2 posts tagged “canadian”
Pigboy
By Vicki Grant
Orca Book Publishers Ltd. (2006), Paperback, 101 pages
As my mother said, this book is REALLY hi-lo, as in, REALLY high interest, REALLY low vocabulary. I read it in about half an hour, so I would imagine that the target audience would make short work of it as well.
Rating: An excellent choice for reluctant readers, or readers who read at a few grade levels below their actual grade. Recommended for readers ages 12-16? I am not sure who the target audience of YA Hi-Lo books is, but this is a great choice for anyone looking for a title in this genre.
By Vicki Grant
Orca Book Publishers Ltd. (2006), Paperback, 101 pages
As my mother said, this book is REALLY hi-lo, as in, REALLY high interest, REALLY low vocabulary. I read it in about half an hour, so I would imagine that the target audience would make short work of it as well.
Rating: An excellent choice for reluctant readers, or readers who read at a few grade levels below their actual grade. Recommended for readers ages 12-16? I am not sure who the target audience of YA Hi-Lo books is, but this is a great choice for anyone looking for a title in this genre.
Can you spell revolution?
By Matt Beam
Harper Collins Canada (2006), Paperback
So, I just finished reading this book, Can You Spell Revolution, by Matt Beam. I had read his earlier book, Getting To First Base With Donalda Chase, which I though was pretty good -- nothing earth-shattering, but sweet and probably a good book for like a 10-12 year old, especially boys.
Anyway, this book was also OK, if a bit heavy-handed. The premise is neat - this mysterious new boy comes to school and he recruits four other students to join his secret "Revolutionists" club, and so they all pretend like they aren't really friends during school, but meet secretly in the woods after school. Each one plans an "Act of Dissent," and models their plan after a historical revolutionary figure.
Chris, the main character, is trying to make the mandatory school assemblies more fun for students, and models himself after a member of the French Revolution. The way that the events of the book quasi mirror actual historical stuff is neat, although the author spells out some of these connections soo clearly for readers - it would have been neat if there was this level that people who know history would recognize, but not everybody would realize. But I guess this book, though categorized as a YA book, is really more for 10-12 year olds and so is written a bit more simplistically than other YA books I have been reading.
My only real complaint in the book, and again maybe this is related to the age group it is targeting, but one character is always kind of mysterious when talking about his home life and it is handled really, really clumsily. For instance, he says stuff like, "Yeah, my Mom and Da... I mean, my Uncle," and the other characters don't pick up on this sort of thing? Anyway, this is a good book for 10-12 year olds, especially kids who are into history. I think even maybe 8-12 year olds would like it.
Bottom line: Sweet and probably good for boys ages 10-14 who aren't necessarily big readers.
By Matt Beam
Harper Collins Canada (2006), Paperback
So, I just finished reading this book, Can You Spell Revolution, by Matt Beam. I had read his earlier book, Getting To First Base With Donalda Chase, which I though was pretty good -- nothing earth-shattering, but sweet and probably a good book for like a 10-12 year old, especially boys.
Anyway, this book was also OK, if a bit heavy-handed. The premise is neat - this mysterious new boy comes to school and he recruits four other students to join his secret "Revolutionists" club, and so they all pretend like they aren't really friends during school, but meet secretly in the woods after school. Each one plans an "Act of Dissent," and models their plan after a historical revolutionary figure.
Chris, the main character, is trying to make the mandatory school assemblies more fun for students, and models himself after a member of the French Revolution. The way that the events of the book quasi mirror actual historical stuff is neat, although the author spells out some of these connections soo clearly for readers - it would have been neat if there was this level that people who know history would recognize, but not everybody would realize. But I guess this book, though categorized as a YA book, is really more for 10-12 year olds and so is written a bit more simplistically than other YA books I have been reading.
My only real complaint in the book, and again maybe this is related to the age group it is targeting, but one character is always kind of mysterious when talking about his home life and it is handled really, really clumsily. For instance, he says stuff like, "Yeah, my Mom and Da... I mean, my Uncle," and the other characters don't pick up on this sort of thing? Anyway, this is a good book for 10-12 year olds, especially kids who are into history. I think even maybe 8-12 year olds would like it.
Bottom line: Sweet and probably good for boys ages 10-14 who aren't necessarily big readers.
