Kimberley Burton HeustonReseñas

A little Soulless and stiff. Perhaps because of the Shaker angle.

ty of Toledo in 1965. Ms. Mildred married a man by the name of Howard Millhouse. I can recommend this book to people who were being treated like a slave and who are ages 10 and up.
Cassie Logan - The narrator and protagonist. Cassie is the second-oldest Logan child. She has a fiery temper like her Uncle Hammer. Also, she is very naive concerning the facts of racism.
Little Man (Clayton Chester Logan) - A meticulously neat first-grader, Little Man is the youngest of the Logan children.
Stacey Logan - A thirteen-year-old boy, Stacey is the oldest of the Logan children. He is part-adult, part-child.
Christopher-John - A cheerful seven-year-old, Christopher-John is the second youngest of the Logan children. He is timid.
Papa (David Logan) - Cassie’s father. He values his independence highly, leaving to work on the railroad in order not to lose ownership of Logan land.
Mama (Mary Logan) - Cassie’s mother, a schoolteacher.
Uncle Hammer - Papa’s brother, Hammer lives in Chicago. He has a short temper.
B

Summary: The book opens with Napoleons birth and early life in Corsica as Napoleone di Buonaparte. Napoleons upbringing including resenting the French, wanting to be in the military and wanting better for his family. Napoleon is granted a chance to go to a military academy in France and soon begins adopting their culture, even changing his name to it's French spelling, as he quickly climbs the ranks of the French military. As his conquests spread, his ego and paranoia grow, leading to his downfall and eventual exile.

Personal Reaction: I thought this biography was interesting. The writing and facts are appropriate for a third, fourth or fifth grader. The illustrations help form a better idea of what was going on.

Classroom Extension Ideas:
1. Using dots (markers or pencil erasers dipped in paint) have students illustrate on a map how Naopleon's armies spread through Europe.
2. Have the students write a Pro's and Con's list about Napoleons ideas and decide for themselves if he was good or bad.

I liked the first half of this book much better than the second half. In the first half, Jude seemed like a quite normal teenager, unhappy about having to move to another country, and the suffocating environment of Communist Czechoslovakia was vividly described. Then she just goes stark raving mad, and I'm like, what? The diagnosis given was borderline personality disorder, but it really didn't seem to fit. I think the author rushed it; it was like she didn't really care to describe Jude's symptoms but only wanted to write about her recovery and everything, which left me blinking and wondering why Jude was diagnosed with BPD in the first place.

I think this was worth reading, but only because there are so few YA books about the Prague Spring and the affects of Communism in Czechoslovakia.½

This non-fiction book from the Wicked History series tries to get kids to learn about world events by triggering their sense of horrified fascination. Targeted at children of an age to be learning about the Holocaust, it recounts the horrific events of Mao Zedong's tenure as leader of the People's Republic of China with a solemnly condemning narrative. Perhaps surprisingly, the author does not shy away from the U.S.'s involvement in propping up Mao's government during the 70s, when he began to open up to the West. She recounts heinous acts perpetrated by Europe and the Japanese as well. The only people that Heuston really seems comfortable siding with are the Chinese peasants, who get exploited by just about everyone. With chapter headings like "Red Guards: Mao unleashes an army of angry youths on the rest of the country", one might expect a more lurid and exploitative treatment of the subject matter, but Heuston keeps the worst of the violence under control. She even tries to give the story a happy ending, recounting that though Mao died of old age in his bed, he did so without the popular support he had enjoyed earlier in his career.

Using only menacing red and black ink, this book is marketed to kids looking to gain an understanding of the brutal world they have hitherto been sheltered from. Sometimes disturbing, often uncomfortable, this book is a good way for inquiring minds to learn about the dark side of human nature. Recommended for grades 5-8, depending on maturity.

When Jude's mother wins a Fulbright, their family has to leave behind America and all its joys for a new life in Prague. But the trip is harder than it should be on Jude, and it tempers with her sanity. As Jude struggles to control herself and her feelings, the world around her breaks into fights as well. Only Jude's sisters and a kind lady seem to be able to help at all. But will it be enough?

So the premise sounds amazing, doesn't it? But the action didn't really start until like 3/4 through. It's nice that I get a background on Jude's story, but I was hoping for a little more excitement. It seemed like all the sudden Jude went crazy, and then all the sudden there's the climax. But it definitely held my attention when Jude's mind did start to go.
The characters were solid and I loved the relationship with Jude and her fraternal twin, Merry. It seemed very real, as they weren't always "you're my favoritest person in the whole world" but you could tell they still loved each other very much.
As I said, it takes a while to really get into the story, but if you can make it all the way through, I think you'll enjoy The Book of Jude quite a bit, for its originality and depth.

Rating: 3.25 Stars
Clean?: Clean
Length: 217 Pages
Publisher: Front Street
Released: April 2008

This is a very well written and well researched historical fiction book. It was bland at some parts and the story would get confusing or pointless, but the details were very interesting. I chose to read it for a class report, and it was an easy fast read.½