Greyfriers Bobby, by Eleanor Atkinson

Last year, when we traveled to England, we made a day trip to Edinburgh. We didn't have any firm plans or even remarkable expectations for our day there. We selected a few sites that we wanted to see, and beyond that we figured on wandering around and being surprised.

My focus when planning the trip was always on England and a day in Scotland was more just to say we'd been there than anything else. (I know that sounds like an awful attitude to have towards Scotland but we are planning to one day travel to that country and explore it more thoroughly. It's turn will come! Patience, patience . . . !) Because I hadn't really done any research on Scotland, I really had no idea what to expect and found myself surprised by a few literary discoveries. One such surprise was discovering that Edinburgh was the home of Greyfriars Bobby.

First, we passed by his statue which caught my eye immediately. Glancing rapidly around I saw Greyfriars Kirkyard and my excitement increased. I recognized all of this from my list of Disney movies based on books. (Yes, I am remarkably educated, thanks. Heh.) Greyfriar's Bobby has been on my list of books I'd been wanting to read, but I had not yet purchased a copy. It seemed like the perfect day and the perfect location to buy a copy of the book! As it turns out, it was a good idea to buy the book there because nice looking copies do not seem to be readily available in the U.S. The copy I picked up is the one I have pictured here.

Here's a photograph of the statue, if you'd like to see it:

Now here is where I also must confess that at the time of our visit I had no idea what the story was about, other than it being about a dog (that apparently lived in Edinburgh). In case you are also unaware of the story line, I'll fill you in so that you can decry ignorance and be better informed than I was. Greyfriars Bobby is the true story of a highland terrier that was extremely loyal to his master, a man by the name of John Brown who died of tuberculosis in 1858. After his death, Brown was buried in Greyfriars Kirkyard. The profession of John Brown is in dispute; some say he was a shepherd and some say he was a policeman. It is more commonly believed that he was a policeman but author Eleanor Atkinson decide that, for the purposes of her story, she would make him out to be a shepherd. One thing is certain, no matter Brown's profession was, it is pretty safe to assume that no one would remember him at all if not for his dog. Bobby was an extremely loyal animal and mourned his owner's death for the remainder of his life. Bobby refused to leave the graveside, keeping company with it for the next fourteen years. Dogs weren't allowed in the Kirkyard but they had a hard time keeping Bobby out! This loyal little dog, through persistence and loyalty, was eventually made a pet of the neighborhood but spent every single night sleeping on his master's grave, no matter the weather.

What I did not realize until I was done reading the book is that the author, Eleanor Atkinson, was an American who never actually visited Scotland. (So if anyone is upset with me for not doing more thorough research on that portion of our trip, I think I should win back some brownie points for at least visiting.) The story was written in 1912 and although she wrote a handful of other books, this is the one that she is best known for. The Disney version of the film is based on her version of events. Critics have argued that she didn't understand the geography of Edinburgh very well and that is a fair thing to note. Having walked the city, I was confused a bit by her placement of the castle, in particular, but for someone who had never been I think she did quite well. She is assumed to have researched the names and people directly related to Bobby's story, keeping as true to his account as possible. Obviously she embellished the tale a bit with the use of her imagination but that is to be expected of any author.

While this story is thought a great one for children (and it is) I had a hard time reading it even as an adult because she wrote dialogue using a Scottish accent. Here's the example that Wikipedia provides to give you an idea of what I mean:

"I wullna gang to the infairmary. It's juist for puir toon bodies that are aye ailin' an' deein'." Fright and resentment lent the silent old man an astonishing eloquence for the moment. "Ye wadna gang to the infairmary yer ainsel', an' tak' charity."

Because of this, I had a really hard time working my way through the story. I found myself skimming past dialogue, hoping to pick up enough out of the conversations between characters to track with the events until I could get back to the narrative. I can't imagine this being an easy read for a middle schooler (although not impossible). I confess that I will never attempt this book as a read aloud. The story is interesting enough but it doesn't feel accessible. I suspect that watching the movie is going to be the easiest way to educate one's self about this remarkable dog. I'll have to let you know whether that is true because now that I've read the book, I am permitted to watch the movie. (*wink*) I am very curious to see the Disney film now.

For more information about Greyfriars Bobby, check out this website. It is a rather interesting tale.

If you want to learn more about Greyfriars Kirkyard, there are plenty of videos available through Youtube that will broaden your knowledge of this small portion of the globe. Our family spent some time wandering about the graveyard (because apparently J.K. Rowling named some of her famous characters after names she found on tombstones at this site!), While I like wandering around graveyards as a general rule, I have to tell you this one was a little creepy. It wasn't until I was doing a bit of research for this post that I discovered why I felt the way I did about it. If you're curious, see Youtube. Videos there range from informative to downright spooky!

Have you read this story? I'd be curious to know, if so!

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is a relatively short (and incredibly odd) book but, nevertheless, it took us almost three weeks to read aloud together. That was mostly due to the fact that I'm still (still!) suffering effects from the cold I caught two months ago and reading is still a little bit difficult. (This cold is so. incredibly. ridiculous.) I think one of the things that I hate the most about getting sick is that it interrupts our reading habits for what feels like forever. (I know it's not forever. I'm exaggerating. On purpose. But three weeks with Alice? That's a bit much.)

This has to be one of the weirdest classics in all of history. Experts can't seem to agree why Lewis Carroll wrote this book, what his interests or driving passions were. If the experts don't know, I won't venture a guess. Maybe he just was writing for the fun of it, as something of an experiment. Why on earth it took off and became as well known as it is probably due in great part to Disney. (How on earth else?)

I've read Alice's Adventures in Wonderland before and I thought it was odd then. Reading it aloud to the kids was an even more interesting experience. My personal opinion is that this book works better as an individual read than as a read aloud. There are so many puns and jokes involved and in order to track with the story and get the most out of it I think you need to have a quick wit. My kids are funny and they can get and take a joke but a lot of Alice went right over their heads. They'll connect with it better (as much as anyone really can) when they are older.

I asked afterwards if they understood the story and they responded affirmatively. (Honestly I think that has to do a lot with Disney and not with Carroll.) They did all laugh out loud on a couple of occasions: once when they met the Duchess in the kitchen dealing with the baby, and then when the Mock Turtle sang his Beautiful Soup song.  The kids were also asked what their favorite part of the book was. They collectively agreed that the best part was the song about the soup. (I guess I pulled that off well.)

Of course, we read about Alice because of our upcoming trip to England. One of the places that we are staying is in Oxford and it would be almost embarrassing (well, I would be embarrassed) not to read Alice before we arrive. We have a list of "Alice-themed" places and activities that we wish to engage with during our time in country. Here is a cool blog post detailing some spots that one should visit. Wouldn't it be cool if we got to see the turtle shells on the kitchen wall in the Christ Church kitchen? I guess we'll have to see about that one but it doesn't stop one from dreaming.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is not one of my favorite books on the planet (in case my position has not been obvious). As it is a classic though, I won't shirk it. I'll probably even read it again someday! For the moment though, I'll consider the deed done. I'd rather watch the Disney cartoon version than read the book and we'll make a point of doing that before we leave on our trip later on this year.

Other posts of interest:

* Books Disney Films are Based On
* How the Heather Looks, by Joan Bodger
* Children's Tea and Etiquette 

The Snow Queen, by Hans Christian Anderson

Move over, Frozen! There's an old guy in town! His name's Hans Christian Andersen and he wrote a story about an evil troll who creates a magic mirror that distorts the appearance of everything it reflects. This mirror is used to make the loveliest of landscapes appear like "boiled spinach." There is an attempt made to carry this mirror into Heaven to mock the angels with, but the mirror slips during the journey and falls to earth, shattering into a myriad of pieces of all shapes and sizes. Pieces of the mirror are blown all around and land in people's hearts and eyes, eventually freezing their hearts.

In Andersen's tale, we also meet characters like Kay (a boy) and Gerda. These two have grown up together and are the best of chums until one day when a sliver from the broken mirror falls into Kay's eye and heart. His heart then begins to grown stone cold and he is attracted away from Gerda and the life he knew by an evil snow queen. Hans Christian Andersen's story focuses on Gerda's quest to find Kay and to release him from his evil and enchanted imprisonment. It is a deeply moving tale of true friendship and the war between good and evil.

Disney caught hold of this story and couldn't "let it go" (clever. I know.) and our world will likely never be the same. But what a pity if we all let Disney do all of the story telling without taking a time to dive into the rich original work by Hans Christian. Andersen first published The Snow Queen in 1844. It is one of his most highly acclaimed stories and that is the case even before Disney stuck their fingers in it. I read the original work to my kids earlier this year and we enjoyed it very much. It's a powerful, imaginative and thoughtful story - one worth hearing over and over again. Because I think it is worth listening to in its original form (repeatedly) I was delighted to see that Barefoot Books offers a beautifully illustrated edition by Miss Clara and "retold" by Sarah Lowes. (I can't say I noticed any deviations from the original story in this retelling. Unless I'm terribly mistaken, only language was changed but not substance.) Furthermore, this edition of the book offers a CD for you to listen to as many times as you like. (Bonus: Lowes is British. Therefore she has an English accent. Therefore I have enjoyed listening to the story many times over just because she makes it sound beautiful.)  Each of my kids has listened to this particular edition and each of them has enjoyed it.

Watching Disney-fied versions of old stories can certainly be lots of fun but I am of the opinion that it is so important to know the original works which the Disney stories are merely based on. Frequently I find that the original works are much better than the on-screen stories. (The one exception I have noted so far being North Avenue Irregulars. I absolutely love the movie and dislike the book.) The Snow Queen is such a classic tale and it would be a sorry thing to lose it amidst the Frozen hype. This particular edition is so lovely I would heartily recommend it to anyone who would like to know the "real" story. If you have Frozen fans to buy for this Christmas season, but don't really want to go the Disney merchandising route, I'd direct your attention to this Barefoot book with CD. My children are ages 3, 5 and 8 and, as I say, they each enjoyed it. (I did also and I am much older than they are.)

Least you get the wrong impression of me, I do like Disney very much but I'm not the world's biggest fan of Frozen. In this case of this story, I might not mind my kids watching the movie but I would much rather them read the book and know "what really happened" because it is ever so much deeper and thought provoking a story than Frozen is.

Beautifully told, beautifully read and beautifully illustrated - I have a hard time seeing anything wrong with this one and encourage you to check it out!

I'll leave you with a few more examples of the illustrations by Miss Clara:

Many thanks to Barefoot Books for sending a copy of this book my direction for the purpose of facilitating this review. I received no additional compensation and all opinions are 100% my very own.

Peter Pan, by J.M. Barrie

The kids and I managed to wrap up our reading of Peter Pan last week. Not that "wrapping it up" was all that hard to do. Everyone enjoyed the read, even Bookworm3 (age 3) who normally bores of our chapter books. It was nice to find one that she actually liked. I do suspect though that the reason she engaged with this story is because the characters were familiar to her, thanks to Disney. She enjoyed hearing about (and pretending to be) Wendy on Neverland Island. (The brothers play various roles from the book but no one else can pull off Wendy quite like Bookworm3. It must be nice to have exclusive pick sometimes.)

Since I am quite certain that everyone knows the storyline for Peter Pan, I'll avoid spending time explaining. I had mentioned that I read Peter Pan by myself a few years back. I almost hesitate to link to this but here is my old review (from 8 years ago!) which pretty much only points out that I read the book and didn't like certain aspects of it. (I hate my old reviews.) I have no idea what my complete thoughts were or even if I had any. (I really hate my old reviews.) Interesting though in that the one thing I noted was that 'one day' I would figure out how to filter the real story of Peter Pan when introducing it to my kids. Well, now the rubber has hit the road. And what did I do? I left it unfiltered. (I wipe my brow when saying that!) I have definitely changed as a reader and a more-experience-than-before parent. Ha!

Ok, so the kids and I sat down to read Peter Pan and overall we enjoyed it as I said. There are still aspects of the book which I did not like but this time I'll explain more precisely what they were. I read the book aloud and left it all as-is with one exception. Tinker Bell has a habit of saying, "You silly ass" quite a bit and I think that's very rude and something that I don't want my kids picking up on and trying out for themselves. So when I read her voice, I just left it at her saying, "You silly!" They didn't notice the difference but they also didn't catch the rudeness which is Tinker Bell and I think that's actually something of a loss for them. (But I'm also happy to let them discover the missing word later on when they are more mature.) Of course, the book is different from the Disney version and Bookworm1 pointed this out when we got around to re-watching that film. (I'm glad he noticed. He's been paying more attention to differences between books and movies like a good little bookworm ought to do.)

Now, let's jump to the "meat" of this post, shall we?

What did I not like about Peter Pan?

• I do not like the way that Mr. Darling is portrayed. He's a bumbling idiot who thinks highly of himself even though everyone else sees him as a rather inconvenient fussy pants. He does not receive an ounce of respect. While it is true that some fathers certainly strain our abilities to respect them, the role that they possess deserves a little respect, like it or not. I believe that even a bad father ought to be forgiven his sins just as we hope and believe ours will be forgiven. Even if a person has a father who is rotten to the core, we are still called to love them as we are to love our enemies. Sometimes our enemies are our fathers (or father figures) which is most definitely regrettable and sad. However, this does not excuse the fact that we are required to do right and think right even if they refuse to do the same. I don't much like how Mr. Darling runs his household (or pouts like a baby in the dog house, drawing ridiculous attention to himself) but he is still the children's father and they need to support and love him in whatever way it might be possible for them to do so. (Finding ways to respect fathers when they prove undeserving poses many difficult questions and by stating all that I have, please note that I am in no way belittling the herculean effort it requires to recover from a bad father and then attempt love on top of that.) As Mr. Darling though is not an evil man, he also ought to be obeyed without so much argument (as was the case in the beginning of the book). I don't know what Barrie thought of fathers but by testimony of this book, my guess is that he didn't think many kind things. 
• Politically correct crowds are not going to enjoy the way that the Indians are spoken of in this book. Using the label "red skins' isn't at all acceptable these days and so that will give modern readers pause. It is rather cringe worthy but as I mentioned in my review of Brer Rabbit, times change our beliefs, convictions and perceptions (as it ought to do) but we can't just ignore the past or ban books because we don't like the historical aspect of them. Certainly Barrie potrayed Indians in a rather poor light but at the time there was much less known about these people. They were mysterious and feared and it's understandable that that is the picture of them that Barrie gives to us.
• I do not care for Tinker Bell's language or attitude of contempt. (Disney has saved her hide.)

Things I know will be a problem for other people in the story, but that didn't bother me:

• There is a lot of talk about killing people in this story. The pirates are after the lost boys who are after the Indians who are after the pirates and so on and so forth. Their battles are not clean, neat, pretty or silly. They outright kill each other. Hook is not so much a bumbling codfish in the book as he is a (literal) cut throat pirate. I've never thought of pirates as being silly, fun guys and have never portrayed them as such to my boys. They aren't people that you are designed to admire so I didn't mind Barrie's descriptions of their behavior and left it as-is and open for questions. (They didn't ask me any questions.)

Things I did not remember about the literary version of Peter which I found fascinating:

• I had forgotten how much of a baby Peter acts. In the Disney version especially, he has the voice of pre-teen or early teen and he acts with the maturity level of a 12 year old (or thereabouts). His independence is somewhat believable in the cartoon version. He's taller on film than I think Barrie envisioned and, again, the deeper voice makes a huge difference. In contrast, Barrie consistently refers to Peter as a baby in every act and thought. Peter-of-the-Book only remembers things for a few seconds or minutes and then he's off to the next adventure, forgetting the last. His imagination is healthy and boundless and so real to him that he can even believe he is eating real food when he isn't. Really the only thing very adult about Peter-of-the-Book is the way he fights against Hook and the pirates. In all other ways he is predictably selfish and self-centered, just like a very young child. I recall not liking that aspect of Peter in my first reading, but this time I was just left with a certain amount of appreciation for Barrie's understanding of the sin nature of children. (Heh.)

Naturally after we finished the book, we watched both movie versions. We started with Disney which led to several days of pretending to be Wendy and Peter Pan fighting off crocodiles and Captain Hook. (Yes. It is delightful to me when my kids start acting out the books and stories that they hear and see.) Following the Disney version we watched the Cathy Rigby version which I have mentioned before. All of the kids sat riveted for the Rigby version and I (always and forever) recommended it to you. The only objection is that Tinker Bell's language isn't edited and Tiger Lily's costume a bit revealing. Peter interprets the "you silly ass!" line to Wendy in the Rigby version. (And both of my boys burst out laughing. Sigh.)

Really, don't just leave yourself with Disney (although I do find the cartoon version to be quite enjoyable in Disney's classic charming way) but check out Rigby also!

I am glad to have read this one again for myself and also to have shared it (unedited) with my kids. They enjoyed it and I get to write a brand new review which effectively writes the other one away, right? RIGHT!?

The Jungle Books, by Rudyard Kipling

I found this version (pictured) of Kipling's The Jungle Books at our local Friends of the Library Book Sale in the spring and this is the copy I read this month. It is a Golden Illustrated Classic, complete and unabridged, with illustrations by Tibor Gergely. (I found it for $1! And now I'm really, really happy with it!)

I picked it up, of course, because Sky had selected The Jungle Books for our October read for the Reading to Know Book Club. I had never read these books before and have been looking forward to it.

Like many of you, I have been schooled on the Disney version of The Jungle Book and Kipling had to come along and unschool me. (Sigh.) Reading the book is a vastly differently experience than watching the movie, although the characters have the same names and the situations are somewhat familiar. This should probably not surprise me but in several respects it did.

I want to be careful not to offer any spoilers (because if you know the movie version you'll find yourself surprised by the original work in certain particulars) but who knew that Bagheera was the silly one, content to let Mowgli try out dangerous things while Baloo is the wise, pragmatic old bear??!! Where are the bear necessities here?!! (I jest. Sort of.)

What you'll find in this book instead are characters who are very attached to The Jungle Law. Mowgli is (as in the movie version) just a wee babe when he is delivered to a wolf family for rearing in the jungle. He grows up learning how to be an animal - how to hunt like one and speak like one - so as to avoid the death which is all around him. As he grows he proves to be strong, wise, and very brave, eventually becoming the Master of the Jungle. However, as also happens in the movie, he does find himself drawn towards the "man village" although he is older in the book than in the movie when this happens.

Kipling is an interesting read. You can tell he understands people and emotion, but I found him rather dry in spots all the same. I read the first Jungle Book (the Mowgli stories) and was enraptured by the character's moral code of how and when to kill, the need to pay a blood price and retribution for sins. All very interesting. Upon completing the first book, I moved on to the second. I enjoyed the story of Rikki Tikki Tavi and after that the book took a nose dive as far as I was concerned. I found I couldn't concentrate on his shorter stories either because I wasn't interested by the characters or the direction of the story. Interestingly enough, Kipling was apparently noted for being an innovator of the art of telling a short story. That said, trying to work my way through the second Jungle Book has been slowly killing off my desire to read (period) and so I finally resolved to stop reading and call it good. Now I'm finding it interesting to browse online info about Kipling himself.

The following information I found to be quite fascinating: although Kipling was born in India and was raised between India and England, he and his wife landed in America for the first part of their married life. Apparently, after marrying in England the couple decided to honeymoon in America and Japan. They went first to American and traveled on to Japan where they discovered that their bank had failed. Instead of returning to England, the couple moved to Vermont and settled down in a little home which they named "Bliss Cottage".  They eventually established themselves in this new country and moved into a different, larger home which they are reported to have loved. It was while they couple lived in Vermont that their two daughters were born - as well as The Jungle Book. Due to political and family circumstances, the family felt forced to return to England and spent the rest of their lives based there.

Anyway, I'm very glad that Sky chose to read this for many reasons, nonetheleast of which is that it crossed one more book off of my personal Disney Reading "Challenge".

Sky's wrap-up post will appear sometime next week so be looking for that. In the meantime, I hope you enjoyed your reading of The Jungle Book and will share your thoughts with us if you did happen to read along. (But save your thoughts for the wrap-up! Coming soon!)

Anatole, by Eve Titus :: Read Aloud Thursday

It's time for another Read Aloud Thursday at Hope is the Word!

Yesterday Bookworm2 kept asking if I'd read a book of his choice to him (we were in the middle of reading several books for school) and I consented (because it was probably the least I could do). He said he wanted to read "the cat book" and brought me our copy of Anatole and the Cat, by Eve Titus. It had been awhile since we had read it and I was glad to revisit it.

In Anatole and the Cat, Anatole is having trouble working his job at the cheese factory because there is a cat on the loose who is distracting him from his duties. Now, no one else at the factory knows that Anatole is a mouse. He works at night when all of the other workers go home and the owner of the company, M'sieu Duval, communicates with Anatole through memos. Anatole has a nose for good cheeses and Duval relies on this late night worker to leave memos about how he can improve his varieties of cheese. Because of Anatole's suggestions, Duval's cheeses are the most loved in all of France! Anatole is therefore a valuable worker and it behooves M'sieu Duval to help solve the cat problem so that his employee will be able to do his work properly.

I found Anatole and the Cat at a used book store at some point in time. The reason I purchased it was because it was written by Eve Titus. You might not recognize her name, but you might very well be aware of another of her mice characters - Basil of Baker Street. (Linked to my review.) That book, of course, is the inspiration for Disney's The Great Mouse Detective. (That was one of my favorite Disney movies growing up, although the bat scared me spitless a time or two.)

What I did not realize, until I was re-reading
Anatole and the Cat yesterday, is that this is the second book in a series of books about Anatole! (Anatole and the Cat, by the way, is a Caldecott Honor book.)

Other titles include:

Anatole (1956)
Anatole and the Cat (1957)
Anatole and the Piano (1966)
Anatole and the Pied Piper (1979)
Anatole and the Poodle (1965)
Anatole and the Robot (1960)
Anatole and the Thirty Thieves (1969)
Anatole and the Toy Shop (1970)
Anatole in Italy (1963)
Anatole Over Paris (1961)

It was after Anatole that Titus began writing the Basil of Baker Street series.

Needless to say, my Amazon wishlist just grew a bit larger and I'll be browsing used bookstores for the rest of the Anatole books. They are charming, being scattered about with French words and phrases (so if you are studying France with your kids, this is a great series to explore!). The books as a whole apparently also express the value of hard work and that is something that children today can definitely stand to think more about.  The particular story that we own is complex and interesting, both for adults as well as children. All in all, Anatole is a treat and a delight to read and we highly recommend them (to you and to ourselves - as we chase after the stories we have yet to read)! It's always fun to discover that there are more books available by one of your favorite story tellers. Happy thought indeed!

The Borrowers, by Mary Norton

I have a confession to make. I never read The Borrowers growing up. Apparently I'm one of the few who never did (and I'm not totally sure why that didn't happen) but I have now rectified the situation. But only because I was pressed - by a library find - to do so.

Jonathan had mentioned that he was interested in seeing the new Disney movie, based on The Borrowers - The Secret World of Arrietty - but I couldn't watch it, of course, until I had read the book. (Jonathan, being a good reader of classics growing up, had already done so.) On a recent (whim-like) trip to the library, I found The Secret World of Arrietty sitting on the shelf and snatched it up! What a great way to determine whether or not we wanted to own this one. I quickly whipped the book off the shelf and sat down to read it so that we could have a family movie night. (We did watch the movie and I'll tell share our opinion on it tomorrow.)

The Borrowers if you are unfamiliar, like I was, with this story, was originally published in 1952. The book tells the story of a family of little people who live under the kitchen floorboards in an old Victorian house in England. The family consists of Pod (the father), Homily (the mother) and Arriety (the daughter). Borrowers are tiny people, much like The Littles, who live in the homes of big people (aka "human beans") and "borrow" things which they need to survive. In the mind of the Borrowers, the "beans" exist solely for the purpose of the Borrowers - to meet needs. Where The Littles seem to be a more friendly sort, watching over the house when the Biggs leave town for instance, the Borrowers are eternally suspicious of these larger humans. The worst thing in existence for a Borrower is to be seen by a "bean". Once you have been seen, there is a great need to emigrate so as to escape further detection and exposure.

In The Borrowers, Pod is the Borrower who leaves the family home in the evenings to gather supplies while the "beans" are sleeping. Arrietty is feeling lonely and confined in their home under the kitchen and longs to go out borrowing herself. Better still, she'd like to explore the great outdoors, run through the grass, gather flowers, etc. Her father finally permits her to join him on a borrowing where she is accidentally seen by a boy who is visiting the house. The rest of the story tells of the Borrowers dilemma in having been seen and determining how they are going to make their escape from the house.

Between The Littles and The Borrowers, I have to say I like The Littles more. (If it's up for a vote, that is.) Not to say that I didn't like The Borrowers, because I did! It was a fun, diverting story. But I found it more darker in tone than The Littles because there were only three Borrowers (as opposed to a few generations of Littles living with one another) and I could feel Arrietty's loneliness. Who would want to feel so very alone? I would want to get out of that house under the kitchen as well! Then too, I didn't really care for the way that Pod and Homily related to one another. Pod seemed so very dark and depressed to me - sort of a dyed-in-the-wool Borrower who couldn't see a reason to change anything. (Which is expected of him and not wrong for his character. I just found it frustrating.) Homily shrieked and worried too much. (Again, I think her reactions to the situations were perfectly reasonable and I probably would shriek and worry a bit by having been seen when that posed so great a danger. I just found them both ...wearisome.) By contrast, the The Littles also lead predictable lives but they are more prone to adventure or are up for trying new things when situations are proving to be in need of a fresh new idea.

I started reading this one to Bookworm1 but it didn't grab him either. We'll definitely try it again (with plans to read the whole series) and I'm glad to have read it. I just think that we're more suited for The Littles at the present moment.

Bit of family history to note: apparently this was my mother's favorite book in third grade. So you know that means we have to read the whole series at some point!

Lisa and Lottie, by Erich Kastner

"Do you happen to know Bohrlaken? I mean the village in the mountains - Bohrlaken on Lake Bohren? Odd - none of the people I ask seem to know Bohrlaken. Maybe Bohrlaken is one of those places known only to people I don't ask. Such things do happen."

Thus begins Lisa and Lottie, by Erich Kastner. You might also know the author's name as he penned Emil and the Detectives, a book I confess not to have read although I have heard a lot about. (Emil was also made into a Disney film in 1964.)

Another reason that the author or the book Lisa and Lottie might be familiar to you is because of a man named Walt Disney who turned this particular story into the following movie:



Recognize it? You and I have gotten to know Susan and Sharon, as played by Hayley Mills back in 1961, as identical twin girls separated in infancy by their parents who divorced shortly after they were born. Susan was raised by her father in California and is the epitome of a West Coast girl. Sharon is raised by her mother in Boston and is part of the East Coast elite. They meet at a summer girls camp and do not get along at all. At least, initially. Once they discover that they really are twins, they decide to switch places so that each girl can get to know the opposite parent. It is their end goal, of course, to get their parents to remarry.

Disney didn't deviate much from the book by Erich Kastner, which was written in 1949. Identical twin girls, Lisa and Lottie, meet at a girl's summer camp. Except in their case, Lisa was raised by her mother in Vienna and Lottie was raised in Munich by her father. Lisa's mother has to work to earn a living for her and her daughter and selects photographs for placement in the local newspaper. Lottie's father is a composer and conductor for the orchestra in Vienna.

I suppose an American audience would have had a hard time connecting to the idea of a Viennese conductor, but they can identify with an American cowboy. It was likely a very wise call on the part of Disney to give Hayley Mills some West Coast flare and some East Coast sensibilities. That we can identify with!

The other notable difference between the book and the movies is the ages of the girls. In the Disneyfied version, the girls are teenagers and in the book they are nine years old. In both versions they dislike each other at first, simply because they happen to look alike. Lisa, having been raised by her father, is more feisty and is the one surrounded by friends at camp. In fact, one of her friends says to Lisa that she ought to "bite of her nose!" in reference to Lottie, which is a line put into the Disney film. As there is not much from the book that is quotable for film, I was glad that they took what they could! Lottie, in turn, is the more demure one who her mother refers to as her "little housekeeper" as she is good with numbers, shopping and general housekeeping skills. Lottie is the thoughtful, clever and kind one.

Reading Lisa and Lottie was really a pleasure as I grew up watching Disney's 1961 version of The Parent Trap. When I discovered that it was a Disney movie based on a book then I knew I simply had to read it. I stuck it on my Amazon wishlist where it sat until my friend Sky kindly removed it and sent it to me in honor of my birthday. I read it last week when I was sick and it made for light, pleasant reading. (And happier still as it came from a friend! Thank you, Sky!)

The book does deal with topics like divorce (just like the movie!) but it's on the light and fluffy side of things. I would say that it is age appropriate for nine years old and up. At 136 pages, it is a fast read for an adult but a good chapter book for younger readers.

In my opinion, Disney did good by this one! I'm impressed and I'm left liking both the book and the movie.



See my list of Books Disney Films are Based On. I hope to read more of them soon!

The Reluctant Dragon, by Kenneth Grahame :: Read Aloud Thursday

Time for another Read Aloud Thursday hosted by Amy at Hope is in the Word.

A week or so back we read The Reluctant Dragon, by Kenneth Grahame, in conjunction with our emphasis on knights, castles and dragons this fall season. We broke the book up into two days worth of very fun reading. I thought the book might be a bit over the boys' heads but I need not have worried. If you make a book sound interesting and provide hand motions and body language which help tell the story, that can help you get past a large vocabulary word or two.

I thought I had read this book to Bookworm1 a year or so back but apparently I had only just thought of it but hadn't actually followed through. The story was new to both of us which made it entertaining, although we were familiar with the basic storyline. If you are unfamiliar with it, you should know the following:

It tells the story of a boy who befriends a poetry loving dragon in a local cave. When the people in the village discover there is a dragon in the cave, St. George the knight is called upon to fight the dragon. The boy arranges a mock fight between St. George and the Dragon, neither of whom are terribly interested in fighting but they must in order to Follow the Rules.

• The Reluctant Dragon was originally published in 1898.
• It originally appeared as a chapter in Grahame's book, Dream Days.
• The story is set in Oxfordshire, where legend has it that St. George actually did fight a dragon.
• In 1941 Walt Disney produced an animated film by the same title. (Yes, we watched it after we read the book. We had also watched it before reading the book. It's been a rather long-standing Film to Enjoy around these parts.)
• John Rutter turned this story into a children's operetta.

I was rather surprised by the character of the boy in this book. I realize that I should not be surprised that there are discrepancies between the Disney film and the original story but, nevertheless, I was taken aback by the fact that the boy is treated as an equal by his parents on account of the fact that he enjoyed his "book learnin'".

"And his parents were very fond of him, and rather proud of him too, though they didn't let on in his hearing, so he was left to go his own way and read as much as he liked; and instead of frequently getting a cuff on the side of the head, as might very well have happened to him, he was treated more or less as an equal by his parents, who sensibly thought it a very fair division of labour that they should supply the practical knowledge, and he the book-learning." (Page 1)

Due to the fact that the boy is immediately introduced as an equal, I couldn't help but compare him to Eustace Scrubb as I read along. I never did learn to like the boy very much. He was cocky and arrogant and a bit too big for his britches. If he were real, I wouldn't be able to stand him. I mostly enjoyed the character of the dragon for his ridiculous behaviors. I made a lot of huff and bother over the dragon and painted him out to be a big silly creature, so much so that I got a lot of laughs and chuckles from the boys. We all enjoyed the read as a whole and, given their current ages (5 and 2), the issue of the boy being his parents' equal went right over their heads. When they are a bit older we'll tackle that topic. For now, we simply enjoyed a story about a silly dragon who didn't like to fight.

As Amy pointed out when she read this book to her girls, the vocabulary and sentence structures in this book make it a bit difficult to swallow for the younger reader. I changed a lot of words as I read aloud to make it more approachable for my boys, using words they understood and could relate to. I think that certainly helped. If I were reading the book word-for-word as Grahame wrote it, we'd probably have to wait a few more years before we would be able to read this. I wouldn't say I adapted the story at all. I merely substituted a word here or a word there to make sure that my oldest, in particular, was able to understand the story as a whole. I think he did understand it and that we made a fun memory reading it together. (Fill a bowl with banana chips and chocolate chips and my two year old was happy to sit and listen as well!)

Fun reading times. We'll keep this story fresh in our minds with the Disney version but we will revisit this classic again in the future. It's worth the time.

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.