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Welcome to the Bookshelf Detective, a site packed with tricks and tips for readers and writers of children's literature. Thank you for visiting!
Cheers,
Kim Tomsic
Showing posts with label review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label review. Show all posts

Sunday, April 22, 2012

REVIEW: How to Babysit a Grandpa



HOW TO BABYSIT A GRANDPA by Jean Reagan (illustrated by Lee Wildish) is one of the most delightful picture books available in the market. With every page turn, parent and child will experience laughter and amusement. Furthermore, if the premise isn't enough to satisfy a reader (it is!), the gorgeous and amusing illustrations will surely win you over.

Available at:
Skylights Books (in California)
 Tattered Cover Bookstore
Barnes and Noble
Amazon




  • Reading level: Ages 5 and up
  • Hardcover: 32 pages
  • Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers (April 10, 2012)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0375867139
  • ISBN-13: 978-0375867132
  • Thursday, January 5, 2012

    The Sisters Brothers: A Macabre Poetical Comedy

    Book Review by Kim Tomsic


    When The Sisters Brothers popped up as Amazon's must-read book of the year, I happily succumbed to marketing pressures and downloaded the book. I can now report that Amazon's plug was not mere smoke and mirrors, but instead a genuine enthusiastic recommendation.



    The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt involves two brothers who work as hired killers during the time of the gold rush. Elie Sisters, the lovable younger brother, attempts manners and big-hearted gestures. Charlie Sisters, the older brother, comes off callous, soulless, and yet somewhat reasonable. These hired killers aren't cardboard cutouts of the black hat wearing villains who typically appear in westerns. Sometimes they're lovable, charming and full of charisma. Their bizarre back and forth banter is a combination enough to create a macabre poetical comedy. For anyone who watched Pulp Fiction, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about.


    Jacket flap

    Hermann Kermit Warm is going to die. The enigmatic and powerful man known only as the Commodore has ordered it, and his henchmen, Eli and Charlie Sisters, will make sure of it. Though Eli doesn't share his brother's appetite for whiskey and killing, he's never known anything else. But their prey isn't an easy mark, and on the road from Oregon City to Warm's gold-mining claim outside Sacramento, Eli begins to question what he does for a living–and whom he does it for.

    With The Sisters Brothers, Patrick deWitt pays homage to the classic Western, transforming it into an unforgettable comic tour de force. Filled with a remarkable cast of characters–losers, cheaters, and ne'er-do-wells from all stripes of life–and told by a complex and compelling narrator, it is a violent, lustful odyssey through the underworld of the 1850s frontier that beautifully captures the humor, melancholy, and grit of the Old West and two brothers bound by blood, violence, and love.
    In a word or two: Original, hilarious, riveting

    Product Details


    • Hardcover: 336 pages
    • Publisher: Ecco; Reprint edition (April 26, 2011)
    • Language: English
    • ISBN-10: 0062041266
    • ISBN-13: 978-0062041265
    • Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6 x 1.1 inches

    Saturday, May 7, 2011

    Book Review: As If 12 3/4 Isn't Bad Enough, My Mother Is Running for President

    The word, H-I-L-A-R-I-O-U-S.
    As If 12 3/4 Isn't Bad Enough, My Mother Is Running for President (Delacorte Press/Random House Children's Books 2008) by Donna Gephart is about seventh-grade Vanessa Rothrock who has a few wishes in life:
    5. win the spelling bee;
    4. discover her secret admirerer's identity;
    3. receive a gift (the gift!) from the boob fairy;
    2. snag another wink and phone call from Reginald;
    1. keep Mom safe and out of the election.

    It's easy to see why As If 12 3/4 Isn't Bad Enough, My Mother Is Running for President won the 2009 Sid Fleishman Award presented at the SCBWI's national convention. The Sid Fleishman is the prestigious award granted to honor an author "whose work exemplifies the excellence of writing in the genre of humor." Translation: the book is snort-out-loud funny.

    As If 12 3/4 Isn't Bad Enough, My Mother Is Running for President
    5 out of 5 lollipops
  • ISBN-10: 0440422116


  • ISBN-13: 978-0440422112


  • Hard cover list price $11.99/ Kindle $7.99


  • Rating 5 out of 5 lollipops!


  • Book Jacket: "As if being 12 3/4 isn’t bad enough, Vanessa Rothrock’s mother is running for president and it’s ruining her life. Isn’t it enough that her enormous feet trip her up all the time, even on stage during the school spelling bee? Isn’t it enough that Reginald Trumball, love of Vanessa’s pathetic life, read her personal and private list of deficiencies to some boy she doesn’t even know? And that the Boob Fairy hasn’t visited her even once?! Doesn’t Mom realize that Vanessa needs her more than the rest of the country? More importantly, doesn’t she realize that she may be in grave danger? Vanessa's receiving threatening notes at school–notes that imply some psycho has it out for her mother at the Democratic National Convention. Vanessa might be the only person who can save her. But does she have the courage to do what that requires?"

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