A Midsummer Night's Dream

A Midsummer Night's Dream. William Shakespeare. 1596. 181 pages. [Source: Library]

A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare is one of those dependably enjoyable rereads. True, I don't love, love, love it as I love Much Ado About Nothing. I don't think any of the couples within are giddy-making and perfectly suited to one another. But the play is fun in its own way, in part because all the fairy action: Oberon, Titania, and Puck (Robin Goodfellow).

The play opens with a countdown of sorts towards the marriage between Theseus and Hippolyta. Egeus, the father of Hermia, goes to Theseus with his dilemma. His daughter, Hermia, is in love with Lysander and wants to marry him. Egeus wants his daughter to instead marry Demetrius. Helena, Hermia's close friend, is truly, madly, deeply in love with Demetrius. Who does Demetrius love? Well, it depends on the day, I suppose. Though perhaps that's not fair. When the play opens, he is hoping to marry Hermia.

Hermia is given an ultimatum: marry Demetrius OR else join a nunnery OR die. The lovers come up with a fourth option--an unapproved option--run away together and not get caught. For better or worse, Hermia tells Helena her plan. For whatever reason, Helena decides to betray her friend's trust and tell Demetrius. All four end up together in the woods--or forest--in a roundabout chasing that lasts most of the night.

Viewing all this 'madness' of sorts are a handful of fairies. Oberon, who is out of sorts with his wife Titania, truly pities Helena and wants her to get a happily ever after ending. So he tells Puck to use a love potion (something from a special flower) on the eyes of the young man. Perhaps not realizing that there are two young men from Athens in the woods, Puck makes a mistake and doses Lysander instead. Lysander switches his devotion just like that to Helena. Oberon does eventually have Puck correct this mistake. Demetrius declares his passion and love for Helena by the time the night is over...and Lysander's love for Helena vanishes just as quickly as it appeared...though not before Hermia and Helena get into a fight.

But there's more. Several men from the village--amateurs for sure--are rehearsing a play to perform for the marriage/wedding celebration of Theseus and Hippolyta. They are absolutely, over-the-top ridiculous. And Nick Bottom is more ridiculous than all the others combined. Puck uses Nick Bottom horribly in a way. But all will be well...

This play is fun and silly.

© 2016 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

The City of Ember

The City of Ember. Jeanne DuPrau. 2003. 270 pages. [Source: Library]

I really love reading and rereading The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau. It was one of the first dystopian novels that I ever read. The other "early" dystopian novel being The Giver. While I've probably read The Giver a good half-dozen times or so, The City of Ember is one I've read only a few times.

It opens with a prologue of sorts, a discussion of "the Instructions." The Builders create a box that will open when the time is right--about 220 years--and reveal a set of instructions for the mayor to help lead the people of Ember out of the darkness and into the light. That was the plan. That wasn't what actually happened, however, one mayor having failed to tell his successor of the box before he died. The box was "lost" seemingly forever. The instructions to remain a secret....

First sentence: In the city of Ember, the sky was always dark.

There is a heroine and a hero in this children's book. Doon is recently assigned to the pipeworks. Lina is recently assigned to be a Messenger. They're young--twelve or thirteen--and their future seems uncertain. Readers get to spend time with Lina and her family (a grandmother whose memory and health is failing, a baby sister) and Doon and his family (a father who is very supportive and encouraging to his son). Readers also get to meet a handful of other residents in the town. One such resident being the mayor (boo, hiss).

The premise of this one is fantastic. For over two hundred years generations have lived underground in the city of Ember not knowing that there was a world above, not even knowing they were underground. All of their resources are limited, severely limited. And the city of Ember, is, in fact "dying" because things are wearing down and running out. The people remain unaware despite the frequency of blackouts and shortages at stores. (Would canned goods *really* last over two hundred years? Would light bulbs and batteries really have that long a shelf life? I'm not sure I want to over-think it.)

At the heart of this one is the mystery. The instructions come to 'the light of day' so to speak tattered and chewed. Lina, Doon, and a few trusted adults piece together letters into words, words into sentences, sentences into ideas.

© 2016 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Cain His Brother

Cain His Brother. Anne Perry. 1995. 404 pages. [Source: Library]

I found Cain His Brother a bit of a disappointment after The Sins of the Wolf. Especially in the beginning. Readers be warned, you may spend a lot of time YELLING at William Monk. Especially in the first half of this one. William Monk has been somewhat sympathetic even if flawed in earlier books, but, in this one, well, the way he speaks to Hester is just ALL KINDS OF WRONG. I think it stood out more in this one because of how Sins of the Wolf ended. And it wasn't just that. Also he seems to be completely stupid and gullible sometimes where women are concerned. When Druscilla's character was introduced, for example, I started shouting warnings to Monk. He didn't listen. No matter how many times I tried to warn him. I ended up liking this story after all, but, only because Hester COMPLETELY redeems the situation and saves the day. Does he know it?! Of course not. And if he did, he'd probably just yell at Hester and dig a deeper hole for himself as far as I'm concerned. But still I enjoyed this one overall for how Hester, Monk, and Rathbone work together for justice. And the case they're working on is INTERESTING.

Angus Stonefield has been murdered--presumably--by his "evil" twin brother, Caleb Stone. There is no body, just bloody clothes and a missing person case. Some might argue, well, he tired of his wife, he decided to abandon his family, his job, and begin a new life somewhere else. And his clothes might have anyone's blood on them. The widow, Mrs. Stonefield, comes to William Monk desperate. She needs him to find enough proof that he can be declared dead. Sure she'd love justice, but, is realistic about the situation.

Hester and Lady Callandra, meanwhile, are busy nursing typhoid patients on the wrong side of town. The book is very much focused on poverty and the horrible living conditions in 1850s London.

There is plenty of detecting in this one, and, I think this one probably has the biggest twist so far in the series.

© 2016 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Nadia: The Girl Who Couldn't Sit Still

Nadia: The Girl Who Couldn't Sit Still. Karlin Gray. Illustrated by Christine Davenier. 2016. HMH. 40 pages. [Source: Review copy]

Premise/plot: A picture book biography of Nadia Comaneci.

My thoughts:  First, I just want to say that I want--no, I NEED--more picture books about gymnastics. Or early readers. Or chapter books. Or, you know, novels. And while I'm at it, I'll put in a request for books about ice skating. A picture book about the 1996 U.S. Gymnastics team would be GREAT fun I think!

Second, I just have to say that I really enjoyed this picture book biography of Nadia Comaneci! It is a very age-appropriate biography I must say. It is set in Romania in the 1960s and 1970s. (But the focus is never on politics or hardships or possible reasons why she might have defected from her country.) Readers meet a young Nadia and her coaches Bela and Marta Karolyi. She began doing gymnastics at the age of 6. Over half the book focuses on the 1976 Olympic Games. The book ends with her returning home after winning at the Olympics. She was 14 years old, I believe. I want to say that these days you have to be at least sixteen in order to compete at the Olympics. A timeline will catch adults up on her life story.

One thing I did appreciate was the source notes provided at the end of the book. So often picture book biographies fail to show their research.

This one is easy to recommend.

Text: 5 out of 5
Illustrations: 3 out of 5
Total: 8 out of 10


© 2016 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews

Poem for Mother's Day

Because you love me I have much achieved,
Had you despised me then I must have failed,
But since I knew you trusted and believed,
I could not disappoint you and so prevailed. 

Paul Laurence Dunbar, "Encouraged"

© 2016 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews