Favorite Reads of 2018

I still have reviews in my head which I'd like to write out but somehow the month of December just flew right by! So I've spent the past few days trying to wrap up reads and make sure I marked all of the books that I managed to read down.

This year was the first in which I utilized Goodreads' Reading Challenge program. If memory serves, I originally set my goal at 35 books, wanting to err on the conservative side of things. But then a good friend of mine suggested that I could do better than that so I upped it to 50 which made her happier. Ha! (Everyone needs a friend who will gently push them in the right direction!) Turns out 50 was just about right. I managed 52 books - that's including books read aloud with my kidlets - giving me a 104% success rate on Goodreads! My little over achieving self is made happy.

Now, let's get to the point of all of this. What were my favorite reads of 2018? Here they are, in no particular order:

FAVORITE WORK OF FICTION

Hands down, no contest, it was A Gentleman in Moscow. The title is linked to my review of the book, which is remarkable because I didn't write very many reviews at all this year. I read A Gentleman in Moscow back in March which honestly feels like a lifetime ago. This is a beautiful piece of work and I highly recommend it.

FAVORITE PIECE OF NON-FICTION

This one is always harder because each piece of non-fiction that I ended up reading was read for a different reason and was impacting in different ways. However, I will do my best to narrow it down and go with The Pursuit of Holiness (which, when I re-read my review again, makes sense). I definitely recommend this read if you've never picked it up.

FAVORITE BOOK READ ALOUD W/ THE KIDS

TOUGH QUESTION! I'll go with The Adventures of Hamish and Mirren which we read ahead of our family trip to Scotland. This was such a rich, delicious and entertaining read! Highly, highly, highly recommended!

LEAST FAVORITE BOOK

Well, there are four that I didn't quite care for for one reason or another but if I were to issue a warning, I guess I'd place The Royal Rabbits of London at the top of the list. I don't really have anything much to say about it except that it's stupid. Cute idea in theory but it is slap-stick in the worst possible way appealing to the worst in the reader instead of to the best. I hoped to read it with my kids. Instead I skimmed it by myself and then tossed it.

Runners up:

- Raven, Seek Thy Brother by Gavin Maxwell. This was the third book in a series of memoirs penned by Maxwell, a Scottish author who raised and cared for wild otters up on the Northern Coast. The first book (Ring of Bright Water) was brilliant. The second was disappointing. The third was just depressing as Maxwell showcased his inability to love people over animals and how to take relationships for granted.
- When People are Big and God is Small. This book I found imbalanced in its approach to God and humanity. It pre-supposes that the most holy approach to life is to set aside every God-given emotion that you possess, and the wisdom gained in life to apply wisdom to life's circumstances, and suggests that we must all behave like Lt. Commander Data from Star Trek instead. As we just weren't made that way (on purpose!), I couldn't take the author very seriously. I wouldn't recommend this read as a result.
- Brick by Brick: How LEGO Rewrote the Rules of Innovation and Conquered the Global Toy Industry, by David C. Robertson. MAJOR SNOOZE ALERT! I like non-fiction reads and I enjoy learning about how business have grown and expanded themselves but this book was boring. Absolutely boring. Save yourselves a read and find a different title about the Lego Company to enjoy.

FAVORITE NEW-TO-ME-AUTHOR

Enid Blyton. The kids and I read her Christmas Stories over the month of December and I honestly cannot ever remember reading a better book of short stories, aside from E. Nesbit's The Book of Dragons (linked to review). If you know me and know my love of The Book of Dragons, you will recognize this as high praise. When we were traveling in Scotland I picked up Blyton books wherever we went and we are now in the process of devouring them! I bought some of her Famous Five books for my 9 year old who started reading them and specifically requested that he be given more titles from the series for Christmas. Ye who know how to give good gifts to your children . . . 

Read a Blyton and change your reading world! (Possible Reading Slogan for 2019.)

I'll stop there. If you're curious to see my entire 2018 Reading List just click on that link there and it'll take you to it. Meanwhile, if there's a book you think I ought to consider reading in 2019 I am happy to hear of it! Leave me a comment or shoot me a note if you please.

HAPPY NEW READING YEAR to everyone!!!

Early Days, by Miss Read

There's a second hand bookstore in the north of England called Barter Books. It's listed as one of the largest second hand bookstores in the country. Happily we were able to visit while in England a few weeks ago. I was on the lookout for someone specific - D.E. Stevenson. (See here.) Many of her books are now out of print and I was hoping to find some when in England. With that goal in mind, I walked into the bookshop and was immediately met with several titles by Miss Read. Miss Read! I hadn't completely forgotten about her but, having not run into any of her books, I haven't read her in years. I first "met" Miss Read in 2008. I read Village School and Christmas at Fairacre (both linked to my reviews). I loved the books but didn't think I would necessarily re-read them, so I gave them away as a gift to someone. (Well it was a generous move but I might just regret it. A little. Heh.)

Early Days is a memoir, focusing on two particular time frames from Miss Read's younger days. The first section happens around the time when she was four and focuses on her relationship with her grandmothers. The second covers the time when she was in elementary school.

There's a great simplicity in Miss Read's writing style, a calm delight in life that I find so relaxing. I mentioned back in 2008 that Miss Read is likened to Jan Karon and I think that's true. Where Karon has small town America cornered, Miss Read writes of the places she knew and loved in the English countryside. Especially now that we've visited that area, it's an extra special delight to spend time with Miss Read.

As mentioned, this book is autobiographical in nature. Miss Read explains in the introduction that she wanted to write only about her childhood for a few particular reasons. The first reason is that she felt that moments in her childhood stood out to her more clearly than moments in her adulthood. Secondly, she recognized that to write about her adult life would only offer her perspective on certain events which transpired. This is not to say that she did not write down stories of her adult life at akkm because she suggests that she did exactly that, but not for publication. She acknowledged that her descendants might find her recollections amusing and informative but since they were her recollections, they didn't necessarily need to see a publisher. I found this to be a wise admission - to say that you are only you, with your own way of looking at the world. She understood that she had her own perspective on life, but that others might be inclined to see them differently. Not wishing to disrespect those in her life, or create unnecessary arguments, she stuck to discussing her childhood and even then submitted her manuscript first to her sister and others who could fact check and correct any misconceptions she had about her early years before publication. I so appreciated this. It's rare that you come across people who self-examine with enough regularity so as to understand that they only have their opinion. Miss Read displays a rare caution and that only made me love her more.

Early Days is a charming book of recollections. Miss Read begins by explaining her relationship to and with both of her grandmothers. She tells us of their appearance and personalities and how she felt when visiting their homes. She clearly had a great love for both of her grandmothers that is quite touching. The second half focuses on the time period in which her family moved to the countryside. Once in the country, Miss Read realized that she was, in fact, an introvert and really took to the calm, quiet of the area. She loved her country school house, the slow and steady pace of life, and the opportunity she had to revel in nature. She loved the country for the rest of her life. She knew she belonged in it. I can definitely identify with these sentiments!

If you are interested in learning more about Miss Read or her stories, this book is a great place to start. Village School was her first work of fiction and is also a fun starting place. If you like Jan Karon, you will like Read. Both have a smart sense of humor and love of peace which I am greatly attracted to. From the looks of things, it's fairly easy to snag books by Miss Read on Amazon. Next time you find yourself in a used bookstore, you might poke around and see if you can find some of her titles. Pure delight!

As an additional note, here's a historical fun fact about Barter Books which also includes some video snapshots of the store for you to see.

P.S. I also found some D.E. Stevenson.

Joan Aiken

Every so often I like to take some time to get to know the authors of the books I read just a little bit better. Lately I haven't managed to find the time to do much of this, but last week I was able to poke around the web a bit and learn about Joan Aiken, the author of this month's classics book club read, The Wolves of Willoughby Chase.

Aiken is an interesting character, to be sure. To begin, she was born on my birthday - September 4th - in East Sussex in 1924. (I guess, technically, I was born on her birthday.)  Her father was the famous American poet Conrad Aiken and her mother was Canadian-born Jessie MacDonald. Joan's parents marriage was dissolved when she was five years old. Her father remained in England for a time but eventually moved back to the U.S. Her mother married an Englishman and Joan lived with her mother and her new husband. Joan Aiken was home schooled for the first twelve years of her life, after which she attended Wychwood School for Girls in Oxford.

Like her father before her, Joan had a knack for writing and frequently penned short stories. She said she began writing on her fifth birthday, always working on new stories. Her first short story for adults was accepted for publishing when she was 17 years old. (Not bad!) All told, by the end of her life she had published over 100 books so if you have enjoyed reading The Wolves of Willoughby Chase you'll be delighted to know that there are many more titles to choose from, including several in the Wolves Chronicles.

Aiken enjoyed reading ghost stories and the tales she read and stories she listened to definitely influenced her own work. Her writing is frequently described as being supernatural in nature. She also enjoyed placing her stories in an alternate version of history. For example, in the Wolves Chronicles she writes as if James II was not deposed and in these same books supporters of the House of Hanover are always engaged in a bit of a spat with their monarch. She also added a channel into London's geography which plays a useful and significant role in the migration of the wolves. In other words, she used her imagination and set the scenes up a bit differently than we might otherwise have understood them. Her best known series is the Wolves Chronicles, the first title of which was published in 1962 and the last, posthumously, in 2005. (By the way, all of the books in this series are noted as being of a stand alone nature allowing you to pick up any of the books without feeling lost. However, many people prefer that new readers of the series should begin at the beginning which I'm all for.)

Aiken is noted as having a special gift which enabled her to write for people of all ages. That to say, her children and her adult books are both well-received. She enjoyed writing for both age groups, noting that the difference is really only in adding in thought-processes, descriptions and flash backs for adult readers. I definitely had the impression when reading The Wolves of Willoughby Chase that it could have been expanded and deepened into an adult novel, but I think it worked very well as a story for children. Besides writing novels and short stories, Aiken also wrote poetry and plays.

Some of Aiken's favorite authors included: E. Nesbit, Charles Dickens (her mother read Dickens aloud to her when she was very young), Francis Hodgson Burnett, James Thurber, Edgar Allen Poe, ghost story writer M.R. James, and Fitz James O'Brien who is considered a forerunner in the science fiction writing category.

Aiken married Ronald George Brown in 1945 and the two had two children. Brown died in 1955. In 1976 Aiken was remarried to a New York landscape painter and teacher, Julius Goldstein. Those two then divided their time between New York and England. Goldstein passed away in 2001 and Joan died in 2004. Her two children from her marriage to Brown survived her.

If you are interested in learning a little bit more about Joan Aiken, click over to the following links:

• 2001 interview with Aiken
• Joan Aiken Website (which includes a detailed bibliography)
• The Guardian obituary notice

I definitely enjoyed learning a little bit more about this author and I hope you've enjoyed these discoveries as well. If you know of anything else that is notable, please do mention it in the comments below!

Bill Peet

You may not know his name, but certainly you know one or two of his books. If nothing else you'll be familiar with his artwork and animations done for the likes of Walt Disney.

I've wanted to give him some focused attention for some time, the more familiar I became of his work. For the longest time, the only title I ever associated him with was The Wump World, which I was introduced to when I was in law school. (Odd story, that.) I started paying more attention to the name when I started looking into books that Disney films were based on and I realized that he had quite a connection to the Classic Disney empire! A remarkable man. A remarkable talent! I simply cannot and will not do him justice in this post, but at the very least I can introduce him to you!

From what I can tell, Bill Peet wrote and illustrated 36 stories for children and participated in the making of at least 12 full length animated feature films as well as several short films. I think the movie that most shows off his particular style is, without a doubt, 101 Dalmatians. I am no longer able to watch it without appreciating the artistry and comparing it to his children's books. Peet created the entire storyboard for 101 Dalmatians as well as for The Sword in the Stone.

His stories for children are frequently fantastical, often told in rhyme, and can easily be identified on sight as belonging to him. He had a very unique style.

Peet began drawing very early on in life. He particularly enjoyed drawing animals which I suppose made him a perfect match for Walt who loved presenting animals to children through film. (That said, they were apparently both brilliantly creative with strong opinions which frequently caused clashes between them.)

Peet wasn't much of an scholar (failing all of his classes except for phys ed, apparently) and so he pursued art courses through Arsenal Technical High School in Indiana. It was there that he met his wife, Margaret. Eventually he received scholarships to go to John Herron Art Institute, also in Indiana, and graduated from there. Post-graduation he heard that Disney was hiring and sent them some samples of his work. Peet made it through a one-month audition process (no pressure there!) and was hired on. He worked on earlier Disney films, such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and also worked on war films during World War II. He left the Disney company after quarreling with Walt over The Jungle Book. After that he began writing and illustrating children's books. (We have been in the process of collecting his children's books for the majority of this year and I hope to share some of our finds in a post tomorrow.)

Peet said once that he learned to tell children's stories simply by doing so - to his own children first and foremost. He honed his skills on his own family and I think that just makes him pretty wonderful right there! (Not to mention the fact that his stories are very entertaining and appealing to adults as well.) I rather consider him a lesser known Suess who should absolutely be more well-known than he currently is!

Peet lived to be 87 years old, leaving behind an illustrated autobiography and good, meaty stories to delight the masses. (You can read Janet from Across the Page's review of Bill Peet's autobiography HERE.)

Here is a list of his book titles, as collected from Wikipedia:

1. The Ant and the Elephant
2. Big Bad Bruce
3. Bill Peet: An Autobiography
4. Buford the Little Bighorn
5. The Caboose Who Got Loose
6. Capyboppy
7. Chester the Worldly Pig
8. Cock-a-doodle Dudley
9. Countdown to Christmas
10. Cowardly Clyde
11. Cyrus the Unsinkable Sea Serpent
12. Eli
13. Ella
14. Eleanor the Elephant
15. Farewell to Shady Glade
16. Fly Homer Fly
17. The Gnats of Knotty Pine
18. Goliath II
19. How Droofus the Dragon Lost His Head
20. Hubert's Hair-Raising Adventure
21. Huge Harold
22. Jennifer and Josephine
23. Jethro and Joel Were a Troll
24. Kermit the Hermit
25. The Kweeks of Kookatumdee
26. The Luckiest One of All
27. Merle the High Flying Squirrel
28. No Such Things
29. Pamela Camel
30. The Pinkish, Purplish, Bluish Egg
31. Randy's Dandy Lions
32. Smokey
33. The Spooky Tail of Prewitt Peacock
34. The Whingdingdilly
35. The Wump World
36. Zella, Zack, and Zodiac

The more we read of Peet, the more we like him. The more we read, the more entertaining the films on which he worked. If you haven't yet made the introduction, waste no more time! Get thee to a library and snatch up every title you can find! I can't help but think you'll be delighted. I know we are and will continue to be for many years to come.

Howard Whitehouse and The Strictest School in the World series

As you long time readers of this site are well aware - I am a big fan of Howard Whitehouse's Strictest School in the World series. I've talked about them here, here, here, here and now here.




As any long time reader of this site also knows - when I like a book I can't stop talking about it. (Hello, Lucy Maud Montgomery Reading Challenge, right?!) Recently I was made aware of a special deal being offered by author Howard Whitehouse to purchase the entire hardback set from him - autographed and inscribed however you like - for $21 total. (That's $5 per book, plus good ol' S&H.) I decided to replace my non-autographed set for an autographed one and am taking advantage of the offer! You can learn a little bit more about that below, but I also asked Mr. Whitehouse a few questions which he obligingly answered.




Question #1 - What sparked your imagination for writing the Strictest School series?


HW: I’d been doing research into Victorian inventions for a completely unrelated project. I was fascinated by the number of ‘almost-right-except-for-that-part’ creations as well as the “What were you thinking?” ideas. One day the thought popped into my mind that a book for youngsters, involving a young inventor, might have potential. I decided that the pioneer ought to be a girl (because Victorian girls were supposed to live very narrow and restricted lives) and that she should have a younger boy as a partner in all her inventions.

Oh and he should be one of those ‘indestruckible’ kids you meet who can do the craziest things and never get hurt. Victorian aeronauts had a bad habit of plunging to their doom, which ended their experiments (obviously). I wanted Rubberbones to be able to walk away from many a crash.


Question #2 - Did you know that it would turn into a series when you began writing and are you hoping to write any additional books with these characters?

HW: I’m not usually one of those writers who carefully plans out stories, so I had no idea where it was all going to go, at all. But when I finished the first book I simply started the second!

I would love to write more. In fact, I have the first chapters written of a fourth book, wherein Professor Bellbuckle gets two letters. One invites him home to Savannah for the first time since he blew up the family home there. The other is from his old chum Butch Cassidy, currently in jail in Wyoming, asking the professor to help him leave said facility by means of an explosive device. It would involve a romp through the American west with Purnah accidentally becoming leader of a bank robbing gang, Rubberbones an act in a wild west show, and Emmaline showing a couple of young bicycle enthusiasts called Wright the basics of a flying machine.

Alas, the third book in the series didn’t sell well – it got great reviews but very little promotion at all – so Kids Can Press weren’t interested in it. I’d love to write more, possibly using the deranged-yet-loveable Princess Purnah as the lead. But she might be too extreme in her behaviour for anyone to take it on!


Question #3 - Which book of the three is your favorite and why?

I love all three of them, but I think “Mad Scientists” is the best. It’s very fast, with all three kids playing equal roles, and rushes about the UK like a mad thing. I was able to feature some fictional characters I like (from H.G. Wells, Jules Verne and Conan Doyle) as well as real scientists, all of whom have been taken prisoner by the villain. Sigmund Freud keeps asking Rubberbones about his mother!

My favourite scene is the séance, where Aunt Lucy and Purnah are called upon to pretend to be a medium and her niece in order to persuade a rather dotty old lady to stop wasting her time dealing with charlatans who promise to bring her late husband into contact with her. Purnah can’t recall whether she’s supposed to mess it up or not, but does so anyway. Someone told me they were happy I hadn’t featured any actual occult happenings. This confused me a bit, since it had never occurred to me that A) I should treat spiritualism as an authentic element (I don’t believe in it myself) and B) more importantly (!) “How would that be funny?”

(*See Carrie's note below)


Question #4 - Do you ever attempt speaking in Chiligriti to your wife, Lori, and if so, does she put up with it?

HW: Lori is a responsible adult. She puts up with a great deal, but not my speaking in Chiligriti. Besides, most of the language seems to consist of insults and curses. I don’t sing any of Purnah’s songs, such as “I shall cut out your spleen with a spoon”.


Question #5 - You mentioned in The Island of Mad Scientists (in the Note About People and Places) that you enjoy Wodehouse. My husband and I are also fans. Which of Wodehouse's many well-loved characters is your favorite?

HW: Wodehouse actually appears in “The Faceless Fiend” as Plum, the thirteen year old schoolboy. He was at Dulwich College in London at this time. My favourite PGW character is Uncle Fred, the lunatic older relative whose demented schemes to ‘help’ lead to chaos.


Question #6 - I understand that you are model soldier enthusiast. What drew you to that hobby and how safe is your cat, Ursula, from the inevitable battles between the mini warriors?

HW: The cats show no interest in model soldiers, although they have on occasion knocked over displays. Model solders don’t taste good, and often have sharp pointy bits like swords and bayonets. Collecting them has been my hobby since I was a boy in England in the 1960s. From about the age of twelve it’s been a ‘serious hobby’ (!) for me, and I’ve made most of my living in recent years either working for a couple of model soldier companies or making custom scenery (like those big model railway displays you may have seen) for collectors. Yes, I am a Big Kid.


Question #7 – You’ve done other books for young people, correct?

HW: My most recent book is “Bogbrush the Barbarian”, also from KCP. It’s very much a book for ten year old boys rather than twelve year old girls (as I have always seen the Emmaline books). Bogbrush is a massive, dim-witted boy determined to be a great hero. His intentions are good, his brain-power tiny. It’s a fantasy quest book with broad, slapstick comedy, some very cartoony violence and a bit of mild bathroom humour, such as the thief with a very tiny bladder. It also features lots of fake ‘educational’ bits (pop quizzes, “Word for the Day” etc) that are obviously not useful advice. A lot of adults like this book for its sheer comic foolishness.


Question #8 - I also understand that you have a special offer for anyone who might enjoy reading The Strictest School in the World series. Would you please tell us about that?

HW: In December KCP informed me that they weren’t going to do any more hardback copies of the books, and that if I wanted to buy copies at a very reasonable price indeed I could. So I put some announcements up on various groups and websites (mostly the toy soldier folks, who know me well) and took enough orders that I could pay for their books and more besides. In the past I had found that there’s always someone who asks for a book ten years after you parted with the last one, so I ordered quite a lot. Then the company I was working for imploded suddenly (and owing me back wages) so I thought, “Why don’t I contact those nice children’s blog people who have liked my books and see if they’d like some”

I’m offering sets of the three books at $15 for all three (plus $6 for mailer and stamps) or $5 a book for individual books (and marginally less shipping, because it’s all weight-based). Within reason, you can have as many as you like (!)

The books are "The Strictest School in the World : Being the Tale of a Clever Girl, a Rubber Boy and a Collection of Flying Machines, Mostly Broken" (2006) - a Victorian prison break tale set at a boarding school involving flying machines and pterodactyls.

"The Faceless Fiend, Being the Tale of a Criminal Mastermind, His Masked Minions and a Princess with a Butter Knife, Involving Explosives and a Certain Amount of Pushing and Shoving " (2007) - in which a master criminal plans to kidnap loveable-yet-deranged Princess Purnah, with Sherlock Holmes, a Belgian Birdman, and an elderly dog.

"The Island of Mad Scientists , Being an Excursion to the Wilds of Scotland, Involving Many Marvels of Experimental Invention, Pirates, a Heroic Cat, a Mechanical Man and a Monkey " (2008) - where our adventurers are pursued madly, and a whole collection of Victorian scientists (some real, some not) and held captive.

For information on how to take advantage of this offer, e-mail me at – professorbellbuckle (at) yahoo (dot) com

I hope that works for you. Please tell me who you’d like the books inscribed to, and any special wishes (etc)

Thanks so much – I hope you’ll enjoy reading them as much as I enjoyed writing them!

***

Thank you, Mr. Whitehouse, both for your time and your talents!

*I specifically addressed the issue of the seance in my review of The Island of the Mad Scientist and you can see my brief thoughts on that by clicking the link there.

Arnold Lobel: Children's Classics

Bookworm1 and I seem to be at that awkward in-between reading stage where I know he could stand to read above just a "regular picture book level" but he doesn't want to read chapter books because they are "too long." He seems to LIKE the stories that chapter books present to us, but the mere idea of having to sit down day after day and work on the same story is unappealing. I wasn't really sure what to do until I began scouring our bookshelves for award winning titles (with which to participate in the Children's Classics Carnival at 5M4B.) I came across Frog and Toad Together (which won a Newbery Honor award) which I picked up once upon a time. I presented it as a reading option to Bookworm1 and he liked it!

Enter into our world: Arnold Lobel. The length of his stories are absolutely perfect. They require a larger attention span, are divided up into "chapters" (Bookworm1 eyed this suspiciously at first) and have illustrations on each page to help keep your young reader beside you and intrigued in the story. Each of his stories are broken down into sections (i.e., chapters- without numbering them so) and deal with animals. So really, how could you go wrong?

Once I figured out that these books were exactly where we are at in our reading journey (being long enough for a 10-15 minute read but easily finished so as not having to approach the book with doom and sorrow that you have to come back to it again!) I trotted off to Borders and picked up some additional Lobel titles. These are the ones that we have read (and there have been requested re-reads!):





This has, of course, made me curious about Arnold Lobel and so I looked up a few quick facts to better familiarize myself with him and his work.

* He was born in 1933 and died in 1987.

* He grew up in Schenectady, New York (Kate & Leopold anyone?) and lived with his grandparents.

* He was frequently sick as a child and was out of school as a result of that until about 2nd grade. He entertained himself by drawing. One way that he made friends with his fellow classmates when he was back in school was by drawing animal characters.

* He was husband to one wife, Anita Kempler (also a children's book author/illustrator) and they had two children - Adrianne, a girl, and a son named Adam.

* Adrianne married a familiar actor (if you lived in MY family growing up!) named Mark Linn-Baker! (Perfect Strangers, people!!!) Linn-Baker adapted his father-in-law's stories into a musical which was the Tony-nominated Broadway musical, A Year with Frog and Toad. Linn-Baker played Toad.

* Lobel has a grand list of books that he wrote and illustrated himself but he also provided illustartiosn for the likes of Jack Prelutsky, Peggy Parish and Charlotte Zolotow.

* For a long while, beginning readers consisted of short choppy sentences (think Dick & Jane). Dr. Suess began to change that and Lobel quickly followed on Suess's heels, creating a more complex story line for young readers to follow.

* He saw himself as a "daydreamer" rather than an author or illustrator.

"I cannot think of any work that could be more agreeable and fun than making books for children." ~ Arnold Lobel

I'm glad he thought so! His books definitely have become our favorites this month!

Author Highlight: Harper Lee

I finally got around to reading To Kill a Mockingbird thanks to Amy (from Hope is in the Word) deciding to host a To Kill a Mockingbird Reading Challenge during the month of August. She has invited us to read the book, share our thoughts, and link our posts up at the conclusion of the challenge. There's still a few days left in August if you want to hop on in.

But what's left to be said about To Kill a Mockingbird that has not already been said? I can't really review the book. I'm not even going to try. Instead, I figured I would just look up some information and find out more about the author of the book, Harper Lee.

Here are some facts I discovered:

* She was born on April 28, 1926 in Monroeville, Alabama.

* She was the youngest of four children.

* Her father was an attorney who served on the Alabama State Legislature. (1926 to 1938)

* Harper Lee was a tomboy and many people have said that the role of Scout was autobiographical - although Ms. Lee downplays that observation herself.

* She has never married.

* After college she lived a frugal life, taking care of her father and writing several longer stories.

* In December 1956, friends Michael Brown and Joy Williams Brown gave her the gift of a year's wages and told her to take off from work and write whatever she wanted to write. By the end of 1957, she had completed writing the draft of To Kill a Mockingbird.

* In July of 1960, To Kill a Mockingbird had been published, hit the bookshelves, and became an instant best seller.

* In 1962, To Kill a Mockingbird was turned into a screen play starring the likes of Gregory Peck. Harper Lee said of the screenplay: "I think it is one of the best translations of a book to film ever made."

* She became friends with Gregory Peck and his family and is, in fact, still friends with his grandsons today. One of Peck's grandson's is, in fact, named after this famous writer. His name is Harper Peck Voll.

* Harper Lee has declined interviews and has not published any additional stories.

* Lee has worked on two additional manuscripts, although she left both unfinished, not having been satisfied with them. She worked on one novel entitled The Long Goodbye (left unfinished) and in the 1980's she worked on a true crime piece but set it aside also.

* In 1987, Christopher Sergel adapted the book into a play which was produced in England in 1987.

* On May 7, 2006, Lee wrote a letter to Oprah Winfrey that Oprah published in her magazine. In this letter Lee makes the following statement (which I find rather amusing!): "Now, 75 years later in an abundant society where people have laptops, cell phones, iPods and minds like empty rooms, I still plod along with books." (Amen, Lee! Amen!)

* On May 5, 1997, President George W. Bush presented Ms. Lee with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. This is "the highest civilian award in the United States and recognizes individuals who have made "an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace, cultural or other significant public or private endeavors."

Here is a list of Ms. Lee's writings:

• Lee, Harper (1960) To Kill a Mockingbird. New York: J. B. Lippincott.
• Lee, Harper (1961) "Love — In Other Words". Vogue Magazine.
• Lee, Harper (1961) "Christmas to Me". McCall's Magazine.
• Lee, Harper (1965) "When Children Discover America". McCall's Magazine.

* To Kill a Mockingbird has never been out of print.

Thanks, Amy, for hosting the To Kill a Mockingbird Challenge and for motivating me to finally read it! I absolutely LOVED it and also enjoyed finding about a little bit more about Ms. Lee.


Given the fact that this is also a classic, I'll also be linking it up to the Classics Bookclub this coming Tuesday over at 5 Minutes for Books.

Robert McCloskey

Robert McCloskey is a name that you probably recognize, even if you can't place his books immediately. But once I spout off some titles, such as Blueberries for Sal, or Make Way for the Ducklings and you'll probably nod and know exactly what and who I'm talking about.

Born in 1914, he won three Caldecott Medals: the first was for Make Way for the Ducklings (1942), the second for One Morning in Maine (1953) and the third for A Time of Wonder (1958).

McClosky was born and raised in Ohio, actually (which should make some of my Ohio friends right proud!) When he was in high school he took an interest in art. He won a scholarship to the Vesper George Art School in Boston. From there he went on to the National Academy of Design in New York.

He married a lady (and fellow author!) by the name of Margaret (Peggy) Durand in 1940 and they were married for 51 years before Peggy died. The two of them made their home in New York before World War II, but but after the war was over they moved to Maine. The couple had two daughters, Sarah and Jane. (Blueberries for Sal was modeled after his wife and daughter Sarah.) During the war, McCloskey served in the Army where they put his skills as an artist to work drawing training pictures! It was during World War II that McCloskey wrote and had published Homer Price (1943).

Taken from the Wikipedia page, this is a list of his books in which he was both the author and the illustrator:

• Lentil (1940)
• Make Way for Ducklings (1941), a Caldecott Medal Book
• Homer Price (1943)
• Blueberries for Sal (1948), a Caldecott Honor Book
• Centerburg Tales: More Tales of Homer Price (1951, also titled More Homer Price)
• One Morning in Maine (1952), a Caldecott Honor Book
• Time of Wonder (1957), a Caldecott Medal Book
• Burt Dow, Deep Water-man (1963)

"It is just sort of an accident that I write books. I really think up stories in pictures and just fill in between the pictures with a sentence or a paragraph or a few pages of words." ~ Robert McCloskey

Recently, we've had the opportunity to read through some of McClosky's books that we had never read before.

For starters, I found an older copy of Burt Dow, Deep-Water Man at a local used-book store. I was delighted to see that it featured a sperm whale (and so was Bookworm1!) The story is kind of long so I wasn't sure how well my 3 1/2 year old would take to it, but I needn't have worried. McCloskey has a certain charm about him. His writing style if unique and subtly humorous. I read somewhere that he is considered an original American humorist. I think I would be tempted to agree after reading his books this past month.

In this particular story, we meet Burt Dow who loves to go out in the deep see on his ridiculously rickety boat called the "Tidely-Idley." A storm blows up unexpectedly and the Tidely-Idley is taking in water in its "tender parts." Dow finds refuge inside of a whale and the story just becomes more silly from there. This was a super fun book for both mommy (good story line!) and Bookworm1 (good story and awesome illustrations of the whale!) In fact, when we were done reading this book, Bookworm1 requested an instant re-read. Looks like I have a little McCloskey fan on my hands. (Provided he's talking about ocean life, I guess.)

Now, I had never read Homer Price until just last week. I figured it was time to rectify the situation and promptly did so upon picking up a copy. I found this story as a whole to be downright charming and totally unbelievable. If you aren't aware of who Homer Price is, suffice it to say that he's a young lad with remarkable ability to locate problems, create/fix/solve them in ridiculous ways. The adults around him never seem to know what's going on or what to do about it. Truly, it's unbelievable.

But! Instead of being rankled by the fact that McCloskey suspends belief, you just find yourself chuckling along. He has a way of making the ridiculous humorous and so you find yourself just going with the flow of things.

As it turns out, one of the chapters from this book - The Doughnuts - was turned into a short film. I found the 1963 clip on Youtube and it's HYSTERICAL. For one thing - it follows the storyline very well. The actors are entirely perfect for their roles. However, it still has a 1963 quality and feel to it. I am including it here for your education and amusement. =) I wonder what McCloskey thought of it!




I'm really enjoying getting to know more about this author, through understanding his personal life a bit better and educating ourselves on some titles that we had not previously read.

Robert McCloskey seems like a fun guy and we're happy to know him.

Interview with authors of The Silent Gift

I finished reading The Silent Gift this past week, by authors Michael Landon, Jr. and Cindy Kelley. Bethany House also offered me the opportunity to interview the authors and typically I make a practice of declining such invitations. However, in this case, I felt like I had to make an exception because it was a compelling enough read and I honestly had a few questions that I thought it might be fun to ask. So here you go....

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Question #1:

You both have written a number of screen plays which have been produced by Believe Pictures. Was it much different for you two to purpose to write a book, rather than a screen play?

Answer:

Though a good story is at the heart of either format, the mechanics of telling the story are quite different. For instance, in a novel, you have unlimited time to go off on tangents and to explore in the internal thoughts of a character. Whereas a screenplay, you are limited to a hundred and twenty pages to tell your story which in some respects is more difficult to execute. There are also no budget constraints with writing a novel so the imagination is unhindered by logistics and cost issues associated with film or television.

Question #2:

How do you think your past history of writing screen plays factored into writing a book?

Answer:

Over the years, we have formed a process that we were able to carry over from screenplay to novel. We are both very aware that neither one of us is a complete author. But when we combine our strengths, it works.

Question #3:

Do you see The Silent Gift as being translated on film at some point in time?

Answer:

That is our desire. But it is partially contingent upon the success of the novel.

Question #4:

How do you share the writing responsibilities (i.e., do you write in tandem, do you "clean up" each other's drafts)? As mentioned, we each bring different strengths to the table. Michael is all about character and story. (The novel was his original idea.) He lays out the scenes beat by beat. Cindy’s strength is description and she takes a first pass at the scene that Michael has layed out for her. Then Michael will take his pass at the scene. Once we have a first draft, then it becomes a process of both rewriting and rewriting and rewriting until we feel strongly that all elements are written to the best of our abilities.

Question #5:

This book is a contrast to Oke's Love Comes Softly series. It definitely has a darker, more intense feel to it. What drew you to writing a story about the subject matter of prophetic gifts?

Answer:

We always respect the material that was granted to Michael, whether it be “Love Comes Softly” by Janette Oke or “The Last Sin Eater” by Francine Rivers, which for example was darker than Oke’s series of books. Michael was drawn to the subject matter of ‘can a gift from God be misused or abused?’ Prophecy became the gift that best suited the story.

Question #6:

What about this period in history (the 1930's) drew you to that decade as the setting for your story?

Answer:

Using the backdrop of the thirties amped up the unique challenges that a single parent with a special needs child faced. High unemployment, the lack of children’s rights, unsupervised experimental treatment, etc. It’s also a time period that isn’t written about very often. Only “The Grapes of Wrath” comes to mind. Not to mention, we started the project over to two years ago so it’s also become quite prophetic since many people are now calling the time we live in “The Second Great Depression.”

Question #7:

Have you received a significant response from the reading community, either positive or negative, following the books release? How do you hope that it impacts individual readers?

Answer:

The response from readers has been very positive! Most people seem to think the story is engaging from the first to the last page. There are many themes running through the book that we hope have an impact on the reader. For example, the theme of brokenness – both internal and external. Jack is an obvious example of external brokenness. He can neither hear nor speak. Mary is an example of someone hiding their external brokenness. Charles is both emotionally and spiritually broken which is internal.

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Again, I thought that The Silent Gift was one of the most compellingly interesting and entertaining books that I've read in some time. I'm STILL not exactly sure what I think of it in total. I do hope the book does well. I think it deserves to.

Also, it is kind of interesting being able to ask authors questions about their books. I may do it again in the future. (It wasn't as scary a prospect as I thought.) I also don't think my questions were all that deep. But I was curious about these specific things, after having read the story, and it was nice to just be able to ask!

Iza Trapani

It's time for another round of Kid Picks at 5 Minutes for Books so I thought I'd share a series of books by an author that Bookworm1 just loves. ANYtime we have one of these books laying around, it's snatched up and it receives its requested read/sing. What am I talkin' about? Check these out:




She was born in Poland and entered a family as one of three children. At age seven, she sailed with her mother across the Atlantic Ocean, to come to America. In Poland, under communist regime, entire families were not allowed to travel overseas at one time. Therefore Iza's mother sailed with her seven year old girl, leaving husband and two other children behind. Iza's mother hoped to eventually bring the rest of the family over to America, but unfortunately, before she was able to do so, she died.

Before much longer, Iza's father also died in Poland and Iza was not able to be brought over to her home country and her siblings, a brother and a sister. Iza spent 3 1/2 years in a Catholic orphanage in New York, before completing high school and then moved to the Hudson River Valley. It would be twenty-five years before Iza would be reunited with her brother and her sister.

This story has a familiar ring to it, historically speaking. America is used to the tired, poor, weary and downtrodden entering its shores and finding rest and opportunity here. It does not take too much to imagine that a little seven year old Polish girl would immigrate to America with her mother, only to find herself an orphan in a strange country.

It is harder to imagine that Iza made this journey in 1961.

Her story sounds like it belongs in the late 1880's, not in the second half of the 21st century!

Iza learned to read and speak English with the initial help of a Mother Goose book. She spent her early years working as a nanny, short order cook and waitress while earning an art degree at the State University in New Paltz. Always it was her dream to write picture books for children.

At this time, Iza has a wonderful collection of children's books to her name. (You can see the whole list of her books here.) She lives in Rifton, New York with her husband and stepson on a farm. You can see pictures of the farm by visiting her website.

While Iza Trapani's name and history might have been unfamiliar to you, it is likely that her children's books have caught your attention before - at least by title! It was suggested to Trapani that she write verse additions, or to retell, classic story rhymes. Trapani wanted to pick titles that were familiar to children, so as to draw them to the books, and to pick sweet stories and songs such as Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.

Bookworm1 and I were first introduced to Trapani through her book Row Row Row Your Boat. In this old/new song we travel down the river with a bear family who, bargaining for a fun family adventure, do not envision rainstorms effecting the journey. However, a little rain doesn't stop them from enjoying the journey and we meet all kinds of animals in the woods as they travel along. My mom brought this book along with her when she came up to Oregon to visit and we fell in love with it.

The next book we snatched up was Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star which took us on a magical journey late at night, flying in the sky over lighthouses and other sleeping children. Trapani's verse additions fit in with the rhythm and tune of the original song and instead of feeling like an add-on or it feeling anywhere near dysfunctional, it adds to the song in a delightful way. She really did a good job of drawing her readers into simple songs and taking them on fun journeys.

We have continued to explore Trapani's works through our local library, feasting on the songs and adventures of I'm a Little Teapot as Miss Teapot travels around the world. We have also enjoyed Baa Baa Black Sheep who doesn't appear to care for any of its animal friends until they all discover that while they thought he didn't care, he was using his wool for good purposes.

Timeless songs + clever stories = a great deal of fun.

If you haven't yet stumbled upon Iza Trapani's books, I would encourage you to do so. They are specifically geared for children aged 4-8 but my two year old has enjoyed them very much. Children are drawn to music and song and these books fit the bill completely, allowing you plenty of time to sing and read and dream a bit with your youngster. I am delighted to have some of these books in our family collection and hope to continue to add to it over time!

For more information about this talented author/illustrator, visit Iza Trapani's website.

Most importantly, have fun!