Uncategorized

Brown, Jeff, and Tomi Ungerer. Flat Stanley. New York, NY: Harper & Row, 1964. Print.

I really, really wanted to like this book, but somehow it never clicked with me.  Right from the first mention of the family’s last name (Lambchop) I found it just a little too precious.  Maybe I just wasn’t in the right frame of mind for a book from the 60s, or maybe it’s because I don’t recall ever reading it when I was a child.

Anyway, it’s a perfectly inoffensive book at the Grade 4 level (Scholastic’s book wizard pegs it at Grade 4.4).  I put another (Flat Stanley in Space, I believe) on hold at the same time, so I’ll give it a try before giving up on the series.

Paulsen, Gary. Lawn Boy. New York: Wendy Lamb, 2007. Print.

Despite the fact that the New York Times calls Paulsen “one of the best-loved writers alive” (according to the book jacket), this is the first of his books that I’ve read.  I think because I’d heard about “Hatchet”, which sounds a bit grim, I hadn’t thought of him as writing the kind of light, humorous, warmhearted book I love to read.

And so, I loved this book.  The main character is twelve and perfectly likable.  Carried on a stream of hilarious events, he mostly keeps his head and entertains us with his story of mowing lawns, making more money than he dreamed, and how his summer ends.  Highly recommended.

Scholastic’s book wizard pegs this at a Grade 4.5 reading level, but the age of the main character and the plot makes it appropriate for older children as well, I think.  If you want to read more Paulsen, there are books at every level from grades 2 to 8, and even an adult book about Paulsen’s running of the Iditarod (a sled dog race).

Osborne, Mary Pope., and Sal Murdocca. Dinosaurs before Dark. New York: Random House, 1992. Print.

I have a soft spot for this book, because I remember my son reading it and many of the rest of the series.  It marked the first time he said to me “Mom, can I read a book?”, to which I responded “Of course you can, sweetie – you don’t have to ask permission to do that!”.

I didn’t read it myself until recently, and I can’t say I’m as eager to read the next installment as he was.  The Scholastic book wizard pegs it as a Grade 2.5 reading level, and it was altogether too low for me to enjoy.  I can appreciate it as an introduction to chapter books, and I’ll absolutely recommend it, but I won’t read any further myself.

Clements, Andrew, and Brian Selznick. Frindle. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster for Young Readers, 1996. Print.

Another great book at the Grade 4 level; similar to “Al Capone Does my Shirts“, the main character is a boy in Grade 5, the characters are sympathetic, and the storyline is entertaining but heartwarming.  In both cases there aren’t clear-cut good guys and bad guys, which I prefer – fiction is supposed to teach you about life, after all!

Highly recommended.  Scholastic pegs it at a Grade 4.8 reading level.

Choldenko, Gennifer. Al Capone Does My Shirts. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2004. Print.

I enjoyed this book greatly – sympathetic characters, an entertaining but touching story line, and a fascinating setting with well-done (but not in-your-face) historical research.

Scholastic rates this at a reading level of Grade 4.7, but the main character is in Grade 5, and I found it rather long for Grade 4.  I’m going to try it out with my Grade 6.

Powell, Jane. Linoleum. Salt Lake City: Gibbs Smith, 2003. Print.

I’ve long been a fan of linoleum – not vinyl, you understand, but the original stuff made from a mixture of sawdust and linseed oil, heated and pressed onto burlap.  It was a mainstay of hospitals and schools for decades in the early part of the 20th century, thanks to its natural antibacterial properties.  It’s enjoying a bit of a renaissance these days, and I can even buy cool new products like linoleum applied to tongue-and-groove high-density fibreboard.

Jane Powell is the only person I’ve ever heard of who is more enthusiastic about linoleum than I am, so I thought this book was great!

The New York store Second Hand Rose supplied some of the samples shown in the book, but their website doesn’t seem to have anything other than wallpaper for sale.

Powell, Jane. Bungalow Kitchens. Salt Lake City: Gibbs Smith, 2000. Print.

I might have been giving a ‘meh’ impression about the last couple of books I’ve posted about, but not this one – I loved it!  I’m more and more impressed with Jane Powell and her books, dreadful puns notwithstanding.  This is the book that I hoped The New Bungalow Kitchen would be, not that I don’t enjoy that book a lot too.

Anyway, Jane Powell has done her usual thorough research and included lots of pictures of original or restored kitchens, along with her trademark “obsessive restoration” and “compromise” sidebars.  She makes a compelling argument for keeping or restoring an original kitchen when it is found in an old house.

The pictures, as usual, are the real selling point, showing how a vintage or retro kitchen can be perfectly usable.  I have to include one here, taken from the Amazon “look inside” feature: 

Holmes, Mike. The Holmes Inspection: Evrything You Need to Know before You Buy or Sell Your Home. Toronto, ON: HarperCollins, 2008. Print.

Another impulse pick off the library shelves, which was an interesting read but not ultimately useful for me personally.  Mike Holmes definitely has a bone to pick with the home inspection industry, and his rants about qualifications, certifications, and exclusions might be totally true, but aren’t very helpful if you’re a home-buyer trying not to buy a house that will have major problems.

Lots of good checklists of what to ask about when you do get your home inspected.

Storey, Martin, Sharon Brant, and Peter Williams. Classic Knits for Real Women: Versatile Knitwear Designs for plus Sizes. Lafayette, CA.: C&T Pub., 2005. Print.

This is a perfect example of a book I’m glad I got from the library, rather than buying, and I’m glad to have access to a library system that has lots of books like this.  Which is not to say that I liked it – in fact, I “read” it in about 20 minutes, and was done with it.  There were no patterns of any interest to me, and not really any new ideas I could glean from it.  I wasn’t convinced that any of the patterns were particularly suited to plus sizes; as far as I could tell, they were regular knitting patterns sized up.

Andrews, John. Victorian And Edwardian Furniture: Price Guide And Reasons For Values. Antique Collectors Club, 2009. Print.

(Amazon has changed their links again, and won’t give me an image-only link.  So I’ve returned to copying the book cover images from them.)

Having recently bought a 1913 farmhouse, I’ve become aware of the “Edwardian” period of home decoration that followed the Victorian age.  I hadn’t even known it existed, so this book was one of the ways I’ve been learning about it.  Exactly as the title says, it’s a price guide for furniture; what I didn’t realize was that it’s an English author and publication, so it’s hard to know how much would have been the same on this side of the pond.  It has been quite interesting to cross-reference pieces from this book to ones in the 1913 Eaton’s catalog, though!

Edwardian furniture was a little less ornate than the Victorian age, with different, lighter types of wood being popular.  It’s a nice, easy style that I can see being comfortable, between the dark, busy, and cluttered Victorian age and the later Art Deco and Art Nouveau styles that followed.  I’ll need to get this book out of the library again, to scan some of the pictures.