my cousin momo. zachariah ohora (305)

my cousin momo is the story about cousin momo, a flying squirrel, and his visit to his cousin's house.  his cousin were extremely excited about his visit.  however, momo's odd behavior, made them upset about the trip.

for example, momo, wanted to be a muffin man when they dressed up as superheroes! (i thought his costume was amazing!):

and then while playing hide and seek, cousin momo got distracted by the mushrooms and had to take pictures:

though we were not told this, it's obvious that cousin momo is a hipster flying squirrel visiting from williamsburg.  i mean i totally wanted to be his friend!  however, his cousins not so much.  there was an awkward moment where momo was about to head home but the cousin see that is fun, not weird.  so they all played together:

pastry power!

and accepted cousin momo for the hipster that he is!

a cute story with great illustrations! i highly recommend it!!

otherwise known as the sheila the great. judy blume. (285)

i remember reading otherwise known as sheila the great as a kid because i was excited that character from the fudge series had her own book!  however, all i remember from the novel is mouse's little sister, betsey, and the box she dragged around as a pet.  i have no idea why that stuck with me, but my love for marcel the shell and his "dog" makes sense.

otherwise known as sheila the great told the story of sheila tubman's summer in tarrytown.  and to be honest, as an adult, sheila is a total brat! i think as an child, i would have been annoyed by her as well.  blume must have written to her as a foil for the reader, so that they could see sheila's flaws and not make the same errors.  i mean those slam book descriptions are pretty on point.

sheila was a liar, she lies to cover up what she was scared of and couldn't do. i mean, mouse, saw through it and was still her friend.  i for one was getting annoyed by it yet, this is how kids are.  

things that annoyed me about sheila:

-how she destroyed bobby's models

-how she wasted all those materials for the camp paper

-how she didn't want to try anything in swim lessons (i would have shot myself if i was her swim coach)

-her lying about everything 

as i write this list, blume had to have written this to show kids how not to act.  sheila is definitely not lovable like margaret!  or peter!  so i guess this is a good book, if your child needs to

stop lying or overcome a fear.

the purple coat. amy hest. amy schwartz. (272)

in honor of children's book week, i decided to check out one of my favorite books as a kid, the purple coat. in my memory serves me correct, i saw the purple coat on reading rainbow and had to have it!  i have a copy, which i think i may still own (hopefully it's in storage).

before i start, doesn't that look like tim gunn hosting mini project runway?

the purple coat tells the story of a little girl, gabrielle.  she needed a new coat for the fall and since her grandfather is a tailor in the city, he makes one especially for her.  quick note, love that penn station gets some love in this book (poor neglected station.)

gabby wanted a purple coat, but her mom said no.  every year, a navy coat is made for her.  however, her grandpa came up with the idea to make a reversible coat!  one side purple and the other navy, so that everyone is happy!

and yes, i always wanted a reversible coat after i read this as a kid. 

hug machine. scott campbell. (261)

i came across scott campbell's hug machine while checking out his art on his website.  his work is always on show at this one gallery i love, gallery 1988.  however, i didn't check out the book until strand books instagram reminded me that it would be a great valentine's day read.

hug machine is an adorable picture book about a little boy that loves to hug.  

he hugs to help:

and he hugs everything:

(the ice cream truck is my favorite drawing!)

he encounters some challenging things to hug (i won't ruin the surprise) but always accomplishes his mission:

and pizza is his fuel!!!

as you can see the illustrations are adorable and this book is a delight. it is a new favorite of mine!!! i want to give it a hug!!

the calder game. blue balliett. brett heloquist. (228)

while at the albany park library, when subbing, the book spine for the calder game caught my eye.  was it about the artist, alexander calder? i amazoned it and was, so i put in a request at the library.

the lacma had a calder exhibit a while back and i remember being in awe of the mobiles.  just like the characters in the novel, i was impressed by their balance and the movement.  there was not too much movement with all the pieces though in its little own little pocket, a slight flow of air moved the mobile, "snow flurry" which i thought was magical and my favorite!!  so i was excited to see what the novel had to offer.

i have to say that right off the back the bat, the epigraphs were a quote from alexander calder and banksy!!!

the calder game is actually the third in a series that center around a preteen boy named calder and his bests friends petra and tommy.  they are like a mini mystery solving team and a little reminiscent of harry potter and his gang down to petra and hermione both having hair issues.  calder is name for alexander calder, (which i thought i was adorable and i might steal if i ever have a boy) his parents loved alexander calder's work around chicago, where they live.  i have been to chicago but was unaware of the massive calders that are there.  i would like a trip back to see them especially universe in the sears tower.  i think i went to the sears tower but i do not recall universe. oh well.  i have been to the mca which is where the calder exhibit takes place in the novel.

the calder game opens with the calder and his friends on a class trip to visit the exhibit.  they are with a strict teacher and so are unable to fully enjoy it.  i have to add that these kids were also some serious deep things for their age.  however, i hope that their love and insight about the art would inspire kids that read this work to visiti museums.  calder discovered a room in which guest were invited to create their own mobiles as part of the calder game.  sadly, their strict teacher does not allow them.

then, calder received exciting news that he is going to england with his father.  his father is going for work and calder to gets to tag-a-long.  they are both in shocked when they arrive because in the square of the small english village they are staying in is a calder sculpture, the minatour (which the author made up).  calder explored the village on his own,  which i found shocking because he was only twelve but it was a small town.  in his defense, he is very bright for his age though he can not spell for the life of him which i found out of character.  but i guess the author wanted him to seem his age.  as calder explored he began to learn that the village is not friendly toward americans and hate the calder sculpture which was donated by an anonymous donor.

then one day, calder and the minatour go missing.  they are two events seem unrelated.  it should be added that there is suspension banksy might be behind the missing sculpture. sadly calder's mother became injured on while packing for her trip over there so unable to come.  due to this, mrs. sharpe, a friend from previous adventures (aka books) decided to go to england and bring tommy and petra.  due to this mrs. sharpe reminded me of mrs. basil e. frankweiler.  however, mrs. sharpe is a bit uptight which is odd because she suggested taking the kids.

once in england, they all set on their ways to find calder.  i assumed that with the name game in it there would be sort of game that kids solved but there wasn't.  what caused the sculpture and calder to go missing was simply a series of random events.  in the end, calder is saved and the sculpture recovered.  i won't ruined the surprise.  but if you are anticipating something like the westing game look elsewhere.

i have to add the illustrations in the novel have calder code (a code the kids made up) hidden in it but i couldn't find them so gave up, so there is that for kids.

all in all, i think this is great book to hopefully get kids excited about art! i think it's great that it is filled with so much information on calder.  it is also filled with the history of that area of england.  i hope the other novels are like this and plan on reading those soon.

confetti girl. diana lopez. (227)

confetti girl caught my eye while subbing in a fourth grade class.  i thought to myself, this is my life and so i instagramed it.  i also decided to check it out from the library.

confetti girl was seriously my life.  well at least the cover and the first three pages.  so as an introduction to the novel, there are instructions on how to make cascarones . . . or confetti eggs!!!!!!  seriously my life.  i discovered confetti eggs via my cousin tina, who had them one easter and her house.  one year i took the extras to coachella and they were life changing!!  and they totally became our thing.  after that every year, i made confetti eggs and decorated them based on the bands that were playing:

they improved over the years but i will say that i am pretty legit!  so was super excited to see cascarones mentioned in this book.  (random sidenote:  my friend once saw cascarones at olvera street in la and was shocked because he thought it was just something i did, not a mexican thing. lol). oh i should add, lina and her friends are mexican.  they live in corpus christi and yes, the selena convention center is totally named-dropped!

the next thing was the dicho, or mexican saying, listed for chapter one.  all the chapters have dichos and they are all compiled in a list at the end, but the one that started of the book was "los amigos mejores son libros" or "books are your best friend"!!! which i totally believe! though lina, the main characger, wasn't a bookworm, her father was and also an english teacher.  books that were named-dropped included watership down (which i need to read) and one hundred years of solitude!!! 

the other dichos i enjoyed were:

buñolero, ¡haz tus buñelos!

(buñelos maker, make your own buñelos, or mind your own business).

*i could like this one partially because buñelos are delish!

las mentiras no tienen pies

(lies don't have get so they can't travel on their own.)

el camarón que se duerme se lo lleva la corriente 

(the shrimp that goes to sleep gets carried away by the current.)

hasta el diablo una vex fue ángel

(even the devil was once an angel)

great words of advice and mini life lessons for lina and the reader!

and last but not least, lina had a sock collection!  just like me!!!!  i know seriously my life.  but the parallels stop there. 

confetti girl is the story of lina, short for apolonia, a girl in middle school.  she lives with her father and had recently lost her mother to an illness.  this lost along with being a preteen resulted in some drama in her life.

lina's trouble started when her english grade began to drop.  bitter toward her father's pressure to love books, lina failed english and was unable to play sports.  i thought this was good lesson for kids.   the teacher did not make an exception for her and she had to suffer the consequences of letting her grades slip.  

on top of that her best friend, vanessa, got a new boyfriend and began to neglect lina.  though lina had a crush that later became her boyfriend, but they had issues too.  lina was then constantly fighting with her best friend and boyfriend.  there was also a boy that teased lina and i thought it would be revealed that he liked her, but didn't happen.

in the end, thanks to the help of the school therapist, lina discovered what she needed to do to get life back on track.  lina had been making up summaries for watership down because she was not reading it.  howrver,  the summaries were her life told via the characters.  the school therapist saw this as a means for lina to work through all of her problems. the therapist had lina finish her story which then became the basis for her talking to her dad about her problems.  in the end, everything gets resolved and ends in a huge confetti fight!

a cute read and great for preteen girls. and also because ever girl should know how to make confetti eggs!!!

cora cooks pancit. dorina k. loza gilmore. (226)

i came across cora cooks pancit, while looking for books to read with my little friends.  i initially checked it out for myself, i was excited to see a book that featured a filipino character!  i was hoping to make pancit with them but we didn't get a chance to do this.

before i go on, for those non-filipino friends, pancit is a noodle dish kind of like chow mein but in my opinion, way more tasty.  my mom actually makes a really good pancit and after reading this i am hungry and hope i can convince her to make it for dinner!  i should also admit that pancit is a recent love for me.  i was a picky eater as a kid so avoided it as an adult but now i will eat it anytime i see it!! 

cora cooks pancit is the story of a little girl cora that dreams of helping out in the kitchen with grown-up tasks!  i, for one, thought she was lucky that she had the kid task of licking the spoon.

one day, her mom asked her want she wanted to make.  she had a vision of filipino food dancing in her head:  

yum!! and she decided on pancit.

the recipe she learned, is her lolo's or grandfather. he used to cook for the filipino field workers when he came to california.  

this reminded me of my grandpa jimmy.  he did the same, but he cooked food from singapore.  also, it doesn't say so but i am going to picture cora's lolo in delano, since the field workers picked grapes.

cora helps her mom.  she makes some errors but that is fine because it is bounded to happen and she makes a delicious dish for her family.

this was a sweet story and i recommend it for a funny family night.  there is a pancit recipe in the back so you can read the book then make some!

also is you are filipino you should definitely check it out!!  nice to see a children's book celebrating our culture 

mr. peabody's apples. madonna. (221)

i came across madonna's mr. peabody's apples while looking for books to read with my little friends.  i think i bought a copy back in the day but never read it and its prolly in storage somewhere.  i decided to check it out and finally read it.

i want to add that it made me sad because i think i was the first person to check this book out.  it is in too nice of condition for a kids book.  i know kids don't know who madonna is but shouldn't their parents be excited and check it out for them?  so sad.  and i mean the book was marked 2011, that is  three years! poor book!

mr. peabody's apples is the story of mr. peabody, a history teacher that holds weekend baseball game for the boys in the town.  the boys are not very good at baseball but they have fun and that is all that matters.  one day after a game, one of the boys, tommy, saw mr. peabody take an apple from a market and not pay for it.  he then told the other boys that mr. peabody stole apples.  this gossip then spread to everyone and they then shunned mr. peabody.  the boys stopped going to the games and the townspeople stopped waving hello to him because they thought he was a thief.  when mr. peabody discovered the news via a boy named billy, he took billy to the market and the owner explained that mr. peabody paid for this apple every saturday when he paid for the rest of his groceries.  billy then told tommy, who apologized to mr. peabody.  tommy asked what he could do to make things right and mr. peabody told him to bring a pillow to the baseball field. mr. peabody then had tommy cut it open and shake out all the feathers and then told him to pick every single one of feathers up.  tommy said it is impossible and mr. peabody replied that each feather represented a person from town and that the damage from the thief rumor would be impossible to undo.  he then reminded tommy that "next time, don’t be so quick to judge a person. and remember the power of your words.”

as i was reading, i kept on asking myself, i wonder what the moral is going to be.  madonna was pretty direct with this one, no need to read between the lines.  i also wondered if this story was based on a jewish folktake, because i mean this was written in madonna's kabbalah era.  and i was right there too!  she addressed that the story was inspired by a story she heard via kabbalah.  well in nicer words, i am just paraphrasing poorly.

a nice story though kind of morning.  i mean if it didn't say madonna on the cover, i would have never thought the material girl wrote this.  i mean when she was spiritual she still had an edge, and there is no edge here.  i mean i never thought madge could be boring, but i guess she can.

also the illustrations were nice, very americana.

this one was my favorite:

check it out, because it is madonna, but don't expect it to be amazing.

secret pizza party. adam rubin and daniel salmieri. (220)

i picked up secret pizza party by adam rubin and illustrated by daniel salmieri so i could make mini pizzas with the girls i babysit, avery and audrina.  though the pizzas turned out weird cos i used pillsbury grands so they puffed up too much.  they were more like pizza biscuits.  but we all enjoyed the story!  esp me!!

i had a feeling i would love it because i love their other book, dragons love tacos.  i love tacos so it's a bit of a no-brainer.  i love pizza too, so again loved this book.

the book is about a raccoon that loves pizzas but people never want to share or give him any.  the raccoon decided the only way to get pizza is to have a secret pizza party!  and thankfully it is a success!!  

the book is funny and features random yet hilarious things for kids and adults to enjoy as well.  the illustrations are great too!

i loved the inside cover.

this cute little ode to pizza (i instagramed this pic).

loved the adjective, pepperoni-ness

i also loved how the book demonstrated how the adjective "secret" can make a world of difference:

last but not least loved the raccoon's "mask" at the party.

an adorable book that you should check out and definitely have pizza with it!

this is new york. m. sasek. (212)

i checked out this is new york to read with the girls i baby-sit.  i had found these random new york coloring fans at the goodwill and needed a book to go along with coloring the fans.  i decided upon this is new york.

this is new york was originally published in 1960 and this new edition was published in 2003.  the book shares the sights and sounds of new york back in the 1950's.  some things are outdated is the empire state building being the tallest building in new york, but thankful most has stayed the same. 

it's a delightful book that i recommend you check out if you love the big apple.  the illustrations are great!! one day i hope to take my future child to new york and share this book before the trip.

here are my favorite illustrations:

of course, times square!!

macy's!

trinity church which is the oldest church in nyc.  (on my to-do list.)

harlem.

park ave.  this reminded me of my friend ivan, last time i was in nyc, he took me on walking tour which included park ave and grand central terminal.  he explained to me that he wants the MetLife building torn down because it ruins this view.  i agree with him and this drawing just reinforces my support!

i love the water tanks!

the guggenheim.  which i have yet to go to!

but yes check out this book, it's a delight!

the pain and the great one. judy blume (204)

i picked up the pain and the great one because of blumesday and ended up reading it with my little friends, avery and audrina.  as a kid, i used to love this story because it totally reminded me of my little sister and i. jill was the pain one and i, of course, the great one.  as a kid, i enjoyed appreciated the lesson about siblings and jealousy.   it's a cute little story with an important lesson about sibling rivalry, that we really have nothing to be jealous of, our parents love us all equally.  i especially love how they both want to do things without their sibling but realize that they reason they have fun is because their siblings is there with them.

i will add that after i read this with the girls, i had them write a letter to their older brother about why he is so great.  we also discussed how we should be nice to our siblings and not be jealous of them.

(sorry this post is short, but nothing too short or deep to discuss.)

blubber. judy blume. (203)

june 17th is blumesday!  i wrote about it last year, it's a play on bloomsday which honors james joyce's ulysses.  blumesday is set on the birthday of judy blume.  i decided to celebrate it this year, with a quick rereading of blubber.

i remember reading blubber as a kid, but other than remembering it was about a fat kid and that i learned that the fat of a whale is called blubber from it, i didn't recall much else.

rereading it as an adult, i am surprised that it is not required reading for schools especially with the recent fight against bullying.  blubber is told from the perspective of a fifth-grader, jill.  jill is part of the "in crowd" though kids normally don't get that label until jr. high.  she is follows, what thanks to mean girls we know term as the queen bee, wendy and bullies a fat girl named linda.  linda had the misfortune to give a report on whales, in which she had to explain what blubber is. the kids, being cruel like they truly can be, start calling her blubber.  wendy is a real regina george, i mean the bullying shocked me.  not only did they force linda to kiss a boy on the cheek, but they also made her pull up her skirt and show her underwear!  in today's world, such actions would have resulted in a suspension and a sexual harassment lawsuit.  jill is there being a bully, though linda has never done anything mean to her.  jill did demonstrate some regret when she discussed with her mom how to deal with kids making fun of you.  her mom tells her to laugh it off, but also warns her that one day she could be the one that is teased.

then one day, the bullying goes too far.  the students lock linda in a closet.  (before i go on i must share that i was surprised how their lunch hour was ran.  rather then have lunch in cafeteria, the kids were left in the classrooms with an adult patrolling the hallways and sneaking her head in.  did schools really run like this?  this is outrageous!  again if this happened today, a lawsuit would definitely occur due to lack of supervision). they decided to put linda on trial for telling on jill and tracy, however, jill realized she was sick of wendy bossing her around, she stood up to the queen bee.  though jill was winning in the self-esteem department, she totally lost socially.

the next day, wendy and lisa become bff and begin to bully jill.  they call her baby, and pull the same things they did on linda (minus the skirt lifting and kissing.)  jill then pulled a cady, and makes wendy's number two, carolina jealous of wendy and linda's new found friendship.  this little tiff then results in all of the girls making new best friends and they all move on.  it appears as though nothing is truly resolved, but it's just like the mean girls' ending, each girl friends a new group of friends and life goes on, which is exactly how it is in life.  

having been a fifth-grader once in my life and a female and having queen bee tendencies, i can say that this is how life is in elementary school.  i mean i was never a bully, though i did get my 6th grade class to stop talking to my best friend because she once didn't invite me over to play at her house. (there are more details that somewhat justify my actions).  but we females, unfortunately, hate each other guts one day and then are bffs the next.  i would like to say at some point women grow out of it, but i have seen thirty/fortysomethings fight like the girls in this story.  sad, i know.

as i mentioned before it is a great book for kids to read.  blume shared at the end of this edition, how the story was based on an incident that occurred in her daughter's class.  she wrote it in hopes that kids will not keep their bullying a secret.  this is a book every kid should read, though i warn there is foul language in it.  jill calls her teacher a bitch (something i thought was mature for a fifth grader).  jill also used another cuss word though she explained that her parents let her cuss.  

i also have to give kudos to blume for having great maudie, such a health food nut.  i noticed blume being up on the health food treat in the fudge books, and her being from portland this all makes sense, but really these books are like thirtysomeodd years old.  but yay great maudie for being into wheat mush and juices!

back to the book, if you read it as a kid, give it a reread.  and if you have kids and need a talking point for bullying, use this book!

island of the blue dolphins. scott o'dell. (197)

i decided to finally read island of the blue dolphins because the 4th grade class i was subbing for had read it and their lesson plans included watching the movie and an compare and contrast essay.  since i never read it as a kid, (though grandma bea always tried to get me to read it.  she loved it.  she also wanted me to see the movie, which i never saw), i decided now was the perfect time. plus it helped with my newbery medal mission.

as you can see in the picture, i read an ebook version, but not just any ebook, but one that i checked out via the library!  i went out of town friday, so i didn't have time to go to the library to check it out on saturday.  i considered buying it for my kindle but didn't want to spend $4 when i know i could find a used paperback for $1 (what can i say, i'm cheap.) so i looked for it on overdrive (the app the library uses) and they had it!  so the island of the blue dolphins is the first ebook i checked out from the library.  exciting, i know!  i will always love a physical book but its nice to have ebooks as an option.

island of the blue dolphins is the incredible story of a young girl, karana, that survived on a island by herself for about 18 years.  it is based on an actual person.  prior to my reading, i learned from my friend julianna via her goodreads that the woman this story is based on his buried at the santa barbara mission.  i also learned from my friend thomas that the island of the blue dolphins is one of the channel island.  i am hoping i can take a books and landmarks picture for the island of the dolphins.

karana, was left on the island by herself after a group of aleuts lead by a russian explorer, killed her father and majority of the men from her tribe, after a dispute over payment.  the explorer and aleuts came for otter pellets and then tried to cheat the tribe out of their payment for the hunting.  karana's father was the chief, after his death, the new chief decided to sail to another island for the tribe to migrate too.  he sent ships and the tribe left, but after karana discovered her brother was not on the boat, she went back for him.  i love my little brother, but i don't know if i would be this brave.  she found her brother and they were left stranded together.  then sadly her brother was killed by wild dogs, which left her completely alone.

before i go on, i will add, that i felt there was a lack of emotion in this book.  there was no display of sadness when her father or brother died.  i mean there was big expression of her emotions due to these  these events, everything was stated very matter of fact.  karana, moved on with life rather quickly.  she did want to get revenge on the dogs but i just found it interesting that o'dell did not dwell on these events though they completed changed her life.

karana was extremely resourceful.  though it was forbidden, she had enough common sense to ignore the teachings of the tribe and created her own weapons.  i was also impressed with her ability to hunt and gather for herself.  if  was left on the island i would have died after a few days.  i actually would have probably drowned myself.  it was amazing to see what she endured and how she survived.  its even crazier when one realizes that this was based on an actual person and that woman lived off the land like she did for almost 20 years.  granted it wasn't that much of a change of life for her, unlike if it happened to someone today, but i mean the fact that she didn't go crazy from being by herself is what amazed me.

in the end, she is discovered by a priest and taken to live at the santa barbara mission.  if i was child, i would have been happy for her, but as an adult, i know what mission life entailed.  sadly, i learned via wikipedia that the real woman died after only seven weeks on the mainland.  

still an incredible story and a must read for all kids.

the movie on the other hand was a poor adaption.  i am actually shocked hollywood hasn't done a remake.  i mean that girl from that whale movie a while back would have been perfect. the movie cut out a lot of interesting parts like the elephant seals and devilfish.  i am assuming they were missing because they didn't have trained animals or the technology to fake it.   but yes a remake should happen that is truer to the book.  i am shocked after the success of "castaway", this wasn't made for an kid audience.  hmmm.  i wish i knew someone in hollywood to pitch this too.

all in all, read the book and avoid the movie.  the 4th grade class i subbed for voted this way as well.

a wrinkle in time: the graphic novel. madeline l'engle and hope larson.

when i posted my old copy of a wrinkle in time on instagram, my friend joann informed me that a graphic novel version existed.  and of course, i had my mom and brother get it for me for christmas.  it sat on my bookshelf but after reading, when you reach me, which referenced it, i decided to give this a read in honor of children's book week.

a wrinkle in time is brillant and if you are trying to adapt it and make it into a graphic novel, your illustrations should be just as brillant.  i'm sorry hope larson, but i was very disappointed with the illustrations of the novel.  the illustrations were boring and unimaginative.  larson could have let her imagination run wild but sadly she didn't.  nothing was more incredible then what i imagined in my head as a fifth grader when i first read it.  the illustrations were really bad.  at one point, mr. murray didn't even look like a person but some weird octopus head, but not like cool pirates of the caribbean octopus head.  i wanted to see some crazy sci-fi illustrations but nothing.  it was really disappointing. 

also the book lacked meg's heart.  meg was really two-dimensional, literary and figuratively.  she just seemed awkwardly angry all the time.  i mean i know she was but there was more explanation in the novel that made you understand why she was the way she was.

i hate to be such a downer, but i wouldn't recommend this book, especially to someone that has never read it.  it frightens me that this book is out there because i see how kids love graphic novels nowadays (they are always the go-to book when the class i am subbing for goes to the library).  and it saddens me to think that these images will be what the kid sees as they read instead of what their imagination would conger on it's own.  the greatness of a wrinkle in time is that the reader is travels to other dimensions and planets, which allows their imagination a fun adventure, sadly this novel does away with that fun and takes away from the greatness of the novel.  i hate to be so harsh but with illustrations that boring, a child needs to read it the novel and create their own planet and dimensions!

a little princess. frances hodgson burnett.

a little princess was one of my favorite books as a child.  the 90s movie based on it was a favorite movie of mine, as well.  a little princess was on my to-reread list for three reasons:  1) it is on lena dunham's ideal bookshelf, 2) esperanza rising reminded me of it, and 3) i was kind of bored by the secret garden and wondered if i had made up my loving of a little princess as a kid.  i finally reread it when i discovered, may 12-18 was children's books week and thought a little princess would be the perfect way to celebrate!

it was a perfect celebration because i loved a little princess just as much as i did as a child, maybe even more.  quick summary, sara was a sweet and wealthy child that is sent to boarding school in london.  she had a very loving father, captain crewe that sent her away to be raised properly since they lived in india, her mother died when she was young.  her father indulged sara, he gave her everything her heart desired but sara wasn't a spoiled, unbearable. self-centered brat, in fact she was a well-mannered little princess (hence the title) that always thought of others.  sara had a decent time at boarding school where she was star pupil.   the headmistress was sadly jealous of her wealthy and of course there were mean girls, but sara befriended a pudgy girl, a young little monster that she pretended to be mother to, and a servant girl named becky. 

then sadly one day, sara's world is turned upside down.  on the day of her big birthday party, it is discovered that captain crewe died from stress of a business venture that had to do with diamond mines, leaving sara an orphan and penniless.  instead of being sympathetic, the head mistress is outraged that her star pupil was worth nothing especially considering all that she had just spent on her extravagant birthday party.  (i personally was disgusted by the head mistress' behavior, the poor child lost her father but all she cared about was her money!)  sara then became a servant at the school, since she was so intelligent her work included tutoring and running special errands.

since sara was raised so well by her father and had such a sweet spirit, though it was tough being a servant, it does not destroy her.  she used her imagination to make her living conditions more bearable.  she also befriended the rats that lived in the attic with her.

then one day a gentleman from indian moved in next door to the boarding school.  sara met his ram dass and his monkey. the ram dass then told the gentleman of sara and they begin to make sara's dreams come true by providing her with food and proper bedding and clothing.  the ram dass would sneak in while sara did her chores. one day the monkey ran into sara's window and she went next door to return him herself.  and then its is discovered that the gentleman was her father's business partner and he had been looking for her (he was searching for her in paris then russia when she happened to be next door the whole time!).  the diamond mines were real and she was rich!!!!  of course the head mistress heard and tried to make it seemed like she cared for sara but the ram dass and seen how sara was treated and told the gentleman.  in the end, sara lived happily ever after and was a real little princess.

okay, so the story cleans up a little too nicely at the end but it's a children's book.  sara was so caring and loving that you wanted her to have a happy ending.  it really is a lovely modernish fairy tale for girls and once that will remind them the truly rich are those girls of good character.

bartholomew and the oobleck. dr. seuss. (194)

i checked out bartholomew and the oobleck because it was a caldecott honor book.  i expected to be wowed by the pictures, they were great (you'll see below) but the story was better. i dare say this might be my favorite dr. seuss book.

bartholomew and the oobleck is the story of a king and his servant, bartholomew who helped saved the kingdom.  the king was bored by what fell from the sky, rain, sunshine, fog, and snow, and wanted something new to fall.  bartholomew warned him he was asking for trouble but one can't really argue with a king, so he summoned the king's magicians.  the magicians then created oobleck.

the oobleck started to fall from the sky.  the king was ecstatic and called on bartholomew to let the kingdom know today was a holiday.  however, bartholomew discovered that oobleck was actually a horrible substance, sticky and glued people to whatever they touched.  bartholomew ran around the castle trying to warn everyone but it is of no help because soon everyone is covered in oobleck.  he then found the king calling for help because he was stuck to his throne. the king was trying to remember the magic words to stop it and wanted bartholomew to call his magicians.  bartholomew would not be able to reach them because of the oobleck, so he suggested that the king use the magic words "i'm sorry" to stop the oobleck.  being the king, he was at first unwilling to apologize for it is a sign of weakness and very unkinglike.  in the end, the king apologized and the oobleck disappeared,   teaching everyone the power of an apology.

what a great story with a very important moral.  the life lesson is why this book is the tops when it comes to dr. seuss books.  i plan on reading this to my future kids.  if you haven't read it, make sure you do!

here are the pictures:  

(the fish from the cat in the hat!)