My Favorite Children's Books (The Alex Version)

At the beginning of this month of children's books, Cassy told you about her favorite children's books... now it's my turn!

Spoilers... I LOVE this week's review book. But you can read more about that tomorrow. The whole Wayside School series by Louis Sachar (all three books, plus the Sideways Arithmetic books) is pretty much the best thing that ever happened to my bookshelf as a kid. I could spend an afternoon reading all five books straight through, and do it again the next day, and the next, and so on. I loved these books so much, I want a potato tattoo on my ankle.

This is a pick for nostalgia, not literary value. Lois Ehlert's Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf has a very distinct collage illustration style that I just couldn't get enough of as a kid. I still can't; I found this book in the library I work in (our college has an early childhood education program) and I stood in the stacks and flipped through the pages just to look at the pretty pictures again. Some of the pages have cut-outs so you can see parts of the next and last page through the current one.

Speaking of Lois Ehlert, she also illustrated Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault, which is a ridiculously silly alphabet book with annoyingly catchy rhymes. It's the kind of thing a kid would repeat over and over ad infinitum, and the kind of thing that gets stuck in your head as an adult. But it's cute.

Another choice with not-so-great literary value: The Baby-Sitters Club and the accompanying Little Sister series by Ann M. Martin. At one point in my childhood, I owned every single book in publication in each of these series. Then they kept getting published, and I stopped reading/collecting them. The Little Sister books have almost identical second chapters in every single book, explaining the - admittedly complex - family situation of Karen, the main character. (Her parents are divorced and have shared custody, and as someone who had a similar situation around that age, I think she does a pretty good job of describing it from the kid's point of view.) The idea is that you could pick up any book in the series and not be totally lost as to why she has two pairs of glasses or different pets at different houses, etc. The worst part of the Little Sister books is that I always felt like an old person was making the jokes, not a kid my age. ("Karen Two-Two?" What the hell kind of nickname is that? It's not even a pun.) The BSC books were a little more tolerable, and even though they were about teenagers, they were perfectly good reads for me at the same age I was reading the Little Sister books.

Bonnie-Alise Leggat came to my elementary school as part of some program about young people who wrote and illustrated their own kids' books. I can't even remember if there were other authors there, but I got her book, Punt, Pass & Point! and loved it. It's about a girl who has to go to ballet class - despite being totally non-girly - and discovers that the quarterback has to go, too, to practice control and posture and whatnot.

I have a weird obsession with composition notebooks. I love them more than any normal person should. And I blame Amelia's Notebook by Marissa Moss for that. The book (and the rest of its series) is meant to look like a composition notebook, with notes in the margins, drawings of things taped/glued in, etc. It's really clever, and it was really fun to read, and it prompted me and my friends to have our own notebooks that we shared, with notes and drawings and such.

Let's just face it: I didn't read great literature as a kid. The American Girl series is all about nostalgia for me. I read them (and had the dolls) when there were just Felicity, Molly, Samantha, Addy, and Kirsten. (I got the Josefina books and doll, but by that point, I wasn't really into it.) I'm pretty sure Felicity was the first one I read, because I live near Williamsburg, and her story fit into what I was learning in school. I got the plays - yes, there were short plays - for Molly and Samantha and convinced my friends to act them out with me in fourth grade. (I'd like to publicly apologize to those friends now, especially Adam, who got stuck with the boy's parts. I will never forget throwing underwear at him, playing Ricky, in front of our entire class as Molly. Good times.)

 

It's just not an Alex's favorites list without mentioning Neil Gaiman. Unlike Cassy, I don't really like Coraline. I mean, it's good... and I'm very glad it's out there for kids, because it's doing good things. But I don't love it. Gaiman paired up with Dave McKean (what an amazing duo) to do The Wolves in the Walls and The Day I Swapped my Dad for Two Goldfish (both of which deliver stories that are true to their titles). And I adore The Graveyard Book, partly because it treats kids like people instead of like idiots, and partly because it's just a great story, no matter who you are. I also really love Instructions, but I was introduced to it as a short story, so I sometimes forget it's also a full children's book. I would love to put Crazy Hair and Blueberry Girl and Chu's Day and Odd and the Frost Giants on here, but I haven't read them. (I'm spacing them out so I don't read them all really fast and then have no Gaiman left to read until Sandman Zero comes out.) And I absolutely LOVE Mirrormask (it was my introduction to Neil Gaiman) but I don't consider it "for kids," weirdly enough. It's a "for everyone" book/movie. These are also the only books on my list that I didn't read as a kid. Don't get me wrong; there are tons of amazing books for kids that have been published since I grew up, but to list them all would require an entire blog of its own.

That's it! I'll stop there. What are your favorite children's books?

Favorite Book-to-TV Adaptation

This week's book, Sideways Stories from Wayside School, and its sequels, spawned a TV adaptation that I personally have never seen. But that means we're choosing our favorite book-to-TV adaptations today!

Mine happens to be a children's book series, too! I loved the Magic School Bus book series as a kid. I can't even pick a favorite (though I do remember liking the undersea one a lot).

I didn't watch the show as a kid, but it's all available streaming on Netflix now, so I watched a few episodes. It's exactly like the books: cheesy, ridiculously 1990s, and totally fictional while still somehow being educational.

The worst part about the show - which is not a problem with the books - is the voice acting. It's just... awful. But it's a 1990s cartoon and you can only expect so much from that.

The best part about the TV series is that, at the end of each episode, they have a third-party character reading "mail" from "viewers" about how things in the show weren't accurate. (You can't fit a bus in a blood vessel; dinosaurs can't talk; the bus would melt in a volcano; etc.) It's a fun way to make the meat of the show work, but also point out to kids that it's fiction, and throw in a few fun facts without sounding like you're teaching.

Mine is a little more... adult than Alex's, and also shouldn't really be that big of a surprise.

Game of Thrones is a great series and HBO translated it well to TV.  They kept a lot from the books in the show, which, considering how long the books are (book three is almost 1000 pages, and I have the LARGE paper back version, with teeny, tiny print) that's a big accomplishment.

Also, it's cast well.  The characters are very much what you imagine that they would look like in your head (with the possibly exception of Tyrion.  He's a lot prettier in the TV show then he is in the books but, well, that's television for you.  Everyone has to be pretty.)  They stick pretty well to how Martin describes them in the books (IE Cersei and Jamie are both blondes, as opposed to say, brunettes.)  I think that's HUGE because a lot of times, they change it to get big name actors (like in Cold Mountain) and the look of people actually plays a really big part in this series.

It's a great series, if you aren't already watching it (which, let's face it, most of you probably are.)  I hope it continues to stay that good.

Just FYI, if The Tudors had been adapted from a book and not, you know, from history, that would TOTALLY be my favorite book-to-tv show.

Then & Now: Reading differently due to age

When you were a kid, you have certain thoughts and you viewed things in a certain way.  So things you remember from being a kid may have been VASTLY different from the way you perceive it now. 

When you read books as a kid, you got something entirely different out of them than you do now.  Part of that is you have a better frame of reference for things.  Part of that is your ideas and personality change over the years.  Part of it is that as a kid, you just plain don't get it.  So what are some ways that we read books differently?

1. You are better at reading for the underlying meaning than you were.

We read Shiloh this month and, having read that book as a kid, all I really remember is that it was about a kid with a dog.  I mean, I LIKED the book, but I'm fairly certain it's mostly because of the dog and the suspense of will he/won't he get to keep it.  Will everyone find out?  WHAT WILL HAPPEN?

As an adult, I can see where Marty is learning a lesson, and also how the world works.  I can see where Judd is starting to become a character, and not just this mean-spirited jerk.  I can see how it's a portrayal of West Virginia and a commentary on the living conditions and the community.  I missed all of this as a kid.  Mainly because I didn't have any sort of reason TO read for this stuff.

2. Your humor changes

Let's face it; the things you found funny as a kid a lot of times you think are dumb now.  For the life of you, you can't figure out why you EVER thought fart jokes were funny.  So when you're reading a book, it may not be as humorous as you once thought.

I read Captain Underpants recently and did not really find it funny.  However, I recognized that if I was an eight year old boy, I would probably think it's freakin' hilarious.

3. Sometimes, you forget things.

Ok, so this isn't necessarily "reading differently", but let's face it, it happens.  You read a book when you were a kid and now, as you pick it up again 10 years later, you don't really remember much about the book.  So you start to read... and as you read, you start to remember.  Suddenly, that big shocker of an ending, isn't such a shocker anymore because you remembered that it happened.

Remembering these details before you're meant to figure them out, can change your perceptions of a book, whether they be for good or bad.  Walk Two Moons has a surprise ending, that I figured out in chapter three (when I reread it) because I remembered what was going on.  But, that made it interesting, because I could see the TONS of clues left to me by Creech that I didn't really pick up on as a kid (but are painfully obvious as an adult.)

4. You GET the humor.

In kids books there is hidden humor.  Authors probably know that some parents are going to have to read the book, so they put stuff in there to entertain adults, but not the kids.  The same thing happens with kids movies (Ever see the movie Monster House? Girl: "If that's the tongue, and that's the throat, that must be the uvula." Boy: "Oh! So it's a GIRL house."  Let me tell you, hilarious to me, not so much to the little kids in the theatre.)

As a kid, you missed all those hilarious jokes that weren't really meant for you.  But as an adult, you get ALL of them.  It makes the book that much better that you can still get something out of books you've already read.

Those are just a few of the ways reading a children's book can be different as an adult.  What do you notice when you reread your old books?

Author Bio: Louis Sachar

This is Louis Sachar. You may know him as the author of Holes, or maybe you remember There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom. But to me, he will always be Louis the Yard Teacher from Sideways Stories from Wayside School (this week's review book) and its two sequels.

Sachar graduated from UC Berkeley in 1976. During his time there, he responded to an ad requesting teacher's aides in exchange for 3 class credits. He helped out in a classroom at Hillside Elementary, but was also the Noontime Supervisor (or, to the kids, Louis the Yard Teacher). After graduating, he wrote a children's book based on kids from Hillside, and it was Sideways Stories from Wayside School.

He went on to law school, finishing in 1980, and did part-time legal work while continuing to write books for children. By 1989, his books were popular enough to support him full-time.

He has a wife and daughter and dog. He never talks about a book until it's finished, even to them, but they get to be the first to read it (except the dog, I'm guessing). You can find a list of his books here.

By Its Cover: Rechenka's Eggs

This is a wonderful book cover. It tells you everything you could want to know about a picture book before you crack it open. The drawing style is right there on the cover, and for some kids, that's enough to make or break a picture book. (I never liked books drawn with too much realism; I like bold lines and bright colors, what can I say? I'm a Mondriaan fan.)

The font (and the name "Rechenka") lends itself to the Russian culture theme, and the two main objects in the story - the goose and the eggs - are right there, saying "this book is about us."

There's something so wonderful about how straightforward a picture book's cover can be (partly because the story is short and can usually be summed up in one image, and partly because it's already illustrated and therefore an image is a great way to introduce it) and I appreciate that.

I agree with everything Alex said.  This is a wonderful cover and it's so COLORFUL.  Let's face it; as kids, we're attracted to bold, beautiful colors.  And the more interesting a book cover is, the more likely I was as a kid to pick a book up.  (Ok, I'm still kind of like that as an adult, but at least I read the descriptions now.)  The eggs on the cover draw the eye, and the detail keeps it there.

Review Me Twice: Rechenka's Eggs by Patricia Polacco

This week's review book is a picture book called Rechenka's Eggs by Patricia Polacco.

I always loved picture books that wove another culture into the story. This is the kind of book elementary teachers love, because they can build an entire learning unit about traditional Russian culture around this book. There are a few Russian words scattered throughout the book (italicized, so you can more easily notice them), and it discusses foods, a festival, the egg-painting, and other Russian customs.

Beyond that, it's a nice story. Warm fuzzies all around. I never read it as a kid, but I enjoyed it as an adult.

I really love Polocco's art.  I love that the faces are sketched, while the rest of it takes on a more colored/patterned crayon feel.  And she's amazing at depicting culture with her art (you see the big, domed palaces in this book and the traditional Russian egg coloring.)

See how she mixes B&W sketches with all that color?

And I'm with Alex on how culture books help kids AND teachers.  There could be a whole unit for Russia, with Polocco's books at the center of it.

I did read these books as kids, and then Polocco came to my school!  I remember she told us this story about a meteorite that landed near her house, and her father would only let people touch it once and make a wish.  She actually brought a piece of it with her, and let every kid touch it on their way out the door.

I think she writes great books for kids, beautiful picture books and I definitely recommend them.

My Bottom Line 5 out of 5.

Authors Diagnosed with Dyslexia

Lots of famous people have been diagnosed with dyslexia: Steven Spielberg, Orlando Bloom, Henry Winkler, Guy Ritchier, Keanu Reeves, Pablo Picasso, John Lennon, Keira Knightley, Jay Leno, Bruce Jenner, Salma Hayek, Whoopi Goldberg, Albert Einstein, Leonardo da Vinci, Anderson Cooper, Cher, Tom Cruise, Lara Flynn Boyle, Alexander Graham Bell...

You might think being an author is an unusual career choice for someone with dyslexia. But Patricia Polacco - author of this week's review book, Rechenka's Eggs, and dozens of other children's books - was diagnosed with dyslexia, and she is not alone!

Louise Arnold
In 2003, the BBC wanted to find "the next J K Rowling," and they found Louise Arnold. They asked for the first paragraph of a children's book, and put the finalists to a public vote. When Arnold won, she got an agent and started writing the Grey Arthur series, which to date includes three books: Golden & Grey (An Unremarkable Boy and a Rather Remarkable Ghost) (in England, titled The Invisible Friend); Golden & Grey: The Nightmares that Ghosts Have; and Golden & Grey: A Good Day for Haunting.

Octavia Butler
Author of the Patternist series, Lilith's Brood series, and Parable series, along with many short stories and articles, Butler has won the Hugo and the Nebula, and is arguably the best-known female African-American science-fiction writer. She was the first sci-fi author to earn a MacArthur fellowship (aka the Genius Grant).

Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson)
The famous creator of Alice (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass and such) was diagnosed as dyslexic, which is simultaneously not surprising (have you read "The Jabberwocky"?) and very surprising (for a man so amazing at word play and a child who read difficult works so early in life).

Fannie Flagg (Patricia Neal)
Flagg wrote the novel Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe (which was adapted to the movie, Fried Green Tomatoes, for which she won an Academy Award) and she was also a regular on the show The Match Game. She has spoken about her dyslexia, saying that it's an ongoing problem, and that her writing was put on hold for most of the '70s because she was discouraged.

Jules Verne
French novelist Jules Verne is best known for Around the World in Eighty Days, Journey to the Centre of the Earth, and Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. He is the second most translated author in the world (following Agatha Christie) and is one of three authors referred to as the Father of Science Fiction (along with H. G. Wells and Hugo Gernsback). While he is considered a children's writer in most Anglophone regions, much of Europe considers him a major literary author.

So if you have been diagnosed with dyslexia or any other learning disorder, don't be discouraged! These people weren't! (Or they were, and then later they weren't. I'm a bad pep-talker.)