Fifty … No, Fifty-two … Wait, FIFTY-SIX Books That I Love

I started this list some time ago on a sticky on my desktop, and just felt compelled to finish it (for the time being) tonight. Drop me a line and tell me your top 10 (or more.) You'll note that I don't discriminate between literature for children vs. adults. As far as I'm concerned, great books are great books.

1. To Kill a Mockingbird

2. The Wizard of Loneliness

3. Nightwatch

4. How Green Was My Valley

5. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

6. Savage Inequalities

7. Storming Heaven

8. The Secret Garden

9. Red Sky at Morning

10.  The Book Thief

11.  Endurance

12.  The Chronicles of Prydain

13.  The Last Unicorn

14.  A Prayer for Owen Meany

15.  The Summer Book (Tove Jansson)

16.  Lord of the Rings

17.  Cider With Rosie

18.  Cold Comfort Farm

19.  Singing Family of the Cumberlands

20.  Of Human Bondage

21.  The Razor's Edge

22.  The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian

23.  A Christmas Carol

24.  The Country of the Pointed Firs

25.  Twig

26.  Yellow Raft on Blue Water

27.  The Last Report on the Miracle at Little No Horse

28.  The Wonderful Adventures of Kavalier and Clay

29.  Into the Beautiful North

30.  Charlotte's Web

31.  The Bean Trees

32.  All Creatures Great and Small

33.  The Ark

34.  The Outsiders

35.  Bridge to Terabithia

36.  Little Women

37.  Wise Child/Juniper

38.  My Family and Other Animals

39.  84 Charing Cross Road

40.  The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes

41.  The Pushcart War

42.  The Wuggie Norple Story

43.  Rain Makes Apple Sauce

44.  Bud, Not Buddy

45.  The Graveyard Book

46.  "Little House" series (and yes I know it is racist)

47.  The Story of Ferdinand

48.  The Singing Creek Where the Willows Grow

49.  The Dark Is Rising series

50.  Elsie Piddock Skips In Her Sleep

51.  The Island of the Blue Dolphins

52.  Apple Tree Lean Down

53.  My Side of the Mountain

54.  The Monstrous Regiment

55.  The Wee Free Men
56. Hannah Coulter (but any number of Wendall Berry's books could be on this list.)

You know, you can read a lot more books when you stay in the kids' section!

Yes, this is another book review. Already. When I Was a Boy Neruda Called Me Policarpo is a memoir by the Chiléan author Poli Délano, of a childhood frequently spent in the company of the great poet Pablo Neruda. This is a simple, yet moving little book with charming illustrations. It takes place during turbulent, even dangerous times when Neruda was in exile from Chilé, but the child Poli remembers the small moments: the crazy badger that Neruda kept as a pet, Sunday outings, going to the market to search for the weird old junk that Neruda collected, a trip to Acalpulco … He also recalls the life-lessons Neruda taught him, about social justice and standing up for one's beliefs. Each chapter is separated from the next by Neruda's poetry; the poems give Poli's memories a context.

At the end of the book there is a short biography of Pablo Neruda. I love that Délano does not minimize Neruda's political beliefs. Not only can this book serve as an introduction to Neruda for young adult readers, but I would hope that it could also be used to explore some of the history of the last century: the rise of European fascism and the relationship that the U.S. has had with Central and South America.

This is a beautiful book, and certainly one that I will be recommending to my daughter's middle school teachers and librarian. (I suspect it will not be available in the Scholastic book order!)

One more, semi-related thing: If you have not seen the film Il Postino, you would not go amiss in looking it up and watching it. It tells the story of a simple rural postman who is befriended by Neruda, and has his life irrevocably changed. It is a beautiful film.

Another Book Review ... FINALLY!

Reading has slowed way down. That happens when school starts. Life takes on a different shape. I was reading a book that I bought for Sparkly Seacow a while back: Un Lun Dun by China Mieville. It had an interesting premise. Two adolescent girls living in London find a portal to a place called Un Lun Dun. Un Lun Dun is kind of like London through Alice's looking glass; things are the same, but definitely not the same. Un Lun Dun is in dire trouble, and it has been prophesied in a sacred book that a young girl will save it.

Here's what I really liked about the book: Plot twists. Word play. Fantastic characters. (My favorite was a cute little milk carton named "Curdle.") A heroic young girl. Fairly obvious references to these times we're living in.

Here's what I didn't like: I bogged down in the story after a while. That may have less to do with the quality of the book, than with the fact that fantasy is not a genre I find particularly compelling. I am also very tired of war as the dominant paradigm for defeating "evil" -- even storybook evil.

Overall, I don't regret buying this book for my daughter (she liked it quite a bit) nor do I regret reading it. If you know a kid in the 10-13 range who likes fantasy, this is a highly original and well written book. (I thought that the style was reminiscent of The Phantom Tollbooth. Other reviewers compared it to Neil Gaiman's books.)

However, I am now looking forward to reading something else.

Human Rainbow

Luna is a beautiful green moth that is only seen at night. Luna is also a beautiful girl who shows herself only at night, and only to her sister, 15-year-old Regan. By day, Luna is really Liam, Regan's 17-year-old brother, a senior in high school, academically brilliant by all accounts. But Liam is transgender; since he was very young he has known that he is a girl accidentally born with a boy's body. As he approaches his 18th birthday, Liam/Luna begins to "transition", to show the world his true identity. Regan is the only other person who knows his secret, a burden that proves to be almost too much to bear.

On the surface, Luna is a "problem novel" written for young adults, joining a host of other books that deal with issues that teens encounter. What sets it apart from the others is the groundbreaking subject matter. I can't think of another children's book that deals with this issue. The author, Julie Ann Peters, handles it lovingly. She does a good job of showing the conflicting emotions that Luna's transition causes to the people closest to her, but she makes it clear that in the end Luna has an essential right to be who she is -- and when she is free, then the people around her are free as well.

I found Luna to be a beautiful, harrowing, poignant book.

A few years ago I taught a first grade boy, whom I am fairly certain is transgender. He simply saw himself as a girl. It was/is tough; he's a biracial child, with an African-American father who isn't real into having his son be a girl. I spent a lot of time on the phone with his mom, mainly because this child also had major anxiety issues that made it hard for him to learn. One evening we were talking, and she said, "I really hope this is just a phase he's going through." She paused, and then she said, "But it's not, is it? I just need to love him the way he is." His mom was great; for his birthday that year she bought him an American Girl doll and a Powerpuff Girls t-shirt. I think he's had a fairly positive experience in school so far. In my class he loved dressing up in a pink tutu (a lot of boys seem to love the pink tutu), drawing beautiful pictures of princesses and cheerleaders, and hanging around with the girls. He'll be a fifth grader this year. I worry about him as he gets into adolescence.

We actually have a full time teacher in our school district whose job it is to facilitate support of LGBT students throughout all the schools.

There is a transgendered person that I see in my part of town a lot. It's clearly a man dressed like a woman -- clothes, jewelry, make-up -- S/he dresses more frilly than I ever do. I see her most frequently in thrift stores, I always say hello, but I've never struck up a conversation -- which I'd like to at some point. One day, however, I overheard the sweetest conversation in St. Vincent dePaul's. There was a long line for the fitting rooms. S/he was in line, and right behind her was a young mom with two little girls. One of the girls was staring and staring at this man in a dress; she finally said, "Your dress is pretty." S/he said, "Thank you! So is yours," and they smiled at each other for a while.

I hope that some day our society will reach a point where we recognize that there is an infinite spectrum of what constitutes "human-ness" and we allow all people to be who they are -- from the youngest child to the oldest adult.

Anyway ... Luna. Highly recommended.

book review: The Ark by Margot Benary-Isbert

I just reread an old favorite. Published in 1953, this is a children's book translated from German. I first read it and loved it as a child. I got it from the library for my older daughter when she was in middle school. Then a few years ago we found a copy of it to buy in a used bookstore in Maine. According to this biography of the author, The Ark is at least partly autobiographical.

The story takes place in (I'm assuming) 1946-47. World War 2 has ended, Germany has been partitioned, and the Lechow family -- Mrs. Lechow, 15-year old Mathias, 13-year old Margret, 10-year old Andrea and 6-year old Joey -- is one of thousands of displaced families trying to survive in postwar Germany. Their father is in a POW camp in Russia, and has been out of touch with the family for some time. Margret's twin brother, as well as her beloved Great Dane dog, were shot and killed earlier in the year. Mrs. Lechow had been imprisoned for a time, but was released an reunited with her family at the end of the war. Since that time, they have been moved all over the country, from refugee camp to refugee camp. Conditions are brutal.

As the story opens, they are arriving in a strange city where they have been assigned housing in the home of an unwelcoming elderly woman. The story unfolds somewhat predictably. As the family settles in, they begin to win over their reluctant host. The members of the Lechow family are almost unbearably good at times. (But why are we always suspicious of people like that?)

By a stroke of luck, the family meets a somewhat eccentric farm woman named Mrs. Almut. Mrs. Almut raises a variety of livestock, as well as champion Great Danes. She hires both Mathias and Margret to come and live with her, to help with the farm. She already shelters a handful of elderly refugees in her home, so the two children are housed in an abandoned railway car, which they fix up and call "The Ark." (This may seem clichéd in children's books, but apparently it is historically accurate. Anyway, I think living in a railroad car is the part that really sparked my imagination. I remember writing a story at age 11 about a family living in a train. Thankfully, it no longer exists!)

I think that the author of The Ark manages to paint a realistic picture of the suffering during that time, but also presents a family that is strong and loving in the face of extreme adversity. It is a testament to the value of community, as well. I just found out that my library has what I assume to be a sequel to The Ark. I have some predictions about what will happen to the family. I'm looking forward to reading it to see if I am right!

This is well-written and compelling historical fiction. One thing that sets it apart from more modern fiction about the same topic is that the author experienced it firsthand, and when the book was published, it was only 7 years after the end of the war! (Jeez, when I first read it, it was probably only 20 years after the end of the war.) I recommend it.

(Sorry, I cannot locate a picture of the book cover. My own copy is without a jacket.)

Another Book Review

I Am The Messenger is another book by Markus Zusak, the author of the wonderful novel The Book Thief. (If you haven't read The Book Thief, I'll say that I consider it worthy of having a permanent spot on a shelf next to To Kill A Mockingbird and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. It is stunning.)

I Am The Messenger is about Ed Kennedy, a 19-year old cab driver living in a suburb of Sydney, Australia. Ed and his friends are from the wrong side of the tracks. They're pretty aimless, going nowhere fast, and working in dead end jobs, if they have jobs at all. Then one day Ed thwarts a bank robbery, after which he finds his life taking some unexpected turns.

I loved this book! Really, really loved it. The story had elements that reminded me of A Christmas Carol or It's A Wonderful Life. In another way it reminded me of a book that I read a number of years ago: The Solitaire Mystery by Jostein Gaarder. But I Am The Messenger is utterly original and beautiful. It is labeled a young adult novel, but please don't let that keep you from reading it. Zusak is a gifted writer and this is an outstanding book.

(Cross-posted at, yup, the Spring Reading Challenge.)