Bibliography:
duBois,
William Pene. (1947). The 21 Balloons. New York: Viking.
Summary:
Professor
William Waterman Sherman wants to have some alone time and decides to create a
complete inhabitable environment he can attach a large balloon to and float
across the surface of the Earth for the next year. He left with only one
balloon, and three weeks later he was found floating in the ocean with the
remains of 21 balloons. The question that everyone is asking is where did all
of the balloons come from and how did he get so far from his launch area in
only three weeks? Sherman tells a larger than life tale of his adventure that
took him to the island of Krakatoa, secret home to twenty families, dangerous
volcanic activity and more diamonds than you could imagine!
Impressions:
At
first I didn’t want to read such an “old” story but was quickly sucked in. I
truly enjoyed the adventure of it all and was intrigued with the scientific
aspects of living on an active volcanic
island. The secretive actions of the inhabitants of Krakatoa reminded me of the
show Lost and how Ben Linus and his crew had the submarine that was used to go
out for supplies. The similarities kept me interested and wondering how in the
world it was going to end. I think that secretly all of us seek the opportunity
to escape our mundane lives and find a tale to tell.
Reviews:
A great adventure
story, with a different kind of hero. Professor Sherman is a misanthrope (could
he be one of the first anti-heroes?), and just wants to get away from it all
(and I love him for it). Also unique in that the whole story is told as a talk
to his club. When people are looking for a “classic book”, I always recommend
this.
Bird, Elizabeth. (2012). Top 100 children’s novels
#64: The twenty-one balloons by William Pene du Bois. School Library Journal.
The Twenty-One
Balloons by William DuBois (Puffin, pap. 1986) has everything-balloon travel,
diamond mines, wonderful inventions and a volcanic island that erupts while 82
people hover over it on a platform held aloft by balloons. The story is told by
Professor William Sherman Waterman, a retired math teacher who is determined to
fulfill his dream of travelling in a balloon high above the cares and concerns
of the regular world for one year. Narrator John McDonough does a good job of
sounding like the tired 66-year-old professor. The recorded version drags at
times, especially in the very long introduction that describes Professor
Waterman's refusal to tell his story even to the President of the United
States. Listeners may cringe a little when the professor describes dumping his
garbage over the side of the balloon, but this is the only aspect of the story
that is dated. Life on Krakatoa, the volcanic island where the professor
ultimately ends up, is truly extraordinary. The wonderful inventions, including
a balloon merry go-round and electrified chairs that can be driven all over the
house, are bound to appeal to listeners' imaginations. However, the narration
does not exude the sense of wonder and excitement that the story deserves.
Ching, E. (1998).
The twenty-one balloons. School Library Journal, 44(4), 82-82.
Uses:
I
would prefer to introduce this book at the high school level to students in
science courses. In association with the science teachers, a project could be
developed to try to create a balloon that could lift a certain object. A
comparison to the development of his balloon and basket system to modern hot
air balloon could also be researched and discussed.
HOLES
Sachar, Louis. (1998). Holes. New York: Farrar,
Straus and Giroux.
Summary:
Stanley Yelnats has been sent to a detention center where he
must spend his day digging holes in the desert for the warden. This is his
punishment for stealing a pair of shoes that were to be auctioned at a charity
event. Only that’s not what really happened. Stanley is affected by a family
curse…one he inherited from his great great grandfather when he did not fulfill
a promise made to a gypsy. Through the trials of serving this sentence, Stanley
learns the true reason behind the digging of the holes, the truth about what
happened with the shoes and redeems his family of a curse that has followed
them for generations.
Impressions:
This story was interesting, showing how things can come full
circle and work themselves out. I liked the intricacies of how the actions of
the past seemed to repeat themselves.
Reviews:
…We haven't seen a book with this much plot, so
suspensefully and expertly deployed, in too long a time. And the ending will
make you cheer — for the happiness the Yelnats family finally finds — and cry,
for the knowledge of how they lost so much for so long, all in the words of a
lullaby. Louis Sachar has long been a great and deserved favorite among
children, despite the benign neglect of critics. But Holes is
witness to its own theme: what goes around, comes around. Eventually.
Sutton, R. (1998). Holes. Horn
Book Magazine, 74(5), 593-595.
As the winner of the Newbery Medal and the National Book Award
in 1998, as well as the basis for the 2003 film adaptation (which grossed $67.3
million), Sachar's
darkly comic tale has all the ingredients of a YA reading-group hit--crime,
adventure, treasure and identifiable, likable characters. Falsely imprisoned in
the juvenile detention center Camp Green Lake, Stanley Yelnats discovers clues
to a secret treasure while digging holes in the rocky lakebed, the
punishment impinged upon the prisoners by The Warden, who's obviously hiding something.
But what? Stanley endeavors to find out, and according to Kirkus, "Through
flashbacks, Sachar
weaves a complex net of hidden relationships and well-timed revelations as he
puts his larger-than-life characters under a sun so punishing that readers will
be reaching for water bottles." Vicky Smith, Director of McArthur Library
in Biddeford, Me., who used Sachar's novel in her own fifth-grade book
group, says that the children loved the characters and enjoyed the challenge of
the shifting narratives. She also notes that the discussion helped struggling
readers to better understand the text. Reprinted as part of Random House's
Reader's Circle series, this "rugged, engrossing adventure" will
engage a wide range of young readers.
Holes. (2005). Kirkus Reviews, 73(8), 14.
Uses:
I would display this as an example of a book that is also a
movie. Students could be challenged to read the story a movie is based on and
do a compare and contrast assignment, ultimately determining which was better.
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