Adult Fiction Round-up

In trying to keep up with blog posts about the books I'm reading with my kids, I've been neglecting update about the books I read on my own - perhaps because there hasn't been anything too exciting to write about lately. Here are a few I've read relatively recently:

The Three Day Affair - Michael Kardos:  Jake passed this one off to me after getting the recommendation, I believe, from Esquire magazine (which has actually been pretty good on he recommendation front, I have to admit).  It's a mystery of sorts about three old friends from Princeton who come together for a boys' weekend.  A stop at a convenience store goes wrong when one of the guy holds up the store and kidnaps the clerk. What follows is the three-day affair during which the friends quarrel over how to deal with the incident, and evaluate and re-evaluate their friendships.  A quick interesting read - I definitely wanted to see how this would turn out, what secrets of the past would reveal about the motivations of each character, and how split decisions perhaps done without thinking can often have such crucial impact on the rest of our lives.

The Interestings - Meg Wolitzer: This book seems to have been the book club book of choice over the past year - and for good reason.  It is well written and filled with characters who each make choices that can be guessed and second-guessed throughout the novel.  The book follows six friends who met at summer camp.  As the years pass, they experience varying degrees of success, fall in and out of love with each other, and explore what it means to be in friendships and relationships with each other and with those outside of their magical circle.  While I found this book "interesting" on many levels, I have described it to other people as "basically about white people with middle class problems"  The characters reminded me of people out of a Jonathan Franzen novel, or that movie "American Beauty."  I found myself irritated by their malaise, but still compelled to find out more about them.

 We are Water - Wally Lamb:  This book was a huge disappointment.  I have truly loved Lamb's previous novels, She's Come Undone, I Know This Much is True, and The Hour I First Believed.  I appreciate Lamb's willingness to take on female characters and write them realistically.  So, I had high hopes for this one - about an artist and mother who leaves her husband after nearly thirty years of marriage to explore a relationship with another woman.  The topic is ripe for all kinds of twists and turns, and Lamb goes down many roads, but ultimately, it all fell flat.  Perhaps because there was just too much going on.  I found the characters two-dimensional and their dialogue boring and unrealistic.  I didn't care where the story was going, and all the skeletons in the closet just seemed stereotypical.  Nothing inspired about this book.  I hope Lamb will take some time off and return to the well-written and engaging novels for which he has come to be known and loved.

Adventures with Flat Stanley

I first learned of Flat Stanley when my friend, Ashley, posted photos of herself in Whistler with her friend's niece's little paper Flat Stanley along side her.  I was immediately smitten with the little guy, and quickly learned via Wikipedia that Flat Stanley is a character from a book who is flattened one day by his bulletin board.  In his new flattened state he finds he is capable of all kinds of things, including traveling all over the world just by slipping himself into an envelope.

In 1995, a teacher started The Flat Stanley Project.  As part of the project, kids read the book, create their own paper Flat Stanleys, and keep a journal of his travels.  They then can send the journal to children in other states or countries and learn more about other places and cultures.  Shortly after learning about Flat Stanley from Ashley, I came across this moving article about one of Flat Stanley's adventures.

A couple months ago, Ben and I were talking about the idea of "fame," how people become famous, and what it means to be famous.  After I tried to provide a definition of famous, he said, "Oh, kind of like Flat Stanley?"  Apparently, his teacher had introduced him to Flat Stanley, and he seemed to like the idea but didn't say much more about it.  Then this past week we were at the library and as we walked past a tower of paperbacks, he exclaimed, "Ooohhhh....I LOVE this book!!  Let's get this book!"  And lo and behold, it was Flat Stanley.  So, we borrowed it and I really enjoyed reading the story with Ben and learning all about Flat Stanley and his shenanigans.

Jeff Brown, the original author of Flat Stanley also wrote several other books in the series:

• Stanley and the Magic Lamp (1983)
• Stanley In Space (1985)
• Stanley's Christmas Adventure (1993)
• Invisible Stanley (1995)
• Stanley, Flat Again! (2003)

Following Brown's death, several other authors took over and have published additional books featuring Stanley, including:

• The Mount Rushmore Calamity (2009) - author Sara Pennypacker
• The Great Egyptian Grave Robbery (2009) - author Sara Pennypacker
• The Japanese Ninja Surprise (2009) - author Sara Pennypacker
• The Intrepid Canadian Expedition (2010) - author Sara Pennypacker
• The Amazing Mexican Secret (2010) - author Josh Greenhut
• The African Safari Discovery (2011) - author Josh Greenhut
• The Flying Chinese Wonders (2011) - author Josh Greenhut
• The Australian Boomerang Bonanza (2011) - author Josh Greenhut
• The US Capital Commotion (2011) - author Josh Greenhut
• Showdown at the Alamo (2014) - author Josh Greenhut
• Framed in France (2014) - TBA
• Escape to California (2014) - TBA

I love finding a new series and can't wait to follow Stanley on his adventures around the world!

Introducing the Yellow Brick Road

Ben and I have continued to read chapter books at bedtime.  During the day we stick to regular children's picture books - he still prefers ones about cars, planes, and trains - and I think it's important for him to have the simpler shorter stories, and to sort-of follow along as I'm reading (though I have started reading "I Can Read" books to him - more on that in another post!).  But at night we have really enjoyed our foray into chapter books.  We usually read for about twenty minutes - what we are able to get through definitely varies.  I spend about a minute each night recapping where we are in the story, asking him if he remembers what the characters are doing, and what he thinks might happen next.  Then we dive in.  Some nights he just listens to the story.  Other nights he asks A LOT of questions.  Sometimes the questions make me wonder if he is comprehending anything about the story, and other times he makes it quite clear that he has been thinking about what the characters are doing.  On some really great nights he will make a comment like, "Hey, mom, that's just like in that other book we read, remember?" and we'll have a good conversation about actual themes and ideas in the book.

Right now we are reading L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.  Ben has a recent fascination with natural disasters, so the fact that the book starts out with a cyclone hooked him right away. For the most part, the story has been really easy for Ben to follow, and he has been assisted by the pictures in the illustrated version that we borrowed from the library.

In about the fifth/sixth grade I spent a couple months reading through all fourteen books in the Oz Series.  But, I have to admit that most of my recollections about the story come from the movie.  I remember it being pretty scary, so I have been happy so far to see that the book itself is relatively tame.  While we probably won't read all the books in the series one after another, I think it will be fun to have so many books about a familiar land to turn to whenever we want something new.

Ben also really likes maps.  Not just regular maps where we look at countries or states - he likes those, but he seems to really enjoy maps that look like they are hand-drawn, and have detail about where certain characters live, and that we can look at periodically to see where the characters are at a certain point in the story.  The Land of Oz is perfect for this - the book we have does not include a map, but I found this on-line and Ben likes to refer to it at the beginning of each new chapter.

What I also love about introducing Ben to The Wizard of Oz is that I feel like references to the book are EVERYWHERE.  He is certain to see a few Dorothys at Halloween.  One year, we had the most adorable girl come to our door dressed as Dorothy.  Her little brother was the Lion, her dad the Tin Man, and her mother a Scarecrow.  And after she took her candy, she opened her little wicker basket and her real-life tiny black terrier - actually named Toto - popped his head out!

Of course by now most people have seen the musical Wicked (if not, please go if you can, it is so absolutely wonderful!!), but I am also a huge fan of the book it was based on (Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire), as well as the sequels, Son of a Witch, A Lion Among Men, and Out of Oz.

If you're looking for some chapter book inspiration, I came across this list of 101 Best Chapter Books last night.  There are some oldies but goodies on here, as well as some I've never heard of but am excited to check out!

Two for Two: My Latest Book Recommendation

Given that my time to read has decreased significantly in the past 3.5 years (since the birth of my first child), I am a bit more particular about the books that I pick up these days.  While I like to try new authors, I admit that most of the books I read tend to be books by authors I already know I have liked in the past.  That being said, there are some first novels that I have loved so much that I hesitate for a bit before delving into the second - for fear that it will not be as good and that I will have my love of the author tarnished forever.  It is the reason that I have always been secretly grateful that Harper Lee never followed To Kill a Mockingbird up with anything - it may have just been too much of a disappointment.

This is why I was conflicted when I found out that Jamie Ford had recently published a new novel (well, not that recently, it came out last September, but I'm a bit behind the times these days!).  His first novel, Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, was absolutely wonderful on every level.  I simply loved it.  And then a couple weeks ago, my mother pointed out to me that he had a new one (this irked me for reasons my blog post on the first reveals).  So, after hemming and hawing a bit, I picked up a copy of Songs of Willow Frost.  Let's just say, I was not disappointed.

Songs of Willow Frost takes place in Seattle and tells the story of 12-year-old William Eng, who has lived at the Sacred Heart Orphanage since his mother was taken away from him five years earlier.  He becomes convinced that an actress he spies on-screen, Willow Frost, is his mother and is determined to track her down and learn the truth about why she abandoned him.

This book is incredibly heartbreaking on so many level.  The narrative switches back and forth between Willow's tragic story, and that of the the children in the orphanage left behind during the Great Depression.  While I was eager to keep reading to find out what happened plot-wise, I was also filled with a sense of dread knowing that there was likely something even more terrible with each turn of the page.  Given this, however, I did not find much about the story exaggerated, just depressing in its reality.  Because I have an often depressing job, I do find that I don't want to spend my time wallowing in tragic stores.  But, I have a soft spot for novels about families, particularly Asian families.  I also love Ford's straight-forward story-telling approach.  Even going between time periods, everything was easy to follow - he just tells a good story without any unnecessary bells and whistles.  It's been awhile since I almost missed my train stop because I was too engrossed in my book, or stayed up far past my bedtime because I wanted to read just one more chapter.  

So, all this to say that though I usually reserve my list of "favorite authors" for those who have written at least four or five novels, I think I may have to add Jamie Ford to the list.  I truly cannot wait for his next one.

Celebrating Diwali

I love holidays.  I celebrate National Days whenever I can.  I prolong birthday celebrations.  If it involves food, music, lights, and festive decorations, I love it.  So, we're getting into a really great time of year for me - where not only are there a lot of holidays that I grew up celebrating (Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas), but there are so many others to learn about from friends and classmates who come from different countries, cultures, and religions.

One of the best holidays I've learned about in recent years is Diwali, the Festival of Lights.  Diwali is a five-day Hindu, Jain, and Sikh festival celebrated every autumn, with the main celebration on the third day.  This year, Diwali begins on October 23.  I am so grateful to my friend, Nisha, who introduced me to Diwali, which she celebrates as part of her Jain faith.  In the Jain tradition, Diwali marks the day Lord Mahariva attained Nirvana.

Diwali celebrates the triumph of light over darkness, good over evil.  One of the most popular stories of the history of Diwali is the Ramayana.  Anyone who has traveled in Southeast Asia is probably very familiar with the the Ramayana.  I have wonderful memories of traveling throughout Thailand, Burma, Cambodia, and Laos and seeing the story of Ramayana painted on temple walls.  

According to the Ramayana, Rama, the prince of Ayodhya was ordered by his father, King Dasharatha, to go away from his country and come back after living in the forest for fourteen years. So Rama went on exile with his devoted wife Sita and faithful brother, Lakshmana. When Ravana, the demon king of Lanka abducted Sita and took her away to his island kingdom of Lanka, Rama fought against and killed Ravana. He rescued Sita and returned to Ayodhya after fourteen years. The people of Ayodhya were very happy to hear of their beloved prince's homecoming. To celebrate Rama's return to Ayodhya, they lit up their houses with earthen lamps (diyas), burst crackers and decorated the entire city in the grandest manner.

This year, Ben's school is celebrating Diwali for the first time (early on October 7 - which is great because that means we can celebrate it again on the 23rd!), and I have signed up to help out in his class while we read books, do art projects, and cook food for the celebration.  In preparation, we borrowed a few books out from the library so I can start introducing my kids to the holiday.  I found a couple nice books for providing factual background about Diwali:

• The Story of Divaali - Valmiki
• Celebrate Diwali - Deborah Heiligman (National Geographic)

But what I really wanted was a fiction storybook depicting a family celebrating Diwali.  We came across a couple:

• Lighting a Lamp - Jonny Zucker
• Amma, Tell Me About Diwali - Bhakti Mathur

Another book I came across while searching for Diwali resources was one by Priddy Books (a publisher that our family really enjoys) called Bright Baby Touch and Feel Diwali.  I love the colors and images in the Priddy books and this one would be perfect for an infant. 

In closing, I'd like to leave everyone with this festive tribute to Diwali by Michael Scott from The Office.  However you choose to celebrate through the rest of the year, I hope everyone's days and nights are filled with great food, laughter, and light.

 

One Hundred Board

Last night Ben told me for the first time about something called a One Hundred Board that some of the kids at his school work with during Montessori time.  I had never heard of it before, so we looked it up on-line.  Ben explained to me that it helps people learn how to count to one hundred, but he had never used it because "I don't know how to count that high".  He was very excited about the idea of the board, but clearly concerned that he might not be ready for it or know how to use it correctly.  So this morning we made a simple one hundred board.

We used an old cardboard box for our board.  We then measured out squares for the numbers on construction paper.  I had Ben count along with me as I wrote in the numbers on each square.  With a little help, he surprised himself by realizing that counting to 100 wasn't going to be as monumental a task as he'd originally believed.  He then helped cut out the individual numbers which was good scissors practice for him (and a reminder to me that he needs a little more practice in that area).

And that's all we needed.  We then played around with the board and the numbers.  The first time, I placed all the multiples of 10 on the board for him (10, 20, 30, 40, etc) so he would have some reference points for filling in the rest.  I then gave him nine numbers at a time (1-9; 11-19; 21-29) so he would not get overwhelmed and could just concentrate on filling in one line at a time.  After doing that once, we played around a bit with filling in multiples of 5.  As we placed numbers on the board, he (and I) started to see some useful patterns.  Even though he felt like he didn't know the names of all the numbers, he could start to tell what the next number should "look" like. 

I can see a lot of value to the number board for teaching simple addition and subtraction, and it reminds me of a more complicated square I used for learning my multiplication tables.  I feel like many of us are used to learning numbers by listening to them and then counting out loud or counting physical items.  Having this visual reference of the numbers themselves was really fascinating to me. There are a number of videos on-line showing people using the One Hundred Table (and Ben tells me there is a Two Hundred Table and a Five Hundred Table), but I'm curious to hear if others use this board and how they have found it useful with their children - and any fun games you may do with it.  It feels like a really simple but powerful tool.

Now that he has seen a little bit of how it works, Ben is looking forward to trying out the "real thing" at school.  We'll see what he comes home to teach me this week!

Legos & Castles: Encouraging Creative Building

It's no secret that my husband is a chronic home remodeler.  He comes from a family of contractors, construction workers, painters, and building creators of all kinds.  He loves This Old House magazine and HGTV would be on in our house 24/7 if the kids didn't demand that we watch Frozen or Despicable Me every once in awhile.  He is always fixing something or thinking of a better way to design or build something.  Looking at the world in this creative problem-solving way is fascinating to watch, and I constantly find myself wondering what I can do to encourage this quality in our children (hopefully genetics will play some role, as well as the constant exposure).

Ankgor Wat, Cambodia

Like most children, my kids all love playing with legos.  Given their ages, we are still in the Duplo phase - which I appreciate since the pieces are big enough not to get lost everywhere and clean up isn't too difficult.  I invested in a couple baseplates to give them more a more sturdy foundation for their houses, garages, castles, and bridges.  I have also been steadily introducing them to various famous landmarks around the world - so far the Golden Gate Bridge (post specifically on bridges to come!) and the Sphinx have made the most lasting impressions - in the hopes that they will come to appreciate great architecture and perhaps find some inspiration for their own building.  I have shared various travel photos in front of famous landmarks also in the hope that this will inspire a love of travel.

And then I looked into some books about building just to give them some context for the creations they've been making.  A couple of the ones we explored include:

• Iggy Peck Architect by Andrea Beaty
• Building by Philip Wilkinson
• The Story of Buildings by Stephen Bietsy

Alice has also recently become obsessed with castles.  Her initial inspiration was the Disney castle she first saw on-screen before one of her favorite movies, Wreck-It Ralph.  She then discovered that the same castle was on the cover of a book she received as part of a set last year for her birthday.  She carried one of the books from the set around with her everywhere on our recent trip to England and slept with it every night, referring to it as her "Castle Wreck-It Ralph book".  

So while I'm not eager for her to get too obsessed with princesses, I am perfectly fine with a castle obsession.  To promote this, I borrowed the following books for her:

• Castle by David Macaulay (he has a whole series of super cool building books)
• Castle by Christopher Gravett

We also stumbled upon a fun little castle for her to put together at The East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse - a fabulous store near us filled with all kinds of treasures for all kinds of projects.  Building materials are all around us - from mud and sticks for outdoor villages to sand for sandcastles to pillows and blankets for forts, and everything in between.  Between all this and my husband's encouragement, I hope to have all my kids working on constructing a personal private retreat for yours truly very soon!  

HAPPY BUILDING!!