I grew up on the south shore of Long Island, digging barefoot for clams in Moriches Bay. We’d just scoot our feet back and forth, like doing the twist, until we hit something (sometimes it was a razor clam, which, while delicious, is responsible for some bottom-of-the-foot scarring that persists to this day), grab it, grab our knife, open it, and slurp that puppy right out of the shell. So I’m clearly not raw shellfish averse (and so very glad that I’m not allergic!). But […]
Wayward Pines – Reviews 14-16
I’m probably the last person to read these books, but I finally got around to it. I’m still not sure how I feel about the series. They’re either the most brilliant things I’ve ever read, or the dumbest thing ever put on paper (or screen, in my case). Don’t get me wrong, the books are compelling, and I lost a couple of nights of decent sleep because I just had to find out what was going to happen next. But (spoilers ahead, in case I’m not […]
Standardized testing is the enemy
When we left the McQuarrie kids, they were fighting the evil FunTime empire. At the end of the last book, the principal had called all the Rebels’ parents in for a meeting, which didn’t got as she had planned. The parents began to realize that maybe FunTime wasn’t the best educational product. And the kids learned that they had allies in the grown-up and teacher world. As ever, Tommy is building a case file about the FunTime situation, with all the kids contributing a chapter. […]
The Origami Yoda saga continues. . . .
And we’re back at McQuarrie Middle School. Dwight’s back too, and now the kids have a new common enemy: The FunTime Education System. Like I said in an earlier review, the author has an opinion about standardized testing and schools teaching to the test. It is not a good opinion, and it is an opinion which I share. As to the kids at McQuarrie. So, the school failed the standardized testing last year, which ain’t good. As a parent, I’d probably be pulling my kid […]
Not to be confused with that other, other Girl
The second book in the “Love Takes Root” series is The Other Harlow Girl. It’s about Lavinia (Vinnie, natch), the Harlow Hoyden‘s sister. You remember her from the first book, the one that was engaged to the [spoiler], and then [spoiler spoilered] him because he was about to [spoiler] her sister, who is now the Duchess of Trent (she married the guy that she tried to get to seduce Vinnie in the first book). Whew! Anyway, the Hoyden and the Duke are married, and Vinnie […]
Can a book be lighthearted if people get eaten in it?
Yet another book I’ve read with my kid. I promise you that I’m also reading grown-up books, but I just haven’t reviewed most of them yet (I’m over 30 reviews behind – I am not proud of that). And this is one I can wholly endorse. We picked it up because the whole family wants to see the movie. Now that I’ve read it (not sure how I missed it when I was a kid), I want to see it even more. But I would […]
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