Mars Needs Moms MOVIE!

OH MY GOODNESS!  I just read today that there is going to be a Mars Needs Moms movie, coming out next year.  Its always interesting when they make a full length movie out of a 20 page children's book, and rarely good, but I'm going to keep my fingers crossed for this one.

It's a Book

I bring this book to your attention simply because I love the conceit - that people - in particular kids - don't know what a book is anymore.  It's pretty funny.  

I chose this book after reading an article in the NYTimes about the author, a doctor at Stanford.  He's apparently trying to bring back the physical, which given the brevity of my recent physical, makes tons of sense.  I then looked at the book on Amazon, where out of 450 or so reviews, over 80% were five star.  That also seemed promising.  I, however, would probably give it 4 stars, even possibly three.   I found the first two thirds of the book slow going, and the last third intriguing.   The last hundred pages I read in one sitting.  In the end, I was pleased with the book, but it took me a while to get there.  One other strange fact I learned from the book, apparently ferengi is Amharic (Ethiopian) for stranger.  

Classic series of the week - Tripods

A couple of years ago, I was thinking of this book and I searched high and low trying to figure out what the name and author were.  Apparently, though, you only have to ask around a little to find out what the book with the evil tripods capping the kids in the community in order to control them, and the kids who ran away from it, and someone will come up with the title.  I have very strong memories of these books, and still recall the moment when I realized that the destroyed old city that they were wandering around at one point in the book was Paris.  It was amazing to me at the time.  I found them and Colin read the first of the series, The White Mountains, and really enjoyed it, although I haven't been able to get him to read the next two -- although I must admit, I don't really remember much of the next two either.  It's this first book that is really notewothy.  

Mars Needs Moms

Berkeley Breathed, author of the Bloom County cartoons, has since quitting cartooning taken to writing and illustrating children's books.  This is a boon for all of us.  These books are clever, and amusing, and appeal on many levels.  The illustrations are delightful.  Perhaps my (and my children's) favorite page from Mars Needs Moms is the one where the Martians try to lure mom with a cup of Starbucks on the ground.  It seems from Amazon that this book, although only a couple of years old, has gone out of print and is soon to be re-released.  Look for it, its a sweet tale about martians who need moms, and humans who need to be reminded not to take them for granted.  Also look for Edward Fudwupper, another of our favorites.

We received this book for Christmas a few years ago and absolutely love it.  A tale of a family who receives a penguin every day for a whole year, the mystery of who is sending them, and the quandary of what to do with all those penguins.  Also a math lesson (math, you say?  You said there would be no math!).  Chunky penguins, and a Where's Waldo exercise too.   I'll let you figure that one out.  Oh, my goodness, you can even get an advent calendar of the book!
  
I'll have to consider that!
AR 3.1, pts 0.5

Heck! Where the Bad Kids Go

I find these books very clever and entertaining.   A retelling of Dante's inferno with kids, each book is a separate ring of "Heck."  The first is when the Marlo and Milton first arrive in heck, the second is greed and the third, gluttony.  Book 4, due out next May, called Fibble, is clearly about lying.  Each follows the adventures of Milton Fauster and his sister Marlo and their friends as they work their way through Heck, a boarding school run by Bea Elsa Bubb.  You call tell from these names that the author is speaking just as much to the adults reading these books as to the children, who will be surprised as they grow up of all they learned about the literary traditions of Hell from these.  Milton's best friend is Virgil (of course) and there is Marlo(we) (another author of a Faust book).  Teachers include Lizzie Borden and Nixon, who amusingly teaches ethics.  Most of these allusions go right over the kids' heads, but once I pointed them out to Colin, he started to find them himself and thought it hilarious that the book would take such liberty with literature.  What I read with him was hilarious and well put together.  An entertaining take on classic literature.

Various recommendations for grades, from 3-8, I would go for the midrange of these 4-6.   Colin has been reading them voraciously and am sure will leap at the new one in the spring.  AR Levels 6.0-6.4, 8-14 pts.

Classic series of the week - The Great Brain

If you are not familiar with The Great Brain series, you should go check it out.  This is the cover when I read the series when I was a kid.  My books were falling apart by the time I was done with them, especially the fourth one, The Great Brain at the academy.  Colin read these last year and loved them as well.  Set in the 1880s in Utah, these stories of brothers, the middle one, the "Great Brain", too clever for his own good, and the younger telling of his adventures.   The adventures are everyday to over-the-top, from the first, Tom selling tickets to see the family's new indoor toilet, to setting up a "roller coaster" in his back yard.  Tom always has a plan and therein lies the entertainment.  And even though its set over a century ago, the kids and their problems are relatable - from sibling rivalry to bullying, to being the new kid at school.  A great series for your 3-6th grader.  There are 7 books in the series, although I recall mostly the first five.  AR levels 5.0-5.8, 4-7 pts.

How to Grow Up and Rule the World

This is one of the most fabulous books we have stumbled along in a long time.  A guide to how to be an evil genius.  It details the numbers of minions, henchmen and scientists you might need, how to build a hideout, develop an evil laugh, and even how to deal with those pesky superheroes.  We checked this out from the library one afternoon and Colin didn't put it down until he had finished it several hours later.  He has since read it several more times.  A real winner of a book.  AR level 7.7, pts 4.0.

What we're reading

I am asked very frequently to recommend books to people - especially to the kids in our lives. I have promised many people lists of our favorite books. This is the answer to those requests. What we're reading will include lists, reviews, and notes of good books, for kids especially but also what I am reading at any time. Hopefully you can find something to read when you look at what we're reading.