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Reviews of two books:






Merle's Door by Ted Kerasote











The Fur Person by May Sarton

Four-Legged Friends

The Four-Legged Friends reading challenge is in memory of Sandy, Kailana's best friend of 12 years, who recently died. That's Sandy in the photo. Kailana brought Sandy home on September 20th, so we have a short lead time, but five months to complete the challenge. Read books that have an animal as the main character or an animal who plays an important enough role that you remember it afterwards. They do not have to believable, but the animals do have to be real, as in, no dragons. Kailana counts The Guardian by Nicholas Sparks, for example, because the dog in it makes the book one of her favorites. The aim is to honor our pets (even if they don't have four legs), and length doesn't matter ... reading a picture book of Bambi to your child or grandchild counts. The most outrageously fascinating thing Kailana added to her "rules" was this:

My suggested food while you are reading? Baby carrots. I used to munch on carrots and never really think to give them to Sandy, but she loves them! So, baby carrots turned into half the bag for me and the other half for her. Actually, that's what I did with her for her last night. I ate carrots with her. She did not eat a lot, but I think baby carrots will always remind me of her.

Her last "rule" is that we tell something about our pets in our introductory post. I have had a number of pets ... turtles, puppies, fish, kitties, salamander, and a hamster named Herman, for example ... but the ones I have bonded with have mostly been cats.

When I was nine years old, a neighborhood boy and I were splashing in rainy puddles when a bedraggled kitten found us. My mother said it looked like a drowned rat (well, mouse ... the kitten was very small), and Micky's mother wouldn't let him bring it into their house. After due consideration, Mother decided to let me keep the kitten. I named her Duchess, and she slipped right into our family like she had always belonged there and grew to be very regal indeed, a beautiful soft gray cat with white paws and a white spot below her chin that moved like a dog's tag when she walked. Duchess had her first litter of kittens in my drawer on top of my socks and underwear; it must have been the softest place available to her at the time. When I was in high school, we rode the regular city buses to school and home again in the afternoon, yet Duchess was always at the bus stop to meet me. How did she know which of the buses that ran every 20-30 minutes all day would be the one I rode? I don't know, but her internal clock was set and there she was, waiting to walk home with me. One part of this challenge is dedicated to the memory of Duchess.

Hmm, I was going to tell you about Duchess, Pippa, Jack, and Kiki in this post. But I think I'll tell you about the others when I post my book reviews. Since I'm about to finish a book about a dog named Merle and one about a gentleman cat, I already have two books for my list.

1. Merle's Door: Lessons from a Freethinking Dog ~ by Ted Kerasote ~ dedicated the memory of Pippa
2. The Fur Person ~ by May Sarton ~ dedicated to the memory of Jack
3. Cat's Eyewitness ~ by Rita Mae Brown and her cat Sneaky Pie Brown ~ dedicated to Kiki
4. Goldie (The Puppy Place Series #1) ~ by Ellen Miles ~ dedicated to the memory of Herman
5. Sign-up for this challenge ~ dedicated to the memory of Duchess
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Click on a title to read my review of the book.
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The list of participants can be found HERE.

Books by Patricia Polacco

I have read eight books for children, written and illustrated by Patricia Polacco, and I want to share them with you.

Do you know about Ukrainian Easter eggs? That's what Rechenka's Eggs (1988) is about. Babushka, known for her exquisite hand-painted eggs, finds a wounded goose, takes her home, and names her Rechenka. When the goose is ready to try her wings again, she accidentally breaks all of Babushka's lovingly crafted eggs, which were intended for the Easter Festival in Moscva. But the next morning Babushka awakens to a miraculous surprise, and for thirteen days Rechenka lays one marvelously colored egg a day to replace those she broke. On the last morning Rechenka leaves behind one final miracle in egg form before flying away with the other geese. Rated: 8/10, a very good book.

Mrs. Katz and Tush (1992) is a passover story about a cat with no tail, which leaves her tush showing. Larnel Moore, a young African-American boy, and Mrs. Katz, an elderly Jewish woman, develop an unusual friendship through their mutual concern for an abandoned cat. But I was most impressed that Polacco has this odd pair exploring the common themes of suffering and triumph in each of their cultures. Rated: 8/10, a very good book.

Pink and Say (1994) is the story of Pinkus Aylee (Pink) and Sheldon Curtis (Say) during the Civil War. The wounded Say is rescued by Pink, who carries him back to his Georgia home where he and his family were slaves. While the frightened soldier is nursed back to health under the care of Pink’s mother, Moe Moe Bay, he begins to understand why his new found friend is so adamant on returning to the war: to fight against "the sickness" of slavery. Moe Moe Bay is killed by the Confederate Army, and both boys are taken to Andersonville prison, where Pinkus Aylee dies. Say survives and passed along the story of Pink and Say to his daughter Rosa, Patricia Polacco’s great-grandmother. The book was written so Pinkus Aylee, the former slave, will be remembered. Rated: 10/10, couldn't put it down.

Chicken Sunday (1992) is a tale of friendship, delicious fried chicken dinners, and Miss Eula's hat. "When we passed Mr. Kodinski’s hat shop, Miss Eula would always stop and look in the window at the wonderful hats. Then she’d sigh and we’d walk on." The children run into trouble when they try to raise money to buy that hat for Miss Eula. What finally works is selling Ukrainian eggs! Rated: 9/10, an excellent book.

In My Ol' Man (1995) Polacco recalls the special summer spent in Michigan with her yarn-spinning father and a magic rock. When Da loses his job, her brother Ritchie is sure the magic rock will help them, and in a way it did. Da writes a story about the rock and submits it to the local radio station, which then hires him to write stories of magic, hope, and dreams to be broadcast on the air. The illustrations are especially good in this one. Rated: 9/10, an excellent book.

Thank you, Mr. Falker (1998) is Polacco's way of thanking the teacher who helped HER to read. She says, "This story is truly autobiographical. It is about my own struggle with not being able to read. ... I remember feeling dumb." And now this girl, who couldn't learn to read and was teased about it, now writes and illustrates books for children. She has always known that words had power, those on the page that she so wanted to unravel and those from a bully who made her fearful of going to school. Rated: 10/10, couldn't put it down.

Welcome Comfort (1999) is about a little fat boy who became Santa Claus. Let me back up a bit. One day the children were being mean to Welcome Comfort, and he ran back inside the school. There he ran into the janitor, another fat person, who assured the orphaned Welcome, that someday his "substantial" size would "come in real handy." He also told him, "Believing is seeing." And the book is all about believing. Rated: 8/10, a very good book.

Trisha can hardly wait for the relatives to arrive at her house for a family reunion. When Lightning Comes in a Jar (2002) tells us about something new that Gramma has planned for this year. And all the cousins take part in gathering lightning and putting it in a jar. Okay, you've figured it out by now, haven't you? Haven't you? "Every year, the family rituals are the same: A great feast with at least a gazillion different kinds of Jell-O, a croquet game (no one can ever agree on the rules), and best of all, storytelling time, when all the great aunts pull out the family photo albums and try to top one another with their fantastic memories." The illustrations are some of the best of Polacco's I've ever seen. Rated: 10/10, couldn't put it down.

Outmoded authors challenge

The Outmoded Authors Challenge (Sept 2007 - Feb 2008) explores authors kicked out of the "in" crowd. There are at least four authors on the list that I'd like to read: Sarah Orne Jewett, D. H. Lawrence, Malcolm Lowry, and May Sarton.

My choices:
Sarah Orne Jewett, The Country of the Pointed Firs, 1896
D. H. Lawrence, Lady Chatterley’s Lover, 1928
Malcolm Lowry, Under the Volcano, 1947
May Sarton, The Fur Person, 1957

Dewey's 24-hour Read-a-Thon

Dewey at The Hidden Side of a Leaf is sponsoring a 24-hour Read-a-Thon on Saturday, October 20th. You read as many hours as you are able, with some planning to keep reading the whole day. I couldn't do it, but more power to them, I say! Dewey is also looking for cheerleaders willing to encourage the readers ... and for promoters like me who will tell everyone to come see what's happening. There will also be prizes. To sign up as a reader, as a cheerleader, as a giver of prizes, as a promoter, click HERE

More Than You Know ~ by Beth Gutcheon

Title, author, date of book, and genre?
More Than You Know, by Beth Gutcheon, 2000, fiction

What made you want to read this book?
A friend recommended it a couple of years ago, and it's a book about Maine, making it an excellent choice for Book around the States.

Summarize the book without giving away the ending.
The place is Dundee, on the coast of Maine. The time is the present ... and the time WAS 1848. This book has two intertwined stories: Hannah Gray returns to Dundee and tells a story about Conary Crocker, the love of her life; Claris Osgood lived on nearby Beale Island, a hundred years earlier. And there's that abandoned schoolhouse. This novel bridges two centuries, two mother-daughter relationships, and two tragic love stories. Well into the book we begin to understand that someone in the 19th-century story has become the very unquiet soul haunting the 20th century.

What did you think of the main character?
Really, there are two: Hannah has a passionate and painful story of true love and loss: the story of a ghost that appeared in her life, and in the life of Conary Crocker, the wild and appealing boy who loved her. Claris got married in Dundee a hundred years earlier, and her marriage was a very unhappy one.

Did you think the story was funny, sad, touching, disturbing, moving?
That "unquiet spirit" or ghost was not as scary as I had expected it to be, from reviews I had read.

What did you like most about the book?
I enjoyed the setting, being in Maine, learning the islands were often settled first, before the land itself, because it was easier to sail to the islands.

What did you like least?
I would have enjoyed one story at a time, probably the one about Claris and her unhappy life. The novel is essentially two stories of doomed love and its consequences for future generations. In 1858 Claris Osgood defies her parents and marries taciturn Daniel Haskell, moving with him to the island where, too late, she discovers her new husband's narrow-minded religious fundamentalism and corrosively mean personality. The marriage produces two children, but becomes increasingly rancorous. It will end in murder.

What do you think will be your lasting impression of this book?
I think I'll remember Claris.

How would you rate the book?
Rated: 8/10, a very good book

http://framedandbooked.blogspot.com/2007/08/armchair-traveler-challenge.html

A Wrinkle in Time ~ by Madeleine L'Engle

Title, author, date of book, and genre?
A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L'Engle, 1962, YA speculative fiction

What made you want to read this book?
After posting the story of Madeleine L'Engle's death, I got A Wrinkle in Time from the library and read it that same evening. But then I couldn't write the review. I guess I'm in mourning. This morning I decided I really MUST do this so I can move on to the other books I should have already reviewed. Okay, so I've gotten started, thanks to my handy-dandy book review outline.

Did it live up to your expectations?
My first reaction: Well, of course it did, since I've read it before! On second thought: I was surprised this time by what seemed to be missing, things like cell phones and computers which, of course, were not yet the ubiquitous items they are today. But I was also overwhelmingly pleased with what WAS in the book.

Summarize the book without giving away the ending.
The article below, that I posted from AP, does that quite nicely:

Wrinkle tells the story of adolescent Meg Murry, her genius little brother Charles Wallace, and their battle against evil as they search across the universe for their missing father, a scientist. The brother and sister, helped by a young neighbor, Calvin, and some supernatural spirits, must pass through a time travel corridor (the "wrinkle in time") and overcome the ruling powers on a planet with a totalitarian government reminiscent of George Orwell's 1984.

Meg is 12, the twins Sandy and Dennys are 10, and Charles Wallace is 5. Calvin O'Keefe, 14, goes with Meg and Charles Wallace to find their father.

Which character could you relate to best, and why?
Meg and I are both the oldest of our siblings, so I relate best to her. However, I find Charles Wallace to be the most interesting, though he's so young he does things I didn't want him to do. Well, Meg didn't want him to do those things, either. On the other hand, in some ways I relate best to Calvin O'Keefe (see the quote below).

Were there any other especially interesting characters?
Oh, yeah! Three of them: Mrs. Whatsit was the comforter, an interesting allusion to the Holy Spirit, in my opinion. A Wrinkle in Time exposes readers to the words of great thinkers, as Mrs. Who quotes Pascal, Seneca, Shakespeare, the Bible, Euripides, Dante, and others. Mrs. Which is so ephemeral she shimmers ... and doesn't quite appear.

What did you like most about the book?
I like the fact that Madeleine L'Engle never, ever talks down to children. She assumes children know a lot more than most adults seem to think.

Share a quote from the book.

Calvin: "I'm not alone any more! Do you realize what that means to me?"

"But you're good at basketball and things," Meg protested. "You're good in school. Everybody likes you."

"For all the most unimportant reasons," Calvin said. "There hasn't been anybody, anybody in the world I could talk to. Sure, I can function on the same level as everybody else, I can hold myself down, but it isn't me."

No wonder I have always liked Madeleine L'Engle!  She understands!  See what I wrote in March.

Share a favorite scene from the book.
Meg is talking with her mother (pp. 46-47 of a paperback copy):

"I like to understand things," Meg said.

"We all do. But it isn't always possible."

"Charles Wallace understands more than the rest of us, doesn't he?

"Yes."

"Why?"

"I suppose because he's -- well, because he's different, Meg."

"Different how?"

"I'm not quite sure. You know yourself he's not like anybody else."

"No. And I wouldn't want him to be," Meg said defensively.

"Wanting doesn't have anything to do with it. Charles Wallace is what he is. Different. New."

"New?"

"Yes. That's what your father and I feel."

Meg twisted her pencil so hard that it broke. She laughed. "I'm sorry. I'm really not being destructive. I'm just trying to get things straight."

"I know."

"But Charles Wallace doesn't look different from anybody else."

"No, Meg, but people are more than just the way they look. Charles Wallace's difference isn't physical. It's in essence."

Meg sighed heavily, took off her glasses and twirled them, put them back on again. "Well, I know Charles Wallace is different, and I know he's something more. I guess I'll just have to accept it without understanding it."

Mrs. Murry smiled at her. "Maybe that's really the point I was trying to put across."

"Yah," Meg said dubiously.

Her mother smiled again. "Maybe that's why our visitor last night didn't surprise me. Maybe that's why I'm able to have a -- a willing suspension of disbelief. Because of Charles Wallace."

"Are you like Charles?" Meg asked.

"I? Heavens no. I'm blessed with more brains and opportunities than many people, but there's nothing about me that breaks out of the ordinary mold."

How would you rate the book?
Rated: 10/10, a book I couldn't put down.

Read Madeleine L'Engle's Newbery Award Acceptance Speech

and her Acceptance Speech upon receiving the Margaret Edwards Award from the ALA.

Now read what her former neighbor says about her!