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3.55 AVERAGE
3.55 AVERAGE
Set in Missouri. Crazy, pack rat dad. Seriously crazy. Scary crazy. Setting was 198...3? Can't remember for sure, but the setting made absolutely no difference except for the fact that the dad kept going on and on about how one day soon computers were going to be hooked up via a network and he'd be able to sell every piece of junk he owned that way. True, yes, but readers will probably roll their eyes at his supposed prediction.
It was well written enough, but I wasn't personally crazy about it. I didn't care enough about the characters, and the plot had too many coincidences. Spoiler alert --
Tornado part at the end was rather shocking (the description was quite well done here--makes me wonder if the author survived the Joplin tornado).
It was well written enough, but I wasn't personally crazy about it. I didn't care enough about the characters, and the plot had too many coincidences. Spoiler alert --
Tornado part at the end was rather shocking (the description was quite well done here--makes me wonder if the author survived the Joplin tornado).
Such a sweet book. The perfect palate cleanser after the bag of rocks that was "Gone Girl" and the sharp tongued vapidness of "Before I Fall."
This book left me feeling charmed and peaceful and entertained. It reminded me a lot of Wes Anderson movies.
Katie Klise, why haven't we met before? Heaven knows i've shelved countless copies of your books at work, but I am only now reading one! Shame that.
This book left me feeling charmed and peaceful and entertained. It reminded me a lot of Wes Anderson movies.
Katie Klise, why haven't we met before? Heaven knows i've shelved countless copies of your books at work, but I am only now reading one! Shame that.
Benny's mom left in the middle of the night, after one argument too many about Benny's dad's hoarding tendencies. Once she leaves, though, the hoarding really goes off the rails: Benny's dad won't throw away pizza boxes, much less anything else. He's convinced it'll all be valuable someday, when paper is obsolete and we buy and get everything via computers. (The book is set in 1981 or so.) Benny wants to clean up the house, but Dad won't let him throw anything away. The best Benny can do is shove a towel under his bedroom door to block out the smell from the rest of the house and hope that his dad eventually gets better.
A solid story, if one unconcerned with the role of the hoarder on a child's life. I'd have liked to have seen more of the psychology there, but the book is aimed at 5th graders, so of course we're going to get more of the "It Takes a Village" element.
A solid story, if one unconcerned with the role of the hoarder on a child's life. I'd have liked to have seen more of the psychology there, but the book is aimed at 5th graders, so of course we're going to get more of the "It Takes a Village" element.
The writing was great, but it felt like the story was too huge to fit into the constraints of the book. It needed more space, more elucidation, and more complexity in its ending.
The writing style is smooth and it flows really well. I found myself picking this up to read during times I would not normally read, drawn to finding out what will happen in the story.
The subject matter is a bit grown up, but what might confuse kids more is the setting of the 1980s. A time of Cassette tapes, VHS, and Tandy computers or none at all. For me, who remembers those things, it was a bit nostalgic and things that could have easily been taken care of in today's setting was a struggle back then, especially the radio station set up.
I haven't read too many books on hoarding, and I was looking forward to seeing what was going to happen with Benny and his Dad...
*Spoilers after this*
.
.
...but I think the author took the easy way out. And I think it might have only happen to make the catchphrase "When Pigs Fly" happen. Everything from that point on stopped feeling realistic. It's like the author thought she was going too deep and needed to lighten things up.
Lighten things up with a tornado. It flattened the town, but everyone lived! The dog was saved, the house of cats was rescued by the dog! Benny drove a motorcycle to rescue his maybe-gf and he had never driven one before. It was large enough to fit 2 kids and an adult on! And Benny was only 12! (I kept forgetting how young he was. He acts a bit older).
The town had won a contest to put a home computer in every house, but the contest people ending up rebuilding the whole town. Hello, expensive!
What I was really hoping to see was Benny's dad realizing how bad he was being when something nearly happens to his son. I really wanted to see the fall out from the town cleaning up his house without his permission. Maybe unearthing a snow globe that has a flying pig in it, or something.
Or a fire. Have the whole place accidentally burn to the ground.
The subject matter is a bit grown up, but what might confuse kids more is the setting of the 1980s. A time of Cassette tapes, VHS, and Tandy computers or none at all. For me, who remembers those things, it was a bit nostalgic and things that could have easily been taken care of in today's setting was a struggle back then, especially the radio station set up.
I haven't read too many books on hoarding, and I was looking forward to seeing what was going to happen with Benny and his Dad...
*Spoilers after this*
.
.
...but I think the author took the easy way out. And I think it might have only happen to make the catchphrase "When Pigs Fly" happen. Everything from that point on stopped feeling realistic. It's like the author thought she was going too deep and needed to lighten things up.
Lighten things up with a tornado. It flattened the town, but everyone lived! The dog was saved, the house of cats was rescued by the dog! Benny drove a motorcycle to rescue his maybe-gf and he had never driven one before. It was large enough to fit 2 kids and an adult on! And Benny was only 12! (I kept forgetting how young he was. He acts a bit older).
The town had won a contest to put a home computer in every house, but the contest people ending up rebuilding the whole town. Hello, expensive!
What I was really hoping to see was Benny's dad realizing how bad he was being when something nearly happens to his son. I really wanted to see the fall out from the town cleaning up his house without his permission. Maybe unearthing a snow globe that has a flying pig in it, or something.
Or a fire. Have the whole place accidentally burn to the ground.