What do You Want to Do?

I have pretty much finished my summer class, all that remains is one last meeting with the professor (and there was great rejoicing throughout the land). But I have three more days at work before I can enjoy what's left of summer vacation.  The problem is that work only lasts from 4-8.  I am suddenly faced with the problem of lots of spare time.  So what do I want to do with it?

Lucinda (funny side note, I know a girl named Lucinda and she's pretty much exactly the same as the Lucinda in this book) from Ruth Sawyer's Roller Skates faces this same problem.  At the age of ten she finds herself a temporary orphan.  Her parents have gone to Italy for a year in hopes of improving her mothers health and Lucinda is sent to live with Miss Peters and Miss Nettie.

Lucinda's temporary guardians realize she is an unusual girl, full of spirit and so they grant her a considerable amount of freedom.  Well when you are an unusual girl full of spirit you find adventures.  Roller Skates is all about the adventures Lucinda has and the eclectic group of friends she makes along the way.  It is impossible to read this book and not fall in love with Lucinda.  Go ahead, try it...I dare you.

Having adventures, making friends...that's kids stuff. 

Never Too Old

Merry-go-round at Hershey Park 

This book has one of my all time favorite lines. "'I'm never going to be too old for it," said Garnet. 'All my life, whenever I see a merry-go-round I'm going to ride on it, and when I have children I'm going to ride with them."  This is exactly how I feel!! I LOVE merry-go-rounds, like a lot-more than the normal person likes merry-go-rounds.  The riding with my children part may not happen but I always take the time to ride with some of my young cousins.

Merry-go-round at the Redford Picnic

Where is this amazing quote from, you're asking.  From Elizabeth Enright's Thimble Summer.  This charming book is all about one magical summer in Garnets life and it is just full of all the wonders of childhood.  The mailboxes at the end of the road aren't just mailboxes they are, "think old women in crooked sunbonnets, gossiping beside the road."

And Garnet has all kinds of adventures from hitchhiking a whole 18 miles away to accidentally getting locked into the library for a night.  I must admit I am rather jealous of that adventure.  Think of all the awesome stuff there is to see in a library.

All in all this was the perfect book to read on a hot Friday afternoon.  It has all of the lighthearted charm you are looking for after a long week, and it reminds you how happy life can be.

Riding merry-go-rounds...that's kids stuff. 

Wisdom

Normally I try to think of some little story from my life that relates to the book I read for today (in fancy reading specialist language we call that text to self connections).  But today's story was really different.  Elizabeth Foreman Lewis' Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze is the story of Young Fu and his mother Fu Be Be.  The two move to the city after Young Fu's father dies and Young Fu is apprenticed to an iron worker.

The book is full of little pearls of wisdom, so for this post I am going to share a couple (and some of my favorite funny moments.

"When you have lived a few more years you will not make such foolish remarks."  This was said as a gentle scolding to Young Fu.  I agree that children sometimes make foolish remarks, but I love hearing them!

"It is better to remain ignorant than to know what is incorrect."  Wise words from the wise scholar who lives in the room upstairs.

"Li was not very successful about hiding things in his brain" I think this is a much better way to say someone can't keep a secret.

"Fu Be Be sighed.  She might as well accept calmly what life brought of good or ill." Cause what else are you gonna do?

"Their argument had already reached the stage of discrediting ancestors."  A much better way of saying "your mom" or the slightly more scathing, "yo mama."

This book is a great tale of growing up.  What I loved about it was that it didn't show growing up as a linear progression, but it shows growing up like it really is: you grow a little then you feel like you take a step backwards, then suddenly you're there.

Finding life's pearls of wisdom...that's kids stuff. 

Nobody Made Much Fuss

One of the trademarks of modern society is that we fuss over children.  We have tv shows, games and even computers just for kids.  Gone are the days when you just let a scrape heal it needs to be washed and coated with the magic healing cream and then a band aid.  Now don't get me wrong, I'm all for proper treatment of injuries, but people didn't use to fuss like that.

In Carol Ryrie Brink's, Caddie Woodlawn Caddie, the 11 year old main character, falls through the ice into the icy water and is saved by her brothers.  This is how everyone responded, "Nobody made much fuss over it.  Pioneer children were always having mishaps, but they were expected to know how to use their heads in emergencies." Oh, no big deal, she just fell in an icy lake, but don't worry we got her out.

Brink also captures the fearless attitude of children. Caddie and her two brothers, aka her partners in crime, decided to cross the river to watch the Indians make a canoe.  "Not one of the three there knew how to swim, but they were going to cross the river nevertheless.  I think all children are fearless but pioneer children may be the most fearless of them all.  Which in turn means the teachers need to be stronger.  My favorite section is when the prim and proper female school teacher decided to punish the oldest misbehaving boy (who was bigger and stronger than her).  "She whipped out her ruler and laid it sharply across that section of Obadiah's person on which he was accustomed to sit."

Caddie Woodlawn is absolutely charming and just a fun book to read.  Brink effortlessly captures both the spirit of pioneer families and the character of headstrong, tomboy Caddie.  I fell in love with all of the characters, and if there were more books about this family I would read them all.

Using your head, not making a fuss, being fearless...that's kids stuff. 

Nothing Like the Movie

A lot of times I will see a movie after reading the book that movie is based on.  The most current example of this is Harry Potter.  Normally I walk away thinking well that was a pretty good movie, not nearly as good as the book, but not bad.  This time it was the reverse.  I had seen the Doctor Dolittle movie (the 1998 production) and, honestly, didn't really like it.  So I wasn't very excited to read Hugh Lofting's The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle.

Here's the great news: the book is nothing like the movie (actually, after a little imdb research I discovered the first Doctor Dolittle movie was made in 1967 and the plot line of that movie is a much closer match with the book).  In the book Doctor Dolittle is a hard working and well-respected naturalist who spent his life studying animal languages and, through much hard work, learned to speak them.

My favorite part of the book is when Doctor Dolittle is chosen to be King for a tribe he meets on his journeys.  The tribe did not think Dolittle was an appropriate name for a king so they renamed him the Royal Thinkalot.  What a great name.  This book is actually told from Dolittle's young assistant Tommy Stubbin's point of view.  Lafting perfectly captured Tommy's excitement at going somewhere new and being included in the Doctor's voyages, "Just to think of it! To cross the sea, to walk on foreign shores, to roam the world!"

So regardless of how you feel about the movie, you should read this book because it is full of crazy situations and wonderful adventures.

Roaming the world...that's kids stuff. 

Too Hot to Live

Up to this point I have refrained from mentioning the horribleness of the recent heat wave here on the blog (though I voiced ample complaints to anyone unlucky enough to be talking to me), but when I read Lois Lenski's Strawberry Girl I knew I had to say something.  Listen to how they describe the heat, "At dinner Pa scolded the children for leaving their weeding.  When Ma announced that it was to hot to live, let alone work in the field, he said nothing more."  Too hot to live-and that's all I have to say about that.

Lois Lenski writes all historical fiction regional pieces-meaning she picks a specific region, at a specific time period and writes a story that captures that region.  Even though I've only read Strawberry Girl, I can attest that she does an excellent job at this.  This is how she describes the people who lived in Florida, back when Florida was still the frontier, "Their life was replete with drama, and being people of character and dignity, they lived it, and still live it, with vigor."  How can you not want to read a book about people like that?

I am getting 2 masters of education so I'm always interested to see how teachers are portrayed.  This might be one of my favorite, and most terrifying portrayals, "'Will they hurt teacher?' the children asked. 'I hope not,' said Birdie, 'Teacher's a good fighter too.'"  Teachers a good fighter too! Can you imagine putting that on a resume: Sarah Plumadore, M.ED Curriculum & Instruction, M ED Special Education, BA Music, Good fighter.  That's crazy!

Strawberry Girl is a fascinating look into the lives of the early Florida settlers, especially the life of the strawberry girl herself, Birdie.  It has everything you want out of a frontier story, drama, neighborly disputes, working the land, town and city folk, and success.

Surviving the heat, being a good fighter...that's kids stuff. 


PS If you are interested in reading this book, you definitely should.  But if you want to look it up online make sure you search Strawberry Girl, Lois Lenski.  Otherwise your search results will be...well lets just say not as wholesome as you would hope.

Hmmm....I Like It

Laura Adams Armer's Waterless Mountain is full of little phrases that make you think.  Then once you think about them you say, "I like that."  I was a little turned off by this phrase in the introduction, "Many readers will question the high religious ideas, the constant talk of beauty, the mysticism, that she ascribes to Younger Brother...one can only say that, contrary to the general idea, many Indians are so."  This made me think the entire book was going to be mystical and over my head.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  So have no fear, Waterless Mountain is the story of Younger Brother a Navaho boy who is training to become a medicine man. 

For this post I thought I would share those quotes that made me think, "I like that."  Hopefully you will like them too!

"Younger brother fell asleep early...holding in his mind all the beautiful secrets of the day."  How many times do we go to sleep worrying about everything that went wrong today and all we need to to tomorrow.

"He knew that mother was always right about everything so he thought no more about it."

"Singing was very important."  I think that's a fact that can cross cultures, time periods and continents-singing is very important.

"He was very proud of his young wife and he came to think the music of her presence the sweetest music in all the world."  This was said during the telling of a legend, describing how one of the ancients felt about his wife. I want someone to feel this way about me (as I think pretty much all girls do).

"Navaho custom does not permit the mother-in-law of the husband to ever be in his presence."  I don't like that but it is a fascinating tradition-literally the mother in law hides behind a house during the wedding, she can't even watch the ceremony.

"'Yes,' said mother, 'little children are all right, whatever the color of their skin.'"

Disregarding skin color, honoring tradition, appreciating music and beauty...that's kids stuff. 

Shiver me Timbers

As I have mentioned before, the theme for the reading camp I am working at this summer is, "Under the Sea."  My group is mostly boys.  We talk about pirates-a lot. I now know a lot about actual pirates thanks to the Magic Tree House Research Guide book on Pirates.  I also read a delightful pirate picture book, Jolly Roger.  So when I started reading Charles Boardman Hawes The Dark Frigate my first thought was, "oh no, more pirates."

           

Now don't get me wrong.  I like pirates as much as the next person but this is a little excessive so my analysis of The Dark Frigate may be a little biased because I am currently on pirate overload.  On the plus side my immersion into pirate and sea culture has given me a strong grasp of sea-faring language.  Once you get the hang of it it's a really neat dialect.  I think that's why so many people switched their facebook language preference to Pirate English.  I say all of that to say Hawes did an excellent job capturing the unique language of seafaring folk.

The Dark Frigate has all of the adventure you want in a book about a young boy who runs away from school and joins up, somewhat accidentally, with Pirates.  One of my favorite conversations was between Philip and his new pirate friends. "And what if I have no money [asked Philip]"  "We are the better matched [answered the pirate]."  I feel like this is the story of my existence as I work my way through school, especially since all of my friends are in the same boat (ha ha what a pun).

I will leave you with the summary that comes with the book (normally I make up my own because the ones in the book are long and give away too much for my taste but this one is just great)

The Dark Frigate

Where in is told the story of Philip Marsham

who lived int he time of King Charles

and was bred a sailor

but came home to England after many hazards

by sea and land and fought for the King at Newbury

and lost a great inheritance and departed for Barbados

in the same ship, by curious chance, in which

he had long before adventured

with the pirates.

Having adventures, pirate overload...that's kids stuff. 

He Knew of What he Was Talking

My undergraduate degree is in music and I know work part time at a music store as I complete my masters.  Whenever we hear any type of performance my boyfriend turns to me and says, "how are they? are they any good?"  At the store I hear many people play the pianos, from the toddlers who bang on the keys to the teenagers who play whatever trendy song has a prominent piano part to adults playing anything from jazz to classical.  My training puts me in a position where I can tell who is good and who...needs more practice.

Because of this I loved this line in eric Kelly's The Trumpeter of Krakow, "he studied music at the university.  Therefore when he said that the trumpeter in the tower had not played well he knew of what he was talking."  The Trumpeter of Krakow is a modern day legend and a captivating read.  It is the story of the Charnetskis as they travel from the Ukraine to Poland carrying precious hidden cargo. 

But embedded within the tale of the Charnetskis is the tale of the trumpeter.  The trumpter sounds the Heynal on the hour every hour.  But alas there is always a broken note in honor of the trumpeter who gave his life sounding the Heynal.  Enemy arrows shot him down in the middle of the tune and ever since the tune ends unfinished. Now the Heynal is unfinished no more-but you're going to have to read the book to find out why. 

Knowing of what you are talking...that's kids stuff.

PS Speaking of knowing of what you are talking, children have such great conviction in everything they say.  For example, one of my reading camp students has persuaded the entire group that he rode a shark.  When it comes to sharks he knows of what he is talking.

Old-Fashioned

As you, hopefully, have noticed I am blogging about all of the Newbery Medal books.  I am now getting into some of the older books and it is fascinating to see the differences between books then and now.  Of course, they are all quality, wonderful books but the most striking difference is the language.  I just finished a truly delightful story, Hitty: Her First Hundred Years by Rachel Field.  It was the story of Hitty, a doll, and all of the adventures that she encounters in, obviously, her first hundred years. 

Even though it was a charming story the language was, to my modern tastes, very formal.  But what surprised me was that I really liked it.  Listen to the way Field describes this laugh, "He laughed a great deal.  Whenever he did so it seemed as if the sound began at the toes of his enormous sea boots and went rumbling up and up until it came bursting out of his mouth in great ho-ho's."  What an amazing description.  And the whole book is like that!  

This book has so many adventures, cultures, rich characters, and sweet touching sentimentality.  There are so many little stories embedded in Hitty's memoir that I feel like I can't even begin to start a summary.  So you'll just have to read it. You might think that because it's about a doll that there can't be real adventures.  If you think that you are very mistaken.  This doll has lead a more exciting life than most humans-and she managed to remember everything after 100 years and write it all down. 

Having adventures and writing them all down...that's kids stuff.    

What to Do?

When I read the books I'm going to blog about I use a slip of paper as  bookmark.  On this slip of paper I write the quotes that I think will be good to blog about.  When it comes time to write about that book I pull out that slip of paper, read over the quotes, and decide what part of the book I will focus on for this blog based on what I remember and what I wrote down.This explains why the floor of my room is littered with scraps of paper.  Normally what I write down really fits the flavor of the book. However, there are days like today when all I seem to have written down were trivial details.  So what I will write today is a generic summary with one of my seemingly trivial details (which is still a quote I love) inserted somewhere.

Jean Lee Latham's Carry on Mr. Bowditdch is the inspiring story (and yes, I feel lame as I describe it that way, but stay with me) of Nathaniel Bowditch as he, "sails by the ash breeze."  Nat is very smart, one of those star pupils every teacher dreams about.  At a young age he is pegged as someone who needs to go to Harvard.  But instead of starting college Nat is given a nine year indenture.  But Nat makes the most of it, a.k.a. sails by the ash breeze, and never stops learning.

He learns at least three languages, he learns navigation, he reads Galileo-after translating it from the actual Latin of course.  He uses all the tools at his disposal to learn as much as he possibly can.  One of my favorite parts was this conversation between Nat and Mr. Jordy, a sailor who is from France who agreed to teach Nat French in return for help with his English. "I don't see how you get that out of it, French pronunciation must be crazy."  "Not at all," Mr. Jordy insisted, "take three words rough, cough, and dough.  Excepting for their first letter, they are all spelled alike.  But how are the pronounced?"  Point taken-and all teachers of phonics say amen.

This is another book that follows the main character into adulthood.  Wonderful things happen to Nat (including how the book got it's title), but I must warn you there is also a bit of tragedy.  But that's life and this book is excellent so you should read it.

Learning...that's kids stuff.

Lonliness

I am currently a graduate student at PSU. My transition from high school to college was fairly easy and I made friends quickly (like in the first week, and we're still friends now).  So, naturally, I assumed my transition to graduate school would go just as smoothly.  I wasn't concerned that I only knew one person in State College, because I just figured I would make new friends.  Well, it didn't quite turn out that way and  I spent many a night feeling lonely.  Don't worry I know more than one person now and, though I still spend some nights alone, I am rarely lonely.  

Friends from Messiah

More friends from Messiah 

So when reading Scott O'Dell's Island of the Blue Dolphins I was struck by the incredible loneliness that Karana must have felt.  Let me give you a quick summary.  Karana lives on an island with her tribe, the tribe decides to move somewhere else and leaves on a ship.  Karana jumps off the ship because her brother has been left behind.  Her brother is then eaten by wild dogs and Karana survives on the island, all alone, for years.  This book is the story of her survival.  So if all of that had just happened to me, I would be pretty distraught and unbearably lonely.

But Karana does not talk about the loneliness, instead she speaks of contentment.  "By the time winter was over my house was quite comfortable.  I was sheltered from the wind and rain and prowling animals.  I could cook anything I wished to eat.  Everything I wanted was there at hand."  Except for, you know, someone to talk to, maybe a friend...other people. 

But even in the absence of other people-in a world where Karana has to do everything for herself just to survive, she still lets out her girly side. "I also made a pair of sandals from sealskin for walking over the dunes when the sun was hot, or just to be dressed up when I wore my new skirt of yuca twine." I would totally do that.  I think most girls will agree with me, sometimes it's just nice to be dressed up-even if  nobody else will see you.

Being content, getting dressed up even when nobody will see you...that's kids stuff. 

Is it Enough?

Joseph Krumgold 

. 

So I have a confession to make.  I rarely, and I mean maybe one out of every 50 times, read the about the author.  It's just a part I'm not particularly interested in, it's what you write not who you are that interests me at this moment in time (although I'm sure most authors are wonderful people with lovely lives).  I made an exception  for Joseph Krumgold author of ...And Now Miguel.  First of all the title starts with an ellipsis which is something I had never seen before and I found it very intriguing-it made me want to read this book.  Secondly his life is fascinating: he was the first to win the Newbery Medal twice (his first was for Onion John), he started working in Hollywood writing screen plays and documentaries, he's lived all over the world, and now he lives in Italy where where he works on films.  Lesson learned: maybe I should read the about the author-or at least skim it

So about ...And Now Miguel.  It's the story of a boy growing up and all of the struggles that come with growing up.  Miguel articulates the restlessness that you feel when you're not really a baby, but you're not a grown up yet either.  You don't know what you are and you don't know when it will end.This is how Miguel puts it: "I was thinking, well how easy it is for you to be Gabriel [the big brother].  Gabriel laughed. "Easier for me than anyone else in the world.  After all, that's who i am." "But it is not so easy for me-to be Miguel."  "Maybe not...it takes a little time. Wait a year or two and it will be easier."

Miguel than compares the contentment of his older brother with the contentment of his younger brother Pedro.  "That's the way it was with Gabriel.  Everything that he wants he can get.  With Pedro it is the opposite.  Everything that he has is enough." And poor Miguel is caught in the middle.  What he has is not enough but what he wants he can't quite get.

So where are you?  Can you get everything that you want?  Or is everything that you have enough?  I think most of us are somewhere in the middle-kid grown ups, if you will.  Mostly what we have is enough, but if we want more we pretty much know how we can go about getting it.  And that's enough for me.

Finding enough...that's kids stuff.