Pippi in the South Seas

Pippi in the South Seas by Astrid Lindgren, translated by Gerry Bothmer

A city slicker sees a sign for Villa Villekulla and thinks it must be a house for sale. He wants to buy it and rid it of the children there. Alas, he discovers that Pippi is in fact the owner. Later Pippi's father returns and they get to go on an adventure ot the south seas. They met some friends, but also run into people that want to steal from them. Alas, things never turn out well for thieves with Pippi. In this book most of the community accepts Pippi for her uniqueness, but others in the world are still discovering her charm. It is a fairly good extension, but not as rich as the original.

The Boxcar Children Collection Volume 2: Mystery Ranch, Mike's Mystery, Blue Bay Mystery

The Boxcar Children Collection Volume 2: Mystery Ranch, Mike's Mystery, Blue Bay Mystery by Gertrude Chandler Warner

Mystery Ranch - their grandpa has not got along with his sister. The children go to visit her. She takes a liking to the children and decides to leave the ranch to them. There was a friendly guy they saw on the train. He was a uranium prospector who discovered there was Uranium on the land. They set up a mine, while keeping land for the aunt. They also defeat the attempts of others to swindle the ranch from the aunt for cheep.

Mike's Mystery - The kids return a year later to find the ranch is now a big uranium mining operation. One of the swindlers returns to try to damage the ranch and take revenge on Mike who "talks to much". They are able to catch him and get Mike's mom set up in a pie making business.

Blue Bay Mystery - Grandpa takes the kids on a trip on a ship to the south seas. They do their schoolwork on the ship there. they are then dropped off on the island with Grandpa and an experienced man to spend time living and learning there. They discover another boy is on the island. He had been shipwrecked many months ago. He had lived for some time with a sailor who recently disappeared while swimming. (He may have fallen to sharks.) They take the boy back when the are picked up and are able to reunite him with his family.

Throughout the stories, the children are often able to quickly job whether a character is good or evil by looking at them. Is this a skill that has been lost as people attempt not to be prejudiced? It is an interesting line to be drawn. The kids also have a huge amount of optimism and everything seems to turn out well in the end.

Matilda

Matilda by Roald Dahl

As I was recently rereading Matilda, I was amazed at how faithful the movie adaptation is to the book. Most of the major plot elements and themes are present. Matilda is an extremely precocious little girl. Her parents are a used car salesman and a white-trash beauty queen. They could care less for intellectual achievement and actively fight against it. As a toddler, Matilda goes to the library herself to read. At school, the teacher wants her to go to a higher grade, but the headmistress, Trunchbull, will have nothing of that. Trunchbull runs a strict school and uses kid to practice her athletic skills. Matilda discovers she has some magical talent and uses that to help "defeat" Trunchbull and restore Matilda's teacher's rightful inheritance. Things look up from the school perspective. But then Matilda returns home to find her parents moving. (stolen car fraud had caught up with Dad.) The family is more than willing to let Matilda be adopted by her teacher making everyone happier. 

Dahl utilizes his over-the-top humor to tell a compelling story. The events are almost real, but have exaggerated events occur. It is sad when those with intellectual talent are brought down by their families or the educational system. It is great that Matilda could have a happy ending. What about others?

One Last Stop

One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston

A girl, August, moves to New York City and gets an apartment with roomates and job at a diner. She sees another girl (Jane) on the Q line and is attracted to her. They always seem to ride the same line. They spend some time together. However, when August invites her out, she refuses.

Later August, with the help of her psychic roommate, determines that that girl may is in a weird state. She has been stuck on the train since the 1970s. As they dig further, they help Jane find out more about herself. They discover that she is connected to August's uncle that disappeared nearly a half century ago. They also learn that Jane had saved a diner worker who fell on the tracks and likely got shocked into limbo during a great blackout of the 1970s. They hatch a plan to free her from the realm.

This book tells a compelling story that adds on some lgbt romance. (e.g. making out helps her remember.) It is also firmly rooted in normal society. Though it does borrow some elements from romantic fantasy, it is much better written.

The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson

The Tragedy of Pudd'nhead Wilson by Mark Twain

In the afterward, Twain mentions that this evolved as two stories. His initial focus was on two Italian twins. They later became minor characters as the book focuses on Pudd'nhead and Tom Driscoll. 

The book begins with Pudd'nhead. He went to a small town attempting to practice law. However, the people thought a joke he told made him sound stupid, so they declared him a Pudd'nhead and he could never get a law practice.

The story then pivots to Roxy and Tom Driscoll. Roxy is a slave that is 1/16th black. She has a child that is 1/32nd black that is born at the same time as her master's son. They look similar and she raises them together. One day she switches them. Her son ends up being raised as Tom Driscoll, while the master's son is raised as a slave. She is granted her freedom, but loses her savings in a bank failure. Her becomes an entitled man with a gambling problem who has little respect for her. She tries to ask for money from him, but resorts to blackmail to get it. Tom has lost most of his money and has resorted to stealing from townspeople. He often dressed as a woman to carry out the crimes.

Two Italian twins come to room in the town. They become famous in the town. However, they end up in conflict with Tom and his rich Uncle. Later Tom kills his uncle and frames the Italians. It seems a slam dunk case.

Then Pudd'nhead comes back into play and it turns into a crime book. He has collected fingerprints from his time in town. He is able to use this to match the fingerprint of Tom to the murder weapon. Furthermore, he identifies Tom's fingerprint as changing from his birth prints. He reveals that Tom is really the son of a slave.

The two boys switched as infants can now be returned to their true rolls. Alas, it doesn't work out well. Tom had spent his life as a slave and is illiterate. He cannot manage in white society. Meanwhile, black society shuns him since he is white. The slave boy was sentenced to prison. However, he was later restored to the estate as "property" and is sold down river.

The book shows the ludicrousness of long-term decisions based on short-term events. Wilson is forever a "Pudd'nhead" from one comment. "Single drop" race identification is fairly nonsense. With significant intermarriage it does not make sense to focus on single "races". Slavery based on race was destined to fail.

Owls in the Family

Owls in the Family by Farley Mowat

A family in Saskatoon adopts some baby owls. These owls think of themselves more as humans than owls and take a long time to realize that they can fly. There are many funny events that ensure. In one case, Crows and Ducks think they can outnumber the little owl and come to cause ruckus. (This is brought to an end with a gun.) The family eventually must move and they end up finding a new home for the owls. The book is similar to other animal and friendship stories, but owls are fairly unique as bets.

I Like Bugs

I Like Bugs by Margaret Wise Brown, illustrated by G. Brian Karas, afterward by Leonard S. Marcus

A kid mentions all the ways that he likes bugs. It is s simple story that enables fun illustrations.

Nothing But Trouble

Nothing But Trouble by Fay Robinson, illustrated by Gina Pfleegor

A girl always seems to cause trouble for a boy. Most of the time there is plausible deniability. For example, she tied his shoes together when she was practicing shoe tying. The main story has the girl asking the boy to fetch her ball. He goes through the field to get it. Only when he is very itchy does he realize it was poison ivy. After finally approaching full recovery, she brings him flowers - from poison ivy. What are the motives for a girl this cruel?

The Princess and the Frog: A Surprise Guest

The Princess and the Frog: A Surprise Guest by Natalie Amanda Leece, illustrated by Studio IBOIX and Walt Sturrock

Book is a spin off from a movie based on a book based on a fairy tale. Just about nothing here is related to the original tale. Instead, it is mostly a conflict between a jazz musician alligator and a dog. It is quite bad.

Sacrament

Sacrament by Camma Larsen Zollinger, illustrated by William Kuhre

This book starts with a discussion of friendship. Then it relates friendship to Christ, baptism and the sacrament. The books was well done and does a good job of presenting religious topics without feeling forced.

Little Miss Spider at Sunny Patch school

Little Miss Spider at Sunny Patch school by David Kirk

The spiders go to a a school. There are bug activities. It was not very interesting for kids or adults.

Kristy's Great Idea (The Baby-Sitters Club #1)

Kristy's Great Idea (The Baby-Sitters Club #1) by Ann M. Martin

Four 7th graders form a club to better manage babysitting. The advertise a time that potential customers can call up to schedule babysitting appointments. The club meets during that time and organizes the babysitting. This makes it easier for everyone. The girls get lots of babysitting gigs. There are also challenges in their personal lives. One girl's mom gets engaged to another divorcee. One girl is hiding her diabetes diagnosis and trips to the doctors. Everything gets resolved at the end. It is a fairly simple story that is most appealing to tween girls.

Bell Bandit

The Bell Bandit by Jacqueline Davies 

Grandma's house has burned down. They try to make the trip out there similar to what it has been, but it is not the same. The boy ends up helping the handyman to fix it. The girl becomes friends with an autistic boy next door. They try to find what happened to the missing bell that is always rung at new years. They also work have some encounters with the "bad boys" who they see torturing frogs. Grandma occasionally loses her mental capacities. One time they find her outside in a teepee in the snow, thinking it was a bus stop taking her to class. The boy pretends to be from the bus company to get her back. By new years, they have discovered the bell - the autistic boy had hid it at his house to keep the mean boys from taking it.

The characterizations of the autistic boy and the senile grandma feel too stereotyped.

Anne of Windy Poplars

Anne of Windy Poplars by L. M. Montgomery

Anne is working as a principal of a small school. She is engaged, but her fiancé is in another town studying medicine. Much of the book is letters or journals. In the town, there is one close-knit extended family that has a lot of control. Alas, they wanted one of their clan to have Anne's position, so Anne is on their "bad list" They don't invite her to activities, and the kids misbehave. However, they offer a truce after Anne uncovered some old stories about a relative. They had thought she planned to blackmail them with a scandal, but Anne had good intentions. Things are happier once they get along. Anne also had challenges getting along with another teacher. Eventually the other teacher opened up and Anne was able to help her. They became friends and the friend became a much better person. There are various other challenges with students and their relationships. Anne always seems to have a glowing outlook, but she is not infallible.

Anne of the Island

Anne of the Island by L. M. Montgomery

Anne goes off to college. There are various challenges, but everything seems to end up well in the end. She and her friends want to rent a house together. They luck out and find a house that they liked available for rent. There are all sorts of boy issues and marriages. Anne tells a good friend that they can only be friends and then dates another guy. Two years later, when the other guy proposes to her, she turns him down and realizes the friend is best. There are also various romantic challenges, including with a couple that had to wait a few decades for a sick mother to die. It feels refreshing to read about relationships rather than "desire" in modern romantasies.

A Cage of Crystal: Prophecy of the Forgotten Fae, Book 2

A Cage of Crystal: Prophecy of the Forgotten Fae, Book 2 by Tessonja Odette

This is the middle book in the series. It was a bit better than standard romantasy. It felt like there was more plot development in this book, but I got lost with the details. 

A Fate of Flame: Prophecy of the Forgotten Fae, Book 3

A Fate of Flame: Prophecy of the Forgotten Fae, Book 3 by Tessonja Odette

This book wraps the series up. There is romance, a child birth, a dragon bond and near death. A spoiled girl realizes that she can make a difference and that some of the things she did before were not great. It goes on very long, but does wrap things up pretty well. I got confused with the battle between worlds, alliances and portals. 

Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm

Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm by Kate Douglas Wiggin

This feels similar to some other books, such as Anne of Green Gables. The protagonist is an optimistic girl who likes to write. She comes from a poor background, but goes to live with relatives to have more opportunities. I get the details mixed up with other stories.

The Twits, The Minpins & The Magic Finger

The Twits, The Minpins & The Magic Finger by Roald Dahl

The Twits (1980)

The twits are a cruel couple who seem to always be fighting and playing mean jokes on each other.

The Minpins (1991)

Billy lives a controlled life. He ends up discovering the Minpins and then helps rid them of their enemies, making him well respected.

The Magic Finger (1966)

A girl has a "magic finger" which causes things to happen to people she is upset with. She has little control of the finger does. She sees some neighbors be cruel to animals as they are hunting them. When they get magic-fingered, they turn into the ducks and the ducks move to inhabit their house. After he experience, they get greater respect for animals and stop hunting for sport. At the end it is implied that another family will soon get the finger.

Magic Finger was my favorite of the books in this series. I got a little lost with Minpins.

Little Women

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

It was published in two volumes in 1868 and 1869 and later combined in 1880.

During the civil war era, father was away, leaving the women at home with mother. They seem to be pretty well to do and are concerned with boys and their future. Jo is the academic tomboy  and enjoys writing. She later ends up marrying the German professor, though they were both awkward with it. There were various other courtships as well as reunions with family members. Despite it being a century and a half old, many of the themes remain current. (Though the way they would be carried out can be quite different.)

Reaching Out

Reaching Out (The Circuit book 3) by Francisco Jiménez

The third book in this autobiographical series covers the undergraduate experiences at Santa Clara. The whole family drove up to drop him off at school, though father was feeling reluctant. His younger brother took over his jobs to help support the family. Additional challenges happened back home that would test his resolve. Their father moved back to Mexico. He was suffering and felt bad that he could not support the family. The family house also burned down. His family did not tell him about either of these until he came home. They didn't want to negatively impact his schooling.

At school, he had a football-playing roommate from Woodland, California. They bonded with their hard-working bootstrap background, though they had differences. Francisco was not into school spirit and sports. He preferred to focus on academics. He struggled initially with English and Spanish and needed to work hard at school. He also needed to find a way to support himself and his family. He had a great deal of help from teachers and priests at school. They saw some of his struggles and helped counsel and encourage him. They also found opportunities for him to work and better support himself as well as thrive in service-minded extra-curricular activities. Toward the end of his time, they nominated him for a graduate fellowship and helped him through the process, even getting him a suit to make it through the interview. We may have lost a lot as religious schools are dropping much of their religious character and requirements. There is value in the higher purpose and service. It seems that he may have benefited significantly by ending up at a small Jesuit institution instead of a large public school.

Zombie Halloween (Goosebumps Most Wanted: Special Edition #1)

Zombie Halloween (Goosebumps Most Wanted: Special Edition #1) by R. L. Stine

It is near halloween and people are afraid of Zombies. The family comes to live in a new house next to the cemetery. Grandpa seems to be especially fearful of zombies. They form a zombie defense club and even save grandpa from zombies. The neighbors move in with coffins and act weird. Are they zombies? At a big zombie party, they discover they are not. They are vampires instead.

The book is not very scary or very good, though I did like the ending. It has the feel of something hacked together quickly following the formula.

Breaking Through (The Circuit Book 2)

Breaking Through (The Circuit Book 2) by Francisco Jiménez

The second book in Francisco Jiménez's autobiographical series focuses primarily on his high school experience. It begins with his family's deportation. His father did have a green card and his little siblings were born in the USA. However, his mother, his older brother and Francisco were all in the US illegally. Their immigration experience would advocate for a policy that differs from both the Republican and Democrat one today. When three family members were caught, the whole family decided to leave. They willingly deported themselves to Mexico. However, once in Mexico, there was a path for them to apply for legal immigration status. They were able to get it within a short time frame and return to the United States. This seems the ideal balance. Don't give extra rights to those that are here illegally as the Democrats are want to do. And don't permanently banish workers as Republicans prefer. Instead, encourage all to remain as legal contributors to society.

Once back, the family tried to hide their deportation experience. However, this  time away did cause the older brother to lose his job. (Luckily, the replacement didn't work out and he was hired back.) They did eventually recover from the time off from school.

The author had a number of friends and mentors that encouraged him through his high school career. The value of hard work instilled by his family was also important. He and his brother were working hard to support themselves while the rest of the family was away. He had friends that encouraged him to perform in a school variety show and later run for school office. He helped lead a Spanish club and led a Christmas food drive. Teachers and counselors helped him to excel in academic areas and go down a path where he could be a teacher. He also had those that helped support him to find a job. It was not all rosey. There were families that did not want him to be seen with their daughter after they learned he was Mexican. He did need a few special pushes. His loyalty to work and family led him to consider working to support them rather than going to college. School officials helped push him to apply. He missed some scholarship opportunities, but was able to get into Santa Clara and between loans and scholarships afford the initial tuition.

The appropriate support is very important for success. Some people may feel unwilling to receive handouts. Finding a way to help in that way can be beneficial. (As an example, rather than just give him a typewriter, a man charged him $5 for typewriter and ribbon.) There are many people that are hard workers that can achieve more in different fields. They just need support. 

I wonder how things are different today. There is much more of a safety net available for immigrant families. Do they take advantage of it? Or is the loyalty to family and hard work still of prominent importance? Do child labor restrictions hurt? It feels that people would be evicted from some of these habitations today. Cigarette smoking is also not as prominent. How is life different for modern immigrant farmworkers? How is it the same?

Zachary's Zoo

Zachary's Zoo by Mike and Amy Nappa, illustrated by Lyn Boyer

This book has a biblical message about being kind to animals, but that is barely incidental to the story. In this story, Zachary has a "zoo", which is really just his pets. He imagines them being fierce creatures. The car is a "tiger", the dog is a "bear" and so forth. It is fun to see how he imagines the various animals. His respect and caring for the animals is the biblical part.

Fancy Nancy: Tea for Two

Fancy Nancy: Tea for Two based on Fancy Nancy by Jane O'Connor, illustrated by Robin Preiss Glasser and Carolyn Bracken

Nancy's friend invites her and her doll over for a tea party. Nancy wants her doll to poor also and in the fight the teapot breaks. They get mad at each other and go home. Nancy learns that she should apologize even though it was an accident. She does, the friends cry and all is well again. It is a good message for little kids of taking responsibility and caring. The book has a number of "big words" that are explained which seems to be part of the character's style. The illustrations seem quite busy.