Dangerous to Know

Dangerous to Know by Mary Jo Putney

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book is actually a reprint of a short novel and a long short story. I'd read the short novel before (The Diabolical Baron), although I can't remember when or where. It's linked to a few other Putney novels of 19th century England. The short story is, on the other hand, set in the American West of the late 19th century and has no discernible ties to her other works. At least not that I can remember. Both stories were pretty good. Nothing earth-shattering, just very well-written romances--perfect for a rare day at home. I'd actually give them 3.5 stars if I could.

If you're recommending the books to other people, be aware that there is some sexual content, although not very explicit at all. As romances go, they are very tame, even by Putney standards.


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Sir Cumference and the Dragon of Pi

Sir Cumference and the Dragon of Pi: A Math Adventure by Cindy Neuschwander

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars

I am such a math nerd--I love this book! I love the names of the characters (Sir Cumference and his son Radius, Geo Metry and his brother Sym, Lady Di of Ameter, etc.) and the way the author tells a fairy tale about a knight turning into a dragon when he drinks a potion, and really it's a funny way to explain the meaning of the mathematical value/symbol "π." ("pi"--in case my inserted symbol doesn't translate in cyberspace)

My only real quibble with this picture book, well, I have two: the reverse potion poem has problems with its meter and is a little hard to read out loud, and the illustrations look a little pixelated as though someone scanned images of paintings and then tried to blow them up a little too far. But otherwise, I think this book is great! Perfect for reading to elementary age kids, and I think it could even work (with the right group of kids) in a math class about to embark upon the new and strange world of irrational numbers. Woohoo! (Hey--I already admitted to being a math nerd.)


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Things Not Seen

Things Not Seen by Andrew Clements

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars

I loved reading Andrew Clements' Frindle last year, so when I saw a new copy of Things Not Seen on the new YA fiction book cart, I picked it up. The fact that we'd worn out our old copies and had to order new ones for the library is usually a good sign when choosing which YA (young adult) books to read. And so it proved to be in this case.

Our Hero is Bobby Phillips, an ordinary teenager who wakes up one morning to discover that his metaphorical invisibility has become literal. Clements does a fantastic job of bringing to life the mixed emotions and frustrations a teenager (or anyone) would actually feel when faced with such gigantic, life-altering dilemma. How would you cope? Whom could you trust?

I appreciated that Clements avoided the cliche of the teenage-boy-in-the-girls'-locker-room fantasy. And I appreciated his depiction of the growing relationship between the girl who couldn't see and the boy who couldn't be seen. It was hard for me to put this book down and return to work after my lunch hours were over.


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Truesight

Truesight by David Stahler Jr.

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars

David Stahler Jr.'s Truesight is like George Orwell's 1984 and Animal Farm meets Lois Lowry's The Giver. Only with blind people. The premise is that about a hundred years in our future, parents are choosing their unborn children's genetics, and a blind couple decides they want their child to be blind like they are, so they tinker with the DNA. It becomes a big media thing, a whole community of blind people grows around them, and eventually they get persecuted by the "seers" (i.e. people who can see) and ask for and get protected status for their Foundation. Part of the group's doctrine is about how much better it is to be sightless because you're not distracted by appearances, are more pure & selfless, blah blah blah. People who can see are vilified and held up as examples of corruption and war, etc.

Fast forward an unknown length of time to when the book is set--on a colony on a planet somewhere outside our solar system. Our hero, Jacob, is a 12-almost-13-year-old-boy who is struggling with adolescence in a society that preaches the good of the group over the good of the individual. Only it turns out that everything isn't quite so perfect in their community--the physical blindness is also sometimes a metaphorical blindness. The "Gatherings" remind me an awful lot of Animal Farm & the "blind" (pardon the pun) bleating of the sheep. Jacob struggles to adjust to his changing awareness of his world, learning some difficult lessons about human frailty and deceit.

The story can be a bit heavy-handed at times, but it's still pretty interesting. Not quite up to Lowry standards, but OK. I'd be interested to know what teenagers thought of it--whether they relate to Jacob's angst, etc. Truesight is the first in a trilogy, apparently, the second book of which is The Seer.


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