A Fun Read! An Exploration of the Possible Differences Between Reviews of Children’s Books from Specialist Magazines, Newspapers, Amazon.com and Book Reviewing Websites for Children
Masterproef Taal- en Letterkunde: Engels Jessica Boeykens
Promotor Dr. Vanessa Joosen
Assessor: Prof. dr. Geert Lernout
Faculteit Letteren en Wijsbegeerte Academiejaar 2009-2010 Mei 2010 Faculteit Letteren en Wijsbegeerte Masterproef Taal- en Letterkunde Master Engels
A Fun Read! An Exploration of the Possible Differences Between Reviews of Children's Books from Specialist Magazines, Newspapers, Amazon.com and Book Reviewing Websites for Children.
Jessica Boeykens
Promotor: Vanessa Joosen Assessor: Geert Lernout
Universiteit Antwerpen Academiejaar 2009-2010
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This dissertation is the result of a long and sometimes difficult process. It started when a friend informed me of Wetenschapswinkel and its database of research topics. Within this database I came across Stichting Lezen’s interest with regard to the practice of reviewing children’s literature. Being a reviewer of children’s books myself, my interest was immediately sparked. In the months that followed, this thesis slowly began to take shape. My sincere thanks go to my supervisor Vanessa Joosen for guiding me along the way. I benefited a great deal from her advice and am grateful for her patience. I am also indebted to Mieke De Lathouwers from Wetenschapswinkel for her trust and encouragement. Furthermore, many thanks to the people from Stichting Lezen, first of all for inspiring me, secondly for their financial support and thirdly for their excellent as well as pleasant library. I must also express my gratitude towards my parents and grandmother, for their moral as well as financial support. Finally, I would like to express special thanks to my boyfriend. I owe him an immense debt of gratitude for lending me his strength as well as his word-processing skills.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ...... 1
TABLE OF CONTENTS ...... 2
INTRODUCTION ...... 4
I. ASPECTS OF REVIEWING CHILDREN’S BOOKS ...... 7
1.1 Authorship: Professionals versus Amateurs ...... 7 1.2 Audience ...... 11 1.3 Orientations within criticism of children’s literature ...... 12 1.4 Implications ...... 14
II. APPROACH TO THE ANALYSIS ...... 15
2.1 Krikhaar and Ros ...... 15 2.2 Revising the Approach ...... 17 2.3 The Adapted Model ...... 21
III. SURVEY OF THE REVIEWS AND MATERIALS USED ...... 23
3.1 The Reviews ...... 23 3.1.1 Magazines ...... 25 3.1.2 Newspapers ...... 25 3.1.3 Internet: Amazon ...... 26 3.1.4 Internet: Children ...... 27 3.2 The Books ...... 28
IV. ANALYSIS OF THE REVIEWS ...... 30
4.1 Content description ...... 30 4.1.1 Defining the Questions ...... 30 4.1.2 Analyzing Content Description ...... 32 4.2 Situating ...... 34 4.3 Directions ...... 36 4.4 Argumentation ...... 40 4.5. Personal language ...... 42
CONCLUSION ...... 44
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BIBLIOGRAPHY ...... 48
APPENDIX A: Model of Krikhaar and Ros
APPENDIX B: Table of Reviews
APPENDIX C: Reviews
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Werd een recensie vroeger gewaardeerd als de gefundeerde mening van een kenner, die alleen al daarom respect verdiende en waarvan iets op te steken viel, vandaag wordt de mening van de andere ‘gewone’ lezers steeds belangrijker. Boeken worden aanbevolen door de buurman, een vriendin of een onbekende op het internet. Zo ontstaat een netwerk van ‘gelijkgestemde’ lezers, waarin mond-aan-mondreclame heel belangrijk wordt. - Karin Kustermans
INTRODUCTION
As the above quote illustrates, today everyone can be a book critic. The internet abounds with book reviews, with Amazon perhaps being the most prominent source of amateur reviews. Yet what do postings on websites such as Amazon, small announcements in papers, extensive contributions to literary pages and pieces in book magazines all have in common? They are all referred to as ‘reviews’, but do they deserve to be placed under a common denominator? Do they apply the same criteria? More questions arise when it comes to reviews of children’s books. Children can post book reviews on the internet as well, but do they apply the same criteria as adults do? Is a child’s review of a specific book very different from that of an adult? Since I regularly review children’s books myself, these questions intrigue me and that is why I decided to devote my thesis to the subject of criticism of children’s literature.
Before proceeding to the research question, I will briefly define the domain of the research. Van Gorp states the following with regard to literary criticism:
Binnen de literaire kritiek maakt men meestal een onderscheid tussen journalistieke, essayistische en wetenschappelijke kritiek. Dit onderscheid houdt niet alleen verband met de plaats van verschijnen, de lengte en de moeilijkheidsgraad, maar ook met de intentie van de criticus en het beoogde lezerspubliek. In het eerste geval is de kritische tekst hoofdzakelijk informatief en evaluatief. De lengte varieert van zeer kort (b.v. een aankondiging) tot vrij uitvoerig (b.v. een bijdrage in een literaire pagina). De criticus richt zich tot een ruim en gedifferentieerd publiek. Hij anticipeert op of subsidieert de leesact van de lezer (242).
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The criticism I refer to throughout this dissertation concerns the first kind van Gorp mentions. It is journalistic in its nature and concerns texts that consist of two main components: information and assessment. Furthermore it should be noted that the reviews under inspection will be reviews of children’s books. When I use the terms ‘children’s books’ and ‘children’s literature’ I allude to books for school aged children between six and thirteen. Pre-school and adolescent literature will not be considered in this dissertation for the reason that pre-school children do not write book reviews and adolescents are in between childhood and adulthood. Throughout this thesis I will explicitly use the phrase ‘adult literary criticism’ and ‘adult reviewer’, to emphasize the difference with youth literary criticism and reviewers of children’s books.
Initially I wanted to research the reviewing of children’s books by determining the range of criteria reviewers apply and by establishing whether these criteria differ according to different kinds of reviews. While exploring whether or not various reviews make use of similar criteria, it became clear that this research does not take into account the elements of a review that are not explicitly critical; it does not examine the informational component. A first reading of a number of reviews not only showed that often the evaluative and the informational components intertwine, it also provided many interesting finds with regard to the informational aspect. Hence I decided to incorporate the latter component into the research. I broadened the research question to: ‘does the content of various reviews of children’s books differ and if so, how?’. The ‘various’ in the question relates to four separate groups of reviews; reviews from specialist magazines, reviews from newspapers, reviews from Amazon and reviews by children from the internet. Thus the aim of this dissertation is to discover whether the reviews from these four groups differ and how. What follows is an outline of how this objective will be realized. In the first chapter (entitled ‘Aspects of Reviewing Children’s Literature’) a theoretical frame is offered with regard to the practice of reviewing children’s books. The following aspects are illuminated: how does ‘criticism of children’s literature differ from adult criticism? Who authors reviews of children’s books and what role does the internet play? Additionally the audience of the reviews is briefly looked at, as well as the different directions criticism of children’s literature can take. At the end of chapter I, a number of predictions is made and several researching prospects are established with regard to possible differences between reviews. Chapter II (‘Approach to the Analysis’) focuses on a way to investigate the four groups of reviews in practice. On the basis of the predictions and prospects from the preceding chapter,
5 as well by building on previous research, an instrument is designed to analyze the various reviews. Before proceeding to the actual analysis, chapter III (‘Survey of the Reviews and Materials Used’) first expands on the materials that will be analyzed. The choice for distinguishing between reviews from specialist magazines, newspaper reviews, Amazon reviews and internet reviews by children is clarified. In addition the concrete sources of reviews used in this dissertation (for instance the newspaper reviews come from The Guardian, The New York Times, The Times, The Irish Times and The Independent) are revealed and briefly amplified. Lastly it is explained in this chapter why it is necessary to analyze reviews of the same books. The choice of five different titles is motivated and a short introduction to each book is provided. A fourth and final chapter (‘Comparing the Reviews’) contrasts the four groups of reviews with the help of the model of analysis from chapter II. Here the question to whether and how the content of various reviews differs, is answered.
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I. ASPECTS OF REVIEWING CHILDREN’S BOOKS
This chapter will function both as an introduction to the domain of criticism of children’s literature, as well as a first attempt to identify possible differences between reviews of children’s books. As was mentioned before in the introduction, in this dissertation ‘criticism of children’s literature’ refers to the practice of reviewing/criticizing children’s books. Yet this concept still leaves a great deal unexplained, for there are several issues that go hand in hand with the practice of reviewing children’s books. One such issue for example, relates to the versatility that accompanies the reviewing of children’s literature; the work of a reviewer of adult books is usually more specialized than that of a children’s book reviewer. As experienced critic of children’s books Lieke van Duin explains in an interview, when you review children’s books, you have to be familiar with fiction as well as non-fiction, with poetry as well as prose; even with art and illustration when dealing with picture books. In sum, you have to work on a very wide domain (van den Hoven, “Liefdewerk” 369). Another difficulty and perhaps the most important one, has to do with authorship and audience, for what this is concerned problems arise in the youth literary field that are unknown to adult literary criticism. These difficulties primarily have to do with whether children themselves should write or read book reviews and in what follows they will be treated subsequently.
1.1 Authorship: Professionals versus Amateurs
Book review editor Malcolm J. Ree believes “Adding books to your library, selecting a book for a course, recommending a book to a colleague or for purchase by the library has many things in common with the purchase of tires or other consumer goods. You cannot try them all out. The book review serves as your guide for further examination and review” (71). Reviewer and review editor Gail Pool confirms this when she states that “we turn to reviews both to help us decide what to read and to find out what is out there to be read […] essentially we want consumer advise and cultural guidance” (4). And the demand for trustworthy advice on children’s books is getting higher; over the past decades juvenile publishing has become a fast growing and lucrative business; more and more children’s books are published every year. As reviewer and professor in children’s literature Betsy Hearne asserts in Evaluating
7 children’s books : “a popularized market has dictated more quantity and less quality control than ever before”, causing the fact that “selection now implies more selectivity then in any other time in the history of children’s literature” (2). In Gidsen en goudzoekers: een inleiding bij het lezen van recensies, Majo de Saedeleer argues that book reviews are a very valuable tool in choosing from the abundance of children’s books available. De Saedeleer considers reviewers to be guides for those who lose their way in the enormous quantity of children’s books today. Professional reviewers, according to her, derive their capability as a guide from the fact that they are very literate; they read as much as possible (de Saedeleer, Vermeulen, and Vloebegrhs 3). Editor Jen de Groeve shares the belief that professional reviewers are more qualified as guides:
Een lezer kan zijn commentaar overal kwijt, een recensent moet tegenwoordig om publicatieruimte smeken. Ik wil niets aan de appreciatie van de lezer afdoen, maar de vraag is wel hoe ver de puur persoonlijke waardeoordelen waar de weblogs bol van staan, op het publieke forum dragen. De recensent heeft geen alleenrecht op boekevaluatie, hij is één stem onder de vele. Maar hij is een professionele lezer en zijn instrumentarium voor evaluatie is zorgvuldig afgewogen, zijn referentiekader is groter dan dat van een doorsnee lezer (“Schrijven” 254).
De Groeve argues that though professional reviewers are able to provide a balanced evaluation and have a wider frame of reference, they have difficulties getting published. She refers to the fact that today reviews by professionals in newspapers and journals have to compete with reviews posted on the internet by general readers. With regard to the topic of internet book reviewing Ann Steiner states in Private Criticism in the Public Space that “reviews written by general readers on websites like the internet bookstore Amazon can be described as private criticism in the public sphere. Readers commenting publicly on literature are not a novel phenomenon, but the various mechanisms involved on the web include both new and old practices of reading and writing”. According to Steiner “Personally written texts about literature or reading recommendations could be found before the internet in letters to the editor and were particularly prominent in subcultural genre magazines and fanzines”. Nevertheless she acknowledges the fact that “the web offers new forums for expressing opinions and views on literature”; anyone can post reviews on Amazon, the internet provides for an endless amount of space to publish reviews on. Steiner considers
8 these reviews to be highly personal interpretations or experiences of a text, with distinct characteristics like “frequently heightened emotion, both positive and negative, […] self- expressiveness, intimate language, and self-exposing details”.
Among the general readers that can express their opinions on books through internet reviews, are children. The world wide web provides them with a medium to publish their reviews, where before they scarcely had this opportunity. Yet there is a field of tension that is always present in children’s literature, that serves as a background to the practice of children writing reviews, namely the tension between ‘the child’ and ‘the adult’. The core of this debate is well captured in the following quote by youth literary scientist Perry Nodelman: “there would be no children’s books if we didn’t believe children were different enough from adults to need their own special kind of books; and of course it is adults –the ones with the ideas about just how it is that children differ- who write those books. All children’s books always represent adult ideas of childhood” (8). Thus on the one hand, grown-ups are convinced that children need their own literature, yet on the other hand, they themselves provide for this literature. If they judge themselves to be that different from children, then how can they truly know what children need? The tension between child and adult is relevant to the field of reviewing, for it is arguable that an adult judging a children’s book, is as paradoxical as an adult writing one. After all, adults cannot judge children’s books as children would. On the other hand, according to the following statement by Jen de Groeve, having children review their own literature is not self- evident either:
Als we de instanties bekijken die bij de communicatie rond jeugdliteratuur betrokken zijn, is het duidelijk dat de volwassene alles in handen heeft. Het nadeel daarvan is dat het voor hen niet meer mogelijk is om een boek vanuit het perspectief van een kind te beoordelen. Anderzijds kan een kind wel iets lezen en het goed of minder goed vinden, maar het zal het verhaal niet analyseren zoals literaire critici dat wel doen en het zal niet zwaar tillen aan een onzorgvuldige uitwerking, clichés of een belerende toon (251).
In relation to this, youth literary scientist Peter van den Hoven states there is a difference between children’s reading arguments (expressing personal taste) and adults’ literary
9 arguments1 (well founded opinions) (“Tegen”. 211-212). According to van den Hoven it is a fact that:
Kinderen beoordelen een boek op basis van hun persoonlijke belangstelling, voorkeur, smaak en behoefte en doen dat, afhankelijk van leeftijd en ervaring, sterk emotioneel gekleurd, direct en ongereflecteerd. Ze gaan daarbij niet in op meer vakinhoudelijke aspecten en als ze dat doen (bijvoorbeeld in het geval van verhaaldynamiek of spanning) wordt dat niet literair gemotiveerd, maar op basis van individuele indrukken, gevoelens en interesses. Elk kind oordeelt voor zichzelf: wat de één bloedspannend of hartstikke saai vindt, beoordeelt de ander als strontvervelend of onwijs gaaf (“Tegen” 211).
Agreeing with van den Hoven is reviewer and author of children’s books Rindert Kromhout. He statest that “de emancipatie van de kleine lezer is in een vergevorderd stadium. Té ver gevorderd als je het mij vraagt” (7). According to him children’s book reviews are part of literature and reviewing is a profession that should be practiced by experts.
Despite the strong plea of some professional reviewers to value their judgment and not equate it with that of the general reader, the latter tendency does seem to win ground. Recently Karin Kustermans discussed the fact that presently less and less reviews of children’s books are published in newspapers. The space that is devoted to children’s literature is often limited to a list of combined, short reviews of commercially attractive books, usually issued around Christmas or vacation periods. Long, critical reviews make way for shorter non-critical pieces supporting hypes and catering to popular demands (“Wat” 303). On the other hand Kustermans observes that on the internet, more and more is written about children’s books: “enerzijds doen heel wat individuele lezers kond van hun leeservaringen, anderzijds verschijnen er gespecialiseerde websites en weblogs rond kinderboeken” (“Wat” 305).
1 The opposition between the adult critic and the child critic also strongly comes forward in the opposition between children’s book juries with children as jury members and those with adults as jury members. The first are said to award ‘popular’, typical books, while adults pick out subversive and ‘difficult’ books. For more information see for instance Bekkering and van Lierop Hoe literair oordeelt de griffeljury?
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Now that the issues accompanying the authorship of reviews of children’s books are illustrated, the question arises to what the audience looks like. The latter subject is dealt with in the next section.
1.2 Audience
The above section showed that disagreement exists as to who is best qualified to write reviews of children’s books and offer their guidance. In what follows the audience will be looked into. An important difference between reviews of children’s books and those of adult ones, is that the first are not generally aimed at the books’ target audience, but at adult mediators: parents, teachers and librarians. It is expected that the reviews provide guidance as to what books the latter mediators should respectively buy their children, use in the classroom or acquire for the library collection. A short inquiry into the target audience of the four different groups, points out that specialist magazines primarily have an audience of librarians and booksellers in mind (Kirkus Reviews), while newspapers focus mainly on parents and a general audience (Armistead). Amazon reviews of children’s books do not have a fixed audience, while reviews by children are primarily meant for other children (Spaghetti Book Club). But what exactly do these different groups desire from a book review? Karin Kustermans interviewed a number of specialists (authors, publishers, sellers and teachers) within the domain of children’s literature. They all agreed unanimously that a good review should consist of an informative part and a evaluative part. With regard to the informative part, the following characteristics were mentioned: “wat voor soort boek het is, hoe het is opgezet, waar het in grote lijnen over gaat, voor welke leeftijd het bedoeld is, of er een bedoeling van de auteur uit het boek blijkt […] en of de auteur daarin geslaagd is. En: levert het boek een substantiële bijdrage aan de al bestaande kinder- en jeugdboeken? Is het een originele bijdrage?” (“Less” 293). With regard to the evaluative aspect of the review, the opinions were unanimous once more: the judgment should be thoroughly motivated and substantiated; grounded by arguments. The interviewees made a distinction between literary and pedagogical/educational arguments, most of them agreeing that literary arguments are to be favored over educational ones. It should be noted that Karin Kustermans’ interviewees did not include any parents. It is probable that educational arguments might be found useful by this group of mediators and
11 that they will make different demands with regard to a review of a children’s book. In the next section the directions such demands can take are discussed.
1.3 Orientations within criticism of children’s literature
Peter van den Hoven distinguishes three directions that criticism of children’s literature can adopt (“Pogingen” 25-29). These directions are connected to the different demands on both children’s books and children’s book reviews. The first shape criticism of children’s literature can take, is society-directed. It focuses on the relationship between reality as it is represented in the book and the outside reality. Central to this approach is the focus on the norms and values that constitute the book’s ideology (“Pogingen” 25). As is mentioned earlier, adults have ideas about children and what kind of books they require, or as it is put in Uitgelezen Jeugdliteratuur: “de relatie tussen kinderen en volwassenen, evenals de heersende waarden en normen in een cultuur, een natie, een maatschappij bepalen mee de status en de eigenschappen van de kinderliteratuur in die bepaalde omgeving” (Joosen, and Vloeberghs 20). Society-directed criticism deals with the ideology in children’s books in different ways, according to van de Hoven. In its narrowest sense it can be prescriptive in dictating what is ‘right’ or ‘wrong’. When used in a broader way, society-directed criticism can serve to point the attention to how some aspects of literature relate to the society in which they are produced and to what functions these aspects fulfill. This way the criticism helps to break taboos, reject stereotyping and reflect on society in general. The second orientation mentioned by van den Hoven, is the text-directed one (“Pogingen”26-27). This form of criticism focuses on the relationship between content and form, on the book as a literary object; a linguistic work of art. Structure, composition, suspense and character development are central to text-directed criticism. It goes hand in hand with a relatively recent focus within children’s literature on esthetics and with debates about the literary qualities of children’s books. Third is the reader-directed approach, which focuses on the relationship between the book and the child (“Pogingen” 28-29). Within this approach pedagogical and psychological arguments are common and often the question whether a book is appropriate for children of a certain age is dealt with. When age indication solely concerns aspects such as vocabulary and sentence structure, van den Hoven considers it to be unproblematic. Yet when it concerns non-literary aspects such as moral appropriateness it bears resemblance to the narrow form of
12 society-directed criticism, which he disapproves. Non-literary aspects, according to van den Hoven, should not concern reviewers, but belong to the domain of mediators:
Het grote misverstand in de jeugdliteratuurkritiek is de verwarring tussen beoordelen en selecteren. De bemiddelaarsrol komt voor uit selectiemotieven en is een concretisering van een lezergerichte opvatting. Naar mijn mening zou de malaise en het dilettantisme in de kinderboekenkritiek effectief bestreden kunnen worden als er een duidelijk onderscheid gemaakt wordt tussen beoordelen, als taak van de criticus, en selecteren, een activiteit van bemiddelaars, zoals pedagogen en psychologen (“Pogingen” 30).
In strong opposition of Peter van de Hoven’s opinion with regard to this subject, is reviewer of children’s books Ruud Kraaijeveld. He argues it to be problematical when teachers and librarians take into account reviews that contain solely literary arguments and offer the books that are praised in these reviews to a juvenile audience. For according to Kraaijeveld, books that elicit praise by text-directed critics, are often inaccessible and unappealing. In his view these books reinforce young readers’ belief that reading is difficult, complex and altogether unpleasant. Kraaijeveld declares himself a reader-directed critic in stating the following: “mij gaat het er namelijk onder andere om het juiste boek bij de juiste lezer te krijgen en die lezer plezier in boeken te geven. Met dat advies bedrijf je heldere jeugdliteraire kritiek en geef je gerichte en bruikbare leesadviezen” (387). In a lecture on children’s book reviewing, review editor Jen de Groeve opposes critics that comment negatively on a book’s literary composition, yet recommend it to children nevertheless. She believes reviewers should not recommend to children what they do not appreciate themselves, stating that putting oneself into the position of children is hazardous and not helpful for writing reviews. According to de Groeve the reviewers themselves should form a critical and measured opinion, without taking into consideration what others might think. She states that: “van een recensent mag je verwachten dat hij laat zien welke middelen de schrijver gebruikt om een mooi boek te schrijven en welk effect dat heeft op de lectuur. Wanneer je dat aan een lezer kan tonen, bied je hem zelf een aantal criteria aan om te evalueren. Je schrijft hem niets voor” (“Geef”).
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1.4 Implications
The previous discussions show that the domain of criticism of children’s literature is a divers and complex one; opinions differ on who should write reviews of children’s books and on what these reviews should look like. Apart from creating a frame, the preceding paragraphs also provide a number of hypotheses with regard to the research question. First for example, it was argued that professionals are better qualified to place a book within a certain genre and context because their frame of reference is broader than that of the general reader (having read more and perhaps having received a literary education). Thus a first prediction with regard to whether the content of various reviews of children’s books differ, is that professional reviews will excel in situating books. Next Amazon reviews were used as an example for amateur reviewing. Steiner claimed that these reviews stand out with regard to: “self-expressiveness, intimate language, and self- exposing details”. This can also be verified in the analysis of the reviews, as can the claim that reviews by children are often emotional, highly personal and not substantiated by literary arguments. In the section on audience a number of specialists in the field were asked what qualities they thought a review should posses. They believed that reviews should contain information as well as evaluation and that the latter should be well-substantiated by arguments. Though this is not a prediction, it does create the possibility of testing the reviews for the relation between information and evaluation, as well as argumentation. The final section concerned three different orientations within criticism of children’s literature: society-directed, text-directed and reader-directed criticism. The occurrence of these directions can also be looked into in the analysis. Before commencing the analysis however, an approach to examining the reviews should be designed. The next chapter revolves around a way to test the previous predictions and prospects, it provides a structure that helps to distinguish them; a model of analysis.
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II. APPROACH TO THE ANALYSIS
The previous chapter ended with a list of possible differences between various reviews, based on an examination of the literature on the subject. To verify and research these suggested differences and establish whether and how the content of various reviews differs, an approach to examining a number of reviews is needed. In what follows such an approach will be established on the basis of previous research into reviewing of children’s literature by the Dutch researchers Krikhaar & Ros.
2.1 Krikhaar and Ros
In their thesis Een spannend boek, warm aanbevolen! Een onderzoek naar twintig jaar jeugdliteraire kritiek. Margo Krikhaar and Bea Ros analyze 337 reviews (dating from 1965 to 1984) with three goals. The first is to describe what reviewers of children’s books expect from a book; how they judge it. The second aim concerns evaluating the structure, argumentation and quality of the reviews. And a final goal is examining the development of the first two issues through time (1). According to Krikhaar & Ros the quality of the reviews throughout the 20-year time span, leaves much to be desired: “Binnen de recensies bestaat doorgaans een wanverhouding: het draait vooral om het navertellen van ‘het verhaaltje’, en de argumentatie bungelt er in veel gevallen maar zo’n beetje bij. […] er is een te grote nadruk op de morele aspecten, wat ten koste gaat voor de aandacht van de formele aspecten” (161). Even though the aim of the current dissertation does not lie with exposing the quality of the four groups of reviews, Krikhaar & Ros’ study does provide valuable help in determining an approach to the analysis. The researchers make use of an extensive model of analysis, which they based on a model constructed by H.T. Boonstra, which in its turn was influenced by the literary theory of M.H. Abrams’ The Mirror and the Lamp. Their model is too extensive to be included here, but is included in appendix A. As can be seen in appendix A, Krikhaar & Ros distinguish four different components present in reviews: a descriptive and informative part (A), a part that contains metacritical and institutional elements (B), an evaluative and argumentative part (C), and all that remains, which is neither information nor evaluation (D). Group C is the most elaborate part of the model, it consists mostly of a structure that allows for an extensive analysis of children’s book
15 reviews. This structure consists of all sorts of arguments to praise or disapprove a book. The nature of these arguments can differ, in total Krikhaar & Ros distinguish six different groups of arguments. What follows is a critical commentary on the model and how it is used, with the purpose of eventually developing an instrument of analysis suited to work with in this dissertation.
First of all the strict separation Krikhaar & Ros apply between evaluation and information is problematic. As said they distinguish four main components in a review. With regard to the first group (which covers the descriptive and informative parts of a review) they state: “Beschrijvend is dat gedeelte van de recensie waaruit geen duidelijk waardeoordeel over het boek te lezen valt” (10). The researchers mainly have in mind those parts of a review that contain content description and bibliographical data. Critical statements belong to group C: “Waarden en normen van recensenten verraden zich in de argumenten die gebruikt worden om een boek aan te prijzen of af te kraken” (11). Yet, as said, this assumption is problematic, for in practice it is often impossible to distinguish information from evaluation. A) content description often gradually changes into evaluation, so one does not know where the first begins and the latter ends. B) there are evaluative statements that are neither pure information, nor pure criticism. These statements chiefly relate to the situating of the book; providing information about its theme, the genre it belongs to and other books it resembles. Other ‘in-between’ statements regard point of view and setting. Sometimes these comments are accompanied by a reviewer’s explicit judgment, but not always. There is a difference between content description, which involves information inherent to the book, and informative remarks, which depend on the reviewer’s knowledge. It is arguable that the latter remarks, even though they are not assessing, can be categorized within the evaluative part of a review. In any case the strict separation of information and assessment when analyzing reviews, is impracticable.
A second problem concerns the manner in which Krikhaar & Ros use the model. They perform a quantitative analysis with an outcome in percentages:
Het gaat hierbij om een zogenaamde ‘inhoudsanalyse’: de tekst (de recensie) wordt geanalyseerd met behulp van bepaalde, van te voren vastgestelde categorieën (de hoofd en de subgroepen van argumenten in ons model). Hierdoor wordt een vrij grote hoeveelheid materiaal omgezet in –in principe objectieve-
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precies te tellen eenheden […] . Naar aanleiding van de mate van voorkomen van deze categorieën (de verschillende argumenten), kan men conclusies trekken (29).
However this approach is not without difficulties. As was just demonstrated, the boundary between information and evaluation is fluid. Nevertheless Krikhaar & Ros strictly separate the two. When problems occur with regard to distinguishing between information and evaluation, their solutions are the following: “we hebben argumenten waar ook informatie in zit, in het algemeen geheel als argumentatie geteld” and “waar het echt niet duidelijk was of een uitspraak als informatie of als argumentatie bedoeld was, hebben we voor informatie gekozen” (40). These solutions are problematic because they are random and they obscure the results. Additionally, not only can the boundaries between information and evaluation be fluid; choosing what category of arguments to appoint a statement to, is not without difficulties either. Analyzing reviews and appointing quotes to categories is not a purely objective and clear-cut matter. Krikhaar & Ros were aware of this problem: “Het feit dat de context (binnen en buiten de recensie) een rol speelt bij het analyseren betekent dat je met het model niet geheel objectief kunt werken: de interpretatie van de onderzoeker speelt altijd een rol” (39). According to the researchers the solution lies in the intersubjectivity:
Het nadeel is dat de analyses niet geheel objectief kunnen zijn. Het model werkt daardoor het beste wanneer meer personen samen een analyse maken. Hierdoor ontstaat intersubjectiviteit. Dat is ook onze werkwijze geweest: wij hebben eerst allebei een recensie geanalyseerd en deze analyse vervolgens doorgesproken. Bovendien heeft onze scriptiebegeleider onze manier van analyseren nog eens bekeken. Dat is een tijdrovende, maar wel goede manier (41).
However the initial objection to the method still holds. A number of people agreeing on a matter is still not the same as having objectivity. The problem of separating evaluation from information does not necessarily get solved because of the intersubjectivity and a clear distinction between the two sometimes remains problematic.
2.2 Revising the Approach
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As was just demonstrated adopting Krikhaar & Ros’ working method is not without difficulties. First of all a strict separation between information and evaluation is not always practicable; the rigid structure of the model does not allow for cases of doubt. Secondly a quantitative analysis hinders the transparency and reliability of the research. The solution presents itself in the form of a qualitative analysis. By using the latter format, difficulties that occur will be discussed and will not remain obscure for the reader. When classifying pieces of a review, the process will be accounted for. A disadvantage of a qualitative analysis is that it will only expose tendencies and not provide solid numbers. Nevertheless, it does seem advisable to pursue a qualitative approach, for as said an outcome in percentages would not be fully dependable. After having decided on a qualitative analysis, the question remains what instrument should be used and whether Krikhaar & Ros’ model is still utilizable. After subjecting a number of reviews to it (categorizing arguments and discerning doubtful cases), it appeared that this approach does not provide an answer to the research question. Discussing the reviews one by one is not productive; the process is too lengthy and detailed to be of interest. Furthermore not all the hypotheses from the previous chapter are dealt with; Krikhaar & Ros’ model does not deal with the language the reviewers use, for instance. Thus, after careful consideration it was decided that the instrument of analysis will consist of a list of five topics (I. Content description, II. Situating, III. Directions, IV. Argumentation and V. Language), covering a number of related questions. These topics are attuned to the hypotheses of the previous chapter and will therefore be able to test for differences in content between reviews. In what follows the construction of this list will be amplified.
I. Content description. The first subject on the list is content description. Krikhaar & Ros are primarily concerned with the quality of the reviews, for them good reviews contain more assessment than they do information. The primary goal of this dissertation lies not with a quality control, but is to determine whether and how the content of various reviews differs. Nevertheless the ratio information/evaluation can be important within the latter aim. For instance: do some kinds of reviews (e.g. those in specialist magazines) contain more evaluative statements than others (e.g. those on Amazon)? Or, in other words: do certain reviews consist of more content description than others? This is one of the questions that will be dealt with under the heading of ‘content description’. It should be noted that while Krikhaar & Ros opposed information and assessment, here content description and
18 assessment are opposed, distinguishing between information inherent to the book (description) and external information that is partly based on the judgment of the reviewer. Another aspect of content description that will be looked into during the analysis, is how many details of the story are given away by the reviewers. In the previous chapter under the heading ‘audience’, Karin Kustermans’ interviewees stated they want to know the broad outlines of a story. As one person phrased it: “In een recensie wil ik het liefst een heldere korte inhoud lezen, zonder verklappers, samen met een duidelijk waardeoordeel” (“Less” 293). Thus there is a demand for a short outline of the story, however without so-called ‘spoilers’. Based on this notion it was decided to include a focus first of all on the way the content of a book is described and secondly on what is and what is not mentioned. This translates into two questions: is a global storyline provided in the review and how much details of the story does the reviewer betray? Krikhaar & Ros decided to forgo of these questions because they were not able to read all of the books featuring in the reviews and therefore could not determine whether a global storyline was provided in the reviews and how much details of the story the reviewer betrayed. This is why in this dissertation, reviews of the same books are selected. With regard to the way a book is described Krikhaar & Ros also state: “Overigens kunnen in een inhoudsbeschrijving van een boek impliciete argumenten zitten. Deze argumenten zitten in de manier waarop de inhoud van een boek besproken wordt, of in de keuze van wat wel en wat niet verteld wordt” (10-11). This is a relatively vague statement; the distinction should be made between whether the description contains judgments with regard to the book or with regard to the outside reality. The first relates to the earlier discussion that description and evaluation can sometimes be difficult to distinguish, it will be dealt with when examining the ratio description/evaluation. The second possibility is not mentioned by Krikhaar & Ros, but it relates to the world view of the reviewer. The adjectives reviewers use, the emphasis they lay on certain details and the way they interpret certain events in the book all tell something about their perception of reality. Researching what a content description betrays about a reviewer’s world view would be very valuable from a sociological stance. However designing a method to do this proves to be quite complex. Thus it was decided not to include this angle in this dissertation.
II. Situating. Throughout chapter I, it is argued that because the frame of reference of professional reviewers is broader than that of general readers, they are more able to place a book within a certain genre or context. To investigate this claim, the analysis will include a
19 section on book situating. The structure for this analysis is based on group V of Krikhaar & Ros’ model; ‘the literary work in relation to other literary works’. They distinguish between three different ways to situate a book, namely by comments on originality, comments on genre and tradition and by comparing the book to other books (which they refer to as ‘het relativiteitsargument’). Additionally to using group V of Krikhaar & Ros’ model, attention will be paid to statements about awards, for such statements also give some indication of where the book can be situated.
III. Directions. In the previous chapter the distinction is made between reader-directed, text-directed and society-directed criticism. It seems valuable to examine to what degree these directions are present in specialist magazine, newspaper, Amazon and children’s reviews. To do this Krikhaar & Ros’ model will once more be relied on. Group I ‘the literary work in relation to reality’ lends itself for distinguishing statements that point to society-directed criticism. It contains three categories of society directed remarks, namely theme, reflection and moral. Text-directed criticism is connected with Group III from the Dutch model ‘the literary work as an autonomous entity’. It includes comments on the composition, style and illustration of a book. The third orientation, reader-directed criticism, falls under ‘the literary work in relation to the reader’, group four in Krikhaar & Ros’ model. It covers comments on emotion, identification, adaptation, education and condescension2.
IV. Argumentation. In chapter I Peter van den Hoven’s claims that children when reviewing a book do not articulate well-founded opinions, but merely express their emotions. Professional reviewers on the other hand, allegedly do substantiate their opinion. These predictions will be tested in chapter IV with the help of the following questions: are the judgments supported by examples? and are the judgments supported by quotes from the book?
V. Language. In the first chapter, it is stated that Amazon reviews contain a large amount of personal and intimate language. Krikhaar & Ros do not mention such a quality. In the analysis self-expressiveness and intimate language will be researched by looking into the following features: use of personal pronouns (does the reviewer call attention to himself by
2 The model is available in the appendix for a more extensive elaboration of these groups.
20 using a first-person singular? does he acknowledge the audience by using a second-person?), punctuation (e.g. are there a lot of exclamation marks present in the reviews?), typography (are certain words capitalized are there any spelling mistakes?).
Thus the model of analysis becomes a list of points of interest. In the fourth chapter these points of interest will be treated successively. The reviews will not be analyzed one by one but will be looked at per group. Under the heading ‘content description’ for instance , the four categories of reviews will be compared in relation to the earlier mentioned questions.
2.3 The Adapted Model
I. CONTENT DESCRIPTION -What is the ratio between description and assessment? -Is a global storyline provided in the review? -How much details of the story does the reviewer betray?
II. SITUATING -Remarks on whether a book distinguishes itself through originality? -Remarks on a book’s genre, the tradition it fits into? -Remarks on how good/bad a book is in comparison to other books? -Remarks about awards?
III. DIRECTIONS Society-directed criticism -Remarks on the book’s theme? -Remarks on how credible the book presents the outside reality? -Remarks on moral appropriateness?
Text-directed criticism -Remarks on the composition of the book? -Remarks on a book’s style? -Remarks on the book’s design and illustrations?
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Reader-directed criticism -Remarks on the emotional effect a book brings about? -Remarks on the extent the reader can identify with a book? -Remarks on whether a book is well adapted to the age and reading level of the target audience? -Remarks on whether a book improves a reader’s knowledge or enriches his experience? -Remarks on whether certain values or morals are imposed on the reader?
IV. ARGUMENTATION -Are the judgments supported by examples? -Are the judgments supported by quotes from the book?
V. PERSONAL LANGUAGE -Use of personal pronouns: does the reviewer call attention to himself by using a first-person singular? does he acknowledge the audience by using a second-person? -Punctuation (exclamation marks)? -Typography (capitals, mistakes)?
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III. SURVEY OF THE REVIEWS AND MATERIALS USED
In the previous chapter, a model of analysis was constructed to apply to various reviews in order to establish the difference in content between them. Soon this model will be applied to a number of reviews that are included in this dissertation’s appendix. Before commencing the analysis in the next chapter however, in 5.1 ‘The Reviews’, the current chapter will deal with the nature of the various reviews. Additionally in 5.2 ‘The books’ some attention is devoted to the novels that are the subjects of the reviews. As was indicated in the previous chapter I chose to analyze reviews of the same books. Here the five different titles are introduced.
3.1 The Reviews
In the introduction the ‘various’ in the research question ‘does the content of various reviews of children’s books differ and if so, how?’ was specified. This dissertation aims to research the content of four different kinds of reviews of children’s books: those by professionals in specialist magazines and in newspapers, those by general readers on Amazon, and those by children on various on websites. In what follows these groups will be situated within the domain of book reviewing. Hereafter the way they are composed in this dissertation will be explained. In Developing Library and Information Center Collections G. Edward Evans following Haines lists four types of published book reviews:
So-called reviews solely intended to promote the sale of a title. Although often presented in a review format, these are more rightfully termed announcements because the publisher’s marketing department prepares them at the time of publication. Reviews published in library periodicals. Though they publish more reviews per year than most other sources, these periodicals cover only a small percentage of the annual publishing output. These reviews usually appear shortly after the publication date and they are seldom long. Reviews published in mass-market newspapers and periodicals. If the book review editor is knowledgeable, these are useful in identifying titles that may be high in
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demand. This type of review appears 2-6 months after publication and can be lengthy. Reviews published in specialized subject publications. Usually written by specialists in the field the book is about, these are scholarly assessments of nonfiction titles of scholarly interest (109-110).
The first category of reviews Evans refers to, will not feature in this dissertation. It alludes to the catalogs and announcements publishers use to market their products. Though these media offer information on a book and its author, they cannot be considered ‘criticism’, for they are meant to present the work in its most favorable light. Reviews from the second category will be used, as will reviews from the third. The specialist magazines mostly belong to the second category ‘library periodicals’, although a few of them can be situated somewhere between the second and the third. The newspapers clearly belong in the category ‘mass-market newspapers and periodicals’. Specialized subject publications such as are mentioned with regard to the fourth category, do exist with regard to children’s literature. However, reviews from these publications discuss books about children’s literature, rather than children’s books themselves; therefore they are of no interest here. Evans does not mention internet reviews, for they were largely inexistent at the time of his publication. In this dissertation internet reviews are considered a category of its own. Now that the background of the different kinds of reviews is established, the composition of the four groups in this dissertation will be discussed. With the exception of Amazon, the groups are made up of different sources; a range of periodicals for the specialist magazine group, several papers for the newspaper group and several websites of reviews by children. The purpose of this mixed composition, is obtaining an overall picture of each group; if only one magazine, newspaper or website would be selected to represent its respective group, it would be uncertain whether this sole source would characterize the group. Individual sources might have limitations; for instance reviews by children might differ with regard to the format they use and various magazines might differ in length. Therefore to obtain an overall picture of ‘reviews by children’ and ‘reviews in specialist magazines’, it is necessary to include the variety present in the groups. Amazon serves as an exception in the four categories, for it is one of the most visited websites in the world; it offers variety by itself and it can therefore function as an example for internet book reviewing. Thus the groups are composed of different sources. However, while it is probable that differences exist between these sources, to answer the research question it is necessary to find
24 the similarities between the sources within one group. For the aim is to obtain the overall picture per group so that the four groups can be compared with one another. Only then can the question be answered as to whether and how the various reviews differ. Nevertheless, would a large number of differences emerge in the analysis, implying that no overall picture exists, than naturally this would be mentioned. Still, even if this would be the case, this would not necessarily mean that the category is wrong; the diversity might also be considered as a property of that particular group. The possible diversity between the sources within one category, is of a different nature than the diversity between the four main categories. Within the aim of this dissertation, the emphasis lays on the latter. In what follows the concrete composition of successively the specialist magazine group, the newspaper group, the Amazon group and the children’s reviews group will be imparted.
3.1.1 Magazines
Six of the most important specialist magazines in publication are featured in the appendix of this dissertation, namely: Booklist, The Horn Book Magazine, School Library Journal, Kirkus, Publishers Weekly and Books for Keeps. While this list is not all-inclusive (for example it only includes American and British publications), it is extensive enough to offer a representative picture of the category. From these six different journals, a total of sixteen reviews can be found in the appendix. There is a certain degree of arbitrariness to what magazines are matched with what books. I opted not to include a review from every magazine on every book for the following reasons: not every magazine has reviewed all five books and additionally including every review on all five books would create an excess of material, which would not fit within the scope of this dissertation. With the exception of School Library Journal and Publishers Weekly, of which two reviews are included each, three reviews per magazine are included in the appendix. All five books are equally represented in the reviews, which holds for all four groups.
3.1.2 Newspapers
The newspapers of which reviews are included in the appendix are The Guardian, The New York Times, The Times, The Independent and The Irish Times. I selected them on the basis that they are large English national newspapers that publish book reviews of children’s books regularly. Both The Guardian and The New York Times do this on a weekly basis in their
25 review sections (respectively ‘Review’ and ‘The New York Times Book Review’), while the other papers feature reviews occasionally in different sections (e.g. culture, family, the weekend supplement). Though most of the paper reviews included are fairly long, I decided to include announcements (short descriptions of new books, usually around holidays) as well. This was done on the ground of the earlier mentioned reason that the whole category should be represented.
3.1.3 Internet: Amazon
As said the source for the general book reviews is the well-known web store Amazon. What follows is a discussion of a few obstacles I encountered with regard to obtaining reviews from Amazon for research. The first problem in selecting reviews from Amazon was that some books have over one hundred reviews; the question then arises which ones to select. The goal is to give a truthful representation of Amazon, because the analysis of the Amazon reviews must point out in what way they as a category differ from other categories. I considered choosing those reviews which are voted by other readers as ‘helpful’. However I decided that solely focusing on these reviews might give a wrong impression of the quality of reviews on Amazon. Another option I explored was to first read a large number of reviews and then to select the reviews I believe to be the most representative. This option was dismissed on the basis of being too laborious as well as untrustworthy. Eventually I decided to simply select the first couple of reviews per book. Though this is a random method; it is probable that in total the reviews (seventeen Amazon reviews are included) are representative. A second problem I encountered was that Amazon has different versions of a book (such as paperbacks, hardcovers and movie editions) and does not always put all the reviews on these versions together. If this was the case I selected reviews from the version that had the most. It should also be noted that several versions of Amazon exist. For this research all the reviews were taken from amazon.com. A third and final problem with regard to selecting review from Amazon, was that the website also features a number of reviews by children (the website automatically labels reviews by people under thirteen ‘kids reviews’). To maintain the boundary between the final two categories, it was essential that no reviews from Amazon by children would be used in this category. Therefore I chose to remove the ‘kids reviews’ when they were among the first
26 four reviews. However I did add some of these ‘kids reviews’ to the next category; for the purpose of offering variety. In conclusion of this section on Amazon, it should be mentioned that the website offers some instruction to people posting reviews on their website in the form of the ‘General Review Creation Guidelines’, which can be found on http://www.amazon.com/gp/community- help/customer-reviews-guidelines. Among other things these guidelines include ‘tips on writing a great review’, such as: “include the ‘why’, the best reviews include not only whether you liked or disliked a product, but also why. Feel free to talk about related products and how this item compares to them” (“General”). Thus readers are encouraged to substantiated their judgment and to situate the book. Other tips Amazon offers include being specific (only discussing the features of the product in question), being sincere (negative reviews are welcome). The space available for a review is quite large, the maximum is 5,000 words. However Amazon suggest an ideal length of 75 to 500 words. The guidelines also contain warning about what is not allowed, such as ‘obscene or distasteful content’ and ‘profanity or spiteful remarks’. Additionally reviewers are warned that giving away crucial plot elements is deemed inappropriate, unless a clear "spoiler alert" is offered.
3.1.4 Internet: Children
The fourth group of reviews concerns those by children. Such reviews are seldom published by widely distributed journals. Books for Keeps does offer some reviews by children, but these are edited by their teachers. The latter is also the case on certain websites; the number of websites that offers uninfluenced reviews is relatively small. Additional to the children’s reviews from Amazon, the appendix will feature reviews from the three following websites: http://www.spaghettibookclub.org/, http://www.kidsreview.org.uk/ and http://www.world-reading.org/. The first two, ‘Spaghetti Book Club’ and ‘Kid’s Review’, are for-profit educational organizations that offer web hosting services for schools and their pupils’ book reviews. The third website belongs to Ann Arbor District Library and provides an open and free forum for children’s reviews. When the websites offered a large number of reviews per book, as with the Amazon reviews, I selected the two first reviews per book.
The paragraph on the children’s reviews concludes the section on the four groups of reviews. It should be noted that all the reviews are featured in the appendix at the end of this
27 dissertation, together with a table on the distribution between the books and the magazines. The next section looks into the books that are discussed in the reviews .
3.2 The Books
As was mentioned in the previous chapter, I opted to analyze reviews of the same books. This makes it possible for me to read the books in question, which in its turn makes it possible to check whether the reviews offer a global story line and to investigate to what degree details of the story are betrayed. I opted to use reviews of the five following books: Ruby Holler, The True Story of Christmas, Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and Candyfloss. These books belong to different genres and vary in plot and design. This way there is enough diversity, so that it cannot be said a specific form of criticism is elicited a priori. The age category of the books is between 8 an 12 years-old and all five books are fiction stories. I did not include non-fiction because that would immediately imply many comments relating to the book’s usefulness. Finally it should be noted that I selected the books partly on the bases of the fact that they are either books by award-winning authors, or books that can be considered very popular. The reason for this is that otherwise these books would not be reviewed frequently. In what follows the outline and background of the books will briefly be summarized (in the order of which the books were published), which will also be of use in the next chapter. Ruby Holler is a novel by American author Sharon Creech. Creech is an established children’s books writer and has won many prizes, including the Newberry Medal. Ruby Holler itself won the Carnegie Medal in 2002. The book features thirteen-year old twins Dallas and Florida, who have been living in a orphanage for most of their lives. The orphanage is run by the cruel and uncaring Mr. and Mrs. Trepid. The twins are taken in for the summer by a gentle elder couple; Sairy and Tiller. The True Story of Christmas is written by British author and children’s laureate Anne Fine. It is published in America under the title The More the Merrier. In the book approximately 12-year old Ralph humorously reports on the events of his family’s Christmas celebration. Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief is authored by the American writer Rick Riordan, it is the first of ‘the Olympians’ series. The books in the series are modern day fantasy/adventure novels based on Greek mythology. In The Lightning Thief the twelve-year old Percy Jackson, after having discovered he is a half-god, joins his friends in a quest to
28 prevent a war between the ancient gods Zeus, Poseidon and Hades. The Lightning Thief has been awarded frequently by book juries composed of children. The book has sold over a million copies and has recently been turned into a movie. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is Irish author John Boyne’s first children’s book. The novel is an historic drama about the Holocaust from the point of view of a nine-year old boy called Bruno. It has sold over five million copies around the world and has also recently been turned into a movie. The book was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal. Candyfloss finally, is a novel from 2006 by the British children’s laureate Jacqueline Wilson. It features the approximately 10-year old girl Flossie, who, when her mother and stepfather move to Australia for six months, decides to stay in Britain with her broke and incompetent, yet lovable father.
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IV. ANALYSIS OF THE REVIEWS
In chapter I, the different aspects of reviewing were discussed and a number of hypotheses were made concerning the differences between reviews. Chapter II looked for a way to test these hypotheses; a model of analysis in the form of a list of questions was constructed. In chapter III the different sources of reviews were selected, as well as the books. In this final chapter the selected reviews will be analyzed on the basis of the model from chapter II, confirming or negating the hypotheses from the first chapter. The chapter will keep to the structure of the list of questions, comparing the four groups successively on content description, situating of the books, direction of the review, argumentation and language.
4.1 Content description
In chapter two, with regard to content description three questions were established on the basis of which the reviews will be compared, namely A) what is the ratio between description and assessment? B) is a global storyline provided? and C) how much details of the story are betrayed? Before commencing the analysis, these three questions will briefly be looked into.
4.1.1 Defining the Questions
A) As was said in chapter two, it is not always possible to distinguish between content description and evaluation in a review. Therefore only tendencies with regard to the ratio description/evaluation will be noted. Additionally it will be mentioned to what degree the description and evaluation are mixed. B) With regard to the outline of the story it should be noted that even though different reviewers might discuss different aspects of a story, this does not necessarily mean a global story line is not present. While reviewers might focus on different details, the question is whether they incorporate these details into a larger context. Can the reader, after having consulted the review, form a picture of the book as a whole? This latter question will dominate the research into representation of storyline. To find out if a description provides a global outline of a book, the review will be compared to the main story lines provided at the end of chapter III.
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C) The details referred to in this final question regard both potential crucial plot elements of a story and whether the ending is given away. To answer the question to what degree these matters are exposed, it is first necessary to determine the crucial plot elements and ending per book. In Ruby Holler the most crucial plot elements concern first of all the discovery of who the twins’ parents are, secondly the fact that the Trepids try to steal Sairy and Tiller’s money and thirdly the fact that Tiller almost dies. Crucial to the ending of Ruby Holler is the fact that the elder couple decides to adopt the twins (though the book ends before the couple has told them). The True Story of Christmas is an exception in the books featuring in this dissertation. It does not contain story twists that a reviewer can betray, for the enjoyment of the book lies not in the featured events, but in the comical way they are described. For this reason, the book also does not have a particular ending that can be spoiled (the absence of crucial details in The True Story, has to be borne in mind when considering the outcome of the analysis). Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief on the other hand, contains a lot of twists that contribute to the suspense. These crucial plot elements include the fact that his mother’s life is threatened and the fact that he is the son of Poseidon and that he needs to go on a quest to retrieve Zeus’ thunderbolt or else WWIII will arrive. Additionally various encounters with enemies (such as the Minotaur, Medusa, the war god Ares and the hellhound Kerberos) play a role in the book. Crucial to the end of the book are the facts that a greater force is at play (Kronos, one of the Titans is trying to regain his old power) and that Percy is betrayed by his friend Luke. Contributing to the suspense in The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, are the fact that the family goes to live at a concentration camp and the fact that Bruno befriends the imprisoned Shmuel and visits him. A definite ‘spoiler’ to the ending of the book would be telling that Bruno and Shmuel die together in a gas chamber. Crucial elements of Candyfloss finally, is the fact that Floss breaks off her friendship with Rhiannon and befriends the new girl Susan. Secondly there are the facts that she and her dad need to leave their apartment and that he loses his business. Spoiling the end would be telling that they can live and work on a fair with the dad of Floss’ new girlfriend Rose. Identifying what crucial elements of the story are betrayed, is challenging. For occasionally only one or two elements are betrayed and occasionally plot elements are partly, but not explicitly given away. Thus the degree to which the details are betrayed is taken into account. Additionally the fact that The Lightning Thief contains more story twists is considered when
31 determining to what extent details are betrayed. With regard to the ending, the necessary differentiations are made between when a reviewer hints at whether the book has a happy or a sad ending and when he or she gives the specific details of that ending. A final note before discussing the analysis, is that the reviews from Kids’ Review are not suited for measurement with regard to content description. This is mainly because of the format the website uses: it provides a blurb (a short content description) before every review on which the children can already rely, which makes describing the book unnecessary in those reviews. However the other reviews by children are included in this part of the analysis.
4.1.2 Analyzing Content Description
What the ratio description/evaluation is concerned, the following tendencies can be observed: specialist magazines predominantly display a balance between describing content and evaluating; about half the space of the review is attributed to content description. Papers on the other hand proportionally attributed less space to content description, approximately one third of the review. Remarkably almost half of the Amazon reviews does not contain any content description (the ones that do generally attribute one third of the review to description). No consistency can be found with regard to the distribution between description and evaluation in the children’s reviews. Sometimes the children’s reviews consist of ninety percent description and sometimes they contain almost no description at all. This is the case in reviews 63, 65 and 66. The degree to which the description and evaluation intertwine differs. Occasionally in the newspapers, but especially in the magazine reviews the two are often mixed. For instance in review 4, lines 1-9. Here description is constantly interrupted by evaluation. First by comparing the book to Lemony Snicket and Tuck Everlasting, then by comparing the characters to characters in a Charles Dickens novel, next by a referral to Creech’s other book Walk Two Moons and finally by inserting “in a bracing dose of reality”. In opposition to the previous, the Amazon and children reviews almost always keep description and evaluation separated. A clear example can be found in review 68. This review is clearly divided into two blocks, the first lines are descriptive while the second part of the review is evaluative.
With regard to the second question (is a global storyline provided in the review?), the following tendencies emerge: Both the specialist magazines and the newspapers consistently
32 provide a global outline of the story. The only exceptions of this are the short announcements in the papers; they only give an impression of the book, but no global storyline. Taking into consideration that almost half of the Amazon reviews lacks a content description, it is unsurprising that not all of the Amazon reviews provides a global outline of the book. The ones that do are often chaotic in describing the order of the events. This phenomenon is even more notable in the children’s reviews. Apart from not following the order of events, the description the children offer in their reviews is often incomplete and unbalanced. First of all they highlight minor events, for instance in reviews 61 and 62 of Ruby Holler, the strong emphasis on the twins taking a train distorts the global story line and possibly confuses the reader. Apart from stressing minor events, the children frequently make remarks that are only sensible when one has read the book. In review 63 on The Lightning Thief, the lack of a content description causes the remarks on Greek myths and powerful weapons to be somewhat startling.
The magazine and newspaper reviews betray crucial details of a book’s plot relatively frequently. A remarkable succession of spoilers, for example, is found in the excerpt from magazine review number 6, lines 5 to 9. First the reviewer discloses that Floss will be homeless, then that she breaks of with her best friend and finds another best friend. Finally the reviewer also hints at the ending by referring to it as “a wish-fulfillment ending to beat all”. The full details of the ending are almost never disclosed in the magazines and in the papers, with the exception of newspaper review 35 in which the gas chamber ending of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is given away. Amazon reviews in contrast rarely give details away. The fact that no details and often not even a global storyline are provided in the Amazon reviews, can be explained by the spoiler warning the website gives to its reviewers. This issue especially comes forward with regard to The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. Amazon reviewers are very aware of the fact that the premise of the book lies in the gradual discovery of what is happening. All of the Amazon reviewers refer to the dust jacket of the book stating “we think it is important that you start to read without knowing what it is about”. One reviewer states very explicitly that “any attempt to describe this book would only spoil the powerful story” (review 47). Another reviewer states that “the author (and/or publisher) clearly believes that the reader will be best served not knowing much beyond the fact that the protagonist is a 9-year-old boy named Bruno”, he then warns his readers by announcing the following: “however (semi-spoiler alert), most adult readers will very quickly realize that Bruno is the son of a high-ranking Nazi official in
33 wartime Berlin” (review 49). This indication of possible spoilers is common in Amazon reviews. The children, finally, do betray some details of the story. However these details are often brought up without any context, as the previous paragraph on the global story line already indicates.
4.2 Situating
In the first chapter, it was indicated that it is a reoccurring belief that professional reviewers are more qualified as reading guides, more readily placing a book within a context or genre because they have much reading experience. The current part of the analysis will research the degree to which the different reviews situate a book. As was mentioned in chapter two, the analysis will be based on group V of Krikhaar & Ros’ model ‘the literary work in relation to other literary works’. This group includes comments on a book’s originality, on the tradition/genre in which a book can be placed and on how a book compares or relates to other books (both from the book’s author as from other authors). Additionally this part of the analysis will determine to what degree remarks about awards occur in the different reviews.
Comments on whether or not a book is original/unique/different mostly occur within reviews of specialist magazines (about one in three magazine reviews contains such a comment). Newspapers and Amazon reviews rarely contain remarks about originality, while reviews by children do not contain them at all. With regard to tradition/genre there is a difference between explicit comments such as “This is one of the more original fantasy books” (review 42) or “the tragic story […] fable form” (review 8) and indirect remarks like “I recommend it to readers who like fantasy and myths” (review 69). About half of the reviews from specialist magazines as well as half of the reviews by children mentions the genre of the book. Reviewers from specialist magazines generally do this explicitly, while children make more indirect remarks, recommending a book on the base of the kinds of books they themselves normally like. Defining the genre does not occur frequently in newspaper reviews and almost never occurs in Amazon reviews. About half of the magazine reviews mentions other work by the book’s author and an equal number compares the book to other (mostly literary) works of art. Sometimes the two
34 kinds of remarks overlap and sometimes they do not. Newspaper reviews contain even more references to other work. About two out of three reviews refer to other books by the author, and two out of three compare the book to other books and also movies. Most of the time these remarks overlap; the reviews contain both remarks on the author’s other work as well as remarks on other work in general. The reviews that do not contain any remarks about related work are the four shorter announcements.
Both the Amazon and the children reviews contrast with the previous two categories. About one in three Amazon reviewers and one in six children indicates to have read other work by the book’s author. These indications differ from those of the magazines and the papers in the sense that they do not mention explicitly what these other books were. Most of the remarks are rather vague, as for instance: “the new book by Jacqueline Wilson” (review 56) and “this is my favorite of all of Sharon Creeches books” (review 38). The same low rate and vagueness reoccur with references to other work in general. When Amazon reviewers or children refer to other books, often they do not mention them by name, but merely state that the book is “one of my favorites” (reviews 57 and 60) or “one of the more original I have come across” (review 42).
Before looking at how frequently reviews mention the awards a book has won, it is necessary to briefly explore the awards per book. As is already mentioned in the previous chapter, most of the authors are important figures in the world of children’s literature and have been awarded at some point, though not always for the books featuring in this dissertation. Ruby Holler received the Carnegie Medal in Literature, and the author Sharon Creech previously received a Newbery Medal for Walk Two Moons. Although Anne Fine’s The True Story of Christmas in particular was not awarded, the author herself is a British Children’s Laureate and Carnegie Medal winner. Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief has received many prizes, most of which were given out by juries composed of children, such as the Mark Twain Award. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas topped bestselling lists across the world and was shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal. Candyfloss did not receive specific prices, but similar to Anne Fine, author Jacqueline Wilson is a UK Children’s Laureate and winner of a Carnegie Medal. In summary, reviewers are able to bring up award-related comments on every book. Taking the previous into account, the following tendencies can be observed: only reviews from specialist magazines and newspapers mention book awards. Such mentions occur in
35 about one in five magazine and newspaper reviews. However it should be taken into account that reviews from specialist magazines and newspapers usually appear relatively fast after the publication of the books, so most of the reviews appeared before the book in question had won any awards. Thus the award-related comments mostly relate to previously established facts. In contrast a majority of the Amazon and children’s reviews were written after the books received their respective awards. Nevertheless the only award-related remark in the Amazon reviews, regards the title of ‘Dame’ being given to Jacqueline Wilson (review 50). No references to awards of any kind are made in the reviews by children.
4.3 Directions
In chapter one, three orientations were distinguished within reviews of children’s literature: society-directed, text-directed and reader-directed criticism. In this part of the analysis I will explore and compare the groups of reviews with regard to these directions. As was mentioned in chapter two, each direction is associated with a group of arguments from Krikhaar & Ros’ model. Statements that point to society-directed criticism can be found in Krikhaar & Ros’ group I ‘the literary work in relation to reality’. These statements relate to subjects such as theme, reflection and moral. Text-directed criticism is connected with Group III from the Dutch model ‘the literary work as an autonomous entity’. It includes comments on the composition, style and illustration of a book. The third orientation, reader-directed criticism, falls under ‘the literary work in relation to the reader’, group four in Krikhaar & Ros’ model. It covers comments on emotion, identification, adaptation, education and condescension. As was mentioned in chapter two, reader-directed criticism is connected to how the potential audience is dealt with by the reviewer. In what follows the groups of reviews will be compared per direction.
Remarkably both the Amazon and the children’s reviews almost completely lack any form of society directed criticism. In the specialist magazine and paper reviews, remarks regarding how decent a book’s message is, are very rare. This tendency contrasts with the outcome of Krikhaar & Ros’ research; they noted a great deal of moral arguments in the reviews between 1964 and 1984. The absence of such arguments in the current reviews, carefully suggests a tendency in society today. Perhaps today people are less concerned with the moral message of
36 children’s books (unless of course the absence of moral arguments in the reviews is interpreted by children’s books being more ‘decent’ nowadays). In any case, the society directed criticism in the magazine and newspaper reviews manifests itself mostly in remarks on how credible the story reflects the outside reality. Such remarks are characterized by key words such as ‘believable’, ‘convincing’ and ‘credible’. A few examples include: “believably places mythical characters in modern times” in review 12 and “recreate the experiences faithfully” in review 19. Finally it should be noted with regard to society-directed criticism, that specialist magazine reviews are the only ones that occasionally refer to the themes that are present in a book. Such thematic references occur in about one in four magazine reviews. An example is in review 10, line 12-13: “along the way, such topics as family, trust, war, the environment, dreams, and perceptions are raised”.
Few text-directed remarks are found in both the Amazon and the children’s reviews. Text- directed criticism is also relatively rare in the magazine and newspaper reviews. Exceptions to this tendency are review 1 for the magazines and review 21 for the papers (both reviews of Ruby Holler). The evaluative part of these reviews almost solely consist of remarks on the book’s composition. It should be noted for that matter that when text-directed statements occur in the rest of the magazine and newspaper reviews (and very sporadically in the Amazon and children’s reviews), these remarks almost always relate to a book’s composition. The two other components of Krikhaar & Ros’ group III, style and lay-out/illustration, seldom occur in any review. The absence of remarks on a book’s visual aspect is understandable; only The True Story about Christmas and Candyfloss are sparsely illustrated by a few comic style pages. The absence of comments about style however, is remarkable. Striking with regard to remarks on composition, is that they are not often of a critical nature; they do not dwell on how well or how poorly a book is composed, but mostly provide information, about for instance, point of view (review 7: “first-person narration”, review 1: “Tiller and Sairy's point of view are at least as important”, review 66: “more than one person's point of view”, …). Other compositional remarks relate to how smoothly a book is written (the phrase ‘fast-paced’ occurs in several reviews) or how predictable the story is. It should be noted that these remarks bear close resemblance to reader-directed remarks on the emotional effect of a book, indicating how compelling it is. On occasion the text-directed remarks within the magazine reviews regard characterization. These remarks on how well-drawn certain characters are, can prove to be difficult to classify, as they also say something on how credible the outside reality is portrayed. Examples include: “Boyne conveys Bruno’s mixture
37 of innocence and denial convincingly for the most part” in review 16 and “believable secondary characters-though they’re somewhat melodramatic” in review 9.
Almost all of the reviews from all four groups contain reader-directed comments. Most often these comments relate to the emotions a book brings about; whether it is enjoyable or engaging. Words such as ‘fun’, ‘funny’, ‘amusing’, ‘interesting’ and ‘engaging’, occur frequently throughout the entire collection of reviews. Related to these so-called ‘arguments of emotion’ are comments by children on how immersed they felt in the story. For instance: “it makes you stay in the book the whole time and feels like your standing there watching the whole thing happening!” (review 55) and “Most of the time I felt like I was standing right next to the character who was talking” (review 57). The question is where to categorize these comments; are they reader-directed, emotional arguments (the word ‘feel’ is used after all)? Or should these comments be considered text-directed arguments of composition (because they implicate that the is designed to immerse the reader). Additionally these remarks might even be considered to be society-directed arguments of reflection (the story is so credible that it immerses the reader).
What comments regarding education are concerned, these almost only occur within the specialist magazine reviews (approximately in one in four). The most extensive comment on how useful a book is can be found in review 9: “will provoke readers’ questions and speculation on the open-ended conclusion, and mother/daughter discussion possibilities are encouraged with the appended reading guide”. As said, educational remarks chiefly occur within specialist magazine reviews, they are virtually absent in both newspaper and Amazon reviews. In an occasional child review however, remarks such as “you’ll learn a lot” (review 63) and “the biggest lesson to be learned” (review 65), do occur.
Remarks with regard to identification seldom occur in any group, but the one of the children’s reviews. Approximately one fourth of the children make comments on how they identify with characters and situations in the book. Examples include “she reminds me of someone, ME!” (review 52) and “he is quite funny ad he is a bit like me in a way” (review 54). With the sole exceptions of the following comments in the newspaper review 18 “humor rescues the book from didacticism” and on Amazon, “not in a dreary or didactic way” (review
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50), no reviewers mention a book being condescending (one of the arguments in Krikhaar & Ros’ group IV).
Comments on adaptation in the sense of whether the book is suitable for children, only occur in the specialist magazine reviews. And even here they are rare; only three such comments can be found (review 2 line 6-7, review 4 line 14-15 and review 8 line 12-13). However it should be noted that an element of adaptation, namely identifying the intended audience, can be found in all four groups (though the way the identifying is done differs). In the first chapter of this dissertation, Jen de Groeve argues that reviewers should not put themselves in the position of other readers (especially children). Instead they should only offer readers their judgment and the way in which they came to that judgment, leaving it up to them to decide whether they might like a book. However, a close reading of the reviews showed that many reviewers (from all four groups) do focus on the reader and identify the potential audience. A.R. Hoffman made some useful remarks with regard to audience identification in a case study of children as critics. She distinguishes three different forms of identification: the first form addresses only children as a potential audience, the second one disregards age completely, and in the third form of identification dual distinctions are made, pointing to “characteristics that will incidentally but not exclusively appeal to an audience of children” (8). When looking at these forms of identification in the collected reviews, it is remarkable how similar the division is in all four groups. One fourth addresses only children as a potential audience, one fourth disregards age, one fourth makes dual distinctions and a final quarter of the reviews does not mention audience in any way. The manner in which the reviews identify audience however, is not always the same. For example, specialist magazine and newspaper reviews mostly identify audience in a rather impersonal way. When Amazon reviews identify audience, this is noticeable through remarks about how much they themselves or children in the reviewers’ surroundings (their own children or their students) enjoyed it or will enjoy it. For example: “My middle school students will love the witty writing of Anne Fine” (review 39) or “my son who I have to force to read stayed up late two nights in a row to finish this book” (review 43). Children almost always incorporate the intended audience into recommendations; “ I’d recommend it to anyone who likes a witty diary sort of story” (review 53). In relation to this it should be noted that both Amazon and children reviewers make explicit recommendations.
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The overall conclusion of this section on the direction of criticism in the four groups of reviews, is that all groups seem to have in common that their focus lies with reading pleasure. Few reviews concentrate on a book being a literary work of art that can bring about an esthetic experience. While most of the reviews devote attention to a book’s potential of being enjoyable, entertaining or moving. However, this indication of a reader-directed tendency in the reviews, does not necessarily imply a belief that the readers should exclusively be children. On the contrary, not that many age limitations can be found. Perhaps the results imply a belief that children’s book are primarily meant for amusement and diversion.
4.4 Argumentation
In the previous section the nature of the judgments is looked into, here the focus lies with to what degree these judgments are substantiated. Two questions dominate this section, namely: Are the judgments supported by examples? and Are the judgments supported by quotes from the book?
The reviews from specialist magazines are characterized by being concentrated and concise. Content description and evaluation are crammed together and often intertwine (as indicated in 4.1). Overall it is not possible to distinguish a well-build up argumentation in any of the specialist magazine reviews. Judgments are often illustrated/substantiated by one or more other judgments; it is difficult to come up with ‘hard’ evidence. Often the content description is followed by a number of judgments that seem to rely on the preceding description to substantiate them. For instance in review 3 the reviewer supplies four lines of content description and then states: “having assembled these perennially interesting ingredients, Wilson produces a poignant, gently humorous, and totally satisfying tale”. Occasionally the judgments in a magazine reviews are partially illustrated by examples, most often in reviews on The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (for example reviews 12 and 13). Only two of the sixteen magazine reviews (reviews 2 and 5) contain any quotes from the books.
What the newspaper reviews are concerned, in 4.1 it is indicated that they contain approximately one third content description. However, when looking into the other two thirds of text in these reviews, it is noticeable that a large part of this text consists of a very broad introduction. A typical example is review 17, which commences as follows: “so you thought
40 it was your family that defined dysfunction? Well, here, just in time to introduce the kids into the fine tradition of holiday fights with the siblings and the in-laws around the Christmas tree, is a very funny book about families and their foibles”. Other examples of reviews with very elaborate introductions include reviews 20, 27, 29 and 30. Beside devoting a great deal of text to introductions, a great amount of space is also spent on situating the book (as is indicated in 4.2). Thus, despite being the longest by far of all groups of reviews (not counting the announcements), the newspaper reviews proportionally do not contain that many value judgments. Yet when such judgments do occur, it should be noted that in contrast to the magazine reviews’ these critical remarks are generally illustrated by quotes and/or examples. In review 19 for example, “the boy’s general cluelessness also seems a bit overdone, even for a protected child living in a society ruled by deceit and denial” is substantiated by the following sentence: “his interpretations of the world around him often seem more those of a 6- or 7-year-old than a privately tutored 9-year-old. (“I think Poland is in Denmark,” he speculates at one point.)”
Claims in Amazon reviews are mostly unsubstantiated. Often Amazon reviewers offer personal impressions of a book. In review 48 for instance, the reviewer narrates how she came about buying the book, where she bought the book and how it gave her ‘goosebumps’. Typically such personal impressions end with a recommendation and so does review 48: “this book is on the top of my favourite books. A must read!” The credibility of the reviewers lies more often in emphasizing their conviction by exclamation marks and repetition, than in elaborate argumentation.
The children’s reviews are hardly substantiated. As said in 4.1, the content description children offer in their reviews is often chaotic and incoherent. This is a tendency that can also be encountered in the argumentative parts of the reviews (when argumentation is present). The reasoning generally tends to be illogical, containing opposing statements such as in review 67: “It is also a good book because you can't predict what will happen next. When you think you know what's about to happen, the book tends to get boring”. Or containing references to examples or quotes that are in fact irrelevant for the strain of thought, such as in review 60, where the reviewer states “that quote above helps support my opinion” without explaining in any way how this is the case. The majority of the children concludes their reviews by recommending the book.
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4.5. Personal language
This category is inspired by the claim that Amazon reviews contain a large amount of personal and intimate language. As said in the second chapter, all four groups will be examined on language, on the basis of the use of personal pronouns (does the reviewer call attention to himself by using a first-person singular? does he acknowledge the audience by using a second-person?) and on punctuation (exclamation marks) and typography (capitals).
With regard to the use of personal pronouns it is noticeable that with only one exception, none of the specialist magazine reviewers use any; nor to distinguish themselves, nor to acknowledge the audience. The exception is review 6, in which the reviewer uses the a second-person personal pronoun two times; once in line 5 in the expression ‘before you know it’ and a second time in the final two lines saying “you may regret looking up the meaning of chip butty”. In contrast with this the newspaper reviews do make use of personal pronouns. About half of them address the audience, often assuming some familiarity. For instance in review 17: “so you thought it was your family that defined dysfunction?” or in the earlier mentioned review 19: “last warning! turn the page now if you don’t want to know!”. Other examples include: “French-fry sandwiches, to you lot” in review 20 and “Even if you don't know what a fury or a chimera is, you get the idea when you meet them” in review 24. Newspaper reviewers that call attention to themselves, are somewhat rarer than those addressing the audience, but still about one third does. Strikingly, both the Amazon reviewers as well as the child reviewers almost always refer to themselves by using the fist-person. Often they do this repeatedly. What addressing the reader of the reviews is concerned, Amazon as well as child reviewers do this less than using a first-person, nevertheless in approximately half of the Amazon and children’s reviews a second person is used.
A close reading with regard to punctuation reveals that nor specialist magazine nor newspaper reviews use exclamation marks to emphasize their claims. The only exceptions being the “but wait!” in review 6 for the magazines (the same review that also was an exception in pronoun use) and the “last warning! turn the page now if you don’t want to know!” in review 19. The remaining exclamation marks in the magazine and paper reviews always occurr in the quotes the inserted from the books under discussion. Furthermore none of the reviews of the two previous groups featured capitals to express exclamation. Again this
42 is in strong opposition with both the Amazon and the children’s book reviews. Both groups feature a great amount of exclamation marks, the children’s reviews more than the Amazon reviews. The record of the greatest succession of exclamation marks is held by review number 52: “she is a pain in the neck just like me!!!!!!!!!”.
Finally, to conclude both this section on language and the entire chapter, a brief look at typography. There are a few mistakes in some of the Amazon and children’s reviews. These mistakes mostly concern the names of certain characters, ‘Sairy’ and ‘Shmuel’ are most often misspelled. Occasionally though not predominantly both the Amazon and the children’s reviews capitalize words. The most elaborate example can be found children’s review 65: “GO PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIANS!”.
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CONCLUSION
Well over forty pages back, the following question is phrased: does the content of various reviews differ and if so, how?. Four chapters follow with the aim of answering this twofold question. The first chapter deals with the available literature on the subject of criticism of children’s books. In it, it is illustrated how the existence of the internet allows for amateur critics, including children, to make their book reviews public. This phenomenon is criticized by a number of professional reviewers, who object to the fact that their reviews seem to be equated with reviews by general readers. The latter, it is argued, are less capable guides because they are not as literate as professional reviewers are. Additionally it is argued that the judgments in internet reviews are highly personal and are not as carefully considered as judgments made by professionals. Children in particular are claimed to make highly emotional, unsubstantiated judgments. This subject matter is followed by a section on the three main directions within criticism of children’s literature, based on a division by Peter van den Hoven. Society- directed, text-directed and reader-directed criticism are explored, after which a discussion between text-directed and reader-directed critics is portrayed. Should children’s books be evaluated, as adult books allegedly are, with literary criteria? Or should reviews of children’s books focus on the intended audience, anticipating on whether a book is suitable for the child readers? Chapter one concludes by suggesting a number of matters on which the content of various reviews could be examined in practice. The second chapter is designed to come up with an approach to the analysis of the reviews, it introduces a model of analysis devised by Krikhaar & Ros. While their research proves very valuable, the strict separation they apply between information and evaluation is somewhat problematic, for in practice these two components of a review grade into one another. For that reason a quantitative analysis does not seem attainable in this dissertation. Instead, a qualitative analysis is proposed, revolving around a list of five points of interest. Chapter III explicates the choice of the reviews under inspection and briefly introduces the five books that feature in the reviews. Finally, chapter IV offers the content analysis of four groups of reviews, making use of the list of questions from chapter II. Specialist magazine, newspaper, Amazon and children’s reviews are considered with regard to successively content description, situating, tendencies, argumentation and language. The following tendencies emerge from the analysis:
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The two groups of ‘professional’ reviews (specialist magazines and newspapers) share a great deal of characteristics, which incidentally do not occur in the internet reviews. Reversely the ‘amateur’ reviews from Amazon and by children share qualities which the other two groups generally lack. Both the specialist magazine and the newspaper reviews always offer a global story line (with the exception of the short announcements that are sometimes featured in papers). Additionally reviews from these groups regularly betray plot details. A tendency that can perhaps be attributed to the fact that these reviews are not always aimed at the books’ target audience but at adult mediators; it is allowed to betray details, because adults do not want read the books themselves, but want to recommend them to children. Reviews on Amazon and book reviewing websites for children do not always provide a global outline of the story and especially Amazon reviewers are careful not to betray details of the story. It is unclear whether the previous has to do with the possibility that Amazon reviews might assume that the reader of the review still wants to read the book under discussion, or with the fact that Amazon has a policy with regard to spoilers. Another characteristic reviews from specialist magazines and newspapers have in common, is that they regularly situate a book. Either by comparing it to other books and placing it in a genre (which is the case for the newspapers), or by mentioning the present themes and whether a book is an original contribution to the existing children’s literature (the case for the magazines). Neither Amazon nor children’s reviews situate books, thus confirming the hypothesis that professional reviewers more readily place a book in a genre or context (and, according to some, are therefore more qualified as guides). A final shared characteristic by magazine and newspaper reviews, is that they frequently display society- directed criticism, mostly in the form of remarks on the credibility of the story. The analysis also points out two differences between magazine and newspaper reviews. The first difference is that specialist magazine reviews are very concise; they do not seem to have much space available to integrate elaborate argumentation and do not as a rule illustrate judgments by examples or quotes from the book. Reviews from newspapers are usually quite lengthy and contain more argumentation in the form of both examples and quotes. Reviews from newspapers are also differ from magazine reviews in that they use personal language occasionally (addressing both themselves and the reader ). A possible explanation would be that newspapers have a different audience than specialist magazines have (more parents than librarians probably) and that they need to be more entertaining.
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A similarity between Amazon and children reviews is that they both contain highly personal language. Not only do they more frequently than the newspaper reviews use personal pronouns, they also use more exclamations. Both internet groups also seem to contain much more explicit recommendations than the first two groups, however the credibility of the reviewers lies not so much in reasoning why a book is or is not recommendable (argumentation is not very often present in either Amazon or children’s reviews), as in emphasizing one’s conviction by exclamation marks, repetition, and general enthusiasm. Finally it should be noted that despite the differences between the four groups of reviews, they also have one shared key characteristic. A majority of all reviews displays a focus on how the book is or will be emotionally experienced.
Thus the initial question is to a large extent answered, the four groups of book reviews do differ on a number of matters. However similarity between all four groups of reviews is found with regard to a reader-directed orientation. With respect to reader-directed tendencies in children’s literature, Joke Linders-Nouwens comments that critics would never make reader-directed remarks when dealing with adult literature. Whereas these books might bring about similar experiences as are addressed by reader-directed remarks; influencing the adult reader in a certain way, or proving to be inaccessible for a large number of people (22). This raises the question to what degree reader- directed criticism occurs in reviews of adult literature (and if it is perhaps more dominant in certain genres than in others). A comparative research would shed light on this. Other interesting research possibilities with regard to criticism of children’s literature include for example research on the criticism in reports of book juries, comparing adult jury reports with those of children’s juries. Also a large scale, more detailed research into each separate category of reviews would be valuable, comparing for example newspaper reviews amongst each other. A final suggestion relates to the fact that some reviewers make claims in the name of children, saying for example that they might miss the core meaning of a book. An interesting angle would be to compare such statements with reviews by children on the books in question.
I would like to conclude this dissertation by briefly illustrating the impact the research has had on myself in the role of a children’s book critic. Studying the literature and analyzing a large number of reviews has made me more aware of the composition of reviews of children’s books and of the possibilities I have as a reviewer. In my experience I am more attentive now
46 to questions such as how much space to devote to content description and how to best substantiate judgments. Additionally I truly realize that reviewing children’s books is often a balancing act between society-directed, text-directed and reader-directed commentary. Yet these understandings do not discourage me; I look forward to dealing with challenges that go hand in hand with criticism of children’s literature.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
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“The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. A Fable.” Rev. of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, by John Boyne. Publishers Weekly 252.28 (2006): 158-159. Academic Search Elite. Web. 28 May 2010. “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas.” Rev. of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, by John Boyne. Kirkus Reviews 74.16 (2006): 836. Academic Search Elite. Web. 28 May 2010. “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas.” Rev. of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, by John Boyne. Amazon.com. Amazon, 2 Feb. 2008. Web. 28 May 2010. “The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas.” Rev. of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, by John Boyne. Books for Keeps. Books for Keeps, Mar. 2006. Web. 28 May 2010. “The Lightning Thief.” Rev. of Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, by Rick Riordan. Publishers Weekly 252.21 (2005): 16. Academic Search Elite. Web. 28 May 2010. “The True Story of Christmas.” Rev. of The True Story of Christmas, by Anne Fine. Kirkus Reviews 71.21 (2003): 1316. Academic Search Elite. Web. 28 May 2010. “When You’re Not at Wizard School, Try Summer Camp for Demi-Gods.” Rev. of Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, by Rick Riordan. Amazon.com. Amazon, 4 July 2005. Web. 28 May 2010. A., Lauren. “Ruby Holler.” Rev. of Ruby Holler, by Sharon Creech. Spaghetti Book Club. Spaghetti Book Club, 2004-2005. Web. 28 May 2010. Amy. “More the Merrier.” Rev. of The True Story of Christmas, by Anne Fine. Kids’ Review. Kids’ Review, n.d. Web. 28 May 2010. Armistead, Claire. E-mail Interview. 12 May 2009. Bekkering, Harry, and Helma van Lierop. “Hoe Literair Oordeelt de Griffeljury?” Literatuur Zonder Leeftijd 11.43 (1997): 461-477. Print. Boyne, John. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas. London: David Fickling Books, 2006. Print. Bronte, and Lucy. “Candyfloss.” Rev. of Candyfloss, by Jacqueline Wilson. Kids’ Review. Kids’ Review, n.d. Web. 28 May 2010. Cheng, J. “To Give a Synopsis Would Truly Spoil the Book…” Rev. of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, by John Boyne. Amazon.com. Amazon, 18 Dec. 2005. Web. 28 May 2010. Cooper, Ilene. “The True Story of Christmas.” Rev. of The True Story of Christmas, by Anne Fine. Booklist 100.1 (2003): 133. Academic Search Elite. Web. 28 May 2010. Cooper, Melissa. “I Loved This Book (No Spoilers).” Rev. of Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, by Rick Riordan. Amazon.com. Amazon, 5 July 2005. Web. 28 May 2010. Craig, Amanda. “From Olympus to Half-Blood High.” Rev. of Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, by Rick Riordan. Times Online. The Times, 24 Sept. 2005. Web. 28 May 2010. Creech, Sharon. Ruby Holler. London: Bloomsbury, 2002. Print.
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Danielson, J. “Hilarious!” Rev. of The True Story of Christmas, by Anne Fine. Amazon.com. Amazon, 11 Feb. 2004. Web. 28 May 2010. de Groeve, Jen. “Geef de Literatuur Terug Aan de Literatuur. Literaire Kritiek en Jeugdliteratuur.” De Leeswelp, Antwerpen. 28 Nov. 2009. Lecture. ---. “Schrijven en Terugschrijven. Over het Beoordelen van Jeugdboeken.” De Leeswelp 12.7 (2006): 250-254. Print. de Saedeleer, Majo, Marita Vermeulen and Katrien Vloeberghs, eds. Gidsen en Goudzoekers. Een Inleiding Bij het Lezen van Recensies. Antwerpen: Villa Kakelbont, 2002. Print. de Vriens, Gerard. “Literaire Kritiek of Consumentenvoorlichting?” Literatuur Zonder Leeftijd 19.71 (2006): 24-34. Print. E., Heather. “Ruby Holler.” Rev. of Ruby Holler, by Sharon Creech. Spaghetti Book Club. Spaghetti Book Club, 2004-2005. Web. 28 May 2010. Eccleshare, Julia. “Two Frogs, a Dog and a Fairy.” Rev. of The True Story of Christmas, by Anne Fine. Guardian.co.uk. The Guardian, 6 Dec. 2003. Web. 28 May 2010. Erika. “Ruby Holler.” Rev. of Ruby Holler, by Sharon Creech. World of Reading. Ann Arbor District Library, n.d. Web. 28 May 2010. Esther. “Candyfloss.” Rev. of Candyfloss, by Jacqueline Wilson. Kids’ Review. Kids’ Review, n.d. Web. 28 May 2010. Evans, Edward G. Developing Library and Information Center Collections. Englewood: Libraries Unlimited, 1995. Print. Fine, Anne. The More the Merrier. London: Random House Children’s Books, 2003. Print. Furr, Sheila. “Glad I Heard!” Rev. of Candyfloss, by Jacqueline Wilson. Amazon.com. Amazon, 16 Mar. 2009. Web. 28 May 2010. Geras, Adèle. “Wrap It Up.” Rev. of The True Story of Christmas, by Anne Fine. Guardian.co.uk. The Guardian, 20 Dec. 2003. Web. 28 May 2010. H., Kaitlyn. “Ruby Holler.” Rev. of Ruby Holler, by Sharon Creech. World of Reading. Ann Arbor District Library, n.d. Web. 28 May 2010. Hearne, Betsy G. and Roger Sutton, eds. Evaluating Children’s Books: A Critical Look: Aesthetic, Social, and Political Aspects of Analyzing and Using Children’s Books. Illinois: University of Illinois, 1992. Internet Archive. Web. 28 May 2010. Hegarty, Shane. “ Horror Through a Child’s Eyes.” Rev. of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, by John Boyne. Irishtimes.com. The Irish Times, 28 Jan. 2006. Web. 28 May 2010. Hoffman, A. R. “The BFG and the Spaghetti Book Club: A Case Study of Children as Critics.” Children’s Literature in Education. NYP. 21 Apr. 2010. Web. 28 May 2010. Hume, Mick. “Look Girls, Life Doesn’t Have to Be This Bad.” Rev. of Candyfloss, by Jacqueline Wilson. Times Online. The Times, 4 Mar. 2006. Web. 28 May 2010.
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Isaacs, Kathleen. “Candyfloss.” Rev. of Candyfloss, by Jacqueline Wilson. Booklist 104.3 (2007): 56. Academic Search Elite. Web. 28 May 2010. J., Ben. “The Lightning Thief.” Rev. of Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, by Rick Riordan. Spaghetti Book Club. Spaghetti Book Club, 2006-2007. Web. 28 May 2010. Jones, Nicolette. “Books for Christmas 2003. Bearing Season Treats.” Rev. of The True Story of Christmas, by Anne Fine. Times Online. The Times, 7 Dec. 2003. Web. 28 May 2010. Joosen, Vanessa, and Katrien Vloeberghs. Uitgelezen Jeugdliteratuur. Ontmoetingen Tussen Traditie en Vernieuwing. Leuven: LannooCampus, 2008. Print. Kraaijeveld, Ruud. “Tegen de Dictatuur. Over Jeugdliteratuur en Leesbevordering.” Literatuur Zonder Leeftijd 10.39 (1996): 385-388. Print. Krikhaar, Margot, and Bea Ros. Een Spannend Boek. Warm Aanbevolen! Een Onderzoek naar Twintig Jaar Jeugdliteraire Kritiek (1965-1984). Nijmegen: Katholieke Universiteit Nijmegen, 1986. Print. Kromhout, Rindert. Van Grauwe Griffel tot Gouden Gniffel. Over Kinderboeken. Hilversum: Gooi en Sticht, 1989. Print. Kustermans, Karin. “Less Is More – Maar Niet Altijd. Meningen Over Recenseren.” Leesgoed 35.7 (2007): 293-298. Print. ---. “Wat Is er aan de Hand in Kinderboekenland? De Kinderboekenrecensent Gaat Ondergronds.” De Leeswelp 15.8 (2009): 302-305. Print. L., Nicholas. “The Lightning Thief.” Rev. of Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, by Rick Riordan. Spaghetti Book Club. Spaghetti Book Club, 2005-2006. Web. 28 May 2010. Linders-Nouwens, Joke. “De Kritiek en het Kinderboek.” Even met de Kont op Reis: Avonturen met Kinderboeken. Eds. Jeacques Dohmen et al. Amsterdam: Querido, 1987. 19- 24. Print. Long, Joanna R. “Ruby Holler.” Rev. of Ruby Holler, by Sharon Creech. Horn Book 78.3 (2002): 327. Academic Search Elite. Web. 28 May 2010. Lothrop, Patricia D. “The Lightning Thief.” Rev. of Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, by Rick Riordan. School Library Journal 51.8 (2005): 134. Academic Search Elite. Web. 28 May 2010. Luna. “Lightning Thief [Percy Jackson & the Olympians, 1].” Rev. of Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, by Rick Riordan. World of Reading. Ann Arbor District Library, n.d. Web. 28 May 2010. Lundberg, Melinda. “Wonderful British Humor.” Rev. of The True Story of Christmas, by Anne Fine. Amazon.com. Amazon, 3 Dec. 2003. Web. 28 May 2010. MacMonagle, Niall. “Troubled Territory, Troubled Times.” Rev. of Ruby Holler, by Sharon Creech. Irishtimes.com. The Irish Times, 19 Oct. 2002. Web. 28 May 2010. Madden, Christine. “An Eye to the Future and a Nod to the Past.” Rev. of Candyfloss, by Jacqueline Wilson. Irishtimes.com. The Irish Times, 15 July 2006. Web. 28 May 2010.
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Mej. “More the Merrier.” Rev. of The True Story of Christmas, by Anne Fine. Kids’ Review. Kids’ Review, n.d. Web. 28 May 2010. Nodelman, Perry. “Fear of Children’s Literature: What’s Left (or Right) After Theory?” Reflections of Change. Children’s Literature Since 1945. Ed. Sandra L. Beckett. London: Greenwood, 1997. 3-14. Print. Nolan. “Lightning Thief[Percy Jackson & the Olympians, 1].” Rev. of Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, by Rick Riordan. World of Reading. Ann Arbor District Library, n.d. Web. 28 May 2010. Oliver. “The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas.” Rev. of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, by John Boyne. Kids’ Review. Kids’ Review, n.d. Web. 28 May 2010. P., Josh. “Ruby Holler.” Rev. of Ruby Holler, by Sharon Creech. Spaghetti Book Club. Spaghetti Book Club, 2003-2004. Web. 28 May 2010. Parravano, Martha V, “The True Story of Christmas.” Rev. of The True Story of Christmas, by Anne Fine. Horn Book 79.6 (2003): 743. Academic Search Elite. Web. 28 May 2010. ---. “Candyfloss.” Rev. of Candyfloss, by Jacqueline Wilson. Horn Book 83.5 (2007): 591- 592. Academic Search Elite. Web. 28 May 2010. Pennie, Lisa M. “A Fun Fantasy Read.” Rev. of Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, by Rick Riordan. Amazon.com. Amazon, 28 June 2005. Web. 28 May 2010. Phelan, Carolyn. “Ruby Holler.” Rev. of Ruby Holler, by Sharon Creech. Booklist 98.15 (2002): 1328. Academic Search Elite. Web. 28 May 2010. Pinder, Jeanne B. “The True Story of Christmas.” Rev. of The True Story of Christmas, by Anne Fine. The New York Times. The New York Times, 21 Dec. 2003. Web. 28 May 2010. Pool, Gail. Faint Praise. The Plight of Book Reviewing in America. Missouri: University of Missouri, 2007. Print. Pullman, Philip. “Satisfyingly Scary Monsters.” Rev. of Ruby Holler, by Sharon Creech. Guardian.co.uk. The Guardian, 6 July 2002. Web. 28 May 2010. Rabinovitch, Dina. “Holiday Reading.” Rev. of Candyfloss, by Jacqueline Wilson. Guardian.co.uk. The Guardian, 1 Apr. 2006. Web. 28 May 2010. Ree, Malcolm J. “Why Review Books?” Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics 28.1 (2003): 71-72. E-Journals. Web. 28 May 2010. Riordan, Rick. Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief. London: Puffin Books, 2005. Print. Ross, A. “A Fable for Whom?” Rev. of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, by John Boyne. Amazon.com. Amazon, 24 Aug. 2006. Web. 28 May 2010. Samuels, Diane. “Zeus and Co.” Rev. of Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, by Rick Riordan. Guardian.co.uk. The Guardian, 22 Oct. 2005. Web. 28 May 2010. Scheps, Susan “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas.” Rev. of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, by John Boyne. School Library Journal 52.9 (2006): 202. Academic Search Elite. Web. 28 May 2010.
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Scott, Anthony O. “Something Is Happening.” Rev. of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, by John Boyne. The New York Times. The New York Times, 12 Nov. 2006. Web. 28 May 2010. Shulman, Polly. “Harry Who?” Rev. of Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, by Rick Riordan. The New York Times. The New York Times, 13 Nov. 2005. Web. 28 May 2010. Steiner, Ann. “Private Criticism in the Public Space: Personal Writing on Literature in Readers’ Reviews on Amazon.” Participations. Journal of Audience & Reception Studies 5.2 (2008): n. pag. Web. 28 May 2010. Sutton, Roger. “Parent Trap.” Rev. of Candyfloss, by Jacqueline Wilson. The New York Times. The New York Times, 13 Jan. 2008. Web. 28 May 2010. Tucker, Nicholas. “A Terrible Truth Beyond the Wire.” Rev. of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, by John Boyne. The Independent. The Independent, 13 Jan. 2006. Web. 28 May 2010. ---. “Everyday Espionage.” Rev. of Ruby Holler, by Sharon Creech. The Independent. The Independent, 13 July 2002. Web. 28 May 2010. ---. “The Fine Art of Gripping Yarn.” Rev. of Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief, by Rick Riordan. The Independent. The Independent, 21 Oct. 2005. Web. 28 May 2010. Tyarra. “The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas.” Rev. of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, by John Boyne. Kids’ Review. Kids’ Review, n.d. Web. 28 May 2010. Van Den Driessche, Isolde. “Wit Brood of een Meergranenboterham.” De Leeswelp 12.7 (2006): 250-251. Print. van den Hoven, Peter. “Liefdewerk Oud Papier. Lieke van Duin Over de Praktijk van de Jeugdliteraire Kritiek.” Literatuur Zonder Leeftijd 12.47 (1998): 367-381. Print. ---. “Pogingen de Orde te Herstellen. Over Jeugdliteratuurkritiek, een Standpuntbepaling.” Grensverkeer. Over Jeugdliteratuur. By Peter van den Hoven. Den Haag: NBLC, 1994. 19 pag. dbnl: Digitale Bibliotheek voor de Nederlandse Letteren. Web. 28 May 2010. ---. “Ruis en Valse Lucht. Antwoord aan Ruud Kraaijeveld.” Literatuur Zonder Leeftijd 10.39 (1996): 389-393. Print. ---. “Tegen het Misverstand. Over Jeugdliteratuur en Leesbevordering.” Literatuur Zonder Leeftijd 10.38 (1996): 210-222. Print. van Gorp, Hendrik, Dirk Delabastita, and Rita Ghesquiere. Lexicon van Literaire Termen. 7th ed. Groningen: Martinus Nijhoff, 1998. Print. Wilson, Jacqueline. Candyfloss. London: Random House Children’s Books, 2006. Print. Wilson, Margo, and Kay Bishop. “Criteria for Reviewing Children’s Books.” Library Resources and Technical Services 43.1 (1999): 3-13. Print.
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APPENDIX B - Table of Reviews
Ruby Holler The True Story of Percy Jackson and The Boy in the Candyfloss CATEGORY SOURCE Christmas the Lightning Thief Striped Pajamas specialist Magazines Booklist 1 1 - - 1 Horn Book 1 1 - - 1 Kirkus Reviews - 1 - 1 1 School Library Journal - - 1 1 - Publishers Weekly - - 1 1 - Books for Keeps 1 - 1 1 - Newspapers The New York Times - 1 1 1 1 The Guardian 1 2 1 - 1 The Times - 1 1 - 1 The Irish Times 1 - - 1 1 The Independent 1 - 1 1 - Amazon Amazon 4 3 4 4 2 Children Kids' review - 2 - 1 2 Amazon (Kids) - 1 - 2 1 Ann Arbor District Library 2 - 2 - - Spaghetti Book Club 3 - 2 - -
APPENDIX C – Reviews
1. Specialist Magazines
BOOKLIST
1 Creech, Sharon. Ruby Holler . Apr. 2002. 320p. HarperCollins/Joanna Cotler, $16.95 (0-06-027732-7); lib. Ed., $16.89 (0-06-027733-5).
1 Gr. 4–7.Thirteen-year-old twins Dallas and Florida are continually in trouble for breaking the many 2 rules of the Boxton Creek Home for Children. When an elderly couple, Tiller and Sairy, invite Dallas 3 and Florida to stay with them in nearby Ruby Holler and travel with them beyond it, the twins are 4 wary. Previous foster placements have been disasters. Tiller and Sairy, however, treat the children 5 like their own, talking with them, teaching them, trusting them, loving them, outwitting them, and 6 even letting them save face. In an unusual approach for a children’s book, Tiller and Sairy’s point of 7 view are at least as important as those of Dallas and Florida; and how the foursome play off one 8 another is one of the key points of the narrative. There’s a larger-than-life feel to this novel that 9 makes the minor characters and subplots feel a bit out of scale–or out of sync–but the main story 10 rests squarely on the four well-drawn characters. A stylized yet solid story from the author of the 11 Newberry-award-winning Walk Two Moons (1994). –Carolyn Phelan
2 Fine, Anne, The True Story of Christmas. .Sept. 2003. 144p. Delacorte, hardcover, $15.95 (0-385- 73130-2); library edition, $17.99 (0-385-90156-9).
1 Grades 5-7. Fine always has an amusing take on things, and here she casts a very British eye on 2 Christmas. Ralph Mountfield, banished to his bed on Christmas Day, details what happens when 16 3 relatives descend on his house, and a family feud does them in. It’s hard to decide who is the worst 4 of the group: cousin Titania, an egotistical little twit who fancies herself a fairy; Great-gran, whose 5 favorite line is, “If I had my own teeth, I’d bite you”; or the twins, who enjoy pelting dinner rolls at 6 the cat. If Fine’s humor isn’t black, it’s certainly very dark brown, so this story may best suit readers 7 somewhat older than her usual audience. But kids who get the bitter, ironic tone will find this very 8 funny, and fans of Harry Potter will enjoy the Briticisms and feel as if they’ve found their way to an 9 all-Dursley Christmas. — Ilene Cooper
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3 Wilson, Jacqueline, Candyfloss. Illus. by Nick Sharratt. 2007. 352p. Roaring Brook, $14.95 (1-59643-241-1). Gr. 4–7.
1 When her mother, stepfather, and baby brother go off to Australia for six months, Flossie makes the 2 difficult choice to stay home with her dad, the owner of a failing café. Worse, Flossie’s former best 3 friend, the classroom queen, has become a bullying enemy, making fun of the cooking oil smell on 4 Flossie’s clothes and denigrating the nice new girl, Susan. Having assembled these perennially 5 interesting ingredients, Wilson produces a poignant, gently humorous, and totally satisfying tale. 6 Flossie is charmingly believable, idiosyncratic, but recognizable as an upper-elementary-school girl 7 who has almost, but not quite, outgrown stuffed animals and imaginary play. Each chapter begins 8 with a full page of cartoon-style panels indicating the action to follow. American readers may be 9 unfamiliar with chip butties, the french fry sandwich that is Flossie’s father’s specialty, but they will 10 recognize the school social scene and cheer Flossie’s newfound backbone. “Floss’s Gloss” in the back 11 translates unfamiliar British phrases and may encourage readers to find more of this best-selling 12 British author’s work. —Kathleen Isaacs
HORN BOOK
4 Ruby Holler, Sharon Creech 310 pp. Cotler/HarperCollins 4/02 ISBN 0-06-027732-7 16.99 Library edition ISBN 0-06-027733-5 16.89 (Intermediate, Middle School)
1 Midway along the road between Lemony Snicket's ironical nightmares and the luminous logic of Tuck 2 Everlasting lies Ruby Holler. Here, too, villains are avaricious and events schematic, designed as much 3 to support the author's ideas as to propel her protagonists' fortunes. Twins Dallas and Florida, 4 thirteen, have been placed by orphanage proprietors Mr. and Mrs. Trepid (who as villains would be 5 right at home in a Dickens or a Dahl novel) in yet another foster home, the first to treat them kindly. 6 Tiller and Sairy, who much resemble the affectionate grandparents in Creech's Walk Two Moons, live 7 in idyllic Ruby Holler, where they cook wholesome meals and support themselves with their exquisite 8 wood carvings of forest creatures. In a bracing dose of reality, even this saintly pair's patience is 9 strained by the twins, whose lifetime of abuse has left them both mischievous and lacking normal 10 skills. Still, they are drawn into the old couple's plans for separate life-affirming journeys, each with 11 one twin. Though their well-founded suspicions of an unfriendly world persist, Dallas and Florida 12 begin to blossom in time to help foil the Trepids and to pitch in, sometimes heroically, where help is 13 needed. Brief chapters, swift action, a hint of mystery concerning the twins' origins, generous doses 14 of humor, engagingly quirky characters, and a lively, kid-friendly voice will all recommend this to a 15 wide range of young readers. ~~~~~~~~ C - 2
By Joanna Rudge Long
5 The True Story of Christmas, Anne Fine 135 pp. Delacorte 9/03 ISBN 0-385-73130-2 15.95 Library edition ISBN 0-385-90156-9 17.99 (Intermediate)
1 The holiday described in this very funny farce is the antithesis of a Hallmark-card Christmas, 2 symbolized by the broken ornament that decorates the beginning of each section ("Christmas Eve," 3 "Christmas Lunch," etc.). Of the relatives about to descend on Ralph and his family, only Uncle Todd 4 and Aunt Lucy won't be there, having "fled to Madeira." ('"Please don't say "fled to,'" Mum reproved 5 me. 'Just say "chosen to spend Christmas in."'") The arrivals include "soppy" cousin Titania, who 6 decorates her cloyingly sweet letters to Santa with magic stardust; Great-aunt Ida, on loan from the 7 nursing home, who sees vicars floating by windows; destructo twins Sylvia and Sylvester and their 8 "megatantrums"; and misanthropic, acerbic Great-granny, who supports an appeal on behalf of 9 battered children until Ralph's dad explains that it's to stop the battering, not encourage it. The 10 family holiday starts out dysfunctional and deteriorates rapidly; and with every burnt potato, 11 exchange of insults, and disastrous family-quiz answer, the book gets funnier. Although reminiscent 12 of Helen Cresswell's Bagthorpe Saga in its tone and comic timing, this could only have been served up 13 by Anne Fine, characterized as it is by her particular brand of dark humor, the specialty of the house. ~~~~~~~~ By Martha V. Parravano
6 Candyfloss, Jacqueline Wilson illus, by Nick Sharratt 339 pp. Brodie/Roaring Brook 9/07 ISBN 978-1-59643-241-3 $14.95 (Intermediate)
1 "Candyfloss" is British for cotton candy--which Wilson's novel does and does not resemble. It goes 2 down as easily, but it's more filling, less sugary. Pre-teen Floss (short for Flora) doesn't quite fit with 3 the new family unit of mother, stepfather, and baby brother; she adores her down-on-his-luck 4 weekend dad. When Mum tells Floss that they're moving to Australia for six months, Floss decides to 5 stay with Dad; he needs her, and she doesn't want to leave best friend Rhiannon, either. Before you 6 know it, Floss is wondering if she'll have a roof over her head (the bank has foreclosed on dad's 7 customer-less cafe), breaking off with Rhiannon (who, as readers have already suspected, is a mean, 8 self-centered bully), and missing Mum. But wait! Here comes a true friend; a few hair-raising 9 adventures and happy coincidences; and a wish-fulfillment ending to beat all. Wilson (second in 10 popularity only to J. K. Rowling in the UK) mixes familiar situations and concerns with a brisk pace 11 and a main character her tween-girl readers would like to be best friends with--quite the winning 12 package. Pages of panels arranged in comic-strip format introduce each chapter, setting tone and 13 foreshadowing incident, illustrating Floss's feelings, and, as in the final page picturing Dad and Floss's
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14 rosy future, extending the action. A much-needed glossary is appended--though you may regret 15 looking up the meaning of chip butty. By M.V.P.
KIRKUS REVIEWS
7 The True Story of Christmas Anne Fine
1 England's Children's Laureate lets out all the stops in this no-holds-barred look at a Christmas 2 celebration in an English family full of eccentric relatives, including spoiled little cousins and a great- 3 aunt who thinks she sees the vicar floating past the window. The younger son of the family, Ralph, 4 tells the story of the holiday reunion of 15 relatives, each with issues with other family members, 5 plus an innocent little neighbor boy who always overhears what he shouldn't. Ralph looks back at 6 Christmas through first-person narration told in short chapters full of snappy dialogue, witty jokes, 7 and one comical disaster after another. The chapters are like scenes in a very funny play, full of 8 rejoinders and exposition of family relations through dialogue and character interaction. The text 9 includes lots of British terms and expressions, but readers used to the Harry Potter books will take 10 that in stride. This hilarious saga is full of irreverent humor and truly original characters unlike those 11 in any other Christmas story, a fine change from overly sweet Christmas treats. (Fiction. 9-13)
8 The Boy in the Striped Pajamas John Boyne
1 After Hitler appoints Bruno's father commandant of Auschwitz, Bruno (nine) is unhappy with his new 2 surroundings compared to the luxury of his home in Berlin. The literal-minded Bruno, with amazingly 3 little political and social awareness, never gains comprehension of the prisoners (all in "striped 4 pajamas") or the malignant nature of the death camp. He overcomes loneliness and isolation only 5 when he discovers another boy, Shmuel, on the other side of the camp's fence. For months, the two 6 meet, becoming secret best friends even though they can never play together. Although Bruno's 7 family corrects him, he childishly calls the camp "Out-With" and the Fuhrer "Fury." As a literary 8 device, it could be said to be credibly rooted in Bruno's consistent, guileless characterization, though 9 it's difficult to believe in reality. The tragic story's point of view is unique: the corrosive effect of 10 brutality on Nazi family life as seen through the eyes of a naïf. Some will believe that the fable form, 11 in which the illogical may serve the objective of moral instruction, succeeds in Boyle's narrative; 12 others will believe it was the wrong choice. Certain to provoke controversy and difficult to see as a 13 book for children, who could easily miss the painful point. (Fiction. 12-14) C - 4
9 Candyfloss Jacqueline Wilson
1 Flora (Floss) Barnes shuttles back and forth between Dad and Mum, Steve and half-brother Tiger. 2 When her stepfather's job requires moving to Australia for six months, Floss makes the agonizing 3 decision to stay behind with her father who is in serious debt with his failing caf business and on the 4 verge of becoming homeless. Suddenly, Floss's life changes dramatically with newfound worries and 5 fears offset by everlasting hope her father will succeed and build a new life for them. Floss's normal 6 school and tween friendship conflicts are complicated by an adult lifestyle that is less than suitable 7 for a suburban middle-class child. Added to her stress is the guilt Floss feels keeping Mum in the dark 8 and her stoic resolve to stay with Dad for moral support. British author Wilson portrays heavy issues 9 of poverty, bankruptcy, drunken/bawdy adult behavior, bullying and unconditional parental/child 10 love through a determined protagonist and a group of believable secondary characters--though 11 they're somewhat melodramatic in their thoughts and actions. Chapters foreshadow with a one-page 12 black-and-white set of graphic novel-style scenes. Will provoke readers' questions and speculation on 13 the open-ended conclusion, and mother/daughter discussion possibilities are encouraged with the 14 appended reading guide. British idioms outlined in "Floss's Glossary." (Fiction. 10-14)
SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL
10 RIORDAN, Rick. The Lightning Thief . 377p. (Percy Jackson and the Olympians Series, Bk. #1). Hyperion/Miramax 2005. RTE $17.95. ISBN 0-7868-5629-7. LC number unavailable.
1 Gr 5-9 --An adventure-quest with a hip edge. At first glance, Perseus Jackson seems like a loser 2 (readers meet him at a boarding school for troubled youth), but he's really the son of Poseidon and a 3 mortal woman. As he discovers his heritage, he also loses that mother and falls into mortal danger. 4 The gods (still very active in the 21st-century world) are about to go to war over a lost thunderbolt, 5 so Percy and sidekicks Grover (a young satyr) and Annabeth (daughter of Athena) set out to retrieve 6 it. Many close calls and monster-attacks later, they enter Hades's realm (via L.A.). A virtuoso 7 description of the Underworld is matched by a later account of Olympus (hovering 600 floors above 8 Manhattan). There's lots of zippy review of Greek myth and legend, and characters like Medusa, 9 Procrustes, Charon, and the Eumenides get updates. Some of the Labors of Heracles or Odysseus's 10 adventures are recycled, but nothing seems stale, and the breakneck pace keeps the action from 11 being too predictable. Percy is an ADHD, wise-cracking, first-person narrator. Naturally, his real quest 12 is for his own identity. Along the way, such topics as family, trust, war, the environment, dreams, and 13 perceptions are raised. There is subtle social critique for sophisticated readers who can see it. 14 Although the novel ends with a satisfying conclusion (and at least one surprise), it is clear that the C - 5
15 story isn't over. The 12-year-old has matured and is ready for another quest, and the villain is at 16 large. Readers will be eager to follow the young protagonist's next move. ~~~~~~~~ By Patricia D. Lothrop, St. George's School, Newport, RI
11 The Boy in the Striped Pajamas: A Fable BOYNE, John. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas: A Fable 217p. CIP. Random/David Fickling Bks. Tr $15.95. ISBN 0-385-75106-0; PLB $17.99. ISBN 0-385-75107-9.LC 2005033596.
1 Gr 9 Up -- Boyne has written a sort of historical allegory-a spare, but vividly descriptive tale that 2 clearly elucidates the atmosphere in Nazi Germany during the early 1940s that enabled the 3 persecution of Eastern European Jews. Through the eyes of Bruno, a naive nine-year-old raised in a 4 privileged household by strict parents whose expectations included good manners and unquestioning 5 respect for parental authority, the author describes a visit from "the Fury" and the family's sudden 6 move from Berlin to a place called "Out-With" in Poland. There, not 50 feet away, a high wire fence 7 surrounds a huge dirt area of low huts and large square buildings. From his bedroom window, Bruno 8 can see hundreds (maybe thousands) of people wearing striped pajamas and caps, and "something 9 made him feel very cold and unsafe." Uncertain of what his father actually does for a living, the boy is 10 eager to discover the secret of the people on the other side. He follows the fence into the distance, 11 where he meets Shmuel, a skinny, sad-looking Jewish resident who, amazingly, has his same birth 12 date. Bruno shares his thoughts and feelings with Shmuel, some of his food, and his final day at "Out- 13 With," knowing instinctively that his father must never learn about this friendship. While only hinting 14 at violence, blind hatred, and deplorable conditions, Boyne has included pointed examples of 15 bullying and fearfulness. His combination of strong characterization and simple, honest narrative 16 make this powerful and memorable tale a unique addition to Holocaust literature for those who 17 already have some knowledge of Hitler's "Final Solution." Susan Scheps, Shaker Heights Public Library, OH
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
12 The Lightning Thief RICK RIORDAN . Hyperion/Miramax, $17.95 (384p) ISBN 0-7868-5629-7
1 A clever concept drives Riordan's highly charged children's book debut (the first in a series): the 2 Greek Gods still rule, though now from a Mt. Olympus on the 600th floor of the Empire State 3 Building, and their offspring, demigods, live among human beings. Narrator Percy Jackson thinks he's 4 just another troubled 12-year-old, until he vaporizes his math teacher, learns his best friend, Grover, 5 is a satyr and narrowly escapes a minotaur to arrive at Camp Half-Blood. After a humorous stint at C - 6
6 camp, Percy learns he's the son of Poseidon and embarks on a quest to the Underworld with Grover 7 and Annabeth (a daughter of Athena) to resolve a battle between Zeus and Poseidon over Zeus's 8 stolen "master" lightning bolt. Without sacrificing plot or pacing, Riordan integrates a great deal of 9 mythology into the tale and believably places mythical characters into modern times, often with 10 hilarious results (such as Hades ranting about the problem of "sprawl," or population explosion). 11 However, on emotional notes the novel proves less strong (for example, Percy's grief for his mother 12 rings hollow; readers will likely spot the "friend" who betrays the hero, as foretold by the Oracle of 13 Delphi, before Percy does) and their ultimate confrontation proves a bit anticlimactic. Still, this swift 14 and humorous adventure will leave many readers eager for the next installment. Ages 10-up. (July)
13 The Boy in the Striped Pajamas : A Fable JOHN BOYNE Random/Fickling, $15.95 (224p) ISBN 0-385-75106-0
1 In 1942 Berlin, nine-year-old Bruno returns from school to discover that his father, a high-ranking 2 military officer, has a new job. He announces that the family--Bruno, mother and his older sister, 3 Gretel--is moving "for the foreseeable future" to somewhere described only as "far away." Their 4 journey unfolds through Bruno's eyes--his poignant initial objection is that the new house is not 5 nearly as nice as the one they vacated. Worse still, he misses his friends. Beyond the tall fence 6 separating his yard from an adjacent compound of crude huts, however, Bruno sees potential 7 playmates, all clad in gray-striped pajamas. Though the publisher has kept plot details under wraps 8 (e.g., cover copy and promotional materials include no specifics), readers with even a rudimentary 9 knowledge of 20th-century history will figure out, before Bruno does, where he lives and why the 10 title boy he meets in secret at the fence each afternoon is pale, thin and sad. The protagonist's naïf 11 perspective is both a strength and weakness of this simple, thought-provoking story. What occurs 12 next door is, in fact, unimaginable. But though Bruno aspires to be an explorer when he grows up, his 13 passivity and failure to question or puzzle out what's going on in what he calls "Out-With" diminishes 14 him as a character. It strains credulity to believe that an officer's son would have absolute ignorance 15 about the political realities of the day. But that is the point. How could the world outside the fence 16 not have known, or have known and failed to act on, what was happening inside it? In the final 17 pages, the tension rises precipitously and the harrowing ending, in which Bruno does finally act, is 18 sure to take readers' breath away. Ages 12-up. (Sept.)
BOOKS FOR KEEPS
14 Ruby Holler Sharon Creech C - 7
3*** Reviewed in BfK No. 138 (January 2003)
1 Part modern folktale, part American pastroal, part domestic drama about the forging of hard-won 2 trust and love between old and young, this novel fashions something fresh, comic and moving out of 3 a hackneyed and sentimental storyline. Dallas and Florida, 13-year-old twin boy and girl, have been 4 abandoned as babies by their mother and raised in a Dickensian orphanage, unsuccessfully farmed 5 out at intervals to a succession of equally Dickensian foster-parents. At 13, not surprisingly, they are 6 suspicious of the entire human race except each other. When an elderly couple of would-be foster- 7 parents called Tiller and Sairy turn up, allegedly to recruit the children as companions on eccentric 8 journeys, things do not look promising. But starting from the couple's remote cabin in an unspoilt 9 valley called Ruby Holler, a sequence of comic misadventures forges a durable bond between old and 10 young, with Ruby Holler itself as the magical catalyst for change. A lively and enjoyable reworking of 11 familiar stuff.
15 Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief Rick Riordan 3*** Reviewed in BfK No. 158 (May 2006)
1 Greek legends re-told are very popular at the moment, as of course are stories of unhappy children 2 finding solace and excitement in the world of magic and myth. This book puts a new, fast paced spin 3 on ancient mythology by casting 12-year-old Percy Jackson as an American schoolboy with severe 4 dyslexia and ADHD who has been kicked out of every school in town. When he vaporises his 5 unpleasant maths teacher and learns that his best friend Grover is a satyr, he escapes to Camp Half- 6 Blood, a training ground for those who are only half mortal. It is here that he discovers that his 7 absent father is Poseidon, brother of Zeus and Hades. 8 As a half-blood he learns that his dyslexia is only because his brain is ‘hard wired for Ancient Greek’ 9 and the reason his Latin teacher used a wheelchair at the old school in New York was because in the 10 world of the gods he is a four legged centaur. (Well, at least this is a new angle on the miraculous 11 ‘rising from your wheelchair to walk again’ story.) Along with his new half-blood friends, Percy’s 12 quest is now to find the entrance to the Underworld and return the stolen thunderbolt to Zeus. If 13 not, the hostilities will encompass the whole world. Along the way, they face a host of enemies 14 determined to stop them including the leather clad war-god Ares, who looks like a member of the 15 Hell’s Angels, and the terrifying gorgon Medusa with her hair of snakes. 16 There’s the feeling that we might be jumping on a bit of a bandwagon here (troubled boy in fantasy 17 world, possibly a book written to be turned into a film) but this is not to say that it won’t be loved by 18 readers longing for action and adventure. Learning about ancient mythology and spotting the 19 characters is a lot of fun. And for those who want to hear more about Percy’s adventures, the sequel 20 is already on its way.
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The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas John Boyne 3*** Reviewed in BfK No. 157 (March 2006)
1 Described by its author as a fable, this book chronicles events in the life of a nine-year-old Berliner, 2 Bruno, from his own (often mystified) point of view. Bruno knows his father is an important man and 3 that is why the family must leave Berlin and the neighbourhood he loves so much. Their new home is 4 an isolated house in a desolate place and there is no one to play with, despite glimpses of children 5 housed in an adjacent camp. Bruno tries to make sense of what is happening around him (why can’t 6 he say what he feels?; why is the man who serves the family at dinner actually a doctor by 7 profession?) but neither the adults around nor his elder sister Gretel will talk about what is going on. 8 As things become increasingly disturbing and unpleasant, Bruno goes for walks on his own and finds 9 a friend his own age on the other side of the fence that surrounds the camp. His parents decide he 10 should return to Berlin, but for Bruno, who has found a way into the camp, it is too late. Reminiscent 11 of Jerry Spinelli’s Milkweed, Boyne conveys Bruno’s mixture of innocence and denial convincingly for 12 the most part. There is a powerful sense of the murky undercurrents that surround him. But when a 13 teller of fables begins to name names, the convention is lost and thereby, at the end of the book, 14 some of its power to convince. An ambitious debut.
2. Papers
THE NEW YORK TIMES
17 CHILDREN'S BOOKS By Jeanne B. Pinder Published: December 21, 2003 THE TRUE STORY OF CHRISTMAS By Anne Fine . Delacorte, $15.95. (Ages 10 and up)
1 So you thought it was your family that defined dysfunction? Well, here, just in time to introduce the 2 kids into the fine tradition of holiday fights with the siblings and the in-laws around the Christmas 3 tree, is a very funny book about families and their foibles, as seen through the eyes of young Ralph 4 William Mountfield. It's all told in a delicious, British-accented deadpan. Meet Great-Granny (''If had 5 my own teeth, I'd bite you''), Uncle Tristram (''Shhh! Don't distract me. I'm listing the 10 things I hate 6 most about Great-Granny''), Daddy (''My head feels like a lump of boiled owl'') and the insufferable 7 little Titania and her frilly frocks and her rendition of ''I'm a Little Teapot.'' Anne Fine, a former 8 children's laureate of England, has written several acclaimed books for young readers, including
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9 ''Alias Madame Doubtfire,'' on which the Robin Williams movie was based. She is familiar with the 10 darker corners of family life, including the crusty, the crazy, the irritating, the twisted and the long- 11 suffering, which in this case would be both Tansy, Ralph's mum, and Ralph himself, the narrator and 12 the voice of sweet reason. ''The True Story of Christmas'' features the unexpectedly early arrival of 13 the dreaded houseguests, the megatantrums, Great-Granny's brain-frying glare, references to dead 14 pets and a lot of bad behavior. 15 Like the very best books for young readers, this one has both style and content that will amuse the 16 children in the household and also the grown-ups. And at the end, the most repulsive people get 17 their comeuppances, severally and in groups. What better Christmas present could there be? Jeanne B. Pinder
18 Harry Who? By POLLY SHULMAN Published: November 13, 2005 THE LIGHTNING THIEF By Rick Riordan. 377 pp. Miramax Books/ Hyperion Books for Children. $17.95. (Ages 12 and up)
1 Boys love action heroes. Entertainers from Homer on have known how to enthrall the barely bearded 2 with tales of derring-do, whether their chase scenes are powered by wind, oats or rocket fuel. Two 3 new adventure stories cleverly draw on great examples of this tradition: the Greek myths, which 4 gave us the word "hero," and the Arthurian legends, which celebrated honor equally with courage. 5 Both follow a more recent model - Harry Potter - in taking as the hero an ordinary boy who at first 6 seems set apart from his peers, not by any special talent but by his painful home life and his 7 difficulties fitting in. 8 Percy (for Perseus) Jackson, the narrator of "The Lightning Thief," lives with his mother and abusive 9 stepfather, the aptly named Gabe Ugliano. He never knew his real father. A troubled student 10 teetering on the brink of special ed, he suffers from dyslexia and A.D.H.D. - or at least, that's what his 11 guidance counselors have always told him. But after his pre-algebra teacher turns into a harpy and 12 tries to kill him, his mother risks her life taking him to a summer camp where she hopes he'll be safe. 13 There he finds out just how special he really is. 14 "The letters float off the page when you read, right? That's because your mind is hard-wired for 15 ancient Greek," explains a fellow camper, gray-eyed Annabeth. "And the A.D.H.D. - you're impulsive, 16 can't sit still in the classroom. That's your battlefield reflexes. In a real fight, they'd keep you alive. As 17 for the attention problems, that's because you see too much, Percy, not too little. Your senses are 18 better than a regular mortal's. . . . Face it. You're a half blood." 19 So is Annabeth: her mother is the goddess Athena. 20 The Greek gods didn't die just because people stopped believing in them, Chiron, a counselor at the 21 camp, tells Percy. (Yes, that's the Chiron, the centaur who taught Hercules.) They couldn't - they're 22 immortal. Alive and as irritable as ever, they storm and quarrel, especially over the children they're 23 forever having with mortals. And these days it's just as dangerous to be a demigod as it was in the 24 days of ancient Greece, when jealous immortals would target their spouses' mortal children or angry 25 uncles would take out family differences on their weakest relatives. C - 10
26 As one of those half-human heroes, Percy must master his powers, learn his true parentage, triumph 27 over his enemies and avert an Olympian battle that threatens to overwhelm the earth. That may 28 sound like a tall order for a middle schooler, but Percy's up to it. After all, this is the boy who 29 strangled a snake that slipped into his cot during naptime in preschool. 30 "The Lightning Thief" is perfectly paced, with electrifying moments chasing each other like 31 heartbeats, and mysteries opening out in sequence. The action never feels gratuitous; it draws its 32 depth from the myths at its source. "If you were a god," Chiron asks, "how would you like being 33 called a myth, an old story to explain lightning? What if I told you, Perseus Jackson, that someday 34 people would call you a myth, just created to explain how little boys can get over losing their 35 mothers?" 36 Yet the old stories do explain lightning; similarly, "The Lightning Thief" creates a model of a boy who 37 gets over losing his mother and transforms his limitations into powers. Many readers will find 38 parallels between the quarrels of the gods and those of the adults around them. What child hasn't 39 felt at the mercy of mighty, unpredictable beings? 40 If Riordan were any less inventive, the symbols might seem heavy-handed. When Percy first meets 41 Chiron, for example, the centaur is disguised as a Latin teacher who uses a wheelchair; when Percy 42 learns his true nature, the wheelchair metamorphoses, revealing a horse's body in a cage. But 43 Riordan's sense of humor rescues the book from didacticism. With 15 years' experience teaching 44 middle school, he understands what his readers will find funny. 45 When Percy's best friend, Grover, reveals that he's a satyr, Percy finally gets why Grover has such a 46 bleating laugh. When Grover is struck by lightning in one particularly dramatic chase scene, Percy 47 tells us: "I shook his furry hip, thinking, No! Even if you are half barnyard animal, you're my best 48 friend and I don't want you to die! Then he groaned 'Food,' and I knew there was hope." Grover later 49 asks, "If you're not going to eat it, could I have your Diet Coke can?" 50 He finds himself in the path of the Minotaur, who's "seven feet tall, easy . . . bulging biceps and 51 triceps and a bunch of other 'ceps, all stuffed like baseballs under vein-webbed skin," and wearing 52 nothing but bright white Fruit of the Looms. When the half-dressed half man, half bull charges at 53 Grover, Percy distracts him by waving his red raincoat and shouting: "Hey! . . . Hey, stupid! Ground 54 beef!" 55 Though Riordan tosses off myths on every page, transforming them into contemporary episodes with 56 magic worthy of Ovid, he has plenty left for what I hope will be a long series. Polly Shulman's young adult novel, "Enthusiasm," will be published next year.
19 Something Is Happening Review by A. O. SCOTT Published: November 12, 2006 THE BOY IN THE STRIPED PAJAMAS By John Boyne . 218 pp. David Fickling Books/Random House. $15.95. (Ages 12 and up)
1 Rather than providing information about the book’s content, the flap copy for John Boyne’s new 2 novel — his first for younger readers — announces that “we think it is important that you start to
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3 read without knowing what it is about.” If obeying the wishes of book publishers is important to you, 4 then you probably should not continue reading this review. 5 But the refusal to give any hint about what happens in “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas” is more than 6 a gambit to pique the curiosity of browsers in bookstores. Especially in its early chapters, the book 7 itself is hesitant, you might even say coy, in revealing its subject. Which happens to be — last 8 warning! turn the page now if you don’t want to know! — the Holocaust. Boyne’s reluctance to say 9 as much can certainly be defended, not least on the grounds that the characters in a story about the 10 Holocaust are themselves most likely unaware of the scale and historical importance of their 11 experiences. To recreate those experiences faithfully might require undoing some of the readers’ 12 preconceptions. 13 At the same time, though, Boyne depends on those preconceptions — on the jolt of recognition that 14 occurs when what had seemed to be an ordinary story about a child at odds with his family and 15 confused by his surroundings turns out to be something much more terrible and significant. A young 16 reader who knows little or nothing about the mass murder of European Jews by the Nazis will not 17 know much more after reading “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas,” while one who has read other 18 books on the topic — Jerry Spinelli’s “Milkweed,” say, or Anne Frank’s diary — may be irritated by 19 the book’s evasions and euphemisms. 20 There is something awkward about the way Boyne manages to disguise, and then to disclose, the 21 historical context. His protagonist is Bruno, a 9-year-old whose family moves abruptly from a big 22 house in Berlin to a desolate, faraway place whose name Bruno hears as “Out-With.” Bruno’s father, 23 strict and remote but not without a flicker of paternal tenderness, has been promoted to 24 commandant. 25 “Out-With” is one of several translinguistic malapropisms meant to show the boy’s unworldliness: he 26 refers frequently to a personage called “the Fury,” who once came to dinner. Readers who know that 27 Auschwitz was a Nazi death camp and that Hitler was called the Führer will be able to recognize 28 Bruno’s solecisms. Some may also note that there is something illogical about them, since Bruno’s 29 native language is presumably German, in which the portentous puns would make no sense, not 30 English, in which they do. The boy’s general cluelessness also seems a bit overdone, even for a 31 protected child living in a society ruled by deceit and denial; his interpretations of the world around 32 him often seem more those of a 6- or 7-year-old than a privately tutored 9-year-old. (“I think Poland 33 is in Denmark,” he speculates at one point.) 34 Bruno’s innocence, in any case, is gradually eroded, though it never entirely wears away. His older 35 sister, Gretel, occasionally tries to explain matters to him — as far as she understands — but he is 36 mostly left to his own devices when it comes to figuring out, for example, why some people in Out- 37 With live inside a barbed-wire fence. They’re Jews, Gretel explains, and he wonders what the 38 difference is: 39 “ ‘I know we’re not,’ said Bruno in frustration. ‘I’m asking you, if we’re not Jews, what are we 40 instead?’ 41 “ ‘We’re the opposite,’ said Gretel, answering quickly and sounding a lot more satisfied with this 42 answer. ‘Yes, that’s it. We’re the opposite.’ 43 “ ‘All right,’ said Bruno, pleased that he had it settled in his head at last. ‘And the Opposite live on 44 this side of the fence and the Jews live on that.’ ” 45 The spur to Bruno’s curiosity is his friendship with Shmuel, the title character and a Jewish inmate of 46 the camp Bruno’s father commands. Their conversations across the fence demonstrate both Bruno’s 47 guilelessness and his natural decency (he has an instinctive dislike for the Führer, for instance), as
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48 well as the drastic difference in their circumstances, which Shmuel recognizes more readily than his 49 companion. Neither boy, however, is able to grasp the full enormity of what is happening around 50 them and to them. 51 Will the reader? Can the reader? Boyne seems driven at once by an impulse to make curious middle- 52 grade readers face the horror of Auschwitz and a desire to protect them from its full impact. He risks 53 turning a chronicle of atrocity into a tear-jerker, as Roberto Benigni did in “Life Is Beautiful.” Like that 54 film, this novel uses a child’s perception — tinged with wonder and never entirely alive to the reality 55 of evil — as a way of manipulating the emotional tone. When things threaten to become too brutal 56 (as, for example, when a kindly older camp inmate is beaten in Bruno’s home), he gently averts our 57 eyes. Similarly, he floats implications of adult and adolescent sexuality between the lines, where we 58 can see them even if Bruno can’t. 59 The book’s tone — a kind of wide-eyed deadpan — is that of a parable or a fairy tale. And Boyne 60 ends the narrative on a note of reassurance that is clearly meant to be seen through: “Of course all 61 this happened a long time ago and nothing like that could ever happen again. Not in this day and 62 age.” The author’s note that follows spells out the lesson that “fences such as the one at the heart of 63 ‘The Boy in the Striped Pajamas’ still exist; it is unlikely that they will ever fully disappear.” As hard as 64 it is to argue with this claim, it is also hard to accept it entirely. One of the things that makes the 65 horrors of history so horrible — and so difficult to think or read about — is that they can’t really be 66 made equivalent to one another or turned into fables. To mold the Holocaust into an allegory, as 67 Boyne does here with perfectly benign intent, is to step away from its reality. A. O. Scott is a film critic at The Times.
20 Parent Trap By ROGER SUTTON Published: January 13, 2008 CANDYFLOSS By Jacqueline Wilson . Illustrated by Nick Sharratt. 339 pp. Roaring Brook Press. $14.95. (Ages 9 to 12)
1 With all the ambitious novels for young adults and fat fantasy trilogies, it’s easy to forget the abiding 2 category of children’s domestic fiction — stories for 9-to-12-year-olds about school, friends and 3 family. Beverly Cleary provided the postwar model with her books about Beezus, Ramona and Henry 4 Huggins; Judy Blume and Norma Klein brought a little edge to the genre in the 1970s; and Ann M. 5 Martin sold millions of books with the Baby-Sitters Club series in the 1980s. 6 It’s essential to the appeal of the genre that the setting feel like home, broadly sketched. In these 7 books, a girl (usually) has a nice-enough life and confronts just enough challenges to keep things 8 interesting. Her best friend finds a new best friend, or her best friend moves away. She moves away. 9 Maybe the other kids ostracize her, or there’s a pestering new baby or stepmother. Any of these 10 motifs can garner enough empathy for the heroine that, while we may not want to be her, we are 11 pleased to have an emotional stake in her fortunes. 12 While fantasy and historical fiction — which to kids can seem just as exotic as fantasy — can sail 13 across oceans and languages with relative ease, this kind of domestic realism, comedy especially,
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14 doesn’t travel so well or nearly so often. (Especially not here, but we’ll leave the scandal of American 15 import-export publishing ratios for another time.) 16 Jacqueline Wilson is Britain’s most popular exponent of school-and-family fiction and the most- 17 borrowed author in United Kingdom libraries, a valuable statistic we know thanks to the country’s 18 Public Lending Right office, which gives token royalties to authors on the basis of library circulation. 19 Wilson probably maintains this edge over J. K. Rowling because she’s written so darn much — more 20 than 80 novels. But her books have never quite caught on in the United States. 21 Wilson’s latest American publisher, Roaring Brook Press, hopes to change that with “Candyfloss.” In 22 the story, Floss’s birthday — year cannily unspecified — has arrived with some nice if slightly suspect 23 presents: new jeans, “trainers” (or sneakers), a stationery set and a pink (Floss’s and this book’s 24 favorite color — cheerio, lads) suitcase. Yes, Floss and her mum and her mum’s husband, Steve, and 25 her bratty little half-brother are all going to Australia for six months because the go-getter stepfather 26 has a special work project there. 27 Wait till I tell the kids at school! But, wait again: what about Dad? Floss surprises everyone, including 28 herself, when she decides to forgo the Australia lark and move into her father’s shabby apartment 29 over his shabby cafe to subsist on a diet of fry-ups and chip butties (French-fry sandwiches, to you 30 lot) and endure the teasing when she goes to school smelling like cooking oil. 31 The school part of the story, where Floss loses her best-friend status with the glamorous and shallow 32 Rhiannon but gains a true friend in the nerdy and nice Susan Potts (“Swotty Potty”), holds no 33 surprises, as Wilson refuses to give Rhiannon (or her cow of a mother) any redeeming qualities. The 34 familiarity of the trope, however, may give genre fans safe ground from which to experience the 35 more daring and revelatory story of Floss and her parents. 36 Mum is capable, practical and unsentimental, applauding Floss for throwing out her stuffed animals 37 in preparation for the move; Dad is more gentle and imaginative but is also, as Floss’s mother ever so 38 delicately puts it, “a failure.” He gives Floss secondhand clothes — if silver high heels and a pink 39 bridesmaid’s dress — for her birthday. He loses the cafe and the upstairs flat because he can’t pay 40 the mortgage. Twice he has to defend himself and Floss against marauding yobs, and twice he loses. 41 Both parents love Floss, but her dad needs her more. 42 A tough spot to put a young girl in, you might say, but Wilson’s heroines are used to it. Whether on 43 their own, as in her books about Tracy Beaker, an abandoned child; or dealing with a mentally ill 44 mother (“The Illustrated Mum”); or handling bullies (“Bad Girls”), Wilson’s girls are durable in a 45 refreshingly unfeisty way, and though subject to the parents and other authorities in their lives, 46 they’re very much in charge of their own destinies. 47 While she’s always kind enough to give her stories a hopeful ending, Wilson’s particular gift is her 48 loyalty to her protagonists and readers: she never betrays either by pretending that grown-ups can 49 sort it all out. Although he certainly, even heartbreakingly, fumbles in the right direction, Floss’s 50 father does not know best. 51 “Too British” has long been an impediment to publishing success here. It’s acceptable, even 52 desirable, in fantasy, but too much of a stopper in realistic fiction. Traditionally, vocabulary gets 53 changed, with trainers becoming sneakers and gardens backyards and so forth. But “Candyfloss” 54 leaves all that in, and Floss helps readers with an appended glossary: “I’m not such pants at,” for 55 instance, means “not so bad at.” “This is slightly rude,” Floss explains, “as in Britain, pants means 56 panties, not trousers.” For American readers, Floss won’t sound like the girl next door unless they’re 57 already pretending they live at Hogwarts.
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58 But the trainers and jumpers and chips aren’t what’s really different about “Candyfloss.” Floss, bless 59 her brave little heart, is showing up in a publishing era that is largely ignoring stories like hers in favor 60 of glitzier, sexier mean-girl fare. For girls who have outgrown Ramona but are still wary of “The 61 Clique,” Floss makes an able, admirable companion. She may not live next door, but you’ll wish she 62 did. Roger Sutton is editor in chief of the Horn Book.
THE GUARDIAN
21 Satisfyingly scary monsters: Philip Pullman applauds a novel of unobtrusive craftsmanship Philip Pullman The Guardian, Saturday 6 July 2002 Ruby Holle r by Sharon Creech 320pp, Bloomsbury, £10.99
1 Sharon Creech, who won the Newbery Medal (the most important American children's book award) 2 with Walk Two Moons, is a skilful storyteller, whose books I always read with pleasure. Ruby Holler 3 concerns the adventures of the orphan twins Florida (a girl) and Dallas (a boy), who are named after 4 the tourist pamphlets in the box in which they were abandoned as babies. When the story begins 5 they are 13, and living in the Boxton Creek Home for Children, a miserable orphanage run by the 6 short-tempered and greedy Mr and Mrs Trepid. 7 The twins are each other's best and only friends, and they have different and complementary 8 characters. Florida is "loud and squirmy, with her mouth full of words bursting out", and Dallas is 9 "the one more inclined to daydreaming". They haven't lived in the Boxton Creek Home all their lives: 10 every so often they'll be taken in by a cruel or peculiar family - scary, toothless Mr Dreep and his wife 11 with the fidgety fingers, or the self-righteous Cranbeps and their abominable daughter Gigi - each 12 time the placement breaks down, and back the twins go to the sour and neglectful care of the 13 Trepids. 14 So far, so conventional. There is a larger-than-life, brighter-than-natural quality to these people and 15 this setting: we know it's exaggerated, and we can enjoy the melodrama. We're not in the realm of 16 subdued and downbeat realism. 17 There's almost a Lemony Snicketish air: the life of Florida and Dallas has indeed so far been a series 18 of unfortunate events. When a kindly, eccentric old couple turn up and take the twins to live with 19 them in the isolated valley of Ruby Holler, we can guess that Florida and Dallas and Tiller and Sairey 20 will eventually become one family, and it's not hard to predict that there will be problems to 21 overcome and dangers to face, but that they'll all live happily ever after. 22 Now, how does a good storyteller make this interesting? Interesting, I mean, to all kinds of readers, 23 whatever their degree of experience and sophistication? 24 First, by a complete certainty of tone. There are no false notes, no striving for effect, no clever jokes 25 that miss half the audience, no patronising facetiousness. Creech takes her material seriously, and 26 presents it without affectation. That happens more rarely than it should; it takes practice to bring it
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27 off, as well as talent, but when it does, it means that the tone resonates sympathetically with the 28 subject. The whole book is in tune. 29 Second, by putting the camera in the right place. According to David Mamet, "Where should I put the 30 camera?" is one of the fundamental questions a film director has to ask: I'd say it was the 31 fundamental question of all storytelling. 32 It's not only what angle you choose to see an event from, but how close you go to it, and how long 33 you spend with it, and when you look away. In Ruby Holler, Creech does an unusual thing for a 34 children's book: she distributes her attention equally among the adults and the children. She looks at 35 whatever is interesting, whatever moves the story forward, and tells us what she sees, and never 36 tells us more than we need. 37 Sometimes it's only a glance: some of her chapters are less than a page and a half long. The effect is 38 to give the reader a sense of deep security: we're confident in the authority of the storyteller. She 39 knows what she's doing. This is not a great work of literary art; it's not the best book Creech has 40 written. But it's a book that shows how very satisfying unobtrusive craftsmanship can be, even 41 working with slight materials, and it's fun, and it celebrates kindness and decency. 42 Incidentally, if you look for this book, you'll be lucky to recognise it from the cover. The publishers 43 have printed the title in thin red letters so that it's almost invisible. Apart from that, Ruby Holler is 44 handsomely designed. · Philip Pullman is the author of the His Dark Materials trilogy
22 Two frogs, a dog and a fairy. Julia Eccleshare tips the books that will make Christmas merry. Julia Eccleshare The Guardian, Saturday 6 December 2003 The More the Merrier , by Anne Fine , illustrated by Kate Aldous (Doubleday, £10.99) […] 1 7-9+ 2 From Granny with her implacable views on children - "If I had my own teeth, I'd bite you" - to cousin 3 Titania who loves to perform "I'm a Little Teapot", there's a grim cast in this hilarious but barbed 4 story of how Christmas can go so wrong for so many people - just because they are all related. […]
23 Wrap it up. The experts reveal which books they will be placing beneath the Christmas tree The Guardian, Saturday 20 December 2003 […] Adèle Geras 1 Perhaps the most Christmassy (or anti-Christmassy) of the books I've chosen is Anne Fine's The More 2 the Merrier (Doubleday, £10.99). Here is the traditional family gathering with every stop pulled out. 3 Fine is good at families and is on sparkling form with a hilarious story with which many people will 4 identify. The grandmother's reaction to a charity appeal on television is worth the price of the book 5 by itself. […]
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24 Zeus and co. Diane Samuels enjoys Rick Riordan's updating of the Perseus myth, Percy Jackson and The Olympians Diane Samuels The Guardian, Saturday 22 October 2005 Percy Jackson and The Olympians: The Lightning Thief, by Rick Riordan, 384pp, Puffin, £12.99
1 Perseus is alive and kicking and living in Manhattan. He goes by the name of Percy Jackson, he's 12 2 years old and has been shunted from one special school to another. He suffers from attention-deficit 3 disorder and severe dyslexia. Does this sound like the stuff of Greek legend? Rick Riordan's book 4 Percy Jackson and The Olympians: The Lightning Thief unleashes the extraordinary lurking beyond 5 the mundane. 6 Percy prefaces his tale with a warning to all "half-bloods" like him who might be reading the book: 7 "Being a half-blood is dangerous. It's scary. Most of the time, it gets you killed in painful, nasty ways." 8 The story begins with Percy believing that he has an over-vivid imagination. Surely this is why he sees 9 his maths teacher turn into a beast with claws, bat wings and fangs, and then attack him. A pen 10 thrown to him by his Latin teacher turns into a sword, and he swipes the thing into nothingness. 11 Then he goes home for summer vacation and heads to Long Island with his mum. When his best 12 friend from school, Grover, shows up with shaggy hindquarters and hooves, urging them to flee from 13 a man with a bull's head who manages to evaporate his mother, Percy can no longer sustain the 14 illusion that he is even remotely normal. 15 He and Grover take sanctuary in a summer camp at Half Blood Hill. This is a training ground for those 16 who are half mortal and half god, for a half-blood has one divine parent. The identity of Percy's 17 absent father is soon revealed to be Poseidon, brother of Zeus and Hades. A war is brewing between 18 these three brothers. Someone has stolen Zeus's thunderbolt and he is blaming Poseidon, who in 19 turn suspects Hades of the crime. If Percy can succeed in crossing the US to the entrance to the 20 Underworld and retrieve the missing thunderbolt to return to Zeus before the summer solstice in just 21 over a week's time, then a major breakout of hostilities encompassing the entire globe will be 22 averted. 23 Accompanied by his satyr friend, Grover, and Annabeth, a half-blood daughter of Athene, goddess of 24 wisdom, Percy fights and journeys his way across modern America, where the challenges include his 25 mythological namesake's original quarry, the gorgon Medusa, with her petrifying gaze and hair of 26 snakes. He makes an enemy of the war god Ares, a leather-bound biker with shades and fire in his 27 eyes, and discovers that a more ancient and darker force, defeated by Zeus before the onset of the 28 Golden Age, is stirring up trouble and attempting to make an appalling return to dominance. 29 This is a fast-paced, entertaining read with lots of imaginative moments and a quirky take on classical 30 Greek mythology. Even if you don't know what a fury or a chimera is, you get the idea when you 31 meet them. Riordan gleefully interprets ancient myth in the modern idiom and this makes for great 32 fun for the reader, even if there are glaring inconsistencies. The original Perseus, for example, was 33 not the son of Poseidon but of Zeus. It is also hard not to be reminded of the Harry Potter books. 34 There is an ever-present whiff of a formula being applied and of marketing at play throughout the 35 genuinely lively storytelling. 36 Also there are grand statements about the second world war really being an epic battle between 37 Poseidon and Zeus and a reference to Hades' resemblance to "pictures I'd seen of Adolf Hitler, or 38 Napoleon, or the terrorist leaders who direct suicide bombers". These weighty contemporary and C - 17
39 historical references sit uneasily in what is in effect a light-hearted jape. There is an intended irony in 40 the joke that the entrance to the Underworld is in a Los Angeles recording studio. The unintended 41 irony is that this racy adventure story really does give Greek mythology the Hollywood treatment. · Diane Samuels is Pearson Creative Research Fellow at the British Library, researching magic
25 Holiday reading: What better way to spend a rainy day? Here are the best of the new books for children and teenagers Dina Rabinovitch The Guardian, Saturday 1 April 2006 CandyFloss by Jacqueline Wilson , illustrated by Nick Sharratt (Doubleday, £12.99)
After Floss's parents divorce, Floss sees her hapless, struggling dad two days a week - until her mum's new boyfriend lands a six-month contract in Australia and Floss has to decide whether to move with her mother, or try life out with her dad. Dad has a failing chip butty cafe, and just three regular customers. Chance plays a role (there's a lottery win) and a background cast of fairground folk add their own panache to this latest Wilson in which she moves away from familiar mum territory to cast her acute eye on dads.
THE TIMES
26 December 7, 2003 Books for Christmas 2003: Bearing season treats Nicolette Jones picks Christmas books for children of all ages from this year's fine and varied assortment
AGES 6-9 […] 1 And any 8- to 11-year-old anticipating a bad time over Christmas with grim relatives will feel nothing 2 but glee at the cynicism of Anne Fine's The More the Merrier (Doubleday £10.99), in which 3 ungrateful house guests and selfish grannies get told terrible home truths as all the fake bonhomie of 4 the season crumbles in the face of one unfortunate revelation after another. This is one to chortle 5 over quietly in the corner while everyone around you keeps up a facade of Christmas spirit, and a 6 refreshing antidote to the usual diet of seasonal sentimentality. […]
27 September 24, 2005 From Olympus to Half-Blood High Reviewed by Amanda Craig C - 18
Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan
1 BRITISH CHILDREN suffer from a seemingly incurable yearning: at around 10, they all want to be at an 2 American high school. Nor are they the only ones. Films such as Mean Girls, Ten Things I Hate About 3 You, Clueless and Cruel Intentions have proved the high-school a Procrustean bed for literary classics 4 such as The Taming of the Shrew , Emma and Les Liaisons Dangereuses . 5 Although I’m fed up with American authors now trying to muscle in on what has been, excuse me, a 6 very British field of excellence (give or take the odd Sendak), it’s likely that the mystery writer Rick 7 Riordan’s first children’s novel, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, will prove a huge hit for turning the 8 high school into the stuff of myth. 9 Twelve-year-old Percy seems to be a boy heading for jail. He suffers from attention deficit disorder, 10 he has dyslexia, he has been kicked out of six schools, his lovely mother is hooked up to a vile and 11 violent stepfather, and although he goes to a private school for juvenile delinquents in upstate New 12 York, his troubles have only just begun: for on a trip to a museum he vaporises his maths teacher. 13 Percy, you see, is Perseus, whose immortal father Poseidon has left him to find his own way out of 14 the mess that being a demi-god attracts. Most half-bloods don’t live to be teenagers because the 15 Titans send hit squads of Furies and other monsters to kill them. Percy’s maths teacher is one of 16 them, and while he and his mother run for their lives, the Furies repeat their attacks while making it 17 seem as if our hero has turned psycho. 18 He has to make it to Camp Half-Blood, where other demi-gods and goddesses have their own version 19 of an American high school. Apart from having a satyr as his friend and a centaur as his teacher, it’s 20 all very familiar, complete with rivalries, bitching, cheating and all the other features so familiar to us 21 across the Atlantic. Where Disney’s cartoon Hercules satirised Hollywood’s cult of celebrity, Riordan’s 22 version of the high-school genre becomes a really charming and funny thriller that will be especially 23 appealing to boys. 24 If Diane Redmond’s Joshua Cross played with mythology at a deeper level, this works because of its 25 cheeky wit. The immortals have moved Olympus from Greece to America because, as the centaur 26 Chiron kindly explains, the gods move to wherever the flame is brightest. Having hovered over Rome, 27 Germany, France, Spain and England, they are now with the United States: “Look at your symbol, the 28 eagle of Zeus. Look at the statue of Prometheus in Rockefeller Center, the Greek façades of your 29 government buildings in Washington.” 30 Sadly, instead of sending down a thunderbolt to wipe out President Bush before returning to 31 England, the gods have their own problems. Percy may find that he can speak and read Ancient 32 Greek, but he has the usual high-school problems in the shape of a pretty girl with a dangerous 33 boyfriend. Also, you’ve guessed it, he has to save the world by returning the ultimate weapon of 34 mass destruction — Zeus's thunderbolt — plus Hades’s helmet of invisibility. If not, then not only will 35 he not get his mother back but it’s that good old end-of-the world scenario with an army out of 36 Hades on the march. 37 There are plenty of bad jokes, such as “I felt as if I'd just come back from the dead — which I had,” 38 which doesn’t stop the book from being almost as funny as Paul Shipton’s The Pig Scrolls. The Greek 39 myths are the most robust we have, and laughing at their archetypes instead of allowing them to 40 take their customary path to doom is one way of making sure that a new generation grows up to 41 delight in them. Even if it does mean handing these immortal stories, like so many other classics, over 42 to the American high-school for a makeover.
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28 Look girls, life doesn’t have to be this bad Divorce, loneliness, rejection. Can’t Jacqueline Wilson look on the bright side just once by Mick Hume
1 IT MIGHT SOUND LIKE sacrilege, but I don’t want my two young daughters to read Jacqueline Wilson 2 books. Yes, I know, she is wonderful — the children’s laureate, most-borrowed author in libraries, 20 3 million books sold, “every girl’s best friend” and so on, but this is one friendship of which I 4 disapprove. 5 Somebody (“Father Christmas”, according to my wife) gave our eldest daughter, aged 8, a Jacqueline 6 Wilson box set for Christmas. I picked it up to read one with her. First was Bad Girls, about a 10-year- 7 old girl with glasses and uncool parents who is bullied at school until she gets a friend who takes her 8 shoplifting and ends up with a “soopervision order” from “Juv Cort”. 9 Next, The Suitcase Kid, about another 10-year-old girl with stress problems who gets shunted 10 between her divorced parents’ homes, hates her step-siblings and has her psyche probed by a family 11 counsellor. Finally, The Bed and Breakfast Star, about a girl whose “thick, thick, thick” stepfather 12 beats her. She cracks jokes, “but no one seems to laugh much anymore since we . . . had to move 13 into a bed and breakfast hotel”. I put the box down again. 14 Those three books were published in the 1990s, but Ms Wilson’s more recent work, such as Girls 15 Under Pressure, Girls in Tears and Dustbin Baby, has the same kitchen-sink-drama-for-kids quality. 16 Her new book, Candyfloss , covers familiar stony ground. Another nice girl with divorced parents has 17 to choose between going to Australia with her pushy mum and new husband, or staying with her “big 18 silly softie” of a dad in his greasy-spoon café. In Wilson world, there is only one choice. But then her 19 dad loses the café and they are homeless. “Will their new fairground friends help out? Could Dad and 20 Floss be destined for a life on the road?” The clue is in the title. 21 In tomorrow’s South Bank Show special about her on ITV1, Wilson reads from her diary, from the age 22 of 12, railing against Enid Blyton’s books because they “leave out everything about real life”. Now, I 23 don’t think girls should be force-fed sugar and spice and all things Noddy. But Wilson’s books present 24 “real life” as an apparently relentless ordeal of divorce, bullying, abuse, redundancy and 25 repossession; where parents never understand, most people are unhappy and your only refuge is to 26 find a best friend and console each other. […]
THE IRISH TIMES
29 The Irish Times - Saturday, October 19, 2002 Troubled territory, troubled times
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TEENAGERS: Teenager territory can be both exhilarating and depressing; the map is brightly coloured, darkly shaded and constantly changing. There are wide-open spaces, roller-coaster rides, dangerous roads, mere bags' ends, writes Niall MacMonagle All the more reason then to remember Polly Devlin's words while crossing that unpredictable, volatile terrain: "Books are a let-out, a get-out, a path to the future". The books listed here, in the 12 plus category, are as different as their readers. And how innocent is innocent? Some youngsters have seen X-rated movies and horrible things on television; they know every four-letter word and then some. But when the bad and the ugly are dealt with honestly and sensitively in literature their experience can be deepened, not sullied. 1 Both Sharon Creech's Love That Dog , featuring Jack, the reluctant poetry lover, and her latest, Ruby 2 Holler (Bloomsbury, £10.99) are charming but admirably avoid sentimentality. The 13-year-old 3 "trouble twins" Dallas and Florida, abandoned at birth, grow up in Boxton Creek Home run by Mr and 4 Mrs Trepid: "middle-aged, cranky and tired". Sixty-six short chapters tell of their adventures when 5 Tiller and Sairy, in their 60s, adopt the pair and they go to live in "a lush, green hidden valley" where 6 the maple trees "turn scarlet red, and all those red leaves look like a million bazillion rubies dangling 7 on the trees". A river journey and a mountain hike, a heart attack and buried money add adventure, 8 and Creech, like her character Dallas, has a gift for making beautiful word-pictures. […] Niall MacMonagle teaches English at Wesley College, Dublin. Off the Wall, an anthology of wacky poems, which he edited, is published this month by Marino
30 The Irish Times - Saturday, January 28, 2006 Horror through a child's eyes
1 Children's Literature : When is a children's book for children? Or rather, when is a children's book 2 also written for adults? 3 The enormous success of Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time , written 4 for teens and seized upon by adults, confirmed that publishers had hit upon a magical, profitable 5 category - books that can appeal to both growing and grown-up readers. But the tone had already 6 been set through the voices of the young Frank McCourt in Angela's Ashes , and even Hugo Hamilton 7 in The Speckled People . Best-selling examples of adult worlds being viewed through children's eyes, 8 these memoirs reminded us that the child's voice is the common voice. It's a language we all spoke 9 once. 10 John Boyne's The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas is being heavily marketed as the next crossover 11 success. It's about a nine-year old, but is not for nine-year-olds, its evasive blurb tells us. "Usually we 12 give some clues about the book on the cover, but in this case we think that would spoil the reading of 13 the book." Open it, though, and it is quickly clear what the book is about. As we follow narrator 14 Bruno's move from Berlin to a place where the only other children he sees are behind a fence and all 15 wearing the same clothes, there are repeated references to the visit for dinner of a man called the 16 "Fury" and Bruno's father's subsequent promotion to a job in "Out-With". For most readers the 17 subject will be immediately clear. Obviously, it would be anachronistic for Boyne to use the word 18 "Holocaust". Exactly why the publishers have avoided using the word might be a little more 19 complicated. C - 21
20 All of which distracts from the story itself. Boyne, an Irish writer who has previously written three 21 adult novels, is not the first writer to approach the subject from a child's point of view, but viewing it 22 through the eyes of a commandant's son, rather than a concentration camp inmate, allows its 23 subject to be seen in a most original light. Bruno is a nine-year old with most of the normal problems 24 of children his age. He wants to explore, play with friends, visit his grandparents. He is developing a 25 pre-teen insolence towards his parents, while his sister, he constantly reminds us, is a "Hopeless 26 Case". Yet, Bruno is living on the other side of a fence behind which lies something utterly wicked. 27 We understand this, but he does not. Instead, he sees only children he could be playing with, and 28 people who lie down and don't get up. Eventually, he encounters another boy, Shmuel, with whom 29 he shares a birthday. From opposite sides of the fence, they develop a friendship. 30 Boyne ensures that the horror - for both reader and narrator - is not wholly revealed until the end, 31 although in Bruno we have a child who seems resolutely unobservant, clinging to his naivety long 32 after it would likely have been wrenched from him. And having led us to an ending that manages to 33 be quite devastating, Boyne follows it with an unnecessary final scene. Yet The Boy In The Striped 34 Pyjamas is a book that lingers in the mind for quite some time. It is a subtle, calculatedly simple and 35 ultimately moving story. For any age. Shane Hegarty is an Irish Times journalist
31 The Irish Times - Saturday, July 15, 2006 An eye to the future and a nod to the past […] 1 The countless books of the inimitable Jacqueline Wilson also illustrate young people who pluck up 2 their courage to make a difference in their worlds. Her particular strength lies in showing how they 3 make the best of difficult situations, as with her latest work, Candyfloss (Doubleday, £12.99). As the 4 name suggests, the action moves in and out of a fair, as Floss declines to move to Australia with her 5 mother and mother's boyfriend, and remains with her scruffy - and unfortunately insolvent - dad. No 6 miracle reunions occur, as life all too frequently doesn't dish these up, but Floss's resilience and love 7 for her dad give them both the courage to find a better life. Christine Madden is a journalist and critic
THE INDEPENDENT
32 Everyday espionage Move over, Austin Powers: nerds and spies star in Nicholas Tucker's choice of new teenage fiction Saturday, 13 July 2002 […] 1 Sharon Creech's Ruby Holler (Bloomsbury, £10.99) is set in an uncaring orphanage. Although such 2 places have disappeared from the Western world, they are still going strong in juvenile fiction as the
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3 ultimate symbol of the institutional deprivation from which it is always so exciting, as well as 4 satisfying, to escape. 5 In this story Dallas and Florida, a damaged and damaging pair of twins, are farmed out to an elderly 6 couple. After a shaky start both sides take to each other, but while this could sound sentimental, 7 Creech is another American author with an astringent wit and cold eye when it comes to spying out 8 the faults in her characters. Dallas and Florida are by no means immediately loveable, but this never 9 seems to matter. Once it was appealing literary orphans like Heidi and Anne of Green Gables who 10 had to charm initially suspicious adult carers. Today it is the grumpy, dispossessed orphans 11 themselves who have to be won over by their patient parent substitutes, with a happy ending – in 12 this case – in doubt until the last page. [...] Nicholas Tucker is the author of the new Rough Guides to Children's Books, for ages 0-5 and 5-11
33 The fine art of a gripping yarn By Nicholas Tucker Friday, 21 October 2005
1 So that's one teenage Christmas present solved: Rick Riordan's The Lightning Thief (Puffin, £12.99) is 2 one of the books of the year, erudite as well as vastly entertaining, and at 373 pages not a word too 3 long. The first of a series called Percy Jackson and the Olympians, it weaves ancient Greek stories into 4 a modern setting with all the good humour that the Coen brothers brought to their wonderful film O 5 Brother, Where Art Thou?, also based on Homeric sources. 6 In this novel, 12-year-old Percy, standing in for Perseus, finds himself at a summer camp for half- 7 bloods like himself who share an immortal parent with a normal one. Trusted with a quest that aims 8 to stop war breaking out among the Gods, he and his two friends survive sirens, a Cyclops, Procrustes 9 (and his water beds), lotus eaters and other immemorial characters, all transformed into low-life 10 American types expert in verbal put-downs and given to wearing tacky clothing. With jokes as funny 11 as anything in Harry Potter plus a strong sub-plot involving a disappearing mother and unbearable 12 stepfather, here is something for everyone. Fantasy writing is up against a lot of competition; falling 13 back on some of the best stories in the world dressed up in new clothes is a smart idea brilliantly 14 realised. Book two, next year, will be most eagerly awaited. […] Nicholas Tucker is co-author, with Julia Eccleshare, of the 'Rough Guide to Books for Teenagers'
34 The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, by John Boyne A terrible truth beyond the wire By Nicholas Tucker Friday, 13 January 2006
1 In the summer of 1943 a nine-year-old boy moves from his comfortable life in Berlin to Poland, 2 where his father has an important new job. Bored and resentful, Bruno wonders why there are no C - 23
3 windows on one side of his house. Why too is he forbidden from visiting something outside only 4 referred to as "the fence"? 5 Curiosity will out, and one day Bruno steals from his house and comes across Shmuel, dressed in 6 what look like pyjamas. They talk through the barbed wire that separates them and become friends. 7 When he hears he is returning to Berlin, Bruno decides to burrow under the fence to join Shmuel for 8 the first and only time before making his farewells. Mistaken for an inmate, since his own head is also 9 shaven following an attack of headlice, he is marched off with his friend plus many others to a long 10 room, surprisingly warm. Neither is ever seen again. 11 Bruno's father in some ways resembles the real-life Franz Stangl, the Austrian policeman turned 12 camp commander who stayed devoted to his wife and children while supervising the deaths of 13 900,000 inmates at Treblinka. As described in Gita Sereny's superb Into that Darkness, Stangl was a 14 good family man, merely getting on with a job. Bruno's father, although also fond of his children, is a 15 more obviously flawed figure. 16 As much a parable as a realistic story, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is principally concerned with 17 telling its tale, leaving the subtleties of how outsize evil can co-exist with domestic tranquillity for 18 another day. Bruno, too, is more innocent than seems likely, oblivious to the truth of what he 19 witnesses. Is he that gullible, or fooling himself? John Boyne, who has written previously only for 20 adults, never goes into such issues. 21 There are a number of books accessible to children featuring aspects of the Holocaust, from picture 22 books such as Roberto Innocenti's unforgettable Rose Blanche to various teenage novels. This novel 23 is a fine addition to a once taboo area of history, at least where children's literature is concerned. It 24 provides an account of a dreadful episode short on actual horror but packed with overtones that 25 remain in the imagination. Plainly and sometimes archly written, it stays just ahead of its readers 26 before delivering its killer punch in the final pages.
3. Amazon
AMAZON
35 2 of 6 people found the following review helpful: ***** Great!!! , April 28, 2002 By karen "catawbamercantile" (Belmont, NC United States) This review is from: Ruby Holler (Carnegie Medal (Awards)) (Hardcover)
1 I thought this was great!!!I'm a big Sharon Creech fan, so I really liked it when a new Sharon Creech 2 book came out.This is a great read!
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful: ***°° Not quite satisfying , July 5, 2002 By A Customer This review is from: Ruby Holler (Carnegie Medal (Awards)) (Hardcover)
1 Sharon Creech is a prolific writer of poignant, quality kids' novels. "Ruby Holler" is not one of her 2 more memorable efforts, however. The plot (told in short, readable chapters) involves some twins 3 who are at a crummy orphanage until they are adopted for the summer by an elderly pair who live a 4 rustic life in the woods. Eventually the two pairs warm each other's hearts, while the orphanage 5 owner plots to steal the old folks' money. My problem with this novel was that it seemed so random 6 at times, going inside the heads of and giving humanity and depth to its villains for no apparent 7 reason, and leaving some important things (like what happens after we find out who the kids'parents 8 are, itself an unlikely twist) unresolved. The inner workings of the characters seem ambivalent at 9 times - is it best for the wife to go off and take a trip by herself or to stay home with her loving 10 husband? I don't know. I don't much care, actually. Nonetheless, this is a pleasant read for those who 11 will root for the kids to find a happy home.
37 12 of 17 people found the following review helpful: ***°° A Little Too Fluffy... , August 9, 2002 By Allyn "pianogirl" (USA) This review is from: Ruby Holler (Carnegie Medal (Awards)) (Hardcover)
1 Orphaned twins Florida and Dallas are known as troublemakers and stuck in a children's home 2 controlled by monster-like adults. After years of waiting, Sairy and Tiller, a wonderfully kind couple 3 older couple, adopt them. Florida and Dallas think of running away, but... 4 Need I say more? This book isn't really bad, it's just a little too cutesy and way too predictable. I think 5 a book should take you on journey, make you think, and leave you wondering about some things. 6 From the moment I picked up on all the details of this book's setting, I knew pretty much exactly 7 what was going to happen. Basically, "Ruby Holler" follows the good ol' "happily ever after" formula a 8 little too closely. 9 The best things about Sharon Creech's most recent offering are the characters. Florida's constant 10 expression of "putrid" will always coax a smile from you, and Dallas has some good moments, too. 11 Sairy and Tiller bring a measure of "grandparently" comfort to the story, and their (especially Sairy's) 12 musings about life and enlightening stories about her experiences are glimmers of Creech at her 13 best. "Ruby Holler" would no doubt be enjoyed by a middle- to upper-elementary audience, but it 14 certainly isn't the author's best work.
38 3 of 4 people found the following review helpful: ***** BRILLIANT! , August 9, 2002 By A Customer This review is from: Ruby Holler (Carnegie Medal (Awards)) (Hardcover) C - 25
1 This is my favorite of all of Sharon Creeches books!! Its about two kids who are twins and live in a 2 putrid orphanige and then go to ruby holler with an old couple and have adventtures. I really liked 3 finding out what every character was thinking--especially the man named Z and the putrid Trepids. 4 I read it 3 times all ready and listened to the tape too (which is really really funny). I hope there is a 5 sequal to this book because I want to find out what happens next to the two kids.
39 ***** Wonderful British Humor , December 3, 2003 By Melinda Lundberg "Children's Lit-a-holic" (Duluth, GA) This review is from: The True Story of Christmas (Hardcover)
1 This plot was interesting and entertaining. However, the incredible humor Fine creates in her 2 characters and their situations makes this book one of the great ones. Ralph is retelling the 3 adventures of his Christmas from the prison of his room. He was sent there after his cutesy cousin, 4 devil cousin, evil great grandmother, dilusional great aunt, vengeful uncle, and uncountable other 5 obnoxious relatives get into a huge fight. His poor parents are trying to survive the holiday, feelings 6 are hurt all over the place, and Ralph is just trying to stay out of the whole thing. Seems like a lot of 7 characters, but they're all developed well enough that you don't get them mixed up. I'm using this as 8 my next read aloud for my class. My middle school students will love the witty writing of Anne Fine.
40 ***** Hilarious! , February 11, 2004 By J. Danielson "jd11757" (austin, texas United States) This review is from: The True Story of Christmas (Hardcover)
1 I loved this book! It's not just for kids, but for any family plagued by obnoxious relatives during the 2 holidays. If you've ever had to sit through a performance by a snotty brat in front of her adoring 3 parents you will identify. Likewise if you've ever slaved over a meal, only to have your guests spew 4 out their dietary restrictions and/or peculiarities at your table. Read it and put it on your next year's 5 Christmas list.
41 ***** not just for kids , July 5, 2005 By Wu (California) This review is from: The True Story of Christmas (Hardcover)
1 The book cover may fool you into thinking that this story is probably only for kids in 3rd or 4th grade. 2 This is not true. I read it one day out of complete bordem, and by the end of it, I was laughing till 3 tears pratically came out of my eyes!! Not only does Anne Fine does an amazing job as the narrator 4 for Ralph, she will keep you laughing page after page. With Uncle Tristam's "educational" short
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5 stories for poor Albert to Great-granny's way of training kids. Which, by the way; is not exactly 6 pleasant. 7 Anne Fine uses humor to show us that even on the merriest of all holidays, disaster can happen right 8 in our very own house. This is a book that I enjoyed TREMENDOUSLY and hope that others will too 9 after reading my review.
42 9 of 10 people found the following review helpful: ***** A fun fantasy read , June 28, 2005 By Lisa M. Pennie (Aurora, IL USA) This review is from: The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 1) (Hardcover)
1 This is one of the more original fantasy books that I've come across in a while. It takes something that 2 most people are interested in (mythology) and puts an updated fantasy spin on it. The premise is that 3 the Greek gods are still active and up to their old tricks (including having children with mortals), and 4 that our hero Percy is the child of one of these gods. Unfortunately, the gods' children don't have it 5 easy and often have to fight off monsters that can sense their demi-god status. Because of this, there 6 is a camp for them where they can receive special training that might just help to keep them alive. 7 However, when Percy gets to the camp there is a great deal of unrest in the community because 8 some of the gods are fighting, and shockingly enough it appears that Percy is being blamed for 9 causing the problem. This is a fast read that will keep you looking for more.
43 4 of 6 people found the following review helpful: ***** My 11 year old loved this book , June 28, 2005 By AZreader This review is from: The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 1) (Hardcover)
1 My son who I have to force to read stayed up late two nights in a row to finish this book. He 2 identified with the hero (because he doesn't like school and has dyslexia--not, I swear, because his 3 father is the Sea god). This is a great boy book.
44 4 of 5 people found the following review helpful: ***** When you're not at wizard school, try summer camp for demi-gods , July 4, 2005 By William (Michigan) This review is from: The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 1) (Hardcover)
1 The idea for this book is a natural: 2 Say the Greek gods (Zues, Poseiden, Ares, etc.) were real and still with us. Legend tells us those gods 3 had children with mortals in the past (especially Zues), so why not write a book about one of those
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4 kids in modern day America? 5 You can't deny Percy Jackson has some things in common with a certain young wizard we've all heard 6 of. Percy doesn't know he is a demi-god at first. Once he finds out he's half god he has to discover 7 how to use his latent powers. He has reliable chums (a satyr named Grover and a child of Athena's 8 named Annabeth) he meets at Camp Half-Blood, which is a summer camp for demi-gods. The friends 9 accompany him on a cross-country quest for Zues' lightning bolt and there's magic and monsters 10 around every corner including a Minotaur, Medusa, and the Furies. 11 Even if it does owe something to Harry Potter, The Lightning Thief is still original and fun. Using Greek 12 myths gives the whole thing a fresh spin. And Percy, his friends, and their adventures have thier own 13 personalities and style. Their journey actually takes them all the way to Hades! It's all pretty fast 14 paced and Percy likes to jump into action a lot. And Percy has a unique family situation that gets an 15 upbeat twist at the end. 16 So if you like Harry Potter, Artemis Fowl, and anything at all that gives a younster's imagination 17 wings, pick up a copy of The Lightning Thief.
45 5 of 6 people found the following review helpful: ***** I loved this book (no spoilers) , July 5, 2005 By Melissa Cooper (Cedar Park, Texas USA) This review is from: The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 1) (Hardcover)
1 At first, The Lightning Thief reminded me of Harry Potter: weird, unexplained things happen to Percy. 2 He goes to a summer camp for kids with ... unconventional backgrounds. He never knew his dad, and 3 his mom disappeared on the way to camp, but Percy sees images of her now and then. He ends up 4 with two sidekicks, a boy and a girl, and they fight evil forces in their search to correct a wrong. Gods 5 and goddesses are everywhere, but mere mortals can't see them. 6 But while there are similarities, the plot, characters, and descriptions stand on their own. The Greek 7 mythology backstory is fascinating, and Percy tells his own story (in first person) in an engaging way. 8 He's funny, resourceful, brave, and real, someone the reader gets to know and care about. He even 9 finds out why he's dyslexic and has ADHD--sort of a Greek myth in itself. 10 I think my middle school students would really enjoy this book, and I will definitely recommend it to 11 them. I look forward to the next in the series!
46 24 of 26 people found the following review helpful: ****° To give a synopsis would truly spoil the book... , December 18, 2005 By J. Cheng (Australia) This review is from: The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (Paperback)
1 When I picked up the book...something about the colour of the stripes, something about the hue of 2 the colours looked familiar...in a morbid way...and I wasn't sure if I'd want to read it. What intrigued 3 me as well though, was that within the jacket of the book, it said basically that they could not give us 4 an idea of what the novel was about... C - 28
5 I understand why. There SHOULD NOT be a synopsis on this book because you'd regret reading one. 6 If by the first two sentences in Chapter 4 (they're VERY short chapters) you don't know what the 7 novel is about, I'd be surprised. The story that follows needs no description as you are being dragged 8 deeper gradually, even though wondering all the while, "ermm...and so...?" 9 This novel is indeed about a nine-year-old boy who walks up to a fence. Boyne writes using a voice 10 with an air of innocence that successfully works to punctuate the harsh reality of the 11 "situation/predicament" which is, essentially, what the story is. The ending will send you rereading 12 the last part of the book again, and perhaps again. I read this book in one sitting. Once you've 13 finished...you will be thinking about this one for a while...
47 6 of 10 people found the following review helpful: ***** "...it is important that you start to read without knowing what it is about." , February 19, 2006 By Lynn (New Jersey USA) This review is from: The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (Hardcover)
1 Any attempt to describe this book would only spoil the powerful story. Suffice it to say it is a story 2 well told that will stay with you long after the cover is closed.
48 8 of 10 people found the following review helpful: ***** A must read! , April 6, 2006 By Isa (Holland) This review is from: The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (Hardcover)
1 I was browsing through the bookstore at the airport when I saw this book. What's it about? Your 2 guess is as good as mine when I bought it. The author says the following "This story is very difficult to 3 describe. Usually we give some clues about the book on the jacket, but in this case we think that 4 would spoil the reading of the book. We think it's important that you start to read it without knowing 5 what it is about." Isn't that intrueging?! I read it in one day. I've never read a book in one day before! 6 I had goosebumps throughout the book. I loved this book so much. Along with "The Curious Incident 7 Of The Dog In The Night-Time" by Mark Haddon, this book is on the top of my favourite books. A 8 must read!
49 46 of 61 people found the following review helpful: ***°° A Fable for Whom? , August 24, 2006 By A. Ross (Washington, DC) This review is from: The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (Audio CD)
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1 This YA ("young adult") book is packaged with an air of mystery -- its cover art is almost completely 2 neutral and there's no story synopsis anywhere on it. The author (and/or publisher) clearly believes 3 that the reader will be best served not knowing much beyond the fact that the protagonist is a 9- 4 year-old boy named Bruno. However (semi-spoiler alert), most adult readers will very quickly realize 5 that Bruno is the son of a high-ranking Nazi official in wartime Berlin, and that the setting will 6 doubtless be shifting to a concentration camp (both the title and subtle cover art strongly hint at 7 this). And so here is another book to add to the every-expanding Holocaust reading list. 8 The important thing to know is that this very clearly labeled "A Fable". Some readers may be 9 distracted or put off by some of the story's technical impossibilities (one of which is utterly crucial to 10 the plot) and psychological improbabilities. However, to do so, is to ultimately miss the point. Yes, it 11 is wholly unlikely that the son of a high-ranking Nazi would be oblivious to or unconcerned about the 12 war, or wholly unaffected by the state's propaganda machine. But to mimic reality would also be to 13 rob the narrative of the sense of discovery that makes it rather more compelling than the average 14 Holocaust book. Even knowing everything that's to come, there's a certain grim fascination to be had 15 watching the naive Bruno. Yes he's clueless and selfish and self-absorbed, but he's a 9-year-old boy -- 16 that's to be expected. 17 As the sparse story unfolds, Bruno makes friends with a Jewish boy from Krakow who lives on the 18 other side of a concentration camp fence. This has tragic consequences that are telegraphed very 19 early on and consequently a shock only to those who haven't been paying attention. Its certainly true 20 that plenty of logistical and technical truths have been distorted in the service of the story (most 21 notably the existence of Bruno's Jewish friend, who, due to his age, would have been immediately 22 murdered upon arrival in Auschwitz), but quibbling over the real location of buildings and security 23 arrangements along the fence line doesn't really help anyone trying to grapple with the Holocaust. It 24 is a work of fiction, clearly labeled as such, and so one must allow for such dramatic license. 25 What is somewhat confusing and interesting to contemplate is who exactly this book is intended for. 26 Young readers who aren't familiar with the Holocaust may well enjoy the book as a kind of strange 27 Poe-like horror tale, but aren't going to grasp the larger significance. Nor are they likely to 28 understand how the book works on an allegorical level, where Bruno represents both the average 29 German citizen who was ignorant and then "looked the other way" when it suited them, as well as 30 the"lost generation" whose youth was consumed by the war. Similarly Bruno's father represents the 31 true believer who realizes all too late the true cost of his actions. However, I suspect that ending will 32 resonate deeply with younger readers and greatly divide adult readers. It's such a calculated affair 33 that it's either likely to push your buttons perfectly and leave you in tears, or strike you as a mawkish 34 misfire along the lines of drivel such as the film "Life in Beautiful." My own take is that while the 35 simple prose and novel narrator make the story compellingly readable, too much of the story is 36 predictable, and ultimately it's probably best left for classroom use.
50 5 of 5 people found the following review helpful: ***** Great treatment of subject lots of children will be able to relate to , January 8, 2008 By teachermum "teachermum" (Sydney, Australia) This review is from: Candyfloss (Paperback)
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1 I read this aloud to my 8yo daughter last year and we both enjoyed it. Floss's feelings of angst about 2 choosing between her divorced parents is something that many readers might be able to relate to. 3 She also learns important lessons about friendship but has some painful experiences along the way 4 (such as the mortifying shopping trip and being called names and teased about her dad). There are 5 some great adult characters in the book too - Flora's bumbling but ultimately likeable father, 6 Rhiannon's revolting mother, the lovely Rose with her pink caravan and nail polish, Susan's nerdy 7 academic dad etc etc. The other advantage of this book is that it is nice and fat so great value for 8 money. Best of all it is a great read from start to finish. 9 Jacqueline WIlson is a fabulous writer for this age because she puts so much detail into her 10 characters and stories yet still writes in a way that is accessible and engaging for kids. She is also not 11 afraid to tackle difficult issues but doesn't do this in a dreary or didactic way. I heard she has just 12 been made a Dame in UK for her services to children's literature. Very well deserved!
51 ***** Glad I heard! , March 16, 2009 By Sheila Furr (LeRoy, NY) This review is from: Candyfloss (Paperback)
1 I have heard how good this book is. I am a retired teacher and my daughter teaches third grade so I 2 bought it for her classroom and it is very popular.
4. Children
KIDS’ REVIEW
52 More the Merrier Fine, Anne Reviewed by: Amy Year: 7 Age: 11 Churchmead School, Windsor & Maidenhead
1 5/10 2 I didn't find it great but it was alright, I would never read it again,NEVER!Because I dont really like 3 reading that much. 4 5 Read Again? √ 6 I dont really know! 7
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8 Recommended? √ 9 10 Favourite Character 11 Titiana because she is a pain in the neck,and everyone thinks so.I also like her because she reminds 12 me of someone, ME!Because she is a pain in the neck just like me!!!!!!!!! 13 14 My favourite part of the book was 15 When Titiana gets the wrong letter and she thougt she had done all these things that were bad when 16 she was really good. 17 18 Read Alone? √ 19 Read To Me? X 20 Read Together? X 21 22 The worst bit was 23 The beginning because it was boring!
53 More the Merrier Fine, Anne Reviewed by: Mej Year: 6 Age: 11 Our Lady of The Assumption, Coventry
1 6/10 2 This book is quite good although many parts are boring and some parts are absolutely thrilling. 3 4 Read Again? √ 5 I’d recommend it to anyone who likes a witty diary sort of story. 6 7 Recommended? √ 8 9 Favourite Character 10 I liked Titania because she was a pain in the neck! 11 12 My favourite part of the book was 13 how Ralph’s house is not big enough to fit all of the guests in. Find out how he manages to (just 14 about) cope with all this festive mayhem and seasonal madness – it is a real problem! 15 16 Read Alone? √ 17 Read To Me? X 18 Read Together? X 19 20 The worst bit was C - 32
21 I did not like the boring beginning
54 The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas Boyne, John Reviewed by: Oliver Year: 8 Age: 13 Gaynes LRC, Essex
1 9/10 2 Overall the book is great.It is based in Germany during ww2 at the time when the concentration 3 camps start to open. Although it is not action packed, it's full of surprises and things that you 4 wouldn't expect. Sometimes in the book the author would just keep going on and on about the same 5 thing but it was also quite humorous in little bits of the book. 6 7 -Read Again? √ 8 People my age 9 10 Recommended? √ 11 12 Favourite Character 13 My favourite character is Bruno and it's not just because he's the main character, it's because he is 14 quite funny ad he is a bit like me in a way such as teasing and tormenting people. 15 16 My favourite part of the book was 17 My favourite part in the book has to be when Bruno tries to find what the people are doing behind 18 the fence; you find out later on in the book, it is a concentration camp. 19 20 Read Alone? √ 21 Read To Me? X 22 Read Together? X 23 24 The worst bit was 25 The worst part in the book was when he is moving because I feel sorry for him as when he has moved 26 he knows no one, because all his friends live in Berlin, where he used to live.
55 Candyfloss Wilson, Jacqueline Reviewed by: Esther Year: 6 Age: 11 Crescent School, Rugby, Warwickshire
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1 9/10 2 I think that all Jacqueline Wilsons books are an amazing read but this one is super!!! It has such a 3 good story and it makes you stay in the book the whole time and feels like your standing there 4 watching the whole thing happening! 5 6 Read Again? √ 7 I think age 7+ would like this super book and i would really recomend it to people who like nice, good 8 books to read. This book is super! 9 10 Recommended? √ 11 12 Favourite Character 13 My fave character is Charlie/floss's dad because he is such a lovely person and i bet if he was really 14 rich he wouldn't lash out and buy loads of stuff he would give stuff to charity and mabe just have a 15 few nice trips for himself and Floss. 16 17 My favourite part of the book was 18 My fave part was when Floss broke friends with Riannon and became friends with Susan instead 19 beacause Floss deserves a good kind friend to help her through the dificult time she is going through 20 with her dad, a friend like susan. 21 22 Read Alone? √ 23 Read To Me? √ 24 Read Together? √ 25 26 The worst bit was 27 The worst bit was when the chip van started burning and Floss was still inside and her dad reached in 28 and grabbed her, i would never like to be in that situation myself it would be really horible and i 29 would probally faint.
56 Candy Floss Wilson, Jacqueline Reviewed by: Bronte And Lucy Year: 6 Age: 10 Holland Park Primary School, Essex
1 10/10 2 The new book by Jaqueline Wilson is a great book because it is interesting and funny. This book is 3 very funny because Flora dyed her hair pink it looked really weird.This book is fantastic, any one 4 would read it.I think that Flora was really funny and her dad was too because they did so many things 5 together and it was funny what they did together. This is why this book is fantastic because of Flora. 6 7 Read Again? √ C - 34
8 I think children of eight and over would love to read this book because it is brilliant book to read 9 10 Recommended? √ 11 12 Favourite Character 13 My favourite character is Flora because she is kind, helpful and funny. She is funny because she has a 14 great sense of humour and when she says something it is always so funny. 15 16 My favourite part of the book was 17 My favourite part of the book is when Flora dyed her hair pink. Also I liked the part when Flora's dad 18 meets Rose and they have so much fun together that she is glad that Rose met her. 19 20 Read Alone? √ 21 Read To Me? √ 22 Read Together? √ 23 24 The worst bit was 25 My worst bit was when Flora's step dad and her mum go on holiday for six months so Flora has to 26 stay home with her real dad ,so she has to live in misery for six months
AMAZON KIDS REVIEWS
57 3 of 3 people found the following review helpful: ***** Dreadfully Funny Novel , February 13, 2004 A Kid's Review This review is from: The True Story of Christmas (Hardcover)
1 Ralph doesn't get along with his family. In fact, no one does ... 2 Meet Ralph in this dreadfully funny novel. Ralph is a normal kid. But every Christmas, Ralph is thrown 3 into the torture of spending it with his family. Even though spending Christmas with your family may 4 not sound that bad to you, it is to Ralph. You see, no one in Ralph's family gets along. From his 5 unbelievably negative Great-Granny, Natasha (who says things like, "If I had my own teeth, I'd bite 6 you"), to his perfect princess cousin, Titania (who puts on "cute acts" by singing songs of fairies and 7 wearing frilly pink dresses), and finally to the terrible twins, Sylvester and Sylvia (who trash the house 8 in every possible way), Ralph is bound to tell the worst Christmas story ever. 9 This funny book has become one of my favorite humor novels. I enjoyed reading the lines the 10 characters said, and I also enjoyed the great number of problems that came up without a solution. 11 The thing I like most is that the plot really draws you into the story. As I was reading, I got more and 12 more involved with what the characters were thinking. Most of the time I felt like I was standing right 13 next to the character who was talking. This book is great for readers who are looking for something 14 nasty and funny.
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58 2 of 2 people found the following review helpful: ***** A Different Point of View , November 25, 2007 A Kid's Review This review is from: The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (Paperback)
1 Two friends live on different sides of the fence. One is a sad little boy in striped pajamas. Another is a 2 happy boy coming from a nice big meal in clean clothes. What do they have in common? Both were 3 taken and moved by force, and both need a friend. 4 This book is about Bruno, a normal 9 year old kid who wants to go exploring after being taken away 5 from his home in Berlin. While exploring around his new home, he finds a fence and meets a boy 6 named Shumul. Neither of the boys know what it is like on the opposite side of the fence and neither 7 of them knows what is in store for them in the future. 8 This story is historical fiction about the Holocaust. Being someone who doesn't enjoy terror stores, I 9 have to admit this was a book I could handle. John Boyne combines the horrors of the Holocaust with 10 amusing details. I would recommend this book to 12-15 year olds. It starts off slowly but gets into the 11 climax around the middle of the book. This book is a great choice and I hope you enjoy reading it as 12 much as I did.
59 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful: ***°° The Boy In The Striped Pajamas , February 2, 2008 A Kid's Review This review is from: The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (Paperback)
1 "...all he heard was loud noises, like the sound of gun shots, but he couldn't make out what they 2 were doing back there." This sentence shows how rude and mean the soldiers were to the Jews. On 3 page, 211, John Boyne states that the Nazis would kill anybody who disobeyed them. This book is a 4 flashback from the past about the Holocaust. The Boy In The Striped Pajamas is a fiction book. This 5 book is best suited for readers who enjoy learning about the Holocaust. In the beginning of this book, 6 I did not like it much because I wasn't really interested in the Holocaust. It was just so sad, and 7 depressing. My mind changed in the middle of the book. So if you start it and do not enjoy it like I 8 did, keep reading and your mind will change too. That quote above helps support my opinion. 9 Bruno is an ordinary boy who lives in Berlin. We later find out that he has to move to Auschwitz 10 because of his father's job. Their new house is next door to the Out-With Concentration Camp. Bruno 11 is a curious nine year old, who is always looking for an adventure. One day, he meets a boy named 12 Shmuel. Shmuel is about Bruno's age, but the little boy is on the other side of the fence. They 13 become very good friends. "Nothing more was ever heard of Bruno after that." On page 214, John 14 Boyne states that Bruno has gone missing in, The Boy In The Striped Pajamas. The theme of this story 15 is that you will do anything for friendship, even if it might hurt you or get in trouble.
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60 ***** Review By a 12-year-old , November 11, 2009 A Kid's Review This review is from: Candyfloss (Paperback)
1 I read this book last year, and it's one of my favorites!!! It had the perfect reading level for a girl like 2 me. I really reccomend this book to girls who like books about friendships. Floss is a girl whose 3 parents are divorced and her mom has another husband. They are moving to Australia. They want 4 Floss to go with her, but Floss doesn't know if she should go with her mom and stepfather who she 5 hates and her little half-brother who she hates, or stay where she is with her poor father who owns a 6 burger business. As I say, I really reccomend this book.
ANN ARBOR DISTRICT LIBRARY
61 Ruby Holler by Creech, Sharon Reviewed by Kaitlyn H., age 10
1 This book is about a boy and girl whose name are Dallas, and Florida. They are foster chirlden and are 2 treated badly. Soon a couple named Sairy and Tiller picked them up. At first Florida and Dallas are 3 frightend but the couple is really nice. The two kids think the only way to get out is to go on a night 4 train. After awhile they start to really love Ruby Holler. One night they decide to go on the night 5 train, but on their way they fall asleep. When they wake up they smelled bacon. Hope you like it !
62 Ruby Holler by Creech, Sharon Reviewed by Erika, age 11
1 Dallas and Florida are trouble makers. They're also orphans. People adopt them, and they send them 2 back to the Home. People punish them for running and shouting, and some people are patient. 3 Florida and Dallas have a dream of catching the freight train that runs by every night. One day, an old 4 couple adopt them, and their dream of catching the freight train is foiled. Will these people send 5 them back to the home like the others did, and will they be able to catch the freight train? Read Ruby 6 Holler to find out what happens to Florida and Dallas. It reallly is a good book.
63 Lightning Thief [Percy Jackson & the Olympians, 1] by Riordan, Rick Reviewed by Nolan, age 8
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1 THE LIGHTNING THIEF By Nolan I think it is a great book. It is strange how the names of chapters can 2 be funny, such as "Three Old Ladies Knit the Socks of Death", but the actual chapter is deadly serious. 3 It is pretty neat how the author has made greek myths real and in modern times. A teacher could be 4 a Fury. But it is hard to believe that there is a weapon with enough force to make atomic bombs look 5 like firecrackers. If you read Lightning Thief you'll learn a lot about greek mythology.
64 Lightning Thief [Percy Jackson & the Olympians, 1] by Riordan, Rick Reviewed by Luna, age 13
1 The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan is an AWESOME book! It's about a half-blood, or a demigod, 2 Percy Jackson. His father is Poseidon, the Sea God. His mother is just an ordinary woman, making 3 Percy a half-blood. Grover is his best friend and so is Annabeth, a daughter of Athena. Grover 4 unexpectedly loses his pants, so Percy finds he is a satyr. Percy soon is in danger. He must go to camp 5 for training, then go on a quest to recover Zeus' master bolt. Poseidon is accused, so Percy must go 6 to Hades in the Underworld to retrieve it. However, when Percy goes there Hades' helm of darkness 7 is stolen too! It turns out that Luke, a friend of Percy's, stole the master bolt and the helm of 8 darkness for Kronos, the gods' father, and evil titan of the underworld. Ares finds Luke but loves a 9 good war so is bribed into not returning the items. What will happen next? The battle of Ares and 10 Percy is quite interesting. But you have to read it to find out! GO PERCY JACKSON AND THE 11 OLYMPIANS!
SPAGHETTI BOOK CLUB
65 Ruby Holler Written by Sharon Creech Reviewed by Josh P. (age 9)
1 "No stinking, stupid running," said Florida in the book Ruby Holler. You won't want to run through 2 this book because it is a funny, adventurous book. The main idea of Ruby Holler is that twins are 3 treated unfairly until two very nice people adopt them from the Boxton Creek Home. There are 4 several storylines. The main one is the twins are hoping for a home that is safe and loving. The 5 biggest lesson to be learned in this book is to plan ahead and to think of consequences. 6 I think this book is sad, happy, funny, and one that teaches you about life and its ups and downs. I 7 enjoyed reading Ruby Holler because I love adventure books, and this is one exciting adventure 8 book! My favorite part is when someone goes looking for something and finds a lot of really bad 9 surprises. I think the boy twin is like me because he is always daydreaming. 10 You should read this book because when you're down or mad, it might cheer you up. When you're 11 happy, it will make you even happier. Even your family will enjoy reading it together. I recommend 12 Ruby Holler to you because it will make your day. As Sarry said, "This is a grand opportunity." C - 38
Josh P. is a student in Mrs. Golden's 4th Grade Class 2003-2004
66 Ruby Holler Written by Sharon Creech Reviewed by Heather E. (age 11)
1 "Thinking corner. Two hours, Florida," you hear Mr. Trepid, one of the people in charge of the 2 orphanage, yelling. And, two hours later, Florida comes out of the thinking corner, and Dallas takes 3 his turn. Dallas and Florida are always getting in trouble until someone takes them away from the 4 dreadful orphanage. When Sari and Tiller take Florida and Dallas in, they cause as much trouble as 5 usual, but when they didn't get in trouble, they think Sari and Tiller are weird. They decide that they 6 don't like either of them. All four of them soon notice that Mr. Trepid is trying to steal Sari and Tiller's 7 money. Will the four save their money? Can Dallas and Florida learn to like Sari and Tiller? This is an 8 extremely exciting book with many twists and turns. 9 I think this book is extremely exciting because it has many twists and turns. It is told by more than 10 one person's point of view, so it makes the book more interesting. You can read from the bad guy's 11 point of view and the good guy's point of view. It is also a good book because you can't predict what 12 will happen next. When you think you know what's about to happen, the book tends to get boring. I 13 found Dallas and Florida interesting because they are always being bad since they think that 14 everyone is going to be mean to them. This book makes me wonder if they will ever get adopted. 15 I recommend this book for children and adults of any age because it has a lot of action and comedy. 16 Everyone will enjoy the main characters, Dallas and Florida, who are very funny and their caretakers 17 are used to them getting in trouble! This is a great book and no one should miss a chance to read it. Heather E. is a student in Mrs. Salewski's 5th and 6th Grade Class 2004-2005
67 Ruby Holler Written by Sharon Creech Reviewed by Lauren A. (age 11)
1 They were called the "Trouble Twins". Dallas and Florida were their names. They had been to so 2 many foster homes before, but have always found their way back to their home. Mr. & Mrs. Trepid 3 called them the "Trouble Twins" because they were always getting themselves into trouble. 4 One day, Sairy and Tiller, an old couple adopted, or took, Dallas and Florida back to their place. Dallas 5 and Florida were already planning to run away and go on the night train to get far away from home. 6 Tiller and Sairy knew that it wasn't nice to treat kids with no parents very badly. They let Dallas and 7 Florida do chores to earn money. They liked the idea. They knew that if they earned enough money 8 they might be able to get on the night train. 9 I think this was a great book. The author described the characters in great detail where it made me 10 feel like I was one of them. I also liked the book because of its detail and suspense. The book makes C - 39
11 me feel more courageous because Dallas and Florida were so brave when they were trying to get to 12 the train in the middle of the night. I found Sairy interesting because she seemed very nice to the 13 twins. 14 I would recommend this book to anyone who likes adventure and suspenseful books. I think that you 15 could learn a lesson from reading this book about running away from your home. Lauren A. is a student in Mrs. Salewski's 5th and 6th Grade Class 2004-2005
68 The Lightning Thief Written by Rick Riordan Illustrated by lednev Reviewed by Nicholas L (age 10)
1 Percy Jackson is a twelve-year-old boy who has a god for a father, Poseidon, King of the Sea. Percy is 2 expelled from the sixth school and had to go home for the summer. People at the school think he is 3 crazy. He returns home, but doesn't find a new school. Instead on his first day back, he and his mom 4 go to the beach (where Percy's mom had met Poseidon). There something tragic happens. Percy and 5 his mom and his best friend Grover are forced to run away from the Minotaur. Later Percy finds a 6 strange camp where he's expected. There he is forced to go on a quest in which he must prevent a 7 Ares' war from happening and retrieve Zeus' master lightning bolt before it's too late. There is a 8 surprise ending. 9 I like this book because it has a lot of action and adventure. This book is very interesting and maybe 10 for some people, scary due to the vivid description of the monsters and killing. This complex plot 11 reminds me of the Harry Potter books and how many imaginary, strange creatures pop up in the 12 story. My favorite part was the part when Percy and Ares face off. I liked it because Ares almost died. 13 In the book Luke changes because he turns evil. This book is the first of a series of books, but the 14 second one hasn't come out so far. 15 I recommend this book to people who like sci-fi, fantasy, and action and adventure books. This is also 16 for people who like Roman or Greek languages and/or Roman or Greek gods. This is also for people 17 who like nature. Also, if you like this book I also recommend reading Detectives in Togas. Nicholas L is a student in Mrs. Appell's 4th and 5th Grade Class 2005-2006
69 The Lightning Thief Written by Rick Riordan Illustrated by lednev Reviewed by Ben J. (age 12)
1 Can you imagine having a beastly monster for a math teacher and a history teacher who is a half- 2 horse, half-human creature? Well, Percy Jackson is an unlucky boy who finds out that he is a half- 3 blood, born between an immortal god and a mortal human. He is threatened by monsters and goes C - 40
4 to the Half-blood Hill Camp, where all half-bloods are safely living and trained. But then, Zeus' 5 lightning bolt is missing, and he blames Percy for stealing it. He, a son of Poseidon, Annabeth, a 6 daughter of Athena, and Grover, a satyr, goes on a quest to retrieve the missing lightning bolt, which 7 holds the fate of the world. Will Percy survive the quest and save the world from World War III, or 8 will he fail to stop the dangerous war? The Lightning Thief is very intriguing to me, and very 9 fascinating. It was all about Greek mythology and I enjoy anything that has to do with mythology. My 10 favorite part was when Percy fell from the St. Louis Arch down to the Mississippi River and survived. 11 It was amazing that his body didn't get shattered into hundreds of pieces. Grover, the satyr, was my 12 favorite character because it was very funny to picture him living in the real world, and he was the 13 joker in this story. Luke, Percy's friend, has become evil because the wanted to give the Olympian 14 gods the wrath of his anger, that's why he attacked Percy after he came back from his quest. I really 15 enjoyed The Lightning Thief and I recommend it to readers who like fantasy and myths. I also 16 recommend the book to anyone who likes action and medieval weapons, like swords and shields. Ben J. is a student in Mrs. Salewski's 5th & 6th Grade Class 2006-2007
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