Book Review

Book Review: Doomsday by Connie Willis

Connie Willis is a master storyteller who loves old movies (and new movies) almost as much as she loves great literature. Consequently, her storytelling is richly visual, and when reading, it often feels like I am watching a movie in my mind. In 1992, she crafted a novel that was set in 2054 as well as during the Medieval Bubonic Plague. I read the Doomsday Book in February and March of 2020. Actually, I finished reading it a mere four to six hours before my husband called to tell me that the schools were shutting down for two weeks because of growing concerns over the devastating illness in New York. Willis’s incredible and vivid descriptions haunted me throughout our COVID quarantine! https://plumfieldandpaideia.com/doomsday-book/

Book Review: Kensuke's Kingdom

"In this story, there is an accident while Michael is sailing, but he is with his parents at the time. They are a small, happy family on a trip around the world in their yacht. It’s not an every-day situation, to be sure, but I found it refreshing that the parents aren’t the bad guys.
It isn’t long before Michael discovers that he is not the only human on the island. But the other person isn’t at all happy to see Michael. Why the man is there and why he doesn’t appreciate company is a mystery that unfolds over time. He may be a recluse, but he isn’t going to watch Michael starve or get hurt without trying to help him. 
The story is as much about the relationship between Michael and Kensuke as it is about deserted island survival. Kensuke has been on the island for a very long time, and considers it his kingdom. He considers the animals to be under his care, and he does his best to guard them from hunters."

Book Review: The Found Boys by S. D. Smith

The Found Boys by S. D. Smith is an exciting and interesting story about ordinary boys growing up in two churches on either side of the river in 1980s West Virginia. Scott and Tommy are white boys from Valley Baptist Church who like to jump off of swings, shoot hoops, run along the shoreline, and chase after adventure. Dooley is a black kid from Mt. Zion Baptist church who likes to do pretty much the same things. When the boys agree not to fight over their differences but instead join together on a mission to steal something from the junkyard, they get a lot more than they bargained for.   https://plumfieldandpaideia.com/the-found-boys/

Book Review: Jane of Lantern Hill

"Despite some over-the-top incidents, such as Jane being instrumental in capturing an escaped circus lion, she is a loveable character. Montgomery gives her some unbelievable wisdom and talents for a girl her age, which isn’t unusual for Montgomery’s heroines. Bringing Jane’s parents together because of a life-threatening illness is an awfully tired device, one that has been used by some of the best authors. In the end, the good people are happy and the not-so-good people get their come-uppance, which is a neat ending for a children’s story. 
The way the ending landed for me reminds me of how I felt about Pat of Silverbush. Montgomery didn’t seem to know how to manage a well-adjusted family. Not only is neither of Jane’s parents well-suited to keeping house as well as their twelve-year-old daughter can, but she is also going to have to keep an eye on their marriage? Throughout the story, the responsibility Jane felt for taking care of the adults in her life was slightly off kilter, but I hoped that when her parents got together again, they would lift that responsibility from her young shoulders. For me, the story ended completely out of balance."
 

Book Review: The Last Bookshop in London by Madeline Martin

I was wrong. 
The Last Bookshop in London by Madeline Martin is not cheesy. 
It is, in fact, quite lovely. I must have been in a mid-winter funk when I read it the first time. This time, I was quite taken with it. Now, that said, it is not as strong as The Librarian Spyor The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, or my real favorites, Blackout and All Clear. But, it is absolutely lovely and a fun read that I will re-read again. https://plumfieldandpaideia.com/the-last-bookshop-in-london/

Book Review: The Big Jump and Other Stories

“In the old days, no one but a King could have a dog for a pet.” One day one of the King’s dogs runs to a boy named Ben and doesn’t want to go back to the King. Ben wants to keep the dog, but he knows only a King can have a dog, so he asks what he would have to do to become a King. 
I won’t tell you how he does it, but “that is how Ben came to have a dog in the days when no one but a King could have one.”
The full title of the book is The Big Jump and Other Stories. The next story is called “Something New.” These are fun stories about a boy who is learning to think and to do difficult things to help others. But he is also willing to listen to the advice of adults rather than being smarter and wiser than they are.  

Book Review: Mooses with Bazookas by S. D. Smith

I have had ten copies of Mooses with Bazookas in my library since it was released last fall, and all of them are constantly checked out. As one copy gets returned, someone grabs it out of the return pile and asks to have it checked back in immediately so they can check it out themselves. If you search my TinyCat account right now (while I am writing this) you will see that there is one copy available. And, it is only available because I stole it from circulation so I could finally write this review. This hilarious collection of short comedic stories is the single most popular book in my 8,000-book catalog and has been checked out dozens of times, because it somehow blends the ridiculous with the clever without being offensive or degrading into unsavory humor. Mooses with Bazookas is silly, sweet in places, absolutely goofy in other places, and always interesting. It is brilliant for family read-aloud but the audio is extra special good (with an extra ending that left me extra giggling).https://plumfieldandpaideia.com/mooses-with-bazookas/

Book Review: Grace Banker and Her Hello Girls Answer the Call

"When American men began to go to war by the hundreds of thousands, women took up the slack. They filled the jobs men left open, planted Victory Gardens, sold war bonds, worked with the Red Cross, and conserved food and fuel. But women had never been allowed in the army. They didn’t even have the right to vote.
These women went to war anyway. They loved their country and wanted to help win the war and to support the boys in the trenches.
They faced the dangers and hardships of war without complaining. Almost all the Signal Corps women worked and hoped to be sent as near the front as possible."

Book Review: Lepunia: Kingdom of the Gallopers by Kevin T. Ford

Fans of The Green Ember and Mistmantle will be delighted with Lepunia: Kingdom of the Gallopers by Kevin T. Ford! This new middle-grade fantasy series starter is beautifully written and tells the kind of story that we love being inside of while reading and want to return to once we are done. Not only does this exciting story have interesting world-building, lovable characters, and beautiful language, but it also builds well and is accompanied by lovely illustrations by Michael Genova. 
https://plumfieldandpaideia.com/lepunia-kingdom-of-the-gallopers/

Book Review: A Mathematician's Lament

 “The first thing to understand is that mathematics is an art. The difference between math and the other arts, such as music and painting, is that our culture does not recognize it as such.”
There is an astonishing amount of power and truth packed into this 140-page book. If, like me, you feared and resented math in school because it made you feel stupid, perhaps you will understand why Lockhart’s lament almost had me crying by the end of the second chapter. Crying for “what if?” What if I had had even one math teacher in school who had loved mathematics as an art and taught it as such? What if even one of my teachers had given me time to explore the beauty of patterns and have ideas about them? What if, sometime in my twelve years of school, even one teacher had believed, “Being a mathematician is not so much about being clever . . . it’s about being aesthetically sensitive and having refined and exquisite taste”?