The Long Winter

I read the Little House on the Prairie books when I was a kid and since I moved to Wyoming, I always think about The Long Winter.

How did people live here before central heat?! I have no clue. The Long Winter is Laura's story of one such winter. After rereading it, I still don't understand how people did it. Laura's town in South Dakota is snowed in for months. They run out of food, the snow is so bad they can't see houses across the street, they live in very cold cold houses.

Sometimes I fool myself that I'm tough, living in Wyoming. I am nothing compared to the Ingalls family and other homesteaders. 

Luv Ya Bunches

Luv Ya Bunches is first in a children's series by Lauren Myracle. I picked it up when I heard her speak last year. Her ttyl series has been challenged, as well as books from the Luv Ya Bunches series.

Myracle was told if she changed the story so one of the main characters had a mom and a dad instead of two moms, Scholastic book fairs (the ones in schools across the country) would sell the book. If not, the book wouldn't be included. Myracle stuck firm and her book was not carried. I thought this was SO COOL. Based on the prevalence of the book fairs, not having her book included certainly had a impact on the money in her pocket.

The story follows four girls who meet and become friends. The story is told from each of the girls'' perspectives through IMs, emails, etc. I thought it was super cute. The girls each have some aspect that they are concerned about: the girl whose mom is in a mental hospital, the girl who is Muslim, etc. These issues are dealt with matter of factly.

If I had a kid (besides my dogs, of course), this is the kind of book I'd love for her to read.

Flush

Carl Hiaasen's books are pretty funny. If you haven't read one, they are a great light, fast read. I recently read Flush, which is one of Hiaasen's children's books.
Hiaasen's books are all set in Florida. They are pretty unique. The novels are humorous, no, laugh out loud funny, mysteries that deal with environmental issues. They are great beach books.

Cheaper by the Dozen

No, not the Steve Martin/Hillary Duff movie. I'm talking about the book. (Which, incidentally, sounds nothing like the movie.)


I first read Cheaper by the Dozen in 6th grade. I reread it recently for our quarterly book challenge for the category of book you loved as a kid or teen. Cheaper by the Dozen is the story of a family in the 19teens and 1920s with 12 children. Two of the children wrote the book in the 1940s.

The family was lead by the father, Frank Gilbreth, an efficiency and motion study expert. Some parts of the story were funny because there were so many kids and some were funny because of the father's thoughts on efficiency. The one scene I remembered from all those years ago dealt with Frank showing the kids the fastest way to lather up in the tub. He had to demonstrate for the girls full clothed while sitting on the living room floor.

I think Cheaper By the Dozen has held up well over time, even though some things may need to be explained to modern kids. It also was still a good read for me as an adult.

30 Days of Books: Childhood Favorite

The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin

I read this book in 5th grade for a book report. I've read it several times over the years. I still love this book as an adult, which I think says a lot about the book's quality. I've read it countless times. It's a funny smart book with enjoyable characters.

The Secret Garden

I know I read this when I was a child. I picked it up again for the online book challenge as a classic.


A little girl becomes orphaned in India and is sent home to England to live with family. She is forgotten about except for the servants. She finds a secret garden and begins to rebuild it with a neighbor kid. The gardening makes her healthy and happy and brings together the broken family that she joined.

It's rather silly, but the India to the moors of England part really intrigues me. It was part of the reason that I liked A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray. I am kind of a sucker for the gothicness of big old English manors.

When I read gothic novels like The Thirteenth Tale or The Secret Garden, I picture everything as dark. There's not enough light inside. It's gloomy outside.

The Giver and dystopian novels

One of the categories in the book challenge is a dystopian novel. I have heard great things about The Giver and it's a Newbery winner. Another of Lowry's books, Number the Stars, is one of my favorite children's books.

I've come to the conclusion that I'm really not a fan of dystopian stories. I'm not sure I can articulate why, but the depressing nature of them is part of it. This is somewhat of a weird thing for me to say because I read and enjoy lots of non-fiction on depressing topics. I do like 1984, but I love Orwell.

I read The Hunger Games last winter and felt the same way. Twenty of so pages in to The Giver, I did not want to continue. I wouldn't have if it weren't a part of the book challenge. Needless to say, I'm not chomping at the bit for Mockingjay.

I think I'm done with dystopian novels for awhile. It might sound silly to give up on the genre after a couple books, but I've also had The Handmaid's Tale on my shelf for a long time. Every once in awhile, I'll pick up and then immediately think, "I really don't want to read this." Plus, life's too short for books you don't enjoy.

The Bobbsey Twins

In addition to Nancy Drew, I really enjoyed another children's mystery series: The Bobbsey Twins. I didn't have as many Bobbsey Twins books growing up as I did Nancy Drew, but I still had many. The Bobbsey Twin series was created and published by the same people that sold Nancy Drew books. The Bobbsey Twins first came out in 1904, more than 25 years before Nancy.

The Bobbsey twins are two sets of twins: Nan and Bert who are 12 and Flossie and Freddie who are 6. I love the name "Nan." I might have had a crush on Bert. They live in the rather generic sounding town of Lakeport, and as expected, find mysteries where ever they go.

As the characters are young, so too is the target audience. The book indicates the suggested reading level is second grade. The Secret of Jungle Park is in the new series and is 87 pages of big print with several drawings throughout.

The story was a bit unrealistic; what parents are going to let their 12 and 6 year olds run around at an amusement park by themsleves? I've got to learn to suspend my disbelief when I'm reading these children's books.

All in all, it was a fun reread of a book that I'm sure I read when I was little. I've also got some of the old Bobbsey Twin books. I'll have to pick one of those up to see how they are.

Check out Lovely Little Shelf for more Friday Flashbacks.

Sleepover Friends

Lovely Little Shelf has a Friday Flashback feature that highlights a book read in childhood.

I recently found a copy of the Sleepover Friends book Kate's Camp-Out in the free bin at the library. I remember loving this series as a kid. I picked it up and read it quickly. It's another childhood series that's out of print.

They are simple books that revolve around a group of fifth grade friends that have sleepovers every weekend. Between the Sleepover Friends and the Babysitter's Club I always wondered why I didn't have a similar group of friends that did things like that. It makes more sense now. Did anyone have something like these groups?

One passage in the book made me gasp though:

"I could stand to walk off some of this breakfast," Stephanie said, licking cream cheese and jam off her finger, "before it collects on my hips."

Eeek! This is a 5th grader saying such things.

Besides that, I thought it was a cute book about friendship.

The Mystery at Lilac Inn

The lilacs have been beautiful here this year. I love them.

I decided to celebrate them by reading The Mystery of Lilac Inn.


I have an old copy of this Nancy Drew book. It was one of the books revised between 59 and 87. Since it was an early book in the series, it would have been rewritten in the early 60s. The old story still has a Lilac Inn in it, but the story is different from the current Mystery at Lilac Inn. You can read about the different versions of the earlier books by checking out Nancy Drew Sleuth, a great website of all things Nancy Drew.

The original story wasn't too dated, but the language used certainly was. Hannah Gruen, the Drews' housekeeper, leaves to visit her sister so Nancy is in charge of finding a fill-in. Neither the "Negress" nor the "Scotch lassie" were hired. Though it was seemingly because of their poor housekeeping skills rather than other factors. To a modern reader, it's so weird to see these descriptions added in. There's such a I'm-above-these-people sense about Nancy. She knows she has a high place in society. No we're-all-middle-class feelings from her! Also, Nancy accompanies her friend to the glove and millinery departments of a local store.

I love 1930s Nancy. She's so fashionable!

Based on the book's cover, the illustrations in the book, the other Nancy Drew books listed at the back of the book, and the end papers (which blogger is NOT working with me on) my book looks to have been printed between 1937 and 1940. It's in fairly good shape considering who knows where it's been during the past 70 years. It's one of the oldest Nancy Drew books I have in my collection.

The end papers, which I tried 3 times to get to load correctly:

Friday Flashback: Something Queer Series

Lovely Little Shelf has a Flashback Friday feature. Here's mine for this week:


Elizabeth Levy's Something Queer series is about a salami-loving basset hound, Fletcher, who helps his owner Jill and her friend Gwen solve mysteries.

I think these books started my love of basset hounds. Now, 20+ years later, I have these two crazies.

Sadly, neither one has a map of the world in their spots like Fletcher does. Nor have they helped me solve any mysteries. However, they do enjoy salami.

I remember reading Something Queer at the Haunted School in 2nd grade. Several years ago, I thought about those books again and my friendly librarian helped me figure what series it was based on what I could remember: they were mysteries with illustrations, the basset hound, and the girl that clicked her braces (Jill).

Mysteries are one of my favorite genres. In addition to the basset hound and the mystery, the books have wonderful illustrations by Mordicai Gerstein. The books are for young readers. As I mentioned, I read them in 2nd grade. The mysteries aren't too complex, but the stories are cute and funny.

Sadly, these books are out of print. Levy does have a newer series of Fletcher mysteries in print. These book don't have Gwen and Jill, nor do they have quite as many illustrations. I search used bookstores and books sales and now have most of the series in my collection.

Friday Flashback: From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler

Goodreads Summary:

When suburban Claudia Kincaid decides to run away, she knows she doesn’t just want to run from somewhere, she wants to run to somewhere — to a place that is comfortable, beautiful, and, preferably, elegant. She chooses the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Knowing her younger brother Jamie has money and thus can help her with a serious cash-flow problem, she invites him along. Once settled into the museum, Claudia and Jamie find themselves caught up in the mystery of an angel statue that the museum purchased at auction for a bargain price of $225. The statue is possibly an early work of the Renaissance master, Michelangelo, and therefore worth millions. Is it? Or isn’t it?
Claudia is determined to find out. Her quest leads her to Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, the remarkable old woman who sold the statue, and to some equally remarkable discoveries about herself.

This books is actually a Friday Flashback cheat for me. I never read it as a kid. But, I would have loved it if I had. I'm posting it as a shout to my trip to NYC. I visited the Met in 1999 on a high school trip, so images of the museum came back to me as I read it. And, I'm visiting the Met today!

Check out Lovely Little Shelf for more Friday Flashbacks.

Friday Flashback: My Gal Nancy

Happy Birthday Nancy Drew! The first Nancy Drew book was publish April 28, 1930. Do you think her creators would be stunned to know that for generations of girls, Nancy has been an idol? That her stories have been translated into an estimated 25 languages?

I read many series when I was a kid, but the one I remember most vividly is Nancy Drew.

My godparents bought me a set of the first 5 or 6 books and it was all over. I was hooked. I had to have been 9 or 10, but I still remember where I was when I read them. I even remember being at school reading one of the books during reading time and being upset that it was over and time for math because Nancy was about to solve the mystery!

As a kid growing up in the South, I thought that skiing was the ski jump. Clearly I thought the world was a Nancy Drew novel. Sadly, I found this was not the case and I don't have a blue roadster, nor do I have a father footing the bill on all my adventures. (He's pretty awesome at helping with house projects though.)

I've collected many old Nancy Drew books. Several of them are the first versions written in the 30s and 40s. They were revised in 1959 to be more PC. (The old ones use some very dated language, especially when talking about race.) Some of the stories are the same with minor revisions of language. Some are completely different stories. (Weird.) I've mainly found these old copies online. I look around at used bookstores, but there's not a big selection and they are usually priced much higher than the ones online.

In addition to the books in the series, I've also read several books about the series, including The Mysterious Case of Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys by Carole Kismaric and Marvin Heiferman and Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her by Melanie Rehak. The history behind Nancy is quite complex. Carolyn Keene, of course, is a pen name and the original series had two main writers that were Carolyn. She was created by the same people that introduced the Bobbsey Twins and the Hardy Boys. With the '59 rewrites, critics think that Nancy lost a bit of her spunk. I still think Nancy is awesome: brave, independent, and smart. I'm not the only one that thinks so either!

Flashback Friday: The Westing Game

My friend Jacki, the blogger over at Lovely Little Shelf, has a weekly post named Friday Flashback about books she loved as a kid or teenager.

Not surprisingly, I read a lot as a kid.

Since this is my first Friday Flashback, I figured I'd start with my all-time favorite kid's book: The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin. It won the Newbery Award in 1979.

I first read this book in elementary school for a book report. It's a mystery about a millionaire's death. His would-be heirs are trying to solve the puzzle of Samuel Westing's passing so they can receive their inheritance. I loved the mystery and I adore Turtle, one of main characters.

I've reread it several times in the past twenty (yikes!) years. I still love it just as much. I've reread some of the books from my childhood and been disappointed. This one has held up well as I've aged and in the thirty years since it was published.