What Joa is Reading & Other Stuff

Book reviews...from picture books to adult books, as well as books-to-movie info, and other stuff I think is interesting. Note: Not all books reviewed or recommended are appropriate for all ages.
JANUARY 28, 2008
How to Steal a Dog

I really enjoyed reading Barbara O'Connor's How to Steal a Dog, a chapter book geared toward  middle to upper elementary - middle school readers about a girl named Georgina Hayes.

I love great first lines in novels and O'Connor doesn't disappoint: "The day I decided to steal a dog was the same day my best friend, Luanne Godfrey, found out I lived in a car." 

Georgina doesn't want to steal a dog, which she knows is wrong, but after seeing a $500 reward poster that gave her the idea, she figures it might be the only way she can come up with enough money to enable her mother find them somewhere to live.

Georgina, her mother, and her little brother Toby lost their apartment after their father left without a good-bye. Georgina's mother is working two jobs and the kids are trying their best to manage: eating out of a cooler in the car and using gas station and restaurant restrooms for washing up before school. Georgina begins her plan of stealing a dog by writing down step-by-step instructions. She lets her brother in on the plan and they find the perfect dog to steal: Willy, a little mutt terrier whose owner adores him.

After they befriend the owner, Camilla, the kids learn she isn't rich (like they thought), they undertake the uncomfortable role of helping her find her dog. Georgina then has to figure out how to resolve this mess she has created.

This book deals with some serious issues....but is written in a very relatable and light-hearted way. You will be rooting for Georgina, just as much as you will be wanting little Willy home again.  

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Categories: Joa RecommendsRealistic Reads

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JANUARY 15, 2008
Award winners announced

The American Library association has announced the award-winning books for kids for 2008. To see a list of winners, as well as explanations of the criteria for various awards, go this this ALA link.

Interestingly, the Caldecott medal--the award for the best illustrated book-- this year was awarded to a chapter book, The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznik. This book is a one-of-a-kind suspenseful reading experience about a young boy who lives secretly on his own after his clockwinder uncle disappears. Set around the era of the silent film, the pages of this thick book are as full of detailed pencil illustrations--giving a feel of film frames---as print pages.

The format of this book really stretches the boundaries between picture and chapter book, as the art is truly integral to the story in a way that is unusual for a book for this intended audience. I would highly recommend this book to elementary through adult age readers. Aside from the interesting story, this novel gives a fascinating glimpse at the history of the film and entertainment industry.

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Categories: Historical ReadsJoa RecommendsAwards

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JANUARY 7, 2008
Inkheart, the movie, coming soon!

I was just talking with a young person about what a good movie that Inkheart (a fantasy by Cornelia Funke) would make...and I thought I had heard it was coming as a movie, so I looked it up online and it is coming SOON...March 2008!

There is still time to read, or listen to, the novel before the movie....or if you have already read Inkheart, maybe you want to read Inkspell, the sequel.

Inkheart is a very richly written fantasy about Meggie, a girl whose father, Mo, has a special ability to read characters out of books. However, he can't really control this ability which he has kept secret from his daughter until one dark night a stranger shows up to warn Mo that Capricorn, a villain who was unitentionally brought to life from a book is out to find him.

This is a great story for book-lovers, from the description of Meggie's Aunt Eleanor's home, a mansion lined from floor to ceiling with books, books, and more books, to the many literary allusions. Yet, the action and suspensful plot make this is a fast-moving read, as well.

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Categories: Movie Tie-insJoa RecommendsFantasy

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JANUARY 3, 2008
Colibrí by Ann Cameron

Colibrí is a fiction novel about Rosa, who was taken from her parents in Guatemala City at the age of four, and has been living with "Uncle" who makes his living by running scams ever since.

Rosa, whose real name is Tzunún--and whose mother used to call her the nickname "Colibrí" which means "hummingbird" in Spanish--hates participating in the dishonest schemes of Uncle, but knows no other way to survive.

When she meets Doña Celestina, who tells Uncle's fortune, Rosa begins to think that it might be possible to choose a different path for her life...a path that leads her back to her true name and her own true nature.

When Uncle makes a plan with his opportunist friend Raimundo, Rosa makes a harrowing decision to be true to herself and what she knows is right.

This book has some great writing, and gives a taste of the culture of Guatemala. The theme of this book is summed up by the symbology of the Colibrí --a beautiful fragile hummingbird, but a species known as a fierce fighter for survival.

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Categories: Joa RecommendsRealistic ReadsOther Cultures

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