Percy Jackson & The Olympians Review

Related:Vote For Your favorite Percy Jackson Book

Our family recently finished reading the Percy Jackson & The Olympians books, 1-4, written by Rick Riordan. We all really enjoyed the stories.  We read about three to five chapters daily. We highly recommend this series and are waiting impatiently for the next book!

The main character, Percy, always had trouble in school and was diagnosed with dyslexia and ADHD. As it turns out, all the children of the gods have dyslexia and ADHD. The reason behind this is that they have to be alert and on thier toes, so it is one of thier natural instincts to not focus on one partular thing, but be constantly surveying their surroundings. I liked that.

The author, Rick Riordan, did a wonderful job of making the characters endearing, even the kids who are bullies and the not-so-nice kids. 

read more: Percy Jackson & The Olympians Review , Vote for your favorite Percy Jackson book and watch a video of the author reading chapter one of “The Battle of the Labyrinth” (click here)

Kathleen Turner, Send Yourself Roses

Book review: Send Yourself Roses: Thoughts on my Life, Love, and Leading Roles, by Kathleen Turner, published in 2008.

I recently read the book Send Yourself Roses by Kathleen Turner. I don’t read biographies. The last one I read was in 1995, It’s always Something, by Gilda Radner. Because I am a fan and heard that Nicolas Cage was suing over some things Mrs. Turner said in the book, I had to read it. I’m glad I did. It was good.

She told a little story about each movie she was in, such as Romancing the Stone. Michael Douglas, Danny DeVito and Kathleen really hit it off. She stated that during the filming, Michael and his wife were going through a separation. She didn’t have a relationship at the time, either, and began to fall in love. 

I found it entertaining the way she lets everyone have it. She obviously doesn’t worry about angering her fellow actors. If they did something to upset her, they are going to hear about it. Maybe even in a published book. For example, Christie Brinkley stood her up a few times. She was supposed to see Kathleen’s play and was a no show more than once. Aparently Christie felt bad and sent a gift. Kathleen says she sent it right back saying “You can’t buy friendship” or something like that.  Nicolas Cage filed suit against her for claiming he had been arrested for DUI twice and once stole a chihuahua he liked.

She tells about her struggles with Rheumatoid Arthritis. I knew nothing about the disease but now I know that it is terrible. It’s good to be informed. (Click here for her official website)

Anyway, if you are a also a fan, love her movies, or have Rumatoid Arthritis, I recommend this book. A word of warning, though. F-WORD THIS, F-WORD THAT, F_CK, F_CK, F_CK. I don’t swear, and all the f_words in this book were a little surprising to me. Kathleen Turner must have been a truck driver in a former life! 

The Monstrous Memoirs of a Mighty McFearless -Review

The book, The Monstrous Memoirs of a Mighty McFearless, by Ahmet Zappa, was very fun to read. It is inspiring that the author, who battled Dyslexia, has written such a great book! Our family read it together and we all enjoyed it. It was a little scary in places, but the kid’s didn’t seem to mind. The book is full of great pictures of the monsters that Zappa drew himself. It is a good story about 11-year-old Minerva McFearless, her brother Max, and their mysterious coyote friend, Mr. Devilstone, as they battle the evil army of the king of all monsters—the dreaded Zarmaglorg!  The book is set up in a cool and different way. There are pages of “scientific” data on the monsters in the story scattered throughout the book.

We are waiting anxiously for the movie, which will be out 2009, and also waiting for the next book in the series!

About Ahmet Zappa: Last year I read an article in ‘Readers Digest’ about Ahmet and this book. It told us about how he struggled through school with the learning disability, Dyslexia. (click here to read article) He always enjoyed drawing pictures of these monsters and decided to write a book about them. This is his first book, and it is very good. TV personality, movie actor, musician, and son of legendary rock musician Frank Zappa, Ahmet Zappa lives in Hollywood, California, with his one-eyed dog, Wink.   see his website

Review: Books by Eoin Colfer for Young Readers

Our family has really enjoyed the chapter books by Eoin Colfer for younger readers. These stories are very entertaining and keep the kid’s interest. We have read three of them: The Legend of Captain Crow’s Teeth, The Legend of Spud Murphy, The Legend of the Worst Boy in the World. They are also easy to read. The book, Worst Boy in the World, is one of the first chapter books our son read ‘voluntarily’ on his own. Reading these books led me to read the book, “Half Moon Investigations” also by Eoin Colfer. It is excellent! I am halfway through the book right now and will write a review when I’m finished.

The Legend of Spud Murphy:  Will has four brothers and it’s chaos in his house! If he’s not being teased by his big brother Marty, he has to deal with the terrible, three-headed bundle of cuteness that is his three younger brothers. Even worse, his mother has the brilliant idea of packing Will and Marty off to the library during the holidays. She just doesn’t understand! Not only is the library no fun, it’s also the habitat of the legendary librarian Spud Murphy. If you put a foot wrong, it’s rumoured she will use her dreaded gas-powered spud gun and you don’t want that - just ask Ugly Frank how he got his nickname!

The Legend of Captain Crow’s Teeth: Will and his brothers are on holiday in a cramped caravan on the wild Irish coast. All the boys love ghost stories, but one dark night Will’s older brother, Marty, tells the bloodcurdling tale of the cutthroat pirate, Captain Crow. Will is scared. From that night on, everything starts to go wrong for Will. He is embarrassed, by a girl, at the local youth disco - The Sprat’s Jig - and Marty convinces him that the ghost of the evil Captain Crow is out to get him. But Marty’s tricks backfire, and for once Will has the last laugh.

The Legend of the Worst Boy in the World:  Will is desperate to win the Giant Jelly Baby competition and be named ‘the best boy in the world’. But his big brother Marty always beats him to it. Then one day Will’s wish comes true – he’s the best boy in the world at last! Marty is not happy, and decides that something must be done…

 

 

The Riot Brothers, by Mary Amato, Book Review

We just finished the book, Snarf Attack, Underfoodle, and the Secret of Life: The Riot Brothers Tell All, by Mary Amato. The kids and I really enjoyed it. This book actually got my reluctant reader reading on his own!

The Riot Brothers are pranksters and love to play jokes on people. Unlike most books about siblings, Wilber and Orville get along with each other swimmingly. They decide they need to do something exciting every day and in the first story they plan to catch a crook. They don’t have a certain one in mind, any crook will do. In our favorite story in the book, the boys decided to make some money by giving lessons on ‘being annoying’ to their classmates. They end up in the Principal’s office (who is also their mother), and still manage to foil a bank robber on the way home from school. Next, while searching for treasure, they find a mysterious box in the closet. After they finally open it, they discover that the contents, although not worth money, are still valuable. The final installment has the duo building a catapult designed to overthrow a king and using it instead to defeat a bully.

“Snarf Attack” is a short chapter book with cartoon like pictures throughout. We have been trying to get our son to read and this book did the trick. It was funny and most importantly, easy for him to read on his own. There are three different stories in the book about these mischivious kids (with six chapters each).  We tried the other Riot Brother’s books, and the kids enjoyed them, too. Snarf Attack was our favortie.

Other Riot Brothers books: Drooling and Dangerous: The Snarf Brothers Return &  Stinky and Successful: The Riot Brothers Never Stop