A Blind Guide to Stinkville by Beth Vrabel

Title: A Blind Guide to Stinkville

Author: Beth Vrabel

Pages: 246

Finished: April 3, 2018

First Sentence: Even I could see that Tooter was no seeing-eye dog.

Summary: Alice has just moved to Sinkville, North Carolina. Things are not going well. Her mother suffers from depression, her dad spends all his time at work, her brother leaves her at the library every day, and Alice herself has to find her way around town where she clearly sticks out being both blind and an albino. But she decides to prove to everyone just how much she can take care of herself by entering the Sinkville success contest.

Thoughts: Much more charming than I thought it would be. Enough that I wanted to keep reading. Of course, it's your standard outcast kid finds outcast stories and ends up being the underdog who learns more than everyone else. But cute enough story. 

Dash by Kirby Larson

Title: Dash

Author: Kirby Larson

Pages: 243

Finished: March 7, 2018

First Sentence: Mitsi Kashino packed her sketch pad, her binder, and her worry in her book bag. 

Summary: Shortly after Pearl Harbor, Mitsi, her family, and her fellow Japanese Americans are rounded up and moved to interment camps. Her dog, Dash, unfortunately cannot come with her, and Mitsi must navigate the camps and her emotions without his help.

Thoughts: Book itself is great for reminding American kids that America is not always infallible. Brings awareness to the fact that just because bad people do bad things doesn't mean that everyone of that nationality (or religion) is a bad person.

Read for Bluestem Challenge.

Glinda of Oz by L. Frank Baum

Title: Glinda of Oz

Author: L. Frank Baum

Pages: 283

Finished: February 19, 2018

First Sentence: Glinda, the good Sorceress of Oz, sat in the grand court of her palace, surrounded by her maids of honor—a hundred of the most beautiful girls of the Fairyland of Oz.

Summary: Upon finding out that the Flatheads and the Skeezers are on teh brink of war, Ozma and Dorothy travel to the northern border of their country to stop it. However, neither the Su-Dic or Queen Coo-ee-oh are interested in stopping the war. Sadly, Ozma and Dorothy are imprisoned in the Skeezer dome when the war goes poorly, and it's up to Glinda to rescue them.

Thoughts: So many thoughts on this book. As a kid, I was unaware of the order Baum wrote these books, and so I read this one after reading The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. I remember it so well: Queen Coo-ee-oh, the Flatheads, the Three Adepts. Because of that, I felt way more nostalgic than I did for many of the ones in the middle.

At the beginning of his 13 previous books, Baum wrote a letter to his readers. Sadly, he died before this book was published, and the letter was written by the publishers. It's a sweet, though sad letter. I teared up while reading it. In the letter, the publishers promise two other books because they found the notes to them. That being said, this book felt like a fitting culmination of the series. Every single character that has shown up in the series made an appearance in this book to help in the end.

The three Adepts and the idea of the Krumbic witch show up in the Wicked series by Gregory Macguire.

Notes on the series as a whole: Reading level is probably precocious 3rd grade to 6th grade. That being said, I don't know how many 3rd to 6th graders would appreciate this series. It's a bit sweet. Completely different from how children's books are written now. Also, the conflicts are resolved very quickly, and in ways that aren't entirely believable to older kids. However, I really think that Kindergarten to 2nd graders would enjoy listening to these. Particularly because a parent can explain how continuity in series wasn't really a thing when Baum was writing these books. I think these books do play a role in our literature still. Dorothy and Ozma (and Trot and Betsy Bobbin) are strong female characters, which is impressive for books in the 1900s. As annoying as I found many of the books in this series, I will be reading them to my child when she gets older.

This is the last book in the Wizard of Oz challenge.

The House that Jane Built by Tanya Lee Stone

Lovely little non-fiction picture book about Jane Addams and her work founding Hull House in Chicago.

I did a report on Jane Addams in middle school, but I honestly don't remember much of anything from it. She was a remarkable lady. Nice bit of Chicago history.

Stick Dog by Tom Watson

Title: Stick Dog

Author: Tom Watson

Pages: 189

Finished: February 3, 2018

First Sentence: This is Stick Dog.

Summary: Stick Dog loves food. Stick Dog is also very smart. His friends also love food, but they are not so smart. This is the story about how they all get hamburgers.

Thoughts: Silly book. Quick read. Lots of pictures. Definitely a great recommendation for reluctant readers who see lots of words on a page and freak out. 

Save Me a Seat by Sarah Weeks and Gita Varadarajan

Title: Save Me a Seat

Authors: Sarah Weeks and Gita Varadarajan

Pages: 216

Finished: January 31, 2018

First Sentence: Most people in America cannot pronounce my name.

Summary: Ravi, top of his class and most popular boy at school in his hometown in India, is starting school in America. Confident that he'll maintain that position here in America, he soon finds over the course of his first week that things are very different in American schools.

Meanwhile, Joe navigates the first week of school trying very hard to not get noticed by the class bullies and failing miserably.

Thoughts: I really liked the construct of the book being told over the course of a week. For elementary school, the course of a week is a very long time. Book itself wasn't anything super special. As usual, I found myself infuriated at the failure of the adults in the story. I get why kids books get the adults out of the way so fast, but it always bugs me.

Read for my Bluestem challenge.

The Seventh Most Important Thing by Shelley Pearsall

Title: The Seventh Most Important Thing

Author: Shelley Pearsall

Pages: 278

Finished: January 27, 2017

First Sentence: On a bitter November day in Washington, D.C., when everything felt metallic--when the sky was gray and the wind stung and the dry leaves were making death-rattle sounds in the alleys--thirteen-year-old Arthur Owens picked up a brick from the corner of a crumbling building and threw it at an old man's head.

Summary: Arthur is very angry about his father's death. Especially teh fact that his mother has thrown out all his mother's thing. Which is why, when he sees the local junk man wearing his father's old hat, Arthur throws a brick at the old man's head. This lands him a trip to juvie, but the junk man requests his help as community service. Through community service, Arthur learns a lot about dealing with his own emotions and caring for other people.

Thoughts: This wasn't horrible. It was a fairly quick read. But I did almost throw it against the wall when the vice principal refused to believe anything Arthur said because he was a "bad kid." So many people are that way in the real world, refusing to look at the deeper meanings. (You see it often in disciplining kids. We discipline the act without even looking into why the act happened or trying to solve the root cause.) I also get that this happened in 1963, so things were even worse.

I liked how Arthur grew as a person too. I don't know who I'd recommend this for, but anyone who likes historical fiction set in the 60s would probably appreciate it.

Read for the Rebecca Caudill Challenge.

The Magic of Oz by L. Frank Baum

Title: The Magic of Oz

Author: L Frank Baum

Pages: 288

Finished: January 24, 2017

First Sentence: On the east edge of the Land of Oz, in the Munchkin Country, is a big, tall hill called Mount Munch.

Summary: Two pairs of people go off in search of presents for Ozma on her birthday. Meanwhile everyone's favorite Nome King and a Hyup are working to sew discord in the Land of Oz. Also, the Glass Cat has pink brains. You can see 'em work!

Thoughts: I thought the cat had her vanity taken away in Patchwork Girl of Oz? General thoughts for this book are that it's a really quick read, though nothing really stupendous happens. Every time someone's in trouble, they're really not in all that much danger, and in the end, nothing horrible happens. One more book and then I'm done.

The Tin Woodman of Oz by L. Frank Baum

Title: The Tin Woodman of Oz

Author: L Frank Baum

Pages: 294

Finished: December 31, 2017

First Sentence: The Tin Woodman sat on his glittering tin throne in the handsome tin hall of his splendid tin castle in the Winkie Country of the Land of Oz.

Summary: When Woot the Wanderer wanders into the Tin Woodman's castle and tells the Woodman that he was wrong in never checking up on his sweetheart Nimmee Amee, the Tin Woodman, Scarecrow, and Woot all travel off to Munchkin Country to find her. As with any Oz book, they meet with many adventures.

Thoughts: Funny enough, I feel like his later books are better than his middle books. There's some weirdness where they talk about how Oz became a fairy country that seems contradictory to earlier information (particularly the bit about how no one ever dies, but then we know that Ozma is the latest in a long line of Oz rulers...). The bit with Ku Klip and the various body parts of the tin men was a bit dark, but perhaps a kid would enjoy it. Honestly, these book seem best suited as read alouds to first and second graders.

1984 by George Orwell

Title: 1984

Author: George Orwell

Pages: 279

Finished: December 31, 2017

First Sentence: It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.

Summary: Is a summary really needed for this book? Perhaps so, considering I'd never read it and didn't really know much about it other than dystopia, Big Brother, and constant surveillance. Winston Smith, a member of the Outer Party of Ingsoc, finds himself dissatisfied with the current world order. He spends his days rewriting history, thinking dangerous thoughts, and constantly trying to hide whatever he is thinking. And then he has a forbidden love affair with another member of the Party.

Thoughts: It was disconcerting to see Oranges and Lemons pop up in this book. I learned it in Musikgarten classes where the last two lines don't exist. I don't think I'll be able to ever listen to the song again without feeling a supreme depression.

I don't see how Oceania could exist. Or perhaps more specifically, how Airstrip One (the former Great Britain) could exist as part of Oceania rather than part of Eurasia. I had a hard time believing that the Americas had a similar set up simply because we were reading about something on what felt like the outer rim of the territory.

This books was not what I thought it was. I knew it was a dystopia, but it seems that modern dystopias end with hope. A revolt by the downtrodden and an epilogue talking about rebuilding. There was no hope here. I spent the entire book waiting for there to be something, and instead I got a 50 page torture sequence and a speech about power is power and the terrifying idea that your thoughts aren't your own. I honestly felt sick to my stomach as I read this.

It's also really hard to read this as 2017 comes to a close and not make parallels with the current political climate in the United States at the moment.

Read as my classic club spin. I think I'm glad I read it, but this is not an experience I need to repeat ever again. Time for me to go read another Oz book so I end the year on something a little less upsetting.

Fuzzy Mud by Louis Sachar

Title: Fuzzy Mud

Author: Louis Sachar

Pages: 192

Finished: December 27, 2017

First Sentence: Woodridge Academy, a private school in Heath Cliff, Pennsylvania, had once been the home of William Heath, after whom the town had been named.

Summary: To avoid a fight with the school bully, Marshall and Tamaya cut through the woods by the school. Sadly, it doesn't work and Chad finds them. Tamaya throws some "fuzzy mud" in his face in order to escape. The next day, she discovers a rash upon her arm from where the mud touched her. Turns out, the mud isn't quite mud and a full blown epidemic is about to descend on the town of Heath Cliff.

Thoughts: Interesting read. Or listen really. Most of the story took place over the course of about 24 hours, which I thought was really interesting. The main story was interspersed with transcripts of hearings re: the happenings. It really made the experience all the more horrifying. In general, the bits about the school happenings were the most boring, but that's because I'm a 30 year old adult who's been out of school for quite a while now. This book read for Bluestem and Caudill Challenges.

Parenting Beyond Belief by Dale McGowan

Title: Parenting Beyond Belief

Author: Edited by Dale McGowan

Pages: 304

Finished: December 21, 2017

Summary: A collection of essays by many freethinkers regarding their thoughts about raising secular humans. Covers many topics including religious literacy, death, wonder and science, thinking critically, and finding community.

Thoughts: I am an atheist. I was born an atheist, I was brought up by two atheist parents. I never attended a Christian church, though when I was in about third grade, my parents started taking us to a Unitarian Universalist church so we could gain some religious literacy that we didn't get from home. My husband was born an atheist (everyone is) but was brought up Methodist. When we got married, he was in a bit of a religious crisis - not really knowing what he believed. Lately, he's started calling himself an atheist.

We live in a world filled with a lot of hate for those who are different. People hate those who are different from them, whether those people happen to have a different faith, love different kinds of people, or come from different cultures. We live in a world where basic scientific fact is considered a matter of opinion and matters of opinion are considered basic facts.

We want more for our daughter. We want to raise her to understand how to think critically. We want to raise her to understand that people are people not matter where they're from, who they love, what they believe. We want her to understand that we have a lot more in common with each other than we have different. We want her to understand how the world works, how the various religious work etc. We basically want her to be able to think critically so that when she makes a choice about what she believes, we know she did it after thinking carefully about it and not because someone told her to.

This book was so helpful. It's not a parenting guide in the sense that they tell you "When your child is at this age, you do this." It's more of a "Every kid will ask you questions about death. As a secular parent who doesn't believe in an afterlife, this can be scary. Here are some things we found helpful in our household." That sort of thing. It's also FULL of resources. I borrowed this book from the library, but I'll likely purchase it so I have regular access to it. I will be adding his other book, Raising Freethinkers to my list as well.

And as an easter egg, the minister of the first UU church I ever attended was one of the contributors. This woman was only the minister for a short time while we were there before she moved on to another church, but in that time she had a profound impact on me. It was nice to see her name again. 

The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens

Title: The Old Curiosity Shop

Author: Charles Dickens

Pages: 555

Finished: December 20, 2017

First Sentence: Although I am an old man, night is generally my time for walking.

Summary: Nell and her grandfather run away from the evil Quilp after the grandfather squanders away a significant amount of money gambling. Many people help them. Many others try to find them. Quilp is evil for no discernible reason. People die. Others have happy endings. Standard Dickens.

Thoughts: I fear the tone of my "summary" may give away what I think. Back in college I decided I was going to read all of Dickens. The first few I read were fun. This one... I almost put it down. Up to the point where Nell and her grandfather leave town, it was incredibly slow. I can't tell why Quilp is as evil as he is, but perhaps that's just the beauty of Dickens. People are people in all sorts of ways without explanation. Normally I'm happy to figure out the satire and social commentary Dickens is making, but this book was such a slog that I pretty much ended up paying attention to major plot points and skimming the descriptions solely meant to raise word count. I also felt bad for Nell being saddled with an addict at a time when women really couldn't do a whole lot. Her life was absolutely lost.

This is my final book for the Back to the Classics Challenge.

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen

Title: Northanger Abbey

Author: Jane Austen

Pages: 241

Finished: December 10, 2017

First Sentence: No one who had ever seen Catherine Morland in her infancy, would have supposed her born to be an heroine. 

Summary: Catherine Morland, an unabashed novel enthusiast, travels to Bath with her neighbors. She meets all manner of people including the Tilneys and the Thorpes. Naive Catherine fumbles her way through her time in Bath believing everyone in earnest, little understanding that some people will say anything to appear better than they are. As she gets to know the Tilneys better, they invite her to stay with them a while at Northanger Abbey. There, she lets her imagination get the better of her as she longs to discover what sordid secrets the Abbey may hold.

Thoughts: Last time I read through all of Austen, I ranked this book as #3. I haven't read through them all again, so I don't know how it stands in relation to her others, but I do enjoy it ever so much. It's so light and fun. Catherine herself is so artless and unsuspecting. Henry and Eleanor are such excellent friends for her. And the supporting cast is, of course, ridiculous. Somehow, I've yet to read The Mysteries of Udolpho, though I really should get on that!

I did go ahead and watch the 2007 adaptation directly after finishing the novel. I do remember really enjoying this adaptation when it came out. I have a feeling J.J. Field had something to do with that, along with the fact that I was in college. I still enjoy it, but the characters are certainly different than they were in the book. Moreover, the entire Northanger Abbey sequence has been condensed and moved around to really change the tone of the novel.

I did enjoy the book very much though. A welcome break from the Dickens I'm reading.

Read for Back to the Classics Challenge: Romance.

December Reads

1984 by George Orwell - Classics Club Spin
Life After Life by Kate Atkinson - Winter Reading Challenge for work
Nevermoor: The Trials of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend - unaffiliated
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen - Back to the Classics
The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens - Back to the Classics

Once Upon a Summer's Day by Dennis McKiernan - unaffiliated

Parenting Beyond Belief ed. by Dale McGowan - unaffiliated (not pictured)
The Tin Woodman of Oz by L. Frank Baum - Wizard of Oz Challenge

To be completely honest, this is way more than I planned to read for December. Current plan is to finish the Classics first as they have the deadline of this month. I may split them up with finishing the McKiernan as well. From there, I'll deadhead through Tin Woodman, then finish the other two library books. I'm shelving the Caudill and Bluestems until January.

The Lost Princess of Oz by L Frank Baum

Title: The Lost Princess of Oz

Author: L. Frank Baum

Pages: 318

Finished: November 29, 2017

First Sentence: There could be no doubt of the fact: Princess Ozma, the lovely girl ruler of the Fairyland of Oz, was lost.

Summary: As seen by the first sentence, Princess Ozma is lost. Soon, our friends in Oz discover that Glinda's magic book, Ozma's magic picture, and the Wizard's magical instruments are also all missing. Meanwhile, down in Yip (a plateau in the corner of the Land of the Winkies), Cayke the Cookie Cook discovers her magical dishpan is also missing. Many of our friends from the Emerald City go off on a quest to find Ozma just as Cayke and the Frogman venture on a quest to find the dishpan.

Thoughts: I liked this book far more than most of the odd middle books in this series. Sure it was ridiculous, but I liked most of the characters far more. I liked the plot more. And I couldn't even tell you what it is about the book that I liked, I just found it far less obnoxious than most of his others. I was not a huge fan of Scraps. I don't remember her being quite so bratty. Also, I was very annoyed by the continuity error of Dorothy not knowing how to use the Magic Belt. She totally knew what she was doing when she first got it!

Read for the Wizard of Oz Challenge.

Book Scavenger by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman

Title: Book Scavenger

Author: Jennifer Chambliss Bergman

Pages: 343

Finished: November 12, 2017

First Sentence: Garrison Griswold whistled his way down Market Street, silver hair bobbing atop his head like a pigeon wing.

Summary: Emily is obsessed with the online game Book Scavenger - a game where people hide books and others hunt them down. Think Letterbox and Geocaching with books as the prize. Book Scavenger has been her constant friend while her family movies around from state to state. And now, they've moved to San Fransisco, home of Garrison Griswold, the founder of Book Scavenger. Only Griswold has been shot and Emily finds a book that might be the start of a new game. A game people will kill for.

Thoughts: Middle grade fiction perfect for kids who like treasure hunts and suspense. Repetitive and boring as an adult reading all the Caudills and Bluestems.

Among the Hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Title: Among the Hidden

Author: Margaret Peterson Haddix

Pages: 153

Finished: November 5, 2017

First Sentence: He saw the first tree shudder and fall, far off in the distance.

Summary: Somewhere in the supposed future (that feels more like now or even a little earlier) Luke lives in his parents' attic. He's a third child. Illegal due to current laws that limit how many kids a family can have. He lives a life of monotony until one day, he sees a face in a house across the way. A face behind a curtain. Taking a chance, Luke sneaks over to find another Shadow Child, and his live changes forever.

Thoughts: I like Haddix a lot, but I found this fairly dull. I know it was set up, but little about it made me want to read more. Look! Dystopia of a government completely overstepping their bounds. However, I'm betting kids primarily 4th grade and up would really enjoy this. Read for my Bluestem Challenge.

Classics Club Spin #16

It's time for a Classics Club Spin! The way this works is that I pick twenty books from my Classics Club list, list them in this post, and then on Friday, November 17th, the folks over at Classicsclub.com will pick a number. I have until the end of December to read that book! According to them, to make this really worthwhile, I should pick 5 books I want to read, 5 books I'm procrastinating/dreading, 5 I'm neutral about, and 5 free choice. However, as I look at my list, I feel more analysis paralysis instead. So I'm going to let RNG figure out my 20 books for me. My only rule is that I am picking shorter books. I still have two left from my Back to the Classics Challenge plus it's December! I don't really want to be saddled with The Count of Monte Cristo. So below is my list of 20 books for the Spin.

1. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

2. The Time Machine by H. G. Wells

3. A Winter's Tale by William Shakespeare

4. 1984 by George Orwell

5. A Room With a View by E. M. Forster

6. A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

7. The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain

8. Daniel Deronda by George Eliot

9. The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins

10. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

11. Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie

12. Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie

13. Sanditon and other Tales by Jane Austen (includes her Juvenalia)

14. Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi

15. The Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde

16. The Song of the Lark by Willa Cather

17. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

18. Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote

19. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

20. Possession by A. S. Byatt

Last in a Long Line of Rebels by Lisa Lewis Tyre

Title: Last in a Long Line of Rebels

Author: Lisa Lewis Tyre

Pages: 279

Finished: November 3, 2017

First Sentence: From the diary of Louise Duncan Mayhew

Summary: Louise Mayhew has the most boring summers ever. So when she prays on an old family Bible for something exciting to happen, she's hoping for something a little better than normal. What she gets is a summer learning the village wants her house, the discovery that her ancestor apparently stole some gold and murdered someone, and the knowledge that that gold has never been found. So she and her friends take it upon themselves to find the treasure and save the house.

Thoughts: Ugh. I feel like I read the same twenty books every year when it comes to the Caudills. The kids are super smart. They find the gold. They don't suffer any consequences for the things they do to get the gold. They're shocked that their ancestors owned slaves in the 1800s (they live in Tennessee). Middle grade, but not really worth it.

Read for my Caudill Challenge.