The Monster at the End of this Book

I recently talked to a friend and she mentioned this book to me.  I'm usually not a fan of books based on television shows, because they typically aren't very good.  I think the reason for this is that the authors of the books try too hard to format the book the same way that the show is formatted.  This doesn't always work in my opinion.  I don't think children are looking for the same thing in a book as they are in a television show, I know I'm not.  I believe that they just grow to love certain characters and the author's focus should be on the quality of the writing and story NOT the number of books they will sell or how fast they can pump out new books.

That being said, I adore this book.  I remember reading it as a child and loving it.  I think I was even scared the first few times that it was read to me.  In the book Grover isn't on Sesame Street, he is in a book.  He hears a rumor that there is a monster at the end of the book that you are reading, and urges you not to turn any pages. Of course you, the reader, don't listen.  Grover tries many things, including building a wall out of bricks and tying pages together to get the reader not to turn any more pages.

Finally you are at the page before the last page.  Grover resorts to begging you not to turn the page.  When you turn the page, guess who you find.  Grover.  Lovable, fuzzy Grover was the monster at the end of the book the whole time.  Grover now chides you for being scared while he was obviously not worried at all.  You will have a blast reading this with your child because on each page Grover's hair-brained schemes go wrong leaving children and parents laughing.

This is a classic story loved by many children (and adults).  I know I have a copy of it somewhere, but I'm sure that I'll end up buying another copy because I'm certain that Ava will love it as much as I did.  I'm pretty confident that Alyssa will enjoy the story as well and tap the pages urging me to read more and show her the pictures.  This book would work well for sequencing parts of a story.  You could even copy pages, cut them out and make a story line (like a timeline) using the pictures to see how much your child remembers about the story.

This book was followed up, years later, by "Another Monster at the End of this Book," starring Grover and Elmo. I'm not as sure about this story; I know I've read it at least once or twice in board book format, but its been years.  Perhaps I'll hit Barnes and Noble this weekend and get them both.  

Ava's Reaction to The Little Engine That Could

This is one of those classics that we all just love, or at least I do.  A few weeks ago, I was telling my mother how much my daughter loved to have books read to her and that she can start to supply words into the story after having them read to her just once.  Of course I was beaming, as I am now, but dear little Ava wouldn't play along.  She just acted silly and made me look like a liar.  But this is something that she really does.

My mother asked if we had The Little Engine That Could.  No, we didn't.  How could that be?  I love that book.

On Saturday the whole family went to Barnes and Noble after a volunteer outing.  Ava picked out two new Little Critter books, I went on a hunt for The Little Engine That Could, and Beau went to find Marvin K. Mooney Will You Please Go Now.  We all found the books we were looking for.  Of course, there were four different Little Engine books to choose from.  One of the books had the original words and NEW art.  I did not buy this book.  I'm traditional, I wanted traditional.

The book is just as wonderful as I remembered, but as I sat down to read it to Ava, I was sure she was bored.  The text is long, and repeats, but not in a sing-songy fun way.  She started flipping through Marvin K. while I was reading, but I kept going because I wanted to hear the end this beloved childhood classic.  I finished and put the book on the dresser and went about the rest of my day.

Sunday after church, Ava was sitting on her bed looking at books.  She picked up The Little Engine, opened to a random page and said, "No, I won't help you."  She remembered the story!  The trains that pass the little engine won't stop and help the toys and dolls over the mountain.  She even said this line in a deep, mean voice.  Two things happened inside of me at that moment, my heart absolutely melted and I felt a surge of triumph.  I had assumed that she liked Daddy's book better, and while she remembered that story as well, she liked the one I picked out, too.

Of course both of these books were over shadowed by the Little Critter books which have become her favorite.

Dexter is Delicious

So, I finally finished Dexter.  It isn't that the book wasn't good, its that my older daughter was on Spring Break and we had a lot planned.  Our schedules got really mixed up!  

In this installment of the series, Dexter goes through a lot of human emotions throughout the book.  This is something that he has never encountered before.  He attributes this to the birth of his daughter, Lily Ann.  I admit, I was worried for a while that the author, Jeff Lindsay, was trying to close out the Dexter line, turning the Dark Avenger into Dex-Daddy who no longer feels the urge to kill.  Yes, the Dark Passenger was still there, still whispering sweet nothings in his ear, but Dexter was able to quench the voice, telling him to go away.  For a while, the Dark Passenger did go away, and it often left Dexter vulnerable and scared.

I was certain that the "bad guy" in this novel was someone from Dexter's past whom we all assumed was dead.  I imagine that in future novels will deal with this "bad guy," but for now, he is just another character.

I honestly wouldn't rate this book as high as some of the earlier Dexter books.  Yes, it was good, even suspenseful, but Lindsay kept alluding to Deborah being pregnant, and it was quite obvious, in my opinion.  He didn't actually have Deborah admit to her pregnancy until the very end of the book, and then sped through almost the entire pregnancy in a few pages.  Oh, perhaps I should mention that this is a spoiler.  I won't spoil the ending of the book for you, however.  

Lindsay continues in his wonderful manner of writing that I adore so much.  If only I could weave words like that.  I'm going to have to add previous Lindsay books to my long to read list to see how they compare to the great Dexter.

A new Dexter hits shelves on October 18, 2011; mark your calendars, I know I will be marking mine.

Olivia...and the Missing Toy - For the Nookcolor

I resisted the urge to buy this Olivia book for my daughter...but finally, she won.  She loves Olivia.  I was concerned that this was yet another one of Nickelodeon's books based on the television show, but quickly realized that it is, in fact, an Olivia book by the original author, Ian Falconer.  Phew, what a relief.

Let me start with the book itself, and then move into the format for the Nookcolor, which I am really excited about.  The book is done well, as all of the Olivia books are.

In the beginning of the story, Olivia has a soccer game and asks her mother to make her a new uniform for the game because she doesn't like her green uniform (this actually comes up in the show as well).  While she is waiting for her mother to finish the uniform, she gets bored and plays with her toys.  When her mother finally finishes the uniform, Olivia realizes that her best toy is lost.

While obsessing over her lost toy, Olivia accuses both of her brothers of taking her toy, asking them, "WHAT DID YOU DO WITH MY TOY?"  I really like that in the book, Olivia refers to both of her brothers as "brothers."  This is not the case in the show, and I can't vouch for all of the books, but in the show, she refers to the baby as her brother, and Ian as her little bother.  I really dislike this.  Children are good enough at being mean spirited toward one another, I don't think they need help learning ways to hurt each other.

Olivia gets carried away with her imagination, and starts to hear scary noises and pictures herself carrying candles around looking for what is making this horrible noise.  The pictures in the book become dark and shadowed and Olivia soon finds the source of this noise.  Perry, the dog, has taken Olivia's best toy and chewed it into pieces.

Olivia runs to her parents with the pieces of her favorite toy in tow.  As she shows them what has happened, her mother tries to comfort her, and her father (staying true to daddies everywhere) tries to fix it for her, offering to take her to buy the best toy in the world.

I adore the illustration on the next page, Olivia displays her gratitude by saying, "Oh, thank you, Daddy.  I love you more than anyone."  Olivia's mother has a grim, annoyed look on her face as Daddy soaks up the love, and she is still standing there feeding the baby while the baby gets food all over the place.  This picture says it all.

Olivia decides that even though she is going to get that new toy, its best to fix her old toy since it is her "best toy."  She sews him back up before bed, and then picks out bedtime stories that do not involve dogs.  However, on the last page, Olivia has decided to forgive Perry and the picture shows Olivia in bed asleep with her toy and Perry on either side of her.

This book on the Nookcolor is excellent.  You can either have the story read to you, or you can read it yourself.  I almost didn't click "Read to me," but my daughter insisted.  Wow, was I impressed!  The audio included music for dramatic effect and the narrator's voice at first grated on my nerves, but after listening for a few minutes, I enjoyed the storytelling time.  My daughter was so engrossed that she forgot that she was supposed to turn pages, and I had to either remind her or do it for her.

I must say, I was impressed with this book all around.  I didn't particularly like spending the money on it, I thought it was over priced, but the dramatic effect of the music and reading was worth a few extra bucks.  I'm sure I will be purchasing more Olivia books in the future.

Published

I recently came across a request on Reddit.com asking redditors to submit their book reviews to an online magazine.  I decided that even though I didn't think I had a chance, I would do it.  My reasoning was that it was good practice, getting rejected that is.  So, I went back through the few book reviews I had done that weren't for children's books.  I chose to submit "The Most Disturbing Short Story I've Ever Read."  I made only minor changes to the review, only a word here or there, trying to make it sound more well written.

I didn't expect to hear back from the magazine for a while, so I decided to go to bed and put it out of my mind.  Easier said than done.  Of course, I got involved in a few things before actually going to bed, and when it was finally time to climb between my sheets, I checked my email.  To my surprise, there was an email from the editor of the magazine.  I though, "Gee, that was fast."

I had to read the email twice before I actually believed what it said.  Of course, it didn't take long considering it was short and to the point.  Here is what he wrote:

Amazing. This is perfect. Exactly what I was looking for. Thank you!

I look forward to future contributions from you.

It will be published in the magazine April 2nd.

Let me know if you have any questions or comments.

All the best,

Doug


I jumped up and down so much that my husband had to grab me to get me to stop.  Needless to say, I couldn't sleep now.  I also couldn't stop smiling, giggling, or pacing the room.  Finally I did get to sleep, when the rush wore off. The next morning I was still excited, and still am a few days later.  I am a published book reviewer, my goal.  One of my many goals pertaining to writing.  I can't wait to see what God has waiting for me next!


If you want to check out the magazine, its eFiction Magazine.  Its free to view the magazine.

Cow's Can't Fly...or can they?

This particular book ended up in my collection from an old text book series from when I was a teacher.  I passed it over many times when reading with my daughter simply because it was from a text book series.  Boy what a mistake that was.  My daughter and I LOVE reading this story by David Miligrim.  She absolutely loves that this story is silly and she loves to supply the words to the rhymes.

Cows Can't Fly is a story written in rhyme.  My absolute favorite part of the story is on the third page.  The boy has just drawn some cows that fly.  He realizes that cows cannot fly, but he doesn't care.  When he shows his father the picture the author writes, "Why, that's absurd," my father said.  "Why don't you draw some birds instead?" I'm not sure what makes me love this line so much, although I suppose its the use of the word absurd.  I can just picture my daughter using this word after a few more reads and grasping the meaning of the word.  "Mommy, Daddy's being absurd."  I can't wait!

The pictures in this book are really cute, however, I think the cows look more like large dogs in parts of the book.  This doesn't seem to confuse my daughter though.  She knows that they are cows, and on a recent trip to Disney, she repeatedly pointed out the cows on the side of the road, often calling them silly cows.  I imagine she was thinking about this book and picturing the cows flying.  

Overall, this is a great story for kids and fairly entertaining for parents.  Even without "teaching" by the parent, this book begins to teach rhyming and creativity.  It can also be used to teach sequencing and the difference between fiction and reality.  Yes, some of the things in this book could happen, but no, cows cannot actually fly.  This book is definitely going to stay in the book collection for a long time!

Itsy Bitsy Spider by Kate Toms

I love classic stories and rhymes turned into story books.  This is no exception.  Kate Toms takes the Itsy Bitsy Spider and tells the classic rhyme on the first page almost word for word how I remember it from my childhood. No big deviations from the story.  The rest of this sturdy board book tells what happened next.  The itsy bitsy spider goes on an impromptu adventure and runs into some tame danger that is intended to bring some minor suspense to the story, but nothing to scare your child.

This book is great for teaching rhyming and sequencing.  My daughter loves to sit with me or my husband and have us read her this book and supply the words to the rhymes when we pause.  The illustrations in the book are also very cute, keeping the spider looking very cartoonish for those of us who dislike bugs greatly.  The pictures on each page look as though they have been made out of fabric sewn together, however, they were most likely digitally created.

The only problem that I have with this book is truly my problem.  I can't keep the rhythm up on all of the pages, and struggle through the rest of the book once I've "lost" it!  My husband is better at keeping the rhythm and getting it back after losing it.  This book definitely gets a thumbs up and will stay in the book collection for a long time.

Holy Help...Plan B

How do you react when you realize that you life isn't turning out the way you thought that it would?  That is the topic of one of the books that I'm currently reading, Plan B by Pete Wilson.  This book is actually recommended reading for a Life Group at the church I attend.  I'm not actually involved in this particular Life Group, however, I did borrow the book from the leader of the Life Group that I am a part of.

After reading only 3 or 4 chapters last night I was moved to tears from some of the stories in the book.  I haven't actually gotten to the "meat" of the book yet, however, I can see where my life has veered off of course from my predetermined destination, and that this was God's will for my life, not my own.  Essentially, I am not in control.  This seems to be the main point of the book.  You may have a path that you think your life is going to take, "plan A".  Sometimes you need to live by "plan B", the path that God sets before you.

Lacking control of my own life, I've been unable to read anything except children's books for the last 4 nights!  Spring Break has started, and I've had both kids home with me, so nap times have been off, and the baby has been staying up very late.  Even after a day at Disney, she is still going strong at 10:30!  So, look for more on this book to come.

Olivia and the Babies...this actually isn't horrible.

Generally, I don't like books made from kids television shows, especially when I don't like the show itself.  Unfortunately for me, my two year old LOVES Olivia on Nickelodeon.  I think Olivia is a self centered little girl who always has to get her way, and when she doesn't she manipulates an entire situation to get her way.  That being said, this book isn't too bad.

Olivia and the Babies starts with Olivia in the store with her mother, brother, and baby brother.  Everyone notices how cute the baby is, and Olivia decides that she wants to be a mother, too.  Honestly, this isn't where I thought Olivia was going to go with this thought.  I assumed that she would see how everyone thought baby William was cute, and this would prompt a mean jealous streak in which Olivia would do something that would make everyone forget baby William and gush over her.  I've seen her do this a dozen or so times on the television show.

Olivia dresses her cat up as her baby and calls him Little Olivia.  Walking down the street her "baby" gets a lot of attention from passersby, so Olivia thinks that having two babies would be twice the fun.  Where does she get baby number two?  You guessed it, her dog, Little Olivia Two.  Of course, Olivia runs into her neighbor and friend Francine, who has to have a baby, too.  When Little Olivia Two (the dog) starts misbehaving, Olivia, true to her form, blames Francine's baby, and goes home.

At home, Olivia has to watch her baby brother, who she insists on calling Little Olivia Three.   While Olivia is watching all three babies, things get a little crazy, and Olivia breaks out in a daydream and saves the day.  Eventually, Olivia realizes that its tough work being a mommy, and she tells her mom that she will wait until she is "old like you" to have babies of her own.

Overall the book isn't bad.  I would recommend it for older kids, 4 or 5, but my 2 year old seemed to like it enough, mostly because it was Olivia.  Unlike most of the other Olivia things I have seen, Olivia saw something that interested her, tried it out for herself (without screwing anyone else over) and learned a valuable lesson.  This doesn't mean that I won't be wary of the next Olivia book that my daughter wants me to purchase for her.

The Next Book on my List

I realize that The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is a very popular and well known book, but for some reason, I haven't read it yet.  It came highly recommended by a friend, and I suppose that is why I haven't read it.  Not all recommendations are good ones.  However, it has been recommended over and over again by others, so, alas, I will read it.  And since I was given a copy, why not?  But first to finish Dexter.

I feel like I've been reading the fifth Dexter book for weeks, when in actuality, its only been a few days.  The book is good, and I'm compelled to read far later at night than I do, but at some point I decide to be a responsible adult and go to sleep so I can function in the morning.  I normally have much more free time to at night read after the kids go to sleep, but I suppose I've been extra sleepy and want to go to bed myself, especially when the kids aren't in bed until after 11:00.  So, my to read list is getting bigger and bigger, while my read list sits stagnant.

Law of Nines

I was quite skeptical of this book as soon as I started reading it and realized that there were people traveling through different, parallel worlds.  The premise for this book is that everything surrounding this man, Alex's, life is affected by the number 9, a multiple of nine, or a factor of nine and that he is solely responsible for saving the entire civilization of a parallel world that is completely unknown to him.  This world is somehow tied to land that he is set to inherit when he turns 27 (9 times 3, 3 being a factor of 9).

I found myself reading far longer than I thought I had been each night trying to figure out what was going on throughout the book.  The plot sounds pretty straight forward, however, the author adds elements at times that don't seem to fit, but in the end, all the pieces fall into place.

The author was able to incorporate magical elements through the use of the parallel world.  This world used magic for the things that we use technology for.  It was really amazing to hear the character, Jax, describe the technology that she saw in our world as seemingly impossible and that she viewed it as we would view magic.  After reflecting on this, I realized that the things that we take for granted in our lives that we don't understand how they work, are like magic.

A part of the book that I found frustrating was that people could travel from this parallel world into our world, however, when Alex wanted to travel to Jax's world, he was unable.  Jax was even unable to bring things from our world into her world.  How did she manage to travel between worlds without suffering a fate worse than death?

Terry Goodkind is definitely on my list of authors to read in the future.

Childproofed - Reese Reed

I downloaded the ebook Childproofed by Reese Reed months ago when I first got my nook.  I was really excited about the whole ebook reader and downloading process.  I ended up getting a lot of books and then not reading them right away.  I finally read this short book a few weeks ago.  I sure was glad that I hadn't read it sooner.  New mom syndrome.  Reese Reed illustrates how the main character, Virginia, goes through all the tough stuff that new moms are forced to go through.  She is exhausted, insecure, she's gained weight, and she feels like her "work" doesn't really count in the "real world".

To make matters worse, her husband who works as a high school teacher, and head coach of the football team, is the target of a hot, young (but legal) student's affections.  Virginia learns this at a football game when she over hears the girl, Ella, talking about her husband and how he must be sick of his wife after having two children with her.  Virginia packs up her two kids and heads back home.  She keeps this information to herself and tries to deal with it throughout the entire book, relying only on an old friend for guidance and comfort.

This book clearly illustrates what most, if not all, new moms go through.  Wondering if you husband is bored, faithful, fulfilled, or just plain sick of you.  Virginia, like all of us, lets herself go, only getting dressed up for special occasions, letting her hair and make-up fall by the wayside.  She feels out of touch with herself, a feeling that I think all new moms can empathize with.  She feels like her life is all about taking care of others and that somewhere along the way she has lost herself.

I have to admit that after reading this book, I had a mini crisis myself, feeling that I had lost myself in the midst of my own two children.  This was a great quick read, by an author I had never heard of, but will be looking for again.

Minnie's Valentine

I recently asked my husband what book I should review next.  My two year old daughter quickly responded with her favorite Nook book, Mickey Mouse.  So here we are, talking about Minnie's Valentine.  Honestly, this isn't a very good book.  I'm not a huge fan of children's books that are made from television shows.  They tend to lack any real literary quality.  Mickey Mouse is not the exception to the rule.  I think there are committees at the various television companies who sit down and ask, "How can we drive parents to purchase more of our products?"  Oh, yeah, they'll buy books, its better than letting children watch too much television.  WRONG!  It is only marginally better than television.  However, Minnie's Valentine is not the best example of this, I leave that to Dora or Olivia (the ones based strictly based on the television show, not the original Olivia books).

In the beginning of Minnie's Valentine, Mickey claims to have heard the doorbell ring, but the text and picture never indicate any kind of noise.  Usually there is something to show that the doorbell has rung.  Mickey then opens the door and says hello to Miss M, who is quite obviously Minnie Mouse in disguise, which is fine.  The part that bothers me is that Miss M never actually talks.  Mickey does all of the talking throughout the book.  There is no real dialogue, the author tries to tell you everything that is happening through Mickey's voice only.  Since Miss M is trying to help Mickey think of something to give Minnie for Valentine's Day, I don't think this tactic works very well.

Mickey decides to make Minnie a hat for Valentine's Day.  Wonderful.  He needs yarn...so he gets a sheep for the wool, and clippers to get the wool off.  Next he needs to know which tool to use to spin the wool.  Really?  He's clipping his own sheep and spinning the wool?  After spinning the wool, he needs to dye it.  For this, Mickey uses jars of what can only be described as paint, with a paint brush.  My daughter loves this part of the book because Pluto gets "paint" on his nose.  After this ordeal, Mickey is ready to knit the hat.  When completed, Miss M leaves and Mickey is left with a perfect looking hat.  Minnie comes in and opens her present and loves the hat.

When I bought this book I was hoping for some wonderful literary elements, or some rhyming, alliteration, something redeeming.  What I got was some pretty pictures for my daughter to look through while laughing at the silly puppy.

Most Disturbing Short Story I've Ever Read...

Make that the most disturbing story I've ever read, short or not.  "Serial" by Jack Kilborn and Blake Crouch left me with images and scenes in my head that made me feel quite literally sick to my stomach.  These images still, weeks later, will creep into my mind at the most inopportune times leaving me feeling nauseated all over again.  I try desperately to block them out, and the harder I try, the worse it gets.

"Serial" is a 3 part story written about 2 serial killers who by chance meet while the female serial killer is hitch hiking to find her next victim and the male is picking up hitch hikers looking for his next victim.  Each author was responsible for developing a serial killer character without letting the other know anything about their character.

In part 1, you meet Donaldson, who picks up hitch hikers and kills them in a pretty typical serial killer manner.  Don't think that this isn't still horrific when you read the author's descriptions, they are vivid.  But Donaldson is what many people think of when they think serial killer/rapist.  He does have methods to incapacitate his prey that are less than typical, and this adds to the dementedness of his character.

In part 2, you meet Lucy, who is hitch hiking looking for her next kill.  Her method for incapacitating her prey are far more standard than her actual method of maiming and killing.  The thought that anyone would actually do what this girl does and find pleasure in it is horrifying, but far more horrifying are the images created in your head of her victims while she is killing them.

In part 3, Donaldson and Lucy meet.  This doesn't bode well for either character.  They quickly realize what the other is, and it is a race for survival.  Not knowing how the story would end, I almost found myself rooting for Donaldson solely because I didn't think I could live through another of Lucy's kills.  While one killer is severely hurt, and the other is drugged, the two killers stumble around for their "fix", which seemingly is more important than their actual survival.

After reading this story, I sat in horror struck silence for a few minutes, probably with my mouth hanging open the entire time.  Needless to say, this short story left an impression on me, and I will certainly remember these authors for a long time, and unfortunately, the characters as well.  However, I will not dismiss the authors, considering that, aside from the actual content, they wrote a hell of a story.  I will just screen my next read more thoroughly.  

Dexter....How I Love Dexter

If I were to be asked (and answered without thinking) whether I like the show Dexter or the Dexter series books better, I would quickly reply the show.  If I were being honest, I wouldn't have an answer that easily, or maybe at all.  

The show is a hit, no doubt.  It is dramatic, suspenseful, sexy, all the things that make a great show.  I was a bit skeptical this last season after Rita died, but when I saw that Julia Stiles was the guest star for the season, I was hooked.  I happen to really like (love) her acting style, and I don't know that I've ever seen her in anything that I didn't like.  

The Dexter books, on the other hand, don't necessarily have all of the same attributes that the show has.  They are dramatic and suspenseful, but not to the same degree that the show is.  They aren't very sexy and there definitely seems to be more action in the show.  All of which I don't mind at all.  

The books are written so well.  I love Jeff Lindsay's writing style.  His use of alliteration never disappoints.  I never get tired of it or roll my eyes because it sounds lame.  Sometimes authors get very wordy when describing scenes in books, feelings, or thoughts.  Lindsay creates word swirls that leave me rereading parts because I find them so fascinating, not because of the exact content, but because of the way he is able to weave the words together in such a compelling manner.  I often highlight parts that amaze me to read to my husband later.  I don't think he appreciates the word webs as much as I do, but I make him listen.

Dexter does seem less "human" in the books than he does in the show.  Lindsay portrays him as this empty shell that lacks all human emotions.  Until book 5, Dexter is Delicious, which I am reading now.  At the birth of Dexter's very own daughter, Lily Anne, Dexter seems to develop the capacity to feel love, irritation, worry, among other human emotions that he isn't quite sure what to do with.  He swears to give up his dark ways as the Dark Avenger; to ignore his Dark Passenger.  I'm skeptical about his ability to follow through with his plan, especially with Cody and Astor excited about Dexter teaching them the Harry Code.  My skepticism is increased with the introduction of the book's "bad guy" however, I won't spoil it for you.