Book Review: Plan for Chaos

I had been going about my life thinking that I had read all of John Wyndham's books (The Chrysalids, The Day of the Triffids, The Midwich Cuckoos, etc.) but after recently getting a library card in Auckland I came across a book of his I'd never even heard about before: Plan for Chaos.  Seeing as his books have been some of my favourites, I immediately took it out and put it at the top of my reading list.

To be honest I was a tad bit disappointed.  Unlike all of his other novels, which deal with something a little supernatural (or at least different), this one was pretty ordinary - though not realistic really.  The basic plot is that a bunch of identically looking women are turning up dead of apparent suicides.  The catch, the main character's fiancee looks exactly like these women.  So he goes on a search to find out what is going on and realizes that not only does his fiancee (who is also his cousin - yes, a little strange on that count) have several doubles, but that so does he.

Soon he is kidnapped by the doubles and their reason for being and their purpose and conection is revealed.  But to put it bluntly, I was not convinced.  I don't like revealing details, but it does involve a plot for worldwide domination and cloning (though, this probably was a very advanced thing to write about in the 50s).

This was not a page turner for me, by any means. The style seemed very different than his other novels, though for a brief bit at the beginning it had a film noir kind of feel to it - a nice detective story.

Seeing as this book was first published in 2009 (he died in 1969) and he had been working on it at the same time as one of his first novels (The Day of the Triffids) I would think it a safe assumption that he never intended this to be published at all.  Though I definitely prefer his other books, it was interesting to see this one, though I'm not going to go so far as to recommend it.

Book Review: Warm Bodies

What is it with me and reading books with questionable titles?

Anyway, the Zombie craze soldiers on. I'm sure many have noticed a recent number of both movies and books dealing with the subject (I'll put a list at the bottom of this for good measure, in case you didn't notice). Warm Bodies, by Isaac Marion, takes the zombie story in a new direction: a zombie in love. Not only that, but the book is written from the perspective of the zombie, R, which puts the whole thing into perspective. They may be dead, but they do have feelings and needs.

The basic plot of the story is that while on a routine feeding trip, R decides that instead of eating Julie, to save her and keep her safe. R's friend M (the Zombies can't really remember a lot, but some of them can remember tidbits, and some can even speak) at first doesn't think this is a good idea. Through twists and turns we follow these two young lovers in their quest to unite two families... er... groups of individuals (people isn't really an appropriate word when dealing with the undead) who are otherwise at war with each other. Throw in Julie's best friend Nora, and a an attack on a human named Trevor and you might start to see some similarities between this story and another, more famous one (1000 Internet points for whomever can post which story I'm talking about first).

I don't like revealing much more, but if you like zombies and seeing new things done with old ideas (and I mean two old ideas here) then this is definitely well worth your time. I could barely put it down.

In my search for a bit more info on the book, I also learned that it will be made into a movie, opening in 2013. What can you do? This usually happens to good (and often not-so-good) books.

As promised, here is a list of some of the better quality zombie (or similar) movies of the past few years. It's short, but I liked these ones in particular. Post any other ones that you thought were good.

Books:

• World War Z, Max Brooks (Also going to be a movie in 2013 starring Brad Pitt)
• Zone One, Colson Whitehead

Movies and TV Shows

• Zombieland
• The Walking Dead (TV)
• 28 Days Later
• Dawn of the Dead
• Shaun of the Dead

Book Review: Blonde Bombshell

Now, I'm sure that after I put "Blonde Bombshell" as a tag, I'll get a lot of visitors that weren't expected a book review. Ha!

Recently I finished my second book by Tom Holt (the first being Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Sausages). You may notice that the one thing both titles have in common are that they are a bit on the silly side. That is a good indication of what's inside the books. The best label I could put on Blonde Bombshell is that it's a sci-fi comedy. No doubt this is following in the footsteps of Douglas Adams (side note, I saw his grave today) and of Futurama. It's an odd little book, which has a distinctive British feel to it (don't ask me what that is, if you know what I'm talking about, you'll understand) even though none of it is set in England.

The basic plot is that a smart bomb (read that literally) has been sent to destroy earth after the first attempt failed. This bomb then creates a probe which takes on a human form (or dirter, as the bomb initially calls them - think Earth=dirt and then it makes sense) and tries to blend in as a human in order to find out what happened to the first bomb. Strangely enough, things happen to the probe and it starts to become... well, human. We then follow an ensemble group of characters (some of which are definitely not werewolves) in the quest to stop the destruction of the planet against unknown (or are they?) forces. I won't reveal much, but if you liked those two things I mentioned above, you'll surely like this.

There is a lot of "foreshadowing" that is fairly obvious, but that's part of the fun of the book. Things are suggested, but often not fully explained until later. It's like the reader is having a nice "in-joke" with the author. Definitely worth checking out and in the future, I'm going to try to find more of his books to read.

That's all for now. It's late and I'm tired.

Movie Review: The Hunger Games

Imagine a world where teenagers are forced to fight to the death. Now imagine that fight is a hugely popular reality TV show. You'd probably get something resembling The Hunger Games, which could also be described as what you'd get if The Truman Show and Gladiator had a baby (how many of you are imagining a baby that looks somewhere in between Jim Carrey and Russell Crowe - not a pretty thought). But seriously, the result is pretty good.

The basic premise is that Katniss Everdene (Jennifer Lawrence) volunteers to be a "tribute" and fight to the death once her sister is selected. We then follow her journey towards participating in this ritual (which apparently is because of and in order to stop outbreaks of violence in what is definitely a modern-day version of Rome) and her relationships with the other tributes and those who are helping her get ready (Woody Harrelson, Lenny Kravitz and the not so helpful Elizabeth Banks, though we can't blame that on her, that's just the character). You do the math though, there can only be one victor. Oh, did I forget to mention she just happens to be almost as good as Legolas with a bow and arrow. That surely will come in handy.

If I were basing my verdict of this movie solely on the premise, I'd give it pretty good marks. I mean, this is one messed up society. The scary part being how it doesn't seem to be too many steps away from what we have now. There is a huge emphasis (but not overwhelmingly so) on how good a show the whole thing is. It tells, but it doesn't preach.

But I don't base my judgments on premise alone (see here for probably my biggest disappointment). The execution (pun half intended) was also quite good. You get a good sense of what these kids are going through at times and that helps with understanding. It's not just a bunch of fighting (there's not actually all that much of it, really). You also get to see how those who control the "arena" (actually a big wilderness area) really do show a sense of detachment. They don't see these children as living things, just a pieces on a chessboard (a really, REALLY high-tech chessboard).

When I first saw the trailer for this movie I was hooked instantly (well, not Cloverfield hooked, but how often does that happen?). It was only recently that I had my doubts when I saw the massive marketing machine behind the movie. But I didn't let the teen target audience deter me from going and I'm glad I did. Certainly this is a way better movie for teens than Twilight (ugh, preview for the last one beforehand). Katniss is certainly a worthy hero and I can't imagine anyone not rooting for her.

The movie is based on the book (first of a trilogy, so guess where the movie's going...) by Suzanne Collins (who was recently featured in the Observer for this particular book). Guess what just jumped onto my reading list?

A lot has been said about this movie and there are definitely high expectations for it. I'd suggest you go give it a try. Even if it's not your thing, I think movies like this will make you think. Hopefully you'll see a little bit of our world in there. Will this happen? Probably not, but it does make one wonder what path we're on and what our current obsessions will lead to.

Watch the trailer (sorry, YouTube won't let me embed this).


Note: Last week I saw two movies that I'm hoping to put reviews up for soon, but it may take a few days. Also, a book review coming and some other stuff (if there's time).

Book Review: Time Out of Joint

So I bet many of you are wondering what this book is. It's not exactly a well known book. The author, Philip K. Dick, may not be that well known to all of you either. Well, not exactly. Philip K. Dick is the author behind such movies as Blade Runner, Total Recall, Minority Report and Screamers. He has written some great Science Fiction books (it was actually the release of another movie based on his books - one point in the problem of the day for anyone who emails me the name of that movie - that got me interested in him again) and I've read a few of them.

Time Out of Joint follows the story of Ragle Gumm. He lives an ordinary life in 1959 (the year the book was written). He is a longstanding winner of a newspaper contest and lives with his sister, his brother-in-law and his nephew. But something's not quite right. The book traces Gumm as he tries to figure out what exactly is going on.

So how good is the story? Well, I thought it was well written and kept me wanting to come back for more. Dick doesn't focus on big details. He writes as if from the perspective of the regular people and explains things in ways that makes sense to them. About halfway through the book we start to get clues as to what is going on (I won't give it away in this review, so don't worry).
These clues give us just enough information to keep us wanting more.

As far as being a Science Fiction book this one is great (though keep in mind, I'm not talking Star Wars or Star Trek Sci-Fi, but real Sci-Fi, like Dark City). I give this book a 3.5/4. There are some things that could change, but is a believable story and tells the tale of a chilling situation. If you like Sci-Fi books, I definitely recommend this (and other Dick stories, which will no doubt be reviewed in the future in this place).

Book Review: My Friend Leonard

I'm sure you all heard about the controversy with Oprah and James Frey over Frey's "memoir" A Million Little Pieces. Personally, I don't care if he lied or not, I thought that was a great book. Anyone who thought it was completely true is living in a dream world. I'm sorry, but how many movies have you seen that are "based on actual events"? Rarely are those movies accurate. So take the first book as it is: a story.

But my focus in this post is not A Million Little Pieces, but My Friend Leonard. MFL starts where AMLP left off.

Most of this book is absolutely ridiculous and lacks the urgency of AMLP (it's hard to top a guy who's trying to beat a drug addiction) and I actually was having a hard time believing that this book was actually good (it was recommended to me by a good friend). The beginning is great (although extremely gut-wrenching), but soon after the initial tragedy, the book takes a sharp turn downwards. Frey paints a picture of his friend Leonard as a man who lives to the excess. Always buying more food than people can eat, and just generally using his money and influence to please the characters it seems like a very shallow friendship. The books coasts like that for the middle 80%. It took me about a month to read this, partly because it just wasn't that interesting. However, the last 100 pages started to pick up and the last 30 or 40 make the whole experience worthwhile. I won't spoil any endings, but the friendship comes out as much much more in those last pages.

What Frey did (at least to me) is to give me a character that I didn't really like and that did things in a manner which is not necessarily the most honorable. He spent a whole book building this persona up. Then when you think there's no saving grace, he explains the character's actions.

It's definitely worth a read, especially if you liked AMLP.

I'll give this book 4/5. The middle that drags on is the reason I can't give it a 5, but the ending is why I won't give it a 2.

Countdown of My Favourite Children's Books: #1

We've finally reached number one on my list after 4 long weeks, you finall get to know what my all-time favourite children's book is. Before we begin, here is a recap of the last four posts I've done: week 1, week 2, week 3, and week 4.

A quick recap of the first nine:

10. The Berenstain Bears Series
9. Where the Wild Things Are
8. Matthew's Midnight Adventures
7. Princess Smartypants
6. Love You Forever
5. The True Story of the Three Little Pigs
4. Oh, The Places You'll Go!
3. The Paper Bag Princess
2. The Lorax

1. The Eleventh Hour (Graeme Base): I said last week that it was my analytical mind that this is the number one book and anyone who has read this will understand why. The Eleventh Hour (note: this link contains a spolier!) is about Horace (an Elephant) who plans his 11th Birthday Party (on November the 11th no less). Eleven guests are invited to eat eleven dishes of food and play eleven games. The story focuses on this party but with a twist. At the end of the story, the big feast is stolen. No one knows who it is, but the book goes on to tell you that there are clues hidden throughout the book (and boy are there clues!). The first time I read this book I was in grade 5 and our class tried feverishly to figure out who did it (don't worry I won't spoil the fun). Recently I bought a copy of the book so that I could look through the pictures for the clues. Even as an adult (and I knew who did it) I had fun looking through the pages.

The pictures are amazing (as anyone who has seen Graeme Base's work - including Animalia, The Sign of the Seahorse, and many others - will know). I have fond memories of this book and it is one of the few I actually remember vividly reading when I was younger (though no doubt there are many I read over and over). For more information on Greame Base, check his website.

I hope this list has been enjoyable. Feel free to comment on your favourite books from your childhood. I will be adding some honourable mentions next week of books I enjoy and had a hard time not adding to this list.

Countdown of My Favourite Children's Books: #2

We're still on our way to number one in my countdown of my favourite children's books. Check here for week 1, week 2 and week 3.

Here's a quicker recap of the first 8 books:

10. The Berenstain Bears Series
9. Where the Wild Things Are
8. Matthew's Midnight Adventures
7. Princess Smartypants
6. Love You Forever
5. The True Story of the Three Little Pigs
4. Oh, The Places You'll Go!
3. The Paper Bag Princess

2. The Lorax (Dr. Seuss): Another Dr. Seuss book that I didn't read until I was much older (I was actually reminded of one that I read a lot when I was young, but unfortunately that did not make the list), and a book that I read to my class just yesterday. I think this is more than a good book; it's an important book. First published in 1971, this book rings true today. For those of you who have not read the book, I suggest you do (I can't imagine a public library that does not have this book), and so I will not explain the plot, other than to say it is about our treatment of the planet. I have used it twice already to teach students about the environment and I plan on using it many times in the future. This book would have been number one on my list were it not for my analytical mind (a clue! (which itself is a clue!)) and some fond childhood memories. The Lorax is probably the only book on this list that I think ALL children should be read. It's message is too important to be forgotten or ignored.

Tune in next week to find out what the #1 book on my list is (and if you know what it is, please don't post it, as I know many of my readers are waiting in anticipation!).

Countdown of My Favourite Children's Books: #'s 4 & 3

Here is the next installment in my countdown of my favourite children's books which I started two weeks ago and continued last week. Here is a recap of the books I have already counted down:

10. The Berenstain Bears Series
9. Where the Wild Things Are
8. Matthew and the Midnight Tow Truck
7. Princess Smartypants
6. Love you Forever
5. The True Story of the Three Little Pigs

4. Oh, The Places You'll Go! (Dr. Seuss): Believe it or not, I had never read this (at least to my knowledge) until the end of my very first practicum in Toronto in 2003. A fellow student teacher brought it in to read to our class on the last day we were there and I read it to one of our classes (we were in a SK class, with a morning and an afternoon class). I absolutely loved the story. Every time I read it I have to hold back the tears. I think this book is such a classic for so many because it is honest. It's not one of those books that says everyone is great and that nothing bad will happen. It instills a message of working hard but still encourages children - and adults - to dream big dreams and to not be discouraged by setbacks. Lately this book has become a cliched gift to graduates of every level of school. I'm not really into that, but I think the book is great for people who appreciate good children's literature. I could not find much information out there about the book, except that it is Dr. Seuss's last book. Find more info at Wikipedia and at the Dr. Seuss website.

3. The Paper Bag Princess (Robert Munsch): Ok, so those who know me, may be surprised that this is "only" number three - but I assure you, I have two good ones at the top and you'll understand why. This book is somewhat similar to Princess Smartypants in that it is about an atypical princess. I like this book more for the fact that it spits in the face of conventional fairy tales that tell girls they are the ones that need saving. As a character Elizabeth is a great role model. She fights for what she wants, uses her brains to beat a foe, and then stands up for herself at the end. The humor present in this book also adds to it's appeal. If I were doing a list of which books I like to read, I imagine this would be a bit higher (Dr. Seuss is hard to beat for readability though). A few years ago, they released a new version of the book which has background information on the book which is rather interesting if you are a fan (or for children who like that kind of thing). There is lots of information about this book at Wikipedia, Robert Munsch's Website, and a random site I found.

Stay tuned for # 2 next week (that's right, I'm going to make you wait two whole weeks until I reveal #1!).

Countdown of My Favourite Children's Books: #'s 7, 6 & 5

This is the continuation of the countdown I started last week. A recap of the first three:

10. The Berenstain Bears Series

9. Where the Wild Things Are

8. Matthew's Midnight Adventures

7. Princess Smartypants (Babette Cole): In the same vein as the Paper Bag Princess this is a book about a Princess who doesn't fit the stereotype. Babette Cole is definitely an author worth reading and has produced many other storybooks (which may or may not all be suitable for children). This particular story is about a Princess who everyone wants to marry. She makes each potential suitor complete some very difficult tasks. Definitely one that will make students laugh.

6. Love You Forever (Robert Munsch): If this story doesn't make you cry, the story behind the story will. A few years ago I had a music class where we talked about this book. It originally started as a song which was written by Munsch after he and his wife had two babies born dead. The song was written to those two babies. Astute fans of Robert Munsch will notice that his regular illustrator (Michael Martchenko). This is because the book was seen as a book for adults and not a book for children (though many children do enjoy it). More information about the book can be found here.

5. The True Story of the Three Little Pigs (Jon Scieszka): Another great author who has written several great children's books. I choose this particular book of his to highlight because it was the first one of his I read and it absolutely blew me away (no pun intended). This is the classic story of the Three Little Pigs as told by the wolf. So simple yet such a great idea. Similar to Princess Smartypants in that it is a fractured fairy tale (my how many of those made my top 10) but very different. This can be used in so many ways in a classroom.

Tune in next week to find out what books 4 and 3 are!

Countdown of My Favourite Children's Books

A few weeks ago I sent out an email to all the teachers and librarians (and people who would know about this stuff) to send me their top 10 favourite children's storybooks and their top 10 favourite children's novels. I got responses from three people, so I figured those results would be slightly skewed. I'm going to hold off on this and hope that maybe I'll get a few more responses to this survey. In the meantime I will count down my top 10 favourite children's storybooks. We'll start with three today:

10. The Berenstain Bears Series (Stan & Jan Berenstain): Who out there has never read one of these books. The books dealt with such things as candy, tv, homework, and on and on. Though not necessarily the best books to read to children, they sure are enjoyable

9. Where the Wild Things Are (Maurice Sendak): This one is a favourite of many and although the basic plot has been done over and over (for those of you in my program at UVic you may remember when we looked at all the stories similar to this (Someone leaves home, finds it dangerous, then returns – I can't remember the name of it, but perhaps a classmate could post the name). Apparently, I have heard there is a movie in the works. Hmmm.

8. Matthew's Midnight Adventures (Allen Morgan): Specifically Matthew and the Midnight Tow Truck, but also the Midnight Turkeys and the Midnight Money Van. The idea of the magic car wash that could shrink regular cars into “dinky cars” (ahh... the good old days when I played with those) is kinda cool if you're younger. Very much in the vein of Robert Munch books (part of that is probably that they have the same illustrator).

Tune in next week to hear about #'s 7, 6 and 5!

Raffi: Beyond Beluga

Most people my age or older will probably remember Raffi as the guy who brought us Baby Beluga and other great hits. Those who will be graduating with me in June will probably also remember Raffi as the guy who welcomed us to our program three years ago. But what most people do not know is that Raffi has found new ways to enrich this world since he first started singing for children.

His ideas now revolve around the idea of Child Honouring. According to his website,

Child Honouring is a “children first” approach to healing communities and restoring ecosystems; it views how we regard and treat our young as the key to building humane and sustainable world. (It’s not about a child-centered society where children rule, nor a facile notion of children being all things nice; and it has nothing to do with permissive parenting.) It is a global credo for maximizing joy and reducing suffering by respecting the goodness of every human being at the beginning of life, with benefits rippling in all directions.

Child Honouring has nine principles: Respectful Love, Diversity, Caring Community, Conscious Parenting, Emotional Intelligence, Non-Violence, Safe Environments, Sustainability and Ethical Commerce. They are fairly straightforward and most teachers probably buy into each of the principles already. Recently I took a class where we talked about these principles. We made projects that encorporated the ideas and some of them will likely find their way onto this page.

Raffi, along with co-editor Dr. Sharna Olfman, has put together an anthology which explains Child Honouring: Child Honouring: How to Turn This World Around. The book includes a forward by H.H. The Dalai Lama. The link contains a phone number to order the book, but here are links to find the book at the libaries (sorry, just the Victoria library, apparently Hamilton does not have it!):

• Greater Victoria Public Library
  

I have not yet read the book, but many of my friends have and I have heard nothing but good things about it (perhaps one of my friends would like to share their thoughts).

We're All the Same. Or Are We?

Today is Tuesday and that means I'm talking about teaching related stuff. My subject of the day is gender differences – do they exist? And if so, why do they exist? I used to think that boys and girls were the same (besides the obvious physical differences) and all of our behaviour was determined by how we were treated. But recently my mind has been changing.

Are boys and girls fundamentally different? According to Dr. Leonard Sax (and a lot of studies that he references), yes. In his book, Why Gender Matters, Dr. Sax discusses many biological differences between males and females that are present at birth. For example, one of the biggest things he talks about (and it's something that is widely supported by research), is that girls hear better than boys. He says that this is a very important fact that many teachers do not know. Therefore, if little Johnny is acting out, maybe he's doing so because he can't hear where he is sitting at the back of the class. The reasoning goes that a female teacher will talk in a voice that is appropriate to her, but not loud enough for a boy at the back of the class. And the reverse of this is that girls at the front of the class often think male teachers are yelling at them. This is all in the book, and for anyone who works with kids – or plans to have them one day! - this is an excellent read. The book covers topics from drugs and sex to discipline.

Of course I would never say that everyone fits into a certain mould. The book also talks about the boys and girls who do not fit this pattern (though it also says that they are in the minority). The other great thing about this book (and he even says it somewhere at the beginning) is that this book is written entirely based on research. Everything he says is backed up by something. Another important thing that Dr. Sax stresses is that he only mentions that males and females are different. They are both equally capable of the same things, but they take different paths to arrive at the same definition.

Since reading the book, I've tried to use the ideas it talks about when dealing with my students. It is really too early to say whether or not it's working, but nothing has gone horribly wrong. Either way I think it's an interesting read and certainly opened my eyes to a different way of thinking about gender.

So here is all the information you might need about the book:

• Author and Book Site
• ABE Books (where you can buy the book)
• Listing for the book at the Greater Victoria Public Library
• Listing for the book at the Hamilton Public Library

Sorry if you're not from Hamilton or Victoria, but that's where most of my readers are from...