Stitch Head by Guy Bass

Stitch Head -isn't he cute?

Funky, funny and engaging, Stitch Head is the story of a forgotten but extremely loyal creation of a young mad scientist. The little "monster" is named Stitch Head due to the peculiar appearance of his head; it's all stitched together with thick, black stitches. While he was once a young mad scientist's best friend,
events occurred that left Stitch Head alone and discarded while the mad scientist, Erasmus, went on to create increasingly massive and terrifying monsters. Which actually end up not being so horrifying, thanks to the valiant but humble efforts of Stitch Head. Stitch Head aids Erasmus in this new way now; he has a multitude of ways to turn those crazed monsters straight from the lab into relatively gentle, albeit odd, social creatures. They all live in notorious Castle Grotteskew, and all is fine, or pretty much fine, until a sideshow rolls into town, and the head honcho of the sideshow attractions starts making trouble for Stitch Head. The story is light and humorous and sure to delight a lot of young readers who revel in kooky, creepy material. The illustrations are very well-done and add to the story, giving us a fun view of Stitch Head and the other characters. This would be a good addition to any library or home bookshelf that caters to kids.

Above by Leah Bobet

While the concept of Above was interesting and pretty unique, I never really felt engaged in the book. I don't know if it was because the writing style didn't click with me or because there was never really enough revealed about the story for me to become super involved. The story is told in a broken, lyrical sort of
fashion, thanks to the main character, Matthew, being undereducated yet a teller of stories. The fuzzy background of Safe and all the tales that Matthew keeps and keeps as the Teller were pretty interesting, but I always felt like I was only getting tidbits of the whole history and it was not enough to satisfy me. I wanted more from this book but unfortunately there just weren't a lot of answers here.

I mean, don't get me wrong, it was an okay little read. I liked the storyline, and I was all right with most of the characters, well, most of the characters except Ariel. She drove me a little bonkers with all of her running away and fussiness but I understood more about why she acted that way toward the end of the book; still, I was never in love with her as a character.

The world building was a little shaky; I had a really hard time placing it in a certain time period, but that might have just been because it was from Matthew's point of view and time works differently for him, I suppose. I still wanted to know more about Safe by the time the story finished, and I wanted to know more about some of the characters.

While not particularly fantastic, Above was still a decent read. I just wanted a little more from it, but, eh, I suppose I'll live...

The Slave Dancer by Paula Fox

The Slave Dancer was the Newbery Award winner for 1974; it's an old school book, written in an old school style. Therefore, for people who love modern style writing that's quick or not too prosy, this one probably isn't the one for them. It miiiight not hold the attention of an action-driven kid who is more
interested in racing around the yard than reading, but I think it is a good teaching tool or a launching point so that parents or teachers could talk to kids about slavery, slave ships and the Middle Passage. I think it's also a good novel to give kids who might be interested in learning more about slavery.

This is the story of Jessie, a boy musician who plays his fife for the wrong people and ends up getting shanghaied. He winds up on a slave ship, where he is forced to play his fife while the slaves are on deck so they can dance for exercise. It's also the story of the slaves who are forced aboard the ship as prisoners and property and made to endure a unimaginably awful journey. The pain and suffering and madness of this book is enough to make the hairs on the back of your head stand up. The men who work the slave ship are a tough and terrible lot, and their captain is practically psychotic. They are senselessly violent and few, if any, have any moral qualms about their line of work. The slaves...you can feel their anguish. Many of the scenes are disturbing; they stayed with me long after I finished the book. From the point in the story where the slaves are loaded onto the ship to the point onward is especially difficult to get through due to the exhibitions of cruelty. There is a hopeful ending for more than one character at the end of the book. I thought it was a weighty and powerful read, but it might go over the heads of younger kids. I think middle school/high school would be the most appropriate age group for this book.

Alive!

Hey, I haven't disappeared! I just finished grad school classes for the semester, finally, so all the reviews I put on hold will be coming soon. Huzzah and verily! Meanwhile, my list of to-reads grows ever longer, and the library has gotten a bazillion more books in. This is a great problem since every time I finish a book I feel like...

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

A tale of adventure, treasure, a talking dragon with a funny name, dwarven companions and discovering courage during trying circumstances, The Hobbit is a story that kids, teens and adults have been enjoying for
going on a century. It's the story of a small, fussy little hobbit named Bilbo Baggins, who loves his cozy home in the Shire, where no one goes on any adventures or does anything very daring or dangerous. However, they all know what's going on in the town and who's who and who's related to so-and-so and what they ate for breakfast that morning. It's rather like a small Southern American town, actually. Bilbo's a homebody but there's a small spark in him that is still adventurous, thanks to his Took side (shout out to Peregrin Took, Tookishness rule!), and it is this little bit of boldness and a good shove from Gandalf that leads him to join the company of Thorin Oakenshield. This group of dwarves is heading off to the Lonely Mountain (aka Erebor) on a quest to reclaim their treasure from the dragon, Smaug, who took over their kingdom quite a few years back. Dwarves are a proud folk, but eventually Bilbo wins their approval and they actually start looking to him for answers and plans and the like. Their adventures include battling goblins, trekking through a creepy forest, being imprisoned by an Elven king, sneaking back into their own kingdom and then a massive battle. It's easy to sort of lose track of which dwarves are along for the journey (there are 13, so it's a lot of names and many rhyme), but if you do decide to watch The Hobbit movie, they're given rather distinct character traits and appearances. A few stand out in the book, like Thorin, Dori, Balin, Fili, Kili and Bombur; many of the others, poor fellows, sort of fade into the background. Overall, I love this book to pieces, and I would recommend it to basically anyone with a healthy love of fantasy.