Yard Sale

I have made my fair share of moves in my life.  While I lived in the same house for more than 15 years while growing up (all of my childhood memories involve that house), I have spent the rest of my life changing houses every two or three years.  Sometimes it's been just moving across town, sometimes it's been moving across the country.  And if I've spent most of my adult life moving, Frances and Gloria have made many moves as well.  In Gloria's seven years, she has lived in five places!  And while the circumstances that we moved in haven't always been the happiest, the girls have always learned to love something about each new place - our neighbors, our backyard, the neighborhood playground.

In Yard Sale, Callie's family is moving.  They are moving from a house on a cul-de-sac to an apartment with a Murphy bed.  It's a big change, and because they are moving to a much smaller place, they won't need all of the furniture they currently have.  So Callie's parents host a yard sale.  On the very first page, Callie states "Almost everything we own is spread out in our front yard.  It's all for sale."  You can immediately see how Callie feels about the move.  She sits on their front steps, chin in her hands, totally dejected.  Her life is changing and it's clear she is not comfortable with what is about to happen.  The family goes to look at the new apartment, and Callie says "'It's all nice.'...But it didn't feel like ours."

On the day of the sale, Callie feels even more uncertain.  She sees a woman haggle over her headboard because there are crayon marks on it.  She cries when a man buys her bike, even though her dad reminds her that they don't have room to ride the bike outside the apartment.  Callie tries to participate in the sale cheerfully, but she thinks "I hate people buying our stuff.  It's not fair."  She doesn't want to move, but knows she has to.  She doesn't have any choice in the matter.

And her parents feel the same way.  One of the most beautiful and poignant things about this book and the collaboration between Bunting and Castillo is how easily you can surmise how torn the parents feel about this move too.  The parents' emotions aren't the focus of this story, Callie's emotions are.  But their complicated feelings are so crucial to how Callie deals with the move.  They are trying to make the best of a bad situation by pointing out the cool Murphy bed in the new apartment, even if Callie doesn't accept their overtures.  As the sale winds down, exhaustion takes over her parents.  "Anything that's left my dad is selling cheap.  He and my mom look droopy.  My dad is rubbing my mom's back."  In the picture, they look like they are holding each other up at this point in the day - sad, tired and uncertain.

Then something happens that shifts everyone's attention.  A woman comes up to Callie, who is slumped over, waiting to be done with the day.  "'Aren't you just the cutest thing?' she says, smiling.  'Are you for sale?''  While I'm sure the woman meant it in a friendly or funny way, it was the exact wrong thing to say to a little girl who already knows that this move has to do with money, and the her family is downsizing.  Will they get rid of her, too?  Callie has a moment of sheer panic, and "A shiver runs through me, from my toes to my head."  She is a little hysterical as she goes to her dad, who reassures her that he won't sell her, "'Not for a million, trillion dollars.'"  The illustration here focuses on Callie wrapped tightly in both parents' arms.  All of the busy movement around them at the sale falls away as they take comfort in each other, and feel each other's sadness.

The story ends with Callie's acceptance of the move, now that she has been reassured.  She notes "...it's OK because we don't really need anything we've sold.  And those things wouldn't fit in our new place anyway."  Perhaps the biggest reason that Callie is becoming more accepting of the move is due to what she realizes on the very last page.  "But we will fit in our new place.  And we are taking us."  She has a newfound knowledge that their family won't change, and that is the most important part.

This change is hard on Callie in a number of ways.  One of those ways is that she feels like she is losing many of the things that are her history.  For instance, the woman who haggles over the headboard with the crayon marks doesn't have any idea that those marks were how Callie counted the number of times she read Goodnight Moon.  And it is clear to Callie that the woman doesn't appreciate her crayon marks at all, that Callie's history actually devalues the headboard.  She decides to give her best friend her heart necklace because Callie knows that her friend Sara will appreciate the necklace.

There is a delicate interplay between adults and child in Yard Sale.  As I've mentioned before, her parents' attempt to make the best of a trying time leads to Callie's conflicted emotions.  They are trying their best to keep everything positive, but their body language tells another story.  Once they all admit their mixed emotions, the little family can move on, together.

This was the story that started off my Lauren Castillo-fest this fall.  I read a blog post that mentioned Yard Sale and I then proceeded to check out as many of the books that she had written and illustrated as I could.  That's why I also reviewed What Happens on Wednesday in September.  I love Castillo's illustrations overall - I love the families she depicts.  They are real - sometimes frumpy, sometimes sad, but not afraid to show their imperfections.  It makes me feel like I can relate to these families, whether or not my family resembles the one on the page.  They are real.  The colors she uses here are soft (but not necessarily pastels) and lend tenderness to the book.

Yard Sale is one of those moments that many children will feel strongly about.  They may have moved, they may have had a yard sale to get rid of excess stuff.  Frances and Gloria have done both, and could relate to how Callie felt.  Children may also remember a time when things in their own family were not so certain.  Whatever the situation, Yard Sale is a book that celebrates the staying power of family.

Yard Sale.  Eve Bunting; illustrated by Lauren Castillo. Candlewick Press, 2015.

borrowed from Lewis & Clark Library

What Happens on Wednesday

As a single mother to Frances and Gloria, I have very specific routines.  None of us do well when we are not on a routine.  The girls feel secure knowing what will happen next, what will happen tonight or tomorrow.  Those routines keep us organized, keep us going, but can also frankly be exhausting.  Sometimes we trudge through the routine only because we are used to its predictability.  On the blog Mommy Shorts, Ilana has created a series called Wednesday Evenings in partnership with Allstate, and I love seeing it.  She chose all kinds of families, and sent a photographer to document their routines (there was also a series documenting family mornings too).  I find it so soothing to read this series - we are all in the same boat, where we do homework, eat dinner, read and give baths, no matter where we live or what we look like.

What Happens on Wednesdays is all about family routine.  The preschool girl who narrates the story begins with this line: "What happens on Wednesdays is I wake up when it is still dark out."  The mother in me groans at that idea, but there is the little girl, being swung out of her bed by her mother.  The other thing I love about this first page?  When the mom tries to kiss her daughter and is informed "...today is not a kissing day."  And with that statement, they are off.  The little girl revels in the structure - "Then she drinks her coffee and I drink my milk and maybe we have some strawberries while we read stories on the couch."  Even though this book shows one particular Wednesday, you get the feeling that for this little girl Wednesdays are blissfully similar.

After they wake up her dad, he takes his daughter out to the park to play before school.  Her mom has already gone to work on her computer in the back room of their apartment.  Another very developmentally appropriate thing about the narrator is her love of detail.  They don't just head off to school, they "walk past the store with the toy mouse you can ride for a quarter."  If you know any preschoolers, you are familiar with how long it takes them to recount something that has happened to them.  It is never straightforward and simple, the way busy adults prefer.  Instead their stories are embellished with all the details that they have noticed, all the details that are important to them.  And the details the little girl reports give color to her world.  When she and her mom stop at the library that evening, after swimming, she notes that it "has a stuffed duckling that's big enough to ride on.  There are shelves of scary grownup stories that spin around if you push them."  These are the details that make up our lives and that Jenkins celebrates here.

The day has many components to it - the morning routine, the school day, the afternoon (books, nap, swimming), and evening.  Sometimes the little girl notes where things are the same as every other day of the week - she lists out the school day schedule and then comments "Which  is the same on Wednesdays as any other day."  Or sometimes she explains what's different about Wednesdays: "What happens on Wednesdays is Daddy comes home early."  The routine is predictable but still has some flexibility in it.  "I put Band-Aids on Looga, my stuffed elephant or I make a puppet show, or I build a swimming pool of blocks, or I go through the laundry and try on grown-up clothes.  It is different every Wednesday." The other thing this daily routine helps the little girl manage is what is expected of her.  She knows that in the above quote, she is playing by herself while her mother cooks her dinner.  She must come up with a way to keep herself occupied until dinner is ready.

I noticed too that the parents are depicted having a very easy teamwork.  They often tag team in caring for their daughter.  I'm sure the handoff isn't always as seamless as it seems here, but while her mom gets up with her, her dad does school drop-off.  Her mom spends the afternoon with her and then her dad puts her in the bath after dinner.  "And what happens on Wednesdays is I can pick who puts me to bed.  So I pick Daddy."  The routine is very tied to her parents.  The book has a cozy feeling of family love in it - they are focused on their little girl's needs, but there are still other things going on.  They make dinner, return library books, empty the dishwasher - all those "other" tasks that need to be completed.

Lauren Castillo's illustrations for this story suit it perfectly.  Readers can look at any page and know exactly what's going on, even if their family doesn't look the same.  The routines depicted here are universal and comforting.  And the illustrations are packed full of the details the narrator finds so important.  There is the mom getting her daughter out of bed, still in her own pajamas.  Once the little girl pulls her dad out of bed, they go down to pick up the newspaper.  The dad is sporting mismatched pajamas and slippers as they head back up.   While the mom gets dressed and tidies up, the dad stays rumpled and unshaven all day (although he does change out of his pajamas!).  The illustrations work perfectly with the text to create that feeling of real, authentic family life.

While Wednesday isn't a special day - not a holiday or a day to be celebrated - it is a day full of love.  It is every day and yet it's a day that will be documented and remembered thanks to this lovely story.  I love the celebration of family life - it was comforting to the girls and to me as a parent.  It's a great choice for a Wednesday night or any other night for that matter.

What Happens on Wednesdays. Emily Jenkins; pictures by Lauren Castillo.  Frances Foster Books: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007.

borrowed from Lewis & Clark Library

The Misadventures of the Family Fletcher

I love a good family story.  And by good, I don't mean that everything has to be perfect, or end happily, although that's nice when it happens.  I mean the type of family story that feels real, honest and satisfying.  In the last few years, I've come to realize that although families may be shaped differently, there is a love there that should be celebrated.  Families are magic when they work, and I love watching those moments unfold, whether in real life or on paper.

When I checked out The Misadventures of the Family Fletcher, I was just expecting it to be a fun read.  But I ended up loving it so much that I've read it twice this spring, and have kept it out from the library way too long.  I am so happy to be able to share it with you!

There are four boys in the Fletcher family - Sam, the oldest, is starting sixth grade; Jax and Eli are both in fourth grade (but at different schools), and Frog (whose real name is Jeremiah) is just beginning Kindergarten.  When the book begins, it is the first day of school..  The first day of school is filled with Fletcher family traditions, including a picture on the front steps before school starts, and a celebratory dinner when they all get home.  I love celebrating the little moments, and this first day of school dinner (there is a last day of school dinner too) is a special ritual I'll be stealing.  Each child gets served all their favorite foods at the first/last day of school dinner.  Eli always chooses Chinese dumplings and spareribs.  Sam wants spaghetti and meatballs (with homemade sauce).  Frog asks for macaroni and cheese from "'the purple box, not the blue box...That blue box is disgusting!'" (p. 22).  The boys' dad is a teacher, so he gets to have a special meal too: rare grilled steak with mushrooms and peppers.  And finally, "Papa had a small portion of everyone's meal, making, he said, a most fascinating study in how something can be less than the sum of its parts." (p. 22).  Whew - that is a lot of cooking - and eating!

Yes, there is a Papa and a Dad in this story and the matter of fact way this is treated by Levy gives me hope for more books where the emphasis is on the family structure, not who is within it.  While the Fletchers are all used to their family and how it operates, though, that isn't true of all of their community.  In the novel, Eli starts at a new school (more on that later), and as they arrive at a open house, Eli realizes that his family is a little overwhelming.  "Eli had been so worried about what his family would think of his school that he hadn't really though about how the school would react to his family. But as they trooped in, Eli couldn't help seeing them through new eyes... 'These are my dads' - he gestured behind him - 'and my brothers.'  Hoping desperately that was enough of an introduction, Eli swooped into his seat." (p.30-31).  Of course, people have questions, but the Fletchers mostly seem to attract attention because they are loud, rowdy boys, not so much because they have two dads. All four boys are adopted and are a mix of races, which can lead to more enquiries.  Eli thinks "He wasn't embarrassed about his family - it wasn't that.  It was just...there were so many of them.  And so many boys.  He knew the questions were coming." (p. 32)  The boys answer questions from Eli's new classmates as a family, united and secure in their story, although slightly defensive when kids get a bit too nosy.

But this novel is about the family at this time, not really how they became a family.  Each boy has their own story during the book as they navigate the school year.  We'll start with the youngest, Frog.  Frog is just beginning Kindergarten, and at dinner on the first day of school, Frog announces that he's met a new friend.  Her name is Ladybug Li, and she has three sisters and two moms.  This is all too much of a coincidence for anyone to believe.  They are already primed to be suspicious of Frog's information.  "Frog had what his preschool teacher had called an engaging and encompassing imaginary world, which Sam figured pretty much meant he was nuts.  Papa and Dad, of course, thought an imaginary cheetah under the bed was perfectly normal. " (p. 23)  Frog continues to insist throughout the year that Ladybug Li is real, but no one believes him.  And she is never at the birthday parties Frog attends, and she isn't in the phone directory...you can understand why everyone questions Frog's integrity.

Sam, who is entering sixth grade, has a great group of friends and plays soccer competitively.  Jax describes his brother this way: "Sam was royalty, kind of like a carnivore with a bunch of gazelles and zebras and wildebeests around him." (p. 7)  Sam's plan for the year involves preparing for the Elite team tryouts in the spring.  Getting on that team really requires plenty of practices, workouts, and an incredible amount of focus and determination.  But then Sam tells stories at the Fletcher Halloween party, and then kids ask him to tell stories during lunch period.  This leads to the director of the school play asking Sam to audition.  "She must have been joking - he'd never acted in his life.  Not that there was anything wrong with it, but he wasn't the type of kid.  He was the play-sports-every-recess type, the make-the-A-team-in-soccer type, the can't-wait-for-the-high-school-ski-team type.  Not the sing-and-dance-onstage type.  Obviously." (p. 93)  And suddenly Sam finds himself taking a risk, trying something unexpected, and possibly putting his soccer dreams on hold.

Then there is Eli.  At the start of the year, Eli is thrilled to be starting at a different school than his brothers.  He's been accepted at the Pinnacle School.  "A school where everyone was the smart kid sounded awesome.  A school where he didn't get 'rewarded' for already knowing the work by being allowed to sit and read quietly in the corner." (p. 15)  The school is expensive, and a huge shift for Eli.  "His parents hadn't been sure it was the right choice, but he knew it was." (p. 16)  This school has a lot of rigor, and doesn't believe in distractions like recess.  As the year continues on, Eli wonders if this is really the place for him.  This is the first big decision he's made for himself.  What if this was the wrong choice? 

Finally, Jax's story involves the whole family.  On the very first day of school, his fourth grade teacher announces a year-long Veteran's Project.  The students find a veteran and interview them about their experiences.  They will also research the war that veteran fought in.  The family realizes that their new next door neighbor, Mr. Nelson, is a Vietnam veteran.  The problem is that Mr. Nelson doesn't seem to like the Fletchers very much.  The boys always seem to be doing something wrong in Mr. Nelson's eyes.  After a contest to see who can hit the car horn harder gets the horn stuck, "Mr. Nelson had roared, threatening to call the police.  Eli had thought it was ridiculous.  It wasn't like they'd enjoyed the forty-five minutes it had taken to find the right fuse to turn the thing off any more than he had." (p. 14)  Diplomacy with Mr. Nelson will require effort from each of the Fletchers in order to get Jax's project completed.

There is so much life going on in this book.  Like any family, they have their ups and downs, but they work through things together.  The characters are dynamic and human.  Papa's sister, Lucy, lives in New York City and is a famous baker.  Frog loves to visit her because "best of all, when they were with her, she told them that, unless it endangered their health or well-being, the answer to any question would be yes." (p. 97)  Best aunt ever!  Every person in the book is full of personality and humor, even the cranky Mr. Nelson.  It keeps the book lively and chaotic, just like family life.

And that is what I love most about The Misadventures of the Family Fletcher.  It is full of family life.  Levy includes the snapshots of everyday rituals as well as the traditions that matter to this family.  In the nine months that elapse during this novel, there are bound to be some of both.  But there is also the family magic - the support, love, listening and guidance that make a family work successfully.  At the beginning of the book, Papa says that the meal he ate is less than the sum of its parts.  Once you've met the family Fletcher, you realize that their strength is the sum of all of them.  I'd like to read another book about the Fletcher family - they've won my heart.

The Misadventures of the Family Fletcher.  Dana Alison Levy.  Delacorte Press, 2014.

borrowed from the Lewis & Clark Library

Mighty Dads

In the past few weeks, I've been thinking a lot about dads.  It's only natural at this time of year, after all, since Father's Day was just a few weeks ago.  But I'm also getting ready to blog about The Misadventures of the Family Fletcher later this week, and that's a really great book about dads.  I've known that I wanted to blog about this picture book, Mighty Dads, for awhile, and I was lucky enough that Scholastic was willing to give me a copy to review.

Mighty Dads is illustrated by James Dean, of Pete the Cat fame, which made this book a favorite with Frances and Gloria.  But I knew that this book would be a perfect match for a father/son pair who are very dear to me.  Since the son is making his blog debut here, he'll need an alias, just like the girls have.  The post where I talk about why I chose their aliases is here, and many of the reasons I chose those names are  still true today, more than three years later.  And if you know Russell Hoban' books, you will know that Frances has a best friend named Albert.  Perfect for our young friend, who I will now refer to as Albert.  My Albert turns four in two weeks.  He is full of imagination and chatter, and is blessedly flexible about playing with any and all of the girls' toys.  He is also a big library fan, and whenever we go, Albert requests books about diggers, cranes, dump trucks, and construction sites.  Albert is sweet, loving, funny and all boy in his fascination with construction equipment.  Frances and Gloria never cared very much about those sorts of vehicles, so it's fun to learn new facts about them as Albert does.

Each construction vehicle father in this story takes their child to work with them.  On each two page spread, the father teaches the child how to do the job they'll share.  "Bulldozer Strong shows Dozy right from wrong.  They go roar, roar, roar!"  The simple text (just two sentences per spread) is rhythmic and easy to predict.  Listeners will enjoy chiming in with the sound that vehicle makes.  I can imagine a storytime getting progressively louder with each repetition.  It might also be fun to make the story more physical, acting out the various jobs.  The cranes reach, the cement mixer and his child go spin, spin, pour.  There are all sorts of applications for this story.

Another thing I love about this book is the way the fathers engage with the younger vehicles.  They are guiding their children through the routines of their everyday jobs, but they also are there to protect and support their children.  The text in the beginning of the book states that Mighty Dads "keep them safe and bolted tight and show them how to build things right."  That emphasis on doing their job correctly is referred to throughout the book.  These dads take pride in what they do for a job, in doing it well, and teaching their children to do the job successfully also.  And they don't neglect the fun, either.  "Dump Truck Sturdy teaches Dumpy to get dirty."  Isn't that the best part of a construction zone?  There are so many opportunities to do a dirty day's work.

While the fathers exhibit patience, strength and pride, the young vehicles show their energy and enthusiasm.  They want to be 'just like Dad'.  Each of the little vehicles looks just like a mini version of their father.  While they are trying to do their father's work, the younger versions always produce just a little less than their dads.  Junior Crane has to work on hauling girders on the shorter side of the building; his dad, Crane Long Arm, is delivering beam on the taller side.  Same with the dump trucks - Dumpy's pile of dirt is dwarfed by what his father has delivered. But the child's contribution is just as worthy.  I love the nicknames Holub has created for the equipment too - there's Boom Truck Tall and Boomer, Excavator Big and Vator (I sort of wish this father/child pair were dressed all in black to give off the Darth Vader vibe).  The nicknames keep each family related, but also keeps the personalities distinct.

Dean's illustrations are a perfect match for this story.  The backgrounds are simple and bright, keeping the focus on the equipment and their actions.  On the excavator page, there is a huge swath of blue sky framing the bright orange excavators.  The excavator pair balances on the brown dirt, their scoops digging out the earth below.  It helps create a sense of perspective for the reader, too.  Excavator Big fills most of one side of the spread, while little Vator is even smaller than the adjoining text.

The most winning part of the illustrations are Dean's trademark faces incorporated into the vehicle windows.  There is so much personality embued just by the slant of a large eye.  The crane's long arm resembles a pointy nose because of the eye placement.  Looking at the father-child pairs is so much fun.  The solid primary colors from the backgrounds continue on to the vehicles themselves.  It gives a sense of play to the construction work.  They are bright, attractive, yet simply drawn - the way construction equipment should be.  Each father is plain and hard-working, and proud of it.

And those hard-working fathers are proud of their children too.  When the day of work is done, they celebrate their children's achievements: "When their rumble day is through - Mighty Dads say 'I'm proud of you! Tomorrow let's build something new!'"  I love that the fathers end the day looking forward to spending the next with their children!  And everyone is fast asleep as the book ends.

This book is going to be well-loved by Albert and his dad, and I can't wait to share it with them.  Here's to a fun day spent together!

Mighty Dads. By Joan Holub; pictures by James Dean.  Scholastic Press, 2014.

sent by the publisher on request.

The Misadventures of the Family Fletcher - 48 Hour Book Challenge

I just finished another book - yay!  I'm feeling pretty accomplished today.  I just finished The Misadventures of the Family Fletcher, and I am actually not going to say too much about it, because this was a re-read before writing a blog post.  I have two books that I'd like to post about in the next few days around Father's Day, and this is one of them.  So I'll keep my thoughts to myself for now. 

With chapter books, I tend to read them twice, at least, before I blog about them - the first time I might just be identifying that this a book I'd like to write about, so the second time I re-read looking for themes or quotes I'd like to write about.  Sometimes this second read takes longer, because I am making connections.  Sometimes it takes longer because while I have a feeling about the book, I can't exactly figure out what I'd like to say.  Sometimes it takes longer because I just don't have the time to sit down and work it all out.  I'm happy that I had had some time to think about the themes I wanted to use already, and that I had the time to re-read all at once.  Now on to writing about it...actually, I think I'll keep reading first!

Current Reading Time: 6 hours reading + 1 hour blogging = 7 hours total so far
Books Finished: 3


The Misadventures of the Family Fletcher.  Dana Allison Levy.  Delacorte, 2014.

borrowed from the Lewis & Clark Library

Alice in Lace

It has been a long, long time since I wrote about Alice.  My last post was here, two years ago!  I feel like I should apologize to Alice - I had a new book read and ready to blog right after that.  It just took a really, really long time for it to make its way to the top of the pile!  I am really looking forward to continuing in this series, particularly since while I was taking that break, Phyllis Reynolds Naylor published the final book in the series, Now I'll Tell You Everything  . I can't wait to see how Alice grows up.

How could Alice be old enough to get married?  It hasn't been that long!!  She isn't, really... but their eighth grade calls is doing a unit in health class called Critical Choices.  As part of that unit, students are given hypothetical situations to learn about.  They have a new teacher, Mr. Everett, and he tells them "' Your grade will depend not necessarily on how you deal with your problem, but on the larger view you take.  I'll want to know how your solution affects you, the people around you, society, the works.'" (p. 2)  It's interesting that even though Mr. Everett explains that they'll be assigned hypothetical issues, everyone is worried about how they'll handle it, or how this hypothetical situation will be judged by others.  Alice's best friends, Elizabeth and Pamela, are total opposites - Elizabeth is more conservative, a little pious, and uncomfortable with the way things change as they grow up.  Pamela is free-spirited and slightly devil-may-care.  The two girls are both thinking about the same potential assignment, and their responses couldn't be more different.  Pamela jokes about the possibility of pregnancy being assigned to her.  "But Elizabeth worried that if she got the assignment for teenage pregnancy, she might have to go to the doctor for her first pelvic exam just so she could write it up for her report.  She's hopeless." (p. 3)

When the assignments are passed out, Alice and Patrick (who is Alice's boyfriend) are assigned to be married.  Mr. Everett's assignment asks them to plan a wedding, honeymoon, rent an apartment, find furniture and create a realistic budget.  Alice thinks this is an exciting idea, but Patrick isn't quite so thrilled.  Their friend Pamela is supposed to be pregnant, just the situation she joked about, and luckily Elizabeth is only buying a car.  Pamela asks Mr. Everett what she could possibly have to decide if she's already pregnant, and he chides her "'There are 'what ifs' all over the place.  That's what this class is about.  Thinking thinks through before they happen.  Planning your life instead of letting events decide things for you. '" (p. 7)

Alice's ongoing story throughout the series (if you haven't been reading the series from the beginning like I have) has the added theme of grief.  Her mother died of cancer when Alice was five.  Alice barely remembers her, but her older brother Lester (who is seven years older) remembers her much more vividly.  In Alice in Lace, Lester turns 21, and Alice and her father celebrate with him.  Lester asks them: "' Do you remember the way she always brought a Kleenex to the table when she carried in a birthday cake with candles?' Dad looked puzzled for a moment. 'Now that you mention it, I guess I do.' 'I always thought that it was because she was emotional about our growing up and had a tissue ready in case she cried', Lester said. 'I didn't find out till much later that the smoke from the candles always set off her allergies, and that's why she blew her nose.'" (p. 39).  They all laugh at this idea, and the story brings back warm memories.  But Alice can't help wishing she remembered more about her mother, so she can participate in these conversations too.

With Alice planning her hypothetical wedding and Lester turning 21, their mother is never far from all of their hearts.  At the end of the unit, the class decides to throw a wedding for Patrick and Alice.  While trying on dresses at Pamela's house, Alice thinks of how this might have been different.  "I was thinking how, when the big day really came, if it did ever come, my mother wouldn't be a part of it.  She couldn't help me choose the dress, couldn't help with the flowers or invitations, wouldn't be there smiling at me in the first row.  I reached up and wiped my eyes before anyone could notice, but I felt a big hole in my chest, an empty place that nothing could fill." (p. 134).  What I like about Naylor's depiction of the family's grief is that it is very natural.  The waves of their sadness come and go, and it's at "big" moments where she is particularly missed.

One very poignant moment happens late in the book.  Alice is trying to grasp a little of the realities of a wedding and a honeymoon, and late one night she goes in to her dad's room to talk about it.  "I was just about to knock and go in when I saw him standing by his closet, his back to me. ...And he had his face buried in it, like he was, well, drinking in the scent.  I couldn't move.  I couldn't go backward or forward.  It was Mom's robe.  I don't know how I knew, but I knew.  And after a long moment, I saw his shoulders rise, as though he were taking a deep breath, and then he slowly hung it on a hanger again, and put it at one end of his closet." (p. 143-4)  This scene helps readers understand that the cycles of grief continue on, and that sometimes you need the support of that person, even after they're gone.

There is one other component to Alice in Lace.  Naylor quite often weaves social issues into her plots.  I mentioned earlier that Mr. Everett is a new teacher at their school, but not how young and cute he seems to his students.  "Mr. Everett was probably about thirty and really tall, maybe six foot five, wore Dockers, and rolled his shirtsleeves up above his elbows.  A younger version of Brad Pitt, Pamela described him.  His smile was what got to us.  It was warm.  Friendly.  You couldn't call it flirtatious.  He just gave the impression of really loving his job." (p. 1-2).  A cute teacher, talking about hypothetical life situations including marriage and pregnancy...is this setting off alarm bells yet?  One of the female students, Jill, decides she doesn't like the assignment she is given (to plan a funeral for her grandmother) and asks to have it switched.  Mr. Everett very diplomatically refuses.  She goes to see him after school to ask again, and he again refuses.  Alice is in the room when it happens, but Jill doesn't see her.  Alice, however, describes what happened.  "He tucked his papers under one arm, and gave her a quick hug  with the other as he headed for the door. 'Come on now, Jill. You can do it.' he said, and he was gone." (p. 93).  Jill wants to punish Mr. Everett for not allowing her to change her assignment, and she tells the other students that Mr. Everett made comments about her body in the conversation Alice observed.  Then Mr. Everett is suspended for the alleged actions, and Alice realizes that she has to speak up about what she saw that day.

All of these plots, which sound very disparate and isolated, actually come together in a very realistic way.  I continue to love Alice' growing-up journey.  Even as an adult, many of the things Alice and her family go through resonate with me.  Does that mean I've never grown up?  On the contrary, I prefer to think that Naylor's books just continue to be relevant.  Looking forward to Alice's next experiences.

Alice in Lace.  Phyllis Reynolds Naylor.  Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 1996.

from my own collection.

Waggers

One of the biggest things that happened to us this summer is that we got a new kitten.  We already have a 12 year old cat, Gus.  He is the elder statesman (and had been the token male) of our little house.  In Gus' opinion, at 12, he had earned the right to be grouchy whenever he pleased, and to expect a certain level of attention and service.  Gus is a tuxedo cat (black with white paws and stomach).  One day, I was walking down the hall at work and noticed that a co-worker was advertising for adoption who would become known at our house as Figaro.

He matches Gus almost exactly in markings, which made me decide he was meant to be ours.  It was a fairly spur of the moment decision.  Figaro (or Figgy as the girls call him) came from the rescue group RezQ Dogs.  They are a great group, as most rescue groups are.  Within a couple of days, Figaro was home with us, and that was when the wild rumpus began!  He has his quirks, some of which are due to his humble beginnings (there is never enough food for him, EVER) and some are just because he is still young (our Christmas tree is tightly to the wall this year and has no ornaments on it because he's already scaled it multiple times!).  But one thing still holds true about him - when I first looked at his poster, my co-worker told me "Figaro has never met a person he didn't like."  And we are lucky that that continues - he is friendly, purrs like crazy, and puts up with the girls constantly carrying him around.

So when I read the summary of Waggers, it struck a chord in me.  Waggers is a puppy who tries so hard to be good.  He wants nothing more than to be loved.  But there's a problem almost immediately - "...when they picked Waggers up, his tail twirled so hard it sent the other puppies flying." The sign mentions that the puppies are razortail whippets, but Waggers' tail is truly incredible.  The children looking at him fall in love with Waggers, and beg to take him home.  Their parents agree, believing "It's only a tail.  How much harm could it do?"  Famous last words.

Waggers is a really sweet dog.  He is helpful.  When Michael sees a monster, Waggers leaps into action.  He creeps over to the sofa, stalking the "monster" (really Michael's father).  He jumps onto the monster's shoes to protect Michael.  But that tail keeps getting Waggers into trouble.  And when Waggers gets the inevitable scolding, there is the regular refrain: "He tried to be good.  He tried really hard.  But his tail got in the way."

As the weeks go on, Waggers does a really good job of protecting his people from all sorts of things (like an "alien invasion' - really, squirrels), exploring his new home, and learning new tricks.  Or at least, he really intends to do all those things.  The reality is that he rips down curtains, lets water spill out of the washer, and generally resembles a tornado.

Sadly, Moni and Michael's parents decide to find a new home for Waggers.  They believe he needs a place where his tail won't cause so much havoc.  On his last night at their house, Moni and Michael decide to have a campout with Waggers.  Once the children fall asleep, Waggers gets an itch.  He wags and wags and wags until the itch goes away and he finally falls into a deep sleep.  In the morning, when Waggers and his family wake up, there is a surprise for all of them.  Waggers and his unruly tail have tidied up the yard!  And now Waggers' tail is in high demand instead of being a huge problem.

The resolution is one of the things I love most about this book.  Waggers' family isn't really prepared for the demands of a puppy, and I can definitely relate to that!  Waggers' tail is enormous and it has a mind of its own.  It is only when the family thinks outside the box that what they have seen as a negative actually becomes a positive.  Waggers loves helping others with their yards and other home improvement tasks (he's especially good at painting!).  And when he returns home each night, he's calm, has burned off all his excess energy, and is ready to be loved by his family again.

The illustrations are a great match for the text.  They are super expressive and full of energy.  And that tail is the naughtiest, funniest part!  It rips and whips apart shoes, tables, the kitchen and everything in its path.  It slithers, curls and waves while the humans crouch and cower.  Ultimately, though, it's Waggers' personality that wins over the day.

At our house, Figaro has developed an insatiable love for paper.  He loves to reach over and tease up a corner of a stray piece.  Once the corner is standing up, he starts shredding.  You can tell how much he loves the way it feels, so we've learned to not leave out much paper.  Maybe we can turn that negative into a positive too, like Waggers' family...maybe we can get him to shred confidential information?  In the meantime, we love him as much as Waggers' family loves Waggers!

Thanks again to Stacy Nyikos for appearing.  For other stops on the Waggers blog tour please check http://www.stacyanyikos.com/blog.html.

Waggers.  Written by Stacy Nyikos; illustrated by Tamara Anegon.  Sky Pony Press, 2014.

Building Our House

I have never, ever been someone who wanted to tackle home construction.  I don't have the vision to see how this room or that might look differently with a wall torn down.  I also really, really dislike the dust and mess of remodeling, the noise of construction, the various headaches of planning and purchasing and completion.  Once when I was in my early teens, my family embarked on a home remodeling and expansion project.  It took place at the other end of our house from my bedroom.  I doubt I was inconvenienced in any way.  Yet it had an impact on me, though I remember very little of the process.  For the family in Building Our House, it has a very different impact.

The very first page shows the little family (mom, dad and two children) crammed into the front seat of an old pickup truck.  On the title page, they are shown packing everything they own into that truck.  As they turn in to their new lot,  the truck is crammed high with those belongings, covered with an old tarp.  The narrator says "Today is moving day.  We left our old house  in the city and are moving to the country."  As the pages move on, it turns out that the family is building their own house (which you might have suspected from the title!), on a lot where a house has never been before.  They believe have everything they need to get started - tools, plans, and that truck.  The narrator (who is now revealed as the perhaps four year old  daughter) tells us the truck's name is Willys.

As the family gets started, some help arrives.  The little girl describes when the trailer where they'll live arrive.  Then a truck arrives with a drill to drill for water, and later the electric company comes to raise wires.  After water and gas are installed to help make the little trailer ready for them, the family launches into purchasing and gathering supplies.  She states that her dad works at a job in town during the week, so they do all the work on the weekends. 

Her Grandpa comes to dig the foundation with a backhoe, once her dad has staked out the property.  The hard labor begins in earnest now, framing, pouring concrete, shaping lumber.  As the winter approaches (the second winter of this project already!) they work harder than ever to complete the house.  There are fundamental pieces that must be in place before the snow - chimney, roof, siding and windows.  But, as often happens, the winter winds and storms arrive early.

The little family is finally in the house as the snow grows thick upon the ground, but there is still much to do, including the all-important plumbing, electricity, insulation and other  crucial, slow steps.  Finally, the home is ready and there is a moving party to welcome the family home.  The little girl (who has grown a lot older over the 18-ish months took place), notes "Once the moving is done everyone goes back to their homes, but my family stays right where we are.  It's our very first night in our new home."  This is a satisfying ending to all the work, and in fact even to the readers it feels like an enormous accomplishment.

There have been other big events that take place over the course of the book, if you are careful to examine the illustrations.  When the family first arrives at the field where they'll build, a stray cat is stalking through the weeds.  As the time continues, you can see that same cat first being fed outside, frolicking with the children, and once they've all moved inside the new house, giving birth to kittens that also become part of the family.  And there is a new addition to the human family during the house building too.  Once the family begins living inside, the mother's stomach is unmistakably ungainly with a new baby.  As they move in, officially, you can spot the new baby nestled in her arms.

I've referred to the detail in the illustrations but they are really such a great match to Bean's story.  Even though I've highlighted some of the changes, there are many other items to pore over as the year goes by.  The father often looks haggard and frazzled, as a father working full-time while building a house might.  The mother is clearly more architecturally-inclined - she studies the plans and does all the measuring.  She also does her fair share of the construction work too.  It is fun to see a gopher pop up in the field from time to time, clearly not deterred by the cat.

There is poetry in the writing, as well.  One of my favorite scenes is this one: "On a clear, cold night Dad sets the corners of the foundation by the North Star.  One wall will face north to ward off the wind, one east to welcome the morning, one south to soak in the sun, and one west to see out the day."  That is beautiful writing - I can feel the winter night, the care that went into choosing each corner of the foundation.  This is just the beginning of the process, but it needs to be right.

There are many things I love about this family and this story.  I cannot imagine the vision this took, the persistence throughout the long winters, the strength and energy to keep working when it got hard or overwhelming.  I love that this is truly a family project - on every page, everyone is working, even the children.  Sure, they have fun, hiding under wheelbarrows or splashing in wading pools, but the children also help measure, tote lumber and help lay insulation.  They are involved, and it's a family accomplishment.  And when the work cannot be finished by their little unit, their extended family comes.  Aunts and uncles help with the frame-raising and I've already mentioned Grandpa coming with the backhoe.

One of the best parts about this story is the author's note.  Bean explains that this book was inspired by his own parents building their house.  He includes photos from that time in his life, and it's so enchanting to see these photos echoed on the previous spreads.  I think this sentence summarizes both families very nicely: "My parents thought of themselves as homesteaders and brought to housebuilding a pioneering spirit of ingenuity and independence."  This was truly a leap of faith, but it paid off in some amazing ways.

Building Our House. Jonathan Bean.  Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 2013.

Borrowed from Lewis & Clark Library.

Theseus and the Minotaur

"Adventure, mythology, and a Minotaur!

What's not to like?"

 - Frank Cammuso

(from back cover)

I'm not sure I've ever written about Greek or Roman mythology on my blog.  While I've read books of both kinds, I think mythology didn't really come to life for me until I read the Percy Jackson series, much like many readers today.  I've always loved the clever way that Rick Riordan weaves multiple strands of the myths together.  But this first book in the TOON Graphics for Visual Readers series, Theseus and the Minotaur, brings a reality to the myths, brings them to life.

The story opens with a man retelling this myth to two young people on a boat.  He reminds them (and the reader) "This is an ancient one, a heroic tale that has been told thousands of times, transformed by generations of narrators with fertile imaginations." (p. 9)  It is a terrific opening, particularly because this story has many layers of gods and men and wars.  So many layers that I am not sure I can even sum it all up successfully in a way that makes sense.  But I'll try!

Pommaux weaves two strands of the myth together to create one storyline.  First there is the story of Theseus' mother, Aethra.  On the same day, she was in a "watery embrace" with Poseidon, and met and married King Aegeus in secret.  Later, when she delivered her baby boy, Theseus, she believed he had two fathers - a god and a king.  In the meantime, King Aegeus had returned to his country (where he was married to another woman, Medea) and his worries about his country's impending struggle with the island of Crete.  Crete's ruler, Minos had some son issues of his own.  His son, Asterion, was born of his wife's love for a beautiful white bull, and was "monstrous" (p. 15) - half-man, half-bull.  Asterion is better known as the Minotaur.  In order to keep Crete safe from the Minotaur, Minos built a labyrinth.  He ordered Aegeus to bring him tributes on a regular basis.  Those tributes would go into the labyrinth and never return.

Whew! Dizzy yet?  I have to admit, I read this story a few times through before I was able to distill it into its core facts.  And this isn't because Pommaux adds in unnecessary details or spends too much time creating a family tree.  On the contrary, Pommaux uses descriptive language, but in a simple style of writing.  For instance, "Crazed with grief, Minos threatened to wage war against Aegeus unless, every nine years, he sent seven Athenian young men and seven Athenian young women to the Labyrinth." (p. 19)  I love how Pommaux describes Minos as crazed with grief.  I think that is a term that readers may not come across often, but it gives a strong explanation to Minos' actions.  But I digress...

The reason it is so difficult to simplify this text into a couple of paragraphs of summary is because the mythology is complicated.  There are reasons why the humans in this story act the ways they do - love, pride, anger, fear, bravery.  There are reasons, too, why the gods act the way they do - jealousy, temptation, boredom.  All of those individual emotions and actions wreak havoc with the lives down below.  Minos is responsible for appeasing the gods, and asks for a sign from Poseidon.  Poseidon sends a glorious bull, but demands it be sacrificed to him.  Minos ignores Poseidon because he thinks the bull is so beautiful.  So Poseidon gets angry and makes Minos' wife fall in love with the bull.  And we all know how that ends...with the Minotaur.

There are certain themes that Pommaux brings up in the text over and over again.  One of those is the contradiction between free will and fate.  It is Minos' free will that keeps him from doing what Poseidon requires and sacrificing the bull.  Is it his wife's fate to be in love with a bull, or to be the mother of the Minotaur?  Or is it not fate, because Poseidon created this situation as a punishment for Minos?  Minos is a particularly fascinating character to me.  He is proud, brash, a little bit ugly (both physically and in character), yet he never seems to learn from either his punishments or his mistakes.  He sends his beloved son, Androgeous, to Athens, to boast of his strength and might.  Minos loves his son very much, but it is more important to Minos to show him off.  And of course, Minos risks Androgeos' life by doing so.  I feel a little bit of pity for Minos and his bull-headedness.

There are many, many things to discuss in this story - brains v. brawn, the father-son relationships that we see depicted, the idea of the labyrinth... And these multiple themes point out that this is a leap for TOON Books.  Their previous titles have been mostly aimed at beginning readers (with the exception of The Secret of the Stone Frog).  This book marks the start of a new series of titles.  These TOON Graphics for Visual Readers are exciting in their own right.  The books are larger in size (8 1/2 x 11), but the covers have the same smooth, high quality feel.  If you couldn't tell from the summary of the myth, the subject matter is also suited to a slightly older reader.  The fact that the myth is so complex, and rich with thematic matter, means there is lots to discuss with older readers.  To aid in discussion, there is a list of possible questions on the inside back cover.

In this title in the series, I am also really pleased with the shift towards nonfiction.  Not many publishers pay attention to all of the little details that make a book useful in the classroom.  And there are many details that are used effectively here.  There is a map of the action on the front inside cover, pronunciation of the Greek names throughout the text, further reading and an illustrated index.  And if all of that wasn't enough, there is my favorite part - trading card sized text boxes that remind readers of all of the main characters in this story.  The "trading cards" include facts about the characters' families, birth places, siblings, and the meaning of their names.  There is so much supplemental information included here.

I can't wait to explore other titles in this series and I will share them with you in the coming weeks.  If you are interested in more information about the series, there was a great article about TOON Books in the New York Times a few weeks ago, located here.  For now, Theseus and the Minotaur is a great place to start.

Theseus and the Minotaur.  Yvan Pommaux.  TOON Books, 2014.

sent by the publisher for review

Confessions of a Book Dad - Guest Post

Note to readers:  This is OBVIOUSLY a guest post, since I'm not a dad :)  But it is exactly how I feel about my girls and reading too.  I was lucky enough to connect with David Simon through the Summer Author Promo Blitz.  This is my second year participating, and I love the authors I've connected with so far!!  His new book is called Trapped in Lunch Lady Land, and it's a great choice for middle grade readers (and funny too!).  Without further ado, here is David's great post:

 

I’m a book dad.

 

I was a book kid and a book teen, on a first name basis with my local librarian, my nose always buried in one crumbling, broken-spined paperback or another. I know many intelligent, successful adults who put away books when they reached adulthood and never looked back. Not me. I kept right on reading, and became a book guy. When it turned out the woman I fell in love with and married was also a reader, it came as no real surprise.

 

When our son was born, reading to him seemed as natural as feeding and changing him, and just as integral to his proper care. Pat the Bunny, Goodnight Moon and The Very Hungry Caterpillar were early favorites. You just can’t go wrong with the classics. Eric was a young reader, also not much of a surprise. He devoured Magic Treehouse and Boxcar Children books, inhaled Goosebumps and Hardy Boys. We took turns reading the first Harry Potter book to him, a chapter each night, completely enthralled. My wife and I made a pact not to read ahead. I admit here, for the first time, that I sometimes cheated. Eric read the second Potter book by himself, and the die was cast. He was a book kid.

 

My daughter Hannah, born two years after Eric, not so much. She loved being read to, but the reading bug never really bit her. In a house filled to overflowing with books, she often had trouble finding something that interested her. She was, and is, smart and creative, a wonderful writer and musician, but finding a book that demanded her attention was challenging. When it did happen, she read and reread them obsessively. Harry Potter did the trick, as did Angus, Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging and its sequels, and the Mates, Dates books. Hunger Games had our entire family reading, in shifts. (By the time Mockingjay came along, we gave up and bought multiple copies for the house.) The same thing happened with The Fault In Our Stars.

 

Our second daughter, McKenna, is also a reader. She’s 14 now. Her friends and her pass around books like they are sacred objects, from the aforementioned Fault In Our Stars to Divergent and The Mortal Instruments books. They write fan fic, and talk about their favorite characters as if they were real. In a way, the best way, I guess they are.

 

As a book dad, I love recommending favorites to my kids. Sometimes it’s easy. Eric is 21 now, and we have virtually the same taste in fiction. We buy each other books all the time, and it’s always something we want to read as well. Recent choices include The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman, Stephen King’s Doctor Sleep, The Girl With All the Gifts by M.R. Carey, Lev Grossman’s Magician trilogy and Jo Walton’s Among Others. We have two main points of disagreement. One is e-readers, which I have accepted as a necessary, and convenient, evil, but which he refuses to truck with. I sometimes purchase something on my Kindle I know he desperately wants to read, just to entice him, but so far he’s resisted. The other concerns the subject of rereading, which I rarely do. Too many novels I haven’t yet read, is my position. Eric has reread Ender’s Game and His Dark Materials so many times that he’s had to buy new copies.

 

Recommending books to my daughters is much more hit and miss. McKenna may be a reader, but at least at the moment, her friend’s picks carry more weight than mine, and she likes what she likes. She currently favors, quote, “Dystopian series with a love interest.” Luckily for her, there are plenty of those floating around. I did score with Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs and The Coldest Girl In Coldtown by Holly Black. Hannah is the toughest nut to crack, but when I recommend something she likes, it’s uniquely satisfying. Dorothy Allison’s Bastard Out of Carolina and Lynda Barry’s Cruddy are dark, challenging novels that I love, and that Hannah connected with. I’m hoping to get her to try Geek Love next.

 

For the record, all three kids have read Trapped In Lunch Lady Land. Without threats, even.

 

I’m a lot of things, like most people. A husband and father, a graphic designer and illustrator, a published author, a soccer sideline cheerleader. And proudly, a book dad.

 

David Simon has a new book out, Trapped in Lunch Lady Land.  Check it out of your nearest library, or it is available at bookstores near you!!

 

The Crown of Columbus

I just finished The Crown of Columbus.  I had read it quite a few years ago (I'm sure more than 15 years ago!), and I couldn't remember more than that I had liked it a lot.  I am reading it this time as part of my ongoing quest to read all of Louise Erdrich's books.  I first started this project here, when I read Grandmother's Pigeon and then The Range Eternal.  Since then, I've been reading some of her adult novels in chronological order.  This time, I found The Crown of Columbus completely absorbing again.  I couldn't stop reading it and carrying it around.  The juxtaposition of voices in it was mesmerizing.  I liked Vivian's voice better than Roger's, but I suspect that was his personality at first too.  This is historical fiction, romance, and mystery all wrapped up in one, and it is an amazing story.  The ending is what I expected, and yet not.  I found myself caught up in the rhythms of the poetry and prose.  A great, great story, and so different from some of Erdrich's other work.

The Crown of Columbus.  Michael Dorris, Louise Erdrich.  Harper Perennial, 1991.

The Range Eternal

I am looking forward to the long weekend - how about you?  We have had lots of rain, so it's time to get into the garden and start digging.  But I also just finished that big project I mentioned (the one with LOTS of writing) and it's time to celebrate this weekend!  Of course, I am going to celebrate by catching up on some blog posts.  I am going to start by offering you a post about one of Louise Erdrich's picture books, The Range Eternal.  This post was my first one in my goal to read all of Erdrich's books, both for children and adults.  I am also reading Love Medicine right now, although I'm reading so many things that it is taking a back seat.  And this goal is a long-term goal, not one I want to race through in this year.  So when I returned Grandmother's Pigeon to the OPI library, I wasn't planning on writing another post about Erdrich so soon.  Two days later, I was browsing the shelves at our local public library, and found The Range Eternal in the picture book section.  Both The Range Eternal and Grandmother's Pigeon  are family stories - memories of a time and place.  But while Grandmother in Grandmother's Pigeon is quirky and magical, this family story is heartfelt and poetic.

It opens with a young girl, who is stirring soup with her mother.  They are creating soup from what is at hand, not using a recipe.  "No two soups were ever the same."  The one constant in all of these soups is The Range Eternal.  That's the name of their blue enameled wood stove, the heart of their family and their home.  The stove isn't just used for cooking - it also keeps them warm throughout the frigid North Dakota winters.  The little girl sleeps  as close to the stove's heat as she can at night.  She does this not only to stay warm but also to stay safe from her fears.  She believes that Windigo, the ice monster, lurks just outside her house.  But she knows The Range Eternal will keep the family safe and protected.

The Range Eternal also creates pictures within its flames.  Those flames invite the young girl into the past of the plains, when animals ran free on a different type of eternal range.  Her family relies on this stove for everything for many years.  It is a part of their family, for better or worse - with all the chores that go into getting the stove going each morning, and all winter long.  Then, inevitably, electricity comes to their home.  When electricity comes, then the Range Eternal is no longer needed, and is replaced.  The young girl, now telling the story from her point of view as an adult and mother, yearns still for the Range Eternal, that "center of true warmth", until she find a stove of her own.  She finds that it doesn't just warm her body, it warms her soul.

Erdrich's writing is incredibly poetic and evocative without sounding too sentimental.  On the first page, when the girl and her Mama are making soup, the girl cuts onions.  She marvels "As I cut the onions, I held a kitchen match between my teeth.  I still don't know why, but the match stopped my tears."  Of course, there is science behind the match trick, but that isn't the point.  There is magic in that moment, and in that stove.

It is the same with The Range Eternal and the Windigo.  The girl huddles in the dark, worrying about the ice monster at the door.  But there is a protective heat that emanates from The Range Eternal, one that reassures the scared girl.  She knows that "Those wind claws and ice teeth would melt away before I could be hurt."  The stove looms over the little girl in the illustration, strong, tough, durable and fiery hot.

The stove unites her whole family with its work - her brothers split wood to feed The Range Eternal.  In the freezing early dawn, her father gets up and starts to feed strips of birchbark into the stove to get the warmth going before the rest of the family rouses.  The girl watches as the logs catch fire: "The roar of the heat was loud as wind, but warm.  The night's fears seemed small."  As the wood stove is carted away, the girl notes that it is "still gleaming from Mama's polishing cloth" - the loving care that Mama took to make sure the stove continued to support all of them. While the stove requires a lot of the family - chopping, feeding it, keeping the fire going at the right temperature for both heat and cooking - it gives back to the family too.  When the stove is carted away, some of the work disappears too, which saves time and effort.  But the routine of cleaning and maintaining The Range Eternal was part of their family structure.

This is a story about the girl's whole family and their relationships with each other and the stove, but the most beautiful passages are about the girl's mother.  She cooks on that stove for every meal.  She bakes potatoes for the children to keep in their pockets on their trek to school.  In the mornings, the girl recalls that "by the time we got out of bed, Mama was standing at the stove.  With one hand, she stirred the oatmeal smooth.  The other sure hand reached for salt, sugar, sometimes raisins."  Her mother is always at the stove, moving around it, working with it.  The stove and her mother are the "center of true warmth" in their home and family.

The illustrations are dreamy, with large expanses of farmland and the North Dakota prairie.  In the paintings, color swirls around the page - there are wisps of steam above the soup, and on the stormy Windigo-filled nights, the wind whips almost audibly around the family's house.  The paintings are realistic, which is appropriate to the memoir style of the book.  But there is a hint of nostalgia and a bit of magic in these paintings too.  The stove is majestic and eternal, bright blue and shining silver.

The Range Eternal is a warm, gorgeous ode to a time that is not so long ago, and a reminder of the fact that we all sometimes need the warmth of our family and a bright blue stove.

The Range Eternal.  Louise Erdrich; paintings by Steve Johnson and Lou Fancher.  Hyperion Books for Children, 2002.

borrowed from Lewis & Clark Library

Sarah Dessen

I haven't written about the teen side of "From Tots to Teens" spectrum in a while.  I had been itching to write about teen books for a few months, but nothing seemed right.  And then after Christmas, I got a Facebook message from a friend, asking why I hadn't read Sarah Dessen's latest book, What Happened to Goodbye.  I wasn't sure why I hadn't, actually - I had bought it, more than a year ago, in hardcover.  It has basketball in it, my favorite sport.  I love Sarah Dessen's books and read them frequently, recommending them to friends.  And when my friend posted that question, I was looking for a good read.  I picked it up and read it in two days.  Then I went back to some of my favorite Sarah Dessen novels, because I was sick, searching, and badly in need of comfort reading.  In two weeks, I read four Sarah Dessen novels! Then another friend mentioned she had the Advance Readers' Copy of The Moon and More, her newest novel, which was very exciting!  I read that one in two days also!

I've read these books several times at different points in my life.  This time, I took four books (Just Listen, Lock and Key, Along for the Ride, and What Happened to Goodbye) and decided to write about one particular theme that was resonating with me.  Maybe it's because I'm a mom now, maybe it's just what has been on my mind lately.  Not only did I need comfort reading, but I needed to see families - all kinds of families.  They are all represented in Dessen's books.  Good ones, bad ones, healthy ones, dysfunctional ones.  What I think is most interesting about the way Dessen portrays these families is how the central characters, all teenagers, change how they see their families - their flaws, their good moments.  It connects the teens to their own families for a moment in time, and it can be magic.  

In Just Listen, Annabel is holding on to secrets.  She has spent the whole summer pretending that things will be the same when school starts, but of course, they aren't.  Her best friend, Sophie, hates her, has rejected her, and because Sophie is popular, now it feels like everyone is against Annabel.  This book is really about Annabel, about how this secret changes her, and how her relationship with Owen, who is one of my favorite teenage boy characters - I won't spoil that for you!

Annabel is the youngest of three sisters - Kirsten is the oldest, and Whitney is the middle sister.  The time of this novel is a time of growth, reflection and change for all three sisters.  Annabel describes a photo taken before these events: "In the picture, we are all intertwined: Kirsten's fingers are wrapped in my mother's, Whitney has her arm over her shoulder and I'm in front, curved slightly toward my mom as well, my arm around her waist." (p. 79).  Before the novel takes place (the picture was taken three years prior), the girls are a cohesive unit, a very visible family - all touching.  Throughout the year before the book starts, the girls have grown apart.  They are all struggling with their own issues and some of their problems are causing cracks in the family relationships.

Then all three of the girls are separately reminded of an incident that took place on the day of Annabel's ninth birthday party.  The incident is important to each of the girls for different reasons, and they each remember it differently.  Annabel reflects "So many versions of just one memory, and yet none of them were right or wrong.  Instead, they were all pieces.  Only when fitted together, edge to edge, could they even begin to tell the whole story." (p. 236).  And to me, this exemplifies families - everyone in the family remembers things or experiences them slightly differently.  It is the mosaic that makes the whole picture.  Even this novel isn't the whole story of the family. Thinking about the family portrait I mentioned earlier, Annabel realizes "...that was just one day, one shot.  In the time since, we had arranged and rearranged ourselves so many times...All i had to do was ask, and I, too, would be easily brought back, surrounded and immersed, finding myself safe, somewhere in between." (p. 353).  In this novel, the sisters are reunited through the ways they change.  They grow together, instead of apart.

In Lock & Key, Ruby has no family to speak of in the beginning.  She has been discovered living in a house without power after her mother left her.  Ruby has been doing her best to stay afloat, but it isn't enough, and she is turned over to her older sister, Cora.  In Ruby's eyes, Cora abandoned her family when she went off to college and never returned.  So Ruby really doesn't want to be with Cora and her husband, Jamie, at all.  She feels like Cora must hate her and her mom.  Ruby thinks she would be better off on her own.

While in the prep school Cora and Jamie send her to, Ruby is given an assignment.  She must define a word pulled out of a jar, and the word Ruby pulls out is 'family'.  What Ruby learns about herself, the family she was born into, and the family she creates through this extended assignment.  In this novel, Dessen creates a mother who isn't very likable.  In fact, while Ruby sees some of her mother's flaws, she works around them, mostly because she is a minor and has to cope with her mother.  As the book progresses and Ruby settles into a different life and family, the reader begins to realize how at her best, Ruby's mother was dysfunctional.  At her worst, she was addicted and abusive.  It is hard for me as a mother to read about Ruby's recollections of her mother.  But that was Ruby's life and she made it work until it doesn't work anymore.  

Finally, part of Ruby's realization about family pulls together these disparate lives she has been living - the poor, dysfunctional barely-making-it life, and the rich, comfortable, healthy life she lives now.  Ruby thinks "What is family?  They were the people who claimed you.  In good, in bad, in parts or in whole, they were the ones who showed up, who stayed in there, regardless..." (p. 400).  Ruby isn't perfect - after all, she has lived a life that has made her tough and resilient, but also suspicious and untrusting.  But she has found a perfect way to balance the family she has with the family she has come from in a way that works for her.

Auden from Along for the Ride doesn't have a perfect family either.  She has lived with her mother since her parents divorced.  Her mother is aloof, someone who is tightly controlled.  She is an academic and at the top of her field.  But that means Auden is mostly on her own.  Her father's new wife, Heidi, has invited Auden to stay with them the summer after graduation.  Her father is trying to write his second novel, one he has been working on for years.  Heidi just had a baby.  Auden's mother promises that Auden's father will be no help at all with the baby, just as he was with Auden and her brother.  All Auden knows is that she needs to try something new.  So she travels to Colby, a beach town where Heidi and her dad live.  And she has her carefully planned life and expectations turned upside down.

Auden has always felt that "school was my solace, and studying let me escape, allowing me to live a thousand vicarious lives." (p. 9).  She has spent her whole life trying to get her parents' attention and their approval by rigidly sticking to academic success.  After all, both of her parents have succeeded in the academic world.  This summer she is beginning to realize that while she spent all this time studying, she was missing doing all the things regular kids do.  She doesn't have a lot of friends - she studied too hard for that.  And Auden hasn't had a food fight, gone to a party.  This summer in Colby, she is beginning to understand the freedom that comes from not living up to anyone's expectations.

One of the things that is made most clear in this Dessen novel is how teenagers, those getting ready to spread their wings, begin to change how they see their parents.  But Auden, who has grown up hearing stories her mother has told about her father, begins to experience her parents' flaws firsthand.  Her mother told Auden about her stepmother, Heidi, "' I just hope she's not expecting your father to be of much help,' she said...'I was lucky if he changed a diaper every once in a while.'" (p. 13).  After Heidi and Auden's father have a fight, Auden realizes "My dad might have made an effort to sound like he would compromise.  But again, he had gotten his way." (p. 216).  And Auden's mother doesn't like how Auden is spreading her wings this summer either: "'I spend eighteen years teaching you about the importance of taking yourself seriously, and in a matter of weeks you're wearing pink bikinis and totally boy crazy.'" (. 252).  Auden has to learn how to become herself, which involves learning to see her relationship with her parents as it is and as it might become.

In What Happened to Goodbye, Mclean has spent the last three years moving with her father from town to town, rehabilitating poorly run restaurants.  Her parents divorced and Mclean decided to choose living with her father.  The reason for the divorce seems straight-forward at the start of the novel.  Mclean's mother had an affair with the head basketball coach at Defriese University, the college in their town.  Not only is the affair a matter of local gossip, but her father has always been a huge Defriese basketball fan, so Mclean feels like her mother's choice is even more personal.  Mclean has kept her mother at arm's length for a long time.  She feels that "my mother wanted control over me, and I wouldn't give it to her.  It made me crazy, so she in turn made me crazy." (p. 82).

Mclean has taken her father's side in the divorce, no matter how much he insists that she spend time with her mother and her now-husband.  After spending some time with her mom, Mclean begins to realize that maybe keeping herself away from her mom for so long has hurt more than she thought.  "I must have seemed like such a stranger to her...both of us wading through this limbo world between what we'd been and what we might be.  Like seeing her from a distance earlier, this thought made me unexpectedly sad.." (p. 183-4).  Mclean, too, must come to terms with what has happened between her parents.  Of course, as an adult, I know that divorce isn't just one person's fault.  Mclean has to see this for herself, though, as part of the process of growing up.

Finally, The Moon and More.  I don't want to say anything much about it, since I read it before its publication date in June.  I'll just say that in this novel, Emaline has an unusual family structure, too.  She has grown up in an extended step-family, with stepsisters who she works with in a daily basis.  Emaline hasn't had much contact with her biological father until this summer.  Her interactions with both parts of her family tugged at my heart.  It is a great book, one that combines some of the best of Sarah Dessen's themes with some new ideas.

Finally, I'll end with a line from one of Frances & Gloria's current favorite movies, Hotel Transylvania, which also has a teenager spreading her wings in it.  "Children have to discover things for themselves.  They'll stumble and fall, laugh and cry, but such is life."  Part of discovering things for themselves is seeing their families for what they really are, not just what they have always hoped they might be.

Just Listen.  Sarah Dessen.  Viking, 2006.
Lock & Key. Sarah Dessen.  Speak: Penguin, 2008.
Along for the Ride. Sarah Dessen.  Speak: Penguin, 2009.
What Happened to Goodbye. Sarah Dessen. Viking, 2011.
The Moon and More.  Sarah Dessen.  Viking, 2013.

Just Listen and Lock & Key borrowed from Lewis & Clark Library, Along for the Ride and What Happened to Goodbye from personal collection.  The Moon and More read in Advanced Readers Copy.