The All-Star Team

If I were playing fantasy baseball with books, here's who I'd want on my team. These All-Star picks of mine, I suspect, most people are missing out on. I want these books to stay on the staff picks display not for the usual 30-60 days, but forever--until everyone in the world has enjoyed them! And make no mistake--although these are children's books, I want adults as well as children to have the pleasure they bring, regardless of whether they have a child in their life sharing the experience.

Pitcher: A Long Way from Chicago by Richard Peck. This one has the advantage of a male protagonist--de riguer when recommending to boys. Grandma Dowdel is one character you'll never forget. Follow up with A Year Down Yonder and Fair Weather.

Catcher: Everything on a Waffle by Polly Horvath. The most unexpected happy ending ever. Follow up with The Trolls.

1st Baseman: A Bargain for Frances by Russell Hoban. It's never too early for a little girl to be warned about potential cattiness in a playmate. And if, Like Frances, you can give as good as you get, you can still remain friends! Follow up with the other Frances books by Hoban.

2nd Baseman: Dear Mr. Blueberry by Simon James. A story of imagination, friendship, and ecology. It's a shame, but I betcha haven't even heard of author-illustrator Simon James. And he'll never win a Caldecott, 'cause he's a resident of Britain.

Shortstop: C D B! by William Steig. If you know your ABCs, that's all you need to read these ear-puzzles. Follow up with C D C?

3rd Baseman: In the Town All Year Round by Rotraut Susanne Berner. A rich reading and perusing experience at any age; can even be "read" by those who don't know their ABCs yet.

Right Fielder: Julie of the Wolves by Jean Craighead George. Okay, so this did win a Newbery Medal. I love it so much, however, that until I find something less well-known to replace it, it's on my list.

Center Fielder: In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson by Bette Bao Lord. Baseball as seen through the eyes of Shirley Temple Wong, a young Chinese immigrant in New York City, 1947.

Left Fielder: Yucka Drucka Droni by Eugenia and Vladimir Radunsky. Even exceeds the zaniness and tongue-twisting of "There's a Gnuthbrush on my toothbrush".

Betsy Bliss

Book review: Betsy and the Great World by Maud Hart Lovelace

I didn't know about the Betsy-Tacy series as a child, but I'm so glad to have found it as an adult. Once introduced, I got as far as Betsy and Joe, book 8 of 10. At that time the series was out of print*, and to my dismay, my library only carries the first 6. Used copies proved to be too expensive. So there I was, stalled. I managed to "look inside" at the first 2 pages on amazon.com. My waiting finally ended this fall, when Harper brought out the last 6 books in Perennial Classic editions. I think it makes sense to put them in editions for the adult market. My slight regret is that they aren't matchy-match with books 1 through 8 already on my shelf.

Maud Hart Lovelace, recounting her own life story via the fictional Betsy, depicted the outbreak of World War I as she experienced it. Betsy's year in Europe comes to an abrupt end, fraught with the worry that she may be stranded across the ocean from her family and friends. Rather than the omniscient, analytical angle that a history book gives, Betsy's experience is from the angle of "a man on the street". Betsy and her friends watch as the political dominoes fall that summer, but wonder why it must add up to war. Seeing it from their point of view, I felt the same way. I would like to learn more about the Great War.

I'm going to wait a while before reading Betsy's Wedding, the second half in my Harper's Perennial Classics edition. It'll be my last Betsy book, and I want to savor the experience as long as I can! After that, I can occupy myself by compiling a Betsy-Tacy Songbook. What would the Maud Hart Lovelace Society think of that?

*HarperCollins has let the later books in the series go out of print, rather like clockwork, twice in the last 15 years. Fodder for another blog post.

Engaging and spooky

Novel of the week is A Curse Dark as Gold, by Elizabeth C. Bunce. This retelling of the story Rumpelstiltskin is told in first-person by the miller's daughter. In a small English town in the late 18th century, the mill is plagued by bad luck: accidents, breakdowns, and inexplicable 'refusals' to stay in good repair. The townsfolk have many superstitions, lore, and simples to try to combat ill luck and danger. The traditions and lore seemed to be empty superstitions at first, but as the story progressed, it became evident that the practices and perceptions were tied to historical events. And those historical events were genuinely spooky! Charlotte Miller was searching for long-buried secrets from the past which would explain the mill's curse and allow her a chance to set things right. The melding of folklore with magic was the hook for me, as it had been also in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. It's as though the oral traditions are another form of myth, striving to express truth through symbolism and fiction.

Goat in shining armor

The Amaranth Enchantment by Julie Berry has several elements in common with the story of Cinderella, but is not merely a retelling of it. There are a prince, a ball, a cruel aunt serving as wicked stepmother, and a benevolent godmother of sorts. However, the Amaranth plot is more exciting, and the events more plentiful than in Cinderella. And there is an unexpected hero--an affectionate goat named Dog, who rescues the damsel at several different times of distress.

For me, this novel was quick, light reading. I read all 306 pages in just 5 hours or so. The reading experience was both pleasurable and an accomplishment--actually reading a book start to finish in a couple of days! When reading for pleasure, I am easily bogged down in /distracted away from regular-length books. My usual pattern is to start, enjoy 100 pages or so, then leave it unfinished. (This does not mean that I didn't like what I had read thus far!) Years later I return, the bookmark inserted where I left off, but nonetheless I must re-start from the beginning, because I can't recollect enough to support picking up right where I left off. Therefore, I really tip my hat to authors who hold my interest long enough for me to complete the book in one "session."

With my literary "attention span", I appreciate YA and middle-grade books for their brevity, but I would certainly not invest in them if they were not also highly engaging. A post today by Roger Sutton on his Read Roger blog, http://hbook.com/blog (which discussed a different topic on YA literature) has an astute comment posted by Walter Underwood, observing that YA books have "momentum, excitement, and no fat." Ditto to that! The Amaranth Enchantment is an engaging and concise novel which fits the bill for me.

A very cozy story

Jan Karon fans, here is another cozy author for you: Elizabeth Goudge, author of The Little White Horse. This story is full of little doors, caves, tunnels, hidden passages, and piles of delicious food. When I described the book to my husband, he came up with this quote, entirely made up, but entirely representative of the spirit of the story. To be said in a British little-old-lady voice, "Oh, bother, I fear we may run out of cream horns!"

But let me not mislead you--lack of strife in this book, and in cozy books in general, doesn't make them any less enjoyable. Like a simple meal with mild flavors, it is quite satisfying.

Credit goes to two literary celebrities for steering me towards Elizabeth Goudge. The first is J. K. Rowling. George Beahm's book Muggles and Magic: J.K. Rowling and the Harry Potter Phenomenon relates that The Little White Horse is Rowling's "favorite book, which she credits as a big influence on the Harry Potter novels." I myself didn't see any particular parallels between Goudge and Rowling; just that The Little White Horse is imaginative and fantasy-oriented.

The second literary celebrity who pointed me to Goudge is Nancy Pearl, America's de facto librarian laureate. Book Lust lists The Little White Horse under the Cozies category as "a special treat." I fully agree.

Weeklies, briefly

My picture book of the week is The Secret Circus, written and illustrated by Johanna Wright. This depicts a circus in Paris, about which only the mice know.

My novel of the week is Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien. I have spent so much time this week thinking about this epic story and reading passages from it, that I haven't finished my intended novel of the week and its review. Lord of the Rings fascinates me continually. I can't get enough of the history of the rings, the peoples and creatures of Middle-Earth, and comparing differences between the Peter Jackson-directed movie trilogy versus the books.

"To Seek Out Strange New Words"

Novel of the Week is The Willoughbys by Lois Lowry. "A novel nefariously written and ignominiously illustrated by the author." Rather than a regular review, these are random notes from my reading experience.

Lowry makes ample use of fancy words in The Willoughbys. She also supplies rather subjective and tangential definitions for these fancy words in a glossary at the end of the book. The subjectivity is a good spin. Although lexicographers usually write in such a way as to remove themselves from the scope of the writing, they are in truth individual persons interpreting the meaning of the words. Lowry retains her identity as the narrator in the glossary, acknowledging that she is an individual relating these words, rather than an invisible authority.

I have a suggestion which would help readers use the glossary all along in the reading experience rather than just finding it after "The End". I suggest placing a footnote at the first word in the text which has a glossary entry. The footnote would direct readers to the glossary, bringing it to their attention early in the reading, and allowing them to use it repeatedly as they encounter new words.

Speaking of authors who supply idiosyncratic definitions of fancy words, I am reminded of Lemony Snicket. Was he the first to do it?

Alpenhorn, a word which I had never seen before, was not in the glossary, so I had to look it up myself. I'm used to pausing in my reading to do that, ever since I read Jane Eyre. When I read Jane Eyre, I found myself consulting the dictionary so often, that I eventually went back through the book and made a log of all the words I had looked up. I specifically remember physiognomy, Resurgam, and cadeaux.

I encountered the word squalor, followed by a faulty(?) declension into squalorous (I believe the adjective wanted is squalid).

I did not know that fondue was of Swiss origin. Now I do!

I love the many allusions to themes and characters of classic children's literature. Lowry supplied a bibliography to refer readers to the works mentioned along the way. Very nice. As librarian Nancy Pearl has said, "I never know where a particular book will take me, toward what other books I will be led." The bibliography allows The Willoughbys to lead to other books outright.

Novel of the week: The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams

The Chosen One is a fictional story of a thirteen year-old girl named Kyra, who is a member of a polygamous community, like the real-life ones in southern Utah and northern Arizona. The community’s “prophet” assigns Kyra to become the seventh wife of her sixty year-old uncle. By custom and by doctrine, Kyra is not free to refuse this marriage. Horrible as that sounds, it’s not far off from real-life situations in these communities. Kyra’s escape is highly dramatic, but is only a slight escalation of the real experiences of defectors from polygamy. Two recent bestsellers, Escape by Carolyn Jessop, and Stolen Innocence by Elissa Wall, give firsthand accounts of the great difficulties these women faced in leaving their closed communities.

Both Carolyn Jessop and Elissa Wall were members of the FLDS Church, which entered the public eye in 2006 when the FLDS “prophet” Warren Jeffs was arrested. He was subsequently convicted on two counts of accomplice to rape. Elissa Wall, married at Jeffs’ order to her first cousin at age fourteen, was the star witness against Jeffs. The court determined that because Wall was a minor, because her marriage was not entered into by consent, and because she was not free to leave it, her reluctant sex with her husband was not consensual and constituted rape.

As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which is also known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, I am sensitive to my Church being often mistakenly lumped in with these various polygamous groups. The FLDS church fashioned its name after the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but is not affiliated with it. To the contrary, the FLDS was founded in the 20th century by people who left the LDS Church and lived contrary to its teachings. Unfortunately, it’s difficult for people unfamiliar with Mormons to know the distinction. The LDS church, with 13 million members throughout the world, doesn’t often make the news, yet the FLDS church, with a few thousand members, has popped up frequently in the news within the last five years.

I regret that the negative publicity earned and deserved by Warren Jeffs and men like him is sometimes incorrectly reflected onto the LDS Church. However, I welcome light being shed on the issue of contemporary polygamy in the United States. I am glad Jeffs was convicted, but I suspect it will take much more than that one incident to loosen the terrible grip of oppression that the polygamists exercise. I hope that the The Chosen One will help to bring polygamy further out into the light of public scrutiny, so that help for its victims will be more available when they seek it.

Novel of the week: East by Edith Pattou

East is based on one of my favorite fairy tales—“East of the Sun, West of the Moon”, originating in a group of Norwegian tales collected by Peter Asbjornsen and Jorgen Moe in the late nineteenth century. I admire the strong heroine, the enchantment of the white bear, and the personification of the four winds. Yet somehow I've allowed myself to ignore this novel-length retelling. Finally getting around to reading it this week, I was well rewarded.

When I sat down with East in my hands, I looked forward to seeing how Edith Pattou would treat the elements of the original tale. Although she eliminates one of my favorites—the personification of the four winds—she introduces many details which complement the story well. For example, Pattou uses compass points as a motif. The protagonist, Rose, comes from a family of mapmakers, her mother is superstitiously concerned with which direction mothers face during childbirth, and her father draws a compass rose for each of his children. There is lots of adventure in this story, including a sea voyage on a Viking ship and a journey across Greenland by foot, kayak, and ski.

Pattou provides yards of background to fill in between the lines of the original story. She describes the trolls’ culture and location in the Arctic, why the troll princess kidnapped the human prince, and how the enchantment was made by the troll king. She attends to every detail, such as inventing a drink called slank that enables the humans to survive in the brutal cold. I constantly marveled as she blended her own creations flawlessly with the original short tale.