"A Boy Out of Time" should be in your hands
357694
DB Macks novel "A Boy Out of Time" is a well-imagined, wonderfully written book for teens and pre-teens.  I particularly liked the images of pre-historic Earth that the characters travel to and from.  The main character is someone all kids can identify with.  This book (and the rest of the Time Twins series) would be a good read for anyone from the 5th though 10th grades.
3093618
This book is very of-the-moment.

The main character is a boy who wakes up to find himself strapped to a chair, but doesn't remember anything about how he got there.

The story revolves around him trying to find out what happened to him and why.

(No spoilers, don't worry!)  The imprisonment has national security and terrorist implications.

Elementary school kids and junior high school boys who aren't used to reading much will really like the simple language, streamlined concept, and conventional plot.

Anybody older, however, should give this book a pass.  This is not a "crossover" book like Harry Potter or Twilight; it's simply not as well written or well planned.

Basically, it's "beach reading" for the under 15 crowd.  Three stars for the interesting concept, and the attempt to make children that don't normally read pick up a book.
1505916
First, a little about the book: Guys Read is actually a series of books that Scieszka is sponsoring in an attempt to "encourage a passion for reading among young boys, with the philosophy that boys love to read most when they are reading things they love." The three previous releases include: Guys Read- Funny Business, Thriller, and The Sports Pages.

This book includes great stories by both well-known Sci-fi authors and up-and-coming authors, including Rick Riordan, Kenneth Oppel, Ray Bradbury, Neal Shusterman, Shannon Hale and many more.

I want to mention several of the stories, but I will not be necessarily critiquing them, just talking about them. The book as a whole I will critique.

The Stories-

We start out with a hum-dinger! an original Percy Jackson short by Rick Riordan called "Percy Jackson and The Singer of Apollo". Oh boy, this one cracked me up. The humor is very in your face and I feel like Riordan just had a lot of fun writing the story. The short revolves around Percy and Grover in NYC. They are celebrating Grover's birthday when Apollo appears and "asks" them for a favor. He want them to find his missing golden singing robot before his big concert up on Mt. Olympus. The poor boys! Let's just say Percy ends up hanging off the Times Square billboard without his pants on.

Another short is "Rise of The RoboShoes" by Tom Angleberger. This is a story of just a few pages, but the humor is very quirky. Humans became lazy and created shoes that could tie their own laces with TurboBrains so they could follow directions, and TruVoices so they could talk back. Our story begins after the RoboShoes have risen in revolt against humanity. A pair of bunny slippers is leading the revolt and encouraging RoboShoe freedom. The clencher- the RoboShoes find out they aren't alone in the RoboUniverse.

Also included is a small story with pictures, almost like a picture book, but with deep thoughts. The short, "A Day in the Life" by Shaun Tan, is about a boy who lives in a snow globe. It is an odd story, but will appeal to boys. We also have "The Klack Bros. Museum" by Kenneth Oppel. This story includes a twisted museum owner who keeps the ashes of a dead boy on display. Our main character Luke, connects with the boy's ghost that haunts the ashes, and he learns how the boy died and his desire to be free. This one is perfect for kids who like a little bit of dark in their stories, but is not too scary.

Overall, a great collection of stories. I think boys and girls will love the collection. In fact, as soon as my daughter found out their was a Percy Jackson short, she claimed the book next. There is a wide variety of stories, some long, others medium, and some only a couple pages. For kids who feel overwhelmed by reading an entire book, this anthology does a great job keeping the reading quick. For book loving kids, they'll want to read it just for the fun and quirky stories, so both type of readers win.

I really hope this book is successful in drawing in some new boy readers. As a fantasy lover myself, a whole new generation loving the genre would be great. But, if your reluctant readers like sports, not fantasy, try the other anthology, "The Sports Pages". I think that when all the books are written there will be something for all.
3774589
Okay, yes some parts of this novel are predictable. Yes the characters are not as colorful as they could be. But this is still a great novel that really captures the sense of boyhood adventure. It is the kind of work that you finish and can't get the question out of your head: "Why the heck have I ended up setting behind a desk for the rest of my life?" You want to go out and become part of something grand, make yourself an adventure, discover your own metaphorical dinosaurs. And the fun part is that it does not ignore the people who gave of this gift: Doyle, O'Brien, Cooper, Harryhausen, etc. In fact, it is as much as homage to them as it is dinosaurs.
 I recommend this book. While it may not be quite as good as Jurassic Park (the novel), it is much better than Crichton's The Lost World. Heck, its what Crichton's sequel should have been!
4259723
One endorsement of The Boy Crisis claims that is the most important book of the 21st century. I would amend that to most necessary book. Encyclopedic as it feelsalmost 500 pagesit could have been four or five books, given the wealth and variety of its topics. While aimed at parents, particularly fathers, as they assist struggling young men to find healthy purpose and true male success in life, reading it causes me to reflect on my life as a man. For some women it may be a tough read, given that it incisively challenges many of the near dogmatic assumptions of what is wrong with men by offering well-researched alternative perspectives.

There are two distortions in the male narrative that challenge us, the distant or absent dad in contemporary societies and the anachronistic sacrificial disposability of men in the gender meta-narrative. Both need be questioned and countered. Farrell and Gray do exactly that.

From the fathering perspective, the demands of work life and familial support all but eliminate meaningful presence in parenting for many men, while divorce, on the increase as women find self-sufficiency, may exclude them entirely.

When it comes to real combat, men don't count, except for a few heroes, living or dead, who  sanctify the sacrificial offerings of the rest. Daily news reports from war zones count women and children dead and mutilated, leaving men to lie among the numberless casualties or be identified the bad guys who killed them. In popular media the killing of men is part of everyday entertainment and causes little concern. The traditional male hero is about self-sacrifice, not self-actualization. The battlefield and the workplace often function alike in this respect.

Though the womens movement is rightfully empowering women to resist abuse and find rewarding and satisfying roles in life, there is little effort to allow men to follow the glint in their eye, to evade or redefine the stock, stereotypical roles of protector and provider. It is time for men to say their own, Me too. One hopes that the coming generation, now seemingly destined as micro-entrepreneurs, will have greater freedom to do so, but a new outcome does not depend solely on messing with the constraints of capitalism and commodification, but also on redefining the traditional male sense of purpose and adopting a life style that flows from it and supports it.

The book is replete with parental insights and suggested practices that begin to provide for this shift to a broader sense of purpose. This should not echo the veterinary sense of fixing men, but is about opening paths of opportunity for richer, more satisfying and, yes, heroic roles in male creativity, relationship formation and parenting. A good part of this is identifying and countering the social bribes, the pay-offs which deviate men from discovering their richer purpose offering a false currency of acknowledgement for outdated and too often tragic role performances.

Almost the last third of the book is focused on mental health issues most specifically on ADHD and its causes, effects and alternative remedies. I was hoping for OCD as well but was disappointed in this respect. Much wants more.

The pages are extremely well written, often with memorable lines in bold print. A few examples:
 Time trumps dime  valuing a fathers time with family, not just his earnings.
 We are inclined to Save the whales but not save the males.
 The shifting economy, from muscle to microchip.

The endnotes are abundant and supportive of the content, which will no doubt be contested as it frequently contradicts commonly accepted assumptions about men, their behavior and their highly touted privilege.

In sum, thanks guys!
1003704
WHERE THE BOYS ARE WOULD OF BEEN WORTH THE PRICE OF ADMISSION ALONE.
4702496
Gold Star Award Winner!

Previously published as GIDEON THE CUTPURSE

Peter feels he has been brushed off by his father yet again--and he has been. He's been waiting for his birthday treat for months, but his father always has business meetings and is too busy to spend time with him. His mother is off working in Los Angeles, far away from Peter and his father in London. The morning Peter and his father fight about it again, Margrit, the Au Pair, takes Peter with her to visit her friends out in the country.

These friends have a daughter, Kate, who is about Peter's age, twelve. Kate's father takes the two of them, plus Kate's dog, Molly, to the lab where he works. Kate and Peter end up chasing Molly through the halls--a small thing that ends up being very important.

One minute, they're running through the halls of the lab. The next minute, Kate and Peter, along with an antigravity machine that one of Kate's father's colleagues has been working on, have been transported back in time to a grassy hillside in 1763.

Before long, they've met two very different men of that time. The first is the Tar Man, who steals the antigravity machine, which could very well be the key to getting back to the present. The second is Gideon, an enemy of the Tar Man, who decides to help the two children from the future.

Before long, Kate and Peter are on an adventure, headed to London to recover the antigravity machine and get back to their homes and families. On their way, they will encounter highwaymen, make friends (including Gideon), and learn a lot about that time in history--the good and the bad.

Back in present-day England, Peter's parents are frantic with worry. Kate's father has figured out that the machine has something to do with their disappearance--but when ghostly images of the children appear dressed in clothing from the eighteenth-century, it becomes clear that this can't be shared with the public; who knows what destruction could result from the misuse of time travel technology?

The parallel storylines--the children's quest to get back to the present and Kate's father's struggle to bring them back--go together quite nicely. The jumping back and forth is not as confusing as it could have been, and both parts of the story are extremely well-written. The characters are realistic, the storylines interesting, the history fascinating, and, well, every aspect of this book brilliant! The cover is very unique and will draw readers right in. The story inside will not disappoint them, either! GIDEON THE CUTPURSE is the first in a trilogy, and I can't wait for the next two books!

Reviewed by:  Jocelyn Pearce
487756
Karma Brown's freshly published, IN THIS MOMENT (ParkRowBooks/HarperCollins/Harlequin), once again, provides readers an opportunity to get out your Kleenex. Dont expect to leave your chair or couch, once you start reading. Itd suggest making up a nice little table with drinks, perhaps some cheese and crackers, treatsand youll be ready to settle in.
Meg Pepper has a busy career, married to radiologist, Ryan,15 year-old daughter, Audrey, shes stressed, but keeping it together. Then one day, everything changes. All is takes is one unexpected moment and your world turns. Tragedy Leading to guilt and grief.
Meg sees Audreys best friend rundown after she calls him over, triggering a memory from her own past. She proceeds to help the boys family at the expense of her own and what readers watch is the unraveling of two families.
IN THIS MOMENT is based on one of those horrible what ifs that anyone ofus could find ourselves facing. Her characters are complex and struggle to do what is right, but what is right? Morality at times, can be upfor debate. Ones values are certainly their own, subject to discussion. Life can seem so black and white, but we live in a world of grey.
1837640
In my 16 years of life on this earth reading was not very fun for me. when I found Dave Pelzers book "The Lost Boy" I was addicted to it right away. I could not put it down and found myself reading every spare second I had. I love "The Lost Boy" by Dave Pelzer because it is about a wonderful little boy in search of a family that he never had. The book tells the life lived by a little boy going through foster care homes and trying to find somewhere to fit in. He has his ups and his downs but his foster care worker is always right there with him through it all. I feel so close to this book because I am also a foster child. I have a new foster mother and a new life. Reading this book gave me the courage to go that extra mile and work extra hard. It's not every day that you have a 16 year old girl going to court trying to keep her and her sisters together. I am lucky to have my sisters with me today. Dave had to do it all by himself and I belive everyone should read this book to see how hard it is to be acceptd in life and cherish what you have.
4139228
Actually, I bought this for a friend to give to her son.  He probably has not had time to read it yet.  My 5-star rating is based on my own reading of the book some time ago.
3318763
I liked this story, and this rating is a bow to a very young boy (seven years old at the time of writing) who is striving to make a very early entry into the world of literature -- not for the faint of heart!

Would be great, as he gradually becomes one of the most talented writers of the world in the year 2036, (and this book is eagerly snapped by up his fans as an example of his early work) to make his paragraphs less long and detailed, to cater toward the market of readers from ages seven to ten.  Make the action flow easily -- and there's enough action for a boy who has been raised on Star Wars stories, and room for more.  Can cut down on exactly how actions are performed, and focus more on outcomes, which after all boys really want to read about.

This review will be similar to the next book I read, Cave Planet: The Portal.
469679
Who among us has not sought the wild Froy and fed our inner Bargfrosh boy?

N. Nader has turned the universal and timeless need of mankind to deal with fear and search the unknown into a table for discussion with our children, the searchers of tomorrow.  The Bargfrosh Boy  is a wonderful pre-requisite for appreciation of the literary classics and an invitation for our children to become deep thinkers.

My test group of children love this compelling boy-character who invokes our emotions in a colorful and gripping tale.  The narrative flows with great pace to the climax, the integral  artwork is first-class, and the surprise ending surely delights. This work is a bookshelf keeper for tots through teens, who as adults will reminisce their own Froy-seeking adventures to share with their children.

One cannot resist the desire to embrace Bargfrosh boy and wonder, what is next?
1224712
47 Days follow the lives of two boys the age of sixteen when they are drafted into Hitlers army. They are given a certain number of days to report for duty and they have to travel on foot.

With the belief that the war will be over real soon the boys are not up to fighting and probably losing their lives besides they have other family members who have been fighting for a few years now.

The boys decide to take their time reporting for duty in the hopes that the war will be over soon. 47 Days is their story of what they went through and how they lived during this time period while waiting for the war to end.

As this is their story tell I will let them tell that story. To find out what the boys went through and how they lived during this time pick up your copy of 47 Days and let them tell you their story.

I have to say that I liked reading 47 Days and cant wait to find out more about Gunter and Helmut and their families. If you have not read 47 Days then I would like to suggest that you do you won't regret it.
2842005
Tom, lead character wakes up in his 50s. Hes at deaths door; that much he knows but it feels like hes just stepped into a movie half way through. His life is a broken jigsaw and his mission is to fix it. He doesnt know who anyone is and when tomorrow arrives its yesterday and his life then starts to move backwards towards his birth.

Can you imagine what it would be like to grow younger not older? Imagine looking forward to a mobile downgrade, your last shag, your last alcoholic drink, your grown up child disappearing back into your wifes womb, waking up and your hair is longer, things appearing then disappearing? What do you do if you win the lottery? You cant spend it because your life is going backwards!

During the course of this bizarre life Tom advises friends on stocks and shares, divorce and bets on the horses. But will he be able to prevent a fire at a supermarket, his daughters rape and above all his wifes death? Can he alter the course of history? And what will happen when he reaches the day of his birth?

This is a fast pace book and you will be gripped from page one as Tom journeys backward in his battle with lung cancer, sowing his wild oats before his daughter is back living with him, going back to work after retirement to find he cant remember any passcodes and watching his wife enter his life on the last day of her life.
4298842
This is a wonderful way to keep a personal written time capsule for yourself. If you're as sentimental as I am, you can see how this book will pay off in the futurein tears of joy, tears of sadness, tears of happiness.

Gosh, I can already imagine myself opening this book up in a few decades and reading a letter a month/year. My eyes are already starting to tear up writing and thinking about that moment. I can only imagine my reaction: "gosh, my grammar could be so much better", "why did you do that?", "oh, I remember that (*tear*)", "I forgot about that moment, thank you book for bringing that moment back to me", "I'm so glad I bought this book".

There are twelve envelopes provided in this book. Each envelope has a general topic written on it to help you decide what to write about, and each opens up to reveal a blank page to write a letter [see photos]. Once done, there are twelve stickers in the back of the book to seal the envelopes so you don't sneak a peek too early. You can write up to twelve letters to yourself. If that isn't enough for you, this book is one of many "Letters To Myself" books. I'm sure there is one for you, or ones to give as gifts to your family and friends.

Buy it. Read your letters in 30-80 years. Don't lose it. Take a look back at yourself, your thoughts, that special moment in time. If only there was a series called "Letters From My Future Self", it would tell you to take that chance, talk to that boy/girl, do those things you wanted to do, don't have any regrets.

Recommended.
1455777
I loved Joe Gizmo Builds a Time Machine. It uses tongue in cheek humor to tell the story of a young boy who uses his knowledge of math and science to create machines and gadgets that make his life, albeit not his neighbor's, more fun and carefree. His last invention, the most ambitious ever helps him ace his school project on dinosaurs. I dare not tell you how or I would give away too much of the story and its punchline.
1336664
There is no time like the present, but if only I had been introduced to this wonderful publication years earlier....a must read!!