Sunday, July 18, 2010

Ana's Story

This book was obviously geared toward a middle school/high school age group. (I didn't know that going into it.) It turned out not to be half bad. Didn't like the ending much, but I understood why it stopped like it did. I feel like there could have been some kind of better way to tie things up. I was also slightly perturbed that Bush never mentioned exactly what country this was taking place in -- but maybe it was meant to leave some anonymity to it? Not sureIf I were a high school health teacher this would be a great book to read and have a discussion about.

Sunday, July 11, 2010

The Camel Bookmobile

I am not really sure where to start. I really enjoyed the writing style -- very gentle and able to grab my attention. I love the story it's self -- as a novel. (Which, thank goodness it is!) But I am unsure of the whole message of the book. I was actually a bit glad in the end -- it went to show that everything doesn't always turn out the way you expect it to. Nothing is perfect. I would hardly think that something like this would ever really be a true story -- because how could an American really understand the minds of this culture? It was a bit too romanticized for me. I liked the quote at the end of the book: " Do they want to be part of a 'larger world'? And who should be teaching whom?"

Saturday, July 3, 2010

Moloka'i

I absolutely loved this book! The character building was fantastic and the story just kept taking lots of unexpected twists and turns. At some points, I thought... okay what's next? And every time it was great. I am already on a mission to visit ever NPS site in the country and now I want to go to Kalaupapa even more after reading this. What a fascinating history. Rachel was a great character. I loved it!