Here There be Monsters

Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl prod. by Jerry Bruckheimer.  Dir. by Gore Verbinski.  Buena Vista Pictures.  2003.

After bringing up this movie in the blog post about Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 I realized that the American tween of this generation will grow up never knowing that once there was this kitschy ride at Disneyland called Pirates of the Caribbean.  It had no media tie ins, it was just a part of Adventure Land, kind of the way Big Thunder Railroad is a part of Frontier Land, a ride with no Disney movie about it.  After writing this, I'm a little worried about the fact that I see this as a matter of cultural significance.  It just goes to show what an influence Disney has had over this Southern Californian girl.

The Black Pearl has one of those plots that you can choose to follow, or completely ignore and still enjoy the movie.  Basically, Captain Jack Sparrow wants his boat back from his mutinous ghost crew.  Will Turner, who has pirate in his blood, even if he wants to deny it, wants Elizabeth Sparrow.  Elizabeth Sparrow, first gets kidnapped for being the governor's daughter, she then lies about her identity to the ghost pirates who kidnap her in order to keep her father safe.  The three characters must help and bargain with one another to get what they all want.  There is lots of drinking, sword fighting and general pirate talk with many lovely shots of the Caribbean.  Every tween generation needs a good action movie.  The only problem with pirates is that it's a little difficult to run off and become one nowadays.  At least your mom wouldn't totally flip out in the 80's if you told her you wanted to be an archaeologist, unless she was a yuppie, so you may as well have told her you were going to be a pirate.  Huh, they have a ride about Indiana at Disneyland, too.

Well, it is rated PG-13, but I think it's fine for most 6th graders, too.

Review: Guinness World Records 2011

Guinness World Records 2011 ed. by Craig Glenday.  Jim Pattison Group.  2010.

This book is the reason why many tweens who come into the Children's Room bother to learn about the reference section.  It's also a good example to use when explaining how to look up a nonfiction book.  032 GUINNESS, and voila, you come to a row of books with shiny hologram covers.  If you're lucky and there are a couple of different years present, you can line up a few consecutive years and look up the same record in each book to see if it was broken in the next year or not.  There are vibrant color photographs for the records that are just better explained in a picture.  Also, this is a book that is great for a group.  It is common for four or five tween boys to find a table, put a copy of Guinness in the middle of the table, and have everyone lean over to read the book together.  It then becomes a contest to see who has filled their brain with the largest amount of knowledge about world records.  Community reading at it's finest?  I would definitely consider it a good candidate.

Appropriate any tween who appreciates and is looking for photos with loads of gross out factor.

Review: Pride and Prejudice

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.  T. Egerton, Whitehall.  1813.

A book doesn't need overly complex language to be great.  You also don't have to be an adult to enjoy a great book.  Pride and Prejudice is a story that is actually pretty relevant to tweens who pick it up.  Family, friendship and love are the keys themes.  Also, Jane Austen isn't just for girls.  My brother loves Jane Austen.  He also likes books like A Clockwork Orange, so yeah, I have little patience for boys who complain about Jane.

Elizabeth Bennet's family is driving her crazy.  Her mother will go to any length to pair her daughters up with eligible young men, even if it means almost killing Lizzy's older sister Jane.  Jane is too shy to let Mr. Bingley, the object of her affection, know how she really feels about him.  Mary is overly verbose and awkward.  Kitty and Lydia are giggling, boy crazy, gossips who seem to have no concern for anyone but themselves.  Mr. Bennet is grumpy all the time and never really does anything about anything, which is why Mrs. Bennet is on this voracious man hunt in the first place.  If Mr. Bennet dies, the rest of the family will be sent to the poor house.  Enter Mr. Darcy.  He at first snubs Lizzy, but over time he falls madly in love with her, and really kind of saves the day at the end.  One of the reasons that this book holds the test of time is that the reader gets all sides of the fairytale.  Mr. Darcy gets to be the knight in shinning armor, but the story is not complete without Lizzy's wisecracking and quick witted observations.  She is out to set things right for those she loves, and doesn't let what people think of her get in the way.  A true heroine if there were any.

A great book for 8th and 9th graders.  This ATOS level bugs me since the Sense and Sensibility level is 8th grade.
ATOS Book Level: 12.0
AR Points: 27.0

Review: Charlotte's Web

Charlotte's Web by E.B. White.  HarperCollins.  1952.

Luckily tweens have a chance to get to know E.B. White through his children's books before they get to meet him again in high school and college as the White in Strunk's and White's The Elements of Style.  Also, White will be forever intertwined in the history of the first children's librarian, so I think it's important that one of his classics makes it onto this blog. 

Wilbur the pig is saved by Fern the girl from being slaughtered.  He is the runt of the most recent pig litter, and without her protests would not have survived.  Fern raises Wilbur like a pet, so when her father sees that Wilbur has grown to a good size to be slaughtered for food, everyone is once again distraught.  Enter Charlotte.  She is the spider who lives in the door beams of Wilbur's side of the barn.  She "weaves" a plan in which she will use a little PR to make Wilbur more valuable alive than dead.  The plan works, and Wilbur is saved.  However along the way he has to learn about the trials of living.  That nothing stays the same, and that growing close to someone means that you will be hurt when you have to let them go, because life goes on and you have to keep stepping forward.

A good sturdy chapter book for 3rd graders.  A fun read for 4th graders, too.

ATOS Book Level: 4.4

AR Points: 5.0

Review: The Winter of Red Snow: The Revolutionary War Diary of Abigail Jane Stewart

The Winter of Red Snow: The Revolutionary War Diary of Abigail Jane Stewart by Kristiana Gregory.  Scholastic.  1996.


The fictional diary of Abigail Jane Stewart, like other books in the Dear America series fills the space where the American Girl series leaves off.  The books in these series are aimed at a little older tween audience, and are more graphic about historical conflicts taking place during the characters' lives.  An interesting contrast is that in the American Girl series the characters are definitely living in pivotal times of history, however they tend to hear about important historical events in the news, the way most people at different historical times experience cultural change.  In the Dear America series the characters are closer to the actual events, maybe not as realistic in terms of the general population, but hey, someone had to be there.


Abigail's diary describes much of her daily life, most of which involves chores and helping her mom around the house in general.  The one catch is that her family lives close to the camp at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania in the years 1777-78.  Abigail describes the lives of the soldiers in the camp and the tension surrounding the outcome of the war.  The title refers to Abigail watching the soldiers march in the snow without shoes, witnessing their bloody feet turning the snow red.


An appropriate read for 4th to 7th graders.
ATOS Book Level: 5.5 
AR Points: 4.0

Review: Slaughterhouse-Five or The Children's Crusade

Slaughterhouse-Five or The Children's Crusade by Kurt Vonnegut.  Dell.  1969.

When it comes to getting started on reading Vonnegut (and I do find it to be a life long journey) Slaughterhouse-Five is a good starting point.  The funny part is that the main character, Billy Pilgrim may be having experiences that differ from most American tweens, but his emotions, and the brash, rash commentary by the narrator is just what many tweens are looking for; it's what they felt has been missing.  Vonnegut is the author who's books you hold close to your chest as a young person and proclaim, "He gets me."

Billy Pilgrim has it rough.  He has been taken as a POW during World War II.  He really wasn't enjoying the war itself much either, actually he found it horrifying.  To top it off, his life at home in the suburbs of New York is so painfully dull that it's really not something he hopes to return to if he ever gets out of this war alive.  Basically, he has nothing to live for, so he violently travels from place to place down the tunnel of time.  This involves an alien abduction where he is is put in the zoo as an exhibit.  The aliens can see their world in 4D, therefore they can see the future and explain to Billy that there is no way to change one's course in life, and that there is no use in trying.  This helps Billy realize there is nothing he can do about his impending murder by a fellow POW soldier in the future, he can only allow it to happen to him as the narrator describes the scene.

Vonnegut gave a new voice to the experience of war, trauma and the state of life in the sixties.  Tweens experiencing many new things in their own lives will appreciate the blunt descriptions and bizarre plot lines.

A great read for older tweens who have already been taught what World War II was all about.
ATOS Book Level: 5.0
AR Points: 8.0

Review: The Little Prince

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery.  Reynal & Hitchcock.  1943.

The Little Prince  is told in first person.  Our author has just survived a plane crash when he runs into a little boy in the desert.  The boy happens to be a prince, he also happens to be from outer space.  You see, that's where he is a prince.  Anyway, the story is basically a long conversation between the prince and our narrator in which the prince tells his story and makes the narrator reconsider current his outlook on life.  The prince has the reason of a child, which is presumed to be of no use, however the more the prince talks, the more the narrator realizes the prince makes plenty of sense.  The prince has been traveling the solar system and was in charge of his own asteroid before he found himself in the desert, so he does have experiences to share.  The entire story is peppered with the different wisdoms and experiences of the prince, sending the messages that it is always important to listen to children, whether they be real people, or the internal child inside of all of us.

A good book for older tweens who will appreciate the philosophical underpinnings of this book.

ATOS Book Level: 5.0

AR Points: 2.0