We don't do stars...
We don't do thumbs...
We read children's books and grade them in 10 categories:
literary quality
plot
voice
originality
descriptive ability
humor (if attempted)
illustrations (if present)
believability of characters
believability of situations
overall reading enjoyment

There is no grading curve. There are no points for classroom participation. There is no extra credit.
If you disagree, come speak to us after class.

The Grading System

A+.....this means (guess what) we think it's great. So great it surprised even us.
A.....this means it's pretty darn good. A book we'd recommend to just about everyone we know.
B.....better than most. Not exactly Shakespeare for kids, though, if you get our drift.
C.....mediocre. Like the color beige, it didn't stand out.
D.....we didn't like it. There were more bad aspects than good ones.
F.....it reeked of badness. We read it over and over when we are in dire need of hysterical laughter.
F-.....We're pretty sure Dante had a circle of hell for the people who wrote these...and a lower circle for those who published them.

Monday, June 8, 2009

Reporter's Review: Troll's Eye View


Viking, 2009
Overall Grade: A


Troll's Eye View is a collection of short stories and poems by various prominent fantasy authors (Neil Gaiman, Holly Black, and Peter S. Beagle, to name a few), told with the aim of presenting a fairy tale from a different point of view: the villain's. The stories are diverse in style and telling--but consistently entertaining.

It's impossible to give a traditional review of this book due to the number of stories, but we highly recommend it. If you are a fan of fairy tales, a fan of villains, or just a fan of good literature, be sure to pick this up and find your own favorite bad guy. (Ours was the witch from Sleeping Beauty, a la Neil Gaiman...)
Possibly objectionable topics: fairy tale violence, including: abuse, murder, eating of children. (If you can't stomach the original Brothers Grimm, you would do well to avoid this, basically.)
Posted by at
Labels: ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)