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Shannon C

Shannon C

Married with two beautiful boys. Everything else you may want to know about me will become clear as you peruse my bookshelves. Shelfari is great fun for this book geek.
  • IL, USA
  • member since January 24, 2009

Reviews

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Displaying 31-40 of 1983 reviews
  • The Fourth Stall Part II

    The Fourth Stall Part II

    by Chris Rylander
    • Rated 0 stars

    “04/13: Learned about from a B&N newsletter.
    Book Overview: The life of crime is good.Mac has taken down legendary high school crime boss Staples, business has been booming, and Mac and Vince are getting ready for middle school baseball tryouts. But this can’t last. Mac has always tried to keep his friends close and his enemies closer. But what happens when you can’t tell the difference?

    This dilemma walks into the fourth stall in the form of Trixie Von Parkway—an eighth grader with a mean look and an even meaner predicament. The new science teacher is terrorizing her, and she needs Mac to get him off her back. Seems simple enough, but as Mac starts to dig deeper, he finds even more trouble brewing at his school, including a new administrator bent on destroying his business, and indications that Trixie isn’t who she claims to be. In the past, the worst thing that could have happened to Mac was that he might lose a little money, maybe catch a beating. In The Fourth Stall Part II, though, there’s going to be much more on the line than that.”

    Shannon C wrote this review Monday, April 15, 2013. ( reply | permalink )
  • The Fourth Stall
    • Rated 0 stars

    “05/13: David:
    04/13: Learned about from a B&N e-newsletter.
    Book Description: Middle school just got a lot more criminal.

    Do you need something? Mac can get it for you. It’s what he does. He and his best friend and business manager, Vince. Their methods might sometimes run afoul of the law, or at least the school code of conduct, but if you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can pay him, Mac is on your side. His office is located in the East Wing boy’s bathroom, fourth stall from the high window. And business is booming.

    Or at least it was, until this particular Monday. Because this Monday is when Mac and Vince find out that the trouble with solving everyone else’s problems is there’s no one left to solve yours.”

    Shannon C wrote this review 13 days ago. ( reply | permalink )
  • Spirit of Vengeance: Nativism and Louisiana Justice, 1921-1924
    • Rated 4 stars

    “04/13: Grandpa Cardaronella always told the story of them hanging 6 men in Independence for the murder of one man and one of the townsmen twirling a piece of the rope in his hands and calling to Grandpa, "You're next, you little WOP!" This is that story.”

    Shannon C wrote this review Wednesday, April 17, 2013. ( reply | permalink )
  • Our United States of America
    • Rated 5 stars

    “04/13: Reading aloud to the boys when can.
    CHC Description: This colorful, student-friendly program introduces students to social studies, while drawing them into the realization that they, too, are part of history and society.

    Children learn of faithful Catholics who dramatically impacted and are impacting the development of our country: from government leaders; to doctors who served the poor; to Native American Catholics; to religious who saved a western town from outlaws. As students learn, they are guided to think of ways that Our Lord might be calling them to change society, and history, as well.”

    Shannon C wrote this review Saturday, April 13, 2013. ( reply | permalink )
  • George's Secret Key to the Universe
    • Rated 4 stars

    “04/13: JB: The book is about George, a kid whose parents do not like technology. George desperately wants a computer, but his parents will not let him have one. When George chases his pig next door, he finds Eric and Emily/ Eric owns a special computer named Cosmos who can transport George to the far corners of the universe. An evil scientist named Dr. Reaper wants to take Cosmos for himself to become rich and famous. When Eric falls into a Black Hole, and Cosmos is stolen by Dr. Reaper, George must help save both of them and get to the science fair to win a computer.
    04/13: Just learned of this through a link Dr. Nayfeh sent me to his suggestions on the CPL page.
    His Description:Science storytelling, an area which I have interest in, is a form of art as well as an important, exciting educational methodology for simplification of science for children. It is possible through storytelling to present complex science material in an exciting, simplified fashion, touching the present as well as the future. World-renowned British physicist and mathematician Stephen Hawking teams up with his daughter Lucy, a journalist and novelist, to present us with their 2007 book George’s Secret Key to the Universe. They use science fiction and adventure fantasy wrapped and interwoven with science concepts and facts to make the topic of science interesting and accessible to middle school children. The book tells the story of a middle school child called George and an easygoing astrophysicist called Eric who embodies the person of Professor Hawking himself, whereby the professor uses his personal speaker, a powerful tabletop supercomputer called “Cosmos,” which is able to open a window and propel them into the universe, as well as capable of manipulating space, time and matter. The voyage takes them to the far reaches of space and back. Along the way, the adventure teaches little George and the reader a lot about science and how the universe works. The adventure even teaches Stephen Hawking's latest theories about black holes and quantum mechanics. The end result of the work is an entertaining yet informative book, explaining planets, stars, comets, black holes and more including middle school drama to readers of all ages. It is through reading this book that I was inspired to write a short story “the cosmos and the nanos” which utilizes Stephen Hawking’s “Cosmos” supercomputer concept to present nanotechnology through the character Dr. Nano to children and adults alike. Drafts of some of my short stories on nanotechnology were tried at Dr. Howard Elementary here in Champaign.

    I also say “Who says you can't explain theoretical physics to kids”?

    Munir Nayfeh
    President, Nanosi Advanced Technologies ”

    Shannon C wrote this review 3 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink )
  • The Dark
    • Rated 4 stars

    “04/13: Learned about this one in Dr. David Pines' "Book Page."
    Description: Are You Afraid of the Dark? Who wouldn't be afraid of the dark, the mysterious thing that sometimes hides in the closet, sits behind the shower curtain and lives in the basement? Little Laszlo certainly is. Unorthodox children's author Lemony Snicket ("A Series of Unfortunate Events") and equally unconventional, Caldecott Award-winning illustrator Jon Klassen ("This is Not My Hat") team up to dispel Laszlo's fears in a charmingly creepy picture book, simply titled "The Dark."
    Every morning Laszlo peeks at the dark in the basement and says hello, hoping that if he visits the dark's room, maybe it won't visit his. But one night the dark does visit his bedroom, lurin ghim past the closet and the shower curtain and won the long stairs to the basement. Klassen's gouache and digitally enhanced illustrations -- with a retro design, muted golds from the evening light and an abundance of black -- build the suspense and aptly depict Laszlo's heightened fear.
    After poetically explaining the need for closets )where would we keep our shoes, after all?" and shower curtains (we would splash water every where!) and even the dark itself (how would we know when we need a lightbulf?) the dark offers Laszlo just what he needs to feel secure again. By avoiding the saccharine simplicity of many picture books on this topic, Snicket and Klassen reach children at their level, allowing them to explore their fear of the dark and overcome it on their own terms. Just imagine how this pair might handle a fear of hats!”

    Shannon C wrote this review Wednesday, April 24, 2013. ( reply | permalink )
  • The Little Way of Ruthie Leming: A Southern Girl, a Small Town, and the Secret of a Good Life
    • Rated 0 stars

    “04/13: Learned about from Dr. David Pines' "Book Page."
    Description: By all appearances, Rod Dreher had a wonderful life. He had a successful career as a journalist; his writing appeared in "The Dallas morning News," "The New York Post," and "The Ammerican Conservative," and he had published a book as well. But Dreher felt an emptiness in his life when his younger sister, Ruthie Leming, was diagnosed with terminal cancer at age 40. Suddenly, Dreher felt the tug of his hometown: St. Francisville, Louisiana, a small community whose residents were rallying around Ruthie in her time of need. So Dreher took his wife and three children and moved home to care for his sister and reconnect with his roots.
    Ruthie Leming's life may not have been as glamorous as her brother's, but in many ways, Dreher finds it more meaningful. She was a popular schoolteacher, a loving mother of three and a devoted wife to her high school sweetheart. While her brother fled their town of 1,700 people, Ruthie stayed home. Her energy and enthusiasm touched people's lives, and when she got sick, they responded with caring and love.
    "Ruthie transfigured this town in my eyes," Dreher writes. "Her suffering and death made me see the good that I couldn't see before. The smae communal bonds that appeared to me as chains all those years ago had become my Louisiana family's lifelines." Yet coming homke to the town -- and the family -- he left behind isn't always easy; resentments linger, and some would heal more quickly than others.
    "The Little Way of Ruthie Leming" reminds us of the importance of love, faith and family. And while it deals in death, this book shows us that it is, indeed, a wonderful life.”

    Shannon C wrote this review Monday, April 8, 2013. ( reply | permalink )
  • Life After Life
    • Rated 0 stars

    “04/13: Learned about through Dr. David Pines' "Book Page."
    Description: Jill McCorkle's first novel in seventeen years is a cause for celebration. A constantly surprising work that illuminates the possibility of second chances, hope, and rediscovereing life right up to the very end, "Life After Life" conjures up an entire community that reminds us that grace and magic can and do -- appear when we least expect it.
    Southern novelist Jill McCorkle's latest character-driven and emotionally vivid novel is set -- as is most of her previous work -- in Fulton, North Carolina, a small town in which the reader quickly becomes immersed. Her story centers on the residents and staff of Pine Haven Retirement Center -- their stories adroitly interwoven by McCorkle, layer by layer, as she gradually illuminates how their pasts intersected far before they came together in the present.
    Joanna is a hospice volunteer who keeps a notebook with an entry for each person she visits when they die -- their favorite things, their memories, their last words. One of her first journal entries was about her own father's death, including the fact that he never told her he loved her. Joanna's somewhat mysterious past includes numerous marriages, somewhere between three and seven, depending on who's doing the gossiping. Her best friend is C.J. -- a tattooed and pierced single mom half Joanna's age whose life so far has been one long struggle. She now helps groom the hair and nails of Pine Haven's grateful residents. Sadie, 85 and wheelchair-bound, is a former thrid-grade teacher who sees an 8-year old inside everyone she meets. Her best friend and loyal companion is Abby, the 13-year-old who lives next door and visits Pine Haven daily to escape her constantly bickering parents.
    MyCorkle interweaves the stories of these unlikely friendships to offer penetrating insight into the different routes aging might lead us along, and how we think about death -- for ourselves, as well as the ones we love. But her signature humor shines through, lightening the mood just when it's most needed. This is a beautifully written, perceptive and poignant novel that will linger in readers' minds for a long while.”

    Shannon C wrote this review Monday, April 8, 2013. ( reply | permalink )
  • The Interestings: A Novel
    • Rated 0 stars

    “04/13: I learned of this through Dr. David Pines' "Book Page."
    Description: I've always been preoccupied by what happens to people over time. Iv'es spent more hours that I should studying the online adult faces of some of the kids I grew up with, lookin for something that would explain how we become the people we become.
    Long Island resident, Meg Wolitzer is the author of several smart, critically acclaimed novels. In "The Interestings," she follows characters who meet as teens at summer camp over the course of four decades, exploring the ways that time does -- and doesn't -- change who we are.”

    Shannon C wrote this review Monday, April 8, 2013. ( reply | permalink )
  • Z

    Z

    by Therese Anne Fowler
    • Rated 0 stars

    “04/13: Full page on this one in Dr. David Pines' 'Book Page."
    Popular understandingof Zelda Fitzgerald has her pegged as something between two of F. Scott's notorious female characters: devastating Rosalind from 'This Side of Paradise" and vacuous Gloria from "The Beautiful and Damned." Add a dollop of insanity, and that's our Zelda. But as Therese Anne Fowler reveals in her new novel, "Z," that's not the whole story.”

    Shannon C wrote this review Monday, April 8, 2013. ( reply | permalink )
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Displaying 31-40 of 1983 reviews

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