February 26, 2013
Tidbits from my day: I'm about halfway through the latest Benedict Society book. Great children's series. * I got into a humorous chat with my daughter-in-law (not only the terrific mother of my 5-year-old grandson but a fantastic 2nd-grade teacher) about Dr. Seuss and Goodnight Moon. She's a Seuss fan; I'm not. I think Goodnight Moon may be the stupidest children's classic ever; they're excited to be going to a play based on it Friday night. LOL! * Storytime at the library with my granddaughter, one of two we try to go to each week. Today's theme was jungle animals, and one book we'd already read and one book was a new one. Then Abby got to make a zebra and a lion out of tiny paper plates. She loves to show off her artwork for Mommy and Daddy. * Daily reading with 2nd-grader Aidan and he chose one of his new non-fiction books, this one about volcanoes. Boy, he's barely stumbling over any words. We're both loving these books and all we learn from them. * One of my "fans" told her son (a grown man with two kids of his own) about this blog. After he said he'd recently read Peter Pan and thought Peter was a prick. I could understand his viewpoint but I wouldn't have said it that way.

This Second Childhood may never end. Frankly, I hope not.

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Meanwhile, back to the Wizard of Oz books.  These do continue to fascinate. The Marvelous Land of Oz, written in 1904, was sexist; The Woggle-Bug Book (1905) contained the word “nigger-boy.” How does one read these books to children today and explain those societal differences? Other than those issues, the stories do entertain me.

What a surprise! I’ve never read The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett and my expectation was that it was like a Narnia, perhaps discovering a new world in a secret garden. Nothing like that—and a wonderful read! Reminded me more of Heidi than anything else. I loved this one. This is what I’m hoping to discover along this journey—wonderful stories that everyone should have in their childhood memories.

Recently I read quite a number of books to my 2-year-old granddaughter. Nothing unusual about that but these books were a bit unusual, not her ordinary choices. Zoophabet  ABC by Cathy Heck is a pretty sweet book, obviously about zoo animals and the alphabet. What makes it unusual is that for almost two years I’ve been trying to read this book to Abby and she has refused to listen to it. Yes, she’s always liked the ABC on the cover because they’re textured letters but two pages into the book and she would push it aside. She is very opinionated about her books. (I really liked getting to read the whole thing!) Then we read Kai-lan’s ABCs by Natalie Shaw. We seldom watch Nihao, Kai-lan, the children’s show, so this book is a bit of an unknown to us. I feel like the show is dear and along the lines of Dora but I just don’t pick up on the Mandarin Chinese words incorporated in the show as easily as I do the Spanish in Dora—my failing. What I do like about the TV show and this book is the interaction with a lot of animals and Ye Ye, Kai-lan’s grandfather.  As a grandmother who is a kidkeeper I appreciate books and television shows that incorporate that relationship which I think is precious.  Another kids’ show that includes a grandparent is Handy Manny, a Disney creation. (This show also incorporates Spanish words throughout.) While only my oldest grandson has been a big fan of Handy Manny, I really like the whole series—TV show, books, toys, clothes, etc. I think a lot of wonderful role models are provided with Manny, his tools, and all the townspeople of Sheet Rock Hills. One of the people frequently appearing on Handy Manny is Manny’s abuela, his grandfather. Although Abby isn’t that familiar with the TV show she has always liked our book, Handy Manny, The Best Repairman. She’s requested this one several times recently—and Grandy has always enjoyed accommodating. Books based on TV shows certainly aren’t new, and I suspect that many books I read when I was little (or had read to me) were Little Golden Books about Howdy Doody, Romper Room, Captain Kangaroo, and such.

COLORS, written by Laura Gates Galvin, is a Sesame Street book, part of a set of early learning books. ABCs, Colors, Shapes, Animals, Numbers—you could fill a library with books that teach children those basics. What did I have as a child? I remember Dick and Jane books once I began learning to read but earlier than that I don’t remember. I am a huge fan of Sesame Street—all the genius of Jim Henson and his family and followers—for all the loving and learning, laughs and lessons they’ve provided for generations now. I’m grateful that my children (Paul was first-generation Sesame Street) and now my grandchildren have had Sesame Street in their lives.

February 21, 2013

Facebook sidebar can be fascinating--looking in on other people's conversations with people you don't know. This morning someone had posted about actor Fred Gwynne also being a children's book author. (I knew that already but none of his books crossed my path during my project year.) What interested me was a follow-up comment by a woman who said she'd go look for those books right away now, that she liked to read children's books because it was fun and kept her mind young. I honestly don't think I realized how much pure fun my project would be until I reallyl got into it. And it was SO much fun!

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I would love to be able to include The Mysterious Benedict Society books in this project but I read the first three before coming up with this idea. However, I have just read The Mysterious Benedict Society—Mr. Benedict’s Book of Perplexing Puzzles, Elusive Enigmas, and Curious Conundrums by Trenton Lee Stewart. Designed for 7- to 12-year-olds like the trilogy before it, this book of brain games was a challenge. NOT my forté! It gladdens me though that this is something that appeals to today’s kids. Such fun on top of all the “learning”! [Comment: My daughter is reading the first of the trilogy now, and I have the latest Benedict Society waiting for me to start.]

I recently read Caillou – What’s Missing? and Who’s Hiding? to my 2-year-old granddaughter. The first is a pull-the-tab book and the second is a lift-the-flap book. Abby loves these interactive books. Were they even around when I was little? I don’t recall anything like this. The closest I can think would be Doctor Dan and Nurse Nancy, books that included real live Band-Aids! Little Golden Books were the staple of my “library” when I was a beginning reader—and before that I have no idea.

Babies in the Bayou (author, Jim Arnosky) was a library book I picked out thinking it might be something reminiscent of Bayou Buddies, the nature education courses at Sims Bayou Urban Nature Center.  It was just an OK book, and of course, Abby wasn’t interested in it at all. I wonder if I would’ve even picked it out of a library shelf when I was little—considering that I don’t think I fully understood what a bayou was until I moved to Houston – The Bayou City – after getting married! At the same time, I brought home a Charlie and Lola book by Lauren Child, hoping Abby might be interested in it. She wasn’t, but I will keep trying because I adore Charlie and Lola books. My familiarity and fondness is strongly influenced by the television series but I think I would’ve discovered these as a little girl and I would’ve adored them. Charlie (or “Chollie” as Lola seems to pronounce it on the cartoon) is a terrific big brother and Lola is just too, too precious. This book was I Will Be Especially Very Careful and is the story of Lola trading her clippy handbag (or purse) for her friend Lotta’s fluffy white coat, which she proceeds to lose at the library. Desiring something of someone else’s has for some time been described by me as my desire to have a clippy purse to trade. Lauren Child has authored other series that I plan to explore during this project. For now, I’ll keep hoping that Abby will share Charlie and Lola with me one of these days. [Comment: Just yesterday I checked out a Charlie and Lola board book from the library for Abby. We'll see if she likes this one, now that she's 3 years old. And, alas, I never got around to the series that I expected to read for this project. More reading!]

I should've noted with my last entry that a few months later Abby, with persistence, did listen to a complete reading of a Llama Llama book. In fact, she pulled the original out just a couple of days ago to be read.

Much to my surprise, there's been some interest beyond the initial core of "invitees" to this blogging party. I think the interest is not in my musings but in the topic of children's literature and, for sure, I find that satisfying.

Between November and December the project really began taking shape and my NOOK began to pay for itself. Looking back I wonder if I was beginning to see what the year would become.

Probably need to take advantage of a thesaurus more often, as I find myself over-using the word "charming." Yet I think reading or re-reading these books did charm me, putting me under their spells.

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The first re-read was Mr. Popper’s Penguins, which I’d put on my NOOK. Not only did it hold up after about 60 years but it charmed me once again. (I hope to NEVER see the Jim Carrey movie version!) Something I did not remember all these years—one of the penguins is named “Victoria”!

How do authors come up with their ideas? Dori Chalconas, who wrote When Cows Come Home for Christmas, is one of those authors I’d love to ask that question of. This may become a Christmas classic because I think it is so fun. Poor Moosha! Loving Moosha! Proves that every family somehow starts its own traditions for the holidays.

I clearly remember as a little girl loving Golden Books illustrated by Eloise Wilkin. As an adult I’ve tried to collect them, and I have about a dozen, I suppose, on my bookshelves. There’s just something about her characters’ faces that comforts me—along with the sweet stories. For the last time for this season, I read Baby’s Christmas to Abby. Even she seemed enchanted by the pictures. I know I was once again.

Probably the sweetest, dearest book I’ve read as a grandmother is Karma Wilson’s Baby Cakes. It is truly a book that I’d love to have written myself. “Baby Cakes, Baby Cakes, I love you. Baby Cakes, Baby Cakes, yes, I do.” It is written more for parents/grandparents than the child, but my grandchildren enjoy it also.

1304 pages for less than a dollar? Wow. So that’s what NOOK books can get you! Looking to reload my NOOK and looking to find my next book for this project, I came across the complete set of Wizard of Oz books by L. Frank Baum. Have seen the movie Wizard of Oz a zillion times but I confess I have never read any of the books before. Finished the first one, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and was charmed by it—both the similarities and the differences in the stories in print and on screen. Even Aidan, my 6½-year-old grandson, was fascinated to hear how the Tinman came to be in the book, something never mentioned in the movie. Expect the rest of the series to come along later! And did you know that the first was written in 1900? I had no idea that they were that old.

February 13, 2013

Have already had some kind, friendly messages and I'm delighted that others may be delighted! I mentioned in an e-mail that there will be a full list of all the books I read for this project at the end. However, some of you have little ones that you like to buy books for, so if you read about something in this blog that enough information isn't furnished to buy it, just let me know and I will give you the rest of the information.

(Side note: My friend Cheryl posted her first installment and I'm really liking this Lenten challenge of blogging together.)

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Originally I thought it wouldn’t be fair to include books I’m reading to my grandchildren if I’ve read them before—or a million times. However, if I’ve said that I’d like to re-read some of the books I did read as a child, then I don’t think it’s invalid to include books I’ve read to grandchildren over the past 6½ years, books they  might grow up to consider classics.

So I’m including Mama Cat Has Three Kittens by Denise Fleming. Not only a favorite author but also a favorite illustrator. Several years ago I got to see some of her artwork in an exhibit at The Children’s Museum here in Houston. And once you read this book…well, you just have to love Boris! Next was a new read:  The Apple Pie That Papa Baked by Lauren Thompson. A delightful twist on “The House That Jack Built” but with a lovingly sweet message and pictures that say so much with just a few colors. May have to buy this one for my library or a grandchild’s. Very impressed.

Anna Dewdney is a modern author who has written several “Llama Llama” books now. I first read Llama Llama Red Pajamas with my oldest grandson. Aidan (and his cousin Rowan later on) adored this book, and I read it so often that I could recite it. (I did just that – once, on a road trip to Corpus Christi, much to my husband’s chagrin no doubt.) So with a granddaughter who is almost two, I knew she’d adore all the “Llama Llama” books. Wrong! I have yet to read a single one to her. On the third reading attempt with the new  Llama Llama Holiday Drama, Abby said “No!” and turned her head away, shoved the book aside, and eventually started whimpering. At about the same age, Aidan independently picked the first of the series off the shelves at Park Place Library! But it’s a classic in my opinion.  Llama Llama Red Pajamas read a story with his mama…

February 12, 2013

It's been a long time coming, with much hemming and hawing and procrastinating, to put this down in black and white. As someone pointed out, my year-long Second Childhood Reading Project should've been a blog from the get-go. At least in this day and age. When the remarkable year of reading ended (that would be late November 2012, early December), I decided to transfer the Word document to a blog. And then I got shy. (I sound like Grover talking and singing with Lena Horne in the early days of Sesame Street.) Some people had expressed interest--but were they just being kind? I'd told some people I'd like them to read the Word doc--or blog--but did they agree merely to be polite? -hand-wringing-

And so I didn't do anything.

But it was still on my mind.

Then it came up again in a Facebook conversation with a "Friend"--someone I've never met but wish we'd been lifelong friends. In almost a childhood dare situation, she agreed to start the blog her friends have been urging her to write if I would start mine. Lent seemed the perfect time to "take on" this responsibility and perhaps become a better person by it. Thanks, Cheryl!

Even with that commitment now, I have some advice for any potential readers. First, this project was intended just for me, so if any of it interests you it is a bonus. While I'd enjoy any conversatons prompted by my year of reading children's books (by myself or with my grandchildren) you're not obligated. Even I acknowledge that it begins fairly dully, but I think it perked up as I really got into it. Let me say it now, and I'll probably repeat it later: This project turned out even better than I'd imagined it would and I feel such fulfillment from having treated myself to this year of reading indulgence. Plus, it's led to one conversation so far with my grandchildren (the oldest just saw a play of The Little Princess over the weekend) and I've continued reading some of my "leftover" books.

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On my 65^th birthday, November 16, 2011, I coincidentally received a NOOK and a hardcover edition of I Read the OED. Old and new. I spent days pondering two things: which books I wanted to download first onto my NOOK (they couldn’t be just any old books—not my style) and what project I could take on for 365 days, something I’ve been intrigued to do since the Julie and Julia project of 7 or 8 years ago. Out of those deep thoughts came the inspiration for this 2^nd childhood project.

Children and children’s books are a big part of my life with 6-, 4-, and almost-2-year-old grandchildren. One of the three books I downloaded was My Life as a Furry Red Monster by Kevin Clash, the puppeteer inside Elmo from Sesame Street; another was Mr. Popper’s Penguins, which was a favorite of mine as a child. It’s one of the classics I didn’t miss. I was a constant but unguided reader growing up. This project wants to make up for that. No, I don’t necessarily mean going back and reading children’s books from the ’40s and ’50s but I want to read classics that I missed, re-read some classics that I did enjoy or maybe just books that made the “classic” status with my personal taste, and read new books.

The first book I chose is a true classic, having been written in 1908. You’d think I would’ve picked it up somewhere along the way, wouldn’t you? My son even read it in 5^th grade. But a copy of The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame was languishing on my shelf of children’s books. I picked it up right away and delighted in reading it. Toad, Mole, Rat, and Badger—what a band of friends! I also realized that children back in the early 20^th century must have been much smarter than children today. Fantastic language in this book! You know that made my heart sing.  So now on to book number 2.