The Prince and the Pauper

Title: The Prince and the Pauper

Author: Mark Twain

Pages: 240

Genre: Fiction

Grade: B

Synopsis: Tom Canty is a young boy born in the slums and beaten and abused from a young age.  Edward Tudor is the heir to the throne.  The two boys were born on the same day and share a striking resemblance to one another. One day Tom and Prince Edward find themselves intrigued by each other on opposite sides of the palace fence.  Edward invites Tom into his quarters where they both fascinate each other with tales from their lives. Tom with tales of poverty and need and Edward with tales of great wealth.  They trade clothes, get separated and Edward is kicked out of the palace as everybody believes him to be Tom Canty.

My Review:  This book was pretty good.  It was a fun story about Tom Canty the son of a beggar and thief trying to figure out life as a Prince and Prince Edward struggling to stay alive on the streets.  It was interesting to get a glimpse of how Mark Twain viewed the two lifestyles back when this book was published (in 1882).

Amelia Lost

Title: Amelia Lost: The Life and Disappearance of Amelia Earhart

Author: Candace Fleming

Pages: 118

Genre: Biography

Grade: B+

Synopsis: This book alternates chapters between Amelia's youth and growing up and the extensive search for her and her airplane after it went missing.

My Review: I read this book with Ada and Kate.  Kate lost interest pretty quickly, while Ada enjoyed the book although it is probably written for kids a few years older than her.  Everybody knows the basic story of Amelia Earhart, but I don't think that I've ever read a biography of her or read much about her exploits prior to her ill-fated last flight.

The Screwtape Letters

Title: The Screwtape Letters

Author: C.S. Lewis

Pages: 6 discs

Genre: Fiction, Satire

Grade: B

Synopsis: This book is a collection of letters between a wise old devil and his nephew Wormwood, who is a young novice demon trying to tempt a young man and secure his damnation.

My Review: To be perfectly honest, I didn't really care for this book, which is surprising based on how many friends & acquaintances rated it so highly. It was difficult for me to get into it and once I did I found it to be a bit boring, although it was still interesting.

Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret

Title: Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret

Author: Judy Blume

Pages: 4 discs?

Genre: Fiction

Grade: B

Synopsis: Margaret Simon is an almost twelve-year-old that moves from New York to the suburbs and is trying to fit in.  Her father is a Jew, her mother is Catholic and the friends that she makes in her new place are obsessed with bras, boys and getting their periods.

My Review: Ok, I didn't really know what this book was about when I first started it. In fact, we started listening to the book on a family trip and it started out tame enough. But before long, the subject matter moved into puberty-level stuff and I had to eject the cd and finish listening on my own. That's not to say that Ada (who is 8) wasn't really interested and enjoying the book, but the book is probably more appropriate for girls 10 years old and older (like me, apparently).  It's a pretty funny book and it felt like it gave me a decent taste of the issues and conversations that I can expect in my own house in a few years. We will have those discussions while doing pushups as a family and chanting: "We must, we must, we must increase our bust!"

Freakonomics

Title: Freakonomics: A rogue economist explores the hidden side of everything

Author: Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner

Pages: 6 discs

Genre: Non-Fiction

Grade: A-

Synopsis: In this book the authors make comparisons between seemingly unrelated topics and attempt to show a relationship between them.  For example, some of the questions that are explored are why drug dealers still live with their parents? How did the legalization of abortion affect the rates of violent crime? And what is more dangerous, a gun or a swimming pool? In today's modern world, we have access to a treasure trove of data that can be mined for correlation.

My Review: I found this book to be well-written, enjoyable and frankly, quite fascinating.  I especially enjoyed the broad scope of topics that was explored and found the arguments made in this book to be quite convincing. For example, I tended to attribute the huge decrease in violent crime during the Bill Clinton era to his increased funding for police and public safety, but that only gives us part of the story, as this decrease also coincided to when those first aborted fetuses would have been reaching adulthood. It seems that there is often more than one side to every story.