Daily Archives: May 16, 2011


A Rant

It was only a few short weeks ago we celebrated libraries and librarians. You know, the people who find you the perfect book, help you with your homework, make sure you learn to read with fun, stimulating books. These are the quiet, behind the scenes people who really are the guardians of culture. They are the Masters of the Universe.

So to read THIS  makes any book loving, librarian loving person sick.

As in gag.

Just think about this the next time you need to do an assignment and go to the librarian – in the local library, school library, university library.

They are there for a reason.

Apparently LA doesn’t know about this.


Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko

From The Vault

Summary

Moose Flanagan has just moved to one of the most secure places in the world. Alcatraz. His dad had just got a job there as an electrician. His mother is hoping to send her autistic daughter Natalie to a special school there. But when Natalie is rejected from the school, Moose has to look after her so his mom can work and this means he cannot play baseball with his new friends. Family troubles are the main topic in this book. But friend issues and trying to see or hear something from the most famous prisoner there, Al Capone. This story is told with humor and shows what life is like on an island with some of the most dangerous men in the world.

Review

When my mom recommend this book for me to read I immediately thought “NO.” Why, you ask? Well, it was because I thought the book was too child-ish. (you know – not cool) I though the topic would be too baby-ish,  the book was small and I like reading big books (Harry Potter, War and Peace, Encyclopedia Britannica….you get the idea.) But my mom said that since it was for grades 5-8, it was a good read for me. So I reluctantly read it. But I was surprised to find out that I actually liked it. This book was funny, cute and had emotion. Gennifer Choldenko described the feelings that each character had and portrayed Natalie very well. She got the emotions perfectly and made the book real. Natalie was written very well. She is autistic and would throw fits and not move for hours on end. She could not live without her buttons. If you took them from her she would throw a fit and not stop screaming. She had emotions and she was also really smart. Moose was very unhappy to have to look after Natalie but managed with it very well.

Despite my first impression I though that this was a really good book, a good read and I would recommend others to read it.


The Vault

Here at MLCWO there has been spring cleaning going on. Tidying and tweaking the blog. Getting it ready for summer, when there is finally time to totally devour books. All day. Maybe even everyday.

And what a shock to discover quite a lot of posts that never quite made it into the blog.

In The Vault.

Hidden away, some half-finished, some fully finished, some missing pictures, some trailing off because…. what could I say?????

So, in preparation for the load of fresh material coming in summer for the next week or so the blog posts will be coming from The Vault.

What’s in there you wonder?

Well, wait and see.