Matilda: my new best friend

Let’s talk about childhood, that innocent time when the world was your oyster. You could be a pirate, an anthropologist, a super hero, and a teacher all in the same afternoon. There were no limits to your possibilities. All it took was a blanket fort, a friend, and a lot of imagination. Then when your imagination started to wane, you opened a book and a whole new world of magic presented itself to you. As a child, I loved books. I wanted to consume each one and become a part of the setting and plot. So when my coworker balked at the fact that I've never read her favorite childhood novel, Matilda by Roald Dahl, I accepted the call to read it as an adult. And oh my goodness what a read it was. My poor childhood self missed out on a beautiful book and a main character who should have been a best friend.

Matilda is a little girl with an astonishing ability to learn. She consumes books like no one’s business. But poor Matilda must teach herself to read because her parents could care less about her. The Wormwoods are a selfish and materialistic couple. Mr. Wormwood cheats people into buying faulty used cars, and Mrs. Wormwood thinks that a woman should only look good to attract a man. Luckily, Matilda has the library and soon, she goes to school. At school she meets the loving and caring Miss Honey who recognizes that Matilda is a child prodigy and works to hone her abilities. At this academy, however, the evil Ms Trunchbull reigns supreme and any child who so much as thinks of upsetting her will be punished severely. Against all odds, Matilda must find a way to help her classmates and Miss Honey and defeat the ever so ugly and self-centered adults.

Dahl has a way of painting adults in his story that feels so true to a child’s outlook. They are either mean and nasty beings, or fair and lovely. In a world where grownups rule and often have tyrannical sway over children, Dahl presents a child’s perspective and a way to achieve justice even if one is small. Matilda is such a lovely character that I wanted nothing more than to scoop her up in my arms and read all day with her. She makes me want to be a better person. Her life is difficult, yet she does not complain or give up, she finds ways to better herself and the life she’s been handed. She teaches the adults around her and helps those she cares for. On top of that she’s a bibliophile and she loves the library! She’s every librarian and book lover’s perfect child.

It really is astounding that I never read this book. Once I started, I couldn't put it down and wanted so badly for Matilda to have a better life, for her to help Miss Honey, and for the evil Trunchbull to get her comeuppance. Luckily, the wonderful thing about children’s novels is they usually wrap up nicely and have a happy ending. Dahl does not disappoint. 

The Library Game

Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library by Chris Grabenstein is a fun new children’s book that has been on my reading list since its release. Not only is it about a library, but it also sounded like a fun mystery. Oh and on top of all that, it takes place in Ohio!

The town Kyle Keeley lives in has been without a library for twelve years. However, Mr. Lemoncello, a world famous eccentric game maker, provided the funds for a new library. This isn't a regular library, however. Mr. Lemoncello’s library has all sorts of tricks and treats up its sleeve. There are hologram statues, virtual librarians, game rooms, and shelves of books you have to use a conveyor to reach. For twelve lucky twelve year olds, they get the chance of a lifetime: to spend the night in the new library before anyone else. Kyle is picked as one of the lucky twelve and couldn't be more excited. He loves Mr. Lemoncello and has played his board games and video games all his life. So what could be more amazing than a night in the famous game maker’s library? Well what about a prize within a prize? When the lock in turns into a life sized game, Kyle and his friends must figure out how to escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s library in order to win a fabulous prize.

The best way I can describe this to you is as a mix between Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and The Westing Game. Mr. Lemoncello is indeed an eccentric character much like Willy Wonka. He’s a lovable man and throughout the book he continues using classic and popular children’s book titles in his speech, which I just loved. The references to classic books, is a great way to make children aware of old favorites while they’re reading this book. The novel really felt like promotional material for libraries, which I don’t have a problem with, but the ending lines of the book were a bit cheesy. If I recall correctly it was basically, you already won your prize because now you have access to the library. Even I, a proud librarian, was rolling her eyes. The mysteries that the kids had to solve were tough, but the reader could also play along on some of them and try to solve the riddles. The characters, as in most children’s books were relatively two dimensional. There was the bratty girl and the rich kid along with the regular kids, like Kyle.

This book could be great. I think the premise is wonderful and the plot moves you along, but there is a large problem I see with this book; there’s too much reference to modern technology. There’s no better way to date yourself than putting in a bunch of technology that is sure to be out of style in a year’s time. The author could easily have left out these references and the book wouldn't have lost any of its value. I would still suggest you read this if you enjoy children’s literature, just do so within the next few years.

Growing up with Ghosts

Neil Gaiman is a master. I feel I should just end this post here, but then I’d be depriving you of my eloquent, inspiring words *sarcasm*. Gaiman is an author who knows how to tell a story, create a world, and leave the audience wanting more. In his children’s book The Graveyard Book, he does not disappoint and the critics agreed, giving the book four awards.

Nobody Owens is not a normal boy. After the death of his family when he was only a baby, Nobody was adopted by ghosts from the graveyard he crawled to on that horrible night. As part of the graveyard family, Nobody, nicknamed Bod, is given asylum and thus supernatural abilities. He can Fade, Dream Walk, and walk through walls along with a number of other abilities. Mr. and Mrs. Owens adopt Bod, but it is Silas who provides for Bod and becomes his mentor. As Bod continues to grow, he learns from the other ghosts, gets into mishaps with ghouls, and begins to integrate with the living. Hanging over his head, however, is the murder of his family and the man Jack who still seeks the boy who got away.

So what’s so special about a boy living in a graveyard, you ask? Ahhh how do I put this? It’s a brilliant reinvention of The Jungle Book with the quarks, twists, and dark humor only Gaiman can produce. Although it is a children’s/ young adult novel, it isn’t a cutesy tryst with ghosts. This is a beautiful coming of age story set in a morbid and fascinating setting. Bod, our main character, is curious, intelligent, and well mannered. Each chapter is a new adventure as Bod continues to grow. He discovers new sections of the graveyard, new friends, and the outside world.

I highly suggest this book to those of you who want a good read with fantasy. Neil Gaiman is wonderful! Give him a read if you haven't already.

A Monster Calls

 “’You do not write your life with words, the monster said. You write it with actions. What you think is not important. It is only important what you do.´” A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness is a story about truth, power, and life. Conor begins getting nightly visits from a monster who insists on telling him three tales. Where regular children might be afraid of a giant monster at their window, Conor has another nightmare that haunts him. A nightmare he fears more than anything else, because it speaks the truth. During the day, Conor must face a reality he hates. His mother has cancer and everyone treats him differently. His teachers pity him, his classmates can’t look at him, and the only person treating Conor like a real kid is his bully. His nightly visitor becomes normal, but this monster is demanding from him something he’s not willing to face. The truth.

Patrick Ness wrote a beautiful book. A book that speaks the truth: the ugly, wicked, honest truth. This is a children’s book and addresses life and illness unlike any children’s book I’ve encountered. It isn’t smiles and pats on the back, it’s real life. Fear, anxiety, anger. Real feelings. One message of the book, speaking truth, applies to all of us. Speak the truth to children and this book does that. Illness is a part of life and it’s good that there is a book that kids who may be surrounded by it can turn to.

Conor is a great character. He is not a polished boy who finds a way to be good, but a kid who is going through a tough situation and acting out because of it. He does some terrible things, he feels hurt, angry, and sad and takes it out on those around him. Haven’t we all done that? I didn't particularly like him, but i

t was nice to read a fictional character who acts like a real person.

My favorite part of the book was the ink drawings. They are creepy and sinister looking and paired so perfectly with the text. It added a different element to the story. The drawings also make this a more appealing book to reluctant readers.

I highly suggest this to adults and kids alike. It’s a beautiful story that encompasses storytelling elements and difficult subjects in an accessible way.

A Wind in the Door

In second grade, my very bestest friend, also named Kristin (the reason we became besties), had our teacher read A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle aloud to us. Now Kristin is a very smart cookie. She was way ahead of me and a voracious and sophisticated reader ahead of her time. At the age of 7/8, A Wrinkle in Time was a bit ahead of me, but I remember being thoroughly absorbed in it. I reread the book a few years ago and am astonished that it was read to me at 7. It’s kind of intense! Well I decided I really wanted to finish the series because it’s a classic and I love the titles.

A Wind in the Door is the second book in the Time series. Charles Wallace, the youngest of the Murry siblings has just started school and is coming home bloodied and bruised because he doesn’t fit in. Now he is seeing dragons and starting to get very sick. Meg, his older sister, soon discovers the “dragon” as well and is taken on a journey with Calvin O’Keefe and a few new arrivals through the universe and into the mitochondirion of Charles Wallace. This is a journey to save Charles Wallace’s life and help dispose of a force so hateful that it seeks to extinguish all life.

The Time series is most certainly science fiction. The Murry parents are both scientists, and a lot of the extraordinary things that happen to the children revolve around science and different discoveries the parents are currently making. Although I am thrown off by science-y science fiction (chemistry and physics you allude me yet again!), this book was not out of my comprehension. I mean it is for children, so I would hope it wouldn’t be over my head. I kept waiting for the children to go somewhere out of this world and it wasn’t until about half way through the book that they finally left God’s green earth. In this I was frustrated because I was impatiently waiting for more to come. My expectations were not met with a whole new universe until the book was about half done. Then the problem became that events got melodramatic. Maybe I’m too old to be reading this book, but the way Meg interacted with the other characters and the level of drama annoyed me. There was too much explanation on top of panic and confusion. Everything got jumbled together and it felt like we were rushing to get to the end.

Although I still think it’s a well written classic, it was not my favorite. I will finish the series and I do highly recommend Ms. L’Engle for children who love science or science fiction. 

Return to Fairyland

I cannot believe I forgot to post this from back in October/November, so here ya go!

While perusing the children’s section, I ran across The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There by Catherine M. Valente, the sequel to The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making. I immediately locked into its purple allure with the familiar cover design and long title. It was stunning that I had not been informed there was a sequel to Valente’s book! Luckily, it just came out.

September is swept back to Fairyland where things are amiss. Magic is rationed because all the shadows of fairyland’s creatures are being taken to Fairyland Below and the shadows hold the magic of a being. September’s quest this time around is to get the shadows back to Fairyland so that magic might once again return. The problem is that the Queen of Fairyland Below is Halloween, September’s shadow! Shadows are the dark side of a person. The yearnings and contained attitudes and personality that the human person does not show. After failing to convince the shadows to go back to being 2 dimensional slaves of their human counterparts, September must find the prince of Fairyland and wake him from an enchanted sleep so he can take power back from Halloween. Along the way, September discovers all sorts of inhabitants of Fairyland Below, and some somewhat familiar faces.

As in the first book, Valente writes beautifully. I often wonder at this being a children’s book. Although the subject material seems childish, the writing and content are sophisticated and philosophical. It is deep and thought out with themes of family, love, self-awareness, coming-of-age, and so much more. The characters are intricate and it often reminded me of Alice in Wonderland with riddles and strange ways of saying things or getting to a point. The vocabulary is advanced as are the ideas presented. Sure a ten year old could read this, but an adult could read it too and get a lot out of it. This is a great example of a book that you would read when you’re young and reread when you’re older, just to find hidden meanings and new ideas.

I preferred Fairyland Below to Circumnavigated actually. I think the plot of this one ran a bit smoother. Maybe I just enjoyed it more, but either way, this is a fantastic book. As September is getting older, she’s dealing growing up, finding an occupation, and a place for herself. This theme runs throughout the book and lends to part of the coming-of-age aspect of this read. However, it does not slap you in the face like some coming-of-age novels, with overly referenced teenage angst and troubles or morals. This is a novel that lets its reader puzzle on meaning and interpretation.

This is fantasy, as you can tell by the title, because it deals with a pretend world, so it was just up my alley. If you have not read the first book, you need to in order to understand the plot and characters fully in this book. I highly suggest giving this book a read. 

Squampkins!

While perusing the children’s section a few weeks ago, up popped The Squampkin Patch by JT Petty with a Halloween sticker on the spine and a bunch of pumpkins on the cover. How can an autumn/Halloween lover resist? She can’t. That’s the surprising answer (I know, you’re shocked).  I took it home with me, let it sit around for a week, started reading and then trudged through.

The Squampkin Patch is the story of the Nasselrogt children whose parents go missing in a department store, so the two end up in an orphanage. As fictional orphanages go, this one is pretty typical, save for the fact that the head of the orphanage makes the children work in his zipper factory. Well, Milton and Chloe refuse to become zipper factory workers, so they run away and end up in a small town. There they discover the Argyle house and bakery which are now abandoned, and an extensive pumpkin patch. As Chole and Milton get acquainted with the house and the neighbors, they stumble upon the previous owner’s journal called “The Pumpkin/Chocolate Trials”. From reading, the children discover that the pumpkin patch is actually a squampkin patch, a hybrid pumpkin and squash variety. But the patch seems to purr, and move. There are strange events surrounding the patch. On Halloween night, the children discover that the patch is not only growing, but coming to life and after them.

The writing is indicative of Lemony Snicket’s writing in The Series of Unfortunate Events. The narrator is a bit pompous and, at the beginning, defines words for you. The writing has the stuck up air of Snicket’s works, and considering I’m not a fan of his series, I was not thrilled when I began reading JT Petty’s work. Although I must admit that the book is written well and I think it challenges kids. Milton and Chloe are children that you feel you could meet anywhere and they were easy to read about, but I was not attached to them. The story itself was multifaceted, but I was not compelled by it. My favorite part about the book was that at the bottom of each page was a drawing of a growing squampkin and it was a flip book, so that you could “watch” it grow.

The book was fine, but I almost just put it aside because I did not find the story intriguing and there was not enough mystery and superstition as what I anticipated. If you like The Series of Unfortunate Events, maybe JT Petty’s work will appeal to you, but for me, I’ll avoid it in the future. 

So this guy walks into a publisher's office...

"Under the Rug"
Two weeks passed and it happened again.

Yeah sounds like the beginning of a joke, I know. 1954, Harris Burdick walked into a publisher's office, handed him 14 illustrations paired with a title and caption and told the publisher "I have stories to accompany these. Are you interested in publishing them?" The publisher looked at the drawings and was astounded. They were all unrelated to one another and would be great stories. He agreed to see the stories Burdick would bring in the next day. The next day came and Burdick didn't show. He never showed and thus began the mystery of Harris Burdick.

No one knows what happened and if this was the man's real name, if he actually had stories, or if something tragic happened to him. What is left, however, are brilliantly inspiring images and captions for creative writers. Chris Van Allsburg put the images together in a book, so anyone may view them and might I suggest you do so...IMMEDIATELY! As a middle school girl, we were assigned to write a story about one of the images. They were all so thrilling and held so much potential. Since then I have loved the pictures. Who doesn't love a good mystery? All I wanted were the stories that accompanied them. Luckily, Van Allsburg put together 14 well known writers to write their versions of the stories in The Chronicles of Harris Burdick from Kate DiCamillo (The Tale of Despereaux) to Stephen King.

"The Harp"
So it's true he thought, it's really true.

I must say that after years of waiting and forming story lines in my head, I was disappointed by many of the stories. They were not fantastical enough for my liking or I didn't think some of them really paired with the picture or caption. But isn't that what always happens when someone takes something you love and plays with it? From a more objective point of view, the stories were all different. Well written and always with some fantastical or sci-fi underlining. There is such a variety here, that it's hard not to find one story you liked. This is a great children's book, but remember that these are not the real stories...just another writers interpretations. The drawings are still a mystery and perhaps that's exactly what Burdick was going for. He wanted to inspire young writers (in age and at heart) to write! So do! Get absorbed in the images and the mystery and create your own adventures and inspire young ones around you to do the same. What a great way to get people using those creative juices.  Maybe you can do it better than the famous writers themselves.

Children's Books Extravaganza!!

I have two fall projects courtesy of my professors. Typically homework makes me cringe, but say HELLLOOO to my favorite classes: Materials for Youth, and Adult Reader's Advisory. As a library science student I need to be able to assist patrons with book suggestions, whether I know anything about the genres/authors/titles they're interested in or not, so classes like these are vital to boost my knowledge base and confidence. Well time to tell you about my projects...READ BOOKS!!! For my children's class my on going project is to read at least 70 children's and YA's books (40 picture books & 30 novels). For my adult's class I need to read 3 novels from different genres.

Well I've taken on my children's project head on. So now to share with you some of my favorite titles thus far.

"I Stink" by Kate and Jim McMullan is a fun, short picture book. Catchy title right?? I saw it and giggled, so just think what a kid would think. They'd love it! The pictures are cartoonish with lots of color. This is a book about...no not me!...about a garbage truck and what he does, so not only is it a fun read, with lots of noises and a talking dump truck, but it's informative. Here's a great book for a little one and a book I see being a favorite of many children. Great for young kids 2+.


"Scarecrow Pete" by Mark Kimball Moulton. The drawings are reminiscent of autumn, which is why I was originally drawn to this book. It's a well illustrated picture book about one of my favorite subjects, BOOKS! A boy finds a talking scarecrow in his family's vegetable patch and Pete, the scarecrow, helps him discover that books are a great way to learn, travel the world, and have fun. Pete and the boy have a good old time reading classics like "Moby Dick", "Peter Pan" and "The Wizard of Oz". The text rhymes, so it's a fun read-out-loud book for parents and their children. I think this one is good for kids who are reading or starting to read.

"You and Me and Home Sweet Home" by George Ella Lyon is such a sweet and time appropriate book. The girl and her mother in this book do not have a home and are forced to live in a relative's back room until neighbors and friends build them a home. In the current social climate with tornadoes, hurricanes, and earthquakes taking down homes and communities left and right, this is a book that resonates with plenty of people across our nation. I was touched by the building efforts and thought the book was tasteful and well written. This is a great book to show kids that not everyone has what they have and to be thankful along with showing that helping others is important. Good for 4+ kids.


Well that's all for now. I'll get to some big kid reads soon enough, and hopefully I'll still be able to keep up with my own leisure reading, but I'm not complaining about my "homework". Silly teachers must have forgotten that homework is supposed to be miserable. Me=1, Professors=0.

An Unfortunate Read

As I review my posts, I've noticed I hardly have a bad word to say about most books. That is, of course, because I have excellent taste (insert sarcasm). Well finally I have a negative review! I'm rather excited, so get ready for my ferocious analysis!

I tried. I really did. I gave Lemony Snicket a few tries and he continues to disappoint me. Book five of the Series of Unfortunate Events, "The Austere Academy", was indeed unfortunate. I can't learn to like the characters and I spend the whole book waiting for the end when it will be done. I couldn't even finish this book. What do children see in these books? Poor orphans continuously afraid for their lives and without hope of happiness or love except between themselves. Honestly the only reason I picked this up was to figure out what happens in the end. I suppose I should have just picked up the last book, "The End", to see how things turn out. Call me old fashioned, but I like keeping things in order.

Snicket warns of the sad turn out of his characters and he really should be taken at his word. At the beginning of this book I'm pretty sure he even says don't read this if you don't like depressing stories. Why didn't I stop there?! It's because that's how they're marketed. Like they know they suck, but people like an adventure, so by saying "Do Not Enter!" it will attract people who think "I'm daring!". Again let me tell you, you don't hate yourself this much! It's not a fun adventure! Let me liken this to an owner giving a dog a slice of cheese. O how that dog loves cheese, but wait! What's that terrible taste? It's the pill that was inserted inside the cheese. That's right pup, you were fooled.

Maybe some people out there like the writing and the storytelling the books have to offer, but my recommendation is to leave them on the shelf. They look pretty, but what a waste of time! I think Young Adult/Children's literature has a lot to offer. This series makes me eat my words, and they sure do taste bitter.