Book Review: Beth's Story, Portraits of Little Women (short book about Beth)

Beth's Story, Portraits of Little Women, by Susan Beth Pfeffer (Delacorte Books, 112pp, ages 8-12, grades 4-6, $8.95HB, 1997) Inspired by Louisa May Alcott's Little Women. Review by Skye Anderson. (OT)

A short book to re-familiarize yourself with the classic four little women - or to introduce your daughter to the family and girls everyone loves. You will fall in love all over again with Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy. Author Susan Beth Pfeffer has captured the personalities of the girls marvelously - so well, in fact, that you will wonder if this episode is actually one of the original by Louisa May Alcott - but just one that you have forgotten.

The Story, Beth's Story

Pfeffer has written four books,

one featuring each of the March sisters at age ten so young readers can compare (and contrast) their personalities and relive their sisterhood and adventures, from another place and time.

Beth travels to New York City for a few days with their parents. She sightsees and takes in the cultural opportunities and actually meets someone famous who is running for President who then comes to their Massachusetts town. He remembers meeting Beth and her request, which you will have to read to find out but suffice it to say that Beth is ahead of her time!

PS - the hardcover version comes with an attached ribbon book mark! You will want to read all four.

Book Review: Small Vices (murder mystery, Boston)

Small Vices by Robert B. Parker (No Exit Press, 24th in a series of 51, 1998, 382 pages, $6.99PB)

It took until the final page to figure out the title, Small Vices, and even then I wasn't sure. But generally when we read a book, we pay attention to the title until we start  page one (then we become engrossed in the story), and then perhaps when we lay the book down to do something else and again when we pick it up to resume reading. But sometimes we don't give the title a second. But sometimes we do and often we don't think we would have titled the book as the author did - or rather, the publisher, almighty.

So, we would recommend reading Small Vices quickly so you don't forget the characters. And yes, there is a dog - the wonder dog, Pearl. We think Pearl is an all-gray American Staffordshire Terrier like this one,

except all gray. But we don't know for sure. And the photo of the author with a dog leads us to believe perhaps Pearl is a Doberman Pinscher.

What's it All About?

Getting to the point of this review, author Robert Parker has done it again - written a fast read that keeps your attention even though you have probably guessed the murderer from the beginning. Just how Parker manages to keep you riveted through hundreds of pages even if you know the ending is a wonder.

A college coed is murdered. A black guy with a background is fingered for it and ends up in prison. Enter Spenser, private detective, hired by a prestigious law firm to review the case because a new attorney with their firm defended the black guy in her first trail out of law school and admits she wasn't experienced enough to do a good job, and it burns her to this day.

Enter Spenser and Company

Spenser is not perhaps someone we would especially like to be but we do like him as a person. We also like his significant other, Susan, a psychologist with a PhD from an Ivy League school (after all, this is Boston) and we like Hawk, even understanding his unique way of speaking, for his loyalty and skill in dealing with guys from the other side - physically as well as conversationally,

Parker writes in short sentences like we speak: he also writes mainly conversation, so the story races along plus he intersperses the action with descriptions of the scene and what the women are wearing but also what the men are wearing. In other words, he describes life.

I can't wait to read another Spenser book.

Book Review: Losing Jon (OT)(small town America, high school athlete - suicide or murder?)

Losing Jon: A Teen's Tragic Death, A Police Cover-Up, A Community's Fight for Justice, by David Parrish (Citadel Press, $16.95 pb, 256 pp, 2020) Available at the Howard County, MD, Public libraries. Review by Skye Anderson.

Riveting! A 24-Hour Book

Ah, I finally got my hands on Losing Jon and I'm so glad I did! Taking place in the town we have lived in for more than 30* years, this book (and the Laura Lippman book, Wilde Lake** were ones I couldn't wait to read. Of course, like any book set in your city, some place names will be familiar as well as some people, even if it's fiction (Lippman), but some won't. The cover itself is striking enough to grab your attention and not let go.

Not Fiction

Losing Jon is not fiction. Rather, it is the account of a young person's short life and the ensuing search for the truth surrounding his death, written by a close family friend, David Parrish. Jon was a twin, a former high school athlete: the author was his baseball coach of several years, so Parrish knew Jon well and cared enough about him and his family to attempt for several years to ferret out the truth. Was Jon's death really a suicide as the county police were so quick to label it, or was it a cover-up by corrupt police officers in small-town America?

A Planned Community

The narrative takes place in an affluent neighborhood (Stevens Forest) in an affluent village (Oakland Mills) in an affluent town (Columbia) in an affluent county (Howard) in America - but that didn't stop bad things from happening. Who the bad guys actually were, if any, however, is still up for grabs.

It started with a motel party that became too raucous. Police were called and ended up physically subduing some of the kids, arresting them for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. After a night in jail and in the ensuing three months, some of the young men thought they were being followed by one particular officer, along with other strange and unsettling incidents.

Then, early one weekday morning (May 4, 1990), joggers found a boy's body hanging from the backstop at a local high school. The police were quick to label it a suicide but that didn't sit well with the family or friends of Jon Bowie. And, to add insult to injury, there were too many things the police could not or  would not explain, even after calling in the FBI, but only temporarily.

Follow the amateur investigation that kept coming back to certain county police officers and then perhaps you can figure it out. The author couldn't. And the reviewer couldn't, either.

Reviews

Reviews comment on the abruptness of the book's ending in an unsatisfactory manner, but isn't that true for many things in life that gradually or quickly fade away with no satisfactory explanation? Other reviewers dislike the incredible number of characters, both named and unnamed, but that can be explained by remembering that this is not fiction in which the author can control the number of characters. In addition, the wise author chose to identify only the most important  people by name so as to not confuse the reader even more with irrelevant information. 

And other reviewers mention that David Parrish brought himself into the narrative too much, but keep in mind that he played an active part in the investigation at the request of the family whom he knew well. 

We are fortunate to have the book written by a technical writer, who actually spent several pages explaining just what a backstop is, for readers who are not baseball fans.

Final Recommendation

Read this book! You will remember it for a long time. After all, that is the mark of a good book!

------------------------------------------- 

*We moved to Columbia, Maryland, less than a month after Jon's death but our lives centered around a nearby military installation and jobs in Washington, DC. Columbia is a bedroom community of more than 100,000 people, about midway between Baltimore and Washington. Without a newspaper, TV or radio station, few residents not personally involved remembered this incident (though it did happen more than 30 years ago).

**

Book Review: One Hundred Ways for a Dog to Train its Human

One Hundred Ways for a Dog to Train its Human, by Simon Whaley (Hodder & Stoughton, 2013, 100 pp [of course], PB and Kindle, $1.99) Review by Skye Anderson

With typical British humor and vocabulary, author Simon Whaley (also with a typical British name) has translated into British English what dogs think about from puppy advice to shedding (moulting) to vacations (holidays) to family. Even chapters on Barking Orders and Hounding Your Human.

My favorite is on page 38: "On days out to the beach, always be the first of the family to get out of the car, on to the beach, and into the water. Always be the last of the family to get out of the water, on to the beach, and into the car. Remember to shake excess sea water from your fur once you are inside the car."

Then you can graduate on to One Hundred Ways for a Cat to Train its Human followed by 100 Ways for a Chicken to Train its Human.

Book Review: Dogs in the Dead of Night (a Magic Treehouse book)

Dogs in the Dead of Night by Mary Pope Osborne (Random House, 2013, 144 pp, $12.99 HB, ages 6-8, grades 2-5, book 18 of 27 in the Magic Treehouse series, the Merlin Mission)

Ah! Any book about a dog is worth reading and who hasn't read at least one Magic Treehouse book, adults included?

This time, Jack and Annie must successfully complete the second of four missions: they are tasked to find a white and yellow flower* - but, in the Alps? in winter? But they must save their friend, so off they go, and before school in the morning to boot!

It is circa World War II and Annie offers to "train"** a St. Bernard puppy for the monks at the monastery, only to have her student escape!

And then, and then, and then - Avalanche! Can one untrained puppy save someone caught in an avalanche? Will there be enough time for the novice pup to find him and dig him out? Stay tuned for this exciting development and to see if the kids can find the flower before school.

*Ranunculus glacialis, the glacial buttercup

**Train is in quotes in the review above since Annie uses old-fashioned, force-based methods of dog training. To teach the puppy to lie down, she tells Jack to "gently pull Barry's head down while I press between his shoulder blades." (p. 57) And when that doesn't work, on the following page, she says to "pull on his front legs. Pull them out in front of him." 

Nowadays, using positive reinforcement methods, we would put the dog into a sitting position, and lure his nose down to the floor to get a Down.

Book Review: Howliday Inn (dog, cat, boarding kennel mystery - children's book)

Howliday Inn, by James Howe (Scholastic Books,  Book 2 of 7 Bunnicula* books, 2006, $7.99PB, 244 pp, ages 8-10, grades 3-7) Review by Skye Anderson

Chester the cat and Harold the (shaggy) dog narrator return in Howliday Inn, when their family, the Monroes, goes on vacation without them. They are dropped off at Chateau Bow-Wow where the cages the nine cats and dogs inhabit are referred to as bungalows. Dr. Greenbrier, owner of the kennel, is taking the weekend off, leaving his charges in the hands of that bickering duo, Jill, a veterinary student, and Harrison, a non-college aged human.

Chester is a typical cat, smart and a preener while Harold is a typical dog, rather rambunctious and whose brain would probably not win any races. Harold's narration is hilarious at times and discombobulated at others. It takes the reader nearly to the end of 244 pages to learn what actually happened. In the meantime, perhaps Chester was poisoned, perhaps a dog escapes, perhaps there are werewolves, perhaps . . . . 

Writing Style**

Typical of books for this age, Howliday Inn has a host of characters, bordering on that of a long, convoluted Russian epic novel - too many for this adult to keep straight as to who is dog, who is cat, who is human - but readers between 8 and 10 will have no problem. Likewise, the uncertainty of what actually happened does not bother young readers as much as it does their grandmother.

*more than 3 million Bunnicula books are in print since 1979 including The Celery Stalks at Midnight, Rabit-cadabra,  Nighty Nightmare, and Dew Drop Inn

**Chapter 6, The Cat Who Knew Too Much, might be thought of as a tribute to the Lilian Jackson Braun cat mystery series, The Cat Who. . . ,  first penned in 1966.

Book Review: The Perfect Pony (horse-crazy girl, easy reader) (OT)

The Perfect Pony, by Corrine Demas (Scholastic, 2003, $5.35PB, 48pp, ages 6-8, grades 1-3) Review by Skye Anderson

What little girl hasn't dreamed of having her own pony? Jamie has wanted her own pony for as long as she can remember and is saving her money. She even received a riding helmet for her birthday, her best present ever.

Jamie notices an ad in the paper for a free pony (the girl who owns him is big enough for a horse but must give the pony away first) so she goes to meet McIntosh, the pony who loves apples. They fall in love with each other instantly.

Complications!

Jamie finally has the chance to have a pony. She is a born animal lover: her body language is quiet around horses and she implicitly knows how to act but it seems the pony has already been promised to another girl who will make her final decision when she comes to meet and pick up the pony.

Perhaps it will be McIntosh who makes the final decision. . . . 

Step Into Reading Books

The Perfect Pony is a Step Into Reading Level 3 book for grades 2 and 3. The plot is fun and exciting and the illustrations are lovely.

Book Review: Washed Ashore: Making Art from Ocean Plastic (children and adults, art or trash)(OT)

Washed Ashore: Making Art from Ocean Plastic, by Kelly Crull (Millbrook Press, 2022, 36 pp, $19.99, grades 1-4,  ages 6-10 and above) Watch the full-length documentary here. (Review by Skye Anderson)

Art to Save the Sea

Is it true that one man's garbage is another man's treasure? If so, this book is living proof that plastics pollution can be transformed into teachable art.

Credit: S. Anderson

From Yuck to Love

Picking up trash is not much fun but what if we could make it fun and also turn it into something beautiful? What if we could use the plastic trash to make giant traveling sculptures that also teach environmental conservation and marine ecology, mixing art and science?

Artist Angela Haseltine Pozzi has done just that, crafting more than 85 remarkable works of art beginning over ten  years ago - and photographer-author Kelly Crull has created a coffee table book about her amazing projects from debris -  for children and their families.

We discovered Washed Ashore on a recent trip to the Chautauqua Institution (New York State)

Credit: S. Anderson

which is hosting 14 of the larger-than-life-sized* sculptures until the end of October this year as part of an international exhibition (you can see others at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC).

The Book Itself is a Work of Art

Although touted as a children's book, we beg to differ. Washed Ashore is also a book for the classroom and the entire family with 13 two-page spreads about sea creatures affected by plastics pollution, plus what you can do to ameliorate the situation - and each animal has a list of plastic items to search for in the sculpture. The astute eye will identify even more  common everyday objects!

Also included are a glossary, a list of books and websites, how to plan a scavenger hunt for plastic items at the seashore, a flowchart tracing the life cycle of a plastic bottle with choices to lessen its impact, and how to make your own trash sculpture.

With the help of more than 10,000 people over the years, Pozzi spends six to eight months on a project, from collecting and sorting plastic trash into colors, researching the sea creatures most affected by our pollution, building the animal frame and finally attaching the plastic items in just the right locations to transform the 'animal' into a work of educational art.

Inspiring Recycling!

* for size comparison: 

Book Review: Pets' Party (an Animal Ark series book for children)

Pets' Party by Ben Baglio (Scholastic Books, 128 pp, $3.9,9 pb, 2001, ages 8-10, grades 3-4) (see other Animal Ark reviews*)(This is number 17 in a series of Animal Ark Pets books.) Review by Skye Anderson

The Set-up

This is another book for children in which the kids take on mature characteristics to teach the adults a lesson. Mandy's parents are both veterinarians who play neutral or sometimes teaching roles. Her sidekick is James. Mandy's home is in the back of the veterinary clinic.

Mandy and Jack have a habit of rescuing animals and then finding homes for them but it's almost Christmas in England, snowing, and Mandy is worried that any newly rescued injured puppy sent to the shelter for the holidays will not be adopted.

The Plot

James and especially Mandy are wise beyond their years in befriending the new kid in school, Max, who is staying with his crotchety old grandmother, newly widowed, while his 'mum' is in the hospital and his dad is away for work. Gram does not like pets - they are messy, Max' dog Sandy in particular. As a matter of fact, perhaps the house would stay cleaner if Sandy were sent to a boarding kennel. 

Oh, no!

Another question Pets' Party tries to answer is whether or not a dog can actually save a boy's life and if all these loose ends can be tied together happily before the holidays.

*Cub in the Cupboard

Wolf at the Window

Dog at the Door

Also by Ben Baglio: Dolphin Diaries

On my list to read next, because they are about dogs in the Animal Ark series: Puppy Puzzle

and Doggy Dare