Are You A Claudia Or A Mary Anne?

I was watching my nephews today and had a very weird, yet very pleasant flashback to my early middle school days and my obsession with The Baby-Sitters Club series.  This is one of those series that was pivotal both in my reading growing up, but in my real life as well.  My friends and I (all avid readers of this popular series) actually put together our own abbreviated version of the club.  We all went to this tiny private school, and several of our parents were staff at the school, forcing us to spend many hours together at the school building waiting for them to finish.  Along the same lines, many families in this tiny school had little ones of their own.  As us 10-12 year old's were all obsessed with baby's and small children we were the perfect group to get baby-sitters from, especially when they just needed watching while the parents were actually on site at the school.  Anyways we took our job as kid watchers very seriously and used the Baby-Sitters Club books as manuals and guidebooks in our quest for perfect child care.  When we were not actually baby-sitting, we were busy reading the books, watching the tv show/movie, and trying to decide who was a Claudia and who was a Mary Anne.  Flash forward more years then I care to admit later and even now, when I take care of the shorties, I still think about these books.  Now I kind of want to grab one and read it real quick...Happy Reading Everybody!

Cat Girl In The Basement

Who's ready for a rambling?  Yay, me too!  Today I will ramble about a book that has been on my radar and on my bookshelf for a while.  It has been part of my backpack of bookness  for and I was in the mood for a random book, so I put my hand into the backpack, pulled out this book and read it in two days.  The book is Serafina and the Black Cloak, a young adult novel by Robert Beatty.  Was it as awesome as the best seller list said it was?  I'll let you know, but first as always SPOILERS AHEAD!

 Serafina is a pre-teen girl who has spent her whole life hidden with her father in the basement of the famous Biltmore Estate in the 1890's.  Serafina spends most of her time napping during the day and using her unusual talents to catch rats in the extensive house.  She is no sure why her father hides hers away so carefully, but figures it has something to do with her strange coloring and the way her bones seemed to be just a bit malformed.  She has spent her whole life skulking around and observing the life that she can never have.  Her father has also warned her away from the forests that surround the estate, telling her that they are very dangerous.  One night while catching rats, Serafina runs into a horrible, rotting apparition that is clothed in a mysterious black cloak.  The worst part however is that he has kidnapped a young girl and when Serafina tries to help, the cloak envelopes the girl and she disappears with a scream.  The man in the black cloaks see's Serafina and chases her, but she manages to hid using her ability to fit into tiny spaces.  She goes up and spies on the house the next morning and learns one of the guests little girls is missing.  She tries to explain to her father, but he tells her she has read to many books and must have imagined it.  Sera goes exploring on her own and meets up with Braeden, the orphaned nephew of the Vanderbilts, the  owners/builders of the Biltmore Estate.  The two of them become friends and start to investigate the missing children, as they have come to find out that there were other's missing.  Sera tries again to talk to her father and finally learns the truth of her birth.  Years ago he had been out in the woods and came across some sort of wild animal.  He heard what sounded like cries and when he followed the sound, he came upon a small creature that resembled a human girl.  He took her home and eventually got a job at the Biltmore Estate, first as a construction worker, then as a maintenance man, all the while living and hiding himself and his adopted daughter in the house.  Much investigation and adventures follow with Sera and Braeden becoming tight friends.  Sera starts to suspect a Mr. Thorn, a guest of the Biltmore Estate who seems to mysteriously obtain a new talant every time a child disappears. Sera is chased into the woods and she after running through a mysterious, body less cemetery in an abandoned village she ends up in a green area with a mysterious angel holding a sharp sword.  There is also a mountain lion den, which holds a pair of lion cubs that Sera bonds with.  She is almost killed when the cubs lion mamma comes back and finds her.  More stuff and Sera lures Mr. Thorn away into the glade and gets the lioness to shred him.  She takes the cloak and learns it's evil history and how it was responsible for the town being abandon.  It tempts her to take it for her self, but she uses the sword to destroy it.  Once the cloak is destroyed, all the spirits that were taken are released, including the missing children.  Turns out the cloak would absorb the spirits and bestow the life and talent upon the wearer of the cloak.  One of the released people is Serafina's mother...actually it's the human half of a being known as a catamount, which is essentially a human/ mountain lion shape shifter.  This is where Sera get's her interesting oddness from.  The kid's are taken back to their grateful parents with a story of being lost in the woods, as nobody would really believe that they were trapped in a cloak.  The Vanderbilts have finally learned of Sera's existence and allow her and her father to continue to live in the basement.  Sera and Braeden remain fast friends and the next adventure starts in the next book.

World Building - The book is set in a historical location, but with a fantasy twist.  I don't know, the world was really well built...but I had a very hard time reconciling the fake fantasy world with it's non existent elements aka the abandon village and such, with what is a well known and well documented local historical landmark, but more on that later.  That being said, the world was well wrought and easy to navigate, especially the nooks and crannies of the big house and some of the cemetery aspects added to the overall story.

Story - This felt like a middle grade story, if that makes sense.  This is not a bad thing, sometimes I feel that authors try and get to clever, or to adult when it comes to this age group and this story really feels like it is written for the 9-12 club and in that sense it makes me very happy.  I however am not a 9-12 year old and felt that the book over all read a little young.  Again not a bad thing for the target group.  For the most part the story was complete and engaging.  The biggest complaint I had about the story (besides the historical aspect, which will get it's own area) was that I felt like it was trying to do a little to much.  We had so many elements to the story, and not all of them were tied together as well as I thought they could be.  So I guess overall the story was ok, but needed some work.

Character - This book had an interesting mix of historical figures and fictional characters which for me personally worked with mixed results.  As far as individuals go, I found Serafina to be a pretty good character, especially for the target age group.  She is feisty, self-sufficient, and not overly confident.  She has a lot of angst over her unknown past and reacts as most  9-12 year olds would to the event's that transpire.  Everybody else is fairly stock or background so yeah.

Editing - The flow of the book was pretty well done, I was able to follow everything with out too much trouble so that was good.  Again, as I mentioned, I felt like there were just too many elements.  We had the mysterious girl with all the weird physical stuff, we have the historic estate, we have a mystery involving missing children and a soul eating cloak, we have a mysterious origin story, we have an abandon village, we have a sword wielding stone angel, we have shape shifting cats...we have SO MUCH GOING ON!  I feel like I would have preferred if the author just focused on a couple of these elements at a time, especially since it is going to be a series.  Also a few things got tossed in with no explanation which always drives me nuts.

History/Fantasy - Ok, so here is where personal opinion comes in...so just remember that...this is just my bloggy opinion.  I find that the mixing of history and fantasy is hit or miss.  When it is done well, it can be awesome.  However more often then not, it just bugs the heck out of me.  This book is one of those that bugs me and here is why.  We know the entire history of the Biltmore Estate.  We know how and when it was built and by who and their whole personal history.  Nowhere ever is their an orphaned nephew, nowhere ever is their an abandoned village....in fact the forest around the estate was planted by the builders.  There are no local legends of catamounts so pretty much the author just appropriated the setting and a couple of real life people then totally went his own merry way with the rest.  I would have much preferred if the author, inspired by the Biltmore Estates, had come up with his own setting and characters...even if they were a homage to the originals.  I found it very distracting the liberties the author took with the history of this place and it's builders.

Family - One thing I did very much enjoy about this book was the portrayal of family.  We get to see every single type of family imaginable.  We see mom, dad and kid, we see family adopting on of their own, we see single parents, we see a gruff guy becoming an amazing dad by happenstance.  A shape shifting mountain lion being a mother from afar.  To me it just reaffirms the fact that anybody can be family if they are willing to put the effort in.  I always love it when a book shows us that a family can be more then just the traditional nuclear family and that as long as you try to love each other, all family is good family.

Bucket List - For all of my whining about the mix of history and fantasy, the Biltmore Estate has now gone on my Literary Bucket List.  I only live about 6-8 hours away from this place and it looks amazing.  I would love to do my best to fanagle my way into seeing some of the awesome places described in the book.  This one is very doable so keep an eye out for a post about it.

Overall Impression - I did not find this book to be my personal cup of tea...that being said, I totally get the appeal of this book, especially in the middle grade crowd that it is targeted for.  I will probably grab the second book at some point, but am not chomping at the bit for it.  I recommend it to anybody who wants to get their kid to read more and needs a good page turner.  I give it 6 out of 10 frayed rope belts.  Happy Reading Everybody!

Letters From St Nick

Have I mentioned I'm spoiled?  Hubbin got me a new top of the line tablet to help me read and write while I'm away from home...cause apparently I am never ever ever home any more.  Anyways, one of the many perks of the new tablet...or the Sketchbook as my nephew calls it (Hubbin also got me an super cool awesome bestest ever cover for said tablet) is the amazing resolution and screen size.  So to test out the abilities of my new toy I found and downloaded Letters From Father Christmas by J.R.R. Tolkien, which is not really a story but a collection of letters written by the famous J.R.R. Tolkien to his children over the course of many years.

Normally this is the sort of book I would only buy in hard copy as the whole point of it is to be able to appreciate the detailed and magical letters and illustrations...but with the new tablet I can see everything perfectly (full disclosure, I'm so totally gonna still buy this in hard copy lol)!  Anyways back to the letters.  This isn't really gonna be a rambling 'cause there is really no story per se,  but I'm still going to expound on some of my favorite stuff...'cause it's Christmas week...and it's my blog :-)  There are a couple of things about this collection that really struck me.  The foremost is the amazing ability Tolkien had to create a world in such a short time and space.  In the course of apx 25-30 letters this guy created a whole entire world populated with developed characters and it's own story line.

 I find this to be further testament to this mans brilliance at creating worlds and story's, this my friend is the real deal.   The envelopes, the letters and the accompanying illustrations, all done by Tolkien are just absolute insane.  Seriously the time, effort and eye to detail these little bits and pieces add to the over all feel are stunning.   It is kind of hard to believe that they were ever only intended for his children.  Which brings me to my last point.  This guy clearly adored his kids.  Even when the older ones started to grow up, he still mentioned them multiple times.  This whole endevor was so clearly a labor of love and it makes my heart happy to know that this talented man was also a phenomenal father.  This collection is the perfect Christmas read, it is quick, simple, beautiful, heartwarming and I will probably peruse it for many years to come.  Happy Reading Everybody!

Read It Out Loud.

Got to spend some one on one time with my youngest nephew N.  He is just 8 weeks old and the cutest most adorable chunky monkey.  N loves to be held, like 24/7 likes to be held and in all honesty he is not the best conversationalist yet so I decided to read my current book to him.  Oddly enough as soon as I started reading, he settled down.  He alternated between watching my face and checking out the turning pages as I read.  This does not really come as any surprise as his family makes sure he, and his big brother E get plenty of reading time.  E is awesome 'cause he LOVES it when his Auntie or Uncle read to him and we have spent many hours with him avidly following along in his books as
we read to him.  Our nephew G is getting so good at reading that his little brother L goes to him when he wants a book read.  The nephews K and R now skype us to read out loud, fighting over who's turn it is to read.  I love that reading has become interactive for my boys.  I really feel that reading out loud to each other, especially when you have short people running around is such a great bonding experience, not to mention it has been proven to smarten up those wee brains.  I still have wonderful memories of being read out loud to by my parents and in turn reading to my younger siblings.  Now everybody go read to somebody.  Happy Reading Everybody!

Wonka's Whipple-Scrumptious Fudgemallow Delight

Usually when I need to give my brain a break I go to my childhood favorites.  This time I picked up Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl.  This book has always appealed to me for many reasons, not the least of which is the idea of endless chocolate.  Ready to go on a wild ride?  As always SPOILERS AHEAD!

Charlie Bucket is a very poor boy who lives with his parents and his four bed bound Grandparents in a tiny drafty house.  They subsist mostly on cabbage soup with the occasional bite of bread.  They are a loving family though and do there best to help each other survive.  Grandpa Joe tells little Charlie the story of Willy Wonka's Chocolate factory that had to shut its doors to the public due to all the spying going on.  Grandpa Joe tells Charlie that one day the factory started up again, with mysterious workers helping Wonka produce sweet wonders...but the gates remained closed and locked.  One night an announcement goes out that in five random Wonka chocolate bars are golden tickets that will allow a person into the Wonka factory.  Obviously the world is vary excited and a run on chocolate bars ensues.  The first person to find a golden ticket is the gluttonous Agustus Gloop, a little boy who won't stop eating.  Next is the very spoiled Veruca Salt who obtained her ticket when her father paid his peanut shellers to open candy bars instead.  Charlies birthday happens and he gets his traditional chocolate bar which sadly contains no golden ticket.  The third ticket goes to the annoying, gum chewing Violet Beauregarde and the fourth to the television and violence obsessed Mike Teavee.  Grandpa Joe figures out a way to get Charlie another chocolate bar, which again holds no ticket.  Mr. Bucket loses his job at the toothpaste factory and the family begins to starve.  Charlie finds a dollar bill on the way home and uses it to buy chocolate (smart boy) he wolfs it down and buys another and lo and behold GOLDEN TICKET!  The long anticipated day arrives and the five winners along with their parents (except Charlie who just brings Grandpa Joe) arrive at the factory to meet the mysterious Willy Wonka.  They are greeted by a funny little man in a green had and purple velvet coat who promptly brings them inside the wondrous factory.   The first stop is my personal favorite, a huge meadow area where EVERYTHING is edible and made of candy! How cool is that ?!?  The best part is the chocolate river running through it.  Here we lose our first winner when Augustus Gloop falls into the river while drinking the chocolate and is sucked up the pipe.  Here we also meet the Oompa Loompa's, small weird colored guys who sing mean, yet insightful songs about our wayward winners.  The remaining people get into a fantastic boat and go hurtling down the chocolate river past many tantalizing doors stopping in an experimental room where our next child leaves us.  The gum chewing Violet grabs an experimental piece of gum and turns into a giant blueberry.  New up the nut sorting squirrles who decide Veruca is a bad nut when she try's to get her greedy little hands on one, bye bye Veruca.  We are now down to Mike TeaVee and Charlie Bucket.  Mike requests something TV related and Wonka takes them to a room where he is transmitting chocolate by radio waves to televisions.  Mike gets himself miniaturized when he jumps in front of the camera to get on TV.  We are now left with just sweet Charlie Bucket and his grandfather.  Willy Wonka then reveals that the whole point of the competition was to find an heir to his factory.  He offers it to Charlie, telling him the whole family can move in.  The book ends with Wonka telling Charlie to press a special button on the glass elevator that hurls them to Charlies home where they pick up his family to start a better life.

World Building - The book is a semi-fantastical novel mostly set in this awesome chocolate factory.  The world is fairly contained and more hinted at then shown.  There is a huge scope for people to fill in details and use their imagination to make the factory anything they want it to be.  My favorite spot is the meadow and chocolate river as it makes my imagination explode.

Story - The main story was pretty straight forward, a cautionary tale for children.  This is the type of story that tells you if you behave you can inherit a chocolate factory :-)  It also had a good punch of humor and straight up crazy which is always a plus for me.  Keeping in mind that this is an old school MG book I think the story kept a good balance between cheeky and a morality tale.

Character - The main characters were all pretty stock style characters, but this was done on purpose to illustrate a point, so I will give the kids a pass on this one.  I do however love Veruca Salt not for any real reason, I just do.  I also really enjoy Grandpa Joe's spunkyness and his ability to take quiet Charlie on this great adventure.  Of course my absolute favorite character is Willy Wonka. Just his name makes me smile, but what I really love is his sheer eccentricness.  He is the perfect mix of creative, dreamy, responsible, compassionate, logical and bat sh*t crazy.  I love everything about him.

Editing - This was a pretty simple and straight forward book told in a simple and straight forward way.  Not a lot to say about the editing other then it was fine.  Also there a bunch of really weird, scary yet fitting illustrations by Quentin Blake that add the perfect touch to this book.

Parents - The children in this book all had very obvious flaws that caused their downfall, but what I thought was interesting and very cool was that the book was very clear that the reason the children had gotten as bad as they were was the fault of the parents.  We see multiple times where the parents could have brought their precious darlings to heel, but instead indulged and defended them.  It's good to know that the author at least knew where bad kids come from...bad parents.  In contrast Charlie's family was responsible and loving and had trained Charlie so well he didn't even need his parents at factory, instead he go his spunky Grandpa Joe.

Imagination - I like how this book inspires imagination.  There are a couple well explained rooms and candies, but most are just hinted at.  I like this because it gives the reader a chance to imagine what all the different things could be, or look like, or taste like.  The lay out of the book also hints at almost endless possibilities, making this a great book to read with your kids or nephews and nieces or whoever because it leaves a ton of open ended conversations.  Even the "punishments" that the naughty kids get are creative, and in the end not permanent.

Movies - I can't mention this book without talking about the movies.  There is Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory with Gene Wilder as the title character, and the later Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with Johnny Depp at Willy Wonka.  Now I adore Johnny Depp and I know that to some degree Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is more faithful to the book, but I mostly find it a tad too creepy for my taste.  The Gene Wilder version on the other hand is one of my favorite movies ever!  While it definitely does not follow the book word for word it most definitely keeps the spirit of the book to the fullest extant.  It will probably come as no surprise to anybody that my favorite scene is the World of Pure Imagination song/scene.  Also I feel that Gene Wilder captures the person of Willy Wonka perfectly.

Overall Impression - I very much enjoy this book, I feel it is entirley age appropriate, not overly complicated or angsty and is perfect for reading with a younger person.  I feel it encourages conversation and imagination and pretty much recommend it to everybody.  I give it 8 out of 10 everlasting gobstoppers and am now going to go watch the movie and eat some chocolate.  Happy Reading Everybody!!!

Banned Books Week

We are into Banned Books Week this week.  As I've mentioned in previous posts, this is the week I celebrate my freedom to write, buy, read, and discuss whatever my little heart desires.  This year I thought I would list some of my favorite books that were at one point banned for some reason or another.

The Perks of Being a Wallflower

I understand the instinct to want to ban this book from younger readers, but I felt that after reading this, it is a book most teenagers can personally relate to AND that makes it perfect reading and discussion material.  I feel that if more kids were encouraged to read books like this and then openly discuss them they would feel less alienated and be able to actually talk and deal with issues instead of feeling like they need to hide them all of the time.

Bridge to Terabithia

To me this book, and many other ones on the challenged and banned list is a case of people getting so caught up in the most minor of details that they completely miss the point of the book.  This book had issues for it's supposed profanity (using the term "Oh Lord") and this wasn't even like in the 1800's, this was 1986.  Again I understand parents wanting to keep an eye on what their young children read, but to challenge a book with so many great points to it on the basis of a few phrases that a quick conversation could cover just seems dumb to me.

The Chocolate War

This book is deemed "inappropriate" for several reasons, language, sex, abuse, violence, authority issues and such.  This book has all of this...and again a brutal and realistic look of how teenage life really is.  When books like this get challenged I almost want to laugh, because what do these adults think kids live on a regular basis?  This book and others like do nothing more then put it in written form and to ban a book just because it makes somebody uncomfortable that stuff like this is happening is kind of counter productive.

To Kill A Mockingbird

 I feel that books like this get challenged sometimes because people are uncomfortable about the idea that stuff like this happens in real life.  I also feel that sometimes parents and institutions get a bit overprotective and feel the need to protect kids from the potential harsh realities of life.  I think that by having kids read about this kind of thing, we can use it as a stepping stone to a discussion instead of having them find out unawares with potentially disastrous consequences.

The Golden Compass

I hate this book, I do not get the hype, I think it is scary, traumatizing and I just really don't like it.  It has been on the challenged list for years because of it's supposed "Anti-Christian" overtones.  Guess what?  I don't want it banned or challenged and if my nephews want to read it, I hope they do.  I then hope they discuss is with each other, with their parents, with me, with whomever, and if they don't feel the same way about I do, awesome 'cause that my friends is how we learn and grow as a society.

I do not think that we should take away the rights of parents to keep an eye on what their children read, especially young ones.  I agree that there are books out there that are more appropriate for a mature audience and that not ever book out there is a healthy one.  I do however think that all people need to examine why they want to challenge a book and if there is not a better way to help kids choose and understand appropriate books.  I also believe that as soon as you hit the high school age (give or take, each person is different) that unless there is extenuating circumstances we need to trust that we have raised them well enough to start choosing their own reading materials.  I love that I live in a country where I have this awesome freedom to choose and hope that we never lose it.  Happy Reading Everybody!

Smarty Pants Scavenger Hunt

I've been ready for something a bit more light-hearted, and since I enjoyed the first book so much I decided to read The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey by Trenton Lee Stewart, the second book in The Mysterious Benedict Society series.  Was it as delightfully puzzling as the first book?  Lets find out, but first as always SPOILERS AHEAD!

Reynie Muldoon (a smart guy who can puzzle out almost anything) is finally reunited with his friend the resourceful and daring Kate Wetherall on the farm she is now living on with her long lost father Mulligan.  The two have not seen each other since their adventures at the L.I.V.E. institute.  They are soon joined by Sticky Washington (the boy with the photographic memory), his parents, and Mrs. Permal who has adopted Reynie.  The group all head to Mr. Benedict's house to meet up with the super young super perceptive Constance and for a surprise that he has in store for the children.  Upon arriving the group discovers that Mr. Benedict and his assistant Number Two were supposed to have put together a scavenger hunt across the world for the children, but instead have been kidnapped by his twin brother, the nefarious Mr. Curtain.  The kids obtain the first clue that was supposed to start them on their trip and sneak out to rescue their mentor and friend.  The clue leads them to a boat and Captain Noland and a sailor called Cannonball.  They end up in Portugal and after dodging a couple of Mr. Curtains henchmen they find the next clue.  Off to Holland they go.  After they make it to the library, they discover letters and journals written by Mr. Benedicts parents. Reading these informs the children that the Benedicts had been looking for a cure for the family narcolepsy curse.  They found a plant that when processed correctly would potentially cure the sleeping disease. Unfortunately they had to keep it a secret because if used the wrong way, could be used as a weapon to put people to sleep.  The children are attacked by guys known as the Ten Men, people who use nasty objects to inflict pain, all while being very sharply dressed.  The kids are rescued by the surprise appearance of Milligan who agrees to help the kids rescue Mr. Benedict and Number Two.  They work out where the island is and attempt to find the prisoners whereabouts.  The children and are captured and Milligan is defeated by the suave Ten Men and the children are taken to the cave where Mr. Curtain is keeping Mr. Benedict prisoner.  Much banter and exchange of wits occur with the result of Mr. Curtain going of with one of the Ten Men and Mr. Benedict securing his and the children's release.  The friends the children made through out their adventure come to their rescue and Kate proves herself better then the bad guys by showing them mercy.  They all return home to their worried family's and live happily until the next book.

This book was a classic second book in a kids series.  It was a bit predictable, a bit safe, but kept all the stuff I liked about the first one.  A couple of things that caught my attention in this book.  The kids abilities have all grown at a believable rate, now that they know they possesses certain skills, they (and the adults who are awesome) have helped nurture and hone them.  The result is the kids are able to more complicated issues quicker.  The kids themselves have grown up a bit and to that end there are some new tensions in the group that were not there before.  Reynie is struggling to find the good in the world, suspicious of most people, Kate has gotten even more impatient and impulsive, Sticky has the urge to show off, and Constance is trying to cope with her new awareness of patterns and people.  The kids fight and bicker among themselves, certain pairings get along better then others, but in the end they are all try hard to get along, and deep down value their friendships.  The adults in this book crack me up, they are portrayed exactly as I remember feeling about them as a kid.  Most of them come across as loving and a bit overprotective.  We also see the self important adults and the adults who underestimate kids.  One of the things that struck me most, being both realistic, and a bit silly is how after the kids survived their last adventure, proven themselves to be able to work through difficult situations, and be generally good kids, all most of the adults want to do is protect them.  They have a hard time understanding that after the freedom they had previously, trying to make them go back to being ordinary kids is a bit ridiculous.  The children circumvent this by pretty much doing what they want anyways...but always with the best of intentions.  Over all I miss some of the solvable puzzles from the first book, and some of the freshness was gone.  That being said if I was 11 years old, I would be reading and rereading these constantly.  I give this book 6 out of 10 fake diamonds and would recommend it to read aloud with your kids/kids in your life. Happy Reading Everybody!
 What is your favorite sort of puzzle?  How bad do you want to meet Constance when she is a crotchety old lady? Is it just me or are some of these illustrations a bit creepy?

Story Room

I love the fact that all of my nephews love to read or be read too!  I think reading is one of the absolute best gifts we can give our children...I know it has made my life amazing.  In that vein here are some libraries that are using their resources to make reading spaces that inspire and revel in the magic of reading.

Brentwood TN

I need somebody to come to my house right now and build this for me...I'm waiting :-)

Om Tio Tretton

I could probably live in this Swedish Childrens library forever and ever...especially with my new fluffy birthday blankie

Central Library Kansas City MO

Is it bad when you can't even get to the bookshelves because your too busy reading the walls?

Park Falls WI

I want to grab a cup of coffee, a bunch of pillows and a great MG book and curl up in this tree of awesomeness!

Camarillo CA

How could you not feel a sense of magic and adventure waiting for you behind those doors?

These are just a few of the magical places the kids (and maybe their awesome aunts?) can go and get lost in the wonder of books.  I hope we continue to make the effort to show kids what an amazing thing a book can be...also if you need me I'll be in one of these libraries rediscovering my favorite childhood books.  Happy Reading Everybody!

Walk Like An Egyptian

After my unending praise of Middle Grade books yesterday, I thought I would do a rambling on the book that set off my current adoration of the genre.  The book is The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keatley Snyder who besides having one of the coolest names ever, wrote a book that could have come straight from my childhood.  First as always SPOILERS AHEAD!

April has just moved from Hollywood, living with her glamorous...if featherheaded mother to living with her more run of the mill grandmother.  She now lives in an apartment building and soon meets another girl by the name of Melanie.  At first Melanie thinks April, with her false eyelashes and odd updo is a bit strange, but soon the girls, along with Melanie's little brother Marshall find a shared love of Egypt.  Chance is in their favor and they discover a bit of fenced off yard that they turn into a type of temple/shrine/play place for their game.  The three come up with elaborate story lines, rituals, ceremonies, costumes, getting so into the game that on occasion it seems real.  Soon a new girl Elizabeth moves into the neighborhood and joins the game, adding her own pieces of imagination.  Unfortunately the fun is almost ruined when the body of a local child is found.  To make matters worse, this is the second murdered child in the area in two years.   Along with being stuck inside where the adults can keep an eye on them, April is also upset over the fact that her mother, in one of her infrequent communications has told her daughter that she has gotten married, but their is still no place for her.  Halloween finally sees the adults letting up a bit and allowing the children to go trick or treating in supervised groups.  April convinces the kids to sneak off and play the game for a few minutes.  While there, two boys from April and Melanie's class, Ken and Toby crash the game and exchange for letting them play, agree to keep quiet.  The four original players are nervous about the new additions, but it turns out the boys, especially Toby have some great idea's to add to the game.  One night, while she is baby-sitting Marshall, April realizes she left a school book in the yard and takes Marshall to go get it.  On the out of the yard, April is grabbed by a man, and is saved when the Professor, the man who owns the yard the children were playing in, breaks a window and calls for help.  Marshall is able to identify the attacker and the murders are solved.  The Professor allows the children to continue to play in the yard and they all play until they get too old for playing to be cool.

So this is going to be a bit of a different ramble.  I will tell you right now that I loved loved loved this book.  The reason I loved it so much can be directly attributed to my own childhood.  Growing up my parents were pretty strict on the amount of time we spent in front of screens, not just TV, but any consoles, computers or handheld devices.  We were encouraged to play together, and with our friends.  To this end my three siblings and I, along with various friends, came up with the most elaborate games.  Most of the time these games took much longer to set up then they did to actually play.  Looking back the most amazing part was the ability of up to 14 kids (our parent's had a regular get together with a couple other families) ages 3-14 could actually communicate, coordinate and agree on a plan of action.  We had a diverse group, with TONS of idea's, lots of skill sets and and varied interests.  We used to set up whole towns, hold elections, build road signs.  We would write, cast, design, and produce our own plays.  We created whole worlds with their own magics, rules and ecosystems.  Sometimes our games would go on for days.  One of the things that struck me in the

book is that four of the six players were in sixth grade.  I cannot think of ANY sixth graders now who would be caught dead playing imagination games that did not involve a MMORPG game.  It makes me sad that even our younger kids, who are still willing to play, probably spend more time in front of a screen then in their playroom, and by the time they hit Middle School, they have turned into gadget toting pre-teens.  I hate that we now have an environment where we encourage our kids to grow up way to fast in certain area's, while teaching them to rely on social media and other people's opinions, rather then their own sense of self to judge their worth.  I am sure every generation feels like this, but when I read books like this, and realize how many social skills I learned by playing these types of games, and how most kids I know, even if they are in a room with other kids, don't do a whole lot of interaction.  I myself am a technology lover, and I don't want to "go back" to the way things were...I just hope we can find a way to spark that same elaborate sense of play and cooperation that I grew up with.  Ok so this was less of a ramble and more of a personal speculation, but one of the best things about a good book is it makes you think, and this book made me think...and remember.  I give this book an 8 out of 10 Crocodile gods and would suggest it to anybody who remembers a playroom without a screen.  Happy Reading Everybody!
What kind of games did you play growing up?  Do you think kids play differently today?  Do I have a valid point, or am I just old?

Kidoween

Watched Hocus Pocus last night, definitely one of my favorite Halloween movies.  I then spent the rest of the night discussing with my two sisters how to best get together one Halloween and dress up as the Sanderson sisters, all in all a very good night.

A little creepy for a children's movie

This got me thinking how much I enjoy kid stuff around Halloween.  The books and movies intended for the younger crowd are surprisingly dark and delicious, here are a few of my favorites when it comes to Halloween Jr.

Cinderella Skeleton

A new acquisition this year and it is wonderful, the illustrations are graveyard perfect, the story is written in spooky rhyme and it is the perfect book for any fairytale/undead lover.

A Halloween Treat

Anything by Edward Gorey is gonna be a little on the awesomely grotesque side, but this one is perfect for a pre-trick or treat read.

I Spy Spooky Night

I love all of the I Spy books (note to self buy more I Spy books).  This one is always a favorite with the young crowd.

The Berenstain Bears: Trick or Treat

Ah nostalgia plays the biggest role in this pick.  I love me some Berenstain Bears!

The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything

I love the colors in this book, it is also awesome to read out loud you get to make lots of scary noises :-)

Hopefully these have inspired you to give the children's section a quick glance next time you are at your local bookstore, I have most of these on my shelf and I don't even have the excuse of kids (unless you count the six foot tall one I am married too!).  

Ok ok here is the other awesome song!

Why I Love To Read!

This pretty much sums up why I love to read :-)