Eats, Shoots & Leaves: Why, Commas Really Do Make a Difference!

Eats, Shoots & Leaves: Why, Commas Really Do Make a Difference! by Lynne Truss

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Lynne Truss has adapted her semi-famous book Eats, Shoots, & Leaves into three picture books (so far). What a great way to visually illustrate the impact punctuation has on the meaning of sentences! The rules really are quite simple and greatly enhance communication, and yet so many people screw them up constantly. This book puts the same sentence side by side on facing pages but changes the commas and uses illustrations to demonstrate the different meanings. Then at the end, there are two pages that give a little more info about the rules for each version of each sentence.

The only sentence pair I didn't like was the one with the squinting modifier about the boy & the duck: "Becky teased the boy with the fluffy duck./Becky teased the boy, with the fluffy duck." The second option just feels wrong to me. "With the fluffy duck" is a fragment. In real life, if I had to use that sentence, I probably would have rewritten it to say, "Becky used the fluffy duck to tease the boy." Surely Truss could have picked a better example?

Ah well, the rest of the examples are good. And readers young and old will enjoy the funny drawings by Bonnie Timmons. Readers will also enjoy Truss's other picture books, The Girl's Like Spaghetti: Why, You Can't Manage Without Apostrophes! and Twenty-Odd Ducks: Why, Every Punctuation Mark Counts!.



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Raising a Son: Parents and the Making of a Healthy Man

Raising a Son: Parents and the Making of a Healthy Man by Don Elium

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I read this book slowly, over the course of several months, and although I appreciated what the authors had to say, I think I would have been better off had I read it faster. Much of what the book covers is really Parenting 101, just targeted to boys, so it wasn't all that revelatory to me personally. However, I think there are thousands--maybe millions--of parents out there who would GREATLY benefit from reading and internalizing this book, given the wretched parenting I see all too often where I work (in a public library).

What I especially like about this book is how the chapters are organized, so you can choose to read the whole thing in order, as I did, or skip to the sections most relevant your own son's stage of development or circumstances. And they included further references and resources at the end of each age-specific section. I'm reading an older edition, so some of the references are a little outdated and might be hard to find, but they probably fixed that for the newer edition.

I also especially liked the examples and stories included throughout. They helped ground and explain the theories in a very concrete, practical manner. The authors have extensive experience, especially Don, who is a marriage, family, and child counselor, and they really seem to know their stuff!



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The Exile: An Outlander Graphic Novel

The Exile: An Outlander Graphic Novel by Diana Gabaldon

My rating: 1 of 5 stars


I should preface my review by saying that graphic novels are not really my thing. I love reading comics in the paper and all, but this is only the second graphic novel I have ever completed reading. It's not going to make me a GN convert, let's put it that way.

I had a hard time following along in the GN version of Outlander as told from Jamie's (and Murtagh's, among others) point of view. The artwork was lovely, but I could NOT keep the men's faces straight. They all looked nearly identical to me, and I had to rely on the skimpy dialogue to follow the story. Thank God I'd already read the real novels!

While I'm on the subject of the artwork, what is up with the artist's inability to keep Claire clothed?! I know Claire had a very curvy figure and all, but seriously, no matter what the outfit or context, she always had to be falling out of her flimsy bodices?! WAY too much cleavage to be believable. Capt. Randall's assumption that Claire was a prostitute became utterly logical and rational. She's drawn to look like a blowsy barmaid, for crying out loud!

I'm not certain who the target audience is for this GN version. Perhaps Diana Gabaldon wants to whet GN fans' appetites and get them to read the original series? The nature of this format is such that at least 85% of the story is missing, along with 98% of the character development and back story. It's like reading an abstract for a doctoral thesis. *sigh* In this case a picture really is NOT worth 1000 words. Ah well, I tried. And I stuck it out for the whole thing, just to be sure.

For readers' advisory: story doorway...or people with short attention spans?



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Why Don't We Listen Better? Communicating & Connecting in Relationships

Why Don't We Listen Better? Communicating & Connecting in Relationships by James C. Petersen

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Yes, my mother was right, I DID need to read this book. Actually, EVERYONE should read this book. And now that I've read it, I need to go buy my own copy to keep on hand.

Jim Petersen does a wonderful job of explaining how we go "flat-brained" when we're under stress or under attack, and I love that he also gives concrete steps and techniques to use to recover from that and open communication lines back up by really and truly LISTENING to what other people are trying to tell us. We definitely need the Talker/Listener cards to use in our home, and I may create one to take to work with me, too.



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Anything but Typical

Anything But Typical by Nora Raleigh Baskin

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Have you ever wondered what it is like to be autistic? After reading this book, I feel like I have a much better understanding of the inner world of autistic children (or at least an autistic 12 year old boy). It was really a fascinating glimpse into the frustrations of a family trying to cope with a child who struggles to communicate, who has a hard time sharing his thoughts and feelings with a world of "neurotypicals," and whose sensory perceptions are attuned so differently from most people's. I sympathized with his mother and at the same time wished I could shake some sense into her because she just didn't get it!

Jason has a hard time relating to the world in real life, but online is a different story. In real life, he is picked on, awkward, and misunderstood. Online, he is an ordinary kid who writes creative stories and gets a crush on the girl who likes them. Imagine his panic as those worlds begin to collide.

For readers' advisors: character and story doorways



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The Other Mothers' Club

The Other Mothers' Club by Samantha Baker

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I enjoyed reading a novel where the main characters were all struggling with variations of step-parenting, although none of the women's stories matched my situation. I think this would make a good book club selection because I really wanted to discuss it with someone when I finished. (I did not agree with some choices some of the characters made, and it would have been fun to get other readers' perspectives and opinions.)

The premise of the book is that Eve is in a relationship with Ian and is meeting his 3 kids for the first time. The oldest doesn't react well, and Eve turns to Clare, a single mother of a teenage daughter, for support. Clare's idea is to bring her together with Clare's sister, Lily, who's learning to deal with her boyfriend's young daughter. Their support "group" eventually adds 2 more women with slightly different dilemmas.

For readers' advisors: primarily character doorway, with story as a secondary doorway. It's set in London, England, but it could take place anywhere, really.



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The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner: An Eclipse Novella by Stephenie Meyer

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


3 1/2 stars, actually.

This was a short, fun little glimpse inside the world of the "non-vegetarian" vampire newborns who fought the Cullen clan in the main series. It made me want to go back and re-read Eclipse.

For readers' advisors: story and character doorways



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