I have to confess I had no idea myself until we picked out this awesome audiobook for a listen and checked out the cover. Read more…What do Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and 007 have in common?
adventure
Boys and their bots
It’s a happy and familiar story: Boy meets bot, boy befriends bot…they become best pals, rescue each other from peril, and live happily, chasing adventure ever after.
Simple though it may sound, this theme has been spun into some great books for boys at all reading levels. Read more…Boys and their bots
Audiobook review: A Boy and His Bot
Title: A Boy and His Bot
Author: Daniel H. Wilson
Narrator: David Ackroyd
Length: 4h 40m
Format: Audiobook
Age group: 10+
Code Lightyear is a shy young Cherokee boy. At school, he keeps his head down and tries to avoid the taunts of bullies. Rather than standing up for himself, Code prefers to concentrate on doodling robot designs. He also misses his beloved grandfather, who disappeared on a visit to Mek Mound, the hilly site of an ancient, Native American civilization.
On a field-trip to this hallowed place, Code wanders off from his classmates only to stumble through a portal into Mekhos, a bizarre and dangerous land populated entirely by robots. Read more…Audiobook review: A Boy and His Bot
Book bonanza!
Here are the books my boys got for Christmas, from us, family members, and Santa (yes, still! With the biggest winks and nods yet!). And yes, they did get gifts other than books as well 🙂 Read more…Book bonanza!
Headed toward family, hearth and home
It’s Thanksgiving here in the U.S., and with that comes the onset of the holiday season. Maybe you’re driving to your parents’ right now for a Thanksgiving feast… maybe you will only be heading home in a few weeks for Christmas, Hannukah or the New Year. Perhaps you will travel by air or by sea, by road or by rail, or perhaps only by way of your dreams.
No matter what the mode, know that the journey home is a universal experience. It remains a powerful and persistent motif in all of literature, with children’s literature being no exception. Read more…Headed toward family, hearth and home
Audiobook review: The Star of Kazan
Title: The Star of Kazan
Author: Eva Ibbotson
Narrator: Patricia Connolly
Length: 10h 15m
Format: Full length story
Age group: 9+
When Sigrid and Ellie, maids for a family of Austrian musicians, find a baby abandoned at a small church among the Alps, they are utterly bewildered. They bring the foundling home to Vienna and eventually raise her as their own. All is well until Annika, now a young girl, unexpectedly inherits a box of costume jewelry, and a mysterious German aristocrat emerges claiming to be Annika’s long-lost mother. Read more…Audiobook review: The Star of Kazan
Audiobook review: The Adventures of Ulysses
Title: The Adventures of Ulysses
Author: Bernard Evslin
Narrator: Todd Haberkorn
Length: 4h 30m
Format: Full length story
Age group: 9+
The Adventures of Ulysses, by Bernard Evslin, is a vivid retelling of The Odyssey for tweens and teens. Odysseus’ desperate, decade-long quest to return home to Ithaca after the Trojan War, makes for a tale that is chock-full of adventure on the high seas. Read more…Audiobook review: The Adventures of Ulysses
Audiobook review: Heart of a Samurai
Title: Heart of a Samurai
Author: Margi Preus
Narrator: James Yaegashi
Length: 6h 15m
Format: Full length story
Age group: 10+
When 14-year old Manjiro, the son of a poor Japanese fisherman, finds himself shipwrecked on a deserted island with a rag-tag bunch of mates, he fears the worst. But rescue arrives in the form of an American whaling ship, and soon Manjiro finds himself amidst an international, possibly barbaric crew, sailing towards America. Curious, brave, adventurous, and aspiring above his lowly station to live by Samurai principles, Manjiro embraces this chance to learn about the wider world. Read more…Audiobook review: Heart of a Samurai
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