the golden fish summer reading list (pt. 4)

the cloudy rainy fuzzy day turned into an almost clear bluesky day! i watched the hitchcock flick - nice! then after dinner with friends i watched "the hunt for red october" which i've seen a kazillion times and which i still think is so wickedgood! it reminds me of the summer i read nothing but tom clancy novels!!

16. stolen away in stolen away, a girl named kiera has been kidnapped from her irish homeland by viking invaders. at first, kiera is taken to greenland, but then is moved to vinland. she is captured by beothuk and then thule warriors. this one will tie nicely into the social studies curriculum that i teach to my grade sixers.

17. the amazing story of adolphus tips michael morpurgo is a very familiar name to my readers in britain where he has acquired star status through his incredible writing, and where he has been accorded the privilege of being children’s writer laureate for three years! i read all the junior / intermediate novels that morpurgo writes for the simple reason that he is the author of the best junior novel i have ever read entitled ”kensuke’s kingdom”. this book is slightly different in its subject matter and intent as ”adolphus tips” is the story of a cat in wartime england.

18. china shakes the world the extraordinary transformation of china from a massive but seemingly powerless entity through its self-absorption to a world power set to dominate the global economy and who knows what else is one of the wonders of the very young twenty-first century. i thought i’d better read up on it to get a better grasp not only of what is happening but why and how.
it was napoleon who once said “let china sleep, for when she wakes, she will shake the world.” in this book, the former china bureau chief of the financial times, james kynge, traces the process of china’s awakening through the eyes of its entrepeneurs, factory workers and store clerks.

19. three shadows
so this is a beautifully crafted story with black and white images by a former disney animator, three shadows works from the question - “can you ever escape your fate?” three shadows tells the story of a boy, his parents and the trio of hooded riders who watch them. at first the family's playful antics are the focus but with the appearance of the three riders, who watch the family with unnerving patience from the foggy distance things get sketchy and unnerving. when a local witch tells lise that the 'shadows' have come for joachim, then louis must make a run for it with his son. i cannot emphasize how extraordinary this book is!!! i was unable to put it down. the illustrations, the text hovering between borges and wells. the feeling of the book is still deep inside me as i write.

20. can’t get no
part graphic novel, part comic, “can’t get no” tells the tale of corporate exec chad roe. roe has the "perfect" modern life; the trophy wife, the prestigious job but the pills that hold the whole thing together have always threatened to overwhelm him, and things go from bad to ugly very quickly. while reeling from the collapse of his business, roe descends into a night of depravity, only to wake up a "marked" man – literally – his body covered in a permanent tattoo made from the very permanent markers that he used to sell.

the golden fish summer reading list part 1 can be viewed here.
the golden fish summer reading list part 2 can be viewed here.
the golden fish summer reading list part 3 can be viewed here.
the golden fish summer reading list part 5 can be viewed here.