Svetlana's Reads and Views

It’s spring break and the only assignment Wally Hatford and Caroline Malloy have is to do something that they have never done before. Wally’s sure that will be a cinch once he hears the great news about the mighty Benson brothers coming to stay for vacation. It will be nonstop action all the way. For starters, the nine Benson and Hatford boys plan on scaring the three Malloy sisters silly by convincing them that their house is haunted. Of course, the boys don’t know that the girls are hard at work plotting their own special surprise welcome. The Bensons don’t know what they’re up against with the Malloy girls. But they soon will. Meanwhile, everyone in town knows there’s a hungry cougar on the prowl. When the kids decide to take a break from their tricks and join forces in catching the cougar, guess who gets stuck with the scariest job? This will surely be something no one has ever done before. For my take on this book, please click on the link here: COMING UP 4 out of 5 (0:...

Name of Book: Call Down the Stars Author: Sue Harrison ISBN: 0-380-72605-x Publisher: Avon Books Part of a Series: Storyteller Trilogy Type of book: Japan, Alaska, River people, evil, 602 PME, 590 PME, storytelling, 6447 PME-6427 PME, reunions Year it was published: 2001 Summary: The Bear-god warriors came like a tsunami from the sea... On that day of great terror and sadness, the girl called Daughter escaped with her grandfather across the icy North Pacific to find shelter on the islands of the Whale Hunters. But peace was not to be their lot. For here the mad medicine woman K'os was scheming vengeance against her mot despised enemy, the revered warrior and statesman called Cakliux- her son. And this young, innocent female from a far-off place was the key- the final, essential ingredient in a demonic brew of suspicion, hostility, and forbidden love that K'os would prepare with an expert hand...to poison the lives of those she hated and would see dead. C...

Name of Book: The Bonesetter's Daughter Author: Amy Tan ISBN: 9780399146435 Publisher: G.P Putnam Type of book: China, mother-daughter relationship, 1920s-1990s?, living together, dementia/Alzheimer, legends, stories, myths Year it was published: 2001 Summary: A major new novel from the internationally bestselling author of The Joy Luck Club, The Kitchen God’s Wife and The Hundred Secret Senses. LuLing Young is now in her eighties, and finally beginning to feel the effects of old age. Trying to hold on to the evaporating past, she begins to write down all that she can remember of her life as a girl in China. Meanwhile, her daughter Ruth, a ghostwriter for authors of self-help books, is losing the ability to speak up for herself in front of the man she lives with. LuLing can only look on, helpless: her prickly relationship with her daughter does not make it easy to discuss such matters. In turn, Ruth has begun to suspect that something is wrong with her mother: s...

Name of Book: Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them Author: Newt Scamander (J.K Rowling) ISBN: 0-439-29501-7 Publisher: Scholastic Part of a Series: Harry Potter Type of book: animals, guide, reference, magic, children, wizards Year it was published: 2001 Summary: A copy of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find them resides in almost every wizarding household in the country. Now, for a limited period only, Muggles too have the chance to discover where the Quintaped lives, what the Puffskein eats, and why it is best not to leave milk out for a Knarl. Proceeds from the sale of this book will go to improving and saving the lives of children around the world, which means that the dollars and Galleons you exchange for it will do magic beyond the powers of any wizard. If you feel that tis insufficient reason to part with your money, I can only hope most sincerely that passing wizards feel more charitable if they ever see you being attacked by a Manticore. Albus Dumbled...

Name of Book: Quidditch Through the Ages Author: Kennilworthy Whisp (JK Rowling) ISBN: 0-439-29502-5 Publisher: Scholastic Part of a Series: Harry Potter Type of book: History, Quidditch, magic, Harry Potter Year it was published: 2001 Summary:  If you have ever asked yourself where the Golden Snitch came from, how the Bludgers came into existence, or why the Wigtown Wanderers have pictures of meat cleavers on their robes, you need Quidditch Through the Ages. This limited edition is a copy of the volume in Hogwarts School Library, where it is consulted by young Quidditch fans on an almost daily basis. Proceeds from the sale of this book will go to improving and saving the lives of children around the world- work that is even more important and astonishing than the three-and-a-half-second capture of the Golden Snitch by Roderick Plumpton in 1921. Albus Dumbledore Characters: There aren't any characters in the book, just a general version of Quidditch his...