Devon Trevarrow Flaherty's Blog, page 49

Book Reviews: Chinese Travel

I have been out of the country. I have been recovering from jet lag. If I had it more together, I would have scheduled some pre-written posts for you while I was gone. I did manage to get my house cleaned and the luggage packed. So that’s good.

I also seldom read as much on planes as I expect to, so I don’t have any new novels to review for you. Trying to sleep on international flights means that I start to get sleepy and disoriented, so–for me–I turn to the in-flight movies and then attempt sleeping. On this thirteen-hour flight, I read mere pages of The Book Thief. And journaled, at least.

Here are the reviews for the books that I did use while in China.

[image error]China Survival Guide, Larry and Qin Herzberg (3rd edition). I bought this book sorta on a whim. I was browsing for a paper tour guide, and came across this. I found a more-than-affordable copy, and I just chucked it in the shopping cart when I was snagging things online like outlet converters and pollution masks. This book is awesome! If you are going to China, for any reason whatsoever (unless you live there), get this book and read it before you leave! (I only wish there was one as good for every country in the world.) I am not exaggerating when I say that I knew more and was more comfortable, in some ways, than other traveling companions who had been to China multiple times. The anecdotes and info from this book came up over and over and over again. AND it’s entertaining, interesting, and funny. And sympathetic! Larry and Qin understand what it’s like to be a Western foreigner in China, but they also love China and its people, understand the origins of many behaviors, and respect them. There is some advice you will want to follow beforehand, so, like I suggested, go ahead and read it maybe a week before you leave. (For example, asking for new bills at the bank here was a life-saver when I got to the currency exchange in the town I first stayed in.) Again, can’t recommend this book enough. Maria, my friend who has had friends visit many times over the fifteen years she’s lived in China, says that she is going to have to make this recommended/required reading before receiving visitors. She was pleasantly surprised at how accurate and helpful it was.

[image error]DK Eyewitness Travel: China. This book is fairly standard. It was the highest rated China travel guide on Amazon, at the time I bought it. I also purchased the most recent edition, which was more expensive, but necessary. I can’t give it the most helpful review, because I didn’t use it enough to speak to its accuracy. Here are the down sides: no prices; restaurants are all listed in the back instead of with the city; it’s heavy to carry around. What it comes down to is this: if you are travelling to only one or two cities (like I was), this isn’t really worth its weight in your luggage. You would be better off to borrow it from the library and copy off the few pages that would be applicable to you (not exceeding any copyright laws, of course). Otherwise, this strikes me as a standard travel information guide, and would be best if you were traveling without a tourguide to multiple places. It has information, as well as a smattering of history and fun facts and photos. Would be most useful in planning your trip.

[image error]Mandarin Phrasebook and Dictionary, Lonely Planet. I tend to like Lonely Planet. I think I and Lonely Planet would get along. So I wasn’t surprised when I got this affordable translator in the mail and liked it right away. It’s small and lightweight enough to fit in the front packet of your travel bag–which is where mine stayed the whole time I was in China. I found this book to be the right size, aesthetically pleasing, and accurate (to the extent that I tested it in the field). It was organized in a way that made it easy to locate what I needed, and only once or twice could I not find what I needed to say. It’s major flaw is that the vocal tones are written only above the Pinyin (which is Mandarin as written with the Latin alphabet) but not above the phonetic translation. Some pages, I actually went through and transcribed the tones above the phonetic, so I could make an attempt at saying it correctly and not insulting someone’s mother. (I also wrote some phrases I thought I would need most on the inside of the front cover.) This ended up being a moot point, however, as the Chinese speakers often didn’t “listen” or “hear” me attempting to speak their language, and pointing to the Chinese characters in the book was much more effective. Also, several Chinese people I came across just turned on the translator app on their phone and used that to speak with me. You could go that route, too, I’m just a little old fashioned and a lot enamored of books. I was happy to have this book with me because 1) it doesn’t take batteries and 2) not that many people in much of China speak English, including hotel maids and bank clerks.

[image error]Point It, Dieter Graf. So I may not have found this book to take it to China with me this time, but it is still a brilliant book. I suppose it was good for me to make an attempt to speak Mandarin while in China, but this book is very useful (I have traveled with it before) if you head to a country where you may not always speak an intelligible language. Point It is a picture dictionary in it’s 20th edition. It is very small and lightweight and broken down into logical sections. I would recommend familiarizing yourself with it before traveling with it. It’s just pictures. You need a bathroom? Point to the applicable picture and do the pee-pee dance. You want bread? Point to the bread or bakery picture and raise your eyebrows in question. Of course, pointing and gesticulating is only the beginning of the communication complications (it’s probably best to learn the language) and you may never know if you really are eating chicken, but having Point It is a step in the direction of whatever it is you need or want.

Series Review: How to Train Your Dragon

[image error]It’s hard for me to believe that I didn’t do this review earlier, though we did finish reading as I was tackling a sizable backlog. Boo! This series deserves better than a months-stale review. But it is what it is, and the least the series deserves is a late review.

Amazon’s blurb for the first book is as follows: “Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III, the quiet and thoughtful son of the Chief of the Hairy Hooligans, tries to pass the important initiation test of his Viking clan by catching and training a dragon. Can Hiccup do it without being torn limb from limb? Join the adventures and misadventures as he finds a new way to train dragons…and becomes a hero.”

I think we ended up reading book number one of this fairly hefty twelve-volume series because it was on a fourth grade reading list. Little did I know that book one would not be enough for us, and that we would end up buying Eamon the entire box set and giving months of our bedtime reading to enjoying this together. I suppose that I expected something akin to the How to Train Your Dragon movies and maybe even the TV series, and I imagine I thought that the books were not going to be as good. And why were there twelve, anyhow? The movie is just one fairly simple story.

[image error]Well, that’s because the books and the movies are nothing alike.

Honestly, I find myself a little irritated that the movie even goes by the same title as the books. “Inspired by,” (and naming characters after) would be more accurate. Other than the names and a similar world, the books and movie have different moods, feels, language, characters (even though they go by the same names), plot, morals, etc. Not that the movie is bad. It’s a contemporary classic for a reason (Well, the first one, anyways) but I just want to reiterate: they have not much in common. They are both brilliant in their own way.

And the books are completely brilliant. I love them. My son loved them. When painting our eight stairs with book spines, the kids each got to chose one title, and Eamon—instead of Where the Red Fern Grows, Danny the Champion of the World, or Sign of the Beaver—went for How to Train Your Dragon.

Full disclosure: these books are written by the college friend of Lauren Childs. When I found this out, I understood part of why I was loving it so much. Both Cressida Cowell and Lauren Childs (author of Charlie and Lola, Ruby Redfort, and Clarice Bean series) have a similar tone and similar voice. They are both funny and wildly imaginative, both like children who have never quiet grown up, like Willy Wonka or, his creator, Roald Dahl.

All that nepotism aside, however, How to Train Your Dragon stands alone based on writing, plot, and characters. The writing is smooth and engaging. The plots keep you reading. And the characters are charming and develop over time. Though not every kid will be in for dragons and Vikings, give it a try anyhow. Your kid may just end up wanting to know what happens to Hiccup, Fishlegs, and Camicazi, wanting to join them for their continually spiraling adventures.

I probably had some complaints about these books while I was reading them, but time has left a pleasantly warm feeling. I would re-read them. I hope my son will, too.

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Book list:

How to Train Your Dragon (2003)
How to Be A Pirate (2004)
How to Speak Dragonese (2005)
How to Cheat A Dragon’s Curse (2006)
How to Twist A Dragon’s Tale (2007)
A Hero’s Guide to Deadly Dragons (2008)
How to Ride A Dragon’s Storm (2009)
How to Break A Dragon’s Heart (2010)
How to Steal A Dragon’s Sword (2011)
How to Seize A Dragon’s Jewel (2012)
How to Betray A Dragon’s Hero (2013)
How to Fight a Dragon’s Fury (2015)

__________

[image error]MOVIE: I already mentioned the movie above. I would definitely recommend that you watch the first one, if you have not already. It’s a great movie, though hardly resembles the books. The second movie is okay. Take it or leave it. You won’t regret renting it for family movie night. (The third movie comes out this year.) The TV series, although somewhat popular, is not a favorite of mine. Read the whole book series, watch the first movie, and marvel at how different they are.

Book Review: Shark’s Fin and Sichuan Pepper

[image error]Apparently Fuschia Dunlop is a thing. Well, really she’s a person, but apparently she’s someone that I–someone obsessed with food and now a food magazine reporter (Did I not write that blog yet?)–should recognize in some capacity. Well, when I found her book on the shelf in the library, it was just because I was looking for books on Chinese food in order to report to my travel partners. (I’m going to China in a couple weeks.) This one looked both authentic and entertaining.

So Dunlop is a British woman who left the BBC at a young age and ended up in backwater Sichuan studying Chinese politics at a university with a handful of international students (who also doubled as local celebrities). Her political studies were fairly quickly usurped by her culinary studies, and she finished up her years in Chengdu with becoming the first foreigner to ever study at the culinary school. Over the next several years, she would write the English language book on Sichuan cooking, travel back to China many times, and become an authority on China and Chinese food.

[image error]Shark’s Fin and Sichuan Pepper is Dunlop’s Chinese-food-crazed memoir. Dunlop is pretty good as a writer, though where she shines, I think, is in her adventurousness, her boldness, her single-minded drive to get to the bottom of Chinese cooking, her curiosity, and her–she might not like me using this word, but–diplomacy. She is open-minded, in touch with herself, and worldly, at least in her thinking. I super-duper appreciated the tour she was able to take me on, of China, through time and through various areas. While reading about food, I was given a much better understanding of the politics and history of China, as well as its culture. And I wasn’t bored to death while doing it. And now I know that I’m coming home with a cleaver as a souvenir.

The book is a little choppy, and I found my attention wandering from the pages lots of times. While it follows her journeys around China chronologically, the thing that’s missing is a sense of suspense, or a “What’s next?” Nothing builds, to take us from page to page and chapter to chapter. Her sections breaks can feel like whiplash. Still, I kept reading because I did want to know more, and I was enjoying balking at this spunky Brit, saying to myself, “Yeah, no way I’m going to do that.” I just let her tell me about it. (Although I did put a sichuan pepper in my mouth and chew on it the other day. The result was just as she described.)

Also felt like pictures were missing. I kept wanting to see some photos. Recipes were a nice touch, though, even if some of them were just for fun.

If you have an interest in food or in China, this is one that you are going to want to read. It’s an easy read, and you’ll walk away much more knowledgeable than you arrived. If you are looking for a cookbook, accessible to the Western world, for Chinese cooking, her cookbooks (below) are the way to go.

(Note: Shark’s Fin was published ten years ago, and as is made evident in the book, China is changing tremendously fast. I’m sure an updated version would have much to say on the past ten years, but it is what it is. For a more recent look at China, you will have to turn elsewhere, but this gets us pretty close.)

What You Could Learn During a Residency

[image error]As you might already know, I am currently nearing the end of my first ever writing residency. I am taking a break from writing (ha!) and thought I would check in with some other part of my brain for a minute. While I keep typing. It is my fate.

I feel like I could display a postcard here. Bought at a country store and emblazoned with a photo of the Weymouth Center, it would have a scrawl across the front, “Livin’ It Up at the Weymouth Center!” and on the back, in my handwriting, “Wish you could be here! Don’t want to leave! -Devon” Except I do want to leave, if not right this moment, then on Monday. I miss my kids and my husband. I miss my spaces (especially my shower and my bed and my kitchen with all its familiar utensils). It’s not as if I could completely escape everything while I was here… but I am getting ahead of myself.

Among the sprawling historic mansion with its wide, shaded verandah on the lush, manicured grounds (complete with a rose garden, a koi pond, fountains and a “Poets’ Nook,”) I have learned some things about writing residencies. I’m sure not all residencies are created equal, but this is one I will probably return to. It also seemed like expressing my lessons would be a good way to invite you in.

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What I learned from my Weymouth residency:

[image error]You go to bed earlier when you don’t have TV. I have a “neighbor” here at the Center. We share a bathroom and we cook our own meals more than the other two residents. She wakes early in the morning and works steady until lunchtime. After that, she eats, showers, jogs, reads, wanders around the grounds, and does research. We joke that we are opposites. I spend my mornings trying to roll out of bed, jogging at the nearby park, scoping out the downtown, making notes, eating, reading, and taking showers. Long about after-lunch, I settle in and write pretty much until dinner. After dinner, I just write (as the house darkens and I only reluctantly visit the far “haunted” end to go out on the verandah.) And write. And write. It’s dead quiet, and my eyes start to sting and droop, but I still have more to write. Long about midnight I have to face it, I must sleep. The point? It feels like two in the morning and also nothing has happened around here since six, so it feels like a whole day has happened in the evening, the time when I am usually squeezing in living, at home. Oh, and watching food shows and Merlin.
You wake earlier when there are no curtains on your north-facing window. Come morning time, I’m glad that midnight felt like 2am, because the light is streaming in my face and making my small room stuffy and hot at, oh, seven-something. That’s early, ya’ll.
You can putter away time just as easily when you’ve a whole day ahead of you with nothing scheduled. You may think that getting away to a residency and hiding mostly in your room like it’s a monastic cell will make the hours stretch to encompass every writing aspiration you had for the week, but I tell you, some of it will just chip away and land with a disappointing splat on the ground. Because you will have to go to the bathroom. You will have to text back and forth with your daughter. You will need a cupcake from the bakery in town. You will need a new headset. You will think of that perfume you saw and have to write its name down before you forget. You will write blogs, even if you have no internet and can’t post them yet. You will do some yoga. You will stare into space.
[image error] Driving is time. I feel a little guilty that I’m, like, not visiting the local bookshop for readings and things, but I very quickly noticed that time goes slower if I just stay right here, preferably in my room, but definitely on the grounds. It puts all the driving I do at home into perspective.
Writers are quiet, introverted people. Boy, is it quiet around here! I’m sure there are loud, extroverted writers out there, but I think they are in the minority. We are an odd lot, snacking on hummus and cucumbers or peanut butter toast (on seeded, whole grain bread), washing our dishes immediately and stacking them gently on the drying rack, closing doors slowly, excusing ourselves as we whisper brief conversations maybe twice a day. We walk past each other in our nooks without saying a word, averting our eyes not to distract whatever amazing world is weaving together in that resident’s hinterland of a mind. We are serious. Our heads are down, and our work is tantamount. If you want to party, this is not the place to be.
The internet is distracting. Conversely, the internet is useful. I thought there would only be internet in the common area here. However, there is internet in my room. I actually avoided logging into the internet for about 24 hours, and then I needed to check my email for work. Bahr. Since then, it has come in useful for renewing some library books, sending work emails, conducting a work interview, signing my son up for a camp right under the deadline wire, transferring some money, etc. It has also, no surprise, been a distraction. Oddly enough, the common rooms don’t have internet, so sometimes I go there to get away from it. When I do, though, I have to jot down the things I need to “research” for my novel. For kicks, I looked up my search history over the past few days (while conducting said research), and found these beauties for you: babies born with blue eyes; shudder synonym; literary dog names; Phish concerts 2004; classic literature with added science; example of stillbirth certificate; example of 70s death certificate; popular girls middle names in the 50s; list of Nancy Drew books; and the inexplicable, “kids relaxing, beer everywhere.” I’ve used all this info in my book, except for that last one. I dunno.
[image error] You can write too much, at least physically. You may think your mind is the only thing to wear out at a writing residency (so you bring plenty of notes and plans), but you would be wrong. By the third day, there was a searing, burning pain in the center of my palms. (I don’t think this happens to the poets because it takes minutes to write even one word. But as a novelist, I have already written more than 20,000 words.) Also, the computer screen can wear on you, too. I think that is the reason I have had two migraines. I try to take breaks, work out, and have used voice-to-text and handwriting some, but it’s hard not to revert back to typing, no matter how much it hurts. Typing has always been the best way for me to keep pace with my brain.
There are good days and there are bad days. I’ve heard this from the other residents, as well, with the variation of “there are good hours and bad hours.” Every day I wake up rearing to go. Every day I spend hours and hours writing. But some days the writing is forced out. Some days you tap into something and it just feels like a pleasure. Most days, for me, seem to be somewhere in between. (Note: I still write. I don’t wait for inspiration. I’m no sissy.)
I’d do it all again, and I likely will.

As in everything in life, the first time is a lesson. Perhaps most times it’s a lesson. Thankfully, this lesson has been fulfilling and pleasant, a dream come true. Next time I pull up the long, gravel drive—with less dishes, different sheets, and my sights cast on the giant room—I’ll know what I’m doing. Until I get a noisy neighbor, or I catch a cold, or my novel just won’t cooperate. This time, it’s been smooth (and quiet) sailing, and I’ve written a whole lot of a pretty solid novel (if I do say so myself). As always, I feel like I could have done more. I’m apprehensive about what happens to the novel once I get back home. And I feel I am leaving behind a reverence for creativity that extends even to the caretakers and board members. But on Monday morning I nose my car toward home and wave goodbye to Weymouth because I am, and have always been, an adventurer at heart.

Media Review: Jumanji and Zathura

[image error]Yes, yes. I am currently at my writing residency. But I have put a LOT of words on the page today, and I always try to keep up the blog. So, this is my “break.” Fresh reviews.

I have admired, sometimes at a bit of a distance, Chris Van Allsburg since I was a kid. I recall my aunt checking The Mysteries of Harris Burdick out at the library, and setting it in my hands. I was still in elementary school, and man were those illustrations beautiful and interesting to look at and… CREEPY! There’s just something about Van Allsburg’s illustrations: not all of them, but many of them. He has this way of infusing them with some serious creep factor, though it’s so hard to put your finger on how (sorta like M. Night Shaymalan or Cloverfield for kids). But set the spine-tickling aside (though this is reason enough to check out some of his books), and Van Allsburg is still a very talented illustrator, and very talented story-teller, and the author of more than a few modern classics in picture books.

His books are:

The Garden of Abdul Gasazi
Jumanji
Ben’s Dream
Zephyr
The Mysteries of Harris Burdick
The Polar Express
The Stranger
The Z was Zapped
Two Bad Ants
Just a Dream
The Wretched Stone
The Widow’s Broom
The Sweetest Fig
A Bad Day at Riverbend
Zathura
Probuditi!
Queen of the Falls
The Misadventures of Sweetie Pie

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All but two of the books (Riverbend and Sweetie Pie) have illustrations done in the same, Van Allsburg-y style. Mainly black and white, tightly detailed, meticulous, and absorbing. His illustrations make you want to sit still and look at the book, not just read it. I have not read all of his books, but the ones that I have are so solid, I suggest that you go fill up your library book basket with every title they have, and then you’ll see for yourself: you certainly want some of these on your picture book shelf, if not all of them.

[image error]Today, we are concentrating on Jumanji and Zathura, books that are not sequels, but “spiritual sisters.” They do have many similarities, and they were both made into popular, well-reviewed movies. And now? A new Jumanji movie, that’s subtitle will make you want to sing in a terrible accent (Welcome to the Jungle), has hit the theaters and garnered much unexpected praise. After years of enjoying the original Jumanji and Zathura movies on DVD (not to mention my son’s Zathura-themed birthday party), my family rented Welcome to the Jungle for movie night last week.

[image error]Now, I have a thirteen-year-old girl and a ten-year-old boy. My husband and I are picky, and prefer different genres. It is NOT easy for us to settle on a movie or to all enjoy it. However (Hallelujah Chorus prompt), we all really enjoyed this movie. And the best part?: when we were all laughing out loud together. (There was only one scene where something inappropriate for my son was said, but it went over his head.) Let’s rewind…

The Jumanji movie’s based on the first movie, which was based on the book. The book is a bedtime read for a child, and—like I already pretty much said—is a snuggle-up-and-look-at-the-illustrations kind of thing. It gets an A+ just for being what it is. Zathura is similar to Jumanji, as they are both about being sucked into board games and having to play your way out of them. Jumanji’s theme is jungles, Zathura’s is outer space. You could read them both, or stick with the topic that would more interest your child. (I would also recommend Zephyr, The Mysteries of Harris Burdick, The Z Gets Zapped, The Stranger, and Two Bad Ants, just to begin).

[image error]When Jumanji, the movie, came out in 1995, Robin Williams was a big draw, and Kirsten Dunst a teen who had just snagged awards for her first big appearance in Interview with a Vampire. It was a blockbuster that also earned its chops. It’s still a great movie to watch with kids and really takes Van Allsburg’s story to an obvious place (without trying to capture that creepy quality quite as much as it could have, I think). Again, super family movie about a couple of kids who (we have to give them bigger stories), following their parents’ deaths, move with their aunt to a huge, run-down house, where they keep hearing drumbeats. They uncover an old, dusty board game and freaky things start to happen, including the appearance (cue Robin Williams) of a quirky and lovable man who has been trapped in the game since he was sucked in, as a child, years before. They all quickly discover that in order to survive, they have to win. What they can’t do is stop playing.

[image error]Zathura, the movie, is very similar. There was more star-power (Dax Shepard, Kristen Stewart, Tim Robins, and Josh Hutcherson), and another blockbuster. I was at the wrong age when this movie released, so I can’t tell you just how it did or how popular it was at the time (2005), but in just a few years we would own it and be enjoying it on repeat. The two boys in the story here find the game on the shelf at their dad’s house, and are immediately transported (with their house and sister) into outer space. They figure out they have to win against the game (hostile aliens, meteor showers, you name it) to survive and get home, and again, can’t simply give up. Again, a character is trapped in the game (this time, with a surprise twist) and shows up to help them. Another great family movie.

[image error]When Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle started previewing, well, I saw the title and thought “Awesome!” and then I saw the preview and thought, “Plllt!” It looked like a horrible mockery. Alas! It’s totally not. It is an (unbelievably) successful modernization of a slightly outdated story. It’s not just about taking a board game and making it a video game (which it did tremendously well, incidentally), but about updating the humor, the situations, giving it a slicker look, a hipper feel… and still preserving the magic of the story. Can you tell I loved this movie? We will be watching it again.

The only issue is that Welcome to the Jungle is intended for an older audience than everything else. In a perfect world, your kids would grow up reading the books at bedtime. When securely in elementary school, they would get both the movies for their birthday or Christmas or something and watch them to death. When they’re in the “middle grades,” you would sit down with them one pizza night, one arm around them and the other drawing pizza to your mouth, and enjoy the hilarity of Welcome to the Jungle together.

And we’ll talk about The Polar Express another time.

 

Music as Inspiration

When I write a novel, or basically anything, I keep the volume around me at zero. Or at least at white noise, like the dull roar in a cafe. If I’m home though, there is no music that I listen to when I write. When I get asked that question, I just answer honestly: I get distracted by almost any music. I have to get in the zone. The quite zone.

However, when I had finished my first novel, Benevolent, and was looking for other bloggers to host my virtual book tour, I came across a blogger who specifically wrote about books and music. One of her features is hosting writers with playlists that are inspired by their books, or at least the writing of those books. Of course I said I would do it, and I loved the process of putting together that playlist. I was inspired by the characters in that first book, and a little bit the story.

At the moment, I am a writer in residence, for the week. You don’t even understand! (Or maybe you do.) I have been dreaming of a writing residency since I was a kid. I am sitting in an historical home, in a small, upstairs, corner room, with the door locked and the window thrown open to the approaching thunder. My project this week is another novel, The Family Elephant’s Jewels. So, why am I writing a blog post when my project is a novel? Because I am taking a break and I thought I would go ahead and press play on–perhaps you guessed it–the playlist that I had (already, before the residency) made for this novel.

Earlier, when I was stuck in the section of the book about Emma, I just played a bit of her song, and darned if it didn’t work. I got into her head and figured out the scene.

So this is really just a quick post (much of it is cut and pasted) to tell you that writing residencies are awesome, and also to immortalize the two playlists that I have come up with in my career so far. (The middle novel, The Night of One Hundred Thieves, did not lend itself to a playlist, being a medieval fantasy novel.)

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[image error]Mikhail’s Playlist for Gaby

Since Gaby’s usually buried beneath a tower of library books in the sickening glow of her word processor screen, she leaves the music selection to best friend Mikhail. He’s the music expert. That’s how they met, you know, at John’s Punkstraviganza, with Wally’s Toothbrush, The Hired Assassins, and Strike Back. So let’s rewind to the day Gaby asked Mikhail at Purple Monkey Record Shop to pick out an album for her, and he started her collection with The Beatles’ Abbey Road.

Shortly after that day, Mikhail came up with a mix tape and left it sitting on Gaby’s driver’s seat when they got out in the Butter High School parking lot, one morning. When he loped out to the car several hours later, Gaby had the engine going and her head was leaned back against the head rest, The Raincoats reverberating around the car’s interior.

SIDE ONE:

“Should I Stay or Should I Go?,” The Clash
“Lola,” The Raincoats
“Woo Hoo,” The 5.6.7.8’s
“Better Man,” Pearl Jam
“No Fun,” The Stooges
“Tonight,” The Go-Go’s
“One Way or Another,” Blondie
“Here Comes the Sun,” The Beatles
“Could You Be the One?” Husker Du
“The Goonies Are Good Enough,” Cyndi Lauper
“She,” Green Day
“Freak Scene,” Dinosaur Jr.
“Bombshell,” Operation Ivy

The tape got a lot of play before the ribbon snapped in 2006. Gaby’s tape player was on its last leg, anyhow.

Excerpt from the Book:

Mikhail wandered into Violet Monkey, a record shop on the main stretch of Butter. Violet Monkey housed an extensive (and tightly packed) selection of new, underground material and dusty, old faves. It was equipped with three racks of great T-shirts (Johnny Cash, The Pixies, Violent Femmes, and Bob Marley) and a display case of not-for-sale merchandise: original Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, The Ramones. Over these Mikhail drooled (on multiple occasions, with and without accomplices) from behind the counter.

Mikhail buried his hands in the front pockets of his navy zip-up hoodie, adjusted his eyes to the dark, den-ness of the store. The light that filtered in through the glass doors accented a wall of flying dust with gold sunlight and then spilled on the first display. Everything else was dim, smelled of attics and old trunks and abused carpet. In a weak attempt to unify the smell, a stick of incense trailed its tendril of smoke, suffocating the store in sandalwood. A man stood behind the glass counter (covered with stickers and taped-on fliers and paper fragments: “My Other Ride is Your Mom” and “Goonies Never Say Die!”), arms shooting down straight in front of him and his palms pressed against the streaked top. He turned toward Mikhail as the hanging doorbell dinged and clattered against the glass. Then looked uninterested; adjusted his focus outside.

Mikhail dodged into the back of the shop, started leafing through thousands of filed vinyl albums, then slunk his way to the CD section. There was a proto-punk band, one of the forefathers of all later punk bands. Mikhail wanted their debut album, and he wanted it bad. He mentioned it in passing to both his mother and Gaby when his birthday approached, but they both later complained that the album was nowhere to be found. He figured they hadn’t wandered in here.

After a thorough search of the vinyl titles in even the sections that were very unlikely, even outrageous, for the album to be filed in, he resolved himself to the CD section. Still nothing. So Mikhail wandered back out of the shop, grabbed a couple fliers from the table by the door, squinted in the sun. There in his hands: ads for the upcoming rock shows, punk shows, ska shows, and a flier for Violet Monkey. Near the bottom of the Violet Monkey flier: “We will order any album or CD for you, if we can find it, no matter how obscure.”

That was it then. All Mikhail had to do was turn around, walk right up to the counter through the wall of golden dust particles and sandalwood smoke, and ask George or Joe or Mike or whomever to look for that album. He knew that they would probably be able to find it for him. But here’s the thing: Mikhail stood there, stared down at the ad, shrugged his shoulders, and stuffed the fliers in his satchel. Then he walked down the road, mounted his bike, pedaled away toward Gaby’s.

A ritual had begun. Mikhail repeated it maybe once a week, often more. He wandered into Violet Monkey, leafed through the obvious sections, then the not-so-obvious ones, in search of the holy grail of Mikhail’s current album collection. He eventually gave up and pedaled home smelling of patchouli, mildew, lavender char.

After a few weeks, George or Joe or Mike or whomever—whose name actually was George—started keeping his eyes on Mikhail, afraid he was one of the kids lifting records from the shelves. George hovered over Mikhail during Mikhail’s ritual, pretending to dust the shelves (an obvious cover and a laughing matter), to re-organize the alphabetical order, to check inventory of necessary albums. When George became convinced Mikhail was a harmless kid, George still continued his farce, peeking over Mikhail’s shoulder to see where he was looking, what he was picking up. It became a game for George, and he would say to his friends later, “I think it’s Pink Floyd’s The Wall,” and the next day, “No, no, no. I was way off. It’s the early The Clash single. I just know it.” And if George didn’t have what he guessed Mikhail was looking for, George ordered it and stocked it; watched to see if the fish bit. George would even play the album in question afternoon after afternoon until Mikhail wandered in, watching the expression on Mikhail’s face as he entered.

This became such a sport for George that it didn’t really matter if he made a sale, as long as he guessed it right. Mikhail noticed George hanging around, figured he was creepy or lonely, and resented his shoulder being looked over. The one thing Mikhail never did: say a word in Violet Monkey.

Eight months into the silent dance of Mikhail and George, Gaby, Mikhail and Melodie were walking downtown Butter, looking for a place to eat, a used book for Gaby, and a place to loiter. Melodie turned as they passed Violet Monkey, pressed her nose to the window. “Hey, let’s go in here!”

“No…” Mikhail stuttered.

“Yeah. It looks cool. C’mon.” She opened the door with a loud tinkling and clanging of bell on glass. “Gaby?”

“Sure. C’mon Mikhail.”

The store transformed. Smoke parted around waving, long, thin arms, the dimness scattered by lighted eyes and flashes of skin, the still of Violet Monkey went hiding: Gaby and Melodie chatted, cursed, yelled, laughed as they made their way from the front of the store slowly to the back.

Mikhail scooted away, made his way back to his usual section, dodging George’s look of desire and disbelief. (George stayed firmly planted behind the counter this crazy afternoon.) Mikhail began leafing through the records, looking for the usual.

“What’re you looking for?” Gaby’s head appeared over his shoulder, her chin resting on his collar bone.

“A record. It’s called The Stooges, by The Stooges. But they don’t have it. I already looked.”

“Oh.” She reached out her arm around Mikhail to flip through the albums herself, then stepped beside him.

“What’re you looking for?” he asked.

“Nothing particular. You know, just lookin’. This place is pretty cool, huh?” She pulled a few records at random to examine. “Anything you recommend?”

“Ummm. Give me a minute.” Mikhail bit his lip and strode to the back of the shop, his eyes narrowed over the stacks. Gaby wandered the shop, making offhanded remarks to Melodie over The Beastie Boys.

Melodie purchased a T-shirt while Gaby fidgeted by the counter, leafing through the fliers scattered about. Then Melodie exited to the ice cream shop, yelled that she would meet Gaby and Mikhail there when they were done.

“Find anything for me yet?” Gaby popped into Mikhail’s personal space again, barely touching his left thigh with her right hip.

“Yeah, I think I did.” Mikhail weighed a record each in his two hands, then slid one back where it went in the stacks. “Here!” He turned and handed her a record.

“The Beatles. Abbey Road. You think I’ll like it?” She took it in her hands, held it against her waist.

“Yup. But that’s only the beginning.”

“Okay, deal. But I have something for you too.” She handed him a flier and pointed to the bottom. “Here. It says that you can order any album that our man George can find.”

“Who’s George?” Mikhail furrowed his brow down at the paper.

“Guy behind the counter. Just talked to him. Let’s go order your CD or whatever.”

And they did, just like that: approached the counter, made their request to George, filled out a form, and got a “great album!” from George. Mikhail stopped in daily, afterwards, to see if it had been found, then if it had been shipped, then if it had been received. When it was in his hands, he thanked George and disappeared from Violet Monkey for two weeks before returning to browse the shop with Gaby. George’s game was over.

_______________

[image error]Gray Family Song Playlist

Feeling Good, Nina Simone (Gemma)
London Calling, The Clash (John)
“Tales of Brave Ulysses,” Cream (John)
“I’ve Been Everywhere,” Johnny Cash (Mica)
“Too Young to Die,” Agent Orange (Jade)
“Leave,” Glen Hansard (Opal)
“Bouncing Around the Room,” Lawn Boy (Ruby)
“On My Own,” Original London Cast of Les Miserables (Di)
“Shiny Happy People,” R.E.M. (Em)
“Moon River,” Audrey Hepburn (Pearl)
Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavor Every Night?,” Lonnie Donegun (family)
“Ain’t That a Kick in the Head?” Dean Martin (John)
“The Circle Game,” Joni Mitchell (Gemma)

Joan Jett Bonuses:

“I Hate Myself for Loving You,” (Opal)
“Crimson and CLover,” (Ruby)
“Louie Louie,” (John)
“Real Wild Child,” (Jade)

What the Book is About:

Whose secrets could undo you?

The Family Elephant’s Jewels is a literary novel about secrets, family, and love.

John was once a young, superstitious literature professor meeting the fiery love of his life, Gemma. Now he’s an aged, superstitious literature professor dealing with the sudden death of the grossly obese, shop-o-holic love of his life, Gemma. As their seven surviving kids make their way back to their East coast home for the funeral, they each uncover a secret about Gemma, and in so doing unhinge something in themselves.

Book Review: Make Way for Ducklings

[image error]A book like this hardly needs a review, let alone an introduction. In the dream library that I made for my future grandchildren–in my head–classics like this one will always find a place.

Still, there is no telling with kids, especially very young ones. With them, there is no accounting for taste, for reals. They tend to latch on to one or two specific books and read them to death, and there is hardly an algorithm that can figure out which book you will be reading until you have memorized and despised it. My daughter liked A Monster at the End of This Book and Charlie and Lola. My son preferred The Day the Crayons Quit and Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus. At least these books let me do voices.

Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey (author of Homer Price) was a favorite of my cousin’s. My aunt would read it to him over and over, in her gentle, lyrical voice. I can still hear it in my head. So this story, as likely as any, could turn out to be your child’s or grandchild’s favorite. At the least, it would be a good idea to expose them to the best books so that you don’t end up reading something dumb and intolerable, ad nauseum.

So to the book itself: Make Way for Ducklings is classic for a reason. It is well written. Interesting. Appropriate for children. There is a struggle, but it is told softly, which is nice for bedtime. There are noises to be made by mom or dad. The illustrations, although vintage and therefore duotone and of a vintage style, are solid. It speaks of a time in literature (and possibly in real life) of a quieter, more lulling time. It feels happy and safe and friendly.

Add it to the library. Although not one of my childhood favorites, it’s a good one.

Series Review: Fablehaven

[image error]I had this whole list of novels that we were going to cover in fourth grade. About halfway through the year, my husband and son were wandering a bookstore when Eamon saw the cover for a Fablehaven novel and said, “I think that one looks cool.” My husband, bless his heart, ran to the library the next day and grabbed the first book in the series, in an attempt to get Eamon hooked on reading one way or another. He succeeded, to a point. It became the next series that my son bugged me to read aloud to him every day. It had way too much heft for my reluctant reader to have the confidence to pick up himself, and it had just enough heft to put us months off of my reading list. So long, Caddie Woodlawn and The Boxcar Children. Tear emoji.

Brandon Mull was new at this game when he began the Fablehaven series in the early 2000s. He’s not new at it anymore, and at least one of his books can be found on just about any Popular Middle Grades display across the country. His intended audience is from upper-elementary school to high school. His books appear to be a great step in the fantasy-nerd direction (no disrespect intended) for the younger kids. I mean, my son’s not about to tackle The Lord of the Rings yet, but Fablehaven has introduced him to the world of world building and to many of the characters and tropes that people and populate these fantasy worlds. You get to find out, “Do I like epic fantasy?” In my son’s case, yes.

While it doesn’t shy away from the strength it would take to really be a part of saving the world (including the death, the betrayal, the stamina), it is a safe read for the kids, I think. Here are Brandon Mull’s books, which largely fit into the epic fantasy genre:

[image error]

Fablehaven series:

Fablehaven
Rise of the Evening Star
Grip of the Shadow Plague
Secrets of the Dragon Sanctuary
Keys to the Demon Prison
And now Mull has expanded with a sequel series called Dragonwatch. A Fablehaven Adventure is the first book and the next book is due out this year
The Caretaker’s Guide to Fablehaven companion book

Other books by Mull:

Beyonders series: A World Without Heroes, Seeds of Rebellion, Chasing the Prophecy
Five Kingdoms series: Sky Raiders, Rogue Knight, Crystal Keepers, Death Weavers, Time Jumpers
Spirit Animals series (which is authored by different people and is spearheaded by Mull, it just started releasing): Wild Born
Candy Shop War, followed by Arcade Catastrophe

This series betters as it goes, thankfully. I didn’t start out liking it nearly as much as my son did. By the end, though, I was fairly sad to see it end. It’s not as good as some other series–ahem, Harry Potter–but, as I said, a fine introductory read.

My issues with the series? Mull maintained a certain distance from characters which doesn’t allow the reader to crawl into their skin. This had nothing to do with the plot, but with the type of writing. In Fablehaven at least, the writing can be a bit stilted: contrived vocabulary (like he’s trying to teach overly-big words to kids), regular tongue twisters (I think he’s fond of alliteration but doesn’t know when he’s gone too far), and just plain clunky writing, especially when you read it aloud. It doesn’t flow. And to top that all off, he mostly tells, not shows (which is one of my biggest pet peeves). So while you might really enjoy the story, you never get to just sink down into it or into the characters.

I kept thinking how I would enjoy this series more as a movie series. Like so many other middle grades books, since the writing itself is lackluster (although not bad–please don’t put Mull in a category with The Land of Stories), I would love to see the story get its legs on the big screen. The chances of this, though? Not tremendous, since children’s fantasy is traded like baseball cards and hardly ever has returns. The Sisters Grimm was another series that would work well as a money-sucking, special-effects blockbuster.

All in all, I would hand the first book of this series to a middle-grader who is interested in fantasy and is in the market for a book. Gladly. They will likely love it and read all five. Then they might even explore Mull’s other series, which I imagine my son will in a couple years when he’s reading to this level on his own. It’s not breath-taking writing, but the story is there for the most part. (You would also ideally get your kid to read classics.) For you grown-ups who enjoy reading kid lit, however, you’ll probably want to pass this by. There’s not enough draw, I don’t think, when there is great fantasy that is also pretty good literature. Or maybe that’s in a perfect world.

Book Review: Three Sisters

[image error]This is the second book that I have read in my learning-culture-through-fiction, China kick. I am going to China in July. Perhaps I can get four more books read. I already have three waiting on the shelf and one of them is a bit enormous.

There are similarities between this novel and the previous, The Boat to Redemption. It takes place during the same political epoch, and there is the same obsession with sex. This book, however, deals with the powerlessness of women in that society, and how they might work to gain footing—often pointlessly and tragically—through whatever means is left to them. It is a sad book, really.

There is a very big problem with Three Sisters, by Bi Feiyu, and I am not the first to notice it. The book is about three sisters at heart, but Bi could not seem to focus, at all. First of all, he begins with a family of seven sisters. Why? If we’re going to focus on three, it probably would have been cleaner to have only (at least living) three sisters. Whatever. You can see why he did it, so you move on. But then the three sisters of the novel are not three sisters that fall in line in age or that even seem to interact at all. (The first two do, but not the third.) Then, and this is by far the worst, you get all excited about the way the second sister’s story weaves into the first one’s, and how the perspective between the two of them becomes a little complicated and flows and even the supporting characters overlap… and you turn the page to the third sister. Whaaah? The third sister’s story—though it easily could have—has NOTHING to do with the other two. You leave the town. You leave the time. And you just read a completely different story with completely different characters. Even if there is something Bi is trying to say here with these three particular stories, he could have—dare I say should have—done it by weaving the third sister’s story into the first two. The third sister could have gone to school in town with the first two. She could have interacted with the same people. The same power struggles, from a third angle, should have been in play.

And then when you think you’ve been disappointed enough and you’re just slogging through this unrelated and not especially engaging third sister’s story, the character’s in that story start shifting around, dropping storylines and picking up new ones at a whim. I had no idea where we were going, really, and I began not to care. Who was even in this story with Yuyang? Dunno. Don’t care.

Since you can tell that I really didn’t enjoy the third sister’s story, I am going to focus in on the first two sisters and pretend for a moment that the novel ended there. I mean, Bi certainly has an ability to write. I was pulled into the Wang Family Village, and into the lives of these sisters from the beginning. It was, although pretty sordid, interesting and engaging. I could feel the powerlessness of these (societally) almost pointless sisters, as well as their desperation and the inevitability of their failure. When the second sister’s story starts to weave in to the other, it just becomes a magical, musical, literary interaction which gives the story added depth. It wasn’t my favorite thing I’ve read, even just this year, but it was a beautiful, heart-breaking story from a land and a time which feel so distant and then so close.

A small thing: this may have something to do with the way in which Chinese writers write, or it may just be lost in translation, but there were times when the subtlety was too subtle, and it took a few readings of a paragraph until I just decided to move on without being sure about what just happened. Sometimes I figured it out later, sometimes not.

As a whole, I don’t know how to stack this book up against others. It won the Man Asian Literary Prize, but it also seems to have a lot of pretty bad reviews. I could legitimately tell you to read the first two sections and leave the third one alone. I am not lying when I say that it is so far removed that you would miss literally nothing as far as the first two sisters go. In fact, I’m pretty sure that’s what I would do. Call it Two Sisters if you want, and then maybe read that other “short story” later when you have the time and curiosity has just about killed the cat. Read it like a separate Bi story and maybe it will have something to contribute. It speaks to more of the same, but in a much more erratic and disjointed way.

Warning: There is some really sad stuff in here. Be prepared for R-rated tragedy, occasionally.

Synopsis: Read the first two sections if you are interested in Chinese or even world literature, especially having to do with women in society. Then stop there.

_______________

QUOTES:

“A man with wounded self esteem develops a stubborn streak” (p5).

“There are countless ways to make a mistake; heaping praise on someone’s child is not one of them” (p33).

“She sat facing the wind, looking like one of those intrepid women in propaganda posters, a woman who could charm any man and still look death in the face without flinching” (p91).

“A woman could have a ton of feelings for a man, and that would not count as much to him as the several ounces she carries on her chest” (p106).

“She would have once chance, one beat of the drum” (p117).

“Having a clear goal is the only way to learn something” (P130).

“Admitting mistakes is never easy because you first need to determine what the person you’re dealing with is looking for” ({p143).

“The biggest enemy of death is not the fear of death but the desire to live” (p177).

“As the saying goes, ‘The trees want to stop moving, but the wind keeps blowing’” (p210).

“…it was the unified strength of a nation that was permeated with the intensity of boundless hatred and bottomless anger mixed with the flames of struggle and resistance” (p231).

“In art, anger and hatred are infectious; that is what art is all about” (p231).

“Nothing happens when everyone wins honors, but if you are the only one who does, then a staircase opens up in front of you” (p229).

“Once you meet someone, it seems that you’re always running into each other” (p239).

“Everyone knows that making no progress is the same a backpedaling” (p257).

“He has simply fallen into the vast sea of people” (p279).

Homeschool: Book Reviews, Fourth Grade

If you are looking for comparison reviews, you will not find them here. I am just going to review the books that we used for fourth grade. For most subjects, we used whatever I had decided upon when I was researching material in the spring of 2017. There were a few times we switched, midway. Otherwise, these were either chosen from online reviews, recommended by friends, or recommended by the local homeschool store. This was my first year homeschooling, after two years of virtual public school. I am learning as I go.

I already reviewed some homeschool education books:

Why Gender Matters, Leonard Sax
The Well-Trained Mind, Jess Wise and Susan Wise Bauer
The First Year of Homeschooling Your Child , Linda Dobson
You Can Teach Your Child Successfully , Ruth Beechick

ORGANIZATION

[image error]The Ultimate Homeschool Planner, Debra Bell. I love planners, I love lists, I love planning and organizing. This book, believe it or not, was a bit much for me, which I think means that it would be a bit much for most homeschool moms/dads. I found the space to be awesome, and some of the record-keeping at the back, awesome. It was totally missing attendance, though, which my state requires me to keep, so I really would have liked that. (I made my own in the Notes section.) There are two pages to reflect on each week, worked in between all the planning, and in the end, all that space made me feel guilty because I wasn’t keeping track of accomplishments and prayers and encouragements and me-time and… In theory, I would have loved to do this, but I think many homeschools (as well as most modern Americans with kids) are operating on survival mode most of the time, so all that introspection—while ideal—is not tremendously realistic. I liked it in theory, I just didn’t need the guilt. Next year, I’ll be using a more streamlined planner for a cheaper price, although I could see myself coming back to this one if I can’t find one that fits me better.

[image error]The Eclectic Homeschooler’s Planbook, The Eclectic Homeschooler. This would be an option for the homeschool mom or dad or homeschooler whose hobby is coloring. I bought it for my son, to teach him planning. It was full of places to doodle and plenty to color, but in the end we skipped almost everything but the actual planning, which made all the heft unnecessary (although leaving him plenty of space to write in his giant, sometimes creative, handwriting). As in the review above, I will be skipping this next year in favor of a much slimmer and less expensive planner, which I am going to use just to teach scheduling alongside the workbox method, ala Sue Patrick.

BIBLE

[image error]The Jesus Storybook Bible, Sally Lloyd-Jones and Jago. Already reviewed this book HERE. Not only do I recommend this book for homeschool, but for any kid. It was a great way to go through the Bible stories once before going on to “devotions” and theology.

[image error]Who Is God (and Can I Really Know Him)?, John Hay and Eric Webb. And this is where we went next. I’m gonna be honest. I used this book because it was given to me. But I also know that my son has a predilection for theology and philosophy, even at the elementary school level. So even though it seemed a bit dry to me, at times, he always paid attention and soaked most of it up. Pretty straight-forward and very basic, my son enjoyed the stories most (which were few and far between). Seems like a good resource for teaching very basic Christian theology in just about any protestant setting. There might be better, but this worked fine.

ENGLISH LANGUAGE

[image error]365 Journaling Ideas, Rossi Fox. I have also already reviewed this one, HERE. I think it’s a great resource, and it’s just what it presents itself to be. I used the prompts (but had to modify them for age-appropriateness) for journal time. I also used the quotes for dictation. I will be keeping this one on the shelf, though we are going to a prayer journal next year. Man, my son dislikes reading and writing.

[image error]Handwriting Success, Getty-Dubay Productions. Whew! As I just mentioned, my son dislikes reading and writing. He hates handwriting. He avoids it like the plague. Therefore, I gave up on this system and went to a more natural approach. In other words, I correct his handwriting during regular work and sometimes make him re-write a few times. I think when I was a kid, I would have been perfectly happy copying the letters, but for a hyperactive kid with a fine motor lag, it is torture. Especially If you still want to teach cursive though, this seems to be a fine, standard program to use, especially from the beginning. It would also be really easy to assign as “homework” (aka. driving in the car to a doctor’s appointment or to get groceries), since even a young child can do copy work in their workbook without much supervision.

[image error]All About Spelling, Learning Press. I think the main issue with this program for us was that we started too late. It seems like a great program for teaching spelling from the beginning. Where we are (fourth grade), it was much simpler to lapse into—again—a more natural approach to spelling. In other words, do occasional dictations or copy work and correct his spelling. We also had someone identify some phonetic issues with his reading, so we moved to a phonics system, which is also a way of learning spelling. (And reading itself is another way to learn spelling.) I like the organization of this system, which makes it easy to teach and mildly interesting for the kids. I would recommend to a family starting at a younger age and who wants to directly teach spelling.

[image error]The Grammar Ace, Duane Bolin. I thought this book and workbook were a fine approximately-fourth-grade grammar, but there was something in me that kept thinking I would have to defend that opinion. I’m not sure why. The teacher’s manual is sure easy to use. The activities are doable. The worksheets are cute (although occasionally out-of-touch). And the author links the program with the School House Rock: Grammar DVD (which you’re just going to wish is longer). If I were to do it again, I would do this one again. But it is only for one year. So next year we’ll review these same concepts in a different format. It is meant as a once-through and then review later, circular-learning kind of thing.

[image error]School House Rock: Grammar, Disney. As mentioned above, I just wish this DVD had more songs. If there was a School House Rock song for every grammatical concept, the world would be a better, more interesting place. My son thought I was crazy when I played the first of these very outdated videos, but he couldn’t help it… they grew on him, as I think they would most people.

[image error]24 Ready-to-Go Genre Book Reports, Susan Ludwig. This book is great. My only complaint would be that there are not enough options, especially for fiction books. If she had tripled the offerings, it would be about perfect. Meant to use in a typical classroom setting, for homeschool use I usually skipped the worksheet and just had a little conference to assign the book report. What resulted are my favorite of Eamon’s productions of the year, including the typical paper quilt, mini story book, and postcards, among others.

[image error]Writers Inc.: A Student Handbook for Writing and Learning. We didn’t use this much yet, because it is a little advanced for most elementary schoolers. However, I believe that we will use it as a reference in middle school and beyond. Something I will keep handy on the shelf and I believe we’ll get plenty of use out of. Reminds me of The Elements of Style, but more thorough, or a Chicago Manual of Style for kids.

[image error]Phonics Pathways, Dolores G. Hiskes. While not the hippest of books, this really does the trick for teaching phonics. I still think that there must be (or should be) a book that explains phonics to homeschool moms/dads more thoroughly and straight-forwardly. But I like that I could just open this book from day to day and jump into lessons. It was easy to see where we needed to linger and where we could keep moving along. Also, there were some fairly fun games, at least near the beginning, and it would be easy to come back to certain concepts to review them. A chart of phonics rules for the wall would make this system work even better for us. We’ll be using more of these books in the future. (NOTE: This would usually be used for younger students, but we were working to fix some phonics knowledge holes.)

MATH

[image error]Horizons Math, Horizons. I don’t really have any complaints about this system. It is colorful. (It is Christian, and has some Biblical-related work, like decoding a Bible verse with math, FYI.) It has teaching instruction for every day, sometimes with guidance with manipulatives, as well as answer keys. There is plenty of practice, as well as a system of cyclical learning and review which particularly appeals to me. However, my son was bored by it. He went from loving math to dreading it. Not sure if it was the book or something else, I did decide to try something else for the second half of the year. But I still think I would recommend it.

[image error]Beast Academy, Art of Problem Solving. This is the math program that we shifted to, mid-year. Why? Because it was based on comic books. While my son did enjoy the comics, the math was super-conceptual at times and the explanations were beyond wordy. The last thing my son needs is more words in his happy little world of numbers. It also did not have any natural review and not much repetitive practice. I get that it was trying to get kids to understand the concepts so that they can think their way out of any math problem, but the issue arises when trying to drop that understanding into a child’s brain. Like I said, there was a lot of explanation and sometimes questions that went beyond advanced. I wanted to like this series, but I think it would only appeal to a small percentage of little mathematicians. We are once again moving on for next year.

[image error]Life of Fred, Elementary series, Stanley F. Schmidt. It is hard to express how great these books are, but if you just take a moment and notice the cult following… Yes, yes. They look sorta awful. A preliminary perusal may lead you to believe that everyone is mad. But kids love them! Adults even love them. Somehow, despite the horrid illustrations and the ridiculous concept (of Fred, a five-year-old math professor who lives in his office, under his desk), Fred seriously grows on you. And kids do math happily. Personally, I am using the series to supplement a more traditional math curriculum (if I can ever find one to settle on), even though I’m not sure that’s the way it’s intended. It is really brilliant to have a day a week when my son shouts “Hooray!” when I say, “Math time!”

HISTORY

[image error]Markable Map of the World. This is not a book. It is a large, laminated, black and white map of the world. I would recommend it, though, when teaching world history. We just kept coming back to it to mark new countries, as well as remind ourselves where things like the Fertile Crescent were. I hope that tools like this give my homeschooler a reference point, or a broader perspective with context.

[image error]The Timeline Book, Sonlight. Admittedly, the student does all the work in this book (as opposed to the publisher). It’s basically a blank timeline from 5000 BC to current time, which they fill with the history they learn. But I lurve the idea of it. We didn’t use it as much as planned this year, but I still think that we will keep using it all the way through middle school and even high school, and it will be a cherished almost-heirloom. Again, my hope with a tool like this is to give my child perspective and context. (NOTE: It has a late start date as it is marketed to young-world Creationists. It was easy to add some time to the beginning, but obviously there’s not a ton of room for it. Then again, there’s not a whole lotta detail in prehistory.)

[image error]The Story of the World, Susan Wise Bauer. This is a four-volume history of the world, meant to be used over four years. I am using it as a two-year introduction to world history, for my son. (Again, we’re late to the party, so we’re doing what we can do.) My son has really enjoyed our history time—when we move homeschool to the family room and he snuggles up to hear me read stories about empires and kings and all sorts of things. I have not yet tried the companion workbooks, so I used the internet to find worksheets and projects related to the reading. I am going to try the workbooks next year, because I ended up having to pay for the decent worksheets most the time, anyways. TeachersPayTeachers is a good resource for this. I have to say, I enjoyed our history reading and projects, too. We will be using the remaining volumes next year. Recommend.

[image error]A Child’s History of the World, Virgil .M. Hillyear. We didn’t end up using this much, but only because we had enough history to be getting along with, in The Story of the World. The few chapters that we read in A Child’s History of the World were great, though. I enjoyed it. My son liked it. I would recommend it, especially for younger children, perhaps before you get to The Story of the World, as it is not as thorough. It is out of print, and perhaps hard to procure. Recommend, for earlier.

[image error]The Geography Coloring Book, Wynn Kapit. This book is geared more toward adults, or at least older students. Still, I would recommend it. At ten, my son’s a little sloppy, and we’re not exactly utilizing all the info in the book so far, but I still like having him color a new country when we introduce it, both individually and in context. We will continue to use this over the years.

SCIENCE

[image error]Exploring Creation with Botany, Apologia Young Explorers, Fulbright. Obviously, this series of science books is Christian and is rooted in creation by God. If you are not a Christian—especially if you are antagonistic toward creation science—don’t bother with this series. If you are a Christian or are not opposed to the worldview, then this is an excellent series. However, when I was looking for curriculum, at least two people said to me, “You have to go with Apologia Young Explorers, but you’ll have to edit as you read.” In other words, while these books are young-Earth, world-wide-flood proponents, they are so good that even an old-Earth, regional-flood believer could and should use them. You just skip parts. Why bother? Because they are written so well, immensely informative, conversational, approachable, and interesting. We used the workbook for botany, and I thought it was really cool. The only reason I didn’t continue with the workbooks is because we were all set to fly through the three zoology books and wouldn’t have time to do the workbooks justice. This book is best when it takes the whole year to go through it.

[image error]Exploring Creation with Zoology 1, 2 and 3 (Swimming Creatures, Flying Creatures, and Land Animals), Apologia Young Explorers, Fulbright. See the review above. Since we were jumping into home school a little late, we kinda breezed through some things that should have been lingered over. This was the case with this zoology season, which easily could have taken three years, or at least 1 ½. We still enjoyed it, but as time progressed, we had less and less time to do the experiments and activities, of which there are plenty right in the textbook.

[image error]The Nature Connection: A Workbook, Clare Walker Leslie. This is a book that I already had on my shelf, for use when we went camping as a family. This is a great book for interacting with nature. I will likely always include a natural element to school, since my son is likely to become some sort of biologist or something. Between this and a nature journal, it is easy to bring a small bit of school to a hike or even just a walk outside.

[image error]202 Oozing, Bubbling, Dripping & Bouncing Experiments, Janice VanCleave. This is a fairly standard and useful book. We use it and will continue to do so. Some of the experiments require that you think ahead and procure things, others you can do on the spur of the moment. I find it useful to have a science experiment book on hand, and this is a fine one to use. VanCleave also has more experiment books, science fair books, a book about scientists, and some home school resources, as well as a “For All Kids” series, with hands-on fun related to various subjects, from geometry and geography to oceans and nutrition. These would be worth exploring, especially if your homeschooler is kinesthetic.

[image error]The Big Bad Book of Botany and The Big Bad Book of Beasts, Michael Largo. These are not really meant for kids, but I found them to be a fun resource when studying botany and zoology. We referenced them occasionally, so I didn’t end up purchasing them (just got them from the library), but I wouldn’t mind having them on the bookshelf. They could be better, but a great idea.

ENHANCEMENTS

[image error]Journal of an ADHD Kid, Tobias Stumpf with Dawn Schaefer Stumpf. Well, this book is noble, at least. Written by a kid with ADHD (and assisted by his mom), this book is an attempt to make kids with ADHD feel normal and confident. My son doesn’t have issues feeling normal or confident, but he did learn a few things about his ADHD, which was the point. The lessons can be very particular and my son, at ten, is not totally awesome at answering open-ended questions, ala “How does that make you feel?” It was okay. We have finished the book and will be moving on to something else next year.

[image error]Coding Games in Scratch, DK. Since my son is already obsessed with computers, we thought we should begin his education in programming, etc. Last year he did some fiddling with Scratch, a program which introduces kids to programming by having them use coding blocks to make games. He liked it. This book, however, he ended up hating. (You win some, you lose some, with kids.) The only reason? Some of the lessons took forever. But, considering that it takes a long time to code a more complex game, I’m not sure this could be avoided. The book was bright and cheery, informative to a point, and did just what it said it was going to: walk your child through something like ten different game creations. To continue past this book, however, you may want the Scratch coding cards as a reference to make your own games. We’ll be graduating to a slightly older series, next year.

[image error]TypingQuest, TypingMaster. This is not a book. It is an online computer program. It was the only computer-based work we did this year besides Coding, as we were decompressing from all that time on the computer in virtual school. My husband is a big believer in typing lessons, while I tend to be more like, “They’ll learn as they need it.” Well, it can’t really hurt to sit him down in front of the keyboard and have a child follow modules to learn the correct way, right? TypingQuest—at like $25 a year or something–accomplishes what I wanted it to, and my son didn’t even hate it. After one year, however, I’m not exactly sure where we go next year. We could repeat the module. Actually, we might, as my son has not exactly mastered typing but there appears to be only one kid-friendly “quest.”

[image error]Classical Kids Collection, vol. 1-4. This collection of four CDs, beginning with Mozart’s Magical Fantasy, is a sort of home education classic. What do we say? Boo! There’s no moral opposition here, it was just odd and goofy (in a bad way) and didn’t feature enough beautiful music. Mostly, it is a poorly-written story told in cheesy voices, with some music here and there. Not the way we will be introducing our kids to music, in the end. I sold it before even opening the second volume.

[image error]Alfred’s Basic Piano Library, Palmer, Manus, and Lethco. We used level 1A this year. If we were better at practicing (or enforcing practicing), we could have done more than that. There is a lot I like about this series. If you buy the whole set (which I did), the student is introduced to theory at the same time. Starts super-basic, which we needed. My only complaint is that you have to do a little snooping around in the books to figure out how the four of them weave together. I just made a chart, so that I only had to do this once and then refer to the chart for each lesson. Recommended. But do yourself a favor and make a chart.

[image error]Drawing, Art for Kids, Kathryn Temple. I decided that for art this year, we would concentrate on the art form that my kid likes best: drawing. I wanted to encourage him to draw something more than stick figure men and a constant stream of mechs shooting other mechs. While he did end up branching into jellyfish, I think this book was a little intimidating for a child. He was on board for lines and perspective, but then when he was thrust into drawing cats and dresses using shapes… it just moved too fast to instill any confidence. It’s an okay book, but there have to be better, and maybe I should have gone with drawing comics instead.

[image error]Little Book for Boys, M.L. Stratton. I bought this when my kids and I were wandering the shop at a historical farm. It appealed to me because I feel how very different childhood is now from when I was a child. There wasn’t that huge of a difference between my childhood and my parents’. This book ended up being my favorite thing to teach all year. I called it “Boyhood,” and (although I realize it would be better if these things had happened naturally with neighborhood friends) it was fun and, I think, beneficial for my son to participate in everything from making Worms in Dirt to playing Kick the Can. It also added some variety and fun to the random school day.

REFERENCE

[image error]What Your Fourth Grader Needs to Know, E.D. Hirsch, Jr.. I buy a grade-appropriate copy of this book every year. It’s like my life-line to degreed teachers and traditional classrooms. (It comforts me.) I’ve never yet figured out how to use it within the educational experience, but I can at least reference it out of curiosity. I have read the literature readings to my son most years, but I never use the common phrases or whatever they are. We did use it to do some review before taking the end of year tests, this year, and that was mildly helpful. (Note: Science and history will vary, obviously, as different schools break it down different. While many kids around here were doing local history and general science this year, I was teaching early world history and botany and zoology. It’ll all come out in the wash.)

[image error]The Usborne Children’s Encyclopedia, Jane Eliot and Colin King. This is meant, I think, more for keeping out and about and looking through it with your young kids. It is hard to use as a reference, but it is interesting and fun to look at. A great book for a child’s bookshelf. Not so much for a school shelf.

[image error]Dictionary for Children, MacMillan. Our copy of this is as old as my own childhood. A classic, it doesn’t have every word, but it is bright and has large print (for a dictionary), which makes it a great beginner dictionary. (It’s also not too kid-dy to be useful.) Eventually, we will graduate to our copy of The American Heritage Student Dictionary. Not yet. Recommend.

[image error]The Usborne Science Encyclopedia. This book is cool, but is also hard to use as a reference. Even so, we pulled it out to supplement our science learning. Like all the Usborne books, it is great to look at and to engage the child’s imagination in learning.

[image error]The Usborne Geography Encyclopedia. This was not particularly useful as an atlas. As always, interesting and pretty, but hard to use as a reference. We used our copy of National Geographic’s Student Atlas of the World more often, even though ours is out of date.

[image error]The Usborne Encyclopedia of World History. This Usborne product, on the other hand, we loved using. In chronological order, basically, it was easier to place where we were in our lessons, and I believe it really helped to bring history more alive to see bright drawings of the places and times we were learning about. Recommend.