February 20, 2015

Book Review: Big Nate’s Greatest Hits

Katie February 20, 2015 0Comment

Big Nate’s Greatest hits is a compilation of some of the best comic strips staring none other than big Nate!  The book is made up of 3 e-book collections: Big Nate Makes a Splash, Big Nate Dibs on This Chair and Big Nate pray for a Fire Drill.  Big Nate is an 11 year old boy – and I think he could give me a run for my money in Monopoly – he is the self proclaimed king and has beaten his friends 100 times in a row! (Monopoly is my favorite game but I can’t ever find anyone to play with me!)

These comic strips are a varied of black and white and colored and on a variety of topics that pass through the brain and life of an 11 year old that runs the gossip chatter column at school.  Lots of laughs and a lot of fun to read.

I received a free e-copy of this book in order to write this review I was not otherwise compensated.

About the Book

The more Big Nate, the better! Readers will have their fill of Nate’s wisecracks and school day shenanigans in this giant collection of hilarious comic strips.

Big Nate’s Greatest Hits collects three bestselling e-book only collections–Big Nate Makes a Splash, Big Nate Dibs on This Chair, and Big Nate Pray for a Fire Drill–in this supersized paperback edition.

Eleven-year-old Nate Wright is no one-hit wonder. He’s the king of Monopoly, the Michelangelo of P.S. 38, and a Cheez Doodle poet extraordinaire. He’s a sixth-grade superstar—at least, that’s what he tells everyone—and he’s going all the way to Number One. Whether he’s having an imaginary near-death experience, creating another hilarious episode of “Doctor Cesspool,” or meeting the girl of his dreams at summer school, Nate’s always at the top of the charts. The hits just keep on coming in Big Nate’s Greatest Hits!

Book Review: Candy Experiments 2

Katie February 20, 2015 0Comment

Candy Experiments 2 contains over 50 science experiments related to CANDY!  (And a note to never heat a jawbreaker!)  The book is a lot of fun and shows you how much time it will take for you to do each of the experiments and what skill level is needed.  It also lists what supplies you need, what you need to do to make the experiment work and what is actually happening related to science.  And of course, photos of what happens during the experiments in case you don’t want to try them yourself. (I didn’t try any myself but I totally want to have a Peep sword fight in the microwave next Easter!)  This book is a ton of fun to read and probably even more fun to try out!  I love science and anything that makes science fun is totally awesome in my book 🙂  A great way to get kids interested in Science and a lot of great ideas for potential science fair things!

I received a free e-copy of this book in order to write this review, I was not otherwise compensated.

About the Book

Seventy new science experiments in Candy Experiments 2 will have kids happily pouring their candy down the drain and learning some basic science along the way. This fun, colorful book presents a brilliant use of Valentine’s, Easter, Halloween, and other holiday candy!

Following the success of the first Candy Experiments, this all-new collection presents more ways to destroy store-bought candy and learn some science in the process. Candy Experiments 2 delivers fun science facts from the perspective of a real mom in the kitchen doing crazy things with brand-name store-bought candy.

Marshmallows, cotton candy, Pixy Stix, Jawbreakers, Pop Rocks, gummi candy, chocolate, and even soda provide good excuses to get destructive in the kitchen. Do Peeps dissolve when you drop them into very hot water? Can you make gummi candy disappear in water? What happens to cotton candy when you dip it in oil?

Candy Experiments 2 is full of new ideas for learning science through candy.  Each experiment includes basic explanations of the relevant science. The book is written for children between the ages of 7 and 10, though older and younger ages will enjoy it as well.

Book Review: Lewis Carroll

Katie February 20, 2015 0Comment

Lewis Carroll is a biography written by Edward Wakeling, a former chairman of the Lewis carroll Society, he owns one of the finest collections of Carroll material in private hands.  He was also involved in editing the ten volumes of Lewis Carroll’s Dairies. Basically – this book is probably as close as you can get to having been written by Carroll himself. Wakeling is the real deal.

The book starts with a chronology of Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson)’s life from his birth to death.  The rest of the book expands upon all that as well as includes more detail on his family – including a family tree.  There are illustrations throughout the book as well.

I had only known Lewis Carroll as the author of the Alice books, so it was nice to find out more about him and some of his other works.  The book is just over 400 pages, but since the author is an expert on Carroll, it is full of wonderfully researched information. I am not sure there is a more thorough biography out there and I appreciate all the effort that must have gone in to putting this together.  I enjoyed reading it.

I received a free e-copy of this book in order to write this review, I was not otherwise compensated.

About the Book

Ahead of the 150th anniversary of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland in 2015

A definitive new biography of Lewis Carroll drawing upon previously unpublished material, resolving key myths surrounding the beloved Victorian author.

Born Charles Lutwidge Dodgson in 1862, Lewis Carroll (the pen-name he adopted) remains a source of continuing fascination. We all know him as the bestselling author of the children’s classic,Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, but he was also pioneering photographer, mathematician, businessman and writer of nonsense verse.

Drawing upon his personal database of nearly 6,000 letters, mostly never before published, Edward Wakeling fills the gaps left by earlier biographies and resolves some of the key myths that surround Lewis Carroll, such as his friendships with children and his drug-taking.

Book Review: Beatleness

Katie February 20, 2015 0Comment

Beatleness looks at the effect the Beatles and their fans had.  I always like books that look at things from a more fan perspective because I find a lot of it is similar – different eras but fan girls and their boybands always have the same kind of effect and reactions no matter the year.

One part I found amusing in a “same shit, different band” kind of way was the section on “Picking a Fave” – “But as kids, it was important – especially for girls and young boys – to pick a favorite, even if your choice was arbitrary, constantly changing, or really your second choice because your best friend claimed your true favorite first.”  (I think the only time I’ve ever actually stuck with my first favorite was with Hanson – or I’d pick 2+ to begin with and then narrow it down to one as I saw more appearances or met them.)

Of all the books I have read about the Beatles, I liked this one a lot more than most – maybe even the best – because I like how it had little snippets of quotes from fans and their memories from the time – why they scream at concerts, getting to stay up late and watch a Beatles movie at the drive in, etc. Rather than just an overview of how the fans felt, it made things feel more personal.

I received a free e-copy of this book in order to write this review. I was not otherwise compensated.

About the Book

The Beatles arrived in the United States on February 7, 1964, and immediately became a constant, compelling presence in fans’ lives. For the next six years, the band presented a nonstop deluge of sounds, words, images, and ideas, transforming the childhood and adolescence of millions of baby boomers.

Beatleness explains how the band became a source of emotional, intellectual, aesthetic, and spiritual nurturance in fans’ lives, creating a relationship that was historically unique. Looking at that relationship against the backdrop of the sexual revolution, the Vietnam War, political assassinations, and other events of those tumultuous years, the book examines critically the often-heard assertion that the Beatles changed everything” and shows howthrough the interplay between the group, the fans, and the culturethat change came about.

A generational memoir and cultural history based on hundreds of hours of in-depth interviews with first-generation fans, Beatleness allows readers to experienceor re-experiencewhat it was like to be a young person during those eventful and transformative years. Its fresh approach offers many new insights into the entire Beatle phenomenon and explains why the group still means so much to so many.