A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park

I liked this Newbery winner, but I have to admit that I felt a little restless while reading it. I kept wishing I could skip to the end, but maybe that was a little bit more about the situation of our world right now instead of the fault of the book. I became very interested in learning about Korean pottery while reading this, and I did look up the Thousand Cranes vase to see what this book was all based on. It is fascinating how much work these artists, hundreds of years ago, put into their art, and so amazing to learn about how they did it. I liked the story of Tree-Ear as well, and was impressed with him as a character. I think this was a great book that definitely deserved the Newbery award.

The Silver Chair by C. S. Lewis

The boys are seriously enjoying these books and keep begging me to keep reading them. I was not sure how this one would go over, if it would be as exciting to them as The Dawn Treader (which is a pure adventure book if I ever read one), and I wasn't sure if this would get hard to understand or anything. But they absolutely loved it and were begging for more and more. We read several chapters at a time a few times, because they were so excited about it. I had forgotten quite a lot of this story, about Jill and Eustace who are given the task of finding and saving Prince Rilian, who has been kidnapped and enchanted for ten years by a witch who lives in the Underworld, miles below the surface of Narnia. It turned out to be quite a good book--not as much my favorite as the other three we have read, but still super enjoyable. The boys really got a kick out of the character of Puddleglum, with his Debbie Downer attitude about life, and you could just tell they were enthralled with the adventure they were having. I love seeing their imaginations light up and hearing them randomly incorporate things from Narnia into their day. "Mom, Puddleglum always says, 'I shouldn't wonder,' doesn't he?" And randomly yesterday Dane started saying, "For Narnia!" over and over again. It is so great to share these things with them.

Invincible Louisa: The Story of the Author of Little Women by Cornelia Meigs

This is an interesting one... it won the Newbery award in 1934, so it is supposedly meant for children, but it did not feel like a children's book at all. I suppose it was less like a traditional biography because there were hardly any mention of dates or timelines, and there was this ongoing theme of how tough Louisa was and how she never gave up, even when her family was in poverty and life was hard. But it was very much not meant for a young audience, in my opinion. Of course, maybe kids in the 1930s had the ability and attention span to read this sort of biography... but definitely not today. I enjoy biographies, and I love, love Little Women, and I love Louisa May Alcott (I definitely did at least one presentation on her as a kid, whenever we had to do something about a historical person or an author at school), so I enjoyed reading this. I think the Alcotts are such an interesting family, specifically her dad Bronson and his interesting life and personality, and it is so enjoyable to me to read about how art imitated real life in her family, and to see the similarities in how her family lived and the book that we all know and love so dearly. It seemed like quite a lot of the book focused on her childhood, and then less about her as an adult, which makes sense (for a supposed children's book). It makes me want to go revisit all the books she has written, which I bought a bunch of after reading Little Women, because I loved them all when I was younger.

I guess this would be a great biography to give to someone who loves Little Women, if they were wanting to learn more about Louisa herself. But I don't know that anyone else would be remotely interested in it, haha.

Miracles on Maple Hill by Virginia Sorensen

I really liked a lot of things about this book. I'd never heard about it before, but it's a Newbery that our library had available as an e-audiobook, so I made my way through it this last week. The book is about a girl named Marly, and her family, who move to the country to live at her great-grandmother's old house, after her dad has come home after being a POW during WWII and needs time and help recuperating. Marly has all of these expectations about Maple Hill being full of miracles and making things happen to be better for them, and she is able to see lots of miracles there. Big ones, like her dad coming out of his depression and PTSD, and little ones, like finding the first spring flowers and seeing how to tap the trees for syrup. I loved Sorensen's depictions of the land around where they lived, and how beautiful it all was. And I loved the way Marly looked for miracles and was so happy with everything they found. The story was beautiful and fun.

But I feel like maybe, just maybe, this would have been one I would have liked better not as an audiobook. Marly came across as very annoying to me, as an adult. (But a kid might not see her as annoying.) I wonder if it might have seemed better not listening to her voice. I was also annoyed by how Marly and her brother Joe fought all the time and how Joe kept saying she couldn't do stuff because she was a girl, and how Marly would just say "I can too!" It really got old. But I feel like that was a small part of the story, and the rest of it was definitely worthwhile.

The Work and the Glory 2: Like a Fire is Burning by Gerald N. Lund

This book goes over a lot of memorable Church history--the Saints leaving New York and heading to Kirtland, the Saints being forced out of Jackson County, Zions Camp, the dedication of the Kirtland Temple. I was distracted again in this book by the randomly inserted pages of historical information that Lund decided to put in, and I wanted it to feel more streamlined and more of a natural part of the story instead of how it was put in. And I was distracted by the number of editing and spelling errors there were in the book. Where was Lund's editor? But in all seriousness, the Steed family saga is what keeps this story alive. It's hard not to get attached to them when you read about them. I was bugged by Benjamin's baptism story, how he was so anti-Mormon in the first book and totally unwilling to even think about going to Kirtland at the beginning of this book, but within a couple hundred pages he shifted completely and was willing to be baptized just because of having a conversation with Joseph Smith (who he despised in the last book)? I just felt like it was way too neat and unbelievable. I feel like he should have had to work a little more for his testimony--there wasn't any evidence of him studying or trying to find out or believe for himself. I do really love getting all this Church history from a historical fiction perspective. It makes it so much easier to understand why this was all so hard. And it almost makes it hard to understand why people stayed. It was so hard for so many reasons, and it just keeps being hard over and over and over again, in so many different ways. And that is the beauty of books, to help you see things you haven't experienced on your own.

Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli

It was funny how, as I read this, certain things stood out to me that I didn't know I remembered. Like, when Maniac meets Amanda for the first time, and you find out that she carries her books to school in a suitcase with her because her brother and sister will ruin them if she leaves them at home--I knew that part, and I just didn't remember it came from this book. It was so familiar to me. There were a few small flashes of remembrance that I had while reading this book like that. I loved reading this, and I was so pleasantly surprised by how great the story was. It tells the story of one kid, Jeffrey L. Magee, who is an orphan and basically chooses to live homeless, but he doesn't see black and white skins and doesn't seem to understand why people don't like this white kid hanging out on the black side of town. I thought it was a really kid-friendly way of looking at race, and showing how everyone is really similar, even if they just don't know it. I loved how the Beale family was so loving and welcoming to Maniac, and how he manages to find himself a home in so many places because he is happy to make things work and to be a part of any sort of family. I think this is one that Dane will really like soon, as he gets a little bit older.

The Editor by Steven Rowley

This book grabbed me by the premise: a young author finds out his book has been chosen by an editor to be published, and that editor is none other than Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Basically, I thought that just sounded fascinating and crazy, especially considering that probably actually happened to some people since she worked as an editor for fifteen years after her second husband died. I thought Rowley did a good job portraying Jackie and the way an author might act around her. But I found myself getting bored of the story. Much of it wasn't actually about James and Jackie, which makes sense (because I'm sure that was about as much of a relationship as an editor might have with an author), but I found a lot of the story dragged. I got annoyed with James and him being so wishy-washy and whiny, and with his near-infidelity (I hate those storylines). I also found it a little unbelievable that Jackie would invite this nameless author to her house on Martha's Vineyard and to her home in the city... why would she want to have them come to her home? Maybe I was being a little picky. I thought the overall story was interesting, and I liked the development of James's relationship with his mother, but there were other elements of the story that I didn't love.

On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder

I just finished reading this one to Graham, and I'm pleased because it only took me a month, instead of much, much longer like the last one. The thing that made the difference was that I bought the audiobooks of these books to listen to in the car. I have never bought audiobooks before, but I decided that I wanted to have the Harry Potter series and the Little House series to own, because the library doesn't have copies that are ever available, so I went ahead and actually joined Audible and got these books. So we have really enjoyed being able to listen to On the Banks of Plum Creek in the car while driving to and from the boys' choir practice. I also did a lot of reading aloud to Graham. This book is just so magical. It has none of the cringe-y racist parts about the Native Americans that Little House on the Prairie does, and just plenty of fascinating stories about their life in Minnesota. The chapter that stood out the most was the one when the grasshoppers came, though. We were listening to it in the car and Dane put down the book he was reading and was entranced. Both boys could not believe what was happening and that it was real. I always remember being fascinated by the story of the grasshoppers as well, and how devastating that all must have been. The other chapter that stands out to me was the Christmas where they got presents off the tree at the church, and Laura got her set of furs. Somehow, Laura Ingalls Wilder has such a way of writing things to seem magical and perfect. I think that's part of the charm of these books--that at the end of each chapter or major storyline, Laura ends up being cozy at home with the firelight dancing and Pa's fiddle singing. Everything resolves itself eventually, every time.

The minute we finished this one tonight, Graham insisted that I immediately start the next one, By the Shores of Silver Lake. I wasn't sure that I was going to read that one, because I remember it seeming like there was a huge gap between Laura being a kid and Laura being basically grown-up in that one. I was planning to read Farmer Boy next. But Graham insisted on Silver Lake next, so off we go, which is fine with me, because I really want to read The Big Winter with them. Farmer Boy will wait.

The Work and the Glory 1: A Pillar of Light by Gerald N. Lund

I thought about reading these books as we have been told to ponder and think about the Restoration of the gospel this spring. I know this is a ridiculous way to go about doing this (don't worry, I also have been reading non-fiction about it), but I have read this series several times all the way through and loved it, and kind of like those Living Scriptures scripture videos, I think these books really did contribute to a lot of my knowledge of church history. I mean, the Steeds managed to be present at 99% of the most important happenings in church history. Shocking, really. I didn't really notice before, though, that the writing really isn't that great in this book. Nothing against Brother Lund and all, but it randomly jumps into history textbook mode all of a sudden here and there, with three or four random pages on the history of the Erie Canal or metal plows, and it doesn't feel seamless to the story at all. I was kind of annoyed by that. And there were parts that felt so, so boring--and those were all of the most spiritual parts, which Lund basically took directly from the Pearl of Great Price and just copied and pasted into his text. Obviously it would be hard to write a fictionalized retelling of Joseph talking about his First Vision, but I felt like those parts totally dragged. So I guess that's the problem with me being much more well-read than I was 10-15 years ago when I read these the last time, that I am a lot more picky about the writing... But I still enjoyed the book and still feel invested in the Steed family and how they are doing.

Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis

I don't remember if I ever read this book when I was a kid. It was published in 1999, so right as I was at the cusp of leaving the children's book world, and I don't really remember it. I did have the impression that it was going to be sad, so I was hesitant to read it. But I actually really, really enjoyed it. I really loved Bud's character and his personality. He was such a funny and optimistic kid, even when things were really not working out for him and everything just kept going worse and worse. He seemed like he knew things were going to work out somehow, and never despaired, even when he was sad. I loved how dedicated he was to his mother as well, and how all of his most meaningful possessions and memories were from her. That was the part that really got to me and made me tear up, was when he was remembering her and when it was showing how truly meaningful that relationship with his mother was. I was definitely rooting for him the whole time and really excited for him to figure out where he came from. I really enjoyed the story and the look into the Depression, and I thought it was even better that the author used his own family history as the basis of some of the characters. A few of the scenes seemed like they'd been thrown in just to make the book more of a "Depression" book--like the scene with the Hooverville and the people getting on the train--but I didn't mind it too much. Overall, Bud himself was the best part of this book, and made the whole story worth the read.

Small Victories: Spotting Improbable Moments of Grace and Hallelujah Anyway: Rediscovering Mercy by Anne Lamott

I've known of Anne Lamott for years because I've used one of her essays, called "Shitty First Drafts," for my writing class as one of my first reading assignments, to help students feel good about their writing process and how to write. But I haven't read a ton more from her. I decided to listen to these two books of hers, mainly because they were short and available from the library... but I did really enjoy them. I feel like if I had read them, I would have probably gotten more out of them and possibly even marked a few things here or there, but instead I just enjoyed listening to Lamott's funny stories about her childhood and her family and her history. She does a great job at being self-deprecating and making you feel like we're all on the same page, probably all struggling together, and she is really open about what she has struggled with, in her family and in her past. I really liked how open she was and hearing her perspective on Christianity and faith. They were both fun books to listen to, and kind of soothing, but nothing super earth-shattering came out of them for me.

The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. I knew nothing about it at all except for one short positive review from one of the book blogs I follow, and I thought it was just a fantastic, short, fun read. The book is narrated by Ivan, a gorilla who lives in a strip mall and has been there for 30 years, and who begins to realize that he needs more in his life and wants to go to a zoo. I thought the best part of the story is that it was based on a real-life gorilla named Ivan who really lived in a mall and did circus shows. It was funny, poignant, and so sad at times, but I loved Ivan's perspective and how Applegate really wrote and thought like a gorilla might think. I loved how each page was short, there were no super long paragraphs to get through, but I still felt Ivan's emotions through his short thoughts. This was a great, very enjoyable read, one that I want to pass on to Dane and see if he enjoys.