Tag: lists

REVIEW: Annie's Life in Lists by Kristin Mahoney

REVIEW: Annie’s Life in Lists by Kristin Mahoney

Posted on by Jaymie

Summary

Annie has a fantastic memory for people. She remembers names, faces and details. Usually, this is less of a gift than you might think. Annie is a quiet, blend-into-the-background kid and others think it’s weird when a “stranger” knows so much about them.

Annie’s awesome memory causes problems for her at school when her people-skills expose a family secret. Now Annie has to go to a different school. To make matters worse, Annie’s parents decide to leave the city and move to a small town. Her dad says it’s for his job, but Annie wonders if it was because she exposed their secret.

Annie is determined to keep her weird memory to herself when she starts at her new school. It takes time to make friends, and she doesn’t want her freaky skills to alienate people. Her brother already hates her because they had to move. And her dad doesn’t seem as enamored with the small town life as he did at first. How can Annie make things better for everyone after  she ruined everything?

Review

My list of things I loved about this book:

  • Annie. I really identified with her and her memory for people. I feel like I remember people better than others remember me. I also loved her lists. They tell the reader so much about what she’s thinking and how she’s feeling.
  • The kids in Clover Gap. Annie makes some great friends in her new home. The dynamic between Annie and Amelia is a great one for Annie to work through.
  • Annie’s growth across the story. One of my favorite themes in books is finding your voice. And Annie is on that journey here. It’s great.
  • The format. The “new kid at school” thing has been done before. But a story told almost entirely in lists? It’s brilliant! I can’t believe the author composed such a rich and intricate story with lists and a handful of paragraphs to fill in some details. This format created an absolutely excellent, unique reading experience.

This would make a fantastic addition to home and school libraries. This would also be an excellent mentor text in a writing classroom. Imagine young writers creating lists and list stories of their own! This has become one of my favorite books of the year. It’s one I recommend all the time.

Rating: ♥♥♥♥½

REVIEW: Make a List by Marilyn McEntyre

REVIEW: Make a List by Marilyn McEntyre

Posted on by Jaymie

Summary

Section one of this book looks at why people make lists and why some find it enjoyable. There’s a focus on goals and what people want from their lives as well as setting priorities. There are lots of list examples in this section, as well as in the other sections of the book.

Section two examines when lists can be helpful – seeing what things are and aren’t priorities, remembering important things, or developing a call to action, etc..

Section 3 includes lists of lists and more examples of why lists can be helpful.  There’s also an appendix which includes even more list examples.

Review

If you want to make lists, I recommend getting a journal or a planner or even a guided journal (like Listography) and dive right in.

If you want to explore WHY to make lists and how they can be useful for different purposes, give this book a try. You can also get list ideas from the many examples in the book.

I am more of the first sort, so I was looking for list ideas moreso than reasons to list. I love my Literary Listography journal because it provides the prompts and I provide the list. I have kept a bullet journal before and found it a positive experience. I know there are a bunch of guided journals like Listography if you need help figuring out what lists to make. While I found this book to be good in general, the examples of lists were the most interesting part to me. Although I didn’t find a lot of examples that made me want to get out my journal to make my own similar list. I did not find the different sections to be well defined, either. Maybe this would be a better resource for a beginning list-maker or someone who isn’t convinced that listing is a useful practice.

Thanks to Netgalley and the folks at Eerdmans for an electronic review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Rating: ♥♥♥½