The Princess and the Hound
Posted: January 20, 2010 Filed under: Book of Sand Leave a commentby Mette Ivie Harrison
{ 2007 | HarperTeen | 416 pgs }
I apologize for not writing reviews until now – a downside, for me, is that I don’t have as good a memory of the books as I would have earlier…
Harrison’s book The Princess and the Hound was not at all what I expected. It isn’t told by the princess: she isn’t introduced until a fair bit into the book. Instead, the narrator is the prince who is betrothed to the princess. Yes, surprisingly, the storyteller in a vaguely romantic medieval fantasy novel is male, written by a female author. And it was good storytelling! I suppose the most basic premise of the book is that this kingdom has forbidden communication between humans and animals – in the past, there were some who practiced “animal magic,” but those days are gone (in part because of a wicked king who…well, I won’t give it away). And not only are they gone, they’re lost in legend. So you can imagine the trouble it would bring if the current king married a woman who could – and did – speak to animals.
And then we add in the storyline of the princess, Beatrice, and her hound. Beatrice is notoriously cold, her only relationship being a deep friendship with her hound. I’ll just say that I was rather thrown off by Harrison’s plot; she set everything up so that I could easily predict what was coming next – and then I turned out to be wrong. It was brilliant. Harrison included extremely subtle hints and foreshadowing for both the obvious and the surprise plots, which meant things still made sense even after I was caught off guard.
I might say that the book had too many loose ends tied up too neatly, but here my memory fails me. It could have been the opposite, that I had lingering questions left unanswered. If it is the latter, Harrison has followed this book with The Princess and the Bear (2009). I plan to read it.
Defining Twilight
Posted: January 20, 2010 Filed under: Book of Sand 1 Commentby Brian Leaf
{ 2009 | Cliffs Notes | 192 pgs }
I was kindly sent a copy of this book by the author for review. It’s a workbook that helps students learn vocabulary for the SAT and ACT by using words found in Twilight by Stephenie Meyers. Having both read Twilight and tutored a student preparing for the major standardized tests, I felt like I was in a good position to evaluate Leaf’s book.
The book contains 40 groups of vocabulary words, and for each group, students are asked to look up the words in their handy copy of Twilight and guess a definition based on context. Then the definitions are provided; students begin a series of drills: choosing synonyms, making analogies, and completing sentences.
While I liked the general structure of the book, there were two things I wished had been different. First, the vocabulary words are taken sequentially from Twilight, so they don’t increase in difficulty at all. Each group of words is from a 2-3 page range of text in the book. Second, there are only 8 drills for each group, which means not all words will have a practice exercise. (I could add a third complaint – that students must have a copy of Twilight with them, instead of being able to read the relevant sentences in the workbook – but since Leaf’s book is not specifically authorized by Meyers, I can understand why it was done this way.)
Overall, I think Defining Twilight would be a fun exercise for a Twilight fan preparing for college entrance exams, but only as a supplement to a more in-depth study aid.
Help!
Posted: January 18, 2010 Filed under: Dangerous Book for Boys Leave a comment(We’re working on getting internet in our apartment so I can actually blog. It’s just taking a while. Sorry.)
I have a problem. The Bwun still nurses to sleep. I am tired of it, and I’d really like for him to learn how to go to sleep on his own.
But I don’t know how to teach him. I need suggestions! Please, don’t tell me to let him cry. I have tried it. When I know he’s exhausted, I don’t mind putting him in his crib and letting him cry for 5 minutes or so. Any longer than that, an I not only start to feel guilty bit I get a killer headache.
From what I’ve heard, establishing a routine is crucial. Has it worked for you? Did your baby cry when you put him down, even if he knew it was bedtime and he was tired? I desperately want to figure this out. Help!
Jarom
Mika
hilleries 