Kids Books - Cultures

This book is really cool. Its kinda like a modern adaption of The Original Boxcar Children. The Orphans are recruited by a secret society and are supposed to return artifacts to the right place. The children go on an adventure around the globe. Its a fun and exciting book and I would recommend it to anyone who loves a good adventure!

This is a book about a little girl called Sara Crewe. She had servants, closets full of clothing, and a great dad. Her mom died when she was born, but she did not miss her, because she never saw her. Sara loved telling stories and she loved reading books. She was a pretty girl, with long lashes and eyes with a queer color. Her life was better than everyone else. One day, Sara's father told Sara to go to a boarding school for young ladies. She didn't like the place because it was dull and ugly on the inside, with a very ugly and strict teacher who only cared about wealth. Before the day of of leaving each other, Sara's father bought her a doll that Sara loved, who was called Emily. In the boarding school, everyone liked her, except some of the big girls that were popular before Sara came. She cared for a mother-less girl called Lottie and even made a friend called Ermengarde. I'm not going to tell you the rest, but you can read to find out! I recomend it for 7-13 year olds.

The experience of discovering one’s roots, as anyone who has done so can attest, is deeply grounding and often offers a change in perspective. Mai, who is known as Mia to her friends, has a name that captures the duality of life as a native of the California sand and sunshine with Vietnamese roots. The events in this book, however, occur in the latter location, where she accompanies her grandmother (Ba, in Vietnamese) to follow the trail of her Ong, or grandfather, who disappeared and was never heard from again during the Vietnamese War. It is the summer before 7th grade, and she is nervous about what is happening at her home, for some reasons that are often attributed to this age (read: crushes). Moreover, she dreads the prospect of spending most of her summer with her grandmother and people from Ong’s former village, to whom she may or may not be related. Alone, since her mother has decided, of course, to stay in California to prosecute an all-important case; her father, meanwhile, has left to practice surgery on children living in rural villages in the distant mountains of Vietnam. A detective has found possible evidence of where Ong went in the form of a former guard of his, when Ong was captured and sent to the North of Vietnam. The detective and his loquacity factor heavily in this story. However, the process of getting the guard to where Ba is, and persuading him to tell all of what he knows, takes forever. During which, Mai is forced to stay in a new and unfamiliar village acclimating to her surroundings. Understandably, this is something she’s none too happy to do. A moving premise. A fresh narrator. A summer that will be like no other. The themes that resonated with me were finding one’s roots, especially those that are far away, perhaps in another country. Learning about Vietnamese culture? A welcome addition. Seriously, learning about your culture, and your grandfather whom you never knew, only heard about is almost as fresh and engaging of a plot as is possible. Mai’s distinctive voice (teenager in a new, unfamiliar country) mostly helps the story along, but there are instances where it muddles up the story and the experience. All the reduced relative clauses and casual narration may force a few rereadings of those offending lines. What is supposed to be an easy read turns into a moderately-difficult one. The same can sometimes be said about the plot and pacing. While most of the time it emphasizes Mai’s new experiences and her becoming ever closer to her heritage and the people who are a part of, and near it, some of these just demonstrate her snarky attitude, acting as filler for the plot. Without trodding into spoiler territory, I can say that some of the things she brings over, while slightly funny, do nothing to move the plot forward (perhaps because the author felt the book would be too short to be meaningful?) This isn’t true, as Ba’s poetic stories—about meeting Ong, naming her children, learning about his disappearance—usually stretch for a page or more, but offer a deep and resonant connection to this person, searching for her husband after all these years—if anything, just to let go and move on. They end the chapters they are introduced in with a sense of finality, as both we and Mai ruminate over these words. Another possible gripe is that aside from Mai and Ut and Ba, many of the massive cast of characters are not fully developed. So if you enjoy picking up books with many diverse characters, you are out of luck. Let me introduce you to some of them. Her dad and mom could very well be totally absorbed by their work. We hear, very rightly, from Mai’s thoughts, that her father should be accompanying his mother on this trip, instead of leaving Mai to “take care” of her grandmother. We already see the connection between grandmother and granddaughter, so wouldn’t it be good to also see the bond between mother and son, even through a few sentences near the end? Instead, we only get a brief comment about how Mai’s father, Mua, meaning rain in Vietnamese, likely thinks his name is strange. I mean, come on. This book is definitely recommended for anyone who wants to learn about Vietnamese culture or Vietnamese history (particularly the Vietnam War), or has Vietnamese roots, or really anyone who has ever learned, or are planning to learn about one’s roots and the lives of one’s ancestors. Though not everyone will like the narration style or slightly-jumbled events, most all will like the heartfelt, original story of this poignant middle-grade novel.

It's 1754, as Revolutionary War fought between America and Great Britain not yet took place until nearly 20 years later as a young girl, Miriam Willard, a headstrong girl who later got captured from the Indians (Native Americans to be exact). Miriam then befriends Natives, and learning new things, such like herbs for the sick and their own ways of growing and hunting for food, and making the clothes out of the buffalo skins. She eventually got sent home, safely. This story was based on true story about Miriam's older sister, Susanna and her siblings and baby got kidnapped during Indians' raids in Charlestown, New Hemisphere. - Happy Reading!

It was intresting

To be honest, I absolutely love the I Survived series. The whole series is basically in the point of view of a person who survived a war, a horrible event, a terrorism attack, etc. It's basically a history book, but it sounds like a narrative and it's really to-the-point. This book is about Lucas, who loves football. When he gets a concussion during practice, the doctor says that his concussion is really bad for an 11-year-old. Lucas' parents decide that the sport is too dangerous, now that he has a concussion. Lucas has to talk to Uncle Benny, who taught him everything about football. He hopes that Uncle Benny can change his parents' mind. So, Lucas skips school and visits Uncle Benny (who is a firefighter in New York) and his dad, who works with Uncle Benny in the fire department. While they are talking, they were heading toward the Twin Towers when the first plane crashed! Uncle Benny and the firefighters (including Lucas' dad) tries to save as many people as they can. Lucas, on the other hand, tries to help as best as he can, but the room they are in collapses! Will everyone (or anyone) get out alive? Read this book to find out. I would not recommend this book to younger readers, because this is a very serious topic and not appropriate for them. Even though this was a short read, it made plenty of emotions rush through me - fear, angst, horror, and even happiness and relief. It kept me on the edge of my seat and I wept a little wept occasionally. One more thing: terrorism is an awful, awful thing, and I just hope that we can achieve world peace one day. Even if we do have one golden minute of world peace, I feel everything would crumble down again.. I'm sorry. I love this book, but I would subtract one star for not having a very good base or anything I can connect to.

Julie Weiss, a young girl who was a Jewish in Vienna, Austria. The Weiss family had led quiet but peaceful life until between March-April of 1938, everything had changed. Jewish people now being tortured, Adolf Hitler's march into Austria, people dying. Julie, who then sent away to New York of United States, without any further knowing of what happened to her father, but knew what happened to her mother, but not her older brother. I would recommend this book for anyone who are interested in WWII and Jewish people like Julie Weiss. - Happy Reading!

Welcome to the world of Egyptian mythology and Magic! If you've read the books in the "Kane Chronicles Series" then you will absolutely love this book. This book has many more stories with the one and only Carter & Sadie! There's also really cool Quizes and puzzles - so hopefully you made sure Really paid attention to the little details in the series! There's also list of people - like the magicans!- Glyphs and spells, A Hieroglyph Key and a glossary so you don't feel confused. I would like to thank DOGOBooks for giving me this amazing book in the summer reading program, I really enjoyed it. Definitely recommend to Egyptian mythology fans! Thanks for reading -Ajg15's Reviews

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland-- What would you do if you fell down a rabbit hole and entered a whole other world? The book Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll takes you into a whole different place, and it's such a good book! The setting of this book is the rabbit hole/wonderland and the time takes place in the mid 1800's. The main character who is also the protagonist, Alice who just out of curiosity follows the white rabbit down his hole and ends up taking a long journey through wonderland. In this book the antagonist is all of the characters that Alice meets along the way because they try to baffle and confuse her. Throughout Alice's journey she sees and meets many different creatures, enemies, and friends. Will they help Alice along the way? One of the conflicts are on the last chapter, during the trial, when Alice is called to give evidence. She calls the creatures by their name: ‘nothing but a pack of cards’ and they all come flying down on her in rage. Will Alice ever get out of wonderland? Find out by reading this amazing book. Fall into wonderland yourself as you read the words on the pages.

My mom chose this book for me when we went to the library. When I first saw the book I knew that there was a movie based on it, but I thought it had to do with ghosts, because of the title and the cover. Also, I did not read the description on the back: i just decided to start reading. Its based on four African-American women Katherine Johnson, Mary Jackson, Dorothy Vaughan and Christine Darden who worked together to do mathematics calculations during WWII to improve airplanes and missiles and then later become mathematician and engineers of NASA.