Category: Friday Fifteen

Friday Fifteen

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It’s Friday, right? It’s felt like such a long week that I’m a little scared we aren’t officially at Friday. Maybe the Friday Fifteen will make it feel more real. Onto the reviews!

97807636171031. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
Collins works in touching moments and touching moments in the Hunger Games sequel.

2. Birds of America by Lorrie Moore
Moore balances the literary short story well with a good dose of humor.

3. Felicity’s Surprise (American Girls: Felicity #3) by Valerie Tripp
Middle school dances are cooler in Colonial Williamsburg.

4. Owl Babies by Martin Waddell
So. Freaking. Cute. The fuzzy owls, the anxiety over mom coming back–can’t even deal.

5. Feed by M.T. Anderson
It’s not all GIFs and kitten videos when your brain’s connected to the internet.

Friday Fifteen

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Managed to make it through the week and to the Friday Fifteen. Check out this week’s list of fifteen-word reviews:

97804402191701. A Summer to Die by Lois Lowry
I’d be curious to read this now in conjunction with The Fault in Our Stars.

2. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
Ceepy novel with an awkward, meek main character in an English manor home. Heck yeah.

3. Bear Snores On by Karma Wilson and Jane Chapman
Makes me want a winter part with bunnies, badgers, tea and popcorn.

4. World and Space (Childcraft: the How and Why Library #4) by World Book-Childcraft International
Geology, astronomy, and all sorts of natural sciences for kids.

5. Selected Poems And Four Plays of William Butler Yeats by William Butler Yeats, ed. M. L. Rosenthal
Read it for English lit survey class, but Yeats is one to go back to.

Friday Fifteen

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Happy Friday, everybody! Let’s dive into this week’s edition of fifteen-word book reviews:

1. 13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson
Fun European adventure. Would have had teen me planning my own trip.

2. Corduroy by Don Freeman
I remember being really nervous that Corduroy would never find a button or a home.

3. The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot
I mentally recite “I had not thought death had undone so many,” on crowded subways.

4. Croak by Gina Damico
Lots of great death-related puns and fun world-building. Nice to see an aggressive protagonist, too.

5. It’s Thanksgiving by Jack Prelutsky
Liked this way better than real Thanksgiving as a kid (I was a picky eater).

Friday Fifteen

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Happy Friday, everybody! Here are this week’s fifteen-word book reviews:

1. A Chocolate Moose for Dinner by Fred Gwynne
Loved this book about homonyms as a kid. Apparently it was by Herman Munster. Heart!

2. Persuasion by Jane Austen
Great look at mistakes, forgiveness, and the harsh reality for unmarried women in the 1800s.

3. Little House on the Prairie (Little House #2) by Laura Ingalls Wilder
I couldn’t believe they left their home to go somewhere without homes already built.

4. Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
The colonialism/race issues are awk, but “The horror! The horror!” is a great line.

5. Mortal Engines by Philip Reeve
Steampunky book in which cities are mobile and consume each other. Great adventure, plus orphans.

Friday Fifteen

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Holy cow, another Friday Fifteen already? Let’s get the weekend started with these fifteen-word book reviews:

1. Midnight in the Dollhouse by Marjorie Stover
Dollhouse people are secretly alive and help solve a mystery. 9-year-old me loved this.

2. Evelina or the History of a Young Lady’s Entrance into the World by Frances Burney
A precursor to Austen without the witty heroines

3. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling
Not my favorite, but some great stuff like creeptastic Umbridge and the Department of Mysteries.

4. An Octave Above Thunder by Carol Muske
Lovely collection. Discovered “China White” from a college prof who knew all the good stuff.

5. Seraphina by Rachel Hartman
Dragon-human political intrigue centered around a young musician. Hartman made cool, unexpected choices; great writing.

Friday Fifteen

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Happy Friday, everybody! It’s almost Halloween, so this Friday Fifteen is brought to you by the world of creepy books. (Spoiler alert: I get scared really easily.)

1. Howliday Inn by James Howe
A sequel to Bunnicula, Harold and Chester go to a kennel where animals go missing.

2. The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King
Trisha ends up alone in the woods with something creepy. Reason #45 not to hike.

3. Coyote Moon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Book 3) John Vornholt
Say it with me, everyone: “Carnie were-coyotes.”

4. The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux
No, it’s not just a musical. Erik, the phantom, alternates between sympathetic and totally creeptastic.

5. Clifford’s Halloween by Norman Bridwell
Who’s that under the ghost costume? He’s house-sized, but I dunno if it’s Clifford.

Friday Fifteen

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I feel like it’s been two weeks since our last Friday. High time for another Friday Fifteen!

1. A Brief History of Montmaray by Michelle Cooper
Royals on a nearly empty island on the edge of WWII. SO MUCH YES.

2. As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
A road trip novel with a dead body. Faulkner’s pretty cool, guys.

3. Make and Do (Childcraft: the How and Why Library #11) by World Book-Childcraft International
Probably my favorite in the series. Made puppet shows, shoe box trains, and Halloween costumes.

4. The Berenstain Bears and Too Much TV by Stan and Jan Berenstain
This was not a concern in our household.

5. Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
First book I remember reading that dealt with the Holocaust. Sensitive take for young readers.

Friday Fifteen

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Happy Friday, everyone! Are you ready for this week’s fifteen-word-or-less book reviews? (If you’re not, buckle up!)

1. Dear Genius: The Letters of Ursula Nordstrom by Leonard S. Marcus
A must-read for anyone interested in children’s books. Great glimpse into some classics.

2. Emma by Jane Austen
I tell myself I’m Lizzie. Then I try to match up friends—such an Emma.

3. The King Arthur Flour Baker’s Companion: The All-Purpose Baking Cookbook by King Arthur Flour
Lots of great recipes with explanations of why ingredients and techniques work. Tastiness through science!

4. The Magic School Bus On the Ocean Floor by Joanna Cole
Miss Frizzle and giant sea creatures. I was totally the target audience.

5. The Comedy of Errors by William Shakespeare
It’s like an episode of Sister, Sister but with snappier dialogue.

Friday Fifteen

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Happy Friday everyone! Feeling even better because it’s a long weekend. Onto the Friday Fifteen, in which I review five books in fifteen words or less.

1. The Premier Book of Major Poets: an Anthology ed. by Anita Dore
All the heavy-hitters, arranged by theme. Walt gave me his copy early in our relationship.

2. How to Eat: The Pleasures and Principles of Good Food by Nigella Lawson
More of a conversation with a chef than a standard cookbook. Really enjoy her ideas, though.

3. The Goldsmith’s Daughter by Tanya Landman
Wish I had this when I was 12 and reading about the Aztecs in class.

4. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by JK Rowling
Love how the series circled back to this. But JK, seriously, why the spiders? Terrifying!

5. The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg
A Christmas favorite, plus Allsburg’s beautiful art.

Friday Fifteen

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Another Friday, another case of the Friday Fifteens. Check out this week’s fifteen-word book reviews:

1. Hair: A Book of Braiding and Styles by Anne Johnson
One reason I wear my hair short now. (One day, braided crown, one day).

2. Insurgent by Veronica Roth
Not as fast-paced as Divergent, but pretty sure I’ll pick up the next book.

3. In the Devil’s Snare: The Salem Witchcraft Crisis of 1692 by Mary Beth Norton
Norton looks at the First and Second Indian Wars’ effect on Salem. Interesting take.

4. Little Miss Stoneybrook…and Dawn (The Baby-sitters Club #15) by Ann M. Martin
Toddlers and tiaras, plus the BSC.

5. The Art of Fiction: Notes on Craft for Young Writers by John Gardner
You need to read this in workshop at least once. Solid advice, not very dynamic.