BookPikks

Those of you who only know Ann M. Martin from the Babysitters Club series will be in for a pleasant surprise if you look for books written by Martin more recently. She has written several excellent books, (not that the BSC books weren’t excellent in their own right, but. . .), including one Newbery Honor winner.

A Dog’s Life was, for lack of a better and less cheesy word, delightful to read. It tells the story of Squirrel, a stray dog. Squirrel and her brother head off as puppies on their own, and have many good and bad adventures as they look for food and a warm place to sleep. What I appreciated about this book is that Martin didn’t attempt to personify the dogs. They didn’t talk, engage in witty banter, or even demonstrate many human-like emotions. Instead, Martin let the dogs be dogs, and just told their story.

I’ve read Anne Frank’s diary many times, and always enjoy it. While Anne’s diary covers mostly the time that she and her family spent in hiding, this book tells what happened before the family moved to Holland, and what happened to them after they were betrayed. Some of the details of Anne’s father’s businesses were too much for me, and I skimmed those sections. But the information on Anne’s schooling, the methods that the Nazis used to subdue the countries they conquered, and the sacrifices that those who helped the Franks made, were quite interesting. The author also interviewed survivors of concentration camps, who had come into contact with Anne and her family in Westerbork, Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen. These interviews gave a clear and grim picture of what happened to the family in the camps.

I’ve read several of Dobson’s books on child-rearing (The Strong-Willed Child, Bringing Up Boys) and after awhile, they all start to run together. He uses many of the same stories, examples and research in multiple books. So then you start to say to yourself, “Haven’t I read this book already?” Maybe my opinion of Dobson’s books will change after I’m a parent myself, but right now I feel like if you’ve read one, you’ve read them all.

This was a cute romance that I would have enjoyed more when I was 13. The unique part of this book is that the main character, Kate, is writing a romance novel, and the book is supposed to be her novel. So throughout the story, Kate adds her own commentay and “revision notes” in which she explains her choice of words, makes fun of romance novel language, etc.

Well as you might expect, I read this book because my husband and I are expecting our first child. I’ve had many friends who have used the “Babywise” techniques with their children, so I decided to check it out.

After the first few chapters, I discovered that I read this book way too early in my pregnancy. Now I have 6 months to worry about how I will tell if my baby is crying a hungry cry, a tired cry, a bored cry, etc. And don’t get me started on setting feeding schedules, nursing, healthy growth indicators. . . But all in all, I think this book will be helpful. It provides solid guidelines for getting your baby on a good schedule and sleeping through the night. I know I will re-read it next May. If only the baby could read the book too. . .