( 8 reviews )
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Posted: Jul 18 2009
The Book of Story Beginnings Our school librarian introduced me to this book. It is a must read! I borrowed it last year and bought my own copy this year. As a teacher, the title says it all. I read this to jump start my writing program in fifth grade. The unlikely adventure has many twists and turns to keep readers and/or listeners engaged. "Keep reading!" is what I always hear when I stop for the day.
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Posted: May 26 2009
I liked this fantasy/time travel story quite a bit. It tells of a book in which you can write story beginnings, and the book makes the stories come true, but you can't really control the middle or the end of the stories. This has long lasting effects on several generations of a family. I loved the fact that the magic and changes weren't easily undone---nothing is more frustrating than easy answers to undo complicated situations in kids fantasy books. The writing wasn't perfect. At times, too much is spelled out and the writing is a little too simple sounding for the probable age level of the readers, and parts of the books got a little overwhelmed with fairly silly details. However, it never really got to the point that it was annoying. The family interactions portrayed here were quite realistic. I liked seeing families which weren't perfect, but on the other hand were not evil or totally clueless like lots of families in kids books of this type. I will look for more by this promising author!
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Posted: Jan 18 2008
Kristin Kladstrup has created a wonderful fantasy in the tradition of C.S. Lewis' chronicles of narnia and so many other wonderful books for children! The characters are all so fully imagined and alive. I truly felt for Oscar, being so many years adrift in the future, away from his family. I loved how the book approached a child having to move from a place they are truly happy in to a place they are uncertain about--Lucy is a wonderful character in all ways, and I wish we could read on and on about her adventures, although I don't know what Kladstrup's plans in that realm may be, as this book came out in 2006 and there have been no others since. I wish Ms. Kladstrup many years of good fortune as a writer and want her to know that she has just acquired a new fan!
