March 31, 2013

I finished Like Pickle Juice on a Cookie this evening. A nice book--a little funny, very contemporary, deals with a no-doubt common problem (the only nanny the third-grader has ever known leaves to care for her ailing father and a new, younger girl takes her place), written in a breezy style that I'm certain must be appealing to third-graders. I'll have to ask our carpool buddy, who read the book and is in fifth grade, what he thought about the book.

A fringe benefit of my second childhood project--and the books I keep finding that could've been on that list--is the niceness, I guess, of the books and their worlds. I just finished an adult novel about a cult who believes in "love" and that it justifies their sexual abuse of their children, and at the same time I'm reading another adult novel of a little girl who is also being sexually abused while a third book is the bleak story of a young girl who finds herself pregnant but with no one who really cares about her, her child, her life, her future. I expect that they all depict a world view that is accurate. I just can't stand to suffer heartache along with my book characters constantly. Does that make me a wimp? Does that make me an ostrich? I don't know. As a reader, I finished Pickle Juice and The Innocent and I will finish Girlchild and Salvage the Bones and many, many, many others.

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While I’m in the midst of two novels for this project, I have been reading some other books to Abby. She’s my primary cohort in this endeavor!  The dollar stores or the dollar bin at Target are useful sources for adding to a library; undoubtedly there must’ve been an equivalent when I was young, maybe comic books at 10 cents. Abby’s choice (not mine) was a Sesame Street book, Grover’s Guessing Game about Animals. Perhaps this caught her eye since she and her family had attended a special Sesame Street production Saturday evening featuring Elmo (“Melmo”) and all his friends. She’s always liked this book fairly well but there’s just something that doesn’t “click” with me—the writing doesn’t sync with Grover (one of my favorite characters), the “game” is very elementary, there’s no rhythm to the book, no charm. Oh well. They can’t all be winners and it’s apparently OK in Abby’s estimation. Similarly we read a library book, Rabbit’s Bedtime by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace. Simple story and simple cut-paper illustrations—an OK read for both Abby and me but nothing to recommend.

A set of books on manners by Karen Katz has proven to be good lessons for Abby and her older brother Aidan; I sent a set to their cousin Rowan but I have never inquired as to whether he liked to read them or not. I like these books—No Hitting!, Excuse Me!, and I Can Share—but they were purchased and read for the first gazillion times before the unfortunate experience of finding a gross error in one of Karen Katz’ other books. (I mean, really? A 9-legged octopus?) They still are favorites to read and they’ve been constant almost from the time I first started reading to Abby 2 years ago. Guess they must have something going for them if neither of us has grown tired of them yet.

Another Karen Katz book, Counting Kisses, has always been a dear little counting story to me. Abby asked for this one today after reading just about everything else in the book basket. And, today I found this one kind of boring. Guess it doesn’t have the longevity of a Baby Cakes.

Little Quack’s New Friend by Lauren Thompson, illustrated by Derek Anderson, came from the library. It took some cajoling to get Abby to listen to this one but now we’ve read it several times. Little Quack is a series and they all seem to be simple stories with life lessons in them. This one was that friends didn’t have to look or be the same to have fun together. The illustrations really complement the story and Abby adores the Mama Duck. It’s hard to dislike little ducks named Widdle, Waddle, Piddle, Puddle, and Little Quack.

I found a book on my bookshelves that’s probably just been waiting for a new child to read to so I tried Fish Kisses and Gorilla Hugs by Marianne Richmond on Abby. She didn’t let me finish. It’s the story of a 6-year-old boy going to bed and I think a 2-year-old might be young to appreciate it. I liked this book: the rhyme, the illustrations, the premise. However, while it appears to be a book to read at bedtime to get your child to sleep, I think it might provoke more “one more” moments than a parent could put up with for long. LOL! Like a few other children’s books I’ve read, I suspect this one began from a real life experience with the author’s child(ren).

In the meantime, I’ve also read Mister Seahorse a few more times. Maybe a bit more than “a few.”

I know for a fact that I would “devour” authors when I was younger, in a manner similar to today when I read nearly every John D. McDonald or Stephen King or Lewis Grizzard or Elizabeth Berg, for example. So I frequently read books by the same authors (or illustrators) to my grandchildren; they seem to like it and so do I. Hence, Abby and I read Eric Carle’s Rooster’s Off to See the World.* Can’t say that either of us enjoyed it quite as much as Mister Seahorse—but that would be exceptional, wouldn’t it? [This book was a prize in last summer’s reading club through the Houston Public Library. They finally got the funds (through HEB, I believe) to award books rather than cheezy coupons for a free hot dog or a ticket to the circus if you purchase another ticket. Or two.] *Rooster has since become a HUGE favorite!

March 23, 2013

The Texas Library Association publishes booklists each year for all ages of student readers. 2X2 books are for age 2 through 2nd grade; Bluebonnet Books are for 3rd through 5th grade. (There are levels up through high school and include graphic books.) Although I didn't consult their lists during my reading project, I have recently had several read from the current list read to me by my oldest grandson, Aidan, who is completing the 2012-2013 list of 2X2 books for school. If you've read any Michael Chabon books (The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, among others) and you have any little ones in your life, I recommend The Astonishing Secret of Awesome Man. Introduce that little one to a Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist.

I don't know that other states have similar lists. I tried searching briefly but came up with nothing. If anyone is reading this blog and knows of a similar series of booklists, I'd appreciate getting the information.

Friday I did check out a Bluebonnet Book, Like Pickle Juice on a Cookie. Left it in the bag of books the grandkids checked out but I'll pick it up later. Milo, the fifth grader who carpools with us, read it and the title is just too appealing to not read it.
 
Funny how I never feel awkward about picking up a child's book anymore.

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Seeing as how I am a bit tired of The Elephant’s Child on my NOOK, I decided to download another book for Abby. I chose Olivia by Ian Falconer since Abby does occasionally watch the TV show and seems to be interested in it. Can’t say that it was a hit with Abby—or maybe she just can’t ask for it the way she can ask for “elfan.” I didn’t really enjoy Dame Edna’s narration nor the music with it. This is one that confirms my feelings that a book doesn’t need to be more interactive than a nice lap to sit in. But it is a Caldecott Honor book.

More successful reading for Abby included Hugs and Kisses, a Disney baby book. She’s always liked these, which all have a tactile feature to them, but she doesn’t love them. I grew up a huge fan of Disney and pretty much remain one today, so simple as these are I find them appealing. I also read Nancy Tafuri’s Five Little Chicks one time. I think she liked this one because she’d been watching a video with chickens. Plus she’s beginning to be interested in counting 1 to 5. I rather liked this one too; I could imagine myself as a toddler wanting my mother to read this to me over and over. (That is until my mother told me the stories of taking baby chicks to bed with her when they lived on a farm—and she’d wake up the next morning with chicks who’d smothered during the night. )

Eric Carle. I feel like he is an author I grew up with but his career only started in 1967. My son was born in 1968. The Very Hungry Caterpillar was written in 1969. In 2002 Mr. Carle and his wife founded the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art in Amherst, Massachusetts. How I would love to go there someday. His 40 books have been published in many languages, appealing in both their words and their illustrations. In 2003 Mr. Carle received the (Laura Ingalls) Wilder Award for lifetime achievement. As he should have. Among his fans: Abby, age 2. The “first” time I read Mister Seahorse to her, I had to read it SEVEN straight times. The next day, it was four times. What will tomorrow bring—and what will we do when it has to be returned to the library? NOOK? I love Eric Carle and I’m charmed by Abby’s reaction to this book, but I have to admit that it sorta creeps me out. Basically it’s a dear story about daddies in the fish family that take care of the eggs until they hatch, but the tilapia male carrying the eggs in his mouth or the Kurtus nurseryfish carrying them on his head make my skin crawl about as much as the Surinam toad. Well, maybe not that much.

March 9, 2013

I got to see the new Oz the Great and Powerful movie with family today and it made me want to get back to reading more of  Baum's stories of the land of Oz. If you're interested in my review of the movie: I probably liked it better than a lot of the critics whose reviews I've read. I did like the new elements from the original books, e.g., the china doll, and I appreciated the homage to the 1939 movie we all love.

Another note from today: I finished a grown-up book (Once Upon a Time, There Was You by Elizabeth Berg) and it reminded me to mention here that I asked Abby this week to tell her doll a story. She quickly began with "Once upon a time..." How strange, I thought, as I don't remember reading her any stories that begin in that classic way. I don't know about others who read her stories. Do you suppose she picked that up just from watching the Shrek movie?

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One of the discoveries I made originally with my oldest grandson was Rosemary Wells’ Max and Ruby. Everyone loves the animated TV series which debuted in 2002 and is based on the books dating from 1979. We have several books based on the TV series; recently we read Max’s Valentine and Ruby’s Rainy Day. Neither of these two happens to completely capture the charm and humor of the TV series, but the children seem to like them and Max and Ruby always make me smile. I’m positive that I would’ve adored Max and Ruby books if I’d had them available to me as a little girl. Unfortunately Rosemary Wells is just about my age, so while I couldn’t have read her books while growing up, maybe—maybe—we read some of the same books. It’s nice to consider.

Ah, the 21^st century! The Elephant’s Child – How the Elephant Got His Trunk by Rudyard Kipling, adapted by Karen Baicker, was one of the first children’s books I put on my NOOK to entertain the little ones. Nope, I’ve not read much Kipling myself so this was an OK choice for me too. With the NOOK you have the option to read the story yourself or have it read to you. Abby loves having it read to her by the narrator—and she loves “flipping” the pages herself.

Back to some heftier children’s books. Next I read Doctor Dolittle by Hugh Lofting (the first book in the series). Not only have I never read this book before but I’ve never seen either contemporary Dr. Dolittle movie (the Rex Harrison version or the Eddie Murphy version). The introduction by Hugh Walpole describes Doctor Dolittle as “the first real children’s classic since ‘Alice (in Wonderland)’.” So now I have to confess that Alice is on my to-read list also—but if this book is comparable, I’m disappointed. This was such a light book—truly felt more written BY children than written FOR children.

Then it was back to Oz—specifically Ozma of Oz. Getting my van’s tires rotated one day took 4 times longer than it should have so I was easily able to read this entire story while waiting in the customer service area. This one returned to the characters we all know and love—Dorothy makes a return visit to Oz and in the end makes arrangements to be able to visit again when she so chooses. It also introduced some new characters, all of which I enjoyed.