Search This Blog
April Reviews Link-Up
May Reviews Link-Up
June Reviews Link-Up
July Reviews Link-Up
August Reviews Link-Up
September Reviews Link-Up
October Reviews Link-Up
November Reviews Link-Up
December Reviews Link-Up
2024 Literary Escapes Challenge
- Alabama
- Alaska
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California (3)
- Colorado (1)
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- Florida
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Idaho (2)
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana (1)
- Maine (1)
- Maryland
- Massachusetts (1)
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York (1)
- North Carolina (1)
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon (2)
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee (1)
- Texas (1)
- Utah
- Vermont
- Virginia (1)
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
- Washington, D.C.*
International:
- Australia (1)
- Canada (1)
- England (5)
- France (1)
- Ireland (1)
- Scotland (1)
- The Netherlands (1)
2024 Build Your Library Reading Challenge
Friday, August 17, 2012
Old-Fashioned Animal Tale A Little Dull For My (Always Discerning) Tastes
1:00 AM
(Image from Barnes & Noble)
Although she lives inside a grand plantation house, Celeste longs for a real home. The tiny, timid mouse yearns for a place where she can nestle, safe from rat bullies and the threat of the housecat's claws. A cage isn't exactly what she has in mind, but that's where she ends up after she's forced from her nest under the dining room floorboards. Captivity, it turns out, isn't so bad. Not when your captor is a nice boy like Joseph Mason. Joseph's staying at the plantation while he and his teacher, John James Audubon, study the local wildlife. Curled up inside Joseph's pocket, Celeste gets to experience things she never even imagined, things like the great outdoors, the perplexing behavior of humans, the excitement of flying like an osprey and, most of all, true friendship. But when Joseph finishes his work in Louisiana and returns to Ohio, what will happen to Celeste?
Although I expected A Nest for Celeste by Henry Cole to be a sweet, simple tale, it actually delves into a fairly dark subject. Not only does it discuss animal cruelty, but it paints a famous naturalist in a rather unflattering light (Audubon, according to Cole's Author's Note, killed almost all of the birds he painted so lovingly). At its heart, though, the tale is exactly what it purports to be: "A Story About Art, Inspiration, and the Meaning of Home." Readers will sympathize with the book's kind heroine, although they may find that her story drags a bit. Although A Nest for Celeste is a quick read with lots of illustrations, I yawned through a good portion of it. I'm not sure how appealing this one will be for children, if even I found it a little dull. Or maybe I'm full of prunes and they'll totally love it. At any rate, I wasn't all that impressed.
(Readalikes: Um, I can't really think of anything. Can you?)
Grade: C+
If this were a movie, it would be rated: PG for scenes of peril and scenes involving animal cruelty (not horribly graphic, but still might be disturbing for young children)
To the FTC, with love: I borrowed A Nest for Celeste from the library at my kids' elementary school as part of my volunteer work with the school's reading program.
1 comment:
Comments make me feel special, so go crazy! Just keep it clean and civil. Feel free to speak your mind (I always do), but be aware that I will delete any offensive comments.
P.S.: Don't panic if your comment doesn't show up right away. I have to approve each one before it posts to prevent spam. It's annoying, but it works!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments
(Atom)
Reading
Listening
Followin' with Bloglovin'
-
Time Travel Thursday3 hours ago
-
THE ROMANOV BRIDES Blog Tour5 hours ago
-
American Zion5 hours ago
-
-
Digging Up Trouble by Kitt Crowe7 hours ago
-
-
Love on Camera10 hours ago
-
-
-
-
The Highgate Cemetery Murder by Irina Shapiro14 hours ago
-
Mistimed Meal: A Review of Vampire Fly14 hours ago
-
The Silver Swan: Benjamin Black20 hours ago
-
A Death in Denmark - Amulya Malladi21 hours ago
-
Review: Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera22 hours ago
-
-
Thank you1 day ago
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
One in the Chamber by Robin Peguero2 days ago
-
Top 5 Tuesday ~ Female Authors2 days ago
-
What's up?2 days ago
-
-
-
-
-
Review: Beartown1 week ago
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
What Happened to Summer?5 months ago
-
6/25/23 Extra Ezra9 months ago
-
-
-
Sundays with Sam – The Sunday Post11 months ago
-
-
Are you looking for Pretty Books?1 year ago
-
-
-
-
-
Grab my Button!
Blog Archive
- ► 2021 (159)
- ► 2020 (205)
- ► 2019 (197)
- ► 2018 (223)
- ► 2017 (157)
- ► 2016 (157)
- ► 2015 (188)
- ► 2014 (133)
- ► 2013 (183)
- ▼ 2012 (193)
- ► 2011 (232)
- ► 2010 (257)
- ► 2009 (211)
- ► 2008 (192)
Shame that it's just okay, but I enjoyed reading your review. How sad that artists used to feel the need to kill the animals they painted.
ReplyDelete