Books!

My nine year old niece recommended Laura Amy Schlitz's Splendors and Glooms and I am so glad she did!!  First Miriam read it and loved it and then I read it and loved it.  It is a Dickensian novel for upper elementary/middle school (but delightful for all ages).  It has some dark magic in it but nothing too creepy.  I thoroughly enjoyed it and put it in my basket at amazon to make sure I add it to my collection.  You might be familiar with this author.  She wrote Good Masters! Sweet Ladies: Voices from a Medieval Village, which won the Newbery.  She also wrote The Hero Schliemann: The Dreamer who Dug for Troy--one of my children's very favorite biographies.  In short, we're going to make sure all of Ms. Schlitz's books wind up on our bookshelf.  She's fabulous.

We listened to Igraine the Brave by Cornelia Funke on audio book awhile ago and we all thoroughly enjoyed it.  So much so that I bought a copy for Emeline (age 8) for Christmas.  Since then she's read it twice (that I know about--sometimes I sleep and miss things) and has declared it her "favorite book ever."  If you have a child in elementary school who likes humorous adventure stories, I recommend this one.

We had Freight Train by Donald Crews when Cowen was a baby/toddler, but it was destroyed as only truly beloved books can be destroyed.  I figured Oskar would like it as much as my other kids had and so I gave it to him for Christmas.  It hasn't replaced Babies by Gyo Fujikawa as his favorite book, but it is a very close second.  My children were overjoyed when Oskar unwrapped the book because they all remember it and love it.  The best Christmas book reaction, though, was when Oskar unwrapped Jamberry, another book that was destroyed out of sheer love, and Miriam grabbed it right out of Oskar's hands and squealed, "Jamberry!" in pure delight.  Awesome.  

My dad loaned me Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford and I loved it.  I rarely read adult books, truth be told, as YA was always my happy place, but I'll be purchasing this book for my library.  I loved everything about it.  

I am always so, so, so, so excited when one of my children read one of my favorite books and love it as much as I do.  Miriam just finished Sabriel, my favorite Garth Nix book.  She then promptly read the sequel the next day.  She loved it, I love it, anyone who likes fantasy will love it.  Read it.  Gold Star Book.

Two Gold Star Books

You all know by now that I usually prefer reading silently to listening to an audio book.  Too many things can go wrong with an audio book and it takes forever to get through when you listen to every single word.  However, I wholeheartedly recommend that you check out the AUDIO version of the book Whittington by Alan Armstrong immediately.  The reader is amazing, fantastic, incredible.  He has this deep, raspy voice that is perfect for the story.  The children and I were riveted.

The book is "two books in one" as my son, Cowen, pointed out.  I'd say it is more like three books in one.  It is the story of the cat, Whittington, making friends and a place for himself in the barn.  It is a story about a young boy who struggles with reading.  It is also a story about Dick Whittington (yes, that Dick Whittington) and his cat.  I didn't know what the book was about when I picked it off the shelves, but it is works in beautifully to our Middle Ages unit.  The children were exposed to things like British woolens and trade with the East and Marco Polo.

This book is awesome.  I plan on buying it so I have it in my permanent collection but I can't decide whether to get the audio (it would be the only audio book I own) or novel form.  We just loved this book!

I judged this book by its cover.  I saw it on a library display shelf, thought the dog was cute, thought my son might like it, and grabbed it.  I've seen Eva Ibbotson's name around before but haven't read anything by her.  I'm rectifying that immediately.  I read One Dog and His Boy in one sitting--it is not long--and just loved it.  This is a story of benign neglect, selfishness, the need people (and dogs) have to be useful and wanted.  It is fantastic.

Now, in the spirit of full disclosure, I recommended this book to my sister and she *gasp* didn't like it. She thought it was too cliche.  My daughter, Miriam, loved it, as did my sister's children.  I didn't find it cliche, obviously, but would LOVE for some other people to read it and tell me what they think.  That would be so fun!!  Do it now!!

What else have we been listening to?  Ah, yes, The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe.  My children loved it.  The reader was very good.  We started listening to Amos Fortune, Free Man and I couldn't handle the reader and turned it off.  Anyone read it?  Should I check out the novel and give it another chance?  We listened to the first three Harry Potter books to get ready for our Harry Potter themed family reunion.  The reader was superb and I enjoyed listening to them, but I don't want my younger kids hearing the other books so we're waiting on those.

Have any of you read anything great lately?

The Prydain Chronicles: Gushing Warning in Effect

Many of you might not know that I am a closet YA fantasy writer.  I have an agent and everything.  Well, not everything.  I have yet to publish anything.  Small detail.  The joy is in the writing!  At least, I remember dimly that the joy is in the writing.  I haven't written much in awhile.  Something about having six children, homeschooling, and being the relief society president.  I lack time--that most precious of resources.

I started writing fantasy in second grade.  Before then I don't remember spending all my time thinking about dragons and monsters and wizards and hexes--and writing.  That's because I hadn't read the Prydain Chronicles yet.  I, sadly, didn't even know the books existed.  Happily though, my mother gave me the whole series for Christmas when I was eight and I devoured it.  I was in heaven.  My life was permanently altered and I have never been the same.

Lloyd Alexander is my all-time favorite author.  I have a special shelf dedicated to his books and I own almost everything he has ever written (some of the out-of-print stuff is hard to get, but I keep working on it).  My children aren't allowed to touch any of it.  They are the only books written for kids that I own that I don't share.  Mostly because I have read the books so many times that a stiff breeze would blow them apart.  I want to cherish them the rest of my life.  I should really just buy another set as my "lending"copy.

Now, as many of you know, I have a son who just turned eight.  The PERFECT age for the Prydain Chronicles.  However, Cowen isn't an independent reader.  I debated back and forth between listening to the audio cd with him or making him wait until he could read the books himself.  Pros and cons either way.

Since I'm about as patient as a two year-old, I eventually (it took a minute of deliberation) decided to get the books on cd from the library.

My children all really enjoyed the first book in the series, The Book of Three.  They've been quoting Gurgi nonstop.  But then we listened to The Black Cauldron.  Instead of trying to convey to you how much my children loved it, I'll let Eli (my four year old) speak for all of them.  Quoted from my family blog:

We finished listening to The Black Cauldron on cd (in fact, I found an excuse to drive to Mom's so we could listen to it--thank you, Emeline, for needing a haircut so desperately!!) the other day.  At the end the reader said, "I hope you have enjoyed this production of Lloyd Alexander's The Black Cauldron."

Eli yelled from the back of the van, "WE DID ENJOY IT!!  It was AWESOME!!!"  

If you haven't read this series or listened to this series, repent.  I don't care how old you are or how much you like or dislike fantasy.  Lloyd Alexander is brilliant.  He takes a bunch of funny characters and makes magic.  The best part is that Taran (the main character) really develops and grows and matures (unlike a certain Hogwart's graduate I could mention).  It is fantasy at its finest.  It is also YA literature at its finest.  

Now I must go . . . somewhere.  We just started listening to book three: The Castle of Llyr.

PS If you can ever get your hands on Lloyd Alexander's book about his wife, Janine is French, then you are a very lucky individual.  It is extremely hard to find, but if you have a good interlibrary loan you might be able to get it.  Totally worth any effort you put in.  When the people she works with teach her to swear.  No, sorry, no spoilers.  Just find it.  Read it.  Laugh.  Love life just a little bit more.

Science: Aliens

Bruce Coville is a very fun writer.  We were supposed to jump into our new science unit, Space, and we've done . . . a few things.  The most fun we've had thus far was listening to the book on tape of My Teacher is an Alien.  It is very short.  It is very funny.  It is a perfect blast-off into the excitement of space.

Plus, you'll have lots of fun listening to your children's alien games in the weeks following your finishing the book.

It's a good one!

Great Books On Tape

 We have had a really good run of books on tape lately.  Sometimes they are hit and miss--one child really likes it but the others don't, or I love the book but the reader is so bad I can't stand to listen.  These are all fantastic!  I know you've all read Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare (of The Bronze Bow and Witch of Blackbird Pond fame).  It is a great book and the reader did a great job with it.

Heat by Mike Lupica was Cowen's favorite.  Everyone really enjoyed it, including my hubby, but Cowen loved it.  With a great, deep love.  As soon as it ended he asked to listen again.  I guess I'm behind the times with Mike Lupica.  I saw the book at the library and grabbed it because of the cover.  I thought it would be more about immigration issues, which interest me as I'm an immigrant.  It wasn't so much about immigration, but once I started reading I couldn't put it down. While it was on my shelves my sister came over and said that Lupica was all the rage.  She has a 12 year old boy, so maybe he helps her stay abreast of authors who write for boys.  Or maybe Lupica is crazy famous and I'm just getting sadly out of touch.  

The point--read this book, or listen to it.  The reader was fabulous.

I almost turned off Juliet Dove, Queen of Love by Bruce Coville after the first few minutes when I realized that it was an audio cast and not just one reader.  I usually hate casts.  However, while I'm still not in love with casts, this one did a great job and I enjoyed it.  I especially loved listening to all my little children say randomly, "Juliet Dove, QUEEN of love," in drippy voices.  Hilarious.  There are two magical mice in the book, Roxanne and Jerome.  You will love them.  Or, at least, you will love your children's imitations of Roxanne.  Hilarious I tell you.  Cowen didn't want to listen to this one but even he was won over and loved it by the end.

The reader did a great job with Ella Enchanted.  My children were riveted the whole time.  The first time we put it in we weren't driving very far so we only got to the second chapter or so.  I couldn't stand it and came home and read the whole thing.  It had been a few years.  Love this book.  All my children loved this one.

I will not lie--I did not like the cast for these books.  The person who did the dragon voice was terrible. Awful.  Bleh.  However, the story is so much fun and my kids enjoyed it so much that I forced myself to overlook the one really terrible reader and that it was a cast.  We immediately listened to the second in the series when the first ended, so again, worth listening to (if you like silly stories, that is).

Dave at Night by Gail Carson Levine (who wrote Ella Enchanted) was a big surprise.  I expected to like it because of the author, but I was still surprised by how good it was.  The reader was AMAZING and since I hadn't read it before (I usually only pick books I've read so I won't be disappointed) I was as enthralled as my children.  There were several times we sat out in the car or "accidentally" missed the turn to our house so we could listen longer.  We also broke my cardinal rule of audio books stay in the van and we listened to the end in our house because we couldn't stand to wait for our next outing.  Stellar.  Just loved it.

Audio Books

A few weeks ago, I traveled to Provo with my kiddos to hang with my sister and her kiddos. It is a good 90 minute drive or more. When thinking about the drive, I realized that I would go bonkers if I had to listen to 50 Silly Songs for Kids one more time. Usually I don't mind, but lately, man it has been annoying. We'll blame it on hormones. (If they would only choose Newsies every once in awhile, or our Disney collection--or anything but "the smile was on the crocodile" etc.)

Then I had a brain-wave. The reason my children were listening to silly songs instead of the classical station is because my hubby gave me a new cd player for the van. We could now participate in one of my favorite activities--listening to an audio book.

So I went to the library and got one of my favorite books, hoping the reader would do a good job. He did!!! He really, really did. Graeme Malcolm, whoever you are, you ROCK at reading books.

Those of you who listen to audio books know that a reader can make or break the book.

The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo (a GOLD STAR book for sure) was read brilliantly. The drive was over before my children realized they should be annoyed by the length of it. When we returned home, my children insisted we take the cds inside so they could finish the story immediately. They loved it.

So will you. If you don't have time to listen to it (I don't listen to books on tape much now that I don't commute), please read it. Great book for ages 4 on up (at least, my four year old loved it).

While we are on the subject of audio books, I must HIGHLY RECOMMEND my very favorite audio books.

The Mrs. Pollifax series by Dorothy Gilman.

These are available in written form, but if at all possible, do not read these books. Listen to them. The reader, a Barbara Rosenblat, is without a doubt the best reader I've ever heard--and I listened to A LOT of books on tape during my year commuting.

My very favorite of the series is the second one, The Amazing Mrs. Pollifax. Mrs. Pollifax, if you've never heard of her, is an elderly widow who is bored with life. She feels useless. Her two children are raised and gone and all Mrs. Pollifax does is grow flowers and meet with her garden club. So, one day, she decides to go to the headquarters of the CIA and offer her assistance.

Because of a few odd circumstances, she winds up with a job. One that is supposed to be easy and danger-free and is, of course, quite the opposite.

The second book covers her second assignment and it is hilarious and wonderful. A small disclaimer, one of the characters in the second book says, "What the hell," all the time. So if you are opposed to that, you might want to skip the second book. There is no language in any of the other books that I can remember. Normally I don't approve of swearing, but something about the Hungarian accent made it really, really funny to me. Sorry if your opinion of me has now diminished. ;)

If you assign these books to your children (I would say 10 and up would enjoy them although they are aimed at adults), use them for fun or in conjunction with geography. Each book has Mrs. Pollifax flying off to another exotic location for another "non-dangerous" mission that becomes very dangerous very quickly. Off the top of my head I remember a book set in South America, the Middle East, Hungary, China, Africa. Okay, that was vague, but it was off the top of my head.

And if you have a trip to go on in the near future, please, please, please get the first or second Pollifax book on tape. You will be highly entertained and will not regret it.