Postflusky

Children’s Poet Laureate Jack Prelutsky knows how to grab his audience. The poems in It’s Raining Pigs and Noodles are geared toward a much younger age bracket than myself but my raggedy aged self could still appreciate a good gross-out poem or a weird animals-that-don’t-exist poem. My introduction to this book, strangely, happened at just the right time. I checked this book out while trying to recover from the flu. During my convalescence, I felt too wretched to concentrate on anything but really bad daytime television. Trying to make my achy eyes focus of any sort of grown up “literature” (including the word-fluff of a surfing magazine) was nauseating and impossible. But this could only go on for so long… I had to get some work done! Jack Prelutsky was the perfect segue back to a world without Judge Judy. The poems read quick, easy, and fun. Prelutsky obviously loves to play with words, and I think this could help young readers and/or listeners get a better handle on and pursue their interests in language.

Blessed be the Southern Gothic!

I’m so thankful to have been able to talk with Amy’s class in the discussion boards because I was given the opportunity to read To Kill a Mockingbird again. The last time I read it was at least ten years ago. This, being my third reading, found an even deeper appreciation for it (which I didn’t really think was possible). For some reason a lot of the humor rose to the surface for me this time. It was also really nice to read the dialogue of characters like Maudie Atkinson and be reminded of the way my grandmother spoke (e.g. “Oh, foot!” as an expletive).
The novel is so well balanced! Just the right amount of humor, tragedy, foreshadowing, and even well placed austerity.

Ramona

My girlfriend often references Ramona and her Father as one of her favorite childhood books. I, of course, had never read it before now. I expected to find the character of Ramona a little more rambunctious, but perhaps this particular story didn’t lend itself to the exploration of her wilder side. Something I really appreciated was the working class aesthetic the book maintains. Ramona’s father eventually finds a job (after a considerable dry spell) as a cashier in a supermarket. Cleary makes the characters very approachable by making them good working class people.
Cleary’s strong-minded and brave Ramona is an excellent role model to young girls. She’s precocious, smart, and funny. Through her relentless work and creativity, she even succeeds in convincing her father to give up a nasty smoking habit.
Even though Ramona and her Father was written in the seventies, I couldn’t really find anything that made it seem truly dated. It really is a timeless classic.

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.