The Underneath by Kathi Appelt

The Underneath by Kathi Appelt is a Newbery Honor book and is well deserving of this award. The author braids together three dark and seemingly unrelated strands: "the vodka-swilling Gar Face's battle with the 100-foot-long Alligator King; Gar Face's abused, chained hound dog's ill-fated shepherding of a mother cat and her kittens; and the thousand-year imprisonment of Grandmother Moccasin, a serpent so selfish she resents her daughter falling in love." (barnesandnoble.com). I immediately connected this book to the book Holes by Luis Sachar. While the overall story and themes are quite different in these two books, the style that the writers use in moving back and forth between the various stories is similar. I am a huge dog lover and thought that this book would be more like Shiloh or Sounder (some other great animal stories), so I was actually quite shocked and intrigued as this story morphed into more. There are some elements of fantasy and mythology, as well as that of tall tale and cruel yet realistic fiction. This book was a real treat!

Summer Reading

Did you read anything amazing this summer! I sure did! I read 7 books while I sat on the beach. It was fantastic! Some of the books that I read were for adults, but some of them were for kids like you! I will tell you about a couple of them and then you can tell us about what you read!

The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis
The Breadwinner introduces us to the reality of life under the Taliban. Young Parvana lives with her family in one room of a bombed-out apartment building in Kabul, Afghanistan. Her father, a school teacher that studied in England, is arrested by the Taliban, the religious group that controls the country. Since women cannot appear in public unless covered head to toe, or go to school, or work outside the home, the family doesn't know how they will survive. With the help of a friend, Parvana comes up with a plan. She cuts her hair and disguises herself as a boy to earn money for her family. Parvana’s determination and courage bring this modern day horror story to life for those of us that live in the security of our homes in the United States.

New Battle of the Books Titles!

Check out the lists on the left side of the page! I have updated the Battle of the Books lists to show the titles for the 2009-2010 school year. What do you think? Have you read any of them? Did you like what you read? Why or why not?