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April 2003 Vol.4 Issue 4
This
month's book reviews
Combining
a dog story with lots of tongue-in-cheek humor
Bob Balaban,
the author of "It's a Dog's Life," is a very successful
producer, director, and writer of television programs and
movies. He also is an actor in both mediums. His credits include
producer and co-starring role in the Oscar-winning "Gosford
Park" as well as acting roles in "Seinfeld"
on TV. The McGrowl books, of which this one is number two,
are probably fun and escapism for him as much as they are
for the reader. For that kid who gets the wry humor in Batman
and Robin's escapades, McGrowl paperbacks ought to be favorite
reading. This one is a lot of fun for a book costing under
five bucks.
A
baseball story that deals with
anger control and trust in others
The Matt Christopher
sports books have been the dominant sports stories for kids
for several decades. "Baseball Turnaround" is a
fairly recent example (1997) of one of the fictional baseball
stories in the series. The author uses a reader's interest
in baseball to present some life lessons that go beyond the
game. In this case it's lessons in learning to control your
anger and to trust that others will do the right thing when
you share the truth with them. As you would expect, the life
lessons are accompanied by some exciting baseball action.
A
story about compulsive eating, obesity,
and fifth graders' empathy for a peer
"Nothing's
Fair in Fifth Grade" by Barthe DeClements is a paperback
that's been around for just over a decade. In that period,
it has picked up numerous awards as a favorite book for children.
It deals with childhood obesity and the cruelty that can result
from a rush to judgment by peers. On the positive side, it
illustrates how kids can develop empathy and show support
once they can get beyond their initial prejudice. It's basically
a girls' book, but the lesson in it is a good one for both
sexes.
A
science fiction paperback series for kids
who are into computers and space travel
Just as there
are sports stories for sports enthusiasts, and animal stories
for kids who like dogs or horses, there are science fiction
stories for kids who like computers and who think they are
keeping up with cutting edge science. The publisher reports
a fourth grade reading level for "Tome Out," the
latest title in a series called "Outernet." To fully
appreciate the humor in the books, a young reader, however,
needs to know, for example, about Steven Hawking, the British
scientist, and pick up on the word play in a book title, "A
Short History of Time" by Seething Hawkthing. This kind
of humor is scattered throughout the books. To grab the young
science fiction fan even further, the authors maintain a website
that augments the books, www.go2outer.net.
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