2009 March 04 » Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog

Review: Anastasia, Absolutely by Lois Lowry (1997)

Posted by Anastasia on March 4, 2009 No Responses »

Mar 042009

Anastasia Absolutely Anastasia, Absolutely by Lois Lowry
Publication: Yearling (1997), Paperback, 128 pages / ISBN 0440412226
Genre: Fiction, Children’s
Rating: 4.5/5
Find @ Amazon or IndieBound
Challenges: Read Your Own Books 2009 (#14)
First sentence: “Anastasia!”

Obviously, since my name is Anastasia, I love these books. (Seriously, I’m not being sarcastic. I really do love them!) Some of them are better than others, but just having my name be a character’s name who isn’t a Russian princess is enough to keep me coming back to them even now. I haven’t read an Anastasia book in a while (and I’ve never read this one), so this was a nice treat.

Summary from Amazon:

The trouble begins when Anastasia goes to the mailbox with two packages and her new dog, Sleuth. It’s there that she accidentally puts the bag of dog droppings into the mailbox instead of her mother’s package. When she realizes her mistake, Anastasia uses her school Values Class experience to help her decide what to do. But when the police take the corner mailbox, Anastasia’s sure she’s committed a crime that will land her in jail.

It’s a short book, but there’s a few interesting things in it. Anastasia’s matured! Well, a little. I liked that she eventually worked out what to do with help from her parents and teacher– and herself. She’s got more friends now, too, and I thought it very admirable that she was so nice to her younger brother, Sam. She even played with him multiple times without getting annoyed– more than I ever did with my own brother, ha. The situation she gets herself into is extremely amusing but it’s not over-the-top.

There wasn’t as much of her parents in here, which was a shame. I like them a lot! They’re quite adorable, and I loved them in Anastasia Krupnik. Oh well.

If you’re in need of a funny book with cute characters and a plot with a moral (and a tidy solution), then check out the Anastasia books. (And I’m not just talking them up because of my name!)

Review: The Vanishing Chip by Mark Delaney (1998)

Posted by Anastasia on March 4, 2009 No Responses »

Mar 042009

The Vanishing Chip by Mark Delaney
Publication: Peachtree Publishers (1998), Edition: 1st, Paperback, 188 pages / ISBN 1561451762
Genre: Mystery, YA/Teen
Rating: 2/5
Find @ Amazon
Challenges: Read Your Own Books 2009 (#13)

Okay, so, yeah, you’ve probably never heard of this book. It’s horribly dated, it’s not really popular, and it’s not particularly well written. I found it at one of the library book sales I went to last year, and while I don’t necessarily regret buying it I do feel kinda bad for it. It’s got a lot against it, and while the good parts don’t really overcome the bad, it wasn’t entirely horrible.

Summary from Amazon:

Meet Misfits, Inc. Investigations: Peter, the Genius; Jake, the Athlete; Byte, the Computer Whiz; and Mattie, the “Magician.” These four talented teenagers don’t quite fit in with their peers, but they do manage to find true friendship with each other as they crack a mystery.

In their first case, the super-sleuths band together to clear Mattie’s grandfather, who stands falsely accused of stealing a million-dollar computer chip from a local science museum. When the FBI and local police can’t turn up any leads, the Misfits draw upon their own special talents to lead them to the thieves and solve the mystery of THE VANISHING CHIP.

As with any book with computer and technology playing a big part in the plot, it all gets really dated really fast. 1998 was only 11 years ago, yet a lot has changed since this book was written. Programs used on Byte’s latptop, the “vanishing chip” which touted to be the size of a quarter, etc. etc.

I’m not ragging on it because of those things, though; I actually like reading older books and the technology used in them. It’s like a little retrospective, or a historical document. However, The Vanishing Chip isn’t yet old enough to be truly interesting historically. Maybe in a few more years it will be, but today it just reads old-fashioned and outdated. The characters spend around three chapters figuring out that the “vanishing chip” was actually– spoiler alert!– a hologram. That’s after watching it flicker out. Oh dear. Surely at least one of them has seen a Star Trek episode?

Besides the technology, though, there’s a pretty decent story about four friends who get into big trouble with the wrong people and have to get out of it without getting killed. The plot’s not sensational but it has some exciting parts, and I honestly did fear for the kids’ lives in the later parts. I didn’t really care about the characters besides that, but I did like the inter-group romantic entanglement hints. Made things more realistic! Also, the mystery itself was well done. Nothing too complicated, but it was twisted enough that I kept reading the book.

Not really recommended except for those who like reading about old tech. Younger kids today will probably find it stupid, unfortunately.

eBook Wednesday: Amazon launches Kindle app for iPhone

Posted by Anastasia on March 4, 2009 No Responses »

Mar 042009

Yes, folks, it’s true. A Kindle app for the iPhone! And of course it’ll work for the iPod Touch as well (actually, I’m testing it out now). Here’s some details:

Starting Wednesday, owners of these Apple devices can download a free application, Kindle for iPhone and iPod Touch, from Apple’s App Store. The software will give them full access to the 240,000 e-books for sale on Amazon.com, which include a majority of best sellers.

Okay, so I don’t actually know how that compares to other ebook retailers, like BooksOnBoard.com, but it’s a heck of a lot of ebooks.

“We think the iPhone can be a great companion device for customers who are caught without their Kindle,” said Ian Freed, Amazon’s vice president in charge of the Kindle.

Mr. Freed said people would still turn to stand-alone reading devices like the $359 Kindle when they want to read digital books for hours at a time. He also said that the experience of using the new iPhone application might persuade people to buy a Kindle, which has much longer battery life than the iPhone and a screen better suited for reading.

Or maybe not. Sheesh, that’s kinda arrogant.

Quotes are from here!

The Amazon Kindle for iPhone app is FREE (iTunes Link), but it looks like books need to be purchased from Amazon directly via PC or Mac and transferred over, or from the iPhone via Mobile Safari.

Oh god, SO ANNOYING. And dumb, too! Why not just be able to buy the books inside the app, like with the eReader/Stanza apps?

Whispersync is also enabled so you can start reading on the Kindle, switch to the iPhone, and basically go back and forth without losing your place. Books you’ve already purchased for the Kindle, of course, can be placed on the iPhone or iPod touch as well.

Quotes from here!

I haven’t downloaded any books yet (I’m just going to try out the freebies, besides), but looking at the basic design it pretty much just looks like Stanza. Will update after I download something and check out the formatting.