The Wind in the Willows

The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

• Romance?   No

• Adventure? Yes-short adventures

• Mystery? No

• Sports? No

• Controversy? No

• History? No

• Princesses? No

• Violence?- There is some in the last chapter.

• Sad? No

• Religion? No

• Particularly Original? No

• Out of Print? No! And it's available on Kindle.

• Terrible Cover? No. Good cover!!!

• Age Recommendation? 9 and up.

The Upshot (by Shaemus):

 I like this book because it has animals that act like humans, and there are humans in it that the animals can be friends with. There is a funny character that is a toad, that goes on a short adventure. There isn’t really a plot, so the animals just do different things each day. One day they visit mister toad, another day they go to a forest in snow, another day the find a lost otter, one day a sea rat tells a story.  There is an exciting little battle at the end. 

This is a classic — but how many children have read it? It is far better than the movie, a real delight to read!!! Find a version with illustrations if your child is reluctant or begin by reading aloud. 

Animals of Farthing Wood

The Animals of Farthing Wood by Colin Dann

• Romance?   No
• Adventure? Yes-animals fighting each other sort of adventure
• Mystery? No
• Sports? No
• Controversy? No
• History? No
• Princesses? No
• Violence? Yes! There is fighting and animals die.
• Sad? The end is sad, but we think the last book will make things right. There are seven in the series.
• Religion? No.
• Particularly Original? This is very much a Redwall sort of book. Talking animals. Fighting over the woods, but it is really, really well done.
• Out of Print? No! And it's available on Kindle.
• Terrible Cover? No. Good cover!!!
• Age Recommendation? 8 and up.

The Upshot (by Calvin):

 I really like this book because it's about animals, but I also like it because you really feel the feelings of the characters. You like the good characters a lot, and you don't like the bad characters. The story is about animals who live in a forest that is a wildlife reserve, because the otters who live there are the last otters in the land (they are endangered). The otters know this — they know that they have power in this world — so they are prideful. They begin feeding on the animals in the forest, and the other animals get mad at them because they are stealing their prey. The other animals begin to fight back, but they have to be careful. Without the otters, Farthing Wood would be cut down and destroyed...

We highly recommend this book and look forward to reading the rest of the series!

April Morning

Every book we review on this blog is highly recommended by someone in our family. We aren't going to bother with the books we didn't absolutely love. I want to standardize a few things to make it easier for us and others to decide whether we want to pick up this book or not (see the list below), but please know that if the book makes it to these pages, we think it is worth your time and energy!

APRIL MORNING by Howard Fast

Is there....

• Romance?   Yes
• Adventure? Realistic/Revolutionary War Adventure
• Mystery? No
• Sports? No
• Controversy? A little about the ethics of war like if it's okay to shoot second, etc...
• History? Yes! This is Historical fiction about the Battle at Lexington
• Princesses? No
• Violence? Yes! People are shot. There is blood and vomiting and more blood.
• Sad? Yes, but not without hope
• Religion? Yes. Very well done, I thought.
• Particularly Original? For me, it was. People compare this with RED BADGE OF COURAGE, which I did not like as a teenager. This felt more realistic. You are in the main character's head and experiencing what he is experiencing, and I felt like that could have been me. I'd give it points for originality in terms of its simplicity and power, but not necessarily the subject matter. 
• Out of Print? No! And it's available for free on Kindle Unlimited.
• Terrible Cover? Yes. I'm going to do a post very soon on how to fix this problem. Terrible covers are a BIG problem. 
• Age Recommendation? I hate this question. I really do. How do you determine if something is appropriate for what age levels? I would recommend this for boys and girls without hesitation. The language is difficult enough, I wouldn't give it to someone younger that ten, but I suppose I would particularly recommend it to someone twelve and up. 

The Upshot:

Adam is a great character. Self-doubting yet angry, impulsive, and interesting. He is honest with the reader and honest with himself. He grows throughout the book, but in a small, believable way. The novel is personal, well-researched, motivating, and inspirational. This is a book that sticks with you. Lucy read it many years ago, and I only had to give her the briefest summary before she remembered the story and pronounced it "really good". Quick and absolutely worth your time (and the time of your child!).

Behind - because of a new baby - but way ahead of our goal!

We had a baby on November 19th! The most adorable newborn boy EVER came into our lives, and we are so smitten. Schroeder Hirschi Eyre, may you live up to your difficult-to-spell name, and may you follow the examples of your fabulous older siblings in every way. Especially reading!

I cannot express how wonderful this reading challenge has been for our family. My kids are reading like they NEVER have before, and they are absolutely loving the world that has opened to them through these new books.

Example: Flannery is now nearly done with the second MYSTERIOUS BENEDICT SOCIETY book. If I could explain how miraculous this is, I would, but words will not suffice. She is reading, reading, reading. She is reading novels. She is absorbed, engrossed, entranced — in love with stories. She borrowed my kindle and read A LITTLE PRINCESS in a matter of days. That is not an easy book. I would be impressed with any eight year old who took that on; I am particularly impressed that my girl who does not like to work hard read that thing so fast.

But that's just it. Reading has stopped being a chore to her. Audio books are no longer an option. Picture books and graphic novels she has read too many times are no longer an option. Reading is her only source of easy entertainment left, therefore it is no longer work—therefore, to Flanny, it has become worthwhile.

The Kindle does help. So much so, we decided to get everyone Kindles of their own. Flannery has now started HEIDI on the kindle (it cost ninety-nine cents and A LITTLE PRINCESS was free), and, again, she is loving it. She doesn't seem to desire pictures on the kindle like she does on the printed page. Maybe it is just the fascination of reading on a device, but since she really is reading, I don't care!

I still prefer a real book with pages I can turn and dirty up with love. I still would rather own shelves and shelves of books until my house is stuffed to the brim and we barely have room to sit, but there are advantages to Kindles. We can all be reading the same book at the same time. I can find books in a matter of seconds (um, and buy them...). Books tend to be cheaper on Kindle. We certainly won't lose them (although we might forget they are there, though I suppose you can skim through your library on the Kindle in the same way you might search for a book to read on the shelves).

I am rambling, but the success we are having is truly miraculous. Everyone, even my husband, is on board. I have loved or enjoyed all of the books I have read since this has begun (not that I would recommend them all)... which brings me to the point. We've got to start our reviewing!!!

Tomorrow we will begin. A book a day. We've already read as a family OVER FORTY BOOKS. I'm telling you, books are awesome. Reading is awesome. Reading a new book you wouldn't normally choose IS AWESOME!

The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax — Reading Dangerously

THE UNEXPECTED MRS. POLLIFAX by Dorothy Gilman

This book was unexpected. He he he. It seemed like a conventional PBS mystery at the start, something I'm not very interested in, and maybe the plot is conventional—I don't know, because I became too enamored of Mrs. Pollifax and the people surrounding her to pay attention to the plot.

Dorothy Gillman is a master at characterization, at least in this book. It was surprisingly intense at times, surprisingly violent (though not offensively so). I found Mrs. Pollifax's attempts at courage believable and compelling. The basic political structure was perhaps oversimplified, but, in a way, that was a good thing. The emphasis was on Mrs. Pollifax, a woman in her sixties who nearly kills herself due to feelings of worthlessness and who volunteers herself to the CIA to give her life meaning and, unexpectedly, receives an assignment.

This book is a great start, for me, of reading dangerously. I never would have picked it upwillingly or for fun. It was written in 1966. I'd never heard of it. It hasn't been made into a PBS series, as far as I know. Why read it?

Because it was good. Because it made me think.

A quote from the book: "But that is precisely what life is, wouldn't you agree? Everything is a matter of choice, and when we choose are we not gambling on the unknown and its being a wise choice? And isn't it free choice that makes individuals of us? We are eternally free to choose ourselves and our futures. I believe myself that life is quite comparable to a map like this, a constant choice of direction and route."

Here's a quote to back up our plan to read dangerously:

"I would not have you find your relaxation only in reading the classics or the scriptures. These deserve a wider reading. They will bring an incomparable enrichment. But there is much else. Among our current periodicals there are still a few whose reading will enrich your minds and broaden your understanding, and among current book publications there may be found so much that is interesting, provocative, and inspirational. These may require in their reading a greater measure of concentration, but they will also bring a greater reward.

I looked the other day with wonder and affection on a 1916 Model T Ford. It brought back a thousand memories of my childhood, for this was the first automobile we ever owned in our family. It was a thing of wonder when we were children. You today know little of these cars. They had no battery, and the source of electricity was a magneto. At night the intensity of the light depended on the speed of the motor. If the motor were kept running at high speed, the lights were bright. If the motor slowed down, the lights became a sickly yellow.

It is so with our minds. If we keep them sharpened on good literature and uplifting entertainment, development is inevitable. If we starve them with the drivel of miserable shows, cheap literature, beatnik entertainment, they become poor indeed.

  

It was Ruskin who observed: "The greatest reward is not what we receive for our labor, but what we become by it."

Gordon B. Hinckley

Read dangerously on!

Our family doesn't read anymore

No one reads anymore.

This is a generalization. This is profoundly untrue. Many people read. Many people still love books. Many children love books. Many people read books every day in every country around the world.

But still, no one reads anymore.

Take our family. We own thousands of books. We read all the time. Someone is always walking around with a book (or their kindle) in their hands.

But. My husband, Sam, does not read. He attempts to read for about ten minutes each night, his head overwhelmed with work and exhaustion. He falls asleep. He's so busy. He's so tired. He has so many responsibilities weighing on him. I don't think he's finished a book this year. Not really reading.

My sixteen-year-old, Mary, reads when she is not in school. When she's in school, she reads when she has time, but she reads books for kids half her age that she's read a million times that do nothing but turn her brain off as she tunes out. Not really reading.

My fourteen-year-old, Lucy, reads when she's not in school, but since she spends 98% of her waking time studying for school, she essentially doesn't read. And when she does find little bits of time to read, she reads portions of her favorite books (usually the romantic parts). Not bad, but not really reading. Oh, and she has started to read Georgette Heyer, though she confesses she doesn't really think it's all that good. Not really reading.

My twelve-year-old, Calvin, never stops reading. But he does not choose what to read, he just reads whatever book is nearest his body. He reads picture books and graphic novels and random nonfiction and Flat Stanley and comic books and whatever happens to come his way. Not all of this is bad, but much of it is stupid or a waste of time. The minutes flit by. He has no idea what has happened. He's behind in whatever jobs/school work he is supposed to be doing. We don't play video games. We hardly ever watch movies and we don't own a TV. Reading this way is his TV, his wasted time, his nothing. Not really reading.

My ten-year-old, Shaemus, pretty much does the same thing as his brother, except that he is a natural goal setter and he feels very accomplished when he finishes a book. The reason he has not read better books lately is entirely my fault. If I placed great books before him, he would read them. Only I haven't. The desire to do so hasn't hit me. Not really reading.

My eight-year-old, Flannery, is just starting to happily read novels for school. But when she's not in school, it is difficult to get her to read even picture books that have a lot of words in them. She is on a short picture book, graphic novel, comic book, binge. She is in it for the entertainment, not the content, not the story, not the meaning, not the purpose. Not really reading.

And that is the main problem. We are all reading to be entertained. To shut down our tired brains (or not so tired). To escape from the stresses of the day (though, in comparison to much of the world, our lives really aren't that stressful).

This brings me to me. My reading has tanked recently, growing more pathetic as the years have progressed. Rather unimpressed by much of what is being published both for children and adults, I have sought older books and found a few gems, but not many. I have not attempted any "classics". I have not approached anything that could be deemed depressing. I've been rereading books I have memorized—books that do not threaten my tranquility because I know exactly how they end. CONFESSION: I've been reading Georgette Heyer books for no good reason at all EXCEPT TO BE ENTERTAINED. To shut off my brain. To stop thinking.

This is about to change. That's why our family is doing this challenge.

Because of the 2016 Presidential Election. 

I know I haven't mentioned the election yet. That's because I don't want to mention it. I don't want to think about it. I want to forget it ever happened. But it did happen, and I wonder if one of the main reasons it happened is because we, as a country, have shut off our brains. We read when we have to. We read books in order to get grades or to maybe because it is a NYTimes bestseller and everyone says it is so great. Or we read purely for mind-numbing entertainment. If we pick up a book at all.

Are we reading for empathy? Are we reading to better understand others? Are we reading for Love? Are we reading so that we become changed – different people, better people — by the end of our efforts?

Is reading an effort? Because it should be. Not a drag, but an effort. An effort that brings rewards that can, one person at a time, change the world. If we, as a nation, had been doing this sort of reading, could the 2016 election season have happened?

So our family of seven is going to read, collectively, 365 books this year (novels or nonfiction — not picture books). These books will be new to us. They will be good books, valuable books. Someone in the family will review one new book a day, starting Wednesday, November 16th.

The challenge is on.