More Tor
After enjoying Brainboy and the Deathmaster, I went to NYPL to try and find some more titles by Tor Seidler.
I really wasn't familiar with Mr. Seidler's books, and a lot of the titles seemed to deal with talking animals. I am generally not too fond of talking animals, but I checked out Mean Margaret (a National Book Award finalist in 1997) which has talking animals and Brothers Below Zero (2002) which has no talking animals.
I don't think I enjoyed either of these as much as I enjoyed Brainboy. I think Mr. Seidler comes across as too gentry at times, for me.
Mean Margaret got off to a bit of a slow start for me, with Fred, a fussy woodchuck who decides he needs to get married after a week of sleepless nights. But things pick up quite a bit when Fred's neat burrow gets invaded with his new bride's adopted child, a human terror who renames herself Margaret.
Despite my reservations about talking animals, this was actually pretty enjoyable. I think it might be a nice teacher read aloud to third graders, but I don't know that it would appeal to most of the kids who are in the market for a short chapter book. The pictures by Jon Agee are a nice bonus.
Brothers Below Zero features a helicopter rescue, but it's not nearly as exciting as the helicopter happenings in Brainboy. It's basically a nice enough story about Tim, a seventh grader who is in the shadow of his more athletic and academic sixth grade brother. Tim finally finds something to shine at thanks to his Great Aunt Winnie, but she is soon taken from him. The book is a nice enough holiday time tale of brothers finding common ground, but it comes across as pretty unessential.
Am I off base on talking animals and Mr. Seidler? Are you familiar with another of his titles that you recommend?
Any new-to-you authors worth reading? Share!
I really wasn't familiar with Mr. Seidler's books, and a lot of the titles seemed to deal with talking animals. I am generally not too fond of talking animals, but I checked out Mean Margaret (a National Book Award finalist in 1997) which has talking animals and Brothers Below Zero (2002) which has no talking animals.
I don't think I enjoyed either of these as much as I enjoyed Brainboy. I think Mr. Seidler comes across as too gentry at times, for me.
Mean Margaret got off to a bit of a slow start for me, with Fred, a fussy woodchuck who decides he needs to get married after a week of sleepless nights. But things pick up quite a bit when Fred's neat burrow gets invaded with his new bride's adopted child, a human terror who renames herself Margaret.
Despite my reservations about talking animals, this was actually pretty enjoyable. I think it might be a nice teacher read aloud to third graders, but I don't know that it would appeal to most of the kids who are in the market for a short chapter book. The pictures by Jon Agee are a nice bonus.
Brothers Below Zero features a helicopter rescue, but it's not nearly as exciting as the helicopter happenings in Brainboy. It's basically a nice enough story about Tim, a seventh grader who is in the shadow of his more athletic and academic sixth grade brother. Tim finally finds something to shine at thanks to his Great Aunt Winnie, but she is soon taken from him. The book is a nice enough holiday time tale of brothers finding common ground, but it comes across as pretty unessential.
Am I off base on talking animals and Mr. Seidler? Are you familiar with another of his titles that you recommend?
Any new-to-you authors worth reading? Share!
posted by Mr Talbot at 5:13 PM
3 Comments:
I just got Brainboy and the Deathmaster in my book-delivery yesterday--I can't wait to read it myself, and to hand it out to kids.
I tried pushing it on two students today who came in looking for something exciting, but I don't think my biref-summary was exciting enough. ....they politely declined. heh.
maybe after I read it...
...One of the students who didn't jump for B.boy and the D.master that first day, came back today and asked for a new book. ...I went through the what sort of book do you have in mind, what are you wanting, etc. ....and then he said "actually I know the book I want, that one with the orphans?....and videogames?..."
now it's checked out. and he's promised me a review when he brings it back.
I just read The Dulcimer Boy by bewilderingly talented Tor, cover to cover in one sitting. It was a lovely way to spend an hour. On the shelves of BPL, it looked like a short chapter book--a bridge, or early chapter book, but the language is too sophisticated.
Rather, a great read-aloud for both boys and girls, I think, and for gaining ground in vocabulary and visualizing as a comprehension strategy, not to mention New York historical fiction--although not reflected in the subject headings.
In brief, the boy is a type of Pan. Parentless, he wanders but not in a selfish way. He is very loyal to his twin brother who is mute. I was reminded of Avi's The Man who was Poe so I recommend it paired together with that book. Both deal with abandoned kids in early American seafaring communities on the eastern seaboard. When the father admits he is half a drunk and says that "Sometimes I think I should have never given them up. I have been...thirsty ever since," his insight is almost unbearable and I wonder what cords it might strike in fatherless kids out there today.
All books of the sea have a great feeling of adventure!
I want to see when astrakhans come back in style too. I had never heard of them.
Thanks for pointing us to Seidler, Ben. He is very special.
The phrase about the linden tree roots "rivering over the lawn", and the dulcimer tucked behind the glassed-in top shelf of the old secretary "looking like something underwater" are unforgettable. Oh, and that sad lost love song. Woe is me! The silent and beautiful recurring retort to Mrs. Carbuncle's pithy "paper doesn't grow on trees" is brilliant.
Whooeey. For both girls and boys...and such a perfectly crafted worthwhile quick read...cheers,
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