Dear Readers,
I unexpectedly took last week off and will be taking this week off as well. That adorable fuzzy snoot you see at the top of the screen belonged to my dog Dexter, who we sadly put to sleep last Friday. He was a dearly loved part of the family and I’m afraid I haven’t been getting my regularly scheduled reading done, despite having some books on my shelf that I really wanted to get into. I hope to be back next Monday with my January theme post.
Wishing you all a joyous 2014!
As Betsy heads home from school, the snow begins to fall. By suppertime, Mother is anxiously awaiting Father who hasn’t yet returned. Betsy and her little sister Star go to bed well before he makes it back. Having abandoned his car on the highway, Father returns home on foot, but he’s not alone! With him are Mrs. Byrd and her two children, Susan and Neddie. The power and the phone lines are out leaving the Byrds no way to get word to their loved ones that they are safe. Neddie and Susan don’t mind much, they’re having a blast, snowed in with Betsy and Star. The children have all sorts of snowy day fun as Christmas approaches.
The “B” Is for Betsy
Snowbound with Betsy is also lacking in appropriate diversity. Although nothing is said outright, it seems like the only non-white characters are Clementine and Lillybell. The illustrations in the book are black and white line drawings, and it seems as though based on features and hair that Lillybell is African-American, yet her skin is the same color as Betsy’s. Not a huge deal, except if the only minority representation is servants, and then those servants are illustrated with white skin, it’s a bit odd. Again, there is no where that I noticed that the race of these characters is mentioned, but I’m inferring it from the text.
Sex, Nudity, Dating – None.
Profanity – None.
Death, Violence and Gore – None.
Drugs, Alcohol and Smoking – None.
Frightening or Intense Things – None.
White Snow, Bright Snow starts with a lovely poem. It then follows the progression through a snowstorm to spring. Using only a few bright colors to highlight the white snow, it’s very visually interesting. The story is a bit old fashioned, it tells of a postman, a farmer, a police officer and his wife and uses their experiences and observations to share about the snow. It is sweet nonetheless, but the writing doesn’t quite live up to the promise of the initial poem.
Definitely best for little ones up through about first grade.
Sex, Nudity, Dating – None.
Profanity – None.
Death, Violence and Gore – None.
Drugs, Alcohol and Smoking – None.
Frightening or Intense Things – None.
This is a completely adorable Christmas story. Niklaus Goodfellow, the last of the real Santas, has crash landed when his invisible reindeer ran off in search of marzipan. His caravan is now parked on a suburban street and Niklaus is in danger. As the last real Santa Claus, he is being hunted by an evil Santa who has commercialized Christmas and has outlawed all the old magical ways. But Niklaus has angels and elves by his side and with the help of two children who still believe, he just might be able to perform some Christmas miracles.
Those children, Ben and Charlotte, are desperately in need of some cheer. Ben struggles in school and is often at the mercy of a bully. Charlotte is lonely. Ben discovers the caravan first (it’s bigger on the inside – is Funke a Dr. Who fan?) and meets Charlotte through Niklaus. Together they must help Niklaus before he’s captured and turned into a chocolate Santa.
Much easier than Funke’s complicated and dark Inkheart series, this could be read independently by many third graders and would be enjoyable as a read aloud even for younger children. I think your main difficulty with little ones would be that some would be bothered by the variations to the Santa myth (caravan vs. sleigh, multiple Santas) whereas older children, even sometimes those who still believe, are more open this. I loved its “Christmas is magical” message, the detail that went into creating this particular Santa’s world and the portrayal of Ben as a sensitive athletic boy who struggles because of shyness and lack of academic success. My only complaint is that we don’t get to know Charlotte very well, which is too bad, in part because Funke is excellent at creating strong, interesting female characters, so the lack of dimension/backstory on Charlotte is disappointing.
Sex, Nudity, Dating – A boy and a girl are friends, there is absolutely nothing romantic or sexual about their friendship, however they are teased about it and the girl is referred to as his girlfriend. A little girl gives a Santa a kiss.
Profanity – The elves are swearing; at first no words are reported and then we read “booger-burps”, “smelly goblin farts”, and “reindeer-poo” which is sort of an excellent type of swearing. “blasted,” “stinking,” “steaming reindeer droppings,” “stupid,” “numbskull,” “darn it,” “rotten pig,”
Death, Violence and Gore – A ne’er do well Santa turned reindeer into salami. Elves are disappeared – no one knows what happened to them. Santas are disappeared too. There’s a risk of a Santa being turned into a chocolate Santa.
Drugs, Alcohol and Smoking – None.
Frightening or Intense Things – None.
This is one of the most beautifully illustrated copies of a poem that you will ever find. There’s something about it that evokes the feeling of being in a snowglobe, a tiny perfect world caught amid swirling snowflakes, somehow captured between the pages of a book. Robert Frost’s poem is simple, but Jeffers’s illustrations make the poem lovely and easily accessible to children. Her hero bears a slight resemblance to Santa, giving the book an even more seasonal feel.
I loved using this book in the classroom to interest children in poetry, but especially to show them how they could understand poems. First, I would read the book aloud, without showing the book and have them draw a picture of the poem. You would notice that nearly all students would pick up on the snow, many of them would include the horse and others would include small details like the harness bells that the horse shakes. They also would love discussing what part of the poem led them to draw what they did. Then I would share Jeffers’s version with them.
Great for: Introducing children to poetry, seasonal but non-religious reading.
Sex, Nudity, Dating – Characters are drawn sharing a hug.
Profanity – None.
Death, Violence and Gore – None.
Drugs, Alcohol and Smoking – None.
Frightening or Intense Things – None.
I unearthed this in a box of old books that had once been my mother’s and remembered it from my own childhood. It’s terribly old-fashioned (something I usually enjoyed when I was younger) and a little scary (something I usually did not enjoy at all). Joe picks up Jenny in a sleigh and they head off to a skating date. Joe’s a bit of a show-off. Jenny cheers him on like a good little girlfriend, but loses her balance and tumbles. Joe can’t suppress a chuckle and Jenny skates off in a snit (so like a female). Of course, she’s so mad she doesn’t see where she’s going and off she skates onto thin ice. A section of ice breaks off and Jenny is sent racing down the river. Joe attempts a gallant rescue, but in true Disney style, the woodland creatures are the ones that save the day, unbeknownst to Joe and Jenny.
I do remember this quite fondly, despite the (pretty ridiculous and patronizing) depiction of Jenny, the fact that she has a brush with death and Joe’s less than stellar showing as the boyfriend. Maybe I was just sucked in by the muff (she wears a muff!), full skirt with petticoats, sleigh bells and sympathetic rabbits.
Sex, Nudity, Dating – A couple goes on a sleigh ride. Couples are shown skating arm in arm. A picture shows Joe giving Jenny a kiss on the cheek.
Profanity – None.
Death, Violence and Gore – None.
Drugs, Alcohol and Smoking – None.
Frightening or Intense Things – Jenny skates onto thin ice and the part she is standing on breaks off and floats down river and heads towards the rapids.
…as the greeting cards say these days!
It’s December and you know how I love a good seasonal book! Hanukkah has just finished and Christmas lies ahead. And in between? I like some wintery reads to get in the right festive mood.
I’ll see how many I can squeeze in between the holiday shopping and baby’s first everything!
Do you have any favorite winter-y or holiday reads?
So. Catching Fire (The Second Book of the Hunger Games)
So why am I such a stick in the mud? Why do I even care?
First, let’s revisit that post based on my talk with my students. Check out what they had to say about why they need adults to help them make good decisions about books with violent content. Their thoughts can be found here. They have a lot of good points and I think it’s worth your time to check them out.
Next up, check out my reviews of each book in the series. I know, I know, you’ve probably read the whole series yourself. But it’s amazing how much we adults can miss when we’re excited and engaged and caught up in the plot. Something you might skim over and not even register might be the very thing that keeps your normally stoic child up in the middle of the night.
Did you remember that in The Hunger Games someone needs to be subdued because he’s trying to eat the hearts of people of people he murdered? Yeah. Me neither. It’s probably not even a big part of the book. Just one small bit of violence tossed in there among all the others. Check out my review with all the possibly objectionable content here: The Hunger Games.
What about the romantic relationships in Catching Fire with their complexity and manipulation? Or the fact that a Peacemaker lures starving women into his bed for money? In truth, there’s no graphic sex. But is that all a book needs to be kid-friendly? Catch up on the content of Catching Fire here.
After the first two, the violence escalated greatly for Mockingjay. I had to read the siege on the Capitol multiple times and I still didn’t feel convinced that I’d adequately described the violence. And to be honest, I needed to read it multiple times just to know what was going on. If it requires that level of attention for comprehension, will kids really get it? Will they understand what they’ve read? Do you even want them to? Check out the details of Mockingjay here.
I think it’s clear already, but allow me to say again, for the record that I strongly believe that this book is not appropriate for elementary school readers. In my professional opinion, children do not have the emotional resources for it and many do not have the reading comprehension for it. In my personal opinion, why would you rush this series, which is actually exciting and thought provoking and engaging when read by the right audience? Is cashing in on the current popularity worth it? Because there are are so many great books out there that are appropriate for elementary school readers, why not choose one of them instead, and save The Hunger Games for older readers.
I’ve been wanting to read this since it first appeared on the shelves of our school library. Although I never quite seemed to have the time, I handed it to countless students, urging them to read it, if not because they wanted to, because I wanted to. It was not a hard sell. I mean who wouldn’t be drawn in by that title and that cover? The opening of the book is just as engaging as you hope with the narrator directly addressing the audience and letting them know just how secret this book will be and how little he can actually reveal! It’s a cool choice and it continues throughout the book, with the narrator urging the reader to take breaks when things get stressful and footnoting his writing frequently.
Cass and Max-Ernest (not their actual names of course) are outsiders who end up collaborating to seek answers stemming from the appearance of a mysterious box at Cass’s grandfather’s antique store. The box, which once belonged to a (probably dead) magician, is hotly sought by some very shady characters. Longing to know the mystery of the box and why it holds so much interest for people, Cass and Max-Ernest begin investigating. Their path leads them towards friendship, a secret cult, Egyptology and synesthesia. I can’t possibly tell you more. It’s secret.
While I can’t say I loved it for myself the way I have loved some other middle grades books, I definitely enjoyed it and think it would be a hit (as it really seems to be) with middle grades students. I’ve seen it often in the hands of third and fourth graders, but depending on reading level, I think it could be of interest for students up to sixth or seventh grade since the main characters aren’t babyish. The use of a male-female team as the main characters helps assure that this will interest both girls and boys. With an incredibly clean vocabulary (worst word = darn), no drugs/alcohol/smoking and certainly no hanky-panky or innuendo between our girl/boy team it’s really kid-friendly. There is some violence and general scariness, but it is a mystery after all!
Non-Traditional Families – Max-Ernest’s parents have an usual divorce. Cassandra is being raised by a single mother (we do receive some information on her father’s whereabouts throughout the book). Cassandra’s grandfathers are two men who live together and own an antique shop, I think it’s pretty clear that they are gay, but there’s nothing sexual mentioned in regards to their arrangement, so it’s not blatant.
Sex, Nudity, Dating – In explaining the name Cassandra, the author mentions the prophet Cassandra who was loved by Apollo but rejected him. At one point a woman kisses Max-Ernest, but he says she’s not his girlfriend or anything, she’s just kissy. Cassandra is told that no one would marry someone with ears like hers.
Profanity – “darn,”
Death, Violence and Gore – The author promises the book won’t blow up in your face, bite your head off or tear you limb from limb. A woman specializes in selling houses after people have died. A man is presumed dead after a gardner smells something (presumed to be decomposing flesh). There was a fire and nothing was found but teeth. There are various threats throughout, most commonly, the threat that one person will kill another. Cass worries someone has been killed and that the body might rot without anyone knowing. She also worries that people might be in a pool of blood breathing their last breaths. Mussolini stabbed someone. A monk cut off his own eyelids. They are worried someone will be burned in an inferno. There’s a worry that someone will be boiled alive or killed. Lobotomies are mentioned. Someone drinks the blood of newborn monkeys. People (not characters we know and care about, ones that are probably evil) burn to death. Vampires are mentioned, but also the fact that they are not real. Ritual sacrifice is mentioned. Someone’s brain is going to be sucked out. A court physician is executed. Tomb robbers died violent deaths and incited a war. A mouse has died, probably from eating rat poison. Cass says her father was electrocuted and died.
Drugs, Alcohol and Smoking – Cassandra thinks a woman might be drinking wine, but it turns out it’s probably really monkey blood. Whether that’s better or worse is really your business.
Frightening or Intense Things – Unless having a bear in for latkes is scary, there is nothing to frighten little ones.
I know, it’s crazy early this year, right? I feel a little caught off guard myself, but I’ve got my absolute favorite, The Chanukkah Guest ready to read for my little one’s very first Hanukkah. Not that he’s old enough to know what’s going on at all, but it will be fun for me anyway.
Do you have a favorite Hanukkah story? Are you looking for one? I’ve reviewed plenty on the blog, check out the list here if you’re curious.
Wondering if The Hunger Games
Need to know how violent The Hunger Games is?
Read my full review here
