Book Musings with Cattau

  Written by Markus Zusak Published by Random House Children's Books in 2005 ISBN: 978-0375831003 Plot Summary: Death starts out as the narrator of the book and tells the story of how he met Liesel who is the book thief at 3 different times. Liesel is a girl who is riding with her mother and her brother in Nazi Germany when her brother dies. She steals her first book from the gravedigger. Liesel's mother decides that she will be safer with a foster family named Hans and Rosa Hubermann who slowly get Liesel to see herself as a member of the family. Liesel meets a boy named Rudy who becomes a good friend throughout the story. Hans teaches Liesel how to read which sparks her interest in books even more. A child who is a German Jew named Max comes to the Hubermanns for help as his dad had served with Max's dad in the army. He is hidden in the basement while the Nazi's are rounding up the Jews. Liesel steals books from a book burning, from a laundry customer's library wh

  Written by Gary D. Schmidt Published by Clarion Books in 2007 ISBN: 978-0547237602 Plot Summary: Holling Hoodhood is a 7th grader that lives in Long Island in New York. He is consumed with his problems of being bullied, family job issues, and his friends while not realizing what is going on around him in the world in the 1960's. His teacher Mrs. Baker sees potential in him as he has to spend every Wednesday alone with her while his classmates go to other schools for religious instruction. She takes the time to teach him about Shakespeare and how it can apply to Holling's life.  Holling's sister is an active protestor against the Vietnam War which causes a rift in the family. Holling figures out that by the end of the story that the lessons that Mrs. Baker has taught him applies to his story and that he needs to set out on his own to figure out what he wants to do in life and where he wants to go.  Critical Analysis: This story hits many themes that readers of all ages ca

Written by Graham Salisbury  Published by Wendy Lamb Books in 2005 ISBN: 978-0440229568 Plot Summary: Eddie is a 16 year old boy who wants to serve his country in World War 2. He changes his birth certificate so that he can join the U.S. Army. Eddie finds that being in the army isn't all that it is cracked up to be and he is under suspicion after the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese. Eddie believes that he will be helping fight in World War 2 but finds out that the army has other plans for him as he is used as bait in order to train the attack dogs that were found in K9 units. Eddie ends up going to the mainland to various bases for training which is his first time leaving the island of Hawaii. He is assigned a dog named Kooch who is not able to tell the difference of ethnicities based on the scent of someone. Eddie finally makes his way to Europe to fight after the experiment fails with the dog and is proud to serve his country as equals with his fellow Americans.  Critical

Written by Kirby Lawson Published by Scholastic Press in 2014 ISBN Number  978-0545416368 Plot Summary: Dash is a dog that gets separated from his owner as she is rounded up during World War 2 and sent to a Japanese internment camp. Mitsi is separated from everyone that she knows and loves and her whole world is turned upside down. Mitsi spends a lot of time around people who are really sad and finds that she doesn't fit in with the people around her. She doesn't agree with a lot of the actions that are taken by her brother and his friends as they cause trouble around the camp. She finds solace in her art until she is able to be reunited with her beloved Dash.  Critical Analysis: This is a heartwarming tale of never giving up on your dreams of being reunited with the people/animals that mean the most to you. Knowing that giving up everything that makes you part of who you are was a big theme in this story as Mitsi had to leave behind her heirlooms, books, and even their radios

Written by Eliot Schrefer Illustrated by Jules Zuckerburg Published by Katherine Tegen books in 2022 ISBN: 978-0063069497 Plot Summary: The world of animal sexuality is one that most readers haven't really thought about. Eliot Schrefer brings many distinct facts and research on animals ranging from the Doodlebug all the way to bulls. Each of the chapters is written about specific animal and how their behaviors align with all types of sexual activity. There are many different aspects to sexuality and this book does a good job of including the ones that are most well known as well as bringing information on different types of sexual behaviors including intersex in deer, asexuality in the albatross and polyamory in ducks and geese. The conclusion wraps up the research and includes his thoughts on why this topic hasn't been more readily studied and researched from the scientific community.  Critical Analysis:  This non fiction title includes many elements that will make it easily a

Written by Candice Fleming Published by Schwartz and Wade Books in 2014 ISBN: 978-0375867828 Plot Summary: The story of the Romanov family involves many twists and turns throughout the variety of happenings that went on throughout the years. Russia has been a country that has always been dominated by the top 1% and this family held power for over 3 centuries. The book is written in a novel like format and goes back and forth from the riches of the ruling class to the stories of the peasants and the starvation and hard work that followed them. The government policies forced men to join the war and fight but didn't give them the supplies that they needed like food, shelter, and weapons. The reign of the family is chronicled throughout the years and the insertion of Rasputin brings the family to its knees as Alexandra believed that he was a messenger of God sent to help them navigate through World War 1 and the Russian Revolution. The unrest that is described throughout the book shows

Written by Steve Jenkins Published by Clarion Books in 2017 ISBN: 978-0544671607 Plot Summary: Predators come in all shapes and sizes in the animal kingdom and the author highlights several apex predators from both the modern day and the past. Each of the predators has a diagram that shows their approximate length in comparison to the human. There are facts that are given for many species including both land and water predators. The book begins with the modern day predators like the great white shark and the electric eel and then starts the journey through the past with everything from the killer pig which died 18 million years ago to the Anomalocaris which was a giant shrimp that died out 500 million years ago. The book ends with something that will be sure to delight younger readers as the author does a hypothetical fight between predators of the past and predators of the present on both land and sea. Comparing who might win is a great way to get readers thinking deeply and go back a

  Written by Duncan Tonatiuh Published by Abrams Books for Young Readers in 2015 ISBN- 978-1419716478 Plot Summary: Jose Guadalupe Posada was born in 1852 and he is the 6th child of 8 siblings. He begins working at a print shop when he turns 18 and becomes fascinated with all things engraving and printing. He was an artist that took a special interest in drawing cartoons and calaveras (skeletons associated with Day of the Dead). Many tragedies happened to him that required him to move and he ended up living in Mexico City where met Antonio Vanegas. They created comic strip like stories and drawings that heavily featured the calaveras. People from all over loved them especially during the Day of the Dead. Jose lived during the Mexican Revolution and used his skills at etching and engraving to create political cartoons that either made fun of the leaders or praised them depending on how Jose felt about them. Jose died in 1913 but many people did not know who had created the illustrations