the wheel

While reading and thouroughly enjoying Tuck Everlasting, it hardly crossed my mind that I was reading a YA book. It was too enjoyable to even care about the characterization. This is really my first foray into YA literature. As a young adult, I basically skipped this genre of books altogether. As a thirteen year old, I guess I thought I probably knew too much about the complexities of the world to even bother with "kiddie lit." But Babbitt doesn't shy away from huge and heady topics. She explores the issue of the great cycle/wheel of life with young readers in a way that doesn't sugar-coat anything, but also doesn't mortify.
Also, I love the consistent theme of love and reverence for nature. Babbitt seems to be very anti-development; an issue that speaks personnaly to me.
I'm really looking forward to giving this book to my 12 year old nephew.

Tuck

I am really surprised how much I'm enjoying Tuck Everlasting. It is beautifully written. Just reading the first few pages where Winnie is beginning a relationship with the still and steady frog, the beauty of the character of this sort of long-suffering frog called to mind the turtle described in the first pages of Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath. The frog and the turtle being these sort of wise and all-knowing characters. They're animalness seperating them from the triviality of the human condition, but bearing the burden of themselves all the same. Beautiful

a caterpillar isn't always a cigar

I love it when a class is mostly about reading books. I always feel like I’m getting away with something, because I usually enjoy it so much. Of course, these initial preschool to elementary school aged reads aren’t exactly my thing, but I haven’t even really minded that either. It’s actually sort of interesting to experience these books because I wasn’t aware of most of them as a child. I kind of feel like I’m catching up on them. It’s never too late!
One of the weirdest things about rereading some of the folktales that I am familiar with is that I think they strike me as more morbid and creepy than they did when I was a kid. There’s always a big bad wolf or fox or troll… something always lurking and waiting for the right moment to pounce! I can handle the creepiness if there is a lesson being offered. But the purpose of books like The Gingerbread Boy, honestly, escapes me. What am I not getting?
I’m actually appreciating the discussion boards more than I thought I would. It’s kind of fun to just sort of dissect what is, on the surface, simple and straightforward. Who knew I could reflect on the concept of transformation after reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar, or considering the importance of karma in the Hindu tradition while reading Once a Mouse? It’s been illuminative for me to think of the fact that it’s ADULTS writing these books. It really opens up a lot of issues to examine.