Saturday Review of Books ChallengeCompleted - at the last minute - but completed!
The Titles:Five Children and It by E Nesbit (Completed 7/27/2007)
The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale/The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Competed 11/10/2007)
A Seed is Sleepy/An Egg is Quiet by Diana Aston (Completed 12/21/2007)
Song of the Water Boatman and Other Pond Poems by Joyce Sidman (Completed 12/27/2007)
The Day I Swapped My Dad for Two Goldfish by Neil Gaiman (Completed 12/26/2007)
A Drowned Maiden's Hair by Laura Amy Schiltz (Completed 11/27/2007)
In My Book . . . A resolution to be remade yet again should be no more procrastination!!!
Good Intentions!
Procrastination!
Identification!
I completely identify with the students who come to me frantic for the condensed version or the shortest book on the approved list for their book report which is due in four days! Of course, the condensed version or the shortest book has already been checked out by their fellow students who also don’t want to read anything without a picture on every other page or has more than 100 pages. But I love them anyway and convince them that they really can finish their assignment. In that vein and to prove to them that they can accomplish that goal, I confess my procrastination and finish my challenge in four days!
I am substituting a title that is on the list of Saturday Review of Books but that is not on my list of choices for the Challenge. I did not obtain The Goose Girl in time - note my identification with students; however, in my favor I did not choose to substitute The Penderwicks or A Wrinkle in Time both of which are on the approved list and for which I have already done reviews.
I am choosing as my replacement The Hound of the Baskervilles which I promise I had not read until this fall. Yes, I read many books during the fall - just not my assignment - again note my identification with students. I read Hound just after my completion of A Drowned Maiden’s Hair; and if you read that review, you will notice my mention of Arthur Conan Doyle. I have read many, many of Sherlock Holmes' cases and have watched many, many cinematic versions of The Hound. As an aside, in my opinion Jeremy Brett is the Sherlock!
The Hound of the Baskervilles
by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
I feel completely inadequate to review this book. What more can be said about the incomparable Sherlock Holmes? All I can say is I loved it. The mystery genre is my genre of choice. I am happiest with a good mystery in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other. My favorite authors cannot write fast enough to please me. Many literary scholars credit Poe with developing the detective novel. But along with many others, I think that Sherlock is the epitome of the Great Detective.
'The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes. Where do you think that I have been?'
'A fixture also.'
'On the contrary, I have been to Devonshire.'
'In spirit?'
'Exactly. My body has remained in this armchair and has, I regret to observe, consumed in my absence two large pots of coffee and an incredible amount of tobacco. After you left I sent down to Stamfords for the Ordnance map of this portion of the moor, and my spirit has hovered over it all day. I flatter myself that i could find my way about.'
'We are coming now rather into the region of guesswork,' said Dr. Mortimer.
'Say rather, into the region where we balance probabilities and choose the most likely. It is the scientific use of the imagination, but we have always some material basis on which to start our speculation.'
The more outre and grotesque an incident is the more carefully it deserves to be examined, and the very point which appears to complicate a case is, when duly considered and scientifically handled, the one which is most likely to elucidate it.'
Doyle takes the reader to a place where it is perfectly logical that a mystical beast could exist. 'I say, Watson,' said the baronet, 'what would Holmes say to this? How about that hour of darkness in which the power of evil is exalted?'
As if in answer to his words there rose suddenly out of the vast gloom of the moor that strange cry which I had already heard upon the borders of the great Grimpen Mire. It came with the wind through the silence of the night, a long, deep mutter, then a rising howl, and then the sad moan in which it dies away. Again and again it sounded, the whole air throbbing with it, strident, wild, and menacing. The baronet caught my sleeve and his face glimmered white through the darkness.
And then, as always, Holmes gets his man!
In my book . . . What could be better on a cold winter night that to curl up with a book that takes one to foggy London town and hear “The game is afoot.”?
"Diving Beetle's
food-Sharing Rules" Any type of larva is mine,
as well as all tadpoles, minnows, and newts.
Sticklebacks, caddis flies, spiders,
and small frogs of any kind - mine.
Snails, eggs, and bugs - all mine.
In short,
if it moves, it is mine.
It it's anywhere near me, it is mine.
If I'm hungry (and I'm always hungry),
it is mine, mine, mine.
And if, by chance, I choose
to crawl up yonder smartweed,
bask for a bit,
open my armored wings,
and fly about my kingdom
(within which everything is mine),
do not forget what is mine.
For if I return
and you have taken it,
YOU
are mine.
from Song of the Water Boatman & Other Pond Poemspoems by Joyce Sidman
illustrated by Beckie Prange
This is a wondrous book - every entry more special than the last, every page more beautiful than the last. It was a Caldecott Honor Book for good reason. It is informative, entertaining, entrancing. A young reader would never realize that she was learning at the same time as she was reading or hearing these amazing poems.
What youngster doesn’t love a cumulative poem?
concluding stanza of “In the Depths of the Summer Pond” Here hunts the heron, queen of the pond,
that spears the fish
that swallows the frog
that gulps the bug
that nabs the nymph
that drinks the flea
that eats the algae, green and small,
in the depths of the summer pond.
Word Joy!
My young library visitors love Melinda Long’s How I Became A Pirate so I think that their favorite song would be the title poem.
concluding stanza of “Song of the Water Boatman
and Backswimmer’s Refrain” I guess by now, it’s clear to see
the boatman’s life is the life for me;
among the weeds I’ll always be
. . . on a sunny summer’s morning.
Yo, ho, ho,
the pond winds blow;
the backswimmer’s life is the life I know!
In My Book . . . Sidman’s extraordinary book reminds me of Paul Fleischman’s Newbery Award winning Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices - a favorite at my house with my once-upon-a-time young son - irresistible!
The Day I Swapped My Dad For Two Goldfishby Neil Gaiman
This is my first title by Neil Gaiman; and because I have read so many good reviews of his books, I was surprised that I really did not like this one. The idea based on a real incident with his own son is an interesting one. But I thought that the idea was stretched a little too far - a few too many swaps. In addition, the illustrations in places caused the text to be almost indecipherable.
Of course, as I mentioned in my previous post of A Seed Is Sleepy/An Egg Is Quiet, I am looking at these books from the point of view of an elementary librarian and from my interactions with one elementary school. The students that I see would find the illustrations very strange and would think that the book takes ultimately too long to reach its point that the dad was oblivious to the events surrounding him.
I did enjoy the brother/sister interaction. They acted like typical brothers/sisters - always trying to get each other in trouble. But I really liked Gaiman’s choice to have the mother think that the sister was talking with her mouth full, and this is one time that illustrator Dave McKean really succeeded!
In my book . . . This title works best with adults - an adult picture book if you will.
A Seed is SleepyAn Egg Is Quiet
Both titles are
Written By Dianna Aston
And
Illustrated by Sylvia LongThese books are truly amazing - at least the illustrations. The illustrations are magnificent, magical, mystical. And they overshadow anything that accompanies them.
I had known that the books would be beautiful. One only has to look at their covers on any book purchasing site to know that they are beautiful. However, as an elementary librarian, I had hoped that they would also be amazing as read alouds to first and second graders; and I have doubts that they would be successful for this purpose. The illustrations while striking would not hold the attention of restless young library visitors for very long, and the text though written in elegant calligraphy is simply not that attention grabbing. I do believe that these books would work very well as one on one storytime reads. A one-on-one reading or a teacher read illustration for a classroom curricululm unit would allow the explanation of some of the language and facilitate the understanding of how many of the fascinating plants and creatures included in these books come to be.
A seed is sleepy.
It lies there tucked inside its flower,
on its cone, or beneath the soil. Snug. Still.
(a lyrical beginning - a sunflower deluge)
A seed is sleepy.
but only until it has found
a place in the sun
and it has had its breakfast
and a drink of water.
Then a seed is . . .
awake!
(a bold end - a sunflower delight)
An egg is quiet
It sits there, under its
mother’s
feathers . . .
On top of its
father’s
feet . . .
buried beneath
the sand. Warm. Cozy.
(shimmering hummingbird . . . stately penguin . . . sea faring turtle)
An egg is quiet. Then, suddenly . . .
An egg is noisy!
(crunching caterpillars . . . cheeping ducklings)
I was especially fascinated by the two page spreads in the front and at the back of each book. Thirty-seven seeds become thirty-seven plants. Fifty-nine eggs become fifty-nine creatures. Gorgeous idea! However, speaking strictly as an elementary librarian, I think that young readers would be frustrated by these pages because the plants and creatures do not correspond in placement on the page to the seeds and eggs. Speaking as an adult reader, I an entranced.In my book . . . These incredibly beautiful books visually function best as picture books. They are stunning to look at. They do contain some interesting facts. For example, the seed of an extinct date palm was successfully sprouted; and a cassowarie has a rough surfaced egg. Share these books one on one or with a classroom eager to know that a seed and an egg function very similarly to nurture the life that is within them.
The posting about time last Friday was really in reference to today‘s. Time seems to be a real problem for me. I always think that I have plenty of it! At any rate, I realize that I have drifted far away from the stated purpose of this blog - to offer my opinion about books. Most of my posts seem to be about poetry! Now, I love poems; but I am determined to get back to books!A Drowned Maiden’s Hair: A Melodrama
by Laura Amy Schlitz
2006 Cybils Award for Middle Grade Fiction
On the morning of the best day of her life, Maud Flynn was locked in the outhouse, singing “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.”
So begins a wondrous book. I was fully expecting not to enjoy this title. I chose it as part of the reading challenge in which I am participating, but for some reason everything that I had read about it did not seem appealing. So why did I pick it? I don’t know. But I am glad I did. It covers subjects that have long fascinated me.
Eleven year old Maud Mary Flynn is an orphan housed at the Barbary Asylum for Female Orphans. She is small for her age and not considered pretty - that is she doesn’t have blond curls and a sweet face. She is intelligent, rebellious, stubborn, unaccommodating, bitter and not afraid to show or state her opinions. The asylum lives up to its name - Barbary for barbarous.Then one glorious day, against all odds, Maud is adopted! The elderly Hawthorne sisters come to the orphanage to adopt a little girl; and Hyacinth Hawthorne, after hearing Maud sing in the outhouse, chooses Maud. Maud is given wonderful clothes, wonderful food, and access to wonderful books. But, when she reaches the Hawthorne house, she learns that she is to be a hidden child. No one other than the sisters and their deaf mute servant would know of her existence. She is to remain inside the house unseen and unheard by neighbors or passers by. 'Maudy, do you remember what you said earlier today - about how you would do whatever we asked of you? . . . Do you like secrets, Maud?’ . . . Hyacinth lowered her voice mysteriously. ‘You see, Maud, Judith and I have a secret. If you were to go to school, that secret might come out. In a little while, once we are sure of you, we will tell you everything, but first we have to make sure we can trust you. Later on, we’ll ask you to help us with our work.’
Their work is spiritualism. Spiritualism is a religious movement prominent from the 1860’s through the 1920’s. It is a movement that began in the United States growing out of a discontent with established churches that did little to combat slavery or to advance the cause of women’s rights. Women were particularly drawn to spiritualism because this was one area that gave them important roles and made it permissible for them to speak authoritatively before mixed public audiences. The basic premise of spiritualism is exactly what its name implies - the belief that communication with the spirits of the dead is possible. The amazing Houdini exposed many spiritualists as frauds. The beloved creator of Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, was an ardent believer. In a pre-technological time, audiences were entranced by supposedly disembodied voices, swinging chandeliers, rocking tables, and floating ghostly figures.As you can imagine, fraud was rampant. And among the frauds were Judith and Hyacinth Hawthorne. A third Hawthorne sister, Victoria, believed in spiritualism but refused to participate in the work of her sisters. Maud, a small child with a beautiful voice who could easily be hidden under a table and who was trained to move silently, was groomed to be their source of voices, moving objects, and ghostly figures as they posed as Spiritualists for financial gain.Hyacinth’s target for financial security was the wealthy widow Eleanor Lambert whose daughter Caroline had drowned. Caroline died after a quarrel with her mother who was now desperate to know that her daughter could forgive her. Maud was to convince Mrs. Lambert that this was so. Of course, Caroline supposedly had been an angelic blond child; and Maud was dark haired and certainly not angelic. How she is transformed to mimic Caroline is a fascinating tale. But most fascinating is the parallel tale of the real Maud’s relationship with Eleanor Lambert and surprisingly with Caroline.
The sub title of this novel is A Melodrama which is defined by my trusty dictionary as a work characterized by extravagant theatricality and the predominance of plot and physical action over characterization. The emotional reaction of the audience is stressed. Melodramas have stock characters: the hero, the villain, the damsel in distress. And above all, they have a happy ending. The happy ending of A Drowned Maiden’s Hair is a long time coming but well worth the wait.
In My Book . . . A Drowned Maiden’s Hair: A Melodrama is a complex mystery, a compelling drama, and a clever morality tale - crime doesn’t pay; but good things can come out a bad situation.
Side Note: One of my favorite bloggers always comments on the covers of the books she reviews. The cover of A Drowned Maiden’s Hair is suitably mysterious - dark and brooding with the hint of a ghost whose image contains a hint concerning one of the book’s surprises. But Maud’s feet bother me. They are very strange feet!
