100 Cupboards

by N.D. Wilson

After Henry's parents disappear somewhere in Colombia, he is sent to live with his aunt and uncle in Henry Kansas. Henry has led a rather sheltered life - at 12 he was worried that his aunt and uncle would get arrested for leaving him home alone; he's never had soda; his parents wanted him to wear a helmet in PE, etc - and rather enjoys the freedoms he has found. One night, he wakes up when plaster from his wall falls on his head and discovers that the wall in his room is covered in cupboards. 99 to be exact. As Henry and his cousin Henrietta explore the cupboards (by looking in, they are to small to fit through) they begin to learn their secrets. Eventually a larger cupboard is found and they visit another world, while an unfriendly character makes an appearance in ours.

Henry is an enjoyable character. Due to his apparently overprotective parents, he's pretty odd, but he's got a good head on his shoulders and seems pretty reasonable. He was furious that Henrietta would try to go into the cupboards herself because of the danger that might be there, which seemed like an appropriate response. It was actually kind of refreshing to have a cautious hero, instead of someone who just runs into things without thinking.

I also really liked Uncle Frank. While he is pretty well developed, I feel like we hardly got to know him. There are some pretty major revelations at the end of the story, and it just makes me want to know so much more about him.

This book starts off slow. I didn't mind the pacing, but I think if I were younger, I would have found it boring and quit before the good stuff. It also is the first in a series (I want to say trilogy, but I can't seem to find anything to back that up...), so while the ending doesn't leave you hanging it's fairly muddled and feels a bit rushed. There is definitely a lot more that will happen, and I am pretty interested in seeing where it will go. I currently have lots of questions and very few answers.

4 out of 5 stars

Thieves

How do you choose a new book at the bookstore?

My sister-in-law has a large book budget and buys anything that looks interesting. She's found that green and purple covers tend to draw her in. How's that for kind of random? If you want her to buy a book, just make the main cover color green or purple, chances are she will at least read the cover. That's not to say that she won't buy a blue or red book, but she finds that she is more drawn to green and purple - and I've noticed a lot of the books she recommends/gives me have green or purple covers!

Currently we are poor students, so I don't buy many books. If I am going to spend the money, it's on something that I know I will like (anything by Cornelia Funke, the newest book in a series, etc).

A couple of months ago, my husband went on a book buying binge for me. He was out of town for Valentine's day and felt like he needed to make it up to me (or something). Anyway. He got several books that were on my list of must owns. Then, he picked out two that weren't. One was based on a recommendation from a bookseller (it was The Time Travelers, which was a success). The other book he bought simply because the word "thieves" was in the title.

You see, I seem to have a thing for "thief" books. Here are a few that I enjoyed and can think of off the top of my head:

Peter and the Shadow Thieves, by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson
The Lightning Thief, by Rick Riordan
The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak
The Thief Lord, by Cornelia Funke

and the list continues. The book my husband bought that day was The Shadow Thieves, by Anne Ursu, which I thoroughly enjoyed (see my review here). Currently, there are a few books on my must read list with thief in the title.

Are there any themes to your book buying traits? Do you look for key words/phrases? pretty covers? a particular color perhaps?

Three Cups of Tea

by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin

This is a pretty amazing story.

Three Cups of Tea is the true story of Greg Mortenson, who upon failing to summit K2 stumbles quite ill and emaciated into Korphe, a remote village in Pakistan. The people of this village nurse him back to health, and he falls in love with them. During his stay, he asks to visit the school, and is brought to a large field where 84 children were writing in the dirt with sticks. No teacher, no books, just the children studying as best they could. The village leader, Haji Ali, explained that they couldn't afford to pay a teacher, so a teacher comes to the village occasionally, and the children study on their own the rest of the time. Greg promises to come back to Korphe and build the village a school. And he does.

There is so much to say about the work that Mortenson does. He is the director of the Central Asia Institute (CAI), which (as of 2007) has established more than 61 schools in rural areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan. After he learns that providing girls with at least a 5th grade education will help prevent infant mortality, population explosion, and overall health and sanitation of a village, he began focusing more towards (though not exclusively) girl's education. He also helps fund projects for clean water and women's halls (where all the local women can get together to sew, etc). He figures that with the unhealthy water that they have now, one in three children don't even make it to their first birthday in these villages. You can't educate someone that isn't there.

I had the opportunity to hear Mortenson speak at a local event this past week. He seems like an honest, humble man doing what he can to help people he loves. He really isn't in this for the "glory." He showed a picture of a school, and said that he was proud of this school because it had taken almost 8 years to convince the local leaders to allow it to be built. He is in it for the long term and he is willing to learn the customs and mores of the area he is in order to build a school that they will be proud of and use.

Mortenson also had a lot of interesting facts about the importance of education in these areas. He said that people that decide to be suicide bombers are without hope. They see no other way of succeeding in life. By providing an education to people in rural areas, they are given some hope. He also talked about former members of the Taliban that he works with (four are teachers in his school), and all of them joined the Taliban for the money. They were given a signing bonus and after six months of service something like $200. They didn't feel they had any other choice.

It's truly a fascinating read. This one man has had such a positive effect on thousands of lives.

The one thing that I didn't like about this book is the writing. First of all, it's written in third person, which is not what I was expecting, considering the main character is listed as the first author. But, even without that little complaint, the writing really isn't that great. It sometimes takes a long time to say simple things and that can get really frustrating. There are also a lot of non-English words used throughout, and not all of them are fully explained. Possibly they are terms that everyone should know, but I didn't, and it got a little frustrating trying to figure some of them out.

However, even with this small(ish) complaint, I highly recommend the book. It gives you lots of food for thought and would make a great discussion book for a book club.

Mary Poppins

By P.L. Travers


Mary Poppins is a nanny who arrives on Cherry Tree Lane to care for the Banks children, Jane, Michael, John and Barbara (twin infants). While with Mary the children go on all sorts of adventures, including meeting her uncle, who happens to be full of laughing gas that causes the children to float up into the air. They see and hear about a red cow (that formerly danced) and help a star shop for her six sisters. Eventually, the wind changes and as promised at the beginning of the book, Mary Poppins must leave on her next adventure.

So, I figured after my pouting session last week, I should go ahead and review Mary Poppins.

First the good. Mary Poppins is a very clever story. Actually, it's almost a collection of stories with each chapter bringing a new adventure. I particularly enjoyed the chapter shared by the baby twins where they both emphatically declare that they won't grow up. Or at least, if they do grow up that they will still be able to speak with animals, the wind, and other parts of nature. My favorite part of that chapter is when the twins are crying and their mother is trying to comfort them for something unrelated. Eventually John takes pity on her explaining that it's not really her fault that she never says the right thing and stops crying. Don't you ever wonder if that's what really happens? I don't have kids, but some days watching other parents calm their kids it seems like that might be happening. Screaming, screaming, screaming. Mom and dad trying to calm them down and then suddenly, even though nothing has changed baby is fine again.

I also really enjoyed the trip to the zoo at night. Everything was reversed, so people were in cages and the animals walked around. Fortunately, no one tried to eat Jane or Michael as they wandered with the animals.

Now, the not so good. I hated Mary Poppins. She was vein, rude, and always yelling at the kids. She lied and actually stole from them too. There didn't really seem to be any reason for this. She just simply didn't seem to like kids. Which, is kind of ironic since she practically volunteered to be their nanny. When she was with Bert (the match man, not chimney sweep), she was quite delightful and fun. It was only when the children were around that she was nasty.

I don't necessarily mind people that are rude, mean, etc in books if there is a reason for it. Snape was a good foil for Harry throughout the books. But, meanness for the sake of meanness, just got annoying.

On the whole, the book was ok. I would probably give it 3.5 stars out of five - slightly better than ok, but not great. As much as I hate to say it, I would probably recommend watching the movie over reading this one. At least the movie leaves you with a good taste in your mouth (except for Chainreader :) ). Plus, I am cheesy and like Julie Andrews musicals.

Heart of the Child Challenge Update

So, I realized the other day that I am moving in May and that I may or may not have access to the internet or a library for a month (or more) after that. So, instead of spreading out the books over the next few months, I decided I ought to try to finish them all before I move.

As a result of this decision, I have a bunch of books on hold at the library. We've got a rather small library (it drives me crazy!), and they only have one copy of pretty much every book, so I often have a long line of books on hold there.

And without further ado, here is a brief review about the only book that I have finished to date.

The Amusement Park Mystery, by Gertrude Chandler Warner

I kind of have mixed feelings about this book. It was my favorite book for several years, and it really was the book that cemented my love for reading to myself (and for mysteries). It's the first book that I remember checking out from the library on my own accord and completely reading by myself on my own accord. I have a lot of fond memories of the book.

However, upon re-reading it, I can't believe how dumb it was. It made me really sad. The writing was poor and very very repetitive. Also, the kids don't really solve the mystery. It just kind of unravels at the end. Mostly, I am going to remember from the third graders perspective and pretend that I didn't re-read it.

Hatchet is the next book on my list. Hopefully it will go better than the first!

Tunnels

by Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams

Will Burrows loves to dig. He helps his father with archaeological digs, and he also digs his own tunnels for fun. Through a series of seemingly random events, Dr. Burrows (Will's father) discovers some passageways below London and goes exploring without telling anyone where he's going. After several days, Will and his sister Rebecca become concerned and call the cops. Will decides to take matters into his own hands and discovers a new tunnel that his father had dug. With his friend Chester, they head underground in an attempt to rescue his father. They end up finding a colony of people controlled by an evil upper class known as the Styx, and the real adventure begins.

I kind of feel sorry for this book. It's been hailed as the next Harry Potter (via a press conference), and really is there any better way to get people's hopes up so high that it can't help but fail? I have no idea how well it's doing, but other than the press conference I haven't read anything else about it.

I liked Tunnels. I think it could have used a good editor; there was a lot of unnecessary information which caused it to get a little long. But, on the whole, I liked it. Will is an interesting character that for the most part I cheered on. His home life lacks something to be desired, and as the story progresses, opens lots of questions.

Tam is my favorite character. He lives in the underworld and really welcomes Will, and helps Will do the things that he wants and needs to do. He comes to the rescue more than once, and he is able to add humor in a place that really lacks it.

I am also really interested in learning more about every member of Will's family. I can't think of what else to say without giving too much away, so I'll stop there. But there are a couple of twists (one I saw coming a mile away and one that really surprised me) that really add to the story.

As to the Harry Potter question. I don't really know if it's the next Harry Potter, but in complete honesty, did you know Harry Potter was going to be Harry Potter after reading The Sorcerer's Stone? Tunnels is a fun story that appears like it will add depth as we learn the background of the Colony and specific characters. It's also very different in that there's no magic, Will is loved by his parents (at least his dad), and so far there isn't an older person watching over and directing his actions. Will is pretty much on his own. So, maybe. If not, it's still a fun read.

I should also mention that the book doesn't really end. None of the characters are in immediate danger, but the story will definitely be continued. If that bothers you, you may want to wait until the next book (Deeper) is released sometime in January 2009. Just fair warning to those of you who are already anxiously waiting for too many sequels as it is.

March 2008 Booklist

Picture Books

Officer Buckle and Gloria, by Peggy Rathmann *
Rupunzel, by Paul O. Zelinsky
The Funny Little Woman, by Arlene Mosel
Paperboy, by Dav Pilkey
Hey Al, by Arthur Yorinks *
May I Bring a Friend?, by Beatrice Schenk De Regniers and Beni Montresor
Arrow to the Sun, by Gerald McDermott
The Hello, Goodbye Window, by Norton Juster and Chris Raschka *
Zin! Zin! Zin! a Violin, by Lloyd Moss and Marjorie Priceman *
Make Way for Ducklings, by Robert McCloskey
Mirette on the High Wire, by Emily Arnold McCully
Sam, Bangs, and Moonshine, by Evaline Ness *
The Little House, by Virginia Lee Burton
Grandfather's Journey, by Allen Say
One Fine Day, by Nonny Hogrogian

Early Readers
Moxy Maxwell does not Love Stewart Little, by Peggy Gifford *
Piper Reed, Navy Brat, by Kimberly Willis Holt

Middle Readers
A Crooked Kind of Perfect, by Linda Urban *
Leepike Ridge, by N.D. Wilson *
The Amusement Park Mystery, Created by Gertrude Chandler Warner
Ginger Pye, by Eleanor Estes * (audio book)
The Lacemaker and the Princess, by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley
Mary Poppins, by PL Travers (audio book)

Young Adult
Tithe, by Holly Black
The Shadow Thieves, by Anne Ursu *
The Higher Power of Lucky, by Susan Patron
The Siren Song, by Anne Ursu *
The Time Travellers, by Linda Buckley-Archer *
Artemis Fowl, by Eoin Colfer * (re-read)
Tunnels, by by Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams *

Adult
A Darkness at Sethanon, by Raymond E. Feist
Gulliver's Travels, by Jonathan Swift (audio book)
The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde (attempted, but quit about 1/2 way through)
The Promise, by Chaim Potok

* = a favorite