(no subject)
I've spent the weekend house-sitting for cayora's parents in the mountains. This means having access to things like slow dialup, no TV reception, and books I haven't read. That said, I've read seven books already this weekend, the majority children's novels. Love the children's novels.
--The Tiger Rising, Cate DiCamillo. (A boy whose mother has died lives in a motel with his dad and finds the owner of the place has a tiger.) Written for very young elementary school children, but powerful. So many psychological issues dealt with. Probably too much for a lot of little kids.
--There's a Girl in my Hammerlock, Jerry Spinelli. (An eighth grade girl tries out for wrestling to get a guy and discovers just how dumb people really are.) Fun. I like Spinelli's stuff. The girl seemed real and she seemed a lot like me: hates makeup and dressing up, buys a pet rat, and doesn't take shit from people.
--Tristan and Iseult, Sutcliff. (A Celtic myth, similar to Lancelot and Guinevere that got mixed in with Arthurian legend.) I'd never heard of it until yesterday, but it was a great re-telling. Now I see why a girl I've met named her breasts Guinevere and Iseult, respectively. Pretty heart-rending. I researched Arthurian Legend a tiny bit in high school, but I went for Gawain and the Green Knight. I don't remember that anyone did a presentation on Tristan and Iseult/Isolde.
--The Report Card, Andrew Clements. (A genius girl hides her brilliance from everyone by acting as an average student until she decides to get her school stirred up about the uselessness of grades.) Another sweet one. The girl helps out her best friend, Stephen, who's a little below average in the class, but thinks he's stupid. Very up-to-date for Internet stuff.
--Jacob Have I Loved, Kathryn Paterson. (A girl on a crab-fishing island in the 1940s is living in her younger twin sister's shadow and hating it.) Paterson's books have always confused me in some ways. Bridge to Terabithia was wonderful, Of Nightingales that Weep took me years to understand, and so on. But this one? Crazy. Psychotic Methodist grandmother who a) can't stand the thought of panties because they're of the devil and b) thinks the girls' mother stole their father away from her. Not to mention the star character falling in love with a man fifty-six years her senior. Too close to home.
--Girl With a Pearl Earring, Tracy Chevalier. (How Vermeer came to paint his famous work of that title.) I caught a little of the movie over spring break and watched it in Art Appreciation a few weeks ago. The movie was good. The book made Griet a little too omniscient and wise for her age for my tastes. Beautifully told, though. One of the few times I prefer the movie because Griet seems so much more powerless instead of this knowledgeable near-psychology major.
--Dealing with Dragons, Patricia C. Wrede. (A not-so-normal princess volunteers to be a dragon's princess and helps the dragons against their mortal enemies, the wizards.) I've been meaning to read this for years. Lots of fun, though they bash gnomes.
And my final book choice for the weekend, as I have to go to work at noon tomorrow, is the first of the Series of Unfortunate Events (Lemony Snicket). It's okay for children's gothic literature so far (72 pages), but constantly stopping to explain the meaning of this word or that just slows down the text and is very annoying. I have to wonder how far the movie strayed from the book.
--The Tiger Rising, Cate DiCamillo. (A boy whose mother has died lives in a motel with his dad and finds the owner of the place has a tiger.) Written for very young elementary school children, but powerful. So many psychological issues dealt with. Probably too much for a lot of little kids.
--There's a Girl in my Hammerlock, Jerry Spinelli. (An eighth grade girl tries out for wrestling to get a guy and discovers just how dumb people really are.) Fun. I like Spinelli's stuff. The girl seemed real and she seemed a lot like me: hates makeup and dressing up, buys a pet rat, and doesn't take shit from people.
--Tristan and Iseult, Sutcliff. (A Celtic myth, similar to Lancelot and Guinevere that got mixed in with Arthurian legend.) I'd never heard of it until yesterday, but it was a great re-telling. Now I see why a girl I've met named her breasts Guinevere and Iseult, respectively. Pretty heart-rending. I researched Arthurian Legend a tiny bit in high school, but I went for Gawain and the Green Knight. I don't remember that anyone did a presentation on Tristan and Iseult/Isolde.
--The Report Card, Andrew Clements. (A genius girl hides her brilliance from everyone by acting as an average student until she decides to get her school stirred up about the uselessness of grades.) Another sweet one. The girl helps out her best friend, Stephen, who's a little below average in the class, but thinks he's stupid. Very up-to-date for Internet stuff.
--Jacob Have I Loved, Kathryn Paterson. (A girl on a crab-fishing island in the 1940s is living in her younger twin sister's shadow and hating it.) Paterson's books have always confused me in some ways. Bridge to Terabithia was wonderful, Of Nightingales that Weep took me years to understand, and so on. But this one? Crazy. Psychotic Methodist grandmother who a) can't stand the thought of panties because they're of the devil and b) thinks the girls' mother stole their father away from her. Not to mention the star character falling in love with a man fifty-six years her senior. Too close to home.
--Girl With a Pearl Earring, Tracy Chevalier. (How Vermeer came to paint his famous work of that title.) I caught a little of the movie over spring break and watched it in Art Appreciation a few weeks ago. The movie was good. The book made Griet a little too omniscient and wise for her age for my tastes. Beautifully told, though. One of the few times I prefer the movie because Griet seems so much more powerless instead of this knowledgeable near-psychology major.
--Dealing with Dragons, Patricia C. Wrede. (A not-so-normal princess volunteers to be a dragon's princess and helps the dragons against their mortal enemies, the wizards.) I've been meaning to read this for years. Lots of fun, though they bash gnomes.
And my final book choice for the weekend, as I have to go to work at noon tomorrow, is the first of the Series of Unfortunate Events (Lemony Snicket). It's okay for children's gothic literature so far (72 pages), but constantly stopping to explain the meaning of this word or that just slows down the text and is very annoying. I have to wonder how far the movie strayed from the book.