Football Genius

This is a review of the audio book.

Author: Tim Green

Reader: Tim Green along with the "Full Cast Family"

Producer: Full Cast Audio

Production Year: 2008

Most of the listeners will be: 4th through 7th grade boys.

Listener's Advisory: If you like sports books, try Heat by Mike Lupica. 

Summary: 

Troy White is a football genius. He knows what plays a team is going to run before they happen. Troy would love to use his gift to help the Falcons get to the Super Bowl. When his mom, the Falcons' newest PR hire, gets him a field pass, Troy is tempted to approach one of the coaches with advice and he is removed from the game like a criminal. Is there any way for Troy to get these adults to give him a chance?

My favorite passage:

Troy and his friend Tate show up at the home of Seth Halloway, a Falcons player who knows what Troy can do. He had thought that Troy had cracked under the pressure when he had tried to show off Troy's skills to one of the coaches, but Troy thought it was something else and wanted another chance to talk to Seth. When they get to his house, Seth is reluctant to let them in, but Tate kicks him and then demands hospitality while they watch a game on TV with other players that are hanging out with Seth. She says that when you are a girl you have to stick up for yourself.

What I really think:

Good things about this book - Boys will love it, especially football players. There are a lot of details about how games are played and what happens behind the scenes at the Falcon's stadium. The relationships are pretty strong. Troy and his friends. Troy and his mom. Seth and Troy. Seth and Troy's mom. 

Not as good things - The storyline is kind of predictable and ties up too neatly at the end. You don't always end up getting everything you want. 

And there was one conversation between Troy and his mother near the end that especially bothered me. She was worried about going on a vacation with Seth because Troy is everything to her. Without him she has nothing. 

I think this was supposed to be sweet, the mom putting her son before her dating life. But, whoa. If your child is your "everything" that is robbing them of being something for themselves. Think about it. I'm not saying she should run off to Bermuda and leave her kid behind, but she should totally have a social life that does not revolve around her son. It is better for everyone. This is just a little nitpicky thing I noticed and probably wouldn't bother most other people. 

Overall, I have to admit that the only reason I listened to this book is because of one of the 5th grade book clubs that I lead. They chose it. And even though I am not so very interested in reading books about sports, I enjoyed it. If that isn't a good review, I don't know what is. 

The narration was fine. It took me a little while to get used to the full cast experience - a different reader for each character, but it certainly results in effective voice differentiation. I kind of questioned some of the accents. I mean, if you only have to do one voice you should be able to get it spot on. But since Atlanta has a lot of transplants, I'll hope the non-regional accents were intentional. (After all, I live here and I don't sound Southern.)

The Penderwicks

This is a review of the audio book.

Author: Jeanne Birdsall

Reader: Susan Denaker

Producer: Listening Library

Production Year: 2006

Most of the listeners will be: 4th through 7th grade girls.

Listener's Advisory: If you like books about sisters try The Sister's Club by Megan McDonald for a modern easy read or Little Women by Louisa May Alcott for a more challenging classic. You will have to read rather than listen, as there is not an audio version of The Sister's Club. Little Women is only on cassette tape and the production received mixed reviews. 

Summary: 

When Skye (11) collides with a boy in the tunnel in the hedge it never occurs to her that he might be running toward the same thing she is running from - Mrs. Tifton. She says some unfortunate things before the boy announces that the woman in the garden calling, "Jeffrey" is his mother (and he is the one she is calling for). After Jane (10) apologizes on Skye's behalf, to preserve the Pendewick family honor, Jane and later Skye, Rosalind (12), and Batty (4) become friends with Jeffrey (11). He even saves Batty's life. Twice! The five children have many adventures during the weeks that the Penderwicks rent the cottage on Arundel estate. Mrs. Tifton comes to refer to the girls as, "The wrong sort of people," but they might be just the friends Jeffrey needs to help him stand up to his mother.

My favorite passage:

The children stay out of Mrs. Tifton's way and out of the garden for days leading up to the garden club competition. But then, in the middle of the judging, Jane, possessed by the spirit of an invented British footballer, accidentally kicks two soccer balls into the garden. She, Skye, and Jeffrey crawl through the hole in the hedge after the balls and discover an upset urn of jasmine, just as the garden club walks up. Mrs. Tifton is forced to bite her tongue in front of her company, even though she is fuming about the disturbance. 

What I really think:

Birdsall does an excellent job of giving each sister a unique, believable, and age-appropriate personality. Denaker skillfully gives each sister a different voice. As I listened, I laughed aloud at the unfortunate situations the girls got themselves into and cheered them on as they worked to resolve each problem. This novel is mostly the fun adventures of children on summer vacation, with access to gardens, attics, and their imaginations. But, there is a subtle message at the end for children and parents about talking and listening to one another. 

Leaving the Bellweathers

Author: Kristin Clark Venuti

Publisher: Egmont

Publication Year: 2009

Most of the readers will be: Late elementary and early middle school girls and boys.

Reader's Advisory: For another book about an eccentric family try Stephanie Tolan's Surviving the Applewhites.

Summary:

The Benway family Oath of Fealty is almost up and Benway the butler can not wait to be free of the Bellweather family. The only trouble is how to fund his retirement. He solves this problem by writing a book that is sure to be a best seller. It is a tell-all memoir about working for the Bellweathers. As Benway completes his final days and his memoir, the Bellweather children wonder what could make Benway want to leave? Is it Spider's newest pet, the endangered albino aligator? Is it the family of circus performers Ninda is hiding in her room until they unionize? Or could it be the triplets' destructive "artwork"? Now the biggest question of all is, can the children get Benway to stick around?

My favorite passage:

"No sudden moves," Spider called out, too late. Grimsby had already started to run. Now everyone knows that one should never run from an Endangered Albino Alligator. They consider this a challenge and are likely to pursue their prey. It is unfortunate indeed that Grimsby was possibly the only person in the world who did not know this.

Grimsby had a head start, but Albino Alligators are notoriously fast, and this one, jaws chomping, had almost caught up with him when the postman fell into one of the triplet's deeper pits. The animal was clearly irritated by this turn of events. The trap was narrow but surprisingly deep, considering that it was the work of three nine-year-olds, and he could see no way to get at Grimsby.

The beast circled the pit, regarding Grimsby through his blood-red eyes and snapping his teeth together every few seconds. "QUICK, SOMEONE! CALL THE POLICE," Sassy shouted.

"CALL AN AMBULANCE," Brick yelled.

"CALL THE MORGUE," shrieked Spike.

"No need for any of that." Spider's voice carried with it such authority that all fell silent. (pg 40-41)

What I really think:

What a delightful book! I don't know that many children can relate to having a butler, but they can relate to having adults not understand them. This novel puts forth the idea that when adults and children try to understand each other there can be compromise and harmony. Also, there is lots of great mischief and Superfluous Capitalization.

The Linden Tree

Author: Ellie Mathews

Publisher: Milkweed Editions

Publication Year: 2007

Lexile: 1040L (This book is not in the Lexile Book Database. I used the Lexile Analyzer to get this value.)

Most of the readers will be: Middle school girls.

Reader's Advisory: This book would be great to read before going back a little further in American history with the Laura Ingalls Wilder Little House books.

Summary:
Katy Sue's mother has just died of meningitis and is buried under the old linden tree up on the hill. Katy Sue, her sister Ingrid, her brother Ben, and their Papa do their best to carry on "now Edna's gone." They live on a farm in Iowa in 1948 and life is hard. Katy Sue cares for the chickens. Ben raises the pigs. Papa works in the field. And Ingrid does the house work. It isn't long before they realize they need help, and Papa asks Mama's sister Aunt Katherine to move in with them. Aunt Katherine makes life both easier and harder. She helps Ingrid in the kitchen, but she can be very critical of Katy Sue. As the year passes the family works together to keep the farm going, and keep each other going whenever they miss Mama.

My favorite passage:

"There's something I didn't tell my mama. When she was sick, I mean." Mrs. Breton leaned forward. I bunched my fingers into the splotches in my skirt. "Mama said I was her special treasure and I didn't answer." I twisted my fingers in my skirt as if to make the wet spots disappear. "I should have. But I didn't know what to say." I had nowhere to look but into my own lap. "I mean - I didn't think - I didn't think she would really - that she'd really die." My hands stopped moving. "I thought I had time to say it, you know, later."
"And now there is no later, is there? That's the heartbreak." Mrs. Breton touched my wrist and said in a voice that made me think of the warmest, deepest, clearest pool imaginable, "You wanted to say how much you loved her, didn't you?"
I snapped my eyes to Mrs. Breton's. "How did you know?"
"But hadn't you ever told her that?"
"Oh, yes ma'am. Lots of times. All the time. Every day. She was the best mama anyone ever had."
"Then you didn't have to tell her again. She already knew. You have nothing to worry about. Nothing at all. There's more to loving someone than what you say to them, you know."
"Yes, ma'am," I said. "But still, I wish I'd said it."
"I'll tell you what. Why don't you find something around your farm to draw some pictures of. Then you can put her in the pictures. Just the way you want to see her. You have milk cows out at your place, don't you?"
"Some days it seems we're raising nothing but crows out in the field."
"Then draw me some crows."
"I don't like crows."
"Well, okay."
I couldn't have said why, but that made me laugh on top of my crying, thinking of crows at a time like that and because people sort of teased Mrs. Breton about how serious she could be about drawing pictures all the time, and there we were talking about crows. (pg 31-32)

What I really think:
Mathews skillfully takes us through the grieving process. Katy Sue doesn't want to celebrate her birthday without her mother. She doesn't want to celebrate Christmas. She is afraid of people being nice to her because it makes her cry, but when she cries with her teacher, it helps her. On top of all these emotions, Katy Sue doesn't know what to do with Aunt Katherine. Her aunt hurts her feelings by correcting her grammar, but then Katy Sue learns that it was this same aunt who held her through the colic when she was a baby. Everything the family goes through is difficult, but they do get through it. This book could be helpful to a young person dealing with loss, or even to someone getting a step parent. Aunt Katherine has to be a mother figure without trying to take their mother's place. This is also a good read just for learning more about early America.

The Middle of Somewhere

Author: J. B. Cheaney

Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf

Publication Year: 2007

Lexile: 1030L (This book is not in the Lexile Book Database. I used the Lexile Analyzer to get this value.)

Most of the readers will be: Late elementary and early middle school girls.

Reader's Advisory: Veronica reminded me of Lucky from The Higher Power of Lucky, by Susan Patron, the 2007 Newberry winner.

Summary:
Veronica Sparks's summer begins inauspiciously when her hyperactive brother lets a squirrel into the house and during the ensuing chaos, their mother breaks her knee. When Ronnie's grandfather happens to stop by for a visit in his brand new camper van, her mother suggests he take Ronnie and Gee (the brother) with him for a week as he travels across Kansas wind prospecting. Gee doesn't behave much better on this trip than he did at home. He causes many near disasters before finally stowing away in the trailer owned by his idle, Cannonball Paul. Family, friends, and strangers come together to look for Gee, and Veronica learns about the things in life that are truly important.

My favorite passage:

But Leo was a lot more than his latest special thing. That dog, I realized, was the only living creature on this earth who could take Gee exactly as he was, without getting frustrated or sending him to the principal's office or lecturing him about thinking before acting.
I turned back to Pop. "How about we play cards for the dog?"
That startled him out of his stubborn expression." How's that?"
I took a deep breath, making up the deal as it came to me. "Suppose we play a hand of...five-card draw. No, three hands. Best two out of three. If I win, we keep the dog. If you win, we try to find him a good home with somebody else."
"That's the spirit!" our neighbor exclaimed. "I like it. Whaddaya say, Jack?"
Mrs. Mac spoke almost too soft to hear. "Give it a chance, Jack."
He tightened up his lips, but his eyes shifted to Gee, then back to me. After a few seconds, he untightened enough to say, "Okay."
The audience cheered. Seriously.

What I really think:
I love Ronnie's voice. This is a story that needs to be told in first person, and quite skillfully is. Ronnie's attachment to Kent Clark's Seize the Way is something many middle schoolers could relate to. Young people in this age group are often looking for guidance and rules to follow, and these don't always come from a religion. And like other children her age do, Ronnie struggles with the rules she tries to live by, realizing that they don't always work. She also deals with difficult family relationships. She has a younger brother who is so needy, his needs not only overshadow hers, they also take up most of her time. Her grandfather doesn't help her, but actually creates more work for her. Ronnie fears that if Gee annoys Pop too much he will take them back home prematurely, so she actually tries extra hard to keep Gee under control around him. There are certainly many middle schoolers who have demanding younger siblings and/or parental figures they try overly hard to please. I do think this book will speak to the young people who read it.