The Last Dog on Earth!!

Title: The Last Dog on Earth

Author: Daniel Ehrenhaft

Genre: Adventure,

Description: A mysterious dog disease is gripping the state of Oregon, sending people into a frenzy! Logan Moore must protect his pooch, and must find a way to return the world to how it once normally was.

Cool Stuff: This book won 3rd place in the Division II 2008 Maud Hart Lovelace Awards. It totally should've gotten first.

Rating: *****! Seriously.

Alright, so it is kind of a lame description. It's good to be back and writing again, but I am a little out of practice. But trust me, this is an awesome, AWESOME book, and trust me, (again) I know a good book when I see one. I love the word pooch.

Anyway--there are tons of good things about this book. It rates in my top 5 favorite books.

To start, this story has an excellent hook. A couple, actually. The first is a strange, life or death situation, about a dog attack on another dog. It's sad, but gripping. Then it changes to a different location, and a little insert in the form of an incident report. It's a report of another dog attack, and this brings the same creepy hook. With these two first stories, you really want to know what's happening to these dogs. Not in a bad, impatient way, but you're interested. Hooked, actually. You can learn a good thing or two or three about hooks from this author.

The first time I read this book, I got blown over by the feeling. That's why I thought it deserved the Maud hart Lovelace Award. Don't strange dog attacks sound creepy? Well, it doesn't just sound creepy, it feels creepy. The story is written with three views. One, a little she-pup in a wolf pack being overcome by a sickness. Two, a strange teenage boy who hates a lot of things. Three, an unsocial, retired professor who lives in the peace and quiet with his dog companion. With the she-pup, you feel her terror as she runs for her life from the pack, the sickness filling her senses, driving her forward. With the boy, you feel his annoyance, and you are annoyed at the same things as him. With the professor, you feel his disregard for people, and his enjoyment with his dog. As the story progresses, you feel and understand their realization of this sickness, and of the urgency and the danger.

The story is written in an appealing way as well. Among the chapters, which include the different views of the two people and animal, you have news articles, statements between different people of authority, email exchanges, interviews/news articles, so you actually get more than three views. these also show what is going on outside the world of the main character that helps bring the story to life.

Once you get this book started, you won't be able to put it down!!

Wicked: Revisited

Title: Wicked

Author: Gregory McGuire

Genre: I forgot the genre on my last review of this, but I am not quite sure what it would be. Fantasy, definitely, but I am not sure of what else.

Description: The life and times of the Wicked Witch of the West. I suppose.

All right, now that that is all out of the way, I would like to treat you readers to the view of another distinguished reader. I received an email from this reader, who has, unlike me, finished this book and here is what they think: (ta-da!)

Dear Raindrop,
I finished Wicked. This is an adult book. Lots of promiscuous sex. Lots of boring political talk. Plenty of nasty violence. And some philosophical discussions on the nature of evil.

I picked out what I thought I would use to make this into a musical. Then we printed up the 18 pages that are available on Wikipedia so I could compare my ideas to reality. Well, I was wrong. Entirely. I guess it hadn't occurred to me that the musical would just use the idea of telling The Wizard of Oz from a different point of view than Dorothy's, and then just take the names and some of the personalities from Wicked and entirely rewrite the book. People who die in the book do not die in the musical. People important to the plot in the book never appear in the musical. The nature of evil is never particularly addressed. Some of the better dramatic moments in the book (that could translate well to a musical) are never used.

From the description, it sounds like the music is all one song instead of separate songs for separate characters or events. This reminds me of Willy Russel's Blood Brothers (which I really like and have seen twice in London, by the way, in different years), where all the songs are different words to what is basically the same tune. Unifying, I guess. Though I am more attuned to a structure like South Pacific or Oklahoma, what the Wikipedia article calls a leit motif for each character.

So, where the book is X and R rated, the musical sounds like it is pretty generally G, and I think that is fine. Probably it is a better musical than it is a book. The book took forever to read (406 pages and not a masterpiece of writing) and I thought a lot of it was sad if not totally disgusting--and I wondered how the musical would deal with that. The answer is: it doesn't deal with it at all. It leaves it out.
-JCF

Thanks to our reviewer!! I hope you readers are all intrigued to go see the musical, but to put the book in up in the attic or the dumpster (anyplace will do) and pick up the Willoughbys(review coming soon). Here is my quick response:

From my experiences, I would say that all of Gregory McGuire's books are mainly for adults. I tried reading Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, (it was a birthday present from a friend when I turned 9 or 10) but it is along the same lines as Wicked. I think kids look at the book and think, "Wow, the true story of the Wicked Witch of the West. That sounds really cool." Well, guess again. They may also believe the book is like the musical. One of my sister's friends gave Wicked to her on her 10th birthday. Gregory McGuire's books must make good birthday presents, but they are not totally great as reading books.

Lovely Pictures

This is a picture of raindrops that I really like:

And I also like Papa Smurf:

The Loveliest Thing on Earth

Don't you just love libraries?
All those wonderful books covering the shelves, just for you to enjoy reading.
The library I always go to has this wonderful little reading spot in the corner of the library, surrounded by windows and with several cushy armchairs. I could live in the library.
And thanks to the online library catalog, I have all the pictures of the books I review. So thank you, libraries, for supplying those pictures (and thanks for just existing, too)!
I love my library card.
I have a cool one, a red one with the library design on it. On the back it has my name and my signature from when I was five or six. I am sad though, because I had it in my pocket and it got bent, and the signature is wearing off. I don't want to get a new one, because the new cards are green with weird lettering.
Maybe I will be a librarian someday. My friends say I should be a teacher because I am so patient. Who knows? the future is a strange and complicated thing, in my opinion.
I love libraries.
No offense to bookstores, of course. The only difference is that you pay for the books and then you get to keep them.

I want a shirt that says this:

Have you been to a library today?

Or this:

I'd rather be reading!

Lights, Camera--Action!!!!!

Title: Stormbreaker

Author: Anthony Horowitz

Genre: Mystery, High ADVENTURE!!

Description: A 14 year old boy becomes a spy.

WARNING: those of you who are weak of heart, be careful when reading this book. This is one of the most action-packed books I have ever read, and I was constantly kept on my toes as the character performed numerous highly dangerous acts. At the start of the book, it is actually fairly low key, but then the main character (Alex) starts learning lots of startling information very fast, and things really speed up. I mean really speed up. Alex gets into to one dangerous situation after another, and you can't put the book down for fear that next time you pick it up, Alex finally will have gone too far and he will be dead. Even at the very end, when you think, Oh, this is the happy ending, and then they hit you with one last gripping scene. One may say it is a little too much, and yes, that is probably true. There is a lot of tension and suspense and high adventure and mystery and all that, but there isn't a lot of character development or some rest time in between all of Alex's tight situations. And because there isn't a lot of time for you to get to know the character, I do admit I momentarily forgot his name while writing this review. I did enjoy most of this book, and I could hardly put it down. I haven't read a book like that in a while. So if you would like something chock full of adventure and mystery and suspense, go check out Stormbreaker from your local library!

Trial By Journal

Title: Trial by Journal

Author: Kate Klise

Genre: Juvenile fict., Mystery

Description: 12 year old Lily Watson has been selected as the first juvenile juror in the Tyleville Court, to decide the case of the murder of Perry Keet. She relates her experiences through a journal.

I really like the way this story is told, because we get many different points of view, and it gives a lot of clues for the reader to decode or go "Ohh, I see-" at the very end. First off, we have the view of the main character, who is a twelve-year-old girl. She knew the murdered boy (Perry) from school, so this gives her some extra knowledge on the subject. Then, included in her "journal", are some exerpts from an autobiography being written by one of the other jurors, Fawn Papillion, who is a retired actress. Even though these are supposed to be the beginnings of a book, Fawn writes in them like her own diary, so we get her view of things as well. Then, also included in the journal, are some newpaper clippings. This gives the view of the general public, and things that are happening outside the jurors' world. There are also some messages written from one juror to an overly popular and controlling zoo/amusement park owner, who seem to have some strange connection. Then there are notes written from the main character Lily, to the woman who comes in to clean her hotel room, Robin. So here we have a murder case unfolding, and a bunch of stuff going on, and it is really cool, because IT ALL FITS! I was one of the people who, when I finished the book, went "Ohh, I see!!" This is a pretty entertaining read, although simple, so if you are looking for something interesting but not too complicated or confusing, try reading this.

You may have noticed the interesting names some of these characters have...

Twilight

Title: Twilight

Author: Stephanie Meyer

Genre: Romance, Fantasy

Description: A girl (Bella) falls in love with a vampire (Edward).


Big deal. I have to ask you Twilight fans, why do you find it interesting? You can probably tell I was not impressed with this story. Maybe it's because I am not really into romance novels. Maybe it is because Bella and Edward take 300 pages, (at least) just to fall in love. Maybe it is because it gets exciting only for 1 page. Or maybe it is because Bella is so obsessed with Edward you can hardly stand it. I have to say that there wasn't really any part I liked. In the book anyway. I did go see the movie, and I do think they made the part where the vampires play baseball pretty good. So I liked that part, but just in the movie. Edward was an okay character, but I didn't like that even though he knows that he is a vampire, but he acts really dumb about it. For instance, there is one point in the story where Bella faints because Edward dazzles her so much, and he says, "Do I really dazzle you?" C'mon Edward, you are a vampire, and you said yourself that everything about you was designed to be attractive to humans. But he seems to really enjoy being fainted over. Speaking of characters, I really don't like Bella; she is a weak character. It seems like she wouldn't exist without Edward, and he is all she thinks about. But she isn't the only one. Edward probably has about 200 girlfriends at my school alone. My own friend is absolutely sure that Edward is her next door neighbor. Aren't there so many other better books besides Twilight??? I constantly ask this to Twilight-obsessed classmates. But they seemed to be incurably addicted to it. I hope you, reader, do not limit yourself to just one book in a world of thousands.

Wicked

Title: Wicked

Author: Gregory MaGuire

Description: Um...the life of the wicked witch and why she is so wicked. I think.

Well, I didn't actually read this book, I just started it. But I think it is a little uh... complicated for me right now. You see, I really really really wanted to see the new musical they just made of it, but I missed it, so I decided to comprise by getting the soundtrack instead. Which is very good, by the way. My favorite songs are all of them. But, of course, i don't know how the songs fit into the story. So I then decided to read the book. I do think it is sort of "adultish"; the sentences are long with lots of big words, and you have to read the paragraph/sentence a couple of times to figure out what the author is trying to say. So I might wait to start it. But I really want to know the story! And I've already memorized the soundtrack!! I was looking up books on the library catalog, and now I want to read Son of a Witch (the sequel). I will have to read the Wicked series sometime. Once I finish the Odyssey.

HP5

Title: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Harry Potter 5, for short)

Author: J. K. Rowling

Genre: Fantasy, Adventure

Description: Harry is back for the 5th time!! In this book, Harry faces explusion from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, then battles with an evil Ministry Affiliate while forming a secret army under her nose, then finally faces Voldemort and his Death Eaters in intense combat!! It's filled with excitement, don't miss it!

I just had to throw that last comment in there. This is probably my favorite of the 7 Harry Potter books, 1) because it is full of action, and if there is anything I can't stand, it is a boring book where nothing happens. This is not true in Harry Potter 5. It is full of excitement just from the beginning. and 2) it has Dolores Umbridge in it! I don't like her, but she is a super evil villain, and where would the story be without her? If Harry lived happily throughout the whole book, you could sleep while you read it. Anyway, Umbridge also adds to the action part. She keeps the story alive in her own wicked ways.

The almost best part of this book (in my opinion) has to do with Fred and George, the Weasley twins. They turn on such a fabulous show of tricks, mischief, pranks and more; it is so entertaining! J.K. Rowling put some nice effort into creating the Weasley twins. Go Fred and George! May the fun go on forever!

Now, I often think the character Harry has a couple of flaws. At the beginning of the story, he is stuck at his aunt and uncle's house, and is feeling a little annoyed, but really wants to see his best friends. So when he sees them, he yells at them for 5 minutes for having a good time together without him, completely ignoring whatever they have to say. Then he loses his temper repeatedly throughout the book. Maybe he should take some anger management classes.

Book #1

Title: The True Meaning of Smekday

Author: Adam Rex

Genre: Science Fiction, Adventure

Description: This book is about an 11-year-old girl named Gratuity Tucci (nicknamed Tip) who lives in the United States, 2013. Like we have predicted, things are different in the future. Mainly, Earth has been taken over by the Boov, who are eight-legged aliens with weird eating habits. Earth now bears the name of Smekland. Everyone in America is being herded into one state: Florida. Gratuity skips taking the rocketpods there and decides to drive (which she learned how to do after her mother was abducted by the aliens.) On her journey, she meets a Boov named J.Lo. J.Lo is on the run, and the two soon form a team. Together, (in Gratuity's amazing floating car Slushious) they search for Gratuity's mom, discover the secret of Happy Mouse Kingdom, meet some fascinating characters, and finally conquer the threat of another more serious alien invasion.

I just have to say one more thing. If you haven't read The True Meaning of Smekday, go out to your nearest library/bookstore and get it ASAP!!

Hello, All You Happy People

Hello everyone. I guess I'll explain what you will find when you visit Raindrop's Bookshelf, for my first entry. Raindrop is me. Hi. Anyway, I love to read, so I will tell you about all the books I've read. Maybe I will say they are really good. Maybe I'll say it is the worst book I've ever read. Of course, you should always choose books that have topics of your own interest, but if you want to read something good, come here for recommendations.