A Little Princess

Alright, this book, in some ways, doesn't need to be reviewed; it's a mainstay in a children's literature bookshelf. However, if you're like me, then you haven't read the book for years and have vague memories of the story mixed with images from film/t.v. of varying qualities. So, to do the book justice, I reread it.

A Little Princess is about a girl, Sara Crewe, who possesses a precocious intellect, a global worldview (having been raised in India), a vivid imagination and a very doting father (who lavishes luxuries upon her). Her father, the wealthy Captain Crewe, takes her from her happy home in India to a strict and cold boarding school in London under the tutelage of the aptly-named Miss Minchin. She spends several years there, befriending unlikely students and scullery maids, and garnering the growing resentment and jealousy of some other students as well as Miss Minchin herself. On her 11th birthday they receive word that her father has died and all of his money gone in a bad investment leaving her penniless. Miss Minchin now takes the opportunity to avenge her long-standing animosity to the child by making her one of the lowest and most poorly-treated servants in the house: depriving her of food, humiliating her in public and having her room in an attic with the rats. However, despite this ill-treatment, Sara maintains her pride and spirit and (as you likely know) ultimately triumphs.

In my head, I had remembered Sara as a sweet and cheerful protagonist, almost bubbly. Upon rereading the book, though, I saw that Sara is completely different- very thoughtful and quiet- even described as solemn. What keeps her spirit up isn't effervescence but equanimity. Her insistence on behaving as though she is a princess is very striking (not the princess/diva manner I would normally associate with the word) but rather a combination noblesse oblige and tranquil pride. Her few slips into discouragement and anger only highlight her general way of being rather than contradict it. I was quite inspired by this book and struck by Frances Hodgson Burnett's non-condescending manner of writing. If not for the slight classism in the book, it could easily have been written today. If you haven't read this book in a while, you should definitely revisit it- I guarantee the story will both pleasantly surprise you and might even move you.

Princess Ben

Like many books I review, I'll read a mention of the book from some lucky bookseller who has an advanced copy.  I'll get excited about the book, rush to my neighborhood bookstore or library and then realize the book doesn't come out for several months.  Sigh.  

Princess Ben was one of these books so I was pleasantly surprised when it arrived at my library.  And promptly settled down to read it...

Princess Ben is about a young free-spirited and slightly overindulged princess, who after her doting parents are tragically murdered, is left to the devices and education of her cruel aunt.  Her aunt, Queen Sophia, becomes more frantic about the quest to cultivate Princess Ben with hopes for making her marriage material when the neighboring kingdom (the chief suspect in the parents' deaths) begins to put pressure to overtake the kingdom.  After one particularly bad interaction between the Queen Sophia and Princess Ben, she is shut up in a cell behind her aunt's room.  However, the room holds an unexpected escape by way of a secret passageway that leads to a mysterious magical room...

Princess Ben started off with a bit of an angsty feel and, when coupled with the tragic circumstances, I steeled myself for a typical tortured heroine fairy tale.  However, by the Part Two of the book, I realized that this story was far from the typical fairy tale!  For start, the heroine isn't a delicate golden-haired beauty or even a feisty brunette beauty.  She's a sulky, strong-willed girl with a voracious appetite.  Her maturing and growth throughout the book is only one of many; it amazed me that characters that I made immediate judgments about (oh, she's the villain, he's the love interest) would change through the story as the narrator, the irrepressible Princess Ben, changed.  Catherine Gilbert Murdock's clever interweaving of fairy tale references only add to the cleverness of the story rather than serve as distraction.  

This story was deeper than the average "fairytale retelling" genre and delivered humor, adventure, and dare I say it, a valuable moral.

The Dragonfly Pool

I was so excited when I first heard about the release of The Dragonfly Pool; I completely adore Eva Ibbotson and the story sounded perfect.  

And, of course, it was.

The Dragonfly Pool begins in pre-WWII London where feisty Tally has to leave her beloved doctor father, and the danger of the city, for a progressive boarding school in southern England.  Despite missing home, she soon has friends and mentors that help her feel at home and she is renewed with a sense of purpose.  After seeing a special on Bergania's king bravely defying Hitler, Tally is inspired to visit and when she hears of an international dance festival taking place there, she rallies her classmates to participate.  Of course, things don't go as planned: there is an assassination, a prince on the lam, two hideous henchman, a rare Outer Mongolian pedestal dog, among many other things.  

I think that if I could have written a novel as a child, I would have wanted to write just like Ms. Ibbotson.  She has marvelous lead characters- definitely not cookie-cutter heros and heroines- some are spirited, some are shy but all are completely three-dimensional.  Her villains are delightfully abhorrent and usually quite repulsive (one villain kept a picture of Hitler in a locket, another collected rare glass eyeballs).  Her plots are usually outlandish and difficult to summarize (as I proved by my above paragraph) but, when reading, are easy to follow.  Her books move at a perfect pace and always have just the ending one wants.  The Dragonfly Pool was classic Ibbotson but classic Ibbotson with a cherry on top.  It was one of those read-straight-through-the-night-until-I-finish books.  Loved it.

What authors write the way you, as a child, wanted books to be written?

Roxie and the Hooligans

I am a sucker for a good title; so when I saw Roxie and the Hooligans by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, I was absolutely constrained to read it.   

Roxie Warbler looks forward to every visit from her famous explorer uncle, Uncle Dangerfoot.  She sits attentively while he tells her family stories about the latest adventures that he and his employer, Lord Thistlebottom, have experienced.  Roxie hangs on his every word as well as the words of Lord Thistlebottom's Book of Pitfalls and How to Survive Them.  However, there is nothing in either her favorite book or her favorite uncle's stories to guide her through her bully problem at school.  Helvitia's Hooligans have chosen Roxie, with her large, round ears, as their victim of the year.  Roxie is embarrassed to talk to her parents about it because, as a niece of such a great adventurer, she ought to be able to figure out how to escape them.  One morning, as the Hooligans try their latest bit of meanness on Roxie, she and the Hooligans end up in the dumpster.  And as fate would have it, the dumpster is promptly picked up and dumped into the nearby ocean.  After Roxie and Helvitia's Hooligans swim to a conveniently located desert island, the survival tips Roxie has learned come in handy as she tries to band together with the Hooligans, forage for supplies and outwit two dastardly thieves hiding out on the island with them.  

This book was exhilarating!  My only disappointment was that it was such a quick read because I thoroughly enjoyed it.  The little survival tips were fun and watching Roxie carry them out made them even more so.  I loved watching the attitudes of the Hooligans change as Roxie gradually became their fearless leader.  And I liked the very gentle explanation of why the Hooligans were the way they were and Roxie's realization of how much better her life was.  Above all, her refusal to panic in the face of anything was quite inspiring.

What a deliciously fun book! 

Shakespeare's Secret

Shakespeare's Secret is an example of me picking up a book to read completely because of its cover.  Publishers, take note: if you're having a tough time getting a book sold, have Brett Helquist illustrate the cover.  It worked on me.  Again.

Sixth-grader Hero Netherfield is used to being picked on for her name; it's happened everywhere she's lived.  Although her sister, Beatrice, also has a name inspired by Shakespeare, Hero is the one who always has a difficult time fitting in with others.  However, despite a daunting first day at her new school, Hero begins to like her new home after befriending her eccentric next-door neighbor, Mrs. Roth, who tells her of a mysterious diamond that may be hidden somewhere in her house.  When Hero teams up with Mrs. Roth and Danny, a laid-back eighth grader, she gets completely caught up in the town's biggest mystery.

I thought this book was completely fun from beginning to end!  I liked all the ties to Shakespeare and the Elizabethan era and how the book didn't venture too far into melodrama territory (as it certainly could have).  Hero was very likable; actually, all the characters, from popular Beatrice to Shakespeare-phile Mr. Netherfield were very likable.  The mystery was great and yet it was the little vignettes that I enjoyed the most: cinnamon toast at Mrs. Roth's house, the discussion of Anne Boleyn's seal, the skateboard/bicycle trip into downtown, etc.  And I, of course, loved the happily-ever-after end.  

I am looking forward to reading Elise Broach's newest release!  This book is highly recommended.

Granny Torelli Makes Soup

I've been trying to blog about once a month but having just read Granny Torelli Makes Soup (and loved it), plus this is, conveniently, almost smack dab in the middle of the month, I'm going to try to blog twice a month.  Just so I can write about this wonderful book.

The two-part (Soup and Pasta) story is about a girl, Rosie, and a fight she has with her best friend-from-forever, Bailey, who lives next door.  In the first part, Rosie's Granny Torelli is over making soup while Rosie's parents are late at work.  While they cook, Granny tells Rosie stories of a childhood friend in Italy to help Rosie sort through her Bailey problem.  The second part tells of Bailey, Rosie and her beloved Granny making pasta while they work through another complication in their friendship with Granny's marvelous stories and wisdom.  Of course, everything ends up happily, and (as seems to be the case in Sharon Creech's books- with the notable exception of the tearjerking Walk Two Moons) even better than the reader hoped.

I feel compelled to describe the book as "heartwarming;" it's the perfect way to sum up its charms.    It is feather-light with snippets of depth so delightful, I thought I should write them down!  I am also partial to books that deal with food and Granny Torelli works it in so perfectly, you hardly notice that you've begun to smell the chicken soup cooking while you're reading the book.  The issues are relatable and are conveyed in an ageless manner; it's something that could apply to anyone whether they were fifteen or fifty-five.  It's told in a lyrical style- almost poetic- and even takes several unexpected turns in a story that seems almost familiar in its comfortableness.  

If books could be made into afghans, this is a book I'd choose to wrap around me on cold nights...

A Crooked Kind of Perfect

A brief history of my reading Linda Urban's A Crooked Kind of Perfect: I had prepared myself not to like the book; I'm not a big fan of drama in kids' literature and the content lent itself to drama (mother works all the time, father has OCD, she's an outcast at school) so I feared that the book would take itself too seriously.  But one of my favorite bloggers, ShelfTalker, raved about it so much that I grudgingly checked it out of the library.

And the book blew me away.  So fabulous I got goosebumps multiple times.

The story is about Zoe Elias who has grand visions of playing the piano in Carnegie Hall after watching a PBS special about Vladimir Horowitz.  Since Horowitz makes his debut at 17-years-old, Zoe figures that (since she is almost 11) she has six years to learn how to play piano perfectly; a chance to wear a tiara, long gloves and maybe get her distracted mother's attention and admiration.  However her well-meaning father gets overwhelmed while trying to purchase the piano and ends up buying an organ from the mall- the Perfectone D-60- instead of the shiny grand piano she has been daydreaming about.  Since six months of free lessons are included, Zoe begins by learning how to play t.v. themes and 70s pop tunes.  Her enthusiasm to learn and passionate practicing prompts her teacher (Ms. Mabelline Person- pronounced "Per-saaahn") to register her for the annual Perform-O-Rama organ competition.  Now if she can only focus on her practice while dealing with her father's neuroses, her best friend's ambivalence, her new friend- a boy, her mother's hectic schedule and her own insecurities.  

This book amazed me.  It was the perfect snapshot-of-childhood story with humor and poignancy but poignancy that was never heavyhanded.  I couldn't stop talking about it and trying (unsuccessfully) to relate parts of the book to anyone who would listen to my meandering until I said, "Well, you should read it, that's all."

I don't know what else I can say about it.  You should read it, that's all.