Holiday Gift Ideas—Games, Part 1

What games do you get as gifts for a student? If I let my boys pick, it will be nothing but blood, battles, and skateboarding. Here is one alternative for high school students.

There are many “My Coach” games for Nintendo DS and even some for Wii. Top of my list to consider is My SAT Coach. It was released last September and is a single player game for the DS. One thing to mention right away is that there are no extra save spots. Only one person can play this and their progress is recorded automatically. If anyone else plays it that will “taint” the original player’s scores. So buy it for one person. My SAT Coach is designed to help people learn and/or to improve their SAT test scores. Here is the key feature list for the game:

* Build Knowledge - Practice key skills and subjects in all the different subsections of the SAT test or gauge your knowledge by taking a sample test from The Princeton Review
* Follow-Up - Track your overall progress in all SAT topics including arithmetic, geometry, algebra, critical reading, writing and vocabulary
* Prepare - Engage in a series of mini-games that will help you increase your level of judgment, confidence and time management - everything you need to boost your SAT score. Learn about helpful methods and mental approaches to reduce stress and ensure you are physically and mentally prepared
* Mini-Game Drills - Train yourself in mathematics to elude the tricks of the SAT. Train yourself in vocabulary and grammar. Learn helpful methods to improve time management and reduce stress
* Personal Follow-Up - Track your progress in quizzes and follow recommendations to boost your strengths and minimize your weaknesses

The biggest drawback is the game does not tell you how to solve the problems. If you don’t know an Algebra problem, it won’t tell you how to solve the problem. It will only give you the right answer. Remember, this game is primarily for improving test taking skills, not on improving the student’s knowledge in a subject area. There are training sections for each part of the SAT and the player can take the whole SAT, with opportunity to save between sections. Here are the different sections:

• CRITICAL READING - Quiz yourself on Sentence Completion and Passage-Based questions.
• MATHEMATICS - Math quizzes--Arithmetic, Basic Algebra, Geometry and Miscellaneous--are located here.
• WRITING - writing portion of the SAT--Sentence Errors, Improving Sentences and Improving Paragraphs
• TAKE THE SAT TEST - Do the real thing! The SAT takes 3 hours and 45 minutes, but don’t worry, My SAT Coach lets you save between sections.
  POSITIVE/NEGATIVE – Identify whether each word has a positive or a negative connotation
• MATH ACE - Quiz to help improve timing and think quickly in general math.
• ALGEBRA BLITZ - Quiz to help improve timing and think quickly in Algebra.
• ELIMINATION – game with training for eliminating wrong answers in all sections of SAT (math, critical reading, and writing).
• GRAMMAR CRACKER – timed game where area is highlighted and player must identify the type of grammatical error-- Verb Tense, Idioms, Subject Verb Agreement, False Comparison or “No Error”.
• DEFINITION DECODER – Timed game where the player chooses which of two words the given definition is describing.

For the student who just needs practice before the real thing, this is good way to do it. Games run about $20 new and many game stores sell used ones for much less.

Williwaw!

by Tom Bodett

This is another good adventure story. It's an adventure I think many kids, if not all, have at least once in their lives--trying to cover their tracks when they've disobeyed. This one takes place in the wilder parts of Alaska.

Ivan and September Crane are 12 and 13. While their father, a fisherman, is at sea, they are trusted to keep their Alaskan home running, instead of going to stay with the dreaded Aunt and Uncle in the town across the bay. There are only two conditions: do not take the skiff out on the bay to go to town, and do not hook video games up to the battery for the short-wave radio--their only means of communications.

It's the fall and weather in the bay is unpredictable at best. Ivan struggles to obey the game restriction, but decides just once won't hurt. He manages to fry the radio, the short-wave, and his game. September is furious and Ivan is devastated. When they decide to use Ivan's savings to repair the radios, they break the second restriction and travel to town. Their ill-fated adventure begins.

This book reminded me so much of my own brother and sister. Those of us who have siblings or who grow up close to someone, know that it is difficult to describe the treasured turbulence in that relationship--you want to kill them and you would die for them. Ivan and September are just like that. I chuckled so many times as I read, seeing myself and my own boys in these two. My college friend Reba recommended this book, saying her children, boys and girls, loved it and read it many times. I can see why.

"Eww. Brown rice!" (Ivan)

"I told you," September said, grabbing the steaming dish from the stove top. "Besides, it's good for you."

Ivan plopped down in his chair and leaned unhappily on the table. "Who told you that?"

September thought a moment. "I guess Mom did."

"Oh." Ivan spooned some rice onto a plate and got quiet. He didn't remember as much about their mother as September did, and it bothered him sometimes. "Well, it still tastes bad."

"Don't you know that everything that tastes bad is good for you?" September tried to make a joke to move the subject in a new direction.

"You think skunk cabbage is good for you? How about baneberry?"

Leave it to Ivan, thought September, and was about to rise to the silly argument, when their VHF radio crackled across the kitchen.

True to life, Ivan and September's efforts are thwarted at every turn, and it is fun (as a parent) and painful (as a previous offender) to read this. I am glad they fail even while I silently root for their ingenuity. I can do this because ultimately, they just don't want to disappoint their father, losing his trust.

I think kids like this book because Ivan and September are so independent. Sure, they have chores--but they drive their own boat, fill the tank, fool their one cranky neighbor, navigate the bay by themselves, and impress the new kid in town and get invited to his party. They struggle with some of the same temptations and fears our kids do.

While TC and his mom dished out cake, September and Ivan helped pass it around. September relished the job. She met more kids in ten minutes than she'd met in the last ten years. Each table had a ring of friendly faces. Hello, I'm Norman. Thank you, I'm Laura, What's your name? I'm Angela. Can I have the piece with the flower?

Williwaw! is for younger children. The siblings talk, tease, and argue much of the story, and there are some descriptive sections which almost beg for an audience greater than one.

Ivan looked back. All he saw was a wall of water shimmering like black silk. September pegged the motor, and they shot up the face so fast he felt his insides compact. From the crest he saw the town far beyond the angry white tops of the waves lined up behind them like an advancing army. His guts floated into his throat as the skiff fell into the next trough.

Even though deceased, the mother is a strong presence in the story. The childrens' memories of her and her songs are frequent and influence them as much as their father. Their father, Harry, their grumpy neighbor, even the mother at the party . . . the few grownups in the story are strong, watchful guardians. They offer a little advice but mostly observe this difficult journey to maturity.

Tom Bodett, author and long-time Alaskan resident, is on public radio and PBS. He can also be heard on Animaniacs, Pinky and the Brain, Saturday Night Live and National Geographic Explorer. I like him best as the kind and welcoming voice for Motel 6. Thanks Mr. Bodett, for this wonderful story.

What An Adventure!

The White Fox Chronicles by Gary Paulsen

I like this book. In many ways it is a book about tough decisions. I first read it with my younger son when he was 10. I enjoy Gary Paulsen’s writing, but was unfamiliar with this book. If I’d known more about the book, we would have waited a couple of years to read it. Instead I had a lot more explaining to do, and some of it was very difficult. Even so, this book is one of my son’s favorites. He begged me to read it with him, and when I didn't have the time, he even read it on his own. That alone makes it golden for me.

The book is set in the year 2057, and after many wars, the United States has been invaded by the CCR (Confederation of Consolidated Republics), conquered and enslaved. There are very few resistance forces, and they are ineffectual. In the opening scene, Cody Pierce is in a prison camp in an unknown arid western state of the U.S.

Cody Pierce, a 14 year old orphan from California, is every boy’s hero. He is smart and sharp. He is fluent in the CCR language and understands his captors well enough to fool them completely. He has an impressive set of skills and the desire to learn whatever he needs to survive, and more importantly, to succeed in his mission—saving the prison camp children. Cody is tough. He endures torture, near starvation, loss of friends, desert environments, combat, doubts, disappointment, and near death. He’s also lucky, something we all wish we had. He meets good, strong friends who help him, train him and rescue him just when he needs it. Intelligent, tough and lucky—Cody is irresistible.

What makes this book difficult and engaging are the decisions such a young boy faces. Early in the book, Cody has to decide whether to include a recent prisoner, a pilot for the resistance, in his escape plan. Cody’s partner, an adult prisoner named Luther, is against it. The pilot is badly injured, and her inclusion could jeopardize their escape. Cody understands the logic, but realizes how important the pilot’s escape is. Here is an excerpt from the escape scene:

“Go on,” Luther whispered. “If I’m going to play the hero, I don’t want it to be wasted.”

Numbly Cody followed the major down the tunnel to the opening and helped her out. Then he squirmed up behind her and started running.

They could hear more shouting. In moments the sound of machine-gun fire came from the camp. Cody turned. The spotlights were focused on the fence and he could see the outline of Luther’s lifeless body hanging from the top of the barbed wire.

Cody felt a hand slide inside his own and pull him along. “Come on, kid. He didn’t die so that we could stand around. We need to keep moving.”

Paulsen is clear, almost blunt, in his descriptions of the unpleasantness of this world. However, he is not graphic, as so many of the movies and games today are. We “see” what happens, but we are not forced to dwell on it. What the reader faces as he/she follows Cody is:

• violence in many forms,
• deciding who to trust (though this is usually clearer than in reality),
• consequences of one’s actions (Cody must defend himself or be killed in many instances),
• death of friends, and
• staying committed in the face of overwhelming odds (age, ability, environment, etc.).

The White Fox Chronicles was published over a year before 9/11. When I first read it, I immediately thought of the movie, Red Dawn. There is a strong, appealing theme of patriotism and loyalty in Paulsen’s story that matches the feelings following 9/11. I want my children to be able to survive and to desire to help others. I found the story exciting and inspiring. Even though there are issues difficult to explain, what a great opportunity to share with my child and to make that child think about things we all value.

[Thank you, Carmen, for the research on publication date.]

For My First Book . . .

Igraine the Brave, by Cornelia Funke

With the recent release of the DVD movie of her novel Inkheart , Cornelia Funke has increased her readers, I’m sure. I enjoyed the movie–family friendly. I hadn’t read any of her work, so I decided to try it. You know, books are always better.

My choice, and my first book for my blog, was Igraine the Brave. If your children like brave resourceful heroes, talking animals, dragons, bad guys destined to lose, and castles with all kinds of magical defensive features, then they will love this book. The main character is a girl, so some boys may not want to read it (I know mine wouldn’t). I also think that a younger audience, early elementary, would be best as a group of listeners. The chapters are short and there is lots of humor. Igraine is sassy, stubborn, but good-hearted and loyal. Here’s a quick summary:
It is Igraine’s birthday, and her parents, two well-known sorcerers, are creating her birthday present with the help of their singing magic books. When the spell goes wrong, Igraine sets out to get the ingredients for a spell to set things right. That is exactly when a greedy neighbor attacks the castle to steal the books.

There are many colorful characters, including animals, and who is on the side of good and bad is easy to see. There will definitely be some older children, girls in particular, who will enjoy reading the book for themselves. It is a bit predictable, but many fairytale type stories are, and that is not a bad thing with young readers. If you stop at the end of a chapter at bedtime, your final comment can always be, “What do you think will happen next?” Kids will usually have it all figured out, and from a teacher standpoint, this is great practice for reading exercises they may have to do in school. Besides, they love being right!

I would definitely read this book again. The edition I read was only 212 pages with adorable illustrations by the author. I love books with strong female characters. Igraine is only 12 and she is not solely responsible for how the events unfold, but she is without a doubt the heroine. Go girls!