The Last Battle

This is the final installation of C.S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia. For me it was probably my least favorite. Almost all of the rest was good reading, good stories, good action, good imagination, but I felt, sadly, that this one turned into more of a dogmatic preachy book and less of a good story. I was sad. I was hoping he could hang on to the wonderful imagination and storytelling skills most of the other books have, but I just didn't feel like he did. I feel a little let down, actually, like he dropped the ball of the story on his way to writing out his religious beliefs.

Then again, many people love this whole series and probably love this book too. I enjoyed specific books in the series much more than others, and this was one I didn't particularly enjoy. Too bad.

Song of the Wanderer; Dark Whispers

These are young adult novels by Bruce Coville, the second and third books of the Into the Land of the Unicorns series.

I read them about a month ago and still haven't reviewed them...crap! I just realized the other day that it's been almost a month since I reviewed ANY books at all...and of course I've read 10 or something, so I have a major backlog. Thus, short reviews! Sorry. What can I say, buying a house is crazy-making!

Anyway. Unicorns. The middle book (Wanderer) was actually better than the third. It just seemed more like a complete book on its own, whereas Whispers was this big huge book where not much really happened. Plus, I'm worried because that one just came out in 2008, I think, which is TEN YEARS after Wanderer was published....Thus, I hope I don't have to wait ten more years to get to finish the story!

They're good fun, though. I bet in a couple more years we'll be reading them with James. I love Bruce Coville. When I was a kid he was one of my idols. And he's still darn good! =)

Prince Caspian; The Magician's Nephew

Obviously, I've been reading more of C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia.

So, I read Prince Caspian, and I was kind of sad, because I didn't remember a bit of it. And because I ultimately didn't connect with it. Maybe I read it too fast; maybe I should have read it aloud to James for a bedtime story or something. But the way things went, it just seemed like the characters didn't have enough time to develop, and I didn't feel like it was a FULL story, whatever that may mean. There was too much going on, the reader was taken in too many directions, so that by the end when the Pevensies are, I think the quote was something like "saying goodbye to their old friends," I sort of thought, wait a minute, what old friends? Oh, I guess the people they've met this time around, but they haven't known them very long or really formed a good friendship. So. Eh. Still a fun story, probably, but at the bottom of the Narnia stories for me so far.

The Magician's Nephew, which I for some reason thought was going to be boring, turned out to be the one that was my favorite as a child. It's about the beginning of Narnia, Narnia's Creation story, as it were, and it was such a pleasure for me to rediscover it. There is such a joy in reading a book that you read as a child, and LOVED, and forgot, in re-awakening to its joys and remembering the things you loved about it. I'm not sure how good the book really is, though; only that I loved it as a child and love it again now. There is something wonderful about the Wood Between the Worlds and in watching the creation of a world and that whole thing that really captured my imagination. I'm so glad I finally cracked this one open.

The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, and The Horse and His Boy

These, of course, are two of C.S. Lewis' famous Chronicles of Narnia. I picked them up after recently watching the first movie, which was decent enough. My father read me these books when I was a child, and I never read them myself, so decided it was time. I think they're lovely, dashing adventure books, although I wonder a little how I'll feel about the violence and death when my own child reads them.

And of course, as others have pointed out, the second book has some very racist themes in it--all about how the North is so much better than the South, which, in description, sounds suspiciously like the Middle East, and I've heard it was meant to represent Turkey. But the girls in the books tend to be somewhat smarter than the boys, and especially Aravis from the second book is a great lead character.

Generally quite good. Great fantasy and adventure.

Into the Land of the Unicorns

Bruce Coville was one of my favorite authors circa 1992. And when I was pregnant and going through all my old boxes of stuff, which were mostly books, I re-read pretty much everything of his that I had, and still loved it. So I got this book on a lark at the library because I hadn't ever heard of it. And it didn't disappoint--I would've loved it as a young girl, although it doesn't pack very much of a punch now since it took me maybe 20 minutes to read. Good times. I will definitely read the others in the series. I *heart* Bruce Coville.

Stuart Little

I re-read this classic kids' book, by E.B. White, in about 15 minutes the other night. It was quite fun, but I was surprised by my lack of memory about it. In other words...I totally forgot that it's about the journey, not the destination. I was surprised when it ended long before Stuart ever got to where he was headed.

Other than that, smashing good fun, and probably something James will be ready to hear next year. Yay!

Getting Near to Baby

This is a kids' book by Audrey Coloumbis. It was decent but I forgot to review it earlier, and am only finding it as I go through all my old posts at the end of the year to figure out which ones I forgot to review as I read them. Sorry!

And when I say kids, I do mean fairly young, like maybe 8 or 10. But it is about a girl whose little sister died, just so you know.

Wise Woman and Celtic Memories

These are two books that James handed me in the Myths and Legends section of our local library. They were both really good! They reminded me of how fun it is to read myths and folklore and the like.

Celtic Memories was retold by Caitlin Matthews, and it was really interesting, because she actually took some old legends and combined them and added her own flair in a really fluent and beautiful way. It was also short.

Wise Woman contains 100 stories that include strong and/or smart women, with the idea being that most women in fairytales are not exactly good role models. It has some familiar ones like Beauty and the Beast but also some really strange ones from the American South and was just lots of fun to rip through. Good stuff. Can't remember who put it together though. Sorry.

Oh and this was the PERFECT way to get ready to read American Gods, the next book I'll review. Which is funny because I picked up American Gods on a whim a couple weeks after James handed me these two. Thank you, Fate.

Big Dog and Little Dog Making a Mistake

How to write your first kids' book review:

Go to the library. Find this book. See the cover, with the title's first part in big letters across the top, and the second part slightly smaller underneath that.

Also picture two dogs, one big and one little, running along on a grassy field, following a tail that is black with a distinct white stripe running down the back.

Laugh out loud in the library, then check out the book so you can take it home and show your husband. Laugh at it together at home.

Remember that Dav Pilkey, the author of this book, writes a series of books about a hero named Captain Underpants. Google "Dav Pilkey" and figure out that "Big Dog and Little Dog" is also a series. Think about how it's dumb to spell your nickname that way if your name is David. Wish that he would spell it "Dave" like a normal person, so you can stop calling him "Dav-with-a-short-a" in your head. (You know, like the words have and calve?)

Read the book. Realize that the text isn't necessarily a revelation in good writing. Realize that that's okay because the pictures make up for it. Vote yes to Big Dog and Little Dog and their funny mistake.

Lather, rinse, repeat for more fun kids' books in the future! =)