Summer Recommendations
tashajean
likes Gary Paulson and Matt Christopher books. Does anyone have suggestions
of books of this genre? He just read Tangerine, Bridge to Taberinthia (?),
and Island of the Blue Dolphins.
I am thinking of a book a month and some type of book report during the
summer. Has anyone done this? Thanks for the input.
--
Enjoy each day!
Natasha
Doug Mitchell
3ecd8b00$0$1400$4c5e...@news.ticon.net...
> I am looking for recommended summer reading for my 11 y/o son. He really
> likes Gary Paulson and Matt Christopher books. Does anyone have
suggestions
Last year I picked up _Stormbreaker_ on audio. The central character is a 14
year old boy who works for British Intelligence. I was expecting a fluffy
_Spykids_ story. But not true. This is gritty and serious. The sequel,
_Point Blank_,. was as good or better than the first. And there is another
book in the series, _Skeleton Key_, which has yet to be released in North
America. A definite two thumbs up.
Doug
Deborah Stevenson,,,
>I am looking for recommended summer reading for my 11 y/o son. He really
>likes Gary Paulson and Matt Christopher books. Does anyone have suggestions
>of books of this genre? He just read Tangerine, Bridge to Taberinthia (?),
>and Island of the Blue Dolphins.
Hmm, big stretch from Matt Christopher to Tangerine, so there are
probably a lot of good books suited for him.
You might look at Carl Deuker, John Ritter (no, not the actor), and some
of Ron Koertge, since from the look of it he likes sports. Will Hobbs is
a good author for outdoor adventure.
And it's my bedtime so I've just blanked :-).
Deborah Stevenson
(stev...@alexia.lis.uiuc.edu)
Wendy E. Betts
tashajean <schu...@ticon.net> wrote:
>I am looking for recommended summer reading for my 11 y/o son. He really
>likes Gary Paulson and Matt Christopher books. Does anyone have suggestions
>of books of this genre? He just read Tangerine, Bridge to Taberinthia (?),
>and Island of the Blue Dolphins.
Harry Mazer has written some good adventure stories, including one
called, IIRC, _The Island Keeper_ that comes to mind as a good
possibility.
--
"I like books... I mean some of them. I don't like the kind that gives
you the feeling they're trying to improve your mind. I like the kind that
tells you things you already almost know." -- _The Mummy Market_
Reviews of Spring stories: http:www.armory.com/~web/vol11.no3.html
Mary in Rock Island IL
'em), 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea ?
Good luck! (and why a book report?)
Mary
tashajean
read 500 pages per quarter. I thought if I have a book report of some type,
it would help prepare him for 6th grade. I will probably just do a
conference as he is taking a class over the internet this summer. Need to
have time to swim, play baseball, relax, and golf. He wanted to try
Robinson Crusoe, but the language is too hard. Got it on tape to try. Also
have Swiss Family Robinson & Treasure Island. Thanks for your
recommendations!
Natasha
"Mary in Rock Island IL" <Ill...@qconline.com> wrote in message
news:3ecf98c3...@news.alterdial.uu.net...
Derek Janssen
>
> > Perhaps some classics: Treasure Island, Hornblower (all million of
> > 'em), 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea ?
>
> recommendations!
...Has anyone actually READ Swiss Family Robinson or 20,000 Leagues
outside of watching the Disney movies?
(From what I hear on each, the screenwriters had their work cut out for
them making it look as the books had a plot.)
Derek Janssen
dja...@rcn.com
Mary in Rock Island IL
snip
>
>...Has anyone actually READ Swiss Family Robinson or 20,000 Leagues
>outside of watching the Disney movies?
>
>Derek Janssen
>dja...@rcn.com
We read 20,000 Leagues recently--not sure I've ever seen the movie.
My 10 yo liked it so much she chose to have us read the sequel as
well.
Mary
Elaine Thompson
wrote:
>
>...Has anyone actually READ Swiss Family Robinson or 20,000 Leagues
>outside of watching the Disney movies?
Me for both. A long time ago, and I don't remember much about tSFR,
but I liked it at the time. I liked the onager and the banyan tree.
I suspect I wouldn't enjoy the book now. The Verne, I remember even
less of.
--
Elaine Thompson <Ela...@KEThompson.org>
H Schinske
>wrote:
>
>>
>>...Has anyone actually READ Swiss Family Robinson or 20,000 Leagues
>>outside of watching the Disney movies?
andn Ela...@KEThompson.org wrote:
>
>Me for both. A long time ago, and I don't remember much about tSFR,
>but I liked it at the time. I liked the onager and the banyan tree.
>I suspect I wouldn't enjoy the book now. The Verne, I remember even
>less of.
I'll say the same. Also, _Swiss Family Robinson_ is important mainly as a part
of cultural literacy. I rather enjoyed reading it, but it's not any great work
of literature. There are a good many different versions, by the way -- not even
counting the abridgements and "re-tellings."
--Helen
kanga mom
"Derek Janssen" <dja...@rcn.com> wrote in message
news:3ED021C9...@rcn.com...
> ...Has anyone actually READ Swiss Family Robinson or 20,000 Leagues
> outside of watching the Disney movies?
>
Yes, to both. Swiss Family Robinson was a family read aloud when we had
children ages approximately 13, 12, 10, 8, 7 and 1. The 1 y.o., of course,
didn't really pay much attention. The others loved it, and in fact just
this week were talking about how much they enjoyed it. Those children are
all girls. At the time, we were doing home child care for a single mom, and
her two boys also listened and enjoyed it. They were about 14 and 8.
After each chapter, they'd go outside to play act what we'd just read (we
had four acres in the country at the time).
Several of us have read 20,000 Leagues, and we enjoyed reading it once, but
we liked Swiss Family Robinson better.
Kanga
Linda M. Young
wrote:
>...Has anyone actually READ Swiss Family Robinson or 20,000 Leagues
>outside of watching the Disney movies?
Yes, I've had SFR since I was in elementary school; one of my favorite
books. It does have a plot, if rambling: how the family survives and
then what to do once they are rescued. I read 20,000L as an adult.
Just curious: why is Jules Verne classified as a "children's writer"
by some people? Verne wrote for adults but children enjoy his books as
well.
Linda
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
"...What they say, don't believe;
Every hope needs room to breathe.
Show me where it says
I can't keep dreamin'.
Ain't no law that says
I can't keep dreamin'..."
.....Rupert Holmes, "Show Me Where It Says"
Stephen Kane
Derek Janssen wrote on 25/05/2003 2:52 am:
> ...Has anyone actually READ Swiss Family Robinson or 20,000 Leagues
> outside of watching the Disney movies?
>
> (From what I hear on each, the screenwriters had their work cut out for
> them making it look as the books had a plot.)
I read both as a child some thirty years ago. They were turgid and boring in
my recollection.
Stephen.
LostLvs
by some people? Verne wrote for adults but children enjoy his books as well. >>
Verne's original work was commissioned for a French boy's magazine and the
serializations of his work that appeared in English often appeared in British
or American juvenile magazines. Although his books never had juvenile
characters, they seem to have been marketed equally to boys and men in the
English editions from the beginning.
By the 20th century, certain tales, like 20,000 LEAGUES, appeared in juvenile
market as SCRIBNER CLASSICS.
Regards,
Rosemary Jones, los...@aol.com
co-author, Collector's Guide to Children's Books, v1-3
new in 2002: Boys & Girls Series Books
http://members.aol.com/lostlvs/
Tink
"tashajean" <schu...@ticon.net> wrote in message
news:3ecd8b00$0$1400$4c5e...@news.ticon.net...
> I am looking for recommended summer reading for my 11 y/o son.
Has he read the McDonald Hall books by Gordan Korman? Very funny! In fact,
most of the old Gordan Korman stuff (up to his Why Did the Underwear Cross
the Road days) is excellent.
Tina
Tink
> We read 20,000 Leagues recently--not sure I've ever seen the movie.
> My 10 yo liked it so much she chose to have us read the sequel as
> well.
> Mary
There's a sequel? What's it about? I read the original way back when, and
I enjoyed it too.
Tina
Mary in Rock Island IL
As I typed that I thought, "Oh no, now I will have to remember that
book title!". A quick trip to my library web catalog later, I can
tell you that it is The Mysterious Island. Mostly it is about some
people stranded on an island during the U.S. Civil War. It does
eventually explain Captain Nemo's story.
Mary
Steve Hayes
Turgid?
As in "bloated"?
I didn't find them so, though I enjoyed the former more than the latter, and
I'm still not sure what a "pinnace" is.
--
Steve Hayes
E-mail: haye...@yahoo.com
Web: http://www.geocities.com/hayesstw/stevesig.htm
Patricia J. Hawkins
DJ> tashajean wrote:
>>
>> > Perhaps some classics: Treasure Island, Hornblower (all million of
>> > 'em), 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea ?
>>
>> Also have Swiss Family Robinson & Treasure Island. Thanks for your
>> recommendations!
DJ> ...Has anyone actually READ Swiss Family Robinson or 20,000 Leagues
DJ> outside of watching the Disney movies?
I enjoyed SFR as a kid, found it really preachy dipping into it as an
adult though. I suspect I just skipped the preachy bits as a kid.
--
Patricia J. Hawkins
Liz Broadwell
The former I've read; the latter I haven't. SFR has a plot of sorts
between the infodumps -- at least, one incident leads to the next, and
there's even a bit of a mystery toward the back end. I can't really
remember how Disney handled it (I only saw the movie once), but I have
the vague impression they invented some incidents in order to give the
film an adventure-story climax, which the book hasn't got.
Peace,
Liz
PS Now I'm trying to remember the title of a 1980s? historical B-movie
adventure about two kids, a ship and a treasure, loosely based on a
children's book by an author with a Norwegian name. Argh! Vague
impressions appear to be the order of the day today.
--
Elizabeth Broadwell (ebroadwe at dept dot english dot upenn dot edu)
at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-
"She had a brief flirtation with the idea of one of those yogurt drinks,
but this was not a yogurt moment ... " -- Diane Duane, _Wizard's Holiday_
Pete
I typocally have liked the author, Anthony Horowitx, so on this reccomendation
(and a scan of the reviews on Amazon...), I snapped this one up the next
time I was by Cody's. Yes -- I agree it's a good 'un.
I notice, though, the usual case of stupidization by the American
publishers. Actually I only came across a few minor obvious ones in
Stormbreaker. However, the original title of the sequel is 'Point Blanc'
(with a 'c') -- because that's the name of the school in the Alps that
features in the plot! But, gosh, Americans are too dumb to get that...
we'd better correct the spelling...
I will definitely read the sequel, but it's going to be the UK edition!
-- Pete --
--
============================================================================
The address in the header is a Spam Bucket -- don't bother replying to it...
============================================================================
Stephen Kane
Steve Hayes wrote:
> Stephen Kane wrote:
>> Derek Janssen wrote:
>>> ...Has anyone actually READ Swiss Family Robinson or 20,000 Leagues outside
>>> of watching the Disney movies?
>>>
>>> (From what I hear on each, the screenwriters had their work cut out for them
>>> making it look as the books had a plot.)
>> I read both as a child some thirty years ago. They were turgid and boring in
>> my recollection.
> Turgid?
>
> As in "bloated"?
>
> I didn't find them so, though I enjoyed the former more than the latter, and
> I'm still not sure what a "pinnace" is.
The dictionary says it means pompous or bombastic - almost but not quite
what I meant. Perhaps I was trying to convey both turbid and torpid with a
single word!
Stephen.
simpson
Pete <neve...@jwgibbs.cchem.Berkeley.EDU> wrote in message
news:bbe8su$vg$1...@agate.berkeley.edu...
=====================
May I sugest Lizard's Leap by Sue Simpson? To be serialised for British
Television 2004. You can find sample chapter and synopsis in the bottom link
below. So far all the reviews from children and adults alike have been
great.
Thanks
Sooz
--
Please check out me and my books here.
Steve Hayes
Sluggish? Lethargic?
I didn't find them that either.
I must say that the edition of Swiss Family Robinson that I had as a child had
some rather nice pictures in, which made the place seem very attractive.
Perhaps not suitable if the author was trying to convey the impression of a
hostile environment, but thwe picture of the tree in which they built their
tree house influenced my imagination in reading about Lothlorien in _Lord of
the rings_.
Stephen Kane
Steve Hayes wrote:
> Stephen Kane wrote:
>> Steve Hayes wrote:
>>> Stephen Kane wrote:
>>>> Derek Janssen wrote:
Turgid - pompous, bombastic.
Turbid - confused, disordered.
Torpid - sluggish, inactive, dull, apathetic.
Let me know if you can think of a single word to convey tedious, dreary,
dated and laboured!
Stephen.
D. Gascoyne
"Stephen Kane" <sjk...@eircom.net> wrote in message
news:BB1E115E.10B20%sjk...@eircom.net...
Turpid??
Debbie
Stephen Kane
Debbie Gascoyne wrote:
> Stephen Kane wrote:
>> Turgid - pompous, bombastic.
>>
>> Turbid - confused, disordered.
>>
>> Torpid - sluggish, inactive, dull, apathetic.
>>
>> Let me know if you can think of a single word to convey tedious, dreary,
>> dated and laboured!
> Turpid??
Base, depraved and wicked? That might be overstating it!
Stephen.
Sue
are:
1. JK Rowling - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
2. Robert Stanek - The Kingdoms and the Elves of the Reaches IV
3. Louis Sachar - Holes
4. Ann Brashares - Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants
Sue
to email replace nojunk with sg5an
raycun
You may already know this, but some bloke called Robert Stanek has
been using an astroturf campaign to try to publicise his books. 'Sue'
here is certainly an assumed identity (a quick google shows 'Sue'
hasn't posted to any groups before yesterday, and then popped up in
half a dozen bookgroups to talk about how good Stanek is).
I don't think its fooling anyone, but I though I might as well point
it out, just so he understands it isn't working.
Ray
Jason McGerty
"raycun" <ray...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:b147c2a9.03070...@posting.google.com...
> A BUNCH OF CRAP
LOOK MAKING THIS SHIT UP ISN'T FUNNY... YOU BUCN H OF ASSHOLES SHOULD CRAWL
BACK TO THE FANDOM GROUP WHERE APPARENTLY YOU LIKE TO WALLOW IN YOUR OWN
DELLUSIONS
Sue
groups. It is why I don't post here.
At the end of the day the reality is that Robert Stanek is one of my best
hand-sells. He is a good writer with a lot to offer my customers. I will
continue to support and hand-sell his books as long as I work in bookstores.
raycun
A simple test.
Go to Google, advanced groups search.
Enter my name in the author field, and you'll see I've been posting on
a variety of groups for the last few years
http://groups.google.ie/groups?safe=images&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&as_uauthors=raycun&lr=&hl=en
Enter 'Jason McGerty's name, and you'll find that all his posts are in
the last couple of days (and nearly all are about Robert Stanek)
http://groups.google.ie/groups?safe=images&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&as_uauthors=Jason%20McGerty&lr=&hl=en
Enter 'Sue' email in the same field, and you'll find the same thing
http://groups.google.ie/groups?safe=images&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&as_uauthors=sg5...@aol.comnojunk&lr=&hl=en
This Robert Stanek guy is becoming notorious for inventing identities
on Amazon, going to books written by popular authors and saying "This
is great, X is up there with other popular author Y, and Robert
Stanek, in my list of all-time favourites". Plus going to the listings
of his own books and inventing identities to post positive reviews.
That's Amazon's lookout. If he's going to try the same trick on
Usenet, then people will point it out.
Sorry for the interruption folks, we now return you to your regularly
scheduled programming...
Ray
Sue
motivations. I had a friend search for Robert Stanek discussions on usenet and
could only find a few. Mr. Stanek has been a published author for over a
decade, so if he's running some sort of campaign on usenet I sure can't find
it.
I for one did come to usenet to discuss Robert Stanek's work as I am back in
the bookstore working this summer. He is one of my favorite authors to
hand-sell to readers and this year his work is even more popular than last
year. Everyone enjoys talking about things they like and I don't see why I
can't talk about an author I like and whose work I respect.
Out of curtesy, I hope you will email me directly if you have further things to
say. sg5...@aol.comjk (remove the jk).
Steve Hayes
An astroturf campaign>
What the hell's that?
I thought astroturf was something you played hockey on.
raycun
A grassroots campaign is where real people get together to, I don't
know, persuade J K Rowling not to kill any more characters.
An astroturf campaign is where marketing people pretend to be real,
independent people. It generally comes up in political campaigns. Its
kind of like setting up interest groups to support you, because an
endorsement from "Americans Concerned About Bad Things" looks better
than an endorsement from "The Committee to Elect John Doe", even when
they're the same people.
Robert Stanek pretends to be other people, and recommends his own
books. He does this because people tend to take word-of-mouth
recommendations seriously, but would just ignore him if he came on
here and said "Hi, I'm Robert Stanek. You should read my book, its,
like, totally cool." Apparently he's been doing it on Amazon for ages,
but just discovered Usenet last week and so created a bunch of fake
addresses to post from.
Ray
Jason McGerty
>but just discovered Usenet last week and so created a bunch of fake
> addresses to post from.
>
> Ray
Ray I've tried to be nice. I apoligized to fandom for getting out of hand. I
think you are being unfair. Will I probably talk about the author again some
time? Yes I probably will. I think evevery talks about things they like. As
for why a whole 4 people showed up in an author thread over a 2 day
period??? Start a discussion on any author, there will be people who show up
to discuss. As other people have asked I hope you will send your further
comments directly to me in email.
Jason
H Schinske
>An astroturf campaign is where marketing people pretend to be real,
>independent people. It generally comes up in political campaigns.
Ooh, cool term, I like it. On usenet it's also called sock puppeting.
--Helen
Ann Burlingham
> "raycun" <ray...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:b147c2a9.03071...@posting.google.com...
>>but just discovered Usenet last week and so created a bunch of fake
>> addresses to post from.
> Ray I've tried to be nice. I apoligized to fandom
"fandom?"
Ann Burlingham
> The bookstore I work at has a big summer reading list. Some of our topsellers
> are:
>
> 1. JK Rowling - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
> 2. Robert Stanek - The Kingdoms and the Elves of the Reaches IV
> 3. Louis Sachar - Holes
> 4. Ann Brashares - Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants
so, what bookstore do you work at? do they have a website? if they're
large enough to be tracking their best-sellers, surely they do. mind
telling us which? we might want to shop there, after all.
thanks!
Wendy E. Betts
I'm curious too. This bookstores seems to do an amazing job promoting
Stanek's book - on the Amazon website, the new HP ranks as the #1 seller,
Holes is #137, Travelling Pants is 800 something, but the Elves book is
#45,972. Seems strange it should be the 2nd best seller in this
bookstore!
--
"I like books... I mean some of them. I don't like the kind that gives
you the feeling they're trying to improve your mind. I like the kind that
tells you things you already almost know." -- _The Mummy Market_
A strange tale of _Cat and Mouse_: http:www.armory.com/~web/vol11.no4.html
Elaine Thompson
wrote:
>In article <wkptki4...@panix.com>, Ann Burlingham <an...@panix.com> wrote:
>>sg5...@aol.comnojunk (Sue) writes:
>>> The bookstore I work at has a big summer reading list. Some of our topsellers
>>> are:
>>>
>>> 1. JK Rowling - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
>>> 2. Robert Stanek - The Kingdoms and the Elves of the Reaches IV
>>> 3. Louis Sachar - Holes
>>> 4. Ann Brashares - Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants
>>
>>so, what bookstore do you work at? do they have a website? if they're
>>large enough to be tracking their best-sellers, surely they do. mind
>>telling us which? we might want to shop there, after all.
>
>I'm curious too. This bookstores seems to do an amazing job promoting
>Stanek's book - on the Amazon website, the new HP ranks as the #1 seller,
>Holes is #137, Travelling Pants is 800 something, but the Elves book is
>#45,972. Seems strange it should be the 2nd best seller in this
>bookstore!
I did some googling and found Stanek's fiction at Walmart, listed at
Amazon, but not Borders or B&N. Book Fetch came up with listings for
some of his books on used book sites, and also at Books a Million.
There aren't any Books a Million around here, so I don't know what
kind of bookstore it is.
I fiddled around about Reagent Press, too. The only mention it gets
in Publishers' Weekly (I'm not a registered user, so couldn't dig very
deep) is in an article about Computer Book publishing from 2002. I
noticed the two books listed were also by a fellow named Stanek.
William Stanek. And other googling had turned up hits for William
Robert Stanek, writer of computer books. Reagent Press' website
doesn't include authors in its listings of fiction and it all seems to
be the same series fiction. Among the non-fiction the only author
name showing up in a quick scan is .... 3 guesses.... Right! Stanek!
At this point Reagent Press and the Stanek children's fiction smell
strongly of self-publishing.
--
Elaine Thompson <Ela...@KEThompson.org>
TC
strongly of self-publishing.
Well, if he really is at 45,000 something on Amazon and he self published he
did a hell of a job. I only did minimal checking but one of his books is at
8500. Do you realize how hard that is?
Maybe he is guilty of self promotion, but I can't knock his success.
Tom
TC
OK, let's give an example. Let's take Ellen Jackson, because she posts here
and I like her work. Cinder Edna, arguably one of her best works has sold
over 75,000 copies (per Ellen). That is awesome. Plus it's a great book,
my kids loved it.
According to Amazon at the moment Cinder Edna is ranked 26,036.
Sorry to be so argumentative, but I think people don't really realize what
it takes to get that high on Amazon. I just think one should be careful
before you go beating on the writers. After all THEY are why we are here.
Tom
--
simpson
Lizard's Leap went to 597 very quickly . The difficulty is sustaining it. As
fast as they go up they can come down and once they drop it's difficult to
get them back up there again.
I believe Leap is still selling steadily, but I'm currently 265,349.
Sooz.
--
Please check out me and my books here.
TC <tcal...@REMOVETHIScarolina.rr.com> wrote in message
news:x91Ra.226900$_w.92...@twister.southeast.rr.com...
TC
It's pretty hard for a small publisher (worse for a self publish). Because,
unlike the majors, small publishers exist on the slow and steady and Amazon
rewards big initial orders and "spikes". You can still do well, you just
will never achieve huge chart numbers.
FWIW, I did find two of your books at Amazon (out of print)
Are there current editions?
Tom
simpson
TC <tcal...@REMOVETHIScarolina.rr.com> wrote in message
news:5hZYa.405$Pb7....@twister.southeast.rr.com...
Hell I hope not. As far as I'm aware neither of them are OOP. Beter The
Devil you Know only came out last month, so isn't properly listed yet (no
pic, still showing as 4-6 weeks) but that *should* be sorted this week if my
publisher ever gets his finger out of his filing system and gets on with it.
Amazon sold out of Leap a month or so ago, but I believe now have new
stocks.
So both can be ordered. I can also send orders personally if anyone wants
the personal touch :-)
Sooz (going to see what Amazon are playing at.)