Books, Movies, Procrastination

[botias]

It's newsletter time again, so here I am instead. The other night I must have been feeling rich. The boys and I all went to Borders and bought some new bedtime story fodder. We'd read the last of the 'Little House' books. Those were interesting to reread as an adult what with the minstrel shows and child brides, and were good fodder for discussion with the boys as well as being really popular with them. Then we read The Puppet Master, set in medieval Japan. The kids and I agreed that the ending was dark and unsatisfying. I pointed out to them that this was by the author of Bridge to Terabithia, and we all agreed that we should just be grateful that nobody died. Next was Island of the Blue Dolphins which I almost didn't read to them, even though I remembered it being one of my faves at their age. I cracked it not long after it arrived in the mail: 'Today my little brother was eaten by wild dogs leaving me completely alone on a desert island. Not the best day ever.' I thought it might be too upsetting for pre-lights-out fare. In the end, it went over well. Afterward, I looked up the true story it was based on, a rather darker tale, with 100% more putrid seal brains than the fictional version. And... that's when we found ourselves distressingly short of new things to read.


Stuff We Bought

• War Horse by Michael Morpurgo. Here, I'm totally indulging myself. I was one of those horse-crazy types at their age (I attribute every one of my legion of flaws to having never acquired a pony--except for my huge sense of entitlement--that's just genetic) and the protagonist is a farm horse taken to serve on the front of WWI. I got it because it might be edumacational, yeah, that's the ticket...
• The Multiplying Menace by Amanda Marrone. Sure, this is just a sop for the kids whose folks won't let them read HP fan fiction, but what the heck, doesn't mean it can't be entertaining.
• Pendragon: Book One by DJ MacHale. Ditto.
• Warriors: Into the Wild by Erin Hunter. There are so many titles in this feline epic that it was hard to find the first book of the first series. We're reading this one now and while it's no Watership Down, the kids like it and it's given me a new insult for our housecat. The feral 'warriors' despise 'kittypets'.
• Legend of the Guardians Trilogy by Kathryn Lasky. The kids liked the movie more than most and want to read this next.

I also ordered up some classics/award-winners on PBSwap:

• The Sketch Book by Washington Irving. If internet skuttlebutt is to be believed, this is the first 'bestseller' to issue from our shores. We recently read a gorgeously illustrated picture book of a Japanese fable with a similar theme to Rip Van Winkle so I thought I would give it a try, and Ye Olde Headlesse Horseman as well.
• The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo
• Superfudge by Judy Blume. My mom read this to me in the first or second grade, and as I was then a recently deposed 'only child', it really resonated.
• The Dark-Thirty : Southern Tales of the Supernatural by Patricia McKissack. You can barely see the cover art because there are so many award badges on the thing. How bad can it be?
• James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl. It's hard to go wrong with Dahl.

What were your early chapter book faves?



ETA: I forgot to say anything about movies! Rango was not forgetable precisely, but almost. Still, you know how you look at a striking special effect or digital critter and some internal clock starts ticking? How long before it does something 'wrong' is just a little rubbery, too clownish, and the illusion shatters? Rango's clock just kept on ticking for the most part. It was really artistically very accomplished. But, the story didn't work for me, alas. It could be just my plebeian sensibilities. It was very arty. Mars Needs Moms made me weep in places. I was very upset, traumatized, I tell you! (The kiddos were dry-eyed, the callous little monsters!) I am somewhat comforted that a local movie critic, hardened and cynical, reported having the same reaction.

Comments

[zanthinegirl.livejournal.com]

I vividly remember a teacher reading "Superfudge" aloud and loving it.

I loved the Narnia books, the Little House books (and always compared them to the TV series I also grew up with. The books usually won) I adored the Ramona the Pest books too; those held up surprisingly well as an adult. Tom Sawyer, though I didn't really appreciate that one until later. Treasure Island & Kidnapped. Oddly enough one of my favorites was a children's history of the renaissance. I was fascinated by the Borgias. I honestly don't know what my parents were thinking!

[botias.livejournal.com]

I liked the 'Ramona' books, too. :) Tom Sawyer's a good plan. It's no great crime if I appreciate it at a different level than the kids do. I liked Swiss Family Robinson, but I read it to the kids and was pretty surprised. The language and mindset were pretty archaic and I was surprised it had kept my interest as an independent reader. It could be that I read a version as a child that was basically rewritten and to appeal to modern children. There are a lot of 'children's classics' out there. I wonder if the Treasure Island you read was the same way. I tried to read an original version to the kiddos and it didn't work out at all. I like the idea of a children's history of the Renaissance. :)

[zanthinegirl.livejournal.com]

Hmm, now I wonder if maybe I did have an abridged version of Kidnapped & Treasure Island (they were a set). I'll have to ask my mom sometime!

I did have an abridged version of Swiss Family Robinson, wonder if it was the same one you had?

[botias.livejournal.com]

I had a set of child-sized 'children's classics' hardbacks that contained two stories. The stories were printed so that one story would be upside-down compared to the other so that both covers were 'front' covers. Looking back, I am almost certain they were abridged and possibly the language was modernized as well. It would be neat if they were the same. :)

[petzipellepingo.livejournal.com]

Next was Island of the Blue Dolphins which I almost didn't read to them, even though I remembered it being one of my faves at their age. I cracked it not long after it arrived in the mail: 'Today my little brother was eaten by wild dogs leaving me completely alone on a desert island. Not the best day ever.' I thought it might be too upsetting for pre-lights-out fare. In the end, it went over well.

That's a great book. And there are some other good choices as well. Enjoy.

[botias.livejournal.com]

Thank you! We are all really enjoying the reading time. I plan to skip the stuff I found too dark as a kid. Black Beauty, anything by Steinbeck.

[beanbeans.livejournal.com]

I love reading that your kids are enjoying these books so much. Oh, Superfudge. I loved that one, and Tales of A Fourth Grade Nothing, too. :)

I remember tearing through the entire Narnia series when I was 9 or 10 years old, and enjoying the King Arthur Legend books as well: Knights of the Round Table, Excalibur, Merlin, etc. I'm afraid I don't remember who penned the series, but surely there are many decent versions out there for adventure-loving kids? I absolutely *consumed* the Black Stallion series of books by Walter Farley, I suppose fueled by my girly tween love of horses. But those books are full of horse races and exciting adventures, so it's all good.

My kiddo recently read The Fledgling by Jane Langton and really loved it. It's a Newberry Honor Book and won a few other awards as well.

I had the same reaction to "Gnomeo and Juliet" as you did to Rango. Very cute, but meh. I saw the trailer for "Soul Surfer" though, and I teared up in under three minutes. And I wasn't even premenstrual! Geez! :P

[botias.livejournal.com]

I just ordered The Black Stallion. :) I loved those too! I still have bits of those stories pop into my mind from time to time. And I've heard that the first movie actually holds up pretty well. Thanks for the recommendation. I ordered it at PBSwap and discovered their 'Newberry Award' tag. Very useful. ;)

[louise39.livejournal.com]

#1 favorite for years! Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible.. by Judith Viorst
Encyclopedia Brown mystery series by D Sobol
The Hobbit by Tolkien [I read my son the Ring trilogy in third grade and he loved it]
Where the Sidewalks Ends by Shel Silverstein [fun poems]
Ramona Quimby series
From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Frankenwilder[?] by E. Konigsburg [overnight at the Museum of Art]
Mythology by Edith Hamilton [I loved it, my children dd and now I bought it for the grandchildren]

[botias.livejournal.com]

These are all good ones! I think the 8yo could benefit from the first one, which is new to me, and I ordered Mythology. I've been looking for just that sort of thing. Yay! I liked Mixed-up Files a lot as a kid, but was disappointed on rereading and kiddos were lukewarm, too. *shrugs* And can you believe they don't 'get' Shel Siverstein? Those books were like gold when I was in the fourth grade. Everyone loved them. Maybe I should have tried harder? ;)

[louise39.livejournal.com]

"Alexander...." is for young ones but there are 3 boys and eminently quotable and funny lines.

Each child had their favorite myth so I had to rotate stories.

How old are your children? Do they like mysteries?

[botias.livejournal.com]

8yo should like it. He periodically tells me he's having the 'worst day ever'.

I have three boys, 10, 8, 5. Poor 5yo, I don't know how much he gets out of the stories; he almost always falls asleep during which is very helpful to me.

[cleoius.livejournal.com]

Oooh ooh, my friend Patty got my like four of the Warriors books as a gift. Just cause she knows how much I like kitties. XD I still haven't had a chance to actually read them though...X_X

And man....those books you mentioned in the opening...do sound kinda intense for children stories!

As for me, I don't really remember what I was reading before fourth and fifth grade. And that point I became obsessed with Sweet Valley Twins, Sweet Valley High, and the Babysitter's CLub. Should I be embarrassed? XD

[botias.livejournal.com]

They must be very popular. There were a lot of them published!

I'll try not to read them any Stephen King. ;) Not for a few more years anyway. This is the sort of thing I read when I was their age, and I turned out just fine! Hah! I did read some things that upset me when I was a kid though. My folks got me a big anthology of horse stories when I was only in the second grade. The anchor story was Black Beauty. I don't know if you've ever read it, but it was never meant as a children's story or a story for horse lovers. It was a protest novel that was meant to horrify people about cruelty to horses. And one of the other stories was The Red Pony by Steinbeck. He's a great writer, but he only writes about things that are NIGHTMARISHLY DEPRESSING AND AWFUL.

I remember sitting at the library reading Sweet Valley High off of the shelf, one after another. I'm afraid I didn't get that into them because I almost immediately moved straight to the bodice-ripper soft-porn historical romances. :O

[cleoius.livejournal.com]

I'm familair with Black Beauty, but I don't think I read the books just seen the movie version. Now the Black Stallion on the other hand...But I remember crying at the second or third book when they were taking the black stallion away. I got pretty upset over that scene. (Course the kid gets reunited with the horse eventually!)

One book I remember reading but really upset me...a book I shouldn't have read at the age of 12 was that one where the King was pretty much raping his queen every night...and at one point cracked her head so hard on the headboard of their bed, she was bleeding! :O

Another one I probably shouldn't have read at that age, but didn't upset me was the mode series by Piers Anthony. I got it cause he had a girl with a horse on the cover. Turns out the girl was 14 and very suicidal, and then a man from another reality who was older than her got together with her. They didn't have sex until like the fourth book, but it was still rather...pedofileish now that I think about it! XD 9I think Darian was late 20's, or 30 years old!) I did get mad at the final book, cause in an earlier book in the author's note, he had said her problems with having sex wasn't gonna be from a molestation trauma. And then he totally threw that out of the wind for the final book, when he had her remember as a five year old giving a blow job (Or maybe sex) to a friend's father for a DOLL. Also in the first book, one of the reasons she was so suicidal was cause these older boys tricked her and invited her to a party where she was the only girl and gang raped her. So it was pretty heavy stuff even if most of those scenes were flash backs where she didn't go into explicit details.

As for the horse, she and Darien get seperated, and she and him then have to travel seperate across realities looking for one another. And she meets this telepathic horse Sequiro. I cried in the third book when she and the horse got seperated. but the fourth book which was the final, had them all reunite. The final book was kinda conveinat. I think the series was meant to be longer, but after the third book the author said he was disgruntled with his publisher for the series. Had to wait years before he finally finished the damn series!

[botias.livejournal.com]

I remember that book by Piers Anthony also. I got it for the horse on the cover and was given a completely unexpected education on cutting and suicidal teens. I was pretty shocked. I was also shocked to read that P.A. had written the book because he got so much mail from real life cutting/suicidal teens because they felt a connection to him through his other books. I was vaguely aware that he'd been criticized for underage sex in some of his books. Probably what you mentioned is what the fuss was about. Tough topics.

[cleoius.livejournal.com]

Indeed. I used to read a lot of Piers Anthony books, most notably the Xanth series. Though Virtual Mode was the first one I ever read, suckered into it by the girl and the horse cover! XD

I can't remember if there was a lot of underage or almost under age sex in the other books. I remember in one of his author's notes, how a cover to his book got a teacher to call child welfare on the mother, and her children were actually taken away! (Cause the eleven year old boy was naked, and you could see a little butt crack when he was sitting in the boat.) I can't remember the names, but he had that boy get engaged to a 14 year old who had been pretending to be his age. I think there was a lot of teasing in Xanth without actual under age characters getting it on. I know the characters, especially the men were gaga for panties, and all the children wanted desperately to know how to summon the stork!

Besides the Xanth, I read a lot of his non series books. His one shots or cocollabarations if you will. Used to eat him up for some reason. XD oH! I just remembered the other series I read that had underage sex in it, or almost underage sex..the seventh and final book of the incarnations of immortality...which was actually the first one I read of the series. For the longest time I couldn't read book six case it was the incarnation of evil, a.k.a. satan and I have issues with religion that made me think I'd go to hell if I read a book that portrayed Satan as a sorta nice guy.

In the seventh book, two ghosts possess an underage girl that was a runaway and maybe a prositute. I say maybe, cause they get her away from her pimp and arrested. SHe's taken into this older man's custody, and he's either a judge or a cop. And the girl gets a crush on him, and while one of the two ghosts (Both females) are appaled at the thought of the seduction, the other ghost tries to help the teenager get with the judge/cop. They do get together if I remember correctly, though it's been at least 10 years since I read it!

Course when I was a teen I didn't realize anything was wrong. I guess I didn't connect with the characters or something, cause when my bestfriend lost her virginity at age 14 to a 24 year old man, I didn't think it cool. I felt he had taken advantage of her, especially since he dumped her afterwards!