I started and finished A Sense of Direction in one evening; I couldn't really stop thinking about it, so I couldn't put it down. I found it...
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Going to camp every year with her family made it so Abby was prepared for her first year of elementary camp alone. Arriving at camp registration only to find that none of the camp counselors that she knew where going to be there left her a little nervous, but she was bound determined to not let a few new faces scare her away. Learning all the new rules was the hard part, as the deans daughter at junior high camp, she was given run of the place and options of which activities she wanted to take part of. As a camper of the elementary camp, she had restrictions on when to do what, she didn’t like that at all. Wondering how she was ever going to have fun at camp with all these rules, Abby set out to change a few. Her only goal was to make it more fun for everyone, she couldn’t understand why her friend Carin could be enjoying herself, but she seemed to be. The only problem was that the harder Abby tried to make things how she was used to from junior high camp, the less fun she was having all the while watching while everyone else seemed to be having a great time with the way things where.
Sometimes the best way to learn a lesson is to live through it. Abby did that. Things may have been different but she learned that sometimes those differences are a good thing. While this story did put out a good lesson, I had a difficult time getting interested in any of the characters. They are youths and this story is written for youths but I really found all of them superficial and at times annoying. So much could have been handled different and that may have been part of the story, but for a church camp I would have hoped for better staff reactions to some of it. Like I said, this is a book about youths for youths, the simplicity of the writing style may suit them, but it did not me. It looks as though Jenifer Brady has written several other books about camping to go along with this one.
In the rush of trying to get away from the android guards, Travis and his friends in the Rockets were hiding out when suddenly everything went black. Discovering that is was an epileptic seizure was a surprise. In the year 2099, most all of the illnesses and diseases have been eradicated. Anyone found sick is shipped off to institutions that resembles a prison. Being placed in Number Forty Institution, Travis quickly became acquainted with the new rules and Emmett Hudson. The offer from Dr. Alexander to help him escape was an interesting prospect. Finding that it was through a time portal that his epileptic seizures created made the whole prospect more fantasy than reality to him. Traveling back in time changed his mind, appearing in the year 2009 and meeting Demi Fraser on the isle of Barrasay and then just as suddenly jumping ahead again to 2010, and then 2014. The experiences in the past soon makes him realize how much he doesn’t belong there, he really only belongs in his own time, in his ‘corrugated city’ with the Rockets, now how to get back.
What an interesting concept of a futuristic world. The story was fairly easy to follow even with all it’s twists and the adventure was really creative. Really enjoyed the concept, Travis, Hudson, and Demi where good characters, I just had a difficult time getting into the story. It was written from the point of view of Travis and the simplicity of the story telling made it easy but that may also have something to do with why I had difficulty becoming more emotionally invested in the characters. I would put this in the category of young adult because of the easy writing style as well as the teenage characters. This is not the first work by Tracey Morait, wonder now if all the books have the same simplistic writing style. I would read another of this authors books, but only if I am in the right mood.
Amy has been preparing for her first violin recital. Even though she has practiced, she is still feeling nervous about it so she goes to her family to see if they can help her prepare better for the recital. Asking her brother Aaron, he offers her to play his drums, but the sound is just too loud and not quite right for Amy. Maybe her sister Stephanie has a good idea. Stephanie plays the piano so well, but when Amy sits down she discovers that she plays the violin better than she could play the keyboards. Realizing that she just needed the confidence that might come with practice, Amy gets back to it. Finally the night of the recital comes around and with her mom in the wings, the rest of the family in the audience, Amy takes the stage and finds her nerves go away after she starts to play the violin piece that she had been practicing.
An inspirational story about being able to overcome nerves and follow through with a task that might scare you. Spending the time to learn the violin then to explore other instruments only to realize that she was better off with the violin. To follow through with the whole process of learning it and then being part of the recital really showed her courage. Even as scary as that thought was, she knew she had prepared for this night. The since of pride in herself in the end seemed to be worth all the practice time and even the nerves helped her to push through the practices. Practice and patience are really great lessons for anyone, this story is geared for young readers or for reading aloud, with it’s plain wording, large print and great pictures. This would be a great addition to any youth library
What do you use to help your body?
By Jewel Kats
Illustrations by Richa Kinra
Exploring what makes some people different than others is a good way for kids to learn about disabilities and the way to adapt a lifestyle to accommodate those disabilities. Noticing a difference and learning how they deal with it is not the same thing. Lucky for Maggie that her momma has an idea about how to help her understand more. Walking down the street they encounter several individuals that have had something that makes them different. Something they have had to deal with, overcome or work around. Realizing that a hearing loss doesn’t mean they can’t hear anything, the loss of a leg, or the use of both legs does not keep them inside. Even finding ways to be understood if they can’t talk make Maggie understand that her own eye patch was helpful to her.
The concept of this book is one that needs to be explored more (in my opinion) with kids today. While the main point of “What do you use to help your body?” is to understand how things can help, it does briefly touch on the sensitivities of the disabled. Even for such a young age group as this one is targeted for, there could have been more. I have had to explain disabilities of a relative to my kids several times in past. The best part of books like this is that it opens up the topic to discussion and hopefully reduces discrimination while promoting acceptance. This was a good introduction to special needs of people around us.
The death of Oracle Scythe would be felt all across the land. Scythe was the one Oracle of the Darkwoods Foxes that was against warring with the other creatures in the surrounding area of the Darkwoods. With Scythe gone, the other Foxes had no more opposition to their plans of conquering all of the area, so they started their campaign to take control. Not knowing the resistance they would encounter along the way. Of all the creatures, the Wraith Mice with their magical abilities and their determined Princess Zuryzel would be the toughest to get past. Along with the other talents she possessed, Princess Zuryzel has the ability to stand as a leader for all of the animals that are put in danger by the Foxes.
****
Written by a seventeen year old, what a great accomplishment at such a young age. The use of the animals as the characters made visualizing each of them easy. Learning each of the tribes strengths and each person, or more to the point, characters special abilities made for an interesting adventure in itself. Learning their names and tribes and relations within the tribes was a bit laborious at first. Once the adventure started it was just as easy to forget who and what they were than it was to continue to struggle to remember it all. There was just so many characters, to many often unnecessary characters and sometimes to many details that seemed more of a tangent than important to the storyline. I had a difficult time getting into the story because of the amount of characters, but after I stopped trying to figure out how they all connected, it got a little better. The adventure and suspense of the story was interesting, the use of the animal tribes or clans made this one unique and the storytelling ability to put it all together was fairly well done.
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onyx95 has commented on (35) products.
Camp Expert by Jenifer Brady
onyx95, December 4, 2011
Going to camp every year with her family made it so Abby was prepared for her first year of elementary camp alone. Arriving at camp registration only to find that none of the camp counselors that she knew where going to be there left her a little nervous, but she was bound determined to not let a few new faces scare her away. Learning all the new rules was the hard part, as the deans daughter at junior high camp, she was given run of the place and options of which activities she wanted to take part of. As a camper of the elementary camp, she had restrictions on when to do what, she didn’t like that at all. Wondering how she was ever going to have fun at camp with all these rules, Abby set out to change a few. Her only goal was to make it more fun for everyone, she couldn’t understand why her friend Carin could be enjoying herself, but she seemed to be. The only problem was that the harder Abby tried to make things how she was used to from junior high camp, the less fun she was having all the while watching while everyone else seemed to be having a great time with the way things where.Sometimes the best way to learn a lesson is to live through it. Abby did that. Things may have been different but she learned that sometimes those differences are a good thing. While this story did put out a good lesson, I had a difficult time getting interested in any of the characters. They are youths and this story is written for youths but I really found all of them superficial and at times annoying. So much could have been handled different and that may have been part of the story, but for a church camp I would have hoped for better staff reactions to some of it. Like I said, this is a book about youths for youths, the simplicity of the writing style may suit them, but it did not me. It looks as though Jenifer Brady has written several other books about camping to go along with this one.
Epiworld by Tracey Morait
onyx95, November 24, 2011
In the rush of trying to get away from the android guards, Travis and his friends in the Rockets were hiding out when suddenly everything went black. Discovering that is was an epileptic seizure was a surprise. In the year 2099, most all of the illnesses and diseases have been eradicated. Anyone found sick is shipped off to institutions that resembles a prison. Being placed in Number Forty Institution, Travis quickly became acquainted with the new rules and Emmett Hudson. The offer from Dr. Alexander to help him escape was an interesting prospect. Finding that it was through a time portal that his epileptic seizures created made the whole prospect more fantasy than reality to him. Traveling back in time changed his mind, appearing in the year 2009 and meeting Demi Fraser on the isle of Barrasay and then just as suddenly jumping ahead again to 2010, and then 2014. The experiences in the past soon makes him realize how much he doesn’t belong there, he really only belongs in his own time, in his ‘corrugated city’ with the Rockets, now how to get back.What an interesting concept of a futuristic world. The story was fairly easy to follow even with all it’s twists and the adventure was really creative. Really enjoyed the concept, Travis, Hudson, and Demi where good characters, I just had a difficult time getting into the story. It was written from the point of view of Travis and the simplicity of the story telling made it easy but that may also have something to do with why I had difficulty becoming more emotionally invested in the characters. I would put this in the category of young adult because of the easy writing style as well as the teenage characters. This is not the first work by Tracey Morait, wonder now if all the books have the same simplistic writing style. I would read another of this authors books, but only if I am in the right mood.
onyx95, October 25, 2011
Amy Plays the ViolinBy Julie Labossiere
Amy has been preparing for her first violin recital. Even though she has practiced, she is still feeling nervous about it so she goes to her family to see if they can help her prepare better for the recital. Asking her brother Aaron, he offers her to play his drums, but the sound is just too loud and not quite right for Amy. Maybe her sister Stephanie has a good idea. Stephanie plays the piano so well, but when Amy sits down she discovers that she plays the violin better than she could play the keyboards. Realizing that she just needed the confidence that might come with practice, Amy gets back to it. Finally the night of the recital comes around and with her mom in the wings, the rest of the family in the audience, Amy takes the stage and finds her nerves go away after she starts to play the violin piece that she had been practicing.
An inspirational story about being able to overcome nerves and follow through with a task that might scare you. Spending the time to learn the violin then to explore other instruments only to realize that she was better off with the violin. To follow through with the whole process of learning it and then being part of the recital really showed her courage. Even as scary as that thought was, she knew she had prepared for this night. The since of pride in herself in the end seemed to be worth all the practice time and even the nerves helped her to push through the practices. Practice and patience are really great lessons for anyone, this story is geared for young readers or for reading aloud, with it’s plain wording, large print and great pictures. This would be a great addition to any youth library
What Do You Use to Help Your Body?: Maggie Explores the World of Disabilities by Jewel Kats
onyx95, September 12, 2011
What do you use to help your body?By Jewel Kats
Illustrations by Richa Kinra
Exploring what makes some people different than others is a good way for kids to learn about disabilities and the way to adapt a lifestyle to accommodate those disabilities. Noticing a difference and learning how they deal with it is not the same thing. Lucky for Maggie that her momma has an idea about how to help her understand more. Walking down the street they encounter several individuals that have had something that makes them different. Something they have had to deal with, overcome or work around. Realizing that a hearing loss doesn’t mean they can’t hear anything, the loss of a leg, or the use of both legs does not keep them inside. Even finding ways to be understood if they can’t talk make Maggie understand that her own eye patch was helpful to her.
The concept of this book is one that needs to be explored more (in my opinion) with kids today. While the main point of “What do you use to help your body?” is to understand how things can help, it does briefly touch on the sensitivities of the disabled. Even for such a young age group as this one is targeted for, there could have been more. I have had to explain disabilities of a relative to my kids several times in past. The best part of books like this is that it opens up the topic to discussion and hopefully reduces discrimination while promoting acceptance. This was a good introduction to special needs of people around us.
Darkwoods by Marta Stahlfeld
onyx95, August 31, 2011
The death of Oracle Scythe would be felt all across the land. Scythe was the one Oracle of the Darkwoods Foxes that was against warring with the other creatures in the surrounding area of the Darkwoods. With Scythe gone, the other Foxes had no more opposition to their plans of conquering all of the area, so they started their campaign to take control. Not knowing the resistance they would encounter along the way. Of all the creatures, the Wraith Mice with their magical abilities and their determined Princess Zuryzel would be the toughest to get past. Along with the other talents she possessed, Princess Zuryzel has the ability to stand as a leader for all of the animals that are put in danger by the Foxes.****
Written by a seventeen year old, what a great accomplishment at such a young age. The use of the animals as the characters made visualizing each of them easy. Learning each of the tribes strengths and each person, or more to the point, characters special abilities made for an interesting adventure in itself. Learning their names and tribes and relations within the tribes was a bit laborious at first. Once the adventure started it was just as easy to forget who and what they were than it was to continue to struggle to remember it all. There was just so many characters, to many often unnecessary characters and sometimes to many details that seemed more of a tangent than important to the storyline. I had a difficult time getting into the story because of the amount of characters, but after I stopped trying to figure out how they all connected, it got a little better. The adventure and suspense of the story was interesting, the use of the animal tribes or clans made this one unique and the storytelling ability to put it all together was fairly well done.
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