Review: Marigold Bakes a Cake

Marigold Bakes a Cake by Mike Malbrough
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I was introduced to this book in a roundabout way. The author/illustrator is the son-in-law of a friend of my uncle's. My uncle bought it and I read it. And I will be buying it myself as soon as possible.
Such a fun book! It is a great read aloud. As a librarian, I am always looking for books I can use with classes and when I am reading a book and start hearing it in different voices I could use to read it aloud I get excited.
Marigold is a very persnickety kitty. He likes things just so. On baking days, he is alone. "No distractions. No exceptions" On this baking day others are not following the rules and it makes for chaos.

Such a fun fabulous book! I am recommending it to all the primary teachers at my school. This book could be the focus for so many lessons. Idioms, alliteration, rhyming, and word play, to name only a few. And what fun could be had making predictions as this book is read... I can't say enough great things about this book.

Oh how I hope that the author decides to let Marigold have many more adventures! Think of the great big world just waiting to annoy him!

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Review: A Gentleman in Moscow

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I do not even know where to begin in reviewing this book.
The book follows a man named Alexander through the years that he is under house arrest at the Metropol Hotel for being an aristocrat during the time of the Russian Revolution. From the very beginning I loved this charming man. He might be guilty of being self-absorbed, but he is a man who loves deeply, and is extremely loyal to those he calls friend. Because of this he inspires the same loyalty in others.
I guess the greatest compliment that I can give this book, is that as I was reading I was wishing that my borrowed copy was my own so that I could highlight and tag the many passages that grabbed me. In sitting down to write this review I wanted to be able to look back and insert quotations that I loved, yet since I could not mark the book and had no post-its on my vacation I find it very difficult to find them now. I can assure you that a copy of this book will be purchased and it will be reread so that I can find those passages again and many more and mark and tag to my heart's content.
I believe it is a mark of a great book, that when you finish, you miss the character as if he was a friend or loved one that no longer walked this plane. I find myself missing Sasha and his quirky family and feeling homesick for the Metropol.
When I was in high school the mother of a friend of mine told me that once a year she takes off a day from her family and rereads her favorite book. It isn't something I have thought about much since then. I reread books often, but setting aside a day to reread one particular book is not something I have ever done. I can see that happening with this book, taking a day to visit with Sasha and the family he makes.

And if the ending is not as satisfying as I might have liked it to be, at least I can enjoy the ambiguous nature of the ending to imagine it with the ending I want it to be.

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