Talk about the kidlit you're reading!
- Thread starter Kitty Pryde
- Start date
Read Dork Diaries. Pretty enjoyable, though predictable, and an exercise in Why We Don't Use Exclamation Points That Much. I'll grant that it's realistic that a twelve year old girl would use a ton of them in her diary!!! But the reader grows weary of the constant exclaiming!!! For reals!! OMG! OMG! I am serious!!!
Then tried to read B1g Nate, but I thought it was terrible and I had to stop. He just seemed too negative and horrible, but not in a funny don't-be-like-this-kid Greg Heffley way.
Then tried to read B1g Nate, but I thought it was terrible and I had to stop. He just seemed too negative and horrible, but not in a funny don't-be-like-this-kid Greg Heffley way.
I'm reading Space Station Seventh Grade, by Jerry Spinelli. It's an older book of his (possibly his debut novel?), and I've never read it. So, now I am. 
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And WRINGER. And CRASH. And SMILES TO GO. And EGGS. And STARGIRL. And LOSER. And...
Yes, I'm a Spinelli fangirl.
Yes, I'm a Spinelli fangirl.
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They asked me to lead a "Reading Group" at school tomorrow reading and analyzing Matilda by Roald Dahl. Love it! When I was little I loved it and I used to try to use my super mind powers to move pencils. But it never worked 
Feeling very nostalgic rereading parts of it.
Also feeling dumb because I had to look up some words in the dictionary!! Who knows what "gormless" means? "Bovril"? Ah well. I'm prepared now.
Feeling very nostalgic rereading parts of it.Also feeling dumb because I had to look up some words in the dictionary!! Who knows what "gormless" means? "Bovril"? Ah well. I'm prepared now.
I'm reading WILDWOOD by Colin Meloy with beautiful illustrations by Carson Ellis AND COLOR PLATES (!!!). A little pricier than the usual MG hardcover but I got it on sale at Powell's. I'm loving it so far.
They asked me to lead a "Reading Group" at school tomorrow reading and analyzing Matilda by Roald Dahl. Love it! When I was little I loved it and I used to try to use my super mind powers to move pencils. But it never worked
Also feeling dumb because I had to look up some words in the dictionary!! Who knows what "gormless" means? "Bovril"? Ah well. I'm prepared now.
I used to try to move pencils, too! Alas, I haz no magick. 
^^OOohhh me, me, I know! *puts up hand* (it helps if you're British and probably around 40!)
The Calder Game wasn't for me, as the agents say.
Tim, I kind of want to read Wi1dwood but I also kind of don't. Something about it -- not the plot, but SOMETHING -- reminds me of Summ3rland, a book I did not enjoy, with non-kidlit writer throwing in whimsy to make it "childlike." Prove me wrong, Tim. I'd love to love it!
I'm reading M3rrie Haske11's The Pr1ncess Cur$e -- best 12 dancing princesses retelling of the four within the past two years. Really good.
And I just picked up Br3adcrumbs by Ann3 Ur$u from a library hold! I'm the first reader!!! Very excited for this one -- love fairy tale retellings, obviously.
Tim, I kind of want to read Wi1dwood but I also kind of don't. Something about it -- not the plot, but SOMETHING -- reminds me of Summ3rland, a book I did not enjoy, with non-kidlit writer throwing in whimsy to make it "childlike." Prove me wrong, Tim. I'd love to love it!
I'm reading M3rrie Haske11's The Pr1ncess Cur$e -- best 12 dancing princesses retelling of the four within the past two years. Really good.
And I just picked up Br3adcrumbs by Ann3 Ur$u from a library hold! I'm the first reader!!! Very excited for this one -- love fairy tale retellings, obviously.
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Just finished off the new Wimpy Kid book, Cabin Fever. I have to say I enjoyed it a lot--it's a lot funnier than the previous ones. I even had to retell some of the more hilarious bits to my sweetie. I also loved it because Greg finally grows like 5% of a soul and does some non-rotten things. Hooray for him! I was worried he would never get any character development, just turn into like a hideous ill-mannered 30 year old man-child. Diary of A Wimpy Kid, Book 31: Non-payment of Child Support. Diary of A Wimpy Kid, Book 32: Greg and the Repossessed Car. Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Book 33: Greg's Court-Mandated Rehab.
And now reading the 2nd Swallows and Amazons book, Swallowdale. The captain has wrecked their boat and now they are forced to spend summer vacation land-locked I suspect the mysterious cave will be filled with wondrous secrets though.
And now reading the 2nd Swallows and Amazons book, Swallowdale. The captain has wrecked their boat and now they are forced to spend summer vacation land-locked
I suspect the mysterious cave will be filled with wondrous secrets though.
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Too funny, Kitty!
I am really torn about The Looking Glass Wars. It's very imaginative, but extremely violent for MG. Amazon lists it as 10 and up. My son read it when he was about that age, but I had no idea it was so grim. I would think some kids would be extremely disturbed by Alice's mother getting her head cut off, just to list one example.
I am really torn about The Looking Glass Wars. It's very imaginative, but extremely violent for MG. Amazon lists it as 10 and up. My son read it when he was about that age, but I had no idea it was so grim. I would think some kids would be extremely disturbed by Alice's mother getting her head cut off, just to list one example.
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Why is there any confusion at all? "Gormless" obviously means a lack of gorm.
gormless is one i actually know, because it's used to describe Crabbe and Goyle on a regular basis.
i'm reading PENNY DREADFUL by Laurel Snyder right now and really enjoying it, though i don't much like the illustrations.
Just read a 1940 Newbery Medal winner, Call It Courage, about a little boy sailing around in Polynesia. It was a bit less exciting and more racist than I had expected. Oh well. Anybody else know any kid books with a Polynesia type setting?
And a new release, The 0ther Felix. I have been looking forward to it a while, but the plot was kind of blah. Strong writing though. It's more or less Where The Wild Things Are expanded into novel length. To me it felt like the connection between the kid's real-world problems and his ongoing dream-world problems were too unclear for a kid reader to figure out.
And a new release, The 0ther Felix. I have been looking forward to it a while, but the plot was kind of blah. Strong writing though. It's more or less Where The Wild Things Are expanded into novel length. To me it felt like the connection between the kid's real-world problems and his ongoing dream-world problems were too unclear for a kid reader to figure out.
I just finished this, too. Short attention span reading. It seemed more episodic than cohesive story to me. In the older ones, it seems like there was some story running through the whole thing, but maybe I'm mis-remembering. This one just bounced around from one funny situation to another (and they were funny! I loved the bit about how Greg can't figure out why old people are considered wise, and then there's a cartoon of his parents asking him to explain how to work the microwave!).
I started reading The Lost Hero, by Rick Riordan. I got through the scene where there's a battle above the Grand Canyon, and it just felt very "been there, done that," to me.
My mom mistakenly bought the boxed set of The Game of Thrones for my son. She thought - it's fantasy, it must be for kids, right?? Um, no. But I've really enjoyed them. Incest, murder, extreme violence, child killing, and general medieval horrors - good stuff.