Week 2 assignments

I have fallen way behind on this and am forging ahead now.  Here is my report on the Week 2 assignments.

Assignment 1:  The article by Neal Wyatt captured the idea of appeal characteristics fully and concisely.  All of the people I mentioned in my previous post - those who were good at readers advisory before it became a separate field, understood this and communicated about it instinctively - before this framework and vocabulary was created to define it.  It is interesting to me how well the characteristics in the article capture ways to communicate with people about books.  It seems complex if it doesn't come to you naturally.  This framework makes it seem much more achievable.

Assignment 2:  Two appeals-y annotations
Mystery of the Witches' Bridge by Barbee Oliver Carleton
This book opens with a sense of foreboding when Dan Pride goes to live with his wealthy but reclusive uncle in a remote mansion on the salt marshes of Massachusetts.  A stranger to the area and small for his age, Dan is unsure of himself and of his role at Pride's Point.  He hopes to learn to work the farm and harvest the salt hay that is the livelihood of Pride's.  Like the fog that often enshrouds the area, a series of mysteries begin to take shape.  Who is the neighbor boy who is sometimes warm and friendly and other times ignores him?  Who lives on the remote island in the distance? What causes the eerie lights and the haunting music that seems to float in the air on those foggy evenings?  What happened the night that his grandfather died, and did it have anything to do with the death of his long-ago ancestor, who was executed for being a witch? Gradually, mysteries of the past combine with those of the present to bring Dan to a startling conclusion.  Soon the quiet days of investigation give way to a true battle of wits and strength as Dan works to save Pride's Point and his own life.

Paris by Edward Rutherfurd
As this multigenerational novel unfolds, readers experience Parisian life in many eras and from many viewpoints.  From the pre-revolutionary court at Versailles through the Belle Epoque, the birth of Impressionism and Art Nouveau and well into the 20th century, eras and attitudes that seem distant when seen through the eyes of today become closer and clearer to understand. Moving back and forth though history, we hear the story of several families. Along the way we meet people those who defined the history of Paris and of the world - Cardinal Richelieu, Gustav Eiffel, Claude Monet and many others.  With a straightforward narrative combined wtih a a non-linear plot, Rutherfurd helps us to know his many characters and helps us to understand the title character as well, Paris herself.

Assignment 3:
I recommended Paris by Edward Rutherfurd to Cherrie E. because of her interest in Cellist of Sarajevo and The Winter Garden.  Historical fiction with good perspectives on social justice and attitudes of the day.  I also recommended Oryx and Crake to Sharyn Y. based on her recommendation of Son by Lois Lowry.  A different book entirely but the same ominous sense of futuristic dystopia that gets a person thinking.