How Reader Reviews Will Get Your Child Reading

Students engage with books as adults do large projects: one book equals hours of hard labour. If students are unsure of finding a book that they will like, they will often resort to rereading the same books (ie. Bone Series, Diary of a Wimpy Kid) or reading books that were made into movies (ie. Percy Jackson Series).

Part of the school curriculum in our area is to have students read book reviews and then try writing their own. I was hesitant to try this activity since introducing technology with reading usually gets students side-tracked. Near the end of the year, I had the students bring their devices and gave them brief instructions on how to find an online review. Far from being side-tracked, in a few minutes, I had unexpectedly solved my problem of expanding student readership.

Reader Review Exercise:

I had the students find a random chapter book on the shelf that they had never read before. They were then asked to input the title, author, and the word "review" into an Internet search. As the results came up, I encouraged them to choose the site "Good Reads." I explained to them what a review out of five stars meant (most of them are familiar with this so it was a good starting point). Then I simply read the summary, and scrolled down to show the students what other readers had commented.

After the students went through this process on their own, I was amazed to see that every student went home with a new book that they had never heard of before. So much for one-liners and you-should-read-this-book speech--online reviews had done all the work for me and more. 

My conclusions:

-Reading online reviews will get students excited about reading a book they have never read before with little teacher intervention
-With online reviews, students can feel confident that the effort they put into a certain book will pay-off -- because they know that (many) others have read the book and enjoyed it

Review: "Boy" by Roald Dahl

Boy: Tales of Childhood

Roald Dahl


Summary:

With his regular quirky sense of humour, Dahl recalls anecdotes from when he was child. These moments are humorous, strange, frightening, sad, or even violent. They may or not resemble stories in his fictional stories and books, but they certainly give you a sense of where the writer came from to create such characters as "The Witches" or the "BFG" or a chocolate factory.


Points of Concern for Parents:

There are extremely funny anecdotes in this book; there are also very violent ones. Dahl was frequently abused by his superiors as he made his way through different boarding schools in the UK. He describes in detail what it was like to be whipped and the cruelty of the people who were supposed to be watching over him. He also speaks of his lack of a need for a God, and his turning towards alcohol as a way of solving problems when he got older.

"The writer walks out of his workroom in a daze. He wants a drink. He needs it. It happens to be a fact that nearly every writer of fiction in the world drinks more whisky than is good for him. He does it to give himself faith, hope and courage."

"Church-going never became a habit with me. Letter writing did."

There seems to be very good justification in this book for why Roald Dahl might have been turned off church-going, and turned instead for solace towards alcohol (and later, other drugs). Of course, other people might be better role models for your children.
 

Inspiring Books for EARTH WEEK

The Oak Inside the Acorn

By Max Lucado
Illustrated George Angelini

Everyone at one point in their life wonders what their life is about and for what purpose. This beautifully illustrated book tells the story of an oak tree, who little by little learns that the purpose of his life is to become the tree that God made him to be.

An endearing fable for young and old!

Review of Knights of the Lunch Table

This graphic novel by Frank Cammuso is a modern retelling of King Arthur appropriate for audiences 6+. This book is especially popular with boys. New student Artie King must lead a group of misfits in a dodgeball game to fight against injustice and bullying. Artie, like the King Arthur of the legends, is the unexpected hero who becomes king of the school not through violence, but through positive leadership, bravery, and teamwork. This book is simply written with engaging images and quick-moving plot. There are other books in the series if a student is interested in reading further.


EXTRA:

There are few graphic novels that can compare to the depth of Jeff Smith's Bone series or Rain Telgemeier's Smile, but Knights of the Lunch Table is rare in its old-fashioned championing of virtue, which makes it stand out in a flurry of other graphic novels that seek primarily to entertain through poor humour and excessive fighting.

Review Amulet Book # 1 : The Stonekeeper

While Amulet is an enjoyable read, it does not compare to the quality of the Bone series.

Dialogue: 

There were some great dialogue moments in Bone, the breadth and depth of which could fit on one graphic page. In Amulet, we have basic dialogue that is meant for a younger audience, with speech bubbles containing on average one short sentence.

Characters: 

Main characters are Emily and Navin (siblings) and their mother (unnamed). After reading this first book, Emily appears to be brave, determined, curious, and serious. Navin is the younger brother who wants to be older than he seems. Their mother is a brave lady with some amazing will power.

Miskit is a Robo-bunny who assists them in the second-half of the book.

Plot: 

The story begins with a car crash and the death of the children's father. The scene is dramatically and maturely portrayed, contrasting strangely with the immature dialogue.

The children move to a new house, where Emily discovers an amulet. The mother wanders into the basement after hearing some noise and is eaten up by an octopus-like monster. The children run after her and accidentally enter into a parallel world. The amulet speaks to Emily and tells her to find their great-grandfather's house. Robots greet them at the house, including Miskit the rabbit. Grandfather has a moment to explain the power of the amulet to the children and then promptly dies.

With some concern for her brother, Emily accepts the power of the amulet. Now they race off to save their mother from the octopus creature. They are able to save her thanks to the amulet, but Emily is upset with the amulet because it does not stop her mother from being poisoned. An evil looking elf tries to capture Emily and take over her mind, but Emily resists and overpowers him. The amulet tells Emily to kill him, but she refuses. Emily and Navin return to their GGs house, which turns into a robot and makes its way to the nearest city to get some help for their mother.

Concerns:

Is the amulet good or evil? That is something that the reader is asked to question.

-Emily presses her hand down on a symbol and pricks her finger, the amulet necklace appears, with protests from her brother, Emily puts it on

-The amulet gives power, enough to turn back time. Her Grandfather tells Emily that she can have whatever she likes as long as she listens to the amulet stone. It will give her everything she desires, and much more. But she must choose to accept the stone's power or reject it

-Her Grandfather dies and the stone encourages her to take its power, while Navin worriedly tells her not to, because they can solve their problems on their own.
      The stone replies: "There are other ways... but none so certain. And how can you rely on faith when time is running out?"

-Emily accepts the stone's power, only to realize later that now she cannot remove it from her neck.

-When Emily has mercy on the evil elf, the stone tells her that she is making a mistake.

Review: Zita the Spacegirl

Zita the Spacegirl
By Ben Hatke

Summary

This graphic novel was a quick (1h) fascinating read, with a series of imaginative scenes, a host of memorable characters, as well as meaningful dialogue and a suspenseful story-line. This is a children's graphic novel at its best, with a believable fictitious world made accessible by well-drawn images and a convincing plot.

Main Character

Zita is an impulsive 10-12 year old who manages to get herself and her friend Joseph zapped to another planet. Through a series of adventures, Zita manages to find and save Joseph, even sacrificing her own return to Earth to get him back. From beginning to end, we see Zita grow from being impulsive and thoughtless to brave and selfless. 

Graphics

The colourful, playful, imaginative images are very appealing to my readers, both boys and girls.

 

Causes for Concern

There were no "red flags" for parents in either the images or the text. There is some very minor violence, but no main character dies or even gets seriously hurt (without being "repaired"). There is, however, enough action/adventure in the text to appeal to students who like suspenseful story-lines.

Age Appropriateness

The book generally appeals to readers (boys and girls) aged 10-12. If a younger student were willing to take the book out, my only real cause for concern would be reading comprehension. The text bubbles are within the ability of most readers aged 8+, though text/image comprehension would be 10+.

Review Bone # 9: Crown of Horns

The Bone series does not disappoint with its grand finale, "Crown of Horns"!

Quick Overview:

Bone # 8 Treasure Hunters leaves us on a cliff-hanger, with Gran'ma Ben watching Briar's approaching army and realizing she has not yet managed to rally the city's troops. Problems with the city's interim leader, Tarsil, are removed immediately as Briar coldheartedly chops him in half when she arrives at the city gate. It is now up to Gran'ma Ben to pull the rest of the soldiers together and defend what she can. In the meantime, Thorn has a vision of her mother telling her to "seek the crown of horns." Thorn, Fone Bone, and Bartleby leave the fighting to find the crown that will save all of their lives. Meanwhile, Mim--ancient "creator" dragon gone crazy--has woken up from her sleep and is threatening to annihilate everyone.

Phoney Bone takes a change of heart and actually fights in the battle, and then helps Gran'ma Ben confront Briar. Lucius comes in with his army to aid them, just in time, but as Thorn and Fone Bone touch the crown of horns, Briar erupts in a ball of light and Lucius, who is grappling her, dies as well.

Finally, the red dragon comes to save Thorn and Fone Bone from the other dragons' anger for trespassing in their territory. The dragons end up chasing them all the way to Mim, who is just rising out of the ground. At the same moment, the dragons decided to face Mim (who is massive) each grabbing a piece of her and dragging her back into the earth. The war is over. Thorn reigns as queen and the bones return to Boneville.


Graphics

The story is fast-paced with scenes weaving in and out of each other raising the sense of tension and suspense. The graphics are the best yet, with the scene of thousands of dragons dragging Mim back into the earth evoking horror, shock, and fascination.


Maturity

-The reality of physical suffering and physical loss are shown in a temperate way with Fone and Thorn both losing a tooth. The tooth is replaced at the end by the red dragon, and is made out of the same crystal that the crown of horns is composed of.

-When Tarsil removes his hood, his face is hideously scarred by the dragons.

-Tarsil's body is shown being chopped in half, then the bloodstained face of Briar is seen (though I am considering now that she looks more ridiculous than frightening with her large bulbuous eyes and greenish skin).

-Smiley continues to smoke his cigar


Amusing Segments

Smiley Bone decides to cook the two mischievous rat creatures some quiche, which they love. Just as he is about to serve it to them, he gets an urgent message and leaves it just outside of their reach from the cage where they are being kept. After the war is over, Fone Bone serves them some quiche on "Christmas" day.


Points to Ponder

At the end, the characters celebrate winter solstice, which is basically depicted as a secular Christmas party. Thorn brings in an evergreen that she explains brings life in the dead of winter. Smiley asks Phoney if they celebrate winter solstice in Boneville. Phoney answers they do, but for different reasons: "Different reasons... Different names... It all comes down to th' same thing... business picks up, an' I make  a lotta money! I love this holiday!" (emphasis from text). Thorn brings out some instruments and Smiley says, "As long as we're gonna make music, it don't matter to me if we celebrate for different reasons!"

Later, when Fone Bone takes out the quiche to the two silly rat creatures, he tells them "Peace on earth, fellas!"


Conclusion

Great series, definitely one that I would recommend, even for adults.

Overall maturity: 9 and up.