Phil Rink

These author was featured in our local newspaper. Wanting to give a local author a try, I ordered all five of his books. I am going to read two or three more to get a good idea of what his style is like, but I wanted to like this book more than I did. It was about two boys who are beginning middle school with a new soccer coach. She pushes them to be more aggressive in their game and they find out a pretty amazing secret with her. I am not sure if it was the topic of soccer that I did not particularly care for or his writing style. It seems like there is more to the characters than was written in this book. I'm not sure how I would use this in the library other than it may get a few reluctant readers (boys) to read.… (más)

Interesting and entertaining. This kind of adventure is something I can say with total confidence I will NEVER do, and not only because I get seasick in/on anything larger than my bathtub and smaller than a cruise ship. However, I have enormous respect for anyone who decides to spend a significant chunk of time off the beaten path in whatever way. Mermaid is long on logistical details and short on the deep descriptions and insights that come with some better travel writing, but I suspect the author wrote this first and foremost as a record for his family and frends, with the goal of A Published Book a distant second, and it does very well or what it is. As the mother of a boy roughly the same age as the author's two kids, I particularly was interested in Rink's descriptions of what he and his wife hoped this experience would do for the kids. I appreciated both their goals and the outcomes and found myself wishing the kids had had more of a direct voice in the book - the adventure was most certainly life-changing for all of them.… (más)

I received this book as part of the Member Giveaway program on LibraryThing.com. This book is at a third grade level, but it is so fun for both kids and grown-ups. A great lesson is learned here about sticking with a project, and not giving up even when others around you quit. Jimi and Isaac are given a challenge to build a Mars probe that can take pictures. Isaac gives up on it pretty quickly, but Jimi keeps going on it, with some pressure from the grown-ups who think he is making a model, and not the real thing. This is a great book with a fun storyline, and an interesting perspective. Really a great read, something parents can feel good about their child reading. It has a few lessons to learn, and a lot of fun. Great book!

http://libraryofsarah.blogspot.com/2011_03_01_archive.html

http://www.amazon.com/Jimi-Isaac-3a-Mars-Mission/product-reviews/1456303198/ref=...… (más)

Space: the final frontier
Jimi: the 6th grader who built a probe to go to Mars

How cool is that? Jimi is an aspiring saxophone player, who doesn't do very well in Spanish, enjoys his soccer team, and dabbles in rocket science. Hey, we all need hobbies, right? Almost as a joke, Jimi and his friend Issac take on a project to build something that would make space programs "less boring." With a fistful of cash and no idea where to start, the boys are going to Mars. Showing a great deal of teamwork, perseverance, humility, and forgiveness, Jimi builds a basic plan for a Mars probe.

This is a great book for any young reader to dive into; Jimi has characteristics I wish many children had these days: respect for his parents, intelligence, inquisitiveness, determination, and dedication. There are a few places in the book where you chuckle a bit, but the majority of the story is based on the trials Jimi had to go through in order to reach a goal that many thought was unattainable by a young child. Never give up on dreams no matter how impossible they may seem.… (más)