The Read-at-Home Kids Report: May 2019

Family Read-Alouds

This month's lunchtime read-aloud (read by me) has been Inside the Ark by Caryll Houselander. This is a collection of short stories aimed at Catholic children, and it has been a lovely way to make Easter last all through the season. Though Little Miss Muffet (age 5 years, 6 months) liked the stories, they seemed to make a surprisingly even bigger impression on Little Bo Peep (3 years, 8 months). She told me her favorites were "The Dancing Bear," "The White Mouse's Story," and "Petook," but insisted all of them were great.

Bo Peep was less enthusiastic about Joan of Arc by Josephine Poole and Angela Barrett, which we read aloud at breakfast yesterday morning, on her feast day. Bo Peep said she hated the book and rated it one star because it had too many battles. Miss Muffet was a big fan, though, partly because she knows one of the voices Joan heard was her patroness, St. Margaret of Antioch. 

At dinner, my husband is reading aloud The Little Circus, which everyone likes except Little Jumping Joan (19 months) who is frequently too disruptive to stay at the table to even pretend to listen.

Little Miss Muffet (5 years, 6 months)

Though we're pretty much schooling year-round, we have started to wind down some of the things we have been working on in our homeschool during kindergarten. This month, we finally made it to the end of The World We Live In, which we have been reading on and off since January. I know she didn't understand every single concept presented, but the book gave her an excellent overview of natural history and the natural world, and it has great illustrations. We also finished the second Life of Fred book, Butterflies, and we're very close to the end of Famous Paintings: An Introduction to Art by Alice Elizabeth Chase. She also really loved Filippo's Dome by Anne Rockwell, about the building of Brunelleschi's Duomo in Florence, and now she's enjoying The Caves of the Great Hunters by Hans Baumann, which we take turns reading aloud to each other.

This month, we also started a new chapter in Building Foundations for Scientific Understanding focused on materials, which led us to borrow a few ebooks from Hoopla: Wood by Andrea Rivera, Wood by Harriet Brundle, Rock by Harriet Brundle, Materials by Steffi Cavell-Clarke, and Let's Investigate Everyday Materials by Ruth Owen. (We have finished all but that last one.)

On her own, Miss Muffet has also been reading a ton of great books. She finished our omnibus edition containing three Wishing Chair books by E. Nesbit, and has since zipped through five picture books in the Something Queer series by Elizabeth Levy, as well as Three Boys and a Lighthouse by Nan Hayden Agle and Ellen Wilson, On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder,  Henry Huggins by Beverly Cleary, Sarah, Plain and Tall, Skylark, and Caleb's Story by Patricia Maclachlan, and Beyond the Pawpaw Trees by Palmer Brown. She is now reading The Silver Nutmeg by Palmer Brown.

Miss Muffet also learned "Daffodils" by William Wordsworth as her memorization work for the month.

Little Bo Peep (3 years, 8 months)

Bo Peep's latest book obsession is Christina Katerina and the Box by Patricia Lee Gauch. She talks about it a lot, and if anyone offers to read a story to her, this is the one she will almost always choose. I enjoyed Christina Katerina as a kid, too, so I'm always happy to oblige. When we're not reading about Christina Katerina, her other book of choice is  Janet's Thingamajigs by Beverly Cleary, another of my childhood favorites.

She's also been enjoying reading a new wordless book, Sign Off by Stephen Savage, listening to the Little Miss and Mr. Men audiobooks read by Jim Dale, and carrying around a poetry book illustrated with paintings of babies. (The best books, she says, always have babies in them!)

Little Bo Peep's memory work for this month was "Away We Go" by Eleanor Dennis.

Little Jumping Joan

Finally, our baby has really started to become interested in having books read aloud to her. The other day, she stood in the playpen and listened to Animal Sounds by Aurelius Battaglia, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin, Jr. and Eric Carle, Mama, Look! by Patricia Murphy and David Diaz and If All the Seas Were One Sea by Janina Domanska. She also loves to point out when anyone else is holding a book, and she frequently listens along when Bo Peep has audiobooks playing. She also loves to look at our Catholic Baptism Bible, even though we're constantly taking it away from her for fear she will rip it!

Reading Through History: The Master Puppeteer by Katherine Paterson (1975)

Jiro, the son of peasant Hanji the puppetmaker and his wife, Isako, whose other children all died of the plague, is starving to death in feudal Osaka, Japan. When he is offered the opportunity to become an apprentice for Yoshida at the puppet theater, he decides to leave his family behind in favor of a better life for himself. As he befriends the other apprentices, including Yoshida's own son, Kinshi, Jiro does his best to fulfill his role within the theater without offending those above him. He worries, however, about the welfare of his parents and wonders about Saburo, a Robin Hood-esque samurai and hero of the poor who has been stirring things up around Osaka.

This is a short book, but a complex one. Paterson, who was born in China and worked as a missionary in Japan, studied both Chinese and Japanese history, and she clearly did a lot of research on this time period, resulting in a book very different from her American-based works of realistic fiction.  I know very little about feudal Japan, but Paterson helps her readers to identify the main conflicts of the time, and to empathize with the extreme poverty of the peasants. She also brings to life the fascinating behind-the-scenes world of kabuki theater, and the illustrations by Haru Wells provide a lot of good context for readers who might otherwise have difficulty imagining the puppets and how they are manipulated.

It took me a good 40 pages to feel invested in Jiro, which is a lot in a 179-page novel, but once he enters the theater and becomes close with Kinshi, he comes to life as a character, and then it becomes easier to settle in to the story. It didn't flow as easily for me as something like Jacob Have I Loved or The Great Gilly Hopkins, but it also took me further outside of my reading comfort zone than I have gone with this author in the past, and I think it's a good thing that it stretched my reading muscles a bit.

The Master Puppeteer would be a good assignment for middle schoolers who have some background knowledge about feudalism. I will definitely want my girls to read it when we study this time period. It would also be interesting to pair this book with The Shakespeare Stealer, as theater and theft both figure heavily into both books.

Book Review: Friday's Tunnel by John Verney (1959)

Friday's Tunnel is a children's novel originally published by English writer John Verney in 1959, which has been reissued by Paul Dry Books. (I'm grateful to have received a review copy!) February and Friday Callendar are sister and brother and they have just returned home for the summer holidays. Shortly after their arrival, their father, a well-known and much-respected newspaper reporter, announces that he will need to journey to the nation of Capria to report on an emerging crisis for the paper. When it becomes clear that he never makes it to Capria, however, February and her brother begin to investigate exactly what is going on in Capria and where their father might really be.

I really enjoyed this book. February has a great narrative voice, and she kept me interested in the plot even when I wasn't always completely invested in all the political intrigue. She struck me as a precursor to a character like Ruby Redford. The family itself reminded me a bit of other favorite vintage kidlit families: Hilda van Stockum's Mitchells, Madeleine L'Engle's Austins, and Geoffrey Trease's Melburys (from No Boats on Bannermere and its sequels), but with an added layer of Cold War era suspicion and suspense. I also found myself comparing this book to Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books, as February is resourceful in the same way as those characters, and they have a similar light tone and straightforward writing style.

Though some of the government issues and political problems felt a bit confusing at times (especially since Capria is an invented country), overall, it was fun trying to piece together the clues (many of which February discerns by reading a comic strip) and to guess what was going to happen from chapter to chapter. Next, I'm looking forward to reading February's Road, the second book of this series, of which I also received a review copy.

My Favorite Books Released In the Last Ten Years

This week's Top Ten Tuesday theme is favorite books released in the last ten years. Up until recently, I've been reading more children's books than anything else, so I decided to pick two titles for each year: one written for an adult audience, and one written at the middle grade level.

2010

• Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny
  This is the eighth book in the wonderful Armand Gamache series, and it's my favorite of the ones I've read. I rated it 5 stars in December 2018.
• Crunch by Leslie Connor
  In this novel, there is a major gasoline crisis which brings a sudden influx of business to Dewey's family's bike repair shop at a time when his parents happen to be out of town. I gave it 5 stars in August 2010.

2011

• No Biking in the House Without a Helmet by Melissa Fay Greene
  This memoir about a family with nine children tells the honest truth about the joys and challenges of international adoption. I rated it 5 stars in July 2018. 
• The Golden Day by Ursula Dubosarsky
  Though this book wasn't available in the U.S. until 2013, it was published in Australia in 2011. It's the story of the mysterious disappearance of a teacher at a girls school after an outing with her students. I rated it 5 stars in July 2013.

2012

• The Little Bookstore of Big Stone Gap: A Memoir of Friendship, Community, and the Uncommon Pleasure of a Good Book by Wendy Welch
  This is a memoir about a couple opening a used bookstore in a small town in West Virginia. I rated it 4 stars in April of this year.
• Flying the Dragon by Natalie Dias Lorenzi
  This novel explores the Japanese roots of its main character, Skye, as family members she has never met move from Japan to the U.S. I rated it 5 stars in August 2016.

2013

• A Prayer Journal by Flannery O'Connor
  This slim volume of journal entries by Flannery O'Connor gives great insight into her spiritual life. I rated it 5 stars in June 2015. 
• Bo at Ballard Creek by Kirkpatrick Hill
  This historical fiction novel about a plucky little girl named Bo and the two burly miners who take her on as their child after the death of her mother is a great read-alike for the Little House series. I rated it 5 stars in September 2013.

2014

• Something Other Than God by Jennifer Fulwiler
  Jennifer Fulwiler's conversion story is one of my favorite Catholic books. I rated it 5 stars in January 2015 and still found it worthy of 5 stars this past month.
• Greenglass House by Kate Milford
  This atmospheric novel about a smuggler's inn and its inhabitants is a perfect cozy read for the winter months. I rated it 5 stars in July 2014, and rated the audiobook 5 stars in February of this year.

2015

• The Gentle Traditionalist: A Catholic Fairy-tale from Ireland by Roger Buck
  This fairy tale explains the Catholic faith to a secular audience through a mythical character known as the Gentle Traditionalist. I rated it 5 stars in March of this year.
• Moonpenny Island by Tricia SpringstubbThis beautifully written novel by one of my favorite middle grade authors follows a young girl named Flor through a period of great change during which her best friend moves away and her mother leaves home. I rated it 5 stars in January 2015.

2016

• The Nest by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney
  The four adult siblings in this book have each been counting on a fund of money called "the nest" to help them with their financial problems, but each one's claim is threatened when their mother spends the money to bail her oldest out of trouble. I rated it 4 stars this month. 
• Mission Mumbai: A Novel of Sacred Cows, Snakes, and Stolen Toilets by Mahtab Narsimhan
  In this novel, a young boy accompanies his best friend to visit family in India, and while there, he explores the photography hobby that his father believes is a waste of time and helps his friend figure out how to avoid being sent to India for school. I rated it 5 stars in January 2016.

2017

• The Shark Club by Ann Kidd Taylor
  This novel is about a marine biologist who survived a shark bite as a kid and has now returned to her hometown to sort out her feelings for her long-ago crush. I rated it 4 stars in December 2017. 
• Beyond the Bright Sea by Lauren Wolk
  Lauren Wolk's second middle grade novel is set on a tiny island off the coast of Massachusetts, where a young girl named Crow is cared for by an old man named Osh, who rescued her as a baby and Miss Maggie who lives nearby. Crow has always known she came from another nearby island, but when she sees a fire there one night, she becomes curious about her past an sets out to discover the truth. I rated it 5 stars in December 2017. 

2018

• The Library Book by Susan Orlean
  This nonfiction book about the fire at the Los Angeles Public Library in 1986 is a wonderful tribute to libraries and a fascinating look into the history of one American library system. I rated it 5 stars in January of this year.
• Front Desk by Kelly Yang
  This story about a Chinese immigrant family working in a hotel in 1990s California has all the qualities of excellent middle grade books. I rated it 5 stars in June 2018. 

2019 (so far)

• Murder Lo Mein by Vivien Chien
  I love the Noodle Shop Mysteries, and this third book did not disappoint! I rated it 3 stars back in March.
• Sweeping Up the Heart by Kevin Henkes
  This gentle novel by Kevin Henkes is a quiet book, but beautifully written. I rated it 4 stars in March.

See any of your favorites on my list? 

#YearOfHarryPotter: Goblet of Fire, Chapters 20-23

I really loved this week's set of chapters: Chapter 20 ("The First Task"), Chapter 21 ("The House-Elf Liberation Front"), Chapter 22 ("The Unexpected Task"), and Chapter 23 ("The Yule Ball"). Spoilers ahead!

The cheating in the Tri-Wizard Tournament continues as the first task gets underway, and I have to admit that I found this annoying. It's one thing for Hagrid to clue Harry in to what the task is, or for Harry to let Cedric know what it is after realizing it will level the playing field, but why is Bagman trying to give Harry help on his way out to meet his dragon? The "cheating is a traditional part of this tournament" explanation strikes me as lame. But at least Harry has the good sense to say no, though I do question whether he would have done so if he hadn't already come up with a plan.

Ron and Harry also make up after Ron realizes how dangerous the first task actually is. I loved this line: "Ron's indignation on his behalf was worth a hundred points to him." For all his flaws, Harry does recognize the value of a good friend. Harry also dismisses Rita Skeeter's desire to have a word with him in a way I appreciated. He says, "Yeah, you can have a word. Goodbye." No, this is not how fourteen year olds should speak to their elders, but it is absolutely how I would deal with a reporter like her.

Hermione's crusade for house elf rights also continues in this section of the book. I always find myself skimming those sections, but it was fun to see Dobby again, and to hear him and Winky speak a bit about their former masters who were Death Eaters. This same chapter (21) includes a lot of great one-liners that really highlight what adolescent boys find funny, without resorting to vulgarity, which I appreciate.

As happens in each book, this one provides a reason for other students to stay at Hogwarts over Christmas so Harry is not just alone. This time it's a reason for everyone to stay: the Yule Ball. This event provides the catalyst for Hermione and Ron's first argument surrounding their slowly growing feelings for each other. Ron is so believably clueless about the idea that Hermione might want to be his date, and when he gets around to figuring it out, he can only bring himself to point out that she's a girl. His reaction to the fact that she went with Krum is also age appropriate and appropriate to his personality. I also love that Krum pronounces her name "Herm-own-ninny."

There are some really good subtle clues in this book hinting at things to come. One that I especially love is the fact that the Secrecy Sensor and Sneakoscope keep whistling in Moody's office. "Moody" explains this away by saying that it's  because so many students are lying about their homework and such, but of course, it must really be the fact that this isn't Moody at all, but the imposter. Another great one is when Dumbledore mentions taking a wrong turn on his way to the bathroom and discovering a previously unknown room full of chamber pots that he has since not seen again. This has to be the room of requirement! I love that Rowling lays such a careful groundwork for this series. It really rewards re-readers!

#YearOfHarryPotter: Goblet of Fire, Chapters 17-19

Over the weekend, I read my next installment in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: Chapter 17 ("The Four Champions"), Chapter 18 ("The Weighing of the Wands"), and Chapter 19 ("The Hungarian Horntail"). Spoilers below for the entire series as always.

Though I remembered most of the plot in broad strokes, there was a lot happening that I didn't remember as clearly. For one thing, I'd forgotten about Ron's anger and jealousy toward Harry, and his assumption that Harry did put his name in the goblet but just kept it from him. In some ways, this rift in their friendship foreshadows their bigger disagreement in the final book of the series. Like their fight in that final book, this one also helps the reader to see Ron as more than just the comic relief or the loyal sidekick.  He's my favorite character, so I am always appreciative when Rowling takes the time to give him a little more depth. I'm looking forward to their friendship being repaired, but I do like that Rowling is adding some believable tension to it.

I also found myself getting angry at Rita Skeeter. As becomes more evident when Dolores Umbridge comes on the scene, Rowling does a really good job of writing obnoxious, self-serving adults. Skeeter, though not as evil as Umbridge, definitely pushes a lot of buttons for the reader. (Parallels to the way the current mainstream media likes to distort certain news stories may have made her behavior seem more egregious than it did the first time.)

The other thing I want to mention is that that it kind of made me laugh that, before the first task even begins, Hagrid is helping Harry to cheat. Obviously, in the grander scheme of things, Harry should never have been permitted to compete, and indeed has been placed in the Triwizard Tournament in order that harm should come to him, so it makes sense that all the adults in his life feel compelled to keep him safe through whatever means necessary. But I still chuckled a bit at how Harry is always always an exception. Ron's position is definitely understandable. Also, it seems a little odd to me that an underage wizard is bound by this magical contract when he didn't opt into it himself. Surely Dumbledore could have prevented this whole thing somehow!

I have a general memory of how things proceed from here, but not much in the way of specifics, so I'm actually looking forward to finding out what happens next. I'll also be curious to see if I find more parallels between Harry's trials in the tournament and those he endures later when seeking out the horcruxes.

Books My Children Have Destroyed

Top Ten Tuesday's theme for this week is Books That I Refuse to Let Anyone Touch. I'm a big believer in Ranganathan's First Law of Library Science: books are for use. Therefore, I'm not too particular about letting other people touch my books. It's possible, however, that I should not apply this principle quite so liberally with my children, as they have managed to destroy all ten of the books on today's list.

My oldest daughter, Little Miss Muffet (now 5), was usually very gentle with books as a baby, and it was rare that she did anything with them other than turn the pages and look at the pictures. On two occasions, though, she was left unsupervised with a book and disaster struck.

Her first victim was the My First Word Board Book. She chewed off a corner of the front cover, tried to swallow it, choked, and spit up. To prevent further damage, my husband trimmed the corner straight across, and the book has lasted through two more kids, but this was the first book that ever got destroyed by a child in our household.

Another time, we borrowed Go In and Out the Window: An Illustrated Songbook For Children from the public library, and I foolishly left it within her reach at naptime. I thought she was sleeping, but it turned out she was tearing a page of that book into tiny little pieces. I decided that, rather than bring it to the library and pay for the book, I would use my librarian skills to tape it back together. Amazingly, I had every piece and it didn't look that bad when it went into the book drop. (Later, we bought a nice used copy, and thankfully, that one is still intact.)

Miss Muffet also kicked off the destruction of our first board book copy of Ten Little Babies by Gyo Fujikawa. When it seemed like it was in danger of falling apart, I took the book away and put it on a shelf she couldn't reach. I didn't want the two subsequent babies to miss out, however, and when they had their chance to read it, they finished it off. Thankfully, Grandma, who bought it for us originally, recently replaced it with a nice new copy.

Also recently, Miss Muffet read to shreds one of my books from childhood: 696 Silly School Jokes & Riddles by Joseph Rosenbloom. It wasn't in the best condition when I passed it down to her in the first place, and she reads it so often that it has just fallen into three pieces. I'm working on figuring out how to tape it back together so we can get a bit more mileage out of it.

My second daughter, Little Bo Peep (age 3), has been a bit rougher on books than her older sister, in part because she never reads just one at a time. She requires a stack, preferably as tall as she is, and she goes through the titles in rapid succession, tossing one side and immediately moving on to the next. Her earliest favorites were Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? and Eloise Wilkin Stories. We have owned several copies of Brown Bear, Brown Bear, but the one she destroyed was the hardcover edition of the most recent version. We still have the board book, as well as the older version with the original art in hardcover. I wish Golden Books would strengthen the binding on their collections like Eloise Wilkin Stories. We've replaced it twice, and no one has even been that rough with it. It just doesn't hold up well to multiple readings per day.

The three-year-old also started Babies on the Bus on the road to ruin, just by reading and re-reading it. We did eventually replace the picture book with a board book (again, thanks to Grandma!) but then the toddler broke the spine on that one.  I believe the toddler (now 19 months) may also be responsible for the ripped cover on my signed childhood copy of Sarah's Unicorn and the fact that the pages of The Catholic Children's Bible have become detached from the cover. She hasn't admitted to it, but neither has anyone else!

Finally, the latest book my kids have destroyed is A Brief History of Life on Earth by Clemence Dupont. This is a beautiful science book that folds out to be a timeline which I received for review from Prestel. The two older girls love it so much that they are constantly fighting over it. Every time one tugs it away from the other, it gets ripped in a new place. It's also really easy for little ones to unfold it too much and get confused about how to put it back together, and that results in loosening of glue and ripping as well.

Which books have been damaged at your house?