Mini Book Reviews of Some of This Year's Reads

God Went to Beauty School

by Cynthia Rylant
ages 12 and up

I really enjoyed these poems. They are both fun and thought-provoking at the same time. A very intriguing image of God, although some critics may say it humanizes God too much.

The House of Dead Maids

by Clare Dunkle

ages 12 and up

I have never been able to get into Wuthering Heights, and since this book is billed as a prequel of sorts to Wuthering Heights, I'm probably missing something.  All in all, even without reading Wuthering Heights, it was a good ghost story. It definitely had the Gothic horror vibe going, if you like Gothic horror. I liked the story, and it held my interest, although the writing felt a bit choppy and incomplete at times. But maybe that's just a reflection of what the character felt. I liked the main character, Tabby, and was intrigued by how Dunkle wound her into the back story of Wuthering Heights.

The Heavenly Village

by Cynthia Rylant
Ages 10 and up

I loved this book about a picturesque village God created as a "halfway house" for souls not ready to go to Heaven. This is a book of short stories about the residents of that village. Such good stories! Categorized as juvenile fiction, this is nevertheless a book anyone can enjoy. (And adults will probably appreciate it more.)

Downright Dencey

by Caroline Dale Snedeker

ages 8 and up

Newbery Honor Book

I expected to like this one more than I did. Especially given that it's a Newbery Honor book. The writing is excellent -albeit too long and wordy at times- and I like the character development. It was also an intriguing look into Quaker life.  The main male protagonist annoyed me no end. It was okay overall, good, even great in some places, but I struggled to stay interested enough to finish.

Sandra Boynton Love

Sandra Boynton is an expert at packing a party into a small room, so to speak. Her books are the perfect read for babies and restless toddlers: bouncy, catchy rhymes, cute pictures, quick read. They have been favorites with all my girls, and Susanna, although she is now officially a pre-schooler (she just turned four), still loves them and she insists on having them read to her. And as much as her sisters grumble about her love of them, they still come running when they hear me reading them, and they'll willingly (mostly) read them to her. The problem is, the books are so catchy and fun to read, that my older two read aloud with me, which results in a stereo effect and drives Susanna batty. I have to threaten expulsion of the older two every single time we read them.

Here are Susanna's three favorite, most requested Sandra Boynton books:

 

Oh My Oh My Oh Dinosaurs!

Kids learn more complicated opposites in a fun way.

 

 

 

Barnyard Dance

A rollicking animal hoedown.

 

 

Moo, Baa, La La La!

Featuring animal sounds

Mini Reviews of More Books I Read In September

Children's Literature: A Reader's History From Aesop to Harry Potter by Seth Lerer. (Non-fiction)
I only got through about half of this book before it had to go back to the library. Very informative, but rather dry. I love reading about the ins and outs of children's literature, but this book is text dense, ponderous and heavy, and is not a quick read.
I feel like I should give it another chance, but not right now.

The Iron Man by Ted Hughes. (Middle Grade)

An odd little story; an allegory of peace, if you will. Despite being the inspiration of the animated movie The Iron Giant, the only resemblance between the two is the presence of a metal eating iron giant and the boy named Hogarth.

Ivy's Ever After by Dawn Lairamore. (Middle Grade)

This reminded me a little of the picture book The Paper Bag Princess. Plucky princess Ivy doesn't wait around to let life happen to her, especially when she learns that the prince who is supposed to rescue her from her dragon-guarded tower imprisonment is an evil jerk, and her word puzzle-loving dragon jailer turns out to be a real friend. Together, she and the dragon set off to find her fairy godmother to enlist her help in fighting the people plotting to take over her father's kingdom. I think this would make an excellent read-aloud for my girls, and I like that the story is about friendship, family, and resourcefulness. There is a sequel out just today called Ivy and the Meanstalk. 

The Peach Keeper by Sarah Addison Allen. (Adult Fiction)

I really enjoyed this story about two women in a small Southern town, connected through their grandmothers who were once best friends, brought together in a surprising friendship as they struggle to right old wrongs and forge new paths of community, belonging and love. It's a story that combines mystery, romance, coming-of-age, and just a touch of magic.

(I liked that the main character from Garden Spells, Allen's debut novel, made an brief appearance in the book.)

Show and Tell: Exploring The Fine Art of Children's Book Illustration by Dilys Evans. (Non-Fiction)

A feast of a book for illustration enthusiasts, highlighting a few of the very talented illustrators of children's literature. The "story" behind the art of: Hilary Knight, Trina Schart Hyman, Harry Bliss, David Shannon, Bryan Collier, Paul O. Zelinsky, Brian Selznick, David Wiesner, Betsy Lewin, Denise Fleming, and Lane Smith. Interesting and well-written. My only "complaint" is that I wish there were more artists featured. (It makes me sad that many of the books by Trina Schart Hyman are no longer in print.)

Drink, Slay, Love by Sarah Beth Durst. (Young Adult)
Pearl (please note the irony of a creature of death named for the jewel symbolizing purity and innocence) is a young vampire from an old and distinguished vampire family. When she is stabbed through the heart by a unicorn, her whole world shifts. Suddenly she can be out in sunlight without burning up. When a diabolical plan hatched by her scheming parents lands her in high school, Pearl finds herself developing a conscience and friends. What will happen when her two worlds collide?

Blood Spirits by Sherwood Smith. (Adult/Young Adult Fiction)
I was so excited to read this sequel to Coronets And Steel, that came out the week after I finished the first book. And I wasn't disappointed. Excellent writing, same great characters, excitement, faster paced (than the first book), and a satisfying conclusion. (At least I'm guessing it's the conclusion?)

Charles and Emma: The Darwin's Leap of Faith by Deborah Heiligman. (Non-Fiction)
A fascinating, excellently written, and thoroughly researched, enjoyable biography about the Darwin's life together.

Overbite by Meg Cabot. (Adult Fiction)
The sequel to Insatiable. I liked it okay, although I wasn't thrilled with where Cabot chose to take the story. Oh well. The writing seemed rushed, compared to her first book.

Anyone But You by Jennifer Crusie. (Adult Fiction)
My first Jennifer Crusie book. A fun, romantic story about an older divorced woman who reluctantly falls in lust/love with her younger downstairs neighbor. I liked it a lot. I'll be back for more from this author.

Amish Women: Lives and Stories by Louise Stoltzfus. (Non-Fiction)
A loving, intimate look at a few selected Amish Women, mostly in their own words, by a former member of their order. 

Caleb's Crossing by Geraldine Brooks (Adult Fiction)
A poignant, powerful look at life in early American history, as a young Puritan girl struggles with her place in the world, and her Native American friend is dragged, by circumstance, out of the life he knows. My first book by Brooks. Now I want to read her others.

The New York Regional Mormon Singles Halloween Dance by Elna Baker. (Non-Fiction/Memoir)

Elna Baker is a Mormon living in New York City, something her mother, especially, is not comfortable with. This is Elna's frank account of her life as she struggles with her religious identity and what it means to her.

5 Simple Steps to Fostering a Love of Reading: What I've Learned As I've Watched My Girls Teach Themselves to Read

This post was inspired by an excellent blog post at Fanny Harville's Unschool Academy, which talks about linear vs. non-linear reading with young readers (specifically, her son), or "dipping" into books as opposed to reading them straight through. "Dipping" into books is a very common practice of young readers, but often not talked about, let alone understood. It can cause anxiety on the part of parents, as Fanny forthrightly discusses in her post. Go read her post; it's an important topic. I have been mulling over the whole learning-to-read-naturally in general, but especially in regard to fostering a love of reading in my girls. Here are my thoughts on the issue and what the process looks like for us. Deep breath...here goes...

We adults spend so much time worrying about our children's reading abilities, that we've created complexities where there don't need to be.

First, keep in mind two things:

Children learn to read when they have an internal incentive to do so. Sure, they can be forced into reading at home or in school, but children who are forced to read and never given the chance to foster the internal DESIRE to read, do not read well or voluntarily, for their own enjoyment. I think this is where public/private schools fail: they force kids through plodding, boring reading exercises that tend to kill the love of reading rather than foster it.

Children are hard-wired with curious minds that yearn to "de-code" the world they live in, IF they are free to de-code it in their own way. The desire to read, if fostered gently, is a natural corollary of that need to "de-code" life. It doesn't have to be a painful, unpleasant process. And it doesn't need to be forced or fretted over. We need to trust in that innate desire to learn. They will ask for the help they need. ("Mom, what does ... spell?") And parents can take opportunities to teach very brief "lessons" here and there, as the opportunity and need arises. (For example, I taught my girls their vowels to the tune of "Old MacDonald".) Do NOT belabor the point. This is about their learning in their way, not about you and your desire to impart knowledge and wisdom. (Where we, in this country, got the idea that children have to be able to read by the time they're ages five or six, I don't know. But I think it's asinine to assume that every child should be ready to read at age five.)

5 of the best, most effective ways to instill and develop a love of reading:

   1. Provide a text-rich environment.
This means having books in your home, and making frequent trips to the library. It means that your children need to see you reading books for fun. Children who witness their parents reading for pleasure absorb that this is a desired activity, especially when they see their same-gendered parent reading. (This is especially true of boys.)

   2. Strew, or strategically scatter (spread around the house, on obvious surfaces) a mixture of reading materials (e.g. magazines, specific books, maps, phone books, etc.)
A marketing strategy that works! A variety of materials gives kids experience and familiarity with text in all its various forms. And opens doors of discovery and discussion, and new interests.

   3. Read aloud to your children DAILY with expression, proper syntax and cadence.
Let me point out that audiobooks are good, but they should never replace YOU, as the read aloud adult. There is something about the physical act of reading aloud with your children sitting beside you or near you that helps their brains process the reading experience in a personal way. If your child is in a two parent home, both of you should be reading aloud to your children. It broadens their "de-coders" to hear books read "live" by different people. If you can do only one thing from this list, make it this one. Reading aloud with expression plays a HUGE role in your child's reading and language development, and is absolutely essential to foster a love of reading. This step is also key to keeping alive the love of reading in your pubescent boys, who for some reason frequently become more averse to reading for pleasure during middle grade years.

   4. Limit your children's viewing of television and their online/video gaming activity.
This is especially important in those early, pre-reading years. I know this advice will not be popular in some quarters, but TV, computers, and video gaming teach a child's brain to rely on extremely quick, constantly changing images and functions, in other words, rapid stimulation. Children who live in visual media-intense households have very little or no patience with text-rich experiences, becasue their brains haven't built those pathways. Books to media-saturated kids are boring compared to constant, ever-changing images. I have seen this time and again as the common denominator over the years with friends who lament their child's disinterest in books and reading.

   5. Find books that appeal to them, that they want to pick up and look at, regardless of the "reading level."
Yes, this includes comics. This doesn't have to be books that necessarily appeal to you and your desire to introduce them to "good" literature. If the reading level of the book they want to read is beyond their ability, or all they seem to want to read are books below their reading level, don't stress. It is the physical act of reading a desired book that is so critical. Also know that you don't have to read everything out loud. It helps keep their interest piqued if there are books that they want to read, but you won't read. I'm speaking here of kids ages 4 and up. If your baby or toddler brings you a book to read, read it, no matter what. If it's one you don't want to read, you can grab a more desirable one, and simply say "How about we read this one instead?" And if they bring you something that you know isn't going to keep them interested for long, just pull them on your lap and talk about the pictures or what's happening in the story.
  
There you have it: simple steps you can take to foster a love of reading. Your kids will take it from there. Relax and enjoy the ride. (But keep the books coming.)

 Questions? Concerns? Comments?

(Also check out an earlier post Reading Aloud: The "Secret" to Reading Success.)

Book Review: The Walloping Window-blind, Adapted and Illustrated by Jim LaMarche

A capital ship for an ocean trip
   Was "The Walloping Window-blind;"
No gale that blew dismayed her crew
   Or troubled the captain's mind.

This picture book is Jim LaMarche's adaptation and pictorial vision of Charles E. Carryl's fun, rollicking, nonsensical, sea shanty-ish adventure poem, first written in 1885. My girls, who groaningly interrupted me after the first stanza with "Is this a rhyming book?" soon got into the swing of the poem, greatly aided by LaMarche's funny, imaginative illustrations featuring kids as the captain and crew of the Walloping Window-blind.

This is a poem I remember from my childhood, that I'd all but forgotten until I saw this book at the library. (It was made into a folk song at some point, and I remember hearing it on an LP record when I was young.) The poem has been "adapted" (i.e. changed) slightly from the original, in places, to reflect a more universal, PC appeal. It's not something that would necessarily bother other people, but I don't, as a general rule, like it when the words of an author are "updated" for PC purposes. I understand the reason for it (mostly), but I don't approve. (She said, with her nose in the air.) To me, it's changing the historic record. In all fairness, my peevishness aside, I think the changes are well done, and in keeping with the general spirit of the poem. And I adore LaMarche's kid crew; their facial expressions are priceless.

The Walloping Window-blind

(The original version)

by Charles E. Carryl

A capital ship for an ocean trip
   Was "The Walloping Window-blind;"
No gale that blew dismayed her crew
   Or troubled the captain's mind.

The man at the wheel was taught to feel
   Contempt for the wildest blow,
And it often appeared, when the weather had cleared,
   That he'd been in his bunk below.

The boatswain's mate was very sedate,
   Yet fond of amusement, too;
And he played hop-scotch with the starboard watch
   While the captain tickled the crew.

And the gunner we had was apparently mad,
   For he sat on the after-rail,
And fired salutes with the captain's boots,
   In the teeth of the booming gale.

The captain sat in a commodore's hat,
   And dined, in a royal way,
On toasted pigs and pickles and figs
   And gummery bread, each day.

But the cook was Dutch, and behaved as such;
   For the food that he gave the crew
Was a number of tons of hot-cross buns,
   Chopped up with sugar and glue.

And we all felt ill as mariners will,
   On a diet that's cheap and rude;
And we shivered and shook as we dipped the cook
   In a tub of his gluesome food.

Then nautical pride we laid aside,
   And we cast the vessel ashore
On the Gulliby Isles, where the Poohpoo smiles,
   And the Anagazanders roar.

 

Composed of sand was that favored land,
   And trimmed with cinnamon straws;
And pink and blue was the pleasing hue
   Of the Tickletoeteaser's claws.

And we sat on the edge of the sandy ledge
   And shot at the whistling bee;
And the Binnacle-bats wore water-proof hats
   as they danced in the sounding sea.

On rubagub bark, from dawn to dark,
   We fed, till we all had grown
Uncommonly shrunk, - when a Chinese junk
   Came by from the torriby zone.

She was stubby and square, but we didn't much care,
   And we cheerily put to sea;
And we left the crew of the junk to chew
   The bark of the rubagub tree.

Last weekend's doings, bookish and otherwise

Todd and I saw Les Miserables live for the first time last Friday. It was wonderful performance, amazing singing, staging, etc. It would have been a magical night, except for our seats. We were high up on the extreme right and the conductor had a light that turned upward. I think the purpose of the light was to make his arms visible on the TV monitor that the actors use. But where we were, it glared in our eyes for the entire performance, flashing as the conductor waved his arms, resulting in a disco-ball effect. We finally figured out how to hunker down in our seats enough to reduce the blinding glare (which was harder for Todd because he's tall), but then of course we had to bob and weave our heads around the heads of the people in front of us in order to see what was going on. Can I just say, Javert's suicide scene Blew.Me.Away. That scene was so amazingly clever. And now I really want to read the book.

Todd's mom came from Nashville to watch the girls for our night on the town. She came bearing the gift of books for the girls: the most coveted 7th Ivy and Bean book, and some Magic Treehouse books that my girls have just started getting in to. The girls had a blast with their Gammy. She also brought bubbles and a huge plethora of bubble wands. And even 8 year old Olivia, who is starting to express scorn for "baby" activities (as she calls them), cheerfully abandoned her jaded attitude for the magic of bubble play.

On Saturday we got up planning to go to the Airshow in Millington, TN. But after inching along three tenths of a mile in one hour (I'm not kidding) toward the exit, with another 3 miles to go to the airbase, we abandoned the idea and went to lunch followed by book store browsing at Hastings (where they sell new and new-to-you books), which resulted in the following very inexpensive and thrilling purchases:

• A Coal Miner's Bride: The Diary of Anetka Kaminska by Susan Campbell Bartoletti. I borrowed this from the library the first time I read it. I really liked this fictional account of the life of an immigrant Polish girl who becomes a coal miner's wife in 1896. I love Bartoletti's work. She writes very compelling, thoroughly researched non-fiction and historical fiction (and some picture books, too). It's hard to believe I only discovered her books this year.
• Mistwood by Leah Cypess. I read this book for the first time last September and really liked it. (See here for my brief synopsis.) I'm sending this copy to my mom.
• Tamar: A Novel of Espionage, Passion, and Betrayal by Mal Peet. This one sounds fascinating to me. I was just introduced to his work through Cloud Tea Monkeys, so I'm eager to read this YA novel about a WWII Resistance fighter in Holland.
• When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead. I read this book before it won the John Newbery Medal, and was very happy when I heard it won. So well-written, gripping, and mind-spinning, and features a protagonist who LOVES one of my favorite-ist books ever: A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle. (One might say that the entire concept of the book is a loving homage to A Wrinkle in Time.)
• Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaos by R.L. LaFevers. The first book in the Theodosia series. I've been wanting to read this series for a while. I like books that feature clever girls solving problems. One of the things I lamented while I was growing up was the lack of adventure stories featuring girls. I'm glad to see that there are authors rectifying that now. I'm hoping Olivia will get interested in this book.
• The Case of the Peculiar Pink Fan (An Enola Holmes Mystery) by Nancy Springer. Another fascinating sounding series featuring a clever girl, the much younger sister of Sherlock Holmes. This book is actually number 4 in the series. No, I don't have any of the others. But I couldn't pass up such a good price. I'll have to get the others from the library.
• A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly. A new-to-me author. But I've heard good things around the web about this book.

Sunday morning, we got up early and drove to the Airshow, with no traffic problems. We spent the day walking through the aircraft static displays, before hunkering down to watch the aerial displays and eat lunch. The girls did amazingly well. I was sure the day would be full of groans and complaining, but they were troopers. We found a great spot on the grass to watch the airshow. Whenever they got tired of sitting, either Todd or I would go walking with them for about 10 minutes, and then they'd happily settle down to an hour more of watching the flying stunts. The highlight of the day came at 1530 (3:30 pm), when the Blue Angels flew. Then home, supper, playing and bedtime.
After that full day, bedtime was a cinch. In fact, they asked to go to bed. Glory, glory halleluiah!

Book Review: Cloud Tea Monkeys by Mal Peet and Elspeth Graham; illustrated by Juan Winjgaard

Tashi is a young girl living in a small village in the shadow of the Himalayan mountains. Every morning she walks to the tea plantation with her mother and sits in a secret spot playing and sharing her food with a band of monkeys who also spend each day there, as she waits while her mother spends the day picking tea. And now her mother is ill with a cough "hard and sharp like a stick breaking". One morning, when her mother is so sick she cannot rise from her bed to go to work, Tashi tries to take her place, dragging the her large tea basket to the plantation. When the heartless Overseer scorns her efforts, Tashi takes refuge in her secret spot and tearfully spills out her troubles to the monkeys. The male monkeys take Tashi's basket and disappear up the mountain into the mist, and return with the greenest, most fragrant tea leaves Tashi has ever seen or smelled.

This poignant tale is filled with lush, descriptive language as fragrant as the mysterious Cloud Tea.  And Juan Winjgaard's detailed, gorgeous illustrations capture the emotion and heart of the story, and so perfectly aided my daughters' understanding of key parts of the story. This is one of those perfect marriages of text and illustrations.
As I read this book aloud to my daughters, I was struck by the realistic portrayal of Tashi's and her mother's life. The writing is so descriptive I could feel the morning chill that burned away to "cruel" heat, the fear in Tashi as she listened to her mother cough, the fear of no money available for a doctor, the weight of the basket she dragged to the tea plantation, her crushing disappointment at not being allowed to pick tea in place of her mother. (You know it's descriptive when your children try to breathe in the tea clouds as you read.) And I marvelled at Winjgaard's talent for capturing all the emotional nuances of the story. My daughters sat enthralled throughout.


Other reviews:
Hope Is the Word
Pink Me