybe this one would be good. It was a little dull.
I really wasn't a fan of the illustrations either. They were a little weird to me. The colors of the meanstalk and the colors and pattern on the monster were just not my taste. I think the reason this book is considered science fiction would be because of the enormous plant of course but also there are talking animals in the book. Probably not going to remember this book.

The Christmas Adventure of Space Elf Sam

What do you do when Santa cannot deliver all the Christmas presents to the children who have moved to outer space? Well create a Space Academy for elves of course. This is a delightful non-traditional Christmas story about Space Elf Sam. He is chosen for one of Santa's missions to outer space because you graduated from the academy with flying honors. When Sam decides to take a short-cut, he ends up crashing on the wrong planet. This planet full of aliens does not know what Christmas is so Sam has to teach them to true spirit of Christmas. In the end, Sam teaches the aliens about Christmas and gets all the presents delivered on time.
The illustration in this book are awesome. They remind me a bit of animated pictures. In fact, Sam looks an awful bit like Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story. Again I think this is a great science fiction book for children. It really sparks the imagination while continuing with a story line they are familiar with. I liked the creative space words as well. They weren't renaming things children already have names for but new things, outer space things. I think children won't be as confused this way.
I will definitely keep this book in mind when Christmas rolls around.

Earth Hounds as explained by Professor Xargle

This book would be considered a part of the science fiction genre of children's literature. The book is about a teacher who is teaching the class about dogs. He refers to them as Earth Hounds. I really enjoyed this book. It had a lot of subtle humorous things throughout the entire book. But I do not think children would pick up on these. I really think this would be great for getting children to use their imagination though. Thinking about other nonhuman life being in class just as they are would really get them going.
My only concern about this book would be that children would have troubles getting around the terminology that the author uses. She uses words like earthling to refer to humans, moohorn to refer to a cow, and sniffer to refer to the nose of the dog. I think it is cute and creative to use words like this but I think that a child would become very confused and may not understand.
The illustrations are hilarious and well done. They add to the parts where the words are not enough. Overall it is a very good book for the science fiction genre.