doubly blessed
It has been a week of blessings. Escape from the hellish confines of a hotel in Disney. Happry Potter movie. Niece's surgery going well. Family time. But most of all, seeing all of my friends at NCTE and ALAN and getting books and having time to read them, too.
Paul Hankins (and if you do not follow him on Facebook and Twitter, do that RIGHT NOW) asked me to pick up an ARC of the new Tom Angleberger and since he and Donalyn Miller (ditto the order to friend and follow) set me onto ORIGAMI YODA, I did that for him. However, I also felt the need to read the book first. So glad I did. I kept it pristine for Paul and took notes outside the book (hard for me on this one). I have already built a ladder that begins with Dahl and goes to Don Quixote. Is that a portent of things to come with this book?
HORTON HALFPOTT (Amulet 2011) is a laugh riot, a mystery, metafiction, and more. Plus, did I mention the cover glows in the dark? I am not going to tell much here since I do not want to post spoilers at all. However, Horton is a hapless kitchen boy at the beginning of the novel and much more by the end. If you like word play, the breaking of the wall between author and reader, great read alouds, maps, type faces, references to chapters not in the actual book: this is for you.
I connected this book via a long ladder to KNEEBONE BOY, TWITS, DESPEAEAUX, BONESHAKER, GOING BOVINE, CLOCKWORK THREE and ultimately to Dickens and Quixote.
Paul Hankins (and if you do not follow him on Facebook and Twitter, do that RIGHT NOW) asked me to pick up an ARC of the new Tom Angleberger and since he and Donalyn Miller (ditto the order to friend and follow) set me onto ORIGAMI YODA, I did that for him. However, I also felt the need to read the book first. So glad I did. I kept it pristine for Paul and took notes outside the book (hard for me on this one). I have already built a ladder that begins with Dahl and goes to Don Quixote. Is that a portent of things to come with this book?
HORTON HALFPOTT (Amulet 2011) is a laugh riot, a mystery, metafiction, and more. Plus, did I mention the cover glows in the dark? I am not going to tell much here since I do not want to post spoilers at all. However, Horton is a hapless kitchen boy at the beginning of the novel and much more by the end. If you like word play, the breaking of the wall between author and reader, great read alouds, maps, type faces, references to chapters not in the actual book: this is for you.
I connected this book via a long ladder to KNEEBONE BOY, TWITS, DESPEAEAUX, BONESHAKER, GOING BOVINE, CLOCKWORK THREE and ultimately to Dickens and Quixote.