The Hiding Place

The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom, Elizabeth Sherrill and John Sherrill

A Dutch family lived in Haarlem shortly before World War II. The father was a clockmaker and stressed service and work in the community. There were conflicts breaking out in Europe. However, it seemed that the Netherlands would remain neutral as before. The family occasionally saw Jews in need and had helped them out. After the Dutch army capitulated, the Netherlands came under Nazi occupation. The family helped out more Jews. They became involved in the Dutch underground. At one time a sympathizer proposed they kill a Dutch informer. They would not go that far. They were eventually caught and brought to a concentration camp. The author's sister was also keeping her faith and looking positive. She was even grateful for the fleas they had. (It would later turn out that the guards had let them meet in peace because they didn't want to go to the flea-infested room.) They would maintain their faith in the camps until they were freed. The later half of the book emphasizes Christian thought and maintaining love and faith even under difficult circumstances.

Pippi on the Run

Pippi on the Run by Astrid Lindgren, illustrated by Emily Arnold McCully

Pippi on the Run is shorter than the other Pippi Longstocking books and was likely adapted from the movie of the same name. Tommy, Annika and Pippi decide to run away from home. They start out with a horse, by the horse ends up leaving them. They travel by foot, on top of a train, and even in a hay loft. At one point, Pippi floats down a river and over a waterfall in a barrel. They hang out with a guy in abandoned house and have times begging for food. Pippi showcases her strength a bravery numerous times. Eventually they return home. Tommy and Annika are happy to see them. They do not seem to be phased that they were gone for a few days. But, hey, this is Pippi, you need to suspend disbelief and just go on for the ride.

A Gift of Magic

A Gift of Magic by Lois Duncan

Three kids are given special gifts from their deceased grandmother: magic, dance and music. They gradually discover these gifts. They have settled down in the town where her mother grew up after her mother and father separated. (Previously they had traveled regularly as the family followed their dad around in a job as a foreign correspondent.) The dancer is able to quickly exhaust the training ability of the local ballet instructor. The girl with the gift of magic can read people's minds and influence outcomes. She gets in trouble when she completes a test before the teacher dictates the questions. She then goes to ESP testing and gets every question wrong. The tester realizes that she has has strong ESP powers and is trying to hide them, so he drops the testing. The boy with the gift of music doesn't do much with it. He can play anything with minimal effort, but doesn't bother to learn to read music. 

The girl with the gift of magic realizes that she can actually cause people do do things when she impacts her teacher. Later she feels guilty for wishing her sister would not go away for dance - and then sees her fall down the stairs. She is able to redeem herself when she is able to hear her brother when he is about ot drown as he is stuck on a sand bar as the tide is coming in. She helps lead his rescue and also learns that her sister will make a full recover and the injury is not her fault. She gains peace with the fact that her parents are not getting back together and will mary others. In the end, her mother has a new daughter, Lois, who has the gift of storytelling. (The author plugged herself into the book.) 

The book does a nice job of using just enough magic to advance the story without letting it become overwhelming. 

The First Four Years

The First Four Years: Little House, Book 9 by Laura Ingalls Wilder

This final book in the Little House series was published many years after the author died. The manuscript was found and published with minal editing. It does seem to be shorter than the other books in the series. They are living out on the prairie. It is not an easy life. Something seems to happen right about the time they are going to harvest, such as a hailstorm that destroys just about everything. They have a daughter, and later a son, but he doesn't live long. They work hard in the confines of the US regulations for land claims. There are some relationships with other people and Indians, but the biggest challenge is with mother nature. This one is shorter than other books in the series.

Mother Goose: The Classic Volland Edition

Mother Goose: The Classic Volland Edition Rearranged and edited in this form by Eulalie Osgood Grover, illustrated by Frederick Richardson

Mother Goose rhymes have become more sanitized over time. This collection of "classic" nursery rhymes goes back closer to the source. It is not uncommon for protagonists to suffer when they don't act properly. For some there have been improvements over time, while for others, this old version is best.

The book has some short poems with large illustrations as well as pages devoted entirely to poems. My kids grumble when we pull out the mother goose poems, so it takes a while to make it through. However, it finally grew on them towards the end. 

Hotel For Dogs

Hotel For Dogs by Lois Duncan

Some kids move from New Mexico to the east coast. They start by living with their Aunt, who is allergic to dogs. This saddens the kids, especially the girl who misses her dog at home. Nearby, there is an empty house as well as the house of a spoiled bully. The bully has a nice dog who he treats poorly. A stray dog sneaks into the house. The girl takes care of her for a bit as she discovers she is having puppies. They need to get her out, so they decide to create a "hotel" in the abandoned house. Later after the bully really mistreats his dog, the dog runs away and wants to die. The kids rescue him and bring him to the hotel. Other kids and dogs eventually assist with the hotel. The kids also work jobs to help support the dogs. One night they plan to scare the bully with slides of a "ghost dog". Shortly after, the realtor is showing the parents a house, which happens to be the "hotel". They are afraid all has gone wrong. However, it ends up working out. The bully confessed to his cruelty, the parents are interested in buying the house and to cap things off, the girl gets a poem published (at an age younger than Shakespeare's first publication.) It all makes for a very happy ending.

The Happy Hippopotami

The Happy Hippopotami by Bill Martin Jr (Author), Betsy Everitt (Illustrator)

A bunch of hippos do things. Each has a different ending to hippos reflecting what they do. It get tedious - and hard to pronounce.

Bell Jar

I read a biography of Plath before reading The Bell Jar. It is difficult to determine where real life ends and fiction begins. It feels the book is a "pure" autobiography. Names of others have been changed to allow her to put out her true feelings without regards to the actual facts. 

Bell Jar is the first person story of Ester Greenwood as you transitions from a happy girl turning into a sad woman. She worked hard in school and was able to get a great scholarship to college. By continuing to work hard in college, she got a highly coveted internship. However, once she got that, she realized this was not the life she wanted to live. However, she had no idea what life she did want to live. She tried dating. Nothing was meaningful. She held out a bit of hope for a childhood friend. Alas, she was dejected when she learned he had lost his virginity to a slutty waitress. She tried suicide. She ended up in a mental hospital. She later decided to lose her virginity in a rather meaningless way. She didn't enjoy it and hemorrhaged, necessitating a trip to the ER.  One of her friends that appeared to be doing better did commit suicide. 

Her life was a cautionary tale. One can appear to follow all the walls to make it through our educational institutions but be ill-prepared for the life afterwards. It is also an indictment of the quality and benefits of our mental health facilities. 

The Fabulous Riverboat: Riverworld Saga, Book 2

This is the second book in a series, so I'm guessing the first book did a good job setting up the "sci-fi" premises. This book, however, is a rather pedestrian "adventure" story that joys in "name dropping."

The setting is a "river world" where all adult human beings appear after their death. They are all resurrected as adults. People can "die" in this world. However, they are simply resurrected a few thousand miles away from where they died. After death, they still retain their mind, and simply continue on living.

The book centers on Mark Twain (Samuel Clemmens) and his quest to build a riverboat and sail it up the grand river. He enlists the help of many historic figures in his quest. However, in the end he is betrayed by King John.

The writing itself is not terribly engaging. The characters, though ostentatiously coming from all time periods, seem to have the the mentality of the late 1960s civil rights movement. Even so they are fairly undeveloped caricatures.

With the rich ideas in this book, it's a shame they were put to such poor use. The "video game"-death and reappearance would have been a great idea to explore. However, while this was mentioned numerous times, it was never explored through the eyes of a character. It also seemed odd that, while claiming all earthlings are on the world, what are the odds that key historical figures would be hanging out together. (Wouldn't we be more likely to see Joe Peasant with John suburbanite?)