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By:
Katie,
on 4/29/2012
Blog:
Secrets & Sharing Soda
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genre: realistic fiction,
source: public library,
feature: old school sunday,
level: middle grade,
read 2012,
author: madeleine l'engle,
published 1960,
series: austins,
publisher: macmillan,
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Meet the Austins. by Madeleine L'Engle. 1960; 1997. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 224 pages. ISBN: 9780374349295I have read several Madeleine L’Engle novels as an adult, but I’ve never made my way through the entirety of any of her series. I’ve decided that the best way to remedy this situation is to read the interconnected Murray-O’Keefe and Austin novels in the order in which they were published. This means, when I do finally finish this task, I will have read
Meet the Austins,
A Wrinkle In Time,
The Moon By Night,
The Arm of the Starfish,
The Young Unicorns,
A Wind in the Door,
Dragons in the Waters,
A Swiftly Tilting Planet,
A Ring of Endless Light,
A House Like a Lotus,
Many Waters,
An Acceptable Time, and
Troubling a Star. After reading
Meet the Austins, I’m really looking forward to the rest.
While I associate L’Engle with science fiction, this first novel about the Austins is completely realistic. The lives of the four Austin kids - John, Vicky, Suzy, and Rob - are upset when their uncle and his co-pilot are killed in a crash, and the co-pilot’s daughter, Maggy, comes to live with the Austins. Maggy is a brat when she arrives, and it takes the family a while to warm up to her. It is only when they must face the possibility that Maggy might return to her surviving blood relatives that they realize how much a member of the family she really has become.
The chapters in this book are definitely interrelated, but each one represents one particular episode out of the Austins’ lives. Each episode highlights the strength of the sibling relationships, the devotion of the Austin parents, but also the family’s idiosyncrasies and flaws that keep them from becoming saccharine portraits of perfection. One of my favorite episodes in the entire book is when all the Austins dress up as a well-to-do family in order to scare off their uncle’s unsuitable girlfriend. Even Mr. and Mrs. Austin are in on the joke, which really makes them seem real and alive to the reader. I also think Vicky’s relationship to Rob, and the entire family’s reaction when Rob goes briefly missing, are very touching elements to the story, and very well-described.
Above all, though, the chapter which gives the most insight into the Austin family’s role in the world is one that was left out of the first published edition of the book. It’s called The Anti-Muffins, and it tells of the Austins’ club, which is based entirely on the idea that it’s undesirable to be conformist. Muffins come out of the pan all the same, but the Austins strive against that, hoping for a world where it’s okay to be a little bit strange. Also in the club is a Hispanic boy named Pablo whose family is poor. His presence is said to be the reason the chapter was originally cut from the book. But thank goodness it was put back in. I skipped it on my first read-through to see what the story was like without it. It was still very good - the vocabulary is very rich, the style very enjoyable, etc. - but something about that Anti-Muffins chapter makes the book feel whole to me. I truly wish I had read this book as a child just for that chapter.
This book has quickly become one of my favorites, and it has me completely hooked on the Austin characters. I can tell already I’m going to enjoy this little reading exercise, and especially enjoy seeing where L’Engle takes these characters in the books I've yet to read.
By:
Katie,
on 4/22/2012
Blog:
Secrets & Sharing Soda
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genre: realistic fiction,
source: public library,
feature: old school sunday,
level: chapter books,
publisher: penguin,
author: suzy kline,
read 2012,
published 1985,
series: herbie jones,
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Herbie Jones. by Suzy Kline. 1985. Puffin Books. 96 pages. ISBN: 978069811939 Third grader Herbie Jones has a lot on his plate in this 1985 school story. He’s sick of being in the lowest reading group, to the point that he has actually started studying his spelling words. He’s also been invited to a girl’s birthday party, to which he brings a most unfortunately inappropriate gift, and a short while later, he’s forced to go into the girls’ bathroom to face an apparent ghost. On top of that, he has to visit the Reading Supervisor and talk his way out of trouble when he’s caught sneaking off for lunch on a class trip.
In a lot of ways, Herbie is a lot like contemporary chapter book heroes - especially Alvin Ho. He has the same worries and anxieties shared by many third graders past and present, and his voice is very authentically eight years old. I’m not sure reading groups are divided up quite the same way now as they were in the 1980s and 1990s, but I definitely remember being aware at all times of who was in which group when I was in elementary school, so that part rang very true for me. I also loved Suzy Kline’s depiction of boy/girl interaction, and the slow emergence of co-ed friendships that starts to occur around this age. I could see some of the same behaviors and characteristics in Herbie and his classmates that I see in the characters from the Horrible Harry books.
Probably my favorite thing about the story is all the references to
Charlotte’s Web. I know third grade is when I first read that book, and I think that is still the grade where most kids read it. The fact that Herbie and his friends read and discuss the book makes them that much more realistic, and also provides great positive reinforcement for kids who might not otherwise see the relevance of an assigned book. It’s also great how Herbie actually analyzes the text in order to help the girls in the lowest reading group realize the good qualities of spiders. It’s a great early example of close reading, and is likely to encourage kids who have not yet read
Charlotte’s Web to pick up a copy.
It’s hard to pinpoint the specific things that make this book feel dated to me, but it definitely read like an older book. The illustrations probably helped me to draw that conclusion, since the kids have very 80’s clothes and hair. I also doubt kids are asked to clap erasers in their classrooms these days, and names like Lance, Margie and even Herbie sound like the names of much older people than third graders. I think it would also be difficult to find a 95-cent cheeseburger. They’re not even on the dollar menu at McDonald’s nowadays! Still, though, Herbie Jones and its sequels (
Herbie Jones and the Class Gift,
Herbie Jones and the Hamburger Head, and
What’s the Matter with Herbie Jones?) are all still in print, and I think their fresh 21st century covers will appeal much more to kids than the original covers. All in all, this first book in the series - which was also Suzy Kline’s first book, period - is a gentle read filled with all the concerns and questions faced by a third grader, and it will appeal in particular to readers (and parents) who aren’t into a lot of technology talk and toilet humor.
I borrowed Herbie Jones from my
By:
Katie,
on 4/1/2012
Blog:
Secrets & Sharing Soda
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genre: realistic fiction,
source: public library,
feature: old school sunday,
publisher: random house,
read 2012,
series: marvin redpost,
published 1994,
author: louis sachar,
level: chapter books,
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Marvin Redpost: Alone in His Teacher's House. by Louis Sachar. 1994. Random House. 96 pages. ISBN: 9780679819493I'd forgotten all about Marvin Redpost before discovering one of the libraries I belong to had some e-books of the series. I was a few years beyond the intended audience for this book when it was published in 1994, so I didn't read it during childhood, but I remember my younger sister reading the series and liking it. I decided
Alone in His Teacher'
s House qualifies as "Old School" since it is now over 20 years old, even if it is still in print and now available for Kindle.
Marvin is an average third-grader who faces problems relevant to the lives of most kids. In
Alone in His Teacher'
s House, the fourth book of the series, he's given the important job of caring for his teacher's old, beloved dog while she goes on vacation. He will earn twenty-five dollars all together, but only if there are no problems. Quickly things start to fall apart when the dog refuses to eat, and then, one day, just won't wake up. On top of that, the substitute teacher has him pegged as a hooligan, and his friends are convinced his real teacher will never forgive him when she returns.
It's hard to believe that an author like Louis Sachar, who often writes such off-the-wall stories, is also the author of these short, sweet tales of a bewildered little boy just trying to make his way through the world. Marvin is a real underdog sort of character, and the writing in this book is so gentle and easy to take in, it seems impossible that the same imagination created Mrs. Gorf and Stanley Yelnats.
The chapters - and indeed the entire book- are very short, which is sure to ease any nerves new readers might have about taking on a chapter book. Personalities come alive through dialogue, and illustrations give important visual cues to help readers decode certain key scenes. Marvin's friends ring very true, even if Marvin sometimes comes across as a bit too well-behaved, and even the teacher seems to have a bit of personality beyond just educator and disciplinarian. Perhaps the only thing that didn't really seem authentic was a teacher asking one of her students to care for her pet. I don't think even in my small town growing up that teachers felt that close to their students. But I also don't think it needed to be completely plausible to work in this story. Lots of kids are interested about what their teachers' home lives are like, and this book indulges the fantasies kids have about that and humanizes their teachers as people with feelings and relationships of their own outside of the classroom. Kids will also like the idea of Marvin taking on a job and earning his own money.
Pretty much nothing dates this book to the early 90s, which is probably a big part of why it is still available. Aside from some toilet humor, the story is also likely to satisfy sensitive parents looking for interesting but wholesome books for their new chapter book reader. Kids as young as five can enjoy hearing this story read aloud, and second- and third-graders will take great pride in reading it on their own.
Recommend this and other titles in the Marvin Redpost series to fans of Alvin Ho, Martin Bridge, Ready Freddy, Jake Drake, and Andy Shane.
I borrowed Marvin Redpost: Alone in His Teacher's House in Kindle format from my local public library, and read it on my smartphone.
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Amelia Bedelia and the Baby. by Peggy Parish, illustrated by Lynn Sweat. 1981. Greenwillow Books. 64 pages. ISBN: 9780688003166Muddled, child-like Amelia Bedelia doesn't know a thing about babies (not even the fact that they're children!), so it's no surprise she doesn't make a very good babysitter. Still, despite her odd ways - allowing the baby to mash her own banana, powdering herself instead of the baby, and feeding the baby solid food before she's ready - she proves to be the exact kind of babysitter parents love to hire.
I was looking for a book to read to a first grade class on Read Across America Day when I came across
Amelia Bedelia and the Baby. I remembered it instantly from my own childhood, when I read and re-read this series many times over. But as I told one of my coworkers when I finished reading this book, Amelia Bedelia's really not as funny as I thought she was as a kid. In fact, reading this book as an adult made me want to throttle Amelia Bedelia, and possibly Mrs. Rogers, too, for acting like her screw-ups are no big deal. I also felt a little bit guilty, as though the story was poking fun at a woman with a clear disability. Certainly, after many experiences with Amelia Bedelia, Mrs. Rogers would be on to the fact that this woman needs explicit instructions that can only be taken literally. But time and again, she fails to realize that Amelia Bedelia is wired differently and leaves her to fend for herself - and in this case, to care for an innocent child. I can usually turn off my adult brain when I read children's books, but this one made it nearly impossible.
I also decided not to read the book to first grade, not just because I didn't think it was funny and therefore didn't think I could sell it very well, but because of the somewhat dated language in it. Amelia Bedelia uses the word "plumb" a lot, which I have never actually heard a person use out loud (other than my sister, who as a child, pronounced it as plump, as in "I plump forgot.") I wasn't sure I'd be able to explain what that meant if the kids asked. And this did not figure into my decision, but I have also always wondered about that get-up she always wears. Where and when is she meant to be from?
Amelia Bedelia has had a makeover in recent years. Herman Parish now writes stories of an endearing literal-minded child where the character's behavior is much less disturbing, and even developmentally appropriate. I think these classics will always be popular because they do appeal to that six-year-old sense of humor, but it's tough being the adult who has to take them at least seriously enough to make the story sound exciting to the reader. I actually think the fact that this book no longer appeals to me says a lot for the author's ability to understand a child's mindset, but that doesn't mean I'll be seeking anymore of the original Amelia Bedelia stories any time soon.
I borrowed Amelia Bedelia and the Baby from my local public library.
Swallowdale. by Arthur Ransome. 1931. Jonathan Cape. 448 pages. ISBN: 9780879235727In this second book in the series, a year has passed since
Swallows and Amazons, and the Walker children have returned to the Lake District for the summer holiday, excited to sail in
Swallow, camp on Wildcat Island, and fight more wars with the Amazon pirates, Nancy and Peggy Blackett. There are some changes this year, though. For one thing, their younger sister Vicky has stopped resembling Queen Victoria, for whom she was nicknamed, and is now called Bridget. The family has also acquired a monkey, though he has not joined them on this trip, and a parrot, named Polly, who will serve as the ship’s parrot. They have also invented an imaginary explorer named Peter Duck, about whom Titty tells many exciting stories. What they are not prepared for, however, are the unexpected changes that impact their summer fun. The Blacketts have their great aunt staying with them, and she keeps the girls on such short leashes, they can hardly have any fun or free time at all. Then the
Swallow suffers an unfortunate shipwreck, and the Swallows find themselves marooned on dry land while it gets fixed. But the Walker children are true explorers, and it doesn’t take long for them to settle a new camp, which they name Swallowdale, and to set out on a whole new set of adventures, including an ascent up the peak they call Kanchenjunga.
The first book in this series is so utterly brilliant, it would be impossible to top, but this sequel comes very close. Though at times early in the story Ransome’s thoughts seem somewhat disorganized, and his descriptions repetitive and lengthy, the story hardly suffers at all from these shortcomings. Rather, Ransome does a very good job of managing many story threads, and of breathing fresh life into the setting so thoroughly explored by
Swallows and Amazons. I love the plotting of the story. Obviously, a new story in a familiar setting requires some changes, or the writing grows stale, but the way he chose to bring about those changes fits seamlessly into the overall narrative arc of the story and provides its own exciting shipwreck scene. Throughout the book, Ransome propels the story forward with one realistic and believable conflict after another, always resolving them happily but not without some anxiety on the part of characters and readers alike.
The characters also have a lot of room to grow during this story. Not only do we see a prim and proper side of the usually wild Blackett girls, we also see Roger beginning to mature and developing some exciting storylines of his own. Susan, too, develops beyond her role as mate, especially when she takes up native concerns on the behalf of her mother or another adult. The differences between outspoken and daring Nancy and the more cautious Swallows is also much more apparent in this book, and made me really consider how their friendship works, and why. I also thought the adult characters came to life much more strongly in this second book. Mrs. Walker and Captain Flint, in particular, developed personalities as people, not just as authority figures or family members.
This book, like its predecessor, empowers children to use their imaginations and explores the possibilities of a world where children can roam independently and look after themselves for certain lengths of time. Contemporary kids - especially in my urban community - probabl
The Cybil War. by Betsy Byars. 1981. Scholastic. 126 pages. ISBN: 9780590426091
The Cybil War is an Apple paperback published in 1981. The story is that of an elementary school love triangle wherein best friends Simon and Tony fight to win the affections of their classmate, Cybil Ackerman. Simon has been in love with Cybil since she was kind to him after his father moved out, but Tony, a notorious liar who isn't even allowed to attend his own sister's birthday party, is in it more for the competition. Cybil herself is more than worth the fight - she's smart and generous and compassionate, and possesses an inexplicable ability to rise above the antics of her classmates, even when they aim to hurt her feelings. Though the right choice for Cybil is pretty clear early on, it's still fun following the story to its satisfying conclusion.
I think this book captures the feelings of early crushes in a very innocent and pure way. There is no real romance in this book; rather, the love Simon feels for Cybil is a very noble form of admiration where he regards her with awe more than anything else. There are some references to dating, which, even 20 years ago, was not something that happened among elementary school kids I knew. There was some "going out" but that usually just meant holding hands and spending recess together, not going to the movies, as they do in this book. The storyline matches up better with sit-coms about school life than it does with real life. Maybe kids went on dates in 1981, but it seems like it happened much more in pop culture than in reality. The book also includes a pet show, which is definitely the kind of thing I think kids dream of having, even if they never actually do it. I can still imagine that piece of the story taking place in a contemporary book.
Because this book is by Betsy Byars, I expected it to be well-written, and I was not disappointed. I was also pleasantly surprised when I realized the book is still in print and available as an e-book! It's one of the few books about love that can appeal to boys or girls - and maybe even more to boys, given the male friendship at the center of the plot. The cover could use an update, but otherwise, I think the story is a perfect choice for fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-graders who are taking their first tentative steps toward finding love.
I purchased The Cybil War from my local used book store.
The Great Science Fair Disaster. by Martyn Godfrey. November 1992. Scholastic. 122 pages. ISBN: 9780590440813
The Great Science Fair Disaster is an Apple paperback published in 1992, right around my tenth birthday. I have no idea how I missed out on so many of these realistic fiction middle grade paperbacks back then, since pretty much all I read was The Baby-sitters Club, but reading them now still makes me nostalgic, even if the stories are new to me. In this book, written by the late Martyn Godfrey (also author of a book I know I used to see in the library called
Mall Rats) is the story of a seventh-grader, Marcie Wilder, and her dad, who is the school principal. Every year, Mr. Wilder has an idea for a project that inevitably devolves into a disaster. This year, he wants the school to host a science fair, and even though Marcie can name many things that could go wrong, her father will have none of it. On top of that, he's also cracking down on Marcie at school and at home, and trying to hide a mysterious drug called REGET whose purpose Marcie can only guess. In addition to troubles with her dad, Marcie must also work through a sticky situation with her possessive best friend Alison, who resents her decision to work with someone else on the science project instead of her.
This book doesn't have the most suitable title, since the science fair doesn't even happen until the last quarter of the book, but the story is decent. Like a lot of Apple paperbacks, it focuses on universal experiences that all kids can understand, even if they haven't experienced them in their own lives. Every kid can imagine the trials associated with having a parent for a principal, and I think many schools do host science fairs. (Mine, incidentally, did not, and for a long time, I thought the entire concept was created by the entertainment industry and/or authors of paperback books!) The author also does a nice job of incorporating different character archetypes that often emerge in middle school, including the boy who has matured from a jerk into a worthy lab partner, and a jerk (aptly named Steve Butz) who has always been awful and shows no sign of changing. Marcie, too, represents a certain type of kid, who is generally well-behaved but has occasional lapses in judgment and outbursts of anger.
The Great Science Fair Disaster only really seems outdated to me when I compare it with the books Apple currently publishes in the Candy Apple and Poison Apple series. The contemporary titles focus on some of the same issues as this older book, but with more emphasis on fashion, dating, and friendship drama. Emotions don't run as high in
The Great Science Fair Disaster, and there is a stronger feeling of platonic affection among boys and girls than in the newer books. There was also no texting or email in 1992, so these characters are, by default, less "plugged in" than their 21st century counterparts. There is no reason, though, that a child turning ten in 2012 couldn't still appreciate and enjoy this book, which is funny, light, and easy to read.
I purchased The Great Science Fair Disaster from my local used book store.
Pierre by Maurice Sendak
1962 | 48 pages | Picture Book
Today I conclude my series on Maurice Sendak's Nutshell Library with my review of
Pierre. Though I was always disturbed as a kid by the idea that a lion could come along and eat a disagreeable child, I still have fond memories of this book from first grade. The book - and Carole King's sung version, of course - made such an impression on me, that I actually ordered my own copy from the school book order way back when, and somewhere, I still have it.
The premise of the story is that a boy named Pierre doesn't care about anything. When his parents get ready to go out, he refuses to get ready and go with them, so they leave him behind and go to town on their own. while they're gone, a lion comes along, and when Pierre expresses his indifference to being eaten, the lion gobbles him up. It is only after a harrowing rescue by his parents and a doctor that Pierre finally learns to say, "I care."
As a kid, what spoke to me the most, I think, was the fact that Pierre finally learned his lesson. I always prided myself on being a "good kid" and bad behavior of any kind intrigued and troubled me. I liked it when other kids - even fictional ones - discovered the error of their ways and started to behave. I think it gave me a sense of moral superiority, but also made me feel safe. I liked knowing that other kids weren't going to get in trouble, and that nothing bad would befall them.
As an adult, though, I find myself looking at Pierre on a somewhat deeper level. I'm no longer focused on trying to reform Pierre's behavior. Instead, the storyline makes me think about apathy, and what that can do to someone's life. Pierre's indifference to everything isn't just obnoxious rudeness - it's also the reason he misses out on opportunities. His lack of interest in anything happening around him - from what he eats for breakfast, to whether or not a lion swallows him whole - causes him to become the victim of others' choices. When he learns to care in the end, it's not necessarily a lesson in being good, like I thought when I was six, but a lesson in being the master of one's own destiny.
The fact that two readings of this book by the same person taking place 23 years apart can be so different is exactly the reason I think Maurice Sendak is so brilliant. There is always something more to uncover beneath the surface of his writing, and always something adults can appreciate along with their children.
Carole King's rendition of
Pierre is below:
I borrowed Pierre from my local public library.
A few weeks ago, Elizabeth Bird posed a question on her blog:
Which Maurice Sendak book are you? Though I never had the chance to reply to her post, I knew my answer almost immediately.
One Was Johnny, about a little boy who lives by himself and likes it like that, perfectly describes my introverted personality, and much of my behavior during childhood.
Johnny becomes overwhelmed as more and more creatures invade his house, coming in uninvited and making themselves at home. A rat and a cat are bad enough, but things reach fever pitch when a blackbird pecks Johnny's nose, a tiger comes in selling clothes, and a robber steals his shoe. "What should Johnny do?" the text questions. His solution? He threatens to eat every last one of his guests if they don't leave before he finishes counting backwards from ten.
This book represents everything I love about Maurice Sendak's work. He understands that somewhat darker side of childhood, filled with frustrations, annoyances, and worst of all, other, more obnoxious kids. So many children's books promote sharing, togetherness, and community. I can think of very few that sing the praises of solitude, and which demonstrate an understanding that sometimes other people are pushy and annoying, and we just want them to go away. This book rings so true because it doesn't force Johnny to share with his pushy houseguests, or to make room for them, or to apologize for wanting to be left alone. Rather, Johnny is the master of his domain and he throws all of those obnoxious creatures right out on the street! In my experience, well-meaning adults panic when kids show signs of wanting to be alone. They assume it means the child is dysfunctional in some way, or not a team player, but for the introverted child, and even introverted adults like me, the notion of all of those people in your space can be extremely overwhelming, and I think it's important to teach kids how to protect that personal space, and that it's okay to like being alone.
As a counting book, this book doesn't work so well, since there aren't necessarily the correct number of countable objects on each page. It does work as a lesson in counting to ten, but I don't know that it really strongly illustrates the meaning of each number. Still, though, the illustrations, which are all drawn against the same background of Johnny's kitchen table, are greatly entertaining as the chaos of the scene increases, and the changes in Johnny's expressions could almost tell the entire story on their own.
This is without a doubt my favorite in the Nutshell Library. Hear Carole sing it below, and check back next week for the conclusion to this review series, a post about
Pierre.
<p><br><br><br><br><br><br><br>ahahaha</p>
I borrowed One Was Johnny from my local public library.
0 Comments on Old School Sunday: Nutshell Library Review #3: One Was Johnny by Maurice Sendak as of 11/27/2011 6:41:00 AM
For months now, I've been noticing the shelf of Johanna Hurwitz books at my library branch. They stick out somewhat, since they are quite old compared to most of our collection, which was new in January when we opened. What I didn't realize, though, until recently, was that many of her titles are interconnected, as part of a series called The Riverside Kids. The books focus on a group of children who live in a New York City apartment building. As the series grows, the children age, and their circle of friends expands. The books are realistic fiction similar to the Ramona books, which chronicle the everyday activities and adventures of preschooler and school-age children.
Over the next few weeks, I'll be reviewing this series for Old School Sunday. I'm beginning today with the first three books in the series, which are all about Nora:
Busybody Nora (1976),
Nora and Mrs. Mind-Your-Own-Business (1977), and
New Neighbors for Nora (1979).
All three of these books were originally illustrated by Susan Jeschke, and later re-released twice more, with illustrations by Lillian Hoban in the 1990s and Debbie Tilley in the 2000s. The copy of
Busybody Nora that I read had the Jeschke illustrations, and the other two were illustrated by Hoban.
In
Busybody Nora, Nora is just six years old, and she is one of only three children living in her apartment building. The others are her three-year-old brother, Teddy, and their two-year-old friend Russell. (Remember him, he's important later in the series.) This first book focuses on Nora's desire to meet and personally befriend all 200 of the residents of her apartment building. This gets her in trouble from time-to-time, as not everyone likes being asked personal questions in the elevator, and her parents sometimes find her personal questions embarrassing. Her desire for community, however, leads to a nice party at the end of the book, in appreciation and celebration of an elderly woman whose daughter wants her to move out of New York.
Nora and Mrs.-Mind-Your-Own-Business builds a little bit on this first book. Mrs. Mind-Your-Own-Business got such a nickname when she accused Nora of being a busybody, but her name turns out to be Mrs. Ellsworth. Throughout the chapters of this book, she appears again and again, when the kids are trick-or-treating, when they need a babysitter, when they accidentally head outside in pajamas, slowly revealing herself to be a kind person beneath her gruff exterior. By the end of this book, Nora is out of kindergarten and into first grade, which sets us up for the third book.
New Neighbors for Nora introduces some new characters into the mix. In the first chapter, Russell's mother, Mrs. Michaels, has a baby girl named Elisa, who becomes Nora's first new neighbor. (Remember her, too. She's got her own segment of this series!) The second one is a boy named Eugene Spencer Eastman, who is the first child in the group who is older than Nora. The remainder of the story explores the new possibilities presented by these new friendships, as well as a bout with chicken pox, and the surprise of being caught in a sudden rainstorm. By the end of this book, Nora is looking ahead to second grade.
These books are not very action-packed, and their main focus is on the small moments of childhood, and the funny things that can happen. They are also pretty dated in some spo
Is There Life After Sixth Grade? is a Troll paperback which is part of the Making the Grade series. The series also includes
The Terrible Truth About Third Grade by Leslie McGuire and David F. Henderson (1991),
Fourth Grade Loser by Ellen Kahaner and David F. Henderson (1991),
How I Survived Fifth Grade by Megan Stine and H. William Stine (1991), and
What'
s New in Sixth Grade? by Mindy Schanback (1991).
This book tells the story of Amy, an outspoken, individualistic sixth grader who sometimes has a hard time following school policies with which she disagrees. When she refuses to wear a white shirt and dark skirt for the yearbook photo, and is therefore banned from being in it, Amy decides to channel her frustration into a project. She starts her own, alternative yearbook, designed to portray school life as it really is. Things go well for a while - one of Amy's teachers even agrees to supervise the project - but when the administration hears of it, they are none too pleased. Will Amy be in trouble once again, or will she survive to begin seventh grade?
Based on the cover of this book, there is no question that it was published in the early 90's. The oversized pink tee shirt hanging off of one shoulder, and the skirt worn with leggings and boots look like they walked right out of an episode of Kids Incorporated, or possibly Saved By the Bell. I don't see much of that style of dress on kids today.
The story inside the book, though, is not particularly dated. There were just a few little things here and there that hinted that this is not a 21st century story.
- Amy refers both to camera film and her Instamatic camera. Kids today would probably just snap photos on their phones.
- On page 68, there is some discussion of hairstyling that refers to the style of the time, including electric curlers, hair spray and gel. I think kids would know what these are, but I'm not convinced they use them to style their hair on a daily basis.
- The design of the yearbook also seems somewhat primitive by today's standards. We have Photoshop, Publisher, and other computer software that make publishing much easier, but the kids in this book lay out their pages on paper and copy them on a Xerox machine.
These details don't totally change the story, though. Kids growing up right now could still figure out what was going on, and appreciate the overall plot.
There were a few things that did sort of spoil the story for me, however. For one thing, Amy's dad is depicted as pretty irrational. Amy gets in trouble for dressing her own way at school, and his reaction is to threaten to send her to boarding school. I feel like that's a stereotype of evil parents borrowed from the movies or TV that didn't really feel authentic in this particular story. I also took note of the way the middle portion of the book seemed to leap over huge gaps in time in just a few sentences. Amy gets the idea for the alternative yearbook, and just a few pages later, the whole thing has come together. That caught me off guard, and I didn't feel like I really caught my breath before the end of the story.
Leslie McGuire had already been writing and publishing for ten years when
Is There
This is my fifth post in my Old School Sunday series on the Baby-sitters Club books. Visit the first post in the series
here for a full description of this exercise. Today I'm reviewing book five,
Dawn and the Impossible Three.
by Ann M. Martin
1987; 2010 | 176 pages | Middle Grade
Back in June, I got into a wonderful discussion in the comments to one of my Old School Sunday posts about Dawn and the Impossible Three.
Enbrethiliel and I were talking about the changes made to the BSC books in these re-releases that I've been reading these past few weeks, and she commented that it would be difficult to re-release
Dawn and the Impossible Three:
I think the reason Dawn and the Impossible Three doesn't have a modernised version yet (and probably never will) is that even if they update all the details, they'll never be able to touch the most dated bit of all without changing the entire novel. I mean Dawn's frustration with her single mother and the single mother of the children she baby-sits the most. That strikes me as very 80s--as much a part of the decade as the satire of single mothers in Kindergarten Cop, The Karate Kid and even Who's the Boss?
That conversation planted the seed for this entire series of reviews, and it also informed the way I read this particular volume. What I remembered, vaguely, before reading, was that Dawn's mom was kind of scatterbrained, and that, on top of dealing with that, Dawn was also babysitting for a single mom - Mrs. Barrett - whose life was chaotic. I also remembered Marnie, the youngest of the so-called "impossible three" and her "ham face" as well as Buddy's friendship with the Pike boys. I didn't really remember much about the single motherhood theme, but as I read, it became clear that this entire book is about the difficulties faced by divorced moms.
And I guess the question is whether or not those difficulties were presented in a way that has become dated in the nearly 15 years since this book's publication.
The BSC series represents several diverse family dynamics. Mary Anne's father is a widower. Stacey's parents are still married, but as we learn later in the series, perhaps not so happily. Kristy's mother is divorced and preparing to remarry. Claudia's parents are happily married. And then there's Dawn, whose parents are divorced and live on opposite coasts. The babysitting charges also have different family situations, but I think Mrs. Barrett is the first single mom we meet outside of the babysitters' families.
What's annoying about Mrs. Barrett is that she just can't get it together. Her parenting skills are almost cartoonishly bad, and it's pretty pathetic that she can be shown up by a thirteen-year-old babysitter. I have no idea why the kids are characterized as impossible in the title of this book, because they seem pretty well-adjusted for having such a scattered mother. It is Mrs. Barre
This is my fourth post in my Old School Sunday series on the
Baby-sitters Club books. Visit the first post in the series
here for a full description of this exercise. Today I'm reviewing book four,
Mary Anne Saves the Day.
by Ann M. Martin
1987; 2010 | 176 pages | Middle Grade
Mary Anne Saves the Day is another book I didn't remember very well before reading it for this review. I knew this was the book where the babysitters face their first real emergency, and that it involved Jenny Prezzioso and a high fever, but that was it. And it turns out that I had really simplified the plot quite a bit and left out the more significant story threads of Mary Anne finally standing up to her dad, the babysitters having their first big fight, and Dawn moving to the neighborhood.
Here are the significant observations I made as I read:
- These early books show a strong division between the two pairs of best friends that make up the BSC. Kristy and Mary Anne hang out with the nerdy Shillaber twins, while Claudia and Stacey sit at the popular table with a bunch of outgoing and clownish boys. In my memory, the BSC girls are all sort of nerdy and Cokie Mason is the popular girl, but I guess those aspects came into the series later on.
- I didn't remember Mary Anne's father's strict rules being grounded in religion, but this book definitely suggests that there is at least an element of that:
We sat down and bowed our heads while Dad said grace. At the end, just before the "Amen," he asked God to watch over Alma. (Alma is my mother.) He does that before every meal, as far as I know, and sometimes I think he overdoes things. After all, my mother has been dead for almost eleven years. I bless her at night before I go to sleep, and it seems to me that ought to be enough.
I don't think we hear much about religion in the BSC books at all, except maybe in Keep Out, Claudia, where I remember that family of racist children assumed the Pikes were Catholic because they had so many kids. It's interesting that it came up just this once in this book and then never came up again. But I think it fits Mary Anne's character, and I wish more of her religious faith had come up throughout the books.
- This book finally introduces cell phones to the series, though none of the babysitters has one, or seems to notice that it might be unusual not to have one. It only comes up when Mary Anne realizes Jenny needs medical help and tries to call her dad:
I called my dad, even though I knew he was out shopping and rarely remembered to turn his phone on. No answer.
1 Comments on Old School Sunday: Review: BSC #4, Mary Anne Saves the Day, last added: 8/28/2011
This is my third post in my Old School Sunday series on the
Baby-sitters Club books. Visit the first post in the series
here for a full description of this exercise. Today I'm reviewing book three,
The Truth About Stacey.
by Ann M. Martin
1986; 2010 | 176 pages | Middle Grade
My memory of The Truth About Stacey, the third book in the Baby-sitters Club series turned out to be incorrect. I thought, before reading any of the books this time around, that Stacey's diabetes was a secret throughout the first two books, and only revealed in this one. As it turns out, though, the secret was revealed at the end of Kristy's Great Idea, and this book is actually about Stacey finally making up with her best friend in New York, who didn't know of her condition, and trying to take ownership of her disease, rather than letting her parents make all of her decisions. This book also focuses heavily on the competition between the Baby-sitters Club and a new business in Stoneybrook, The Babysitters Agency.
Now that I've read three books in the series right in a row, one thing I have noticed is that each character's voice doesn't vary that much from the others'. The qualities that distinguish Stacey from Claudia and Claudia from Kristy are explicitly stated by each character, usually right at the start of the book, but there aren't a lot of details that show these differences. Each first-person narrative sounds similar in tone and style, so that it almost sounds like the books have one narrator who just switches between points of view.
What I did like, though, was the fact that this book presented a realistic challenge for a group of twelve-year-old babysitters. How should a group of young babysitters respond when older kids with more freedom steal away their business? I thought the girls' approaches to the situation did match their personalities and the goals of the club, and also showed, ultimately, that being honest and responsible is the best way to draw in business, not being catty and fighting with the competition. I did wonder if the girls in the competing babysitting business were too cartoonish. Certainly, it seemed unlikely that all of them would ignore the kids, watch TV, invite their boyfriends over, and smoke inside the house, but the endangerment of Jamie Newton, one of the club's beloved charges, did raise important ethical questions about when it's okay to tell on someone, and how to properly take care of a child during a babysitting job.
Not too many dated references in this one. Just a few things, once again, that gave me pause.
- On page 8, there is a description of Mary Anne:
Mary Anne, her hair in braids as usual (her father makes her wear it that way), had put on her wire-rimmed glasses to read the
For the next few Old School Sundays, I'll be revisiting my memories of my favorite childhood series, The Baby-sitters Club. I don't have access to the original books, so I'm reading the revised editions currently in print and comparing them with what I remember about the books, and commenting on the updates and changes that have been made in the new editions. I hope some of my readers will share their thoughts and memories, too! I'm starting today with the book that started it all,
Kristy'
s Great Idea.
by Ann M. Martin
1986; 2010 | 176 pages | Middle Grade
Kristy'
s Great Idea is the first book in the popular
Baby-sitters Club series. It was originally published in 1986, and re-released from Scholastic in March 2010. My memories of this book are pretty strong - certainly more vivid than my memories of the rest of the series. My first encounter with this book was in my third grade class. My teacher (the same one I also had for first grade, that I mentioned in my review of
Help! I'm a Prisoner in the Library last weekend) provided several choices of books for kids to choose from, and reading groups were decided based on the books we chose. I can't remember who was in my group with me, but I do have a memory of sitting on the floor in the school hallway with a reading journal and a yellow paperback copy of
Kristy'
s Great Idea.
In terms of the story itself, I strongly remember the opening chapter, in which Baby-sitters Club President Kristy Thomas is sitting in a hot classroom and has an accidental outburst of joy when the bell rings. The teacher asks her to act with more decorum in the future, and assigns her an essay to write on the concept. Decorum - which I pronounced incorrectly in my head during that first reading, pronouncing the C like an S - was a new word for me, and it stuck with me so thoroughly, that to this day, I think of Kristy Thomas whenever I hear it.
In addition to being a story about Kristy's family and the conflicts caused by her single mom's work schedule and the possibility that she will marry her boyfriend, Watson, this book also establishes the rules and structure of the club, and the formula followed by the subsequent books in the series. While later books throw all the exposition at the reader in a chapter-long info dump, this book allows these things to come out naturally. We get to know Kristy through her first-person narration, and the other characters through her descriptions of them, and their actions. Kristy is also much more three-dimensional in this book than I remember he
My most vivid memory of this book actually has nothing to do with the story itself. Rather, what I remember is that my first grade teacher was reading the book to us in school, and she got upset with me when I located a copy at the public library and finished reading it on my own. I guess that was my first understanding of what a spoiler is! In any case, the last time I read this book, it was 1989 and I was six. I remembered very little, and honestly, very little came back to me as I read. That said, though, I enjoyed visiting this quirky little story about two girls who spend the night, quite accidentally, in the public library.
There is a snowstorm starting, and Jo-Beth and Mary Rose are on their way to their aunt's house, so their father can join their mother at the hospital where a new brother or sister will be born. When their dad, known as Last Minute Harry, refuses to stop for gasoline, and then runs out of gas on the road, he instructs the girls to wait in the car with the doors locked while he looks for a gas station. They obey at first, but when Jo-Beth realizes she urgently has to use the bathroom, they wander out into the snow and head for the public library. Though they don't mean to, they wind up staying past closing time, and when they try to leave, they find themselves locked in! The rest of their night is filled with spooky noises, strange shadows, and lots of unexpected turns of events.
This book is a great first introduction to suspense. Almost every chapter ends with some sort of cliffhanger, which is then resolved in the following chapter. The explanations for many of the scary things the girls encounter are disappointing, and maybe even cheesy from an adult perspective, but for early chapter book readers, they are exciting without being terrifying, which is something I would have appreciated (and presumably did appreciate, given my need to finish the book ahead of the class) as a kid.
This book also teaches the important lesson that not everything that's old is useless. The librarian in the book worries that all of her memorabilia related to children's books will be lost when the library closes, but the girls convince her to make old things new again by opening a museum devoted to children's literature.
The story didn't feel completely dated, especially since there weren't many mentions of library practices themselves. I think the biggest thing I noticed was just the lack of technology. The girls weren't able to contact their father during the snowstorm because the phones were down. These days, though cell phones might go down in a severe storm, there would have been that extra option. The internet, too, is absent, but that didn't bother me much at all. The story still felt contemporary, and the girls' reactions to things rang very true for me.
This was a nice walk down memory lane, even if I didn't have many memories to go on. I love the cover of this book (the original, on the far left at the top of this post), and I've always sort of thought of it as more cozy than creepy. The sibling dynamics in the story also amused me - I have a younger sister, and the squabbles these girls got into were similar to ones I had with my own sister growing up. I wonder if that was another appealing aspect of it for me back when I was si
by Grace Maccarone, illustrated by Kelly Oeschli
1987 | 94 pages | Chapter Book
The Haunting of Grade Three is a chapter book published in 1987 by Lucky Star, which was an imprint of Scholastic,
it appears, from 1986 to 1993. It was later republished as a Little Apple paperback.
This is the gentle story of a third grade class that has been temporarily relocated to Blackwell House, a rumored haunted mansion in the town of Elmwood. After some mysterious occurrences disrupt the class's work one afternoon, teacher Mr. Jenkins incorporates ghost hunting into his history lesson, assigning Adam, Norma, Dan, Debbie, Joey, and Chuck to investigate ghostly happenings around the school and try to locate their source. These kids wouldn't normally hang out together - the boys constantly tease Norma, because her last name is Hamburger, and Dan and Joey stand out as the biggest kid and the biggest liar in third grade, respectively. But despite all of this, they come together to visit the Blackwell House at night and get to the bottom of the creepy hauntings once and for all.
The most egregiously dated references in this book were to the
Ghostbusters movie, whose theme song is referenced throughout the book, and to the old Burger King jingle ("Hold the pickles, hold the lettuce.") The first sentence also talks about a VHS player, which is how Adam watches Ghostbusters. I think the overcrowding issue that has caused the students to be displaced to Blackwell House is also an issue that was especially timely in the late 80's and early 90's. I can remember that issue coming up in my own childhood, resulting in various classroom changes and shifts. That's not to say that aspect of the book wouldn't make sense nowadays - it just seemed like it was included to make the book feel more contemporary at the time of its publication.
In terms of writing style, I'm trying to think of books that are like this one that are being published today, and I can't name many. It seems like chapter books have become largely focused on long, formulaic series, or at least series that follow one individual character. And what I like about these older books is that they are often one-shots that stand on their own, and there are lots of them, set in lots of different places.
I also thought it was interesting that this book switches so often between points of view. So many chapter books are written in first person now, that it really caught my attention when I realized the narrator bordered on omniscient and could leap from one character's mind to the other as necessary.
Finally, I liked that this book sought the logical explanation behind suspected hauntings without falling into a hokey Scooby Doo trope. The kids wind up unmasking a scientific problem, not a criminal mastermind, and that felt like a much more realistic and kid-empowering conclusion.
These days, Grace Maccarone is an author and editor for Scholastic. I'm pretty sure I've seen some of her easy reader titles on the shelves at my library. Illustrator Kelly Oeschli passed away in 1999, but he was an illustrator for many children's books, including titles based on
Sesame Street and
Fraggle Rock.
Though
The Haunting of Grade Three is, amazingly, still
in print from Little Apple, I bought it from
1990 | 69 pages | Chapter Book
Tagline from cover: A famous author is coming to Mr. Carson's class - but everyone's getting sick!
Chicken Pox Strikes Again by Jean Marzollo is a 1990 Little Apple chapter book, and the fifth volume in a series called 39 Kids on the Block. The series is about a group of kids who live on Baldwin Street, and this volume focuses mainly on John Beane, an elementary school student whose class is expecting a visit from Rosemary wells. When Wells breaks her leg, however, the class invites John's grandfather, an author of serious stories about American Indians, to visit instead. Worried that his strict grandfather will disappoint the kids in his classroom, John does his best to catch chicken pox from some of his classmates who have been infected. When he does get sick, though, he has a rare opportunity to bond with his grandfather, which makes him sorry to miss the class visit after all.
I was really impressed by all the threads and themes this book brings together. The title and cover of the book give the impression that the main conflict is between the class and a chicken pox epidemic. But the chicken pox outbreak is a minor plot point compared to the larger issue of John's identity. He's sorted out some aspects of his identity as an American Indian - he knows better than to play Cowboys and Indians, for example, since his grandpa has explained that cowboys and soldiers "had stolen land from the Indians." He also understands that Granpa Beane doesn't like to waste anything, or to brag about his successes, but he doesn't yet know how to make his grandfather happy, and that causes him a lot of distress.
What John learns, as a result of his grandfather being invited to speak in his classroom, is how to better understand his family history, and his grandfather's personality and interests. The ending, where John has the opportunity to write a thank you message to his grandfather, is very touching, and surprised me by having such emotional depth. I know of
Jean Marzollo these days, mainly because of her non-fiction titles, like
I Am A Star,
I Am A Leaf, and
I'm a Caterpillar, and picture books such as
Ten Little Christmas Presents and
Pretend You're A Cat. I didn't realize she had written
over 100 books, or that she'd been writing for so long!
Chicken Pox Strikes Again is out of print, and I can see that it probably would not hold up for today's audience, mainly because of the chicken pox. I know a lot of kids are vaccinated against it now, and if I'm not mistaken, the vaccine is actually required before kindergarten in most places. So what was a universal childhood experience might now seem obscure. Everything else, though - including the references to Rosemary Wells, honestly reads like it was written this year, and it's a lot better written than a lot of other series chapter books I've read.
I was pleasantly surprised by this book, and I regret that I missed this series as a kid, even though I think it was a bit below my reading level in 1990.
Old School Sunday is a weekly feature where I review old, outdated, and/or out of p
I took a break from novels this week to review a picture book my boyfriend recently shared with me. His copy is a well-worn first edition, with illustrations by Marjorie Flack. It has no book jacket, so it's hard to tell exactly which version of the cover belongs to it, but I know it's not the one illustrated by Cindy Szekeres, who seems to have done the illustrations for a later version. I've included the only cover I could find above, but the book itself looks most like this:
And the title page looks like this:
Walter is a very lazy mouse. He is always late to school, and spends so much time in bed that when his family moves away, they leave him behind. Alone and scared, Walter heads out into the world in search of his mother, father, and siblings. After getting lost in a dark forest, he makes friends with a turtle and becomes the sole inhabitant of his own island, which he names Mouse Island after himself. He also befriends three frogs, whom he names (Lulu, Leander, and Percy), clothes, and attempts to educate. Having his own island - and friends who depend on him - means Walter can't be lazy anymore. He must find ways to clothe, feed, and shelter himself, and when things don't go right, he is the only one around to fix them. In the end, he overcomes his laziness, and reunites with his family, who realize just how much he has changed.
I don't generally like books about talking animals, but this book quickly became an exception. The illustrations, which show realistic-looking frogs, turtles, and mice in equally realistic natural surroundings, are completely charming, and the story itself, though somewhat unusual, kept me interested from beginning to end. I especially loved the strangeness of the frog characters. They needed constant contact with Walter to be able to remember him, and in times when Walter wasn't around, they forgot everything he taught them, including their own names! Turtle was a comforting character, and certainly one I would have latched onto as a child, since the circumstances of Walter's abandonment would have troubled me quite a bit. He seemed to be the voice of reason throughout the book, and a surrogate parent for Walter in the absence of his own mom and dad.
They don't write books like this anymore, and I think that's a shame. Walter's story is the kind of adventure kids love to read about, and the way Flack imagines the personalities of different woodland animals really impressed me. Despite the obvious lesson the story wants to teach - don't be lazy - there is a lot of clever creativity at play in this book, and it makes for a truly unique and wonderful reading experience.
Marjorie Flack is also the author of one of my childhood favorites,
The Story About Ping, as well as
Angus and the Ducks and
The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes.
Dede Takes Charge! by Johanna Hurwitz
1984; 1986; 1992 | 121 pages | Middle Grade
Tagline from cover: Life is full of surprises when Dede takes charge! This 1984 Apple Paperback is the story of DeDe Rawson, whose parents have been divorced for a year. Her mother, now single, must work a job that requires odd and unpredictable hours, and her father, who lives in an apartment lets his answering machine pick up all his calls, so that DeDe is forced to leave messages for him. As the book goes on, DeDe must deal with her mother's weight gain, and her efforts to lose it, deciding what to buy her parents for their respective birthdays, and the unnerving quiet of Thanksgiving with just one parent in the house. She tries to take charge, but with all the push and pull between households, and the knowledge that being with one parent always means being without the other, it's not easy!
DeDe is the best friend of another Johanna Hurwitz character, Aldo Sossi, who stars in many of his own books, including
Much Ado About Aldo (1978),
Aldo Applesauce (1979),
Aldo Ice Cream (1981), and
Aldo Peanut Butter (1990). He and his family make appearances in this book, mainly to give DeDe moral support, and to serve as a foil for DeDe's family so the reader understands how different DeDe feels from her classmates. From what I have gathered from Google and Amazon, DeDe also appears in the Aldo books, but I think this is the only book where she is the star.
DeDe Takes Charge! did not have as many of the charming dated references as the first couple of books I reviewed for Old School Sunday, but it was dated in a different way. What really struck me as odd, more than anything else, was the characters' attitudes about divorce. Though DeDe's mother recognizes that more than half of marriages end in divorce, there is still an element of shame attached to the idea that isn't really present in 21st century books on the topic, or in 21st century life. I was especially taken aback by the fact that Mrs. Rawson actually offers to stay home from DeDe's play if her ex-husband attends so that she not be embarrassed by having her divorced parents in the same room. In a society where, nowadays, parents often remain friends after divorce, these concerns seem preposterous. Of course a child should be able to see both her parents at school events! The book just seemed overly preoccupied with the perils of divorced life.
Otherwise, though, this book still felt quite contemporary. Johanna Hurwitz makes the everyday interesting, and she clearly understands what makes kids tick, both then and now. The School Library Journal review on the back cover of the book compares Hurwitz's writing to Beverly Cleary's, and I think the comparison is apt. Unlike Beverly Cleary's books, however, most of Hurwitz's books are now out of print.
Also of note: The book's illustrations were done by Diane Degroat, who also illustrated
Anastasia Krupnik by Lois Lowry, and now also writes and illustrates picture books about an opossum named Gilbert. The illustrations in this book are probably the most dated thing about it. DeDe's mom's hair is especially 80's, as are her clothes in some pictures. Good stuff.
For more on Johanna Hurtwitz, click
by Eve Bunting
1986 | 96 pages | Middle Grade
Tagline from cover: School should always be like this!
by Eve Bunting is an Apple paperback published in 1986. Janey, the first-person narrator of the book, is a sixth grader, and a member of a class club called R.A.B.B.I.T.S., which stands for the group's main activity: Read a Book, Bring it to School. The Rabbits are enthusiastic about reading, they have a secret bunny signal, and they work with Mr. Puttinski (Putt Putt), their regular teacher, as well as Mrs. Golden (Goldie), a reading teacher. As a reward for their hard work, the teachers are giving the Rabbits a sleepover party in the school. Everyone is really excited, but Janey has a problem. Due to a childhood trauma, she is terrified of the dark and can't sleep unless a light is on.
This entire book, regardless of age, seemed highly bizarre to me. I liked that the focus was on kids who love to read, but I couldn't imagine a teacher-sponsored co-ed sleepover in any school I ever attended. I also thought the traumatic event in Janey's childhood - a babysitter who locked her in the closet - was treated much too lightly for the psychological effects something like that would really have. Janey does have a therapist who helps her deal with her issues, but even so, the way she talked about it in her narration was so matter of fact, and that made me feel sort of uncomfortable.
The characters, though, were quite believable, and though I definitely felt grounded in the 1980's by a number of pop culture references, a lot of aspects of the story - mainly the teasing, and the boy/girl interplay of eleven and twelve year olds - had a universal feel to it. Sixth graders have a lot more technology these days, and better clothes than the ones on the cover of this book, but they have many of the same concerns and feelings. Some things about growing up just don't change.
Here are some of the details that puzzled and amused me as I was reading:
- During a game of WHO WHAT WHERE WHEN and WHY, Janey observes: Usually we have somebody funny like Godzilla's grandmother or Dracula's sister, or else somebody cute like Michael Jackson or Brooke Shields... (p. 26)
In 1986, Michael Jackson looked like this and Brooke Shields looked like this. I love that they were considered the picture of cute, when nowadays it's people like the Glee kids, and Justin Bieber.
To kick off my first official Old School Sunday, I chose to read
Yours Till Niagara Falls, Abby by Jane O'Connor. We know her now as the bestselling author of the
Fancy Nancy picture book series, but Jane O'Connor actually got her start with this middle grade novel in 1979.
Abby Kimmel begs her parents to let her go to camp so her best friend Merle - who is dreading the experience - won't have to go by herself. At the last minute, Merle breaks her ankle, and suddenly Abby is the one on her own with a group of strange girls, in an unfamiliar place. At first, she's really disappointed that Merle isn't there and uncertain of her cabinmates, Phyllis, Bonnie, Eileen and Roberta. Her counselor, Marty, "is no prize either," and though she passed the swimming test, Abby is afraid to dive into the pool. As summer wears on, however, Abby begins to see the good sides of camp, and the summer winds up being a positive experience after all.
The novel is told mainly in the third person, but a series of wisecracking and somewhat sarcastic letters from Abby to her parents, and Merle, at home, infuse the book with a wonderful sense of Abby's personality as well. Songs, pranks, and gossip also bring the camp atmosphere to life in a way that felt very true and very realistic.
The illustrations also felt really familiar to me, and it turns out there is a good reason. Illustrator
Margot Apple drew the pictures for Nancy Shaw's sheep books, as well as many other titles from the 70's, 80's, 90's and 2000's.
Honestly, even after 32 years, except for a handful of pop culture references, and the names of some of the characters, this book still read like a contemporary middle grade novel. It was very similar in both style and theme to the Summer Camp Secrets books I read recently, and could easily hold its own with them, even today. But since this is Old School Sunday, I'll focus on some of the more outdated details.
- Abby is a fan of Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff, and Groucho Marx. I have a feeling that a poll of 100 random kids born in the year 2000 would find that maybe one knows who those people are. (I was born in 1982, and I'm not sure how many of my peers know who they are.)
- When one of the girls spills soda in her lap, mean Phyllis sings "Come alive! You're in the Pepsi Generation!" which was the Pepsi jingle from 1964 to 1967. I think it is one of those cultural catchphrases that hung around even after it stopped showing up on TV, because even I knew it as a kid, but I wonder if kids now would catch the reference or gloss over it.
- Early on in the book, Abby says to Merle, "[...] I'm not exactly Tracy Austin myself - but you're hopeless at sports!" I gathered from the context that Tracy Austin was a sports figure, but I had to Google to learn that she won the women's singles title at the US Open in 1979. She apparently continued playing tennis into the early 1990's, but I had never heard of her. Maybe that is a product of not being into sports, but it caught my attention either way. (To my surprise, af
+JMJ+
My copy doesn't have the Anti-Muffins chapter. =( And for the longest time, I thought that The Anti-Muffins was a separate Austen novella. Would you know if all new editions include it, Katie?
I like the Austin family, too, but simply never warmed to Vicky. (Not that there's a competition or anything, but I'm "Team Meg"! =P) And my favourite Austin family novel is the one Vicky doesn't narrate. LOL! I think I would have preferred John as the narrator.
Just a few hours ago, I was reading a friend's review of the Frank Capra movie You Can't Take It With You, which also includes a scene in which a rich, snooty visitor is confronted with a poorer, more eccentric family. Your highlighting this episode in Meet the Austins reminds me that I kind of like such little clashes of culture--but only because I always identify with the eccentrics. =P I was always kind of impressed that Dr. and Mrs. Austin were so willing to play dress up and got so into their roles, but at the same time, kind of skeptical. I don't think I ever bought it, no matter how much fun I also found it.
This series was a favorite reread when I was eleven and twelve, and even into my early teens.