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The Summer of the Swans by Betsy Byars

Natasha Maw — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 15:05:12 +0000

Winner of the 1971 Newbery Medal, The Summer of the Swans by Betsy Byars is the story of the longest day of 14-year-old Sara’s life. Her summer has already been awful and boring, she thinks that her feet are too big and she’s jealous of her beautiful older sister Wanda. Sara, her sister and their little brother Charlie, who is mentally handicapped (the book written in the ’70’s labels him as retarded – I would suspect some type of autism), live with their Aunt who has been taking care of them since their mother died six years ago. Their father, who only visits on weekends, has become a distant figure in Sara’s life.

Sara is fiercely devoted to Charlie but also feels as though she can never get a moment alone without him. One night, after having watched the swans at the nearby lake, Charlie goes missing. That next morning a desperate search takes place to find him, and Sara is certain that he’s gotten lost when trying to find the swans again. The story centers around Sara’s search for Charlie. The Summer of the Swans has a rather simple story line but around it revolves a story of family dynamics and coming-of age-angst.

As I’m attempting to read all of the Newbery books, I’m glad to have read The Summer of the Swans but I doubt I’ll be holding on to this one. I wanted to know what happened to Charlie and if they’d find him but otherwise, not much else stood out for me. If anything, I enjoyed the process of reading a children’s book written in the ’70s and getting a kick out of all the TV show’s that Sara watched. That, and taking notice of how an author treated a character with a disability at a time when not much was understood about them. Certainly, not a favorite Newbery but not particularly terrible either. Meh.

Links of interest: more book blogger reviews.
Genre: Middle Grade Fiction, approx ages 9-12.
Publisher: Puffin. 1981. Originally published 1970.
Paperback, 142 pages. ISBN B000OJ5ZLQ
Source copy: Own
The Summer of the Swans is available from your favorite independent bookstore, Powell’s, and Amazon.

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When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit by Judith Kerr

Natasha Maw — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 10:00:02 +0000

I have a fascination with anything set around World War II and When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit by Judith Kerr continues that theme for me. Published in 1971, it is a semi-autobiographical novel of nine-year-old Anna and her family. Set just as Hitler comes to power in 1933, Anna’s father has campaigned against the Nazi party and the family flees from their home country of Germany to Switzerland, then Paris, then England.

Although their lives are now less at risk then if they had stayed in Germany, with each move comes its own set of challenges. Anna just wants to make friends and attend school. Learning each new language is difficult and adjusting to living with less and less isn’t easy. What Anna and her brother learn is it doesn’t matter where you live, what really matters is being together as a family.

“Difficult childhood . . . ” she thought. The past and the present slid apart. She remembered the long, weary journey from Berlin with Mama, how it had rained, and how she had read Gunther’s book and wished for a difficult childhood to that she might one day become famous. Had her wish then come true? Could her life since she had left Germany really be described as a difficult childhood?

She thought of the flat in Paris and the Gasthof Zwirn. No, it was absurd. Some things had been difficult, but it had always been interesting and often funny – and she and Man and Mama and Papa had nearly always been together. As long as they were together she could never have a difficult childhood.

An excellent novel on the refugee experience for a child and one to introduce young children to the concept of war and it’s effects on families.

Links of interest: more book blogger reviews.
Genre: Historical middle grade fiction, approx ages 9-12.
Publisher: Putnam Juvenile. Reprint November 10, 1997. Originally published 1971.
Paperback, 191 pages. ISBN 0698115899
Source copy: Library
When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit is available from your favorite independent bookstore, Powell’s, and Amazon.

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Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl

Natasha Maw — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 06:59:09 +0000

I grew up not reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl but rather watching the Gene Wilder movie. I loved it! I watched it over and over. When they announced the new movie directed by Tim Burton and starring Johny Depp you can’t imagine the kind of excitement (and nervousness – will they do it right?) that was created in our house. To say that my husband is both a Burton and a Depp fan is putting it mildly. They are both highly influential artists for my husband. And we are happy to say that we were not disappointed.

So I decided that it was high time that I actually read the book. And I must admit that there was no way that I could read the book without the movies influencing me. I was constantly comparing them to each other and taking note of how both movies adapted the book to screen. So I feel like I have now come full circle and finally discovered the words that inspired both movies.

Do I even need to summarize? The infamous Willy Wonka hasn’t shown his face in years and is opening his factory to five lucky children for a tour and a promise of something grand and wonderful to one of them. Augustus Gloop, Veruca Salt, Violet Beauregarde, Mike Teavee and Charlie Bucket (how could you forget those names?) all get more than they bargained for in Wonka’s wild and crazy factory.

I found Charlie and the Chocolate Factory delightful. Dahl is a master storyteller and the book was fun to read. I did find that although the book was short, I found myself unable to read it straight through. Not sure why I needed little breaks from the narration. It’s a perfect book to read-a-loud as a family or one-on-one with younger kids. It’s fast paced and funny. A story for everybody of all ages to enjoy.

As soon as I finished, I had to put in the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (Johnny Depp version) movie and and have it playing now. This review is taking me forever because I keep watching the movie instead. I’m not going to go into a movie critique at all. Suffice it to say that there are noticeable differences in both movies from the book which I think make both stories better. It’s fun to see which dialogue they’ve changed and what they’ve kept especially has I have the book fresh in my mind.

And to prove just how influential this story is in our household, check out these family photos from about three years ago:

Can I just mention that I sewed that vest? Because I don’t sew. So I was impressed with myself. And for those who will ask (because they always do) – yes, that is my husband’s real hair.

I read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl as part of Banned Books Week. In 1988, a Colorado librarian placed the book in a locked vault because she thought that it espoused a poor philosophy of life. I would highly recommend reading this essay entitled Charlie and the Political Correctness Factory which I found very enlightening about how Dahl changed some of his text after it was printed and the changes made in the movie.

Links of interest: Roald Dahl website. Other Maw Books reviews: James and the Giant Peach (which I reviewed last year for Banned Books Week), The Witches and yesterday’s post about the Mike Teavee song lyrics (where I ask which movie you liked better).
Genre: Juvenile Fiction. Approx ages 9-12.
Publisher: Puffin. June 1998. Originally published 1964.
Paperback, 176 pages. ISBN 0141301155
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is available from your favorite independent bookstore, Powell’s, and Amazon.

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The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson

Natasha Maw — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 07:46:34 +0000

The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson, a 1979 Newbery Honor, is such a sweet book with wonderfully sweet characters. Gilly Hopkins is going to stay with me for a long time. Gilly’s transformation that takes place between the opening and closing pages of this book is bittersweet. I felt happy and sad for her at the same time. Stories about foster children always tug at the heartstrings and this one was no exception.

Gilly has been bouncing around in foster care homes for as long as she can remember. She has a rough exterior and she won’t allow herself to get close to anybody. Because what’s the point? She’ll just be gone soon anyways. But she’s smart and bright. She does well in school just to prove everybody wrong and at the height of her success she purposely stops trying. She feeds off of being able to control her surroundings and being able to manipulate those around her.

Gilly is in yet another new home. One that she obviously will not tolerate. How could she with Maime Trotter, her obese foster mother, her new brother William Ernest who cowers at the slightest look in his direction, and the blind man next door who loves poetry – but that’s not the worst of it – he’s black too. Gilly carries around a photo of her mother Courtney and knows that one day she will come and get her. But when she finds herself beginning to care about her new family, she realizes that she better abandon them before they abandon her and she devises her own escape.

Gilly begins as a little girl with many prejudices and a rough exterior that she won’t let anybody through, as well as a heart that doesn’t want to be broken again. She only wants one thing and that’s to be wanted. But it’s the one person that she wants the most that doesn’t want her in return. And when the chance comes will she realize that she was only chasing a dream?

A beautiful story about breaking through walls and the softening of the heart. I highly recommend it.

I read The Great Gilly Hopkins as part of Banned Books Week (I’m reading one banned book a day) and it was in the top 25 of most often challenged books from 1990-2000. And to tell you the truth, it felt pretty obvious while I was reading what some parents would find offense about. This includes Gilly’s language particularly the use of the words “damn” and “hell.” But she is always reprimanded for it, she knows it’s wrong and the language is specifically used to illustrate the background that Gilly came from and how she changes. Her character simply wouldn’t be the same without it. Another reason is that Gilly is prejudice against her black school teacher and her black next-door neighbor Mr. Randolph. Although Gilly doesn’t think much of them, both characters are portrayed in nothing but the best light. At the end of the book, both are people who Gilly love dearly. It’s an example of how prejudices are overcome once you actually get to know somebody. And really, that’s something that is supposed to be wrong? Hmmm . . . she also steals money. So that could be another reason. A ridiculous one at that. (Edited to add – I found it ridiculous because she was made to return the amount and pay it off by doing chores). SmallWorld Reads has some great commentary over at her blog about Gilly’s language that is worth checking out.

All valid reasons for having a parent know what their children are reading so they can discuss things like how words can effect people or prejudices are wrong. I think it’s sad that somebody would rather try to remove it from a library’s collection instead of using the opportunity to engage their child with meaningful dialogue and teachable moments.

Links of interest: Katherine Paterson website. Other Paterson books reviewed by Maw Books: A Midnight Clear, Selected Christmas Stories, Bridge to Terabithia (often challenged as well).
Genre: Juvenile Fiction, approx ages 9-12.
Publisher: Harper Collins. June 1987. (Copy I read and cover shown here is from Scholastic reprint 1995)
Paperback, 160 pages. ISBN 0064402010
The Great Gilly Hopkins is available from your favorite independent bookstore, Powell’s, and Amazon

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Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume

Natasha Maw — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 20:10:26 +0000

Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume is timeless. Absolutely timeless. It could have been written yesterday not 1972. There’s nothing about this book to date it. I remember LOVING this book when I was in elementary school and have been anxious to pick it up and revisit it as an adult. As a mother, I giggled my way through Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing. It was SO funny.

Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing is about nine year old Peter but mostly it’s about his two year old brother Fudge who is probably the cutest thing grown ups have ever seen. But he’s a huge handful and always getting into trouble. The book is ultimately about the adventures of Peter “managing” Fudge. Because if it wasn’t for him, nobody would be able to control Fudge. This involved helping out with Fudge’s birthday party, finding him when he disappears at a movie theater, trying to get Fudge to eat and convincing Fudge to ride a trike for a TV commercial among other things. And then there is a very unfortunate incident with Peter’s pet turtle Dribble. This scene was so impressionable on me as a child that I remembered some twenty years later exactly what was going to happen. A mark of a great book? I think so.

As a mom, I loved Fudge’s antics and the families attempts to “parent” him. It’s the type of book that parents will enjoy reading with their children because both will come away with something fun. I couldn’t help but think if I had read this book when I only had my first child if I would have found it believable or not. See, my first child was not a talker. No way would I have believed that a 2 1/2 year old would have talked as well as Fudge. Luckily, my second does. I couldn’t help but think about how our life experience always plays a role in our reading.

I loved Peter. I loved Fudge. I can’t wait to revisit them in Superfudge, Double Fudge, and Fudge-a-Mania. Such fun to read a book from my childhood and not come away being disappointed.

I read Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing as part of Banned Books Week. Judy Blume is no stranger to her books being challenged. In 2004, the ALA announced that Blume was the 2nd most highly challenged author of the past 15 years. So what is it about Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing that has parents shaking in their shoes? One reference I found in the School Library Journal was because it included a scene with a dead turtle. Blume is quoted as saying, “She said, ‘Don’t you know that reptiles have feelings, and reptiles feel fear?’” I was surprised that it was because of the dead turtle not the fact that the turtle was swallowed, which reminds me of my review of How to Eat Fried Worms from last years Banned Books Week because people said it encouraged kids to eat worms. Crazy stuff.

Links of interest: Judy Blume website, Maw Books review of Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret (another highly challenged book) which I read for last years Banned Books Week.
Genre: Juvenile Fiction, approx ages 4-12.
Publisher: Puffin. April 5, 2007. Original publication 1972.
(I read the Scholastic student edition (cover shown here) published 2002, ISBN 0439559863)
Paperback, 128 pages. ISBN 0142408816
Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing is available from your favorite independent bookstore, Powell’s, and Amazon

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Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl

Natasha Maw — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 20:33:27 +0000

I read Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl for my Children’s Literature Book Club. This month we read books being made into movies. Fantastic Mr. Fox is being made into an animated film with big names such as George Clooney, Bill Murray, and Anjelica Huston. It’s slated to be released in November of this year. I’d love to see how adapt Fantastic Mr. Fox to film.

From the book jacket:

Every evening as soon as it got dark, Mr. Fox would say to Mrs. Fox, “Well, my darling, what shall it be this time? A plump chicken from Boggis? A duck or a goose from Bunce? Or a nice turkey from Bean?” And when Mrs. Fox had told him what she wanted, Mr. Fox would creep down into the valley in the darkness of the night and help himself.

Boggis and Bunce and Bean knew very well what was going on, and it made them wild with rage. They were not men who liked to give anything away. Less still did they like anything to be stolen from them. So every night each of them would take his shotgun and hide on his own farm, hoping to catch the robber.

But Mr. Fox was too clever for them.

The three farmers are true villains that decide that anything must be done to catch Mr. Fox, this includes digging out the entire hillside in search of him. The other animals aren’t pleased with Mr. Fox though. His escapades and the farmers stakeout are hurting their way of life. Will Mr. Fox be sly enough to come up with a clever plan to please his friends and keep the farmers at bay?

Fantastic Mr. Fox was a fun, cute story told in Roald Dahl’s classic irreverent humor. I enjoyed this quick read and it would be a perfect book to read-a-loud with younger readers.

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Journey to Topaz by Yoshicko Uchida

Natasha Maw — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 05:16:34 +0000

Journey to Topaz by Yoshicku Uchida was recommended to me by Becky at Becky’s Book Reviews when I asked for an author with the last name beginning with U. I knew right away that this was the book for me and I almost feel like I’m come full circle this year on the topic of the Japanese-Americans being interned during World War II.

On the same topic I recently read When the Emperor Was Divine by Julie Otsuka (my book review) a book for adults that I really enjoyed, which was preceded by Weedflower by Cynthia Kadohata (my book review) a book for Young Adults. Now I’ve come to Journey to Topaz, a book for Middle Readers. All are fictionalized accounts but the first two are based on the author’s own experience and all follow the journey of Japanese Americans living in California in the 1940’s. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor they are taken to the Tanforan Racetrack and literally live in horse stalls, and then they travel by train to Topaz, Utah where they are settle in a internment camp in the isolated desert. I know there are a lot of books on this subject, but I have enjoyed these three that I have read this year.

To best summarize Journey to Topaz, I’d like to simply share with you the words of the author, Yoshicku Uchida, as written in the prologue (in 1984),

It has been many years since I first wrote Journey to Topaz and more than forty years since the United States government uprooted 120,000 West Coast Japanese Americans, without trial or hearing, and imprisoned them behind barbed wire. Two-thirds of those Japanese Americans were American Citizens, and I was one of them. We were imprisoned by our own country during World War II, not because of anything we had done, but simply because we looked like the enemy . . .

Journey to Topaz is the story of what happened to one Japanese American Family during this wartime tragedy, then called “the evacuation.” Although the characters are fictional, the events are based on actual fact, and most of what happened to the Sakane family also happened to my own. I wold ask readers to remember that my characters portray the Japanese Americans of 1942 an to recall that the world then was totally different from the one we know today. In 1942 the voice of Martin Luther King had not yet been heard and ethnic pride was yet unborn. There was no awareness in the land of civil rights, and there had yet been no freedom marches or demonstrations of protest . . .

I hope by reading this book young people everywhere will realize what once took place in this country and will determine never to permit such a travesty of justice to occur again.

I really enjoyed Journey to Topaz and it would be an excellent resource in the classroom or otherwise to introduce to children what happened during the Japanese-American evacuation. Yoshiko Uchida is a prolific author with more than 30 books and anthologies. I’d like to read her memoir titled The Invisible Thread: An Autobiography, as well as Picture Bride. Yoskido Uchida does not have a website but I did find an author study site for a college course which has a lot of information.

How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell

Natasha Maw — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 21:21:04 +0000

Oh, the memories! I remember reading How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell when I was younger and have always wanted to reread it. This was a total nostalgic read for me that I really enjoyed even though I felt like throwing up at every chapter. Seriously, I want to gag right now and let’s be thankful that I’m not pregnant because if I was I don’t know if I could have handled the thought of huge, gooey, withering, slimy worms being fried up and eaten with horseradish.

When Billy makes a bet with his rival friend Joe that he can eat fifteen worm in fifteen days, he’s in for a whole lot of trouble. But if he can do it, he’ll win fifty bucks! Joe supplies the fattest, longest earthworms that he can find and comes up with a myriad of ways to cook them. When Billy doesn’t seem to have a problem gulping the worms down, Joe gets worried and starts to cheat. Each new day brings a new worm. Who will win? Billy or Joe?

For some reason, I really enjoyed Billy’s family. When his parents find out about the bet they don’t try to stop him. They call the doctor to find out if it’s safe, and even his mother whips up a ice cream sundae with worm. How to Eat Fried Worms was really fun and boys and girls alike will devour this book (but hopefully not worms).

Have you seen the movie? I haven’t. I can see a lot of changes (for the best), but it looks like kids would love it:

I read How to Eat Fried Worms during Banned Books Week. Will you believe that people have tried to ban this book on the premise that eating worms is socially unacceptable? If anything, this book made me not want to eat worms. What are they worried about, that I’d whip up some worms for dinner? And seriously, if some little kid decides to eat a worm after reading this book, I say so what? Should gummy worms be taken off the shelves too?

Apparently, they don’t have a problem eating worms in Vietnam:

Another reason How to Eat Fried Worms is banned is because it promotes betting and gambling. What kid has gone through childhood without taunting another little kid and saying, “I bet you can’t do this! or I bet you can’t do that!” Show me a kid who reads this book and then becomes addicted to gambling. Not likely.

So if you had to eat a worm, without chopping it up or blending it up, how would you eat it? Maybe with spaghetti?

Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson

Natasha Maw — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 05:16:06 +0000

Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson, the 1978 Newbery Medal winner, is the touching story of two inseparable friends. Jess, age ten, just wants to be the fastest runner in his school, to be known as somebody besides that kid who just draws. He wakes up early every day all summer long to practice running to ensure his victory on the school field at recess. But, there’s a new girl in town, Leslie, who’s unlike anybody that the school is used to. She boldly joins the boys’ race and outruns everyone.

Although Jess could resent Leslie for beating him, it’s the beginning of a friendship that both desperatly need. Their enjoyment and childlike love for each other is touching. Jess and Leslie take to the woods and pretend to set up a magical kingdom, like that of Narnia where they can be a king and queen and rule over all. Their happiness doesn’t last though as a tragedy unfolds, and Jess must learn to cope with his emotions.

There was a quote at the end of Bridge to Terabithia that I really thought encompassed the whole book. **Warning: Spoilers in the quote.**

He thought about it all day, how before Leslie came, he had been a nothing – a stupid, weird little kid who drew funny pictures and chased around a cow field trying to act big- trying to hide a whole mob of foolish little fears running riot inside his gut. It was Leslie who had taken him from the cow pasture into Terabithia and turned him into a king. He had thought that was it. Wasn’t king the best you could be? Now it occurred to him that perhaps Terabithia was like a castle where you came to be knighted. After you stayed for a while and grew strong you had to move on. For hadn’t Leslie, even in Terabithia, tried to push back the walls of his mind and make him see beyond to the shining world – huge and terrible and beautiful and very fragile? . . .

Now it was time for him to move out. She wasn’t there, so he must go for both of them. It was up to him to pay back to the world in beauty and caring what Leslie had loaned him in vision and strength.

As for the terrors ahead – for he did not fool himself that they were all behind him – well, you could just have to stand up to your fear and not let it squeeze you white. Right, Leslie?

Right.

I was surprised with how quiet of a book this was. Having previously watched the movie, I was expecting fantastical creatures, huge fight/play scenes, etc. but the book and movie were quiet different in that respect. But if the movie didn’t include the fantastical, I think kids would have been bored to tears. So in that regard I think the adaption was well done. Besides, Leslie does mention that she wants the kingdom to be just like Narnia. In the movie that’s exactly how it’s portrayed.

While reading Bridge to Terabithia, I wasn’t as emotionally involved that I know some people are when reading this book because I totally knew how it ended (having watched the movie). But I’m sure many will find this a tearjerker. Overall, a book that I would recommend.

Katherine Paterson’s website.

I read Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson during Banned Books Week. This book has been censored on the premise of language, it gives kids a negative view of life, promotes witchcraft, shows disrespect to adults, and because ***SPOILER*** death is an inappropriate subject matter for children. So what we should lock kids up and tell them that they will never have to deal with death ever in their whole life? What’s wrong with teaching our children that death happens, not only does it happen, but it’s inevitable?