Recommended for ages 0-4
Dora the Explorer and her friend, Boots the Monkey, are riding a train to the circus and need help finding their way there and in avoiding Swiper the Fox. Readers also get to count from one to three in English and Spanish with circus animals. Dora is always a good choice for toddlers and preschoolers, and this book is no exception. The lift the flaps create interest, and there are bilingual lessons in every book.
Blame this guy right here. He arrived in June, so I’ve been a little distracted. I’m also finishing up a tough semester, with the last two classes of my grad school career. But I promise you, reviews are coming. I’m going to be moving the Teen book reviews I did for my other class to this blog shortly, along with the 0-4 books I’m doing for my class this semester, and I’ll also be blogging regular reviews as I get to read books of my own choosing again. Hurrah!
In the meantime, you can catch up with some comic book reviews I’ve started doing at my friend Chuck’s blog, What’cha Reading?
Stay tuned. I promise, there will be new stuff coming. And thanks.
Recommended for ages 9-12
What would you do if the school oddball showed up with an Origami Yoda on his finger and started dispensing advice one day? What would you do if his advice actually made sense and worked? That’s the dilemma facing McQuarrie Middle School sixth grader Tommy Lomax as he creates the case file known as The Strange Case of Origami Yoda.
At first, Tommy and his friends think Origami Yoda is just another one of Dwight’s odd quirks, but as Origami Yoda’s advice continues to produce positive results and even borders on predicting the future, Tommy and his friends end up seeking Dwight and Origami Yoda out. Tommy has a particular reason for wanting advice and struggles between believing in Origami Yoda’s connection to The Force and the fear of falling victim to a hoax. He compiles a series of case studies from classmates’ experiences with Yoda to review and make a decision; his friend Kellen adds illustratrations and his frenemy Harvey adds his own commentary. Harvey does not believe in Yoda and thinks everyone’s crazy for buying into the whole scheme.
The book is hilarious. It’s a fun read, written from the point of view of Tommy and his friends, with different handwriting and computer fonts and line drawings to give the reader a feeling of reading a middle schooler’s notebook. The banter between characters, carried out on paper, is fun and realistic – there’s sarcasm and anxiety aplenty to go with the light humorous pace. The book is a great, quick read for boys and girls alike looking for a funny book.
The Strange Case of Origami Yoda is the first in a planned trilogy of books by Tom Angleberger. Its sequel, Darth Paper Strikes Back, was released this past summer. The book has won several awards including the Cybil Award for best middle-grade fiction, The Dorothy Canfield-Fisher Award for 2011/2012, and the E.B. White Read-Aloud Award for Middle Grade Fiction.
The author maintains an Origami Yoda/Darth Paper blog that offers tips on folding one’s own Yoda or Darth Paper, along with a “Super Folders Forum” for users to communicate. He also shares a blog with fellow author Sam T. Riddleburger, Berger & Burger.
Greetings, and welcome to my blog, Mom Read It! I’ll be blogging about what I read here, mainly ‘tween focused, for my LIBR264 class, Materials for Tweens, at San Jose State University. I’ll be using my own kids, as well as their teachers, as a guideline for a lot of these books. Please feel free to post your feedback and suggestions.
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