I Knew Two Who Said Moo

I Solemnly Swear I am Up To No Good,

Look at I Knew Two Who Said Moo by Judi Barrett:
Small Summary:
This book is about a bunch of different animals. It includes all sorts of numbers, but unlike most the numbers books we read, it also has rhyming in it. I don't feel it has an actual plot to it, which is pretty perfect for the young ages, which is 1-3 to me.

evaluation:
This book is the perfect rhyming book, every single flip of the page has one certain number featured, a page of a picture to match it, and a perfect rhyme to explain what was going on with the number of animals in the picture. It counts one through ten, and each rhyme page has all the last words rhyming with the number. Such as, "Three, Me, See, Tree, Tea..." etc, etc. I think all the pictures are some beautifully drawn ones and they are perfect for the age group this is centered around. The pictures are bright, always feature animals, and some are pretty hilarious. I think this will mostly help children understand the rhyming aspect of the book, but also how to pronounce the number featured in that page. I think they could have included some more numbers, but for the one years olds especially, this book is perfect.
Mischief Managed.

The Amazing Maurice & His Educated Rodents

I solemnly Swear I Am Up To No Good,

An evaluation of The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents:

Summary:
The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents is a strange, fictional animal story that takes place in Discworld. It is about a cat named Maurice that leads a group of rats, the cat was normal until he ate one rat that ate waste of Unseen University, which is what turned the rats into rats that can talk with incredible intelligence. Maurice is now a talking cat, whom is also filled with intelligence and he leads the rats. This group is led by a piper named Keith and they share the money with the piper who leads them from town to town. The group is not exactly the happiest group there is. The leader of the rats despises Maurice, while a near-blind albino rat wants to make a rat civilization. The albino rat-Dangerous Beans, and Peaches, do not like the trickery of the rest of the group and they find it unethical. They meet a mayor's daughter, in a town where most the people eat rats more than anywhere, and she soon finds the animals can talk. The rats are following a book called "Mr Bunnsy Has An Adventure," which makes them curious about rats and humans living together. They soon learn from the mayor's daughter that it is a fictional book, and Peaches and Dangerous Beans gets saddened by it. There is a powerful rat king named Spider, made out of eight rats, and many things happen. Only time will tell what will come of Maurice and his Educated Rodents.

Evaluation:
The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents was a very odd story to me, and coming from an adult perspective, I think it is definitely more for children. This, unlike the last book we read, is less like a story for anyone, and more aimed to the younger crowd. I would say around 7-11 years old would probably enjoy it, but that's what I think. My personal favorite part of the story, is just the idea of the rats and how they named each other based off of random things that were around them before they gained the ability to talk. I like that the rats and humans do end up living peacefully in the end, but the rat king really kind of creeped me out.

I was actually sad, in the end, that Maurice left the group to find another human to bother. I enjoyed that the rats had a sort of "humane" way about them, and they were all very humanistic. One was against Maurice, two wanted things to be right and understood how some things were unethical that Maurice and some of the other rats were doing. This book was personally not my favorite, nor was it really a book I would want to read again.

I see that there are other Discworld book, and I know that this one doesn't really relate to those, but maybe that would help me enjoy this book more if I had known of the other ones and had at least looked over them a bit. This book was just a little bit too odd for me, but I think children would enjoy it. I think those kids that really enjoy talking animals and the existence of another world would really enjoy this. I think the 9-11 year olds would like it the most and would probably want to read the other stories, I just didn't think that this story was all that entertaining either. Overall, I would recommend this book for 7-11 year olds and that's about it, or anyone who likes the shorter other world, with weird talking animals books.

Mischief Managed.

Bridget's Beret

I Solemnly Swear I Am Up To No Good,

A review of "Bridget's Beret" by Tom Lichtenheld.

This book is about a little girl named Bridget that loves to draw, she pretty much draws everywhere and all the time. She also wears a beret for inspiration and she does not want to draw unless she has it on, or she can't draw without it is what she believes. The wind blows hard one day, blowing her beret off her head and sending it who knows where, she searches high and low for it, she even files a Missing Beret Report! She tries on multiple hats but none of them seem right, or even give her a little bit of inspiration! She feels that without her beret she can no longer draw! A group of girls ask her to make signs for their Lemonade stand, and things change from there. She finds herself drawing pictures on the signs without even meaning to! She makes tons of pictures and turns out the beret was not necessary for her to draw!
Evaluation:
I think this book would be perfect for ages six to eight, and I think it's adorable and can teach them a little bit! I think it'll help show kids that their attachment to things isn't contributing to what makes them good, such as the beret and drawing with Bridget. I think the pictures are adorably made and very bright, embracing what children would really enjoy. Just the captions and when she tries on the other hats is perfect for children also!

Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine

I Solemnly Swear I Am Up To No Good,

A review of "mockingbird" by Kathryn Erskine.
Summary
This book is written in the perspective of a ten year old named Caitlin, who is a child with Asperger's syndrome. Her world has always been in a black and white perspective, and textbooks and dictionaries are pretty much her best friends. Her brother, Devon, helped her with anything that could possibly confuse her if it wasn't as simple as black and white. A tragedy strikes at Devon's middle school, leaving Caitlin and her father alone. Caitlin begins to find out what "closure" is and after looking it up, she begins to figure out that everything isn't black and white, and even though colors may be confusing it is necessary in life and in her search for healing.

Review
Oh my goodness gracious, this book was seriously one of the best young adult novels I have read! The fact that it is in the perspective of a child with Asperger's syndrome is probably the best part of it. My eyes were really opened by this book, seeing how the child thinks differently from "regular" people. It was nice seeing that perspective because I feel that will help me and others in real life when around someone "different." This book was written after the Virginia Tech shootings, and after the school shootings not long ago at the elementary school, I feel this really hits home for some people. It shows how when crazy things like this happens, everyone is affected. Those that knew people, knew the shooter(s), didn't know anyone. It's tough on the whole community. I cried multiple times, the part with Josh, how Caitlin assumed he was bullying Michael, oh goodness! I was crying because people were judging him based on what his cousin did, just because he was related to him! It was so heart-aching to me, and it was nice to see he really wasn't as terrible as Caitlin may think. Caitlin making friends really touched me too, because I feel like that was something she really struggled with. I pretty much recommend this book to anyone and any age group and this book has really changed my perspective on things.

Mischief Managed, Olivia

The Wednesday Wars

I Solemnly Swear I Am Up To No Good,

Summary of The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt.
The Wednesday Wars is about a student named Holling Hoodhood who has just started the seventh grade and he has a teacher named Mrs. Baker who he is pretty darn sure hates him. He gets stuck with her on Wednesdays and she constantly makes him read Shakespeare outside of class. It is 1967, and Holling Hoodhood is coming of age in the middle of the Vietnam War, and here Holling is stuck with more concerns than just that. Holling's father is concerned about only one thing and that is the family business. He seems to think that every Hoodhood in the family has to always be on their best behavior, he doesn't want anything happening to his family business. Holling is struggling with Shakespeare, Mrs. Baker, being on his best behavior, and being in the middle of the Vietnam War. There's no telling how this could end!

My Evaluation of The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt.

The Wednesday Wars is a book that I think any child starting around age seven and up would fall in love with. This book is entertaining and interesting, it definitely keeps you hooked! Holling Hoodhood is different than most children, when he is introduced to Shakespeare by Mrs. Baker, she expects him to hate it. Turns out that Holling actually really enjoys the works of Shakespeare, except for silly Romeo and Juliet as he thinks of it. Holling has a sister, whom we find out way late in the book is named Heather. Heather and Holling are what I think to be the typical siblings, where they have their moments of arguing and hate, but they really do love each other and provide one another with support as most siblings do.

A big feature in this book is Holling's parents, more than anything is his father. I actually came to hate his father due to how he treated Holling and Heather. When Holling brings up Mrs. Baker after he first meets her, his father is merely concerned with how Holling is behaving himself. He says things such as, "Are you going to ruin the family business so you can run it when you're old enough?" He isn't even concerned with Holling. Holling's father is only concerned with himself and the family business, Hoodhood and Associates. Holling ended up being in cast in the play The Tempest, in which he plays a warrior fairy wearing feathers and bright tights. He puts on the performance brilliantly, but there was an episode of The Ed Sullivan Show on that night and clearly his parents couldn't DARE miss that. They didn't even come to pick him up after the show! This made me so angry, they couldn't go out and watch their own son perform for the first time ever one night?! Then later in the book, a snowstorm occurs, a bus goes out of control, nearly hits Heather but Holling saves her! Mrs. Baker takes the two to the hospital to make sure everything was okay, their parents never show up to see they're fine or to pick them up. That was probably what really made me hate both of their parents, them not showing up at the hospital to check on their own children!

This book revolves around a lot of Shakespeare stories, which is what makes me think that this is also a really great story for adults, or those high schoolers who have read many of Shakespeare's stories! The first story he read was The Merchant of Venice, then The Tempest, followed by Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar, Hamlet, and finally Much Ado About Nothing. I like that each month when he is reading a new Shakespeare story, the events happening in his life seem to match the story a bit. Now, I haven't read every Shakespeare story that is in this book, but I did see similarities in the ones I have read. I think my favorite similarity would be the ones in the month that he read Romeo and Juliet because he ends up going on a date with Meryl Lee, who is his crush and works with the Kowalski architecture firm, which is the enemies of Hoodhood and Associates. Meryl Lee and Holling go out and see Romeo and Juliet together, and talk about their family's plans for their companies. I love that like the real story, they shouldn't really be together but they are. I think that if you know the Shakespeare stories, you may enjoy the book even more, but it is definitely not necessary.

Finally, my favorite part of this book is Mrs. Baker. Holling Hoodhood is convinced that this "mean" lady hates him, especially with the way she treats him at first. Mrs. Baker is definitely an intimidating person, one teacher that I would honestly think would hate me too. Mrs. Baker was really an insightful and wonderful person, she just has a tough exterior. Holling initially thought terrible things of Mrs. Baker, but he starts to learn how she really just wanted the best for him. She was even the one to stay with the kids when their own parents wouldn't show up at the hospital. It made me even happier when Lt. Baker returned at the end of the book! I definitely recommend this book to anyone, it's so enjoyable no matter who you are!

Mischief Managed. :)

Binky Under Pressure by Ashley Spires

I Solemnly Swear I am Up To No Good,

Graphic Novel Evaluation of Binky Under Pressure by Ashley Spires.

This graphic novel is about a cat named Binky that is an official certified space cat, but his life is so routine for that of a cat. He struggles with wanting to sleep everywhere, eat all the time, then sleep some more. He is even battling his alien invaders from his own bed! One morning his owner brings in a new kitty to Binky's "Space station", and Binky is not exactly thrilled. He believes this cat is pretty much perfect and can do no wrong, even his owners don't get why Binky can't stay out of trouble and behave like Gracie. Binky then finds out that Gracie is an official certified space cat, but is captain and happens to be his boss! She was undercover and goes around finding how certified space cats act and sees if they need to be released from the program. His space cat skills are then put to the ultimate test with Gracie and we find out if he stays in the program or not through how he protects his space station!

In the article we read, we learned about the different types of transitions found in graphic novels in the comic panels of them. I feel like this book included basically every type of transition found in graphic novels. Subject-to-subject transitions and Aspect-to-aspect transitions are probably most common. This graphic novel continuously shows Binky in different ways, eating, sleeping, playing, sleeping; etc. I don't really think my view/experience of graphic novels have changed because I have read them before. I had friends who used to read them when we were younger, so I used to scan them a lot and I have even read them before. I didn't really know the names of the comic panel transitions though, so I thought that was really interesting to read!

Mischief Managed