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.

tales of a fourth grade nothing. superfudge. judy blume (157-158)

i recently purchased a superfudge tee from out of print, which inspired me to revisit judy blume's beloved classics.

since superfudge is a sequel to tales of a fourth grade nothing, my revisit had to start there.

in tales of a fourth grade nothing, we are introduce to peter hatcher and his family, which includes his mom, dad and of course his little brother, two-year-old terror, fudge.  before i go on i have to share that as a kid, fudge's antics were a little annoying, you felt bad for peter (his poor poster board for school!), but fudge was so crazy you couldn't help but like him.  however, as an adult, all i could think of was how did the hatchers end up with such a horrible child!  peter is well-mannered and caring kid.  fudge, on the other hand, is the type of kid i give dirty looks to when i see them misbehaving.  i also silently judge the parent for being a horrible and ignorant person for raising a indecent little monster that will contribute to the world's ultimate demise because only stupid people are breeding (harvey danger reference).  if i was in that movie theater with fudge, would have definitely demanded my money back!  but i mean fudge did have his moments, i thought it was adorable how he wanted to be a bird when he grew up and it was kind of funny how he would only eat if served like a dog.

here are some of my favorite parts. i loved when father poured fudge's dinner on his head, i viewed it bad parenting but didn't stop it from being hilarious.  the story of the birthday party was too much, all i can say is that kids are a mess.  also peter was right about the fat kid not needing a second helping of cake!  the story of the commercial totally reminded me of the full house episode when stephanie steals the commercial from dj.

the one thing that i couldn't believe was the ending!  how did fudge swallow a turtle?!?!? i mean i didn't believe until the x-ray showed it!  i kept on thinking, why are they getting an ambulance there is no way he could have swallowed a turtle, but fudge did.  but i mean it was the perfect ending to the book, peter gets a new dog that he names turtle and fudge lives!  btw kudos to judy blume for starting and ending the book with pet turtles!

*tales of a fourth grade nothing was part of flavorpill's 50 books every parent should read to their kids.

i learned via the dedication, a lot fans asked judy blume for a sequel so she made one, superfudge.

she also did a great job of referring tales of a fourth grade nothing in this one!  

in this book, the hatchers have a new edition to the family, baby tootsie (i loved how peter pointed how his siblings candy inspired names).  when peter found about the baby being on the way, he freaked out! but i mean if you had fudge as a sibling you would too!  aside from the baby, some new changes are that father decided to quit work and write a book and mom decided to go back to work (way to go mom!  she also wanted to study art history, double way to go mom!) and the whole family moves to jersey!

of course fudge is fudge, craziness follows them to jersey.  again i was outraged by some of things fudge did like playing hide-n-seek with tooties.  it freaked me out to imagine him carrying an infant and hiding her in closets!  and of course him kicking his first kinder teacher and calling her rat face though she was totally uptight but still

he should respect his elders!

but fudge did have some great moments.  i could not get over how cute he was about the santa letter writing and then of course telling peter he only pretended for their parents.  also the story of the visiting author and the picture was hilarious.  and fudge's use of big vocabulary words was great too!

i also loved the new people they met in jersey, well except that annoying kid daniel.  i really liked alex but primarily because of his halloween painting!! loved that he was jimmy's dad's painting anita's anger.  how clever! i might have to steal that costume idea from him!  i also liked mrs. muldour and her worm cookies!

and i have to add there were so many things in the book that adult me appreciated.  i got the charm of their jersey home esp the bathtub thought peter hated it.  also their use of the garden and growing organic!  i also liked how the parents were honest with fudge about where babies come from.  

all in all, two wonderful books that have stood the test of time.  i loved them just as much as fourth/fifth grade me loved them!!  can't wait to pick up fudge-a-mania on my next library trip!

the secret garden. frances hodgson burnett.

as i mentioned in my matilda post, i was inspired to read the secret garden because it was one of matilda's favorite. i had purchased it a couple weeks prior but it shot to the top of my to-read list because of matilda.

the secret garden is another book that i owned as a child but never read it.  i used to carry a copy around all the time with the intent to read it but never got very far.  i just couldn't get into it.  i have to admit on this read i had a difficult time picking it up.  i did get a little bored with it.  i am not one for mystery or gardening so i was like get on with the story already!    

but before i go on, i have to give a quick little rant about the secret garden being the original the secret.  i learned about the secret back in 2010 (i think) on the car ride to coachella with my friends, carnation, cody, jerry and john.  my bestie, john, explained to us that if we wanted something we needed to put it out into the universe for it to happen. cody put it out there for cheese at a party we were attending later that evening.  now let me explain we were in a car, and there was no way cheese could possibly happen . . . but it did!!!  carnation, our driver pulled out from her backpack, cheese snacks!  it blew our minds, i mean we had no idea it would work but it did!  and ever seen seeing that i quasi-believe in the secret.  now i haven't read the book the secret, but after reading the secret garden think the author behind it's philosphy just ripped off colin.  colin knew the power of putting things out into the universe and making it happen!  the kid gained the ability to walk and run from his believe in the power of reciting something.

this power that colin had is what i believed made this book so great.  its important for kids to understand the importance of self-confidence and faith.  it's one thing to have dreams, its quite another to have the self-assurance to know that you can accomplish those dreams.  to quote george michael, you got to have fa-fa-faith.   

another important lesson from the secret garden, is that you must move on from death (a lesson i needed since i lost my grandma bea the week before).  when someone closes to you dies, you can't shut off the world and wallow in sadness.  you have to continue in life and continue to love all the things that person loved and taught you to love.  if mr. craven did not see his son as what he had lost but as a part of his wife that he still had and need to love and care for he, he would not have wasted 12 years being miserable. furthermore, if he took care of the garden and allow it to grow, they would have had a place in which her spirit could always reside.  i am extremely grateful that mary came to them and helped them both heal and see that they could live and not feel sad about having lost mrs. craven.  they could allow mrs. craven's memory to live on through them and the garden.  we need to be happy about that times we had with those we have lost versus be sad about them not being in our present.

also i absolutely loved martha and her family!  dickson and his little gang of critters.  he was like a woodland fairy with his ability to talk and care for animals.  but the best was their mother, mrs. sowerby was filled with such wisdom when it came to kids.

  

my favorite was the story mrs. medock share about some wise words of her.  

[mrs. sowerby] says, 'once when i was givin' th' children a but of a preach after they'd been fightin' i ses to 'em all, "when i was at school my jography told as th' world was shaped like a orange an' i found out before i was ten that th' whole orange doesn't belong to nobody. no one owns more than his bit of a quarter an' there's times it seems like there's not enow quaters to go around.  but don't you--none o' you--think as you own th' whole orange or you'll find out you're mistaken, an you won't find out with hard knocks." what children leaned from children,' she says, 'is that there's no sense in grabbin' at th' who orange--peel an' all.  if you do you'll likely not even get th' pips, an' them's to bitter to eat."

it is true we don't own the whole world and if we think so, life will be tough for us.

another great quote came from mr. craven, "where you tend a rose, my lad, a thistle cannot grow."

where we plant love and happiness, hate and sorrow can not grow.  we must seek the positive.

and this sentiment is why the secret garden is a timeless classic.  i am glad i finally read it and regret not reading it in my youth.  my adult mind may have gotten bored but my adult heart needed to learn the lessons from this book. 

matilda. roald dahl.

i originally purchased this copy of roald dahl's matilda because it is absolutely adorable and i wanted to turn it into a book clutch.  however, if was too small, but still adorable so not a total lost.  it has been on my to-reread list but i hadn't gotten around to it.  the last couple of days, life has been overwhelming so decided to read matilda because i needed a light-hearted and easy read.

i loved matilda as a child and loved it even more as an adult.  i always loved matilda for her love of reading and as an adult i decided to christian her a patron saint of readers.  i was amazed at how well-read matilda was for a child.  check out her reading list:

she more well-read than most adults i know!

matilda also name-checked the secret garden and great expectations; the former which i just purchased and the later which i had recently checked out from the library so they will be the next two books that i read in honor of matilda.

and since matilda was bookish, matilda is filled with some great bookworm quotes.

"the books transported her into new worlds and introduced her to amazing people who lived exciting lives.  she went on olden-day sailing ships with joseph conrad.  she went to africa with ernest hemingway and to india with rudyard kipling.  she travelled all over the world while sitting in her little room in an english village."

"she knew it was wrong to hate her parents like this, but she was finding it very hard not to do so.  all the reading she had done had given her a view of life they had never seen.  if only they  would read a little dickens or kipling they would soon discover there was more to life than cheating people and watching television."

there is another great quote that i saw a print of on etsy but i couldn't find it in the book.   it shows up on the Internet as a dahl quote but i searched the book and didn't see nor do i remember coming across it while reading.  i think it came from the movie version.  if anyone knows its true source, let me know:

"so matilda’s strong young mind continued to grow, nurtured by the voices of all those authors who had sent their books out into the world like ships on the sea. these books gave matilda a hopeful and comforting message: you are not alone."

and like all dahl novels, this book is filled with little gems on life.  like matilda's mom telling her that "i'm afraid men are not always quite as clever as they think they are.  you will learn than when you get a but older, my girl."

i also enjoyed all the talk about the overpraising of kids which is something i have discussed prior in this blog. the delusional environment kids are reared in when they are constantly praised and everyone is a winner.  i loved how dahl talked about telling parents the honest harsh truth about their kids, as a substitute teacher there are definitely times i would love to send an honest note home to parents about how their kids really are.  

also taking it one step further, matilda can also be a critique on administration in schools.  unfortunately, there are probably some trunchbulls in schools, individuals who do not understand kids yet are in charge of their futures.

but back to matilda, she really is a wonderful role model for girls!  she is intelligent and kind and can serve up her own karma!!!! you have to admire her how she punished her father for his wrongdoings.  she also saved the day when it came to miss honey!  and last but not least but how happy of an ending that matilda was able to live with miss honey!!!  such an extrordinary girl deserves an extrordinarily happy ending!! i should change your patronage, matilda the patron saint of readers and extrordinary girls!

ps i really want to see the broadway musical now!

ps 

it's

anne frank: diary of a young girl.

after reading the book thief, i decided to read the holocaust based books on my to-read list, the first one being anne frank:  the diary of a young girl.

as a kid, i had a copy of this book but i never read it.  why? i have no idea but never read it.  sadly, i wish i did though because i probably would have enjoyed this book more than i did.

okay, i am might end up going to hell for saying this but at times i found myself bored while reading anne frank's diary.  also after reading the first couple of entries, i was skeptical and thought maybe her dad wrote.  i know i should probably burn in hell for such thoughts,  but before you think i am the most horrible person on the earth, let me explain myself.

i recognize the importance of anne frank and her diary because it gives victims of the holocaust a face.  like i wrote in my my post on the graphic novels, maus, holocaust narratives provide us with a personal experience that we would never receive from a textbook.  it humanizes the holocaust; we can read that millions of jews were killed and recognize it as a tragedy for mankind but reading about a specific individual and learning about it provides us not only with a better understanding but also compassion for the victims.

furthermore, i recognize the importance of anne frank's diary because it is usually the first narrative by a holocaust victim that one reads.  unfortunately, for me, it was not my first, so it didn't leave that big of an impact on me.  furthermore, i am not as naive as young adult me would have been, so i was not surprised by the fact that anne frank was the same as any other 13/14 year old girl.  (and yes, i would have been that naive, i didn't know jewish people growing up.)  anne was just as boy craze, insecure, confused, moody, hopeful, and curious about her body as any other girl, she just had the unfortunate addition of being a jewish girl in nazi germany.  sincs this is the case, you have to forgive 30-year-old me for losing interest, reading about 13-year-old life drama.  and lets be honest, this made up majority of the diary, i got bored with girl talk.

quick digression, i have to add, i found it very interesting that anne discussed the two selfs within her.  i often feel like that, i have my loud crazy extrovert self and then my quiet more reserved and serious self.  i think it's part of being a gemini and as i read thought she had to for sure be one.  and yes, anne was a gemini, birthday june 11.

i must add that i was interested in reading about their daily life in the secret annex.  what a blessing and how brave their friends that helped them.  i enjoyed reading her descriptions of their days. also how difficult it was to be inside all day and not allowed out, i would have gone stir crazy.  it's even more saddening when you consider the alternative to hiding.  and though at times i lost interesting in the diary, there is no denying what a strong spirit anne had to endure all that she did.

it was also interesting to read anne's thoughts on politics but her discussions made me very skeptical about anne actually penning this diary.  i have to admit that after reading the first entry, i googled to see if her dad had written her diary instead.  the language used just seemed to sophisticated for a 13 year old.  i understand that anne's family was affluent and her education was therefore superb, i mean, we did see all that she studied.  but something just felt inauthentic with her speech, i wondered if it was also a bad translation.  however, my google finds showed that there were other skeptics and that tests were done on the paper and that she did write it.  

i did read that she did rewrote part of the diary with the intend of it one day being published, after hearing the radio program discuss the importance of diaries from that time period.  so i can imagine her family helping her with part of the rewriting.  also i am sure that her discussions of politics and war were heavily influenced by her family and the conversations of the secret annexe.  and i mean the parts about peter were so honest that the diary had to be her words.  but i do believe she had a little help.  but i mean no harm no foul, because at the end of the day, the diary is still an important narrative for history.

but all in all, a wonderful book and as mentioned in the previous sentence an important book for history and for our betterment as humans.

harriet the spy. louise fitzhugh (151)

i never read harriet the spy as a kid.  i promise i read as a kid but now i am starting to realize i read kid fluff ie the babysisters' club and goosebumps and sadly never the classics.  even more odd, i was also around for the resurgence of harriet the spy when the movie was made in 96 with michelle trachtenburg.  i remember my sister had a copy and i contemplated reading it but i never did.

however, once again thanks to mindy kaling instagram:

i decided to buckle down and read it.

i hate to admit this but i have mixed feelings about harriet the spy.  i enjoyed following harriet on her spy adventures and i loved reading her musing on life but  i felt like she had some serious character flaws.  i found myself frustrated with her behavior at times so didn't love her as much as i thought i was going to.  come to think of it, i loved her for creativity and thoughts but hated how she treated others, so in a way my feelings must be similar to sport's feelings about harriet.  i did love her just wish she was a better person/friend at times.  

to be honest, being an adult and readinf this, i was a bit harsher on harriet than the child me would have been.  the child me would have excited about her spying (i at times found it a bit creepy).  but something adult me and child me would have agreed on is her musings in her spy book were quite thought provoking!  we both would have loved her little bursts of wisdom:  

harriet's musings:

"what is too old to have fun?"

"i'm glad i'm not perfect--i'd be bored to death." 

(i second this!)

" . . . in washington they've already got a little tube with a spoonful of something in it that will blow up the whole world? maybe the whole universe.  what would happen?  would we fly through the air? in spade you just float around.  i would be lonely."

"life is a great mystery. is everybody a different person when they are with someone else?"

(as an adult i have come to realize that we do wear different hats and assume different personas in life.)

"either we each have a brain and they look alike or we each have a special brain that looks like the inside of each of our heads."

"i wonder if when you dream about somebody they dream about you."  

(this last one is something i always thought about as a kid especially when i would dream of my crushes!  at let's be honest, i still wonder about this as an adult!)

i absolutely adored harriet for cleverness but was disappointed by her anger.  child me would have understood her anger but adult me expected better behavior.  i was sadden by her need for revenge.  i was absolutely appalled by the gossip she printed in her column (and outraged that the school allowed it).  my disappointment came from that fact that harriet was such a great character that to see her with poor behavior it broke my heart a bit.  

i understand that harriet's poor behavior was became her life seemed to be crumbling apart.  but i felt ole golly raised her to be a better person.  and i am not completely heartless, i did think that harriet did get a bum wrap when her friends turned on her because of the spy book.   i didn't think harriet was a bad person for writing what she wrote about her friends.  i mean we all pass judgement on everyone, only it was just unfortunate that she got caught being too honest.  but thankfully she learned her lesson about little white lies because kids should be honest but polite honest which means sometimes lying to spare someone's feelings.  

i have to add, i understood why harriet's life fell apart when ole golly left her because mine would have fell apart if ole golly left me!  i loved ole golly with her literary quotes and words of wisdom.  in fact, i would have preferred a book about ole golly growing up instead of harriet.  (this should seriously be a prequel).  

i really wish i would have read "harriet the spy" as a child because child me would have received some  great life lessons via ole golly (adult me sure did!):

". . . there is as many ways to live as there are people on the earth and [you] shouldn't go round with binders but you should see every way [you] can.  then [you'll] know what way [you] want to live and not just life like [your] family."

". . . find out everything you can cause life is hard enough even if you know a lot."

"people who love their work love life."

when harriet was crying about her leaving:  "tears won't bring me back. remember that:  tears never bring anything back.  life is a struggle and a good spy gets in there and fights."

though i love math, i found this clever: "math did for them that only want to count everything,  it's them that wants to know what they're counting that matter."

and from her letter:

"little lies that make people feel better see not bad, like thanking someone for a meal they made even if you hated it, or telling a sick person they look better when they don't, or someone with a hideous new had that its lovely."

"but to yourself you must always tell the truth."

"gone is gone. i never miss anything or anyone because it all becomes a lovely memory.  i guard my memories and love them but i don't get in them and lie down."

ole golly!  what a great nanny!!!

this was an adorable book with little pearls of wisdom.  i guess in the end, i did love harriet.  i loved her like you would a best friend, you love them regardless even with their flaws!  

i have to add, i want to start doing literary costumes for halloween and as i read, i realized that harriet's spy outfit would be cute as a costume!  you might see it next year for halloween!