Sisterland - Curtis Sittenfeld

I enjoyed two previous novels by Curtis Sittenfeld, Prep and American Wife.  So, when this one came out - and I found out it was about identical twins - I was eager to read it.  The books is about identical twins, Kate and Violet, who grew up in St. Louis and were ostracized for either possessing, or believing they possessed, psychic powers.  Years later, Kate strives to distance herself from her sister, while Violet years to gain back their closeness.  While I didn't think the actual plot line was that interesting, I found the relationship between the two sisters fascinating - just the concept of closeness - the fact that so many people desire to have that closeness with someone, but for those that have it, it can often be suffocating.  This idea, however, could probably have been explored in a more interesting was (and has been in the non-fiction book about identical twins, One and the Same by Abigail Pogrebin).  I have not read Sittenfeld's novel, The Man of My Dreams, but will do so only on the strength of American Wife.  When it comes to Sisterland, I'd recommend taking a pass.

Danger: Hot Lava Ahead!

Building the volcano

For the past week or so, Ben has been obsessed with hot lava.  He races his cars to and from erupting volcanoes.  He runs around the house and climbs on the furniture to avoid hot lava.  He chases his sisters around the house pretending to be hot lava.  Whatever the source of his sudden interest, I decided it was a good jumping off place for learning about something new.

Playmat made by my mom intended for use with dinosaurs.
Currently used to drive Hot Wheels to and from the erupting volcano

We started with some videos on www.youtube.com to learn about volcanoes as geological features in general (neat since Ben recently did a little school project about land masses).  Also watching erupting volcanoes is just pretty cool.  This had the side benefit of featuring erupting volcanoes from Hawaii, which gave us a chance to talk about the fact that my mom and I are from Hawaii and to show him where Hawaii is located on his world map.

Painting the volcano

I then thought we should try making the old tried-and-true paper mache volcano.  We took some time over the weekend to cut the newspaper, mix the paper mache paste, and build our volcano (which ended up looking more like an igloo, but no worries).  Ben found the paper mache a bit messy, but seemed to have fun seeing it all come together.  We then left it to dry overnight.  The next morning we painted the volcano and left it to dry (this project was a good lesson in delayed gratification!).  That afternoon, we mixed together warm water, red food coloring, and dishwashing detergent.  We added the baking soda and vinegar and watched our volcano erupt!  Despite the fact that everyone seems to have done this experiment at some point during their childhood, it was actually the first time I'd ever done it, and I think I had just as much fun and surprise as Ben with it all.  We left the volcano out to dry, so hopefully we can re-visit it periodically for more eruptions while the hot lava obsessions lasts.

Erupting volcano!!

Tomorrow, we head to the library to check out some books on volcanoes, including the following:

• Volcano Eyewitness - I highly recommend the Eyewitness series in general - for any topic imaginable!
• Volcanoes! (National Geographic Readers)
• Escape from Pompeii - Christina Balit
• Los Perros Magicos de Los Volcanes/Magic Dogs of the Volcanos - Manilo Argueta

Hot lava has been a fun exploration.  It gave us a little science, a little art, new reading material, new youtube videos (frankly, I was growing tired of those garbage trucks!), and some really fun physical activity chasing each other all around the house (though Alice gets a little overly scared of the hot lava at times).  I'm not usually very good with the science activities so it felt good to branch out.  I look forward to Ben's next new random interest!

Everything Old is New Again

I first read the epistolary The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society in 2009.  It centers around a writer who is searching for the perfect subject for her next book.  She receives a letter from a gentleman living on the island of Guernsey who finds her name and address in a used book by Charles Lamb.  He asks her if she knows where he might locate more books about Mr. Lamb, and so begins a correspondence primarily about the German occupation of Guernsey during World War II.  My general reaction to the book was that it was a nice story, but I didn't feel particularly strongly about it in any way.

Recently, I picked this book up again.  Even as I read through it, I had absolutely no recollection of the fact that I'd read it before.  I must point out that this is a reflection of my current memory issues, not a reflection of the quality or memorability of the book itself, I am sure.  I only realized I'd read it before when I sat down to write a review of the book for GoodReads and found that I had reviewed five years ago.  This time, however, my review was significantly more positive.  I loved the story and found myself identifying more readily with the characters.  This is the first time (that I can recall) that I have re-read a book and had a more positive reaction the second time around.  Often, I find that I re-read books that I absolutely LOVED as a teenagers or in my early 20s and find that in my older age the characters are simply insufferable.  Examples of this include, The Fountainhead, The Catcher in the Rye, and On the Road.  So, while my general practice is not to re-read books, in the (hopefully) rare, instance where I forget that I've actual read it before, it's nice to know that it may become more meaningful with time and perhaps a little more wisdom.

On a separate note, I am in general a big fan of books written through letters.  Maybe because it satisfies a secret desire for gossip, and makes me feel as if I have stumbled upon something I'm not supposed to be reading.  The books also often make for fast reads, which can be nice if one doesn't have a lot of time to read.  Some of my other favorite books written in letter form include:

• 84, Charing Cross Road - Helene Hanff (non-fiction)
• The Color Purple - Alice Walker
• Dear Mr. Henshaw - Beverly Cleary (Juvenile Fiction)
• The Perks of Being a Wallflower - Stephen Chbosky
• The Adrian Mole Series - Sue Townsend  (diary entries) (Juvenile Fiction)
• The Griffin and Sabine Series - Nick Bantock

Reading without Words

Ben and I recently discovered the Caldecott-Award winning picture book, Journey by Aaron Becker.  It is the beautifully illustrated story of a lonely girl who takes matters into her own hands and draws her way into a breathtaking adventure.  Plot-wise, it is akin to Harold and the Purple Crayon, but where Harold draws his mode of transport, as well as the simple purple world around him, the girl in this book uses her drawing to transport herself into complex and otherwise existing worlds and adventures.  It is not to say that one is better than the other, but simply that Journey is a book that could probably play to a wider and older audience.

At first, I wasn't sure if Ben would enjoy this book.  There aren't any words, and he has lately prided himself on wanting stories that we can "read" (he's 3.5 and doesn't really read yet).  But, it didn't matter.  He loved asking about where she was going and pointing out what she was drawing and how she was going to get from one place to the next.  When we were done with the book, he jumped up from the couch and said, "Let's go get our crayons and draw our own journey!"  And, of course, that's the exciting reaction I always like to see a book have on a reader.

Other wordless/nearly wordless picture books we've enjoyed include:

• Good Night, Gorilla by Peggy Rathman 
• Zoom by Istvan Banyai
• Shadow by Suzy Lee
• Truck by Donald Crews

Children's Author Pick of the Week: Taro Gomi

When Ben was born, an artist friend of mine gave him several books by the Japanese writer and illustrator Taro Gomi.  Given Ben's early and continuing obsession with transportation, he immediately fell in love with Bus Stops - which features a bus dropping off passengers at different destinations on each page.  I fell in love with Gomi's illustrations - which are so rich in detail that it allowed us to read the book over and over again always with new pages to focus on or new little stories to find within the story.  It also provided a jumping off point for discussions with Ben about where he'd like to take the bus and what he thought the people would do when they got off the bus.

This week, Alice has discovered My Friends, which features a little girl demonstrating on each page what she has learned from her friends.  Alice's favorite pages include, "I learned to nap from my friend the crocodile," and "I learned to study from my friends the teachers."  Most of the friends the little girl learns from are animals - and in addition to reading the book over and over, we've also enjoyed acting out what each of the animals is teaching - including running, marching, and singing.  Alice, who is now 20 months, has grown so attached to the book that she insists on sleeping with it so she can read it to herself before falling asleep and in the morning when she gets up.

While I recommend Taro Gomi's books for young readers because the stories are simple and the illustrations are beautiful, I especially appreciate that as a Japanese writer/illusrator, Gomi draws Japanese children in his books.  As I make an effort to expose my children to diversity through literature, and to our own family's Japanese culture, it's nice to have such a talented author out there to turn to.  For those who want more information on the need to increase diversity in children's books, please check out the We Need Diverse Books website and their suggestions for diverse books for toddlers (age 3-5).

World Cup Fever!

Ben recently finished his first soccer season.  Having the World Cup coincide with his introduction to the game has been really fun - and we hope watching a few games here and there will help increase his excitement about playing.

While looking for books about soccer at the library last week, I was thrilled to discover the recently published Maisy Plays Soccer.  Ben, Alice, and Clara all LOVE the Maisy books.  They are familiar with the characters, and the stories are simple with colorful pictures.  Clara, who is more than a little obsessed with soccer herself, also loves that Maisy has a stuffed panda.  I read this one to the girls at least five times today, and in addition to providing a good story, it also helped us talked about why we like to play sports, who we like to play with, what our favorite team colors are, and of course, what we look for in a good post-game snack.

I am not myself a soccer player, nor am I very knowledgeable about the sport, but I have enjoyed a few books about the game over the years.  These include the Young Adult Non-Fiction book, Outcasts United by Warren St. John, and Nick Hornby's chonicle of his obsession in Fever Pitch.  There are so many amazing sports books out there for children and adults, I am sure to have a sport-by-sport round-up at some point.  But, until then, Go USA!!!

Where are you going this summer?

I love book lists - whether they come from a friend's book club, from the New York Times, or from a random website.  I also often love to read books in a single category.  A few years ago, I picked a country, and would read five or six books about that country, or by authors from that country, and then move on.  I used it as a way to supplement my own travels, or when I wasn't able to travel, as a cure for my wanderlust.  My favorite book of travel reading lists organized by country is Book Lust to Go.   But now, there's NPR Summer Reading List.  Not only is it a list of suggested books to read, but it is multiple lists and they are categorized by mode of transport.  Each list includes fiction and non-fiction, as well as books for adults and books for children.  Because we are traveling by plane to England next month, I am planning to pick out a few selections from The Fly List.  And because Ben and I just finished enjoying James and the Giant Peach, I think we will also take our chances with a few more from the Dragon, Drugs, or Giant Peach List.  Bon Voyage and Safe Travels to all!