June 2, 2013
  
I write a quarterly newsletter for Houston Council of the Blind, if I haven't mentioned it before, and the latest edition was published June 1. Each edition has a "theme"--this one was being a kid during the summer. My husband is my source for checking on the availability of recorded books when I want to recommend something to my visually impaired readership. Naturally I had lots of ideas for kids' and young adults' fiction for this newsletter but sadly they were not all available from the BARD (Braille and Audio Reading Download) library. Those available that I did suggest were: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, My Father's Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannet, The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate, the Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins, the Benedict Society books by Trenton Lee Stewart, and The Twenty-One Balloons by William Pene du Bois--all books I'd read for my project except for the Hunger Games trilogy and The One and Only Ivan. Seldom do I get any feedback on the newsletter so I wish I'd hear from anyone who might read these books but I doubt that I will. -sigh-

A book caught my eye at the bookstore the other day--gee, that's never happened before!! LOL! Turns out it's 25 years old, a Newbery Honor Book, one of many by this author, and it is for ages 10-14. I had high expectations for Hatchet by Gary Paulsen but it didn't fulfill them. What did I expect from this book? Don't really know but when I have nothing else to worry about I worry about my total lack of survival skills. Reading this completely reinforced those fears. But this book was too far-fetched for my tastes. Brian, the young boy on his own in the woods after a plane crash, is attacked by a moose and obviously suffers some broken ribs. Yet about a week later he builds a raft and pulls it out into a lake to investigate the crashed airplane and then repeatedly dives down into the lake about 15 feet to retrieve his hatchet that he dropped. Yeah, I'd still be lying on the sand where the moose attacked me. It was interesting to read what the author went through to "research" the book however.

If anyone is reading this blog, I'd be grateful for a note telling me how you might be using it. Thank you.

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Read these two books as a grandmother; critiquing them as a grandmother. What Shall We Play? interested my granddaughter enough to read twice but I just didn’t get it. I can see where it was going but it just lacked the “snap” to make it click with me. It is a fairly decent book about sharing/taking turns/cooperating. And that’s not bad. Fish Wish is a simple, short book—very few words along with bright, colorful illustrations. This one has had several readings, and while it’s not an “oh, I want to buy that for our home library” type of book, it was appealing. I think especially so because my daughter, granddaughter, and I just visited an aquarium over the weekend. At Texas Sea Center, Abby got to touch a sea anemone so when the little fish tucked itself into an anemone to go to sleep there was a familiarity—a joining of real life with a library book. And that’s a good thing for a book to do too.

[Note to anyone reading this: Yes, this is my second childhood reading project, not just a journal of books Abby has read this year. It’s simply that I love reading and I love reading to her and I think I’ve shared my love of books with all three grandchildren. I have always felt that I would’ve benefited from more awareness of books age-appropriate while I was growing up—hence this project’s mission—and perhaps this project will be a recording of good, timeless books for children that Aidan, Rowan, and Abby can consult when they have children to curl up in their laps to hear a story.]

So…I believe we have a true Eric Carle fan in the family! Abby this past week has been quite taken with his Have You Seen My Cat?  She likes all the different cats, from the Persian to the Puma. And I’ve not minded reading this one over and over with her. This edition is a reissue with completely new illustrations.

Peter Blake’s ABC was one of the first books I ever bought Abby. It remains one of her favorites; we just hadn’t read it in a while. And by favorites, I mean thoroughly man-handled! Virtually every page has some tape holding it together. This book was published at the request of the Tate Museum in London. Oh, SIR Peter Blake is a rather well-known pop artist. Someday Abby will appreciate the fact that Sir Blake also designed the cover art for The Beatles’ Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album. This is a good book, if a bit different. After all, how many ABC books feature G is for Gnome and K is for Knots?

One of today’s classics and one enjoyed by all three grandchildren—and Grandy—is Chicka Chicka Boom Boom  by Bill Martin, Jr. and John Archambault, illustrated by (one of our favorites) Lois Ehlert. “Chicka Chicka Boom Boom! Will there be enough room?” Alphabet, mischief, rhythm, and rhyme. Love this book! (This is also another example of how fond I’m growing of this project. I knew nothing about Mr. Martin until looking for publication date information for Chicka Chicka Boom Boom.  Sad to learn he is no longer alive but he wrote for over 300 books from 1945 to 2008, but delighted to read that his library is at Texas A&M-Commerce. Nice.)

Chicken Chickens by Valeri Gorbachev just didn’t click with Abby. I thought it was OK. Perhaps Abby didn’t care for it much because she couldn’t identify with anyone being afraid to go down the slide.

Someone I’m just now getting on this list is Lois Lenski. I loved her books growing up and read a lot of them to my children and now grandchildren. (When my daughter first got pregnant I searched and searched book dealers to find an out-of-print copy of Surprise for Davy, a book she checked out of the library scores of time!) The Little Farm was the only one available at the library this week but I will be checking back for more.

While reading to Abby is a daily thing, Monday through Friday, I’m also reading “chapter books” meant for older “children” on my own. The latest one was White Fang by Jack London. Thank God I never read this as a child!!!! It horrified me. I had to force myself to read it all. The beginning was emotional, touching; the ending was satisfying and almost happy. The middle, the dog/wolf fighting part, was horrific. As I got into the story I was afraid that it wasn’t a book meant for children, so I looked that information up and found that, yes, it was “appropriate” for 9- to 12-year-olds. First off, I doubt you could find more than one child in classrooms for that age range who could read this book. Second, I would never, never let a child of mine that age read this book. I was so happy to finish this and pick up another sweet, happy Bobbsey Twins book to rid myself of the horrors man can inflict on animals.

From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg is a classic. Not from my generation but from my children’s. At least one of them must’ve read this for school as it’s been residing on my children’s bookshelf for a long time. Sure, the plot is fantastical and contrived but I’ve read a lot of “adult classic” books that are too. I got a kick out of this one. And it did win a Newbery Award.