Books Again

I seem to go in spurts with reading. I have recently finished quite a few, but in the previous few weeks, I had read hardly any. At any rate, some brief notes.

Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson
I enjoyed this one. It is yet another instance of historical fiction that makes me think that, if history had been taught this way, I might have developed more interest for it.

The Diddakoi by Rumer Godden
This book brings up to me my persistent problems with bullying and the way it is treated in the schools. In this book, the little girl who is the target of bullying eventually gets beat up by several other little girls, but the adults concerned don't do anything to punish the girls who did the beating. They rely on the guilty feelings of the girls involved - and eventually that proves to be a workable solution. But I am a bit uneasy about this solution, as I am not sure that the young people involved in bullying will feel enough guilt to make them stop if the adults don't intervene. Yet, I see the effects of the opposite in schools, too. Adult intervene in too many situations in schools now. Even the simplest teasing gets brought to the teacher's attention and the teachers are expected to punish the perpetrators, even though the perpetrators may have been teased previously by the supposed victims. It gets into he said / she said bickering and wastes an enormous amount of time. Kids look to adults to solve all of their problems and don't learn to work out solutions themselves. Adults can NEVER stop all of the teasing and taunting that kids do - nor, in my opinion, should they. After all, there is not always a power figure around to sort things out. Yes, adults need to stop repeated, severe bullying, but I think kids need to work on developing their own strategies for dealing with simple teasing.

One Whole and Perfect Day by Judith Clarke
I love how many of the Aussie books have such depth of feeling for family. You really get the sense that, even when there are problems in the family, they are deeply committed to each other. This book works out a little too well to be real, but you forgive her for it, because it feels so good. If you need a feel good book with a happy ending to balance out all of those sad, but realistic ones, this is it.

I have also just finished Grief Girl (Erin Vincent). This is another Aussie book with a tremendous dedication to family. It is one of the most realistic books about death and grieving (targeted for teens) that I have ever read. And amazingly, it does its work while being engrossing as well.

I read Girl with Glasses (Marissa Walsh) - a one idea book. There was not enough of a story here for me.

Tribes by Arthur Slade
I read Tribes (Arthur Slade). I really liked the idea of the tribes and the analysis of high school crowds. But the main idea of the book wasn't as compelling for me. I couldn't feel his anger about his father's abandonment. I know it was completely suppressed, but still - I guess I needed more clues.

The Braid by Helen Frost
Interesting read - might fit in with a unit on immigration.

Foundling: Monster Blood Tattoo #1 by D. M. Cornish
I liked this one a LOT better than I expected to. Monsters and Blood and Tattoos just didn't sound like my thing, but I am glad I read it. I love just looking at the elaborate maps and marvel at the ability of authors to come up with such elaborate maps, place names, and background story. I concur with one of the reviews on Amazon, though. It seemed more like a prelude to a major story, rather than the story itself. I sizable chunk of the book isn't story, it is the aforementioned background information. Still, I am eagerly awaiting the next installment.

I read a manga book called Loveless and was completely confused by it. I guess you need to read all of the previous three books in order to even have a prayer of understanding what is going on.

And I am re-reading all of the Obernewtyn books in preparation for the release of book 5 later this year and book 6 next year.

I sometimes wonder what it is that draws me to certain books. There are some books that for some reason just speak to me deeply - books that I can't get too much of no matter how many times I read them. For me, there are only a few books in this class - Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow, Native Tongue and Judas Rose, The Obernewtyn Chronicles, the first 5 Harry Potter books (no, I don't like Half Blood Prince. In a way, it spoiled the story for me, unfortunately.), Anne of Green Gables.

Then there is a second group of books - one that I seem to identify with and treasure, but which I don't want to re-read more than a couple of times: Feed, Go and Come Back, Shabanu, Fahrenheit 451, Welcome to the Ark, The Impossible Prefect, and probably quite a few more that don't come to mind right now.

I know one of the things that appeals to me is if the story includes something about schools and learning. I am also greatly interested in how gifted kids come to deal with society. That doesn't explain all of the choices, but it does tie together some of them.