Mocking Jay... it may get mocked

This was not my favorite book, not just of the Hunger Games series but ever really.  It's not in a top list anywhere.  I obviously finished it so I didn't hate it but I just really struggled with it.  I will admit that I should have read the other two again right before reading because I had a really hard time getting into it.  I could not remember who was who, what was what and I just felt like I was reading a bunch of jibberish.  I have heard myself complain at JK Rowling's recap at the beginning of all the Harry Potter books... "We know, we've read these before, come on, get to the new stuff" I now have a new appreciation for that, thank you JK.  My other complaint is that it just kind of ended so suddenly, people started dying and then it was over.  I may, down the road a while, read the whole series again all in a row to give it a fair chance.  I will see if I change my mind.

"Out of the Dust" by Karen Hesse

When I grabbed this book off the shelf I didn't thumb through the pages so when I sat down to start reading I was really surprised.  It looks like a whole book of poems.  I was dreading it.  I started reading and it is more of letter/journal entries.  I guess they are poems but they read like a story.  So, even though its a 227 page book I read it in a 24 hour period.  It is set during the dust bowl era in Oklahoma.  There have been a few books set in early time periods that I have referred to as depressing and sad.  They seem to suffer so much.  Family members dying, wondering where their next meal was going to come from, suffering from the elements.  It all seems so miserable.  I just had the thought that even though I don't suffer from these things we are faced with very different trials and hardships.  I know there are people in the world and even in our country who face some of these challenges but fortunately for me I do not.  I have always been blessed with the ability to feed my family.  I would not want to look a starving child in the face.  I do not worry about the physical safety of my husband while he is at work. I don't worry about my children dying from freezing or smothering in a dust storm.  I do worry about the temptations they are faced with.  Drugs, alcohol, teenage pregnancy, pornography are such evils that tempt our kids today.  They are bombarded with endless forces of evil, through t.v., music, internet, friends, school.  I often think that to live back in those time when there was not such influences would be easier, but it's just a different fight.  Either way, it is not easy and you have to work through it and you just do the best that you can.

The girl in the book, Billie Jo, compares her Ma to a tumbleweed:

"Ma had been like a tumbleweed too,
Holding on for as long as she could,
Then blowing away in the wind.

My father was more like the sod,
Steady, silent, and deep.
Holding on to life, with reserves underneath
to sustain him, and me,
and anyone else who came near."

I loved this analogy.  Hopefully I am like sod and not a tumbleweed.  It is true that they hold on as long as they can and then you see them being blown which ever way the wind wants to blow them.  Sod is "steady, silent and deep".  You need to have roots to sustain yourself through the trials and temptations that come your way.

Billie tells her Dad he is like sod and she compares herself to wheat:
"and I am like the wheat,
and I can't grow everywhere,
but I can grow here,
with a little rain,
with a little care,
with a little luck."

She needs the nurturing to grow and learn and become a woman.  She realizes that running away to plant yourself somewhere else requires the same things.  She realizes that at home is where she can grow the best.

I really liked this book in spite of my bad attitude when I saw the layout.

"The Giver" by Lois Lowry

What a thought provoking book this is.  I thoroughly enjoyed it. The idea of their community being "perfect" was fascinating.  There was no crime, no hunger, no rudeness, no laziness, no lying.  With very stringent rules anything bad is not allowed.  The speakers all over the town would remind them of these rules, pointing out when someone tried to disobey.  No one can be different, everyone is the same.  The same clothes, same house, same furniture, same bicycles.  From year 1 to year 12 each child is given something different.  Nines get bicycles. Sevens get coats with round buttons on the front.  Misbehaviors are corrected with a whipping stick.  Family units can be set up as a request.  Children are assigned to a family.  Careers are assigned at age 12.  The initial thought is that this community is perfect.  No one is allowed to make mistakes, their free agency has been taken away.  It all starts to look worse, much worse as Jonas, the main character, receives his assignment.  He is to be the new receiver.  As he begins training with the current receiver it all unfolds.  The receiver holds all the memories of past, back, back, and back.  He is ready to be released, and is training Jonas, so he is now the Giver and Jonas the Receiver.  He transfers the memories by putting his hands on Jonas' back.  He transfers memories of things Jonas has never experienced, seen, or heard of.  The first memory of sledding and snow and hills is very exciting for Jonas.  The weather is controlled, there is no sun, there is no snow, it just is.  One of the most unusual things that unfolds is that in order to be in sameness all color is taken away.  No one can see colors except the receiver who has the memories of color.  Jonas feels love for the first time as a memory of Christmas Eve is passed to him.  Jonas becomes so concerned that all the people are missing out on these fantastic emotions, colors, weather, landscapes. He pleads with the Giver to find a way for the people to remember or actually learn all these things.  The Giver explains that the only way is if Jonas disappears and then all his memories would flood the peoples minds.  Jonas decides to make a sacrifice for the greater good.  He doesn't want to harbor all the memories to himself for his entire life and never share them.  He leaves his community on his bike, and endures weather and starvation.  A sidenote here,  Jonas takes a baby, Gabriel, with him.  Jonas' father is a Nurturer, he works with the babies for their first year until they are assigned to a family.  There is talk of releasing babies when they just don't progress as they should.  There is not an understanding of what release means.  Jonas requests to learn this memory.  He is shown a recording of the releasing ceremony of an identical twin.  His father injects the baby with some kind of poison and the baby dies, released.  Jonas is terrified of this concept, as he should be.  He hears Gabriel is set to be released.  He saves him by strapping him in the bicycle seat and taking him away with him.

I realized that living in an ideal world, ideal home, ideal family, at least the utopian ideal, requires that some things that are so necessary would have to be given up.  Mostly our free agency would be lost.  To create a civilization without crime, without lying, without laziness, without differences would be horrible.  Yes, a lot of hurt and disappointment would be taken away, but you lose, love, family, color, heat, cold, rain, sun and snow.  What would life be like without all these things... basically I imagine a world in shades of gray, just going along with the motions, but not enjoying anything really.  That is not how life was intended.  We are sent here to make choices, to be tried and tested, to experience all emotions, to love, to have a family that really belongs to you. 

"Sounder" by William H. Armstrong

This was not a favorite of mine, but I did read all of it.  Another book I found depressing, especially for kids.  It's a story of a black family, I don't know the era, but before electricity and running water.  At least for them, maybe some of the houses on the farm they worked for had that but it was a long time ago.  They have a coon hound named Sounder.  The dog hunts for racoons and other small game with the dad.  The Mom shells walnuts for pennies every night.  One day there is sausage for breakfast and ham for dinner.  A few days later the sheriff shows up and arrests the Dad for stealing the food.  They shoot the dog, he disappears, the boy finds his torn off ear and puts it under his pillow.  They don't see the dog for months. He shows up with half his face, a leg and an eye missing.  He hobbles around and seems happy.  The boys walks to the jail to see his Dad at Christmas and has a horrible experience.  The Dad gets put on working detail and they don't know where he is for years.  The boy keeps looking for him and can't find him.  The Dad shows up one day with the left side of his body crippled. There was an accident in the mine where he worked.  The boy found a teacher that will let him live with him and go to school.  The Dad dies and the dog dies.  I like a happy ending, I know life isn't always like that but I usually read for good uplifting entertainment and this just didn't do it for me.  I appreciate the fact that kids can learn something form this book.  They can learn that life was not always like they have it.  You had to actually work hard to get your food every day.  People were not with respect and decency.  There was not a grocery store.  People would be freezing and hungry every day.  There was nothing else to do but work to live.  No T.V., internet, sports, games, electronics, etc..  If you wanted to eat and stay warm you hunted, chopped wood and cooked.  You made soap to stay clean, you hauled water to drink.  So, for that I do appreciate this book.

"From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankewiler"

Now this is a childrens literature book that is amazing!  I loved it.  It kept my interest and most importantly would keep the interest of children.  I am hoping Madison will read it and love it too.  I loved the 1960s prices of things. The way of life so differently only 50 years ago.

I think I related to Claudia.  I am a planner, an organizer and an oldest child.As an oldest child you just don't escape those feeling of being used.  You are the the constant, you are the most reliable, you are the oldest, you were always there first. She feels unappreciated and things that running away will make those in her family appreciate her more, love her more and miss what she contributes. I love that she brought her nine year old brother along for his money.  He is so frugal and saves his allowance every week and never spends a cent. I found it hilarious that he earned most of his huge lot of about $25 gambling while playing war on the bus.

There were two parts of the book that stood out to me.  One is when they are at Mrs. Frankweiler's house and Claudia tells Mrs. Frankweiler that you should learn one new thing every day.
Mrs. Frankweiler answers "NO, I don't agree with that.  I think you should learn, of course, and some days you must learn a great deal.  But you should also have days when you allow what is already in you to swell up inside of you until it touches everything.  And you can feel it inside you.  If you never take time out to let that happen, then you just accumulate facts, and they begin to rattle around inside of you.  You can make noise with them, but never really feel anything with them.  It's hollow."

I loved this idea.  How many of us study, read, watch but don't allow any of that knowledge to "swell up inside of you".  Do we have a bunch of facts that we have collected and they are just going to "rattle around inside of you."  I really could apply this to gospel principles.  When I read the scriptures and I doing it just to gain knowledge, learn the stories and the facts.  Do I allow it to swell up inside of me so that it touches everything?  Is it hollow?  This gave a great deal to think about. That sometimes just pondering is the best way of increasing our knowledge.


The other part I found humorous was when they were bathing in the fountain and they found round discs stuck to their bottoms.  When they realized it was money they had discovered their source of income.  Too bad they didn't think of standing on a corner with a cardboard sign.  That seems to work out well for some.  They are so amazed that someone would throw a quarter in.

"Someone very rich must have tossed in the quarter, " Jamie said.  "Someone very poor, " Claudia corrected, "Rich people have only penny wishes."

I had to think about what she meant by that.  I pondered (so as to not just accumulate a rattling piece of information to make noise with).  What I think Claudia meant, and this is from a child's perspective, and one that is collecting her income from a fountain, is that rich people are rich because they keep their quarter and only throw their pennies away.  Or she could have been thinking that they have everything they want or need so they are just thinking of little penny wishes for fun to throw into the fountain.  I don't really know what she was trying to say, but I still found it funny.

The Midwife's Apprentice by Karen Cushman

I have been picking up four or five of the shorter Newberry Books each time we go to the library. I can usually finish them in a day or two so that is how I am burning through so many books.  This book was another interesting choice for a childrens' literature award.  I found it very depressing.  It is set back in medieval times so that is depressing in and of itself.  It's about an orphaned girl who doesn't know where she came from and she doesn't even know her name.  She has just been called Brat by the villagers she tries to scavenge from.  She earns her new name, Beetle, because she is caught sleeping in a dung heap to keep warm... dung beetle.... Beetle.  She likes that name better.  She is treated horribly by adults and kids.  She suffers from stones being thrown at her, name calling and shunning.  She is constantly shunned and never un-shunned.  She doesn't like stealing so she tries to find people to work for so she can earn an onion, some bread and maybe some cheese.  I can't imagine gnawing on an onion, but I guess its better than starving.  She finally happens upon a midwife that is a cranky single lady that just bosses her around.  She has the job of boiling goose fat for soap making, finding all the herbs and nuts they need for poultices and ointments.  She thinks she is too stupid to learn anything, and the miserableness just goes on and on.  She starts watching the midwife and learning some of her tricks of the trade.  She decides to name herself Alyce.  She is successful at helping one lady deliver a baby whom the midwife had left assuming the baby would die and she would be back later to "get it out of her".  This lady's sister requests Alyce, and only Alyce, to come help with her delivery.  The midwife is furious and sends her on her own.  Alyce is scared and can't help the woman.  The midwife is summoned and the baby is born.  Alyce fears for the punishments to come her way so she runs away.  She comes to an inn and becomes the inn girl.  She meets a lodger there who is writing a book of knowledge, kind of like an encyclopedia.  She won't talk to him, she thinks she is too stupid.  He finally speaks directly to her, asking her what she wants.  She stews of this for the whole day and finally responds, "I know what I want.  A full belly, a contented heart and a place in this world."  This made me think about my wants.  I wish they were that simple and maybe they should be.  A full belly is something we are fortunate enough to not worry about.  A contented heart and a place in this world.    I need to be more content.  We have so much, I shouldn't always be wishing for something else or more.  Right now, I want a new kitchen sink and a new faucet.  Mine works fine, its old, 1970s style, but it works.  Why do I feel like I need a new one.  A contented heart.  I am going to ponder on that one and work on being content with what I have right now and enjoy it.  I am fortunate enough to feel like I have a place in the world as a wife and a mother.  I don't feel the need to be something else.  I truly and honestly believe that being a wife and a mom is one of the greatest accomplishments one can hope for.  I love that I have been blessed with the opportunity to be both.  I take it very seriously and it is my number one priority.


Another quote that I liked was from a boy that she befriends.  He used to be one that would torment her.  One day he and his posse chased her up a tree.  He fell in the stream and couldn't swim. In fact she said that no one could swim, you only went in water to wash up before a wedding once a year.  YUCK!  All his friends abandoned him, so she bravely saves him from drowning.  He becomes her advocate and convinces his friends to find someone else to torment.  One day as she is being down on herself (which was standard for her) she is telling him that she is so stupid that she doesn't know anything.  He replies, very wisely, I thought, "Just because you don't know everything don't mean you know nothing."  She then starts thinking of the things she does know and sees a different light. That is a great thought.  Just goes along with being grateful for what you do have and not being consumed with what you don't.  I always related this phrase to things, not to knowledge.

Overall, this book was terribly depressing, but it does have a good ending, but the good part is just so short.  I found it interesting too, reading the author's note at the end.  She has always been interested in history but found it boring to always learn of the kings and queens of the time.  She began researching what life was like for everyday youth during medieval times. So, let me just say,  I am glad I was saved for this day and age... medieval times... yucky!

The Cat who went to Heaven, by Elizabeth Coatsworth

This book was another interestingly weird book.  It was written in 1930 about a Japanese artist.  He is very poor and has a housekeeper who tries to get as much food as she can every day to keep them from starving. One day she comes home without food and with a cat in her basket.  He is angry at first and then comes to enjoy the company of the cat.

The priest of the temple comes to him to ask him to paint a picture of the death of Buddha.  The artist spends days imagining the animals who came to visit the dying Buddha to get his blessing.  Apparently, the cat never  accepted the teachings of Buddha so it is said that a cat cannot enter heaven and they are evil and of the devil.  Now, there is a Buddhist teaching I can go along with.  Sorry, to any cat lovers, but I do not enjoy cats at all.  So, the cat watches him paint all the animals, but not a cat.  The cat seems to be expressing concern about this.  The artist seems to sense thoughts from the cat.  The very last day, he thinks he is done, and the cat is so sad.  The artist decides to paint the cat in the picture knowing that he would not receive his fortune if the temple did not accept his painting. After he painted the cat the cat, named Good Fortune, falls over dead "too happy to live another minute."

This painting was going to change his life.  They had offered him a relatively large sum of money.  They gave him an advance and they bought some clothes and they ate three regular meals.  So, he paints the cat anyway and expects them to burn the painting.  The priest tells him that he must burn it and another painting will have to hang in the temple.  The housekeeper cries because she thinks it is all her fault since she brought the cat home.  The artist does not regret what he has done because he sensed the joy it brought to the cat.  The next day he is awakened by shouts of a miracle occurring.  He visits the temple and his picture is hanging there.  But miraculously it had changed.  Where he had painted the cat, the last animal in line to visit Buddha, it was pure white silk.  Buddha, whom he had painted lying down, now had an arm reaching out.  It was reaching for the cat which was near him bowing in "happy adoration".

The story was nice, he made a sacrifice to make someone else happy, no matter the monetary consequence.  I really think this was just a cat lover who didn't agree with the Buddhist teaching that cats can't go to heaven, so she decided to rewrite Buddhist theology.

"Thimble Summer" by Elizabeth Enright

This book describes an old fashioned summer of a little girl.  Written in 1938, set on a farm, there is a feel of a much simpler lift.  Waking early to do chores, taking care of the cows and pigs, canning the fruits and veggies from their garden, swimming in the swimming hole, sweating from the heat, waiting for the rain to water their crops.  She goes through the usual struggles of a ten year year old girls.  She feels bored, she feels neglected by her family and she finds some great adventures.  One of my favorite adventures was when Garnet and her friend Citronella find themselves locked in the library after hours.  They rode in the back of their neighbors pick up into town, without telling anyone where they were going.  They went to the library found a book, curled up and started reading.  Time passed quickly and soon they found themselves in the library alone and all the doors and windows locked and there was no way out.  The pounded on the doors and windows to no avail.  They heard the town clock chiming past midnight.  They fell asleep and woke to pounding on the doors.  It was their neighbor.  Many people had been searching for them.  One of the most telling signs that this is from a totally different era was that the children would go about their day, off to the swimming hole, hitch hike into town and not tell anyone where they were going.  No life jackets, no seat belts, no helmets.  This made me feel very uneasy as I read it through the eyes of a parent.  The title, "Thimble Summer", comes from a pure silver thimble that Garnet finds in the bottom of the swimming hole.  She finds it magical and thinks it must be worth a lot of money.  She polishes it, and often keeps it in her pocket.  At the end of the book, as she is reflecting on her summer, she realizes that "Everything  has happened since I found it, and all nice things!" (pg 135)  Her pig won the blue ribbon at the fair, their family built a new barn, they met and rescued an orphan boy that appeared out of the forest and he became a new member of their family, she was locked in the library, she went to the big city of New Conniston by herself.

I really enjoyed this book and I think I will recommend it to Maddy, it's a great read!

The Matchlock Gun

This book, by Walter D. Edmond, was written in 1941.  It is very short... Cole read it in twenty minutes, it took me about 45 minutes to read it.   In the foreword it talks about a lullaby that Gertrude VanAlstyne sings in the story.  It says, "It is a real old Dutch song, and lots of mothers sang it to their children up and down the Hudson Valley and in and around Albany in 1757..."

 

The songs goes like this...

 

"Trip a trop a troenje (Up and down on a little throne; {mother's or father's knee}

De varken en de boenjen,  (The pigs are in the beans)

De koejen en de klaver, (The cows are in the clover)

De paardje en de haver, (The colts are in the stable)

De kalfie en de langen gras, (The calf is in the long grass)

De eenjen en de vater-plas (The ducks are in the pond)

So groet myn klynen pappetje vas" (So big my little baby was)

 

Since Norm's mom is Dutch, I love it when I come across anything Dutch. Even though, by blood, I am not Dutch, my children and my husband are so I feel, in a strange way, a connection to all things Dutch... except for pickled herring.. I am not connecting to that in anyway shape or form.  

 

This is another part in the foreward I found interesting/funny...

 

'It was not unusual to find Spanish guns in Holland, for the Spaniards had once invaded that country and believed they had conquered it.  That is something no one should believe, for the Dutch are never good at staying beaten.  In fast when you say, "Doesn't that beat the Dutch?"  you mean, "Isn't that just about incredible.?"

 

I have never heard that saying but I am going to start using  it... I always love finding anything Dutch and I love to share it with Hans.  I emailed her all this last night when I read it.

So, the book is set in the mid to late 1700s around Albany area.  A young family the Van Alstynes were real people.  The husband was Teunis and the wife was Gergrude.  Their children were Trudy and Edward.  Teunis was in the militia to keep the Indians and the French from invading their territory.  He left one evening and was gone over night.  Edward was 10 and was left as the man of the house.  They had a Spanish Gun above their fireplace.  They way they describe it, is that it is "longer than a grown man"  It was a huge gun and Edward wondered why his father never took it with him on his militia duties.  That next day, a militia man rode his horse to their little farm house and said that the Indians had broken through their lines, Teunis was okay but he wanted them to go to his mother's house.  She lived in a big brick house just a little up the road from them.  Mrs. Van Alstyne was a little crusty.  She didn't approve of Gertrude because she had no "Van" to her name.  Gertrude felt more comfortable at her house and decided to stay there.  She made a plan with Edward to guard their house.  She took down the spanish gun, loaded it with two bullets, some nails and coins.  She cut a hole in their window, propped the gun on the table and got a candle ready for Edward to discharge the gun on her signal.  She knew she would not be able to see if the Indians were coming if she was in the house.  She set Trudy up in her room with a doll and some lumps of sugar and told Edward to listen for her to call his name and he was to shoot the gun.  She went outside on the pretense of picking beans so she wouldn't look suspicious.  When she saw the brick house on fire, she noticed five or so Indians coming towards her house.  She started running and they were chasing her.  When she got to the stoop she yelled for Edward, she went down and was hit in the shoulder with a tomahawk.  Edward discharged the gun and killed four of the Indians and the others ran off. Edward had Trudy take off her shirt and he stuffed it into his mother's gaping wound after he took the tomahawk out of her shoulder. 

 

The bravery shown by the mother and the children, as well as the father is amazing.  I think in today's times we have to be brave, but not at the risk of losing our lives like that.  It is good to read things like this to put our lives into perspective.  I can often make me think that we don't have it so bad.  I don't have  a mansion, but I do have carpet.  I don't have a maid or a chef but I can just waltz into Costco and get my food and turn on my oven and cook something. I may not have a jetted tub but I do have indoor plumbing.  It may be hard to make ends meet but I don't worry about my husband or my children getting attacked by Indians.  Such different lives, such different perspectives...  It's just good when you can get that in a 40 minute read.

Number the Stars by Lois Lowry

We finally ventured to our new local Sandy Library.  It is quite a big bigger than the West Jordan.  I was perusing the shelves in the youth non fiction area and I came across four or five shelves that had ALL the Newberry Winner Books in one section!  They had multiple copies of each book all right there.  No more looking it up on the computer and trying to find one.  I can just browse through them all in one spot.  Ok, enough said... I chose three or four that were very short.  I finished "Number the Stars" in two days.  It is about a Danish Girl during WWII when Denmark is occupied by the Germans.  She has  Jewish friend named Ellen.  Ellen's family must flee in the middle of the night so Ellen comes to stay with Annemarie.  They talk about the Resistance in Denmark and how many people helped so many Jewish escape across the sea to Sweeden.  At the end of the book the author explains a few neat facts that were actually true.  The fisherman would smuggle the Jewish people in their fishing boats.  The German Soldiers discovered this ploy and brought in German Shepherd dogs to sniff them out.  There were Sweedish scientists that came up with a concoction they would soak handkerchiefs in and it would attract the dogs and then numb their noses so they couldn't find the human scent on the boats.  I love that people of different backgrounds and religions were willing to sacrifice so much, even their lives and their families lives to help another that was being so unjustly treated.  One of my favorite parts was at the end when the occupation was over and the Jewish were able to return to their homes and they came back to immaculate houses and apartments.  Their friends and neighbors for over a year, had been dusting their furniture and polishing their silver for them while they were gone.  Such acts of kindness when everyone had so little.  No sugar, no butter, no milk... but the still found it in their hearts to give so much service.  Why is it that those of us who are blessed with so much find it difficult to find the time to serve others as much as we should? This book has changed my perspective on being willing to help those in need.