[BOOK REVIEW] Rechenka's Eggs by Patricia Polacco

Title:  Rechenka's Eggs

Author:  Patricia Polacco


Genre: Easter / Family / Animal / Folktale



Year Published: 1988



Year Read: 2010

Publisher: Puffin

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 5+ (One Violent Image)

Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository 

 

When I was reading Patricia Polacco’s books, I was interested in knowing more about how Patricia Polacco studied Russian and Greek iconographic history in the Royal Melbourne Institute, which along with her interest in painting Ukrainian eggs, inspired her to create this story! “Rechenka’s Eggs” is a Russian tale by Patricia Polacco about how a talented old lady named Babushka finds an injured goose one night and she soon discovers that the goose now named Rechenka, lays eggs that are not your ordinary eggs! “Rechenka’s Eggs” is a truly heartwarming story about true friendship that every child will easily enjoy!

Wow! This book was simple amazing! Patricia Polacco has done an excellent job at both writing and illustrating this wonderful book about true friendship! Patricia Polacco’s illustrations are truly beautiful and much different from her other books as the humans in this book has pale white faces with realistic facial designs while their clothing and all the animals are done in colors, which truly made the illustrations much more effective to look at. The illustrations that I truly loved were of Babushka’s eggs as they were truly colorful and creative and I also loved Babushka’s facial expressions as they show the true wisdom in Babushka. Patricia Polacco’s writing is truly heartwarming and I loved the friendship that developed between Babushka and Rechenka as they are connected towards each other through Rechenka’s eggs and the eggs made the twosome much closer towards each other in relationship. I also loved the fact that Patricia Polacco based Babushka’s eggs on her research dealing with Ukrainian eggs and I also loved how Patricia Polacco reinvented ancient Moscow and its festivals as these events and the landscapes made the story much more memorable.

Parents should know that there is a brief image of blood in this book as Rechenka briefly has drops of blood on her wing although this image is not really too graphic and it is just a small blot of blood. However, parents should try to reassure their children about the idea of Rechenka being shot.

Overall, “Rechenka’s Eggs” is a truly beautiful book for children who love reading about ancient Russia and who enjoy reading about Easter. I would recommend this book to children ages five and up due to the brief image of blood.

[BOOK REVIEW] McFig and McFly: A Tale of Jealousy, Revenge and Death by Henrik Drescher

Title: McFig and McFly: A Tale of Jealousy, Revenge and Death

Author:  Henrik Drescher


Genre: Family / Humor / Drama / Competition


Year Published: 2008


Year Read: 2009

Publisher:  Candlewick Press

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 5+ (Death)

Buy or Add on:  Amazon  //  Goodreads

 

“McFig and McFly” is illustrator Henrik Drescher’s latest children’s book and it is certainly one of his most dramatic books ever created since "Simon's Book."  In this tale, two neighbors named McFig and McFly started competing with each other to see who has the better house.  “McFig and McFly” is a wonderful tale about how being too competitive can produce consequences for oneself, but children might be a little disturbed by the scene where a character dies.

Henrik Drescher’s illustrations are creative and childish at the same time, which is in the similar style of "Gruesome Guide to World Monsters."  Henrik Drescher makes McFig sport glasses and have a curly mustache and blonde hair while he makes McFly look a little more handsome than McFig by him sporting a huge eyeball that is mainly seen from the side of his face (which the reader only sees the side of McFly and we never see McFly from the front of his face).  Henrik Drescher also does a great job at making McFig’s and McFly’s cottages look more surreal and rickety as the two men started adding more and more junk on top of their houses during their competition.  Henrik Drescher writes this story in a surreal yet simple way as he goes into great detail at how the two men started putting more and more stuff on top of their cottages to be better than the other.  Also, he describes how the two men failed to pay attention to their children’s blossoming romance and how their children wanted peace between the two men as they realized that this competition has gotten out of hand.

Parents should know that there is a death scene in this book regarding one of the characters.  I will not tell you who dies since that may spoil the book for you, but parents might want to discuss the issues of death with their children first before they read this book so that they will not become too upset at the death scene in this book.

“McFig and McFly” is a wonderful book about the consequences of being over competitive with other people.  I would recommend this book to children ages five and up since smaller children may be a bit upset with the death theme of the book.

You might also like:

• Klutz by Henrik Drescher

• The Strange Appearance of Howard Cranebill Jr. by Henrik Drescher

[BOOK REVIEW] The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Title: The Fault in Our Stars

Author: John Green

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Year Published: 2012

Number of Pages: 313 pages

Date Read: 5/13/2013

Publisher:  Dutton Books

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 16+ (Strong Language and Mature Subject Matter)

REAL, EMOTIONAL, HEARTBREAKING, FUNNY AND INSIGHTFUL

These are the words that perfectly describe one of the most emotional and insightful books I had ever read, “The Fault in Our Stars.”  “The Fault in Our Stars” is a beautiful book that is written by John Green, who also wrote “Looking for Alaska” and I have the pleasure to experience the raw emotion being put into this novel and enjoying every single minute of it!

Hazel Grace Lancaster was a young sixteen year old teenage girl who had suffered thyroid cancer at the age of fourteen and when she thought that she was going to die, the doctors managed to give her a medical miracle that would help shrink her tumor.  Even though Hazel managed to survive, she was forced to be hooked up to an oxygen tank to enable her breathing.  Since that day, Hazel thought that she will never live life the same way again, but then Hazel ends up meeting a gorgeous teenage boy named Augustus Waters, who also happens to suffer cancer, which caused him to lose one of his legs.  Hazel and Augustus (Gus) immediately start connecting with each other and the two friends soon realize the importance of following their dreams and understanding life and death.

After I heard so much praise for this book and my reading friends urged me to give this book a shot, I just had to pick this book up and man, was I blown away by the emotional intensity that this book brought out in the open!  Even though John Green had written several books before this novel, one of the most notable novels being “Looking for Alaska,” “The Fault in Our Stars” was actually the first book I had read from John Green and I enjoyed it immensely!  John Green had done a brilliant job at writing a story about how a cancer patient views life after she went through a life threatening situation at a young age.  It was fantastic hearing the story from Hazel’s point of view as I loved the way that she details her struggles with coping with her cancer while trying to live her life the best way she can.  But, what I really loved about Hazel is that she never let her cancer take control of her life as she is shown to be a sarcastic and easygoing person who tries to understand about life while pursuing her dreams at the same time.  Augustus Waters is easily my most favorite character in this novel as he is just as sarcastic as Hazel, but he shows so much intellect about life that I really enjoyed his personal thoughts.  I also loved the fact that Augustus truly cares for Hazel and was willing to help her accomplish her dreams while having his own inspirations in life. The banter between Hazel and Augustus is so hilarious and heartwarming at the same time as they discuss the importance of life while joking about their illnesses (although I can see the idea about characters joking about their illnesses being a little uncomfortable for anyone who is actually going through cancer).

Since this book deals with a sensitive subject matter, some readers might literally CRY when reading this book (I know that I definitely started crying at the end of this book).  Anyone who does not like reading books about characters dealing with cancer might want to handle this book with care.  Also, this book has some strong language, so anyone who does not like reading strong language might want to skim over the language.

Overall, “The Fault in Our Stars” is easily one of the most thought-provoking and emotional books I had ever read.  This was basically the first book I had read about characters experiencing cancer first hand and I was so emotionally invested in both the story and the characters, that I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND this book to anyone who is a huge fan of John Green’s works.

BE FOREWARNED, THIS BOOK WILL MAKE YOU CRY HUGE BUCKETS OF TEARS!

 

[BOOK REVIEW] Preacher: Gone to Texas Volume 1 by Garth Ennis

Title:  Preacher:  Gone to Texas Volume 1

Author: Garth Ennis

Artist:  Steve Dillon


Genre: Religion / Fantasy / Horror


Year Published: 1995


Year Read: 2013


Series: Preacher #1


Publisher: Vertigo Comics

Source:  Library

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

Buy or Add on:  Amazon  //  Goodreads 

Introduction:

After reading so many graphic novels that were geared towards older teens and adults (Neil Gaiman’s “Sandman” series and Bill Willingham’s “Fables” series), I never would have thought that I would come across a graphic novel that has coarse language practically littered out throughout the entire story while dealing with a subject matter that is so controversial to many readers.  That graphic novel, my friends, is “Preacher: Gone to Texas” and man, was I in for a wild ride of my reading life!

What is this story about?

Reverend Jesse Custer was a minister who was starting to lose his followers and his faith in God.  But one fateful day, Jesse Custer is hit by a bright light which ends up destroying the church he was holding his sermons in.  Jesse survives the catastrophe, but everyone who attended the church was all killed and Jesse ends up being on the run from the law while gaining the power called “the Word of God” where he can control people into doing what he wants.  Joining him is his ex-girlfriend Tulip and an Irish vampire named Cassidy (vampires? Yeah, this story is getting weirder) and the three companions set out on a journey to find God, who had quit his job in heaven, so that way, Jesse would get his answers about why Genesis is inside his body.  Unfortunately, a hunter sent by Heaven is after Jesse and his gang in order to prevent Jesse from finding out the truth!

What I loved about this story:

Garth Ennis’s writing:  Wow…just wow.  Now before I get into what I enjoyed about Garth Ennis’s writing, I would like to point out how shocked (and impressed) I was with the amount of language in this graphic novel.  Never, had I read a graphic novel that managed to drop the “f” bomb on every single page along with some other coarse language.  This actually interested me rather than disgust me because I was basically counting how many curse words popped up on each page every time a character was speaking and I had a fun time with it!  Since this is basically the first graphic novel I had read by Garth Ennis, I was amazed at the creativity being put into this story, especially for the fact that Garth Ennis took a subject matter so controversial (in this case, religion) and turned it into an interesting fantasy story that was extremely well written.  It was also interesting in how Garth Ennis explored American culture through Texas and how the main characters are the ones who are more sympathetic than the rest of the characters featured since they are trying to make the world a better place, no matter how TWISTED it may sound! My favorite character in this story was probably Cassidy, the Irish vampire as it was so unusual to see a vampire pop up in a story about religion.  I also loved his personality as he is probably the funniest character in this story and I loved the fact that he was willing to help out Jesse and Tulip when they really needed it.

Steve Dillon’s artwork:  Steve Dillon’s artwork was pretty impressive as the characters’ facial expressions are realistic and effective.  I also loved the way that Steve Dillon illustrated the gruesome scenes of some of the characters being killed and the artwork was done so vividly that I found myself cringing at the murder scenes.

What made me feel uncomfortable about this story:

All the negative things that I had mentioned (murders, controversial use of religion, language) are actually things that I did enjoyed about this story since it is rare for me to read a graphic novel that is basically covered from head to toe with offensive content, so it was basically second nature to me when I was reading this volume.  However, this might not go over well for anyone who does not like coarse language and strong violence, so anyone who does not like violence and strong language might want to avoid this graphic novel.  Now, the REAL REASON why I gave this volume a four star rating is because I felt that the pacing of the story was a bit slow in some places as the characters would spent a good majority of the book talking and not much action happens during these scenes.  While I do want good character interactions and this comic definitely has some good character interactions, I also wanted to see more action play up in the story.

Final Thoughts:

Overall, “Preacher: Gone to Texas” is easily one of the most OFFENSIVE, CRUDE, CONTROVERSIAL yet INTERESTING graphic novels that I had ever read and I would recommend it to fans of Garth Ennis’ works and readers who love reading controversial books!

 

[BOOK REVIEW] Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffman

Title:  Amazing Grace


Author:  Mary Hoffman


Artist:  Caroline Binch



Genre: Racism / Feminism / Self-Esteem




Year Published: 1991



Year Read: 2010



Series: Grace


Publisher:  Dial


Source:  Library


Content Rating:  Ages 4+ (Themes of Prejudice and Sexism)


Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository 

“Amazing Grace” is a truly inspiring story from the mind of Mary Hoffman along with illustrations by Caroline Binch and it is about how an optimistic girl named Grace tries out for the role of Peter Pan even though her classmates thought that she cannot be Peter Pan. “Amazing Grace” is a truly inspirational story about believing in yourself no matter what other people say.

Mary Hoffman has done a magnificent job at writing this story as I honestly have never read a story that confronts the issues of race and gender in a children’s perspective. Mary Hoffman subtly tackles these issues that Grace has to confront when she wants a role of Peter Pan and her classmates tell her that she cannot be Peter Pan because she is a girl and black and many children’s books have never tackle these issues of race and gender in a subtle and light hearted way as the issues of race and gender in this book are never fully explicit and dark. Many children will definitely relate to Grace’s predicament as they might have confronted a situation where they are told that they cannot do a certain role in a play because of their race and gender and many children will feel inspired by Grace’s determination to become Peter Pan no matter what the other kids told her. Caroline Binch’s illustrations are extremely beautiful and realistic, especially of the image of Grace herself as she wears pigtails and she always has a toothy smile on her face every time she acts out her favorite scenes, which are equally beautiful as Grace is dressed in different kinds of costumes in her roles.

“Amazing Grace” is a brilliant book about believing in yourself and going for your dreams no matter what race or gender you are and this book will definitely be an inspirational story for children who want to go for their dreams. I would recommend this book to children ages four and up since there is nothing inappropriate in this book.