Author/Illustrator: J.K. Rowling
Year: 2008
Publisher: Children's High Level Group
Pages: 111
Reading Level: Intermediate (ages 9-12)
Genre: Fairy Tale
Location: England
Time Period: Long Ago with Present Day (2008) Commentary
Plot: A collection of five popular "wizard" fairy tales, including The Wizard and the Hopping Pot, The Fountain of Fair Fortune, The Warlock's Hairy Heart, Babbitty Rabbitty and Her Cackling Stump, and The Tale of the Three Brothers (which was also told in the last book of the Harry Potter series). Each story is accompanied with commentary written by Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Comments: J.K. Rowling has a gift of being able to craft a story that combines the myth and morals of a fairy tale with humor. That's why I enjoyed the Harry Potter series, and that's why I enjoyed this book. I could imagine being told these stories as a young child, just as I was told fairy tales like Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, Jack and the Beanstalk, and others. Like most fairy tales, each story ends with a moral. Even though the characters in these stories are magic, they still have to rely on their head and on their heart to solve their problems. The commentary by Albus Dumbledore points out these morals and expounds on them, and adds an extra bit of humor. For example, his note about the retold tales of Mrs. Beatrix Bloxom was especially funny. I also liked Rowling's pictures—I was impressed that she wrote the story and did the illustrations.
Themes: Fairy Tales, Charity, Service, Being Happy with what you have, Making your own Future, Importance of Love, Trickster Tale, Mortality
Red Flags: The Warlock's Hairy Heart is rather gruesome—SPOILER! It ends with the warlock cutting out a maiden's heart, and trying to switch it with his own.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Coraline
Author: Neil Gaiman
Illustrator: Dave McKean
Year: 2002
Publisher: HarperCollins
Pages: 162
Reading Level: Young Adult
Awards: 2003 ALA Notable Children's Book, 2003 ALA Best Books for Young Adults
Movie Adaptation: Coraline
Genre: Suspense/Adventure/Horror
Location: A large house which has been renovated into apartments
Time Period: Present Day (2002)
Plot: When Coraline goes exploring in her new home, she finds a door that leads to nothing—the room behind it has been bricked up. However, weird things are happening, and Coraline is hearing strange noises coming from that door. When Coraline investigates, she finds that the door is suddenly not bricked up any more. Instead, what's behind it is an exact replica of her own house, only better and more exciting. An exact replica of Coraline's mother and father are there too, and they're happy to see her. There's just one problem. Coraline's Other Mother and Other Father and all of the other living beings in that world have black buttons for eyes. Coraline thinks this other world is wonderful, but in order to stay, she must replace her eyes with buttons too. SPOILER! When Coraline refuses the Other Mother's offer, the Other Mother takes revenge. She kidnaps Coraline's real parents, and is keeping them and the souls of other children she has captured in hidden places throughout the Other house. It is up to Coraline to find the souls of the other children and her parents before the Other Mother successfully steals Coraline's soul as well. With every soul Coraline finds, the Other Mother gets more and more vengeful. And when Coraline succeeds, she still must get through the bricked up door before she gets trapped in the Other World forever.
Comments: I have never read Alice in Wonderland, but this seems like a more menacing version of the Alice series. With that said, this may seem like an extremely terrifying book, but the scariness factor was mostly okay for me, and I don't do very well with scary. It obviously helped me that this is a horror book written for children, but I think older children should be fine with it as well. Coraline is definitely a braver, pluckier heroine than I would ever be, but that's the point. You have to be that strong when you are facing evil forces.
If this book was all about the scariness of the situation (see below for examples), I definitely would not have liked it. However, there were a few good morals/important points that helped me like the book and helped me see a point for the strangeness of it all:
Red Flags: Battling a Witch, Humans turning into Blobs, Disappearing Parents, A Man who always has Rats up his Sleeves/Under his Hat, Sinister Plots, People with Buttons for Eyes, An Animate Yet Disembodied Hand Chasing Coraline. (For the Movie: A Claymation/Digital Lady who is Mostly Naked)
Illustrator: Dave McKean
Year: 2002
Publisher: HarperCollins
Pages: 162
Reading Level: Young Adult
Awards: 2003 ALA Notable Children's Book, 2003 ALA Best Books for Young Adults
Movie Adaptation: Coraline
Genre: Suspense/Adventure/Horror
Location: A large house which has been renovated into apartments
Time Period: Present Day (2002)
Plot: When Coraline goes exploring in her new home, she finds a door that leads to nothing—the room behind it has been bricked up. However, weird things are happening, and Coraline is hearing strange noises coming from that door. When Coraline investigates, she finds that the door is suddenly not bricked up any more. Instead, what's behind it is an exact replica of her own house, only better and more exciting. An exact replica of Coraline's mother and father are there too, and they're happy to see her. There's just one problem. Coraline's Other Mother and Other Father and all of the other living beings in that world have black buttons for eyes. Coraline thinks this other world is wonderful, but in order to stay, she must replace her eyes with buttons too. SPOILER! When Coraline refuses the Other Mother's offer, the Other Mother takes revenge. She kidnaps Coraline's real parents, and is keeping them and the souls of other children she has captured in hidden places throughout the Other house. It is up to Coraline to find the souls of the other children and her parents before the Other Mother successfully steals Coraline's soul as well. With every soul Coraline finds, the Other Mother gets more and more vengeful. And when Coraline succeeds, she still must get through the bricked up door before she gets trapped in the Other World forever.
Comments: I have never read Alice in Wonderland, but this seems like a more menacing version of the Alice series. With that said, this may seem like an extremely terrifying book, but the scariness factor was mostly okay for me, and I don't do very well with scary. It obviously helped me that this is a horror book written for children, but I think older children should be fine with it as well. Coraline is definitely a braver, pluckier heroine than I would ever be, but that's the point. You have to be that strong when you are facing evil forces.
If this book was all about the scariness of the situation (see below for examples), I definitely would not have liked it. However, there were a few good morals/important points that helped me like the book and helped me see a point for the strangeness of it all:
- Coraline realizes that the witch and the scary things around her don't really have any power. In the words of the book, the Other Mother "could only twist and copy and distort things that already existed" (p. 118).
- Coraline realizes that giving in to the Other Mother will not make her happy: "I don't want whatever I want. Nobody does. Not really. What kind of fun would it be if I just got everything I ever wanted? Just like that, and it didn't mean anything" (p. 120). Ah Coraline, you are so wise.
Red Flags: Battling a Witch, Humans turning into Blobs, Disappearing Parents, A Man who always has Rats up his Sleeves/Under his Hat, Sinister Plots, People with Buttons for Eyes, An Animate Yet Disembodied Hand Chasing Coraline. (For the Movie: A Claymation/Digital Lady who is Mostly Naked)
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