Reading Challenge 2016: Some Clever Title

Some Clever Title: A FoxTrot Collection blah blah blah
by Bill Amend


Love FoxTrot, not this collection

I love FoxTrot. I have loved FoxTrot for many years. Its geeky and nerdy and pop culture and funny. Its my favorite comic strip, so I was looking forward to this new collection. While this had the same things I love about FoxTrot, I don't care for this collection as much. A couple of the comics are not appropriate for children (particularly the ones featuring an actual photo of a bikini model and the one where beef jerky is fashioned into beef twerky) which was disappointing. Beyond that, though, this collection only features the Sunday strips. Now the full color strips are great, but there are no story arcs. Its just a collection of funny, punny, independent strips. One of my favorite things about FoxTrot are those little collections of hilarity, so I was sad for those not to be included here.

3 stars

This review appears as a part of the Reading Challenge 2016. To see other books in the series, click here.

Reading Challenge 2016: Bears in Wild

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Week 23: A book about the natural world

Bears in the Wild

by Ada and Frank Graham

Dated

Super overarching story of bears and how we know what we know about them. This was written shortly after our knowledge of bears began expanding so the information is sparse. I actually didn't learn anything new reading this, which surprised me. The writing is sadly not that engaging - it reads almost like a textbook for young elementary students.

At the time of publication, this book was probably great, but now its dated. I'm sure there are better books out there if your child is interested in learning more about bears. 

2 stars

This post appears as a part of the Reading Challenge 2016. To see other books in the challenge, click here. 

Reading Challenge 2016: Cricket in a Thicket

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Week 22: A book of poetry

Cricket in a Thicket
by Aileen Fischer

OK

Collection of poems about the outdoors for children. Some are really cute, others are just average, a few are meh. Children probably won't notice or care. The ink drawings were great for the time, but the print quality may be off-putting to some - definitely from a time past (but in a cute way) I wish they were colored. Cute for checking out of the library, but not a personal library must-have. I'll copy my favorite couple out of the book & then pass it along.

3 stars

This post appears as a part of the Reading Challenge 2016. To see other books in the challenge, click here.

Reading Challenge 2016: Daniel Webster

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Week 23: A biography

Daniel Webster: Defender of the Union
by Robert Allen

Engaging and Informative

This book is well written for school aged children. There are some parts of the book in which I question its accuracy because we are not told certain instances were recorded in a diary or otherwise. How can we know what Daniel though before he drifted off to sleep at age 5? The use of the quotes and other such instances makes the work appear unreliable to an adult - a child would not question it (which could be problematic). Thankfully, we are moved into a time where there is more resources documenting his life within a few chapters.

While I have different political persuasions from Daniel Webster, the book is still interesting to read and engaging, though at times it appears as an apologetic for Webster's beliefs. The sentiment that America is a Christian nation and great because of that is present, but not overwhelming.

I really enjoyed learning about this great man and his times. Honestly, seeing how the political situation was in his day gives me a little more hope than I had before this reading. This isn't the first time we've been faced with bad options, but if we all do our part maybe we can still pull through as have in the past.

3.5 stars. Recommend.

This review appears as part of the Reading Challenge 2016. To see other books in the challenge, click here.