Barbara O'Connor Books

I bought this book for my daughter (an advanced 10-year-old reader) because it was required reading. I was without any books of my own one day with a long wait, so I picked it up and started reading. It was a surprisingly good read.

Many of the books on the reading list were overly simple for her, but I thought this one, while not complex in writing style, was a thought invoking book. It was very realistic and would be a good topic of discussion for classes at my daughter's age-level.

It's really good to see kids' books that are not all about "Paris Hilton"-esque main characters. There are other real issues going on with our kids that deserve attention while not being overly serious about them and this book does a great job!

Need something happy and fun to read? Fame and Glory in Freedom, Georgia is a cute book about a sixth grader, Bird, whose goals in life are to gain fame and glory, and to go to Disney World.

When she has the opportunity to achieve her dreams in a spelling bee contest, Bird picks the new boy, Harlem, to be her partner, and they study hard. The pressure is on. Will Bird and her new best friend, Harlem get to Disney World, even through their challenges? Read this heartwarming tale of friendship to find out!

I really love the quirky characters in this story. They really brought the fictional book to life. I give this book four stars! It's definitely a keeper. Read Fame and Glory in Freedom, Georgia by Barbara O'Connor.

Barbara O'Connor has written a thoughtful book focusing on human nature's tendency to "see and not see." O'Connor has given her main character, Bird (short for Burdette) the words and feelings many readers will immediately identify with, or feel guilty for having produced in others. Can you, as an adult remember kids in your class? Are there some for which you just can't put a name and face together? Did you look through or past them? Or, were you the kid that seemed to be transparent? This transparency is what makes Bird's blood boil. This "little bird" is never noticed except for a few crumbs of criticism that are thrown her way by the "plummed" in-group of girls with names like Misty or Jenna.

Bird defiantly sets her goal to move from a group of "one" to a group of "two". She decides to become friends with a new student who seems to be as transparent as Bird herself. Bird enlists the help of her neighbor, Miss Delphine, who in Bird's opinion is a person who can look right through the mean spirit in another and see the good. O'Connor's description of Miss Delphine carefully hints at a separateness as well. This character is not one that has been looked through but rather looked at. Her fiery red hair, blue eye shadow, shiny layered costume jewelry, and glittery clothing have more than likely made the more conservative residents in this small southern town of Freedom, GA. feel uncomfortable. A peacock among pheasants to be exact. Miss Delphine's demeanor - calm, kind, and nonjudgmental - indicates that indeed she is aware of the difficulties of "seeing" and "not seeing" others. She gently guides Bird to the realization that it is more important for a person to "see" the true individual rather than forming an opinion from a mere glimpse.

Bird does indeed achieve her goal in becoming friends with the gawky new kid, Harlem Tate. It is obvious Harlem has failed a grade or possibly two. He is very withdrawn, causing him to initially ignore Bird's pecks of friendship; however, she is relentless and soon helps Harlem discover his "broken wing". Again O'Connor asserts that what is or isn't seen is the difference. She unites this small group of characters in a comfortable nest of self-acceptance and permits them to find importance in one another, and isn't being sincerely valued by a few more important than being vaguely valued by many?

Burdette Weaver (Bird) is a middle schooler living in Freedom, Georgia. Her two goals are to get noticed in town and to go to Disney World.
Bird's one friend is her neighbor Delphine Reese. Miss Delphine is a lovely lady with red hair and sparkly clothes. She has moved back to Freedom to take care of her sick father. She has a way of finding good in everyone and always makes Bird feel good about herself.
Bird has met a new boy at school and decides she wants to be his friend. She know just how Harlem feels when kids make fun and throw food at him.
The school spelling bee is a chance for Bird to realize all of her goals. She asks Harlem to be her partner to help her win fame and glory and the big prize, a trip to Disney World.
You can understand how Bird feels when "thinking about how the whole world was all filled up with wanting and not one little ounce of getting."
Barbara O'Connor writes about the usual teen problems. I would recommemd this book to middle schoolers because of the similarity in the problems they face growing up. Young females will especially relate to the self-esteem issues that Bird experiences. O'Connor's clever humor keeps you laughing instead of feeling bad for the young teens.

Harlem Tate is new to Freedom, Georgia and nobody at school seems to want to be his friend except for Burdette "Bird" Weaver. Bird doesn't have any school friends either and when she sees Harlem she thinks it is a "stroke of luck". Bird wants to make him a friend "before somebody poisons his mind with lies about" her. But before she can convince him to be her friend, she hears that the annual state spelling bee is coming up and the winners of the spelling bee will earn a trip to Disney World. To be noticed and to visit Disney World are two goals Bird wants to accomplish more than anything. Bird thinks winning the spelling bee just might be the way to realize her goals but she needs to have a partner. Can she convince Harlem to be her partner and eventually her friend? Befriending Harlem and convincing him to be her parnter is a bit harder than she anticipates. With help from Miss Delphine, Bird's next-door neighbor and best friend, Harlem agrees to be Bird's spelling bee partner. Bird may just be on her way to realizing all her dreams.
This is an endearing book, which illustrates the quiet strength and courage of a young girl who listened to herself rather than other people. A young girl saw the worth in a person even when society ridiculed and turned their back on that person. This book is a reminder to us all, no matter how young or old, that we each possess gifts of compassion, love and friendship and when we share those gifts with others we transform lives including our own.

Barbara O'Connor writes beautifully sensitive stories with great big helpings of humor and humanity. She creates characters, settings, and situations that live on in the reader's mind and heart long after the reader reluctantly closes the book. In TAKING CARE OF MOSES, one noble child (Randall) struggles with his conscience, wondering what's right, as he secretly feels torn between two good impulses. All the while, sympathetic and engaging characters dance around the storyline, adding humor and realism to the story. From beginning to end, this is a great read!

Fast-paced and fun, TAKING CARE OF MOSES features an 11-year-old boy who knows the answer to the most burning question in his small town: Who left a little baby on the church steps? Randall is torn between telling the truth, which might cause someone harm, and keeping the secret, which might harm someone else. Woven into this main conflict are hints of other conflicts relating to issues of race, poverty, and growing old alone. These serious topics are significantly lightened by lively, funny dialogue with a strong Southern accent. This is a good read-aloud that will generate many points of discussion.

This beautifully written novel has all the ingredients kids
love -- flawed but likable characters, a secret, suspense, humor, snappy dialogue, and a satisfying ending.
Sure to be a hit for individual reading or as a classroom readaloud.

Beethoven in Paradise is a superb title for this extraordinary book. Well written, emotional, with characters that leap off the page in their "realness" and charm. The author has done an excellent job in creating Martin's life, family and longings for music and an instrument of his own even though it doesn't fit the norm of where he lives or what his own parents want for him. Even though Martin has a tough road ahead of him, there is hope that he is finding his way, accepting himself and others and will lead the life he dreams of.

Beethoven in Paradise is not what I expected. I originally bought this book because my son plays the violin and I thought he might like it. I'm glad I read it first because I'm not sure I'll let him read it just yet since he's nine years old and I have a pretty strict policy about the use of profanity, which this book has in ample supply. (I'd give it a PG 13.) The use of profanity is justified, though, and adds greatly to the authenticity of the setting and characters. I would highly recommend it to students of middle school age and would consider reading it aloud to my fourth graders, although I would have to use quite a few euphemisms. The messages in this book are so powerful: Be true to yourself, stand up for what you believe in, and follow your dreams. Even though I sort of wanted a sappy "everything's going to turn out alright" ending, the actual ending was very realistic and genuine.

It is a good book overall, but at the begining, they say hell to much.
They also say that the mother slaps her sons.My daughter enjoied this book, but she ran over to me alot pointing out things that are wrong to put in a kids book.

Me and Rupert Goody is the second chapter book to be recognized by The Dolly Gray Children's Literature Award for quality literature depicting characters with mental retardation or developmental disabilities. This book follows Jennalee through her meeting, jealousy of, and finally acceptance of Rupert Goody a man with a developmental disability. Me and Rupert Gooody is a well written book that entertains as well as teaches and is also a great read.

I read (me and Rupert Goody) and i liked the book.The book is ment for kids in 4-8 grade. The book relates to how stores are runed, how romance occurs, and how you cant take anything for granted.

This quality children's novel seems vaguely reminiscent of "Missing May" by Cynthia Rylant, or perhaps "Belle Prater's Boy" by Ruth White. Nevertheless, it finds its own niche, and with surprisingly simple language and short text, manages to offer a genuinely emotional experience.

A story that's touching and true to life, laced with Southern expressions that are a delight to the ear and the mind. Jennalee's real family is her Uncle Beau, who runs a general store and welcomes her to it as a refuge from her chaotic family. When she must suddenly share Uncle Beau with the son he didn't know he had, all of them have a lot of adjusting to do. What I admire most about this book, besides its language, is the care O'Connor uses in her portrait of Uncle Beau--especially her description of his remarkable pilgrimage to find and thank all the strangers who helped in the raising of his son.

Is it not ridiculous and ironical that a book about the great man who invented the braille system is not available as an audiobook that can be appreciated and can be inspiring by blind people all over the world?

In the year 1809, Louis Braille was born a seeing child to a loving family. However, by the time Louis was three-years old, all that had changed. For in a freak accident, he lost the sight in both of his eyes. But being the smart young man that he was, Louis struggled to educate himself just as well as the seeing children his own age, and by the time he was thirteen-years old had developed braille, an alphabet for blind people made up of raised dots that could be both written and read. This creation changed the lives of blind people the world over, and is still used in society today. Now you can read about the creation of braille, as well as the life story of Louis Braille.

I have always been fascinated with braille, so I was ecstatic when I saw Barbara O'Connor's short biography about Louis Braille, THE WORLD AT HIS FINGERTIPS. In 59 pages, I got a wonderful history lesson on the childhood of Louis Braille, his teens as he began working on a reading method for the blind, and his adulthood as he became a teacher at a school for blind students, and he was stricken with TB. Overall, this was a lovely biography for middle readers, I want you to read this book.

In the year 1809, Louis Braille was born a seeing child to a loving family. However, by the time Louis was three-years-old, all that had changed. For in a freak accident, he lost the sight in both of his eyes. But being the smart young man that he was, Louis struggled to educate himself just as well as the seeing children his own age, and by the time he was thirteen-years-old had developed braille, an alphabet for blind people made up of raised dots that could be both written and read. This creation changed the lives of blind people the world over, and is still used in society today. Now you can read about the creation of braille, as well as the life story of Louis Braille.

I have always been fascinated with braille, so I was ecstatic when I saw Barbara O'Connor's short biography about Louis Braille, THE WORLD AT HIS FINGERTIPS. In 59 pages, I got a wonderful history lesson on the childhood of Louis Braille, his teens as he began working on a reading method for the blind, and his adulthood as he became a teacher at a school for blind students, and was stricken with TB. Overall, this was a lovely biography for middle readers, that will come in handy when a written report is needed for school.

Erika Sorocco
Book Review Columnist for The Community Bugle Newspaper

This is about a girl whos family dos'nt have alot of money but she struggles to dance. She dances barefoot, because she dos'nt have the money to buy shoes. Her life does finnally change a little bit and you should read this book to find out HOW. I would reccomend this for a 14 and up age group because I read it when I was a little to young and it was boering for me. Read it to find out how her life changes!

I was glad I found this book because it has much information about the Precolumbian American Southeast, an area whose history is often ignored. It provided a good description of both the archaeology and iconography of the ancient cultures. If you plan to visit any sites in the Southeast, I would recommend this book. However, the first chapter was not worthy of the rest of the book. It showed an appalling lack of knowledge of other civilizations. It was both overromanticized and made unjustified comparisons. Luckily, I decided to continue reading.

As a female-student pilot myself, at 43 and a University student, I have been researching women from across the globe who were yearning to be pilots in the 1930s to the 1950s. I found this book to be informative and inspiring. With so many obstacles against her one of which would never be considered these days, nationality, Bessie only tried harder and determination won through! Reminds me of two Australian books I have recently read namely, 'Pioneer Aviator The Remarkable life of Lores Bonney' by Terry Gwynn-Jones and My God! It's A Woman autobiography by Nancy Bird.

6/15/04 The Trailblazer biography "Leonardo Da Vinci,Renaissance Genius" by author Barbara O'Connor has many interesting "tidbits and facts", Its major negative is the use of "might" to "maybe" prefacing so many pieces of trivia ;these reminders that all about DaVinci is not documented fact, take away some of the merit of the many facts and photos ,since the reader's seeing a "possibly" or "perhaps" is ongoingly from Pgs 9 - 99(The pgs prior to 9 and after 99,are intro,bibliography, etc. The pictures by the artist chosen by the author to insert were quite fine; the section on "sources for books,websites" as well as "quotes" attributed to DaVinci also were quite a plus.