Book Review: I Saw Three Ships by Elizabeth Goudge, illustrated by Margot Tomes (1969)

Some months after the death of her parents, Polly is living in England with her two elderly aunts, Dorcas and Constantia. Polly desperately wants to leave the door unlocked on Christmas Eve so that the wise men can enter if they so wish. She also wants to see the three ships arrive, bringing the Virgin Mary and the Child Jesus. The two aunts are nervous about leaving a door unlocked without a man in the house, and they are equally skeptical that any ships will arrive, let alone a ship bearing the baby Jesus and his mother. When Christmas Eve arrives, however, Polly's steadfast faith in the possibilities of the Christmas season is rewarded in ways no one would have expected.

The only other Elizabeth Goudge book I have read so far is The Little White Horse, which is beautifully written and a personal favorite. I Saw Three Ships is every bit as well-written and meaningful. Not a single word is out of place in Goudge's descriptions of her setting and characters, and she puts forth an inspiring Christmas story that is heartfelt, but neither cloying nor sentimental. Polly is a character for whom I developed instant affection, and despite their somewhat stodgy exteriors, her aunts are also endearing and amusing, as are some of the other surprising supporting characters. I also love that the lyrics for the Christmas carol, "I Saw Three Ships" are incorporated into the text of the story, just begging to be sung.

I like this book very much and would certainly like to read it to my girls during some future Christmas season, after they are past the age of believing in Santa Claus. It's a tale that can really appeal to kids of all ages, but I think the fact that Polly knows her aunts fill her stocking would spoil the magic and mystery of the holiday for them at this stage. But for Christian families, this is really an ideal story for emphasizing and celebrating the true meaning of Christmas. 

Book Review: We Alcotts by Aileen Fisher and Olive Rabe (1968)

We Alcotts is a nonfiction narrative written by Aileen Fisher and Olive Rabe in the voice of Abba May Alcott, better known as Marmee from Little Women. It traces the Alcott family history from Abba May's courtship with Bronson Alcott, through their marriage, the births of their daughters, and their many associations with transcendentalists, abolitionists, and writers as they moved from home to home in and around Concord and Boston, Massachusetts in the years leading up to and including the Civil War. The book concludes around the time of the publication of Little Women, with a brief postscript relaying the circumstances of Abba's death.

I read Little Women for the first time last month, and I had a really hard time connecting with the first half of the book. Marmee and her girls felt too perfect to me, and I had difficulty seeing them as believable characters, let alone kindred spirits. My opinion improved as the girls aged in the second half (the part which is also known as Good Wives), and I ended up mostly understanding why the book is such a great favorite. As I was reading We Alcotts, however, I found myself enjoying the personalities of the real-life Alcotts much more than their fictional counterparts. Abba, for example, admits that her "desire to read sometimes made [her] resentful of seemingly endless household tasks." She also frequently suffers from worries and anxieties because of her husband Bronson Alcott's idealism and impractical faith that things will always work out. Though Bronson's faith is often proved right, I still really admired Abba's faithfulness and love toward her husband during the times she was most irritated with him. Despite his head-in-the-clouds approach to many things, I also kind of liked Bronson and his gentle quirkiness.

The other thing I loved about this book is how it immerses the reader in the time period. Such figures as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and Nathaniel Hawthorne appear as friends of the Alcotts, and come across as warm and kind people, not just stoic historical figures. Though their writings and accomplishments are mentioned, this book concerns itself with their friendship and kindness more than their fame. I have never wanted to read any of their books before, but now I'm considering giving Walden a try. All the connections to Concord have also renewed my interested in exploring more of Jane Langton's Hall Family Chronicles novels. (Titles in this series that I have reviewed are: The Diamond in the Window (1962),  The Fledgling (1980), and The Fragile Flag (1984).

I'm undecided about whether it is imperative to read Little Women before reading this book. We Alcotts is easier to read and it deals with very little that actually happens in Little Women. It does give away the major death that occurs in Little Women, but I'm not sure how many readers in the 21st century go into that book completely unspoiled anyway. I can see We Alcotts being a valuable introduction to a variety of history topics for the upper elementary grades, and I think, for me at least, having the information provided by this book would have made me feel more invested in Little Women from the beginning. In any case, We Alcotts  was a pleasure to read, and it seems like it will be inspiring some of my future reading choices as well. 

#YearofHarryPotter: Philosopher's Stone, Chapters 13-15

This week's reading was Chapter 13 ("Nicholas Flamel"), Chapter 14 ("Norbert the Norwegian Ridgeback"), and Chapter 15 ("The Forbidden Forest"). There are spoilers for the entire series in this post.

In these three chapters, I mostly found myself thinking of Snape. Rowling cleverly sets up her readers from the very beginning to be suspicious and skeptical of him, which really lays the groundwork for his role in the entire series. Knowing the full story, I look at the moments involving Snape in this book and I clearly see him protecting Harry, and Hogwarts in general, again and again. I also see, though, the way it looks as though he might himself be dangerous, and I like that Rowling makes it equally possible to imagine both scenarios.

Also in this segment of the book, Harry and his friends do actually get punished for wrongdoing (being out of bed in the middle of the night) by losing a lot of points for their house and being sent to the Forbidden Forest with Hagrid for detention. Of course, the detention just serves as a vehicle for sneaking more information about Voldemort into the story, but still, it is a punishment. The fact that Harry contemplates how he might get out of trouble notwithstanding, the adults in the story seem to get this right.  I'd also forgotten about the centaurs who live in the forest appearing in this first book, and I like all the suspense and intrigue that surrounds these silent and suspicious creatures.

The other creature I'd forgotten is Norbert, the dragon which Hagrid illegally hatches from an egg, and which is the reason Harry and co. are out of bed to be punished in the first place. (It's possible that I had conflated his story with that of Buckbeak in Prisoner of Azkaban.) I do love Hagrid and his obsession with dangerous magical creatures.

This week, I'll be finishing the book and getting ready to move on to the next one!

Read-at-Home Kids Report: January 2019

Family Read-Alouds

Our lunchtime read-alouds were all Christmas-themed in December and early January: The Twenty-Four Days Before Christmas by Madeleine L'Engle, A Certain Small Shepherd by Rebecca Caudill, The Best Christmas by Lee Kingman, and Amahl and the Night Visitors by Frances Frost and Roger Duvoisin. Then we read A Day on Skates by Hilda van Stockum, followed by "Snow White and the Seven Dwarves," "Rapunzel," and "Sleeping Beauty" from The Golden Treasury of Children's Literature. In the evening, my husband has been reading them The Book of Cowboys by Holling C. Holling.

Little Miss Muffet, Age 5

Between her birthday in November and Christmas, Miss Muffet amassed many new books to enjoy in the new year. These included titles in the Sophie Mouse, Chime Travelers, and Heartwood Hotel series, as well as a copy of The Sign on Rosie's Door by Maurice Sendak, Wee Hee Hee: A Collection of Pretty Funny Jokes and Pictures, and her very own paperback copy of her beloved favorite book, Mitch & Amy by Beverly Cleary.

For school the past few weeks, she and I have been reading through the young reader's edition of The World We Live In, which is a vintage Life book about the formation of planet Earth. (We are also supplementing with other up-to-date texts when we run into outdated information.) As a result, she has become interested in volcanoes, earthquakes, landslides, waterfalls, and tsunamis. Much of the text goes right over her head, but she loves to listen to the big words anyway, and the book has wonderful illustrations. The other thing we've started incorporating into school is the Life of Fred math program, which uses a story to teach mathematical concepts. We've been reading a couple of chapters each Friday, and right now we're a few chapters in to the first book, Apples. She absolutely loves it so far.

At a recent book sale, we also acquired a set of Golden Encyclopedias, which have become a new source of fascination for Miss Muffet. She has learned to look up topics of interest in the index, and she will also spend time just browsing each volume for something interesting to study. So far, she has learned about dinosaurs, Sir Francis Drake, stars, Teddy Roosevelt, and trilobites.

On her own, Miss Muffet just finished reading Down to the Bonny Glen by Melissa Wiley and Favorite Fairy Tales Told in Spain by Virginia Haviland, and she also recently fell in love with my signed childhood copy of Sarah's Unicorn by Bruce Coville, which has infiltrated much of her imaginative play with her three-year-old sister. She is also listening to the audiobook of The Year of Billy Miller by Kevin Henkes on repeat.

Little Bo Peep, Age 3

Bo Peep is on a quest to learn all the letters and their sounds so she can learn to read like her big sister. She is coming along quite well with this task, and seems to enjoy showing off her newfound knowledge. For Christmas, she received Rhymes for Annie Rose by Shirley Hughes, which is a new favorite, and Cook in a Book: Cookies, which has renewed her interest in the other Cook in a Book titles we have: Pizza and Pancakes. She also really likes The Girl With the Watering Can by Ewa Zadrzynska, especially after we went to see the painting in person the day after Christmas, and she is currently obsessed with Eloise Wilkin's illustrations.

Bo Peep also takes a huge stack of books with her to bed at naptime each day and looks at every single one in depth. She is beginning to get into audiobooks, too, and some days, I set her up with my laptop playing Mrs. Piggle Wiggle, which is her current favorite. I am going to try to introduce some audiobooks with page-turn signals and see if she can follow along in the books.

Little Jumping Joan, Age 15 months

Jumping Joan has learned to say "no," so any attempt to read to her is usually met with a chorus of "no no no no no." But she loves handling books. Her current favorite is Winter Babies, which my sister sent to her for Christmas, along with Autumn Babies. She likes both, but given a choice of just one, Winter Babies wins every time. She has also become interested in Babies on the Bus by Karen Katz, Once I Was a Polliwog by Douglas Florian, and a few of our Babylit books. She is also typically present for all of our family read-alouds so she hears those books even when she won't allow us to read to her otherwise.

Fumbling Through Fantasy: The Good Friends by Margery Bianco (1934)

When the farmer down the road falls ill, Mary and her grandmother worry about the animals who live on his farm being left on their own. Though they seem to be doing all right for themselves, there is a "society man" lurking about who seems intent on sending them elsewhere to live. Only Mary's ingenuity and friendship can save them from being separated until their master returns.

This book has much in common with The Wonderful Farm. In both books, animals can talk - to each other and to humans - and this is accepted in the world of the story as perfectly natural and normal. In both books as well, the animals, though human-like in their speech, retain all the rest of their natural tendencies and instincts. This gives the story an appealing magical quality without making it feel implausible.

The main character is also very appealing. She is resourceful and determined, has a pleasant relationship with her grandmother, and repeatedly demonstrates her dedication to and love for her animal friends. She makes a variety of mistakes and is at times disrespectful to the society man, Mr. Meaks, but her behavior is never without consequences, and she does, over time, begin to understand that Mr. Meaks isn't necessarily her complete enemy.

I read this book aloud to my daughters, ages 3 and 5, and after each chapter, they begged and begged for me to keep going. They were completely invested in the well-being of the animals, and between chapters, I'd hear them playing games in which one of them was the society man, and the other had to make an escape from him. The reading level for this story is definitely middle grade, but there is clearly a lot in it to be appreciated by preschoolers as well. I plan to re-introduce the book in a few years when they can read it themselves, and also so that my one-year-old can enjoy it as a preschooler too.

#YearofHarryPotter: Philosopher's Stone, Chapters 9-12

This past week I read chapters 9 through 12 of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone: The Midnight Duel, Hallowe'en, Quidditch, and The Mirror of Erised. Spoilers may appear in my commentary.

This segment of the book introduces us to the first instance where Harry misbehaves but escapes the consequences of his misbehavior. The fact that Harry is often rewarded for breaking rules came up in a discussion with some other homeschooling moms recently, so I was definitely looking for it, and it will likely be something I touch on in these posts as I read through all the books. In this first instance, Harry disobeys Madam Hooch by attempting to fly on his broom without supervision or permission. Instead of disciplining him, however, Professor McGonagall, who catches him in the act, puts him on the Quidditch team and praises his abilities as a seeker. What I thought immediately, especially given the reactions of all the adult characters in the wizarding world to Harry's return in the last set of chapters, is that it has to be tempting for these authority figures to give Harry a pass each time he does something wrong. Not only is he a hero for apparently vanquishing Voldemort, but he has also had such a tough time, losing his parents and living with the Dursleys for so long. I can imagine them wanting to look the other way just to make his life easier. I'm curious as to whether I'll be able to apply that theoretical explanation to any of the characters as Harry's disobedience becomes more flagrant over time.

The other thought I had is that characters who are special in a variety of different ways are annoying to read about. I couldn't stand it in the Twilight series when Bella Swan was constantly being discovered as the only one who could do this or that rare thing. I hate it when Nancy Drew comes to the rescue of some friend of hers because she happens to be really strong, really brave, and really knowledgeable about some rare medical problem at the same time. And there is something grating about Harry going from rags to riches, and then on top of that, having such a talent for Quidditch, and later, being allowed special privileges such as participating in the Triwizard Tournament.  I can't say it doesn't work in these books, because I love the series, and I enjoy reading about what happens to Harry as a result of his specialness. But there is also a reason my favorite character is Ron.

Speaking of Quidditch, though, I am still impressed by how well Rowling developed this fictional sport. Lee Jordan's commentary during the first match of the year sounds like the soundtrack to a real football or basketball game, and it really helped me visualize everything that was happening on the Quidditch pitch. I also loved the line that compares the hoops of the pitch to the wands children use to blow bubbles. That image really brings the whole concept to life for me.

Finally, I found the Mirror of Erised chapter especially poignant in light of what Rowling has said Dumbledore really sees in it. ("He saw his family alive, whole and happy – Ariana, Percival and Kendra all returned to him, and Aberforth reconciled to him.") The fact that he takes the mirror away to a place where Harry can't find it suggests that he has learned the hard way, firsthand, how damaging it can be to spend time dwelling on what might have been.

First Reads of the Year, 2010-2019: A Reading Retrospective

This month's prompt for the Blog All About It challenge is First. I've decided to do a little retrospective and look back at the first book I read each year since I started keeping track of books on Goodreads in 2010.


2010

Chosen by P.C. Cast and Kristen Cast 

I was working as a teen librarian in 2010, and I had one patron who was really into this series. Since I didn't really like Twilight, but still wanted to put a good faith effort into being interested in the vampire phenomenon that had such a grip on all the teens, I decided to take her recommendation and give this a try. I don't remember this book specifically, or why I was reading it on New Year's Day, but it's interesting to see how different a book it is compared to the others on this list!

2011

Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! by Laura Amy Schlitz 

I read this the same day I started blogging, and my review of it was one of the first reviews I posted to my (now-defunct) first blog. It was the start of my ongoing quest to read more Newbery winners and honor books.

2012

Troublemaker by Andrew Clements

I just read and reviewed Andrew Clements's newest title, so it seems I like to read him in January. I remember liking this book, which, if memory serves, I finished reading at my desk in the library. It must have been a slow day, because I don't think I had many chances to read in that job!

2013

Seeing Cinderella by Jenny Lundquist

Whenever I see the cover of this book, I remember being on a train with it, so I must have been reading it during my commute. I remember feeling dubious about the fantasy elements, but I wound up giving it four stars. I think this was also the beginning of my obsession with Aladdin Mix books, which I read in abundance for several years afterwards.

2014

The Off Season by Catherine Gilbert Murdock

I really liked this series, and had almost forgotten about it! I wish this author had written other contemporary YA stories, though I am also curious about her 2018 release, The Book of Boy.


2015

The Zebra Wall by Kevin Henkes

This was a used bookstore find that I had never seen before, but that now seems to be at every sale and store I visit. I remember being really amused by the sit-com-esque storyline and interested in Henkes's evolution as an author since the 1980s.


2016

Claire's Story, 1910 by Adele Whitby

I loved this series and I wish there had been more titles! The writing was really just adequate, but the concept - exploring the connections between different generations of the same family - was great.


2017

The Family from One End Street by Eve Garnett 

This book stands out to me as one of the first I ever borrowed from OpenLibrary.org. I had been wanting to read it forever and was amazed when I realized it had been sitting there waiting for me all along. I also remember my review mentioning that I was going to read the other books of the series - it might be time to make good on that promise now!

2018

Amahl and the Night Visitors by Frances Frost and Roger Duvoisin 

This was the first book of last year, and possibly also the best. I just re-read it with the girls at the beginning of the month, and it was just as good the second time around.

2019

The Reed of God by Caryll Houselander 

This year's first book was for my book club. I really enjoyed it, both for the writing style, and for the way it put into words many thoughts I have had in passing but never expressed.

What was your first read of the new year?