Monday, October 21, 2013

The Shoe Books Roundup

I haven't finished reading all the "shoe books" yet, but I figured I might as well start the roundup post. I'm not even sure if I'll be able to read all the books because many of them are out of print, and some are not available at our local library - not even in our library's entire consortium!

Mostly, these books are just variations on a theme: orphaned children with little money have some kind of talent. Though the basic premise may be similar among the books, it's interesting to see the different perspectives presented. Maybe a child has an obvious talent and it needs to be developed. In that case, is the child willing to train? Does the child like having an audience? Or, maybe the child has no obvious talent, but is able to discover a talent later on. In pretty much all the books, at least one talented child is sure to learn that "pride comes before a fall".

Within the series, there are only two pairs of books that are actually related, and really, those are the only ones that need to be read in the proper order relative to each other. Ballet Shoes should be read before Theatre Shoes, and Family Shoes should be read before New Shoes (though I haven't personally gotten to those two books yet). All the other books are stand-alone books that are completely unrelated to the others, so they can be read in no particular order.

Party Shoes (The Shoe Books #5) by Noel Streatfeild

★★½

*** Warning: This review contains spoilers!! ***

This book was quite different from the other Shoe Books that I've read so far, and I actually found it somewhat boring. Even though there are still books in the series that I haven't read yet, I think I'll take a break from them for a while.

One of the main characters, Selina, is a temporary orphan who lives with her aunt and uncle, who have six children of their own. Unlike the other Shoe Books, we don't learn right away why Selina is living with her cousins. This lack of information was a little annoying in the beginning, but rest assured, you do find out the reason eventually.

The whole premise of the book seemed more fitting for a short story than a full-length novel. Selina receives a lovely party dress and matching shoes from her godmother in America (the story takes place in England), but since there is no upcoming event to which she can wear the dress, all the children get together and plan a pageant, just so Selina can wear her dress. Right away, the whole idea of planning an event around one dress seemed silly. Just let her wear the dress around the house! But I suppose in those days, everything was proper and people didn't do things like that.

It was a cute enough story at first. Each of the older children took responsibility for writing and planning one act of the pageant. Unlike other Shoe Books, stage talent isn't a central theme. Sally does apparently have a talent for dancing, but it's not anywhere near the focus of this book.

Instead, this book shows the reader all the work that goes on behind the scenes of a big production. The kids need to reserve a venue (a nearby Abbey that is soon to be sold), write their acts, engage actors and dancers to participate, plan and run rehearsals, and manage costumes for the entire cast. Phew! It was a lot of work, and I did enjoy the way the children's parents really got involved. Still, for the most part, it didn't make for every exciting or compelling reading.

In fact, the whole production started to become rather unbelievable when Phillip, an injured soldier who produced plays before the war, and who grew up living in the Abbey, started to take an interest in the pageant. The children had put so much work into their acts, and then Phillip came along and usurped the entire production! I felt indignant on the children's behalf, even though they were all, eventually, quite happy with their roles in the pageant. As the production grew bigger and bigger, everything just seemed to get more ridiculous.

It wasn't until towards the end of the book that finally everything started to come together, and I accepted the grand nature of the pageant. Instead of just being an event at which Selina can wear her dress, the pageant was also a realization of Phillip's dream to put on a production at the Abbey, and it was a fitting farewell for the Day family, who were moving out of the Abbey after many generations of Days had lived there. And I admit, it was satisfying to see the entire community rally behind the production.

I really enjoyed the ending, particularly the final four or five chapters, and I was glad to feel rewarded for having invested all that time reading the previous chapters.

Magic Tree House Series by Mary Pope Osborne

★★★

I usually prefer to rate books individually, but I think in this case, I'll just rate the series as a whole.

These books are formulaic, but that's about par for the course for series at this reading level. I think it's part of what keeps kids interested, actually, having some adventure and suspense, but always knowing how it will turn out. Jack and Annie are mostly one-dimensional and predictable, with Annie running headlong into adventures and Jack preferring to proceed cautiously. It's kind of funny how much Jack likes to say, "Oh, man" and "Oh, brother," but I do like the way he takes notes in his notebook. It's cool, too, that every book has a different theme, so young readers are exposed to lots of different time periods, places, people, and animals.

Ken and I are reading this series to Sebastien, and I have to give these books credit for piquing Sebastien's interest in books. Before, while we always made an effort to read to him every day, he rarely ever suggested reading as an activity on his own. Now with this series, he can't wait to get ready for bed so we can read more chapters! He's even asked to read these books in the middle of the day, when he's usually more interested in other toys and activities. Part of me wants to save these books so he can read them on his own when he learns to read, but I'm just going to continue to plow through them as much as he wants now, since I want to encourage his interest in books.

One thing that I don't like about these books, though - and it's especially annoying given how popular this series is with early readers - is how often they include incomplete sentences! I just think early readers should be exposed to proper grammar. :P Sure, sometimes it's okay, if a particular clause should carry some emphasis. But unnecessarily breaking sentences into one full sentence and a second incomplete sentence just happens way too often. Here are some examples in book #4:

Page 3: They splashed through puddles. Until they came to the tallest oak tree in the woods.

Page 13: Then he rolled up his jeans. And ran across the hot sand into the waves.

Page 13: He shielded his eyes against the sun. And peered out at the sea.

Page 27: Together they started to back slowly away from the pirates. Toward the tree house.

Update #1:I just finished reading Book #8, Midnight on the Moon, and I was pleased to find that there were no unnecessary sentence fragments! (There were a couple fragments that I thought were fine in context, like in dialogue or used for emphasis.) Ken actually read the last couple books with Sebastien, so I don't know for sure which book along the way was the first without fragments, but I'm optimistic that the books will be grammatically correct from here on out!

Update #2: We are now reading Book #12, Polar Bears Past Bedtime, and so far, the books seem to be ordered in groups of four. In the first four books (#1-4), Jack and Annie find four clues that eventually lead them to Morgan Le Fey. In the next four books (#5-8), Jack and Annie have to find four items that begin with M in order to rescue Morgan Le Fey. In the next four books (#9-12), Jack and Annie have to solve four riddles in order to become master librarians. I assume this pattern keeps up, and it's worth mentioning because a children's librarian at our local library told me that many kids read these books all out of order without any regard to the numbering. I think it's probably best to read them in order, but if you're going to jump around, the next best plan might be to read them according to the four-book sub-series, so at least you can put the specific adventure into a bigger context.

Update #3 - March, 2014: We made it up to Book #41, Moonlight on the Magic Flute, before Sebastien finally lost interest and didn't want to read the next book. Forty-one books! Not bad. Maybe when he learns to read, he'll pick up the series himself where we left off!

Pippi Roundup

I have to say, I wasn't crazy about Pippi when I first met her, but she did grow on me!

Sunday, October 6, 2013

Pippi in the South Seas (Pippi Longstocking #3) by Astrid Lindgren

★★★½

In this installment, Pippi, Tommy, and Annika visit Pippi's father on Kurrekurredutt Island in the South Seas. Even though the location has changed, most of the chapters had a bit of that "more of the same" feel.

Pippi is as adventurous, optimistic, brave, selfless, and loyal as always. While on the island, Pippi faces down two sea-faring bandits who were up to no good, similar to the way in which she handled two would-be burglars in the first book.

One chapter that stands out to me takes place before the children take their sea voyage. Pippi participates in a bizarre event in which some seemingly random person in town subjects all the school children to a high-stress verbal examination that results in either public praise or public shaming, depending on how well each child answers her questions. In this day and age, it seems like such a terrible situation in which the poor kids are labeled "good" or "stupid", and completely traumatized if the latter. Thankfully, Pippi saves a bunch of children from disgrace with her usual good-hearted sense of justice.

I particularly enjoyed the ending in which Pippi, as usual, completely and selflessly devotes her time and energy to making her dear friends Tommy and Annika happy. The last couple pages had a kind of wistfulness to them, as the three children hope to never grow up, and Tommy and Annika take comfort in knowing that Pippi will "always" be at Villa Villekulla.

Friday, October 4, 2013

Pippi Goes on Board (Pippi Longstocking #2) by Astrid Lindgren

★★★★

I was pleasantly surprised to find that I rather enjoyed this book quite a bit more than the first.

In this book, Pippi, Tommy, and Annika have all sorts of adventures that really showcase Pippi's generosity, loyalty, and kindness. Her heart is as big as her physical strength!

I liked that when Pippi spent a day with Tommy and Annika's class, their teacher used the opportunity to instruct her in proper behavior (finally Pippi gets some guidance!), and Pippi really seemed to want to learn to be good.

And when the three children basically took off on their own 2-night camping trip, I was impressed with Pippi's foresight! She brought all the necessary provisions, took good care of her friends, and even thought to leave a note for their parents.

But, again with the pistols and the talk about cannibals!

Okay, I'll read the next book in the series.

The Boxcar Children Roundup

It's so strange that I have such fond memories of having read these books as a kid, while also having so few memories about the actual stories themselves! Re-reading this series was truly like re-discovering them, since I only had the vaguest memories, and it was basically as if I were reading them for the first time.

I still plan to read all the original books in the series by Gertrude Chandler Warner, but I got sidetracked... Here's the roundup so far, and I'll update this post as I read additional books.