Sample Reviews
Fiction
Bayless, Maureen.
Howard's house is haunted. -- Scholastic
Canada, 1993. -- 78 p. : ill. -- ISBN 0-590-74559-X. -- $3.95.
GHOST STORIES
Reviewed by: Gloria Reinheimer, teacher-librarian,
Laronde School.
Howard is a very unlikely hero. He
is afraid of ghosts, spiders, creaky noises, slithery snakes, bullies,
basements and the dark. The first chapter is even entitled "Howard the
Coward." Howard's problems begin when his parents buy an old, neglected
house that everyone in the neighbourhood knows is haunted. To make things
worse the family moves in just before Halloween.
Once they are settled in the new,
old house, food disappears, his mother's typewriter goes by itself and
Howard hears footsteps in the attic above him. He must rid the house of
this pesky ghost.
This is a very gentle story. Howard,
with his round spectacles and clutching his scruffy monkey for courage,
turns out to be more fearless than Punch McLaredy, the class bully. Punch
and his boa, Chokey, will help scare away the ghost, only if Howard does
Punch's homework forever more.
This story would be easily managed
by both early and lower level readers.
Part of Scholastic's "Shooting Star"
series, it has short crisp sentences, simple vocabulary, and lots of dialogue.
Maureen Bayless has also used lots of detail and short chapters. Howard's
House is Haunted will appeal to boys because of Chokey, the snake, and
the ghost. The most delightful part of this story is that Punch, the stereotype
bully, becomes Howard's friend and the old house that Howard thinks is
so unsuitable becomes home for three generations of his family and the
"ghost."
Non-Fiction
616.8
Katz, Alice.
Eating without guilt : overcoming
compulsive eating. -- 2nd ed. -- Self-Counsel, 1991. --91 p.--ISBN 0-88908-978-7.
-- $7.95.
COMPULSIVE EATING // FOOD HABITS
// REDUCING -- PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS
Reviewed by: Rosemary Anderson, teacher-librarian,
W.L.McLeod Elementary School, SD#56 (Nechako).
This book is written by a cognitive
therapist who is a practising counsellor specialising in helping people
deal with compulsive eating, self-esteem, and anger. Compulsive eating
is defined as eating in response to your mind, instead of your body. Overeating
is usually a symptom of a problem, not the problem itself. Dieting can
control overeating, but because one is attacking the symptom rather than
the problem, diets usually fail. This book is a very practical guide that
can help one learn what lies behind compulsive eating, so that one can
address the real problem and get eating habits into a healthy, normal,
balance. Topics addressed in the book are: defining compulsive eating,
planning for change, understanding eating patterns and hunger, the relationship
between emotions and eating habits, body image, taking charge of one's
life, making changes and, finally, eating without guilt.
Eating Without Guilt is a well laid
out soft cover book with a table of contents, appendix of other recommended
reading, twenty-four exercises, and eight charts. There are no illustrations.
It is printed in reasonably sized clear type on non glare paper, with the
headings in boldface upper case letters. The important points are emphasised
by indentation and black dots at the beginning. Cryptic encouraging points
conclude each chapter. The reader is led thoughtfully through the text.
Explanations, practical solutions, and counselling help to make this a
particularly useful self-help book.
The reading level of this book is
late intermediate/secondary, and the target audience is adult. However,
this book could be used successfully at the senior secondary level. I would
recommend this book be purchased for secondary libraries and high school
counsellors, as well as public libraries.
Non-Fiction
670
Seven modern wonders of the world.
-- Raincoast, [1992]. -- unp. : ill. -- ISBN 0-920417-84-1. -- $11.95.
CURIOSITIES AND WONDERS -- JUVENILE
LITERATURE // HISTORIC BUILDINGS -- MISCELLANEA -- JUVENILE LITERATURE
Reviewed by: Gloria Reinheimer, teacher-librarian,
Laronde Elementary School, SD#36 (Surrey).
Seven Modern Wonders of the World
is a small compact book with compact facts, and compact pop-up pictures.
This book deals with manmade wonders from 1851 to 1937. Six of these seven
wonders; the Eiffel Tower, Panama Canal and Golden Gate Bridge, still exist
today. These creations were called wonders because they required engineering
techniques which were innovations in their time.
The pop-up format, which takes up
two pages, seems to justify the short text. The pop-ups themselves are
quite simplistic, unlike many other pop-ups which have more than one moving
part.
This book is quite interesting, but
it has a fairly high reading level which makes it unsuitable for small
children, which the pop-up format seems to denote. However "Adults like
pop-up books too," says a colleague. The pop-up format makes it unsuitable
for library collections.
Non-Fiction
971.1
Miles, Fraser.
Slow Boat on Rum Row. -- Harbour,
1992. -- 270 p. : ill. -- ISBN 1-55017-069-4. -- $26.95.
SMUGGLING -- BRITISH COLUMBIA --
PACIFIC COAST -- HISTORY // SMUGGLERS -- BRITISH COLUMBIA -- BIOGRAPHY
// MISSION (B. C.) -- HISTORY
Harbour Publishing
P. O. Box 219
Madeira Park, BC
V0N 2H0
Reviewed by: Janet McKinlay, teacher-librarian,
Churchill Secondary School, SD#39 (Vancouver).
In December 1931, while living in
Vancouver, nineteen year old Fraser Miles received a phone call from a
friend that promised him a much sought after job during hard times. Little
did he know at the time that he would spend the next two years as a West
Coast rum runner. Debunking the myth of the exciting, romantic, and dangerous
life of the rum runner, Fraser Miles talks of the boredom, the repetitious
tasks, the confinement and the natural danger. This danger came not from
rum running itself, but from life on the open seas.
Fraser Miles grew up in the 1920's
in Mission, BC and begins his two part narrative by describing his childhood
during the depression years. Writing of the intimate details of the life
of a West Coast rum runner, Fraser Miles provides us with little known
facts -- available publications on rum running focus on the violent life
of the gangsters in Eastern Canada and the U.S and tell little of the ordinary
people involved in the day-to-day business of making a living smuggling
alcohol on the West Coast. He writes very informally, very conversationally,
at times to the detriment of both clarity and grammatical correctness.
Not only was life repetitious but also, unfortunately, are the chapters.
Mr. Miles has interspersed his narrative with numerous photographs of various
rum running boats and their crews.
However, the tone of this book is
often unnecessarily offensive. Mr. Miles writes in retrospect, yet makes
no attempt to update language or ideas or ideas 'accepted' in the 1920's
and 1930's but not acceptable today. For example, the fact that his black
cat's name is "Nigger" is incidental to the story, yet emphasised. He refers
to the Chinese railway workers as "Chinamen", abusive female teachers are
labelled "bitches", while most other women are described in terms of their
cooking ability, except for the prostitutes "Celestine and her little kittens".
Other accounts contain disturbing and insensitive references. For example,
he refers to a youth who regularly sodomizes others as having an "awful
dirty habit" and describes a boy with a muscular affliction as running
with "legs and arms jerking like a puppet on a string," albeit "fantastically
gutsy". He makes frequent evaluative comments looking back at the events
of his youth, but allows his racist, sexist, insensitive comments and overtones
to stand as 'acceptable'. The cumulative effect of these 'minor' incidents
is disturbing. It is no longer appropriate to allow such ideas to be presented
under the guise of historical accuracy, particularly when the author does
nothing to counteract the destructive nature of such attitudes. For these
reasons, I will not recommend this book for purchase.
Non-Print Media
574.971
Enviro-Canada Series 1 [picture].
-- J & L MacPherson, 1990. -- 7 study prints : col. + 1 teacher's guide
with student worksheets (100 p.)
NATURAL HISTORY -- CANADA // ECOLOGY
// CANADA -- CLIMATE
J. & L. MacPherson Educational
Service Ltd.
3030 Collens Hill Road
Kelowna, BC V1Z 1P5
Reviewed by Hilda Mitchell, Teacher-librarian,
Pearson Road Elementary School, School District #23 (Central Okanagan).
The posters portray seven representative
Canadian ecosystem ranging from the Arctic Tundra to the Grand Banks of
Newfoundland. Each ecosystem is approached in an identical manner. Water
colour illustrations and accompanying captions are organised under the
heading of atmosphere, animals, plants and soil. Additional information
regarding the above topics is given in paragraph form at the bottom of
each poster.
An accompanying teacher's guide consists
of teacher information and keys, student references and worksheets, as
well as research suggestions. While the majority of units in the guide
serve to complement the posters, additional units deal with an introduction
to the environment, studies of climate and atmosphere in the world, including
specific regions of Canada, with particular emphasis on British Columbia
weather patterns. The concluding unit deals with a short diagram history
depicting the evolution of environmental changes.
Information and worksheets are presented
at three levels -- grades four to seven, grades eight to ten and grades
ten to adult. Several informative charts and diagrams are included which
could be reproduced on an overhead for class use. Various levels of Bloom's
taxonomy are represented in the questions posed at each level.
This package provides a starting
point to the general study of ecosystems, with particular emphasis on Canadian
ecosystems. Several improvements could be made to this kit to improve its
usefulness to educators. The teacher's guide needs and introduction containing
a clear statement of goals and objectives to be met with the use of these
materials. Also a list of references should be included in order to substantiate
and acknowledge sources, as well as to serve as further study guide to
students and teachers.
The set of four posters are sold
separately for $30.00. the sale of photocopying rights for the teacher's
guide and student worksheets for five years starts at 50 cents per student,
based on total enrolment of the school. The price decreases to 25 cents
per registered student if the package is purchased for district use.
Adapted from "Reviewing service
for British Columbia materials -- guidelines for reviewers." The Bookmark,
December, 1993. |
