Giant Slayer

I wish I were better at suspending disbelief. When Nellie and the nurses suddenly bust into singing "I'm Gonna Wash that Man Right out of My Hair," it leaves me feeling...odd. A minute ago they were talking and going about their business, and I was supposed to believe that they were ACTUALLY living what they are clearly just pretending to live. But now, am I supposed to believe that they are really singing? Making up the words and music as they go? What is the reality of this moment in the context of the scene?

Calpurnia Tate bugged me because she didn't sound like her (more-or-less) contemporary Laura Ingalls. But that's stupid, of course, because who is to say exactly HOW 11-12 year-old girls sounded around the turn of the century? So Calpurnia's occasional slang may be more accurate than Laura's perfect speech, or they may both be typical. The point is that I get too hung up on the question - looking too hard for inaccuracies - and miss the bigger joys and pleasures of a good story.

So, with all that as background, illustrating my obvious flaws in this area... Um, yeah - no way in h3ll that a 11-year-old in 1955 could tell the story that Laurie Valentine tells in The Giant Slayer. I loved it - it was a wonderful story, complete with unicorns and giants and manticores. But the whole time I was reading it, this nagging voice was saying, "She can't be making this up as she goes along." I don't know if kids would have a problem with that, honestly - probably they wouldn't. They definitely wouldn't have a problem with my other dig at this book (that it too perfectly wraps around and ties a ribbon on top of itself). So I'm going to keep it in the collection. But it will still always bug me.

Now, who's got "and SEND him on his waaaaaay..." playing intercranially? You're welcome.

A book a night?

I'm trying! Unfortunately, in the last few days I have blown through a couple that were a bit too old for our 5-10 year olds, but no reading is really wasted, right?

Up first is Raiders' Ransom, a romping adventure tale from our globally-warmed future. I suppose it's dystopian, but honestly everyone seems to be having a pretty grand time, despite the murderous raiders that kill old grannies just to watch them die. The two main characters take turns telling the story from opposing points of view, a device that author Emily Diamond handles masterfully. Switching back and forth this way could have been jarring, but instead is weirdly invisible. The characters are just right - smart, headstrong, complex and conflicted - and their every move feels pre-ordained (in a good way.) Best character in the book? A wise and fiercely loyal cat, who I loved and coveted throughout. Unfortunately for me, there's a long (and funny) 'drunken' episode, as well as an equally long (and absolutely terrifying) 'torture' scene, which two passages make this book out of my age range. But I heartily recommend it for ages 12-up.

I also read Snow Treasure this week, which I can predict will be a hit with certain 4th grade boys that I know. The story, which may or may not be true (probably not, frankly, but I'm grabbing onto the slim chance that it is, since that will be a great selling point), is that a village full of children in Norway successfully smuggle out 13 tons of gold bullion in the early days of the Nazi occupation. It's basically Hardy Boys meets Gary Paulsen, and despite the at-times clunky writing I thoroughly enjoyed it. I'm looking forward to recommending it to a few kids next week.

AND on Tuesday I finished Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, which I was really awed by. It's a novel-length fairytale (reminded me a bit of Lynne Reid Banks Farthest-Away Mountain) about a girl who wants to improve the fortunes of her parents and neighbors. Throughout the action, characters periodically tell "folktales" (in quotes, because I'm not sure if the stories told are actually authentic folktales, or were written by Lin) that move the action along. The plot is engaging, and the resolution is satisfying, but the great underlying lesson is what really got me - STORIES are important.

Enough for now! We are still slogging through Uncle Albert, though I'm itching to move onto Any Which Wall. I think I'll try to power through Miracles on Maple Hill tonight after the kids are in bed.
 

Welcome to private school

Another thing I want to use this blog for is a way for me to remember some of the funny stuff that comes up in the library. So here' s a story from Tuesday.

I was attempting to teach a class about Korean proverbs to the third grade, discovering as I went along that perhaps Piaget was not completely wrong about 9yos being 'concrete thinkers.' They had no idea what a proverb was ("Is it something like a pronoun?" was the closest I could get out of any of them), and even when presented with some examples they had difficulty. I stumbled along, spouting sample proverbs, hoping for a knowing look from someone - anyone! Finally I tried "too many cooks spoil the broth" - success! A kid in the back row shot his hand in the air. "I've heard that one! It means 'get out of the kitchen!' We have a cook and she tells me that all the time!"

I managed to return my jaw to its proper position, and continued on. One of the Korean proverbs I was introducing was "The empty cart makes the most noise." I was able to get them to see the literal truth of this (using the example of a big green garbage can in place of the 'cart'), and then tried to guide them toward thinking about other things that might be noisier when empty. Silence. Crickets. General bewilderment. Finally, one kid ventured "Well, my STOMACH is pretty noisy when it's empty?"

Close enough. Time for checkout!

Now that I see it works...

I want to keep up with the books I've been reading alone, as well as the ones Obie and Eli and I have been reading. Maybe other stuff - who knows?

So. First entry. We are currently reading 'The Time and Space of Uncle Albert,' although last night Obie was being his contrary self and I was tempted to toss it in the bath. But we managed to finish chapter 1 before either one of us cried.

I think I'm enjoying it - it's very reminiscent of 'George's Secret Key to the Universe,' in that it is really just a physics lesson pretending to be a story. But I'm wondering about the actual physics part of it. According to Uncle Albert, light can't be considered to be light unless it is moving. And not only just moving, but moving relative to anyone who is watching. So you can't catch up to it, because then you'd be moving at the same speed, and so it would appear to you that the light was no longer moving, AND so it would no longer be 'light'. Or something? I know that most physicists believe that you can't go the speed of light, but is this really the theoretical underpinning? Because it seems kind of weak to me.

But hey, we're only on chapter one.

Testing...

I imagine this is not the first blog to begin with a post entitled 'Testing.' Perhaps a taste of the wacky creativity to come? I'm not really going for clever here, though - this is more just a convenient way to keep track of what I've been reading for the library.

The end!