My Ramblings on Lost in the River of Grass by Ginny Rorby

Lost in the River of Grass 
By: Ginny Rorby
Release Date: February 9, 2011
Author Website

Summary:

Lost in a River of Grass is in the tradition of survival stories like Hatchet or On My Side of the Mountain, where the young protagonist finds herself as she struggles to survive in an unforgiving wilderness. In this case, the setting is the Everglades, and Sarah, the 13-year-old narrator, sneaks away from an overnight school field trip for what was supposed to be a quick air boat ride with Andy, a boy who lives in the preserve. Naturally, disaster strikes and they're forced to walk out of the Everglades (they've got a knife, a small amount of Gatorade and some suspicious Spam). The author also skillfully layers in a story about overcoming prejudice. Sarah is black and Andy is the son of a Confederate-flag waving self-described redneck. (from goodreads.com)

My Ramblings:

This is a great book. I almost said "this is a great middle grade book" since I specifically picked this book up as I was looking for books for my library (6-8), but then I caught myself. It's a great book regardless of your age or grade. Sarah is the perfect center for this story about getting lost in the Everglades. She's smart and funny, but she's also a total outsider. The poor girl on scholarship at the fancy school- personally I liked that she was on an athletic scholarship (for swimming) instead of a financial one. It highlighted her strengths and still made it clear that she was outside the group.

The book starts with Sarah going on a field trip with her class into the Everglades. She's feeling left out and alone and skips a part of the field trip which is where the entire adventure really begins. Instead of sitting alone in her room she meets a boy named Andy who is just as alone as she is and together they decide to have some fun and go on an air boat ride. When the boat sinks they are forced to face their fears, lean on each other and find their way home.

Interwoven into the lost in the wilderness story is also a story about overcoming prejudice and stereotypes. Sarah is black and Andy's father is an ex-con who doesn't hide his hatred for anyone who isn't just like him. In the end Sarah and Andy don't just save each other, but they teach everyone around them about accepting people for who they are.

My Ramblings on Finn Finnegan by Darby Karchut

Finn Finnegan 

By: Darby Karchut

Release Date: March 2013

Author Website

Summary:

Finn (not bleedin' Finnegan) MacCullen is eager to begin his apprenticeship. He soon discovers the ups and downs of hunting monsters in a suburban neighborhood under the demanding tutelage of the Knight, Gideon Lir. Both master and apprentice are descendents of the Tuatha De Danaan, a magical race of warriors from Ireland. Scattered long ago to the four corners of the world, the De Danaan wage a two thousand year old clandestine battle with their ancient enemy, the Amandán, a breed of goblin-like creatures.

Now with the beasts concentrating their attacks on Finn, he and his master must race to locate the lost Spear of the Tuatha De Danaan, the only weapon that can destroy the Amandán, all the while hiding his true identity from his new friends, Rafe and Savannah, twins whose South African roots may hold a key to Finn's survival. Armed with a bronze dagger, some ancient Celtic magic, and a hair-trigger temper, Finn is about to show his enemies the true meaning of "fighting Irish." (from Goodreads)

My Ramblings:

I could keep this short and sweet and call it a day with one sentence. I could just say Darby writes another winner and leave the rest of you to ponder why this book is a winner. I won't do that, but I will try to keep it concise. This is another fabulous book by Darby Karchut, again set in Colorado and revolving around a young boy who is just beginning to find out who he is and what he can be. (side note- you've all read The Griffin books right? If not, get on that.)

****Warning: Spoilers Ahead****

My Ramblings on The Hobbit

 

Everyone has holiday traditions- one of ours is to go see as many movies as we can during our week off. It's a little harder to see a bunch of movies now that we've got the kiddo at home, but I still managed to squeeze 3 in. And every one of them were based on books. The first movie I saw was The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and it was great! 

In case you are not a total Hobbit/LOTR nerd like I am...

The Hobbit

By: JRR Tolkien

Release Date: First published in 1937

Movie Website

Summary:  

Bilbo Baggins is a hobbit who enjoys a comfortable, unambitious life, rarely traveling any farther than his pantry or cellar. But his contentment is disturbed when the wizard Gandalf and a company of dwarves arrive on his doorstep one day to whisk him away on an adventure. They have launched a plot to raid the treasure hoard guarded by Smaug the Magnificent, a large and very dangerous dragon. Bilbo reluctantly joins their quest, unaware that on his journey to the Lonely Mountain he will encounter both a magic ring and a frightening creature known as Gollum.

My Ramblings:

I last read the Hobbit a few years ago. I intentionally didn't reread it before seeing the movie because I knew that the movie was going to be different then the book. For one, the story is being broken into three movies. Secondly, in order to accomplish that feat, Peter Jackson mined some of Tolkien's other works. It was great to walk into the theater both knowing exactly what was going to happen and knowing that I would be surprised. How often does that happen?  

This movie definitely did not disappoint. It was great to see familiar faces like Frodo and Galadriel make an appearance and exciting to get to see new characters come to life. There were a few absolute standouts for me. Martin Freeman as Bilbo was perfect. It was great to see how the whole story began, to see him start to write it all down for Frodo and to go from being a reluctant hobbit to flying out the door to go on an adventure! The other standout was Richard Armitage as Thorin. He was fabulous as he tried to lead the Dwarves on what might be an impossible journey. He is hesitant about bringing Bilbo along at first, but he trust Gandalf enough to take the chance, and by the end of this first installment he is beginning to see why Gandalf was so confident that Bilbo would be a good addition to the party. 

This section ends before they reach Erebor and have to face off against Smaug, but there was still plenty of action as they went up again Orcs and Trolls and Bilbo has a battle of wits with Gollum. I personally can't wait until the next installment comes out, but it will be a wait. The Desolation of Smaug will hit theaters in December of 2013 and There and Back Again won't be out until July of 2014. Until then I'll be rereading the Hobbit and taking a little trip into The Similarion and the Appendices to The Hobbit and the LOTR trilogy to see if I can find some of the new additions that were made for the movie. It will be a grand adventure indeed.