Horrible Histories: Amazing Aztecs

By Terry Deary Illustrated by Martin Brown

Horrible Histories: Amazing Aztecs or Horrible Histories: Angry Aztecs is another phenomenal book chock full of trivia facts and witty jokes in the Horrible Histories series. Just like other Horrible Histories books, there are tons of quizzes and lots of facts to stump your teacher. Some other books in the series I have read are: Horrible Histories: Awesome Egyptians, Horrible Histories: Rotten Romans, Horrible Histories: Measly Middle Ages, Horrible Histories: Frightful First World War, Horrible Histories Handbooks: Trenches, Horrible Histories Handbooks: Knights and one of my favourites: Horrible Histories: Rotten Rulers. I can't wait for the next one to come out!

I would recommend this book to both history lovers and non-history lovers, since it makes history sound exciting instead of boring. This book tells you facts that your teachers might not tell you (plus a lot of ways to kidnap teachers). Personally, I think this book is called Horrible Histories because it tells you all the gory details of history.

Reviewed by Kate

Everything Asian

Sung J. Woo's first book, Everything Asian, is about a 12-year-old Korean boy, David (Dae Joon) Kim, who settles in New Jersey with his mother and older sister. They are reunited with David's father, who had left Korea five years earlier. Much of the story takes place in the mall where the family's shop is located. Here, David encounters and interacts with the other shopkeepers, some of whom are immigrants like himself. He has to learn how to survive in this new, strange land and at the same time, deal with his parents' struggle to live as a family again.

The book is basically a series of vignettes from David's childhood and reads more like a set of short stories featuring the same characters than a full-length novel. There are a few characters who are featured prominently in a chapter or two and then they disappear for the remainder of the book. As a result, I felt at the end that there were threads left hanging. I expect that the author could develop at least one of the subplots into a full novel of its own.

Unlike many novels about the Asian immigrant experience that I've read, this one isn't filled with sorrow and tragedy. Certainly, there are poignant moments and heavy topics (separation, betrayal, loss), but for the most part, this is a light-hearted, nostalgic look at how a child learns to adapt to living in his new country. Having spent much of my own childhood in my parents' Chinese restaurant (also in a suburban strip mall), this novel seemed comfortingly familiar.

When I first picked up this book, I had thought it was meant for younger readers, as the main character is a 12-year-old boy. However, there is some mature content, so I'd recommend this novel to older teen and adult readers.

Reviewed by Paulina

Mother-Daughter Book Club: Year One

Year One of our Mother-Daughter book club is over and we've had a fun time. Here are some things about our book club.

Books:

-Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
-I Want To Go Home! by Gordan Korman
-Alone On A Wide, Wide Sea by Michael Morpurgo
-The Emerald Wand of Oz by Sherwood Smith
-The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchet
-The Hidden Staircase by Carolyn Keene

Number of Members: 13

Books Read: 6

Families: 6

Brownies Eaten By Kate: too many to count!

Books Enjoyed: 6

If you have read any of the books chosen above, feel free to add your thoughts!

The Spider Bites

The Spider Bites by Medora Sale is from a new series of books called Rapid Reads. Part of the Raven Books line from Orca, this series is intended for adult literacy students and reluctant teen readers. In The Spider Bites, ex-cop Rick Montoya returns to his former home, only to discover that it has burnt down and contains a corpse inside. As he works to unravel the mystery, he encounters friends and foes from his past.

This book is a great choice for the intended audience. The reading level is at a preteen's or teen's level, but the characters and content are more appealing to adults. Because the novel is so short, there is not much room for character development. However, I can see this evolving into a successful series in which a few main characters continue to grow. This novel follows the style of a traditional mystery, with a small cast of characters, a suspenseful plot and a satisfactory conclusion in which all is revealed.

On the publisher's Web site, it is suggested that Rapid Reads would also appeal to people simply looking for a fast read. I suspect that this particular novel would not be complex or detailed enough to satisfy those who normally enjoy regular-length mystery novels, but it is possible other books in the series will have wider appeal. Most reading series for adult learners offer condensed versions of well-known books or are written by authors who primarily write this kind of graded reader. The Rapid Reads series differs in that the books are written by well-established Canadian writers. Medora Sale, for example, has published crime fiction as Caroline Roe.

I would definitely recommend The Spider Bites to adult learners who would enjoy a contemporary mystery, and I look forward to seeing more titles in this new series.

48-Hour Book Challenge: The Finish Line

My final numbers:
Hours spent on the challenge: 22 (17 reading, 3 audiobook, 2 blogging)
Books finished: 4
Pages read: 1226
Donation: $44 to the Literacy Group of Waterloo Region

Kate's final numbers:
Hours spent on the challenge: 11 (10 reading, 1 blogging)
Books finished: 2
Pages read: 748
Donation: $27.50 to the Central Asia Institute

Paulina's list of finished books:
- Come, Thou Tortoise by Jessica Grant
- Say What? The Weird and Mysterious Journey of the English Language by Gena K. Gorrell
- Wondrous Strange by Lesley Livingston
- Everything Asian by Sung J. Woo

Kate's list of finished books:
- The Kane Chronicles: The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan
- No Small Thing by Natale Ghent

The 48-hour-challenge is over, and it was even more fun this year, with Kate joining me. She quit a couple of hours ago to join her friends for band practice, but I read up to the very end, finishing Everything Asian (to be reviewed later) in the last minutes before my 5pm deadline. I'd originally planned to donate $1 for every hour that Kate or I have read but will increase this to $2 per hour. Kate offered 50 cents from her allowance money for each hour she has read.

Many thanks to MotherReader for hosting this terrific annual challenge!

48-Hour Reading Challenge: Update 5#

Hi! Kate here again. Unfortunately, we've run out of pie, but luckily, we have brownies.

Here's the latest update.

My update:
Hours of reading: 9.5
Books finished: 2
Books in progress: 2

Paulina's (Mom's) update:
Hours of reading: 14.5
Hours of listening to audiobooks: 2.5
Books finished: 3
Books in progress: 2

Paulina's list of finished books:
- Come, Thou Tortoise by Jessica Grant
- Say What? The Weird and Mysterious Journey of the English Language by Gena K. Gorrell
- Wondrous Strange by Lesley Livingston

Kate's list of finished books:
- The Kane Chronicles: The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan
- No Small Thing by Natale Ghent

Mom has started another book called Everything Asian. She continues to listen to Wolf Hall on her iPod.

I have started on the sequel to No Small Thing by Natale Ghent, All the Way Home. We had our Mother-Daughter book club earlier this morning, so I wasn't able to read much. I'll give more details later. I'm also reading an Abby Hayes book in french for school.

No Small Thing is a moving book about Nat, Cid and Queenie- three siblings. Their father had left them and their mother four years ago, and their mother was struggling to pay for hydro, electricity, food, etc. One day, they find an ad in the newspaper offering them a free horse, and they jump to the chance. Luckily, their mom lets them keep it, but, a few months later, the barn catches on fire.

I thought the year the book was set in, 1977, was an unusual choice for a kid's book. Parents of kids reading this book would have likely been kids then, and my dad already tells me enough "Back in the old days...." stories.

However, the book turned out to be better than I expected. It was not one of those My Little Pony books for younger kids. It even had a bit of romance. It also surprised me that the kids stole a lot, but I guess when your mom can't even pay hydro, you might feel tempted. This book overall was great. I recommend this book for ages 10+.

48-Hour Book Challenge: Update #4

My update:
Hours of reading: 11.5
Hours of listening to audiobooks: 2.5
Books finished: 3
Books in progress: 2

Kate's update:
Hours of reading: 9
Books finished: 1
Books in progress: 1

Paulina's list of finished books:
- Come, Thou Tortoise by Jessica Grant
- Say What? The Weird and Mysterious Journey of the English Language by Gena K. Gorrell
- Wondrous Strange by Lesley Livingston

Kate's list of finished books:
- The Kane Chronicles: The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan

Eyes are starting to get a bit sore now, but I'm still persevering. Kate went to bed an hour ago, but managed another hour-and-a-half of reading. She is near the end of Natale Ghent's No Small Thing now. Needing some instant gratification after Come, Thou Tortoise, I've turned to young-adult books and include below a couple of short reviews.

Fantasy set in the world of Faeries is not really my thing, but I decided to try Lesley Livingston's Wondrous Strange for several reasons. She is a Canadian author that had been recommended to me, the Shakespeare element seemed appealing and the book cover really is gorgeous. (Shallow, I know, but it does have an effect.) The novel is about how 17-year-old Kelley Winslow, understudy for the part of Titania in Midsummer Night's Dream, gets caught in the intrigues and battles of the Otherworld. The story, which is sprinkled with characters, lines from and references to Shakespeare's works, has some predictable moments and limited character development, but it will probably appeal to fantasy fans.

Say What? The Weird and Mysterious Journey of the English Language by Gena K. Gorrell is a non-fiction book that traces the history of English. It presents fun and fascinating facts about the origins of the language and shows many examples of how it has borrowed and adapted from other languages. In addition to describing the history, the book also describes a number of common errors in usage that people make today, and it includes several entertaining quizzes testing your understanding of a word's origins. I would recommend this book for ages 12 and up.

48-Hour Book Challenge: Update 3#

Hi! Kate here. I've been so absorbed in my book that I haven't been able to make a post until now.

My update:
Hours of reading: 7.5
Books finished: 1
Books in progress: 1

Paulina's (Mom's) update:
Hours of reading: 8
Hours of listening to audiobooks: 2
Books finished: 1
Books in progress: 2

Paulina's list of finished books:
- Come, Thou Tortoise by Jessica Grant

Kate's list of finished books:
- The Kane Chronicles: The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan

Paulina is half-way through Wondrous Strange but also started reading another book, Say What? by Gena K. Gorrell, a non-fiction book about the history of the English language.

I've finally finished The Red Pyramid after 7 hours! Right now, I'm in the midst of reading No Small Thing by Natale Ghent. My mom and I have been celebrating with apple crumble pie. Can't wait until next pie break!

The Red Pyramid is the first book in the series The Kane Chronicles by Rick Riordan- author of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. Personally, I liked the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series more, because I love Greek mythology. But for those who are interested in Egypt mythology, this is the book for you.

The Red Pyramid is about two children, Carter and Sadie, who are on a mission to save the world and get back their father from the Egyptian God of Evil- Set. Carter, the oldest, has been traveling the world with his father- an egyptologist, while Sadie has been living with her grandparents in England. Their mother died when they were young and their father lost the court battle to keep Sadie, so the Carter and Sadie were separated. When their father brings then to the British Museum, he releases 5 major Egyptian gods and gets captured by Set. Carter and Sadie have to now release their father and prevent Set from taking over the world.

I found Rick Riordan didn't explain Egypt's mythology as well as in The Lightening Thief; therefore the book was a bit difficult to keep up with. I do believe that Rick Riordan did keep up the same suspense as his previous books. He also did a good job on the British words (for example, crisps instead of chips and lorry instead of truck). Overall, this is a wonderful book.

48-Hour Book Challenge: Update #2

My update:
Hours of reading: 7
Hours of listening to audiobooks: 2
Books finished: 1
Books in progress: 1

Kate's update:
Hours of reading: 6
Books finished: 0
Books in progress: 1

I've finished my first book, Jessica Grant's Come, Thou Tortoise. I had to take care of a few chores this morning, including the Saturday morning run to our local bagel bakery. I did mange to get in another 3.5 hours so far today, and I continued listening to Wolf Hall on audiobook while going for a run.

Kate took a break to practice with her string trio, but got another 3 hours of reading done. She is nearing the end of The Red Pyramid.

Here is a brief review of Come, Thou Tortoise.
This is an offbeat, witty novel about a young woman who is dealing with the loss of her father. Through her recollections, we learn about her relationships with her father, uncle, ex-boyfriend and pet tortoise (who herself provides part of the narrative). This was a fun read but seemed to drag in places, and I occasionally lamented the total absence of question marks (reminiscent of Booker winner, The True History of the Kelly Gang, which had no commas). This novel, set partly in St. John's, Newfoundland, has done well in Canada and is on the Ontario Library Association's 2010 Evergreen list.

48-Hour Book Challenge: Update #1

My update:
Hours of reading: 3.5
Hours of listening to audiobooks: 1
Books finished: 0
Books in progress: 2

Kate's update:
Hours of reading: 3
Books finished: 0
Books in progress: 1

It's been a good evening. Kate got through half of The Red Pyramid. I am more than halfway through Come, Thou Tortoise, and I also took a break from it to read a bit from Lesley Livingston's Wondrous Strange. I listened to Wolf Hall on audiobook while doing the evening chores.

48-Hour Book Challenge: The Starting Line

It's 5pm EDT, and our 48-hour book challenge is underway! Kate is starting with Rick Riordan's The Red Pyramid, and I have Jessica Grant's Come, Thou Tortoise in my hands. We intend to ignore homework, housework, computer and telephone for the next few hours.