Family Reads

Quick Pick: Squirrel is Hungry

Squirrel is Hungry

by Satoshi Kitamura © 1996, 14 pages Level 1 (all about levels)Amazon Reviews

One of our favorite books when Ben was young was the delightful Squirrel is Hungry. It's a lovely, simple board book with just a few short words on each page. We read it again and again and again, until all of us had it memorized. It's a bit hard to find now, but worth tracking down if you know of a young one who loves backyard friends.
The reason this book came to mind recently is we've had quite a few squirrel visitors of late. In the spring, five baby squirrels were born in our backyard and lived for a couple of months in one of our trees. Watching them slowly explore the world, and then quickly get on with the task of playing and chasing one another was incredibly fun for all of us.

The heat of the summer has brought us another squirrel friend, this one in our front yard. It likes to nap in the afternoon on one of our branches. As we come and go, it watches us carefully and we finally decided to offer it a little food. Though it's still deciding whether we can be trusted, it certainly enjoys our pecans.

Enjoy our own Squirrel is Hungry tale through these photos!

Nim's Island: A Movie Review

Last weekend, we headed out to the theater to enjoy the brand-new family movie, Nim's Island. Although Family Reads is dedicated dependably delightful books, we can't resist doing a quick review of this terrific film.

Nim's Island may be the perfect movie for families who love books. The film tells the story of a young girl, Nim, who lives alone on a remote island with her father. The only thing Nim loves more than her unique life is reading, particularly the series of books featuring the world's greatest adventurer, Alex Rover. When her dad goes missing, Nim manages to contact Alex Rover and ask for help. What she doesn't realize is that she is actually exchanging emails with the book's author, Alexandra Rover, who is far from an adventurer. In fact, Alexandra is a recluse who is afraid of just about anything. In order to help Nim, Alexandra must capture a bit of the courage she so often writes about.

As you can see, the world of books plays a huge part in Nim's Island. The movie does a terrific job of capturing a young girl's imagination as she reads, as well as the interesting challenges of a writer's life. The fact that Nim's Island is based on a popular book has a lot to do with that. We haven't yet read the book, but I doubt we'll be able to resist it now.

We highly recommend Nim's Island as a fun movie treat for the whole family (particularly 6+). You just can't go wrong with such a well-made, entertaining movie. Plus, how often do you leave a theater eager to dive into a new book, whether reading or writing?

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The Great Brain

The Great Brain

by John D. Fitzgerald
© 1967, 192 pages Level 4 (all about levels)Amazon Reviews

 

I grew up with the seven Great Brain books and after having the chance to read them with Ben, they remain some of my favorites.

The series begins with The Great Brain. The books are written from the perspective of J.D. Fitzgerald, the youngest of three boys. J.D.'s older brother, Tom, is known as the Great Brain, due to his impressive intellect and his conniving, money-loving heart.

The Fitzgerald's live in a small town in Utah at the end of the 19th century. The stories are loosely based on the author's childhood and provide an interesting look at American life during that time. Each book has a general theme, but most chapters are standalone adventures. Tom's schemes usually involve ways to charge his many friends for one thing or another and he's quite successful, at least until his parents discover what he's up.

There are many times that he uses his great brain for good, though, whether solving a crime or mystery or revealing a local fraud. The stories are very entertaining and often suspenseful. The books celebrate the importance of family, parents, serving others, and using your talents. My only cautions are the small moments that younger children might find a touch frightening and a few realities of the time period that may need to be explained.

My favorite book in the series is The Great Brain at the Academy, but you can start with any of the books and won't be too lost. If your family hasn't discovered these books yet, you are in for a treat.

Lawn Boy

Lawn Boy

by David McPhail
© 2007, 96 pages Level 5 (all about levels)Amazon Reviews

 

Ben and I often find ourselves reading lengthy, intricate novels together that can take months for us to complete. After we finished our latest book, Lori found Lawn Boy, a short, light-hearted story that we finished in just over a week.  It is written by Gary Paulsen, author of numerous terrific books for children and young adults. Reading a wide variety of books in style, length, and subject, keeps things fun for everyone.

The book tells the story of a 12-year old boy who is given a riding lawn mower for his birthday by his eccentric grandmother. With the start of summer, he decides to mow a lawn or two to earn some money for a bike repair. Things quickly expand from there and before he knows it, his lawn business has grown to include most of the neighborhood, numerous employees, a stockbroker, and more money than he knows what to do with.

Lawn Boy includes a lot of subtle lessons about business, investing and capitalism that make it very interesting (it even goes so far as to touch briefly on illegal workers). It's a great way to introduce your child to the world of finance. I actually think the book would have benefited from being a bit longer, but it is a unique read that will leave most children with a fresh desire to start a summer venture!

Howl's Moving Castle

Howl's Moving Castle

by Diana Wynne Jones © 1986, 212 pages Level 5 (all about levels) Read Amazon Reviews

 

Ben and I have watched the animated Japanese classic Howl's Moving Castle twice and enjoyed it immensely. The movies of Hayao Miyazaki are unlike any other animated films, featuring very strong and interesting characters (particularly females) and out-of-this-world moments. When we came across the book in our library, we were very curious to see how it would compare to the film, and what questions it would answer. While we were reading it together, our family was actually reading three books by Diana Wynne Jones at the same time! Here is our first father/son co-review.

Brian

Howl's Moving Castle is such a unique book that I would actually recommend seeing the movie first if possible. The two are actually very different, but the movie gives some context and imagery that can make it easier to grasp the story, particularly the moving castle itself.

The book tells the story of Sophie, the oldest of three sisters, who works in a hat shop until she is placed under a spell by the Witch of the Waste. The spell turns Sophie into an old woman and causes her to flee her home. She eventually comes to live in the moving castle with the infamous young wizard Howl and an interesting cast of characters. It seems nearly everyone is under a spell of some sort, and the book tells the story of each character's attempt to be free.

As in the movie, there are any number of odd things going on, but the characters shrug their shoulders and accept the strangeness, without investing a lot of energy in trying to understand it all. There are many delightful moments in the book, but to truly enjoy Howl's Moving Castle, I recommend you do the same.

Ben

This was a good book. Although there are some very strange parts in this novel, it is still fairly easy to understand. You should not read this book to a younger child, because it does have a few scary parts. If you want to read this book, you need a large attention span, as the writing is very complex, and sometimes takes a while to digest.

This book is quite different from the Dianna Wynne Jones books we've read so far, but still has all of her charm and wit.

The Number Devil

The Number Devil

by Lane Smith
© 2000, 264 pages Level 5 (all about levels)Amazon Reviews

 

The Number Devil is an incredibly unique, smart and creative book. It tells the story of a young boy named Robert who finds math both frustrating and boring. He suffers from a difficult, intimidating instructor, so much so that he begins to have very odd dreams.

In the dreams, he is visited by the Number Devil, a teacher of sorts who is determined to educate this young man in the most important mathematical concepts. The Number Devil, unsurprisingly, thinks very highly of math and wants Robert to not only learn it, but appreciate its beauty and power. Each chapter is a different night's dream and lesson.

You may think that convincing your children to read such a book would be a hard sell, but The Number Devil is very funny as well as interesting and is filled with inventive illustrations. The book does teach concepts along the way, but it is far from a text book. The words used to represent and explain the concepts are of another world.

As Robert grows more and more confident, so will your child. By the time you finish The Number Devil, numbers have become things to play with, explore, and master. It's a challenging and fun read, and an especially good choice to read aloud with your son or daughter.

Castle of Books

Castle of Books

by Bernard Clavel
© 2002, 30 pages Level 2 (all about levels)Amazon Reviews

 

Castle of Books tells the story of an imaginative boy named Ben who lives with his father, a writer, in a house filled with books. What could be a better choice for my first review?

Actually, the boy's name is Benjamin and his father is a poet, but I nevertheless felt very close to this story from the first time I read it with Ben. Also, my own father loved words and wrote poetry constantly in his later years. The book was originally published in France and remains rather hard to find, but hopefully you can track down a copy.

In the book, Benjamin wants desperately to live in a castle and decides to build himself one out of the thousands of books that fill his house. His father is intensely focused on his latest poem, so he doesn't notice as more and more of his books go missing. The two continue their projects separately, building the castle and the poem bit by bit, until things take a turn and the father and son discover the joy of shared pursuits.

The book is a bit different than the typical tale, but it celebrates creativity, even in failure, and is a pleasure to read.