[BOOK REVIEW] The Lemonade Club by Patricia Polacco

Title: The Lemonade Club

Author: Patricia Polacco

Genre: Disabilities / Friendship / School
 
Year Published: 2007

Year Read: 2010

Publisher:  Philomel

Source:  Library

Content Rating: Ages 5+ (Themes of Cancer)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository

 

Patricia Polacco is truly one amazing author!  She has written books like “Mr. Lincoln’s Way” which discusses racism, “Thank you Mr. Falker,” which discusses dyslexia and “Babushka’s Doll” which discusses patience and all of these books are truly inspirational!  This time, Patricia Polacco has written a book about cancer called “The Lemonade Club” and it is about how Traci and her teacher Miss Wichelman try to help Marilyn through her cancer.  “The Lemonade Club” is clearly one of Patricia Polacco’s most mesmerizing books ever created!

Oh man! Patricia Polacco can write about any issue and bring it to the audience in a sophisticated and engaging way! Patricia Polacco has most certainly done an excellent job at writing this book as it is both inspiring and dramatic at the same time!  Never would I have thought that Patricia Polacco would talk about the concerns of cancer in such a realistic way and I always felt sorry for Marilyn as she had to go through so many struggles to get through her cancer and I loved the way that Traci and Miss Wichelman stayed by Marilyn’s side through her hour of need since it showed true friends Traci and Miss Wichelman really are.  What really amazed me about this book was that Traci, Marilyn and Miss Wichelman were real life figures in Patricia Polacco’s life as Traci is her daughter and Marilyn was Traci’s best friend who was actually affected by cancer.  I always loved the way that Patricia Polacco based her works on her real life and that is what is truly inspiring about her books!  Patricia Polacco’s illustrations are just as beautiful and realistic in this book as ever before!  Patricia Polacco makes her characters extremely realistic and my favorite images in this book were of Miss Wichelman herself as she is seen smiling throughout each image which greatly embraces her kind character.

Overall, “The Lemonade Club” is truly a remarkable book about dealing with cancer that many children who have also gone through cancer treatments will greatly appreciate! I would recommend this book to children ages five and up since the topic of cancer might frighten small children.

[BOOK REVIEW] Mr. Lincoln's Way by Patricia Polacco

Title:  Mr. Lincoln's Way

Author: Patricia Polacco

Genre: Racism / School / Bullying

Year Published:  2001

Year Read:  2010

Publisher: Philomel

Source:  Library

Content Rating: Ages 5+ (Themes of Racism and Bullying)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository 

 

I have recently stumbled on Patricia Polacco’s works when I saw an episode on “Reading Rainbow” entitled “Appelemando’s Dreams.”  Well, “Mr. Lincoln’s Way” is the second book that I have read from Patricia Polacco!

Never have I read a children’s book that discusses prejudice in such a realistic and heartwarming manner as how Patricia Polacco portrayed it!  Patricia Polacco had done a great job at both illustrating and writing this story and what I loved the most about this book was the character of Mr. Lincoln himself as he was respected by every student in the school not only because he was cool to be with, but because he has a heart of gold and is willing to help anyone in their time of need no matter how different they are.  I also love the way that Mr. Lincoln’s method of helping out Eugene with his prejudice problems as he shows Eugene the power of respecting other people’s ethnicity through what he loves most…birds!  I also thought that the back story about Eugene’s father having racial intolerance towards everyone different from him was extremely powerful as many children can relate to Eugene’s situation as some children might have parents who are racially insensitive and it could affect them in many ways unimaginable.  Patricia Polacco’s illustrations are just simply beautiful and realistic as the characters are drawn with a sketchy look.  The image that really stood out to me was the image of Mr. Lincoln himself as he always has a friendly expression on his face and wears glasses and has a black mustache that makes him look extremely distinguished.

The only problem I had with this book is that the book never really show if Eugene’s father ever repented for his insensitivity to other races.  I felt like Eugene’s father’s racial intolerance for other races was the core problem for Eugene and I thought that the book should have addressed whether or not Eugene’s father ever realized his son’s issues. 

“Mr. Lincoln’s Way” is definitely a magnificent book about how to deal with prejudice in a positive manner and parents who want to teach their children about the terrible effects that prejudice has on people, this is definitely the right book for them.  I would recommend this book to children ages five and up since there is nothing inappropriate in this book unless the theme might be too strong for smaller children to handle.

[BOOK REVIEW] Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

Title:  Mockingjay

Author:  Suzanne Collins

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Year Published: 2010

Number of Pages: 390 pages

Date Read: 1/27/2013

Series: The Hunger Games #3

Publisher: Scholastic Press

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 16+ (Strong Violence)

“My Name is Katniss Everdeen.  Why Am I Not Dead?  I Should be Dead.”

After reading Suzanne Collins’ previous books “The Hunger Games” and “Catching Fire,” I wanted to check out the final book in the “Hunger Games” series called “Mocking jay” and man, was it just as intense and horrifying as the previous two books!

After Katniss Everdeen survived the last Hunger Games in “Catching Fire,” she discovers that the Capitol had destroyed her home District 12 as a way to teach Katniss that she cannot defy the Capitol.  Katniss and her family then escape to the legendary hidden district, District 13 to seek refuge, only to find out that District 13 is planning a revolt against the Capitol!  Now Katniss realizes that she was apart of a major plan to overthrow the Capitol, even though she never knew about it in the first place and now the future of Panem rests on her shoulders as she has to decide on whether or not she should become the Mocking jay that will defy the Capitol!

Wow!  I was absolutely blown away by how this final installment in the “Hunger Games” was much DARKER, MORE GRUESOME and MORE EMOTIONAL than the previous books!  Suzanne Collins has definitely done a great job at building up tension throughout this book as I was seriously on the edge of my seat trying to see if Katniss would be able to fulfill her destiny as the Mocking jay!  I loved the way that Suzanne Collins gives us a good insight inside Katniss’ mind about how she has doubts about being the Mocking jay and how it will affect her relationship with her family and friends.  I also loved seeing the developing relationships she has with both Gale and Peeta and it was interesting seeing how she was willing to put her life on the line to protect her friends and families from the Capitol’s evil influence.  I also loved the way that Suzanne Collins wrote Katniss as a strong heroine who is not only good at fighting, but is extremely intelligent as she tries to think through her problems before acting on them and I think that is a good characteristic that helps Katniss survive through the revolution against the Capitol.  I also loved Peeta’s character and I was actually worried for Peeta throughout this book after the Capitol kidnapped him in the last book and did horrible things to his mind.

The reason why I gave this book a four star rating is because of the constant love triangle between Gale, Katniss and Peeta.  I usually do not do well with love triangles because of the fact that the character in the middle has to spend the majority of the book deciding whether or not he or she wants to spend the rest of their life with whoever they choose.  I felt that this aspect of the story sort of took away from the constant action and suspense of the last two books and sometimes, it was hard getting through this book without gritting my teeth in impatience with Katniss choosing who she wants to be with.  Another problem that some readers might have with this book is that it has more bloody and sad scenes than the last two books as there are many characters that are killed off in the most gruesome ways in this book.  Since this final book deals with war and its consequences, it might be a bit difficult to get through this book without being sadden by the turn of events in this book.  Anyone who is planning on reading this book better be prepared for a DARK RIDE ahead of them!

Overall, even though “Mocking jay” was not the best of the “Hunger Games” series, it is still a great read for “Hunger Games” fans and the ending will definitely blow you away once you pick up this book!

 

☀Daily Book Chat #1:☀ What do you think makes a good book?

 Hello everyone! I'm doing something new for my blog and it's something call my ☀Daily Book Chat☀ where I ask questions about your favorite books and what you love about reading!  Today's question is "What do you think makes a good book?"  Do you think that having good character development or interesting characters makes a book enjoyable to read?

Personally, what makes a good book for me is having good character development and intriguing characters.  I always loved romance novels being written by Lisa Kleypas and many others because the characters in her stories always felt so real to me and I also loved the balance of the character development and the action scenes presented in the novels!

[BOOK REVIEW] Pink and Say by Patricia Polacco

Title:  Pink and Say

Author:  Patricia Polacco

Genre: Racism / Civil War / Friendship

Year Published: 1994

Year Read: 2013

Publisher:  Philomel

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 7+ (Some Violence and Themes of Racism)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository 

Many of the books I had read by Patricia Polacco were extremely emotional and sad like “The Junkyard Wonders” and “Thank You, Mr. Falkner,” but none of them had hit me so close to my heart than her book “Pink and Say.”  “Pink and Say” is a story about the friendship between two boys of different races whose ending will make you want to cry for many years to come.

Sheldon Russell Curtis was a young soldier who was injured during the Civil War and was left for dead until a young African-American boy named Pinkus comes to his aid and brings him home with him.  Pinkus lived with his mother, Moe Moe Bay who was kind and treated Sheldon like her own son.  Unfortunately, Sheldon and Pinkus knew that they were putting Moe Moe Bay in jeopardy since they escaped from the Civil War and the marauding Confederate troops were chasing after them.  Now they must find a way to get away from Moe Moe Bay before it is too late!

Reading most of Patricia Polacco’s books, I have noticed that all of her books always have an underlying theme of accepting other people, no matter how different they are while tying these stories to her real life experiences, which I always believed made her stories even more memorable to read.  Now, after reading this book “Pink and Say,” I have to say that Patricia Polacco has truly defined the importance of accepting other people’s differences even under hardships such as war.  I loved the way that Patricia Polacco had portrayed the relationship between Pinkus, a young African-American soldier and Sheldon, a young Caucasian soldier, as they treated each other like good friends, despite being of different races.  It was fantastic and emotional seeing what the Civil War had done to Pinkus and Sheldon and my heart was actually breaking when they were scared of getting anyone hurt in this war, but they know that they have to fight this war to put an end to slavery.  I have always read books about the Civil War, but never had I read a book that actually showed me how the Civil War had affected the people fighting in it in a more up close and personal way.  Patricia Polacco had done a brilliant job at showing the horrors and painful emotions that the characters suffered through this war, while stating that war itself is terrible, but you must fight for what you believe is right.  Patricia Polacco’s illustrations are as usual, gorgeous to look at as the images of Sheldon and Pinkus communicating with each other was a truly beautiful scene to look at.  I also loved the way that the characters look as realistic as it really brings so much reality to this story.

Parents should know that this picture book has some images of characters getting shot and blood leaking out of their wounds.  This might disturb younger children who want to read about the Civil War, so parents might want to read this book to see if it is appropriate before reading it to their child.  Also, the ending was extremely sad as it involves the death of one of the characters (which I will not reveal because I do not want to spoil this book for anyone) and parents might want to read over these scenes before they read it to their children.

Overall, “Pink and Say” is easily Patricia Polacco’s saddest yet most emotional book to ever be written and anyone who wants to read about the Civil War through a personal account should definitely check this book out!  I would recommend this book to children ages seven and up since the scenes of characters getting shot might disturb younger children.

[BOOK REVIEW] Rotten Richie and the Ultimate Dare by Patricia Polacco

Title:  Rotten Richie and the Ultimate Dare

Author: Patricia Polacco

Genre: Sibling Rivalry / Family / Humor / School / Sports

Year Published: 2006

Year Read:  2013

Publisher:  Philomel

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 5+ (Some Rude Behavior)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository

I have been reading Patricia Polacco’s works for many years now and after reading one of her works “My Rotten Redheaded Older Brother,” I just had to read more about Patricia Polacco’s brother Richie!  So, I just recently picked up “Rotten Richie and the Ultimate Dare” and I have to say that I was really impressed with this book!

Trisha knows how hard it is to deal with her annoying older brother Richie, especially when he starts making fun of Trisha’s ballet class!  So to teach him a lesson, Trisha dares Richie to perform in the ballet recital with her.  But Richie will only do it on one condition: Trisha has to play the big hockey game with him!

Wow! I was totally amazed by this book!  Patricia Polacco, as always, has done a brilliant job at telling the readers her life story as a child, with her “Richie” books being the funniest among her collection!  I loved the way that Patricia Polacco showed the sibling rivalry between her and her older brother Richie as it was interesting to see and it slightly reminded me of how I get along with my siblings!  I also loved the plot of this story about Trisha wanting to show Richie that ballet is not as easy as it look with Richie doing the same about letting Trisha play hockey with him.  I like how the two siblings learn to have a better understanding of each other as they both try out the different activities that the other sibling usually plays at and it was interesting seeing how their experiences with doing different activities made them grow as characters.  Patricia Polacco’s illustrations are as usual gorgeous to look at as the characters look extremely realistic and I loved the outfits that Richie and Trisha are both wearing as Trisha wears a lovely pink ballet costume and Richie wears a large red hockey suit with “Beavers 13” printed on it.

Overall, “Rotten Richie and the Ultimate Dare” is a brilliant follow up to “My Rotten Redheaded Older Brother” and anyone who is a huge fan of books about sibling rivalry will definitely enjoy this book!  I would recommend this book to children ages five and up since the name calling that Trisha and Richie engage in such as Richie calling Trisha “twerp” might be a bit inappropriate for younger children.

 

[BOOK REVIEW] Saga Volume 1 by Brian K. Vaughan

Title:  Saga Volume 1

Author:  Brian K. Vaughan

Artist:  Fiona Staples


Genre: Sci -Fi Fantasy

Year Published: 2012

Year Read: 2013

Series: Saga #1

Publisher: Image Comics

Source:  Purchased

Content Rating:  Ages 18+ (Nudity, Strong Language and Gory Violence)

Introduction:

After reading so many of Brian K. Vaughan’s works, with “Y: The Last Man” and his “Runaways” series being among the works I had read, I have been enjoying everything that Brian K. Vaughan has done over the years!  But, imagine my surprise when I discovered that Brian K. Vaughan had recently created a new comic book series called “Saga!”  After hearing so many good things about this comic, I just had to pick this up for myself and see what was so good about this comic and man, was I blown away by the whole concept of this story!

What is this story about?

Alana, a young woman who has fairy wings and is from the planet Landfall, and her husband, Marko, a young man who has goat horns and is from a moon planet called Wreath, were both soldiers that served in the army.  However, when Alana and Marko ended up falling in love with each other despite the fact that their planets are at war with each other, they ended up having a baby together and they tried to escape from the war in order to raise their newborn baby.  However, the two lovers will soon discover that they are being hunted because they abandoned their stations and they must reach a planet where they could live in peace before it is too late!

What I loved about this story:

Brian K. Vaughan’s writing: I am always amazed at how Brian K. Vaughan writes the stories in his comics as the characters are always well-developed and the stories are always creative to read through.  Well, Brian K. Vaughan has definitely done a brilliant job in this story as the characters are interesting and the story is extremely inventive!  I loved the way that Brian K. Vaughan made the story extremely creative by setting the story in a different dimension where aliens rule the planets and futuristic technology runs society.  This story also reminds me strongly of Joss Whedon’s popular TV series, “Firefly” as both stories involves characters living in a futuristic world and I really enjoyed seeing the strange characters that pop up in this comic, especially the images of Alana having green fairy wings and Marko having large goat horns in his head.  I also loved the way that Brian K. Vaughan developed the characters as Alana is shown to be a strong heroine who is willing to do everything to protect her child and Marko is shown to be a caring and strong-willed hero who also tries to protect his family from any harm that comes across them.  That kind of character development made these characters likable and relatable to me because I always felt for them whenever they are trying to escape a war so that they could raise their baby together in peace.  I also loved the futuristic setting of this story as it made the story truly amazing to read through and I enjoyed seeing how the characters deal with war in a futuristic setting.

Fiona Staples’ artwork:  Fiona Staples’ artwork is a bit scratchy, but it is extremely beautiful to look at as the characters look realistic and I loved the way that Fiona Staples paints the fire and explosion scenes as the fire lighting glows on each page, giving the artwork a dramatic feel.  I also loved the appearances of the aliens that inhabit this world, especially the image of Prince Robot IV who has a human body with a television set for a head (kind of reminds me of the robot character in “Fooly Cooly” who also has a human body with a television set for a head)!

What made me feel uncomfortable about this story:

Since this story deals with war, there are many violent scenes shown throughout this story.  Some of the most violent scenes in this comic had characters getting their heads cut off and their stomachs cut open and that might be too graphic for readers who are not used to gory violence.  Also, this comic has strong language that includes using the “f” word and the “s” word, so if you are uncomfortable with such language, then it might be best to skim over these words.  This comic surprisingly has strong nudity and it might be best to skim over these scenes if they are uncomfortable to read through.

Final Thoughts:

Overall, “Saga” is seriously one of the best recent comics I had read for the past few years since “American Vampire” and I only have a few things to say about this series: GIVE ME MORE, GIVE ME MORE, GIVE ME MORE!

REASON FOR BEING BANNED: For having "anti-family" themes, nudity and sexually explicit scenes.