Double Comparison Review: The Twenty One Balloons and Mr. Popper’s Peguins

Hello everybody! This is the first of a new series I am going to do for my reviews. For each post I am going to read two books with similar pub. circumstances and themes and then review them side-by-side. Today I’m reviewing The Twenty One Balloons by William Pene du Bois and Mr. Popper’s Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater. Both were written at around the same time, Popper’s Penguins in the 1930s and Balloons in the 1940s, and both were awarded a Newberry. Both were children’s books (I’m pretty sure they could be classified as middle grade) focusing on themes of exploration and defying other people’s expectations.

  

Balloons is about a man who sets off to spend a year in a balloon, and is found only three weeks later with twenty balloons. The story tells about how this came to be. Conversely, Popper’s Penguins centers around a bored house-painter who acquires penguins. Both are supposed to be tales of adventure and fun, and could probably be considered modern children’s classics by some people.

Both stories focus on imagination, but neither really make much logical sense. This is probably because they were written for kids, but the lack of sense, especially in Popper’s Penguins seems more like talking down to kids rather than making stories accessible to them. That book was so simple that I had to double check that it was for the middle grade category. I wouldn’t really recommend it for anyone beyond fourth (mayyyybe fifth) grade.

In Balloons, the writing is less simplified, but the actual events are very simple. At one point, the main character is living on a Pacific island with 80 other white people (not even going to go there because there is no doubt that had the others been native islanders they would have been portrayed with much racism). Each family is a mirror of each other: they all have an inventive man of the house, a housewife, an assertive and inventive son, and a somewhat-less inventive-but-still-inventive and demure daughter. Each family has the same job and an equal share of the wealth of the island, and the society is portrayed as utopia. This is interesting as well, especially since the book was written in 1947 during the Red Scare in the United States. To think that a children’s book supporting communism was written and published and even won a Newberry during the Cold War!

In this book the inventions described are interesting, and could be very interesting for kids, but the uniformity of everyone shown in the book kind of rubbed me the wrong way.

Both books do have very nice, well-drawn illustrations and reading them could make the right kid very happy. But I wouldn’t really recommend either for adults who want an interesting and inventive story.

Also, there are certainly many better (in my opinion) imaginative books for kids, many of which can be better enjoyed by people of all ages.

I rated both books 3/5 stars.

Book Review- Our Dark Duet by Victoria Schwab (non-spoiler review and spoiler discussion)

(I’m going to start with the non-spoiler review, and then head into the spoilery discussion after. Don’t worry, I’ll give you a head’s up. The non-spoiler section may still contain spoilers for This Savage Song, the first book in the duology.)

“I didn’t mean to startle you. But you are standing in my kitchen. And that is my favorite knife.”

It’s no secret that V Schwab is one of my favorite authors- I’ve read almost all of her books. They’re always about interesting people in interesting worlds (with exquisite world building), and it seems like she never runs out of fascinating ideas. So I had high hopes for Our Dark Duet, and somehow it still managed to surpass my expectations.

The book starts a few months after the events in TSS (This Savage Song) with Kate leaving Verity for Prosperity, and August staying with the Flynn Task Force. Ilsa can still reap souls, but no longer with music. Much has happened between the two books.

One thing that was exceptional about this book was the character development- August and Kate of course, but also all of the side characters. The reader gets a lot of insight into characters like Ilsa and Soro (new character) and even those like Sloan so they are understandable, and in several cases purposefully unlikable. Not only does everyone have a backstory, but you can see layers of character shift as the story goes on.

The world building was exceptional as could be expected. It was interesting to see the contrast between Verity and Prosperity too, and how they were both independent territories in the same dystopian world yet very different. The pacing was phenomenal too. I feel like this is a book that you could read quickly or slowly depending on your preferences.

An unapologetic 5/5 stars. Actually, scratch that. 1,000,000/5 stars.

 

Discussion:

(Spoilers beyond this point!)

Damn, V. Why did you gotta go do me like that??? That ending was so rude on your part.

Kate was ma gurl. KATE WAS MA GURL.

But to be honest if she had to go I’m glad it happened like that so we could see August have his soul crushed too. The ending was so evil- and yet so good.

Now I guess since that’s out of the way I’ll talk about the beginning and middle since they were phenomenal (if not quite as soul crushing) too.

I loved Soro. They were ma sunai, even if I kinda didn’t like them at first. I thought they were, like, just a little bit evil when we met them, if you know what I mean. But then their character developed and by the end I was just like

So yeah Soro was basically like my role model and favorite character all rolled into one.

Also Prosperity. Prosperity. It’s too cruel that we will never see more of this evil, insidious city.

So, in conclusion, thank you Victoria Schwab for creating this fantastic, and evil, book. Snail blogger ouuuut.

2017 Reading and Blogging Goals!

Hey guys! You may have possibly noticed that I didn’t follow through with my readathon. This is because my concussion made it difficult to use the computer without getting a headache. However, I’m feeling much better right now, so I’ll tell you about some of my 2017 goals and resolutions!

Reading goals and resolutions:

1. Read more adult books- and by this I mean books written for adults, not erotica. I am planning to read at least one each month.
2. Read more classics- I also want to try and read at least one of these each month. These can be children’s classics, regular classics, or really any type of classics. I don’t care, as long as it’s something I’m interested in.
3. Read more nonfiction- Again, I want to try one each month, and read about a variety of subjects.

For all of these, I’m making these resolutions because I enjoy these types of books (actually some of the best books I’ve read recently have been these genres) and don’t get around to actually finding many of them to read. I slip back into hot teen ya fiction because its easy and comfortable instead of trying to find something I’ll enjoy more, ultimately. So, I’m hoping to use these goals to force myself to read these genres.

Blogging goals and resolutions:

1. Make a schedule and stick to it for each month. Seriously.
2. Write more reviews, and more good reviews. Plan them in the schedule, and stick it through.
3. Interact more with other people online.

I don’t think I’ve done a good job this year, and am setting these goals in order to improve for next year.

Additional goals and resolutions that don’t fit neatly into the other two categories:

1. Join some readathons, and before they start this time! I think that would be very fun.
2. Do a good deed for the world/Earth each month.
3. Do a photo project: pick a month and take a new photo of something different but similar every day of that month.
4. Drink more water.
5. Do more things that I enjoy.
6. Spend more time with my friends, and be more outgoing.
7. Have a generally better year than 2016.

Thank you for reading everyone! I would love to hear your feedback! What are your new year’s resolutions? Got any suggestions for books to read in the new year? Have a fun readathon I could join next year? I’d love to year any of your thoughts, really. Anyways, see you in my next post! 🙂